LSR Karmann Ghia Blog, September 23, 2009

The following was sent to the Karmann Ghia Club of North America's email list on September 23rd.

Hello All,

I've been asked several times in private posts or on the phone about this closing sentence from my "final?" post a few days ago, so I think others may be interested too and I should clarify:

"In the end, others think of this as a very successful experience for me and the Ghia and I do not."

From my view, the key word here is "very."

...I'm thankful that I got in three runs over 100 mph and in that sense it was neither an embarassment nor a failure and was indeed a success worthy of some note. However, my perception is that I know that I did not do well in extracting the potential of this particular Karmann Ghia, engine and transaxle combination. My "poor result" should not be seen as a reflection on the abilities of these machines but rather as a combination of all pertinent circumstances, and _I_ could have done much better - and therefore would have done more justice to these venerable machines. So, in my view it was a successful result but not a very successful result!

I do not intend to let this (to my mind medeocre) result stand and, though I don't yet know how (what venue / when), I intend to put forward a more proper result in the future, most likely next season at another 36hp Challenge event. At this point in time I do not intend to have a long-term, on-going racing carrier, but I do intend to ensure history records these machines as more capable than I demonstrated last Saturday.

Regards,
Richard

P.S. Since I know I'll be asked if I don't comment: I think my original estimate of 118 mph is the proper value for this particular combination of distance, engine, automobile, and transaxle. 10 mph more would have made a good showing, 15 more would have made a fantastic showing, and greater than that would have shown that we overestimate the coefficient of drag of a Karmann Ghia! Keep the shiny side up, rubber side down, and your foot in it, RT

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