Rattletrap, drag racing on the beach

Eight years ago a new event rattled the windows of holiday makers at the Crowdy Head caravan park on the coast of New South Wales in Australia, located three and a half hours north of Sydney.

The event was the suitably named Rattletrap and it consisted of dozens of pre-World War II hot rods and motorcycles running 1/8th of a mile drag races up the beach side by side as hundreds of spectators cheered them on. Competitors race two-by-two down the 1/8th of a mile track, dodging ruts and clumps of seaweed.

When you attend Rattletrap, it’s almost like stepping through a timewarp back to the mid-20th century. The idea of drag racing on the beach may sound strange at first, but these competitions aren’t held on just any beach. Suitable beaches need a relatively flat elevation change, well compacted sand, and a broad width event at high tide.

Est. 1962

Although they’d never admit to it, the Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club is the most exclusive and difficult to join hot rod club in Australia. The club was founded back in 1962, making it one of the oldest surviving hot rod clubs in the country. Whereas joining most classic vehicle clubs is simply a matter of filling in a membership application form and submitting the typically affordable annual membership fee, joining the Drag-Ens is a much more challenging process.

Tight-knit

In order to even apply to join you first must prove that you own a pre-1941 hot rod, or that you’re currently engaged in actively building a suitable car. If you’re accepted on the basis of the fact that you’re building a car you should expect that your progress with the build will be checked, and if you stop working on it your membership can be revoked.

Although this may sound far more strict than you’d expect from a group of fun-loving, free wheeling hot rodders, the rules were all implemented for a reason. And as a result the club is now one of the most tight-knit, and respected hot rod organizations in the country.

(Text and photos by Martin Von Stoll)