Re: bought a MK1 'Rocco for racing

["I.Mannix" <mannix@secretignition.com>]

At 01:21 AM 8/22/98 -0400, Kathy Teulie wrote:
>
>!Autocross!
>Ian and I bought a 1981 MK1 that is in good condition today.
>The body has no rust and no dents. The transmission is good
>and the breaks are new. So the next step is to get it on the
>race coarse. What should we do first to make this a class
>champ. The car is stock now. I am thinking we should put
>the lower sway and stress bars on. We are going to need
>tires and wheels too. The stock ones are fine for getting to 
>the race but I would not want to run them on the race track.


I''l take time out of my hectic Friday evening galavanting to throw in my
.02!  Lesse, "class champ."  I like it.  I would suggest, first and
foremost, getting an SCCA rulebook, consulting it before you buy things
which put you into a class which you will not be able to compete.  

Stock class(ES), the 81 is out - it has/had a 1.6 or 1.7, right?  That
motor will not be competitive in Stock, and a JH engine is illegal.

Street Prepared(DSP), this is where I would put the car.  You can use a JH,
intake and exhaust are basically free(use your imagination - _any_ intake
manifold, IE, make one, any fuel injection, four Webers, whatever you'd
like.  Header, no cat, 2" tube, no muffler if you so desire.....).
Internal engine stuff is _really_ limited, which is actually good - in a
sense, you save money over....

Prepared(EP), I would not do it.  The green SciroccoII which runs in EP has
been discussed here in the past - it is not a competitive(class champ) kind
of Prepared car.  A friend of mine has a "real" EP car, 200+ HP Datsun 510,
1800ish pounds, slicks, etc.  Not streetable, plastic windows,
semi-unreliable(it is NOT a daily driver by any stretch, even if you put
lights into it), it is a real racecar.  

Modified(D or EM), uhh, no.  The current EM class killer is a Pontiac Fiero
with an engine of a different origin - it is FAST.  I don't know much about
the car, but it would cost THOUSANDS(lots of them) to get within that
thing's timezone.  

IMHO, stick with DSP.  I run DSP, as do many on this list(Kevin, Shawn, Ken
Buck, more than a few).  DSP has some initially odd rules, but you get used
to them.  DSP is a handling class, first and foremost.  You need an engine
at some point - a used JH should do well, with a good intake(throttle body,
ported intake manifold, cold air to the box), header/dual dp, 2" pipe to
the muffler of your choice, and of course, a good ignition;).  Seriously, a
"basic" JH+intake+exhaust is adequate - the speed comes from the suspension.  

Suspension - when I started, I had the idea that I'd autocross for fun, and
I wanted to keep the car drivable.  Lots of people told me to buy coilovers
up front, save money by spending a little more right now.  Rule #1 -
"tuners" define "drivable" MUCH differently than I do.  I started with
Bilstein BTS 172 shocks/springs, too low and soft.  Got Nspeed
loweringsprings.  Too low and soft.  Neuspeed race springs.  Not quite as
low(still too low), still too soft(and still drivable).  Put different
springs in here and there, junkyard items, etc, still too low and soft.
Eventually, I got coilovers.  Ah ha.  "Class Champ?"  Get coilovers.
Ground Control sells a kit for $395 - sleeves, hats and springs, any rate.
Do it.  It'll cost you around $50 to get the perches cut off the old tubes,
a perch welded on for the coilover sleeve.  Do it.  I can help you with
rates(what I think works, anyhow) when you're ready.  

Swaybars - yes.  The front is more important than some will tell you.  I
use a 22mm Autotech front bar with brackets that don't break.   The
Autotech hollow bar is 3 pounds lighter than the Nspeed 22mm solid,
whoopie.  If I were to do it again, I'd get a 3/4" H&H swaybar, which
incorporates a lower stressbar.  

Stressbars - yes.  Eurosport's tribar package is a good deal, assuming you
don't get an H&H bar(H&H - 508/256-9465).  Lower front is most important, I
noticed some feel degradation when I took off my upper for fun runs once,
so it does do something, rear, eh, it holds your tires in place.  The rear
is cheap enough that it is worth getting, IMHO.  Note - the Neuspeed
Triangulated rear bar is illegal.  Reason is simple - triangulation is
illegal for stressbars, even though the Nspeed bar seems harmless.  If I
could triangulate my stressbars, I'd have a semi-tube frame Rabbit:).
That's the basis of the SP rules - don't think of things like "why is
triangulation illegal?" think of it in the light of "how far could I take
it if I could triangulate?"  Makes more sense that way.  Stock cams must be
used - no G grinds.   The G grind is harmless, but if cams were legal, we'd
all have stupid cams on top of stock motors.  It already got out of hand
with things like "any intake," some of the fastest DSP cars have these
ridiculous variable length intake manifolds that cost an arm and a leg -
the class was originally created for hotrodded street cars, "any intake"
was supposed to mean "any Edelbrock, Holley or Weiand," not "engineering
nightmare that only a few can afford."  Oh well.  You can go pretty fast
with a stockish motor/intake/etc.  

Ok, so basically, we have an 81S with a JH, good exhaust, good
intake(ported, Golf Tbody, coldair, K&N), coilovers on Konis(my choice, but
Tokico or Bilstein would work, or Carrera/other high dollar shocks), on to
brakes - stock rotors, any pad, any fluid, any line.  Any master cylinder,
prop valves OK.  I use Porterfield R4 "race" pads and Valvoline "synthetic"
fluid, works great.  The Ferodo 3466 or whatever(Potter has them) are 95%
of the R4, but half the cost.  Bushings - I use poly, made some others out
of Delrin.  Reducing camber change is good.  

Wheels and tires - again, the "any wheel" clause bit the SP class a little,
Prepared has wheel widths(7" for an EP car), SP has "any."  Kevin and I use
13x9" Weld Racing wheels.  You'll spend a LOT on wheels.  17" wheels are
NOT faster.  13" wheels seem fastest - lower effective gear ratio, lower
center of gravity, and you can use a stupid wide tire.  I use 225/50-13
Hoosier Radials.  I love them, used to use the 215/50-13 BFG R1, but that
tire is basically gone, so your choices are Hoosier, Kumho, Toyo, Yokohama.
 I'd probably get a 13x8 - you can still use a 205/60-13 in a pinch(I don't
think I'd want to stretch a 205 on my 9" wheels).  You lose the CG/ride
height with the 205/60-13, but it IMHO is better than a 14" 205/55, because
you _can_ put a wide 13 on it.  Diamond Racing wheels(a circle track/sprint
car manufacturer) makes a cheap 13x8, I believe it is around $60 per wheel
- - my Welds list for $230 each.  For the extra hundred and change, you lose
6 pounds or so - this is worthwhile once you get serious about it, but the
real gains come from width, not weight.  The light weight is nice, but the
width is where the big gains come from.   Proof positive - Kevin trophied
at Nationals on 18 pound widened steel VW wheels.  

Camber/alignment - camber plates are good(even though most "tuners" don't
agree) for various reasons.  I use 3d negative camber, 1/8" or so toe out.
Tire wear is nowhere near as bad as most people would speculate(speculate,
as most have not actually tried it).  Alignment(camber) will depend largely
on the tire you wind up on, so let us know what you wind up with, but
basically, more is good.  To a point, like everything, but generally
speaking.  

That's the basic jist of the car.  Hours and hours and hours will go into
putting it together, just so you can drive it and take it back apart.  That
brings us to the most important point - DRIVER!!

First of all, before you embark on the fun stuff(shopping, buying, opening
boxes), get the car solid.  Replace timing belts, change oil, maintain the
thing.  Maybe throw a set of shocks at it under the "maintenance" clause,
get the car solid.  Then, GO TO EVERY EVENT YOU CAN!!  Get out there.  Get
to know the car.  Take your daily driver if the Scirocco is in pieces.  Go
to the gokart track.  Take Solo2 schools.  Talk to people.  Read books.
Learn to drive the car - a fast car is useless if you can't drive it!
Chances are, you don't know how to drive in autocross land yet - NO ONE
does, not right off the bat.  Learning to see a line through a sea of cones
takes time.  Learning to put the car on the edge on the right line takes
more time.  Learning to do this quickly and efficiently takes even more
time.  Drive drive drive drive.  Don't bag on an event because you don't
have tires/shocks/helmet/whatever - lots of excuses seem good at the time,
but whether you're driving a heap of junk or the fastest autocross car in
the world, you WILL learn something by driving more.  An autocross costs
$20, typically.  Don't go out to dinner one night, do go to the autocross.
Do funruns.  Scrounge racetires - most serious autocrossers will donate
almost dead race tires to serious newcomers, if not free, then cheap.  No
one expects you to build a competitive DSP car in two months - it just does
not happen, between money and time.  Scrounge what you can, replace what
you have to, save up for the good stuff.  Get fast people to walk the
course with you.  Don't argue with them, just be nice(you might be
thinking, "you're braking THERE?!?  WHY?" there is a reason....), get fast
people to ride with you and tell you what you're doing wrong.  

Admit you're doing something wrong - a good friend of mine was out here for
the Tour two weeks ago, we were talking about the course.  I asked him if
he was lifting "here," braking "there," flat out in third "here."  Yes yes
yes.  Had to tell him he obviously was'nt, as he was 3 seconds off the
pace.  He got a bit mad(think I'm harsh here?  Try being one of my best
friends!;), but on Monday, we had a practice day on the same course, I
drove his car, went 2ish seconds faster than he did, one second off me in
my car.  I figured his car was about 1 second slower than mine - he was
thinking to himself that he was going as fast as he could in the car, which
is flawed logic.  I've had faster-than-me people drive my car, and there's
about a second in the car that I can't find - I don't know where it is, but
it is there.  I can't say to myself "I'm doing this wrong to the tune of 1
second."  I can pick apart my runs and say "I lost something here(.1-.2), a
little there," but for the life of me, I can't figure out where it is - I
need people to show me, Daryl needed someone to show him.  After I showed
him, talked to him, yelled at him, he finally got quicker - I was still
faster, I had a 60.3 in his car, 59.3 in mine, he got down to a 60.7.
GREAT!  Once he believed that the car was not the limiting factor, and once
he belived and understood that even though he could not pinpoint the
mistakes he was making, they were still there, he went faster.  It is all
too easy to say "so and so's car is faster than mine."  Maybe it is.
Chances are REALLY good that the new-to-autocross person is not getting
100% out of the car.   Build the car as you can.  Make intelligent choices,
and better yet, learn WHY someone suggests something.  A guy just started
autocrossing around here, he showed up with a Rabbit GTI sorta set up for
ITB(which runs in DSP).  It was WAY too low.  I asked him why.  Apparently,
ITB has a rule that says that your oil pan must be a minimum of 5.25"(?)
off the ground, so he lowered it to that point.  OK, I guess that makes
sense.  He raised it a bit(still too low), drove OK.  Raised it more, he
said it got better.  Right.  He's been getting better and better, I've told
him everything I've done to my car.  Great.  He called Eurosport, got
spring rates from them.  Raffi@eurosport is a good roadracer - he turns
very good times at his local tracks, but he is not an autocrosser(anymore,
or, not a practicing autocrosser:).  This guy(new local guy) is not happy
with the spring rates - he says they are good at the time trials, but not
so good at autocrosses.  WE TOLD YOU THAT!  Laugh.  Point is, *listen* to
the fastest VW people in your area.  Look at results from other regions.
Figure out who is truly fast.  Get their opinion.  Then understand their
opinion.  Then make a decision based on what you understand, and be
prepared to change when you understand better. 

Autocross and roadrace setups are not necessarily the same.  My autocross
setup seems to work fairly well on the roadcourses I have been on, but if I
went roadracing, I'd probably expect to make changes.  I would try things
to see if they really were faster.  Listen to roadracers and autocrossers
alike, and understand why they do what they do.  I was at my alignment shop
recently, and the alignment guy was asking who owned a certain Miata.  None
other than Jerry Bennington, co driver with Peter Raymond - both VERY quick
BS Miata guys.  The alignment guy was bewildered by their alignment - "1/2"
rear toe can't be fast!"  Sure it can.  It is.  I watched them set it at a
practice day - they did 15 or so runs each on the course, to get a
baseline, then started futzing with the car.  They added rear toe until the
car started spinning everywhere, then backed it off.  They wound up with
1/2" rear toe(this is terrifying if you think about it), and it works -
Raymond was 2nd in the Pro challenge, 2nd in BS by a couple of
thousandths(the guy who beat him approached the alignment issue in a
similar fashion).  Thing is, 1/2" toe seems unreasonable, but it works in
some cases - it'd be deadly in high speed stuff, but in Solo, where speeds
are lower and the car has to rotate now, it can work.  I'd not have
guessed, but.......

So, the car is a huge proposition.  For thoughts, I have a 95% prepared DSP
GTI.  Rough cost breakdown, just what is on the car NOW, not including the
things I have tried and discarded:

Wheels - $1000
Shocks/springs - $1000(not including the other springs/shocks)
Camber plates - $300
Bushings - $50 and a couple dozen hours
Swaybars - $300
Seat(driver position is important) - $500
Header/exhaust - $350 or so
Intake system(hoses, parts) - $150, plus 15 or so hours
Oil cooler - $150(not really needed for an autocross car)
Ignition - $300
Velocity LSD - $99(but I did buy the Stage I for $150 at one time)
Clutch - $200 or so, plus labor, paid for that one
Steering wheel/pedals/gauges - $300
Head/valvejob - $300(did labor myself)
Stressbars - $200, forget....
Brake pads - $100(not including three Ferodos, a set of Hawks and the three
sets of rotors they ate)
Short shift, homemade, $15, bought a pitcher at the bar:)
Distributor - $120, plus a spare, and time to make it right.

That's $5235.  Yikes.  OK, I'll stop there.  I've done other stuff, too,
new radiator, new control arms, new rear axle, wheelbearings, random stuff,
little things, countless valve adjustments, the list goes on.  I figure
I've got $10k in the car, and it is locally capable of winning the class(we
have a fairly talented DSP locally).  I've got to learn to drive it better,
but the car is there.  Next up?  Rebuild the bottom end sitting in a box in
the garage, put a Quaife in it, experiment with a rollcage, lighter
passenger seat, lighten the car more, more dyno time, programmable fuel
injection, the list goes on and on and on.  

Building a real autocross car can be as expensive as you want to make it.
DON'T DO WHAT I DID!  Listen to people who are going fast, learn from their
mistakes.  I'd be _delighted_ to believe that I've only spent 5k on the
car(not including the car), but the reality is that I bought a LOT of
stuff, then chucked it.  On my 3rd set of wheels.  Dozens of tires.  Not
broken much, fortunately.  The engine is strong, which is good.  OK, gotta
go.  Hope this helped - don't be discouraged, though!   Get the car solid,
put coilovers, swaybars and stressbars on it, find cheap wheels, and HAVE
FUN!  That's the whole point, having fun, right?  

Where do you live?  Do you know where your local autocross club is?  If
not, let me know, I'd be glad to help in any way I can!


I.Mannix  
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to scirocco-L-request@scirocco.org,
with your request (subscribe, unsubscribe) in the BODY of the message.

------------------------------