New car news

23 September 2010 - 11:40

Tooled up: chainsaws go racing

The marriage of power tools and motorsport is a union that has given Men In Sheds a raison d’être, and one that largely excites our TG fizz gland.

So this weekend’s cannily titled Power Tool Drag Racing Championship has got us fizzing into a frothy lather. Power Tools! In mini-dragsters!

Teams will compete in the annual Somerset showdown where drivers pilot mini racers powered by chainsaw, disc cutter and leaf blower engines.

Reigning champs Toolstation – whose ‘Bolt Lightning’ three-wheel dragster produces a biblical 36bhp and does over 140km/h – are looking to cut through the opposition. We used the word ‘cut’, see, because ‘Bolt Lightning’ is powered by six disc cutter engines. That kind of canny wordplay costs money, y’know…

Last year, Toolstation did the 100m drag strip in just 8.6s at an average speed of 40km/h.
FIA calling for more money invested in grass-roots motorsport? This is it, chums...