Video Post: Mk1 2.5 5-cyl In-car

The Rabbit that sounds like a Quattro...UrQuattro that is.



Damn. Gets through the gears quick! Josh an NLS sure has been busy the past few weeks.

_WRS

The slow season...

I don't know if it's general winter malaise or what, but there seems to be a real lack of things catching my eye to post about. And with nothing going on with my Corrado project I'm not doing much to help the drought. I'm sure it's just me glossing over the details of some very fine winter builds, but for some reason nothing is really screaming out for attention.

So in lieu of that, it's time for videos. I probably spend way too much time on Youtube and Vimeo searching for new and interesting stuff to check out. VdubNL is a poster of some very fine videos indeed. He said he works for the one and only Jeroen Dik at JD Engineering, and as such has access to some very find machines and very high quality video of said machines in their proper environments. (Race tracks) A lot of the videos are of shop cars or customer cars, such as Jeroen's Mk5, (see below) but this Audi V8 Quattro is one of the more unique and interesting builds. Lots of videos, go check it out and waste some time! This video is from the Time Attack event at Assen. Pedal to the metal and in the rain..



This cool item is maybe a little more interesting. Golf Mk5 2.0t DSG on the 'Ring...



_WRS

Video Post: Berg Cup 2009 Demo

Don't mind the melodramatic music....it's the latest demo real for the Berg Cup 2009 season!



Damn I wish I could attend one of those events.

_WRS

World's first 2.5 5-cyl Mk1 - Nothing Leaves Stock

A few months ago I had a quick pipe dream about swapping a 2.5 5-cylinder from a new Rabbit or Jetta into project Scirocco Madness. It was short lived, but I knew it would eventually happen thanks to someone with more time, money, talent and dedication, and that time has already come.



Josh at Nothing Leaves Stock is the man behind the swap, which is up and running, and sounding every bit as awesome as I would have thought. Josh details some of the fine points (hint: this is not an easy swap at all) in his thread on VW Vortex. He even managed to make an 020 transmission work, which is no small feat in and of itself. From the sounds of it he may have some of those C2 Motorsports camshafts in the thing already...a real nice and lumpy idle. But don't take my word for it, check it out right here:



Josh is pretty talented when it comes to big projects like this....his shop is responsible for a lot of really stellar work, particularly in the early cars. Keep tabs on this project, it'll be one to watch.

_WRS

In honor of the occasion, more G60 content. (Video Post)

In honor of the recently resurrected-from-dormancy G60 Corrado now proudly residing in the Wolfsburg Rennsport stable, I dug up some pretty cool videos of the VW Motorsport works Rallye Golfs in action. I suppose I actually just stumbled upon these videos more than dug them up. There's a UK forum called dubforce.net which is all about forced induction VWs, and I've gone there on occasion to dig up info on VW Motorsport parts for G60 engines and what not, and someone there posted links to all of these videos. (after all the Brits do love their G60s, and they actually got the Rallye over there) So I can't so much take the credit, but here they are. Description by poster slateford from dubforce...

"Erwin Weber driving WOB AW 482 in the 1990 Sachs Winter Rallye as a safety car. PVW magazine said the car unofficially recorded 15 fastest special stage times out of 22."

LINK HERE (embedding disabled)

"Charly Beck driving WOB AW 482 in the 1990 3 Städte Rallye where he finished 3rd."



Darko Peljhan in the 1995 Monte Carlo rally. It was the last car to come from Volkswagen Motorsport so may have been WOB CL 757 or WOB CL 770 which were used by Raimund Baumschlager in 1991-92. It was then sold to Hans Weijs in 1995.

LINK HERE (embedding disabled)

WOB VX 44 testing from the VW promotional video "Der Rallye Golf".



Not sure about you, but that last video sounded like the car was pretty down on power...

And finally, my favorite: (careful this one is loud, and yes, I've posted it before)

Jozef Studenič competing in the Turckheim Hillclimb 05.09.93



Anyways, I haven't decided just how overboard I want to go on the engine in Carmen, after all it is more of a GT than race car, but a lot of work is already done to her. I may go back to the OEM boost re-route set up for less noise while driving, but otherwise I plan on trying for pretty high power figures for an 8v PG block car, with a goal of at least 200whp. Ideally I'd like more, but I'm also a realist and most G60 motors, even increased displacement examples, don't ever make it that high. (in fact I can't say I've ever dyno'd a G60 that broke the 200whp mark. Some have gotten very close, as much as 198whp, but that's about it) A larger intercooler is most definitely on the list, but until we get the car on the dyno I'm not sure exactly how we will proceed. The car is scheduled for the dyno next week, provided the final tune up / service work has been completed by then.

_WRS

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

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

Rose colored glasses day at the WRS

They say that the past is always seen through Rose colored glasses, and I think to a certain extent that is always true. Was the racing really that much better back in the day? It certainly seems like it, but then again it probably wasn't. We've seen our fair share of very close racing these days, and there are a ton of manufacturers involved in a wide range of motorsports, but none seem to capture the power, the look and the insanity of the late 80's Group C / IMSA GTP racing. I look at the 90's as a pretty significant period in sports car and endurance racing, but back then all I could think about was how I wished the mighty Group C cars were still around. Another 10 years and I'll be doing the same thing. (right now I wish that there was a proper Porsche P1 car..turbocharged 6, natch)



Here is a clip (one of twelve!) of the 1987 IMSA GTP series at Laguna Seca. Check out these cars. The Lowenbrau 962, Jaguars, Nissans. Scary fast turbocharged brutes...I mean the Nissan was running 900 horsepower! They'd never let you get away with that these days. Anyways, words don't do much justice. Check out part one, and then head on over to the Youtube for the full race.

_WRS

P.S. - I didn't forget about my last post saying I'd have more about the VW Powered Sports Prototype, I just don't feel like writing it yet...

Video Post: In-car Turner Motorsport footage from Watkin's Glen

I was over on the Eurotuner blog today and saw this video they had linked to from Turner Motorsport. It shows some furiously hectic last-blast end of the race action at the combined class Grand Am / Koni Challenge race at Watkins Glen. You can spot some APR GTI's getting passed, along with most of the other ST field, but the main focus here are the Turner M3's, since all the footage is from inside those cars. Obviously. Anyways, it's makes great use of the fact that almost anyone can afford a decent in-car camera system these days. I think it's amazing, and very cool, that Turner puts the time and effort into releasing this footage to the public for them to watch. does a great job of building the brand and building loyal fans too.

By the way, these cars sounds so bad-ass in this footage it's enough to make me want to buy an E46 M3. Something I never really have thought about before.

_WRS