Words & Photos by Henry Phull
One of our goals at Slam Sanctuary is to provide coverage for all sorts of automotive events, including ones our typical readers wouldn’t normally hear about. We don’t want anyone missing out, and we like to think we can raise your awareness of cool shows to go to next year! So we heard a few of our friends were heading up to a hot rod show for the weekend, therefore took the opportunity to tag along, and boy are we glad we did. We took the 2 and a half hour trip up to Shakespeare County Raceway in Stratford-upon-Avon for this years Hot Rod Drags, hosted by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA).
The NSRA date all the way back to 1972, and are considered one of the the UK’s biggest hot rod clubs with this show being one of the largest events of the year. Think ‘Wheels Day‘ and thats the sort of vehicle you’ll expect to see. Fender removal, roof chops, louvres, and of course V8s aplenty. The very best in American style modifications and styling was on display. Here are our photo highlights from the day…
The layout of the event focuses on the pits, which means you can wander around and take in the true spirit of drag racing. Constant burbling and revving of V8 engine noises throughout the day is a truly amazing experience.
Not to mention the chance to see teams, and even individuals working on their cars, prepping for their go up the quarter mile.
The cars on display were of such another level than what we are used to. It makes it hard to not want to own an American classic.
Car of the show for us was this Mk10 Jaguar… This isn’t any Jag, it’s a hot rod! Keeping that classic shape and adding a twin supercharged big block, in addition to running NOS. Apparently it has been dyno’d at 900bhp, absolutely insane!
It’s the little things that do it for us, like keeping the original leather interior. Simply beautiful.
The majority of the attendees flock to Shakespeare County Raceway for the drag racing. It’s all about seeing people taking their cars out in an attempt to get the best time up the quarter mile stretch, whether it be a team car, casual or daily driver. Thanks to “Run What Ya Brung”, as long as your car passes the scrutineering, it’s allowed out.
It would appear that some drag cars are a lot lower than others..
…see what we mean? I think you know which we prefer.
Did someone say Vanishing Point…
You’ve all seen the videos of this (if not, click here), so it was a nice surprise to see the World’s fastest Postman Pat van!
To conclude, this is an event not to be missed. Even if you have never been to a hot rod show before, or have a limited knowledge about these cars.. as long as you’re a car fan, you will enjoy this. Hell, we don’t really know much about American cars – but from now on we’re going to be getting more involved with the hot rod scene. We love it.