Doing just ten miles to the gallon, it's hardly the ideal car for a fuel crisis.

But the eight-litre Plymouth, with its 16-gallon tank, doesn't run on your average unleaded anyway.

Burning a mixture of aviation fuel and super unleaded, it costs £64 to fill the monster motor up.

But Gene 'Billy' Billadeau is hooked on huge American motors. And it was only a matter of time before sons Dave and Scott got in on the action.

Now Dave, 29, is gearing up for a clash in Stratford-upon-Avon which could see him propelled to his second national drag-racing title.

He is taking his brute of a V8 620bhp, 1970 Plymouth GTX to the races on Saturday to stake his claim for the Super Street series title.

The street-legal car, which only occasionally makes an appearance on the family's home streets around Great Horton, takes Dave from 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds and does the standing quarter of a mile in a fraction over the time a top sprinter can run 100m -- 10.9 seconds.

"I don't get too many boy racers wanting a race when I take it out on the road," said Dave. "They're usually scared off by its size.

"It blasts away your top supercars and matches the fastest road bikes. It's a very fast car.

"I've had it for eight years. When I bought it, there was a 7.2 litre engine in there. I put in the bigger Chrysler one and we've kept on making improvements to get where we are today with a car that can reach 125mph."

Dave's car is the fastest of the family's three Plymouths.

Brother Scott has a slightly older and slower GTX while dad Billy has a toned- down version called a Satellite. Dave has been racing for a decade and in 1995 won the slightly slower Super ET national championship.

But lying in second place in the Street Series class with only a slight margin to the leader he feels the title will be within his grasp if he can win the next race.

Billy has been to races for 25 years and the family's success is even more remarkable as each has daytime jobs and nowhere to practise. Billy said: "It's a minority sport over here.

"You get about £350 for winning a race and a trophy for the title. But it's the thrill, noise and power. There's nothing else quite like it.

"And it's not too dangerous in reality. All you do is drive in a straight line."

The family does have one fuel headache, however.

Towing the Plymouth to the races they use a four-litre diesel Dodge camper van.

It has an 18-gallon tank and burns up a gallon every 18 miles.