FAMILY AFFAIR

THE Harris Family Racing team have salt in their blood, having attended Speed Week for over 15 years. Hailing from Wellington, NZ, the team brought its B/gas roadster out of its enforced two-year hibernation to contend for honours this year. Son Lincoln (red hat) has been racing the roadster since ’01, spurred on by dad Chris (seated) and the rest of the family and support crew. Chris is a long-time Salt Fever sufferer, and paid a hefty price in ’88 when he flipped his own race car, leaving him permanently wheelchair-bound.

The Harris team’s ’32 Ford-based lake racer is powered by a small-block Ford, made up of a World block, Yates NASCAR heads and Link EFI mated to a four-speed Jerico and nine-inch Strange spool diff. It’s good for 860hp at the fly.

Lincoln joined the 200mph club in 2006 and has run a best of 236mph in 2012 – enough to contend for the record.

Salt conditions were tough for all roadster teams this year; without the added aerodynamics and weight of the full-bodied cars, it was tricky to put full power to the rear wheels on the thin and damp surface. Lincoln managed to rattle off a respectable 215mph, but describes that as a “banzai run”, giving it all he could given the conditions and set-up. “The car’s running great, but we just couldn’t get it together on the track,” he said.