UKDRN

Anything Nostalgia Related.

Moderators: timetravel, ukdrn

 #34725  by ukdrn
 
The fantastic news is out that Russ and Andrew Carpenter are to return to the strip with the glacier grenade dragster with Andrew driving.
Russ is one of the true UK drag racing engineering giants and the performances he got from this car were then and still are incredible today.
Of course Andrew "slim" Carpenter has a huge amount to learn but it will be a real honour and pleasure watching this team out again.
Obliviously a return to racing isn't cheap so if anyone wishes to support (Nitro etc) one of the greatest pieces of UK drag racing machinery ever built then you can contact Andrew through this website.
Andrew has also kindly promised to keep us updated on news on the return 8)
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Andrew has sent me this..

My fathers involvement in drag racing started at the first Dragfest meeting in 1964.
Being a young man with a keen interest in anything motorised he attended the meeting at Blackbushe to view a new type of motorsport fresh from the States. All it took was one visit and he was hooked. Soon after he was introduced to a local chap called Tony Anderson, who himself had just started to participate with a Ford V6 front engined digger called Trouble and a partnership was formed.
Dad originally helping out with the engine work on the car, however it wasn’t long before they would begin to buid a new revolutionary car together.
Having seen photo’s of the new rear engine race cars in the states they decided that was the way to go and so in 1970 work began on a new chassis. They had decided they wanted an all British car and as the Daimler V8 engine had a hemi head it was the obvious choice. So at the March meeting of 1972 held at Upper Heyford by the NDRC the all British V8 Daimler powered “More Trouble” rear engine dragster was debuted with driving duties were shared between Tony and Dad. The car was slowly refined and tweeked to improve it and in September 1974 at Silverstone Dad won his first race meeting.
Shortly after Tony hurt his back in a racing incident at a meeting at Santa Pod and due to the injury was forced to stop racing. Dad bought out his share of the car and continued the development they had begun. Improvements were continually made thoughout the 1970’s lowing the speed and ET records until on the 5th July 1980 at the Summer International World Series meeting at Santa Pod, dad in the (now AE Autoparts sponsored) “Glacier Grenade” became the first racer to break the 8 second barrier in an “All British” car as well as the first car anywhere in the world under 5.5 litres to do so.
He continued to race and improve the car (lowering the terminal speed and ET records) until his retirement from competitive racing in 1989 having achieved a personal best of 7.2 seconds at 180mph all from a practically stock Daimler V8 engine.
The car was demonstrated for a number of years over Europe afterwards in match races but it was never again raced in competition and finally mothballed in 1994.
After a brief appearance in 1999 driven by my brother Garry, the car was again mothballed only coming out for display at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed as well as a few motorshows.
In 2007 dad was invited to attend a Legends of Drag Racing meet at Santa Pods “Main Event” and it was there that the spark of racing was once again ignited. At the 2011 Dragstalgia meeting the car reappeared on show for the first time in 16 years at Santa Pod and the idea of running the car was brought up.
However dad fell seriously ill in late 2011 and it wasn't until recovering in the summer of 2012 that he decided it was time to look at reviving the car. After much discussion it was decided that I would be allowed my drive of the famous world record breaking dragster, however there were 2 rather large issues. 1 was the fact i was a clear 4 inches taller than my already quite tall father and the other was the fact I was too heavy to fit in the car. There was only one solution for this! Dad and I made an agreement and after dieting for 12 months and losing 50kgs I slid into the cockpit and it was decided to start work rebuilding the car to return her to racing condition.
2014 is set to be quite a special year not just for british drag racing but also Russ Carpenter Racing.
It is the 40th anniversary of my father’s first win in drag racing, as well as his 50th year involved in the sport.
And so on that fine note, after 25 years of retirement from competitive racing and 15 years since our last demonstration runs we are pleased to official announce the rebuilding of the “Grenade” dragster and the return of Russ Carpenter Racing to the Dragstrip for 2014.
 #34726  by muddytalker
 
This is excellent news Jon. It will be great to see the old girl back out on the strip again in 2014, and especially with the Supercharged Outlaws as well. British engineering taking on the might of the American V8s. Bring it one. :D
 #34727  by ukdrn
 
muddytalker wrote:This is excellent news Jon. It will be great to see the old girl back out on the strip again in 2014, and especially with the Supercharged Outlaws as well. British engineering taking on the might of the American V8s. Bring it one. :D
I couldn't agree more Jerry.
Andrew tells me they are hoping to have the car ready for the 2014 Nostalgia Nationals
 #34730  by torment
 
Great news..I cant wait for this to run. :D
 #34762  by muddytalker
 
A few of Russ and the Grenade taken at Long Marston in 1988.
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Photos by Brian E Clark
 #34770  by muddytalker
 
Pleased that you appreciate the photos Andrews. Anymore I come across I'll post them here. All the best with the rebuild. See you at the strip next year.
 #35424  by muddytalker
 
Found these show pics in one of Doug's slide boxes. Looks like Russ had the car on display at Thruxton for one of the big NASC Rod Runs. Not sure of the year. Any ideas TT!
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 #35425  by timetravel
 
muddytalker wrote:Found these show pics in one of Doug's slide boxes. Looks like Russ had the car on display at Thruxton for one of the big NASC Rod Runs. Not sure of the year. Any ideas TT!
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yes he was at the Thruxton Internationals, I think he did a fire burnout there... possibly '83?