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I am looking for sponsorship for labour, parts or cash for race entry, in return you can have sticker space on the car and a banner on the front page of this website.
Interested? Get in touch through the contact me link above.
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After redesigning my logo i am making a few changes to the website, few updates and a slightly changed look for 2011.
Please bear with me while these changes happen as i haven't done any html for a few months and i have got to relearn some of the things i learnt the first time around!
Sure i will pick it up again though, so my thanks in advance for your patience whilst the changes happen
Alex
So it has been over a year since the last update to this site, so much has happened in the past year!! I have competed in my first two championship rounds in the VWDRC, Easter Thunderball and The Big Bang both at Santa Pod Raceway.
Easter Thunderball went really well, despite being knocked back a few times for some of the Pro Classes. I was number 1 qualifier in my first event, and came third overall losing in the semi-final to Dennis Cox who went on to win the round.
The Big Bang was a not quite as successful as Easter Thunderball, during the Run What You Brung session on the Friday i managed to run a personal best of 16.25 at 85mph however the Saturday and Sunday the car kept jumping out of gear on the line, so come the first round of eliminations i dial in 17.30 to try and give myself some 'jumping out of gear time' and still get up to the finish line to be in with a chance of beating my competitor. I was up against Russ Weir and lost to him as i broke out with a time of 17.24 having launched a bit easier and stayed in gear i was gutted to lose by such a fine margin.
So now the plan for this winter is to reinforce the rear suspension and try and prevent the engine from 'tramping' too much and pulling the gearbox out of first gear. However this is only one of the jobs on the lengthy list of things to be done to the car before the start of next season.
The list is as follows:
So as you can see only a small list of things to do!!
Although there is still lots to do, there has been a lot done already... The interior has been completely stripped leaving only the headlining and boot liner, the heavy Recaro RS Seats have been removed and replaced with a single OMP race seat and a harness has replaced the 3 point inertia seat belt.
A 96 plate oil cooler with fan has also been added to try and keep the engine temperature under control as the engine has always run a bit hot on a long run, mainly due to the rubber seal being cut so that the rear valance can be removed easily, therefore comprimising the hot zone / cold zone idea of the aircooled engine.
I'm generally pretty pleased with this year, and have plenty of plans to keep me entertained and to try and enhance the car and get it running quicker, but most importantly... consistantly, as that is how championships are won!!
To finish this lengthy update is a picture by Julian Hunt from The Big Bang earlier this year, a fantastic picture that is quite possibly my favourite of the car to date!! Let's hope there are more opportunities for pictures like this to be taken in the near future!!
Has been a couple of weeks since London Volksfest, but it is still fresh in my mind!
This was my first chance to drag race the beetle since its fresh 1914cc implant at the beginning of the year, i took the car out for a spin the day before and it was running beautifully.
Unfortunately when i started it up on the day of London Volksfest it felt like a totally different car, i think it may have taken exception to the rainfall over night and really wasn't happy.
It did however make its way there and back under its own steam! On the way there we bumped into Frosty in his shortened lime green and white split screen, who had the tools to adjust the points gap in tesco car park while we waited for Laura (Drastic Beetle) and her other half Dave to turn up, and a little convoy was born!
London Volksfest saw more than 200 vehicles lining up to do runs down the strip, in addition to a very impressive line up of cars on display, my first attempt was a poor 21.24 seconds, some more fettling of the points and fitting the stinger exhaust brought that time down to 19.23 seconds, but still i knew there was more in it, on the third run Frosty and I adjusted the timing by ear and that brought the time down another second to 18.14, but still i know there is more in it, however that is a PB in that car for me... nothing spectacular, but it should be fairly easy to break that next time!
After the three runs, knowing the car wasn't on top form i called it a day while it was still running, there is no point in trying to thrash it and potentially break it.
I think i was the only person there wearing full race suit, gloves, boots and helmet, however this was purely for me to see what it was like and to get used to racing in full gear before i start out next year. The suit is comfortable, but does make you feel hot very quickly!! All in, it was a nice day, a lot of waiting around, but that is to be expected with Run What Ya Brung (RWYB). I now know the engine is strong and i am gunning to get more out of it, i'm certain there is a 16 in there, if not quicker! We'll just have to wait and see!
Many thanks to Julian Robinson for allowing me to use the photos.
The car had its tuning session with Mike Jennings of Harrow Cross Garage and it is so much better for it!
The car went from a barely drivable vehicle to a new lease of life putting out 72bhp at the wheels at 4,500 revs, which could be more if we had pushed it but I wanted to be kind to the engine and not bounce a valve off a piston! Mike reckoned on the gearbox taking between 15 and 18bhp so the engine is putting out somewhere between 90 and 100bhp. That's a 30bhp increase on the 1641cc!!
I am now itching to get it on the track and see what it will do, so I am hoping to get it to London Volksfest at the end of the month to see what it will do.
The car also took its first trip to the Splitterz Chelmsford meet in over a year and it didn't miss a beat. It was nice to turn up in it and get home safely, as the last time it went to the Chelmsford meet it came home on the back of a recovery truck!
So it's now time to use the car, do a few little jobs on it to get it looking perfect for next season.
Excited!
At the beginning of 2009 i had the 1641cc bored out to become 1914cc, since being completed in early May it has needed setting up.
On the recommendation of Danny Allen (Dubz-by-Dan) i am booked in with Mike Jennings near Castle / Sible Hedingham. Hopefully this session should see the true potential of this well built engine come to life, then i can pootle around in it a couple of days before unleashing its fury upon the air strip at North Weald during London Volksfest which seems to be my test bed, although not a fully prepared track like that of Santa Pod, it will give me an idea of what the car is capable of, because at the moment there are so many variables to consider in order to predict a time, i'm hoping for high 15's low 16's, but who knows?
My previous passes at London Volksfest include 21.60 seconds using a 1493cc and 18.70 seconds using a 1641cc, both of these times the car had a full interior. Currently the car has two front seats and no rear seat inside and the door cards are soon to be swapped for painted perspex.
Hopefully the next news update will include photos and details of what happened at the rolling road, check back after Wednesday next week!
Alex.
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