I dare you to drag race this VW van

Danny Tse

From wired.com's autopia blog....

This rusty Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter first hit the road during the Eisenhower administration and it’s about as aerodynamic as a crate, but it can do the quarter mile in less than 13 seconds and probably blow your ride so far off the drag strip Lewis and Clark couldn’t find you.

This 56-year-old breadbox recently did the quarter-mile in 12.65 seconds with a speed trap figure of 102.84 mph. Considering it left the factory in 1953 and has a drag coefficient on par with a grade-school desk, those are pretty impressive numbers.

Volkswagen cranked out more than 10 million of these things since production started in March, 1950, and they’ve been used by everyone from hippies to the German Army to get from point A to point B with more stuff than you’d think it could carry. But drag racing? Yeah, seems there’s a subculture of gearheads who love to run them at the digs.

Currently, the record for the world’s fastest non-turbocharged Volkswagen van stands at 12.5 seconds, and the team that runs this particular machine, from Frankfurt, Germany, plans to beat that when it runs at Santa Pod raceway in England during the annual “Bug Jam” July 17-19.

The original, 1953-spec 50 horsepower, 1.6-liter engine has been tossed in favor of a highly tuned 2.8-liter Volkswagen mill cranking out 253 ponies and 243 pound-feet of torque. The van has also undergone a number of other mechanical updates, but the body is stock.

Count your blessings this thing isn’t running around your town, because the embarrassment of being shut down by a ‘53 VW van might be too much to bear.

AudioGenics

National (USA) 1/4 mile Drag Racing records are:
Top Fuel Dragster 4.42 seconds at 336 mph
Funny Car 4.65 at 333 mph
jet semi-truck at 7.42 and 218 mph
jet cars at 5 seconds and over 330 mph.
Rocket car 3.58 seconds at 386 mph
Deaf stunt woman Kitty O'Neill 1/4 mile in 1977 3.235 seconds at 412 mph.
desert race course, not a paved race track
"Swissrocketman" car the low 3's at over 450 mph.
rocket powered bicycles, go karts, and wearable rocket belts...

AudioGenics

F-22 has a top speed greater than 1600 mph

strider

jvc wrote: »

National (USA) 1/4 mile Drag Racing records are:
Top Fuel Dragster 4.42 seconds at 336 mph
Funny Car 4.65 at 333 mph
jet semi-truck at 7.42 and 218 mph
jet cars at 5 seconds and over 330 mph.
Rocket car 3.58 seconds at 386 mph
Deaf stunt woman Kitty O'Neill 1/4 mile in 1977 3.235 seconds at 412 mph.
desert race course, not a paved race track
"Swissrocketman" car the low 3's at over 450 mph.
rocket powered bicycles, go karts, and wearable rocket belts...

None of these vehicles have ever been in a 'Dead show parking lot.

Face

That's a odd E.T. to MPH ratio, it must come out of the hole hard and die up top.

Danny, do you have a link with more info?

EDIT: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/vw-van/ No additional info, oh well.

Serendipity

Face -

Are you in the 10's yet? Methinks you would smoke that van with your car...

zarrdoss

Thats pretty fast for a VW van

obieone

Flashback: I remember a guy in the Newton, Waltham, Watertown section of MA, in the late 80's, early 90's. He was some sort of self-employed handyman, and he used to drive one these things. It was probably a mid to late 60's model. And he had that thing PACKED with stuff. Different vices on the back and front bumpers, a roof rack with ladders, ropes, chains, EVERYTHING. The vehicle was close to 25 years old, but it never burned oil, and always passed inspection. It LOOKED like a POS, but it wasn't.
Those vehicles you just can't kill!

Face

appadv wrote: »

Face -

Are you in the 10's yet? Methinks you would smoke that van with your car...

Nope. With my current setup, the last time I was at the track I ran a 11.1 @ 121 on an 80* day. My previous best with 10 less HP and 20 less lbs/ft I ran a 11.0 @ 121 on a 50* night.

strider

Face wrote: »

That's a odd E.T. to MPH ratio, it must come out of the hole hard and die up top.

Danny, do you have a link with more info?

EDIT: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/vw-van/ No additional info, oh well.

I'd imagine once it gets up to speed the aerodynamics, or lack thereof, really stop it cold.

shack

Personally, I like the FB1 Race-Taxi. A VW bus with a Porsche 993, 520 hp engine. Watch what happens about 55 sec. into the video.

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shack

And another....

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Porsche used to do this all the time...putting a 911 engine into a VW bus and using as a chase vehicle on thier test track runs.

I-SIG

shack wrote: »

Personally, I like the FB1 Race-Taxi. A VW bus with a Porsche 993, 520 hp engine. Watch what happens about 55 sec. into the video.

Too funny. I bet that Aston Martin driver had to control the gag factor when he got smoked.

Wes

Danny Tse

shack wrote: »

Personally, I like the FB1 Race-Taxi. A VW bus with a Porsche 993, 520 hp engine. Watch what happens about 55 sec. into the video.

Hahaha

From the perspective of the VW Van....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=powVngJ-Ljc

everpress

I used to smoke little boys and girls raced out ricers on the highway in my 1965 Beetle (when I had it). I even antagonized a couple of those tiny sports cars. I had damn near any non-modded car on top speed, it just took a million years to get there!
First gear was retarded-tight and I could beat a vette off the line... But by the time my back wheels hit the line, the vette would be gone... Silly silly car.
2nd and 3rd would get me 60mph in about 10minutes if the wind was blowing the right direction. 4th? I'm not sure; my speedo only went to 90mph. And watching the needle try to wrap itself was entertaining, but trying to fight my car to stay on the road was even more entertaining, so I paid attention to that a little more.

concealer404

I'll take that down in my daily driver....

Still awesome though. I'd be interested to see if it's a 2.8 litre punched out Type III or a VR6....

everpress

concealer404 wrote: »

I'll take that down in my daily driver....

Still awesome though. I'd be interested to see if it's a 2.8 litre punched out Type III or a VR6....

I think they said it was a non-turbo VW engine above?
But there are quite a few really expensive short-running drag air-cooled engines out there.
A friend of mine used to work with a guy in AZ that still has a notchback that can whip **** at around 10 sec. I think.

I'm a little out of the VW scene for a few years at least. I learned my lesson with my old one. a)I need a house with a garage. b)I need a truck with a trailer. c)I need a VW that is as close to stock as possible, because the PO (Previous Owner) is ALWAYS a moron. Having now been a PO myself, I know it to be true.

concealer404

everpress wrote: »

I think they said it was a non-turbo VW engine above?
But there are quite a few really expensive short-running drag air-cooled engines out there.
A friend of mine used to work with a guy in AZ that still has a notchback that can whip **** at around 10 sec. I think.

I'm a little out of the VW scene for a few years at least. I learned my lesson with my old one. a)I need a house with a garage. b)I need a truck with a trailer. c)I need a VW that is as close to stock as possible, because the PO (Previous Owner) is ALWAYS a moron. Having now been a PO myself, I know it to be true.

Yeah, both motors i mentioned were non turbo.

Serendipity

Face wrote: »

Nope. With my current setup, the last time I was at the track I ran a 11.1 @ 121 on an 80* day. My previous best with 10 less HP and 20 less lbs/ft I ran a 11.0 @ 121 on a 50* night.

Nice! I guess you'd be in the 10's on a colder day...

Serendipity

shack wrote: »

Personally, I like the FB1 Race-Taxi. A VW bus with a Porsche 993, 520 hp engine. Watch what happens about 55 sec. into the video.

That's hilarious - I couldn't stop laughing as the bus inched up on the right of the screen...

heiney9

Face wrote: »

That's a odd E.T. to MPH ratio, it must come out of the hole hard and die up top.

Danny, do you have a link with more info?

EDIT: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/vw-van/ No additional info, oh well.

Be interesting to see what mods were done the 2.8 motor. It's the VR6 2.8L, the same motor in my GTi. I can tell you eeking more HP out of the motor is difficult if you want to keep it an all motor engine. The fault or reason it's hard to tune w/o going turbo or SC is in the single head. The 24v version offered variable intake runners using a flapper valve and a pulse wave to give better low end torque with the "flapper valve" opening around 4000 rpm and giving better top end performance over the 12v version.

The name VR6 comes from a combination of V engine (German: V-Motor), and the German word "Reihenmotor" (meaning "row engine" or straight engine).

The configuration can also be described as a "staggered six", in keeping with the geometry of the Lancia Fulvia staggered-four, developed in the late 1950s (a continuation of Lancia's design practice dating back to the 1920s). Staggered engines are an amenable further development, with both uneven cylinder numbers, and with staggered-bank Vee configurations.

The VR6 was specifically designed for transverse installation in front-wheel drive vehicles. By using the narrow angle of 15° between the two 'rows' in the VR6 engine, it was possible to install a six-cylinder engine within the existing Volkswagen Group four-cylinder-model engine bays. A wider V6 engine of conventional Vee design would have required lengthening existing vehicles to provide enough crumple zone between the front of the vehicle and the engine, and between the engine and the passenger cell. The VR6 is able to use the firing order of a straight-six engine (aka inline-six) engine and, as a result, it is nearly as smooth as an inline-six.

The narrow angle between cylinders allows the use of just one 'cylinder bank', and one cylinder head - whereas conventional Vee engines require two cylinder banks and two separate cylinder heads. As a result of using just one cylinder head, it also allows just two overhead camshafts to drive all of the valves. This simplifies engine construction, and reduces costs.

In early 12-valve VR6 engines there are two overhead camshafts with six cam lobes on each. The forward camshaft has three intake valve lobes and three exhaust valve lobes to control the frontmost three cylinders. The rear camshaft is designed the same way, but controls the rearmost three cylinders instead. The operating principle of this design is most similar to a single overhead camshaft (SOHC) design.

Later 24-valve VR6 engines still had two overhead camshafts, but now with 12 cam lobes each. However, the operation of the camshafts in the 24-valve engine is different to that of the earlier 12-valve engine, in that the front camshaft only operates the intake valves, and the rear camshaft only operates the exhaust valves. The operating princple of this design is most similar to a double overhead camshaft (DOHC) design.



In case anyone wanted to know

H9

P.s. The full story on the VR6 here

P.s.s. This engine and it's "Vee" configuration is the basis for the W16 motor in the Bugatti Veyron!

AudioGenics

this could be the next challenger to the record...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYq-K2SXLSA&feature=player_embedded

concealer404

heiney9 wrote: »

Be interesting to see what mods were done the 2.8 motor. It's the VR6 2.8L, the same motor in my GTi. I can tell you eeking more HP out of the motor is difficult if you want to keep it an all motor engine. The fault or reason it's hard to tune w/o going turbo or SC is in the single head. The 24v version offered variable intake runners using a flapper valve and a pulse wave to give better low end torque with the "flapper valve" opening around 4000 rpm and giving better top end performance over the 12v version.

The name VR6 comes from a combination of V engine (German: V-Motor), and the German word "Reihenmotor" (meaning "row engine" or straight engine).

The configuration can also be described as a "staggered six", in keeping with the geometry of the Lancia Fulvia staggered-four, developed in the late 1950s (a continuation of Lancia's design practice dating back to the 1920s). Staggered engines are an amenable further development, with both uneven cylinder numbers, and with staggered-bank Vee configurations.

The VR6 was specifically designed for transverse installation in front-wheel drive vehicles. By using the narrow angle of 15° between the two 'rows' in the VR6 engine, it was possible to install a six-cylinder engine within the existing Volkswagen Group four-cylinder-model engine bays. A wider V6 engine of conventional Vee design would have required lengthening existing vehicles to provide enough crumple zone between the front of the vehicle and the engine, and between the engine and the passenger cell. The VR6 is able to use the firing order of a straight-six engine (aka inline-six) engine and, as a result, it is nearly as smooth as an inline-six.

The narrow angle between cylinders allows the use of just one 'cylinder bank', and one cylinder head - whereas conventional Vee engines require two cylinder banks and two separate cylinder heads. As a result of using just one cylinder head, it also allows just two overhead camshafts to drive all of the valves. This simplifies engine construction, and reduces costs.

In early 12-valve VR6 engines there are two overhead camshafts with six cam lobes on each. The forward camshaft has three intake valve lobes and three exhaust valve lobes to control the frontmost three cylinders. The rear camshaft is designed the same way, but controls the rearmost three cylinders instead. The operating principle of this design is most similar to a single overhead camshaft (SOHC) design.

Later 24-valve VR6 engines still had two overhead camshafts, but now with 12 cam lobes each. However, the operation of the camshafts in the 24-valve engine is different to that of the earlier 12-valve engine, in that the front camshaft only operates the intake valves, and the rear camshaft only operates the exhaust valves. The operating princple of this design is most similar to a double overhead camshaft (DOHC) design.



In case anyone wanted to know

H9

P.s. The full story on the VR6 here

P.s.s. This engine and it's "Vee" configuration is the basis for the W16 motor in the Bugatti Veyron!

There's a guy on the Grassroots forums running in the 12s with a VR6 GTI with fairly straightforward bolt ons... I would imagine this is a bult motor, so it sounds pretty believable.

I love me some VR6. One of the best sounding motors ever.

heiney9

concealer404 wrote: »

There's a guy on the Grassroots forums running in the 12s with a VR6 GTI with fairly straightforward bolt ons... I would imagine this is a bult motor, so it sounds pretty believable.

I love me some VR6. One of the best sounding motors ever.

12's can be done with all motor but it's damn expensive. I read stuff on the "Vortex" all the time.

The sound is especially intoxicating. Nothing else quite sounds like it. Add a Techtonics stainless steel exhaust and a Borla muffler and cold ait intake (like my set-up) and it's an even better sounding motor. Especially after you take your foot off the throttle at high rpm's to shift into the next gear.......I get a nice deep "chortle" as I'm hitting the next gear :D.

It's simply one of the most fun cars I've driven for an everyday driver. I have Bilstein's, H & R springs lowered about 1.75 inches summer tires, chip, etc, etc. Gas mileage sucks around town about 17-18 mpg since I love to hear it rev. Drove to St. Louis and back recently with the cruise set at 70mph and was able to eek out 27mpg on avg for the trip......not horrible but not great either.

H9

heiney9

Ok, more reading for those at all even slightly interested.

http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/engine/tech_engine_packaging.htm

audiobliss

Very cool; thanks for the info, heiney. I never knew the two banks in the VR6 were close enough to be considered a single bank of cylinders.

ArtistAntonio

Ok...a little VW education injection is in desperate need on this forum.

I am a hardcore VW junkie who bleeds VW & Porsche...so your in excellent hands for getting schooled, so pay attention.

The proper term for the Type-2 at the beginning of this post is Bus, not van. This is a van..



Now when most people look at a Bus like the blue one shown above, they more times than not assume it is just grandpa's old, slow, rusty beach clunker that can be picked up any time of the week off of Craigslist for $500. Ha...this is so far from being true that anyone who believes this is grossly misinformed.

Simply put, that bus you see is worth about as much a new Porsche off the dealers lot...and that is a very conservative estimate. It is the world famous and highly respected WheelerDealer Barndoor bus out of Germany. Barndoor Buses can reach in excess of over $100,000. Hell, take a look at the early Fuchs on the WheelerDeeler bus, those are worth $3000 alone without tires.

Barndoor?

Yes, Barndoor. It is pretty safe to say that nearly all of you polk audio groupies reading this have never seen a VW Barndoor Bus in real life. They are the rarest of the rare at any major VW show/events. The name Barndoor comes from the excessively large rear engine decklid, not from the two passenger side cargo doors as many so often assume. They were the first Bulli's to come off the VW production line in 1949 to about 1954. In 60 years do yo think your Audi or BMW will look as good and have a endless obsessive cult following? Hmmm...No.

More of the WheelerDealer...

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MGhC3f73s7U&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hew0XpRUYN8&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SSoS3pFtoeo&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Now lets say your sold. You want one. You want your own one of a kind old school looking VW Bus that has that vintage look & feel blended so perfectly and deceitfully with modern day components. Brembo disk brakes, 300-500 hp fuel injected motor, A-arm suspension, rack & pinion, lexan windows, fuel cell, etc. Do you think your going to just open up the AutoTrader and out it jumps into the palm of your hands? Think your going to call Summit Racing or Jegs and order a off the shelf crate motor or bolt on performance suspension for your vintage Bus? LOL. In order to have a bus like the ones on this thread, you have to build it yourself. Unless you have oodles of money, no one is going do it for you. And even if they do, its not going to be as good or nearly as rewarding as if you learned and did it yourself. Gotta know how to weld, gotta know where to order the right parts, gotta know how to pull an engine apart, gotta know how to fabricate, gotta have a lot of patience, gotta have an imagination,....gotta, gotta, gotta... That's a lot of gottas to make an idea that appears so simple to execute come to fruition. Buy a old crusty Bus, put a big engine in, done. Not quite.

The FB1 Race Taxi mentioned earlier (the one smoking the GT3 in the video) in my opinion is the baddest VW ever built. There is a lot of modern technology going into that Bus, yet he was able to keep the overall classic sleeper Bus look. Have you ever gone to the website of the guy that built it? Ever look at the tons of photos documenting the build? It is safe to say that probably 0.017% of the people on this planet have the knowledge and skill set to carry out such a build.





<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XehDyPLqJdo&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Alright, that brings your lesson to a close for the day. If your hungry for more, visit the following thread for page after page of VW Race Bus information.

*** The Fastest VW Buses in the World here... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=377708&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

In the mean time, here are some more race Buses to feed your potential interest....

Jorn's Race Split Bus out of Norway (A-arms suspension, water cooled, 17's, R&P, LSD transmission, etc)



Jorn's Bus in action...

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ugg-X6TbMP4&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Ever heard of the Gumball3000? Full Porsche setup on a Type 2. This 21 window Bus came in 4th a few years back..







Gran Turismo 5
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uErPceuw9Rk&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uXXnKYkcqNY&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>




.

.

.


After your done at the track...you load up tent, dog, surfboards, old lady & go camping. VW Buses are like Mr. Potato Heads...there is literally every attachment you can think of that you can put on or take off as you please....tents, sinks, beds, curtains, cots, etc... Let's see you do that in your STI..

.

.

.

nadams

You're "schooling" us on a 2 year old thread?

Nice first post :rolleyes:

Jstas

nadams wrote: »

You're "schooling" us on a 2 year old thread?

Nice first post :rolleyes:

He's just mad 'cause VW's are slow.

Now this Mistubishi! That's FAST! Imagine how fast it would go if it didn't have all that plumber's stuff in it!

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jQOyDTFmloY&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

ArtistAntonio

nadams wrote: »

You're "schooling" us on a 2 year old thread?

Nice first post :rolleyes:

^ Yes, exactly.

Not going to not post simply based on the age of a thread. If someone has good info to post, post it up no matter the date. We do it all the time on old threads in the VW forums.

Took Google 2 years to place this specific VW Bus thread up high in their search ranking in order for me to find it. Maybe more members will join because of it...like I did.

2 post now, horay!....post number doesn't mean squat.

Almost forgot this one...

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vhcCCi3UVpU&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

billbillw

ArtistAntonio wrote: »

^ Yes, exactly.

Not going to not post simply based on the age of a thread. If someone has good info to post, post it up no matter the date. We do it all the time on old threads in the VW forums.

Took Google 2 years to place this specific VW Bus thread up high in their search ranking in order for me to find it. Maybe more members will join because of it...like I did.

2 post now, horay!....post number doesn't mean squat.

Almost forgot this one...

This is an AUDIO forum, not a VW forum. Sometimes we talk about cars, but that is not the main reason for being here. Definitely not a reason to resurrect a 3 year old thread. If that is your only reason for joining, I'm afraid you are pathetic. What's the matter, did you get banned from all the VW forums?