COMET'S TALE
Street Machine Magazine|Yearbook 2020
CAN DRAG CHALLENGE REGULAR JOHN KERR AND HIS ’64 MERCURY COMET CRACK THE 10.5S IN HIS FIRST DRAG CHALLENGE WEEKEND?
CARLY DALE
COMET'S TALE

RESPECTED racer John Kerr has successfully finished every five-day Street Machine Drag Challenge event so far in his tough, home-built, 364ci-powered ’64 Mercury Comet Caliente. The Comet’s straightforward aspirated set-up is proof that you can score several Drag Challenge Dial Your Own Top 10 finishes and an ANDRA gold Christmas tree while sticking to a tight budget.

And it’s quick. Last year John easily ripped a 10.6-second pass on Day One of DC – a surprise for the drag racing veteran. “On my first run at Calder, a crosswind hit me before the finish line, so I backed off and then got back on it. I was a bit upset at myself, thinking that I stuffed up the run,” John says. “I got the timeslip and had run a 10.61@126mph – the quickest it’s ever been!”

Going into DC 2019, John’s plan to fix a windscreen and hood lining snowballed into a bare-metal rotisserie job, and while he was at it, he added a roll cage and a new fibreglass bonnet that allows for a three-inch carby spacer with a larger air cleaner. Next, he did a little maintenance to the 346ci-stroked Dart block. It copped new rings, bearings, valve springs, lifters and a fresh oil pump. “I gave it a hone too; the bores were shinier than my paint!” John laughs. “The lifters had done 50,000 miles, but nothing was badly worn and the valves were still good.”

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Yearbook 2020-Ausgabe von Street Machine Magazine.

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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Yearbook 2020-Ausgabe von Street Machine Magazine.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

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