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30th October: Multiple Australian Top Fuel Champion, UK ex-pat Steve Read, is looking to close out the 2013 ANDRA Drag Racing Series by winning his seventh Australian Nationals title at Sydney Dragway this weekend, Friday-Sunday. 
Whilst Brisbane-based Read, who has won four Top Fuel (1996, 2001, 2002 and 2009) and two Top Alcohol (1992 and 1995) Australian
Nationals titles, cannot win this year's ANDRA Top Fuel Championship series – he is currently in third place – another Nationals title is the
Read Speed Racing/SuperCharge Batteries team goal.
The Nationals event holds a special significance for Read and the RSR/SuperCharge Batteries team. The 1992 Nationals at Calder Park, Melbourne, was the first event Read raced at in Australia. Competing in Top Alcohol, he qualified top and won the event. Buoyed by that Nationals success and after winning 21 championships in Europe, Read migrated to Australia from Britain the following year (1993). "The Nationals at Calder Park is where it all started for me in Australia", said Steve. "We came out to the 1992 Nationals and won Top Alcohol. I came back to Australia to live the following year and have won another five Nationals since." Read has also won two Australian Top Fuel and one Top Alcohol Championship series, plus Summernationals and Winternationals titles. In March of this year he won the Super 3 Extreme event at Willowbank Raceway (Brisbane). However Read's last event, the return to ANDRA Championship drag racing to Melbourne's Calder Park on 19th October, did not go quite to plan when a parts failure during qualifying resulted in engine damage, preventing Read from having any further involvement in the event. "Unfortunately, we did not have a spare inlet manifold or supercharger with us at the (Calder) track", said Steve. "We are a small team and it is just not possible to carry a spare of every engine part. "We now have the engine fixed. The Nationals is a special event, not only for me, but for my wife Heather and the entire RSR / SuperCharge Batteries team. We are ready to go and another Nationals title is very much on the radar." You can find Sydney Dragway's web site at www.sydneydragway.com.au. Swift snippets. 30th October: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to Sandie Gibb. Have a lovely day Sandie. Web site updates. 30th October: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the recent Saturday Night Special at Santa Pod Raceway, although given the weather Mad points out that it would be more accurate to describe it as the Saturday Afternoon Special. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman/sets. Fireforce 3 heads for Malta. 
29th October: After many months of discussions and keeping schtum, Martin Hill and the Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car team are pleased to announce that
they have been invited to Malta to participate at annual charity event, Paqpaqli Għall-Istrina, on 8th December:
The President of Malta, George Abela, officially launched the eighth edition of Malta's annual popular motoring event last week, which means that we can now officially announce our involvement. Paqpaqli Għall-Istrina is organised by a team on behalf of the Malta Community Chest Fund together with Tonio Darmanin and the Malta Motorsport Federation. The aim behind this event is to raise funds for L-Istrina. The event will be held within the grounds of the Malta International Airport and Lufthansa Tecknik and all of the team are extremely honoured to have been invited. FireForce 3 is advertised as one of the main highlights of the event and all of the team are very much looking forward to wowing the Maltese crowd. After Fireworks Frenzy this weekend, it will be down to the business of getting FF3 prepped and ready for shipping. Over the next few weeks we will keep posting updates on our web site at www.fireforce.co.uk site and on our Facebook page. For more information on Paqpaqli Għall-Istrina, please visit their Facebook page. NAST party and AGM. 29th October: Bev Batsford writes that the National Association of Supertwins invite all of their racers, supporters and friends to celebrate their twentieth anniversary at their end of year party at 6:30 pm on Saturday week, 9th November: The venue is Bulkington War Memorial Club, Stafford Close, Bulkington CV12 9QX. Local B&Bs are the Weston Hall Hotel 02476 312989, Travelodge Nuneaton 0871 984 6094, Holiday Inn 0871 423 4878 and Novotel Coventry 02476 365000. There is limited space for those who wish to stay at the venue in motor homes / vans. However please be aware that 10th is Remembrance Sunday so you will not be able to leave the car park until after midday. Prior to the party at 3:00 pm NAST will be holding their annual AGM for members only, at the same venue. However potential new members are invited to attend at 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm. NAST would like to thank all the marshals, medical teams, press guys and girls and race officials at Shakespeare County Raceway and Santa Pod Raceway, and of course Eurodragster.com, for a great and somewhat interesting 2013 season (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Bring on 2014! Swift snippets. 29th October: TV company Splash Media are seeking a racer to show them around their car on camera and explain how the parachute works. If you're proud of your car and want to show it off on a new TV programme then please contact Alex at [email protected]. Please note that the sequence will be filmed in south east England. Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson was very pleased with his 5.800-second exhibition pass at Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. "It did what it should straight off the trailer", said Grumpy. "We got it down the road and everything was OK. We had to take a lot out - it's got so much left in it that it's silly! The operation is still for sale or the seat is for rent next year", For more information check out Cars For Sale on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet. 
Congratulations to Richard Batty who set a new UK Front Wheel Drive record of 8.99/164 at the Jap Series Finale at Santa Pod Raceway.
Richard's was also the first eight-second pass by a UK FWD car. You can check out a video clip at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHJt983AQ3E
Congratulations also to The Ukraine's Andrey Kravchenko who set a European Four Wheel Drive record of 7.43/186 at the Flame and Thunder Show. We
will have more from Andrey shortly.
We have two birthdays today (Tuesday). First up, a very Happy Birthday to MSA British Drag Racing Championship PR and our good friend Robin Jackson. We also have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com team in the person of our US Correspondent Ed O'Connell who is currently preparing for next week's Manufacturers Cup Finals in Bradenton. Have a great day both. Web site updates. 29th October: Our good friend Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures from the weekend's Halloween Bonfire Burn Up at Shakespeare County Raceway. As ever you can check out Alan's latest update via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Run What You Brung coverage. 27th October: The Eurodragster.com team are at Santa Pod Raceway to bring you the action from today's season-closing Run What You Brung in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We have posted a gallery of yesterday's Flame and Thunder Show and we plan to post an end-day gallery today. The Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and broadcasting live video and trackside audio so long as the track is open each day. Thanks to Maikel and our friends at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. Click here to view our Flame and Thunder Show weekend coverage, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. SPR support Air Ambulance. 
26th October: Instantly recognisable against the backdrop of the Bedfordshire sky are the bright yellow helicopters of the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
Earlier this year they embarked on flying to incidents around the county in the hours of darkness, enabling their highly skilled doctors and critical care paramedics to help around an extra
three hundred people a year.
On board the state of the art EC135 helicopters you'll find all the equipment normally found in an accident and emergency department. The East Anglian Air Ambulance receives no direct Government funding and is entirely reliant on the generous donations of the people local people who help to raise the £7.6 million it needs to keep the aircraft and crews flying. Santa Pod Raceway are delighted to be supporting the Air Ambulance Service this weekend after its invaluable service came to the rescue of one of our Pro Mod racers last month as Graham Ellis was involved in a horrific crash on the drag strip, but thankfully he is now on the mend. There will be representatives of the Air Ambulance at the event as well as numerous collection points around the site, so please give a donation to a worthy cause! If you'd like to know more about how you can support your local Air Ambulance by making a donation to the charity call 01525 718517 or visit www.eaaa.org.uk. Densham's standing record. 26th October: The achievements of three British Drag Racing Hall of Fame members are being celebrated this winter and into next year. They are Peter Billinton, the Phelps family and the late Tony Densham. Brian Taylor writes: 
3rd October 2013 marked the forty third anniversary of Tony Densham successfully taking the official Wheel Driven British Land Speed Record
at Elvington, York, driving the Densham / Billinton / Phelps Commuter dragster, which was specially adapted for this attempt. The record
had stood for forty three years, having previously been held by Sir Malcolm Campbell in the Napier-Campbell Bluebird II on Pendine Sands
in 1927.
Today Tony's record of 207.6 mph - the average speed measured over a kilometre - remains unbroken. To achieve this average, the terminal speed required would have been well in excess of the record figure and was also required to be repeated within one hour in the opposite direction to become an official record. In light of this milestone, Commuter's owner Antony Billinton has been busy over the last couple of months returning the car to exactly how it looked on those famous record runs on 3rd October 1970. So it does not look quite the same as many people would have seen it when last displayed at Santa Pod's Dragstalgia event in 2013. There are some obvious additions and changes to the car. Fortunately Antony's photographic archive has many reference pictures to work from for fine details and he also has a very good memory when it comes to this car. Of course his father Peter's memory could be tapped into now and again. Peter was a key member of the original team. Now, finally, Antony thinks that it is looking just about right. To further commemorate Tony's achievement, in early 2014 the car will be the center of attraction at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London. The RAC have kindly invited Antony to put it on display in their Rotunda area for a period of time to commemorate Tony Densham's achievement of holding the official Wheel Driven British Land Speed Record for longer than Sir Malcolm Campbell and in fact longer than anybody else. They have even taken the time and expense to restore and reunite the original base to the Sir Malcolm Campbell Memorial Trophy which had Tony's name engraved on it in 1970. There is a bust of Sir Malcolm there too which they have suggested would certainly make an apt backdrop for the car. After that, at around Easter time, the car continues its travels and goes on to the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu to form a part of a special Land Speed Record display lasting the whole year. Final arrangements for all of this are currently being made and when the exact dates have been finalised they will be published for any interested parties who would like to see the car just as it looked when it became really famous. Nicholson's year. 
26th October: UK Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson says that he and the Lucky Devil team have made progress
this season:
We were number one qualifier at Easter and quickest British car at the Main Event. Our season from there was plagued with reliability issues and minor breakages. It was very tough. It was a very hard-fought latter part of the season, and the team did a fantastic job. Unbelievably we entered the UK National Finals still with a chance of winning the Championship, but our performance and reliability had to be top notch. This wasn't to be. Again, thank you to the team, some of whom are moving on to pastures new for next year. We wish you all the very best. I have said so many times before , our sponsors are invaluable: Thank You. We have far more performance left in the car for 2014. The winter will be very busy, upgrading some stuff and ensuring better reliability. The car is an absolute blast to drive and I miss it already. Roll on Easter! If you are interested in joining our team next year as a sponsor or crew then drop me a line at [email protected]. We have updated our web site at www.luckydevil777dragracing.com with reports from the FIA European Finals and UK National Finals. First year in TMFC. 25th October: UK Top Methanol Funny Car racer Gareth Ellis has been in touch with a review of his first season in the class, in the Dodge Stratus FC formerly campaigned by Dan Larsen: 
The season started well. I got used to the car pretty quickly and managed to get my licence before the Main Event so that I could compete there. That was way more
than we expected going into this deal, to run 5.93 after so few passes and to be able to stage the thing and get improvements in my reaction times with every shot.
The Main Event ended with the blower off the motor and some rods parting company with the crank so we sent it off for repair. A chat with Camp Stanley revealed that a friend of his had a Jason Scruggs-built screw blower motor for sale, priced reasonably with brand new BAE 8X heads so a deal was struck. Meanwhile I had Sean Brown at Acceleration Enterprises build a new fuel system and we fitted some modern electronics to the car. At the European Finals we spent a lot of time working up the new fuel system so we were not really competitive, but it was getting closer and closer. In the pairing lanes on race day Leif Andréasson said to me "I'll wait for you at the finish line, sorry I mean the Swedish line". Well that made me determined that I was going to do everything I could to stop that happening. All I could really do was to leave on Leif as he had a faster car. I did that, we both shook but I got on it quicker and snuck across the 'Swedish' line first ending his Championship chances. From there on it was unfortunate that Steph Milam had broken so we had a bye in to the final. What can you say about that Lindberg car? We were shut off for a fuel leak and got to watch that pass. 
Post race we realised that Top Methanol FC was jumping to a new level. Dad had spoken to Adam Flamholc about his car earlier in the year and he so knew before anyone else
that it was for sale before. Given Adam's performance at Tierp, and knowing that this was a turnkey Manzo car and that there will likely never be another in Europe, and given
that the car had run 5.4s with Frank driving we decided this was one of the few cars in Europe which could race those brothers with a chance of a win.
Obviously dad had his big crash at the National Finals and Adam had his crash a few days later so while they were in hospital they were in contact and a deal was struck. We hope to have the car within a month or so and Adam will be helping us with the car as well as crewing with Mats Eriksson. Adam thankfully agreed to defer some of the payment, as with the total destruction of the 'Bird we lost a lot of money. We are now looking for a buyer for the Stratus which served me so well, it is totally race-ready with the right tuning and has everything which anyone else in Europe has. Moving forward we are in the process of assembling a new crew who will be announced soon, and we hope to do most if not all of the FIA tour next year. Thanks to everyone who has helped with this: Bengt Johansson and Per Egil from Dan's team, who have helped a lot; Karl and Bugsy who have worked like dogs to keep this thing running; Fred, Dave, and Vince from dad's team for the weekends preparing the car; Danny C for the welding; and many others I have no doubt forgotten. Biggest thanks go to my dad Graham as without him none of this would be possible. Swift snippets. 25th October: We have no less than five birthdays today (Friday). First up, a very Happy Birthday and lots of hugs to our good friend Gittli Koller. Hugs also to Kirsty Giles who is also celebrating her birthday today, a manly handshake to multiple Junior Dragster Champion Joe Kellett, and back to the hugs for our good friend Deborah Marrs. Finally, Happy Birthday to Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher. Have a great day all. Good luck and stay safe to Ulf and Jörgen Leanders whose new Top Methanol Funny Car will be stretching its legs competitively for the first time at this weekend's NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas. Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying commences today and you will be able to stay in touch with the Leanders' progress courtesy of Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. Today is Wear It Pink 2013, a UK charity day in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign. Like the Eurodragster.com logo today, please wear something pink and pay your £2 for such a good cause. You can find out more at www.wearitpink.org. Pink Lady takes next step. 
24th October: After a short and unfortunate season, UK Super Pro ET racer Jayne Kay and the Pink Lady team
have decided that now is the time to see off the Pink Lady Funny Car and begin another chapter:
At the start of the season we started off well qualifying in the top three at the Festival of Power and looking confident for getting through the rounds, the car was running perfectly and we racked up a decent amount of points to get the season going. Our first problem then occurred at the Springspeed Festival at Shakespeare County Raceway where a couple of lifters snapped clean in half after a run, but thanks to Vince Gibbs who gave us the parts we were able to to fix it and get back out. But unfortunately the same thing happened again which put us on the trailer before qualifying was even over. Dad worked really hard in the three week break before the the FIA Main Event to get my engine up and running again. However at the time little did I know this would be my last race in the Pink Lady Funny Car. During qualifying we had all sorts of minor problems stopping us make a good full pass and eventually on the final run the block and crank went which put us out of the season completely for a full engine rebuild. The FIA European Finals was an interesting weekend. I wasn't racing, however I spent the weekend with my good friend Leif Andréasson and his team. Leif took the time to show me everything he does and I learnt a lot. It was a disappointing end to the Championship for him but a great great win by Jonnie Lindberg. I know that Leif will be back out stronger next year. Top Methanol Funny Car will be an interesting class in the 2014 Championship. After this event we decided it would be sensible to see if anyone had any real interest in buying the Funny Car in case we could not get the engine rebuilt ready for the 2014 season. Shortly after the advert appeared on Eurodragster.com we had a visit from the guys at Step-A-Side racing. The car is now in the good hands of Tom Van Der Wijden who has decided to step up himself. We will be with them at next year's FIA Main Event next year to give them a hand up the learning curve of a faster car. We wish them all the best luck with their future racing in the Funny Car. I'd like to congratulate Scott Hauser for the Super Pro Championship win, and a great effort to everyone who had a shot at number one. I'd also like to say a big Well Done to all of the Super Pro ET sponsors and organisers for making the class even more competitive and exciting. The awards and prizes have been so much fun to race for! I wish the best of luck to everyone in the class, and joining the class for the 2014 season. I'd like to say the biggest thank you to my Dad for building me such a great race car, the first Funny Car to win an event in Super Pro ET and at a record event, for always trying his best to keep it running consistently fast, and for having the faith in my driving abilities to trust me to have my first race in Funny Car at the age of sixteen. The Pink Lady Funny Car will always be my biggest step up in drag racing and my biggest achievement so far. None of it would have been possible without my Dad and the support of my Mum. A final thank you to my sponsor WheelWhores.com, who have supported me for two great years, and to my crew Peter Snow, Sooty and everyone who has supported me and my team. So what's next for Jayne? As well as Tom, we will also be stepping up into something new... For any serious enquiries regarding Jayne's racing and the FIA European Drag Racing Championships get in touch via email [email protected]. Great business and networking opportunities are available within Jayne Kay Motorsport. And don't forget to like the Pink Lady Racing Facebook page where we wil be posting team updates. Swift snippets. 24th October: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "Going to a new home". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. 
Thanks to Diana Macrae for passing on news from the Redneck Racing HQ that Nigel Hales' Sportsman ET Chevy Burn 'em up at SCR's Halloween. 24th October: The spooktastic Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up brings the curtain down on another successful season's drag racing at Shakey County; the last blast before winter! Shakespeare County Raceway's Jerry Cookson (below right) writes: Besides the final showdown for the guys and gals from Outlaw Street and the Datsun Z Club Drag Challenge the weekend will be packed with plenty of good old traditional head-to-head 'devil you like' RWYB, grudge racing, a Halloween cauldron of treats, flaming hot burnouts, bonfire and fireworks before the ghostly evening begins at Kenny's Bar for the Halloween Fancy Dress Ball hosted by a voluptuous Devil Doll and her side kick the naughty Crypt Kicker into the witching hours of the morning! And that's not all as Sunday features the Halloween Gamblers Drag Race for money, trophies and goodies in two monster bracket eliminations for cars and bikes. How can you afford to miss out! 
The weekend is an open Public Track Weekend for Run What Ya Brung for all makes of cars and bikes. Anything goes from blood curdling street cars to the frightning world of modded cars, super fast street bikes, and devilish drag race bikes! If it's got wheels scare yourself and race at Shakey's record holding quarter mile drag strip. And don't forget your crash helmet and driving licence. In the pits why not dress your trailer up to be the best Halloween Horror of the year. There will also be also prizes for the best pumpkin design on Saturday and for the best smoketastical burnout of the weekend! Remember to bring all the kids for the costume party and trick or treating Saturday afternoon as well. Gates open after 6:00 pm tomorrow (Friday) and the track action begins at 10:00 am on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is £12 per person per day or £22 for a weekend pass plus free camping and evening entertainment at Kenny's Bar. Track fee is £25 per day or £40 for the weekend (unlimited runs). And remember kiddiewinks, besides all the racing taking place, and the clocks going back one hour, it's the fun filled family atmosphere that truly makes this event something special. See you at the Halloween strip! Hunting sponsors outside the box. 24th October: UK Top Sportsman promoter Paul Marston tells us that he is on the sponsorship hunt this weekend: With the 2014 season right around the corner, there is no time to lose. UK Top Sportsman is looking to expand into a full series in 2014 so finding a major marketing partner to work with us on the TV show is essential. There is a very good package available with some excellent media exposure guaranteed; up to six one hour shows could be scheduled so it's a mini series really. This means lots of guaranteed prime time TV through our friends at Motors TV and other channels. With all the repeats it's quite a deal as the shows will be seen in nearly forty countries right across Europe. In these competitive times you have to look for marketing partners in areas other than motorsport and to be able to offer opportunities whose value can plainly be seen. This weekend I will be visiting the organisers of the Erotica Exhibition, the largest, most famous, most world-renowned adult leisure event, at Tobacco Dock, London (Parental advisory on this web site - Ed). My first contact with the Erotica organisers was through the supply of lighting and sund equipment for their Show with my company Black Box London. When the organisers heard about UK Top Sportsman in 2013 they wanted to get involved but unfortunately there was simply not enough time to get all the promotional material together. I am hoping that a deal can be struck for the 2014 season, securing one of the bigger players. With interest being shown in UK Top Sportsman by quite a few associate sponsors and an active marketing team employed our hopes are high. If you are interested in the available opportunities for supporting UK Top Sportsman in 2014 please contact us at [email protected]. Web site updates. 24th October: What was meant to be a functional test of a new all-in-one printer led to an entire set of old prints being re-scanned and posted on the personal web site of Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog. The pictures concerned are from the 1996 NHRA Winston Select Finals at Pomona and they can be checked out at eurodragster.smugmug.com/DragRacing/1996-NHRA-Winston-Select/32877113_Rjzdhb. Coming soon, the 1997 NHRA Winston Select Finals. Flame and Thunder Show coverage. 24th October: Eurodragster.com will be at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend to bring you the action from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show and Sunday's Run What You Brung in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We plan to post a photo gallery at the end of each day, and the Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and broadcasting live video and commentary / Nitro FM audio on Saturday and trackside audio on Sunday. Thanks to Maikel and our friends at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences. Racers sought for charity show. 22nd October: Regular Eurodragster.com reader Stephen Billings is holding a dragster show in aid of Children in Need and is seeking the help of racers. Stephen is looking for between eight and ten teams who would be willing to bring their cars or bikes to Wollaston to display on Saturday 16th November. If you are interested then please E-Mail Stephen for more information at [email protected] specifying Children in Need as the subject of your E-Mail. Halloween calls at SCR. 22nd October: As if you need reminding, Shakespeare County Raceway will in a few days' time be shaking to the best damn Halloween party ever, this weekend's (Saturday-Sunday 26th-27th) traditional Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up. SCR's Jerry Cookson writes that the weekend will be packed with plenty of good old traditional head-to-head 'Devil you Like' RWYB grudge racing, a Halloween cauldron of treats, flaming hot burnouts, batty bracket racing, bonfire and fireworks and all before the ghostly hour beckons towards Kenny's Bar and the Halloween Fancy Dress Ball: 
To get everyone in the mood there will be several daytime competitions on Saturday to find the Best Dressed Crew Person as well as the Best Dressed Trailer. "There was a time honoured tradition by which racers and teams would dress up and parade on the start line to the Halloween theme" says Jerry. "So as we're still in our fortieth year we thought that we would bring this tradition back! We'll award a trophy and a goodie bag to whoever we feel has entered into the spooky spirit of Halloween, and to the team who dresses their trailer the best. And don't forget kiddiewinks, the imps and witches will be flying about Trick or Treating during the afternoon as well." 
Furthermore, thanks to those good folk at Orange Pop Drag Racing there will be a Pumpkin Carving Competition. Judging is expected to take place during the day at the Orange Pop pit while the prizes for the Best Adult and Best Children's Pumpkin are to be awarded at Shakey's infamous Halloween Ball. So get creative people. Halloween is not that far awwaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For event details stop by the Events page of Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or on the track's Facebook page. Swift snippets. 22nd October: Team Heaven & Hell Pro ET crew member Dave Buckland asked us to thank everyone who responded to his plea here on Eurodragster.com for a firesuit for this weekend's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Dave is now sorted. Also sorted courtesy of Eurodragster.com readers is Dan Welberry whose plea here for a Top Fuel crew member to write a contribution for the Haynes Top Fuel Dragster Manual resulted in a number of offers. Dan similarly asked us to thank everyone who responded. Editor's note: I would like to dedicate today's news update to the memory of my dad Tom Rogers, willing chauffeur to Blackbushe in my youth, whose 83rd birthday it would have been today - Tog. Grumpy's set-up still for sale. 
21st October: UK Top Methanol Dragster racer and multiple FIA European TMD Champion Dave Wilson tells us
that his record-holding injected-nitro dragster and the complete support operation is still for sale or rent. The dragster was driven by the UK's Tethys this
season but Dave says that there are no definite plans for 2014 and that the car is available. In the meantime Grumpy is scheduled to appear with the
dragster at Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway.
"The object of the exercise this week is to check it out and make sure we're back to where we were before the whoopsie in Sweden" says Grumpy, referring to an unfortunate incident at Tierp Arena in which a rod decided to take the air. "We've got one motor back together and it has been running in the workshop, the other is repaired but we don't have enough parts to complete it. It will be interesting to have a play again next Saturday, if I can remember where all the knobs and twiddlers are!" You can find full details of Grumpy's dragster, trailer, tools and the rest of the operation under Cars For Sale on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet. Second first final. 21st October: For UK Comp Bike racer Phil Crossley the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway was probably the best event he has ever contested, and was certainly his most successful: 
We came to this meeting wanting to try a couple of different fuel maps on nitrous controller, and so the first two runs on Saturday were used as test sessions. Neither seemed to work however,
as the graph from the 02 sensor looked just the same. The bike seemed to have lost its edge a little too, and the times seemed to show it as both runs were slightly off pace 7.9s.
For the last qualifying session it was changed back to the 7.7 settings from the UK National Finals which worked better than expected, a new Personal Best and into the 7.6s with a great 7.687/166.68.
The strange thing was that that time was only good enough to qualify us in fourth place! Comp Bike really was hotting up, seven of the nine bikes entered ran into the sevens. Unfortunately Allan Davies and Phil Leamon suffered engine damage and were going to be out for the rest of the weekend. Jemma Venables apparently also had engine damage, but the team had a spare motor in the trailer and they were able to fit it overnight. In the first round of eliminations we raced Kevin Osman, who has been getting faster at each event and who qualified fifth with a 7.9, his first run into the sevens. Kevin had a poor start and had to feather the throttle to stop the tyre spinning. Meanwhile the Bopchop was on a good run and we went 7.72 to take the round win. In the next round we had Lizz McCarthy, who was number one qualifier and who had run into the 7.4s twice this weekend so was definitely on form - and by then she was 2013 ACU Champion. I didn't change anything for the run, and we were lucky as Lizz was ahead by a bike length at half track when her engine let go, so we took the win with a 7.73 and were through to the final. We have made a final once before, but in the six years we've been racing we've never actually raced in one as it rained before that final could take place. So in our first ever final we raced Jemma Venables, and what a good race it was. Normally Jemma comes past at three-quarter track, but I didn't see her at any point going down the track, it was only as the finish line flashed beneath me that suddenly the win light came on in Jemma's lane and she came hurtling past... it was close. The split time was nine thousandths of a second, or 26.40 inches, thanks for working that out Tog (You're welcome - Ed)! Real close. So runner-up place it was, our best finishing position ever and a great way to end the season. Competition Bike really has come a long way in 2013. Thanks to all the racers who turned up, tried hard and made it so good. And the weather in 2013? what needs to be said - well OK, let's forget about Easter. But otherwise the number of passes this year says it all: thirty nine in total. That's more than the previous two years combined. You can stay up to date with the Bopchop team on Phil's excellent, informative Blog at gsxbopchop.blogspot.co.uk. Extreme Bike Junior review. 21st October: Thanks to Lizz McCarthy for passing on the UK Junior Drag Bike racers' accounts of the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend: Jordan Kenway: In Q1 dialled in a 12.50 and ran a 12.29 so I broke out a little. Q2 dialled in a 12.20 and ran a 12.14 still getting quicker. Q3 dialled a 12.00 but with a little misfire I ran a 12.32. Woke up on the Sunday to sunshine, Q4 we dialled in a 12.30 and we ran a 12.2997 so close to perfect. In E1 I had Scott Collier, dialled in a 12.00 but ran a bit slow at a 12.38, had a good race but Scott got to the line first. Such an amazing season shame it had to come to an end. Well done Scott for winning the Championship and good luck for the future. Thanks for making me so welcome this year, see you all next year. Jasmine Cordelle: The Extreme Bike Weekend was and up and down weekend! Friday set up, scrutineered everything passed and went OK. Q1 I dialled in 8.95 and ran 8.95, very happy with that number 1 qualifier. Q2 I dialled in 8.94 and ran 8.96. Q3 I dialled in 8.96 and ran a 9.0 and that left me number one qualifier on Saturday. On Sunday morning we had one more qualifier, I dialled in 8.95 and ran 9.01. In E1 I had Alfie Udall. I had a lot of pressure because I was leading the Championship and if I got through the first round I secured second place no matter what. Sadly I lost against Alfie, he Tree'd me! Well done Alfie good race. After that race I was quite upset as I knew I wasn't going to be second or first. Luckily for me Louis Davies got knocked out in the semis by Liam Holgate, so that meant I got second place in the Championship. It was such a up and down day. Well done Scott Collier for winning it, great lad great way to leave Juniors and good luck for the future! Last event on my bike so new season and new start next year. Jake Charman: We arrived at the track not sure what the bike would run after the National Finals. Up early Saturday morning ready for scrutineering and the first run, after some thought between two times written on either side of the board we decided on a dial of 10.7 from the last meeting over a 10.4. We went out to run and you would not believe it a 10.4! I thought the timing boards where broken when I first looked up at the gantry! Other than that the bike launched better than it has for a long time and began to hit the bars again. Time to turn the board round and a dial of 10.4 for next time. Next run out and after another good launch, a 10.2. Got back to the pits, still laughing inside my helmet and gave the ticket to Dad, to which he replied "You are so fired!". A dial of 10.2 for next run. Went out again hoping for a time the right side of the dial this time and that was exactly what I got, 10.4, the right side, now we need to get a bit closer. On Sunday morning we had time for another qualifying round, so we decided on a 10.4 dial. I ran 10.6, yet another completely random time! Eliminations and we decided on a dial of 10.4 as it seemed to be the most reliable time, went out and had another cracking launch, 10.7, so it turned out that we were correct to begin with! I would like to say thanks to Dad, Lizz, Mandy, Stuart, Helen and Julie for their help over the weekend and also my sponsors, "Uncle" Steve Wood at Motorshack and Doug at ensys.co.uk. Also to Dave Branch and Pete Davies who are working on my new bike for next year. Scott Collier: The Extreme Bike Weekend. Not only the last round of the 2013 season but also my last round of Juniors! On Saturday morning for the first qualifier we dialled in 8.0 and ran an 8.01 which put me in second place behind Jasmine Cordelle. For the second qualifier we left the dial in the same but reduced the tyre pressure to make the bike launch harder and not bounce around as much. As a result of the better launch the bike ran a 7.92 even after backing off and braking! After this qualifier I was third as Louis Davies sneaked into second spot. I knew that I had a chance at the National Championship and that I was also leading the SPRC Championship, but the two people ahead of me in the National were Louis and Jas, so I knew that I had to do better than both of them at this final meeting. In the first round of elims I had Jordan and after he had problems I went through to the second round. Jasmine went out in the first round so that increased my chances of claiming the JBP1 plate. I raced Alfie next and I watched from behind my Championship chances come even more to life as I saw Louis go out! So if I won the race against Alfie then I would be the Champion. The bike launched hard and with a good Reaction Time I was able to get past Alfie and slow it down enough to take the win! When I got back to the pits it still hadn't really clicked in my head that I had got the Championship, but Eurodragster.com confirmed that I had won it (We aim to please - Ed)! And I still had the final against Liam Holgate to go! I knew this one was going to be hard as I had about a six-second wait on the start line before I could chase down Liam. I won the final with an 8.02 on an 8.00 dial in! So in my last event of Junior Drag Bike I won the event, the National Championship and also the SPRC Championship" I still can't really believe I've finished Juniors but thank you everyone that has ever helped with anything. Well done to Jas for coming second in the Championship and to Louis for coming third. And also well done to Liam for getting to his first ever final. It's been amazing racing with you all, see you all next season. Alfie Udall: The meeting was another good one. The bike was running pretty consistently. I qualified fifth and I had Jasmine in the first round. I beat her by 0.2 seconds, it was a good race. The second round I had Scott and he beat me by 0.2 seconds. I'm looking forward to next season a lot and I can't wait to see everyone again. Liam Holgate: Saturday started with a bit of rain but the track crew soon dried it out and I was ready for my first qualifying round. Q1 set my ET at 13.55 and ran a 13.32 ran a bit quick! Q2 set my ET to 13.30 and ran a 13.67. Q3 set a 13.55 and ran too quick again at 13.36. I just couldn't get it right! I hoped Sunday would be better. Q4 set 13.30 ET and ran a 13.60. Before the first elimination Dad said "They have just glued the track so we will set the ET to 13.55 and see what happens". I was up against Stacey Reed and it was going to be tough as Stacey was getting better every time she run. I ran 13.67 and beat Stacey, I was very happy! The next round was against Louis, I had never beaten Louis so was expecting to go out. I set a 13.55 ET again and hoped I would be close enough. I ran a 13.565, I couldn't believe it! I was in the final against Scott. I was running close to my ET so I wanted to keep it the same. I staged and the light went green. Scott had to wait five and a half seconds before he could go. It was close but he just beat me, but I was still happy as I was in the final and was only just beaten. Stacey Reed: What a great way to end the season! I got my Personal Best down to the nines with a 9.33. Unfortunately I was first rounded by Liam Holgate, the eventual runner-up, with a 9.37 dial and a 9.72 ET, but Dad and I have got some new ways to improve my reaction and sixty foot times. Now for a long winter hibernation until next Easter. See you all then. Louis Davies: In Q1 the bike was the same as last meeting so we dialled in a 9.90 expecting a slow run because of the weather, the bike felt good and I felt as if I was running quick so I shut off slightly and ran a 9.892. Even through I broke out this put in number three qualifying spot. In Q2 we lowered the dial in to 9.85 and ran a quick 9.862 which put me in number two, which I was really pleased with. In the next two rounds I did not improve and I stayed number two qualifier. In E1 I was against Jake so I dialled in a 9.85 leaving it the same as what I had for most of the weekend. I shut off early on this run as I did not want to break out and through shutting off I ran a 10.05. In E2 I was against Liam so I dialled in a 9.85 and ran a very slow 10.06 and lost to a 13.56 on a 13.55. Well done Liam. Thank you to everyone for making it an awesome weekend and well done to Liam for his first ever final. Well done to Scott for winning the meeting and another Championship. World best for WON. 
21st October: Eurodragster.com sponsor Wizards of NOS are proud to announce
that they have assisted in setting the World Record for the fastest nitrous bike and brought that title as close to UK soil as it's likely to get for some
time to come. Trevor Langfield writes:
Ransom Holbrook blitzed the existing Standing Mile World Record to become the rider of the fastest Nitrous bike in the world and gave notice to the turbo guys of his intentions for next season. In a sport where records usually change hands by increasing the speed by less than one mile per hour, Ransom and Wizards of NOS took record breaking to a whole new level with a massive eight mile per hour jump. Guy Caputo of Tiger Racing had held the absolute nitrous World Record for six years with a speed of 228.8 mph, which Mark Dotson reset earlier this year at 229.3 mph - a typical increase of just half a mile per hour. Enter Ransom Holbrook, an American who became a WON convert earlier this year. On just his first shakedown run at the last Wilmington event (using just 120 HP on soft settings) the bike pulled hard all the way to the traps, posting speeds of 206.7 mph at the half mile and a new overall official Nitrous World Record of 238.6 mph. In the process he not only set the track record but also took it from the previous turbo bike holder. Ransom wrote to us afterwards: "Trevor, I would to thank you so much for all the help you've given me. When I started this season, my best speed was 220.183 mph. I would never have thought I would not only beat the Tiger Racing record of 228.8 that was set six years ago, but beat that record by nearly ten mph. Along the way, I was also the first nitrous bike and only nitrous bike in my class to break into the 230s and now have a record that solidly puts me in the short list of high HP turbo bikes." All with just a 1300cc motor and on a very tight budget. Calling Top Fuel authors. 19th October: Regular Eurodragster.com readers will know that Haynes will be publishing a Top Fuel Dragster manual in 2014. Dan Welberry writes that there is an opportunity for a Top Fuel team member to have their experiences included in the book: We're very close to conclusion on the project but there has been a suggestion to include a section from a crew member's point of view. Guidance is available about what's to be included and help in terms of bringing the text into style with the rest of the content, but it would be great to have this if possible. What we need is a willing Top Fuel crew member who is happy to put pen to paper as swiftly as possible so that we can make this happen. If you're interested in being a part of this exciting publication and if fancy seeing your words in print then please E-Mail me at [email protected] and I'll let you know exactly what is required. I should stress that this is crew member, not Crew Chief, as Crew Chief is already covered. Swift snippets. 19th October: Andy Wheeler of Eurodragster.com sponsor Alamo Rent-A-Car says that Alamo and Santa Pod Raceway are delighted to confirm that the second annual Junior Drag Racing Fun Day will take place at Santa Pod on Wednesday 20th August 2014. "It's going to be bigger, better, even more fun and still free", says Andy. "More details soon, save the date". For more details keep an eye on Eurodragster.com and www.santapod.co.uk/e_junior_day.php. Whilst missing his first ADRL race since 2011, Sweden's Adam Flamholc has already set his plans for 2014. "As we announced last week, I bought Pete Farber's Dodge Daytona which will stay in the USA and we will run legal Pro Mod with it", says Adam. "I've had great some offers from teams in the US and Europe and I decided that in Europe I will tune for one Pro Mod team and one Top Methanol Funny Car team. We will also get an Outlaw car together and run Top Doorslammer in Sweden. The plan is to run in the US in the winter, spring and fall and stay in Europe over the summer. As usual it will be a busy schedule but big thanks to my sponsors who make this happen!" We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to Paul Marston Racing matriarch Sam Marston. Have a lovely day Sam. UK Top Sportsman a series? 19th October: UK Top Sportsman, the original heads-up, no-holds-barred Sportsman Doorslammer event, has run successfully as an annual event since 2010. Having attracted the cream of Sportsman Doorslammer teams from the UK and Europe and offering the largest cash payouts it's the richest race on the calander and the toughest, with on average more than thirty of the very best Sportsman drivers and teams fighting it out. The 2013 Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman TV show on Motors TV earlier this month is being heralded as a great show with very positive feedback from fans, teams and equally important the sponsors whilst feedback from competitors has been very positive as they have wholeheartedly enjoyed their experience, with a lot of drivers running Personal Bests and cometing against teams and drivers against whom they would not otherwise have the opportunity to compete, which naturally makes for some simply outstanding drag racing. Paul Marston says that the time has now come to look at the potential of expanding the annual Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman event to more than one round as competitors have expressed an interest in a series: That the racers have asked for more rounds is a real compliment to everyone involved, especailly sponsors like Direct Plastics, Jeff Bull Race Engines, Kenny Coleman at EDA, Matt Wright at wemoveyourcar.com, Drag Race Engineering, Hauser Racing, Chris Isaccs Race Cars, CM Frost Automotive Parts and Damn Yankees ACC for without their faith in us and their financial support none of this would be possible. Please support the people who re-invest their hard cash in our great sport of drag racing. We are currently looking at the fesability of expanding with more events in 2014 but it's really not an easy task. Santa Pod is such a busy and successful motorsports venue that finding the right event with enough free track time to accommodate us is challenging. I must thank everyone at Santa Pod for trying so hard and going above and beyond to try to help us out. There are some great people who are also behind the scenes working just as hard and as soon as we are in a go position we will let you know first here on Eurodragster.com. These are real exciting times but we have to make sure that this is the right move. There is never a right time to expand and its always a risk but with the opportunities which UK Top Sportsman has potentially been offered it really is a case of now or never. UK Top Sportsman competitors please bear in mind that if we make a commitment to the extra dates you need to support us. These are event run by racers for racers. That said there is potential for UK Top Sportsman to run its own little Championship in 2014. The format will remain the same: two races at each event, first race a bracket race on a 0.400 Pro tree with a first round buyback, everybody runs. Second race a one shot qualifier, sixteen-car qualified field followed by an eliminator. Stay tuned to Eurodragster.com and we will keep you posted. With the potential expansion of UK Top Sportsman there will be some very interesting sponsorship opportunities which will include all the exposure provided by television coverage of will become a mini series of programming appearing on Motors TV and potentially others along with all the on-the-day venue exposure as well as the press coverage before and after, live webcast during the events etc. Hospitality packages will also be available for corporate sponsors as is customary. For more details of some excellent value for money packages please E-Mail me at [email protected]. Web site updates. 19th October: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Luke Bennett brings us up to date with recent events in the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Notice to FIA Pro racers. 17th October: Geoff Martin of the UK's Tech Crew has been in touch to draw FIA Pro racers' attention to a news item published yesterday on the official web site of Simpson Safety Products. Simpson have reached an agreement with Shock Doctor Sports for the exclusive rights to manufacture, assemble, sell and distribute the Eject Emergency Helmet Removal System which is mandatory under FIA European drag racing regulations (SDR 890-01-30). You can read the Simpson news item by clicking here. If you have any queries then please contact Geoff at [email protected]. Update Friday 18th: Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpson Europe further advise that the helmet removal bladder has a certified life of two years so racers should check the expiry date of their Helmet Removal System before the start of the 2014 season. Swift snippets. 17th October: Heaven & Hell Pro ET team member Dave Buckland would be pleased to hear from anyone who would be willing to loan a firesuit which would fit "A gentleman of generous proportions" (His words - Ed) for next week's Flame and Thunder Show / RWYB at Santa Pod Raceway. If you can help then please contact Dave at [email protected]. We would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Racers Club International Race Director Robin Shone. Have a great day Robin. Smax's summer. 
16th October: Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith writes from Canada with an update of his and son
Aidan's summer exploits:
Fresh off the back of our 5.20/282 passes we picked up a sponsor for Aidan's altered: the Kissner group who have saltmines in Michigan. Amazin who you meet at barn parties at midnight! Bill, the owner, wanted to drive a Top Fuel car, it was top of his bucket list. He had been to Hawley's Drag Racing School in Florida three times and met Kirk, a Texan there who owned his own race track. So we thrashed a deal for Bill and Kirk to have a go at Grand Bend for sixty and 330 feet each. Bill had all the car repainted and bought new wheels and tyres, shipped our nitro from Tony Schumacher and brought along a photographer etc for the big day. In the meantime we were booked at Grand Bend for Labor Day so we picked all the new freshly painted panels and went racing with no decals. We had been having issues with piston scuffing and pounding bearings so we decided to up the fuel pressure on on the low side to 80 psi. On the first pass it ran 5.20 but nosed over so I got off early but the motor was real happy now. In our second pass, in the dark, we shot twelve-foot header flames over the wing but it nosed over at half track so I got off it. The motor was still happy but the seventeen-gallon fuel tank was empty! Did we screw up? On the third pass we lost oil pressure after the burnout but it was just the suction line which failed so easy fix. We checked how much fuel we used after a short burnout... eleven gallons! Wow! We couldn't believe how much fuel we were going through so our run time is being cut to make sure we that we don't run out again. I took the dragster to Creative Design to have the wrap done for Bill's weekend at Grand Bend. He had some sponsors turn up too who helped out financially for the weekend. We started out with a broken valve spring (strange 1) so we thrashed to fix that and Bill had his first go. Bill did everything right and completed his burnout followed by a great launch but got off the throttle at approximately thirty feet - that first time blast is quite daunting. However when we picked him up he was excited to get back in. Kirk then had a go and did an ace burnout followed by stout sixty foot and he was ecstatic. Bill then got back in, did a great burnout followed by a good 330 foot but dropped cylinders. That compromised his real thrill so we decided to hire the track for Sunday and let them both do a half pass. We broke a rocker shaft (strange 2) so thrashed to fix that and Kirk came out, did a great burnout and blasted away but at 330 feet the bottom pulley bolts sheared (strange 3) but he knew how amazing these things are. We turned car around again, great work by Aidee, Jake and Jordan, and got car ready to tow to the start line for Bill but it started to rain. This left Bill a little deflated but keen to come back for more next season. 
We took Aidan's altered to St Thomas, forty five minutes away, at an eighth-mile race with the Heads Up Racing Association, a bunch of nutters with blown dragsters, Pro Mods and altereds. On the first pass Aidee's chute came out on the launch but he still dragged the car to a 4.70/152 (chute only slowed him 8 mph) but the motor worked real hard. On the second pass he ran 4.46/163, the quickest and fastest the car has ever run to the eighth - on my 6.92/203 at Avon Park the eighth was 4.51/160 so we were chuffed to bits. On the last pass Aidee had hell of a driving job as the car drifted to centre line then out of the groove and had him almost sideways as he crossed the finish line at 45 degrees. I had kittens but he got there first! He was gutted as he lost with a 0.004 red and didn't know. The car was ok apart from the exhaust valves running too hot causing leakdowns. I bought all new valves and redid the seats then off with the Top Fuel car and our altered to a brand new eighth-mile track in North Bay, approximately five hours north. The track record was 4.446/150 so we went to get the track record and to show that the track could hold Top Fuel power! What an amazing reception we got. Top crowd, place was packed. We arrived at 2 am on Thursday night and they had couple of cabins for the crew so we hooked up power for music and partied 'til 5 am. Friday was set up day but a couple of HURA guys tested. We partied again until 3 am then got the altered ready for its first pass. Aidee ran arrow straight 4.446/160 for a track record. Awesome, the crowd went nuts. On the second pass I tuned him to a 4.440/163 for the win, amazing. 
On the third pass Lyle with a blown dragster ran 4.36/144 so I brought out the Top Fueller and in the heat I ran 3.4/230 - you could see header flames in the sunshine! That smashed the track record and no damage. We were then scheduled to run at 7 pm but I had watched Lyle go up in smoke on Friday night so didn't want to run any later but of course it ended up 8 pm. Did a storming burnout but went up in smoke, I pedalled it once but smoked again so lifted and coasted to a ten-second run. No damage so we decided to run on Sunday. In the meantime I wanted Aidee to beat Lyle's 4.36 so put I put in timing and took fuel out. Aidee's tyres shook so hard in second gear that a fire bottle broke off car and launched him skywards as he drove over it. He shut off to a 4.70 but still won. On the last pass he raced a beautiful '34 Coupe and did the best burnout of the weekend. Launched hard, 1.05 sixty, but shook so bad in second gear that it broke the little battery box and pitched the battery out as well as breaking the front wing mounts causing the car to spin the tyres and cross the centre line - kittens again! We then took the nitro car back out. Big burnout and our second hardest launch, 0.925 sixty, ran good to 330 feet but spun the tyres so I pedalled once but it sounded awful so I coasted to a 4.35 to beat Lyle's record! 
On Saturday night, track owner Clark took Belin, Azzy, Laura, Coonguy and I into the northern tip of Algonquin Park to call moose as we would love to see these creatures in their natural surroundings. We took traveller beers three hours into the bush. We heard moose and saw fresh tracks but a howling pack of timber wolves scared them away. We did see a wolf and a porcupine! It was the best weekend of the year for us. Into October and the sun was still shining so we took the altered to St Thomas for the Turkey Nationals with the HURA guys (it's Thanksgiving holiday weekend here). We missed the first qualifier as Aidee was working on Saturday morning. In the second qualifier he did a great burnout and launched well, 1.1 sixty, but we forgot to hook the body pins and the body started lifting into the tyres so he shut off early to a 4.63 but was on a 6.98 run - awesome. HURA organised a turkey supper then we partied 'til 6 am. We met up with a couple of HA guys who run a Top Fuel Bike and their kid's Junior Dragster. We were rained off on Sunday so we packed up and had an early night. What a summer! Happy Thanksgiving to all Eurodragster.com and drag racing fans. Swift snippets. 16th October: WWe would like to say a big Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Racers Club marshal Barry Halliwell. Have a great day Barry. A Championship season. 
16th October: Pete Bellenie has been in touch with an account of daughter Rhiannon's UK National Championship season in
Lucas Oil Junior Dragster:
All started really well at Easter. Although it was rather too cold for the methanol motors, and they were not running as they should, luck was with us and Rhiannon took the win! The Big Bang was no warmer and again the methanol motors were playing up, running slower than they should. Rhiannon was running 8.3s in qualifying, then on race day we dialled in 8.3 and the car decided to run 8.2, so out in the first round. The Springspeed Nationals went pretty much the same, out in the first round with a minus 0.02 reaction. Finally, at the FIA Main Event, things proved to be a little better. Rhiannon got through a couple of rounds before being taken out by Billy Everitt. We were also testing new clutch weights at this meeting (not a good time to do it, Crew Chief!). Needless to say they didn't work the way I wanted them to, modifications would be added later. The SPRC Summernationals was a string of red lights in qualifying. However, we did get through a couple of rounds before the rain came in and stopped the meeting. Next was the Alamo Junior Fun Day and what a great day that was. It was organised by Andy Wheeler of Alamo Rent-A-Car, a free fun day out for all Junior racers and it proved to be extremely busy and popular. Rhiannon took second place in the 330 foot Outlaw race. I had modified the clutch weights for this event in the hope that they would work better than the originals; they worked faultlessly! The Open Sport Nationals was a vast improvement for Rhiannon; she qualified reasonably well and then went on to win the meeting. The European Finals were great fun! We ran on the day before the meeting with no restrictions on the car and then on the first day of the race, with all restrictions back in place, we qualified near the top only to lose in the first round by a -0.0006 red light, how close? The UK National Finals was a shock to us all at Bellenie Racing! We went there in the hope of Rhiannon holding on to her third place in the Championship. After doing the maths we knew that it was possible for Rhiannon to win the Championship at this meeting, although not probable! We knew that we would have to qualify higher than the leaders Billy Everitt and Joe Kellett and then both Billy and Joe would have to go out in the first round and that was so not likely to happen. However, Rhiannon was on fire this weekend. She qualified number one and then both Billy and Joe went out in the first round - shock all round. Rhiannon continued to drive really well and went on to take runner-up in the meeting to Aaron Fensome, who took his first event win - well done Aaron. This meant that Rhiannon had secured both the UK National Junior Dragster Championship and the Santa Pod Racers Club Championship. Su was in shock for about a week I think. To round off the year I sold my Super Street Bike, which is now sunning itself in Malta although I'm sure it will be back on our shores next year for some racing. Rhiannon's car is up for sale and if it sells I will be building her a car to compete in Pro ET, and then hopefully moving it up to either Super Pro ET or Super Comp. What a fantastic year 2013 has been! Roll on 2014. Plan? What plan? 15th October: It has been a mixed year for the UK's Dave and Steve Cherrett in the Dark Revenger Super Street / Pro ET Delivery and S-Car-Go Sportsman ET Vauxhall Astra. Steve writes: Dave's problematic season started at Easter when he had recurring issues from the year before: the engine would cut out under load at half track and added to this was a new vibration issue at the top end which was worrying him greatly. He carried these issues over to the Springspeed Nationals and was working on ways of curing them. He did manage to get into the final of Super Street and was runner up. 
The FIA Main Event was Dave's third
meeting with problems and just to add insult to injury the car took a sharp left turn just after the Christmas Tree. So he took the motor apart and
put the old camshaft back in and checked over the gearbox, further investigation of the front tires found one to be oval so we changed that. At the
SPRC Summernationals he made a few check out passes and there didn't seem to be any issues, so he went under full power and took another sharp
left near the 330 foot mark nearly putting the much-loved car on the roof. So Dave decided to retire the race car for the year to get some work done
to improve stability and he will put the set-up from 2011 back in to improve consistency. He entered the last two meetings in Sportsman ET with his
Vauxhall Corsa. In both rounds he qualified sixth and faced the number one qualifier, at the Open Sports Nationals it was James Forster and at the
UK National Finals that was me! Unfortunately he lost both encounters.
Further investigation has revealed a fault in the gearbox which locked up the rear wheels. Thanks to Zane Llewellyn for his great work. 
My own season went much better than expected. The plan was to enter at Big Bang, Springspeed Nationals, Bug Jam and Open Sports Nationals.
However, at Big Bang I got number one spot 0.003 off dial in and won the meeting. This got me hooked and after a first round exit at Shakespeare
County Raceway I decided to enter the Summernationals. I didn't qualify very well but got through the first round before it was rained off. Next was
Bug Jam and again I got number one qualifier this time with a Perfect ET, and I was runner up at that meeting. At the Open Sport Nationals I qualified
near the bottom again and I lost in the second round.
Then the final round was upon us. I was in a close battle for runner-up in the National Championship plus a mathematical chance of getting top spot in the SPRC Championship. It seems that luck was on my side as I got a Perfect ET in the first qualifier and that was good for number one. I needed the Championship leader to go out in the first round, which he did, and I needed to win the meeting, which I did. So in my first season at Santa Pod I won the SPRC Championship and took runner-up in the UK National Championship despite missing the first round and not getting the All Events bonus. I am very proud of both. I would like to thank all those who have supported and followed me both on the webcam and in person throughout the season. Special thanks to Dave, of course, because I would not have got into drag racing without him. Swift snippets. 15th October: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday with a bow and a tug of the forelock to SPRC Assistant Race Director, Her Majesty the Queen of Race Control Carole Ismail. Have a lovely day ma'am. US Automotive renew with BDRHoF. 
15th October: The good news keeps coming for the
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame as
Bedford-based American parts supplier US Automotive
has announced that it will continue to support the BDRHoF as Primary Sponsor into 2014.
Now in its ninth year, the US Automotive sponsorship joins those of Beech Underwriting, Power Race Graphics, Eurodragster.com Santa Pod Raceway, APIRA, York Raceway, PDRC, Santa Pod Racers Club and Shakespeare County Raceway. It is this financial lubrication which enables the BDRHoF to fulfil its function of honouring those who, through personal dedication, have made a marked difference to the sport's development over the years. BDRHoF Chairman Stu Bradbury says "Without the sponsorship of US Automotive, its staff, and the company's resources, the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame would never have achieved the world wide recognition it now enjoys. Their continued support is vital for us to realise our game-changing plans for the future." Steve Trice, Technical Director of US Automotive, says "We are proud to have been associated with the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame since its launch in 2006 and we are very pleased to continue our support through 2014. Recognising people who have given so much of their time and expertise to the establishment and growth of drag racing in the UK – let alone their financial commitment – is very important. These awards mark the achievements of those who have gone that extra mile and in doing so paved the way for today's generation of drag racers and fans. And the recently announced BDRHoF expansion plans are very exciting." Advisory from SFI Foundation. 14th October: A number of counterfeit labels have been identified on overalls and gloves sold by Shayan International/Fast-N-Cross (FNX). The SFI Foundation obtained samples with counterfeit labels and put these items through the appropriate performance tests, which they failed in all cases. More details can be found on the SFI Foundation web site (PDF format) by clicking here. 2013 PDRC Champions. 14th October: Thanks to George Kinghorn of the UKDrag.net Blog for forwarding us the Champions and runners-up in this year's Pennine Drag Racing Club Championships. Congratulations to: Supercup: Champion Paul Grainger, runner-up Nik Wilson Pro ET: Champion Mia Kavanagh, runner-up Dave Rudd Sportsman ET: Champion Ethan Lisle, runner-up Stephen Gilmour American Super Stock: Champion Sam Carter Chiles, runner-up Vic Parsons JDM-DRC: Champion Glenn Marson, runner-up Nathan Askey You can find out more on the UKDrag.net Blog at www.ukdrag.net. A fitting tribute. 
14th October: Eurodragster.com Contributing Photographer
Julian Hunt writes that,
as a tribute to the recently-passed Doug Gordon, the Gasser Garage team bought their Underdog VW race car
out to put in a few runs at Saturday's UK Cal Look Drag Day at Shakespeare County Raceway:
Built by Russell Ritchie and the Gasser Garage team, the car is a replica of the original Underdog car owned by Doug in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During the day the team handed out Underdog T-Shirts to anyone who wanted one and it wasn't long before the bright orange shirts could be seen everywhere. At the end of the day the car was posed for a photograph in front of Race Control with as many orange T-Shirts around it as possible. Don't forget that you can check out a huge number of Julian's drag racing and other shots on his personal web site at www.julianhunt.net. Swift snippets. 14th October: Thanks to Ian King for letting us know that the final standings in the 2013 ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com. Staying on two wheels, UK Supertwin Comp racer Terry Green asked us to thank Dave and Julie at Northants V Twin for their help and support throughout the season, and all of his fellow Supertwin racers and crew for their help when it was needed. Santa Pod Raceway's mobile billboard is out and about promoting next week's Flame and Thunder Show and if you are sharp-eyed then you could win a ticket to the event. All you need to do is to Like the Spot the Santa Pod Billboard Facebook page and then keep 'em peeled. Web site updates. 14th October: If you were at last week's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway then you will have seen Lorcan Parnell's excellent 7.205-second pass on the Storm Funny Bike; if not then hopefully you will have read about it on our Event Coverage. Either way the Storm's official web site has been updated with a Bike Weekend report and an excellent YouTube clip which gives new meaning to the phrase "dirty video". Check it out at www.stormdragbike.co.uk. Our good buddy Alan Currans has yet another treat for Nostalgia fans on his excellent Acceleration Archive web site: an audio clip made by Dave Riswick of Europe's first six-second pass by Dennis Priddle in the John Woolfe Racing Pro Fuel Dragster, which you can download and keep as an MP3 or which can even be used as a ringtone on your phone. As ever you can check out the latest update via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Tierp files for bankruptcy. 
11th October: Our good friend Stefan Boman has been in touch with an update on a story seen in Thursday's press in Sweden:
Yesterday the district court of Uppsala plunged Tierp Arena into bankruptcy after a request from the track management. According to a radio interview with owner Lars Erik Lindberg, the track have failed to attract enough spectators on many events where European Championship drag racing is the only exception. They have tried to solve a long-term financial plan together with their bank but failed to do so in the end where there was no other option than this bankruptcy.The case will now be moved to the district court of Stockholm instead as most involved parties come from there. At this early stage there is nothing to say about the future but it's the management's outspoken hope and will that Tierp Arena will live on as a racetrack in the future. I think I speak for the whole drag racing community when I say that we are all suffering with the track for being forced to take this decision and thank you for everything you have done! Photo courtesy and © Stefan Boman Supertwins/STDBA meeting 2013. 
11th October:
Thanks to Job Heezen for letting us know about the annual Super-Twin Dragbike Association meeting:The STDBA meeting will be on Saturday, November 16 at the Mosten MC clubhouse (Bodeengvej 15 - 8950 Örsted - Denmark). The meeting starts at 14:00 and will take as long as it needs. All matters regarding the EDRS/Nordic Challenge and the FIM/SupertwinBike series will be on the agenda. We invite all STDBA members to come to the meeting. For those who like to stay overnight we have limited accommodation, for reservations please send a mail to : [email protected]. Use this same mail-address to let me know if you are coming to the meeting. We also welcome people who are willing to support and/or sponsor the STDBA and the Supertwins as well as new members to the association. After the meeting we will have an after-party in Mosten MC's bikers bar in the town of Allingäbro. ACAG nominated for awards. 
11th October: Thanks to Allard Chrysler Action Group Chair Brian Taylor with news of nomination of the Allard Chrysler and himself for awards:
On Thursday afternoon October 10th the Allard Chrysler Action Group (ACAG) received this e-mail from the International Historic Motoring Awards 2013.I'm delighted to tell you that, following multiple nominations, the Allard Chrysler has been shortlisted in the Restoration of the Year category in the 2013 International Historic Motoring Awards in association with Octane magazine and EFG International private banking. And - also as a result of multiple nominations - you yourself have been nominated in the Personal Achievement of the Year category! Many congratulations on being nominated by so many people, and on being shortlisted - and good luck in the judging! “Wow! To say I was ‘gobsmacked' understates how I felt”, says ACAG Chairman, Brian Taylor. “I had to phone Doug Hill, Museum Manager at Beaulieu to check that it wasn't a hoax”. The Awards celebrate the very best of the best in this multi-billion pound international industry. Nominations are received from around the world, and from a variety of disciplines, and the geographical spread of the historic motoring movement is emphasised by the list of finalists each year, which includes events, companies, cars and individuals from across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. It is the benchmark by which the world of historic motoring judges itself. Now established as the most prestigious celebration of this global industry, the Awards showcase the success and dedication of the people and businesses that make it all happen. These are the categories and out of hundreds of entries each year the restoration of Europe's first dragster has been included in the short list of two of them: 
Those judging reflect the prestigious nature of these awards; Derek Bell, Horst Brüning, Ian Callum, Robert Coucher, Dick Crosthwaite, Berthold Dörrich, Tony Dron, Ed Gilbertson, McKeel Hagerty, Simon Kidston, Jay Leno, Nick Mason, Jochen Mass, Bruce Meyer, Lady Susie Moss, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, Patrick Peter, Murray Smith and Peter Stevens, Duncan Wiltshire (chair of Judges).Brian said, “These nominations are a tribute to the ACAG team and all of those who have supported us during the last five years. I'm so thrilled that drag racing is to feature at the prestigious occasion this year – not just in one category but two. And thanks to the dragster's owners, the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. We took the dragster off display for a long time but they kept the faith while we solved many puzzles along the way. I better check that the DJ still fits”. The winners of the International Historic Motoring Awards 2013 will be announced at a gala dinner in London on Thursday, 14th November at the magnificent St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. More details about the awards from www.historicmotoringawards.com, Twitter, or Facebook, both with hashtag #ihma. Swift snippets. 11th October: Thenks to Jerry Cookson of Shakespeare County Raceway for confirming that their web cam for this weekend's Run What Ya Bring will be running as usual from this link. Graham Whitehead. 10th October: We were saddened to learn that just recently, photographer and drag racing fan Graham Whitehead finally passed away after a long battle against liver cancer. Many drag racing fans will have known Graham from his work with fellow drag racing fan Stuart Veitch who, between them, took on the challenge to write the first real UK guide to drag racing back in 1995 which was sponsored by Santa Pod Raceway. Stuart kindly informed us of the sad news last week: “Graham and I got in to drag racing in '93 when we first went to Santa Pod with another friend Paul Padget. We had not a clue as to what was going on, but the sound of the V8s was fantastic. All of you will remember what the sound of your first fuel car race sounded like - we were all hooked and completely clueless with what was going on! At that point, no-one had written a simple guide to what Drag Racing was about and Paul had to suggest the idea...cheers Paul! We proposed the idea to Santa Pod pretty much at the next event and they were up for it from the start and sponsored our three year project of blood, sweat, tears and hundreds of rolls of wasted film from the Pod and at Long Marston to its fruition in '95 as “The Santa pod Guide To Drag Racing”. Since then, Graham was always to be seen in the pits or trackside with his camera at all sorts of drag race events. Graham's enthusiasm and love of the sport along with his profession as an acoustic engineer kept him involved at Santa Pod ensuring that noise levels were kept within regulations. His loud speaker designs filled the Royal Opera House with their sound and Drag race fans still get to hear the V8s because of his input. Graham's inherent need to get involved and help where he can lasted until his death in September.” Caroline Day from Santa Pod added “Graham was a devout supporter of not just our beloved sport but also of Santa Pod itself and worked tirelessly with Stuart to produce the Santa Pod Guide to Drag Racing. It was a first class job and copies still take pride of place in my office today. He was one of the first “press photographers” that I had the privilege to work with and was always a pleasure to be around. He also supported me with many of my early promotional activities, often attending shows and exhibitions to support me with his wealth of knowledge, even standing with me outside the Ace Café helping me hand out flyers in the cold and wind! I remember those times fondly. In more recent times, Graham has offered his support and knowledge to Santa Pod in the area of noise management through his own area of expertise and with his company Ethos Acoustics. He last visited us at Easter this year and was as enthusiastic as ever about the future of Santa Pod. He will be greatly missed by us all.” Donations may be made to the Michael Sobel Hospice in Ruislip where Graham spent his last days. SCR RWYB this weekend. 
10th October:
Although the season may be winding down, there's still plenty going at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend October 12th/13th, with its penultimate Run What Ya Brung of the season.Following the success of the original Cal Look Drag Day back in April, we're pleased to announce that a second Drag Day is taking place to coincide with the DKR birthday 4th celebrations on Saturday 12th October. DKR is a club for sub 15 second street legal VW Beetles (or Beetle based cars) with members all over the UK and Europe. Presently there are 25 active qualified members who will be competing for birthday honours, cake and trophies for the Quickest ET and the Quickest Reaction Time of the day. Some of the highlights include Russell Richie bringing down Underdog 1 for his first taste of a Cal Look Drag Day, Adam Procter attending with the newly 'Aircooled Performance Shop' revamped ex-John Maher Racing Tube Frame car, which hasn't raced in 15 years, so we're really excited about seeing this one on the track again. Daz Chandler is showing his old Grey Bug with much talk of a heads up showdown with Danny Pike. Nick Edwards is hoping to have All Torque along, now it's back to aircooled power. So that will be one to watch too! Dave Dinning will be there, now his OFF racer is back together, and so to will all the folks from SAS Renn Wagens, and the DKR guys as well as the usual folks from the VWDRC plus a few Outlaws too and plenty more besides. Keep an eye out for a couple of newly built cars too. It should be a blast! So if you're into hot VeeDubs then this has got to be the weekend for you. 
The Honda Drag Series reaches its conclusion with some of the quickest and fastest purpose built 4-pot drag cars all going for glory in Sunday's final eliminations. Class leader is James Meadows but anything can happen at the finals with local racer Mike Rust playing catch up followed by ‘fast lady' Cat Firmston. Keeping the Jap theme alive will be the folks from the Datsun Z-Club for the final round of the Z-Club Drag Challenge. Leading the series by a massive margin is Johnny Palmer over Wynn Freeman and series organiser and former Pro ET drag racer, Mike Feeney. 
Finally on Sunday the penultimate round of the Bracket Gamblers series of races will entice a few more budding racers out for their last but one fling before the winter. Winner two weeks ago was Simon Parker and the Nightmare '68 Chevy Camaro Super Stocker, who ran through the field to take out Holly Baldwin's VW Beetle in the final shootout. What's he going to do this weekend? Find out at the Autumn Bracket Gamblers. As usual, the weekend will be open to all makes of cars and motorcycles for a full two days of solid Run What Ya Brung giving you the thrill of competitive straight line speed without getting zapped by those annoying road side cameras or unnecessary speeding tickets! Car and motorcycle clubs are welcome to come along and display or take to the track! Just give us a call. And don't forget your Crash Helmet and Drivers Licence. Gates open Friday after 6.00 pm, and the track action begins at 10.00 am each day. Admission is £12 per person per day or £22 for a weekend pass plus free camping and evening entertainment at Kenny's Bar. Track fee is £25 per day or £40 for the weekend (unlimited runs). See you at the strip! Swift snippets. 10th October: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for passing us the post-Extreme Performance Bike Weekend points standings in the UK National Drag Racing and SPRC Championships including the final standings for all classes. You can check out the UK National and SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Notice for FIM Europe racers. 9th October:Keith Bartlett is pleased to announce the following changes to the FIM Europe Drag Bike European Championship: After listening to suggestions of leading riders in the championship, we are pleased to announce that, starting with our 2013 championship winners, the class winner in each of the professional classes motorcycle classes Top Fuel Bike (TFB), Super Twin Bike(ST) and Pro Stock Bike (PSB) will receive free entry to each round of the 2014 FIM Europe Drag Bike European Championship; this will be funded by Trakbak Racing Ltd. In addition to this, Keith Bartlett has already put in place an additional €9000.00 travel benefits fund. Payable to riders based upon their finishing positions in the 2014 season. The top six riders in each of the professional classes Top Fuel Bike (TFB) Super Twin Bike(ST) Pro Stock Bike (PSB) motorcycle classes will each receive a travel fund bonus payment structured as follows:
There are a number of other important changes being planned that will benefit all teams as soon as the changes have been finalised and a firm date has been set for each implementation we will release full details to all the teams. Team Tokyo Toy retire. 
9th October: The longtime Super Gas team of Jon Evans and Steve Dunn, aka Team Tokyo Toy, have announced their retirement from competition:"We have decided to hang up our race suits and retire. After 34 seasons for Steve and 27 seasons for Jon, we have chosen to move on. "We have had a lot of fun and quite a lot of success over those years and more than that, have made a lot of very good friends who we will always thank for their support even when in the opposite lane. "We will still attend some races as spectators and keep in touch. Eurodragster will continue to be the most important oracle to keep us up to date with all that is going on. A special thanks to you Tog and your team - keep up the brilliant work. "There are too many people to thank personally here, and we hope they all know how proud we have been to be part of the Drag Racing community with them. "Keep your eyes on Eurodragster Swap Meet over the next week or so where we will be advertising our Super Gas Camaro. We wish everyone a safe and winning 2014 season." Flamholc's new ride. 9th October:Swedish Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc, currently recovering at home in Sweden, has announced a new Pro Mod car and sale of his Top Methanol Funny Car: "Well, in the last week and a half I've been asked alot of questions about how I am, and what have happened, about surgery, medication and so on. As I said before, I really and truly appreciate all the support. But I almost feel like a doctor, talking about stuff like that. Now its time to talk about racecars! "My Funny Car is sold to England. Gareth and Graham Ellis will race it next year. I saw Gareth when he made his first passes this year and I told Graham right away, "that kid can drive a racecar!" I'm sure they will do really good with it. 
Chilton fire fund auction. 9th October:Thanks to Lee Taylor for providing an update on the planned auction to raise funds for Andy Chilton who lost his race car and workshop in a fire at the end of last month: "Andy thanks everyone for their donations to the Fire Fund. We've had donations from all across the world, not just cash donations, but general work tools, garage equipment and tools and offers of manual help. It just goes to show how generous and giving the drag racing and hot rod community is. "We have also been in touch with Elo at the London Motor Museum and there will be a fund raising auction at the beginning of next year. "Andy's taking it one step at a time at the moment, still trying to get his head around it all as the Studebaker is a complete loss and there is nothing salvageable. But he is looking to the future already and has a Pro Mod body style in mind, so watch this space. But, first things first, we will start the rebuild of the garage in a couple of weeks' time." UK Championships Dinner Dance. 8th October: Bookings are now being taken for the ninth joint Avon Park International Racers Association / Santa Pod Racers Club Dinner Dance and Trophy Evening, which takes place at 6:00 pm on Saturday 8th February 2014 at the St John's Hotel, Warwick Road, Solihull, Birmingham B91 1AT (map). The arrangements are as follows:
The Clubs have negotiated a preferential rate for hotel rooms in the St John's Hotel. These are priced at £75 for a single room and £85 for double or twin tooms, including breakfast on Sunday morning. To book your room, please call the hotel on 0121 711 3000 quoting Santa Pod Racers Club. You can download the booking form (PDF format) by clicking here. Please note that booking forms should be sent to Yvonne Tramm at the address specified on the form and not to the SPRC address. If you have any queries then please contact SPRC on 01933 313625 or E-Mail [email protected], or Shakespeare County Raceway on 01789 720180 or E-Mail [email protected]. 2012 Perpetual Award winners please note that trophies should be be returned to SPRC or APIRA as soon as possible. To make arrangements for trophy return please contact SPRC, APIRA or Shakespeare County Raceway as appropriate. Flamholc's thanks. 
8th October:
After his crash at an NHRA race in St Louis, Swedish Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc is recovering at home in Sweden following surgery and looks forward to returning in 2014:After I had the surgery last Thursday, I've been feeling pretty sick; but finally I have less of a headache and don't sleep all the time. I want to thank many people that have cared for me after the accident last weekend. To all my sponsors, you guys are the best. To my family, I'm very fortunate to have you helping me with everything. And to the guys in our team, you never give up, and always look forward. 
The day after the crash, Jan Phersson from Simpson Sweden contacted me and offered me brand new safety equipment for me and my new car. "JP" is not only a parts salesman, He is also working actively to develop and improve the safety in our sport.My daughter Frida and good friend Per-Erik started a fund to help me get back on the track asap and the response has been great. I have things slowly coming together already for 2014. And again, thanks to everyone who contacted me in any way to wish me a speedy recovery and good luck. Please support our sponsors:
Lizz's Championship weekend. 
8th October:
2012 ACU Comp Bike Champion Lizz McCarthy says that as well as winning the championship at last weekend's Extreme Performance Bike weekend there were some unexpected problems as well as great performance:I came into this meeting quite inquisitive about the outcome. I always try not to read Eurodragster on the eve of the last meeting of the Season, as they forecast what all the riders have to do to win the Championships. This time I did have a quick glance, and I “would have to qualify well, and get through one round of eliminations” No pressure there then! After the disaster of the National Finals, where I didn't even qualify due to an electrical issue, this may have seemed quite a lot to have to achieve. Thankfully we did go testing to see if the untested “fix” had worked, and I ran a new PB of 7.600. I came to the meeting a lot happier, and was determined to do my best, enjoy it, and see if we could find the elusive 7.5. Arrived Friday, set up, scrutineered, and all ready for the following day. However I took a tumble and twisted my ankle which didn't help. Woke up to rain, which held up proceedings for a while. The track Crew as always beavered away until the track was dry, prepped, and we were called. Q1 – I did the girliest burnout ever, and cooked the clutch somewhat, so it dragged me through, red lit but still managed to run a 7.63 @ 174mph! Being qualifying it put me in number 1 position, so was very happy with that. Kev sorted the clutch out, told me exactly where I went wrong, did some minor adjustments (which I still don't know what they were) and got ready for the next one. Q2- Burnout a lot better, but then - horrors.I was shut down due to an oil leak. One of the clutch cover bolts had worked its way loose, and was dripping oil all over the exhaust. I was pushed back, a bit glum. Phil Leamon was up next, and uncharacteristically oiled the track and a clean up operation ensued, so we went to check if we could manage to sort out our issue. Were we able to go again? Thankfully we were allowed, so Kev dashed back to the pits, got the bike sorted, and off I went again. The bike felt really slow, I seemed to be waiting for the light on each gear change, but no dramas. When Stuart came to fetch me, he had a big grin on his face: I had just run a new PB of 7.43 at 175mph! Ecstatic was an understatement. When I got back to the pits the Crew was leaping about, Kev just looked at me and grinned “That was meant to be the 7.5”. We parked the bike up for the rest of that day, checked it all over and prepped it for Eliminations Sunday. Saturday had very sadly been full of breakages, Phil (Leamon) had a broken crank, Allan Davies had destroyed a piston in the liner, Jem Ven also had crank breakage, but was able to replace. We were dropping like flies. Big well dones however to Kev Osman for finding the seven, and Tony Clarke for running a 7.66 – awesome! E1 – against Harold Wolfenden, I love racing him, it's always calm, and a bit of a giggle at the top end. It was a good race, I thought I had red lit again, again no dramas, launched hard (1.16 60 foot) and ran another 7.4, this time a 7.46@173, and no red lit fantastic – Harold found his 7's again, and ran a 7.97, happy days, but I took the win – and the ACU Comp Bike Championship! E2 – I could relax a bit, and try to win the meeting. I was against Phil Crossley, another guy I like to race. He had me off the light, both ran a 1.18 60 foot, I went passed him, and then something gave way, big bang, the vibration went through me, and my leg was beginning to get a big warm, and Phil went past me. When I got to the top end, and off the track, there was oil everywhere, but thankfully none on the tyre. Kev has always insisted on an under tray with a nappy in case of moments like this, which had caught the majority of the oil, and apart from Kev being handed bits of engine cases, there was not much of a clean up to do on the track, but I am so sorry for holding up racing. On first inspection of the damage, the cases are broken and damaged the barrels. The small end of the con rod is broken, the rod punched out of the back of the cases and through the barrells. Until it is stripped we can't be sure what else, but suspect some bent valves minimum in the head, as the spark plug has been closed by the piston. Congratulations to Jem Ven on the win, and Phil runner up – it was an amazing race, and hardly anything in it. 
What an amazing year. The little chassis has seen three Championships now since 2005, it has been an amazing teacher. Huge thanks goes to John Austin for loaning it to me – he bought it from Kev in 2006 with the CB1 plate on, and it has the CB1 plate on it again.The biggest thanks go to some pretty amazing crew, without them I would be totally nothing! Kevin Charman, the better half, and Jake of course. Our Crew Chief Chris Pyke, who deserves the biggest mention, has seen and helped Kev win 3 Championships Comp, Funny and Top Fuel and runner up in Pro Stock Bike. Who was happy to step in again to crew for me, and be there for another one ! He is always there, a terrific man, whose knowledge and tireless enthusiasm is limitless. Thanks is, again not enough! Richard Gipp, Nigel Sadler, Stuart Aston who have been there for me in one guise or another. The girls, Sarah Chapman (Minx), Julie Moxley, Mandy Chant and Helen Hayward. You four are awesome. My Sponsors and supporters - I could not have got up the track without you either! Ken Cooper at Cooperized Dyno and Service Centre, Tony and the gang at Abbey Motorsport, Doug at Ensys, Jay Regan at MRE, Jeni at Yawning Cat Photography, Debs at Armadillo Ink, Steve at Motorshack, John Austin, and Dave at Dave Branch Engineering. Finally Eurodragster and the Track Crew as always, fab. Thanks for the updates, and relentless hard work – muchly appreciated (you're welcome - stand-in News Ed). P.S. The twisted ankle got x –rayed, and I have in fact broken my ankle, and rodded a ligament. Hard as nails me… adrenelin is a pretty fantastic thing! In plaster and on crutches, but still grinning! Dragfest art. 
8th October:
Drag Racing Artist Paul Whitehouse has been in touch with news of his first in a series of paintings depicting dragsters that participated in the 1964 Dragfests. Previously seen as a work in progress on Eurodragster a few weeks ago, Paul put the finishing touches to the piece last week. The painting features the `32 Willys of George Montgomery and Keith Pittman.Both caused quite a stir at the various meeting they attended during the festival, a big influence and inspiration for a lot of the Hot Rod fraternity, over here, to build their own race cars. The original painting is for sale and a limited A3 size print run available. Please contact Paul, via email, for further details: [email protected]. Paul is looking forward to starting the next in the series which will most probably be the Sox and Strickler factory experimental's...the forerunners of the Funny Car. Swift snippets. 8th October: Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us a new sheet of UK Bests updated with Jemma Venables' Comp Bike record set at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. You can check out the UK bests clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs for forwarding us the official timing data from the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We would like to send Happy Birthday greetings to Alison Hackney and Holley Marshall whose birthdays fall today; hope you are having a great day. A belated Happy Birthday greeting to driver of the SPR two-seater dragster Steve Warner whose birthday it was yesterday. Web site updates. 4th October: The British Drag Racing Hall Of Fame has launched a Facebook page which can be seen here. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with a selection of pics from the Saturday of the National Finals. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. UK National Champions II. 7th October: The 2013 UK National Drag Racing Champions on two wheels were decided at this weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Congratulations to: ACU Pro Stock Bike: Mark Smith ACU Funny Bike: Stu Crane ACU Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin ACU Comp Bike: Lizz McCarthy UK National 9.50 Bike: Fred Furlong UK National 8.50 Bike: Mick Winyard NAST Supertwin Comp: Joe Elliott NAST Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison Junior Drag Bike: Scott Collier Many thanks to Points Co-ordinators Yvonne Tramm, our own Simon Groves, Ian King and to all of the Co-ordinators of Championship series in the UK for their hard work this season. Bike Weekend results. 7th October: Congratulations to the winners of the weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway: Funny Bike: Maarten Zijlstra 8.5650/119.51 def. Stu Crane 15.3797/47.13 Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 7.3378/193.75 def. Richard Hann 7.5035/182.14 Comp Bike: Jemma Venables 7.6076/189.75 def. Phil Crossley 7.7169/166.69 8.50 Bike: Mick Winyard 8.6435/164.25 def. Jake Mechaell 8.7045/157.47 DQ red 9.50 Bike: Jay Roe 9.5620/117.03 def. Dave Smart 9.5256/143.91 Supertwin Comp: Joe Elliott 9.2703/141.71 def. Terry Green 9.3927/136.87 Supertwin ET: Brett Cordelle (11.62) 11.7338/111.37 def. Tim Boutle (12.90) 12.6779/109.61 DQ b/o Junior Drag Bike: Scott Collier (8.00) 8.0266/81.3 def. Liam Holgate (13.55) 13.5750/48.88 Congratulations also to Comp Bike racer Jemma Venables who set a new class speed record of 192.89 mph during qualifying. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Extreme Performance Bike Weekend reports, results and galleries, including Straightliners best times courtesy of Martyn Greathead, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. EMTS back Paige and Belle. 7th October: UK Junior Dragster duo Paige and Belle Wheeler are delighted to announce that local company East Midlands Tyre Services Limited will support them during the 2014 season. 
The team at East Midlands Tyre Services combined has over thirty years experience in the commercial tyre industry. Serving many local small and large fleets the team at EMTS
is also able to supply most type of commercial tyres including, agricultural, earthmoving and plant tyres, also forming part of Michelin's prestigious truck professional network
and part of a network, which can cover any trye, related breakdown thought the UK and mainland Europe.
"Belle and I are really excited to represent the team at East Midlands Tyre Services", said Paige. "We are really grateful to Bruce and Lesley for their support."
"Bruce and I are really excited to able to have the chance to support Paige and Belle", Lesley said. "We heard all about them on the radio and got to meet them at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year." For further information about East Midlands Tyre Services Limited please E-Mail [email protected] or call 01933 460980. For more information on Paige and Belle visit paigewheeler.co.uk or bellewheeler.co.uk. Swift snippets. 7th October: Steve Dudley writes that the second slot drags of the 2013-14 season at MrD Raceway will take place at 8:00 pm on Friday of next week (18th) at The Cathedral Primary School, Victoria Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1PA. "There is a small car park in the school grounds which should be able to accommodate us all", says Steve. "Entry and racing are free, all we ask is that you make a donation of a couple of pounds to help toward the hire of the hall, although it's not obligatory. I have loan cars for anybody wishing to try out this exciting form of slot car racing. We try to run a couple of elimination races during the evening to add some element of competition / tension to the meeting. Come and have a go, it's great fun!" Drachten meeting confirmed. 6th October: The Netherlands' Quartermile Racers Club and Quartermile Events have confirmed that a meeting will be held next Sunday, 13th Octber, to discuss the 2014 season at Drachten Drag Strip: We have asked for comments and suggestions, however hardly any have reached us. If you are not happy with the way things were going, please make yourself heard. When we know about issues we can try to fix them. Sometimes rumour reaches us that some things aren't clear, but we are never asked directly so conclusions are made based on no or wrong information. Please ask us if you have questions, we're here to answer them for you. We as a Racers' Club represent your, the riders' and drivers', interests but we need to know what you think is wrong. Questions, ideas and suggestions can be sent to [email protected]. Questions sent to us after this date will be answered, but maybe not during the meeting. The meeting will be held at 13:00 on 13th October at Van der Ende Racing Inn, Nieuweweg 57k, 2685 AS Poeldijk. We hope to see you all there. Sheavills' comfortable fit. 
6th October: The UK's Barry Sheavills is excited about his return to the seat of a Top Fuel Dragster, in a match race with Chris Andrews
at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 26th October. Thanks to Leon Bienek for passing on Barry's thoughts:
I had a surprise phone call from Rune Fjeld on the 11th September asking if I would like to drive one of his cars at the Flame and Thunder Show. I didn't even have to think about it! "Yes Please"! Who wouldn't (Tiff Needell - Ed)? This is something I have dreamed of for many years but must admit I didn't think it was ever going to happen unless I won the lottery. It will be great to be reunited with Rune and all at RF Motorsport. The drive is made all the better for me as I will be running side by side with Chris Andrews, the latest British Top Fuel driver/ Chris is hot off a win at the FIA European Finals so no doubt he will be trying to add me to his trophy list. But Chris - I am up for this! I will be driving Jari Halinen's 2013 car. I was over at Rune's workshop for a fitting during the National Finals. No problem. The diet had paid off. In fact, my original fire suit was a bit on the big side, so Kevin Kent of West Ten Motorsport came to my rescue by kindly loaning me all of his Stand 21 safety equipment. Cheers mate! Having announced the news on my Facebook page I have been overwhelmed by how many people are looking forward to seeing me back in the driver's seat. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the positive messages I have received. I hope to see you all at Flame and Thunder, so please drop by the RF Motorsport pit and say hello! Lastly to keep up to date with the latest news you can visit www.rfmotorsport.com, www.barrysheavills.com, www.eurodragster.com, or visit my Facebook page Barry Sheavills Motorsport. Finally I would like to say a big thank you to Rune, Lindsey, Laurie, Paul, Jamie, Mark and Mandy.See you at the track! National Finals SE review. 6th October: The final round of the 2013 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship took place at the UK National Finals. Street Eliminator Chair and colour commentator Matt Atkinson writes: There was still plenty to play for in terms of points. We had seven cars poised for entry but unfortunately that became six following the withdrawal of Andy Bond in the Mustang who at one point was up to third in the points. Andy had been over to Drag Week and work commitments on his return meant he was unable to defend fourth spot in the Championship, leaving it wide open for a three people to grab. Following problems at the FIA European Finals in his semi final match up with Martin Smith, Brian Payne was unable to get the Mustang ready in time so entered the Zephyr. Brian only had to qualify and complete the Cruise to be crowned Champion for a third successive year. Two guys without any problems at all were the Team Extreme brothers Matt and Martin Smith following their high at the European Finals. Bug Jam winner Al Williamson was back out in the truck and Stu Williams was looking to end the year on a high in the Supra. With Jon Webster had it all to do to claw back points to try to win the Championship; the Comet had been reassembled following minor engine damage at the previous event. With the weather forecast reporting two beautiful days we were surprised to wake up to gloomy skies. We eventually got down to the pairing lanes and after a small shower we were out on track for round one of qualifying. First pair out were the two brothers from Team Extreme Martin, with an outside chance of second in the Championship was looking to get back in the sevens straight off the trailer but loss of traction off the line resulted in a 10.122/121, Matt however picked up exactly where he left off in the Red Escort RS new Personal Best 8.616/158 into number two position. Stu Williams and Brian Payne up next, Brian desperate to run a nine in the Zephyr and started well with a 10.343/130. Stu in the other lane was off on a stormer 1.24 to sixty feet and a 7.887/177 to take number one position straight off the trailer. Last up was Al Williamson in the truck and Jon Webster in the 64 Comet, Jon leaving before the lights run with transbrake issues leaving Al to lay down an 8.858/154. Following Graham Ellis' dreadful crash in the Superbird (best wishes on a speedy recovery from everyone in Street Eliminator) we were left with one more qualifying round and with Jon, not qualified yet, was keen to get a number on the board. Jon was first out up against Matt Smith as the sun began to set, Jon into stage and Matt followed but Jon again left before the tree engaged leaving no time and a DNQ a real shame after all of the effort to get the Comet ready for the event and hunting down his first SE Championship. Matt on the other hand reset his PB with an 8.582/156 good enough for number three position. Martin Smith next out in the GTR and following a change the car came out of the hole much better and the team were pleased to see an 8.035/174 on the board to clinch number two position in qualifying. Brian in the opposing lane was looking for that elusive nine, and the Zephyr was away clean and clocked a 9.763/133 - great effort and not a bad car to have locked away in the garage! Stu Williams and Al Williamson followed, Stu just running to 330 feet and Al with no improvement in the truck. Jon's unfortunate DNQ meant that Brian was crowned Champion again, great effort by the whole team and well deserved. Off on the Cruise and as the last qualifying run was late it meant that the last Cruise of the year would be in darkness. We collected at the gate for 8:00 pm and despite Jon failing to qualify he still came out on the Cruise which made it six cars. Down to the fuel station and onto the hot start, no problems for anyone. Everybody managed the hot start and it was back to the track ready for eliminations on Sunday morning. In the first round of eliminations Martin Smith was paired with newly-crowned Champion Brian Payne and despite Brian's best efforts and another nine in the Zephyr he was no match for the GTR of Martin Smith taking the win with an 8.070/175 and a bye into the final. Next up were number three and four qualifiers, Matt Smith in the Escort pairing up against Al Williamson in the truck. Despite Matt having a slim ET lead in qualifying Al was confident of beating Matt on the tree to make it an interesting match-up. Al got away first with a 0.148 to Matt's 0.583 but Al had problems about fifty feet out with the engine cutting out allowing Matt to charge up the track to a 8.881/154 to proceed into round two. Stu Williams, number one qualifier, followed with a bye run and a practice launch to 330 feet before clicking off ready for a match up against Matt in the semi final. Onto the semi final and with Martin guaranteed a place in the final with the Team Extreme GTR the possibility of another all Team Extreme and brother affair looked a possibility for the second meeting in a row. Martin pootled up the track to take the win on his bye run. Standing in Matt's way of a repeat final was Stu Williams who had been running so well all weekend and the only car into the sevens so far. Matt needed pull something out of the bag in this round but Stu was away first 0.112 to Matt's 0.402 and Stu never looked back taking the win with an 8.0568/178 to Matt's 8.922/150. Nevertheless a great effort from Matt and well deserved sixth place in the Championship. That run also confirmed Stu as the number four place in the National points, matching last years performance despite missing the first two meetings, great effort Team Carmasupra. Second place in the Championship came down to the last race of the last event. Martin Smith, competing in his third consecutive final, had to beat Stu Williams in the Supra to snatch second place from the person who built his car... Jon Webster. Stu was also looking for his first event win in the class in the Supra, not a great deal between them on the Tree but a little step out of the groove for Martin in the GTR proved costly as Stu Williams took the win with an 8.017/179 to Martin's 8.125/177 capping off a great weekend for Stu and the team. Despite losing Martin was chuffed to bits at another final, third in the National Championship and second in the SPRC Championship all in his first year of racing. So well done to Martin and Team Extreme, also congratulations to Jon Webster on a great effort throughout the year achieving second in the National Championship and the APIRA Championship, also for his help with pretty much every other car in the class over the year. 2013 has been a great year with lots of new PB's throughout the class, a new ET record and some new faces. We look forward to the return of previous racers in 2014 and hopefully an even quicker and safer year's racing! As always a massive thank you to both Santa Pod Raceway and Shakespeare County Raceway for all of their hard work throughout the year allowing us to put on a good show.. As always a big Thank You to our class sponsors to whom we are very grateful: Topspeed Automotive now in their third year sponsoring the class, Custom Car magazine, RPM magazine, Webster Race Engineering, Doctor Flock, Quartermile High / Zeon TV, Matt Woods Photography and Eurodragster.com, all of whom can be found on our web site at www.streeteliminator.com. PMR's rental successes. 6th October: As well as their racing exploits, Paul Marston Racing's Drag Race Driving School and Race Car Rental operations have kept the team busy this year. Paul Marston writes: Europe's only dedicated drag racing school, the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School based at Santa Pod Raceway, had a solid year in 2013 with the same number of pupils as in 2012. It shows that the recession has bottomed out, drag race wise anyway! Race Car Rentals were also busy in 2013 with Mick Howling slipping back into Grumpy's Dodge in Pro ET at the FIA Main Event and showing everyone that he had lost none of his skills. Grumpy's Dodge was also on top form, a real credit to the PMR crew who made sure that Mick had a very well-prepared and competitive race car. The combination of both resulted in a solid semi-final finish. All in all not a bad day in the office for the 2009 UK National Pro ET Champion. Later in the Year Amanda Cox joined us for the FIA European Finals in Grumpy's Dodge. It's always a tall order for a driver to race a car in which they have not competed before. But the PMR crew once again provided a real competitive race car. Qualifying went well and going a couple of rounds at the European Finals is no mean feat, again good day in the office. Amanda enjoyed the experience so much that she came back for more at the UK National Finals The National Finals is always a fast n furious event, with only one day of qualifying, which was cut short due to Graham Ellis' unfortunate crash. This always reshuffles the qualifying order in a weird manner. Amanda qualified well but her reward was Paul Jackson first round, a real tough one as Paul has been on fire, winning the FIA European Finals in his début season in Pro ET. Amanda did her job on the startline with a killer 0.01 reaction time, but with a fast track took the stripe and broke out by more than Paul. So Paul got a lucky break, that's the way it goes sometimes. I had an outstanding season in the Whoopass Monza. Two poles, one in Pro ET and one in Super Pro ET, a runner up in Supert Pro ET at the Open Sport Nationals and that landmark victory in Super Pro at the FIA European Finals in Super Pro which, incidentally, made it back to back victories at the European Finals as I won Pro ET in 2012 in the PMR Whoopass Monza. As it currently stands I will be vacating the seat of the Whoopass Monza for 2014 so it will again be available for rental next season. It's an exciting car to drive, a real driver's car: it reacts fast, really involves you, and the deadly consistency is the result of all the improvements. The results we have achieved in 2013 speak for themselves, runner up in the UK National and SPRC Super Pro ET Championships, the highest-placed doorslammer in the Super Pro points chase. There have been already been some quality enquiries for both the Drag Race Driving School and for the Race Car Rental scheme for 2014. If you are interested then please contact us to discuss your plans, we are here to help. E-Mail [email protected] or call me on 07831 650230. Octobash supports Air Ambulance. 6th October: Chris Emms writes that the Air Ambulance service local to Santa Pod Raceway is holding a month of fund-raising: Everyone is aware of the excellent work carried out by the Santa Pod marshals and the Paramedics, the best in the business, Graham Ellis and others can testify to that. We really appreciate their professional approach, and being there when we need them at a second's notice is always reassuring for both racers and their families. To back up these excellent professionals is the team on the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, who attended the incident which Graham had recently. Incidentally, the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance also cover Shakespeare County Raceway. The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance turns ten years old this month and are hopeing that local people will support their birthday celebration, the aptly-named Octobash. They would like as many people as possible of all ages to have fun whilst raising vital funds to keep this lifesaving service flying high. The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance receives no government funding and relies entirely on the generosity of the public. If you are interested in keeping this service flying visit their web site at www.theairambulanceservice.org.uk/octobash and support these guys. Old Skool Fords close out 2013. 4th October: Jo Peters writes that the final round of Old Skool Ford took place on Sunday 29th September and that the sun was shining on the righteous: Shakespeare County Raceway was the venue and our event was being held during the Frantic Ford weekend. The temperatures were up and with a group of thirteen racers we certainly tore up the sticky strip. Many of the Old Skool group were able to run side-by-side which made for a good show, particularly the two nine-second MK1 Escorts of Kev Jenkins and Darren Scannell. As OSFDC 2013 title was secured by Glenn Jefferson at the end of the last round, Glenn was able to enjoy the day and didn't even need to finish to take that top spot overall, but there was all to play for in second to fourth between Kev Jenkins and the husband and wife team of Andy and Lee Jessup in their MK1 Cortina. The final results for OSFDC 2013? Well you'll just have to wait to find out, along with the other racers, as the suspense will be held until the OSFDC Trophy Ceremony and annual Chrstmas Bash in December! 
To finish for 2013, above are a couple of the top-notch Anglias which took part during the weekend with a well deserved first place for this final round going to Luke Harwin. OSFDC will be back out next year and with full coverage once again in Classic Ford Magazine, we're counting down the days. Calling coach owners. 4th October: Following the continued success of Mini in the Park at Santa Pod in August, Event Developments are launching a brand new indoor evening event at Newark Showground in January, called Mini in the Dark. Racers who use a converted coach as a rig have the chance to star in the new event. Russ Harman writes: One of the exhibition halls will be converted into a full walk-through theatre with the story of the Mini through the decades from the 1950s to the present day, all done to sound and light. Part of the theatre will have a scene re-created from the famous Michael Caine movie The Italian Job with a couple of Mini Coopers coming out of the back of the bus with gold bars on the ground etc. However the old style coach from the movie has long been scrapped. I am therefore on the hunt for a race team who use that type of old coach for their race transporter who would let us use it in this great feature. Obviously we would be happy to pay expenses and the bus would need to be in position a couple of days before the show on 11th January. If you can help then you can contact Russ via the event web site at www.miniinthedark.co.uk. Swift snippets. 4th October: Many thanks to Paul Marston for letting us know that the first screening of this year's UK Top Sportsman TV coverage will be at 19:25 on Motors TV (Sky 447, Virgin 545) next Monday, 7th October. The show is hosted by Dave Gibbons with colour commentary by Paul. "This year's event was a real thriller, it had everything you could wish for to make it a real memorable race", says Paul. "The hour-long show is almost exclusively focused on the Top Sportsman racing, with plenty of driver interviews mixed in with the track action". Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm for posting us the post-UK National Finals standings in the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swap Meet update. 4th October: Readers with long memories will recall that we stopped self-postings to our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet after a particularly nasty cyber attack, and that classified ads have since had to be submitted to us by E-Mail for vetting and posting. We are now going to allow self-posting to the Swap Meet on a controlled basis; if you would like to post your own classified ads then please E-Mail us at [email protected] requesting the Swap Meet self-post link and we will send it to you. This is being done on trust and self-posting will be stopped in the event of abuse. Web site updates. 4th October: Webmaster Alan Currans has updated the official web site of the UK's Chaos Fuel Altered team with a report and gallery from the UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, which you can check out via the Latest News link at www.chaos-fuel-altered.com. If you follow the Videos and 2013 links on the site then you can also enjoy a fine Blackett Photography slow-motion clip of a 6.3/220 run. UK Tech Committee meeting. 2nd October: A meeting of the UK's Tech Committee meeting will be held at 8:00 pm on Wednesday 16th October at the Holiday Inn, Borehamwood. The main topic to be discussed will be rule changes. All are welcome but if you would like to attend then please let Yvonne Tramm know at [email protected] so that refreshments can be arranged. Beech Underwriting backs Hall of Fame. 2nd October: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce a five-figure sponsorship deal with Beech Underwriting. 
Beech Underwriting's support also covers the use of back-office functions at the company's Head Office. This is the biggest BDRHoF sponsorship programme
yet negotiated and, as well as supporting the efforts of Stu Bradbury and his BDRHoF team so they can continue their celebration of the sport's history, is a
reflection of the increased interest in the nostalgia drag racing scene as a whole. Suddenly a new energy has entered (or should we say re-entered) the arena
and the role of the BDRHoF has been driven to the fore.
But the BDRHoF and Beech Underwriting? Strange bedfellows you might think! How come an underwriting business wants to sponsor the BDRHoF? Well, that comes down to Beech Underwriting's Managing Director Geoff Stilwell who was one of many drag racing fanatics attracted to the sport when Sydney Allard organised the first British International Drag Racing Festival in 1964. Geoff gradually became involved in the sport working on several cars during the 1970s, and eventually owned and rode a Kawasaki Pro Stock Bike called Cloud Nine which he campaigned alongside Graham and Alan Nash. In the end work commitments meant that Geoff had to retire from the sport in 1983. These days his global business has meant that he travels to the USA on a regular basis; his interest in drag racing has remained so he always takes in a drag racing event or two on these trips and has followed the development of the BDRHoF over the years. 
"Without a doubt we need the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame", says Geoff. "Spectators and racers need to be reminded that drag racers have some of the most
creative minds when it comes to solving technical problems. Years ago I stood in awe of what I saw. That spirit needs to continue and we must not forget those
pioneers. I am lucky to be in a position to be able to help continue this important tribute to our heritage. So I'm really pleased to offer Stuart Bradbury and his
team of volunteers at the BDRHoF the support to help it realise its true potential and put these amazing achievements under an even more powerful spotlight."
BDRHoF Chairman Stu Bradbury says "I must express our thanks to Geoff. This year has seen tremendous change in the BDRHoF as we increase its profile in the eyes of the media, fans and racers. It has been the first year that the Annual Awards Presentation has been a stand-alone event and Geoff's injection of financial nitro is going to enable us to do even greater things. It is without doubt the largest single financial package the BDRHoF has received since it was launched in 2006 and with this backing we plan to make the BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner the most prestigious drag racing social event in Europe." Bootsies joined by Syds. 2nd October: Hard on the heels of the announcement of five-figure sponsorship of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame by Beech Underwriting, BDRHoF Chair Stu Bradbury has a further announcement about exciting changes. "Thanks to Beech Underwriting we are now in a position to expand our horizons and an early demonstration of this new approach is the introduction of two new annual BDRHoF Awards which celebrate the role played by Sydney Allard as the Father of British Drag Racing", said Stuart. "Sydney built Europe's first dragster in 1961 and organised the first visits by American racers in 1963, 1964 and 1965. The new awards will follow the existing 'Bootsie' crystal tablet format presented to those who have made a real difference to the growth of drag racing in the UK. But they will be of a different design and contain an image of Sydney Allard rather than Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge. What else could we call them but Syds?" The recipients of the new award will not enter the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame but their achievements will be honoured and their names entered as BDRHoF Syd award winners. The Syds pay tribute to the influence of journalists and photographers in the promotion of drag racing. One Syd will be awarded to the writer of the best book, article or feature on British drag racing published in print or on-line during the twelve months ending April 2014. The Chief Judge will be Guy Loveridge who is an author, journalist, publisher, broadcaster, auctioneer and 2014 Chairman of the Guild of Motoring Writers. In 2007-09 he was instrumental in returning to Chris Lawrence the twin Mini-engined Deep Sanderson which raced at Blackbushe in 1964. Chris had built and owned the car and drove it at Blackbushe. It has now been restored. 
"The Guild of Motoring Writers, celebrating its 70th Anniversary in 2014, is delighted to be involved with these awards", said Guy Loveridge. "The fact that this first annual presentation of Syds aligns with the 50th anniversary of the First British International Drag Festivals organised by Sydney Allard makes it even more special for me because of my involvement with the Deep Sanderson which ran at Blackbushe. It is a great year to launch these new tributes to creativity in the media." Another Syd will be awarded to the best photograph featuring British drag racing, either published in print or on-line during the twelve months ending April 2014, or remaining unpublished. The winning photograph will be featured in Octane magazine along with a biog of the photographer. The Chief Judge will be Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, President of Guild of Motoring Writers and classic car collector and racer. He is a Trustee of the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, an author and publisher, a columnist for Octane magazine and Patron of the Allard Chrysler Action Group, so he too has a link with Sydney Allard. A second judge will be Mark Sommer, Art Editor of Octane magazine. 
"I am delighted to accept the role as Chief Judge for the BDRHoF Syd awarded for the best photograph of the year featuring British drag racing", said Nick
Mason. Clearly, the media has played a key role in my life – and still does. We rely on them to get our message across, in the written word and in pictures.
Drag racing is a sport which gives wonderful opportunities to photographers and I'm looking forward to viewing their work. My association with the Allard
Chrysler dragster restoration has shown me what enthusiasm there is out there for the sport and it's also rewarding to be able to perpetuate Sydney Allard's
name with the new BDRHoF award."
"A big thank you to Octane magazine and the Guild of Motoring Writers for their involvement", said Stuart Bradbury. "Hopefully these exciting developments will show people that we really mean business. In the Spring of 2014 we will be asking photographers and journalists to submit entries taken since May 2013. This is open to professionals and amateurs and the photographs can be taken trackside, from spectator areas, in the pits, studios or at shows. "Of course it is possible for motoring writers or photographers to be inducted into the BDRHoF in their own right by the Board of Selectors. But we wanted to pay this special tribute and it seemed right to bring Syd and Bootsie together this way because during 1962 to 1963 these two racers led the charge to get drag racing accepted by the British motorsport media. "There is more to announce in the next few weeks and the BDRHoF workload will substantially increase. So we will need to expand our administration team, particularly those experienced in organising events and PR. There must be drag racing fans out there with a background in these areas and we would welcome their involvement. Come and join the team. There are exciting times ahead." If you are interested then please contact Stuart at [email protected]. Banquet season commences. 2nd October: With racing almost done for the year, first details of prizegiving Dinner Dances and Banquets are becoming available. First up is the FIA and EDRS Banquet which takes place at the Sunlight Hotel and Conference Centre in Nyköping, Sweden on Saturday 23rd November. You can find out more and order your tickets at www.speedgroup.eu. The UK's Pro ET racers are holding their End of Year Bash at The Lansdowne Strand Hotel in Calne, Wiltshire, on Saturday 16th November. More details on the Pro ET Racers and Fans Facebook page. The UK's Wild Bunch racers hold their Dinner Dance at Drayton Manor Park in Tamworth also on Saturday 23rd November. For more details contact the Wild Bunch via their web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk. Finally for this update the UK's Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racers will be holding their Dinner Dance at the Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa in Coventry on Saturday 18th January 2014. For more details or to book your tickets contact SE Chair Matthew Atkinson at [email protected]. Twice the bridesmaid... 
2nd October: Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Chair Luke Stevenson went into the UK National Finals leading the VW Sportsman Championship
by a mere forty points so he knew that it would be a fight to the end:
The Major was running well and pulling consistent 13.45s during the test day on the Friday, but after qualifying was done we were placed fourth but Jason Anslow was qualified first so we were tied at the top. So it was a case of who went the furthest. I had also entered Sportsman ET and it was good to get a few round wins under the belt before the VW Sportsman runs came along. As the day progressed we made our way to the final only to meet up with Jason. It was all or nothing time, a great race but unfortunately for me the rookie took the win. Still, 2013 crowns our finest year with plenty of round wins, finals, event wins and the APIRA VW Sportsman Championship. So it is a real case of twice the bridesmaid, never the bride as we will be moving back up to VW Pro next year. This past weekend I clocked a Personal Best 11.88/112 in testing and over the winter we will aim to improve upon that, although maybe not with me behind the wheel in 2014. Massive thanks to my sponsors Echo-Packaging and 02 Telephonica Corby, to Andy Voce my super Crew Chief / mechanic / wannabe racer, and to the rest of the VWDRC family. Gobbling the good air. 2nd October: After what was a hectic FIA European Finals in Super Pro ET - in a good way - it was time for the last event of the year for the UK's Rampage Super Pro ET team. Team member Dan Holloway writes: 
It soon sunk in that another race season had passed already; the years seem to go by quicker and quicker as we get older and I'm only eighteen! For
Team Rampage it has been a fairly decent season overall. Winning both the closest to dial-in and random qualifier award in the Super Pro ET Sponsorship
Scheme, which has been a fantastic addition to the class this year, combined with having a consistent race car has meant that the year has been another
good one for us. We have had a few howlers along the way, normally due to the odd dodgy prediction and not the car, but at the end of the day we still
love racing and are already looking ahead to 2014!
Absolutely beautiful weather on the Friday set up the National Finals weekend perfectly. Saturday morning was again gorgeous day and the air was near perfect, so given that we only had three qualifying sessions scheduled we knew that we had to make every run count. An 8.00 was the dial in for the first run; having looked over the history of all our runs we had never run quicker than 8.04 off of the trailer so we felt that that number would be a good starting point, not wanting to break out either. After a fairly average sixty foot time, the dragster soon gobbled in the good air and went on to an 8.018 and straight into number one. Not bad at all! However this was Super Pro ET, one of the most competitive classes ever, so once the session had finished we were second. Being a couple of tenths down in the sixty foot time but still running an 8.01 was a good indicator that the air was as good as expected so it was good to know that we were right in that department. It wasn't until late afternoon that we had our second round, due to the rather horrific crash which Graham Ellis suffered. According to the data, the conditions were as near those of the morning as makes no difference... or so we were led to believe! We decided to leave the number where it was and see what happened. Running through with an 8.04 wasn't too bad in the grand scale of things, even though it meant no improvement in our position; it would still be a reasonably difficult time to beat in racing. We ended the day in fourth position. Eliminations weren't as good as we were hoping for on the Sunday. The car was performing consistently up to Round 1, so it would be a no brainer to go for the same 8.00. We were up against Thomas Haas, who had travelled with Natalie a real long way from Switzerland, which meant Dave would be playing catch up to Thomas' 8.18 dial in. For reasons unknown, the transbrake wouldn't hold the dragster dead still on the line and was rolling slightly. Dave noticed noticed this but the lights were already half way down, then the light was green and the race had started! This meant a 0.115 reaction time to Thomas' 0.05 which in turn decided the outcome of the race. We went through with an 8.08 to Thomas's 8.29, we were closer to our dial in but lost a tenth at the start. Our sixty foot time was seven hundredths off what we would normally run which was a clear indicator that the car wasn't quite right. Never mind! After our mandatory fried breakfast we packed up, watched another round of Super Pro ET and called it a day. That was the end of the meeting, which was also the end of the season. A big well done to Scott and Geof Hauser on winning the double Championship this year. Thanks to the Walters family for organising the Sponsorship Scheme and to Giles and Hartley Racing for providing the trophies. And last but most certainly not least a massive thanks to our sponsors:
PMR's year of education. 2nd October: Paul Marston Racing had an outstanding season in 2013, capping it off with a runner-up finish in the UK National Super Pro ET Championship. Paul Marston writes: I would like to congratulate Scott and Geof Hauser on their Super Pro ET National title, we kept them honest, that's for sure. They are a tough team and deserve the title. Super Pro ET has been a very competitive class this year and one which runs deep in talented and up and coming drivers and teams. There are very few rounds nowadays in which you can have high confidence of a successful outcome. Here at Paul Marston Racing 2013 has been a real education. It has been a tough year for breakages and parts attrition. What saved us was that at the beginning of the season we massively stepped up our maintenance schedule. Compared to dragsters, door cars need a lot more maintenance which is why a dragster is always the weapon of choice. They are faster, more consistent on the start line and on the track, more repeatable, are a lot less sensitive to track conditions, are cheaper to buy, and offer much better vision for the driver. Our maintenance schedule in 2013 was a real credit to the PMR crew, as it meant that ninety per cent of all problems were caught early. So the repairs were quicker and involved less parts replacement and so less time was lost at the track. Despite that, what really bit us and ultimately cost us the National Pro Championship were the three potentially race-ending problems at the Open Sport Nationals. With the help of our fellow drag racing teams all of the problems were overcome, but at the expense of making just one qualifying pass in Super Pro ET and having a DNQ in Pro ET which effectively ended our title aspirations in Pro ET and cost us a shot at the APIRA titles in both Super Pro ET and Pro ET. As has been said before it's the journey which counts and it is that by which you should measure yourself. In the case of the PMR crew I have nothing but respect for them all, they overcame everything and this year PMR won more silverware in a single season than we have ever won before. The total count is nine, which is not a bad year by anyone's standard. I would also like to recognise the efforts put in by the organisers of the Super Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme. This has helped to gel the race teams in Super Pro ET; the class now has a recognisable identity which befits the fastest Sportsman class currently competing in the UK National Championship series. Personally I have really enjoyed competing in Super Pro ET and Pro ET this season and I feel that we as a team learnt a heck of a lot more and once again took a step forward in our competitive ability. Competing in the Quick 8 at North Weald Airfield was particularly interesting, allowed us to explore different set-ups, and was great fun! The PMR Whoopass Monza finished the season healthy, so other than the usual maintenance there is not much to be done. Expect to see changes for 2014, these are all planned and were put in place before the season started. So watch this space and enjoy the off season. In closing,on behalf of everyone at Paul Marston Racing, I would like to wish Graham Ellis a full and speedy recovery. Bike Weekend Perfect Awards. 2nd October: This weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend is the final event in the 2013 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £125 is on offer for perfect performance. 
This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the
UK National Finals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is
available to racers in all classes, including Straightliners, during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect
Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET).
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. 
This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Sportsman ET racer
Stephen Cherrett at the UK National Finals. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend during qualifying or eliminations in 8.50 Bike,
9.50 Bike, Supertwin ET, Junior Drag Bike, Straightliners 9.1, Straightliners 10.1 and Straightliners 11.1, but will only be awarded for
the first Perfect Run of the event. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and
service specialists Gold RV. For more details about the services which Gold RV can provide see Derek Flynn or visit
www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. Fund started for Flamholc. 1st October: Together with the rest of us, Frida Flamholc and PerErik Lindgren held their breath after Adam Flamholc's horrifying crash in qualifying in St Louis on Friday until they realised that Adam was fairly OK... beaten up maybe, but alive and kicking: One of Adam's first comments was that he needed a new car because "This is what we do". After such a comment you understand that we are dealing with an Eye of the Tiger racer. There is however another side of this and that is the fiancial part. I suppose you all know the saying "How to become a millionaire as a drag racer - start as a billionaire". Since Adam is neither we decided to try to help him out by starting a money-raising fund. All contributions, big or small, are welcome and you will find account information on the Adam Flamholc - Back on track Facebook page. Thanks! Run What You Brung fun. 
1st October: The UK's John Davies says that he had a wicked weekend at the NSRA Hot
Rod Drags in his Standard Vanguard formerly owned by Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs and now rendered
street-legal:
Friday was a bit damp so we put the exhausts on. Then my 23 year old son Dan made his first pass ever, slid mid track and did a steady fifteen, second run pedalled to a thirteen, then on his third run I got him to heat the tyres. I think he would have run a mid-eleven but then it started to rain. On Saturday it was my turn and I wanted to see if I could get any better on the motor. Having put a bit more weight in the car I knew I was not going to be as quick as Chris; I had run a 9.63 at the Mopars so I was expecting to be a bit slower in the damp conditions. I went 9.52. Then we decided that because the weather was a bit dodgy and we would have limited runs we would go for it and put a small sniff of gas through. I knew that this run was a bit special because the street-legal wipers were trying to lift off the windscreen. Then I knew I had made a decent pass when I came back down the return road and both my sons were jumping up and down. It was an 8.85/152. I was satisfied with all the car had done for the first year so we joined in an amazing cacklefest and left it at that. We have decided to mess with a few things and set the goal at a 7.90. We are just having loads of Run What You Brung fun. Thanks to all the startline marshals and to Rob and Trudy Slater with the '57 Chevy and Cossie-powered Minor who are always there helping. Thanks also to Peter Donaldson for the first-class photos. Here's to 2014! Plenty of Flame and Thunder on offer. 1st October: Race fans have plenty to look forward to at Santa Pod Raceway's Flame and Thunder Show on Saturday 26th October. James Forster writes: 
There will be fireworks on track as well as in the sky with a real Battle of the Brits in Top Fuel with legend Barry Sheavills taking on current star
Chris Andrews in a match race. Barry is famed for making the first 300 mph run in Europe and of course winning the 1998 FIA European Championship.
Chris is currently in the process of writing himself into the history books and recently took the FIA European Finals event win to cap off a successful
season. So it's clear that both drivers have pedigree, but the question is who will come out on top? Come along and see for yourself!
Dragster fans will also be keen to hear that another British star of the past will be returning to the hot seat, but this time in a Top Methanol car. Multiple FIA European Champion Dave Wilson will be getting back in the cockpit with the aim of making a couple of passes in his injected nitro dragster. We all know that Dave knows how to drive one of these things so you can bet that he won't be looking to run slowly! 
There will even be a couple of Fuel Altereds in attendance in the form of Adam Gleadow making a welcome return to the track after a year out
and yet another returning Champion in the form of Frank Bennett in his Topolino Altered.
We also have a whole host of Sportsman racers signed up to make some demo runs and to take part in the wheelie competition and fire burnouts, and if that's not enough we even have a few supercars to add into the mix too. We're talking Lamborghinis, Porsches, TVRs, a Zonda, maybe even a famed Bugatti Veyron and more! So who's up for some supercar v race car action? Away from the track, we have a massive line-up featuring monster trucks, bonfire, stage shows including Chesney Hawkes, static displays, stunt shows, jet cars and loads more! Please see www.santapod.co.uk/e_flame.php for the full line-up. Discounted tickets are available until Friday 18th October. Web site updates. 1st October: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, street-legal Pro Mod racer Andy Frost reports upon the end of the 2013 season and has some thoughts about 2014. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Earlier news |
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