The
true meaning of the word asymptote is now becoming obvious, that being the closer you
become to something the further away it seems to be. However, the list of things to do is
diminishing at a satisfying rate. Since the last story the first mayor breakthrough was
receiving the rear wing, an important styling and functional feature of the car. The
design of which came from a successful open wheeler. Now the Americans have a standard
specification listing on wing profiles for specific down forces at given speeds.
The other breakthrough was to able to virtually duplicate Dak to The Future's chassis design into another car, namely Herbert Gattermeier's BMW sports sedan. With a little extra strength built in, the chassis will handle the Bee Ems staggering 507 bhp at the wheels or 685 bhp at the flywheel (2 Litres and 4 cylinders ).
A complete rearrangement of the rear suspension provided safer pickup points and even better geometry for the track rods with a bonus of simpler fire wall design. Some reinforcing around the inboard rear shock mounts left only battery, dry sump tank & oil cooler mountings to install.
The only changes to the I front end were dual master | cylinders with dash adjustable I front to rear bias and a new I steering wheel position. Changes to sports sedan rules require the bonnet to be separated from the mudguards. That's easy, I had to raise the front guard arches another 30mm anyway, so now the front guards bolt on. Typically, the Volkswagen Beetle is ever adaptable, that's why it's not extinct yet.
At long last, some, if not all of the rules favour the Beetle particularly the new floor panel rule. It seems the Bug is the only car to be allowed flat continuous under-sheeting as per the original vehicle, this coupled with a legal full height rear wing makes for a very nice uncompromising package.
Henry Spicak came to the rescue when the headache called 'gearbox' arrived..
For a time we were wishing I'd picked a Porsche box. The super tall 1st and 2nd gear set would not fit comfortably in the box. It may be possible next time to have them made a little different, but I think Henry will be voting for a nice simple standard box from Zuffenhausen.
Engine games have nearly come to an end. A rationalisation brought me full circle. Back to a 2500cc, 71 x 105.25 engine, still injected but also supercharged with a centrifugal blower as a 2nd option with a trusty 2800cc normally aspirated unit to kick off with.
While I've been building this car the competition has stiffened a little. However, with a bit over half the horsepower coupled with half the weight of the other cars, the Beetle concept remains competitive. Most of the serious sports sedans are now running A arm suspension to control their massive amounts of horsepower, thus the conversion of the Bavariacars BMW. Volkswagen stub axles find themselves in the strangest of places, being light weight and extremely strong they lend themselves to unlimited applications. The BMW was twisting rear stub axles like candy so it was decided to use Kombi ones with Porsche drive flanges welded on. Incidentally, BMW half shafts just happened to fit the Beetle better than the Porsche 930 items, being slightly shorter. It’s unbelievable how many parts are interchangeable amongst European cars, especially if they're German!
More next story, maybe even a shot of the car in motion. I hope.