Dragstalgia

Ok, ok... enough of the TT already. Life goes on.

Last weekend, Ant and I went to Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway. It's a drag race meet for pre 80s cars and bikes. It was an awesome day out. The last time I went to drag racing I was a teenager... so it was just as I remembered it!

These funnycars were incredible. Sub 7 seconds. The Apache recorded a weekend best ET of 6.2 secs for the quarter mile. That is soooodamnfuckinfast!

Outrageous!

A wee Fiat with a big V8

There was a whole parking lot full of hot-rods, muscle cars and other cool stuff...

Super Bad Ass!

Another bad boy

I'm a bit of a Chevy guy

An awesome P51 Mustange display to boot

Old-timer drag-bikes...

...with a few twin-engined Triumphs too.

Don't mess with these supercharged souped up campers... they'll blow 99.9% of modern cars into the weeds!

Love the old slingshots with facemasks and retro backup girls

Piet Mondrian having a go

Lots of tyre smokin action...

... and then this old girl shat herself on the start-line. Is than my con-rod?

Angry!

One day I will have a pre '73 Camaro :-)

Camaro in a different guise...

Hot rod

I love the lines of the P1800 Volvo. I have this pipe-dream of giving one an engine transplant and give it some teeth... this is a bit overboard... but cool!

Beautiful Challenger 

More rods

The apple or Ant's eye... there were quite a few awesome Chevy Bel Airs there... all were kitted out with big-blocks and huge rear tyres. Subtle... you had to look hard.

More Camaro badness

Adventure Speedweek - Day 2

Haakskeen - The 5k Grin - part II

 

Early in the morning, it was still.
Yeah! That’s more like it.
Many still fell short of their marks, other took to the challenges at hand.

The wait.
The vehicle ahead of you gets the course all clear,
Shifts into gear, and pulls away steadily, as not to break traction on the soft surface.
You start to gear up, turn the ignition, and hit the crank, “wirrr Dong Dong Dong Dong….”
Music to my ears.
The thudding drone of a Ducati Desmo Duo.

There is enough time for warm up, before the course is clear.
Focus, focus on you chosen clean line.
The distance markers, you got to time it right.
Some of us have enough traction- power to flat out in the first 3 km’s, so you have to hold on a bit, and flatten it when it is right, to get it through the gate at the top.
(You are timed on an average on the last 100m at the end of the 5Km strip)
Believe me , some of them buggars need the whole 5 k’s.

The Clark of the Course gives thumbs up.
It is time.
Quick check.
All green.
Visor down and latched.
“Klunk” in gear, blipping of the throttle for the crowds, n we’re away.

Aggressive to start, need to put on a bit of a show.
But soon enough you are , away on moving on down the track.
Focus ahead, settle the feet on the pegs, move the ass back, and put the chest on the tank.
Get comfy.
Watch the distance.
It goes by quick enough.

Steady up to 80%, hold, hold… all feels steady.
3.5 km’s down, roll here flat, at tuck as much as you can.
She surges still, till 95% then bleeds off, still holding, squeezing, squeezing, the marker too soon flashes by, you hold still, just in case.

 

Shit , the turn out zone is her before I have rolled.
Bwwaaaaaah!……. the sudden deceleration from a flat out twin is quite something.
Slow it down, 2k’s after turn out, we peel off to the left, and do a wide arc round to the timing tent. (250m off the coarse to the left at the 5 km mark)

Some one walks out, as I approach, and shouts 211.
I smile and give a big thumbs up. Whooop whoop.

The goal set was 209.2 km/h(130mph)
Goal reached and exceeded by 1.8 km’s/h
Stock standard Ducati St2 2 valve.
It was great.
One of the few who achieved the speed they set out to.

The pan was more of a hand full than most anticipated.
That is pan racing.
Tar is easy, easy peasy.
Pan is kool. Pan is soul. Pan is not just outright speed.
Pan is unique……….

Have look and see.
An attempt has been made to capture some.
But you cannot rely feel, till you have tasted the dust, felt the sun ,spoken to the people, and felt the silent wind of the Kalagadi blow through you.

Nic.

Adventure Speedweek - Day I

Here's a blurb and some magnificent pics from my brother Nic's recent adventure inSouth Africa:

Haakskeen - The 5k Grin - part I
There we were.
Tourists, treasure seekers… pilgrims.
Drawn to the arid far north west reaches of the Southern land….
The Kalagadi.

 

 

Camped out on the edge of Haakskeen pan, an open vastness of solitude.
Together in our idea, individual in our method and goal.
On a quest.
Wring the nuts off your chosen fire breather, to see how fokken fast it’ll take ye.

 

 

(An official timed speed run, on a pan as flat as flat can. 6cm gradient over 2km’s)
(A sun baked crust of salt and clay. 5km’s is all you have got, to have your say.)

“Bring em bring em” from far and wide. “ If it got wheels , we’ll time it”,the slogan goes.
From 1930-2012 ,the models were present.

But alas, the pan was not going to let you just burn it, and take the honours.
Once the surface had been ridden on the first day, with high crosswinds, it broke up into a rough powder.
400+ Bph for the cars , some who know what, turbo charged 1400cc motorcycles geared for 420km/h+ took on a whole new meaning. Anything over 200km’s took huge balls.

(to be continued)