42-Year-Old Beetle Beats Porsche 997 At Santa Pod

Spectators were stunned this month when they witnessed a 42-year-old Beetle achieve the ¼ mile at Santa Pod in an impressive E.T. of 10.88 seconds with a terminal speed of 128 mph.

Yet more unbelievable though was the fact that the Golden coloured, 1965 Beetle went on to beat a Porsche 997 Carrera S! Right from the off spectators saw the speedy Turbo Dynamics turbocharged Beetle shoot into a clear lead, leaving the 3.8 litre Porsche unbelievably, behind in its wake.

The afternoon race saw the Beetle zip down the track in an E.T. of 11.04 seconds with a terminal speed of 129.77 mph against the Porsche’s E.T. of 13.18 seconds and terminal speed of 113.03 mph.

Bournemouth’s proud owner and driver, Martin Greaves said of his win, “I am delighted. After achieving the 10.88 seconds in the morning, I told the owner of the Porsche that he should race me. I said I thought it would be close, but that he was going to win because my car’s only a Beetle!”

The Beetle has a 2276cc engine with a 650cfm Holley and Turbo Dynamics reconditioned draw through turbo set up.

Local turbocharging specialists, Turbo Dynamics rebuilt, specially modified and fully blueprinted the car’s T04B turbo, which helped Greaves break into the magic 10 second bracket and achieve this personal best. Their improvements to the turbo included an uprated 360 degree thrust bearing and twin racing Stagger Gap piston ring seals. Greaves commented, “Turbo Dynamics have been professional with friendly help.”

TD have a fully equipped workshop with three computerised balancing machines that enable them to balance turbos up to 230,000 RPM. They also have a dedicated machine shop with CNC machining capabilities, which allows fast turnaround and quality control; TD are ISO 9001:2000 accredited. TD’s competition turbochargers are all blueprinted to exacting manufacturers’ tolerances and have a 12 month warranty.

TD Director, Gail Marsh said, “I am very pleased for Martin. He achieved a great time in the Beetle and I hope we can continue to help him improve on it further. Who knows what super cars that Beetle could beat!”

Greaves, a member of the Outlaw Flat Four Drag Racing Club (www.outlawflatfour.com ) regularly attends racing events with fellow VW drivers. This year has seen him compete with the winning Beetle at Shakespeare County Raceway, Bitburg International Raceway in Germany and Chimay International Raceway in Belgium.

Outlaw Flat Four have been described by Quartermile TV (www.quartermiletv.com ) as, "One of the most exciting classes to watch… with startline wheelies on every run!"