Time attack beetle

[Humble]

Did a little bit of work to the bug on Sunday, and the trailer too. One of the tires on the race trailer has had a leak, so once the bug was off the trailer I took the opportunity to patch the tire. Also fixed the trailer brake on that side, looks like something had cut the wire.

As per my autox organization, I had to put the muffler back on, Lucy is just too loud without it. Spent the afternoon cutting and re-welding the old setup to work with the new turbo, and not hit the decklid. I borrowed my buddy's gasless mig (which i really hate) and I had a hell of a time with it burning through. The welds are hideous but it'll hold until the end of the season.

While I was making sure the exhaust wasn't leaking I noticed the BOV was not doing it's job. Turns out I plumbed the sense line wrong when I put the new wastegate in, oops! Hopefully any damage to the turbo was minimal.

[Humble]

Event #11 is now out of the way and into the books. Results aren't in yet but I believe i had 1st by more than half a second. It was a very technical course this time with some very tight gates that meant threading the needle at speed. Victory comes with some bad news though, the new starter crapped out in the middle of the event. It's supposed to be a high torque high rpm starter but after 10 or so starts it died. It looked cheap when I got it so I'm not surprised and it's covered under warranty. Since we couldn't shut down the car between runs the oil and heads started getting hot, with the heads clearing 410F and the oil touching 250F. I chanced a 3rd run, which was my fastest, then trailered the bug and it sounded rough until I shut it off. The oil pressure light came on a couple times while idling but pressure was fine during the run so I hope nothing was damaged. I'm going to drain the oil and take a look at it to make sure there's no glitter then it's off to the last race in 2 weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfOMESTj6rc

[Humble]

End of the 2012 race season!!

First off, the starter replacement and the oil issues. Last week I pulled the starter, again, and replaced it in about 20 minutes now that I have the process down. Checked the oil and it was fouled but glitter free, so I left the filters alone and topped it off with fresh oil. It seems like a waste to just run the oil for 1 race but oh well. She fired right up and sounded fine. Oil pressure was good but oil temps stayed cold so I'd have to wait for the race to see if she over heated again. As a precaution, I reconnected the oil cooler fan just in case.

On race day it was cold, very cold for California any way. It was 29F when I rolled out of the driveway at 6AM and was 35F when I rolled into Marina, CA after 7AM. It was raining on Saturday and I was expecting it to be damp Sunday morning but it was dry and cold. The course was designed to be a wet one, which means it was open, but in the dry it was fast. I got up to almost 70mph down the straight mid-course. The cold air was great for a power boost, but did not help the tires at all. My tire pressures stayed about 14-14.5psi in front and 15-15.5 out back. I found it better to bog the car at the bottom of the power band than to rev it out and make her nervous on cold tires. I had top time of day for while in the morning and it felt so good. I'm hoping I finally broke into the top 10 this event, if not I was very close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwl7-Vi-mRQ

At the end of the day I had 1st in OSP by .6 seconds, but my nemesis squeaks by with the OSP championship this year by 9 points. I finished 2nd in OSP and 9th in the overall standings, and my co-driver finished 4th in OSP which is not too shabby. Even though it was a 2nd place finish, this has been one of the most rewarding and fun racing seasons I've had. Lucy has proven to be a great bug and with a little more development she will be a serious force to be reckoned with.

I'd like to thank: Sean my co-driver for helping out, ferrying parts, and warming tires. CB Performance for supplying much of the motor, fuel injection and turbo, as well as Pat for his thoughts on the motor build. Bugformance San Jose for helping me with the odds and ends, and Jeff for being a sounding board for my crazy ideas. Rancho for building a fantastic race tranny that won't quit that has done over 3000 race miles now. Mendeola for helping give me the edge back with a suspension brace that performs awesome.

[DORIGTT]

Hey Humble,

IIRC you installed a DRD turbo header correct? What's it been like for you from installation to fit to performance?

Thanks,

[NO_H2O]

Congrats on a fine season. I have enjoyed all the videos and look forward to next season.

[Wally]

Great report, very deserved and what a cool pics that first one especially!

[NO_H2O]

Nice story. It's good to see that all of your efforts made everyone take notice. Keep pushing and I am sure you will edge out the old manx.

[NO_H2O]

Shut Off valves. Sorry.

[Humble]

It seems like every winter I put the race bug into hibernation, and every year i forget how much fun she is to drive. I pulled the bug out and took her for a spin to cycle the fluids. I needed to put some fresh gas in her anyway so why not. I happened to run across a worked over e36 m3 and we had a bit of fun in the mountains. We chatted for a bit and he was surprised that a bug could be so quick. The autox season doesn't start until later february this year due to fallout from an event with a karting club last year, so I have plenty of time to give the bug a once over.


As a side note, I was going to put this up before and never did. It's a little trick for pulling rubber and gravel out of sticky rubber after a track day or autox. This works with slicks or sticky street tires. Find yourself a curry comb, used for dogs or horses, with rows jagged teeth like this one:


Be rough with it and drag it across the tire to pull the gravel and rubber out. It easier if you do this while the tire is still hot, but it'll still work if the tire has cooled off. Here's a pice that's half and half so you can see how well it works.

[volkdent]

Great idea! Im always wearing out my gloves brushing off the pebbles...

Jason

[Humble]

Big updates are looming! I have purchases pending and soon parts with be shipping!

Looking to get:
beautiful tubular arms from vw1303
hopefully some 935 style spring plates from Alex
subaru swap wide sump and maybe radiator from bug@5speed

Already ordered:
US spec 2005 EJ25 sti motor
Subaru gears, mounts, flip r&p, stubs, and trans conversion bits
ty754xxxx sti 5spd trans

I haven't received anything yet but this will be a crazy process. The race bug gets new race bits and subaru motor, and the street bug gets a lot of race bug hand-me-downs. I promise lots of updates and video on both cars very soon!

[chug_A_bug]

AWESOME!!!!!!!! Let the CAR PORN begin...
can't wait to see all this happen

Chris.

[Steve C]

Hi

Regarding your curry comb idea, a lot of the local hill climbers wrap their tyres in Gladwrap after a run and before entering the pits, you need a lot of Gladwrap and helpers to do this.

Steve

[cookvw]

humble...IM SOOO EXCITED FOR THIS!!! soo stoked! ill surly be watching.

[-Alex-]

Vow...subaru drivetrain I kinda liked your turboed vw engine. If with vw engine it was fast, it be a whole lot faster with subaru sti 2.5 engine Are we talking about close to 300hp engine at stock form?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_EJ_engine#EJ25