A team with no name goes racing.

This is a really sweet lookin car!

Big news coming soon. Watch this space.

Big news, but not THE big news: A team with no name officially has a name...

You know what? I think it's time, I've been sitting on this for a week but it's time to let you guys in on the big surprise.

Ever since I first saw the zonda I had a clear vision of what it would look like. I did forza-renderings and petitioned for my chosen livery. I was relentless and eventually they caved. I would have my way, but I would have to be the one to paint it.

So... I did.

Here she is, wearing fresh paint for the 2024 season:

See you at the Ridge.

Your ability to paint the Zonda to look almost exactly like an 87 Scirocco racecar on dry rotted tires that hasn't been started in years, is unparalleled.

Jokes aside we are 1 month away from the first event of the season and the Zonda will not be ready. We had two roads we could go down.

option 1 was to buckle down and try to finish the zonda, option 2 was to find a ready to run car and get on track no matter what. There were debates and the team decided that getting on track was the best path forward.

The candidate was this 1987 VW. photos from the ad:

The car seems to be in a "race ready" condition and the price was right. we pulled the trigger. acquisition went relatively trouble free.

but the car drove on and off the trailer under it's own power and is now at Broke 'N world headquarters.

If you were not aware, Lucky Dawg is a spec tire series requiring the use of Hankook RS4. The factory 14 inch wheels were just not going to cut it. Because of shipping lead times wheels and tires became the #1 priority.

The first option was to try the Zonda's wheels, which were dual bolt pattern and the second pattern is the same 4x100 as the VW.

Those look mean as hell, but unfortunately the offset is incorrect and the tires don't just rub. They slam into the body of the car. Don't worry, there is a backup plan.

Notorious Miata pilot Henry rummaged through a storage unit and managed to come up with a set of 15x9 Advans (?) that were originally used for rallycross. We swung by on saturday to do a test fit.

Yes. Yeeeeeeeeees.

A perfect fit, no rubbing with a 245 tire. The only "problem" is the colours don't match. I'll have to paint a few of them. Oh no.

We now have three weekends to get this car ready to race. It is mostly going to be making it fit the series rules. My first pass to do list is as follows.

Fluid and filter change.

Swap the seat to our seat.

install our window net.

Install our fire suppression system.

move the kill switch to where the driver can reach it.

Install a proper battery hold down.

Install passenger-side mirror.

Remove decals and install series spec decals.

Tow hooks front and rear.

Get all drivers set up with saftey gear.

That's it... piece of cake.





Also... without discussing it at all with the rest of the team, I've decided to name the car Shelly. Because of this:

I like where this is going. I have all the tune up stuff and fluids on order. Should have it all in a day or so.

It looks like a bad used car lot...

I, being totally commited to the team, skipped this week's wrench day to go play dress-up with my friends. However the Gaming Expo Cancelled their cosplay contest because like... 5 people entered and I was able to arrive fashionably late.

I am unsure what got done before I arrived as i had not yet arrived. I guess the car got a tune up and fluid change and the air dam was off the car getting its nut & bolt setup swapped with a nutcert & bolt setup.

I set about removing the current decals so that we'd be ready to install the mandatory decal package when it arrived. But my trusty $12 Hammer store heat gun gave out after just one side. I can't be too mad, I've had it 8 years and I've used the hell out of it.

Henry got the door glass removed without breaking anything, which was nice. He headed out shortly after.

We decided to put some gas in the car. Unfortunately all the cans were back at my house. No sweat, it's only like 2 blocks to the gas station. I'll follow right behind you so nobody notices you don't have a plate, or lights, or mirrors, or windows, or that the car is covered with numbers and has a roll cage.

A by the numbers, low key operation.

LEROY JENKINS!!!

I mean, just the fact that I am telling you this story should be enough for you to know how it ends. I sat there dumbfounded as our teammate launched from the light and disappeared, full tilt, into the distance banging gears the whole way. I'll not disclose who was driving as the statue of limitations is still well in effect.

We arrived at the gas station, filled the car up and headed back. I was at least prepared this time and as the road was clear decided to try and keep up. My little Volvo polestar is a pretty even match. The VW is no slouch.

We arrived back at the shop and began wrenching again. The seat was pretty uncomfortable, did not move, and was expired. We had gone as a team and selected a seat a ruling majority of the team liked so it was a simple matter of swapping the seats. Simple meaning welding will be involved.

As I set about swapping the wink panel for the panoramic mirror in the Zonda we discussed the relative performance between my modern hot hatch and this ancient one.

The 16v was probably only putting out 125hp. Half that of my car, but my car was heavier.

What does this thing weigh?

We can find out.

And just like that a squirrel had run by and distracted us. The scales were out and we were corner weighing the car.

Ian will correct me if I'm wrong bit I think we landed in at around 2100 with most of that on the front end. Not too shabby.

18 days to go.

Tires are on order

Window net is on order

Decals are on order

Mirrors are on order

Drivers are getting their gear.

The plate arrived today.

I've received word that we have a tow vehicle.

17 days to go. We just might make it.

Picked up all my gear yesterday. Glad I bought my suit last year to help soften the blow!

I think with seat/bracket it was 2130. Roughly 680ish front corners, 380ish rear corners.

That was a weekend. Probably the most productive yet.

I started my Saturday at the local cars and coffee where I took a ton of pictures which ran my battery down quite low... so sorry for the upcoming lack of pictures. After leaving the show I headed to Broke 'N' world headquarters and met up with Ian and Jeremy to try and knock out the tech requirements.

The car already ran, so that was the most important.

Last week when we were filling the car we had trouble. The pump would constantly stop and then overflowed. The gauge never got above  1/4. When we arrived Ian was already working, straightening out a kink in the fill tube and pulling the fuel sender to check and see how much fuel was actually in the tank. It was very full. Some continuity checking and googling got us the answer. The sender and the aftermarket gauge were not compatible. With this setup our gauge would actually go up as the tank drained, but stop reading before  it was fully empty.

The budget is tight and the timeline is tighter. We're running out of time to order things. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I hatched a plan to use a $4 hammer store multimeter to display the raw ohm reading from the  sender.

If it's dumb but it works, it's not dumb. Before we could implement this plan Ian noticed that the weird VW sender was the same as the sender from a Land Rover, so a land rover gauge would read correct. So we just had to find a Land Rover.

Oh... Well... That's convenient.

With that checked off I set about finishing removing the old decals, a bigger job than you'd think. 

ICH

Jeremy finished removing the window regulators. The car was too loud and would likely have gotten us black flagged so we swapped in a stock muffler.

Jeremy got the new battery box installed, much more secure than the ratchet strap that was in there before.

Ian removed the expired fire system to replace it with our new superior one.

Under one of the original numbers was a big spot of missing paint. I set about repainting the spot. 

This is where my camera battery died, but let's just say it turned out... ok. standing next to the car the colour match is terrible and it's very obvious. From 20 feet at 20 mph you'll never see it.

I set about trying to set up the net but it required more welding than I am capable of. It required some and I am capable of none. I turned the project over to Ian and he got it done. I spent the rest of the  day deep cleaning and repainting the two white wheels gunmetal to match.

Lastly we moved the main battery kill switch to the dash by the window where it will be easily accessible by both the driver and the track crew. A very productive day.

When I got home our gas cans had arrived.

And I have reports that our tires have arrived.

Well three of them anyway... here's hoping the rest show up in time.

11 days to go.

Also, I found some headlights assemblies.

I think we should probably replace the actual fixtures.

AClockworkGarage said:

I've received word that we have a tow vehicle.

With a 454 and 3 speed, that'll be a common place to find it.

In reply to Driven5 :

You won't be surprised to know I've been looking at manual trans options...

So jealous, I had an 84 rabbit with a 16V. Soooo much fun

Summit sent me a box of goodies today. My stuff was all expired anyway. 

There's a local racing shop out of Bremerton that will be at the track all weekend, including Friday. He says he can recertify HANs devices, so I'll get my older one updated on Friday. He also has gear in case anyone is missing anything.

I didn't realize Lucky Dog had moved to being a spec tire series. I haven't run with them since 21 so I'm sure things have changed. I quite like their attitude about racing and the "run what you brung" attitude.

Love the new VDub and can't wait to hear about it. I've seen some hella quick VWagens on track and I'm sure this is no slouch!

Tacoma represent! Jay did a great job positioning the door panels. 

Ian routed the suppression nozzles. Coverage looks great, hopefully we never use it.

Bled the brakes yesterday with a vacuum and then positive pressure, and still have a mushy pedal. The master cylinder is still original, I'm pretty sure, and I'm thinking that's the last piece of the puzzle. 

I installed a button. It's red.

Track day was... exciting. 

Does anyone have a spare left front hub? Lol

I think the catch can that's actually an old oil container having a hole in it and oiling down the entire left corner of the car was the most fun, though. I got in a couple of laps and suddenly the car was filling with smoke. So I pit, and it looks like the car is on fire. But it's, you know, just oil going everywhere. 

That was an easy fix.  Then it lasted six laps before there was some vibration in the front, I pit again and the hub is frozen. Yay!

Managed to pass tech anyway. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but we'll figure it out. 

I'm super tired, but if I could sum up today in a single chart, it would look like this. 

If I had to sum up today in a single chart:

Last minute Thursday afternoon thrashing to get the car safe for Friday neccesitated a slightly higher harness bar. Don't know if it's our XXL seat, or the previous driver's were little people.

Broken hub/bearing.

Jay pretty much saved the weekend by going to the junkyard and pulling parts. He found a yard "somewhat" nearby that had a hub/knuckle and while Henry, Justin, Jeremy and I raced out to the morning driver's meeting he blitzed to the yard and grab parts.

I think we are all just completely exhausted, and putting together a long post has been beyond my ability the past couple days at least.

My ears have stopped ringing though (thank you team NSX) and I'm ready to try and give a summary.

Thursday was last minute thrash day. Ian notched and welded in some tubing we picked up to give us a better angle for the shoulder straps. What else: paint it an approximately appropriate shade of yellow, wait for it to dry, prep the pit board, put on the wheels with their fancy new tires.

Uh, this seems like it might really be happening.

Friday started slowly with Jay and I getting to the track rather well in advance of the racecar. I busied myself eating delicious gas station gyoza, and picking up our wristbands and giving them a credit card for the transponder rental.

The ramp truck and the car pulled in about the same time as the track opened. We still needed to install the harness, since the paint was too fresh the day before. 

Given that none of us had ever driven this car before, and we didn't know if it was going to have any strange handling issues, and that none of the other members of our team had been to the Ridge before, I was given the honor of taking the first shakedown stint. 

Mmm stickers.

So. I went out.

I've done plenty of scary things in my life, but the first time I tried to adjust my line at the end of the main straight is definitely way up there. The front splitter is very effective, and there's a lot of negative camber in front, and maybe some toe out, and as a result the car just wants to rotate. Very quickly. Adding front brake bias (someone left the adjuster all the way at the front, lol) makes it even more pronounced.

Before I could come to grips with the wild handling, I'm braking for a corner and the cabin fills with white smoke. I'm right by pit in so I pit immediately. We expect the worst, but the ancient oil container that was serving as a catch can had a hole in it, and very efficiently dumped oil all over the brake and wheel on the left front corner. Probably for the best that it went on the hot brake rather than over the track, so we noticed it after just two laps. A fresh used oil container and off I went again.

[crying emoji]

That didn't take long. I managed six laps and was able to press pretty hard, the car was feeling competitive and I had the brake bias in a much better place. Then very suddenly, again right before pit in, the left front wheel started vibrating badly, like I had loose wheel lugs. I came in immediately.

At first we thought it was just loose, but then we tightened the lugs and the entire wheel still had a ton of play. Oops. 

Now, you might think that one of us would have brought a floor jack with us. No. None of us brought a jack or stands. I texted my partner and she put one in the car. She was coming out at lunch, so by about 1 pm we had a jack and could actually figure out the extent of the damage. 

The bearing was completely frozen.

What's more, the CV joint next to the hub was also destroyed. For some reason it had new boots but no grease in it? Like they had put in a new axle but not packed it with grease. 

Finding a new axle was easier than finding a hub. It seemed we wouldn't be able to run at all on Saturday or Sunday. Tech was from 4:30 to 7:30 pm and we had no way of getting the car over to tech. I sat under the tent and pondered. Justin and Ian took the hub back to the shop to press in the spare bearings we had. By 6pm or so it was clear that the hub was no longer serviceable. There was so much wear that the bearing was no longer a press fit. We would have to try and tech the car without a hub. 

I went over to tech and waited. When the last car was being inspected I went over and basically said "We had a hub failure and can't make it to tech, what can I do to help get us through tech?" "Well, are you willing to tech it yourself and then one of us can come over and sign off on it?" I mean, sure! So we were handed a clipboard and next thing we know we're teching our own car.

After we go over everything, one of the organizers comes over and gives the car a good look. Safety systems are the main focus, and we have definitely put in the effort and money there. The rest of the car? Well, that's not something tech cares about lol.

So. I got the goods! But we still don't have a hub. 

Jay finds an 81 cabriolet in a pick and pull in Tumwater. We don't know if it has anything left on it, but it's time to get some sleep and regroup in the morning.