Happiness is definitely a '66 hot vw!

[nicolas]

first off, thank you Tim for the comment. I appreciate it very much. this car has grown on me lately. it has been a bit of a fight for the last ten years, but since getting it more attention in the last two years, I think we are bounding 


too bad he was at the wrong side to catch the one wheel burn out... 

so I did 2 runs. 1st was OK. a lot of wheelspin still, but no hop, due to the traction bar that I tabbed up. the tyre pressure was too high.

second run was a total mess. I bogged in the burn out and during the run it ran badly. so that was it for me that weekend. I wanted to drive it Saturday evening to the chalet with my friends and it acted up again. so bad we towed it to the site. so my weekend of racing was done. and I couldn't quite figure out what happened or why.
in the next weeks I got to work on and off on the car, with one day of really digging into it with a friend. so three weeks later, I found out the coil from the MSD failed and that caused the bogging. than I installed a regular 009 with a blue coil, to have one cylinder not firing. that in the end was due to a bad sparkplug wire. So at this point I will drive the car. for a streetcar it sure does not lives up to it's name and is trailered a lot more than it is driven. and driving it would at least give me some sense of knowing what it does (heating up, gears, brakes,...) all simple things, but in changing so much and trying to make things better it is usefull to actually see progress. hence driving. 

in a few weeks it will be Spa and I hope to bring it there in better shape and hopefully do some runs. slow, yes. improving, yes-er. having fun, yest!

[richie]

 having fun, yest!

That's the most important thing, and so many people lose sight of that while trying to impress others !!!

good to see you are enjoying it

cheers Richie

[speedwell]

Fabian you did a good job with the pictures to make it look fast

cheers Richie

[nicolas]

update for the 2025 season.

after doing 3 events in 2024 (Clastres in May, EBI in July and Spa in august) I took the engine out and fitted a 1776 I build to go on the dyno. but that went OK and now I am back with the 2276.
the changes and hopefully improvements that I made are fewer as I 'feel' a lot changed and for the better since my first outing in May 2024.
At Spa I still had a lot of wheelsman and something that I noticed in a video from EBI re-occurred, I do a burnout with one wheel... always the same wheel... so something is up. also the box had a super diff, that isn't a upgrade to control the bias in traction.
that has been tackled with redoing the gearbox again, with a Quaife and longer gears. 3,88 RP 3,78 1st 2,06 2nd 1,58 3rd and a 1,04 4th. On a first spin around the block I think it is a better gearing for this car. and hopefully with a better result on the track as well.
another thing that could be changed is the wheels and tyres. I acquired a set of Mahle space savers over the years (thanks Lee Croft) and fitted a set of MH slicks.  so this may be a big step as well. I never had anything with slicks. 
I also made a kit for an external oil cooler. this one fits over on the torsion bar and will replace the one I had above the gearbox. I am going to test it, as I have made several and I am going to sell the kit.
what also is on the agenda is a roll bar or roll cage.  but that is not done or advancing much.

again this post doen't really work without pictures, but there will be in the future. things don't look too different. a lot of it is all under the bonnet and a work in progress. but my aim is to better the 14,41 by something in the 13 second bracket, with a 13,80 being the best the car ever ran.

see you soon.

[j-f]

Good news 

looking forward to see your progress buddy 

[nicolas]

the engine



the car



this actually could make more sense 

[Glauco]

I always had a soft spot for this car and his history. I hope it will make it into the 13's and lower real soon! Inspiring enough for me to want my own beetle to play with! 

[nicolas]

here is an update on the progress of my car for this year.

I went to a race in Germany that was actually close by (2h drive) and although I did just two runs before my coil failed I learned a bit.
1. I improved my PB with a 13.61 to a previous 13.85. that isn't great or good by any means.
2. that brings me to the main lesson. I need to build a lot more confidence in the car and stop overthinking it. the main problem is on this side of the steering wheel... some more work to be done. and some more runs will add too that. I have figured out that I actually did  event last year. only two crap runs at EBI and some 1/8 uphill runs at Spa and not even 50km on the road. 5 km of road since the gearbox was fitted. I am not making excuses, just honestly posting that I am on a learning curve and driving in a straight line can be scary.  

I did however build a cage. in between jobs and on evenings I started bending some steel tubing (that I bought a while back to give it a try). I think CrMo would have worked easier and would make it lighter. but on a first attempt I went with steel.

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[nicolas]

an update on the race weekend at Clastres last weekend.

This may seem as a pittyful post and a cry for attention and compassion. But this is not Facebook, so it isn't. just a real view of how the weekend went from my point of view.

We arrived Friday and did tech inspection. the cage and improvements (belts, springs on the carbs,...) were met with a thumbs up from the inspector. My new bike helmet (certified but not good for autosport) and my overall I bought last year, was OK up to 12.00 but could be improved. He advices a Hans for better neck support. I will be looking into this, but suggestion and leads are appreciated.

Saturday I ran for the first time on slicks. I was really nervous and expected 13-14 seconds of looking at a blue sky.
that didn't happen. I barely did a burnout. the guy next to the track even came out to make me do it again. I did. I tried?
the first run was scary. I tried to feather it a bit. In my mind I have been on boats that are more stable. the car danced a bit. of course everyone who saw the run say it all looked pretty straight and basically good.

after talking to Stephan Speelman of the Muppet Racer he said I shouldn't feather it on slicks. he summed it up as slicks=putting your foot in it!

so more stress. in my head I went from yoga to herbal tea and sandalwood candles in the car all the way to a good well aimed lobotomy to cut out the nerves. the best option in the end was to calm down, take a deep breath and do it step by step and go for it. Which I did and that resulted in better and better times.

I even, for a few minutes thought I had run my first 12  I raced against Lena Kunold and although I didn't win, I think I held my ground. After the run a little oil dripped on her exhaust and when getting of the track I stopped just to let her know. At that moment she got a message that she had ran her first 11 (big congratulations), which she improved over the weekend. So that got me thinking that I wasn't THAT far behind... I could have run my first 12? it ended up being a 13,16... but still my best run, a better feeling about the car. good times are on the way (pun intended)!

So then something upset my zen state again and it was the car not starting. I had this before at Marl. and I diagnosed it as a bad coil then. but now again. strangely the car would start again sometimes, also without a clear indication. So I opted to look at it and try to see what the problem was. I tried to make the mad distributor run on a coil only without the box. as the box seemed suspect. In the end and a couple of hours later. I lend a 009 (with a type4 clamp wedged between two washers) and a msd coil. that ran good. checked and reset my timing and tried a last run of the day. it was getting late and last run calls were made.  only with one misshift from 2nd to 3rd on a run against the muppet Racer. But confident that I could race and the car working, albeit without 2step. 13,49 to end the day was Ok.

Sunday we had the plan to do as much runs as possible up to 12 -13 hours as we needed to get back in time.

the first run was around 9:45 against a 10 second Honda Civic. Righfully assuming I wasn't a match for him, I concentrated on my own run and everything felt good and pretty comfortable (but still a heartbeat of 10000), but good. Confident to make a few more passes like this.

It turned out to be the 12.79 run.  the weekend was good. now I didn't need to do anything, just enjoy it and learn, learn, learn. seat time.

the races were delayed by a few oil downs and around noon we got to make another pass.
So I got in the box and did a burn out. that is what I thought I did anyway. in fact I didn't. add to that that I didn't know if I was or not, I kept my foot in it... to long, way too long,... the engine stalled and I couldn't start. I was pushed back out and I pushed the car back to the pits with some help. the smell was not good, the feeling even worse.

Now one week later the engine is out to get a idea of the damage done. I didn't take my foot of the clutch fast enough and the clutch slipped. so that got really hot. the bad news is that I did it too long and ended up seizing the trust bearing as well... a big bummer on what could have been a really really nice weekend.

this is a steep learning curve, and will continue to be. but that is OK. Now my main focus is how to get that 38mm scat gland nut loose and disassemble the engine. check the crank. hopefully save the case and crank. rebuild it with a new flywheel if necessary , balancing,...



I am learning the hard way, but you know what they say, happiness is a 12 second pass!! 

[j-f]

Whow, congrats for that 12, and bummer for the engine damage 
Let me know if I can give you a hand.

[nicolas]

Whow, congrats for that 12, and bummer for the engine damage 
Let me know if I can give you a hand.

thank you!

after this weekend. and contemplating about it some more. I came up with 2 options. 1. rebuild this engine. which would be the best option as it is a street engine and the car is ready to be driven more often on the street. 2. with a set of heads I have a 1914cc... a little bit more farfetched but maybe a nice small drag engine.

I need to get my head together a bit more and maybe next week have an idea that is clearer.

[richie]

Congrats on the 12  

So no rev limiter or shift light at all once you go to the 009? sounds like maybe you need someone watching you in burnout so you now wheels are spinning if you don't feel that in car? hopefully damage is not to bad, am sure you know a machinist that can fix it 

cheers Richie 

[nicolas]

Congrats on the 12  

So no rev limiter or shift light at all once you go to the 009? sounds like maybe you need someone watching you in burnout so you now wheels are spinning if you don't feel that in car? hopefully damage is not to bad, am sure you know a machinist that can fix it 

cheers Richie 

the shift light works with the 009. the limiter doesn't. the MSD box controls the limiter. I had a good feel on who to shift at that point and with the shift light right in my line of vision, I just shifted when it came on.

as for the burnout. a rookie mistake. I needed someone watching and to cut it as soon as the tyres were not turning. that would have saved a lot in the end. but ifs and buts... as for me. I felt the car engage on letting the clutch go and the car seemed to push forward. but after that, the car feels 'lose' as it spins. the feeling I had was no different. except it was different...

yes I also know a machinist who could fix it.

But I only know vegetarians so no way I am loosening that scat gland nut. although it smells like a BBQ, no one came to the rescue... 

and thanks. onwards and downwards

[richie]

So shift light comes on during burnout? then you release throttle pedal some to control rpm, well that is how I do it   You have a torque meister tool? I welded a cut down 38mm socket to mine so i can do both sizes   

[j-f]

 although it smells like a BBQ, no one came to the rescue... 

You only mention that now?

I was not far from you this afternoon 

[BossHogg76]

Loved reading your post, and congrats in getting to the 12's everything you wrote about is me everytime i try a run at the strip. I always seem to be faffing about then  i usually look up just in time to see the tree turn green.

Hope your engine damage isn't to bad.

[nicolas]

So shift light comes on during burnout? then you release throttle pedal some to control rpm, well that is how I do it   You have a torque meister tool? I welded a cut down 38mm socket to mine so i can do both sizes   

I have one. and I am going to do that. I am just waiting for the spare 38mm socket to turn up.

I honestly didn't do the burnout at first how you described it. I was on the limiter. pure excitement. but if released it a little bit afterwards in later burnouts to 'feather it'.

after all the excitement and thoughts and ideas, I think the best option is to open everything up. see what is broken, fix that and rebuild it.

Loved reading your post, and congrats in getting to the 12's everything you wrote about is me everytime i try a run at the strip. I always seem to be faffing about then  i usually look up just in time to see the tree turn green.

Hope your engine damage isn't to bad.

thank you. I try to tell the story form an honest and personal point of view as it really is a steep learning curve. but that is all the excitement and fun of it. step by step. have fun!