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Drag Racing |
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"The Whistler" Reliant donated one of their new Scimitar GTE bodyshells to the John Woolfe Racing Team and gained good publicity from the venture. John Woolfe was tragically killed while racing a Porsche 917 at Le-mans in June 1969. John's half of the partnership was passed on to Arnold Burton who agreed that Whistler could continue to be campaigned for the remainder of the season. Dennis Priddle was recruited to drive the car and in his hands it was unbeatable when running 10.4 second runs at 140mph. Consequently the Stratton stable won the Super Eliminator Trophy at Santa Pod for the third year in a row. At the presentation that followed, there was a minute's silence in memory of John Woolfe.
Above: "Whistler" Scimitar on front Cover of Drag Racing and Hot Rod from June 1969.
Above: Hot Car magazine from August 1969 featuring the John Woolfe Racing teams "Whistler" Scimitar.
Above: In 1969 John Woolfe's Drag Scimitar was powered by a 7 litre Chevrolet engine and could reach 0 - 100mph in 4 seconds!! ************************************************************************ "The Sizzler"
Above: The John Woolfe racing team gained a sponsorship deal with Mattel's Hot Wheels and the JWR "Whistler" Scimitar became know as the "Sizzler" and was now being driven by Ed Shaver and Dennis Priddle.
Above: The John Woolfe/Hot Wheels Team ************************************************************************
Above: The ex-John Woolfe Racing Scimitar with yellow paintwork spotted in the back ground. Does anyone have anymore info in the car? ************************************************************************ "Ecstacy" Ed Shaver purchased the "Whistler" scimitar and with help from Pat Cuss they modified the bodywork to incorporate the new chassis with a 101" wheelbase:
Above: Featured in Custom Car in May 1973 was Ed Shaver's "Ecstacy" Scimitar GTE drag car. The power plant was a Chrysler 392ci. The car was going to be on a high-nitro diet and was aiming for sub-seven second runs and was awaiting sponsorship. ************************************************************************ "Hillbillies" The Hillbillies team Roland Pratt, Mike Derry and Gerald Haines bought the "Ecstacy" car from Ed Shaver. Pass Cuss set about modifying the bodywork making it even longer and lower and gained sponsorship from Revell:
Above: Chiltern Valley used the ex Hillbillies bodyshell (Does anyone have anymore info on this car?)
Special Thanks to: Alan Currans from www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk for letting me use the photographs from his website, and especially to the original photographers/publishers: Dennis Priddle, David Riswick, Roland Pratt, David Forward, Ake Remp, Cambridge News Photos, Hot Car, Drag Racing and Hot Rod Magazine. Thanks also to "TimeTravel" from the UK Drag Racing Nostalgia Forum http://www.ukdrn.co.uk/forum
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Various Scimitar Drag Cars
Above: 1966 Pro Street Scimitar GT (SE4a) Fully street legal fitted with a Rover V8 3.5 litre engine with a 5 speed manual gearbox. It has a space frame chassis, full roll cage, Sherpa back axle, disc brake all round, alloy bucket seats, full harness and a parachute!
Above: John Morris's Scimitar Drag Car from 2004 & 2005 (Photographs taken by Sharkman). Thanks to Sharkman for his permission to use these photographs. See his excellent website: I am happy to say that Lee Bashford is now the new owner of this beast. Lee
will be fitting a new Ford 351-Winsor V8 engine and adding a bit of I look forward to seeing it in action!! Good
Luck Lee!!
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