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.