gcvws pics?

[beetlemandan]

is anyone out there in internet land going to post some pics for those of us that were to cool/lame to not show up?

on a similar note, what happened to alanu's killer pictures from the gcvws? i'm sure I'm not the only one that really misses his style of photography!

[neil68]

Would love to see drag race photos and videos as well!  I had to miss this year's GCVWS for the first time in many years, due to arthroscopic surgery...doctor said no racing for three weeks:(

What ET's did everyone run?

[neil68]

Was there any drag racing...would like to see some photos, videos, ET`s

[Gaunch Launcher II]

It didn't sound like there were any more than 3 cars running faster than 13 seconds, all the rest were 15  and slower cars.  Am I right anyone? 

 I'm pretty sure vw drag racing is dead in the lower mainland other than Jim, Darren D, Brian, Shane, Terry, and Dave and once in awhile Geoff, and Darren K.  Bless their hearts for all stepping up spending the bucks to keep fast vws alive.  Cause it seems that other than these guys, no one new is building or has built a fast street car in the last 4 years especially under the age of 35.   I'm honda powered so I dont count, other than I have a beetle shell.

The GC show is amazing and brings out a ton of people.  That side of VW's is huge, its the actual building of fast vws that is lagging behind, and not like it used to be.  Hopefully it will work out for me to come down with my beetle next year to add to the drag racing numbers. 

[rekka]

Well Boys, you wanted it and now you have it.



Considering (correct me if I'm wrong,) with the exception of the double door panel that had just driven back from San Diego, these two busses especially Richards Bay had driven the furthest to the show, both with modified motors, got raced and then we slept in them for two days and then drove home. It would be nice to see some more of you out there on the strip next year.

[josh]

It didn't sound like there were any more than 3 cars running faster than 13 seconds, all the rest were 15  and slower cars.  Am I right anyone? 

 I'm pretty sure vw drag racing is dead in the lower mainland other than Jim, Darren D, Brian, Shane, Terry, and Dave and once in awhile Geoff, and Darren K.  Bless their hearts for all stepping up spending the bucks to keep fast vws alive.  Cause it seems that other than these guys, no one new is building or has built a fast street car in the last 4 years especially under the age of 35.   I'm honda powered so I dont count, other than I have a beetle shell.

The GC show is amazing and brings out a ton of people.  That side of VW's is huge, its the actual building of fast vws that is lagging behind, and not like it used to be.  Hopefully it will work out for me to come down with my beetle next year to add to the drag racing numbers.

Oh come on Kevin, I'm 35 I don't count? Gonna have my trans redone with syncros this fall and other than that it's just oil and fuel lines and a few other finishing touches.....I should be able to pull it off for next year? Hoping to run low 12's in full street trim.
I do agree with ya tho....5 years ago there were waaaay more badass fast cars out there!

[Geoff]

I'd say the peak in Vancouver for fast street (air cooled VWs) was around 2006-2008. for the few years before that our club was out racing a fair amount and the old Airspeed store was selling LOTs of stroker engines and trans combos. Unfortunatly there isn't much in the way of shops that are pushing the air cooled HP stuff. I'm not saying the local shops don't do the AC HP stuff it's just that at the time many of us would be out at the track every street legal running good times and sure enough on Monday someone would come in and start to work on building a big engine trans combo. I hope this changes back to the way it was.

I'm sure it was the same at other shops a few years ago. Unfortunatly not many people are building big HP cars at this time.

This years GCVWS date was chosen because back in Jan when the event dates were released it was an open night (meaning no other event was held that weekend) in the past we always had a big domestic event at the same time limiting our pit area and amount of cars that could race. Once the date was set we were hoping for a large turn out, things changed when the track was closed all summer for re paving issues.

The GCVWS friday night was the first street legals. Talking with the track guys leading upto the night I got a little worried that it would be a full house (they expected every club to show up that night) Myself and a few others decided to not race giving others a spot. well that backfired :-) turns out we had lots of space.

As for fast cars, there were plenty of very fast 11 sec Golf and jetta etc. Shane brought out his 8 sec beetle but had issues first pass.
Darren Dilley ran some great times as did Brian Cook and a few others.

Hopefully 2015 will bring back some quick street cars.

[red snapper]

Its definately not like the years of going to Seattle for the bugnationals weekend, Octobugfest or even wintermeet. I doubt it will ever be that good again (I hope i'm wrong).
Ive seen this hobby over the last 30 years go up and down. But one good thing that has come out of it is all the great people that I have met and the friends that I have made. Cant take that away from me.
Cheers!

[Alp]

mine ran real fast...in the garage where they sit...

[bwaz]

I loved the bus Alp, but would prefer to see your speedy ones instead!

[Stephan Schmidt]

Its too expensive and most of the the guys around that do have the funds are either having young families and have other priorities, and getting your built car wrecked till you have the time and money to fix it is too much of a hassle.

You can buy a boosted VR6 golf / jetta for the same price as it costs you to build a nice stroker engine ($8k).  Then you still need a car, tires, brakes, regi, a trans, etc.. Most of the time you won't want to drive that car on the road so thats a tow vehicle, a tow bar, a trailer, etc.. Then its not your daily driver so you need more garage space and it just ads up.

In California where much of the VW racing originated, there are hundreds of hi po VW shops around.  Plus, there are also parts galore which makes it cheaper and people can afford to drive the car much more because of the weather!

Cruising in the car to the shows is fun and I'm a huge fan of the hobby but its expensive and takes a lot of time!

[Splitty Ken]

I'm racing next year, in the bug probably as the bus won't be ready... or maybe....  Couldn't race this year as didn't pick it up until the Saturday after.