Ford Bronco

An avid reader of Fultrot sent me a picture of the Oscar winning actor Jared Leto's latest ride. And since Mr. Leto is considered to be a method actor, characterized by meticulous research and a deep understanding of the role he plays, the fact that he drives a first generation Ford Bronco painted with bright orange flames says a lot about his personality, as this is the type of ride owned by regular surfers or those who subscribe to "la joie de vivre". Interestingly, this is also my dad's favorite car.

Jared Leto showing his awesome early Ford Bronco

The 1966 Ford Bronco was conceived by Donald N. Frey, the father of Ford Mustang, and was intended to compete primarily with the Jeep CJ and the International Harvester Scout. Ford's first SUV had an all original frame, suspension, and body. Its 92-inch wheelbase made it very maneuverable, though less suited as a long distance tow vehicle.

The engine was a Ford 170 c.i. Straight -6, modified with solid valve lifters, a 6 quart oil pan, heavy duty fuel pump, oil-bath air cleaner, and a carburetor with a float bowl against tilting.

It used a conventional rear suspension, with leaf springs in a typical Hotchkiss design. A shift-on-the-fly Dana Corp. Transfer case and locking hubs were also standard but the heavy-duty suspension was an option. The production ran through 1977 and the base price was US$ 2,194 back then.

Source: Autoevolution

Curacao Hill Climb

period aerial photo of the Tafelberg area

Few know that in the seventies we used to have our very own hill climb. Organized by the "Automobielclub Curaçao", it was run on the service road up the phosphate rich mountain called Tafelberg, on the eastern part of the island. As a kid I remember going with my father Eddie de Kort, who competed successfully with several cars over the years. If memory serves me correctly, some eight different classes were run.

The hill climb was a unique event that drew thousands of people who came by land and sea. After my father retired from hill climb racing, we used to attend the race by boat. Back then on race day, the western section of Fuikbaai would look like our modern day Fuikdag, well at least as it looked in the 1990's. Unfortunately, when the Curacao Mining Company changed management, they stopped the yearly event.

Wouldn't it be great if they allowed us to race up the mountain again. With tourism being one of our main economic pillars it would be advantageous to have another event to compliment our destination.

Motorsports has become quite the glamorous event, and you won't find the grease monkey's of old. It would tie in nicely with the Santa Barbara Resort on the property. The race cars could go on display at the east hotel parking section. The WABI cars could be asked to join as well, as would be the Porsche Club Curaçao, the Corvette Club, and the different Harley Davidson clubs. The drift cars would put on a hell of a show as well, at the course that is.

The hill climb would re-trace the old road up the mountain, or it could be expanded a bit to include a stadium section, as has become the trend in racing around the world. We would surely get lots of cars from Curacao. To spice up the event, some professional drivers could be invited to drive alongside Curacao VIP's in a celebrity race.

Hopefully, this short piece can spark enough interest to revisit this once great motorsports event.


Photo credit: Photographer unknown.

NHRA - Fire Breathing Monsters.... Why I'm addicted

A couple of months ago I came across a video on YouTube titled "NHRA- Fire Breathing Monsters" that captures what I love about the sport. The video is an aggressive and noisy - yet surprisingly intimate - tribute to the cars that run in the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series. And if anyone where ever to ask me why I drag race I would definitely tell them to look up this video, as further illustration as to my reasons for loving the sport.

Click here to watch the video (which is also available in 4K on YouTube).

What sets drag racing apart from any other form of professional motorsport is that the actual racing is condensed from the usual 90-120 minutes to just four runs of 4-6 seconds. Besides, the instant acceleration worth some 3 G's, what a 0.96 second to the sixty foot mark would give one, is out of this world. I can only imagine what it would feel like at 5 G's. And, mind you that some crucial stuff (like excessive wheel spin) must be managed while one is experiencing this much force of gravity. This is the main reason why other types of race car drivers always decline to drive a top fuel car. In 2011 Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart swapped seats for a SPEED Channel special but that would be impossible with a top fuel or funny car driver.
Besides the above mentioned, there are many other reasons why I am addicted to the sport. The comradery is great with on track rivals helping each other out in the pits with parts and labour if necessary. Legendary doorslammer racer Pat Musi has been seen in our pits giving hard earned advise and parts. And throughout the various levels of the sport, you will find that it is a family centered activity, in that everyone pitches it. It's the greatest at the grass root level.

On how it all started for me, my father Eduardo, affectionately called Eddie, started racing cars in his late teens when he was still living in Aruba. When I was a young child he got the drag racing bug in Curaçao. As I would often hang around him in his garage I was given a tin can of gasoline and an old brush and with which I would clean oily nuts and bolts. So basically my earliest memories are of the smell of gasoline and oil, as I stood around my dad and his palls while they supped up a Vega, with which he terrorized the streets... those poor garbage collectors. After the Vega came a Malibu named "Whathehell" which he drag raced with at the infamous Koral Tabak drag strip, Curaçao.

After about a 15 year hiatus my older brother took over the old Whathehell Malibu and drove it until he moved on to a 500 c.i. pro stock, that used to be Ron Krisher's backup car. Ron was an 8-time winner in the [professional] pro stock category in the NHRA. Again I had the opportunity to be close to the action, but this time at a much higher level, which I really enjoyed. This spurred me to attend a Super Gas course with Frank Hawley. I can still remember him telling me to do lengthy burnouts with my own tires. Couldn't help it, Frank.

And so, one can see that the racing seed was planted deep in my soul early on and was only fully awakened some seven years ago. After going on a sabbatical from work I thought the time had come to buy my own car, and after a couple of years of driving for the old Whathehell team I set out on my own with Danny de Kort Motorsports and Steven Spiess' old Chevy Cobalt and an old engine from Elite Motorsports. And though we have not had the chance to race as often as one would like, I am really confident about the future. There are still great drag racing achievements out there.

In addition to the above mentioned foundation, the FulTrot blog was started as a vent for my other passion, which is motorsports in general. Occasional, I combine these two passions to create some pretty good motorsport-themed fundraisers for our drag racing operation.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: NHRA / JFR
Video courtesy: NHRA - RED Digital Cinema