At the end of July we wrote to tell you that the Vampire Jet Car was making an appearance at the Bromyard Speed Festival at Shelsley Walsh Hill climb. Since then the team have been putting the afterburner through its paces. Watch our video below to take a look for yourself!
The Vampire was originally constructed by Allan ‘Bootsie’ Herridge, a pioneer British drag racer, as one of a pair of identical match-race jet dragsters in 1981. Vampire currently holds the outright British land speed record, driven by Colin Fallows to a speed of 300.3 mph (483.3 km/h) on 5 July 2000 at Elvington, Yorkshire, England.
Vampire is 30 feet (9.1 m) long and consumes between 7 to 10 UK gallons of fuel per mile. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Orpheus turbojet engine, it can accelerate from standstill to 272 mph (438 km/h) in six seconds.
In 2006 the Vampire suffered from a major crash and as a result was out of action for many years. That is until last year, where a team from Herefordshire assembled and began to restore the Vampire. As you can see from the video below it is now fully restored and its next public appearance will be at RetroFest @ Charlton Park on the 25th and 26th September.
