Little Ladies' own eliminator. 30th June: In addition to the festivities and competitions already taking place at this year's Ladies That Launch at Shakespeare County Raceway, LTL organisers along with SCR's Andrew Willcox have come up with the idea of a special one-off Little Ladies Junior Shootout to coincide with the fifth annual event during the Public Track Weekend on 19th-20th July. Open to all Junior ladies in both Dragster and Bike, the idea is to run a special eight-vehicle ladder for each classe whilst raising funds for LTL's chosen charity the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. If there is enough interest in the dragster bracket then it will be opened up to a sixteen-car shootout! "Following the successful running of the brackets over the years at LTL we thought that it was time to extend this to our little ladies of drag racing's future with a special one-off event", says Jerry Cookson. "If this proves to be popular then we can look at making it into an annual event for the month of July which ties in nicely with the kids' school holidays." The usual Raceway admission (kids under 16 free) and Junior track fees will apply. A donation of your choice to the Air Ambulance would be appreciated. A quick and simple downloadable entry form will be published shortly. A special participant decal is being produced by LTL supporters Claron Graphics. Trophy sponsorship is also being sought but if anyone wants to add further sponsorship to the weekend then please get in touch with Jerry on 01789 720180. Further details about the Ladies That Launch weekend can be found on the Events page at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or on the Ladies That Launch Facebook page. Swift snippets. 30th June: Congratulations to ex-pat UK racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who took runner-up spot in Top Alcohol Dragster at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago after qualifying #1 with a 5.322/267.85. "We had some great runs, consistency and Low ET of the meet at 5.267", Mike told Eurodragster.com. "I came up 0.014 short in the final but we are thrilled to have a race car again. We hope to have as much fun in Norwalk next week". Sweden's Jonnie Lindberg made a second round exit in Top Alcohol FC but set high speed of the event at 261.37 mph. More details at www.dragracecentral.com. SPRC Summernationals rained out. 29th June: With the exception of the first rounds of Lucas Oil Junior Dragster, Pro ET, Super Pro ET and Super Comp, today's eliminations were rained out at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. The event was severely affected by the weather from Friday's Peak Performance Day onwards and it was only through yet another massive co-operative effort by race officials, track crew and racers that two of the three planned cycles of qualifying and those few opening rounds of eliminations were completed. Congratulations to Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Saskia Jell who took the Eurodragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award of a whopping £150 with an 8.160 on an 8.16 dial-in in eliminations. The Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 at For Ladies That Launch weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. The Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award went unclaimed so has been increased to £75 for Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out our Alao Rent A Car-sponsored reports, pit notes and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Apologies for the intermittent disruption to the webcast during Saturday. After formulating a number of theories we tried a restart of Nitro FM's satellite uplink this morning and this seemed to do the trick as the webcast did not drop out once all day. Those most rapid in their complaints yesterday were, perhaps unsurprisingly, less quick to comment appreciatively today but that's Facebook culture for you and the frightening thought is that it is getting worse by the day. Many thanks to Julian of Nitro FM for the use of the uplink and to Maikel at Doyousee.me for streaming and sounding-board services. Swift snippets. 28th June: We have two spy pictures for you today. The first came with no words at all... ...whilst the second came with the words "Going to be at dragstalgia. Built by Apple County Muscle Cars". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Congratulations to Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who qualified #1 in Top Alcohol Dragster at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago with a 5.322/267.85. Jonnie Lindberg is #15 in Top Alcohol FC at 5.751/259.56 and Elvira Karlsson #19 in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a day's qualifying left. You will be able to stay in touch with our heroes' progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central friends at www.dragracecentral.com. Good luck guys and stay safe. Frustration and the Windy City. 27th June: Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences and the Shredder team are getting over their frustration with Mike's new injected-nitro dragster just in time for this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago. Mike writes: The new chassis seemed to be working well and, given its limitations, testing was always encouraging. However despite always getting down the track we only ever ran in the 5.50s and occasionally 5.40s. The Shredder crew took the car apart and went through it again. This time something has changed. Last weekend in Tulsa we had two runs of 5.33 and one of 5.296. We were a little light on speed as we dropped a hole or two on the top end. But it appears to be very tunable and I think we have a race car again. We still lost in the first round. We got a little tyre shake at about 300 feet, I thought I had driven through it but the tyres went up in smoke and then I got to look at both walls. We are heading to Chicago this week and Norwalk next week, and I hope to send you some good results soon. As well as Mike we have two more of our heroes to cheer on in Chicago this weekend as Jonnie Lindberg (Top Alcohol FC) and Elvira Karlsson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also contesting the event. You will be able to stay in touch with their progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central friends at www.dragracecentral.com. Good luck guys and stay safe. Estonia Round 2 report. 27th June: The second round of the Estonian Drag Racing Champinonship, organised by the Estonian Drag Racing Association, took place last Saturday, just a few days before the Estonian national midsummer holidays. Kristjan Veedler writes that it was another great drag racing battle between drivers and riders from Estonia, Latvia and Finland: The EDRA track crew decided to try some new methods in prepping the track and it worked really well. Some drivers said that they had never experienced such good traction on an Estonian track before, so it was worth it. The only down side of the race was once again the weather. One small shower was nothing compared to the freezing nine-degree temperature plus a pretty strong wind. Now the organisers are trying to find sponsors who are willing to pay the weatherman enough so that he doesn't mess up the weather next time. Once again the Grand Master Lauri Kuriks showed everyone who is the King of Estonian drag racing. He topped qualifying in the Estonian Outlaw class at 8.1 seconds and improved his performance in eliminations running eight seconds flat. The Estonian national record is 7.8 seconds, held by Veljo Einberg with his '87 Buick Grand National. This means that Lauri is pretty close and we might see a new record to be set next time out at Pärnu. Results by category: Junior Bracket 1. Marcel David Tõeleid Outlaw 1. Lauri Kuriks 2. Kristjan Käbi Street Modified 1. Andres Arnover 2. Mati Põld Pro Bike 1. Deivid Urbus 2. Petri Koivuniemi Street A 1. Martin Veedler 2. Tarvo Järv Street B 1. Erik Olesk 2. Ivar Miilberg Sportsman ET 1. Delvis Siimson 2. Kristo Tihvan You can find out more about drag racing in Estonia on the Estonian Drag Racing Association web site at www.edra.ee. Pictures courtesy and ©Tarvo Oras Gabby launches funding project. 27th June: Ireland's only Top Fuel Dragster racer Gabrielle McDonald has set up a crowd-funding project to help her to complete her licencing. As drag racing is not a recognised sport in Ireland, funding is particularly difficult to come by. Gabby writes: Back in May I was out at the Pod again to try to achieve my licence. It had been about eighteen months since I had been in the car and so I had to get reacquainted. I got two runs in on the Saturday and was going for the full passes on the Sunday. On the first pass of the day I had run a 5.17/135. It was certainly an amazing feeling! The quickest I had gone previously was 6.9, so I had dropped almost two seconds. My final run of the weekend was my best by far, 4.4/191 going 221 mph at the eighth and lifting shortly afterwards. Although my speed was down I was told if I were to enter an event some time this year, my qualifying run would count as my last full pass as long as I ran 4.7/250 or quicker. Which leads to my next project. I am currently trying to raise funds to get back out at the end of the year. As all of you know, trying to find sponsors is a difficult task and here in Ireland drag racing isn't recognised as a sport. It doesn't help when trying to approach companies having to explain that it's not recognised. I'm trying to raise funds to rent the car, to get my suit and helmet and to get some merchandise made. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone would support me and help to spread the word as much as possible. As Tescos say, every little helps! You can find out more and contribute at www.pledgesports.org/projects/gabbys-top-fuel-drag-racing-dream. Swift snippets. 27th June: After taking three wins in as many races, the latest last weekend at Tallhed Raceway, Swedish Top Doorslammer racer Adam Flamholc and family relaxed at Mora Campground before heading to Sundsvall Raceway for this weekend's first round of the Scandinavian Top Doorslammer Series where he hopes to take a fourth straight victory. "I know the competition will be tough, but we will do our very best to keep the winning streak going!", says Adam. Having undergone his self-financed observed runs, UK Junior Dragster racer Conor Holt tells us that he will likely start to compete next season. He is currently doing the paperwork and plans to attend RWYBs to build up his experience. Collecting all of the necessary racewear is also on Conor's to-do list. Please join Kirstie, Simon, Julian and Tog in sending best wishes to Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell who is in hospital having undergone a heart procedure. At time of writing Ed was due to be allowed out of his bed to take a walk around and if all goes well he will hopefully be home today (Friday). Get Well Soon Ed, we need you back in the office. Top Sportsman entry open. 27th June: Further to our recent Event entry update, Paul Marston writes that entry is open for both of this year's Direct Plastics Top Sportsman outings, the fourth annual race at the Mopar EuroNats in July, and the new race at VW Action in August, both at Santa Pod Raceway: We will have entry forms in the Paul Marston Racing pit at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend, or please E-Mail [email protected] or call 07831 650230 and we can put them in the mail. We are asking racers to spread the word as much as possible, to ensure that all who want to race with us know that event entry is open. This is the biggest, fastest, toughest, richest, heads-up and fast bracket Sportsman event of the year. This is where you can come and enjoy three days of action packed racing with two races over the three days. This is a Doorslammer-only outlaw event: you do not need everything to be in date, all you need is your entry fee and a UK / European driving licence. As long as your Doorslammer can run 9.99 or faster you are in - other than safety there are no rules. See www.topsportsman.co.uk to download detailed information. The 2014 events look to be our biggest yet, with some real serious machinery scheduled for the heads-up race plus some new heavy hitters for the heads–up Bracket race. Last year Paul Letchford in his '68 Camaro nearly pulled off a stunning double. He laid waste to the very best in the country with a runner-up in the Direct Plastics Fast Bracket and going all the way in the Direct Plastics Heads-Up Eliminator. Paul has been competing in UK National Championship classes Super Gas and Super Comp for a long time now and is always a tough opponent to beat. With a heads-up performance around 8.30, Paul would be the first to admit that the Heads-Up race was not where he thought the Camaro had its best chance. This just goes to show that it is not always the quickest car, it's often the most consistent car and the hungriest driver. Paul will enter the 2014 events as defending Heads-Up Champion and with essentially the same set-up as last year... or so he says. The 2013 Direct Plastics Fast Bracket race was won by none other than UK National Championship Super Street and Super Gas competitor Nick Curtis in the mighty Southern Belle Chevy Malibu. After wading through six rounds of competition Nick stood alone as the winner at the end of it all. Nick was on his game right from the start of round one and was real focused, taking each round as it came, going all the way. The rumour mill has been working overtime with some very impressive pieces slated to show up. These events will be televised (And webcast - Ed). Remember: this is your event and it needs your support. All the entry fees after track fees go into the prize fund. Everyone who is involved in this does it for the love of the sport, no-one gets paid! This event is run for racers by racers so please support it. To watch the promotional video, like our UK Top Sportsman Facebook page or check out the Mopar EuroNats web site or Facebook page. Also listen out for the Top Sportsman advertisements on Nitro FM at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Many many thanks go to Santa Pod Raceway, the Mopar EuroNats organisers, VW Action and of course Eurodragster.com for all your help and support (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Extra special thanks to all the racers and teams who have entertained everyone with some outstanding Sportsman doorslammer racing for without you guys and girls there would be no Top Sportsman. Caring and sharing at SCR. 27th June: Martin of the UK's Orange Pop Outlaw Anglia team has been in touch to thank everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway for their assistance after his daughter was taken ill at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals: I was busy crewing when I was approached by Janet who informed me that Shannon was very ill and I was promptly led to her. She was being looked after by a very concerned Alison and other staff members in a most caring and considerate way, whilst she writhed in considerable pain. A site Paramedic arrived and advised that she attend hospital immediately. The result was a rush to Warwick Hospital and admission that afternoon. I was shepherded through the mass of public and cars alike by Shakey staff, affording me egress from the site which had become very busy at the time. This left Wendy the wife, Ozzy the dog, and the caravan at Shakey leaving me pondering how I was going to cope with the logistics of sorting it all out. Some time later the wife appeared at the hospital, much to my surprise, having kindly been given a lift by John who also took her back to the site. I returned to a deserted Shakey much later that evening to collect Wendy and sort the caravan. Wendy had been looked after admirably in my absence by Rachel, Sam, Sophie and other members of the Hodges clan and John even offered to tow the caravan into storage for me. Wendy tells me she was also fed, unlike myself! All of our pleading for those involved to take something in return for time, petrol etc, met with a firm but polite refusal. Shannon, Wendy and I would all like to express our most heartfelt thanks to all those involved, named and otherwise, in helping out in our time of need. Shakespeare County Raceway has to be one of the most friendly places on Earth! I would also like to apologise for leaving the Orange Pop Team short-staffed, but we still have the Pod this weekend to look forward to! Shannon is out of hospital now and hopefully on the mend. Good news Martin, our best wishes to Shannon for a rapid and full recovery. Web site updates. 27th June: Dick Parnham has updated his Flickr gallery with pictures from the 2009 SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway to allow visitors to compare and contrast with this weekend's race. You can check out Dick's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/dickparnhamdragracing. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his SmugMug site with nearly four hundred pictures from last weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway including a number of the rare but ever-popular parachute shots which were not published in last weekend's Event Coverage. You can take a look at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Erbacher seeks diver. 26th June: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher is urgently seeking an experienced diver to work on the bottom end of his dragster's motor at Alastaro next week. Urs' usual bottom end guy is unable to attend. If you are an experienced bottom end diver and could make next week's FHRA Nitro Nationals then please get in touch with Urs at [email protected] or call +41 79 320 74 63, or Robin Grice at [email protected] or call +41 79 794 76 65. Capri fun. 25th June: Fans wondering what happened to Bob Glassup's Xtreme Racing Topolino altered will be pleased to hear that Bob has not retired nor has he parked the car. Matt Glassup has been in touch to explain the team's absence and to claim ownership of last Thursday's spy picture: We have been on a bit of a long journey which we expected to take about one fifth of the time it actually has. It all started six years ago with a trip to the California Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield, where we were inspired to say the least by the explosion of Nostalgia FCs onto the scene there. We considered purchasing a roller from the States almost as soon as we got home and the debate began about which body to choose and what would suit our team best. Anyone who knows Bob would be aware of his penchant for the Mk1 Ford Capri, and after owning a string of them in his youth Bob bought his first race car just over thirty years ago. The car in question, which he still owns now, was a Street ET facelift Mk1 Capri with a Small Block Chevy painted in the then-obligatory pearl white with the word Bubblegum emblazoned in pink letters down the side. Thankfully this car is now sat at home sporting a bright shiny coat of red paint and looks a little more refined with its bubble arches removed. With our own Mk1 Capri as inspiration, and after delving into the archives of the web and looking at those first 1970s English Funnies such Sneaky Gloworm we set about commissioning a completely new mould and bodyshell – no small task! The project began in late 2008 and after being approached by someone to build the body we purchased a rather worse for wear Mk1 Capri shell which was about to get the chop which would serve as the plug for our new mould. Unfortunately not a lot happened during the following four years but we eventually collected a fibreglass shell which just wasn't up to task and which had to be scrapped. A lot of time and money sunk in and no further on; this was probably the lowest point on this project for the team and we were beginning to lose sight of the end goal. Thankfully Richard Walters from RW Racecars stepped in and suggested we speak to a couple from North Wales who had a good reputation for work with fibreglass. Paul and Sara Bland really stepped up to the task and were the saviours of this project. They took what little we could salvage from the failed project and set about creating a new plug, a commercial quality mould and eventually our finished shell, which could be the first of a limited run. This was no small task even for them, with the detail involved the mould would have to be made in a lot of pieces incorporating front grill, lights and an RS style rear spoiler. After about a year, Paul and Sara completed the whole project and we were back off to North Wales to collect our Mk1 Capri shell. As far as we can tell, all the old Capri shells have long been destroyed and now we might be in possession of the only one in the world and possibly the only British-bodied Nitro FC in existence. It would be great to hear from anyone with information about any others. During the last year Bob has been over to the States on shopping trips and has purchased all the parts to take our Nitro set-up purchased from Tony Betts' Venom altered and turn it into a Nostalgia FC set-up with a smaller blower, pump etc to comply with the class regulations. Now with the shell and chassis united, we can start putting the car together. The Capri body is currently being fitted to the chassis and we are going to assemble the engine quickly in order to be able to display the car, albeit unpainted and unfinished, at Dragstalgia. We can't wait to be back at the Pod talking about racing even if we aren't quite ready to get out on track. We plan to park our original Bubblegum Pro Street car side by side with what is allegedly Bob's last race car (Again? - Ed). Thanks to Rob Loaring for inviting us to be part of this exciting new class, we are looking forward to mixing it up with the beautiful cars already in the class and some potential NFAA shootouts with those wild altereds! Bob has so many people to thank in getting the car to this stage, so here goes. "Thanks to my wife Cathy who must be mad for putting up with me, especially as the Topolino was "Absolutely the last car I am going to build"! All the family, Matt and Nat, Mark and Holley. Special thanks to Paul and Sara Bland for their work on the body, Richard Walters from RW Racecars for the body fitting and work in getting the car the Dragstalgia, Lee Johnstone for his continued help as crew and his recent work rebuilding our BBC. Thanks to Steve for his help and support including making the long trip to Wales with us to collect the car, Rob and Nick from ICE for their input and advice, Luke and Andy Robinson of Andy Robinson Race Cars for their continued support and advice. Thanks to James at Santa Pod for organising our display. "Finally thanks to Tog and the Eurodragster.com team for the media support and also publishing our adverts for the trailers, Chevy motor and Camaro (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Expect a lot more parts to make their way onto the classifieds in forthcoming months!" A BXX and a VIP. 25th June: UK Comp Eliminator racer Belinda Bull's seven-second (So far - Ed) pick-up has this season been sporting one of the latest generation of carburettors. Engine builder Jeff Bull of Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff Bull Race Engines writes that the special carb will have the support of a very special guest at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway: In these modern times of performance engines the new kid on the block is turbo charging and electronic fuel injection. But being of the old school I feel that the humble carburettor still holds its own in most forms of motorsport today. Jeff Bull Race Engines were instrumental in the introduction of methanol carburation to the UK's Drag Racing community back in the early 1990s. It started when Jon and Sharon Hogarth came to us for an engine build and we fitted a Bobby Taylor-prepped alcohol carb to their 468 cubic inch Big Block Chevy. And the rest, as they say, is history. Since that time our engine building success has been based on carburetted engines and the majority of these are running methanol carburettors. Jim McGee springs to mind as one of the hardest customers to convert to a methanol set up but, after fitting his JBRE-built engine with a methanol carburettor, Jim was one of many happy converts and became a force to be reckoned with in Super Gas back then. JBRE and many of our customers owe their success to one of the top carburettor manufacturers in the racing industry, Bo Laws Performance Products of Orlando, Florida. Bo Laws and his family have been involved in drag racing since the 1960s and have been producing carburettors and other racing products that have taken many big names to the winners' rostrum for over forty years. The newest addition to BLP's very long list of carburettor options is the Bomax Series lightweight billet construction carburettors. The all new Little Bo is based on a 4150 design but can produce flow figures of up to 1250 cfm, this is a little carb on steroids. The BX, based on the 4500 Dominator, with the ability to house four 2.800" throttle bores, can cover the demand of the biggest mountain motors out there with a dual-carb setup. The monster of all carburettors is the BXX. With its stretched port design and optional high flow, low pressure float bowl assemblies, this single carb application can keep an engine size of over 760 cubic inch very happy with flow rates of 2200 cfm available depending on application. JBRE are very proud to be the first race team in Europe to run the all new BXX stretched port design carburettor and have been testing this new addition with great success. Tuning of the BXX will continue this coming weekend at the Summer Nationals and it is with great pleasure that we announce that Tony Morris of BLP will be in attendance overseeing the performance of the BXX which he built back at BLP's state of the art facility in Orlando. Tony, himself a longtime successful drag racer, will also be available when time allows to discuss any carburettor issues you may have or the possible purchase of any of the BLP performance products available through JBRE. Please call by our Comp Eliminator pit area and take a look at the BXX and for any other information on all BLP Performance Products. Belinda and I would like to say a big thank you to Bo, Mike and Joe of BLP for their continued support and for giving Tony the opportunity to join us at the Summernationals. Summernationals Perfect Awards. 25th June: This weekend's SPRC Summernationals is the latest event in the 2014 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £200 is on offer for perfect performance. We are also pleased to announce that courtesy of Cath and Tig Napier the Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award will be on offer to all racers car or bike, organised class or RWYB, at Dragstalgia. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by 9.50 Bike racer Alex Hope at the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available to racers in all classes 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 at Dragstalgia; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 at Dragstalgia. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET). Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in the Signing On office or from the Eurodragster.com office in Race Control (entry via Spectator Bank side stairs only). This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to a whopping £150 after it went unclaimed at the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to run an ET to the thousandth of a second on dial-in or index. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend during qualifying or eliminations 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, ACU Supertwin ET, Junior Drag Bike, the Wild Bunch, VW Pro and VW Sportsman, 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 £175 at For Ladies That Launch at Shakespeare County Raceway (8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, NAST and ET Bike round); if it is won then it will be reset to £50 at For Ladies That Launch. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV. For more details about the services which Gold RV can provide see Derek Flynn or visit www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. Decals are available in the Signing On office or from the Eurodragster.com office in Race Control (entry via Spectator Bank side stairs only). Web site updates. 25th June: Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures of Saturday's action at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Alan's superb shots include a number taken at the top end. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest updates via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Event entry update. 24th June: Entry officially closes this Friday (27th) for Bug Jam which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 18th-20th July (RWYB 18th, racing 19th-20th) and which is a Championship round for Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman and Outlaw Anglia and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Although entry closes on Friday, SPRC will accept completed forms at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway; please hand in your forms in the Signing On office. Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for Bug Jam which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry is open for the sixth round of the UK National 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike Championships and the fourth round of NAST Supertwin both of which take place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Ladies that Launch Public Track Weekend on 19th-20th July. Entry forms can be downloaded from Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com; entry forms are now also available for August's Open Sport Nationals. Entry is also open for the MSA Pro Modified round which takes place at the Mopar EuroNats at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-27th July. Entry closes on Friday week, 4th July; entry after this date, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Entry forms for the first of this year's brace of Direct Plastics Top Sportsman dates, which also takes place at the Mopar EuroNats, will be available from the Paul Marston Racing pit at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Entry is open for the Scandinavian Internationals, an FIA European Championship and EDRS Series round, which takes place at Tierp Arena on 21st-24th August. You can enter the Scandinavian Internationals at www.dragracing.eu. A chip off the old Diamond. 24th June: With the addition of a new car, in the form of Scott Gibbons' new Junior Dragster, the UK's Rough Diamond team are looking forward to getting back on track at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Eight year old Scott's ride, Rough Diamond VI, is an all-new car built by dad Dave Gibbons to his own design. Unlike those in most Junior cars, the engine is an OHV Honda unit – a motor which once powered Skye Collier's car although now only the carb, manifolds and block remain. Testing at a RWYB a couple of weeks ago resulted in five runs between 12.83 and 13.02, which considering the unknown quantities involved was very satisfying. The new car is primarily sponsored by Super Pro ET sponsor Cygnet Business Solutions, a business consultancy owned and run by mum Alli Gibbons, which specialises in assisting small to medium businesses to grow and achieve results. As for the Rough Diamond altered, Dave has only managed two passes in the car since 2012 thanks to the attempted powdering of his feet at the 2013 FIA Main Event. Now (almost) fully recovered, Dave hopes to get back into the groove this weekend. There were plans to put the car onto a toilet-style alcohol injection for 2014 but they have been put on hold until next season. However an exciting opportunity has arisen... Good friend Tony Morris, carb tech at BLP Racing Products, has provided an opportunity to evaluate a L'il Bo carburettor on the altered for the remainder of the season. The L'il Bo is a new design two-barrel carb which flows the same as a Holley Dominator whilst fitting the flange of a regular Holley 4150 base. "This is perfect for the altered", said Dave, "as we run the small size carb on the car purely to retain the airbox on Rough Diamond which is a prominent feature on the thirty three-year-old year old car. I think that to remove or change the airbox would detract from the originality of the car, and this clearly restricts the potential of the car. If we're happy with the performance the new L'il Bo generates then we may well re-evaluate the thought of upgrading to injection. Our current carb is from BLP and has performed flawlessly, and I have no doubt that the L'il Bo will do the same." Rough Diamond crew member Maurice Takoor now owns The Spirit dragster. The car, which was was originally built in 1973, runs a blown injected BMC A Series four-banger on pop. Maurice had hoped to run it in Wild Bunch this year but, due to other commitments, this now looks unlikely. However the team plan to have the car on display at Dragstalgia. Swift snippets. 24th June: Paul Dodds tells us that John Dodds' legendary twenty seven-litre Merlin-powered The Beast has been tested and taxed and is ready to hit British roads again. The car is set to join the Second Muscle Car Revival to the Chelsea Cruise convoy this Saturday with Paul in his Olds Cutlass and grandson Jason Dodd in his Trans Am, leaving from Krispy Kreme in New Malden at 7:00 pm. John and the Beast are then due to appear at Dragstalgia some forty years after Beast Mk 1's last appearance at Santa Pod back in 1974. Jason will be racing his Trans Am at Dragstalgia for the first time since its new 496 ci engine was fitted. We were very pleased to hear from Brian Taylor that Bob Keith's Dos Palmas Small Block Chevy-powered dragster, which ran in the UK in 1964, has been located. The car was sold in 1964 and was returned to the US where Bob lost touch with it. However Ray Evernham, former Crew Chief to NASCAR's Jeff Gordon, recently acquired the car and it can be seen in his shop above right, in very good shape minus engine. The restoration is believed to be a relatively simple job. After two rained-off events at which UK Super Comp racer Paul Watson's Direct Plastics-sponsored Camaro has been right on the money, Grumpy is not sitting on his laurels. "We have gone right through the car and had it baselined with some big changes", says Paul. "We hope that the car will launch even harder. We are getting ready for Top Sportsman with a view to running a new PB of 8.3. Thanks as always to Gary at Drag Race Engineering, Chris Isaacs Race Cars, and Jeff Bull Race Engines." On behalf of the UK's Super Pro ET racers, Pete Walters of Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters Race Design asked us to say a massive farewell to Steve Johnson and a big Thank You for all of his services to the class over the years. "We wish Steve and Pat all the best, and we hope to see his face around the pits still", says Pete. UK blown-alcohol altered racer Adam Gleadow is urgently seeking a set, or just a pair, of oversize Big Block Chevy roller lifters (.903" lifter body) in new or good used condition to get the team out of trouble for this weekend's SPRC Summernationals. If you can help then please text or call Adam on 07887 840497 (please leave voicemail if necessary) or E-Mail [email protected]. Thanks to all those who sent feedback on our new Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam set-up over the weekend. The next scheduled webcast this Friday's Peak Performance Day and then Saturday and Sunday's SPRC Summernationals both at Santa Pod Raceway. No Towercam but possibly a Collection Area Cam if we are able to expunge a couple of niggles. Lucas Oil support BDRHoF Gala. 24th June: Lucas Oil Products UK has become the latest company to support the 2014 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Awards Dinner at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on November 22nd. Lucas Oil Products was founded by Forrest Lucas and his wife Charlotte in 1989. They started Lucas Oil Products with the simple philosophy of producing only the best line of lubricants and additives available anywhere. An innovative product research and development programme, along with aggressive marketing, has helped to firmly establish Lucas as a prominent figure in the marketplace. The Lucas brand has long been directly involved in the American racing industry through multiple vehicle sponsorships and racing event promotions, at all levels. Seeing a need for better lubricants in this industry, the Lucas people went to work again. The end result is a line of high performance engine oils and gear oils that are second to none in the racing industry. Les Downey is Managing Director and Director of European Operations for Lucas Oil Products UK, which he established in 1998. Les has been supporting UK drag racing for many years and at the Savill Court will be hosting the welcome drinks for guests as they arrive ready for the Awards Dinner. "It gives me immense pleasure to be able to support this much needed prestige drag racing social event and play a part in honoring those who helped get the sport established in the UK", said Les. "I have made so many friends during my involvement with the sport and I look forward to meeting up with them in Windsor. "But as well as welcoming guests with a drop of bubbly we will also be involved in another aspect of the event, to be announced on the night. It promises to be an evening to remember and to set a new standard in hospitality which can only benefit drag racing over the next few years. It's particularly rewarding to be involved in an event which also celebrates fifty years since Sydney Allard organised the first British International Drag Festival." BDRHoF Commercial and Marketing Manager Brian Taylor said "We have put a lot of effort to ensure this Fiftieth Anniversary BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner will be a big success and a fitting tribute to the sport's pioneers. It is great to have Les and Lucas Oil Products on board as supporters. They have become part of the drag racing family across the globe. Not many drag racing events are held without the Lucas Oil shield appearing somewhere and the Awards Dinner will be no exception." The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is sponsored by many businesses and associations without whose support it could not exist: Beech Underwriting; US Automotive; Power Race Graphics; Santa Pod Racers Club; Pennine Drag Racing Club; Eurodragster.com; Avon Park International Racing Association; Shakespeare County Raceway; Santa Pod Raceway; York Raceway; Allard Motor Company, Flint Insurance Group and Lucas Oil. Web site updates. 24th June: The late Andy Barrack was, amongst other things, known to many in the UK drag racing community as an historian and as a regular contributor to Alan Currans' excellent Acceleration Archive. What is not so widely appreciated was Andy's considerable talent as an artist and cartoonist; he produced thirteen full page cartoons featuring Granny - a real Little Old Lady from Pasadena if ever there was one - and all of the cartoons are available to view with the kind permission of Andy's widow Janet. "What is truly remarkable about the cartoons is that the first one produced by Andy when he was only fourteen years old!", Alan. Get along to the Granny Annex without delay by clicking on the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the recent Cal Look Drag Day / FWD Shootout / Public Track Day at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can take a look at Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Johnson retires. 22nd June: We were very sorry to hear from UK Super Pro ET stalwart and all-round good guy Steve Johnson that he has decided to retire from racing after forty two years. Steve writes: At the last meeting I destroyed the bottom end of the engine and I no longer have the time, energy or finances to rebuild. I would like to thank all the people who have helped me along the way to a very successful career in drag racing. I will now leave it to all the Young Guns to try to beat Martin (Syd) Jones and Barry Giles, my long-time adversaries and pals, along with the other fifty-odd Super Pro competitors. I am especially grateful for all the friends I have made in the sport over the years. Finally, I would like to thank Pat, my wife, for all the support that she has given me over the past thirty years. Pat is the one who drives the tow car, makes the bacon sandwiches and has been to every meeting with me, this is just a note to the commentators who say I run the car all by myself without any help! On that note I will say goodbye; needless to say Motormouse, trailer and RV will be up for sale on Eurodragster.com soon. Ålund takes Racestar Shootout. 21st June: Last weekend's Racestar Pro Stock Shootout at Malmö Raceway came about when a group of race organisers saw an opportunity for an extra weekend of Pro Stock action in the early European season. The second round of the FIA European Championship series at Tierp Arena had been cancelled and that race date turned out to be perfect for a Pro Stock shootout. PiPPi writes: Nine of the quickest Pro Stock cars in Europe entered the event, the entry list representing twelve European Championships. The race format was classic: one event, four rounds of qualifying on the Saturday with eliminations on Sunday. The teams were itching to go racing and with the help of good organisation and fairly trouble-free running, four qualifying rounds in one day proved to work out fine. Malmö Raceway, a eighth-mile track, is well known for its excellent race surface. Thomas Lindström went all out in Q1 and fired off a 4.21 to set the stage. Jimmy Ålund just the opposite, started off with a half track shutoff at 4.72 seconds but stepped it up in the following rounds and ended qualifying in the number two spot with an elapsed time of 4.249. In Sunday's eliminations. Jimmy Ålund got off on a good start with a quarter final win over Simon Gustafsson, Jimmy lowering his best ET of the weekend to 4.245 at a speed of 265.2 kmh (164.8 mph). A 4.25 ET in the semi finals made for a win over #3 qualifier Jan Palmqvist and took Jimmy to the final round. In the other half of the ladder, Ford racer Christian Sagelv made for more excitement. Sagelv qualified #4 with a string of excellent Reaction Times and carried that into Sunday's eliminations. A holeshot quarter final win against Magnus Petterson was followed up in the semis: Christian pulled the upset of the weekend by putting #1 qualifier Thomas Lindström on the trailer with his second holeshot win of the day. The final round was Chevrolet against Ford. Again, Christian left the line with a better Reaction Time but the margin was too tight this time. Jimmy powered on by for the Racestar Pro Stock Shootout win. "What a great event!", said Jimmy. "Everyone had a blast and this was just as tough as any European Championship round. We ran our second motor as it's very important to put mileage on that one as well. Four rounds in one day makes for a load of work but hey, there's no rest for the wicked. The team is very pleased with what we accomplished with the engine tune up this weekend. It was great to meet Christian and his Ford in the final. A classic. Many thanks to everyone who made this event possible." The next event for Jimmy and the J&J Performance Racing Team is the second race of the 2014 FIA European Pro Stock Drag Racing Championship series, the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro in Finland. Qualifying starts on Friday morning, 4th July. For more information including videos, visit www.jimmyalund.com. Scan Internationals entry open. 20th June: Many thanks to Tomas Pettersson for letting us know that entry is now open for the Scandinavian Internationals, an FIA European Championship and EDRS Series round, which takes place at Tierp Arena on 21st-24th August. You can enter the Scandinavian Internationals at www.dragracing.eu. Summernationals racer update. 20th June: Thanks to Ian Marshall for passing on details of the arrangements for next week's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway: Friday 27th June Gates open 08:00 Signing on open from 10:00 to 20:00 (earlier for Peak Performance Day entrants) Car scrutineering commences 14:00* - no specific order Bike scrutineering commences 16:00 - no specific order Saturday 28th June Signing on open 07:00 Scrutineering commences 07:00 Track open 09:30 Sunday 29th June Signing on open 07:30 Scrutineering commences 07:30 Track open 09:30 *Please note that the car scrutineering start time has changed from that given on the Final Instructions, which is due to a change in the scrutineer's circumstances. Please remember the strict curfew: motors should not be started before 09:00 or after 20:00. If going to scrutineering on Saturday or Sunday mornings then please tow or push your vehicle. Firing up motors out of hours can result - in fact has resulted - in exclusion from the event. Both Saturday's and Sunday's provisional running orders are available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Nostalgia Nationals coverage. 20th June: Eurodragster.com will be at Shakespeare County Raceway tomorrow and Sunday to bring you the action from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We plan to post photo galleries at the end of the day both tomorrow and Sunday, and the Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and broadcasting live video and Shakeysounds audio so long as the track is open. Thanks to Doyousee.me for the provision od streaming services. Please note that the webcast is likely to be stop / start to begin with tomorrow as we have a new webcam set-up to test. As we have now made this clear twice, Facebook moaners should be aware that they may be subject to intense sarcasm. We will post a direct Home Page link as soon as our coverage commences tomorrow morning, but our NSRA Nostalgia Nationals event index can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 20th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "We have a body!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Good luck and stay safe to ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who is due to contest this weekend's Lucas Oil Divisional race in Tulsa. Qualifying starts today (Friday) and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central friends at www.dragracecentral.com. Web site updates. 20th June: Continuing the Nostalgia theme and just in time for this weekend's festivities at Shakespeare County Raceway, Dick Parnham has updated his Flickr gallery with shots of the opening of the then-Avon Park. You can check out Dick's shots at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dickparnhamdragracing. Byne returns at Dragstalgia. 19th June: Keith Lee has been in touch with some excellent news for drag bike fans heading for July's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway, which was already building up to be the best ever - especially if you like your bikes to be of the multi-engined variety. The action on four wheels is going to be outstanding, and the historic bike entry was already looking very good. Santa Pod will host the biggest gathering of double-engined machines for decades, as Keith has been busy rounding up the best of these iconic beasts to appear on track in the NSA Bike Shoot-out. The latest news, which really tops a stellar field, is that the quickest of the double-engined bikes from that golden era is back together, and set to make its re-appearance at Dragstalgia after a long absence from the tracks. The name Hurricane belonged to a fearsome entry from the 1970s, which raced at the very top level. It was actually the quickest of the classic doubles, coming so close to running that first seven-second run, as rider Jeff Byne clocked a best of 8.02 seconds on the bright orange bike. The last appearance for the 1500cc Morgo Triumph was a good thirty years ago but Jeff, the original builder and rider, has been busy rebuilding and refreshing the bike which is due to be fired up in the next week. Then he will soon be heading for the Pod, ready to line up alongside his old rival John Hobbs to bring back some great memories for those who were there to watch them all those years ago. For those who were not there, enjoy the sight and sound of these old monsters back out on track once more. Classic Nostalgia bikes. 19th June: Bike fans are also promised hearty fare at to this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway as Jerry Cookson has been in touch to confirm the appearance of some classic two-wheelers: It's just been confirmed that former jet jockey Colin Fallows will be bringing along Mick Butler's 1000cc double-engined Norton drag bike Super Cyclops. This will be the first time that the fully-restored Super Cyclops has seen a race track since the 1970s; the history books tells us that the last time the machine appeared at Long Marston was for an National Drag Racing Club event in June 1974. Joining Colin will be John Hobbs with both Olympus and Hobbit, the Hagon Weslake of Justin Newall, Dave Clee with Shotgun, Tim Howell's nitro-fuelled UXB BSA, either the Triumph-powered Endeavour or the 1928 Douglas - owner Bernie White hasn't decided yet but it must be great to have a choice! - and Phil Steele with Keith Parnell's former ride Rouge et Noir II. The plan is two run these machines twice-daily, and if time permits to feature flag girl Claudia on the start line Saturday afternoon in our Flagstalgia feature! Swift snippets. 19th June: Best wishes to Pete Bellenie who is very poorly in hospital after having been admitted as an emergency on Monday. Pete's partner Su tells us that Pete is due to have emergency surgery tomorrow morning and will then be in recovery for up to a fortnight. Su says that Pete would like to thank everyone in the racing family who has sent him best wishes, adding that he is insistent that he will be at Hockenheim. That's the spirit Pete, good luck for tomorrow. It came too late for yesterday's update but Lee and all of the Huxley clan asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Wednesday) to Brian Huxley, Europe's oldest active drag racer at seventy two years of age. Hope you had a great day Brian. Big numbers in Malmö. 19th June: Håken Persson says that last weekend's Cramo Nationals at Malmö Raceway enjoyed good weather and outstanding racing with great numbers particularly in the Pro Xtreme class: We have a new track record of 3.82/319 kmh by the Dahlbrom Brothers (video). When qualifying was finished has had seven cars quicker than 4.0 in the sixeen-car field and three of those were quicker than 3.90. We had about fifteen runs under 4.0, a couple of 3.8s, and we enjoyed every one of them. We believe that we now have the quickest eighth-mile track in Europe. To add to that, we also had a Pro Stock shootout attended by nine if the FIA racers. The winner was Jimmy Ålund and Thomas Lindström set a new Pro Stock track record att 4.21. We would like to thank all the racers, crews, track track personnel and spectators and hope to see you again at the next race - we are now looking forward to 18th-20th July when we will host the Swedish Pro Modified Championship and of course Pro Xtreme and all other classes. Results from the Cramo Nationals can be found at www.nitroz.se. Of Ladies and Vulcans. 19th June: Angie Woods and Jerry Cookson, who organise Shakespeare County Raceway's For Ladies That Launch weekend on 19th-20th July, are pleased to announce that this year's chosen charities with be the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance and Cruizin for SANDS. "Although we're just four weeks away from our celebratory fifth anniversary there has been plenty of work going on behind the scenes at FLTL HQ, in more ways than one", says Jerry. "It stands to reason that we have both chosen to support the guys and girls who operate the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance this year after Angie's minor indiscretion during the Springspeed Nationals. The things that girl will do for a helicopter ride." FLTL is pleased to announce that several key supporters are on board again this year including principal supporters Claron Graphics who will be donating this year's Bracket Racing trophies and prizes. "Both Simon Cardwell and partner Sandra Lamberth have been tremendous supporters in everything we've done so far", says Jerry. "Against all adversity Simon has been a tower of strength in the last few months building his graphics business. So we would like to say a huge thanks to him and Sandra for being there when it counts." Earlier in the year, at the Raceway's season opener, Shakespeare County helped raise funds for Sands, the Stillbirth and Neonatal death charity, towards the purchase of a new incubator for stillborn babies. There'll be more exciting news coming up in the next week or so but in the meantime tickets for this year's FLTL raffle will be on sale in Sue's Signing-On office at this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at a £1 a strip. Further details about the 5th Annual For Ladies That Launch can be found on the Events page at  www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or on the For Ladies That Launch Facebook page. Shakespeare County Raceway also enjoyed a very successful promotional day at Sunday's Wings and Wheels Show at nearby Wellesbourne Airfield. Although the main airfield runway was used by the National Sprint Association in the late fifties and sixties, Wellesbourne is now home to one of the few surviving Delta Wing Vulcan Bombers. Every year XM655 is fired up for low and high speed taxi runs to great applause by thousands of visitors to the show. This year is the bomber's fiftieth anniversary, a happy thirty of which have been the airfield. Shakespeare County laid on a great line up featuring the Junior hire Dragsters and Junior Drag Bike owned by Andrew, Kim and Richard Willcox, Suze Morris and Phil Pratt's 9.50Bike K3 1000cc Suzuki GSXR 92nd Bombardment Group tribute bike Satan's Lady, and the Ballbreaker Wild Bunch slingshot dragster of Limited Funz racer Mark Coulsell, all promoting drag racing and Shakespeare County Raceway which for many is just down the road! "This was one of the busiest shows we have done in a long time with plenty of photos being taken, kids sitting in the cars and that all important publicity getting out to potentially new customers", said Jerry. "We even had folk who used to go and watch the drag racing at Long Marston in the seventies and even further back in the days of the Blackbushe Drag Fests, and have promised to come back to the track's nostalgia events." SCR would like to thank everyone who came out for the day and those who were involved with the display, and special thanks must go to Mark for the use of his Winnebago as mobile grandstand. "If only we could have fired the cars up and made as much noise as the Vulcan did on its two taxi runs... maybe next year!", said Jerry. "I have a cunning plan in mind." Shakespeare County have also been invited to display cars and bikes at the forthcoming South Staffs Hot Rod Custom and Retro Show being held at Longford Park, Cannock on 28th-29th June. If anyone would like to be considered then please get in touch with Jerry on 01789 720180 or leave a message at [email protected]. Likewise SCR will be looking for at least two or three cars to display at the August F1 Brisca night at Coventry Motor Speedway Saturday 2nd August. Pensive PMR. 19th June: Paul Marston Racing and the Whoopass Monza have been regular supporters of Maitland Racing's North Weald Drag Strip and its Quick 8 competition since its inception. Paul says that the grass-roots heads-up racing and the conditions make it a thinking man's race: My view has always been that you must support the tracks as much as you can. North Weald is where it all started for me with the NDRC back in 1986, and so long as Tony puts on drag racing I will go. North Weald is also a real challenge and the data we collect there can give clues to the directions to follow. For example, what we learnt at the last North Weald event in 2013 led us to a suspension valve change which undoubtably helped us to win Super Pro ET at the 2013 FIA European Finals. Having won the first event of 2014 at North Weald I went into the second pretty sure that I had hornswaggled myself. To start with, the comprehensive changes made just prior to the event would mean that unless I was a genius (which I most certainly am not!) the Whoopass Monza would most probably take a step backwards. That's what happens 99% of the time when you think you had a good idea. It might take a while to re-learn what the Monza liked and I figured that it would show us what it didn't like first. Losing to Julian Davison in the first round was disappointing for sure, but take nothing away from Julian he was on time and he earned it. I kept him honest and he richly deserved to win the event. Meanwhile PMR and the Whoopass Monza will be at the SPRC Summernationals where upgrades will hopefully produce the consistent sixty foot times which we are currently seeking. The next North Weald event is London Volksfest on Sunday 13th July with the usual drag strip action, everyone is welcome VW and non VW and the Quick 8 and Sportsman 8 heads-up eliminators will still be running. PMR will be loaded for bear! Thanks go to Gaz Shocks and Hauser Race Cars for their help and advise, and naturally to Eurodragster.com for always being there (Thanks! - Ed). Last but not least thanks to the Paul Marston Racing Super Crew particularly the Crew Chief, Funsize, Bazza and Dave who crewed at North Weald. Nostalgia cornucopia. 18th June: This weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway is going to be one long highlight but two of the undoubted stars of the show will be the Gasser Circus and the Supercharged Outlaws. Nervous Nick tells us that Round 2 of the Gasser Circus Showdown is looking like a large affair with sixteen Gassers slated to attend. "With three new cars planned to make their débuts in the race series, and with all the Gasser drivers keen to win and indulge in some Gasser racing, it's a weekend not to miss", says Nick. "The Circus performers will be Horrid Henry, Powerwagon, Goldrush, Nogbad the Bad, Honky Tonkin, Green Onions, Steve Lang's Willys Coupe Bubba Gump new to the Circus, Honky Tonkin 2, Whiplash, Ray Irish's Willys pick-up Gas Junkie also new to the Circus, Crowd Pleaser, Identity Crisis, Aint Misbehavin, The Mighty Mouse, another new entrant Stephen Dixon's Ford Falcon High Roller, and Roarin Rat." Dave McKenzie aka Fuzzie says that a huge entry of twenty one Supercharged Outlaws is set to pound the track: This is the first of our three international rounds in 2014 with entries from Holland and Germany plus our special guest from the USA Rod Hynes, the famous Fuel Altered driver who is said to have kept the class alive in the USA which allows us to enjoy them today. Rod is also going to be the grand marshal of the Nostalgia Nationals and will be around the Supercharged Outlaw pits and on the start line throughout the weekend. Who can forget Jürgen Schomann's début at Shakey last year in the Master of Disaster Willys. Jurgens single run ended upside down through the lights. This year Jürgen wants to put on a really good show for the fans. Our other international teams are from The Netherlands, the ever-popular Rockin' Ramon in the Wild'r at Heart funny car and Kirsten van Croonenborgh with her Cuda doorslammer. On the home front we have the return of Neil Townson in the Northern Spirit altered. This great-looking car makes its welcome return to the track after a couple of years' lay-off. Débuting for the Outlaws this weekend is Deborah Laugher with her blown Corvette, this car has the potential to run in the sevens. We only have one slingshot at the Nostalgia Nationals, the lovely-looking car from the Roy Wilding stable. We need more slingshots in the but rumour has it that Alec Coe may be back out later this year, which would be a welcome return. The big entry list brings the prospect of some exciting match-ups. What about a mouth-watering race between Joe Bond and Rockin' Ramon, or Lee Gallimore against Neil Townson, Ian Kerr against Paul Watts, Jürgen Schomann against John Reeve, Steve Goode against Trace Froome... the list goes on. With a lot more of the regular Supercharged Outlaws in attendance the action will be fast and furious. The Outlaws will have a marquee in the pit area. Rod Hynes hero cards will be available and I am sure that Rod will autograph a few over the weekend. We will also have a collection of posters and stickers on sale. If you want to see the most varied blown nostalgia class in Europe - kindly Sponsored by Jim Maher and his company Good Vibrations Motorsport in California, thank you Jim - then you need to get down to Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to see all the action. There's a big supporting cast of Outlaw Anglias, Gasser Circus, Wild Bunch and a whole lot of pre '73 Hot Rods. Add in some night time bands for entertainment, what a way to spend a summer weekend. Look forward to seeing you there. It's not often that we comment here on Eurodragster.com but let's be frank here, if this news item doesn't excite you then youse dead. Throw everything in the car and head on down to Shakey this weekend, or if you really do need an exeat then remember that we are planning a Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcast on Saturday and Sunday. Tierp event entry opens. 17th June: From Tomas Pettersson comes the great news that Sweden's Tierp Arena is now accepting entries for its first event under new management, the Tierp Summer Nationals on 25th-27th July. The Summer Nationals forms part of the EDRS Series and is also part of the 2014 Swedish Championship in Pro Modified, Competition Eliminator, Stock / Super Stock and Junior Dragster. Classes invited to the event are Pro Modified, Top Doorslammer, Competition Eliminator, Pro Street, Super Pro Street, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Stock/Super Stock, Junior Dragster, Super Twin Bike, Pro Stock Bike, Funny Bike, Super Street Bike, Super Comp Bike, Super Gas Bike and Junior Dragbike. The event is also open for Test and Tune to FIA or FIM European Championship teams. You can enter the Tierp Summer Nationals at www.dragracing.eu. Tomas adds that entry will open within a couple of days for the Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena on 21st-24th August, which is this season's penultimate FIA European Championship round. Event entry update. 17th June: Entry is open for the sixth round of the UK National 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike Championships and the fourth round of NAST Supertwin both of which take place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Ladies that Launch Public Track Weekend on 19th-20th July. Entry forms can be downloaded from Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com; entry forms are now also available for August's Open Sport Nationals. Entry is also open for Bug Jam which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 18th-20th July (RWYB 18th, racing 19th-20th) and which is a Championship round for Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman and Outlaw Anglia and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Swift snippets. 17th June: We'll be showing more of this picture unless we hear from the shirt model. Many thanks to Simon who has posted the latest points standings in the 2014 APIRA Ultimate Power Championships. You can check out the APIRA points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. As mentioned a short while ago, there will be a Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcast on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Please note, however, that the webcast is likely to be stop/start to begin with on Saturday as we have a new webcam set-up to test. We are pleased to confirm that the Hockenheimring and Eurodragster.com will again be teaming up to run the annual Nitrographer contest, offering the winner the chance to spend the day photographing trackside on race day at the NitrOlympX in August. We will launch the contest shortly but now would be a good time to start going through those pictures. A VIP package will also be on offer in a separate NitrOlympX contest. Flamholc looks for hat-trick. 16th June: Three weeks ago Swedish Pro Extreme racer Adam Flamholc won the first event of the season at Malmö Raceway. Adam writes that his second event of the Pro Extreme season, at Malmö this past weekend, was equally successful: In the last qualifying session on Friday evening we ran a new track record of 3.87 at 198 mph (319 kmh). After all six qualifying runs we ended up number two with a 3.84. Congratulations to the Dahlblom Brothers who ran 3.82 and now have the record! All through eliminations the car made consistent fast runs. After a great effort from the Flamholc Racing crew, who worked hard and did their homework, we ended up winning the event! I am so happy and proud of the guys in my team, and our sponsors. Next weekend we will be in Orsa at Tallhed Dragway to celebrate Midsummer, and to try to get the third win in a row! Race cars sought for Mini demos. 16th June: Russ Harman has been in touch to invite racers to make demonstration passes at Mini in the Park at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 10th August. "Mini in the Park is now the largest Classic and Modern Mini event in Europe", says Russ, "attracting almost 10,000 visitors and featuring some amazing track action. This year's event will feature the public debut of the world's first BMW Jet Mini. "Although most visitors are predominantly Mini enthusiasts, the Santa Pod showcase gives them an insight into real drag racing and what the big boys are capable of." If you fancy yourself as a big boy (I'm sure big girls are also welcome - Ed) and would like to run demos at Mini in the Park then drop Russ a line at [email protected] or call 07977 889926. Swift snippets. 16th June: Limited Funz Racing would like to wish a massive Happy 30th Birthday to Marra Chief Steve Cassisi. "We know Steve is really looking forward to it!", says Lynne Coulsell. "He's had a very busy off season rebuilding BallBreaker's engine so he deserves some time off to celebrate his birthday. Hope you have a great day Steve and there will be a little party in the LFR pits at the Nostalgia Nationals this Saturday , all welcome." PMR School adding cars. 16th June: Paul Marston's Drag Race Driving School is planning to upgrade its fleet of race cars for the 2015 season. Paul Marson writes: With the economy picking up and the need to keep pace with modern developments a three-year plan is currently being devised. With the increasing number of Junior Dragster drivers graduating to the Sportsman classes and more senior drivers returning to the sport there is we feel a need to add one or more likely two dragsters to the School fleet. As a lot of you will know PMR ran a dragster in the Driving School and in the Race Car Rental programme. It was the first ever four-Link dragster to appear in Europe and has been followed by quite a few since, our current UK National Super Pro ET Champion Scott Hauser to name but one. Our dragster was very successful, winning multiple events, two National Championships and numerous track Championships before we sold it. Now is the time to seriously consider a return but this time with a two-car set-up. The first dragster would most probably be set up to run in Pro ET as this gives Junior Dragster drivers a logical stepping stone to get used to the extra power which comes with nine-second, 150 mph performance. Also it is a more economic option for a team to consider. Pro ET is a great class and the competition is as good as it gets, but with a nine-second dragster we feel that PMR can teach and provide a very competitive entry for a driver who wants a shot at a Championship. This car would also be able to compete in Super Comp or Super Pro so it could be a dragster that can take a driver on a journey, helping them to gain experience on their way to their ultimate goal. As our latest Top Fuel star Tethys said, it was the experience along the way with the Paul Marston Racing Race Car Rental programme upon which he drew when driving Dave Wilson's A/Fuel Dragster and Rune Fjeld Motorsport's Top Fuel Dragster. The second dragster would be a seven-second four-link Super Comp / Super Pro ET / Top Dragster deal with a performance similar to or faster than our previous dragster. Our previous experience and the PMR Super Crew's familiarity would mean that a competitive entry could be fielded almost immediately on the rental side, and the teaching would benefit the same way. Both new dragsters would incorporate what we learned from our previous car, for example a bigger driver's compartment as the previous one was a little snug! I am really excited by this potential new development and would be interested to get feedback from any teams who would be interested in the dragsters either from either a teaching perspective or for National Event rental. I can be contacted at [email protected] or on 07831 650230. Paul Marston Racing would like to take this opportunity to thank Santa Pod Raceway, Eurodragster.com, and all the drivers who have raced with us, for their belief in what we are trying to achieve and for their support. Not to mention all the PMR crew; everyone puts a lot of effort into making this work. We could not do this without all of the above, we thank you all. Web site updates. 16th June: Thanks to DJ of Santa Pod Raceway for letting us know that the Web TV show from Round 2 of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship (and thus Round 1 of the FIA Championship) can now be viewed at www.msadragracing.co.uk/reports_round2_14.php along with a race report, photos and the current Championship points standings. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with shots from the recent Coventry Motofest. Although the Motofest did not feature much of interest to drag racing fans, Mad's shots are well worth a look and he tells us that a dedicated fire-up / burnout area may feature at the Show next year. You can take a look at Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. A spectacular return. 15th June: One of the highlights of FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway was the resurgence of Top Methanol Dragster including the return of Germany's fastest brothers, Timo and Dennis Habermann who announced their arrival with Timo's astounding 5.242 in qualifying. Timo and Dennis had spent eight years in TMD but decided to take time out after the 2012 season. Timo got in touch to explain where they disappeared to and to report upon their highly-successful return: We had some really good years becoming the fastest blown Top Methanol Dragsters with Whipple Superchargers, running 5.31/263 and winning the European Championship in 2009 and 2010 in one of the toughest ever Top Methanol Dragster fields. After winning the Championship in 2010 an American Top Alcohol tuner told the world on an Internet forum that he thought that we were cheating by using a hidden Traction Control system (which is not allowed). Most of the people in our sport who know us know that we would never cheat, because if you cheat and win, it will be not a true win. After that story we wanted to go out harder in 2011 so we made the engines sharper than ever before, put a new one-piece body on Timo's car and put a new rear axle in it. But it didn't work out as well as we planned. We had a lot of problems getting all the power to the track with tyres up in smoke and bad shake, so it was a problem trying to run consistent low 5.3s as Timo had in 2009. In 2012 we have worked out a new fuel system for Dennis' and it worked out well when he ran new Personal Bests ET of 5.35/263. Dennis still had the chance to win the European Championship at the FIA European Finals but unluckily he fell back to number three. When we finished the season in 2012 we decided to stop with drag racing for several reasons. There were things goign on behind the scenes which people didn't know about. We and many other supercharged Top Methanol Dragster teams wanted a rule change for the A/Fuel cars. We wanted to have the same rules as in the Statesm where they were only allowed to run on 94% nitro whereas here in Europe they were allowed to run 97%. We fought for years to get the same rules as the States but without any success. So that's why we and many other supercharged teams were missing in 2013. Four weeks after the end of the 2012 season Timo became a daddy. In 2013 we spent a lot of time with our families; Timo got married to Jenny, and Dennis spent a lot of time with his girlfriend Diana renovating their residence. We were dancing at four team members' weddings in 2013, so we were busy all around. We also had quite a lot of work in our parents' crane business so the year off wasn't boring for all of us. But to tell the truth, we missed going racing and, after some discussions with our crew, we decided to attend a couple of races in 2014 just to have some fun. In October 2013 we decided to sell two of our Whipple Superchargers and to order two new PSI blowers. We then put all the new stuff together and desgiend a complete new fuel system, similar to the Whipple which took us years to fix. Dad asked us if we wanted an American tuner to help us with the new system and to tune the cars for Round 1 but we said "No! We went fast with the Whipple superchargers, so we can also go dast with the PSI superchargers and it will only take a while" so we did the tuning by ourselves. Our plan was to test at the Peak Performance Day the day before the race. We arrived at Santa Pod on the Wednesday and got everything ready for a good weekend. On Thursday morning we decided to go out with Dennis' car first and make a 330-foot pass to see what our new fuel system would do. Then the plan was to go back to the pits, make some changes to Timo's car and go out with that one for an eighth-mile pass, and so on. It started as planned. Dennis did a good driving job, it was like he had never been out of cockpit for a year and a half. He ran a 0.902 seconds over sixty feet and drove through a small amount of shake byt we were happy with his 2.374 at 330 feet. Back in the pits we looked at the data and just as we went to fire up Timo's car the rain came and put an end to the play for that day. The first qualifier run on Saturday was a poker game for us. We put a safe set-up in both so that we didn't break anything. Timo planned to do a 300 foot run but we decided that if it felt good he would go further. Dennis was out first but had huge tyre shake, so bad that his windscreen broke and came off the car he pedalled and made a full pass of 5.500/262 as a result. Not too bad for his first full run after all the changes. Timo was up next with 0.903 to sixty, a little tyre shake for which he pedalled, and a storming 5.3138/267.18. Wow, that was a good one! After a year and a half out of the cockpit with a complete new system and combination Timo ran his Personal Bests. Back in the pits we checked both engines and dataloggers and everything looked good. We made some changes and went out for the second qualifier on Sunday. The bad thing is that when you are qualified first and second you have to run together in the last pair, which means that we had to split our crew. Once again it showed how professional our crew is, because they had also been out were out of it for a year and a half. On this run, Europe's fastest brothers made history with the quickest side-by-side run outside America. Dennis ran a new Personal Best of 5.3186/267.33 in a storming run with one pedal for shake. Timo made the quickest Top Methanol Dragster pass outside the USA with an awesome 5.2425/269.83 he became the third quickest blown Top Methanol Dragster racer on the planet. Wow, that was unbelievable! After that run, we went straight to the Tech Inspectors to get both of our dragsters checked and ensure that they were 100% legal. We had a weight check, fuel check, overdrive check and they checked the PSI superchargers and confirmed that they were the D model. So the cars were 100% legal and nobody could say anything, and before someone starts again, there was no Traction Control in any of our race cars! The engines looked good after those runs so we just carried out our normal service to get ready for Q3. In that session Dennis wanted to run his first 5.2 and Timo wanted to back up his 5.24 for a new European Record. Timo's RPMs were too high so he overstaged and got no time. Dennis was on a stormer but just past a thousand feet the burst panel blew and he lost some time but still managed to run a 5.3147/266.60 and was very happy with that one. We felt very optimistic for eliminations on Monday, qualified first and second, but then the event had to be cancelled because of the weather. What a shame. We want to say a big Thank You to our mum and dad who have enabled us to go racing for over twenty four years (Timo) and eighteen years (Dennis); to our longtime friends and team members who always help us; to our sponsors Höfler Fenster, Autokrandienst Habermann, Exide Batteries, Fuchs Oils and Main Shirt. A special Thank You goes out to Roger Kirschner and Uni Fit Katalysatoren for their support and sponsorship for the past seven years. We also want to thank our family, friends and fans for always supporting us, all of the Santa Pod crew from pit marshall to Top End crew, especially Ian and Dave for giving us such a great, fast and safe race track to run those numbers on. Thank You to Eurodragster.com for their great Event Coverage so that all of our fans can follow us (Thanks! You're welcome - Ed). Our next race will be our home race at Hockenheim, where we will again try to be in the fast lane and hunting for 5.2s. Pictures courtesy and ©Andy Willsheer, Martin Grosse-Geldermann and Eurodragster.com Somethin' Fancy at Beaulieu. 13th June: UK blown-alcohol altered racer Joe Bond says that the the Nuthin Fancy altered will be on display at this weekend's Beaulieu Custom and Hot Rod Festival in association with the Victory Wheelers Car Club. The Festival takes place at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum in the New Forest. "We plan on doing a static display with a few fire-ups during Saturday and Sunday", Joe told Eurodragster.com. "If you're in the area then come along to the show, the weather looks great and it'll be a great weekend all around. Come by and say hello, pick up a poster! The great thing about this car show is that usually at race events we are so busy preparing the car between rounds that it can be a little nerve-wracking for fans to come up close and see the car properly. At this event you can come up to the car, we will all be there to answer questions.  Our sponsors Surf City Garage will also be in attendance with their entire range car care products. We use their products on the Topolino at every event and it always comes up great - even after being covered in clutch dust, burnout rubber and everything else that gets thrown at a race car! I think that testing car care products on a race car is the biggest ordeal you can put them through, and they always work great. "I would like to say a big Thank You to Keith Ellis, Chairman of the Victory Wheelers, for inviting us to display our car at this great event. All the guys and girls at the Victory Wheelers have been so supportive, so it's nice to give something back to the club. "More information about the Festival can be found at www.beaulieu.co.uk/beaulieu-events/hot-rod-and-custom-drive. "As for our 2014 racing season, our event schedule has changed mainly due to work and other related commitments. However we plan on racing the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, Dragstalgia and the NSRA Hot Rod Drags. Our first event was the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway which was cut short by the weather. We had one test run which got a little hairy at one point when the car ate up a few timing blocks and went sideways. The cause of that has now been fixed and we look forward to our next event, racing with the Supercharged Outlaws at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals. Over twenty Outlaws are expected to attend, including a certain Dutch Nostalgia Funny Car against which I am looking forward to match racing this season! "I would also like to a big Thank You, as always, to my awesome crew - Martyn Hannis, 'Dad' Doug, 'Mum' Jayne, Lawrence Osborne, Mike Hannis and Melanie Butler - for all their help and support getting the car and team ready during the build up to this season. It's been a very busy few months for everyone, but it's nice to get back racing. "As always, you can follow our racing on the Nuthin Fancy Racing Facebook page. Please Like us, and follow our progress during 2014." Hall of Fame update. 13th June: Tickets are selling fast for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Celebration Gala Awards Dinner which takes place at the Savill Court Hotel in Windsor on Saturday 22nd November. BDRHoF Chair Stu Bradbury reports that more than 150 tickets have already been sold. Obviously the recent announcement that Don Garlits and his family will be attending has increased the profile of the event considerably, but many of the sport's UK pioneers have booked their places including those who have been inducted into the BDRHoF during the last nine years. Amongst these are Peter Crane, Glen, Tim and Robin Read, Geof Hauser, Brian Johnson, Gary Page, Barry Sheavills, John Hobbs, Roy Phelps, and Harold Bull who is ninety years old this year. Many of today's stars are also attending to pay tribute to those who laid down the foundations of the sport in the UK including Top Fuel Dragster pilot Chris Andrews and Fuel Altered driver Nick Davies. "I'm really looking forward to the event", said Chris Andrews, "and I must thank the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame and its sponsors for organising such a high-profile evening. The sport has needed an event like this for some time and the opportunity to meet Don Garlits in the UK is something I did not expect to happen. We owe that man so much. It is going to be an evening to remember!" Attending from the USA will be Melvyn Record. Nottingham lad Melvyn saw his first drag race at Santa Pod and went on to become Director of International Relations at the NHRA. He is now Vice President Marketing and Sales for Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca, USA. More details about the Gala Dinner and how to book tickets and hotel rooms can be found on the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk/latest-news. Don't leave it too late! Entries are coming in for the new British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Sydney Allard Awards for Photographers and Writers, which will be presented at the Gala Awards Dinner. Entries can be submitted covering the twelve months ending July 2014. These new awards are open to professionals and amateurs alike and celebrate the importance of the media in promoting our sport along with the crucial role played by Sydney Allard as the Father of British Drag Racing. The trophies are sponsored by the Allard Motor Company operated by Sydney's son Alan and his grandson Lloyd. "Lloyd and I are so proud that the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame has chosen to honour my father's role in giving birth to drag racing in Europe with these two trophies", said Alan Allard. "We are naturally pleased to sponsor them. The Guv'nor understood how important media publicity could be in attracting interest and promoting any new motorsport activity so celebrating photography and the written word is something that would have met with his approval." One Award will be presented to the writer of the best book, article, blog or feature on British drag racing published in print or on-line during the twelve months ending July 2014. This Award is in association with the Guild of Motoring Writers and the Chief Judge is the Guild's Chairman Guy Loveridge. The other Award will be presented for the best photograph featuring British drag racing, either published in print or on-line during the twelve months ending July 2014, or remaining unpublished. This is in association with Octane Magazine and the Chief Judge is Octane Columnist and Classic Car Collector Nick Mason, who will be joined by Octane Art Editor Mark Sommer. Photographers and Writers can enter as many pieces of their work as they like, but each entry must be accompanied by a completed entry form to enable the judges to collate them accurately. The entry form is available via the Allard Award entries tab at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk and should be downloaded, completed and then returned by E-Mail with articles attached in Word or PDF format and photographs in JPG format. Full instructions can be found at the above link. Web site updates. 13th June: Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with a thirty third Readers' Gallery which this time is an all-motorcycle affair. "This update has everything a two-wheel afficionado could wish for from rockets to Nortons, a Flat Four 2000cc machine, Alf Hagon, and plenty more", says Alan. As ever you can check out the latest update via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. One Mile Challenge now Sunday. 12th June: The Baltic states' biggest speed event, the One Mile Challenge, which was due to be held at Kiltsi Aitfield in Haapsalu, Estonia this Saturday (14th), has been moved back a day to Sunday. Kristian Veedler writes: The twenty four-hour delay is due to the local authority declining permission at the last minute. Organisers Estonian Audi Club have managed to get a permit to hold the race on Sunday. All time schedules will remain the same. Check-in and scrutineering for all cars commences at 09:00 and gates open for spectators at 12:00. More information from Indro Päll on +372 50 57 794 or [email protected]. Scorpion cheats death. 12th June: Germany's Thorsten Appel, aka Scorpion, tells us that he and others avoided a lingering and painful death by changing his racing plans: A chat with a local speedshop owner in Norderstedt about racing bikes with no wheelie bars planted a seed which started to sprout. But what to do. Top Fuel Harley? Yes that would be the solution. A quick chat with my lovely girl cut the plan short as the subject of financing came up and I openly admitted that I was thinking about taking all the money saved for buying a house and going racing with it. She threatened to kill me and every person involved in the planning of my Top Fuel Bike career. I quickly thought "It's not worth it", as I always take her threats seriously. The subject was closed and I was subjected to four weeks of what Germans call "Polish TV" (there is vision but no sound). My next thoughts about racing led me to conclude that if you ever want to go racing you need to get going, so I advertised my Super Street Bike. It was sold within ten hours, damn, maybe it was too cheap. I was left with a full-spec turbo Busa motor with a Hays clutch. Flipping through the pages of Eurodragster.com's Swap Meet I discovered a Funny Bike for sale. I contacted the owner of the bike and asked if he would sell it as a roller. He said "Yes" and we started to negotiate. Now the bike is mine and we will soon be on our way to Sweden to pick up the bike, put in my turbo Busa motor, pour in some methanol, and go racing. Thanks to everyone involved. More news as I get going with the build. A bad-ass truck goes 10.5. 12th June: Ulf "Totte" Lindqvist writes that Sweden's Vargarda-based Team Prowest are transforming a former Comp Eliminator pick-up into one bad-ass Outlaw 10.5 record hunter: The pick-up has run in Comp Eliminator class since it was born. It began racing with the Brag Brothers and then with turbo wizard Martin Lundqvist. It has a 301 ci single-turbo Small Block, not a big buck monster Big Block like we'll be up against. The goal is to get the truck down the groove to the same ETs as it ran with big tyres, which would be in the 6.70 range. This weekend we will run over the eighth at the Home of Speed in Malmö. 4.40s like we ran at a Test and Tune earlier this year would be OK, but that's nowhere the near our aim which is to be the undisputed quickest 10.5 Outlaw Doorslammer in Europe. So far as the team know, nobody in Europe has been quicker than Jimmy Tihvan's 7.09 - has anyone done better? You can follow Team Prowest on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TeamProwest. Batty sets European best. 12th June: A new Front Wheel Drive European record was set at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend as in near-perfect conditions the UK's Richard Batty wound up the RPMs on his self-prepared 1050 hp NR Autosport Mitsubishi FTO to an Elapsed Time of 8.859 seconds at 174 mph. The previous record stood at 8.990 seconds was set by Björn Holmgreg in a Nissan Cherry at Sweden's Tierp Arena. "We've been chasing the record for a while now", says Richard. "We came so close at the end of last season: we were only nine thousandths of a second off, and that was frustrating. This year at the Injector Dynamics Outlaw Shootout we smashed it.” Richard has been attending Run What You Brungs since 1998. His first win in Front Wheel Drive competition came in a 300 bhp FTO at Elvington's Ten of the Best in 2005, and from then on the IT expert hasn't looked back. Competing in the Injector Dynamics FWD Outlaw Shootout, Richard drove the eight-second racer into number one spot; his nearest challenger was Yasir Dair in a 900 bhp Honda Civic. Although rain curtailed eliminations, Richard was awarded the overall trophy. In the True Street category twenty seven year old Amy Bradley from Grimsby picked up the overall honours in her ten-second 500 bhp Honda Civic. "Thanks to the staff at Shakespeare County Raceway for an excellent track which allowed us achieve our potential", said Richard. "The Outlaw Shootout is the largest FWD competition and it's great to be a part of it, run by the racers for the racers." You can see a video of the record run at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DxLNtoajZA. 5th Grand Nationals report. 12th June: Our good un-fired buddy Markus Münch of the excellent der Beschleuniger web site has been in touch with a report of the 5th Grand Nationals which took place at Bechyne over the last weekend in May: The race was a German-Czech co-production between the German Motorsport Timing and Organisation crew around Racedirector Jerry Lackey, in association with Czech organisers the Predators Dragrace Club. The track was a bit green at the beginning, but gold dust, rubber and glue made a pretty decent track in the end. The weather was a bit mixed up, but three rounds of qualifying and complete eliminations were held as planned. Pro ET, Super Pro ET and Street Outlaw Bikes ran for points in their internal Championships. The European Top Gas Series also held a round of their Championship and several classes fought for points in the Czech Bike Championship, from Juniors to senior classes. Pro ET was won by Thomas Helmbrecht, one of the best in Germany when it comes to Pro ET racing. His black Camaro, which dials in around 11.50, won the final against Austria's Alex Mahl in his AMC Gremlin, who pulled a red light. Holger Ekerst in his brand new Camaro - not the latest model, but his first season in the car - was third. Holger's daughter Sally, former German Junior Dragster Champion, is planned to drive the car from 2015. The European Pro ET web site at www.proet.eu keeps you updated on Pro ET on Continental Europe. Super Pro ET had eleven participants. Robert Gassner won the final on a bye, as André Müller's oil pump broke in the burnout in his semi-final bye. So that's racing, sadly for André. This race also featured the first outing of Switzerland's Team Orangli's new ride. Rene Ehrismann purchased the ex-Henri Joosten Bel Air Pro Mod (the old Quaker State-sponsored beauty) and fitted his nitrous engine. Nice burnouts, but a cherry in round one ended Rene's racing for the weekend. He is however very satisfied with his first outing. You can find out more about the Super Pro ET Challenge at www.suproet.de. Super Gas was won by Jan Hardekopf in the Outlaw MG Roadster which he has campaigned for more than twenty years. Mike Poser had no chance in the final. Gerd Habermann won Super Comp. In the final Austria's Martin Friedschröder in the Mexxspeed Karman broke out big time, but he was very happy because he lowered his own world record for nitrous-assisted air-cooled cars to 8.73 seconds, at 255 Kmh. Junior Dragster had four participants. Tim Städter beat Dominik Novac (CZ) with a stellar run. 0.013 reaction and +0.005 on his 8.10 dial-in. Silvio Strach won Competition Cars in his AA/D with a 6.68/339 kmh, within 0.1 seconds of his Hockenheim ET. Ingo Ekert was not able to make the call. Peter Granica of Team Joker won Super Street Bike against Horst Hochheusel. Peter dominated the weekend with a string of 8.1s. Frederik Schack won Top Gas against Peter Niklas - Herman Jolink's class report has already appeared on Eurodragster.com. Funny Bike was won by Kars van der Belt against Luc Raeymakers, and Street Outlaw ET Bike was won by Bernhard Sax over Willi Schinkel. A three-part German-language report and a gallery are available on der Beschleuniger: Report 1 Report 2 Report 3 Gallery Smax's state visit. 12th June: UK ex-pat Smax Smith recently had a double outing in his new Funny Car and the Leverich Top Fuel Dragster at his local raceway, St Thomas Dragway. Smax was pleased to find that he had a very famous interested spectator: This is a big year for us all as not only have I been driving race cars for forty years, thanx to best mate Odgie, but I'm sixty this year too! Bob Leverich, who owns the car, has been involved for fifty five years. Meeting John Force, who has been involved for forty five years, was indeed a thrill especially as he was on the start line watching me rip off a 3.6 at over 200 mph over the eighth on an early shut off - still the fastest pass that track has seen in over a decade! Meanwhile the début of our new Funny Car, which looks stunning, was short-lived as after our planned 300-foot squirt we checked the motor to find that the repaired block had failed which sidelined us for the weekend. Didn't stop us partying though! We'll be back out for more in two weeks at King of the North Dragway where we set track record last year at 3.4/230 over the eighth. Shock and smoke at North Weald. 12th June: The second event of the year at North Weald took place in glorious sunshine and the hot weather certainly brought in a very healthy crowd as well as participants to take part in the Test'n'Tune and three eliminations, as well as the Head Gas Gits who ran their own Street Outlaws-style flag-start eighth-mile race. Damian Burke writes: In the Fast 8 car class the upset of the first round was the seemingly perpetual winner Paul Marston going out to the lovely Pro ET 100E Ford of Julian Davison. Paul's barnstorming, tyre-smoking charge not enough to catch Julian's 10.84 effort. Julian also overcame team-mate Chris Skinner in his incredible Fiat 126 whose 10.81 was not quite enough against a 10.73 charge from Julian. On the other side of the ladder Jeff Thurston's classic Mustang got past the ever-improving 'Harry' Preston in her Topolino altered with a 10.91 against a quicker 10.79. In the semi final Jeff overcame Bob Smith's 355 cube Mk 1 Cavalier with a 10.77. The final was a really close affair with Jeff's 10.90 not quite enough to resist Julian's 10.84 in the Prefect. On an unprepped track these were pretty impressive times from all the competitors who put on a real show of driving ability. In Top 8 Bikes it was once again Mark Patman who came out on top on his Kawasaki although he was made to work hard for the win by number one qualifier Jak Hylton. Mark got past Brad O'Connor and Tanya Hardy to face Jak in the final, a 9.71 overcoming Jak's slowing 10.13. Once again all entries were quite close in their ETs. Sportsman 8 was taken by the AMG Mercedes of Arran Witchell over Scott Smith's Rover Coupe, 13.54 to a 13.92. Our thanks go out to all the elimination competitors and the entrants in the Test'n'Tune for making this such a good event. The quality of both cars and bikes gets better all the time. Thanks also to the spectators, who pretty much filled the venue, for spending their time with us. Our next event at North Weald is the London Volksfest on 13th July, which features a static VW show and Test'n'Tune open to all cars. For more details visit www.maitlandracing.com. Web site updates. 12th June: Our friends at Nitroz.se will be webcasting this weekend's Cramo Nationals at Malmö Raceway, which starts tomorrow (Friday) and which features the Race Star Pro Stock Shootout on Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow's webcast is free and then Saturday's and Sunday's webcasts are available for 89 SEK each. More information at nitroz.solidtango.com. The latest edition of the Speedgroup newsletter features FIA class-by-class reviews of FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 as well as an update on Speedgroup's current agenda items. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu. The Eurodragster.com Editor's Diary will be back in the next issue. The FIM classes at the same event are covered by photo-journalist Steve Moxley's reports in the ACU on-line newsletter at www.acu.org.uk. Staying with FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1, The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the event. You can take a look at Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Nostalgia fans will enjoy the latest update to Dick Parnham's Flickr site which includes a gallery of the late Bo O'Brochta's appearance at the first Avon Park International Drag Bike Event, as well as a gallery from the 2006 Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Dick's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/dickparnhamdragracing. Racepak offer shock logging. 12th June: The ability to monitor, record and review high-resolution shock data is now available for Racepak's Sportsman datalogger. The new 500Hz V-Net Shock Travel Module provides: Plug and Play connection via Sportsman V-Net port Inputs for up to four individual shock sensors Sample rate up to 500 times per second, for each channel Optional shock velocity channels When used in conjunction with Racepak's optional shock travel kits, critical shock and chassis adjustments can now be made with confidence through the use of shock travel data. The Shock Travel Module, part number PN 230-VM-4ANA7HS, is available direct from Racepak or any authorized Racepak dealer. For more details visit www.racepak.com. Event entry update. 11th June: Entry is open for Bug Jam which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 18th-20th July (RWYB 18th, racing 19th-20th) and which is a Championship round for Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman and Outlaw Anglia and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for Bug Jam which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Enter the Bentley hunter. 9th June: Matthew Wright of Eurodragster.com sponsor WeMoveYourCar.com has revealed his refettled Outlaw Rolls Royce. Matt plans to run the Rolls at three events this season and has a particular other classic British car in his sights. Since we last saw the Rolls it has received a new power plant. "Last year we put in an aluminium Donovan 582 built by John Ellis", Matt told Eurodragster.com. "It has Dart Big Chief heads flowed by Fulton. We have an AFT triple-plate clutch and we still run a Jefco although it's now a four-speed. The car is still street-legal, in fact I got the tax on Saturday!". The car now also sports new paint applied by Richard Walters. Matt hopes to be able to run the car at Dragstalgia and he also plans to compete in Top Sportsman at both the Mopar EuroNats and VW Action (see below). "I would like make more outings but my business keeps me very busy", he said. He is also working on the WeMoveYourCar.com wheelie pick-up. Matt is seeking crew to help with these three outings, especially anyone with knowledge of clutches and fuel injection; if you can help then you can contact Matt via his web site at WeMoveYourCar.com. Matt's target at the Top Sportsman rounds is pretty clear. "Where's that Bentley?", he said. In association with Lucas Oil Products we have posted a gallery from our visit to check out Matt's Rolls Royce. You can take a look by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Estonia, Latvia Round 1. 9th June: Kristjan Veedler writes that the first round of the Estonian Drag Racing Championship took place at the 2014 EDRA Nationals at Kiltsi Airfield in Haapsalu last weekend: This is the traditional season-opening event for the Estonian and Latvian Championship Series, organised by the Estonian Drag Racing Association. There were two full days of racing by cars and bikes with about one hundered entries from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland. Qualifying on Saturday was twice halted by rain showers but Sunday's eliminations took place under a shining sun but still quite cold weather for the beginning of June - only 12C. No national records were set, but some new racers got their set-ups right and their cars running straight. The quickest guy on track was Lauri Kuriks with his Pontiac Trans Am, which ran 8.4 seconds. Lauri has been away from racing for few years, but now he is back and was the fastest man of the race. He also won the weekend's top class, Estonian Outlaw. Runner-up was taken by a Latvian driver, Normunds Lacis, with his Mitsubishi EVO 9. His best ET of the weekend was 8.894 seconds. The full results were: Outlaw 1. Lauri Kuriks - Pontiac Trans Am 2. Normunds Lacis - Mitsubishi EVO 9 Street Modified 1. Kristo Luhaäär - Pontiac Firebird TransAm 2. Mati Põld - Audi A4 Sportsman ET 1. Delvis Siimson - VW Golf 2. Kristo Tihvan - Pontiac Firebird Trans AM GTA Street A 1. Tarvo Järv - Mitsubishi EVO 10 2. Ginta Pavasara - Honda CRX Street B 1. Vladimirs Malers - Audi 200 2. Raimonds Erinš - Volvo 740 Street Bike 1. Juha Tuomari - Suzuki GSX-R 2. Erko Poska - BMW S 1000 RR Pro Bike 1. Toni Suokas - Suzuki GSX-R 750 2. Petri Koivuniemi - Suzuki GSx-r 1000 The whole team at the Estonian Drag Racing Association crew wants to send special thanks to Bitti, Tapsa, Anssi Putte and Riku of the Finnish Hot Rod Association for all their help. See you guys at the Nitro Nationals or maybe sooner! The next Estonian Championship round will be held on 21st June, again at Haapsalu and will feature Estonian Championship categories, Cup classes and Junior series. More information at www.edra.ee. Pictures courtesy and ©Ēvalds Andžāns Clock's running! 9th June: Attentive readers will have noticed the name of reigning UK National Junior Dragster Champion Rhiannon Bellenie on the Pro ET entry list for the forthcoming SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Dad Pete got in touch to let us know how preparations are going: The car isn't yet ready and the trailer needs to be extended by four feet! It is all in hand though... well, well almost. As in all new builds there are always problems, for example the seatbelts and brake lines are sitting in a container in New Jersey. No problem, Andy and Kate Robinson to the rescue as well as supplying Rhiannon with all of her race attire, at the last minute of course (should all be here in time). I have a few more evenings to do on the car. All is nearly ready to go to Brad at BTC Moto for its custom wiring loom, although having a trailer long enough to fit the car in would help! It'll be here in time I hope - there is a lot of hoping going on. Then, if all goes well up in sunny Suffolk with its wiring, the car has to be back here and running before 21st so that it can have its wrap done. Simples! Fingers and everything else crossed that we'll make it in time. UK Top Sportsman update. 9th June: With the mighty Mopar Euronats at Santa Pod Raceway fast approaching, the organisers of UK Top Sportsman organisers are stepping up their preparations for what could possibly be the best Sportsman Doorslammer event yet. Paul Marston writes: UK Top Sportsman is now a firm fixture on many Sportsman racers' calendars of Must Attend events, and our sources indicate that there are some very big irons in the fire with regard to new motors and new combinations some of which have been tested prior to the showdown, and a lot of interest in the UK Top Sportsman Fast Bracket Race. At both the Mopar EuroNats and VW Action on 29th-31st August there are two races. The first race is the Fast Bracket race, dial your own ET, one time trial then straight into the first round with random pairing. If you lose first round then there is a £30 buy-back into the second round only. It's on a blinkered tree with a .400 Pro Tree. The second race is heads-up with one-shot qualifying for a sixteen-spot field. Anyone can win the Fast Bracket race, it is wide open. Both races have very healthy prize funds so there is a nice payday for winning either race. In fact this is by far the richest payday in UK Sportsman Drag Racing. With teams from over nine different classes and four different tracks attending in 2013, 2014 will be a humdinger for sure. Remember, absolutely everyone with a doorslammer capable of running 9.99 or faster is welcome; these events are run by racers for racers in a relaxed atmosphere. You do not need a current MSA chassis tag or have in-date belts or scatter shields, etc. Neither do you need a race licence, just a UK driving license as this is an outlaw event. For more details of the few rules that do apply Like our Facebook page or visit www.topsportsman.co.uk. Entry for both UK Top Sportsman events opens at the SPRC Summernationals; for entry forms or more information please E-Mail us at [email protected], request a form via the Facebook page, or call me on 07831 650230. We will also have entry forms for both events in the Paul Marston Racing pit at the Summernationals. To try to keep everyone up to date we produced and distributed a Top Sportsman newsletter at FIA Round 1 and we will publish another at the Summernationals so make sure you get a copy. All lubed up! 9th June: The UK's Orange Pop Drag Racing Outlaw Anglia team are pleased to announce a fresh and exciting new association with Red Line Oil, who now supply the team with all lubricants for the car, including the company's fully synthetic blend of 50WT race oil for the methanol-burning Scott Shafiroff Racing 434 cubic inch V8 engine. Although the brand can be found in all forms of motor sport, Red Line Oil is best known for supplying many of the NHRA teams including the three-car Top Fuel Team of Connie Kalitta and the Funny Car formerly campaigned by Melanie Troxel. Since 1979, Red Line Synthetic Oil Corporation has grown to manufacture more than a hundred quality products including motor oils, gear oils, assembly lubes, fuel additives and its popular Water Wetter cooling additive for automotive, motorcycle, marine and industrial markets. Red Line has earned a reputation with racers for creating products that perform and protect better than any other on the market, regardless of cost. To see how Red Line Oil surpasses the competition in testing visit www.redlineoil.com. With continued successful testing and development of Simon Barlow's methanol-burning Anglia van, it has been noted by the team that the oil is lasting far longer than the previous brand and also looks far healthier when it is drained out of the engine. Crew Chief Phil says "I can't believe the difference, it doesn't come out as the milky sludge the team have previously witnessed and you almost feel guilty for throwing it away!" Simon Barlow has further strengthened the association with Red Line Oil by becoming a supplier of the companies products and would like to take this opportunity to invite all interested racers to get in touch with there specific requirements. Simon Barlow can supply any product in the Red Line Oil range and racers are invited to check out the products on line before placing orders. Simon Barlow says "This is what racers have been waiting for: oil and other products available at race meetings when they need it most and I can't wait to help out fellow racers with proven, quality products at a truly competitive price". Simon can be contacted on 07950 271044 or by E-Mail at [email protected]. Alternatively call 07591 122430 or E-Mail [email protected]. If we are busy, feel free to leave a message with your requirements and contact details and we will return your call in a timely fashion. Swift snippets. 9th June: 21:00 Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us the final version of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-29th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo 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]. Ulf Wagnhester has retired as driver for Sweden's Samantha Racing Pro Stock team. 2013 EDRS Super Street Champion Simon Gustafsson will replace him in the driver's seat of Mikael Sjökvists Dodge Avenger at this weekend's Race Star Pro Stock Shootout at Malmö Raceway. Congratulations to 9.50 Bike and Pro Stock Bike racer Alex Hope who won the £50 Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 Reaction Time during yesterday's (Sunday's) 9.50 Bike eliminations at the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. The Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of this month. The Eurodragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award was not claimed this weekend and so has been increased to a whopping £150 at the SPRC Summernationals. Don't forget the old guy... 9th June: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher was more than prepared for the new season with a lot of new parts and a new set-up: We have all-new AJ Stage 6 heads, new camshafts with swapped firing order, new BDK and slide valves and complete new compression ratio from Alan Johnson. Special thanks to the guys who sold us the right parts and helped us to find a basic set-up: Steve Torrance, Bobby and Dom Lagana, Alan Johnson himself and John Smith. We went to Santa Pod a day early and the plan was to test on Thursday because my car had not been tested this year. But the weather stopped it happening. After Saturday was rained out we waited for better weather on Sunday, the final qualifying day. On the first run I decided to make a test pass to half track max, because we had no idea how everything would work. After I hit the pedal it felt good to me and I stayed in it for 3.5 seconds. We ran a 4.129/277.73 mph and ended that session as number one qualifier. So with a good run off the trailer we knew that the car would do the right thing. In the next session  we spun the tyres and I had to lift. In the final session we prepped it very well but the clutch set-up was wrong, so I had a real bad tyre shake and needed to lift again. After preparing the car until 03:00 on Monday morning we were ready for breakfast at 07:00 but the rain started early in morning. How bad is that (Pants - Ed). We made three runs with an almost completely new crew who had never before turned round in seventy minutes. It was a great job from the brand new guys on my car. Special thanks to my old-timers Robin Grice and Dario Durso who take care of both cars; my old guys who helped the new guys - Beat Weibel and Thomas Kobel; Monika and Chris - preparation and rebuilding heads; Roy - blower and piston racks. The newcomers on both cars: Linus - right head; Theo - left head; Ian - bottom end; Lucas - clutch; Mac - clutch; Rene - blower and piston racks; Rene - left head; Alex - bottom end helper; Marco - bottom end; Roger - clutch helper; Reto - tyres; Adrian - truck driver; Claudia - cooking. After pulling everything down whilst it was still raining and flying home with the usual cold after England's nice weekends the trucks arrived at our base at Arlesheim early on Wednesdau. We unloaded my truck the same day and I loaded eight Victory and Indian Bikes and got ready to go to Biker Mania at Saalbach Hinterglemm in Austria. This is one of the oldest and biggest biker events in Europe. My job was to display the new Victory and Indian bikes there for the whole weekend. My team were tired so I drove the truck there myself. The bikers loved the new design on the truck and I met a lot of people there. The best was Felix Baumgartner, the guy who jumped almost from the Moon to the Earth. I have known him for four or five years now, and he has sat in my car before and liked it. At the time I told him that we drive over 500 kmh and he told me that he was going to jump from the stratosphere and go over 1000 kmh. At the time I thought "Yea, OK" but he did it. Felix invited me on a helicopter ride; he flies the helicopter like he jumps, i.e. he's crazy, but it was a great experience. On the Sunday I drove the truck home and we are already preparing for Finland and I am really optimistic about that. Urs is ready to win another FIA Championship - don't forget the old guys! You can check out the team's German-language FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 report (PDF format) by clicking here. MPM team unfazed by wild ride. 9th June: To say that MPM Oil-sponsored Pro Modified racer David Vegter had an exciting opening round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship would be a typical English understatement. Remco Scheelings writes: In his first qualifying attempt the chutes didn't deploy and at a speed of 240 kmh the '67 Camaro made a 180 degree-spin and came to a halt against the wall. But only a few hours later David was back at the start line for the second run and went straight into the number seven qualifying position! "Of course this was not the way we wanted to start the season", said a very calm David. "But the crew did a fantastic job to fix the car in time for the second run. It's a pity eliminations were rained out, I know our car is much faster now and major upsets would have been possible." It was a busy off-season for Vegter Pro Mod Racing. "The car suffered violent tyre shake last season so we had to take it apart completely and rebuilt it from scratch, including some chassis repairs" said David, looking back at a hectic period. "To increase speed we bought new cylinder heads". A week before Round 1, the opening round of the FIA European Pro Modified Championship, the MPM Camaro was fired up for the first time and was ready to race. But the English weather was not, as the first day of qualifying was washed away by persistent rain. Day two looked much better and three qualifying runs were scheduled for Pro Mod. With twenty one entrants from seven different countries Pro Modified was the most competitive and most international class of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship in England. But the first qualifying run was far from what David wanted to start the season. After 6.64 seconds and at a speed of 360 kmh the MPM driver crossed the finish line then the chutes didn't deploy. The back of the Camaro went sideways and at 240 kmh made a 180-degree spin and came to a halt against the wall. The Dutchman was lucky that the car stayed on four wheel during the spin and did not roll over. "On one of the bumps the car went completely out of control and I was a passenger" said David, hardly shaken after his wild ride. Those who thought that this was the end of the race weekend for Vegter Pro Mod Racing were wrong. Back in the pits the crew started to fix the car. "There was some damage to the body work and the spoiler, but it was not that bad", said David. "The wheelie bar was bent and there was damage to the chutes, front wheel and front suspension. The only problem was that we didn't have a spare strut, but Dutch racer Marck Harteveld had, and we could use that one". And so to everyone's surprise, the '67 MPM Camaro was back in the staging lanes for qualifying run number two. David made his run as if nothing had happened and in 6.21 seconds went into the number six qualifying position. "I knew the crash was not my fault, so I wasn't worried at all and didn't think about it", said David after his full pass. "This was a good run, but a bit wild too". The third run was no improvement and so Vegter ended qualifying in seventh position. "We put in an engine set-up to use all the power we had, but didn't change the set-up of the car itself", said David of his final run. "I came too close to the centre line and had to lift." On race day the rain came back and eliminations had to be cancelled, which was a big disappointment for David. "In qualifying I already felt that the new cylinder heads were making much more power", he said. "I think some major upsets would have been possible in eliminations. But that's the way it is, you can't beat the weather. That's why we will be back at our 'Home track' for the SPRC Summernationals, to finish what we started. "I would like to say a big thank you to Santa Pod's safety crew. They did a great job and were with me in a few seconds after the crash. They are real professionals. And of course my crew who rebuilt the car in such a short time, I didn't even have to miss one qualifying run. And last but no least MPM, Post and Dros, HKR Techniek and George Parson, without them this would not have been possible." The Hockenheim NitrOlympX is Vegter Pro Mod Racing's next round in the FIA European Championship. A new spoiler and strut have already been ordered, so the MPM Camaro will be as new in Germany and maybe for the Summernationals. King's dual points lead. 9th June: Following the Gulf Oil Dragracing – Grand Prix Originals Top Fuel Bike team's success at the opening round of the USA Championship in June Ian King and crew headed to the opening round of the 2014 FIM European Championships at Santa Pod Raceway with high hopes. Along with the usual members the team was joined over the three days by a TV crew of five from Discovery Canada's in-house production company who were filming the team as the subject of an episode for season two of the series Megaspeed. However, inclement weather led to cancellation of the first day of qualifying and with the weather radar showing better conditions for the next day but forecast a return of wet weather for Monday race day all teams had to take best advantage of the two remaining qualifying runs. And the team hit the ground running with an off the trailer shakedown pass of 6.26/189.64 (3.997/194.2 at the eighth) to put the team into number one qualifying position despite Ian having to come off the throttle early as the wind caught him towards the top end. The second and final qualifying run was an oh-so-close 6.06/193.05 (3.874/197.09 at the eighth) again despite clicking off way early around the 1000 foot mark as the wind pushed him towards the centreline. And this was the end of the team's weekend as the forecast proved true raining off race day. However, despite their disappointment the team once again made history as their FIM European Championship lead coupled with their US Championship lead made them the first team to lead these premier Top Fuel Championships on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. The team move on to Alastaro in Finland for the FHRA Nitro Nationals on 4th-6th Julyfor the second round of the FIM European Championship. For more information on Gulf Oil Dragracing go to www.gulfoildragracing.com. The Gulf Oil – GPO Dragracing team uses and endorses exclusively Gulf Oil greases and lubricants in their history making machine. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in their chosen markets in winning the 2013 European Championship and in their 2014 endeavours: APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Action Cameras - Europe's leading source for action sports cameras Blackcat Motorsports - The leading V Rod Harley race team Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Graphite Additive Manufacturing - A leader in 3D printed technologies and rapid prototyping Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hotrod Hangar– Home of the world renowned custom artist Knud Tiroch Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons John and Dea Morgan Racing - The creators of the world's most advanced New Age Funny Bike Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems MTC Engineering - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport NGK Spark Plugs UK - The world's number one spark plug manufacturer Pär Willen - Master webmeister and proprietor of HarleyDrags.com Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Supertough - Custom cases and covers for the Film, TV, Music and Motorsports Industries Spies Hecker - The world's leading supplier of paint for car, commercial and industrial finishing Van Es mobility - The leading manufacturer of telematic products for management of moving objects Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Web Camshafts Inc - Simply the company for Top Fuel Bike camshafts Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts Street Eliminator Round 3. 12th May: With their best entry of the year so far, the UK's Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racers were looking forward to a competitive Round 3 at the FIA / FIM European Championship race at Santa Pod Raceway. Street Eliminator Chair Matthew Atkinson writes: Sadly Richard Merriman was unable to make the event as the Beetle was still in a thousand pieces in the garage but we hope Rich will be out to join us for the FIA European Finals instead. This event did however mark the return of the most decorated Street Eliminator racer in the history of the class: Steve Pateman with the Calibra. Steve has made a number of updates to the car including engine modifications increasing the motor from 706 ci to 728 ci and a new radiator to help with the cooling on the Cruise. Also making a return after missing the first two meetings of the year was Alan Williamson in the Chevy truck. Al had problems before Round 2 but the truck was now ready and raring to go. Great also to see Alex Mcintosh out in the Mustang having only competed at one event in 2013 and still looking for that elusive seven-second pass. After a few changes to the car and a successful dyno session Alex was looking forward to the weekend. The real story of the weekend was however the unveiling of Steve Neimantas' Bentley Continental. The Webster Race Engineering-built Bentley boasts a 615 ci Big Block Chevrolet with twin 88 mm turbos and produces in excess of 3,000 bhp and was certainly a crowd pleaser in the pits. Following a successful Test Day prior to the event Steve was extremely pleased to have the car out and in the class. The car really is testament to Webster Race Engineering with the attention to detail second to none. With five qualifying runs scheduled for Friday we were hoping to be extremely busy. Sadly it didn't work out like that as the weather curtailed qualifying early and a few incidents on the track held up proceedings. We did manage to get out for our first run mid-morning and, with everybody keen to get a time up on the board with the weather looking grim, it was Stu Williams who ended up top of the pile and kept up his impressive start to the year with a 7.969/179. Jon Webster in the Comet, who was trialling a new turbo for the event in the Comet, was number two with an 8.018/167. Steve Neimantas in the Bentley was next up against Damian Halliwell with the fantastic 63' Chevrolet Biscayne and it was Steve now starting to pour the power in who ended up at number three with a strong 8.115/174 as the team started to step it up. Damian ran through with an 11.086/124 some way off his Personal Best but still grinning from his final appearance at the previous meeting! It was Andy Bond and Alex McIntosh next; both pairs first run of the year whilst Alex suffered straight off the line as the tyres smoked Al just ran through with a steady 11.193/136. Andy Bond was last out in the Mustang and still struggling for traction managed a 9.675/157. No show in this round for Martin Smith in the Team Extreme GTR following a water pump leak found in the warm up and Steve Pateman in the Calibra who was still busy going through things on the new set up. Matt Smith was away from the track as well unfortunately and would not qualify until Sunday. Onto the next round and first pair out were Steve Pateman and Alex Mcintosh, Steve looking for a gentle half pass to make sure everything was OK whilst Alex was looking to get away from the line without lighting the tyres. Steve's car lit the tyres instantly and came to a halt just before the tree with a transmission problem which after a thrash to fix in the pits was ready to go. Alex in the opposing lane hiked the front wheels and came down pretty hard so idled up the track. Martin Smith had managed to get the GTR fixed and made this round just a check out pass running through with a 9.123/114. Elsewhere the only improvement was Damian in the Biscayne improving to a 10.767/124 much closer to his consistent level. Unfortunately due to the weather there was no qualifying for us on the Saturday so it was a nervous wait for Matt Smith and Steve Pateman to see if we would get a qualifying pass in. Luckily Sunday morning was bright and we were out early. Steve Pateman out in the first pair knowing he had to pull something out of the bag as he usually does! This time however the Calibra pulled the wheels up slightly and looked to be off but a wicked left turn when the power started to kick in caused Steve to come out of it, running through with a 8.572/174 which was good enough for number five spot. In the next pair was Matt Smith who was campaigning the ex-Phil Peck Mustang this weekend as the Escort had engine damage which couldn't be repaired in time. Matt having only had a run down the A14 and one pass at the RWYB on Saturday needed to qualify and he did with a 10.455/131. Jon Webster in the Comet up next and left the line really well with the wheels up but the further out he got the further the wheels came up! With the car in excess of forty five degrees Jon came out of it and the Comet slammed to the ground, gratefully no major damage and no debris on the track. Next pair up were Alex McIntosh in the Mustang and Steve Neimanatas with the Bentley, Steve took a big step left off the line and was in catch up mode from then as Alex was on one hell of a run, finally it appeared the car had hooked up with a 1.27 sixty foot and away from there, running through with a 7.943/171 and his first ever seven-second pass! Huge congratulations to Alex and the team and very well deserved taking the number one spot for now. Problems again for Al in the truck as it appeared to be in limp mode the whole way up the track. The same old story for Andy Bond who was becoming increasingly frustrated with the Mustang lighting the tyres at the hit. With just Stu Williams in the Supra left having just seen his number one spot taken away he wasn't messing around as the Supra ran through with a 7.892/179 to take back that number one spot. With eliminations due in the evening it was out onto the Cruise following the last qualifying run and it was great to have the cars out in the afternoon sun with a contingent of ten. We set off to the BP station in convoy with all of the cars turning heads through the villages. At the station Al in the truck was suffering as the fan had tripped and the engine was getting hotter and hotter. Steve Neimantas first time out on the road with the Bentley and all was OK, whilst Steve Pateman was benefiting from the new radiator in the Calibra. Following the regulatory fuel up of eight litres it was onto the hot start at Wellingborough and sadly we lost Al as the truck was overheating. Everyone else managed the hot start without any dramas and we were back to the track to get ready for eliminations. Everyone was set to go, Andy Bond with new tyres and both Steves turning up the wick and some interesting match-ups planned. Unfortunately we did not get out in the evening, then the heavens opened on Monday and not a single car managed to get up the track. It does however keep the points very interesting and close as we move onto Round 4 of the Topspeed Automotive Championship at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod on 28th-29th June. Thanks must go to the star tline crew and everyone associated for their tireless efforts to keep the track open over the weekend. On behalf of the class I would like to say a big thank you to our class sponsors to whom we are very grateful: Topspeed Automotive sponsoring the class for their fifth consecutive year, Custom Car magazine, RPM magazine, Webster Race Engineering, Serck Motorsport, Insane Creations, AW Upholstery, Quartermile High / Zeon TV, Matt Woods Photography and Eurodragster.com, all of whom can be found on our web site at www.streeteliminator.com. Euro Top Gas Round 2. 9th June: The second round of the 2014 Euro Top Gas Serie took place over the quarter mile at Bechyne in the Czech Republic. Herman Jolink writes: On Friday we were able to make test runs, then we had two qualifying rounds on Saturday before it started to rain at 17:00. On Sunday we had another qualifying round. Final qualifying: Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS  8.527/253.80 kmh Christian Bruhn D on Turbo Honda 1000 SP  8.786/237 a Personal Best but he also broke his engine Milan Kolacny CR on 1000 SP Blower Honda 9.059/194 with technical problems Cord Albers D on 2622 G2 V-Twin 10.060/209 first time for Albers on his bike bought in the USA Frederik Schack DK on 2750 V-Twin 10.133/194 the Schack team with father Rene were working hard on gearbox problems Peter Niklas D on Ducati 999 10.295-214 Olaf Menzi CH on the ex-Ulf Ögge G2 2622 V-Twin 12.009/125 not easy for the Menzi team to get the right set-up Lars Anderssen DK on V-Twin  13.492/138 Mia Maria Vespalainen (FI) was not racing as her bike was not ready, awaiting parts from the USA, Chris van Nimmen (B) and team are building a new bike with a new frame from the USA, maybe he will ride his V-Rod at Hockenheim. Pater Maerz (D) didn't want to ride his Top Gas Bike at Bechyne because he was doing the tech inspections, and Frank Heitmann (D)  broke the crankshaft of his 2622 V-Twin. Eliminations round 1: Jolink 8.538/253 beat Anderssen 15.289/112 RTs Jolink 0.089 and Anderssen red light 0.280. Shack got his gears back 7.892/266 beating Albers 9.760/166.  Niklas 10.475/216 bye run, Kolacny broke. Semi finals: Schack 8.242/256 beat Jolink 8.609/250 RTs Jolink 0.110 and Schack 0.312. Niklas 10.250/212 bye Final: Frederik Schack DK on 2750 V-Twin 7.975/259 beat Peter Niklas D on Ducati 999 broke off the start line - the Niklas Team were trying a different clutch set-up but it did not work. Top Gas Championship after two rounds: Frederik Schack DK 1025 points Herman Jolink NL 985 Peter Niklas D 770 Frank Heitmann D 570 Lars Anderssen DK 520 Christian Bruhn D 500 Milan Kolacny CR 360 Cord Albers D 350 Mats Larsson S 300 Olaf Menzi CH 220 Anders Jensen DK 200 Peter Maerz D 200 Harry van Schie NL 200 Mia Maria Vespalainen Fin 150 We had a lot of luck with the weather, nice live music and a total of ninety car and bike competitors. Thank you to the MC Predators (CR) and the MSTO  (D) with Jerry Lackey and his team. Old Skool Ford Round 3. 9th June: Round 3 of the 2014 Old Skool Ford series took place at Santa Pod Raceway on the hottest day of the year and at the Classic Ford Show, the busiest day in the classic Ford calendar. Jo Peters writes: With a respectable twenty three entrants and the strip still prepped from the FIA European Championships the week before it was sure to be a good day! There were a couple of new entrants at this round including our youngest entrant, nineteen-year-old Jordan Peters who was tearing up the tarmac in his Mk1 Fiesta and enjoying his first blast down the strip. Returning to try to hit those elusive eights was Kev Jenkins in his XE-powered MK1 Escort. Charged up and ready to go he wheelied nicely off the line and ran an "Oh so close" 9.0088 but didn't manage to improve on that time so we'll have to wait for another day to see that eight! Squaring up against Kev for this run was Darren Scannell in his immaculate Cosworth-powered MK1 Escort. His best time of the day was a stonking 10.069. Just a few weeks until the next round back at Santa Pod for the Retro Show on Sunday 22nd June. For more information visit www.oldskoolford.co.uk. F&A to the rescue. 9th June: One of the volunteer crew members of an East Yorkshire lifeboat station is now equipped to the very highest safety standard due to the generosity of the guys at UK Top Fuel Dragster team F&A Racing. Humber Rescue operate fast rescue boats over a 540 square mile area of the Humber Estuary. Responding approximately one hundred times a year they deal with a cross section of incidents from jet skiers to huge commercial ships. Sadly as a consequence of being based next to the Humber Bridge, the Humber Rescue volunteers are well versed with dealing with those in distress and often the consequences of those who have not found a solution to their troubles. There is a common misconception that theirs is an RNLI station but this is not so and the volunteers raise for themselves every penny needed to provide the service. Earlier this year they launched Sponsor a crew membe' which is aimed at local businesses to provide financial support for a volunteer, purchasing their dry suit, helmet, undersuits etc. Enter F&A Racing who recognised their plight and stepped up to the plate by sponsoring Humber Rescue crew member Mandy Ramsden. Many of you will know Mandy from her days on the FAST crew at Shakespeare County where her friendship with the Andrews family blossomed; she now has a role with UK Event Safety at Santa Pod Raceway. Mandy has been with Humber Rescue for eighteen months and in that time has been at the sharp end of many emergency incidents. She says "I love my volunteer rôle working for the charity and I would like to thank the rest of the crew for giving me the opportunities they have. I would like to sincerely like to thank Vince, Cindy and the family at F&A Racing for giving me dry feet in my new suit!" David Roberts, Chairman and Trustee at Humber Rescue, said "We are indebted to F&A Racing for their generosity, contributions such as this enable us to respond to emergencies at any time, in any weather. Furthermore may we wish everyone at F&A the very best of luck with the 2014 European Championship." Web site updates. 9th June: In the latest instalment of his Nostalgia Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Brian Taylor pulls together all the latest developments from the workshops of the Allard Chrysler Action Group and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. 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. All welcome to North Weald 2. 7th June: North Weald Drag Strip hosts its second event of 2014 tomorrow (Sunday). Damian Burke writes: The meeting is once again a Test'n'Tune with three eliminators thrown in to make things a little more interesting. The Fast 8 for cars has so far been been dominated by Paul Marston in the Whoopass Monza. Paul did a masterful driving job last time out to get the power down to see off increasingly improving opposition. The bikes have their own Top 8 eliminator with Mark Patman also continuing his good form from last year at Mays opening event on his rapid Kawasaki. Regular street driven cars can have a go for a trophy in our Sportsman 8, so long as they have regular street tyres and are normally-aspirated; this proved popular last time out. The Head Gasgits will also be making a return visit bringing along at least twenty cars to do their own thing on the strip. There are several clubs booked in to display in the paddock area as well as trophies for the regular Show'n'Shine which brings in a very diverse array of street machinery. Transit Forum group are also paying their annual visit to the venue. Away from the action on the track there are plenty of trade stands, food vendors, kids' stuff and a beer tent. Entry is only £10 with under 14s free, signing on is £25 for as many runs as we can fit in. With numbers restricted to 200 plenty of track time can be had. Bring a valid licence, crash helmet, proper clothing for the bike contingent, and have some fun on the quarter mile. We will have some crash helmets available to lend out free of charge for car owners who don't have their own. North Weald Airfield is just off the A414 at Junction 7 of the M11 and is clearly signposted. The postcode is CM16 6HR (map). You can find out more at www.maitlandracing.com. Come on over to North Weald for some good old-fashioned, relaxed drag racing action. You'll be most welcome. An invitation to go Mad. 6th June: There's a touch of midsummer madness heading towards Shakespeare County Raceway tomorrow and Sunday with another busy fun-packed weekend of UK National series drag bikes and RWYB. Jerry Cookson writes: Topping the bike scene is the fifth round of the UK National 9.50 and 8.50 Bike Championship along with Supertwins. Can Ian Crichlow's Kawasaki and the ultra quick new Suzuki of Dave Smart do the double in their respective classes this weekend, and can Peter Harrison push the Duke to another win in Supertwin ET? It's also another busy weekend for the National Sprint Association with another bumper entry of vintage classics as well as some ultra quick modern bikes. Look out too for some unusual machines like Morini, Velocette Venom and Benelli taking to Shakey's quarter mile. If you're a Front Wheel Drive fan then the weekend plays host to the Injector Dynamics UK Outlaw FWD Shootout, and new for this year a spin off class: The Driveshaft Shop True Street Shootout. With a strong entry headed up by organiser Richard Batty, this year's Shootout promises to be the quickest yet in its short history of competition. The weekend is topped off by the Cal Look VW Drag Day featuring some of the quickest VWs in the land and another round of the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Series. Fancy becoming a drag racer overnight? Well now you can by trying our Public Track Day Weekenders. Designed to cater for all type of vehicles - cars and bikes - our Public Track Days are both friendly and fun. Try it once and you'll be hooked. Try it again and you could be on your way to becoming a future drag racing Champion! Clubs are welcome to display or participate in any of the weekend's on-track events. Contact us for further details or take a look at our Essential Guide on the Run What Ya Brung information page at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk/rwyb.asp. Don't forget your full Driving Licence, provisional licences are not accepted, and crash helmet. No Licence No Race! Gates open at 6:00 pm today (Friday). The track opens for RWYB between at 10:00 am and 5:00 p, both tomorrow and Sunday. Further information can be found on the track's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. Racers sought for shows. 6th June: Mark Durham writes that he has been asked by the owner of Hastings Direct Insurance to find some race cars to display at a party which he is hosting next Saturday (14th) and which is being held at the Beckhams' family home in Essex which he now owns. Very many high net worth guests will be in attendance and from the itinerary it should be quite a function. "Many of the people there are actively involved in sponsoring motorsport, in fact he is one of F1's Max Chilton's sponsors", says Mark. If you would like to take your car along then please drop Mark a line at [email protected]. Shakespeare County Raceway are looking for a race car or classic Chevy to display alongside two tribute bikes and Junior race cars at next Sunday's (15th) Wings and Wheels Show being held at nearby Wellesbourne Airfield. The show is all about the fiftieth anniversary of one of the RAF's remaining Vulcan Bombers, XM655, which is based on the airfield. Organisers have promised two high-speed taxi runs as well as a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota. The day is also celebrates thirty years of Wellesbourne Airfield which was used as a sprint course by the National Sprint Association in the fifties and sixties. If anyone is interested in helping Shakey out please get in touch with Jerry Cookson on 01789 720180 or drop him an E-Mail at [email protected]. Santa Pod Raceway are seeking up to six race cars to make demonstration passes on Saturday and Sunday (14th-15th) of next weekend's BWM Rally. If you would like to run at Santa Pod then please get in touch with Darren Prentice at 01234 782828 or E-Mail [email protected]. Swift snippets. 6th June: 15:00 Thanks to Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com sponsor Gold RV for letting us know that UK Super Pro ET racer Peter Walters of fellow Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters Race Design will be making licencing passes in Dave Wilson Racing's Silverline Tools-sponsored injected-nitro Top Methanol Dragster at the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Friday 27th June. Pete's licencing will be supported by Gold RV and Pete Walters Race Design. Lena Perés writes that LG is working hard to replace the front end of the chassis of Mats Eriksson's Pro Mod, which took what Lena describes as "Some hits" on the guardrail at Santa Pod Raceway. "Other than the front end the chassis looks OK so that's the only part which has to be replaced", says Lena. "The body is in a bit worse condition. The front is just scrap but the rear end might be fixable. So we will see in what shape the Goblin will be at Alastaro. But if everything goes as it should we will at least be there". You can see more at www.meracing.com. UK Pro ET racer Mike Lacey says that his company ModUrStang is holding an Open Day next Saturday (14th). "This is becoming one of the UK's biggest gathering of Mustangs for a one day event", says Mike. "We have barbecue from noon, and live music between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. There will be lots to say so feel free to drop by if you are in the area. Even better, bring your Mustang, road or race". If you are interested then contact Mike for more details on 07774 712000. Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive are pleased to announce the arrival of one of their regular forty-foot containers full of American parts. "Parts can be bought on-line through our web site or E-Bay Shop, collected from our 10,000 square foot warehouse in Wellingborough, or our 1200 sq ft shop in Surrey", says Bill Macdermid. "To celebrate the recent sunshine (Distant memiory - Ed) we are having a sale on selected Classic Chevy Truck parts, again you can find details in our dedicated E-Bay Shop." Oscar in pink at midnight. 6th June: SPRC pit marshal Caroline Boncey is again putting on the schoolgirl outfit and walking eleven miles to raise money for the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Oscar will be marshalling at the SPRC Summernationals on Saturday 28th June and going straight from there to the midnight walk. "This charity is very close to my heart, as the Hospice looked after my nan with love and compassion in the last days of her life", says Oscar.  "Since my nan died in 2003, I have dressed up pink and girlie to walk with all the other fundraisers at midnight to raise funds for the hospice.  Every year my friends and family have supported me and so far I have raised around £4000. "I would love to add to this total because every penny raised helps the Hospice of St Francis continue with their fantastic work". If you would like to sponsor Oscar for this outstandingly good cause then you can donate at www.justgiving.com/caroline-boncey-oscar. Editor's note. 6th June: If you were tuned in on Wednesday then you will have read that circumstances have conspired against regular news updates this week. We can't go into details but we're all fit and healthy so don't worry that it's anything like that. The situation is easing now. A big Thank You to Simon for stepping in at no notice on Tuesday. Your News Editor is planning a marathon session later on today to clear what has become a huge backlog. Always room for more though so please keep the news coming to [email protected] and thanks for their patience to almost all of those whose news is queued up. Event entry update. 4th June: This Friday (6th) is the official closing date for entry to the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-29th June and which is a round of MSA Pro Modified, UK National Drag Racing and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, ACU Supertwin Top Gas and Supertwin ET, Wild Bunch Series, VWDRC Championships and Junior Drag Bike. Entry after Friday, if accepted, may be liable to a Late Entry penalty. SPRC Summernationals entry forms can be downloaded from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 5 of the official SPRC Summernationals entry list which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. There is a Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod the day before the SPRC Summernationals commences, Friday 27th June; for more information or to enter check out www.rwyb.com. Editor's note: Only a brief news update today due to conflicting pressures. We will catch up with the backlog on the next update, and please keep the news coming to [email protected]. NitrOlympX entry open. 3rd June: Many thanks to NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey for letting us know that entry is now open for the NitrOlympX, which takes place at Hockenheim on 8th-10th August. You can find entry forms and other information at www.nitrolympx.de. "Sportsman classes are limited to thirty entries so get your entry in quickly", says Jerry. Shockwave / Team Rock split. 3rd June: Gordon Smith and Dave Bryant have announced that their Shockwave and Jason Phelps' Team Rock Fuel Funny Car teams will split with immediate effect: This split is an amicable parting between the team owners and has come about as a result of Dave's need to concentrate on one car. Dave feels that he is unable to give his best to both cars and that he needs to concentrate on the Shockwave number one car. The Team Rock car of Jason Phelps will be completely independent and will no longer be tuned or funded by Shockwave Racing. It has become clear that the funding of two nitro Funny Cars to the level required to be ultra-competitive is almost impossible. Both Dave and Gordon wish Jason every success in the future and will of course offer any help they can in the future as they would any rival team. Gordon says "Shockwave, which I own with Dave, has all the very best and up-to-date parts and with Dave's full attention can be very fast. We will be looking to set a new thousand-foot record at our next event. We had a reasonable start to the year with the number one qualifier and top speed at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend and we were looking to move forward from that but unfortunately the weather intervened. "Thanks to our fans for their support and we hope that in the future we can show all of our supporters that we have made the right decision." Personal Best and points accrued. 3rd June: Eager to get going and and full of high hopes the Swiss Top Fuel Dragster team of six-time European Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher and rookie Noah Stutz arrived at Santa Pod Raceway for the first FIA Championship round. Cylinder heads were assembled, blocks filled with internals, clutch packs prepped and the set-ups sorted. Qualifying was the plan on the Saturday morning but Nature was no drag racer as it was raining cats and dogs all day, so there was not the slightest chance of qualifying or eliminations. Race officials promised three rounds of qualifying for Sunday. The first round of qualifying on Sunday was a good one for rookie Noah. His first run was troubled and a technical defect shut the car off at half track. Noah managed to qualify fifth after this round. In the second round of qualifying the young rookie dished out a more than respectable Reaction Time of 0.0953, and even getting off the loud pedal before the finish line he managed to run a 4.3329 ET with a trap speed of 242 mph . With a good second round in the bag, and to save on parts, the team skipped the third round of qualifying . The team was nervous about Noah getting into the field but with two competitors failing to run good numbers Noah qualified seventh in Top Fuel in his first round of FIA racing. As we all know the rain came back on Monday and the race officials called it a day without any classes being run. Therefore the points were calculated from qualifying. With seventh place the nineteen-year-old not only scored his best race result ever but he managed to collect his first Championship points in FIA Top Fuel competition. Noah Stutz says "Even with a badly affected event because of all the rain I was happy with the two runs we managed to get. I clocked my Personal Best ET and scored some important FIA Championship points. I am looking forward to running at the next round in Finland in the beginning of July. We hope to find some better weather up there!" Editor's note: Huge thanks to Thorsten Appel (aka Skorpion) for translation, turned round within a few minutes at very short notice. Much appreciated Skorpion. Packaging the data. 3rd June: UK Super Pro ET racer Simon Gough has been in touch with an update on his season so far, but says that it is a case of where to start: First things first, I have to thank everyone who works on the car at all of the events and those who are working behind the scenes to give us the package: Sharron Gough, Lee Mutha Trucka, Dan Devlin, Jeff Bull, Opie Oils, LAS Motorhomes, K&N Filters, and NGK Spark Plugs. Festival of Power: Testing, testing, new parts, more new parts, more settings, even more settings, and more testing. We got some good data in qualifying. We qualified eighth, not a good start to be honest as we thought we would be in the top five. In eliminations wer were up against Phil Toppin. I got myself a nice red light, but I needed to keep the foot down and collect more data for the Racepak. Springspeed Nationals: Couldn't get her out the box. The Racepak was telling us that we were still spinning right up to the sixty foot mark. Now we needed to calm down the launch and try other methods. Dialled in an 8.40 and ran 8.41. Not bad but if we had had another run we would be on the numbers, but we had collected enough data during the qualifying rounds to run eliminations. We qualified sixth and in round one were up against Phil Toppin. OK here we go, that last performance ahainst Phil weren't happening again but the eager thumb took over and yet again big red one for me. Phil took the win but with a reaction like his I wasn't going to get him anyway, he was bang on. FIA / FIM Championships Round 1: Rain, some more rain, thunder, hail stones, a good time to put on the Speedos I think (Best place to keep a package - Ed). Our first run was a 8.59, slow as you like. Checked the Racepak and everything came to light: over fuelling. So jets were changed - from the data we gathered from Big Bang we put in the right jets for an 8.50 run. Dialled in the 8.50, ran the 8.50. Can't beat data. Then it was off for another run. We changed some other bits in the car as we knew we had qualified well and we could use the next run for more data. Enough said, we were into eliminations. Set the car up for a 8.40 and ran an 8.43, Pel Norman got the jump but by sixty feet I was on him, put the car's nose just in front and kept it there until the end. Then a bit more rain and scattered showers and it was all over for the Sportsman classes so we packed up and went home. The whole team were happy with the results and the progress we had made collecting more data. We bagged the most points in Super Pro ET for this event and now puts us in touch with the top three. Looking forward to the Summernationals, bring it on. Lee joins BDRHoF panel. 3rd June: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is delighted to announce that Keith Lee has accepted its invitation to join the Hall of Fame's Selection Panel. The Panel's dozen members meet annually to select the year's new candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame. Keith replaces Brian Taylor, who has withdrawn from the Selection Panel to focus his energies on the BDRHoF's Management Board along with his Chairmanship of the Allard Chrysler Action Group. Keith Lee's drag racing association dates back to the original 1964 Drag Festivals at Blackbushe where, as an enthusiastic schoolboy, he watched Don Garlits headline a great day of sport. He persuaded his father to take him the 180-mile round trip to Santa Pod when it opened in 1966, the start of many long dragstrip weekends. Keith helped promote the sport locally in the Berks/Oxon area by becoming an area representative for the BHRA, before having a go at competition himself. A Junior Dragster powered by a 500 Triumph was started, but shelved owing to lack of shed space. Instead he built his infamous Triumph scooter, which went quickly enough when it wasn't throwing him off the back! Becoming more involved with the organising club, Keith joined the BDR&HRA Committee in the early 1970s. Peter Bartlett had earlier encouraged him to write reports for the club newsletter. This blossomed, and started a long-standing relationship with Drag Racing News. A love of photography saw him combine the two to supply feature articles to many publications worldwide. Keith became the regular drag racing columnist for Motor Cycle Weekly, in addition to writing for National Drag Racer. Over the next ten years he freelanced for drag racing and associated publications in many countries, covering cars and bikes together. In 1973 he became one of the commentators at Santa Pod, an appointment which spanned some ten years and made for very hectic race weekends. From the mid-1980s Keith continued taking an interest in the sport from a distance while he worked as a qualified mechanical engineering designer. In 2003 he became a full-time professional photographer and moved with his wife Annie to Dorset the following year. He decided it really was time to write his long-intended book on the two-wheeled side of the sport's early history, the first publication of its kind. Drag Bike Racing in Britain was duly published in 2010. Keith was also a major contributor to Crazy Horses and had significant input into a major motorcycle drag racing book in the USA. With the introduction of Santa Pod's Dragstalgia event, Keith was co-opted to find and organise entries for the NSA bike shoot-out, for which some great old machinery has returned. Keith continues to produce photos and articles for publication, including a regular feature column for Custom Car magazine which explores many aspects of the early days of the sport in this country. Between them, Keith and Annie also edit The Sprinter, the magazine of the National Sprint Association, one of the country's historic straight-line clubs. This year's new Hall of Fame members will be announced on Dragstalgia weekend in July and will be formally inducted during the Gala Evening on Saturday 22nd November at the Savill Court Hotel, near Windsor. Tickets for the Gala may be reserved via the Hall of Fame's web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk. It was recently revealed that Don Garlits will attend the Gala as the Hall of Fame's Guest of Honour. Strong start for Pro Dutch Racing. 2nd June: In qualifying for the opening round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Robert Joosten was a strong number four and with a top three qualifying position in all three Pro Mod qualifying sessions, the Pro Dutch '70 Camaro was the most consistent car of all. With high expectations Pro Dutch Racing was ready for eliminations, but rain made racing impossible and eliminations had to be cancelled. “We are getting better every race and there is still room for improvements. We learned a lot this weekend and made a good first step in the title race”, said a happy Robert Joosten. After a strong second half to the 2013 season and a perfect test at the Festival of Power where the Pro Dutch Racing '70 Camaro made a 6.06 seconds pass in qualifying for the first round of the MSA Pro Mod Championship, Joosten and his team were ready and full confidence for Round 1, the opening round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. With 21 entrants from seven different countries, Pro Modified was the most competitive and most international class of the FIA championship in England. The first day of qualifying was washed away by persistent rain, but at day two the weather improved dramatically and Pro Mod was called to the lanes three times. “We wanted to start with the Easter setup, but the day before qualifying we found a problem and had to change parts of the transmission and rear axle. So we had to start all over again and had to find a new setup. Looking at the track conditions and what we knew from other races, we made a new setup. But the power was too much and we smoked the tyres immediately after the starting line”, said Joosten about the difficult start of the race. Because there was a problem with the timing equipment, Joosten was called for a rerun and in no time the Pro Dutch Racing driver was back at the starting line. After some adjustments in the setup this run was much better and a 6.208 seconds run gave Joosten the number two qualifying position, only 0.007 seconds behind leader Norbert Kuno. “The rain from the days before made the track very difficult and slippery, so I had to pull the chutes far before I crossed the finish line”, said Joosten about his first official run. After some new adjustments in the setup it was time for qualifying run number two. “We knew the track would get better and better during the day, but we also had to work on a setup for race day”, said Joosten about the team strategy. It looked like the team was working in the right direction, as in run number two a 6.108 seconds lit up on the scoreboard and Joosten was number two again. The third and last run was a 6.11 seconds. “In that last run we underestimated the track. We should have used more power.” Because two other combinations improved their times, Joosten was the number four qualifier, only 0.002 seconds behind the number three, Bruno Bader. The Pro Dutch Racing driver and his '70 Camaro were the only combination with a top three finish in all three qualifying rounds. That showed their speed and consistency, but also gave Joosten extra points in the championship race. On race day the rain came back and washed away all eliminations. So the qualifying results were also the ranking in the FIA Championship and together with reigning champion Michael Gullqvist, Joosten is in the number two position. “The team did a great job, thanks to them we could make four starts in only a few hours. We are happy with the way things work out at the moment. The Camaro feels good, is consistent, goes straight and there is still plenty of room for improvements. We gathered a lot of data over the weekend and that's good for the oncoming races”, said Joosten after Round 1. The next race in the FIA European Championship is at Alastaro, Finland. “There is new asphalt at Alastaro, so everybody will have to start from scratch. Hopefully we can deal with that situation better than the other teams and find the right setup in only one or two runs”, says an optimistic Joosten, already looking forward to the next race. Ålund continues the roll. 2nd June: The 2014 FIA European Drag Racing Championship season started on a wet weather note, with a forecast less than ideal for drag racing, writes Par Willen, aka PiPPi. On the first day of qualifying, the track stayed dry long enough to run two of the FIA classes, but not the Pro Stock cars. However, the track surface turned out to be in excellent shape as world-class numbers were posted in those first few runs. Sunday was a hectic day as racers ran three qualifying rounds. At the end of the first Pro Stock qualifying round, Jimmy was at the top of the list with an elapsed time (ET) of 6.61 seconds. The J&J Performance Racing Team stepped it up for the second qualifying session and stopped the clocks at 6.55 seconds. Ålund followed that up in round three with a 6.535 second ET, one thousandth of a second short of the current FIA Pro Stock record he set in 2013. That run put Ålund at the top of the qualifying ladder. Magnus Pettersson followed as the number 2 qualifier with Thomas Lindström in the third spot. Unfortunately, that was the last of the racing for the weekend as eliminations were called off due to inclement weather. "The rain was very frustrating. We went to this race very well prepared and wanted to get as much track time against the opposition as possible" says Ålund. "The team did an excellent job with updated equipment. I really believe we could have broken our European record if the weather had cooperated." Ålund continues, "Of course we thank the entire engine crew at KB Racing for doing yet an excellent job on our powerplant." Ålund had the quickest ET in all qualifying rounds, which netted him nine bonus points. He leaves Santa Pod leading the FIA Drag Racing Pro Stock Championship by six points over Thomas Lindström. The next event for Ålund and the J&J Performance Racing Team is the Race Star Pro Stock Shootout. This is a classic 70's style shoot-out event featuring the strongest Pro Stock cars in Europe competing in a one-time, all-out brawl at the 1/8-mile Malmö Raceway in southern Sweden. Qualifying starts on Saturday morning, June 14, 2014. For more information including videos, please visit www.JimmyAlund.com. Red Rampage. 2nd June: Dan Holloway, Race Engineer on Dave Ward's Super Pro ET Team Rampage has given us an account of the team's FIA/FIM Drag Racing Championship Round 1: It will always be The Main Event to us, and a fair few others I should think too. Anyhow, after the success of last meeting, Team Rampage knew we had to keep the momentum going for this weekend to keep our championship hopes alive; fair to say we sort of did and sort of didn't. The midweek forecast for the long weekend was against us racers with only two of the days looking relatively settled (emphasis on the relatively) and so it struck us that we needed to qualify well to secure as many points as possible in case rain put a stop to eliminations. After the previous meeting, we felt that an 8.00 dial in would always be a good starting point for us as the dragster had the tendency to always run an 8.0 something. Running through with an 8.05 in round 1 of qualifying on the Friday did indeed confirm what we already knew. It wasn't bad, not at all, but it could certainly be better. As Friday went by, numerous stoppages on the track for a number of reasons meant that we would only get one more run in so we tried to narrow it down a little more and shoot for an 8.02. The dragster hooked so hard, wheels higher than they have ever been, that it was a little unsettled when coming back down again, resulting in a few hundredths lost in the 60ft time. This in turn meant running through with a slightly off pace 8.08, not improving on our previous 8.05. After the end of that session, we were down in 15th. Not good. Saturday arrived and pretty much everyone knew that the weather was supposed to be at it's worst and it didn't fail to deliver, although nothing compared to the test and tune on Thursday! Time went past midday and it was still raining, resulting in us all doubting whether we would see any racing at all. By some miracle however, the rain did eventually stop and it all dried up rather quickly in time for another round of qualifying; we could see some racing happening after all! Knowing that the track had been soaked for many hours meant it would be a little 'green' so we knocked down the dial in by a hundredth to 8.03 and to our delight she ran through with an 8.04, moving us up to 3rd, narrowly missing out on 2nd by just 2 ten thousandths of a second. After a few Pro sessions on Sunday, it was time for round 1 of eliminations and we were due to race 'that' monster of a pickup truck from the Netherlands. Unfortunately Reinier Van Schelt had informed us that he was out due to a breakage, so we were paired with one of the 4 first alternates Frank Esjkoot. We went for an 8.02 to Frank's 8.55. Knowing we had a slight advantage when it came to running our numbers, Dave tried to consciously not pull a red light...which in turn meant he pulled a -.03 cherry. Gutted was an understatement, but hey ho, the old saying of "if you never pull a red, you're not trying hard enough" definitely came into play. Frank running an 8.54 breakout to our 8.10 added insult to injury, but we were a little off our time as it was. After talking to Felicity and Ian, who were on the startline, they came back and said that it had never been so sticky so we think the track may have been too sticky for the amount of power we have compared to the Pro classes, holding us down enough to make a difference. Fortunately for us however, was that the other championship contenders also went out in the first round so it wasn't as bad, as well as the advantage of having qualified higher in the first place. Monday ended up being rained off and so it meant we didn't lose any more points. We now look forward to the Summernationals where we can hopefully go a couple more rounds, keep the points coming in and maybe more importantly, have a wheelie good time (terrible I know). See you all there! Swift snippets. 2nd June: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the post-FIA/FIM Championship Round 1 points standings in the 2014 Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Chris Emms of Cool Green racing is looking to hire a Junior Stock Dragster for the Junior fun day on Wednesday 20th August 2014 at Santa Pod. For those that don't know Cool Green Racing, Ricky Emms drove a Junior modified dragster very successfully which culminated in the class Championship win in 2002. Chris says 'Summer, our daughter, gained her Junior Stock competition licence last year and is looking forward to racing at the fun day; if anybody knows of a junior stock dragster that could be for hire we would love to hear from you. We can be contacted on 07890 232534'. Mike Lacey of www.ModUrSTANG.co.uk has announced that this year's Pro ET end of year bash, is again in Calne, Wiltshire on Saturday 15th November. The Miss-Guided Super Pro ET team of Deborah Laugher are in need of additional support for the rest of year and possibly longer than that. Unfortunately husband/crew chief Dusty has damaged his back and this means that he won't be able to do as much hands on work on the car as he has been doing, so we need someone to work alongside him and the rest of team. Mechanical skills are a must, and experience of blown, alky cars would be a bonus. So if you are a Crew Chief or want to step up into the role, then please contact us on [email protected]. We are based in Northants with easy access to the motorway and we make great cakes and tea! Web site updates. 2nd June: Richard Smith has updated his Zenfolio gallery with shots from York Raceway's first Volkspower's Powerfest. You can check out Richard's pictures at rdsmith.zenfolio.com. Paul Lister has updated his Drag Car Anon site with pictures from Sunday of the FIA/FIM Championship round 1. You can check out Paul's pictures at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Lost wedding ring sought. 1st June: Steve Williams of Team Paranoia Drag Racing has been in touch with an urgent call for help: On the Saturday of last weekend's Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare Raceway, I had the misfortune to lose my wedding ring somewhere in the pits or food court area. The ring is slightly unusual as it is white gold rather than yellow, quite a wide band but thin and originally had a log bark effect although this has worn nearly smooth over the last thirty four years. As can be imagined my status at home is currently a long way below that of the dog, so if anyone can help at all I would be very pleased to hear from them. I can be contacted via the team's E-Mail address [email protected], thanks very much. Earlier news