Discussion
Paul S4 said:
Brilliant thread and such a cool car: it just 'looks right' IMO, so much cooler than a concours queen and it is being driven properly !!
Just a thought for you...could you find a UK private plate that is the same as the original US reg plate...?
I'm with you on the look, someone recently described it as more "go" than "show". I just googled the old reg plate and found a pic of it looking sorry for itself in the USA before it was imported. I'm not really into messing with private plates as that cash is needed just to keep it running.Just a thought for you...could you find a UK private plate that is the same as the original US reg plate...?
Smokin Donut said:
Great car and thread, really enjoyed reading about your drag exploits. If you watch American TV you'd think you can't have fun running less than 8 second ETs. This goes to show how wrong they are.
Thanks - someone told me in the pairing lanes - the number one rule of drag racing is someone else always has a faster car.Despite always wanting to go faster, it seems like the thing with bracket racing is doing the best you can with what you have, and just enjoying that - and that kind of suits me.
After a week of prom runs we are back at the Pod for Dragstalgia. It's a magic weekend with bands, beer festival, wall of death and very close bracket racing. The Santa Pod crew worked so hard to dry the track but the dodgy weather limited us to a one shot qualifier, always a bit of pressure to chose a dial in without breaking out which could mean not making the elimination rounds or being at the bottom of the ladder. Luckily 56 cars lined up to qualify (max 64 car ladder) so we were all guaranteed a place and we bagged 7th running 13.93 on a 13.88 dial in. This was followed with a bye run in E1, and a very close win in E2 when Chris Chell backed off to cross the line a fraction of a second after me. E3 was against the legend Don Scott in the 43 Superbird. What a feeling doing side by side burnouts and then being chased down the 1/4 but this time the Mustang was too keen and ran the fastest time of the weekend, breaking out by two tenths, handing Don the win and putting us on the trailer. Amazing weekend with a pit BBQ for all the NSS teams and all the family helping out, we even won a best team trophy which was very unexpected but made my lads weekend.
Massive congratulations to the winner Jim Smith and runner up Chris Tyhurst after an exhausting 5 elimination rounds on Sunday.
Massive congratulations to the winner Jim Smith and runner up Chris Tyhurst after an exhausting 5 elimination rounds on Sunday.
Oneball said:
I was racing at Speedfest at Brands Hatch and think I saw your car parked up on the grass.
Yes that was us, had a great day at Speedfest. Also just back from the Mopar Euronationals at Santa Pod after a good weekend racing. We had a superb day in practice on the friday, check out how consistent the car was running, 3 ET's all within a hundredth of a second.
That helped us get a cracking 4th place in qualifying after running our dial in, 13.9065 on a 13.90 dial in, note the headwind had picked up since the practice runs the day before.
it was all looking so good until overnight on Saturday the wind switched direction 180 degrees and we woke up to face the elimination rounds with a tail wind. We knew we had to make a huge change to the dial in but having never raced with a tail wind we were a bit in the dark, guessed 13.82 but in elimination round one against Ash Rawson it was a double breakout with ours being the worst. We ran too quick 13.7965 on that 13.82 dial in, that two hundredths of a second put us on the trailer.
The silver lining of being knocked out early means we could join the spectators and enjoy the racing from the grandstand, watching Dave Billadeau storm his way to the final and taking the overall championship, well done mate !
So that was it for the 2024 NSS Lifestyle championship, when the results table came out I was pleasantly surprised to find us tied on points in 3rd place with Rick Denny, not bad for our second full season in NSS. I have no idea how points are calculated but it's probably helped by some solid qualifying at each round (1st, 7th and 4th) but the main thing this season was the car was reliable and consistent and a shed load of fun. It's not the quickest car but it appears that consistency is more important in bracket racing so we are trying not to change anything on it, even down to running with the same fuel load each time.
My lad Jordan (Crew Chief) is always at the track helping out setting up the car and working out brilliant dial ins. The other thing about being knocked out early was the chance to sign him up to Run What You Brung so after some tuition he did his first couple of runs. His first run with the two of us in the car was quicker than my first ever run down the strip, he's been buzzing about it ever since then!
Hopefully we will be back to the Pod in 2025, not sure who will be driving it though....
I don’t understand ‘drag racing’ but a lot of Americans do, that is probably ignorance on my part. It’s not just the racing, the camaraderie and everything else that entails, that is the attraction.
The car looks fantastic; I’m sure it’s full of foibles, annoys and pleases in equal measure. However, I’m sure it provides fun and emotional connections in bucket loads.
I like cars with a story, enjoy it!
The car looks fantastic; I’m sure it’s full of foibles, annoys and pleases in equal measure. However, I’m sure it provides fun and emotional connections in bucket loads.
I like cars with a story, enjoy it!
daqinggregg said:
I like cars with a story, enjoy it!
Thanks - well the story continues, but we started this year with a load of trouble. Got it out of storage and it broke down every few hundred yards and finally decided no more on the M25 roundabout, snapping the fanbelt during Friday rush hour causing chaos but a neighbour with an empty flatbed was passing so we were offered a lift home.
It was cutting out and coasting to a halt, then restarting fine. I presumed fuel issues so rebuilt carb & fuel filter, pressurised fuel lines from the tank to see if fuel flow was ok, new fuel pump & swapped coil (just in case) and re-earthed the ignition. I noticed on the volt meter that the voltage was jumping to 18v when running so the voltage regulator had packed in, rebuilt the alternator for a tenner and got the correct charging voltage but swapped in the old MSD just incase it had blown. Still not running more than a few hundred yards, rebuilt distributor as that was coked up with rust, still conking out.
The last time it coasted to a halt I opened the fuel bowl and it was empty, even with a new fuel pump and good fuel pressure. So checked all the lines under the car and the rubber flex from the tank had collapsed, you could blow through it but the sucking action of the fuel pump was sucking it flat !
Finally it was running OK again and ready for round 1 at Santa Pod
2025 and the Nostalgia Nationals - it's always very exciting getting ready for a weekend of racing at the pod especially after the car was laid up all winter and ironing out problems. We had burned through a set of drag radials over the last few seasons so we are trying a taller profile now which means more to learn. Friday practice was good but we had a tailwind all weekend so were running PB's almost every run and red lighting as we were trying 10psi higher pressure in the front tyres.
The carb needed some adjusting since being rebuilt but we were able to get in a few runs and qualify 15th even though we brokeout twice (tailwind).
We were incredibly lucky to win the first two rounds when first wheelie monster Billy Mills redlit then so did John Sleath. Round 3 (1/4 finals) we took on the King Don Scott but lost traction on the start line handing him an easy place in the semi finals. All in all a great weekend with lots of 100mph runs, will try lowering the pressure a bit more in the rears to see if that helps traction.
The carb needed some adjusting since being rebuilt but we were able to get in a few runs and qualify 15th even though we brokeout twice (tailwind).
We were incredibly lucky to win the first two rounds when first wheelie monster Billy Mills redlit then so did John Sleath. Round 3 (1/4 finals) we took on the King Don Scott but lost traction on the start line handing him an easy place in the semi finals. All in all a great weekend with lots of 100mph runs, will try lowering the pressure a bit more in the rears to see if that helps traction.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff