Unfortunately Richard Colby, Bob Hancox & Paul Wright were
unable to attend.
Jon Best posted the following entertaining
report of proceedings on his
bestintentions website & has kindly allowed me to use it. Thanks Jon
"Well, what a start to the season! the only bad thing about the weekend was the
rain that stopped play before the final round. That's racing though. Still,
here's a brief look at how events unfolded for the Outlaw Anglias.
I arrived at the track just after 8am on Saturday, at that point, everyone was
asleep, so after wondering around the pits about 10 times to waste some time (as
Lee pointed out, sponsored walk anyone?). After a quick trip up to race control
I caught word of an incident on Friday night, involving a blue van, some alcohol
and a fire extinguisher. After resembling a wedding cake, the Hooligan's
van was cleaned off and ready to race. This was Marks 1st outing in Outlaw
Anglia following some chassis work done by JWRE. A chassis shorten and some new
4 into 1 headers. The warm-up of the car before qualifying was great, as if it
didn't already sound menacing, it now certainly did!
Across the road was the lovely pop of Simon Barlow, which was debuted in the
latter part of 2004. Having received his Powerglide from Andy Frost in the week,
Simon and the crew (a very well turned out crew, matching shirts and
everything!) were ready for action.
Pitted next to Simon was the 2004 runner up, Paul Hensher with the Gas Attack
car. Having found a rather dodgy pushrod adjuster, it was decided that gaffer
taping it back together for use as a spare wasn’t really going to work….to the
bin then.
Pete Ashworth, the 2004 champion, came along for the weekend (Dayglo Twister
4 currently being built at Andy Robinsons). Also in attendance was his
Newfoundland puppy (very well behaved!). Pete also lent a hand to Mark with all
the various procedures and things for the class.
Class coordinator Paul Wright arrived, minus car (the new pushrods hadn’t
arrived in time), still, it gave Paul and the crew some time to take in the
action with no mad thrashing around between rounds. Alcopop will be ready
soon, so bring yer earplugs next time :-)
As noted in Custom Car magazine this month, Cliff Griffin has a new Big Block
Chevy to motivate the stretched, widened-think of it and the bodies had it
done-pop. A freshen up on the paint side also, meant the car looks just as good
as when we last saw it in 2003.
Ray Guy with Shorty's Hot Rod was back, Ray rejoined the action at the
Hot Rod Drags last year. He was in for a good weekend.
Ian Norman with Popeye 2 and a half was in attendance…..how many people
noted that it was wearing slicks? It’s always been a rapid streetcar, but with
the slicks on it, Ian was flying down the track this weekend.
Qualifying round 1
Mark Pointer 8.33/156.3mph – simply awesome, the car made a
move before 60ft straight for the right hand Armco, Mark wrenched it back and
flew up the track, no. 1 qualifier in his 1st ever Outlaw Anglia event
Paul Hensher 9.79/151.9mph – The 1st pass for Paul this year, a
slight wrestling match off the line, it got settled and the huge power from the
Koffel B1 power plant helped take the ever so short Anglia past the 150mph mark
Cliff Griffin 9.97/129.5mph – 1st pass with the Big Block,
sounding great, a typical Cliff launch, arcing over on the green, back into the
9’s again.
Ray Guy 10.07 – a straight forward pass for Ray, straight in as no. 4
qualifier
Ian Norman 10.45/133.1mph – Showing it’s not just a pretty car (a
very pretty one at that), Ian slots in as no. 5 qualifier
Simon Barlow was also putting in observed runs, the car looks great (and it’s
remarkably quiet for the amount of power it’s making) 22.3
A very happy Hooligan was in the pits, talk about putting the cat
amongst the pigeons. There was talk of altering the rules (hourly updates based
on performance) – no vans and they cant be blue. lol, too late.
Qualifying round 2
Mark Pointer 8..41 - A straight forward pass from the Hooligan,
pulling a stonking light, straight down the lane to reinforce his no. 1
qualifier position
Paul Hensher 8.58/162.8mph – A fantastic pass from Paul, dialling
in a bit more power, it was on one, still no 2 qualifier, but highest speed of
the day.
Ray Guy 9.64/137.8mph – great burnout, a proper hot rod style pass
from Ray, knocking almost half a second off his previous pass
Cliff Griffin 9.97/129.5 – another strong launch, but Cliff stays
in 4th position
Ian Norman 10.19/147.1 – an Improvement for Ian, but no change in
position. Huge speed from the little pop though, that’s make some power.
That wrapped up Saturdays qualifying. There wasn’t enough time left for a 3rd
qualifying session. The general feeling was that everyone had done what they’d
set out to do. The ideas for rule changes were still being thought of…..
Sunday dawned, I’d had an earlyish night as I was shattered (that was all the
walking around Mr Child), I was awoken at 2.30am by a very drunk Ben Rushforth,
the next time you try tipping my car on its roof when I’m still in it buddy….
The forecast had been for rain all day….they went wrong somewhere, lovely
sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. The 1st round of elimination’s came up, Mr
Pointer wasn’t content with 8.3’s, so having spoken to engine builder Jeff Bull
about how far the revs could be taken, up went the limiter! 5k on launch…..eeeek,
and some rear end tweaks.
Eliminations Round 1
Paul Hensher 9.11/162.7 – a fantastic rolling burnout, this
pass was a handful, after putting a bit more power in, Paul wrestled the car
through 60ft, when everything straightened out, a huge top end charge took Paul
through to the semis
Simon Barlow (having suffered a some body damage in the fire up lane) now had
his licensed signed following a great full pass, congratulations to Simon and
the Orange Pop team!
Ray Guy 9.73/139.6mph – a bye run for Ray, following Aidan's no
show due to a flat battery in the pairing lanes.
Ian Norman 9.47/146.4mph – a fantastic pass from Ian, taking out
Cliff’s anglia, pulled a great light and stayed ahead all the way down.
Mark Pointer 8.325/159.67mph bye – As mentioned earlier, Mark was
looking to turn the wick up a bit, hows about: 0.000 rt (Tog is now £50 worse
off). The van launched like a bullet, 60ft in 1.2's, the upped rev limiter gave
a big 159mph terminal, and he still aint used the nitrous…..
Into the semis to meet Ian Norman, Paul Hensher would take on Ray Guy
Semi Finals
Paul Hensher vs Ray guy – Paul had the ET and Speed advantage, this didn’t stop
Ray pulling a stonking rolling burnout, at the green, Paul still had a small
fight on his hands with Gas Attack, after giving a bit more steering input, Paul
sped up the track with 8.57/166.08mph (equalled his pb. speed I
think)
Mark Pointer vs. Ian Norman – As John Price in race control noted, this was
always going to be a mountain to climb for Ian, at the green it was all Pointer
– another awesome light, straight as an arrow all the way down - 8.34/159.8mph.
We were all set for the final, Mark and Paul had been the quickest and fastest
all weekend. Just as the Wrights top fuel car was towed into the staging lanes,
the heavens opened, what started as drizzle progressed into conditions in which
we all knew racing wouldn’t be happening. It was disappointing that we couldn’t
stage the final of Outlaw Anglia, If Paul could get Gas Attack off the line with
minimal drama, he had the power and speed to stay with Mark. That’s racing
though.
Maybe next time….I cant wait for the next round!
Besty
Run information courtesy of Andy Rogers at Eurodragster.com. £50 for perfect
light also....
p.s. Also a few shoutouts for:
Colin Lazenby and crew, 1st 180mph pass, well done fellas, Chris Hartnell and "Backdraft"
1st 8 second pass (well into the 8's also) and 150mph, awesome stuff guys. Mick
and Splinter, great to see ya, hope you get fixed soon.
Finally, the young lady with an umbrella and a Jegs fender cover, hopefully a
proper conversation next time?"
