Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 15:36:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject: RE:Vanagon Bake-Off~Nevada Race
>It sounds like William Kennedy, Steve Maher, and Tom Forhan need to check
>out today's Wall Street Journal. There is a short article regarding a race
>in Nevada where the average speed for the 1995 winning entry over the 90
>mile course was something like 182 mph with a top speed of 205 mph in a
>modified 1992 Corvette! The article mentioned that the average speed
topped
>this year's Indy winners average speed. Call me calloused from being over
>gullible as a youngster but I find it hard to believe.
Is there anybody on this list besides the three mentioned above, who
hold to the (admittedly unpopular) notion that giving a VW van more power
than it originally came with, DOES NOT make it a race car?
It simply makes it a "car", guys... able to do pretty much what other
ordinary cars do.
Well, I always knew this was a wild and crazy list. Finally we have come
full circle. Now the stock 4-cyl people keep bringing up the idea of
racing buses, and the 6-cyl guys are trying to cool *them* off! What a
country... :^)
>My Vanagon can only dream of half that speed.
So can mine, as long as I'm the one driving it. Older buses weren't made
for 100+ mph-- haven't got the suspension, brakes, tires, etc. to handle
it. A 30% larger engine doesn't change that... makes the bus more tailheavy
if anything, which certainly doesn't help the high-speed handling.
>I am proud when the singlecab simply makes it over
>a 90 mile course of any kind.
Gotcha there, Rusty... mine makes it over such courses with aplomb.
Of course, it occasionally finishes without a clutch... =:-O
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Steve Maher smaher@gi.com '80 V6anagon w/Chevy 2800
'66 Mustang Coupevertible
Check out the cars at http://www.wp.com/IrishMafia
*** There are plenty of jobs around!
Hell, I have three of them! ***
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