Good to see everyone today and to put faces to even more names, and to put cars to even more faces. Some had a few mechanical setbacks but still had a good time. I've just got in so bear with me while I sort through 500 odd pics and put up some of the best here....tomorrow there should be a fair few on my website. But first a report, as i know James needs to fill pages in the mag and its not fair to expect him to write eveything.....
This was my first time at the American Car World Natioanals, organised by the magazine of it's namesake. I missed their first event last year somehow, must have slipped me mind. Saturday was out due to prior committments so I headed up early on Sunday with all me photog gear well charged, cleaned and ready fer action! On arrival it did seem a bit vacant to say the least. I had half expected to have to park miles away and have to walk the rest. In this case I could park anywhere as the field wasn't even half full. It was a glorious day, no wind, and barely a cloud in the sky. I made straight for the pit area to catch up with Blue and the Essex crew (Kev, Paul and Chris.....did I say Phil?).
A woeful tale lay before me in the form of the "Brisbane Taxi" up on rear axle stands and the words "welder required" emblazoned on the rear fender. It seemed on Saturday Kev was running strong, even getting that elusive front wheel in the air......only to find that a dislocated rear axle spring perch was causing the rear to go down, lifting the front wheel on the opposite corner! So no action from Kev and the "Taxi" on Sunday then. Guy Papworth's 73 Barracuda was also jacked up at this time, problems with rear tranny bearings and prop vibration were giving him concern. Must say though, the new hood scoop and paint work look the dogs wotsits. A couple of bad crashes had also occured on Saturday, Phil Caswell's "High Tension" Trans-am hit the wall several times and one of the Pops rolled onto it's roof. No-one was seriously hurt, and the track emergency services were incredible.
However, no sooner had the lanes opened for racing on Sunday and George Chiles was up there in the 69 Roadrunner making lots of noise and smoke in true Mopar style. First run was ace, wheels up and slicks straining to stay on the rims when it hooked up. Guy put in a few runs in the Barracuda to see if he could make any improvement on his ET, but the gremlins were hard at work in the form of a one wheel burnout, a new clutch pack was required and a lot of swearing could be heard. Dave Simcock was also out in his new 70 Challenger R/T for the first time. He had trouble getting used to the shifter and as a result was missing second and going straight to third. Even still, 11.1 seconds passes were pretty impressive and I don't know for sure if Dave got that 10 second slip. Fastest Mopars there were Dave Bailey in the '64 Signet with high nine's and Cliff Turner (70 Dodge dart 440) and Tig Napier (74 Challenger 528) in the low 10's. Nigel Swift was also out in his "trailered" 69 Roadrunner running in the low 12's. Not really a huge Mopar turn out at this event, Nick Woods '70 Roadrunner was parked up in the pits and didn't run at all on Sunday. A lovely blue '69 charger 440 made a few passes and is apparently for sale, I also spied a fantastic yellow '69 Satellite 440-6bbl being given a good shake-down on the strip. Nice to see these cars doing what they were built for though. A white '69 GTX also made a fine appearance along with Terry in his A100. Sean in his 68 Coronet carried the Mopar flag in the burnout contest with tyres bought specially for the event. You probably saw him at the2004 Mopar Nats burnout contest too but that was nothing compared to this! He fried just about everything that could be fried.....needless to say he won. A great day out and I am now well and truly sunburnt, and because I wore a cap me face is red and the baldy head is white....looks kinda like a big red egg-cup with an egg on top!
Remember you can have any of my pics printed on a professional quality Epson 2880dpi photo printer, sizes A4(?4 plus p&p) or A3(?6 plus p&p) on satin, pearl or gloss paper using Lyson archival inks (which means they will last 75 - 200 years depending on storage conditions). Here we go then.....
Drogo's ACW Nats pics
Moderator: Moderators
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Anonymous
Drogo's ACW Nats pics
Last edited by Anonymous on Tue May 17, 05 9:14 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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resize em to 800pxls, (then save for web with compression at 70%)
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Anonymous
If anyone has a pic of it, stick it up and I'll search me archives.