Sometimes we here at Fu’Gutty cars are prone to the occasional bout of lunacy- be it a 550 mile round trip to Dunvegan for Cupcakes in a 1.4 auto Skoda Fabia, or our latest escapade.
The chariots of choice were the 2 ALH engined 90bhp Skoda Octavias as owned by my brother and I.
The Venue was Crail Raceway (Crail Raceway) in sunny Fife on the East Coast- a mere 150 mile round trip from our base.
The activity? Drag Racing of course! This is the story of the inappropriate but fun day out wi the Fu’gutty Fleet.
The first tank of fuel in my Octavia had been used up- covering 672 miles at 66.9mpg- astonishing figures, I’m sure you’ll agree, but also sadly lacking in a certain something..
As I filled up with my mix of WVO and diesel, I pondered what was missing? Was it glamour?nup- I’d sold the Jag recently and didn’t miss it. What about the sound of a 6pot? the 335 was still about. Speed? Ah yes, Speed. Not exactly a common element when your daily runs on the Devil’s brew, and handles like a supertanker.
But could it be obtained in a straight line? I had a full tank, and a day’s worth of time to kill- A plan was hatched! For £25 (£10 entry, and £15 for unlimited 1/4mile runs), I’d head up to Crail for their Thrash and Dash.
So at 8.10am this morning I met my Brother and we made hay whilst the sun shone on the kingdom of Fife.
The Octavias in their natural environs- a greasy spoon cafe at a service station
We loaded up on rep-spec food and went on our merry way through the badlands of Fife towards the disused airfield that was hosting the event.
Not the natural habitat of an ALH engine
Upon arrival we got ourselves along to the sign-on hut, and laid our cash down in return for wristbands and a sense of anticipation. Next up was a rudimentary scrutineer check of the cars- which required the removal of my wheeltrims so the wheelnuts could be checked.
This passed, I was given the number 39, and my brother received 40- time to get the hammer down!
Y no Hubcapz? Becuz Racetaxi!
Fastest Chip Shop in the East!
Lookin Proffeshunul!
We did 3 initial runs side by side- getting faster with each run. Then we parked up and went to check some times.
JP had managed a 18.5@70.1mph on his 3rd run, and I clocked 18.009@71.3mph on the same pass.
We posted within 1/2 a sec of each other for most of the day, with the estate suffering some MAF related maladies at the midpoint. An attempted run with the MAF disconnected put paid to that idea, and it was swiftly reconnected- we’ll need to investigate the fault!
MAFectomy in progress
Over the course of the day I never ran higher than an 18.57@72.7mph- so I was pleased with the relative consistency achieved.
You can see the Octavia in action at the link below- many thanks to my brother for piloting the potatocam to capture the moment.
The Miserly Missile Vs Saab 9-3
Unfortunately, my in car cradle failed, so there are no vids of the runs from inside the car- I’ll attempt to rectify that at the next trip.
When not racing, we had a good old scout round the other cars running- and saw some absolute gems- a selection of them can be seen below.. It was a tossup between the Vectra and the Sierra for coolest car of the day!
Circa 500bhp in this- it went well!
Cool, an old Sierra! they aint that nippy..
Ah, the old “Side Exit Exhaust ” and Jacked rear end- this could mean business
Cheeky little Rover v8 with a 150bhp shot of Nitrous? Why not?.. Sierra sounded great!
Holset H35 on a Vectra? Don’t mind if I do!
Mickey Thompson Drag tyres too- He needed them for the 400ish BHP
I was faster than this (just about). He put on a great show, and lunched his clutch!
I am Tigra, hear me roar!
Check out the SLS nosing in from the right..
We then took wursels over to the Drift track for a wee look at the skids that were underway- a wide variety of cars and styles were evident- all of them putting on a good show! Top Drift King of the day was the Volvo 340- showing the big boys how its done on the way to get yer pension:)
Lesser spotted FOAD free oh Fyve!
DErskine Daes the Driftin!
It waits, that’s what it does..
Y no Bonnet up? Bcuz eminently reliable Renault lumped Dutch built slab of Swedish Supercar
All in all a great day was had- the cars performed well and there were no mechanical failures! Even better, my Octavia gave over 30mpg whilst racing (1/4mile run, then return road back to line up again).
Cheap AND fun! What more could you want? How about a time that starts with a 17??
We’ll be back!
Drag Racing only MPG
fu'guttycars 