Profiles: Gerald Smith & Neil Morgan

Gerald Smith

1923 T ALTERED ‘SUDDEN IMPACT’

A resident of Feilding, Gerald has been into racing cars since he was a young fellow. He got back into drag racing about 30 years ago, including winning the modi ed class in the NZDRA championship in 2012. “That was in the previous Altered I raced called ‘Flowerpower’ - a 1927 T running over 150mph. “We also won the 2016 Supercharged Outlaw class with my current car, the 1923 T Altered ‘Sudden Impact’ - named after the movie in the Dirty Harry series starring Clint Eastwood. “This car I bought in from the USA in 2012. The car was raced as a nitro altered in the early 1970s very successfully with a hemi power package. “The car now runs a 509cu in dart Chev big block with afr heads and high helix supercharger, making approximately 1850HP and 1284 ft/ib of torque at 7000RPM. “The gearbox is a dedenbear 2 stage powerglide and a new 9’’ diff with 3.7/1 gear ratio.

“The car has run a best of 7.19 sec and a best top speed of 191mph since we have raced it here in New

Zealand.”

The highlight for Gerald now

“is to compete with and against other like-minded drivers and crew, especially in the Outlaw 71 series, and to continue having fun. “Our goal with this car is to try and achieve a 200mph top speed before I retire. “I am one of the more senior drivers in New Zealand at 72 years of age.”

Photo/Jarod Carruthers Photography

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AMINAL Neil Morgan

Upper Hutt’s Neil Morgan has been racing on and off since the early 1990s with cars he has built himself. He has been racing his current one, which he built himself over a five year period, since 2015 with a few changes along the way. “My car’s name is AMINAL. It is a 23 T Altered. Runs in Outlaw 71 or Supercharged Outlaws. “It is inspired by American fuel altered The Winged Expressed and others. “In 2017 I ran a pb of 7.62 seconds at 175mph. In February 2018 I crashed at MMP which resulted in the car being repaired and returned to racing with some handling issues which makes for good photos. I came close to my pb last season with a 7.67 at 175mph. AMINAL came 8th in the first season of Outlaw 71, third the following season, with no placing last season. “It is a cool class with some really awesome people.” This season Neil will be using a new top end combo “that hopefully won’t take too long to get sorted when we come back out.” The engine is a 475 cubic inch supercharged big block Chev, burning methanol fuel, 2 speed powerglide transmission with a 9 inch Ford rear end. It has a carbon fibre wing on the top with twin parachutes out back.

Photo/Jarod Carruthers Photography

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