GOING DEEP

A brief overview of the design and engineering philosophy behind MeXX’s pro nitrous Ghia

By Mike Pye With thanks to Lawrence Butcher

We’ve featured lots of race VWs over the years in VolksWorld, and the only thing I can think of that even comes close to Austrian drag racer, Martin ‘MeXX’ Friedschroder’s creation is the Rallycross Beetles of the 1980s. Like those cars, the only similarity to the engine in the back of a regular air-cooled Volkswagen is the boxer architecture. MeXX has always been single minded in his goal – to have the fastest non-turbocharged, nitrous oxide-injected, air-cooled VW on the planet, and in 2014 achieved that goal when he became the first VW racer anywhere into the nines with that combination. US racer, Chris Laufer, snatched the title back soon after, but MeXX came back with an 8.733 and then an 8.703-second / 158mph pass. At that point, he decided…

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VolksWorld (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2025

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