RBPD in pursuit

Article from Drive Magazine

REDONDO BEACH POLICE BONNEVILLE RACE CAR

Redondo Beach has a new recruitment tool, a Bonneville land speed racecar. The car is used as a recruitment tool for enticing prospective police officers to join the department. It comes in the form of a 1988 RX-7 Mazda GTU. The car is made to look like one of Redondo Beach’s Police patrol cars. 6X11 is my assigned call sign for the department. The car has been displayed at Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and numerous civic functions. Royce Branch, Background Investigator, and a thirty-three year veteran for the department is the owner the car.

The car was built with the help of many people, including ex-convicts and troubled kids wishing to straighten out their lives. There have also been good kids as well as adults helping out that have had a strong desire to be involved in racing. Adrian Henry, an eleven year old, and son of Andrew Henry, owner of Individual Creations in Torrance, CA, performed some of the welding on the car. Individual Creations was responsible for installing and fabricating the Lamborghini style doors on the car.

Nick Van Nugteren, Louie Escamilla, and Corey Friedemann, of Rotary Reliability and Racing, in Santa Ana, CA. built the motor and did the chassis setup. Dennis Lightle and Steve Coleman serve as crewmembers.

Maaco of Torrance, Torrance, CA, painted the car. Paul’s Muffler of Gardena, CA made the exhaust. Instrumentation and other racing components were provided by Service Center, Lomita, CA. JAZ Products of Santa Paula, CA supplied safety Equipment.

The car has recorded times of over 150 mph at Bonneville and El Mirage Dry Lake. The car has recorded 189 mph on the GPS. It has twice shut down the chassis dyno at Rotary Reliability and Racing with speeds over 181 miles per hour! As the back bumper says, “Go ahead make my day – try and run.”

Back bumper – In thirty-three years no one has ever out ran me in a pursuit.