Hot Hatch built for Track abuse...
A modified Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG tailored for its owner, by its owner - with a hard life in mind
Meet Simon, a young Aussie bloke who, like many others, has slid down the slippery slope into the modified car scene. Now I definitely don’t mean that in a negative way and it was not like it was an unintentional slip. For Simon it was more like a 10-year-old running head first, full pelt, launching through the air for the backyard slip’n’slide – fully committed!
Simon’s attention was grabbed early on by the Import Scene and like many of us, he gave the JDM world a try for his first sports car. A Mitsubishi Gallant was chosen for the project car and he didn’t hold back. The build was fairly “mental” with every bolt-on and desired personal touch thrown at it to create a slightly rarer import-choice sports car. Complete with upgraded engine management system and bigger TD04 turbo, it was clear that Mr. Mahoney couldn’t leave things alone.
Five years down the track, Simon was ready for a change and began looking for another project. He landed another Mitsi and another AWD – the legendary Evolution 6.5! Instantly happy with the smaller chassis and nimble feeling of the Evo he still couldn’t help himself, and began to mod the Bee Gees out of it. Getting somewhat held up along the way, Simon realized it was actually a bit of a difficult car to own. At the time there weren’t many model-specific aftermarket parts available off the shelf and a lot of the knowledge people seemed to have on these cars wasn’t freely available.
Skip forward a few years and Simon found himself, quite suddenly, Medically Discharged from a 12-year career in the defence force. Simon loved his job and it took some real soul-searching and adjusting with the unexpected change. Intending to keep himself busy and fill the void his previous career-focus left gaping, he thought that there was no better option than to get the dish-liquid out and squirt a bunch on the slide! At this point of the “slope” Simon was exposed to the build quality of the European Market Cars by his girlfriend at the time. After coming out of a world of JDM, Mr. Mahoney found the Euro Scene refreshing and was romanced by the tactile details, rigid chassis and added layer of “form” as well as function.
Picking up speed, Simon began the hunt for a Euro he could put through the paces and lather in enough personal touch that Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb would be proud of. During the search, Simon decided he really wanted to have a more hands-on approach to the potential project, so he went to get some work experience with a mechanic. Whilst gaining the technical experience he knew he would need and working two jobs to help save the funds, he finally decided on the car of choice – the Mercedes A45 AMG hatch back!
Much less conservative to the stock options... Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
the rear wing adds "coolness...and possibly downforce Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
The shortlist came down to either the German-built Ford Focus RS or the A45, and although both are awesome cars in his opinion, the A45 seemed to shine a bit brighter after a few test drives. This cemented his decision and Simon located one for sale and purchased it off an older couple who had kept the car in perfect condition. Like his previous tuners, this was also another un-intentional AWD added to the list. Simon’s focus was always on RWD but for whatever reason, the AWD always ended up in the garage.
Vossen rims with a bit of an aggressive look Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
Straight off the bat, our slippery, sliding kid Mahoney had ideas for the car and wanted to create a casual track racer right away. Attending a couple of Hill Climbs with the car, this race environment locked-in the desire to get more involved. Here in South Australia, there is a well know Hill Climb event in the lovely wine region town of Willunga. Here he was won over with the community feel of the race and support-pool of the entrants. Everyone helped, advised and cheered each other on in the pits between rounds. Simon fell in love with the idea that he might be able to create a sports car that could compete in an event like this but also one he could jump into on the weekend and go down to the beach – possibly even use as a daily.
Deadly stance - but raised up a bit for daily convenience Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
With his thirst for knowledge unquenched, Mr. Mahoney began attending all the car meets he could, where he could pick the brains of the other petrol heads and experienced drivers. These meets have a plethora of inspiration, build ideas, perfect track set-ups and also lots of opinions! Filtering out what he needed from the hardcore enthusiasts, it brought more clarity to Simon’s goal – he definitely wanted to get more involved in the race/track scene.
Tagged for hard-work, built to be put through the paces Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
The track is where the bond and understanding of the A45 began to deepen. Simon headed to South Australia’s Mallala Motorsport Park north of Adelaide city. It was here that he really became in tune with the setup of the car, he began to realise its strengths and weaknesses and where his preferences lay. Mallala is a fairly tight, technical track but it is actually good for beginners as there are no really high-speed sections. The track-time highlighted a bit of an understeer issue but Simon was very impressed with the adaptive nature of the 4-Matic system and how he could powerslide when the power got sent to the rears. The stock turbo’s powerband was also a bit limited for Simon’s preference, seeing its best performance from 2.5k – 3.5k.
To remedy some of the shortfalls, Simon sourced a super light Lithiumax Restart 7 (2.5kg lithium battery) and a few other weight reductions were made in the front end, along with BC coil-overs which sorted some of the understeer. A bit more weight was directed to the back of the car with some added scaffolding - an AGI half cage, while a Forge motorsport strut brace, under brace and Whiteline sway bars help with twist and jiggle. The stock snail was sent to another garden and replaced with a GTX3071R set to 35psi to fix the powerband issues. Fresh air coming in via the Mishimoto intake and filter. Interestingly, the A45 doesn’t use an intercooling system for the forced induction; Mercedes opted to go for the high-tech air/water cooling over the traditional air/air setup to reduce lag and boost drop which is inherent in the extra piping of such systems.
Given that Simon does all the work on the Merc himself, the money he saves in labour can all go into top tier consumables, Motul fluids, DBA rotors and Forza race pads.
Mahoney has been constantly tweaking things to his liking including aero parts such Flow Design body kit, Maxton Design wing extension and vented carbon fibre bonnet. Mahoney also noticed that the rear factory diffusers created a bit of an air break/pocket and decided to form his own ABS plastic diffuser.
Now, Simon says put your hands on your head… and he also says he has almost got the hatchback to the perfect level he envisioned. The next few things he wants should finish it perfectly- the stock seats and 4 point Sparco harness would go, to enable a 5-point harnesses with bucket seats. He would swap out the Vossen rims to a size that would give more tyre choice and most importantly…more track time.
Still practical enough for some late-night shopping... Photography by Card1 Photos, Australia
To keep up with progress and see more of our man’s journey down the slip’n’slide, give him a follow here.
Here are a couple more mods in the mix for those interested:
Airtec extra add on cooler , Forge motorsport DSG Cooler , Mishimoto oil catch can , Turbosmart kompact recirculation valve , Turbosmart Oil feed filter , 3 inch double resonated exhaust with IPE wrapped downpipe , AEM Gauges: boost, air/fuel & voltage & HEL braided brake lines.
For similar content see the Card1 gallery or follow me here on Drivetribe
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Comments (14)
Nice article, always good to see a modded car, particularly one where the owners got his hands dirty.
If possible, would be nice to see how his track times have improved with subsequent mods.
Hi Ben, I will see if Simon has this data, it would be very interesting!
Simon it’s sick !!! Good on ya mate
Sick!
I'll have mine in red
Now this is the A45 I like in its true character!
Its got way more swag than stock, doesn't it?