Testosterone Running Poor Decisions

by Miguel Caparros

Testosterone running poor decisions has been the undoing of many men and women. Poor judgement in the effort to show off, rears its ugly head. At some point it happens to us all, it is part of what makes us tick and also so dangerous. My earliest memory of testosterone experience was when I was maybe 5, I really wanted to ride my big sisters 26 inch bicycle. She asked me to watch it while she visited a friend. The temptation was too great. I hopped on pushed off and took off on the downhill run on the sidewalk. As momentum turned into speed  I was in ecstasy with the resulting increase, fear gave way to the accomplishment that I was riding a BIG bike! As gravity accelerated the bike, I had to face the reality of figuring out how to stop. I was too small to activate the brakes.  Nearing our house and quickly reaching the end of the sidewalk I chose to run into a hedge as a way to stop. It did not do the bike much good, broke the fork and bent the front tire, I sustained minor scrapes and scratches and had to face the wrath of my 13 year old sister who on one hand wanted to kill me on the other she was worried that I was seriously hurt. I was not and Federico, our handy man had her bike fixed as good as new in a couple of days. This adventure eventually led to me to be a professional risk taker. I have spent a lifetime on the edge and perhaps that may be the reason that the survivor in me figured out early on were the limits are. But most of all, the need to show off always was balanced by the need to do no harm to others. I have done a thousand burn outs at the drag strip, never once on the street or a parking lot full of people, NEVER. I have raced on the streets, but always in a controlled environment. The consequences to innocents in my mind, has always overruled the need to just show off. I am guilty of trying to set land speed records at 3 am, again with the though of doing no harm.

Who Are We

Meet the contributors. Jason Cole, Photographer.

Text by Miguel Caparros Photos by Jason Cole and Miguel Caparros

I am the luckiest editor in the world. I some how manged to get some of the best photographers tojoin me in this adventure. Jason Cole is one of our "youngsters", when I first saw his wheel standing photos from Paradise Drag Strip Calhoun Georgia, where he is the official photographer, I knew I was looking at a special talent. As a motor sports photographer I can really appreciate just how difficult it is to get consistent action shots. Jason is like a pro gunslinger, he never misses. His first submission was a wheel standing Mustang, I inspected the image it is crystal clear and sharp as a tack. I immediately went to his web site. Shot after shot of great images and he can write to! He has a "day job" working at a carpet manufacturer in Dalton Georgia and a wonderful family. I briefly got to meet the Cole clan at Road Atlanta where Jason also proved his mettle at shooting the Formula Drift like a true Pro, he also caught the action of the formula cars that weekend too. I hope this evolves into a long relationship and a full time living for this very talented, professional "youngster".

Who is driving and where are we going?

Words and photos by Miguel Caparros. Last Sunday, the first Sunday of the month, a monthly ritual takes place in the Atlanta area. At 6 am people begin to gather at a parking lot in Alpharetta Georgia. The event is the Caffeine and Octane cruise, now its sixth month at the Barnes and Noble's and Starbucks coffee Parking lot. It is a rather large lot, with 750 parking spots with an additional parking lot available for another 600 cars. Last Sunday by 8 am the main lot was full by 9 am the overflow lots were filled and spectators were parking across the street in the Toy's R Us lot. They come to the cruise to see the most eclectic collection of vehicles that gather anywhere. From the exotic to the unusual and sometimes the absurd, at one point or another they all show up here. There is no judging no prizes no cost except the fuel to get there, and maybe a pastry and some Starbucks coffee. The exit parade begins at about 10:30 by 11:30 the lots are empty.

This event began almost six years ago at another mall when some enthusiast got together to bring customers to a friends Panera Bread store. Five cars showed up on that first Saturday. When the numbers got to be in the hundreds the mall management requested they move it to Sunday from 7:30 am to 11 am. Last November and December the attendance of cars went over 700. The mall management had enough, the event had to go. Much to the displeasure and financial loss of the Panera Bread and some of the other stores that did a thriving business by opening early on one Sunday each month. The big blow was to the Panera Bread that could cover all of their expenses and rent for the month being open from 6 am to 12 noon on that Sunday.

One of the participants at the original gathering is a police Sargent from Alpharetta, he paved the way for the seamless move, seeing the financial gains that would also help the local coffers in these lean times. 

While other venues are loosing participants we are seeing a resurgence of the cruises. This does not bode well for the promoters that charge gates or for the trophy makers. At first I thought it was a cultural thing, the baby boomers trying to turn the clock back, but it is much more than that, it is not age specific as the participants are a total cross section of the age groups. Maybe it is better to call it the California factor. Cruises never waned there and if anything they have flourished and become very sophisticated. I was rather taken aback when I first started to pay attention to the Atlanta area events, and how different they were from what I was accustomed to in California.

There have been some distinct diversion. The bar/restaurant shows, designed to attract customers to those venues and draw from 40 cars to 100 people, the larger numbers being rare. The Corporate fund raisers such as the annual UPS Kimberly Clark show are very well organized, regarded and attended. They are growing and last years event had 350 entries. The promoted out door shows are risky at best here in the south, they need large numbers just to make the nut and there is always the threat of wet or too hot weather. Mostly held at county fair grounds and race tracks, I have noticed a large drop in attendance at these venues.

The tuner market has had a major set back as there have been internal and external battles with NOPI, who was the major tuner events promoter.At this point NOPI has shut down their travelling tuner shows. ImportAtlanta.com who was at one point a sponsor of NOPI and then a competitor seems to be very quiet too. The only big thing in the tuner community is the Import alliance event that was huge and again it was a cruise in of major proportions. See my April article here. Even the big events such as, The International Auto Shows and World of wheels have to compete for attendance with professional sports events such as football, basketball and baseball.  Tthere may be to many events as the non profits, churches and the schools have hopped on the car show wagon as a way of raising funds. Thinks are changing stay tuned.

Road Atlanta’s Formula Drift 201

By Miguel Caparros Jason Cole Photos

 

Although this is only a two day event, I got personally involved by having my friend and Formula Drift 2010 World Champion, Vaughn Giddin Jr., come on to our Live Radio Show on Garage71 May 5th. This apparently kicked off a wave of excitement with our listeners and they showed up in droves. I saw so many faces that I know from the area who came to this drift event for the first time. The volume of activity on our website of photo and video postings shattered the previous record. I think Professional Drifting is reaching the main stream, the heart pounding excitement of door handle to door handle competition and the non stop action of the rounds with long intermission breaks to permit a lunch break or go into the hot pits to see the drivers and teams up close, I think this is going to get bigger.  The lead article from Stephanie Gullion is a fresh look from some one that had never been to a drift event before.

Photo by Jason Cole Story by Stephanie Gullion.

Showing up at Road Atlanta’s Formula Drift 2011 around noon on Saturday,I had no idea what to expect. Most tuners would roll their eyes when I reveal that the only drift knowledge I came with on Saturday was from…yes, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. And I had just enough common sense to know that there would be no parking decks to tear through and no mountainside showdowns to decide who would leave town, so that wasn’t going to be much help. But by race’s end at 9:30 that night, thanks to the help of my motor mentor, Miguel, and some new friends from the crowd, I not only understood drifting, but couldn’t wait to see more!

My afternoon at Road Atlanta’s Formula Drift began with a tour of the pits with racing veteran, Miguel Caparros. For any newcomer to the sport, I strongly recommend you get to the track early to check out the cars (and get a bunch of free merchandise, take a passenger seat drift ride, and enjoy photo ops with the sponsors’ lovely ladies). Drifting is nothing like your average car event—cars go through the track in tandem, and being first to the finish line is not the objective, that’s why getting an up-close look at the inside of the cars goes a long way to understanding what’s important on the track. How many other racing styles involve applying the hand brake and body kits that are designed to fall off the car on impact? The sponsors’ spokesmen are always nearby eager to answer questions (and plug their products of course).

Although the professionals weren’t set to face-off until 4 o’clock, the practice (beginning at 2) was nearly as exciting as the main event. It is clear that the drivers love what they do, and aren’t going to miss any chance to show off their skills and get the crowd pumped up. By the time practice got started, the track was already packed and the scene was one giant party with tents, grilling, and drinking.

Unlike other racing styles and events with long-standing traditions and unspoken etiquette, newcomers to Road Atlanta’sFormula Drift were enthusiastically welcomed by the crowd and the announcer clearly explained the rules and judging decisions throughout the event so that no one was left to guess what was going on. With only a 12-year history in the United States (the 8^th year at Road Atlanta), everyone involved is eager to help the drift following grow to keep events like this coming back and bring more to the area.

As for the heats themselves, well you just had to be there or watch the videos on South East Wheels Events . Suffice it to say, they didn’t disappoint! Ranging from over-eager drivers skidding straight into the “kitty-litter” on the first turn, to perfectly synchronized runs, to mechanical failure and even a fiery wreck, Formula Drift at Road Atlanta, literally had it all.

While I don’t feel that my day-long immersion into drift car racing qualifies me to go into the subtleties of the sport, if you’re interested in finding out more, I encourage you to check out Formula Drift’s website (http://www.formulad.com/) and www.drifting.com to learn more and catch a live streaming of Formula Drift events. Hope to see you next year for Road Atlanta’s Formula Drift 2012!

Here is the perspective from our Photographer and accomplished drag racer Jason Cole

The south gets....Smokey!

That's right, if you noticed the haze in the sky around Atlanta this weekend don't worry...we was all up in smoke after a few of the 800+ Hp beast at Road Atlanta roasted their tires. May 6th & 7th Road Atlanta hosted round 2 of Formula Drift , a 7 round drifting competition that started April 8th in Long Beach California and will end in Irwindale ,California Oct. 8th . This makes the 8th year Road Atlanta has hosted the Formula Drift event and word from the web is they haveconfirmed a 3 year extension for this completely intense show of driving skill. Friday started off with Pro/Am practice and qualifying ,which is held in the turn 10 complex of the track. A cool bit of info I heard announced is that 8 years ago the horseshoe ( 10b) was created just for this event. A starting line that's a straight shot downhill where the goal (points wise) is to hit 80mph before the left-hand turn,and if you mess up just a little...you end up in the gravel ,which is nick named "Kitty litter" and a few found it on both days. The right-hand to left-hand turn into the horseshoe is uphill until the exit which made for some of the best full throttle high rpm drifts , the smoke clouds would sometimes hide spectators on the other side of the track...it was just too cool. Another little extra Friday was seeing F2000 series race, it went down during the break in drifting action. Saturday, was PACKED out. I thought by getting there early I would find a good parking spot , haha never mind the spot I had a hard time with the crowds of fans along the road. Making my way to the pit's to cover that scene I noticed the diverse fan base, from young to old , mostly all carrying or wearing Nitto, Hankook, Falken etc. gear. Trying to capture the scene and get good pic's in this highly crowded area I used my wide angle lens & my height to my advantage. Most of the drivers & crew could be met down there, just hanging out tweaking on the cars, prepping for the big day. The Formula Drift scene knows how to show their fan's a good time, I was even able to meet many of the drivers, not to mention Vaughn Gitten Jr (2010 FD Champ) , you know, I got a picture with him. This event makes you feel so much a part of the sport (minus the driving) that you just stay entertained all day. When it came time for the main competition of a field of 32 the bleachers were packed , and you could feel the excitement all around. The sun was setting creating a warm glow on the track and when the cars put up all that smoke and made the turn out of the horseshoe their headlights would barley creep through the cloud , just making for such a cool sight to see and hear. If anyone gets a chance to go to a Formula Drift event (or any drift event) don't miss out, it's a cool motor sport that's fun to watch.and to be apart of !

If you want to see more of Jason's Photos Click Here!

Driving the Chevy Volt Through The Streets Of Atlanta

Story by Miguel Caparros

  We have been hearing about it; saw one on Hwy 400 a month ago, sat in one at the Atlanta International Auto Show. Today I got to drive one.  Walking around it out in the open air the car looks much better than in the photos or in the lights of the auto show. The Chrystal Red Metallic paint looks real good, and those of you that know me and paint jobs can attest that I am brutal in my quality inspection. This car's fit and finish were way above from what I have come to expect from the General. The color also made the car look bigger than it really is. With a wheelbase just short of 106 inches it is not a large car but the forward cabin placement makes the best use of the space. At 6' and 225 lbs I am a heavy weight in the ring and most of my height is in my torso, yet I had no issues fitting in the drivers' seat and then in the back seat with the front seat adjusted for me. The all digital instruments and touch screen controls may seem a little daunting at first, get used to it, this is from now on the normal. The quality of the interior two tone leather like seats and the brushed aluminum look is very tasteful and right in line with what you would expect in a car optioned to $40,000. The MSRP for the base car price is $32,700.Chevy Volt Brochure here.

To start, put your foot on the brake and push the blue start button and you hear......nothing. The only indication you are ready to go is that the instrument panel is lit up. Pull the center console mounted shift lever towards you and you are ready to go silently down the road. In city driving is where this car can save you a fortune in fuel as it operates in full electric mode unless the battery voltage drops to low. When that happens, the performance management computer seamlessly kicks in to move you like a conventional gas powered car and charges the batteries. It's the electric motor that really supplies the performance of this car and it does accelerate well.

Driving the car in electric mode is eerily quiet; all that quiet dictated that Chevrolet Noise and Vibration Engineers had to pay close scrutiny all the things that can rattle and vibrate as there is no noise to mask and confuse the ears. I am happy to say the Volt NVH group did a great job, I have always preferred the ride motions of a firm suspension as long as it does not loosen my fillings or rattles things in the interior. Once again I was very surprised how tight this car felt driving around the streets near Piedmont Park. Like most major older cities, the streets are less that billiard table smooth, and there is lots of torn up spots where there is construction going on. The Volt's suspension handled every thing perfectly and maintained perfect comfort inside. 

There was only one thing that I did not like and it would not be something most people would notice unless they sit in the drivers' seat as far back as I do. As a racer of all kinds of vehicle I rely, and I am very aware of what is going on in my peripheral vision. Due to my seating position and the very thick B pillar, that is also a key to achieving side crash protection and roll over integrity, when I would scan my eyes to see what is over my left shoulder all I would see is the pillar. Please understand that I am part of a very small minority of people that this would affect, I just have to rely more on the mirror and lean forward to see around the pillar. 

Hopefully in the near future we can bring you a long term Video test and answer questions on long distance driving, overnight charging and then perform instrumented fuel consumption and performance test. I want to thank General Motors Southeast Region for making this car available.

Confessions Of A Motor Head, To Dartmouth In A Mini

by Miguel Caparros 

Miguel Capaross Photo

My friend Leslie, Who I lost touch with for a long time, reminded me recently of the Austin Mini I had in high school. It was a Countryman woody wagon, Red in color. I bought it for $35.00, the price of the Sears battery just installed by the previous owner. The details of how I came to buy it or who it was I bought it from are gone from my memory. It did not run when I bought it, a good tune up and that I was able to get the fuel flowing, got the car running well enough to get me to school. I was already well established for the unusual cars I had during high school the mini was just another chapter. 

The first adventure with the Mini was A road trip to Dartmouth form Plymouth to meet some girls at the “BIG GAME”. Bob. Rick and I managed to survive the game and not get caught doing the things that high school boys and girls do. All of the post game traffic was clear and we headed home. It was about 5 miles out of Dartmouth that at a stop sign I experienced some difficulty finding a forward gear. After much stirring of the gear shift lever I managed to get it into 2nd and get rolling. I kept my fears to myself as the shift into third failed and I was able to muscle the lever into 4th. About 10 miles later another stop sign. I was in a sweat, as I came to the stop and tried down shifting with no results as we came to a stop. All the stirring, banging and cussing was not helping to find a gear. Forward motion stopped right then and there, not even half way home. 

Now you are saying, breakdowns happen, it should not be a big deal to hitch a ride home or call some one to pick us up. The circumstances dictated otherwise. Bob was nicely pickled but functional, Rick was slurring a lot, and I was not supposed to have taken the car out of town. As I was about to tell the boys to get out and push, I found reverse! I was able to get the car turned into the direction of home and I drove from there on in reverse, the engine screaming as flat out all it would go was 25mph. All was almost right in the universe for a brief time until we got pulled over, still short of our goal but close enough where my short life should not be snuffed out by the wrath of my dad. We were just 5 miles outside of the town line, Bob and Rick now appeared sober and I told the Officer that I could call home and get a ride. Ha! From the house where we came to a stop in front of, the lady of the house was kind enough to let me use the phone. I called home knowing no one was there as dad was in New York. I faked the conversation for the officer telling him that dad would be on his way. Once he was out of sight I started the Mini once more and drove another 8 miles or so when the engine died. We were out of gas, out of time and out of sunlight. But… we were inside of the Town limit. We got out and hitched a ride home. Survived to get into trouble another day.

Confessions of a Motor Head. The Cop And The Brownies

My friend Leslie who moved back to where we grew up in Plymouth New Hampshire sent me a recent picture of my old Texaco Station. We were there but a fleeting moment in our lives, yet I have great memories from that brief moment in time.
I remember one night a VW Micro Bus pulled in, all painted up with rainbows and peace signs. A young hippie couple with three young children got out of the Bus. The engine sounded real sick, oil and smoke were pouring out out the back. I took a look at it and saw a hole in the side of engine. The Bus would go no further. The couple had just taken over the Jack o Lantern Motel north of town and would not have any money for e few months until the crop came in. Neal and I agreed to fix up an old 36 hp engine I would supply the know how and the Mike, the Hippie would provite the labor. He could pay us for parts after the crop came in. We finished the work in about a week of. Mike would come in after his chores were done at the motel and the farm to work on the engine. It was late on a Friday night that we saw him off with the newly refurbished engine. Early October on a nice sunny New England fall Saturday, at about noon, the Bus pulls into the station. The whole family is out for a drive and they came to pay their bill and brought into the gas station 3 huge trays of Home made Brownies. We had recently started selling fuel to the Plymouth Police Department since we were the only station in town that was open late, they started to give us some of their fuel business. 
It did not take us long to figure out that pumpkins were not the only crop brought in and everyone that had a brownie had the giggles, Neal was in low orbit. At about 3pm a Rookie Officer was there to fill up the cruiser before starting his shift, he came into the office to sign the charge and saw the Brownies. He put down the pen and grabbed 3 of them and headed out the door stopped in mid bite turned back in and grabbed two more. About an hour later I had to run an errand and took the then new Plymouth bypass. I saw the officer by the side of the road with his lights on and it appeared he had pulled over some one on a bicycle. 45 minutes later I was coming back and the car, with the officer sleeping with the cruisers lights still blazing, were still in the same spot. I stopped behind the cruiser, got out and walked up to the cop cars window. There was the officer sitting perfectly still passed out, two of 5 brownies remaining in the seat next to him. I reached across the seat and grabbed the remaining Brownies and noticed his ticket book, I took a quick glance and and saw that he had given the bicyclist a speeding ticket for 85 MPH. If I recall you had one of those Brownies too.

Confessions of a Motor Head. How fast will she go?

by Miguel Caparros

Living in New Hampshire through my formative years was a teenage motor heads dream, driving at 14 with a parent, full license at 16. I took my drivers test in Mom's new 66 VW, like everything else that comes near me, I was already modifying it before the ink had dried on the title. Dad had agreed to pay for the rear camber compensator, front sway bar, and 4 Koni shocks, I also sneaked in an Abarth exhaust. I re-clocked the torsion bars lowering the car about 2 inches. Mom was the envy of the college parking lot for her cool VW.

But this story is about another VW, a 57 oval window car that belonged to a Librarian at the College. Janice had gotten the car from her dad who bought it new, it had very few miles the original 36 hp engine and one very nice option if you live in a place where the average temperature during the winter is 18, a gas powered heater. It was a tiny furnace that could heat the VW from 30 below to, "turn that thing off" in 5 minutes. On cold snowy days it was my number one choice to make the 20 mile drive from the Ski area where we lived to school. Equipped with studded snow tires it was unstoppable. I had other projects during the winter to keep the mod gene in check but as spring started to loom on the horizon I started to think of at least painting the faded out baby puke green of the 57 bug. As April began to melt the snow the 57 got a new 66 Ford Mustang dark metallic green paint.

Being in the mountains the snow melts last. The lower elevations in Laconia show their bare ground first. I had an unfinished assignment from my mechanics Master Claude Meder, that he gave me the previous summer in Florida. It was to rebuild completely a modern twin cam motor that had belt driven camshafts as opposed to chains or gears. There was a junk yard near Louden, not very far from the race track, it had a good collection of imports and some totaled race cars. This was a true junk yard not the clean organized recyclers we have today, there was junk there going back a century and it was where it fell. Sloshing through the wet ground from the melting snows I found a Fiat 124 Coupe that had been hit very hard from behind. Being a regular customer of the yard the junk man let me use the ancient 30's tow truck to pick up the Fiat and take it apart in slightly dryer and level ground. When I was done with it he pointed me to take it to a part at the back of the yard where the real old junk was. As I was lowering the Fiat my eye was drawn by something that did not seem to belong. Once I had lowered and unhooked the Fiat I walked over to the pile that had caught my eye. I thought I saw a VW headlight under a pile of hoods, as I started to remove the heavy American hoods from the late 40s and early 50s I began to see that it was not a VW at all but a Porsche. It was a silver 550 Spyder, and it was a mangled mess. Immediately my mind raced to how many of these parts I could use in other projects. Amazingly enough most of the car was there including the twin cam Carrera engine and transmission. I went to the junk man and asked him what he wanted for the Fiat engine and transmission he said $50.00, I then asked him what he wanted for the Spyder in the back of the yard. He did not remember it or how it got there he saw the mangled mess and told me $25.00 and told me to use the wrecker and load it myself onto the flat bed I was driving.

Once home I became consumed with the 550. I started removing all the sheet metal as there was not a panel that was of any use. In short time I was left with Spyder chassis that had some bent tubes and bent axles. I began measuring to plan an attack on fixing the frame. I replaced the front axle with a VW one and installed the Porsche brakes, not to get lost in the details I was able to replace the bent tubes and with a 40 hp VW engine had the chassis driving in a couple of weeks. The original engine turned over but did not run. It took three weeks and a pile of money to get an overhaul kit and a workshop manual for the twin cam engine. Ignorance and youth are bliss, the complication of that engine rivals a modern day Formula one engine. Instead of a chain to drive the 4 camshafts the German engineers used gears and shafts to connect the crank shaft to the cams. The complication of this drive train has brought many mechanics to their knees in frustration. I got lucky on the first shot and it all worked.
The engine went into the chassis and I scarred myself stupid the first time I floored it. At 700 lbs, with the 140 HP the engine was supposed to make, the acceleration would have been dragster level. Not knowing any better I diverted some of the air from the colling fan to supercharge the engine, I would estimate it made close to 200 HP.

So now I had a very fast 200 hp chassis and a very nice Beetle with 36 hp. You know where this is going. I flipped the Carrera engine and transmission so that the engine was at the back instead of the Spyders placement in the middle. I then cut the chassis side tubes off so that I could incorporate the whole thing into the VW floor pan. Put a well fitted roll over bar in the interior and welded the body, chassis and roll bar into one unit. This engine had been installed in the rear position of the 356 Spyder and coupes so I ordered an Abarth muffler for that combo. It all fit with minor modifications.

A note of humor. The first time I started the car put it in reverse to back it out of the garage, I almost went through the front wall. I forgot to flip the differential gears when I turned the engine from the mid engine position to the rear. I had 1 forward gear and 5 in reverse.

Once the gears were all turning in the proper direction it became instantly obvious that this car was scary fast and the baddest sleeper anywhere. The additional weight of the Beetle body helped keep the front wheels on the ground under acceleration, just barely, still had to be careful to not wheely under full power in first gear. It never lost a drag race on the street and only once at the drag strip when I had to let up racing a gasser and the front end got too light approaching the traps at over 130 mph, it still had one gear to go.

Everyone in the mid sixties was struggling with a way to make race cars stable at high speeds. I spend hours reading aircraft aerodynamics studies and looking carefully at what Ferrari (where I was a apprentice) and Jim Hall was doing with the Chaparral. The Beetle presented an unusual problem due to its shape. If you look at it from profile it looks like a profile of a wing, a surface to create lift. The solution was a combination of the aircraft knowledge and the work on the Chaparral. From the aircraft I learned that a simple fence or spoiler at the transition point (the crown of the roof line) would break up the lifting action, from Jim Hall I learned if I keep the air from getting under the car it lowers drag and lift. So I created a rubber dam system that was unseen from the outside and a very subtle lip on the roof.

So now to test it.
I knew that the car accelerated fast and handled real well. I also knew that it was very unstable as you approached 140 mph. In 1966 there was not much traffic on Interstate 93 after midnight. I figured there would be even less between one and two AM. So an a clear cool night I started south bound on 93. The car was stable at 140 I wondered just how fast it would go? My calculations of the gearing and the RPM's that the engine could turn in 5th gear came to a speed I was not convinced the car could really go. I got to a ten mile stretch that was hilly but did not have any major curves that might cause problems at high speeds. I worked my speed up taking the Carrera engine to 8,000 rpm in every gear acceleration was steady until a few seconds in 5th gear the progress was slower now. A curve that was feeling a little to tight forced me to lift at 7500 rpm. I gathered up the car slowed for the next safe stretch that was 5 miles away, I started accelerating hoping to at least hit red line before the downhill. I crested the long down hill run and in the distance the sky was lit up with flashing lights the interruption kept me from noticing the tachometer reading. I let up and coasted down to 70, the speed limit. As I approached the full road block I realized that this had to be a big deal. There are just not that many officers on duty at 2 AM. 4 police cars were blocking the road with guns drawn. I putted to a stop. And raised my hands registration and license in hand. I was told to get out of the car. They swarmed the car with flashlights blazing into the interior of the 57 bug, besides the tachometer there was no abnormality. Apparently they were expecting a monster V8 in the back seat all they saw was a 10 year old VW seat. “Okay kid open the trunk and engine compartment” at this point the guns were dropped and my id. returned to me as it became more apparent that I was not their suspect. After inspecting both ends of the bug and being satisfied that I was not their man one car was withdrawn to open the lane. I turned to the officer closest to me and asked, “what are you guys looking for?” “An officer 10 miles up the road said he clocked a car on radar at 168 mph, he must have been sleeping” I answered “there is no way you could get a 57 Bug going that fast” I slowly putted away, very slowly.