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TaylorGrant
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2008
Posts: 35
Location: Los Osos
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 Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:30 am Post subject: Informal rule of the race: Don't get passed by the camper. |
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The BMW that shot this video placed second overall. There's some great footage of our lowly camper putting the pressure on. With an additional 100hp, we could have embarrassed at least another 40 cars....
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 7925
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 11:52 am Post subject: Re: Informal rule of the race: Don't get passed by the campe |
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| TaylorGrant wrote: |
The BMW that shot this video placed second overall. There's some great footage of our lowly camper putting the pressure on. With an additional 100hp, we could have embarrassed at least another 40 cars....
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Wickedly awesome!!!  
Add a turbo to that VR6 for next time. 
_________________
~Kamz 
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
 1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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TaylorGrant
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2008
Posts: 35
Location: Los Osos
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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No kidding!
Not bad for a stripped camper that still weighed in at 3380lbs! Yikes. We had a few guys trying to muscle us out of the way, and the van wasn't budging. We took everything we could off that van and still didn't come anywhere near sub-3000#. So we were pretty stoked on how that "little" stock VR6 pushed us around that track. We put a cheap chip tune on it which was supposedly giving us 40hp, but with a vehicle that heavy, we need MORE.
Really though, just being out there in a Vanagon was fun enough. It's probably better to not be too fast when you're laughing so hard you can barely see through the tears.... |
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j_dirge
Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2007
Posts: 4641
Location: Twain Harte, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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Way to go!
Thats some fun stuff, there.
Audi V-8! Next time.
I bet there's another 300-400lbs that could be cut out of the body. 
Was all the extranouse dash stuff removed? And the second wall of sheetmetal between engine firewall.. where the rear seat would mount?
Did you run a cooling fan for the radiator? Or remove it and all that "added" stuff.
_________________
-89 GL Westy, SVX.. finally.
-57 pan f/g buggy with a 67 pancake Type 3 "S"
"Jimi Hendrix owned one. Richard Nixon did not"
-Grand Tour, Season 1, episodes 4 and 5
| danfromsyr wrote: |
those are straight line runs with light weight race cars for only 1/4mile at a time..
not pushing a loaded brick up a mountain pass with a family of 4+ inside expecting to have an event free vacation..
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 7925
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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It made my day seeing that Westy staying in front of a Mk3 Golf.
| TaylorGrant wrote: |
| It's probably better to not be too fast when you're laughing so hard you can barely see through the tears.... |
Ah, so that's why the spin-out happened.  
_________________
~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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TaylorGrant
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2008
Posts: 35
Location: Los Osos
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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I bet there's another 300-400lbs that could be cut out of the body.
Was all the extranouse dash stuff removed? And the second wall of sheetmetal between engine firewall.. where the rear seat would mount?
Did you run a cooling fan for the radiator? Or remove it and all that "added" stuff. |
In the spirit of Lemons, we actually brought a $500 pile o' crap. We got the van for free, the engine out a crashed Eurovan that was sitting out in the weather for three years, added a set of old H&R lowering springs and clapped out KYBs from the recycle bin, welded a front sway bar on the back, and stripped the interior. The safety stuff doesn't count toward the $500 limit, so we installed a set of monster 4 piston Willwoods on the front, and a set of Smallcar rear discs that we scored off another crashed van an insurance company gave us. Yes, there is sheet metal we could take out, but the chassis is so nice and stiff we're going to leave it alone. We did remove the padded dash though. 
Because it's a cab forward vehicle, they actually weren't going to let us race it. They were convinced we had a death wish. It took several hundred emails with their tech guys, shipping them a whole cut off front clip so they could see the internal structure, crash videos from YouTube, a trip to the Lemons fab shop in Sacramento to draw up the cage, and a couple hundred pounds of DOM tubing to make it happen. Even then, we didn't know if they were going to pass us through tech inspection until race day. Just getting it on the track was a victory in itself. Actually being competitive was just icing on the cake!
Now that the precedent has been set, who's going to build the next race van? |
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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| So...who spun it? |
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TaylorGrant
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2008
Posts: 35
Location: Los Osos
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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The young and reckless Lucas Junior.
In his defense, it was the first lap of the morning, the track was cold, the tires were cold, a deer jumped out of the bushes, narrowly missing the front bumper, and just then a seagull flew right in front of the windshield momentarily obscuring his vision which caused him to not see the massive Canadian tar sands"oil slick" that finished him off. Then again, it may have had something to do with Saturday night and tequila. Who knows.
Thank goodness he was in a Vanagon. |
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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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If i had to put money on it I would have picked him.
Good times  |
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TaylorGrant
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2008
Posts: 35
Location: Los Osos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:07 pm Post subject: Team Westafari Official Video |
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shadetreetim
Samba Member
Joined: January 10, 2011
Posts: 1994
Location: Riverside, California
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| Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for sharing the videos Taylor. Fun stuff.
_________________
Tim Potts
Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!
'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5 |
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Zero419
Samba Member
Joined: January 11, 2008
Posts: 2160
Location: PA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:28 am Post subject: |
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| whafalia wrote: |
| The rug really ties it together |
_________________
1987 Westy Auto Bostig 2.0 Ztec |
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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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24 hours of LeMons new england contestants in October. Apparently a MR2 and a vangon became one to make this.
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kuleinc
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Joined: August 10, 2007
Posts: 1604
Location: East Bay Area, California
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