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.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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?
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? =)
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.
