Nope.
I live in the middle of nowhere - VWs were a curiosity for college students 50 years ago. We stopped seeing them on the street by about 1980 or so. I was a V8 gearhead as a kid, but married young and didn't come back to cars until I bought my first speedster in 2000. That means I've been around for 22 years, but only in the sense of working on my stuff, without much exposure to anybody else's.
I don't follow drag-racing, so I know nobody from that world. I actually don't know anybody I haven't met through the forums. Anything I know on my own was gained through doing the wrong thing via trial and error, after sifting through information (and disinformation) on theSamba. There are certainly easier/better ways to learn something, but what I've learned is seared into my cortex.
Dan Folts seems like a guy I should be calling for the keyed 1.39 3rd Weddle and Erco aren't stocking.
Transaxles are boxes full of expensive parts to me. We never worked on them in either shop class or in the garage where I worked as a teenager 45 years ago. I like playing with a gear calculator, and I've slept in a Holiday Inn Express in the past.
I'm a shaved ape with an internet connection and a Chromebook. I'd love to know who's who, but I don't. I've given money to people who've abused me - but I got up, dusted off, and learned a lesson.
Inside information is always appreciated.