Desert Dingo Racing

Category: Photos

  • It’s like shaving a goat


    Everything here is mine.

    Crusty and I worked on the new body this weekend. I’ve come to understand that a passenger car, including a VW Beetle, was never designed to do what we put it through. That being the case. when you’re building a desert race car, you start by stripping it down to its essentials and building up from there.

    Crusty spend this weekend removing unnecessary stuff and welding seams. I tackled rust and all the stuff most people never see in a VW – rust, glue, rubber, aluminum trim, random crud and felt. There is a remarkable amount of felt in a 70s era VW. And if I ever track down the descendants of the VW engineer who got the bright idea to use tar sheets as sound deadener in the side panels, I’m going to slap them.

    Photos from this weekend’s work here.

  • I’m in my engine bay


    Billy Rickard, standing in 1107s engine bay. Who knew there’s a website devoted to these photos. Billy, who’s been on the team for approaching a year, has never been in the car.

    Billy tagged and bagged 1107s electrical system, clearing the way for Sunday’s cutting torches and Sawz-Alls. Next up, the body is cut off and we start on mods for 2011.

    A handful of shots of us standing in our engine bay here.


    Linked from Jalopnik.

  • We’re “Miss March” in Gear Centre Group’s 2011 calendar


    Thankfully, the staples don’t endanger anything sensitive.

    Turn ons: Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, winning and world peace.

    It’s a good thing we added a Canadian to the team or I’d have a hard time explaining why a two-wheel-drive VW bug was included in Canada’s own Gear Centre Group 4×4 Club calendar for 2011. Come to think of it, 1107 has been to Canada. So I only have to explain away the non-4WD part.

    We’re in great company and these folks do things with their rigs that I only have nightmares about. You can download the calendar for free here.

    Thanks guys, I appreciate it and am honored. Paul Hartl will buy you the first round of drinks.

  • Dingo at rest


    For anyone who thinks racing is cool, you should come hang out with us when we’re pulling an engine in the rain.

    Bob, Crusty, Scott and I pulled 1107’s engine this past weekend. In the rain. Shocks, too. Bob will sort out the engine seal leak. Shocks go off to Bilstein for a rebuild. Radio pulled to figure out why the face fell off.

    The next couple of weeks will be spent gutting 1107 to begin a rebuild that will let us incorporate lessons learned from three years of racing. More to come.

    A handful of photos here.

  • It’s a wrap for the 2010 racing season


    One of these cars is really not like the others.

    Here’s my race recap for our final race of the season, the VORRA Prairie City IV that we did over Halloween weekend.

    It was a dark and stormy night when we pulled into Prairie City.

    Ok, technically, it was neither dark nor stormy, but I’ve always wanted to write that.

    So we pull in Saturday morning and all the great spots are taken and I mumble something under my breath about how racers are worse than Mac fanboys when it comes to being first in line for something.

    We have a (relatively) new motor, boosted to 13-to-1 compression. We have something resembling rally car tires, complete with hot knife custom grooving, and between the 1107, 1112 and 1177 entourages, we have enough food to feed an army.

    The team dinks around with the car all day Saturday and does a first run with the new engine Sunday morning during practice. We give it two thumbs up.

    Moto One (Richard driving, Bob co-driving): Richard launches off the line like a man possessed and immediately rockets from first place to third in the span of about five seconds. Halfway through the first lap Rob “The Politest Man You’ll Ever Meet” Messer gets it a little sideways and rolls. With the Green Booger blocked, Richard signals for a right side pass and leads the rest of the moto, beating 1112 by about a second at the finish line. At some point during the moto the announcer tells the crowd that we’ve rolled so many times that I’ve installed our race camera upside down. Always with the jokes, that guy.

    Moto Two (Bob driving, Crusty co-driving): This time its Messer off the line like a man possessed with Bob in hot pursuit. At some point, a 50-cent part in Messer’s distributor breaks and he’s out of the race. Bob has at least a 10-car-length lead over 1112 when I turn to Wes:

    Me: “Ok, we’ve got a huge lead in this second moto. If we won the first moto and win this one, do we even need to do the third race?”

    Wes: “Your car just rolled.”

    Me: “(Expletive).”

    Wes: “That will teach you to count your points before the checkered flag waves.”

    Green Booger takes the win with ease.

    Moto Three (Crusty driving, Shawn co-driving): This time Messer’s driving like he stole it, leading the entire moto and taking the win. The real battle was for second, which we thought was ours until the last few hundred feet when we ran into one of those big tractor tires.

    Bottom line: I’m pretty sure we got second for the day and second in season points. Now begins a body-off rebuild. Watch for 1107 2.0 in March 2011.

    Thanks again to all the VORRA folks (particularly Heather Jacobini who made it not rain most of the time). Also, thanks go to Bradford Racing for again loaning us a trailer because we’re too broke to get one of our own.

    A gallery of photos from this weekend’s racing.