I will get a copy of the feature up as soon as i get my hands in a copy!

thanks once again VWMAU!!!

As well as the article in VWMag Australia, there was also a five page feature on Burly Burlisle in UltraVW magazine recently, again Team Ireland were name checked…happy dayz!

Moving on from that the team has been mentioned in several more newpaper articles and also the green goblin the car raced by Team Ireland at Bonneville last year has been pictured in VW Magazines in the UK, Japan and Australia

There is not much to write about in here at present as Lucky Charm isn’t due to race on the salt until World of Speed 2010.

Team Ireland originally started with a 1958 rag top vw sedan ( beetle) as the basis of Lucky Charm, but it was swiftly decided that the body shell required too much work to be of use for the project, so with that in mind a later model steel sunroof vw sedan ( beetle) was acquired for the project, again like Happy Dayz, Lucky Charm will run on an IRS chassis.

We will update the progress of the build as and when we can.

In this section we will document the progress of Britts Karmann Ghia “HAPPY DAYZ”

So far Britt has acquired 3 Karmann ghias from which Happy Dayz will be built from. Shortly he will pour concrete hard standing at the side of his house in California and start working with the three vehicles side by side.

On valentines day 2009, Britt acquired a $200 ghia which has donated it’s IRS chassis complete with new floorpans to Happy Dayz.

The car will be re-built complete with a removable rear valence for ease of transmission and engine swaps.

Happy Dayz:

Chasing Dreams – Bonneville or Bust 2009/2010

The story:

Three years ago in a transatlantic phone call which took place at 3am GMT, two men ( Paul Cullen & Britt Grannis), decided to chase a dream.. That night the journey started, this journey would lead the two men to places they had never been and to meet people they had never met…all in pursuit of the goal of placing two cars on the salt flats of Bonneville in Utah, U.S.A. to race in a two land speed record classes.

Team Ireland was formed that night… a team possessing knowledge, mechanical skills and a passion for adventure. Two cars were purchased, a 1963 VW Karmann Ghia and a 1965 VW sedan, the Ghia was named “Happy Dayz” and the sedan was named “Lucky Charm”

Both of the race vehicles of Team Ireland are being built in California with the engines being built in Northern Ireland, once complete the engines will be shipped across the Atlantic to be mated with the vehicles.

In 2009 Team Ireland intends to race “Happy Dayz” on the salt and in 2010, both “Happy Daze” and “Lucky Charm” will be racing.

The Challenge:

The vehicles will be racing in two classes, the 36hp stone stock class and then the elite 130 club, the objective, to be the first Irish Team to race at Bonneville and to make several attempts on a current world land speed record ( 36hp LSR).

paul@bonnevilleorbust.com

]]> http://www.bonnevilleorbust.com/?feed=rss2&p=18 17 http://www.bonnevilleorbust.com/?p=14 http://www.bonnevilleorbust.com/?p=14#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:31:30 +0000 paul http://www.bonnevilleorbust.com/blog/?p=14 So far Team Ireland has acquired two core engines for the vehicle, both fifty year old 36 hp lumps, both were sourced within the UK, one kindly came via Ken Blomer at Automanics in Yorkshire and for that we are forever indebted, the other was purchased via a contact on Volkszone ( thanks fuzzyduck dude!)

The engine is due to arrive in Belfast tomorrow ( Wed 18th March 2009) upon arrival it will go to the workshops of the legendary Damien Doherty who will disassemble, blueprint and re-assemble the shortblock. This Friday evening, Rob Judge from RNJ Motorsport will fly to Ireland and meet with Damien and discuss the build, Rob will return to Ireland with the heads which he will be re-building, at this point our utmost thanks has to go to Rob and Damien, without their kindness and help this journey of ours would be infinitely harder.

Once the longblock is built, it will be shipped direct to Art Thraens ACE Speedshop in Salt Lake City, where Art has kindly donated shop space and time for our turnkey assembly and installation of this years engine into Happy Dayz, the engine will be run on Arts dyno prior to installation. The ancillaries for this years engine are being prepared by Ed Fall at Vintagewerks in the U.S. Ed will be checking and re-building ( if required) my ex Keith Seume Bosch 010 Distributer and Ed will also be rebuilding our 28 pict carb and fuel pump.

Again our eternal graititude goes to Ed and Art for all their kindness and help.

**update** the engine destined for Happy Dayz arrived in Belfast today (18/03/2009) on schedule

On a personal note i want to thank a certain lady for being my muse…without you, my life wouldn’t be as nearly as awesome as it is, i love you and i promise i will return home from the salt in one piece.

And finally…Chaos ,Jinx, Murphys’ Law & Sods Law….we know that ya’all will be following us closely…but we will overcome and we will chase our dream!

Also our respective families and friends who have all offered support and advice. Team Ireland would also like to thank every single person who has contacted us and followed the topic on www.volkszone.com over the past year or so, all you lot keeping us going in the background, thankyou for the endless messages of encouragement!

Thankyou one and all …. Paul Cullen, Team Ireland….Chasing Dreams!