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BWA with a BANG!
20th October '08: Mav dropped us an email with some
unfortunate news... "It is with a heavy heart I must let you know my lovely reliable Type 4 2.4 Lt is no
more, it let go on the way to the Brighton Breeze with a grrrr sound, followed by a loud bang, followed
by a lot of smoke and a pool of oil.
We pulled the engine Saturday afternoon and it appears either the valve seat or a valve has dropped, leading to the almighty bang. The barrel is now in 4 pieces, the con rod end is bent over at 90 degrees, the piston is smashed to bits, the head is mullered, the crank has bits snapped off it and the camshaft is badly scored, oh, and a large portion of the case is missing where the barrel bolts on.
Fortunatlely the Speedster I just bought has a 2.4 Type 4 2.4lt, and if the spec is correct its a little bit more powerful than my old engine! That will make it's way into my bus over the winter and I will end up buidling a nice revvy Type 1 engine for the Speedster.
So, bad but I am not left high and dry as I might have been, and on a plus point I can now fix my fuel sender easily!"
BWA & SSVC at VW Action
18th August '08: The SSVC have been invited to put on a club display again at VW Action, BWA have also been allocated racing slots on all three days! We need as many buses as possible, all weekend.
Last year's Action was one of the most enjoyable show's I attended, and the display area was awesome. This was also the event that BWA did some night racing with the qualification of 4 new members, also we got a limitless amount of runs down the strip!
I will be covering the event in various VW magazines/articles and will be taking pictures of every bus that participates! Come on team, lets make this one a whooper!
Please click here to get the full details of the show dates, location etc.
Mav's 2nd European Bug In
28th July '08: Thanks to BWA member Mav for sending us his account of EBI2
After a somewhat wet journey to EBI2 on Thursday, where Wendy spent a good 30 minutes going from window to window mopping up as we drove through the torrential rain storm. The new safari rubbers from Custom and Commercial were great, much better than my old rubbers, but still got wet knees! Friday was a much nicer day and I spent it relaxing and polishing my bus.
Saturday started off dry, I caught up with Mark and Wendy, who informed me that Russ Hancock wasn't coming this year and had registered as a racer, no sooner had they said that, I rushed off and registered myself in place of Russ. Finding space for putting the mandatory stickers on the Samba was easy for me, what with 23 windows :-) My bus doesn't normally do stickers but this time I made an exception and I think it looked quite cool.
I joined the queue to race down the track and found myself against a panel van, complete with roof rack and luggage. His 5 minute burnout confirmed it was far from standard (In fact he had run a 15.4 before). It has been a few years since I last took my bus down the track and last time it cost me a nose cone. But this time I ran an easy 16.9 matching my best time.Then the rain came, so I trundled down to the show and shine. Saturday night my bus was used to transport 8 of us to a local Italian restaurant hidden away in the nearby woods.
Sunday was a beautiful day and after packing up the bed in the bus, I went for another run. A more aggressive launch but with a full tank of petrol I managed an 16.4. Hurrrah! The marshal had mentioned the high winds at the end of the track and they weren't wrong, it felt like I was steering at 90 degrees to go in a straight line. Happy that I had set a faster time, I trundled back down to the show and shine to enjoy the rest of the show. We left about 5pm to get a ferry home for work on Monday.
BWA at the 2nd European Bug In
16th July '08: BWA members Lee ‘High-Top’ Bishop, Matze and Mav were flying the BWA flag at the 2nd European Bug In, Chimay,Belgium. Lee told us that ‘Jimbo’ James Holman had intended to be there too but due to last minute electrical problems had to pull out. Mav ran a personal best of 16.44 and says there’s definitely more to come from his Samba, Lee ran a 16.2 in the High-Top and Matze ran a 16.325 in his ’56 Kombi, well done guys!
Thank you to Menace and Niels Timmerman for the pictures.
It wasn’t all good news though; Chris Lambourne’s BWA flag will be flying at half mast as due to a damp road lightly sprinkled with diesel and a roundabout his lovely ’61 panel ended up on its roof. Chris told us there was nothing he could do, he was literally ½ a mile from the port on his way home and slowing down for the roundabout, the back end broke free and that was it. Thankfully Chris and his passenger, Keith, both got out of the accident without injury. Chris has already been buying parts to repair his bus and we look forward to seeing it back on the track soon.
Shocking BWA News!
1st June '08: Congratulations to BWA member, Chris Lamborne on his mind blowing 12.96 second run today at the Shakespeare County Raceway, Chris ran this time in his fully loaded 1961 Deven camper!!! Also well done to Matt (Mattstar) Keene on the top job of the turbo engine build.
As it turns out the news of the 12.96 above was a typo and the actual runs were 14.4 & 14.9. Still absolutely amazing when you consider the weight of Chris's van which is a fully laden camper. Matt Keene assures us that with the new motor making 220 hp at the wheels, if Chris's van were stripped out it would easily be running 12's
BWA Invited to Norway!
8th December '07: Hello guys! Just a tip-off, maybe some of you plan a trip to Scandinavia next summer - anyway:
"Scandinavian Cal-look Classic 2008"
We are pleased to announce that SCC will be held on the weekend 22-24 August 2008. More info to follow soon, Book the date now!
http://www.cal-look.no/mainindex.htm
The famous grip on the Gardermoen Raceway tarmac will be there next year, too. But the 2008 event it will be available to air-cooled VWs ONLY - for two days! There will be all levels of competition, from originals to high-end 9 sec racecars, but I would really LOVE to see any BWA bus attend this racing event! Racing, show and shine, camping, party - it all seems to be adding up to be the best event in Norway, possibly in Scandinavia, next year!
Hope to see you there! brgds RZR-Andy
PS! I am not part of the organizing, just letting you all know! For further info, check out
BWA at Big Bang !
1st & 2nd May '05: Buses With Attitude have once again been (very kindly) invited to put on a racing session at the Big Bang this year, the session is for one hour, and will be on the Sunday evening from 6:30 onwards, it will start about half an hour after the convoy of buses arrive from Stanford Hall.
If you've been building a fast split over the winter months and think it has what it takes to become a member, this is your chance to prove it. I will have the BWA wings (stickers) and be on hand for those of you who want to have a crack at qualifying. If your not sure what your bus is capable of and 'just want to have a go' to get a taster of what it's all about, then this is your chance (got to start somewhere!).The whole session will be videoed for the BWA web site so this is your moment!
For more information call Rikki on 07802 884583
Steven Jenkinson runs 14.8 at York Dragway !
26th May '03: This is by far the fastest time a split bus has run. Steven is setting the pace for BWA. Come on guys, someone else needs to fit NOS!
Well Done Steven!
Buses With Attitude Launched !
5th May '03: See the members list and times on the members page.
Buses With Attitude Launch Day !
31st March '03: Watch out for BWA making an appearance at Big Bang (Santa Pod, 3-5 May). There will be a buses only section to the RWYB, make your Split Bus go fast. See if YOU can join the ranks of Buses With Attitude!
Launch with Us!
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