Story starts here. This is taken directly from American Autoparts Ltd website. They were great friends and helped me very much with this project.
Basically, they wrote it off on a shakedown run literally minutes after they finished it. It had covered perhaps 100 yds before the "red mist" descended in front of the cameras.
I bought the remains, but there wasn't much left to be honest, but a good custom built chassis, some wheels and a narrowed 12 bolt. It was never built as a race car, but as a show car only. I had other ideas. The chassis wasn't ideal for full out comp, but I had a go anyway.
There are no less than THREE Chevettes in this photo including a bit of the original front valance in front of the windscreen :laugh: There were quite a few US Chevettes in the UK as they seemed a favourite choice of USAF personnel who would just fly home after a tour and abandon them in a ditch! I couldn't get an early one so I made do with the more boxy newer model.
I think it turned out quite nicely. I did most of the work myself where I could including the engine building. Before I started this I had never hardly turned a spanner or used a torque wrench.
First ever 1/4 mile run. It drove sweet as a nut..First run was 12 seconds with a nervous driver...
I got it down to 9.80 by the time I got the roundy roundy bug. Highlight was the Brighton Speed Trials 1985 when it was a half mile track. To be honest, the original track was quite dangerous. Dukes Mound was right at the highest power portion of the track and cars would get airborne. I think anyone who was killed or injured at this event probably bought the farm at this point. I was very aware that a Lotus 7 had gone upside down into the banking the previous year and had lost his life, so having very few aerodynamic aids (none) and big bouncy slicks, naturally I was slightly nervous, so I eased back on the gas at around 7,000 rpm with 750 rpms to red line. I was running 4.11's anyway - not at all good for the half mile. So basically, I ran the 1/4 and coasted for a quarter. There's no engine braking on a drag car, as it would be a great way to turn right or left by violently unloading the chassis. The stock 6" brakes were no match for my momentum and so I very nearly took the end-of-course flagman with me into the straw bales, but I had done enough to win the class. 17 seconds for the half mile.
Dragging didn't hold any more allure for me, but I'd had some fun. My next project was to be this:
Al Unser Snr's 1977 Penske IROC Camaro Chassis No. 18. (originally a spare chassis. They apparently used to make 20 chassis each year, presumably in case of accidents. He ran this chassis for the whole series)
But that's another story.