Hi Guys As I said in my introduction, I would post up a couple of pics. I thought why not make a Thread of it. Lets start with a litte background info on the racing series and some of the basic rules. The series is called Gti Challenge and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. It was originally started by the Gti Club of South Africa. See the site for more info http://www.gticlub.co.za/ Basically the series is limited to any locally (South African) produced VW body. There are 3 different classes, each class has its own set of rules governing power, weight, suspension and brakes. A quick rundown of the classes Class A Modified 2L, with 8v, 16v, or 20v heads. Adjustable coil over suspension and 288mm brakes. Close Ratio 5 speed with 4.2 diff Max power 145kw (195hp) and 230nm Min weight 1070kg CLass B 1800 8v motors, non adjustable coil overs, 256mm brakes, close ratio 5 speed with 3.9 diff Max power 115kw (155hp) 200nm Min weight 980kg Class C 1800 8V motors, modified road suspension, 235mm brakes, close ratio 5 speed with 3.9 diff Max power 95kw (127hp) 180nm All classes run on Dunlop DZ02G 195/55R15 tyres More to come in the next post
I have had 4 Mk1 race cars so far. The Polo is my first attempt with something different This MK1 was my entry into racing. It did its best to try and kill me with the little power it had. It was a carburetted 1800, and was basically falling to bits. It was stripped down and eventually sold off. This one was one of my best race cars I ever owned. It started off a bit rough, but after 2 years in my ownership it was incredibly strong and reliable. Also a Class C car, this had an 1800 8v with Mp9 injection. The engine management was done by Go-tech system, a locally produced system.
looks like fun, anything interesting in the running/suspension gear that isn't normally available off the shelf?
Everything is basically off the shelf bits. Couple of things get modified for use, but there is nothing you wouldn't recognise. VW parts have proved themselves to be pretty strong. One mod we do on the MK1 race cars is change the bearing size in the hub carrier to accept the larger wheel bearing and hub from a MK3. Rules don't allow you to run the complete hub carrier from a different model. The idea of the series is to be an affordable entry level racing series. The MK1 golf is probably the cheapest car to run in South Africa, seeing as it was still produced up intil 2009
After running in class C for a couple of years, I decided to give Class A a try. I bought this car, did a fair bit if work on it, and had some good times with it. It was powered by a 2L 20v motor running ITB's, solid lifter head. I kept this motor to use in the Polo project when I sold the golf.
This was red one was the last one I owned as a second race car for a short while. It gave a few issues, eventually after it melted a piston, I gave up on the car and sold it off. It was an 1800 8v, had non adjustable coil overs and 256mm brakes. This car handled unbelievably. As for the rest..... scrap
So, the Polo. I have no idea what you guys call it over there, wherever you are, but here its just a Polo Classic. The "Classic" being the sedan, and the hatch being called the Polo "Playa" The whole idea to move from the Golf to the Polo was to take advantage of the better handling and aerodynamics that the polo has, especially running in class A where higher top speeds are attained. Basically I needed as much help as I could get to overcome the lack of talent. The Polo started its life as a stock 1.4i road car that my grandmother drove around for since new in 1998. looked a little like this It wasnt exactly as neat as the one shown. It did have 14 years worth of grandmother abuse. So there was a little ding or 2 here and there where the odd tree jumped out behind the car when reversing. When I took it over, the car had 220 000km on the clock. It was still a pleasure to drive.
So off to the workshop and start stripping down. Nice thing about stripping down a road car is you get go keep all the bits that will finish off the car nicely later on. Things like the door rubbers and trim around the windows. Yes its a race car, but nothing wrong with it looking nice. After a few hours hard work we got the interior out. Not as quick stripping down as you think when you have to take things apart properly and not damage anything.
That looks interesting. How close is the racing? Is it a big field of cars? How regularly do they check your power output? Nice idea with the larger wheel bearings. Any videos?
The racing is very close. Most race days see a field of around 30 cars on the grid with a standing start. The faster class C guys mingle it up with the slower class B guys, and the faster class B guys mingle it up with the slower class A guys. So no matter what class you watching, there is always a battle somewhere. Trading paint and more is pretty common. Cars are picked out randomly after every qualifying and after every heat (2 heats per day) and taken off to the dyno, which is at the track. Spot checks are also done after every heat when the cars are in parc femme after going over the weigh bridge. 5 or 6 six years ago the series was pretty relaxed and many rules were ''bent'' and got away with. But in the last few years the series has grown and seen more and more competitive people taking part, so the rules and the technical committee have had to become very strict. Much to the disgust of a competitor when he gets asked to stip and engine..... I do have some go-pro videos, Ill post up links when I return home in a week or so and dont have to deal with a firewalled network. Thanks for the interest. Ill put up more pics as and when I get time. The next few days are going to be pretty busy out here.
Out with the old 1.4 engine and box. With my race motor coming out a MK, the engine and gearbox mounts are different. No problem tho, just take them off the original motor and swap them across. I did the same with the power steering pump, taking it off the standard motor and fitting it to the race motor. You can see my mate in the pic helping me out. He is around on most race days helping me out. Through the the build he has helped out alot with a ''will work for beer'' motto. Although he doesn't know VW's that well, you show him which nuts need loosening and he is on it. Some of my other mates can't even change a tire.
I stripped the car down to a rolling chassis. This just made it so much easier to move the car around and trailer it places. Once everything was out, it was off to my sponsor, Powerflow exhausts to use their pipe bending machines and welders. First thing was to seam weld all the joins on the front of the car. This was done all the way around the front of the car. Around the shock towers and up from where the sub frame mounts.
Next was the base plates for the main hoop of the roll cage and the rear plates on the rear shock towers
In with the roll cage. I forgot to take more pics as I was going along. I got carried away getting everything in. Here you can see the bends following the firewall and pushing through the firewall to the shock towers View from the front. I managed to tuck the strut brace bar right in the back of the wiper tray. The wiper fits back in the standard location, and I didn't have to have the usual strut brace over the top of the engine to the shock towers.
In the mean time I found some second hand VR6 calipers, sent them away to be rebuilt. Got them back, acid dipped, electro plated new seals. Shiny Any of you guys know weather they are ODB1 or 2?
They are 280mm, we run the Ferodo DS 774 pads When you guys use OBD 1 and 2 for the VR6 calipers, what are the actual differences? I read a thread about using an OBD2 caliper with a Audi TT caliper bracket to run 310mm discs. Info I'm collecting for my Mk3 turbo project. Anyway, couple more pics of a few bits going on the car. 19 row oil cooler from Derale performance. Comes with a cooling fan and temp switch. Idea with this is to mount it up out the way so it won't get damaged in a front end nudge. Surge tank with a Walbro 6 bar pump. All I do to plumb this in is run the lines from the standard pump in the tank into the surge tank, and straight from there to the fuel rail. Simple.
