Chasing a Racing Championship with a $5K Car

Five Grand Jetta Pulle(yed) a Trick!

We took the car back to the dyno and found what seemed to be the cam pulley had skipped a tooth. But it had gone a tooth back, not forward as one would expect. We put it down to the panel shop likely trying to push the car in reverse and causing the tensioner to slacken and the belt to jump on  the top pulley. We soon had it sorted and found all our power back on the dyno.

That meant we only had official Friday practice left to prepare our five grand car. We were out bright and breezy in session 1. The times were so-so and then it went backward from there. Back in the shop we found the cam timing to be out again.

We stripped the belt and pulleys off and lo and behold! The crank pulley had cracked all around its boss (above) and the timing was shifting! We replaced the pulley, headed back to the dyno and set it up, missing the final session in the process. The joys of motor racing!

Joys of Motor Racing!

So, we gave the car a wash, took it through scrutineering, bolted on the new race rubber up front, fueled it and parked it. Qualifying was 08h10 am next morning, so we headed home for an early night ahead of the big day.

How did our first race with our five grand Jetta go? Come back next month to find out!

Images: Lupini