John’s Lakester

204 Mph with a 1JZ-GTE.

Australia's fastest 6

Have a wander around my Place.

At the 2000 DLRA meeting at Lake Gairdner, Ken Rhodes, who is a fellow hot rodder, and Rod Mappin brought a bellytank from an F86, powered with a vintage Willys engine (this car is now owned by my brother, and is being prepared for the 2003 2004 meeting). It was a low tech, low budget car, that had its share of problems, but just looked like such great fun, that I thought I had to have one. By the time I had hit Adelaide on the way back, I was determined to have a belly tank at the next years meeting. My previous thoughts about racing at the salt was always hot rod based, except I didn't want to take my car, as I thought there might not be much left after the salt got into all its nooks and crannies. One Sunday in April 2000, we went to the Wangaratta swap meet, which had the most miserable weather I have seen for a while. Because the swap meet was so miserable, and the only things we got were coffee and a cold, we decided to head up to the tobacco growing area, and see if we could find a tank. It was cold and miserable, with snow falling on the townships of Bright and Myrtleford. After spending about 3 hours driving around, and talking to people who wanted to talk rather than sell, we spotted a derelict tobacco sprayer on a scrap heap next to a farm shed. We knocked on the door, and spoke to the farmer, who at first didn't want to sell it, but in the end did. We unbolted it, handed over some cash, stuck it in the back of the ute, and away we went. The one that I have is 167 gallons capacity, was produced by the Fletcher aviation company, but most of the label is missing. The owner had rolled the sprayer on a slope about 13 years ago, decided he was too old to farm and retired. The sprayer was parked next to the shed, and there it sat until May.

The tank I have is from an F86 Sabre. I have borrowed a picture from a book called Legends of the Air Vol 1 by Stewart Wilson. There are at least two sizes of wing mounted tanks used on these planes. The one that I have is 167 gallons, and there is another of about 100 gallons, which is only about 18 inches in diameter.

At the moment, there are 4 special construction cars racing with the DLRA. Thunder and lightning was built by Alan Murchison, and has two 351 clevelands.The P38 sized belly tank at top right is owned by John Lynch and is our fastest car at 297 Mph. The bottom two are based on the F86 tank.

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