PFC Magazine Issue out 11/04 Digital and Print

[Joel @ PFC]

Hey guys and girls, here's a preview of April's issue of the magazine!



6
FCS 2013 PREVIEW
Everything you need to know about the biggest event of the year!

8
PLANET PFC
The latest news from the French tuning scene

10
CLIO 200 TURBO TEST
Is the new Clio RS any good? We drive it and find out

12
NEW PRODUCTS
The hottest new tuning kit revealed

16
106 TURBO
Stunning, Constella-built 106 that’s packing a mighty 405bhp turbocharged punch

24
R5 GT TURBO
Track-focused, 330bhp R5 with a turbo’d Clio 16v lump

32
206 TURBO
Fast-road Pug with a 406 turbo engine and 286bhp

40
SAXO TURBO
Home-built, 280bhp VTS with a TD04 turbo is fully track ready

48
SCORPION Q&A
We find out what goes into making a performance exhaust

52
PUG 106 GTI
Sundance Yellow 106 is a high-revving throttle-bodied daily driver

59
HOW TO: FIT BUCKET
SEATS & HARNESSES
Our essential guide to fitting seats and harnesses

64
TOP 50 FRENCH CARS
We reveal the first 25 in our French performance car countdown

68
PROJECTS
The latest updates from the PFC workshop

72
RACE NEWS
We follow the progress of some French racecars

74
TECH Q&A
We give you the answers to your tech questions

76
SPOTTED
Your cars, revealed

78
LETTERS
Your chance to have a say…

81
SMOKIN’
More from our diesel tuning expert

94
CLUB & EVENTS LISTINGS
Get involved!

96
CLUB FOCUS
We get inside two French car clubs




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http://www.performancefrenchcars.co.uk
Or £9.99 on all digital platforms

Adrian Flux French Car Show
In Association with Lassa Tyres
Castle Combe Wiltshire
Weekend Festival
Gates open 6pm 26/07/2013
Show day 27/07/2013
Club chill day till 1pm 28/07/2013
Ticket Only £15
& weekend camping only £10


Any questions mail me or leave a comment below

[cwspellowe]

Is it just me.. or is all we ever hear about turbo'd 106's?

[Frosty]

Yeah I agree! Need more 306s in it!!

[darrenjlobb]

Got this in the post few days ago,

Sadly i wont be renewing my subscription next time I dont think, I got bord of it before, but then when it was re lauched i was quite impressed / enjoyed it for several editions, some really good cars featured, with decent deep information about them...

But sadly it seems to have slipped down the same slope the old mag did, featuring about 1 car in each edition that interests me (I know my interests are quite limited to be fair) and just reading it theres so much information thats "wrong / not accurate" which just annoys me / looses faith in what im reading.

Not having a rant, as im sure many would disagree, but thats just my 2 cents.

[puglove]

Got this in the post few days ago,

Sadly i wont be renewing my subscription next time I dont think, I got bord of it before, but then when it was re lauched i was quite impressed / enjoyed it for several editions, some really good cars featured, with decent deep information about them...

But sadly it seems to have slipped down the same slope the old mag did, featuring about 1 car in each edition that interests me (I know my interests are quite limited to be fair) and just reading it theres so much information thats "wrong / not accurate" which just annoys me / looses faith in what im reading.

Not having a rant, as im sure many would disagree, but thats just my 2 cents.

I'll second this tbh

Also its really hit and miss weather i get mine think i had like 4 at the most last year, must find out when my renewal is, not really worth the money IMO any more, once youv seen 1 turbo 106 youv seen them all

[Eeyore]

All of the budget stuff is good. Would be good if there could be a few pages which are tutorials/guides just for a few cars. So a 306 guide or product review each month. I enjoy reading it but the amount of content is a bit lacking D: Also I find it amazing how they are short of subscribers cars yet so few are featured. I sent in some really good pics of mine which must be better than most the crap they get and never got a reply. Even when people are featured they still dont get a reply to emails :/

Did enjoy seeing my car on page 6/7 on the FCS page. Then again nearly all of the 306s in the country were pictured in that parade lap haha

[puglove]

All of the budget stuff is good. Would be good if there could be a few pages which are tutorials/guides just for a few cars. So a 306 guide or product review each month. I enjoy reading it but the amount of content is a bit lacking D: Also I find it amazing how they are short of subscribers cars yet so few are featured. I sent in some really good pics of mine which must be better than most the crap they get and never got a reply. Even when people are featured they still dont get a reply to emails :/

Did enjoy seeing my car on page 6/7 on the FCS page. Then again nearly all of the 306s in the country were pictured in that parade lap haha

They also wasnt interested in feturing my 6, (did get a reply though) but it seems to be full blown Modded cars with $100000000 spent or nothing , not intrested in small fetures with tidy examples with a few minor mods, seeing as this would beef up the mag a bit why not do it???

[Eeyore]

All of the budget stuff is good. Would be good if there could be a few pages which are tutorials/guides just for a few cars. So a 306 guide or product review each month. I enjoy reading it but the amount of content is a bit lacking D: Also I find it amazing how they are short of subscribers cars yet so few are featured. I sent in some really good pics of mine which must be better than most the crap they get and never got a reply. Even when people are featured they still dont get a reply to emails :/

Did enjoy seeing my car on page 6/7 on the FCS page. Then again nearly all of the 306s in the country were pictured in that parade lap haha

They also wasnt interested in feturing my 6, (did get a reply though) but it seems to be full blown Modded cars with $100000000 spent or nothing , not intrested in small fetures with tidy examples with a few minor mods, seeing as this would beef up the mag a bit why not do it???

exactly. Its so full of advertising. I actually found it hard to find much content. I didnt really like the 50 top cars as its pretty much all of the french cars you can think of D:

Also I am absolutely sick of reading about JPs diesel track car project. It was scrapped months ago! Just seems to be a plug for an extra page of content :/ I also dislike seeing his smug face in there every week even though I like him its a bit too much haha <3 JP!

You hardly ever see a project car by someone who isnt in the trade. Its always... we sprayed the car at work or a friend remapped it. Always makes me feel that theyve somehow had it a bit easier making a project car because they are on the inside and get mates rates and that if anyone else tried to make that car it would cost twice as much. Obviously thats the way things work but meh :/

Do the guys actually make a living off the magazine or is it just a hobby? I presume the later!

[darrenjlobb]

Every other page is a full page advert also, makes mag twice as thick as it really is!

[puglove]

All of the budget stuff is good. Would be good if there could be a few pages which are tutorials/guides just for a few cars. So a 306 guide or product review each month. I enjoy reading it but the amount of content is a bit lacking D: Also I find it amazing how they are short of subscribers cars yet so few are featured. I sent in some really good pics of mine which must be better than most the crap they get and never got a reply. Even when people are featured they still dont get a reply to emails :/

Did enjoy seeing my car on page 6/7 on the FCS page. Then again nearly all of the 306s in the country were pictured in that parade lap haha

They also wasnt interested in feturing my 6, (did get a reply though) but it seems to be full blown Modded cars with $100000000 spent or nothing , not intrested in small fetures with tidy examples with a few minor mods, seeing as this would beef up the mag a bit why not do it???

exactly. Its so full of advertising. I actually found it hard to find much content. I didnt really like the 50 top cars as its pretty much all of the french cars you can think of D:

Also I am absolutely sick of reading about JPs diesel track car project. It was scrapped months ago! Just seems to be a plug for an extra page of content :/ I also dislike seeing his smug face in there every week even though I like him its a bit too much haha <3 JP!

You hardly ever see a project car by someone who isnt in the trade. Its always... we sprayed the car at work or a friend remapped it. Always makes me feel that theyve somehow had it a bit easier making a project car because they are on the inside and get mates rates and that if anyone else tried to make that car it would cost twice as much. Obviously thats the way things work but meh :/

Do the guys actually make a living off the magazine or is it just a hobby? I presume the later!

Again totaly agree'd , i hope they read this and take it as some feed back, and yes im assuming that it isnt a full time job, hence the issue that ent feck all in there, as they aint got the time :/

[Ruan]

This is precisely why I don't buy this sort of magazine...

It's all about the culture around the car and the life and never really about the nitty gritty of the car... That's what I'm interested in - what problems were there, how did he make that exhaust manifold, why did he choose those injectors, what suspension parts have been adjusted... Sadly it's always just a list at the side of the feature which usually just says "1.6 TU engine, 400hp, GT30 turbo" - I could have told you that from just looking at it... There's never any PROPER information about engine tuning, not just which throttle bodies to buy, but what effect does ignition timing have on power output and why is too much a bad thing...

I'm buying the magazine because I'm interested, but I'm afraid to say that MOST of the featured car owners seem not to have a clue about their own cars, they've simply gone to a garage and asked for it to be done... Which is a great shame IMHO.

[Eeyore]

I think it looks great but just needs twice as much content. Maybe a few of us could write up some articles with event summaries, meet summaries etc. I cant see why they wouldnt print something if it was accurate and well written.

---

Also i lold at the competition to win a pipercross induction kit. 1st prize is the kit and then 4 runners up get just the filters D: Better than nothing but youve still got to buy the kit anyway!

[Niall]

I bought the last one to read on holiday. Was total rubbish really. Loads and loads of adverts and its mainly Renaults. Maybe if the editors and writers took more interest in clubs and meets, it could be more interesting and instead of doing write ups on cars where the owner just says "oh its a 400bhp 106 because my mum stole my aunts dog and i felt i needed a faster car to get away from all the arguments", they should actually do proper write ups on interesting cars and not just every other saxo with a body kit or boot build and a 1.1 with a induction kit on the original air box. Max power died for a reason....because its all shit. Lets not see this mag go the same way!

[Arron]

Would be good if every month they had a feature on all the different common french car engines, e.g1.1/1.4/VTS/VTR/GTI-6/XUD/HDI etc etc from the original spec, what are the common upgrades, approximately what power the internals are good for, it doesnt have to be 100% factual but even now people are still pushing these engines 10 years after production so a little write up on each would be a decent read imo, maybe a interview with a owner of each engine thats been pushed/uprated, why they chose that engine, what obstacles they had to overcome.

However i doubt a lot of folk would want to share the secrets of their home brews, and most features in the mag like you said ruan, cars been sent to garage to have done so the owner cant really tell you anything.

But overall mags not TOO bad imo but it doesn't really inspire me in the same way as reading folks threads on here. Remember they need to make the 'OMG SAXO TURBO WOWOWOW' teenager types part with their pocket money so glossy posters and picture porn are more important than in-depth spec, which they wont know anyway

[puglove]

This months fetures, tom/dick/harry have sent a car to pug1off/ecosse/pugperformance and this is what they built for them...................................................................... is how it goes

[306Brad]

True about the feature cars, I got my first car into the readers ride section with a half a page spread, 3 pictures and a spec sheet.

More outside the box/home made projects would be a good start though.

[Mrs puglove]

What ever happened to the RR day spread Scott????

The BHP of the 6 was wrong last month as well...epic fail

[306GT30]

Darren, coiuld i buy a few old magazines from you?

id be happy to pay for them and for postage etc..

please let me know, i cant subscripe since i dont have a creditcard ( thank god!!)

So if you want to sell your issues... please let me know

Paul

[ozonehostile]

306oc is all the french car reading il ever need

[darrenjlobb]

Darren, coiuld i buy a few old magazines from you?

id be happy to pay for them and for postage etc..

please let me know, i cant subscripe since i dont have a creditcard ( thank god!!)

So if you want to sell your issues... please let me know

Paul

Other than literally the last couple issues I dont have any others....I normally chuck them out..

[Matt]

I have a f*ck load of issue you can have, cover postage and they are yours, only taking up room now

[306GT30]

pmed matt

[cwspellowe]

Agree with all the above. My car was hinted at a feature when it was white, now its not even acknowledged. Personally think they need to think outside the box and get in touch with forums, read projects etc to see what makes a car unique.

This cover says it all. ''constella built''. Next month it will be ''ecosse one off'' followed by ''crazy pug performance 205''...

[declantg]

We need a magazine focused on reader cars and upcoming events, projects being done across the board.
This magazine lacks imagination now

[Alee83]

My car is in it too...

Sort of...

   

[darrenjlobb]

Wouldnt do any harm if "PFC" read this / replied...at least views would be noted then / changes made / suggestions etc...seems to just be post and forget!

[declantg]

More of a "remember to buy me"

[puglove]

they use a email adress to create the account maybe forward a link to that address?

[cwspellowe]

they use a email adress to create the account maybe forward a link to that address?

Their emails are banded around everywhere, mark's, davy's, readers' rides.. not hard to get hold of the emails, but whenever I email davy it takes weeks if not months to hear back.

At the end of the day, money talks, and as long as they have buyers they'll be successful as a magazine. Once everyone's subscriptions are up though it's going to be squeaky bum time.

We may be in a minority though, generally people may be happy with what they're given, I dunno.

[swampy]

Ill probably get a ban for this (it has being threatened on other forums)

But I'm going to say it anyway,

The main man Mark Dow founded the PGAC (used to be the biggest French car club in the uk), French car show started off life as the annual meet at Stanford hall I think the first one was, then a few select other clubs got invited then it grew in to FCS after about four years.

If you joined the club you were promised a glossy mag a few times etc but these soon disappeared and become downloads then stopped all togeather.

The PGAC died a death a few years ago, at about the same time French car msg left the shelves to be taken over my mark.
If that was because he didn't have time to run it a y longer I'm not sure, maybe it was down to his manner and the fact if you said something about one of his sponsors that he didn't like he went off on one I'm not sure.

I used to be events manager for the PGAC and in the two show seasons I was doing it we attended all the main shows and alot of regional shows getting the club name out there but I never got any thanks for it.

From day one I have said I doubt the magazine would survive more than a year it two, if one of the biggest publishing houses in the country can't make it work how does a policeman (maybe ex now) expect to make it pay??

I have always owned French cars for the last 15 years of driving but it just does not have the following or status of say the blue oval or vw scene, particualy with the lack if interesting new cars coming thru

Thanks it was nice to be here