Private Test Day on offer. 31st March: Top Methanol Dragster tuner and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna and UK Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis have organised a Private Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Wednesday 25th May. Will says that other racers are welcome to attend this Private Test Day, with the stipulation that they must also have entered the Pro Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod on Thursday 26th May. For more information please get in touch with Will at [email protected]. Roll the dice, be a gambler! 31st March: Have you ever been tempted to roll the dice, but at a motorsport event held at a drag strip? Well, the opportunity is here at a series of ET Bracket Gamblers Races being staged at Warwickshire's Shakespeare County Raceway in 2011. The main aim of the series is to entice wannabe racers into a Bracket Race scenario but without the pressures of a full-on National event. Held from April to October, the ET Bracket Race series are held during the race track's Public Track Day Sundays. You simply roll up, pay the admission and RWYB Track Fee, and an extra £10 which goes into the day's prize fund for the winner and runner-up. There are also trophies and goodie bags from some of the track's supporters. The more entrants the bigger the prize pot! Anything goes in this series from daily drivers to hot rods, Yanks, trucks, race cars anything. If it gets popular then there could be a class for bikes too! Dependent upon track conditions, two 'Dial for Pounds' qualifying sessions will be held so that you can get close to your predicted for the quarter mile. The nearer to dial-in you are, the further up the eight- or sixteen- car ladder you get. Then it's into race mode with handicapped starts making for thrilling close finishes to the thousandths of a second at the stripe. If you get to the finish line first but run quicker than your dial-in, well, tomorrow's another day! National Championship racers Geoff Cowley and Brian Huxley have fully endorsed the series and are regular competitors. "We went last year to race the Gamblers and I must say what a great time we had", says Brian. "It was well-organised and run smoothly considering they had lots going on and loads of Run What You For a start it's cheap at £10 entry. You need a helmet, DVLA licence, and a vehicle of some sort - and that's what I like about it, you can run any car you want. It's run on a Sportsman Tree and properly staggered against the faster car. You also get two qualifiers on a Sportsman Tree. The track is prepped and we had some good racers running; names like John Mulligan of Quarter Pounder fame, Phil Evans' Singer Vogue - these guys haven't raced for twenty years - Ian Jackson and Geoff Cowley plus lots of people who have never raced before. Even Tog from Eurodragster.com fame has been seen there (Yes, and I managed to make it rain purely by driving down the pairing lanes - Ed)." The 2011 season of Bracket Races commences at Shakespeare County Raceway at 10:00 am this Sunday, 3rd April, then Sundays 17th April, 1st May, 12th June, 24th July, 2nd October and 16th October and a special winners' race on October 30th at the Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up. Further information and sign-up forms can be found on the Download page of SCR's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com or join us on our dedicated Facebook page at SCR ET Bracket Gamblers Race. Come and test your reactions, your car and your competitive spirit - see you at the strip! Swift snippets. 31st March: Swedish Pro Modified racer Roger Johansson will be starting the season in a Corvette formerly raced by the Kath Brothers rather than his new Mustang under construction at All In Race Cars. Thanks to our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson for letting us know that you can check out pictures of the Corvette and its gargantuan 900+ ci motor on the MSS Motorsport Facebook page. Thanks, too, to Gerry Treit for sending these pictures of two new cars which will be coming out to play all the way from Scotland. "Guess which classes they'll be running in?", he says. The OA on the Pop may be a clue but we'll take a stab at Super Gas for the Willys. We look forward to welcoming the new recruits and their beautiful cars. Lawrie Gatehouse writes that his Chaos Fuel Altered is 98% ready. "We expect to test soon", says Lawrie. "New chassis, new parts and new crew, it should be interesting..." FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher's Custom Bike shop had a visit from DTM Audi driver Martin Tomczyk on Tuesday. Martin, who is also a keen bike rider and owns a Harley, took a ride on the Erbacher One bike and having just moved to Urs' home town of Arlesheim we suspect that will not be the last outing. Congratulations to Maltese Super Street Bike racer Simon Giordmaina and his wife Graziella on the birth of their son Jayden who arrived on Monday. Mother and baby are fine and are already back at home. European fans have a couple of racers to cheer on this weekend as Swedish Pro Mod racer and Speedgroup CEO Micke Gullqvist is contesting Pro Mod at the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas, whilst ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting Pro Fuel at the IHRA Nitro Jam at San Antonio. Micke is in action tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday whilst Mike is in action tomorrow and Saturday and you will be able to stay in touch courtesy of our colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. Work starts at York. 31st March: Pennine Drag Racing Club Chair Al Perkins writes that the first of two Work Parties took place at the UK's York Raceway last weekend: To be honest the winter hasn't been as harmful as many had expected. We got to work with the usual spring cleaning, as York is on a working farm we have to contend with weeds anywhere that seed settles. We gave everthing a fresh coat of paint and did some work on the Armco and fencing. The next work day is on Sunday 17th April. All are welcome, we've never turned anyone away! Our first meeting takes place over the Easter weekend. On Easter Sunday, 24th April, we have the 16th Annual Mini Beetle shoot out. With Minis from British Leyland to BMW, from standard to highly tuned, with Honda VTECs, motorbike engines or even twin-engined. Beetles from the street and drag racing worlds putting down time and speeds that should never be possible with a car designed seventy years ago. With a few campers for good look. The day starts with qualifying, Minis won't be able to run against the Beetles until qualifying is done.  Then at around 3:00 pm the main event, the Minis will queue up along side the Beetles, then fired down the quarter mile two by two, each win counts as a point. Can the reigning champions (the Minis) hold of the Beetles for another year? York Raceway is also going to hold its first ever rolling burnout competition on Easter bank holiday. Participants will be encouraged to drag their burnouts across the startline or to keep it in for as long as possible. There is no restriction to the type of vehicle. No pressure to burst the tyre, the perfect opportunity to send off an old pair of tyres or to bed in a new set. This competition is not about sitting stationary and seeing who can burst their tyres first, this is about style, panache and more importantly skill.   On Easter Monday we have the first round of the Modders/ Tuners championship, which is RWYB with a difference. Cars are grouped in classes of similar power to provide much closer and competitive take on the traditional RWYB with trophies for fastest in each class and quickest reaction time. Air-Cooled Eliminators have their first round, the Beetles from the day before race in their own drag racing Championship, another chance to see 50+ year old cars running faster than mass-produced cars of today. A Test and Tune for our Northern Drag Racing  Championship cars giving us a sneaky glimpse, expect to see some big loud ground shaking Yanks to slightly quieter Street Sleepers and maybe a few Hot Rods for good look. You can find out more at www.york-raceway.co.uk. Racer deadlines approaching. 30th March: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to remind racers wishing to contest the 2011 UEM Funny Bike Cup that they should register and pay the registration fee thirty days before the first event which they plan to attend. The registration fee cannot be paid at the track. "There are ten entries for the Funny Bike Cup round at Kunmadaras in Hungary, but I have only received five registration forms so far and the thirty-day deadline is almost here", says Geoff. "If you do not register for the Cup then you will not be eligible for travel, qualifying or round money." You can download the registration form by clicking here. Please note that registration for the UEM Funny Bike Cup should be sent to Trakbak Racing and not to Speedgroup. You can read more about this year's UEM Funny Bike Cup on our news update of 12th March. Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to remind racers that this coming Friday, 1st April, is the deadline for standard-rate entry to the Autotrader Easter Thunderball. Entries which arrive after Friday, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry fee. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Paula has kindly sent us Version 6 of the official Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry list which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about entry to the Easter Thunderball or any other event at SPR then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Poutiainen aims for top spot. 30th March: Finnish UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Risto Poutiainen thinks that the 2010 was a little too exciting, looking back to the crash of his new dragster at Alastaro. However Risto has recovered from the disappointment and is looking forward to the coming season. We must thank our good buddy Markus Münch of der Beschleuniger for forwarding us the English-language version of the below. "After ending up second for two years in a row I feel very confident of winning the FIA title in 2011", says Risto. "My best time last year for the quarter mile was 4.76 seconds and my best speed was 513.7 kmh (319 mph - Ed). "We are running the whole FIA tour, of course, and most likely in exhibition at Kunmadaras as well as at the Easter Thunderball and Tierp in Sweden. My new Hadman dragster will be ready in a few weeks' time and I will continue with the same wonderful dream team and the brilliant Rune Fjeld as my Crew Chief. Lots and lots of new state-of-the-art stuff has already come from Nitro Alley in USA and put together in our workshop at Santa Pod. The 2011 Bad to the Bone dragster is equipped with a one-piece carbon fibre body (Very nice too, but Rune requested no photos - Ed). It's gonna be fast..." A German-language version of this news item will shortly be available at www.der-beschleuniger.de. 'Blood's doing it! 30th March: Further to our Swift Snippet of 14th February famed American drag racing artist Kenny Youngblood has confirmed that he will be making his UK début at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 27th-30th May. Kenny will be based in the pit of Eurodragster.com sponsor MPM Oil UK and he will be appearing with US personality "Trackside Tina" Pettet. The duo work together at many NHRA events in the States. Kenny, whose involvement in drag racing began in 1966, is celebrating his colourful career with the Blood Did It 45th Anniversary World Tour. "My friends called me "Blood" so, back in the sixties, I started signing the cars I worked on as Blood Did it", says Kenny who was the first artist to specialise in motorsports full time designing, hand painting and ultimately doing fine art portraits of dozens of America's top drag machines. He's been called the Father of Modern Day Race Car Graphics and is considered an icon in the industry. English race fans will not only have the opportunity to meet Kenny, but to get a sample of his artwork as well as he'll be hand colouring, personalising and giving away drawings commemorating his trip to Santa Pod. "But that's not all", adds Kenny, "I can't wait for the British fans to meet Trackside Tina: she's beautiful, knowledgeable and will charm their socks off." "I'm fortunate to have been able to be involved in many forms of racing, and honoured to work closely with racing legends like Kenny" says Tina, whose combination of charm and racing savvy have put her in great demand; she's on the road 180 days a year as a full time "spokesmodel" and product specialist. In addition, because of her many years of race experience, inside contacts and involvement, Tina is a Nascar podcaster as well as a regular, on-air personality for the Chicago-based Jerry's Garage Talk radio show and comcast. You can find Kenny's web site at www.youngbloodart.com. SCR open to Gamblers and all. 30th March: It's time to blow out those winter cobwebs, throw the dust covers off, and get to Stratford-Upon-Avon's Shakespeare County Raceway for the first Public Track Days of the season this coming Saturday and Sunday (2nd-3rd April). With interest rapidly growing the track will be running its season-opening Gamblers' Bracket supported by Piston Apparel and American Car Magazine. For an extra £10, added to the prize fund, the Gamblers' Bracket consists of qualifying and eliminations all run to a dial-in format. Also on the cards will be the National Sprint Association opening round of the Southern Championship for classic and modern sprint bikes. Clubs attending include the Volvo Performance, Supra mkvi Owners and a group of Mazda RX7 racers from Scotland. The weekend also features the start of the new Honda Drag Series. It's also a Test and Tune Weekend for the Junior classes in both Bikes and Dragsters. Gates open from 6:00 pm Friday ready for track opening time at 10.00 am each day subject to the usual conditions. Admission is £12 per person each day and the RWYB Track Fee is £20 per day or £35 for the weekend. Please remember your driver's licence and bring a crash helmet. Further details can be found on the Shakespeare County web site and Facebook pages or call 01789 720180. See you at the strip! SFI Tour finishes. 29th March: The 2011 European SFI Recertification Tour made its last stop at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday (Monday). Arnie Kuhns, Murf McKinney, Tim Hyatt and Andy Robinson were joined by Geoff Martin, Mark Norton and Graham Motler of the UK Tech Committee who inspected a couple of race cars including the rebuilt chassis of the Chaos Fuel Altered. The number of items inspected on the SFI Tour is a good indicator of the health of European drag racing. At the end of the day at Santa Pod, the number of items inspected was a little higher than in 2010. There was also an increase in the numbers of items inspected in Finland and Sweden whilst the number of items inspected in The Netherlands was the same as in 2010, although some items which would normally be inspected on that stop were sent to the UK this year. So the total number of items inspected in Europe was up on 2010. We have updated our 2011 SFI Tour gallery with some pictures taken at yesterday's SFI Day at Santa Pod including the picture at right which tells you all you need to know about the point of the SFI programme – the inside of a Top Methanol Dragster bellhousing after containing a disintegrating clutch. You can check out our SFI Tour gallery from The Netherlands (courtesy Remco Scheelings), Sweden (courtesy Åsa Kinnemar and Jöran Persåker) and the UK by clicking here or by clicking on the picture at right. SFI Tour pit notes. 29th March: Whilst at the SFI Day at Santa Pod Raceway we managed to grab a word with a number of racers, which we present in the order in which we managed to grab our the victims. Dusty Laugher told us that wife and, by the sound of it, soon to be Super Pro ET racer Deborah Laugher had run 9.02/151 in their Miss-Guided Plymouth Arrow at Santa Pod last weekend. "Now she wants to run an eight!", said Dusty. "We will up the launch revs to run a quicker sixty foot time." Steve Turner confirmed that the Turner Motorsport team will only be fielding their Top Methanol Funny Car in 2011. The FC's body is currently being rubbed down before a new colour scheme is applied. "We are working on the design at the moment", said Steve. Ollie Burn told us that Terry-Ann White will be testing in The Mob Fuel Altered before Easter to complete her licencing passes. "Terry-Ann has done everything right so far and she does what I tell her", he said. "She shut off before the eighth on her last pass - in one of those cars it is not easy to see the eighth and everything happens so fast". Ollie added that his new altered, a Model T pickup-bodied car named Komodo Dragon, is coming along as time allows. "The chassis is done", he said. "The bodies are not easy to find but Jason and Roy Phelps said that they would do a body from scratch if necessary. The motor will be a Donovan and I am looking forward to getting it out on the track." Wayne Allman is planning to run his wild blown-alcohol Volkswagen pickup when commitments to customers' cars allow. In the meantime a casual web search using information on the original pickup's log book allowed Wayne to trace one of its previous owners. "I managed to contact the son of the second owner and he said that his dad used to use it to drive around his farm!", said Wayne. "I have sent him a picture of it. Ironically the family work with horses and there are plenty of those in the pickup now!" Next in the inspection queue was blown-alcohol altered racer Joe Bond who said that he was looking forward to everything kicking off in a few weeks' time. "The motor is the same as it was after its last run, just freshened", he said. "I'll take more of the same, more sixes!". The Nuthin' Fancy altered has a new front end arrangement courtesy of Wayne Allman. "The front has been cut down, it has a new fuel tank, and a front grille which was Wayne's idea", said Joe. "It looks a lot more nostalgic". Planning to return to the Pro Mod wars at Easter is Steve Hall whose 526 ci KB-powered 'Vette is now black as featured in the spy picture on Saturday's news update. "We are ninety nine per cent ready - we have more to do on the truck than on the car now", said Steve. "It has taken us a couple of years to get the car together. It was an Outlaw Pro Mod when we imported it from the USA and it has cost a fortune to get it to spec. So far I have done some launches and sort runs and I plan to finish my licencing at the start of the Easter Thunderball. We will try to tune the car as much as we can ourselves. It's got a good computer on it. Steve Large is my Crew Chief and we have had good advice from Andy Robinson". Steve added that a new chassis is under consideration to make the car lower. "We're sure that we can drop the car five or six inches just by building a new chassis", he said. "Steve Large will build the new chassis and we will use as much as we can off this car." Gary Kay said that as soon as the parts under inspection were put back on daughter Jayne Kay's Super Pro ET Funny Car the motor would be ready to fire "And the neighbours can bring their cameras over!". The Avenger now has a three-speed, whose previous owner had only made eight runs on it, as well as a new blower pulley set-up. "Jayne needs to run a 9.0 to get her licence", said Gary, "and I've done the numbers and think that she should be able to run 8.7 with this new three-speed without having to nail it hard. As well as some Super Pro ET dates we also plan to run with the Supercharged Outlaws...if we could put an altered body on it we would!". Gary joked that he would await E-Mails from readers with spare altered bodies reading that last sentence. Top Fuel Dragster Team Owner Rune Fjeld told us that Risto Poutiainen's then-new chassis badly damaged in the crash at Alastaro last year has been rebuilt by Eurodragster.com sponsor Hauser Race Cars. We were kindly allowed a peek at the chassis in Rune's unit at Santa Pod and it looked in tip-top condition. Currently being front-ended at the workshops of Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering is the orange and black dragster driven last season by Janne Ahonen and Shelley Pearson. Antti Horto of Finland's Eagle Racing will be licencing in this dragster at Santa Pod in May and it is planned that Antti will then drive the car at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro at the end of June. "I don't yet know how much more use that car will have this season", said Rune. Finland's Jari Halinen is signed up to contest the entire FIA Tour again this season and his dragster was also looking good in Rune's unit. Rune added that he has done most of his parts shopping for this season. UK Pro Mod racer Graham Ellis of Eurodragster.com sponsor Rak Chang Thai Restaurant will be fielding two cars this season. His familiar Superbird now sports a twin-turbo motor prepared by longtime Eurodragster.com supporter ICE Automotive and will be driven by Nick Davies. "The Superbird is in good shape", said Graham. "The motor is in final build, the trans is being built as we speak, and the rear axle is going back in the car. We have the scoop back from Dale at DRE and it is going for painting. We plan to have it running at ICE before Easter and then bring it to the race. Things are going very smoothly for Rob Loaring, Nick and I - in fact we think they are going too smoothly! Progress will be slow and measured because we want to develop it properly - you can thrash it and end up with a pile of bits but we can't afford to break it". Graham added that there are "No dramas" with his blown-alcohol 'Cuda. "We've got all the parts", he said. "The next job is to have it wrapped and Paul Foote will be doing that at the weekend." Apologies or congratulations to Lindsay Deuchar (Top Methanol Dragster), who was last heard planning to make a very welcome return at the Easter Thunderball, and to Steph and Dave Milam (Top Methanol FC) all three of whom managed to escape before we could grab them...enjoy it while you can guys, Simon knows where your pits are. Swift snippets. 29th March: László Szabó writes that a promotional video is now on-line for the first round of the UEM European Drag Bike Championships and FIA Invitational which takes place at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 28th April-1st May. The excellent HD video is available on Vimeo at vimeo.com/21407232 and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGMpau9je5c. Bennett Racing are pleased to announce the completion of the first batch of titanium starter dogs (right). The dogs are made of Grade 5 titanium and come in at £175 each. A super light version is available upon request. For more information contact Luke Bennett at [email protected]. "Has-been Pro Mod racer" (unquote) Ray White would be pleased to hear from anyone with space in a shipping container from the US or Canada as he has a pressurised cooling unit which he needs to bring in to the UK and which cannot be flown. If you can help then please drop Ray a line at [email protected]. For Easter, read faster! 29th March: The UK's Phil Pratt, who is making the step up to 8.50 Bike, would like to say a huge Thank You to Webster Race Engineering who have come on board with PBM Racing and will be providing much-needed support to the team for the 2011 season. "We suspect that nobody in the world of British drag racing needs an introduction to Jon and the services he and his team of experts provide", says Phil, "but, just in case, check out their web site at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk. "The PBM team would also like to extend massive thanks to Mark Fisher of Greenhill Racing in Corby, for his fantastic 'drop everything' attitude and support, it really is much appreciated. One additional Thank You must go to Jamie Sneddon...there'll be a few beers on us at Easter - cheers mate! "Bring on Easter - let's get this season started!" Looks good enough to run... 29th March: UK photo-journalist, graphic designer, and modeller extraordinaire Mark Gredzinski has been in touch with a picture of his latest masterpiece: a 1/16 scale Funny Car motor. "It depicts a typical circa 1972 motor based on a Hemi in Barry Setzer's first-generation Vega flopper", says Mark. "It started out as discarded components from a Revell Funny Car kit build-up donated from my photographer pal Roger Gorringe. He would have originally made the kit around the early to mid 1970s.  I utilised twenty of the kit parts and added over 270 of my own manufacture from styrene, wire and solder.  "The idea was to make as accurate a replica as possible, correcting most of the flaws in the kit components while adding complete fuel, oil and ignition systems.  Many hours of research went on working out things like fuel shut-off levers and fuel line routing. The sixteen individual steel port and injector hat lines were predictably difficult to do, as were the fuel distribution blocks of which two were needed, each only 5 mm across utilising fifteen parts.  "New techniques had to be learned such as making my own simulated anodised hose fittings. Making a realistic blower belt was a trial.  In the end, I soldered together a shaped brass strip and made individual half round teeth with seventy three parts in all. "The whole thing is very much a prototype and will be plumbed into my Funny Car chassis. Many of the master parts will be cast in polyurethane resin using silicone moulds after revamping. I've done some prototypes already in preparation for future models and only when I'm happy that the components are accurate will I possibly sell them in the future to discerning modellers. The next one will be better as there are still flaws in the accuracy and execution of this model." Feature: 2011 March Meet. 27th March: The latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport is a report by Eurodragster.com reader David Knight of last weekend's first attempt at the 2011 March Meet at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. You can check out David's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. SFI Tour gallery. 27th March: The 2011 European SFI Inspection Tour made its Swedish stop yesterday at Persåkers Speed Shop in Åkers Styckebruk where owner and Top Fuel Dragster racer Jöran Persåker was showing off his new look (right). Jöran and Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar kindly sent us some pictures from yesterday's SFI Day and we have combined these with Remco Scheeling's pictures from the stop in the Netherlands to make up a gallery which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the picture at right. Tomorrow we will add to this gallery with shots from the Tour's UK stop at Santa Pod Raceway. Event entry update. 26th March: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us Version 5 of the official entry list for April's Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes next Friday, 1st April; entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Paula adds that entry forms for all events at Santa Pod Raceway are now available on the SPRC web site. If you have any queries about entry to the Easter Thunderball or any other event at SPR then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Big year for Junior Bikes. 26th March: Sharron Collier writes that 2011 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet for the UK's Junior Drag Bike class: We have our official five-round championship at Shakespeare County Raceway and for the first time we have two additional individual events at Santa Pod Raceway. The Big Bang and VP Racing Fuels National Finals are to be run as standalone events; both are pre-entry only and have full qualifying and eliminations, with trophies and vouchers for the winners. Hopefully this will be a great spectacle for Santa Pod and something we can build on for 2012. The class is growing fast, with three new riders for this season. We are also pleased to say that as well as Eurodragster.com and the King Racing web sites (many thanks guys), Gary Larsen has agreed to post reports from our meetings on his web site Stripbike.com. Thanks Gary! Joining us in this very exciting year are a number of companies and individuals who are posting sponsorship. We will have a hospitality area in the Junior Drag Bike pits for any of our sponsors to come and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and be part of the unique fun and family atmosphere that is JDB. We are very pleased to be teamed with IM Photography, GLS Engineering, Glyn Sainsbury, Mitech Systems, High Signs and Graphics, Hogbitz and Projoint Custom Fabrications. Many thanks to all of these for their enthusiasm and interest in Junior Drag Bike, we are sure you will all have a great time advertising with us this year. Here at JDB we like to give the kids a holistic racing experience. We don't just care about the eighth mile they race on the track, we also teach them life skills such as sportsmanship, resilience and determination, and we are currently working on putting in place small presentations to be given to the kids on the Saturday evenings at each JDB event. Subjects such as internet safety and vehicle maintenance are currently being organised, with more in the pipeline. We have been contacted by people in the USA who are hoping to copy our format and put it in place there. We have many American and European friends on our Facebook page, some of whom would be interested in coming over to race with us if we could make our idea a reality and organise a European Junior Drag Bike meeting. Already we are thinking of next year and beyond! 2011 is going to be a great year for Junior Drag Bike. We are so pleased and proud that it has come this far, and we know that each and every one of the people involved in the class this season will have a truly enjoyable season. Keep an eye on our web site at www.juniordragbike.co.uk and you can also find us on Facebook. Swift snippets. 26th March: Before sending his ex-R2B2 Camaro home to Sweden, Speedgroup CEO Micke Gullqvist has decided to contest Pro Mod at next week's NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came without any words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. The board of Speedgroup had a conference in the last couple of days which including a guided tour to Tierp Arena led by Leif Andréasson. Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar tells us that the height of the grandstands is pretty impressive. "In this picture Åsa Andréasson and I look like tiny ants and Svein Olav Rolfstad was not even at the top of the grandstands!", she says. Pictured above right are Svein Olav Rolfstad, Micke Gullqvist, Ulf Leanders, Gunnar Janson (Chairman of the board), Dave Wilson, Leif Andréasson and Carl Holgersson. Andy and Kim Haley have asked us to say a big Happy 10th Birthday to their son James Haley. Our pleasure guys, have a great day James. Celebrating his birthday at Tierp yesterday was UK Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson, hope you had a good day Grumpy. Further to our news item Miss Bury of Super Pro ET of 18th March, UK Super Pro ET racer Jayne Kay tells us that the text vote for Miss Professional is now open and that if you wish to vote for her then please text 10jayne to 84205. EU tyre ban update. 26th March: Steve Wallace of the Association of Car Enthusiasts says that his colleague Russ Filer has been researching the EU ban on tyres containing Aromatic Oils (also known as PAH), and that it would appear that drag slicks are safe: There have been numerous changes to the regulations governing tyre manufacture and supply recently and this will be continuing through until 2020. By far the most more worrying change is that there has been an introduction, from Jan 2010, of a ban on all tyres containing Aromatic Oils, also known as PAH, which are considered to be carcinogenic. This has created a situation where companies supplying specifically to the EU have had to redesign their processes to comply. Consequently EU suppliers are now unable to import non-complying tyres, which carry a £5000 fine, and private importation would mean confiscation. When current stocks are exhausted there will be no more supply of tyres, especially of the whitewall and white letter market, which are not manufactured to the new specification. Imported tyres for later model vehicles will also still be required to carry both E and S markings. There was concern that racing slicks may be included in the ban and thus the European drag racing community would be affected. The Association of Car Enthusiasts contacted the Environment Agency with our concerns and were pleased to receive the following reply: "Dear Mr Filer,   "I have looked into your enquiry further and have some further information for you.   "From our discussion it seems that you deal with two types of tyres in relation to drag racing cars: 1. 'Slicks' tyres (no tread) 2. Treaded tyres "The restriction states that it applies to tyres that are covered in any of three directives (2007/46, 2003/37, 2002/24). The last two of these Directives apply to specialised a gricultural/forestry or 2-3-wheeled vehicles, and therefore wouldn't apply to cars anyway so we only need to look at whether the vehicles you talk about (drag cars) are c overed by directive 2007/46. Here is a link to this directive if you wish to look at it yourself: eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:263:0001:0160:EN:PDF "This directive states says that type approval is optional for vehicles "Intended exclusively for racing on roads". "As drag cars with 'slicks' are quite definitely not designed for use on the road, nor do they race on the road, but on race tracks, they do not need to comply with the restriction and so there is no requirement for them to have PAH levels below the limits stated in the restriction. "However, the other types of tyres that you talked about are road legal and are therefore covered by the restriction as they are included in the scope of directive 2007/46. "I hope this answers you query. Please contact me if you need any further advice. "Kind regards, Claire Cox" Russ and Steve are investigating the cases of tyres for Street Eliminator, which are of course road-legal and used on the street, and for Super Street Bike whose tyres are nominally treaded but used on the race track. You can read more on the Association of Car Enthusiasts' web site at www.the-ace.org.uk/tyre-supply-problems.html. Event entry update. 25th March: Many thanks to Emelie Carlswärd for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the inaugural NDRS Nationals, which takes place at Tierp Arena on 7th-8th May. You can check out the entry list (PDF format) by clicking here. On-line entry to the NDRS Nationals is available on the Tierp Arena web site at www.tierparena.com/reg and Supplementary Regulations are available on the Speedgroup web site www.speedgroup.eu. Pro racers who would like to test at the NDRS Nationals are invited to contact Emelie at [email protected]. For more information about the NDRS Nationals, or to buy tickets, check out the Tierp Arena web site at www.tierparena.com. Thanks also to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us Version 4 of the official entry list for April's Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes on Friday of next week, 1st April; entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about Easter Thunderball entry then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). SCR safety weekend. 24th March: Marshals and officials of Avon Park International Racing Association recently held their annual Fire and Safety Training Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. Staff members were also joined by marshals from the British Tractor Pullers Association and the Power Pullers Club, and senior UK drag racing official Phil Evans. Conducted by staff and members of the Raceway's medical providers CC Medical Services, the two-day session started over at the nearby Long Marston Village Hall with a question and answer session about what to expect at Shakespeare County this year led by Chief Marshal Wayne Schreier, Track Manager Jon Cross and Long Marston Airfield Executive Derek Harris. This was followed up with a talk by CC's Chris Salter about the appropriate use of fire extinguishers.  Next up was a basic first aid refresher course, helmet removal using the latest technology as used by the NHRA Safety Safari crews led by CC's MD Ian Connop, and then the team moved to the Raceway to learn the basic skills of extracting casualties from trapped cars as well as the use of spinal boards. The second day consisted of extinguisher training and life-threatened casualty extractions using fire appliances, cutting gear and other safety methods in real time from the side and rear of a wrecked car. This was shortly followed up by everyone's worst fear in motorsports worldwide, the procedures of dealing with a trackside fatality. "During the day we all saw important refresher training together with  a slightly different exercise which was designed to make us all think", said Wayne Schreier afterwards. "It's reassuring to see the team carry out this training, knowing that we are more than competent if the need arises." Shakespeare County Raceway would like to thank everyone for turning up at the weekend and for the medical personnel who gave up their free time, Jackie Salt and Karen Peake for the tremendous buffet laid on for the Marshals Social Night, and Janet Brown for providing all the teas, coffees and lunch on Saturday during the weekend. See you all at the strip next month! Santa Pod bulletin. 25th March: A final reminder that the UK leg of the European SFI Inspection Tour takes place at Santa Pod Raceway this Monday, 28th March. Inspections will take place in the scrutineering bay at the end of the pits from 10:00. Back to the Autotrader Easter Thunderball and Santa Pod Raceway can supply portable toilets to racers' pits at the race. portable toilets can be booked for £100 which of course includes cleaning and servicing. For more information or to book your portable toilet please contact Darren Prentice at Santa Pod on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or E-Mail [email protected]. Autotrader Easter Thunderball VIP/Hospitality packages are selling fast, says Nicola Hart of Santa Pod Raceway: if you are intending to treat yourself, sponsors or someone special to one of our VIP packages, then please book as soon as possible. There are three different VIP packages available, all including start line viewing, starting from just £69 + VAT per person. All packages include full weekend admission, VIP start line viewing area, refreshments throughout the day, hot buffet lunch, privilege seating at the live action arena, VIP toilets and parking, souvenir of the day, celebrity meet and greet, complimentary ear plugs, and official event programme! Considering a general weekend admission ticket is £48 on its own, upgrading is a real bargain! The latest and very special package available is one of our new Private Balcony Suites for just £99 + VAT per person (whole suite available for up to twelve people for £999 + VAT). Be the first to experience this new exclusive option! Children are half price for all VAT options. To book your VIP/Hospitality tickets and for more information, please call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or visit www.santapod.com. The Marangoni Fast Show takes place at Santa Pod Raceway this Sunday (27th) and is the first major event on the Santa Pod calendar. This is the season-opener for modified car fans, but has always had a very diverse following with all sorts of car clubs supporting the event and making the most of some early-season action. Drag fans will enjoy the first round of the Euro Sports Compact Series which has record entry lists for 2011, including international entries. This invitational demonstration series is designed to introduce quick RWYB cars to real racing and the associated safety obligations, and the series is gearing up to go full-MSA in 2012. There is a focus on FWD compact-engine machinery from European manufacturers, but the engineering is fresh and exciting, and the racing is close and competitive, with some cars dipping into the nines at 140+ mph. The entry list can be viewed at www.eurosportscompact.co.uk. The track is open for Run What You Bring on both Saturday and Sunday for Run What You Brung, and all types of vehicle are welcome. The Marangoni Fast Show also features a huge amount of off-track entertainment, and the full event information can be viewed at www.thefastshow.com. Eurodragster.com sponsor Draper Tools has signed as the Official Tool Partner to Santa Pod Raceway for 2011. The deal sees the perennial manufacturer taking significant presence at the FIA-approved venue, benefiting from the Pod's simply enormous footfall throughout the season, in addition to the many TV shows and televised FIA rounds which the venue hosts. In return, Draper will be providing all of Santa Pod's technical, event and ground-keeping staff with all the tools they could possibly need - quite some feat for a venue which welcomes over 350,000 visitors each year and runs its own fleet of vehicles. "It may be an old cliché, but having the right tool for the job can make all the difference to us" says Santa Pod Raceway's General manager David Lloyd-Jones. "With an event almost every weekend, our teams are constantly maintaining either the site, or one of our many vehicles. We've used Draper tools before, and their quality and fitness for purpose makes them the perfect partners for Santa Pod". Clive Richardson, Marketing Director of Draper Tools, says "Whether it's maintaining the Santa Pod site or working on the Top Fuel Dragsters and the Jet Cars, to be winners teams have to rely on their mechanics. Professional mechanics at the 'Pod rely on the quality of Draper Tools. We are delighted to be the Tool Supplier of Choice to Santa Pod Raceway." For more details on the extensive Draper Tools range, please visit www.draper.co.uk or call their sales team on 023 8049 4333. Swift snippets. 25th March: The 2011 European SFI Inspection Tour touched down in The Netherlands yesterday and our good friend Remco Scheelings kindly sent us some shots of the inspection team in action. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe got a tug by Officer Dastardly White of the SOCAL Bumper Car Cops on the last day of the Spring US Drag Racing Tour (above right). He was apprehended, cuffed, stuffed 'n cited on the charge of impersonating a photo-journalist. All charges were later dropped on compassionate grounds. UK Honda Drag Series. 25th March: In addition to Shakespeare County Raceway's Pro Street Drag Series for Japanese and European cars, the Stratford-Upon-Avon drag strip is gearing up for the opening round of a brand new challenge exclusive to FWD Hondas, the UK Honda Drag Series. The series kicks off in just over a week's time at the Raceway's season-opening Public Track Day on 2nd-3rd April. Since the initial try out of the UKHDS at Shakespeare County last October Daz Honour, owner of Banbury-based DNR Performance Engineering and his fellow classmates have spent most of the winter building the series to the extent that it now has its own class construction rules and a web forum at honda-dragracing.forumotion.co.uk. Consisting of five rounds, the series is based on the highly-popular American east coast race events about which we often read in the Modified car magazines, featuring just one class but run as a bracket, and on a dial-in. Run over two days, Saturdays will be a general practice day followed by race day on Sunday. Already there are quite a few interesting late model Hondas entering the Series including Daz' own DNR-built and tuned 260 hp normally-aspirated two-litre engine in a newer chassis which by mid season will hopefully have improved from its low twelves to mid elevens. We also have American (now based in the UK) Alvis Moronta running in his 2.4 litre EG Civic aiming to be the first FWD normally-aspirated car in the tens on UK soil. UKHDS dates include Round 1 2nd-3rd April, Round 2 30th April-1st May, Round 3 23rd-24th July, Round 4 1st-2nd October, and Round 5 15th-16th October. Further information can be found from the Series' Facebook page. Web site updates. 25th March: In readiness for the new race season Ian Turburville has given his web site a re-fresh. "Check it out at www.turboville.co.uk for the latest special offers and bargains on race gear and uniforms etc. There should be some news on the Mr Spokehead II nostalgia slingshot any day now. It is in its final stages of construction and will hopefully hit the track mid-year. See you all at Easter, have fun, be safe!" Our good friends at Bangshift.com will be hosting a webcast from this Saturday's March Meet Finals at Bakersfield. The time difference is currently -7 hours on UK time and -8 hours on European time. You can find out more at www.bangshift.com. Acka attack. 24th March: German Supertwin racer Acka Riemer will be back on track full-time in 2011, writes our good buddy Markus Münch of der Beschleuniger: After contesting just three races in 2010, at Mantorp, Gardemoen and Mosten, Acka and his team decided to go on the full UEM Tour in 2011, and will attend every race except the Sweden Internationals at Tierp. As ever in drag racing the problems are time and money: Acka runs a Harley speed shop with a second person, so last year there was a lot of work last which forced him to work instead of riding his Nitro Harley. This year the team will step it up a bit with a new and bigger fuel pump, a new Dyna ignition to burn more of that nitro, and a Racepak. At the end of the 2010 season the team visited Acka's good and long-standing friend Johnny Vickers, who has been a guru of nitro bike racing for about twenty five years, to discuss the changes on the bike for the upcoming season. The team are highly motivated and want to race full-time with their Supertwin friends. Germany has now two entries in Supertwin, as besides Acka there will also be the Black Seven Nitro Racing Team with rider Christian Jäger. These two teams will raise the German flag in nitro racing in 2011. Thanks to Matze from Team HD Service Eichstädt for keeping us updated with the team's plans. You can find a German-language version of this news item at www.derbeschleuniger.de. An Award for Tony Merry. 24th March: UK Pro ET racer Andrew Gibb recently approached Shakespeare County Raceway's Jerry Cookson to tell him of the wishes of the Merry family for a Perpetual Memorial Trophy to celebrate the life of Tony Merry as a racer and friend to many of sport's teams. Both Andy and Jerry have spoken to Tony's widow Chris Merry about the family's wishes, and it was decided that they would pull some ideas together and then reconvene. Tony was a very caring gentleman often putting others before himself. Chris said that she would like the award to be made to the Junior Dragster class, as Tony had showed a great deal of interest in the class and its growth over the last ten years. Chris went on to say that if they could have afforded a Junior Dragster then Tony would have loved his girls to have driven in the class too.   Jerry would be grateful if those readers of Eurodragster.com who knew Tony could pass on details of what kind of fellow he was: his likes, dislikes and his qualities, which would of course be used when candidates are given consideration for nomination. It is hoped that Tony's friends will be able to fill in the gaps, so that the trophy can be awarded to someone with qualities which Tony would have wished. If you have memories and thoughts of Tony then please send them to [email protected]. Allard Chrysler next steps. 24th March: Last Thursday the Allard Chrysler Action Group working party met at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu to identify and detail the remaining tasks required to complete the restoration of Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler dragster, writes ACAG Chair Brian Taylor: Those at the meeting were invited because they had previously indicated their interest in being involved in any such work and were Bob Roberts, Brian Taylor, Stuart Bradbury, Dave Davies, Chris Eames, Ed Wimble, Lloyd Allard, Andy Robinson, John Hunt and Syd Macdonald. David Hooper, Herb Andrews and Norm Wheeldon were unable to attend as they were in the USA. Representing the museum were Doug Hill and Ian Stanfield. The meeting was led by Clive Pappadakis who expertly led the group through a logical process of developing plans, keeping minds on the overall picture as well as providing a structured approach to capturing detail and costs. Clearly race commitments of some of the working group - Bob Roberts, Andy Robinson and Lloyd Allard in particular - limit the speed with which the work can be carried out, but tasks were prioritised with fitting of the engine to the chassis scheduled for early May and detailed sub-assembly plans being produced straight after. Work on these tasks would then be commenced in September when the museum can afford to have the car off display for a longer period without causing too much disappointment to visitors. "Although not as quick as we had hoped, the time scale means that we have the space to raise the funds required for the work", says Brian Taylor. "This has proved to be very difficult over recent months. A combination of the poor economic climate, rising unemployment and people saving money for their Christmas spends (although we did manage to supply some Christmas gifts) has been joined by huge disasters like Christchurch in New Zealand, Japan and the awful humanitarian aspects associated with the UN operation in Libya. If people have extra money to donate then t here are some very needy causes out there. So the current plan is very conservative and based on the ACAG having to continue to self-fund the restoration from donations and merchandise sales. Once the racing season starts this will become a little easier, but the Charity arena will remain a tough environment. Unfortunately it means that the first fire-up is now more likely to be January 2 012. Of course if corporate sponsorship is forth-coming then things could be speeded up because we would then be able to offer payment for the work required and several discussions are taking place." The group spent some time with the car and engine and rough measurements indicate that mating the engine to the chassis should be achievable without too many problems. It means that the car could be available for display with the engine in situ from mid May 2011. The restoration work was broken down into sub-assembly tasks and Task Leaders were appointed. These are Andy Robinson, Ian Stanfield (Beaulieu), Dave Davies, Chris Eames, Brian Taylor and Bob Roberts. Others will carry out work within these teams. Doug Hill (Beaulieu) remains the overall Project Manager and Bob Roberts takes on the role of managing the work. Brian Taylor will continue to manage publicity, promotions, sponsorship and funding. More details about the work plan will appear shortly on the ACAG web site at www.allardchrysler.org. If you are interested in helping out, please contact [email protected]. Ron McNeil's video of the Allard Chrysler at Autosport International has now been posted on the ACAG web site: select Videos then Ally Blue 2011. Ladies invited to SCR. 24th March: The first For Ladies that Launch was held at Shakespeare County Raceway in July 2010 and a lot of fun was had by all. Beth Satchell wries that even more fun will be had at the second event at SCR on 11th-12th June: The idea behind For Ladies that Launch is to get like-minded women together from all aspects of motorsport whether a competitor, marshal, official, site staff, crew or the lady who makes racing possible. During the weekend we will be staging our special Motorina Shootout, a drag racing knockout eliminator with trophies available for the best performers. This will be open to ladies in their cars on on their bikes. There will be a special photo shoot as a memento of the event, live music in the evening, and the bar will be open for all who want to stay over and enjoy the party atmosphere for the whole weekend. Also during the weekend there will be two days of open Run What You Brung, racing from the guys and girls in the National Association of Supertwins, muscle cars from the Outlaw Street boys, and the Junior Dragster League. Over on the pulling track the Tractor Pull boys and girls will be showing off their sport as they get down and dirty in a round of the British Tractor Pulling Championships. It should be a fun-packed eventful weekend and we hope to see as many like-minded souls as possible soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the fun. You can find us on Facebook, search for For Ladies that Launch for all the latest info and gossip with like-minded ladies. Web site updates. 24th March: Our good friends at Bangshift.com will be hosting a webcast from this Saturday's March Meet Finals at Bakersfield. The time difference is currently -7 hours on UK time and -8 hours on European time. You can find out more at www.bangshift.com. Our good buddy Alan Currans writes that the official web site of the UK's Chaos Fuel Altered team has been updated with a large number of pictures of the rebuild of the altered after its unfortunate guardrail interface at the start of last season. You can check out the rebuild pictures at www.chaos-fuel-altered.com; select Galleries then Rebuild 2010/2011. Event entry update. 23rd March: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us Version 3 of the official entry list for April's Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes on Friday of next week, 1st April; entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about Easter Thunderball entry then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Santa Pod Raceway can supply portable toilets to racers' pits at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball. portable toilets can be booked for £100 which of course includes cleaning and servicing. For more information or to book your portable toilet please contact Darren Prentice at Santa Pod on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or E-Mail [email protected]. If you would like to test before the Easter Thunderball then Shakespeare County Raceway are holding a Public Test Weekend (including a Gamblers' race) on 2nd-3rd April, Santa Pod Raceway are hosting a Run What You Brung (Saturday)/Peak Performance Day (Sunday) weekend on 16th-17th April, and Shakespeare County Raceway are also hosting another Public Test Weekend on 16th-17th April. More details at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com and www.rwyb.co.uk respectively. Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! 23rd March: Dakota Drag Strip at Smeatharpe Airfield in Devon hosts its first event of 2011 this coming Saturday (26th). "It's going to be a great day for the eighth-mile drag strip, with the VP Racing Fuels LC7 traction compound on route to Dakota for some added traction", says organiser Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts. "The drag strip will be open to all cars and bikes. The track fee is £25 for unlimited runs per rider or driver. "There will be plenty of trophies up for grabs for Quickest Times of the Day. Dakota Drag Strip is also hosting the first round of the ODC Regional Drift Championship and we will also be running the ever-popular concept of Drift What You Brung as also held at Santa Pod Raceway. "Check out www.dragndrift.co.uk for more information, and make the trip to Dakota Drag Strip - its a great way to spend a Saturday." A new sponsor for NDRS. 23rd March: Speedgroup co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar is pleased to announce that Norwegian-based CU Autoglass has signed up as class sponsor of NDRS Super Gas.  "I think that this provides a good opportunity to show support, as most of the sponsorship fee goes to a class prize fund" says Christer Uhlin of CU Autoglass. "Class sponsorship can hopefully encourage teams to become active in the class, and it provides brand visibility in different ways including exposure both at events as well as on-line." You can read more about the Class Sponsorship Scheme for the NDRS Dragracing Series and SDL Swedish Dragracing League in the NDRS section of the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Later this week there will be news about an adjustment to the NDRS Points system to provide an increased chance for teams from all participating countries to conetst the top placings in the Series. If you have any questions then please contact NDRS Co-ordinator Jonas Staflund at [email protected] or Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar at [email protected]. Swift snippets. 23rd March: We have no less than four birthdays for you today. First up is Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer, Eurodragster.com Blogger and Eurodragster.com sponsor Lex Joon. Also in The Netherlands and celebrating a birthday today is Supertwin racer Paul Castle, and over here in the it is UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell's birthday. Have a very Happy Birthday all. Finally Tog would like to say Happy Birthday and hugs to his friend Karen Bradbury who is somewhere in Europe. Have a lovely day Karen. Event entry update. 22nd March: Many thanks to Emelie Carlswärd for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the inaugural NDRS Nationals, which takes place at Tierp Arena on 7th-8th May. You can check out the entry list (PDF format) by clicking here. On-line entry to the NDRS Nationals is available on the Tierp Arena web site at www.tierparena.com/reg and Supplementary Regulations are available on the Speedgroup web site www.speedgroup.eu. Pro racers who would like to test at the NDRS Nationals are invited to contact Emelie at [email protected]. For more information about the NDRS Nationals, or to buy tickets, check out the Tierp Arena web site at www.tierparena.com. Santa Pod Raceway can supply portable toilets to racers' pits at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball. portable toilets can be booked for £100 which of course includes cleaning and servicing. For more information or to book your portable toilet please contact Darren Prentice at Santa Pod on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or E-Mail [email protected]. Thinking of John Ledster. 22nd March: Many people will remember the UK's John Ledster as a one time Pro Stock racer, then Race Director at Santa Pod, founder member of Santa Pod Racers' Club, Chairman of the MSA Drag Racing Committee, the UK delegate to the FIA Drag Racing Commission, British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member, and a good friend to us all. FIA Drag Racing Commission member and UK Tech Committee Chair Phil Evans writes that John now lives in a nursing home after suffering a series of strokes which have pretty much left him unable to care for himself but that he is supported, as ever, by his wonderful wife Liz, his family, and the staff of the home: John is still cheerful and interested to know how we in the drag racing world are getting on, so it would be nice if those that know him could send him a card or a note to wish him well and remind him of all the good times we had together at the drags over the last forty-odd years. John's address is: Deer Park Nursing Home Rydon Road Holsworthy Devon EX22 6HZ Spares winged to the Thing. 22nd March: Dave McKenzie writes that the UK's Team Thing Racing Supercharged Outlaw team are getting their altered ready for the new season. "The chassis has been repainted in purple and a new rear wing added", says Fuzzie. "We have also received all of our spares from Good Vibrations in California. What can I say about the service - I was on the phone to Good Vibrations at 8 o'clock on Wednesday night and the box of parts arrived at 8:45 Friday morning. A good reason to support our sponsors. "On the subject of Good Vibrations, Jim Maher included in the parcel a cheque to carry on with the sponsorship of the Supercharged Outlaws. Jim's sponsorship is $100 for the quickest Reaction Time at each Supercharged Outlaws event in 2011. On behalf of the Supercharged Outlaws we would like to thank Good Vibrations for their continued support." Team Thing Racing's web site at www.alkyoneus.co.uk has been given a make-over and now includes pictures and video as well as weekly updates on the rebuild of the altered. Swift snippets. 22nd March: Good news from Ray Guy is that the popular Pop Shorty's Hot Rod is making a return to the track, and he sent us a couple of shots of Jed's progress with the car. Web site updates. 22nd March: Not the only photographer to get caught up in the collapse of Fotopic, but the first one to do something about it, Colin Donisthorpe has moved his gallery to Flickr where it can now be found at www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe. "There's not a lot there at present, but it's a start", says Colin. Feature: NHRA Gatornationals. 21st March: The latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport is Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe's report and pictures from last weekend's 53rd NHRA Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. You can check out Roger's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 2011 French Trophy calendar. 21st March: Many thanks to Vincent 'Duke' Perrier for forwarding us the dates of this year's French Trophy: 2nd-5th June: Chaumont (52 Haute-Marne) 18th-19th June: Lanas (07 Ardèche) 9th-10th July: Lurcy Levis (03 Allier) 10th-11th September: Mende Speed Final (48 Lozère) You can find out more at www.trophee-dragster.fr or on the Series' Facebook page. Furlong/Michelin offer contingency. 21st March: Fred Furlong of Eurodragster.com sponsor Furlong Tyres writes that if you are racing this year in UK National 9.50 Bike, UK National 8.50 Bike or ACU UK Super Street Bike and use a Michelin Power One Rear tyre then you might be interested in registering with Furlong Tyres, as Michelin are hoping to give away Michelin Power One tyres worth over £3000 for the 2011 season in a new contingency scheme. For more information on the contingency scheme check out the Furlong Tyres web site at www.furlongtyres.com/id20.html. Ellis in the purple. 21st March: UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis has forwarded us this rendering of his Jackhammer blown-alcohol 'Cuda. "The design is by Darren at Power Race Graphics", Graham told Eurodragster.com. "The wrap is being done by Paul Foote at Paul Foote Ink later this week. It's not how it was, but I like it and it's my car. "The new motor has been installed, also the transmission with new ratios and a Leanders clutch with the latest modifications. Brand new latest-edition Penske three-way adjustable shocks have also been installed, these have been valved specifically for this car and were supplied at cost price by a good friend of mine in Sweden (you know who you are). The new lightweight - actually that should be featherweight - front end and doors have been installed and new liner wheels will be fitted. "The Superbird is coming along well, just waiting on parts now." Brad's new colours. 21st March: UK Lucas Oil Junior Dragster team Brad Jackson Racing are pleased to unveil Brad's Junior Dragster in the new Lucas Oil livery ready for the Lucas Oil UK Junior Dragster Championship 2011. "I am very pleased to be involved with Lucas and think their involvement in the Junior Dragster Championship is a positive step that will help to support and promote the class", says Brad's dad Wayne. "I would like to thank Lucas Oil and Carter Motorsport for their continuing sponsorship for the 2011 season, and I am looking forward to 2011 where I will be campaining the Lucas Oil UK Junior Dragster Championship and also I am going to Sweden and Germany to compete in the NDRS series", says Brad. "I would like to thank both Les Downey and Andy Carter for their support for 2011. I would also like to thank Geof Hauser for all his support and for preparing my car for the coming season. "I am also pleased to announce a new additional sponsor for 2011. Caltons Secure Caravan Storage, based in Featherstone West Yorkshire, are ideally placed between the A1 and the M1 and are just off the M62. They also have a sister company which is a full body repair and paint centre. They have painted the fantastic pearl paints on my new livery. So for all your car body repair and paint, or caravan and motorhome storage and repair please give them some support. The body shop is 01977 708137 and ask for Mark, and for the storage facility call 01977 699100 and ask for Ian. "Thanks to Eurodragster.com for the publicity (Thanks, and thank you for the gold decal! - Ed)". Bennetts' blown plans. 21st March: Further to his announcement of sponsorship from Peter Watlters Race Design, the UK blown-alcohol Funny Car and altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing are pleased to reveal PWRD's latest rendering of Luke Bennett's altered. "The SuperPower Unlimited-sponsored Bantam altered is destined for the Supercharged Outlaws and Super Pro ET", says Luke Bennett. "The car will be called SuperPower Unlimited and won't carry on my previous car name of Devil's Advocate. The previous car was a 23T Rover V8-powered altered with manual gearbox which I drove to a best of 11.14/124, but as it was a manual I always launched with lots of revs and had a best sixty foot time of 1.25 which I don't think was too sluggish! "The Bantam altered will run a Bennett Racing-built 511 cubic inch big block Chevy with a BDS 8/71 supercharger and inlet manifold prepared by Kenny at SuperPower (thanks again Kenny!), Brodix heads with T&D shaft and rockers. I plan to run this car fairly soft; it could run a six if we wanted, but I don't want to hurt parts (read "input shafts" as I run a Powerglide). The plan is to keep things low maintenance, with mid to low sevens. This of course will give me experience to drive the Relentless Topolino altered and eventually the FIA Funny Car...that is when my old man has had enough which wont be for a few years yet! "I bought the car from the USA and had it imported in 2007. Sadly I fell ill to cancer during 2008 and put the car up for sale, thankfully no one bought it and I can get it finished and built how I have always wanted. I had this design style in my head for years but my old man is not to keen on it so Relentless didn't go this way!  I will try to feature as much carbon fibre as I can get my hands on and hopefully should be a pretty car and fun to drive. I'm looking forward to racing with everyone in Supercharged Outlaws and Super Pro ET." The Viper's new fangs. 21st March: Swedish Super Stock racer Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpson Shop Sweden has been in touch to let us know that Friday's spy picture featured the motor of his Dodge Viper. "Its development has taken six years", says Jan. "But since my competitors in the same class have had forty years to get the horsepower they need, six years is OK to my mind! This will be the first ever real Dodge Viper competing in the legendary Super Stock Eliminator class - Stock and Super Stock are huge in the USA and Scandinavia. "As you know we run the Simpson Trackside Service so we will not have too much time to spend on racing, but the car will be on display when it is not being raced." You can find out more about the Viper on its Facebook page, and Facebook also hosts a fan page for the Swedish Stock/Super Stock Association. Stefani Super Gas. 21st March: Congratulations to Stefani Robinson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's Pro Mod team who has gained a Super Gas licence at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School in Florida. "At the end of last season I decided that I wanted to make some moves towards driving a car myself", says Stefani. "There were two obvious issues with this. Firstly I don't have the funds to have my own car and secondly the Stude isn't really a suitable to jump into without any experience. With this in mind, I looked into other options and with some really helpful advice decided that attending Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School would be the best option. "As well as the experience in the car, the classroom lectures from Frank were really useful and help to clear the mind and concentrate on the task in hand...the racing. After the two days my personal best was 9.24 at 146 mph in the Pontiac Super Gas car and I have successfully made enough runs to gain my NHRA licence which Frank will sign off. "The whole course was amazing, and has really made it obvious to me how much I want to race. At the moment I don't have any fixed plans to run a car purely because of the budget required to race, however I will be looking into any possibilities and sponsorship ideas to try and secure funding. "Dad will be running the Stude in Pro Mod this season, and we will be concentrating on maintaining our British Championship and battling for the 2011 FIA Championship. Please continue to visit our web site at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk, our Facebook page, and our Blog at robinsonracing.tumblr.com to keep updated with what's going on in the Robinson pit. I'd like to say thank you to everyone at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, and also to Rob and Craig at Geiger Media and Travis at R2B2 for looking after Ryan and I when we attended the Gatornationals." SVTs head for SCR. 21st March: A big German and Swiss invasion heading towards Shakespeare County Raceway on for the Warwickshire drag strip's Yanks American Car Festival on 28th-20th May. In addition to the usual turnout of trucks provided by the Rebel V8 club, the popular American truck forum looked after by Adam Green, a group of avid Ford Lightening Truck enthusiasts from central Europe will be heading over to the UK for the 7th Annual Euro SVT Meet held for the first time away from the event's origin in Hannover. Organised by Andre Wagenknecht since 2005, the purpose of the event is to provide dedicated owners and enthusiasts of Ford SVT F-150 Lightnings to meet up, party, cruise, and race, which is something that the Euro SVT owners are looking forward to as the six other meets have never had a drag strip to hand - just a road to lay down some smoky burnouts! The SVT F-150 Lightning charged onto the scene unchallenged in the sport truck market as The World's Fastest Truck. It was designed by Ford's truck division and eventually released and marketed by the then-new Special Vehicle Team division. The F-150 Lightning was conceived as a product focus for the personal-use possibilities of the Ford F-Series pick-up truck, combining outstanding handling, comfortable ride, and spirited acceleration. Now there are special signature series trucks with the most popular carrying Harley Davidson black and orange branding. The Euro SVT Meet kicks off at Shakespeare County Raceway on 27th May with a meet and greet party followed by three days of sightseeing and drag strip action, whichever comes first! For more details check out www.rebel-v8.co.uk. March Meet webcast. 20th March: Not a European race so nominally outwith our brief, but there are a lot of Nostalgia fans on this side of the Pond and we are always happy to make an exception for our buddies at Bangshift.com. The March Meet continues at Bakersfield today and Bangshift.com are on site at Famoso hosting another of their excellent live webcasts. Coverage will be end-to-end starting today so tune in for a weekend of unadulterated Nostalgia racing. The time difference is currently -7 hours on UK time and -8 hours on European time. You can access the webcast at www.bangshift.com. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe is nominally off-duty at Bakersfield this weekend but kindly got in touch with this picture of David Rico's Pure Heaven lookalike which he says is one of several entertaining cars in Nostalgia Eliminator II. Roger adds that yesterday's second day of the March Meet dawned cool and overcast and stayed mainly that way throughout the day with just a short period of spits of rain that put the event on hold for part of a track clean-up. The qualifying was entertaining and hard and by late afternoon the first round of both Top Fuel and Funny Car was successfully completed. The forecast for today's eliminations looks dire with forecasts of wind and rain as California gets set for another incoming storm. We're sure that Eurodragster.com readers will join us in wishing a very rapid recovery to veteran FC racer Dale Pulde who is unwell with the debilitating Valley Fever which he contracted at last year's California Hot Rod Reunion. Get well soon Dale. Paige joins the Blog team. 20th March: We are very pleased to welcome UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler to our team of Bloggers. Paige was recently in the USA to attend the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony and to visit with racing friends at the Gatornationals at Gainesville and her first Blog entry, presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, is a very entertaining diary of her few days in Florida. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Testing, testing II. 20th March: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh says that the The Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour / McIntosh team were rewarded with instant results at their first visit to the track this year, at Friday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway: The car has been into the WRE workshop over the winter for chassis tag upgrades. After the 8.47 at the Euro Finals we had to make the car tag to 7.50. Whilst the car was in the workshop I spoke to Jon Webster about a couple of ideas I wanted to try with the intake and exhaust. With all the work done and the new team decals applied to the car the only thing left was to go testing. I dreamt of sixty foot, ET and MPH improvements but I had no idea of what was to come. The first couple of passes ended with lack of traction off the line, a few people came by and said the car sounded strong. During lunch Jon came over and made a couple of rear shock changes. We went round for another go, the car hooked and pulled and pulled like never before. It felt like a good run, and on return to the pits I was greeted with smiles and grins, I was told 8.1! No way, but the timing ticket proved it. I had smashed all my past PBs by miles, sixty foot, ET and MPH. We went out and backed it up, two near identical timing tickets. Can't wait for Easter. Thanks to the Santa Pod staff and the WRE team, and to James and Paul who crewed for me. Brothers Tom Perkins (19) and Christopher Perkins (17) would like to send a very big thank you to Webster Race Engineering for preparing their Ford Pop, the Santa Pod Racers Club staff for overseeing their passes, and especially Jon Webster for his instruction and guidance during Friday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day: It was first time out for both of us and Chris had actually only just passed his driving test two days earlier, in fact it was the first time he had been in a car on his own! After de-tuning the car a little we both made our first passes and ran eighteen-second ETs which although slow seemed like lighting to us. By the end of the day, and after five passes each, Tom ran a best of 11.0/121 and Chris 10.9/119. All we can say is "Wow", what a fantastic day. After a lot more practice we hope to be able to compete in competition. Mark Skinner has posted a number of photographs from Friday's WRE Test Day on his Flickr gallery at www.flickr.com/photos/fast_n_bulbous. Swift snippets. 20th March: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Fifty inches tall pan to hat". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Jerry Cookson writes to thank Andy Robinson Race Cars webmaster Bob Roberts for the offer of a fully-enclosed dragster trailer for the Shakespeare County Raceway Junior Dragster Experience Hire Car to facilitate the transport of the dragster to and from exhibitions. "In the coming weeks, a full service will be conducted and once the trailer gets a new coat of Colorado red together with supporter graphics and track logos it will make an ideal backdrop at any display", says Jerry. "SCR would like to say a big Thank You to Bob, Andy, Kate at everyone at Andy Robinson Rarec Cars for this very kind offer." This should have been on yesterday's news update and that it was not was entirely your News Editor's fault for which many apologies, but Spencer Tramm asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Saturday) to UK Super Street Bike racer Wayne Saunders. Hope you had a great day Wayne. The July Meet. 19th March: With the March Meet taking place in the States this weekend Santa Pod Raceway would like to take the opportunity to remind readers of a new English Nostalgia event, Dragstalgia on 16th-17th July: You probably read the previous news piece announcing that we have secured our first Nostalgia Funny Car for the event in the form of Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings' Timewarp and we are now up to five cars and counting from the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association too. Of course all of this is on top of the fantastic selection of slingshots, classic Bikes, Outlaw Anglias, American muscle cars and Hot Rods. We are also expecting a number of cars which have not been seen on the track in a while to be returning including Jim Draper with the Reckless Rat altered, Dave Gibbons with the Rough Diamond altered and Tom Larman with The Ferret altered, and we're sure that there are more to come too. Please take a look at the current entry list at www.santapod.co.uk/e_entrylist_dragstalgia11.php. If you have a piece of drag racing history which is too precious to take on the track then fear not as we will be providing a secure covered display area for anyone wanting to put their cars on show. We are adding attractions to the event all the time and have recently secured a flypast of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight World War 2 Spitfire and a demonstration of up to ten F1 Stock Cars. For a full list of attractions please check out www.dragstalgia.co.uk. As well as the Cacklefest, another thing which has not been seen in a while is the spectacle of fire burnouts. For one session only we will be putting on a display of fire burnouts by a selection of front-engined open-wheelbased cars. We still have room for a few more to take part too so if you fancy giving it a go, please get in touch. If you would like get involved with fire burnouts, static historic displays or racing then please contact James Forster on [email protected] or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). Testing, testing... 19th March: Thanks to Andy Bennett for forwarding us this excellent shot by Mark Skinner of the Doomsday Impala getting some during yesterday's Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway organised by Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering. Bob Hawkins and the Timetraveller Wild Bunch team also had a very productive WRE Test Day at Santa Pod yesterday. The slingshot is now knocking on the door of the eights and was robbed of what may have been the eight-second pass by a problem with the Nitrous. "We are very hopeful we will get there at the Easter Thunderball", says Bob. "Thanks to the guys at Webster Race Engineering and Santa Pod Raceway for a great day!" Swift snippets. 19th March: The current episode of MSA Drag Racing, scheduled to be shown on Motors TV (Sky 413) at 7:25 pm on Monday and 4:20 pm on Wednesday, includes an interview with UK Junior Dragster racer and upcoming Eurodragster.com Blogger Paige Wheeler. Paige's dad Andy of Eurodragster.com sponsor Alamo Rent-A-Car tells us that the interview was recorded last September, hosted by the legendary John Price and also featuring Eurodragster.com sponsor Geof Hauser and Rhiannon Bellenie. The guys at the Rods'n'Sods forum tell us that voting closes very shortly in their Hot Rod model competition. We have been over to Rods'n'Sods and taken a look and the models have been built to the highest quality - it wasn't easy deciding for which model to vote. You can take a look yourself and cast your vote at www.rodsnsods.co.uk. Web site updates. 19th March: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén checks in very quickly from the workshops of the Team Veidec operation as his new bike comes together. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Event entry update. 18th March: Shakespeare County Raceway have asked us to remind racers that the official entry form for mid-May's Springspeed Nationals includes the Supplementary Regulations which are meant to be kept, read and digested rather than sent back to SCR with the entry and pit plan forms. You can download the entry form for the Springspeed Nationals at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. If you have any queries about Springspeed Nationals entry then please contact Shakespeare County Raceway at [email protected] or call 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180). Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us Version 2 of the official entry list for April's Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We were interested and pleased to see the names of Al Didwell (Super Pro ET, formerly Pro ET) and Paul Knapp (Funny Bike) appear on this version of the list after long absences from the track, and Gary Drury (Super Street Bike) after a shorter absence but equally welcome. Entry closes on Friday 1st April; entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about Easter Thunderball entry then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Charity race car weekend. 18th March: Further to our news item Charity race car needs help of 3rd March, Roger Magnus has been in touch with an update and an idea to help to get the car completed. "I spoke to Rick Garrett yesterday, what a really nice guy", says Roger. "He suggested asking for people to come and help put the race car together over a weekend! What a great idea. Basically we would need as many volunteers as possible to help us finish the car off. Rick and his sons have offered to come over in a van and make up the transmission tunnel for us. He is also giving us a set of tyres for the car. Ian Marshall is giving us the radiator. "We will need someone good with electrics to wire up the ignition system and associated wiring, a good engine man (or woman) to get the engine up and running, someone to plumbing in the radiator and fuel system, and someone to fit the parachute and other bits and bobs. "The venue will be fifteen minutes from Stansted Airport. With all those racing boys in Essex there must be some out there willing to help as the car is all for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. It's only one weekend out of everyone's lives and these poor kids have to endure a lot more than a weekend. I will provide a barbecue of sausages, burgers etc and of course beer!" If you would like to help then please call Roger on 07957 463830 to discuss dates. Swift snippets. 18th March: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "An engine on its way to Sweden". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Alexander Koch's second-ever scratch-built slot dragster is this superb replica of one of FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher's dragsters. Alexander says that he needs to add the finishing touches such as decals and that he will be showing Urs the fruits of his labours at the NitrOlympX in August. We have two birthdays today. Su Hood and Peter Bellenie have asked us to say a big Happy 13th Birthday to their daughter, UK Junior Dragster racer Rhiannon Bellenie. "We would also like to wish Rhiannon the best for Junior Modified Advanced for 2011", add Su and Pete. Have a lovely day Rhiannon. A big Happy Birthday also to Shakespeare County Raceway track announcer, Official Twiglet Supplier to Eurodragster.com and all-round good guy Barry Bohannon. Have a great day buddy. A Tri-Chevy Shootout. 18th March: Tri-Chevy enthusiasts Wendy Strickson and Dave Newman are looking to host a Tri-Five Chevy Shootout Weekend to coincide with Shakespeare County Raceway's May Bank Holiday Yanks/NASC Gary's Picnic on 28th-3th May. Ideas have already been suggested and discussed on the Rods'n'Sods forum and with the prospect of three categories of Tri-Chevy hitting the strip - Stock, Modified and Full Blown Race - for '55 to '57 models you can rest assured that the action will be fast and heavy. Trophies and other goodies will be presented during the three-day drag festival of all things American! Tri-Five Chevies have always begged to be raced, with some notable and legendary names behind the wheel. Perhaps the most famous early Tri-Five drag racer of all time is Bill 'Grumpy' Jenkins. Jenkins gained an early reputation for his knowledge and preparation work tuning and racing Tri-Fives in the NHRA's North West Junior Stock Eliminator division which, ultimately led to further success in the Super Stock and Pro Stock divisions in the early seventies. Over the years, Yanks has seen a great turnout of Chevies on the show field as well as on the strip and the fifth anniversary of the event shouldn't be any different. For further information about entry why not drop Wendy a line at [email protected] or call 07883 091339. Miss Bury of Super Pro ET. 18th March: Jayne Kay of the UK's Pink Lady Racing Super Pro ET team has been selected as one of the Heat Finalists for the Miss Bury competition which is being held in Bolton next month. Jayne has also been selected as a finalist among twenty other girls for the title of Miss Professional which will be held at Barnsdale Lodge in Leicestershire. Both competitions can lead to a place in the Miss England finals which can then lead to a place in the Miss World finals, where there's a chance to win $100,000. During the last three years Miss England contestants around the country have raised in excess of £250,000 for various charities including The Institute of Cancer, The Variety Club, Beat and The National Autistic Society. This year, Jayne will be challenged to raise money for the two separate competitions. As part of Miss Bury she will have to raise money for the Children's Variety Club and, for Miss Professional, Rainbows Children's Hospice. "I am really looking forward to this challenge because I really enjoy helping people who are ill or less fortunate than me, therefore I will raise as much money as possible for both charities", says Jayne. "I will be having a collection box for the Children's Variety Club in my pit at the Easter Thunderball so any donations would be gratefully received". Last year Jayne helped raise £785 for Children in need with the Student Action Group at College. Jayne will also need a sponsor for the Miss Professionals final. For £200 plus VAT, Jayne will represent your company whilst competing for the title. The sponsor's company name will be displayed on the official Miss England web site which received three and a half million hits in September 2010. For more information about how you can benefit check out www.flickr.com/photos/jaynekay/5535390222/lightbox. "We only have until 21st March to secure a sponsor, so if you are interested then please get in touch before then", says Jayne. "I will need as many votes as possible for the Miss Bury competition so if you would like to vote for me then please text JAYNE KAY to 84205, or you can vote by landline by calling 0901 656 1500. Voting starts 8th April and ends 9th May, and texts cost 60p plus standard network charge on mobile phones. "In racing news I'm looking forward to completing my Funny Car licence at Santa Pod Raceway and to beating the boys!" See Lindbergs for NRE heads. 18th March: FIA European Pro Modified Champions the Lindberg Brothers are pleased to announce that they are European distributors for Noonan Race Engineering X1 Cylinder Heads. Jonnie Lindberg, Crew Chief and younger brother of Pro Mod Champion Johan Lindberg, will handle sales and customer contacts whilst all European service and repair will be performed by Charley Karling of Karling Racing Engines. The features of NRE X1-series cylinder heads are as follow: Made from inspected and certified Billet 6061-T651 Aluminium Combustion chamber volume: 95 cc One piece stainless steel cylinder sealing rings 3D surface machined for ultimate appearance 100% CNC machined and ported EPOC CNC cut valve seat profile - Beryllium or Iron seats available Tubeless intake ports Compatible with Fat Head Intakes, Headers, Rocker Gear, Valve Covers etc Compatible and tested with CAMFX's new valve rocker system Accommodates 9/16 diameter pushrods Integral intake valve spring oiler system with adjustable oil jets Dual oil feeds to valve rocker gear External oil feed to valve spring oiler and valve rocker gear feeds Ready to assemble out of the box! Available in three configurations: Pro Mod 2.400 intake / 1.950 exhaust Top Alcohol Dragster / Top Alcohol Funny Car 2.450 intake / 1.950 exhaust A/Fuel dual plug with down nozzles coming soon Also available with 4.475 chamber size. The NRE X1 cylinder heads will be on display on the Lindberg Brothers' stand during the Bilsport Performance and Custom Motor Show at Jönk&puml;ping, Sweden, on 22nd-25th April. If you want the very best money can buy then contact Jonnie at [email protected]. Web site updates. 18th March: Our good buddy and occasional stand-in photographer Julian Hunt has updated his web site with pictures from the 2010 Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Some of the pictures have been aired before, in our coverage on the day, but there are plenty of previously-unseen pictures and Julian's gallery is well worth a look. Check it out at www.julianhunt.net. Topspeed Automotive back 2011 SE. 17th March: UK Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Bill Macdermid is pleased to announce that Topspeed Automotive are to continue as the title sponsor of Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator in 2011. "We are delighted to have signed as main title sponsors of the World's fastest real street cars", says Bill. "This year may well see the first street-legal cars reach the magic 200 mph pass and should this happen Topspeed are offering limited-edition 200mph jackets to the furst three drivers. Vin, Scott and I look forward to working more closely with the drivers and teams to push our class to the next level, and we look forward to a safe and successful season." "I can't thank the guys enough for all their support throughout 2010", says Street Eliminator Chair Steve Nash. "It's fantastic news for Street Eliminator and we look forward to a another great record-breaking season!" If you want to stay in touch with the latest from Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator then Helen Todd of Quartermilehigh and Vinnie of Topspeed Automotive have been working hard on the Street Eliminator web site at www.streeteliminator.com, a new forum at ukdragracing.freeforums.org, and a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Street-Eliminator-UK/178326628879939. Swift snippets. 17th March: We received these spy pictures from a popular racer showing his bike's new paintwork... ...the racer concerned tells us that he will send a full update when he can as he is being kept very busy by the day job right now. FireForce 4 photo contest. 17th March: After a successful trip to Abu Dhabi and a few days for the team to settle back into work, a photo gallery has now joined the Yas Drag Racing Festival event report on the official web site of the FireForce Jet Funny Car team at www.fireforce.co.uk. Martin Hill and the FireForce team's preparations are now focused on the Fast Show at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 27th March. With FireForce 3 still in its container on return from Abu Dhabi, FireForce 4 will make its début pass at the Fast Show. To coincide with this début event, the team have launched a FireForce 4 Photo Competition. Up for grabs is a pair of weekend tickets for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May. All you have to do is to send the team a picture of FireForce 4; it could be an action shot on the track, or the car outside the FireForce trailer - it's up to you! To enter, send your pictures to [email protected] by 15th May. For full terms and conditions check out www.fireforce.co.uk/photocomptandc.asp. SFI European Tour reminder. 16th March: The 2011 SFI European Inspection Tour commences late next week. Inspections will be held as follows: Thursday 24th March: Zwanenburg, The Netherlands. Silverstone Indoor Go Kart Centre. Inspections 09:00-11:30 Friday 25th March: Helsinki, Finland. US Parts, Holkkitie 10, 00880 Helsinki. Inspections 10:00-13:00 Saturday 26th March: Åkers Styckebruk, Sweden. Persåkers Speed Shop. Inspections 12:00-16:00 Monday 28th March: Santa Pod Raceway, England. Scrutineering building. Inspections 10:00-14:00 The SFI team will be able to recertify the following products: Clutches 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 Rigid Auto Trans Shields 4.1 Bellhousings 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 Drag Wheels 15.1, 15.2, 15.3 Flexplates 29.1, 29.2 Flexplate shields 30.1 NDRS/SDL sponsorship scheme launched. 16th March: Two weeks have passed since Speedgroup took over the NDRS Dragracing Series and SDL Swedish Dragracing League. Speedgroup co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar has been working closely with the NDRS/SDL executive work group which includes Jan Sjöberg, Carl-Erik Kihlman, Jonas Staflund, Lena Perés and Anders Magnusson. Weekly on-line meetings and frequent E-Mail and phone contacts have ensured that the heritage of Svensk Dragracing, in the form of the NDRS Dragracing Series and SDL Swedish Dragracing League, is preserved. A few weeks into the project a Class Sponsorship Scheme is ready for launch. Companies, private persons or teams interested in choosing a class to support and with which to connect are invited to visit the Speedgroup NDRS/SDL web site at www.speedgroup.eu/ndrs/index_ndrs.htm to download the Class Sponsorship presentation document. As much as 80% of the Class Sponsorship fee will go towards a Series prize fund for the selected class, and promotion includes a high degree of visibility on and off the track all season. "Amazingly enough we have already been contacted by a few interested companies even before we launched this scheme", says Åsa. The classes on offer are: NDRS Dragracing Series: Competition, Stock/Superstock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster, Super Twin Top Gas Bike, and Super Gas Bike. SDL Swedish Dragracing League: Competition, Stock/Superstock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster, Junior Bike, Street Bike, Super Comp Bike, and Super Gas Bike. Other services and offers for the NDRS and SDL as well as the FIA and UEM European Championships are either in the pipeline or in the process of being launched in coming months and Eurodragster.com will be the first source of news about these forthcoming new features. Any question regarding the content of this news piece or Speedgroup in general can be addressed to Åsa Kinnemar at [email protected] or call +46 705 31 53 32. Easter Thunderball entry update. 16th March: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the Autotrader Easter Thunderball, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 22nd-25th April. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry closes on Friday 1st April; entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download the Autotrader Easter Thunderball entry forms from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about Easter Thunderball entry then please contact Paula Marshall at [email protected] or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). TV makes Tracks. 16th March: British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair and former Santa Pod Raceway Chief Starter Stu Bradbury did more service for the sport yesterday, filling in Country Track's Ellie Harrison about drag racing at a very chilly Santa Pod. Stu tells us that he did his best to explain the basics of drag racing to Ellie and the crew of Country Track who were astounded at some of the facts and figures about the performance of the cars and bikes involved in the sport. "Hopefully I haven't been too technical but just enough to encourage Country Track viewers to take a trip to Santa Pod Raceway to check out the sport first hand", says Stu. The episode, scheduled for broadcast on TV later in the year, features UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler who as well as being interviewed made demonstration passes for the cameras in her Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Junior. The crew strapped video cameras inside the car to get first-hand experience of what it's like to drive a Junior Dragster. Stu says that Paige did an outstanding job  of promoting Santa Pod, Alamo and drag racing in general. For her part Paige, from whom we will hear presently, was a little disappointed that the dragster ran about half a second slower than normal due to the cold weather. Saved from a tight spot. 16th March: UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers has been in touch to say a big Thank You to Andy Robinson Race Cars for the fantastic turnaround of his Team Wikid-Racing '69 Camaro. "I contacted Andy a few weeks ago and asked if it would be possible to install and plumb in the new Aeromotive fuel system, and to reposition the alternator",says Paul. "The problem for Andy was a lack of suitable space in the engine bay to mount the fuel pump and filter system. Andy worked his magic and squeezed everything in neatly still giving access if needed for service. Andy also supplied some ultra light-weight BMRS hoses for the water and fuel systems. "Andy was up against it, especially as the car was only delivered on Monday evening and had to be collected on Wednesday afternoon. Once again thanks ARRC." Pictures of Andy's handiwork can be found on the Wikid Racing web site at www.wikid-racing.co.uk. Paul would also like to thank his 2011 sponsors LA Racing Parts, VP Racing Fuels, Stevenage Sheet Metal, Andy Frost of Penn Autos, Stone Spiral, Ellesco Ltd, Kustom Kolors, and Kenny Coleman of Engine Data Analysis. Tierp tickets go on sale. 15th March: Sweden's state-of-the-art Tierp Arena is now selling tickets for its first drag race, the NDRS Nationals which takes place on 7th-8th May. As well as a full-up NDRS round including NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified, this event will be the required dress rehearsal for the Sweden Internationals in June so representatives of FIA European Championship classes will be making demonstration runs. "The interest in our events this summer is huge", says Patrik Larsson, media and information manager at Tierp Arena. "Excited enthusiasts have been E-Mailing and calling us, asking how they can get their tickets. I know that I speak for the whole of our fantastic organization when I say that it feels wonderful to finally be able to introduce our on-line ticket sale system." You can buy tickets for the NDRS Nationals via Tierp Arena's web site at www.tierparena.com. Pro racers are also invited to contact Tierp Arena if they are interested in testing during the NDRS Nationals weekend. Swift snippets. 15th March: Our good friend Brian Lohnes writes that Bangshift.com will this week be hosting another of their excellent live webcasts, from the March Meet at Bakersfield. Brian tells us that there will be end-to-end coverage starting on Friday. The time difference is currently -7 hours on UK time and -8 hours on European time. You can find out more at www.bangshift.com. Which leads very neatly to an update from UK journalist Mike Collins, seen below at Bakersfield, who tells us that his latest edition of Retro Ramblins is now showing in the April newsletter from American Autoparts. Mike's piece includes some excellent historical pictures from Santa Pod Raceway together with a pieces about Harlan Thompson and photo-journalist and Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Andy Willsheer. You can check out Retro Ramblins by following the Click here to read this month's news link at www.americanautoparts.co.uk/news.htm, and don't forget to check out Mike's Drag Racing Online feature on Harlan Thompson's entry to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame at www.dragracingonline.com. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences was thrilled to be presented with this piece of fan art. "It's pretty incredible what people do when they like what you are doing", says Mike. "This certainly makes me feel appreciated." The real festival in Cheltenham. 15th March: 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Champions FB Racing are taking another opportunity to celebrate their title win next Tuesday (22nd) when they host the Annual FB Racing Balti Bash at The Everest Restaurant in Cheltenham. Now in its ninth year, the event started as a small post-Christmas get-together for the Cheltenham Motor Club drag racing group but now boasts attendances in excess of eighty. The event starts at 7:30 pm and entry is open to all - tickets are £15 and are still available from Ian Hook (see below). As well as providing as much curry as you can eat the ticket also gives those attending a chance of a prize in the famous and always generously-reported free raffle. Ian would like to say thanks to the following for supplying some of this year's prizes: Cheltenham Motor Club, Power Pour, Prescott Brewery, Shakespeare County Raceway, Quartermilehigh.com, The Everest Balti Restaurant, A & E Fire Equipment, Custom Car Magazine, and the many friends of FB Racing who have contributed individually. Ian would like to say an extra big Thank You to Santa Pod Raceway for their very generous donation of family tickets to some of Europe's biggest drag racing events. If anyone else would like to get involved at this late stage please get in touch with Ian Hook at [email protected]. Web site updates. 15th March: The new web site of the UK's Fester Race Cars is now on-line at www.festerracecars.com. "I would like to thank Neil Warwick of WG4 for his work on Fester Race Cars' new web site", says Bill Felstead. "More updates are imminent but for now we have something to work with. Please take a moment and have a look. Currently nearing completion is Matthew Wright's Rolls Royce which apart from paint, wiring and engine was built totally in-house. The order book is looking promising for the coming year but we are always able to take on new work, be it a chassis upgrade or full build. Please phone for a no-obligation chat." The official web site of the UK's Fireforce Jet Funny Car team has been updated with a report of Martin Hill and team's recent appearance at Yas Marina. The report is well worth a look and pictures are promised very shortly. Check it out at www.fireforce.co.uk. Gatornationals final day. 14th March: Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe writes that the NHRA Gatornationals was completed in beautiful warm sunny condtions and was a clean race without any oildowns to speak of. European interest left on yesterday's final day were Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Ulf Leanders and Top Alcohol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners. Ulf had damaged an engine in the last qualifier then purchased a short block to start the overnight rebuild; however after almost completing the task the team found that the blower would not fit the block so they had to sit out and lose the second round. Mike Manners went out to Randy Meyer in the Top Alcohol Dragster semi-finals. A delighted Del Worsham took his first in Top Fuel win after many years in Funny Car, beating Tony Schumacher. Mike Neff recorded the win over Cruz Pedregon in Funny Car, whilst in Pro Stock Jason Line took a close win over teammate Greg Anderson. Eddie Krawiec wrapped up the Pro Stock Motorcycle win with a good light over Karen Stoffer. DVD review: Drag Racing Dreams. 14th March: Drag Racing Dreams Vol. 1, a DVD by Mediagroup now available in Europe exclusively from photo-journalist Keith Harman, is a very enjoyable potted history of the early days of drag racing in the USA. If you have read Robert Post's excellent book High Performance, which is viewed as the definitive history of the sport, then Drag Racing Dreams is the first few chapters brought to life. The forty-minute programme is hosted by the legendary Big Daddy Don Garlits, with contributions from Chris Karamesines, Don Prudhomme and Shirley Muldowney. It could be argued that Don's career in drag racing is pretty much the history of the sport and the narrative is naturally based upon his racing achievements as the sport progressed. However other notables such as Dick Kraft, the Bean Bandits and Emery Cook are given due credit for their contribution – especially Emery Cook who first told Don how to make the best of nitro. Don relates some anecdotes which your reviewer had not heard before including an amusing story of how he accidentally got Chrysler's new 426 to perform (you'll have to buy the DVD to find out how) and Don Prudhomme's churlish pronouncement on Don's first rear-engined dragster. Other subjects discussed in the programme and, of course, illustrated with video and pictures include the careers of the Greek, the Snake and Shirley together with the Snake/Mongoose Mattel deal, the growth of Funny Cars and Jungle Jim. A lot is packed into these forty minutes. All of the stories related by Don and others are illustrated with some excellent archive footage and pictures, a lot of which was new to your reviewer. It was only a few years ago that any documentary about the early days of drag racing would use the same few clips but as the nostalgia scene has grown, so has a realisation grown with it that the sport's actual history needs to be preserved and properly archived and this has sent people climbing into lofts and digging into film libraries. The footage used in Drag Racing Dreams goes back before organised drag racing got started and includes street racing and races on abandoned runways. Clips are also included from some of the earliest races at such places as Bakersfield and Lions. A number of the cars mentioned can be found in Don's museum and, as well as being shown in action in contemporary footage, are also shown in their current home. The Vol. 1 in the title implies that there will be more of these DVDs, which would be great news. Some jumps between years in this first volume gives the impression that the intention is to make a much longer documentary. The main programme is followed by a trailer for Mediagroup's other production Fast Lane Summer which documents the season of a Nostalgia Top Fuel team. Drag Racing Dreams Vol. 1 is available from Keith Harman for £14.95 including P+P. You can check out a trailer and/or order via the Store link at www.keithharman.com. Keith also does a neat line in Hot Rodding T-Shirts and magazines and the Blog and galleries on his site are well worth a look if you like your Hot Rods. Tell him that Eurodragster.com sent you. Doing the Time Warp again. 14th March: What better way to follow a nostalgia DVD review than with the news that following on from two very successful outings last year with six-second, 200 mph runs at Hockenheim and Santa Pod Raceway in 2011, Paul Stubbings and Wendy Baker are excited to anounce that the TimeWarp Classic Funny Car will be appearing at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. "Although we are only planning one run a day, with good track conditions and hopefully decent weather we are hoping to repeat - if not better - our performance at last year's Flame and Thunder", says Wendy Baker. "This time I should be able to see where I'm going - bonus! Whilst waiting for the other Classic Funnies to be finished we're hoping to make the most of any track time we get. In the meantime good luck to the guys still building, we're sure everyone will agree they're going to be worth the wait." The second coming. 14th March: Lee Cohen has been in touch to show us the shape of things to come in 2012 - his Fuel Altered The Devil. "What a cracking job that Darren at Power Race Graphics has done with the renderings", says Lee. "We are looking for people to advertise on this beast; we are not asking for the world, just a handful of small companies to advertise with us as you can get a lot out of a little. Our sponsors Prolong Oil and County Wide Lettings of Clacton on Sea are staying with us, Any party interested in coming on board and being noticed with a true nostalgia and crowd-pleasing car please get in touch at [email protected]. "For help and advice I would like to thank my crew: dad John (mechanic), Mark (clutch) Nick, Munkey and Josh (polishing, refuelling and checks). I would also like to thank my trusting and loving Karen for putting up with the expense." Ladies nominate charity. 14th March: Following on from Tuesday's International Women's Day involving the MSA's Women In Motorsport project, drag racing's For Ladies That Launch organiser Beth Satchell has been in touch to let us know that this year's appointed charity for the event at Shakespeare County Raceway on 11th-12th June is Refuge: For Women and Children against Domestic Violence. Support for the weekend is growing with many of the country's women drag racers pledging their support by taking part in the second annual FLTL Bracket Race. The weekend is shaping up to be a great event with rounds of the Outlaw Anglia and NAST Supertwins series, Junior Dragster League, Wild Bunch and the Pro Street Drag Series as well as tractor pulling. If you haven't already joined, For Ladies That Launch has its own Facebook page which you can check out by clicking here. More sponsors for SCR Junior League. 14th March: The Shakespeare County Raceway Junior Dragster League is pleased to add Opie Oils and GV Motorsport to its expanding roster of sponsors and supporters. Following discussions with Andrew Tuffrey from Opie Oils and JDL's Daren Brett a new incentive scheme has been agreed for Junior Dragster racers to gain support from Opie's vast range of oils and other racing products. "I'm delighted that Opie Oils are on board this year", says Daren. "This deal not only allows Junior racers to buy discounted oils from Opie's vast range, but also allows access to the company's rewards of magazine and media coverage if supplied with photo evidence of cars displaying Opie decals at Shakespeare County Raceway". When applying, drivers/teams will be supplied with a link to register their cars on Opie Oils' web site and will then be given a unique code. Former oval track racer turned Grass Tracker and Junior Dragster team owner Grant Victory has announced that GV Motorsport will be adding its name to the ever-growing list of JDL sponsors. Grant, along with racing wife Tracey are no strangers to motorsport and Junior Dragster racing. Last year both Grant and Tracey burst on to the scene crewing for their son Russell after purchasing a former Hauser Racing Junior chassis. Russell took to the car like a duck to water and was duly signed off for his licence under close scrutiny of Senior MSA Scrutineer Paul Satchell. Russell is already carving a name for himself having bagged the best Reaction Time at one of last year's SCR Junior Dragster Shootouts, only to have the accolade taken away in the final round, but his attitude and personality are both commendable. The 2011 SCR Junior Dragster League is proudly supported by Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Peter Walters Race Design, CC Medical Services, the Supercharged Outlaws, Turboville.com, Motorshack, Fester Race Cars, Claron Graphics, Webb Express Couriers, Classic Designs, Alamo Car Rental, Tailor-Made Webs, LessTax2Pay, WG4, Team Just Smoky, Midland Tractor Pulling Club, and now Opie Oils and GV Motorsport. Welcome aboard. Swift snippets. 14th March: Registration forms for the 2011 FIA and UEM European Championships are now available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Further to our news item of 13th February Peter Blay has sent a couple of workshop pictures from the Slot Car Club of Newbold Riverside Primary School in Rugby, which is being supported by the Extended Services initiative including the support of QEH Systems. "The dragster will carry Santa Pod Raceway and Eurodragster.com livery in recognition of their support", says Peter. "The other picture is probably the first you have received showing twelve cars under construction! At least one car is likely to struggle off the line because of the weight of paint applied by the kids!". You can find out more, including how to get involved in supporting the Club, by following the Community Support link at www.qehsystems.co.uk. UK Top Methanol FC and blown-alcohol altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing are delighted to announce their latest sponsor Peter Walters Race Design. "PWRD specialise in race car paint schemes, designs and renderings, whether for you or for your sponsorship proposals", says Luke. "Trailers, teamwear and print media can also be included, why stop with an awesome looking race car, impress everyone with a complete and professional team package. Please take a look around their site and see some of the work they have done. Bennett Racing are very pleased to welcome PWRD and look forward to a great relationship!" Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive are celebrating their shop refit and latest American car parts update by offering Eurodragster readers 10% discount on all in-shop parts. Topspeed will also price match and airfreight twice-monthly from the States ranging from stock American parts, hot rod, muscle car parts to anything for your race car. Check out www.topspeedparts.co.uk or call 01932 341700. Web site updates. 14th March: Heaven and Hell Pro ET team member and Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Grace Roaf has launched a Photobucket web gallery at s1237.photobucket.com/doorslammergirl. Grace's first update includes spectator-side pictures from last year's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim and FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Gatornationals Day III. 13th March: European luck was a little sparse on the ground at the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville yesterday, writes Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe from Florida: In Top Fuel, Denmark's Stig Neergaard's last chance to make the field ended in an untimely fireball at three quarter track putting him in eighteenth place and no cahnce to race. Fredrick Fredlund, riding a borrowed Pro Stock Motorcycle, managed a 7.255/183 but it only got him a twenty-fifth place, so no racing on Sunday. Sweden's Micke Gullqvist in his '68 Camaro ran a 5.908/245 to place him in the sixth position but in round one of competition on Saturday evening he shook the tyres badly allowing opponent Raymond Commisso the 5.896/249 win to the slowed up 9.221/115. In Top Alcohol Dragster ex-pat Brit and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners ended up in eighth place with a 5.476/261 then ran a winning 5.420/267 against Artie Allen's losing 5.429/253 in round one. Sweden's Ulf Leanders made an engine damaging 5.688/247 for number eleven and luckily had a bye in round one so the team staged the hurting machine and rolled through the beams to take the win and a chance in round two on Sunday. Ex-pat Brit, Tony Morris was in Super Comp but went out in round one early on Saturday morning. The day was bright, sunny and warm enough for shirtsleeves until the sun went down. The Don Schumacher Racing teams of Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown and Spencer Massey made it the top three qualifiers in Top Fuel again, a 3.814/325, 3.822/318 and a 3.828/316 showin consistency. Funny Car was left in the hands of Matt Hagan with a stout 4.030/309. In Pro Stock Roger Brogdon maintained his position with a 6.495/213 and in Pro Stock Motorcycle Hector Arana led the pack with a 6.777/195. The day looks good weather-wise for eliminations day with temperatures predicted in the early eighties - enough to start a tan for the many European racers and fans in attendance. You will be able to stay up to date with Ulf's and Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. 2011 UEM Funny Bike Cup update. 12th March: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing has been in touch with an update about the 2011 UEM Funny Bike Cup: The UEM Funny Bike Cup will run at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 28th April-1st May and at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro in Finland on 30th June-3rd July, and a round has yet to be confirmed at the Sunoco Drag Challenge at Gardermoen, Norway on 5th-7th August. The registration fee, prize fund, etc are all the same as last year: Series Registration Fee: €200. The fee should be paid to the promoter thirty days before the first race in which the rider competes. This registration fee is in addition to all normal race entry fees. Qualification Payment: €200 awarded to the ten quickest qualifiers. If less than ten bikes qualify then each bike qualified will receive €200, not a tenth share of €2000. Round Payments: €150 for each winning round of the race. Event Entry Fee: €260 Travel Payment: €200 travel compensation for foreign competitors (riders who do not hold a licence in the event host country) who have qualified within the top ten of that class. You must have a valid licence issued by your own Federation and a UEM Promo Sport licence (one year or one event) or licence from another CONU, all provided by your FMN. You can download the registration form by clicking here. Please note that registration for the UEM Funny Bike Cup must be sent to Trakbak Racing and not to Speedgroup. Gatornationals Day II. 12th March: Micke Gullqvist (Pro Modified), Stig Neergaard (Top Fuel Dragster), Fredrik Fredlund (Pro Stock Bike), Ulf Leanders (Top Alcohol FC) and UK ex-pat and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners (Top Alcohol Dragster) are representing Europe at this weekend's NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe writes from Florida that yesterday's first day of Pro qualifying was run in bright sunshine but with really cool temperatures. The cool are provided some stunning numbers in some classes like Pro Stock Motorcycle when Hector Arana rode to a National Record of 6.777 and a track record speed of 199.26 mph was put down by Eddie Krawiec. Pro Stock also provided National Records of 6.495 by Rodger Brogdon and a 213.57 mph from Erica Enders. A Track Record of 4.030 was put down by Funny Car's Matt Hagan and in Top Fuel Don Schumacher Racing teams ruled the roost. Europeans Stig Neergaard managed a 3.957/307 for fourteenth in Top Fuel, Micke Gullqvist managed 6.213/184 for number twenty-one in Pro Mod, Fredrik Fredlund is twenty fifth in Pro Stock Motorcycle at 7.300/181, Eurodragster.com sponsor Michael Manners eighth in Top Alcohol Dragster with a 5.476/261, and Ulf Leanders on the Top Alcohol Funny Car bump with a 6.135/252. UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler is getting around at Gainesville. After attending the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame dinner on Thursday Paige spent yesterday riding support vehicles for Melanie Troxel and Shawn Langdon, and got the chance to try out the Superbowl winner's ring when she met Forrest Lucas. You can stay in touch with Paige via her Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/alamodragster. Qualifying for all of our guys and hopefully eliminations for some take place today (Saturday) and you will be able to stay up to date courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. You can find Micke Gullqvist's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/#!/Micke.Gullqvist.Motorsports and we will of course bring you any updates which we receive. Tierp impresses again. 12th March: Track announcer and Eurodragster.com Honorary Staff Member Christer Abrahamson got his first look at Tierp Arena yesterday and was impressed with what he saw. "Even though I had read about Tierp and seen pictures, the scale of this project didn't really sink in until I saw it with my own eyes!", says Christer. "I should have met Leif Andréasson there, but in a slight misunderstanding he drove south to Stockholm to meet me, and I went north to Tierp meet him! "So I was taken on a short guided tour by Kenneth, the guy responsible for the building site. He told me that some days there are as many as fifty people working on the site. He pointed in different directions saying "Do you see the digger out there?". At first I couldn't see it but after a while I looked further away and there it was. "That one is working on a huge mud wall to send the noise in another direction, and that digger over there is digging to put water and electricity in at the spectator entrance. And that one way over there is preparing the big camp site!". I could count eight or nine big diggers working in all directions. "The first parts of the grandstands are going up. To help you get an idea of their size I took the picture so that you can compare them with the two mobile cranes to the left. "Kenneth also admitted that the huge interest which motor enthusiasts have in the Arena has become a slight problem. "People sometimes walk enthusiastically past the gates and I find them on the construction site without hard hats or other required safety clothes!", he said. "I was impressed by it all before going there, but now I have to say that I'm very, very impressed!" Web site updates. 12th March: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing Top Methanol Funny Car team talks Superchargers and Dragstalgia. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Trakbak announce SSB mini-series. 11th March: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to announce a three-round European mini-series for Super Street Bikes. The three rounds will be held at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 28th April-1st May, at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 27th-30th May, and at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 8th-11th September. Geoff advises that: The Series is open to all Super Street Bike competitors and can be entered using the regular supplementary regulations/entry form for each of the rounds; Riders competing in their home nation will be able to enter using a current valid national licence; Riders competing at foreign rounds must obtain permission to start and insurance from their respective national bodies. In the case of UK riders, that being the ACU, riders will not require an international licence to compete but must have permission to start and insurance from your national body; Each event will contest a sixteen-bike field but winning round payments will only apply from the second round of each event, in other words from eight bikes downwards. Due to the fact this is a mini-series rather than an officially sanctioned Cup or Championship there will be no series registration fee imposed or TV coverage for the 2011 season. There is a Travel and Prize fund available to all competitors entering SSB at the three events hosting the series this year: Event Entry Fee €260 Qualification Payment: €200 awarded to the ten quickest qualifiers. If less than ten bikes qualify then each bike qualified will receive €200, not a tenth share of €2000. Round Payments: €150 paid to the winning rider of each round of the race. In the case of sixteen-bike fields, round payments only apply from the second round, i.e. from eight bikes downwards. Travel Payment: €200 travel compensation for foreign competitors (riders who do not hold a licence in the country hosting the event) who have qualified within the top ten of that class. Tickets: Each entry will receive a maximum of six racer tickets. Field size: sixteen bikes. "There are a number of people who have given me a lot of their time and enthusiasm in order to make this mini-series a reality", says Geoff. "I will not name them, you all know who you are! I thank you all for you enthusiasm, invaluable assistance and good humour." Mahle Pistons back PSDS. 11th March: As the series enters its fourth season of competition Pro Street Drag Series organisers Shakespeare County Raceway are pleased to announce that Mahle Pistons, in association with Surrey-based Roland Alsop Engineering and SMG Tuning, are putting up a set of pistons for the series overall winner of 2011. Pro Japanese Import racer and former PSDS champion Steve Guirey of SMG Tuning uses Mahle Pistons in his specially modified Subaru Impreza to set a new Shakespeare County Raceway four-cylinder 4WD category track record of 9.123/154.63 last October. Steve is looking towards the eight-second bracket in 2011 and he hopes that Mahle Pistons will help him to do just that! World Rallying, German Touring Car and World Touring Cars with over ninety years or racing heritage and technology. From the invention of the first aluminium piston to the most advanced design and machining processes being used today, Mahle delivers unmatched performance and durability together with light-weight, low-drag, design specific forgings which are machined with close attention given to ring groove quality, tolerances and consistency. All Mahle Motorsports pistons are dual-coated, adding protection and maintaining consistent performance over the life of the engine. Mahle Motorsports chose Roland Alsop Engineering as their main European Distributor for one reason alone: they are passionate about their hobby with over forty five years' experience in successfully supplying parts and machining services to the automotive and race car industry. After five Mahle Pistons-backed rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway in 2011, the lucky outright Pro Street Drag Series winner at season's end in October will have the chance to choose a set of Mahle Pistons for their vehicle from the current catalogue, the valuable prize courtesy of Roland Alsop Engineering. Roland Alsop Engineering is the main suppliers for Carrillo, Cosworth, Gates, Manley, Supertech valves, Piper Cams and Millers Oils. Their web site at www.rolandalsop.com has a number of downloadable catalogues and application guides so check them out and see what they can do for your PSDS drag racer. Look out for Mahle Motorsports/Roland Alsop advertising at the track. The main objective of the Pro Street Drag Series is to run affordable Japanese and European manufactured road-legal cars safely in the confines of a professionally-run drag strip. Cars must have a current MOT, full working dashboard and lights but on radial tyres. All five PSDS rounds will be conducted during the race track's Public Track Day weekends with Saturday being a Test and Tune day. Sunday is the main competition day with all runs counting towards the five timed brackets. It's that simple, and it's free to join up. To sign up for a race number, and for series information, visit prostreetdragseriesuk.freeforums.org or search for Pro Street Drag Series on Facebook. Let battle commence! The 2011 Pro Street Drag Series dates are: Round 1: Sunday 17th April Round 2: Sunday 12th June Round 3: Sunday 24th July Round 4: Sunday 2nd October Round 5: Sunday 30th October Saturdays are practice days. Swift snippets. 11th March: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Tot Rod engine ready for SCR Junior League". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher is now back from Abu Dhabi after spending Monday packing the rig, and after a couple of days in the workshop took time out to go skiing in Zermatt with his Daughter Jndia. "We have a festival in Arlesheim on Monday", says Urs. "Life is keeping me busy and keeping me young!" Chris Hartnell, Mark, Jade, Lee, Sarah, Liam and TJ have asked us to send love and Happy Birthday wishes to Wild Bunch Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows. Our pleasure guys, have a lovely day Claire and have a hug from the Eurodragster.com staff. We would also like to say a big Happy Birthday to the original Daddy, UK Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance. Have a great day G. Ian Hart, who devised the Eliminator card game, has been in touch to point us in the direction of a promotional video for the game which you can check out on Facebook by clicking here. Stolen equipment alert. 10th March: Top Alcohol tuner and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna has been in touch to ask European racers to keep an eye out for a mound of equipment stolen from Australian Top Alcohol racer Aaron Hambridge. The theft has just about wiped out Aaron's entire operation and the haul includes various complete motors, spares, safety kit...you name it, the thieving scumbag took it. You can check out the complete list of stolen equipment (Word format) by clicking here and if you get offered any of this stuff or have any information at all about the thefts then please get in touch with Will at [email protected]. Please do not hesitate to shop the person or people who did this. Entry form update. 10th March: Invitations and entry forms are now available for the first round of the 2011 UEM European Drag Bike Championships, which takes place at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 28th April to 1st May. The invitation and entry forms can be downloaded from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. On-line entry is now available for Tierp Arena's inaugural event, the NDRS Nationals on 7th-8th May. You can enter on-line at www.tierparena.com/reg. Supplementary regulations are available on the Speedgroup web site at the above address. LG from inside the helmet. 10th March: Lena Perés writes that Lars-Göran Eriksson, aka LG, of ME Racing Service in Borlänge, Sweden, recently spent some more time working at McKinney Corp Race Cars in Lafayette, Indiana, helping to build the company's first Pro Mod/Pro Extreme car. LG went equipped with special gifts for his co-workers. "They had started to put all the tubes together when LG showed up with a helping hand", says Lena. "LG visited McKinney Corp three years ago and learned a lot about building Top Fuel Dragsters. He realised then that the welding helmet he had was not that good so he and dad Mats fixed it for a brand new SL helmet to be sent over from Speedglas. LG made very good friends with the employees on that visit and felt that he wanted to give them a treat this time, so Mats fixed with Speedglas that LG could hand the three guys their own Speedglas SL helmets. Were Matt, Brian and Bob happy? Oh, yes! Bob decided to pension off his old helmet which he had had for twenty five years. Matt hurried back home that evening to his sewing machine and made them all nice soft covers so that they wouldn't get scratched when not being used. "LG stayed for a month and helped Murf McKinney and the guys with the car, but didn't have time to finish as dad, Lena and Ludvig came to pick him up. Otherwise he would probably have stayed over there another month! When LG left the USA the car was starting to take shape well with front suspension, and the doors were on their hinges. There was a lot of work left for the other McKinney guys, and the car is supposed to be ready in just a couple of weeks so they had better hurry. The car is going to be driven by Joshua Hernandez, the Crew Chief will be Troy Critchley, and the owner is Jim Oddy. "There is really good contact between ME Racing Service AB and McKinney Corp", says LG. "McKinney Corp have won a lot of orders for new cars and parts and that presented me with the opportunity to work at McKinney Corp again. I want to say a big Thank You to Murf McKinney, his family and friends, and everyone at McKinney Corp who made my time there a lot of fun. I hope to be back again soon. Last but absolutely not least, a big thanks to Speedglas who helped us with the great welding helmets." Erbacher: I'll be back. 10th March: Still on the subject of McKinney and ME Racing Service race cars, FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has confirmed that his operation will be back from Abu Dhabi in time to participate in the Pro Fuel Shootout at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. "After the Hadman car worked great in Abu Dhabi we will now put the Murf McKinney car, which has a new front end, together for Easter", says Urs. "We want to be sure that both of our cars go nice and straight. The McKinney dragster is a two-time Championship car and the new front end was built by Lars-Göran at ME Racing Service." Urs also confirms that he will be driving the car at Easter, as there was a possibility of another shoe at that race. AFB on the Emerald Isle. 10th March: Nick Saunders writes that the UK's AFB Drag Racing Supertwin team have just returned from the Carole Nash International Motorcycle and Scooter Show at the RDS Centre in Dublin: We spent the weekend performing demonstration burnouts for the crowd with our Fuel Harley whilst the Super Street bikes of Steve Venables and Dave Smith performed exhibition launches along with some of the Straightliners bikes in a sixty foot ET Challenge. Please take a look at www.afbdragracing.co.uk for some pictures and a short video from the show. We would like to say thank you to SDL Exhibitions and Santa Pod Raceway for inviting us to the show. We are now busy putting some new parts on the bike and getting everything ready for the first race of the year at Easter. We have put our race calender on the web site, and if all goes to plan we should be in for a busy year. As well as the updates to our own web site, we would like to tell everyone about the new web site from our principle sponsors at AFB Motorcycles, the South West's leading Custom Motorcycle Specialist. The new site can be viewed at www.afbmotorcycles.co.uk where you can access their services, special offers,  custom bikes, lubricants from Spectro Oils, Zodiac performance parts for Harley Davidson, and much more. Paige heads for Gainesville. 10th March: Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler is jetting to the USA this week to attend the Don Garlits 2011 International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Banquet in Gainesville. Paige will also meet American drag racer Melanie Troxel and the R2B2 Racing Team at the 42nd Annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals. "This will be my second drag racing trip to the USA, and I am really excited to meet more inspiring people in the sport", said Paige. "With the UK race season starting in April, this will be great preparation for me. Following the trip to Florida I'll be at Santa Pod Raceway being interviewed by the BBC - after school of course - which I'm really looking forward to." "Earlier this week I visited Sir Christopher Hatton School in Wellingborough with Go Motorsport to promote Motorsport and the great sport that is drag racing. We took along the Alamo-sponsored Junior Dragster, which was a real hit! My next mission is to obtain an NHRA drag racing licence so that I can race when I'm in the USA later this year!" To further reinforce its support of drag racing, Alamo Rent A Car is offering up discounts on on-line rentals for all drag racing fans this year at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster, helping even more people to experience the thrill and exhilaration of drag racing. With a global network providing access to over 2,500 rental locations in over one hundred countries worldwide, and over 1,680 European locations, including at every major airport, Alamo offers a wide range of vehicles and optional extras for leisure travellers, making it the ideal partner for drag racing fans. Swift snippets. 10th March: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King has released the first in a series of pictorials covering the construction of the new Gulf Racing Top Fuel Bike. The first article details the planning and build of the Puma motor and associated parts and is well worth a read by clicking here. Don't forget that if you like your drag racing on two wheels then Ian runs a drag bike-centred web site at www.kingracing.com. Fellow Top Fuel Bike racers Peter and Sören Svensson of Sweden's Team Kendall Racing are hard at work on off-season maintenance of their five-second bike, and you can check out some of the impressive engineering on display on their web site at www.billetracing.se. UK National 9.50 Bike Champion Jake Mechaell is pleased to announce that Webster Race Engineering will continue to sponsor him in 2011. We have two spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) unaccountably fell into our Spam folder but was rescued and found to bear the words "They say that "From out of the ashes, a Phoenix will rise" - somehow I think I've been had!"... ...whilst the second (above right) came with the words "Hope those cardboard wheelie bars hold out!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Micke Gullqvist (Pro Modified), Stig Neergaard (Top Fuel Dragster), Fredrik Fredlund (Pro Stock Bike), Ulf Leanders (Top Alcohol FC) and UK ex-pat and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners (Top Alcohol Dragster) will be representing Europe at this weekend's NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. Qualifying for all of our guys commences tomorrow (Friday) and you will be able to stay up to date courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. We will of course bring you any updates which we receive. Back to Will Hanna and congratulations to our Blogger for tuning US Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Chris Foster to the win at the NHRA Texas Sportsman Challenge at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston. "It was a tough race", said Will afterwards. "The air conditions were mineshaft, but the track was green between sixty and a hundred and fifty feet - the rubber just never stuck good out there, so it was a real trick just getting the car through it. The track was pretty stout to that point, but it was night and day before and after that first expansion joint in the track. Luckily for us we had the fortune of having some bye runs to test a few things and were able to find a tune-up that would go down the track. It was a team effort. Chris did a great job driving and the crew did a great job getting the car ready. Hopefully we can do this a few more times this year." Staying with the NHRA Texas Sportsman Challenge, many thanks to Jeff Kline of jdklinephoto.com for sending us some pictures of ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners in action at the at Royal Purple Raceway. at the weekend. The portrait shows Mike with the Shredder dragster, sporting his 2010 Auto Club Finals TAD Champion jacket. Photo-journalist Mike Collins has written an excellent biography of Harlan Thompson to celebrate his induction to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Part one is now showing on the Drag Racing Online web site at www.dragracingonline.com. He's not being sponsored for it because there's not enough money in the European economy but Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog is pleased to announce that he has broken his first barrier in the diet which everyone thought would never happen, passing the one stone (6.8 kg) mark yesterday after eight weeks of agonising self-deprivation ordained by his medical team. "My Eurodragster.com colleagues and some of my racing friends knew about this diet and have been very supportive, so thanks to them", says Tog. "There are a few stones to go but come the Easter Thunderball I hope to be able to turn side-on and disappear". The Pizza Wagon and McIndian's were unavailable for comment. Happy Birthday Der Beschleuniger! 10th March: Markus and Matze of Germany's Der Beschleuniger drag racing news site celebrated their first year yesterday (Wednesday). "We are proud of what we have achieved and the way we could keep you folks (especially the German speakers) up to date", they say. "Thanks to all the teams who shared private informations with us. Time and money are the two big players in drag racing. We don't have much of both, and the experience of this first 365 days of our existence has kept us busy. Now we can judge what a horrible amount of work it is to keep Eurodragster.com alive and kicking. That's intense (you are not fired). "We will still keep you up to date with the news from the German-speaking areas of Europe, that's for sure. We will be visiting races and workshops, and we also wanted to publish a print version of Der Beschleuniger in April but that has been delayed but is not beyind the horizon. German and English coverage, pictorial, and some kind of yearbook are planned. Time and money again will tell the truth...can we do it or not? Like on the quarter mile, the truth is on the track. We will be there." We would like to wish Markus and Matze and Der Beschleuniger a very Happy Birthday and many more of them, and to thank them for their help since its inception. We look forward to continuing our very fruitful co-operation. More Fast backing for Santa Pod. 10th March: Santa Pod Raceway and leading automotive chemical company Permatex have re-signed their partnership agreement for the 2011 season, following on from the success of the 2010 campaign. The Pod has always been the home of Europe's fastest cars, but it's now also the home of the World's fastest hand cleaner: Fast Orange! Thanks to high-profile track signage and point-of-sale marketing, the technician's favourite, alongside associated brands like NOS Octane Booster will be promoted in a multi-platform media campaign created by parent company Permatex. Increasing their involvement from last year. Permatex will also be sponsoring Santa Pod's Jap Drag classes with a product bundle, trophy and welcome £100 cheque for the winner of each round. The deal runs for the whole of the 2011 show and race season and sees the two popular brands heralded from startline hoardings and billboards as well as featuring prominently on Santa Pod's own radio station, Nitro FM, and in printed show programmes. However it's not just a branding move, with showgoers and racers now able to choose from a large range of Permatex quarter-mile essentials from the Pod Shop during any show weekend. Commenting on the partnership, ITW Permatex's Marketing Executive Gurpreet Pawar said "We are really pleased to be renewing our company's association with Santa Pod for the 2011 season. We had a great year with Santa Pod through 2010 and there is no doubt our brand awareness increased as a result of this sponsorship. Permatex is a relatively new brand in the UK and motoring and biking enthusiasts are now showing a real interest in our products. We are genuinely looking forward to next year's involvement." For Santa Pod, Sponsorship Manager Caroline Day said "We are delighted to welcome Permatex back as our partners this season and we're particularly pleased that our activities have made a real difference in the level of their enquiries. Their banner placements should net them some superb TV coverage once again this year, and with 350,000 potential visitors expected in 2011, we're expecting our over the counter sales to be brisk again, too." Welcome to our new sponsors. 8th March: We are very pleased to welcome two new sponsors onto Eurodragster.com's News page. Alders Automotive is based in East Sussex and owned by Richard Alder. Alders Automotive specialises in reconditioning gearboxes and building racing transmissions. "We are pleased to be supporting Europe's number one drag racing web site", says Richard Alder. "As well as working on transmissions we build classic and racing engines, supply crate motors and carry out servicing and repairs to all classic and American vehicles". A range of engine parts are available including aluminium radiators and Hayden transmission coolers. Customers have included Steph Milam, Steve Carey, Phil Toppin and Paul Baynton. Alders Automotive can be found on the web at www.aldersautomotive.co.uk and at the firm's E-Bay shop at stores.ebay.co.uk/Alders-Automotive?_rdc=1. The workshop is located at Units 4 and 5, Northfield Business Park, Lower Dicker, East Sussex BN27 4BZ. For more information either call 01323 848448 or E-Mail [email protected]. Phoenix Personnel Limited is well-known within the driving recruitment industry. Phoenix supply Class 1 drivers to many Blue Chip logistic companies in Northamptonshire and the surrounding areas and prides itself on the level of service provision and support which it can offer its clients. The latest service is the offer of CPC Training to drag racers and crew, with courses given by Emma Humphreys. Emma will make an appearance on Nitro FM at Santa Pod Raceway at Easter to explain more, and if you have any questions in the meantime then please contact Emma at [email protected] or call 01604 881664. Phoenix Personnel has been involved with Santa Pod Raceway for five years, from Corporate Days to the sponsorship of firesuits and marshals' shirts. The company was also heavily involved in the UK Truck Show and will continue to sponsor the Monster Truck Show in August. "We are very excited to support the Eurodragster.com team", says Company Director Jane Smith, "I have always supported Carole Ismail and Emma in new adventures and seeing them excited about this partnership inspired me to do more. I have a great personal interest in drag racing as my son Luke crews on Wayne Nicholson's Lucky Devil Pro Mod." You can find Phoenix Personnel's web site at www.phoenix-personnel.co.uk, or call 01604 881664 or E-Mail [email protected]. We are very pleased to add more sponsors to our roster and would like to thank Richard Alder and Jane Smith for their support, and Carole Ismail for her help. Please help those companies who help us, you, and drag racing by checking out Alders Automotive and Phoenix Personnel when shopping for their lines of goods and services. 2011 European Top Gas schedule. 8th March: Many thanks to 2010 European Top Gas Series Champion Herman Jolink for forwarding us the Series' 2011 calendar: 7th-8th May: Opening Drag Day, Hoskovice CZ 4th-5th June: Drag Day Europe, Hoskovice CZ 17th-19th June: Dutch Open, Drachten NL 15th-17th July: Dutch Open, Drachten NL 12th-14th August: NitrOlympX, Hockenheim D 26th-28th August: Dutch Finals, Drachten NL 1st-4th September: Mosten Race Days, Randers DK (eighth-mile sprint) The best six of seven rounds will be counted. Swift snippets. 8th March: Everyone on the UK's Orange Pop Outlaw Anglia team would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Pro Stock Bike racer and occasional crew member Jerry Collier. Have a great day Jerry. Web site updates. 8th March: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, UK street-legal Pro Modified racer Andy Frost brings us up to date with the latest on the construction of Red Victor 3 as Easter suddenly starts to loom. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: Your News Editor is under the cosh in his day job today and so we have a small backlog of news which we shall post on the next update. In the meantime please keep the news coming to [email protected]. Plenty to do at Sturhan's. 7th March: Dennis Engelmann, son of German Pro Stock racer Harry Sturhan and Team Manager of the Sturhan Pro Stock Team, has been in touch with news of the team's off-season work, writes our good buddy Markus Münch of der Beschleuniger: 2010 was not that perfect for the Team. They hoped for the first six-second run but after serious engine damage the rest of the season was not that fruitful. "It was not all bad at all", says Dennis. "We attended less races than 2009 but scored thirty more points than in 2009. But that's only a little bonus compared to the destroyed engine at the Alastaro race". The team was not able to find a decent set up for the rest of the 2010 season, as spare parts took their time to arrive and with day job commitments the team ran out of time. "For the 2011 season we have high hopes again", says Dennis. "We want to qualify at all the FIA races, and this time with consistent six-second runs. Preparations are in full swing and we will hopefully be ready for the Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. We have been working on the weight of the Mercedes CLK. The doors will be made out of GFK and the front will again be lightened as well as making some parts out of carbon fibre such as the dashboard." The Mercedes will also be fitted with a new 6.25" three-disc clutch which should allow higher revving of the Hemi engine. The Hemi is at the Melzer Motors workshop where it will be refreshed totally. If everything turns out according to plan then the team will have another tool for the new season, a 2008 Hemi engine as spare. The engine is being revised in the USA at the moment and will hopefully arrive in time for the first race. "We will have two engines this time, which gives us a bit more leeway in the event of an engine breakdown", says Dennis. If time allows, there will be a new set of headers. Sponsor-wise everything stays as it was: Wiley X Sunglasses; Melzer-Motors/Sehnde Technical Support; Spath Wheels Germany; Weser Klima + Kälte GmbH aus Vlotho; Exhaust-Coating.de; Autoglas Sturhan; and www.tee-mixen.de. The team have a lot of work to do, but let's see if their hopes and wishes come true in 2011. You can find a German-language version of this news item at www.derbeschleuniger.de. Feature: Eliminator goes to the USA. 7th March: Ian Hart, who originated the Eliminator drag racing card in the UK, recently gained permission from the NHRA to market a US version of the game with proceeds going to the Drag Race Association of Women. Ian went to the NHRA Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals to talk to drivers and riders about their inclusion in the card deck and kindly kept a diary of his adventures for Eurodragster.com readers. You can check out Ian's Winternationals diary, which is presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport, by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 7th March: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "New body for a new car Part 2". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. UK Pro Mod racer-in-waiting Spencer Tramm tells us that the "Star performer" spy picture published on Friday was the newly-arrived motor for his and Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs' Duster. "The project has taken a major step forward", says Spencer. "It's a 521 ci BAE with Stage 5 heads, one of a pair of engines previously run by European Pro Mod Champions the Lindberg Brothers of Rockstar Firebird fame. This will enable us to complete the chassis. A huge Thank You goes to Jonnie Lindberg and Graham Ellis". You can see updates on the car at www.chris-isaacs.com. Staying with Spencer Tramm it is Spencer's birthday today (Monday) so a big Happy Birthday and have a great day Spencer. Back to UK Pro Mod and Wayne Nicholson is looking forward to 2011 with new crew, new equipment and of course a new BAE Hemi. "The big news is that our existing sponsors have rejoined us for the season!", says Wayne. "Big thanks to Opie Oils, Ally Fab and Originals Hot Rod Supply Co". You can stay in touch with all the news from the Lucky Devil web site at www.luckydevil777dragracing.com. Web site updates. 7th March: Eurodragster.com Swap Meet sponsor Jeff Bull Race Engines now has a web site at www.jeffbullraceengines.co.uk. The site features products and services on offer, customer list and more. Our good buddy Jon Spoard has updated his excellent UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with sound clips of jingles and radio advertisements for Santa Pod Raceway and Blackbushe Airfield as well as offering for sale audio CDs of the 1964 British International Drag Festival at Blackbushe and the 1975 Tor Line Funny Car Cup at Snetterton. You can check out the sound clips and CD offer at www.ukdrn.co.uk. The latest update to Alan Currans' excellent Acceleration Archive is a third set of pictures from 'Powerful' Peter Quinn's collection. "This update contains 54 images of Top Fuel Dragsters taken on the trip to the USA organised by Queensway Travel in 1972", says Alan. "The majority were taken trackside at Ontario Motor Speedway with a few from Orange County International Raceway". You can check out Peter's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Erbacher takes run three. 6th March: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher took the last of yesterday's three match races against Rod Fuller at Yas Marina with a well-calculated call on the set-up. "In the last run we detuned to get down the track with a calculated 4.00", says Urs. "That meant I needed to cut a good light. I left in 0.085 and was seven thousandths ahead. I ran 4.0081/450 kmh, Hot Rod spun the tyres early. We thought we had win the race but at the prizegiving they named Hot Rod as the winner because it was best out of three runs on the final day. But it's OK, we need to win the European Championship again to come back next year and beat him. "The whole race down here was just fantastic for my team. We made four runs on Friday and three runs yesterday with only one hour turn round time like in the USA. So it was great training for my guys. "We came here with a brand new chassis, we didn't know how that newly-rebuilt Hadman car would run. We are really happy that we sorted that out and ran straight from A to B. Compare that to the Fuller team which was tuned by Rob Flynn, and they had the data from this track because they ran here last March. They blew up three engines and spun the tyres a lot of the time. They had three test runs on Thursday. Our team damaged only one mnotor and that was because the the new safety switch box which is now mandatory now was broken and switched the ignition on and off during the run. "So my team did a great job, better than the American professional team. But Hot Rod Fuller's team are great guys, they helped us out with a lot of parts and they are real friends. Hot Rod is one of my driver friends from the USA and I hope we can have a lot more races down here during the Euroepan winter break. We are now loaded up and everything is ready to hit the Championship trail in Europe." Feature: NHRA Winternationals. 6th March: The latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport is Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe's report and pictures from last weekend's NHRA Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals. You can check out Roger's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. US racedays coverage. 6th March: In a strange coincidence, yesterday's events at both Palm Beach and Houston were weather-affected and postponed until today. You will be able to stay in touch with Swedish Pro Modified racer Micke Gullqvist's progress at the Shakedown at Palm Beach on the Competition Plus web site. Yesterday's webcam page has been removed but if reinstated should be available by clicking here. Courtesy of our good buddy and photo-journalist Stefan Boman a video direct from Micke's pit is also on-line on Facebook. Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the NHRA Division 4 race in Houston and is qualified second with one more qualifyign session scheduled. As ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. FIA parachute mount reminder. 5th March: Geoff Martin, who heads up the UK Tech Crew, has been in touch to remind racers in Top Fuel Dragster, Fuel Funny Car, Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car that there is a mandatory revision to the FIA rules for parachute anchor mounts this season. "Everyone should know about it and there can be no excuses if we find it has not been done", says Geoff. You can find the FIA Technical Regulations (PDF format), which includes the parachute mount and other revisions in red text, at www.fia.com and if you have any queries then please contact Geoff at [email protected] or your local Tech Crew. Gullqvist checks in. 5th March: Swedish Pro Modified racer Micke Gullqvist is taking the chance to test at this weekend's Shakedown at Palm Beach, Florida, before next weekend's NHRA Gatornationals. When we spoke to Micke last night he had just run 3.93 over the eighth-mile in the Camaro driven in Europe last season by himself and Melanie Troxel. Micke now owns this car and good as the 3.93 was Micke was unhappy with it. "We are struggling with the new 14% overdrive rule", he said. "It's slowed the car down so we are having to change a lot of things". The work paid off as the Camaro clocked 3.902 on a subsequent qualifying pass putting him sixth so far. "We are still making adjustments for the 14% overdrive but it looks as if we are heading the right way", Micke told Eurodragster.com from the R2B2 pit in Florida this afternoon. "We just need some more runs and I think we'll be OK for Gainesville." Micke and the R2B2 team tested a couple of weeks ago and he was happy with the way that went. "We started off making some 20% overdrive laps just to check things out and make sure that we were where we were when we left things at Alastaro last year", he said. "We went 5.89 on the second or third round down the track and we were satisfied with what we saw, so we stopped with that. Then we put on 14% overdrive which NHRA has put in their rules for 2011 and I can tell you that it takes a whole lot of tweaking to make the car work right again. We shook the tyres a lot before finally getting something that took us down the track. I have my own guys here in the US, we are a team of five and I do the tuning. We are 100% responsible for our car, but if we have some problem with anything then we get a hand from our R2B2 mates." Micke was runner-up at last year's Gatornationals and thinks that he was a bit spoilt with that and his win in Atlanta, making it two final rounds in his two NHRA races. He is not so sure how it will go at Gainesville. "We had a better chance before the rule change, but I still think we can qualify decently next weekend", he said. "Then on race day we also need to get in to the flow to go rounds. We're racing some of the best guys in the world and I'm happy if we just qualify to start with. We are having a very good time here and it's always fun to race with Roger Burgess and his guys, they are all making us feel very welcome." The provisional plan is to ship the Camaro to Europe after the Gatornationals, but Micke said that that could change depending upon how Gainesville goes. Plans for the European season are not yet finalised, but are being worked out at this moment. Micke added that the World Pro Mod Championship is ongoing. "I'm sure we will be able to present something in the next couple of months", he said. "There are some negotiations going on for a one-race World Championship event rather than a series of events. It will be something special, that's for sure." Micke asked us to thank Persåkers Speed Shop and Stavdal who are supporting his US trip. You can stay in touch with events at Palm Beach on the Competition Plus web site including a webcam which you can view by clicking here. There is one more qualifying round at lunchtime today and then eliminations in the afternoon. Florida is -5 hours on UK time and -6 hours on European time. As well as Micke, Europe will be represented at the NHRA Gatornationals by Stig Neergaard (Top Fuel Dragster), Fredrik Fredlund (Pro Stock Bike), Ulf Leanders (Top Alcohol FC) and UK ex-pat and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners (Top Alcohol Dragster). Rod's rods out, and Erbacher's. 5th March: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has been in touch with news of an expensive first day of racing at the Drag Racing Festival at Yas Marina. "We made four runs yesterday between 5:00 pm and 11:00 pm", says Urs. "The turn round time between runs was only an hour. So we were like done and dead yesterday. "They only let us make single runs yesterday. In the first pass we made a test run. The car moved very well but the clutch pull made the car move towards the centre line so I had to lift before the finish line. Our run was: 60 feet: 0.856 330 feet: 2.228 Eighth: 3.201/415.51 kmh 1000 feet: 4.087/403.30 kmh "On all the other runs we rattled and shook the tyres after 250 feet. "Rod Fuller with US Tuner Rob Flynn did exactly the same thing. He only had one good shoot with a 3.90/500 kmh and he smoked the tyres on every other run. On the second to last run Hot Rod was on fire with four rods kicked out of the block. On our last run we did the same thing, kicked the rods out. Now we are minus one engine and lost about $20K (click here for a video of the rod-kicking run)! "Today is another day. We are back at the track and have changed the engine. "One good thing that maybe some of the European promoters need to think about. They open the spectators gates at 3:00 in the afternoon and closed at 11:00 in the evening. It's much more fun and nice for the specators to watch night races and for us it's even better because you have the whole aftenoon to prepare the car and in the evening just four hours' action. I think that this is how we need to entertain the spectators to make drag racing more popular. A two-day night race. Make three qualifying runs on Friday and run the eliminations on the Saturday night, start at 5:00 pm and end at 11:00 pm. Run the Sportsmen on Thursday and Sunday. Look at Hockenheim Night Show - they have double the spectators for that show and then Sunday is empty. We need to entertain the spectators and that will bring in more fans." Mind our windows! 5th March: Donna Finnegan writes that Day 1 of the Drag Festival went very well for Martin Hill and the Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car team, with only a few minor hiccups. "FireForce 3 was only allowed to do 'shows' for safety reasons, mainly because of the circuit's fear of the glass panels in the race tower smashing!", says Donna. "Therefore Martin couldn't stage the car at the lights and had to start from the sixty foot mark meaning that there were no timed runs. We are hoping today that they will let us run the car normally from the Tree, now that we have shown that the glass panels will be fine! Obviously because this is the first time a jet car has performed at this track, the highest safety measures are being taken both for the spectators' and team's sake. "With three runs scheduled yesterday, it was a quite tight turn round between each run. Unfortunately for us, the on-board batteries failed on our last run causing the burner not to light on launch. However, the team managed to get this problem resolved once back in the pits so hopefully it's all systems go for today's three runs. "What can we say about Yas Marina Circuit, other than that the facilities are second to none. From the pit garages down to the shower blocks, everything is completed to the highest of standards. Martin said that the track is like a billiard table and one of the smoothest tracks he has ever known. The only disadvantage is not having our own trailer with complete supply of tools and equipment. Luckily for us though, everyone is happy to help us in any way they can and will source anything that we need." You can check out a YouTube video interview with Martin by clicking here,and a YouTube video of one of yesterday's runs by clicking here. A full report and gallery will be posted on the team's web site at www.fireforce.co.uk upon their return to the UK. Swift snippets. 5th March: Par Willen aka PiPPi has set up a Facebook page to connect European fans attending next weekend's NHRA Gatornationals. You can check out and join up at www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=167891883260818. Eurodragster.com readers will have yet another racer to cheer on this weekend as ex-pat Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the NHRA Division 4 race in Houston. Mike is currently qualified second. As ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. We have two birthdays for you today. First up, Zane Llewellyn has been in touch to ask us to say a big Happy Birthday to UK Supertwin racer Wendy Clutterbuck. Have a lovely day Wendy. Martyn Jones, Crunch, Pat and Steve Talbot and Steve  and Pat Johnson have asked us to say Happy Birthday to RCCS chassis, transmission and axle builder Kev Cerusale. No sooner said than done, have a great day Kev. Speedgroup acquires NDRS. 4th March: After two years as administrator of the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, Speedgroup has extended its operations to encompass Sportsman racing. Speedgroup has taken over responsibility for Europe's biggest Sportsman programme, the NDRS Drag Racing Series. The Swedish Dragracing League, which is partly integrated with the NDRS, will also come under Speedgroup's aegis. Around 450 teams in seven car and two motorcycle classes competed in 2010's NDRS. Kjell Pettersson, a founding member of the Swedish Dragracing Association and NDRS, initiated discussions about the takeover as the next logical step in developing the series. Pettersson foresaw benefits in merging with Speedgroup, which is already involved in developing drag racing at European Championship level. By February 2011 most elements of the merger had been completed and Speedgroup assumes responsibility for NDRS with immediate effect. "Sportsman racing forms the foundation to all drag racing", states Speedgroup's CEO, Michael Gullqvist. "The NDRS Drag Racing Series is a powerful platform for the further growth of drag racing in Europe". Speedgroup's chairman, Gunnar Janson, who led the negotiations, confirms that the Board of Directors stands united behind the decision. "The NDRS will be run as normal during 2011 whilst we integrate the NDRS systems with the way we manage the FIA and UEM Championship classes", explains Gullqvist. "Some new features will be introduced, however. For instance, the Speedgroup Drivers and Riders Club for teams active in the NDRS Drag Racing Series will be launched next month. We're also intensifying our efforts in the areas of communication and visibility. We'll be communicating with teams, organisers, class associations and federations to obtain feedback and knowledge from the various different parties involved in the series. We're preparing for further developments to take place in 2012." The founders of Svensk Dragracing and the NDRS Drag Racing Series wish to thank organisers, sponsors and teams for their co-operation over many years. They are also keen to express their gratitude to the various individuals who have been involved in building and running the series throughout this time. Speedgroup wish to add a special word of appreciation for Bilsport magazine and its leading figures, publisher Stig Sjöberg and marketing director Janet Svensson. They recognised the NDRS concept's potential early on. Since then Bilsport has been an important media and business partner to the series and remains so today. UK entry form update. 4th March: The official entry forms are now available for the Springspeed Nationals, the second round of the UK Championships, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 14th-15th May. You can find the Springspeed Nationals forms on the Downloads page of SCR's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. If you have any queries then please call the track office on 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180) or E-Mail [email protected]. Champion Larsen sits out 2011. 4th March: Joan Larsen writes that 2010 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Dan Larsen will not be defending his number one plate this season. "It is a very tough decision but we simply cannot find the money to do it", says Joan. "We have always paid for everything ourselves except for oil, but at this point we are no longer capable of doing that. The team is still working on both the car and the trailer so everything will be ready and fit for the fight at short notice, as soon as the economy allows us to race again. "With a little bit of luck, we might be able to enter the last and best event of the season, the European Finals at Santa Pod. We have only missed one season since 1997. We will be back with renewed strength." Swift snippets. 4th March: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher and UK Jet Funny Car pilot Martin Hill will be in action at the Drag Festival at Yas Marina which starts at 12:00 UK / 13:00 European today. We will bring you any news we receive and keep an eye on Urs' Facebook page and Martin's Facebook page for updates. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "Has been a star performer". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Carla Pittau has asked us to use our influence in high places to send her best wishes for a very Happy Birthday for today (Friday) to her husband, "The Wheelie Man, my very own Champion", Eurodragster.com T-Shirt wearer and all-round good guy Rick McCann. Our pleasure, have a great birthday Rick. Lars Pettersson of the FIA Drag Racing Commission has been in touch to alert us to the appearance of the Sweden Internationals at Tierp in June on the 2011 FIA European Drag Racing Championships calendar on the FIA web site at www.fia.com. Eurodragster.com readers will have someone to cheer on this weekend as ex-pat Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting the NHRA Division 4 race in Houston. The event starts today and as ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. Spiers on the pull. 4th March: Happy UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers has been in touch to report on the results of dyno testing on his 540ci Big Block Chevy at Engine Data Analysis. The dyno pulls were run by Kenny Coleman of EDA to compare VP Racing Fuels' C12 and Q16 supplied by sponsor Lee Child of LA Racing Parts. "The dyno test showed a fantastic increase from last year's methanol tune-up", says Paul. "VP Racing Fuels C12 increased the horsepower by 17 hp over the non-VP methanol. When using the Q16 fuel over the C12, the Q16 outperformed the Methanol by 39 hp. The figures quoted are all corrected figures with the motor running the same timing. "I would like to thank Lee Child of LA Racing Parts (01803 391740 or [email protected]) and VP Racing Fuels, and Kenny Coleman of EDA, for their support." The Belgians are coming! 4th March: Santa Pod Raceway are pleased to announce that they are still adding new and exciting attractions to the Big Bang Camper and Bus Show on 6th-8th May: Courtesy of the Kaag Kevers VW club we have not one but seven of Belgium's quickest VWs coming along to spice up the Run What You Brung. These cars include 1303s, Ovals and the Paranoia Beetle race car which was last seen pulling huge wheelies and charging up the track at VW Action 2010. Most of these cars will be driven to the event to aim for sub thirteen-second runs on the famous drag strip before making the 300+ mile journey home again. Impressive right? The cars will all fall into either Class A (Beetles) or Class X (Non Road Legal) in the RWYB competition. Who's going to top the tables this year? Will the trophies be going home to Belgium with the Kaag Kevers or will it be the Best of British that triumph? It's just £25 to sign on for unlimited runs including free entry into the RWYB competition. Keep your eyes on the strip to see these awesome machines in action and visit www.big-bang.co.uk for more information. MSA celebrate Women's Day. 4th March: The Motor Sports Association's Women in Motorsport Group is supporting next week's International Women's Day by drawing attention to the many female competitors and organisers already involved in motor sport in a bid to attract new female participants. Motorsport is one of the few sporting activities in which men and women compete alongside each other on an equal footing, yet as they make up only 8% of registered competition licence holders, women are hugely under-represented among motorsport drivers. There are, nonetheless, an estimated 50,000 women actively involved in British motor sport organising events, running Clubs and Associations, timekeeping, marshalling and fulfilling a host of other support roles without which the sport itself could not continue. International Women's Day on Tuesday 8th March aims to draw attention to the exploits of women around the world. The Motor Sports Association's Women in Motorsport Group aims to capitalise on this initiative and demonstrate that the world of motor sport is a welcoming place for women. "There's no doubt that people presume that it is a sport for the men", says Group Chair Sue Sanders. "But the truth is that both among competitors and organisers there is far more female representation than you would imagine. There is a great crop of really promising young girls coming through the sport at the moment and their achievements will really help to inspire others." Among the notable supporters of the initiative are some of the UK's top female competitors: Jayne Kay, 17, from Bury, Lancashire started drag racing in 2001 at just eight years old. She is now the world's youngest Funny Car driver, piloting a 2500 bhp, 250 mph racer which can cover a quarter of a mile in a little over six seconds. Katherine Legge, 30, from Guilford, Surrey contested the Champ Car World Series in 2006 and 2007, then DTM for Audi from 2008-2010 and is now back in the US IndyCar series. Sarah Moore, 17, from Tockwith, North Yorkshire in 2009 won the Ginetta Junior Championship, the Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award and was nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. In 2011 she will contest the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. Alice Powell, 18, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire became the first female driver ever to win a Formula Renault title when she won the 2010 Formula Renault BARC Championship, earning her the prestigious BWRDC Lord Wakefield Trophy. Louise Richardson, 17, from Grantham, Lincolnshire came third in the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship and was runner-up in the International Driver Shootout for the FIA Volkswagen Scirocco Cup last year. Susie Stoddart, 28, from Oban, Scotland is about to begin her sixth season in the highly competitive DTM, an international touring car series based in Germany. "I think this is a great initiative", says Louise Richardson, who was a finalist in the inaugural RSF MSA Young Driver of the Year award as part of her studies as an Advanced Apprentice in Sporting Excellence. "We need to show everyone that this is a sport for girls as much as for boys. The more that people see girls racing and getting involved in motor sport, the more likely we are to get more females into the sport. I am sure that one day we will see a female World Champion – hopefully it will be me!" Video: The first test run. 3rd March: Many thanks to FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher for forwarding us a video of his first test run at Yas Marina this evening. "The sixty foot time was 0.870 but the brake couldn't hold it so I rolled in and deep-staged", Urs told Eurodragster.com. "If you allow for that then the time was 0.840 or quicker. After 150 feet it shook the tyres real bad so I had to get off the throttle. Everything is fine. The race starts tomorrow, three runs at night!" The video clip is in .MOV format, 2.6 Mb, and can be viewed by clicking here. Postcard from Abu Dhabi III. 3rd March: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has been in touch again from Abu Dhabi, where he will be taking part in a match race against Rod Fuller at the Drag Racing Festival at Yas Marina tomorrow and Saturday. "Yesterday was another fourteen-hour workday", says Urs. "I put together motors and Robin and Glenn put the car together. We sent the car down here just after I received it from ME Racing Services in Sweden and nothing was on it at that moment. "Tomorrow evening at 6:00 pm we will make some test runs to try out the car and track. "Hot Rod Fuller is very nice and the people here are great. Yesterday was hot and windy and a small sand storm hit us in the afternoon. So it was like in England when it rains, not water just sand, we had to close the sidewalls of our tent otherwise we couldn't work. On Friday and Saturday they say the weather will fine. It's hot but really nice here." Charity race car needs help. 3rd March: Roger Magnus has been in touch to ask for the help of Eurodragster.com readers to finish a car which was being put together to race for charity. "I've been putting together the ex-Colin Taylor/Andy Bell 1991 Thunderbird race car to race to raise money for Great Ormond Street Childrens' Hospital", says Roger. "I have permission to run their logo on the car and the whole idea was to raise awareness for the Hospital and also for drag racing. We also planned to take some of the sick children to Santa Pod to watch the car race. Steve Howard (Top Gear car builder) was going to put the car together free of charge to help us with this venture but unfortunately he has been taken ill. Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with Steve and his family and we hope he will make a full recovery. We were hoping to have the car ready for this season and are now  unfortunately without someone to get the car up and running. We desperately need someone who is competent with building one of these cars, also who would be able to spare us the time for free! "The car is all there but needs the following work. The transmission tunnel needs to be covered in, aluminium sheetwork required. Shifter is brand new, in box, but needs to be fitted. All wiring gone through and connecting up to the ignition system and dials, master control panel etc. Braking system gone through and checked. The engine is new and never started. It needs carb fitted, plugs, distributor - inlet, headers and engine are fitted in the car. Fuel tank, pump etc needs plumbing in and the radiator (very kindly donated by Ian Marshall) needs to be fitted. "The car will need tyres as those on it look worn out. We need 33.0 x 16.0 -15 for the back and 25.0 x 4.5 -15 for the front. Maybe someone has a second hand set to get us through the season? Wheelie bars and parachute are there also but not fitted. "I'm sure that there are other things to do to get the car finished. I can get the car transported to whoever is able to help us so that won't be a problem. The bottom line is that we need someone or a group of helpers to get this car to the track for Easter! It is currently in Essex near Stansted Airport." If you are able to help then please call Roger on 07957 463830 or E-Mail [email protected]. SCR Junior League Pulls backing. 3rd March: The UK's Just Smoky Tractor Pulling Team and the Midland Tractor Pulling Club are the latest to sign up as sponsors of the Shakespeare County Raceway Junior Dragster League. In an unexpected announcement made at last weekend's Race Retro Show, Just Smoky Team Principal and current BTPA 3.5t Super Stock champion Dave Jones has pledged a cash award towards the running of this year's League events. Besides running a very busy farm, Dave also organises the Shakey Super Pull which will again be held at Shakespeare County Raceway on 11th-12th June in addition to sponsoring Cliff Griffin's Championship-winning Outlaw Anglia. Dave is hoping to début his own Outlaw Anglia soon, utilising a turbo engine of monstrous proportions! "It's important that we look after our Junior racers as they are the key to our sport carrying on", says Dave. "In the Pulling world we also have a Junior class, known as 3.5kg Garden Pullers, for kids from eight to sixteen years to get involved. You'll see them at this year's Shakey Super Pull." 2011 Junior Dragster League supporters include Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Peter Walters Race Design, CC Medical Services, the Supercharged Outlaws, Turboville.com, Motorshack, Fester Race Cars, Claron Graphics, Webb Express Couriers, Classic Designs, Alamo Car Rental, Tailor-Made Webs, LessTax2Pay, WG4 and now Team Just Smoky and the Midland Tractor Pulling Club. Welcome aboard. Swift snippets. 3rd March: Spotted by our good buddy photo-journalist Remco Scheelings trying to sneak unobserved out of the Al-Anabi suite of trailers at Pomona last week was Per Andersen of Denmark's Andersen Racing Top Fuel Dragster team. "If money is not an issue for the Andersen Top Fuel operation in 2011,then you know where Per found it", says Remco. "The only thing Per wanted to say was 'No comment'." The UK's Team Gridlock would like to welcome their sponsor Paul's Place on to the News page of Eurodragster.com. "We would like to thank Paul's Place for their help and support in the 2010 Wild Bunch campaign, turning our old sow's ear into a silk purse which got us well into the tens", says Dexter Price. "We can't wait for them to get us into the nines in 2011 with our new set-up.  We also look forward to Paul and 'Pete the Polish' crewing with us again at many events in 2011". Picture courtesy and copyright another Team Gridlock sponsor, Photo-Excellence featuring Miss Phoenix. Eurodragster.com readers will have someone to cheer on this weekend as ex-pat Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting the NHRA Division 4 race in Houston. Qualifying starts tomorrow (Friday) and as ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central. A Timewarp at Dragstalgia. 3rd March: If you need any persuasion to attend Santa Pod Raceway's new Dragstalgia event on 16th-17th July then SPR have recently had confirmation that a number of Nitro cars will be in attendance: The event is an official Championship round of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association so we would expect a good field of cars including both nitro- and methanol-fuelled vehicles but we have had the owners of another very special race car come forward and confirm their attendance. Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings with the Timewarp Nostalgia Funny Car have agreed to come along and show us what they can do on the quarter-mile strip. The car has a fantastic history as both the chassis and the body have been around since the 1970s, and the chassis itself has been used by the likes of Peter Crane and Allan Herridge. The body is a 1975 Mustang II Fibreglass replica and the engine is a huge 500 cubic inches producing an estimated 2500 bhp. Wendy's current Personal Best in the car is 6.76 seconds at a huge 208 mph. The car is getting quicker all the time, so what better event to run at than Santa Pod's premiere Nostalgia event at the place where the car has been seen so many times before in various different guises? For more details visit the official Dragstalgia web site at www.dragstalgia.co.uk. Postcard from Abu Dhabi I. 2nd March: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has been in touch from Abu Dhabi, where he will be taking part in a match race against Rod Fuller at Yas Marina later this week. "We worked for twelve hours today to get the car together", says Urs. "The facility, the track, and the people here are super great. If you need something they will take care of it and and five minutes later you have it. Alamo gave us three brand-new Ford Explorers. The manager picked us up at the airport and delivered the Explorers direct to our front door. The people here are so friendly it's just unbelievable. The hotel is five stars, super super great!" Andy Wheeler of Eurodragster.com sponsor Alamo Rent-A-Car tells us that the company has thirteen locations in the United Arab Emirates. "We are located on airport at Dubai International Airport and we provide a free meet and greet service at Abu Dhabi Airport. We have a wide range of vehicles available with rates starting from only £75 a week at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster." Postcard from Abu Dhabi II. 2nd March: Martin Hill and the Fireforce Jet Funny Car team have also arrived safe and sound in Abu Dhabi for their appearance at Yas Marina: As we checked into our hotel late on Monday night, yesterday was the first chance we had to visit Yas Marina Circuit and see the car. The circuit is certainly a work of art, with all mod cons and the very essence and focus of Yas Island. Our first visit was to the race tower which is completely made of glass (they still ask if it will be OK with the Jet Car), then inspected the track, and then over to the pit garages where FF3 is located. Inside an air-conditioned garage, we got our first proper look at the car since being unloaded from the container. Priorities were checking for any problems which may have occurred during the transit and double checking that all the parts shipped over were present and correct. Then the remainder of our container was unloaded and assembled into some kind of operational order. With our pit space inside the garage organised and the all-important kettle, PG Tips and biscuits set up and the brew was ready. Quite possibly all the American crew working out here in the garage and the security staff, not to mention the 'Yas Circuit Tour' tourists, thought of us all as the stereotypical English people as we made more of a fuss about the tea than the car! Oh well, they've only seen the half of our idiosyncrasies! The car has been polished and checked over and the only problem was with a tyre and a faulty switch. We are paying a quick visit today to fit the new switch and one more check over. We have been told that the car can be fired up on the startline on Thursday to make sure we are ready to go for Friday. With runs on Friday and Saturday, we are hoping that the event will not be rained off! That's obviously not a factor. According to everyone here, there is much excitement over the presence of a Jet Car at their track, so we just all hope that we can put on a good show for everyone out here. We will keep updating as much as possible via our web site at www.fireforce.co.uk and our Facebook group. Thanks to Donna Finnegan for passing this news item to us - Ed SCR's Show success. 2nd March: Shakespeare County Raceway enjoyed a tremendously busy weekend at Race Retro, Coventry last weekend with potential new visitors eying up the cars on display and asking questions about where they race and the usual "How fast does it go", writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. Ian Hanson's blown '53 Corvette was of particular interest with its Stars and Stripes paint scheme. The car was even more of a photographer's dream when Ian revealed the engine on Sunday. Also of interest to retro fans was Alan Smith's Allard Dragon. Many had heard and read about the Allard Dragster restoration but it was surprising that very few knew anything of the Dragon cars until now. The tabloid Classic Car Weekly stopped by and took a few pictures and gained a few extra words for this weeks issue. Look out for it. On a similar front, the SCR Junior Dragster Experience car caught the imagination of the younger fans with many having their very first sit in a dragster. Throughout the three days, track flyers and event schedules were being snapped up by hungry motorsport enthusiasts and casual onlookers. Pictures of the 'Vette and the Junior Dragster Experience hire car also ended up on the official Race Retro web site gallery. Shakespeare County Raceway would like to take this opportunity to thank the Supercharged Outlaws for their assistance, Ian Hanson, family and crew members from Hanson Racing for the loan of the teams doorslammer, Alan Smith for bringing along the Allard Dragon, and Daren and Alex Brett for their time displaying the SCR Junior Dragster Hire Car. Shakespeare County are pretty sure that exhibiting at Race Retro this year will prove to be a success as the season rolls on. If you missed it, then you can catch a gallery of photos on the Facebook pages of Julie Steele and Jerry Cookson, or catch us at next year's show. PDRC presentations. 2nd March: The UK's Pennine Drag Racing Club held their AGM and annual Presentation Evening in Bradford last Saturday, writes PDRC Champion Alan Perkins. The trophy winners were as follow: Marshal of the Year: Craig and Charlotte Consistant American car: Nigel Preston Service to PDRC: Collins family (Blue Bar Catering) Fastest British Engine: Sag (again) Enthusiasm Trophy: Andy Hadfield Sustained Efforts for PDRC: Gene Billadeau Best Engineered Car: Ian Kerr Fastest Doorslammer: Andy Hadfield Fastest Comp Car: Allan Lloyd (Gonzo) Best Comp Car: Nik Wilson (Dragster) Outstanding Performance: Dave Billadeau (highest points ever) Entertainer: Pel Norman Crew Chief: Tommy Ingray (Ben Rushforth's team) Most Promising Newcomer: Tommy Brichard (V12 Cobra) Services to Motorsport: Tim Holmes Reaction Times: Craig Perry Services to Drag Racing: Jerry Smith Brian Lewis Trophy: Bri Wood Racers' Choice: Adam Proctor Hard Luck: Bozzy Class Championships: Sportsman: Winner George Chiles, runner-up Cookie Pro ET: Winner Des Taylor, runner-up Ian Johnson HRSC: Winner Paul Grainger, Chris Round Super Cup: Winner Allan Lloyd, runner-up Andy Hadfield American Super Stock: Winner Dave Billadeau, runner-up Andy Reynolds, 3rd Cookie ACE: Winner Craig Perry, runner-up Adam Proctor, 3rd Dave Downes Overall Points: Cookie "Thanks to everyone for a great night and for starting off the PDRC's 2011 season with a bang", says Alan. Swift snippets. 2nd March: Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Spencer Tramm and Eurodragster.com Pit Reporter and Photographer Kirstie asked us to say a very Happpy Birthday to their mum Yvonne Tramm. Our pleasure guys, have a very Happy Birthday Yvonne. Happy Birthday also to Swedish Fuel Funny Car racer Leif Helander, have a great day too Leif. Web site updates. 2nd March: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén brings us up to date with preparations for the 2011 season including a new body for the bike. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Eurodragster.com sponsors 2011. 1st March: We are pleased to announce that the following have signed up as sponsors of Eurodragster.com for 2011-12 (in the order in which they joined): Regular readers will know that in the last few weeks Alamo Rent A Car and Air Sea Logistics have stepped up their support as Event Coverage and Main Sponsors respectively. Again, welcome and thanks to them. Re-joining Eurodragster.com, this time as a sponsor of the Home and News pages, is MPM Oil UK. "When you want to know the latest about drag racing, the teams and their drivers, the first port of call has to be Eurodragster.com", says Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Lex Joon. "People who have an interest in drag racing know of Eurodragster.com. We have always recognised the great efforts and professionalism the guys and girls from Eurodragster.com have displayed and therefore we are very happy and honoured to return as sponsor for this season. Our newly formed company, MPM Oil UK Ltd, whom Richard (Chap) Stevens partners with me, is delighted to have been offered this opportunity to be associated with Eurodragster.com. MPM Oil UK Ltd is proud and happy to be part of the European drag racing family, and for us there's no better way to commence our future with supporting Eurodragster.com". You can check out MPM Oil UK's web site, which includes detailed information on all of their products, at www.mpmoil.co.uk. We are pleased to welcome Draper Tools as a Home and News sponsor. Draper Tools Limited is a family-run company supplying hand tools to industry since 1919. Located in Eastleigh, Hampshire for over forty years, it now occupies three local warehouse locations amounting to over half a million square feet. Draper has become involved with drag racing by sponsoring Pro Stock Bike racer and Draper Tools workshop manager Mark Smith. Draper Tools are the Official Tool Supplier of Choice at Santa Pod Raceway. Draper Tools' comprehensive range of products covers a wide range of professional and DIY applications. Automotive tools include pullers, jacks, gauges, cans, grease pumps, sockets, spanners and wrenches. The web site at www.draper.co.uk has an on-line catalogue with over 8000 lines. Draper Tools also distribute tools to many countries around the world and are actively seeking new stockists/distributors. So for our readers and race teams around Europe there are many opportunities to support those who support our sport. Jilly Field of Draper Tools said "We are delighted to be closely involved with drag racing through our sponsorship of Europe's quickest track, our own racer in Pro Stock Bike, and now Europe's premier drag racing web site." Stepping up from News sponsor to Home and News sponsor is 3t creative. 3t creative specialise in innovative ideas and solutions for both printed media and the web. The company is an established, major creative resource, working with smaller companies up to more widely known PLC organisations, both locally and nationally. Their experience covers a variety of business sectors including Motorsport and Motoring, Travel and Leisure, Commercial Property, IT, Engineering, Publishing, Education, and Retail sectors. 3t are building an impressive collection of sites for racers, suppliers and organisations including Lucas Oil UK, Brad Jackson Racing, the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, Turbo Dynamics, Paige Wheeler, and the UK's Junior Dragster racers. Don't forget that 3t also design for print and have recently produced new hero card designs for Alamo-backed Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler, recently featured on Eurodragster.com. They are currently working on new hero cards and the trailer design for Andy Carter and the Team West-Tec Top Fuel Dragster. Outside of the drag racing world, 3t work with major brands including Haynes Publishing, Haynes International Motor Museum, Alamo Rent A Car and more recently, Sir Stirling Moss. On their increased sponsorship of Eurodragster.com, Dan Welberry commented "We're delighted to increase our sponsorship to include the home page. We know that our support to date has worked well for us and we're proud to back continue partnering with Eurodragster.com". You can see the full web and print portfolio at www.3tcreative.com. New Eurodragster.com News sponsor Royal Purple supply the most technologically advanced lubricants which are engineered to reduce component wear and maintenance downtime, improve equipment life and reliability, reduce maintenance costs and save you money. Professional engine builders and race teams cite increased horsepower and torque, and longer engine life with the use of Royal Purple. Royal Purple's XPR Extreme Performance Racing oils are formulated for demanding applications such as racing, modified engines and off-road use: XPR 0W10 an ultra-light viscosity motor oil formulated for gasoline engines used in drag racing, motorcycle sprint racing, etc; XPR 5W20 a light viscosity motor oil formulated to withstand exotic fuels such as alcohol, methanol nitrous oxide (NO2). Excellent for drag racing; XPR 5W30 works well in a variety of applications from oval track late models to bracket racing. It is extremely versatile and produces excellent horsepower while preventing wear; XPR 10W40 designed for marine, oval track and endurance car racing. Capable of withstanding long intervals of extreme heat, it works especially well with alcohol and methanol. It is extremely popular in sprint cars, late models and World of Outlaws racing; XPR 20W50 formulated for running extended periods under extreme pressure and heat. It is used in oval track, marine and drag racing and is very popular in sprint cars, late models, truck pullers and bracket racing. Royal Purple is distributed in the UK by Millennium Motorsport UK Ltd, Jenson House, Cardrew Industrial Estate, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 1SS, call 01209 216666. Visit www.royalpurple.co.uk for full details and for a complete list of UK stockists. New Eurodragster.com News sponsor DJsafety.eu is the official European distributor for DJsafety USA products and the RePlay Action Cameras run by Swiss Top Methanol Dragster FC racer Dezsoe Krivan. "For details please visit our on-line shop at www.djsafety.eu, says Dezsoe. "We also have the rights to service and SFI-recertify DJsafety products which means that you can send your DJsafety items to our shop in Switzerland and we will take care of them according to your order and instructions. We also refill, service and SFI-recertify DJsafety Fire extinguisher bottles. If you have questions about safety products, if you need something custom-made, or if there is something which you do not see in the shop then please call or E-Mail as we do custom fabrications or can organise all the items you need. "We can answer your questions in several languages including German, English, French, Italian and Hungarian! See you in our shop or at the races." Eurodragster.com welcomes Paul's Place as a News sponsor. Based at Unit 2, Culverlands Corner, Winchester Road, Shedfield, Southampton SO32 2JF, Paul's Place offers a complete engine and transmission rebuild service, a new paint shop catering for all classic cars and a web site at www.pauls-place.com with full shopping cart facilities for engine parts. Owner Paul Bristow says "We have many years experience in engine building and we are the only place on the South Coast which can do engine, transmission and paint work. I will be visiting classic shows this year with cars I have prepared and taking my orange Camaro down the strip to see what it will do". Paul can be contacted via the web site or on 01329 836260. The opening hours of Paul's Place are Monday-Friday 8:30 am-5:30 pm and Saturday 8.30 am-1:00 pm. We also welcome Classic USAutoparts as a News sponsor. Trading for five years from premises in Milton Keynes, Classic USAutoparts supplies parts for US trucks, particularly Chevy GMC pick-ups from '47 onwards, and classic versions of Camaro, Belair, Dodge Challenger and Charger, with other Chevies and Ford Mustang being added soon. Their web site at www.classicusautoparts.co.uk includes downloads of comprehensive product catalogues for Chevy and Ford trucks and classic car models with shopping cart sales facilities included. Craig Judd of Classic USAutoparts says "We are concentrating on US trucks and car models we that know are popular with the UK drag racing and Hot Rodding communities. We aim to be able to supply a comprehensive range of parts and readers can go to our Ebay shops at stores.ebay.co.uk/Classic-Pick-Up-Parts to see what we have in stock". Classic USAutoparts can be contacted by calling Jamie Reeves on 07545 915517 (outside the UK +44 7545 915517) or Laura on 07540 122575 (outside the UK +44 7540 122575) or by E-Mailing [email protected]. We would like to welcome all of Eurodragster.com's new sponsors and we thank them very much for their support and for the discounts on offer to our readers. A huge Thank You also to those sponsors who have stayed with us. We are very proud that Eurodragster.com's roster of sponsors can provide anything a racer or race fan could need whether a complete race car or bike, a tail light bulb, anything in between, a hire car to go to the races, fuels and oils to keep everything going, and a good meal! We are sure that all of our readers will help to repay that support by considering Eurodragster.com's sponsors when shopping for products or services. We have a couple more News sponsors to announce in the next few days. If you are interested in sponsoring Eurodragster.com then it is not too late; drop us an E-Mail at [email protected]. This year we have had to say Goodbye and Thank You to ModUrStang, Richard Paul Russell, DJ Safety (Martin Hill), Greekdragster.info, Speedshop UK and Superpower Unlimited although a couple of these have expressed an interest in returning next year. Thank you for your support guys, it is very much appreciated. We have yet to hear about their intentions from Adoorable Handles, Custom Cruisers UK, Dart Machinery, Leanders Brothers Performance Products, Motorshack, Race America, TPM Trailer and Tireshake.com. If you're out there, guys, and wish to stay on board then please get in touch at [email protected]. Cotsweld sponsor 2011 Perfect Light. 1st March: We are very pleased to welcome Cotsweld Race Cars as the new sponsor of the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award. "Cotsweld Race Cars was established in 2001, which means that we are celebrating our tenth year in business in 2011", says Jim Smith. "Located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, just twenty five miles south of Shakespeare County Raceway, our well-equipped workshop is capable of handling all aspects of race car construction to an extremely high standard.Within the last ten years we have constructed Championship-winning, show-winning and record-setting race cars. Although very well-known for VW air-cooled race cars, over the years we have handled fabrication on all types of vehicles for many different forms of motorsport. "In our shop at present, just nearing completion at the fabrication stage, is Donovan Hunt's tube-chassis Ford Pop. This will be a 7.50 tagged, street-legal car and is intended to see action in Outlaw Anglia and Super Pro. The entire build from the ground up has been completed in house at Cotsweld. "We also offer a vehicle collection and delivery service at very competitive prices and in some cases this service is free of charge. "We pride ourselves in taking time to fully understand customers requirements and we put as much effort into customers projects as we do our own. The only thing which Cotsweld Race Cars does not do is hard sell...advice is always free. "To celebrate our tenth anniversary, as well as sponsoring the Perfect Light Award, we would also like to offer the first ten customers to mention Eurodragster.com when confirming a spot in our diary a 10% discount. "Our web site can be found at www.cotsweld.co.uk with a brand new site on the way very soon. We also have more than twenty five albums on our Facebook page. You can E-Mail us at [email protected] or phone 01242 232084." We would like to say a big Thank You to Jim Smith of Cotsweld Race Cars for his support of Eurodragster.com and of UK and European drag racing. We are sure that all of our readers will help to repay Jim's support by considering Cotsweld when shopping for products or services. We are pleased to confirm that Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Derek Flynn's RV sales and service company Gold RV will continue to support the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award in 2011. A big Thank You to Derek for his continued support. The Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award and the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award will continue at an initial £50 with a £25 rollover to the next event if it is not won. The Perfect Light Award and Perfect ET Awards are provisionally planned to be posted at the following events in 2011: 22nd-25th April: Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway 6th-8th May: Big Bang, Santa Pod Raceway 7th-8th May: NDRS Nats, Tierp Arena 14th-15th May: Springspeed Nationals, Shakespeare County Raceway 27th-30th May: FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway 9th-12th June: Sweden Internationals, Tierp Arena 25th-26th June: SPRC Summernationals, Santa Pod Raceway 30th June-3rd July: FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro Circuit 22nd-24th July Bug Jam: Santa Pod Raceway 12th-14th August: NitrOlympX, Hockenheimring 27th-29th August: Open Sport Nationals, Shakespeare County Raceway 8th-11th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway 24th-25th September: VP Racing Fuels National Finals, Santa Pod Raceway 8th-9th October: Extreme Performance Bike Weekend, Santa Pod Raceway We must say a big thank you to Fay Fischer of outgoing Perfect Light Award sponsor Speedflow who has backed the scheme for several years. Speedflow remain a Main and Points Standing sponsor. We will bring you news of the Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award very soon. Earlier news