H2Oi 2009 second teaser

Oddly enough, I had signed in to do exactly what Josh has done, which is post a quick teaser of some photos from H2Oi 2009, only to see he had already done so. Well here are three from me, with plenty more to come once I sort through my images and get things in order enough to post more.

As mentioned, this year's show was beyond anything else that has been seen in the past at H2O, more people, more cars, more of everything. Yet somehow it side stepped a lot of the dread that can come with a huge show, and was generally pleasant, even for someone like me who has to work the entire weekend. More to come...

_WRS

H2O International 2009

H20 2009 was totally insane... it kind of rearranged my brain a little in terms of documentation, and ones sense of scale in relation to a "car show". There must have been thousands and thousands of VW's there, since it was basically infinite cars all weekend. Sorry only this one picture for now, more thoughts later.

-J blaksquirrel

Spotted in NYC: E92 M3

The weather in NYC was beautiful this weekend, and I spent a good amount of time out and about on the streets, getting some relaxation in before the whirlwind event that H2O International is sure to be. There were a few nice cars that were bombing through the streets, including a fairly rare (color) Futura Yellow Mk4 GTI VR6...modified too, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a pic before it was out of sight.



This M3 however, was quite stationary, and absolutely stopped me in my tracks. This is a first for the E92 M3. I'm not what you would call a fan of the design. I know it's fast, I know it's capable, but it just doesn't fill me with car-lust like a proper E30, E36, or even some E46 cars. That said, this mean-looking M is perfect. White paint, anthracite Advan wheels, and low-but-not-too-low suspension. This is the sort of car that looks infinitely capable, and like it is actually driven rather than pimped by parking lot racers. Even the future-Mrs WRS remarked about this car...the wheels specifically, which I have to admit are proper. Proper enough that I didn't even comment on the played-out black roof. Whoops...

_WRS

Weekend in Upstate NY: Mk5 Gti vs RS4

Half of the WRS team went upstate over Labor Day weekend for some much needed RnR. We were able to stay with a friend who has an amazing house in a remote area, it's quite scenic and there are plenty of back roads for some spirited driving. Yuko and Tony went along, and with all of our gear it was a good test for my slightly adjusted suspension setup. Its taken a while, and a bunch of small changes to get to the current state of tune, and now I'm pretty happy with the setup. In addition to the house, our friend drives an Audi RS4... a beast of a car, and a true wolf in (mostly) sheeps clothing. I think the pair looks pretty good together in the rugged outdoors! I'll get to the RS4 later, first a bit about my ongoing project 2006 Gti.

Serious dust!

It seems somewhat unbelievable to me, but I've managed to have 3 sets of tires on these wheels [Hartmann G5 Gallardo replica] in 2 years. I started with Nitto 235/35/19 and it was obvious fairly quickly that they were TOO BIG for the ET 42 of these early production models. The front fenders were rolled, and some minor trimming was done in the rear so that I could make Waterfest 2007. After the show, I made another trip south to Lufteknic before H20 to mount a set of Dunlop 215/35/19's that did not rub AT ALL. I dropped the front of the car a bit, and in hindsight could have/should have gone much lower. (Nate and Robert talked me out of it, they are more sensible I suppose?). With 215's you could probably go down a lot with the 19 x 8 ET 42 wheels and still keep the car drivable... the 'slammed Mk2' in me wants to try that for the fourth set of tires. I seriously had 5 people deep in there and it was rub free. The tiny 215's did however fall victim to the Cross Bronx Expressway, and I bubbled one of the front tires pretty badly. It took me a while to figure this out (I thought the rim was bent, there was a lot of vibration), and because the damage was on the inside I drove for a few months like this. I'm extremely glad the tire never blew out!

For 2009 I painted the wheels gloss black, and mounted Dunlop 225/35/19's. I spun down the coils a little more before the drive upstate (1/8" in front, 3/8" in the rear), and the car finally has a somewhat proper stance that might not be "Vortex approved", but it looks good, and still has it's handling/city capabilities pretty much intact. These 225's ride noticeably better than the 215's did, but they do rub a bit on the bigger highway dips in both the front and back. Honestly, it handles the Manhattan/Queens city driving admirably, and rides better than one would expect. I've had Vogtland coilovers since the car was practically new, and they have handled 40k miles with no problems. As it sits, there are less than an inch of threads left to go down...but I don't need to go any lower and sacrifice utility.

The RS4

This RS4 lives a busy and somewhat hard life. Unlike many examples of this fairly rare car (2500 imported to the US) which are likely pampered, this particular RS4 is daily driven in Manhattan (!) and is treated basically like any other car. It's not exactly abused, but the owner has a certain detachment from the fact that this car is pretty special. I like the fact that it is treated in such a utilitarian way, but it could be washed once in a while, to be honest. A Weimaraner is usually riding shotgun, or sitting in the dog blanket covered rear seats (the claw marks on the seats are a bit distressing). It makes the 3.5 hour trip upstate several times a month... in all conditions. Snow tires are fitted in the winter on the factory wheels to deal with the feet of snow this area gets.

One bonus that comes from this "it's just a car" way of thinking, is that I usually get to take the car on extended drives to pick up whatever is needed at the house. Because everything is so far away, this means 40 mile round trips on some great mountain back roads, and it is a treat to be able to drive an RS4 somewhere it can really shine. I don't push anywhere near the limit on the curves, the cars capabilities are WAY beyond what I need to be doing in someone else's ride, but I have run through the gears well up into 5th on the straighter sections. The sound of that V8 is amazing and the car is pretty damn fast... not the fastest (if I'm going to be jaded the similarly powered 996 GT3 seemed like it was quicker) but the whole package is pretty intoxicating. Compared to my Mk5 everything about the car seems more solid and capable: shifting, brakes, motor, the Quattro (as you would expect) and Yuko is much more tolerant of high speeds and cornering in this car than in the Gti.

Honestly though after driving both back to back on the same roads, you can really see the things the cars have in common. My Gti's interior quality/design and capabilities hold up surprisingly well overall, and the fact that I can hop in my car after driving such a beast and not be totally depressed is kind of amazing. It might seem crazy but I don't know if I would rather have the RS4 over my car... The gas mileage is terrible and I prefer the looks of a hatchback over a sedan, if it were an Avant there would be no contest.

_JB

The road that leads to the house could be a gravel rally stage.

Quick Pic - The art of the sale

So you're a semi-rich dude, and you've got one of your Porsches for sale. Sadly, it has to go. Maybe you're getting divorced, maybe you're making room for something else in the collection, or maybe you've decided that 17 cars is just too many, and 16 is a much more appropriate number. The problem is, how do you draw attention to it? After all, you're going to be one of many people trying to get attention at this weekend's vintage motorsport event. Why, I know how! I'll put the for sale sign on the Scirocco! They'll walk over thinking this pristine example is up for grabs, only to realize it's the red 356 sitting next to it which is on sale. BRILLIANT!

Seriously, that's what was going on in this pic...nothing like using your Scirocco to draw attention to your Porsche. Smart man. This VW Camper with the R. Crumb spare tire cover was pretty epic too.

I'm about 99% sure these fans were also responsible for the Camel GT banner which was up across from their campsite. In retrospect I should have stopped by and introduced myself.


_WRS

The final round from Watkins Glen: Best of the rest

We're finally in the home stretch of coverage from our one-day blitz to Watkins Glen, and it strikes me that I took pretty much no pictures of VWs. Mainly because there were none on the track, and that's where my main focus was. Josh did take some, so maybe he can log in and share, because there were more mint condition Scirocco 1s than I have ever seen, anywhere. All driven by guys who were probably original owners to boot. So Josh, any pics to share?

One of the main reasons we drove over 10 hours in one day was to go cheer on a friend of ours who was racing that weekend. Alan campaigns an MGB and does quite a bit of racing on the vintage circuit. I don't know the exact specs on the car, but I can tell you it's about a 1.6, makes good power and really sounds great running around the circuit.

Better still it looks great. After all let's face it, a race car should be fast, but it should also look great doing that. And lest you think vintage means slow or not exciting, you're 100% mistaken, for many competitors really let it all hang out from start to finish, which makes for a very exciting, and enjoyable day.

Although the races are short, vintage events are really worth checking out. Not only do you get to see an incredible array of rare street vehicles parked in and around the paddock, you get to see the whole of motorsport before it became as sterile as it sometimes seems today.

Big, loud and insanely fast American V8s thundering around in lightweight Lola chassis. Trans Am Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes, Porsches of all shapes and sizes, and pretty much anything else you can think of. From championship winning 914-6 Porsches to ex-NASCAR tube frame monsters.


The WRS MK5 project did quite well on the drive up and back, providing smooth transport to weary travelers, and it got a bit of attention in the pits as well.

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming soon....H2O International is just over week away! Needless to say there are a TON of additional pics, in much larger sizes, over on the Wolfsburg Rennsport Flickr page.

_WRS

Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 at Watkins Glen

The 962 which I wrote about yesterday was not the only GTP machine at the event, but it was the only one which took to the track. The first GTP which I laid eyes upon, and made a mad-dash to go check out, was this Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5. This rather fascinating beast was beyond immaculate, and it was quite obvious this car spends it's time being pampered rather than spanked on a race track.


I'm a little torn about that fact, as I mentioned yesterday, I prefer a car on the track as opposed to the garage, and it seems a shame for this american-built chassis with its V12 British heart to not be put to good use. That said, if I owned a Le Mans class-winning car I might not be too eager to write it off just trying to have some fun. This car, running the #04 (all the Group 44 machines ran with 40, 44 or 04) was actually chassis number 008, out of ten total built. I'd like to say that if I ran a race team, all my cars would be 05 or 55, so any sponsors who want to get on board should get used to it. Just saying.


Group 44 was an American team headed up by Bob Tullius, a man passionate about his British sports cars, and who was almost single-handedly responsible for bringing Jaguar back to Le Mans, and sports car racing in general. It's a fascinating story, and one well worth reading about. check it out on Ultimate Car Page.

So as the story goes, I happened to be wasting time on GrandTouringPrototype.com earlier, and was very pleased to see they had the video from the Daytona 3 hour Finale of 1986 posted up. It was complete and random chance that I noticed this, and it just so happens this race was the final win for Bob Tullius and the Group 44 Jaguar. So set aside some time, sit back and enjoy some great racing. I couldn't figure out if chassis 008 was being raced at Daytona, but it doesn't really matter...just listen to that engine screaming around the banks and don't worry about anything else. Larger pics over at the WRS Flickr Page.

_WRS

GTP: 1986 Daytona Finale IMSA GTP Race Broadcast pt1 from GrandTouringPrototype.com on Vimeo.

GTP: 1986 Daytona Finale IMSA GTP Race Broadcast pt2 from GrandTouringPrototype.com on Vimeo.