Our Previos Race Cars - GB Racing

1. The Mustang

Originally the Mustang was converted to a race car in the early 1970's by British drag racing pioneer, Alan Herridge.

Built to run in the class called Pro Stock and owned by John Ledster. The car ran competitively in its day covering the 1/4 mile with low 10 second times.

We picked the car up in a somewhat depleted state in early 1985 and set about the task vigorously. Within a six month period we had turned the Mustang (which we named Jigsaw) into the photo on the left. More photos of the build etc can be found in our gallery.

Loads of money and time resulted in the car running 11 second 1/4's with speeds around 120mph winning a few events along the way.

But the need for speed and performance meant a lighter car was required.

2. The Dragster

18 months after completing the Mustang a dragster chassis became available to the team.

We had the chassis updated to modern spec and transplanted the engine and gearbox out of the Mustang into it. Most of the other parts required were manufactured by us including the rear axle & hub assemblies.

The dragster (Jigsaw II) ran well and consistent winning several events in succession through 1988 to 1990 including the Inaugural meeting at Avon Park and the World Finals at Santa Pod.

We ran as quick as 10.00 seconds over the 1/4 mile at speeds in excess of 140mph still using the engine and gearbox from the Mustang. The extra performance was gained mainly from a lighter car and better aerodynamics.

Jigsaw II was a winner but in 1990 we decided on a change in the form of an Altered.

3. Our First Altered

We decided to build the new car from scratch. This time it was to be a front engined short wheel base car with a 1923 Model T Ford fibreglass body on a full tubular chassis.

The reason for the race car change was that even though the dragster was very competitive it was boring to drive - even at 140mph!

The Altered being a shorter car proved harder to drive and tune as handling was erratic at times especially when the car ran over 130mph. Once we had sorted out these problems it ran low 10's at 140mph.

Built from the ground up we gained valuable experience in race car building and we learnt much about chassis design etc; and also that it was not as easy to build a race car as we first thought.

From lessons learned we decided on the next and our current race car.