Drag racing event thread dredge, with outmoded update (01/12)

[Jon]

Hot on the Heels of Rab's Wanganui report (see herehttp://www.autoshite.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10119) in my belated effort from the local drag meet at the beginning of December. Bit of a funny event held on the local airfield, with rolling hills for views and the sound of V8 engines; just not quite as loud as I was expecting. There were about 50 cars racing and what felt like about 200 spectators, so not quite Santa Pod.

Anyway, here are some of the competitors arriving:

There were constant jibes from the PA system about this guy having turned up in his Mum's car, though I think he's part of the organising club.

Was hoping this'd be a wolf in sheeps clothing but was just a bit pants.

Autoshite spec body!

Registration was RXDATO, so obviously rotary powered and was very competitive.

This was the kind of stuff I was expecting:





Straight out of a pack of Top Trumps 70's custom cars pack:


Getting warmed up:







This Bozo(?) inspired entry got a bit carried away, probably trying to impress the obviously unenlightened crowd. Think he blew his diff or something.



Then this.....



.....resulted in this. Sounded nice though despite the frankly absurd looking engine!



Another local car which showed how it should be done (obviously a bit quicker than my photo skills). Go Commodore!


After that debacle, I tried to be a bit quicker off the mark.





Towbar FTW and unexpectedly rapid


GET OUT THE WAY! You're not even taking a photo!


Then all play stopped for a small interlude while this guy took off!


More to come later.

[eddyramrod]

Excellent! That's what I call a drag meet!

[Torsten2001]

Great photos¬

[Rusty Pelican]

Great pics , whats the McKee van , im full of want whatever it is

 

This is cool in a " made it in my shed " way

 

[Jon]

Slight delay in the proceedings, what with having to sleep and all that.

 

Rusty, the McKee van below is a Holden of some sort - here's a pic of it sans bint, though still a little fuzzy.

Not sure what model as I'm still trying to learn without becoming all geeky and looking it up on the 'net!

 

This Corolla was simply amazing - it had a 4 litre supercharged lexus V8, went like mad and looked 'just right'

 

This was the fastest entrant on 4 wheels and the only one that required a parachute, though I think it was only out on test runs. Had a cool 60's Caddy as a support car, which wafted off down the line after it.

 

After I'd done the start line stuff, I had a go at getting some burn-outs, as the drivers got a bit more serious:

 

 

 

I'm running out of different ways to say 'this one was fast' - it's a drag meet FFS! But...er....this one was fast. Holden powered HB Viva, sold as a Vauxhall locally still.

 

 

In my eyes this guy had the right idea - racing with the roof down and the radio on! Bet he was having more fun than a lot of the other blokes taking it much more seriously.

 

Yeah, bikes are a bit boring, eh lads?

 

Another local putting some effort in for the crowd. Fortunately it didn't end in tears

 

But no-one could beat this guy from Rotorua. Very impressive!

 

Next up, the car park!

[mk1_4dr]

Great pictures, nice writeup too.

 

Im liking the Holden Delivery (or whatever they call them over there.) It looks sort of like a cross between a Mk2 consul and a PA Cresta at the front.

 

I look forward to the carpark piccies.

[Jon]

Though the attendance was small, quite a few people seemed to turn up in tasty motors, as you shall see:

 

Actually not really my taste but I could appreciate it nontheless. Didn't like the one next door enough to move a bit and take a snap - sorry!

 

MASSIVE:

 

Slightly smaller homegrown version:

 

 

They made these Holdens up until the mid 80's.

 

 

Autoshite Interlude:

 

Surprisingly this is the only one I've seen and I only took a photo because of the hubcaps which reminded me of early Bedford Midis and Bravo(?) pick-ups.

 

1986 Ford Laser aka Mazda 323. Produced locally until late 90's I think.

 

This is the last version of 'my' type of Commodore before they replaced them. Far less pretty IMHO

 

Nonce van

 

Love the back end of these Belmonts

 

 

2 for Negative Creep:

 

Falcon Ute

 

and panel van. Ford sold utes and vans with these rear ends (though updated fronts) until 1999!

 

Seen this being driven locally by a bloke far too old to still be wearing a ponytail. I quite like it, in a dying breed kinda way

 

And lastly, this got me a bit hot and bothered. Love the alloys!

[pogweasel]

Excelsior.

These pics of events from NZ always convey a feeling of 'inclusiveness' that you just don't get in the UK.

You know, a 90's sunny, pro-street 60's garb, mint classics, rats etc all together at a little event.

Less rules?

[Jon]

Excelsior.

These pics of events from NZ always convey a feeling of 'inclusiveness' that you just don't get in the UK.

You know, a 90's sunny, pro-street 60's garb, mint classics, rats etc all together at a little event.

Less rules?

 

Not really sure about the rules. I've picked up some second hand Aussie magazines covering drag meets but they always seem to focus on V8s and 'rice burners', as they call Japanese turbos. However, even across the waters it doesn't seem to be as inclusive, though they probably wouldn't cover such a small meet, so that might skew my judgement a bit

 

It's most probably down to the speed of the cars, tbh. It seems that when you have something capable of doing sub 11 second passes, then the safety factor like parachutes and full drag racing licences comes into effect which probably just puts some people off or just turns out too expensive. Up to that point, there's no doubt myriad choices of projectile to luzz about in. but the Sunny was slow, mind!

[Split_Pin]

I love these old Holdens!

[CreepingJesus]

Surprisingly this is the only one I've seen and I only took a photo because of the hubcaps which reminded me of early Bedford Midis and Bravo(?) pick-ups.

 

Love the back end of these Belmonts

 

 

Yep, that's a Midi. In high-roof window van spec. Perversely, I'd love one of these, just for old times' sake. And agreed about the Belmont - there's something about that, which just looks right.

[Jon]

I was dredging away in my Photobucket account and noticed I'd not updated this thread, despite attending this meet a year or two later - I think these upcoming spots are from 2011. Anyway, I'm going against my intentions of putting all my spots into one thread simply because I'd already started this one, so have some out of date photos in an out of date thread. It is content at least, I suppose.

 

 

Hey look, that Escort's back! I couldn't comment on the status of the owner's inappropriate ponytail though, as I didn't see him.

 

 

 

It's safe to say that with the local community being quite small and also the drag racing community being equally so, there were a few repeat sightings. Yeah sorry, the DeLorean's stopped working, so I can't change that.

 

 

Isn't the 'interior' of this bucket absolutely fab? Sadly, I saw this on Trademe a year or so ago for a ludicrously small sum after the owner had passed away. I'm sure it'll have been saved, though.

 

 

 

Think this was a V8 and perhaps not a Toyota one from the sounds of it, so more acceptable to some people, I suppose.

 

 

 

Here's that T getting to work! Go go go! Actually, it wasn't majorly fast but would win on aesthetics alone in my book.

 

 

 

This looks hideously unsafe. 

 

 

 

I only took this photo as I thought it might come out looking like a BLUR album cover or something. More Roddy Doyle's The Van in hindsight.

 

 

 

Know what I said about that contraption above being unsafe? Yeah, well I reckon that like in maths sometimes halving something quadruples the effect, so this 4 times more dangerous for having two fewer wheels. Don't ask me to apply my mathematical notion to an actual theorem, by the way.

 

 

 

COOL THREADS. Note the HOLDEN arm to left of frame. It's nice that these men can set aside their strict allegiances to certain branded lumps of metal and stand beside each other on a grass verge. Very noble.

 

 

 

Looks like the Blues Mobile has gained a bit of blue sidewall action the rear tyres. It's exciting stuff these updates, eh?!

 

 

 

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-eighties.

 

 

 

I remember this was glacially slow, like 19 seconds to the quarter mile or something. There was a guy that day who'd paid his strip fees in advance but had issues with his drag car, so had brought his automatic Hyundai somethingorother saloon along and was making better times than this. Just imagine that scenario though as I've no photographic evidence.

 

 

 

I currently own both a Holden and a Ford, so my body has been divided down the middle and is at loggerheads with itself as to whether I actually like this or not.

 

 

 

100% of my body is in agreement on the subject of this Cortina. This is the one that I saw a couple of weekends ago, which is in my other spotting thread (shameless plug: http://autoshite.com/topic/16842-jons-cache-of-witnessed-things-car-show-update-2311/) 

 

 

 

These flipping signs got in the way of my photos all day, though I suppose that's the basic premise of an advertising sign, to be noticeable and all that.

 

 

 

I really wanted this early Alfa 33 to be mega competitive but it was about as fast as it was identifiable to most people, sadly. Fun fact: I saw a 1987 Cloverleaf one being driven locally by an older man who looked to be having a lot of fun. It had recently been on Trademe, so here's hoping he lives locally.

 

 

 

Wow, I don't think I'd change a thing on this, it's stunning! Well, maybe the door mirrors for something a little more traditional but I bet anything else would be all wobbly and useless at speed. The first world perils of creating fast old cars, eh?

 

 

 

Yeah, both these had been seen before but just look at that little Corolla!

 

 

 

So, the load bed is tiny and the none-existent suspension travel renders it useless; the engine appears to be low slung but has a body plonked on which makes a control tower look aerodynamic, it's no doubt a bit crap to drive and was probably slower than the Impreza next to it. However, it still seems like a lot of fun and a good idea overall. Funny old world, eh?

 

 

 

Conversely though I don't see the point in these flat deck utes when they've no sides. A good way of transporting 4 hay bales about quite quickly, perhaps?

 

 

 

Hey look, this isn't a bad action photo. Reckon it'd be a bit better without large orange man and other background guff though.

 

 

 

It's a shame this isn't 4wd drive so he could remove the shit front wheels too for burnout purposes. Don't worry, I understand that wouldn't really work - it just I don't like those wheels and you should know that by now.

 

 

 

Ditto.

 

 

 

That's better. I bet this scene could have been captured 20 years before and would have looked the same.

 

 

 

This farmer obviously capitalised on his nearby paddock to invite friends round to observe the proceedings from his excellent Kingswood and thus save enough to buy a box of beers, which was no doubt exactly what occurred.

 

 

 

An excellent choice of support vehicle. Note Group 4 levels of track side security. 

 

 

Ditto.

 

 

 

Look at this! Naturally that frankly absurd engine is an American V8, thus making red blooded Italian men spit out their espressos in disgust and drip Marrelli tears onto their calf skin tan driving slippers.

 

 

 

More death trap action.

 

 

 

A most excellent choice in support car.

 

 

 

It has no real reason to but this chopped Pop looks like a scurrying piglet to me.

 

 

 

I think this would be a lot more enjoyable to pilot/see out of if the pseudo Cinq bodyshell was binned tbh.

 

 

 

Funny Cars are something else I don't really get. Silly Cars perhaps but these are about as funny as episodes of Miranda. 

 

 

Anyway, that was about it, except for this utterly preposterous spot in a small rural town in NZ:

 

 

You know what? That's actually the SECOND UK reg'd Avantime I've seen over here!!!!

[Spottedlaurel]

Updating a 5-year old thread with 4-year old photos

 

 

 

Hey look, that Escort's back! I couldn't comment on the status of the owner's inappropriate ponytail though, as I didn't see him.

 

He sounds like a winner to me.

[sheffcortinacentre]

great thread!

[fordperv]

Great pics

[drum]

Excellent Jon!

 

Know what I said about that contraption above being unsafe? Yeah, well I reckon that like in maths sometimes halving something quadruples the effect, so this 4 times more dangerous for having two fewer wheels. Don't ask me to apply my mathematical notion to an actual theorem, by the way.

 

 

"Danger is inversely proportional to the square of the number of wheels"