Dragstalgia
Santa Pod Raceway, 10th-12th July 2015

Saturday


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The Acute Angle Super Gas 105E is driven by Steve Dale whose son Paul is co-driver of Detroit Spinner and had a hand in building the car.


This blown Pop is run by Graham Scrivens of Yeovil. Graham has run the car at Dakota Raceway and achieved an eleven second pass at 125mph in the wet there.


Jonny Smith's Flux Capacitor is a prototype car from Enfield Automotive made in the 1960s as how compact cars might look like in the future. There is a site on the car at www.flux-capacitor.co.uk.


British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Al O'Connor is racing his Outlaw Anglia. This car ran the NHRA tour in Super Gas in 1988 and Al has been racing virtually every year since 1970.


The Clencher 100E is driven by Steve Harrison and owned with Duncan Scott. They have owned the car for 20 years and took about eight years to complete the race version with the help of Charlie Draper on the chassis and Lee Wright on bodywork. Repaired after being rolled at SCR, the car has a 468cu in iron BBC with 8/71 blower and Powerglide. Steve's PB is 10.1/101 and they are looking to do checkout passes. Steve described the driving of it as 'entertaining - there is plenty of involvement'.


Mike Bray from Colchester runs this 41 Willys.


Martyn Hallam runs his '33 Willys in the Gasser Circus and has been pulling regular wheelies.


Martin Eley's Willys pickup is in Willys Wars.


Supercharged Outlaw racer Steve Goode's Ghost Train was imported from the US as a rolling chassis after it had been owned by Gordie Bonin and Whit Bazemore. Steve then went about fitting the running gear from his Austin Ruby altered 'Wobble'. He said 'The engine is a Keith Black Hemi with Alan Johnson heads, single mag and three speed Lenco. The engine runs 20% nitro and has so far run low sevens but I would like to do a six. Our setup has been self taught.' This is Steve's ninth year in the Supercharged Outlaws and 22nd year racing. 'It's the biggest group of supercharged V8 race cars outside the US'.


Supercharged Outlaw racer Lee Gallimore's Tee Bucket is another regular seven second runner. The race format of Supercharged Outlaws is to run up to three passes and the over-dial in figures are aggregated. The lowest aggregate over dial is the winner which goes towards points in the six race series.


Richard Walters and Dave Gibbons have been heavily involved in the build of Bob Glassup's Capri. Dave said 'I have been working on the engine which is a TFX 500cu in block and new internals and 6/71 blower. The engine, blower size, mag, fuel pump and three plate clutch are all within the NHRA Nostalgia FC regulations, which also specify 85% minimum nitro percentage. We test fired it two weeks ago and used five gallons of nitro. The aim today is to do a burnout and launch'. Dave has had experience of working in a funny car team being a member of Jim Head's NHRA operation for the 1985 season. Richard has been working on the chassis which is from the Xtreme Altered with front brakes and other changes, and he also worked on the panelling and a recent respray. Bob Glassup has had a busy weekend with daughter Holley's wedding yesterday.


Outlaw Anglia racer Colin Millar ran 8.1s this morning and is content with that pass. He said 'We won't push the motor too hard as we have Bug Jam, Mopars and Hockenheim coming up. I just put a 150hp shot of nitrous in it to ward off evil spirits'.


Outlaw Anglia racer Simon Barlow is looking for his first seven in his Fordson. He said 'It was wiggling around the track, however we have three runs today and will see what we can do.'


Outlaw Anglia racer Col Law has crewed for Simon Barlow in the past and also used to race Kawasaki two strokes. His car was built by Chris Round using a Frank Griffin chassis, 378cu in Donovan engine with 650cfm carb producing 600hp that goes through a Powerglide. The road-legal car has clocked a best ET of 10.82 in this first season for Col.


Outlaw Anglia racer Mark Bracking has run his car for 15 years on the road of which 12 years have been racing. He said 'I started in Saturday Street Racer, then moved to Street Eliminator and now OA. I have a freshened 355 cu in Chevy and my first engine lasted for twelve years. The car was built with Wisbech Engineering and the power goes through a TH350 and Ford 9" rear'. The car which has a best of 10.20/136 is crewed by Rachel and has travelled on the road including a trip to Germany.


Outlaw Anglia racer Ben Rushforth's car which he has owned for 15 years is the ex Flavell Brothers' Fatal Attraction which Ben has rebuilt. He said 'Only the shell is left, the chassis, engine and transmission are all new. The engine is a 460ci Big Block Ford with Powerglide. I ran a best of 9.73 at York and 9.81 here'. Ben is building up to a 'grudge' battle with Barnaby Levy's similar engined Anglia. He said 'It's going to happen here, the cars are evenly matched and there has been some banter on social media.'


Supercharged Outlaws racer Paul Watts is the driver of the Chevy owned by Mark Watts. Paul said 'We have been in the class for seven years in the No Easy pickup which we still have at home in the Isle of Wight. The Chevy was built three years ago by Andy Robinson Racecars. It runs a water-cooled BBC with 8/71 blower and 1340 Dominator carbs through a Powerglide. Our best ET to date is 8.63'. Paul is points leader of the series to date, all cars having to run a roots-style blower and a maximum ET of 9.99s.


Wild Bunch racer Mike Couch's slingshot is called 'Chequered Past' and has a blown 283cu in SBC engine built by Ben Rushforth for this year following severe damage to his previous Flathead motor. He has run a best of 9.24 this weekend.


Steph Milam ran her 'transformer' altered to a 6.34 at over 200mph this morning with a burst panel going in the traps. She said 'It was a pretty good pass. the handling is not too different from having the funny car body on because the rear wing makes about the same amount of downforce as the body. We will hopefully run twice more today and I am having to get used to running to a dial-in again'. Husband and crew chief Dave said 'The short headers probably caused the enine to go leaner but the bearings came out clean, so we're happy.'


Dave Nelson is back with Dorris Dormouse after serious engine damage at Easter. He said 'It threw a rod at Easter and we have rebuilt. Although there is an ignition problem, we are hoping to do a run later and make the fire burnout'.


Wild Bunch racers Daniel Jones (pictured centre) and Elliott Jones (pictured right) drive the Ragin' Cajun Bantam altered with dad Glen as crew chief. They said 'We built the car in 2004 and raced Wild Bunch for a few years then did rwybs, however we took a break for six years and this is our first year back'. The car, built as a tribute to Pure Heaven and Pure Hell, has a steel Ford SVO302 block with Eagle rotating assembly, Enderle hat and barrel valve and Hilborn pump. Transmission is a C4 automatic rebuilt with Performance Automatic six gear planetary system inside the original casing. 'On paper the car should be able to do a 9.2 however we have run a 10.4 best without second gear.' The team run the three nostalgia meetings in the UK.


Wild Bunch racer James Auld has had a varied motorsport career, including racing in the Nurburgring 24 hour race, in NASCAR series on oval tracks and in Legends. He said 'I wanted to race a dragster and my workshop is just outside the gate at Santa Pod. Gordon Northway had the car which I bought for £1000 and spent another £1000 on making it trackworthy. It has a Rover engine and I did three runs last Saturday as practice. It was built in 1972 originally.'


Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster has a new slingshot built in the workshops of Webster Race Engineering. He said 'I like the look of slingshot dragsters and Dragstalgia has proved to be popular so I built the car to be part of it'. The car is based on a mid-60s fueler with a 509BBC, 8/71 blower and Powerglide trans. The plan is to baseline it on methanol and eventually switch to nitro. He said 'We just finished the car at 12:30 last night and are doing the final checks, we will take it down the track later today to do and give it a launch. Thanks to Power Race Graphics for the design, Wayne Nicholson for the paintwork and Neil Milliard for the pin striping and sign writing.'


British Drag Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ken Cooper is here in a racing capacity with son Bradley racing the Back From The Past Flathead slingshot. He said 'It's an honour to be recognised in the Hall of Fame. On track today we haven't been so fortunate on track because we found a cracked block. We found some liquid on the startup and so pulled the heads and found three cracks in the block. The bolts had become distorted, so we put in new bolts and sprayed the gasket with spray paint to provide a better seal. But the water seeped through and we didn't want any more damage so that's our weekend done.' Are spare parts a problem? 'I have four spare Flathead blocks sitting in my garage.' Ken said cracking in hot temperatures is a common problem as the exhaust runs through the block causing extreme heat.


Gasser Circus racer Nick Barnett is in his first season in the car which has been built over the course of three years with Ryan Welch. The engine is a 350cu in Chevy with 750 Double pumper carburretor. The car has a period-correct stance and wheels, common to all Gasser Circus cars.


NSA bikes are able to use these rollers to start their machines.


Bill Sherratt, best known for driving the Cannonball Funny Car, has imported this 1965 Fueler which was cackled in the pits yesterday evening and is planned to join the Cacklefest this evening. Today the car will be on display in the History Marquee.


An appreciative group of supporters enjoyed the cackle of Bill's car in the pits. Visitors included Tom Hoover's daughter Leah who has flown in from Chicago to be with the team and act as backup girl for Chaos.


The Triumph GT6 of George Ralph from Dorset was making rwyb passes yesterday.


This original looking '32 Ford Roadster is driven by Neil Grant who in the past has run a Ford Zephyr Mk 2 in Super Street and Super Gas. He said 'We run it on the road, have taken it to Spain and went recently to Pendine Sands for the rod run there.


On display in the pits was the new Nostalgia Plymouth Duster Funny Car of Simon Hayward, son of Owen Hayward. In the 1970s, Owen drove Houndog 7, which was acquired from Paula Murphy who ran it in the Petersen Publishing series at SPR and Gosforth in 1973. The new car will recreate the look of that car and will be run in a Nostalgia Funny Car series that will launch in 2016.


The Spirit slingshot powered by a supercharged A Series engine was originally campaigned by Dave Miller in the 1970s. It is now owened and driven by Maurice Takoor who was a member of the BHRA Committee in the 1960s. The design and spec of the car is very close to what Harold Bull and John Whitmore were racing.


The Five Alive '34 Plymouth Coupe is owned by Robert Hood and driven by Joe London. It was raced at SPR in the 1980s and Robert bought it in 2002. After the car had spent ten years in a barn, Robert bought a new 350cu in supercharged SBC with Eagle crank and rods, Vicktor Jr heads and manifold and TH400 trans. The cars best time in current form is 9.98.


SPR commentator Colin Theobald took a day away from duties in the tower to take his Camaro Bruce down the track and recorded several PBs including his first eleven, 11.97.


The Patriot Ford Pinto is running in Super Stock driven by Stephane Caruso from Nice, France.


The Mustang of Thierry Senges has a 598ci engine and was running low nines. He races in Super Gas at events in France and Germany.


Colin McCaskill from Stonehaven near Aberdeen is running his supercharged Camaro here for the first time.


This '32 Ford Model B Coupe was making several passes in rwyb yesterday.



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