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Wild Bunch racer Wayne Colliver has a slingshot dragster with 350ci engine, ally heads and Flying Toilet injection named 'Misfit' with best times of 11.56/124. Wayne built it himself and son Antony has a self built altered that will be coming back to the track in a few weeks' time.
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Wild Bunch racer Steve Bingham has the 'Sneaky Blinder' Topolino altered. The name of the car is a derivation of the chassis which is the ex-Phil Elson Sneaky Gloworm funny car chassis of the 1970s and the team which hails from Birmingham. Engine is a 350ci SBC and best times this weekend are 11.472/111.
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Wild Bunch racer Des Taylor has the ex Phil Topping 23T altered to which he has fitted a 500ci BBC engine with Littlefield blower. Des's local track at York is closed at the moment, pending refurbishment, so this is Des's first outing with the car in its current format and he is making test passes.
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Outlaw Anglia racer Danny Wilson is at his third Dragstalgia and the 502ci engined car has run a best of 9.98/131 at this event, close to his times from last year.
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Outlaw Anglia racer Mikael Frediksson from Sweden has raced at Mantorp Park (which is hosting a nostalgia event at the end of July) and has been in Super Gas in the past. Without the index, he has gone as quick as 9.77/132 in the 385ci SBC engined car to go tenth.
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Outlaw Anglia racer Mick Hewitt has a blown and nitrous assisted engine although we think the nitrous was not in use as he ran an easy 11.7/101 in the street-legal car.
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Supercharged Outlaws racer Roy Wilding has set a goal for the event of running his first 200mph time and a 7.167/193 was a PB time and speed.
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Supercharged Outlaws racer Jim Usher ran two consistent 8.3s at almost 160mph. He said 'That's what we set it to run so it's a good start. Now we want to lean out the fuel system, we were very pleased with a 1.1s 60ft time and the car pulled well. After our first session today our times are compared against an index for the next three runs'.
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Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike racers Andy Lambert and Charlie Draper run Kawasaki bikes built in 1975 and 1976. They are stock frames with forks angled to increase the wheelbase and lower the bike. Andy, who was Street Bike champion in 1986-7, has stored and maintained the bikes. Charlie said 'These are like the bike I came and raced at the track in the 1970s so it is genuine nostalgia for me. The bikes have treaded tyres and I went first, second - and then the electrics melted. Hopefully we have got that fixed'.
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Sam Freeman wrote a feature on the build of his slingshot in 2016 and the car is here finished, and it's a beauty. He said 'All the work was done in the UK and I assembled the KB Oldsmobile engine with 14-71 blower and Powerglide. Paul Shaw helped me with the build which we finished only last Tuesday. We wanted to test in private and will only run it when we consider we are happy that we have sorted all the issues'.
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Gasser Circus racer Stefan Flodell produced some great wheels-up runs yesterday with the BBC engined car carrying the wheels for several hundred feet and still running 9s. His best is 9.41 on a 9.35 dial in.
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Gasser Circus racer Kjell Andersson ran a best of 9.61/124 on a 9.40 dial in. But yesterday a half shaft broke on launch leaving the team with a repair job.
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The late Stuart Mitchell was a close friend of Gasser Circus and after he passed away recently at the age of only 41, the class decided to honour his memory by printing commemorative stickers in aid of his chosen charity Crohns & Colitis UK. The majority of GC cars are wearing a sticker, and you can contribute at the class's stall. Stuart's family will be in attendance on Sunday.
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Gasser Circus racer Martin Bishop has had his 'Bad n' Blown' Pop repainted and he is now running mid elevens.
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Willys War racer Simon Daniels' car looks show-ready - he runs a 350ci engine but the car has struggled to get the times down to where he would undoubtedly like.
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Willys War racer Dave Hinson, who is new to the class, bought his car in March 2017 on Ebay and he then set about rebuilding the 350ci SBC engine with two Comp 500 Carter carbs on a tunnel ram manifold. The gearbox is a four speed manual. He said 'I have run a Mk2 Zephyr with a big block Ford engine and Escort Mk1 in the Classic Ford show. All the work on the Willys is on the front drive as my garage is too small for it, and the shell is fibreglass and doesn't rust'.
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German team Race-Antz.de brought over their Sourkraut Willys Coupe and also the Gasser Circus Ford Galaxie of Olaf Martens.
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Willys Wars racer Pete Senneck runs a 460ci engine in his '41 Coupe and his best so far is 12.60/103.
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The two AA/FD cackle cars of Ian Turburville and Bill Sherratt did their thing at 1pm and will do so again tomorrow. Using 80%+ nitro they sounded great.
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The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame marquee was well attended with many legends signing autographs. Pictured from left to righ are new inductees Jerry Cookson, Ian Messenger and Derek Chinn with long-time inductees Roy Phelps and Dennis Priddle.
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Gasser Circus racer Tony Pearson has the ex-Gas Guzzler 56 Chevy in which he has kept the car's 427ci BBC and Hilborn injection with Powerglide. He has applied new decals to the already show quality exterior.
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RWYB racer Dave Mace ran his '69 Cresta PC at the Doorslammers, in testing for which he ran the car's PB of 8.11. It has a 496ci BBC wirg 1050 Dominator carb and two stage nitrous system. He said on Friday 'I ran it at Shakey at Gary's Picnic and run it with Joe Etridge and my son Dan Collis as crew chief. It's street legal but I prefer to run slicks at the track. Here a few pieces broke on the wheelie bars and the transmission lost drive at 1000ft so we don't know if we will be running at the weekend.
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This altered 'The Shaker' was running in the RWYB as a test session.
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The Chi Town Hustler driven by Troy Martin came out for an early pass shortly after the track opened, but the gremlins continued. Crew member Herb Andrews said last night 'We think it is the coil or magneto and have replaced both. The engine isn't responding under load and doesn't sound right'.
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There is a fine field of 12 Nostalgia Pro Stock Bikes and 23 NSA bikes which have been gathered by Keith Lee who commentates and photographs the bikes trackside while they run. Keith has been awarded the Peter Crane Spirit of 76 Award which he will be presented with today at 12:50pm, in recognition for his media work over a period of 45+ years. The bike pictured above is the Pro Stock Kawasaki Triple H2 750cc of Mark 'Nipper' Stevens.
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The Kawasaki Triple H2 of Gary Clarke ran in Nostalgia Pro Stock bike which is on a RWYB basis, so times will be published as part of the event data in a few days' time.
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Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike racer Lizz Charman is riding a Suzuki GSX1100 lent to her by owner Clare Rule. Lizz said 'Thanks to Clare for letting me ride her bike, it bogged off the line but then picked up and I ended up running a 11.8/148 which is a best speed for the bike!' Clare said 'I built the bike last year and all the parts are about 30 years old, so it's good to see it go so fast'.
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Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike racer Sean Biddlecombe is racing a Suzuki GS1000S with a 1325cc engine. He said 'I raced in 9.90 and 10.90 Bike from around 1988 to 2000 and have had the occasional outing since then. The bike is exactly as I raced it with the addition of wheelie bars, which we made only yesterday'.
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NSA racer Martin Willmott is on a bike previously campaigned by Peter Wood in the late 1970s and early 80s to bests in the 8s bracket. Martin, who has attended every Dragstalgia since it started in 2011, said 'The engine is an all alloy Triumph 500 with Shorrocks supercharger and Norton gearbox and clutch in a frame made by John Clift, I usually run nines on it and it's great fun'.
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BDRHoF 2018 inductees Derek Chinn and Ian Messenger are with the Pegasus Reborn of Graham Martin, built as a tribute to Derek, Ian's and Mick Butler's original. Ian said 'Like the original, the bike has a 998cc Vincent V-Twin and standard gearbox, on which Derek ran 11s when we first brought it out in 1968. There is a space where the supercharger would have been and in that form we took it to the U.S. Nationals at Indy in 1970. It was like being on a different planet at that race, and when we came back Dennis Norman and us did the first burnouts at Santa Pod, after seeing riders do them in the U.S.'
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