The Club’s activity for the month of November was a speed event, exclusive to Volkswagen owners and was held on the Go Karts track at Hal Far.  The meeting had to be scheduled for the end of November because we had to fit our activity in between the Island Karting Club’s own activities.

Not knowing what cars would turn out, we could only set rough plans for the categorization of cars as well as the duration of each run.  On the day, member turn out was such that cars could be classified into one air-cooled category, and three water-cooled categories: one for diesels, one for petrol engines up to 1400cc and another for petrol engines over 1400cc.  The number of cars present also allowed us to put in two timed runs of three laps each and finish by one o’clock.

Driving was spirited, with members putting in their best efforts.  The air-cooled category included a number of 1300cc Beetles but also featured a 1600cc engined Buggy, driven by Edmund Penza.  Due to lack of similarly powered cars, this Buggy had to be included in the same category of the smaller engined cars.  Naturally, Edmund enjoyed a great power advantage over the 1300 engines, not only because of the greater capacity, but also because of the fibre glass body which this Volkswagen chassis carries.  This did not mean an outright domination of the category, however.  As Edmund found out in his first runs, the light body of the car can be quite a handful in conjunction with the bigger engine.  He finally managed to get it right during the final run.

The diesel engined category proved to be a in house fight between committee members Arthur Naudi Manche and Karl Ciarlo who shared Arthur’s long suffering Golf Mk2 Turbo Diesel.  This car had just been returned to service following an extensive cosmetic restoration.  Arthur’s wisdom in insisting that Karl takes the first slot during the second run to warm up the tyres, as well as his failure to stop astride the finish cones during his first run cost him the first prize, as the engine expired impressively in a cloud of oily smoke during his second run.  Paul Buttigieg put in a valiant effort but his normally aspirated Jetta 1600D stood little chance against the Golf’s Turbo.  Duncan Busuttil’s tuned Polo 1900 Turbo Diesel also lost the first place due to a very late arrival, towards the end of the second run.  A good fight was also put up by Noel Cutajar in his Passat Turbo Diesel.  The larger dimensions and weight disadvantage of this model ensured that the honours went to the lighter Golf.

The smaller petrol engine category was dominated by Colin Micallef’s Golfs 2 and 4.  The smaller engined Polos present could not match the larger engine’s power, mainly due to the 400cc difference.  The larger engined category proved to be a no contest when the gearbox mounting on the white Golf 2 gave up.  This meant that Arthur and Karl, who were once again sharing the car, had to retire without completing a single run.

All in all, a very satisfying day for the members who turned up.  A similar event will be held in the next month or two, weather permitting.  So, those of you who missed out on the first event for some reason or other, should get down to tuning their engines in preparation for the next speed event which will once again be open exclusively to Volkswagens.

A detailed list of the times achieved are reproduced below.
 

Air Cooled Category
 

Diesel Category
 

Petrol Category - Up to 1400cc
 

Petrol Category - Over 1400cc