Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i Custom Car

Understandably, devastating horror and trauma were paramount in the initial aftermath of the incident that beset Graham Smith during Santa Pod’s Main Event in May. Graham was making a pass in the Bad Apple Racing Grimhilde ’57 Chevy when the car caught alight. Amazingly, considering the severity of the fire, Graham was given the all clear after a few hours of tests and observation at Northampton Hospital. We don’t want to dwell on the incident, except for echoing the praise and thanks Graham and his wife Rachel have expressed to those on the scene. Not for the first time this season has the track crew and fire/medical teams at Santa Pod come to the fore, and the work they do is greatly appreciated by race teams and spectators alike. No…

The opening event of the 2025 nostalgia season at Santa Pod, held on the first weekend of May, saw a landmark result as Ray and Harvey Turner produced a unique father-and-son double. Now into his fifth decade of racing, Ray is one of the bestknown names in Gasser Circus – and he proved that he’s just as competitive as ever, winning through to the final and taking the top step when Jason Pickett broke out. Meanwhile in his maiden Nostalgia Superstock event, Ray’s son Harvey was part of a 35-strong field – and, drawing on his many years of experience behind the wheel of dad’s car, he took on and beat one stellar rival after another to crown his debut with a remarkable victory. Also remarkable was the number of…

This final instalment brings us pretty much up to date with progress on Crusty’s ’28 Model A roadster. At the time of writing, the ‘50s Plymouth brake drums were away being skimmed, while the car’s wiring was being attended to based around a Down To Earth wiring kit which incorporates an under-dash mounted fuse box. Crusty sourced an Austin Healey soft top and has since heavily modified it to serve as a folding hood frame for the roadster. He still needs to get it upholstered, though. Talking of upholstery, interior trimming is another job on the to-do list, along no doubt with countless other odds and sods. In a nutshell, Crusty’s not there yet – but he’s getting ever closer to putting the roadster on the road where it belongs.…

JULY 4-5 Hangar Rockin St Stephan Airfield, St Stephan, Switzerland. www.hangarrockin.com 4-6 MPH Vintage Sprint. Deenthorpe Airfeld, Corby, Northants www.mphvintagesprint.co.uk 4-6 Rattlers Round Up. The Holman Clavel public house, Taunton, Somerset. Facebook: Rattlers Rod and Kustom 4-6 V8 Brothers Village. Hooglede, Belgium. www.v8brothers.be 5 Straightliners Smeatharpe, Devon. www.straightliners.events 5-6 Big Yellow Car Show Cheshire Showground, Knutsford www.bigyellowcarshow.co.uk 5-6 Summer Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 6 Cars’n’Bars HM Prison Gloucester. www.kickbackshow.com 10-13 Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood Estate, West Sussex. www.goodwood.com 11-12 Mustang Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 12 Only Fools and Motors Meet The Five Bells, Tydd St Mary, Lincs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors 12-13 American Super Stock Revival Rd 4 Melbourne Raceway Facebook: American Super Stock 12-13 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www.straightliners.events 13 The Ford Show. Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15…

Graham Slater is one of that select group of northern hot rodders who have built multiple feature cars over the years. He’s not known to adhere to convention, however, and is constantly thinking outside the box when it comes to his next project. In recent times, Graham’s impressive portfolio has included the unique Zephigy, based on Jaguar XKR-S running gear, a one-of-a-kind Auburn Speedster and the ’54 Chevy Bel Air he built during lockdown. That portfolio has recently been expanded with the inclusion of the distinctive Jaguar he debuted at last year’s Hot Rod Supernationals. We’ll let the man himself take up the story as to how it came about. “Back in 2019, I was toying with the idea of building a car based around a British marque of some…

It’s great to see young people share such enthusiasm” MORE MONEY NATIONALS Calendar clashes inevitably meant that numbers were down for the second No Prep meet at MRP, staged over the first weekend in May. Despite the lures of Outlaw Street at the Nostalgia Nationals and the BHP Show in Maidstone, however, the No Prep guys still held their own. Saturday was the busiest day with 5 entries in Big Tyre, 11 in Small Tyre and 3 in Tailgate. It was just Small Tyre on Sunday, with 5 entries competing for class honours. In addition there were plenty of others running in RWYB. The man behind it all, Paul NoPrep, commented: “Our second event is in the books. Many thanks to everyone who made it so special. The MRP marshals…

Event: Kickback Custom Motorcycle and Hot Rod Show Date: 12-13 April 2025 Venue: Three Counties Showground, Malvern The Kickback Motorcycle Show turned 30 this year. To celebrate, the organisers decided to open it up to four wheels too – and thus the Kickback Custom Motorcycle and Hot Rod Show was born. The event was held on 12-13 April at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. Cars and trucks took over thee big halls on site, with a further two hosting the motorcycles and scooters. Keeping the public entertained outside was a stunt area hosting drift cars and bikes and a motorcycle stunt team performing death defying tricks. A few traders were pitched inside, including motoring artist Ian Guy and Goliath Speed Equipment. Event director Lorne Cheetham emailed me after the…

“Without Phil Proctor, Ian Tubbs, Bryan Whitfield and me dad, the car wouldn’t exist. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, and I’ve put a lot of hours into it, but I’m not taking all the credit for this” There’s an old saying: ‘good things happen to good people.’ And the story behind Loz Butcher’s new nostalgia slingshot sums that up perfectly. Here’s a 25-year-old Yorkshire lad with a dragster which, it’s fair to say, surpasses his own wildest expectations. How it came to be is testament to Loz’s commitment, dedication and hard work. Yet he must have said the phrase “it would never have happened without…” at least three times, if not more, during the course of our conversations for this feature. He’s a humble lad our Loz. Car mad…

With its street racing vibe and a prize fund like nothing else, Doorslammers has a special place in the racing calendar. As always, this year’s event brought competitors flocking from as far afield as Malta and Poland, Finland and Romania, as a huge field descended on Santa Pod to do battle in eight different categories. The racing got underway on Friday evening and the pace hardly slackened at all after that under the last of the finals had been run on Sunday evening. PBs were posted, the odd European record was reset and the crowd was kept entertained as everything from weekend warriors to seasoned pros did battle with the strip. The nostalgia cars may have been at a premium, but whatever your taste in racing it was action all…

Velocity Vintage Drags (VVD) was set up after Mark Phillips was approached to develop a vintage ‘40s/’50s era eighth-mile drag racing event to run in conjunction with No Prep. Saturday was set aside for practice and grudge racing, and with 80 pre-’59 vehicles booked in to run there were plenty of racers vying for bragging rights. There was a cap on racing numbers each day to maximise lane time, and camping for racers was available from Friday onwards. Things got more serious on Sunday, eliminations day, with entrants participating in three distinct categories. Each category offered a prize pot of £500, along with a guaranteed big grin on the face of everyone who bagged a share of it. VVD would like to express thanks to the sponsors of each category…