Contining to polish - more racing in the Mk3

Photo credit: Mark Kissel

After a decidedly slow start to 2012, I managed to hit the final three Chesapeake chapter PCA events this year. It was a blast to finally get the Golf out there, and with the laid back and friendly vibe of the PCA run races, it was without any real drama or stress. Just a great group of people enjoying their cars and pushing some limits.

Photo credit: Mark Kissel

After getting lucky back in August, I had to work a little more in September and October. Higher temps in September and colder temps in October meant balance was a lot more tricky to find. I've already started planning on some changes over the winter to help with consistency and grip in 2013. (most of that has to do with me by the way, rather than the car) I'm determined to knock on the door of the 'fast' guys that are running in the series.



The course in September was fast and smooth, not all that technical, and a lot of fun. Aside from the tighter turns, the main straights and chicanes were all able to be taken flat in the Golf. This doesn't make it all that suited to a lower horsepower car on the one hand, but I managed to get within five seconds the fast time of the day.

For 2013 I may make a few nods to better functionality with the Mk3 too. Maybe even raise the ride height. Sadly all that talk about level control arms, suspension travel and geometry becomes all too real if you're really pushing it. You can still have fun, but when you're trying to hit a target time or just continue to improve, and know that there is time on the table in the set up, well. Sometimes you just have to cave. Maybe.

The final PCA Autocross of 2012, round seven, was a lot tighter and more technical. And while this should have suited the Golf I struggled with rear grip and overall grip. Partially down to set up, but a lot was thanks to the cold temps and older rear tires. They're pretty hard at this point and where I could have picked up time on the two skid pads, I was barely hanging on at pedestrian speeds. Indeed, my first run out I spun as soon as I turned into the first left hander. Things got better, but I was leaving a lot of time on the table with a few of my lines and never could crack the 60-second barrier. I defintiely have a lot I want to work on for next year.



Special thanks to Mark Kissel for the pictures. With the long winter ahead hopefully we'll also get some real progress going with the Caravan GTi. I'll have some info up soon, but it's back on the ground and ready for the fun stuff.

_WRS

Video post: PCA Autocross, getting the rust out

After a year's worth of events had nearly passed by in 2012, the planets aligned and the impossible happened: I had off from the shop, there were no car shows to work, and I didn't already have 10 different things scheduled the day of an autocross I could actually attend. Finally, I could have a little fun.



It's a little intimidating to have your first event back be a Porsche Club event, after all, it's a little like bringing a knife to a gunfight. But there is shared DNA between the Porsches and VWs, so why not? Never mind that most of the cars there would have two to three times the power, let's see what we can do!



 Turning in times in the 59 and 58 second range (the very fastest entries were down in the 52-54 range), I managed to push the little 8v and land solidly mid-pack with a best time of 58.3, finishing 31st out of 52 entered.


Given a few more RPM and some more tidy lines I think I could have easily been down into the mid 57s, maybe even better, but as is I had a blast, everyone was very friendly and with a little luck, I'll be able to get out at least one more time this year. Planets allowing of course.

_WRS

Save the 8v - Save the Harlequin Edition

I should honestly know more about this car than I do. Unfortunately however, both times I've spoken with the owners it has been at a show (Dubs at the Beach and H2O International, respectively) and as per usual I'm a bit busy to take down the specifics.



This car is in fact the very first to sport a Save the 8v™ sticker (aside from my own of course) and it was after the owners came back for a second sticker to replace the first that I was finally able to snap some pictures.



Which, by the way seems to be the case with people. Of the many sent, given away, etc, very few images make their way back here once they're on the car. It's cool though...



Not that I'm bitter, heck I'm glad anyone at all thinks it's a cool idea and it's worth putting on their car in the first place. This one in particular is (obviously) one of only 200 Harlequin models sold in the USA, sporting it's Chagall Blue main body color with Tornado Red, Pistachio Green and Ginster Yellow secondary panels.



Like many of the Harlequin Golfs, this one is a slush-box, but it's not likely to stay that way for too long. Plans were originally to be for all motor mods, but at H2O there was discussion of a turbo charger and built bottom end. No matter, as long as it stays 8v! This car was actually rescued from a fate at the junkyard by the current owners (who's names I cannot recall, unfortunately) for something like $1200? Basically it was hit at the rear and was sitting for a number of years before it was discovered, recovered, and put back on the street. The hatch damage, scuffs on the bumper and misaligned rear body seam give away the history, but all things considered it's really not in bad shape.



It's a great example of what a few bucks and a little hard work can do to a car that was ready for the dumpster. For more information on the Harlequins in the States, base color options and even some single color (!?) Harlequins, check out the Harlequin Registry over at Ross VW.

_WRS

Save the 8v - My first damn car edition

Damn it. These are the words, among many more colorful and perhaps less appropriate words, which I say to myself when I think about my very first Volkswagen. It was my first car, a Rich Red (not Mars Red) 1984 Rabbit GTI.



It had 137,000 miles, and was still in the hands of the original owner, a guy named Glen who I was put in touch with by a shop owner named Bart Weinberg. Glen told me stories of how he had really wanted a Scirocco all those years ago, but was too tall to fit into one comfortably. The GTI fit the bill however (lucky for me) and so he went home with one. It was $8496 in 1984, and I picked it up for $2000 in 1995.



Seemed like a fair price, as it was in fairly decent shape, but it wasn't perfect. It ran pretty poorly thanks to about 10,000 vacuum leaks in the CIS fuel system, and it had a little rust...a little leak in the windshield, the usual. But it was mine, and it was everything I hoped it was. Back then a Rabbit GTI was pretty end of the todem poll. The VR6 GTI had just been released, and the 16v Mk2s were still pretty quick as far as things on the street.



It wasn't long before I had a host of Autotech parts for the engine, SPAX suspension, Euro bumpers, a Momo steering wheel, and some pretty sweet Borbet Type C copies. From there a little magazine called Performance VW started up and that was pretty much it. It wasn't long before a smoothed out, Euro-style look was what I wanted. If you want to get specific, it was the cover car of the August 1997 issue (Euro Express) that sealed the deal. This was something I could make happen.



By that winter money had been saved, and the car had been dropped off at a guy's home garage (for body work). His name was Toby Kuser, and he was...well I don't know who recommended him, but I'll be damned if it wasn't some of the best paint and body work I've ever seen. I may not have known it at the time, but knowing what I know now?



Well let's just say it's looking pretty good all things considered. After the car was finished in the body shop it ran around for a couple years, still on the 1.8 8v engine, but now with Compomotive MO wheels in 16x7" and a combination of Jamex springs and Bilstein shocks, and finally a set of H&R coilovers. The judges at Waterfest '99 were impressed with that, and ultimately awarded the car 3rd in class.



After that it sat, somewhat neglected, under cover behind my parent's house. The sad results of a halfway completed G60 engine swap.



I had the best of intentions, but least of funds, and only after I sold the swap (with a very nice and VERY expensive charger fresh from Bahn Brenner, in fact, John Betz's own personal charger, since he had now started running something called a Lysholm) to my good buddy Kevin W, was I able to get the car back on the street.







Robert Overholser, now of Lufteknic Porsche, came up for a weekend blitz install of an ABA tall block, complete with a 'By Bernie' head, Schrick 276, and a bunch of Techtonics parts (not to mention the Neuspeed throttle body). This motor was completed with Supersprint exhaust, and some fresh BBS wheels (bought from Ryan Davis, RIP) in 15x6" were thrown on for good measure.



This, was how the car was meant to be. It was loud, it idled like a top fuel dragster (like John Force as my dad James Brown always said) and with super minimal weight (and Corbeau seats) it was quite quick. The 4K gearbox didn't hurt things either. Sure it would top out at about 120mph in 5th, but it got there in a hurry.



I managed a few solid victories and surprised a bunch of much faster cars, including some V8 American Muscle. It placed second at H2O International, 2001. You can see Kevin W's G60 GTI just to the right...



Fast forward 3 more years and it was running even better, thanks to new injectors and some dyno tuning at NGP, but it was killing me (and the car) driving it 80 miles a day to and from work. Not to mention it was a very cold winter and she was a tad drafty...





A Mk3 Jetta VR6 was purchased, debt was incurred, and someone waved $4500 cash under my nose for the car. Jettisoning the car along with some emotional baggage, like an idiot, I sold it.







Within a couple months it had been unceremoniously ripped apart, a 1.8t hacked in (and I do mean hacked) and a clipper kit from a 1993 Cabriolet was shoved onto the car. Seats gone, engine gone. Beetle cluster sitting in the dash, on the bumpstops, you name it. It was heartbreaking. The guy who I sold it to had soon grown tired of it and a friend, Paul Grimes, actually bought the car and it sat at work for a while. I had the chance to buy it back, but my precious motor was gone, the car was not running right, and even if I had the money I probably wouldn't have bought it back. It broke my heart.



From there the car bounced around, Delaware, Arizona, some other places, before ending back east, just slightly north up in Pennsylvania. I knew the car was around, and had spoken with the owner a few times even, but always managed to miss the car at H2O, and never made it to any other shows the car popped up at. Until 2010.



This year I found my car, 15 years since I first bought it (October of 1995 is pretty close anyways), 7.5 since I sold it, and still with that same Toby Kuser respray. I recognized it instantly, from the slightly damaged rear hatch release (which for some reason wasn't shaved when I had the work done) and some other telling marks on the rain gutters, rocker panels, and under hood paintlines of the car. There was no denying it, this was my Mk1.



And it looks good, damn good considering the majority of the body work was done 13 years ago on a serious budget. I'm not a fan of the white walls, but hey, not my car anymore. All that matters to me is that the car is still alive, still looks good (if a little worse for wear) and once again has an 8v(!), now with a Lysholm'd ABA. (remember that G60 that almost went in, with John Betz's old charger? talk about full circle)



So, what now. Well I can't say I don't miss the car, but I am glad the current owner clearly values it for what it is...and has done a lot of work to get it back to a nice respectable condition. If you're reading this, thanks. I hung around as long as I could at H2O hoping you would stop by so I could shake your hand and maybe even sit in the old girl one more time, but it wasn't to be. All I can say is that if you DO ever plan on selling...you know where to come first. Please.



Damn it. I can't believe I sold that car. I still have the original shift knob, in the classic golf-ball dimpled style, and it resides in my current Mk3. Perhaps one day, if I'm very lucky, I can reunite it with the rest of the car. Go to Der Wolfsburg Rennsport Flickr Page for the full set of pics...

_WRS

Save the 8v - Slammed Jetta Edition

Even with preparation for H20 International totally kicking my ass at the moment, I had to snap a pic of this Jetta today. Very scene, so to speak, but looked great and it's an 8v, so I have to show it some love. At this point I'd say the 8v Mk4 cars are holding up better than their higher horsepower counterparts, but then simplicity is always best.

I hope to have more as the H20i weekend progresses, but it's hard to find the time in between the hours on the job. Rest assured with the new condo on 60th Street in Ocean City proper we'll have some much better shots from the strip than last year. Watch this space....

_WRS

Save the 8v - Buy this race motor edition

This, is what, I'm talking about... A real-deal race motor, if only I had the $3k laying around.


Portland Craigslist.

_WRS

Save the 8v™ (Total commitment Matt from BFI Mk1 edition)

The word is spreading my friends. Matt from fellow east-coast shop extraordinaire, Black Forest Industries, has jumped on the bandwagon with total, complete, 100% commitment. I could never party with this guy, cause if this is what he does with a sticker, I couldn't imagine what he would do if he got his hands on a bottle of Jägermeister.



Matt's Mk1 is pretty much the ultimate Save the 8v candidate. It's an OG Rabbit GTI, and if anything deserves to be preserved (and doesn't need an engine swap) it's a Mk1 GTI. It also has a pretty dangerous looking hood release...



In Matt's own words: "She is an '84 2 seater, stripped out, JH block with 288* cam and a centerforce clutch, no a/c, riding on JOM coils... not much but she is fun as hell around town!"



With my first car being an 84 GTI I can attest to the potency of the basic Mk1 package. Although I could not disagree more on ripping out the CIS injection, which has more than enough capacity for the 1.8 8v, is dead reliable and easy to tune, he's got the spirit of the movement.



Oh yeah, and he spray-painted his f*cking hood before he added the sticker.



There's not much else to say, except that there are 10 bonus points awarded for the beer-in-koozie on the hood during installation of said sticker. So far Matt is officially in the lead of the Save the 8v campaign. Want to top him? Shoot me an email at wolfsburgrs@gmail.com and I'll send you a sticker. Additional swag, including shirts, coming soon...

_WRS

Save the 8v™ (Tool box edition)

The word is spreading...

_WRS

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.