Herman Hov

Who drives

Describe who you are as a person?

22 years old, automation technician, bit of a PC-Nerd, Love cars, especially volkswagens, calm, last bit worker, (You always have time until you have stress), more of a teorethic than practician, but have what it takes to work on the cars. Love to talk about what i know, and learn from others, technicalities, stories, possibilietes and mainly geek about. Especially volkswagens.

Where do you live? Family?

Live in Furnes, Ringsaker, Norway. Have a small (Its big in squaremeters) hobby workshop in Hamar with my friend Petter Holter. Always lived at this place, grew up with street legal at Brumunddal and Folkrace at Vendkvern. Henning Hov is my dad, which is the lone reason for me being in the vw environment. Heidi Pabsdorff is my mom, i have a twin brother named Henrik and a older sister named Helene.

What do you do when you are not racing (other interests)?

I am gaming, trying to Build a 1957 OVal Cal Looker, Semi proffesional at Bowling. Working with Automation of Commercial buildings. (Climate and energy control)

Why VW? Do you have several VWs at home?

I grew up with my dad always working on either folkrace cars, mostly vw beetles as i remember, or vws in all shapes and forms. Always having a great vw club around also made it fairly easy to fall in love with the vws. I have one 1967 1500 OYO beetle which i had since 15. it is not in great shape, but always had the focus to make it work, and be safe. This chassis is probably gonna be a “Drag car” later. I dont want to go fully all out, in case i want it on the road again. Dream is to make a gasser out of it. I also have 1957 Oval which i will try to make a classic 70s Cal Look.

Team

Do you have a team that supports you? What does the team look like?

As a team me and my frined made Ride A Shed Racing, which we thought was a funny name since our workshop is located at “Ridabu” Which in dialect, would be Ride A Shed in english. The team isnt something special other than us wanting to share what we are doing and what we love. We try to fulfill eachothers. Me, I try to read, get information and learn crucial details of how things should be done for best performance, for the cheapest and for the best of us. My teammate is more of a “BFH” (Big Fucking Hammer) Lover. He does everything before thought through, but somehow gets things done and in the shape and quality needed. I am a full blood vw fan, and my teammate never thought he would drive a vw in his life. He is a Plumber and has energy 24/7 making things go round.

Who is on your team?

As in team for Ride a Shed its only Me, and Petter Holter. As in team for when we go to races its always the “Big Pit” at SCC near the speakers. Henning Hov (Bobletoppen AS), Petter Holter, Pål Andre Storre, Bjørn Espen Storre, Yngve Nygård, Morten Løvhaug Hansen, Joakim Løvhaug Hansen, Thor Anders Lereng.
From outside of that pit a great mention would be Rekyl Racing and Espen Waters.

Car

Which car will we see? Describe your car, type, year, chassis, body, tire size?

I will bring my 1967 1500 beetle. Reasoning mostly be its already a bit shabby so i wont be sobbing to be doing racecar fabrications. it has a blue metallic colour, which is a ford Sea green something something. Painted in 90s. Its a Ragtop with Britax which is mounted in some place around the 90s. I normally run 205/65-15, but since its 201m, and i have no plans yet to change gearbox for this event i plan on run 195/50-15, i will have 205s with me to do some testing of theory.

What kind of engine do you have? Suction or overcharging?

The engine for next season would be a type 4 suction. I bought som Fajs 51s IDAs to have Norways cheapest pair of IDAs. Its unsure if its gonna be 66mm or 71mm crank, but it would be bigger bore. I dont like the price of JE pistons and AA Barrels so its probably at first glance gonna be “custom” to make something else fit for a cheaper price. Cylinder heads are based of stock 2.0L Heads, which will have 44-38mm valves, and im gonna learn myself to port heads for these heads. This engine is mainly for me to keep costs down, and learn how to HOT ROD, the engine. I am not interested nor will be interrested in Bought Power. Everyone can build a 250hp NA engine with money. In later plans for this exact engine we might see me testing Fuel Injection, and maybe well se overcharging, but thats for the future.

What kind of gearbox do you have?

Gearbox is a Stock 1200cc IRS gearbox (Rebuilt to fit Swing Axle). Which i got cheap from Joakim Løvhaug Hansen since he broke the 1. gear with his turbo engine. 4.375 R&P 1. gear and 2. gear is stock, 3^rd gear is weddle 1.48, 4^th gear is weddle 1.04 and swing axle super diff. its not perfect combination but it helps move the car a bit faster. This gearbox was a project for me to learn the basics of gearboxes. Later in the racing career it will be more “Shiny” parts and better combination for engine built.

Please tell us a little about the car's development

I have run several engine setups already pro to only being 22. I Got lucky and tested strip at SCC only 19 Years old, (Wouldve been 18, but corona wredcked the plans of SCC 2021). there i ran a oval i borrowed from my dad with a 1915cc engine. That engine later got to be mine and i rebuilt it with my dad. This engine was just parts laying around put together. We dont know what the cam was, it was something original which was regrinded. This engine i ran 16.4 at the first time at the strip, next year in 23, it ran cash days, and i had PB of 15.6. which is competent fir what the engine was and how i used it in both winter and summer at street. 24 season we assembled a 1800cc type 4, i say assembled because nothing of this engine was built. It was a last minute build for SCC so i could run the 402m. Also an unknown camshaft but i ran new PB for 15.01 sec. In 2025 i got to borrow my dads racecar for use in Tierp, since i was trash talking a lot for i could easily get his car to 13.999 sec. His personal best was 14.012. me and my buddy Petter went to Tierp, which we only said the week before we are going. And was ready for Test and tune at Swedish Aircooled Weekend. I went there with around 8 vw friends from other places in norway. We didnt get the car to go clean at all. I was lost in theroy, not understanding how it always spit. The plugs told us it got to much fuel. Espen Waters then came to the help and we just tested. Increasing fuel and got to run a 14.5 with terrible driving, and still spitting a bit. The rain came and partys over. I got a new shot to borrow the engine from this car, which was a type 4 2056cc, could even say its just assembled. But at SCC i ran my own chassis and built my first gearbox, with good help from Espen Waters. The gearing was much better for how the engine performs, The 2056cc had 151hp at crank @5600rpms(With fan and generator). My dad ran a folkrace set up, which is 3.88 r&p, 1. 3.78, 2. 2.06 3. 1.58 4. 1.26 (Stock 3^rd gear (Fine tooth) with center from stock 4^th gear). which would be too heavy through 1^st and 2^nd but got much from 3^rd 4^th, having 156km/h it was valve float. I only ran 14.046 at SCC, and my dad still being the fastest in my family. He had a 2366cc type 4 he couldnt get to be done for SCC becuase of alot of problems happenning and time gotten taken away from a operation. Becuase of that evolution from rather calling it my racing development than directly my car development, but every race has made choices for my race car. 2026 i will rib interior and probably make the rear quick release. It has my “Strip gearbox” and mainly focus would be on engine for 2026. some investments would be done for making the rear a bit stiffer and axles would be stronger. Ive learned some differences between type 4 and type 1. i probably would be thinking of a type 1/Oxy Boxer in the future, but my next build would be a type 4 for low cost. Not sure yet how the engine would form. I am a lover of RPMs.