Wednesday 26 October 2011

WELCOME NEW MEMBER RICH BATTISON!

After being on the verge of running a club qualifying time for a while, we are pleased to say that his recent trip to Santa Pod with three existing members netted him a qualifying time of 17.42@74.05mph

Rich runs a 1960 type 2 which came over from Texas in 2008, providing the grunt is a John Walklett built 2110cc mota running 44 idf webers, Other mods include porsche 924 turbo brakes and IRS, a 1500 gt box, bugtech shifter and detailed ssp Fuchs.

Well done Rich and welcome to the Rennwagens






Tuesday 25 October 2011

"LET THEM EAT CAKE" Sunday 23rd Oct 2011

Invite a Rennwagen along for some Birthday Cake add some racing thrown in for good measure and the likelihood is you'll stir up some interest. This was indeed the case when the DKR Club extended an invitation to the Rennwagens to join them and help celebrate their 2nd Birthday, the DKR having enjoyed a successful first 2 years and a welcome addition to the UK scene.

For the Rennwagens it was a successful outing for 3 very good reasons, namely "2 new PB's and a club qualifying time resulting in our newest full member."

The PB's:
John "Sako" Saxton continues to impress, with hard work comes the rewards and on this day Sako was rewarded with a new PB of 14.7, in his very fine Mexi Looker. This being John's second outing to the strip since the powerplant install, it's clear that he's only going to get quicker with seat time. Look out for John making a charge on the ET Board placing's next year. In other related news, there is nice photo of John's car running hard in this month's Volksworld magazine VWAction 2011 report.

Richie Moss has undoubtedly put in the most passes for the Rennwagens this year, more impressive is that with each outing seems to come a new PB, Sunday being no different. Like the proverbial "pig at a tater" Rich tore the car from the trailer headed straight for the track and made a PB 12.27@107.1mph with a 1.66 60ft. Not satisfied and refueled for another charge a second pass was rewarded with a further PB of 12.12@108 mph with a 1.62 60 ft. A third run produced another 12.2sec pass so for his fourth and final pass Tyre pressures were adjusted and low and behold Rich found air under the front wheels for the first time. At this point side winds were getting a little to lairy and Lil Stink Hound was retired for the day.

For those that don’t know the spec of Richie's car, its perhaps worth reiterating it's a 2332 IDA'd powerplant, the very same mota which propelled his sunny commutes to work just a couple of years ago pre its current Lil Stink Hound guise. The only change to the mota being the ditched cooling!!!!!!!!

Batty's Club Qualifying time:
With Mike Riley in support a determined Rich "Batty" Battison took an early cruise down in his hard as nails 2110cc powered 1960 Split bus, arriving before the gates were even open such was his conviction to see out 2011 with his wings. Rich has literally been on the verge of running the number for YEARS, and those that read this blog might remember Rich ran hard at Big Bang2011 earlier in the year and despite best efforts was just falling short of the 17.99 sec cut off and was gutted. Well a change of rubber, and a confidence boosting run down to the pod for this outing made all the difference. Batty's first shakedown pass was a low 18, second pass clinched a qualifying 17.8sec PB, his third and final run of the day was the 17.4sec PB, the Smile on Batty's face was huge. Handshakes all round Batty headed for home a job well done, and will be handed his club stickers at an upcoming meet.

Steve Milward chose to take a break from terrorising the streets in his 61 looker and joined the guys for some fun. With a head full of cold it was never going to be his finest hour, Steve's first pass was a 13.5sec@98mph, and unfortunately wasn’t improved upon with his 2 further passes. Timing slips confirmed that traction for his street radials was proving a problem on the day resulting in 60fts shy of his target, this coupled with a heavy build up of mucus forced early retirement. Even more disappointingly Steve known for his knack at "catching a light" failed on his promise to return home with the "fastest Reaction Trophy" something he had his eye on, on the day his 0.27sec was pipped by a 0.22. A good effort none the less.

Other results.
A great day had by all, relaxed and fun with the emphasis on enjoying some friendly competition and banter. The day was well attended, Gary and Alex of the JG54's took a run over in Gary's 67, and of course the DKR fielded a good number of cars along with some new faces in attendance.
In terms of racing, at one point the top three were separated by 2 hundredths. The First place Trophy for quickest on the day was eventually taken by Andy Searle of DKR with an 11.64 with Danny second in Hembug with a PB 11.9 and Rich Followed in 3rd following with a PB 12.1 @108mph. The quickest reaction time trophy was won by Dean Erb in his Mk1 20v turbo golf.

Special Thanks go to Rennwagen Club Prospects Gary and Peach for helping on the day. Gary for doing a sterling job with the video camera, although we all can't wait for Gary to ditch the camera and bring out the car - the great news is that day is getting very close. And Peach for spotting the cars, pushing in the fire up lane and generally being incredibly helpful to anyone who needed assistance. Finally to Sako's good lady firstly for allowing him to spend all those hours in the garage and secondly for coming along and supporting with genuine enthusiasm.



Richie Moss





John "Sako"





Steve Milward


Newest member Rich "Batty"


Checking out the video footage


Club cars parked between runs


















pics courtesy of Liam "Volksbarns"

Friday 14 October 2011

NEWSFLASH!!!!!!

After 5 weeks of being sworn to secrecy Gaz has now let us in on the news AND WHAT NEWS IT IS!!! When he told us a few weeks back his search for a replacement to his recently sold 68 was over we all figured it was going to be something special but none of us had any idea HOW SPECIAL- until today that is!!!!

As for the car, here are the details...

1965 Cal Looker
Bought from the one and only Mr Keith Seume

The only British Cal Looker ever to attend a genuine Bug-In, VW Classic and the DKP Cruise Night

Quick glance at the Specs
Gene Berg five-speed built by Mike Herbert of Rancho Performance in SoCal
FTC mainshaft
Weddle 3rd/4th gears
3.78; 2.35; 1.58; 1.21; 0.89
Klinkenborg 3.88:1 ring and pinion
Quaife limited-slip differential
JayCee chrome-moly pinion bearing support
H/D pinion retainer
Sway-A-Way race axles

Flat 4 Fuchs (4.5J and 'deep sixes' – brand new, just fitted) with 145x15 and 205/70x15 tyres
Front disc brakes – new
Rear VW drum brakes fully rebuilt – all new throughout
Hurst line-lock
Braided hoses etc

JayCee springplate retainers
Sway-A-Way adjustable springplates
Axle limiting straps
CSP 'torque bar'
Berg solid trans mounts (with weld-in middle mount)
Mallory fuel pump
Restored 'Cotton Goff' licence plate surround
New glass
Lexan rear screen (lightweight)

The car comes minus the engine, and as winter closes in its the perfect time for Gaz to get busy in the garage and start to form a plan of action for 2012.

FROM ALL THE CLUB CONGRATS ON THE PURCHASE

Gaz has promised to provide some recent pictures just as soon as he's given it a polish. In the meantime for anyone who doesnt know the car - (AS IF!!!!)..................



(photo from 2010)