Sydney Allard was a ford dealer who began to produce his own 'Allard Specials' based on the 1930s Ford V8 in the years before the second world war. The specials performed 'spectacularly' in rough-road trials. When war broke out Allard turned his attention to Army trucks and he ran an Army workshop in South London. 1945 saw him return to Sports Cars and he offered a range of high-performance Ford V8 based cars as well as taking part in various events himself. In 1949 he won the RAC British Hillclimb Championship in a Steyr-engined Allard Sprint Car. In 1950 he was placed third at LeMans in one of his Sports Cars. In 1952 he won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally outright driving an Allard sedan. His car production buisness flourished until the advent of heavy taxation on home delivered vehicles stifled demand. The production continued on a 'built to order' basis. The Allard Motor Company moved on to supplying and fitting Shorrocks Superchargers, holding the world concession for the blower, and continued to sell Fords.
1960 Sydney Allard imported a GMC 6-71 blower, complete with Hillborn fuel injection, from the Moon Equipment Company of Los Angeles California. He also began to prepare a Chrysler Hemi motor.  
January 1961 Sydney Allard began to build his first dragster with the parts he had imported the previous year. The work took place at Adlards Garage site in Clapham, London. (The name "Adlard" came from a roofing company, Robert Adlard, which Sydneys father, Arthur Allard, had purchased in the early 1930's. Sydney was struck by the name and used it despite the inevitable confusion this caused).
June 1961 Sydney Allard completed the building of his first dragster. Powered by a 354ci Chrysler with a GMC 6-71 blower, Hillborn Fuel Injection it produced around 750BHP on straight methanol. The chassis was based on a picture Sydney had seen of Chris Karamesines' 1960 "Chizler" dragster. Allards idea was to use the car to help establish the sport of Drag Racing in the UK and thus generate a market for competition and hot rod equipment.
July 1961 Sydney Allards dragster made its first appearance with a static showing and fire-up at a Shorrock Blower demonstration at Brands Hatch.
July 24th 1961 Sydney Allards dragster made its first demonstration runs on the club circuit straight at Silverstone. The car was run without its bodywork but gearbox failure ended the demo prematurely. An unofficial time of 9.5seconds with a speed of 160mph was recorded after a rolling start that was required as the car had a temporary Ford clutch. This had been fitted after the original clutch had been damaged at a private test.
September 2nd 1961 Sydney Allards dragster was entered at the Brighton Speed trials. Excitement was high amongst all present with the expectation of a new record over the kilometre from the car. In the first attempt a fuel line ruptured, resulting in a disappointing time of 37.91 seconds on four cylinders. The second attempt was also plagued by a misfire after which Motor Sport magazine's editor, Bill Boddy, called the whole affair " a fiasco". The Autocar magazine was a little kinder, labelling the Allard Dragster as a gallant failure.
October 14th 1961 Wellesbourne. NSA Records Day. Sydney Allards dragster was invited to put in some standing quarter mile runs. Journalist and racer Dennis Jenkinson, who did a lot to promote Drag Racing in the pages of "Motor Sport" wrote;

"Sydney Allard pointed the sleek blue dragster down the quarter-mile, let in the clutch, opened up and with a sound like a large bomber going down the runway disappeared through the timing traps. Time : 10.841 sec., which made the motorcycle riders whistle a bit. There were no arguments about the dragster's performance this time and "sack-cloth and ashes" were handed out to all dis-believers and certain Editors!" (Motor Sport Magazine, November 1961, page 948)

This last comment was directed at Motor Sports editor Bill Boddy who replied with "Congratulations, Sydney Allard- but a kilometre is a long quarter-mile and I still maintain that the dragster didn't live up to Allard high pressure pre-Brighton publicity."
March 1962 Sydney Allards dragster was featured in the March edition of the U.S. magazine Hot Rod.  
April 15th 1962 A National Speed Trial was held at RAF Debden in Essex, and entered in Class 16, Dragsters-Any Capacity, was Sydney Allard in the Allard Dragster. There were eight entries in Class 16, but the Allard was actually the only dragster with the other seven cars being specials of one sort or another. The meeting was organised by the West Essex Car Club, and the programme states that this was the first time the meeting had been held at Debden as the former venue, North Weald, was no longer available. (Clive Rooms) Sydney Allard recorded a best ever time of 10.48, the fastest quarter mile time recorded in the UK.
June 24th 1962 Long Marston. Evesham AC. Sydney Allard (Allard Dragster) and Brian Witty (Chrysler Dragster - 5500cc) were listed in the event programme in 'Class 7 - Exceeding 1500 cc over 440 yards'. The programme owner has written a time of 11.00 sec against the first run for the Allard entry but sadly there is nothing else written against the second run or either run for the Witty entry.
July 14th 1962 Goodwood Festival Of Motoring. Sydney Allards dragster made some demonstration runs.
September 15th 1962 Sydney Allard entered the Brighton Speed Trials in the Allard Dragster. (Clive Rooms). He recorded two times for the kilometre of 22.30 and 22.04 seconds and, although these were much improved over previous performances, failed to set any new records. It was reported that the pipe that connected the blower and the intake manifold had burst causing a lack of power.
September 23rd 1962 Church Fenton. BARC Drag Sprint. Sydney Allard set the fastest standing start kilometre time achived by a four-wheeled vehicle in the UK, 20.86 seconds. He also posted a standing start quarter mile time of 11.54 seconds at 147.77mph. By the end of 1962 Sydney had become the Autosport National Sprint Champion.
June 23rd 1963 Long Marston. Evesham Auto Club Sprint Meeting. Sydney Allard was running in the 12 second bracket in the Allard dragster.
July 1963  Sydney Allard  received a phone call from Las Vegas drag racer Dante Van Dusen (Duce) challenging him to a race. Duce had read about Allards car in a British magazine he had purchased in Los Angeles.
August 4th 1963 Church Lawford. Sprint Meeting. Several drag racers were running their machines. Sydney Allard ran Fastest Time of Day in the Allard dragster with 10.91.
September 1963 The first American dragster and crew arrived in the UK. Dante Duce had challenged Sydney Allard to a transatlantic match race series and had persuaded Dean Moon to lend him his 600bhp Chevrolet Mooneyes dragster for the trip Financial assistance came from Mobil Oils and Revell Model Kits.  
Tuesday September 10th 1963 Silverstone. The first round of the Transatlantic challenge. After some adjustment to tyre pressures Duce soloed to a 9.48/166, the fastest run outside the U.S. at that time. The only other results I have so far are that Duce and Allard won one race each.  
Saturday September 14th 1963 The Brighton Speed Trials.Sydney Allard and Dante Duce were  joined by Americas Mickey Thompson who brought over his Ford Powered Harvey Aluminuim Special fueller.  
Saturday September 21st 1963 Church Lawford. Sprint meeting attended by Sydney Allard, Dante Duce & Mickey Thompson.
Sunday September 22nd 1963 RAF Debden. Essex. In the final round of the transatlantic challenge 5000 spectators lined the strip even though the event was officially closed to the public! Duce ran a best time of 9.99 while Allard had problems with a sheared blower drive and could only manage a 12.85. Tony Densham in his Worden dragster challenged Allard to a match race but was easily beaten.  
1963 Sydney Allard formed the British Drag Racing Association (BDRA) along with son Alan, Len Cole, Tony Bayley and Gery Belton with a view to organising another visit from the Americans the following year.  
April 8th 1964 Sydney and Alan Allard unveiled their latest dragster to the motoring press at Silverstone. The slingshot design had a 1500cc Cortina motor and a Shorrock supercharger and was called the Dragon. The plan was to make the car available to the public in kit form to help people get started in Drag Racing. The price for the full kit was 600 pounds. At this launch driver John Hume clocked a best of 12.47/105. Electronic equipment mounted on the car recorded a 0-100mph time of 11.1 seconds.
May 17th 1964 Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire.  The first "Big Go". The BHRA held a meeting in conjunction with the National Sprint Association & the Allard Owners Club. This meeting saw the debut of the Shorrock blown, Cortina engined Allard Dragon rail in the hands of John Hume. The Dragon ran the low E.T.s of the day with 11.92 & 11.99 seconds.  
June 1964 Chelveston, Northamptonshire. Alan Allard took the Allard Dragon to a new international Class F Standing Start Kilo record of 104.04mph, beating the previous record of 91.36mph held by Mickey Thompson. He also established the National standing start quarter mile record at 11.54 seconds.  
September 1st 1964 Southampton. The SS United States arrived with a cargo that included Dean Moons 'Moonbeam' and Tony Nancys '22 Junior'. These two cars, along with the Allard Dragon and George Browns 'Super Nero' motorcycle, were then transported to Italy to take part in a demonstration of Drag Racing at the Monza circuit at the request of the Italian Grand Prix organisers. The trip was organised by the BDRA with help from the publicity department of the Ford Motor Company who supplied two Zodiacs to tow the Americans trailers.  
19th September 1964 Blackbushe Drag Fest, Hampshire. First visit of the U.S. team to the UK for a series of six meetings. Organised by BDRA Chairman Sidney Allard and the legendary Wally Parks of the NHRA, the American drivers and the best of the Brits battled it out in front of a 20,000+ crowd. Alan Allard ran 11.42/125 in his Dragon but only managed 17.46 in his Chrysler slingshot.  
20th September 1964 RAF Chelveston. Dragfest meeting. Alan Allard beat Doug Church with 11.26 to the Porsche rails 11.35.  
26th September 1964 RAF Woodvale. Dragfest. Alan Allard ran 11.11/127 to win the 'up to 3000cc' class in the Dragon and managed to squeeze an 11.25/141 out of his Chrysler rail to take the  'over 3000cc' class.  
4th October 1964 Blackbushe Dragfest.  A crowd of 30,000 were in attendance to see Doug Church beat Alan Allards Dragon in an 11 second match race. Allan took the Chrysler rail to a strong 10.28 win over Dante Duce in the Moonbeam Chevy sportscar.  
In the final results for the 1964 Drag Festivals Alan Allard in the Dragon won the trophies for the best aggregate performance by a British Dragster, the best aggregate performance by a Dragster under two litres, and the best time for a British car at the first Blackbushe meeting. He also ran the best times for a British car at Church Fenton, Kemble and the final Blackbushe meeting in the Allard Dragster.    
March 1965 Pomona, California. NHRA Winternationals. With sponsorship from the Ford Motor Company the Allard Dragon was shipped to the States and became the first British Dragster to run on American soil. Due to the inclement weather the entire meeting was held in one day. From America the car was shipped straight to Stockholm for the leading Swedish Auto Show before returning to the Clapham works of the Allard Motor Company.  
Thursday May 20th 1965 A Committee from the BDRA visited South Marston Airfield near Swindon, at the invitation of owners Vickers Supermarine, to vet the main runway for a BDRA Meeting to take place in July as part of the Vickers Gala Day. BDRA President Sydney Allard was present to view the strip and try out the newly completed BHRA christmas tree while Alan Allard and Gerry Belton made trail runs in their Allard Dragon dragsters.
1965 This year also saw the building of a new Allard dragster. The new car used the 354ci Hemi motor from Sydney Allards original dragster with a front mounted GMC blower. The slingshot frame was constructed from stainless steel tube and in the interests of engine longevity all its runs were on 100% methanol. With Alan Allard at the helm the car ran throughout the 65/66 season with best times in the 9.3s.  
July 3rd 1965 South Marston nr. Swindon. BDRA Vickers Drag Meet. Over 10,000 people attended this 'Vickers Supermarine Sports and Social Club Gala Day' with the drag race being the main part of an event which also featured many flying displays. The car entries included Alan Allards dragster.  
April 12th 1966 Sydney Herbert Allard died. Allard was the founding father of British Drag Racing and worked hard to try and get the sport off the ground in the early sixties. He built the Allard Dragster that match raced Americas Dante Duce in 1963 and formed, and was President of, the British Drag Racing Association.  
May 28th/29th 1966 Whitsun. SPR Big Go. Alan Allard competed in his Dragoon Anglia which he debuted at this meeting. The car was powered by a Shorrocks-blown 1500cc  Ford Cortina motor producing 220bhp as used in the Allard Dragon rail. Fuel starvation to the blower prevented any successful runs.  
June 26th 1966 Santa Pod Raceway. BDRA Meeting. Alan Allards blown 1500cc Anglia produced its first good runs with rubber-burning sideways launches and rapid gearchanges. A 13.99 was followed by a 13.54 in qualifying.
August 14th 1966 SPR. Alan Allard took his Ford powered Anglia Altered to new records of 13.126/105.93 in D/CA  
1968 The Allard dragster was re-named the 'Allard-Skilton' dragster after Clive Skilton acquired a share in the car. Business commitments meant that Allard had been unable to run the car as much as he would have liked so Clive took over the driving duties.  
May 5th 1968 SPR. Car meeting. Alan Allard set both ends of the D class Competition Altered record at 13.513/102.04.  

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