We
have some exciting contributors for you as well, Mark Wallington
the Guru behind the Outlaw Street race series will have a
permanent slot keeping us up to speed on what’s occurring in OS
World. Sonia Hammond will be here with all the Cruise News from
down South, and if you haven’t seen any of Sonia's work yet you
are in for a treat her photography is out of this world. There will be regular news from Santa Pod and much more which we’ll introduce as time allows. If there’s any event you’re going to then take a few pics, email them over and we’ll put it in here or likewise if you want to let us know of a forthcoming cruise/show lets hear about it.
UK Street Machines club nights are on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Raunds Town Football Club and our first one is Wednesday 9th March 7-11pm so drop by and see what all the fuss is about.
We’ll try and attend as many shows as we can as a club which we
will keep you up to date nearer the time as they are later in
the year. As some of the events which are unique to UKSM are much later in the year we will start putting names down for those events next month don’t worry you wont miss out.
I know a lot of folk are building new cars in readiness for the upcoming season so make
A short welcome for our first outing so before we go a quick thanks to all those supporting us in our Rookie Year. They are Paragon Motorsport, RH Specialist Insurance, DW Bars, Santa Pod Raceway, Topspeed, Outlaw Street, Rockauto.com and all the Worthing crew. Don’t forget first club night WEDNESDAY 9th FEBRUARY Raunds Town FC 7-11pm and we’ll see ya soon.
In addition some rounds are going to be run at Peak Performance days at Santa Pod, so members can have the opportunity to run at a race prepped track and for the 2011 we’ve been invited to run our final round of the series at the Santa Pod Flame & Thunder weekend.
As well as the focus of trying to win a 1st, 2nd 3rd place trophy, members have the added incentive at each round of trying to net the most points for a round and win a years free subscription to American Car and in addition to try and cut the perfect tree to win a Reaction Trophy & £25 prize money.
So why not get yourself over to the Outlaw Street forum and see what all the fuss is about
Mark Wallington
Outlaw #1
Outlaw Street Drag Race Series 2011
Outlaw Street is gearing up for the 2011 series,
after a fantastic first year the series returns in 2011 with even
more meets on the calendar.
At the time of going to print 45 members had confirmed for the
season (82% of these returning from competing in the 2010 series, so
we must be doing something right).
Membership for a year is £25, it’s not too late to join for 2011 so
if you would like to join the fastest growing race series in the UK
or would like more information please see the Outlaw Street forum at
www.outlawstreet.co.uk
The
whole ethos of the series being a ‘grass roots' drag race series
open to all’, with a scoring system based on individual drivers
improvements on their ET’s and attendance at the rounds across the
year meaning in essence that the person you’re trying to beat is
yourself & not necessarily the guy/gal in the next lane.
One of the key attractions to the series for members is that you
don’t have to run an 8 second pro street car to be competitive and
have a chance of winning a trophy, in fact the 2010 winners ranged
from a 8.8 second Camaro to a 14 second daily driver Mustang, to a 17
second PT Cruiser, proving it’s not what you drive, but how well you
drive.
The
other key attraction is that you don’t have to commit to racing for
a whole weekend, and you can if you wish just race for a few hours,
thus making entry to the series work/life/family friendly.
The series is strongly grounded in being open to all with a good mix
of members both new to drag racing and seasoned ‘old hands’, this
mix is great for people new to the sport who want to have a go, but
would like the friendly support of others to be able to learn the
basics, this normally leads to a number of head to head ‘fun races’
and bench racing banter across the season as members get familiar
with their cars & drag racing and then try to chip away at their
PB’s.
| Outlaw Street 2011 Race Schedule: | |
| OS-1 |
Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th February
At Santa Pod Saturday - Night Special Sunday - RWYB |
| OS-2 |
Saturday 16th -
Sunday 17th April At Shakespeare County Raceway Saturday and Sunday – RWYB weekend |
| OS-3 | Saturday 28th -
Monday 30th May At Shakespeare County Raceway Gary's Picnic / YANKS Weekend |
| OS-4 | Saturday 11th
- Sunday 12th June At Shakespeare County Raceway Saturday and Sunday RWYB weekend |
| OS-5 | Saturday 16th -
Sunday 17th July At Santa Pod Dragstalgia weekend |
| OS-6 | Friday 29th July -
Sunday 31st July At Santa Pod MOPARs weekend |
| OS-7 | Friday 2nd to
Sunday 4th September At Santa Pod Saturday RWYB Sunday Peak Performance Day |
| OS-8 |
Saturday 1st October - Sunday 2nd October At Shakespeare County Raceway Saturday / Sunday RWYB weekend |
| OS-9 | Saturday 29th
October - Sunday 30th October At Santa Pod Flame and Thunder weekend |
 |
|
Outlaw Fordson
Under the Strongbow infused skin lies one of the UKs top rod builders that is Phil Middleton. Some of you may have seen him at the bar at Rod runs over the years showing varying degrees of wobblyness (a new word but nothing else polite fitted) but it has to be said his CV does make for some very impressive reading, a slammed Chevy Pick up, a rampside truck, the 38 Ford of Terry Howe is a Giner creation and not forgetting his own 38 Chrysler Royale with chopped top, screaming Small Block Chevy all running on polished 20 inch ARE wheels all of which have been Best in Britain contenders, and now his latest ride a full Pro Street Fordson Van.
From the outset the Fordson was being built to compete within the competitive ranks of the Outlaw Anglias so the first port of call was to Wayne Allmans Intergalactic Custom Shop for the build of the hi spec cage. The drive train was upgraded from a stroked small block Chevy to an awesome Steve Schmidt 540 cu in Motor coupled to a 2 speed ‘glide within a Devon Bear casing, serving a narrowed ford 9” with Strange centre and Moroso shafts.
All this sits on Pro Stars with 4 x 15 out front and monster 15 x 15s taking care of the launches and with an estimated 850 hp on tap those huge Pro Stars are sure gonna work for their money and all this sits within a 94 inch wheelbase, this is gonna make this Fordson one hell of a fun car to drive!
With that much power the brakes were certainly not overlooked with Willwood vented discs and four pot callipers taking care in the stopping department.
Cooling is from a Damian built Ally Rad’ with Aston Martin core and is mounted with the use of rose jointed arms which in a previous life served as bonnet stays on Terry Howes 38 Ford which is probably the cars only “Green” attribute. Some builds very often follow a similar route which is where I feel this project differs, an awful lot of thought has gone into the build allowing for future changes and ease of repairs for example the entire floor pan is removable within just 10 minutes and lets not forget that this is a street car. Weight loss (for the car not the driver) has been achieved with an all Ally flip front and rear doors scratch built by Rick Beasley of Classic Contours and an amazing job he has made of them as well.
I often use superlatives to describe my favourite style of cars i.e. the “Pro Street” in write ups but this is without doubt one of the most awesome Pro Street cars I have been fortunate enough to write about.
Giner is talking about having the Fordson out this year with shakedown runs down in the Nines with Sevens by the end of the year and with Drag Race Legend Al O’Connor crewing for him that’s probably not the Strongbow talkin’
For the 69 We Have ordered a new Neal Chance pro-mod bolt
together torque converter and will have the gearbox updated by
Andy Frost @ Penn Autos very shortly and a new pair of Strange
coilovers for the rear of the car fitted soon.
I am hoping that these updates will help get the 69 of the line
with the treaded tyres as we have been having serious traction
problems in trying to hook up the ProCharger power.
At the moment we only plan on doing around 3 meetings this year
in S/E and maybe a couple of rounds in Outlaw Street. Trying to
build up the business and being open 7 days a week in the shop
doesn’t leave much time for testing and trying to run a race
programme, but I am going to give it my best shot this year!!
At the end of last year Myself, my brother Scott and some very
good & interesting meetings with some new suppliers in the
States can now offer some really competitive prices on anything
American, from standard to full on race parts.
Something that people might not realise is that we can also
supply parts for your everyday road car as well, just about
anything can be sourced by us at Topspeed, service items,
battery’s,oils, the list is pretty much endless, anyone who
has been to our shop will know just how much stock that we keep.
Will keep you informed on any new updates.
Cheers, Bill.
BRIGHTON'S MOTORS 'N' INK 2011
January is normally one of those months, where few are brave
enough to get their motors out for a run. But if that time of
year you are looking for an excuse, then the Brighton Tattoo
Convention held at the Race course is the perfect one. Now in its
4th year the show came to West Sussex on the 29th & 30th January
2011. If you're not just into your motors & love tattoos, piercings
or just people watching then this is the place to go.
Every year Woody the conventions promoter invites those
attending in Yanks, Hotrods & Classics a chance to show their
vehicles at the front of the Racecourse in exchange for free
entry to one of the countries best tattoo events. This year 178
artists were showcasing, talented & famous artists from home &
abroad were there to share their work & skills. If you're a fan of
TV show London Ink, then first artist Dan Gold as your came
through the doors demonstrating his graffiti style was a real
treat. Second year running well known car photographer Nick
Grant was exhibiting his work in the Art Gallery section giving
those who prefer their art more motor related something to
admire.
The V8 Mentalists Car Club concluded with free entry on offer to a great venue, a Sunday run to the coast was a must, so posted online the details of the cruise. The morning of the 30th at Pease Pottage services, a get together was organized for a motor meet up & caffeine fix. In no time the car park was filling up with all manner of vehicles but predominantly classic yanks. Chrome glistening in the morning sun & a buzz in the air for first one day event of the year. By the time of departure of the cruise over 30 vehicles were counted & shortly after 11am the convoy was peeling out of the services onto the motorway. It was a sight to see as the array of vehicles lined the lanes, causing a rolling road block as ever, with people slowing to look at the vehicles on the move. Muscle cars to hot rods, Giant American monster jeeps to VW campers & English classics, there was something for every passer by to catch their eye. The club had prearranged the numbers attending so upon arrival at the Racecourse an area inside the race course to show & also out the front was set aside for the array of cars. The day was a great success & the Tattoo convention had their best display of yanks to date, with the sun shining all day we were all treated to a glorious sunset & all eager for the next big event,roll on 2011.
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY BY SONIA HAMMOND