Darren had the perfect entry for the Slow Car Club races - a completely standard late '70s Austin Allegro, complete with the classic brown colour scheme.
But not very many runs were possible with the record queue. An oil spillage on the track somehow took an hour to clear, then computer malfunctions led to lunchtime, then in the great Santa Pod tradition they brought out the funny cars and jet cars to delay things even further.
It took 4 hours to make it to the end of the queue to race.
Photo by Rear Admiral Stanbury (Ian)
With the hurry to clear the queue it became difficult to chose who to race against - competitors were bundled onto the track randomly.
Darren had hoped to race against Mick's Austin 1800 Land Crab, but ended up racing against a tuned Beetle. Those things can be really quick and things weren't looking good for the Allegro.
Fortunately the Beetle owner was spooked by the prospect of racing our Slow Car Club thoroughbred and tried a little too hard. It went pop and stopped a few yards from the start line.
The Allegro steamed off down the strip and managed a 22.36 second quarter mile with a terminal speed of 58.22mph making it this years Slow Car Club champion.
