Two Words: Totally insane

What a way to kick off the new year.

Insane!




_WRS

Video Post: Quarter Mile Crazy

Quarter mile drag racing has never really been my thing. I can bang gears with the best of them, but to really dedicate yourself to drag racing you need to accept the fact that you need a: a lot of power (which costs money) and b: a lot of spare parts (also expensive). Basically drag racing a VW will mean broken transmissions, broken axles, and probably a few broken motors too. My wallet has simple never had the stomach for that sort of stuff.

So J sent me a few links to a fairly insane R32 turbo Polo Mk1, which is about as crazy as any VW I can ever say I've laid eyes on. This particular car looks like a real handful. An honest to god deathtrap. Don't be believe me? Check out a few of these runs...







Reminds me how violently hard to control the old Scirocco 1 that Kevin Black used to run was. Not that I drove it, but check out this in-car shot. 530whp or so was on tap, depending on the boost, from the 2.0 16v motor and T61 turbo.



At least some people are willing to put it out there and let it all out on the line. They sure are fun to watch!

_WRS

Scirocco Madness: No where to go but up

The people...all 12 people....have spoken. They've decided to put Scirocco Madness into a dead heat between Mexico Blue, with black, or white, with blue. Well folks, it ain't gonna be white, because I already own a white car, and I don't want another one. I also think blue accents just wouldn't work on a Scirocco. It is after all, not a 911 GT3. (as much as I wish it was) Anyways, we're getting way ahead of ourselves. How far? Pretty damn far.

As you can see, we've made zero progress forward, and possible have taken steps backwards. Although I am now officially in possession of the title and keys, I found out a few things. First, and of least worry really, is that the front apron was indeed damaged when the "red necks with big machines" moved her. The bumper is tweaked too, and the burnt-out Corrado is trying to mate with her, but she's back against the wall and no one is going anywhere anytime soon.

We contemplated using the forklift to move the carcasses out of the way, but decided a god-knows-how-heavy forklift, uneven ground and a distinct lack of concrete or pavement would basically be the worst idea ever. So there she sits. Her paint had taken a lot of dings, dents and chips somehow, like a very large sandblaster sprayed the car with rocks. We're repainting so who cars, but still, it's annoying.

The other things awaited on the interior. The 16v kit is in place and ready to go...if by in place you mean piled on the driver's seat. The more time consuming fixes will involve the steering column (loose, standard Mk1 fare. In need of rebuild or replacement. Wish I hadn't thrown my old one out now!) and the wiring.

Oh yeah, the wiring. One of the things I was asking Jason when he was giving me the car was "why is this free." He responded that he's getting his money out of it by selling the suspension, oh yeah, and by the way, there may be some wiring problems, which is why it was parked in the first place. Fun stuff. Judging from the wires hanging out below the dash, I can't say I think he's making that up.

Speaking of fun stuff, I got my first fun parts for her. Actually I got these almost a year ago at Waterfest, but there's no way in hell I'm putting these on a street parked car in NYC. One of the best / worst steering wheel and shift knob combos ever made. The questionably awesome 80's Momo Benetton F1 models.

This rare, but not impossible to find set of restored goodness set me back just around $200, and as a fan of the wheel back in the day, I had to pick it up when I found it. I won't feel bad about actually using it since it's been re-dyed, but the color accents should compliment any exterior color I choose, especially Blue or Green, my two color finalists.


Finally, here's the sad, sad Rabbit GTI that will be giving up the last few valuable parts it possesses for der Scirocco. The transmission and suspension bits. This shell is still fairly straight, but the car has been treated poorly and it lacks a title, hence the reason it's been sitting for the last 7 years.


I think the 'Rocco officially needs a name now. It will forever continue to be Scirocco Madness, but she needs a name befitting her soon-to-be-awesomeness. Feel free to drop some suggestions below.

_WRS

Scirocco Madness: Off my Sciroccer

I'm still waiting on some inside info to come back about the A59 so I can continue on that story line, so in the mean time I've been twiddling my thumbs a bit and thinking about this Scirocco plan. It has actually managed to convince not only Blaksquirrel that it might be a cool idea, but even Robert down at Lufteknic is on board now. My lovely Fiancé is not yet a believer in this, but she isn't necessarily against it either, so that's almost a "yes, it's okay." Besides, she likes Sciroccos so I can easily win her over.

One of the big questions about this is color. What color to do? Josh (Blaksquirrel) is in the camp of leaving it black, and even Jason said he'd leave the doors, hood and hatch as they are, meaning it wouldn't have to have paint. The thing is, I'm not really all that into having another black car. The last few cars I've owned have all been black, silver, or white, so I'm thinking if this is a weekend runner, stripped out racer type of deal, why not make it a bit more eye catching? So I'm looking to that era of garish colors and garish styles: 1970's. Or the aughts. Pretty much the same thing.

I've never tried to hide the fact I'm a big Porsche fan, and if I wasn't not rich, i.e. I could afford a Porsche, I'd own one tomorrow. Win the lottery? I'm buying at least 3 of them. (One 997 GT3 RS, one 993 Turbo, one 964 RS America) So I can't afford a real Porsche, but I CAN afford the paint, or at least the colors. So that's where I'm looking for eyeball inspiration. I know these themes are all pretty popular these days since the 997 RS cars were so popular, and I've seen this theme on everything from Ibiza's and Golf's to anything else you can think of. That doesn't mean it doesn't still have some life left in it. So what should I do? I'm personally leaning towards Signal Green with black, but my mind is far from made up. So what do you think it should be? Vote via the first ever WRS poll! (psst, it's on the upper right hand side...)

_WRS

Orange w/ Black

Signal Green w/ Black

Mexico Blue w/ Black
Black w/ Orange
Mint Green w/ Black

or what the heck: White w/ Blue