It’s one of the very few
vans to have been given the
distinction of a second feature
J
ames Hardacre’s uncle, Gary
“Antiseptic” Angell, used to
race in the VW Drag Racing
Club with his Beetle ‘Bugbear’,
then ‘Bugbear II’ a VW
Powered Rail, he was European
VW champion in the late 80s. As
soon as James was old enough, he
got involved. This included many
pit duties, including being the
tow car with his first car a Volvo- A chequered pattern of cars
followed, including a Peugeot 106,
a Honda Del Sol, a Mitsubishi Colt,
a Seat Leon and eventually a 350Z.
The Nissan was eventually sold
Bus Details
What did the van
start as? AA rescue
van
Colour? AA Yellow
SWB/LWB? SWB
BHP? 223.8 bhp
Wheel type and
size? Rial AMG
Alloys 16"
Tyres? 225/55/16
Lowered? -40mm
Why is it special
to you? Everything
in the van is
customised. Most
of which has been
made or designed
by Tamsin and
myself. It suits us
perfectly.to fund a more powerful engine
for his T4, but as usual we’re
getting ahead of ourselves.
James and his wife, Tamsin,
had been camping in a tent and
decided, in time honoured fashion,
that an upgrade was the way
forward. They started looking at
vans, but only VW ones, obviously.
Splittys and Bays were just out
of reach and T3s weren’t quite
what they were looking for, with
their budget, a T4 was always on
the cards. Looking for a project
van, he came across this 1999
SWB 2.5, it was however too low,had wheels that were way too big
and the interior was of a dubious
quality. The van had seen quite
a few miles, although it was well
maintained, it was after all a former
AA vehicle. The couple bought it
and set about a project that has so
far taken them just seven years to
complete. The van is no stranger to
these pages either, back in Issue 42
it had its first feature, when it had
a regular three-quarter bed and a
full row of furniture, it’s one of the
very few vans to have been given
the distinction of a second feature.
James attended the 2015 Bug
Jam that was held at Santa Pod, he
fancied taking the already modified
van down the quarter mile strip to
see how fast it might be. He didn’t
expect to set the track record,
but he did! Making the pass in a
surprising 16.998 seconds. As many16" Rial AMGsBus feature