Retro Racing's Frank Camper Shares His Secrets

Autocrossing the Karmann Ghia: Going Racing on the Cheap for the Beginner

Lesson One: The Lighter the Better
Lesson Two: Street Tire Pressures Do Not Work
Lesson Three: Learn to Drive Before You Modify the Car

Air-cooled VW's run in all kinds of motorsports, drag racing, offroad racing, circle track, even road racing Formula Vee. All of these classes costs money, but there is one motorsport you can enter even with a stock car -- the autocross. It is safe, fun, and as competitive as any racing in the world.
Typically, a course is laid out marked with pylons, and cars are released one at a time to run the course as fast as possible, without hitting any cones. Speed is relative. Autocross speeds are never very high, 75mph would be fast, and 40mph is more common. But it's like doing 40mph through the rooms of your house.
Autocross events are sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America and other local car clubs in almost every major city in the U.S. about once a month. Entry fees are low, usually $25 or so, and for that, you get a day on the track, making three to five timed runs, flinging your car around the course in the type of driving you only see in movie car chases through city streets.
An absolutely stock car is eligible. You don't even need special tires. Safety rules do require drivers wear helmets. Most clubs have loaner helmets if you don't have your own. At the track, make sure and take everything loose out of the car, including the spare tire and jack. It's obvious you don't want anything flying around in the trunk, but the big advantage is you're making the car lighter. Lesson One is The Lighter the Better.
Actually, starting out driving your car the same way it is set up for the street is very educational. You learn what it will really do when pushed to, and over, the limit. The first speed trick a stocker should use is just higher tire pressures. Lesson Two is Street Tire Pressures Do Not Work for a car pushed even moderately. The tires will almost roll right off the rims. Good Ghia TP's (to start) are 20 to 24psi front and 26 to 28psi rear.
The Karmann Ghia is a great autocross car. "Quick cars" tend to win autocrosses over "fast cars." The Ghia is light, low, and responsive. The advantages of the Ghia over the Bug will not be apparent until your skills are greater, and you begin to modify your car. But if you're a beginner, forget about speed parts. Lesson Three is Learn to Drive before you modify the car.
Part of learning to drive is to secure yourself in your seat. You can't control the car if you have to brace and fight to keep your body in the seat. The sharp turns and hard braking in an autocross are continuous, and only a good tight lap and shoulder belt will keep you in place.
You may have had the chance to walk the course before the event, and that helps, but walking it is not like driving it. The thing to keep in mind on your first run of your first event is "take it easy, learn the course, precision first, speed later."
Most new drivers sit on the starting line and suddenly the track looks like a sea of cones, the path through lost. When the starter signals go, you race into the sea of cones, dodging left and right, tires screaming, and 40mph seems like 100.
At the end of the run, you may have missed some turns altogether and killed cones like a bowling ball crashing through the ten pins, but your adrenaline will have your hands shaking and your breath will be short. You'll drive right back to the grid and take your place in line, more prepared, making plans on what to do different, what to do better.

Next Time: Driving tips, tire pressure tuning, and special clutch, steering, and brake adjustments.

About RetroRacing: Driven by Barret Camper, the team's race-prepped 1970 Karmann Ghia took SCCA Region 1 "solo" autocross championships back to back in 2005-2005, in DM and EM classes, against stiff competition from Dodge Vipers, Lotus 7 type chassis with Wankel and V6 engines, and many assorted slammed, tuned, and tricked-out ricegrinders.