drag racing – Build Threads

Red Victor 3 – Vauxhall VX4/90 FD

I haven’t featured many drag cars in comparison to other build styles on this site, but Slinky from Red Victor 1 Racing over in the UK sent me the teams latest build and I knew it deserved a post. This style of drag car is usually the domain of American builders who focus their attention on the quintessential muscle cars from Detroit, so it’s good to see the same treatment being given to a unique car in a totally different part of the world.

The car in question is a 1972 Vauxhall VX4/90 FD being built for the NHRA/FIA Pro Modified class, with a twin turbo methanol slurping 540ci V8 shoehorned between the towers. The team are intending to make this the worlds only street-legal, NHRA legal, Pro Mod car. I guess that all depends on your definition of street legal!

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Drag-spec Datsun 510 Coupe

I just saw this link get posted on Ratsun a moment ago and knew I had to tee it up for a feature. A Datsun 510/Bluebird coupe gets the full drag treatment over in Japan, with a tube frame chassis, massive slicks taking up the whole rear end, and a potent straight 6 L-series finished off with some amazing titanium headers. It’s interesting to see the engine choice after fabricating such an elaborate chassis. In western countries a big V8 or a turbocharged 4cyl/6cyl would have been a no-brainer choice, but in this case the Japanese builders have stuck with N/A straight 6 power.

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Nostalgic Dragster Rebuild

Chris, a fellow Aussie & VW enthusiast, emailed me this build a while ago. It’s the restoration of a late 60’s/early 70’s front engine dragster being rebuilt at his fathers workshop. Chris tells me that in the drag racing community this is known as a “Cackle Car”, a car which although not competitively raced, is still fully functional. This particular example puts out about 2500hp. Chris’s dad, Ross, was very grateful for the work put in by many people, and had this to say:

There are a number of people that made this restoration happen.
Scotty Lane for going the extra yard with the body work and sump,
Chris Preen for countless machining and fabrication pieces,
Max Preen for his input into chassis repair etc,
Rob Huysmans who did an exceptional job in recreating the original paint scheme.
Rick MacDonald (USA) for all his help with engine and fuel system secrets.
John Huysmans for doing the bulk of the cylinder head work, under instruction from Rick.

And finally the Preen family for putting up with all this madness.

Not only does the car get rebuilt to it’s former glory, but a gokart trailer also gets modified to house it, so there’s some bonus building for you after the jump. Well done to the Preen family for restoring a piece of motor sport history.

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