It's Saturday afternoon, I'm standing outside the V-Force factory & I can hear the familiar sound of a flat four on webers in the back streets. When the object emitting the wonderful sound emerges it's my good friend CT Hansen in his lovely Oval, but the Oval has evolved from the nicest oval around to the hottest oval around with a lowering job from hell. It's a full 1.5 inches lower all round & it looks amazing.
CT pulls up & smiles, " It's defiantly lower than mine dude" I say, "yeh it's way too low " he replies. The answer, change the rear shocks right there in the street! Richard Holzl came out with a set of KYB shocks to replace the Konis & this in return raised the rear of the Oval a bee's dick off being teeth shattering. With the addition of some type 3 front bump stops on the rear it was now ready to roll, with 2 of us under the car it was all done in a matter of minutes.
Just as CT & I finished, we could here the roar of another flat four roaring to life for the first time, coupled with the sound of IDA webers cackling away. It was Dieter Holzl & his 1916cc powered Superbug. They had just got it in the car & were going to use the drive to Goulburn to run in the new motor!
Next to arrive was Paul in his 2110cc L-Bug, he was also running it in with only 550 miles on the clock.
We finally left Mortlake around 6:30 pm for the long cold drive to Goulburn. Richards’s good friend Chris kindly put us up for the night & also supplied CT & I with a garage for our cars. After a Thai meal it was time for the obligatory Porsche RUF video just to get us in the mood for the next day.
We arrived at the track at about 7:30am & the Porsche boys had a bit of a shock, first hearing then seeing 4 beetles rumble into the pits. The wave & nod of the Porsche drivers showed their approval.
After signing on & passing scrutineering it was time for the first drivers session which consisted of a 15 minutes session in which to familiarise yourself with the track & sort out anything that may arise. After a few laps CT & I fall into a rhythm & after a few laps following CT he waves me through so he can follow me. A hot WRX overtakes both of us on the straight at the same time & I try to stay with him but he pulls about 5 car lengths by the end of the straight but I'm sure that I can get him under brakes. I do, but I've gone in too hot & I lock up a rear wheel, grab a handful of opposite lock, save it but drift it all the way to the other side of the track, realise I'm about to run out of track & head straight for the dirt, I straighten the car up & gently pull it up. CT gives me a wave as he drives past, I return back to the track & head for the pits just to check the car over. The front left tyre has caught the guard under full lock & it must have bottomed out, there’s a little bit of paint damage & a few chunks out of the tyre but nothing too serious.
CT & I have a bit of a laugh about it & then decide to change his wheels over from the Yokohama street rubber to the Yokohama race rubber. We then decide to get something to eat & watch the big boys at play.
Group 1 & 2 consists of GT3's, GT2's, a supercharged 911, a 914-6 with a 3.2 engine & many turbo 911's. They absolutely fly & it's great watching them. Suddenly the supercharged 911 is coming into the fish hook left hander & there is flames coming from under the car, he finally realises what’s happening, pulls over, gets out lifts the engine lid & huge flames about 3 foot high below out from the engine bay! It seems to take forever for him to get his fire extinguisher out of the car & he waves frantically towards the pits for the fire truck to come to the rescue. He finally gets his extinguisher out of the car & onto the flames in about 30 seconds but it seems to take minutes. The fire truck arrives & the driver instantly puts the fire out. It was real heart in the mouth stuff & it wasn't even my car! It's towed back to the pits to survey the damage. They are unable to fix it & it's towed home.
CT & I have our first timed run & lining up on the dummy grid, all 4 beetles cause quite a stir. Apparently some of the crowd were having a bit of a chuckle, but it soon stopped once we got out there & started lapping some Porsches. Wakefield Park really suits the beetles as it tight & twisty & really exciting to drive. Our new gearboxes with a 1.58 third & 1.04 4th means that CT & I don't have to go back to second gear anymore & we can use the torque of our engines to pull us through the fishhook & also the last turn onto the straight. Dieter was running a gearbox more set-ups for hill climbs but was having a blast just the same. Paul was having fuel surge problems & just couldn't quite get it together on the day but he'll be right for the next one I'm sure.
Following CT out onto the track we start to get into it & going through the fishhook CT's rear starts to step out under power & he slowly starts to spin around, the cold Yokohama slicks screaming that they are still too cold, I give him a wave as I pass & we do the rest of the 4 timed laps event free.
The second timed run sees myself in front of CT & we give it everything, I spend most of my time crossed up on most of the corners, my Falkan street tyres showing their limits whilst CT sits behind me cool calm & collected, his Yokies showing their merits once up to full operating temperature. Our times come in very close, 1:17.110 for me & 1:17.145 for CT. Can't get much closer than that! I call it a day as the flu has taken over my body & I can barely stand up let alone race a car.
CT plays around with some tyre pressures & also cuts down the rear bump stops so as to allow for more rear wheel travel. After the last timed session for the day CT ends up with a blistering 1:16.0 flat! An absolutely flying time, amazing what u can do when u don't have some nut sideways in front of u hey CT? Dieter ends up with a 1:19.0 which for his first time, the wrong gearbox & standard valve heads is very quick as well.
We pack up the cars & are ready to leave, just one problem, Deiters Superbug has lost all but 4th gear & reverse. Lucky it's a real close ratio box, as Richard has to drive it home in 4th gear! Just goes to show the flexibility of the motor.
The dramas were not over yet though, 20 minutes out of Goulburn a huge cloud of smoke appears from the rear of my car! My heart sinks as this is not the best time, I'm now feeling very ill as CT & I climb under the rear of my car, it turns out that the oil line going to the RX7 cooler above the gearbox has melted itself against the exhaust! Luckily I carry heaps of spares, 3 metres of oil line hose being part of the package. At least I'm lying down, I think to myself whilst changing the line! I could go to sleep right now. On our way again I can't help but think about how robust the little VW motor is. CT & I are sitting on 4000rpm all the way home, they don't miss a beat, & apart from the oil line, not a drop of oil is to be seen under the motor. I didn't end up getting home until 9:30pm since I had to stop a few times to rest due to being so weak with the flu. I suppose it's better than running off the road passed out. Our next run will hopefully be hiccup free, but despite everything the cars are home safe & sound & more importantly so are we.
Stay cool,
Jak Rizzo
