Larry Larson dips into the fives

24 November, 2014

Following up on his street-legal Chevrolet S10’s overwhelming success during the 2014 Hot Rod Drag Week, where he ran a 6.16 at 219.61mph, beating Andy Frost’s 6.403 at 229.31mph, Larry Larson has gone one step further and dipped into the fives — a 5.950 at 244.43mph, to be exact.


Larry Larson achieves a 5.950 at 244.43mph during 2014 Hot Rod Drag Week

Larry Larson achieves a 5.950 at 244.43mph during 2014 Hot Rod Drag Week

At the Las Vegas-based Street Car Super Nationals, the team had managed to iron out the ignition issues bothering them earlier on — that 6.16 was run with the engine lacking top end.

On the Friday morning, November 21, the team ran a 6.058 at 241.50mph, which was bettered that evening as they ran a 6.043 at 242.67mph. Heading into Sunday morning at number 10 in the Outlaw ProMod class, the team would go on to run their first five-second pass in the wild Chevy S10, becoming the world’s fastest street-legal car for the third time during the course of the event.

Because the S10 is still a relative unknown for the team, it looks as though there’s a lot more potential in it that is yet to be tapped into. The team hopes for a 5.80 at 250mph and given their recent performance it’s highly likely that we’ll be seeing it sooner rather than later.

Not one to take a challenge lying down, 2013 Drag Week champion Tom Bailey has announced via social media his intent to run a 5.50-second pass, stating, “The goals are simple — 300mph in the standing mile, and [a] 5.50 quarter mile”.

With this much excitement so soon after Drag Week, we can’t wait to see what 2015’s event holds — could we be seeing the world’s first 5.50-second pass in a street-legal car?

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.

2027 Star Insure Calendar Competition Terms and Conditions

2027 Star Insure Calendar Competition
We’ve partnered up with Star Insure in search for 13 outstanding classic cars to feature across the 2027 Star Insure Calendar and the December issue of NZ Classic Car Magazine. One standout entry wins the ultimate honour: cover placement on both the calendar and the magazine, with the remaining 12 featured across the monthly pages.
Email your photo to [email protected] and include your full name, postal address, phone number and vehicle details (year, make and model). Entries close Friday, 31 July 2026. *T’s & C’s apply.
Read more to find out the full details >>