# Jetta TDI to Enter SCCA Majors Club Racing



## Knestis (Jun 22, 2001)

Tristan Herbert Racing is very pleased to introduce their 2013 entry in the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour - a 2008 VW Jetta TDI to be driven by longtime regional club racer Kirk Knestis of Syracuse, NY.

The car is an after-hours collaboration of Cameron Conover, Tristan Herbert, and various crew and support staff loosely affiliated with Herbert's Brimtek Motorsports SCCA World Challenge Touring Car program. It is built to STU rules, applying expertise developed building and running TC cars to a pile of parts accumulated in the shop over multiple seasons.

The team and driver are particularly excited about the technical aspects of the effort, as it breaks new ground with clean turbo diesel power; dual-clutch, direct-shift gearbox technology; and a sophisticated anti-lock brake system in amateur road racing.

The program is being supported by Malone Tuning (high performance diesel tuning products), germanautoparts.com (online parts retailer), and Dynamic Fuels (maker of renewable synthetic fuels). Knestis will run for additional contingency support from Volkswagen of America, Hoosier Tires, and Hawk brake pads.

The car will debut at the Virginia International Raceway double Majors event in April. Additional appearances at the Summit Point and Watkins Glen Majors events are planned, as is an entry in the VIR 13 hour enduro in October.

Astute observers will notice that the beautiful blue and white paint scheme is complemented by the number 42, in tribute to Pablo, Knestis' ITB VW Golf that was lost to a serious racing incident in mid-2012.

Anyone interested in additional information may contact Kirk Knestis at [email protected]


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## Mk1Racer (Apr 16, 1999)

Way cool Kirk!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## Knestis (Jun 22, 2001)

We've made good progress to this point, having run two double Majors events so far (VIR and Summit Point, pictured above). The car hasn't missed a beat and we've got four 2nd-place finishes, all behind two of the best STU cars in the nation.

The DSG box is really interesting. It's actually surprisingly easy to bump the paddles and get unintentional shifts when the doo-doo gets deep, like in the big tank-slapper I got coming onto the uphill bend at Summit last weekend or when leaping over curbs.

The biggest devil right now is weight. We're working to prune out something like an additional 200# in the coming weeks...

K


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