Dub Nutta's Mk1 Track Car Just sorting througth my Photobusket account and thoutght I should start a thread.. I bourght the car as a 1.3 Driver back in 2000/2001?? when I was about 14. After attending a VW/Audi track day at Castle Combe and following influenced heavily by Mad20v's Mk1 I decided to prepare it as a track car. Origionally I was keen on keeping the 1.3 engine so I could insure it as my first car but after a few laps of Combe with Andrew J (jamsea2 on here) in his 1800 Mk1 Track Car I decided to convert the car to GTI spec. A lucky find in the form of a rusted out Campaign in somebody's back garden with a 4k old TSR Donnington engine, 270mm brakes and Koni suspension was the basis for the conversion into a fast road/track car in which I started track days. Then after 2 years of track days watching Graham and Joe dissappear into the distance with the roar of 8k+ and a set of throttle boddies became too much! I found a 9A in a local breakers and decided to take the car off the road for the winter to fit a cage, coilovers and cut slicks along with the 9A and a Quaife. Here is where it all went wrong..... The idea of a bolt in 6 point cage quickly became a full weld in together with full seam welding of the car and a complete inside and out respray. Got a bit of a busy few weeks... was meant to be revising for my A-Levels at the same time as getting the Mk2 ready for an imminant ring trip! The 9A was sold at a healthy proffit and I planned to built a 200bhp 8v after aquiring some trick ex Slick 50 parts. Following an ABF conversion to my dads Mk2 16v I decided to use the now redundent KR, I aquired some bike throttle bodies and some forged pistons cheeply and began sourcing the other parts for the build as funding allowed. The bare engine was built my Mike at RattRacing who carried out all the required machineing and preperation, the head was supplied by the man in the shed but later had to be rebuilt with uprated valve springs and modified retainers as Mike discovered the OE valve springs were going coil bound. Once Fitted into the car I returned the vehicle to Mike where he got it running on Omex management (He is a dealer and specialises in this system) with a full day on the rolling road producing a healthy 198bhp and 145lb/ft of torque far in excess of our expectations of aproximatly 165bhp on his no bull**** RR. The car was rebuilt with a 4.2FD 020 gearbox and Quaife together with Weitec coilovers and some OZ Superleggra wheels, all chassis parts were either brand new or were completly overhauled and powdercoated, Origionally planning to use 280mm G60 brakes with some custom brackets a Bremsport 295mm kit became avaliable from mickey marrows which I couldn't resist... unfortunatly the OZ wheels wouldn't fit and so I sourced some 15" Compomotive MO's and R888's to complete the build. Following 2 airfield sprint events and a few improvements to the engine (larger breather and cooler thermostat) the engine map was tweeked and now produces around 205bhp. I did a trackday at Combe in June where the car was going very well but lap times were prity average in the 1.23's. The brakes didnt have the pedal feel and responsivemess I expected and it was very a bit of a handfull trying to get the power down out of the corners since one of the dampers had blown all it's oil out and the weitec setup was extremly poor. I have since built some replacement dampers, fitted my custom made adjustable wishbones and reduced un-spring mass by around 5kg/corner by fitting some ATS DTC wheels and couldn't resist the oppotunity of some 6 pot calipers at a bargian price. The car was thrown together for the tracktour date at Donny in November where it immedietly the feel of the car was transformed even in the very wet conditions. I am currently rebuilding the dampers with some progressive front springs and slightly adjusted strokes to lower the ride height by 20mm and having some 300mm discs and bells made as I have since sold the Bremsport ones I was using at Donny. The car should be back together by early March ready for a number of dates in the Uk this summer as and when student loan funding allows. Over the summer I'm planning to improve my driving with the addition of a lap timer and to experiment with suspension setup and geometry. I'm hoping to fit some rear motorcycle discs and brembo twin pot calipers I have waiting together with triangulating the rear beam and shimming the stub axles to adjust and experiment with the rear geometry and possibly some pannel aero/lightening work when time allows.
Wow, an epic introduction. Build looks fabulous, keep the pics (old & new) coming! Shame your brakes didn't fit under the Superleggeras, they surprised me with how much they suit a clean Mk1.
Oh It's your fault then! lol Think that was my first time out on track, must have been a few years ago now... October 01/02? Malcolm still had his blue 8 valve back then.
Yep, blame me ... only did the October VW days twice .. 00 / 01 or as you say 01 / 02 ? Great work ...
Love this car! What spec did you rebuild your dampers to? Any pics of the adjustable wishbones?! Sean
Always liked this car and is nice to see some build photos at last! Any more pics of the car on the DTC's and where are the new brakes from?
I will try and get some more pics of the car once the new discs and dampers are back on it (and the snow stops long enougth to get it out of the garage!) The calipers are a custom design from a local Engineer/CNC machinest I know througth work. They are exactly the same as the Tuthills Porsche calipers but branded as Carbon12. Dampers are complete 1 off's with the front using Weitec bodies, Subaru WRC spindles and pistons and Group N compression adjusters and reservoirs. Rears are a single way adjustable Group N unit with motorcycle derived rose jointed top mounting. Both are custom valved based on a setting used on a FWD Nurburgring VLN, I expect to re-valve them a few times over the year to get them exactly how I want them.
Always adored this car Ray since you started it back when. Ray also astounded me repeatedly with his wide knowledge, even at such a young age. Many of my early questions were answered by Ray. It looks fantastic now, a definite credit to all the hard work over the years!
Ray, your car looks great but for those wh o have not seen it in the flesh, it looks even more amazing in real life!! Gurds