Save the 8v™ (Mk4 Arno Addition)

I haven't done any Save the 8v™ posts in a while, so I had to snap a few pics this evening to keep up the crusade. Arno from the shop is definitely doing his part. Not just an 8v, but the least loved of all, the lowly Mk4. This is admittedly his beater, since his monster horsepower TDI is out of commission, but although he's doing it on the cheap, he's not cheaping out. Best of all he beats the crap out of this car and it just comes back for more. Somehow he's already on transmission #2 (or is it #3?) with only around 140hp or so, but it's not what you've got, it's how you use it. Or so 'they' say.



Although you can't really see it here, he and Chad slotted the attachment point on the rear axle so that it sits in the middle of the wheel well. Not only does it look better, it rubs less AND apparently ended up with perfect alignment specs. I would never have guessed it, but the man is not one to do things by halves.



Arno was doing his mad-custom, on the cheap cold air intake tonight.

Pic post: (Vintage) Mk4 Golf Kit Car in action

Pic post: Brad's A4

As usual when things get slow around here, it's because I'm (as Brad would say) MEGA-BUSY elsewhere. I'm back at the shop this week helping fill in the gaps while the boss is on vacation, and as usual making good use of access to the lifts, and perhaps more importantly, the knowledge of the guys in the shop. Nothing too serious going on, just some loose ends before the next inspection. Carmen (you remember our Corrado project right?) is a little worse for wear, but that's almost to be expected. I'm trying to figure out a better place to store the car but coming up blank. The guys at the shop are naturally helpful, usually in the manner of low ball offers to take her off my hands, haha...

Anyways, here is a pic of Brad's A4. As is pretty much the case with every car there, if the wheels need refinishing, they end up powder coated black...

_WRS

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge: First podium of the year for APR

Josh Hurley and Kevin Stadtlander landed APR's first podium finish of 2010. The duo, in the number 181 VW GTi Mk5, battled their way up the grid, the strong finish no doubt doing wonders for Stadtlander's standings for rookie of the year. Another strong start but disappointing finish was seen for the S4 in GS, while the two remaining GTIs failed to crack the top 10. A slow start to 2010, but picking up momentum in ST, win should hopefully be just around the corner.

www.goapr.com or APR's Flickr for more pics.

_WRS

Pic post: Brooding Bimmer

The Rahal Letterman GT2 M3 awaiting it's time on the track...

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge: Bosch Engineering VIR 200

APR Motorsport will take on the rest of the GS / ST field today at 3:30 PM, at Virginia International Raceway, better known as VIR. The number 01 S4 grids at P11, with Ian Baas putting in a solid qualifying run, as seen above. The ST GTIs start off 10th (171), 14th (91) and 24th. (181) Not the best spread overall, with the highest placed VW Jetta of Irish Mike's starting 7th, but with the long race almost anything can happen. Although showers were expected, the weather maps are looking pretty clear, so it should be a very exciting day indeed. The crew from NGP Racing is in attendance today, and with a little luck we might have some great pics from Benji from the VA shop...

_WRS

Be sure to check out live timing and scoring at Grand-Am.com.

In the paddock: Part One

There's something particularly magical about the paddock at a race event. They are virtual beehives of intense activity for hours at a time. Then empty. Like a ghost town after the gold rush ended.



Areas are secured, custom tractor trailers are position and unloaded, and home base is established. Mechanics, drivers, managers, owners and media of all sorts are coming and going at all times. You never know who is going to be standing 5 feet away...



There are hundreds if not thousands of near misses between go carts, race cars and pedestrians. It's like Times Square at New Years, but with millions of dollars of equipment strewn about. Body work that is probably work more money than I make in a year is placed, if not carelessly, somewhat haphazardly on the ground.





Cars in various states of disassembly dot the garages and look nowhere near close to race ready.



Eventually though it clears out, and that is when it becomes magical. The light is just right, the day is perhaps drawing to a close for some (but definitely not for all) and the cars maneuver like sharks in the ocean. Slowly at first, then on the attack as they near the track entrance.















Then all that hard work...



Finally pays off when the car hits the track.



Part two coming soon. Check out the full size pictures, and MANY more, over at Der Wolfsburg Rennsport Flickr Page.

_WRS

Pic post: (Vintage) Spa 1995

Think they'd let go of those ATS Type 10s for cheap?

I don't think they'll be needing them anymore. Still, makes me happy I'll be able to walk away from running over a wild bore, since the guy driving this Mk3 did...WTF?
_WRS

Pic post: (Vintage) Silverstone 1984

BMW (vulgar display of) M Power

BMW had a few of their historic (and one of their current) race cars on display at Sebring, back in March, and we were fortunate enough to check them out up close and personal before the crowds came in. This afforded a very close look without people getting into all the shots, or having someone from BMW Motorsport telling us maybe we should stop drooling on their price less race cars.



The LMP was cool, any chance to get that close to one of the greats is a chance well worth savoring.



But my favorite was the Prototype Technology Group E36 M3. These were absolutely top of the GTU pack back in the late 90s...the Porsche 911 RSR of the day simply could not touch them. It wasn't until the 996-based GT3R came out in 2000 that it's dominance was really challenged.



Big flares, aggressive looks, great sound. The V8 may be the future of GT class racing, but nothing sounds sweeter than a 6. I can remember drivers like Boris Said dominating the Daytona 24 hours, and pretty much everything else back then. PTG of course went on to run the Panoz GT program, and is currently working on something else at the moment, can't recall what.







The turbo CSL was pure 70s excess. Big turbo power, funky decals, wide flares, a real character machine.



A bit more spartan inside than the M3, but still gets the job done.





Finally, one of the newest E92 M3s was there as well. It really contrasts what passed for safety back then, compared to now. The cage inside the CSL looks like matchsticks compared to this Rahal-Letterman machine.





I meant to go back and get more pics at some point but never did...maybe next time. Looking at these is enough to make me want to start looking at old Bimmers! Hmmmmm

_WRS

Pic post: (Vintage) VW Motorsport Rheila Mk1 GTI

Pic post: (Vintage) BP Mk1 Rally

Jason's Passat, now with more low-n-poke

Jason has been refining the look of his B5 Wagon a bit since he put the 18x9.5" Miro wheels on there a few months back. Very small spacers were added to the rear, to bring it out a little bit and match to the front, plus the front was lowered a little from where it was previously. All told? It's amazing how 'right' VW got it with the B5 Wagons. All this thing has done visually are wheels and suspension, and it looks great.



So far so good. As you can tell by the snow in the background Jason snapped these when it was a little colder, and I haven't heard any complaints yet. He keeps talking about selling this car and buying a W8 Passat, or some similarly more expensive / less reliable / more quirky car, but I think he should stick with what he's got.



After all, with his Fox no longer in the stable (Hen house? Pasture? I couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound like a farm-yard joke...) he can finally put some money into his long-neglected Scirocco 16v. And let me tell you, there's nothing to rob money from a real project like a finicky daily driver.

_WRS

Pic post: (Vintage) Nothelle Mk1 GTI

Respect: The GMP Performance Rabbit Racer Rebuild

There was a time when a new VW was looked at as a car to seriously consider when choosing a vehicle to build for the professional, or at least semi-professional racing arenas in the world. Not 15 year old beaters, but new, off the showroom floor cars. The Mk1 GTI had an awful lot to do with that, being the first of the hot hatches, and there were a good number of them out there. Rabbit Bilstein Cup, SCCA GT4, and more. But there was a rather lengthy drought between the Mk1 and the Mk5m where things seemed to be put right. With the Mk5 things are back on an upswing, with APR and Irish Mikes putting their money and reputations on the line where it matters, which is on the racetrack. One often wonders however, where are the old machines?



I think about this all the time actually, as there are innumerable racing cars that currently sit hidden away from the world all over this country...from Audis to Porsches, and even the old VWs. Most of the time they sit due to indifference, obsolescence, or a lack of funding...not enough money to run them or make them right, but too much nostalgia to let them go.



Overland Parts (better known as Eurospec) has quite a collection of important Audi Quattros from the 80s and 90s, including the incredible Audi 200 Trans Am test mule, chassis #1. I've never seen it run, never heard of it attending any historic events, and the only pictures are tiny little web 1.0 sized things on their website, but there they sit. Like thoroughbreds put out to pasture but not allowed to go out too far in the fields...



So it pleases me to no end to see GMP Performance, one of the oldest and most successful VW specialists dust off their past and put it out there for all the new school kids to take notice. I have to admit even I was unaware of GMP's importance in the VW racing world of the 70s and 80s up until a few years ago.



I knew they had history, sure, but they still had piles of parts sitting on the shelves from back in the glory days of carb'd 8v motors and BBS body kits! It was at this time that I found out about their Mk1 racer, which has sat in the back of their warehouse since the early 90s. Not neglected, but not really put out there either.



Stephen, shop owner and manager, is currently detailing the entire restoration process on VW Vortex, with the entire car stripped down and rebuilt. Everything, from paint and stickers to engine and suspension, will be exactly as it was when the car last raced in 1990.



Stephen hinted that they will very possibly be bringing the car up north for a show or two this year, and if they do you can sure I'll snag many a picture myself.



At this point I'm more excited to go to Waterfest this year than H20...never thought I'd say that! GMP has a huge cache of pics from the rebuild over on their Flickr page, including engine rebuild, wheels, paint, and more. It's great to see a car like this treated with such respect.

With this I decided it's time to start a little running bit featuring of all the vintage VW Motorsport pics I have stored on the old hard drive. Starting tomorrow!

_WRS