just wanted to introduce myself

S

Simon Tuman

Well-known member
Hello Ladies & Gents. My name is Simon, and Im new here. I knew about you guys in the past, along with various other groups, but after the event at 425 Motorsports I decided its finally time to get online.

Im a car nut just like most of you, but Ive never had the chance to take a car out on the track. I grew up in Northern California so Ive been to and dreamed about racing on Laguna Seca, Sears Point (not sure what they call it anymore), Thunderhill and also did some drag racing at Sacramento Raceway also. Ive always been a german car nut, but being a young guy who doesnt make a ton of money, ive always owned VWs. about 15 to be exact and most of them were about as old as me (im turning 30 this July).

Currently I have 4 cars, 3 of them VWs and just bought my first rwd car about 6 months ago. Its a 91 E34 M5. I love it, but I also am worried about repair bills so for now Im slowly going through all the maintanence work to make sure she is good to go. Right now she has ~126k. The other cars vary from a 78 2 door Rabbit with 260+k on the original motor, the other is an 80 Rabbit truck that was one step from being crushed and the third is my dream project. Its an 83 Jetta coupe with a hole in the back. The guy I got it from wanted to make it a rear wheel drive car and gave up. I have known about this car for all of the 5 years Ive lived in Seattle and it hasnt moved once. I told him a long time about if he gives up that I want it. The Jetta coupe is rare and Ive always wanted to build a rwd one also. Since he already cut this up, I figured theres no reason to cut another...

im going to stop an post some pics then ill talk about the future plans

I just picked up the 78 for all of $500 from the original family. It has a ton of cool parts on it. 4 wheel discs, neuspeed front upper and lower strut bars, boge struts and shocks along with neuspeed sofsport springs (stiffer springs :) , but stock ride height :( ), welded control arms, poly bushings and a tired, tired 8v motor. right now im on the fence whether to build up a cool 1.6 motor for it or throw my turbo diesel motor in it.

matching.jpg


The truck isnt anything special, but my friend has some ideas on how to make it low. really low. its getting a hand me down motor and transmission and we are trying to spent as little money as possible on it! haha
lowered-stage1.jpg

pictures are deceiving, its not as clean as it looks in the pic

and finally the M5. not much to say, its got a Dinan chip and cam sprockets and a B&B exhaust. I just installed euro trim and headlights. Other than an aftermarket stereo its otherwise stock. You may have seen this at the 425 motorsports event this past saturday.

me_n_paulo.jpg


so I got excited after the event because I want to get into racing BADLY, but I dont know which car would be an ideal race car. the rabbit seems to be the best candidate if i rebuild the 1.6 but i was planning on making the jetta coupe my "race car" and the rabbit my "daily" but now it seems i should reverse that idea

sorry for the long intro... i could talk cars all day :p
 
Hi Simon,

I'm a fan of anything that says BMW on it as well as the old skool Rabbits.

The best advice given to me when I was starting out (which wasn't that long ago) is to buy a used race car to get started. It'll almost always be cheaper (usually by a lot!) and you can start racing much faster than if you had to build and sort your own car. Get one in good condition and with a current (or close to it) logbook.

Also, which class do you want to race in? Do your homework and decide which class.
 
Last edited:
Totally agree with the advice of buying a running, race ready car. It's very easy to underestimate how big of a project it can be to transform a street car into a proper race car, plus all the rules and regulations that go along with it.

Also, since you're a VW nut.. Why not a Formula Vee? :)
 
Formula Vee is a good idea.

One thing about front wheel drive rabbits and GTi's. Having been involved with SCCA and ICSCC locally for well over 15 years and 'close' to road racing on and off since 1958, I've seen a lot of 'new racers' get themselves in serious trouble with Rabbits. Watched 2 novices do rolls at Turn 5 during their novice races never to be seen again.

If you go the VW FWD route find a GOOD INSTRUCTOR who has experience in them. NOTHING wrong with them for racing but, it's a different world then a rear wheel drive car.

But HEY:

Welcome to the Forum and IRDC. Come on out to Pacific Raceway this Sunday for the Enduro. Get your feet wet (probably litterally) and get to know the people and how things are done.
 
Last edited:
Welcome! I am a VW guy as well. I built a car and had a ton of fun doing it. That being said I think I would be faster and saved a ton of money if I would have bought something completed. I chose my car because I have always liked them and wanted to make a race car out of one. Here I am two years later and I am still working on making a proper race car out of it...:rolleyes:
 
Ive heard about Super Vee, but I think the Club Rabbit is the class Id like to race in. This car certainly looks like its built for that class.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5181198-FS-78-Street-Track-Rabbit-OR

I probably would need to sell my 78 to buy that 78 because I dont have room for so many cars. Installing my turbo diesel into the white 78 easily could get me enough money to buy the blue 78.... hmmmm ;)

ive driven fwd vws pretty much since day one. im more worried about spinning the bmw than understeering a vw into a wall or rolling it

@Richard- You may recognize the blue truck. Its at my buddies house right on front st. theres a ton of A1 chassis vws out there all the time.
 
Last edited:
Hi Simon and welcome.
Just started wheel to wheel racing last year and agree with the advise to purchase an existing race car (for me it was a Spec Miata). A whole lot cheaper and a much quicker way to get into racing. See if you like it and then build something really special if you choose and can afford it. Come on out and work the Enduro on the 10th and stop by and say hello.
 
Simon Tuman said:
Ive heard about Super Vee....
Click to expand...

TOTALLY different world from a club rabbit or even a Formula Vee. Super Vee's used water cooled (mostly) 4 cylinder engines built by Bertil's. Super Vee versus a Rabbit Coupe or FV is like a Cessna 172 versus an SR-71.

If you're interested in open wheel at all, I'd look at Formula First. VW 1600 engine (cheaper then the 1200 race ready) and they are 'almost' as quick as a Formula Ford with with half the cost to run.
 
Welcome to the fray Simon! Nice to hear that the 425 Motorsports seminar yielded an interested party (or 2 or 3)...there is no shortage of good advice out there when you decide you want to try racing. Best thing you can do right now is come on out to the Enduro on Sunday or the weekend of May 16th to Pacific Raceways and experience all that is a Conference race weekend. You will find virtually every type and make of car out there racing. Brad Greco drives a really nice Rabbit GTI (bright orange and really stinkin' quick). Tyler Kolbo drives a blue Jetta...as just two examples in the VW category.

To get really close to the action, try your hand at working a corner at one of the events. Bring a friend along for that matter too!
 
thanks everyone. I managed to get ahold of Frank and I will be out this weekend working a corner. I actually know Brad from the VW community and also his buddy Brendon Ive known for years. They are big role models for me, i should bust out some of my traxclothing attire. My biggest concern is whether or not the Club Rabbit group is still going or not. It seems like Pro3 and the Miatas are the big groups now
 
To play "devil's advocate" --building your own car from square one is the best way to know what's in there and to be able to trust that all is in good condition. Also, buying a built car means that you will inevitably be doing a constant stream of replacement maintenance on worn parts. Rarely will a racer sell a fully refreshed car ready for a new season.... you'll probably get the end-of-season, needs-a- rebuild car. :)
But on the other hand, the sound proofing will be scraped off the floor pan, the cage installed, etc.

Coming out to the races, watching, and talking with a variety of people can give you a good feel for what the classes are like. Untimately, it may boil down to finances and/or which car you really enjoy driving hard and working on (the other half of racing...)
 
I agree with Karen about the used-race car thing. I still always recommend people buy instead of build where/when possible but I always follow up with, "once you get it home, strip it, study it, freshen it up and make it yours."
You know, kind of like....

Anywho.... Welcome Simon and good luck!
 
My 2 cents.......rent a Miata, rent a Pro 3, rent a fv or a ff/fc and see where you fit best. I went from production cars to open wheels to sports racers and back to open wheels again.......something about being in an open cockpit, riding an inch off the pavement, and actually being able to see where the wheels are......
 
Simon,

I started with Club Rabbit by purchasing a proven, turn-key car from Chris Heinrich. I considered a build of a car i had, but reconsidered once I realized just the price of a well built cage. The cage would have cost me between $2000 and $2500 and I purchased the car for $3400. If you can pick up that blue rabbit and start with that, I would. Although my first rabbit didn't survive my early driving skills (or lack of), I stayed with the same platform. My second rabbit was an old racer needing refreshing. It didn't survive a spinning miata. My MK1 Jetta daily driver was all I had left, so guess what? I spent all of one month between the crash and the next race building the Jetta. It was certainly cheaper to do that build because almost all of the parts swapped from Rabbit to the Jetta. I built the Jetta to compete in a modified production class because it appears Club Rabbit is a dying class. The blue rabbit can be easily upgraded with a 1.8 power train and a 5 speed gear box to run in a faster class. If you have any trouble sourcing parts or cars, let me know. I am always on the hunt. I am currently running a 1.8 solid lifter head with big valves and cam, 1.8 block, higher compression and a close ratio GTI gear box. Certainly faster than a Club Rabbit. No where near as fast as Brad Greco and is speedy orange Rabbit.

Good luck with your new affliction.

Tyler
#117 Blue Mk 1 Jetta FIP
 
Last edited:
Run groups... before making your decision think about run groups. If you can build a car that fits in fun classes in multiple run groups then it gives you a chance to double enter during a weekend. This gives you cheaper races, and the ability to share the car with another driver. Example: I race in Group 5 in ITA and my Dad races my car in Group 2 in H4 or ITX. The Miatas run in SM in G2 and ITA in G5.

Also, double entering when you're on your own is really fun and not much more mullah.
 
greg_coffin said:
My 2 cents.......rent a Miata, rent a Pro 3, rent a fv or a ff/fc and see where you fit best. I went from production cars to open wheels to sports racers and back to open wheels again.......something about being in an open cockpit, riding an inch off the pavement, and actually being able to see where the wheels are......
Click to expand...

Agree 100% with Greg. Rent, at first, to get to know what you want to drive. Olsen's advice (which you took, congrats!) about working corners, pregrid, whatever, is solid as well.

One other piece of advice, if you are a Rabbit guy, call Hank Moore in Spokane. In addition to Brad and others, Hank is a solid Rabbit guy - you should see his Rabbit pickup - race ready (almost). Contact is probably easiest through facebook - Hank Moore, or Advanced Auto Fabrication. He's RabbitWeenie (or something like that) on this Board. ;-)

dan
 
I appreciate all the input from you guys. as of right now it seems that PRO3 is the place to go, but i will be talking to a lot of people this sunday. ill be at one of the corners
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top