Beetle Challenge

The Official Beetle Challenge Website

Since the publication of the news article in Volksworld Magazine, we have been indundated with enquiries and offers of support (Please keep them coming.. if you can help out in anyway.. or would like to have a chat about how you could get involved do contact us via email)

We have now got 2 new drivers registered today! and they will be pulling the stops out to join us as early as possible in the season.. so the grid is now getting even bigger!

POP QUIZ:

Is this:
a) Craig transporting his refreshed engine to fit into his race car
b) Someone got the alternate engine concept of a scooby motor in the back of a bug a little wrong?
c) Someone needs some help interpreting the rules!
(If so just contact us and we can help accelerate things)

The race dates are officially confirmed now.. The first race will be at Lydden on 28-29th June (Unfortunately the provisional date for Rockingham at the beginning of June is not going to happen.. but hey that’s an extra few weeks to fine tune, prep and shake down the cars… phew!)

This weekend I have been inundated by calls and interest (both from prospect racers to join us later in the season and in ‘09, but also some sponsors, which is welcome news!)  as a direct result of the news article about the Beetle Challenge in Volksworld Magazine (Thanks for your support guys!)

My race car is coming on nicely… and I hope to have it running and MOT’d in the next week or so. Then I can put some further mileage and testing under it before the first race. A recent trip to the States has obtained the remaining missing links from my engine/drive train and this is being built up at them moment :-)  <Also I did some sums yesterday and I looks like my turn-key 2ltr engine will set me back only around £1k ! awesome.. >.. Myself and Scott are 100% new to circuit racing, so are having to buy/acquire everything form scratch… and we seam to be doing pretty darn well keeping the costs to a minimum so we can get out there and have some fun mixing it up racing!.. obviously we are 100% focused on making it to the first race at present, but will share all our knowledge and experiences on here, hopefully to make it even easier for other people to get involved.

Watch this space as more info will be posted in the week leading up to the first race at Lydden…

Our debut season is just a few months from starting… and the momentum is building. It’s great to hear from all you prospect racers and team hands - its remarkable that so many people are upping the ante and starting on the quest to come beetle racing.

So what have you got lurking in your driveway or garage?
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Have you spotted that elusive barn-find race car which could fast track your motorsport ambitions?
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Do you need help getting a car race-prepped?
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Contact us.. We will help you in anyway we can… and we will share all of our development knowledge/experiences to help you on your way (We will be publishing what works, what doesn’t and what ideas we have to improve the cars performance,handling and reliability at the circuits.) We want to have fun and the more people we can help onto the grid.. the more fun we will have…

This first season is more about getting out there on the grid and having fun, whilst establishing the foundations for an even bigger better series in ‘09… We will welcome anybody to get involved at any stage/date in the ‘08 Season (We have managed to secure the June - November Race calendar for not much more dough that a set of track days!… but we get a lot more… including a qualifier, and two full races! - this has to be some of the cheapest most accessible racing in the country!)
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..right back to the workshop for me…

It’s been interesting hearing some of your feedback and input (keep it coming so we can keep the site and series fresh with the content you want)

We have updated and refreshed some of the Polls. (In the bottom right panel on every page)
The results have been interesting, we have added a bunch more that appear randomly as you click around the site

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The real aim of this the debut year for the beetle challenge series, is to dust off and prepare some new/revived race cars, and hit the track.

The unlimited type 1 engine is not about megabucks teams, far from it - but more of a ‘dig out what you have in the garage and lets go racing‘ - So far all of the registered Drivers are pure enthusiasts, not a lottery winner amongst us from my knowledge, and we have begged, borrowed and creatively acquired the sh1t needed to get on to the grid and have a blast!

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There is going to be a real mixture of motors out there, and we just don’t know what will be competitive.

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Johnnys 1835cc has proven to be a really successful package recently -

BUT

a key factor for this season undoubtedly is the control tyre - yeah it’s a sticky Toyo -

BUT

it’s only a 185 15 - so if some rolls out on a 2165cc will they be able to get the power down!

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I have spoken to several ex-beetle cup racers and there is a unanimous ‘Who knows!‘

Back in the day of the Beetle Cup Series, over a decade ago, all the cars were the same year, model and had the control 1641cc engine… yet there was still 5 to 8+ seconds a lap between the front runners and the back markers…

Craig (The founding father of the Beetle Challenge) held the class Lap record at Brands.. yet even he as stories of “How on earth did the other competitors motor past me on the corners at Mallory?”

.. it was down to the setup of the car…

..now factor in the loose regulations of the Beetle Challenge

Will a lighter Oval Beetle running a 2007cc make it round the a twisty short circuit quicker
than a heavier 1303 with a smaller 1776cc engine.. which has the benefit of IRS suspension & Struts ? ….

Then factor in that there is no previous setup knowledge of tracks such as Rockingham…
..Combe has changed since the last beetle ever raced in anger, with 2 new chicanes..
..so even though there will be a real mixture of cars and setups..
..the playing field is set to remarkably level !!! (in a screwed up logic kinda way!)

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The bottom line is that the Beetle Challenge is pretty much an open invite to come and have fun racing… and in reality it is at a cost which is closer to a bunch of trackdays.. only we have a qualifier, two races and all the support of a Race Day at a circuit!!!…

…BRING IT ON!

Once we have some races under our belts, we can then review a handicap system (ballast / time my personal favorite is a reverse grid so the spectators get some hilarious action to watch! )

What do you think will happen? Let us know - Click Here

We have got the ‘Alpha‘ version of the beetlechallenge.com website up and running (This is very much the beginning), and would like your feedback, support and input to help tailor it for the potentially diverse audiences out there (Motorsport enthusiasts, Potential Drivers, the beetlechallenge drivers, VW fans etc.. etc.. !) So let us know what you would be interested in knowing more about.. and we will publish the content you want to know more about, rather than just the stuff we think you may be interested in!

(There are a LOT of behind the scenes developments going on towards building strong, competitive, reliable cars, which handle (a big ask!) stop on a dime, and engines that can go the distance during Qualifying and two races at every circuit! - All by enthusiasts, with feck all budget, but oddles of enthusiasm to go out there and have a blast! It’s going to be interesting for the first few races as nobody knows quite what will happen!

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So some of the questions we want to ask you are:

What do you want to see on the site?
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How can you get involved?
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Do you want to spanner on a car at the circuits (or prep)?
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Can you help us in any way big or small?
(Sponsorship, Promotion/Press, Website content, etc.. )
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Fancy bringing a camper to cook copious amounts of bacon butties
(OK that one is my wishful thinking!)

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Please do email us using the contact us form

Bare with us at the moment as we are updating the website, and testing out content systems, and trying to squeeze it in during the midnight hours when you can’t use grinding disks without waking up the neighbours!

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Things and features we have/are adding:

• PHOTOS - Direct feeds from a Flick.com photo gallery, so we will be uploading photos on the fly at the races, and can submit them directly via mobile phone! (If you are coming to a race, let us know and we will give you details on how you can publish your trackside/event photos really easily!)
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• VIDEOS - Direct Feed from a YouTube specific BeetleChallenge channel. (We’ll be uploading race day, and in car footage) and again we invite everybody out there to contribute their footage (we’ll give you upload info)
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• The ‘F*ck iT Files‘ - A diary of disasters….. Let’s face it shitake happens, but if we publish what went wrong we can all learn from it… or just point and laugh!
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• DRIVER PROFILES & RACE STANDINGS - Needless to say all of this seasons competitors are groveling around the garage floor during these final few weeks of prep.. and submitting their profile / history and car specs, is well down on their list of priorities! (I for one don’t even know quite what engine I’ll be running yet!) - But we will get them up there!
  Also the standings will be updated from the MSA Transponder data from the races - so they will be accurate! (Not like the spoof standings we have on there at the moment whilst we are doing some pre-season testing! and it might be the only chance I have of topping the leader board!)
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• Pitlane Babes - (We need some!)
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• POLLS - We have started our first poll - you can see it in the bottom right hand side of the website in the box titled ‘Your Shout’

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If you have any ideas, feedback, suggestions please do shout on the below contact form
Email us here

Cheers

Below are the dates of the races where the Beetle Challenge cars will be racing in anger!For this debut year we will be running in our own ‘Beetle’ class within the TinTops race series.
(Thanks to the BARC for inviting us to race with them)
The TinTops is an open championship running on the same control tyres as us.
(Should make for some interesting racing, seeing Beetles mixing it up with other ‘modern’ manufacturers!)

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There are lots of other races during the days so it’ll make a fun day / weekend event.

29/06/2008
DMN Round 4, Sports/Saloons, TinTops, Tigers, MG Metros & BMW’s Lydden

19-20/07/2008
DMN Round 5 & TinTops Castle Combe

06/09/2008
DMN Round 7, Sports/Saloons, & TinTops Lydden

04/10/2008
Sprint, DMN Round 8, Sports/Saloons, & TinTops Lydden

08-09/11/2008
Sports/Saloons, TinTops & Tigers Brands Hatch

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Please do come along to support us, we’ll publish more info nearer the time as some of the racers will be camping over for the weekend (The nocturnal activities and parties at Lydden have be the thing of legends in the past - I have attended some insane rally cross events there in the past!)

Let us know if you want to help out in any way.. it might give you the excitement / motivation to get more involved !

Also the drivers normally get several passes, so we would probably have some spare, so let us know if you want to go into the hat, and we will pull them out and let you know! (email us)

Meetings will be 1 qualifying session with double header races, expected entry fees will be £190.00 for Rockingham and £150.00 for Lydden.

Once registered the discounted tyres are available from Dartford Tyres 34 Watling Street, Bexleyheath, Kent, Tel: 01322 525668.
Required tyres Toyo R888 195-55-15 (For registration with the Tin Tops the tires are 1B listed)

<There may also be an alternative tyre supplier so we will keep you posted!>

Due to the change of direction forced upon us by Silverstone race school not releasing race dates for Stowe this year I have now been able to arrange an alternative set of race dates in a completely different series.

Racing will now take place as follows…….

We will now be racing with a different club the BARC South East Region in there Tin Top racing series. They are amending there championship and adding a “Beetle” class for us, we will be entitled to obtain the required Toyo tires through them at a discounted price and there title sponsor has agreed to extend awards to us.

To get involved………..

1. Car’s need to be prepared to the Beetle Challenge specification for our class found here http://www.beetlechallenge.com

2. You need to join the BARC South East centre. The procedure is as follows, join the BARC as an ordinary member (not racing) but add South East Centre. The total cost is £48.00 which needs to be sent to BARC at Thruxton Circuit, Andover, Hants. SP11 8PN
http://www.barc.net/membership/membership_form.php.

3. You then need to register for the Tin Tops series. When complete send to Graham Bahr
(together with a cheque for £15 made out to BARC south east). The form doesn’t need to be filled out completely just as much as possible. Race numbers will be allocated.
http://www.rodbirley.com/Registration_form_2008.doc

4. Please read the Tin Top regulations http://www.barc.net/regional_centres…ations2008.pdf

After speaking with those that wanted to originally get out and race it has been elected that we will join the series post Silverstone to give people a chance to finish the preparation of there cars this means our first Beetle eligible round will Rockingham
See here for calendar: http://www.barc.net/regional_centres…_east/news.php We have updated our the calendar on the right also:

If any one wants to start competing sooner I’m sure this will be possible but there is the chance you could be the only Beetle out!.

It’s Back! …For the first time in over a decade we are going to see Classic Aircooled Bug’s Circuit Racing.
(Racing from June to November 2008 at UK Circuits)

It’s Bigger! …With an unlimited engine capacity and minimal restrictions it’s as accessible as possible to all.
(If you have a bug and any size type 1 motor in the garage, which meets the basic requirements, you can join in!)

It’s Bug Racing! …In its raw, grass roots, low budget racing form!
(A fun circuit race series open to all to get involved and enjoy)

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