"We switched to Renegade and won the Championship!"
What did you do with the car you loved as a youngster? Tony Higgs kept his 1977 Ford Capri and, over the years, turned it into an absolutely mad, street-legal, championship-winning monster!
If you haven’t seen the Street Eliminators race series at Santa Pod, you might want to head to one of their racing weekends between now and September. As Tony explains below, not all of the race takes place on the track – so you’d better prove you can handle road driving, or you’re out!
We all know how much of a blast race weekends are, and this series is a sociable bunch who help each other out where they can (they’re not allowed to assist during the off-track sections) and enjoy the spirit of the whole event. Their Topspeed Automotives Street Eliminator Facebook page captures all of the crazy energy of the series.
Tony and his family team are one of our Sponsored Drivers here at Birch Performance and we are delighted with the success they are having, helped by Renegade E85. Tony is always happy to share his progress with us which we love, so he is our first Featured Driver of the 2025 season. Here we ask him all about the journey to 2024 Championship success!
Let’s start with a rundown of the spec.
I’ve had the car for 36 years – it was an everyday driver but things progressed over the years! Every inch of the build, the tune, every bit of the car I have done myself.
It’s a 9-litre big block Chevy with an 88mm Pro Mod turbo, chargecooler and Fuel Tech ECU. It’s got a full Chrome Moly chassis with 4x17in front wheels and 14x15in rear wheels to give it plenty of grip. There’s a 9in narrowed Ford back axle on a 4-link suspension. I’ve got Afco front and rear shocks as well as an ice tank in the boot for the chargecooler. Carbon fibre bonnet, doors and boot as well as front and rear spoilers and of course twin parachutes!
Introduce your team!
It’s me, my wife, our son and our daughter. We’ve been racing seriously for 6 years now and also do some exhibition work for Classic Ford Magazine. I think the key to our success is that we are all really clear about our roles on the track. We don’t need to talk to each other to know what needs doing when we are under pressure – we each are responsible for the parachutes, or the engine logs, or checking tyres, or fuelling, checking there are no drips. We work quickly and effectively and then I can drive knowing everything is covered.
Our diligence has been noticed – our daughter has been asked by Euro Dragster to provide pit notes and media stuff which just shows how good she is at the job!
My wife always says our marriage is on hold from April – October whilst we focus on the series! There’s 1 weekend event a month and we also attend a couple of lifestyle events like Doorslammers at Santa Pod.
What goes on at Street Eliminators?
There are usually 11/12 teams racing, although we can have 24 sometimes. The cars all have to be fully road legal, with threaded tyres (no slicks) and no wheely bars. It’s all about tuning and I think that’s where we’ve managed to get the edge, along with the switch to Renegade E85.
Halfway through qualifying, the whole grid decamps to the Bedfordshire roads for a 25-mile run, stopping for pump fuel before heading back to the track. We have to demonstrate the cars are road legal and can run on standard pump fuel. Later on, we all have to stop at a local car park to prove we can manage a hot start – and we have to be back on track within a 10-minute window or it’ll be disqualification.
Spectators are welcome and if you can’t make it to Santa Pod, the whole thing is on a Santa Pod TV live on YouTube.
We were thrilled with your 2024 Championship win. What do you think won it for you?
We had a brilliant mix of consistency, luck, and a tune that worked really well. The fuel helped massively – I was searching for race fuel and found Birch Performance on Google at the beginning of the season and made the switch to Renegade E85. The car loves it! I’d recommend it all day long. It’s more refined than pump fuel and the octane level is perfect to stop detonation. It makes the engine safer to run more power, without blowing the engine to bits. At 2500 bhp, that is absolutely essential!
In our last Championship run, we did the quarter mile in 7.0 at 206mph. We managed the eighth in 4.6 seconds at 169mph.
What are your hopes for this season?
We start again over Easter weekend and we would love to win again! There are a lot of big powered cars so there is stiff competition and it’s an expensive thing to run.
Pre-season has been busy as always since the season ended last
September. I’ve taken out the engine, stripped it and allowed the oil system to dry. I’ve added new carbon doors, front shock absorbers and brakes. I’ve also done all the chassis work to accommodate the additions.
We are ready to go now and excited for the new season!
Check out Santa Pod TV over the Easter weekend to see how Tony and team get on with the first race of the new season Santa Pod Raceway - Livestreams
Thanks to Tony for giving his time for this interview. If you’re interested in becoming a Sponsored Driver, email us on racefuel@birchperformance.co.uk