Pic Post: (vintage) David Rugh / Portland Racing GTI

David Rugh, Columbus Ohio 1985. Picture copyright / used with permission Mark Windecker.

The best yet. We've been searching high and low for additional pictures of the other Portland Racing VWs from 1985. Our buddy Mark Windecker, an amazing photographer with amazing archives, has come through for us once again. He went back through his catalog of the 1985 Columbus Ohio IMSA Champion Spark Plug Challenge race, and came up with this shot of the #04 Portland Racing entered GTI, driven by David Rugh. David finished 5th, and in this shot we can clearly see a number of similarities between our VW Sport Caravan GTI and those they ran on the track. It has the same paint scheme and windshield retainers, and from what we can see a very similar cage. Standard fenders of course, and what looks like a Kamei front spoiler, but its an encouraging shot.

Just think. Twenty six years ago the car would have seemed rather cheap and disposable compared to the big IMSA GTP cars which were the main event, and few photographers would have bothered to waste the film. Film isn't cheap; not now, not then. Thankfully Mark was there, documenting more than just the big show, and providing us with the chance to take a look back in time at what the more grassroots guys were doing back in 1985.

We're in the process of tracking down more information, and this particular pic has come up with the most promising leads thus far. More soon. Hopefully.

_WRS

VW Sport IMSA GTI (Part 3, Inspection of a factory racer)

When we last left off with our VW Sport IMSA GTI Bring a Trailer score, we had just gotten back from picking it up from the previous owner, and narrowly missed possible (near?) disaster thanks to a rather intense lake-effect snow storm. Although we had certainly inspected the car before signing off on the bill of sale and loading up, it wasn't exactly the best situation for rumination on the finer points of the car.



I mean sure it all checked out. The car was clearly a one-of-a-kind. But what exactly did we get? The ad on BaT as well as any other information we've scrounged has said that it was a spare car built into an IMSA GTU class car, or perhaps was more a concept than race car. One thing's for sure: It's an odd and completely original piece of the Volkswagen motorsport history in the United States. Let's take a look inside to what Portland Racing has done shall we?

Spotted in NYC: Mk2 Golf on Porsche 928 wheels

Our buddy Tony sent this pic of a very clean and very nice looking 1985 Mk2 Golf small-window car with European bumpers and polished Porsche 928 wheels, which he spotted on the Upper East Side earlier today. Proof positive that the K.I.S.S. theory of VW styling is almost always the best.

_WRS

Video Post: VW Polo R WRC teaser trailer

Busy workin'

You can stumble onto the strangest things in New York

This past Saturday my wife and I were going to see a friend's band play a show, and we got done with dinner a bit early so we decided to stroll around a bit and work off a few calories before hitting the bar. If there's one thing I've learned after living in NYC the past 6 years it's that you can pretty much expect to see anything at anytime. Crazy people, famous people, rare cars, expensive cars, pretty much anything is possible at any time. There are certain things you do not ever really expect however, and seeing the 2010 Championship DTM AMG C Class Mercedes sitting alone in a giant and unfinished new dealership is certainly one of those things. So when we happened upon this only-in-New York scene, naturally I decided to take some pictures....

Video Post: VW Golf24 = 1, Porsche GT3 Cup = 0

Passing on the outside of Karussell... Combined with the recently announced driver pairing of Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell on one of the three Golf24 cars that VW will run in the Nurburgring 24 this year, I think we have something to look forward to in June.



_WRS