Ton Pels
The first Overseas member of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. The Godfather Ton Pels has been racing since 1970 and started on a variety of 250cc two-stroke bikes, soon changing to a 500cc Triumph on nitro. In 1977 he brought out a double-engined Triumph and this machine received the first-ever set of Puma cylinder heads in 1980, which were designed by Ton. Rebuilt in 1982 and renamed The Double Dutch Puma, in the next six years, this bike won Ton a string of National Championships. Then, having started the Zodiac business selling aftermarket and performance parts for Harley Davidson, Ton went Pro Stock with a Harley and ran this machine until 1991, becoming the first ever Harley Pro Stock bike to run an eight.
In 1992, Ton and son and Crew Chief Vincent built their first Godfather Supertwin and won the European Championship in the bike’s first season. This bike also became the first European Harley (and third in the world) to break the 200 mph barrier, winning the 1996 European Championship in the process. In 2004 Ton repeated this feat with the current Zodiac bike, which will be ridden by relative youngster Roel Koedam from the start of the 2007 campaign.
Sydney Allard
Sydney Allard was a Ford dealer who in the years before the Second World War produced his own ‘Allard Specials’ using the 1930s Ford Flathead V8 engine. The specials became a range of sports cars using Cadillac engines as well as Ford units and in these he had success in some extremely diverse motor racing events: he won the 1949 British Hillclimb Championship, was placed third at Le Mans in 1950 and won outright the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally. In the later 1950s, Sydney turned to the component business and fitted Shorrocks superchargers to a wide range of engines.
At the same time, he noted drag racing fever spreading in the US and as early as 1960, he imported a 354 Chrysler Hemi with a GMC 6-71 blower. Using American Chris Karamesines’ Chizler rail as his model, he presented Europe with its first dragster – a historic event that changed the shape of European motorsport. In truth he built it to add a ‘bit of jazz’ to the then ailing British sprint scene. He had to adapt the Chizler’s design to incorporate existing RAC sprint regulations, so the result is the unique Allard Chrysler. It’s iconic ‘Art-Deco’ streamline looks became the siren for all those enthusiasts looking for something a little bit more extreme from their motor sport in power terms.
The fuel was Methanol with a small percentage of Acetone and the theoretical maximum boost was 20 pounds. Weighing 1460 lbs (60% distributed to the rear wheels), the dragster produced 480 horsepower at 5000 rpm with a compression ratio of 8:1. The max torque was 550 lbs feet at 3000 rpm; so a pretty powerful machine in its day.
It was first fired up in front of an invited audience at Brands Hatch in the Spring of 1961. Sydney …
Nobby Hills
Nobby Hills has been involved in Drag Racing since the sport started in Europe in the 1960s. He was inspired to build his first car after having witnessed match races between Sydney Allard and Dante Duce in 1963. The first in a line of Houndog cars was introduced at the 1964 Drag Fest meetings. Nobby is primarily interested in the engineering side of the sport and mainly used hired drivers, including Les Hill, Mike Hutcherson, Owen Hayward and Alan Bates.
Nobby built six front-engined dragsters, starting with a Jaguar engined car in 1964. Subsequent cars got quicker and faster with Houndog 6 running regular mid 7 second runs in the early 1970’s with a Chrysler Hemi engine sitting between the rails.
In 1973 the opportunity arose for Nobby to buy Paula Murphy’s STP-sponsored Plymouth Duster Funny Car. This car was brought to the UK by Santa Pod Raceway along with Stardust that was owned and driven by Don Schumacher. Owen Hayward drove the Duster, which was renamed Houndog 7, achieving a best time of 6.61 seconds. Alan Herridge assumed the driving chores of Stardust and European fans enjoyed many years of close and exciting racing between the two imported cars.
For a few years Nobby ran both the Funny Car and a top fuel dragster, both painted in matching paint schemes. The rear engined top fuel dragster, Houndog 8, was built by Nobby and was a replica of the car driven in the UK by US shoe Tony Nancy. It was a regular mid 6 second runner and achieved a best time of 6.30 seconds at the Easter 1976 meeting. The Duster was written off in a crash in 1977. Thankfully driver Owen Hayward wasn’t too badly hurt and continued to drive Nobbys cars for a few more years.
A …
Custom Car Magazine
Custom Car magazine was first published in March 1970 and to the drag racing deprived fans of the era was a breath of fresh air. With its generally irreverent and rebellious early style, it quickly took the opportunity to cover the recently established drag racing scene, with full reports from both the UK and US. Regular features on cars of the era were included along with news and rumours not to mention the magazine’s own cartoon superhero, Super CC.
The Custom Car shows at Crystal Palace and Alexandra Palace took place, starting in 1972, for over ten years. Custom Car magazine’s support for our sport over the years has remained undiminished and in recent years has expanded to sponsorship of events and class sponsorship. Under current editor Dave Biggadyke it has had a new lease of life with even more drag racing coverage and support promised for 2007. Importantly, Custom Carmagazine has been the only UK drag racing-related periodical to appear consistently on the high street for over thirty five years.…
John Hobbs
Following a couple of years watching sprinting events, John Hobbs’ racing career began in 1966 at a sprint, where he rode a home built 500cc Triumph. He also competed at the first drag bike event held at the newly opened Santa Pod Raceway. Although this first bike, built with his friend Jonathan Braund, was not a big success, it set John on a road to ever quicker times in the years to follow. He set out on his own, building the first machine to carry the Olympus name. This normally aspirated 500 Triumph, built for the 1967 season, was soon updated with a supercharger for the following year – when the name John Hobbs made many headlines. Rapid advancements were made, as the young fuel technology student experimented with nitro combinations. The blue bike made its mark as the year progressed, and John won the 1968 Drag Bike Championship. To cap an excellent year, he set a number of official world sprint records at Elvington, which was headline news. With a redesigned supercharger layout, Olympus would become the quickest under 750cc bike in the world in 1971, as John recorded 9.68s on his 500cc machine.
1972 marked the switch to John’s first twin-engined bike – the first of three versions of Olympus II – powered by a pair of 500cc motors. This bike hit the first official 160mph terminal speed in Europe. An increase in the maximum capacity limit saw John racing a 1500cc Triumph in 1973, which proved to be a handful, as it was fitted with a wider car slick. The final version of Olympus, sponsored by Castrol, became the quickest accelerating bike in Europe, as it clocked a best of 9.16s/155mph. Twin-engined bikes were now becoming very popular, despite the much increased workload needed to keep them …