Sports Racing Legends: 1969 Zink-Volkswagen Daytona Prototype

In late 1968, a VW dealer in Virginia commissioned a prototype race car to be built in order to compete in the endurance race at the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona. The impetus for the project was to showcase the fuel efficiency of Volkswagen's new fuel-injected motor launched in the VW Squareback that year. Designated the "Type 3 'E'", the engine in the 1968 VW Squareback was the first use of electronic fuel-injection (EFI) in a German production vehicle and arguably the first "true" modern fuel injected engine. Less fuel meant less time in the pits for refueling, providing a competitive advantage and perhaps some publicity in the process. With early success at Daytona came public factory support and additional funding. The Z-8 became Volkswagen's first racing car and was part of the beginning chapter of the company's involvement with motorsports, which ended in December of 2020 with the launch of the ID.4 electric endurance racer. This is the story of the people who combined a small, efficient motor into a lightweight car to create an endurance racing miracle.