4/7/03***UPDATE*** Well if you want God to laugh at you just plan your day. We all checked into the hotel in Florence,SC saturdat afternoon while it was raining. Not a good sign, but on race day morning the Gods were smiling and the weather looked beautiful. The track at Darlington has a noise curfew and no cars can be started untill after 12:00 noon on sundays. So we still had a wait and see kind of outlook at 8:00 am. Time trials started at around 12:30 so I had my turn down the track. Wheels up and straight, a perfect pass  untill I missed third gear (remember i have this "first pass is a geek-out thing") 6.80 @ 94 mph.  OK, now that I have gotten over that I was up for my second timetrial. With a loud snap, bang, whizz, I left the line turning an immeadiate right. Felt like a broken axel to me. Bummer. After six guys and a floor jack we got my car off the track. Further investigation revealed that I had only broken my u-joint on the right side. These are 1-3/16 inch diameter, solid shaft, 3/4 ton truck u-joints. These are supposed to be "bullet proof " hence no spares are in my race box. Not to worry anyways. An hour later the rain came and we all loaded up for the long trip home.

4/9/03***UPDATE*** I installed TWO (think of them as shoe laces) new u-joints while the car sat on the trailer. It was the only way I could figure to get the car off the trailer without a struggle. This is when I discovered that the right side ladder bar was bent. I removed it and was able to put it back in order with a press. A test drive after the unload told me I might have other issues. There was a very bad washboard feeling when I applied the brakes. After spinning her up on some jackstands it was evident I had bent my rotor when the right wheel and axel tried to leave the car. Some scientific tuning with a dead blow hammer put things back into order.  So I am ready for the next event at Lakeland on 4/20 if the weather Gods are willing.

5/12/03***UPDATE*** The sun was shinning and the track was dry on 4/20 at Lakeland. No one else came out so I was flying solo this weekend. With everything seemingly back to working order I kinda started where I left off at. The car was going straight and hooking like gangbusters off the line. I got a 1.41 sixty foot with ALL wheels off the ground at the launch. These were especially violent since I turned the leave 2-step up a 1,000 rpm's. The wheelie bars suffered a bow in both the top rails and the mounting brackets tried to remove themselves. That with a new oil leak from my bellhousing area when I returned pit side gave me a throw in the towel feeling, so I did.

9/28/03***UPDATE*** Darlington, SC was todays race location. With a new flywheel seal and no other real plan we were off racing. Giant wheelstands were the order of the day. I am sure the spectators were impressed, but I had a hard time being pounded all over the track. Other Team Magic racers had a much better day with them finishing in 1st and 2nd in two classes and 2nd in the other class.

10/05/03***UPDATE*** Lakeland,Fl had one of their monthly import events today. I am still leaping completely off the ground in first and sometimes in second gear too. The VW Tranny God sure must be smiling at me  because I should have already run over my tranny several times. A few cracks in my exhaust system was letting all my boost out and time trial numbers were slow. Thanks to Ken Fisher for having and lending me his mig welder I was able to patch things up and become competitive. After a few rounds in the quick 16 class the young whippersnapper Noel Latour, (whom won the event) put me on the trailer. I owe him one.

10/12/03***UPDATE*** Farmington, NC has brought the VW's back to the "Farm". The weather sucked in Florida but it was beatiful here for race day. I have lowwered my bottom shock mounts to decamber my rear wheels slightly and gone up a few clicks stiffer on my shocks in an attempt to soften my much too violent leave. I also modified my wheely bar again. First three time trial passes proved I had finally hit the mark on my chassis tuneup. 6.603 6.607 6.600 were the first three timetrial times with the car drilling the center off the track. Wheel stands were inches instead of feet and the car was a dream to drive. Not having to have my kidneys pounded, my arms and feet frailing, and seeing the track during the whole pass, gave me nothing to do but shift down the track. I was killing the tree today with many 5 oh and 5 teen reaction times. The combo proved to be unbeatable and I almost effortlessly went on to the final round and won the event. Next month we will be back in NC racing at Fayettville and we'll see if this was just a fluke or I have finally got a grasp on something.

11/16/03***UPDATE*** Fayettville reminded me that if you want the Drag God to laugh at you, all you have to do is plan your race day. Coming off the high of my win at Farmington did not exsempt me from the racing gremlins. My first pass was a blistering 6.46 et with my best ever 1.37 60 foot time. I am not sure where the tenth and a half appeared from but I was happy. Then I decieded to service my spark plugs and the disaster happened. As I removed #4 spark plug all my threads in the head came with it. Bummer. It took a good hour and a half to find a plug repair insert and a tap. Thrashing to make one more time run before eliminations I hurried to the lanes even though they had closed them in hopes to get a run in. I made it but in my rush I geeked out the launch and blew any chance of getting a relevant number. Not to worry, inspection after the pass in the pits revealed two broken inner valve springs. My day was done.

11/22/03***UPDATE*** The anual Night of Fire was at Speed World tonight. It has been since last years event that I have run a 1/4 mile. A coulpe of broken valve springs needed attending from the Fayetteville Fiasco and I am down to having only a few old and worn used springs in the race box. Repair was easy enough but I couldn't bring myself to turn up my tired motor so I was racing as-is. A few jet changes were necessary to get my best of 10.31 et. I was quickly trailered as soon as eliminations started but did get my fun in.

5/8/04***UPDATE*** My God, has it been that long? I missed the season opener at Darlington,SC in march. I had become weary of trying to massage my poor old race heads into another event. Tired valve springs breaking, spark plug hole stripped, and deminishing seat margins were just for starters. So instead of trying to get the "unobtanium"(head work) done, I opted for the eaisiest, simplist, and most available. I chose CB Performance 044 cnc ported heads.  Not too big to be fragile, but big enough. 42 x 37 and pretty much out of the box. My thinking was if these work well enough, repair or replacement will be off the shelf. As with most any single major item change, it was necessary to redo 29 other items to make a happy working unit. Motor was wider with the new heads so push rods, rocker geometry, and exhaust header mods were the begining of needed changes. Old heads (remember these were for a NA application) had 12.2 /1 c/r. The new ones c/r is now 7.0/1 . Aside from the huge 60 cc chambers (remember no extra work out of the box heads) I also changed to a .090" thick head gasket from Clarke Copper Gaskets. These are a hardened gasket and I am hoping to be a much tuffer piece. So now we are going to get above the wastegate spring setting of 9 lbs. and turn up the boost with this much more doable c/r and new heads.

5/17/04***UPDATE*** Fast Times at the Farm was the event name and it sure turned out to be that way. SEVWA hosted the event at Farmington, NC  on 5/16 and although its a long trip it cetainly was worth it for me. 19 lbs of boost was what my static check gauge said for my first pass. This produced a 6.47 et @105.99 mph. with a 1.38 60 foot. Not too shabby,but I never really felt the motor working hard. Checking the wastegate setting in the pits did not give me much confidence in my boost controller. It now said 16 lbs. Hmmmmm....so i tried to correct the setting. The controller was just way too sensitive. It is a pressure regulator for a shop compressor and rated at a 160 psi upper working window. I did my best to set it at 23 lbs. Wow!!! That woke it up! 1.35 60 foot and Now the motor was really working. Unfortuately at the top of second gear the the rubber hose on the tube between the turbo and the butterfly was blown out from under the hose clamp and I coasted to the finish. The next time run was a geek out pass and then it happened. 23 lbs of boost and on the wood, Abby screamed a 1.32 60 foot with a 6.200 et @ 110.43 mph. The car was actually going fairly straight with my hands full of minor steering corrections all the way down track. What a blast!! If nothing else that alone was worth the trip. So its now first round of eliminations, I have beaten the Hot VW's national record by .01 seconds and need a back up pass to hold the record. It was not ment to be(at this event) The track officials even gave me one more chance after eliminations with a final time run effort. That produced a 1.34 60 foot with the car wanting that record untill the third gear shift and she fell of the pace and lost power with a 6.73 coasting at 91 mph. Hot damm!!!! hopefully much more of this fun at the Fayetteville, SC race next month.

6/20/04***UPDATE*** Fayetteville ended up in a test of endurance. With a small turnout and great weather I made 8 passes with my best et at a 6.26 @ 110 mph. The 60 foot never came around on the less than perfect track. My best 60 foot of 1.43 was over a tenth off from my last outing. Massive burnouts were the order of the day in a vain attempt to get my short time back. I had some minor damage in the 3rd round when my one wheel wheelie bar snapped my one wheel into two. The bare bar dug the asphalt and then bent up into my header. I was unable to run the number with two holes that were created spilling boost away. A small welding job to renew.  All in all was a fun trip. August 1st in Rockingham will be hot but I am looking for great track conditions to boost my efforts.

8/01/04***UPDATE*** This Rockingham event clinched the fact that I needed to have a welder on hand at the track. It also convinced my crewman,(I was already fairly sure), that a budwieser can and circle clamps will not hold up to 25 lbs. boost. Not even a time run today with the first pass losing my exhaust and the other pass a futile attempt.

8/22/04***UPDATE*** With power back on from the storm just in time to leave for Cecil.Ga on the event day morning, I headed out in the wee hours of the morning to make my lone trek to the track. South Georgia Motorsport Park, this almost brand new facility, was a gem. The rest of the R & S crew was surprised to see me already at the track when they arrived from their hotel. Now I had my new portable welder in tow and the only use it got was welding Jerry's muffler back onto his tow vehicle. I  pedaled to Quarter finals with 6.30's and 6.40's only to be trailered by the Inch Pincher dragster. I owe him one, and I am sure he knows it.

9/26/04***UPDATE*** WHAT??? Still another himacane. I missed this one at Darlington, SC.

10/24/04***UPDATE*** Back at the Farm in Farmington, NC. I love this track and if anything spectacular was going to happen I wanted it to be here. I squeezed a few more lbs. of boost into the motor (28lbs.) and had a scalded dog leave, 1.35 60 foot, and ran well untill I shifted into 4th gear. That is when the bottom of one of my pistons came off and tried its best to ventilate my case after peppering my head, bending one rod, destroying one cylinder, and breaking my camshaft in two places. I decelerated toward  the finish line,decluthed, and the motor locked up, with a 6.26 @ 101 mph. Even though my new welder saw service on the road trip welding Noel's trailer fender back on, it will not help me now.

11/20/04***UPDATE*** I had my motor completed by last weekend and went to our local track "Anual Night of Fire" event in Bithlo, Fl. at Speed World Dragway. There were 400-500 cars with lots of dragsters, exhibition cars, and a ton of door cars. The event ran from 9 am to 3am the NEXT day and they STILL did not finish. It was called due to soooo much dew settling in on the track making it unraceable. Three other VW's from our camp and myself were the only VW's in the event. This is a 1/4 event and I had not made a 1/4 mile pass since this same event last year. My last years best pass was a 10.61 @ 143 mph. Buster was there in Bluebell, his 12 second street rag top. Noel was there with his low 11 second race car. Tod ran a 10.96 in Spellbound. I made my first 9 second pass in Abrakadabra. 9.94 @ 134.50 with my redone motor. Same heads, one resurected cylinder, new eagle rods, while pauter rebuilds my old ones, four new pistons-unnotched, and the same size cam C-85(FK-89) as before. I was running 18 lbs. boost. I turned it down from 28 lbs after the blow up because those new eagle rods made me a little nervous. After repairing ANOTHER broken hockey stick in my tranny during timetrials, I went out first round with a .496 red light. It really did not matter. I was all teeth the whole night.

9/25/05***UPDATE*** I have not updated my pages here for almost the entire 2005 racing season. It's not that I have not raced this season, its more of finding the enthused time to update. I have put only 36 passes on the car since my last postings, but I have made a few worthy accomplishments. Last weekend our local track put on an import race with a quick 16 and pro class. It was touted as a V-8 vs Imports race. The bubble for the import side of the quick ladder was a 5.84 et. Lots of really fast rotaries with one 4.99 et player. So into the pro class I go running 6.40's and wind up the winner in the final round of racing. Even our newest greenhorn racer, Ben Green,(sorry Ben no pun intended), was all teeth as he also went to the final round in the sportsman class. The windfall of the pro class purse paved the way for travel money to my latest race on 9/25 at "The Rock" in Rockingham,NC. This was the bi-anual North vs South all VW shootout with the SEVWA running a race in its point series. I patched a few small holes in the exhaust and turned the boost from 18 lbs. to 20 lbs. Off the trailer it rocketed to a 6.157 @ 113.89 mph. The Hot VW's ASX 1/8 mile record was smashed. It had previously stood at 6.21 for 5 years with Tracy Grimes. Tracy had skidded under the 6.25 et record held for 6 years by my car with its previous owner and builder, Kendrick Roberts. Two 6.25 backup passes to the 6.15 et failed to secure the record back to Abrakadabra and the R & S Performance camp.

10/2/05***UPDATE*** Todd and I went to Jacksonville for an event they were having. Todd'stimeruns were a 7.20 driving all over the track and a 7.10 and a 7.11. Todd somehow made that track actually somewhat work for him but me, thats a different story. First time run was a 6.60 at 12 lbs boost. Then my second timetrial....it was the MOST driving I have EVER done in one pass. I had taken 10 lbs of boost out to start with but that was not really enough. This track was FAAAR from the condition of the Rock. There was grass growing out of the track on each side of the very narrow racing groove in a very narrow track. There was almost no water in the burnout box and the track staff would not let my crewman anywhere onto the track. It was difficult to impossible to do a proper tire warming. From the start line it moved hard left and when I stayed in it and drove back accross the groove it didnt stop jetting right untill I was off the track in the mud. Then the ass end started sweeping back the other way. It was like the energizer bunny when it went to sliding back and forth.......it just kept going and going and going........ and on the last sweep it rolled up onto two wheels. Instead of just tipping over onto the roof, it stop at the very top of the roll (it was on BOTH rims on the drivers side) and then slammed back down onto all four wheels. My car was put onto the trailer while I tried to calm my shakey nerves. Then the race was called a rainout before first round started.

11/06/05***UPDATE*** Today was the 2nd of our VW T-N-T at Orlando Speedworld. All in all 21 air-cooled VW's made their way out to participate in a FREE sponsored day of play. Many personal best efforts were made. First 11 second run for JC Quick and low 12's for Buster. Then I tickeled my best with a 10.01 @ 135mph. Dash plaques were given out and we even had a few awards of our own to pass out.

Winners of the awards were:
Ben Green-"BEST SMELLING INTERIOR"
Tod Latour-"BEST GEARED FOR SPEED"
JC Quick-"LONGEST HIATUS FROM RACING"
6T6Mike-"LARGEST ENTOURAGE"

11/19/05***UPDATE*** I went to our local track last night for their yearly main event. This is about the only 1/4 mile racing I do once a year. Lots of spectators to watch the exihibition jet cars and trucks. So I turned the wick up to 24 lbs. boost and the two step up 600 rpms on the leave.

The 60 foot was way off (my best is 1.28 ). My low gear didnt like the extra hard leave but the increased boost more than made up for it!!!! For the last 100 feet I was popping off of the rev limiter set at 7800 rpms. I need to remove that to see my real mph potential. The event turned into a rain out so that was my only pass. I didnt care, I was all teeth.

4/9/06***UPDATE*** I have attended one event and a few local outings since my last update. Nothing of great significance happened. I was unable to make boost at one outing and took my entire induction system apart looking for the culprit. There wasn't any smoking gun as to why so I kinda renewed a few things and reassembled. All new ignition parts, sent out the fuel pump to be flowed, turned my slicks around, and went out again. I was trying this out at the track a few times when something exciting happened. I was 'loaned' a T-70 turbo. With the upgrade install complete, it's off to the track I go. BOTI was putting on an event at the local track Orlando Speedworld. I had only two attempts at making a pass that sunday and they both were crapped out. The first attempt, I blew off a juction hose between the turbo and the butterfly and the second attempt I ran out of fuel in the pass. What a geek-out day. Boost was turned down to 16 psi.and both launches were ultra-violent. My wheelie bar was laid flat and the car road on 6-8 inches of the middle of the bar as witnessed by the flat spot of the lowwer tube. The bar was also bent up into the rear bonnet and broke a small hole out in it. This was the same chassis tune-up I used on the previous setup. On the second pass I had 3/4 lb more air in the slicks and turned the leave chip down 800 rpm. My lineman said the car squatted so hard that there was only about 2" of the inner edge of the slick contacting the track. It left the starting line in a dead hook with zero wheel spin. I got 1.49 and 1.46 short times[best previously 1.28] with lots of pedaling in 3rd and 4th gear. Track conditions were very poor. Several early oil downs and a 20-25 mph cross wind at the big end. There were three crashes with one guy barrel rolling his ride 6-8 times at the 1000' mark. I will need to either turn the boost down more or make a major chassis change. I opt for the latter. To me it's obvious I am making more power at less boost,but the jury is still out untill I can come up with a full on pass and a time slip to boot. Heavier springs are on order.

4/22/06***UPDATE*** I have now installed the new springs. Old ones were 10" long and 450 lbs./inch. These were very difficult to install on the QA-1's due to their length. The new springs are only 9" long, but they are 550 lbs./inch rate. I will get out to the track soon to start finding my new chassis tune-up.

8/15/06***UPDATE*** I went ahead and went the whole nine yards before my next attempt with the new turbo. I sent the shocks out to be rebuilt and purchased a new set of M & H slicks. The next outing was at our local track Orlando Speedworld. It is a 1/4 mile track and I was very amped up to make a full on pass with my increased power and new chassis parts and tuneup. This was a local test and tune so track prep was very minimal. I was anxious to get to some of the VHT before any of the street cars ran so I was second in line to make a pass that night. I got quite a bit more excitement than I bargained for. After the 4th gear shift, the motor screamed with its new found power and light up the slicks like a water burnout. I could feel the car raise up in the rear on the now much larger diameter tires. This was at about 135-140 mph at around the 1200 foot mark. Everything after this happened very quickly, but in my mind's eye it seemed like slow motion. The rear of the car continued to rise untill at some point the front end came up with it and the car started a to roll in air with all tires off the ground. I remember thinking, "Not good Mikey, this is NOT good." I was in the right lane and the car moved to the left, rolling and spinning several times on the roof. None of my clan at the starting line could actually count the spins due to the huge debris cloud being thrown up from the track contact. The first major very hard contact was across the track onto the left gaurdrail. At this point I was on my roof going backwards toward the finish line.I remeber looking out the whole were my windshield used to be and saw the starting line tower upsidedown dissapearing as I slided down the gaurdrail. I was STILL hauling butt and thought to myself,"I not hurt, I can't believe I am not hurt, but it's not over yet." The car continued to slide backwards on the roof untill the gaurdrail ended at some point after the finish line. When the rail ended, this let my car start rolling again. It went through a very wide and deep grass ditch and ended up stopped on its wheels trying to back up a steep grass bank. With both hands still on the wheel and my feet at the pedals, I unbuckeled my 5-point, opened my still working door, and stepped out completely unscathed. I looked at my car and wanted to cry. It was pretty much FUBAR'd. Amazingly, somehow, not even one of the wheels/tires comtacted anything during the entire episode. The front and rear bonnet,both fiberglass, had come off early in the wreck and most of the rest of the car body was trashed. It was towed back to my pit rolling and steering smoothly. After bring her home and scrapping the body, the real damage was evedent. The chassis was killed in 4 places. It was not repairable. I have cut it up and discarded it. All the drive train remained intact and unharmed. I stripped the goodies off the car and the rest was thrown away. Abrakadabra lives only as a memory now. Many very good memories indeed. A special thanks to Kendrick Roberts, the chassis builder and welder. Also thanks to Scooter at R & S Performance for making my many years of racing with Abrakadabra possible.

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with Volkswagen or Volkswagen of America, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. The word "Volkswagen" and "VW" are registered trademarks and copyrights of VWoA.The use of the words "Volkswagen" , "VW" , or any other "V" words are used merely for descriptive purposes only so please don't sue me. The views expressed on these pages are not necessarily my views or the views of someone else, but are probably similar to your views or the views of someone you know. Items listed as "Bolt on Race" cannot be assembled without extreme modifications. Modifing parts voids all claims and warrentees. All parts are for off road use only. Warrentees are for street driven parts only. All prices can and will be raised without notice. Prices do not include taxes, shipping, handeling, boxing, insurance, or administrative fees. Any damage during shipping voids warrentees. Only "Race Only" parts are available. All items listed as "Race Only" have no warrentees. Misuse, neglect, or intentionally using any product means you void your warrenty. Only origional cartons, unopened may be returned for partial credit of your shipping fees(less taxes,handeling,boxing,and administrative fees), with a 210% restocking fee. Customers have these rights and may also have other rights too but who cares?

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