David Riswick is the head honcho at John Woolfe Racing
and was a pivotal figure in UK drag racing for many years.


The pictures on this page were discovered in the back rooms of
JWR's Bedford office and Dave has kindly made them available to
The Acceleration Archive for us all to enjoy.

Click on any image to get the bigger picture

 

Cobra

 

 

Time to have a look back at some of the older shots in the collection again.
It is a little known fact that John Woolfe had two AC Cobras.  The first was a right hand drive road-going version, and the second a left hand drive road-race version.  The road-going version (GTM 777F) is featured on page 1.  The last that was known of the car in 1988 was that it was held in a private collection in the Birmingham area in 1988.
The picture of the 7 litre left hand drive version (GTM 700F) shown on the left with side pipes was a pure racing version even though it was registered for the road.  This picture was taken in June 1968, this car now resides in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
The photo of the privately owned right hand drive version pictured below was taken 20 years later at the John Woolfe Racing Ltd Open House 20th Anniversary in Bedford in September 1988.  This was the only time the two JWR Cobras were together since John raced them in 1967.

 

 

Quartermaster

 

 

I mentioned on page 1 of this collection that the Quartermaster car of 1970 met with an accident at the top end at Santa Pod which led to its replacement for 1971 with the Hot Wheels sponsored top fuel dragster.  Here are some pictures of the damage taken by Dave Riswick.

 

 

The car would have looked all right from the back if it weren't for all that scrap metal in the cockpit.

 

 

Quartermaster turns its wheels for the last time as it gets towed back to the pits.  There is a positive Who's Who of 1970 UK drag racing personalities on the back of the pickup, from left to right - the late Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, Freddie Whittle, no ID, Mark Stratton, Clive Skilton and Bruce Brown.

 

 

To finish this section, here is three quarters of the original Quartermaster team taken in happier times at Santa Pod in 1970.
From left to right - Tony Gane, Dennis Priddle and Ray Pritchard.  The fourth member, Dave Riswick, took the picture.

 

Hot Wheels Team

 

 

The next set of pictures (all of which were scanned from contact prints so please excuse the quality) were taken at RAF Upper Heyford (actually a USAF base) on a rainy day in 1971.  The photo shoot was arranged by Ed Shaver for Hot Car magazine but in the event the pictures were taken by a USAF photographer because the aircraft (a General Dynamics F-111 fighter-bomber) was top secret at the time.  I therefore have no idea who the copyright holder is and hope that they have no objection to the pictures being reproduced here.
The people in the above photgraphs standing behind the dragster are from left to right : Sgt Rick 'Crazy' Krejci, Ed Shaver, and arranged above their names on the car : Dennis Priddle, Dave Riswick, Tony Gane and Pete Stanford.
The JWR Whistler, which had been re-named Sizzler, can be seen in the background.

 

 

 

Not the familiar 1970s drag racing face mask but a much more high altitude version belonging to the base commander (Lt Colonel Jude McNamara of the USAF 77th Tactical Fighter Wing) who decided to get in a bit of seat time while the opportunity presented itself.

 

In the background is Ed Shaver's road legal AMX powered by a 390" 550 bhp American Motors V8 fitted with Venolia pistons, Crower cam, 4 barrel Holley carb and Dougs headers.
This 'photo shoot had been arranged primarily to announce the sponsorship deal with Mattel's Hot Wheels.

 

Elvington World Records Weekend 1972

 

 

On the weekend of 30 September / 1 October 1972 the JWR team took Mr Six to Elvington with the intention of capturing the world record for the standing start quarter mile.  Irven Axe is re-setting the parachute cable after the first run as Dennis Priddle sits atop the roll cage.  'Powerful Pierre' Peter Quinn is in the background on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

From left to right above : Pete Stanford, Terry Axe's wife, Dennis Priddle and Irven Axe.  That is Terry Axe on the far right of the right hand picture.

 

 

The RAC stewards would not allow burn outs over the start line and  therefore Dennis Priddle elected to burn out diagonally in order to get as close to the line as he could with as much rubber laid down as possible.

 

 

Another burn out from Dennis Priddle and Mr Six.  Terry Axe is behind the car holding the Mr Gasket Grip Juice, his brother Irven is in the foreground together with two of the RAC stewards.

 

 

Mission accomplished and world record secured with runs of 6.65 and 6.75 seconds giving a two way average of 6.70 seconds.
This was a really stout performance on a 'green' surface to get within a few hundredths of the best time recorded by this car on a pukka drag strip.

 

 

Pete Stanford, Dennis Priddle and Dave Riswick pose with the silverware at Santa Pod in 1971.

All material on this site is copyright
and should not be reproduced without permission


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