Providing high-performance parts for vehicles powered by the Volkswagen flat-four is big business, with no shortage of suppliers in Europe or the US. One company with the right credentials and a thick catalogue of engine, brake and chassis components is Custom and Speed Parts (CSP), based in Bargteheide, near Hamburg, Germany.

Founded in 1987 by Peter Köhmann, CSP is well known to the VW cognoscenti, not least for its racing endeavors where it tests many of its parts made on its Haas CNC machine tools. The company's exquisitely crafted Type 34 Karmann Ghia VW powered dragster sits in the showroom entrance of its production facility, surrounded by plinth-mounted variants of the classic engine.

The company's heavily modified Type 34 holds the class record for the quarter mile at 8:85 seconds (156mph). Its 2165cc engine develops 500bhp, which is ten times what the standard car produces using the same size block and case. Almost all of the tuning, brake and suspension parts are made by CSP.

"This is our weekend obsession," says Peter. "Racing takes up a lot of time and money of course, but it's a great test-bed for CSP products and it attracts a lot of attention. We wanted the car to be as good as possible so our focus when we built it was on quality and finish just as much as performance. It was properly painted after its record-breaking run. The paint alone took 500 man-hours!"

The company's focus on quality isn't just about aesthetics. All of CSPs products are made to meet exacting German TÜV standards. "We're creating and selling parts to make classic VWs and Porsches go quicker than they were ever designed to go.

"So, we have to make sure everything we produce and sell is certified and tested to the highest standards. We want our customers to know they can take their vehicles on the autobahn and they will be safe. There are cheaper products available from Chinese factories, but I wouldn't trust them on German roads."

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