12.10 Second Grey motor - Crater-Critter

WHEN TALKING to Eric Worner about his '48 So-Cal Special (see page 52), we were amazed at how many historic circuit racing cars from that era have not only sirvived but are still racing. Things are quite different when it comes to drag cars from the 50s and 60s, as the vast majority have been wrecked, pulled apart or have simply rusted away. So when such a well-preserved, untouched car appears, it always gets our attention. And when the car in question is as wild as the Buchannan Si Gamble Crater-Critter, we just about lose our minds!

The Crater-Critter's custodian is Kerry Park from Wodonga, Victoria. He has a fair-sized backyarc and has taken it upon himself to save whatever rusty, unloved FX--;.1s he can find, be they circuit, speedway, drag cars — even customs.

 
I've had it about 10 years,' says Kerry. ‘Every thing was there except for the running gear. I talked to Bob Buchannan about it and he said ran a grey with a Spitfire smokescreen blower on it with triple Strombergs and a Scintilla magneto. They ran it on mrethanol with 1/8in jets. It hac a 3 1/8th bore, a nitrated crank and quite a bit taken off the head. The 'box and diff were stock.

It was built to be totally lightweight, with holes drilled in it everywhere. Bob is a big bloke, Gamble was smaller, so he drove it. The roll cage was built from exhaust pipe — they just dummied up the inspection hole to fool the scrutineers. 'They made up a ladder-bar rear-end for it and put a Prefect axle up front. Bob said is ran a 12.10-sec pass at the '68 Nationals and was beaten in the finals by 0.01 sec."

We reckon Kerry should be knighted for his work in preserving cars of this class. We'll take a closer look at the Critter and the rest of Kerry's collection in the pages of SM.

Wildly modded FX "Crater Critter" runs sharp mauve lacquer work and read signwork - Looks the part!

Chopped front fenders show Ford 10 front axels used.  Mill used it's stock boor fitted with and FE head.  Fuel tank nestled in the centre of the grille and supplies 115 octane juice via a 149 pump to triple Stromberg’s atop a Marshall K200 blower which runs 20 overdrive and 7lb boost.  Manifold was homemade and includes 3in tube mounting the carbs to the blower, plumbing is finished in matt black paint and offers stark background when occasional icing up occurs.

The make of the blower used on the old grey ( this setup is on a red motor )