LEFT: Carol Hadfield and Greg
‘Whoppa’ Wapling (to her right) are the
brains behind the event, and they’re
nice with it. Even at the annual charity
auction they keep it all organised with
patience and a smile. Behind them are
a bunch of ratbags from Club Animal1: Tom Noack is from South Australia’s
Barossa Valley and has run this very
tidy VP up to and over 200mph with
a 372ci L98 Chev. Chassis tuning and
aero tweaks have been the crew’s focus
and the motor is largely stock, but
every year it’s gone faster. This year it
got co-driver Darryn Weeks a red hat.
After Thursday’s rain and a little upset
that looked like a blown head gasket,
they ran their fastest-ever time of
206.469mph – a new class record2: Greg Telford made his first trip to
the salt flats in 2009, and he’s been
hooked ever since! With a team
consisting of his son Bob and brother-
in-law Ray Crathern, Greg got to work
on a bellytanker replica to take to the
2015 Speed Week. It was finished just
in time, powered by a stock Holden
grey that ran 106mph. This year the
boys went back with a warm grey built
by Ray and topped by an ex-Porsche
38mm triple-barrel Zenith carb, and
that went 128mph. Eventually Greg
wants to put a blower on the motor and
maybe switch to methanol fuel, with a
goal of 175mphIF YOU WANT TO FIND A WEAKNESS IN YOUR OILING, COOLING, FUEL
SUPPLY OR ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN ASSEMBLY, TAKE IT TO THE SALT!
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