Alright the 61 beetle is going in for some body off work and I am now curious if there is any road racing out there that a beetle can A. enter and B. possibly be competitive at? Not to say I’m looking to win but would like to go out and learn how this is all done. I do know that to be serious I would have to make the beetle strictly a race only car, thus I’m looking for an intra level that will allow me a few more years of using it on street and at the track.
1. Who are the sanctioning bodies? (SCCA, NHRA, others??)
2. What kinds of road racing can one enter a VW beetle? (historic?)
Know NHRA does the drag racing and have read up some on Auto Cross (is that just dodging cones or am I totally off base?) Have noticed Raby and Len Hoffman are doing some sort of road racing, what class of racing is this. Though out of my league in more than one way some thing like that could be a long-term goal.
This is whole pipe dream is probably more than a year off but while the body is off it would seem like the perfect time to install a cage and any other body mods required. I also know that will want to go see a few of these races and chose the type and class I’m interested in so that I don’t have to keep changing the car and spending even more money on an already expressive undertaking.
Thanks for the info sure it will be of great help.
ccp
What are the options for VW road racing?
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FJCamper
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Road Racing
Yes, you can road race to your heart's content.
As intro, take a look at our site: www.retroracing.biz
I'd suggest you get started in autocross. It's great training and low cost. NASA: www.nasaproracing.com will let you begin road racing training in your car at major race tracks for a few hundred dollars per weekend. This lets you get better and develop your car.
By the time you've done this for a year or so, you'll know what sort of sanctioning body you want to run with, and what classes are open to you in them.
And consider the (AAR) Air Cooled Road Racers club.
Frank Camper
As intro, take a look at our site: www.retroracing.biz
I'd suggest you get started in autocross. It's great training and low cost. NASA: www.nasaproracing.com will let you begin road racing training in your car at major race tracks for a few hundred dollars per weekend. This lets you get better and develop your car.
By the time you've done this for a year or so, you'll know what sort of sanctioning body you want to run with, and what classes are open to you in them.
And consider the (AAR) Air Cooled Road Racers club.
Frank Camper
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conanbug61
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- Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:58 pm
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gcorrado
- Posts: 955
- Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 12:42 am
there are quite a few people on this very forum running aircooled VWs in SCCA autocross.
it's a lot of fun, but finding a class that our cars are actually "competitive" in is a bit harder. the classes you could imagine running a bug in are (correct me if i'm wrong):
HS - Stock (H)
ST - Street Touring
FSP - Street Prepared (F)
SM - Street Modified
EP - Prepared (E)
DM - Modified (D)
EM - Modified (E)
In the first three, you're so restricted your car won't be very much fun to drive - stock brakes, stock displacement, stock heads.
In the last three you're running against purpose built race cars, for which the bug isn't a stellar starting point. Can be done, but you have to pay careful attention to the rules and have DEEP pockets.
The middle option, Street Modified, is probably the best balance of fun and fast. You will not win. But your car will be fun, and the other cars you race against will at least look like they could have been driven to the event.
Just my two cents, but there are people on the this forum that know MUCH BETTER THAN I DO. (My SM car is still under construction, and has been for years.)
it's a lot of fun, but finding a class that our cars are actually "competitive" in is a bit harder. the classes you could imagine running a bug in are (correct me if i'm wrong):
HS - Stock (H)
ST - Street Touring
FSP - Street Prepared (F)
SM - Street Modified
EP - Prepared (E)
DM - Modified (D)
EM - Modified (E)
In the first three, you're so restricted your car won't be very much fun to drive - stock brakes, stock displacement, stock heads.
In the last three you're running against purpose built race cars, for which the bug isn't a stellar starting point. Can be done, but you have to pay careful attention to the rules and have DEEP pockets.
The middle option, Street Modified, is probably the best balance of fun and fast. You will not win. But your car will be fun, and the other cars you race against will at least look like they could have been driven to the event.
Just my two cents, but there are people on the this forum that know MUCH BETTER THAN I DO. (My SM car is still under construction, and has been for years.)
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FJCamper
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- Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:19 pm
Racin' USA
http://theaircooledroadracers.blogspot.com/
We took SCCA EM and DM championships for our region back to back in our '70 Ghia. Very competitive class, especially with the Lotus 7 kitcars.
Aircooled VW's have a whole speed industry to support them. That matters. And, a VW can win at AutoX, but you can't buy a win by just bolting more and more speed parts on your car. The driving is at least 60% of it.
There are two kinds of racers, the guy in it for some fun, and those of us who take it all the way. At RetroRacing, we bring a campaign to win. I have been fortunate enough to work for Brumos Porsche in its national SCCA-IMSA national championship 1970's heyday, with full factory support. Brumos was there to win, and at races like the Daytona 24-hour we'd have a fifty man crew and two 934-935 cars in the race.
People who say they want to "race" might discover that they really just want to just drive fast around real racetracks and have fun. NASA gives you that chance with it's HPDE (high performance driving event) series, held at regions all across the US.
To go racing, invest the money, and get beaten over and over is so bad it causes guys to sell their cars. NASA HPDE lets you try yourself and your car out, log lap times on big-name tracks, and ease into the process.
Once you do go racing, you're there to win, and that takes committment, time, and money.
The longer you sit there, the slower you get. If you're ever going to stand on it, stand on it now.
PS: Any of you out there who want an MP3 of "Little Karmann Coupe" or "Racing' USA", both songs sung by the original Beach Boys for RetroRacing, let me know at [email protected]
We took SCCA EM and DM championships for our region back to back in our '70 Ghia. Very competitive class, especially with the Lotus 7 kitcars.
Aircooled VW's have a whole speed industry to support them. That matters. And, a VW can win at AutoX, but you can't buy a win by just bolting more and more speed parts on your car. The driving is at least 60% of it.
There are two kinds of racers, the guy in it for some fun, and those of us who take it all the way. At RetroRacing, we bring a campaign to win. I have been fortunate enough to work for Brumos Porsche in its national SCCA-IMSA national championship 1970's heyday, with full factory support. Brumos was there to win, and at races like the Daytona 24-hour we'd have a fifty man crew and two 934-935 cars in the race.
People who say they want to "race" might discover that they really just want to just drive fast around real racetracks and have fun. NASA gives you that chance with it's HPDE (high performance driving event) series, held at regions all across the US.
To go racing, invest the money, and get beaten over and over is so bad it causes guys to sell their cars. NASA HPDE lets you try yourself and your car out, log lap times on big-name tracks, and ease into the process.
Once you do go racing, you're there to win, and that takes committment, time, and money.
The longer you sit there, the slower you get. If you're ever going to stand on it, stand on it now.
PS: Any of you out there who want an MP3 of "Little Karmann Coupe" or "Racing' USA", both songs sung by the original Beach Boys for RetroRacing, let me know at [email protected]
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farmer
- Posts: 2399
- Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 12:01 am
A bug can be made to go really fast, around corners too.
The problem in most classes and perhaps especially in historic racing is, that the rules are very tight, leaving only a very limited supply of parts and very limited amount of parts legal.
The funny thing is that if you attend one of the open classes in anything from hill climb to road racing, you have a much better chance of crossing the line in the upper 1/3 of the gang.
T
The problem in most classes and perhaps especially in historic racing is, that the rules are very tight, leaving only a very limited supply of parts and very limited amount of parts legal.
The funny thing is that if you attend one of the open classes in anything from hill climb to road racing, you have a much better chance of crossing the line in the upper 1/3 of the gang.
T
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rraxbug
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:11 am
conanbug61
Check out the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs at http://www.mcscc.org/index.htm Look in the General Competition Rules for the Volkswagen Sedan Gategory.
You may want to try their Autocross Series as an alternate to road racing. You can still drive on the road race course for lap times.
http://autocross.mcscc.org/
The autocross series is very easy on your budget and your car. You can compete with a stock or race prepared car or anything in between. The tracks are mostly in Northern Illinois and really not that far from Lexington KY. There are several folks from that area who regularly run with the MCSCC.
rraxbug
Check out the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs at http://www.mcscc.org/index.htm Look in the General Competition Rules for the Volkswagen Sedan Gategory.
You may want to try their Autocross Series as an alternate to road racing. You can still drive on the road race course for lap times.
http://autocross.mcscc.org/
The autocross series is very easy on your budget and your car. You can compete with a stock or race prepared car or anything in between. The tracks are mostly in Northern Illinois and really not that far from Lexington KY. There are several folks from that area who regularly run with the MCSCC.
rraxbug
Last edited by rraxbug on Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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rraxbug
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- Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:11 am
Examples of a VW's running the MC Autocross Series:
The track is The Milwaukee Mile. http://mcscc.org/Gallery/album07/32_G
The track Blackhawk Farms http://mcscc.org/Gallery/album08/33_02
Ghia's too: http://mcscc.org/Gallery/August-Heat/20 ... erHeat0103
The track is The Milwaukee Mile. http://mcscc.org/Gallery/album07/32_G
The track Blackhawk Farms http://mcscc.org/Gallery/album08/33_02
Ghia's too: http://mcscc.org/Gallery/August-Heat/20 ... erHeat0103