The Legend car

Just couldn't resist writing a piece about this stunt show featuring a Legend race car. You see, my brother has a similar Legend which he occasionally takes to the drag strip. Now, I am confident that if he beefs up the engine a bit he could be doing these types of drift shows too. I am not sure about the removing-the-front-tire stunt, that seems something only a professional like Terry Grant could do.

The video below shows the Legend stunt show at the Santa Pod Raceway, U.K.



Generally speaking, Legend race cars are a great way to start racing, since they are specifically designed to promote exciting racing while keeping costs down. Most of them use 5/8 scale bodies of replicas of American cars from the 1930s and 1940s, with a Yamaha motorcycle engine.

The following body styles are available:
1934: Chevy Coupe, Ford Sedan, Ford Coupe,
1937: Chevy Coupe & Sedan, Dodge Coupe & Sedan, Ford Sedan, Ford Coupe,
1940: Ford Coupe.

Legend Car Specification:
- Cost: USD 13.000 (although you can get a used one on eBay for a third of that),

- Wheelbase: 73 inch (1.85 m),

- Overall width: 60 inch (1.52 m),

- Overall length: 10 ft (3.2 m),

- Height: 46 inch (1.16 m),

- engine: Yamaha 1250 cc

- Horsepower: 140 hp (100 kW),

- Weight: 1,200 lbs (590 kg),

- Tires: 205/60R13 for use on pavement,

- Wheels: Width: 7 inch, Diameter: 13 inch,

- Suspension: Coil over shocks with Bilstein Shocks,

- Frame: Full Tube frame with integral Rollcage,

- Safety Harness: FIA approved Five-Point

The U.S. Legend racing series (spec) uses very tight specifications to ensure that the cars are quite similar to each other. Since the cars compete primarily on oval dirt tracks, the only adjustable areas on the cars are: Camber Angle, Caster angle, Ride Hight, Tire pressure, Spring Rates, Wheelbase, and Gearing. 

For info about parts, please click here.

Gege's Legend at the Strip

Now, wouldn't it be great if some enthusiasts a/o racers came together and made a pact to buy a half a dozen or so of used Legends and have them shipped to Curacao. Once on the island, the only thing to do is hook your Legend to your truck (talk to Gege for details) and rendezvous with your pals at any empty field. Drag four empty drums to form the track's oval shape and put the pedal to the metal. It can be that easy!

Thanks for reading.

Source: Terry Grant/Youtube, Wikipedia, US legend cars.

Photo credit: Drag Action Curacao

Drag racing in Europe

The sport of drag racing has evolved a great deal since the days of Lions Drag Strip, some 57 years ago. It has even been adopted in many regions around the world, such as Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Australia/New zealand.

In the near future I will write a blog on the areas of the Caribbean, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand, but for now Europe will have to do.

Europe knows 5 official championships, of which the following three are the most important:

1. The largest and most popular is the FIA European Drag Racing Championships. The following categories compete in it: Top Fuel Dragster, Top Methanol Funny Car, Top Methanol Dragster, Pro Stock and Pro Mod.

The race schedule taken the competitors to the following event:
- Main Event, 2-4 June 2012, at Santa Pod Raceway, in England,
- Sweden Internationals, 14-17 June 2012, Tierp Arena, in Sweden,
- Nitro Nationals, 5-8 July 2012, Alastaro, Finland,
- NitrOlympics, 10-12 August 2012, Hockenheim, Germany,
- Scandinavian Int'l, 23-26 August 2012, Tierp Arena, Sweden,
- European Finals, 6-9 September 2012, Santa Pod Raceway, England

Alund's new Haas' built Camaro

One of the top teams in TMFC are the Lindberg Bros Motorsports out of Sweden.

In Pro Stock the guy to beat is Jimmy Alund, European Champion in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. No kidding!
A couple of years back Frankie Brandou invited Jimmy to Curacao to drive King Kong IV, which he did in good form.

2. The MSA British Drag Racing Championship holds each year five rounds of Pro Mod racing, all at the Santa Pod raceway (UK) for now. The race dates are: April 6-9, June 1-4, June 23-23, September 6-9, and September 22-23, 2012. 

3. The UEM European Drag Bike Championships is run under the FIM, the world governing body of all motorcycle sports. The following categories are: Top Fuel Bike, Funny Bike, Pro Stock Bike and Super Street Bike Classes.
The competition is held in conjunction with the FIA European Drag Racing Championships and is run during their events,


From what I can gather, the Europeans are quite fanatics of drag racing as well. If any of you have any stories you'd like to share, please feel free to do so.

Thanks for reading.

Source: FIA, Santa Pod Raceway.