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I wonder who brisca665 is! He's the purchaser of the body. I wonder if he's a stock car kind of person because brisca is the brand name for the 'British Stock Car Association'.
Well, we know where it’s kind of going but what’s the history behind this unusual Anglo-American Funny Car body. Well I thought we would go through it here especially as I ran its Family Tree through my files for the previous owner this time last year.
1988 NEWS STORY
‘Seems like there are plans for another top class Funny Car to come out of the John Woolfle Racing stables for the new season. A Beretta body has sat in the workshop at Bedford for quite some time, awaiting the arrival of a new Stateside chassis for Nobby Hills ‘Houndog’, which, we understand has been sold. More news as and when.’ - Drag Racing News December 1988.
It would appear that sometime in the proceeding months there was a falling out between the management of John Woolfe Racing and Nobby Hills Racing. Furthermore, from the photo below I suspect that there was more than two Beretta bodies purchased having seen this mould on a jig inside the workshop of Nobby Hills Racing before both parties went there separate ways. The body masquerading as a VW Passat went to Australia and crashed. The body that was taken by Norm Wilding to the USA also crashed. Knowing that the previous owner Glen Child found traces of yellow on the under body would lead me to suggest that your body is the original JWR Opel Senator/Chevy Beretta item.
1988 NEWS STORY
‘Seems like there are plans for another top class Funny Car to come out of the John Woolfle Racing stables for the new season. A Beretta body has sat in the workshop at Bedford for quite some time, awaiting the arrival of a new Stateside chassis for Nobby Hills ‘Houndog’, which, we understand has been sold. More news as and when.’ - Drag Racing News December 1988.
It would appear that sometime in the proceeding months there was a falling out between the management of John Woolfe Racing and Nobby Hills Racing. Furthermore, from the photo below I suspect that there was more than two Beretta bodies purchased having seen this mould on a jig inside the workshop of Nobby Hills Racing before both parties went there separate ways. The body masquerading as a VW Passat went to Australia and crashed. The body that was taken by Norm Wilding to the USA also crashed. Knowing that the previous owner Glen Child found traces of yellow on the under body would lead me to suggest that your body is the original JWR Opel Senator/Chevy Beretta item.
Here’s another couple of shots of the finished car before being shipped to Germany to appear at the '89 Nitro Olympics.
1989 NITRO OLYMPICS - 11TH/13TH August - Hockenheim, Germany
‘Hockenheim is the location chosen by John Woolfe Racing to debut their top class drag racing Funny Car. This awesome machine has a GM Opel Senator body and is prepared to the highest professional standards of performance and safety. The car, which develops more than 3500 horsepower should complete the standing quarter mile in less than 6 seconds. Built using the latest available technology in England the car is driven by top driver Allan Bates, while Dave Fletcher is in charge of engine preparation and necessary operations following each race.’ - JWR Press Release written by Martin J Rowat 1989.
‘The German debut of Alan Bates’ new ride, the Dave Riswick owned JWR Opel Senator Fuel Funny Car was plagued with a mystery, and at time, incurable problem for most of the weekend.
Flown in specially for the Hockenheim event from the state of Florida was former Brit, Dave Fletcher who went through the car’s internals time after time trying to track down the elusive problem. After flogging the car during Saturday’s practice runs, desperate action was taken and a complete engine strip down revealed the problem with the potent 500ci Keith Black engine.
At the expense of a missing part worth £10, the engine was found to be retarding itself by 30 degrees whenever the throttle was cracked open. However, on their final pass of the event, the car fired clean and strong and sounded ready to take on all-comers. On the burnout, the car hooked up like no other car had done all weekend, but on the dry hop, the first under full power the body, built by Odyssey Engineering, twisted back under the force of the unrulely hard launch, jamming the throttle wide open, and sending Alan on one hell of a wild ride.
Afterwards in the pit area, the crew were happy with the car’s performance but would have preferred not to have had the hassle of the previous two days unnecessary searching for that missing horse power. The whole crew are now looking forward to running the car on home ground so much that they have now got a five second race car on their hands but they wouldn’t say how far into the fives they expect to go though!’ - Fire Up Magazine Sept/Oct 1989.
‘Hockenheim is the location chosen by John Woolfe Racing to debut their top class drag racing Funny Car. This awesome machine has a GM Opel Senator body and is prepared to the highest professional standards of performance and safety. The car, which develops more than 3500 horsepower should complete the standing quarter mile in less than 6 seconds. Built using the latest available technology in England the car is driven by top driver Allan Bates, while Dave Fletcher is in charge of engine preparation and necessary operations following each race.’ - JWR Press Release written by Martin J Rowat 1989.
‘The German debut of Alan Bates’ new ride, the Dave Riswick owned JWR Opel Senator Fuel Funny Car was plagued with a mystery, and at time, incurable problem for most of the weekend.
Flown in specially for the Hockenheim event from the state of Florida was former Brit, Dave Fletcher who went through the car’s internals time after time trying to track down the elusive problem. After flogging the car during Saturday’s practice runs, desperate action was taken and a complete engine strip down revealed the problem with the potent 500ci Keith Black engine. At the expense of a missing part worth £10, the engine was found to be retarding itself by 30 degrees whenever the throttle was cracked open. However, on their final pass of the event, the car fired clean and strong and sounded ready to take on all-comers. On the burnout, the car hooked up like no other car had done all weekend, but on the dry hop, the first under full power the body, built by Odyssey Engineering, twisted back under the force of the unrulely hard launch, jamming the throttle wide open, and sending Alan on one hell of a wild ride.Afterwards in the pit area, the crew were happy with the car’s performance but would have preferred not to have had the hassle of the previous two days unnecessary searching for that missing horse power. The whole crew are now looking forward to running the car on home ground so much that they have now got a five second race car on their hands but they wouldn’t say how far into the fives they expect to go though!’ - Fire Up Magazine Sept/Oct 1989.