All of the pictures on this page were taken by Roger
Phillips,
I am very grateful to him
for the opportunity of reproducing them
here.
(CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION)
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(CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION)
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Over the years, many drag racers have competed at Brighton with Sydney Allard being the first in 1961. He entered his newly completed Allard Dragster in the Unlimited Racing Cars Class and found himself alongside cars with aero engines of 20+ litres over the standing start kilometre course. For the 1962 event, the organisers introduced a Dragster Class. The only other car in this class besides Allard was Chris Summers in an obsolete F1 Cooper. For the 1963 Trials, Allard was joined by a couple of American dragsters, Dante Duce in the Top Gas Mooneyes car, and Mickey Thompson in his Top Fuel Harvey Aluminium Special. The 3 cars made demonstration passes over the quarter mile. The Dragster Class was dropped for the 1964 meeting but was re-introduced in 1971 when the cars were run singly, at the end of the meeting over a quarter mile course. More than 15 drag racers were entered in "Class 17" as well as several other well know racers such as Dave Stone in a Cortina, Dave Render, Doug Harler in a Dodge Charger, John and Tony Dickson, Gerry Tyack, Bob Oram, Gary Goggin and Ken Obee who were entered in the regular classes over the kilometre course. Roger Phillips was on hand to photograph the '71 event as Custom Car's editor Mike Hill had entered his own blown Capri and later wrote a report of his exploits. Luckily for us Roger also caught the dragster action and so we take great pleasure in sharing with you these never-seen-before photographs from this unique event.
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The entries in the Dragster Class were paraded along Madeira Drive prior to their solo runs. In the foreground is Metronome, complete with Rolls-Royce pushcar, followed by the Hillbillies' Topolino and Santa Pod's Gloworm Capri. John Dickinson, seen here in the black hat, was at Brighton both as reporter for Kool Kams magazine and racing a GTO with his brother Tony. John recalls that the Brighton and Hove organisers looked down their noses at these new-fangled dragsters and did little to hide their preference for the vintage blown Bentleys and other traditional entries - not a sentiment echoed by the 30,000 crowd who roared their approval at the quarter mile machinery and their show of power.
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Mike Derry was taking his turn behind the tiller
of the immaculate "Hillbillies" Topolino, while partner Roland Pratt
acted as crewchief. The Hilborn injected 454 Chevy altered ran in the nines
over the quarter mile course, good enough for second quickest ET of the day.
The West Country boys would soon forego the Topolino and debut England's first
bona fide Funny Car, the Vauxhall VX490 "Transcontinental". Thanks to
Roger Phillips we will be able to take a detailed look at this short-lived
AA/FC at a later date. |
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Dave Watts, more regularly seen at Santa Pod
Raceway in his role as BDR & HRA Race Director, was on hand to help
organise the drag racing fraternity. Here Dave supervises the super
clean "Invader" Vauxhall Viva altered, as driver Reuben Johnson
manoeuvres towards the start line, after parading along Madeira Drive. |
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Allan "Bootsie" Herridge was still in
his first year as driver for Santa Pod's "Gloworm" Capri Funny Car,
but acquitted himself well putting on some wild and smokey runs - and even
managing a wheelie on the less than ideal road surface. The lack of
traction was one problem, but the ineffectual safety measures were an
aspect that have stuck in John Dickson's memory - issues that the RAC addressed
by banning the dragsters from the Brighton Speed Trials after 1974. |
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Last but not least in this pre-race parade,
Dennis Stone in Opus One. Son, Dave would soon take over driving duties
in this fore-runner to the legendary Tee Rat altered. Opus One had
previously been owned by Cliff Jones before the Stones puchased it
and inserted their mighty Rat engine. What happened to Opus One we don't
know, but the humble Thames push van even out-lived Tee Rat and seemed to
remain synonymous with the Stones' team for years to come! |
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It seems (and we're open to suggestions here...)
that the dragsters had to be push started down Madeira Drive - the wrong way -
before being turned round to begin their runs. "Poison Ivy"
driver John Williamson certainly recalls there was no space in the pits or
before the start-line to kick the dragsters into life - and no self-starters in
those days of course. What is certain is this is Bruce Brown in "Age
Machine", running an injected small block Chevy (he would later replace it
with the Hillbillies' Rat motor) and fast approaching the startline, after
apparently being push-started by the team's GTO. Unfortunately Bruce's
slingshot seized the clutch moments later, and their day was over. |
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Star of the day, and
quickest dragster was John Siggery in "Geronimo". John's 9.38 was good enough for best ET of the event.
Geronimo was powered by a 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket engine, bored out to 324 cu
in. The home built dragster had first appeared at Santa Pod in 1968 with Mick
Tickner as the original driver. John would later have a brief spell driving
Santa Pod's famous "Commuter" fueler, before disappearing from the
drag racing scene. |
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The double-decker bus, on the left hand edge of
the photo was used as a race control centre for officials and time-keepers, and
was positioned next to the start-line. Here Dennis Stone smokes the
rubbers away from the line. Madeira Drive boasted a new surface in 1971, good
enough to see many records broken, but inadequate for harnessing the horsepower
of the dragsters. Still this made for some wild start line antics, much to the
delight of the crowd, if not the Brighton officials . . . |
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John Williamson decided to attend the Speed
Trials at the suggestion of drag racing friend, and Brighton local, Bob Oram.
Bob, famous for his "Red E" E-type Jaguar was running over the
kilometre along with the other doorslammers, whereas John in his 3.8 Jag
powered altered "Poison Ivy" ran in the dragster category, over the
quarter. "I probably ran about a 13 second ET, which was about par for the
altered around that time" remembers John. A new "Poison Ivy", in
partnership with Pete Smith, would later become a 10 second runner in Middle
Competition Altered, at Santa Pod and various NDRC venues. |
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And nemisis of many Middle Competition Altereds
- Stripteaser - was in attendance. Here the infamous Mini van is in one of
its earliest incarnations, but already the standard
"Stripteaser" configuration was in evidence - Jaguar engine
where the driver should be and driver where the groceries normally
resided. Roger
Bishop, Rob Messent, Jim Brett and Roger Hobbs, the
builders and owners, quickly adapted and upgraded the car as drag racing grew in the early '70s, assuring
that the "Jumping Dog House" remained both a crowd favourite, and a
step ahead of the opposition. |
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And if the Hillbillies' A/FA wasn't enough,
Steve Cryer's Metronome was the equivalent of a AA/FA but as Mike Derry and
John Siggery were the only sub-10 second runners at Brighton that day (Saturday
11th September 1971), we can only presume that Metronome did not perform to its
potential. The blown hemi-powered Bond Bug was one of the most outrageous
machines ever seen in British drag racing. But then builder Mark Stratton never
built anything straightforward . . . |
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This little slingshot has proved difficult to
identify, but thanks to Clive Rooms' extensive library, we are quite certain
this is the Mark 2 version of the original Worden dragster, put together by
Harry Worral and Tony Densham around 1962. The driver was listed in
the Speed Trials programme as a G.W.McGuire. |
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Far easier to recognise is John Whitmore in his
Drag-N-Fly dragster. While the Midlander had first appeared on the scene in
1967, it was in the early 70's that this giant killer became famous on the
strips. Squeezing every horsepower he could out of the diminutive 1293cc BMC
4 pot, John's reputation as an innovative and resourceful engineer made
Drag-N-Fly one of the most successful dragsters in British drag racing history. |
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The end of the quarter mile comprised of a
flag man, an overhead banner sporting the word "Finish" and what
appears to be a single timing beam that would explain why only ET's and not
terminal speeds seemed to be mentioned in the various race reports of the day.
Here Stripteaser completes another successful run. |
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It
is a pleasure put the Stone's photo alongside Poison Ivy for as a footnote,
John has always remembered Dennis and Dave's help and quick-thinking when
Poison Ivy accidentally slipped off the trailer in the Brighton pits -
a helping hand that was typical of the Stones and would make them so
popular amongst fans and fellow racers alike. |
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Gary Goggin received his Fastest Time of The Day
trophy after recording a 22.26 at 155mph over the kilometer in his immaculate
Corvette. This was a new record in the Sports and GT Class. "Go
Go" Goggin would of course become one of the early stalwarts of British
Pro Stock, with his Chevrolet Camaro. Stanley Theobald, Brighton's
then-Mayor had the honour of presenting all the '71 winners with their cups and
trophies. |
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John Siggery seems to have received a
considerably smaller trophy for his quickest ET of the event. Geronimo was not
the biggest dragster at Brighton, but Dennis Priddle's "Hot Wheels"
Top Fuel car never made a run due to engine problems and Clive Skilton, although
billed to appear, never showed with his fueler due to similar difficulties. |
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We apologise for the lack of bike photos from
Brighton, but we're very pleased to include this photo of Don East who received
the absolute FTD award after recording a 20.05 over the kilo on his Triumph
powered "Quasimodo" drag bike. Don was a real down-to-earth
character, very popular amongst his fellow riders. We will be delighted
to pay tribute to the late Don East in our subsequent Bike Gallery culled from
the Roger Phillips Collection. |
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Historical introduction by Clive Rooms. Captions by Clive Rooms and Andy Barrack. Photographs copyright of Roger Phillips A special thanks to Mike Lintern, John Dickson, John Williamson, Ian Messenger and Paul Jordan of the Brighton History Centre for their contributions to this feature.
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