KEEP ON POPPIN’

Britain, 9 April: After months of polls in favour of Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party, the Conservatives defy the odds to win the first general election following the end of the Thatcher years. Thatcher’s successor John Major retains the position of Prime Minister which he has held since November 1990.

London, 10 April: A 15 year old girl is among three people killed in IRA bomb attacks on Staples Corner and the Baltic Exchange.

London, 19 April: Comedian Frankie ‘titter ye not’ Howerd dies of heart failure at the age of 75. The following day, his friend Benny Hill also passes away, aged 68.

London, 20 April: Elton John, David Bowie, George Michael and Bob Geldof are among a galaxy of stars taking part in a sell-out AIDS awareness concert in memory of former Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury, who died the previous autumn.

Los Angeles, 29 April: The acquittal of four police officers, who had been filmed beating the unarmed Rodney King following a vehicle stop, provokes six days of rioting, leaving 63 people dead and more than 12,000 under arrest.

IAN NORMAN WAS ALREADY ON HIS THIRD FORD POP when he experienced his first hit of drag racing. An ET of 11.69 at 116mph was the best he ever got out it; his highest speed was actually 120mph though, which got him thinking that if he was to go quicker, he needed to start being serious about protection.

But while he was thinking about a new cage, a new chassis came to mind. Then with a new chassis, well, why not put a 9-inch out back and have a strut front end?

There was so much to change, Ian decided to go for a completely new and un-chopped body, therefore starting at square one. What this meant was paying a visit to Clive Bond at Ultimate Race Cars to talk about a tube frame.

The idea was to have this under a stock Pop body, powered by a small block. The stock body was used, but somewhere along the way Ian discovered a Super Gas engine which came up at a reasonable price. As they do.

This 383ci motor had come out of Richard Eton’s 9.68sec Plymouth Duster which, at 2600lb, powered to a best of 9.68 at 142mph. The 11.5:1 compression lump has a Magnafluxed, polished and chamfered steel crank, stock steel con rods and TRW forged pistons with 0.1” removed from the valve relief area. The block has been shaved down to a negative deck height of 0.035” and the block has been punched out 0.003”.

The cam is from Cam Dynamics, giving an effective lift (with 1.75:1 Sig Erson rockers) of 0.656” on the exhaust and 0.630 on the intake. Ultimate Race Cars fully ported the head castings to make the most of 2.14” intake valves, delivered fuel by a 750 Double Pumper Holley, and 1.74” exhaust valves which exit into Hooker kit headers. The box is a 727 Torqueflite shifted by a Hurst Quarter Stick.

The suspension is what’s needed for strip action – a pair of 2.8i Capri shortened struts up front and a four-bar with track locator and coil-overs out back. A reversed Escort Mk3 steering rack sits Ian on the left of the car and keeps the Pop straight on the road, while the 9in axle is filled with 4.56:1 gears and Strange shafts and is somewhat narrower than stock – thanks again to Ultimate Race Cars.

Ian put as many glassfibre panels as possible on the car to make it light, ranging from the sills to the roof insert. These items are detachable too, along with the front section, wings and boot. He prefers the combination of a street and strip car – although his mates do tend to give him a fair bit of stick. ‘They reckon I’m getting too old to drive it on the street.’

There’s no such thing. No way. Especially in a car that’s as good as this.