Drag racing in Britain

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

When the British Drag Racing Association in conjunction with Drag Festivals Ltd brought American-type Drag Racing to the public notice with their Festival in 1964 it seemed that there might be a big following for this type of motorsport. It offered a comparatively cheap and simple form of motoring competition, especially for those with mechanical ability, and though one could start Drag Racing with something simple in the way of machinery, there were endless possibilities for those with money and ingenuity.

One of the big problems was finding suitable lengths of straight flat tarmac on which to organise Drag Racing, so that the growth during 1965 was slow. However, Drag Festivals Ltd., with the BDRA and the British Hot Rod Association, put on a bigger and better Festival of Drag Racing at the end of the 1965 season. Whereas the first Festival had presented a variety of American Drag Racing machinery, in order to show the range of vehicles catered for, from standard saloon cars to specialised Dragsters, the 1965 Festival concentrated on the ultimate in Drag Racing machinery, the super charged nitro-methane burning V8 engined Dragsters that topped 200mph at the end of the standing quarter mile, and covered the distance in around 8 seconds.

The Blackbush Aerodrome weekend was a disaster due to torrential rain, but at the following meeting at RAF Woodvale, near Southport, the American Dragster drivers put on a real show of no-nonsense drag racing which impressed everyone who witnessed it.

Unfortunately, the Blackbush weekend was a financial catastrophe, and though Woodvale reduced the losses considerably, it was not enough to save Drag Festivals Ltd., who were forced to go into liquidation. Due to this, the September Festival was not repeated in 1966, but luckily interest in drag racing was not dead and the British Hot Rod Association took over where the BDRA had stopped. Members formed National Dragways Ltd. and purchased the runway at Poddington Airfield, near Newport Pagnell, and set up the Santa Pod Dragstrip. Starting in a modest way this progressed during the 1966 season and, naturally enough, competitive interest increased at the same time.

After its initial season of drag racing the Santa Pod set-up has gone ahead with leaps and bounds, and more and more people are taking an active interest in this inexpensive form of motoring pastime, either with their road-going saloon or sports car, or by building special cars for the express purpose of accelerating furiously from A to B, these points being a quarter mile apart. With the limited number of competitors in the first full season of permanent drag racing it was not practical to run class eliminations, so everyone was lumped together on a personal handicap system.

The Santa Pod course has first-class timing equipment by beams and digital counters, the starting signal being given by pairs of coloured lights. The timing equipment has incorporated in it an electronic computer into which can be fed competitors’ individual times recorded in practice, and the handicapping for any pair is then automatically fed into the starting light system, the individual green “go light” coming on for each of the two lanes with the desired handicap timelag between them.

During the 1966 season this arrangement worked well, so that anyone with any type of car could come out “top eliminator” by consistent fast driving, and at the Championship meeting a small special powered by a 500cc Rudge motorcycle engine, won the overall award by reason of consistently fast times against all manner of competitors. Mechanical variety is the keynote of drag racing, and the vehicles range fiom Mini Coopers and Shelby Cobras to Ford Populars powered by Jaguar engines and V8-powered dragsters.

There are numerous small dragsters, built on the same lines as the big American dragsters, but scaled down to utilised Ford or BMC components, some of these vehicles breaking 11 seconds for the quarter-mile, which is no mean performance, and they provide exciting driving. This coming season, which starts on March 12th, at Santa Pod, with a practice day, the first competitive meeting being on Easter Monday, should see a lot more activity, for during the winter months many more special cars have been completed. There are now at least six supercharged V8-engined dragsters in this country, numerous unsupercharged V8 cars and a variety of specials using Jaguar engines, while Cobras and Mustangs any other production car that really accelerates can be sure of being in the running at a drag meeting.

During the 1967 season it is hoped that two more permanent dragstrips will be opened, one in south of England and the other as part of Jim Russell’s great autodrome scheme for Norfolk, where he hopes to establish a permanent centre to accommodate his driving school, car racing and motorcycle racing, as well as space for other club activities. Any new sporting activity is bound to take a certain amount of time to get of} the ground, but 1966 showed that the foundations for drag racing that were laid in 1964 and 1965 by the British Drag Racing Association were solid and the British Hot Rod Association are continuing the good work.

At the Racing Car Show BHRA had a very large stand which showed that drag racing is a colourful sport that offers vast scope to the special builder with ability and ingenuity, and the spectator is never likely to complain of a “sameness” about the competing vehicles. That people enjoy accelerating hard in a straight line is evidenced every year by the enormous entry that the Brighton speed trails attract, in which they are only competing against the clock. In organised drag racing you get the added attraction of competing directly against the other chap, and if you win you have another go against another winner, until an overall winner is found. One complaint that is occasionally made against drag racing is that if you build a special car you can only use it for that one type of competition. This is true enough, but if 1967 sees three dragstrips in action there will hardly be time to use your drag-racing special for anything else. DSJ