I'll never forget that sound

[Dusty1]

Half a lifetime ago...

Half my lifetime may be bigger than half your lifetime.

Half a lifetime ago I was working construction at one of the local ski mountains. I was supposed to stick around Saturday, sweep out the entire condo block and burn the piles of construction debris. So I stuck around, swept out the entire condo block and burned the piles of construction debris.

Spent the entire day with a soundtrack of wailing race motors. Not a CD, not an LP, actual race motors wailing away on the mountain. I assumed I was hearing motorcycles. Even motorcycles didn't wail like that back then.

I'll admit I might have knocked off work a little early. Everything was swept clean and all the debris was ashes by then, anyway. I trudged up a nearby ski trail and eventually popped out on the paved access road most of the way up the mountain. A rather over- stimulated corner worker grilled me.

"What the hell are you doin' on our course?

And almost simultaneously told me,

"Don't go up there! You'll screw up this next driver's run if you walk through our timing lights."

Couldn't go up. I eventually hiked down another trail and ended up in the pits.

Hacked up Volkswagens were well represented in the pits. There was only enough bodywork left to identify them as VWs. They sported trick suspension and narrow slicks I now realize were Formula Vee derived. I know now some of these were likely VW based four cylinder Modifieds, VW screamers they used to run at our local track.

Aircooled VW modifieds, not yer new fangled Rabbits or Golfs.

You want rabbits? We got 'em on the golf course.

Anyway, I'll never forget that sound.

.
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[oprn]

A number of years back we happened onto an ice race in progress. The car that really turned my head because it sounded like an angry hornet on 'roids was a Fiat X19. He was running in the unlimited studs class with all the Nissan 280/300 ZX's and the Mazda rotaries and doing quite well. He was coming out of the corners throwing rooster tails of ice chips 20' in the air and 40 or 50' back!

I took a look at the car in the pits. It was just a body shell on a square tube frame, no floor boards and where the passenger seat should have been was a Yamaha 1100 engine and transmission chain driven to a solid tube rear axle!
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[Dusty1]

[NJ John]

My area had these on dirt and asphalt ovals. The class basically died by the time I was of age to drive. Front engine 4 cylinders took over.

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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[oprn]

[quote="Dusty1"]