Beautiful salt, super weather and great competition made the USFRA's 22nd annual World of Speed a perfect venue for the west coast segment of the National 36hp Landspeed Challenge. Competitors came from the west, east and in between to challenge the 36hp records set so many years ago by Dick Beith and Mel Ellis.
Steve Ward and Joe Klokkevold came from Newman Lake, Washington, hoping to beat the new age (NA36) record of 83.921 miles per hour set by Tom Bruch in my 1969 Beetle in 2006. They pulled the big street motor from Steves daily driven 77 Beetle sedan, installed a healthy but otherwise refreshed stock 36hp motor fitted with a homebuilt yet technically sophisticated turbo-charger system and trailered to the salt. The Washington crew raced, tuned, raced, and tuned again until they acheived their goal, beating the old record with a top speed of 83.921 miles per hour. Unfortunately, Tom was back with a more powerful 1378cc new age turbo motor and would add almost twenty miles per hour to that same record.
Sandy, Utah, resident Ed Fall, proprietor of Vintagewerks, the 36hp distributor, carburetor and fuel pump restorer, drove his beautiful black 57 oval dailey driver out to attack Bruce Cooks Stone Stock (SS) record of 73.005 miles per hour. With over 40,000 miles on his self built 36er, Ed did not get the overall record but did exceed Craig Wilsons record Bonneville set two years ago with a top speed of 70.670 miles per hour. Bonnevilles thinner atmosphere affects top speeds and Ed hopes to visit the low altitude Maxton, North Carolina, ECTA speed trials next year for a head to head challenge of Bruces record. Ed enjoyed a great first effort afterwhich he loaded up his spare tire, Hazet tool kit, sleeping bag and tea pot and drove back to Salt Lake City.
The highlight of the Challenge came when perennial land speed racer Tom Bruch teamed with Gaylen
Anderson to attempt beating Dick Beiths overall all top speed 36hp record. Spring testing of the stroked, stock bore (1378cc) motor on the country roads around his home resulted in a top end failure due to too high of compression that mandated a rebuild in between helping a friend recover from the devasting floods that hit Cedar Rapids this summer. In August Tom lowered the compression ratio under the single port Bruchrasa/VW 36hp cylinder heads and headed west. Unloading the car off the trailer, Tom made the first of three passes, all of which exceeded Dick Beiths top speed of 101.296 miles per hour and which has been the goal of the Challenge since it's inception over four years ago. Tom achieved a top speed of 103.489 miles per hour with his turbo-charged new age (NA36) 36er capturing that elusive overall speed goal but left Dicks supercharged (K36) class record still intact as the class (K36-Supercharger pre-1980) record holder.
Joining the racers on the salt this year were Britt Grannis and his wife Chris, the California connection to Team Ireland and the Beaver Geezers from the bay area, a group of three former fraternity brothers originating at Oregon State University in the fifites. Britt is partnered with Paul Cullen in Northern Ireland and will campaign both a bug and Ghia using Irish sourced 36hp engines in the Super Stock Single (SSS) and Stone Stock (SS) classes. The Geezers, consisting of Al Leggett, Dan Durle and Glenn Patterson are preparing a 58 Beetle for Stone Stock (SS) purchased this year but undergoing a total transformation to include a change to OSU's colors of black and orange. All were in attendance to experience the salt and familiarize themselves with the USFRA's 130 Mile Per Hour Club event under whose guidance we race.
The 36hp Challenge was conceived in 2005 to encourage the world wide family of Volkswagen enthusiasts to ressurect the onetime throwaway 36ers and to go out and try to go faster than our Volksfathers had four decades earlier, using todays skills, tools and technologies. The basis for the 36hp Challenge still exists with both Dicks 101.296 mile per hour supercharged (K36) and Mel Ellis's 94.400 mile per hour dual carburetor (DSS) records still untouched.
After receiving numerous requests, the 36hp Challenge will grow with the addition of a Ghia category and will also see the return of the Super Stock Single (SSS) class as noted above. The SSS current record is 81.223 miles per hour and should prove very popular with those racers who do not want to invest in expensive period speed equipment but utilize their skills and craftsmanship to modify the existing single stock 28 PCI carburetor, single port heads and exhaust system. SSS allows for a different crank, cam and pistons and cylinders but restricts other modifications to improving the performance of the stock components, ideal for maximizing horsepower of the basic 36hp engine.
2009 should see the largest contingent of 36hp Challengers contesting events at all three land speed racing venues. Racers form Oklahoma, Ireland, North Carolina, Iowa, California and elsewhere have committed to racing in Texas, North Carolina and on the salt flats of Utah. Keep tuned, keep in touch, keep thrashing and keep your foot on the gas.
Questions? Please visit the links for the ECTA, TEXAS Mile and the USFRA at www.saltflats.com and for 36hp specific questions, please visit www.burlyb.com or contact me at the the above address.
Remember, the final 36hp Challenge event will be held at the ECTA's Maxton Mile in just four weeks, the last weekend of October on the 25th and 26th. Please spectate or particpate if you can and join us in 09 as the 36hp Challenge goes "International" with the Irish connection.
Until then, God Speed......................
Burly Burlile
