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Day of the Volkswagen
INCLUDING Everything all you need to know for this weekend
Vintage bits- VW microfiche reader
Nov. 2014
Vol. 60 Iss. 07
WA G E N S V I L L E
T h e O f f i c i a l M a g a z i n e o f t h e Vo l k s w a g e n C l u b o f V i c t o r i a
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Calendar of Events Upcoming Event Details President’s Report Vice-President’s Report Warwick report Silent stalker- EGolf Police car Cavalcade across the Bolte! XL Sport Vintage Speed: Dyno face off Oval photo shoot report DOVW 2014 Updates DOVW poster Members mailbag Facetube- online fun UK part 2- Lupo Vintage Bits- Photos Membership Form
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Single Annual Full Membership $60.00 Single 3 Year Full Membership $160.00 Family Membership additional $20.00 per mem/per year Membership Joining Fee $10.00 First Year Only
To join the Club, please apply online at www. vwclub.com.au Alternately, you can complete the membership form inside this Newsletter and forward, together with cheque for payment to the Club’s postal address, as quoted on the form.
DISCLAIMER All material in this newsletter represents the opinions of the author(s) and does not carry any endorsement by the Editor or Committee unless otherwise stated. Any material advertised for sale does not carry any endorsement by the Club and the onus is on the purchaser to ensure the purchased goods meet their requirements. Each VWCV Committee Member is a volunteer, carrying out Club duties in their own leisure time. The Club has no paid officials, only enthusiasts dedicated in furthering the interests of the Club and it’s members.
Upcomi ngEventDet ai l s VWCV General Meeting- 20th Due to popular demand we are holding another general meeting at Dak Dak Cafe Ben is opening the door late on a Thursday just for us. Dakdak Café, 1 Bignell Rd Moorabbin. Meeting to start 8pm with meals available from 6pm-8pm. See the copy of the menu below to get your taste buds ready!
Club Christmas party - 7th of December Come on down to the man cave for a BBQ celebration to comemerate the year’s passing. Sit and relax with VW obsessed company, while munching down on the key to a VW driver’s diet, Kranskies. Rear factory, 13 Brougham St, Eltham
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Hi to all VW enthusiasts
President’s Report
Well, we are back from our UK holiday and have hit the ground running. With the bumper back to back events for this year's 60th anniversary Day of the Volkswagen only days away, we have not even been able to afford the luxury of jet lag! Communication while we were away was difficult as we could receive but not send emails from our iPad - even the bright young thing behind the Genius Bar at the Apple store on Regent Street couldn't solve the problem. We blame Telstra as it seems that the problem arises because we have our own domain name and they want to push their global data packages, which I did not even realise existed before we left. The last time we went away these packages didn't exist. So this made it hard when we wanted to send pictures and text, particularly about the Brighton Breeze event at Brighton which we attended. Thanks to 'facetube' we did manage to send some information home. You may have already read the article on the Brighton Breeze in the latest magazine, but part of our text was lost. We had made a comment about one of the funniest things we saw - on a French owned Barndoor Kombi there was a sticker which declared 'Jesus is my airbag'! Judging by the condition of the vehicle, we didn't think 'deploying' Jesus would be enough, and besides, where would you find a 6 volt Jesus? The show itself was quite an eye opener with mostly Kombis in all their guises, probably a similar number of vehicles as turn up to our Day of the Volkswagen. The venue was the foreshore of Brighton Beach, similar to the St Kilda Esplanade. This is obviously a place where many car shows are held, and it is also where the annual London to Brighton marathon ends. At the Breeze I made contact with a few suppliers, including VW Heritage UK, from whom we had purchased the stainless steel bumpers for the resto Beetle. The trading situation was fantastic with lots of traders from France and Germany and even one from Belgium. There were lots of NOS parts for sale. The trouble is, you have to cart them home! The prices looked great in pounds, but not so good when you double it to convert to dollars. (Diesel fuel in England equates to $2.66 per litre.) I managed to bring back a pair of T2 Kombi NOS door handles with keys. One trader had a two litre Kombi fuel pump at £200 ($400), not too bad if you want it badly enough as these pumps are made of 'unobtainium'. When we picked up the hire car, from an almost inaccessible spot near Tower Bridge in London (the joys of booking on the internet!), we were relieved to find it was an Audi A4 wagon, having been prepared for a screaming match over the #%+¥^ Renault or Volvo we were expecting to be offered. Being a manual diesel it was quite a pleasure to drive, but you can't drive down many English motorways or roads without coming across a gigantic roundabout every few miles. They don't believe in flyovers! We called this trip our iPad holiday which gave us the freedom of staying or moving on as we pleased, and we usually booked our accommodation only the night before on hotels.com, which was great, as you could choose a hotel just outside the town you wanted to visit, as long as it had free parking and wi-fi. This worked very well with accommodation varying from business hotels to quaint ones. I would highly recommend this type of booking as it gives you immense freedom. Now that we are back, we are headlong into Day of the Volkswagen preparation, most of the planning for which was done prior to departure. Please do come along - we are looking forward to seeing you all and let's make this Day of the Volkswagen the biggest and best ever. You may notice that our prices have been trimmed, especially the swap sites , and vehicle entry has been streamlined. A big thanks to the crew and volunteers who will make our special two day, 60th anniversary event happen. With regards to Saturday's Cavalcades, do come along, even as a spectator - it will be an historic event. Also, do put the Christmas party into your diaries - Sunday 7 December at the Man Cave - see the website for details. You don't have to be a member to attend, just an enthusiast. This is always a fun day. Hope to see you at the 60th birthday cavalcade and the Day of the Volkswagen! It should be a fantastic weekend. Yours in Volkswagen Lloyd Davies Wagensville 6
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Warwick Drag Report! Every year VW Magazine Australia runs a 2 event drag racing series. The first round is held in Sydney with round two being held in Warwick Queensland. Every year a small group of Volkswagen Club of Victoria (VWCV) members make the effort to compete in the series, they are known as the ‘Loco Gringos’. This year I was lucky enough to join VWCV life member and one of the Loco Gringos founding members Michael Clark at the Warwick event. Michael and I met with our fellow Loco Gringos at the Wallan service station on the Hume Freeway. This year the Team consisted of Andrew Ermel in the Grey Ghost with his crew of Michael Cronin and Tony Albers, Steve Craven in Beetlejuice with Ewen, one of Steve's workmates as crew. We drove to Warwick with an overnight stop in Dubbo. There were dramas for Michael and me trying to find LPG in Goondiwindi. But thankfully Michael's T4 is duel fuel and we could make it to Warwick without too much trouble. Part of the fun of this event is staying at the race track over the weekend, so once in Warwick a quick trip to the supermarket for supplies was needed. Dinner was then cooked and discussions on strategies for the weekend ensued. On the Saturday Morning a cruise through the main street of Warwick is held. This is done so as to try to increase interest for the racing. This year there was a booze bus set up on the main road into Warwick. It was very funny to watch Mr Plod as he saw around 100 VWs lined up waiting to be breath tested!! All cars made it to the Show at the end of the cruise without incident and most of the Gringos went for a coffee while I caught up with my Dad who had made the trip down from Bribie Island. At around 11am everyone started heading back for practice and qualifying which was due to begin at 1pm. This is a time where the race track starts to come to life; this year there was a field of around 90 cars. So there was quite a queue to get through the scrutineering garage. As Andrew moved the Grey Ghost towards the scrutineers he noticed a strange noise in the rear of the car. At around the same time, his crew alerted him to a puddle forming under the driver’s side rear wheel. After a quick investigation it was found that the rear brake calliper had broken its mounting bolts on the drive up, and the rear brake line had been damaged. This meant that Andrew had to make a mad dash into town, and try to make the repairs before the car could be raced. Thankfully all the parts could be sourced and although late, Andrew was able to set some times and get a feel for the track. All cars performed well during practice and once the session was finished, the Gringos held the normal debriefing session outside the Loco Gringos base camp, our marquee set up as a garage. Dinner on the Saturday night was organised by the VWMA crew and is part of the race entry fee. This year they showed a video of last year’s event. Very good viewing I felt. After dinner there is Rocker cover racing; however I must admit I headed back to base camp with some of the Gringos for some more discussion on strategies. œ
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On Sunday morning there was a small practice session for those cars which had issues the previous day. As the Gringos had very few dramas all were ineligible for the practice session. For me this meant a release from crew duties. So I headed to the stands and watched some of the practice sessions. Shortly after the practice session had finished, racing started. Unfortunately during the first race of the day there was a large crash. One of the boys from NSW got out of shape, and ploughed his car into the wall at around 100mph. Thankfully he walked away without injury, well physical injury anyway. I think his pride may have been a little hurt. The same cannot be said for his car. It didn’t take long before the mess was cleared and racing could commence again. Both Warwick and Sydney events are known as Bracket Drag racing. This means that you are racing your time, not the other car. Drivers will “dial in” a time that they think their car will run down the track, then they will run against another car. The car with the slowest time will leave first and the faster car must catch them without going faster than their “dial in” time. If you do go faster than your “dial in” time you lose. As all Gringos were in the largest category, Air Cooled, four wins from four starts were needed to make it into the finals. It became very clear early on that both Michael and Andrew were not going to be in the finals this year; however Steve was doing very well until Beetljucie made an ominous noise and stalled after a burnout before his run. A quick restart at the start line found that there was something broken and it was trailer time for Beetlejucie. A disappointing end for Steve, as both car and driver were showing loads of promise for the day. Both Michael and Andrew went on to see out the comp, both happy with the performance of their cars. Once the finals had been run and won and presentations made, it was time to load the cars in preparation for the long road home. The Gringos had made the decision to leave around 7am on the Monday morning, so after the cars were loaded there was a dinner enjoyed at a small Chinese restaurant with Dave O'Connor from SA who drives the car known as Shrapnel. Next morning we said goodbye to Warwick and started the long trip back to Melbourne. Once again the drive home was without incident and we could even get gas in Goondiwindi! We are very lucky to have the VWMA run this event. I encourage anyone who has even a passing interest in VW motor sport to make the effort, go to either Sydney or Warwick Drags as a spectator or competitor - you will not be disappointed. Don't let the distance discourage you as the road trip is part of what makes the event so good. There are many cars that are dead stock and drove to the track. Michael and I said our goodbyes at Wallan and headed back to Blackburn. For me this was the end of a fantastic weekend. I have always enjoyed VW motor sport and this event is the best of the best in VW drag racing in this country, while at the same time encouraging anyone with a VW to compete. So see you all next year at Warwick!! Words by Matt Gardner
Photos by the master photographer; Tony Albers
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Cavalcade across the Bolte
Calling all owners of young and old VWs! As part of the Club's 60th birthday celebrations, we are planning to run a special event featuring sixty vehicles dating from 1954 to the present. The vehicles need to be mostly standard and 'photogenic', and reliable. A cavalcade of these vehicles will drive from somewhere near the beginning of the Tullarmarine Freeway, across the Bolte and Westgate bridges to Williamstown Seaworks, where these and other vehicles will be put on display, together with VW artefacts and memorabilia. Food and coffee vendors will be in attendance at Williamstown and this should make for a very interesting few hours. Cavalcade participants will receive a free enamel badge specially struck for the occasion. These badges will only be available to participants on the day. A DVD will be produced for this year's two day event, with the cavalcade the major feature. Participants will be given a free copy of this DVD. The date of this event is Saturday 15 November. . John Goodison is compiling the list of participating cars and their owners/drivers, and if you would like a car or cars of yours considered, please contact him on technical@vwclub.com.au. Our aim is to have an example of a car for each of the 60 years in the cavalcade. As well, other cars will be able to be displayed at Williamstown. If you have artefacts or memorabilia which you could lend for the static display on this day, please contact Andrew Ermel on chplates@vwclub.com.au. I would love you to participate in this special Club birthday event. Lloyd Davies
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XL Sport
Volkswagen’s XL1 set out to create the first 1.0l consumption vehicle. With ultra-lightweight carbon fibre construction, slippery aerodynamics and a ton of other engineering tricks, the XL1 shows what can be done in the name of economy. So the XL Sport seems to contradict that idea in some ways, yet we don’t care. Powered by a version of the Ducati Panigale Superleggera Vtwin, the XL Sport creatively taps into VW Group’s more recent Ducati acquisition. Further, VW changed the XL1’s already futuristic shape and gave it a major aggression overall producing a stunning looking sport “economy” car. 500 units will be built but alas none are coming here to Australia. All the details follow below in the Volkswagen press release… XL SPORT, FEATURING HIGH-TECH DUCATI V-TWIN ENGINE, MAKES ITS DEBUT AT THE PARIS MOTOR SHOW 197-horsepower sports car is based on the XL1, has a top speed of 168 mph and promises incredble track performance • XL Sport uses the world’s most powerful two-cylinder engine • Better aerodynamics than any other sports car • Ducati Superleggera V-Twin engine revs to 11,000 rpm • Car accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 5.7 seconds • High-tech engine features titanium connecting rods, desmodromic valvegear, and magnesiumalloy components • Completely new chassis uses motorsports-derived features There has never been a sports car like the XL Sport concept that is being shown for the first time by Volkswagen at the Paris Motor Show. This is a car that uncompromisingly furthers the development of the lightweight sports car. Based on the XL1, the most fuel-efficient production car of all time, this 168-mph machine is a compelling blend of efficiency and emotion. There are a number of individual features that contribute to the XL Sport’s arrow-like performance, in addition to the uncompromising styling. These include special vanes that direct the air at the front into specific channels, wheelarch vents, an optimized underbody, lift-reducing air ducts in the hood, an extendable rear spoiler (powered by the same unit as in the Lamborghini Aventador), and adaptive air vents incorporated in the rear hatch. Air intakes and outlets at the A- and B-posts ensure optimal air flow and cooling for the drive unit. Like the XL1, there are no conventional door mirrors: instead, they are replaced by e-Mirrors, small streamlined cameras integrated in the fenders that send images of the surroundings behind the car to two displays inside the vehicle. Fingers crossed something like this makes it into production, and is available in Australia.
This article is brought to you by VW vortex
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For the full article head over to the ‘Old speed shack’ website, this article is from Vw trends magazine Wagensville 15
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The Volkswagen Club’s technical officer, John Goodison received a black and white photo from one of his customers, of the entire Volkswagen Club of Victoria taken in 1954, the year of its formation. The photo shows 15 brand new 1954 Beetles and many members standing around them in their ‘Sunday best’. Armed with this amazing piece of Club history, the committee decided that because the Club turns 60 years old in 2014, we should recreate the photo. Skip ahead about six months to last weekend to a beautiful and rare site in Eltham. Sixteen early Beetles trundling along the winding back roads, travelling to the Edmund Rice Centre ‘Amberley’ was a sight to be seen. The smell of burnt oil and stale fuel is thick as we pull up to the destination awaiting instructions on how to park so as to mimic the original photo. Intensely squinting at the ‘yellowing image’, Lloyd Davies, John G and Master photographer Tony A set about bossing the ‘valet parker’ about as he hopped in and out of each Oval. (The lovely Volkswagen smell is still clinging to my Club shirt.) After a few attempts the cars are assembled and all that’s needed is for the owners to proudly stand by their cars. With the usual jovial Club spirit, inappropriate jokes and shenanigans many photos were taken on several cameras. The photo shoot over, the line of classic steel made its way back to the ‘Man Cave’ in a flurry of creaking brake drums and a distinctive lack of first gear syncros. Back at Eltham, the now ‘immortalized’ members milled about each other’s cars discussing all aspects of Beetle ownership over a freshly cooked BBQ lunch. A huge thank you to Lloyd Davies for letting me drive his immaculate ‘54 Beetle and for providing lunch, John Goodison for assembling such an amazing group of stock, original and restored cars, and everyone who turned up (especially those who made the long trip from Ballarat and Gippsland). It was such a unique cruise; despite it being short it was still a blast. Keep an eye on the Club magazine for the planned shoot with modern VWs.
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DAY OF THE VOLKWAGEN!!!! This year, celebrating 60 years of VWCV we are holding a two day event;
Saturday: Cavalcade across the Bolte
Saturday we are running a special event featuring sixty vehicles dating from 1954 to the present. A cavalcade of these vehicles will drive from somewhere near the beginning of the Tullarmarine Freeway, across the Bolte and Westgate bridges to Williamstown Seaworks, where these and other vehicles will be put on display together with VW artefacts and memorabilia. Food and coffee vendors will be in attendance at Williamstown and this should make for a very interesting few hours. Cavalcade participants will receive a free enamel badge specially struck for the occasion these badges will only be available to these participants on the day. A DVD will be produced for this year's two day event, with the cavalcade the major feature. Participants will be given a free copy of this DVD. John Goodison is compiling the list of participating cars and their owners/drivers, and if you would like a car or cars of yours considered, please contact him on technical@vwclub.com.au. We are still chasing 80’s and 90’s cars. If you have artefacts or memorabilia which you could lend for the static display on this day, please contact Andrew Ermel on chplates@vwclub.com.au.
Sunday: Day of the Volkswagen show and shine The Sunday is the big day for the VW Club. This is the show we put everything into. This year we are going the extra mile with a huge show and shine, judging, traders hall, swap sites, food vendors and children’s entertainment. Also the Sunday is the big day for the club car raffle. At 2PM the winning tickets will be drawn for the fully restored 1967 Beetle, Flat screen TV and Kombi Esky.
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Club Mailbag Recently the Club recived a letter in the club mail box from a Robbie Noonan. It goes into detail about a trip Robbie took to Switzerland and his sitings of various Volkswagens. Along with the letter was a photograph of a Split screen Kombi at a truck stop. Apparently despite his best efforts Robbie couldn’t make contact with the owner to find out where and why it was being transported. Robbie’s assesment, due to paint and trimmings, was that it appeared to be an Ex-millitary bus.
If you ever see any interesting VWs old or new, read an article or see an interesting product for sale, please email it to editor@vwclub.com.au
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Historian in the UK- The Lupo This is another of a new series of articles on Volkswagens that we do not usually see in Australia, but I was lucky enough to see and enjoy on my recent trip this year to the UK. This little car was very popular in its day, like the early Polos. Not surprising when petrol in the UK is over AUD3 a litre. From my research, the Lupo was introduced in 1998 to fill a gap at the bottom of the Volkswagen model range caused by the increasing size and weight of the Polo. The 1998 Lupo was a badge-engineered version of a SEAT Arosa. Both used the A00 platform which is a shortened version of the Polo/Ibiza A0 platform (sounds lik e baby sized clothing – just baby sized cars!). Initially only available in two trim variants, the budget E trim and the upgraded S trim, the range later expanded to include a Sport and GTI variant. Petrol engines ranged from 1.0 to 1.4 (1.6 for the GTI) with diesels from 1.2 to 1.7. The differences between the E and S trim included painted door mirrors, door handles and strip, central locking, electric windows, double folding seats and opening rear windows. Production of the Lupo discontinued in 2005, and was replaced by the Fox. The Lupo name is Italian, meaning wolf, and is named after its home town of Wolfsburg. It was also manufactured in Brussels, Belgium. The Lupo FSI was a 5L/100 km petrol version of the Lupo 3L. It had a similar automated gearbox to the 3L but with different gear ratios. Outwardly it was almost identical to a 3L but with a more standard front grille and lacked the magnesium steering wheel of the 3L. The FSI was only sold in Germany and Austria. The car that really would be interesting to drive is the 1.6 L Lupo GTI which has been labelled a true successor to the Volkswagen Golf Mk1, one of the first true hot hatches. The GTI can be identified by its fully body-coloured bumpers and twin central exhausts. In 2002, a sixspeed gearbox was added, together with improved throttle response, and was suggested as a competitor to the Mini Cooper or the larger Volkswagen Polo GTI. The GTI features much more standard equipment which was not available on any other in the Lupo range, including bi-xenon headlights, 15-inch Bathurst (Mmmm….maybe an Australian connection) alloy wheels and an off black interior. With a DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder engine producing 123 hp, the GTI had a top speed of 204 km/h and could accelerate 0-60 mph in 7.8 seconds – not a bad package at all! Hope you have enjoyed this information on an interesting little car. This little VW is just as popular in the country towns as the big cities and testifies to how much the UK motoring public love (or have to love) their small cars. Maybe if petrol takes such a huge hike, we will all be driving around in VW Ups! – I hope not. Yours into UK Volkswagens, Chris Scane
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