The Cal-look Lounge

Yes its front engined but the Volkron[ from Puerto Rico] aircooled flat 4 turbo power steel bodied beetle just ran 7.21@177mph having gone &.35@170mph earlier today at Speedworld in florida, mph is still way down so looks like its possible to see a 6 second vw door car in near future :o

Just incredible!

Still “only” 800ish hp?

Any guesses on the weight?

No lots more hp than that, it went 151mph at 1/8th so looks like they are clicking it off early, 1.09ft s well!!!  They are saying 2400lbs weight, body is all steel, not much aero as well :o 

2400lbs and 151 to the eight should be ~1200hp?

 :o :o :o
1.09!!! Wow!
Damn that's quick.  8)

Now 7.20 @ 184mph... :o

This is just absurd... of course it'd be cool if it were rear engined and all but 7.20 @ 184 in a steel-bodied bug with a flat 4 is verging on flat-out unbelievable, regardless of where the damn motor sits. This is gonna be a cool record to see broken.

Thats about what I reckon as well at moment :)

Yep totally agree, my own personal passion is for rear engined cars but anything that has this performance with the beetle body & shape and flat four pushrod powered gets my total respect wherever the engine is 8)

 :o

He's dodging the two weakest links (transaxle/weight distribution related to type1 aero) but nevertheless, a huge leap in AIRCOOLED performance, thumbs up !!!

-P-   

Totally agree wph !!

A great achievement but for arguments sake, let's say he gets a 6.... how relevant will it be with the engine in the 'wrong' place ?

Would a tube chassis mustang for example with a flat 4 in the rear be MORE relatable  ???

Photo credits to Dean Kirsten :)

That intake plenum and the pipework is something different  :o
It's got the looks and go  ;)

I believe I’ve seen a similar Subaru intake? Billet that as well. And it looked “the same”

awesome work

With water pumping through it?

Inside of intake plenum

Hard to say,

Believe it was a Aussie 1000+ hp track car?

regardless any type of car, holy shit, 7,2...

but looks like it is almost a mid engine car, is the engine behind the front axle? Any video's of his run? I searched on youtube but nothing yet

https://www.facebook.com/danielo.hernandez.35/videos/2205986202796218/

And another...
https://www.facebook.com/danielo.hernandez.35/videos/2205870376141134/

About time that the ET starts matching the claimed HP numbers and weight  :)

-BB-

All I can says is Wow, agreed engine's in the wrong place, but "Wow" nonetheless.

Maybe, just maybe, moving the engine is what it takes?

The thing I think they eliminate FAST is the experimenting and "testing" part.

This has been done before in "similar" sized cars with the same type of suspension etc. So they can start with a setup that just works.

And the air shift pretty much rocks!


I would also guess a straight cut and straight thourg gearbox is stronger and more efficient?

this is so impressive!

 at the same time I agree doing it with a rear engined car presents other challenges, not that it won't eventually happen, right?  ;)

great achivement but lots of money involved....;)

For sure the weight Distribution in the car makes it good to drive,
but ist fast because of the gearbox. Shifting is fast and the Ratio is made to catch the Speed.
Listen to the engine Sound in the Video....

Could you air shift a sequential mendy?

Yes!  8)

But ist not plug and Play like the lenco gearbox...

Sooooo,

with a double a-arm, 4-link or IRS rear, 1200hp and airshift, you should be able to match the car  ;D

not with 4 gears in my opinion....

Just order a 5 speed sequential Mendeola  ::)

ist in my car ;)

No worries then  ;D

We are going to try and see if that theory is correct :o

To add to that, Basti is correct, 4 gears aren't enough, I think really it needs a 6 speed to make it at all possible, and the way a conventional cars rear suspension works if its 4 link solid axle compared to our cars is very very different, I already read that its easy "just add enough weight at front to give same front to rear weight ratio as front engined car" but its much more complicated than just that  ::) 

If it was easy then everyone would do it. However it is nice to see that innovation is pushing the ET down to a new level and I`m sure it will creep a fair bit further down sooner rather than later when I see that car go and looking at the 60ft.

-BB-

6speed sequential transaxle is Albin, right?

Yes but never used in dragrace if i am correct....

Yes it is and yes not to my knowledge it hasn't yet

I guess it's a cost thing? 25k$ without options  :o

But guess it should be strong enough? I even believe they have a 11,5" RP option?

https://weddleindustries.com/products/1000165/1002797

cost is a big factor & compared to the liberty the cost of this is insane, but in a dream world where I could afford it the case would be my main concern, I know Pety had issues with the 5 speed mendy case cracking and needed a billet one to make it strong enough and at $25k plus it would need to be strong enough

What’s the cost of a liberty, custom rear axle and a light driveshaft?

Liberty now does a 7 speed.

This is cool and they have my respect for the results they make with a flat-4 engine, but it`s not by fare comparable with a 7-second pass with a manually shifted rear engine beetle  ;)
So to me they might as well put a V8 in the front of it, it`s not a "real" beetle...  ::)

Yep it is totally different from a rear engine manually shifted clutch car which is a whole world of pain harder :o but its still cool, I kind of agree but anything flat 4 aircooled based is more interesting to me than a V8, I have had way to many people say New cabrio isn't a real VW as its a chassis car & there was a whole load of bullshit about it after i ran a 7 from the haters ::) , it gets hard to define what is really a VW still when its a race car.
 To me old cabrio is about as real as you can get going quick & be safe[full stock floorpan,stock suspension,stock VW brakes :o,VW trans with syncros on every gear using a clutch for every shift etc etc],  but am sure others would disagree as its not how Karmann built it ;)

cheers Richie

Well, everyone have different criteria's, but if flat 4 engine is the only one, mid 6`s I believe is the time to beat..?  ;) I believe  I recently saw a Datsun drag car with a front mounted flat 4 turbo engine..? Impressive...  ::)

It have to be flat 4, it have to be rear engine and it have to look like a VW, that is my criteria's. So your New Cabrio, The Hater Maker, Red Baron, Skinne Beetle etc are the real deal fast VW`s ;D

I believe they ran out of rpms on the 7.21 run. So I think they went as fast as the tranny could go  ;D

Saw that the tranny is for sale.

1-7 speeds.
You choose your needs and if you have the budget, just go for it!

http://libertysgears.com/our-products/extreme-t-transmissions/


.... and if you want the "best" launch, you go with a Bruno/Quick Drive (plus work with a company that does bolted converters so you can modify them for best adaption of your needs) just like in the pictures

So they can't just swap some gears out?

Of course possible if you only want more top speed.
Change fourth gear.
Now what happens then to the harmony of what you just had?
Now finding a "sweet spot"  and getting that traction and ET is not likely anything you wish to fiddle with too much.
Anything is possible but every change can be like starting over from the beginning.
A must safer move is to add a new gear.

I asked Ibrahim Colon who is part of the team what they intend to do. Lets see if he answers.

Only flat 4 aircooled rockt  8)

is there an engine behind that massive turbo ???  ;D what a beast! i think the build was probably more than my home!

7.18@188mph today, they are creeping nearer :o 8)

7.10.....

Hi Frallan

I cant find any info on it going this quick, where did you see that it did?

cheers Richie

Nope Richie!  I read it on one of my "latino"  speaking feeds but then it did not come up anymore so I think it might just be a comment that they are in the 7.1 range, which in fact is 7.18.
Sorry about that!

Ok :)

I wonder about the power transfer efficiency between the stock transaxle and a front engine arrangement.
I think the weight would be similar in the end, maybe a bit heavier for front-engine, but for a low-HP setup perhaps the stock layout is quicker still.
Maybe?
Dunno.

In other words, can you borrow that engine for your car, "just to see how it goes, In the interests of science", right?  ;)

 :D
Uhhmmm, well ......  ;D

 ;D
In all seriousness, you do raise a good point. We know that the weight transfer of a rear engined bug is good, hence relatively low power cars running decent times (200bhp into the 11s). We also know that the transaxle is a weak point, or there would be no need for bus box conversions, Mendeola etc. Get around that and big power cars can run well (Richie's second cab for example), but it seems very hard to do it reliably and consistently.
So that leads us onto front engines. Big power is not the problem, a drag-proven transmission behind it and a solid back axle removes the VW transaxle issue, and the amount of power produced compensates for the weight transfer advantage of the rear engine configuration.
I'm guessing that the car handles a bit more predictably with the weight up front too, but I've never been quicker than a low 12 on the track so it's all purely speculation on my part!

Absolutely everyone can decide that they want to go dragracing and you do not even have to have a driving licence. All it takes is a fair bit of money and a few hours set aside for the needed race licence and you can go as fast as you want to or have the budget for. Take a V8, add a turbo, step on the brake, add throttle and let go of the brake when the light goes green. 6 seconds later cross the line and post the film from the GoPro on youtube.

This sport is NOTHING unless you can do it IN STYLE together with a group of friends and have fun while doing it. Add a little madness into the mix and you will create everlasting memories.

-BB-

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Once again....very easy to get all excited and think they lowered it already.
Now, I am pretty sure they will, sooner or later. This carTeam has more to give.

That team certainly seem to have the money and no doubt the dedication to develop the car to push the limit time and time again.
Just watched the video from yesterday...wow.

But yes, the fun factor should remain too  ;)

Hear, hear!

I believe the Volkron went 7.18 last week...

Hey Richie,
I did notice from the first picture you posted on page 1 that this methanol fueled car has an intercooler ;)
Interesting!

it does and over 50psi boost in a very hot country ;)

Plus you don't lose that much of HP neither raise your ET by cooling the charge with an intercooler (and carrying the weight of it) when compared to throwing a bunch of fuel into the cylinders.
Unless you're on a big displacement engine where the cooler weight takes more of your ET than the super rich tune.