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Dennis Priddle (left) and Rex
Sluggett.
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Rex's family pose with Tudor Rose and
the faithful Land Rover. No 18 wheeler artics in those days!
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Rex's mother Lillian who
was instrumental in providing support for the team.
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Rex
in the hot seat at Santa Pod.
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A fine close up of Keith
Black's handiwork in the pits at Santa Pod.
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This
picture appeared on the front cover of the August 1968 issue which sold
for 2/6d (12˝p).
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Taken from an advertisement for Santa
Pod Raceway. Tudor Rose out in front of the Commuter top fuel dragster.
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TUDOR ROSE
Rex did manage to take the Duke to Santa Pod in 1966 but teething troubles kept the car from doing any full passes down the brand new Northamptonshire track. This is where Rex thinks he met up with Dennis Priddle for the first time when Tony Gane was debuting the little Rudge powered dragster “Wicked Lady”. Dennis was wrenching for Tony. Then some weeks later they met
again at a social evening for drag racing enthusiasts in Exeter. Dennis eventually talked Rex into building a completely new car after inspecting the welding and noticing that they had used mild steel for the Duke.
This was a major turning point in the development of a proper fuel dragster.
Some time was spent working out what the new car would be like and what would power it. Rex borrowed the budget and set off for America to secure the drive train components, Chrysler power was still the preference and the best in the business was Keith Black in California.
Rex was learning fast while Dennis was back in Yeovil, Somerset working on drawings for the long wheelbase rail taken from the design of Roland Leong’s AA/FD “The Hawaiian” driven by Don Prudhomme.
When Rex returned he moved in with Dennis near Yeovil and over the winter months of 1967/68 they set about building “Tudor Rose”. The name came from the words engraved on the Hamstone archway over the little garage door of the cottage in Stoford where Dennis’ family lived.
The specifications of the car are a bit clouded with the passage of time.
But when Rex managed to arrange an audience with Mr. Black at the South Gate, California operation, Keith was confronted with an enthusiastic customer with little or no experience in running a fuel dragster. The first thing Keith did was to talk him out of using nitro methane. When Rex was done Keith had set out the following prescription for his first venture.
Running on straight alcohol :
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A 426 Chrysler Hemi, with cast iron heads,
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Chrysler Engle Drag spec. grind cam, lifters and pushrods,
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KB pistons and rings made by Forgedtrue,
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Standard 426 crank polished and radiused,
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KB aluminium rods,
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Aviad oil pan with baffled pick up,
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Hilborn fuel Injection and pump,
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Mooneyham 671 blower and manifold,
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Vertex magneto,
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KB direct gear drive front cover.
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The chassis was made T-45 aircraft quality seamless steel tubing. I 1/8”, 1 1/4” and 1 3/8”,
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Roll cage was out of 1 3/4” tube,
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Schafer dual plate clutch,
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Donovan bell housing,
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Rear axle housing came out of Roland Leong’s “Hawaiian II” chassis,
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Thompson 3rd member with 3.393 gear ratio,
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Goodyear 11” slicks mounted on Halibrand 11 x 16 wheels,
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Front wheel hubs and axle assembly by Allard’s,
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Front wheels rimmed and spoked locally and shod with high-speed Avon Speedmasters 2.25 X 17,
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Simpson cross form parachute and 4 way quick release harness,
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Modified Anglia steering box with fabricated steering wheel and linkage,
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Brake callipers and disc rotors from A&P Racing Discs were supplied as a rough casting and were finished by Les Turner of Hampton Court, London, and
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Spindles adapted from a 93A Ford Anglia.
In the Spring of 1968 Tudor Rose was receiving its final fitting of sheet metal around the driver’s compartment.
At Easter on 15 April 1968 Rex hooked up the trailer to his Land Rover and he and Dennis headed for Santa Pod.
The car was a sensation, no one really knew much about this masterpiece from the West Country as Rex and Dennis started to offload the beast.
Captain Tom Hales, the RAC Scrutineer, took one look at it and said “my oh my what have we here?” Little did anyone know that he was looking at a World Record Breaking Car. Dennis was very confident and Rex answered questions as if he had been racing for years. They set it up, loaded it up and fired it up and wow, the rest is history.
The first runs were a bit shaky and netted 10.25 at 154.00 off the trailer but they then ran 9.10 / 162.00.
By June they had managed to run 9.097 at 168.35 mph with Rex driving.
He made another run of 9.3 at 179.53 mph. Weather plagued any consistency and with little history they were still in the dark as to what the car was capable of. They came back to the Pod in July and ran another 9.5 / 168.92 and then it rained before they could try any new changes.
Later on 21 July they were back again, Rex pulled a red light and still ran a 9.312 at 176.78 setting the speed record on the next pass at 180.85.
Dennis finally got to have a go and started off with a 9.343 / 141.84 followed by a 9.503 / 157.23. The car was bogging on the line a bit.
Click here to view a list of details of all known runs and a selection of Tudor Rose's timing tickets.
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