LOT 191 - Circa 1976 ‘Altered’ front engined dragster, “The Ferret”

ABOUT THIS CAR

“Proud to have The Ferret in the Wild Bunch. Well Done on your Personal Achievement.” Citation from The Wild Bunch, 2017.

Originating in, perhaps not surprisingly, the land of long straights and relatively few corners, AKA The USA, Drag Racing, though pretty much as old as the automobile itself, really took off in the 1940’s courtesy of a combination of thrill seeking Second War veterans and vast expanses of disused airbase concrete. Always fascinated by getting from here to over there in as little time as possible and with a culture of Hot Rodding, the Americans were quickly hooked on Drag Racing and when the next generation of servicemen came to Europe to help face down their Cold War opponents, they bought the sport with them. Similarly blessed with decommissioned and underused runways, Drag Racing quickly became established in Germany and the UK until eventually Santa Pod (an amalgam of the glamorous Santa Ana Drags ‘strip in California and the slightly less so Bedfordshire village of Podington) became Europe’s first bespoke permanent drag strip in 1966.

Since then, drag racing has been a staple of British Motorsport, if not quite on the same scale as the round and round events. Its ‘grass roots’ feel is epitomised by RWYB (Run What Ya Brung) meetings which, while they may have questionable spelling and grammar credentials, have proven far more popular than Goodwood’s equivalent CTATHCYTTC (Conduct The Automobile That Has Conveyed You To The Circuit) events. Large enthusiastic crowds flock to meetings to enjoy the simple pleasures of ‘fastest wins’ without the need to resort to DRS, lap charts and so on.

As with other forms of motorsport, as time passed competitors hankered for the “good ol’ days” and classes for historic (or in the case of drag racing, ‘Nostalgia’) cars were included in the meetings with the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Club at the forefront of a hugely popular movement. OK, fans were not exactly getting dewy eyed about vehicles that took them to Clacton for their holidays when they were kids but who wouldn’t want to see the sort of machines and engineering that first posted a sub-ten second ¼ mile? One of the most popular classes was for traditional front engined machines motivated by ridiculously powerful V8 engines, long in the nose, pram wheels up front and massive slicks at the rear. With their vestigial bodywork supposedly bearing a passing resemblance to production road car, these are referred to as ‘Altereds’. Even if not in the ‘my dad had one of those’ Ford Cortina mould, a visit to ‘The Pod’ back in the day followed by a John Menzies Hot Wheels purchase before settling in to watch Peter Perfect’s Turbo Terrific in The Wacky Races was more than enough to guarantee these sorts of machines status.

Little is known of The Ferret’s early history (we are working on this so please check back in on a regular basis) though since 2011 it has been ‘front and centre’ in the Wild Bunch club, being lauded not only for its successes but the attitude of its custodians, Ferret Racing. Very much a family affair, initially the sadly missed Tom Larman was the main driver, following in the footsteps of his father who had competed in an Altered in the early 1970s. Having acquired the car in the late noughties, they rebuilt it and hit the strip in mid-2011, making an immediate impact with Tom dipping under 11 seconds on only his fourth run. By the end of a busy part-season, his Personal Best had dropped to 10.4 seconds, cutting the timing beam at 124 MPH. A hugely popular team, they were described by the Wild Bunch as “enthusiastic, fun, likeable, and a great addition to the Wild Bunch!”; they duly carried off the Rookies of the Year award.

With the experience gained in 2011,  the team tweaked the car over the winter and were able to contest a full season in 2012, bagging a number of podiums to finish in second place in the Wild Bunch Series and third in the Roy Wilding Series - “Fantastic achievements in only their second year of racing!” as the season roundup put it and the now named Team Ferret took home the Daddy Cool (Sags) Personal Achievement award. Though not directly attributable to the hardware, Team Ferret also took the C&C Sportsperson prize in recognition of their outstanding attitude towards other teams and the raceways’ track crews. Their “fair play and sportsmanship, as well as good humour” ensured they were “valued members of the Bunch”.

Over the next few seasons Tom Larman and The Ferret continued to score points on a regular basis; with 2016 being The Ferret’s fortieth birthday as a rather nice gesture, the Wild Bunch allocated it Number 41, the same one it ran in JCA back in 1976. After Tom’s untimely death in early 2017, his son Craig took over driving duties in The Ferret and was presented with a one-off award, “in recognition of the achievement of a young man in paying tribute to his beloved father, and racing his altered in honour of him.” The citation on the award is quoted above and The Ferret led the way in the Cacklefest at Dragstalgia 2017.

A quick surf around the internet quickly reveals multiple references, photographs and video clips of The Ferret from this post 2011 period.

Craig Larman ran The Ferret for another few seasons before selling it within the Drag Racing community though the new custodian has since purchased another machine and decided to concentrate on that. Consequently, The Ferret is now available so a new owner can hopefully continue and add to its remarkable legacy.

Though the origin of The Ferret’s tubular chassis is currently lost in the mists of time (dragsters tend to simply be known by nickname rather than manufacturer), a plate welded to it indicates that it was updated by experts in this area, Robinson Race Cars of Turgis Green, in June 1995 and it still looks to be in excellent order. Very loosely based on a Model T Ford (if you really squint, you can just make out the family resemblance, especially after a few Christmas tipples) the bodywork is mostly fibreglass with a bit of aluminium panelling thrown in and it is in good condition throughout. The red over white (very Gold Leaf Elan Sprint) paintwork is more than fit for race car purpose with just a few chips, rubs and scratches - far from scruffy in our opinion but please have a good look for yourselves in the photo gallery. There are numerous tributes to people who have been part of The Ferret’s past professionally sign written on the bodywork, reinforcing what a pivotal role this machine has played in so many lives over the last nigh on fifty years.

Currently running a small block Chevrolet engine in what we are told is a user-friendly relatively mild state of tune, it features an MSD ignition system, Holley carburettor, open exhaust pipes and an electric water pump. Braided hoses are utilised throughout. Power is transmitted to the narrow rear axle via a two-speed and reverse automatic gearbox. The conventional disc brakes operate on rear axle with a parachute back up should your terminal velocity exceed their capability.

Spun alloy wheels, works of art in themselves, are fitted all round but with a marked disparity in widths front to rear. Substantial Hoosier slick tyres are utilised at the back while lightly treaded Goodyears reside up front.

A steering box is linked to the twin wishbone front end via a long rose jointed push/pull rod and it is operated by a lovely wood griped steering ‘wheel’. The ‘pilot’ is enclosed within a substantial padded roll cage while sitting in a trimmed aluminium bucket seat and secured by a TRS harness, though this is now out of date. Cockpit instrumentation is limited to an oil pressure gauge with a Sunpro tachometer (redlined at 6,000 rpm) and water temperature gauge relegated to the engine bay. Adjacent to this is a light which carries the annotion “4800” which we assume is the ideal engine revolutions for the optimum launch. A few switches for ignition, water pump and fan share a simple panel with the starter button. Aside from these plus a couple of levers for brakes and gears, the only other control the driver needs to worry about is the gargantuan throttle pedal complete with restraining toe strap.

It is clear that as one might expect with a machine of The Ferret’s performance capabilities, only components of the highest quality have been employed throughout.

As for the driving experience, we are told the technique is to hold the car in gear with the brakes applied and to build the engine speed, ‘winding up’ the torque converter before releasing the brakes and disappearing into the distance. The sticky rear slicks run at just four psi giving a large contact patch for maximum traction but also allowing them to ‘grow’ centrifugally and consequently alter the car’s gearing – a small circumference at low speeds for maximum acceleration becomes larger for increased top speed.

The engine is believed to be relatively fresh and it certainly sounds wonderfully sharp (video available on request) though with The Ferret not having been run in anger for a few years, some light recommissioning would be sensible. When the engine was started a few weeks ago, some fuel related moisture was noted around the carburettor so a precautionary rebuild of that should perhaps be considered.

Given we have allowed ourselves the broadest estimate range in the history of Berlinetta Classic Car Auctions, you could surmise that we have no real idea what The Ferret is worth and to be honest, you would be right. What we do know is that it is reserved towards the bottom end of that guestimate range and as a gift for Christmas (or just after), it could be literally just that - a gift. Despite it being a fully functioning dragster that has threatened the ten second quarter mile barrier in recent times, for the sort of money that could buy The Ferret, it could return that investment many times over as a promotional tool for anything from a tuning shop to American Diner or museum and who wouldn’t want it in their Mancave (actually, don’t answer that). Allowing for the full scope of ‘twelfth night’ it could still be under a Christmas Tree once more.