OLD SKOOL FORD DRAG CHALLENGE

The OSFDC championship gets off to a great start, with the welcome addition of late ’80s and early ’90s Fords to the startline, too.

Round of the 2019 quarter-mile race series for classic Fords.

Despite a northerly breeze and low cloud all weekend, round 1 was a welcome respite from the constant drivel of Brexit and a chance to blow away some cobwebs for the 19 competitors.

Some changes to the rules for 2019 meant that the Mk3 Fiesta of Dean Hyndman and the Mk4 Escort van of Jane McCready were able to take part for the first time. Also welcomed were a couple of tasty Mk1 Escorts from opposite ends of the country, Peter Melvin in Indian red from Aberdeen and Tom Bennett in his white, Honda-powered machine from Southampton.

With the notable absence of 2018 winner, Darren Scannell due to engine issues, secondplaced racer, Colin Dowling was able to steal some first round points in his Zetec-powered Mk1 Escort running a 12-second Elapsed Time (ET) before a core plug gave way and ended his weekend. His brother Steve had a superb weekend running a 12.14 second ET as the orange ST170 Fiesta propelled him into first

place for this round closely followed by 2017 champion Kieran Jenkins’ 1700 crossflow Mk1 Fiesta running 13.91 seconds. To finish the line-up for the top three placings (and completing a trio of Fiestas) was Martin Ellis who had made a few changes over the winter to his 2-litre Zetec-powered Mk2 Fiesta and gained him a new Personal Best (PB) of 13.41 seconds.

A massive 10 week break until the next round on the weekend of June 15-16 means that there’s plenty of time to ditch some weight, tweak some carbs and turn up the boost!

Proof that you can race anything classic Ford in the OSFDC, Paul Cooper’s 100E flies the flag for sidevalve power.

Gary Izzard’s 300E readies to enter the Burnout Box. Dean Hyndman’s Mk3 Fiesta joins the OSFDC for this year.

Old versus new: Lewis Lavender sees off a Mk8 Golf in his Mk2 Fiesta. Peter Melvin’s Mk1 Escort runs a hot Pinto — another welcome newbie to the OSFDC. Waiting... Magenta Wright is now a veteran of the OSFDC in her Mk1 Fiesta.