Stef's Super Gas snippets. 31st May: Many thanks to Stef Pateman who has again supplied us with the word from the Super Gas pits: We're really happy with the outcome in preparation for this weekend, similar to Easter there has been an increase of applications for Super Gas! Eighteen of you involved this year as opposed to the eleven entries last year means that this is going to be a very exciting weekend with, I'm sure, lots of competition. I know dad (Brian Pateman - Ed is going to look into a trip to Drachten so if you see him in the pits please share your thoughts! So on with the Gassers. Nick Griffin of the Southern Belle Racing Chevrolet Malibu team will be handing over the driver's seat to partner Nick Curtis at the Main Event and word of a throttle stop installation for them has been in the loop. A big welcome to John Grant who will be starting the season late with us in his 100F Bristol Doorslammer, maybe we'll have some replays of Hockenheim! Good to see Richard Webb will also be joinig us in his VW Beetle YAC. Stuart Doignie qualified number one at Shakespeare County Raceway with his BMW and is currently leading the SG chamionship closely followed by Pete Creswell. Stuart's car is currently running a 461 pump gas engine. He also plans to build a Super Gas/Super Comp car, meanwhile placing his BMW up for sale at a very reasonable £15K. Dave Napier's Dodge Challenger was entered but sadly has some engine damage. We hope you can get this sorted in time! We need more purple! A new recruit to the competitors in Suger Gas for this event is Bob Molden in his White Noise EDA-engined Peugeot, who has run a string of 9.90 s in Pro ET. At Shakespeare County Bob ran a 9.81 so watch this space! He has got to get his head round running two different trees at the same event. Paul Foote is very pleased to have the power back in his truck and looks forward to this weekend. He has a backup plan of a NOS kit if needed. In the words of Collin Morrice on behalf of most of us "Better weather" is definitely something we will all be wanting to see so let's all keep our fingers crossed! Here's to a great weekend, good luck everyone. Mr Six 40th Anniversary. 31st May: To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Dennis Priddle's historic first six-second Top Fuel pass outside the US at Santa Pod's 1972 GUD Filters Big Go, Dennis held a gathering for the surviving members of the original team at his workship near Yeovil. Having played a part in the location and recovery of the dragster, Eurodragster.com Pit Reporter and Blog Editor Simon was invited to attend. The members of the original Mr Six team present - Chris Powell, Terry Axe, Tony Gane, Dennis and Dave Riswick - are pictured in front of Keith Lee's famous photo taken on Santa Pod's start line directly after the ground-breaking run. Sadly absent on Monday was Pete Stanford who passed away in 2006. Simon's involvement in the project was to locate the dragster in Germany after liaison with German and Swiss teams, and to travel over to Stuttgart with Dennis to acquire it in February 2007 (the full story can be read in our news update of 5th March 2007 and pictures can be seen by clicking here). Subsequently Steve Green undertook the journey with his own race car trailer to collect the car from Stuttgart and to transport it to Yeovil. We will bring further news of the restoration as it progresses. Simon has posted a gallery of pictures from Monday's reunion which are presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 31st May: We have been informed this afternoon that we will be permitted to broadcast the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam from the FIA Main Event on Saturday as well as tomorrow. Robin Jackson tells us that one of Britain's most distinguished motorsport journalists will experience drag racing for the first time at the FIA Main Event. Simon Arron covers Formula One for the Daily Telegraph and Guardian newspapers and for Motorsport News, and is a former editor of both Motor Sport magazine and Motoring News as it was then. He is sandwiching the Santa Pod weekend between the Monaco and Canadian F1 Grands Prix to report and photograph the event for the Motor Sports Association's quarterly magazine MSA. Editor's note: As most, hopefully all, readers will understand we are busy indeed right now. Please note that whilst we are covering today's Test Day and then the FIA Main Event there will be delays in posting advertisements to our Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet, and we will not be giving any priority to responding to queries on either of our Facebook pages. In the unlikely event that there are issues with the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam then we will post updates on that day's race report. Web site updates. 31st May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon brings us the latest on the work done to realise his ambition of racing in the USA. 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. Raisvuo's breakthrough. 30th May: Finland's Esko Raisvuo says that as usual he and the EE Speed Top Methanol Dragster team will be the underdogs at the FIA Main Event, but that the team have broken through the wall of secrecy around injected-nitro performance parts: We haven't had enough time to paint our trailer or fix the outside of our truck, but we are happy that they run nicely inside. Many cakes are pretty outside, as we say. The dragster will look different: no more yellow. The sticker guys wanted to sponsor me a bit and they can do whatever they want, except yellow. I have no clue what we will get! At the very last moment we got a bit of funding for bearings and all kinds of small things. Gary Burgin did us a super-quick service with the parts. The SFI updates were done during the winter. We have carbon brakes now too, and the chute tethers are fitted. We have also finally got some speed parts. It was tough to try to get them. Those US guys who know about it don't tell you, and those who have speed parts for sale don't sell them - it's a bit tough to have a dare-to-be-different race car. Finally we got some advice and I thought it over and asked "Is this right?". Some people then answered yes, some no, and later on all my calculations were confirmed with yes and yes. Then we also got support in our attempts to buy those critical little parts to get power right at the hit. So after all that we are coming to win the Main Event with new European records. Both. Sorry guys. If we don't win so what, we are used to sitting and watching. Hopefully we will get reasonable runs to collect some data and not only tyre smoke. If it all goes fine and we don't smoke the tyres, if we have no failures and if the weather is good, there will be some sick numbers on the top end displays. We will make the numbers during eliminations. The more runs we get, the better they will be. Bellio drives eyes-open. 30th May: With only three cars in Top Methanol Funny Car this weekend, Belgium's Danny Bellio says that it won't be much of a challenge, but that looking on the bright side he will at the very least be third in the FIA Championship at the end of the event. "We will do everything we can to put on a good show for our fans, to go as fast as we can and run good numbers", says Danny. "As you know we bought another chassis in the US which needs a few more runs to get used to but once it feels OK we will make our hot rod fly. We had run the other chassis for twelve years and I could run it with my eyes closed. "We have solved the problems with the chutes and now we can start tuning the car again to improve our Personal Best ET and speed." Identical twin cars. 30th May: Europe's fastest brothers, Timo and Dennis Habermann, will genuinely have the same set-ups on their Top Methanol Dragsters this season rather than believing that they did. Timo Habermann explained a recent discovery to Eurodragster.com. "We have not made many changes, just little things because the cars were good last season", said Timo. "We have been concentrating more on our new trailer and we have not stopped working on that. But three weekes ago Dennis and I found a mistake in the ratio in the transmission on his car. We have fixed that so Dennis now has exactly the same set-up as me. The only real change in appearance on the cars is that we have changed the numbers one and two to three and four! "We hope that we can be in the middle or top of the field but we are confident about the season. "We have lost one sponsor this year. It costs a lot to race, everything is getting more expensive, and the money hasn't changed. But we have calculated that we should be able to afford it so long as we can go a few rounds at each race. We will certainly try!" Johansson's last season? 30th May: Swedish Top Methanol Dragster racer Krister Johansson says that his fortieth anniversary year of racing at Santa Pod Raceway could be his last. Krister is on his way to Santa Pod Raceway for the FIA Main Event but before he left he told Eurodragster.com what he has been up to and why he may have to call a halt to what has been a very successful career. "I had a lot of work to do after last year's NitrOlympX as I damaged the engine pretty badly", said Krister. "So I have a lot of new pieces on the engine. I will have to be careful to start with to see what it does. But it should be good, I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't, and I have to be faster because the other guys are so good. It can be tough but I am going to do my best - it's only thing you can do." Krister has oil sponsorship from Amalie but other than that his operation is financed by his wallet and with help from his team. "The guys help me out the best they can", said Krister. "We are on a shoestring for sure so we really need the help as it is getting tougher and tougher. Thursday is my last day at work so it's going to get worse. This is my last season unless I find a sponsor or get a win on the lottery." Zodiac Racing mean business. 30th May: The Netherlands' Zodiac Racing Supertwin team is excited about the first UEM Championship event of this season and Vincent Pels writes that the team are more prepared than ever: As usual we went testing during the Easter Thunderball, as Ton and I had some new parts to try out in the fuel and oiling system and because the team's new rider Job Heezen needed some seat time to get familiar with the supercharged Nitro Harley. The test weekend had some real highs and lows. One of the lows was definitely the temperature. With 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and around freezing at night, it was definitely a cold Easter weekend. We were surprised to still see big crowds on the banking during qualifying and that is the proof that the UK drag racing fans are definitely the most loyal fans in the world! Another low was that the datalogger failed after the first the warm-up and this made us somewhat blind in the tuning department. With a new type of DJE fuel pressure regulator which needed to be set and some changes in the oil system, we needed to find a baseline and at those moments you discover how dependent we have become upon those loggers. Everything from clutch to ignition is controlled by computers these days and without the logger you notice how close these engines are running to the borderline with modern systems. A definite high was the first day of qualifying. During the first run, the bike had massive shake from the line and smoked the tire after one hundred feet. So, contrary to Chief Starter Ian Marshall's advice (wink), for the second qualifier we took out some ignition and clutch during the first three second of the run to make it launch softer, and again after a serious tire shake (OK Ian, you might have been right with this one), the bike hooked up and ran quicker than ever before with a 6.51/211. Job was impressed by the amount of muscle the blower bike had and he also ran a Personal Best by a full tenth of a second. Another thing which impressed him was how much more weight he had to put into correcting this bike. "When you want to go somewhere, you better know in advance!", he said. "Definitely different then the normally aspirated Nitro Harley I ran last year!" A puff of smoke at the top end warned us that the engine did not survive the run and back in the pits it turned out that the engine had experienced some detonation and the deck of the front piston had collapsed. We were close, but were a little too much on the lean side. With the thick seventy weight oil we were testing, the plain rod bearings seemed to work well, but the main crank bearings, which are of the cylindrical roller type, could not spin those high RPMs any more and broke. The cold temperature, making the oil even thicker, might have been a contributing factor. Sadly the rain came in on race day, so that was it. But at least we know where we are and with these kind of numbers under these conditions we think that the competition knows that we mean business. For the Main Event everything is ready and after consulting with Spectro Oils, we are going to try their Platinum 20W50 for the Main Event. A nice feature is that for this year, the European Championship races will be televised live in High Definition on the Internet. For more information about this, please stay tuned to Eurodragster.com as they will have more details about the live Web TV shows. Last year we were very close with second spot in the Championship when Roel Koedam was in the saddle. With our experience from last year we know that the bike is ready and Job is confident that he is up to the task of piloting the Godfather VII to the winners' circle. Twenty-twelve, here we come! Zodiac Racing's 2012 race calendar: 2nd-4th June: FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, UK (UEM European Championship) 14th-17th June: Sweden Internationals I, Tierp Arena, Sweden (UEM) 5th-8th July: FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro, Finland (UEM) 10th-12th August: NitrOlympX, Hockenheim, Germany (UEM) 23rd-26th August: Sweden Internationals II, Tierp Arena, Sweden (UEM) 6th-9th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, UK (UEM) The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proudly sponsored by Zodiac International BV, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, Spectro Oils of America, Accel Motorcycle Products and Kibblewhite Precision Machining. The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proud to use products from Zodiac International BV, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, Accel Motorcycle Products, Spectro Oils of America, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, National Cycle Windshields, Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems and Flexion/Gates Belt Drive Systems. Job's bike, a 175 ci (2860 cc) OverKill T&V Racing Top Fuel Harley, is still for sale. Anybody who wants a proven Championship-winning bike should contact him at [email protected] or call him on + 31 622 788 100. Joe's new look. 30th May: 2011 UK National, SPRC, APIRA and NDRS Junior Dragster Champion Joe Kellett is looking forward to contesting the FIA Main Event in his new dragster which now has its 2012 paintjob. Dad Pete Kellett writes: Joe's new car was imported from Mike Bos at Chassis Craft in the USA. It is a state of the art latest 2012 model with a lovely looking rear subframe design.We had to have the car specially built for Joe as he is getting quite tall now (Everyone's tall - Ed). The car is already proving to be consistent dialling in 7.99 and running 7.99 at the Springspeed Nationals to take round 1 of eliminations before the rain came. The new paint design has been designed by Peter Walters and painted and airbrushed by Rich Walters. We were originally having the car wrapped but we think that paint looks so much better. Joe will defend his UK, SPRC and APIRA Championships and hopefully the EDRS Series but as we have no rounds in the UK and there are fourteen rounds in Sweden we think that it is rather unfair. The logistics of travelling to Sweden are just not possible as they clash with the UK Championships. Maybe we can get four rounds by travelling to Drachten and Hockenheim and one round in Sweden. We are entered for the Sweden Internationals at Tierp. We would like to thank Chris and Neil from Chameleon for the wrap on our trailer which looks awesome and which was also designed by Pete Walters of Peter Walters Race Design and was very competively priced.Also thanks to Carole Gorrod from Kyle Freight who did a great job getting the car here in time for the Easter Thunderball. We are all looking forward to the Main Event and wish good luck to all of our competitors old and new. Brad relishes field of 28. 30th May: Lucas Oil-sponsored UK Junior Dragster racer Brad Jackson is excited about the twenty eight-strong field of Juniors at the FIA Main Event. Dad Wayne writes: It has been a difficult year with the first three meetings being rain-affected, however we are hopeful that the Main Event is a rain free weekend. The Championship is wide open this year due to the rainouts which I'm sure will bring a close and exciting conclusion to the last four meetings! Brad progressed through the first round of eliminations at the Easter Thunderball before the meeting was called, then the Big Bang was totally rained off which is a shame because Brad won this event in 2011 and was looking for a repeat! The Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway didn't go very well: we drew Joe Kellett in the first round of eliminations, Joe had a 0.05 light, Pete dialled a 7.99 and Joe ran a 7.996 which Brad couldn't overcome. Credit to Joe and Pete Kellett, they are very serious about retaining the Championships which Joe deservedly won last year. The Lucas Oil Junior Dragster is already and packed for the Main Event with new powder coating on the chassis and a new set of Micky Thompsons on the rear. Brad has a new race suit, so both he and the car are feeling good, especially Brad as most of his GCSEs will be finished by the Main Event. Let's hope the sun shines on what promises to be a great event with fantastic entries throughout the classes. Beware the Fierce Fiero. 30th May: Making his first trip to the UK this weekend is The Netherlands' Frank Eijskoot who will be contesting Super Comp in the Lowlands Xtreme Pontiac Fiero. Frank stunned the Dutch drag racing scene with a pink '57 Chevy as far back as 1995, winning the Street Machine class and finishing in the top three in the following three years. In 1999 he built a 1962 and moved up to Super Street whose Championship he won in 2000. Frank sold the Nova in 2002 and it looked like his drag racing career had ended. But Frank's veins contain high-octane fluids and he couldn't prevent himself from building a new race car. Since he had a full-bodied Fiero laying around for parts he decided to use its light plastic body panels and wrap them around a new frame. A pipe bender was constructed and frame drawings were purchased from Chassisworks Engineering. The body was positioned on a lift and the Centreline wheels were laid out and fixed so that they would fit the body without any dramatic changes to the look of the Fierce Fiero. The Super Gasser was finished in 2010 and the first runs were made. The only part which Frank did not construct himself was the TH400 transmission so, according to Murphy's Law, it was that transmission which gave him problems in the first year. Before the end of 2010 Frank had built a fresh TH400 and the issues were solved. During what the Dutch racers call the Drag Raining Season, after all three events were rained out in 2011, the car at least managed nines during qualifying. In 2011 Frank also learned about new noise regulations and decided to make the switch to Super Comp as there is no room for mufflers on the car. The assitional power to get into the 8.9s will come from a Nitrous bottle. "Hopefully we will be able to get the short and light Fiero straight through the traps", says Frank. No flukes here! 30th May: After eight years of hard work and toil, trying to get the car right and a good team together, it finally all came together last year for UK Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com Perfect Light Award sponsor Mike Lacey: We won two out of the five Santa Pod meetings and this resulted in the 2011 SPRC Pro ET Championship, something I could only have dreamt about.! This year I need to prove that it wasn't just luck last year! So far we have had two races, one at the Pod and one at Shakespeare County Raceway, both of which have been cancelled due to rain, so we are hoping for a dry Main Event where we can strut our stuff again. After some winter upgrades and a new transmission just before Easter, we are looking for a new Personal Best. The car has just come back from OCS Paint (Nic Williams) where it has had a lot of new paintwork and new lacquer, so will be nice and shiny. My company ModUrStang.co.uk is also proudly sponsoring the Perfect Light Award this year, as well as the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme, which has twenty six sponsors in all for 2012. Please come by our pit for some freebies, and we have plenty of T-shirts and other goodies for sale. Thanks to all of our the sponsors in 2012: Toxico, DS Racewear, Grand Prix Racewear, Hauser Race Cars, Avonside Engineering, Power Engineering, Engine Data Analysis, LA Racing Parts, VP Racing Fuels, Lohrspeed Vehicle Recovery, Penn Autos, Real Steel, Sick Boyz, Topspeed Automotive, Webster Race Engineering and Power Pour, Wolfy's Workshop, ModUrStang.co.uk, MPM Oils UK, Marshall Amps, Smokehead.com, Unipart, OCSPaint.com, Level 7 Construction Ltd, Level 7 Demolition Ltd, Rockauto.com and NGK Spark Plugs. Running nines sedately. 30th May: Fellow UK Pro ET racer Keith Herbert has had a much more sedate season so far this season than he had in 2011 when there was a mad rush to get his Plymouth ready for Easter with a new engine, trans, axle, full front tube chassis courtesy of Andy Robinson only to break parts: New for this year was a set of Harland sharp roller rockers to replace those broken at the European Finals, obviously a new set of push rods again, and a new set of Hoosiers and we were good to go for Easter 2012. We were looking to get back the consistency of our old combination which we had used with some success, 10.7 to 10.9. Now that I'm into the nines it was like starting again with higher shift points, launch rpm etc. The solid carb linkage makes the car much more responsive and easier to stage. The car reacts so much quicker that at Easter we pulled three 0.00 lights, missed the money with a 0.001 and went -0.001. Our sixty foots were all 1.34 on a cold track and with good air we ran a PB of 9.85/134. So now with the consistency we were looking for we can now move our attention to the rear shock settings and tyre pressures to try to eliminate the annoying hop from the rear on the launch. This is one of the reasons we are running at the Test Day tomorrow, that and our palatial mansion of an awning. Well, you try housing food and beer for eleven. We are looking forward to another great weekend at the Pod at the Main Event. Time to mention my crew Dan, Paul, Steve, Chris, Jim and Dad, a big thanks to them as they make it such an enjoyable weekend for us, and of course all my fellow competitors who are just some of the best people I have ever met. OK, that's the sincere American bit out of the way. Lets hope for good weather, or that old adage "Better up the Pod in the rain than at home in the sun". See you all soon. Knock... 30th May: After an eventful and expensive Easter 'holiday', UK Super Comp and Super Gas racer Jon Giles decided to take up dominoes - the game, not the pizza (Shame - Ed). But then, he says, he thought "Sod it, let's give this racing another go": As soon as we got home at Easter I took out the engine and got it to Rob and Nick at ICE Automotive to work their magic. If all goes OK we will be testing again on the Peak Performance Thursday in preparation for a good Main Event. Fingers crossed! As for the cause of the damage, it seems that there was a faulty part in the gearbox, just one of those things. We are planning to run in Super Gas and Super Comp and hopefully give a good account of ourselves. A big Thank You to Rob and Nick at ICE and to Tim Adam as without them I would be still playing dominoes! Bradshaw plans early exit. 30th May: JDS Pro, Super Pro ET and Lucas Oil Junior Dragster team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Brams Racing and Abbey Motorsport are really looking forward to the Main Event. As it has with everyone else the rain has taken its toll with seat time this year. "We have literally just got back from a fantastic event at the Moto GP at Le Mans with Motul - details at www.facebook.com/BramsRacing - and now we really want to get back to serious racing", says John. "Our last run in the car was at the recent Street Nationals where we ran a 6.68 which was only 0.05 off our 2011 best, this gives us great hope for the season ahead as with the awful adverse weather seen to date this year we were not 100% confident at the event as the track just hasn't had a lot of rubber laid down yet. The world record for a Nissan is now down to 6.48 so absolutely game on. "The team is really fired up this year: we certainly intend to push Project Zed harder than last year and we really want to start stretching performance further. It is such a shame that the only class we can enter is Super Pro ET. As we have highlighted previously the car is certainly no bracket car and our intention is to push hard not and not hold to back. We plan to use our budget to maximum effect this year and sadly Super Pro is not the best use of our budget, so we will use the event for maximum track time and that means running on the Test Day, Friday Sportsman day and Saturday. We will pack up early on the Saturday to save on team costs and waiting around time, and that will go towards Competition Eliminator costs for Hockenheim and Tierp later in the year. To ensure that we do not affect other teams' qualifying times we will put 8.99 on our back window for the event. "On a brighter note my oldest son Callum is really looking forward to the event after running at his first ever race in Junior Dragster at the Easter Thunderball. This year is purely about seat time and just enjoying himself - results are secondary and i know he will have a huge smile on his face the whole weekend. Junior Dragster is a wonderful and friendly class, competitive yes but so many people offered encouragement at Easter, it was great. "As always our pit is always open to anyone who fancies a coffee and fingers crossed on the weather front. 6.5 or less would mean we left with a huge smile and Callum will just be enjoying himself. See you there!" Walters aims for top spot. 30th May: UK Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters says that Team Reloaded's season has gone well so far: We had a fantastic start to the year finding out that we had won SPRC Most Professional Appearing Team for 2011,. Thanks to everyone who voted, really appreciated! We finally got our Donovan block back and repaired after damage last year, but decided to keep the spare iron block in the car for 2012. We got through the first rounds at the Easter Thunderball and Springspeed Nationals before the rain came down. We also qualified second at the Springspeed Nationals and the car was running better than it had been for a while. We are all really looking forward to the Main Event, with more than forty cars entered in Super Pro it is going to be a challenge just to qualify! We are currently fourth in the UK National Championship and hope to come out of the Main Event sitting in number one spot and hopefully with our first Super Pro win, which we confidently feel we can achieve the way the car is currently running! PMR confirm Bruiser return. 30th May: Paul Marston Racing are pleased to announce that the PT Bruiser will return to National Event competition at the FIA Main Event. Paul Marston writes: Not a single National event goes by without being asked at least half a dozen times "When is the Bruiser coming back out"? The PT Bruiser has not competed for some time and I thought over the years that I would be asked less and less, but it's been exactly the opposite! I am both flattered and humbled by the following our little race car has, I am so looking forward to driving her again. Everyone at Paul Marston Racing takes the responsibility of running the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School very seriously and we made the decision years back that as long as we had pupils racing with us that we would leave the big stuff at home. Well, given that our last three drivers have all won National Championships, I think it's fair to say that they are quite capable of looking after themselves. So after a successful testing session at North Weald two weeks ago, I can confirm that the Bruiser is coming. Its been quite a while since PMR ran the Bruiser at North Weald, not since testing for the Brighton Speed Trials. It was a great day, nice and warm, and very busy. The purpose of the day was to make sure that the Bruiser did not leak and also to cure any glitches, which we did. The PT Bruiser still runs her original NHRA 500 ci Chrysler Pro Stock wedge motor supplied by Jari Konola Pro Stock Racing. She has enjoyed some housekeeping and has a kind of different look. With forty four entries in Super Pro, PMR kind of figured that to ensure we have a reasonable chance of qualifying we need the PT Bruiser able to make all the qualifying sessions, qualifying is going to be tough and Friday will be an important day. Depending on time and crew, our intention is to run at tomorrow's Pro Test session, just to get some high-speed data and to get the driver up to speed with the operating systems. So be sure to stop by and say Hi to our favourite race car. FB commentators. 30th May: Santa Pod Raceway's commentary team have launched their own Facebook page for listeners to get in touch directly for shout outs, information and messages throughout event weekends. The commentators are welcoming messages from racers and fans alike with gossip, vehicle/team updates, news on what to look out for and reactions from the racing. The new page can be found at www.facebook.com/santapodcommentary so head over, hit Like, and get the messages coming in ready for the weekend. Commentary will go live on Friday morning. Please note that this page will only used whilst event commentary is live and will not be moderated by any Santa Pod staff. Any venue/event specific queries must be directed to the Official Santa Pod Raceway page at www.facebook.com/santapodraceway. Swift snippets. 30th May: Santa Pod Raceway have set up a page to register and pay for the high-def Web TV broadcast from Sunday and Monday of this weekend's FIA Main Event. The webcast is $10 for both days (i.e. not $10 a day) and can be booked at www.santapod.co.uk/webtv.php. Eurodragster.com's Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be broadcasting tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. UK Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson says that the Lucky Devil team are really looking forward to the FIA Main Event. "Our goals are to qualify well, run new PBs for ET and speed, and to get through each round confidently", says Wayne. "This is Pro Mod so anything can happen but that is our plan and we will be sticking to it. Thanks to all our sponsors; check them all out at www.luckydevil777dragracing.com.See you all at the track guys!" We understand that Dutch Pro Mod racer Robert Joosten's US consultant will be tuning by cellphone this weekend after being refused entry to the UK at Heathrow. We will bring you more on this as we receive it. UK Pro ET racer Billy Gane is organising a summer party in Chelmsford on Saturday 21st July. "There will be a marquee with a disco and possibly a live band, outdoor bar, barbecue and bouncy castles", says Billy. "It is open for all racers / crew, not just Pro ET. You can arrive at any time and we have enough space in our field for everyone to stay the night in their motorhomes / caravans if they wish. Electricity will be available and pets are welcome. To help towards the cost of getting everything organised I am asking for £10 per ticket, This will include all the food and soft drinks. I will be at the Main Event this weekend and will have tickets with me, if you are interested just drop by my pit." Gridlock Drift into a sponsorship. 30th May: Essex based Wild Bunch Champions Team Gridlock are pleased to announce a two-year sponsorship with Drift Innovation action cameras. The team will be carrying the Drift HD camera system on board the Go Hard or Go Home! altered for every run, enabling some great data capture as well as some very unusual action angles to be captured in full HD video. The full colour TFT screen will enable easy set up of the camera each time, ensuring some brilliant High Definition footage of every run. Drift's Marketing Executive Olivia Rees said that the company is excited to be working with drag racing, especially with Team Gridlock, and that the adrenaline filled runs made by the team will fit perfectly with the other action packed sports that they cover. Drift's mission is to ensure that the unique product features found on their cameras and accessories, enhance the user experience by simplifying the process of capturing, editing and sharing all your epic moments. You can check out their camera systems at www.driftinnovation.com. Bennetts sparked by FIE. 30th May: As readers of Eurodragster.com and the official Bennett Racing web site will have read on the 30th April, UK blown-alcohol altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing announced sponsorship from Fuel Injection Enterprises in the USA. Luke Bennett writes that FIE have done a superb job on the team's "Very used" SuperMag II due to be fitted on the SuperPower Bantam altered: As we expected due to their already superb reputation for quality and service, FIE have completely rebuilt and refurbished our magneto, and it's now a fully-functioning jacked up SuperMag IV. To say that we are happy is an understatement. All told they have upgraded the magneto with a rare earth magnet, completely dissembled, cleaned and inspected all parts, fitted new points, a new capacitor, cleaned and checked the rotor and cap, adjusted for optimal output and is then run in to ensure that everything is correct, also to put a little time on the contact point rubbing block and a little heat in the windings. The point gap was reset, the edge gap and rotor phasing were adjusted, and then the mag was run through the RPM range to check for spark stability, current and voltage. Finally, the output was checked at the standard 2500 engine RPM and recorded on a comprehensive test report, as well as at 10,000 RPM to check for any high RPM problems. Also provided was a matched 28900A Red Top transformer with the mag, used during the output test for real-world numbers. As you will agree a pretty exhaustive list! FIE also provides a number of other upgrades and services for other magnetos; they can double the output of your standard Vertex mag very economically, if you pick up an old mag off eBay and need the rotation changed and things freshened up? No problem! They perform check-ups, service and rotation changes to MSD Pro-Mags including the 20 amp upgrade for ProMag 12s. They can take any core magneto and build it up into a mag that is exactly right for your application. Our upgrade to a SuperMag IV is perfectly suited to the SuperPower Bantam's predicted boost numbers and compression ratio. FIE also provides bigger Super-Mags, these being the SuperMag V rated at up to 8 amps and the brand new SuperMag+ rated at over 10 amps! As previously mentioned FIE recently purchased the entire magneto manufacturing business from Mallory Ignition. They are now the home of the Super-Mag and SprintMag. They also service and upgrade other brands of magneto such as MSD, Vertex, Wico, Harmon and Collins. Check out the huge parts list on the web site, as if you need it they probably have it: magnetos, rotors, caps, Pro cap conversion kits, transformers, points boxes, wiring harnesses, mag drives, oil pump drives, quick release clamps, bronze gears, kill switches, buzz boxes, points, plug wires... they are a total one stop shop for all of your magneto ignition needs. For magneto ignition or fuel system product queries, visit the Fuel Injection Enterprises web store at www.fuelinjectionent.com/webstore or E-Mail [email protected]. Top Sportsman TV. 30th May: The organisers of the UK's Top Sportsman class have produced a promotional video to help promote and create exposure for their upcoming race which is being held at the Mopar Euronationals at Santa Pod Raceway on 27th-29th July. Paul Marston writes: UK Top Sportsman is, we believe, one of the most anticipated races for the Sportsman Doorslammer drag racer. A picture can paint a thousand words, so a video should equate to a whole encyclopaedia! Its purpose is to showcase what's in store for the spectator and racer alike. It will give everyone a taste of what to expect, set the scene if you will. If you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed making it, you are in for a treat. To view the video check out youtu.be/DLoCAbaqXYI. The Top Sportsman race in July will be filmed and televised on its own dedicated show which will be broadcast on Motors TV and will be translated into many European languages giving it a potential audience of millions. For any competitor this is an opportunity to give your sponsors some genuine TV exposure throughout Europe. The aim of the show is to get under the skin of exactly what it's like to take part in real drag race competition, competing against race teams, cars and drivers whom they will probably never have raced against before. The show is designed to be technical and in depth, so for the proper hard-core drag race fan this is one to watch. The future comes to Santa Pod. 30th May: This Friday at Santa Pod Raceway over seven hundred school leavers and apprentices will be wandering around the pits. Allard Chrysler Action Group Chair Brian Taylor writes: They are all either interested in or already employed in the motor industry and their visit is the result of an alliance between the Allard Chrysler Action Group, Santa Pod Raceway and the Institute of the Motor Industry. If they are viewing your pit area try to find time to engage with them. This is the sports future as well as the industry's lifeblood. They've come to see us so let's make them welcome. Get your hero cards ready. If you are interested in knowing more about the IMI's programmes for young people they will have an information centre in the pits next to the main grandstand. There is also a link to their web site on the links page at www.allardchrysler.org. You will find some not so young enthusiasts helping out – Robin Jackson, Brian Taylor, Syd McDonald and Stuart Bradbury. They will be organising trips to selected pit areas for these young VIPs. Web site updates. 30th May: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Bader: Racing for points. 29th May: Swiss Pro Modified racer Bruno Bader had a busy off-season and has had particular niggles getting pistons for his very rapid blown-alcohol 'Vette. "We took every screw apart and checked it all", Bruno told Eurodragster.com. "We welded a crack in the chassis - it's an old car now. All we have left to do is small jobs. There is a new computer on the car this year, we have made changes to the electrics and I have a new start line routine which will hopefully give us better times. I have a new set-up as I do every year, but whatever we do we always run the same times! "Over the off-season I waited two months for pistons and when they arrived seven of them were damaged. They weren't packed separately and there were dents in them. The replacements took three weeks to arrive and they were the wrong type and so I have had to put in old pistons. I spent two and a half thousand dollars on pistons and I don't have pistons! I have now ordered pistons from another company and we hope to have those for Tierp in June." Bruno said that he is always happy to go to Santa Pod. "I just don't understand what the other guys say about the track, they have run their best times at Santa Pod", he said. "I would also like to add that we are not going there for "Extra points", as I have read: we are going for points! If the car is ready in time we will run at the Test Day." Bruno's trip to Santa Pod takes thirteen hours plus the ferry crossing from Calais to Dover and the plan is to do it non-stop. "Only Hockenheim is closer", he said. "Tierp Arena is more than 2000 kilometres away and it costs €5000 to get there. Santa Pod is less than half of that. Last year I spent €36,000 of which €20,000 was travel." Joosten going all the way. 29th May: The Netherlands' Robert Joosten and the Pro Dutch team are aiming to do the whole of this year's FIA European Pro Modified Championship Tour and Robert says that they are looking forward to getting back to the racing: Pro Dutch Racing didn't rest this winter. After two years struggling with the new car we made a complete change over the off-season. We changed the car more towards the Corvette which won us so many victories and which we could get down the track almost every time. Also we have put in some new ideas, which will hopefully will to get us back in the front row. It feels like we have a new car again, which gives the whole crew more trust in the car, but we need to see what the car will be like starting at the Pro Test on Thursday. We will get help from some friends from the USA to get a baseline set-up as quickly as possible. Besides that, we have redone the whole interior of the trailer. My sponsors, friends and the crew did an unbelievable job!  Like everything in this sport it went out of control quickly and it will be difficult to get the crew out of the trailer at the race! Ellis seeks a boost. 29th May: UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis started his season earlier than most with some testing as early as February. Other testing since then has reaped benefits with some decent passes and valuable data: In February the track was very green and so were the team, as this was the first real outing with the Superbird with me at the helm. But we got some start  line practice if nothing else. The pre-Easter test showed promise with some decent runs although a boost controller problem curtailed our day with a best in the 6.4s. At Easter we struggled during qualifying with one six-second pass as  the boost controller was still not playing ball. It was enough for second spot although the rest of the race was doomed with the rain. We tested at the start of May thinking that we had cured the boost controller and, having fitted new waste gates, expected good things. On the Saturday the track was difficult due to the water levels on site and water seeping through the track, but Ian Marshall and the rest of the crew didn't give up. On Sunday we made two decent runs but it was obvious that the boost controller issue wasn't resolved and we weren't going to improve on the 6.4 we managed earlier in the day as the boost was rapidly disappearing at 3.5 seconds. So we packed up and went home. We have now resolved the boost controller issue by wiring it through relays which, even in the event of a power cut to the controller or a false reset, cannot release the CO2 from the waste gates so we are guarenteed full boost as quickly as the turbos spool up and it will stay there until I dip the clutch. The engine has had a service as has the clutch, the trans has been rebuilt and we have made some ratio changes. In fact we will go to the track with three fully-built tranmissions to suit various conditions. We are looking to run some PBs for the car at the very least: we believe that we can hit the 6.0 mark at over 245 mph easily enough and of course the target is that Holy Grail of Pro Mod racing the five-second ticket. I'm wise enough not to make any big prophecies though, I have spent four years learning that it's just not as easy as most of those who haven't done it think it is. All in all we are hoping for good weather, good racing, and to go some rounds as I intend to win the MSA Championship with a turbo car. We will not travel abroad this year at all regardless of how we get on at the Main Event, mainly due to the spare engine not being ready, but mostly as we have no spare turbos: these things are ruined if even a speck of shrapnel goes through them. In addition, we want to see where the turbo PM rules will end up as we can't afford to buy any just to have them obselete at the end of the year due to rule changes. These things are £5000 each so when we get spares we have to be sure that we will be able to use them for a few years. Let's all hope for a great Main Event. Moore excitement. 29th May: Roger and Dave Moore made a good start to their Pro Modified season with number one qualifying spot and new ET and speed PBs on what was a cold but consistent track at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. Roger says that the team are very excited, as usual, about racing their nitrous Viper at the FIA Main Event: We had a new five-speed gearbox in for the first meeting and that certainly keeps me busy on the run with four gear changes in under four seconds, fine if you are going in a straight line but tricky when fighting with the car! But we feel it will give us some benefits with tuning the twin plate clutch - triple is the norm - and I enjoy the challenge. We will also be using a Pat Musi water injection system this year. We have had to spend countless hours converting a new trailer to suit our use after the last unit was destroyed last year. Fortunately we suffered no damage at Easter, that we have found anyway, probably more thanks to the weather than our skill! This has given me some time, and a big Thank You to Martin for giving up his weekends to work on the lorry. The Main Event will have a different feel if there is no bump spot; normally it is a big achievement for us to qualify. A good mix of engine combinations will make it even more interesting. I am always pleased to see some more nitrous cars, as I think we have shown that you don't always have to be the quickest to do well: being consistent can get you a long way some days. Our plan is much the same, as fast as we dare with what is a dated engine combination with a few cunning plans thrown in, and to enjoy the racing as much as we can. Thanks to long-term sponsors Challenger Solutions and Shakespeare Engineering for allowing us to race once again. At the Main Event I will have as a guest Nick Hawes from Braille Batteries UK,Nick will be assisting in the change from a lead acid (AGM) battery to a Lithium Ion. If any other teams are interested in Lithium Ion or high quality conventional-type batteries please come and see Nick and myself in the pits. Frost aims even higher. 29th May: After an epic Autotrader Easter Thunderball at which he blasted into the sixes and set new bests for a street car, UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Andy Frost immediately started to think about the FIA Main Event: We knew that testing wouldn't happen for us as I'm too busy in the shop to take a weekend off. Also, as Shane Tecklenburg is coming to tune the car I thought that it would be prudent to check everything on the car as a precaution. Regular followers of the team know what happened at the last Main Event... As well as checks we have some modifications to make after we looked at the data from the Thunderball. We realised that we'd got pretty close to our max injectir duty cycle, meaning that we need some more Injector Dynamics ID2000 injectors. We can add more by changing the aux injectors from 1000 cc to 2000 cc, but the main addition will be four 2000 cc injectors in the elbow. Obviously this requires a bit of fabrication, which has been taken care of by Jon at Webster Race Engineering, and a new wiring harness by Shane T. We've also had to put some more breather area on the car. Because of our lack of track time, and the speed at which we've moved forward, the R+D that is our car finds out all the weak spots. So,what are our goals for the Main Event? To be honest to make it through the meeting with no damage is the first priority! After that we want to take the World's Quickest Street Car record, then lower it a notch! With Shane T here real time, the chances of moving the record on are high. We know how much pace is in the car now, and it'll be nice if we could utilise it at the race. We'd also like to break the 220 mph barrier properly, too! As for the race, it would be nice to qualify for the field. Obviously if it's a sixteen-car field we'll be in. An eight-car field will make it tricky indeed. We're booked in for the Thursday test session, as we have new things to try before we get into racing proper. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us, but this we cannot predict! As usual we hope that the new stuff works as you never know for sure until the car goes down the track. One thing I do know: my crew, sponsors and supporters cannot wait to get back to the track to show what we can do. We look forward to seeing everyone there! Burn oil, then alcohol. 29th May: At the end of the Autotrader Easter Thunderball UK Pro Modified racer Steve Hall was wishing that the FIA Main Event was a week away, but when we recently spoke to Steve he was wishing that he had another month to get his blown-alcohol 'Vette ready: We went to the the Thunderball with a totally new engine and blower combination in the car and it was like everything we'd learnt last season had gone straight out of the window. The new engine and blower makes so much more power that we started with a clutch setting that would be soft just to try to get from one end of the track to the other and to gather some data from the computer. Unfortunately the engine just pulled straight through the clutch, and I still had the problem with an overly stiff throttle pedal which caused many aborted runs last year - we had so much spring pressure on the hat blades that the slightest movement of my right foot shut the throttle completely. That's my excuse anyway! On the next run we shot ourselves in the foot again by going too far the other way with the clutch and the car shook the tyres really violently. Third run, time to stop being idiots, the clutch setting was somewhere near but I still had issues with the throttle pedal, we run an 8.04 at 170 but off the throttle most of the run. That night we stripped the throttle assembly down again, hat to pedal, and noticed that the new cable had a slight kink in the outer metal sleeve near the injector hat. Problem solved we were ready to get after it and run our first six, but as everybody knows the weather beat us and ended the weekend. OK on to the Main Event, we have updated and beefed up the rea rend with a new ten-inch billet third member and four-inch Mark Williams prop and 1480 U-joints. We will also have our spare engine at the track just in case! Another big help is going to be having Andy and Luke Robinson in our pit helping out with the clutch, fuel and computer. They have so much experience running a blown Pro Mod car that we're going to learn a lot from them I'm sure. We have also outgrown our old truck so the black beast had to go and a bigger smarter truck arrived last. Crew Chief Steve Large and I are going to be burning lots of midnight oil just to cut and fit our awning which was always a metre too wide and to generally get everything ready for the Test Day on Thursday. Fingers crossed our crazy weather will be better. See you at the track. Olstad backs out. 29th May: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad is going to be absent from a UEM Championship event for the first time since 2003 as he has suffered a back injury. Hans Olav was all set to try to attend the FIA Main Event, which would have been the competitive début of his new bike, but a drive to the local airport and back settled it. "The two hour drive was too much so I won't be able to drive the bus to Santa Pod", Hans Olav told Eurodragster.com. "I am in a lot of pain and the painkillers don't seem to work too well. I am very sad to have to cancel as we really worked hard for this. We started the bike up for the first time and it sounded great, I was so happy. There were two small dribbles of oil but no other problems. Gerard Willemsee (of Puma Engineering - Ed) was there and I think that he would have been pleased to get on the bike for me but he said "No, you should ride it!". Hans Olav's début on his new bike will now be at the Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena in June. "I don't have to drive the bus to Tierp", he said. "All I will have to do will be to ride the bike and relax." Cannon weighs in for $1000. 29th May: The UK's Chris Hannam has a lot at stake this season as weight-saving measures could win him no less than a thousand dollars. Chris has been in touch to explain and to tell us just how much he and his Supertwin team have been up to recently: First of all let me start by thanking Lucas Oil Products for their continued support. We are now in  our third year with Lucas and this year we move on the new nitro race oil which we will be trying at the Main Event. Lucas came to our aid through Andy Carter when we were having major big end bearing and crank issues, and I'm happy to say I think we now have a now formula to make the bottom end live longer with the help of a great product. Once again in what seemed a long cold winter we made the annual team trip over to Valdosta for the big race in November. We were there for another parts haul and to watch some great racing in the sun. Whilst we were there we talked about what we wanted to improve as all season we had been suffering with bad leakdown due to incorrect piston rings as our original rings had been discontinued. I had been speaking to Johnny Vickers at Hawaya Racing and Johnny had some new pistons made at CP Pistons to my design incorporating the Total Seal rings which they use. We also repositioned the skirt buttons to aid with scuffing etc. Now I have to say a big shout out to CP and Johnny as these were made inside four weeks which for a custom piston is amazing. Again we had our parts for the year and we could start to plan our workload, as we had plenty of time right? we  wanted to reduce weight on the bike, quite funny when you consider the rider and there is a story there too, as we have a twenty seven-litre fuel tank which we now know is too big, and nitro is very heavy, so we wanted to get that down to twenty litres and move all the ignitions under the tank to neaten up the bike. We also bought the new more efficient supercharger from Puma to give us more hit off the line as this bike has always been lazy with me on it. We also had new longer rods to increase the compression from up to 6:1. All of which we thought was a doddle. How wrong can you be! So into January with our normal work to do and lots of parts to make with the biggest a 28 mm wide spacer to fit the new shorter blower where the larger one had been. After about eight days' machining over two months and on the second attempt we had our spacer which also incorporated all the new fuel bracket upgrades which we wanted to make. This spacer is a work of art and you can't even see it when on the bike. We have also made a reduction gear drive and pick-up plate for the MSD to drive from the crank to remove the fluctuating timing we had: last year it was taken from the end of the cam which as you know is belt-driven and prone to fluctuation. On top of this we also made timing belt outrigger plates and idlers to eliminate belt whip and to stop the cam timing jumping on the run. All this turned into a much bigger job, bottom line is no reduction in tank size and MSDs not moved as Easter was fast approaching so all the parts were then taken down to Neil Midgley at Colchester to assemble  and rebuild. Neil spent a lot of time putting all the new parts back on and making the fit just as he wanted and on top of this built a new piston skirt oiling system which had been discussed with Pete Davies. He got the bike almost ready to go and once again we turned up at Easter a day early to get the bike to a running state. Thanks here must go to Ian Marshall, Darren Prentice and all the Santa Pod crew not only for helping with our pitting and giving us a great place to race but for taking our oil delivery from Lucas so big thanks there. So in bitterly cold weather we get the bike running and it sounded very sharp considering the cold. We went to make a pass, a great burnout then shut the bike down for an air leak as I was taking no chances. We stripped the bike down and checked everything as the weather started playing its part and held us up for some time. Once we get back out on track all was ok till the green light, at the hit it left very hard but I could feel that something was wrong with the drive. On looking at the data we found a damaged sprag bearing in our gearbox which I have to say is the first sprag in four years so it's not bad. This could have been worn from last year  and with the data showing much higher Gs even with a slipping sprag the future is looking good. Unfortunately we knew what Monday had in store for us so we just packed up ready to pull out Monday morning and fight another day. Back in the workshop the bike was stripped down completely and checked and all found to be like brand new. The pistons and shell bearings did not even have any signs of use, so basically it was rebuilt and the new spare gearbox fitted. We are ready for the Test Day before the Main Event, we are hoping for a great race with good weather and we look forward to seeing all our friends again. After the Main Event we are due to attend Bikewise on 1st July. This event is run by the Durham Constabulary and is not drag racing-related but a massive bike event. Our bike and the Dave Coates Stunt Show will be the main attraction in the arena, so we hope to showcase our sponsors and drag racing at Santa Pod in a positive way. After this we have some more testing planned before the European Finals and UK National Finals which will be our last events in the UK this year. Subject to all going OK and having some spares left we plan to fly the bike out to MRE in Florida in October for the Finals at Valdosta in November and the Spring race next year. We have spoken to Malcolm Francis at Air Sea Logistics about flying the bike out and my good friend Jay at MRE has offered me his workshop, trailer and tools. We also have help from Johnny at Hawaya Racing and we have enlisted our old team member Andy Dawson to help get things prepared for our arrival in Florida. So if we don't break too many parts we can look forward to racing the fastest bikes on the planet on our busman's holiday. Finally, getting back to the weight issue, Jay of MRE and I decided that we should have a $1000 bet over who can lose the most weight before November. To make this fair I have to lose one and a quarter pounds to Jay's pound, that's fair as I have more to lose. It's quite funny that we are trying to lose weight off the bike when I could make the biggest difference but I know it all helps. We weighed in at the track on Dave Scagg's Pro Stock scales and the bet is on. We will see who takes the prize in November but I believe it to be about even at present. An early refresher. 29th May: As the FIA Main Event approached, Alan Cook and Richard Billings have been in touch to give us an update on their street-legal twin-turbo Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Mustang: The Easter Thunderball threw more than bad weather at us. Unfortunately we had a valve train problem after the first round of qualifying. It was however a straightforward fix and we had all the parts required in the trailer to carry out the repair, but seeing as this wasn't the first time we had seen this problem we decided not to run the car for the rest of the weekend and to look further into the cause of the problem. Back at the shop we discovered a valve guide failure. At this point it made sense to freshen the engine now rather than later in the season, so we honed the block and fitted new bearings, springs, rings and lifters. We had some interesting information from the MoTeC data logging system on varying cam timing due to the Jesel belt stretching. Based on this we decided to move away from the belt drive system and to upgrade to a gear drive to resolve this problem once and for all. The block and heads went back to Rob and Nick at ICE Automotive with a shopping list of new parts to upgrade the valvetrain. The rebuilt heads and block were collected from Silverstone first thing last Monday morning along with the new parts and taken back to Owen Developments' shop to begin the assembly. When the engine was built the car was run on the Owens dyno to bed in the new rings and check everything out. I guess when you build a 600+ inch tall-deck Big Block motor with Precision Turbo twin Pro Mod 91s and run on E85 and block treads it is inevitable there will be a few issues along the way! Moving the weight around. 29th May: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Bill Macdermid says that there are some big differences on his beautiful Camaro this season. "We had an air over air cooler on the front with the Procharger", Bill told Eurodragster.com. "It all came together with 8.83/158 in street trim which is a PB and good for a car which is all steel. But no sooner had it cooled down than I asked Job Webster how much to put in a charge cooler! We get a lot more air in through the radiator now, there is a cold air intake through the bonnet, a new C&S blowthrough carb rated up to 2000 hp, and new Hoosier tyres on the back. We fired it up and MoT'd it late last week. "We have found the temperatures much reduced even without any ice in the cooler. We have halved the air intake so that we can add more timing - with the Procharger combination the more timing you can put into it the more horsepower you could make - up to a couple of hundred horsepower. We have a new Andy Frost gearbox, Neal Chance converter and double adjustable shocks. We have only done two or three meetings on that combination. "This all constitutes a major change. We are effectively starting again and I hope to knock off a couple of tenths. It's a heavy all-steel car and only tagged to 8.50, so it will be bittersweet if I break that. We are taking the car into Webster Race Engineering for baselining as with the changes we have made all the weight has moved around. We know we are going in the right direction, I just wish I had more time to get it together." Bill has also been working very hard on business affairs as he recently merged companies with CM Frost Autoparts in Wellingborough. "CM Frost Autoparts were the UK's original US parts importer, established in 1966", said Bill. "They have an 8000 sq ft warehouse with standard American parts and can supply any parts from 1950 to current day. The two companies are a good match and the plan is to sell standard stuff out of CM Frost and performance parts out of Topspeed Automotive. Whatever you order we can get it within two weeks as we are airfreighting out of the USA every fortnight, please look at our web site at www.topspeedparts.co.uk." As well as sponsoring the Street Eliminator class, Topspeed Automotive are putting up three jackets for the first three Street Eliminator cars to run 200 mph in legal SE trim and backed up within 1%. "I think it's probably going to happen this year", said Bill. Optimism from the FBs. 29th May: It has been a less than fantastic start to the year for Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator team FB Racing with performances yet to reflect the potential of the team's 1934 Ford Coupe. However, with the Main Event looming, driver Ian 'Fatty' Hook is optimistic that better results are imminent. We are pleased that, in 2012, we once again have the support of our two main sponsors, Serck Services Motorsport and RS Auto Services. Also continuing to back us this year are The Everest Restaurant, my employers Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, Power Pour and the ever-present FB Associates. And for 2012 we can announce another sponsor: Chris Sunman Engineering. Chris is based quite near to the team and chose to get involved after seeing the car at appearances at local events and being impressed with a lot of Brain's engineered solutions. We'd like to say a big thanks to all of the above as, without their help, we really wouldn't be racing. I must also say a special thank you to fellow SE Racer Ron Haslett and FB Associate Richard Warburton for the extra assistance they have given us this year. There have been few minor changes to the car over the winter, the biggest of which was the switch to a belt-driven vacuum pump which Martin 'The Brain' Kerr (Crew Chief) somehow managed to squeeze into our already crowded engine bay. This allowed us to retire our electric pumps and release more amperage for other systems. The motor and trans have been rebuilt and a couple of minor repairs have been carried out. Overall I have to say that she got through the 2011 season in excellent shape. We are hoping to raise the power levels this year as our nitrous system has the capability to deliver more and the engine the ability to handle more. Despite the potential for this extra power all we seem to have done this year is to take power out! Poor weather and a lack of traction combined with a limited number of runs meant that performance at the season-opening Easter Thunderball was well below par and was limited to qualifying runs only. To make matters worse the one run that showed promise after a good launch was severely compromised when a nitrous feed line blew off. Although we improved our qualifying position at Round 2, the weather again intervened to provide some tricky track conditions and prevent the running of eliminations. To make things even more challenging this meeting saw our first use of the new Hoosier treads but the conditions made it impossible to establish their potential. However I did do a few rolling burnouts to bed them in and have to say that I really enjoyed the experience – we may have another go at that in the future! With the Main Event imminent we are still unsure which tyre we will be running but are pretty confident that we'll be seeing a much better track – and even if it's challenging we have learned a lot over the last two meetings about how to take power out so we will be much better prepared! With so few points scored to date this will be the real start to our season so we'll definitely be looking to be up there amongst the quick guys. This may well be the last season for FB Racing as the famous '34 Coupe is currently up for sale. If you are interested in owning Europe's quickest and fastest (and multi Championship-winning) street-legal hot rod then please get in touch with me by clicking here. Haslett the redeemer. 29th May: Sara Unsworth of the UK's Gecko Racing says that her and husband Steve's dabble in Pro ET this weekend is in a large part down to Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett: Following the addition of a baby Vortech Supercharger to our Modular Mustang we unfortunately threw a rod three weeks before the Easter Thunderball. We were wowed when Ron offered his experience and engine knowledge, a twenty-minute journey away - apparently it's the seven-hour return journey that's a killer from Portsmouth to Guisborough! Ron enabled us to keep our 2012 season alive. A hard weekend of beer and engine rebuilds resulted in a strong new motor with forged Manley rods and pistons, a steel crank and an aluminium block, combine this with the new suspension set-up and a wide-open throttle tune at John Sleath's (thank you John, we really appreciate your help and advice) and we have been propelled into the eleven-second bracket. The car is stronger than ever. Following the successful outing at the Easter Thunderball it became apparent we needed a roll cage to ensure that we stayed legal, and once again Ron offered his services if we travelled the twenty-minute journey to Portsmouth (again it was the seven-hour return journey home that was a killer) and between us and a few beers a cage fitting of Pro ET, and tagged for 10.0, was born. We can never thank Ron enough for his help and guidance. Currently he can be found in the Gecko pit as our Race Advisor. The biggest difference being that our pit, once found only in Sportsman ET, is now located in Pro ET! Everyone says that drag racing is a community and they're right - thank you Ron! Our final thanks have to go to Amanda Cox for encouraging us to enter the Main Event and for taking us under her wing! Finally we'd like to pass on our congratulations to Rich and Becky Eacock for joining us in the elevens at the Classic Ford Show, guess who was involved! Roll on the Main Event and our first entry into Pro ET as Pro-ET 252! Good luck to all racers this weekend - we will mostly be spotted with big grins on our faces... oh and Ron. Swift snippets. 29th May: Many thanks to Keith Lee for forwarding the below pictures from yesterday's reunion of the Mr Six Pro Fuel Dragster team on the 40th anniversary of the first ever six-second pass outside the USA, which was recorded by Dennis Priddle at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th May 1972. The picture at left shows the surviving team members whilst the picture at right shows those who have been involved in the restoration of the dragster. We will have more about the reunion soon. Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall for sending us Version 16 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event. You can check out the updated entry list (and those who insist upon contradicting our every word can discover that we were in fact correct - Ed) by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Dave Gibbons and the Rough Diamond Super Pro ET team have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to their work experience lad, track announcer John Price. No sooner said than done, have a very Happy Birthday Pricey. Brian Taylor tells us that the new issue of the Allard Chrysler Dragster newsletter is now available on-line at www.drceurope.co.uk/acag/jun2012 or as a PDF via Latest News at www.allardchrysler.org. The new page-turner includes restoration updates, the latest part of the history of the dragster, sponsorship update and more. Editor's note: As most, hopefully all, readers will understand we will be very busy indeed this week especially from Thursday onwards. Please note that whilst we are covering Thursday's Test Day and then the FIA Main Event there will be delays in posting advertisements to our Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet, and we will not be giving any priority to responding to queries on either of our Facebook pages. In the unlikely event that there are issues with the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam during Thursday or Friday then we will post updates on that day's race report. FIA Main Event Perfect Awards. 29th May: This weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway is the fourth event in the 2012 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance. Racers please note that decals are mandatory for both Perfect Awards this season. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/ModUrStang Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Junior Dragster racer Jacob Kopasz at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals. 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 all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the SPRC Summernationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with vehicle modification specialist ModUrStang whose web site you can find at www.modurstang.co.uk, or visit Mike Lacey in the Pro ET pits. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £100 after it was not won at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street and Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £125 for the SPRC Summernationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk, or visit Derek Flynn in the Top Methanol pits. To be eligible to collect either Perfect Award, racers are required to carry decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect Light or 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 Light or Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. ModUrStang and Gold RV decals will be available in Signing On on Friday morning. Go to LA for tyre bargains. 29th May: Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts is holding a clearance sale on selected M&H Racemaster slicks and DOT cheat tyres. "This is only for a limited period while stocks last", says Lee. "Once they're gone, they're gone. The following tyres are on offer at reduced prices: M&H DOT cheater slick 28 x 14 x 15  £135.00 each M&H DOT cheat muscle car tyre 305/40 -16  £125.00 each M&H DOT cheat tyre 26 x 11.50 x 16  £125.00 each M&H Full drag slick 33 X 14.5 X 15 £150.00 each M&H Full drag slick 33 X 17 X 16  £150.00 each  "All prices listed are plus VAT and postage. Shipping is not limited and tyres can be posted anywhere. LA Racing Parts' main business is VP Racing Fuels but we still ship other parts from North America via air freight and ocean freight on a regular basis". You can contact Lee on 01803 391740 or E-Mail [email protected]. Web site updates. 29th May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team reports upon the latest work on the team's Bantam altered. 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. Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell has updated his SmugMug site with a small gallery of pictures from a nostalgia race at New England Dragway last weekend. You can check out Ed's shots at www.surfphotonh.com. Also updating a SmugMug site is Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog who has posted galleries of Saturday's Run What You Brung and Sunday's Classic Ford Show at eurodragster.smugmug.com or www.togsdragracing.com. FIA Main Event racer update. 28th May: Ian Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club has been in touch with an important update for racers attending this week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway: All racers will receive two pit passes for vehicles including tow vehicle. Any vehicle in the pits which is not displaying a valid pit pass will either be required to be removed, or will be removed. Super Pro ET will have marked-out pit bays at this week's race. It is planned to introduce pit marking for other large classes in the near future. Welcome Brams Racing. 28th May: We are very pleased to welcome JDS Pro racer John Bradshaw and Brams Racing to our roll of exclusive Racer Blogs presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. In the first instalment John introduces himself and reports upon the team's latest outing which was not the first this year to be affected by rain. 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. Pro racers invited to FHRA test. 28th May: The Finnish Hot Rod Association is inviting racers from FIA and UEM classes to the Test and Tune Weekend which takes place alongide Kamasa Drag Race Week at Alastaro on 30th June-1st July, the weekend before the FHRA Nitro Nationals. Entry to the Test and Tune Weekend is free for FIA and UEM racers who are entered for the FHRA Nitro Nationals on 5th-8th July. FHRA will endeavour to organise the pits in such a way that the racers will be able to remain in their pit places until the FHRA Nitro Nationals. FHRA will also make their best attempt to offer a top-quality track and at least one round a day for all FIA and UEM racers. A more detailed schedule will be published closer to the event when participants have been confirmed. To register for the Test and Tune Weekend, E-Mail [email protected] by next Sunday, 3rd June. The 300 mph Club. 28th May: On the 40th Anniversary of Europe's first six-second pass, 6.99/185 by Dennis Priddle at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th May 1972, Honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers UK has been in touch to highlight another Fuel landmark. At the suggestion of multiple FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter, Andy compiled a 300 mph Club for FIA European Top Fuel Dragster on the usual basis of such Clubs which is to list the first ten individuals to achieve a particular feat. In chronological order the European Top Fuel Dragster 300 mph Club is as follows: Barry Sheavills 304.71 Santa Pod Raceway 2002 Andy Carter 303.07 Santa Pod Raceway 2002 Smax Smith 303.14 Santa Pod Raceway 2003 Kim Reymond 300.21 Mantorp Park 2003 Øyvor Jacobsen 301.99 Gardermoen 2003 Thomas Nataas 304.06 Gardermoen 2004 Tommy Möller 308.28 Santa Pod Raceway 2005 Susanne Callin 300.10 Santa Pod Raceway 2005 Lex Joon 304.19 Santa Pod Raceway 2005 Håkan Nilsson 306.35 Santa Pod Raceway 2006 Andy has compiled a spreadsheet with the fruits of his research and has also included the first racers to run 500 kmh (310.68 mph) and 320 mph. You can check out the 300 mph Club tables by clicking here. We have another anniversary at the end of this week as Saturday is the tenth anniversary of the famous four-second, 300 mph run between Andy Carter and Barry Sheavills. Dan Welberry of Eurodragster.com sponsor 3t Creative tells us that Andy and Barry had planned to celebrate together at Santa Pod but that Albert Carter's karting schedule has prevented it. Dan and Barry have been in discussion and plan to honour the ten members of the 300 mph Club with a unique gift. The plan is to present these gifts at the FIA European Finals and it is hoped that the Cub will be sponsored. Next we would suggest Three Second and 300 mph Clubs over 1000 feet, both of which already have members since races started to be contested over that distance, and which will hopefully have more members by this time next week. A true Brit. 28th May: Ian 'Rush' Carruthers has been in touch with an update about a project upon which he and Dave Witts have been working for a while: We posted a couple of spy pictures over the last week or two, and now here are some more pictures and a bit more detail of what we have been up to and why. Dave and I both have a passion for racing and all too often breaking Supertwin Fuel bikes. Dave started his racing on a TRX street twin while he was building a supercharged Triumph. Whilst fun, the Triumph was not fast enough so Dave took the chance to buy Tim Clark's Terminator supercharged Nitro Nourish twin. Now that was faster but had a tendency to destroy itself if leaned on too much. I started my drag racing in 1993 with the Supertwins on my Pre unit Triumph with Nitrous. Again fun but not quick enough. The following year I got the chance to buy Al Smith's Orange Whip XS650 on nitrous. That was quicker but I kind of set that and myself on fire. I rebuilt it with a blower and added Nitro. Great fun and quicker still. After destroying gearboxes, clutches etc I came to the conclusion the only way to build a really quick Twin was to make my own. It had to be a true British parallel twin. Dave had reached the same conclusion. Fast forward several years. Dave and I were working closely together to wards our very similar but separate goals when we realised we would be better off pooling our resources and focusing on one bike. The pictures you see are part of that collaboration. The bike is our own design taking what we believe and hope are the best parts for our application. It is a 1700 cc parallel twin with a billet one piece crank, block and cylinders. These are topped with a modified Brad Anderson Top Fuel head. We run all tried and tested TF car parts from the big end shell up to the valve gear. The modified Kinsler twin injector feeds an Opcon supercharger and sparks are fed by twin mags via an offset Top Fuel drive. The primary is a 125 mm wide 14 mm carbon belt driving an eight inch clutch and a Bentec box. Al Smith has made another top of the range chassis to hold everything in place. We have been working away quietly on this for over ten years as and when time and money permit. We are getting a lot closer to completion and hope to have the whole bike finished by the end of the year and racing next season. Over the next few days and weeks we will try to remember how our Facebook pages work and post some more pictures and words. Hope to see you all at the Main Event where we hope to see Hans Olav running well. The best of luck with his new ride. Swift snippets. 28th May: We have no less than four spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) came with the words "Destined for Top Sportsman. His name might be Fluffy" whilst the second (below right) came with the words "One-off suspension powered by a one-off engine"... ...the two pictures above came with the words "Main Event here I come". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Time enough to do the garden... 28th May: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä is all set for this week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway with the trailers already loaded and headed for England, and plenty of spare time to attend to other jobs. "There have been no major changes either to the car or in the team", Anita told Eurodragster.com. "Of course, all of our parts have been serviced and checked out and some maintenance has been done. The biggest new investment was a bright red clutch grinder, which arrived with the clutch discs. I must give a special credit to Boninfante Enterprises for their very good service. The last few days have been filled with cleaning and packing as well as booking tickets. All of the work is done, so we are just waiting for real racing. "Meanwhile, I have planted some summer flowers. Maybe Urs has more flowers to plant because his name isn't on the entry list. "Every year I say it - it's like coming home when we get to Santa Pod and we can't wait to get there. "Tommi & Anita Top Fuel Racing will do all of the FIA events and our focus is on running faster than ever each time. We'll be focusing on the basic stuff and looking for consistent runs. I have the same reliable, hard-working team working under our crew chief Sami Lehtimäki, our car has more potential than we have been able to show so far, I simply have a good package! So let's see, what we can get out of it." Andrews' fingers crossed. 28th May: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Chris Andrews and the Lucas Oil-sponsored F&A Racing team are awaiting parts and have their fingers crossed for the weekend. "The truck and trailer are done together with the awning and the flooring", said Chris. "We want everything to look as professional as possible. We have two short motors, spare heads, and the parts we have should get us through the event. It is the consumables such as clutch plates and the little bits and pieces which are taking longer. We thought that we could get the parts off the shelf but that's not the case. We found that our supercharger casing warped and it has had to go back. Everyone is struggling with rear wings too. Our new wing is on its way, it left the States last week. Our current wing endplates are not legal this season but our new wing is certified and tested and meets all requirements so there shouldn't be a problem when it comes to scrutineering. "We are looking to fire up at the start of this week and then we'll go to Santa Pod where I have to make a familiarisation pass in the car. We are using an engine combination with which Eddie Corr and Ben Allum are familiar, so we're starting from a known quantity and just iron out the creases. "Our main sponsorship is from Lucas Oil and more names will go on the car during this year. Some are one-race deals and there will be more permanent deals as the season goes on." Here comes Helander. 28th May: Swedish Fuel Funny Car racer Leif Helander is up against it as the FIA Main Event approaches. "Everything is a mess", Leif told Eurodragster.com. "I am painting the truck, it needs to be finished before I leave and it has a missing part. I have been trying to get the race car ready at the same time as the truck. My crew Jonny and Mikael are working on the car. "The car seems OK - it is still brand new really so we haven't finished testing it. The fuel pump broke at the European Finals last year and so we have put on another pump, but that is all we have changed. I need to be at the race and run the car because it is for sale so I need to show it". When asked his best ET with the FC, Leif explained "The best time I have had so far is when the guy in the other lane hit the timing reflectors so I'll take that!" Leif's FC is carrying the name of local band Takida whom Leif sponsors. "I looked at pictures of the car last year and it didn't look like a proper race car with no stickers on it", he said. The Starkotter team will be leaving their base tomorrow for the trip to Santa Pod. Micallef's dream. 28th May: Duncan Micallef is living the dream representing Malta in Top Fuel Dragster at the FIA Main Event. "I always wanted to race against the top guys and this is going to be something better than exciting", he says. "The Telephonebox Racing team are doing all the necessary work as we did before the Easter Thunderball. "My aim is to settle my last licencing run as soon as possible during qualifying, so hope for good weather! After that we have a target and we are going to do our best to achieve it. I am proud of the team and I am sure they are going to do their best to make it easy for me. Rune Fjeld is a great person and I believed in him from day one. That paid off with the great result in April. "If we reach our target we will be able to make it for the European Finals with the help of our sponsors. Rune offered me the NitrOlympX but it's too early to say as we are low on budget . "We are really looking forward to meeting all the people who encouraged us at Easter." Fatso wants another six. 28th May: As the FIA Main Event approaches Finnish Pro Stock Bike racer Fredrik Fredlund, who ran in the sixes in competition in the USA, says that he is finding the days getting shorter as the nights get lighter. "We have been very busy", Fredrik told Eurodragster.com. "We have updated the chassis and changed the bodywork so that I fit better on the bike. The new body is a GSXR the same as they run in the US. These new bodies are a little more slick. We have also updated the engine and datalogger. We have also been working on a new transporter so we have two projects going on. Also I have to move out of my apartment before the middle of this week. People say "Why don't you start earlier?" but it makes no difference, you're never done! It has been hard work this off-season but it will be good when we get it finished. "We have lightnened the bike as much as we can and that includes me. My team and Gary Stoffer were calling me "Fatso" so I have lost ten kilogrammes. The aim is to make the bike as light as light as possible so that we can put the weight where we want it. We are definitely aiming for a six-second pass, but so will our competitors. They are all very strong but it's fun, we much prefer tight racing and working hard for it. It's a pity that the Sovereign bikes aren't out there, but the other guys and girls are there and some of them have already had practice.We are definitely going for the Championship but it's tough. I think we have a good chance but it's in the weather." Fredrik is again sponsored by internet gaming sponsor PAF this season. "All of my team-mates and friends help me and support me", he said. "I have a very strong team around me. We have support from Gary Stoffer again but he can't be at Santa Pod. He will join us at Tierp Arena with Karen Stoffer and Eddie Krawiec. They are all nice people. Gary and Karen have always helped me - he says I can call him in the middle of the night his time and I do! "Hopefully we can put up some good racing and good numbers." The best-laid plans... 28th May: Also working hard in the off-season were Martin and Cindy Newbury and the UK's Psycleworkz Pro Stock Bike team. The changes made to the bike in 2011 worked out as Martin set a new PB at one of the three events which the team contested. Spurred by his success Martin was straight onto the phone to give himself plenty of time to get new parts on the bike for 2012. Cindy writes that it seemed a good idea at the time: What we didn't expect was a huge increase in workload from drag racing and other motorsport. We already had a client base in the Le Mans / World Endurance Championship but it's now got larger, and also with two Pro Stock Bikes and a complete Nitro Harley to build, the months during the off season have gone quickly. With less than two weeks to go a few of the new parts still needed fitting - new vacuum pump, exhaust, O2 sensor, but at least the new rear wheel was on! The FIA Main Event is on the same weekend as Le Mans, and after testing of some new parts in Spa another batch was ordered for Martin Brundle's LMP2 race car. These have been completed so our attention could then focus on the bike again. The plan for the 2012 season is to race at four, possibly five rounds: Santa Pod, Tierp, Hockenheim, Tierp and Santa Pod - if our workload allows. We also plan to continue to upgrade the bike. Martin has been on the phone to the States a lot to talk engines so even more parts could soon be arriving. But so far as the Main Event is concerned we will be setting up the new parts and getting ready for Tierp. You can check out Psycleworksz' range of motorsport parts at www.psycleworkz.com. Bishop aims for the podium. 28th May: Fellow UK Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop was concerned that he may not be able to contest the UEM Championship in 2012 but, business having picked up, he is definitely in and planning to race at five of this year's six rounds. Martin told Eurodragster.com that he is hoping for a top three finish. "During the off-season we did some heavy in-house engine development", said Martin. "We're not frightened of doing the work ourselves. When we stripped the motor everything looked good so we're really pleased with Lucas' oil. Their cleaning products are also superb, bloody good stuff. "We have lost Baz our Crew Chief to work and family commitments. Big thanks to him for his help over the years. Timon Marshall stepping in to the Crew Chief position and we have a new crew member, Cliff Gould, as clutch man and as you know he's bloody good. And he only lives two miles down the road, which is a bonus for me but not sure it is for him! "We are planning to test at Santa Pod on Thursday, that will be our first outing in anger this season. The engine has had several heat cycles so we know that is all OK. "This year we're looking out for Fredrik Fredlund and and Kalle Lyrén. We are still sponsored by Lucas Oil, so thanks to Les Downey, and we are talking to other potential sponsors and will hopefully have something to say about that soon. This is a serious hobby and it's not easy nowadays because the travel costs are horrendous." Pro Stock Bike snippets. 28th May: Sweden's Ulf Ögge is looking forward to the FIA Main Event and he says that his intention is to go fast. "We're ready, and with some new parts it should be interesting to see what we can do", he says. "We have a new head configuration and a new clutch, so we will probably make a test run on Friday. We also hope for good weather so that we can race! The crew is certainly looking forward to being out on track again again." Sweden's Team Veidec PSB team are fielding two bikes this season with Eurodragster.com Blogger Kalle Lyrén and Elvira Karlsson pairing up. Elvira has been racing bikes since climbing on to a Junior Drag Bike at the age of ten with great success. She started in Pro Stock Bike last season and has so far recorded bests of 7.33/287 kmh. Elvira's bike will initially be powered by a 1500 cc motor but a 1755 cc engine will be in the frame later on this season. "Elvira is looking forward to having fun and running some fast times", says dad Robert. "After some pre-season testing we are getting step by step closer to a good set-up", says Kalle Lyrén. "We think that we have a good base to start from before the Main Event. We will do some testing at the Peak Performance Test Day and hopefully the weather will be fine so that we can get some track time. We have already been quicker than ever before in testing this year and it feels good that the bike is starting to work and also that my riding skills have improved from last year. The trip to the US in February is really paying off. We can already start to see the difference but and I still have a lot of training to do to be even more perfect! Hopefully we will get at least one test run on Friday also, so that we can be 100% prepared for the first qualifier on Saturday." The Fastest Mirror on the Planet. 28th May: UK Super Street Bike racer Nigel Barker, aka The Happy Shopper, can't wait for the FIA Main Event after having to miss the Autotrader Easter Thunderball due to top end problems: Over the winter I had the bike resprayed in chrome and black by The Chrome Shop who have done a brilliant job in creating what Tog described as "The Fastest Mirror on the Planet". I am very pleased with the excellent service, hard work and enthusiasm they have shown, and they plan to come up to see the bike in action very soon. If anyone wants anything chrome sprayed (including plastics etc.) I would heartily recommend them - please see their web site for more details, and thanks for a great job to Steve and Steve. Once the bike was prepped we went up to the pre-Easter Thunderball weekend and, after some initial grip problems at the Saturday RWYB, we worked on the set-up. The track was much better at the Sunday Peak Performance Day and we ran a 7.70/194. I had just put some more boost in for the mid part of the run where the logs showed we had potential for more power, aiming for a 7.6. The bike launched great with a pretty good 1.32 sixty foot time and was looking good for a mid 7.6 run, but unfortunately at around 1000 feet two cam buckets disintegrated resulting in a fair amount of top end damage. With less than a week to go before Easter, I took the bike to Grumpy and Rob at DynoSpeed / Mistral who stripped the motor in super quick time and rang to give me the bad news that the damage was worse than we had hoped. Unfortunately it could not be fixed in time for the Thunderball. However, they got the bits ordered and bike finished and back together the following week, so many thanks to them for again doing a great job. I picked up the bike and planned to go to Shakespeare County Raceway for the Public Track Weekend, but that unfortunately was cancelled due to the bad weather. The next planned outing was the second round of the UK Championship at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakey. I shortened the bike from the normal regulation sixty eight inches to around sixty five inches and raised the ride height and front to get the chassis set-up right for the track and to get more weight over the rear wheel. I had a good weekend despite the eliminations being cancelled again due to bad weather. I qualified second behind Danny Cockerill, by 0.007 seconds with a 7.809 and what turned out to be the highest terminal speed of all the car and bike classes over the weekend, 189.49 mph, which was a nice surprise. Before the Main Event I will be lengthening the bike and lowering it back down again, plus the normal routine maintenance tasks. I hope for a new PB to beat my current 7.61. This will be the first round of the UEM Super Street Bike European Cup competition, which is a new event for us all in the class after a trial run last year, and is a great addition to the events in which we compete. Thanks go to the organisers and campaigners for all their efforts in getting this championship included in the UEM calendar – excellent job. Getting all the paperwork organised, the exercise ECG (required for us old gits in the sport), and doctor's reports written for the international licence was a bit of a challenge but with help and good communications from Geoff Myers we now have twenty three riders from many countries in Europe who are UEM registered and entered for the Main Event. This is a great showing for SSB and by far the biggest bike class, and the most competitive - in my opinion of course! There will be four rounds of the championship in total consisting of the Main Event, NitrOlympX at Hockenheim, Kunmadaras in Hungary, and the FIA European Finals back at the Pod. With some extremely close racing in Super Street Bike I don't think anyone could predict a winner; there are so many excellent bikes and riders in the class now that it could go to one of many, and will almost certainly not be decided until the last round. Consistency, reliability, fine tuning and spot-on bike set-up will be key at the different tracks and surfaces to get a result. But those who I would bet on being in the running for the title are Steve Venables, Dave Holland, Graham Dance, Dave Smith and Rick Stubbins, plus some others in with a good chance including Chris Reed aka Boisy - a quiet, unassuming chap with pink tutu, Gary Bowe, Wayne Saunders, Graham Balchin, Steve Mead, Danny Cockerill, Pete Field and maybe even me (you've gotta believe!). But there are also some others capable of nicking an event win if they get the tune up right for the track. It really is that close in the class now and as we know anything can happen – especially in eliminations. So here's to a great Main Event for all classes, with some decent weather finally, and hopefully getting eliminations completed for the first time this year! If you are there please come and see the Fastest Mirror on the Planet in the pits and say hello. Many thanks to all the hard working crew at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway, and to all at Eurodragster.com of course for their excellent news, photos, event reporting and coverage (Oh I say, thanks - Ed). Finally Thank You to all who continue to help me in my racing endeavours especially crew chief Darren 'Diesel' Gauntlett, Linda, Isa (for letting Diesel out!), the others who have crewed for me, Brad O'Connor at BTC Motronics for excellent tuning advice and his work on the bike over the winter, Paul Wing for getting the spare engine built, and the many others in the SSB pits who have helped with parts, advice, assistance and in creating a great class and excellent atmosphere in the pits both during racing, and afterwards over a few beers! Cheers, and have a great season's racing. Dance: We'll turn it up to 11. 28th May: Fellow Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance agrees that 2012 has certainly not had the desired start. With weather and track conditions against the racers, nobody has run any really good numbers so everyone is heading to the FIA Main Event for the first round of UEM Cup without any clue of who is going to do well, and with twenty three bikes trying to get into a sixteen-bike field qualifying will be tight. "So far my bike has run well in both meetings qualifying easily in the top half of the field but next weekend will see a less conservative approach with only four qualifying runs", says Graham. "On a track which we think will take a lot more power we're going to push the motor and chassis settings to the maximum. If the wind is kind I know several riders who want to go for the 200 mph barrier which still hasn't been backed up for a record yet. It won't be me as my bike tends not to run big speed! "Brad of BTC Moto will be helping with the nitrous fuelling and bringing the jet drills and Fred Furlong is still supplying the excellent Michelin Power Ones which 90% of the field will be using as the tyre of choice. Jon of Specialist In Design has been consulted over chassis and suspension settings, so overall we're confident that we can be in the mix." Rushden Car Show report. 28th May: Whilst the Eurodragster.com team were sweating it out at the Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday, a Car Show was taking place in nearby Rushden to promote this week's FIA Main Event. Former Street Eliminator racer Ray Comer went along and kindly sent us a report and pictures: It's always a tough call for anyone who puts on a car show; bad weather and no one shows, too hot and people spend it in their gardens or at the seaside. Rushden were fortunate to have the hot weather but throw in a well established car show, Gary's Picnic, at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend in its thirty fourth year and a Run What You Brung at Santa Pod just four miles away and it's fair to say that a lot of hot rod owners were going to be spoilt for choice this weekend. As a result the number of cars and bikes present were probably below the organisers' hopes and expectations. Fortunately a mixed, but hardcore, dozen or so cars turned out for this event held in a closed-off section of Rushden High Street, and latterly the carpark of the Wheatsheaf public house. Whilst numbers might have been down on the organisers' expectations, what was there drew a lot of attention from the High Street shoppers, being in the main shopping area it had a constant stream of visitors flowing through it from 10:00 am onwards. This was a joint affair between Rushden Town Council and Santa Pod to promote next weekend's Main Event and, of course, Rushden itself. Mayor Marian Hollomon was on hand to ride shotgun on the lunchtime cruise around the one-way system and was keen to use the event to bring new people into Rushden to show what the town offers and to promote the town. Mayor Marian obviously enjoyed herself as I'm led to believe she asked for a second ride! Santa Pod had brought their funny car in its new striking green livery and boy, did that pull in some admirers, the Santa Pod crew representing the track in their usual very professional manner and handing out flyers and cards to the public; I'm impressed with how many times they can answer the general public's stock questions "Does it have an MoT?", "How do you get in it?" etc etc and still keep a smile on their faces. I think it's fair to say it was an eclectic mix, from probably the cleanest stock 1999 Camaro Z28 the world has ever seen – seriously, this is cleaner than it was the day it left the factory in Canada; if you don't clean the inside of your exhausts with a bottle brush, hang your head in shame now – to an old school 'rat' Cadillac. The UK Street Machine boys and girls were out in force as well as Sportsman ET who were well represented with both Nigel Hale and Mick Hale displaying their respective pride and joys, Nigel with his very loud '77 Chevy Crewcab pickup thanks to a 572 Merlin providing the grunt, and Mick displaying his turquoise blue 280CE Mercedes with a far from stock lump, the German unit having been replaced with a clean 347 ci SBC. Two totally different vehicles running very similar ETs in the Championship this season. Both racers were pleased to be able to display their cars both for the public and to help promote the show. There was a very straight third-generation ('61-'63) Ford Thunderbird, inside and out, minding its own business which drew quite a few looks along with Bruce Collins' VW from the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club. I'm not a VW fan generally but I liked this. UK Street Machine member Derek Smith's bright red Plymouth rod took me a minute to work out, was it a 33 Plymouth or a Ford? Derek let me in on the fact that its both! It's a '33 Plymouth body with a Ford front end and a Rover lump added for good measure. Complete with red 'Blue oval', and lots of chrome on show it sits just right. The old-school 60s Caddy, running the original Caddy 390 ci lump and side pipes, is owned by Shandy who has just returned from a workshop where he had the rear fender skirts removed and the back jacked up "So it sits the way I wanted it to". When asked about the unusual paint finish, Shandy was quick to point out that the paintwork on his car was rarely seen; take one tub of masonry paint from Focus DIY, apply liberally with a roller, paint with black primer and... well, that was it really. Oh, and spray the seats and carpets with a similar colour paint! Hand-rollered paintwork, spray-painted carpets and seats? It just sounds so wrong - so why is it that this was the car I wanted to bring home with me? If Shandy wanted the 'rat' look, he got it right. A clean '54 - '55 Chevy 3100 pickup in a matt pale blue paint job parked up behind the Santa Pod display but kept its hood down, the louvred vents hinting at something more than the original 215 ci six-cylinder that most of these came with. Was the Chevy airplane hood ornament stock? Probably not but that's what rodding is about, making it your own. This was followed up by Kaylee Jacksons Pinto-powered baby blue Ford Pop, another member of the UK Street Machine Club, and a Ford Thames 100e van work in progress in various shades of blue sporting what looked like a supercharged Big Block. That completed the High Street car line-up but we had some two-wheel interest as well with a couple of street bikes and a trio of chopped bikes that had the local Saturday shoppers just as interested. As the cars prepared to get ready for the 1:00pm cruise I went to investigate the Wheatsheaf who had advertised a BBQ and all day drag racing videos; I'm guessing some of the regulars must be F1 fans because that was what was running when I got there, but once that was over it was nice to see one of the all time great car movies, American Grafitti, pop up on screen. Which was just as well as the car park was almost empty of anything of interest at that point, the only vehicular interest being the trio of choppers from the High Street, now with an added Triumph, a bare bones Supertwin I think but with no cowling to identify to whom it belonged, and a very clean Mk1 Golf. Just as I was thinking that was going to be it, the distinctive rumble of V8s coming up the High Street drew everyone's attention and the smiles said it all; into the car park came two Austin A40s, one of which belonged to Pete Weller, another UKSM member. In period colour schemes, these were the perfect sleepers and typical of the UK rod scene; they were followed by a 50s 100e, obviously a work in progress. Then we were joined by Roy Walker's very distinctive Pro Street Mk1 Cortina sporting a very healthy sounding BBC, probably my favourite Pro ET car ever, and shortly after that they were also joined by the rat Caddy, Bruce Collins' VW and a very shiny Z06 Corvette; strangely enough this got less attention than the older cars. As always in these events, the best was saved for last. By this time I was enjoying a refreshing glass of lager in the shade accompanied by Jeanette and Shelby Webster and Chris Perkins, when in came a bright orange van. A discussion quickly ensued as to its origin with the general consensus being that it had started life as a 300e, or had it? A quick chat with current owner John Sarrington confirmed it as a '55 Hillman Husky, originally built by Chris Hay back in the late 80s to use in his plumbing business and which was later bought by the almost-legendary Dave Rothwell and disappeared off the scene for a while until 2000 when it reappeared in the guise you see today. The standard of finish on this rod has to be seen to be believed; I only know one other man with this much attention to detail and his wife and daughter were sat at the table with me. Now powered by a turbo Cossie engine pumping out 325 bhp, a very clean engine bay installation, some very trick billet components and with one of the straightest paint jobs I have ever seen, this is what the UK rodding scene is all about. Attention TMD and TMFC racers II. 25th May: Further to geoff Martin's news item on Friday, UK Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson has been in touch with a heads-up on another 2012 rule revision for Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car which did not appear in the usual red type in the rule book. Grumpy tells us that the revision is in section 3.1 on page 32 of the FIA rule book and concerns 5/16 handbrake levers. Classic Ford Show coverage. 27th May: Eurodragster.com are covering today's Classic Ford Show at Santa Pod Raceway in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We will again be posting an end-day gallery and the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will broadcast live video and trackside audio as long as the track is open. Thanks to our good buddies at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. Maikel Gloudemans of Doyousee.me asked us to say a big Thank You to Erwin 'Errie' Kievith and 'Sleepy' Pelle van Gils who have been working very hard on upgrades to the streaming server. You can check out our FIA Main Event coverage index, which includes links to the webcast, official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Another transplant success. 27th May: UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell says that the first of Friday's spy pictures was the the new motor in his Funny Car. After twenty seven years as a Chevy man, Flav has installed a Hemi in a motor swap. At the close of play in 2011 we embarked upon our joint project with Jayne and Gary Kay to swap drivetrains. The Chevy was installed in Jayne's chassis and at Easter we hit a 7.44/184. Since then I have had a business to get back on its feet and, never short of looking for a project, I moved house. Meanwhile in the garage Steve and Mali were beavering away rebuilding everything from the ground up and yesterday we tested the 482 KB Hemi for the first time. Wow! The Pro Stock reunion. 27th May: In the early 1970s a handful of American Super Stock and Pro Stock cars were imported into the UK. Gary Goggin was already trouncing the opposition with his blue Corvette in Top Street but in 1972 Tony Dickson débuted his new car, a genuine US-built Super Stock 1967 Camaro, Money Hungry, which had rolled off the boat just a few days earlier. The UK's first ever Pro Stock eliminator took place at the British Drag Racing and Hot Rod Association's season opener in 1973. In truth the class at first featured a mix of Pro Stock and Super Stock cars with some European hybrids such as Tender Trap and the Music Machine. The class lasted until the end of 1976 when small fields and high costs forced it to be merged with the Super Street class under the new banner of Top Modified. Why is British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury telling us this? Well, if you are visiting Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway then don't forget your autograph book or copy of Crazy Horses as the BDRHoF has managed to locate a majority of these early pioneers of Pro Stock racing who will be in attendance on the Sunday of the event (15th). The list of attendees so far is Gary Goggin, Kevin Pilling, Colin Mullan, John Dickson, Sam Connell, Peter Bennett, Peter Crane and Barry George. The list keeps growing and who knows who will be turning up on the day. It will be the first time that some of these pioneers have met up since the 1970s. If you know where other European Pro Stock drivers or team members are these days then please contact me at [email protected]. If you know where some of the cars are, even more so. And what about Gunne Back? Does anyone know where he is these days? Don't miss out, it could be your only chance to meet these stars of the past and collect their autograph or have a chin-wag. VP await your pleasure. 27th May: The countdown is on for the FIA Main Event, the FIA and UEM season opener at Santa Pod Raceway. Santa Pod Raceway extended their VP Racing Fuels stocks with another delivery ready for one of the biggest events in Europe. VP Racing Fuels products are proven Championship winners. Many European racers have taken number one spots and titles with VP's leaded and unleaded race fuels. It is always worth checking out the Pod Shop as regular items are always in stock and you will often find new items; for example back at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball the Pod Shop introduced VP Racing Fuels' new C85. At the request of racers, VP's M1 Methanol is available in nineteen-litre containers for the FIA Main Event, but 204 litre drums are still available. In addition to the regular stock of VP Import, C85, C23, C16, Q16, C14 ,C12, M1 Methanol, N02, VP100, SV05 and MS109, pre-orders are also being taken for MR12, VP Vintage and M5 Methanol. MR12 is an excellent motorcycle sports bike fuel which like all VP blends gives excellent power gains. VP Vintage is a non-oxygenated leaded fuel for engines with lower compression. If any sportsman racer considers C12 to be a higher spec than their requirement then VP Vintage is a product for consistency and allows more timing than pump gas and the pricing is lower than C12. M5 Methanol is an oxygenated methanol and will give between 3% and 5% more power than M1 Methanol. Don't forget that the Pod Shop also has VP Racing Fuels jugs with the full range of colours on the shelf.VP Racing Fuels. VP Racing Fuels' UK and Ireland fuel distributor Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts will be at Santa Pod on the Saturday and Sunday fo the FIA Main Event and will be available to answer any questions about VP Racing Fuels. For pre-orders, contact Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or visit www.santapodshop.com. Bartlett on 2012 TV. 26th May: Santa Pod Raceway CEO Keith Bartlett says that there will be some major changes this year to the production of television shows from the FIA and UEM European Drag Racing Championships: This Main Event is always a very busy time for both me and my staff at Santa Pod Raceway, as it is the first round of both Championships and additionally for me personally. I have the whole event to oversee as well as my role of Executive Producer for all the TV production on both Championships. We have to make sure that the TV production goes according to plan, given that we are this year taking on a much increased TV production and slate of shows. For this season we will be producing the following TV from each round of the Championship: 1 x 52 minute highlights programme: Basically a race report show from each round, giving six shows in total. This show will be of a similar format to the previous years and cover all classes from the semi-finals and other selected races and action from each event. 6x 28 min 'Lifestyle' shows: These shows will follow all six rounds of the Championships (FIA and UEM), and will be edited together at the end of the season for distribution in the winter months. These shows will follow selected teams and or drivers and build stories around them the season over, and create stories from things that happen at the various rounds and turn into stories on going as a result of something that happens at any one round. Web TV: We are going to start for the first time in 2012 a full production of live streamed TV from each round. This will prove to be a very important development for the Championships and at the same time a very exciting one. The public, the teams and tracks sponsors and fans all over the world will be able to see live FIA and UEM Championship drag racing for at least two days of each event (last qualifying day and race day). This will of course be paid for TV but we have priced this in my opinion exactly right, to give value for money ($10 per weekend). The shows will be in HD quality and will be produced for the TV Production cameras giving a multi-camera shoot live over the internet. I am very excited at these changes and developments which we are introducing to the television production this year, but am also at the same time only too aware of the huge task and job we have taken on and what will fall upon me as the Executive Producer to make it happen. As it took a long time over the winter months to finalise this increased TV production, we are very late in launching the Web TV project and that is going to be challenging to everyone involved. I am not without my concerns as to how we will make these new shows happen, alongside the existing race report shows, but I am confident that we will succeed as we always have done in the past and by the end of next season (2013), I believe that the Web TV will be a huge success. Of course in this first year of so much changes to the TV shows, there will be some things that will not end up as good as we would have liked, but overall I am very confident we will produce some very good television. What is vital for everyone to understand is how important this is going to be for the FIA and UEM Championships, the teams, plus the drivers and riders along with the track promoters. I have wanted to make this step up in the TV production for over two years now, and it is hopefully going to help in taking the profile of the FIA and UEM Championships to up another level over the next coming two to three years. It is no secret that I have maintained that we must make stars of the drivers and riders not stars of the cars if we are going to create both bigger following of drag racing and more income from the sponsors and marketing partners. We must get away from this culture of people in the sport seeing the cars as the stars as that we will not take us to the next level. In Formula 1 everyone knew who Michael Schumacher was, but less than 30% of the general population knew which team he drove for. We are not F1 and never will be, but we can aim for and reach a higher level than where we are now and the TV shows will play a huge part in reaching those goals… See you at the track. Attention TMD and TMFC racers. 25th May: Geoff Martin of the UK's Tech Crew has been in touch with an important notice to racers in Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car: In the FIA rules for 2012 a revision appeared to Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car parachute shroud tethers but did not appear in the usual red type denoting rule revisions. I know that most racers read the rules relevant to their class, but if anyone has not fitted these parachute shroud tethers there is still time to get it done before the FIA Main Event. Hanna's Top Methanol tips. 25th May: In his own words, Top Alcohol tuner Will Hanna doesn't have a dog in the fight at next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Noticing that Eurodragster.com doesn't have its own version of the Tricky Tipster, Will offered his services for next weekend and here is is assessment of the odds in Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car: The overall condition of the track will dictate who has the upper hand in Top Methanol Dragster.  The fresh starting line really threw a harder curveball at the A/Fuel cars than it did the blown cars.  The downtrack bumps will not affect the long cars as much, so if the starting line is back to the traditional Santa Pod form, we should see good numbers out of the TMD field.  TMD has been one of the more closely-contested classes in European drag racing.  When you pair these guys off, if both drivers make a good run, it becomes a pick 'em type of race. Only a fool will take an opponent lightly. Dave Wilson: "The Grump" has to be the leader in the club house if there is even a marginal starting line.  He makes big power with his A/Fueller and has shown he can run on a marginal track, or flat haul ass on a good track.  He's been known to take a nap on the line, so that's always his Achilles' Heel.  I will give him credit where credit is due, he seemed to be more on his game on the tree last year.  The car to beat. Timo Habermann: Rebounded from an off year by the Habermanns' standards with a win at the European Finals.  When they get it hooked up, can outrun nearly anyone to the eighth mile.  More often than not, he's quick on the tree. Dennis Habermann: The balance of power in the Habermann clan is getting as close as it has ever been.  Several races last year Dennis had the better race car of the two.  Timo gets a slight nod because of experience.  This very well could be the year Dennis outplaces Timo. Monty Bugeja: If you want a sleeper pick to bet on, put your money on the Maltese Mr Whippy team.  Once they get everything clicking in place, this team/car has the potential to become the car to beat in Europe.  This is an ex-Rick Santos chassis with a Norm Grimes engine/tune up.  Don't be surprised when they surprise everyone. Christopher Polidano: Has made several outings this year under the tutelage of former owner Derek Flynn, so he will have some much-needed seat time under his belt.  The car has always had a Jekyll and Hyde personality.  It's either at the top of the pack or not.  Wouldn't surprise at all to see the Kalanc team in the late rounds. Krister Johansson: Ranking Krister sixth in the field is probably right where he wants to be.  If you take these guys lightly, they will put you on the trailer in about 5.3 seconds.  He can cut a light to boot.  Almost scored a win at the 2010 European Finals, would love to finish the deal with a win this year. Esko Raisvuo: Car shows potential with big speeds, just has been sluggish off the line the past few years.  If they can ever get the car to run front half numbers to match the back half, look out. In Top Methanol Funny Car, the bumps in the track will prove to be a bit more of a problem.  A bump on a shorter wheelbase car will definitely upset the car a lot more.  It definitely brings the driver skill to the equation. Rob Turner: The team figured out how to get in the 5.80s and took home the hardware at the European Finals.  They have raced long enough that 5.80s will probably be about as slow as they will run.  Would not be surprised to see the Turners dip well into the .70s or better.  They will be the car to beat. Danny Bellio: Has a new McKinney chassis to work with this year.  If he can figure out what the new car wants, he has the muscle to beat the Turners.  Needs some good weather to get a chance to make runs and collect data on the new car. Steph Milam: The She Devil team has been knocking on the five-second barrier the last few years.  May not have the car to flat outrun Turner or Bellio, but can definitely upset either one of them if they are not on their game. Performance predictions: TMD Low ET: 5.319 TMD Top Speed: 273.77 TMFC Low ET: 5.747 TMFC Top Speed: 247.30 Working on their Escape. 25th May: The Autotrader Easter Thunderball to FIA Main Event lay-off has been a busy time for the UK's Gray and Blackburn Escape from Reality Pro ET team. Marius Blackburn writes that in an attempt to slow down their Hauser Race Cars-built altered the team have had the car in Geof's workshop for a chassis upgrade: An additional pair of tubes was needed in the rear section of the car to enable us to have the chassis tagged to 7.50. It was originally tagged to 8.50 but when we put the 468 Chevy in it, it became obvious that the performance of the Rob Loaring-built motor would exceed the 8.50 mark! We've run low 8.80s at less than half throttle. The weight of the extra tubing, along with the surgical removal of two inches from my right leg should see us back in the nines, for now! On the same day we also went to Andy Robinson Race Cars to have our gearbox casing and flexplate re-certified. Andy was good enough to show us some of the many projects which he and his team had on the go. Busy busy or what! Chris and I would like to thank both Geof and Andy for the quick turnaround as we were able to cover both jobs on the same day. We travelled 450 miles during the excursion! Back to reality (Nice - Ed) re-assembling the car, in and out of the back of our truck to our open-air workshop, avoiding the rain during the wettest drought in history. A bit of body work has also taken place as the years of abuse have begun to take their toll on the car's appearance. You can hardly notice the difference but I can assure you there is one! One week to go before the FIA Main Event and the sun is finally shining on us so this Saturday we should tie up all the loose ends and make some noise before the 'Over the Hill' Gang heads off to the Pod. Special thanks also go out to Super Crewman Bob Regis who has an eighty-mile round trip to come to work on the car, or to sit in the truck when the rains come. Also to my partner Rachel for putting up with it all. I'm sure she enjoys the peace really and she never did want a holiday anyway! Thanks also go out to you guys at Eurodragster.com for doing what you do and for giving us the opportunity to win the Eurodragster.com/ModUrStang Perfect Light Award Easter (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Swift snippets. 25th May: We have two spy pictures for you today. The first to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "We're nearly there! See you at the Main Event"... ...whilst the second came with the words "Destined for the Supercharged Outlaws soon". If you know more about either, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Donna Finnegan of Santa Pod Raceway says that advance-price tickets for FIA Main Event are on sale until 5:00 pm this afternoon (Friday). Tickets can be booked on Santa Pod's on-line ticket shop which offers a Print at Home facility allowing you to buy and then immediately print a valid ticket from the comfort of your own home. Grandstand seats can also be booked on-line and you can choose your own seat. Visit www.eticketing.co.uk/santapodraceway. Of course, if you prefer you can still telephone the Box Office on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +1234 782828). Ready to forget the rain. 25th May: Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Junior Dragster-racing sisters Paige and Belle Wheeler are set to tear up the track at the next big race in the calendar, the FIA Main Event. Drag race fans are in for a treat on Jubilee weekend when they head to Santa Pod Raceway, with these two rising stars setting high expectations. Rain has been the story of the season so far, which means Belle and Paige haven't finished a competition yet. But a bit of rain won't keep the Wheeler sisters off the track as they gear up for one of the biggest races of the year. Paige currently sits in fifth place in the UK Championships, so she has everything to play for and Belle will be slipping behind the wheel of her brand-new dragster, which looks set to be one of the best in Europe. Custom-built for Belle complete with mini pedals tailor-made for her Size 1 feet, the dragster is being shipped across from New York. "We've had a decidedly soggy start to the racing year, but Paige and Belle remain focused and have already proved that they have what it takes to go all the way" said Neil Summerville, EMEA Franchising Director, Alamo Rent A Car. "This is a really important event on the drag racing calendar and we are offering the girls our full support to help them to prepare for the big day. "We are proud to sponsor the Wheeler sisters and we're keen to see them demonstrate their skills on the track over the Jubilee weekend. We also sponsor the Santa Pod Raceway as part of Alamo's commitment to the UK drag racing scene." With a global network providing access to over 2,500 rental locations in over one hundred countries worldwide, and over 1,680 European locations including at every major airport, Alamo offers a wide range of vehicles and optional extras for leisure travellers, making it the ideal partner for drag racing fans. For more information visit www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. To Turbo's best buddy... 25th May: UK Wild Bunch and Super Pro ET racer Ian Turburville has been in touch with birthday greetings for his daughter, Pro ET racer Laura Turburville: I would like to wish my beautiful Laura Grace a very Happy Birthday and to thank her for being my best buddy for seventeen years. She has done really well at college this year and misses her racing badly, so I aim to fix that little problem for her. We need track time to develop her car and we can only do this at a permitted race meet so we will try again at the Summernationals. I have had to pick and chose which races to enter with the slingshot, as money is tight and expenses grow, so we cannot do the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway but will instead focus on the FIA Main Event. This is shaping up to be a tremendous race and there is nothing quite like being part of the big show! Kalix, the Finnish Supertwin racer, is trying desperately to get some of our new Kenny Youngblood hero cards printed and shipped to us for the event, so stop by and grab a piece of art! I will also have with me the last stocks of Simpson nostalgia T-Shirts and Nitro Knucks mechanics' gloves, plus some other bits and bobs. I just hope this spell of glorious weather isn't the usual pre-Main Event mickey-take by the gods! Safe racing everyone! Have a very Happy Birthday Laura. FIA Main Event racer update. 24th May: Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club for forwarding us details of the arrangements for racers at next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Santa Pod Raceway's gates open at 08:00 on Thursday (31st). Signing on for all competitors will begin at 14:00 on Thursday until 20:00 that evening and will then reopen the next morning. Sportsman car scrutineering will commence at 14:30 on Thursday. UEM bike scrutineering will commence at 08:00 on Friday (1st June) and FIA car scrutineering will commence during Friday. The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note as ever that these running orders may be subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. On a separate note, as the EDA Super Pro ET prize fund was not paid out at Easter, it will double to £100 for the winner of Super Pro ET at the FIA Main Event. Decals are not required for this payout. Swift snippets. 24th May: The origin of the latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com is probably not too difficult to ascertain, although what it depicts is another matter. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. The bike event Spring Wheels takes place at Tierp Arena tomorrow and Saturday. The EDRS Series will be contested in Nordic Challenge Super Twin Bike, Funny Bike, Super Comp Bike and Super Gas Bike, European Super Street Bike has a trial outing, and professional racers are testing including Peter Svensson on the five-second Team Kendall Top Fuel Bike. The event also includes Run What You Brung, bike procession from Stockholm, stunt bike show, bike meet, ZZ Top tribute band and more. More about the event at www.tierparena.com and results will be available via the Resultat link at www.nitroz.se. FIA Main Event Week coverage. 24th May: Eurodragster.com will be reporting from this weekend's Run What You Brung and Classic Ford Show in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We will be posting and end-day report and gallery from the RWYB and an end-day gallery on Sunday. In addition the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and will broadcast live video and trackside audio as long as the track is open both days. Thanks to our good buddies at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. Our coverage plans for FIA Main Event week are as follow: Day Report End-day gallery Pit notes Webcast Saturday 26th Run What You Brung End-day Yes No Yes Sunday 27th Classic Ford Show No Yes No Yes Thursday 31st Pro Racer Test and Tune Live Yes No Yes Friday 1st FIA Main Event qualifying Live Yes Yes Yes Saturday 2nd FIA Main Event qualifying Live Yes Yes Web TV (free) Sunday 3rd FIA Main Event qualifying Live Yes Yes Web TV (PPV) Monday 4th FIA Main Event eliminations Live Yes Yes Web TV (PPV) We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage when it commences but in the meantime you can check out our FIA Main Event coverage index, which includes the official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We have received some thirty five FIA Main Event previews from racers in various classes Pro and Sportsman, for which many thanks to the racers concerned. We shall start to run these on the next update, but we always have room for more so racers please don't hesitate to send your FIA Main Event previews to us at [email protected]. Welcome Temair Motorsport. 23rd May: We are very pleased to welcome Temair Motorsport as a sponsor of Eurodragster.com News. Temair Motorsport are suppliers of Artel Motorsport silicone hoses, Stage 8 Locking Fasteners and ISC Racer Tape. Artel silicone hoses are designed to directly replace your OEM hose and are manufactured directly in the UK for mainstream costumers such as Bentley, Aston Martin, Lotus, Caterham and Morgan and many more drifting, rally, drag racing, F1 and circuit racing teams. Stage 8 locking fasteners design the world's most effective active mechanical locking fastener system which prevents even a single degree of fastener loosening rotation and provides significantly more breakaway torque than any other locking system. Stage 8 have over seventeen million locking systems installed in automotive and industrial applications, without a single failure reported. For more than twenty years, ISC Racers Tape has supplied a full range of tapes to the racing industry. From Indianapolis to Silverstone everyone uses Racers Tape and applications are endless from cars, bicycles, boats, motorbike, race-cars, trailers, snowmobiles and everything in between. For more information check out Temair Motorsport's web site at www.temairmotorsport.com or click on the Temair Motorsport banner on the right column. We would like to say a big Thank You to Tom Perry of Temair Motorsport for his support and for adding yet more to the huge range of products and services which the racing community can acquire from Eurodragster.com sponsors. Please consider Temair Motorsport and all of Eurodragster.com's sponsors when looking for goods or services. Ready to rumble! 23rd May: Germany's Christian Jäger and the Black Seven Nitro Team are ready for the 2012 season which starts at next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Markus Münch writes: The 2011 rookie season in Supertwin had its highs and lows. At the FIA Main Event and Sweden Internationals Christian was top qualifier and set a new PB of 6.50 seconds. There were also two DNQs in the season. "The 2011 season was better for us than expected", says Christian. "We had top results and a new PB not far away from the actual European record. We couldn't solve all the problems at once, but that's racing and we are still on a learning curve in this class. We analysed everything throughout the off-season and learned a lot. There have been no major changes on the bike so far, but many parts have been replaced so that they are in top condition when the season kicks off in a week's time. We did a warm-up and checked the bike and it behaved exactly how we wanted it to behave. "We want to test at the Peak Performance Day prior to the Main Event to be in perfect shape. Thats what you need to do in the strong Supertwin class. Our Crew Chief Eric Jennes left the team and I will take over his duties as well as riding the bike. We also have one new mechanic on board. Our aims for this season are to run consistently in the mid six-second range, to reach the top four in the Championship, and to win our home race, the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim." The Black Seven Nitro Racing Team would like to say Thank You to the following for their support, for without them racing would not be possible to this high standard: Gremium MC, De Walt, Kade Oil, Hockenheim Ring GMBH, G&R , Arno Hänsel, Lucky-Seven-shop.de, Limitec, Twin Service, Lipo Tec, Huber Tec, ABM Fahrzeugtechnik, and all our friends for their support. Danke." Year of the cat. 23rd May: After a 2011 season in which they were pleased to have fulfilled their race programme and competed in every round of the FIA Pro Stock Championship, the UK's Conrad Stanley and the Panther Racing UK team have spent the off-season working hard to secure funding for 2012: 2011 came at a heavy price after we damaged the engine badly in Hockeheim. The whole team pulled together and called in more favours than we care to think of and we made the final round at the European Finals! So to 2012. Panther Racing UK have renewed last year's sponsors. We are really pleased that these companies have faith in what we are doing and that we can give them a platform to showcase their products: Lucas Oil, Teng Tools, VP Racing Fuels and Power Pour, and this year we welcome two new sponsors, LA Racing Parts and NGK Spark Plugs. With budgets as tight as they are our current schedule is to run the FIA Main Event, NitrOlympX and FIA European Finals. This however may be subject to change as we are currently trying to secure a marketing partner which will allow us to compete in Sweden and Finland, which we are all really keen to do. The Grand Am took its first weekend out last Sunday, although not on the race track. Panther Racing UK supported the charity event Caring with Cars (also see below - Ed), raising funds and awareness for the children's hospice which provides expert care to over a thousand life-limited children and their families in the South West. We had many people ask us about drag racing and where we raced in the UK, they were swiftly handed Santa Pod leaflets and encouraged to come and visit us at the track. We must thank all the race teams and spectators who wished us well in our first season in the Pro ranks. It was really nice to know that so many people admired what we were trying to achieve, and we feel that with right funding and our commitment we will reach our goal. To race is to win, not to race is never to know! Step-A-Side, here comes Insanity. 23rd May: Making only his second visit to Santa Pod next week is Dutch Super Pro ET racer Tom van der Wijden of The Netherlands' Step-a-Side Dragracing with his 1969 Chevelle named Insanity. "We have been in the top three in the Dutch Champonship for the last three years and in 2009 I was Champion in DHRA Street Eliminator", says Tom. "In 2011 I raced in Pro ET but after a long winter of hard work and investment we are looking for high eight-second runs this year. We have a new motor with more than nine hundred horsepower and a new Powerglide. We have also made many chassis upgrades including an anti roll bar and we have made the car lighter. The chassis is tagged to 8.50. "My first race at Santa Pod was last year's VP Racing Fuels National Finals and I really enjoyed it. I really like bracket racing and I hope that we can manage the set-up well enough to play the game in Super Pro ET." Tom is still seeking sponsors and can be contacted via his web site at www.stepaside.nl. All in a good cause. 23rd May: UK Wild Bunch racer 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell and the C&C Nostalgia Drag Racing Team spent last weekend helping to represent drag racing at a charity show: Last Sunday we attended the Caring with Cars show in aid of the Children's Hospice South West.  We had found out about the show when Tog kindly E-Mailed us back in February saying that the organisers were looking for unusual and interesting cars to join the display. Thanks to Tog for the heads-up (Thank you, you're welcome - Ed)! When I got in touch with one of the organisers, Graham Ilott from PistonHeads, he said that they had always wanted to have a dragster at the event!  The show was held in the grounds of the Children's Hospice and Downs School in Wraxall, near Bristol, and there were 510 cars, bikes and other vehicles booked in for the display.  Claire and I were the first to arrive on the grounds on a somewhat chilly but dry day, and were met by the headmaster, who initially mistook the trailer for a burger van! He soon changed his opinion when he saw us unload the car.  We then went and the car up with our display on the field behind the school.  We were soon joined by other drag racers also displaying their vehicles, including Dave, Hils and Robbie Grabham with their recently-updated Freddy's Revenge altered.  Dave and the team have made great progress with the rebuild of the car, and we wish them all the best in getting back to the track during 2012. Also displaying on the main field were Conrad and Linda Stanley of Panther Racing who had brought the UK's only Pro Stock car. Best of luck to them at the Main Event. Another drag racing vehicle, in the bike section, was Nigel Barker's Super Street Suzuki Hayabusa, looking resplendent with its chrome effect finish.  And there was one very well-known former drag racer in attendance, Andy Carter who along with the family was displaying son Albert's go-kart.  Several other Bristol drag racers turned up to support the teams and the charity. The show had a very relaxed atmosphere and what made it distinctive was the big variety of cars with different marques parked right next to each other, from TVRs and Ferraris to Escorts and GT 40s.  And where else would you see a vintage tractor parked between a 50s Corvette and a Morgan?  One of the highlights of the day for us was being interviewed by Year 6 pupil Harry, who had some very interesting questions about Backdraft and drag racing in general.  We even fired the car up once, to the delight of many car enthusiasts including the headmaster!  The Children's Hospice at Charlton Farm near Wraxall provides care to life-limited children and their families from across the South West, from South Gloucester, Bristol, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly.  You can read more on the charity's web site at www.chsw.org.uk. Last year the Caring with Cars event raised a total of £5,400 for the charity, and this year the organisers hope to raise nearly £10,000.  If you are interested in making a donation to this very worthy cause, you may do so on Graham's page at www.justgiving.com/cwc2012 or through the charity's own web site. Many thanks to Graham and team and all at the school and hospice for organising a great show. We hope that the fundraising exceeds all expectations! Chris and the team are now really looking forward to the next few weeks as we will be racing at three events in a row: Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway where a big field is expected for Wild Bunch Series Round 1, the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod where we will be one of forty four teams entered in Super Pro ET, and then back to Shakey for the Super Pull weekend and Wild Bunch Round 2. Having run a string of four 8.8-second ETs at the Springspeed Nationals, Chris and the team can't wait for our busy fortnight! Gibbons, you're Fired. 23rd May: UK Super Pro ET racer Dave Gibbons is delighted to announce the support of London Fire Protection Services for Rough Diamond Racing. "London Fire has in the past supported the team in our sprint activities, but it's fantastic to have them back on board with the altered", said Dave. "The deal was brought about by the requirement to have adequate fire control within the pit area - our out-of-date extinguisher snatched from the workshop wasn't the best plan. So I approached them once again. We also felt that with our fondness for flame burnouts it was promotionally a good fit!" Of course this isn't the first time that London Fire has been seen on the side of a race car. Former drag racer Ron Pudney Jr owns and runs London Fire Protection Services; older readers will remember him as the driver of the crowd-pleasing Magician Ford Mercury Cougar XR7 and later the Super Gas Chevy Monza of the same name, a car which Dave prepared and helped to maintain. "We've been great friends since those early days, so frankly it was an easy sell", said Dave. "Hopefully we'll get Ron back to the track soon - maybe even back in a car." London Fire Protection can deal with all aspects of maintenance and installation of both domestic and business fire protection equipment. And don't forget, racers are required to have adequate fire suppression equipment within their pit area. Give London Fire Protection a call on 0208 681 5881 if you think they can help you, and please tell them that Rough Diamond Racing sent you. The recreation of Rough Diamond would not have been possible without the direct help and generosity of Alli Gibbons, Paul Marston, Tony Morris, Dick Hogben, Maurice Takoor and Neil Melliard. Honourable mention should also be made of Jon Webster, Chris Baldock, Andrea Kloss, Gary Springford and Garry Watts. Rough Diamond Racing is pleased to be associated with and enjoy the support of: Cygnet Business Solutions - business consultants London Fire Protection - fire protection equipment (what else!) Paul Marston Racing - drag racing school Hillis-Frader - vehicle turntables Mr. T's Nutz 4U - wheel nuts, bolts and accessories BLP Racing Products - fuel systems JW Performance Transmissions - gearboxes Eddie and the Hot Rods - 70s rock legends Pro-Sign - lettering and design James Motor Sports - fibreglass, paint, body and TVR specialist American Autoparts - US road and race parts Watts Electrical Installations - electrical installations and building works Flint Insurance - who have made bugger all contribution, but we like them Swift snippets. 23rd May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Coming soon to a track near you". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Further to our snippet of 1st May, Andrew Carpenter writes that blown Daimler dragster legend Russ Carpenter eventually had to have surgery to remove his gallbladder. "Dad is still in a lot of pain at the moment but the hospital have got him on a strong antibiotic to try to combat an infection", says Andrew. "He is very weak and hardly eating but he's resting lots and the nurses are keeping an eye on him which is tickling him". Sounds just like the old Russ to us. Get well soon Russ and we'll see you at Dragstalgia. Steve Dudley tells us that the last slot drag race of the 2011-2012 season at MrD Raceway takes place at 8:00 pm on this Friday (25th) at the Cathedral Primary School, Victoria Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1PA. For more details check out the MrD web site at slotdragracing.weebly.com. FIA Main Event on web TV. 22nd May: Next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway is to be streamed live on the internet as a multi-camera High Definition TV production. Days three and four of the race, the final qualifying day and eliminations day, will be Pay Per View at $10 for the two days (not $10 each day - Ed), but the first two days of qualifying will be broadcast free. The web TV will be the work of Chris Courteyn and the Racing Action team, who produce the European Championship TV coverage. Santa Pod Raceway CEO and webcast Executive Producer Keith Bartlett tells us that as this will be the first such broadcast there will be a lot of obstacles to overcome and some testing to be done, all in a very short time. By agreement with Keith, Thursday's Pro Racer Test Day will be broadcast on Eurodragster.com's Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam but the TV crew will be setting up and testing that day so there may also be a free webcast on the new service. We will of course bring you more details about the webcast, including its address and how to subscribe to the PPV, as soon as we receive them. We are also expecting a statement from Keith about this season's European Championship TV coverage and further webcasts so stay tuned for that. Three steps forward, one step back. 22nd May: Finnish Top Fuel dragster racer Janne Ahonen has withdrawn from next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Janne and the Ahonen Racing team spent four days at Finland's Motopark last week, making two launches with good incrementals and no breakage, but after evaluation over the weekend they decided to withdraw from next week's race. "Even though the dragster ran really well, there are just too many other things that need to be taken care of", says Crew Chief Simo Patoharju. "We will now take one step back in order to leap three steps forward later. The list of jobs to be done is just too long for the timeframe. The trailer is not complete yet and our new tool wagons are still missing a few components. Skipping the season opener will give us a lot more time to prepare for the coming season." Simo says that he was really happy with the way the new team performed at Motopark, and that special thanks go to Don Bender for the superb tune-up on a really marginal track. "We never wanted to try set any records at Motopark, our goal was just to have two clean launches", he says. "Don got the car running really well with no damage at all." K&N back Lyrén/Veidec team. 22nd May: Swedish Pro Stock Bike team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Lyrén Motorsport / Veidec Racing are very proud to welcome K&N Filters as a partner for 2012: With support from the head office in Europe by Robert Hordossy and Bob Harris in the USA we will bring the K&N brand deeper in to drag racing in Europe. K&N has a full range of filter products for Powersports and Automotive, both OEM replacements and very nice high-performance air intake kits, and oil filters. K&N also produce the high-performance intake scoops and air filters for Pro Stock cars, which racers such as Michael Malmgren are using with support from K&N. Our Pro Stock Bike engines will be running the K&N high-performance oil filters which keep our engines clean inside and take care of even very small particles. All of our team vehicles will also be fitted with K&N Filters. For more info about K&N please see their web site at www.knfilters.com. Anyone who wants more information about K&N and all their fantastic products at the track can stop by our trailer at any FIA/UEM event. Swift snippets. 22nd May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "Further to the spy photo of 3rd May, here is another photo of the project. More soon...". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. The workshop picture above right shows the new colours of the Telephonebox Top Fuel Dragster to be driven by Malta's Duncan Micallef at next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Stay tuned for Duncan's preview of the event. Congratulations to UK Fuel racers Shelley Pearson and Kevin Kent on the birth of their daughter Lola-Belle who arrived at the weekend weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz. Lacey loses crew. 22nd May: UK Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com/ModUrStang Perfect Light Award sponsor Mike Lacey says that his crew have abandoned him before next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Mike quickly adds that there is a happy reason for his crew's absence: Karen and I would like to say a big Congratulations to my Crew Chief Adam Shuttleworth and Claudia Brooks who are getting married this Friday (25th). Mind you, I did hear that Adam might not turn up to the wedding because the Main Event was more important! Ssshhh... don't tell Claudia! This means that I have had to resort to my spare crew diary! Aaahhh, Richard Guy and his son Lee. Friends of mine for many years who bought Carl Burton's Sierra last year and plan to run in Pro ET soon. I will give them a bit of practice. So please say Hi to them, and make them feel welcome, as they will soon be doing it their own way. Karen and I wish Adam and Claudia all the very best and happiness in their future together (Hear, hear - Ed). Web site updates. 22nd May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team has had the paint brush out. 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. Speedgroup notice to racers. 21st May: Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar has been in touch to remind UEM and FIA Championship teams of the Championship registration and event entry procedures at www.dragracing.eu as well as other information of which racers need to be aware. The following information applies to FIA Top Fuel Dragster, FIA Top Methanol Funny Car, FIA Top Methanol Dragster, FIA Pro Modified, FIA Pro Stock, UEM Top Fuel Bike, UEM Supertwin and UEM Pro Stock Bike. We ask that drivers and riders active in the European Championships visit www.speedgroup.eu and read the Practical Info 2012 - FIA or Practical Info 2012 - UEM pages and ensure that you are aware of what is stated in those documents.   Also a reminder that it is time for Contingency Programme sign-up! There are on-line forms for each class on the Contingency Program 2012 page at www.speedgroup.eu. Stickers should be collected by drivers and riders on site at the first FIA/UEM Championship event which they attend. Pllease note that there is also a separate contingency programme in effect for the EDRS European Drag Racing Series; to enter the EDRS site please visit www.speedgroup.eu and click on the EDRS icon. Contingency Programme questions should be addressed to Speedgroup Contingency Co-ordinator Gittli Koller at [email protected]. For any Championship- or event-related questions please Åsa at [email protected] or call +46 705 315332. Speedgroup look forward seeing many of you at Santa Pod on 1st-4th June. Read's recommissioning update. 21st May: The UK's Robin Read says that progress is slow but relentless on returning his Daimler-powered dragster to the track in time for July's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway: My Crew Chief Mark noticed a fracture in one of the main top chassis rails, which on further investigation went three quarters of the way round! We discussed the different ways of repairing it. Option 1 : Weld up the crack. Option 2 : Remove engine plate mountings, weld the crack and clean the weld back to allow for a strengthening saddle to go over the affected area, then reprofile the motor plate and attach a bracket to suit the new tube size before welding back on, whilst maintaining the driveline alignment with the rear axle. Option 2 wasn't the soft one but it is the one on which we decided. So I made a phone call to Geof Hauser at Hauser Race Cars - during our discussion we worked out that I've known him for about forty years! - and as well as new tyres and rear axle gears Geof was extremely helpful in providing the correct size tube with a slight bend in it, both ends for two saddles, as the crack on my chassis occurred right where the chassis rails rise toward the rear end. So, as you can tell, the recommissioning of the car has not just been change the oil and filter and fill up the fuel tank! I counted up the number of passes the car made in its last season, and was surprised to find that it had made forty three! I can't remember when the car had a full rebuild before that. All the things which we have found to need attention, bearing in mind that the car's last pass was a 7.11, were not too serious in isolation, but but added together the little car was quite tired and had a right to be so. We have got some big chunks of car ready, namely the blower / injector assembly, magneto, fuel pump, transmission, clutch, axle and short motor. Unfortunately we can't start reassembling the car until the camshaft returns, since it has to go into the motor out of the chassis. The cam was worn and so is being reprofiled and reworked by Kent Cams, who have promised it soon. I can't even begin to work out how many hours this whole project has taken, including the construction of a workshop in which to work on the car. My girlfriend Ella is now a workshop widow, as I am always to be found in there, but she is looking forward to running the car again too! Swift snippets. 21st May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "...returning to a track near you for some Main Event magic!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Outlaw Street Round 2 review. 21st May: Mark Wallington writes with a report of the second round of Outlaw Street which took place at the Street Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend: The Street Nationals is a new event for Santa Pod and we have to say a massive thanks to James Forster, Rick Cuthbert, Ian Marshall and all of the track staff who not only provided an excellent track for the weekend, but also co-ordinated time slots for Outlaw Street every day. OS-2 was attended by thirty one members and twenty three cars which ensured not only plenty of banter but also lots of racing and renewing of old friendly challenges from last season. We had a number of new members for whom this was their first dip of the toe into drag racing, which is great to see. Due to the recent torrential rain everyone was a tad nervous whether we'd be racing cars or arks down the strip, but the sun gods were smiling on Santa Pod and we had two whole days of glorious sunshine. The sunshine, well prepped track and general good vibe of the event was clearly having a positive effect as many Personal Bests were set over the weekend. At last count ten of the twenty three cars attending went home with PBs, including OS-7 Andy Murton in his '68 Camaro who broke into the eights with a 8.977/153, OS-11 Joe Mills in his 'Peterbuilt' Fox Mustang with a 12.27/113, OS-18 Vic Fisher in his late-model V6 supercharged Mustang with a 13.29/101 - Vic has been working towards a goal of getting into the twelves, which is looking more and more achievable - and OS-24 Ross Page who on his first outing with Outlaw Street knocked 1.5 seconds off his previous PB, to name but a few. Those members who hit mechanical issues at OS-1 were all back fighting fit for OS-2, and although there were a few cars with gremlins over the course of the weekend no-one needed to go home on a trailer. At each points round the highest points scorer wins a year's subscription to American Car magazine and a unique one-of-a-kind engraved tankard by MissB Engraving. For OS-2 the winner of the year's subscription and engraved tankard goes was Andy Murton in his '68 Camaro, so all in all Andy had a very good weekend. But now that he has run that elusive eight, unless he's got a seven-second run hidden away in the car he's going to struggle to win any improvement points for the rest of the season! The top six points scorers for OS-2 were: 1. 223 points OS-7 Andy Murton, '68 Camaro 2. 219 points OS-11 Joe Mills, Fox Mustang 3. 219 points OS-19 Stephen Moisey, Cervini Mustang 4. 218 points OS-50 Roy Collins, supercharged Camaro 5. 215 points OS-13 Stuart Ramsay, '67 Camaro 6. 214 points OS-42 Nigel Jenkins, supercharged Mustang The Joe & Co sponsored RT Trophy for the fastest Reaction Time of the weekend was being chased by all but was won by new member, and new to drag racing, OS-44 Lee Rookes with a jaw-dropping 0.0982. Lee won himself an RT trophy and £25 prize money. The top six RTs for OS-2 were: 1. OS-44 Lee Rookes 0.0982 2. OS-18 Vic Fisher 0.1091 3. OS-50 Roy Collins 0.1152 4. OS-43 Dez Brown 0.1216 5. OS-13 Stuart Ramsay 0.2324 6. OS-42 Nigel Jenkins 0.2360 That's a difference of 0.138 seconds separating the top six and an eye-watering 0.0109 of a second separating first and second. After OS-2 the 2012 League Table looks like this: 1. 248 points OS-7 Andy Murton 2. 244 points OS-11 Joe Mills 3. 244 points OS-19 Stephen Moisey 4. 243 points OS-50 Roy Collins 5. 240 points OS-13 Stuart Ramsay 6. 239 points OS-42 Nigel Jenkins The next round of Outlaw Street, OS-3, is on at the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway on 25th-27th May. If you'd like to learn more about Outlaw Street check out the forum at www.outlawstreet.co.uk. Event entry update. 19th May: The official entry form is now available for the National Association of Supertwins Championship round which takes place at the Shakey Super Pull Public Track Day at Shakespeare County Raceway on 9th-10th June. The NAST entry form is available via the Downloads link at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. MoTeC/Owen contingency rollover. 19th May: Due to the bad weather neither Super Street Bike nor Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator were able to conclude their eliminations at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. However, on a much more positive note the prize fund from MoTeC and Owen Developments will carry over to the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. Pro Modified will be vying for £500 of MoteC money, while both Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator and Super Street Bike will each be chasing £750 for their class wins. Please note if you are racing in Pro Modified, Topspeed Automotive Street Eiminator or Super Street Bike at the FIA Main Event and don't have MoTeC decals, then they can be collected from the Signing On office on day one of the race. You do not need to be running the MoTeC product but to be eligible for prize money you must carry two MoTeC decals, one on either side of the vehicle. So please don't miss out on the money by not running the decals from your first qualifying run. MoTeC and Owen Development wish all competitor the best of luck. Swift snippets. 19th May: Further to Thursday's update, more details about the late Tony Gransden's funeral can be found on the American Autoparts web site at www.americanautoparts.co.uk. European fans have someone to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Summernationals in Kansas as multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund will be making his first competitive outing in his new Haas-built Camaro. You can stay in touch with Jimmy's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central and video updates are also being posted on Jimmy's web site at www.jimmyalund.com. Shakespeare County Raceway would like to take this opportunity to thank the several racers and individuals who have given up their free time display cars and bikes at the RAF Lakenheath Spring Car Show, Abingdon Air Show and last weekend's Long Marston Model Air Show. SCR are on the road again today (Saturday) with a display from the Supercharged Outlaws and Junior Dragster League at Mallory Park Circuit for the Practical Performance Car Magazine In The Park Show, with racers from the National Street Car Challenge, Power Pullers Association and the Miniature Stock Car Racers Association and its parent junior formula Jascar. The track will be live all day with all kinds of action including burnouts as well as a car cutting demonstration. For further information see www.ppcmag.co.uk or the show's Facebook page. Unprepared for NSA Super Street. 19th May: The National Sprint Association meeting at Westonzoyland on 12th-13th May could well go down as a classic in the long history of sprinting. With a large entry in all classes the cream of UK sprinters put on a cracking show for a large crowd. Phil Steele writes: A very close contest took place in Super Street on what could be termed a "difficult" track and with a headwind. The riders put on a show to remember. NSA Southern Chairman Phil (Paso) Steele's early lead on Saturday of 9.60/148 was soon to be beaten by Barry Varndell who came back with a stunning 9.47 to end the first day of the meet riding his beautiful 30+ year-old Kawasaki Z1100 turbo. Andy Lodge on his Suzuki GSXR1000 nitrous bike suffered clutch problems running 9.79 whilst Pete Ford took fourth place on Dragonforce. Sunday dawned bright with less of a headwind. By lunchtime Barry had lowered his best time to 9.36/153. Phil was struggling with his set-up, lofting the front wheel of the Parny Express on a couple of passes. Tuning via telephone call to Mr Parnell during the lunch break resulted in an afternoon run of 9.49/156. Andy meanwhile fired off a 9.51/154 after a clutch rebuild the previous evening. In fourth place was Peter on his amazing 600 cc nitrous-assisted supercharged Bandit Dragonforce with a 9.55/151. All of this, remember, was on an unprepped Second World War airfield. All classes are catered for at NSA meetings, and congratulations to all who participated. The next Super Street duel at Westonzoyland takes place on 30th June-1st July. Very low nines and, perhaps, eights are on the cards. Day entry is available at Tempsford on 27th May and at all Westonzoyland events. More details at www.sprinting.org.uk and at www.facebook.com/sprinting.co.uk. Web site updates. 19th May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén reports on the Team Veidec Pro Stock Bike operation's test at last weekend's EDRS Nationals at Tierp Arena. 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. The latest issue of the Speedgroup newsletter previews the forthcoming FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and includes some thoughts on this year's FIA and UEM runners and riders, Contingency Programme news, EDRS Nationals report and pictures, chats with Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä, Funny Bike racer Rikard Gustafsson and Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop, Talking with the Organisers with Santa Pod Raceway Marketing Manager Caroline Day, Eurodragster.com Editor's Diary describing the work involved in a weekend's Event Coverage, and more. You can check out the new Speedgroup newsletter at club.speedgroup.eu. FIA Main Event racer notice. 18th May: Santa Pod Raceway are offering racers portable toilets for the FIA Main Event at £100 plus VAT. portable toilets will be delivered to the racer's pit and will be serviced daily. For more information or to book your portable toilet either E-Mail Darren Prentice at [email protected] or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). An open Pro test session for FIA and UEM racers will be held at the end of Day 1 of the FIA Main Event, Friday 1st June. The open test is scheduled to last for two hours. Swift snippets. 18th May: To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the first six-second run outside the USA, recorded by Dennis Priddle on 28th May 1972, the surviving members of the Mr Six team will be gathering in Yeovil on 28th May together with the original car in its currently partly-restored condition. Keith Lee, who originally photographed the dragster, will hold a photo session with those members of the original team present at the reunion. Eurodragster.com Pit Reporter and Blog Editor Simon has kindly been invited to attend by Dave Riswick so stay tuned for Simon's report. UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers is urgently seeking a couple of days' loan of a bead roller. "I need to re-make a couple of internal panels in my Camaro following my crash last September", says Paul. If you can help then please call Paul on 07879 417485. For Ladies That Launch III. 18th May: The third running of For Ladies That Launch takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 21st-22nd July. Beth Satchell writes: For Ladies that Launch had its maiden meeting in 2010 and was set up with the vision of being a platform for women from any corner of the motorsport world to come together and celebrate their contribution whether it is participating as a competitor, as a marshal, as an official or just as the lady behind the racer who makes sure he has his helmet and keys - lets face it, how many of you boys could make it to the track without her! Last year FLTL was dogged by bad weather so ended up being run over three weekends! We were determined to reach a conclusion and in the end Holly Baldwin racing her Whirlygig Beetle retained her Ladies That Launch crown and will be looking to make it a hattrick this year! Megan Douglas on her Kawasaki ER won the bike trophy and we hope that she and the rest of the ladies from Team Jester will contest the title again. We will be staging the Ladies that Launch Shootout drag racing knockout eliminator with trophies available for the best performers. This will be open to ladies in cars and on bikes. There will be a special photo shoot as a memento of the event, live music in the evening, and the bar will be open for all who want to stay over and enjoy the party atmosphere for the whole weekend. Also during the weekend there will be two days of open Run What You Brung and racing from the guys and girls in the National Association of Supertwins as well as a day of fun with the racers from Practical Performance Car magazine and we hope that their racers will stay for the weekend. Last year we raised over £450 for our chosen charity Refuge and we will be aiming to raise even more for this vital charity. Traders are also being encouraged to attend this event so the Raceway have waived the usual pitch fees in exchange for a donation to Refuge. We all know girls like to shop, so if you are interested in this captive market please contact 01789 720180. It should be a fun-packed eventful weekend and we hope to see as many like-minded souls as possible soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the fun. Ticket information is available at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com or by calling 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180). Find us on the For Ladies That Launch Facebook page for all the latest info and gossip. Mission accomplished. 18th May: Further to our news item of 28th April, congratulations to Graham Sykes who achieved his aim of setting a British Land Speed Record for three wheelers on his Syko machine at Elvington on Monday: The meeting was held at Elvington on Monday and Tuesday organised by Straightliners and overseen by the ACU. There were new class records to establish and existing records to break. There was a new three wheeler class for trikes up to 5000 cc and this was the class in which we were going to attempt to not only establish a British Land Speed Record but to try to break the existing outright record of 163.5 mph two-way average, which is no mean feat. We turned up on Saturday afternoon with the bike as ready as it could be, and got our pit set up. On Sunday we had to try and get under the 105 Db noise limit requirement for Elvington with the new silenced exhaust system incorporating eight silencers! The reading was 104.1 Db, unbelievable. So we readied ourselves for the first flying run which was to be east to west with a 19 mph head wind. Having launched the bike it was apparent that the clutch was not behaving as it should and slipping, so back to the pits where we completely rebuilt the clutch pack, reset the air gap, and added more weight to the clutch. We joined the riders back at the east end and tried again. I set off using only half throttle and kept the revs below 4000 rpm and took a steady ride east to west to familiarise myself with the course, and ran a 133 mph. We turned the bike round within the hour and this time I gunned it, but I could feel that all was not well with the clutch feeling it slip through the course so I throttled off and coasted to a 98 mph pass and established a new record but that wasn't what we went there to do. Our aim was to try to be quicker than anyone else on three wheels. Having got back to the pits we had a team meeting and decided to fit the old clutch set up back into the Syko and re-fit all the old primary drive and final drive but to leave the new ratio in the Bentec as that was working well. I hurriedly set off back home to get all the old parts and left the team stripping the bike down. A ninety-mile round trip on Sunday afternoon home and back to Elvington took the best part of two and a half hours and we all worked late into the evening refitting all the old transmission. Ten hours later it was all back together again and a well-deserved beer was had by all. Monday morning was very windy with a 20-25 mph gusty head wind and once again we headed for the east end of the runway to make our first run of the day into the wind. Every thing started up OK and all the drive belts were running straight and behaving themselves. I set off and the old clutch set-up felt really strong so I wound open the throttle and let the bike pull all the way up to the first gear change at 125 mph then carried on accelerating into the wind and ran a 153 mph run straight as a die. There was nothing major to do to turn it round for the return run except pressures and levels so within the hour we set off west to east with the wind behind us. This time I held it hard open all the way changing at 7000 rpm and entered the mile really tramping on. I felt very comfortable on the bike, keeping my head just low enough that I was behind the rev counter so my helmet wasn't being pulled off but high enough to stop me getting double vision with my helmet touching the air intake. I found that turning my head to one side was the best option. The end marker boards came very quickly and I slowed easily within the half-mile braking area to the super news that I had just run 180.39 mph meaning that I had broken the record for the average speed but it was very close to the 1% ruling - so close that none of us could work it out. So there was nothing more to do than return eat to west into the wind and try improve on the first run. The third run went just as well as the second but the wind proved to be a real problem, battering me from side to side, but the bike was more of a match to the buffering and ran real straight and recorded 157.06 mph pass. This meant that we had broken the outright British Land Speed Record for a three-wheeled vehicle giving us a two-way average of 168.9 mph, beating the old record of 163.5 mph/ Well done to everybody involved and to all the people who have helped me get this record: Diane my understanding wife and team mate, Jack Graham himself a World Land Speed Record holder, Roger Goring and Helen Rusling for crewing for me and taking time out from rebuilding the Firestorm Jet Funny Car - watch this space for the new 21st Century version of the car, it's amazing (Yay - Ed) - Alex Macfadzean who himself held the British Land Speed Record and took it over 200 mph with the streamliner Penetrator, and to Mike Ellis from BDR for all of his help. The Syko will go much faster as I ran out of gearing hitting the limiter on the middle run - the gearing was set at the highest we could go with the old set-up at 178 mph. So who knows what may happen in the future. Tony Gransden's funeral. 17th May: Many thanks to Ray White for forwarding the details of Tony Gransden's funeral. Tony's funeral will take place at 2:15 pm next Friday, 25th May, at St Edmund's Church, Fawkham Road, West Kingsdown, Kent TN15 6AY (map). The venue for the wake is yet to be decided. The family have requested that, rather than flowers, donations are sent to the hospice which helped Tony through his final journey. Details will be available on the American Autoparts web site at www.americanautoparts.co.uk. See the Cramo Nationals by bus. 17th May: This weekend's Cramo Nationals at Malmö Raceway will be webcast in multi-camera HD by Robert Karström of Smart TV. Anders Envall writes: Last year was a test year of sending live HD via the internet, broadcasting from Moholmen and Gardermoen. Being both a Top Doorslammer racer and TV technician made this a natural path for Robert who has invested  even more into new equipment this winter including a new double-deck Setra Mercedes Benz bus, a former twelve-metre tourist coach which was rebuilt into a TV studio. Robert's set-up can handle as many cameras as he would wish to use but for the Cramo Nationals he will be using seven or eight static cameras. In addition he will experiment with a remote camera which will turn, tilt, zoom etc as controlled from the bus. Robert will also experiment with a different method of broadcasting the HD signal for the optimum web HD. Parts are on the way and will be picked up on an airport and rushed to the bus... do you recognise this concept? Yes, it's just like racing! "Malmö is a very good place from which to webcast, as they have a very good wired connection to the internet", says Robert. The announcer for the webcast will be unashamed Eurodragsterholic Ulf 'Totte' Lindqvist. The Cramo Nationals is a round of the Scandinavian Dragracing Series and includes the first round of Top Doorslammer. You can find out more at www.dragracing.eu. Broadcast commences tomorrow (Friday) at www.smarttv.se/live. Swift snippets. 17th May: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Summernationals in Kansas as multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund will be making his first competitive outing in his new Haas-built Camaro. Qualifying commences tomorrow (Friday); you will be able to stay in touch with Jimmy's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central and video updates are also being posted on Jimmy's web site at www.jimmyalund.com. After an extremely busy winter, Dutch Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten and the Pro Dutch Racing team are in the final stages of preparation to be more than 100% ready when the FIA season starts at Santa Pod Raceway. "The Camaro is completely checked and improved in several points, there is a new engine, and the trailer has a brand new interior", says Robert. "We also proudly present a large number of new sponsors". You can read more in Remco Scheelings' excellent piece on the Autosport.nl web site. Laura Turburville is looking to rent a rear-engined Super Pro ET, Pro ET or Super Comp dragster to complete her licencing. "Laura is a very competent driver and can cope with any untoward situation with sense and maturity and of course I will cover her", says dad Ian Turburville. "We can do double duty at a race meet and need not lean on the car hard, just enough to get her signed off". If you can help then please get in touch with Turbo at [email protected]. We have two birthdays today. First up a Happy Birthday to our good buddy, street-legal Super Gas racer, and owner of Europe's most entertaining drag racing web site Anders Envall. Happy Birthday also to imminent Super Pro ET racer, and Eurodragster.com brother-in-law, Tom Atkinson. Have a great day guys. The latest American Autoparts newsletter contains a tribute to the late Knut Söderqvist compiled by Mike Collins. You can check out the PDF-format newsletter via the American Autoparts web site at www.americanautoparts.co.uk/news.htm. Thanks to those who responded to yesterday's request for a volunteer to report on next week's Car Show in Rushden. The job has gone to Ray Comer so many thanks to him. Santa Pod news. 17th May: Caroline Day of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch with the latest news from the track: Santa Pod Raceway has ventured into the world of mobile phone apps and for those coming to the Main Event there will be two to choose from. The first is the Main Event 2012 app which contains event info and special offers, and the second is the 1320go app which gives you access to live timing data on your phone. Both apps are available on iPhone and Android. As the speed of 3G connections cannot be guaranteed at Santa Pod Raceway please download the apps before you arrive if you wish to use them. The Main Event 2012 app includes a host of features including: Venue locations and line up running times Interactive venue map Class and attraction descriptions Exclusive visual content from the event Personalised itinerary scheduling Facebook and Twitter plug ins Main Event news Useful information to help you navigate your way to, from and around the event. Money saving offers including discounts for traders and caterers at the event. You can download the Main Event 2012 app now from iTunes App Store or Android Marketplace (Google Play) for £1.99. 1320go provide an app which displays live timing data from drag strips around the world including Santa Pod Raceway. The app costs a one-off fee of £6.10 and is available on iPhone or Android. As well as live data you can also view the qualifying and elimination data from the current event via the menu button on Android or on-screen button on iPhone. Once you have the app you can watch live data from any 1320go track. View further details about the 1320go app on the 1320go page at www.1320go.com. If you missed the recent broadcast of the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball TV show on Motors TV then don't worry, it's now online! The show is co-presented by Gemma Scott-Mercer, Darryl Bradford and legend Barry Sheavills. See for yourself the fun we had at www.santapod.co.uk/tv_lifestyle_shows.php. SPRC FIA Main Event notice. 16th May: Ian and Paula Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club have been in touch to clarify the situation regarding staying on site at Santa Pod Raceway after the FIA Main Event has completed, and about pitting in advance of the event: Following completion of the FIA Main Event, racers and spectators are welcome to camp overnight at the track. However this is on the basis that from midnight you will have to fend for yourselves in terms of water, electric and toilet/shower facilities. All racers and campers will need to be off-site by 1:00 pm on Tuesday 5th June as many local streets will have closures and/or restrictions due to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. If you are travelling from abroad and need to stay longer for ferries etc you are welcome to stay, but we would ask that you stay until Wednesday because of the restrictions mentioned above. The Pit Stop Café will be open between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm on Tuesday 5th. On a separate note, if you wish to test on the weekend prior to the Main Event (26th-27th May) then please note that you will not be able to pit your vehicle in preparation for the FIA Main Event. Due to the move of the Bank Holiday weekend there is now a large Ford event, the Classic Ford Show, on  Sunday 27th May. This event will take over the whole site which therefore means no pitted vehicles. There will also be no RWYB for race vehicles on 27th, unless you happen to own a classic Ford race car. Saturday 26th will be a normal Run What You Brung between 9.30 am and 5:00 pm to which racers are welcome. If it is at all possible to find hard standing for people to leave their race vehicles at the track then we will of course try to accommodate them, however this is not a given as it depends wholly on the space available and it will not be in the pit area of the race track. Thank you for your co-operation. Hard work rewarded. 16th May: UK Pro ET racer Dan Williams, one half of Williams Bros Racing, contested Stock/Superstock at the weekend's EDRS Nationals at Tierp Arena. Dan made it to the final with his 1969 Chevy Nova, and Alix Smith got in touch on behalf of the team to let us know about their weekend: On Friday we arrived in Tierp to rain. We got everything set up for the weekend of racing, although looking at the weather we thought we had travelled all that way for a washout. But things just went from bad to worse. On Saturday it rained all morning and the cars didn't go out until about 2:00 pm. Dan went out for the first round of qualifying, did a huge wheelie and put it on the bumper... again! Dan crawled the car up the track as he didn't know what damage had occurred. When he got back to the pits Dan and the crew checked the car over and found two bent engine mounts, a cracked sump, two dents in the bonnet where the carb had hit it, that both front wings had moved from the force when the car came back down, and finally the fan had come off. Oh, and also another bent back number plate. The team started to panic thinking the weekend was over and that we had spent all this time and money to go home on the first day. At Williams Bros Racing we were all so disappointed thinking we were going to pack up and go. But, never being ones to give up, the crew thought it was worth a try to fix it. The next minute Dan and the crew were rallying round trying to get the car race ready again. Dan's brother Nic asked to put an announcement out to see if there was an engine crane we could borrow, and a Pro Mod team came to see us with an engine crane. The team then got underway removing the engine. A very nice man called George - our saviour of the weekend - took Dan's dad Keith to his workshop where the sump and the engine mounts were repaired. While Nic, OCS Paint, gapped all the wings into the correct place. When Keith returned the crew started to put the engine back into the car, and by 1.30 am Sunday morning the car was ready to go. Luckily, as Dan had crawled the car up the track after the wheelie and got a time it meant that he had he had qualified and was in the eliminations. On Sunday the weather improved drastically, brilliant sunshine although a bit windy. Dan was called at 9:00 am where took part in round one with a heads-up race. After that he was on a roll until he reached the final! It got to about 3.00pm and the pit runner called Dan to the fire up road for the Stock/Superstock final. Dan went down to the fire-up road where his competitor Anders Lindh had a flat tyre. Rob Tyrrell, Bob Doignie and Nic were not happy about letting Dan race until the tyre had been sorted as it was a danger. The team gave the competitor a chance to get it sorted, they tried to pump the tyre up but the air was coming out quicker than they could get it in. The race officials then sent the Pro Mods out for their final. Dan could have said enough was enough but he is a true racer and didn't want to win on a technicality so. Over an hour later the other team had borrowed a wheel from someone else in the Stock/Superstock pits and changed the wheel on the car, and they were finally ready to race. Unfortunately, Dan was runner-up but it's still a massive achievement as it was his first Stock/Superstock event and first time at Tierp. At Williams Bros. Racing we are all so proud of Dan for doing so well, congratulations Dan! We would like to say a big Thank You to the crew Dan Williams, Elaine Williams, Rob Tyrrell, Bev Tyrrell, Keith Williams, Bob Doignie, Nic Williams, Alix Smith, to everyone at Tierp Arena and the Stock/Superstock Association for making us feel so welcome and for letting Dan compete with you, to the Pro Mod team who let us borrow their engine crane, and finally a special thank you to George for all his help - we could not have done it without him! And another big congratulations to Dan! Retirement: Not an option I. 16th May: It was always going to be tough to hang up the firesuit after thirty successful years in Pro Comp and Top Methanol Dragster competition. Therefore it will come as no surprise to many that Dave Wilson simply couldn't do it. The five-time FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion had a great year in 2011, finishing runner-up and setting new records along the way with his incredible 5.2 second ET in Tierp. The success of last season meant that Dave was left with some serious decisions to make. The complete operation was for sale and a potential buyer had been found but a swift change of heart meant that Dave would do battle over the quarter mile for at least one more year. With a limited budget for 2012, early plans are to run at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June and the Sweden Internationals at the fabulous Tierp Arena in Sweden on 14th-17th June. However, subject to further sponsorship the situation could very well change. "It's been a crazy off-season for me!", says Dave. "First of all the car was going and then it wasn't and I then found myself thinking "What have I done?"! Having got over that I knew I had to be fully committed once again, regain my focus and prepare for 2012. Sadly things have not worked out the way we had hoped with sponsors but we're ready to do battle at the first two races and we'll go from there." To find out more about Dave Wilson Racing, visit www.davewilsonracing.co.uk. Retirement: Not an option II. 16th May: When UK Top Methanol Dragster racer Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com sponsor Gold RV sold his injected-nitro operation to Malta's Chris Polidano, you could have been forgiven for thinking that he had retired from driving. However, Derek himself said at the time that no way had he retired and the proof comes with the announcement that he will be driving the Kalanc / Gold RV A/Fuel Racing TMD in July: The Kalanc Gold RV A/Fuel Racing Team are really looking forward to the Main Event and our first FIA meeting together. Since it has been confirmed that we will now be competing at all FIA rounds we hope to get off to a good start and hopefully keep improving Chris' Personal Bests in the car, or as we call them Team Bests. So far we have improved at each meeting but now we are playing with the big boys and we will need to step up all round. But I am sure the driver and team are up for the challenge. As some of the keen eyed amongst your readers would already have noticed on the entry list, we welcome back Lisa Selles who has again taken over the hot seat in the Gold RV / Kalanc J/Fueller (JMA13). Our pit is going to be a very European indeed with Maltese, English and Dutch. Lisa has promised us that she will bring the sunshine with her too. Good luck Lisa from all of us at Gold RV and the Kalanc Team. On the Dutch front I am very excited to announce that, thanks to a very kind offer from Chris and the team, I am going to be driving the A/Fueller at the Drachten Internationals in July. To say that I am excited about that is an understatement! I cannot wait to go to Drachten again and drive; the last time I drove at Drachten was 2006 with our old Super Pro ET car where we managed to break the track record for the quarter mile which I believe is still the record even though the track has since been lengthened. Obviously the A/Fueller will have to compete over the eighth but who knows, perhaps we can have a go at that record too. Again many thanks Chris. Swift snippets. 16th May: "The 2012 Pro Stock Camaro, now in a showroom near you..." is the stunning new ride of multiple FIA Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund fresh out of Jerry Haas' workshop and ready to contest this weekend's NHRA Summernationals in Kansas courtesy of KW Parts, Geodis, and of course Exclusive Cars. Our good buddy PiPPi writes that you can find the first video of Jimmy's new car, including the first fire-up, at www.jimmyalund.com. After an enjoyable presentation evening on Saturday Christine Morrice would like to say a huge Well Done to son and Super Comp racer Collin Morrice and all the lads at Linton Granta football team on winning the Cambridgeshire Kershaw Premier League. "It has been a real pleasure to watch the lads play football this season, and everyone wishes them all the best of luck for the 2012-13 season", says Christine. Geoff Martin of the UK's Tech Crew asked us to reassure all of his friends that, contrary to what you may have read in a junk E-Mail purporting to come from him, he is not stuck in a foreign country with no money so please do not forward any funds to him on account of the E-Mail. Brian Huxley is challenging all comers to join him at the Gamblers' Race at the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway on 26th-27th May. You can find out more at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. All invited to Rushden. 16th May: James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway says that you should be sure to head into Rushden Town Centre on Saturday week, 26th May, to see the finest collection of race cars and hot rods from around the county: As a replacement of the popular Rushden Powerfest in 2010, Rushden Town Council has joined forces with Santa Pod Raceway and a group of Hot Rod enthusiasts to put on this free static car show in the town. The High Street will be closed from College Street to Queen Street between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm with the display from 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. Diversions can be made around the one-way system. Additional road legal vehicles will be sited in the Wheatsheaf car park where famous drag racing films will be shown and a barbecue held. Santa Pod Raceway will be bringing their 300 mph Top Fuel Dragster so why not make the most of this rare opportunity and come along to get up close and personal to one of these awesome 8000 bhp machines. We already have some local racers lined up to come along including Matthew Seamarks, Nigel Hale and Nick Hale as well as many other Hot Rodders from the local area. We do still have a few parking spaces available so if you want to come along with a vehicle please E-Mail me at [email protected]; please do not just turn up and expect a space as chances are that we won't have any room in the main display area! On the following weekend, 1st-4th June, Santa Pod Raceway hosts Round 1 of the FIA and UEM Drag Racing Championships where you can see these missiles in action. Please see www.santapod.com for further information. Editor's note: We will be reporting from Santa Pod Raceway on 26th and so we will be unable to attend the Car Show in Rushden. We would be very pleased to hear from anyone who would like to send us a report and a few pictures from the event. We would require the report and pictures to arrive during the day on Sunday 27th. If you would like to volunteer to send us a piece about the Car Show then please E-Mail [email protected]. Kids are welcome to volunteer but please make sure that your parents know. Web site updates. 16th May: Patrik Jacobsson, who kindly provided us with pictures from last weekend's EDRS Nationals at Tierp Arena, has now posted his full gallery from the weekend at www.racebilder.nu. Feature: The Gasser Circus. 15th May: For the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products Simon spoke to Nervous Nick, racer in and administrator of the UK's Gasser Circus. The Gasser Circus is a group of like-minded racers who gather together to celebrate and keep alive the traditions, spirit and most importantly the cars of the legendary Gasser Wars of the 1960s. Formed in 2003, the membership of the Gasser Circus has grown year-on-year and in 2010 it began its inaugural race series with the launch of the Gasser Circus Showdown. You can check out our Gasser Circus Feature by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Nevermind the eights. 15th May: Six years after starting racing running twelves, UK Outlaw Street racer Andrew Murton finally got his street-driven Nevermind '68 Camaro into the eights during the second round of this year's Outlaw Street Championship at this weekend's Street Nationals at Santa Pod. David Murton writes: Having warmed up with a 9.03 pass against arch-rival and close friend Stuart Ramsey's 8.96, the next run was an 8.97. Big thanks must go to the Santa Pod track team for providing a brilliant track to run on at the weekend, when you only have 7½" rear rims and 10½" Street Radial tyres you need all the traction you can get! Thanks also to Mark Wallington and all the Outlaw Street racers for the support and for making this such a great friendly series to race in. No we didn't turn the gas up Stuart, thanks for the offer of your fuel and gas and we look forward to side by side eights at Dragstalgia! Andrew also finished second in the Run What You Brung eliminator to Andy Forest's awesome eight-second Subaru. Many thanks to Andy, Ashley Troop and the Beetle driver - sorry didn't get your name! - for the great races. Swift snippets. 15th May: Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall for sending us Version 14 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. It wasn't just Andrew Murton who beat his Personal Best at Santa Pod at the weekend as Matt Smith of Team Extreme (below left) wiped two tenths off his PB with 9.360/145.34 in his Cosworth-powered Escort. Matt Woods, who supplied the picture, writes that mapper Dave Rowe was on hand on Saturday to re-do the map as it wasn't right, as was Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster who popped up to make some mods on the rear suspension. Matt Woods also sent us a picture of this beauty (above right), regular Run What You Brung and Test Day attendee Phil Peck's Mustang in its new colours. The street-legal 2005 Mustang GT totes a 598 Big Block Chevy built by Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff Bull Race Engines and capable of running a 500 bhp Nitrous Express system, custom-built 1498 cfm carburettor by BLP Racing Products, and TH400 gearbox supplied by Penn Autos. The Mustang, which was caged and tubbed by Eurodragster.com sponsor Hauser Race Cars, weighs in an 3740 pounds and has run 10.16/132 normally aspirated and 9.51/142 with 300 bhp of Nitrous. You can find out more at www.ragingbullracing.co.uk. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came from the same address as Saturday's second spy picture and like that shot came with no words at all. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. With rain forecast for the Monday afternoon, everyone was determined to make sure that last weekend's Pennine Drag Racing Club Championship round at York Raceway was not lost to the rain like at Easter. After one last early morning round of qualifying the event went straight into eliminations.  Thanks to a great effort by the crew and racers, all classes ran to completion before the weather closed in at about 2:30 pm with the exception of Super Cup. Galleries from each day can be found on Richard Smith's site at rdsmith.zenfolio.com. Further to our news item of 5th March, although Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has beaten his target of £1000 for a London to Brighton bike ride to aid the British Heart Foundation in memory of his father, it's not too late to make a pledge to help him along on 26th May. If you would like to pledge money to help the BHF please check out www.justgiving.com/andymarrs. Thanks to all those who have already sent tributes to the late Tony Gransden, who died on Sunday. You can check out Tony's Tribute page by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you would to send a tribute to Tony then please E-Mail [email protected]. The late Knut Söderqvist's son and daughter Peter and Petra have put together a video tribute to Knut which you can check out on our Tribute page by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Steve Dudley tells us that the last slot drag race of the 2011-2012 season at MrD Raceway takes place at 8:00 pm on Friday 25th May at the Cathedral Primary School, Victoria Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1PA. For more details check out the MrD web site at slotdragracing.weebly.com, and for more about the slot drags check out our recent Feature by clicking here. Charman's hot new ride. 15th May: 2011 ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Kev Charman, who has switched rides in 2012 to a Pro Stock Bike owned by Richard Gipp, says that PSB is a different animal to anything which he has ridden before: It is seriously not as easy as they would have you believe. Obviously it is one heck of a lot lighter than the Top Fuel Bike from last year, it also does exactly what you ask it, in terms of steering, much much quicker! You only have to glance anywhere but straight, and the bike will act accordingly! Because of this, I do more than a quarter mile on my runs, as I go the long way round! On Friday evening of the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals, I had to drop Lizzy and the caravan up to the track, as she unfortunately was involved in a head-on collision the day before, breaking her wrists, spraining her back and unable to race and drive. To say she was disappointed is possibly an understatement, as she has not been given answers as to the extent of the injuries, or how long she will be out of action. We all wish her speedy recovery, and hope that she gets fit enough to get back out there before the end of the season, even if only testing (Hear, hear - Ed). Richard Gipp and his crew Nigel were on hand to set up awnings and caravan for us, while I drove down to Southampton to fetch Jake, who was competing in Junior Drag Bike. I must thank them, as all we had to do when we got back late that evening was take the Junior out of the van! Thanks guys. My first run was the second qualifier. We decided that we had bikes to sort out for Jake and Bryony Wadkin-Snaith, who she was doing observed runs, and that it was possibly more important to get them down the track first, plus it was too cold for the OAPs (me and Gipp) to race! First run I put myself into stage crooked, and shot off towards the wall, short shifted, over corrected, but got to the finish line in one piece, with an 8.113/160. The wind at the top end was pretty fierce, from right to left, and I was beginning to worry where Len Paget was, as I didn't want to get blown into his path. I didn't realise that he had had problems on the start line, and didn't race. Commiserations to Mark Smith who broke a crank on his qualifier, putting him out of competition. Hope to see you back soon mate. Back to pits, bike prepped and ready for the following day. Sunday's first run was an odd one. Came out of the burnout and one of the carbs was hanging, blipped the throttle a couple of times to try to shut the carb and a flame from the exhaust licked the side panel and set the stickers on fire! I was totally oblivious to all the commotion, until the fire crew came and put me out. Back to pits, cleaned the carbs, prepped bike and resprayed the side panel. Second run: no fires this time, but I was still short shifting. I have got to get used to this revving thing, and its high RPM! No improvement on time. Monday the heavens opened, and it was called. I realise that I need more seat time, and we are hoping to get a test in before the Main Event. Big Thanks to Gippy and Nigel for all the advise and support, mickey taking, and incredible curries! Thanks too go to my crew - Chris we missed you, Lizzy stop being so impatient, do as you are told and rest, Jake well done to you on your qualifying and dial ins, and Bryony - get you! Knocking two seconds off your time on the last observed run, and rising above it all when things didn't go according to plan! Thanks too to my sponsors Doug at Ensys and Steve at Motorshack. Springspeed Nationals JDB review. 15th May: At the end of each meeting Lizz McCarthy asks the Junior Drag Bike Racers to write a few lines. Here is their take on the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Scott Collier JPB1: We started the weekend not knowing how the bike was going to run at all. This was down to having put a new lock up clutch on my bike which I had made with the help of George Laycock at GLS engineering. This was the week leading up to the event! On the first qualifying run we just had a complete guess at my dial in so we put 9.00, the bike launched, spun a little and hit the wheelie bars and ran an 8.80! When I got back to the pits Dad stripped down the clutch to check the plates. He decided to put a little weight on the arms and we lowered my dial for the next run. But just as I was about to start up my bike to go down to race, smoke started pouring out of the fairing, dad realised after stripping the wires that one or them had shorted on the chassis. But it was fixed for the second day of qualifying. Thanks to my Dad, Glyn, Stewart and Duncan for repairing it. On the Sunday we dialled in an 8.60 and the bike ran an 8.609 handing me the number one qualifying spot on the last run. Alfie Udall JMB2: I felt quite okay this time, easier than it was before and I nearly got the hang of launching the bike. There were some good races but still eventually it did rain on the last day which was a great shame to miss out but I still ended up fifth at the event Jasmine Cordelle JMB3: I did quite well. I started at fourth in qualifying then at the end of the weekend I got to third qualifier. On the Bank Holiday Monday we were supposed to start our eliminations but sadly it got called off because of the weather. Hopefully at our next Championships we can do a full weekend :-) Brett Cordelle JPB4: Saturday and Sunday qualifying was perfect, you couldn't ask for any better weather. Springspeed wasn't really my meeting as neither myself nor the bike were getting the right times on the board. I hope round four has better weather and the bike runs. Rain stopped play again on Monday. Jordon Bissell JPB10: Good weekend with the weather. I had a few issues with the carb flooding but my top mechanics Glyn and Stu have redesigned the KTM carb, so fingers crossed no more flooding! My engine has gone off with Scott to have a nice new lock-up clutch built. Was quite impressed with my wheelie start on one of my runs! LOL, had my mum worried at home though! Then it rained and that was that! Conor Meehan JMB6: I had a few problems with this bike misfiring. Wendy and Tim discovered there was a problem with the ignition. Thanks to Kev who had a spare coil and sorted the problem out. Also thanks to everyone else who helped out! When he went out after he did have a better run. Hopefully in August we will get better weather and actually get further than qualifying! Louis Davis JMB7: The Springspeed Nationals was the first chance to race in a meeting at Shakey with my new bike. On Saturday Round 1 we dialled in a 10.30 but I ran a 10.66 due to a stronger headwind than we had anticipated which put me thirrd qualifier. On Saturday Round 2 we changed the dial-in time to 10.45 and I ran a 10.56 this was an improvement on my first run and put me second qualifier. On Sunday Round 3 I decided to do a brake start to improve my reaction time.  We lowered the dial-in to 10.20 as we knew the start would be quicker and the wind had dropped quite a bit.  My reaction was 0.158 and I ran 10.27 which kept me in second place. On Sunday Round 4 we dialled in a 10.25 as we had not made any changes and annoyingly I ran a 10.247 just 0.003 below my dial-in, this left me as fourth qualifier. On Monday we did not race because surprisingly it was raining again.  We are not making any changes to the bike before the August meeting but going to have lots of fun and practice at the RWYBs. Jake Charman JMB11: We arrived at the track late Friday night to find the awnings already set up thanks to Gipp and Nige for helping Lizz, as she has two broken wrists, so all that was left to do was get my bike out of the van. Saturday morning was mostly spent getting the wheelie bars on and doing the usual maintenance on the bike ready for scruitineering in a few hours. For my first run I decided to keep my dial in of 10.28 from Easter, as I hadn't had a chance to adjust it at the Big Bang. I went into stage ready for a five-second wait, Liam's lights dropped and my side redlit, I ran my run, slightly miffed. When I got back dad told me I had rolled out of stage. We decided not to do a burnout for the next run just because we still wanted to test the track after the previous run. I dialled in a 10.28 and ran an 11.014 at 61.22 mph. The bike bogged a little off the line, a close race with only 0.182 in it. After the bog on the last run we decided again, not to do a burnout. My dial in was 10.28 and after another slight bog, I ran an 11.213 at 63.11 mph. I decided to change my dial in to 11.0 for what would turn out to be my last run. The bike bogged and I ran an 11.121 at 63.03 mph. I would like to thank Dad, Lizz, Bryony, my sponsors, Alan at RCP Training, Uncle Steve at Motorshack and all the staff at Shakespeare County Raceway. Liam Holgate JB100: The youngest and newest member of Junior Drag Bike, and his first competition. At eight years old he did really well, hardly nervous at all. Parents were worse! Before the rain set in he was looking more and more confident. One to watch! Help sought for Lorna. 15th May: Kerryanne Frazier is on a mission and is asking for the assistance of Eurodragster.com readers to help one of the drag racing family: One of my good friends Lorna Barter, who does a lot for everyone else and is a member of our drag racing family, would benefit from a remarkable device named the Tek RMD. Lorna has been an avid race fan and was a bike rider until in the late 1980s when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an illness that is incurable and eats away at your nervous system. The illness has progressed so that now Lorna is constantly wheelchair bound which in itself creates numerous problems. She is having far too many falls and is incapable of moving herself in and out of the chair, so is completely chair-bound 24/7. This new Tek RMD device is remote-controlled and the user can enter the system forwards eliminating the need to throw yourself into the traditional wheelchair, enabling the user to be able to get in and out of a traditional bed etc. So from initially waking each morning the user can be independent and start the day upright. The new device also allows daily exercise which is vital to preserve the existing muscles and to prevent any further muscle wastage. The Tek RMD costs $15,000 and I am asking for help to raise this sum to help one of our drag racing family. We have received donations, promises of sponsored cycle rides, marathon runs, neck and shoulder massages etc, the list goes on. Our first event at Shakespeare County Raceway raised £500 and for our second fund-raising event we are hoping to run a raffle during the day and an auction during the evening, run by Nigel of Nitro FM, at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. If anyone has any prizes to donate these would be gratefully received. For more information please E-Mail me at [email protected] or call me on 07703 343534. We are on Facebook under Lorna's Tek RMD so please stop by and say hello. Thank you for reading and hopefully helping. Competition Clutch open UK base. 15th May: Respected American transmission company Competition Clutch is building on the sales success of its diverse race-quality clutch range by opening a dedicated UK sales office and logistics centre. Competition Clutch has partnered with industry leading logistics provider Universal Automotive to allow UK end-users and retailers to enjoy the same levels of stockholding and customer service that has made the brand so popular in its native USA. Based in Kidderminster, Universal Automotive's state-of-the-art, 40,000 square foot, computer controlled facility will carry all popular Competition Clutch lines for immediate delivery, with the ability to rapidly order more specialist products from the states with very short lead times. Universal are also the logistics partners for household names like Denso, Brembo and Monroe. At present the Competition Clutch range covers literally hundreds of fitments and includes fast road and motorsport clutch kits, discs and flywheels. The range has already found favour in the UK, being the first choice of many drag racers and drifters as well as being specified as a control part for one-make racing series such as the Buddy Club Civic Cup. Commenting on this latest development Dan McCarny, sales manager for Competition Clutch, said "We are delighted to be able to offer our UK customers a dedicated call centre and customer service team, as well as the fact that by working with Universal we can increase our inventory of parts and improve our speed of delivery. This is a great partnership for us that will allow us to build on the success and hard work of our existing UK dealer network." For more details on the Competition Clutch range, please visit www.competitionclutch.com or call the UK team on 01562 512512. Web site updates. 15th May: In the latest instalment of his Nostalgia Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Allard Chrysler Action Group Chair Brian Taylor reports upon the latest developments in the restoration of the Allard Chrysler Dragster and looks forward to Dragstalgia. 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. Our good friend Jon Spoard has updated his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with pictures from last week's Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Jon's excellent shots at www.ukdrn.co.uk. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures of Saturday's action at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Tony Gransden. 14th May: We were very sorry to hear from Ray White of the death of the UK's Tony Gransden. Ray writes: Tony was a partner in American Autoparts. He raced a twin-turbo Camaro in the 1980s and also partnered Terry Gibbs in the Camaros Unlimited car. I raced against him in Super Gas. Tony partnered with Alex Nicol from the mid 1990s until well into the 2000s. Everyone knew him from our SuperGas and Super Comp days. He was a real character and paired with Alex was renowned for a sense of humour and great sportsmanship. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. RIP. We have set up a tribute page for Tony which you can read by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you would to send a tribute then please E-Mail [email protected]. Our deepest sympathies to Tony's wife Angie, their daughters, and to all of his family and friends. EDRS Nationals updates. 13th May: Eliminations are taking place at Tierp Arena under a clear blue sky. You can stay in touch with results from the EDRS Nationals via the Resultat link at www.nitroz.se. In addition our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has kindly sent us a gallery from the weekend, which is presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If we can be forgiven a moment of partisanship, our congratulations to UK Pro ET racer Dan Williams on making the final of Stock/Super Stock in his first outing in the class and on his first visit to Tierp. EDRS Nationals updates. 12th May: The EDRS Nationals, the first round of this year's EDRS Series, takes place at Tierp Arena this weekend. As well as an EDRS Championship round a number of Pro racers will be testing and you will be able to stay in touch with all of the action at Tierp via the Resultat link at www.nitroz.se. In addition, our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson is kindly sending us end-day galleries and you can check out today's gallery, which is presented in association with Lucas Oil Products, by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Courtesy of Åsa Kinnemar of Speedgroup we have received the following pit notes from Tierp: 19:30 Johan Lindberg had the quickest ET by far in Pro Mod during the last qualifying session. The 6.012 run looked straight and smooth and Johan was this content and relaxed after the run. Crew Chief Jonnie Lindberg was quick to hid the Racepak graphs on the screen for this photo, while laughing. Here with Top Methanol Funny Car pilot and EDRS Workgroup member Jonas Staflund. Micke Gullqvist managed the last session with a 6.51 which put him in eighth place in the ladder, he found traction a bit out at the track and the car went straight and quick over the remaining part. The top speed of 394 kmh was the fastest in Pro Mod today. Gullqvist will run all Swedish Championship events at Tierp Arena which we gather that most of the fourteen drivers on site will also do. Mattias Wulcan has a new car for this year after a few seasons of struggling with a car that both flipped over and hit the guard rails almost every run. Wulcan's start at Tierp is seventh place in the ladder with a 6.50. Super Gas two-car team Christer Uhlin (on the ground) and Olav Skejrvö were number two and number one qualifiers in Super Gas and both were all smiles when we paid a visit to congratulate. They are also involved in the EDRS event at the Hell track in Norway which will take place on the last weekend in June. Comp Eliminator racer Stig Olsson was second quickest after the qualifying with his nostalgia front engine dragster. His company Stig O and his suppliers Transmission Specialties are also new in the EDRS Contingency Program for 2012. A few of the FIA and UEM Championship teams we expect on track tomorrow for test and tune include the Leanders Bros (Top Methanol Funny Car Champions) , Mikael Larsson also TMFC Funny Car, Pro Stock teams Callin, Lindström, Palmqvist and Sagelv (new in the class 2012), Samu Kemppainen and Hans-Olav Olstad in Supertwin, and of course all the Pro Mod teams who will fight for points in the EDRS European Drag Racing Series and Swedish Championship, both administered by Speedgroup. 17:15 Mats Eriksson (left) with Mikael Larsson Top Methanol Funny Car and Niklas Andersson Pro Mod (right). Mats shook tires during the second round and is currently no. 5 with a 6.56, whilst Andersson is in 12th spot. Mikael Larsson, who is at Tierp for test and tune, said they will probably wait to Sunday to test. Micke Gullqvist shut off before starting as he could spot a hose fuel leak from his driver's seat and there was no time to fix it. One more run is scheduled and Gullqvist will have another chance to run for a spot in the ladder. Rikard Gustafsson, European Funny Bike Cup Champion of 2011 has changed clutch and touched the world record first run out 6.433 and he said afterwards that they did not even try to go for it, just set the bike up to run smoothly which was clearly the way to go under the current circumstances. Per-Erik Lindgren, 2011 Swedish Champion in Comp Eliminator, doubles in Comp and Stock Super Stock this season. Still outside the field in Comp but on the upper part of the ladder in Stock Super Stock. Hectic time for Lindgren this weekend! Kalle Lyrén tested his Pro Stock Bike two weeks ago at Malmö, where he ran his quickest incremental times so far in Europe. At Tierp the first run out Kalle did not find traction but will be back for more testing. Pictured are Kalle with dad and team manager Roger Lyrén. Martin Lundkvist is low qualifier in Pro Mod with the turbo car after two sessions with a 6.16. He said the car did just what they expected and that he looks forward to the third session which is coming up soon. It's in the 'Blood! 12th May: Team Turboville and CHF Racing had a great outing at last weekend's VoltzEnergy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Ian Turburville writes: Sunday even saw a little sunshine and the track came around for some exciting racing in the Wild Bunch. I am still learning to drive the car but it's all good fun. We had no idea what to dial in but as we are progressing we broke out on every run. The first round of eliminations was wisely held on Sunday afternoon as rain was forecast for Monday. We drew Bob Hawkins in his super-quick nitrous rail. We dialled in an 8.9 to be safe as our best to then had been 8.96. It was a perfect side-by-side drag race and we both broke out as the track had improved so much and the air was good. I broke out the most so lost but was very happy with my 8.73 Personal Best and top speed of the meet at 158 mph! Big thanks to Steve Leedell, Martin Chesworth, Ingrid Chesworth, Crunch and the rest of the 'Bunch. Dave Derry put a Hero camera on the car for the last two runs and you can see that on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3vYbrCpl-U. The car is all good and we have entered Super Pro ET at the FIA Main Event along with three other Wild Bunch crazies! I shall also be helping Canadian Supertwin racer Nate Gagnon, so it'll be a busy week for me! Big news this week, Laura said we needed a new hero card to give to fans as so many people seem to like the car, so I had a think. I wanted something special and different, then it hit me! I contacted my buddy, drag legend and artist extraordinaire Kenny Youngblood. The result is a stunning piece of bold art I think you will agree. Thanks Kenny, you are the man! Apparently Kenny is returning to the UK and will be at the NSRA bash at Billing on 9th-10th, go see him and get a print and an autograph! You can commission a rendering of your car from him too, just go to www.youngbloodart.com. Swift snippets. 12th May: We have two spy pictures for you today. The first came with the words "Back in black!"... ...whilst the second came with no words at all. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. All invited to Wallingford. 12th May: UK Super Gas racer Dan Page writes that the 2012 Wallingford Car Rally takes place at 11:00 tomorrow (Sunday) at Wallingford Sports Park and that all are invited: The Wallingford Car Rally is an annual charity event organised by Haynes Car Centre. It commences with a parade of cars making its way through the historic town of Wallingford and around the bypass, ending at The Kinecroft (a field in the town centre) where the cars will park up and where all the activities will be taking place. There will be a chance to ride in supercars and classic vehicles in exchange for a donation to the event, and other charities with displays and activities throughout the day. There will also be a large display by the local emergency services, with the Wallingford Fire Brigade leading the convoy. Well-known car fanatic and TV personality Mike Brewer is hosting the event, and there will be over 250 vehicles ranging from WRC rally cars, The Who VW Magic Bus, steam engines, motorbikes and lots of other classic vehicles in attendance. The event raises money for Seesaw and other local charities. The rally is a relaxed affair with no fixed start and finish times, free entry to the public and only a modest charge for vehicle entries, and has proved to be a great success over the previous eight years it has been held. More information at www.wallingfordcarrally.org.uk. FIA Main Event entry update. 11th May: Ian and Paula Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club have been in touch with an important message for racers contesting the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. As reported here on Eurodragster.com, SPRC recently had problems with their computer and would like to ensure that no entries were lost whilst the computer was out of action. Please check the official entry list by clicking here; if you are not on the entry list but think that you should be then please forward your original entry E-Mail to [email protected]. It is essential that your original E-Mail is forwarded, rather than creating a new E-Mail. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact SPRC on the above E-Mail address or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Ålund's collection run. 11th May: Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund and his team are flying out to Jerry Haas' race shop in Fenton, Missouri this weekend to pick up Jimmy's all-new 2012 Camaro Pro Stock. Stefan Boman writes: "We will do some testing at a local track before heading to the NHRA race in Topeka Kansas, on 18th-20th May", says Jimmy. "Directly after this the car will be airfreighted to Sweden with support from the good people of Geodis, KW Parts and Exclusive Cars. Our goal is to update the team web site at www.jimmyalund.com with regular video clips from this adventure so please check it out. "Air freighting the car will make it possible for us to be in England for the start of the 2012 FIA European Championship, and we are looking forward to defending our number one position." Drag racing in the classroom. 11th May: The Allard Chrysler Action Group has been working with the Institute of the Motor Industry using the Allard Chrysler restoration project to excite young people about the motor industry. As an extension of this strategy, the IMI has recently launched Indicate, a set of motoring-themed, free teaching resources which schools can use to deliver the Key Stage 3 maths curriculum and introduce students to the motor industry. And guess what? It includes a drag racing exercise. Sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover and available to schools nationwide, the resources comprise a student workbook and a twelve-lesson teaching plan based on real-life activities within the motor industry. This covers subjects like statistics and data analysis, spanning sub-sectors which include motorsport, parts, sales and heavy vehicle. Crucially, the lessons allow students to explore mathematical concepts such as equivalence, proportional thinking and relationships and express them in written and oral forms. Emily Hakansson, IMI Careers Development Manager, said "Speaking to apprentices over the last year, I found that they showed great enthusiasm for maths in practice coupled with conceptual understanding. When discussing road cars and motor sport for example, they could talk at length about power-to-weight ratios and how they impact acceleration and lap times. This prompted us to build Indicate around real world examples from the motor industry - hence the inclusion of drag racing. Our aim is to make maths as engaging as possible for learners." ACAG Chair Brian Taylor said "I am really chuffed that the IMI has now included a drag racing-themed exercise in this exciting new programme available to schools. The drag racing element is about budgeting and it is the sort of development I have hoped for as part of getting young people involved in our project and our sport. Any teachers reading this who are drag racing fans make sure you get the details. Any students who are fans, tell your teachers." To register for the teaching resources visit www.autocity.org.uk/headlight/indicate. Bentec Engineering press release. 11th May: Due to a limited race schedule this year, Per Bengtsson and The Beast Supertwin team will only be able to provide racers with Bentec products personally at the following races: 25th-26th May: Spring Wheels, Tierp Arena, Sweden 14th-17th June: Sweden Internationals FIA/UEM, Tierp Arena, Sweden 27th-29th July: Malmö Nationals, Malmö Raceway, Sweden 23rd-26th August: Scandinavian Internationals FIA/UEM, Tierp Arena, Sweden 8th-11th November: Manufacturers World Cup, Valdosta, Georgia, USA We can of course always provide parts at all UEM races this season through other racers, so please don't hesitate to contact us with your parts requirements. Bentec Engineering is now a part of FlexoArt Graphic and Engineering. FlexoArt will produce, develop and provide all Bentec products.   New Beast team member from 2011 Eric Frank has also joined FlexoArt and will work together with Per Bengtsson in the racing department to develop and market Bentec products. We are acurrently testing a new larger sprag for the Magnum gearbox in Hans-Olav Olstad's new bike Thunderstruck, and it will be marketed soon. You can reach Per Bengtsson at [email protected] and Eric Frank at [email protected]. Sunshine at the Street Nationals. 11th May: You may have noticed already that it has been raining quite a bit recently. Santa Pod Raceway is badly overdue some decent weather, so it's not a moment too soon that they have forecast wall-to-wall sunshine for the Street Nationals this weekend. Rick Cuthbert writes: If you want to hit the track to do some Run What You Brung, if you want a crack at the handling track, or if you just want to watch some great racing from the invited race classes, the Street Nationals should be top of your list this weekend. The event starts on Saturday and runs to Sunday. Full information is available on the official web site at www.streetnationals.co.uk. Take a look at the unique RWYB competition format with cash prizes! See you at the weekend - no umbrella required, although if you are camping, you might want wellies as the fields are muddy in places. Problem solved! 9th May: Simon Innes and the UK's Plum Crazy Pro ET team had a disappointing Auto Trader Easter Thunderball, but are now looking forward to the FIA Main Event having located and solved their problem: It was really annoying and frustrating for all of the team when we qualified nineteenth at Easter after having some problems with the car. The problems came back before the first round of eliminations. The car wouldn't start. It was an electrical problem but we eventually got it running and kept the car running as long as possible down the fire-up road but it was finally our turn to face Paul Marston, which was great as Simon went through the drag racing school with Paul. I'm sure it would have been a close race with the bracket margin, but it wasn't to be and we had to be taken back to the pits. Once we got back we had a couple of relaxing weekends off so we didn't worry about the car, as it was over a month and half away from the Main Event. This weekend we got the car out of the garage and went through the car from top to bottom looking at the electrics. We found numerous faults with the electrics on the car so we replaced the regulator and the battery isolator switch and rewired some of the car. Several hours later we are ready to compete at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. I would like to thank Ashley Bell's Super Pro ET crew for towing us back to the Pro ET pits after they had run. A weekend converted. 9th May: After fitting a new 383 ci Small Block Chevy to the In'trevean'ous altered over the closed season unfortunately followed by a disappointing Easter Thunderball due to a water leak, UK Pro ET racer Steve Hudson and team were really looking forward to the weekend's Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway so that they could finally get the car down the track and start tuning the new motor: Regrettably on the first run on Saturday morning we soon realised that the engine was now producing far too much power for the torque converter to handle, as it just balloned at the hit and we were on the rev limiter in second gear by 330 feet. Back in the pits we soon decided that we would not continue and risk damaging the motor or trans by running it on the limiter for nearly 1000 feet. However, never one to give up, Neil Hunter who was crewing for me for the weekend returned with news of a converter for sale which might do the job. A deal was struck and the work commenced to get it swapped out. This did unfortunately mean that we missed the second qualifier but the job was completed by early evening. A quick run-up on the stands showed that the new converter was stalling at 5500 rpm which was exactly what we were hoping for. Sunday morning and we were ready to go, but with no real idea of what the car was going to run we took a stab at a 9.30 dial-in confident that we could not break out. All of a sudden it became clear that this car was working properly again. The burnout was really strong and the car felt like it wanted to go. 1.333 to sixty feet and a new PB of 9.34 showed that the work had been well worth it. One more qualifier followed where we got a bit loose at about half track and only ran a 9.48 (still two tenths quicker than the previous PB) which seemed a disappointment. After sitting at the top end to allow the motor to cool a little, I returned to the pit to discover we had now gone into eliminations. With very little information to go on we lined up against Dave Cherrett in round one. I was relieved to pass Dave at about half-track and to be able to back off at the top to take the round win. Unfortunately the rain put paid to any further chance to race, but the team are now much more confident that we can again challenge for the Championship and try to improve on last year's third place. I would like to thank Neil Hunter for not giving up and helping me change the converter, Nick Griffin from Southern Belle Racing for the 'Try before you buy' deal on the converter, Paul Baynton and Nigel Green for the muscle when we needed to move the motor, and Ian Turboville for the new converter bolts. Now on to the Main Event. Swift snippets. 9th May: UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis asked us to say a big Thank You to Santa Pod Racers Club Chief Starter Ian Marshall and the track crew for their efforts to prep the surface at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend, when Graham was testing his twin-turbo Superbird. "Ian and the team never stopped working for us", said Graham. "I really would like to thank them for giving us the best track possible especially as it had had a lot of rain on it". Ian's efforts and those of Graham and his team paid off as Graham clocked a 6.4 and a 6.5 in testing and came away with a lot of useful information just in time for the FIA Main Event. UK blown-alcohol altered racers and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing are pleased to announce that Slick Attire are producing a 2012-13 Bennett Racing T-Shirt. "This is great news for the team", says Luke Bennett. "Thanks once again to Slick Attire who have been supporting us for over five years and long may it continue. Don't forget to check out our Relentless T-Shirt which is still on sale". You can find out more at www.slickattire.com. Puma Engineering press release. 9th May: Puma Engineering have completed the engine and pod assembly of their unique blown parallel nitro twin for delivery to its new owner, Norwegian rider Hans Olav Olstad, where it will be fitted into a previously-supplied rolling chassis. The engine is a 4.5" (114.3mm) bore and a 3.23" (82mm) stroke, 102.7 cu/in (1683cc) DOHC four valve per cylinder parallel twin. The barrels and heads are separate from each other (unlike Per Bengtsson's Beast parallel twin) and the crank is effectively two individual single cylinder cranks co joined by a spline and sleeve assembly. Another unique aspect is that the primary drive is gear driven, rather than the more usual belt and pulleys. It is hoped that the bike will be on track for the first time at the season opening European Dragbike Championship round at Santa Pod Raceway on Jubilee weekend. Web site updates. 9th May: Our good friend Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures from the weekend's Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest updates via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Springspeed Nationals rained out. 8th May: Yesterday's eliminations at the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway were rained out without a wheel turning. Given consistently bad weather forecasts for yesterday, APIRA officials made the call to run the first rounds of eliminations of some classes on Sunday afternoon, a brave decision which turned out to be correct and which was generally well-received. Congratulations to Junior Dragster racer Jacob Kopasz who won the £75 Eurodragster.com/ModUrStang Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 Reaction Time in qualifying. The Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in June. The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award went unclaimed and so has rollen over to £100 for the FIA Main Event. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our first full Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcast from SCR was a real hit with a deluge of appreciative feedback for which we are most grateful. Thanks to everyone who got in touch over the weekend, and thanks to Maikel and our friends at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. We would also like to thank Simon Day of APIRA's Tech Crew for his ready help all weekend without which our coverage would have been nowhere near as good. Thanks also to James Ingram and Carole Ismail without whom there would not have been any Perfect Award decals available at SCR at the weekend. Swift snippets. 12th May: Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall for sending us Version 12 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Standard-priced entry is now closed; entry, if accepted, is now subject to a late-entry penalty. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc or from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). VBS Racing cut schedule. 6th May: Urban Johansson and Linda Thun Tønseth of Sweden's VBS Racing Pro Mod team have been in touch with news of their plans for this season, which unfortunately do not include the entire FIA European Championship Tour: There have been many rumours around Europe lately about Swedes boycotting Santa Pod. We think boycotting is totally the wrong word, but we can only speak for ourselves. We had already decided at last year's FIA European Finals not to do the whole FIA tour this year for various reasons. Last year was a very busy year with a new car in, new truck and trailer. Loads of hours and hard work was put in to it. After the Finals it was decided to slow everything down, maybe focus on the Swedish Championship, and other things need to come first this year. But it should be said that because of the shape of the Santa Pod track the decision was easier for us. It's not a safe track as it is now so we are thinking about the drivers and the cars as it could all end really badly. Even if the track has been fixed by now, for this new upcoming season we would not have raced there; as we said, other things need to come first this year, but we really look forward to coming back to Santa Pod to race and to meet up with all our fantastic friends and fans. And who knows, we might be back at the Finals. Per News FAQ 09 and News FAQ 16 we have now given coverage to both sides of the track issue. We consider that we have been scrupulously fair on this subject and we will take a lot of persuading to take it any further - Ed Big Bang racer refunds. 5th May: Due to the rain out of last weekend's Big Bang, Santa Pod Racers Club and Santa Pod Raceway are offering racers a percentage refund for their entry and electricity costs. Racers can either be reimbursed or take a credit, to be used by Big Bang 2013, of £50 for cars and £55 for bikes. The extra £5 for bike racers reflects their higher entry fee due to insurance costs. For more information please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Kuutniemi's aegrotat. 5th May: We are sorry to have to announce that Finnish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jarmo "Japa" Kuutniemi is unable to race this season. Jarmo has been diagnosed with a serious illness which is now being treated. According to Japa's doctor the prognosis is good and he hopes to be back racing next year. Jarmo and his team are disappointed because of the depth of their investment for this coming season, but health is of course the number one priority. Japa is renowned amongst his competitors and fans for never giving up easily, and he will use that same spirit to fight his illness. Jarmo and the OK Racing Team hope that competition in the TMFC class will be at its usual high level this season, and they are only sorry that they can't be racing with the other teams. We're sure that all of our readers will join us in sending best wishes to Jarmo and Elisabeth for a very rapid recovery and return to the track. Thanks to Simo Patoharju for translation - Ed Swift snippets. 5th May: Lena Perés writes that this year's Borlänge Street Open at Dala Airfield has moved from its traditional late-July date to 30th June-1st July. Lena also tells us that this year's may be the last Street Open at the airfield as the runway is due to be relaid after which only aircraft will be allowed on it. European fans have someone to cheer on at the ADRL Northeast Drags II at Maple Grove as Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc is contesting his third ARDL event of the season. A webcast is available at www.adrl.us, results will be available courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com, and Adam will be updating from the track on the Flamholc Racing Facebook page. Good luck Adam and stay safe. Bartlett on FIA Main Event. 4th May: Santa Pod Raceway CEO Keith Bartlett has provided Eurodragster.com with the following statement about the FIA Main Event: There have many rumours recently and varying stories doing the rounds regarding the forthcoming race team entries into the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. The majority of these stories have been started by the racers themselves and in particular from teams  who generally campaign the FIA and UEM European Drag Racing Championships. There are many factors bringing this about. Firstly the whole situation, and these rumours, have been blown out of all proportion. This is nothing new and often happens within other motorsport disciplines too, where the rumour mill churns from driver to driver, becomes embellished and exaggerated along the way, especially during the closed season. The bottom line is this. Many of the teams are hurting in economic terms and many of them have far less sponsorship and/or less of their own money to invest into their race cars. Combined with the overall European economy and outlook, many racers can now afford less time away from their business and careers as a result. In addition, we now have the very high costs to travel around the 2012 European Drag Racing Championships tour. For the Swedish race teams in particular, the cost of travel to the UK is the greatest and some of the teams do not have the money to travel this far twice in the season. The same will apply to some of the UK racers looking to go to Sweden and the new Tierp Arena; they will not have the money to travel there twice in the 2012 season. There is a set FIA travel fund that all the tracks pay to the racers and teams who travel from abroad to any one round of the FIA and UEM Championships. This fund, with today's greatly increased travel costs, is in need of a review. That, however, has to be done in a correct and proper manner in conjunction with all the track owners and organisers, Speedgroup, the FIA and the UEM, and this needs to be set one year in advance. The other issue is that of the track surface. As I have made clear, the whole track needs relaying totally and properly. It is not just a case of resurfacing. The foundations have to be ripped up and completely relaid as well as a new surface applied to the entire length of the track and much of the shutdown area. Once the management team at Santa Pod looked at the full extent of the works to be carried out, it was clear that the cost was over double the original budget.  This meant that Santa Pod would not be able to attempt these works during the winter months of 2011 - 2012 as had been previously planned. Most classes, like Top Fuel Dragster, Fuel Funny Car, Top Methanol Dragster and Top Fuel Bike, have no issues with the track anyway, but other classes like Pro Stock, Pro Mod may have had issues with some bumps at the end of the track. The track has now had a lot of preparation work carried out on it and more will be completed in the weeks leading up to the FIA Main Event. As always the very experienced track crew at Santa Pod will give the racers the best track they can to run on. The track, and in particular the start line, should be up to the level the racers are expecting. The new start line, which was only completed six days before the 2011 FIA European Finals, is now a much improved one and given some respite in the rain, warm weather in the lead up, plus some good cars going down the track at the Pro Peak Test Day, there is no reason why it should not be very good. We already have a healthy entry with many European teams competing in the following classes: Top Fuel Dragster (TF), Pro Modified (PM), Top Methanol Dragster (TMD), Top Fuel Bike (TFB) and Super Twin Bike (STB), Pro Stock Bike (PSB) in addition to four Fuel Funny cars (AAFC). Of course, we do still have teams coming from Pro Stock (PS) and Top Methanol Funny Car (TMFC) including Europeans. This current situation of uncertainty about some teams not coming to the Main Event has not been created by Speedgroup or Trakbak Racing Ltd but by certain race teams choosing not to enter for reasons best known to themselves. However, we at Santa Pod are very confident of a very good entry of race teams overall and given good weather we look forward to a very exciting first round of the FIA and UEM European Drag Racing Championships. See you at the track. Urgent Springspeed pitting notice. 4th May: Due to another day of heavy rain lashing the area, hard standing will be at a premium at this weekend's Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Officials and pit staff will make every effort to get racers pitted correctly according to their completed pit allocation forms. With this in mind we respectfully ask any racer with an open trailer not needed during the event to park it behind the wall with any security devices fitted, although there will be marshals parked behind the wall throughout the weekend and overnight. Some racers have asked for space for a tow vehicle and a trailer to help secure an awning. Maybe to help us you could ask your neighbouring racer to secure your awnings to their trailer! Although pit marshals had every intention of marking out the individual pit bays yesterday, unfortunately this hasn't been possible and may effect the time at which the pit gate eventually opens today (scheduled opening time 12:00 noon). Please be patient with the pit marshals as it is not their fault that the weather isn't playing ball. Swift snippets. 4th May: 19:30 Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall for sending us Version 11 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Standard-priced entry closes today (Friday); you can download Pro and Sportsman entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc or from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). European fans have someone to cheer on at the ADRL Northeast Drags II at Maple Grove as Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc is contesting his third ARDL event of the season. Qualifying starts today (Friday). A webcast is available at www.adrl.us, results will be available courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com, and Adam will be updating from the track on the Flamholc Racing Facebook page. Good luck Adam and stay safe. Brett Hawksbee and Danny Allen write with heavy hearts that they are having to cancel this weekend's RPM Show as the Stonham Barns site is flooded. They offer apologies to anyone who was going but ask that you keep your eyes on www.shows-uk.com for future events. UEM SSB Cup update. 3rd May: Geoff Myers, the administrator of the UEM European Cup for Super Street Bike, has been in contact to advise racers that UEM European Cup registration is now closed for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. SSB racers can still enter the FIA Main Event but they will not be able to claim travel, qualifying or round payments as UEM rules clearly state that to be eligible for payments they must have registered for the Cup a minimum of thirty days days prior to an event. To ensure that teams wishing to race in the remaining UEM SSB Cup rounds are not caught out, the rest of this season's schedule and registration deadlines are as follow: 10th-12th August: NitrOlympX, Hockenheimring, Germany - registration deadline 10th July 18th-20th August: Kunmadaras, Hungary - registration deadline 19th July 6th-9th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England - registration deadline 6th August You can download the registration form (PDF format) by clicking here. Springspeed Nationals racer update. 3rd May: Shakespeare County Raceway have been in touch with an update on the arrangements for this weekend's (Saturday-Monday 5th-7th) Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals. The final version of the official entry list is now available; you can view the list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Saturday's provisional running order is now available and can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that this running order is provisional and subject to change for track or weather conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Event officials would like to stress the following to crew members attending the start line: Please do not lean on the safety barriers. Please vacate the area after your vehicle or class has run. Only members of the Press/Media are allowed to stand next to the armco. Please do not stand in front of any rescue vehicle or Paramedic/Ambulance unit. Any violation of the above rules may lead to expulsion from the area. In light of recent events all pit vehicles including golf buggies, quad bikes and pit bikes may only be used for essential transportation by crew members and not for recreational use or fun riding. No one under 17 years of age or not holding a current DVLC licence will be allowed to drive/ride any tow vehicle. Riders of pit bikes must wear a helmet at all times. Pit bikes must not be ridden to the door of Pit Control/Signing On via the traders' area, or the Vehicle Ready Line, or they will be impounded for the duration of the event. Vehicles, including children's bicycles, will be impounded if any of the above rules are not complied with or if excessive speed or careless riding practices are seen at any time throughout the meeting. Please note that these rules, for all motorised pit vehicles, will be enforced throughout the event including after the track has closed for the day. This is for everyone's safety, prevention of damage, and enjoyment of the event. There will also be a Tractor Pull Test and Tune taking place on the pulling strip near to the main drag strip. This will be in operation at different times during the day and will not interfere with the running of the Springspeed Nationals. There will be a small amount of tractors parked near to the pulling track for sound evaluation tests. If you have the time please go over and have a look from the spectator viewing bank in preparation for the forthcoming Shakey Super Pull on 9th-10th June. Uncle Steve of Motorshack will be in his familiar spot in the traders' area this coming weekend. Steve will have his usual Motorshack trade unit with him dispensing all manner of goodies including oil products, Motorshack's own brand of fuel addictives, tools, and nitrous oxide refills. If you have any queries about the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals then please contact the Raceway at [email protected] or call 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180). Swift snippets. 3rd May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Shiny new parts (some from the Gatornationals) for our project. More news and photos before the Main Event". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. 16:30 Many thanks to Paula and Ian Marshall for sending us Version 9 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes tomorrow (Friday); you can download Pro and Sportsman entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc or from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Thanks to Gabor Majer of Kunmadaras Motorsport for letting us know that France's Eric Teboul clocked a stout 5.24/427.48 kmh on his Rocket Bike at Kunmadaras on Tuesday. You can check out a video of Eric's run at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUZo_JC43Nk. Springspeed Nationals Perfect Awards. 3rd May: This weekend's Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway is the third event in the 2012 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance. Racers please note that decals are mandatory for both Perfect Awards this season. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/ModUrStang Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Big Bang. 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 all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA Main Event; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with vehicle modification specialist ModUrStang whose web site you can find at www.modurstang.co.uk, or visit Mike Lacey in the Pro ET pits. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Big Bang. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to 0.000 on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Wild Bunch, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Supertwin ET and Junior Drag Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA Main Event; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk, or visit Derek Flynn in the Top Methanol pits. To be eligible to collect either Perfect Award, racers are required to carry decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect Light or 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 Light or Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. ModUrStang and Gold RV decals will be available in Signing On on Saturday morning. Springspeed Nationals coverage. 3rd May: Eurodragster.com will be at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to bring you all the news from the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Our coverage will consist of frequently-updated reports on the on-track action each day of the event plus pit notes updated throughout each day and a photo gallery at the end of each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam is planned to be on-line so long as the track is open and will be broadcasting live video and commentary/Shakey Sounds audio with streaming services provided by our friends at Doyousee.me. You can check out our Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals event index, which includes the latest version of the entry list and link to the webcam, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Web site updates. 3rd May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Kalle Lyrén reports upon a successful test at Malmö for the Veidec Pro Stock Bike team. Don't miss the on-board video. 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. Editor's note: Can we remind everyone about News FAQ 26. Thank you. Cooper Racing 'shop update. 2nd May: Matt Cooper writes that it has been a very busy off-season in the Cooper Racing Outlaw Anglia camp: We have upgraded the chassis to SFI 25.4 spec, and we have replaced the heavy cast SBC block with a nice light ally Donovan unit complete with new rings, bearings etc. Towards the end of last season the 'glide casing cracked, so we have purchased a new JW Ultra-cased glide complete with new torque converter from the States. The paint was starting to look a bit old so we have given her a lick of paint and some very cool airbrush work by Neil's Auto-Art (07913 476806). We were planning on running at Big Bang but due to a family bereavement we pulled out. There is still a small amount of work left to do but as you can see from the pictures we are not far off. We are not 100% sure when we will be out but it will be either the Shakey Tractor Pull or the Nostalgia Nats: I am in the process of moving house and keeping the Mrs happy by taking her on holiday! Towards the end of last year we also completed the rebuild of our little A Series Opel Manta. She recently passed the MOT so expect to see her out pounding the strip at some point this season too. Many thanks to my brother Adam and our sidekick Graham who has recently discovered the art of drag racing! New home sought for Overkill. 2nd May: The Big Bang was a disappointment for CHF Racing and Team Turboville as the incredibly bad storm washed everyone off the premises, putting paid to Laura Turburville's plans to licence in the unique Harley-powered Overkill dragster. The team have now decided to sell the car. Ian Turburville writes: Santa Pod did their best in the circumstances and must have taken a big hit financially but they were totally professional as always and have been generous in their recent offer of a partial rain check. The weekend did give us time to sort out some issues and have a long hard think about the future though. The MSA tech boys and the scrutineers had some reservations about Laura's car so we had a couple of meetings and everything was resolved nicely. This is only to be expected with any new and radical design of car. Head scrutineer Amos Meekins consulted ACU Chief Scrutineer Steve Johnson, as he was not familiar with the technicalities of a supertwin motor or slider clutch arrangement. Both seemed to like the car and made a couple of valuable suggestions as to the safety of the clutch and starter arrangements, which have been taken on board 100%. The car now has a full MSA log book and is legal to race in any suitable class. Crunch and I started it up, and Laura drove it out of the tech shed with a big grin! We do have a team problem though as we are trying to run two cars, although we can never get both to the track at the same meet, and it is getting beyond our resources. The slingshot is performing perfectly and the long term plan is coming together nicely, this involves supercharging it for next year but with period components. Laura wants to race competitively right now though, and I agree that that should be her aim. The Overkill car is a sound concept, that we know works, but will take some development to reach its full potential and to be competitive. Normally this development process is the most exciting and interesting part of any build but Laura is young, I am old, and both of us are running out of patience as everything keeps getting delayed by lost opportunities to test. The Big Bang was also one of Laura's last chances to licence before the FIA Main Event and that is half a year wasted. So, it is with a very heavy heart that we are putting the Overkill dragster up for sale, complete with a lot of spares and the special tools needed to run such a combo like clutch grinders, starter cart, dataloggers etc. We hope that someone with more time and energy can take it on and develop it fully. It is not as complicated as it looks and Laura says it is just like driving a big Junior Dragster! The car is built with only the best, and safest parts and it's full history can be viewed on Facebook. We might do a deal on a dragster so that Laura can jump straight into the thick of the action, but in the meantime we will continue to develop the car. Any serious enquiries can be sent to CHF RACING via www.turboville.co.uk. Swift snippets. 2nd May: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 8 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes this Friday (4th); you can download Pro and Sportsman entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc or from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Essex-based Wild Bunch Champions Team Gridlock are pleased to announce their latest sponsorship with Swiss professional care products giant Maxolen. The quality label Maxolen of Max Lehner AG has been synonymous with quality for over fifty years of professional know-how in the field of care and cleaning services. Their products meet the highest of international quality standards and include a wide range of services. Team Gridlock will be using their car care product range this season to keep their Competition Altered in show-winning condition. Check out Maxolen's web site at www.maxolen.co.uk. Tom Bogner of Lucas Oil has decided to sell his '57 Corvette which he has been showing for a couple of years, as he no longer has time to race it. "I am asking $60K turn-key and have an extra set of front and rear wheels and several high dollar spare parts", says Tom. "The car has very few runs on the 1175 hp 605 Chevy. I have only six runs on the elite Comp lifters and a spare set in the trailer along with new valve springs form PAC and titanium retainers and spare T&D rockers and Manton pushrods. This car is a one of a kind and I will not sell it if I can not get a good fair price for it". If you are interested then drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll put you in touch. Our good buddy, photographer Matt Woods tells us that the June issue of Performance Ford magazine contains a feature on Matt Smith's Team Extreme V8 Cosworth-powered Escort which is currently to be seen at Peak Performance Days and Run What You Brungs. The Feature includes pictures by Matt W. Performance Ford is available from all good magazine stockists. Shakespeare County Raceway wish to thank Super Modified racers Belinda and Jeff Bull and Carolynne Campbell for taking time out to display their Chevrolet S10 Pick-Up and Rocket Dragster respectively at RAF Lakenheath last Saturday as well as to hand out event flyers to racegoers who braved the elements to attend the air base's Annual Car and Motorcycle Show. SCR has been invited back for a further display of drag machines to help celebrate the Independence Day Extravaganza on Wednesday 4th July. If anyone is interested in displaying a vehicle then please get in touch with the Raceway at [email protected]. Web site updates. 2nd May: In the latest instalment of his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn tells of his first events working with Malta's Chris Polidano, the new owner of the Gold RV Top Methanol Dragster. 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. Alan Currans has also updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with the latest bulletin on Pat Neal's restoration of the Veney's Vega Pro Comp Funny Car. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest updates via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Further to Monday's Swift Snippet, our good buddy Pascal Thébault has sent us a link to a video clip of the conditions which led to the cancellation of the first French ATD Championship round at Mende. You can check out the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXH6aJi99c. Springspeed racer arrangements. 1st May: Shakespeare County Raceway have been in touch with an update on the arrangements for this weekend's (Saturday-Monday 5th-7th) Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals: The official entry list is now available; you can view the list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Racer tickets, along with Final Instructions, vehicle pass and scrutineering slip will be available at the main gate upon arrival, and will have to be signed for. If any crew members arrive before the racer then they must notify the track beforehand, or wait until the racer arrives at the track to gain entry. A maximum of four half price racer tickets will be available per team. These can only be purchased on arrival at the main gate and on Friday and Saturday only. Entry to the pits will commence at 12:00 midday this Friday. If racers wish to arrive on Friday morning, before the pit gate opens, then they are more than welcome to park up and wait. Please note that pit marshals will escort all racers to their designated pit, so please be patient if a queue develops on the entrance road into the pits. Anyone who pits incorrectly will be politely asked to move to their correct allocated pit space. Scrutineering will commence for both cars and bikes at approximately 17:00 on Friday. Scrutineering will resume on Saturday from 08:00. Signing On will also open at this time. Saturday's running order will be posted here on Eurodragster.com later this week. Copies will be available in the Signing On office which will open between 18:00 and 20:00-21:00 on Friday. Shakespeare County Raceway and APIRA would like to thank all the racers for their support for the meeting, especially with the weather and with this being the second event in a very short period for some classes. If you have any queries about entry to the Voltz Energy Shots Springspeed Nationals then please contact the Raceway at [email protected] or call 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180). Urbacher's double date. 1st May: 2011 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has announced that he will not be defending his title this season. Urs will be contesting only two of this year's Championship events, at Hockenheim and Tierp Arena both in August, due to a shortfall in funds. "We are still working to get the money for more races but it looks bad", says Urs. "So we have decided to race only at Hockenheim and Tierp this year. The Supertwin ridden by Lorenz Stäuble will race only at Hockenheim this year. "So for all my fans and friends in England, sorry but we are not showing up at the FIA Main Event. I wish my competitors and friends in Top Fuel a nice fight to find a new Champion in 2012 without me. But we will win in Hockenheim and at Tierp and if the weather helps us we may win the Championship. We are working hard to put the money together for the last two races in the NHRA Championship, Vegas and Pomona, and it is still an ambition to win one race in USA. So if everything comes together we will be in Vegas in October.  "I also have a new racing challenge. I have got my Historic International FIA race licence and I will start Historic Hillclimb races with this 1966 Corvette I bought from the Neufeld brothers in Zurich. The car was raced in the USA from 1967 until 1981 and was in storage after that. But there is still a lot of work to put it back on the track. "The Supertwin is still for sale. We have reduced the price to €55000 including all the tools and spares, and we have a lot of extras including clutch machine etc. For that money we will give away all the secrets and books plus Lorenz' help with the bike at some tracks. If you are interested in a Championship bike which knows how to win then please feel free to contact Lorenz or I." Swift snippets. 1st May: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 7 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-4th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes this Friday (4th); you can download Pro and Sportsman entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc or from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about FIA Main Event entry then please contact Santa Pod Racers Club at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Our best wishes to blown-Daimler dragster legend Russ Carpenter who was taken into hospital last week with stomach pains which turned out to be problems with his gall bladder with pancreatitis for good measure (A quick call to Gillian Taylforth will help with the latter - Ed). Latest news from son Andrew is that the symptoms are clearing only slowly but that the medicos are positive. Get Well Soon Russ. Editor's note: Only a quick news update today because of pressure of work in your News Editor's day job. We have a backlog which we will clear this evening so stay tuned for news from CHF Racing and Team Turboville, Cooper Racing and more, and please keep the news coming to [email protected]. Earlier news