The Cal-look Lounge

Loading up ready for tomorrow, ready to begin our approx 2000 miles journey to the start of Drag Week.

We will try to keep all updates, any links, pictures, etc all in this one thread for anything Hot Rod Drag Week related, including the progress of Steve Dalton in his Beetle, and Prescott Phillips if he manages to get off the wait list into the actual event.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170903/ee9a2784e0164c11ac2e2a210bb5a60a.jpg)

They won't know what the hell to think!!!!

Make sure they know that they are Airccoled VW Engines....., NOT Porsche's, or Subaru's! If Richie can make some strong 9 second passes, and pull out all the stops on the last day bettering the 8.95, they will definitely get a nod in the final wrap up article. Good luck with the event.

Good luck, Jo and Richie.

Good lucks guys!!  ;D

So cool!  ;D

Awesome, keep us posted!

make it a good one!!!

[attachment=1]

and best luck to Steve as well.

On the road, first stop Barstow, for breakfast.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170904/eaa5aa8b2e34de4f832a1fc56b382fc0.jpg)

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Can't see the Ihop sign.
Leave some pancakes for me Steve  ;)

Road Trip!!! Woo!hoo!
 8)

Have fun.

Best of luck Richie and Jo!!

So after 2 days on the road starting in California, we have travelled through part of  Nevada, Arizona, Utah and are now in Colorado.
We have covered approx 1100 miles, with temperatures peaking at 110°!!!
Today we head towards Nebraska.

What a journey, wow!

Extremely cool to do and way past a bucket list item imho haha!

Best of luck to both of you!

We have now covered just over 1650 miles.
Today we drove through Nebraska and we are now in Iowa.  
Tomorrow we head to Illinois and start preparing for Hot Rod Drag Week  😀

Here's a link to some useful info about Drag Week. 😀

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/everything-need-know-watch-drag-week-2017-spectating-live-stream/

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Which class do you guys run in? There are a lot of classes: A to R no less (!)

I, Super street small block power adder :)

Shorter journey today, with the total miles covered on this road trip being just over 1900.
We now get to relax for a couple of days before starting preparations for Hot Rod Drag Week.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170907/aeafddd47649284caaadec1341174b33.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170907/5f846be07b73e82de1054d3a64ee8204.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170907/d274079c9cdfc9411c12be762fdb403a.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170907/0077c76d31a38b554bf4d006e6266192.jpg)

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Keep an eye on the weather.... It looks more, and more like the remnants of Hurricane Irma may end up in Illinois at the end of next week.

Thanks for keeping us updated on your journey. Looking forward to seeing the races live

We went out to watch test n tune last night, few Hot rod drag week cars testing already and this track looks pretty good 8)


cheers Richie

Here's a few pictures.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/3f4c74dced6e3011c15346ffc2b5b2b3.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/4807af89138812b092eeac2ea2c55e5f.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/494eeb3fa313c7def00f631a775f4cad.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/88fe13031ab93efaf65a1485d8d9c95e.jpg)

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And a few more.....(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/94576697155f5daf4c404d8160631ffe.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/53e916ba2cb32dba21b946ba33d43e10.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170909/4ae82dba5d3ed64d4ffe70942946a6d3.jpg)

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The track should be well prepped for Sunday/Monday for sub-6 second passes at 250+. Past Unlimited Class winner Jeff Lutz supposedly made a 5.90 pass at a "Tri-Five" 55-57 Chevy show in Kentucky about a month ago with his new yellow 57 Chevy in street trim.

The black Swedish Ascona 👍👍👍👍

norrlands asconan 6 time stockholm open vinner ( street racing)
https://www.facebook.com/Norrlands-Asconan-187042051364484/ ( live on Facebook )
Nr 3 in hot rod drag week 2016
/// Micke

Wow I am really into this, would love to attend this one year.
Keep the photos coming please Jo and best of luck to you

No way, an opel ascona, car from my childhood  :o  :D
It s fast  :o

8.03 😊😊😊
/// Micke

7,91 @ 169,5mph today...👍👍👍

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY3mSBnFRhU/

 ;D ;D ;D

Always thought that someone should have done drag week in a beetle.

Well done, and Good luck, Jo and Richie!

Some of the Instagram comments are pretty funny. Already someone trying to "one up" by saying their buddy in Vegas has a Beetle that "runs in the 9's". And someone seems to think that Richie's car is the tube frame car by saying "that one runs in the 7's". When Jeff Lutz had the two 57 Chevy's on Drag Week, the faster one was called the Evil Twin. Maybe Richie can say the "Evil Twin" of the vert is "still across the pond", and that the pan car has "only been in the 8's"... Or, say nothing at all, and let the time slips do the talking.

Any word yet if Prescott was able to get a spot off the waiting list?

Cool, thanks for that link TiDi 8)

Here's another, I got interviewed by Roadkill channel, I think anyone can see it?

https://www.facebook.com/RoadkillShow/videos/920062334815692/?hc_ref=ARRowisgAtzTJVY-GZbqlMpuWoItIUjHfbjt585ay4rSuUmiUg793tmbLD-ui259dWw

cheers Richie

Another day at Cordova International Raceway this time getting the cars through tech inspection and registration.
A total of almost 5 hours waiting in line, hardly surprising when they have approx 400 cars to process.
We are now ready for Monday - Day 1 of #hotroddragweek(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170911/ce9d3d37a0cd89f0e5f6a49d4e74554c.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170911/a20967792eadce66dc9b8648259914f5.jpg)

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Is that the bloke from the Canberra area, he of the "I wonder how much bottle we can put in this until it pops" about 20 years ago in ACT/QBN........surely not though, it was 20 years ago........is that the same poor car? Damn that car looks familiar.

 ;D ;D ;D

Lots of internationals there now, not just a US thing any more by the look of it.

Good luck Richie and the crew.
Man, tech video from roadkill looks awesome.

Will be on holiday so following will be tough, but will try.

Regards edgar

He writes for your Street machine magazine for last 20 years or so, Mark his name is and has another valiant back home so maybe?

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/first-gallery-drag-week-2017-competitors/

Drone shot of us in line for tech :)

Very cool Richie and Jo. Have fun and good luck!!

NO  :-\

 ::) ::) ::) ::)

I saw the vert on the live feed, ran a 10.55

Just watched it, worked fine for me! Richie get interviewed at around 12.25.

https://youtu.be/Dn8kGsN5IJc

At -1:15:29

Looks like the day ended up with...

Richie 10.552 @ 127.38
Steven 10.646 @ 127.20
Prescott  12.866 @ 105.42

http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2017/09/HRDW-Monday-PM-Results.pdf

Excellent first day! Hope everyone made it to the hotel intact.

A long and tiring day, but we made it the 260 miles to St Louis, so straight to bed and early start tomorrow at Gateway.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170912/b15f4443385478650e66225eccf68f44.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170912/080877248b495c35e0f5ca46a8caeb3f.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170912/07172d24d573aab33e820f6447ea939e.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170912/e22181d3868440518d4b9e6975093384.jpg)

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Living the dream Richie!

7000+ people watching you race on the live stream yesterday so there is no pressure  :)

Enjoy and thank you for updating The Lounge.

Cheers,

Kalle

Too cool! Have fun guys (which I know you will!). x

https://youtu.be/Dn8kGsN5IJc?t=1h42m25s

 ;)

Mate,
Nice one.. Reckon as thats a softop you might gain a few tenths by chopping that beard ;-)

Richie running 10's  :)

https://youtu.be/p5APYAA_0Ac?t=2h30m42s

Mice clean run! Keep it in one piece. For now anyways :-)
Curieus what you will set the boost to at the last drag course hehe..

The commentators didn't seem to believe that the car has gone 8.9 so it would be nice to wind it up on the last day! :D

Yeah, it would be nice to give Freiburger a copy of a nice deep 9/high 8 time slip to put in his pipe to smoke. You can't feel too bad for him, if you don't know, you don't know. Unless you follow Drag Week, or watch that dumbass Street Outlaws, most of you guys over in Europe have no idea who Jeff Lutz is, right?

Hey Ritchie, having fun cruising man?
Looks like a fun event.
Tales tall and true at the end.
 8)

Day 2

Richie 10.866 @ 122.86
Steven 11.137@ 126.90
Prescott 12.994 @ 103.95

Keep it going guys!!!! ;D

Another long day total of 280 miles, we are now almost at Byron Raceway all ready to do it all again tomorrow. 😀(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170913/f3b9ee15b9ff13979971093593f339a4.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170913/bba7b2389812b2aa1c01f2297686002b.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170913/a87bb79a6ffac188ab37d895c3338970.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170913/d6b57059ffbad82fd6071ba861ec7d11.jpg)

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Dam Richie, stop driving that thing like a 50 year old  ;) Now you need to go deep into the 9`s for a high 9 overall average.

-BB-

I'm pretty sure the goal was to survive the week on fuel available at every corner. Ten second passes on 91-93 octane is pretty damn good in my book. Past Unlimited winner Tom Bailey already flushed $100k, finding rod/piston chunks in the oil pan yesterday. Unless you've lived through the week, or closely know those that have/have not, no one has any idea how monumental of a task this event is to successfully complete.

91 octane is indeed pretty pis-poor quality fuel in the US octane rating, but 93 is camparable with our 98 iirc?

NO NO Beetlebug is right  ;D

hey, should be a 'easy day' the track in Byron is pretty downhill  :o

Car didn't sound so good on that pass. Can't they use race gas? all the cars have Rocket stickers on them, isn't that a race fuel company? I know that green fuel altered runs on pump gas and switches to nitromethane at the track.

With the exception of Nitromethane, I'm pretty sure you can run any fuel you want. You just have to have a source to buy it from at each venue, or you get to carry it with you over the entire trip.

Report on fartbook, Ritchie's gearbox is stuck in neutral and out.  :(

That's rubbish news. I'm hoping he may be able to fix it

There's a guy running Nitromethane in this competition, it's a green altered & it is awesome to watch  ;D
Every track in the country has a guy there selling race gas, all he would need is 100 octane, who cares who makes it.
I've watched hours of the live feed over the past couple of day, hundreds of cars are sporting Rocketbrand fuel stickers, they must be at each of the tracks.
Sucks about the tranny, hopefully he can fix it, it's been great seeing a fast bug in the competition, I'd love to see him lay down a low 9 sec pass.

All the classes the VW's are in are prohibited to run Nitromethane.

This is from the Drag Week Rules...

•Vehicles in all classes other than Unlimited must be primarily fueled by gasoline, diesel, or E85 (“E85” includes similar ethanol blends available at local gas stations on the Drag Week route, or Rockett Brand E85 race fuel).

Looks like the only fuel available at the track from Rocket is their brand of E85 Ethanol. I suppose if someone is selling C16 along the travel route at a gas station, you could stock up then, but you're still carting around fuel.

vwhelmot, could you please link the Facebook page you saw the info about Richie's trans issue?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2018192941751710&id=1960025337568471

No Wednesday time for Richie, so he is officially out.  :(

I'd like to see/hear what actually went wrong, but I guess they won't get it apart till they're back to CA.

Steven, and Prescott are moving on to Thursday.

Steven 10.945 @ 120.70
Prescott 12.863 @ 105.04

Turning it up heading into Friday!

Steven 10.565 @ 127.65
Prescott 12.530 @ 106.18

Richie explains more on the 1320 Video Hot Rod Drag Week day 3 highlights on YouTube.

Can't link it now but will do it later!

7:45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6lSlOed58

Bummer.

Final day....

Steven 10.597 @ 126.93  for a week average of 10.778 @ 125.876
Prescott 12.660 @ 105.84  for a week average of 12.783 @ 105.288

Here's the final posting...
http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2017/09/HRDW-Friday-PM-5.pdf

Awesome job guys! Sorry to Richie for having issues. It would have been a fun last few days to watch with the Vert!

Indeed an awesome achievement guys! HUGE respect running those average ET's!

No more props from anyone else.....?

Sure, some may have vehicles, or may have seen a faster single occurrence from the E.T.'s these guys were running, but only they have shown to have the balls to drive 1000+ miles across the state of Illinois beating on their cars at each track. Haven driven my car to 5 different tracks within a 140 mile radius from me in about a 6 year period when I was actively racing, I can't even imagine the bunny factor driving MUCH faster cars across state.

Hopefully I didn't steal Jo's, or anyone's thunder by posting daily results. Haven known those that have completed Drag Week in the past, social media is usually the last thing you think about at the end of the day rolling into the hotel. Those guys aren't even home yet to give a summery of their event, so hopefully there will be more to come from the participants.

I figured there would be more activity in this thread, but I guess Facebook is taking over the world.

No problem updating results, we have started the journey back but are taking a longer route so we can do some sight-seeing.
So it will be next weekend before we are back in SoCal and even then Richie's focus will be on tearing the car down to try and get the trans fixed and the car back together in time for Unlimited Street West the following weekend.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/e0abe227507780ff8d6537385f834795.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/539b910e7194261564dcb0c03058786c.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/f379d24bcf39df1c4bba5a66ee571dd6.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/f13fc4932bdd97f877d55c6b1d60a273.jpg)

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It was bad luck that the transmission let you down but even with that happening it looks like you have had an adventure that we are all envious of. 

Being part of drag week, surrounded by  the other particupants and cars must have been fantastic.  Plus on top of that the road trip to get there and back....

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Have fun on the trip back! Yes, we are all envious of your adventure! Half the racers I know that have completed Drag Week cashed in all their remaining vacation days, and were back to work on Monday, then ate Ramen Noodles till the next payday from the money spent on the adventures.

Hopefully Richie will give a full run down on what happened to the trans. I've fixed quite a few Type 1, and Type 2 trans with odd issues from off-roader's that seem to be able to break a crow bar in a sand box, but never got one that was stuck in neutral.

Drove across the remaining part of Tennessee today, just got to West Memphis, Arkansas.
Tomorrow we start the drive to Oklahoma City.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170919/369e28081ddb50a28fb067e947642303.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170919/ebb7c966a9c00bcf71b1d5adbe003f4c.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170919/78f6511ba8009843381ea8aaf49422c6.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170919/e4f22a85c85168343324769cf0069953.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170919/cb5938621cc77f30bfba3cdb7c1a54c2.jpg)

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My favourite show ever.
 ;D

Reminds me of the seventies....Yeeehaaa

Richie man,
if I was you, would be proud as hell.
Only being there is a great accomplishment in my book.
So hat s off.

Edit:
Was on holiday, but man have been watching the 1320 video s on YouTube this morning.
Looks like a lot of comradeship going on, love it.

Cool! Looks like you guys are hitting all the hot spots! To bad Mike wasn't around at Antique Archeology. He is a die hard VW enthusiast, and really would have enjoyed talking with you about the car, and adventure.

Drag Week used to let you have a NASCAR style pit crew to tag along with you to help repair/service a race car. This had changed a couple years ago to only having the driver, and one other crew person, although other registered racers are able to help. Everyone involved in the event knows the challenges everyone faces, and realize what's at stake. Most help out on anyone's issue because they, themselves know they may need the favor returned the next day. There are other competitors that favor victory/defeat during competition, as opposed to mechanical failure, and will lend damn near anything to a close competitor to get them down the track the next day. Did anyone noticed on the final results page from Hot Rod, the first pic is of last years Unlimited winner Jeff Lutz helping line up this years winner Dave Schroeder?

sad to see this trip end sooner then expected for you Richie. but a big thumbs up and cheer for the 3 of you and doing this. the times that have been run for street cars are quite impressive. thanks!

Thanks so much for flying the ACVW flag. I wish I could afford to do it. However, Street Machine magazine over here has a similar event. I'm looking into doing it next year.

...and I've yet to even race the car over the 1/4 once!  ;D

Yes, and its very controversial  :o

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments 8)

It was an amazing experience and we enjoyed it a lot, the trans failure really sucked but these things happen, the positive were the engine worked perfectly, it ran with good temps on the roads and maintained good constant oil pressure the whole time so all the planning & work building that was worth it 8), I had to do some tuning on the road and had one side intake manifold come loose enough to get an air leak but that was it for any on road mechanical issues.

The other problem I had was a injector driver problem on the drive Monday evening which fried the 4 injectors it runs on  normally [it has 8 injectors total] I did have some spares but they were smaller so had to create a new map by guesswork ;) Tuesday morning to be able to make a pass but could only get the first 4 to work so this limited boost I could run hence only running 10s. Having done the 2 big drives Monday & Tuesday I was starting to think we had overcome the worst of it but the startline on day 3 was tricky and it being only my 4 pass on this type drag radials I didn't have any data for settings so went with what worked the other 2 days but had real bad wheelhop as it struggled for grip and as I shifted to 2nd something bad happened in the trans and that was it.
We did try fix it but finally conceded we couldn't in the time we had and then were informed we were excluded anyway as I was towed back by the track crew, this was something I wasn't aware of but learnt a lesson for next time :o


I now already have the car apart and trans is supposed to get taken apart this weekend, 1st inspection is that the shift fork opened up and failed, you can grab the 1/2 shift rod and twist it side to side a fair amount which it shouldn't do.
There is a VW race at Fontana next weekend which includes Unlimited street class so trying to get it done for then

cheers Richie

Glad you are already thinking about next time :)
How does it work, do you just re-apply?
Lee

Entry will open sometime next year online and you have to be really quick, it sold out in 6 minutes this year!!!!!

Congratulations on making the trip, participating, overcoming the problems as they came up, and building and tuning an engine that can live! Even though you had a trans failure you still are able to have a positive attitude as well and already are thinking about doing it again! Great job and good luck at Fontana in the Unlimited Street Class!

Did you get your ecu figured out? Gonna be able to turn it up for the USW race?

Seems its the AEM injector driver I need to run low impedance injectors causing problem, so re wiring it to not use it and use high impedance injectors instead for now, hopefully if it all works then will throw another 15lbs boost at it ;)

Glad you got it sorted. When did you make the change to AEM? Wasn't it DTA in the past? Gonna put some good fuel in it for this race?

It still is DTA ecu, its just the injector driver that's AEM to convert it to allow it to run low impedance injectors which was all that was about in big sizes in 2006 when I got it, think I will just run pump E85, want to see what it will do like that

cheers Richie

Hehehehehe!

Congrats to you all , a job well done.

Saw the Unlimited Street West cruise video you posted, looks like good fun! How did the rest of the weekend go?

What did the problem end up being?  Broken 1-2 fork?