If you love old news reel footage, then beware: You could spend hours poking around on the British Pathe website. Over 100 years of archival film shot primarily in the UK, and covering every possible subject ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Jive-Bomber Jay - Cool post! ... and you're correct about spending hours poking around on the British Pathe website ... I'm guilty as charged! NOTE: The "Modern Specialist" Porsche-powered dragster shown in this British Pathe "Drag Car Racing 1964" video clip was the subject of Ryan's Foreign Policy Blog from June 4th 2012 ... and in the resultant thread, I posted a link to this very same video clip ... plus a scan of the HRM feature article on the dragster ... and a link to all 44 pages of the "1st British International Drag Festival" official programme (see post #46)
Bloody nice of you, old chap. I digged the soundtrack and the evershifting low rpm Engine sound....Mini, anyone?
Interesting post and video. I read that it was Sydney Allard who first introduced drag racing to Britain in 1960 when he built a supercharged Chrysler hemi-powered slingshot dragster.
Ive got some great original B&W shots from the 64 Dragfest that i picked up a swap meet years ago, I used to live about 4 miles from BlackBushe before moving to the US. I believe they are having a sort of revival next year to remember it...
yeah, one might also note that the britishpathe site is THE go-to place for clips of old LSR runs, you're sitting with your eyes a foot from the screen clutched onto the mouse like it was a Krugerrand and your wife walks into the room and says "Sheesh, cars again, I thought you were wanking or something." "Shot primarily in the UK" - true, but if it's Campbell at Verneuk Pan or any of the platoon of Brits at Daytona, or Eyston and Cobb at Bonneville, it's in there.
The Allard dragster has been restored recently, well last 5 years or so: http://www.allardregister.org/ Another video here, although the Allard car is wearing no.57 rather than 58... http://youtu.be/EoAsAzOYYno Note Allan Herridge's name on the board at about 1:40, nicknamed "Bootsie" he was one of the guys that started drag racing over here. Sadly it also claimed his life in 1983. More pictures and information on UK drag racing history here http://www.trakbytes.co.uk/ and here http://theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/site_map.html
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