Big motor, lightweight chassis - A time honoured tradition with a real history

Carol Shelby did it with the Shelby Cobra... he forced a large American V8 into a lightweight, tiny, British shell. This is the basis of the American muscle car phenomenon of "hot rodding".

The Make Haste Racing Scirocco has a LITTLE more marque loyalty and is doing it with all German components! We would liken it more towards that of the Auto Union 1937 Type-C car.

"Auto Union developed a revolutionary new Grand Prix car, under the direction of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, with 12- and 16-cylinder engines installed behind the driver, with independent suspension and aerodynamic bodies. These cars dominated car racing and set a host of world records during the late thirties."

Wheel spin was an issue at 200 km/h... and very few drivers were brave enough to get into this lightweight "motor-holder"

The parallels are clear with the Scirocco and it's Porsche / Audi / VW engine and the lightest shell we could find that had a reasonable centre of gravity.

Many developments underway and many parts being shipped around the globe to develop the most potent FWD car ever campaigned. Will wheel spin be an issue? YES. Will it require very special work re: tire diameters, gearing, differentials, and suspension tuning? YES. Are we excited and looking forward to it? OH YEAH!

More details to come!











Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel of the 1938 Auto Union Hill Climber, with double wheels to aid traction (we'll be doing something similar... but on the other axle!)

2008 Season Car Changes

The biggest change for 2008 is the inclusion of a much larger and more powerful and technologically advanced and modern motor. It starts out as a 3.2L VR6 motor and will receive a full race-prep treatment to capitalize on the inherent strengths of this fantastic powerplant.

If you are unfamiliar with the VR6 design of motors, here is a link with some explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR6_engine

It is essentially a very narrow V6 engine, with one common cyl. head and 2 cams total. A very efficient design and compact packaging accomplishment.

This allows us to squeeze a lot of torque out of the motor, without the weight penalty of a V8 or even a typical V6 or the complexities of forced induction. It will also fit in the engine bay quite well and have fantastic throttle response, not to mention a sound that is pure symphonic harmony.

Here is a picture of a 3.2L VR6 engine in a European R32 Golf (AWD car not available in Canada) This is the same powerplant that will be going into the lightweight Make Haste Racing 1975 VW Scirocco race car.

This fantastic motor is currently available in the following street cars that you can purchase today:

• VW EOS (US and Europe)
  
• VW R32 (US and Europe)
• VW Toureg (3.6L variant)
• VW Passat (3.6L variant)
  
• Audi A3
• Audi A4
• Audi A6
• Audi TT
• Porsche Cayanne (3.6L variant)
  

The new engine and transmission combination is approx. 80 lbs heavier than the previously high-strung 4-cyl 2.0L 16v motor. As a result we have gone hunting for areas to lose weight and believe that the final competition weight will be 1750 lbs, WITH DRIVER! This is going to be a good 70 lbs lighter than it's 2007 competition weight. Truly a remarkable feat when you factor in the weight gain of the motor / transmission.

At less than 1600 lbs and with this awesome motor, the power:weight ratio of the car is out of this world and unlike anything most have ever felt.

The race tires that we are going to use in 2008 are going to be different as well (taller and wider) to help us put down the massive torque from this new motor and yet we need to be able to model and account for an increase in the front centre of gravity, as well as the car's front : rear roll couple.

The suspension setup is being dramatically overhauled with some new / magic pieces and will feature different geometry, different spring rates and different alignment settings to be able to take advantage of the new motor.

So as you can see, we are making the car lighter, with MUCH more torque, with wider tires and improving the suspension. In short, it is going to be a completely different car, much faster, and is sure to turn heads with both it's incredible sound and it's performance on the track.

A new year, new team addition and a new approach to total dominance

This is the Make Haste Racing VW Scirocco essentially in the trim that it finished the 2007 season in. It was definitely the fastest it has ever been. The 2008 season brings a lot of change to the Make Haste Racing program to enable it to reach a higher level of performance.

2008 sees the addition of multi-time Canadian National Champion auto-x'er and Ice Racing champion Jeff Watson onto the VW effort.

Jeff has extensive experience and knowledge in setting up cars for improved performance and has worked on cars such as his own National Championship winning Supercharged Mazda Miata, his AWD, Turbo Mazda GTX Ice Racer and multi-time CASC GT1 championship winning Dodge Viper Competition Coupe - Darth Viper.