Rose City Volksters

The Morning of September 19^th was drippy and dismal, but the Volksters braved the weather and showed up at the meeting place in North Plains for the 4^th Annual Beach Cruise.  As the group gathered, the clouds parted and the sun started peeking through.  From North Plains it was off to Del Rey Beach, just north of Gearhart, OR.  14 VW’s cruised down the Oregon Coast Highway, along with several other chase autos.  By the time everyone made it out on the Sand and got situated, the sun had burned off all the clouds and it was there to stay.  Volksters and family members alike enjoyed a fun-filled day of kite flying, great BBQ and snacks, and a leisurely competition of Bolo ball.  And of course there was the playing in the sand and just relaxing.  It was a great event, and our pack of VW’s attracted a lot of attention, from cruising in line down the highway, to our lineup on the beach.  We even had an officer of the Gearhart police stop by and swap stories, explaining he had 4 VW’s of his own!  It was an event to remember, and if you didn’t make it this year, be sure to watch the calendar for next year’s Cruise to the Beach! 

 

On the evening of August 25th, the downtown streets of Hillsboro were swarming with people for the final Tuesday Market of the season. Included in that crowd were the Rose City Volksters – invited by the market to celebrate the final night – we filled almost an entire city block with VWs. A line of 15 air and water-cooled vdubs filled the prime parking area directly in front of the courthouse.

The musical entertainment that night was provided by our own Mike Soto and his band, SLA!

Who doesn’t love a trip to the drive-in?  The cars, movie, popcorn… the cars.  This was the case on August 15th as the Rose City Volksters participated in VW Night at Newberg’s 99W Drive-In.  

We met at Al’s Garden Center around 3 pm & rolled with 5 VW’s to the drive-in and arrived early enough to secure premier parking spots in the middle of the third row!   By the end of the night we had a total of 7 club cars.  Those in attendance: Randy, Amy & Mariah, Duane & Colleen, Bryan, Erica & Taylor, Glenn, Kirsten, Alex, Rachel & Scarlett, Dorian & Dusty, Charlotte, Bob, Mike & Mike’s friend.

During the long wait outside the gates (which opened at 6:30), we visited with members & other drive-in goers including some Absolute VW members & the Coffin Cruisers.  Temorary tattoos were applied temporary tattoos and several people walked to the local stores for snacks and dinner.

After we all parked we played a game of scavenger hunt bingo.  The object was to win raffle tickets by completing a bingo row.  To check off your bingo squares you had to find the items in the squares somewhere in the drive-in.  There were 3 raffle tickets available for bingos, additionally one was given for just showing up & one more was given out at the last club meeting to all those who planned to attend, for a total of 5 maximum.  After all the raffle tickets were given we held the prize drawing.  Dorian won 2 items, a matchbox car & a transporter collectible.  Duane also won a transporter replica.  Erica won a matchbox & Kirsten won a t-shirt.  The grand prize was a RC bug that was won by our only blackout bingo achiever, Bryan!  Congratulations!  Everyone had a great time talking with all the people at the drive-in & was amazed by how many people were willing to help us play our goofy game.

The first movie this year was “G-Force” – a guinea pig spy movie.  The second movie was “Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince.”  Both movies ended up being fairly entertaining.  Those that stuck around for both shows rolled out around 2am.  It was a long night but tons of fun!  We look forward to going again soon, or at the latest, attending this event again next year.

After weeks of trash talking and head games, it was time for cars and drivers to show what they were made of at the first Rose City Volksters Drag Racing Night.

The cooler weather was perfect for a night of racing. By the end of the

night, seven Volksters brought their cars through tech inspection and made their way to lane 3 – specifically set aside by the track for club staging.

Each racer had a chance to make as many as 5 runs down the track to get a feel for how their cars would perform and work on their reaction times. Mark helped everyone out by getting the first red light, while Duane consistently had some the slowest reaction times and later had to depend on the motor to get a win.

Once 5 rounds of time trials were down, the racing switched to dial-in times.

In the first heat, Heidi won over Jeremy’s red light and Peter got the win over Mark on a red light as well. Bryan won by running a 19.53 on a 18.9 dial-in against Randy’s 19.28 on a 19.2 dial-in. Duane was the odd car in the field but beat a Datsun 210 by running a 17.65 on a 17.6 dial-in.

In the second heat, Duane finally figured out the lights with a .041 RT time against Peter’s .087 RT. Despite having almost a 2.5 second head start, Duane was able to chase Peter down the track for the win by running 17.745 versus 20.187. Jeremy’s red light gave Randy his first win of the night and Bryan’s red light gave the Datsun the win.

By the third heat, the temperatures where dropping and almost everyone was breaking out of their dial in times. Bryan (19.32 on a 18.9 dial-in) took the win when Randy ran a 19.138 against a 19.20 dial-in. In the first battle of the Super Beetles we had a double breakout, Peter ran a 20.057 on a 20.15 dial-in and took the win from Jeremy (20.335 on a 20.49 dial-in).

The final heat pitted Duane against Bryan and Peter against Jeremy.

In the final “Battle of the Super Beetles”, Peter tried prove that consistency is the key to success while Jeremy was trying to shake the curse of three red light starts. Both racers had similar reaction times – Peter had a .156 versus Jeremy’s .219 – but this race would be settled by how well each driver knew their cars. The cooler temperatures had an impact as Peter broke into the 19s by running a 19.946 at 65.37 MPH on a 20.10 dial-in and gave the win to Jeremy who ran a 20.455 at 63.74 MPH on a 20.30 dial-in.

Secretary versus Under-Secretary. Duane had been putting down the fastest times all night, but also had the worst reaction times. Bryan had the next fastest car and some of the fastest reaction times. Bryan had a 1.5 second head start by running a 18.9 dial-in against Duane’s 17.4. To no one’s surprise Bryan’s RT of .131 topped Duane’s .243 which ended up deciding the race. In a chase to the end, Bryan crossed the lights .0482 seconds ahead of Duane to take the win.

In the end, the trash talking didn’t end up meaning much. The cars were well matched against each other and there weren’t any real “blow-outs”. Everyone made it through the night without breaking their cars.

We will plan another race night in the future. Perhaps another race in September?