Y’all, I’m giving you a goal. You have one year to build a dirt-worthy Class 11 vintage air-cooled Volkswagen bug so you can go to Crandon, Wisconsin and race your first race on a 1.75-mile short course track in front of tens of thousands of fans.
Before you panic, I’m going to tell you how to make this dream a reality.
First, a bit about why I’m sending you to Crandon. I mean, Class 11s historically race in the desert, so what up with this mid-west location? Every Labor Day weekend the Crandon International Raceway, otherwise known as The Big House, puts on three days of racing like no other. Over 15 classes of vehicles from kids’ trophy karts to UTVs to Pro4 trucks and yes, the humble VW battle it out on Crandon’s iconic course.
You’ll have fun, but it won’t be easy. You’ll be challenged with two 20-minute races full of absolute mayhem. You’ll be jumping, drifting and door-banging with the best of them, all while your spotter in the tower screams at you to stay left STAY LEFT DAMMIT! However, you won’t need chase trucks or a whole fleet of folks to help out like you do in desert racing. In fact, you could show up to Crandon just you and a spotter and have a grand old time. It’s a good race to start with.
First step: Find a bug
The best year bugs to get are 1969 or 1970. Everything earlier featured a swing axle in the rear. Sure they are durable, but an independent rear suspension will get you just a bit more wheel travel. If you look for anything newer, you run the risk of accidentally buying a Super Beetle, which you 100-percent do not want.
[Editor’s Note: I think that year range is likely too restrictive. Beetles have had double-jointed independent rear suspension since the semi-autos in 1968 and then everything from 1969 to 2003. Yes, 2003! Emme is right in that you could end up with a Super Beetle, but those were only built from 1971 to 1978 (convertibles to 1979 but you’re not looking for those as a Class 11) and you can definitely tell what is a Super and what isn’t. Unless you’re buying completely blind, you shouldn’t end up with a Super if you don’t want one. And there’s less of them than standard Beetles.
Regular, torsion-bar Beetles were made and imported to America up until 1978; in Mexico, they were built until 2003, and Mexico never built Super Beetles, so any Class 11 made from a Mexican Beetle would be fine. I’d personally say the range of viable Beetles would be from 1969 to 1978 for US-spec cars, and all the way to 2003 if you want to get a Mexican Beetle. – JT]
Super Beetles feature a MacPherson strut setup in the front and the suspension mounts are tied to the body, like most MacPherson strut configurations are. This is no bueno for off-road racing as the mounting points just aren’t strong enough. The standard Beetles have the suspension connected to the front beam of the chassis, so the body doesn’t have to take any of the stress from impacts. I mean, you’ll still likely lose a fender or three, but it won’t be due to the shocks.
The next thing you’ll have to do is get some more ground clearance. This is super easy to do thanks to the torsion springs the Beetle rests on. In the rear, you have two splined bars that meet in the middle. Simply take them out of the tube housing, re-index them one spline and move on to the front.
[Editor’s Note: The rear torsion bar re-indexing is a pretty easy way to get more (or less) height, but it’s worth noting that the spring plate is under a lot of tension and you can definitely get hurt if you’re not careful. Also, this site has the full chart of re-indexing changes to the torsion bar, so you can see how much you need to turn the inner and outer spline to get the angle change you want, which gives you the height change you want. – JT]
The front springs are torsion leaf packs and they are a bit harder to get to. You have to cut into the front beam in the middle and twist the center of the leaf packs about 10 degrees. Re-weld your beam and you’ve got yourself an instant lift with at least 10 inches of ground clearance.
Now you have room for bigger tires for more grip and sidewall. You can add some cheap KYB shocks just like the original Class 11 racers and boom … you’ve got a pretty cool play car.
But of course, we’re talking about racing here, so you’ll have to spend a bit more money on shocks. Most teams run a two-inch Fox or King set up with remote reservoirs to keep that shock oil cool. And to pass race tech, you’ll also need the required safety equipment like a full cage, race seats, five point harnesses, safety lights and a fuel cell. Damn… “cheap” in racing is a relative term, I suppose.
Crank up the power
And then there is the motor and transmission. I talked to Greg Shapiro, the unofficial class coordinator for the Class 11s at Crandon about the rules. Class 11 cars must run a stock VW transaxle with stock gear ratios and stock ring and pinion. The final drive is 4.12:1 but Shapiro said this ratio is getting harder to find. However, some sanctioning bodies allow 3.88s or 4.37s in the rear end, so do your research before you commit to anything. (This led Shapiro and I on a tangent about how sanctioning bodies should really get on the stick and codify their rules so that people don’t have to swap in different rear ends for different series, but that is a whole other Oprah.)
The motor must be a stock Type 1 with a maximum of 1600cc displacement. Now, that’s not to say you can’t make things stronger, nor does it mean that you’re stuck with the output of 62 horsepower of a bone stock engine. [Editor’s Note: I have to note the stock VW horsepower ratings are something I’ve wondered about a lot. – JT] The average shade tree mechanic can modify the exhaust and camshaft to get horsepower up into the 70s. Shapiro himself has gotten into the low 80s on his builds, just by paying attention to the pistons and rings.
“The rules state that you must use an 85.5 millimeter piston,” he said. “So, I get into the weight of the piston, the thickness of the ring, the ring gap, the friction that the ring has on the cylinder. I even consider the cross hatching of the cylinder. These little things can have a big effect because everything runs smoother and easier. The engine is more efficient and you gain more horsepower.”
However, I know some engine builders that run these motors to the ragged edge of what’s possible. They won’t give up their secrets to me, but pay them anywhere from $12,000 to $14,000 and you can expect a motor pushing out around 92 horsepower. [Editor’s Note: Holy shit! 92 horsepower! – JT] You’ll wait at least three months for it to be done, but you’ll have a pretty powerful little four banger. If you want to cheat I know a guy that can get 101 ponies for you, but a motor like that is far from legal.
Then just buy a firesuit, head and neck restraint, helmet, tow rig, trailer, food and gas for the weekend, take time off work to drive to Crandon, upgrade your health insurance just in case you wreck in a catastrophic way and explain to your partner that The Autopian made you do it!
Actually, there is an easier way
If that all sounds like too much, and it is a lot I’m not going to lie, your best bet is to join a team. Check out Class 11 Junkies on Facebook and ask if you can just come hang out at a race. If you show serious interest someone will take you under their wing. Put in enough time and you might earn yourself a co-driver seat. Pony up some money for race prep and it’s possible you could sit in the coveted left seat for a bit.
If you want a car of your own, the easiest thing to do is to buy one ready to go. Trust me, the pain and suffering of building a race car from scratch is the worst kind of heartbreak. If you’re learning as you go it’s even worse. A race-ready Class 11 can cost you $40,000 or more, depending on the motor and prep that’s been done to the car. I know folks who have found cars for half that, but you won’t get a badass powerplant for that price. A play car, of course, will run you significantly less.
But if you do want to do it the hard way and build your own, surround yourself with good people. Sletten Engineering is one of the best for cage and engine work, as is Meehan Motorsports. You can save some money by going south of the border to Federico Montes in Ensenada for engines and transmissions. I have a great fabricator in Ensenada but I’m totally gate-keeping him for my own very selfish reasons. I’ve given you enough names. Go do your own research.
I’ll see you at The Big House, Labor Weekend 2025.
Top photo credit: Daniel Rodriguez, all other photos credit Emme Hall
Awesome story and write up. Heck, I’m in Wisconsin, looks like I need to make my way up to Crandon!
Oh it shore is pretty oop nort! And don’t forget to visit the World’s Largest Soup Kettle just over in Laona.
God that looks fun. And cheap, as far as racing goes.
Baja style has always been my favorite racing, and the short course is a lot of fun to watch too. What’s so great about these is all things considered, you can build yourself a decent, competitive vehicle at a reasonable cost for motorsports even if you go the cheaper route. Support for a race even for the shorter races is gonna be pricey though.
The problem with desert racing is it’s not exactly fan friendly. Races are a ton of fun to attend still. Where else does a racer have to account for locals setting up booby traps along the course the night before the race?
With So Cal being the off-road racing mecca, I’m surprised the short course racing isn’t as big as the midwest. I’d definitely attend local short course off-road races if they existed.
There was a nice Class 11 Bug for sale 10 miles from my home a few months ago, for $10k. I was seriously tempted cuz it looked like hella fun, but figured it would quickly lead to trouble.. like ripping across every open field in the area & other goofy shit. A man’s gotta know his limitations, and weaknesses.
Man that looks like fun!
A friend had a Super Beetle Baja Bug back in the 80’s and it did just fine with everything he put it through. It was used only off-road.
What about a Thing with Portal axles
Fun article Emme.
JT,
At what point should you (JT) stop interrupting with Editor’s notes, and just work out shared authorship of the article?
Unless it’s important, how about you just add additional thoughts to the comments, just like every body else?
As it is, it’s like you don’t trust Emme, or don’t think she’s doing a good job, and are constantly adding things you think she missed to “fix” the article.
Dunno, seems like the choice is up to the writer: write the article with a few editor’s notes and get a full paycheck or co-author the article and split the paycheck two ways.
Yeah, a few people do whine (sometimes a lot!) about the editor’s notes but since these are in italics and in parentheses they’re easy enough to pass over if it bothers you that much, no need to whine about it.
After all, these editor’s notes are part and parcel of this website and they’re informative, entertaining, or both. And anyone who writes for The Autopian most likely knows to expect editor’s notes from the resident air-cooled VW expert if they ever write about anything even tangentially related to vintage air-cooled VWs, lol, just as they know to expect editor’s notes from the resident Jeep expert if they write anything about Jeeps, likewise with the resident design experts if they write about snarky design theory, etc, etc.
In any case, it seemed like this article stands on its own eminently well and the editor’s notes just added to it while the writer got the full commission, so a win-win.
Agreed when used properly they add a nice flavor to the article. And in this one it was really just going into some really detailed info. Every contributor will have their specialties, and really, why rehash what he noted when you can just leave it in and give credit where credit’s due.
I think it’s funnier this way, which is a synonym for ‘better’.
I always assume they’re doing it as a comedy bit. Much like Car & Driver’s Ed responses to letters.
I’ve seen that race! Those things rule!
Jason, all Mexican beetles were swing axles… I thought you of all people would know that!
If this is true, Torch just got served!
That brings back memories of the late 1970’s where I crewed for a guy a few times, between my own distractions, in a “stock” Beetle local off-road series.
He ran two cars, one 1200 and one 1600. Both were IIRC 1970 vintage cars the 1200 was still swing axle and the 1600 had half shafts and the twin port cylinder heads, which were an important advance back then. I remember the series had an “engine claimer fee” where you could take ownership of a competitors engine by paying the fee. This was meant to keep people honest with their “stock” engines, needless to say there was an unspoken agreement and no engines were claimed and only a few protests and teardowns which you could usually see coming if somebody over-performed too much.
this looks cool, Formula Vee really intrigues me though.
Video was cool.
Damn, that looks fun! Look at those little bugs fly!
I seem to recall seeing a movie about this in Spring 1969…
This sounds like more fun than a bucket of greased eels!
My hovercraft is full of eels.
My nipples explode with delight!!
Reading about greased eels gives me horrible flashbacks to Jason’s story a few weeks ago about eels and horses and etymology.
““cheap” in racing is a relative term, I suppose.” Too bad nothing is like early nascar where you bring your family’s stock V8 car and floor it.
Come to Thunder Road in Vermont for Run What You Brung night.
This was exactly the read I needed for my lunch break today, so thanks for that. I’ve harbored Class 11 dreams for years now, but had no idea about the Crandon races. Pretty sure I know where I’ll be come Labor Day Weekend next year!