Tag Archives: Volkswagen

Beginners Luck – Cross Trophy Car Trial

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Yesterday marked my return to competitive driving, after a 21 year gap, as a rookie in the discipline of Production Car Trials, a low cost discipline that was just as unlikely as my first attempt at competition in a series for Citroen 2 CV’s and in a vehicle with an equally unlikely competition history.

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The Cross Trophy Car Trial was held in a field belonging to fellow competitor Duncan seen here at the wheel of his magnificent 1921 GN with his daughter just visible in the passenger seat.

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A car trial is an event in which competitors are required to drive up a variety of ‘off road courses’ of varying difficulty, none of which on this event was more than a hundred yards long several of which were considerably shorter. The courses were marked out by Clerk of the Course Mal.

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The aim of the competition is to see who can get the furthest up each hill with points being awarded on the number of markers cleared by the front wheels. Here the Westfield Ford of Malcom & Ann from Kidderminster can be seen scoring a perfect zero having cleared the last marker of a hill. The competitor with the lowest number of points wins his or her class.

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I was running in the production front wheel drive class for vehicles which included this Citroen AX.

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The 3 other classes included Front engine open sports cars, like this Scimitar SS1 1600 crewed by Dave and Chris from Yeovil who were running this car in for the much longer Lands End Trial next week,

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front engine rear wheel drive saloon cars like this Ford Escort RS 1600 being driven by Nigel and his daughter Alice seen at the wheel here celebrating her 16th birthday,

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and finally rear engine rear wheel drive cars like this Joyner being driven by fellow rookies to the discipline Ian & Tanya.

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I had been unable to find a passenger for this event but fortunately 12 year old Laura seen here stepped in on the day and bravely sat alongside me in the 20 year old VW Passat as I struggled to find traction with clearly the largest car in the competition.

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During scruitineering the battery and ballast security was checked, Malcom & Ann were carrying 280 lbs / 127 kgs of steel over the rear wheels of their Westfield, I had no ballast in the Passat. Tyre pressures for which a minimum permissible 14 psi was highly recommended were also checked during scruitineering.

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Laura found my Passat considerably more comfortable than her Dad Andy’s Marlin in which she was also a passenger and by the end of the day Andy, Laura and I had all swapped passenger roles, going up a slope in a light rear wheel drive vehicle seemed considerably easier than a heavy front wheel drive car like the Passat.

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After a total of four attempts on each of the five hills the Bristol Pegasus MC’s secretary Tim Murray, seen in the background here, added up the scores of all competitors and unbelievably yours truly was announced as winner of the front engine front wheel drive class, call it beginners luck or the versatility of the large and in charge Passat, I was thrilled to bits.

My thanks to Duncan, Laura, Andy, Mal, Tim, to my fellow competitors and everyone from the Bristol Pegasus MC who made this a memorable day out.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s, Car Trial edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now!

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Hotel California – VW California

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Continuing the California theme started yesterday today we are looking at a VW California.

Production of the Volkswagen T5 Transporter began in 2003, this one is fitted with a 170 hp turbo diesel engine.

In 2001 Mercedes Benz bought out VW’s preferred camper van outfitter Westfalia leading VW to decide to design it’s own camper around the popular Transporter platform. VW call their camper the ‘California’ a name that was first used by Westfalia in connection with a VW camper in 1988.

launched in 2005 the California comes with an electro-hydraulic operated elevating roof, space for two beds, kitchen sink two burner gas hob, fridge and two kitchen cupboards with integrated drawers. Among a long list of options is the VW 4 motion all wheel drive system.

With Ford knocking on Ferrari’s lawyers doors with respect to the use of the F 150 name I wonder if Ferrari will ever be knocking on the VW’s lawyers doors with respect to the California name ?

Unfortunately thanks to a US ‘chicken tax’ on imported light trucks, which the already expensive T5 is classed as, you are not ever likely to see a VW California in the State from which it takes it’s name, the California is so expensive, £40,000 / $64,000 that only around 300 a year are thought to be imported into the UK.

Fancy seeing why the VW T5 is so highly rated in the UK ? Check out these two advert free clips of the T5 going head to head with the A Team van and over a timed run against the a much more powerful 204 hp Brabus (!) Mercedes Vito Sport X.

Hope you have enjoyed a couple of days in the California Sunshine wishing all readers of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ a relaxing weekend, don’t forget to come back now !

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Comfortable presence or large and in charge – Bentley Azure

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This was the first time I saw and indeed heard of a Bentley Azure, though all I heard when I first became acquainted with this one was a faint whisper of a seemingly far off air conditioning unit, I was surprised when I turned around and found this gargantuan vehicle pulling up right next to me.

Since 1998 Volkswagen have been the owners of the Bentley marque having purchased it from Vickers and in the process separated Bentley from, former owner since 1931, Rolls Royce which was sold to the Bavarian Motor Works.

This second generation (2006 – 2009) Azure is powered by a 450 hp 6,750 cc / 411 cui, twin turbo V8, with origins that can be traced to the V8’s used in the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II, Phantom V and Bentley S2 of 1959. The power is transmitted to the rear wheels with the aid of a 6 speed automatic gearbox made for this model only.

Handling of this 2,801 kg / 6,175 lb vehicle is said to be free of pitch and roll.

The engine is capable of propelling the Azure up to 60 mph from rest in just 5.6 seconds, and on to 168 mph. Unsurprisingly the Azures fuel consumption is amongst the worst on record at between 9 – 15 miles per US gallon, if you need to ask these figures I guess you do not own the requisite oil field or two to keep the Bentley Azure in motion anyway.

This vehicle is longer wider and obviously taller than an Audi R10 TDI Le Mans race car in fact it is larger than several mini buses with an overall length of 5.342 m / 210 inches, a width of 2.057 m / 81 inches, and wheelbase of 3.061 m / 120 inches. More than comfortable for four adults and their luggage to waft down to the South of France for a weekend on the beach.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s XXXL edition of Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me for a look at a slightly more modest black model built in the foot hills of the Zhiguli Height mountains in Toliatti tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Type 3 – Volkswagen Variant

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Hard to believe that between 1938 and 1961 there were essentially only three VW models the Type 1 ‘Beetle’ that became the most popular car of it’s time, the Type 2 VW Bus / Van / Pickup and this fabulous Type 3 Volkswagen 1500 / 1600 joined in 1962 by an estate / station wagon known as the Variant / Square back.

My Uncle had a petrol blue one of these Variants that he used as a milk float in Germany, until he got a VW Bus. I remember him coming home from his milk round at lunch time with the roof rack full crates with empty bottles rattling merrily away as he eased down the severely rutted track back to the small holding farm where he lived.

The Type 3 vehicles were essentially bigger version of the Type 1 with exactly the same engineering principles, torsion bar suspension front and rear air cooled engine in the back. between 1961 and 1973 2,542,382 Type 3’s were built mostly in Wolfsburg with some produced in Emden and Sao Bernado do Campo, Brazil.

At the end of 1967 the Type 3 was fitted with electronic fuel injection as standard equipment to become the first German production vehicle so equipped . This ’72 / ’73 model if it is still on its original licence plates was first registered in Greater London.

Hope you have enjoyed this orange edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, tomorrow I’ll be upping the tempo to conclude my foray into vehicles with engines in the back, hope you’ll join me, don’t forget to come back now.

26/07/11 Post Script, My thanks to Ben the owner of Kubrik seen in these photo’s who has kindly e-mailed me to say that he rescued Kubrik from ‘rotting away in the big smoke (London)’ and that Kubrik is his daily driver with over 200,000 miles on the clock.

You can find out more about Kubrik from this 375 post thread on the Old Volks Club website.

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