Street car super nationals 12, Old cabrio pump gas street engine

[richie]

Last 4 days I have been in Las vegas at the Street car super nationals 12 with the Old cabrio with its new engine I just finished and only got about 1hour run time on, as I had made the decision a while ago to try and compete at Hot rod drag week next year with this car I had geared all the decisions towards running it on pump gas only to simplify it for that event so from 1st start up it has been this way. I had set the car up as safe as I could, real rich, low boost, very little timing and clutch set to slip a lot to begin with, also shifting gear about 750rpm lower than I will eventually

So here is my report on how it went so far

Tech was done 1st thing Thursday morning without any problems, same tech guy at LVMS as with VW events and he recognised car which always helps, Thursday we were only scheduled one qualifying pass and due to driver error[ I launched, shifted from 1st to 4th and pass was done] it only ran a 15
Friday we were scheduled 2 qualifiers but with no data from Thursdays run I couldn't change much, clutch was to soft so re set that and took a small amount of fuel out of boost map, 1st pass I just wanted to get all 4 gears and learn something from what basic data we can get, it ran 11.00@118 with 1.50 60ft and no driver errors   so based on that I made some more adjustments and waited for another pass, due to a lot of on track problems we got bumped a couple of times and by 7.30 pm decided we had waited long enough and went to eat, they did finally run my class sometime after 9pm but I think we made correct decision to leave as track was real cold by then.
Saturday and we get one more qualifier then 1st round elims, 1st pass and 60ft was slightly worse at 1.51 but car improved to 10.4@128mph and I could see it was to soft in all areas still, so few adjustments, watch the Big cars for a while then eliminations starts. We are against a proper race car and he has lane choice due to better reaction time, we don't get a choice on dial in in this class, they take your best qualifying pass time and allow 1/10th quicker so I had a "dial in" of 10.35 which had no influence on me, I just wanted to run it and learn more about set up for next year. 60ft improved to 1.41 and it ran 10.28@132 mph.
Although its still a way off what I want to run I am happy enough to run that with only 4 passes on engine/set up and due to same gearbox as before gearing is much to tall for current power being geared to do about 170mph so car struggles to pull it, more boost/power will help, but for now I am happy to have a running driving car, everything mechanical worked, engine is totally dry and no maintenance at all was needed which is how it needs to be to survive a week on the road and track being abused for Drag week  

cheers Richie

[richie]

Video of best pass

https://youtu.be/prSzZS84fz0

[Berger]

Nice report and results! Car looks awesome both still and in action!
I think running a low 10 first time out with this new setup, on pump gas and with no hiccup`s (except driver..  )  is a huge achievement! So cool you are going for the hot rod drag week! 
Keep up the good work!

[henk]

That's great.
So no more big wheelie's then?
Just aiming for good times.
Looking forward to see at the drag week.

Henk!!!

[Olaf A./DFL]

Congratulations! Very cool to read you'll be competing at Drag Week! Good luck!

[alex d]

that's impressive, good luck!

[Jeff68]

Congrats Richie! Your car looks great among all of the American Iron  I bet you'll do well at Drag Week as well.. Awesome to see you doing this.

[Udo]

Good to see a beetle compete at drag week . so you travel with the guys ?

Udo

[richie]

Good to see a beetle compete at drag week . so you travel with the guys ?

Udo

Yes we have to do same as all other cars

cheers Richie

[richie]

Thanks everyone, wish I had more time to drive it and race it more but this trip is over.

Also as someone had asked me this, yes I raced with alternator belt on, full cooling etc just as I would drive on street, only difference was it was on slicks this time, but plan is to run treads on Drag week to simplify it

cheers Richie

[leec]

Hi Richie,
Am I right in thinking this is the 4 inch bore motor? JPM heads?
Future looks good for this engine
Lee

[Felix/DFL]

Congrats to the great first outing, and what a good plan to compete at drag week.
Surviving drag week is a real task, you will make it.

Really love the "surviving" episode of roadkill, for those who don`t saw that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsaVWA3gNg
Have fun!

[Neil Davies]

Drag week sounds amazing. One of our local guys did it a few years ago in his Bedford van and won Spirit of Drag Week. For those that don't know me, I don't sound too much like Mick! At least, I don't think I do...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/i-KvDGo3nPc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/i-KvDGo3nPc</a>

[Fiatdude]

.

[Fiatdude]

Another yellow bug

[Eddie DVK]

I say, Richie do it  .
would be so cool.

[richie]

Thanks to Krookid photography for the on track photos  

[richie]