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Click on any image to get the bigger picture |
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Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway, 16 April 2006 |
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I thought things were not going my way at the Thunderball (no grandstand ticket, rain) until I saw Jack Brewster's 489 cubic inch Just Mustard Pontiac Firebird. Jack had a very nasty accident on Good Friday when his car disappeared into a cloud of smoke at about 1,000 feet, drifted left and then turned hard right into the barrier just after the finish
line. |
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The Nostalgia Fuel Altereds were out in force. This is Ollie Burns' The Mob AA/FA. The Mob has a new driver for 2006 and Jim Usher was doing observed bye runs in the car. |
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NFAA supremo Lawrie Gatehouse certainly believes in putting his money where his mouth is. Having created a massive resurgence of interest in these evil-handling but hugely entertaining cars, he thought - why not build one? This is the result - Chaos is the name and it certainly lived up to its moniker with a succession of teething troubles. Veteran drag racer John Wright is doing the driving chores on Lawrie's behalf. |
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It was good to see Dave Grabham's Freddy's Revenge looking none the worse after its spectacular wheelstanding crash at the 2005 Summer Nationals. Read all about the car and the team on their website by clicking here. |
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Returning racer Tony Betts of Venom Racing was another driver undergoing the required observed runs ritual. Venom is the old Harry the Spider car and it certainly looks absolutely great in its new colour scheme. Tony ran 8.969 seconds at a shutting off 98.00 mph on the Monday which gave an early indication that the car was well sorted. |
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Dave Wilson was driving the 'old' Nemesis dragster at this meeting prior to offering it for sale. Changes had been made to the car as a result of experience gained running the American Car Imports dragster. Dave ran a best of 5.560/253.08 in qualifying so whoever buys it is going to get one seriously fast car. |
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Land Speed Record Testing and Media Day, Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, |
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Prime Time had three cars; in the foreground of the left hand picture is the battery-powered e=motion, behind it is the jet-powered Split Second (both of these cars are driven by Mark Newby), and finally the veteran Vampire car driven by Colin Fallows. Colin is the current holder of the British Land Speed Record at 300.3 mph which he set at Elvington
on 5 July 2000. |
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Conditions were not ideal for the test runs because of a strong gusting side wind which made full-power runs from left to right impossible. However, on his first run (i.e. right to left but not pictured) Colin covered the flying quarter mile at an average speed of 262.19 mph. |
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A recent conversation with Mark Newby, the driver of Split Second, revealed just how important the above picture turned out to be. |
The picture on the left shows Mark Newby on his first run just as he went through the traps at the start of the measured quarter. If I tell you his average speed was a whopping 334.59 mph I think you will agree I have finally got the hang of this panning lark. |
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NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, Shakespeare County Raceway, 1 July 2006 |
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I was amazed to see this car at Shakey. Heavy Breathin' was originally campaigned by John Wood in the early 1980s. Hopefully the new owner will read this so that I can add his name (there are no programmes at NSRA events). |
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A great deal of work has been done to this historic car and this will be fully explained in an upcoming feature article on Paranoia. Owner Martin Holgate is crouching down behind the engine while former competition altered record holder Herb Andrews shelters from the fierce heat beneath his Panama hat. |
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Clayton Round's Rebel T BB/FA suffered a few glitches at this meeting but still managed a very creditable best pass of 7.36/181.45 which was no mean feat in the extremely hot conditions. |
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Johnny Hall, aka Mr Mental, warms the slicks on The Happening blown nitro burning slingshot. |
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The NSRA meetings are always very enjoyable due in part to the fact that you never know what is going to turn up, this car being a case in point. |
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A very modest little wheelstand from the Backdraft Wild Bunch dragster by driver 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell's usual standards. |
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This lovely blown rail is called Blacksmith and was pitted right opposite Paranoia. Herb Andrews alerted me to the fact that the car had been towed all the way from Sweden on an open trailer by the immaculate white street rod shown in the picture below left. |
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The captions on the 2006 pages have
been compiled by
extensive |
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All material on this site is copyright |
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