Zeon TV 2020 UK Dragracing DVDs Available

When Zeon TV (www.quartermilehigh.com) announced their DVD offerings for 2020 they realised that with a truncated UK season there would not be enough material to fill complete discs. So producers Helen Todd and Dave Coleman decided that retrospectives were the way to go. Zeon has up to 20 years of material available for a wide range of classes. But would the quality of the earlier years be good enough for discerning viewers attuned to 4K production? And would the clips included match up with our memories of past years?

The answer to these two questions is undoubtedly ‘yes’. Zeon have the original tapes as recorded at the track and have re-mastered them for this year’s DVDs using the latest video transfer software. In other words, the DVDs quality on these DVDs is actually better than the original DVDs you might have lurking in the corner of your living room or, worse still, workshop.

The extent of Zeon’s archive is immense and the titles reflect the categories of the sport that have been the most enduring. Top of the heap performance-wise has to be Pro Modified (www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_pro_mod_archive.html). This goes right back to the start of the class being nominated as the British Drag Racing Championship in 2007- and as a bonus there is footage from the 2002 Euro Finals Friday night session including many cars not seen since in the UK. All the incidents we can remember are included, also pictures of the then-much-younger teams and interviews provide nostalgia of a different kind. Being in the UK’s weather conditions, the cars move around a lot and action is often wild.

Hot Rods at Shakey (www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_hot_rods_at_shakey_archive.html) concentrates on 2007 to 2014’s NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway with a final section looking at 2015 to 2017, when the track closed. This gives the opportunity to see things as they were more than a decade ago at the much-missed track. Original commentary is used and many classic hot rods are displayed, many making runs down the Warwickshire quarter mile. As usual there are plenty of pit shots, hundreds of hot rods being packed into the two hour running time. The producers have taken great care to avoid repetition of cars, so the variety is awesome. Footage from the 2009 Nostalgia Nationals and the cruise from the 2010 NSRA Hot Rod Super Nats from Old Warden is included. Commentary is provided by Paul Venners.

The longest period covered is 20 years in Hardcore Street (https://www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_street_eliminator_archive.html), an examination of Street Eliminator over the years. The number of cars again is breathtaking, all being street legal. By the second half of the 2000s turbo setups had caught on and times by 2006 had gone into the sevens. Drivers are shown running their cars on the road, and at the track there are some scary incidents with the street tyres struggling for traction. Car debuts aplenty and class leaders fighting it out over the years are the main themes. Other features are the tyre wars, mechanical improvements for many runners and championship dramas.

The Mopar Euronats (www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_mopar_euronats_archive.html) DVD covers 19 years of the event which has been run by the same independent committee from which we sadly the recently lost Tony Oksien. Features include the cruise and some wild action on the streets around Avon Park Raceway in 2000 and Santa Pod Raceway from 2001 onwards. The burnout competition has also been a constant feature. Mopars have been the predominant marque at the race, but not exclusively which lends more variety. Over the years there has been introduction of race classes such as Pro Modified which run a round of their championship there. The event expanded so that the show and shine became one of the largest in Europe.

The DVD Nitro Warriors (www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_nfaa_fuel_altereds_archive.html) provides highlights of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association between 2005 and 2011 when it was at its peak, and action from 2014 when Rat Trap and Pure Hell came over from the US with their respective crews. The DVD is dedicated to the memory of much-missed NFAA founder Lawrie Gatehouse who sadly passed away in July. Before the class being established, cars had run in pairs but the injection of enthusiasm and sponsorship led the class to expand to fields of up to eleven cars. Burnouts and racing are equally spectacular, with a number of incidents, all of which are fortunately injury free due to excellent safety equipment. Bonus footage of nitro fuelled slingshot dragsters is included.

Finally, Outlaw Anglia (www.quartermilehigh.com/html/2020_outlaw_anglia_archive.html) covers 19 years of the development of a class that has had its origins in the Gassers of the 50s onwards in the USA. The class has always been well-populated and as is often the case in the sport, the quickest cars get quicker still and their drivers remain in the sport for quite a period. It is fascinating to see this class develop with more and more cars running in the seven-second bracket as time has gone on. With short wheelbases and engines of over 1000hp, the action on the track is wild, and there has been a hard-fought championship thanks to the organising skills of Paul Wright and his successors.

Bryn Lucas provides an overview of the action for this series of DVDs, whilst original commentary is included to give the viewer detailed information. Massive congratulations must go to Zeon TV, their camera operators and other contributors for making six DVDs of such high quality. The DVDs are region free and recorded using the PAL system which can be viewed on any computer in North America, but not on NTSC compatible equipment. DVDs are available individually for $20 plus $5 import duty, postage and packing, or there are several offers on the web site www.quartermilehigh.com.