Mel & Sons Muffler #38 GTI-Cup car will compete in the E3 Class in NASA's 25-Hour Enduro this December 4-5 at Thunderhill Raceway  located in Willows, Northern California.  This same car ran last year in the inaugural 25-Hour and took third in class (read Joe Craven's account of the 2003 race here).

Sponsors include Mel & Sons Muffler of Concord, CA,  German-Sport of Walnut Creek, CA ,  Parts-4-VWs of Temecula, CA,  and Graphtech Graphics of Daly City, CA.   The car will be sporting a complete new graphics scheme courtesy of Graphtech Graphics.  New Bilstein Sport Shocks came courtesy of Parts-4-VWs and an extensive mechanical preparation was done at the shop of German-Sport European Auto Repair.

The car was raced last year as a 1984 GTI under the GTI-Cup rules, but the car will run under NASA's PS3 rules this year which allow some additional modifications.  While the engine is basically stock with its factory fuel injection system and 8.5 to 1 pistons, the PS3 rules allow addition of a header and Quaife differential.  In addition, the suspension has been stiffened up with Neuspeed sway bars (22mm in front; modified 28mm in the rear), Balance Groupp Coilovers and Bilstein Sport shocks.  The spring rates have been increased approximately 65% over the GTI Cup specs which will dramatically improve dry handling but still enable the Rabbit to be competitive under wet conditions.  Stock GTI 9.5 inch vented discs shod with Mintex pads make up the front brakes,  stock VW drums with custom shoes make up the rears.

Tire choice will be Toyo RA1 Proxies, Hoosier R3S03, Goodyear GSCS radials for dry weather and Toyo RA1 Proxies and Hoosier Dirt Stockers when things get wet.  Tire choices will depend on the anticipated weather at the start the race.  The weather forecast for the weekend calls for a 50% chance of showers on Saturday night and only a 20% of wet for Sunday.

The car will be piloted by experienced GTI-Cup racers Joe Craven, Carlos Suarez, Don Bailey, David Pina, Daniel Pina and long time racer and NASA instructor Al Butterfield.   The team will be managed by GTI-Cup racer Alex Castro.