New Guy

Forget the scca car. It will be too complicated.

If you go the offroad route then pay attention to dropping the floor. While I am not an offroader I cannot believe that the Bradley's near horizontal seating position would be too good.

Planning on keeping the basic VW pan? There is a lot of flex there for racing. You will need to beef it up (think full cage....that's later). Remember when you remove the original body you do remove some structure. Its fine for a 50hp kit car body but probably not for a race car.

Lets talk engines....

Porsche? That's a lot of weight handing out the back. Yes...Porsche has rear engines but they are designed for the engine. You can't just slap a heavier engine in a rear engine car and expect happiness. Weight distribution, and how you will correct that will be complex. And how will it affect the VW front suspension? Plus the front suspension is minimally adjustable for race car applications. And if you go fuel injection think of the fuel system. Remember...its all out back there is very little room

Subaru....be ready to design an adequate cooling system in a car with almost zero room. Radiator, fans, piping, air flow, etc etc. And fuel injection so you need to figure out that pesky fuel system. And then you sill still have same balance issue of a big water cooled engine hanging out back.

Lets talk front suspension. Sure some Formula Vee things are available but you are going to hit some expenses there. Plus I am sure you will need to beef up the upper and lower shock mounts. Rear suspension...are the stock CV joints and axles up to the task of increased HP? How about the tranny? That is an easy $500 upgrade. And make sure its geared for whatever engine you buy and not the 50hp low reving Beetle engine. Then you will probably need adjustable rear plates and new torsion bars (to handle the weight and improve overall handling). Add in another $500.

Lets talk brakes...you will without question need 4 wheel discs. And possibly an upgraded master cylinder design

How about steering. Do you plan on steering your race car with a 50 year old design for a steering box? How would you improve it?

Lets talk about seating position. Its pretty horizontal and pretty poor vision out of the windshield. You basically drive laying down with your arms extended..not the best for a race car.

Ok...need to add a full cage. Its tight in there so get ready to spend some big bucks getting a custom cage fabbed up. That fiberglass shell and VW pan won't offer you much protection. Plus you need a so place to mount your restraints.

I think that's a good start of things to ponder.