Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mk1 Sciroccos at Nürburgring




There are more than new Sciroccos running in the Nürburgring 24 hour. It is such a cool event, check these Mk1s.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sciroccos at 2009 Nürburgring 24-hour


source: Volkswagen Motorsport

Wolfsburg (24 May 2009). The Volkswagen Scirocco cars powered by natural gas and petrol engines superbly mastered the world’s most difficult circuit marathon, the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring, by clinching two class victories.

The Scirocco GT24-CNG with innovative EcoFuel technology of Vanina Ickx (B), Peter Terting (D), Klaus Niedzwiedz (D) and Thomas Klenke (D) won the category for vehicles with alternative powertrains (AT) and finished 17th overall, outperforming numerous more powerful cars. The petrol-powered Scirocco GT24 of youngsters Jimmy Johansson (S), Florian Gruber (D), Nicki Thiim (DK) and Martin Karlhofer (A) achieved a remarkable 15th place and Volkswagen's third consecutive victory in the class of cars with two-litre turbo engines (SP3T).

Altfrid Heger (D), Cheng Congfu (CN), Carlo van Dam (NL) and Franck Mailleux (F) finished third in the SP3T class and 20th overall, the CNG-powered Scirocco of Volkswagen Executive Board Member for Technology Dr Ulrich Hackenberg (D), Bernd Ostmann (D), Peter Wyss (CH) and John Barker (GB) finished as the runners-up in the AT class. The fifth Scirocco of Carlos Sainz (E), Dieter Depping (D), Wolfgang Kaufmann (D) and Patrick Simon (D) retired after a strong showing due to an accident that was no fault of theirs on Sunday morning.

Volkswagen with Scirocco R debut

235,000 spectators lining the legendary Nordschleife in perfect weather not only witnessed an extremely thrilling 24-hour race but also the world debut of the new Scirocco R, the most powerful version of the sport coupe with a 265-hp engine. The Scirocco R presented itself to enthusiasts in a motorcade around the roller-coaster in the Eifel along with the Race Touareg with "Dakar” winners Giniel de Villiers (ZA) and Dirk von Zitzewitz (D). The many guests rooting for the Volkswagen team at the "Ring” included actors Erol Sander and Mark Keller.

Needless to say, VfL Wolfsburg's winning of the German Football Championship was a major topic at the Nürburgring as well: Before the start to the 24-hour race Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Carlos Sainz and Kris Nissen wished the VFL team well in a live transmission to the stadium and a short time later sent their congratulations on Wolfsburg's triumph by pit board messages and from the cockpit.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sciroccos at Nelson Ledges

I just realized that the header photo of the Trans-Am Scirocco in the late 70's is also taken at Nelson Ledges. Pretty cool to win there again 30 odd years later.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Nelson Ledges and Mosport SCCA races



A victory at Nelson.

Theo and I travelled to Nelson Ledges Ohio in May for the SCCA National, setting up in the paddock with my Mini racing friends, Ted Phenix and Chris Kopley. It was just like old times.

Over the winter we prepped a new head and cam to move the engine closer to full Production car specs and I was very eager to see how it would perform. With more power and torque, the Scirocco was much more fun to drive. After feeling out the car and track in the first session, we were able to edge out Debbie Lafond's Honda Civic for the pole position in HP in the afternoon qualifying.

The weekend's only problem surfaced in the Sunday morning warm up. The transmission was stuck in first and would not budge. After disassembling the shift linkage and with encouragement from Ted and Chris, we got it out of gear and fueled up in time to make the grid.

I planned to start off in second avoiding first gear, but on the start I was in fourth instead of second and had a very slow launch when the green flag came out. Ray Santomo's VW Golf got by me and Debbie was on my bumper. I quickly sorted things out and set chase on the Golf. It took over half the race to catch him and I slipped by on the inside going into turn one. The Golf and Honda were always in my mirrors, but we hung on for a very satisfying first win.

A few weeks later at Mosport, things did not work out as well. The two Midgets of Ron Bartel and Dan Collishaw were way out front in a class of themselves. One of my Scirocco mentors, Johannes Krause, was third and I was a slim 15/1000 of a second behind him with Dave Hammer's Rabbit another second back. With some fresher rubber on the car, it looked like I would be in the middle of a fun 3-way VW battle.

Race day dawned sunny , but soon after the warm up black clouds rolled in and the rain started. We put our "rain" tires on, which are really an old set of hand cut intermediates. The track was very wet and the rain constant, this was a day for full rains.

I moved ahead of Johannes on the start and held it to Moss Corner. As soon as we got through 5C, Johannes pulled out and powered by me up the straight on his fresh Hoosier rains. A few laps later and Dave went by, there was nothing I could do as the rain was heavy. After a full course yellow and restart, it was clear that I had nothing to gain and drove to make the finish without bending the car.

Congratulations to Johannes and Dave who had close battle for the whole race and turned faster laps in the rain than the two Midgets!

July 11 we are off to Watkins Glen were there is an 8 car HP field entered including a rematch between the three VWs.