Long Version
As most of you know, we approached this project very seriously. I had three goals in mind when we set out to do this car:
- As a community of both consumers and suppliers build something together to be proud of
- Promote the fun of VW tuning and the power of the VW engine to a broader audience
- Assist a charity with the money raised by auctioning or raffling off the cars.
So, when Rich Christensen the host of PINKS agreed to bring the car on the show they wanted to know how fast we’d be. I said mid 10’s (I was hoping for high 9’s) and he said “No way. To fast. We won’t have anyone for you to race” so I agreed to slow the car down. So we went with different heads and a smaller turbo.
Several weeks into the project, Nate Pritchett, one of the Technical Directors (a Mustang drag racer himself) called me and asked if we could ditch the turbo. I said that we’d have to find some 48mm Webber or Dellorto carbs and that was money and time we did not have. We really couldn’t afford to loose the turbo since we had it and the carb lined up. He said ’ Okay. Well, the guy I want to match you up with runs low 12’s normally aspirated, but we’ll ask him to add nitrous to level the playing field’. I figured this car would be capable of low 11’s or high 10’s so I told Nate that was no problem at all and we’d run a big block, small block, rotary, Honda VTEC, Yamaha, Kawasaki, it didn’t matter. I made this very clear.
Later into the project, around early December, Rich Christensen calls me and says they want to change who we race. He says the other guy was a jerk and now they have a mid 11 second drag car from Texas ready to come run. Can we hang with it he asks. I told Rich “No problem as all”. So, we keep working away getting ready, figuring on racing a V8 that probably runs quicker than wait he claims.
Once the car was ready late Friday night/Saturday morning, Jason Lauffer decided to go make some test passes at Barona (1/8th mile) at the test and tune on Saturday morning. We went and made three shakedown runs trying to get the rear suspension dialed in.
When Jason got to the track on Sunday the car only had 3 1/8th mile passes on it. We kept the car in the enclosed trailer while DynoDon id some final waxing and we applied the last of the stickers. Nate Pritchett the Tech Director for PINKS came by the trailer and I offered to let him see the car. He was very impressed with the finished product and admitted it looked like a fast car.
As I was walking around the pits area a 2 guys came up and asked me if I was Lo Cash John (screen name). I said yes, and so they identified themselves as our competition, Brian and Keith Gillespie from HASport Performance. Turns out Brian did a little snooping around on the Internet (I was afraid this would happen) on Thursday night and found our build page at www.LoCashRacing.Org and then he found the Cal-Look Forum. Once he read all 18 pages (at the time) on the forum he knew he was out gunned, but he also knew our goal of wining, selling the cars and giving the money to charity. Brian was so impressed with our efforts and idea he decided to covertly do the same thing, making the American Diabetes Association his charity of choice. He kept all this information away from the PINKS crew for fear they wouldn’t let him race us and risking us loosing to a faster car that had no ties to charity. When Ray Iddings from VolksBash Radio interviewed Brian along with Jason Lauffer, he revealed he too would sell/raffle the cars if he won and send the money to charity. The PINKS crew was floored to say the least. We should be very thankful that Brian found us early and is such a good guy.
When it was time to film, Jason drove our car to the line and took the right lane. The car looked and sounded like to be ready for a fight. Moments later, the HASport Performance car came to the line and took the left lane. Their car is a late 80’s Honda CRX with HASport Performance logos on the sides, open exhaust and drag slicks on front. Probably fast but we don’t know how fast.
Rich Christensen comes out and gathers the two teams up. We are asked if we want to look each others cars over so we agree. On the Honda we find a motor swap has been done. The car now sports what looks to be stock H-22 VTEC motor with header, big intake pipe and a 2 stage “dry” nitrous system. Since the dry system is computer controlled, we can’t judge how much hp gain we’re looking at here.
Rich then asked me to explain the story of our car, so I did and pointed out that if we win we’ll send money to Hurricane Relief. Brian Gillespie was then given the chance to talk about his car and he said he’d do the same for the ADA.
Once we start the negotiations, the Honda team point out we have a turbo AND nitrous, after market trans, probably 2200-2400cc and so on and are probably a 9 second car. We point out the 16 valve VTEC, EFI, 5 speed and computer controlled variable nitrous and say that car might be a low 10 second car. Brian says the Honda is good for low 12’s PERIOD. Rich Christensen (admittedly not a car guy) looks at the 2 cars and ours screams FAST!! and theirs doesn’t. He then says we’ve brought WAY more car than I said we would. I admit I might have been a little off, but the last time we spoke in early December we didn’t have much that resembled a car and that I figured if we had no dial in/launch practice we’d baby it out and run as hard as possible 2-4th.
Rich then asks the Honda guys what they want and they say “22 car lengths”. Keeping in mind that we don’t know how fast that car really is we laugh that off. After haggling back and forth AJ Sims (our designated negotiator) end up agreeing to 10 lengths. Both cars get setup and do burnouts. Rich starts the race and Jason gets it out of the whole and starts running the Honda down. At the finish Jason wins by 2 length.
When Jason comes back around Rich gathers us up for the next negotiation. Rich is now pretty mad, saying that car is WAY faster than I represented and he even went so far as to say “You guys cheated!” This didn’t help the situation at all. Rich took it back, but continued to insist we lied about the car’s performance.
For the second negotiation AJ agreed to pull the nitrous from our car if they’d take the same 10 length lead again. They agreed reluctantly and so we set up to run. Rich started the race and Jason came out hard. It was apparent the Honda was sandbagging in a effort to make us look even faster than the first race. Jason took him by 1 length and came back around.
Now Rich is really mad. He thinks we’ve got an 8 second VW or something. He says that he’s going to give the Honda team ANYTHING they ask for. Brian then asks for half track and Rich says “okay” without a moments hesitation. I tried to explain that if that Honda is a 12 second car, it should be good for a high 7 or low 8 in the 1/8th and that is IMPOSSIBLE for us to do in the quarter. Rich didn’t want to hear it and he cut me and AJ Sims off cold. We told Jason to go for it and just do the best he can. Rich was so far down track to start the race, he had to hold two T-shirts like flags so we could see his hands. When the race started, Jason came out hard grabbing gears. He ran it hard until he saw the Honda cross the finish line then he threw it in neutral and coasted the last 200-300 feet across the line. The PINKS film crew at the finish line (also not car guys) saw this as MAJOR sandbagging so they radioed Rich at the starting line and told him.
When Jason rolled up, Rich tells us we’re sandbagging and toying with the Honda. Jason was so upset by all the confrontation in the negotiations he didn’t even want to get out of the car anymore. He just wanted to do his thing and race. Rich says the Honda won that one and asks us if we’ll concede one other race to the Honda. We’re utterly baffled and I didn’t understand what he wanted. Before we know it Rich declares " I’m calling it 2 wins to 2 wins. This will be your last race. Start negotiating…" Now I’m lost. I trying to figure out what just happened while AJ starts the negotiations with Brian. Brian asks for a 440 foot lead. AJ offers 330. It goes back and forth until we finally agreed on them getting 390 feet with no burnout while we get a full burnout, and the nitrous.
Everyone gets ready. When Rich starts the race, Jason comes out with lots of tire hop then the car goes hard right for the concrete wall. Jason kept it off the wall and kept powering down the track. I don’t know that he lifted much or at all. When he got to 3rd gear he hit the nitrous and the car went for the wall again. As he fought it off the wall the car got loose and nearly crashed. At this point the Honda had already crossed the finish line.
When Jason got back around, we conceded the loss to Brian and the Honda team. Rich then asks both teams to quit playing games and see what the cars can really do. He asks for the timing gear to be turned on so we can see some real number. The Honda does a burnout and gets ready. As Jason does his, Marty Staggs waves Jason off and tells him to shut down. Marty observed no tire spin on the right/passenger side of the car and figures the axle is broken from all the wheel hop on the last pass. The Honda takes off solo and runs a 12.7. I listened very closely and never heard the car wind out past perhaps 6000 rpms and the driver made very slow shifts. Having driven Hondas with a VTEC motor I can tell you they make quit a buzz when the cam lobes change over and the motor keeps pulling to 8000rpm.
So afterwards I told Brian I would assist in anyway with auctioning or raffling the bug. He thanked me and said we’d sort that out in a few days.
) and I saw Werksberg on the windshield. I yelled to the wife - “Hey. That’s the guy with the composites forum that has helped me answer my questions.”