Messages

1

Funny Cars / The Restoration of Veney's Vega

« on: January 22, 2014, 06:03:24 AM »

I am running a piece detailing the restoration of this famous car by ex-pat Brits Pat and Linda Neal.  The chassis work has been completed and the car is being shaken down in injected form before the blower is added.  Work has started on restoring the body which is in pretty poor shape.  You can read the two page article at http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/features/veneys/vega_01.html

2

Drag Racing / Russ Collins' Battlestar

« on: November 22, 2013, 02:20:02 AM »

I run a UK-based nostalgia drag racing web site called the Acceleration Archive.  I have just posted a page in the Readers' Gallery section which includes a number of pictures kindly supplied by Russ Collins of his rear engined Top Fuel Bike dating from 1982.  If you would like to see some pictures of this unique machine follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page.  On the way down you will also see images of some of the top US cars and drivers of the 1970s and '80s.
http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/readers/gallery_32.html

3

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Another UK newbie!

« on: November 20, 2013, 03:36:43 AM »

Bob,
That is great news about Speed Demon, someone told me it was going to Sweden.
Alan

4

Altereds / Re: UK AA/FA and BB/FA

« on: October 18, 2013, 03:47:22 AM »

Time for another update.

The Page team consisted of brothers Dave, Clive and Gary.  They ran this T-bodied altered in Senior Competition Altered . . .


. . . before adding a blower and moving up to Pro Comp.


The husband and wife team of Ollie and Liz Burn campaigned a number of different cars over the years.
This is Ollie at the wheel of their Pro Comp entry.


Here is the team firing the car up in the pits at Santa Pod Raceway.


The Liz and Ollie car was sold to the late Vic Hammond who re-named it Mr Big
- very apt because Vic really was a larger-than-life character.


The final picture for this post is Vic Hammond's last Pro Comp altered which he called Cockney Rebel.

5

Altereds / Re: UK AA/FA

« on: October 12, 2013, 08:53:35 AM »

Hello Luke,
I am glad you liked the pictures, here are a few more.

'Flying' Phil Elson was another of the early blown altered drivers, this is an early-ish shot of his Sneaky T


The car appeared later with a longer chassis


This grotesquely stretched Topolino body sat on the Hazelton brother's Thunderbird which ran in the Pro Comp class


It was very entertaining to watch . . .


Freeman Rogers was a US serviceman stationed in the UK and he ran Aardvark with a blown Ford lump

6

Altereds / Re: UK AA/FA

« on: October 09, 2013, 05:38:04 AM »

The Stone family were very active in UK drag racing in the 1970s and '80s and at their peak were running a three car team.  Their altered was called Tee Rat and there are no prizes for guessing the body or the engine.  They started with the car in injected form and it was a solid 8 second performer (1st picture).  They soon added a blower which certainly increased the performance to the point that driver Dave Stone confessed to suffering double vision at close to 200 mph!  (pictures two and three)  Finally, they built a funny car-type chassis (fourth picture).
Interestingly the team moved on to racing Don Schumacher's Stardust Cuda which had been purchased by Santa Pod Raceway when he raced in the UK in 1973.  They then went on to race an ex-Blue Max Mustang-bodied flopper which was unfortunately totally destroyed in a top end fire.

7

Altereds / UK AA/FA and BB/FA

« on: October 09, 2013, 04:15:11 AM »

Hi, I thought a few pictures of UK fuel altereds taken back in the day might be of interest to forum members.
The first AA/FA built over here was Freddie Whittle's Bantam-bodied Shutdown.  This car has a lot to answer for because it got me hooked on the awful awful ones and I have never recovered.
The first picture shows the car almost as built.  The second and third shots show the car re-built with the chassis from one of Dennis Priddle's funny cars and now being raced in Pro Comp.  Finally, a picture of the car after it had passed to Norwegian Ludwig Björnstad and been re-named Headache.