GUS Cooper, John Harvey and Darren Banks all work different shifts on the mines, so they
passed the baton over nine months on the non-stop build of this 1936 Hudson Terraplane.
Starting with someone else’s half-built hot rod, the boys treated the Hudson to a bitching
roof chop and a million other mods to make it fast and safe. It’s a kind of gospel in land-
speed racing that you run things a little rich, because if any oxygen makes it to the exhaust
valve it’s gonna take some piston with it. Sure enough, after reaching the 150mph mark
without any trouble, the 406-cube Chev said goodnight. But of course, the boys will be
back, bigger and better next year.
Higher ’Plane
The mill is a 406ci small-block
Chev making 520hp, with a little
nitrous on the side. Gearbox is a
six-speed Tremec unit. Now that
the boys have the bug, they’re
promising to return with 900hp
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The Hudson took out the Race
Director’s Pick award, and you can
see why when you have a close
look at how the car was built. Under
the back is a complete VE IRS rear
end, with an HG Holden front
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