Video Post: In-car from Watkins Glen with Josh Hurley (APR)

I'd like to apologize for my super slacking of updates about the APR gang and their efforts in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. It's not for lack of caring, mainly just lack of time. (and let's face it, the Le Mans 24 is going to take pretty much any and all focus that I can muster from initial testing and practice, until that checker flag drops on Sunday afternoon.)

APR has not had the break-out year they were likely hoping to have, or continue, after numurous successes last year. Like so many other series, it would seem that legislation which puts turbo motors at a disadvantage has continued to keep the GTIs down on power in ST, and combined with bad luck it's been enough to keep them out of the winner's circle. There have finally been some podium appearances however, so it's not all for naught.

Lime Rock Park saw the 181 car combo of Hurley / Stadtlander just get nudged out of a podium spot, with a 4th place result, but the following weekend at Watkins Glen they managed 3rd in class after having lead for a good portion of time.


This weekend the CTSCC teams are at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course, and it's not looking good so far. Of all four APR cars, only two show up on the qualifying sheets, and only one of those is actually locked into a position, with the #171 Mk5 GTI (now piloted by Baas / Halpin) coming into 24th position and the 181 as not having a qualifying time. It would appear that the #01 S4 (and #91 Mk6) has been put on the shelf for the time being. I'll try and find out a little bit about that, but I suppose the effort of fielding a full 4 cars, in two classes has proven to be more than the APR team can muster, at least for now.

The race is scheduled for 1:15pm start tomorrow, EST.

_WRS

VW Roots (Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club)

Every once in a while it's good to look back on where you came from, and where you managed to pick up this addiction. I've been into cars my whole life, my favorite Matchbox car was a blue Sachs sponsored Porsche 935, so the post and pic series which is forthcoming isn't necessarily exactly where it all started for me, but it's the first time Josh and I would hang out with other people strictly because they shared a similar passion. That group was Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club. Thanks to Josh's camera always being in hand, he was there to take these pictures.



Back in the day, a certain car or model would tend to get really popular in Baltimore, and for a really long time it was all about the Mk2 Jetta. Back then half the cars weren't really sporting anything more than some chrome Hammers and maybe some kind of body kit or some lowering springs, but it was the car to have, no doubt. The 'it' car went onto the 300Z soon after, and the Acura Legend soon after that, but there were those who stuck with the Volkswagens, and those guys were the Jetta Club.



I'll need to check with Josh if he has any other pics, but this series is of the club president, Billy, and his newly acquired Corrado G60. Keep in mind this car was only 3 years old at most when these pictures were shot...and Billy's black 92 GL with the Momo Quasars and modified Maxima body kit was only a year old. Billy was quite the VW head...he lived and breathed it hardcore, and he had an 87 GTI 16v as a more in depth project as well.



The closest thing to this grip of cars these days would be an R32 parked next to a Mk5 Jetta, with a Mk4 20th Anniversary out back.



This 16v was running a full body kit from Autotech (I think?) and was resprayed in a slightly more flashy version of the OEM maroon paint. There wasn't any internet to jump on, no way to know what the other guys were doing except for what you saw in European Car, or what you saw at Bug Out. There was no Waterfest, no H20, no Dubs anywhere at all. Just your catalogs from Neuspeed, Autotech and Techtonics. There were other shops, like JT Motorsport and Rapid Parts, but they didn't have those same glossy mags, or the cache of the 'Big Three.'



Altogether there were probbaly 10-12 hardcore members of Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club, and maybe another 5-6 that would show up on the odd occasion. Most of these guys were getting out of the whole car phase, with families and real life to deal with, so after that first 6-8 months of hanging out at the Polytechnic parking lot on Sunday afternoons, we lost touch with Billy and the rest of the guys. From there we started hanging out with the younger guys at Loch Raven Reservoir, but that's a story for another time.



Who knows, maybe there's a mint G60 Corrado stuffed into some garage in East Baltimore, parked next to a dusty old 16v project that never quite got finished all those years ago. Probably not, but it wouldn't surprise me...just remember that it's guys like this that helped keep the VW scene alive back in the dark ages of Watercooled tuning. Sure the cars look dated and a little tame by today's standards (however the wheels are all hot!), but they were the way things were back then.

_WRS

New Jetta unveiled in Times Square (NYC)

And Katy Perry stands on it. If you plan on buying one of these new bigger / cheaper / more 'merican Jettas, and ever anticipate being near or possibly even somewhat close to Katy Perry, be prepared for this to happen. And as petite as she is, hood dents are never any fun, no matter who caused them.

_WRS

Audi manages the impossible, wins 2010 Le Mans with 1-2-3 sweep

In what turned out to be a brutal race of attrition and failures, the trio of Audi R15s forced all four of the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP cars into retirement, and held on to win, taking the top three spots in LMP1 and win the overall. The #9 car of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller encountered zero problems and ran a flawless race, finishing in a well-earned first position. It seemed highly unlikely that Audi would be able to take a podium spot, let alone the win, but the Peugeots all succumbed to terminal problems, indicating their blistering fast qualifying pace may have been more of a bluff than most would have assumed.



Clicking off 3:20 laps was not a problem for the Peugeots, who were as much as 5-6 seconds a lap faster than the revised R15 on Wednesday, but it was pace they simply could not keep up. After the top-qualifying #3 908 went out early with tub failure, the #2 car held a commanding lead, hunted by Audis in second, third and sixth. Early Sunday morning the #2 gave up its lead with a blaze of fire from the right bank indicating terminal engine failure.



The #1 Peugeot was then in full attack mode, running lap after lap at qualifying pace before it too went out with a bang just before 7 o'clock. The final remaining #4 908 of Team Oreca Matmut was the lone wolf in the silver Audi herd, and was pressing even harder than the #1, setting fastest lap of the race and very nearly catching the #7 Audi for third position before blowing up in exactly the same spot as the #2 did, with flames from the right back on the out lap from a pitstop.



Clearly they were focused on an all-or-nothing result, and in the end they got nothing.



GT2 saw Porsche return to the winner's circle at Le Mans after many years of missed chances and a complete absence from the podium last year, with the #77 Felbermayr Proton Porsche RSR of Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler, from Team Falken Tire, taking the class win.



The BMW Art Car M3 did not do well, ending up with several punctures and multiple problems before finally being retired. It will also go down in infamy as it caused Tom Kristensen to go off at the Porsche curves on one of those occasions. Still it looked great, even if the results were not such.



Sadly none of the teams from the ALMS fared well, with strong runners such as Corvette and Risi running each other into the ground and allowing the Porsches to step into the win. Highcroft had cooling problems, and Autocon and Jaguar barely managed to start, let alone finish. As they say to finish first, first you must finish, and nothing exemplifies that like this year's 24.

_WRS

Pictures:

www.speedtv.com

Le Mans official Facebook

Arno's Mk4 daily (now with more rim)

For more of that "stanceatsatsicalscenestylez" look. (Schmidt Space Line, 17x8.5" / 17x10") He says he wants to powder them orange but I'm not sold yet. It could work, but I was thinking maybe a nice lavender.





No? Well maybe it's just me then.

_WRS

Dubs at the Beach 2010 - Sunday

After a quick a easy set up on Sunday, thanks to our bitchin' new set up, we had some time to kill before the masses arrived. And boy did they take their time. A very slow start to the event, with a somewhat disappointing total attendance, although considering the number of car out and about over the weekend it wasn't really a total loss.



More than a few BMWs showed up...



NGP had some cool cars on display, including Josh's 325i turbo and Nate's Jetta VR6 remote turbo, plus Dave B's Mk2 GTI 16v turbo. (those not being the Josh and Nate that run this blog)

















Ethan and Dave from 8380 were set up quickly and kicking back as well.



Dave Goodwin's A4 has been re-done yet again, this time with a carbon-fiber / vinyl roof. Pretty trick, and a lot of time (and money) in this machine.



Even with, I don't know, maybe 100 show cars, there was still some nice metal in the fields. Plenty to check out, and honestly it was the first time I managed to see more or less an entire show field since 2002!





















We did manage to catch some blue crab finally. Jason was beyond excited, but the crabs were decidedly less enthusiastic about it, and in fact were downright cross.





Plenty more pics to see over at the Wolfsburg Rennsport Flickr page, so check 'em out.

_WRS

And yes, the 'scene' is ridiculous these days...

Whenever someone tells me to lower my car more...

I think of scenes like this. This can happen to you at any time when you drive in NYC, and if it can stop a taxi dead in its tracks, I hate to think what this would do to a poor Mk3...



_WRS