Re: Ur-quattro vs VW rabbit...in the rain?

[Thompson Smith <thompers@together.net>]

Hillclimb are BIG here in New England.

Yup.  Got my pants wiped, cleaned my clock,
by a VW Rabbit...!!!  In THE RAIN!!!
Ahhhh, but this was no ordinary Rabbit. 
Nooooooo, it was basically not much more than a small tub with 13"
Goodyear racing slicks sticking out more than 8" from the
flares, one racing seat, rollcage, no roof, no windshield, no nothin'...
and a "mild 2.0ltr"  180hp motor. Oh yah, a Rabbit.

This last weekend I entered the Mt. Philo Hillclimb in northern
Vermont near Vergennes put on by the Killington Sports Car Club.
What a blast.  1.9 miles, 16 turns, narrow
as ever, hairpins, 1st, 2nd to redline, up to third...4800 rpms,
slam back to second, on the gas to redline, daa daa daa daa bouncing
off the rev limtier - back into third.  Whew, what a workout. I'd say
that 3/4 of the cars were trailered there. Home built frame jobs to
this little VW rabbit that took FTD. And there's more, lotsa GTi's,
a VW bug, an ex-Firehawk Peugot turbo race car, 1988 M3 (big pipe, slammed,
about 220 hp..), 325is (big pipe, slammed), a Cosworth Vega, a Shelby
GT350R, RX7's, some rally cars, some Detroit iron and my stock
German Panzer tank like lone Audi Ur-quattro, with a full tank of gas.

"FTD" (fastest time of the day) all really boils down to hp/lbs.
Basic.  The more hp's and the less weight wins. Oh, and the nut
with bigass balls..!  It was cold (48 deg) raining on and off and every
one thought, "Oh no, an Audi quattro..."  Sh*t, were doomed. It's
raining out. "Well guys, I've never done this event, and my car
REALLY is a tank. It's only got 160 hp (if that) and weighs 3158lbs
or something near there...They all thought I was just joshing...
and going for a huge sandbag effect.

These guys are ballistic!  Most cars, all cars spun at the start,
and ran like the wind. I sat comfortably inside the my trusty old
Ur-q with the music calming my nerves and a heat seater warming my
butt waiting to do the runs.  I only had time to do Sunday's timed
event and not make Sat. practice runs, like everyone else had.

I ended up 30th out of 42 cars entered. Not bad for only three runs.
Seventh in my class with a 1:36.17 sec run. That darn Rabbit leaped
up the hill with a 1:16.00 on slicks in the rain!  Hmmmm, a Rabbit,
not even a GTi.  I've got to learn how to drive my coupe better,
I know that it was driving me..!

All I can say is that I am hooked.  A simple metal mounted fire
extingusher with a Snell90 helmet got me into the unprepared 2 class.
My coupe ran fantasticly (but needs more pull in third gear out of
the hole...) and I bettered my time on my last run, which layed a
huge 'ol smile on my face. There is more fun next year just waiting
up in those hills.

Look for some photos on my "motorsports" section in my website.

Thompson Smith
http://homepages.together.net/~thompers/quattro4.htm