Wilton Legends goes beach racing with all-American hot rods and NASCAR sedans

As part of the many exciting classic and collector car displays and talks at the inaugural Wilton Legends, this summer’s event at Wilton House near Salisbury will pay homage to post-World War Two hot rods of West Coast America as well as their thundering NASCAR racing cousins.

On show at the three-day Wilton Legends on June 19-21, 2026 will be a small display of the kind of all-American pre- and post-war traditional hot rods and racers that compete in 21st century beach races in the UK, mainland Europe and Stateside. Such events are a nod to those classic straight-line, top-speed events on the dry lakes and salt lakes of the US desert states, as well as the NASCAR circuit racing that was developing during the same period over on the beaches of the East Coast. The four all-American cars on show at Wilton House are British owned by long-time hot-rodding and racing enthusiasts.

Legendary automotive designer and Wilton Legends speaker Peter Stevens – of McLaren F1, Lotus Elan M11 and second-generation Lotus Esprit fame… and more – has driven his 1925/1932 Ford Alexander Special extensively, including at the UK’s leading annual hot rod beach races organised by the Vintage Hot Rod Association at Pendine Sands in southwest Wales. The car boasts a rare Alexander ‘Aristocrat’ overhead-valve four-cylinder made by ‘Colonel’ Alexander in California in the 1930s as an aftermarket racing modification for the Ford Model A and B side-valves.

This engine was first used in a 1932 B Roadster, which was raced at Muroc and other California dry lakes from 1934 by Glen Curtis. It was then fitted into a heavily modified 1920s Ford Model T chassis, by Alexander and Cramer.

In the late 1950s the engine was installed in a 1929 Ford Model A Coupe by Roy Creel and raced at both Muroc and Bonneville. It has a timing plate from that period showing a 105mph top speed. The motor was then reunited with the T chassis and rebuilt in the UK in 2002, creating the Alexander Special on display at Wilton Legends.

Ian Whittaker built his 1931 Model A Roadster as a traditional 1940s-style hot rod, influenced by cars raced on the dry lakes and Bonneville Salt Flats. For competition the car runs in stripped-down form, with a low-set aluminium seat base and tonneau to provide a degree of streamlining, as it will be presented at Wilton Legends.

The four-cylinder engine is based around a 1931 block machined to receive insert-style bearings, replacing the original Babbitt units. It uses forged conrods, new modern-style pistons plus a Jim Brierley camshaft and high-compression cylinder head, as well as FSI electronic ignition and stainless manifolds hand-fabricated by Ian. The transmission and rear axle have been similarly upgraded.

Ian has drag raced his Roadster in the Flathead Meltdown’s ‘four-banger’ class for hot rods, and he also regularly competes at the Pendine Sands Races, where his best speed to date is 81.92mph.

Sporting a classic Ford flathead V8 hopped up with twin carburettors, Edelbrock heads and other period speed equipment, Sarah Bradley’s well loved and well used 1929 Ford Model A Roadster hot rod has been under current ownership for more than 20 years. It has been driven extensively at home and abroad, including a 2500-mile round road trip from London to Sweden.

For the past 13 years the Roadster has made the annual pilgrimage to race with the VHRA at Pendine – to which its salt-ravaged cosmetics and race number painted on the driver’s door bear testament. With a driving experience likened by its owner to that of “a 90mph tractor”, the Ford’s traditional styling and bare-bones character perfectly reflect the post-war glory days of Californian hot rodding.

Julian Balme’s 1954 Lincoln Cosmopolitan is exactly the kind of big American sedan that would have taken to the beach in anger during NASCAR’s early years from 1948, prior to the building of the Daytona International Speedway in 1959. These ‘hot rod’ Lincolns and similar behemoths from rivals such as Hudson, Oldsmobile, Ford, Chevrolet and Mercury, went head-to-head on the sand over 500 gruelling miles.

Julian’s Cosmopolitan is a veteran of another infamous US race synonymous with big American stockers, La Carrera Panamericana, where many NASCAR and Indy heroes competed against each other racing across Mexico. He’s owned the car since 1991, when he competed in the recreation of the epic race. For the following nine years he and his late wife kept the Lincoln in the US using it as a ‘hire car’ on numerous road trips, including two coast-to-coast adventures.

Shipped to the UK in 2000, this V8-powered, drum-braked auto has since competed at Goodwood four times, as well as been used on the road for various tours such as the Journées d’Automne, where it won Car of the Rally in 2023. Julian also owns a Pendine class-record-holding 1940 Lincoln.

You can see these hot rods at Wilton Legends and hear their owners’ tales at Hot Rods on the Beach on the Conversation Stage, 11:30am, Sunday June 21, 2026.

In the meantime, if you want to see more of these kind of hot rods being driven hard, check out the VHRA hot rod beach races at Pendine as well as events such as Race the Waves in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, the Rømø Motor Festival in Denmark and The Race of Gentlemen in Wildwood, New Jersey, US.