FIA Main Event results.
31st May: Congratulations to the winners of the weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Urs Erbacher 4.7852/314.87 def. Risto Poutiainen 8.0560/97.96
FIA Pro Modified: Johan Lindberg 6.0424/236.09 bye, Andy Robinson no show
FIA Pro Stock: Micke Callin 6.7924/203.50 def. Michael Malmgren 6.7884/202.46
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dennis Habermann 5.4809/257.60 def. Timo Habermann 5.3760/259.53
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Jürgen Nagel 6.2853/227.77 bye, Dan Larsen no show
Fuel Funny Car: Gordon Smith 5.3510/250.99 def. John Spuffard 5.5231/296.31
Super Pro ET: Steve Johnson (7.12) 7.1023/188.09 def. Bob Doyle (8.76) 8.8369/153.09 red
Pro ET: Paul Baynton (10.38) 10.3870/125.54 def. Carla Pittau (9.66) 9.7561/137.26 red
Super Comp: Martin Curbishley 8.9486/140.71 def. Paul Letchford 8.9789/153.67
Super Gas: Conrad Stanley 9.9340/152.15 def. Dave Day 9.9935/133.66
Super Street: Jennifer Gustafsson 11.0364/130.63 def. Halvor Överby 11.0873/98.61
Junior Dragster: Gabrielle McDonald (8.00) 8.0547/78.13 def. Josh Saunders (7.90) 7.8995/80.08 b/o
Comp Eliminator: John Bradshaw 22.079/53.57 bye
Fuel Altered: Paul Wratten 6.4582/215.00 bye, Tony Betts shut off

UEM Top Fuel Bike: Steve Woollatt 6.6890/192.13 def. Kai Selkämäa 6.8932/186.66
UEM Supertwin: Lorenz Stäuble 6.6082/215.96 def. Job Heezen 6.8156/205.25
UEM Pro Stock Bike: Ulf Ögge 7.1674/182.23 def. Gert Jan Laseur 7.2851/185.14
UEM Funny Bike: Christian Jäger 7.3141/188.21 def. Steve French 10.7914/72.76
Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 7.3279/193.77 def. Rick Stubbins 7.4346/193.80

Congratulations also to the new European record holders:

Top Fuel Dragster speed: 314.87 mph, Urs Erbacher
UEM Funny Bike Cup ET: 7.198 seconds, Steve French

Pro ET racers Anthony Wilkins and Mike Lacey won the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award respectively. The Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award went unclaimed and will next be available at the SPRC Summernationals on 19th-20th June.

You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored FIA Main Event coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Web site updates.
31st May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon reflects on yesterday's final qualifying session. 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.

Swift snippets.
30th May: Lena Perés writes that there was a happy event in the Green Goblin Pro Mod pit at Santa Pod yesterday when a couple were engaged in the five-second Pro Mod. "The girl didn't have a clue what her boyfriend was up to when he brought her to see her favourite Pro Mod car", says Lena. "Mats put her in the car to try out the seat, then she got the best offer ever from a nervous guy who gave her a lovely bright ring. We all had tears in our eyes". Alas Lena didn't get the couple's names but our congratulations and best wishes for a long and happy future.

Richard Lyons tells us that Pennine Drag Racing Club are helping the North Lincolnshire region of the Jaguar Enthusiasts' with a car show and talk by Richard Noble of Land Speed Record fame at Hill House School, Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster DN9 3GG from 12:00 noon on Saturday 26th June. The team are bringing the full sized Bloodhound SSC replica to the show and PDRC are hoping to have a good display of drag racing machinery to promote our sport. Richard Noble's talk on the project begins at 6:00 pm. Tickets are £5 each from 07710 795322, with all proceeds going to the Bloodhound SSC project. All competition cars, bikes or custom cars and hot rods will be welcome to add to the show.

We would like to say a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Saturday) to former Santa Pod Raceway Track Announcer John Price. Hope you had a great day Pricey. Happy Birthday for today to Ros Groves, wife of Eurodragster.com Pit Reporter and Blog Editor Simon, to Sue Morris who is hard at work running Santa Pod's Media Centre, and to former Pro Modified racer Danny Cockerill who we guess is up at the track today. Have a great day Ros, Sue and Danny.

Remembering Chris Hampson II.
30th May: As this weekend is the tenth anniversary of the death of UK Top Fuel Bike racer Chris Hampson, Ian King writes to repeat his tribute posted at the time:

It is with deep sadness that we report UK Top Fuel Bike rider, Chris Hampson, suffered fatal injuries whilst competing at the first round of the European Drag Racing Championship at Santa Pod, England, yesterday. Chris had just completed a winning run against fellow UK rider Ian King when his bike drifted to the left of the shutdown area before making contact with the guard rail and falling from his machine. Despite the efforts of the paramedics both at the track and in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Chris lost his fight for life. Chris who had celebrated his 43rd birthday in May, began his dragracing career in the early 1980s on a Suzuki GSX1100, before progressing to turbocharging and a natural evolution into turbocharged and nitrous assisted Funnybikes. The highlights of his career were many, but most striking were his British and European titles against the more powerful Top Fuel Bikes, and his performance in the US where he competed to the final of Top Fuel Bike (at that time, incorporating Funny Bikes) at the Prostar World Finals in Bradenton. He narrowly missed out on that title to Top Fuel Bike legend, Elmer Trett, in a gripping evening race, but his skills at racing and preparing his Funny Bike (learnt during his long friendship with ex-Funny Bike racer and tuner Pip Higham) were there for all to see. He recently arrived at the top level of drag bike racing when forming an association with UK Top Fuel Bike rider / tuner Phil Baimbridge to ride his PBR Puma machine. Chris took to the task like the natural he was, quickly running in the six second zone at over 200 mph. The success of the association with Phil was not just in terms of the track performances, but also the fact that both of them had a similar easygoing nature, always willing and able to help others where possible. Chris was excited at the plans they had for the future in developing the bike, and recently made a trip to the Prostar World Finals in Gainesville, Florida, to take a place on the crew for US Top Fuel Bike rider Chris Hand, increasing his knowledge further. In fact, Chris made many friends wherever he travelled, including George Babor and his family with whom he raced a few years ago, and Sam Wills, who provided the chassis for one of the most successful Funny Bikes in European history, Chris' JCB sponsored Suzuki. His talents were not restricted to the race track either. Many people benefitted from his journalistic skills whilst he wrote a regular drag racing column for the world's largest selling motorcycle magazine, Motor Cycle News, and also during his time as ACU/UK Drag Racing series co - ordinator. He also served on many committees and forums, helping evolve the UK Drag Bike rules to what we have today. However, most people will remember him for how he was with others - an easygoing sort of bloke, ever willing to help others or mediate where necessary, with an infectious enthusiasm for all he was involved with.

RIP Chris...

Web site updates.
30th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon checks in from the SSB pits at Santa Pod Raceway. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Our good buddy Jon Spoard has updated his excellent UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with 260 pictures by Stephen Hope ranging from 1972 to 1984. You can check out the photo update at www.ukdrn.co.uk.

Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from Wednesday's Private Test at Santa Pod Raceway and shots of yesterday's delivery of the R2B2 Pro Modified Camaro to the main gate at Santa Pod. You can check out Tog's pictures at eurodragster.fotopic.net or at www.togsdragracing.com.

Troxel meets the media.
29th May: Visiting US Pro Mod and Funny Car racer Melanie Troxel held a press conference this morning in Santa Pod's Media Centre, arranged by MSA Pro Mod PR officer Robin Jackson. Topics discussed included her thoughts on racing in Europe for the first time, the R2B2 team owned by Roger Burgess, and the proposed World Pro Mod Association. Melanie was joined by FIA European Championship promoter and Santa Pod Raceway CEO Keith Bartlett and Michael Gullqvist, the first European to win an NHRA National Event.

"I guess the weather is standard here for a UK track", said Melanie Troxel. "The car is expected to arrive from Holland at four o'clock this afternoon from Holland having been airfreighted and cleared customs. We want to do one run today to get used to the conditions. The car is all set up and ready to go once we have added fluids to it - they had to be drained before the trip. We have our team here including Crew Chief Al Billes.

"With twenty eight cars entered in Pro Mod, there is great diversity in cars and engines and that is what makes Pro Mod so popular; fans can identify cars from each other. There is a lot of competition, so no-one on the team has great expectations. It is a new track for us: in the US we can run 5.8s but that has to be in perfect conditions. Our objective at the start is to get down the track.

"My team owner Roger Burgess and Michael Gullqvist are working on the World Pro Mod Association and we are really hoping for this to be a success. Roger is very interested in making it work and I know others want it to. The idea is to promote it using one set of rules."

"We are delighted to have Melanie her to run as part of a twenty eight-car field", said Keith Bartlett. "Kjell Pettersson, Michael Gullqvist and I have been working on getting Pro Mod to where it is now and it is fantastic to see the fields expanding from single figures a few years ago to sixteen cars and now this number. I would like to see Pro Mod have thirty two-car fields at some stage with the first round of eliminations on Saturday night before eliminations day.

"The natural next progression is a World Series and particularly to include other European tracks such as Hungary. One important issue we need to have in place is a common rule process taking the current US rules and transferring them to the FIA for Europe.

"This weekend I will be interested to see Melanie running on the quickest all-asphalt track in the world. Micke has had huge success racing in the US reaching the final in Gainesville and then winning in Atlanta. The win is a huge boost for European drag racing. Over our winter, European Top Fuel teams made the effort to go to compete in the US and just from a budgeting aspect that was a huge challenge. Micke is a great driver and his success has opened doors. But this doesn't detract from the success in other classes in the European sport as a whole at the moment, for instance Super Street Bike."

"I have discussed with Roger Burgess how the series can work at a worldwide level", said Micke Gullqvist. "We want to bring the series together using FIA rules which are based largely on NHRA rules. NHRA have been interested in approving overseas tracks as well. The proposed format is for different countries to qualify locally for the series , either on an invitational basis or by another means to be decided, and then run the resulting event in one country one year, another the following year and so on. There are a lot of questions to be answered about how these rules will work."

"Pro Mod is the class in which a World Series could work", said Keith Bartlett. "Every participating country could host the event providing they meet the agreed track criteria."

"Roger Burgess is a good guy and after getting to the final at Gainesville we talked about how I could run another US race", said Micke Gullqvist. "I had the call at eleven o'clock on Tuesday evening before Atlanta and as we were planning to start work on our own race car. R2B2 is the best team I can think of. I had thought a million times about the red light at Gainesville and so even before Atlanta I thought "If I don't mess up I have a chance of winning". Before the final all the team pitched in to help - even Melanie was wiping my window.

"After the win, I had so many Facebook and forum messages and 68 text messages. Then there was the reception committee when I arrived back at Stockholm Airport. I had a feeling something was going to happen so I went and bought a new shirt to replace my T-Shirt. There was the cheering, lifting me up, the champagne and the special car. An old lady pushing her luggage trolley was shocked by it all. I had my Wally and even now it is in my trailer."

"I am fortunate this year in having two drives", added Melanie Troxel. "We are running all ten races in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Series and half the season in Funny Car. We will be running both at Englishtown, Bristol and possibly Norwalk. I am proud to be sponsored by In-N-Out Burger. It is hard to get funding and sponsorship and even tougher with the economic downturn. In-N-Out and its owners have supported drag racing in the past and the President of the company Lynsi Snyder races muscle cars. The company is expanding from its core markets in California, Arizona and Nevada and the quality of their product is great."

"Come again - bring friends", said track announcer Colin Theobald.

Swift snippets.
 29th May: US Pro Mod racer Melanie Troxel, tuners Al Billes and Darren Mayer, Team Manager Travis Rice, Team PR Craig Wack and the R2B2 team arrived at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday (Friday). Eurodragster.com pitmeister Simon and US Correspondent Ed were the first in to the R2B2 base in Micke Gullqvist's pit to welcome Melanie to Santa Pod Raceway and to have a chat about the team's plans for this weekend and Roger Burgess' proposed Pro Mod World Championship. You can check out Simon's interview with Melanie on yesterday's pit notes in our American Car Imports-sponsored FIA Main Event coverage.

Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the entry lists for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th June, and the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-27th June. Entry to the SPRC Summernationals at normal fee is now closed; late entry if accepted is subject to a late entry fee. Entry to the UK Truck Show closes next Friday. You can download the official entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. You can check out Version 2 of the SPRC Summernationals entryt list by clicking here and Version 2 of the UK Truck Show entry list by clicking here.

UEM Funny Bike Cup dates.
29th May: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to confirm that the three remaining 2010 UEM Funny Bike Cup dates start with this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and are then as follows:

6th-8th August: Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen, Norway
9th-12th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England

Any teams requiring more information about the 2010 UEM Funny Bike Cup can contact Geoff for more information at [email protected].

Carey adds the power.
29th May: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Carey and the Purple Princess team are making their first competitive outing of the year at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. The team have added some significant new parts which will need setting up but they plan to enjoy themselves at the race.

"We have a new HPS 2.1RC supercharger which came through Dave Newbery", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "We have a larger fuel pump and we have made some changes to the fuel system with help from Frank Brachtvogel. Pete Davis got us a new injector hat which we believe used to reside on one of Larry McBride's bikes. The new blower wasn't too bad to fit, we used some old parts. Frank and Pete have been a lot of help, and my crew Ken and Bob have done a lot of work over the winter, I really appreciate their help. We also stay in touch with the bike's previous owner Roald Dogge."

Steve said that the new set-up should generate more power. "We hope we have cured the handling now - the bike is more consistent now and runs straight - so we can add the power. We want to get down below 6.5 seconds, but we expect that it will take a while to settle the blower and pump down."

The team have sponsorship from NGK Spark Plugs and Furlong Tyres, who supply the rear slick, as well as help with belts through Kent Bearings and support from Weruwise in Bexhill.

Although this is Steve's first competitive outing of 2010, his first appearance of this year was at last week's Drag Racing Presentation at Northbrook College where he and the team displayed the Purple Princess and fired it up for Motorsport Engineering students and members of the Institute of the Motor Industry. "Many thanks to Steph and Dave Milam, Dave Day and Tog for attending the event", he said. "Our first race this year will be the Main Event where we will set the bike up. Then we will attend the Festival of 1000 Bikes at Mallory Park, then the Bulldog Bash, FIA European Finals and UK National Finals. We plan to go out and enjoy ourselves this weekend."

Beast wants bests.
27th May: Reigning UEM Supertwin Champion Per Bengtsson and the Beast team are on their way to Santa Pod Raceway for the FIA Main Event. After a sucessful test weekend at Veidec Raceway in Malmö and plenty of hard work in the workshop the Beast team feels confident going in to the first race of the season.

"It's really nice to see fifteen Supertwins on the entry list", says Per. "That shows a very healthy class with several competitors capable of making some good numbers down the track. We will try to start our performance where we ended last season (personal best of 6.565 seconds during the 2009 FIA European Finals).

"We know that everyone in our class is looking forward to beat us but that just inspires us even more. The goal this season for the Beast Dragbike Team is to go faster than anyone has run in Europe. The potential is definitely in the bike and the team is working together better than ever so we will see what numbers we can put up on the scoreboards."

The Beast Dragbike Team are supported this season by Swedcut, Quaker State, Autoexperten Växjö, Ulvsgården AB, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Gates/Lönne, Bilservice i Åseda AB, Cemecon, Flexoart, and Bentec Engineering.

Santa Pod announce Alamo deal.
27th May: Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European Drag Racing is no stranger to quality machinery but now, thanks to a commercial partnership with leading international car hire firm Alamo Rent A Car, staff will be travelling around in a little more comfort than usual.

The deal sees the respected venue providing high-profile commercial banner and programme space to Alamo, as well as numerous other E-Marketing benefits and hospitality opportunities. In return, the Santa Pod team will enjoy having the pick of Alamo's ultra-modern fleet at their disposal during major events.

This new marketing initiative extends Alamo's involvement in the world of drag racing. Earlier this year the company signed up to sponsor eleven year old Paige Wheeler from Wellingborough, in her first season in drag racing. Sponsorship from Alamo is giving her funding to attend the year's UK events, branding and supporting her Junior Dragster, her safety gear and her crew.

Commenting on the new partnership, Santa Pod's Marketing Manager, Caroline Day said "We're absolutely delighted to be working with the team at Alamo. Not only are they providing a perfect solution to our transport problems on event, but better than that, they're true enthusiasts, which means that once we have sorted the corporate side of things, we all go and enjoy the racing!"

Andy Wheeler, International Business Services Director for Alamo commented "Santa Pod is the ideal partner for us. Not only does it fit perfectly with our support of Paige in the Junior Dragsters, but with so much TV coverage and footfall, we think it's a perfect place to showcase our brand.

"We think the 'Pod staff will enjoy travelling 'first class' during the hectic show weekends, too!"

To further reinforce its support of drag racing, Alamo is offering a 10% discount on online rentals for all drag racing fans this year, helping even more people to experience the thrill and exhilaration of the sport. With a global network providing access to over 8,800 rental locations in ninety countries worldwide, and over 1,680 European locations including every major airport, Alamo offers a wide range of vehicles and optional extras for leisure travellers, making it the ideal partner for drag racing fans.

For more information on Alamo's involvement in drag racing, please visit www.alamo.co.uk/dragster.

Swift snippets.
27th May: It was a quiet day at Santa Pod yesterday with only a few testing, although one early arrival was German Pro Mod racer Norbert Kuno whose blown-alcohol Avenger is now toting one of Patrick Wikström's Boss blowers. Patrick will be on site working with Norbert this weekend. We also have a Quote of the Day yesterday from US tuner Will Hanna, who when strapping Fred Hanssen in for his first run in his Top Methanol Dragster said "Are you sure you want to do this? You haven't spent any money yet". Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson's crew have been spotted wearing shirts bearing the legend "OK so you are driving a six-second doorslammer? Cute!".

Also arriving early was defending FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter whose show rig has a new colour scheme which you can check out on Andy's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cartermotorsport.

Eurodragster.com sponsor Air Sea Logistics Ltd were recently used by Finnish Pro Stock racer Richard 'Nixxon' Sundblom to transport his newly-acquired Jerry Bickel-built 2008 Pro Stock Chevy Cobalt, previously campaigned on the NHRA circuit by ex-NBA star Tom Hammonds. Malcolm Francis, MD of Air Sea Logistics Ltd, commented "Richard contacted us back in March initally to arrange transport of his new race car from the USA to Helsinki, Finland. However, due to a change in plans, volcanic ash clouds and available time it was arranged to airfreight the car to London Heathrow where Richard collected it a couple of weeks ago. Richard has been using our company for several years now and we'd like to thank him again and to wish him and all the other racers well at this weekend's race."

This Friday (28th) is the official closing date for entry to the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th June. You can download the official entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Racers in the NFAA, Super Modified and the NAST are reminded that next Friday, 4th June, is the official closing date for the UK Truck Show which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-27th June. Again you can download the official entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. You can check out Version 1 of the SPRC Summernationals by clicking here and Version 1 of the UK Truck Show entry list by clicking here.

Seventies drag racer Liz Burn will be signing copies of her book Drag Racing Through The Eyes Of A Woman, which is based on her diaries kept at the time, at this weekend's Yanks Weekend/Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway. The signing will be taking place on Sunday at Graham Rennie's American Auto Mags stand in the main trade area of the show. If you're an American Car fan, Yanks Weekend starts on Saturday and runs right through until Monday. More information at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.

Xtreme cruising for charity.
27th May: On Friday 11th June, the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show 2010 will be organising a cruise to help promote the show and its chosen charity Stop the Traffik which is devoted to preventing the sale of people, protecting the trafficked and prosecuting the traffickers:

With the support of the local police we will literally be stopping the traffic, as our cruise heads from the museum to nearby town Yeovil. Once there, the vehicles will be assembled for the press and the public to help promote the event and raise awareness for the charity. Each vehicle on the cruise will carry decals for the charity.

The convoy of vehicles will leave the Haynes International Motor Museum at 6:00 pm and head for the Morrisons Supermarket in Yeovil. All those taking part will be provided with a map and address details.

If you'd like to take part in the cruise, please make sure you tick the relevant box on your vehicle application form which you can download from our web site at www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. You can also take part in the cruise, even if you're not intending to exhibit at the show. Please E-Mail details and a photo of your car to [email protected] or [email protected]. Each vehicle must be road legal, have the required insurance, tax and MOT.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Private Test Day gallery.
26th May: In association with American Car Imports we have posted a gallery of shots from today's Private Test at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out today's pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event.

Troxel and A-Team head for Santa Pod.
26th May: Europe cheered when US team owner Roger Burgess borrowed Michael Gullqvist to drive for him at NHRA's Southern Nationals with historic, winning results. Just two weekends later, Burgess will return the favour when he deploys a crack NHRA squad to challenge Europe's finest Pro Mod racers at the FIA Main Event. And Europe's élite gentleman racers will really need to be on their mettle.

Things have moved swiftly and decisively, as they usually do with Mr Burgess. The 1968 Chevrolet Camaro which Michael Gullqvist drove to a Gatornationals runner-up finish in March, with clockings of 5.827 seconds and 248.84 mph, is being airfreighted to Santa Pod. Its driver at The Main Event will be blue-chip American superstar Melanie Troxel. An NHRA National event winner in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car who once topped 332 mph in Top Fuel, Ms Troxel began applying her driving talents to Pro Mod for Burgess' R2B2 team last year. Just fourteen drivers have won NHRA national events in both Top Fuel and Funny Car; Troxel is the only female among them.

In 2006, she was elected Sportswoman Of The Year by the USA's Women's Sports Foundation, joining past winners such as Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and golf's Annika Sörenstam, and was nominated as both Driver and Female Athlete Of The Year in ESPN's ESPY Awards.

Heading the crew will be ace Canadian tuner and ex-Pro Mod driver Al Billes, supercharger king Darren Mayer and team manager Travis Rice.

Pro Mod at The Main Event just got seriously serious.

Enter the Worldwide Pro Mod Challenge.
26th May: Roger Burgess, owner of the R2B2 Pro Mod racing teams and the vision behind the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, is announcing the formation of the WorldWide Pro Mod Association, a conglomeration of Pro Mod sanctioning bodies that will coordinate a Worldwide Pro Mod Challenge.

"Pro Mod is a class I love and it's the most popular form of drag racing globally," Burgess said. "Bringing all the world's best Pro Mod racers together has been a dream of mine and now is the perfect time for this bold first step."

The Challenge will be an Olympic-style competition run under NHRA rules. Currently six countries - the U.S., Canada, England, Sweden, Finland, and Germany - use NHRA rules for their races. Tracks in the various countries will bid to hold the event at their facilities. More countries will be added as they adopt NHRA rules for their associations.

Each country will be required to bring five cars but only enter four cars in the Team competition. One car from each team will be designated as an alternate during each race. Alternates will be allowed to try to qualify for a separate individual championship and may compete in the Team competition should the Team Coach decide to enter them (the coach may choose any four cars to participate in each match). Matches that end up in a tie will result in each team getting ½ point.

On Friday and Saturday, the countries will race in a round-robin, match-style race where they will get one point for each round win and one point for each match win with a total of five points per match up for grabs. After each country has raced all the other participating countries, the two countries with the highest point totals will race off for the Worldwide Pro Mod Team Championship.

Additionally, the sixteen quickest individual drivers from the Country Competition will race a conventional elimination ladder on Sunday with the overall winner being crowned the Worldwide Pro Mod Champion.

Beyond the competition, the WWPMA will help its members with marketing, web development and hosting, a rules committee, and an online store with profit sharing back to the teams and associations.

"We think it will be an event like no other," Burgess said. "The response to Sweden's Michael Gullqvist's NHRA win in one of my team cars really opened the world to what we are doing with Pro Mod. I've been working on a world event like this for a couple of years, and now after the overwhelming positive response to Michael's win it seems like the perfect time to make this move."

Remembering Chris Hampson I.
26th May: The FIA Main Event this year will host the UEM Funny Bike Cup for the first time, and it is also ten years since we lost Chris Hampson, one of the UK's finest riders and a man who might well be considered the Godfather of European Funny Bike racing, writes Augy Harrison:

Chris' awesome trademark tyre-screeching, front wheel-carrying runs entertained fans and inspired a generation of riders. His consistent performance ensured he dominated the Funny Bike scene in the late eighties and early nineties winning the ACU Championship four times. He even fared well against the Top Fuel Bikes winning the FIM European Championship in 1991 and followed on a year later by making the Top Fuel final at the Prostar Finals in the USA, losing out to Elmer Trett.

As a tribute to Chris and to share some of the great memories, I have put together some video highlights of his racing career on the Funny Bike. I have placed it on YouTube and you can view it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOQL4d9bqUs.

A weekend in the hot seat.
26th May: At the beginning of the 2010 season, the Netherlands' Zodiac Racing Supertwin team reported that they were ready for the Championship this year, and their first championship outing in Hungary was their best outing to date with the blower bike. During their pre-season testing at Easter, they already proved they really have the hot seat for the 2010 season...but maybe it was a bit too hot, writes Vincent Pels:

With the changes made during the off season, the team needed some track time to dial everything in. So they traditionally headed to the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod for a UK National Championship round which is always a very good, but also very cold, opportunity to get some track time. One thing wasn't completed yet when they headed overseas, their new stainless steel exhaust system. And this turned out to be crucial for the thriller ride they had at the end of the weekend. In their first qualifying round it became apparent that the new exhaust system on their wish list was no luxury item. The rear header broke off just behind the cylinder, but the bike luckily lost traction and dropped a cylinder. Damage was minimised to a few electrical wires and pneumatic hoses, which were burned by the header flames coming out of the exhaust.

The second qualifier was a pass which woke up the entire European Supertwin field. The bike left hard and after some serious tyre shake it went through the 60ft traps in 1.11 seconds. From there on it black-striped the track straight as an arrow and after it passed the eighth mile in 4.29/175 the throttle was shut at 1100ft. The bike coasted through the finish line in 6.59 seconds at only 193 mph. The team were very happy, because their main objective for this race was to prove the parts worked and that the bike would be competitive and both were met. Click here for a video of the run.

The bike hurt a piston from being too lean, so it was replaced and the fuel system altered. The pass made us the number one qualifier against the four-cylinder Top Fuel Bikes. Monday morning the team had a bye run in the first round of eliminations so we decided to make a half pass to check everything out. Click here for a video of the tyre shake on that run.

The final looked very promising as on the opposite side of the ladder Steve Woollatt had to shut down before he even made his burnout (and he had some very impressive short numbers during his last qualifier) and Rene van den Berg smoked the tyre in his solo attempt, so with lane choice Team Zodiac's hopes were high. But then the problems started to kick in and stacked up. When both riders went into stage, the timer box did not function properly and Roel's routine did not go as planned. He had to leave in second gear and with the fuel system too rich. This caught him by surprise and broke his concentration, but that was the least of the problems during the run. Again the exhaust broke, this time under the seat and with the fuel system being very rich causing the header flames shooting six feet into the air, the bike immediately caught fire. Roel didn't know and stayed on it. It burned down the complete back half of the bike: the body, the computer, the electronics, the pneumatics and so on. Click here for a video of the hot seat!

Ironically this was going to be the very last pass of the exhaust system anyway, but apart from a new exhaust system Ton and Vincent suddenly had a lot more to do before Hungary! After the hard work, temporary body repairs which will probably have to last the rest of season and new four into four exhaust system which will confuse a lot of people, the long trip to Hungary was made. Things didn't go as planned. On the first run of the weekend, the bike left well but suddenly veered to the right. Roel had to back out too much when he was trying to get it back in the groove again, causing the bike to go way too lean and that burned a hole in the rear piston. The piston and cylinder were quickly changed and another barrel valve was installed, which should prevent that from happening again. This new barrel valve made the whole fuel system go richer, so the baseline we had worked on was gone.

A small issue caused the team to shut down the bike during their second qualifying attempt on Friday, so they were in the bump spot at number eight. Saturday started reasonably well with a 7.12 second run, enough to put the Zodiac team in second spot behind the other Zodiac Fuel Harley, now campaigned by Job Heezen. As expected the bike was way too rich and some fuel was taken out. During the last qualifier the weather changed for the worst (for racing that is, as it became too hot) and the team could not step up. Because Hans Olav Olstad was able to squeak by Job to claim the number one spot, Team Zodiac ended up second and third.

Still trying to find a baseline with the new barrel valve, the bike was set a little leaner again for elimination day. In the first round we met Ismo of Rapamaki Racing. Ismo was quick on the lights and caught Roel on a hole-shot. The Zodiac-powered supercharged twin was quickly gaining ground on Ismo but still running a bit too rich. Our 7.23 ET was almost 0.1 second quicker than Ismo's ET, but his quick reaction at the start line was enough to stay ahead by 0.04 seconds, about a bike length. The disappointment of losing in the first round was soon forgotten as Job did an excellent job (it's all in a name isn't it) in taking the honours of the event title for Zodiac Racing. Vincent had to jump in to help get Job's bike ready before the final, but that bike is still all too familiar for him, so he was glad he could help out team Heezen to make the final in time.

The next stop is this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, the second round of the Europen Championships. And with fifteen Nitro Twins trying to qualify for an eight-bike field, the battle will commence in Saturday morning's first qualifying session! See you at the race track!

The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proudly sponsored by Zodiac International BV, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, ACCEL Motorcycle Products and Spectro Oils of America and Kibblewhite Precision Machining.

Back in black.
26th May: One of this weekend's welcome returns to the track is UK Super Gas racer Stuart Doignie who has been out for the best part of a year. Stuart has been in touch to let us know why his very tidy black BMW has been away for so long and what the team have been up to:

After a promising start in 2009, reaching the final of the Easter Thunderball, we entered the Springspeed Nationals full of confidence and were rewarded with a perfect 9.900 and number one qualifier. In eliminations disaster struck when we managed to destroy the first gear set in our Powerglide. Zane Llewellyn of Zannetec stepped in to help with the rebuild and Hoch Grant did us a huge favour of dropping the transmission to Zane after the event. After a thrash to get it repaired we managed to get back out on track for the Main Event. However, it was not plain sailing as we were plagued with another unidentified transmission issue which no-one could solve.

After the event Zane went through the transmission again but could not find anything wrong with it so we put it back in and headed off to the Summernationals. On the first qualifier it was clear that the problem wasn't solved as the same symptoms were present. We decided the take the season out, strip the transmission and make sure we could return in 2010. On very close inspection we found a crack in the 'Rooster Comb' in the Powerglide. Incidentally Zane had been researching on the internet and came up with this as a possible diagnosis at the same time we found it. This problem meant that the transmission wasn't fully engaging first/second gear. It was one of those parts which very rarely fail and it extremely uncommon, but hey these things happen.

We managed to get the transmission back together and got in back in the car towards the end of 2009 and performed a garage test! We are happy to report that all the previous symptoms had gone away and that it performed faultlessly. We are now hoping it works the same way on the track.

I would like to thank all of those racers who offered advice and help, notably Zane Llewellyn of Zannetec and Dave Day. We can't wait to get back on the track and pick up where we left off before the breakage. I just hope the driver hasn't lost it!

Swift snippets.
26th May: Congratulations to ex-pat Brit Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who has been credited with IHRA ET and speed records for the Pro Fuel class after his winning performance in Rockingham.

Santa Pod Raceway track announcer Colin Theobald has done a deal with a new best friend which resulted in a case of champagne burning a hole in the boot of his car. So for each day of the FIA Main Event, Colin along with fellow commentator Darryl Bradford will be selecting a Moment of the Day and awarding a bottle of Moet & Chandon to the lucky winner. "What that moment will be no-one knows", says Colin. "It could be a record, could be something odd, could be anything really so anyone can win it, it will certainly be memorable in one way or other. I've always wanted to do something like this which includes everyone so when this opportunity came up to give something back I couldn't resist". Listen out during the event as the nominations will be announced as they happen. It should be a lot of fun, and will hopefully carry on at the European Finals. Oh and Darryl, loosing your voice doesn't qualify for the bottle!"

Web site updates.
26th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, a delighted Graham Dance recounts a successful test at Santa Pod Raceway. 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.

With US Pro Mod racer Melanie Troxel now featuring in the news here in Europe, our good buddies Markus Münch and Mathis Wienand of the excellent der Beschleuniger web site tell us that an interview with Melanie is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBkglVDsuXE.

Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his Fotopic site with pictures from last week's drag racing presentation at Northbrook College and Saturday's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Tog's pictures at eurodragster.fotopic.net or www.togsdragracing.com.

FIA Main Event racer update.
25th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall and SPRC International Race Director Robin Shone for forwarding us the provisional running orders for the FIA Main Event, 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 and selecting the FIA Main Event. Please note that as ever these running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

Santa Pod Raceway's gates will be open from around 1.30 pm on Thursday, although those running at the Pro Peak Performance Test Day will of course be able to gain access much earlier.

Signing on will be open from 1:30 pm until 8:00 pm on Thursday, and will then re-open at 7:00 am on Friday morning.

Scrutineering for Sportsman cars will commence at 2.30 pm on Thursday; scrutineering for Super Street Bike will commence at 5.30 pm on Thursday.

Maurischat stays with Chuck Norris.
25th May: German Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Marco Maurischat is very proud to announce that NGK Spark Plugs Europe will join his list of part suppliers for the 2010 season.

"As everybody knows, NGK produce an excellent product and their spark plugs are considered throughtout motorsport to be the very best on the market", says Marco. "It's an honour to team up with NGK and we will support them with customer promotion projects and appearances in 2010. To learn more about the complete range of NGK products please visit www.ngk.de. I'm also very happy to have long time supporter Valvoline with us again this year. Valvoline supply us with the very finest motor oil and lubricants we need to run our '53 Corvette into the low sixes.

"We will run mostly the same stuff as last season on the Corvette. We will stay with our updated Chuck Norris TFX with new pistons, rods etc. We updated our fuel system with some great new DMPE parts which we have to test at the first races. I also changed to a two-step to control the start line rpm better and to get better clutch data. We also got a new Tim McAmis front end after we damaged the old one last year. The trailer is a never ending story, we have done some work on to get everything stored better.

"The plan is to run all the FIA rounds this season and our goal is to qualify and hopefully go some rounds. We are very happy with our first year's results from last season, but the competition will be even better this year. When looking at the Main Event entry list, with most of the cars very quick and with the best equipment, the first big challenge will be to get into the field on race day."

German speakers can enjoy an interview with Marco courtesy of our buddies at the der Beschleuniger web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de.

Team Orange geared up.
25th May: The UK's Team Orange Super Comp team are heading to the Main Event hoping that gearbox problems which plagued them since fitting the new shifter are now behind them, says Steve Wells:

After suffering gearbox problems during qualifying at the Springspeed Nationals, which meant we were unable to run on race day, we removed the Liberty box and found that the fourth gear cog and slider were completely ruined. Once home, new parts were ordered and duly fitted. We also found a company who can reclaim damaged dog gears in the UK, so we now have spares. Details of their service can be found at www.racecarrides.com.

Our longtime supporters Cam Auto, who supply Goodridge fittings and many other products to the trade and retail via their web site, have just become main distributors of Powerflex, world leaders in polyurethane suspension bush technology. This will soon be added to their web site but in the meantime contact details are on the Cam Auto web site.

With the engine and gearbox freshly filled with Torco oil, supplied by Cam Auto, and with the help of the Motlers, we are now getting the hang of tuning the Pop to run 8.90 with no throttle stop. We are looking forward to some good racing at the Main Event.

More Nitro.
25th May: Santa Pod Raceway's own radio station Nitro FM will be kicking off their FIA Main Event broadcasts at 18:00 on Thursday and will then be broadcasting between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm each day of the race. Presenter Nigel Fitzmaurice has been in touch to let us know some of the weekend's highlights on 96.2 FM and on-line:

Over the weekend we will have a whole host of people popping in, including Ed O'Connell the USA Master for Eurodragster.com, Gary Page, Nick Gay and Ian Petrie presenting, Rob Ashard also presenting, Paul Marston with all the Sportsman news, and all the usual features.

Together with Santa Pod Raceway, KazAston.com and Team Edge we will be supporting the MS Trust over the Main Event. There are loads of fantastic raffle prizes to be won at the MS Trust stand including some fab items from Brian Taylor of the Allard Chrysler Action Group (they are at this event with the Allard Chrysler Dragster and also with Commuter, go see them). There are also European Finals tickets and VIP tickets up for grabs. There will also be Text and Win competitions and spot prizes with our friends Mapei and Shockwave Racing.

Nitro FM has more power now, so we can be picked up further out on 96.2 FM and of course at www.audiorealm.com - search Nitro and we are there. But let's hope you actually come to the track if you can. See you all there.

Outlaws on the loose.
25th May: If slingshots, altereds, Funny Cars and wild doorslammers are for you then Shakespeare County Raceway is the place to be this weekend, says Dave McKenzie of the UK's Supercharged Outlaws:

This is the second round of the 2010 series and we will have ten cars on show including Steve Goode's stunning new Funny Car Ghost Train. This car was imported from the USA and Steve worked on it all winter. The FC is an ex-Gordie Bonin/Whit Bazemore car with a Tom Hoover rear end. Other favorites out include Vic Hammond with the Speed Demon slingshot, Alec and Tom Coe with the Shy Talker slingshot, Lee Gallimore with the Red Mist altered - Lee normally produces some stunning 900 foot burnouts.Another Funny Car looking to improve is Trace Froome. Having had a mixed weekend at Santa Pod Trace has finally sorted out the problems with the Ultra Racing Dodge and Trace will be trying to put some respectable times down this weekend.

Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge having sorted all their gremlins out are looking to step up this meeting, after a couple of wheels-up launches at Santa Pod the team are hoping to run some Personal Bests at SCR. Brian Gandy and the Skullduggery altered will be aiming to keep up the promising times he achieved in Tound 1 and also move up a gear. For the doorslammers Paul Watts will be looking to defend his early lead in the Outlaws series but Ian Hanson in the beautiful Corvette will be chasing hard, not forgetting Richard Davis with the immaculate '41 Willys.

The Outlaws have a new T-Shirt coming out and we are hoping that they will be available at the Yanks weekend. The stunning design is by Stith Printing in California. The Tees are available in red or blue.

Swift snippets.
25th May: 17:00 It's not going to win any awards for best-kept secret in European drag racing but after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing especially in the last forty eight hours the US' Melanie Troxel is set to drive one of the R2B2 blown-alcohol Camaro Pro Mods at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. The car is the Camaro which Sweden's Micke Gullqvist drove to runner-up spot at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, and assuming that it makes it through Customs is due to arrive at Santa Pod on Thursday. A number of Roger Burgess' team will also be in attendance. The official entry list has been updated. We are awaiting the full press release so stay tuned for more information.

As a result of the fire at the Finnish Hot Rod Association offices, racers will be unable to fax entries for the FHRA Nitro Nationals. FHRA ask that entries are put in the mail or E-Mailed to [email protected]. You can find out more and download entry forms at www.fhra.fi.

Ex-pat Brit Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences summarises his weekend at the NHRA Nationa event at Topeka: "We were DQ'd in the first qualifier, probably dirty fuel. In qualifying the car was dropping a cylinder at about 900 feet but we qualified seventh. We had a protracted wait in the pits before the first round of eliminations against Todd Odom but we won with a 5.53. The next round against Duane Shields was doable but he beat us with a 5.33. We just could not find the power this weekend. That DQ cost us a place which would probably have helped us. Our next race is the NHRA National event in Chicago in two weeks". IHRA put out a press release about Mike which you can check out at Competition Plus, and Mike now has a web site at www.nitroshredder.com.

On Sunday the UK's Team Gridlock Wild Bunch team did the first part of filming for a TV documentary about the car and the team. "We were all a little nervous about the filming", says Dexter Price, "and we were taking bets on how many times we would say "Errr" but the people from Mo-Am Masters, who did the filming, were great and really put us at ease. The individual interviews went very well, but one question we couldn't answer, who was Gary from Garys Picnic (Gary Healy of Gary's Shack- Ed)? The next phase of filming will be at the Yanks weekend/Gary Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway, which we are really looking forward to. I am sure there will be a few visitors to the pits! We are still seeking sponsorship for 2010 so if you would like your name on TV then please contact us."

The UK's Team Edge Pro ET team are delighted to have the support of Teva Pharmaceuticals, who manufacture one of the therapies for Multiple Sclerosis. "We are looking forward to working closely with them in the future", say the team. "Big thanks to Mel, one of our crew, for working tirelessly to secure this. Mel is currently working with a national newspaper and other print media to publish a story about her MS, her involvement with drag racing, and gaining her MSA license in the near future. As the MS Trust are the lead charity at Santa Pod this weekend, special thanks go to Jo Sopala and her team. Please support them. Our best wishes go to Eurodragster.com and all involved at the FIA Main Event."

Finland's Asko Määttä sent us this picture (below left) of Baldie's Gun V taken somewhere between Biloxi and central Florida, at a speed of 80 mph, backwards from the driver's seat. "Who else was there to take it?" says Asko.


The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "A certain Super Gas racer reveals the truth!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].

UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Alec Coe and his team went to Shakespeare County Raceway on 15th-16th May for his sixtieth birthday weekend. "I had a lot of relatives and friends turn up, thanks everyone", says Alec. "On the end of Saturday, Jerry Cookson kindly allowed me to do my first fire burnout, and the first for many a year. It was a mild burnout for health and safety reasons but we all had fun doing it, and it was a lifetime's wish come true. Thanks to all at the track". You can see more at www.madrsdragracing.co.uk and video courtesy of Dave Derry at www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjcBKXhLPSs.

DJ Safety Europe, owned and managed by Swiss Top Methanol FC racer Dez Krivan, provides European racers a new source for their safety equipment needs including filling, refilling and recertification of DJ Safety fire extinguishers. "In addition, we are currently working towards the supply of a wide range of recertification services from our workshop in Switzerland", says Dez. You can find out more at www.djsafety.eu.

A representative of Kestrel Weather Stations will be at Santa Pod on Friday and will have a small number of stations with him. If you are interested in what Kestrel Weather Stations can offer then you will be able to find the company rep in the pit of Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Gold RV. Derek tells us that the car is back together and has been fired up, and that he will be testing at Santa Pod on Thursday.

Santa Pod Raceway have a couple of spare seats in their Two Seat Dragster at the FIA Main Event. For more information or to book your ride check out www.santapod.com, E-Mail Darren Prentice at Santa Pod at [email protected], or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).

Ian Turburville hopes that he may be of assistance to racers this weekend as he will have a supply of Simpson SFI.20 Top Fuel driver's gloves and a selection of brand new Simpson Diamondbacks, just made and factory-fitted with Hans clips. "I can do these at discounted prices to racers and may take your Impact Nitro helmet in part exchange depending on condition", says Turbo. "I do have a couple of SFI firesuits but for Sportsman use only. I also have nomex balaclavas, CarbonX tops, driving shoes, visors, pivot kits, neck brace, nitro-knucks mechanics gloves, ACF50 and Innotec Easy Gasket. I will be in the bike pits behind the Pit Stop Café.

Our coverage of tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Private Test at Santa Pod Raceway will consist of an end-day gallery presented in association with American Car Imports, and the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam which will post a picture every sixty seconds whilst the track is open. We will not be posting any reports as the test is private. You will be able to view the end-day gallery and watch the webcam by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event.

Amanda Cox and the UK's Yenkonova Pro ET team have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to team member Jemma Harrison. Our pleasure guys, have a very Happy Birthday day Jemma. A big Happy Birthday also to UK Junior Dragster racer Laura Turburville. Have a lovely day Laura.

With regard to yesterday's lead news item can we please draw readers' attention to News FAQs 14 and 16. Thank you.

One for the Ladies.
25th May: Earlier this year a special photo-shoot was arranged at Silverstone Circuit to highlight women in motorsport. Unfortunately for the majority who juggle jobs, partners, kids, homes and racing the timing was a little difficult. Shakespeare County Raceway would like to extend the idea and really celebrate the massive number of women who play a big part in the success of professional and amateur motor sport in the UK.

So if you are a woman who races a car or bike on the drag strip, circuits, rally stages, trials etc, marshals at your local track, or wjp crews or support your race team in any way we would like to see you at Shakespeare County Raceway on 24th-25th July where we will be hosting the first of many For Ladies that Launch weekends – a true celebration of the part girls play in motorsport.

The Raceway will be running a Run What You Brung Public Track Day weekend which is open to all - yes, him as well - to come along and compete against the clock in open time trial practice sessions giving you a unique opportunity by grabbing some interactive viewing from the hot seat of your race or street legal road car or from the saddle of a contemporary sports bike in the safe confines of a professionally operated drag strip. It is a requirement of the Raceway that all riders & drivers taking part in RWYB are required to wear a Crash Helmet and have arms and legs fully covered when racing a car. This includes your feet girls - no sandals! If you are competing with a motorcycle a helmet, leathers, gloves and boots are required, no trainers or jeans allowed on bikes. You will need your driving licence as well to sign on to race.

Weather permitting, on the Saturday evening at 6:00 pm we aim to have a photo shoot for all the ladies and, where appropriate, their vehicles followed by live music and dancing till late in the clubhouse.

On the Sunday we propose to hold The Ladies that Launch Shootout for cars and bikes. Only ladies may enter, so borrow his car/bike and show him how it's done if you don't have your own! We can organise a master class in Bracket ET Dial-In Racing before the start of the day for those who don't know how the competition works. The day will also consist of some top class drag racing from the Supercharged Outlaws dragsters and Funny Cars, and the Pro Street Drag Series for Japanese and European imports.

Shakespeare County Raceway offers free camping, showers and toilet facilities and children under sixteen get in for free too. Further details can be found at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com or on the SCR Facebook page. So come on girls, if you are a part of this great institute of motorsport in the UK and you want to celebrate the fact come and race, relax or simply let you hair down at Shakespeare County Raceway this July. See you at the strip!

Entry is £12 per person per day (advance £10 Sunday only), weekend £22 per person. RWYB Track Fee: £20 per person per day (unlimited runs) or £35 per person for a weekend of unlimited fun. A £1 donation will go to Brest Cancer Charity for every woman who signs on to race over the weekend.

FIA Main Event Perfect Awards.
25th May: This weekend's FIA Main Event is the fourth event in the 2010 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance.

The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Sportsman ET racer Ian Jackson at the Springspeed Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the SPRC Summernationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk.

The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Pro ET racer John Atkinson at the Springspeed Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Street, Super Gas and Junior Dragster (eliminations only) but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the SPRC Summernationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk.

To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals.

The Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award is £50. The money will be awarded to the first Super Comp or Super Gas racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their index, 8.900 or 9.900 as appropriate, during qualifying or eliminations. The winner's cheque, courtesy of AFP Services owner and managing director Richard Peel, can be collected from Ian Hart in the Fairhurst Racing Super Comp pit. The Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award does not roll over; if not won then the £50 will next be available at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. The Perfect Numbers Award is presented in association with financial bureau AFP Services whose web site you can find at www.afpservices.co.uk.

Web site updates.
25th May: Photographer Julian Hunt has updated his web site with pictures from the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Julian's shots at www.julianhunt.net.

Stefani Robinson writes that the Robinson Race Reports web site at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk has been updated with a report from Hungary and news of what Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson has been up to since his return from Central Europe.

The Nobby Hills Racing web site at www.nhracing.com has recently been updated with news, pictures and a short video from a recent test at Shakespeare County Raceway. The web site also includes a video the which team has submitted to a competition with Doritos, the crisp company. The team's next outing will be at Xtreme Wheels in June with both the Fuel FC and the rebuilt Hondog 1 dragster.

Jamie Dyks has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from Saturday's Powerfest in Rushden. You can check out Jamie's pictures at topnitro.fotopic.net.

Attention UK racers and crew.
24th May: Do you drive any vehicle of 3.5 tonnes or above or tow, whether it is for your full-time job or for motorsports? Do you want to keep this vocational entitlement on your licence? If "Yes", then your licence is under threat if you don't act now, say Phoenix Personnel and Santa Pod Raceway.

To maintain your entitlement, and be able to carry on your motorsports, you need to take thirty five hours' (split into seven-hour blocks yearly) Approved Driver CPC Training by 10th September 2014. It is important that you allow yourself enough time to complete your training. There is no advantage in delaying: the sooner you train, the sooner your knowledge and skills will be refreshed and updated and you keep your vocational entitlement.

Phoenix Personnel have teamed up with Santa Pod Raceway to offer a fantastic rate for Driver CPC Training of £50 inc vat. Courses take place on Wednesday 16th June or Saturday 23rd October between 9:30 and 16:00.

To book either download the registration form (Word format) or visit www.phoenix-personnel.co.uk.

Editor's note: If you have any queries then please contact Phoenix Personnel and not Eurodragster.com.

Five good neighbours.
24th May: It is amazing that as many as five Norwegian riders are competing in UEM Supertwin at the FIA Main Event. In Norway, drag racing is a very small sport with only one race track, and unfortunately many Norwegians have not even heard of drag racing. However, because it is such a small environment everyone knows everyone, writes Lin Granlund:

Anyone involved in drag racing in Norway is very proud of our Supertwin guys and their teams who truly put Norway on the European map. Amazingly, all five come from a little place in Norway - Toten. Toten is not a city, just a place with a lot of trees and guys interested in Supertwins:

Vidar Ravnsborg has runs a Supertwin since 1994. The last time he raced in England was 2002, but this season he plans to run two UEM rounds in England, the Nordic Supertwin Cup and the Norwegian Championship in June. Vidar runs a bike which used to belong to Svein Gottenberg who tragically died in an accident at Mosten in Denmark. We all miss him dearly.

In 2009, Vidar made his first six-second pass at the last event at Gardermoen Raceway. This winter he has done little with the bike and it runs consistent times. Vidar tested at Gardermoen a little while ago and was satisfied with the results. He says he is ready for England and that he hopes that he and all the Norwegians qualify for the final. "It will be fun in England", he says. You can find out more at www.teamravnsborg.com.

Svein Olav Rolfstad and Jan Sturla Hegre will be running a two-bike team this season. Svein Olav takes up the story: Jan Sturla Hegre bought my old bike back from Sturla and Jan, the bike has been upgraded, and is now ready for the season. My own bike has also been undergoing some changes over the winter so we are quite curious about the result of this job.

We now have ten people in the team with a new Team Manager, Pål Magnussen. The other team members are Hans Cristian Nilsen, Ingar Nettum, Odd Magnar Solheim and Jørgen Sørum. My old guys Frode, Henning and Per Rune are also still with me.


Both bikes have got a new fresh design from ABM, which is a new sponsor for this year, and are looking sharp. Sunoco has also been good to us this year and provided us with all we need in the way of quality lubricants, fuel, race harnesses and clothing.

None of us did the first UEM race in Hungary due to lack of money and time. Jan Sturla also needed to get his UEM license. For this year the UEM Championship is not the goal for any of us. Jan Sturla is trying to get as much experience as possible on the bike and we hope to get into the low sevens or even better into the sixes. Anyway learning is the key word for him this season. On my behalf I will try to give Per Bengtsson a fight breaking the UEM record. We will use this year to develop all of the systems like fuel, ignition and clutch control. So learning will also be in focus for the whole team.

We have so far been at Gardermoen for a test weekend and the plan is to do the rest of the UEM series and the Norwegian championship in June. We will get to Santa Pod on Friday morning and we are really looking forward to this event. Our web site is www.rolfstad.com.

After demolishing his clutch at the European Finals last year, Hans Olav Olstad and his team have made two new clutches for this season: Special thanks to Bentec and GB-Tech, with their cooperation, wisdom and good ideas. We did not have any chance to try out the new clutch before the first UEM event in Ungary. But so far it seems to have worked our way. Number one qualifier, two track records, and runner-up at the first event, is a bit more than we expected. Nothing has changed on the engine.

If nothing bad happens, we plan to do all the UEM events for 2010, the Norwegian Championship, Raceday at Mosten, and possibly Hockenheim if the invitation arrives. When we look back to the last four UEM events, we were #1 qualifier in three of them. That makes us one of the favorites for the 2010 Championship. Personally I think it will be a fight between Job Heezen, Lorenz Stäble and I. But hey, we all know that anything can happen in Supertwin Top Fuel, and nothing is assured.

We are looking forward to racing at Santa Pod, because we know the track is one of the best in Europe. If we are on top four in qualifying, we will be very happy. There is still a long way to go with the new clutch, and lots of set-ups have to be tried out. First of all we are pretty confident in a 6.7-6.8, but we know that it will take some runs to find a proper set-up to go from there to a Personal Best. We learned a lot from all of our bad luck last season, and we know that we feel more prepared than ever. We think we have a good chance to be in the fight for the Championship in 2010. Our web site is at www.olstadracing.no.

Trond Høiberget and the TJH Racing Super Twin Top Fuel Team have the same crew, bike and almost the same sponsors as in 2009 as one sponsor has departed and two new sponsors have joined. The team's primary sponsor is Telekiosken. Trond writes:

We started the season at the UEM event in Hungary with fourth qualifying position and went out in first round. We also tested at Gardermoen the weekend after Hungary and got the answers we wanted, so now we are more than ready for the Main Event at Santa Pod.

We have done some work on the engine for this season. A new set of rods from Bill Miller Engineering, tuning, and some other work on the engine by our sponsor RS Motor of Norway. We have made a set of new exhaust pipes for the Main Event. The other work is just minor adjustments.

For the 2010 season our goal is to set new Personal Best ETs and speeds, defend the National Championship, to be in the top five of the UEM Championship, and to develop the team to be better at everything. Watch out for TJH Racing! We are looking forward to coming to Santa Pod, and we hope that the weather and the track will be great. Our web site is at www.tjhracing.com.

Fifteen minutes from quitting...
24th May: A year has gone by since Norwegian Top Methanol FC racer Arvid Grødem last raced with his Sunoco Express Mustang. "I think the 2009 Main Event will be remembered for our outstanding performance...not!", says Arvid.

"Maybe for our wheelies, but definitely not for our performance. In hindsight I think we were way out of our tuning window but at the time we didn't know and felt kind of down. On top of a lousy performance at the race, on my way home I ripped off the tailgate doors on the trailer when entering the ferry in Immingham. Then I thought the cup was overflowing.

"So what should we do, quit? I must admit that the thought was tempting at the time – I was really fed up with everything but luckily I came to my senses after fifteen minutes or so. We sat down and discussed our options and, as the whole team wanted to continue, we decided to look for another car. The trusty old Sunoco Mustang that had served us so well over the past ten years was put up for sale as a rolling chassis and later sold to Jimmy Granlund. He will probably race it in a 7.50 bracket class with a gasoline engine and Lencodrive combination.

"In July, my Crew Chief Pål-Henning Sørensen and I went over to see Jeff Burnett of Composite Specialties and ended up purchasing his 2007/08 ProStart Ford Mustang as a rolling chassis. As he wanted to attend the NHRA race at Indy in September, the new Sunoco Mustang did not show up in our workshop until late November. Then came Christmas, 2010 was unfolding and all of a sudden we are about to leave for the 2010 Main Event. Time is flying! There should have been two months between April and May, at least judging by the amount of work against the time available.

"When you buy a rolling chassis you think you just need to install your engine and transmission and go racing. Well, it sounds easy if you say it fast! All the small things which go with it take a lot of time time. We feel that we have been hard at work over the winter but still the action list is not fully completed. The truck and trailer are leaving via Gothenburg to Immingham tomorrow - whatever isn't finished will stay in the workshop - and the rest of us will fly out on Thursday.

"We will début a new paint scheme on both the Sunoco Mustang and the trailer. We have painted the racecar in pure white colour at Holmestrand Lakkering AS and then vinyl wrapped the scallops. When the race car body was at the wrapper's we figured out that "Why not wrap the trailer as well?" and so we did. OK, not completely true but it sounds cool.

"We've not had any chance to test as we will probably start the engine for the first time on Friday at the Main Event. Hopefully we've got the assembly correct enough that that the Sunoco Mustang can be one of the top contenders, if the pilot can cope with all the power.

"The Westside Racing team members are the same with one exception: we have added Jens Petter Lindstrøm to our team. The team now consists of Pål-Henning Sørensen (Crew Chief), Tore Karlsen, Jan Vidar Vestvik, Bjørn Arild Sjøblom, Gunnar Olsson, Bjørn Myhrer Vestvik and Jens Petter Lindstrøm. At the Main Event we will also have the pleasure of having Jeff Burnett present. If anyone is interested in anything made from carbon fibre, Jeff is the guy to talk to. We will also run (and sell) Jeff's Injectors plus a lot of other things he has made of carbon fibre so come by our pit at the Main Event and take a look. Jeff is also supporting the Speedgroup contingency programme which is a great program benefitting all racers as well as manufacturers. I personally think that Speedgroup has done tremendous work for the drag racing community and is about to lift European Dragracing to new heights. Well done!

"On the sponsor side we still have with us Sunoco, Phoenix US Cars AS, and Holmestrand Lakkering AS as well as IKT Allianse - Delmo Tele og Data AS. All excellent companies worthwhile doing business with.

"Last but not least everyone can follow our Sunoco Mustang's Main Event performance at the best web site there is, namely Eurodragster.com (Oh I say, thanks - Ed)."

Team VEIDEC update.
24th May: Roger Lyrén of the Team VEIDEC Pro Stock Bike team has been in touch to bring us up to date with the team's season so far and their preparations for the FIA Main Event:

We had a good weekend in Hungary with three bikes qualified. Sadly Stavros broke his only engine at the test day before the event, and his spare engine was not ready, so no racing that weekend for him. All of our other bikes were in the field, Anders Abrahamsson #3, Kenneth Vik #8 and Kalle Lyrén #15. Anders was running consistently as he mostly does and managed to go to the semi, when the red stopped him. But he set Low ET and high speed of the event, 7.241/299 kmh.

Kenneth has new crew for 2010, Atle and Baloo from Norway, very good friends of mine from years back. They have also worked with Öivind Von Essen, supporting him to the Championship win in 2002. Sence Kenneth had some new bits in his bike it will take time to find a base setting for it, but step by step he was running faster and faster, running his best ET in the final when Ulf Ögge took the win.

Kalle was on his bike for the first time ever. In qualifying he ran 7.85 with a four-valve engine from the early 1990s. Actually several Champions have used this engine - Metin Basberber, Roger Pettersson, Öivind von Essen, Kenneth Vik, and now Kalle. Since the bike is all new he made three slow runs on Thursday during testing, and did all the qualifying sessions to get as many runs as he could under his belt. Kalle went out in the first round of eliminations against Ulf. Kalle did all he could, took Ulf on the tree 0.008 to 0.077, and after the run Kalle said "I did not like someone passing me mid-track, I want more power".

On the way back home our bus' gearbox broke right outside Budapest, and we had to take it to a Volvo service station. We has huge help from Szabolcs Borsays from Hungary, and the Volvo workshop gave us very good support. Everyone flew back to Sweden, and Lars Olov Eriksson and I flew back to Hungary last week and drove back non-stop. 2135 Km later we were at Lindesberg at 05:00 on Saturday morning to test on what was hopefully an OK track. Sadly there had been a lot of rain in the days before the event which stopped them putting any rubber and trackbite on the track, so no running that day.

It has been very busy in the VEIDEC camp. Anders Abrahamsson has done some small service, as has Kenneth Vik. Stavros Svrachnos will run his 1655 cc motor. Kalle will test on Wednesday and Thursday to get some runs under his belt, and to try to find some base settings for the bike. He will be running a 1510 cc motor, about thirty more horses than before, at the beginning of the test days, and maybe if it feels good we will put the new 1655 cc engine in. But we will take it step by step as Kalle needs track time and we need data from the bike.

We leave for Santa Pod this afternoon, and hopefully we will arrive on Wednesday morning and be able to do some testing. I want to thank all of the crew, and our partners VEIDEC, MotoSpeed, Vance & Hines Motorsport, Pro Imp, Shoei, RK Chains, UCC, Fujitsu Computers, Dynatek, and many more. See you all at Santa Pod.

FIA Main Event snippets.
24th May: Dutch Top Fuel racer Lex Joon's name is a notable absence from this weekend's entry list. In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Lex has announced that he will not be racing in Europe this season and that with his operation still in the USA he is working to attract sponsorship to attend races on the NHRA tour. You can read more in Lex's Blog which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Frøya's Paul Ingar Udtian and the Islanders Top Methanol Dragster team are ready for a new season and are really looking forward to meeting everybody again, says Konrad Ree: During the cold and long winter in Norway we made some changes to the chassis. Last year we had a lot of problems with tyre shake, but still we manage to make an old 1992 chassis run a 5.44. We don't know if anyone else has run so quickly with a car that old? We hope that the changes we have made, with good help from Stig Nergaard - big thanks to Stig - will cure some of the tyre shake problems. Otherwise the car is the same and we hope to run better this year. But we know it will be a hard battle in Top Methanol Dragster, so time will show. The coach has left the island and will hopefully be at the track today. We will try to get some test runs before the Main Event. Hope to see you all at the track, and let's have some good racing.

Swedish Pro Mod racer Adam Flamholc and his team are really looking forward to the Main Event. "We raced the car in the USA over the winter, and made some really good runs and a few not so good", says Adam. "We know that the car is capable of running really fast, but the tuning window is a little bit smaller than on our old car. We went testing at a few local tracks here in Sweden, and it feels like we have got the car fairly well figured out. Other than racing in US the past six months, we have a new trailer which we built in our shop in Sweden. I know that there are many competitive cars out there, and I think that the team who make the right tuning decisions will win the race. Once again a big thank you to my sponsors Amalie Oil, Malmo Motorrenovering AB(MMR), Motorenova, Custom Graphics, Autoshop Racing Engines, Husby Takplatslageri, Sunoco Racefuels, Hurst Boiler and Performance Plus."

Sweden's Niclas Sverin (below left) is a very welcome addition to the Super Street Bike field this weekend. "Niklas started drag racing 2007 in Super Gas bike and became Scandinavian Champion", says Karin. "In 2008 he changed class to Super Pro Street Bike and became Scandinavian Champion again. In 2009 he put a turbo on the bike and tried to learn to work with it. He raced at Hockenheim and Mosten for example. This year Niclas hopes to run a seven with with air shifting and boost control, which he didn't have last year. Rikard Gustafsson has helped with boost control and tuned the bike."


The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (above right) pretty obviously shows a Junior Dragster engine, but the accompanying E-Mail says that the recipient does not actually know about the engine swap which will be made in time for this weekend's race. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].

Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar will be the point of contact for FIA decals, which are mandatory for cars contesting the FIA European Championships. Åsa will also have a supply of embroidered FIA badges, and she will also visit as many teams as possible to distribute FIA and UEM contingency decals for the Speedgroup contingency programme. "It is however up to every driver or rider to see that they collect the necessary contingency stickers", says Åsa. You can read more about the contingency programme, as well as other messages of important to racers, at www.speedgroup.eu. Speedgroup's base for the FIA Main Event will be Speedgroup CEO/Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist's pit. To contact Åsa during the event please call her mobile phone +46 705 315332. Åsa will be on-site from Thursday.

Åsa will also be posting brief comments on FIA Main Event on- and off-track happenings via Twitter. If you wish to receive her messages via E-Mail or mobile phone then sign up as a follower of Speedgroup (search Speedgroup on Twitter.com). "I will be talking with many FIA and UEM teams during the event and will follow some of the teams' work in the pits as well as on the track. I will be posting brief comments a few times every day. It can be about anything I find interesting, fun, extraordinary which is worth sharing. It is not in any way intended as a news report service, and to teams reading this rest assured that no secrets will be revealed. For live results, photos and pit notes this weekend Speedgroup refer readers to Eurodragster.com."

Santa Pod Raceway say that sales of their newest product, VP Racing Fuel, are going strongly before this weekend's race. Santa Pod has a wide range to choose from, all of which are fully stocked at the Pod: C12, C14, C16, C23, Q16, Import, 109, SV-05, M1, M2 and M3. Competitors from the UK and Europe have decided to take advantage of pre-ordering their race fuel and having it delivered directly to their pit. You can order your fuel by visiting Santa Pod's web site at www.santapod.com or by downloading and faxing the order form to 01234 782818. The order form is available in Word or PDF format.

Powerfest success.
24th May: Andy Willcox says that we could have asked for nothing more from the first Parade of Power organised by Santa Pod Raceway in Rushden on Saturday:

We has glorious sunshine, and there were more than forty vehicles of all shapes and sizes in attendance. The car park which was the staging area for those vehicles taking part in the parade soon filled up - it appeared that if any more turned up before the start then it might have caused the roads to close even earlier. In the High Street there was a good static display with the Santa Pod Top Fuel Dragster along with Nitro the Dragon shaking hands and having photos taken, Fireforce 3 with Martin Hill on hand to sign his new poster (which look fantastic), the Speed Demon supercharged dragster which fired up a few times, generating good crowds around the car, Carolynne Campbell's Rocket Dragster, and Paige Wheeler's Alamo-sponsored Junior Dragster.


At two o'clock the parade set off with a police motorcycle outrider and Anthony Wilkins' Morris Minor Estate leading, and an outrider and police riot van at the rear. The first lap of the one way system was a gentle cruise round, but on the second lap the burnouts started at the beginning of Duck Street. There were some superb static and rolling burnouts especially the side by side performed by John Hackney and Phil Pratt along with some not so good attempts but at least the rickshaw got a round of applause for trying. No riot van this time - maybe the heckling got the better of the officers inside.


A slight pause then the third lap commenced. The burnouts just got better and better, this time the tarmac took a couple of victims firstly Mike Lacey in the Metamorphasis Pro ET Camaro popping the left slick to huge applause from the crowd, and virtually straight afterwards Jon Webster popped the right tyre in his MG after virtually disappearing in a cloud of smoke.


One more lap with a few less vehicles and some more burnouts and back to the car park/staging area, no dramas this time. It was great to see the kids going round the riders and drivers asking for autographs and hero cards. The new mayor of Rushden said it had been the best thing she has done so far as mayor and that she thoroughly enjoyed the two laps in a car - the second included a burnout of good standard. Outgoing mayor and event organiser, in liasion with Santa Pod staff, Gill Mercer said that she felt it had been a great success and that she looked forward to it happening again next year.


The public really seemed to enjoy it judging by the huge crowd which turned out and I did not hear anyone complaining. Here's to the future of the Rushden Powerfest.

Topspeed at McLaren.
24th May: UK Street Eliminator and Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive were invited to take a few cars to McLaren for their inaugural employees-only car show on Saturday. With the motor of his '69 Camaro out of the car, Bill Macdermid had to put on his thinking cap, act quickly, and make a few phone calls:

At about 8 o'clock on Saturday morning we had so much street-legal horse power outside that I thought the shop windows were going to implode! After tea and doughnuts we left the shop and cruised on up to McLarens in Woking where We were met at the gate by Clive the show organiser and led in by a black SLR, awesome. What a great show with a huge variety of cars and a look inside the McLaren showroom.

We all had a great day and I would like to thank Clive McGibbon and Mike Jones for inviting us and also to Barry George, Marc Lamude, Mark Sheridan, Paul Carson and Splinter for bringing their cars. You can see picture on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173810&l=d06d3a6cca&id=95276193547.

ACAG auction update.
24th May: The details of this weekend's Allard Chrysler Action Group auction at Santa Pod this weekend have changed, writes Brian Taylor:

As Commuter is on display, ACAG member and artist Paul Whitehouse has decided to donate his brand new painting of the car to the cause. This is an original painting. A one off. The ACAG will add one of Paul's limited edition prints of the 1961 Allard Chrysler signed by Alan Allard and ACAG Patron Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.

So the auction prize includes images of both iconic dragsters on display this weekend – a real two for one. Listen out to Nitro FM for details of how to bid and think in three figures. You can text Pod and your bid in pounds to 88222. Conversely you can text your bid in pounds to 07966 024244. You can also hand in bids to Brian Taylor at the Nostalgia Marquee.

If you ask Nitro FM nicely they might play Canadian guitarist Ked Dieter's special tribute track to the Allard Chrysler called Ally Blue (available as a download from www.kedrecords.com). As well as Ked's screaming guitar it features the voices of Sydney Allard, Tommy Ivo and Gerry Belton recorded at Blackbushe in 1964 plus sounds of the car recorded during the same year. Each download is worth money to the fund.

And a new ACAG mini print series is being launched at Santa Pod this weekend featuring Paul Whitehouse images of the 1961 Allard Chrysler and the 1965 car that was eventually sold to Clive Skilton.

Great news is that the ACAG and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame have managed to track down Roger Phillips who as Chief Photographer for Custom Car magazine in the 1970s was responsible for many of the images that spread the word – including several featuring Commuter. Although only a scan, this Roger Phillips top shot of Dennis Priddle in Mr Six shows the quality of his work.

After leaving Custom Car Roger's career took him to the dizzy heights of Chief Photographer at IPC Media. He has recently retired and spends his time playing keyboard and sax plus vocals for London based rock and pop band Route 66. Maybe we'll hear some Route 66 tracks on Nitro FM. Welcome home Roger. We are pleased to say that Roger will be at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday.

Another Red Victor sponsor.
24th May: The UK's Redvictor1 Racing Pro Mod team is proud to announce another company to add to their growing list of sponsors.

ALK Engineering are based in West Yorkshire and are a company specialising in CNC machining of steel, stainless steel,aluminium and even plastics! Although fairly new to the drag racing world ALK have been machining CNC parts for a number of years. Managing director Andrew Kenworthy says "ALK Engineering is really excited to be associated with the RV1 racing team and wants to showcase its quality CNC parts on the new car. We feel the exposure that will come with a such a high profile car will not only benefit our growing company, but it will obviously benefit RV3 also"

Driver Andy Frost says "Having spoken with Andrew about his company involvement with the team I'm really happy that he is coming on board with us. The team has always used the very best parts and companies out there and with Andrew's help we'll be able to carry on that trend. We thank Andrew and ALK Engineering for wanting to showcase his talents on our car.

"If you are in need of any CNC parts for your race car don't hesitate to E-Mail Andrew on at [email protected]."

PMR School report.
24th May: Paul Marston Racing held a PMR Drag Race Driving School session at Saturday's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. Paul has been in touch to let us know how it went:

With good track access, the day went very well. Our main focus was Amanda Cox and the entire crew of their Yenkonova Pro ET entry. With the weather gods shining upon us we got to work, concentrating mainly on using the transbrake, burnout, staging process, time and motor management. Amanda also identified some key areas which were making her job in the Nova more difficult and will have those fixed for the FIA Main Event. The Yenkonova was actually on very good behaviour and was the model of reliability. Thanks to Gary at Drag Race Engineering for his preparation of the Yenkonova.

With the Yenkonova crew the focus was on warm-up process, start line, burnout, and delegation of specific tasks, video recording of runs, data collection, analysis, weather station and run prediction. All in all a very busy day with five runs for Amanda. With so much to learn in drag racing, it's always going to take time, but as part of the course Paul Marston Racing will also be on hand at the FIA Main Event to help out when needed. PMR would like to thank all of the Yenkonova team as they are great people and it was rewarding working with them.

On top of the coaching with Amanda, Mad Mick Howling was back on the property with Passenger Rides. Three victims, and they were all dispatched with the customary mile-wide life-changing grins in the morning session. The afternoon was dedicated to a very special friend of all of us, none other than Eurodragster.com Pit Reporter Simon Groves. Tog confided in us that Simon had only been waiting for this opportunity for 20 years or more! As is normal, the course that we run at Paul Marston's Drag Race Driving School is always tailored around the specific driver's requirements based on previous experience. In Simon's case, after the driver's briefing, seat fitting and firesuit and safety equipment fitting the first three runs in Grumpy's Dodge were based on familiarisation and learning to drive and competently operate a race car. This included instrumentation, learning sign language and car control.

Simon progressed this section with ease and growing confidence. We find it essential for a driver to feel in control at all times and in his or her comfort zone, it is the key element to learning how to drive a ra cecar with competence. Simon made three passes, each one was performed very well and most important from our perspective was that progress was made on each pass and no backward steps were encountered. Time beat us in the end due to an electrical failure (battery took a dump on track earlier during the day – sorry Jo), so this particular course is still to be completed but all bodes well for another successful graduation from the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School. Many thanks to Simon Groves for allowing us to teach him, Mad Mick Howling for being a great teacher and allowing Simon to drive his pride and joy, the lovely Lisa Farmer for her start line and crewing duties, and to top crewman Keith Bick for crewing and videoing duties.

Lastly the secret is now out there, a two page feature in June's edition of Top Gear magazine in which Paul Marston Racing taught Top Gear's Test Drive Editor Piers Ward to drive our PiranaZ-backed four-link dragster.

We look forward to seeing all our fans, sponsors, PMR Drive and Passenger Ride graduates at the FIA Main Event.

Pre-Main Event testing coverage.
22nd May: We are at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend to bring you all the news from the pre-FIA Main Event test weekend in association with American Car Imports.

The plan is for an end-day report and gallery from Saturday's Run What You Brung, and then for a live report through the day and end-day gallery from Sunday's Peak Performance Day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line until the track closes on each day and will be scheduled to post a picture every sixty seconds.
©Eurodragster.com
You can check out our Test Weekend coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Carter: Defend and attack!
22nd May: With the world's eyes on the World Cup this Summer, you'd be forgiven for thinking that four time FIA European Top Fuel Champion Andy Carter had moved in to football management! You'd be wrong as this simple statement sums up Carter's desire for the 2010 season - to defend his title and attack every race, potentially making further history by recording a hat-trick of FIA Top Fuel titles in a row, a fifth overall.

Andy Carter and the Lucas Oil / Andersen Racing / Carter Motorsport Top Fuel Team are ready to start the defence of their FIA European Championship title at the FIA Main Event. Once again Andy will step back into the seat of the Andersen racing dragster after Per, Karsten and the team's very successful trip to the USA, during the European off-season. As always Andy only has his eye on one result: "We will be going for the Championship from the very first run! I want to make it three titles in a row". Crew Chief Karsten Andersen added "We had an awesome time racing in America at the NHRA events. It was a dream come true, but we can't wait to get back to Santa Pod and we'll be pushing to get our European season off to a flying start".

Andy has recently started his own Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/cartermotorsport. The site will be regularly updated with news and photos from the track throughout the season and fans are encouraged to click the Like button and become an Andy Carter fan. In doing this, you'll be making sure that you receive all of the latest news from the team before the nitro fumes have cleared!

At the FIA Main Event Andy will be on hand to sign copies of his updated and re-issued book King Of Europe as well as the latest hero cards, with a dedicated autograph session in the Lucas Oil pit at 2:00 pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Souvenir hunters should also stop by for their chance to own a limited edition Andy Carter / Don Garlits crew shirt, as worn by Andy and the team in Pomona, for just £80. The Carter Motorsport merchandise area will also be stocked with copies of R.E.D., the fascinating story of Don Garlits' development of the rear engine dragster, as well as Don Garlits t-shirts.

We can't wait to be back on the Championship trail and we look forward to seeing Carter fans at Santa Pod.

Swift snippets.
22nd May: European fans again have someone to cheer on in the USA this weekend as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka in his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying continues today and as usual our Drag Race Central colleagues will keep you up to date with Mike's progress at www.dragracecentral.com.

Andy Kirk of Graham Ellis' Pro Modified team says that having spent a short time in the wilderness climbing up the steep learning curve with the Pro Mod Superbird the team were delighted with a top ten finish in Europe last year. "We are now looking forward to a much better showing in 2010", says Andy. "We have spent many long hours on the car over the past months in an attempt to run as fast as possible. We have made many changes over the winter including a reworked body and a new paint scheme. We also have a new rig and trailer to make life at the track a little easier. We do have a new blower, we do have Australian heads, we do have three clutch plates and we will have a US tuner in our pit. If the weather is kind there is no reason why we can't run quick. If we don't it will be our fault, no excuses. After all this is Pro Mod, there are no excuses. You either go hard or you go home."
©Eurodragster.com
Anyone in North Lincolnshire today is welcome to head for The Countryman pub in Humberston, Cleethorpes, where the Team Thing Supercharged Outlaw altered will be on display along with a few local Hot Rods. Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge will be firing the car up a few times. Attractions include a barbecue and all proceeds go to charity.

Dave and Linda Wilson asked us to send their very best wishes to son David Wilson and fiancée Nicola who are to be married at 3:00 this afternoon. Our pleasure guys, and may we add our own best wishes for a long and happy future to David and Nicola.

Best wishes too to Eurodragster.com Blogger Stephen Moon whose birthday it is today. Have a great day Stephen and a great weekend and we look forward to your return to the keyboard during in the week - you've certainly earned a break.

NASC appear at Xtreme Wheels.
19th May: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are pleased to announce that the National Association of Street Clubs. Following a meeting with NASC Chairman Mark Ashman, the NASC will be providing a large number of members vehicles for both static display and live action.

"We're delighted to have the NASC on board with us", said Dan Welberry of Xtreme Wheels. "Mark joined us on site at the museum where we laid out our plans for the event. It was great to see his reaction, as he could clearly see what we're looking to achieve with our show. Their members' vehicles we know will be of the highest standard and it will be great to see a number of them strutting their stuff on the race track."

"The NASC are delighted to be involved with the Xtreme Wheels Show, the great new venue with its track adds a whole new dimension", added Mark. "The NASC will be bringing along a wide range of vehicles and will be putting as many as possible on to the track from a few of the "Best in Britain" cars, Rat Rods and some 1,000 hp Street Cars, all burning rubber. Showing off to the public will definitely be the order of the day! Thanks to Bob and Dan for allowing us to do just that." You can find out more about the NASC at www.rodandcustom.co.uk.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
22nd May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Mick Templeman brings us up to date with news from his pit and SSB Blog Editor Stephen Moon compares SSB with its equivalent class in the USA. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Main Event racer update.
21st May: Racepak's Tim Anderson will be holding a Racepak seminar after qualifying finishes at Santa Pod next Friday. The seminar is open to all and will cover questions, problems, training and other matters and Tim will also be available for one-on-one enquiries throughout the weekend. The seminar is scheduled to take place in SPR's Media Centre but may be moved to scrutineering depending upon numbers attending. Stay tuned to Eurodragster.com and keep an ear on the PA on Friday for final details.
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Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar has been on touch to advise teams that at next week's race she will be the point of contact for FIA decals, which are mandatory for cars contesting the FIA European Championships. Åsa will also have a supply of embroidered FIA badges, and she will also visit as many teams as possible to distribute FIA and UEM contingency decals for the Speedgroup contingency programme. "It is however up to every driver or rider to see that they collect the necessary contingency stickers", says Åsa. You can read more about the contingency programme at www.speedgroup.eu.

Speedgroup's base for the FIA Main Event will be Speedgroup CEO/Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist's pit. To contact Åsa during the event please call her mobile phone +46 705 315332. Åsa will be on-site from Thursday.

Sturhan wants a six.
21st May: German Pro Stock racer Harald Sturhan and his team put in a lot of work on his Mercedes over the off-season says Dennis Engelmann:

Next to the normal engine revision, we made some fine adjustments to the engine to increase performance a little bit. We also increased the weight of the CLK, therefore we built a new lighter front and made some minor corrections to the chassis. We also have new lighter doors, but they are not yet finished, but I think they will be ready for the second race.We have changed the axle drive ratio a little bit, so that it will better fit the quarter mile. I think that's all from the technical side.
©Eurodragster.com
Apart from that, we have a little change in the paint job and we have two new sponsors for this season. The first is Wiley X, a manufactor of sports sunglasses, and the other is Melzer-Motors, a Harley tuner in Germany. Our team will also be equipped with Wiley X sunglasses and these sunglasses will also be available at our new race shop! We also have a new T-Shirt and a new autograph card - the autograph card is of course a freebie!

We want a six-second run, and I think we will get one at the Main Event, as when everything works it should be no problem for the lighter and improved car. Our main aim for this season is named "Qualifying" as we want to qualify in all races of the season. Beside that, it would be very nice if Harry could win some races. The last two things we wish for the season are no technical problems and no crashes!

Oh, for more Funny Bikes...
21st May: UK Funny Bike racer Steve French has been in touch with an update on his season so far on the new French Injection, and his preparations for the UEM Funny Bike Cup at the FIA Main Event:

The new bike has the same engine and wheels as the last bike but a completey new chassis and bodywork. The frame was started in Feb 2009 with a view to get it out by the middle of that year, but plans of mice and men prevailed and it took until Easter 2010 to get it ready.

Easter was cold, miserable and lonely. "Where have all the Funny Bikes gone?". Still, with a less than happy engine and little time to test I persuaded it to stay in one lane for a 7.8sec number one qualifier but the motor was not happy, so a stage-n-stop first round and a poor show in the final was all I could manage. A later tear-down showed beaten up bores and pistons and badly scuffed cams caused by a partly blocked oil pick-up.
©Eurodragster.com
May at Shakespeare County Raceway was a different story. Eight runs, one hurling an exhaust at a cameraman, six runs with four gears, and one run with all five (hooray!). A best of 7.51 and 170 mph, number two qualifier and on into the final of Comp bike, which was not run. Yes, Comp Bike, as again "Where have all the Funny Bikes gone" - it's sounding like the Telly Tubbies. I was the one and only entry, so I moved into Comp. It was lots of fun with excellent track time gained for the bike and rider - my crewman Gordon said he'd never pushed the bike to the start line so often in ages, and we have done more runs so far this year than the whole of 2008. We had some staggering sixty foot times from a softly-tuned bike - 1.12s and 1.13s with a best of 1.10. This new chassis is a doddle to ride compared to the last one. The engine worked exceptionally well thanks to a re-bore and some pistons from Dave Beck and some borrowed spark plugs from Stuart Crane. Many thanks to Jerry for welding some bracing on the faring mount after the down-force from the wind started bending the original.

To get ready for the UEM meeting the bike work is a little more 'leisurely'; engine and rear wheel out of the bike, 47-tooth sprocket at the rear to replace the 46 as the bike is geared too high. New wheel hub mountings as the low sixty foot times bent all the bolts and the 47 tooth isn't going to make it easier. New gear selector switch, new ignition triggers, new screen (old one cracked), new timing cover (old one knackered), repaired second-third gear selector dog and second-third selector fork (because of the four-gear-only runs at SCR) and at long last some paint, courtesy of Ms McCarthy's friends. Colour TBA, probably red.

The first pass at the Main Event will be with the Springspeed Nationals settings to get a baseline, then it's out with the jet drills to get back into the low low sevens.

Bellio makes it.
21st May: We were pleased to hear from Belgian Top Methanol FC racer Danny Bellio that he will make next weekend's FIA Main Event even though he suffered bad engine damage at the FIA exhibition at Kunmadaras. Danny tells us that he will be able to attend after an astounding piece of sportsmanship from a fellow racer and some dedication from his crew and friends.

"Our block is not going to be ready, it's still waiting at Post and Dros in the Netherlands to get fixed", says Danny. "We have all of the parts here except pushrods and the main thing you need - the block. As I write team member Jaap Selles and his brother Jan Selles of the Pro Dutch team are on their way to Andy Robinson's to collect a crank from Graham Ellis. Then they need to go to Graham's shop to pick up the block, rods and pistons. Yes, Graham is giving us an engine so that we can run at the Main Event, but it's getting crazy.
©Eurodragster.com
"To get this done Jaap and Jan need to drive all day long and make a one thousand mile round trip to get the engine here to Belgium. When they are back we need to get the engine running, hopefully this weekend. It will be hard to find a set-up because this engine combination is different to ours. We have also swapped heads and are going to run our new NRE heads for the first time. We will be busy busy but that's racing.

"Big thanks to Jaap and Jan for driving around the world to pick up the block and to Graham for helping us out. We will never forget this and if you need anything Graham then just ask."

A big thumbs-up to Graham and to Jaap and Jan, and good luck to Danny and the team in getting everything ready.

FIA Main Event medical update.
21st May: With the FIA Main Event a week away we are a couple of men down: Finnish Top Methanol Dragster racer Esko Raisvuo and Team Turboville crew member Steve Leeddell have both suffered injuries - bizarrely, very similar injuries. Steve is definitely out and it's not looking good for Esko.

"A mistake cost me a left hand bicep muscle which is partially detached", Esko told Eurodragster.com. "I feel terrible mentally and I don't know whether to hang myself right away. The doctor just called from the hospital and said they have checked RTG, ultrasound and magnetic photography and that I will go under the knife as soon as possible. The surgery almost surely will cost my participation in the Main Event. If they do good, and the surgery takes place this week, or Monday or Tuesday, then I can use duct tape or something (anything) and I will come and make at least a burnout and try to qualify. If not then I'll drink my ass off. My truck and trailer are at Santa Pod and I don't know how I will get them home.
©Eurodragster.com
"How desperate and disappointed a man can be? Can a man through disappointment and being pissed off (Not the latter or I would have died this week - Ed). When will I have had my share of bad luck and things get better, and how?

"If possible, I will come over and have a beer or two. I am sorry to everyone. We have collected much more power, and we were prepared to win something. I have had so much support and fan messages from the UK that I feel ashamed about the situation". No need to feel bad Esko, it's hardly your fault and we still all love you. If anyone can help Esko to get his rig home then please get in touch.

Steve Leedell was looking forward to crewing for Ian and Laura Turboville at the Main Event but he tells us that he has unfortunately completely ruptured the tendons at the insertions of his bicep on both the ulna and radius and is scheduled for surgery to reattach them. "I will be unable to make the Main Event", says Steve. "I wish everyone good luck and may many records fall by the wayside, but my thoughts are especially with Team Turbo - sorry Bud."

Last chance to see...
21st May: Crew injuries aside, the UK's Team Turboville have been doing well Junior Dragster Championship this year, and improving at each race:

The Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway showed potential as Laura Turburville gained the number one qualifying spot at only her third race. This event showed the team the problems with the car as they were having to change something after almost every run. All the problems should now be fixed and so they are ready to race another day! The FIA Main Event is certain to be a great one with seventeen entries in the Junior Dragster class meaning more points available! It will be an emotional race, however as it will be Laura's first and Ian's last.

With regret, this is the last meet you will see the Supertwin Top Fuel Harley Mr. Spokehead racing under the name of Turboville as it is now for sale. Mr Spokehead was and remains the only Overkill type Nitro Harley in the country, but after five years of continuous racing with this big machine, Ian has decided it is time to try another class and he has a hankering to return to the roots of his obsession for drag racing by piloting a nostalgia slingshot dragster. Mr Spokehead has been completely refreshed and will sport matching paintwork to Laura's Junior Dragster, both finished in classic, hot-rod red, expertly applied by Martin Curbishley.
©Eurodragster.com
The team will be quite busy at the Main Event and would not be there at all if not for the help of Martin and Ingrid Chesworth and Tim Fountain, who have supported the team for the past couple of years. The Chesworths will be ably assisted over the weekend by Steve 'DD' Leedell, Chris from 'Northants Nitro' and John Hunt.

Laura plans to move to Pro ET in the future, with a unique Overkill-powered rear engined dragster, leaving dad to the slingshot. Team sponsors will still be on board for both cars, as all the parts supplied for the bike are still applicable to the cars. They would like to thank their sponsors - Custom Chrome Europe, Gates Belts, Red Line Oil, Innovate Data Loggers, Sprint Dampers and EGT. The team are actively looking for new partners and sponsors for their team and Laura will continue her support for Help For Heroes.

Ian and Laura wish everyone at the Main Event a safe and sunny weekend. Please drop by their pit and say Hi and wish Laura a very Happy 15th Birthday!

Bradshaw the Impatient.
21st May: UK HKS Pro and Comp Eliminator racer John Bradshaw and the Abbey Motorsport team can't wait for the FIA Main Event and the SPRC Summernationals.

"We had a difficult start to the year with our mishap/accident at the first HKS round of the year in Apri,l but so much work and effort has happened since", says John. "The Nissan Skyline (Project GTST) has been rebuilt since the accident and is ready to go, we are really go to look to push the car at the Main Event to try to find the missing tenth to become the quickest Skyline on the planet - if you see the car run 7.56 or below the chances are that you will also see the crew going absolutely mental on the start line. It's been a four-year journey from a bog standard road car and would be just incredible to see. I also cannot wait to run alongside John Sleath's ballistic Audi.
©Eurodragster.com
As for Project Zed, the Nissan 350Z, things are progressing really really quickly now. Time has been well spent developing the engine over the last few months on the engine dyno to really move things along. You can see a video on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCWUraFf1QE. The engine went through twenty five pulls on the dyno without any issues at all, and a full strip down followed with fantastic results and all components looking very very healthy indeed.

Mark from Abbey Motorsport will fly out again in June to really stretch the engine further (45-50 lbs worth of boost!) and we will see what numbers we achieve. Initial numbers are looking fantastic on both BHP and torque and there are numerous additions to be thrown into the mix such as bigger turbos. We cannot wait to roll the car out again, hopefully at the Summernationals.

Swift snippets.
21st May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "Dreams come true?". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].


Steve Carey (Top Fuel Bike), Steph and Dave Milam (Top Methanol FC) and Dave Day (Super Gas/Super Comp) and their teams exhibited their bike and cars at a drag racing presentation at Northbrook College on England's south coast yesterday. After a talk by Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog, Motorsport Engineering students were shown around the vehicles by the racers (above right) and then the bike and cars were taken out into the car park and fired up. A repeat performance was held in the evening for the Institute of the Motor Industry.

Advance ticket sales for spectators for the FIA Main Event close today, at 5:00 pm if ordering on-line or at 5:30 pm if ordering by phone. You can order your FIA Main Event tickets on-line at www.santapodshop.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).

European fans again have someone to cheer on in the USA this weekend as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka in his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying commences today and as usual our Drag Race Central colleagues will keep you up to date with Mike's progress at www.dragracecentral.com.

Tog would like to say a big Happy Birthday to his very good friend Julia Cooper. Have a lovely day Julia and be ready to rhyme "cuspidor" with "toreador" when the time comes.

Web site updates.
21st May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Pete Bellenie heralds the return of Ronin whilst Stephen Moon completes his Top Ten picks after a contribution by Steve Mead. 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
Patrik Jacobsson tells us that Swedish Pro Mod team MSS Motorsport now have their own Facebook page at www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=120611541306892 and that Comp Eliminator team Tricky Thornas Racing similarly have a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=236867010649.

Escape Design contest winner.
21st May: Escape Design are very pleased to announce the winner of their free web site competition held here on Eurodragster.com in April to come up with a slogan for the company.

"A huge thank you to all those who entered", says Luke Bennett. "It was a tough choice picking from some great entries. The winning slogan, which was "Breaking free from convention" sent in by Paul Whitehouse, will be added to the Escape Design web site today. Well done Paul, e will be in touch soon!
©Eurodragster.com
For a look at our other web sites created, please visit us at www.escapedesign.net. Escape Design specialise in high-quality, fast turn-around webs ite design. Maybe you have a new business, or if you are already an established company, venture or organisation, whatever type of operation you are you will need a web site to achieve your potential and, most importantly, to attract new customers. This is where Escape Design can help. We offer individual customer attention, and listen to your comments and value your feedback - ultimately producing visually stimulating solutions to your brief and requirements. With a keen eye for detail and originality, we aim to satisfy and thrive on your input, believing this delivers the best result. Asking questions about what you do and how you do it, to get to know you and your company. Tailoring our skills to suit your target market; this information allows us to excel where other companies simply cannot. Get in touch today for details or information on anything we offer. With our web sites starting from just £195, you won't regret a hassle free service which will turn out a great looking and most importantly functioning web site.

Going in blind.
20th May: UK Supertwin racer Chris Hannam says that it may be easier to explain what hasn't changed on his bike as he goes in to next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway:

After some early season ribbing from certain reporters about not being ready we now find ourselves heading for the Main Event totally blind and untested as we did last year (Harsh but fair reporting, then - Ed). After last season's oil containment failure and belt-snapping we decided on a totally different approach, so here goes.

New for this year is a new PM rear wheel to match the front wheel and brakes already fitted. This in itself was a major machining task due to the large rear spindle we run, designing hubs to suit the bearings and the wheel was interesting to say the least.

We also had steady progression on the new motor which was delivered from Puma earlier in the year but has yet not run. When we damaged the original motor at the Finals, after splitting the oil tank twice, we found all sorts of damage. The liners were 0.016" tapered, and pistons damaged due to detonation resulting in our belts snapping each pass. Neil Midgley diagnosed this as lack of fuel as the bike had not been fully developed, let alone set for the weight it was now hauling, which was a big issue. Neil has since redesigned the fuel system to what he thinks will cope with the extra weight. We have also had two new gearboxes from B&J with new ratios which will give us the first eighths we need to compete. However the drawback of this will be a bigger drop in rpm on the shift so we need to make more rpm before the shift to compensate.

Neil and Al Smith have also redesined the oil tank and breather system to double the size, with a tank within a tank so to speak, which will take double the capacity of oil that is put in so should we get too much fuel in the oil we should be able to cope with no problems as oiling the track is not something I wish to do again in a hurry!
©Eurodragster.com
Alongside all this we have done some cosmetic machining on the belt guards with new outrigger plates and new drive pullies etc all made wider so we can run the five inch wider drive belt giving more strength I hope! We also have the new Puma bleed valve plus some other bits of Midgo trickery in there - even I am not sure what some of it does, I just get my instructions what to do.

So there we were all ready for Easter, just, and we turned up early to set all the timming and fire the new motor but as it was very cold we really struggled to get the new motor running and broke a starter trying. When we got the spare sorted we did eventually get the old girl running and ran her a couple of times just on petrol to get some heat in to her and to bed in the new bores and pistons etc. When we did get on to nitro we found we had a very out-of-balance crank and the bike wanted to move round the pits on its own. At this point we were very subdued and I was modestly anoyed to say the least. After investigation and checking of the crank it was found that it was indeed out of balance and that the source from which we bought the crank had not checked it. The new crank which we had just bought from Puma was also checked and found to be OK. So Neil rebuilt the motor with the Puma crank and we are now ready to roll again.

I have also been busy myself making four new liners for the old motor and trying to locate some new pistons. I have had lots of help from Gerard Willemse at Puma on the manufacture of my liners, and my good friend Ken Coleman at Engine Data Analysis has also been there answering all my ramblings where possible and even introduced me to the legend that is Doug Herbert who is now sorting my Top Fuel pistons etc. So big thanks here go to all you guys for your very valuble help and information, as trying to move forward with a programme which no-one else uses can be hard at times and I would be stuck with out you.

So there you have it, a quick update on our season so far and we hope and pray for better luck and weather at the Main Event to get some runs down the track as I feel like I've been waiting for years to get a full clean pass.

FIA Main Event snippets.
20th May: Bob Roberts has been in touch with the findings of a pre-FIA Main Event planning review with UK Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson: "It all boils down to this: We made no changes to the car over winter. We don't have a new blower. We don't have Australian heads. We don't have a third clutch plate. We won't have a US tuner in our pit (we may well have his software). We haven't been testing or practising in the USA. Perhaps most important of all we don't have a Wally in the trailer. Of course we'd like to have one and all congratulations to Micke but like everybody else at the race we will want to beat the first European to win an NHRA National Event...he may as well paint a target on the back of his car."

Reigning FIA European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson will be starting the season with the old body on the five-second Crown Victoria. "The new body is not ready yet", says Lena Perés. "We've been full time on the trailer which was damaged on the way to Hungary. The car is about the same as last year. It's going to be tough to repeat the performances of last year. There are so many Pro Mods now which have a good chance of going under six seconds and of course Gullan is really hot now, if he can get the car fit for the fight. A big Congratulations to him from the whole team. It's awesome."
©Eurodragster.com
Driver Gordon Smith says that he, co-owner Dave Bryant and the Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team have been hard at work since Easter. "FGR Motorsport have put on a new roll cage as the old one was a bit too low", says Gordon. "This will make the car more comfortable to drive, it will be nice to have this sorted at last. We also hope to have a new single wheelie bar. Dave has purchased a new blower and made some other major changes for the Main Event. Although we have been running quicker at the last few races we have been suffering a lot of tyre shake and Dave says he is going to put a lot more power in the car. Look out as we mean to run real quick if the track and weather conditions are right. We have a good consistent 5.20 tune-up in the car but we are now looking for a lot more. Don't forget to pay us a visit in the pits, we are always happy to talk to fans."

Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong of Furlong Tyres will again be sponsoring Super Street Bike at the FIA Main Event. £100 cash will be paid to the winner £50 to the runner up provided that the rear tyre is a Michelin Power One, Mickey Thompson MCR2 or Shinko R003 Ultra Soft and that the bike displays Furlong Tyre decals.

Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 7 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Paula tells us that there are no additions to this version of the list but that there are a couple of withdrawals and moves between classes.

If any readers would like Happy Birthday messages posted here on Eurodragster.com News between now and the end of the FIA Main Event then please send details as soon as possible to [email protected]. We are always happy to include birthday greetings on the news page but as you can imagine it is a busy couple of weeks for us and messages sent at the last minute will most probably not be posted.

Swift snippets.
20th May: We have two spy pictures for you today. The picture below left came with the words "Ready for the Main Event"...
©Eurodragster.com

...whilst the picture above right came with the words "Four-cylinder Pro Mod". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter is the subject of a six-page feature in the latest edition of Top Gear magazine, dated 10th June. The article, titled Drag King, can be found on page 154.

What's on this weekend.
20th May: The Skaraborg Street Open takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Moholmsstrippen in Skaraborg, Sweden, which is also known as Bällefors Aerodrome. The track is a full quarter mile and there will be five bracket classes with breakouts of 14.00, 12.00, 11.00, 10.00 and 8.50. For more details check out www.402m.se.

The Main Street Race takes place at at Allingåbro, Denmark, on Saturday. The non-Championship event is organised by the National Dragracing Club Denmark and includes Real-Street with 12.00 breakout, True Street 9.50 and Pro Street 7.50. More details at www.ndcd.dk.
©Eurodragster.com
The season gets under way in Slovakia on Saturday as the Airport Bolkovce, Lucenec, hosts Round 1 of the Bobcat Power Fest over the eighth mile. The Slovak Drag Racing Championship is run over four events at organised by the Slovak Hot Rod Association. There are fourteen classes denominated by capacity, seven for street cars and seven for professional race cars. English-language rules can be found at www.zrychlenie.sk and don't forget that Central European drag racing is admirably served by our friends at CeDrag.com.

Santa Pod Raceway offers the penultimate chance for pre-FIA Main Event testing with a Run What You Brung on Saturday and a Peak Performance Day on Sunday. More details at www.rwyb.com.

Meanwhile, just up the road in Rushden, Santa Pod have organised the Powerfest on Saturday to promote the FIA Main Event. The Powerfest is similar to the hugely-popular Parade of Power in Wellingborough with race cars and bikes following a circuit around the town and a static display in Rushden High Street. Classes represented in the parade include Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Gas, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, 9.50 Bike, Supertwin ET and VW Sportsman and there will also be Hot Rods, customs and "street-legal monster trucks". The static display includes Santa Pod's display Top Fuel Dragster, Martin Hill's Fireforce 3 Jet FC, Carolynne Campbell's Laffin-Gas Rocket Dragster, Paul Shaw's slingshot, and Paige Wheeler's Alamo-sponsored Junior Dragster. The static display starts at 10:00 am and the parade commences at 2:00 pm. Motorists please note that streets in the centre of Rushden will be closed between 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm on Saturday.

European fans again have someone to cheer on in the USA this weekend as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka in his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying commences tomorrow (Friday) and as usual our Drag Race Central colleagues will keep you up to date with Mike's progress at www.dragracecentral.com.

A satisfied customer writes...
20th May: UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers writes to thank a couple of companies which have helped him with his race car:

Thanks to Pro Mod racer-in-waiting Andy Frost and Penn Autos (01902 344004) for the total rebuild of my Denenbear two-speed powerglide following a complete gearbox failure at the Easter Thunderball, and for supplying a custom-built Neil Chance bolt together torque converter which looks like the dog's dangly bits. Not only did Andy completely rebuild the trashed gearbox but he used the best parts available from his massive stock of custom-made spares. Andy also drove 185 miles from Wolverhampton to Bournemouth on a Sunday morning with the gearbox, helped me to fit it back into the car, set up the new torque converter spacing, and made sure that the gear shift was set correctly. We fired the car up and checked everything was OK. That's customer service at its best. Andy also completely rebuilt my Fleetwood Flair RV gearbox, reconditioned my torque converter and supplied a new flex plate in 2009, and fitted a heavy duty shift kit. The result was a gearbox which shifts positively, with no overheating issues when towing. As people say, actions speak louder than words and Andy has proven this once again!
©Eurodragster.com
I would also like to thank Andy and Kate Robinson and all the guys at Andy Robinson Race Cars for all of the work which they have just completed. My race car was recently baselined and checked over at the ARRC workshop. Andy gave a list of recommendations to update the car and I decided that there were a number of jobs which needed to be completed which required a high level of skill. ARRC designed a method of fitting the front Camaro grille assembly which involved some very clever fabrication skills, designed and manufactured a pair of door hinge assemblies which involved some clever tube bending and tig welding, fitted ally door cards with a central door release mechanism, aligned the doors and front wing assembly to the main body of the car, fitted an ally carb sealing plate in the scoop, supplied and fitted an undertray for those unwanted start line leaks, re-made the transmission tunnel, supplied a new heavy duty chromoly prop shaft with Mark Williams ends, and supplied and fitted a Race Electronics communication system. Thanks guys for some great quality workmanship.

Web site updates.
20th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon sticks his neck out and turns tipster, listing his picks for next week's race. 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
Welcome home Gullan!
19th May: Swedish Pro Modified racer Micke Gullqvist returned to Stockholm yesterday toting Europe's first NHRA National event Wally. Stefan Boman tells us that a reception committee was awaiting the NHRA Summit Nationals Pro Mod winner:
©Eurodragster.com

Micke was welcomed by some forty drag racers in a welcoming committee organized by TMFC racer Leif Andréasson. Among the present racers were Leif Andréasson (TMFC), Mats Eriksson with team (Pro Mod), the Lindberg brothers (Pro Mod), the Leanders brothers (TMFC) Charley Karling (Super Twin) and Andreas Sjödin (Top Doorslammer).

There were also two representatives from the official Swedish Automobile Sport Association, Lars Pettersson and Hans Hillebrink, with flowers presented by the staff of Bilsport magazine.

Ready for battle.
19th May: UK Pro Modified racer Graham Ellis says that his mean, green blown-alcohol Superbird is serviced and prepared for the FIA Main Event and that he and his augmented team are ready to enter the lists.

"The NRE heads have proved a godsend in the valve train department", says Graham. "Even with loose track and an enthustiastic right foot which has resulted in visiting the rev limiter more than a few times already this year we have not had one valve spring start to lose presure. The trailer is packed with a brand new, never-run bullet in reserve along with a blower and spare heads built for the NRE-headed monster and ready for war.
©Eurodragster.com
"We can confirm that Canadian tuning ace Sean Brown - who will be known to anyone who runs Davenport jet size software - will be attending from Thursday morning when we will make a series of test runs which will comprise of short hits and full laps. Sean's mandate is to tune as aggressively as he feels he needs to to get the job done. With two more motors back at the shop we're not going to pussyfoot about: hero or zero however it turns out is fine. As Sean built the entire fuel system and blower there is no one better to tune it in my eyes.

"The Leanders three-disc clutch, which a lot of guys say is too heavy because it has three discs, has done exactly zero damage to my rear main. In eleven starts the bearing is still like new - we spat on it, wiped it and put it back it was that perfect.

"We are as well equipped as any team in Europe, and hopefully we will have a good event. We're ready, let the battle comence."

Gremlins begone!
19th May: Gordon Northway and the UK's Team Edge Pro ET team have managed to clear the gremlins from the nine-second Cavalier:

Testing is going well. Final checks will be made at the Peak Performance Day this Sunday. With the MS Trust being the lead charity at the FIA Main Event, Team Edge would like to encourage all teams and spectators to give generously to this very worthwhile cause which affects six million people worldwide. The MS Trust will have a prominent stand during the race weekend and we also have a new race marquee. Please visit us in the pits anytime for a chat and a picture of the car and crew. We may have a couple of surprises...
©Eurodragster.com
Big thanks from all the team to Eurodragster.com and to Santa Pod Raceway for their continued support, and for helping raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis (You're welcome - Ed).

Bearing down with PMR.
19th May: One of Paul Marston Racing's sponsors have launched a fantastic offer for drag race teams. Engine Parts, a worldwide distributor of ACL bearings, are offering a massive 50% discount of all bearings ordered through Paul Marston Racing.
©Eurodragster.com
"All of the Paul Marston Racing entries run exclusively on ACL bearings", says Paul Marston. "PMR currently carry at the track stock of most popular Big End and Main Bearing sizes for Big Block and Small Block Chevy, also Chrysler and Ford. This also includes Hemis! Anything ordered can be taken to the track and collected from the Paul Marston Racing trailer. This is a fantastic offer from a very generous sponsor and it is not a gimmick, just check out the price a genuine 50% off. Please take full advantage of this offer and support the people who support drag racing, this is for everybody's benefit.

You can call Paul on 07831 650230, or E-Mail your requirements or request a price to [email protected].

Swift snippets.
19th May: Swedish Top Methanol Dragster racer and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Krister Johansson took a few moments out from preparing from the FIA Main Event to send us an update about his injected-nitro dragster. "I bought fresh rubber", he said. "The team is the same, the car is the same colour, and I think the bump spot will be 5.48."

Björn Esklund tells us that the merger between Safety Group and Extrication Team Sweden is now complete. "Safety Group consists of well-trained rescue and extrication personnel who support racers all over Northern Europe", says Björn. "The joint force is now recognised as one of the leading extrication teams in Scandinavia. Safety Group are also very proud to announce two new partners for 2010. Dark Dog, who will keep us refreshed and alert with their Energy Drink products, and Meko Partner who have provided us with brand new wheels - a Skoda Octavia RS (below left)."
©Eurodragster.com

Not exactly a spy picture (above right) but some kind of misunderstanding as we had heard gossip that UK Pro ET racer Amanda Cox had found some new horsepower. Then the above picture arrived...

Thanks to our very own Simon for forwarding the post-Springspeed Nationals points standings in the APIRA Ultimate Power Championships. You can check out the APIRA points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Santa Pod's Xtreme offer.
19th May: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are pleased to announce that Santa Pod Raceway will be exhibiting at the Show:

Santa Pod will be offering an exclusive Buy One Get One Free ticket offer for the SPRC Summernationals on 19th-20th June to the first thousand Xtreme Wheels Show visitors. Get your BOGOF voucher on entry to the show or from the Santa Pod stand. Their great range of Santa Pod merchandise will also be available, as well as literature containing full details of their busy 2010 schedule. You can find out more about Santa Pod Raceway at www.santapod.com.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
RaceAmerica on display.
19th May: Eurodragster.com sponsor RaceAmerica is proud to have one of its drag trees as part of the Color Me Gone exhibit at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn, MI. Tuned by Dick Branster and driven by Roger Lindamood to the National Hot Rod Association's Top Eliminator title, Color Me Gone was one of the most famous of the limited-edition, lightweight Dodge race cars. This 1960s car created over 500 hp and ran a quarter mile time of 11.7 seconds. Weight reduction, critical for drag racing, was achieved by use of an acid-dipped body shell, lightweight bumpers, magnesium front wheel and aluminum hood and front fenders. Tens of thousands of plastic models of this car were sold to modellers and race fans in the 1960s.

"Our equipment is utilised in various applications from professional racetracks to firemens' test courses and product testing laboratories", said Dennis Laczny, President of RaceAmerica. "Having it exhibited in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, with a famous race car, is fitting with our company's roots.”

The Walter P. Chrysler Museum celebrates the proud heritage of an American automotive original. With 55,000-square-feet spanning three floors, the Museum features more than 65 antique, custom and concept vehicles interspersed with interactive displays and historical exhibits that tell the story of the automaker's contributions to automotive design, technology and innovation, as well as the automobile's impact on American culture. The newly-independent, non-profit Walter P. Chrysler Museum operates independently of Chrysler Group LLC and donations are tax-deductible. The RaceAmerica tree used in the exhibit is a fully functional, classic style, professional drag tree with a RaceAmerica demo tree controller.

For more information on RaceAmerica visit www.raceamerica.com. For more about the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, including membership opportunities, visit www.wpchryslermuseum.org.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
19th May: In association with Alamo Rent A Car we have two Blog updates for you today. First up is Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén who brings us up to date with what looks like a manic workload for the VEIDEC PSB team. Secondly, in the latest FIA Main Event Super Street Bike update Germany's Thomas Granica describes his season so far and his hopes for next week's race. 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
Sweden's luckiest man?
18th May: Sweden's two Nostalgia Fuel FCs, the Tre Kronor arrow owned by Johnny Nilsson and the Rimfrost Corvette owned by Wamo Racing, spent the weekend testing at Kjula Raceway. Although there were two Fuel FCs in attendance, there was only one driver: the very lucky Erik Wallinder of Wamo Racing.

"As soon as we had towed one car back to the pits, we towed the other to the staging lanes!", says Erik. "Due to poor weather conditions the track couldn't be prepped as intended, which meant that conditions were really bad for three thousand-horsepower AA/FCs!
©Eurodragster.com

"In all the cars ran five times, but on more or less every run the tyres went up in smoke. Backing down on the power and clutch didn't really achieve anything. So we didn't make any great progress, but we had a great time and a lot of people came by and asked about the cars and they appreciated what we were doing. And we didn't put one drop of oil or fuel on the track!"

For more information check out the Rimfrost Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car fan page on Facebook.

We can rebuild him...
18th May: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring says that the Firestorm team are a lot happier now that they have been over the FC which was badly damaged in a top end crash at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway.

"The rebuild is underway and we have a plan of action", says Roger. "The main thing is that we don't have to start again from scratch.

"We are looking forward to starting on the chassis - the tubes are on their way. After the crash it looked a bit ill, but once we had cut the broken stuff out it looked better. The driver's compartment hasn't suffered at all. We have had quotes on a replacement body from a couple of people and we are negotiating with them. The plan is to repair the body then take a mould for a new one. Both companies say it would be no problem to use the repaired original but that it would be heavy, but when it's had such a bang you wouldn't want to risk it."
©Eurodragster.com
Right now the Firestorm team are attending events to raise funds to aid the rebuild. "We were recently at York Raceway where we sold merchandise, and they raised money for us", says Roger. "Photographer Ian Blackett donated fifty mounted photographs which we can sell, which was a great gesture, and thanks to David Lloyd Jones we will have a stand at the Main Event where we will be selling merchandise and raffling a Two Seat Dragster ride which will take place at the Summernationals."

Roger adds that the rebuild will give the team the opportunity to upgrade the car. "Graham Sykes, who is a very talented engineer, has some very exciting ideas", he says. "Al Hanna in the US has some ideas but those will cost us twenty grand! I told Al what had happened, and he said "Come over and see me and we'll talk about it". I said "That's not easy" and he replied "Why? It's only an air fare". I said "Yes it is, but it's a three thousand mile air fare which we could be spending on the car!"."

You can stay in touch with the latest from the Firestorm team, buy merchandise, or make a donation on their official web site at www.firestorm-jfc.co.uk.

More of that Black Magic.
18th May: Also planning a return to the track is UK Super Pro ET racer Steve Taylor whose very rapid Black Magic dragster has yet to make an outing in 2010:

We had an excellent start to 2009 with a runner-up spot in Super Pro ET at Easter. We managed to get there after a lot of breakage - the final was raced with a bent crank which resulted in carnage. The season did not get any better as we broke part after part which included the gearbox, packs of clutches and which culminated in the supercharger cracking. We're hoping to put that behind us.
©Eurodragster.com
We missed the Easter Thunderball this year due to financial commitmentd but we are all set for the Main Event. Everything in the car has been fixed, bits have been added, and it is all loaded up ready to go. I have Karl Harrison tuning the car which be a real bonus for us; we are planning to go all-out with the car and to try to run some serious numbers. I am hoping for a good meeting because without sponsorship this will be our only meeting of 2010.

I would like to say a special Thank You to my crew Brian Simpson, Gary Hawes, Karl Harrison, Kenny Gomez of Superpower Unlimited, and everyone who has been involved with the car. And as every other racer who has a wife, thanks to my wife for her patience and can I have the cheque book back please?

Swift snippets.
18th May: Bruce Biegler, Editor of DragRaceCanada.com, kindly dropped us these shots of Pro Mod victor Micke Gullqvist and FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund in action at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Click on either picture for a larger version.


As mentioned here on 17th April, VP Racing Fuels has become Santa Pod Raceway's official fuel supplier which makes it easier than ever to get quality bespoke race fuels directly at the track. This will especially benefit foreign racers as they don't have to transport their own fuel hundreds of miles. You can order your fuel by visiting Santa Pod's web site at www.santapod.com or by downloading and faxing the order form to 01234 782818. The order form is available in Word or PDF format. Orders will be available for collection from the Pod Shop or, if specified, can be delivered directly to your pit.
©Eurodragster.com
We have no less than three birthdays today. First up is our good buddy, photographer Markus Ek who is hopefully getting ready to travel to the FIA Main Event. UK Super Pro ET racer John Atkinson follows his son Tom's birthday yesterday with a birthday of his own today, and finally UK Pro ET racer John Morris is also celebrating his birthday today. We hope that you all have great days guys.

Congratulations to UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Bishop and his partner Hannah on the birth of their daughter Isabella Sophie. Jemma Harrison tells us that mother and baby are doing just fine.

More legends at SPR.
18th May: Dennis (Mr Six) Priddle, Movin' Mike Hutcherson (Houndog slingshots) and Ken (Mr Flathead) Cooper will be joining those manning the Nostalgia Dragster display on the pit side of the strip at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 30th May. They will be joining Alan Allard, Peter Crane and Peter Billinton who were all involved in the early days of UK drag racing. "Drop by and say hello to these pioneers of our sport", says Brian Taylor.

Both the Allard Chrysler dragster and Commuter will be on display on Saturday, Sunday and Monday with an ACAG team including Brian Taylor and Syd McDonald available every day to update fans about progress of the Allard Chrysler restoration. There will be many opportunities to help with the project via donations and the purchase of special ACAG items. Paul Whitehouse will be displaying his Nostalgia Drag Racing paintings and he has just finished a picture of Commuter for the event (right).

News about recent ACAG auctions is that both of the special copies of Crazy Horses, containing autographs collected at Pomona and the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, have been sold and raised £150. The Paul Whitehouse painting of the Mark II Allard Chrysler raised £500 and was purchased by Nick Davies who now owns all three originals auctioned by the ACAG for funds. Alan Allard kindly donated a four figure sum to the project. "Thanks to all of them and the many others who have helped move things along", says Brian Taylor. "Here's hoping for more success at the Main Event."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
18th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Brad O'Connor takes time out from posting on the 200mph forum to explain in detail what is involved in riding a Super Street Bike. There have been a lot of pieces describing what it is like to drive a race car, but this is the first piece we have seen about riding a bike and very detailed and interesting it is too. 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
Gullqvist takes historic NHRA win.
17th May: Pro Mod racer Michael Gullqvist was at his business in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday morning when he got a call from R2B2 Racing team owner Roger Burgess asking him if he could fill in for Ray Commisso, who lost his father Ernesto late Tuesday evening in Toronto (Roger snapped this shot of Ray Commisso with Micke at Gainesville - Ed).

Five days later "Gullan" is the toast of drag racing after becoming the first European in the fifty nine-year history of the sport to win an NHRA National event.

"I'm at a loss for words", Gullqvist said from the winner's circle at Atlanta Dragway. "This was my third final in a row dating back to the European FIA Championship last fall. I lost that one and then I had another final here in Gainesville in March driving another one of Roger's cars and lost that one as well with a red light so I was really anxious to get this win, especially under the circumstances of Raymond's father passing away."

Gullqvist was surprised to learn he was the first European racer to win an NHRA National event but was pleased to bring attention to the FIA tour.

"I'm heavily involved with European drag racing and we have a good thing going over there", he said. "I'm not sure people here know how big it is (They should do - overworked Ed) but we have 50, 60, 70,000 people at our races. Pro Mod usually draws thirty or more cars at each event. If this win can bring our kind of drag racing to more American fans then I am very happy.

"I know lots of people in Sweden and all of Europe were pulling for us this weekend. I see the notes on Facebook and I got many messages on my mobile phone. It's been very exciting and I'm sure I will have a great reception when I return home. I would like to thank everyone in Europe for their support, I could really feel it over here!

"This is a win for Europe, for Sweden, for Canada (Commisso's native country), and for America. I'm very happy to bring this to Roger and his team."

This was the first victory of the year for Burgess' multi-car race team, which fields the Pro Mod hot rods of Melanie Troxel, Burgess, and Commisso. The team also supports Troxel's In-N-Out Burger Funny Car.

"It's quite a group Roger has put together and it makes it very easy for the driver to be surrounded by so much talent", Gullqvist said. "Frank Hawley (team consultant) talked to me after Round 1 on Saturday evening and we found a way to adjust some things in Raymond's car to make me more comfortable. After that it was just a matter of driving to my best ability."

Gullqvist looked very relaxed Sunday, beating Scott Ray, Von Smith, and top qualifier Mike Janis in the final to take the win. His final-round performance was convincing as he left with a huge 0.057-second advantage (0.061 to 0.118) and rode away for the victory with a 6.006 at 244.03 mph to Janis' 6.081 at 237.00 mph.

"Maybe the race with Von Smith was the one I feared the most because he has been running so well", Gullqvist said. "I saw his car for a bit but when our Al Billes horsepower kicked in that was all I needed. That's when I started smiling.

"Now, of course, I will be smiling for a long time."
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
17th May: An interview with Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog will be broadcast on Race Fan Radio overnight tonight starting at 01:30 Tuesday UK / 02:30 Tuesday European, or for our friends in the USA that's 8:30 pm Monday Eastern time. Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna will be talking to Tog about the forthcoming FIA Main Event, the European drag racing scene, and Eurodragster.com. You can tune in tonight at www.racefanradio.com or if you will be tucked up in bed at the time of broadcast then a Podcast will be available afterwards.

Our good buddy Benni Voss arrives hotfoot from the German Front Wheel Drive pits to tell us that Boba has done an excellent job in building his Polo Quartermile racer, running a new Personal Best of 9.89/139 mph at the 1on1 motorsports Drag Strip at Bitburg at the weekend. "This is even more remarkable because Boba is tuning a four-cylinder 1.8L Golf Turbo engine, not the VR6 preferred by most other VW racers", says Benni. You can find out more at Projects and then 2010 at www.boba-motoring.de.
©Eurodragster.com
With the FIA Main Event fast approaching we spent several hours yesterday E-Mailing begging letters to racers for Main Event previews to help us with our build-up to the race. If you have not received such an E-Mail then it's nothing personal; we just ran out of time. So don't wait to be asked: whether you race Top Fuel or Pro ET, Top Fuel Bike or Pro Stock Bike, drop us a line at [email protected] with your FIA Main Event preview and we'll post it here in the run-up to the race. Don't be thinking no-one is interested since 10,000 readers a day can't all be wrong, and what would your sponsors say if you turned down that kind of free coverage? Not to mention the hump your News Editor will get if no-one responds...

Also on the subject of the FIA Main Event, advance ticket sales for spectators close at 5:00 pm this Friday (21st) if ordering on-line or at 5:30 pm if ordering by phone. You can order your FIA Main Event tickets on-line at www.santapodshop.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).

We have two birthdays today. First up is Sweden's Anders Envall who runs one of the most entertaining drag racing sites on the web when he's not working on his Blackout Impala, and in fact he often does both at once. Have a great day Bostic. Also celebrating a birthday today is Tom Atkinson of the UK's Time is Money Super Pro ET team. Have a very Happy Birthday Tom.

FIA Main Event test opportunities.
17th May: With a week and a half left before the FIA Main Event, there are still opportunities for racers to test at Santa Pod Raceway.

This coming Saturday (22nd) Santa Pod host a Run What You Brung which is of course open to all. Sunday will be a Peak Performance Day, which offers limited entry to guarantee maximum track time, a track prepped to event standard, and of course full safety cover. For more information about RWYBs and Peak Performance Days check out www.rwyb.com, or to purchase your Peak Performance Day ticket visit www.santapodshop.com. Both the RWYB and Peak Performance Day are open to spectators.

Santa Pod are also hosting a Pro Peak Performance Day on Thursday 27th May, the day before the FIA Main Event. Despite the name this is open to racers in all classes so long as they are entered for the FIA Main Event and again the event offers limited entry for guaranteed track time, prepped track, and full safety cover. To purchase your Pro Peak Performance Day ticket visit www.santapodshop.com.

Finally, and going back a day, a Private Test Day is to be held at Santa Pod on Wednesday 26th May. Teams entering this Private Test Day must also enter or already be entered for the Pro Peak Performance Day on Thursday 27th May. For more information please E-Mail Will Hanna at [email protected]. The Private Test Day is closed to spectators.

Web site updates.
17th May: 13:15 The latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car goes into painful detail about record holder Steve Venables' back trouble which prevented him from racing at the Springspeed Nationals, but it at least ends on an optimistic note. 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
Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated his Racebilder web site with pictures from the weekend's Mälardalen PRO 660 Test and Tune at Kjula Dragway, west of Stockholm. "Lots of Pro Mod and Pro Stock teams showed up at the former military airfield, and the Lindberg Brothers announced their new main sponsor, whose identity is revealed in the pictures", says Patrik. To see the Lindbergs' new car in its smart new livery and to check out lots of other superb pictures take a look at www.racebilder.nu.

Stanley joins Hilt Camp.
16th May: Swiss Pro Modified racer Marcus Hilt has announced an addition to his team for the FIA Main Event, as Doorslammer standout Camp Stanley of the Stanley and Weiss team will be flying in from the USA to act as Crew Chief and consultant. Camp is widely regarded as a leading expert on blown-alcohol combinations and tunes an ADRL Extreme Pro Modified driven by son John.

Marcus and Camp became acquainted when Marcus bought some parts from him on-line and since then a large number of E-Mails have crossed the Atlantic culminating in the invitation to join the Trouble Racing team at the FIA Main Event to work on the pretty Corvette. This is not Camp's first visit to Santa Pod Raceway as he attended the infamous rained-out FIA Main Event in 2008 to report for RPM magazine.

"Although Marcus will be at a distinct disadvantage with the blower he will be running we both think it will give us a chance to work out a few other issues", says Camp Stanley. "We hope to test at the track on the Thursday before qualifying actually starts. The car will have lots of new bells and whistles on it which are going to take some time to get right. Although I do have some data to draw on from some of the cars I help with, each is a different animal unto itself as we all know!"

Swift snippets.
16th May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "8.9 litres should be enough to deal with all these young whippersnappers upping their power in Super Street!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
Congratulations to Swedish Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist who got through yesterday's first round of eliminations at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. "We were able to get some more traction, leading to a 5.98 and sixth qualifying place", Micke told Eurodragster.com. "I am starting to feel comfortable in the car now and I never saw Ed Hoover in my first round run of 5.99/244, but after the finish line I noticed I had no window on the 'side door. I think I lost it just in the lights and the door had to be replaced. Today we have some hard resistance in first round from Scott Ray, who has been running great this weekend with a 5.94 and he has lane choice. It will be a tough day for sure, I just hope I can go one more round! One at a time!". As ever you will be able to stay in touch with Micke's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. Multiple FIA Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund put in a stout 6.7-second best in qualifying but didn't make the cut and his Mini Tour now moves on to Chicago at the start of June.

Two men down, one girl up.
16th May: The UK's Ven Racing Super Street Bike and 9.50 Bike team was a bit thin on the ground at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, but it was a case of quality and not quantity that weekend as Steve's daughter Jemma more than made up for the absences:

Steve had a back injury and was strongly advised not to race his Super Street Bike. As the doctor said, "There will always be another race but you only have one spine". Graham Balchin was absent due to work commitments at the BBC working on the elections, couldn't they have worked it around the race calendar? So there's a big catch up on points for them both.
©Eurodragster.com
We were solely represented by Jemma Venables in 9.50 Bike who did us very proud and rode the wheels off her GSXR 1000. Jemma qualified number one with a 9.53 and stayed there until the last qualifier on Sunday when Jake Mechaell snatched it off her with a 9.50. Jemma tried to take it back but didn't manage it but still bettered her time with a fantastic 9.51 putting her number two. She was very consistent in the 9.5s all weekend she also pulled a 0.002 reaction.

In the first round of eliminations on Monday Jemma was up against Martin Walker (aka Chunk) and as she hadn't broken out all weekend dad told Jemma not to shut off as with the headwind she won't break out. Jemma left first, rode a great race, and came back thinking she'd won and it was down to dad to tell her she'd broken out with a 9.44. Oh well, that's bracket racing and it sets her up with a good baseline for the next meeting.

We would also like to say a big Well Done and congratulations to Jemma for passing her driving test first time last week. Now she can ride at Run What You Brungs!

Web site updates.
16th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car 200 mph racer Dave Smith and Wall of Death rider Chris Reed bring us up to date with their FIA Main Event plans. 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
Impact safety kit at FIA Main Event.
15th May: We have been asked to remind racers planning to use Impact safety products at the FIA Main Event that they will need to produce documentary proof of the year of manufacture of their kit, as described in paragraph 4 of the SFI Foundation press release dated 21st April 2010:

"Any Impact product with SFI specifications 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 without a date of manufacture (DOM) is deemed to be a decertified product unless the manufacturer has provided the product user with proof that it was manufactured in 2009 or 2010. This proof must be presented to track officials upon request. Impact believes that its products made in 2009 and 2010 have the DOMs affixed to products to the extent mandated by SFI specifications."
©Eurodragster.com
The Tech Inspection Crew at Santa Pod Raceway will be requesting such proof before passing Impact kit for use. Please also bear in mind that Impact 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 kit with a Date of Manufacture of 2008 and before has been decertified - for more details please see the Eurodragster.com News update of 24th April.

If you have any queries then please contact Chief Scrutineer Amos Meekins on 07966 196845 (outside the UK +44 7966 196845) or your own country's Tech Crew.

Swift snippets.
15th May: FIA and UEM European Championship racers who have entered the FIA Main Event but who have not yet registered for the Championships are reminded that registration is necessary to qualify for prize money, travel money and contingency programme money. For more information or to register check out the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Alternately you can download the FIA registration form (Word format) by clicking here or the UEM registration form (Word format) by clicking here.

European fans have two racers to cheer for at this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta as Micke Gullqvist (Pro Modified) and FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund (Pro Stock) are in competition. After day one of qualifying Micke is ninth in Pro Modified at 6.020/245.18 and Jimmy twenty first in Pro Stock at 6.771/204.23. Qualifying continues today; you will be able to stay in touch with our heroes' progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Micke Gullqvist writes from Atlanta that for a Swede, it's very warm and that most of the American crew guys are complaining about the heat. "It takes a few runs to feel comfortable in a new car, and this car is much smaller inside than the other Camaro I drove earlier this year", says Micke. "First run today was a 6.033/244.29, good for the fourth spot. We spun the tyres a bit too much, so for the second run we put on a another type of tyre and softened it a bit. This time I got a bit deep in stage which resulted in a bad sixty foot. A bit out it spun the tyres and shook me around, but I was able to drive through it to a 6.02/245.18. On both runs I had the best top speed of the blown cars. Today we have one qualifying run and then in the evening it's time for first round of eliminations. If we just can calm it down a bit more I think it will run great."

The inaugural Test and Tune is taking place at Brustem in Belgium today and tomorrow. The track has been sledded and glued with VP Lane Choice and timing will be provided by the Dutch Hot Rod Association. All are welcome, and you can find out more at www.brustembase.eu.

Web site updates.
15th May: The latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car concerns the very welcome return of the Happy Shopper himself, Nigel Barker. 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
European Top Gas Round 1.
14th May: Many thanks to The Netherlands' Herman Jolink for sending us a report of the first race in this year's European Supertwin Top Gas Series which took place over the quarter mile at Hoskovice in the Czech Republic:

On Saturday we had four qualifying runs:
  1. Herman Jolink NL 8.481/251 kmh. Three runs in the 8.5s and the best 8.481.
  2. Harry van Schie NL on the 1966 Blower V-Twin 8.519/239 kmh. He went into the opposite lane three times, that is not so good.
  3. Frank Heitmann D 8.543/242 on 2622 V-Twin with clutch problems.
  4. Marc van den Boer B 8.831/238
  5. Bernd Niessen D 10.094/192 on 2240 V-Twin the first time with a Vortex mechanical Turbo.
  6. Peter Niklas D 17.770 on 1000 SP Turbo Honda, last year he ran a 9.0 but this time the team could not find a good set up.
We had a fifth qualifier at 9:30 on Sunday morning but nobody ran because the concrete was too cold, to get better traction it needed some sunshine to warm it up. The Czech people are very friendly and the riders and the public give you very good Support. The race started at 13:00 Ondrey Clymciw exploded his SSB Turbo Suzuki after the finish and oiled down from 600 metres. It took about an hour and a half to clean the track but that was very good for traction because the sun warmed the track more.

Round 1: Jolink 8.384/253 kmh beat Niklas whose engine was out after the start; van Schie 9.043/177 bye run after Niessen broke his turbo belt; van den Boer 8.765/238 beat Heitmann 10.396/233 clutch problems. Semi finals: Jolink 8.376/253 kmh bye run, again a Personal Best time and also a PB at the eighth mile, 5.284 at 215 kmh (previously 8.479 and 5.313/214 kmh); van den Boer 11.473/131 beat van Schie 8.359/247 red light.
©Eurodragster.com
Final: Jolink 8.415/248 beat van den Boer B 9.091/214. Reaction times Jolink 0.124 and v d Boer 0.230. Jolink had lan choice but the rider before exploded his motor three metres before the start so Jolink took the right lane. The traction was not so good as the other lane and Jolink did a lot of leaning.

Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship:
  1. Herman Jolink NL 505
  2. Marc v d Boer B 350
  3. Harry van Schie NL 270
  4. Frank Heitmann D 260
  5. Bernd Niessen D 140
  6. Peter Niklas D 130
2010 Calendar:

18th-20th June Drachten NL
9th-11th July Drachten NL
16th-18th July Bechyne CZ (not a points round)
30th July-1st August veidec Festival Mantorp Park S
13th-15th August NitrOlympx Hockenheim D
20th-22nd August Drachten NL
28th August Dragday Finals Hoskovice CZ (not a points round)
3rd-5th September Mosten Racedays Top Gas Finals Mosten DK (eighth mile)

Swift snippets.
14th May: European fans have two racers to cheer for at this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta as Micke Gullqvist (Pro Modified) and FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund (Pro Stock) are in competition. Qualifying starts today; you will be able to stay in touch with our heroes' progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.
©Eurodragster.com
We have two birthdays today. First up, Alison and Jayne Kay asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to former Euro Car Champion Gary Kay who turns fifty today. No sooner said than done ladies, have a great day Gary. Kev Mortimer has asked us to say Happy 60th Birthday to blown-alcohol slingshot racer Alec Coe. Kev tells us that Alec and the team are at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend looking for more seven-second passes but only after a party this evening. Have a great day and a successful weekend Alec.

Back to Super Pro ET racer-in-waiting Jayne Kay who tells us that her Pink Lady Funny Car is all ready minus a few final pieces. "We're just waiting for my fire suit to arrive from America and I'm getting my GCSEs out of the way and then we will be ready to do a few Run What You Brungs before hopefully getting licenced", says Jayne. "Let's hope I can follow in the footsteps of my dad and win a few Championships too!"

Web site updates.
14th May: In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, US Pro Street Bike star Walter Sprout addresses the heady issue of SSB tyres. 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
Getting scared for charity.
13th May: Stratford-Upon-Avon's Richard Popple recently took the ride of his life at nearby Shakespeare County Raceway when he was strapped into a 170 mph hot rod in the name of charity, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson.

Richard, who turned 50 in February, was given the assignment of carrying out fifty things he would most like to do but had never done before with all proceeds raised going to Help for Heroes and the Breast Cancer Campaign.

"I thought that having lived to fifty and with some unfortunate people not making that milestone that I would try to raise money for charity in my fiftieth year", says Richard. "I tried thinking about what to do and came up with the idea of fifty things I have never done in my life before and riding in a dragster was the perfect opportunity to help me raise £50,000 for the two charities."
©Eurodragster.com
Richard has done charity work before for the Anthony Nolan Trust with a group from the New Inns at nearby Clifford Chambers by competing in the Dragon Boat Race on the River Avon over a four year period raising £32,000. "The second charity I have chosen, the Breast Cancer Campaign is because my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago", says Richard. "Thankfully she has now been given the all clear."

Richard's chosen mode of transport, courtesy of Cheltenham's Ian Hook, was the FB Racing Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator 1934 Ford Coupe, a strong contender for the series title following back to back wins in the opening two rounds. Following a quick pep talk about what to expect at the start line and during the run conducted by Ian and the man who firstly got him involved in this deal in the first place, close friend and SCR Fire Crew member Patrick Salt, Richard was suited and booted and strapped into Ian's eight second hot rod. The Charity ride-along was on!

After a couple of quick burnouts and a few chirps to the start line Ian and Richard were all set for blast off. Ten seconds later they crossed the finish line at 145 mph. After serving in the British Army for twenty seven years, surviving tours in the Falklands, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Kosovo without any injuries, Richard said that his ride of a lifetime next to Ian Hook was his scariest experience to date.

What's on this weekend.
13th May: On Saturday (15th) the Swedish Hot Rod Drags take place at VEIDEC Raceway, Malmö, Sweden. This Nostalgia event is for 1949 and earlier vehicles and is organised by SRIF. More details (in Swedish) at www.hotroddrags.se. Entrance for spectating or racing is SEK 150. Electricity supply is SEK 250 and camping is SEK 100 with the site opening at 18:00 tomorrow. Racing starts at 09:00 on Saturday.

Kjula Dragway at Eskilstuna in Sweden hosts a Test and Tune on Saturday and Sunday. This includes the first outing for 2010 of Top Doorslammer series. Details of the event can be found at www.rodnkustom.se. Entrance to the two-day event is SEK 250 with single day SEK 150 and children free. Registration for the event is closed. A word about the facility: the eighth-mile Kjula Dragway is inspected and approved by the SBF and SVEMO. All vehicles will be running with SBFs SVEMO safety and with current insurance required. Fire and safety personnel are from SHRA Nyköping.

On Sunday at Helsinge Raceway in Sweden a Test and Tune will take place for pre-registered vehicles only. This track is eighth mile and is located close to the E4 outside Söderhamn. In 2009 the track had advice from Kjell Pettersson on preparation and in 2010 is open for four RWYBs and two races. Entrance is only SEK 20. More information at www.smksoderhamn.com/dragracing/helsingeraceway.html.

The second race in the FHRA series, the SONAX Spring Nationals, takes place at Finland's Motopark on Saturday and Sunday. The race will be preceded by the traditional track scraping day to which all are invited (tools provided), followed by a party with food. The race starts at 10:00 on Saturday with drag racing action and drifting taking place until 18:00. Admission is €20 for the weekend and €15 for each of Saturday and Sunday. Accompanied children under 12 are free. More details including the entry list at www.fhra.fi/info/20101516_sonax.html.
©Eurodragster.com
In Germany there is an event at Bitburg between tomorrow and Sunday. Bitburg Airport hosts the first round of the German Street Eliminator Shootout and a round of the Junior Dragster Championship as well as Test and Tune. The track opens at noon tomorrow. Entry for spectators is €15 including camping and for racers €35 for racers including runs on all three days. More details at www.1on1-motorsports.de.

In Central Europe there are three main events. On Saturday at Kiskunlacháza there is a Hungarian Drag Racing event organised by Dragracing.hu. On the same day at Debrecen airport in Hungary there is an eighth mile drag race featuring Round 3 of HHRA Championship. On Saturday and Sunday at Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina there will be a 402 Street Race, style competition and db drag contest organised by Auto Klub Hercegovina. More details on this race at www.akhercegovina.com. Drag racing in Central Europe is covered in-depth by our good buddy Paul Fischer on the CeDrag site at www.cedrag.com.

Following last weekend's successful Model Air Show event Long Marston Airfield reverts to a drag strip this weekend as Shakespeare County Raceway gears up for another expected busy Test and Tune Public Track Day Weekend, writes Jerry Cookson. High on the list of visiting Run What You Brung series is the second encounter of the season for the amateur competitors in the Pro Street Drag Series for Japanese and European cars. A good turnout welcomed the 2010 season in last month with rookie Yasir Dar driving a slightly tweaked Honda Civic taking the top time followed by season veteran Scooby Dazza in, what else, a very rapid Subaru Impreza.

Further tin top action comes courtesy from the guys and gals of the Old Skool Ford Drag Challenge enthusiasts, and keeping the nostalgia element of the weekend alive will be the Wild Bunch with a great line up of old skool dragsters and altered contesting rounds of the Wild Bunch and title sponsor Real Steel Series. A great line up is promised in what is the fifteenth year of Wild Bunch points series.

With just a two week gap in between events the National Association of Supertwins will be running a fully blown points round towards their national championship. So who's out to get Springspeed winners Andy Watson and Peter Harrison in Gas and ET? SCR will be running its popular Sunday Special Street Car Challenge and Trophy Bike Dash along with a full weekend of PTD action. Gates open 6: 00 pm Friday. Entry is £12 per person or £22 for the weekend. RWYB track fee is £20 for the day or £35 for a weekend of unlimited fun and don't forget your driving licence and crash helmet, two essentials for the drag strip as you won't be able to take part without them. More details at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.

Swift snippets.
13th May: Thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding the post-Springspeed Nationals points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships. You can check out the UK points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 6 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Entry, if accepted, is now subject to a penalty fee; you can download the entry forms for all classes from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and registration and entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu.

We were very pleased to hear from multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck that his recent health problem has been confirmed to be virus-related which, although bad enough, is a relief when you think what could have transpired. You can read more and find out about Dave's FIA Main Event plans in his exclusive Racer Blog, presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
The latest spy picture (below left) to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com somehow strayed into our Spam folder but was eventually rescued. The accompanying message said only "Coming back soon!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].


Colin Stevens tells us that UK Nitro have produced a new Top Fuel T-Shirt for the FIA Main Event. The T-Shirt (above right) comes in sizes S to XXXL and costs £16. If you can't wait until the FIA Main Event then you can contact Colin on [email protected].

Santa Pod Raceway are seeking a couple of cars to perform burnouts along the Brands Hatch straight at a round of the Time Attack series on 27th June. Darren Prentice of Santa Pod adds that there will also be static display room for a couple of good-looking cars. If you are interested then drop Darren a line at [email protected] and for more details about the event check out the Time Attack web site at www.timeattack.co.uk.

Commiserations to ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who was all set to contest this weekend's NHRA Divisional event in Oklahoma only to have the event called off for a dodgy weather forecast (Now you understand my views on weather forecasts - Ed). Look at it this way, Mike: it's a weekend off.

Hays Machineworks press release.
13th May: Tim Hays of Hays Machineworks has been in touch to introduce bike racers to the benefits of Hays' new Convertible Clutch kits:

Our new Convertible Clutch kits replace the old style of attaching the clutch mechanism to the transmission shaft, and attaches it to the outer basket to drive the clutch mechanism from the crankshaft.

Since we have now transferred the clutch tuning to a constant rotating source instead of the transmission shaft, which takes twenty plus feet to start turning enough rpm to use the lockup arms, we now have more control over the lockup tuning immediately, and as a result have been able to reduce static pressures which have gained satifactory results in sixty foot tuning and provide more consistent elapsed times than the previous technology.

Another benefit to our clutch technology is that since the lockup arms are operating from engine rpm, as your engine rpm increase so does your lockup effect. Likewise as your engine rpm decreases your lockup will soften essentially providing a form of traction control in between shifts to limit tyre spin.

This effect also aids in keeping your engine operating within the narrow power band to provide maximum elapsed time performance.
©Eurodragster.com
This is just the beginning of our technology. In addition to the huge improvements we have gained from engine driven tuning we have also integrated every function from every available clutch on the market into one revolutionary package. Our technology allows you to utilise the clutch as a single stage lockup, multi stage lockup, and also to convert to a fully functional slider all the while retaining your clutch lever to engage or disengage the pressure plate. The convertible clutch is three clutches in one and will literally be the last clutch you will ever buy.

In additon to its multiple methods of operation the clutch is infinitely tuneable. There are so many configurations for that tuning we almost need to write a book on them.

For information on the Convertible Clutch please contact Steve Mead, the official importer and distributor of our products, at:

Driveway Barn
Westham Wedmore
Somerset
BS28 4UY
United Kingdom

Telephone: 01934 713716 (outside the UK +44 1934 713716)
E-Mail: [email protected]

Or visit www.haysmachineworks.com.

Web site updates.
13th May: 15:30 In the latest entry in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon promises future contributions from some big names and also tells how two legends have joined forces. 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
Many thanks to Rick Cuthbert for letting us know that coverage of the weekend's PTM Show is now on-line. A report and pictures of the PTM Show are available at www.ptmshow.co.uk, coverage of the weekend's HKS Drag Series round can be found at www.japdragseries.co.uk, and coverage of the Euro Sports Compact Series is ready and waiting at www.eurosportscompact.co.uk.

Gullqvist goes bull fighting.
12th May: In what must be one of the most last-minute driving assignments ever, Swedish Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist is on the way to Atlanta for this weekend's NHRA National event where he will again be driving one of Roger Burgess' blown-alcohol Pro Mods. Micke has form for the R2B2 team as he made the final at the NHRA Gatornationals earlier this year, but this time he will be driving a different car which by all accounts is a bit of a handful.

"Yesterday evening I got a call from my American friend Roger Burgess who said "Hi Michael, how are you? I have someone who wants to speak with you here, I'll hand over the phone".", Micke told Eurodragster.com. "It was Bob Newberry who said "Do you have your passport ready? Raymond Commisso just can't attend this weekend and we wanted to check if it's possible for you to drive his car."

"I said "Hmm, hmmm, hmmm let me get back within an hour". I immediately started to check the flights, and information about the volcanic ash cloud, and I came to the conclusion that it would be possible to get there in time.
©Eurodragster.com
"The biggest problem is that I had planned a major session this weekend getting my own race car ready for the FIA Main Event, but I guess my plans were not set in stone!"

This weekend Micke will be driving the world's quickest NHRA-legal Pro Mod, a '68 Camaro which has been as quick as 5.78/252.57 in Ray Commisso's hands in testing earlier this year. "I have driven this car once before, just on an aborted run", said Micke. "But at least I know I can fit in the car. A quick weather check tells me that it will be hot, over 30 degrees Celsius, and we are not likely to produce any record setting performances due to bad air and track conditions. However we do have the ingredients to run as good as anyone.

"Consistency has been a problem this year for the R2B2 team, mixing number one qualifying spots with non-qualifying spots. Ray's car has been very inconsistent, but when it goes it really goes. It's like riding a bull and I just hope it doesn't throw me off this weekend!"

Micke won't be the only European racer to cheer on at Atlanta this weekend as multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion and fellow Swede Jimmy Ålund will be contesting Pro Stock on the second date of his short US tour.

Qualifying starts on Friday; you will be able to stay in touch with Micke's and Jimmy's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.

MSTO Czechs out a new track.
12th May: Last weekend Germany's MSTO Timing Crew held their first Test and Tune on the quarter-mile track in Bechyne in the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Czech Motoclub Predators Budweis, an official member of the Czech Republic Autoclub. The event has raised the spirits of German drag racing teams after they lost their own track in Luckau near Berlin to a Solar Park. The response during and after the event was phenomenal, writes Andrea Kloss:

It has been a while since one has seen so many happy faces and visibly satisfied German drag racing teams! And why? Well that is an easy one to answer - the whole package was just right:
  • The Head = the organisation MSTO: reliable starters and timing crew with many years of experience and most of all making sure that the teams' best interests were always in mind.
  • The Soul = Motoclub Predators Budweis: well organised, very obliging and hospitable.
  • The Heart = the race track: a quarter mile track which every drag racer could want, straight and even, good traction, plenty of run out area and good safety standards.
The facility in Bechyne was well organised: a large and clean pit area with plenty of room and no pot holes, dependable electricity, clean toilets well tended to, pleasant and warm showers, a good organisation beginning at the entrance over the race office credentials and technical inspection to the drivers meeting, a well prepared track and a flawlessly working timing system. Jerry Lackey and the MSTO Crew made every effort to organise everything to the teams' satisfaction over the weekend.

The Czech spectators where thrilled with what the drag racers presented. Over forty teams had come to Bechyne to test and tune from Junior Dragsters and Bikes to Competition Dragsters. Marc Henney ran the fastest time of the weekend with a 7.6 sec. which is only a tenth off his best time in Hockenheim. Long time competition driver René Meierhofer had been commissioned by Schuman Motorsport this weekend to test their Suncoast Corvette Roadster as well as the Honda Prelude Doorslammer they had recently purchased in England.

German engine builder Thomas Engelage from Engelage Bros. was present and was supporting numerous customers. Pro Mod Driver Peter Ritscher and owner of the company Red Line Motors Germany was also present supporting his customers Pascal Kohler with his Boehse Onkelz Thunderbird which runs in Super Pro ET and a new driver, Robert Erhardt, who recently received his Roadrunner from Red Line Motors after two years of construction. Robert is not sure what class he will be running and this weekend he was just testing the car.
©Eurodragster.com
The two-wheel community was busy testing too with Roman Sixta, Thomas Joswig with his turbocharged Suzuki Funny Bike as well as Sven Fagan from Denmark. Sven wanted to test his recently purchased US engine but was battling problems with the clutch.

Benni Voss adds:

There were some very surprised regular Santa Pod spectators in RAF uniforms popping up at the fences when the noise started, as they were taking part in some manoeuvres together with Czech forces flying supply helicopters a mile away from the start line.

Everyone was positively surprised that even after only two days of preparation with sledding and glue the traction was quite good and times were fast. Björn Lähndorf was fastest at 182 mph in 7.6 seconds in his blown Comp Eliminator Pontiac Le Mans, and Norbert Schneider got the well-known Super Pro ET Corrado down into the 8.5s.

Some new cars and bikes were rolled out for the first time including the very clean and mean Super Pro ET Oldsmobile of Henning Blume. Ralle made the pass of his lifetime in Street Outlaw ET Bike when he ran both a 0.000 Reaction Time and a perfect ET of 10.750 in the same run! Roman Sixta made some passes and recorded a new PB of 8.7, he seems to be finding the tune-up on the Top Fuel Super Twin.

MSTO has announced they are looking forward to holding their annual Grand Nationals together with the Motoclub Predators Budweis at the Bechyne race track on 16th-18th July.

You can find pictures by Jan Sunek at www.dragsters.cz, and pictures will be posted on Thursday afternoon on the HARA web site at www.hara-dragracing.com.

Kunmadaras: We'll be back.
12th May: Kunmadaras is now a permanent fixture on the UEM Championship calendar, writes Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing:

Last weekend Jozsef and Judy Hadnagy and their S-Riders club in conjunction with Trakbak Racing played host to the first round of the 2010 UEM European Drag Racing Championship and hosted Kunmadaras' first-ever invitational race for FIA-class cars.

The weekend started early with a test session for UEM bikes on Thursday afternoon. The hot weather proved to be a welcome change for many of the teams on the Championship trail, given that parts of northern Europe are still in the icy grip of winter meaning that valuable testing time is in short supply.

With track preparation duties being fulfilled by Trakbak Racing's Darren Prentice, Steve Horn, David Warren, Ian Marshall and the S-Riders team for a full nine days before the event and an optimistic weather forecast the prospects for the forthcoming race were good. The results did not disappoint anyone.

This year's race at Kunmadaras attracted a huge attendance on all days and produced the highest Sunday crowd ever recorded at the venue. Spectators were treated to an exciting race that featured some of the most modern and up to date drag racing machinery seen anywhere in the world. The track at Kunmadaras has been starved of cars Pro cars in particular so the prospects for record performances from the FIA cars was limited. However what those runs lacked in records was more than made up for in sheer spectacle, matched equally by the wild commentary of Jozsef Hadnagy who was ably accompanied by Santa Pod's very own old war horse John Price!
©Eurodragster.com
In return the crowd responded to the team's efforts with massive enthusiasm and the teams were not slow to respond, taking crowd participation to levels not often seen outside the USA: handing out flyers and Paul Wratten out of the car signing autographs as they towed back to the pits in front of the grandstands...talk about milking it! The fact the Wratten brothers were able to travel to Hungary at all given their miniscule budget is a tribute to the support of all their loyal sponsors, in particular John F Hunt Hire Centre who not only provided a twelve-seater bus for the team to travel to Hungary but insured all team members so that they could share the driving duties, thank you very much.

Fast Freddy Fagerström and his crew were busy throwing T-Shirts to the crowd, and I saw the normally-reserved Jari Halinen bowing to a delighted crowd, that simply could not have asked for more.

Graham Ellis and his fabulous Superbird had a wild moment off the line but once Graham had a handle on the track he and Andy Robinson provided some wonderful side by side burnouts and some hard-running passes as did Fast Freddy. Current European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson, realising he was unlikely to set any records, entered unknown territory by performing full quarter-mile burnouts!

Top Fuel did not disappoint with Risto Poutiainen making a storming pass smoking the tyres all the way down the quarter mile and Jari Halinen laying down a quick 5.67 sec pass. The methanol cars provided the crowd with an equally exciting weekend's racing with Danny Belio putting on a great show along with Paul Wratten

I would personally like to thank all the teams that made the trip to Hungary this year, both UEM and FIA. It is a long way to travel but the track is getting better every time we go there, and the crowd are getting more excited every time you teams roll into town and you all exceed expectations every time we race there. Thank you.

The track is being upgraded to allow the FIA Championship to go there in the very near future. In fact the future for drag racing in Hungary has never looked better. This was Trakbak Racing's second year of running Championship and Professional drag racing at the Kunmadaras drag strip and we are already looking forward to taking the whole event to the next level in 2011.

On a final note I would like to thank S-Riders for the very nice Goulash Wine and Folk Music evening they threw for all the teams. I saw some fine dance moves being performed by some of our more established drag racing team members!

It's a great race, it's a great place, the Hungarians are great people...are we all looking forward to going back? Yes we are.

Swift snippets.
12th May: Shelley Pearson will be driving the Eagle Two Seater Dragster at the FIA Main Event. Northamptonshire-based Shelley (below left) has been brought up in the world of drag racing as her father Tony has been involved in tuning and racing Top Fuel cars for over twenty five years. "I spent most of my youth around the sport and loved it", says Shelley. "In 2008 I went to Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School in Gainesville Florida and earned my NHRA Super Comp competition licence. My hero is Shirley Muldowney who has had great success and proved that women in the sport can be taken as seriously as men. I plan to do the same."
©Eurodragster.com

Lin Granlund tells us that these five handsome men (Her words - Ed) who will be representing Norway in Supertwin are all from the same town, namely Toten. From left above right are Vidar Ravnsborg, Hans Olav Olstad, Svein Olav Rolfstad, Jan Sturla Hegre and Trond J. Høiberget. "You have been warned!", says Lin.

Xtreme pictures and Xtreme pictures.
12th May: Following the exciting news that Bigfoot 17 will be appearing the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, the organisers are pleased to announce the Bigfoot kids' drawing competition in association with Haynes Publishing:

It's easy to enter, all you need to do is send us your drawing of Bigfoot 17 in action. It needs to be as colourful as possible and must be all your own work! There are a number of photos of Bigfoot at their web site at www.bigfoot4x4.co.uk.

Haynes Publishing have kindly supplied us with twenty copies of their great book Top Trumps - Extreme Wheels which features forty five of the world's largest, most powerful, innovative or wacky vehicles, including Bigfoot 17!

You must be under 12 to enter and be at the show to collect your book if you are a winner. The closing date for entries is Friday 4th June. The judges' decision is final and entries cannot be returned unless collected at the show. So what are you waiting for? Get your paper and pens out and send your entry to Dan Welberry, Xtreme Wheels, c/o Suite D, Stephen House, 23a Bargates, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 1QD.

The Xtreme Wheels organisers are also delighted to welcome Dom Romney on board as official Show photographer. Dom, who was awarded with the title of the Renault MSA Young Motorsport Photographer of the Year in 2009, will be well known to many racers who have benefited from his work at various European drag strips. His work has been used in many printed publications including Custom Car, Autosport magazine, Motorsport news, Drag Race Action, Influx Magazine, Drag Race Canada. His work has also been featured in the national press, including The Times, Financial Times, The Guardian and The Daily Mail. Dom will be responsible for capturing the event through his lens from the Friday night cruise, right through to the concluding Cacklefest on Sunday evening. To see examples of Dom's work, visit www.modernpics.co.uk.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
12th May: 12:30 In the latest entry in our exclusive Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon furnishes details of the shady FIA Main Event Planning Meeting held up North as well as providing a picture for a caption contest...and there is some racing news buried away in there somewhere because we insisted. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with pictures from the weekend's NDRG Springnats at Gardermoen. You can check out Patrik's pictures at www.racebilder.nu.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association has moved addresses to www.nfaa.org.uk.

Feature: A Hungarian Rhapsody.
 11th May: In the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport, Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars has written a travelogue of Andy Robinson and Graham Ellis' trip to Kunmadaras in Hungary to run their Pro Mods in the FIA Exhibition.
©Eurodragster.com
You can check out Andy and Graham's Hungarian Rhapsody by clicking here, or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes page on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

SSB joins our Blog team.
11th May: We are very pleased to announce the launch of another Blog, presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car. As the UK's Super Street Bike class prepares to appear at its first FIA event at Santa Pod Raceway in some years, the FIA Main Event, Stephen Moon is collating news, views, gossip and scandal from UK and European SSB racers and will be posting frequent Blog updates as the race approaches.
©Eurodragster.com
The first Blog entry concerns the Prostreet Busa UK team and also hints at a shady alcohol-fuelled deal. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Speedgroup Club Europe launches.
11th May: Today Speedgroup, in co-operation with Eurodragster.com, have launched Speedgroup Club Europe.

Speedgroup Club Europe is a members club for anyone interested in European Championship Drag Racing. Membership benefits include an on-line newsletter which will be published before and after all FIA and UEM rounds in 2010 and then and monthly between October and December, and guided pit tours developed in co-operation with 3M Peltor, the world's leading supplier of active and passive hearing protection.
©Eurodragster.com
The editorial team includes writer and photographer Remco Scheelings, web expert Anders Magnusson, writer and translator Robin Jackson and co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar. "For the newsletters we are working with further editors and photographers who we hope will become be more involved over time. We will also include more suppliers and service providers to the club for members to enjoy. We are happy to be co-operating with Eurodragster.com in this project."

Membership is €35 for 2010 and you can find out more or sign up at www.club.speedgroup.eu. If you have any queries about Speedgroup Club Europe then please write to [email protected].

Swift snippets.
11th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Entry, if accepted, is now subject to a penalty fee; you can download the entry forms for all classes from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and registration and entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu.
©Eurodragster.com
The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "No names, no pack drill!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].

The UK's Team Gridlock Wild Bunch team is to be filmed by Mo-Am Masters at the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway for a reality TV programme. Mo-Am Masters are the same company which filmed the Go Hard or Go Home altered for a music video and a TV programme about customised cars. Rumour has it that girl group Fresh as Tommi will also be there for the filming so it looks like it will be a busy weekend for the team. More details will be announced a little closer to the event.

Woollatt runs what he brung.
11th May: The early exit from Easter Thunderball eliminations left ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt and the Dealer team with a number of unanswered questions regarding the new set-up with the big mag. Buoyed by the PBs which the team ran at the Thunderball they decided to take the Dealer to the Run What You Brung at Santa Pod on 2nd May, writes Phil Baimbridge:

On arrival at Santa Pod there was a strong cross wind, but at least the track was dry. Then it rained. Then it hailed. Then it hailed again. Steve lamented having already paid the RWYB signing on fee. But then the weather cleared and the track crew worked hard to get the surface dry. The team prepped and test fired the race bike. Everything was OK and the bike sounded strong.

At the start line the track officials fitted us in amongst the RWYBers. Steve went through his normal routine; the bike launched well and ran fast and straight until Steve shut down after 4.7 seconds, running through at 6.50/170mph. It blew the RWYB spectators in the grandstand away. By the way the grandstand gives a really good view – I've never watched from there before, well, you do have to pay normally. This pass has been posted on YouTube.

Back in the pits the timing ticket showed that Steve had reset all of his Personal Bests for the first half:

60 feet: 1.040
330 feet: 2.701
Eighth: 4.050/182.7

The gear shift was still a little early, but the clutch stayed pretty well engaged. An added bonus was that the blower idler pulley was still attached to the bike! A couple of the spark plugs were 'nibbled' and there had been a small amount of tyre shake, so we adjusted the appropriate injectors and clutch and turned the bike around for a second pass.

This time Steve had instructions to run the bike through the full RPM range in first gear. The bike again launched well (1.054 to 60 feet), but dropped cylinders at high RPM, slowing the bike to 4.16/177 at the eighth and 6.68/164 at the quarter.

We decided to call it a day after the second pass. It was still cold and windy and we had achieved our objectives, learning useful information about both the fuel system and clutch, and the blower idler pulley. The whole team is looking forward to the Main Event and hoping that the weather and track conditions are good.

We would like to extend a big Thank You to the RWYB track crew at Santa Pod for their hard work and start line understanding, not requiring us to queue with the RWYBers. See you at the races.

Editor's note: A trip to the dentist earlier today threw a big spanner into the usually smooth-functioning works of the daily news update. Tune back tomorrow for news of a new track in the Czech Republic, another report from Kunmadaras, What's On This Weekend and more, and please keep those news items coming to [email protected].

FIA Main Event SSB update.
10th May: Super Street Bike is returning to the FIA Main Event after a long absence. The last three years have seen an astounding growth in the competitor numbers and investment in the class, resulting in some very strong performances and close racing. Discussions between leading riders in the class, ACU representative Ian King and Santa Pod's Darren Prentice resulted in SSB being reinstated to run at one of the major meetings at Santa Pod in 2010, writes Stephen Moon:

With twenty five bikes currently entered for the event and more rumoured to be included as late entries, SSB will have the largest two-wheeled field at the Main Event. As befits a major meeting in front of a large crowd, the entrants in the class are all very professionally turned out, with a mixture of home-grown bikes facing off against US import bikes of the highest standards.

The UK's first 200 mph Super Street Bike racer Dave Smith notes "The Main Event will give SSB a great opportunity to show the public and racer alike what a show we can deliver on basically highly modified street bikes producing 500+ bhp. With new bikes being built and imports from the US the field is growing in strength."

This year has seen Wayne Saunders, a very experienced racer on two and four wheels, invest in a state of the art NLR Hayabusa built by Sebastian Domingo. An identical machine has run deep into the 7.1 second bracket at over 200 mph in the US. Wayne has been dialling the bike in at recent meetings and you can expect to see him in the mix at the May Event. Multiple championship winner Steve Venables holds the class record with a 7.308 run on his Hayabusa built by Barry Henson of Velocity Racing and imported from the US. This season Steve is dialling in a new Velocity bike and is hoping to step up the pace further, subject to him being able to conquer some serious back problems which have sidelined him recently. Jamie Sneddon's Honda Blackbird and Graham Balchin's Velocity Kawasaki are two further examples of very quick import bikes. As well as the strong field of UK racers, the Main Event will see entrants from Germany, including Santa Pod regular Thomas Granica, and Sweden whose Niclas Sverin is making his first visit.

But an imported bike isn't necessarily the ticket to success when it comes to race and Championship wins. UK tuner Rick Stubbins has enjoyed great success on his home-built Protek Racing Hayabusa and his performances and consistency resulted in him taking the 2009 ACU title. Dave Smith, on another home-developed machine has run as quickly as 7.42 seconds in the quarter and last year became the first man to run over 200 mph outside of the USA with a 200.07 pass. Steve Mead adopted a hybrid approach to finding a quick combination, building his immaculate Lucas Oil sponsored Hayabusa in his dining room at home and then bringing in leading US rider and tuner Walter Sprout to set the bike up last year. Walter, owner of ECS Performance Tuning, notes "UK riders have a large variety of parts and bike choices from both sides of the pond. You would almost think the bikes are F1 machines under the hood, the amount of technology that goes into running a low seven-second pass at over 200mph with a street tire and no bars is amazing. I enjoy travelling to the UK and helping the guys develop their bikes and their knowledge, seeing them go faster. No-bar classes seem to be the premier classes everywhere and I'm happy to be a part of promoting and developing it!"
©Eurodragster.com
The swing arm of Pete Bellenie's bike was the subject of a spy picture here on Eurodragster.com over the weekend but the bike is now complete (right). "It's not quite finished in the paintwork department, but this is how it will be for the Main Event", says Pete. "The bike is going to Brad O'Connor's in the next day or so for a custom-built loom, then to the dyno and hopefully to the the track for testing."

The bikes are predominantly Suzuki Hayabusas (with the aforementioned Sneddon and Balchin, together with Paul Hambidge being the non-Hayabusa entrants). The bikes are radically lowered and are allowed a maximum wheelbase of 68" and 2" of ground clearance. The bikes have stretched versions of standard bodywork and this standard appearance results in racers and spectators alike being able to identify with them. Treaded road tyres are used front and rear and with 500+ bhp being delivered through a treaded tyre, attention to suspension and chassis set-up is all-important. The bikes are turbocharged, with setups including US imports from NLR Racing and Velocity Racing, UK offerings from Big CC Racing, and as previously mentioned a number of hybrid home-developed kits. The competitors use state of the art engine management systems from Motec and Magneti Marelli which allow the riders and crew chiefs not only to dial in all aspects of the tune up, but also to monitor a wide range of engine data points.

With the largest class entry in a long time competing on a professional class track, together with the significant investment in new bikes, equipment and set-ups over the winter, Super Street Bike promises some very close racing at the FIA Main Event including the potential for new records.

Stay tuned for more updates as the Main Event approaches, as the riders give more insight into their preparations and talk in more detail about what it takes to run in the low seven second bracket at 200 mph.

Racers: We are now accepting FIA Main Event previews. Don't wait for the usual begging letter; whether Pro or Sportsman, whether full-blown article or two-sentence Swift Snippet, E-Mail us at [email protected] and we'll publish it here.

Swift snippets.
10th May: Many thanks to Lin Granlund for letting us know that Norway has a new Supertwin rider in the person of Jan Sturla Hegre (below left). Lin says that the twenty two year old impressed in testing at the NDRG Springnats at Gardermoen at the weekend and that he will make his first competitive outing at the FIA Main Event. If the colour scheme of the bike looks familiar then that is because Jan is riding in a two-bike team with Svein Olav Rolfstad, as the picture below right, courtesy of our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson, shows.


A few places are still available for the limited-entry Private Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Wednesday 26th May. Teams entering this Test Day must also enter or be entered for the Pro Peak Performance Day on Thursday 27th May. For more information please E-Mail Will Hanna at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Our current project which is getting nearer to completion". 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 Andy Carter and the Lucas Oil Top Fuel team will once again be able to supply racers and fans with Lucas Oil products at selected Santa Pod events throughout the season. Team member Phil Cottingham says "It's not too late to get your order in for the Main Event! We have lots of new products in stock and oil and for every application. As a special deal we are currently offering one gallon of 85/140 Heavy Duty Gear Oil for just £12". Orders for delivery can be E-Mailed directly to the team at [email protected] or see the team in person at any of their events this season. A full schedule can be found on Andy's web site at www.andycarter.net.

Many thanks to Tim Lockyer for alerting us to a special offer to Tesco Clubcard holders for tickets to race day at the FIA Main Event. For more details check out Tesco's web site at www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=1296.

Congratulations to Tom Barnes of Andy Robinson's Pro Mod team on a new Personal Best of 12.186 seconds in his own Renault at the PTM Show at Santa Pod yesterday afternoon.

Web site updates.
10th May: Our good buddy Markus Münch, who helped us to keep you up to date with developments at the UEM Championship round at Kunmadaras last week, has now had the time to post his photographs from the event. You can check out Markus' excellent pictures at www.derbeschleuniger.de.
©Eurodragster.com
Another good chum, Alan Currans, has taken a break from updating his excellent Acceleration Archive with the historic work of other photographers and has posted his own pictures from last week's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can take a look at Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.

PTM Show results.
9th May: Congratulations to the winners of today's PTM Show at Santa Pod Raceway:

HKS Pro: Chris Impey 9.706/153.62 bye, Leon Green shut off
HKS Factory Modified: Mark Moseley 9.092/154.19 def. Stuart Williams 12.124/136.86
HKS Street: Malcolm Thomas 11.197/119.02 def. James Willday 11.0119/129.82
HKS Front Wheel Drive: Paul Cresswell 11.1149/124.52 bye, Robert Carnson no show
Euro Sports Compact: Andy Nicholls 10.469/139.87 def. Andy Waite 11.389/99.89
King of the Street: Rick Garrett 8.4074/161.90 def. Jason Green left before lights ran

Final qualifying was as follows:

HKS Pro 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 15:01:49  13 HKS PRO 
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 1 LEON GREEN +1.4384 8.7068 8.7068 00.00 177.84
 2 2 CHRIS IMPEY +1.0803 8.7503 8.7503 00.00 155.26

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKS Factory Modified 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 13:57:44  14 HKS FAC MOD 
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 1 MARK MOSELEY +0.7387 8.9894 8.9894 00.00 155.75
 2 752 STUART WILLIAMS +6.0746 10.4000 10.4000 00.00 137.29
 3 69 KEITH CARR +1.3710 10.9822 10.9822 00.00 119.80
 4 613 STEWART TAYLOR +0.8307 12.0154 12.0154 00.00 130.27

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKS Street 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 13:58:00  15 HKS STREET 
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 3 JAMES WILLDAY +1.2695 10.3848 10.3848 00.00 129.55
 2 7 MALCOLM THOMAS +3.5146 11.4209 11.4209 00.00 127.58
 3 724 JOHN STOCKER +0.7702 12.3933 12.3933 00.00 120.58
 4 755 JOHN MORGAN +0.6953 12.6611 12.6611 00.00 121.41
 5 4 JEFF LUDGATE +1.6382 13.2398 13.2398 00.00 107.69
 6 732 ROB SHADWELL +1.5550 13.7775 13.7775 00.00 67.62

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKS Front Wheel Drive 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 13:58:20  16 HKS FWD 
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 666 ADAM BUCKLEY +0.4251 10.4883 10.4883 00.00 138.13
 2 5 PAUL CRESSWELL +0.2421 11.2640 11.2640 00.00 120.92
 3 712 ROBERT CARNSON +1.0445 11.3330 11.3330 00.00 124.91
 4 7 KARL HART -0.0820 12.6643 12.6643 00.00 109.09
 5 1 GUY CHAMBERLAIN +0.6991 18.2703 18.2703 00.00 38.35

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Euro Sports Compact 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 14:07:26  17 ESC 
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 1 ANDY WAITE +0.2733 9.9504 9.9504 00.00 144.86
 2 5 PAUL WEBSTER +0.5611 10.4160 10.4160 00.00 133.63
 3 26 KARL ELLIS +1.7435 10.6162 10.6162 00.00 132.49
 4 20 CHRIS BACKSHELL +2.4623 10.6507 10.6507 00.00 141.59
 5 2 JAMES HODSON +1.2764 10.7062 10.7062 00.00 135.35
 6 14 DARREN SCANNEL +0.4728 10.8534 10.8534 00.00 135.23
 7 7 SAM BOLTON +0.2866 10.9008 10.9008 00.00 129.42
 8 12 CHRIS SUTTON +0.6814 10.9780 10.9780 00.00 132.20
 9 10 ROBERT JOHNSTON +0.4866 11.3746 11.3746 00.00 127.37
 10 22 TIM ORPAN +1.0830 11.4505 11.4505 00.00 122.55
 11 25 SAM LUKAC +0.5896 11.7602 11.7602 00.00 121.11
 12 24 TOM BARNES +0.1911 12.1686 12.1686 00.00 110.99
 13 19 CHRIS GRENN +0.3393 12.3961 12.3961 00.00 116.70
 14 11 PAUL JORDAN +0.5761 15.8360 15.8360 00.00 56.39

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

King of the Street 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Run What Ya Brung 2010. Santa Pod Raceway. England. 
  TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET Pro Ladder QUALIFYING LIST
09/05/2010 13:58:40  19 KING OF THE STREET
Place CarNum Driver R.T. E.T. O/U INDEX MPH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 998 RICK GARRETT +0.3067 8.4461 8.4461 00.00 161.43
 2 995 GORDON NORTHWAY +0.0000 9.1400 9.1400 00.00 0.00
 3 997 DANNY COCKERILL +0.0000 9.4700 9.4700 00.00 0.00
 4 999 MATT WRIGHT  -0.1006 9.4724 9.4724 00.00 150.11
 5 993 STUART WILLIAMS +0.0000 9.8900 9.8900 00.00 0.00
 6 994 STUART TAYLOR +0.8761 10.8067 10.8067 00.00 134.47
 7 996 JASON GREEN  +0.0000 12.7600 12.7600 00.00 0.00

* = Disqualified 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A report and pictures will shortly be available on the PTM Show web site.

Eriksson receives his Medal.
 9th May: Drag racing is now a well-known motorsport in in the Swedish Royal Automobile Club (KAK) thanks to the good work of FIA European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson and his team last year, writes Lena Perés. On Friday Mats was honoured with the Royal Prince Medal of Motorsports and membership of the KAK during a ceremony at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Mats made a speech about drag racing and and explained how things work at the races and around the vehicles. The KAK may now visit Mantorp Park this summer to see for themselves what drag racers do during the summer. "We hope very much that this going to happen and if so we're going to give them a warm welcome and also give them something to remember for the rest of their lives", says Lena.

"Mats and the family are honoured to accept this prize not just for themselves but for the sport. The ceremony was like nothing we have ever been to. Mats would like to thank all of his supporters, team and family who made this possible, and the Committee who chose him for the prize."
©Eurodragster.com
The medal citation reads: "During the 2009 season Mats Eriksson really put Sweden at the international drag racing map. He became European Champion in the FIA Pro Modified class and won the Nordic Dragracing Series as well as the Swedish Championship. He also became the first European to drive under the magic 6.0 second time in Pro Modified. This stunning and unbelievable performance makes Mats Eriksson one of the most outstanding drivers in Swedish motorsports. And for that he is now presented with Royal Prince Medal of Motorsports 2010".

On the jury are three members of the Royal Automobile Club, Christer Zetterberg (Chairman), Peter Wallenberg Jr (Vice Chairman) and Philip von Mecklenburg; two members of Svenska Bilsportsförbundet, Kåge Schildt (Chairman) and Hans Hillebrink (Director), also Riksindrottsförbundet's two directors Hans Hellquist and Anders Rydberg, and last but not least two sports journalists, Ejeborg from Swedish Television and Sven Gustavsson from Dagens Nyheter. Earlier recipients of the Medal include Björn Waldegard, Ronnie Peterson, Stig Blomqvist, Kenny Bräck, Mattias Ekstroem and Kenneth Hansen. This was the nineteenth Medal to be presented since 1975.

Not so Nitrous Junkie!
9th May: UK Funny Bike racer Kev Charman has been in touch with a report of his weekend at Kunmadaras, where he took part in the UEM Funny Bike Cup on a bike owned by Italy's Davide Ricci:

After arriving on Tuesday I went to check out the facility. The history that must seep through the derelict buildings and hangars...this airfield was a Russian mig base until 1992. Wednesday morning, I returned to the track and waited for Davide Ricci to arrive from Italy with the bike and also meet the previous owner of the bike, and former proprietor of Pro 1 cases, Steve Dawson who was flying in from Canada to assist.

We set up our pit space and set about checking over the bike; fitting a new tyre, chain, changing the oil - all routine stuff. The bike hadn't turned a wheel for three years! We then ran it up for the first time, and checked the gearbox. On Thursday Lizzy and Chris arrived to hear it run for the first time. Adjusted the timing, and checked the two-step. We were as ready as we were going to be for a first pass, so leathers on and pushed it down to the line.

The first burnout was good, out of the water, then disaster struck: the oil filter seal pushed out and the bike decided it would much prefer the oil on the outside, not the inside, and leaked onto the track. Not the best start! After some investigation we made a few changes to try to cure the problem, and late on Thursday we thought we were on top of it, but sadly too late to make another test pass. However the bike was running, and the oil was staying where it should.

Friday warmed up the bike, checked it over and went down for our first qualifying pass. Started it up, and again, the oil seal made a bid for freedom...back to square one. Back in the pits the mood was low, and the decision was made to remove the transmission from the engine, and fit it to the spare engine just to get us on the track. After we split both sets of cases we found an assembly problem with the engine we were using so we decided to stick with this motor, this time with no oil leaks fingers crossed. The whole team and the new Colonial team member worked late into the night, and part of the morning, but we got the engine built and into the frame, leaving just the ancillary parts to fit in the morning.
©Eurodragster.com
We were a bit bleary-eyed on Saturday but finished fitting turbo pipes and the like, off to the start line once more. Burnout great, and rode off the start line, as we had no clutch setting yet. My unfamiliarity with the gearbox meant that even though I engaged first gear, the bike stayed in second! A 1.8 sixty foot and 9.4 second quarter were not enough, but we had made a pass. Hurrah!

In the pits we set about getting ready for the last chance qualifier, and went over the gear selection procedure a few times. Rode off the line in first, got a 1.3 sixty foot, the bike felt good (the video shows it on the bars) then it went flat. "What I have broken now", I thought. The boost pipe had popped off the turbo! I was quite disappointed not to qualify after so much hard work, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Thanks to all the track crew for their support and help on the line, and clearing up after us!

Huge thanks to my crew Lizz, Chris, and Steve, who worked tirelessly until 2.30 am to get the bike ready, any lesser mortals would have given up, but you guys didn't! Thanks too to Christian Jäger and team for the donation of coffee and coffee maker to see us through the rebuild. I would also like to thank Davide Ricci for the use of the bike, and for bringing it to Hungary, and congratulations on getting into the final round on your new Pro Mod. Lastly thanks to the hard-working Luca who has to crew for the bikes, and interpret for Davide and I. Thanks mate.

Next stop the FIA Main Event. Watch this space!

A two-legend Main Event.
9th May: The FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of this month features a first for European drag racing, writes Brian Taylor:

Thanks to the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, the Allard Chrysler Action Group and Antony Billinton of G-Max, it has been confirmed that two of the sport's most iconic dragsters - Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler and Commuter, which first appeared in 1967 - will be on show together on the pit side of the strip.

The Allard Chrysler Dragster needs no introduction to regular readers, but Commuter was the first British-built car to run nitromethane. There is a genetic link between Commuter and the 1963 International Dragster Challenge: Mickey Thompson's dragster was left in the UK at the end of 1963 and remained as a show vehicle for many years. When Santa Pod opened in 1966, the strip owners backed a project to get the car running again under the name Golden Hind and Tony Densham, Peter Billinton and Roy Phelps tried their best; but despite their efforts it failed to impress. After a complete rebuild and the addition of that FGR body, Commuter was launched in 1967. There was very little left from Mickey Thompson's original dragster by this time and the development period was tortuous. But things gradually came together and if you visited Santa Pod during the late 1960s and early 1970s Commuter was one of the star machines you looked forward to seeing blast up the quarter mile.

It also toured Scandinavia and appeared in TV commercials plus many shows promoting the sport of drag racing. It set world records in the late 1960s and broke the British Land Speed Record in 1970. When on-song it put down mid to low eight second passes at 180 mph plus for the standing start quarter mile with Tony Densham driving. It was retired from the track in 1973 but continued as a show vehicle for a while. The car has remained in the Billinton family ever since and is still in fine condition today. The full story of both Commuter and the Allard Chrysler Dragster can be found in the book Crazy Horses - The History Of British Drag Racing published by Haynes.
©Eurodragster.com
Special Allard Chrysler Action Group items will be available from the dragster display including prints signed by Alan Allard and ACAG Patron Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, and those wishing to donate money to the Allard Chrysler restoration fund will be able to do so. ACAG member and artist Paul Whitehouse will show some of his original nostalgia drag racing paintings on the stand. Part of the proceeds of any sold will go towards the fund and there will be a special auction of a couple of paintings - Swamp Rat and Danny Cockerill's '57 Chevy Pro Mod.

Watch out for some of the sport's top names from the past manning the Nostalgia display. Those planning to be there include Peter Crane, the man who put down Europe's first five-second run back in 1976 when he beat Don Garlits; Chairman of the ACAG, the author of Crazy Horses and Santa Pod commentator in the 1970s Brian Taylor; Syd McDonald, Race Director at Santa Pod in the 1970s; one of the three men responsible for building and running Commuter, Peter Billinton of G-Max Research; Sydney Allard's son Alan Allard who drove the Allard Chrysler in 1964; Stu Bradbury, Chief Starter at Santa Pod during three decades and Chairman of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. These drag racing pioneers will be joined by others during the weekend so the display is certainly somewhere those collecting autographs should visit.

Swift snippets.
7th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Entry, if accepted, is now subject to a penalty fee; you can download the entry forms for all classes from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and registration and entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu.

The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Swing arm". If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
The UK's Team Turboville are looking forward to a hectic Main Event where they will compete in UEM Supertwin and Junior Dragster. "This will be Laura's first Main Event and dad's last as Mr. Spokehead is up for sale, so this will be an emotional time for them", says Ian Turburville. "They will be pitted in the bike pits, behind the Pit Stop Café, and as they will be very busy they will only carry a minimum of sales stock. If any racers need anything specific then please E-Mail Ian beforehand. Of special interest might be the offer of brand new Simpson Diamondback helmets, ready fitted with Hans clips (from the factory) at a discounted price. These are available in most sizes, all Snell 2005, but white only with tinted visors available. Ian also has driving boots and gloves, Nitro Knucks gloves, ACF50, Easy Gasket, Sure Shot Sprayers, and T-Shirts. This will be the last time Mr Spokehead will be seen in UK competition with Ian although his swan song is set to be at the Silverstone Classic on 23rd-25th July. This will not be the last time you see Ian at the track as he has a nostalgia dragster under construction, so watch this space!"

A Funny Car holiday.
9th May: Craig Owen tells us that Mark Flavell again let him loose in his pride and joy, the Flavell Welding Specialist Super Pro ET Funny Car, at a not-so-hot May Day Bank Holiday at York Raceway:

After Mark give the car a squirt up the track I was ready to get suited up and get behind the wheel - easier said than done, there isn't much room in those things. We towed down to the start, then the body came down and I knew I was in a Funny Car. Hit the loud pedal for a good burnout, staged in high gear, hooked up great then clicked off at half track under orders. Coasted down to be picked up and got out of the car with the biggest grin you could imagine.
©Eurodragster.com
The next runs we made were for data, we came round each time using low gear and the trans brake, the start line was great all weekend so well done to all the York crew for their work on a cold, wet and windy bank holiday. I also have to say a great big thanks (again) to Mark and Ann for the chance to do this and to Ste and Mally for all their support.

On a final note I would just like to say a big Well Done to Ben Rushforth for getting to the final on his first run out with his Ford Pop (ex-Alan Flavell Fatal Attraction) and to dyno Des Taylor for a interesting final pass, well done mate.

Turned out nice again...
9th May: Last weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway turned out to be a good event for UK Pro ET racer Paul Baynton and the Capricious team, although it didn't start too well:

Whilst warming the car up on Saturday I noticed that the normal 75 psi oil pressure was going off the scale of 100+ when increasing the revs. We decided to take a chance and get a banker run in, only to find on lowering the car off the stands that a rear slick was flat. Pro ET was called so as I'd remembered that I had a spare oil gauge in the camper, I thought I'd fit it and check out the tyre ready for the second qualifier instead. With the gauge fitted and the car fired up we were back to a constant 75 psi. The slick had also not gone down so I assumed it was a sticking valve.

As luck would have it the start had been delayed and we were able to join the back of the queue for the first run. We dialled in 10.60 and ran 10.639 good enough for a Top Five place. The second qualifier brought on the next problem. After the burnout the brake pedal was rock hard and after a slow 10.949 and failing initially to get back to the pits, we eventually found a seized front caliper. I then spent the rest of the day trying to free up the caliper with help from Steve Hudson. We managed to borrow a clamp from one of Joe Stevens crew' and some Scotch-brite from Conrad Stanley and with some advice from Paul Satchell and others managed to finally get it cleaned up and working again. Thanks to all who helped.

A quick drive around the pits Sunday morning confirmed that everything was OK. With a strong headwind and only five runs on the new engine we took a guess at a dial-in of 10.70 and were rewarded with a 10.704 for the number one position. The next run was a 10.650 on a 10.68. The final run we dialed in 10.64 and ran 10.65 but as I turned off the top of the track I noticed I had no oil pressure so shut off immediately. Fortunately Steve was waiting to be towed back and once that had been done he returned to tow me back with his quad. The problem turned out to be a small piece of PTFE tape blocking the gauge.
©Eurodragster.com
Monday morning and I had a bye, what could possibly go wrong! Well, having had oil pressure all the way down there, just as I approached the burnout box...no oil pressure again! As the light was still firmly off I decided to do the run. We ran 10.633 on a 10.64. Then there was the first problem with the ladder, which Mike Lacey went to sort out in Race Control. The next round was against Nigel Green, still with no oil pressure on the gauge. The engine was still a bit cold when we staged. On the launch it bogged and I could not catch Nigel. I was convinced I'd lost, but Nigel had however broken out by 0.005 so we were through to meet Carla Pittau. With help from Neil Hunter we sorted the oil pressure problem. The race with Carla was as ever close as ever and I hit the brakes at the top end and took the win by 0.005, a bit too close for comfort.

The semis were to be a bye for me and a match up between Rick McCann and Phil Toppin. Phil was struggling with his battery but got it fired up and was pulling into stage when Race Control made the decision that Rick had the bye and I was to race Phil! We got pushed back to the wall and a discussion ensued. Eventually it was agreed that we had been right and that Phil was to race Rick. Unfortunately for Phil he couldn't re-fire his car so Rick was on a bye. We both staged for our byes into the final then joined the queue for the final as my car was not warmed up enough to run. Then it rained and the meeting was finished.

Well done to the SCR crew, and thanks to class sponsors Toxico, Performance Unlimited, Total Seal, Hauser Race Cars, South Coast Customs, D S Racewear, LA Racing Parts, Engine Data Analysis, Motorshack, Modurstang, Power Engineering, Avonside Engineering, Webster Race Engineering (Power Pour), Paul Marston Racing, Norbar Torque Tools. Thanks also to sponsorship organiser Mike Lacey and for all their help to Neil Hunter, Dave Milam and especially Steve and Angie Hudson and my family/crew Mandy and Laura.

PMR Coaching Days filling up.
9th May: Paul Marston Racing are pleased to say that their coaching days at Santa Pod Raceway on 22nd and 23rd May have generated a lot of interest:

The Coaching Day is primarily aimed at any racer who wants to work on particular aspects of their driving. Be it throttlestop set-up, start line routine, reaction times, car set-up, race car preparation, burnout routines, weather stations, dialling ETs etc, etc. Paul Marston Racing are here to help you to become a better racer. Whether you're a new driver or an established racer, all are welcome. With two National Champions in our ranks, our results speak for themselves. We recently taught a journalist from a well-known motoring magazine to drive our dragster and Dave Gibbons shot a short video, which you can find at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTaJ7k2Swts.
©Eurodragster.com
Provisionally the Sunday is already full but some places are still available for the Saturday. Just contact us on [email protected] or call Paul on 07831 650230.

Web site updates.
9th May: Keith Lee has updated his Author's Blog on the Acceleration Archive with the latest news about his book charting the hirstory of Drag Bike racing in the UK from the 1960s to the 1980s. You can check out Keith's interesting piece via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
A good start to the season.
7th May: Dutch Supertwin racer Job Heezen usually starts his season with the Easter Thunderball but for various reasons couldn't make it, so his first event of the year was the UEM Championship round at Kunmadaras last weekend. It was a good start to 2010 for Job as he took the event win:

The Hungarian UEM round as a first outing was not an ideal situation as it is not next door. I don't think we were the only ones without track-time - the long winter and the early date of this race were a problematic combination.

Although we had not changed essential parts on the bike, except for the fuel system, the first run of the year is always the worst: will it run properly as expected or hoped for, or will it be a disaster and make you throw away everything new you put on the bike? The first run showed that it worked fine and better than expected. With last year's track conditions in our memory we went for a very conservative set-up, not too much power and very little clutch. The first surprise was the condition of the track, it seemed to be much better than last year. Not that it had instantly become a record-setting track, but this time the bike was tunable to the track unlike last year where the whole box of tricks was not big enough to prevent going up in smoke.

After this first experience we turned on the tap and stepped up from 7.91 to 6.91 at 332 kmh/207 mph. A time to be happy with, new track-record, bike in good shape, more on tap so nothing to complain about. It was a bit freaky though as it was the complete opposite of last year when nothing worked and everything broke down. I think a lot of people recognise the feeling when things go a bit too smooth.

Qualifying round 3 was without surprises, almost the same result as Q2, still top qualifier. Maxim's clutch set-up worked fine and every little change to it had the predicted result so in fact we were ready for race-day. We decided to sit out the last qualifying session as busy last weeks at work, together with twenty hours behind the wheel of the motorhome, were taking their toll. In this last session we lost the track record to Hans-Olav Olstad who put in a very fast 6.90. He was on a mission both days so it was not surprising to see him coming along.
©Eurodragster.com
Both days the weather had been on our side, 26 degrees Celsius on Friday and even a bit more on Saturday. Sunday however started with lower temperatures and a light drizzle. It took about four hours before the track-crew decided it was safe and the show could go on.

First round of eliminations matched us again with Samu Kempainen, for some reason we are matched together very often. It was a nice run for both of us and we are still good friends. In the semi's I was going to meet Ismo Mäenpää, also from Finland. With him I had to settle an old score as he kicked out my mate Roel Koedam in the first round. No kidding, we both did what we had to do and had a nice side-by-side with two happy racers at the finish-line, me going to the final and Ismo on one of his best passes ever, 7.13 at 322 kmh/200+ mph). It might even have been a PB as he seemed to be more than happy at the top end. I tried to find out more about it but Ismo's Dutch is not what it should be, and that goes for my Finnish too. When they say the word "perkeläe" I know what they mean but that's about it.

In the meantime Hans-Olav had eliminated Roman Sixta and Lorenz Stäuble so there we were, a final between the numbers one and two in qualifying. Along the way he had set an even better time with a 6.87 run so things didn't seem easy. Our bike had made run after run flawlessly but, as usual, the first problem showed up just before the final. An engine mounting bolt had come loose and was hitting the front pulley on the inside. With the rain in the morning we had very little time to solve it but with a little help from our friends we managed to get it all done in time. Just when David showed up for the last call I was looking for my helmet.

Together with Hans-Olav we had interesting runs last year, mostly in the eliminations or semis. This time it was the final so there was a lot at stake! With a holeshot and another 7.00/330 kmh pass I knew that Hans-Olav needed a super run to pass me before the finish line but it did not happen.

It was a long trip to Hungary and in the end it paid off well. Compared to last year a lot of things have changed. Just to name a few: the track was a whole lot better (think of Rickard Gustavson's 6.6-second pass ), the crowd was huge, travel money has increased, the amount of racers has more than doubled, the power supply was flawless, and even hot water in the showers! And a good thing is that some things are still the same: friendly people at the track, doing their utmost to make you feel comfortable. This goes also for the Hungarian spectators, they are very enthusiastic, friendly and polite. Again they have surprised all of us in a very positive way.

Finally I'd like to thank our sponsors Zodiac International, Supertrapp, and Spectro-Oils who make it all happen.

From snow to snow.
7th May: Before leaving for the UEM Championship round at Kunmadaras, Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad and his team had to push the bike through twenty centimetres of snow to get to the bus. The trip ended in exactly the same way but it was warm enough in between:

We made a short stop in Berlin, and a visit to Joachim Riemer's place was a nice stop on the journey. Acka wants us to send greetings to all race teams. It was Spring in Kunmadaras, and 30 degrees most of the weekend.

We were the first team on the track, and the next racer was Trond Jostein. The test day had a slippery track and we went up in smoke on both runs. With eight teams in the field we were happy to be third qualifier after the first day. The new clutch built by GB-Tech and Bentec start to show its potential in the second day of qualifying. We ran a nice track record of 6.90, just in front of Heezen's 6.91 and moved up to first qualifier. Trond was fourth in front of Lorenz. Koedam was third place on the blower bike from Zodiac.

Elimination day, quarter final, light rain delayed the competition for three hours. Lorenz took out Trond in a thriller of a side-by-side. Trond was sleeping on the start line, and let Lorenz go two tenths of a second before he left the line. It doesn't matter that Trond ran the fastest time, because Lo was 0.01 seconds in front on the finish line. Heezen won easily with a 7.0 to Kemppainen's 8.2. Mäenpää had a win over Koedam (7.3 v 7.2). We did a very nice 6.87, another track record, and took out Roman Sixta.
©Eurodragster.com
In the semi-final Heezen ran a 7.000 and took out Mäenpää. With my best reaction time in a long time of 0.10, we took out Lorenz by 0.04 seconds. Both of our engines dropped a cylinder, but I was lucky and crossed the finish line in front. But I lost lane choice to Heezen.

During the weekend the track shows different qualities in the lanes and we know it was important to get line choice in the final. We tried our best set-up, but sadly we went up in smoke right after sixty feet. Heezen had the best reaction time of the weekend of 0.05, and was in front from the start to the finish line. We would like to send all our congratulations to Heezen with the victory in the first UEM round of 2010.

The trip back home was a fight against the time to reach the ferry in Rostock, 1300 km. Because of the delayed competition and some roadworks plus several accidents belong the road, we just managed to get on the ferry in Rostock thirty minutes before departure.

Twenty minutes after crossing the border to Norway, we drove in to a snowstorm. The bus was fully covered with snow at the front and in we heard on the radio that up to thirty centimetres of snow came down in few minutes. So after all it was a trip from snow to snow.

We would like to thank our sponsors GB-Tech, Kim Johansen, Jessheim Bilskade, Sande Gård, Profilhuset and Tech Con, who made this journey possible.

Kunmadaras snippets.
7th May: The Netherlands' Gert-Jan Laseur made his first ever trip to Kunmadaras at the weekend and had a lot of fun. "For me it went great and in qualifying I managed to get fourth position", he says. "For the real race I was probably too excited, red was my colour on the first run". Gert-Jan has put together a great video of impressions of last weekend which you can check out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=--qIytx2K58.
©Eurodragster.com
Danish Pro Stock Bike racer Jesper Thiel has updated his web site at www.jtracing.dk with his report of the weekend at Kunmadaras.

More on Mats' medal.
7th May: Further to yesterday's Swift Snippet, photo-journalist Stefan Boman has kindly been in touch with more information about the very special medal to be presented today (Friday) to FIA European Pro Modified Champion Mats Eriksson.

The medal is presented by the Royal Automobile Club of Sweden and is named the Motor-Prince Medal after the Swedish Prince Bertil Bernadotte (1912-1997) who was very involved in car racing and participated in car racing himself in different occasions. Prince Bertil was the co-founder of the prize back in 1975 together with the Royal Automobile Club of Sweden whose President he was from 1947 to 1993.
©Eurodragster.com
It is not an annual event. The Medal is presented when a Swedish race driver has produced superior results in tight competition and stood out a little extra. Seventeen drivers in total have received the prize and amongst other winners are Ronnie Pettersson (F1), Björn Waldegård (Rally), Kenny Bräck (Indy 500 winner), Mattias Ekström (DTM winner) and Kenneth Hansen (Rallycross).

This year the Royal Automobile Club of Sweden found that Mats Eriksson put Sweden on the international drag racing map after winning the 2009 FIA European Drag Racing Championship as well as the Nordic Drag Racing Series and the Swedish Championship. During the year Mats put down several new performance records including the first car to exceed the six-second barrier in the class.

Swift snippets.
7th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 3 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Entry closes today (Friday); you can download the entry forms for all classes from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and registration and entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu.

If you would like to get in some testing before the FIA Main Event then don't forget that Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering are holding a Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway next Friday, 14th May. WRE Test Days feature a track prepped to National Event standard, full safety cover, and WRE staff on hand for help and advice. Entry is limited to guarantee maximum track time. For more details or to book your place, download the entry form (Word format) from www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk or download the form directly at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk/test_day.doc.
©Eurodragster.com
Richard Smith says that the weekend's UK Open Nationals at York Raceway included the first appearance of Ben Rushforth in his ex-Mark Flavell Fatal Attraction Pop. "Pel Norman looks to have a serious challenger on his hands in Pro ET as Ben took number one qualifier, ran a best of 10.94 and made it to the final only to throw it away with a red light", says Richard. You can check out Richard's pictures at richardsmith.fotopic.net.

Dream topping.
7th May: UK Super Pro ET racer Dave Ward and the Rampage team had a dream start to their season at Shakespeare County Raceway, with the Springspeed Nationals event win in their first outing with a dragster acquired over the off-season:

The team were a bit apprehensive and not sure what to expect of the new race car. On Saturday morning Simon Rowland, the former driver of the Formula Tanker car, turned up to give some sound advice and help which was much appreciated. The first ever run for Dave Ward in the dragster was in the first qualifying session which resulted in number two position. After the sixth qualifying session we were fifth.
©Eurodragster.com
Race day dawned and against all expectations we managed to progress to the final round against Dave Catton, driving Paul Marston's dragster. Unfortunately for Dave Catton he pulled a red light and handed the race win to Dave in the Rampage car. The team were ecstatic and couldn't believe what had happened.

All in all a dream come true for the whole team and thanks must go to Jeff, Adrian, Ian, Graham, Felicity, Daniel and Simon and also to our sponsors Smiths Of Bloxham. We're looking forward to our next outing at the SPRC Summernationals.

Oops!
7th May: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer decided to turn up the nitrous and play with a few settings on his wild Cortina at the Springspeed Nationals after a good showing at Big Bang:

Firstly I'd like to welcome back to the team, after a long stay of absence, Steve Kenny and his wife Emma, and also Jim.

On a very tricky track we ran 9.7/151 off the trailer. But it blew the tyres away so I turned down the nitrous on the Max Extreme, softer launch and longer duration 9.5/151. Run three, no nitrous off the line and three second build time, 9.2/151 and I did notice that I was almost on the limiter when I crossed the line.
©Eurodragster.com
On Sunday I decided to leave the delay off the line but bring in the nitrous faster. Oops! As you can see from the picture that was not what we wanted. I think that the damage was done at Easter, with the tyres breaking free I short shifted into second at the same time the nitrous kicked in. As they say the rest is history, but I had my best ever reaction time of 0.009.

At the moment I'm looking at my options but I think that I'm looking at a bespoke transmission such is the torque that were getting from the nitrous.

Springspeed class reviews.
7th May: The Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator circus made its first trip to Shakespeare County Raceway over the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend for Round 3 of this year's Championship, writes Ian Hook:

A disappointing entry of seven cars was further reduced by the withdrawal of Mark Todd due to engine damage on the big Pontiac. So just six cars were to battle it out for honours. After the first qualifying session it became clear that whoever could best master the very slick track would have a real chance of victory. At the end of Saturday rookie Richard Billings topped the qualifying list followed by Steve Pateman and Ian Hook. Sunday saw another rookie, Brian Payne, take his Mustang into second place displacing both Pateman and Hook. Sadly transmission problems for Ron Haslett meant that the six became just five. No further entries were lost as the remaining cars made it around the picturesque cruise route with no problems.

Payne's improvement in the Mustang had set up a meeting between numbers one and two in the Championship, Hook and Pateman, the latter's crew having made the long drive to Essex and back to pick up some new tyres the previous evening. The trip paid off when the Calibra found some grip on the slippery concrete surface to run a best of the weekend 8.54, leaving Hook smoking the tyres straight off the start line. Payne proceeded into round two when his 8.94 proved too quick for Alex McIntosh who experienced a wild tyre smoking trip down the Shakespeare County quarter in his blown Mustang. The combination of a six car field and breakage for Ron Haslett had provided number one qulaifier Billings with a free ticket to the final and he progressed with a 9.96.

The semi-final saw Billings through on his second bye with an 8.46 and Pateman into his second successive final with a very impressive 8.3 and a massive 177 mph. Pateman's experience and that quick pass made him favourite for the final and a win would take him to within fifty points of Hook. But the challenging track got him in the end, the Calibra's radials going up in smoke and handing Billings his first Street Eliminator victory, 8.40 to 10.01.

With a seven week gap until Round 4 at Santa Pod's SPRC Summernationals many, of the racers will be tweaking their combinations to try to get the edge on the opposition. Stay tuned as the cars will get quicker and the action hotter!
©Eurodragster.com
The combination of the cold windy weather and difficult track conditions made for a mixed bag performance from Super Street Bike, writes Dave Smith:

Most people were at least two tenths off the normal pace. Dave Holland set the pace in qualifying with a 7.6 pass only to break a valve guide which put him out of contention until Monday. Scott Baldwin had head gasket problems, and Mickey Templeman broke a chain in the burnout box. Mark Watkins had problems with its front wheel - it didn't want to stay on the tarmac - whilst my main problem was grip. The strong headwind put paid to high speeds, the best being 189 mph by Chris Reed.

In eliminations I had a dreadful red light against Dave Holland, little did I know his bike was ill. In the final it was Dave against Rick Stubbins. Rick's tyre spun off the line leaving Dave an open door to the finish line.

The Main Event should be something else, let's hope its sunny. Thanks again to Eurodragster.com for supporting us (You're welcome - Ed).

PMR's bad-ass dragster.
7th May: Paul Marston Racing were very satisfied with their results at the Springspeed Nationals. The team competed in Super Comp with veteran Martin Curbishley at the controls of the PiranaZ clothing and apparel-backed dragster for the first time whilst in Super Pro ET Dave Catton was proving that he is now quite comfortable with a Sportsman Tree:

Thanks must go out to the staff at Shakespeare County Raceway, everyone put in an 100% effort under trying weather conditions. The track, from our perspective, for a first event of the year was superb all weekend, consistent with good traction. John Cross and the rest of the track crew did an outstanding job.

A few of the regular PMR crew were not able to make it due to work commitments. Mick Howling was sorely missed as he did not manage to make even Monday as he was still working. Mick has already told me that although probably not competing at the Main Event, he will be there. Sefton Whitlock and the loveley Lisa did manage to make Monday, they were both missed. But outstanding crewman Keith Bick the Crew Chief and Funsize worked very hard to make up for the shortfall. Mick 'the Pieman' Pussey arrived Sunday and Monday which also helped out a lot. Paul Marston was on logistics, weather station and data as well as the mechanical maintenance on the Ugly Stick dragster.
©Eurodragster.com
Not having Mick Howling there was real weird and everyone missed not having Grumpy's Dodge racing. But we got it done, you adapt to the situation. Not having any pit transport was however a problem, having one push bike (which was actually Martin's) between nine people does not work out too well!

But how about that Ugly Stick dragster of ours, it was bad-ass all weekend, totally dial-able, epically consistent: if it stays healthy all season it is going to be one tough car to beat. Martin and Ruth Curbishley fitted in to the team effortlessly. We have been good friends for a long time and it was a pleasure to have them race with us. To get comfortable in the dragster so quickly is a credit to Martin, and to qualify number one was outstanding. Martin's lights are good already, he pulled 0.03 in both lanes.

Dave Catton was his usual high standard, good fourth qualifying position and all the way to the final. That should move him up nicely in the National Championship points table. Everyone is now looking forward to the FIA Main Event. The Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School will be making its first appearance of the year at the Test Weekend prior to the race.

Outlaws out in the cold.
7th May: Very cold weather put a block on the short-wheelbase Supercharged Outlaws cars making any really quick runs at the All American Show at Santa Pod Raceway, but Dave McKenzie says that the class put on a good show:

Due to the weather only three out of the four scheduled runs took place. Notable moments included Paul Watts running a Personal Best out of session getting the truck down to 9.2 seconds. Well done Paul! This was with the old motor and Paul hopes to have the new one in for our next date at the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge were very happy with the performance of their altered which is now launching very hard with the wheels coming up at the hit and then going straight when it lands. Lee Gallimore ran down to 8.0 and he is getting back on song after a major engine rebuild.

Alec and Tom Coe also got down into the low eights and they came away with the Good Vibrations Quick Reaction Time Bonus for their 0.12. Brian Gandy had plenty of track time and he is getting a handle on the Skullduggery altered. Brian ran a couple of 150 mph runs and he is pleased with the car. Trace Froome had an unlucky weekend with the Ultra Racing Dodge Avenger Funny Car. On one run he was shut down with an oil leak which was found to have been left by the previous runner in his lane. Trace has sorted out the tick-over problems after the burnouts and he is looking forward to some hard passes soon from the Funny Car. Ian Hanson's Corvette performed well with big burnouts, but Ian's big drama came when he was about to set off for the staging lanes and his awning blew away.

The results were:

Winner: Paul Watts - No Easy Pick Up
Runner-up: Lee Gallimore- Red Mist
Third: Dave McKenzie/Mark Windridge - Thing 5
©Eurodragster.com
Supercharged Outlaws series points after Round 1:
  1. Paul Watts 30
  2. Lee Gallimore 28
  3. Dave Mckenzie/Mark Windridge 26
  4. Alec Coe/Tom Coe 24
  5. Brian Gandy 22
  6. Ian Hanson 21
  7. Trace Froome 20
Motorshack Performance Bonus points:
  1. Lee Gallimore 10
  2. Dave McKenzie/Mark Windridge 8
  3. Alec Coe/Tom Coe 6
  4. Brian Gandy 4
  5. Ian Hanson 2
  6. Trace Froome 1
We would like to thank Santa Pod and all the crew for their hard work and efforts to keep the track open all weekend.

Xtreme Wheels on Display.
7th May: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, have announced that dda display will be providing the Show with all of their vinyl banners and exhibition stands:

dda display is the only company you need when it comes to premium quality commercial graphics. Their "Match the quality, beat the price" commitment ensures you always get the best deal available and their friendly and experienced staff are dedicated to providing a first-class service. They understand the pressures of deadlines and budget so they always react quickly with a cost-effective solution. So whatever the project, for all of your window, wall, floor and exhibition graphic requirements get in touch.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Tweet from the track.
7th May: If you own an iPhone and have a Twitter account (if not then you can set one up for free), you might be interested in a free iPhone app built by Martin Walker:

When you're at the drag strip and have just run a new Personal Best Elapsed Time or terminal speed, you can share it with your friends on Twitter with tweetET. If you enter your vehicle's weight, tweetET will also calculate the brake horsepower being produced at the wheels. Your vehicle's weight can be entered in either pounds or kilos.
©Eurodragster.com
It's fairly basic at the moment but I'll be working on a more sophisticated version, which will be available at a later date. Visit the Apple iStore to download tweetET, or for more details visit Guerilla Website Design's web site at www.guerrillawebsitedesign.co.uk.

Escape contest: one week left.
7th May: Escape Design are proud to announce the launch of a competition to win a free web site. Luke Bennett tells us that the offer is open to all Eurodragster.com readers, not just racers, as Escape Design create sites for business or pleasure:

The idea is very easy: simply send in your idea for a slogan for Escape Design. The winning entry will then be used on the Escape Design web site at www.escapedesign.net and our stationery. Send your entry and details with the subject Escape Design Slogan to us at [email protected] by 14th May. The winner will be picked from all entries on 15th May and the winner announced here on Eurodragster.com.

For some inspiration visit us at www.escapedesign.net or check out the sites which we have already have built for Bennett Racing, Malmgren Racing, the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, SuperPower Unlimited and many more. So if you're interested in a web site you will be in good company!
©Eurodragster.com
All of our web site design packages - starting from just £195 - include:
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Escape Design specialise in high-quality, fast turn-around website Design. Maybe you have a new business. Or you are already an established company, venture or organisation. Whatever type of operation you are you will need a web site to achieve your potential and, most importantly, attract new customers. This is where Escape Design can help. We offer individual customer attention, and listen to your comments and value your feedback - ultimately producing visually stimulating solutions to your brief and requirements. With a keen eye for detail and originality, we aim to satisfy and thrive on your input, believing this delivers the best result. Asking questions about what you do and how you do it, to get to know you and your company. Tailoring our skills to suit your target market; this information allows us to excel where other companies simply cannot. Get in touch today for details or information on anything we offer.

Springspeed 8.50 Bike review.
6th May: The UK's newly-formed and ever-growing 8.50 Bike posse moved to Shakespeare County Raceway for its second outing of 2010, with a healthy entry and an eclectic mix of machinery from 1980s gas bikes to turbo Hayabusas making an interesting field of runners, writes Rob Lee aka Blinddog:

The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly with advice and help aplenty between all the runners in the class. All the qualifying runs were pretty laid back as most were dialling in their bikes and testing new set-ups. The weather wasn't anyone's best mate but at least we were running. Some good runs from Mark Winder on his home brewed GSXR turbo saw a best of 8.64 while Andy Haley was in top spot and John McDonald in second. Mick Winyard was running very well on his home brewed GSXR turbo on 8.68 then Martin Wilson in fifth running a stout nine.

Julian Harris was not out to play on Sunday due to his head gasket (I'm guessing you mean his bike's head gasket - Ed) while Mark Slade and Andy Fawcett were fighting clutch problems. The top four stayed the same but Rob Lee snuck into fifth spot for a while with a wild 8.9 run. The wind was picking up and causing most runners some issues. Sam Sykes on his K5 Turbo was fighting the odd wheelie while Kev Marshall's scary gas bike was providing some entertaining runs. Although Mark 'Plug' Slade had clutch issues he ended with a PB.
©Eurodragster.com
The results can be seen on Eurodragster.com with the final coming down to Winyard v Wilson, oldschool Gixxer v Turbo Busa with the well-deserved win going to Mick Winyard.

All of the entrants agreed the racing was fun and competitive, although many watchers called it the Outlaw Cowboy class due to the nature of some of the builds and entertaining runs and oildowns. We may have a few more entrants shortly as many people seemed genuinely interested in the class. All in all a great weekend for all.

Hope Andy Fawcett can get his motor back together as one of his rods came out to say hello then punched his turbo off for good measure...ouch! Thanks to all who got this class up and running. Onwards and upwards!

Alamo JD Challenge standings.
6th May: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-Springspeed Nationals standings in the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season:


For more information about the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, check out our news item Alamo backs Junior Dragster Challenge of 1st April.
©Eurodragster.com
Don't forget that Alamo Rent A Car are offering 10% off car hire plus an additional 5% discount on pre-pay. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for Mantorp Park, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you.

As if that wasn't enough Alamo Gold, available on all rentals in the USA and Canada, includes everything you need for a stress-free rental and only costs from £30 per week on top of the fully inclusive rates. Alamo Gold includes unlimited mileage, Collision Damage Waiver, Liability Protection ($1 million liability coverage), airport fees, state/local taxes and surcharges, a tank of fuel, and additional drivers.

For more details, check out the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 22nd February, or to book your discounted hire car check out www.alamo.co.uk/dragster.

Swift snippets.
6th May: Congratulations to FIA European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson who is to be awarded with the Motorprince Medalj, whic Lena Perés tells us is the most prestigious award in Swedish motorsport. The ceremony takes place tomorrow (Friday) and Lena has promised to take her camera. In the meantime you can check out a TV feature at svtplay.se/v/1991746/dragracingkung_far_motormedalj.
©Eurodragster.com
Patrik Pers still has the following parts for sale from his Funny Car: ex-John Force 2004 Mustang body, Plueger fuel tank, Plueger oil tank complete with oil lines for dry sump, new coated header, five dry oil pans, and drive shafts to the rear axle. If you are interested then call Patrik on +46 706 961 385 or call Mark Bodimeade in the UK on 07909 528355.

Shakespeare County Raceway still has some room at this weekend's Long Marston Model Air Show for anyone wishing to promote and display their drag racing vehicles to a new audience. The show is a two-day affair with a full flying schedule planned by some of the country's leading show pilots demonstrating all disciplines and aspects of large scale model flying. With a full complement of trade stands expected, radio control speed challenge cars and more, you can be assured of an interesting and entertaining weekend. If you would like to be part of the event then please contact the Raceway office on 01789 720180 or E-Mail [email protected].

Thanks to our good friend Robin Jackson for letting us know that the current (June) issue of Motor Sport magazine contains an interview with TV Tommy Ivo reminiscing about his 1964 visit to England, as a member of the NHRA team taking part in the first British International Drag Festival.

Twins Cup measures up.
6th May: Phil Steele is pleased to report that the 2010 Twins Cup is proving to be very popular with an entry of nearly twenty different machines:
©Eurodragster.com
The first round at Shakespeare County Raceway at Easter had Keith Laker (right)on his 350 Yamaha LC as the winner as well as a new course record. Runner-up spot went to Dave Glover while third equal were Simon Rees on his Triumph and John Bunce on his Honda. The second round at Keevil included the first appearance of Alan Tinnion on his 350 LC riding in the Road Legal 400 and Classic Jap class with Alan taking the win in both classes.

With two rounds concluded the top three in the Championship so far are Keith Laker with 39 points followed by Dave Glover on 38 points and Simon Rees on 27 points. The next round is Weston Zoyland 3rd-4th July.

Web site updates.
6th May: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén reports on his first competitive event in PSB at Kunmadaras in Hungary. 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
The Shakespeare County Racers web site at www.shakespearecountyracers.com has been updated with more than 150 images from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.

Images are everywhere. You can stick them on the fridge, put them in a frame and give them a gift, or you can even turn them into coffee mats. However, for a race team they can do even more - just check out the back of the new santa pod lorry to see the extremes of what you can do with a good picture. If you work them hard enough they can even pay for you to go racing. Having spoken to a lot of people involved with the sport, photographer Dom Romney has found that sponsorship is something in which everyone seems to be interested, but that very few seem to understand how to go about being given money to go racing. Dom has put together a note with his views on how to make yourself more desirable, which is the first step to being able to ask for money. You can find Dom's thoughts at blog.modernpics.co.uk/2010/04/15/motorsport-sponsorship-tips.

Editor's note: It's Cashflow Forecast day in your News Editor's day job which means very limited time for the news update. Tune back tomorrow for two reports from Kunmaradas, reviews of the Supercharged Outlaws' first 2010 outing and Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator's latest round, the latest from Paul Marston Racing and more, and please keep those news items coming to [email protected].

The Beast put to the test.
 5th May: After a very busy off season with a lot of work in the raceshop and several sponsor events on the agenda, Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson and the Beast drag bike team took part in the Pro Test and Tune weekend at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö:

Saturday turned out to be really cold and the track temperature was a little low so we decided to wait for Sunday as the weather forecast showed sunny skies. After Sunday lunchtime the track turned around and the team decided to make several sixty foot launches to test newly-made parts on the engine and transmission.

"The team worked really hard and we managed to turn around the bike four times during the afternoon which is very good", says Per. "It's always positive to work through the different routines after the winter break to make everything work as smoothly as possible.
©Eurodragster.com
"A summary of the test weekend is that we found and solved two different problems and we confirmed very important information on the fuel system. I think we are well prepared and we're going to Santa Pod for the Main Event feeling confident. Our goals are set very high this season and we aim to start our performance where we finished in September.

"We also would like to send our congratulations to the UEM winners in Kunmandaras."

Next on the agenda is another sponsor event on Saturday at an Autoexperten shop where the Beast will be displayed.

Swift snippets.
5th May: 12:15 Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the FIA Main Event, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Entry closes this Friday (7th); you can download the entry forms for all classes from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and registration and entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu.

Don't forget that King of the Street takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Friday-Sunday of this weekend (7th-9th). Organiser and Eurodragster.com sponsor Lee Child tells us that the track is open all day Friday for testing for King of the Street racers. Qualifying and eliminations take place on Saturday and the Top 16 on Sunday. "The entry fee to race is £100 which includes crew tickets", says Lee. "If you would like to test on Friday and run in some of Saturday's sessions but do not wish to take part in the King of the Street then the fee is £100."

We have two spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) came from Sweden with the words "Pro Mod twin turbo"...


...whilst the second (above right) was "Taken on a visit to a friend's at the weekend". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].

Racers will be pleased to hear that Tim Anderson of Racepak Data Systems is attending the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and that he is planning to hold a seminar during the race, similar to the hugely popular seminar held at Mantorp Park in 2008. Stay tuned and we will bring you details as soon as we receive them.

The countdown has started for the launch of Speedgroup Club Europe, a Speedgroup project in co-operation with Eurodragster.com. Speedgroup Club Europe is aimed at anyone interested in European Championship Drag Racing. "You will benefit whichever country you live in", says Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar. "Club membership combines on-line benefits with exclusive access for members visiting Championship events". Stay tuned for more details.

Ex-pat Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences says that although he won both days of Pro Fuel at the IHRA event at Rockingham, he didn't run as well as he would have liked. "We did better than the other guys when it counted", says Mike. "Three runs in the 5.3s and one 5.56 when I had to pedal for tyre hsake. The water grains in the atmosphere were high hence less than stellar numbers. The IHRA has some nice reporting of the event on their web site at www.ihra.com. We are heading to Tulsa for an NHRA Divisional next week; hopefully we can get our NHRA mojo back as well."
©Eurodragster.com
Lars Rodeblad tells us that FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund struggled to run some respectable times in his race on Curacao. "When we finally started to get the car to work it was time for eliminations and it was not enough", says Lars. "We ran 6.71 against Jeff Dobbins who went low 6.50s and who also went on to win the event. You would not imagine that drag racing would be so big on a Caribbean island but 256 cars that went through inspection at this race. Win some, lose some, it has been a very exciting and fun experience to be here and we'd like to thank everyone who made it possible. Next on the agenda is the continuation of the Klintberg & Way US Tour at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Georgia next week."

Many thanks to Wayne Schreier of APIRA's Tech Crew for forwarding us the timing data from the weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out the timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

UK Pro ET racer Bob Molden has asked us to say a big Thank You to everyone who has helped him get the Peugeot's steering back in one piece over the weekend. "I would like to say a special Thank You to Chris Newsam and Neil Hunter for their help rebuilding the car in time for round one of eliminations on Monday", says Bob. "One final thank you to Rob Dack, Jan, Lauren and Vicky for their support as always."

UK Pro ET racer David Armstrong tells us that the BeelzeBob team fired up the car for the first time on Saturday. "It ran real good and sounded awesome until the oil pump drive sheared off", says David. "You can find a video on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=758ypJe41Uo. We are also appearing at the Basingstoke Festival of Transport this Saturday to help to promote drag racing."

Everyone at the Taz Racing team asked us to say a big Well Done to Secretive Taz for four Personal Best times at Santa Pod at the weekend. "The car was driven from Kent to the Pod, and then had the nuts raced out of it", they say. "The best run was a 10.4, and on the other side of that Secretive Taz now knows the complete AA team that side of Northampton. That's the trouble with liquorice half shafts."

Keith Lee says that the first book on British Drag Bike racing is a big step closer to publication. "The completed book is now in the hands of publisher Veloce, and right on schedule for publication in September", says Keith. "Unlike most authors, living only two miles from Veloce I was able to deliver it personally to a bemused Rod Grainger, who admitted to being a little surprised to be handed the completed manuscript and photos on the exact date promised when the book was originally commissioned. It seems I did not live up to publisher's expectations of authors! So it is done, and I have to live with my choice of pictures and memories of the first twenty years of the sport on two wheels, which I hope will be enjoyed by all who read it. I will be updating my blog on the Acceleration Archive in the next few days, and can then take a break prior to receiving layouts and editing comments from the publisher."

Frank Johansen tells us that Sweden's Team Kendall Racing Pro Mod team will have T-Shirts for sale at the FIA Main Event, in sizes ranging from 5-6 years to big boys. The Kendall logo is on the front and the car is on the back. The shirts are priced at £15 or €15 and if you can't wait until then race then drop Frank a line at [email protected]. "The car has been updated with a two-step and some other things and we are really looking forward to racing at Santa Pod", adds Frank.

FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter and the Lucas Oil Team are once again in the middle of a hectic show schedule spreading the word about drag racing to the masses. After a very busy day at last weekend's Monster Truck Nationals the team barely have time to re-stock before their next appearance, at the PTM Show at Santa Pod Raceway this coming Sunday. The team will have their show car on display along with a full range of Lucas Oil products. Team member Gary Cottingham says "We have just received stock of some great new Lucas products including the very popular interior detailer and tyre and trim shine. We run show-special prices at all events so please stop by for a great deal."

James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway says that it was a great weekend at the All American Show with plenty of track time for racers and RWYB alike. "The Supercharged Outlaws put in a great performance along with the UK Power Tour and Outlaw Street Race Series", says James. "The Street Car Shootout for £500 cash prize was a success and paired the numbers one and two qualifiers in the final, Andrew Murton against Jeff Thurston. Andrew won the race and took the prize money with a huge personal best! A full report and gallery can be found at www.allamericanshow.co.uk."

Central Europe update.
5th May: A total sixty one events are scheduled for the Central European region this year, writes Paul Fischer of CeDrag.com:

The events range from heads-up competition in classes organised by engine size, power boosters (turbo, Nitrous), FWD, RWD and AWD categories favoured by the northern states to Super Gas index racing-style events which are popular in the south. All events with the notable exception of Kunmadaras, which is the region's only dedicated drag strip, will be run on rented airports. This has resulted in racers developing strategies to cope with low-traction surface, none to better effect than Hungary's Peter Kaldy (see pic) who has broken his own regional record again and recorded a very creditable 8.91 pass this year. His '68 Chevy Nova runs in the Big Dogs group who will be together for the first time this weekend at Hungary's Meidl Airport to shake down several new cars and some which have seen major upgrades over the winter. Peter Kaldy tells us that tuning his progressive nitrous controller to suit the poor grip is key to getting down an airport track.

Poland and the Czech Republic both have stable organisations and this year's calendar follows the usual format. One major difference is that both countries are now able to offer foreign racers access to their championships who arrive to race with a licence from their own countries. This has proven a tough development but now we are seeing true 'open' competitions.
©Eurodragster.com
April has now passed and the early races all risked fickle weather. Luckily, the rain (which tends to falls non-stop for three days) stayed away so that the four races in Hungary, one in Poland and of course, the big UEM at Kunmadaras were all completed. There isn't much more to say about the Kunmadaras bike race and the FIA exhibition passes except, from our standpoint, it is the first time this region has seen Top Fuel dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Modifieds and the like. Other than a few well-funded individuals, people here have only heard of such things and seen them a few times on TV. As we all know, being there is key to appreciating the very thing which makes us all drag race junkies. Everyone who went to Kunmadaras now has a story to tell which mostly includes the phrase "You have to be there to understand". This will have an effect upon our race fans and potential racers who will not be satisfied with watching street cars, let's hope the influence will kick start a real drag racing revolution - there are early signs of it already.

Two Hungarian teams, Sandor Vogelsinger (Honda Civic) and Joszef 'Bulijoe' Buranszki (VW Polo) have been flying the colours of Petronas. We don't know the details but we know these two guys have very quick cars, the Civic runs nines with a 2.0 litre plus turbo on FWD, the Polo is a twin-engine machine, both diesel, which runs tens. More to the point, they have learnt how to market themselves by doing all the right things, including making promo videos, and are now the vanguard of a more professional and commercial approach to funding their racing. Currently, the cars are better than the tracks.

One guy, Csaba Erdos from Budapest, has chosen a Morris Minor panel van as his project drag car. It is strange to see someone pick an old English make but he's certainly been radical by hiding huge slicks in the rear and running a potent Big Block Chevy through a Glide. Csaba is also one of the rare breed of drivers who has some notable sponsorship although he is keeping his options very quiet as to what and where he intends to run the car.

May is here now and there no less than seven events this coming weekend in such far flung places as Sarmelek and Meidl (Hun), Bechyne and Hoskovice (Cze), Tulcea (Rom), Mursko Subota (Slovenia), and Bemowo near Warsaw (Pol). We at cedrag.com will be at the Meidl event, 'cos that's where the big V8s are going to make that noise we all love. Who can resist that?

Web site updates.
5th May: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion Dave Beck tells of a gentle return to the track after his recent illness. 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
The UK's 8.50 Bike racers have set up a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/850-Bike-Drag-Racing/114667855236404. Fans are encouraged to post pictures and video on the page.

Springspeed Nationals almost done.
4th May: The weekend's Springspeed Nationals did not quite reach a full conclusion after rain fell with only a few finals left to run. The rain had been on and off all day and that eliminations got as far as they did is down to a Herculean effort by the track crew, racer officials and racers. The final results were as follow:

Super Modified: Belinda Bull 7.610/177.21 def. Andy Hone 11.178/94.35
Super Pro ET: Dave Ward (8.15) 9.876/86.12 def. Dave Catton (8.42) red light 8.431/157.38
Pro ET: Rick McCann v Paul Baynton did not take place
Sportsman ET: Ian Petrie (14.40) 14.409/85.69 def. Brian Huxley (15.90) 15.853/86.04 breakout
Super Comp: Brian Pateman v Jon Morton did not take place
Super Gas: Jon Evans v Dan Page did not take place
Super Street: Leigh Morris v John Grant did not take place
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Richard Billings 8.405/170.26 def. Steve Pateman 10.014/102.12
Junior Dragster: Brad Jackson v Clare Giles did not take place
Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association: Tony Betts v Bob Glassup did not take place
VW Sportsman: Russ Weir (17.75) 17.667/76.00 def. Holly Baldwin (15.50) 15.350/82.48 red light
Outlaw Flat Four: James Wotton 11.241/13.05 bye
Outlaw Anglia: Simon Barlow v Cliff Griffin did not take place
Wild Bunch: Chris Hartnell v Andy Murphy did not take place
©Eurodragster.com
Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck 7.484/175.64 def. Mark Smith left before lights ran
Comp Bike: Steve French v Dave Peters did not take place
Super Street Bike: Dave Holland 7.937/169.46 def. Rich Stubbins 8.352/173.27
9.50 Bike: Richard Sawatzki 9.619/131.41 def. Jon Webster 9.486/139.09 breakout
8.50 Bike: Michael Winyard 9.469/158.19 def. Martin Wilson 10.133/156.73
Supertwin Gas: Andy Watson 9.520/137.69 def. Les Harris 9.642/130.79
Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison (11.90) 12.026/103.69 def. Damien Waterhouse (11.40) 11.991/120.55
CC Medical Services Junior Drag Bike: Jorden Bissell (10.21) 10.234/61.06 def. Scott Collier (9.90) 9.974/63.47

The Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards went to the ET classes as Sportsman ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Ian Jackson took the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and Super Pro ET racer John Atkinson took the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event.

You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored Springspeed Nationals reports, pit notes and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Kunmadaras eliminations summary.
4th May: Many thanks to our good buddy Markus Münch for sending us a summary of eliminations at the UEM European Drag Bike Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary:
©Eurodragster.com
Pro Stock Bike: Top Qualifier Jesper Thiel had a bye run (7.24) into the second round. Kenneth Vik also had a bye run into the next round, as Martin Bishop couldn't fix his engine, which was badly damaged in qualifying. Next pairing was Lasseur against local hero Zoltan Toth. Lasseur redlit and the Hungarian Pro Stocker proceeded into round two. Petridis won against German Karl Heiz Weikum. The German had a .0052 light (the best of all Pro lights this weekend), but stalled the engine after some meters.Champion Ögge won against Karl Lyrén and Paget against Zafiaridis. Abrahamsson won with a 7.2 against Tsanidakis and Fredlund with a 7.39 against Bousinis. The Pro Stockers did well on the track, as the times prove. Round two: Fredelund (7.39) lost depite a holeshot to Abrahamsson's 7.24. Ögge dominated Paget (7.28 v 7.6). Petridis had a byern into the semi because Toth coudn't make the call. Vik (7.5) won over Thiel (7.6). Vik drove through to the final as he defeated Bousinis in the semi final. Ögge or Abrahamsson, who will be his opponent? 7.26 in both lanes. but Abrahamsson was on the dark side of the RT, so it is Vik v Ögge in the final. Ögge won the event with a 7.34 to a 7.44 from Vik.

Top Fuel Bike: Four bikes in the field, Teboul on the way back to France as eliminations started as he couldn't fix the motor. So it was Rene van den Berg with a 6.86/315 Km/h bye run into the final. The other pairing was Paljukka (with the ex-Ian King Bike) and Selkamaa. Selkamaa won with a 6.95/320 Km/h. Rene couldn't fire his bike up in the final, so Selkamaa won with another 6.9.

Super Twin Top Fuel: In round one Olstad won with a 6.86/315 Km/h over Roman Sixta. Lo Stäuble won with a holeshot and a 7.58 to a 7.44 from Hoiberget. Heezen won easily with a 7.0 to Kemppainen's 8.2. Mäenpää had a holeshot win over Koedam (7.3 v 7.2) So it's Heezen against Mäenpää in the first semi-final. Heezen first on the lights, the eighth and at the finishline. 6.90 to a losing 7.13. In the second semi it was time to say godbye for Lo Stäuble. Olstad was too strong too far this (7.23 to a losing 7.26). In the final it seemed that Olstad's bike misfired somehow, and Heezen won with a 7.0. Olstad was some metres behind.

Funnybike was won by Christian Jäger from the Black Seven Racing bunch. From pass to pass the bike started to perform better. The new clutch and some little gremlins have been sorted out. In the semi-final they were against Gustafsson who was top qualifier with a 6.69, Jäger managed to run a 7.68 and Gustafsson had to abort the run due to a rear wheel problem. Jäger then won the final against Davide Ricci.

SSB was dominated by Thomas Granica, who was the only rider running in the sevens. In the final he couldn't race due to a problem with compression in cylinder 3.

The weekend was great, good weather, the track allowed good runs from the bikes and the cars. Freddy Fargerström pedaled to a 6.9 pass and shook his door open. Jari Halinen recorded a 5.6, he was all over the place and left an ecstatic crowd (they really went nuts) and Ian Marshall with a big smile on his face.

You can check out this report in German on Markus and Mathias Wienand's excellent web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de. Words and pictures from Kunmadaras are also to be found on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com and on the CeDrag site at www.cedrag.com.

The post-Kunmadaras points standings in the UEM European Drag Bike Championships and the UEM Funny Bike Cup are available on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Swift snippets.
3rd May: Further to the spy picture published on 27rd April , Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Määttä is headed to New Orleans this month to bring this bike over to Europe. "It's a pity to look at the TV news and see the possible oil catastrophe there, but I believe they'll do their best and get good results", he says. "Anyway I'll bring my Pro Fuel Bike from there to European tracks this Summer. Maybe we'll see some kinda short rider on multi-cam HD07 racin' again?"

Congratulations to Sweden's Lindberg Brothers who clocked VEIDEC Raceway's first three-second eighth-mile in their new Firebird Pro Mod at the Pro Test and Tune yesterday. You can check out pictures of Saturday's Test and Tune action on our buddy Patrik Jacobsson's web site at www.racebilder.nu.

Congratulations also to ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who took both the Day 1 and Day 2 Pro Fuel wins at the weekend's IHRA Spring Nitro Jam at Rockingham. You can find out more courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Gas racer Steve Dunn has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to his Team Tokyo Toy team-mate Jon Evans. "Good luck with the race today", says Steve. Have a very happy and successful birthday Jon.

Further to her news item of 23rd April, Rhonda Cohen asked us to thank everyone who participated in her thrill seekers' survey to assist in her PhD and has asked if any more readers would like to take part. "We need between fifty and one hundred replies to have a meaningful data sample", says Rhonda. "The survey only takes a few minutes to fill out so if you can help I would be very grateful". If you would like to participate in the thrill seekers' survey then you can check it out by clicking here.

Making an Impact with Santa Pod.
3rd May: Inspirational signage and design company Impact Signs and Print of Lynch Lane, Weymouth, recently showcased their vehicle wrapping talents further afield at the prestigious Santa Pod Raceway.

Collaborating with Weymouth's Power Race Graphics, one of the motor industry's leading vehicle insignia designers, Impact was commissioned to wrap the 13 metre x 4.5 metre trailer, the largest vehicle they have wrapped to date. Impact director Jason Fry said "It was a big challenge, and I'm really pleased with the results – the trailer looks amazing. We used a hangar to apply the graphics, which was a life saver in the freezing temperatures we'd been having!"

Due to Santa Pod's incredibly tight schedule Impact completed the work on location in two days, ensuring the trailer was back on the road in no time at all. Impact used Avery 900 series cast vinyl and Avery 1900 series vinyl wrap with 1030 Dol laminate. A staggering 100 metres of vinyl was used to complete the project, and the finished result is phenomenal.

Santa Pod Marketing Manager Caroline Day said "Santa Pod is all about high-octane explosive action and we wanted to create an appropriate design for the trailer that was very striking using vibrant colours. The end result was perfect with no hitches on the way! Now we have a complete set up which looks very professional and is sure to create an impact wherever it goes whether at the race track itself or when out on tour at other shows and exhibitions during the season."

The trailer will be taken to national motorsports events throughout the year, so be sure to look out for it.

Kunmadaras results.
2nd May: Many thanks to Zoltán Hernády for forwarding us results from the UEM European Drag Bike Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary:

Top Fuel Bike: Kai Selkämää 6.991/262.97 bye (should have faced Rene van den Berg)
Supertwin: Job Heezen 7.000/329.55 def. Hans Olav Olstad 8.806/221.34
Pro Stock Bike: Ulf Ögge 7.347/295.44 def. Kenneth Vik 7.445/289.05
UEM Funny Bike Cup: Christian Jäger 7.681/284.59 def. Davide Ricci (sic) 8.614/197.79
Super Street Bike: Julian Torgler 8.886/260.00 bye (should have faced Thomas Granica)

In the FIA exhibition Jari Halinen wowed the crowd with a 5.68-second pass in the Rune Fjeld Motorsport Top Fuel Dragster and Freddy Fagerström ran a 6.9 in his Pro Mod truck "with bits flapping". As mentioned on Saturday Paul Wratten ran a 7.50 in the Wratten Brothers' blown-alcohol altered.

Qualifying and ladders:

Full Top Fuel Bike elimination ladder (PDF format)
Full Supertwin elimination ladder (PDF format)
Full Pro Stock Bike elimination ladder (PDF format)
Full Funny Bike Cup elimination ladder (PDF format)
Full Super Street Bike elimination ladder (PDF format)

Super Street Bike eliminations round 3 (PDF format)

Pro Stock Bike eliminations round 3 (PDF format)
Supertwin eliminations round 2 (PDF format)
Funny Bike Cup eliminations round 2 (PDF format)

Pro Stock Bike eliminations round 2 (PDF format)
Super Street Bike eliminations round 2 (PDF format)

Top Fuel Bike eliminations round 1 (PDF format)
Supertwin eliminations round 1 (PDF format)
Pro Stock Bike eliminations round 1 (PDF format)
Funny Bike Cup eliminations round 1 (PDF format)
Super Street Bike eliminations round 1 (PDF format)

Thanks to Steve Horn for his help

Kunmadaras qualifying summary.
2nd May: Many thanks to our good buddies Markus Münch and Benni Voss for sending us a summary of qualifying at the UEM European Drag Bike Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary:
©Eurodragster.com
We saw a decent qualifying here at Kunmadaras. The track came around on Saturday. Rickard Gustafsson proved it with a 6.69 pass in the final session of the Funny Bike Cup. Five rounds of qualifying were completed.

Pro Stock Bike was very close right from the start. It ended up with Jesper Thiel was top qualifier with a 7.31/265 Km/h, followed by Ulf Ögge with a 7.32/292 Km/h. Third is Anders Abrahamsson with a 7.32/294 Km/h, fourth is Gert-Jean Laseur with a 7.40/282 Km/h and fifth is Petridis with a 7.74/286 Km/h. Then Fredlund, Paget, Vik, Bishop, Zafiaridis, Bousinis, Weikum, Toth, Tzanidakis and Lyrén.

Supertwin was also strong. Olstad took the lead away from Heezen in the last run of qualifying. 6.90/326 Km/h with a 6.91/332 Km/h for Heezen. Third is Koedam 7.12/290 Km/h then Hoiberget 7.31/307 Km/h, Stäuble, Mäenpää, Kemppainen and Sixta.

Top Fuel Bikes: Eric Teboul had problems with his engine. He worked hard after the first run on Friday when a plug insert gave way but couldn't make it to the second and third run. He managed to put a half pass in round four when a bang stopped him from going quicker. The cam chain snapped and destroyed lots of engine parts. He is now putting a spare engine in the bike. He is fourth and last of the field with a 23-second pass. Third is Paljukka who rode the Championship-winning bike of Ian King to a 9.3 second pass. He is getting quicker every run and getting more and more confident on the bike. Second is Kai Selkämää with a 7.7 second pass and Top Qualifier is Rene van den Berg with a 7.2 second pass.

Funnybike is dominated by Rikard Gustafsson, who managed to get a 6.69/335 Km/h for top qualifier. Second is Fast Fil from Greece with a 7.5 second pass on his only fourth run on this bike followed by Sokratous, Jäger, Knebl, Ricci, Mieli, Ntotsikas, Charman (who destroyed an engine on Friday, built a new engine and is starting to get faster), Papp, Vargs, Marki.

Super Street Bike is lead by Thomas Granica from Germany. He is the only driver who is constantly in the sevens. 7.82 is his best so far.

Some FIA Cars made demo runs. The first session was only a checkout. Graham Ellis crossed lanes in a burnout due to a brake disc failure. He was lucky when he stopped just some inches away from the wall after he spun. Freddy Fagerström pedalled to a 8.6/268 Km/h. Mats Eriksson was there with a twelve second pass. Later in the second session the drivers performed better. Dennis Wratten in the methanol altered even launched wheels up and got lots of cheers from the big crowd (as well as the other drivers). Danny Bellio in the TMFC did an 8.9/297 Km/h. The Top Fuellers of Halinen and Poutiainen launched with 0.99 and 0.97 sixty foot times. Poutiainen smoked the tyres on the hit and stayed with it as in the 1960's and smoked the tyres all the way to the finish line. The crowd were ecstatic. 6.9/337 Km/h. Halinen rolled to a twelve second pass.

The weather has been warm, over 20 degrees celsius, sunny with a slight headwind. This morning it is raining.

You can check out this report in German on Markus and Mathias Wienand's excellent web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de.

Swift snippets.
2nd May: Thanks to our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson for forwarding us this picture of Swedish Pro Stock racer Tommy Leindahl's new ride. We didn't know that there were any leopards out there rich enough to sponsor a Pro Stock, but a sponsor's a sponsor.
©Eurodragster.com
Congratulations to ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who took the Day 1 Pro Fuel win at the IHRA Spring Nitro Jam at Rockingham yesterday. The event continues today, as ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.

Amanda Cox of the UK's Yenko Nova Pro ET team has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to team member Jo Adams. No sooner said than done, have a lovely day Jo.

Thanks from the Priors.
2nd May: Lesley, Stuart and Mark Prior and the family would like to thank everyone for their support and kindness which they received after the death of Dave Prior:

We have received many cards, E-Mails and phone calls, and everyone has a memory or amusing anecdote of Dad which has made us laugh and reminisce fondly. We would especially like to thank Tog for organising the tribute page where there have been some lovely tributes and, again, events which we remember when we were growing up (You are very welcome - Ed). Thank you all very much.

We would also like to thank Nobby Hills and Roy Phelps for their touching tributes at Dad's funeral, and to thank the many people who attended the service, which we think epitomised the man who was Dave Prior.

Gone but not forgotten!

Another legend for Xtreme Wheels.
2nd May: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are delighted to announce that there will be two of the legendary Houndog cars at the Show:

Forming a key part of our collection of nostalgia vehicles will be the car which started it all for Nobby Hills back in the 1960s - Houndog 1. This will be the début appearance for the rebuilt car, originally put together in 1963 with a 3.4 litre blown Jaguar engine. Les Hill was the driver, running a best of 13.36/109.2. As well as the original Houndog, the latest Nobby Hills creation, the Houndog Camaro Fuel Funny Car, will also form a major part of our live show. Driver Simon Hayward will be performing burnouts in the Fuel Coupe, as well as lining up for our cacklefest which will conclude our live show on both Saturday and Sunday.

Nobby's rig will be prominently positioned close to the show entrance where you will be able to view both vehicles up close and talk to the man himself. Nobby will also be showing historic racing footage from the rear of his trailer.

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Kunmadaras qualifying update.
1st May: Many thanks to Zoltán Hernády for forwarding us qualifying standings from the UEM European Drag Bike Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary.

Saturday: Qualifying after session 5 (PDF format)
Saturday: Qualifying after session 4 (PDF format)
Friday: Qualifying after session 3 (PDF format)
Friday:Qualifying after session 2 (PDF format)
Friday Qualifying after session 1 (PDF format)
©Eurodragster.com
Subject to internet access our good buddies Makus Münch and Mathias Wienand plan to post regular reports and pictures from Kunmadaras on their excellent web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de, again subject to access Ian King will be posting updates on his web site at www.kingracing.com, the CeDrag.com web site at www.cedrag.com also plans updates.

Congratulations to the UK's Wratten Brothers on clocking the fastest time by a car on Hungarian soil of 7.50 seconds with their blown-alcohol altered.

Thanks to Steve Horn for his help - Ed

An ugly win, but a win.
1st May: Big Bang was another challenging but ultimately rewarding event for the UK's FB Racing Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator team, writes event winner Ian Hook:

Suspension issues continue to plague us but at least the monster wheelie from the '34 on Saturday provided some excitement - and this time I was on the correct two wheels for a race car! But we saw our provisional pole reduced to second by Steve Pateman, then third after a superb 8.66 from rookie Brian Payne.

Most cars were performing to a similar level so there were to be no easy races. The first round of eliminations saw the '34 frying the tyres and we were fortunate to get by Alex McIntosh when his Mustang went into spectacular wheelie overload, front end damage finally forcing him to back off. Happily we hear that the damage is minor and that Alex will be back out for round 3.

Despite having Ford and the colour black in common there cannot be two more different cars than our hot rod and the sleek Mustang of Brian Payne but they made a handsome pair as we squared up for the semi final. And again I thought we were going home as my initial holeshot disappeared in tyre smoke. But fortune smiled on us again as the Mustang then dished out the same treatment to Brian allowing me to pass him in the back half.
©Eurodragster.com
In the final I faced Steve Pateman. I first raced in Street Eliminator back in 1996 and, since then, I have never beaten Steve in eliminations. We both had problems: Steve's motor was misfiring (a lot!) in the back half whilst I simply couldn't find any grip away from the line. The race didn't start well for us with Steve getting the drop on me by two hundredths (how dare he!) and then start to pull away. The tyres found some grip and I was able to hang on to the tail of the Calibra. But then Steve's misfire returned (just as the '34's nitrous system hit max) and I passed him at about 900 feet to take the win with an 8.60/169, our quickest and fastest pass of the day. As a well-known Drag Racing Correspondent said to me "It might not have been pretty but a win's a win". And I couldn't have been more pleased - beating Steve and equalling our most event wins in a season after just two meetings...yep, we've only ever won twice in SE in any single year.

However, the FBs and I are aware that we still face an uphill task to get the '34 performing again. With racers all around us stepping up their game we are desperate to find our seven second form again. If you've seen it anywhere please let us know! Hopefully we will make progress at round 3 this weekend. Don't miss it!

Swift snippets.
1st May: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's IHRA Spring Nitro Jam at Rockingham as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting Pro Fuel at the event. The event takes place today and tomorrow; as ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com.
©Eurodragster.com
LA Racing Parts liven up Xtreme.
1st May: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are delighted to welcome LA Racing Parts as official show partners. Lee Child and his team will be organising and overseeing the Live Action Arena at the show, as well as assisting with all health and safety and insurances.
©Eurodragster.com
"We approached Lee to see if he'd like to bring his vast knowledge of race promotion in to the event", said Dan Welberry on behalf of Xtreme Wheels. "We're delighted that Lee accepted the challenge and he is already leading us through all we need in place for our live show. In previous years, Xtreme Wheels was a great indoor event but we feel that the introduction of the live arena will add so much to spectator enjoyment. We welcome Lee and LA Racing Parts to the team and look forward to working with him on this exciting new venture."

Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Grumpy's graphics make an Impact.
1st May: Innovative signage and design company Impact Signs and Print of Lynch Lane, Weymouth, were recently commissioned to apply graphics to the Silverline Tools Top Methanol Dragster owned and driven by Dave Wilson, four time winner of the prestigious FIA series and current speed record holder for his class - 279 mph for the standing start quarter mile.

The graphics produced by Impact Signs in collaboration with Weymouth's Power Race Graphics, one of the motor industry's leading vehicle insignia designers, will be showcased around Europe as the dragster competes in the five FIA European Drag Racing Championship events starting in May at Santa Pod Raceway and at events in Finland, Sweden, Germany and the final round again at Santa Pod Raceway near Northampton.

The vehicle was stripped down and resprayed in a sleek pearlescent white in preparation for the new scheme, with sponsors Silverline and Playstation vinyl branding applied on top. The project was eagerly watched throughout by Dave Wilson who said "Looking for a fresh, sharp new look for the Silverline/Playstation for the dragster for the coming season, Impact Signs came up with just the vinyl solutions I was after."

After the graphics took just two days to complete at Impact's specially-converted vehicle bay, Dave Wilson went on to say "Impact Signs delivered the high quality finish that is generating very positive comments from both my sponsors and race fans alike!"

The dragster's graphics were produced on Impact's Roland XC-540 printer using Avery 1900 vehicle wrapping material and Dol gloss laminate; and the vinyl decals were Avery 900series cast. for its flamboyant inaugural event at the season opening event at Santa Pod Raceway at Easter, impressing the main sponsor to such an extent that Impact have been commissioned to do a second race car, which will be completed later this month. For vehicle inspiration go to www.impactsignsandprint.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com

Earlier news