ROLLING THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER
Tue, 2010-08-24 14:00
If you check out the website for SIGRA ROLLINGSTOCK COMPONENTS, you will notice it’s a business that supplies parts and components for rail 
carriages. Company Director Geoff Gradden might spend his working days at the Penrith, NSW based company, but come the weekends he likes to play drag racing. with his own piece of rolling thunder. This mind-blowing 1959 Chrysler Saratoga is the latest Murray Anderson creation and is one of the wildest rides we have ever seen. Dragster Australia’s John Baremans was invited to an exclusive preview of the finished product.
Have you ever been smacked in the face with a dead fish? Well hold onto your hats because when Geoff Gradden’s new ride hits the strip, its going to have a similar effect.
We had seen some photos of the car on internet as well as in email around the beginning of the year, and were we excited? Oh yeah. From what we have been told the Saratoga is one of five, with Geoff’s version slated to be the first on the track, testing prior to the 2010 Fuchs Nationals. Geoff has no intention of running the car in Top Doorslammer in the foreseeable future. His home will be Supercharged Outlaws, but he may get his feet wet in the new Top Comp bracket at Sydney Dragway.
If you check out the website for SIGRA ROLLINGSTOCK COMPONENTS, you will notice it’s a business that supplies parts and components for rail
carriages. Company Director Geoff Gradden might spend his working days at the Penrith, NSW based company, but come the weekends he likes to play drag racing. with his own piece of rolling thunder. This mind-blowing 1959 Chrysler Saratoga is the latest Murray Anderson creation and is one of the wildest rides we have ever seen. Dragster Australia’s John Baremans was invited to an exclusive preview of the finished product.
Have you ever been smacked in the face with a dead fish? Well hold onto your hats because when Geoff Gradden’s new ride hits the strip, its going to have a similar effect.
We had seen some photos of the car on internet as well as in email around the beginning of the year, and were we excited? Oh yeah. From what we have been told the Saratoga is one of five, with Geoff’s version slated to be the first on the track, testing prior to the 2010 Fuchs Nationals. Geoff has no intention of running the car in Top Doorslammer in the foreseeable future. His home will be Supercharged Outlaws, but he may get his feet wet in the new Top Comp bracket at Sydney Dragway.
Victorian Top Doorslammer racer Peter Kapiris has a second Saratoga which will no doubt see Group One ANDRA Pro Series action. Another two are in the works for a racer in Adelaide and the Chapman brothers in Perth.
We gave Geoff the opportunity to give us a brief history on himself and on his new car.
“Sigra started Drag racing in 2005 with our LJ Torana, 565BBC methanol injected Super Sedan. The Torana runs consistent 8.7’s and we still take it out occasionally, driven by Mick Ellis and maybe in the future by other crew members.
“About four years ago we purchased the Dodge Viper, which was powered by a 572BBC for Supercharged Outlaws. Except for a new short motor and paint, it was in poor condition and required a total rebuild. Sigra rebuilt the car from the ground up, and fitted a Motec. We learnt a lot about blown cars in the process and eventually achieved our goal of 6.9 seconds and 200mph, winning a gold ANDRA Christmas Tree at the 2009 Nitro Champs, Runner up at the Fuchs Nationals, and winning the WSID track Championship. The car’s best was 6.94, 204mph and a 1.07 60’ at the 2010 Nitro Champs.
“We always knew we wanted to go faster, and to do this needed a car with the latest technology and safety. Enter the 1959 Chrysler Saratoga. After looking at and sitting in a couple of Murray Anderson cars, the workmanship and attention to detail was astounding and I went to see Murray at his Melbourne workshop to discuss a Corvette Doorslammer. He showed me the recently completed plug mould for the Saratoga. It was the wildest body
design I’d ever seen and after a brief discussion with the crew, we decided it had to be the new car. Chrysler built quite a few 2 and 4 door variations of their “C” body in the late 50’s – There was a Dodge Phoenix, Dodge Fury, Chrysler Saratoga, Chrysler New Yorker, C300 and a few others, but the 2 door Saratoga was the pick of them. We were also sold on the idea of actually putting a Hemi in a Chrysler, which is a bit rare these days.
“Murray Anderson and Matty Land (from Badlands Bodyworks) built the beautiful Carbon Fibre body. Murray built his latest version of the four-link chassis used successfully by many Top Doorslammer teams. Matty painted the car. You get what you pay for in this game, but Matty and Murray surprised us with their quality of workmanship, attention to detail and vast knowledge of what was required. Murray’s advice and contacts and over 30 years building and crewing on cars helped with the 1001 decisions that needed to be made about parts and running gear.
“The Engine was supplied by Kapiris Bros. Racing. Peter Kapiris was incredibly interested in helping us step up and went out of his way to help. Jeff Cutajar and Mark Brew at Kapiris Bros. actually built the engine and provided us with a baseline tune up. They came to Sydney to fire it up for the first time and school our crew on some of the finer points of running such a monster engine. Again, you get what you pay for, but nothing was too much trouble, no question too stupid, and I must have spent hours on the phone and email with Jeff Cutajar dealing with this and that to get things just right.
“Wayne Topp at Topp Speed supplied the Crower Clutch and Lenco 3 speed, and Maurice Fabietti has been enormously helpful with many of the parts and tools needed to get the project finished. We wired up the Motec, controls, etc and did the final assembly and construction of racks, fittings, brackets and bits and pieces at Sigra. This took 6 months – anybody who ever built a car knows this is the most frustrating and time consuming part of the project.
“So, we think we are ready to go. You can never be sure if you’ve covered everything and we hope we can do justice to the experience of all the people
involved in the construction of this car. A minor oversight in the initial shake down period while we are learning to tame the beast could be catastrophic and very embarrassing. Although the car is Teched as TD, We’ll stay in Supercharged Outlaws for the foreseeable future, and if we’re comfortable it would be great to run as a TD in the new Top Comp category at Sydney. Top Doorslammer is not on the horizon – probably wont be, as it requires a dedication and effort many times above our present commitment. However, we won’t say never, because you never know.
“Special thanks to Sigra Rollingstock Components and the Sigra crew: Joanne, David and Tim Gradden, Mick Ellis, Alan Brown and Mitch Turner. Our racing success and the completion of the Saratoga is a result of their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.”
For further information and specs on this radical ride, visit www.sigrail.com
carriages. Company Director Geoff Gradden might spend his working days at the Penrith, NSW based company, but come the weekends he likes to play drag racing. with his own piece of rolling thunder. This mind-blowing 1959 Chrysler Saratoga is the latest Murray Anderson creation and is one of the wildest rides we have ever seen. Dragster Australia’s John Baremans was invited to an exclusive preview of the finished product.Have you ever been smacked in the face with a dead fish? Well hold onto your hats because when Geoff Gradden’s new ride hits the strip, its going to have a similar effect.
We had seen some photos of the car on internet as well as in email around the beginning of the year, and were we excited? Oh yeah. From what we have been told the Saratoga is one of five, with Geoff’s version slated to be the first on the track, testing prior to the 2010 Fuchs Nationals. Geoff has no intention of running the car in Top Doorslammer in the foreseeable future. His home will be Supercharged Outlaws, but he may get his feet wet in the new Top Comp bracket at Sydney Dragway.
If you check out the website for SIGRA ROLLINGSTOCK COMPONENTS, you will notice it’s a business that supplies parts and components for rail
carriages. Company Director Geoff Gradden might spend his working days at the Penrith, NSW based company, but come the weekends he likes to play drag racing. with his own piece of rolling thunder. This mind-blowing 1959 Chrysler Saratoga is the latest Murray Anderson creation and is one of the wildest rides we have ever seen. Dragster Australia’s John Baremans was invited to an exclusive preview of the finished product.Have you ever been smacked in the face with a dead fish? Well hold onto your hats because when Geoff Gradden’s new ride hits the strip, its going to have a similar effect.
We had seen some photos of the car on internet as well as in email around the beginning of the year, and were we excited? Oh yeah. From what we have been told the Saratoga is one of five, with Geoff’s version slated to be the first on the track, testing prior to the 2010 Fuchs Nationals. Geoff has no intention of running the car in Top Doorslammer in the foreseeable future. His home will be Supercharged Outlaws, but he may get his feet wet in the new Top Comp bracket at Sydney Dragway.
Victorian Top Doorslammer racer Peter Kapiris has a second Saratoga which will no doubt see Group One ANDRA Pro Series action. Another two are in the works for a racer in Adelaide and the Chapman brothers in Perth.
We gave Geoff the opportunity to give us a brief history on himself and on his new car.
“Sigra started Drag racing in 2005 with our LJ Torana, 565BBC methanol injected Super Sedan. The Torana runs consistent 8.7’s and we still take it out occasionally, driven by Mick Ellis and maybe in the future by other crew members.
“About four years ago we purchased the Dodge Viper, which was powered by a 572BBC for Supercharged Outlaws. Except for a new short motor and paint, it was in poor condition and required a total rebuild. Sigra rebuilt the car from the ground up, and fitted a Motec. We learnt a lot about blown cars in the process and eventually achieved our goal of 6.9 seconds and 200mph, winning a gold ANDRA Christmas Tree at the 2009 Nitro Champs, Runner up at the Fuchs Nationals, and winning the WSID track Championship. The car’s best was 6.94, 204mph and a 1.07 60’ at the 2010 Nitro Champs.
“We always knew we wanted to go faster, and to do this needed a car with the latest technology and safety. Enter the 1959 Chrysler Saratoga. After looking at and sitting in a couple of Murray Anderson cars, the workmanship and attention to detail was astounding and I went to see Murray at his Melbourne workshop to discuss a Corvette Doorslammer. He showed me the recently completed plug mould for the Saratoga. It was the wildest body
design I’d ever seen and after a brief discussion with the crew, we decided it had to be the new car. Chrysler built quite a few 2 and 4 door variations of their “C” body in the late 50’s – There was a Dodge Phoenix, Dodge Fury, Chrysler Saratoga, Chrysler New Yorker, C300 and a few others, but the 2 door Saratoga was the pick of them. We were also sold on the idea of actually putting a Hemi in a Chrysler, which is a bit rare these days.“Murray Anderson and Matty Land (from Badlands Bodyworks) built the beautiful Carbon Fibre body. Murray built his latest version of the four-link chassis used successfully by many Top Doorslammer teams. Matty painted the car. You get what you pay for in this game, but Matty and Murray surprised us with their quality of workmanship, attention to detail and vast knowledge of what was required. Murray’s advice and contacts and over 30 years building and crewing on cars helped with the 1001 decisions that needed to be made about parts and running gear.
“The Engine was supplied by Kapiris Bros. Racing. Peter Kapiris was incredibly interested in helping us step up and went out of his way to help. Jeff Cutajar and Mark Brew at Kapiris Bros. actually built the engine and provided us with a baseline tune up. They came to Sydney to fire it up for the first time and school our crew on some of the finer points of running such a monster engine. Again, you get what you pay for, but nothing was too much trouble, no question too stupid, and I must have spent hours on the phone and email with Jeff Cutajar dealing with this and that to get things just right.
“Wayne Topp at Topp Speed supplied the Crower Clutch and Lenco 3 speed, and Maurice Fabietti has been enormously helpful with many of the parts and tools needed to get the project finished. We wired up the Motec, controls, etc and did the final assembly and construction of racks, fittings, brackets and bits and pieces at Sigra. This took 6 months – anybody who ever built a car knows this is the most frustrating and time consuming part of the project.
“So, we think we are ready to go. You can never be sure if you’ve covered everything and we hope we can do justice to the experience of all the people
involved in the construction of this car. A minor oversight in the initial shake down period while we are learning to tame the beast could be catastrophic and very embarrassing. Although the car is Teched as TD, We’ll stay in Supercharged Outlaws for the foreseeable future, and if we’re comfortable it would be great to run as a TD in the new Top Comp category at Sydney. Top Doorslammer is not on the horizon – probably wont be, as it requires a dedication and effort many times above our present commitment. However, we won’t say never, because you never know.“Special thanks to Sigra Rollingstock Components and the Sigra crew: Joanne, David and Tim Gradden, Mick Ellis, Alan Brown and Mitch Turner. Our racing success and the completion of the Saratoga is a result of their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.”
For further information and specs on this radical ride, visit www.sigrail.com
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