CAFÉ RACER 76: 07/23/14

VW Rallycross Beetle. Tanner Foust & Scott Speed

Tanner Foust & Scott Speed Talk VW Beetle Racecar

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered over three million vehicles in the first half year for the first time in the company’s history. A total of 3.07 million vehicles were handed over to customers worldwide, representing an increase of 3.8 per cent. But none of them were anything like this.

Tanner Foust and Scott Speed took delivery of their new GRC Beetles which, thanks to Volkswagen Motorsport and Andretti Rallycross, delivers 540+hp to all the wheels producing a 0-100kph time of less than two seconds. While it would be lovely to think that Volkswagen might produce a road going variant for sale to Mr. Joe Public, increasing the marques sales even more, we aren’t holding our breath.

Go on VW. Go bananas with the Beetle.

Source – Volkswagen

DUCATI 650 PANTAH BY REVIVAL CYCLES

Ducati 650 Pantah customized by the Texas workshop Revival Cycles.

By Wesley Reyneke | Rather Be Riding

By Alan Stulberg’s own admission, Revival Cycles is “the kind of shop that puts subtlety high on the list of design priorities.” It shows—Revival’s builds are typically laced with well-considered details that are easily missed at first glance.

Case in point: this ’83 Ducati 650 Pantah. The client—a friend and ex-AMA racer—kicked off a conversation with Revival a year ago about building him a bike. “After much deliberation and collaborative conversations back and forth,” explains Alan, “he eventually decided on an ‘affordable’, simple and somewhat obscure Ducati model from the 80s.”

The Pantah rose to the top of the list, partly due to its relatively low price, but also because of one subtle difference—its staggered intake manifolds. Positioned on opposite ends of the cylinders, they give the bike a more vintage feel than the aligned carbs on more modern Ducatis.

The Revival crew had their work cut out for them though: “The client picked this bike up as a mostly sad looking hodge-podge of weird improvised pieces for a whopping $1,500 (hence the name ‘Fifteen Hundred’).” Their first step was to get it running—and shoot some ‘before’ photos, with Alan citing it as “one of the ugliest machines anyone has ever delivered to us and asked us to save it from itself.”

After more deliberation a brief was settled on: the client wanted a passenger seat, custom exhaust and a full rewire, and was after Revival’s signature “stripped down look”. Modern suspension and powerful brakes were on the table too—but the decision was made to shelve these ideas for later, and build the bike in two stages.

As it turns out, the Pantah rode as badly as it looked with poor brakes, soggy suspension and a sputtering engine. “I’ll admit that the combination of the loud whine of the straight-cut primary gears and the famous rattle of the Ducati clutch sounded amazing when they hit just right, but there were discernable ‘extra’ rattles that I found disturbing to say the least.”

Once the engine was cracked open, the cause of the ‘extra’ rattles became quite apparent—for starters, a main gearbox bearing was shot. Even worse, Revival discovered a completely intact 11/16” socket rolling around inside the engine! The scope of the project quickly changed to include a full engine and gearbox rebuild—with the happy side effect of being able to send the cases, cylinders and heads off for sandblasting the remove the crusty old black paint.

While working on the engine, the team turned their attention to the frame. They lopped off the rear subframe and peg hangers; rebuilding them to be better looking and lighter, with new passenger pegs. The frame was also de-tabbed and reinforced for extra strength, and hidden LEDs were installed with custom mounts welded into the rear of the frame.

Up front, the Pantah’s stock fuel tank was retained. But Revival beat out the dents and de-seamed it for a cleaner effect. The internal shape of the tank was altered too, giving it a more finished look and making space to stash the electrical system and battery underneath it. This included an Anti-Gravity Lithium Ion battery and a Motogadget M-unit (a Revival staple) on a custom bracket. “Getting everything to work perfectly under the tank and largely appear to be factory is a tough step,” says Alan.

A new seat pan was fabricated to fit the new subframe and sent off to Ginger at New Church Moto to complete. It came back wrapped in black suede with cream stitching, matching the tank’s new coat of paint. Revival then made up a bespoke two-into-two stainless steel exhaust system, terminating low down in matching cones.

The stock suspension was completely rebuilt at both ends, and the braking boosted with custom-built stainless brake lines. An LSL headlight was fitted via custom fork-mounted ears, and the ignition relocated and hidden under the seat. LSL also supplied the wide and high bars, now fitted with Motogadget M-buttons.

As Alan says: “Sometimes subtlety is wasted and sometimes it’s everything.” I’m going to go with the latter on this one. Revival have clearly transformed the “sad sack” Pantah into an elegant street machine, and along the way improved its rideability.

“The new engine runs amazingly well and has no problem pulling the front wheel into the air for hooligan shenanigans, and the freshened factory suspension and brakes performed MUCH better than they had as old worn out components.”

In fact, the team doesn’t even think a second stage is necessary. “Regardless … I’m pretty sure it will soon come back after a few hard miles for custom triple trees, big modern brakes and a completely reworked rear suspension setup as well. We’re ready whenever.”

Follow Revival Cycles via their website or Facebook page. Our archive of previous Revival builds is here.

from BIKEexif

2014 Swamp Buggy - Grinch This

by CHRIS HAMILTON from .fourwheeler.com

If you’ve been a fan of Mud Life for a while, you most certainly know the name Big Ed the Butcher. From event articles to hunting trips, Ed Wojtusik has been there time after time to help us out when we needed something. So when he told us about the new swamp buggy he was having built at Big Head Aluminum in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, we promised him a small feature in the magazine once it was ready. We just assumed that this would be an average well-built hunting rig that most of our readers are used to by now, but man, were we wrong. Big Ed wanted to build an extremely unique rig that looked as well as it performed, so lots of chrome and custom paint had to be included. Don’t let the killer graphics and shiny metal fool you though. Big Ed definitely isn’t afraid to cover it in a thick coat of Florida mud from time to time.

Starting with ¼-inch-wall, 2x4 box tubing, Dave Boden from Big Head Aluminum chopped, grinded, and welded a solid straight frame that has an 11.6-foot wheelbase without bumpers. Once the bumpers were fabricated and welded to the new frame, the finished length came out to 20.6 feet end to end. Next, the uprights were added and the aluminum deck was secured, officially making it a buggy in our books. The entire chassis rides on 2½-ton Rockwell axles equipped with Grizzly lockers and installed using mounting brackets from PMF Customs in Royal Palm Beach. A set of Skyjacker leaf springs from an ’09 Ford F-350 takes care of the suspension, and 26x25 wheels on 23.1R2 tires give Ed the height he was looking for. PMF Customs built the wheel centers, and Longs Wheel and Rim sent the tractor barrels. An SCS gearbox with a 3:1 gear ratio is working alongside a Turbo 400 transmission to transfer the power from the engine to the wheels. For power, Ed enlisted the help of Pro Racing Engines out of West Palm Beach to assemble a balanced and blueprinted 383ci Chevy V-8. Flotex heads and a Quick Fuel carburetor are a few additions, along with exhaust from Advanced Muffler.

Once Dave had a fully fabricated and functional swamp buggy built, the time came to rip it all apart and give it some color. The majority of the metalwork is covered in PPG Sublime Green paint thanks to Dave Nichols at Schmits Auto Body in Royal Palm Beach. After the paint had time to dry, the buggy was dropped off with Chris “Bones” Tolson at Bones Custom Paint in Royal Palm Beach for some insane airbrush work. Ed’s signature Grinch logo was naturally added, but this time he wanted even more style, so Bones sprayed some killer-looking meat cleavers on the rig since Ed is a butcher by trade. The handles of the cleavers look exactly like real wood, and when the wheels start to spin the chopping action looks pretty wicked. Anything that could be unbolted and hadn’t already been painted was boxed up and shipped out to Spectra Chrome for some serious bling. Hi-Tech Spray Liners finished off the prep work by coating the top of the buggy deck so no one’s feet will get burned on a hot day in the woods. Once all the parts were back to the shop, Dave started final assembly. Ed was on the sidelines just itching to rip it though the mud!

This build took the guys around six months and cost approximately $58,000. Compare that to a nice fishing boat or a fully built mud truck and the cost is pretty reasonable. Ed and his family take this rig out to mud events, airboat and buggy shows, and even hunting through the South Florida swamps. This wasn’t Ed’s first time building a swamp buggy, so he knew what he wanted and when he wanted it done. The plan came together and a very impressive piece of engineering is the result. We can guarantee you that this won’t be his last build, so keep the name Big Ed in your minds because it’s going to come up again.

Specifications
2014 Swamp Buggy
Owner: Ed Wojtusik
Engine: 383ci Chevy V-8
Transmission: Chevy Turbo 400
Transfer Case: SCS Gearbox
Suspension: F-350 leaf springs and shocks
Axles: Rockwell 2½-ton with Grizzly lockers
Shocks: Skyjacker
Wheels: 26x25 Longs Wheel rims, PMF Customs centers
Tires: 23.1R2

10 low-budget modern classics from Silverstone Auctions

12 July 2014

On 26 July at the Silverstone Classic 2014, Silverstone Auctions will offer a generous helping of young classics - many of which carry attractive estimates. A notable example is one of only eleven 4.0-litre V8 Marcos Mantarays ever built...

Visit the Classic Driver Market to view all lots from the Silverstone Auctions sale on 26 July at the Silverstone Classic 2014.