Der Autobahn Scrapers (DAS) is without a doubt the most famous Volkswagen club in Europe. We published an article about this great bunch back in January 2002 and told you in detail about the members, their activities and their cars that are highly influenced by the California Look. To celebrate the club's 10th anniversary, the Belgian group decided to organize a simple drag day geared towards the European high-performance VW scene. The first problem they faced was to find a proper location, as no quarter-mile dragstrip exists in their homeland...
After some debate, they elected to hold the event in the neighboring Germany, more specifically in Bitburg, a city renowned for its Bitburger beer! Interestingly enough, Americans came en force to the area during the early '50s, erecting a military airport on the outskirts of town. Up to 12,500 Americans were stationed in Bitburg over the following years. Since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, most of our armed forces have left the region; however, the airport remains active on a much smaller scale for civilian use only.
So as to entertain the American troops still located in this part of the country, the airport is converted into a low-key dragstrip known as "Bitburg Motorpark" during some weekends. For a few Euros, everybody and anybody--American G.I. or not--could test his car on a quarter-mile track. Der Autobahn Scrapers opted to use this existing format for their drag day; in other words the get-together was held in conjunction with a regular "Run-What-You-Brung" weekend usually taken over by European sport compacts and V8 muscle cars. As a side note, let's mention that these drag races are organized by an association called 1-on-1 Motorsports, an international group consisting of Germans, Dutch... and Americans! The presence of the latter certainly appealed to many participants in the DAS Drag Day, and numerous times we heard guys telling us, "Hey, we feel like we are in the United States!" The goal of Der Autobahn Scrapers wasn't to attract a large crowd, as the club members' idea of fun being to promote quality rather than quantity. They consequently relied on word of mouth rather than advertising, and in the end, high-performance enthusiasts came along with their Volkswagens from over half-a-dozen countries.
But we are getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, so let's back up a bit... Our excellent adventures started on Friday, September 5, when we met Clyde Berg (of Gene Berg Enterprises, Calif.) at the airport in Brussels, Belgium. How did Clyde end up in this part of the world? Well, for the second time his famous ex-drag Bug has changed hands, and the new owner from Luxembourg invited him to race his beloved Sedan in Bitburg! We then went to Pat Stock & Performance--a Belgian VW shop run by a few DAS members--and at about 6pm we left in the company of about 15 Cal Lookers, in tow and not. The caravan arrived at the track three hours later. It was pitch dark, so we had absolutely no idea how the site looked. We would have to wait anxiously until Saturday morning to find out!
Saturday came, and boy, did we love what we saw! The place covers a huge piece of land, and 1-on-1 Motorsports sets the "dragstrip" on one of the airport's taxiways. Since there isn't enough space for a return road, all the cars needed to use the runway to go back to the pits. Now here is the tricky part... Small private planes still land from time to time on this same runway! To avoid any catastrophic crash, racers had therefore to wait at the end of the track, to make sure that no planes were going to hit the ground before driving back to the pit on the runway. The burn-out area proved quite interesting as well. The airport officials don't allow you to warm up the tires on the improvised racetrack, so competitors needed to do their burn outs next to the taxiway, at a 90-degree angle from the line. That's right, they had to make a sharp left turn towards the staging lights once done smoking the tires! Where there is a will, there is a way.
DAS brought along an impressive collection of memorabilia, exhibited under a couple of tents. Their display included various vintage high-performance parts (EMPI, DDS, etc.), in addition to a selection of obscure wheels. While we noticed a few German Look Bugs in the pits, the vast majority of VWs on hand featured Cal Look attributes. Their owners sometime belong to a club whose name sounds like something you would read in the pages of VWTrends back in 1977. How about Der Fieser Luftkuehlers (the mean aircoolers) or Der Benzin Saufers (the gas guzzlers)? On the whole, we were quite surprised and impressed with the quality of the Volkswagens we saw. Check out the pictures and judge for yourself... Let's also mention that DAS made some great dash plaques, inspired by the likes of the old Orange County Bug-Ins.
Although the official name of the event was "Drag Day," it actually spread over a period of two days, with Saturday dedicated to grudge matches, and Sunday to bracket racing--Udo Becker and his 10-second race car won the finals against Pat Deperne of DAS. A handful of street Bugs ran low 12s, and we recognized a few very fast Beetles involved in the German Tuner Test seen in our June 2003 issue. Clyde Berg broke the gearbox of the orange and white racer on Saturday, but after a frantic wrenching session at night with help from the crew of Steve's VW Shop, the vehicle saw more track action on Sunday.
The European high-performance Volkswagen scene gathers a tight-knit group of friends, and this could be witnessed by the couple of "surprise" trophies given by two German clubs to the members of Der Autobahn Scrapers in honor of its tenth anniversary. DAS also presented three killer trophies of their own (inspired by the like of the Orange County Bug-Ins) to their favorite Cal Look VWs. Overall, we would like to thank wholeheartedly Der Autobahn Scrapers for their warm welcome and for this killer weekend, which was blessed with decent weather - it seemed to rain all the time except during the races!
Bitburg Motorpark began its life as an American military airport over fifty years ago. It is now used for private planes... as well as fast street and race cars! |
Yours truly drove back to Belgium to the tune of Weber 48IDAs in Pat Deperne's 13-second Ragtop on Sunday night. In this picture, the car sits in his well-known VW shop named "Pat Stock & Performance." |
Less than a mile from the racetrack, a company specializing in fire-station equipment was selling these two "Feuerwehr" vans. The price tag? A fairly hefty 11,000 Euros each... |
The very cool '66 Convertible with slicks and 2276cc power of Donat Scheppers battled against Benoit Vanderkerkove's '59 Ragtop. This California import uses a set of American Racing rims and a potent 1776cc with IDAs. |
You don't see Porsche 914 Pedrini rims too often on a Volkswagen. They look excellent on Swen Hensels' 1966 Cal Looker, which runs a 76.4x90.5 (1966cc) engine. The odd crank comes from a watercooled Vanagon. |
Der Autobahn Scrapers made a lasting impression with the visitors, not only with their cars but also with this astounding booth featuring a bunch of rare vintage high-performance goodies. |
Clyde Berg came all the way from Orange, California to race his "old" drag Bug, now owned by Frank Schmitz of Luxembourg! |
Nope, this isn't a '67... Xavier Adam's 2110cc Sedan with Porsche Gas Burners wheels started life as an '84 Mexican Bug! |
Put a 3.6-liter flat-six from a Porsche 964 in a Type II and it will fly! The 250-horsepower Bus ran mid-13s and spanked a fast Acura NSX, among others. |
DAS presented three awards to a trio of California Look Volkswagens. Good looking trophies, huh? |
Pierre-Francois Logara owns this extremely well detailed '59 Beetle. |
Here is Der Autobahn Scrapers' area on Saturday. More club members showed up on Sunday, making for a very impressive squad of about 20 Cal Lookers. |
Strange wheels, aren't they? Called Rothstar, they still equip plenty of South African Vee-Dubs today. A very nice addition on Laurent Dejeaisve's 1957 Ghia... |
Q?,S?e Cuillerier piloted his Sedan to a series of 12-second passes. Motivation comes from a fuel injected 2.3-liter, based around an aluminum case. Here, he races alongside Walter Jelinek's white 12-second '66 that was featured in VWT in October 2003. |
Hailing from Switzerland, Alain Andre put his 2.3-liter powered '73 Fridolin to the test. The four-lug BRM-equipped workhorse broke first gear on Sunday. |
The '71 Standard Bug of Sandra Weigand found its inspiration from the '70s EMPI cars! |
The "SauerKraut" 192 horsepower Beetle of Andreas Augenstein competed against a mighty Oval from the Belgian club Der Benzin Saufers. |
Type III fanatic Ernst Bernsteiner drove this unmolested Notchback from Austria, while Karsten Feldsieper from the German club DFL owns the blue '67 with rare Remotec rims. |
The team of Udo Becker, a respected name in the European high-performance VW world, came with various fast cars including this low 12-second Type IV powered Super Beetle. |
Here is group of Cal Lookers from Germany: Oliver Zinnkann's 1776cc '68 dressed with an EMPI-style stripe kit, and Tobias Pleines' red Oval from DFL with a 1966cc engine. Note the "Anchor Headers" (an old name from the California Look's early days) lettering on the green '64. |
A Kaefer-Cup-style circuit racer outfitted with a Type IV motor and BBS rims joined the festivities. It ran 13s. |
Mike Walravens and Kobus Cantraine of DAS chat next to a bunch of desirable rims. Starting from the bottom, the second model was manufactured by Delta Mics during the '70s. Have you ever seen these? |
We were very impressed with the black beast of Tom Ratzek. Thanks to a fuel injected 2332cc, it crossed the finish line in 12.10 seconds. He also won the "1st Best Cal Look" DAS trophy. |
Stephane Briere from France posted a few low 12-second passes with his 2.7-liter Type IV Oval. A similar powerplant is being used in Tafel's '85 Mexican Bug, which we featured in our German Tuner Test last June. |
Twin brothers Mike and Fred DiPlacido built this awesome 1776cc-powered Manx Buggy. |
Our good friend Georg Otto, a member of DFL and one of the Editors of the German magazine VW Speed, wowed the crowd with his gorgeous Type 34 that rolls on a set of Gas Burners. |
Clyde Berg presented the DAS trophies to three smiling California Look VW drivers. |
Volkswagens could also compete against other makes. In this case, a black Bug with Porsche 944 wheels runs side by side with a small VW Polo. |
Genuine Rader rims, furious 2332cc... Philippe Fonseca owns a great '53 Ragtop! |
The day after the Drag Day, we visited the amazing Volkswagen collection of Bob Van Heyst, who incidentally runs BBT, one of the largest distributors of VW parts and accessories in Europe. What a place! |
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