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Click on any image to get the bigger picture |
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The Pink Panther jet powered British land speed record car of Malcolm Olley seen in the pits at Blackbushe. |
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The Pink Panther belches fire as it prepares for a blast up the Blackbushe strip. |
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The Scorpion, built and owned by Santa Pod Raceway, was powered by a jet engine from a Lightning fighter. This picture was taken on a dull winter day from the barn - this is not a clever place to be when jet cars are running! |
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This atmospheric shot of The Scorpion was taken as the light was fading at a November or December meeting. |
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Hellbender was another jet-powered demonstration car built by Santa Pod Raceway. It was first seen in 1981 in the very capable hands of Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge. |
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Also new for 1981 was Vampire which was built to the same design as the Hellbender car pictured above. Kieran Westrom was the shoe in this case. These cars used to perform spectacular side by side match races. |
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Hellbender belches flame and smoke as it builds up the revs in front of an almost deserted spectator banking at Santa Pod. |
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I don't know the name of this car but it was driven by Martin Hill, it is seen here in the pits at Santa Pod. |
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Martin Hill's car, transformed with a lengthened chassis and larger engine, is towed past The Scorpion, Hellbender and Vampire in the pits at Santa Pod. |
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Malcolm Olley has also been busy stretching the Pink Panther and installing more horsepower. This shot was also taken at the Pod. |
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This is the last picture of the jet -powered cars on this page and it is a very sad one indeed. The Midnight Cowboy was the first jet funny car in this country. Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge tragically lost his life whilst driving the car on the day after this picture was taken. |
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The Blonde Bombshell was rocket-powered and was another contender for the British land speed record. The driver was Barry Bowles (thanks Tog). |
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All the remaining pictures on this page are of the various rocket-powered cars of the late 'Slam'n' Sammy Miller. This is the Oxygen dragster in the pits at Santa Pod. |
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Oxygen, like all of Sammy Miller's cars, was seriously fast. This sticker noting its membership of the 3 Second Club was no idle boast. |
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This is an 'action' shot of Oxygen preparing to run. Despite its awesome performance all it did on the line was emit a little steam - until Sammy hit the loud pedal and then it pulled 7g off the line and disappeared at a truly unbelievable rate. |
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Rockets don't just fit in dragsters, this is the Vanishing Point funny car - another 3 second 300mph runner. |
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Vanishing Point seen out of its usual silver livery displaying its impressive array of cylinders and pipework under the body. |
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Vanishing Point (Mark II) in the pits at Santa Pod. The compressor in the right foreground is being used to pressurise the fuel cylinder. |
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Vanishing Point seen with the body raised from the rear. |
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On the left is Vanishing Point Mark III with the Mark II car on the right. The two projectiles sit side by side in the sunshine on 6 July 1985. |
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All material on this site is copyright |
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