(Editor’s note: This feature ran back in 2012 and we thought that we’d kick it up here again because the car is flipping awesome and the zero hour when we’ll be living among this stuff for days has nearly arrived. Enjoy! – Brian) While on the salt at Bonneville, we were lucky enough to grab some photos of pretty cool cars for features here on BangShift.com. We had heard about this little car before getting to the salt, but the details were a bit fuzzy so we’re glad we got to see it in person. We happen to know Mark Warrick pretty well, and can tell you that he owns an operates one of the best body shops around which is why guys like Pinkee’s, Rad Rides by Troy, and other heavy hitters use them on projects. They’ve also been known to build their own killer cars and bikes. In fact, he and his Dad Bill have one not only a killer collection of finished cars, but the most well organized future project yard I’ve ever seen. The Lakester is one of Mark’s own toys, and he told us “it’s just a clean little race car”. It certainly is that and more. We dig the Belly Tanks, and would argue that none on the salt is nicer than the Soncy Road Speed Shop Special, so when Mark was in the pits we rolled this thing back and snapped some quick shots for you to enjoy.

With a 286 cubic inch Ford Flathead in it, the little tank runs XF/FL, which stands for XF Fuel Lakester. The XF means it must have a Ford or Mercury Flathead from 1932-1953 with a displacement maximum of 325 cubic inches. The Fuel Lakester part of it means that he is running Alcohol and/or Nitro. Gas Lakester would mean he was running SCTA approved Gasoline. Mark happens to run methanol in his, and was contemplating a 10% mix of Nitro Methane on his next run but weather moved in and called racing for the day. The little Flatty is backed up by a B&J Two-speed transmission. The mechanical fuel injection is dead simple and cool looking.

Wheelbase must be 95 inches or longer, and in order to qualify as a Lakester, no part of the body may be wider than the inside of the tire. In layman’s terms, no streamlining of the tires and wheels is allowed. They just have to hang out there in the air.

We asked Mark how it was to drive, and he said it was really stable and comfortable. And that’s saying something coming from a guy that is at least 6’4″ tall.  This was the first time out for Mark in the car, and they weren’t going after the current record, but he said it was fun to drive something like this after licensing in a roadster a couple years ago. In fact, after licensing, Mark was going to build a roadster for himself but an offer that was too good to pass up, and included the belly tank, meant the roadster has a new home.

”>TO SEE EVEN MORE PHOTOS OF THE SONCY ROAD SPEED SHOP SPECIAL BELLY TANK LAKESTER, CLICK HERE OR ON THE PHOTOS BELOW.