Geoff Pilgrims racing 1988 VW Speedcar

This car was raced in the 1988/89 speedway season and is significant as it's the last VW powered Speedcar driven by Geoff Pilgrim before he switched to Nissan FJ20 power to match the Cosworth and Fontana engines of his competition.

Pilgrim and his team introduced VW Race Motors to speedway in 1974 and had immediate success. Building his own chassis, engine and many components on the famous 12+ cars set him apart from many other competitors.

Pilgrims powers peaked in the 1980's winning the Australian Speedcar Championship in 1983, also claiming both the 100 lap and 50 lap classics at Brisbane's Archerfield Speedway, and the Bob Tattersall Memorial race in New Zealand.

In the west, Geoff's form continued and by the time he hung up the helmet, he was placed second on the Claremont Speedway Feature Race Winners list for Speedcars, with 46 victories, second only to the legendary Johnny Fenton.

This car was built with 'parallel torsion bar' suspension (as in the photos) but changed over to 'coil over' later in it's life, using a unique clamp-on mount on the front shocks to minimise damage in case of a bump. During the 1988/89 Mobil Country Challenge, Geoff won three of the 5 features races in this version of the trusty 12+ VW, taking checker at Narrogin, Albany and Kalgorlie Speedways.

This car was restored by long time crew member Mark 'Junior' Franks. It uses many of the components manufactured by 'Geoff Pilgrim Racing' such as front axle & hubs, brake disks, steering arms, wheel bead locks, drive line, oil tank, seat and dash and of course, chassis and engine.