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The Herrod Helper has been around for a long time... I think they might have started out in the 60's as a sort of joke, like this windup keys. But some of my VW drag racer buddies claim better handling at over 80mph with one. I've never tried one, the VW racecars I've driven all had nothing, or something more elaborate.
It makes sense however, any small improvement like a Herrod Helper might make driving in a cross wind at freway speeds less, umm, what's the word I'm looking for :white knuckle". A beetle is airplane-wing-ish shaped, the rounded roof in combination with a semi-flat belly pan does in fact lift at high speeds. Anything to spoil the lift effect does in fact make the car more stabil at higher speeds (I'm qualified to say, I've gone over 130mph at the dragstyrip in more than on air-cooled VW). Better mileage might be a stretch, Dean and RK Smith at hotVW's will have to do a real test to convince this long-time air-cooled VW driver.
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