A look back, many years ago... Charm City VW

Back in the stone ages of 56k modems, showroom fresh Mk3 GTIs and tiny, tiny pictures, Blaksquirrel and I had (or should I say he had) a little website called Charm City VW. We even had stickers made up and everything. (and still have some left! I'm gonna rock one on the Mk3 at H2O) Josh was the man behind all the work, and probably about 90% of the pics, but I did contribute slightly. It's pretty hilarious to look back on it now...not only to see the sort of cars and mods that everyone was rocking (Jamex, hahahahahaaa) I recall that we were pretty much all about Performance VW, and to a lesser extent, The Golf, and it certainly shows with the content and sort of "angle" of the whole deal. I am proud to say that we had a pretty good look going on in general though, especially with Sean's Cabrio, Josh's GTi and my Rabbit GTI...

It really brought back some memories of hanging out at Loch Raven resevoir before it became overrun with idiots doing burn outs, and bigger idiots on street bikes doing wheelies with tons of familes around. I always felt a little guilty that what started as Josh, myself, Paul, Arlo, Jaime, Sean, Todd, Jared, Joey, and a few others, turned into this big unruly mob of people doing stuff that made it hard for everyone else to enjoy the area there by the water. I think when it started getting really out of hand was when Nudespeed (ha) started posting about it, and with VW Vortex becoming more popular, it was becoming easier to find like-minded people for get togethers. I haven't been there on a Sunday afternoon since 2004....I wonder if people still go there? Probably not.

Luckily Josh archived the whole site, and when I was over at his place a couple weeks back I had him dust it off and upload it to his server, so look around and enjoy! Be sure to check out the archives as well as the Loch Raven pics...and the show coverage was pretty awesome too if I don't say myself. Check out all the 90s style! Heheh. I'm glad we still have all that stuff kicking around. Hard to believe it was only 12-13 years ago...it certainly seems like things have changed leaps and bounds since then. 60mm was a huge drop, coilovers were unheard of (I imported some H&R coils from the UK for Waterfest '99 and that seriously impressed the judges (like wow...Coilovers, on a Mk1??) and engine swaps were something to get worked up about. Ah yes, the good old days....

Charm City VW

_WRS

Jason's dreams in a picture

So Jason emailed me this picture as an idea of where he wants to go with his new Fox project. I like it. In fact I think this is the only kind of car I could honestly agree with running air ride on. It's old, it's never going to be all that fast, and it's probably not going to be driven very often, so big deal if the alignment is out of spec or it only looks good sitting still.

Yeah, that car is pretty damn dope. I could get behind an air ride Fox. Not air ride anything else, but the Fox makes it happen. Jason: Stop reading this and get to work!

_WRS

Honda K20 powered VW Caddy - Sacrebleu!

Back in the day, when having over 150hp was something to brag about, the Honda reined supreme over the majority of the import tuning scene. Sure there was the VR6, but it was expensive and fairly rare. The G60 was around, but of course it was also expensive, as were the VW Corrados in which they still resided. An engine swap was out of the budget, and 99% of the people around didn't have the skills or knowledge to pull it off in the first place. Yes, back in 1994,a VR6 swapped Mk2 was something to drool over...and to show those Hondas who was boss!

It was a real war back then between the two camps, usually with the argument that VW's had torque, Hondas had horsepower, and the "other guys" car was a piece of junk, naturally. No VW-head worth their BBS wheels would ever dream of swapping a H-word engine under the hood. Most probably wouldn't even be caught dead test driving a Honda or Acura. Which is a shame, because the old D-series and B-Series engines were really well designed, really powerful engines, especially considering their displacement. I'll go ahead and say it: The most impressive naturally aspirated cars I have ever dyno'd have been of the B16 / B18 variety. I mean let's face it, 185whp out of a 1.8L engine is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it revs effortlessly to 9,000rpm and is sitting in a 2000lb Civic hatchback. It's enough to make a dyed in the wool VW person like myself green with envy.

These days though, the line is blurred. A lot of the older Volkswagen people have moved on in life, forgetting the beliefs they were once so passionate about. At the same time, a lot of guys raised on Honda and Acura decided to try out the European car scene, noted for its generally more laid back vibe and friendly people, so you don't really see the hate you used to, and personally I think that's a good think. Believe it or not, I follow a couple of drift / import blogs pretty regularly, and one of my favorites is Risky Devil, a car club / crew / scene over in Chicago. Probably one of the reasons I like it is the style of photography...lots of night shots, and the fact these guys really beat on their cars and drive them, just like a car is supposed to be treated.

So anyways, it's pretty rare to see anything other than a BMW over there, European car wise. Much to my surprise I spotted a rather tasty looking VW Caddy on their post earlier today. Not only that but...what engine is that under the hood? It looks like...a....Honda....K-Series? WTF? Rounding out the Asian-flavored Pickup are a set of Work Equip 03 wheels. Surely this is some sort of sick joke? But at the same time...it's a nice example of a well done, ratty Caddy. Badgeless grill, eyebrow, duckbill spoiler, and a nice low stance. And why not do the Honda engine? Like I said, the world is a smaller place these days. People don't have the same ideas about division and brand loyalty between Asian, European, and American car scenes that they used to. Sure some kitted-up show piece that can barely move under it's own power will always draw derision from the guys who actually drive their cars, but aside from that? It seems like people are able to accept a cool car for being a cool car, rather than only seeing the make. I think it shows that as a scene everyone has moved on, and the world is better for it.


Special thanks to ILL Photography x Risky Devil for the pics.

_WRS

P.S. - I don't want anyone to think I'm giving up on Save the 8v™ - I don't count Caddys. Don't ask me why, I just don't.

Video Post: The best period correct Group B clips you'll ever see

So I've never made a secret of the fact that Group B rally cars are a bit of a passion of mine. The sheer insanity of the whole thing just grabs you and never lets go. The anger in the sound of the engines from Audi, Peugeot and Lancia, the charisma of talented drivers like Tony Pond, Walter Rohlr, Ari Vatanen, Juha Kankkunen and many others, all of it combined is like the best dish at the best restaurant in town. I personally can never get enough of it.

So it goes without saying that I've done more than my fair share of searching on Youtube for Group B videos. More often than not they end up being inconsistent at best, and with Euro-trash disco pop as background music at worst. Anyways, my personal favorite is a selection of edits from way back when. The coolest thing about these videos is that they are not just about the cars. It shows the environment in which they performed. It shows the fans that came out in droves to support their favorite team or driver. It combines background music of the era, with good edits and a wide range of shots. It is, in my opinion, probably the closest you could get to actually being there, because the car footage alone is one thing, but if you were there you'd have seen the rest. The fans, the kids, the beautiful women of Portugal, support vehicles, the beautiful landscapes. All is here for your enjoyment.

And so, enjoy the show. There are seven videos here, but many are just a few minutes long so don't be intimidated. My own personal favorites are numbers two and five, but feel free to form your own opinions.

_WRS

Video 1



Video 2



Video 3



Video 4



Video 5


Video 6



Video 7

Spotted in NYC: SLAMMED B5 A4

Walking back from the train last night, I stumbled (not literally) upon this slammed Audi A4.

Pretty classic of the NYC style, as Blaksquirrel and I call it. Obviously a city car, some wear and tear on the edges, but slammed to the ground with some sort of wheels. The NYC Audi is a close cousin of the NYC 3-Series, which is usually even lower, with larger wheels, but also tends to be a bit more rough and tumble. Next time I see one I'll take a snap to show what I mean.

_WRS

I may have just died and gone to heaven.

I don't have much to say about this, other than WOW. I have often, very recently in fact, lamented that so much of the classic sportscar racing of our times has occurred pre-internet. The Porsche 956, 962, 935's and what not are fairly abundant in still pictures, or perhaps highlighted in Le Mans coverage. Usually finding those highlights means sifting through seemingly endless links on youtube, half of which have poor video quality, poor audio, or both. Toyota, Jaguar, Nissan, Mazda. Brands that used to have a huge commitment to real motorsport. (I don't count F1, sorry folks)

Well apparently I wasn't alone in wishing there was more of this stuff to go around...the real racing footage I mean, from Daytona in the 80's and 90's, from Laguna, Sebring, Lime Rock; all of the classic USA tracks. As I was listening to Radio Le Mans' Midweek Motorsport show, Marshall Pruett made a mention of his brand new website, www.grandtouringprototype.com. A site all about IMSA, sports prototypes, and the classic race battles featuring the names and cars of a bygone era. And what a site it is! We're not talking about 10 minute clips. We're not talking about a few bits of info, we're talking about full features. Hours and hours of video content and more, all direct from the vault of IMSA. (granted, it's a video vault, so there are SOME quality problems, but it's nothing too crazy) Once again, all I can say is wow, and that I'll be busy for the next, oh, 10 years with all the great content on the site.

GTP: 1989 Portland IMSA GTP Race Broadcast from GrandTouringPrototype.com on Vimeo.

For example, this 1989 clip from Portland. It's a full hour and a half of coverage! Amazing. I know I for one will be keeping a very keen eye on Marshall's site, and may put in a request for some Audi 90 Quattro coverage if he has it...granted it's GTO and not GTP, but I'll be sure to post up if it's available. I take no responsibility for any missed dates, being late to work, or anything else that may happen when you become engrossed in the content.

_WRS

Introducing....Crazy like the Fox!

We're full of bad ideas here at Der Wolfsburg Rennsport. I would like to think that our bad ideas pale in comparison with those of some of the people we (I) associate with. Mainly, my good friend Mr. Jason Mingle. Jason is actually full of awesomely bad ideas, which is to say, ideas so insane in their scope, and with so many potential obstacles to overcome, should they become finished they would be, in a word, Awesome. This Audi Fox is one of those ideas.

This nearly all original is a classic in terms of "barn finds" or whatever you want to call them. Family owns farm, uncle owns Audi. Uncle parks Audi at farm, intending to "come back and get it later" and ultimately never does. Car sits, some nut job (Mingle, and I mean that in a nice way) hears about it, goes to see, ends up buying it. "It ran when they parked it..." and so it goes.

What we have here is a quite rare, 1973 Audi Fox. 4-speed manual, 1.5 8v engine, brown paint, tan interior, all classic. 1973 was the very first year for the Audi Fox in America, and as such it's the first water-cooled FWD 8v VAG product sold here in the USA. (I think?) At any rate, it definitely looks like it's been sitting for a number of years, as judged from the undergrowth, and probably facing north, judging from the amount of moss on the exterior. (or is that algae?)

The interior, while dirty, is actually in fairly good condition, as is the engine bay and front half of the car. It's been saved by a healthy coating of the engine oil that has found its way past the bottom end seals and spread like a black, buttery preservative.

The rest of the car's underbody? Well, let's just say that Mingle is going to need a tetanus shot and some sheet metal to bring this puppy back to life. That said, with a little bit of hard work on the suspension and wheels, perhaps a little tune up on the engine (it is an 8v after all - Save the 8v™) and some general love, it should be quite the looker.

So there it is, the very newest, very oldest, and probably coolest WRS project to date. Unlike Scirocco Madness, this one will have a wrench turned on it by the end of the year, and with the Mingler's taste in cars (low, lower and lowest) you can bet this Fox will be sitting pretty (but preserved) come spring time. Hopefully we'll be getting Jason an official sign on here sooner or later, and he can add some color commentary as it occurs. After all, anyone as dedicated as this deserves to be on the team. Save the 8v™ indeed.

_WRS

Video Post: 962 helmet cam - Hotchkis Racing

Axis of Oversteer, a fine blog about fine motorsport-ish awesome things, posted this video today, and I had to share. Hotchkis Racing. Original owners of this fine Porsche, 962, in car video, modern camera, video quality and sound. Helmet Cam. Laguna Seca. Rolex Historic Series. Does it get any better than this? Not often my friends, not often.

GTP: Hotchkis Porsche 962 In-Car, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca from GrandTouringPrototype.com on Vimeo.

_WRS

Video Post: Wagenwerks Worthersee Tour 2009 Teaser

This video has been up for almost a month. I'm not sure how I missed this on the forums; it's pretty bad ass. The guys from Wagenwerks have a teaser trailer for their Worthersee Tour 2009 video, and it certainly looks like it's worth checking out when they release it. Cool soundtrack, clean video, nice editing, awesome VWs. What more could you ask for?

Worthersee Tour 2009 Teaser from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

Perhaps you could ask for a bigger video. Yah? Thought so. Check it out over at Vimeo.

_WRS

Spotted in NYC: Mk4 Jetta

As I was strolling home to the humble abode that serves as the Wolfsburg RS headquarters I spotted this fine specimen, and was inclined to take a pic. This is pretty representative of a proper street-going VW here in the big city.

There are a surprisingly large number of modified VW's here, and very few people make consessions for the sometimes war-like condition of the roads by keeping their cars modest. This Jetta isn't slammed, but it's got a nice balanced look, and stands out like a priest at a porn convention compare to the average run-of-the-mill cars it was sitting between.

I love the art of the daily driver, because for me that's what it's all about. Actually driving and enjoying your car, because it does little good sitting in a garage or under a cover for its whole life. I was never very good at keeping cars show clean, and I drive my cars too much to worry about stone chips and the like...it's always good to see another like-minded person out there.

_WRS

Save the 8v™ - Let's make this thing official

I may be going a bit overboard on this, but the way I figure it, why not? Today begins the Save the 8v™ campaign

Why bother right? The 8v engine from VW receives a lot of hate these days. With the VR6 being the faster option for almost two decades now, not to mention the 20v head and brand-new 16v FSi and TSi motors, there seems to be little reason to stick with an 8v motor. That's because I honestly don't think people have the dedication to build a quick 8v car. When done right, they can be fun, fairly quick, and surprise quite a few "faster" cars. It breaks my heart a little every time someone uncermeonously dumps the JH motor from their Mk1 GTI without first considering what a fully worked 2.0 8v can do.

With a nice choppy cam, some head work and some fine tuning of timing, fuel and idle can net some serious gains, and 130whp+ in a 2000lb car is nothing to sneeze at. My ABA based CIS fueled 8v topped out at 124whp, and that was with a too-small exhaust and without playing around with cam timing, or fitting a bigger cam. (276 Schrick, I would have liked to try a 288) I surprised many a worked VR6 in my day with my old Mk1, and not just off the line. Boxsters, etc...generally I could walk them or at least stick with them until aerodynamics became a factor, and that wasn't until well into 5th gear,

Anyways, the whole point of this for me is to have a little bit of fun and to provide us die-hard 8v underdog types a means to show a little pride. Not just 8v motors either, but CIS as well. People give it a bum rap, but it's a solid and really quite simple and reliable bit of kit. If it was good enough for Porsche to use on 911 Turbo models up until 1993, it's good enough to power any VW motor on which it was originally equipped. You can bet Scirocco Madness will be getting this treatment for sure. So...anyone love / hate the font?

_WRS

Coming soon: stuff

So I was speaking with my buddy Arno over at Baak2Basics, who just got a vinyl sticker machine / cutting / thingy, and so I'm going to embark on the very first WRS Product. It's a sticker that will raise awareness for an important issue that touches each and every VW owner, whether old or young, man, woman or child, new school or old school:

Save the 8v™!

Our precious 8v resources have been abused too long, and they need our help. When we here at the WRS begin our Save the 8v™ campaign you will be sure that all proceeds will be going towards a needy 8v engine. Every sticker displayed will bring us that much closer to ensuring VW fans for generations to come will know and enjoy the classic 8v engine and all its glory.

Remember, only you can prevent engine swaps™

_WRS

Pic post: Swedish Mk1 GTI

I've got mixed feelings about yellow cars. Call it a love / hate relationship, whatever you want, but I just don't like very many of them. Too bright for their own good, attracting too much attention to their flaws and more than a few stares from Johnny Law. That said, when I do find one that I find pleasing to the optic nerves, I'm usually head over heals in love. That's the case with this amazing Mk1 GTI from Sweden.

It's incredibly clean, it's powered by a CIS 8v (hell yes, save the 8v™!) and I don't even mind the uber-contrasty blue wheels / blue grill trim theme. Then again VW Motorsport used to use the blue trim on their builds, so it does have its place on a motorsport inspired build. Damn. This car is awesome.


I think this beautiful car, with these beautiful shots is the perfect way to start the weekend.

_WRS

Mk2 / S2 drivetrain swap, done right

Although I may not have the resources to make it happen, there are those who have done successful Audi Quattro / VW chassis drivetrain swaps. I happened to find this rather lengthy and informative thread over in the S2 Forums. Thanks to this particularly well documented build, it is clear that a very large amount of work is needed to make a project of this scope come together the right way, and not some hacked together jigsaw puzzle conversion.

As the owner says, it's pretty much an Audi S2 with a Mk2 GTI shell and steering column. Everything else has been swapped over and upgraded. That, my friends, is a lot of work. Not the uprights, not the suspension, not the steering, not the brakes, not the axles. None of those things are VW based anymore. The radiator and related parts have all been sent to the rear, fed by NACA ducts located on the sides and top of the car. It's all very well done, it's clean, and it looks like, well, a proper race car. I mentioned to my buddy Jason that to do a 5-cylinder swap in the Scirocco we'd probably have an easier time of things building a tube frame and then fitting a Scirocco shaped shell around it. This car pretty much prooves that theory 100%.

What we can see this adds up to is a very strong performer on the road. (uptight-job-having NSFW type language from the passenger in this video, FYI)



Damn impressive. I don't have much else to add except, this makes me even more inclined to figure out how to make it work...or at least something like it. I have a bunch of 4-cylinder stuff already lined up for Scirocco Madness, so I doubt I'll be going down this road though. Logic when thinking about project cars? I must be getting old. Tons more pictures and info available on the thread don't forget!

_WRS

Continuing the theme: Audi 200 Trans Am

As is it is with a lot of things in life, when I get some idea into my head, whether it's related to cars, bikes, music, whatever, there is a tendency to become fixated on it. I don't really know if this is a good or a bad thing really...I'm sure it's productive in some way, and I learn a lot about whatever it is I'm obsessed with, but it's a bit of a let down when the idea fades away without anything coming to fruition.

Since the somewhat obvious revelation that Audi 5-cylinder turbo motors are awesome, I have been somewhat obsessed with the idea of acquiring one and putting it someplace it doesn't belong. No not my apartment, as if there was room to turn around in let alone work on an engine....something more hatchback and VW shaped. Namely, Scirocco Madness. Now sure. This is not the smartest nor most realistic of goals. You can probably count the number of swapped longitudinal Audi-powered VW's on one hand. As I was mulling over these possibilities with Robert, he kindly reminded me that although it would be very cool, it would require an extrodinarily large amount of time, resources, money, and space. What of those things do I posses in excess? None of the above. So it may be back to the drawing board for my pipe dreams, but I may have finally decided that forced induction isn't all bad.

Anyways, I was doing some of my searching for info and pictures about the Audi Trans Am efforts, and stumbled upon this listing over at The Auto Collections in Las Vegas. For those who don't know, they do a lot of buying and selling of rare cars. Mainly super rare, super old cars, but they occasionally have some cool race cars as well. They've sold some old Group B Metro 6R4's, some Audi's, and apparently this 1988 Audi 200 Trans Am, number 44. (Auto Collections also handily takes a number of pictures of the cars in their inventory, so they have some pretty nice images to drool over)

That would be the car that Hurley Haywood drove straight to the driver's championship that year. The price, as it says, was "make an offer." I don't think that meant they were looking for low-baller tire kickers, but rather the other end of the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" type of make an offer.


They must have sold it, although I couldn't find it under the sold cars listing, and it's not currently listed under the for sale section either. I found some photos of the car from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, so at the very least it made its way over to merry olde England a few months ago. Who owns it? Who knows...maybe Audi had second thoughts and bought it back? Audi Motorsports Museum? Let's hope so. After all, a car of this caliber and quality deserves to be kept in tip top shape for as long as we have dead dinosaurs to stuff into the tank.

So what will be the motive power for Scirocco Madness? Well I still don't know, and considering that it is still snugly squashed between a building and 5 immobile VW wrecks, it may be a while until that is even worth thinking about, but hey, it never hurts to dream right? I can safely say that after looking at build threads for other 5-cylinder and Quattro drivetrain swaps, and looking at sheer size of the Audi 200, it's a long shot beyond long shots. I guess in the meantime it's time to start obsessing over something more logical, like vintage aluminum wheel covers for use on ze Madness (as seen on this Audi 200) from BBS...that makes more sense, right?

_WRS

Video Post: Audi Turbo Insanity

So I was over on oneighturbo.com and was reminded that I do in fact like Audis. I just don't like a lot of the more modern ones, but back in the 80's, man did they have it right. Is there a better sound than a huge horsepower, high-boost turbo 5-cylinder ripping along at 8,000 RPM? Probably not.

Case in point: The 100 yearsof Audi at the Donauring video. It reminded me of two things. One, Walter Röhrl is probably top three, if not the best driver alive, two, how can you not be impressed with the old Ur Quattro and the Trans Am racers of the 80's. Man. I get chills just thinking about it. I was thirdly reminded of a video I favoritie'd over on youtube years ago, and go back and watch occasionally just because it's awesome. It doesn't matter how many times you see Walter Röhrl sliding the short wheelbase Sport Quattro through the curves, just inches from the lunatic Group B fans who are spilling into the road, (1:20 in) it reminds you of what skill it takes to be a real race car driver.



No traction control. No ABS. No sequential transmissions. None of the driver aids upon which everyone is so reliant on these days. There is also no cheesy dance music, just pure unadulterated angry Audi bliss. By the way, I happen to know why the Audi 5-cylinder sounds so incredible. Thanks to the notes which the Audi straight five produces, it's essentially the same exact sound that you get from playing a heavy power chord on an electric guitar with the 3rd added in. To give you an idea of what the hell I'm talking about, check out this song called Avon by Queens of the Stone Age. Listen to the guitar tone on the main chord progression which starts at 27 seconds in.



If there was a song equivalent to an Ur Quattro going flat out at Portugal in the 1985, Avon is it. It's got the heavy riff with the aggressive, but musical chords. It has the explosive drum track, with the heavy snare hits are equal to the anti-lag popping off at every shift and change in throttle position. Loud, in your face, sounding like it might take your head off, but ultimately seducing you with the harmony.

Where was I? Oh yeah...how I actually do love Audi cars. The other favorite is the IMSA Audi 90 GTO. It was basically the engine from the S1 Quattro rally car, making even more power, something stupid-crazy like 720 or so, in a wide, wide, insanely wide Audi 90 silhouette. (Tube frame chassis though) Speedhunters did a really solid write-up on this car back in May. Worth reading, as I say... You want pure unadulterated insanity? Check out the in-car clip with Hurley Haywood behind the wheel of the slightly less powerful, (510hp) but similar Audi 200 in 1988:



And one of the GTO in 2008...



...and another of the Audi 200 from 1988, which is probably the best of the bunch. I mean Radar Love? Does it get any better than that, or more 80's excess? And the Audi Trans Am cars, much like the rally cars, were certainly excessive. The spiritual heirs to the Group 5 Porsche 935's, or perhaps the 917/30.



That's so awesome I think I might go buy one just because...forget about project Scirocco Madness, I'm doing an Audi 90 Quattro project.

Hmm....maybe an Audi 5-cylinder Scirocco shelled AWD insanity machine? No...better yet the 2.5 from the Mk5 Rabbit, turbo, built internals...maybe FWD to start and then AWD later on down the road. Now where's that winning lottery ticket? Robert, you think we can start on this once the Bus is done? =)

_WRS