(Lead photo by Mark Skinner) – While 2015 was a year of uneasey peace in the war to hold the title of the world’s quickest street legal car, 2016 is shaping up to be anything but. Yesterday, Andy Frost made the first couple of full runs on the newly rebuilt, refreshed, and re-powered Red Victor 3. We’ll show you the time slip in a minute but the fact that Frost is back out and swinging is the big story. Larry Larson who holds the title of quickest street legal vehicle in the world with the 5.89 he laid down in his S10 truck last fall is still out running his truck everywhere he can, Tom Bailey has made the quickest eighth mile runs in the short history of the Sick Seconds 2.0 Camaro’s life, and Jeff Lutz still holds the speed mark with a 251mph pass he made last year in his Mad Max Camaro. So what does all this mean?
It means the rest of us win because outwardly or not, the four players in this matchup want the title, especially Frost. Biding his time and likely chewing a hole in his tongue from holding it so hard for over a year, Frost decided to play the long game in this situation and if the first day of hard running is an indication, he may have played it right. With a mid-six second run to the top end under their belt, the team leaned on the car a little and managed a 6.37/234mph shot at Santa Pod yesterday. Let’s take a look at the time slip:
So what is this jumble of numbers telling us? The overlying point is that it is telling us that they have been VERY conservative on the front half of the race track. See that 1.06 60′ time? That’s walking it out there pretty softly. The 4.25 eighth mile elapsed time is also telling us that they did not exactly have the phasers set on kill at that point of the track. There’s something interesting (to us anyway) following that and it is the fact that the car made 55mph on the back half of the race track and that means it was humping pretty hard. We’d be pretty shocked if that when all is said and done, this is not a 250mph car. We do not mean THIS WEEKEND but we mean when they have themselves totally sorted, etc.
Anyone who thought that Andy Frost was giving up, screwing around, or otherwise slacking off for the past year by the time the FIA Main Event closes at Santa Pod this weekend, we think your opinion will change. There’s lots of people pulling for Frost in his native country…but what about his American counterparts?
We do not know of Jeff Lutz’s plans for the 2016 season. We know that the stuff he does for the Street Outlaws show keeps him very busy and that the Mad Max Camaro (which did completed the 700 mile inaugural Hot Rod Drag weekend adventure in 2015) does hold the speed end of the street legal “record”. We’re assuming that the car is still together and can/will be raced in 2016 but we do not know when or where at this point.
Larry Larson is racing the wheels off of his truck. Running match races, NHRA national events, booked-in-shows, no-prep races, and whatever else people call him for. This truck owns the elapsed time end of the record with its completely insane 5.89-second blast at Las Vegas in the fall. The truck was built to do what it has done and the only question on the competition end is whether or not Larry has an interest in pursuing the crown or the title as world’s quickest. Obviously Frost is chasing Larry. We’re not sure if Larry is keeping up on that program of if he is waiting for the news of their success or failure to reach him by other means.
At the NHRA National event last weekend, Larry was running the truck in the 6-teens at over 240mph and making it look effortless, repeating the feat time and time again. We bet if Frost runs a five in the near future Larry may feel compelled to get to some events with the truck in full kill mode again. At this point he has no need to try and run the thing for record level stuff because there is no one else even close…yet.
…and then there is the cool Michigander Tom Bailey. Bailey has won Drag Week a couple of times now, doing it last year with an average in the 6.70s and a low elapsed time of 6.35 during the week. Tom has taken this car to compete both on radials and in big tire form a several races as well this year. We have heard that there’s a new set of hands tweaking on Bailey’s car and the results have been damned impressive so far this year. Most importantly they are quantifiable improvements. The car ran its first sub-four second eighth mile elapsed time a few weeks ago and if you follow this stuff you know that a sub four second elapsed time normally signifies a three second run is on the way.
If there is someone who could really dive-bomb the existing record in the short term, we think it could be Tom Bailey. If they have advanced the program to the point where it can run sub-4 second eighth miles, that sucker is ready to fly.
Note that we said short term in that last bit because overall we think that Andy Frost has a piece that is ready and able to really haul ass. Shane Tecklenburg is the tuning brains of the operation and his measured approach along with the parts and pieces that were sourced from some of the biggest and best names in both the USA and Europe should become one very powerful force…starting today.
2015 was quiet, 2016 is promising to be a howitzer fight on the grounds of the world’s quickest street cars!
Frost won’t run a 5.8x – he has a looong way to go to knock a half a second off his previous best. If he can find another 1000hp he may be able to, otherwise cheers for the effort, maybe 2018 will be his year.
why/how are you so sure of this? The car is not the same set up as it was a couple years ago. Its been substantially upgraded.
I’ve been involved with RV3 from the start and everything has been upgraded , it prob has the extra 1000 horses , i’m not going to give any specs but give him credit for the years of work and not giving up , and it is street legal by the way , i did a lot of the stuff needed to get it through the DoT test which is a very stringent test , even down to the radius of things you wouldn’t think of,
Good luck Andy and the team 🙂
Always nice to see a hater, what most people don’t actually take into account is frosty and the team know what it takes to get to the record, first 5 runs in a brand new car, new pb on a shakedown run, I mean jeez the car isn’t even setup on point yet, to Larry and the lads…….. Frosty and his team of wizards and biscwit addicts are hot on your tails….. Very hot….. Watch this space!!
and that will never happen! go do drag week !
Typical hater…….if you seem so sure that he wont run in the 5s then go a build one better and quicker and then show everybody how its done.
Not gunna be biased here (although I do live on Andys side of the pond so I am) I don’t think any of these guys are in this for the short haul and I am sure they all know when the record is taken it is there for the the next guy to beat (after all that’s what records are set for) BUT dont forget Andy only has one track he can run at that will sustain his car and limited events to run at. Drag racing at this level over here is a luxury when the weather is good enough.
Typical comment (initial post) from an ill informed ignoramous. If your going to state an opinion please do it with facts that are not 18 months out of date.
Good luck to Andy, Larry & Tom. Safe racing and may the red car win 😉
Its all shaping up nicely 🙂
If you track performance from the # of passes starting at zero, then you can see Frost is not playing around. Realize his track prep is not NHRA level, he has a few more obstacles than us guys in the States. In my opinion these are the guys to watch. And a great group of people all around the effort ALWAYS helps.
Congrats on the PB your well on your way to retaking the record !!!!
What does it mean “street legal” car. Does it just have to have working lights and horn?
Not exactly Jenny, it’s a bit more complex than that.
A normal UK MOT has things like brakes, engine emissions, lights, horn, windscreen wipers, state of bodywork, and general roadworthyness.
Because Red Victor is not a standard car, it has had to pass a thing called BIVA.
BIVA is much stricter, and is performed by a government department.
All of the standard tests are done, but with extra categories.
These include checking the radius of parts, such as door mirrors to ensure no sharp edges. Also the noise levels of the car.
It is probably one of the strictest tests in the world for roadworthiness in the world.
Methinks that some of the “street legal” cars in the states would not get through the same tests as RV…they would not be street legal in UK…
Whatever is achieved with this car will be remarkable considering the hoops that need to be jumped through !!!
This ‘street legal’ thing. It’s bullshit if one team is having to run to completely different regulations than all the others at a different standard.
To me, Red Victor is the only true Street car out there, because it could run on the street in any of the jurisdictions being taken about and be completely legal.
Getting a tag in Butthurt County Nebraka isn’t the same when the only requirements are having wheels, looking vaguely car like and a letter from your grandpappy before giving the Sheriff a shiny new dime.
Then why doesn\’t Mr. Frost just move to the US if it\’s so much more simple over here to make his Red Vector the fastest street car in the world?
And is anyone else surprised that those ignorantly rich Arabs have not got into this battle yet?
‘cos relocating to another country is as easy and as costly as buying a chocolate bar….
And its red victor…..
The MOT test is harder than what we have here in “butthurt county Nebraska”
But the trade off is, in this country, we’re required to complete something like Drag Week or Rocky Mountain Race Week.
Do you think passing the MOT is harder than driving a Pro Mod across country for 1400 miles while having to make race passes 5 days in a row? no pits, no pit crew, just two guys doing whatever it takes. Don’t pretend that a 5 minute cruise on the parkway defines “streetable” – in some places, people expect you to back it up with thousands of miles of documented street driving. It’s not as easy as you think, not even close.
It’s brilliant that all these guys are fighting for the crown. Yea you can argue if some of them are really street legal but if they have a pass certificate then they are. However, in the UK, we only have one track that can be prepped to handle 4000HP street cars. This weekend the weather is holding and Andy Frost is trying to make the most of it. Today, due to the running times, he had one run!! In the whole weekend he will get around 8 runs. The next time the track will be available and prepped will be in September. That’s if the weather is OK. Shipping into Europe is really expensive and complicated. It’s not like driving to another state or having access to more tracks and good weather. It’s things like this that make it easier to break records if your based in California or somewhere like it. There is a massive support team around RV3 and Andy and his crew. If there weren’t others with the same dream of having the quickest street car in the world then the challenge wouldn’t be as exciting. I wish all guys the best of luck but Andy and is team in the RV3 team are goons kick your ass.
I couldn’t give a monkeys carrot if the narrow minded morons whining about frostys car RV3 are winding themselves up or not.
What counts is the support and commitment of Andy frosts supporters and the very committed and passionate man himself.
I’ve wired this incredible machine to first meet IVA requirements fixing previous wiring problems on the way. A massive job and cost to bring this vehicle inline with the real UK road legal requirements electrically and mechanically. I very much doubt any street race car would meet in the uk or the states without spending the same time and money and commitment.
To then completely replace the drivetrain, rebuild and rewire the car properly to chase the record has again taken huge cost and commitment from all the 5 second club supporters, company sponsors, and personal input from many people especially Andy and his close team.
The results at the early stage are a staggering and a reward for the club members and supporters.
So the great British word bollox to the haters.
The record will be back with the only real street legal car!!! End of ha ha
Lutz is registered for drag Week. I have high hopes for that car doing it. I don’t think Frost will get into the 5’s anytime soon, but I would not be surprised to see that car hit the very low sixes. Glad to hear that Bailey has someone new tuning that chassis. Ive questioned that chassis ever since drag week. Nice to finally see that thing getting down there. Overall, I honestly believe that we will see Jeff Lutz set the record this year.
Trying to go down the track at Santa Pod even when prep’d is like a no prep here in the states…. They had a huge race there this last weekend and where was a ton of cars slipping and sliding and unfortunately crashing…. Richie Webb even crashed the fastest ACVW in Europe during this event….. Those guys are trying for this record with their hands tied behind their backs. Cheers to them
What happened to the Sick Seconds 2.0 Camaro?