NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, Shakespeare County Raceway, England

Words and pictures by Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes
Thanks to SCR’s Jerry Cookson for helping out with some IDs

The joys of the weekend British summer: dodge a few heavy rainstorms and pop down to the handily placed garden centre to peruse some patio furniture and pick up some locally brewed adult beverages, handily placed because it is a mile away from the gate to Shakespeare County Raceway where the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals were taking place. Tempted in by the prospect of seeing Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings shaking down their Time Warp Mustang Nostalgia funny car (which we missed due to the aforementioned shopping trip… the team were seen in the pits attacking the transmission with some heavy duty tools, suggesting they had encountered a problem after their early checkout pass), we decided to stay for a few hours and shoot some of the wide variety of machinery that took to the track in the principally RWYB action, with the Wild Bunch, Outlaw Anglia and Flathead Meltdown thrown into the mix.

One of the many sideshows at the NSRA meetings at Shakespeare County Raceway is the Flathead Meltdown, where a whole array of sidevalve motors get thrashed to within an inch (and sometimes beyond) of their life in pursuit of ever quicker ETs (some of which can be measured with a sun dial).