VW Action coverage. 31st August: A detachment of the Eurodragster.com staff are in place at Santa Pod Raceway to bring you the news from VW Action in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Our coverage will consist of near real-time reports on Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman and a photo gallery at the end of each day. The Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and will broadcast live video with commentary feed so long as the track is open. The webcast will of course be free but those who habitually moan about it can ask for a refund and put it towards a decent computer or broadband which can handle the stream. You can check out our VW Action Event Index, which includes the official Direct Plastics Top Sportsman entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 31st August: Good luck and stay safe to Jonnie Lindberg (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Ulf Leanders (Top Alcohol Funny Car) and Elvira Karlsson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) who are contesting the Chevrolet Performance NHRA US Nationals at Indianapolis. As things stand Jonnie is qualified #1 and Ulf #5 whilst Elvira is not currently qualified but is back into the sixes. Qualifying continues today and you will be able to stay in touch with our heroes' progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central buddies at www.dragracecentral.com. Lyrén takes Nordic title. 31st August: Sweden's Kalle Lyrén took the 2014 Nordic Pro Stock Bike Series title with a great performance at Tierp Arena last weekend. Dad Roger writes that Veidec-sponsored Kalle's Championship was the result of a lot of hard work which ultimately paid off: After 2013 Team Veidec / Lyrén Motorsport decided to build a new bike. With our knowledge from the other three other bikes we had built we had lot of experience, and we knew what to change for the new one. With help from Eddie Krawiec at V&H we got a frame which we could fine-tune specifically for Karl. In November we got access to our new building and started to build up our new workshop and offices. After some real hard work during the winter the new workshop was ready to use on 1st March, then we got our frame from the USA at the end of April. The original plan was to keep the old bike and start the season with that one, but Elvira Karlsson's dad Robert was interested in buying it and that's how it turned out. Now it was real rush to get our bike ready for the season, but business was also rolling in and took up lots of time and we follow the precept "No pleasure without business" so business always comes first. We started the season testing at Malmö and made two soft runs but we could see that the bike was responding the way we wanted. After that we went to Alastaro for the first Nordic Championship race. We managed to get a 7.18/300 kmh with a real soft setting since the track surface was new, but then the rain came so the race was cancelled. Next was Tierp Arena and the Swedish Championship car classes and invitational for the bike classes. On the first run we destroyed our engine so sadly we could not compete at the Championship race at Gardemoen. The next race would be Sundsvall; we got our parts from V&H on the Wednesday lunch time and at midnight we fired up the engine after rebuilding it. The next morning we had to leave for Sundsvall. Sundsvall is a real nice race track. This facility has real potential, a hard-working group have built this track up to a real good level. We managed to get number one qualifier with 7.17; it is high-altitude track so tuning was a little different, and at the same time we had to break in the motor. Once again the rain came... Next up the final round at Tierp Arena. The track was real good so every team had to work hard to find the right tune-up. We managed to take the top qualifying spot with a 7.12 at the last hit on Saturday night. This run helped us to get a good baseline for Sunday's eliminations. A 7.05 in the first round, in the semis 7.04 to Elvira's 7.08 on our 2013 bike, and in the final we beat the European Champion Fredrik Fredlund with a 7.03 to 7.04. Karl's 0.021 reaction meant that he hed all the way to the finish line. To win the final round and to win the Nordic Championship and EDRS Pro Series shows that we have a good package to compete with on the track, and also a real top crew. Of course our partners Veidec, Lyrén Motorsport, Parts Europe, Drag Specialities, Icon, Bobster and Vance and Hines make this possible with our crew Atle, Pål, Malin, Jessica, Lena, Eva, Lena, Sara, Jocke and Annika who did a fantastic job. And we have one of the best Pro Stock Bike riders in Kalle Lyrén. Ålund plays catch-up. 31st August: Pär Willén writes that the Turtle Wax Internationals Pro Stock field was tough with eleven élite teams showing up to battle for eight places, including multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund: "We'd like to extend a huge thanks to Tierp Arena and their crew", says Jimmy, "we finally got a track which could take all of our KB Racing horsepower. This was the best track I've ever raced on." It looked to be a very succesful weekend for the J&J Performance Racing Team. The weather allowed only three qualifying rounds and Jimmy dominated the qualifying show with a string of 6.5-second runs, all at speeds over 340 km/h. The sequence of runs was 6.56, 6.54 and the new ET record of 6.532 in the last qualifying run. Top qualifying speed was 342.86 km/h (213.04 mph), just a hair away from Jimmy's own speed record. "Qualifying was great", says Jimmy. "We threw the whole kitchen sink at the track and it held. Unfortunately the last round of qualifying rained out. We were swinging for the fences on that one with a killer tune-up. We really wanted to lower the new ET record and touch up the speed record as well." In Sunday's first round of eliminations Jimmy was up against Jan Palmqvist. Both cars ran into tyre shake, something came off Jan's car and he shut off. Jimmy got back into it and won the round with a less than stellar ET of 7.46. In the semi-finals, Jimmy met current points leader Michael Malmgren. When going into stage, Jimmy's engine did not respond as usual resulting in a holeshot win for Michael, 6.67 to Jimmy's very strong 6.58. "Yes, I left a day late and that was it for the weekend" says Jimmy. "This is what drag racing is all about, numbers don't win races. First car across the finish line gets the points, nothing else." Magnus Petersson won the event and sets the point standings alight by passing Jimmy, setting the stage for a very exciting race at the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway where the 2014 Champion will be crowned. Jimmy and the team left Tierp Arena in third place in the FIA European Pro Stock Championship, eighteen points off the lead and five points off second place. "This is of course a tough situation but we've come from behind before and expect to do so this year as well", says Jimmy. Qualifying starts on Friday morning. For more information including videos, visit www.jimmyalund.com. Erbacher's fun weekend. 31st August: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher says that he had a lot of fun at the Turtle Wax Internationals: We had John Stewart from the Laganas to help us. He slept in the trailer together with the tean and I and we had a lot of fun with him. We sorted out some small wrong settings with his help and qualified with a 4.07 for number two spot after the second qualifier. In the third qualifier we put in too much clutch and the tyres went up in smoke at about half track. The fourth qualifier was rained out. On Sunday I raced Chris Andrews in the first round and my tyres went up in smoke early. I saw that his tyres smoked too so I stepped on it again and my tyres smoked again. I pedalled the car five times and win that round. What a race! I had a headache directly afrer I reached the finish line but the win blew it away. The next round was against Antti Horto and we were sure that we could win. But after sixty sixty feet the burst plate blew and stopped me immediately. We had a good race with a lot of fun. The car ran great with no big damage apart from two or three pistons and the burst plates. The truck is back at my shop although the car has stayed in the trailer, we just need to fill up the nitro and go racing. We are leaving for England tomorrow. Special thanks to my Super Heroes Robin the Crew Chief, Stew the Assitant, Dario Car Chief, Linus engine right side, Richard and Roger bottom end, Lukas and Thomas clutch, Rene blower and pistons, Mucke merchandising, Claudia the cook, and Noah, Fabian and my daughter Jndia who visited us on Friday as a surprise. See you all in England where we will win the last race. King's winning streak continues. 31st August: Ian King and the Gulf Oil Dragracing - Grand Prix Originals team headed to Germany for the penultimate race of the 2014 FIM European Drag Racing Championship with some trepidation. Despite its status as the biggest event on the European tour, with an estimated 50,000 spectators in attendance, reports of over-aggressive cleaning of the Hockenheim track to meet the demands of the recent Formula 1 race had once again significantly reduced the traction available. This did not bode well for the 1500 ho Puma machine. In addition, Manufacturers Cup Promoter and Race Director Jay Regan and his brother Gunster from the USA were guests of the team who were eager not to disappoint their illustrious friends from across the Pond. The team were on a winning streak extending back to European season opener in 2013 and despite the traction problems experienced by almost all car and bike competitors the team used all of their experience gleaned whilst racing and showing on marginal tracks across the globe to win low qualifier, low ET and event win honours with the added bonus of the Best Appearing Bike trophy. Not only that but the team gained an official timing ticket which reported a 252 mph terminal speed, which would put them in second place in the all time fastest list. The team had made gearbox and sprocket changes for the race with overall gearing for speed but their datalogging did not concur and so they remain sceptical as to the validity of the timing ticket. Further passes of 235.97 mph and 232.16 mph did not back up this record under current regulations and just missed the existing record by one kilometre per hour (with the two slower speeds under the 1% rule backup rule), so a new record would have to wait. King's opponent in the final (and also alongside King when he came flying past on the debated high speed) was Greek rider Filippos Papafilippou, now back on his nitrous PXM ride. Fast Fil had qualified in a creditable second place running 198.26 mph on a 6.813 for second spot on the ladder and a new Terminal Speed best for a nitrous Funny Bike in Europe. Despite his great weekend, Fil was no match for King's event-winning 6.461. This weekend the team is in Denmark for the unique Mosten Raceday sprint event. For more information about Gulf Oil Drag Racing visit 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 First SE Champion of 2014. 31st August: Round 6 of the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship took place at the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and Street Eliminator Chair Matt Atkinson wonders where the year has gone: This round included saw the return of Matt Smith in the Team Extreme Project Escort following a number of upgrades and a remapping session with Dave Rowe of EPS on the dyno. Damian Halliwell was also returning in his beautiful 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne sporting new rear end gears to try as the team looked to improve on the PBs which they have been setting all year. We awoke on Saturday to bright blue skies and everyone was ready for action, with the exception of Damian who was frantically trying to sort out a leaky brake pipe so unfortunately missed the first round. The remaining sixty however all made strong passes with Stu Williams, the new Championship leader, setting the pace with a 7.938/180 starting off exactly where he left off at Bug Jam. Meanwhile Jon Webster in the Comet, in the same pair, ran through with an 8.278/153 clearly showing that the track was in good shape. In the next pair the two Team Extreme brothers Martin in the GTR and Matt in the Escort were up against each other, Martin getting the better of younger brother Matt running through with a 8.332/151 as he struggled to keep his foot planted. Matt ran through with a 10.023/138 a nice pass to start the weekend. Last pair up and Andy Bond in the Mustang faced off against Alan Williamson in the Chevy Truck. Problems in the burnout for Al as he struggled to light the tyres, no such problem for Andy as the new torque converter clearly picked up with the Mustang running a season best 9.020/160 and a new track PB for Andy in the process. Al lit the tyres away from the line and run through with a 9.350/161. That was to be our only run for the day as sadly the rain set in. That didn't however stop us from holding our annual BBQ with close to fifty people in attendance. A great event to get everyone together in the class. A special thanks to Martin Green and Ian Collins for cooking all of the food, and thanks to everyone else who ate it! Onto Sunday and Street Eliminator was the second class out. Thankfully Damian had managed to fix the leaky brake pipe so made it out for Q2 and a nice checkout pass led to an 11.023/125 to get a qualifying pass on the board. Stu Williams and Jon Webster paired up again, Stu resetting his number one spot with a 7.915/181 whilst Jon closed the gap with an 8.001/165 and a superb launch from the Comet. Big improvement for the Smith brothers as well as Martin ran through with an 8.094/175 to cement his third spot and Matt moved up to fifth with a 9.318/149 solid pass in the Escort. Last pair and Andy and Al matched up, Andy again setting a new track PB with an 8.949/160 much to the delight of the cheering crew! Al had problems though as the overflow tank spewed water out meaning he was pushed back after the burnout. Back in the early afternoon for round three of qualifying and it was Jon Webster in the Comet and Martin Smith in the first pair battling for the number two spot, slight improvement for Martin with an 8.051/177 to close the gap to Jon but Jon staying fractionally ahead. Next pair up were Al Williamson in the Chevy truck and Damian Halliwell, Al struggling with overheating problems but managed a stout 8.616/165 to take number four spot whilst Damian was back into the tens in the opposing lane. Next up were Andy Bond and Matt Smith both improving as the weekend went on, Andy resetting his track record for a third consecutive time to a 8.892/161 for fifth spot whilst Matt improved again but not quite enough to leapfrog Andy in the Mustang. Stu Williams in the Supra was last up looking to consolidate his number one spot whichhe did with a 7.864/181 with the Supra looking really on song! Into the last round of qualifying and it was a great side by side battle for number two spot as Martin in the GTR and Jon in the Comet battled it out, Martin just pipping Jon to the post with a 7.947/178 to Jon's 7.980/177, great run for both and nice to see side by side sevens. Matt Smith and Andy Bond next up, battling it out for fifth spot and again it was Team Extreme who come out on top despot Andy again running quicker with an 8.854/161, Matt ran through with a 8.833/158, great to see Matt back into the eights. Stu Williams and Al Williamson followed Stu having already secured the number one spot and Al almost certain to qualify at number four; neither would rest on their laurels though as Stu shot away from the line with a 1.25 to sixty feet, whilst Al in the opposing lane had problems. Stu on an absolute stormer stopped the clock at 7.751/181 to set a new Street Eliminator track record at Shakespeare County Raceway, huge congratulations to Stu and the Carmasupra team. Last up was Damian in the Biscayne and be also improved to a 10.762/125 to set us up nicely for the Cruise and eliminations. We departed on the Cruise on a lovely sunny afternoon pootling through the local villages before arriving at the fuel station. On arrival it soon became apparent that Damian had forgotten his boot key in order to fill up the tank. After a while Stuey from Team Extreme came to the rescue and managed to open the boot much to the delight of Damian and everyone looking on! Number one qualifier Stu Williams in the Supra was also encountering problems as the Supra was cutting out intermittently; luckily he managed to make it all the way round and back to the track in the allotted time along with everyone else. In the end it was irrelevant as Mother Nature yet again played her part and the rain came tumbling down ahead of eliminations and despite everyone's best efforts the meeting had to be called. We do however have the year's first Championship decided and after taking the win at the earlier round at SCR, Martin Smith in the Team Extreme GTR takes the APIRA Championship whilst Damian Halliwell takes home the runner up spot, huge congratulations to both on a great achievement. This does of course leave the points extremely close for both the UK National and SPRC Championships with less than two rounds of racing between number one and three in points, and with ten cars at the European Championship Finals next weekend plenty of points will be on offer. So watch this space! A huge thank you to everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway for all of their efforts over the weekend, and from all involved in Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator we are looking forward to coming back next year already! 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. Estonian titles decided. 30th August: The Glassdrive Finals, the final round of the Estonian Drag Racing Championships were held at Haapsalu, Kiltsi Airfield last weekend organised by Estonian Drag Racing Association. Kristjan Veedler writes: Some said that the race was the best and most interesting Estonian drag race race in a few years. The track was well preped by Estonian Drag Racing Association crew with a lot of help from some Finnish Hot Rod Association members. The good condition of the track was proven by good ETs and some huge wheelies which have never seen before. We had only good words from the drivers about the track preparation. A new Estonian record was set in the Pro Bike category; Nils Laur on his Kawasaki ZX12R managed to run 8.742 seconds with a back-up of 8.825. Results of the race: J/BR 1. Dan Siimson 2. Marcel David Tõeleid ST/A 1. Indro Päll 2. Martin Veedler ST/B 1. Andres Arnover 2. Kaur Vähi SET/PET 1. Kristo Tihvan 2. Ago Kravets ST/MOD 1. Kristo Luhaäär 2. Lauri Soots OL 1. Kristjan Käbi 2. Riivo Sinijärv SB 1. Erko Poska 2. Kaisa Tõniste PB 1. Erki Anto 2. Nils Laur Championship standings after the Glassdrive Finals OUTLAW 1. Lauri Kuriks (2962 points) 2. Kristjan Käbi (2658 points) 3. Reino Poom (2545 points) STREET MODIFIED 1. Kristo Luhaär (2862 points) 2. Lauri Soots (2461 points) 3. Mati Põld (2354 points) PRO BIKE 1. Petri Koivuniemi (2258 points) 2. Erki Anto (1629 points) 3. Deivid Urbus (1331 points) SET/PET 1. Kristo Tihvan (2860 points) 2. Delvis Siimson (2758 points) 3. Ago Kravets (2160 points) STREET BIKE 1. Erko Poska (2247 points) 2. Kaisa Tõniste (1230 points) 3. Juha Tuomari (816 points) STREET A 1. Tarvo Järv (3569 points) 2. Martin Veedler (3066 points) 3. Mare Erich (2570 points) STREET B 1. Kaido Reisser (2963 points) 2. Toomas Tuuling (2349 points) 3. Risto Lutsar (2256 points) Information about the Estonian Championship and Cup category racers can be found at www.edra.ee. The Estonian Drag Racing Association would like to thank all drivers, teams, specators, FHRA and sponsors for a great season. Special thanks goes to Eurodragster.com for publishing our news and showing European drag racing fans what's going on at this end of Europe (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Gasser Circus hits VW Action. 30th August: Round 4 of the Gasser Circus Showdown is taking place at VW Action. Nervous Nick writes that after a few weeks' lay-off the Circus drivers and their teams are really looking forward to getting back to racing: This is a new event for us, and one which will feature qualifying at night, which is bound to add a whole new twist and level of excitement for us and fans in the stands. For anyone attending, the Gasser Circus can be found in the space between the grandstand and the restaurant in the pits. Please drop by and say hello. With three different winners from three events, this year's run-in to the title will be a close-fought and exhilarating battle. With no clear favourite, this one will go all the way down to the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, but who will leave VW Action in the lead? The points going in to VW Action are as follow: 1. Identity Crisis 37 2. Crowd Pleaser 32 3. The Mighty Mouse 30 4. Honky Tonkin 2 29 5. Whiplash 28 6. Green Onions 27 7. Honky Tonkin 26 8. Aint Misbehavin 22 9. Gas Junkie 17 =10. Horrid Henry 17 =10. Nogbad the Bad 16 =12. Power Wagon 11 =12. Roarin Rat 11 14. The Rocket 7 15. Goldrush 5 16. French Comet 4 =17. Old Harper 3 =17. Junkyard Express 3 =17. The Manx 3 Bradshaw goes Extreme. 30th August: After two years out of the seat the UK's John Bradshaw is competing in the Factory Extreme Class at the today's Brisbane Jamboree in Australia. John writes: Factory Extreme is the world's fastest class for Pro Import doorslammers in the world with a mix of four- and six-cylinder Japanese engines. The current quickest time is now down to 6.19/238! I have "hired" a ride from 2013 Champion Scott Porter, my old Nissan 350z chassis which I sold to Scott in 2013. Testing has gone really well; after a couple of years away I was a little nervous and a few things are different on the car such as gear change etc. But it was great to run three consecutive six-second runs after the lay off. 6.66 at 200 is the quickest so far getting off slightly early on the 3.5l engine. For the race a fresh Nissan 4L engine will be used so I would hope to see 6.5s or lower at 220+ mph. It's going to be tough with a total of ten cars in the class, all capable of running low to mid sixes and with a very large and vocal crowd expected it should be an event to remember. It's something I have wanted to do for a very long time but we wanted to wait until our threesons were old enough to combine it with a great holiday. We will run two qualifiers and then three out-of-the-hat heads-up, which makes for great entertainment. Two of the heads-up runs are in the evening so the cars will put on a spectacular show in the dark. The most successful racers then go on to race in the final. Updates are posted on my Facebook page and also on the Factory Extreme and Drag Media Facebook pages. Goal accomplished... almost! 30th August: UK Outlaw Anglia racer Steve Wells partly achieved an ambition at last week's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: When I first started racing my Rover-powered Pop Pick-up back in 1994, I was way off the pace of the fastest Rover-powered cars. Then in 1997 Steve Green set the record for the quickest run with a Rover V8, using manufactured heads and block, at 8.33 seconds which has stood all these years. My goal for the last few seasons has been to beat this record. At the Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway we ran 8.38 followed by 8.41, and then on the last qualifier we ran 8.33 equalling Steve's record. We couldn't have achieved it without an excellent track which was superbly prepped right from the start of the weekend. Unfortunately, just before the finish line, the crank snapped costing us a few thousandths at least! That's the end of our season, but with a new crank and a support we will be back again next year to try to beat the 8.33 and claim the record. A big Thank You to Malk Motler for his help with developments over the winter, to camauto.com for their continued support and to Jayne, Malk, Marcie, Callum and Thomas for crewing this year, which has been a bit of a trial! Swift snippets. 30th August: If Nostalgia is your thing then UK Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King has for sale two items which will interest you: the first item is the hugely enjoyable Hogslayer DVD. Featuring TC Christenson, our good friend John Gregory and of course the legendary twin engined Norton. it features great footage of the bike in action in the US and UK along with the story behind the team and machine. The second item is John S. Stein's definitive book Motorcycle Drag Racing: A History. A large book, weighing in at just under 1.5 kg, it features 244 pages and discusses the evolution of the machines over the last six years with great pictures. The DVD is available for £15 and the book £45 free of shipping if bought from us at the race track. We are at Mosten this weekend and Santa Pod Raceway next weekend. Swedish Pro Modified racer Mats Eriksson has confirmed his absence from the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals. "I really want to go, but due to our place in the Championship and the cost of the crash in May we have to take a break", he says. "It costs too much in both money and work time to get to England. So we decided to put that time and effort into our company so that we can be back next year. We are going to miss all our fans over there. It would have been nice to end the season in a different way, but we will see you next year and hopefully fresh power." Medic Mark Cook-Abbott has been in touch to clarify a couple of points about the Air Ambulance benefit story of 14th August. "Santa Pod comes under the East Anglian Air Ambulance not Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, as Santa Pod is in Bedfordshire", he says. "The East Anglian Air Ambulance would not have benefited from the event. Graham Ellis was flown by East Anglia Air Ambulance as a conveyance vehicle; the skill and dedication of the medics at Santa Pod had already stabilised him before the flight, at some cost to one of the medics." A win for the hired gun. 30th August: NitrOlympX FIM European Super Street Bike Cup round winner Brad O'Connor says that although the event win was great it must be said the team of guys who made it happen were all exceptional on the build up and at the meeting: I was asked to ride the Frank Field Super Street bike after usual rider Pete Field's passport application got stuck in the system. As part of the BTC Moto trackside support programme I usually crew on the bike and I'm responsible for the tuning, design, production and support of the electronics infrastructure fitted to the bike. Frank made the call to replace Pete with me a week or so before the rig was due to leave for Hockenheim , so it was all systems go. Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing was the first to help and he ensured that we had all the information needed to get the paperwork etc done. With that underway we needed to get the bike ready. It had just been fitted with a brand new NLR Sidemount turbo system and a newly-built engine. One day before the whole deal was due to be shipped out, disaster struck. The bike wasn't responding correctly to the mapping on the dyno and it looked like the whole deal could be off. It was pointing to one of two issues, boost leak around the injectors or a cam timing issue: both have shown similar problems in the past. Then the engine builder Rick Stubbins said "Get it to me and I'll check them and eliminate the problem" so at five o'clock that afternoon Scott Baldwin drove the two hundred miled Rick's place. The cam timing checked out fine and at midnight Scott drove the bike to Frank's. At six in themorning on the day they were due to leave Frank and Scott were sorting the injectors. Garry Bowe who was on his way down country to the ferry, was called upon to cast his expert eye over the installation. Garry confirmed that he had the parts to fix the issue and it was all back on. The bike was fixed at the camp site on the way to the track. With the bike fixed but without any testing, track or dyno, it was left to me to put in a suitable map and tune-up for the first qualifying pass. I'd chosen to go with a Gann clutch and Franko and brother Carl turned the bike round, fitting the clutch etc. So now I was sitting at the front of the queue being watched by thirty three of the best Super Street bike racers in Europe, heart purring like a kitten waiting for the first pass on an untested bike, when a head popped into view. It was Graham Dance then Danny Cockerill then other SSB racers all wishing me good luck on the first pass! How great was that! All calm now just stick to procedure. Light dropped and 7.54 qualified me number two in the first round of qualifying, just seven hundredths of a second off my PB! Not a bad pass but I needed to alter the fuelling, which wasn't spot on, and tighten up on the shift points slightly. Other than that the expertly-prepped bike was a breeze to ride, Franko and Carl doing everything to perfection. Across the next seven runs we smashed all my previous PBs. For eliminations we chose a strategy of keeping it consistent, advice which had come via text from three-time NitrOlympX winner Dave Smith (tuned in via Eurodragster.com on holiday in Crete). Paul 'Grumpy' Watson confirmed this would be the correct way to go, as other than Garry Bowe the other guys would need to run PBs to get close. Team track guru Spencer Tramm had already confirmed he had a good places in both lanes to race from and he'd been spot on all meeting, so it would just be a case of loading in a 7.2 setting we used from last year. I had already tuned Dave Holland into the 7.3s, but it wasn't required and we took the event win with pretty much the same tune-up with which we started. None of this would have happened without the guys listed below who ensured that every switch was switched on, the bike was fuelled and aired, and that the line on the track was perfect. And they got the thing there in the first place! Well done and thanks Team Franko! Thanks to: Frank Field team owner, Carl Field Team tech, Pete Field rider/bike development tech, Sebastion Domingo NLR Turbo system and boost controller designer/supplier, BTC Moto electronics infrastructure design, Rick Stubbins engine builder, Spencer Tramm track tech support, Scott Baldwin transportation, Garry Bowe, Danny Cockerill, Mogens Lund parts support, Dave Holland and Dave Hall organisational support, Geoff Myers administration help, Paul 'Grumpy' Watson and Dave Smith race day strategy advice, Kev and Wendy Purver food and drink. Pit Rat's thanks. 30th August: UK Junior Dragster racer Luke Felstead had an excellent day at the Alamo Junior Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway: I hardly ever go out in my car but I had a great day thanks to Ray Tucker who took me up there. What was nice was that my car was possibly the slowest there but no-one took the mickey and everyone was nice and welcoming. Thanks to Steve and Tyler Ashdown who gave me a new spark plug and plenty of help on the day. This car is a Junior Stock and can run down to 12.9 but on the day it was full of 16,0s, no matter how much we tried to get it to run faster it still wouldn't speed up, in some cases it slowed down. Bill may be good at running a Fuel car but when it comes to Juniors he's crap. Thanks to Spencer Tramm for guiding me through the day, basically allowing me to do as I wished, thanks Spencer. I was impressed with the medal which I received at the end of the day and it's now on my bedroom wall next to my Don Garlits front wheel light ring off his shorty Fuel car. I have outgrown my car and have put it up for sale on my new Facebook page which is called called Pitrat's Race Parts. All the details are on there along with other interesting stuff. Once again thanks to everyone for the day and see you at the Pod soon. Web site updates. 30th August: Chris Eyre has updated the European Nostalgia Funny Car web site with a report from Dragstalgia including a photo gallery supplied by Julian Hunt. "Thank you very much for the fantastic photos Julian!", says Chris. "There are also links to videos of runs made on the Saturday not just by the Nostalgia FCs but also the altereds in attendance including Rat Trap and Pure Hell. Keep tuning back as there will soon be a report from Hockenheim." Our good buddy, photo-journalist Remco Scheelings has had two Turtle Wax Internationals reports posted on the Autosport.nl web site. As ever there is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and an off-track report which you can check out by clicking here. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with over seven hundred pictures from the Mopar EuroNats. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Dick Parnham has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the 2005 Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Dick's shots can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/dickparnhamdragracing. Klaus Sarembe. 29th August: Whilst in Sweden we were saddened to hear of the death of German bike racer Klaus Sarembe (aka Blue Klaus). His friend and team-mate 'Yellow Klaus' Brinkmann writes: Klaus passed away on Monday 18th August having been ill for nine months. He was 53 years old. Klaus' wife Elke told me that at the end Klaus was not suffering and passed away peacefully. In the early 1990s Klaus founded Sarembe Racing Team Katana. Between 1993 and 2004 he took part in many races in Europe, and especially in England, on his High OctanSuzuki in Street Bike, Super Street Bike and Comp Bike. He had several good results and was runner-up in the 2003 ACU Compb Bike Championship. Always supported by his wife Elke, his daughter Melissa, his team-mate Yellow Klaus and many very good friends he lived and loved his passion, the quarter mile. Without his knowledge of bikes, his skill in building frames and special parts, and his purposeful manner, that success would not have been possible. We have suffered an irreplaceable loss, and we have lost a dear friend, husband and father, son and brother. Rest in peace, Klaus. Our own deepest sympathies to Elka and Melissa and to all of Klaus' family and friends. 2014 APIRA Champions. 28th August: Many thanks to APIRA Points Co-ordinator, our own Simon, for confirming the 2014 APIRA Ultimate Power Champions. Congratulations to: Super Pro ET: Scott Hauser Pro ET: Leigh Morris Sportsman ET: Ricky Hale Super Comp: Andy Williams Super Gas: Stuart Doignie Super Street: Leigh Morris Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Billy Everitt Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Martin Smith Outlaw Anglia: Colin Millar Wild Bunch: Keith Crampton VW Pro: Paul Jordan VW Sportsman: Ed Keech Funny Bike: Gary Jones Comp Bike: Allan Davies Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 8.50 Bike: Eddy Smiley 9.50 Bike: Alex Hope Junior Drag Bike: Blade Dummer Championships for NAST Supertwin Gas and Supertwin ET will be decided on 27th-28th September. You can check out the final 2014 APIRA Ultimate Power Championship 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. Swift snippets. 28th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us an updated official entry list for next week's FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. As revealed on yesterday's update, Finland's Tero Laukkanen is now attending the race and he has been joined on the list by perennial Pro Mod favourite Freddy Fagerström. You can check out the Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com staff today. Please join Kirstie, Simon and Tog in wishing a big Hapy Birthday to phootgrapher Julian Hunt. Have a great day Julian. We are still working on the news backlog which has grown exponentially in the last twenty four hours or so. We always have room for more, though, so please keep the news coming to [email protected]. FIA / FIM Finals racer update. 27th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us details of the arrangements for next week's FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: Wednesday 3rd September 08:00 Gates open for Pro Racer Test Day and pitting 11:00-20:00 Signing On office open 11:00 Car scrutineering commences Please note that there is no specific scrutineering order for cars on Wednesday; if you are at the track on this day then please try to sign on and to have your car scrutineered. Thursday 4th September 07:00 Signing On office open 07:00 Car scrutineering commences: Sportsman car signing on and scrutineering order Pro car signing on and scrutineering order 09:00 Bike scrutineering commences: Bike signing on and scrutineering order 09:30 Track open for qualifying Friday 5th September 07:30 Signing On office open 07:30 Scrutineering commences for cars and bikes 09:30 Track open for qualifying Saturday 6th September 08:00 Signing On office open 08:00 Scrutineering commences for cars and bikes 09:30 Track open for qualifying and eliminations Sunday 7th September 09:30 Track open for eliminations Thursday's and Friday's provisional running orders are now 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 as ever that these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to track or weather conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Please remember that no motors are to be started before 09:00 or after 21:00. Non-compliance will result in exclusion from the event. As the SPRC Summernationals were rained out, prize money in Sportsman classes (only) will be doubled at this event. Swift snippets. 27th August: Dutch Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten has withdrawn from next week's FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway and has put his Camaro up for sale. "We have plans for a new direction for Pro Dutch Racing", says Robert. "The plan is to ship the car to the USA later this year, but if anyone in Europe is interested then please contact me at [email protected]. The car is available as a roller, but other parts can be added if needed." Although fellow Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson has also announced that he will not be attending next week's race Finland's Tero Laukkanen, who ran Europe's first five-second turbo Pro Mod pass and set a new European speed record at Tierp Arena at the weekend, now plans to race at Santa Pod Raceway next week. Anita calls time on 2014. 26th August: After a torrid weekend at Tierp Arena Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä has withdrawn from next week's FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Anita writes: It was just great to get back to Tierp, which is called The Track, and the Swedes had done a good job again. But regardless of the good track, my nightmare just kept on going. Q1: Fuel pump linkage broke. I was pushed back after the burnout. Q2: Technical problems and I swiped the guardrail. Only softly, but I lost the side panel of the front wing. It was my only decent time, 4.07 seconda and fourth qualifier. Q3: An oil line came loose and oil went everywhere. The flames were only oil burning on hot headers. Q4: rained out. In the first round of eliminations the safety box battery came loose and hit me. And whilst that was going on Duncan was gone and my race was done. Sometimes it is hard to find anything positive to say. If I may borrow the words of former Top Fuel pilot Peter Lantz: "Anita, how lucky we are, we didn't end up in airplanes". We didn't suffer any major damage. Only two burst panels and some pistons. But it wasn't the racing performance we were looking to achieve at Tierp. We have a new breeding house project going on here at our chicken farm. Nothing gives more stress than unfinished work. Because this project is taking so much time and needs all of our attention, we have decided not to go to Santa Pod. I'm so sorry to tell you this and I do it with a bleeding heart. But we'll finish this breeding house project first and we'll return to racing next year. We'll be stronger and faster than ever! Open Sport Nationals rained out. 26th August: With the exception of racers leaving the facility not a wheel turned at Shakespeare County Raceway yesterday. Persistent rain and an appalling forecast left race officials with no option but to cancel eliminations. Congratulations to Super Pro ET racer Patrick Dubois and Junior Drag Bike racer Natalie Jones who won the Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award and the Euroragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award respectively during qualifying. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for next week's FIA / FIM European Championships at Santa Pod Raceway. Click here to check out our Open Sport Nationals reports and pictures from Saturday and Sunday, or click on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. After what was a very busy few days for Eurodragster.com covering the Alamo Junior Dragster Fun Day, Turtle Wax Internationals and Open Sport Internationals please join Tog in thanking Kirstie, Simon, Grace and Patrik for their hard work on the event coverage. Turtle Wax Internationals results. 25th August: Congratulations to the winners of the weekend's Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Thomas Nataas 3.9559/500.46 def. Antti Horto 4.1155/418.93 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Manty Bugeja 5.3291/433.04 bye FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Leif Andréasson 5.5952/417.96 def. Johan Lindberg 5.9640/419.91 FIA Pro Modified: Tero Laukkanen 5.9556/412.53 def. Micke Gullqvist 5.9031/394.74 FIA Pro Stock: Magnus Pettersson 6.6624/336.03 def. Michael Malmgren 6.6573/332.92 Nordic Pro Stock Bike Championship: Kalle Lyrén 7.0312/304.57 def. Fredrik Fredlund 7.0438/306.30 Nordic Supertwin Championship: Harri Piensalmi 6.8691/296.05 def. Ismo Mäenpää no time (broke) Super Street Bike: Björn Friström 7.5150/318.96 bye (Henri Kolehmainen no show) Comp Eliminator: Pär Eriksson (7.50) 68027/300.33 def. René Meierhofer (9.15) 9.5800/168.70 DQ red Pro Street: Kalle Mannerkoski 7.7131/244.68 def. Christer Åberg 7.7311/284.81 Super Comp: Micke Nilsson 9.0085/251.98 def. Patrik Kivinummi 8.8635/261.12 DQ b/o Super Gas: Hampus Gisslén 9.9087/183.24 def. Iiro Laaksonen 13.7088/117.96 Super Street: Halvor Överby 10.8809/170.29 breakout def. Christer Gustafsson 10.8212/209.14 DQ b/o Stock / Super Stock: Lars Rodeblad (11.10) 11.1228/173.24 def. Bo Nylund (10.80) 10.7634/195.65 DQ b/o Junior Dragster: Fredrik Leanders (13.23) 13.3199/77.78 def. Atle Poolsar (8.47) 8.4666/121.76 DQ b/o Funny Bike: Nils Lagerlöf 6.5210/331.29 def. Antti Tervonen 20.5704/54.02 Super Comp Bike: Robban Pettersson 8.6763/253.16 def. Emil Östlund 8.6256/257.39 Super Gas Bike: Thomas Nordin 9.5666/195.94 def. Marcus Forsberg 11.1427/193.69 Subject to ratification the following records were set: FIA Top Fuel Dragster ET: 3.955 seconds, Thomas Nataas FIA Top Fuel Dragster speed: 501.86 kmh / 311.84 mph, Thomas Nataas FIA Top Methanol Dragster speed: 448.13 kmh / 278.46 mph, Chris Polidano FIA Pro Modified ET: 5.845 seconds, Micke Gullqvist FIA Pro Modified speed: 405.41 kmh / 251.91 mph, Tero Laukkanen FIA Pro Stock ET: 6.532 seconds, Jimmy Ålund Thanks to Åsa Kinnemar for forwarding us the post-event points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships which amongst other things show that Johan Lindberg has an unassailable points lead in Top Methanol Funny Car and so is European Champion-elect. You can check out the FIA 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. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Turtle Wax Internationals reports and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. VP Racing Fuels seminar at Tierp. 23rd August: Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels Inc has sent Freddie Turza of their Research and Development department to Tierp Arena to help racers with questions regarding race fuels. Freddie will be available for personal consultation, and he will also conduct a race fuel seminar half an hour after the track closes today (Saturday). The seminar will take place in the pit area of Comp Eliminator racer Odd Erik Fossum and is open to all interested parties whether with a specific query or with a general interest in racing fuel. Look out for Odd Erik's white trailer with black stripe and VP Racing Fuels banner on the rear tailgate, on the main aisle running off grandstand entrance A5. VP dealers from Sweden, Norway and Finland will be available to discuss attendees' questions in their own language. Tierp Arena on business drive. 23rd August: FIA Drag Racing Commission Vice President Lars Pettersson and Jürgen Ekwall gave a presentation at Tierp Arena yesterday (Friday) to twenty guests from Sporting Federations which hold international events in Sweden. The subject of the presentation was International Motorsport Events and Tierp Arena, and as well as the FIA European Drag Racing Championship included the World Rally Championship, the World Rallycross Championship, and the European Karting Championship. The aim of the presentation was to promote the suitability of Tierp Arena as a venue for other sports as the new owners are determined to get full value from the facility. Records fall at Kunmadaras. 23rd August: All kinds of records fell at the Adrenalin Extreme Festival at the Hungarian Drag Arena at Kunmadaras, which included the Motul Cup and the Honda European Drag Challenge: There was a record number of entrants at 211, and racers were able to set new bests despite record amounts of rain. Another new record of 4,351 spectators watched the gladiatorial racing. A number of foreign racers attended the event and Pavel Kubera from the Czech Republic set a new best in the Moditwin category with a 9.34-second run. There was also an international field in the Competition category, which was won by Germany's Karl-Heinz Weikum with a 7.4-second run. In the European Drag Challenge International Championship, racers from countries including Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary competed in Super Street Bike which featured an amazing fight for top spot. Thomas Granica led qualifying with a 7.76 but with the last run in qualifying Donát Dániel Lencsés ran a 7.74 which gave him the event win as eliminations were cancelled due to the heavy rain. The quality of the track was again proven by the 1.28-second sixty foot times in Super Street Bike. The cars also ran good times with a Street BMW setting a new record as Romania's quickest rear wheel drive car with a 9.76, and Csaba Erd&otidle;s ran a 7.12 with a 1.02 sixty foot time in his 1600 horsepower dragster. Zoltán Kohári's 2700 hp 'Dragacs' couldn't set a new record but was again the spectators' favourite. The car categories also welcomed racers from countries including Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland. The race also featured a Jet Car which ran 311 kmh and the event closed with a Night Show and concerts which had a large number of spectators. Next year's first race will take on 1st May at mid-eastern Europe's quickest drag strip. You can find out more at www.kunmadarasmotorsport.hu. Swift snippets. 21st August: Thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for forwarding us Version 3 of the official entry list for this weekend's Open Sport Nationals. You can check out the Open Sport Nationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Back to the subject of webcasts and Trakbak Racing Ltd have confirmed that they will again be offering a free live Web TV broadcast from the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-7th September. More details will be announced shortly. Web site updates. 21st August: The latest issue of the Speedgroup Newsletter is now available and contains a preview of the Turtle Wax Internationals as well as NitrOlympX results and more. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu. Alamo Junior Fun Day coverage. 20th August: In association with event sponsor Alamo Rent-A-Car, Eurodragster.com will be reporting on today's Alamo Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway. Our coverage will consist of an end-day report and photo gallery which will be posted as soon as possible after the event. You can check out the Alamo Junior Drag Racing Fun Day Event Index, which also includes the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ESLA Pro Drags postponed. 20th August: The European Street Legal Association have announced that this weekend's Pro Drag event at Drachten Airfield has been postponed to 19th-21st September: The reason for the cancellation is the terrible weather forecast and the recent condition of the track, field and parking areas. As an organisation we feel that it's irresponsible to let all the drivers come to Drachten in these circumstances. This is very disappointing news for the organisation as well as participants and spectators, but we want to prevent everybody from extra costs and even bigger disappointments. Participants who have registered, paid and want to participate on 19th-21st September can transfer their entry and payment to that event. If you have entered and paid the entry fee but for whatever reason cannot participate in the September event you can either receive your money back, or it is also possible to hold over your entry and fee to one of our events next season. If you have any questions or comments, or to organise a refund, please E-Mail [email protected]. Swift snippets. 20th August: Smart TV have been in touch to let us know that, due to circumstances beyond their control, Saturday's and Sunday's webcasts from the Turtlewax Internationals will no longer be free but will cost €15. To make up for this there will now be a webcast on Friday, which will be free. More information at www.smarttv.se. Tim Anderson of Racepak says that, as he is unable to attend this weekend's race at Tierp Arena, racers needing Racepak tech support or parts should visit European dealer Egbert Dros in the MPM Oil Pro Modified pits. The Estonian Drag Racing Finals, the Glassdrive Finals organised by the Estonian Drag Racing Association, take place this weekend at Kiltsi Airfield in Haapsalu. You can find out more at www.edra.ee/glassdrive-finals, and for more about the Estonian Championship racers check out the new racers' page at www.edra.ee/voistlejad. Fancy racing in Portugal? 20th August: James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway writes that as a result of our Portuguese friends visiting USC with some awesome Front Wheel Drive cars, including the first FWD diesel to run a nine in Europe, Santa Pod Raceway have been invited to arrange to take a transporter of UK cars to Portugal to run over the weekend of 4th-5th October: We had a couple of scouts visit an event in Portugal earlier this year and it appears that there were absolutely no Rear Wheel Drive race cars, so we'd like to take a real variety of UK machinery over there to put on a show. It's grass-roots racing on an almost completely unprepped airfield but we are doing our best to get them educated and to help them move the sport forward. Due to the track and travel arrangements, we are seeking teams who can travel light. Unfortunately the truck is not going to be suitable for a dragster but I'm hopeful that we can squeeze in some form of Sportsman altered or maybe even Funny Car along with a selection of doorslammers. As previously mentioned, the track is almost completely unprepped so if you need a quality racing surface to run on, please do not apply. With that said we are not expecting any blistering times, just big burnouts and relatively quick times, a quick time for them is currently around 9.9 seconds so if we can go a shade quicker that would be perfect. The organisers have also requested cars only on this occasion, so no bikes or Juniors need apply thank you. If you are interested in this unique opportunity to put on a show overseas, then please contact me at [email protected] or call 01234 782828. Fancy racing on the Isle of Man? 20th August: Ian Merryweather writes that, due to a late cancellation, the Manx Drag Racing Association are offering a free boat ticket to the Isle of Man for the Pokerstars Drag and Drift Weekend to a car or bike team willing to put on a show and to have a good time: The ticket is for a large van 8m long x 3.5m high and three adults (more can be arranged) sailing from Heysham to Douglas at 02:15 on Thursday 28th August, returning from Douglas to Heysham on the 08:45 sailing on Tuesday 2nd September. The itinerary would be along the lines of: Thursday 28th: Ramsey Sprint Day where we put on a static display and take in all the free entertainment Friday 29th: You have the day to watch the Senior Race Day of the Manx Classic TT taking place on the famous TT course. Saturday-Sunday 30th-31st: Drag racing at Jurby Monday 1st September: A day to explore however you wish before your sailing back to Heysham next morning. The MDRA will also help with your fuel expenses and meals. We do not have the funds to cover all expenses, however we do promise a great chill-out long weekend on the Isle of Man. If you are interested then please contact Mac Forbes of F&A Racing on 07624 436727 or Ian Merryweather on 07624 478326 or E-Mail [email protected]. The latest press release gives more information about the Pokerstars Drag and Drift Weekend: The event, hosted by the Manx Drag Racing Association in partnership with Straightliners, takes place at the usual venue of Jurby Motordrome. Now in its fifth year the free-to-spectate event has grown in popularity attracting top UK drag racers whose vehicles are capable of 0-180 mph in seven seconds. This year is no exception with one of the top UK Pro Mod Bike teams, Warpspeed Racing, bringing over a garage of bikes capable of covering the quarter mile in six seconds at speeds close to 200 mph. For those Guy Martin fans out there you may remember watching Guy trying out drag racing in one of his TV Speed episodes. Warpspeed were the team on hand to loan Guy the bike and teach him how to handle the monster. For the four-wheeled fanatics there will be not one, but two 1950 Ford Populars capable of 0-140mph in nine and a half seconds! These cars run in the very popular Outlaw Anglia class where their wheelstanding launches from the startline wow the crowds. Last year the event witnessed the beginning of unusual vehicles being built and raced along the quarter mile. The Wacky Racers theme began with the Isle of Man-based Garage Insanity Team attempting to crack the world speed record for a mobility scooter which at that time was 74 mph; unfortunately handling problems prevented their attempt. This year another Isle of Man-based Wacky Race team, Anderson Bodyshop from Ballasalla, have built a mobility scooter which has recorded 107 mph in testing! Some of you may have witnessed the scooter on Douglas Prom during the TT entertainment. Saturday 30th is official Guinness World Record Attempt Day, don't miss it! Continuing with the Wacky Races, the world's fastest toilet will be thundering down the track along with the world's fastest coin-operated ride, the Postman Pat Van. Due to popular demand the Patvan racing team with their Postman Pat van, which made the front page of the Isle of Man Examiner last year, are making the trip over again. Postman Pat will be bringing along his garage buddy Patvan 2, a bike-engined dragster and also Patvan 3, a slightly larger Postman Pat van complete with a 1000cc V-Twin Aprilia engine! The all new Patvan 3 will be testing at the event as it's still under construction as we go to print. The Manx Drift Corporation will be churning up plenty of tyre smoke as they display amazing car control on their twisty track. The event is open to all riders and drivers who would like to compete in the drag racing or drifting. All you need is a licence, helmet (for cars and bikes), and a safe vehicle. MDRA and Straightliners would like to thank event sponsors Pokerstars, Raymotors of Ramsey and JCK Ltd for their continued support. For more information visit www.manxdragracing.com or search Facebook for Manx Drag Racing Association, Manx Drift Corporation, or Pokerstars Drag and Drift Extreme Power Weekend. Gone splicing. 20th August: UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell says that there's not much which can keep the team away from the track when there's a race to run, but that the usual embarrassment of choice has been increased even further this weekend: Bank Holiday weekend is always a quandary. Not whether to run, but where. My home track of York Raceway always hold a great event. Shakespeare County Raceway is all ready as the UK National Championships swing into town. Then there was Drachten, always worth the tow to a very warm reception on the smoothest track in Europe. All that has to wait for another year as Andy Flav is getting married to Hannah Cornish at the family home in Caister, Norfolk, this Saturday. Andy has been part of the team dating back to when Tim Adam would call him 'Hovis'. He's a big part of the operation and we all extend our congratulations and wish Andy and Hannah well So wherever you're racing this weekend, join me in raising a glass and toasting the happy couple. We're sure that all of our readers will join the Eurodragster.com team in wishing Andy and Hannah all the best for a long and happy life together. Everything to play for... 20th August: It has been a long wait for the UK's Wild Bunch since Dragstalgia, where they had a record field of thirty one participants. So the Nostalgia standard-bearers are really looking forward to this weekend's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway where nine cars will contest the third and final round of the 2014 Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series. Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows writes: Adam Price in the Team Gridlock Go Hard or Go Home!!! altered currently leads this Series, although he is not entered due to extra work commitments. In second place is Andrew Murphy with the B-Sting altered, although this team are also not entered. This could leave the door wide open for third and fourth place teams, Keith Crampton in the Soul Town Shaker and Scot Durrant in the Tiki Munki slingshot coupe, to take the top spots. Dick Sharp in the Dorset Horn, Bob Hawkins in Time Traveller II and Dan Sharp in Little Big Horn also have a mathematical chance of winning, if they were to win the event. So lots to play for! The event is also the eighth of nine rounds of the Real Steel Series which takes place over five MSA events and four RWYB events. Adam Price is also leading this Series. Bob Hawkins is right behind in second place and Keith Crampton close in third place, so both could overhaul Adam for the lead at this event if they go a couple of rounds. The Club's five-round Springbridge MSA Challenge Series also continues this weekend. The Challenge covers the Festival of Power, Springspeed Nationals, Summer Nationals, Open Sport Nationals and the UK National Finals. It is currently being led by Keith Crampton, who has nearly a three-round lead on Adam Price, who is only three qualifying spots ahead of Bob Hawkins, who in turn has a two-round lead over Phil James in the Rampage Funny Car. The Series winner earns the Springbridge MSA Challenge Cup and one free MSA event entry for 2015. The two-round APIRA Series is led by Keith Crampton, with Adam Price in second place and Bob Hawkins in third. Anything can happen this weekend! This weekend's event Winner and Runner-up prize monies are sponsored by C&C Nostalgia Drag Racing Team. The competition should feature more close racing from the Bunch. Can Keith Crampton earn his first ever Series win(s) in his Soul Town Shaker slingshot? Will Scot Durrant go rounds and secure the Tiki Munki team some more Top 4 Series results? Can Dick Sharp run his first ever eigh-second pass in the iconic Dorset Horn? Will young Sean Law improve on his good form and take the win for the Wicked Lady team? Can newcomer Phil James capitalise on his early-season consistency with the Rampage funny car and take his first win? Will quickest Wild Buncher Bob Hawkins move on up with his Time Traveller II slingshot, and reset his PB and Wild Bunch ET Record? Can newcomer Steven East pick up where he left off at Springspeed and go rounds in his Ellie's in Trouble Now slingshot? Will Dan Sharp improve further on his low ten-second passes in the immaculate Little Big Horn altered... and can he beat his Dad? Can Dave Nelson run into the low eights in his Dorris Dormouse slingshot? We can't wait for Saturday, Sunday, Monday to find out! Full results and news from previous events can be found on the Club's web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk. ACAG build up the funds. 20th August: The Allard Chrysler Action Group is pleased to announce more financial support for the restoration of Europe's first dragster, Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler. It is particularly welcome at this time when the engine needs a rebuild after a year and a half of 'cackling'. American drag racer Julie Braskett, now residing in the UK, has donated a four-figure sum to the project. ACAG Chair Brian Taylor handed the money over to Doug Hill, Museum Manager and Lord Montagu's Chief Engineer, on August 16th. Julie said "I have been following this project on-line long before I moved to the UK. It is so important to cherish our history and this dragster has a fan base both sides of the Atlantic. Now I have seen the car up close it is even more beautiful than I thought and I'm so pleased to be able to help the team keep it running. I'm looking forward to sitting behind the wheel when it is ready to cackle again." Nick Davies has been a great supporter of the project and was the top bidder for the latest original painting donated by Paul Whitehouse. Nick has quite a collection now. Paul has been a long-time fan of the Allard Chrysler restoration project, donating several original paintings for auction. When he heard that the group needed to obtain additional parts, plus the services of other facilities for the engine rebuild, he was straight on the telephone and donated his fabulous painting of Rat Trap and Pure Hell at Dragstalgia. Shortly to be delivered to Nick Davies and signed by Ron Hope, Brian Hope and Rich Guaso, what a great souvenir it is of a truly amazing event. Another donation came in the form of a period crash helmet painted in Allard colours. The helmet was donated by Mark Coulsell but the artwork and paint was applied by Lee Patrick of HRS Designs of Tamworth. This will be displayed with the dragster at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu along with the starter trolley. ACAG Chair Brian Taylor said "I can't thank these supporters enough. Added to the funds raised at Dragstalgia they have boosted our kitty considerably and we are ready to get the engine back making a noise again. Further help is coming from Rob Loaring of ICE Automotive. We have been spending some time identifying the best way forward for the engine rebuild and Rob has offered to lead our team in this work using his Silverstone workshop. The short block should be there by the time you read this news. All in all we are back on track and look forward to our next public appearance. In the meantime the car remains on display at its home in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu." For more information about the Allard Chrysler dragster restoration project visit the Allard Dragster Facebook page or www.allardchrysler.org. You can also keep up to date via Brian's Blog on Eurodragster.com. Terttu Määttä. 19th August: We were very sorry to hear from broken-hearted Finnish Supertwin racer Asko Määttä that his beloved wife Terttu (aka Tepa) passed away on Sunday after a tough two-year battle against pancreatic cancer. Baldie says that he will be returning to the track at Tepa's bidding. "As Tepa hoped, I will fight back in the future with my nitro-burning Supertwin Harley and with the help of the loyal Baldie's VooDoo Racing team", says Asko. "We will be back at the Nordic and European Championship race tracks next season." Having had the privilege to meet Terttu in Baldie's pit our memory is of her ready smile. She was a very brave lady. Our deepest sympathies to Asko and to all of Terttu's family and friends. Open Sport racer update. 19th August: Thanks to Jerry Cookson for passing on details of the arrangements for the APIRA Open Sport Nationals which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway this Saturday-Monday (23rd-25th): Version 2 of the official entry list is now 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. Racer tickets, final instructions, vehicle passes and scrutineering slips have been sent out to every racer who submitted their entry before close of play last Saturday. Anyone who has submitted their entry since Saturday will be able to collect their tickets on arrival at the main gate. If any crew member arrives before their racer then they must notify the track beforehand, or wait until the racer arrives at the track to gain entry. Please note that there should be no vehicles inside the pit area without a pit pass and that security will be looking out for offending vehicles. Entry into the pits will commence at 12:00 midday this Friday. If racers wish to arrive before the pit gate opens then they are more than welcome to park up and wait. Please note that pit marshals will escort all racers to their designated pits, so please be patient if a queue develops on the entrance road into the pits. Anyone who pits incorrectly will be politely asked to move to their correct allocated pit area. Scrutineering will commence for both cars and bikes at approximately 17:00 on Friday and at 07:30 on Saturday. Signing On will be open on Friday from 18:00 until between 20:00 and 21.00. Saturday's provisional running order 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 as ever the running order is provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Shakespeare County Raceway and APIRA would like to thank all racers for their support which is very much appreciated. If you have any queries about the APIRA Open Sport Nationals then please contact the Raceway office at  [email protected] or call 01789 720180 / 414119 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180 / 414119). SPR confirm Finals presentation. 19th August: Santa Pod Raceway are pleased to confirm that there will be again be a presentation evening at the end of the FIA / FIM European Championship Final Round, on Sunday 7th September. The presentation, which is open to all race teams, will be held in the hospitality marquee after racing with an evening barbecue and live entertainment. Tickets are £20 per person if booked by Friday 5th September, and then £25 per person after this date. Tickets can be booked with Sophie or Nicola at Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or during the race at the Garage Shop in the pits. Payment can be made by cash or card. You can download the booking form (PDF format) by clicking here. Bengtsson predicts 6.3s. 19th August: Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson goes into this week's Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena feeling confident after qualifuing passes of 6.54, 6.53 and 6.52 on the Beast at the Drag Challenge at Gardermoen in Norway. "A very good race track produced top performances from the first day", says Per. "We weere a little disappointed not to go quicker than 6.52 but at the same time we were satisfied with the consistency since our ambition was to win the race! Unfortunately Sunday's eliminations was cancelled due to heavy rain. "When we got back to our workshop and prepared for the event at Tierp Arena we discovered an ignition problem through which only one spark plug per cylinder had been working properly during the race in Norway! This did not cause any damage but the real power was not present. This means that the team is now looking forward to the Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena with the confidence to go for some really fast numbers. "We expect this to be the best race of the season at Tierp Arena and we know that the track is always a hundred per cent. With fifteen entries in Supertwin, lot's of potential six-second bikes and hopefully a big crowd in the grandstands we think that this will be a race weekend to remember. We'll do everything we can to keep our competitors behind us, and if the weather co-operates then we expect runs down in to the 6.3s." The Beast Drag Bike Team looks forward to welcoming race fans to our pit area for a chat. You'll also be able to purchase one or two of our US Tour edition Beast T-shirts. A big Thank You to all of our partners who make it possible to race at this level: Red Line Oil, Ulvsgården Ab, Autoexperten Växjö, Liqui Moly, Persåkers Speed Shop, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Rävemåla Bilservice, Bilservice i Åseda, Larssons Bilverkstad Lenhovda, Kalvsviks Bilverkstad, Gates / Lönne, MMR, Swedcut, Flexoart and Bentec Engineering. For more information please visit the Beast web site at www.bentec.net. Swift snippets. 19th August: Ed O'Connell memorial decals will be available from the Eurodragster.com staff this weekend at both the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and at the Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena. A dread fear of campanologists. 19th August: UK Super Comp and Super Gas racer Jon Giles, who even describes himself as accident-prone, had an eventful NitrOlympX. Jon, who still wakes up screaming, got in touch to let us know all about it: Firstly I would like to thank Stuart and Collin Morrice and Finney for being the best crew you could have, especially as they all know how accident prone I am and yet they still keep coming back for more! A big thank you also to Tony Morris of BLP for all his help and advice, a true gent. It got off to an OK start with a 9.94 in the first Super Gas qualifier and we were pleased with that. Then all hell broke loose! Firstly I slipped a disc in my back which meant that Stuart and Collin had to lift me in and out of the car. As you know it was very hot I was stuck in there for over an hour in the pairing lanes, not nice. Things got worse from there on in. I went for a communal shower - remember I could hardly move at this stage - where I slipped over only to knock myself out and cut my head open. After about a second after regaining consciousness I was totally blind. The panic was unreal but I thought "At least we race in a straight line so it wasn't too bad!". My eyesight came back within seconds and I found myself confronted by three naked German guys. They were trying to help me, but as you could imagine the view was not the most comforting especially given how much my backside hurt... from what I can only guess and pray was from the fall! I thought I had joined a German bell-ringing class! I made my way back to the pits to explain my episode only to find I got very little sympathy from my own team, Camaro Drag Racing, Billy Gane Racing Team, in fact most of them couldn't even ask how I was due to the excessive laughter which failed to stop for the rest of the event. Anyway on with the racing. We managed to qualify fourth, got past our first round of eliminations and then onto the semis. My semi-final didn't go as planned as I lost the fuel belt at the eighth. Had it stayed on an extra half-second we would have had enough to see us through, but that's life and a true reflection of the weekend. Great fun, a great weekend with the boys, the Camaro Drag Racing Team, Billy Gane racing team and all the other racers. Looking forward to going one better next year - on the track, not in the showers! You can't beat real steel. 19th August: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Mark Todd also had a torrid weekend at Hockenheim although he at least damage his front end on the track after his seven-second GTO turned round and bit him in a burnout during the Night Show: I would like to pass on a massive thanks to my crew, track staff, friends and fellow competitors in the aftermath of my accident.  From retrieving the car to the donation of winnings I am truly humbled. When something like this happens you do question why you do it and risk so much; for me this question was quickly answered by the warmth and generosity of the drag racing community.     Something like this never comes at a good time but with the extra travel expenses associated with Hockenheim it couldn't have been worse.  To my surprise the drag racing community showed this warmth and generosity with the creation of a Facebook crash fund campaign. I have personally thanked every individual who has donated and am pleased to say that the funds generated so far will cover at least twenty five per cent of the repair cost which is a fantastic help and really does help take the sting out of it.    The NitrOlympX was a fantastic spectacle and an event to which we plan to return. For now it's a case of sourcing parts over the coming months including the loan of a front end from which we can make a mould and be back out for Easter. Finally, you can't beat steel bumpers: despite the extensive front damage and rear bumper damage the chassis and main body were saved with the only mechanical damage being the radiator. Open Sport Perfect Awards. 19th August: This weekend's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway is the latest event in the 2014 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the Mopar EuroNats. 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 £100 for the FIA / FIM European Championships Final Round at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA / FIM European Championships Final Round. 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. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Bug Jam and For Ladies That Launch. Festival of Power. 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, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the Wild Bunch, Supertwin ET and Junior Drag Bike but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA / FIM European Championships Final Round at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA / FIM European Championships Final Round.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. Web site updates. 19th August: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with an extensive gallery from Dragstalgia. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Event entry update. 18th August: Racers are reminded that Friday of next week, 29th August, is the closing date for entry to the UK National Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 21st-22nd September and which is the final UK National Championship round for car classes as well as the penultimate round of the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships and a round of other series. You can download the entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 1 of the official UK National Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. Thanks also to Ian Marshall for sending us the final version of the official entry list for the FIA / FIM European Championships Final Round, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-7th September. You can check out the European Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Feldthusen: The next generation. 17th August: When Sweden's Kenneth Feldthusen recently announced that his legendary six-second altered was for sale we asked him about his future plans. Kenneth explained that his son Kim is now the team's driver in a different car: My son Kim has been at races with me for his whole life. Last year he turned seventeen and he got the opportunity to make licence runs at our last race of the year at Kjula Dragway. He made five passes in the altered and the final run was 7.14 seconds. That's not bad in that car for a kid with no driving licence and no experience of the altered other than sitting in it during warm-ups! Kim doesn't want to be compared with me, so we started to look for a Top Methanol Dragster for him. After searching for a while we found Esko Raisvuo's dragster in Finland which had been running for a few years. We transported it to our workshop and started work on the body and changed a few things to our liking. We also converted the dragster to a two-piece chasses so we can now flip the front over like it was a Swiss army knife. It looks a bit funny when it is packed away. We are competing in the Nordic Pro Comp Series and Kim is in first place with a twelve-point lead before our last race of the season. It's a good job by Kim to lead in his first full year as a driver but as you know he has the best team this country has to offer: Kenneth Feldthusen, thirty four years as a driver; Ingemar 'Gomez' Johansson, fifteen years as a driver and twenty five years as a mechanic; Ingo Bengtsson, twenty years as a mechanic; Marcus Runesson, five years as a mechanic in the team; and Kim himself who helped with the old car since he could walk. Calling Street Racers. 17th August: The UK National Hot Rod Reunion at York Raceway, the home of drag racing in the North of England, hosts the annual race to find the UK's quickest truly street-driven car. As is traditional, the event features a £1000 prize for the UK Street Racer Champion. Cars entered in the Street Racer Championship must have a valid V5, current MoT test certificate and race in full street trim. Tyres must be street-legal and remain within legal tread depth limits throughout the event. Qualifying and eliminations will take place throughout Sunday 24th August with the final being the last race of the day. The small but important changes which were made to the Street Racer Championship rules and guidelines in 2013 not only returned the event to its roots but, alongside improved media coverage and promotion, have assured the importance of the title Street Racer Champion within the drag racing community for the future. This has also created a knock-on effect of greater sponsorship interest and York Raceway are pleased to welcome Blue Bar Catering, who have long provided catering services to racers, crews and spectators at the track, as a sponsor of the Street Racer Championship. They join returning partners LA Racing Parts, Power Race Graphics, the Pennine Drag Racong Club, and previous title sponsor Performance Unlimited. 2013 Street Racer Champion Andy Forrest joined a long and illustrious list which includes some of the UK's best loved drag racers such as Andy Carter, Bill Sherratt, Brian Huxley and John Sleath who, in street racer tradition, after the Championship final have all returned back down the drag strip for the prize-giving and trophy presentation on the startline. Andy Forrest's Subaru was not only the first six-cylinder car to win the title in thirty six years, but also the first Four Wheel Drive car. Hopefully Andy will return to defend his title as it's a sure thing that there is some V8 muscle looking to take the Championship back. Competitors needing further information about Street Racer Championship rules, or how to enter, should contact Chris Murty at York Raceway at [email protected] or call 01422 843651. Further event sponsorship opportunities are available. For better or worse... 17th August: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher says that he had a great weekend at Hockenheim and that even though the track was bad it was the same for everyone: Hockenheim is always a challenge for us because it is our home race, only two hours away from my home and almost fifty per cent of the spectators are from Switzerland. As you know we offer special hospitality to our Club 111 members, sponsors and friends. Everyone in the team beings their family with them to show them what we do. We had 130 invited guests and another 100 showed up during the weekend. We have a lot of media with us - RTL 2, Grip TV, Switzerland TV and four newspaper journalists were there the whole weekend and it's not always easy to handle all of that at one race. We had more than fifty team members with us, fifteen on each car and another twenty to handle the hospitality. Without clutch stops on our old-time clutches was it not so easy to find a set-up and we also had problems with the cannon on my car. We ended up with Noah fourth qualifier and myself fifth. That bad thing was that we had to race each other in the first round. The good thing was that we knew that one of the cars would go to the semi-finals. For the first round on Sunday we put the same set-up in both cars. I decided that there should be no team orders so that both of us had to give it everything. Noah had lane choice and of course he weighs thirty kilogrammes less than me because I am older, or heavier. We left the line together with almost identical reaction times. I was in front to mid-track and then my car started to lose traction and Noah got past me right before the finish line. This was was a new thing for me and the whole team. It was bad for me because I want to win the Championship and I needed the points. Noah didn't need the points because he has now stopped racing in the Championship this year. But it is how it is. Now we decided to beat the next car. The Thomas Nataas, Per Andersen and Karsten Andersen dragster is the fastest car at the moment. But we needed to win so we we really tuned the car as best we could. I told Noah that he needed a good light. Noah did everything right and beat Thomas. I was proud in a new way because it is not easy to beat that car and to add my know-how as driver helped a little. The final was against Micke Kågered and maybe we went a little too easy on that one. We put in the same set-up and decided to go in the right lane. In front of us two Funny Cars went up in smoke in the right lane so changed lanes. Noah again left a lot earlier than Micke but after mid-track he spun the tires. He pedalled like I taught him but after he stepped on the pedal again the blower belt came off and Micke won the race. We were happy since this was our first final since 2011. A great job from both crews nor forgetting the extra crew who handled the 250 guests in our pit. The points are not too bad at the moment, everything is still open. We are going for two wins at the next two races and take the Championship at the last race as we did in 2011. After Hockenheim Robin and I discussed which car to take to Sweden as Noah's car is now also available. Noahs car is a newer state-of-the-art Hadman car, designed for 1000 feet with the latest chassis technology as used by the NHRA race teams. My car is stiffer, heavier and older and almost no-one in the USA races one of these high-body McKinney cars any more. But the decision was a quick and easy one because this McKinney car has won three FIA Championships, a lot of races, one IHRA race in USA with Scott Weis as driver and rounds in the USA including semi-finals at Pomona. I decided to race my old McKinney car since it's like we are married. Stutz' sensational second. 17th August: Nachdem der 19-jährige Noah Stutz in den vergangenen zwei EM-Rennen in England und Finnland oft mit technischen Problemen gekämpft hatte, gelang ihm in Hockenheim bei den NitrOlympX eine Meisterleistung. Bei sonnigen 30 Grad und vor 70'000 Zuschauer lies der jüngste Top-Fuel Dragster Fahrer der Welt, Noah Stutz vom Team Erbacher, an diesem Wochenende sein enormes Potenzial aufblitzen. Die Dragster-Strecke in Hockenheim wies nicht den gewünschten Grip auf, was die Einstellung der 8000 PS starken Top Fuel Dragster für alle sehr schwierig gestaltete. Bereits in den Vorläufen zeigte der Hersberger (BL), dass er mit der Strecke ziemlich gut zu recht kam. Der Schweizer qualifizierte sich mit der viertschnellsten Zeit und hatte somit seinen Teamchef, Teamkollegen und Mentor, denn sechsfachen Europameister, Urs Erbacher erstmals in der Qualifikation geschlagen. Gleich im ersten Lauf der „Eliminations" trafen die beiden Schweizer direkt aufeinander. Es war eine enge Angelegenheit, am Ende hatte jedoch Noah Stutz die Nase knapp vorne und warf somit Urs Erbacher aus dem Rennen. Im Halbfinal traf Noah Stutz auf den aktuellen Europameister Thomas Nataas aus Norwegen. Der Schweizer lies sich von dem grossen Namen nicht beeindrucken und schlug auch den Mann aus dem Norden. Somit stand Noah Stutz in seiner noch jungen Karriere erstmals im Finale eines FIA Top-Fuel Europameisterschaftslaufes. Im Finale konnte sich dann Noah Stutz mit einer sehr guten Reaktionszeit und einem guten Start bis zirka zur Hälfte der 1000-Meilenmarke (ca. 300m) von seinem schwedischen Finalgegner Mikael Kägered leicht absetzen. Leider brach dann ein Antriebsriemen und Noah Stutz verlor dabei den sicheren Sieg. Noah Stutz: „Dieses Wochenende ist genau so verlaufen wie wir uns das bei meinem letzten Event in Europa vorgestellt haben. Einen Platz besser qualifiziert als mein Teamkollege und Teamchef Urs Erbacher und zum ersten Mal in einem Finale, das ist schon perfekt gewesen. Dass ich schlussendlich noch den zweiten Platz herausgefahren habe und dies noch bei meinem Heimrennen ist  wunderbar. Am Anfang hatten wir ein bisschen Schwierigkeiten mit dem Setup aber zusammen mit meinem Crewchief Robin Grice sowie dem gesamten Team haben wir alles perfekt hin bekommen. Als Urs Erbacher gegen mich ausgeschieden war hat auch seine Crew bei meinem Auto handangelegt und geholfen wo es nur ging. Ich bin einfach nur glücklich, dass ich meine europäische Dragster Karriere mit so einem guten Resultat beenden konnte." Der 19-jährige Schweizer Noah Stutz wird im September in die USA gehen um dort seine Top Fuel Lizenz für Amerika zu machen. Das Ziel wird sein noch in diesem Herbst ein oder zwei Rennen zusammen mit den ganz grossen Namen des Dragster-Sports zu fahren. Many thanks to Thorsten Appel aka Scorpion for providing us with an English translation of the above: After nineteen-year-old Noah Stutz battled technical problems in the two prior rounds of FIA drag racing in England and Finland, he pulled one out of the bag in front of 70,000 spectators at the Hockenheim NitrOlympX. The world's youngest Top Fuel Driver, running with Team Erbacher, showed his enormous potentional for the first time. The track was not up to the task and the surface was tricky, which made it very difficult for the Crew Chiefs to set up the 8000 hp dragsters. The boy from Hersberg showed that he was more than capable of handling the track conditions. He qualified in fourth place and for the first time he actually beat his team boss, fellow team member, mentor, and six-time European Champion Urs Erbacher in qualifiying. This made the first round pairing a team race for Team Erbacher. It was a close one but Noah won by a nose and put Urs out of competion. In the semis he was lined up against reigning European Champion Thomas Nataas of Norway. The young Swiss lad played it cool and was not scared by the big name, and won against Thomas. For the first time in his young carrer he made it into an FIA Top Fuel final. In the final round againt Micke Kågered Noah was slightly ahead for half of the track due to his laser-sharp reaction time and a good start but unfortunately his car broke its blower belt and the sure victory was given away. Noah said: this event turned out to be just like I had imagined for my last race in Europe. To qualify better than my team mate and team boss Urs Erbacher, and then advance to the final, is just perfect. To finish second in my home race is just awesome. In the beginning we had some difficulties but together with my Crew Chief Robin Grice and my team we did well in the end. When I beat Urs all of his team jumped in to help to prepare the car. I am just happy that I was able to end my European Top Fuel career with such a good result. Noah will be in the USA in September to gain his Top Fuel licence there. His goal is to run one or two events this autumn amongst all the sport's big names. Euro Top Gas Round 5 review. 17th August: The fifth round of Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas took place over the quarter mile at the NitrOlympX. Herman Jolink writes: We were ferry lucky with the weather. We had a heavy shower overight on Saturday, but it was hot on both Friday and Saturday. The track conditons were not so good. The plan was three qualifiers on Friday and one on Saturday but we had two on Friday and one on Saturday. Qualifying: Fredrik Schack DK on 2750 V-Twin 7.994/270 kmh. The first run was an 8.175, between runs the Schack team checked the gearbox and the clutch to anticipate problems. Charly Abraham F on 2622 V-Twin 8.016/260, the first run the motor cut out at the start, second run 8.442/209. The 8.016 was a Personal Best. Stefan Andre S on 2600-60 Degrandis V-Twin 8.107/259. In the second qualifier Stefan crossed lanes. Jan Malmberg S on 2400 two Blowers V-Twin 8.143/251. A PB in the last run, first run a 9.782 and the second an 8.548. Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266) 8.446/251. The first run was an 8.544 and the second an 8.606 run. Christian Bruhn D on Turbo 1000 Honda SP 8.470/255. A new PB having had a lot of problems but now found the right set-up. Cord Albers D on 2622 V-Twin 8.545/253. Cord's new bike had some camshaft problems so he was riding his old bike. Bernd Foit D on 2870 V-Twin 9.635/182 Peter Niklas D on 1198 Ducati 9.951/220 Serge Pinet F on 2622 Buell XB 03 9.954/163 with gearbox problems. Mats Larsson S on 2589 Turbo V-Twin 11.071/128 now with a two-speed Bentec gearbox but burned his clutch plates. Miia Maria Vespalainen Fin on 1966 V-Twin 12.016/153 also with gearbox problems. Olaf Menzi and Milan Kolacny entered too late and Frank Heitmann had some other problems, Lars Andersen and Anders Jensen where also not there. Sunday's eliminations round 1: Schack 7.974/267 beat Niklas whose engine cut out at the start, Niklas was the first alternate for Foit whose engine broke. Jolink 8.491/247 beat Malmberg 8.391/252, very close race Jolink won by 0.052 seconds. Abraham 8.238/246 beat Albers 8.483/250 red light. Bruhn 9.001/250 run, Andre's battery broke. Semi finals: Schack 8.001/267 beat Jolink 8.521/248. Abraham 8.144/254 beat Bruhn 8.618/248. Final: Frederik Schack DK 9.04/250 beat Charly Abraham F leaking petrol after the burnout and shut off. Schack had problems shifting. Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship after five rounds: Fredrik Schack DK 2240 points Herman Jolink NL 1395 Christian Bruhn D 1220 Peter Niklas D 1110 Frank Heitmann D 570 Lars Andersen DK 540 Cord Albers D 470 Olaf Menzi CH 460 Anders Jensen DK 450 Mats Larsson S 400 Milan Kolacny CZ 360 Miia Maria Vespalainen Fin 250 The remaining Series dates are the Mosten Race Days (Denmark) eighth-mile sprint on 29th-20th August, and the Drag Days at Hoskovice (Czech Republic) on 13th-14th September. Swift snippets. 17th August: Eire's own Top Fuel Dragster driver Gabrielle McDonald has been nominated for Top Sports Star in the Stellar Shine Awards. Due to a cock-up by the organisers Gabby's name is not, at time of writing, in the list of biographies but if you wish to place a vote for Gabby then scroll down to the vote itself where you will find her name included. Congratulations to Stefani Robinson and Ben Fisher who as of the NitrOlympX are engaged to be married. Ben forgot himself and proposed on the circuit start line rather than the drag strip start line but given Hockenheim's... shall we say "enthusiastic" security personnel he would probably have been dragged away by the collar whilst still on one knee. Please note that, as a consequence of this week's trip to Tierp Arena, postings of classified advertisements to our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet will be suspended between Wednesday of this week (21st) and Tuesday of next week (27th). Bikes sought for Weston display. 17th August: Jerry Cookson writes that Shakespeare County Raceway recently enjoyed another successful promotions night at Coventry Speedway: The weather gods tried their best to disrupt the evening's Brisca Formula One stock car racing programme and the oval track UK Sprint Cars from racing. Supercharged Outlaw racer Neil Townson made it down from his Ellesmere Port base to add a bit of quarter mile splendour to the track's Speed Square. Shakespeare County Raceway would like to thank Neil and his crew for bringing the Northern Spirit for display and Stock Car promoter Jeremy Heaver and Sophie Clark for allowing us some display space. Shakespeare County Raceway will be back at the Stadium for the 6th September Brisca date with some more cars to catch the oval fans' imagination. We will be on the road again to Davan Caravans at Weston Super Mare on 7th September for a charity ride out and presentation of a new Club Caravan for future Weston Bike Nights along the seafront, which are run entirely by volunteers with every penny raised going directly to the Royal British Legion. This is arranged by Simon Cardwell of Raceway supporter Claron Graphics. The organisers would like to display some drag bikes and maybe a dragster at this event which will attract bikers from all over the West Country. If you are interested in displaying a drag bike or street bike at this event, or at Coventry Stock Cars the night before, then please get in touch with me on 01789 720180 or E-Mail [email protected]. Bruce surfaces on-line. 17th August: Santa Pod Raceway Track Announcer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Colin Theobald is extremely proud to announce that the new web site for Bruce, his 1969 Camaro, is now up and running at www.69camaro.co.uk: Massive thanks to Pete Walters of Peter Walters Race Design for the design and arranging basically everything. Pete has done a cracking job with the whole concept of what I wanted to achieve from the logo to the T-Shirt, and now the web site. I think everyone knows by now that I have the car, and to be honest it was supposed to be a weekend toy, but like most of these cars, you just get carried away and it slowly takes over your life. The car has only been back on the road since April having had a stunning six-month restoration and transformation by Nic and Dan Williams at Williams Bros Racing and OCS Paint - I still cannot thank these guys enough for the incredible workmanship and more importantly continual advice and service - and already we have appeared at the AACI show in April and winning a trophy, staged demo runs at the Silverstone Classic in front of thousands, done my first ever burnout (now enjoy doing them so much that I need new rear tyres) and, to top it all, we have been invited to attend the Radio 2 and all-round top entertainer Chris Evans' show Carfest South next weekend. We are in the Muscle Car 7 and will be running on the hill in front of over 50,000 people twice a day, so if you are there please come and say hi. I would also like to thank the partners who are supporting Bruce and his adventures: VP Racing Fuels: We are carrying out fuel testing this year at various Run What You Brung events at Santa Pod. My Personal Best before our first pass with the new fuel was a 13.24/105. Lee Child of LA Racing Parts, VP Racing Fuels' UK distributor recommended that the first fuel we use would be MS100 and wow, what a difference. Engine response was so much better and no drop-off in power throughout the run resulting in a new PB of 12.65/109. Look out for more updates as we continue with our fuel evaluation with VP Racing Fuels. Lucas Oil Products are supplying all of the lubricants used throughout the car. The oil of choice here is their Hot Rod and Classic car Motor Oil which is ideal for the 454 Big Block which powers the car. We also use Lucas' transmission fluid, coolant additives and even their toolbox buddy, extremely useful. AutoGlym are supplying all of the cleaning and polishing products used throughout the car. We have learned some stunning techniques from the AutoGlym professionals and the car looks stunning all of the time now. Bruce has a vinyl roof and this is taken care of with their Vinyl and Rubber Sealant which is incredible. We use the three-step routine to clean the car: firstly the Bodywork Shampoo, then it's the Super Resin Polish to make the car shine like new and is a superb product, then onto the Extra Gloss Protection which really makes the paintwork look like glass. I really am so impressed with their products and thank you to Santa Pod Raceway for organising this one for me. Which leads me on to... Santa Pod Raceway, our spiritual home as well as the home of European Drag Racing. I am so fortunate to be one of the commentary team here and to have their support as we visit shows and promotions is fantastic. We always carry leaflets for the events they hold, so if you ever need any information about the facility and the racing and lifestyle events please come and see us at any show we attend. OCS Paint and Williams Bros Racing have been there 24/7 for me. Without their support I would never have bought the car in the first place. I really couldn't do any of this without them, so am forever in their debt. Nic and Ash at OCS are becoming legendary in the world of drag racing, Hot Rods, Customs and American cars, their work is mind-blowingly good and I will always recommend them. Add Dan and Keith Williams to the mix with the workshop side of the operation as Williams Bros Racing and you have a one-stop facility for everything you need to paintwork, total restoration, race car fabrication, engine tuning, in fact anything. Eurodragster.com have taken care of our press releases and are always at the forefront of drag racing news. Kirstie, Tog, Simon, Julian and the sorely-missed Ed are a great team and we are happy to support and promote the tireless efforts the team goes through to ensure that all of us race fans get all of the news that we all crave for (Thanks! - Ed). We also have a dedicated Facebook page for Bruce. Also look out for the new hero cards soon, once again designed by the maestro Pete Walters of PWRD. Finally many thanks to all of the photographers at Santa Pod for the stunning images of the car, most of which are on the Facebook page. I now realise that taking a snapshot with the iPad just doesn't cut it when you guys and girls show us all how it should be done. I have a new respect for you all and will always mention you at the track, keep up the great work. PMR dragster I on its way. 17th August: As recently reported here on Eurodragster.com, the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School was seriously looking at expanding their stable of cars to include dragsters again. Paul writes that the plan is to have two dragsters, but that before you can own two you need to have one: Paul Marston Racing have purchased a four-link dragster which is well-known to me personally since I have crewed on it in the USA. and have stood in the winners' circle with then-owner Vic Ferra at Gainesville when Vic won Super Comp. Back in 2010 Vic also won the NHRA Division 2 Super Comp Championship; back then it was known as the Ocean Potion Dragster due to the sponsor's body wrap. To say that I am pleased to have closed the deal to own this car is an understatement, I have a lot of history with it and Vic Ferra is a close friend, in fact the 509 ci motor which currently resides in my Whoopass Chevy Monza was built by Vic at Brevard Cylinder Head, Port Canaveral, Florida. It's a Miller Race Cars four-link dragster. Miller are based in Florida and build some very very nice Championship-calibre race cars. Vic's Dragster is a proven winner. I already know what it is capable of and what it likes, it is deadly consistent, so I expect that after a short period of adjustment to English tracks it will be back to its winning ways. The dragster will arrive later this year and after testing we expect its début to take place in Easter 2015. This dragster will be available for training and the seat will be available for the 2015 season. If you are interested in a training course or in competing in this car in 2015 through our race car rental programme then please contact us at [email protected]. The deal will be the same as ever with us, you get all our experience and knowledge, you can be as involved as you wish or just drive. Either way you will have one of the most competitive cars out there, run by one of the best crews. We will give you the tools to get the job done, the rest is down to you. Many thanks to our Florida branch of Paul Marston Racing, Tony Morris, who was instrumental in closing this deal. Commiserations to Top Sportsman racer Mark Todd who damaged his beautiful Pontiac at Hockenheim. Has anyone seen our chassis? 17th August: Martin Gleadow has been in touch to ask if any Eurodragster.com reader knows the location of one of the team's old chassis: In the 1980s and early 1990s this chassis was a reliable workhorse of Competition Altered and Pro ET. We first ran it as a Rover V8-powered T Bucket before giving it a bigger engine and cloaking it in the ex-Mike Burt War Horse Mustang Funny Car which is now in the hands of Wendy Baker, and finally a Mondeo Funny Car body. We believe the chassis is ex-Page Brothers. It came to us via John Spuffard. We would love to know where it is now. If you know then please get in touch either via our Facebook page, via our web site at www.motorpsycho.co.uk/contact-2, or call Bob on 07765 007702 We are also still looking for a nostalgic front wing as per our ad in the Jeff Bull Swap Meet, and we would be interested to hear from anyone with a set of Big Block Chevy zoomie headers. Web site updates. 17th August: Our late friend and colleague Ed O'Connell's good friend Ralph Fatello has posted a YouTube video of the Surfers' Memorial Paddle for Ed which took place in Rye, New Hamphire on 13th July. You can take a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM6ejrmbSTQ. Our good buddy, photo-journalist Remco Scheelings has had two NitrOlympX reports posted on the Autosport.nl web site. As ever there is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and an off-track report which you can check out by clicking here. Thanks to DJ of Santa Pod Raceway for letting us know that the Web TV Show of Round 4 of the 2014 MSA Pro Mod British Drag Racing Championship, which took place at the Mopar EuroNats, is now on-line at www.youtu.be/GR2nPTWIoNg and a race report at www.msadragracing.co.uk/reports_round4_14.php. The Web TV Show of Round 4 of the FWD Drag Series sponsored by Competition Clutch, which took place at Ultimate Street Car, is now on-line at www.youtu.be/Wz8sfA0UtRM. Full results and pictures can be found at www.fwddragseries.co.uk/report_2014r4.php. The official web site of the UK's Chaos Fuel Altered team has been updated with Summernationals and Dragstalgia reports as well as a Dragstalgia gallery by webmaster Alan Currans. You can check it all out via the Latest News link at www.chaos-fuel-altered.com. Dick Parnham has updated his Flickr gallery with shots from the 2010 FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Dick's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/dickparnhamdragracing. Junior Fun Day racer update. 16th August: Many thanks to Donna Finnegan of Santa Pod Raceway for forwarding us details of the arrangements for next Wednesday's (20th) Alamo Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway: Race entry is now closed. All Junior entrants can access Santa Pod between 12:00 midday and 17:30 on Tuesday, then from 08:00 on Wednesday. We ask that all entrants register at the Santa Pod office and collect their race tickets on arrival. There are four tickets per race entry; if you require more tickets then they can be booked directly at www.santapod.com. The strip opens at 10:00 on Wednesday. The official entry list 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. It will be a busy few days for Eurodragster.com as we will be reporting from the Alamo Junior Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway, the Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena, and the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Swift snippets. 16th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 6 of the official entry list for the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-7th September. You can check out the Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Open Sport Nationals entry. 15th August: Many thanks to Jerry Cookson for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the Open Sport Nationals which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway next weekend, 23rd-25th August. 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. Those racers who sent SAEs with their entry forms should receive their tickets and paperwork today (Friday) or tomorrow. If you did not supply an SAE or if you enter the event from tomorrow onwards then your tickets and paperwork will be held on the gate. Leanders' Indy colours. 15th August: Stefan Boman writes that Sweden's Leanders Brothers will be contesting Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA US Nationals at Indianapolis in 27th August-1st September with backing from Haas Automation Inc. Haas Automation is the largest machine tool boulder in the western world founded by Gene Haas 1983. In their Oxnard, California facility they manufacture a complete line of CNC vertical machining centres, horizontal machining centres, CNC lathes and rotary products. The company also builds a variety of specialised machines including five-axis machining centres, mould making machining centres, toolroom machines, and gantry routers. Four-time FIA Top Methanol Funny Car Champion AFC European Champion Ulf Leanders has a long relationship with Haas as the Leanders Brothers use Haas machines to manufacture their own brand of racing clutches. "We are very proud to announce this deal and to represent the company with whom we have been working closely since we started manufacturing our clutches in 2007", says Ulf Leanders. After Indy the Leanders team will participate in both the Divisional and National NHRA events in Las Vegas and at the NHRA Finals in Pomona. Racers of the Week! 15th August: UK Pro ET team Heaven & Hell Racing are very proud to announce that they have been chosen to feature as Racer of the Week by John Bockelman, co-host of Racin' and Rockin' with DragList.com in the programme to be broadcast on Monday 25th August. Carla Pittau writes: This is part of a drag racing internet radio show which John broadcasts every Monday on RacersReunion Radio at 8:00 pm Eastern US time. In particular we are very happy to be part of a series which has featured Rick's hero, Stock / Super Stock racer Dan Fletcher, and to join the ranks of the UK racers honoured so far, which include the Allard Dragster, Kevin Slyfield and Paul Marston Racing. John has explained that he has made it his mission to put Sportsman racers like us in the spotlight for a week,  giving exposure and publicity which could hopefully help with sponsorship prospects and if not, at the very least grant a little bit of international fame! John is a pro musician in the Houston area and has been with DragList for eleven years. He is also an accomplished graphic artist and he has put together the image which will represent the team during the webcast. It includes the three Heaven & Hell cars and all worthy members of the team, who can all say to be drivers too. So please tune in to the programme, not just for us but also to learn a little about fellow Sportsman racers across the globe! You can listen at www.racersreunionradio.com at 8:00 pm Eastern US on Monday 25th August, which is 01:00 UK and 02:00 European on Tuesday 26th. Swift snippets. 15th August: Fans of Funny Cars old school and new will get an extra treat at the already-excellent VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway on 29th-31st August as Tim Garlick, Perry Antoniou and team will be testing the Apache Nostalgia Funny Car and Jason Phelps and team will be testing the TeamRock.com, Marshall Amplification and John Woolfe Racing Funny Car. Jason plans two runs on the Saturday including one at dusk, and the Apache team plan two runs on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Many thanks to Paul Marston for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman, which also takes place at VW Action. You can check out the UK Top Sportsman entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes next Thursday, 21st August; for more details about UK Top Sportsman check out our news item of 31st July. Editor's note: Due to being tired and shagged out after a long weekend, followed immediately by the usual daily calls upon our time, we have developed a backlog of news which we will clear on tomorrow's update. Please keep the news coming to [email protected]. Johnsons, Penske visit Ernryd. 14th August: Further to Simon's Saturday pit note from the NitrOlympX, Stefan Ernryd has confirmed that the Team Ernrydcars / RT Pro Stock team will welcome 2012 MelloYello NHRA Pro Stock Champion Allen Johnson and his wife Pam as guests at next week's Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena. However Stefan adds that Allen and Pam won't be the only honoured guests in their pit. "Allen is currently second in the 2014 MelloYello NHRA Championship and is getting ready for the Countdown", says Stefan. "It's a great honour to have AJ and Pam here. We are running with engines from AJ's dad Roy so we will share tuning experiences. We hope to put Mopar in the winners' circle! "In addition we have invited Adam Lambert, Drag Racing Market Manager at Penske Racing Shocks. Adam will be available to all teams for sales and support. We hope that Adam's visit will be succesful and aid Penske's wish to expand in Europe." Event entry update. 14th August: Entry is still open for the Open Sport Nationals, a full UK National and ACU UK Drag Bike Championship round, as well as rounds for a number of other series, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 23rd-25th August. Shakespeare County Raceway ask that anyone intending on entering the race should do so as soon as possible to help to speed up the admin process. If you enclose an SAE with your entry form then your tickets will be mailed to you, otherwise they will be available on the gate which opens at noon on Friday 22nd. You can download entry forms from the Shakespeare County Raceway web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Thursday of next week, 21st August, is the deadline for entry to Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman which takes place at VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway on 30th-31st August. Entry forms are available from E-Mail [email protected] or call 07831 650230. Completed entry forms can be brought to next week's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway although racers must inform UK Top Sportsman organisers of their intention to attend by the entry deadline. For details of the rules check out www.topsportsman.co.uk, and for the latest news Like the UK Top Sportsman Facebook page. 13:10 Entry is also still open, albeit at a Late Entry penalty, for the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-7th September. You can download entry forms for all classes from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 of the official entry list for the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals 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. Anita's nightmare. 14th August: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä wanted to quit after a nightmare weekend at the NitrOlympX, but needless to say she has already bounced back and is looking forward to next week's Turtle Wax Internationals at Tierp Arena: We couldn't make the car run at all. Every time I hit the throttle it would only smoke the tyres apart from one run of 4.6 seconds which got me number two spot. Some comfort: small, though. In the first round of eliminations on Sunday we met Micke Kågered. Everything went well until I was in pre-stage. After pulling the fuel fully on, I lifted the clutch pedal but nothing happened. Not a single thing. The car didn't make any move to stage. At that moment  I wished I had a Flintstones-style car and that I could use my feet to move that few centimetres. But my moment was gone and I was bulbed as I didn't stage in time. Simply a horrible moment. It was explained later that opening the fuel dropped a few rpms and the clutch didn't activate. People ask me if I'm afraid to drive a Top Fueller. I can tell you that I'm afraid not to make the run. What can possibly go wrong in four seconds... my book on that has a new line. Next week we'll be at Tierp and I am really looking forward to getting to a good track. Last year I wished that I had a bigger fuel pump: don't tell the guys, but I got it and it will be on the car. Swift snippets. 14th August: Many thanks to Peder Eneroth for sending us the post-NitrOlympX points standings in the FIM European Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the FIM Europe 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. Santa Pod Raceway are seeking race cars to make demo passes at next Wednesday's Alamo Junior Fun Day. To volunteer please get in touch with Darren Prentice at [email protected]. Nigel Taylor tells us that the Detroit Spinner's second driver Paul Dale has got the bug bad after two events with the Historic Prefect. "Paul has purchased the ex-Tim Adam Super Gas Anglia", says Nigel. "He's on the search for a set of 4:11 gears for a nine inch and a high-speed stall converter. If anyone can help Paul to get the car back on the track then please give him a call on 07717 583537." This happens on all internet classified ad services but we have a guy sending scam E-Mails to users of our Swap Meet. Name of Robert Carr (although that's likely not his real name - Ed), E-Mail address [email protected]. If you should receive an E-Mail from this guy then either just delete it or write back and tell him what we think of fraudsters. Feel free to be frank and honest. Flying the flag and flying. 14th August: Ian Hart writes that drag racing will be well-represented at Sunday's Sywell Great War Air show in aid of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, whose patch covers both Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Raceways: This bi-annual event has been consistently rated as the best non military air show in Europe.  In addition to the Red Arrows, the Blades aerobatic team and many other flying displays, the show will this year include a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight including two Lancaster bombers. This will be one of the first displays by the visiting Canadian Lancaster which is here in the UK for one month - the last time two Lancasters flew together in the UK was in 1964, the same year in which the iconic Red Arrows team was formed. Interest for drag race fans is provided by Gareth Ellis' Top Methanol Funny Car and both Katie Ellis' and Ruaridh Hart's Junior Dragsters. I organise race cars for each show and I invited Graham and his team to display their cars Patrick Morgan's beautiful collection of historic racing cars which were on show at Santa Pod European Finals in 2013. The Air Ambulance received a donation of more than £40,000 after the last show in 2012 and is a cause which Graham Ellis has personal reason to support. So we are delighted to display Ellis Motorsport cars at this year's event. Please note that the show is now completely sold out - there will be no tickets available on the gate. NitrOlympX results. 11th August: Congratulations to the winners of the weekend's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Micke Kågered 4.801/369.42 def. Noah Stutz 5.009/246.10 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Chris Polidano 5.637/427.42 def. Peter Schöfer 5.875/402.48 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Johan Lindberg 6.565/393.51 def. Leif Andréasson 6.822/372.08 FIA Pro Modified: Mattias Wulcan 8.577/178.25 def. David Vegter no time DQ FIA Pro Stock: no eliminations took place European Nitro Funny Car Series: Gordon Smith 7.391/232.09 bye, Jason Phelps did not start FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike: Ian King 6.461/373.62 def. Filippos Papafilippou 7.460/232.46 FIM Europe Supertwin: Samu Kemppainen 9.993/252.77 bye, Roman Sixta no show FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike: Fredrik Fredlund 7.202/299.58 def. Karl-Heinz Weikum 7.285/297.94 FIM European Super Street Bike Cup: Brad O'Connor 7.409/323.64 def. Mogens Lund 21.578/273.49 Comp Eliminator: Rene Meierhofer (9.33) 8.865/239.27 def. Robin Sattler (9.65) 9.753/166.94 DQ red light Super Pro ET: Tereza Kucerikova (8.58) 8.691/234.77 def. Jutta Winter (8.60) 8.841/201.97 Pro ET: Peter Städter (9.60) 9.749/207.33 def. Marcus Wintersteiger (10.61) 11.005/207.50 Super Comp: Rene Kloss 8.992/240.06 def. Gerd Habermann 8.986/240.54 Super Gas: Mike Poser 9.910/215.30 def. Jan Hardekopf 9.866/209.34 DQ breakout Junior Dragster: Fabien Dubois (8.30) 8.403/126.52 def. Marc Schön (9.45) 9.335/114.83 DQ breakout Funny Bike: Stefan Hagenstein 8.130/270.56 def. Thomas Joswig 8.175/208.44 Supertwin Top Gas: Fredrik Shack 9.041/250.67 bye, Charly Abraham shut off The event took place in difficult conditions with a track not at its best despite the hard work of the track crew plus very hot temperatures on the first two days reducing traction further. As mentioned above the Pro Stock racers took a collective decision not to continue after Q1. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored NitrOlympX 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. Editor's note: To give us time to return home and to recover from the weekend the next news update will be posted on Wednesday. Please keep the news coming to [email protected] and we'll publish it then. Urgent: Leatt HANS devices. 9th August: Geoff Martin of the UK's Tech Crew has been in touch to pass on an urgent notification from the SFI Foundation regarding Leatt MRX Head and Neck restraints. In a nutshell if you have a Leatt MRX HANS device then you should stop using it immediately and return it to your dealer for refund, replacement or credit. You can read the full SFI notification (PDF format) by clicking here. Noah Stutz Q&A. 8th August: Many thanks to Thorsten Appel aka Scorpion for providing us with an English translation of the Q&A with Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer Noah Stutz: How is your record after the first two rounds in England and Finland? I am very satisfied after the first two races. We are steadily improving. We solved the engine explosion issues in Finland which is very good because it is already warm enough inside my race suit. You qualified for eliminations in the first two races of the season, what did you learn from those two meetings? I was able to get some racing under my belt but unfortunately I have not been able to win a round yet. But we are steadily progressing. I had to line up against the reigning European Top Fuel Champion who was just able to beat me although we ran the third or fourth best time of the meeting. The team and I are highly motivated for the upcoming events. The next round is the NitrOlympX on the famous Hockenheim track. This would be considered as your home race. Are you happy to meet up with all the fans? I am very anxious to run there. There will be lots of sponsors and fans and friends who will support me this weekend. I am more than happy that my brother is with me for the weekend. Driving-wise I am looking to run the car in the Night Show on Saturday to see how it is to run 500 kmh in the dark. How are you preparing for your home race? I can feel the pressure, and because this is our home event I will try even harder to win it. I will not let myself be distracted from my goal to win Hockenheim. I will take it one day at a time. My last preparation will be some reaction training. I will try to stay calm and concentrate on the racing alone. What should we expect from your team and yourself? That is a difficult question because I try to give my best every time. I think that we will qualify for eliminations and score our first ever first-round victory, which we will celebrate with our fans. We will try and hard and give our very best. If everything falls into place things will come out well. You can read more at www.nitrolympx.de and www.noahstutz.com. North Weald season closing. 8th August: Damian Burke writes that this Sunday's (10th) Test and Tune at North Weald Airfield is the Essex track's last event for 2013: This event is a return to the Test and Tune formula for both cars and bikes with three eliminations: one for the eight quickest cars, one for the eighth quickest bikes, and a Sportsman eliminator open to any car with regular street tyres and naturally aspirated. All three classes are keenly contested, the Fast Eight for cars being particularly entertaining as the all-out competition machines fight for traction on the unprepared surface, a real test of driving ability and great to watch. The Test and Tune costs £25 to enter. There is a limit of two hundred participants and no limit to the amount of runs which you can make. Just bring a valid licence, and a crash helmet if you have one although we do have some helmets to loan for free. Bikers need the usual helmet, gloves and boots to participate. All vehicles are scrutineered after signing on which opens at 8:30. Away from the action there is a bar, food outlets, club displays and a Show'n'Shine as well as trade stalls. Entry to the event is just £10 with under-14s free, gates open at 08:00. North Weald is just off the A414 and is signposted from Junction 7 of the M11. For sat-navs the post code is CM16 6HR. For further information ring Maitland Racing on 0207 485 0473. Come along to North Weald to enjoy some laid-back, friendly and welcoming grass-roots drag racing with a truly eclectic mix of cars and bikes. Noah Stutz Q&A. 5th August: We have received a Q&A with Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer Noah Stutz. Here's the original version; an English version is in train. Wie lautet dein Fazit nach den ersten zwei Rennen in England und Finnland? Nach den ersten beiden Rennen bin ich sehr zufrieden. Unsere Formkurve zeigt stark nach oben. In Finnland konnten wir endlich unsere Motorenexplosionen in den Griff bekommen, was mich als Fahrer besonders freut, da es ja schon genug warm in meinem Anzug ist. Du hast dich bei beiden Rennen für die Finalläufe qualifiziert. Was sind deine wichtigsten Erkenntnisse aus diesen zwei Rennen? Ich konnte meine ersten Erfahrungen in den Finalläufen sammeln. Leider kam ich dann noch keine weitere Runde weiter. Wir sind diesbezüglich jedoch auf dem richtigen Weg. Ich musste gleich gegen den amtierenden Europameister antretenden, der mich nur knapp schlug obwohl ich die dritt- oder viertschnellste Zeit der gesamten ersten Runde gefahren bin. Aber das Team und ich sind sehr motiviert für das nächste Rennen. Nun steht das prestigeträchtigste Rennen der Saison in Hockenheim (Nitrolympx 8.-10. August 2014) vor der Türe. Das ist ja quasi dein Heimrennen. Freust du dich auf deine Fans dort? Ich freue mich riesig auf diesen Event. Viele Sponsoren, Fans und Freunde werden mich an diesem Wochenende unterstützen. Was mich jedoch am meisten freut ist, dass mein Bruder auch mit dabei sein wird. Sportlich gesehen freue ich mich auf die Läufe am Samstagabend. Das wird ein Spektakel und ich bin richtig gespannt wie das sein wird mit 500 km/h durch die Dunkelheit zu rauschen. Wie bereitest du dich auf dein Heimrennen vor? Den Druck spüre ich schon im Nacken und weil es das Heimrennen ist möchte ich natürlich auch umso mehr gewinnen. Ich darf mich dadurch nicht selber verrückt machen lassen und sollte dabei natürlich auch nichts überstürzen. Aber ich nehme Tag für Tag. Mache als letzte Vorbereitung unteranderem noch ein paar Reaktionstrainings. Ich werde sicher bereit sein und versuche mich am Wochenende nur noch auf das Rennen zu konzentrieren. Was kann man von dir und deinem Team in Hockenheim erwarten? Das ist eine schwere Frage, weil wir immer das best Mögliche geben. Ich denke wir werden uns wieder für die Finalläufe qualifizieren und den ersten „Erstrundensieg" mit meinen Fans bejubeln können. Wir werden unser Bestes geben und wenn alles perfekt klappt ist alles möglich. Weitere Info's unter www.nitrolympx.de, www.noahstutz.com. UK Top Sportsman I review. 5th August: Paul Marston writes that Anti Gravity Batteries / wemoveyourcar.com UK Top Sportsman at the Mopar EuroNats tore up the record books: We had our biggest ever entry at thirty one, the first six-second pass at over 200 mph (Paula Atkin 206.34 mph) and the first eight-second bump spot in the heads-up race - Tom Atkinson was on the bump with an 8.904. Anti Gravity Batteries stepped up as joint event sponsor and not only did they enjoy all the benefits of being in the spotlight of such a great class at a fantastic event, but they introduced to drag racing a really innovative product range which has a place in every team's toolbox. Their battery jump pack is the size of a Galaxy Note phone, weighs a pound yet it can start an American V8, unbelievable but true and the retail is under £150. For more detail please check out their web site at www.antigravitybatteries.com. Whilst there look at their batteries which weigh around three pounds and can run your car with a weight saving of thirty pounds per battery! They are in fact the principal sponsor of Matt Wright's mighty Rolls Royce. wemoveyourcar.com, who shared the title sponsorship, offer a bespoke service for any car you have, race car or daily drive. If you need your car moved anywhere in Europe these are the people and at very, very competitive rates. Please support the people and companies who support drag racing and make them your first choice every time. The Anti Gravity Batteries / wemoveyourcar.com UK Top Sportsman at the Mopar Euronationals basked in some of the best weather we have enjoyed for a while. The highlights were numerous, but two that stand out for me amongst many were Richie Webb's Top End save which you just had to be there to believe, what a driving job, and Brian Pateman who, with the Pontiac Firebird which he has been running for over twenty five years now, reset his PB against Dave Townsend with a seven-second pass, just outstanding. I must also mention Chris Mazure who arrived with a brand new motor and flat outran some real serious players. A real tough competitor and a super-nice team, we really appreciated Chris and Bernard Saz travelling so far to race with us in UK Top Sportsman. The Fast Bracket Race could really have been anyone's with such a rich talent pool and some really sharp cars and race teams. Just to testify to that, the winner actually lost in round one and bought back into round two, then went all the way and lift the trophy. The final served as notice that the best on the day earned their places, Simon Gough and his 2013 Camaro had been chopping down the .400 Pro Tree all day with 0.03 lights, a real testament to the driver who normally races exclusively on a Sportsman Tree. Simon's opponent was Collin Morrice in his Super Comp 1969 Camaro; Collin took the win but boy did Simon make him earn it. Just 0.01 at the stripe, no shame in losing one of those, well done to both drivers. Top Sportsman Bracket Racing at its finest. Saturday night featured the one shot qualifier for the Heads Up eliminator. Matt Wright's Anti Gravity Batteries / wemoveyourcar.com Rolls Royce was back in the sevens and looked like a real contender along with Paula and Stan Atkin's Shotgun Hemi Powered IHRA Pro Stock Mustang, Jeff and Belinda Bull's monster cubed 760ci Pro Stock Truck, Steve Neimantas' exquisite Twin Turbo Bentley Continental GT, Dave Townsend's ex-Pro Mod 2006 Mustang, Stu Williams' Karma Supra, from France Chris Mazure in his '39 Buick Century, not to mention the wild, wild ride of Richie Webb in his mighty Turbo VW Beetle. Believe it or not they are all seven second and quicker players... well, Richie would be if he could keep it straight for long enough. With so much quality present, qualifying was bound to be tough. When the dust had settled the bump was 8.90, our first-ever eight-second qualified field. On Sunday some of the closest and most exciting Sportsman eliminations went into the history books. Yes there was some giant killing and some upsets which included our top and second qualifiers, both the girls, on the trailer early. The final was between Stu Williams in Karma Supra – three litres of Japanese turbocharged, nitrous-injected modern technology - against Dave Townsend's 9.8 litres of American twin-stage nitrous-fed heavyweight V8 muscle. Dave took a much-deserved win in a closely-fought final, making up for qualifying top and losing first round last year. A richly-deserved win for a quietly-spoken guy who lets his mighty Mustang do his talking on the track, where and when it matters. To see a blow-by-blow account of the whole weekend stay tuned to Eurodragster.com for as soon as we have a Motors TV programme broadcast date, you will see it here first. Or you can buy your very own DVD copy from QuarterMileHigh.com for Christmas, after the TV show has aired! Our sincere thanks to the Mopar EuroNats organisation for inviting us to race. It's a great event and we are proud to be part of it. Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway for all their help and support and to the track crew for their monumental efforts in some very gruelling conditions; to Eurodragster.com for their great event coverage (Thanks, you're welcome, see you at the next one - Ed) and to Nitro FM for the interviews and the ads; to Dave and Helen from Quartermilehigh / Zeon TV and presenter Dave Gibbons for capturing all the moments for the TV show. Finally, none of this would be possible without the PMR crew of Mad Mick Howling, the Crewchief and Baby Giraffe, Dave Gibbons, Sefton Whitlock, Lisa Farmer, Lighthouse Lee, Mick Pusey and Jordan Brasted, plus the invaluable assistance of SPRC marshals Phil and Avril. They made sure that all the UK Top Sportsman competitors looked good and were ready on time by working their tails off all weekend in the heat. The next thrilling instalment is Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman at VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway on 29th-31st August (racing 30th-31st). The entry list is growing daily and there will be some serious new players in town at this one, along with plenty of the veterans from Anti Gravity Batteries/wemoveyourcar.com UK Top Sportsman. If you want to see how you stand against the nation's finest Sportsman drivers and race teams then E-Mail [email protected] or call 07831 650230 for an entry form. Otherwise come and watch some of the best fight it out at the richest, roughest, toughest, no-holds-barred heads-up Doorslammer event to see who is standing at the end. I guarantee you that whoever it is will have the respect of every single UK Top Sportsman competitor - they all know what it takes to win one of these things. Swift snippets. 5th August: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday with added hugs to Libby Mottershead. Have a lovely day Lady Libby. Swift snippets. 4th August: Congratulations to Marcel van der Maarel of Mijnsheerenland, The Netherlands, who will be Nitrographer for a Day at this weekend's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim after winning our contest with this superb spectator-side picture (below left). Congratulations also to Lisa Bridge of Chelmsford, UK, who won the give-away of a pair of NitrOlympX tickets including access to the Quartermile Club. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and thanks to The Hockenheimring Gmbh for posting the prizes. Jason Phelps' Team Rock Fuel Funny Car team attended the weekend's Bike and Music Festival at Geiselwind, Germany prior to running at this week's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim. Roy Phelps, who has joined the team and is crewing on his son's car for the first time, reports that the car ran well making demonstration burnouts. The team thanks sponsors TeamRock.com, Marshall Amplification and John Woolfe Racing for their support. Sweden's Thomas Lindström of the Ernryd Cars-backed Mopar Pro Stock operation has had his hands full this weekend with a new training programme. "We need to step it up after what happened in Alastaro", says Thomas. "We will do what it takes to be on top, and if it means you need to split then we will do it. Nothing is impossible for Team R/T. See you all in Hockenheim." Mick Gleadow would be pleased to hear from anyone who will rent him a caravan for the UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. "I'll pay, of course", says Mick. I'm at that age when I need home comforts at the track. Next year I'll have a camper but just need a base for this meeting". If you can help then give Mick a call on 07960 955579. Web site updates. 4th August: In the latest instalment of his Nostalgia Funny Car Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Rob Loaring reports upon the latest developments in the tune-up of the lately six-second Apache Nostalgia FC. 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 team. The latest edition of the Speedgroup Newsletter is now available and includes NitrOlympX previews, Eurodragster.com Editor's Diary with a further tribute to late team member Ed O'Connell and more. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his SmugMug site with pictures from Dragstalgia and the Friday of the Mopar EuroNats. You can check out Tog's pictures at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Event entry update. 3rd August: Entry is still open for the Open Sport Nationals, a full UK National and ACU UK Drag Bike Championship round, as well as rounds for a number of other series, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 23rd-25th August. Shakespeare County Raceway ask that anyone intending on entering the race should do so as soon as possible to help to speed up the admin process. If you enclose an SAE with your entry form then your tickets will be mailed to you, otherwise they will be available on the gate which opens at noon on Friday 22nd. You can download entry forms from the Shakespeare County Raceway web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. The closing date is fast approaching for the FIA / FIM European Championship Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-7th September. Entry closes this Friday, 8th August, after which a Late Entry penalty will be payable, if entry is accepted. You can download entry forms for all classes from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. You can check out Version 3 of the Championship Finals entry list by clicking here. Thanks to Paul Marston for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for Direct Plastics UK Top Sportsman, which takes place at VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway on 30th-31st August. You can check out the UK Top Sportsman entry list by clicking here. For more details about UK Top Sportsman check out Thursday's news item. Zodiac at Alastaro. 3rd August: Reigning European Supertwin Top Fuel Champion Zodiac Racing headed to the second race of the 2014 FIM European Drag Bike Championship in an unusually low seventh spot. Vincent Pels writes that the team knew that there was a lot to be done to defend their European title: The Alastaro race track, which had been getting worse over the last few years, was completely resurfaced in a unique racers' funding project. This did mean that the track was green, and the fact that it had to be resurfaced again few weeks before the event made it even more difficult. But the lack of traction was compensated by the smooth surface, and with this knowledge prior to the event Team Principal Ton Pels and son and Crew Chief Vincent had time to think about a set-up to make the bike to leave softly and to put in the horsepower gradually. Once at the track some more adjustments were made and the strategy worked, as right off the trailer the bike blasted to a 6.508/210 mph (339 kmh), a Personal Best for rider Ronny Aasen which took him straight into the #1 spot. As there was some piston damage, the team decided to skip the second qualifying round and try again the next day. With a richer tune-up, the bike dropped a cylinder at the tounsand foot mark in the third qualifying session, slowing to a 6.681, still the second quickest pass of the weekend in Supertwin. This time the engine was in a healthy condition after the run, and with pole position hopes were high for race day. Eliminations for the FIM bike classes on Sunday was scheduled at 1:00 pm, so there was little time between the elimination rounds. The first run was against the #8 qualifier Vesa Lipponen. Vesa was out on Ronny at the startline by four hundredths of a second, but Ronny already made that up at sixty feet. At the eighth mile Ronny was ahead by just five thousandths of a second, but after that the 1000+ horsepower of the supercharged Zodiac Nitro Harley started to kick in and Ronny pulled away, winning with a 6.899. The worrying bit was the death-smoke just past a thousand feet; again a big hole was blown in the front piston. With the little time between round the team frantically started to swap engines, but when they also found that a pulley support of the primary drive had broken they knew their weekend was over. The result put Ronny in the #3 spot in the FIM Championship, which is now led by Germany's Christian Jäger, the eventual winner of the event. The team will continue their quest for the European Championship on the Rico Anthes Quartermile during next weekend's NitrOlimpX at the famous Hockenheimring in Germany. This time they have made some major changes to the fuel system settings to try to cure the lean conditions which are damaging the pistons. There will also be a show booth in the Zodiac pit box with the latest Zodiac custom bike and some parts and accessories on display. Please be sure to come by to have a look, grab a complimentary card, or buy a Zodiac Racing baseball cap or T-Shirt. The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proudly sponsored by Zodiac International BV, Spectro Oils of America, S&S Cycle Proven Performance, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, Accel Motorcycle Products and Kibblewhite Precision Machining. Swift snippets. 3rd August: UK Wild Bunch racer Bob Hawkins says that the recent spy pictures with unsubtle references to flaming presage side-by-side fire burnouts at this week's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim. "In order to make this trip possible we've teamed up Sarah and Darryl Howells and Steve Field of DASH Racing who will be running and driving Time Traveller 1", says Bob. "We are also hoping to arrange one or two exhibition match races if all goes to plan. I would like to say a huge thank you to Jerry Lackey for inviting us to perform in the amazing Saturday night show and for making this a reality. Who's the second fire burnout driver? You'll have to watch to find out!" There is still, just, time to enter both of our NitrOlympX contests which offer a day photographing at trackside and a give-away of a pair of weekend tickets with Quarter Mile Club access. Entry to both contests closes at 23:59 UK tonight. For details about the Nitrographer contest check out last Monday's news update, and for details of the ticket give-away check out last Tuesday's news update. Entry is however now closed for the Allard Awards for photography and journalism. Eighty eight photographs from sixteen photographers, and eight articles from seven authors, were submitted. The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame would like to thank those who entered, the Allard Motor Company for sponsoring the awards, and Octane Magazine and the Guild of Motoring Writers who have the unenviable task of picking two winners. The trophies will be presented at the BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner in Windsor on 22nd November. You can find out more on the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from the Mopar EuroNats. You can check out the Mopar EuroNats timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The timing data from the Mopar EuroNats confirms new ET and speed records in the AntiGravity Batteries / wemoveyourcar.com UK Top Sportsman heads-up class, of 7.407 seconds by Dave Townsend and 187.28 mph by Belinda Bull to whom congratulations. The organisers of the UK Monster Truck Nationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 17th August, are seeking an old bus as a sacrificial victim for the monster trucks. "Every year the grand finale is the freestyle jumps over a bus and each year we manage to re-use the bus, until now - last year the bus was crushed beyond redemption and a replacement must be found", says Russ Harman. "If any race team has an old bus they do not use anymore, MoT failure or similar, then please get in touch". If you have a bus which you no longer need then please either call Russ on 07977 889926 or via the Event Development web site at www.eventdevelopments.co.uk. Alastaro TV broadcasts. 3rd August: Thanks to Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing for letting us know that Round 2 of the FIA / FIM European Drag Racing Championships, which took place at Alastaro, can now be viewed on-line on Santa Pod TV on YouTube. The show will also be televised on the following channels: MAV TV, USA: showing now Max Power, Sky Sports 4: 27th August, two showings Motorsport Mundial: FIA and FIM final rounds Planet Speed: FIA and FIM final rounds Motors TV: scheduled for September Geoff says that this Championship round was shot in Standard Definition but has been enhanced to give near-High Definition; all other shows in the series are Full HD. Web site updates. 3rd August: Thanks to MSA British Drag Racing Championship PR Robin Jackson for letting us know that the report of the latest MSA Pro Modified Championship round, which took place at last week's Mopar EuroNats at Santa Pod Raceway, is now available at www.msadragracing.co.uk. Interview: Remembering Pete Millar. 1st August: In the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products, Eurodragster.com spoke to Orah Mae Millar and Robin Millar, wife and daughter of legendary cartoonist and racer Pete Millar. Most drag racing fans will be familiar with Pete Millar's Drag Cartoons and the famous Chicken Coupe which he brought to Europe. But Pete ran other cars and he did not just come to Europe to race but to live with his family, spending time in Sweden and Spain at either end of a huge circle around Europe including travelling extensively behind the Iron Curtain. In a wide-ranging interview which could easily be published as an official biography, Orah Mae and Robin told Simon about Pete's racing career, his cartooning and publishing and the travails of getting payment for his work, Pete's famous reluctance to let others set the agenda, the truth about Pete and Wally Parks, the export of the Chicken Coupe to Europe, the family's travels around Europe and eventual return to the USA, and their current work to preserve Pete's legacy. You can check out our interview with Orah Mae Millar and Robin Millar by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dave Riswick of Eurodragster.com sponsor John Woolfe Racing in an introduction to Orah Mae and Robin, and for the use of pictures from his extensive archive. Earlier news