Rob Ida – Pulpaddict

Turn-key 300-plus mph, record-setting racer with rebuilt engine, trailer and tow truck – BONNEVILLE LAKESTER, SALT OF THE EARTH! – is looking for a new owner.

BONNEVILLE LAKESTER, SALT OF THE EARTH!

After setting the AA/FL (Fuel) record (290.49 mph) at Bonneville in 2009, veteran hot rodder and racecar builder Bob Dauernheim’s Lakester, driven by Don Biglow, was completely redesigned in 2011 to run on gas (AA/GL). It was again updated for Speed Week 2012. Bob Cuneo, designer and builder of the U.S. Olympic Team’s winning bobsleds, has been consulting with metal fab magician and custom car builder Rob Ida, (Rob Ida Concepts), builder of the Lakester’s wind-splitting body, to improve its aerodynamic qualities.

The late, great Tony Feil built the Lakester’s naturally aspirated, dry-sump-lubed 582 cubic-inch Chevrolet big-block Dart engine. It features a Big M cast-iron block and Big Duke aluminum heads topped off with dual four-barrel carburetors. The latest dyno tests show approximately 2.1 horsepower per cubic inch on 114 octane racing gas! With this setup, the Lakester experienced some engine problems, yet Biglow was able to clock 318 mph. A year or so ago, the 15-to-1 compression engine was been rebuilt, fitted with larger carburetors, and has been dynoed at approximately 1,200 horsepower.

The Team 608 Lakester was last run at Bonneville in 2021 when it was clocked at 306 mph on six cylinders! After rebuilding, it had gone 320 mph with a 323 mph exit speed! It did not run in 2022 and 2023 as Speed Week had been rained out two years in a row.

Bob Daurenheim has decided to retire and is selling his Salt-shaking Daurnheim-Biglow-Davis AA/GL Lakester, powered with recently rebuilt engine, trailer and tow truck. His New-Jersey-based Team 608 BONNEVILLE LAKESTER, SALT OF THE EARTH! “package” represents the absolute least expensive, turn-key route to become part of the unique Bonneville Salt Flats/Land Speed Record culture.

PHOTOS: Michael Alan Ross

Longtime Bonneville racer and member of Team 608 – Rob Gibby – can be contacted for equipment and pricing information. For details: robgibby31@gmail.com

For more information about Rob Ida Concepts, Morganville, NJ, please visit https://robidaconcepts.com/

Chopped and sectioned, HOLMAN MOODY CHALLENGER III started out as a ’62 Falcon Futura styling study, matured into a lightweight 145-mph racecar.

John Holman and Ralph Moody’s stock car factory in North Carolina turned three Falcon Futura econocars into road racing screamers and the third, featured here, was the most radical, most potent of the series. They had high hopes of building a limited run of Challenger III Falcons and marketing them through Ford dealers. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Like Colin Chapman, they believed in “adding lightness” which accounts for Challenger III’s aluminum doors, and hood and trunk panels. The icing on the cake is its aluminum fastback roof, fabricated by HM’s Lujie Lesovsky, best known for the 1967 Coyote that was driven by A.J. Foyt to an Indy 500 win. Window glass was replaced with flush mounted Plexiglass. Ready to race, the Challenger III weighed in at 2,200 pounds and had a top speed of 145 mph. Under the alloy hood rests a blueprinted 289 small-block rated at 300 horsepower and bolted to an aluminum-cased B-W T-10 four-speed.John Holman, right, and Ralph Moody with one of the Challengers in 1962

My pal and serial blogger, Jim Donnelly, writes about Challenger III, brought back to life for noted collector and historian – Howard Kroplick – by the artisans at Rob Ida Concepts. His feature can be found at https://jimdonnellyonwheels.com/2022/04/10/a-ford-rarity-for-the-race-track/

For more information about the four-wheeled art created by Rob Ida and his team at Rob Ida Concepts, please visit https://robidaconcepts.com/