Monday 14th May 2012: Work-In, sponsors, Dragstalgia and help yourself...

Allard Chrysler Restoration ‘Work-In’ days

So where shall we start my Mega-blog compilation this time. I think the April 22nd Allard Chrysler restoration Work-In day is good. While thousands tramped around the country’s capital city in the London Marathon, the day proved to be a very rewarding ‘Work-In’ day at Andy Robinson Race Cars with new members of the Allard Chrysler Action Group (ACAG) restoration team joining the regulars. The full head count this time consisted of Bob Roberts, Syd McDonald, Martin Dunks, Andy Robinson, Brian Taylor, Paul Stubbings, Chris Eames and Ed Wimble. It was the largest team so far.

We had two ‘Work-In’ day virgins - Paul and Ed. Paul’s initial encounter with drag racing was at the first Cannonball meet at Santa Pod in 1981 but he waited until 1992 before participating with Wendy Baker eventually in the driving seat. Via a series of cars including a Rover V8 slingshot, a blown Chevy powered Econo Funny Car, a blown Top Alcohol rail and a Fuel Altered, his career is currently focussed on the blown Mustang II Nostalgia Funny Car Time Warp. He also helps out on the Tech Crew when not running the Mustang. If he’s not busy enough we’ve now found him something else to do.

The name Ed Wimble – Mr Ed - will be familiar to many readers. He has been into hot rod building since 1958 and living in Brixton he soon became aware of the Allard Chrysler being built in the early 1960s at Adlards in Clapham. Entering his Model T ‘Outlaw’ at Crystal Palace shows in the early 1970s was probably the first time he came to the public’s notice and he went on to become a major force in custom painting (he will be sign writing the Allard Chrysler dragster) and traditional hot rod building – even designing for Boyd Coddington in California (including the famous Alumatub). In the late 1990s Ed was involved in designing Boyd’s new wheel range. From 2002 he has been involved in developing the New Stromberg 97 carburettor.

We now have the replacement stainless steel blower pipes fabricated by Lloyd Allard installed. Both Alan Allard and his son Lloyd became supporters of the restoration right from the start. When he had the opportunity to work on the car in his Gloucester workshop Lloyd jumped at the chance, thus becoming the third generation of Allards involved with the car – first Sydney in 1961, then his son Alan in 1964 and now Lloyd. His task was to recreate the two stainless steel blower tubes linking the blower to the inlet manifold. A chassis brace made it particularly awkward.

Lloyd said:

It was a pleasure and truly an honour to have the unique Allard Chrysler dragster back in an Allard workshop after such a long absence. I'm always so proud when anyone mentions Sydney and his achievements. While working on the car my father and I started to reminisce about the various events at which it was involved. We agreed that even though Sydney was known for trying many things, the dragster project way back in 1961 really was a ground breaker and way before it's time in Europe.

He was a true pioneer and it was such a tragedy that he died only a few years later. He really was a true gentleman on and off the track and continues to be very much missed. I'm sure there were many more things that he would have achieved. Things we can only imagine. Remember that he designed, built and raced his own car at Le Mans in 1953; an almost, if not impossible, task to achieve today.

After Sydney's death in 1966 my father went on to become a supercharging and turbocharging expert; putting pen to paper to publish two books released in the 1980's. Now in his early 70's and semi-retired, he still helps on new projects here at Allards such as the recreation and continuation of the original Allard cars.

The Allard business today manufacture aluminium parts for the motor sport industry including parts for Allard cars, such as radiators and fuel cells. I would like to think I share some of the talents that my father and grandfather had in such abundance and that it spills over into the company today.

The main aim of this April 22nd ‘Work-In’ was to get the car back up on its own wheels to make it easier to move around and provide a solid base for the electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems to be completed.

The rear axle was installed and this enabled Chris to complete the mechanical controls and cockpit gauge links. Rather than send the gauges to Smiths, Chris serviced them himself. There are two gear levers to the left of the steering wheel. The main gear selector is the long lever close to the steering wheel while a short stubby control enables reverse to be selected when forward gears are disconnected. The second master cylinder was installed.

The part re-furbished front-end components were retrieved from Dave Davies by Syd McDonald. Paul Stubbings supported by Syd and Ed re-assembled these components on the chassis – excluding the brake callipers because we needed to extract the pistons and check the seals. Chris did this later in his own workshop and found the pistons OK but new seals were required. The original wheels were re-fitted to the car with new Dunlops up front and the Inglewood Cheater slicks on the rear.

We had hoped to complete the steering but a couple of the side-mounted steering rods presented problems and needed serious thread cleaning. Ed Wimble took these away to carry out this work. Chris and Bob test fitted the starter motor and remote filter mount to check clearances.

Martin completed plans for the fuel system and took measurements for all the hose requirements. The system includes a filter and a shut-off valve. Some of the tank fittings need threads tidying up so we started to hunt down a set of BSP dies.

We also had a chance to consider the chrome plating requirements. There is a lot of it shown in original photos – not all of it restored in the 1980s part restoration. We are considering a copper flash nickel plate finish on the components not normally visible although clearly plated in early photos (parts of rear axle, etc). We will use chromium plate on the more visible and accessible parts (steering and suspension).

Syd provided his usual excellent food (he should have his own TV programme) and as a reward he was the one who sat in the cockpit to check the newly installed controls.

A planned small team assembled at Andy Robinson Race Cars on May 3rd for a Mini ‘Work-In’ day - Andy Robinson, Bob Roberts, Chris Eames and Paul Stubbings. The engine was removed from the chassis and the machined flywheel fitted. The starter motor was fully installed and checked out OK.

The team moved on to install the Roy Wilding donated clutch and managed to find a set up that looked reasonable. The gearbox was then fitted to complete the core drive chain. This showed that further machining was required on the flywheel and a couple of adapter/spacer pieces were required to hold the bearing that supports the gearbox input shaft within the flywheel. Kev Slyfield will complete this work with Bob Roberts managing.

Chris will now complete the solid mounting of the fuel tank to suit current safety requirements. It will appear to be held by bungees as on the original car. Paul will check out the engine during the next couple of weeks. I have collated all documentation from Booth-Arons and engine component suppliers. This pack will form the car’s mechanical ‘Bible’. More thoughts were put into timing the engine and Potvin Doug in the USA was contacted for advice. Bob Walker of Hot Heads helped out by supplying more gaskets FOC. What a star.

Finding someone to polish the 5-spoke mags proved to be more difficult than expected but Luke Robinson has given us a lead.

ACAG Sponsors

And some great news came from our major sponsor, Europe’s newest Top Fuel Dragster Team F&A Racing. Having such a sponsor is a bit like one of today’s Top Formula One teams sponsoring the restoration of a 1960s vintage Grand Prix car. They debuted their own ‘state of the art’ Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster at Autosport International and have been waiting for parts prior to testing. They have entered for the Main Event and have recently received items including a Sonny Bryant crank, TFX blocks and 1 ton of parts arriving by sea. A further $250,000 worth of parts is arriving in several air shipments. Fingers crossed for the Main Event.

Despite all this work on their own project they have still found time to generously donate a further £2500 to our restoration fund; with more to come. We can’t thank them enough. I’ve decided to wait until a suitable photo opportunity during testing or at the Main Event before making a big splash about their latest valued support.

I’m pleased to announce that Alexandra Workwear, the UK’s leading workwear company, has provided 16 sets of white overalls at a very special price. I have been trying to get sponsorship of this clothing and in the end Alexander came up with the best offer. The overalls are now having our logo applied.

Continuing with clothing, as regular readers will know we plan to have the team in period correct attire so shirts and ties will be worn under the overalls. IMI ties have been provided by the Institute of the Motor Industry. The IMI is the professional association for individuals working in the motor industry. It is the Sector Skills Council for the automotive retail industry and the governing body for the Automotive Technician Accreditation (ATA) scheme. So the ACAG team will be unofficial honorary members of the UK’s premier motor industry qualifications organisation whilst working on the car in public. Cool; and thanks to IMI Executive Chair Sarah Sillars for this.

While we are on the topic of the IMI, you will recall that we have been working with the Institute using the Allard Chrysler restoration project to excite young people about the motor industry. As an extension of this strategy the IMI has recently launched ‘Indicate’, a set of motoring themed, free teaching resource that schools can use to deliver the Key Stage 3 maths curriculum and introduce students to the motor industry. And guess what? It includes a drag racing exercise.

Sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover and available to schools nationwide, the resources comprise a student workbook and a 12 lesson teaching plan that is based on real life activities within the motor industry. This covers subjects like statistics and data analysis, spanning sub-sectors which include motorsport, parts, sales and heavy vehicle. Crucially, the lessons allow students to explore mathematical concepts such as equivalence, proportional thinking and relationships and express them in written and oral forms.

Emily Hakansson, Careers Development Manager, The IMI, said:

"Speaking to apprentices over the last year, I found that they showed great enthusiasm for maths in practice coupled with conceptual understanding. When discussing road cars and motor sport for example, they could talk at length about power-to-weight ratios and how they impact acceleration and lap times. This prompted us to build Indicate around real world examples from the motor industry – hence the inclusion of drag racing. Our aim is to make maths as engaging as possible for learners."

I am really chuffed that the IMI has now included a drag racing themed exercise in this exciting new programme available to schools. The drag racing element is about budgeting and it is the sort of development I have hoped for as part of getting young people involved in our project and our sport. Any teachers reading this who are drag racing fans make sure you get the details. Any students who are fans then tell your teachers. The contact details are below.

To register for the resources please follow this link: www.autocity.org.uk/headlight/indicate.

And congratulations to Emily who has been promoted since working with us. The old ACAG stardust at work again.

The IMI has its own RWYB day within the May 20th RWYB at Santa Pod. I plan to be there to support the day so come and say hello.

Wednesday 17th May is the Guild of Motoring Writers’ AGM held at Honda in Swindon this year. It gives me a chance to meet up with some old friends and update ACAG Patron Nick Mason with our progress with the Allard restoration. Nick is President of the Guild. Also gives me an opportunity to test drive a few Hondas.

Dragstalgia

Dragstalgia at Santa Pod July 14/15 is approaching fast. A weekend dedicated to drag racing, hot rods and bikes from a bygone era with classic dragsters and funny cars, altereds, hot rods, American muscle and more. A fantastic weekend in prospect.

National classes racing at Dragstalgia include:

• Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association
• Supercharged Outlaws
• Wild Bunch
• Outlaw Anglia
• Gasser Circus
• Outlaw Street

There will be a special UK Street Machines Shootout plus a Heads Up Superstock Shootout for pre-'72 American bodied cars with stock rear suspension, carbs only - no power adders, slicks are allowed.

There may well be some special news soon about an extra class and Keith Lee is busy getting some early drag bikes together including John Hobbs.

There will be time for Run What Ya Brung activity. Because this is Dragstalgia it will be open to pre 1980 vehicles only, Retro, Classic, Hot Rod and American cars and bikes. RWYB sessions on Saturday and Sunday but time will be limited on Sunday.

Put your pride and joy on display in the Show and Shine on Sunday and you could be going home with a trophy. Free to enter, just turn up and register on the day. And if you're looking to buy or sell vintage cars, bike or parts then head over to the Swap Meet and Cars 4 Sale areas. Both are free.

The UK Tri Chevy Owners will be celebrating ‘56 years of the 56 Chevy’ with a cruise of Tri Chevy’s up to the 'Pod on Sunday morning.

Club display areas and club camping areas are available but book now to be sure of space. Call 01234 782828 or download a Dragstalgia Club Booking Form here. You must have a minimum of 10 cars to book a club stand or camping area. 20% discount for members of American, Classic, Retro and Hot Rod car clubs including Mopar, NSRA, NASC, AACI and UKSM. Offer applies to gate tickets only and you must provide your membership card.

There will be stock car racing displays on special oval track from the Historic F1 Stock Car Club on Saturday and Sunday. These powerful cars are still racing, just as they would have done in the 1950's and many of drag racing’s early pioneers came via the stock car route.

Some of the greatest cars and bikes from Drag Racing's past will be on display in a special marquee and as an extended part of the Historic Car display the Allard Owners Club hope to be in attendance with a number of their cars even taking to the famed quarter mile. There will be British Drag Racing Hall of Fame autograph signing sessions on Sunday with some of the biggest names from the past 40 years of drag racing. Santa Pod’s own radio station Nitro FM will broadcast from early till late with a selection of great music of the early years plus interviews and chat with some of these drag racing pioneers. Although I found it great fun to host a nostalgia music and chat show last year I have mixed feelings about doing it again. The reason I was doing last year was because it rained a lot. Let’s hope we have more track action this year and less chat from me.

There will be a Cacklefest on Saturday evening with cars lining up on the track in front of the grandstand. Keeping the nostalgia vibe going, suitable cars will be push started from the road in front of the grandstand before driving onto the track. Plus there will be Flame Burnout demonstrations. These made a welcome return to Santa Pod at Dragstalgia last year.

It may also be the event that features a very special moment in European drag racing history. Keep checking the news on Eurodragster.

After the track closes on Saturday, head to Fuelers Bar for an evening of Live Music, Entertainment, Burlesque and Cabaret presented by Milkcow Vintage Magazine. To complete the nostalgia many of those attending will be in era gear so look for stripy trousers and bobby soxers. And of course the weekend would not be complete without the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight making a fly past with a Hurricane on Saturday.

One car that I don’t think will be there is Megalomania. It has recently been restored in the USA and the owner is looking for a way of racing in the UK. I don’t usually include photos in my blog but as this is one of the cars that I used to love back in the late 1960s I had to include this pic taken from the UKDRN Forum. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if...?

Watch out for the next issue of ACAG Update, the ACAG’s on-line magazine. Lots of pictures here. The Latest News tab on www.allardchrysler.org is where you will find it.

Help yourself by helping the sport The final bit of my Nostalgia blog concerns something close to my heart. The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is looking to expand its activities but needs more help to achieve this. They recently placed this advertisement and I truly relate to the content. When I first became involved in drag racing I was a territory salesman for the Kelly-Springfield Tyre Company. The skills and experiences gained during my years in the sport were fundamental to my own career development in marketing and management. The line ‘Help yourself by helping the sport’ is indeed a truism. The new BDRHoF stickers are good too. Buy them from www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk.

The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame has great plans for the future but needs help in the areas of press and sponsorship communications plus event planning and management. This support will be on a voluntary basis but your work record can help you when seeking full time employment or promotion. Working with some of the most well-known and respected people in drag racing you will be able to prove to prospective or existing employers self-reliance, creativity, computer skills, writing, planning, organising and event management capability in a working environment – skills you might not be able to deploy in your current job.

If you are interested in developing these skills within the most exciting motorsport on the planet then contact Stuart Bradbury on BritishDRHoF@aol.com. Show him how you would raise the profile of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame by keeping the press and sponsors informed, organising events at drag race meets and shows to raise funds, plus the Annual Awards Event.

Saturday 24th March 2012: Hall of Fame, Hot Heads and wheels.

Where do I begin this time? The 2012 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Awards is a good starting point. Held on February 11th as part of the joint club annual trophy presentation ‘do’ in Solihull we introduced a few new ideas. The main one was holding a separate British Drag Racing Hall of Fame ‘bubbly’ reception for inductees and their families so they could get to know each other before entering the fray. It seemed to work quite well for a first attempt and we were able to troop in to the main event when dinner was served.

I was asked to introduce the awards bit and thanks to the flexibility of the organising clubs we were able to present DLT’s award straight after dinner as he had to get away to prepare for his live radio show broadcast Sunday morning. We also maxed on the publicity this time, both before and after the event. It produced extensive coverage – particularly in the USA with Carl Olson being one of the inductees. We plan to introduce more changes but we will need extra help in media relations and organising events so if you are interested contact Stuart Bradbury on britishDRHOF@aol.com. You might gain experience that could help you in your proper job! I did!!

The February 2012 on-line issue of ACAG Update went down well. If you missed it try www.allardchrysler.org under Latest News or you can get it direct on www.drceurope.co.uk/acag/feb2012. Getting people to share this on-line magazine with their Facebook, Twitter or e-mail contacts in a viral campaign spread the word far and wide. If you haven’t let your friends know about us yet why not do it now. The next issue will be in April.

The ACAG restoration ‘youth’ team assembled again at Andy Robinson Race Cars on Sunday February 26th. Those assembled this time were Andy Robinson, Bob Roberts, Syd McDonald, Chris Eames and Brian Taylor. We gave the new team uniform overalls a run out. It was always planned that the support team would dress in accordance with the era. They may have been in T-shirts at Lions in California but Sydney and his crew wore white overalls, shirts and ties so we will do the same. At the moment we are working on a sponsorship deal for these overalls.

Chris and Andy carried out more work on the gear shift lever in line with new detailed photos that have recently become available from the Allard Register. Chris and Bob also worked out the hand brake mechanism with Chris leading this part of the restoration. Chris also worked on the battery plug-in point for use when starting the car and supplied a set of leads.

We ordered a Hot Heads 146 tooth flywheel for an 8 bolt crank Part No 25006.146 1951-56 Hemi engines. After communication between Stuart Bradbury and Brian of the ACAG and Bob and Debra Walker of Hot Heads in North Carolina Hot Heads agreed to supply this free of charge. The transfer was organised by US Automotive and SBS. A brand new medium size Royal Blue ACAG T-shirt should now be with Bob in the USA.

Hot Heads specialise in early Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge Hemi engines and parts - '51 thru '58 Chrysler. To give the company its full title, Hot Heads Research and Racing Inc, USA was established by Mike and Mellonie McLeod in 1996. One of their first distributers was Bob Walker of Power Play and American Hemi Speed Centre. A few years later Bob and Debra Walker purchased the business, their initial product being the Hot Heads aluminium Hemi heads to fit the 331, 354 and 392 cubic inch engines for street rod, marine and race applications.

Their range is much broader now and we already have quite a few Hot Head bits on the Allard Chrysler dragster that were purchased by Sam Eidy and Denny Hummel when they were with Booth-Arons who recreated our 354 Chrysler Hemi engine. These include bearings, by-pass, valley cover, valve cover spacers, spark plug tubes, oil pump, intake spacers and intermediate shaft. With Bob on board we have access to one of the world’s leading Hemi experts. I’m sure we will be making regular contact as we get close to firing up the engine. A link to Hot Heads website is now on the ACAG website at www.allardchrysler.org.

The ACAG team temporarily fitted the rear axle with the second set of 5-spoke mag alloy wheels that were found by long time ACAG supporter Nick Davies who has given permission for us to use them on the restoration. The fit is so good that, although we are still trying to get an actual track on the ownership of them since 1964, we are 99% sure these were the originals. Measuring the clearance between the rims and the exhaust headers produced a tight fit; but no tighter than indicated on photos taken during 1961/62. We still have room for adjustment on the headers and we haven’t yet installed gaskets.

Clearly, we needed to check the clearance with tyres fitted. Chris had located a set of Pie Crust 900x16 slicks to fit. They are already in the country so we did not need to worry about the black oil content issue and clearing Customs. An important task for the next ‘Work-In’ day.

Brian completed cleaning up the front wheels before crack testing proved they were sound. The next job was to wet and dry the outer rim face ready for polishing.

Some of the plumbing was installed and the fuel pump mounted. The new photos of the car taken in 1961 indicate that we might need some slightly different pipe adapters. Exact have some of the new requirements but not all of them.

The fuel tank was pressure tested and a couple of leaks welded by Andy. The oil filter adapter supplied by Roy Wilding was modified by Syd and is ready for use.

The dragster was not the only Allard in the ARRC workshop in February. Like a magnet it had attracted Sydney Allard’s 1950 Le Mans car that was being fitted with a roll cage as part of a major restoration. More Allard roll cage jobs are in the pipeline.

Syd provided a fantastic BBQ and all ate heartily in the sunshine.

Work continued three weeks later when the ACAG Magnificent Seven of Andy Robinson, Bob Roberts, Chris Eames, Syd McDonald, Brian Taylor, Stuart Bradbury and Martin Dunks met up at Andy Robinson Race Cars on March 18th.

Stuart brought the recently arrived flywheel supplied by Bob Walker of Hot Heads. This was drilled to suit the ½ inch bolts used (flywheel delivered with standard 7/16 inch holes) and a trial fitment showed all was well. Critical dimensions were taken to enable a starter motor to be ordered. The flywheel will now be machined to suit the clutch cover.

Thanks to the muscles of Andy and Martin, assisted by a couple of big mallets, one of the two new Radir 900x16 pie crust drag slicks supplied at cost by Russ Pepper of R&R Hot Rod Imports was fitted to a Nick Davies sourced 5-spoke rim. This was fitted to the axle for final check on clearance between headers and tyre. It was still tight but once a gasket is installed on the headers it should be fine. Better not let the headers get too hot on a static ‘cackle’ though.

R & R Hot Rod Imports is a newly formed venture with partners on the US East coast and the UK. Their goal is to provide all frustrated hot-rodders with parts, wheels, cars ...... or whatever their heart may desire and their wallet will stretch too. Everything is sourced in the US and shipped primarily from the East coast. Radir Wheels and tyres are specialities. The R&R Hot Rod Imports website can now be accessed via the www.allardchrysler.org links page.

The 5-spoke wheels will now be sent to a wheel refurbish specialist for blasting and polishing ready for red paint to be applied to the spokes.

Chris has all but completed the gear levers thanks in part to donations from Miles Sherlock of Jack Hammer who in addition is supplying gaskets for the rear axle. JackHammer Hotrod & Kustom Supply was created in September 2007 and has quickly become one of the UK’s leading Hotrod and Custom supply shops. This success has been achieved by specialising in the traditional and nostalgic style of car building, which has always and continues to be incredibly popular with hot rodder's worldwide. Some of the big name companies they are agents for include Mooneyes, Limeworks, Speedway Motors, Gennie Shifter, C & G Early Ford Parts, Tuckers Classic Truck Parts, Pertronix, Dynamat and many more. They have supplied control knobs and gaskets for the restoration project. The Jack Hammer Speed Shop website is also now on the links page.

The brake lever mechanism was developed further. A second master cylinder was being ordered.

Brian and Stu finished prepping and polishing the front wheels that were then taken to Vintage Tyres at Beaulieu to have the replacement tyres and tubes fitted. As the car is only going to be used for ‘cackling’ it was not thought necessary to balance the tyres to the rims.

On the plumbing side Exact came up trumps with some extra fitments and Martin finished off the fuel tank attachments. He will now start assembling the fuel system hoses.

Although he has been travelling all round Europe, Dave Davies has managed to complete most of the front end restoration. Just the front axle to polish and he will then be ready to put it all back together. This might be a special mid-week Work-In day as Dave is out and about selling parts most weekends.

Syd McDonald fed us well as usual. His barbeque is one of the highlights of the day. The car was prepared for transportation to Alan and Lloyd Allard; Maurice Takoor will handle this on March 27th. The Allards will fabricate and fit two new blower tubes in their Gloucester workshop. The plan is for the car to be back at Andy Robinson Race Cars ready for another Work-In day on April 22nd.

We’ve been doing a lot of work with our new partners the Institute of the Motor Industry. They have started to promote our project along with drag racing in general. A recent video introduced the restoration to industry apprentices. If you haven’t seen it go to the videos page on www.allardchrysler.org. We have been featured on www.autocity.org.uk/accelerate and www.motor.org.uk/magazine as well as the Acceleration Facebook page. I have also been writing a series of articles that have been published in Motor Industry IMI Magazine.

They have organised an IMI Apprentices RWYB at Santa Pod on May 20th that I hope to attend and Santa Pod have agreed two free entry days for Accelerate members linked to the FIA Championship rounds.

This relationship with the IMI is really developing fast and after a recent meeting at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu the IMI hope to be sending out some exciting new information to its members. Some superb news concerning a new IMI education programme will shortly be released. I’m pleased to say that drag racing is beginning to excite those entering the motor industry and we are re-engaging with the fans, mechanics and drivers of the future.

Watch out for some big ACAG project sponsorship news shortly. And if you want to join the ACAG Restoration Team and sample Syd’s amazing food then contact Bob Roberts on roberrl-1@robinson-race-cars.co.uk.

Wednesday 1st February 2012: Work, college, show, Dragstalgia and Hall of Fame.

Work on the Allard Chrysler

A lot has happened since my last blog. Several sub-assemblies of Sydney Allard’s 1961 Allard Chrysler have been restored with the help of new supporters. Warringtons of Warwick is a family run garage and repair business that has been established for 40 years. Classic car fan Rob Warrington has been working on an Allard engine for some time. Fortunately he had a spare Ford Pilot gearbox, the same as that fitted to the Allard Chrysler, and he kindly donated it to the project. The original box had suffered some damage over the years and Rob’s donation enabled ACAG member Chris Eames to assemble a box out of the existing unit and the donated unit.

Euromart of Thatcham in Berkshire carried out the soda blasting of the chassis and other components. Owned by Mike Humphrey and previously used by Andy Robinson Race Cars after his Pro Mod fire in Finland, the company has been established for six years and uses a mobile media blasting system that can be used on-site or at the Thatcham premises. They discovered that the chassis was in good order and has been sand blasted earlier in its life – probably during the Brian Golder restoration carried out in the 1980s.

Exact Engineering of Totnes is supplying all the hose fittings for the restoration with Andy Robinson crimping them to BMRS hose supplied by ARRC. The fittings are one piece light weight alloy designed for convoluted hoses. The BMRS hose being used is a standard braided hose finish but black sleeves will be used as necessary to reflect the period look.

Exact was established in 1995 and it is the motor sport brand for its Associate manufacturing company Vire Engineering of Totnes in Devon that has been in business for 38 years and is now one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of hose fittings with Andy Robinson Race Cars one of its customers. In fact it was Vire that manufactured the first fittings for the late Stuart Goodrich when he launched his business in Totnes. But as well as motor sport components, Vire supplies fittings to the nuclear, security and defence industries.

With some of the basic sub-assembly work completed, a small group of ACAG supporters gathered at Andy Robinson Race Cars between Christmas and the New Year for a three days ‘Work-In’ commencing the trial build. The ACAG’s ‘Time Team’ on this occasion consisted of Andy Robinson, Bob Roberts (he’s in charge), Chris Eames, Syd McDonald (special responsibilities for catering) and new member Martin Dunks who contacted Bob after reading about the work being carried out on eurodragster.com.

Martin attended his first drag race back in the early 1970s at Blackbushe and by the end of that decade he had entered his first meeting. His main love remained the doorslammer/muscle car classes and along the way he became friends with Andy Robinson and Bob Roberts. Although he now works on state-of-the-art sports cars at McLaren Automotive (currently the MP4-12C sports car) he has always been keen on the historical aspects of motor sport – hence his interest in our project.

The team made good progress with fabrication and using the ACAG’s file of pictures, notes and old articles they managed to figure out things like gear box linkage and the parachute release mechanism. Automotive archaeology at its best. The position of the engine in the chassis has been a concern and the team made new engine mounts that now hold the engine about ½ inch lower than before. This results in the low-slung ‘weed-burner’ header position being more in-line with early photos and gives better clearance between the rocker covers and the engine cowling.

The restored gearbox was mated with the clutch and engine and the gear linkage was made (just requires some rod ends). There is still an issue with the flywheel and the availability of early Hi-torque starter motors. There are several options open to the team and more research is being carried out by Bob Roberts, Andy Robinson and Stu Bradbury before a final decision is made. Bob had a good day at Autosport International later in the month talking to companies that said they could help.

After making a slave out of cardboard a new firewall was manufactured out of aluminium and fitted. The protective cover was left in place prior to applying the archetypal Allard engine-turn finish in the final assembly. If any of you have watched the late Boyd Coddington’s American Hot Rod TV series you will know the drill. Only the ACAG crew don’t shout so much and Bob’s shirts don’t hurt your eyes.

The driver’s seat has been refurbished by Grahame Smith who is also looking at re-creating the chute pack and chute. Chris Eames may have located a period correct aviation chute. But we have decided not to replace the bent push-bar. The museum was keen to keep it and as we will only be firing up the engine using a starter motor it makes no difference to us. You might say it keeps a bit of original character on the car.

We have located the supplier of 5-spoke mag alloy Torq Thrust rear wheels that we think were used on the original car mounted with 900x16 pie crust slicks. Steve Trice at U S Automotive has been checking that our axle fitment can be covered, the delivery time and costs. At the moment there seems to be an availability problem with our size and fitment. The wheels are made in China these days so we are looking at other options. Anyway, new information seems to indicate that our size was not available until 1963 whereas we have pics showing the car fitted with them in 1962. So maybe they were Halibrand?? The beat goes on. Nothing is straight forward and we are looking at other options. We have located the pie-crust slicks though and have a price so as soon as we sort out the rims we will order the slicks. Dunlop Racing and Vintage Tyres have recommended the size of new tyres for the front because the originals are badly crazed. The 525x15 are no longer made and the recommendation is to go for 550x15 Dunlop R5. These have been ordered along with tubes.

The January 22nd Work-In saw more work. The team this time consisted of Brian Taylor, Andy Robinson, Bob Roberts, Chris Eames and Martin Dunks. Syd was absent this time because he was on one of his regular expeditions to Florida as he tries to discover the source of the world’s largest muffin. You have to admire his dedication. Chris re-installed the brake pedal that he had cleaned up and then carried out more work on the gear shift linkage before fabricating a chute back plate that will be used by Grahame Smith to recreate the 1964 vintage chute pack. Martin carried out a detailed inspection, clean-up and polish of the fuel tank ready for pressure testing. The Master Cylinders are being replaced with new units and one was installed. The front wheels were Scotch-Brite cleaned by Brian ready for crack testing, painting and getting the new tyres mounted. Bob concentrated on fabricating a transit trolley for moving the chassis, parts and materials to hand around the workshop.

Cables have been ordered and the Exact hose fittings have arrived at ARRC. The car is now ready for a trip to Alan and Lloyd Allard in Gloucester for fabricating and fitting replacement blower pipes and we are looking for a volunteer to transport the car. Maurice Takoor has offered his services but transport is something that will continue to be a problem until we have sorted out our own trailer so if you can help get in touch. Work on plumbing can also start and it looks like we might have an offer for the chromium plating. So there is still plenty to do.

Fit second master cylinders; Complete cleaning of second front wheel, make and fit handbrake lever; test fuel tank; make and fit parachute release mechanism; install starter, cables and connectors; plumb fuel system (cut hose to length, install fittings and crimp); design or locate remote oil filter adapter for block; identify remote oil filter mount. Those interested in living in the past and discovering how they used to do it please contact Bob Roberts on roberrl-1@robinson-race-cars.co.uk. You will be welcomed with open arms and progress will be speeded up. Links to all supplier websites can be found on the brian@allardchrysler.org. As well as Ken & Brad Cooper who are based near Birmingham the team currently includes Dexter Price in Essex, Roy Walker in Northampton, Dave Gibbons in Canterbury plus Wayne and Brad Jackson in Sheffield. F&A Racing will make their new Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster available when possible and of course the IMI endorsed 1961 Allard Chrysler restoration project will be on the list when complete. Likewise Santa Pod vehicles will be displayed when commitments permit.

Unfortunately Ken Cooper injured his right hand in the course of duty when trying to assist a larger lady apprentice out of the car’s cockpit. It’s his valve hand too but he hopes to be playing the trumpet again soon and he will be available for Dragstalgia. Next time we plan to have an engine hoist available.

I attended a very positive meeting with Caroline Day at Santa Pod along with Emily Hakansson of the IMI. Watch this space.

Autosport International and F&A Racing

I stayed at a Premier Inn near the NEC ready for Autosport International. It was warming to see that Harvester restaurants are continuing their efforts to take UK obesity levels to even higher values. Huge portions and waitresses trained by the CIA in psychological force-feeding techniques to persuade you to have even more because it’s free – even though you feel stuffed to the gills. They reminded me of Gladys Pugh in Hi De Hi (Welsh vamp in 1980s Holiday Camp comedy series). If they saw a square inch of empty plate they sauntered up to you with smouldering eyes and said, ‘Would you like some more – it’s free?’ If you say no they give you a scornful stare as if to say, ‘What’s the matter; aren’t you man enough?’ Makes you feel like a Welsh wimp (same as English wimp but they tend to sing a lot more, have less tattoos and their dogs are not so ugly). Clearly they follow the old drag racing creed – there’s no substitute for cubic inches. And getting the Premier Inn or Travel Lodge Super Saver rate was the usual impossible dream. Hey Ho.

At Autosport International I met up with Les Downey of Lucas Oil, Andy Carter, Caroline Day, Jeremy Cookson and of course John McGrory and our friends at Aurora Bearings and Exact. Also met up with some of my journalist and PR contacts (including Steve McQueen) plus the owners of the classic Offy engine vintage Kurtis Indy car on the Aurora stand. Also met Ian Gartside who has since sent me some great pics of 1964 Drag Festival pics and the Allard Chrysler. Ian was the owner of a workshop in Yorkshire used by Don Garlits in 1964. It is a story that Don often tells so I have put them back in contact with each other.

Returned to the NEC Saturday morning and met the Santa Pod crew plus my old colleague Derek Carruthers from Marangoni. But the main reason was to be there for the unveiling of the new Top Fuel dragster owned by our biggest benefactor F&A Racing. Looking splendid in its new Lucas Oil colours it was a great thrill to feel a part of the team. Even when just on static display a modern Top Fuel dragster is very imposing. Gothic in stature, prime evil in nature with an ample dollop of glam rock bling they are truly awesome. I think this car and the Allard Chrysler side-by-side will make an exciting display – particularly when they can both be fired up. Crazy Horses wheee-oo, wheee-oo. (do Charleston legs dance as per Osmonds). Watch out for black F&A Team shirts on e-bay.

Dragstalgia

Dragstalgia is shaping up well. I made contact with Dean Butler who owns a 2004 replica of the Charlie Bang Special – a 1965 Flathead Ford slingshot campaigned by American drag racing pioneer Charlie Bang whose history goes back to the 1950s. Charlie built the replica for Dean and it appeared at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2008 when it was fired up by Wayne Allman. It has also raced at Shakespeare County Raceway when Charlie Bang flew over to drive it. Dean hopes to bring the car to Dragstalgia this year.

Before leaving Derby after our IMI event I had a chance to meet up with Ian Rubrey and Steph Wainwright to catch up with the Allard Mark II chassis story. It looks like Clive Skilton is going to restore the car in top mounted blower form. He plans to do the work in the USA and then ship the car back to the UK when complete.

I opened a discussion about track prep on ukdrn because several people contacted me regarding over-prepping a track for nostalgia vehicles and the desire for more rubber smoke action on the runs like back-in-the-day meets. Clearly safety is paramount and the decision must be with the Race Director. The Fuel Altereds and Nostalgia Funny Cars in particular need to enter the discussion. Talking to Geoff Hauser who has had many years of experience with track preparation he feels that if the track was prepared to RWYB condition and everyone knew it then they could set up to run accordingly. Tee Rat and Shutdown ran without any track prep; as did Dennis Priddle, Clive Skilton, Allan Herridge, etc in their fuel funny cars. Speeds will be slower and ets below usual and it would mean setting up without the use of earlier computer curves resulting in, hopefully, tyre smoking runs. Maybe Grip Juice will make a return. The main thing is to discuss it so that the Race Director can make his decision with plenty of input from racers.

British Drag Racing Hall of Fame

By the time you read this the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in association with US Automotive will have honoured the new intake of inductees. The 2012 crew consists of Tony Murray, the Brachtvogels, Barry Sheavills, Carl Olson and Dave Lee Travis. The full citations can be found on www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk. Congratulations to them all. Additional sponsors are Saga Holidays and Britain’s quickest growing franchise darbyandjoan.comintothegardenmaude.

Saturday 3rd December 2011: Restoration updates.

Here we are again. Lots happened since my last blog – some of which you will have read about in Eurodragster. November 16th saw the ACAG team completely strip down the 1961 Allard Chrysler dragster and it now only exists as several sub-assemblies spread around southern England with different volunteer team members restoring their particular bits. When complete these will be gathered at Andy Robinson Race Cars for a trial re-build and test firing before final finishing ready for an official fire-up at Beaulieu. We should be able to start the trial rebuild between Christmas and New Year and Andy has put his complete machine shop at our disposal. The December News Update on our website www.allardchrysler.org will carry more details. This should be available shortly. The restoration team consisted of me, Dave Davies, Chris Eames, Bob Roberts, Andy Robinson, Syd McDonald, David Hooper along with Alan and Lloyd Allard. New faces are very welcome so contact Bob at roberrl-1@robinson-race-cars.co.uk. It’s the closest you’ll get to the emotions felt by Sydney Allard, John Hume and David Hooper when they first built the car during the winter of 1960/61. This is the planned list of Christmas/New Year jobs;

• Rework donated clutch, check fit with engine and bell housing
• Re-install engine, gearbox and front axle
• Make new engine mounts
• Make gear lever and linkage
• Make and fit firewall
• Make and fit new tube to replace bent push bar
• Fit new master cylinders
• Make and fit handbrake lever
• Clean, test and refurbish fuel tank
• Make and fit parachute release mechanism
• Install starter, cables and connectors
• Plumb fuel system (cut hose to length, install fittings and crimp)
• Design remote oil filter adapter for block
• Identify remote oil filter mount

Keith Potter has started to assemble the parts required for him to recreate his blown and injected Chevrolet Plymouth Coupe called the Devil. He hopes to start the build early in 2012. After early trial runs he is targeting the Fuel Altered brigade.

Talking to Antony Billinton about his restoration projects he says that he has it in mind to cackle Commuter and Firefly, with Firefly being readied first as it’s the ideal cackle car. It will make a lot of flames, noise and will impress when it’s running on around 88-90% nitro which is about what it used to run. Commuter is somewhat less impressive as a cackle car as the nitro loads were never very high but would still be a good compliment to the Firefly show. And if there was a beauty contest between the two I know which one I would vote for. Of course Antony only does this sort of work in proper fashion and it is not a simple task. At the moment he does not have any prediction as to when work will be completed.

Nobby Hills has now fired up his recreated Houndog I Blown Jaguar rail on methanol. He is looking forward to firing it up alongside the Allard Chrysler to recall the time these two cars faced each other in 1964.

Ken Cooper and his son Bradley have fired up his new 1960s period flathead slingshot and they hope to test it out soon at a RWYB. He has decided to call the car Back from the Past as a salute to his last car Blast from the Past.

I was talking to someone who shall remain nameless who recently called into Freddie Whittle’s workshop. He reports all the parts for a recreated Shutdown are there. Come on Freddie – put us out of our misery. The expectation is killing us.

Two projects I’ve yet to hear about are the Mark II Allard Chrysler originally launched in 1965 and Stripduster. Last I heard about the Allard was that they were still to decide whether to have a front mounted blower or top mounted. No news yet about Harold Bull and his son recreating Stripduster. Let me know if you hear anything.

Many of the bikes we used to see on the drag strips running in Top Bike or Superbike in the 1970s now run at Sprint meetings. Keith Lee reports that one of the highlights of the first Dragstalgia event at Santa Pod in July was seeing John Hobbs blast down the quarter on his impressive double Nourish-Weslake drag bike called the Hobbit. Furthermore, those who visited the Hall of Fame marquee over the weekend will have seen the recreation of John's original Olympus 500 blown Triumph, which was on static display following completion of a meticulous process to bring an old name back to life. By making use of his original drawings, the new build really does look the part for those of us who remember the original. Dating back to 1967, Olympus started life as an unblown machine, but soon received a boost from a Shorrocks blower. It was a highly successful sprint bike at National Sprint Association meetings, taking World and National records.

John then turned his focus more seriously to drag racing competition - and a modified version of this bike was the first under 750cc to dip into the nine second zone. Olympus was a most feared name on the strip, as it extended into his first double-engined machines.

It was fitting that the recreated 500 cc Olympus bike made its competitive debut with the NSA, running at York in October 2011. Running on straight methanol, the bike performed flawlessly - putting in four runs - running a best of 12.4s/115mph on a dampish track. There are some finishing touches, including the nosecone, to finish the bike off over the winter. John will no doubt have fun developing his new/old mount in the coming season and we will look forward to seeing both machines at Dragstalgia in July 2012 along with Rouge et Noir which is also up and running. The double engine blown Triumphs of Dennis Norman and Ray Law/Terry Fisher should also be available.

November 20th saw me back up at Santa Pod with my British Drag Racing Hall of Fame selector’s hat on. Doesn’t look its best on a foggy November day.

It was great to see our Chairman Stuart Bradbury getting back to his old self. This was a long meeting with several names in the hat. The decisions do not become any easier as the years go by but we know our final selection of names are all very worthy for the difference they have all made to our sport. You’ll have to wait until February to find out who they are. We also outlined plans to increase the prestige of this accolade over future years. Again you’ll have to wait for the appropriate announcements.

Stu Bradbury, David Jones, James Forster, and I will be having our early Dragstalgia Event format meeting during the afternoon of the Trophy Presentation evening being held in Solihull on February 11th 2012. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

A very important recent announcement has been the ACAG’s exciting new relationship with the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI). It is something I have been working on for nearly two years now and the partnership forms part of the IMI’s new online apprenticeship community for 16-24 year olds called Accelerate (www.motor.org.uk/accelerate).

Sarah Sillars OBE FIMI, Executive Chair of the IMI said: ‘We are really excited about this new partnership with the ACAG. It provides a unique benefit to Accelerate and I’m sure the extra technical insight into such a dramatic and explosive form of motor sport will be rewarding. It will be inspirational too, showing automotive engineering working at the limits’.

‘I’m pleased to say that ACAG Chair Brian Taylor will be writing regular reports about the dragster restoration project for Accelerate and Motor Industry Magazine. He will also be attending several Accelerate events starting with one at Derby College over January 11/12, 2012. We will be announcing more very exciting and exclusive aspects of this new relationship soon. These will provide opportunities to get close-up and personal with drag racing machinery, drivers and the race technicians, plus vehicles dating from the dawn of our industry.’

I’ll be including more information about this new partnership in the next issue of our online magazine ACAG News Update because this is a long term relationship that will not only inspire young members of the IMI, but will also raise the profile of our project and our sport in the eyes of key industry figures.

Have a good Christmas and New Year break.

Tuesday 25th October 2011: Some background.

Hi everyone. For those who don't know me I am currently Chairman of the Allard Chrysler Action Group (ACAG) responsible for restoring Europe's first dragster – Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler (above, with ACAG supporter Liz Rowland). The car is owned by the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and the ACAG has been approved by the museum to raise awareness, funds and provide the expertise to carry out the work. I'm also a British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Selector and an advisor to Santa Pod Raceway for the Dragstalgia event. I wrote Crazy Horses – The History of British Drag Racing published by Haynes and I'm currently writing the story of the Allard Chrysler and its restoration. I'm commissioned to write a few nostalgic drag racing stories for magazines, race programmes and web sites – mainly about the Allard project of course – and sometimes I even get paid for them.

How did I come to this (a question I often ask myself)? I first became aware of drag racing in the early 1960s via magazines brought into the British European Airways engineers' crew room at London Heathrow by an engineer called Albert Norton. I got to know Syd McDonald. He wasn't so big back then because the giant muffins hadn't been invented. My first drag racing meeting was a very wet Blackbushe in 1965 where the sight and sounds of Bob Keith and his team splashing through the puddles got to me. I was hooked and when Santa Pod Raceway opened in 1966 I became a regular spectator.

I wrote a few articles for John Bennett's drag racing magazine and in 1970 responded to an advertisement placed by the then newly formed National Drag Racing Club (NDRC) for an assistant commentator at a meeting held at Blackbushe. I must have passed the test (I don't think there were very many volunteers and Cliff Jones and Alan Wigmore wanted to race their cars) because I then started to commentate at NDRC meetings held at Santa Pod as well. Dave Watts was Race Director for the British Drag Racing & Hot Rod Association (BDR&HRA) and he asked me if I would assist Mike Collins at their meetings so my weekends were now planned out at Santa Pod and on-tour events – commentating at NDRC and BDR&HRA meets.

During the 1970s I gradually focussed on being the chief commentator for the BDR&HRA at Santa Pod and all Santa Pod promoted race meetings and Custom Car Shows. I also became Chairman of the BDR&HRA with special responsibilities for PR. I formed Taylor Startup International with ITN cameraman Mike Startup and we made drag racing films for TV and the cinema, radio and TV commercials, promoted racers (The Stones racing Team including DLT, Roz Prior, John Whitmore, John Hobbs and Mick Butler), promoted the BDR&HRA's Annual Champions Night, wrote articles, produced race programmes and solicited sponsorship – working for Santa Pod and Clive Skilton's European Dragways. I became very involved with DLT's drag racing activities. In 1978, after a meeting with Wally Parks and Carl Olson in Los Angeles, we launched the UK's first official drag racing Contingency Sponsorship scheme. So by the late 1970s I was very involved in many areas of drag racing.

In 1979 I joined John Woolfe Racing as Publicity Manager so my drag racing activities changed from being on the organisation side to being a major sponsor. By 1984 my career in the motor trade took over and I withdrew from the sport apart from following race reports in the magazines. My career path led me to becoming Marketing Director for the Pirelli owned Central Tyre Company, the multi-franchise dealer group Perry Motor Group plc and the Dutton-Forshaw Motor Group. This was another multi-franchised dealer business owned by Tiny Rowland's LONRHO Group. As well as Dutton-Forshaw branches it included Dovercourt and Jack Barclay. I think it was Ted Heath who described Tiny as the 'unacceptable face of capitalism'. Wonder what he would say about the bankers today. In 1990 I became a full-time analyst and motoring writer – eventually going freelance and publishing my own reports as well as writing for trade magazines.

It was Dave Riswick of John Woolfe Racing who drew me back into drag racing. I was subcontracted to his company to help organise 'California Dreaming' at Knebworth in 1997 to celebrate 30 years in business. This led to developing and launching the AMPAR Network for the company's American parts retail partners and part of building awareness in the AMPAR brand was launching a contingency scheme based at Shakespeare County Raceway. One of the things we discussed at this time was writing the history of the sport because he had collected many documents and magazines across the years of his involvement since the mid-1960s. Nothing happened for a while though.

However, when I semi-retired from the motor industry in 2007 I returned to this subject and after securing a publishing deal with Haynes I started the task of researching the sport's history. As well as Dave's archives at Bedford, one of the resources I used was the library at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and it was during these visits that I had the mad idea of restoring the museum's Allard Chrysler dragster to 'cacklefest' mode. You can keep up to speed with this project on www.allardchrysler.org and if you want to receive my regular PDF reports send your e-mail address to brian@allardchrysler.org. Hence my involvement in the current drag racing 'nostalgia' revival. That's my background covered. Thank goodness for that.

When economies go into reverse 'nostalgia' always comes to the fore as people hark back to the good ol' days. But nostalgia has always been alive and well in drag racing. It's in the sport's DNA with its American roots in modifying old cars (hot rodding) and European sprinting and hill-climbing populated by classics and historic racing cars. So a healthy drag racing nostalgia scene should not be seen as anything extraordinary. It's at the very heart of our culture and alive and well in Fuel Altereds, Pro Modified cars, the Outlaw classes, American Stockers and the Wild Bunch. It's a marriage of modern technology and replica bodies as well as 'true-to-roots' machines.

Because I was there for much of drag racing's development in Europe I obviously have a close affinity with the sport's history. Crazy Horses cemented that and to me this history is important. To fully appreciate the achievements of today you need to understand where we came from. So over the next few months my Eurodragster.com blog will feature this aspect and hopefully put today's sport into some form of context. Clearly there will be lots about the Allard Chrysler project but I also want to keep you up to speed with other restoration projects of which I become aware. Cars like Commuter, Firefly, Mr Six, The Devil, Ken Cooper's flathead, Stripduster, Houndog 1. I'll try and persuade Keith Lee to feed me info on the bike restorations. I'll also keep you informed about the Dragstalgia discussions and plans.

To give you an idea of a day in the life of Brian Taylor these days, yesterday I had a telephone call from the Congo making a donation of £1000 to the Allard Chrysler project and a bid of £500 for the Pocket Motorbike donated by Lucas Oil to raise funds. I also received an e-mail from American Moe Bailey who works on an oil rig in Baku, Azerbaijan. When he is not drilling for oil, he and his daughter Grace buy and sell Hemi engines, searching Ohio and the surrounding States. They provided the 354 Hemi engine to Booth-Arons for our restoration. I didn't know of their existence until Moe contacted me after reading an article that I wrote for the Mopar Collectors Guide. It's a small world isn't it?