Folden owner Tony Baird has one thing to say to The Rock's Robert and Jono - "you're a bit late". In fact, The Rock radio station's promotion of a Folden that will be unveiled on the internet tonight is more than a bit late - they're 20 years too late. Mr Bairdsaid he'd texted The Rock to tell them about his Folden and they've replied, "We like your idea". But this Folden is the real thing, built by a few keen mates from bits and pieces they had in their sheds, not just with a few bits of metal added to a car. With a complete new floor built on a Ford chassis, to the wooden interior with an eagle and American flag poker-burnt into it complete with a full roll cage, this Folden is "safe as". It has had many an outing with trips from Auckland to Bluff and everywhere in between and has been drag-raced on tracks around the North Island until its motor blew up and it sat in a shed for 18 months. Mr Baird then bought the Folden from his mates in 1995, made it street legal and started drag racing again about 10 years ago, when the Masterton Motorplex opened. And last weekend at Masterton, the Folden raced its way into the record books. In a blink-of-an-eye 3/100s of a second, Mr Baird raced his Folden into second place out of a field of 65 cars in the superstreet class. He says his FB Holden, or Folden if you're not strictly a purist, has run a best time of 11.5 seconds reaching a speed around 200kph. Mr Baird said Kerry and the crew at Central City Automotive built the Folden's engine. He waxes lyrical about it being "such a good motor". There's also the cost to race, which has been borne by McKee Bobcat services and 5-Star Limos ,and Drew Beaumont has given plenty of time to keep the Folden in good running order. A Folden was bound to attract attention, not least because it's been called a 'cross-dresser' of a racer.
