M-Developments Ltd

BACK WITH A BANG: RUAPUNA ROUND 2

Warren and Mike made their return to the 2026 season this weekend, and they certainly didn’t ease themselves back in.

P1 for Warren. P2 for Mike. A pretty solid way to make your comeback!

Warren took the One Hour Class 4/5 win — despite a new knee and a door skin being sacrificed after an altercation with an 86!

Mike was right there with him, driving a great race to secure 2nd and make a very strong return to the series.

The crew also absolutely nailed both pit stops, timing the change to wet tyres perfectly as the heavens opened. Great calls and great ex*****on when the conditions turned.

Unfortunately, the success didn’t continue into the One Hour Class 1, 2 & 3 race.

We lost James in the R8 during Friday practice with a gearbox issue. It wasn’t worth the chance of starting the race and potentially causing more damage, so we made the call to sit this one out.

Barry was also battling a traction control issue throughout the race, which meant the car wasn’t quite feeling its best. Despite that, he still brought it home 4th in class and inside the top 10 overall.

The work starts tomorrow. A few cars to repair, a few things to fine-tune and then we’ll be ready to head south for Round 3.

A massive thank you to our sponsor LIQUI MOLY New Zealand for your continued support, and to our entire M Developments crew.

🏁 P1 & P2 on the comeback. Not bad 😉

Bring on Teretonga.

📸: Richard Opie

🏁 ROUND 2 🏁

We’re back! This weekend the M Developments crew are heading to Ruapuna for Round 2 of the South Island Endurance Series and this time we’ve got the full team back on track!

Barry and James are back behind the wheel of the VW Golf and Audi R8, ready to get stuck into another round of endurance racing.

And to complete the TCR trio, we’ve got Mike in the VW Golf and Warren in the Audi RS3 LMS.

Everyone is keen to get back on track, and with more cars on the grid this weekend, the competition is heating up! 💪

Let’s go! 🏁🔥

Liqui-Moly New Zealand

Round 1 of the South Island Endurance Series done at Levels Raceway 🏁

It was an early start at the track on Friday, and just as well, after a couple of practice sessions we discovered a gear-shifting issue in Barry’s Golf TCR and James’s Audi R8 had a throttle valve failure.

Cue a two-hour round trip south to “borrow” a gear shifter from Warren (thanks mate!), followed by a late night getting everything back together on both cars.

The R8 ran faultlessly on Saturday to cross the finish line!

Things weren’t as straight forward for Barry with a long brake pedal issue and an engine fault that he had to manage for the full hour. Barry made the call to start the race from the back of the grid after Friday’s dramas, keeping out of trouble but fought his way through to 6th overall and 2nd in Class 3 — a pretty solid result considering where he started.

Huge thanks to our main sponsor Liqui-Moly New Zealand for their continued support. To our crew and drivers for once again putting in all the effort, thanks team!

The boys are already getting the cars prepped for Ruapuna in two weeks, where Mike and his VW Golf TCR and Warren with his Audi TCR will join the crew. Looking forward to a big weekend! 🔧🏁

📸: Richard Opie

Livestream today, remember to only use the link at South Island Endurance Series or The Pits TV.

This Saturday 19th September, the team head to Levels Raceway, Timaru for Round 1 of the 2026 South Island Endurance Series.

Sticking with the 2 x 1 hour Endurance races which feature Class 4 & 5 and the Class 1,2 and 3, this is a test of both man and his machine! This year also features 3 x 30 min teams races.

Get along and support the crews, the track and of course the event.

If you cannot get yourself to the track, you can follow the racing all day via The Pits TV YouTube channel.

Head to https://www.youtube.com/ then be sure to Subscribe to the channel to know when we are going live or click on the link below for direct access. If you know of someone that may want to watch it that's not on Facebook, share the link to them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfYbZLZEB6c

🏁 AND JUST LIKE THAT… RACE SEASON IS BACK! 🏁

How does it come around so bloody quickly?! 😂 It feels like we only just packed the race car away and here we are again…

This weekend we’re heading to Levels Raceway in Timaru for Round 1 of the South Island Endurance Series 🔥

The TCR has had a little tune-up over the off-season 🔧💪 and this year it’s stepping up to compete in Class 3, so we’re keen to see how it goes!

The sun is shining ☀️, the car is ready, and we’re bloody stoked to be getting back out on track! 🏎️💨

AUDI S8 4.0 TFSI – APPROACHING 700HP!!

This 2012 Audi S8 came to us initially for routine service work, where our technicians identified a coolant leak in the engine valley – a common issue on the 4.0T platform. After carrying out the necessary repairs through our workshop, we moved the vehicle onto our Mainline Hub Dyno to establish a baseline.

In standard form the S8 produced figures very close to Audi’s factory claims. During testing on the stock tune we also noted some individual cylinder timing re**rd, something we see on these engines when spark plugs are beginning to age.

With the vehicle mechanically sorted, we carried out our Stage 2 package consisting of:

✔ Modified factory downpipes
✔ New spark plugs at our recommended heat range
✔ Custom dyno-developed ECU calibration

The results were impressive:

Standard hub power:
• 483Hp
• 627Nm

M Developments Stage 2 hub power:
• 611.7hp
• 850.8Nm

Even more pleasing than the power gain was seeing the timing re**rd completely eliminated despite the significant increase in output.

As these figures are measured directly at all four hubs, they equate to approximately 700hp and 950Nm at the engine, transforming what was already a very capable luxury sedan into something genuinely crushing on the road.

A great example of why mechanical condition should always come before performance tuning.

For bookings and enquiries:
📞 03 442 424
📧 [email protected]
📍 129 Glenda Drive, Queenstown

I mean, he said a lot more 😂 but it was tough to fit on one page. Cheers Jonny for always being a champ, trusting our advice and choosing us to do the cool s**t on your cars! 👊🏼

CUSTOM TUNE VS OFF-THE-SHELF TUNE – IS THERE REALLY A DIFFERENCE?

We had the opportunity to evaluate a Mk7.5 Golf R on our Mainline ProHub Dyno to compare three different calibrations on the same vehicle.

All figures shown below are measured at the hubs.

🔵 Standard
⚡ 286.8hp
🔧 389.9Nm

🟡 Existing Stage 1 Calibration(unknown brand)
⚡ 306.6hp
🔧 456.1Nm

⚪ M Developmens Custom ECU & DSG Tune
⚡ 334.3hp
🔧 517.4Nm

While an off-the-shelf calibration can provide a worthwhile improvement over standard, no two vehicles are exactly the same. Fuel quality, vehicle condition, manufacturing tolerances and supporting modifications can all influence the final result.

Rather than simply loading a file and sending the vehicle out the door, our custom tuning process allows us to evaluate the individual vehicle and optimise both the ECU and DSG calibration based on what the vehicle actually wants.

The result in this case was an additional:

📈 +27.7hp
📈 +61.3Nm

over the existing Stage 1 calibration.

Peak figures only tell part of the story. The shape of the power and torque curves, drivability and consistency are equally important when developing a calibration.

Interested in finding out what your vehicle is capable of?

📞 03 441 4244
📧 [email protected]
📍 129 Glenda Drive, Queenstown

2014 Audi SQ5 in for a health check and tune.

Baseline figures came in at 280hp / 585Nm at the hubs — right on expected stock power once driveline loss is factored in.

Initial tuned results produced 310hp / 635Nm at the hubs, however EGTs were creeping a little higher than we were happy with in the midrange. We revised the calibration slightly to bring midrange load back under control and settled on a safer final result of:

311hp / 625Nm at hubs ⚙️
350hp / 700Nm at engine 💪

We suspect the DPF is no longer flowing quite as efficiently as it once did, contributing to the elevated EGTs.

This is exactly where the benefit of a proper custom tune comes in — calibrating the vehicle to suit the condition and behaviour of that specific car, rather than simply flashing in a generic file and hoping for the best.

Still a strong and healthy gain in both power and torque while keeping things safe and reliable 👌

📊 Dyno: Mainline ProHub 4600
📞 Book now: 03 441 4244
📧 Email: [email protected]
📍 Visit us: 129 Glenda Drive, Queenstown

End of an era at M Developments 💔

After almost 11 years with us, we’re saying goodbye to Brady - our first-ever apprentice, now one of the most skilled technicians and fabricators you could ask for.

Second only to Barry in length of service, Brady has been a constant through the growth of M Developments. From day one to now, he’s been all in.

Now he and Tayla are off to their next chapter, heading south to be on the family farm.

We’re incredibly proud of him, grateful for everything he’s given this place, and yeah… we’re going to miss him a lot.

Thanks for everything, mate, it won’t be the same without you. 👊