e cake
“It must have helped my confidence too,
because since then, I have broken through
for a second win, this time at one of our
local meetings,” grinned Radcliffe. “It’s best run was a 11.4 second pass at 118
miles per hour and then on its last meeting
I put nitrous on it and ran a 10.2 second pass
at 130 miles per hour!
While he may have had to wait until 2017 for
his first win, Radcliffe’s love of drag racing
has been a long-burning flame. “That was the end of sedan racing for me
– I purchased my rear-engine dragster soon
after in 2010.
“I first got into drag racing as a young fella,
probably only around 17 years old,” the 42
year old explained. “It was a roller body and I rebuilt it with my
trusty 350 Chev and on its licensing pass, ran
9.3 seconds. I was pretty stoked with that!
“As an apprentice mechanic, I used to help
Grant’s mate race and then at 18, I had
my first go at drag racing in a HG Holden
Premier – it was my road car at the time. “The new combo I have now, a 406 Chev
Powerglide, has run 8.41s at 159mph.”
“After a few years circuit racing with HQ
Holdens from 2000, I got back into drag
racing in 2002 with a SLR5000 Torana replica,
powered by a 350 Chev.
For Radcliffe, the love of drag racing is likely
to always spring eternal.
“I love drag racing, especially in Modified at
Nitro Up North event which is something I
don’t get to do at our local meetings as we
don’t have enough cars for our own class,”
he explained.
“Instead, we race in a bracket called Super
Modified, which combines Super Sedan
and Modified. It is the biggest class of the
meeting and is very competitive and a lot
of fun!
“I also really enjoy getting to race against
my cousin at meetings like Nitro Up North,
as he runs Top Sportsman at the local
events. We get lots of cool photos of it too,
as another cousin of mine – Craig Radcliffe
– is a motorsport photographer with his
business Action Sport Photography!”
Image by Craig Radcliffe,
Action Sport Photography