RE: Beetle Beats Porsche
Monday 26th November 2007
Beetle Beats Porsche
1965 Bug shows Porsche 997 how it's done
It just goes to show you can make anything fast if you put the right engine in it.
A 1965 Beetle has embarrassed a Porsche 997 Carerra S by taking it on the drag strip at Santa Pod.
The driver of the battered looking gold Bug told the Porsche driver to race him, a challenge he gladly took up.
But the turbocharged Beetle flew down the strip in 11.04 seconds with a terminal speed of 129.77 MPH against the Porsche’s E.T. of 13.18 seconds and terminal speed of 113.03 MPH.
Martin Greaves, driver and owner of the Beetle, said of his win: ‘I am delighted. After achieving the 10.88 seconds in the morning, I told the owner of the Porsche that he should race me. I said I thought it would be close, but that he was going to win because my car’s only a Beetle.’
The Bug has a 2276cc engine with a 650cfm Holley and Turbo Dynamics reconditioned draw through turbo set up.
Turbo Dynamics rebuilt, specially modified and fully blueprinted the car's T04B turbo.
See the vid here
Discussion
ronaldmacdonald said:
In all honesty it doesn't look like the Porsche was even trying. I mean, I have seen Granny's take off faster than that from Tesco's carpark. Still that bug sure does sound mean.
I dunno, 13.xx for the quarter mile in a 997 sounds about right, assuming that the Porsche driver wasn't an experienced racer.stephen300o said:
Dragster beats road car in drag race, and?
Lets see the result when they headed south a few miles from Pod to turn a few laps of Silverstone.
Anyone who has ever ventured to Bug Jam (annual lads weekend for us) will know there are some serious fast aircooled kit around, making this a complete non-story at the end of the day.
Agree with the others, no big surprises but could have been a bit of a shocker for some of the unknowing spectators.
Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
alolympic said:
Agree with the others, no big surprises but could have been a bit of a shocker for some of the unknowing spectators.
Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
Blimey, that is some knobend who can't tell the difference between a Smart and a Diablo.Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
That does look fast though.
alolympic said:
Agree with the others, no big surprises but could have been a bit of a shocker for some of the unknowing spectators.
Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
its not a TRUE david beaths goliath ... its david with an uzi beating goliath. I enjoyed the video until i saw they've named the smart car "DIABLO"Another drag race that I think is a true David beats Goliath is a Smart car hiding a Hayabusa engine beating a 430 Ferrari up the drag strip. That would have caused a few jaws to drop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrCQq6OfAc
The bug is street legal, saw it at Sandown Park at the National Volksworld show, impressive bit of kit... not bad round the track either, saw it at Lydden Race Circuit a while ago if im not mistaken, was battering most things on the track so would be an interesting match up against the Porsche!
regroo said:
Beetle beats Porsche and Porsche owners can't see the funny side of it.
Love it.
That's got nothing to do with it. It's not like Porsche owners think their cars are the fastest thing down a strip anyway. It's the fact that it isn't really a groundbreaking story. Stuff like this happens all the time. I've seen a Beetle with a jet engine stuffed in it, but I wouldn't submit a story to PH about it beating a standard road car down a drag strip.Love it.
What I would love to see in this sort of scenario, is for cocky beetleman in his turbocharged crapheap to actually get blown away by a normal looking 997 with heavily modified turbo running gear. Now that would be funny as it would be a sort of double twist on how these things usually turn out.
I seem to remember a jet-powered stock-bodied (well, on the exterior) Beetle doing exhibition runs at dragstrips in the States back in the Sixties. Which I could find the details on it, but if memory serves, what was learned from that was that take-off velocity for the Beetle in about 150 mph. Thanks to a rather stout roll cage...and the Beetle's ability to roll...the driver walked away with only a severe case of the dizzies.
Emerson Fittipaldi, on the other hand, built a VW Beetle for roadracing before leaving FV in Brazil for F1 in Europe. The front half of the Beetle was mostly stock while the rear half was a tube frame with the requisite plastic Beetle body over it. The windshield was shorter than usual to form a scoop/duct over top of the cabin.
That cooling air led to two modified VW Beetle engines joined (don't ask this old memory for details) to form one flat eight cylinder engine.
The story is that at an endurance race in Brazil against rather formidable competition it ran in the top five until the engine disintegrated. Musta been fun while it lasted, and musta sucked to see a Volkswagen Beetle ahead of your high-zoot racer.
Emerson Fittipaldi, on the other hand, built a VW Beetle for roadracing before leaving FV in Brazil for F1 in Europe. The front half of the Beetle was mostly stock while the rear half was a tube frame with the requisite plastic Beetle body over it. The windshield was shorter than usual to form a scoop/duct over top of the cabin.
That cooling air led to two modified VW Beetle engines joined (don't ask this old memory for details) to form one flat eight cylinder engine.
The story is that at an endurance race in Brazil against rather formidable competition it ran in the top five until the engine disintegrated. Musta been fun while it lasted, and musta sucked to see a Volkswagen Beetle ahead of your high-zoot racer.
Road_Terrorist said:
What I would love to see in this sort of scenario, is for cocky beetleman in his turbocharged crapheap to actually get blown away by a normal looking 997 with heavily modified turbo running gear. Now that would be funny as it would be a sort of double twist on how these things usually turn out.
Congratulations, that is the funniest post that I have seen in ages!Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff