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31st August: Multiple FIA European Pro Modified Champion Micke Gullqvist has announced that he will not be attending next week's FIA/FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. This has assured Jimmy Ålund and the Old 51 team the 2018 FIA European Pro Mod Championship as none of those chasing have sufficient points to catch up. Micke writes: This season has been very challenging for us, with ignition issues for the last three races and some other mechanical issues before that. Even with the problems we had we were lucky enough to reach three FIA finals and won two of them, the Main Event and the NitrOlympX. We also won the EDRS Summit Racing Series event at Gardermoen, Norway. We had a small Championship lead before Tierp last weekend, but the ignition issues got worse. We changed everything in the ignition system - boxes, trigger, mag, wires and more - but the problem didn't go away. Just before the last qualifying run at Tierp last Saturday we found the problem. A wire in a connector to a fuel system component had broken and just briefly touched the counterpart. That happened some thousand times each run, and created a RF interference which disturbed the ignition system. After fixing the problem we were optimistic going into eliminations on Sunday, however in the first round everything went wrong. The fuel system electronics failed completely, creating an extremely rich condition in the engine. I was late on the Tree, the car was supposed to go a 5.8 but instead ran a 6.05. The Championship points race with the Old 51 guys has been very exciting and tough this season, and as it turned out you just could not afford to go out in the first round at any event. With short time between events in the later part of the season we just didn't have time to get the car in a winning condition. Sometimes it's just not supposed to happen. We wish every team good luck for the Finals! Well worth the trip. 
31st August: The UK's quickest Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor
Andy Robinson took his Anger Management team to Germany to race in
Round 4 of the FIA European Championship, which took place at the famous Hockenheim F1 race track.
The NitrOlympX, held at Hockenheim on 17th-19th August, was the second FIA meeting contested by the UK-based team this season. Qualifying didn't start in Andy's favour; the team took a few runs to tune to the tarmac track and to overcome some problems, which have been lingering over the team all year, causing burst panels to blow mid run. Adding to the team's challenges during qualifying, a timing system fault in the final session caused race officials to disqualify the team's last pass, and subsequently Andy was given a re-run late Saturday evening. With only ninety minutes to turn the car round the team managed to get back to the start line with ten minutes to spare and their hard work paid off as the Camaro stormed to a 5.95, landing them number spot in the final qualifying order. 
On race day, Andy proved to be the quickest of the field taking home low ET of the class with a 5.92 and running five-second passes in both elimination rounds. Unfortunately, a holeshot from
David Vegter, one of Andy's customers, put Andy on the trailer before the semis. "We're a bit gutted not to have gone more rounds, but we've made a lot of progress this weekend", says Andy.
"We tuned our new clutch to the tarmac track and got into the fives in only a handful of runs, and we've also fixed an engine issue which has caused us problems since the beginning of the
season, so overall we're pleased with the weekend. Going home with the low ET of the class is a big achievement so we're happy."
The NitrOlympX didn't count towards the MSA British Championship points, however it added to the team's knowledge and more five-second passes under Andy's belt will add to his confidence in perform well at next week's FIA European Finals, which takes place next week and which counts towards the MSA Championship. For more information on the Anger Management Pro Mod Drag Racing Team, please visit their Facebook page, and for more about the MSA Pro Mod Championship please visit its official web site at www.msadragracing.co.uk. Super Nova. 
31st August: UK Super Gas racer Brett Featherstone says that it is time to stop his old friends guessing:
As some will already know, Debbie and I managed to purchase a '67 Chevy II Nova from Canada at the end of 2017 with the intention of running the Terry Gibbs Super Gas Shootout in 2018. Without going into all the boring detail of how importing a race car can have its problems, it finally arrived just before Christmas and a plan was hatched to be ready for the first event. Being crew members for an already-proven race car may have made things a little easier - so we thought. Having to store the car at my parents' until the race trailer was ready also proved to be bit of a task. This is where the thanks begin: without massive help from our great friends Sharron and Simon Gough none of this would have been possible. Simon's enthusiasm to get our car to the track and test was invaluable so the Summernationals it was to be at last, and time to get things sorted. A trip down the road to the engine master Jeff Bull Race Engines to blow out the cobwebs where we hit the first problem, thankfully in the right hands. A carb rebuild was required; it was rebuilt, refitted then all checked out fine and we were told "Just go and check it out at the track then". Thanks Jeff and Belinda. New tyres fitted, loaded up and delivered to a secret location just outside the Pod gates, thanks Nick and Jack Hale. Friday morning Test Day, Nick Garrett on site to help, into the pairing lanes we went. Twenty four years since driving a race car... OMG what am I doing! Three observed runs to complete. Burnout done, carb cleared and into stage, then suddenly realised that delay boxes and throttle stops need a bit of playing with before you first run. Ooops! Some problems with run two, made it to the eighth and run three was pretty much the same. We never had all these electric gizmos in Outlaw Anglia in the 1990s, lots to learn. Friday evening and a visit from Mark Norton, found out that we had a few small chassis tag issues so decided not to attempt to qualify until resolved. So, off to Nick Garrett Race Fabrication it was then and hope to try again before the European Finals. A big Thank You to the following people for helping to get us out again: Debbie Clarke, Mum and Dad No. 1 and Mum and Dad No. 2, Sharron and Simon Gough, Jeff and Belinda Bull at Jeff Bull Race Engines, the Hale family, Nick and Lola (get the Nova on the track!), Roy Wilding for convincing me to get back racing. Gary Campion and Chris Ellis - sorry guys, you may have a bit more to do soon. Extra pocket money! 31st August: With six Junior Dragsters in attendance for RWYB at No Prep 3 at Rockingham Drag Strip, it seemed churlish not to make a race of it to add some interest. Dave Gibbons writes: We hit upon the idea of running the Wild Bunch "Closest to your average dial-in over four runs" heads-up format so that no-one got knocked out. There would be just one practice run to set the dial. Then someone - it may have been me - suggested that each team put a tenner into the pot for a prize fund with sixty quid up for grabs. All teams agreed so the race was on! 
Matt Wright decided it best to keep his daughter Stevie-Jane out of competition, as with her lack of experience he didn't feel that the added pressure was a good idea. However she ran with the group and Matt generously added a further ten pounds to the pot. Rough Diamond Racing added another twenty for Closest to Dial-in, and when Roy Wilding discovered what was going on generously threw in another twenty pounds! Thank you Roy. We now had a prize fund of £120 and the Visser-Siersema family added mugs and key rings. The competitors were Thomas Cook-Abbott, Harley Coulsell, Scott Gibbons, Meka Gadney and Cheyenne Visser with Stevie-Jane Wright running alongside but out of competition. There had been concerns voiced about the suitability of the track for the Junior cars, but these were soon deemed unfounded. All of the cars were running times in the region they usually would; in fact Scott's car, with no changes from the Junior Fun Day a few days earlier, ran his quickest ever time and speed! All of the cars made all of their runs without issue. 
Cheyenne Visser came out on top with an average of just 0.03 off her dial in, winning £60. Harley Coulsell was second, winning &poun;20, and Meka Gadney came third with a prize of £10. Scott Gibbons was closest to his dial at only 0.002 off, which basically meant that I gave my son twenty quid, but he simply went quicker and quicker throughout the day. In hindsight we should have had an award for the quickest run, which was set by Thomas Cook-Abbott at 8.058. This was quicker than many of the grown up cars on the day, well done Tom! Many thanks to Paul Marston Drag Racing and the Rockingham Drag Strip team for putting on a cracking event. All involved worked hard to make the event run smoothly, and the Junior Dragster teams certainly enjoyed themselves. As it appears that Rockingham will no longer be available to us, let's hope that another venue for similar events can be found soon. Swift snippets. 
31st August: Artist Paul Whitehouse has been in touch to show us his latest piece. The excellent painting features
Paul Harris' Dodge Omni-bodied fuel Funny Car Chi-Town Hustler as driven by Troy Martin at this year's Dragstalgia. Paul is having a small numbered limited-edition print run
produced of this painting. To register your interest in a print please contact Paul via E-Mail at [email protected] and he'll give you have
all the details.
Many thanks to our good friend Andy Marrs for forwarding an updated table of European Bests, now containing Anita Mäkelä's and Andreas Arthursson's new ET records, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the European and UK Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Living the dream. 31st August: Five years ago, former FIA European Champion Lex Joon and his beautiful wife Gerda packed up everything they owned into a forty-foot container and moved for thousand miles across the world. They left behind their family and life in Zaandam, The Netherlands to chase their American Dream of living in the United States and racing Top Fuel with the NHRA. It was an arduous journey filled with hard work and a range of emotions, but their love and determination never faulted. And this weekend their dream is coming true. Joon is competing in the 64th Annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. To be able to start our U.S. racing career at the grandest race in the world is a dream come true", said Lex. "Just to talk about it already gives me goosebumps. Imagine coming from The Netherlands where drag racing is an unknown sport and there are no race tracks other than a small airfield. "This weekend I get to compete in the car that ran in front of five hundred die-hard European fans in the middle of farming land on the biggest stage at the prestigious US Nationals. This is what dreams are made of and ours has finally come true." Lex will be working alongside experienced Crew Chief Keith Stewart who has a long history of working on top ten cars such as, Tony Pedregon, Bob Vandergriff, David Bacca, Scott Kalitta, Darrel Gwynn and Doug Herbert. "I need an experienced man like Keith on my team", said Lex. "For several months he has been working on our programme to get it all in spec with the current NHRA rules. Combined we have tremendous experience and I am looking forward to working with him to make Lex Joon Racing a force to reckon with in NHRA. We know that we have the car, equipment and crew to get into the show. What we lack is the data. So our plan is to run all five qualifying passes and make the car go faster each run. We can't afford to damage a lot of parts, so we need to take it slow and creep up on it." For the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals Joon is partnered with JLM Lubricants in The Netherlands and M & K Truck Centers in Indianapolis will supply the team with an RV for the weekend. As with many other teams, he is looking for more support for the weekend and beyond. He will also be campaigning Project ChildSafe, a programme of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, to promote firearms safety and education. "To have the honor to make runs on this historic race track at the most prestigious race of the season is what it's all about", said Lex. "My hope is to walk through the Mello Yello doors Monday morning because that will mean we qualified and that my dream has come true." You will be able to stay in touch with Lex's progress, as well as that of Jonnie Lindberg, Julie Nataas, Fred Hanssen, Ulf Leanders, Stig Olsson and Nic Williams of Eurodragster.com sponsor OCS Paint, on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. Web site updates. 31st August: Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted two Summit Racing Equipment Internationals reports on the Autosport.nl web site. There is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and a report of "Other things I saw" which you can check out by clicking here. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from July's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway. You can take a look at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. FIA/FIM European Finals racer update. 29th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us details of the arrangements for next week's FIA/FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: Wednesday 5th September 08:00 Gates open for the duration of the event 09:00 Signing On office opens 10:00 Car scrutineering commences, no specific order 18:00 Signing On office closes Thursday 6th September 07:00 Signing On office opens 07:00 Car scrutineering commences 09:00 Bike scrutineering commences: Bike sign-on / scrutineering details 09:30 Track opens for qualifying Friday 7th September 07:30 Signing On office opens 07:30 Scrutineering opens
Saturday 8th September 08:00 Signing On office opens 08:00 Scrutineering opens 09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations Sunday 9th September 09:30 Track opens for eliminations The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Super Comp and Terry Gibbs Super Gas Shootout racers please note that the running orders have changed from those originally distributed. No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 21:00 on any day of the event including Thursday's Peak Performance Day. Before 09:00 vehicles should be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not driven or ridden. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event. Junior Dragster and Junior Drag Bike racers please remember the rule about pushing vehicles back to the pits once through the arch beside Scrutineering. Only race officials and SPR staff are allowed in Race Control whilst racing is underway. Should racers wish to raise any matter with race officials then please do not visit Race Control; please firstly see the Race Secretary who is based in Signing On. Colour commentators are requested to come to Commentary only when their class is at the head of the lanes, to vacate Commentary as soon as their class has run, and not to bring guests to Commentary with them. At the request of SPR management the Eurodragster.com office at the Bankside end of Race Control is similarly out of bounds during racing except to Eurodragster.com staff, Zeon TV crew and racers or crew collecting Eurodragster.com Perfect Award money. Peak Performance Day filling up. 29th August: James Forster tells us that this Sunday's (2nd September) Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway is filling up quickly and that advance entry is advised: If you'd like to run then please book your space as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. It's unlikely that there will be any spaces available on the day. We would hate for anyone wanting to test ahead of the European Finals to be unable to run because they haven't booked in. You can enter Sunday's Peak Performance Day by clicking here. You can find information about this Sunday's Peak Peformance Day and next Wednesday's Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day at www.rwyb.com. Flame and Thunder racer demos sought. 28th August: James Forster has been in touch with the annual request for racers to make demonstration passes at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 27th October: Due to limited availability we only have a certain amount of spaces for each class and type of vehicle so unfortunately we can't accommodate everyone. We are inviting cars 11.99 and quicker and bikes 9.99 and quicker. The emphasis at this event is firmly on showmanship so bright vehicles, wheelstanders and those which do a good burnout are very welcome! To take part, please contact James at [email protected] or call him on 01234 782828. Summit Racing Internationals results. 27th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Anita Mäkelä 3.8770/498.61 def. Antti Horto 3.9708/487.36 FIA Top Methanol: Dennis Habermann 5.4651/401.19 def. Sandro Bellio 9.9456/114.60 DQ FIA Pro Modified: Andreas Arthursson 5.7512/415.70 def. Jimmy Ålund 5.9774/389.61 FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund 6.5524/342.64 def. Thomas Lindström 6.6447/337.29 DQ red EDRS Pro Nordic MC Top Fuel Bike: Thomas Pettersson 6.6741/316.34 def. Jan Sturla Hegre 6.8394/239.15 EDRS Pro Nordic MC Supertwin: Roman Sixta 6.7848/327.67 def. Samu Kemppainen 7.0860/234.17 EDRS Pro Nordic MC Pro Stock Bike: Kalle Lyrén 6.9748/306.99 def. Thomas Lysebraate Olsen 7.0514/306.64 EDRS Pro Nordic MC Super Street Bike: Vesa Ruhanen 7.3348/258.25 def. Mogens Lund 8.3971/176.41 Comp Eliminator: Roger Forsström (7.70) 7.2437/300.84 def. Matti Rajamaki (9.57) 9.1746/238.62 Pro Street: Seppo Raussi 7.6509/274.39 def. Pater Trång 7.6439/286.32 Super Comp: Micke Nilsson 8.9312/253.40 def. Albin Frank 8.8822/250.35 DQ b/o Super Gas: Håkan Mattsson 9.9894/247.47 def. Erik Jansson 9.8808/221.58 Super Street: Uffe Lundgren 10.8582/199.48 def. Tomas Hägg 10.8395/213.19 DQ b/o Stock/Super Stock: Björn Bondesson 10.1616/207.13 def. (10.16) Theodor Brandt (10.95) 10.9661/192.99 DQ red Super Pro ET: Lucas Karlsson (8.52) 8.5728/252.93 def. Janne R Klungland (8.66) 8.5993/237.57 DQ b/o Pro ET: Alice Hauge (11.10) 11.0874/191.56 def. Niklas Wikander (11.22) 11.1841/186.37 DQ d/o Junior Dragster: Eskil Dahls (8.00) 8.0763/128.17 def. Felicia Rudnert (7.95) 8.1261/128.24 Super Comp Bike: Peter Östlund 8.6926/229.69 def. Tomas Jonsson 8.7128/255.20 Super Gas Bike: Ellen Ødegaard 9.5026/202.56 def. Jami Oksanen 9.5408/233.77 Junior Drag Bike: Eemeli Helkkala (7.29) 7.2067/153.19 def. Seth Friström (7.30) 7.2114/169.76 DQ b/o Congratulations also to the below for setting new records, subject to official ratification: FIA Top Fuel Dragster ET: 3.877 seconds, Ainta Mäkelä FIA Pro Modified ET: 5.751 seconds, Andreas Arthursson EDRS Pro Nordic MC Supertwin ET: 6.280 seconds, Jaska Salakari EDRS Pro Nordic MS Pro Stock Bike ET: 6.954 seconds, Kalle Lyrén As reported yesterday the world's first-ever five-second Supertwin ET was clocked by Vesa Lipponen on Saturday and then bettered by Jaska Salakari in the next qualifying session. Although neither ET was backed up, Vesa's place in drag racing history is assured and we very much doubt that Jaska's counter will be forgotten any time soon. You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Summit Racing Equipment Internationals reports, results and extensive galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. No Prep 3 gallery. 
27th August: Whilst we were travelling home from Tierp Arena, Contributing Photographer Diana Macrae attended
No Prep 3 at Rockingham Drag Strip for Eurodragster.com and has sent us a gallery of the day's action.
You can check out our No Prep 3 gallery, which is presented in association with John Woolfe Racing, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 27th August: We have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com team today. Please join Kirstie, Simon and Tog in wishing a Happy 50th Birthday to Eurodragster.com Photographer Julian. Julian is travelling home from Tierp with us today and be assured that we keep reminding him and that we are stopping him from wandering off. ...then two come along at once. 26th August: One of the few remaining barriers in drag racing was broken yesterday as the world's first five-second Supertwin pass was clocked during qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena. History was made in Q4 by Vesa Lipponen with a pass of 5.9205/350.65 (217.88 mph). Incrementals were 1.0013 to sixty, 2.5665/252.59 (156.95 mph) at 330 feet, 3.8354/316.53 (196.68 mph) at the eighth and 4.9273/350.42 (217.74 mph) at the thousand. Not to be outdone Jaska Salakari upped the ante in Q5 with a pass of 5.8372/332.72 (206.74 mph). Jaska's incrementals were 0.9711 to sixty, 2.4799/255.56 (158.80 mph) at 330 feet, 3.6707/326.28 (202.74 mph) at the eighth, 4.7982/338.98 (210.63 mph) at the thousand. Jaska's chute deployed past the eighth. Jaska's pass backed up his previous best of 6.280 seconds for an EDRS Pro Nordic MC Supertwin ET record; Vesa and Jaska are of course on ET records for their fives and will have at least one opportunity to back them up today (Sunday). Meanwhile on four wheels Andreas Arthursson kept his promise to Racepak guru and Pro Modified Colour Commentator Dick Koster, and indeed the rest of us, with Europe's first 5.7-second Pro Modified pass. Andreas, already on a 5.831 record, ran 5.803 in Q3 which was backed up by the previous pass, then ran the promised 5.7569/415.07 (257.91 mph) in E2 of yesterday's Swedish Pro Modified Championship which also served as Q4. Andreas' incrementals were 0.9907 to sixty, 2.6095/242.04 (150.40 mph) at 330 feet, 3.8428/326.88 (203.88 mph) at the eighth, and 4.8821/381.63 (237.13) at the thousand. The pass was followed by a 5.762 bye in the Swedish Championship final, also Q5. The 5.756 currently stands as the FIA European Pro Modified ET record and Andreas will have at least one opportunity to lower it still further today. You will be able to stay in touch with events at Tierp Arena courtesy of our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Summit Racing Equipment Internationals coverage which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Giles' early retirement. 
26th August: UK Super Gas racer Jon Giles has announced his retirement slightly early after engine damage at
the NitrOlympX:
As most of my close friends know my intension was to race for ten years, which would be this year and then finish as I have a young family which I feel needs a bit more of my focus than drag racing will allow. Hockenheim was the final curtain for us as the engine damage bought an early end to it all - sorry everyone for the oildown! I will get the engine fully rebuilt and then sell the car and lorry to anyone who may be interested; you can find it all on the Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet. I must say that I enjoyed drag racing more than I ever thought I would, and I would certainly recommend anyone to give it a go if they can. I have met some really nice people and enjoyed the fun I have had with them but like I say it's time to move on. I would really like to wish everyone I like without exception a great future in and out of the sport, and remember you only live once so grab it with both hands, a fast finger, and a heavy right foot. Stay safe everyone from Team Roar Willys. En avant to Santa Pod. 26th August: Some people divine a theatrical quality in the sport of drag racing. Steven McRae gives credence to that idea. 
As a Principal Dancer at the Royal Ballet, McRae is a world-leading exponent of the most arduous and exacting artistic profession. As a denizen of Australian
drag strips throughout his childhood and youth, he knows full well the dramatic aura of the quarter-mile stage.
McRae and his wife Elizabeth Harrod, herself a Royal Ballet Soloist, will attend Santa Pod Raceway's FIA/FIM European Finals next month with their two young children. For the children it will be a drag racing introduction, but it won't be McRae's first trip to Santa Pod. "I visited when I first arrived in the UK", he says, "and slept in a £10 tent from Argos." McRae's father is an engineer and drag racer who took him to race meetings around Australia, and he grew up with the sport in his blood. Ballet happened more by chance. A visit to his sister's dancing school when he was seven unearthed an aptitude which would produce a career of international renown. Back then, weekdays at the barre would be followed by weekends at the strip. One difference McRae might find from his Australian dragstrip upbringing is the babel of tongues heard at the Finals. Sixteen different nations are represented on the entry list. Perhaps McRae's 150,000 Instagram followers will be treated to share the experience. Junior Drag Racing Fun Day report. 24th August: Yesterday's Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway was Tierp in reverse with a wet start but a successful day's racing once the track had dried. Simon attended the Fun Day and you can check out his report, which is presented in association with John Woolfe Racing, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The Top Fuel odds, Pro Mod to come... 24th August: RedZoneSports.bet continues its support of European drag racing with the release of prices for this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Internationals. The UK online bookmaker, which specialises in US sports, has been providing prices on FIA Top Fuel events since it partnered with TrakBak Racing for the sponsorship of The DoorSlammers at Santa Pod in May. Warren Llambias, co-founder of Redzone, said "The Doorslammers event really fired our imagination. We were able to offer markets on most of the individual races there and took around 1000 bets on the weekend. We felt it was important to show our commitment to the sport by continuing to offer prices on Top Fuel drag racing throughout the season. The demand has been such that we will be expanding our offering to cover the Pro Mod class for the European Finals at Santa Pod at the beginning of September." The oddsmakers at Redzone have Liam Jones and Anita Mäkelä as joint 7/2 favourites for this weekend. For a full list of odds on this weekend's event please click here. Erbachers seek Finals crew. 
23rd August: Switerland's Urs and Jndia Erbacher are seeking crew to assist their two-car attack on the
FIA/FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in a fortnight.
"This may be the last race for me", Urs told Eurodragster.com. "My car is for sale after the Euroepan Finals, hopefully with a win and a three-second ET to its name. The car will be turnkey with everything the customer wants. "Jndia will keep her Monster Energy car for next year. "We are searching for some crew help for the finals. We are looking for a clutch guy and two engine guys for left and right heads. They need to be experienced guys who have done this in the past." If you are interested then please call Urs on +41 79 320 74 63 or E-Mail [email protected]. Meanwhile Monster Energy have published a small feature on Jndia which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the picture at right. Swift snippets. 23rd August: Thanks to Jari Halonen for passing us the post-NitrOlympX points standings in the FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the European points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page which you can reach by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. NitrOlympX Top Gas report. 23rd August: Many thanks to Herman Jolink for sending us a report of the latest round of the European Top Gas Series which took place at last weekend's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim, and at which Jorg Lymant (below left) was crowned 2018 Series Champion: 
We had some rain on Friday but the rest of the weekend was very hot. Top Gas qualifying:
E2: Schack 7.596/283 def. Buehler 8.749/245; Menzi 7.486/274 def. Malmberg 10.649/120 a PB for Menzi; Lymant 7.498/284 bye, Caspari did not make the start line. E3: Schack 7.530/276 bye, Lymant 7.563/283 def. Menzi 7.955/276. Final: Frederik Schack DK 7.550/277 def. Jorg Lymant DE 7.490/288. Championship after five rounds:
Update: SFI 3.3/20 Boots. 
21st August: Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor
Simpson Safety Europe has asked us to let racers know that,
due to a misunderstanding between SFI and the FIA, the recent Technical Bulletin regarding SFI 3.3/20 shoes was incorrect:
The correct information is now available in a new Technical Notification, #2018/02 dated 15th August. The essence of the updated information is that any shoe meeting SFI 3.3/20 with a minimum height of 6" (152 mm), measuring the back of the shoe, is considered as a Boot and is therefore permitted for use in competition where rules state SFI 3.3/20 Boots to be mandatory. 
Swift snippets.21st August: Many thanks to our good buddy and timing guru Andy Marrs for passing us the official Redline Rumble timing data, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Another good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted his NitrOlympX race report on the Autosport.nl web site. Similarly to the Eurodragster.com staff Remco has gone home and them more or less gone straight out again so alas no time for the usual "Other things I saw" supplement, but you can check out Remco's race report by clicking here. Congratulations to regular Eurodragster.com News contributor Geoff Stilwell on setting a new Class Record for A/Blown Fuel (left) at Bonneville last week. Start of a steep and slippery slope, Geoff. No Prep 3 entry update. 21st August: Paul Marston tells us that advance entry for No Prep 3, which takes place at Rockingham Drag Strip next Monday (27th), closes this Thursday: After Thursday we are asking you to enter and pay on the day; if you are looking at entering on the day then please try to be early - gates open at 08:00 on Monday. The entry is looking healthy with Big Tyre and Small Tyre in double figures. We took a risk by splitting the class into two so soon but it made it more fair for the small tyre cars and gives us two great classes. The small tyre class is going to be a very bloody affair, with a lot of very fast cars and absolutely no form book to go by. Judging by the quality of the entry it looks like we made the right decision to split. The car count is pretty even in both classes. Big Tyre will be a hard one to call. There are some new names with which to contend, defending No Prep 2 Champion Lee Huxley returns and will have that big target on his back. The Dark Horse team certainly did their homework and came with an extremely well prepared race-car. As before it's all random pairing so who races who will be decided on the day. Another hot favourite is Pel Norman in the Shogun Capri, who lost controversially to Lee Huxley in the semi finals last time. Pel reckons that he has unfinished business to attend to! The Monster High Roller Bracket Race is also filling up very nicely. The entry is again in double figures, so all is set for a great weekend of No Prep eighth-mile drag racing. The No Prep RWYB car count is good with a few familiar faces. There is a full timing system for the Bracket and the RWYB but the No Prep Classes are in true Street Outlaw style with a flashlight start and no times or speeds. For entry forms and more details either Like our Facebook page Rockingham Dragstrip and message us, E-Mail [email protected], or call me on 07831 650230. Rockingham also plays host to the Big Oolite Rod and Custom Car Show to which all cars are welcome whether English, American, European, Japanese, VAG, as long as it's nice or it's cool we want it. There is no additional charge to show your car at the show other than gate entry which is £12 on the day or £10 in advance from the Rockingham web site. There is also a huge Drift event on the National Circuit with around one hundred Drifters booked in (Including my nephew-in-law - Ed). Plenty of action for the Bank Holiday weekend! NitrOlympX results. 20th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Liam Jones 3.994/490.09 def. Antti Horto 4.074/446.30 FIA Top Methanol: Timo Habermann 5.401/420.96 def. Dennis Habermann 5.476/420.64 DQ red FIA Pro Modified: Micke Gullqvist 5.976/392.52 def. Jan Ericsson 6.045/386.72 FIA Pro Stock: Robin Norén 8.608/158.47 def. Bengt Ljungdahl 7.213/253.07 DQ red FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike: Filippos Papafilippou no time bye, Eric Richard broke FIM Europe Supertwin: Marcus Christiansen 6.434/358.51 def. Takeshi Shigematsu 15.945/82.76 FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike: Alex Hope 7.452/294.15 def. Karl-Heinz Weikum 7.429/294.31 FIM Europe Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 7.949/305.39 bye, Rick Stubbins no show FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike Cup: Lorens Bochnig (7.90) 7.961/134.39 def. Meggie Talbot (9.32) 9.362/115.25 Comp Eliminator: Robin Sattler (9.64) 9.738/146.80 bye, Ingo Ekert no show Super Pro ET: Jens Könnecke (8.30) 8.321/262.96 def. Franz Aschenbrenner (8.22) 9.178/190.19 DQ red Pro ET: Will Clark (10.02) 10.089/209.75 def. Frank Römer (9.62) 9.656/206.54 Super Comp: Leah Kellett 9.016/259.78 def. Enrico Bailo 8.992/241.08 Super Gas: Rene Kloss 10.074/205.06 def. Stevan Reffelrath 12.231/115.00 DQ red Junior Dragster: Jack Gooding (8.29) 8.254/123.88 def. Tom Kaye (7.96) 8.117/132.60 DQ red Funny Bike: Marc Laur 7.189/299.42 def. Kars van den Belt 21.790/195.81 Supertwin Top Gas: Frederik Schack 7.550/277.57 def. Jörg Lymant 7.490/288.14 Thanks to Åsa Kinnemar for passing us the post-NitrOlympX points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships. You can check out the European points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page which you can reach by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored NitrOlympX reports, results, pit notes and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. A big Thank You to Kirstie, Simon and Julian for their hard work in very uncomfortable conditions and to Mike Kraaij for providing additional pit notes. Redline Rumble results. 20th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Redline Rumble at Santa Pod Raceway:
FUNNY BIKE SATURDAY
3 DAVE PETERS
8 LORCAN PARNELL + 0.1068 1.1585 2.9567 4.7128 124.57 8.7188 103.50 WIN
COMP BIKE SATURDAY
74 ERIK JENNES + 0.1320 1.3426 3.3570 4.9580 154.16 7.4933 193.05 WIN
8 MARGOT SCHMIDT + 0.1005 1.4069 3.5877 5.3591 141.25 8.0932 179.21
SUPER STREET BIKE SATURDAY
6 GARRY BOWE
3 PETE FIELD + 0.3192 1.2972 3.3439 4.9845 148.20 8.0654 132.98 WIN
8.50 BIKE SATURDAY
2 IAN CHRICHLOW + 0.0243 1.4233 3.6511 5.5110 130.54 8.5643 156.83
1 JAKE MECHAELL + 0.0268 1.4208 3.6374 5.4912 132.18 8.5540 150.16 WIN
9.50 BIKE SATURDAY
169 DAVID BOWE + 0.1373 1.4953 3.9634 6.0650 116.09 9.5904 123.10 WIN
3 BRETT CORDELLE + 0.2151 1.5706 4.0379 6.1307 116.24 9.5673 140.78
E.T. BIKE SATURDAY
2 GARY HESTER + 0.1620 1.7215 4.5325 6.8914 103.11 10.8162 120.42
1 PHIL PRATT + 0.1445 1.4768 3.8460 5.8703 120.86 9.1832 144.40 WIN
SUPERTWIN TOP GAS SATURDAY
463 MICHAEL GOODING + 0.6087 1.8601 4.4385 6.5296 116.70 9.9696 139.83 WIN
661 DEREK FLYNN + 0.4464 1.6223 4.4013 6.7268 105.18 10.5440 125.62
VWDRC
349 NATALIE WOOD + 0.4975 2.2503 6.7749 10.4526 66.80 16.4289 76.03
Y743NLL CHARLES ROBERTS + 0.2340 2.1942 6.2660 9.6117 74.31 14.9868 91.02 WIN
OUTLAW
1 COLIN MILLAR + 0.0424 1.1262 3.0897 4.7488 148.04 7.4308 181.40 WIN
106 SCOTT CROOKSTON + 0.1347 1.1705 3.2230 4.9763 139.47 7.8149 170.46
FUNNY BIKE SUNDAY
3 DAVE PETERS + 0.6823 1.1997 3.3197 5.0577 142.03 7.8910 169.18
8 LORCAN PARNELL + 0.2511 1.1297 2.9515 4.4152 170.17 6.7217 207.04 WIN
COMP BIKE SUNDAY
8 MARGOT SCHMIDT + 0.1180 1.3118 3.3602 4.9981 149.55 7.6361 180.69 WIN
74 ERIK JENNES + 0.1581 1.6727 3.8286 5.4429 155.79 7.9846 182.85
SUPER STREET BIKE SUNDAY
BYE
3 PETE FIELD + 0.2394 1.2602 3.2316 4.7771 159.63 7.2719 192.94 WIN
8.50 BIKE SUNDAY
198 JAY ROE + 0.1433 1.3468 3.5197 5.3874 130.21 8.4925 154.20
1 JAKE MECHAELL + 0.0813 1.4545 3.6523 5.4971 132.22 8.5400 153.16 WIN
9.50 BIKE SUNDAY
1 RICHARD SAWATZKI + 0.0927 1.4914 3.9385 5.9993 118.55 9.5714 118.23 WIN
59 LEO LESTER + 0.2823 1.5787 4.0995 6.1067 119.67 9.4300 145.29
E.T. BIKE SUNDAY
1 PHIL PRATT + 0.1547 1.5465 3.9379 5.9436 121.72 9.2307 147.58 WIN
605 JASMINE CORDELLE + 0.1661 1.4329 3.8773 5.9860 116.81 9.4677 138.63
SUPERTWIN TOP GAS SUNDAY
463 MICHAEL GOODING + 0.4943 1.6951 4.2372 6.3024 118.57 9.6858 142.93 WIN
661 DEREK FLYNN - 0.0709 1.6833 4.4580 6.8035 103.50 10.6913 122.54
Congratulations to ET Bike runner-up Gary Hester who is due the Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect ET Award of
£75 having clocked a 0.0007 Reaction Time. The Award has been reset to £50 for the FIA/FIM European Finals
in September.
Many thanks to Adam Bentley of SPRC's timing crew who kept us supplied with timing sheets over the weekend. We will code these up and add them to our Redline Rumble coverage page (see below) when we return from Hockenheim. Many thanks also to Callum Pudge and Diana Macrae who have supplied us with a gallery of both Saturday's and yesterday's action. You can check out the galleries, which are presented in association with John Woolfe Racing, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. NitrOlympX webcast update. 14th August: More thanks to NitrOlympX PR Christine Calwer for passing on more details of the Web TV broadcast of this weekend's race at Hockenheim. The free webcast will commence at 08:00 UK/09:00 European on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's coverage will include the legendary Night Show. The link to the webcast, currently inactive, will go live on our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored NitrOlympX Event Index at 07:30 UK/08:30 European on Saturday. You may have to click on your Browser's Refresh button after that time to pick up the change. There is no webcast on Friday but the usual real-time reports, pit notes and end-day gallery will be available here on Eurodragster.com. No Prep 3 the last at Rockingham. 14th August: Paul Marston has been in touch to let us know that No Prep 3 will be the last drag race meeting at Rockingham Dragstrip because, as things stand, the facility will close at the end of this year: If you want to race at Rockingham Dragstrip, then make sure you are at No Prep 3 on Bank Holiday Monday, 27th August. For entry forms and more details either Like our Facebook page Rockingham Dragstrip and message us, E-Mail [email protected], or call me on 07831 650230. To say that everyone involved in Rockingham Dragstrip is gutted would be an understatement, but this is completely out of our hands. All I can say is let's make No Prep 3 an event to remember. If you have even the remotest chance of bringing a car then do it; this will be your last chance to run at this amazing venue. Redline Rumble Perfect Awards. 15th August: This weekend's Redline Rumble at Santa Pod Raceway is the latest event in the 2018 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £125 will be on offer for perfect performance. Please note that as the Eurodragster.com team are all at Hockenheim this weekend the arrangements for payout will be different for this one event. The official timing data will be consulted after which the Perfect Light Award winner will be contacted for bank details and paid, and the Perfect ET winner will be required to prove that they were carrying decals when the run was made before being paid. 
The Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it was not won at the
Mopar EuroNationals. The money will be paid to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds.
The Perfect Light Award will be available to racers in all classes this weekend, but will only be awarded
for the first Perfect Light of the event. If not won then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA/FIM European Finals; if it is won
then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA/FIM European Finals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of
Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.
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. 
The Eurodragster.com / Vitesse Labelling Products Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Hutchinson & Dibley
Sportsman ET racer Adam Charnley at Bug Jam. The money will be paid to the first racer this weekend to run +0.000 on index or dial-in during
qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award will be available this weekend in 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, ET Bike, the Wild Bunch, Gasser
Circus and VWDRC Bracket but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the event. If not won then the Award will be increased to
£100 for the FIA/FIM European Finals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA/FIM European Finals.
To be eligible to win the Award, decals (right) must be carried, clearly visible, one on each side of the vehicle. If a Perfect ET is recorded without decals then there will be no argument, we will not pay out and the money will be awarded to the next racer to record a Perfect ET. Decals will be available in Signing On from this Friday. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Vitesse Labelling Products, which is owned by Modurstang Pro ET racer Al Platt. For more information about the services which Vitesse Labelling Products can provide then please visit www.vitesse-labelling.co.uk. Swift snippets. 15th August: Next week's Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena is the final round of the 2018 EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship. Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has written a preview of the action in Top Fuel Bike, Supertwin, Pro Stock Bike, Super Comp Bike and Super Gas Bike which you can check out on the Drag Racing Europe Blog by clicking here. Lizz Charman and all at Nitrous Junkie HQ asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to photo-journalist Steve Moxley (below left). "Steve will have to wait until Saturday for his present!", says Lizz. Have a great day Steve. Meanwhile Moxey's SPRC Summernationals coverage is now showing on the Eat My Ink web site at www.eatmyink.com. 
Congratulations to Geoff Stilwell who gained his A licence with a pass of 246 mph on the salt at Bonneville. "The car is fantastic", says Geoff. "I need to thank Lucas Oil, Isky Cams, Stage V Rockers and Simpson plus Bill Schultz, Sparky Perry, Bob Muravez, Carl Olson, Al Teague and Tony Betts for making this all happen." Redline Rumble racer update. 14th August: Many thanks to SPRC International Race Director Carole Ismail and James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway for forwarding us details of the arrangements for this week's Redline Rumble at Santa Pod Raceway, which is a double-header Championship round for ACU and UK National Drag Bike classes. Bike racers please note that although this weekend is a double-header you only need to sign on and be scrutineered once and that will cover both days' competition. Friday 17th August 12:00 Gates open 13:00 Signing On open for ACU and UK bike classes 16:00 Scrutineering commences for ACU and UK Bike classes (Scrutineering details) Saturday 18th August 07:00 Signing On open for ACU and UK bike classes 07:00 Scrutineering commences for ACU and UK Bike classes (Scrutineering details) 08:00 Signing On open for invited car classes 09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations Sunday 19th August 08:00 Signing On open for invited car classes 08:30 Signing On open for ACU and UK bike classes 09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event including Friday's set-up day. Before 09:00 vehicles should be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not ridden. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event. NitrOlympX to be webcast. 14th August: Full details will be advised later but many thanks to NitrOlympX PR Christine Calwer for confirming that Saturday and Sunday of this weekend's race at Hockenheim are to be broadcast on Web TV. Stay tuned for more information. Bring on the NitrOlympX. 14th August: Our good friend Markus Münch says that the weekend's Public Race Days at Hockenheim went well under a warm, but not hot, sunny South German sky: 
The track looks good so far, the NitrOlympX can come. Many good times were run by the Public Racers, hot VWs and other stuff in the eight- and nine-second bracket. The Dragster Test and Tune was used by some teams to make final adjustments for this weekend's NitrOlympX. 
You can check out Markus' Saturday gallery by clicking here and his Sunday gallery by clicking here. You will be able to stay in touch with events at Hockenheim courtesy of our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored NitrOlympX event coverage, which commences on Friday. Swift snippets. 14th August: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us the first final version of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 6th-9th September and which is the final round of the FIA and FIM European Championships and a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships for some classes. You can check out the FIA/FIM European Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Although the entire Eurodragster.com team will be at Hockenheim this weekend we will bring you some coverage of this weekend's Redline Rumble at Santa Pod Raceway in association with John Woolfe Racing. The plan is to post qualifying standings and final results each day courtesy of SPRC's timing crew, and for end-day galleries courtesy of Callum Pudge. Staying with the Redline Rumble, our absence from the event will necessitate special arrangements for this weekend's Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. We will post details of eligiblity and how to claim the £75 Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award and the £50 Eurodragster.com/Vitesse Labelling Products Perfect ET Award here on Eurodragster.com News tomorrow. NitrOlympX Top Gas preview. 12th August: Mike Kraaij writes that the European Top Gas racers get the opportunity to squeeze the most out of their two cylinders at the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim next weekend: After the DHRA Main Event at Drachten Airstrip youngsters at the end of July this will be the fifth round for the Supertwin Top Gas Series. The racers come from many countries. In the Championship, Germany's Jörg Lymant is on top with a lead of no less than 1215 points. That difference is already so great that he only has to pass technical inspection at Hockenheim to call himself the 2018 European Champion in Supertwin Top Gas. Runner-up place is still open as the difference in points can still be covered. In second place is Switzerland's Martin Buehler who has in his wake the Swede Jan Malmberg and they are closely followed by the Dutchman Herman Jolink who has been participating in the motorcycle drag racing for for more than forty years and attended the very first NitrolympX in 1986! Switzerland's Olaf Menzi is recovering from an annoying illness and shows what perseverance can do. He, like Jörg Lymant, has a V-Twin Buell of 2622cc and uses race gas without a turbo or compressor. These V-Twins were developed for Pro Stock Bike and the class record of 7.393 for the quarter mile is still in the name of Gert-Jan Laseur from Almere in the Netherlands who has held it since 2009! Frederik Schack from Denmark is the record holder on the eighth mile with a time of 4.654. So far as Olaf Menzi is concerned, he is still searching for the best adjustment in terms of clutch and balance in his V-Twin, which has a lot of potential and can run low sevens runs. Jan Malmberg did good business in Drachten and has hit the sevens several times which is promising, and he is looking forward to the upcoming race at Hockenheim. Cord Albers is also very experienced and also has a potentially fast Twin called the Gaselerator. Fredrik Schack will also be present from Denmark with his very fast ex-Pro Stock V-Twin. He has missed a number of races but will do his utmost to claim the highest possible prize. You will be able to stay in touch with events at Hockenheim courtesy of our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored NitrOlympX event coverage, which commences on Friday. Swift snippets. 12th August: Finnish Pro Stock Bike racer Janne Koskinen will be back on track at the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena at the end of this month. Our good buddy Remco Scheelings says that Janne will continue his co-operation with six-time FIM European Pro Stock Bike Champion Fredrik Fredlund and that you can read all about it on the Drag Racing Europe Blog by clicking here. Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 6th-9th September and which is the final round of the FIA and FIM European Championships and a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships for some classes. You can check out the FIA/FIM European Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Further to our news item of 5th July, the charity Embrace Child Victims of Crime has benefitted from the support of two Nostalgia Funny Cars at Santa Pod Raceway. Andy Raw, racing partner Karl Harrison and Matthew Wright raised £600 at Dragstalgia and the Mopar EuroNationals and John Tebenham has stepped up to the plate to bring the total up to £1000. You can read more on the Embrace CVoC web site at www.embracecvoc.org.uk. Many thanks to our good buddy and timing guru Andy Marrs for passing us the official Ultimate Street Car timing data, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Web site updates. 12th August: Paul Lister has updated his Drag Car Anon web site with a large number of pictures from Dragstalgia. You can check out Paul's shots at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Hockenheim track prep update. 10th August: NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey says that track prep for next week's event is going well despite the conditions at Hockenheim: Despite the record breaking heat wave for the past weeks, our track prep team alongside with Darren Prentice and Ian Marshall have had tremendous results getting our track ready for a few new records at the 33rd NitrOlympX on 17th-19th. After this weekend's Test and Tune we expect our track to be ready for attempts on new best times and speeds by full fields of FIA and FIM cars and bikes, as well as full Sportsman classes. We expect another update from the track prep crew after this weekend's Test and Tune. Clastres success. 10th August: Many thanks to Elodie Dubois for forwarding us a review of the 7th European Dragster event at Clastres in France: The event did not start too well. There was a huge storm on the Friday afternoon causing damage to track equipment and race teams' awnings etc, but in a speedy reaction to the problem all the Association Trophée Drasger staff went out of their way to help get everything back in shape ready to begin racing at around 11:00 on Saturday morning. We would like to thank all of the ATD people for their help, as without them it wouldn't have been possible! 
The sun returned again on Saturday and with the track dry we managed to get in five sessions of qualifying in before closing at 21:00. Sunday morning arrived and a further two rounds of qualifying were run before starting with eliminations. 
Sunday ran very smoothly and we managed to complete the event by 18:00 then finished with the prize ceremony.
We would like to say a massive Thank You to everybody who supports us, all the competitors who follow us, the track prep crew, and race officials for making this event another great success. We will be back again in 2019 and hope you will all join us for some great Sportsman racing. Ready for The Big One. 9th August: Colin Theobald has been in touch with the latest news from Nic Williams of Eurodragster.com sponsor OCS Paint who is contesting Stock Eliminator in the USA: Following on from a very successful fact-finding trip and our first event at Numidia Raceway, Pennsylvania in June where Nic progressed to round three, it is now time to pack the bags once again and head back to the USA to continue the Going Home tour. Our first update to carry out on the Camaro is the installation of our new Racepak - more news to follow on this - which will give us a huge amount of information that will allow us to tune the car to its maximum potential. We also have a new converter to install from A1 Transmissions and we would like to thank them for all of their help and support especially as we are their UK dealer. There are other tweaks here and there as well, but we know that some of our American friends will be reading this so not going to give all of the details here. Our next event is a Lucas Oil Division 3 event at the famous Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky, Bowling Green to all of us here in the UK, on 24th-26th August and then it's on to the big one. Our entry is confirmed for the biggest drag race meeting anywhere, the famous US Nationals at Indianapolis, where the entry in Stock Eliminator is capped at 180 and only 128 go through to eliminations. Current entry as of today is 145 and is expected to be over subscribed. We are under no illusion that this will be an easy task, as our earlier visit proved, but we have support and guidance from many of our new American friends especially PC Richards and Son with whom we look forward to meeting again. No trip and racing endeavour could be attempted without the support of our sponsors and partners, so a massive thank you to: Xpression Events: the UK's number one choice for live events and experiential marketing. Flightcase Warehouse: Specialists in design and manufacture of flight cases. Industries include music/audio, broadcasting and of course motorsport. Anglo American Oil Company: European agents for Joe Gibbs Racing Oil, widely regarded as engine builders' preferred choice. G23 Engineering: This ISO9001 accredited engineering company regularly work in sectors from top level motorsport and luxury automotive to aerospace, nautical and medical sectors. Knight Engine Services: A modern machine shop with the latest tools and equipment, services include cylinder head re-machining, crankshaft grinding, cylinder re-boring and honing. Sayers Motor Factors: Northampton-based and one of the UK's largest and longest established independent coatings suppliers. Xpertees: Northampton's prefered supplier of printed clothing items and anything else. Contact Mick Bell on 07702 611140. Snap-On Tools: Robin Smith is our area Snap On dealer and the chosen tool supplier at Williams Bros Racing. Contact number is 07958 700643, Robin covers the Northants area. Doug Tait design and visualisation: From leaflets to full campaigns and web sites, bringing your project ideas to life. Contact 01604 532006. BSI Transport: BSI offer all transport from next day pallets to European full or part load haulage. A1 Transmissions: We are the UK dealers for A1 Transmissions, their quality and service speaks for themselves. The only choice for WBR for Transmissions and torque converters. Contact us for more details. Racepak: Simplicity and perfection for data logging, WBR's chosen supplier. Tilburg Racing Engines. Massive thanks to Brian Tilburg not only for the superb engines but for all of his help with our adventures. We couldn't even consider doing all of this without the full support of our families and friends. Alix and Elaine Williams who let their husbands go off and play, Mum and Dad Adele and Keith Williams who are always there for us and continued support. Lorne Denny our Crew Chief who is always there for us, no matter where in the world we race. Colin Theobald for continued support with time and advice, and of course the whole of the OCS Group, massive thanks to each and every one of you for your hard work and extra effort. It has always been a dream to race in Stock Eliminator in the USA, never did we imagine we would get to compete at the US Nationals. We will be flying the flag for Santa Pod Raceway and will make sure that everyone knows about our home track. We will be proudly carrying the name on the car for all to see, many thanks to Santa Pod Raceway and SPRC for their support. Finally there is one person whom Nic needs to make a special mention, and that is Dan Williams. His attention to detail and exceptional tuning and preparation to the Camaro for the events is second to none, this is what has given us tremendous success with all of our cars. Wish us luck. FIA/FIM European Finals entry update. 8th August: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 3 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 6th-9th September and which is the final round of the FIA and FIM European Championships and a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships for some classes. You can check out the FIA/FIM European Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes this Friday, 10th August, after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a penalty fee. You can find the official entry form on the Information link of the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and if you have any queries about FIA/FIM European Finals entry then please get in touch with Ian on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail [email protected]. Maurischat's final tilt at the Five. 
8th August: German Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor
Marco Maurischat has announced that he is
to retire from racing and that his blown-alcohol '53 Corvette operation will be up for sale after next
week's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim:
Not many know that I started drag racing in 1991 with a VW Beetle running in ET Bracket. Sorry Jerry Lackey, you certainly had some sleepless nights because of my wild race car construction back then! I then had some really successful years racing in Super Comp and then Comp Eliminator with my blown Small Block A/Dragster and B/Dragster. When racing this combination we won many races, I am not sure but I think that we still hold a record in one of the Comp classes. 
After a short break to build the new car I started racing my '53 Pro Modified Corvette from 2008 to this day. Pro Mod was way more of a challenge
than I ever thought, also the change from a dragster to the fastest door cars on the planet, but it was the greatest time in my twenty seven years of drag
racing. These Pro Mod really are a handful to drive and it really takes some time to get it under your control. But when you pass that point it's so much
fun driving them. Even though we raced part time and on a small budget we had a really great time as a team.
One of our main goals was to dip into the five-second zone one day. We missed this by a few hundredths when we ran 6.03 at the last Tierp event, so we we'll have to try again at the upcoming NitroOlympX. As well as all the friends we have made at the track and in the pits I would like to thank my wife Nadine for letting me live my dream for all these years. A big Thank You also belongs to my team buddies: wthout you guys all this would never have happened. You are the best. Drag racing is a team sport; maybe the driver seems to be the hero, but that's not the truth and it's only superficially so. The guys under oil sump, changing bearings, sitting in the car doing the clutch, disassembling the engine again and again no matter when - you are the heroes because you guys keep these things running. Become a High Roller for less. 8th August: Paul Marston writes that the entry fee has been reduced for the Monster High Roller Bracket Race at Rockingham Drag Strip on Monday 27th August: To make it a more widely-appealing class we have reduced the entry fee for the bracket race to £100. This includes two gate entry tickets, entry into the competition, free RWYB all day and early entry to get pitted. It will affect the prize money a little but prize money is always entry-related so the more entries the more money. You can enter anything. Some racers have already entered in their daily drives or you can use a race car, it's up to you. If you have always wanted to try proper bracket racing, here is your chance. All you need is a UK driving licence and a crash helmet with a daily driver, if you don't have a crash helmet we can hire you one. So come and join in the fun, here is your chance - this is the very cheapest form of racing you will find anywhere, but be warned it can become habit-forming. Eighth-mile bracket racing is quite possibly one of the hardest Sportsman races to win and has long been considered so in the States. This is mainly because of the shorter distance involved, so the driver really has to be sharp and on their game. Plus the car has to be pretty good too, with such tight margins and less room for error it will certainly be one to look out for. Here in the UK we certainly have our fair share of really good bracket racers, so a good entry in this class will see some very exciting racing. That said it's just as likely that a complete novice can just have all the luck go their way and win it! But one thing is for sure, you have to be in it to win it. For entry forms and more details either Like our Facebook page Rockingham Dragstrip and message us, E-Mail [email protected], or call me on 07831 650230. SPRC seeking 15.1 wheels. 6th August: Ian Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club says that the Club are seeking one or two SFI 15.1-spec 16" rear wheels for use on the counter-rotator sled (aka Sled Zeppelin) at Santa Pod Raceway. If you have any 16" rear wheels of SFI spec 15.1 which you no longer need then please get in touch with SPRC at [email protected] or leave a message at 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). If you are outside the UK then drop-off could be arranged at Hockenheim where the SPRC team are currently working on track prep. Swift snippets. 6th August: Our good friend Remco Scheelings writes that the temperature of more than 33° was one of many records broken in the latest round of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship at Gardermoen. Sverre Dahl, Marcus Christiansen, Kalle Lyr&eavute;n and Mogens Lund were the winners in their respective categories, but Svein Olaf Rolfstad and Mathias Bohlin were also stars of a great third round of the Championship. Qualifying and elimination results and Championship standings can be found on the Dragracingeurope.eu web site, and a review and highlights can be checked out by clicking here. No news update yesterday (Sunday) so we were unable to say a big Happy Birthday to Lady Libby Mottershead. Hope you had a great day Libby and glad to hear that the card went down well. Celebrating her birthday today is SPR marshal Caroline Boncey; Happy Birthday with hugs Oscar, have a lovely day. Liam's progress. 
6th August: Eire's own Junior Dragster racer Liam McDonald's European Tour continues with a trip to Clastres last weekend.
Dad Graham writes:
With our booked flights threatened with a strike days before our departure we had to opt for rebooking through another flight company. This ended up costing us another €1000 but we couldn't miss the event as Liam is doing fairly well in both the French and German Championships at the moment, as well as seventh in the UK Championship and doing well in the Junior Dragster Internationals. Liam initially qualified number one but was finally pipped by French racer Hugo Lajoux. So on to eliminations and Liam went up against Maximillian Rygol. We changed our dial-in by five hundredths at the last minute but in the strong headwind dialled the wrong way. It was a close race with a finishing difference of only 0.007, and Liam cut an 0.01 light at that, but that's drag racing for you. Maximillian went on to the final but sadly redlit. Third place finalist went to Cheyenne Visser from Friesland with a new young French driver taking the win. 
Thanks again to Milwaukee Tools France for the beautiful prizes of power tools which were handed out with the trophies for first and second, really top-end
power tools in carry cases. Finally a big thanks to Association Trophée Dragster crew for a wonderful event.
Clastres is becoming a firm favourite for all who attend and at such a short distance from Calais it's not too far to travel. For the Juniors it's very cheap to enter which offsets the traveling costs. The different events and differing conditions in which we are racing, such as temperatures and altitudes, are improving our tuning knowledge and driver experience. So if you are considering giving European drag racing a go then we would strongly recommend Clastres in France as your first choice. Next up it's in Vichy France for the final French round in September. Web site updates. 6th August: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can take a look at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Robinson retains lead. 
4th August: Reining MSA British Drag Racing Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor
Andy Robinson continues to lead the points
in the 2018 Pro Mod Championship after no eliminations took place at Round 4, the Mopar EuroNationals at Santa Pod Raceway:
After missing the first qualifying round due to an issue with the brakes during the burnout, the Anger Management team quickly put themselves back into the number one spot with a 5.91/242 in the second qualifying session. In the last run of qualifying Andy recorded a slightly slower ET of 6.02 despite a substantial lift when the car got loose at mid-track. Unfortunately, the weather on race day did not allow for any eliminations to take place, and the entire day was called due to persistent rain. "It's a shame that the weather wasn't on our side this meeting as we wanted to increase our lead in the points and also attempt to improve on our 5.91 from qualifying, possibly dipping back into the 5.8s again", said Andy. 
By qualifying in the number one spot Andy managed to take home maximum qualifying points along with low ET points which has nudged his points
lead to twenty one. The team have also proved that they are a permanent fixture in the fives, running a five-second pass at every meeting this year.
The next meeting at which the Hampshire-based team will compete is the NitrOlympX in Hockenheim, Germany which takes place in mid-August. Andy and the team will be facing some strong competition with the best in Europe also attending this FIA event, however after his recent performance he too will be taken as a serious contender to take home the winner's trophy home. As always we would like to thank our sponsors and performance partners, NGK Spark Plugs UK, Torco Oils, Nimbus Motorsport, PAC Racing Springs, Aurora Rod Ends, Weld Racing, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Victory 1 Valves, Mike Janis Superchargers, Noonan Race Engineering, EZ Motorsports, Hoosier Tyre UK, PRS and Manton Rocker Arms. Also a huge thanks to the dedicated and hard working Anger Management crew! For more information on the Anger Management Pro Mod Drag Racing Team, please visit our Facebook page. European Top Gas Round 4 review. 
4th August: Herman Jolink writes that the latest round of the European
Top Gas Series took place at Drachten Drag Strip in The Netherlands last weekend:
The DHRA ran a very good event with 150 competitors in car and bike classes. A big OK for DHRA and Cary Kooper. There was some rain on Saturday but we had some qualifying sessions. Top Gas qualifying:
E1: Lymant 8.951/227, Schleichert stopped at the start; Buhler 8.972/246 def. Menzi left before the Tree ran; Albers 8.385/263 def. Caspari 8.458/248; Jolink 8.556/251 def. Malmberg 12.293/105. E2: Lymant 8.706/206 def. Buehler left before the Tree ran; Jolink bye, shut off after launch due to low revs, Albers did not start Final: Jorg Lymant D 8.368/228 def. Herman Jolink NL 8.789/225 shut off before the stripe. European Top Gas Championship:
Pateman the conqueror. 2nd August: The UK's Pateman Racing made the trip over to Clastres in France to race in Super Pro ET. It was a successful weekend for multiple UK Champion Brian Pateman: 
There was a massive storm on Friday night which wrecked many gazebos and awnings, also blowing over some of the portaloos. Things calmed down on Saturday but there was a lot of damage to sort out by the organisers. They did a great job and qualifying started around lunchtime. We found the track to be very good and put in five runs before the track closed 21:00. The track opened again at 09:00 on Sunday with two more qualifying runs available. When the dust settled Guillaume (Will) Clark had gone #1 of twenty three in Pro ET, Gamelle (Billy) Gane also up to #1 of nineteen in Super Pro ET. We managed #5 with a run of +0.006 on dial-in, fortunately on the other side of the ladder to Gamelle. Team UK all got through the first round but unfortunately not the second round. Pateman Racing was having an exceptional day after a pretty lame season so far. The first round was at 13:49 and the final round at 18:30, so a pretty quick turn round and very close racing. 
The final came down to a race between England and Germany in France. Oliver Petzold took the stripe by 0.001 (2.75 inches) but broke out by more than our own -0.007 break-out. We won the trophy and an excellent heavy duty Milwaukee nine-inch grinder and drill set from the event sponsors. Everyone likes heavy-duty tools! Thanks to Julie, Stef and Kyle for supporting me and thanks to Eric , the Dubois family and the rest of the team for making us feel welcome and for working like trojans to complete a smooth-running, fun event. Swift snippets. 2nd August: Having stripped the motor of his blown-alcohol altered, the UK's Paul Watson says that it would seem that the cause of his recent engine damage was failure of a wrist pin or piston. "We have damage on number two bore which could possibly take a liner, however we need to get the block checked out to make sure it's worth it", says Paul. "We are absolutely blown away by the support we have had. Our dream was to run a six-second pass and if we can find enough help and support we will do our best to achieve it". If you would like to help Paul then you can get in touch at [email protected]. 
Bianca Booij of The Netherlands' Pro Dutch Racing Pro Modified team has forwarded an account of Michel Tooren and team's weekend at the Mopar EuroNationals at Santa Pod Raceway. The Dutch-language PDF can be checked out by clicking here. Staying with the Mopars, many thanks to our good buddy and timing guru Andy Marrs for passing us the official Mopar EuroNationals timing data, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to our good friend and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Bob Roberts for forwarding us pictures of the Friday action in the Street Car Shootout at the recent Silverstone Classic: 
We would like to say a big Happy 18th Birthday to our good buddy James Humphreys of Santa Pod Racers Club's timing crew. Have a great day James. 
Many thanks to Mike Collins for sending us the usual preview of his column in the latest issue of Street Machine magazine, available if you are quick, plus bonus material exclusively for Eurodragster.com readers. Click on the images above for the PDF downloads. Bolts for the Bennetts. 2nd August: UK blown-alcohol altered team Bennett Racing are delighted to announce their latest sponsor ARP Automotive Racing Products. Luke Bennett writes: 
ARP Automotive Racing Products manufacturers fasteners for the racing industry, automotive aftermarket, industrial applications and aerospace projects.
Today, ARPs product line contains thousands of part numbers, and has expanded to include virtually every fastener found in an engine and driveline. These
range from quality high performance OEM replacement parts to exotic specialist hardware for Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA drag racing and
marine applications.
Nigel Atkinson, Head of European Operations, said "We're delighted to have our name associated with one of the most proactive and well-known drag racing teams in Europe. They have two phenomenal cars which are very exciting to watch." Bennett Racing are grateful to all at ARP and we're really looking forward to the future working with them. If you are on Facebook then head over to ARP's Facebook page for more information. Dragstalgia Pro Stock Bike review. 2nd August: Many thanks to Lizz Charman for co-ordinating and forwarding a review of Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike at Dragstalgia: Dan Blight and Tyne Blight: Having lost all our track time at the Retro Show we arrived at Dragstalgia blind, with the #157 bike which had never turned a wheel before and the #156 bike which hadn't been ridden since 17th October 2017, when it managed its best time of 8.80 with little ole me (Dan) behind the controls. Friday's testing allowed us to iron out some running issues with the Lectrons but only allowed us time to put one slow pass on the #157 bike. Saturday the track was sticky enough to dismantle trainers and throwing the clutch on the #157 revealed a flaw in the wheelie bars as the bike turned hard right so it was decided to park it up and concentrate on the #156 bike. 
Tyne rode all 3 of his socks off and ran PB after PB and made his way into the final with Andy Lambert, dropping a significantly important bolt as we pushed up to stage ended our weekend. Congratulations to Andy Lambert for deservedly taking the win, well done to Tyne for running his PB of 9.1/137 and Thank You to the whole nostalgia drag racing scene for making us feel so welcome, we look forward to next year already. Simon Lambert, Crew Chief, AML Racing (Andy Lambert and Charlie Draper): As Dragstalgia 2018 was the first event of the year which AML Racing managed to attend, Friday was a day of testing and learning. Both bikes were suffering from gremlins and in need of set-up. Comfortably Numb, NPSB 8 ridden by Andy Lambert, arrived at the event with a recent frame rake and new gearing to be tested. After a first run with the wheel bars set to showman heights adjustment were definitely in order. Wish You Were Here, AS102 ridden by Charlie Draper, hit the track for a first run of the day but unfortunately a short in the wiring resulted in a melted ignition system. Massive thanks to Nick Pepper at Suzuki Performance Spares for having a new one with us for 9:00 am on Saturday morning. A rewire later and it was time for eliminations. 
Andy qualified first with an 8.97/142.93 and Charlie qualified with a 10.49/114.20. Andy eventually moved on to the final against Tyne Blight. Andy won with a 9.03/142.94. Sadly that was a bye run as Tyne suffered a mechanical malfunction, a real shame as we all want to see great head-to-head racing pushing one another every step of the way. Both Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here suffered with gearing issues which can only mean great things to come in the future from both Kawasaki Zs. Andy Lambert, AML Racing: It was very hot. 
Kevin Charman on behalf of Lizz Charman: Usually it's my job to ride the bike and leave Lizzy to the PR and write the race reports,
but I thought I would give it a go. Due to real life and having to go to work, I couldn't make it to the track until Thursday evening.
By the time I got to Santa Pod the pit was set up. The girls had done a great job setting up the pit space and the caravans (thanks Nipper
for the tow). Just a small hiccup with fuel in the generator which was soon sorted out, and I made up for being late by buying the team a
Chinese take-away, we know how to live it up!
On Friday morning we had a look over the bike and fitted the wheelie bars. We then gave the bike a warm up and did a leak down test to get a starting point to work from while monitoring the engine condition, after the valve issues at the last Test Day. Down to the start line and the bike did not want to start, so back to the pits to investigate. We found the plugs were fouled and it was suggested that the ignition may not like the resistor plugs, so we raided my spare parts and a set of non-resistor plugs were gapped and fitted. This appeared to solve the problem. Back to the pairing lanes and set up for another run. Lizzy managed a burnout and up to the start line, where Chris was. We lined her up straight, and the phenomenal grip on the new track caught us out! The bike bogged, almost to the point of stalling at the hit then recovered and took off like a banshee from sixty feet, resulting in a messy 11.8/148, well ridden Lizzy! Fetched her from the top end, and back to the pits, where it was decided to raise the RPM a little and take some base pressure off the clutch. Sadly we missed the cut-off for any more testing. On Saturday morning we were called down for the first qualifier. With the reduced base pressure on the clutch and the slightly higher launch RPM we hoped that we would be OK to get a decent qualifier. I put Lizzy into the bleach box and intentionally left the tyre on the edge of the water, as she has a bit of trouble keeping two fingers on the brake, and cracking the throttle open in one swift movement. These man-size brutes are not designed for lady-sized hands, we will search out an adjustable lever. Chris kept Lizzy in the burnout a little longer than usual, until he saw some smoke off the tyre. Up to the start line, straightened, and when Lizzy put the bike onto the two-step it looked like it was trying to drag her through, but she managed to hold onto it and took off to a cleaner 9.45/149, giving her number two qualifier. Back to the pits and we went through the run with Lizzy, and discovered that the shift light wasn't working. Even though it lit when the ignition was turned on, it wasn't lighting up when the shift RPM was reached. This was traced, with help from Steve French and Dave Woodard, to faulty wiring at the ignition coils. We tried to find a solution to get the light back in action, but some diodes had been damaged so on the next pass Lizzy would have no shift light. I have had this myself as a rider, and this does mess with your head. We talked about different ways of making the burnout cleaner, and waited for a call for qualifier two. The call came and we headed down to the pairing lanes. Did the burnout with the tyre slightly off the water, the burnout looked a little hesitant, either due to not enough engine RPM or not dropping the clutch lever fast enough. Up to the start line, when Lizzy brought the RPM up onto the two-step the clutch dragged her through the start line before the tree had dropped. No time was recorded, no improvement this qualifier, and bumped down to fourth. At the top end we had a bit of fun. As well as managing to push Lizzy back as normal with my right foot on the wheelie bar we helped Nick Pepper, pushing him back with my left foot on his wheelie bar, one either side of the moped, quite impressive! But for two drag racers, they wouldn't stay in a straight line, and nearly split my difference a couple of times! Back in the pits we knew we had to make some changes to the clutch. We needed a bigger air gap so had to reduce the clutch pack height. Back to raiding my spares, Chris and I with advice from Allan Davies and Dave Buttery - I don't do lock-ups, sliders are the way to go! We managed to find a new pack of used plates by measuring every plate in the spares box. We got within 0.2 mm of where it needed to be. To make sure we got a good burnout for the last shot, we decided that a nostalgia burnout against the Tower would be out best chance (thanks Gipp). Qualifier number 3 was dropped, so no last shot at qualifying. We were still in fourth place out of ten bikes. Tomorrow we would be straight into eliminations against Richard Peachy. On Sunday we were called down for the first elimination run, the burnout against the tower worked pretty well! The clutch was not dragging this time. I put Lizzy into first gear, and as she pushed into stage, her head shook. When we checked the throttle it was stuck closed. We took solace that the throttle had stuck shut on the start line, rather than open at the finish line at 150 mph. That was us out. The bike has a few teething issues to iron out, and I'm sure it will be a contender, and should be well into the eight-second zone. Thanks to Claire Rule for the bike and all who helped us out over this testing but enjoyable weekend. 
Richard Peachy: I was struggling with getting the clutch set up for the sticky track, so my first couple of qualifying runs
caused the bike to stall. But we made good progress and managed to get the bike working for the first round of eliminations, where
we went through with a 10.8 which is a significant improvement. A quick clutch adjustment before the second elimination round caused
an oil leak on the start-line, so the bike had to retire. All in all a great weekend with lots more to come from the bike (and rider)
Gary Clarke: Two years lay-off and my hand was being forced into running again. It's time to come back!
After being Europe's fastest normally-aspirated H2 750 for a few years, running consistent 9.0s but not breaking into the eights,
I now find myself now fourth fastest as others have run 8.85 and 8.9s. So Mark "Nipper" Stevens suggested running in the new Nostalgia
Pro Stock bike class, which is perfect for me and my newly acquired 750 H2 drag bike.
I only ran the bike once last year due to other commitments, and that was short lived as we got rained off. Dragstalgia 2018 was the ideal opportunity to get my leg over a bike again with other similar bikes running in the same class. The bike itself gave mixed feedback as I am testing an untried lock-up clutch system which works inside a stock cover and although it's been tested on the dyno it hasn't been on the track so there is no marker to work from! The Friday Test and Tune went OK. I managed one decent run of 10.05/133 but broke an outer clutch plate. This was easily fixed in readiness for Saturday qualifying but I hadn't realized that the push rod had welded itself to the ball actuator, damn! When I finally got back on the well-prepped and super smooth track the bike hooked up great, but this motor has a high RPM power band (two stroke) between 8000 and 9600 and I was trying to launch too gently as the clutch was a unknown quantity. The launch rev limiter was raised 6K, which was still too low as the bike bogged on the line, I still managed a 10.0 on Saturday but this run was a 11.2 with an embarrassing 2.45 sixty foot. This is a long way off my old times as I used to run 1.27s. After more thought I had one last run on the Sunday and the two-step launch rev limiter was still too low; it needs to be nearer the 7700 rpm area. Unfortunately I got knocked out so didn't have chance to release the bikes full potential. I've already started collecting parts for next year's motor as I will be going back to Reed motor and slider clutch which proved a winning combination in the past and with hope of getting my record back. All in all great event and already looking forward till next year. Ralf Schipmann (also wins the award for the furthest travelled for the shortest seat time!): Dont know if I have anything interesting to tell... Four runs, poor times - always struggle with launch. Engine blown up in waterbox when prepairing for fifth run Sunday morning. So after all less than forty five seconds in total ridden on the bike. But 1100 miles and two ferry journeys made in the van. I must be crazy. But I enjoyed the weekend and I will come over again next year. 
Mark "Nipper" Stevens: I decided to sit out the Friday RWYB as was confident that I had cured the electrical problems I
had had in the past after finding a loose wire. So Saturday arrived and off we went to the lanes.
Burnout all good, pre-stage, stage on two-step, green, Go! But not in this case. I released the button but stayed on the two-step. Not good. Back in the pits adjusted the launch RPM of the two-step then back to the lanes for another try Nope, still the same, I also noticed that the shift light was not working either. It was decided to disconnect the shift light and not use the two-step for the last run of the day. Unfortunately due to time restrictions that was cancelled. In Sunday's first round of eliminations I was against Ralf who unfortunately broke in the burnout box. On this run I launched without the two-step or shift light and short-shifted but managed a 9.56/138. At least now I was going in the right direction. In the next round I was against Tyne and I knew it was going to be a close race. Tyne went into stage and on to the two-step. The noise of that beast popping and banging must have messed with my head as I just opened the throttle and shot off resulting in a red light, big time, oops. Hopefully I can sort the gremlins out for next time. Great fun and massive thanks to my crew and everyone else. 
Nick Pepper: Leading up to Dragstalgia I was very unsure of how we would perform. Since installing a new engine for last year's
Dragstalgia the bike had suffered shifting issues under load. We had checked everything we could think of, asked the great and the good
of the transmission world for advice, yet still at the June Retro Show the bugs were still there. The night before loading up for
Dragstalgia I spotted a possible issue with the front mount for the air shifter ram. That changed, off we went to the Pod for the RWYB
on Friday.
The first pass, although with a bad bog off the line, showed all for shifts to be there! Happy days! On Saturday we were temporarily top of the pile with our best ET so far of 9.32/141. A terrible sixty foot with the bike pogoing through first. For the second pass we made some changes, the wrong way, even worse off the line, so back the other way. In Sunday's E1 we were back with a 9.37/141 but still needed to address the launch. For E2 we sorted the pogo by raising tyre pressure significantly and taking some clutch out. Unfortunately I red lit... brain fade... rust... D'oh! Anyway I am looking forward to the next round, hopefully with some more progress now that we have a solid baseline with which to work. I would like to thank my sons Rob and Craig for crewing. They hadn't been racing since we raced and won the ACU Pro Stock series in 2002. 
Sean Biddlecombe: Dragstalgia for me = fun family outing, the bike's first outing in nearly three years!
Friday was spent making borrowed (now bought) wheelie bars fit. This involved much cutting, filing, grinding, and the theft of Willow's skateboard wheels to finish them off. This was only achieved through help from nearly everyone in the Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike pit, thanks guys! On Saturday a swollen clutch on first run meant that I had to hold the brake on the line, and an OK 10.8. The second run was no better, with a weird bog at top of first gear. But the highlight of weekend was when we discovered that we had qualified for the top eight eliminator. In Sunday's first round against Charlie Draper the bike finally worked properly. A nice burnout which made the Dragstalgia highlights video and left on Charlie by 0.05 seconds, but the tired old Metzler Rroad tyre spun up about twenty or thirty feet out. Rusty Rider then short-shifted not once but twice by mistake, but still resulted in our best time and speed of the weekend of 10.80/129 but not enough for Charlie's 10.49. It was great fun, can't wait for next year! Ready to shake the salt. 2nd August: UK Land Speed racer Geoff Stilwell says that work has been at a fever pitch at the 7707 Salt Shaker race headquarters at the Lippencotte Speed Shop in Burbank: Mr 400 (Al Teague) is now part of the team and spent a weekend at the workshop helping to install the 482 cu in KB Hemi. The motor should have been in a month ago but we had issues with a block repair which have at last been resolved. Anyway, during the motor assembly we discovered an issue with the inlet rockers. So I made a trip down to see Eric Hansen at Stage V Engineering who very kindly made me a complete set of billet rockers overnight and I picked them up in less than twenty four hours from ordering them. We now have Stage V Inlet and Stage V exhaust rockers and boy do they look pretty! 
The heads are now on, complete with the Isky cam and Isky Lifters which Ed oversaw the installation of. As you can see in the pictures the motor is now installed and the blower etc has yet to be fitted. In another change we have altered how we start the car having elected to set it up where we clip on the starter motor to the top blower pulley, just like a Top Fuel Dragster, which makes starting the motor a lot easier than as before. In addition I had my seat fitting and aside a few minor changes it's all good. 
So how are we going to get there? Well, we have our new trailer which is thirty six feet long and I am just waiting on the artwork for the vinyl wrap on both sides. It will say Lucas Oil Land Speed Racing in red, white and blue with the US and British flags combined. Should look really nice when we are on the road. The salt looks and is amazing this year and I just hope that it stays that way. With over five hundred competitors from around the world it is going to be extremely busy. I will keep you up to date as things happen but please follow us on our Facebook page. FIA/FIM European Finals entry update. 1st August: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 6th-9th September and which is the final round of the FIA and FIM European Championships and a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships for some classes. You can check out the FIA/FIM European Finals entry list by clicking here. Entry closes next Friday, 10th August, after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a penalty fee. You can find the official entry form on the Information link of the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and if you have any queries about FIA/FIM European Finals entry then please get in touch with Ian on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail [email protected]. Earlier news |
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