Mike Gaze’s modified SEAT Leon
Norfolk: the home of carrot-crunching farmers, Bernard Matthews Turkeys and bloody great tractors. Thankfully for the East Anglian car scene though, there’s a Cupra R amongst the cornfields that’s helping to put them firmly back on the car culture map.
We first spotted Mike Gaze’s awesome SEAT Leon, boasting a lime green leather interior, static slammed over authentic Land Rover Wheels and dressed in VW Candy White, on the famous Fast Car forums.
We’ve since watched in awe as Mike has turned the once pigsty-spec Leon into a prime-roasted ride, all while using the nippy Spanish hatch as a humble daily hoot.
Miraculously, Mike has only had the Leon for just over a year as well, collecting the car from the far-away lights of London city in a stock, poorly state. “It was silver, keyed on most panels, a headlight was damaged, it had no splitter and the parcel shelf was missing,” so says Mike, looking sheepish for the Fast Car shoot.
The 23-year-old isn’t one for horsing around with his cars though, and Mike soon began putting his pre- hatched plans for the Cupra R into place.
The Leon’s body has been treated to sweet smoothing in various stages, with textbook inter-VAG touches like the Audi S3 strutbracer, VW boot popper and candy white paint, winning the SEAT some scene-friendly points. The rest of the exterior has been detailed with a blast of Gloss black for a classy but OeM-style look.
Inside, the mental Lime Green leather retrim really separates the wheat from the chaff, with the insanely impressive Evo 6 seats taking pride of place in the front of the cabin. “I believe I’m the first to have Evo seats in a Leon,” Mike reckons in a modest, non-pigheaded way.
And, when it came to those all-important wheels, the Norfolk lad just looked to his surroundings for inspiration. “I did look at Merc, BMW and Bentley wheels like most of the VAG boys do, but I wanted to have something that stood out,” he says, which in this case meant a stonking set of 8J, original land Rover wheels. After travelling 300 miles to pick them up though, Mike realised that actually fitting the buggers was going to be a monumental challenge.
But, instead of banging his head against the barn door, Mike ploughed on and set about ordering some 35mm custom studded adaptors to clear the henchman Brembo brakes while still being able to fit the genuine land Rover nuts to the wheels. Mike confirms: “Sourcing all the bits for the wheels and getting them here was a bit of a mission. I had to work a lot of things out myself and spent a fair bit of money, but it was totally worth it. The looks they get are mental.”
He’s not wrong: land Rover wheels on a VAG is a funny sight, but it’s the best pairing we’ve seen since Yeo Valley yogurt on cornflakes and makes for the corn on the cob of this slick, sweet, slammed Norfolk SEAT.
TECH SPEC SEAT LEON
TUNING
Drilled/smoothed airbox; polished charge pipe and inlet; Forge 007P diverter valve; Forge pipes; N249 Bypass; Scorpion decat; Blueflame cat-back exhaust; de-baffled charge pipe; Nomad boost pillar with Autogauge boost gauge; Race Diagnostics liquid gauge custom mounted in centre heater vent.
STYLING
Full respray in VW Candy White, smoothed boot with Leon solenoid and VW boot button; smoothed side repeaters; rear door handles; jacking points, towing eye cover and rub strips all round; front bumper opened up and meshed and numberplate plinth removed; gloss black roof, spoiler, grilles, wing mirrors and rear bumper valance; carbon door pillars; 6000k HID kit; LED lighting upgrade all round (sidelights, numberplate, interior).
CHASSIS
8×18-inch genuine Land Rover two-piece split alloys with genuine nuts and centre caps; polished lips and split bolts with gloss black centre caps, 35mm custom studded adaptors; AP coilovers; Audi S3 strutbrace, 215/35/18 tyres.
INTERIOR
Evo 6 Recaro front seats with painted white harness slots and plastic backs; door cards; gear lever;
handbrake and rear seats retrimmed in lime green.
AUDIO
Alpine iPod dock headunit; uprated door speakers.
