Member Inducted 2007
Sydney Allard
History
Sydney Allard was a Ford dealer who in the years before the
Second World War produced his own 'Allard Specials' based on the
1930s Ford V8. It was in his specially built cars that he had
success in some extremely diverse motor racing events: he won the
1949 British Hillclimb Championship, was placed third at Le Mans in
1950 and won outright the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally.
In the later 1950s, Sydney turned to the component business and
fitted Shorrocks superchargers to a wide range of engines. At the
same time, he noted drag racing fever spreading in the US in the
late 1950s, and as early as 1960, he imported a Chrysler Hemi with
a GMC 6-71 blower. Thus was born the UK's first Top Dragster.
Initially, he could find no-one to race, so he formed the British
Drag Racing Association and in 1963 Dante Duce and Mickey Thompson
visited the UK to run with Sydney. In 1964 and 1965 he collaborated
with Wally Parks to hold the Drag Fest events, which were the
birthplace of competitive drag racing in this country.
Meanwhile in 1964 he had brought out the Dragon, a
four-cylinder engined dragster sold in kit form to help people get
started in Drag Racing, driven by son Alan. Sadly, this founding
father of British drag racing passed away only a day after Santa
Pod had opened its doors for business.