Its about time i stuck up a thread about this. Its Tasha (Peaches) racecar. Originally built by Jon Rathbone back in 2004, Tash had it built because she had a dream of running a 10 down the strip.
It made its debut at the Volksworld show in 2004, and she then started to get to know the car. Problems with the engine led to it being rebuilt over winter, and then in 2005 she got out early to do some early testing.
Going into Big Bang she had been getting faster and faster as her confidence grow in the vehicle, and she got to learn it better. She had gone from running 16's down to 11's very quickly!
The 2287 turbo engine was making 280BHP at only 14psi boost - this being a car the weighed 500kg WITH HER IN IT!
As the big bang qualifying went on she got closer and closer. or the first round she dialled in 11.00 seconds dead. The reason being if she were slower she'd most likely win, if she was quicker then she'd run her first 10 and wouldn't care about breaking out!
She broke out! 10.98 was the time, and as far as we are aware she's the first (and i think only?) female to run a ten in a beetle outside of the USA.
Since then money pretty much forced her hand, and with the end goal having been reached, the car was put into hibernation.
Its been sat for a number of years now, and i've been desperate to get the car back up and running for a while. As it was only ever being run in, the car only ever had a rattle can satin paint job (brilliant for dealing with dzus fastenters tho), and none of the chassis was protected. It certainly needs a little TLC!
So, knowing that BlownImp was over for the bank holiday we set about a) removing the jungle that had grown around the car and b) getting it stripped down so it can be moved into my barn.
With sore heads after Friday night, this is the scene that greeted us;
James, Michi and myself must have spent 3 hours with snips and saw removing all manner of bushes that had grown up around the car. Still, but the end of our mission we were left with a much more manageable scene where we could actually get around the racecar
The engine was already out (it was sold about 2 years ago), so we set about getting the weight down as quickly as we could. The gearbox and rear suspension was the obvious starting point. This all came away quite quickly - hopefully BlownImp will get the video up of the gearbox coming out. This is what we were left with tho;
And very shortly we were down to just a shell on a chassis
Then came the amusing moment of the three of us lifting the shell off the chassis, and carrying it over my small fence and into the barn. In the process i very nearly disappeared into the pond. Again, awaiting video from BlownImp! lol
In total it took us 3 hours to strip the car down, and that included bagging and labelling every part that came off the car. Racecars are great! lol. James certainly looks very pleased with himself!
Next up is to spend a few evenings removing the few remaining parts, so all I'm left with is just a chassis.
Then the rebuild can begin!
It made its debut at the Volksworld show in 2004, and she then started to get to know the car. Problems with the engine led to it being rebuilt over winter, and then in 2005 she got out early to do some early testing.
Going into Big Bang she had been getting faster and faster as her confidence grow in the vehicle, and she got to learn it better. She had gone from running 16's down to 11's very quickly!
The 2287 turbo engine was making 280BHP at only 14psi boost - this being a car the weighed 500kg WITH HER IN IT!
As the big bang qualifying went on she got closer and closer. or the first round she dialled in 11.00 seconds dead. The reason being if she were slower she'd most likely win, if she was quicker then she'd run her first 10 and wouldn't care about breaking out!
She broke out! 10.98 was the time, and as far as we are aware she's the first (and i think only?) female to run a ten in a beetle outside of the USA.
Since then money pretty much forced her hand, and with the end goal having been reached, the car was put into hibernation.
Its been sat for a number of years now, and i've been desperate to get the car back up and running for a while. As it was only ever being run in, the car only ever had a rattle can satin paint job (brilliant for dealing with dzus fastenters tho), and none of the chassis was protected. It certainly needs a little TLC!
So, knowing that BlownImp was over for the bank holiday we set about a) removing the jungle that had grown around the car and b) getting it stripped down so it can be moved into my barn.
With sore heads after Friday night, this is the scene that greeted us;
James, Michi and myself must have spent 3 hours with snips and saw removing all manner of bushes that had grown up around the car. Still, but the end of our mission we were left with a much more manageable scene where we could actually get around the racecar
The engine was already out (it was sold about 2 years ago), so we set about getting the weight down as quickly as we could. The gearbox and rear suspension was the obvious starting point. This all came away quite quickly - hopefully BlownImp will get the video up of the gearbox coming out. This is what we were left with tho;
And very shortly we were down to just a shell on a chassis
Then came the amusing moment of the three of us lifting the shell off the chassis, and carrying it over my small fence and into the barn. In the process i very nearly disappeared into the pond. Again, awaiting video from BlownImp! lol
In total it took us 3 hours to strip the car down, and that included bagging and labelling every part that came off the car. Racecars are great! lol. James certainly looks very pleased with himself!
Next up is to spend a few evenings removing the few remaining parts, so all I'm left with is just a chassis.
Then the rebuild can begin!
