Old-school readers may remember Croydon Racing Development’s early ’90s exploitation of the Suzuki Swift GTi. What Croydon did with these little 1.3L screamers remains legendary to this day for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the power that was seen from such small-capacity engines was mind-blowing, with 400-odd horsepower being common in street cars, but there is also the fact that Croydon played such a major role in making the performance four-cylinder scene what it is today.

Of course, there were always Geminis and Escorts getting around as the hot fours of the day, but the GTi marked a hugely significant turning point in the tuning scene, with enthusiasts’ eyes opened up to a whole new world of late-model, high-tech modification. Croydon’s Jim Souvas was there from the start, and the research and development that he embarked on almost 20 years ago has mutated into one of Australia’s biggest and most advanced tuning houses to date.

It wasn’t always like this, though, with CRD starting out as Croydon Autosports in the Sydney suburb of, surprise surprise, Croydon. After turning out some of the scene’s most original and revolutionary project cars, demand dictated an expansion into their Five Dock workshop. It wasn’t long after this that a partnership was formed with Racing Emotion – a one-stop-shop for late-model Japanese car freaks.

Just one look at the current premises at 9 Blaxland St Silverwater is enough to realise these guys must be good at what they do, and are here to stay. Despite the move to Silverwater, the new name is Croydon Racing Developments. Things have also come a long way as far as cars commonly found in the workshop go, with Nissans taking up most of the space. You could say this is a good representation of today’s performance scene, with imports being the best bang-for-buck option around. To accommodate this, CRD has developed a bond with Japan’s JUN Auto, bringing world-class engines and parts to our shores.

Screwing together some of Australia's toughest RB26s and SR20s is only part of the service, though, with CRD widely respected for its aftermarket ECU tuning prowess

A number of engine combinations are available using these parts, depending on the application, from big-power street engines to all-out drag motors, all assembled in CRD’s engine-building room. Some of the results of Croydon’s work can be seen in the Autostyle R32. The current Autosalon dyno comp leader, it puts a staggering 619kW down at all four wheels!

Screwing together some of Australia’s toughest RB26s and SR20s is only part of the service, though, with CRD widely respected for its aftermarket ECU tuning prowess, including a rather impressive reputation for getting the most out of A’PEXi Power FC computers using the in-house 4WDDyno Dynamics dynamometer. As part of its current workshop, Croydon Racing Developments boasts a large showroom, carrying a massive range of products like Work, Volk and Lowenhart wheels, MoTeC, Power FC and UniChip ECUs to JUN Auto Mechanic cranks, pistons and cams.

Backing up its reputation is a long list of racing achievements, with the legendary GTR700 R33 GT-R and ‘DEVLSH’ S14 Silvia drag cars leading the charge. Both cars are due to head back onto the strip very shortly to continue the assault on the Australian and world drag stage. As it stands, GTR700 is the fastest GT-R outside of Japan, and the third-fastest GT-R in the world. DEVLSH is certainly no lightweight either, being the fastest 200SX in the world. CRD’s own FWD drag warrior, the ‘MRDMGE’ EG Civic, also looks set to make a long-awaited return to the track.

CRD’s involvement in production car racing has also been highly successful, tuning a number of cars for GT-P racing including Gary Holt’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII.

From humble beginnings, it’s safe to say Jim and the Croydon team are right up there as one of the most prominent workshops for the tuning of performance vehicles outside of Japan, in the world. Be sure to keep an eye on the drag strip as well as these pages for more wild cars and engines from CRD’s secret underground lair.

Photos & Content courtesy of Zoom magazine.

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