Header picture © Callum Pudge

Bob Roberts has kindly sent a gallery of pictures taken by him whilst the build of Danny Pike's VW Type 3 took place at Eurodragster.com sponsor Robinson Race Cars.

Outlaw Flat Four racer Danny Pike’s VW Type 3 build commenced in June 2016. The brief was to have a car that could handle nitrous in 2017, and a methanol turbo setup later, all using VW-based engine and gearbox drivetrain.

The first three pictures show the shell without front end and rear panels, which were to be fibreglass. The door sills were still present, as without them there would have been no structural rigidity, and this was further helped with horizontal braces. By the end of June the frame had been fabricated with a funny car-style roll cage (pics 4 to 12). The car being rear-engined, the gearbox was placed into position (pics 9, 10 and 12). By the third week in August 2016 the seat had been located and the doors added. Then come the engine (pic 14) and suspension components (pic 16). The front axle was constructed (pic 20), with disc brakes (pic 22) and attached to the frame (pics 22-24).

At the start of September, some additional welding was needed at the base of the hinge pillar to re-attach it to the door sill (pic 27) and then it was on to positioning the drive train and adding the rear panel (pic 29-31). In mid-September the fibreglass front end was then fitted (pics 34-36) and front shock absorbers mounted to the chassis (pic 37). The engine plate was bolted to the chassis fittings (pic 42).

During October the rear end including drive train took some additional fabrication work including drive axles and wheel hubs (pics 46-52).

The car, painted the same blue as Danny’s previous Lil Lizzy Beetle, first came out at Big Bang in April 2017 for shakedown runs. The car came back in Dragstalgia 2017 and ran a best of 9.926/137.70 there. At the start of 2018 Danny chose to revert to Lil Lizzy, but at the Retro Show driving his Fiat X1/9, he went 9.85 but then the chute caught the wind, sending the car into the barrier.

Danny returned to the Type 3 in 2019 with a turbo added, however the year was ruined by a fuelling issue, keeping boost down to 7 psi, that has now been figured out and sorted. The car ran a shakedown 10.128/127.23 at the Green Light Nationals. At VW Action, after a strong wheelieing launch, the car brushed the right wall at SPR at VW Action, giving it minor bodywork damage – ‘Rubbing’s racin’, as someone said, and Danny added ‘It will go again’. It was back at the National Finals. A new ECU should help the car make around 600 hp when it goes on the dyno in July 2020, and this should enable the car to head towards the eights.