Stuart Douglas' funeral.
29th June: Annette Douglas has been in touch with the funeral details for Stuart Douglas, who died earlier this week.

Stuart's funeral will take place at 4:30 pm next Friday (6th July) at the Telford Crematorium, Woodhouse Lane, Redhill, Telford TF2 9NJ (
map). Afterwards, in Annette's words, there will be "Tea, sandwiches and sympathy" at Shifnal War Memorial Club, Five Ways, Shifnal TF11 8AD (map) followed by a party celebration of Stuart's life with at least four bands and a Rock Night. All of Stuart and Annette's friends are welcome.

Annette asks that no flowers are sent but tells us that donations in memory of Stuart will be split between National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD) and the National Canine Defence League.


Go shopping, buy a Top Fueller.
29th June: The Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster and Fuel Funny Car team is breaking new Fuel ground this weekend as Patrik Pers is making demonstration passes in Lithuania.

"We are really looking forward to the race as the interest here in Klapedia is overwhelming", says CBD Team Owner Knut Söderquist. "Both cars have been on display in big shopping centres (right, picture courtesy and ©The Animal).
©Eurodragster.com
"I can see a big future for drag racing here in the Baltic countries. This weekend we are on a former Russian airstrip which is not really up to the standard for nitro cars right now, but I can see that in a coupe of years they could definitely run an up-to-date event. I have been around to different air strips with the race promoter of the race to see if there is the possibility of a permanent track, and the owner of the land sees it as a great opportunity to make some money."

Stay tuned for more from this weekend's event in Lithuania.


Who's for a Three?
29th June: The latest round of the Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Series starts today (Friday) at the Aros Nats in Västerås and Johan Samuelsson says that the spectators will get "A hell of a show".

"There are more than 275 teams on the entry list, with the Top Doorslammer as the baddest car class", says Johan. "As the track is a little bit short, racers going faster than 10.00 seconds flat have to race over the eighth mile.
©Eurodragster.com
"The Top Doorslammers have had close racing this season. Everyone is aiming for the first three-second eighth-mile run by a European doorslammer. Micke Nord is perhaps the closest in the screw-blown Hemi Nova, but they will all take a shot. There will be some twin turbocharged Big Block Chevys in both Top Doorslammer Competition."


Swift snippets.
29th June: This coming Monday, July 3rd, is the last chance to add your name to the petition to bring drag racing back to The Netherlands' Drachten Airfield before it is presented to the local authorities. If you have not already signed this petition then we urge you to do so at www.dragracedr88.nl or click on the logo at the top right of our Home Page.

Swedish Top Fuel Bike racer Peter Ström tells us that he is aiming to contest the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park at the end of July. "There is a lot of work left to do before the bike is ready and there is no room for gremlins", Peter told Eurodragster.com.

Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the post-SPRC Summernationals standings in the 2007 Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the SPRC Championship points on our Simpson Race Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has now forwarded us Version 3 of the official entry list for the Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod on 21st-22nd July. You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here. Today is the official closing date for entry to the Bug Jam. Entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a one hundred per cent late entry penalty. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

With the continued difference in weather patterns affecting most parts of the country, organisers of this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway have been in touch to confirm that the event will take place rain or shine. Although parts of Worcester and the surrounding areas have been hit by flash flooding, the Raceway has remained unaffected but, with the weather warnings issued by the Met Office in the last twenty four hours, it is strongly recommended that you bring suitable clothing and footwear as well as the regulation sun screen, shorts and T-Shirts as is customary with this event just in case.

Santa Pod Raceway are holding a Run What You Brung tomorrow (Saturday) which then becomes the FastFest in the afternoon and into Sunday. Gates open for RWYB at 8:00 am tomorrow and for the FastFest at 12:00. Entry to the RWYB is £10 and £20 and the production of a valid DVLC licence will buy you as many runs as you can fit in. For more information about the RWYB check out www.rwyb.com and for the FastFest check out www.fastfest.co.uk.

Big CC Racing are organising a Super Street Bike Shootout at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Eurodragster.com is posting £50 for the #7 qualifier and we will be at Santa Pod to cover the Shootout live in association with American Car Imports. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will be on-line and will be broadcasting a picture every sixty seconds. You can access the Big CC SSB Shootout coverage index by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.


Web site updates.
29th June: German Supertwin racer Joacim 'Acka' Riemer has a new web site at www.hd-service.net. The excellent site features news, technical details about the bike, team page, sponsor page, racing calendar, photo gallery and more. The site is the work of Dirk Behlau at Pixeleye, one of Europe's leading drag racing web site designers. "Thanks to Dirk for the fantastic job", says team member Matthias Tobehn.
©Eurodragster.com
Slinky of the UK's 587racing.com Pro ET team has been in touch to let us know that he has relaunched UK Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost's web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk. "The site is now provides for easy updates, so all being well we'll keep a constant stream of information coming to the site (primarily through Frosty's Blog)", says Slinky. All of the popular RedVictor1Racing videos can now be easily accessed via the Videos section. Frosty is currently away at the King Of Europe. We’re in contact via text message and I'm updating as and when I get new information."


Hersland: This wasn't Chicken.
28th June: Danish Top Fuel Dragster racers Rene Hersland and Stig Neergard had a hairy moment in a match race at Vandel at the weekend when Stig's dragster crossed lanes in the second half of the track in front of Rene who was on the throttle at the time. Rene told us how the "Crazy race" looked and felt from his vantage point.

"I had very bad tyre shake, got out of the groove and pedalled", Rene told Eurodragster.com. "The car hooked up and went hard down the track. In the meantime Stig's car had hooked up, but lost traction after three hundred metres and at this point he was quite a bit ahead of me, because I had lifted first. Stig pedalled and got traction but then lost traction again. He pedalled one more time and lost traction again. On the second pedal he came into my lane, at this point I was making good speed because I had traction after I had pedalled.
©Eurodragster.com
"Even though my car was shaking a bit at this point I saw Stig come close to the centre line, and guessed he wasn't doing it for fun or playing Chicken so I lifted and pulled the chutes. Stig was quite close at this point, and he didn't dare to pull his chute because he was in my lane and didn't know where I was.

"No-one can say that we didn't do all we could to make a great race out of it."

Thanks to Stig for pointing us to a YouTube video of the race at
youtube.com/watch?v=P3YEleCH81o and you can find pictures from the Danish Midsummer Nats at www.streetfire.dk and sejrup.megapixel.dk/billeder/album/s1/i13945/l1.

Not Wild about the weather.
28th June: UK Super Comp racer Andy Williams and team took the Wild Child dragster to the weekend's Danish Midsummer Nats at Vandel only for rain to stop play after Andy had got through a round of eliminations.

"Full of enthusiasm on the first qualifying run on Friday, I did a crowd-pleaser of a burnout for over an eighth of a mile - much to the astonishment of the crew, especially my wife Maggie who had to run up the track after me!", says Andy. "At the end of day one we were qualified in second position. Saturday was sunshine and showers. We completed two runs which improved our time but not our placing.
©Eurodragster.com
"After successfully getting through round one, most of Sunday was interrupted by showers so we were called up twice for round two. In the end, forever hopeful, I thought I'd sit it out with the car (right, click on picture for large version). The sun came out, we were all strapped in, but then with only a few pairs to run the meeting was called. It could have been worse - Dave Cherrett and Lee Morris from Super Street were actually on the start line but didn't get to race."


Top Fuel in London.
28th June: After a rain-hit first round of the FIA European Championship left UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter in third place going into round two in Finland, fans will have a chance to see the Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster at the London Drag Racing Show on 7th-8th July, says PR Derek Todd:

The London Drag Racing Show will be held at the London Motor Museum in West Ruislip where the Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster will take pride of place. The car will come with the usual bunch of enthusiastic Lucas Oil super crew who will answer visitors' questions (within reason!).

Andy will of course be in Alastaro that weekend for the second round of the FIA Championship with the race car. Le'ts hope that the rain stays away and that Andy and the team can get the win we need to put us on our way to securing a third FIA European Championship.

Come on down to the show - there are at least three stations in Ruislip within a couple of miles of the Museum - support the team, and see a huge range of drag racing machinery. For further enquiries about the London Drag Racing Show please call 07821 139945, and for further enquiries about Lucas Oil please call 0808 100 3259.
©Eurodragster.com

Exit the gremlins.
28th June: UK Super Pro ET racer Adam Gleadow and the Motor Psycho team are aiming to put in some good times at this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.

"Timing gremlins, related to magneto clamps allowing the magneto to turn and therefore retard the timing, have prevented us making any representative passes so far this year", says Adam. "Darren and Garreth have been hard at work all week giving the car the attention it needed, freshening the engine, fitting a new billet mag clamp to prevent the magneto walking again, and changing the rear end ratio from 3.88 to 4.30 as we felt 3.88 was far too high geared for the set-up we have.
©Eurodragster.com
"Thanks go to Darren and Garreth for the work this week, also to Frank Bennett and Jeff Bull for their assistance and helping to supply parts. Hopefully with the problems rectified we'll have a dry weekend to get back on form."


Swift snippets.
28th June: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has forwarded us Version 2 of the official entry list for the Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod on 21st-22nd July. You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here. Tomorrow (Friday) is the official closing date for entry to the Bug Jam. Entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a one hundred per cent late entry penatly. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
©Eurodragster.com
Sweden's Anders Envall tells us that he has entered his nine-second street-legal Impala SS in Super Gas at next month's Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park. Bostic's Blackout Fullsize Racing web site at www.blackout.nu is one of the most consistently entertaining drag racing web sites out there and is well worth a look.


Another honour for BDRHoF members.
28th June: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in conjunction with main sponsor USAutomotive has designed and had produced a a one-off lapel pin which will be presented to each member of along with their "Bootsie" award.

The exclusive enamel pins (right, click on picture for large version), trimmed in gold with a hard epoxy finish and measuring 1¼" in diameter, have been custom made for the BDRHoF by Lapel Pins Express in Orlando, Florida USA.
©Eurodragster.com
"The pins allow our inductees to be identified as a member of this prestigious group of people whom Drag Racing has honored is respect of their service to our sport", says Stuart Bradbury. "If you meet someone with this pin on their lapel or race suit, you know that you are talking to a member of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame."

Picture courtesy and ©Ian Messenger


Stuart Douglas.
27th June: We were very sorry indeed to hear from Les and Lyn Harris that Stuart Douglas has died.

"Many racers will know Stuart and Annette Douglas from Shakespeare County Raceway", say Les and Lyn. "Stuart was always sat in his wheelchair next to the start line and Annette was pit runner for the cars and APIRA Treasurer for many years. They could always be seen in 'the cage' at Santa Pod whenever there was a meeting.

"It is with great sadness that we have to tell you that Stuart passed away in his sleep last night. Our thoughts are with Annette. Stuart will always be remembered with great affection. Annette has sponsored us for a number of years now she is 'Compupay' and both of them have supported us through many season. Our Love is with you always Stuart."

We're sure that everyone will join Les and Lyn in sending their deepest sympathies to Annette and to Stuart's family and friends.


Pat Ginn's funeral.
27th June: We have now received more details of Pat Ginn's funeral which takes place next Monday (2nd July).

All are invited to the funeral service which takes place at 1:15 pm next Monday at:

Waltham Abbey Church
Highbridge Street
Waltham Abbey
EN9 1DG

If you would like to follow the procession from Pat and TJ's house then it is recommended that you turn up for 12:00 pm at:

53 Beechfield Walk
Waltham Abbey
EN9 3AB

The cremation itself is private but everyone is invited to go straight to the wake after the service. This takes place at:

The Hollybush
140 High Road
Loughton
IG10 4BE

Pat stipulated smart-casual dress (no denims) for the funeral, and she asked that that no-one is to be sad.

If you would like to send flowers then Pat's favourite colour was blue and her favourite flower was Gerbera, and Pat was very specific that she did not want any lilies. If you would like to send flowers then please send them to Pat and TJ's home (address above) for 11:00 am.

If you would prefer to make a donation then please donate to the Pat Ginn Appeal and the money will be split between medical facilities for racers and Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett's appeal for the Macmillan Cancer Trust. The bank details for the Pat Ginn Appeal are as follow:

Bank: Barclays
Account name: The Pat Ginn Appeal
Sort code: 20-20-37
Account number is 23409724


UK National Championship points.
27th June: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for providing us with the post-SPRC Summernationals standings in the 2007 UK National Drag Racing Championships.
©Eurodragster.com
You can check out the UK National Championship points on our
Simpson Race Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Swift snippets.
27th June: Many thanks to Peter Ström for alerting us to the TV broadcast of the 2007 FIA Main Event on pan-European satellite channel Motors TV. The quickest way to check out the Motors TV broadcast schedule is by following the TV Coverage link on Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com. The FIA Main Event is also being broadcast on the UK's Channel 5; for broadcast schedules check out Channel 5's web site at www.channel5.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
27th June: The official web site of the UK's Pro ET class has been updated with a gallery of pictures from 2006 by German photographer Matthias Wienand. You can check out Matthias' great pictures at www.pro-et.co.uk/competitionpix.php.
©Eurodragster.com

Leindahl misses Nitro Nationals.
26th June: Swedish Pro Stock racer Tommy Leindahl has announced that he will have to sit out next month's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro due to damage suffered in a crash at the Deep Forest Nats at Sundsvall. Elin Ragnebro tells us that Tommy is quite OK but that the same cannot be said for his six-second Camaro.

"Last weekend the team attended the Pro Stock Shootout in Sundsvall and everything started off fine", says Elin. "Tommy was #1 qualifier with a new personal best of 6.927/320 km/h and 1.006 to sixty feet foot. The car was running straight and smooth until the final when it suddenly lost traction and the wall hard (see video of the run at
www.prostock.se ). Luckily Tommy got away with a concussion and some bruises and scratches, which is bad enough, but there was also the matter of the car.
©Eurodragster.com
"Most of the left side is crushed together, some parts more than others. The suspension on the left front side snapped so the tyre hung loose, the engine moved from its position and pretty much everything in between the tyre and the engine has to be replaced or repaired. Since the engine was not shut off until the car was more or less in the woods, it has to be opened and checked.

"Ironically, Brad from Reher Morrison called the day after to let Tommy know that the new engine was ready to ship. He was sad to hear what had happened, and is now holding the shipment of the engine to give the team time to order some body parts to go with it.

"This was an annoying setback for Leindahl Pro Stock Racing. Although everybody is doing their best there is not enough time to get everything ready for Finland, but we will surely be back on track for Veidec Festival at the end of July."


Bug Jam entry.
26th June: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us version 1 of the official entry list for the Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod on 21st-22nd July and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, VW Alternate Engine, Super Modified, Real Steel Street Eliminator and Outlaw Anglia. You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here.
©Eurodragster.com
This Friday, 29th June, is the official closing date for entry to the Bug Jam. Entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a one hundred per cent late entry penatly. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Junior Dragsters may enter the Bug Jam but please note that it is not a JD Championship round.


Swift snippets.
26th June: Bike racers from all over Europe are invited to the Finnish Drag Bike Association Speed Weekend which takes place at Alastaro on 14th-15th July. "We can expect the track to be in fantastic condition one week after the European Championship race" says Asko Määttä. FDBA Speed Weekend is a part of the Finnish Championship series and entry fees for foreign racers are €70 for Street Harley and Street Bike and €100 for all other classes. You can find out more in Finnish or English via the Calendar page at www.fhra.fi.

Racers attending the FHRA Nitro Nationals are invited to the first FHRA Nitro Nationals Golf Tournament which will take place at 17:30 next Thursday, 5th July, at the new Alastaro Golf Course. Forms of play will be individual seven hole Stroke Play, Scratch and Stableford over holes 10-15 and 18. An official handicap is required. Included in the entry are green fees, club facilities, dinner and shower and sauna. Non-playing guests can take advantage of golf instruction whilst the competition takes place. If you would like to register then please E-Mail the FHRA at [email protected], call +358 9 2515 250, or write to Tiilenvalajantie 6, 02330 Espoo, Finland by Monday 2nd July.

Frode Larsen tells us that Norwegian Supertwin racer Svein Olav Rolfstad fared well at his latest race on his American tour. You can read the latest direct from Svein Olav's pit at www.vgb.no/20180.
©Eurodragster.com
The post-Springspeed Festival points standings in the 2007 APIRA Championships have now been calculated and can be found on our Simpson Race Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

UK Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones has asked us to thank Mark Flavell and team for their kind hospitality at the weekend's Danish Midsummer Nats, and particularly Mally Rigg for the cooking. "The excellence of the sleeping quarters and the food was, unfortunately, not matched by the weather", says Syd. "I would also like to thank Dave Bryant of the Shockwave Funny Car team for the loan of a somewhat bruised TFX block which will allow Kev Cerusale of RCCS to continue building my new Super Pro ET dragster chassis."

If you tried to tune in yesterday morning you will have noticed that Eurodragster.com was offline for a couple of hours. We had a word with our ISP Selfnet and they told us that a disk drive failed. As our web server is in Ohio it was a lot earlier in the morning there and the Selfnet tecchies had to get out of bed in the very small hours to sort it out.

Suffering a continuing problem with web domains is Ian Turburville who tells us that turboville.com is temporarily out of service but that you can get his full web service from www.turboville.co.uk.


Web site updates.
26th June: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter's official web site at www.andycarter.net has been updated with a report of the Lucas Oil- and Landmeco-sponsored team's latest promotional appearances at the AACI Summernationals and the Jap Show at Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the Super Gas Champ series has been updated with results and pictures from the series' latest round which took place at the Danish Midsummer Nats at the weekend. Check it out at www.supergaschamp.com.

The Carolina Classics web site at www.carolinaclassics.co.uk has been updated with links to UK drag strips and a free advertisement service for car sales. Nigel taylor also tells us that CC are offering twenty per cent discount to all readers on in-stock service and repair items. For more details contact Nigel on 01264 321170 or via the web site.


Tribute page for Pat Ginn.
25th June: As promised we have now set up a page for tributes to Pat Ginn who died on Saturday. You can view the tribute page by
clicking here or by clicking on the Tributes to Pat Ginn link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
If you would like to send a tribute to Pat then please E-Mail it to [email protected].


The diet is working!
25th June: UK Supertwin Gas racer Chris Mott has had a great season so far, clocking Personal Bests on each outing and taking the win at the SPRC Summernationals. Chris tells us that a diet was the route to success:

Last year I decided that if I was going to get the V-Rod going quicker we needed to loose some weight. So over the winter I had Dave Branch build a new frame. This was finished a week before the Springspeed Nationals, so we had seven days to put the motor in, plumb it, paint it etc. Got the bike finished 2.30 am on the morning we were leaving for the race, although still in primer due to lack of time to get painted. We had a great result that weekend running a new Personal Best of 9.55 in the third qualifying round, which put me at #1. Unfortunately the rain came on Monday and we were unable to race.
©Eurodragster.com
Forward six weeks to last weekend and the Summernationals. I'd had time to get the bodywork painted, getting it back a couple of days before the event. Unfortunately it was another round affected by the rain, we didn't get to run on the Saturday and got a one shot qualifying run Sunday morning. And what a run, 9.25! Another three tenths off my PB, I was ecstatic. I'm still smiling now. This run put me at #1 qualifier and I was able to get through the first round and into the final where I raced Chris Stebbings, who was just a bit too quick on the light and pulled a red, luckily for me as that was my worst run of the weekend and it would have been very close. What a great weekend: a new PB and the win, it doesn't get much better.

A few thank yous: Gavin Cupit for all his help and hard work with building the bike and motor; Dave Branch for the great frame; Keith Baker at Classic Cycle Works for the great paint job at very short notice and his continued support; and Steve at Motorshack for the help with the race gas. A great job last weekend from all the track crew at Santa Pod who worked non stop on the track to get us racing, and thanks to everyone at Eurodragster for the great reporting (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Thanks to everyone in the Supertwins for their support and enthusiasm and keep an eye on the new ET class which was really well supported last weekend and will get bigger still. Last but not least a big thanks and a well done to my wife Yvonne. Thanks for all her hard work and understanding, and well done on her own diet - she has just lost four stone. So the diet is definitely working!


Stanley heads for a size zero.
25th June: Conrad Stanley and Trevor Graves of UK Super Gas and Junior Dragster team Panther Racing UK have been in touch to let us know that, whilst they would never consider bowing to the disturbing pressures and trends that run within today's modern fashion world, after the extremely close call against Jon Morton at the SPRC Summernationals Conrad is under strict instruction to drop a dress size or two.

The technical boffins behind the Panther Racing UK team have been hard at work with computer software, slide rules and calculators to determine just what is necessary to turn that 0.07-inch/1.7-millimetre difference into a win (see right for the difference in real terms). "If the paint on the Firebird had been a couple of coats thicker, maybe some more work from Emma in the polishing department, we're confident it would have made all the difference on the day", said Conrad Stanley.
©Eurodragster.com
Determined Crew Chief Trevor Graves added "Rather than re-spray the car, Conrad will be having one less beer in Jon's pit area of an evening. He'll be running around the streets of Chepstow instead, chasing chickens in alleyways, beating up sides of beef in the local Tesco and running up and down the steps of the local library with rousing music playing in the background with crowds of children in tow in an attempt to make that difference required to get that win."

"Our congratulations go to Jon and the team for their win", said Conrad. "It's what drag racing is all about and just goes to show that it's every aspect of any race that can make the difference. It's the burn out, the pre-stage, staging the cars, the reaction time and the run - they're all important. We mean business. Size zero here I come, Kate Moss eat your heart out."

A couple of days late but a very Happy Birthday for Saturday to the team's technical and IT adviser Wayne Graves. Hope you had a great day Wayne.


Norwegian Blue.
25th June: Jeff Rainbird says that the UK's Nova Blaze Sportsman ET team did not have a very good weekend at the SPRC Summernationals:

The Nova's engine is now dismantled. One split valve retainer, top end bore wear excessive, valves and guides worn out and one carb accelerator pump rod bent, but in great Python response it's just resting, nailed to the perch. A whole new rod and piston combination is being looked at which will toughen up the high rpm piston failure which the car has suffered in the past. Again these will be stock parts and this combination should see the car hit over ninety at the top end and the new combustion chamber shape will make the engine run stronger through the cam's range. The chassis and suspension will also be upgraded to make the car run more consistent.
©Eurodragster.com
Nova Blaze 2 was found to have a knackered distributor which has been holding back dial-in consistency, so this has to be addressed before the next event. Still on the upside the valve didn't drop and we're coming back stronger. Well done to Lee Huxley on a nice win and it was good to shoot some breeze with Dad.


Swift snippets.
25th June: Many thanks to David Powell for letting us know that UK Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woollatt's appearance at Motorcycle World at Beaulieu on Saturday was unfortunately curtailed by the rain. Not all was lost, though. "Some of the bikes were moved inside the Motor Museum and Steve's bike managed to get a spot at the front", says David.

Indian John of the Dutch Hot Rod Association has been in touch to invite racers to the Belgium Summer Nationals which takes place at Sint Truiden on 7th-8th July. For more details or to register check out the DHRA web site at www.dhra.nl, or click here for the event flyer.

One weekend before the race in Belgium, the third King of Europe is taking place at Kamien Slaski in Poland with one hundred racers from fifteen countries vying for the street-legal title. You can find out all about the event at www.streetracingmania.com/2007/koedrag.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Fuel Funny Car team Nobby Hills Racing have been invited to display the Houndog Fuel FC at at the Royal Sandringham Show on 25th July. "We believe that many members of the Royal Family will be in attendance so maybe we can run a logo 'By Royal Appointment' after the show!", says Chris Blows. "We expect this to be the last static show the car attends as the safety gear required to enable the car to be certified is expected any day now, so that first test run is getting ever closer. While the weather is not exactly seasonal, we can but hope it improves and to that end please don't forget we have some team T-Shirts for sale at www.nhracing.com."

Adam Charnley says that he will be running his Talon Legend at next weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals. The car has been painted (right) but Adam is looking for help for the finishing touch. "We are looking for a bit of pinstriping on the car so if anyone is attending the event and could do it on site and would like to use it as an advert, then please let me know at [email protected]. Well done to Turbo on the new PB, I'm glad to see the bike and rider are finally gelling and I can't think of anyone else who deserves good luck more than Ian."

Ian Turburville tells us that he is now selling deluxe racing picnic packs so that fans can sit on the bank or in the stands at the track and watch the action in luxury. For racers, uniforms have now moved into a new era and Turbo can now supply NHRA-type 'sublimation' shirts in small numbers. "These were previously only available to the Pro teams and you had to have a hundred shirts done at great expense! Check out the news at www.turboville.com/turbo-7/stop.htm and watch out for Team Turbo's wild new shirts at the next event."


Importing records at SCR.
25th June: At Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend, leading Front Wheel Drive import racer, CPL Racing’s Guy Chamberlain, stamped his authority all over the Jap Racer FWD class by breaking the ten second barrier not once but twice during round three of the Warwickshire drag strip's in-house series for Japanese imports, writes SCR’s Marketing Manager Jerry Cookson:

Although having to take it easy on first two attempts to bed in recent improvements, by the time Guy’s third run of the afternoon came along the CPL Racing Honda Civic wound up its 2.3 litre turbocharged engine to produce a stunning time of 10.999 taking both ends of the track’s class record - which stood at 11.1 - with a terminal speed of 137.56 mph.

And if that wasn’t enough, Guy’s fourth run of the day ninety minutes later produced an even quicker 10.976 coupled with a faster 137.73 mph terminal speed placing his name in the record books as the first ever Front Wheel Drive powered Honda Import overall to run into the tens in Europe, the UK and at Shakespeare County Raceway. From all at the Raceway well done.

Keith Cowie, the man behind RB Motorsports incredibly quick eight-second GT-R32 Skyline, last Sunday used Shakespeare County Raceway’s Shakespeed event as a rolling test in preparation for his attack on the Ten of the Best competition which he won several years ago at Elvington.

On the back of his 8.868 set the previous month at the Warwickshire drag strip, during his fourth run of the day Keith equalled his previous best with an 8.853 on street tyres, but it came at the expense of a split intercooler pipe at the top end. Was Keith down hearted? No, not in the slightest, specially as he had run an incredible 1.362 sixty foot time which was cited to Jerry as the quickest-ever for a UK based Japanese import racer. Both Tim Webster and Andy Barnes ran 1.4 sixty foot times during record breaking runs earlier this year.

Pictures courtesy and ©Rupert Barnes
©Eurodragster.com

Summernationals 9.50 Bike review.
25th June: We are indebted to UK 9.50 Bike racer Chris Jones for sending us his regular class review, this time from last week's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

There wasn't much to say about the previous round at Shakespeare County Raceway apart from "It rained"! From the onset of Friday afternoon it was looking like the Summernationals was going to be much of the same, though the guys upstairs eventually had enough of throwing down the wet stuff and come race day the sun did shine.

Friday's Peak Performance Day started dry and warm, just the ticket to get some last minute practice in. Shaun Spiers (Team Breakout) took full advantage. Like the 'other half' trying on dresses in the shopping centre; one minute he was trying on his 'Busa the next the Katana was out, finishing the day with a best 9.55/144. Chunk (Martin Walker of Team Hyena) was also out there getting to grips with his Busa, performing a little skyward action as the bike well and truly dug in off the line. Andy Haley was up on the Friday, put in a 10.12/137 experiencing some issues with a newly installed two-step that was eventually taken out of circuit. Carl Atkinson likewise had caught some of Andy's gremlins with his air shifter packing up, though Grumpy Watson intervened later in the event proceedings to sort it out. I myself managed only a couple of runs and chucked in a 9.7 and 9.8 respectively, though the clouds had gathered and decided to open up later in the afternoon: which put paid to that day.

Saturday, qualifying...chance would have been a fine thing, The track crew was busy, relentlessly arm-wrestling with the weather, ducks were enjoying the event, and we all battened down the hatches, or even donned scuba gear such were the torrents. Though the day was not totally without event, Boycie (Chris Reed, Team Hyena) for one took a walk through the deserted fun fair and met with an equally disgruntled punch bag machine. Not being one to take any stick and being an avid exponent of the ancient marshal art of Drunken Stupido (along with those famous words "Bet you can't do this") put in his money and set about the machine taking what can only be referred to as a cartoon athletics kick at the menacing and five feet in the air punchbag. A spin, a crash, even a yelp and lots of laughter and the bout was over. See right for what emerged Sunday morning - though the bleeding cuts cannot be seen - Boycie is at a loss to explain the tyre tracks up the front of his person (click on picture for large version). Feel free to send in captions.

We did at one point manage to get down to the line, but the showers returned. The decision was taken to call the day's event and go for a one shot qualifier the next day. On Sunday it was like walking out of the ark (Ollie of Team Breakout would know, he was there), the track crew had been hard at it since early doors. A massive well done to those guys for their hard work. So it was that we eventually got down to some racing.
©Eurodragster.com
Andy Burfitt took #1 qualifier position 9.56/146, coming into this round sixth in the UK Championship. Richard Sawatzki qualified #2 with a 9.57/141 in a Burfitt sandwich as dad Dave Burfitt hit #3 spot 9.59/142. Next up at #4 came 'Boss' Richard Hann 9.60/139, followed by John Kirby 9.61/146. I narrowly missed the top five with a 9.64/142. Notably 'Fast Harry' Julian Harris who came into this event #1 in the UK Championship qualified eighth with a 9.72/139. So the stage was set for the days racing.

Amongst the noteworthy exits were 'Fast Harry' Julian Harris who Red lit -0.259 against a seldom seen in 9.50 Bike Andrew Mansell. Andrew went on to race Steve Ashby in the second round. Steve rolled back out of stage just as the lights dropped, voiding his run and handing the win to Andrew. So on to the third round where Richard Hann took on Andrew's winning ways. The lights went and Andrew got the drop on Boss with a 0.076 reaction against Boss' 0.139, and took the win again, as Boss limped up the strip unable to change gear. It turned out that the chain on Boss' Bandit had sawn through the air shifter wiring. Andrew subsequently went out and put down the next six numbers at his local lottery shop (allegedly).

Meanwhile Andy Burfitt had taken out Greg Skett with a 9.70/135 to a 9.81/139, giving Andy a bye into the third round, seeing off John Kirby. I was chopping up the ladder on the other side, came up against Richard Sawatzki in the third round and although we both had 1.5 sixty foot times I caught him napping on the lights with a 0.077 to a 0.245 reaction and took the win. This had me up against Andrew Mansell and once the three prophets of doom had left my pits I took the win with a 0.048 reaction against a 0.101 and I was through to the final against Andrew Burfitt. A well done to Shaun Spiers too, having got through to the semis for the first time he had a cracking event.

So here I was, for the second time this year - ever, if the truth be known - but I was having a great time of it and looking forward to the race. Lane choice was made and in we went. Both pre-stage lights were lit for what seemed like an age, with neither racer wanting to go in first. I eventually got settled and moved up to full stage, followed by Andy not too long after. The lights dropped and we were off, not considering what was going on, the bike was away and straight, half track I took a look over my shoulder to See Andy some half dozen bike lengths behind. Unbeknown to me Andy had got the drop with a 0.09 to my 0.11 but had dug in and pulled up the front end allowing me to get away and off to the win. Slight confusion at the top end with the timing tickets was quickly cleared up (cheers Tog for spotting that one) and that was the event.

Despite the weather it was a cracking day's racing. It's getting very close at the top of the Championship with only three rounds to go. At this stage it's anyone's so should make for some great racing to come, as if it was anything else. See you all at Shakey for the next round.


Summernationals Pro ET review.
25th June: We are also indebted to Carla Pittau for forwarding us her report on the Pro ET action at the SPRC Summernationals:

We couldn't believe a third rainy meeting this year, what rotten luck, the second time I take the wheel too! So Saturday was quite miserable, although Pro ET was one of the lucky classes as at least we had one go on the track. The Santa Pod crew seemed to work even harder than usual - if that is possible - and the weather cruelly laughed at their brave efforts to get the racing going and again and again it turned on the wet stuff as soon as the track was dry. What can I say guys, if not a big thank you for not giving up.

So on the rainy day some impish genie was playing with Pro ET's normally incredibly close qualifying, so the whole field seemed to run unpredictably and slower than usual, with numbers that would be better not to disclose! The only unlucky DNQ at the Summernationals was the unfortunate Phil Toppin with his new ride Pony III, a 460 ci motivated Sierra, which was pushed back in the one shot qualifier and didn't get another opportunity to make a run. Heaven & Hell was running slower at the weekend and meagre consolation was gained by seeing that most everyone else was also off-beat. We also added another - thankfully minor - problem to the list of "Things to fix during the big gap in racing": a baffling smoky cloud which emerged from the loud pipes when we started the engine after warming up, which was puzzled out only after consulting Kenny Coleman of EDA who gave us the simple answer on a plate: oil was being sucked down through the rocker stud threads. Phew, an easy one for a change, and one that I wouldn't have thought of, thank you Kenny!

So the lukewarm qualifying and the surprising first round results started to reshuffle the championship hopefuls, with Steve Bolton in the lovely wheelstanding black Scamp qualifying bottom and going out in the first round with a red light, closely followed by #2 (yours truly) at the wheel of the Heaven & Hell Camaro, who snoozed on the line with a 0.09 reaction which Neil Hunter in the Mopar-motivated Capri obliterated with a 0.01 footbrake launch. Hey, if most other racers were a bit off, Neil for sure wasn't, my rotten luck to get the one who was fully awake and alert despite the night before! A good race to the top end which we unfortunately could not win, even avoiding a breakout by tapping the brakes and dumping him twenty feet before the line, but it quashed our hopes of getting to lead the points. Other first round upsets included Chris Hodgkins in the SBC-powered silver dragster, who fell prey to Paul Baynton's CAPRIcious blue ride, Paul as fully awake as Neil who prevailed with an 0.01 reaction. John Atkinson in the rapid blue Cortina pulled a cherry (an oh-so-close seven thousandths one!) against Mike Lacey, Nicky Frost in the gorgeous bright orange '67 Camaro who pulled a red against Gary Springford's returning Shogun which was running mid nines on half throttle and which Gary says he is still testing, the power potential being perhaps a tad greater than the car length can easily handle. Gary snoozed in the second round against Tig Napier.

It was great to welcome Tig and Cath Napier with their lovely purple Challenger sporting a brand new 572 ci engine. The Mopar mill has propelled the big street-legal 3800 lb Dodge to 9.94 during testing at Shakespeare County, and Cath was disappointed that it would only run ten-zeroes at Santa Pod. Tig had never raced at the Pod and the last time he was there was in 1994, but we hope he'll be back to play with us some more. The 10.00, however, were seriously consistent, and Tig used Cath's precise dial ins to go four rounds and to put away three of the Paul Marston Racing entries in the process - no mean feat - being finally defeated by Neil Hunter's Seven Year Itch Capri in the semis. Gino Bernardine's bright red Escort behaved herself for most of the meeting, the size of his engine surprising a few punters who couldn't believe a two-litre four pot could run mid to low nines. It was good to see him go a few rounds and to the semis too. Unfortunately he didn't get as far as the finish line in his fourth round against Keith Herbert, the car capriciously refusing to play and denying him a chance to fight for a place in the final.

Mike Lacey in the Metamorphosis Camaro did us all proud in Pro ET by organising a live band, The Hoggz, who lifted everyone's spirits by braving the rain and playing some great music on the Saturday night. After such a miserable, wet day, the band managed to cheer us all up with their humour and their skill. Drummin' Man Joe Kellett should also be commended for surprising us all with his drumming abilities, with Mustang Sally being much enjoyed by all. A considerable crowd, given the weather, gathered up around the band and everyone was bopping with their brollies despite the rain, and soon enough music and booze drowned our sorrows. Mike should seriously consider a career as event organiser, because if an evening where everything was against successful entertainment went as well as it did, well, I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to organise a piss-up at the International Convention of Teetotallers. A thank you to Carl Burton and Charlie Chivers too for helping to organise the financing by collecting donations and raffle tickets, there were a few cries of "Rigged!" when we collected our second prize (mind you, we bought a million tickets) but if it's any consolation drunken Rick grabbed the sherry bottle thinking he got hold of the Jim Beam...well, his mum will enjoy it! The raffle was a great success and together with the donations it covered the cost of the band with some surplus being set aside to go towards the Pro ET End of Season Bash.

Mike didn't just manage the Pro ET entertainment division though, he also found the time to go two rounds, putting away John Atkinson in the first and Liz Malcolm in the second, being stopped in the third by Neil Hunter in his march to the final. Ian Brown, busy as usual with his double entry also won two rounds, being stopped by his red light against the ineffable Keith Herbert also on his way to the final.

And so we get to our two finalists, Neil Hunter used his good RTs against Heaven & Hell in the first round, then grabbed a bye in the second, put Mike Lacey away in the third and stopped Tig Napier in the semis. Alas, Neil used the RT he should have gallantly used against me only in the final against Keith. As for Keith Herbert in the Hillingdon Speed and Spares Super Stock replica, he used the meeting to barge unannounced straight into #1 spot in the National Championship points, displacing Steve Bolton who dropped to #4. Not content with upsetting everybody, without any concern for other racers' hurt feelings, he decided to go for overkill, unashamedly qualifying number one with a staggering five hundredths off his dial-in (normally not even good enough to get you in the field) and then not satisfied with snatching the generous prize money and vouchers offered by the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme, he went for total overkill by also winning the meeting, defeating Neil in the final with a 0.11 reaction! I mean, the guy has no manners!

So Keith now holds the pole position in the National and in the money championship (SPRC), whilst Heaven & Hell hang on by the skin of their teeth to second place in both, and Paul Baynton and Carl Burton hold third place respectively, but it's real close and we'll have to work hard to stay there! Unofficial points standings have now been posted on the Heaven & Hell web site at www.heavenhellracing.com and will soon be posted on the Pro ET site at www.pro-et.co.uk but as always please refer to the official points standings when they are published on Eurodragster.com. Finally, a big thank you to the crew at Santa Pod, you're the best; to the Eurodragster crew, best place in cyberspace (Thanks - Ed); to the Pro ET Sponsors Inkwell Printers, Penn Autos, Sandy Scooters, A1 Motor Stores, WASP, Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Alley Jax, Motorshack, Hauser Race Cars, Real Steel ; to Mike Lacey, Carl Burton, Charlie Chivers and all in Pro ET, for making the class so brilliant to race in.
©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
25th June: Peter Donaldson has updated his Fotopic gallery with UK drag racing pictures from the early 1990s handed over by UK Pro ET racer Carl Burton. Peter would be pleased to hear from any reader who can confirm the photographer; you can check out the pictures at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net.
©Eurodragster.com
More historical pictures as well as shots from last week's SPRC Summernationals can be found on Paul's (of no surname) web site at www.dragcaranon.co.uk.

UK Real Steel Street Eliminator team Silver Fox Racing has a revamped web site courtesy of Chris Jackson and the latest update is a report from last week's SPRC Summernationals at which Ian Jackson took the class win. Check it out at www.silverfoxracing.org.uk.


Pat Ginn.
24th June: We are very sorry to have to announce that Pat Ginn died early last night (Saturday). Pat developed a brain tumour last year but stood up to it cheerfully, bravely and steadfastly for those thirteen months until it just became too much even for her strong character. Pat's partner TJ O'Brien told us that his princess died peacefully in his arms.

Pat was never happier than when she was at the track with TJ. She was deeply loved by the racing community especially on two wheels and loved them equally in return. "Have a good time all the time" could have been her life motto. As well as keeping TJ and his colleagues in check - which in itself was quite an achievement - Pat was always the first to offer help when anyone needed it. One example of this is after her collapse at the 2006 FIA Main Event when she was less concerned about herself than about Fred Furlong and Tog both of whom also ended up in hospital the same weekend. Even when the diagnosis turned out to be bad Pat remained remarkably upbeat and she managed to achieve a lot of ambitions in the time she had left.

We will shortly be setting up a tribute page for Pat; if you would like to send a tribute then please drop an E-Mail to
[email protected]. Matthew Wright tells us that the Pat Ginn Fund will continue for the time being and that any money donated will be put towards the new Medical Centre at Santa Pod Raceway to add to the burn unit which the Fund has already financed.

We will of course bring you Pat's funeral details as soon as we receive them. TJ has asked for time to grieve on his own so if you would like to offer help or support then please call Matthew Wright on 07980 211869.

We are sure that everyone will join us in sending our love and deepest sympathy to TJ, to Pat's sons Stephen and Richard, to Pat's parents, and to all of her family and friends. And don't you worry Pat, we will look after TJ and we will never forget you.


Danish Midsummer Nats coverage.
23rd June: Our colleagues at EurodragsterNorth.com are covering this weekend's Danish Midsummer Nats at Vandel Raceway in Denmark. Tezzii and the guys are posting qualifying and elimination details as well as end-day photo galleries.
©Eurodragster.com
You can stay in touch with all the latest from Vandel at
www.eurodragsternorth.com then click on Live.

Flynn's first last stand.
22nd June: UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com News sponsor
Gold RV says that it was great to get another Super Pro ET car into the sixes, which his new Top Methanol Dragster did on its last Super Pro ET outing at last weekend's SPRC Summernationals:

I would like to thank all my crew for getting us there, we have managed to trim at least 0.2 seconds off our new car's ETs at each outing, so if we carry on like this we should be in the fives by the European Finals next year. If only it was that easy!

We would also like to thank all the crew at Santa Pod for the excellent work they did in getting us a run at all on Saturday, especially as it turned out this was our last and only run, but we were very happy with it, after dialling in a 6.8 we then broke out with a 6.796.
©Eurodragster.com
Thanks also to everyone in Super Pro who have made us feel so welcome, we now have so many great friends in this class and we are a little sad to be leaving, but if they change the rules on screw blowers then as Arnie says I will be back. We had a goodbye Super Pro ET barbecue on the Saturday night and I would like to thank all those who attended, despite the adverse weather conditions, and a huge thanks to Dave and Pam who fed and watered over forty people that night.

Unfortunately our Super Pro ET exit did not quite go as planned. I have thought long and hard how to best describe our exit and whilst I do feel quite strongly that the situation has to be explained, mainly so that this sort of thing does not happen again, as it results in engine damage and also slows up events, but perhaps my views should not be aired here so if you would like our full report please go to our racing web site at www.goldrvracing.co.uk/news/news_220607.htm. Congratulations to our good mates Steve and Pat Johnson on the event win, the old guy has still got lightning (And expensive - Ed) reactions, and can run consistently quick numbers too. In one of the best finals I have seen in Super Pro ET, Steve won by a matter of inches.


Swift snippets.
22nd June: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has beein in touch to remind racers that next Friday, 29th June, is the official closing date for entry to the Bug Jam which takes place at Santa Pod on 21st-22nd July and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, VW Alternate Engine, Super Modified, Real Steel Street Eliminator and Outlaw Anglia. Junior Dragsters may also enter the event but the Bug Jam is not a Championship round for this class. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
©Eurodragster.com

HSE news release.
22nd June: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced today that it has concluded its investigation into television presenter Richard Hammond's high-speed crash last September. The investigation identifies omissions by two of the parties involved, but finds no grounds for prosecution.

The crash occurred on 20 September 2006 while Mr Hammond was driving the Vampire, a jet powered modified drag racer at Elvington airfield, near York, during filming for BBC TV's Top Gear programme. The car was owned by Northants-based Primetime Landspeed Engineering (PTLE), who also provided Mr Hammond's training.

The immediate cause of the accident was a catastrophic failure of the Vampire's front offside tyre at 288 mph on the seventh high-speed run of the day. Examination of this tyre and video footage showed that the tyre was damaged, as a result of an object (or objects) having entered the sidewall immediately adjacent to the edge of the tread, during the latter part of the previous run. A blister was visible in the tyre's outer side but this appears to have subsided and was not apparent immediately before the final run commenced.

HSE's investigation team pursued three lines of enquiry: the planning and preparation undertaken by the BBC and PTLE, the training given to Richard Hammond, and a technical examination of the vehicle and its tyres. HSE acknowledges the assistance provided by the BBC and PTLE during this investigation, and the support provided by North Yorkshire Police.

The investigation used evidence from the BBC's filming of the day, up to and including the accident, and telemetry data recorded as part of the filming. Specialist evidence was obtained from within HSE on ergonomic issues, from the Transport Research Laboratory Ltd on the tyres, and from North Yorkshire Police on the vehicle and crash scene.

Principal Inspector Keith King, who led HSE team, said: "The investigation identified several safety features, which in combination, almost certainly saved Mr Hammond's life. These included: the structural integrity of the Vampire, which survived the crash intact; the design of the driver restraint arrangements; the crash helmet selected and the emergency rescue services on site at the airfield. Other precautions adopted included the decision not to deploy camera crews along the margins of the runway.

"The investigation also identified failings in the BBC's safety management systems relating to risk assessment and the procurement of services from others, and by PTLE in their risk assessment for the services they provided to the BBC at Elvington. These failings and other recommendations are being pursued with the two parties involved. However, when viewed against HSE's enforcement criteria, none of these failings merit prosecution."

The investigation has identified wider issues for the broadcast industry about the preparation and training of presenters for such activities. HSE is passing these findings on to the Joint Advisory Committee for Entertainment.

A detailed summary of the investigation is available on HSE's web site at www.hse.gov.uk/foi/releases/richardhammond.pdf.

HSE's enforcement criteria are available at www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/emm.pdf.

Eurodragster.com asked the BBC for their comments about the HSE report and we received the following statement:

"We have received the HSE's report and will be considering it with great care.

"The BBC's own internal investigation process is nearing conclusion and we will be publishing the recommendations of that investigation shortly.

"The BBC places the highest priority on safety. We intend to ensure that all the lessons learned from both the HSE report and the BBC's own internal investigation are applied across the whole of the BBC production community as soon as possible."

Tim English of the BBC Press Office told us that the BBC's own internal report, which is more or less a mirror image of the HSE report, has to be put before the BBC Board and should be published very shortly.
©Eurodragster.com

PrimeTime response to HSE release.
22nd June: We have received the following response from Colin Fallows and Mark Newby of PrimeTime Landspeed Engineering, together with their official press statement:

"As you can see our high standards of driver training and the integrity of our engineering have been acknowledged by the HSE in their report. We will ensure that Julian and Roy Webb, the new owners of Split Second receive an equally high standard of training from us and we are looking forward to working with them.

"On a more cautionary note we strongly advise any newcomers to jet car operations to ensure that they also learn from the HSE report and ensure that:
  • Their equipment is appropriate
  • Their Risk Assessment for various activities that they undertake is in place and updated as required on an ongoing basis
  • They can provide proof of having had professional instruction
Experienced operators can also learn from the events of recent months and we know that as professionals they will be keen embrace the recommendations made in the HSE report.

"We believe that it goes without saying that any further reportable incidents involving jet cars may attract a higher than normal amount of attention from the HSE.

"On a wider front, we hope that our experience might assist the drag racing community at large, and will be pleased to share with any interested parties what we consider to be the key elements which we have ourselves discovered as a result of this near-tragedy.

"Finally, we do recommend that any racers in or on any type of machine who are invited to undertake activities with their vehicles which might be outside drag racing at an approved MSA sanctioned facility, do so with the utmost of caution."
©Eurodragster.com
PRIMETIME LANDSPEED ENGINEERING STATEMENT ABOUT THE HSE REPORT ON THE TOP GEAR VAMPIRE CRASH

Vampire was one of a pair of jet dragsters operated by PrimeTime Land Speed Engineering whose principals are Colin Fallows and Mark Newby. In July 2000 Colin Fallows set the current Outright British Land Speed Record in Vampire at an average speed of 300.3 mph.

In July 2006, Colin Fallows posted an average speed of 310 mph in Vampire and Mark Newby posted an average speed of 339 mph in the team's other jet dragster Split Second at an official record-setting event in the UK.

In both cases the times/speeds were officially recorded by the governing body of motorsports, the Motorsports Association. Each car posted a terminal speed considerably in excess of its average: in the case of Vampire, over 330 mph and in the case of Split Second over 350 mph.

Ignoring their previous drag racing experience in the world's most powerful piston-powered vehicles, between them the team partners Colin Fallows and Mark Newby are the most experienced jet dragster operators outside the USA, and have more than thirty seven years and 3,000 accident-free jet car runs between them.

The team had successfully and safely trained ten other drivers to drive Vampire, amongst them a salesman, an energy consultant, a seventeen year old, a housewife and a professional motoring journalist.

The team's experience, standards of operational excellence and unrivalled safety record are sufficiently high for them to have been approved at the highest levels within the MoD, the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force to perform with their cars on one of NATO's key European assets, the runway at RAF Fairford, just weeks before the Top Gear crash.

All of the team cars are designed, built, maintained and constantly updated to embrace or exceed all current standards and recommendations for operational use. Not one of them has ever failed to pass scrutineering by the Motorsports Association, nor have any of them ever needed to have rectification work of any kind performed in order to pass these inspections.

The team's reputation for putting safety first is well known in drag racing, airshow and speed record breaking circles. The safety of the driver, team members and the general public has always been the primary concern of the team. Both team principals have aviation backgrounds and the disciplines employed in the operation of their cars are just as rigorous as those they have embraced throughout their equally safe and accident-free aviation careers.

It is this self-imposed discipline and attention to training, detail and constant learning which has allowed them to perform more than 3,000 runs in their jet dragsters without an accident.

The safe operation of jet dragsters requires that all drivers remain within the briefed operating parameters at all times. Because of the rate of acceleration and high terminal speeds involved, any deviation from the required operating procedures will be penalised instantly and often without hope of recovery. These are almost certainly the most unforgiving cars in motorsport and are intolerant of the slightest mishandling.

Comments on the HSE Draft Report

The HSE report represents a thorough investigation into a high speed incident. It contains some errors, and completely omits some matters. Our view is that, whilst not being perfect it is a fair view of the events of the 20 September 2006. The HSE have reported on an accident which took place in a very specialist area, and there are no independent experts with relevant experience of such high speed events available to assist. We will discuss with the HSE what we view as the controversial aspects of the report. The report draws no conclusion as to blame for the accident, and we concur. It is for others, in a different forum, to interpret the report and other evidence to apportion blame.

The report confirms the high standards of driver training provided by the team, evidenced by comments made to the HSE by both the BBC's driver and a professional motoring journalist who was also trained to drive Vampire.

The report accepts Primetime's tyre selection and finds the type of tyre used on Vampire suitable for Elvington.

The tyres were bought new not long before the crash. The rear tyres fitted at the time of the crash had just two high-speed passes on them and the two front tyres had no passes on them prior to the crash date. The suppliers did not indicate the date of manufacture to PrimeTime.

The report mentions that the track was inspected and cleaned prior to the commencement of filming, but does not mention that the track was also inspected and cleaned again prior to every run the car made on the day.

The report commends the design, construction and maintenance of the car as being key elements in assuring the drivers survival of the highest-speed crash ever seen in Europe.

Although the report mentions a pre-event visit to the Primetime workshops by a colleague of the BBC's driver, it does not state that the person who visited on behalf of the driver was actually present on site at the filming day itself.

The report states that it takes longer than 0.4 seconds for the driver to remove the right hand from the steering wheel and move the parachute lever to its 'fully back' (i.e. deployed) position. We can prove that it can be done in this time.

The report confirms that when the tyre blew, the BBC's driver made no attempt to reach for the parachute lever with his right hand, employing it instead to steer into the skid.

The report confirms that when the tyre blew, the BBC's driver applied braking.

The report states that the driver's "Instantaneous reaction to the tyre blow-out seems to have been that of a competent high-performance car driver, namely to brake and try to steer into the skid".

The report confirms that the BBC film crew removed their apparatus immediately following the removal of the driver from the wreckage.

Summary

The HSE's recommendations to Primetime have been noted and will be actioned accordingly. Being of an administrative nature, none of their recommendations impact upon the causes of the accident.

We are sure that the BBC will respond positively to the relevant criticisms and recommendations contained in the report.

The BBC's driver had showed an above average ability to learn how to drive a type of car which is totally unforgiving. We were satisfied with his progress, encouraged by his obvious desire to be as professional as he possibly could, and pleased to see him respond so positively to the established training procedures. That is why, under our tutelage, he was able to run a peak speed of 314 mph.

It is regrettable that a previously unheard-of type of tyre damage subsequently occurred and that this triggered the most awful episode in the lives of all concerned.

PrimeTime still remain uncompensated for the loss of an Iconic vehicle, which had been lovingly cherished by the same hands for twenty five years, and which still holds the outright British Land Speed Record.

The report reveals lessons to be learned by all, and we are delighted to see that the BBC's driver appears to have made a complete recovery. We wish him and his family well.


Nostalgia Nationals smoking ban.
21st June: Alan Martin has been in touch to remind those attending next weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway that the ban on smoking in enclosed public places comes into force during the event which takes place on 30th June-1st July:

For us, this means that the ban will have to be implemented at midnight on the Saturday of the Nostalgia Since it will be damn nigh impossible for either Shakespeare County Raceway staff, Security or NSRA officials to force people to stub out as the clock strikes twelve (OK, let's be honest, nobody wants a smack on the nose!), all enclosed areas will be the subject of a smoking ban from when the gates open on Friday.

This will include the bar/clubhouse, marquee, toilets, pit control, Race Control, press office and VIP area. Smoking is already prohibited on the track and in the staging lanes. Everyone's cooperation would be appreciated as, speaking as the promoters of the event, the implications for the track are very clear. Failure to enforce the ban could lead to the prosecution of the promoter. A successful prosecution could result in a fine of up to £2500 for each breach of the ban!

Put simply, ten people smoking after midnight could cost the track £25000 and I think we all know where that could lead. Thank you for your help.
©Eurodragster.com

Mort on a winning streak.
21st June: SPRC Summernationals Super Gas winner Jon Morton has been in touch to thank all of those who have helped him.

"I'd like to thank Dan for putting all the right settings in the car and also Marci, Heide, Leanne, Chris, Nobby, Chalk and Jeanette for all their hard work and support at the track", said Mort. "A big thank you also to Glen at Protek Engineering in Wallingford and Paul and Glenn at Gurneys Vauxhall Benson for thri continued support which is more appreciated than they know.

"Thanks to Jeff Bull for a great engine, Andy Robinson for a great car, and Mickey Thompson for really consistent tyres.
©Eurodragster.com
"Finally I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all the teams in Super Gas and Super Comp who have made us so welcome since we went on to four wheels, a nicer bunch of people you couldn't find. And a big well done to all of the Santa Pod crew for getting the meeting finished."

Mort was too modest to put this in his news item but an interesting factoid is that one way or another he has not lost a round of Super Gas since last September, since he won the class at the 2006 FIA European Finals, was rained out at the UK National Finals, won Super Gas at the 2007 Easter Thunderball, was rained out at the Springspeed Festival and the FIA Main Event, and won Super Gas at the SPRC Summernationals.


Swift snippets.
21st June: Further to
Tuesday's news item about the Xtreme altered, Lee Pike has been in touch to let us know that he and Jerry Denning will also be appearing at the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield with the Honky Tonkin' Gasser. "We have an eleven-strong crew to cope with all the excitement", says Lee. "Flights, shipping and logistics on the other side are now almost complete. Roll on October! We would like to thank So Cal (John Reid), Tony Thacker, Steve Gibbs and Julian Balm for all their efforts to make this possible. We will also have Honky Tonkin' T-Shirts with a Chris Frogget design out soon."

We were very pleased to hear from Peter and Sören Svensson that Sweden's Billet Racing team is to return to Top Fuel Bike competition after a break of nine years. "Our last race was at Indianapolis 1998 and our first test this year will be at Meca Raceway in Malmö on the 7th July", says Sören Svensson. "This year we will be racing at the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park followed by the Drag Challenge at Gardemoen on 2nd-5th August. Our bike has gone through a big update to be competitive in UEM Top Fuel Bike and will hopefully run strong after some adjustments at the tracks."
©Eurodragster.com
Gary Page had a lot of fun driving the Chaos Fuel Altered at the weekend's SPRC Summernationals. "It was nice to be back driving and to know that I can still do it", said Gary. "It was a bit different driving round from the collection area because the cars I've driven most recently line up behind the start line. Chaos is a nice car and it is going to go quick. It's a shame we missed out on Saturday because of the rain but we set a new sixty and 330 foot best on Sunday. I'd like to thank Laurie, John and Lesley and all the team for a good weekend."

The next outing for Chaos is at next week's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and taking the wheel at the event will be Nick Davies of Eurodragster.com Main Sponsor ICE Automotive. Nick has six-second altered experience from the Havoc blown-alcohol altered but told us that he has always wanted to drive a nitro car. "This will be a one-off and I am very grateful to Lawrie and the team for the fantastic opportunity", said Nick. "We have been asked to get Havoc back out for the FIA European Finals."

We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod 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.

Luke, Adam and Amy Bennett have asked us to say a very Happry 27th Wedding Anniversary to their parents Frank and Louise Bennett. No sooner said than done, guys, have a great day Frank and Louise.


We are the mods.
21st June: The first ever Shakespeare County Raceway Race Wars event for modded motors took place in perfect sunny conditions on Saturday during the Warwickshire-based drag strip's Shakespeed '07 event, writes SCR's PR Jerry Cookson.

Organised by S&G Racing, the day's competition was made up of six categories sub-divided by engine capacity and power adders. Making sure that the 1.4 to 2.0 turbo category was his right from the start was Mickey Finn driving a 2.0 Subaru Impreza turbo wagon but running him to a close second was Chink (right, picture courtesy and ©Rupert Barnes) with his Rallyart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 which pounded the asphalt in 14.212 to the Scooby's 14.032.

Taking the Non Turbo 1.4 to 2.0 category was Ashley Smith in his street sleeper 1.8 Rover Metro with an ET of 14.597 against a 14.806 registered by Darren Blaster's Mk5 Escort RS2000. Winner in the Non Turbo two-litre category was Ashley Manton driving a fourteen-second Honda Civic Type R while the up to 1.4 turbo class was all about Adrian Fletcher's Renault Clio turbo with an ET of 13.919 at 102.36 mph, and all from 1327cc! Winner in the over two litre turbo category was Anthony Clee in a twin turbocharged three-litre Mitsubishi GTO with a time of 14.528.
©Eurodragster.com

Magazine update.
21st June: Drag racing fans hungry for some late-night reading can do no better then to pick up a copy of the July issue of American Car World magazine, writes Jerry Cookson:

This month editor Richard Nicholls features Wayne Hiscock's unique Super Pro '71 Chevrolet Chevelle in all its glory plus a full round-up report from the opening round of the Real Steel Street Eliminator at Santa Pod Raceway. Other features include Steve Bolton's US muscle car, a look behind the scenes of USAutomotive, the AACI Spring Nationals, and a very rapid G-Force Cuda. American Car World is available at all leading newsagents priced £3.60.

Photographed at Shakespeare County Raceway's April Public Track Day, 4x4 magazine features a drag racing shoot-out between a couple of off-road hot rods, a Porsche Cayenne and a Range Rover Sport. We won't tell you who won the duel or the verdict on the two vehicles chosen, other than to say "Pick up a copy of the magazine".
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
21st June: As promised our Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has updated his Fotopic gallery site with pictures from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Peter's update includes a sequence of Steve Nash's incredible triple wheelie and you can check it all out at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net.

In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon describes the arrangements which have to be made to get the MPM Top Fuel operation to Alastaro and back. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
Our very own Photo Editor Roger, or more accurately his SPRC Summernationals report, is currently starring both on the US Competition Plus web site at www.competitionplus.com and on Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com.

Back to Fotopic galleries and Richard Smith has updated his gallery with shots from the Ultimate Road Car Challenge at York Raceway. "The latest round of the American Super Stock series was won by Al Platt in his Camaro, who is now gaining on current points leader Lee 'Cookie' Chiles", says Richard. You can check out Richard's pictures at richardsmith.fotopic.net.


A hard death at the Fairplex.
21st June: As the 2007 Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals ran its successful course in early February at the famed Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California, little was known by both racer and fan alike, that on another part of the immense Pomona Fairplex, a high budget movie was being shot. Drag racing photo-journalists Andy Willsheer and our own Roger Gorringe were handily placed when invited along to the outside set being used for the film Live Free or Die Hard (otherwise known as Die Hard 4) staring Bruce Willis, due for release on 4th July by 20th Century Fox.
©Eurodragster.com
The main set featured a $1.3-million, specially-built freeway ramp that was being 'wrecked' by both an earthquake and an F-35 vertical take-off fighter jet chasing after a shot-up truck (click on picture at right for another, larger shot).

By way of a blue screen behind and 'movie magic' the few seconds' scene will be seen by audiences entirely at another angle. It was an interesting diversion from the nearby straight-line action and with the movie shortly coming to your local cinema the pictures can now be shown.


Productive PMR.
21st June: Paul Marston Racing had a most productive and successful outing at the SPRC Summernationals, says Paul Marston, but Paul and the team would like to start with a vote of thanks:

We would like to express our thanks and gratitude to all the Santa Pod track crew who never gave up and got the job done. The weather has certainly played its part this season and without the hard work and dedication of Darren Prentice, Ian Marshall, John Cross, the startline crew, fire crew - the list goes on - the event would not have happened.

Paul Marston Racing, fielding five entries for the Summer Nationals, had plenty to celebrate. Firstly Gary Springford had another outing in the Hulk Shogun, ably supported by Dave Catton wearing an Incredible Hulk fancy dress costume (that was a costume? - Ed). This was quite a revelation as we always had DC pencilled in as a quiet retiring, responsible type, after all he is a senior airline pilot. Obviously painting himself in green paint has a strange effect, similar to that of the Hulk! On seeing a Hulk sitting in Hulk Shogun Drag Race Engineering proprietor Gary Springford was for once speechless. We are still not sure if it was because Dave Catton was dressed like the Hulk or the fact that he had hair! Gary capped his weekend with a still untested race car by going two rounds in Pro ET.

Steve Bolton had one of those weekends, with a new transbrake button fitted to his Plymouth Scamp. A small mistake with the button gave Steve a red light in the first round, which did nothing to help his points tally in Pro ET as prior to the event Steve was leading the National Championship. We will just have to wait and see how bad the damage is. Steve, ever the sportsman, took it on the chin and is looking forward to the next event.

Tethys in the Ugly Stick dragster fared about the same, electing to run just one class at the Summernationals. The dragster was awesome, but after an unusually slow reaction time, Tethys day was done in the first round of Super Comp. Disappointing but Super class racing in the UK has evolved and become so competitive that a small mistake on the start often leads to an unrecoverable position, better luck next time my friend.

Mick Howling, driving Grumpy's Dodge enjoyed success double classing in Super Gas and Pro ET. In Super Gas Mick went two rounds, taking the win in round one against Steve Wells then bowing out in the second to a resurgent Brendan Clancy, in a classic Super Gas doorslammer match-up. Mick went even further in Pro ET taking out Darren Hulkes in his beautiful Blown Camaro in round one, Carl Burton in the English Rose Sierra in round two and finally falling in the third round to a peculiar start line occurrence which gave Mick a cherry and his day was done.

I stood in for usual Whoopass Monza driver Dave Catton, who was busy Hulking it up. I double-classed in Pro ET and Super Gas, the same as Mick. One-shot qualifying actually suited me as I have not driven the Whoopass Monza for nearly a year and not competed in Super Gas for nearly eight years, it made it a drivers race in both classes. Super Gas was great fun, it's a real tough class and always has been. I got a bit lucky and got to the semi finals with the car finally behaving itself and starting to show its true potential. I was more than happy with the performance of the Monza, we now have a firm handle on it and the sixty foot times were comparable with Grumpy's Dodge for consistency. In Pro ET I went to the Quarter Finals and succumbed to one of those nasty red lights, every racer hates them. This one was entirely my fault: I was just a little too keen, shame really as I thought I had my best chance in Pro ET and the one-shot qualifying worked against me in this case. It's a very fast-reacting car and I just had not had time to pick my spot on the Tree, on my qualifier the motor stumbled going on the chip so my reaction was 1.2 seconds! In the first two rounds of elimination in Pro ET my lights were way slow, I knew I had to tighten up, so I took a shot and it was too much. But with the kind of success we had over the weekend I really could not complain.

So now it's the Summer break, all efforts are now on the Calibra in preparation for Bug Jam and its entry into the Super Modified wars. It's currently in the Drag Race Engineering workshops ready for its upgrades and tagging for Super Modified.

As ever a big thanks to all the hard-working Paul Marston Racing Crew. Without you guys it simply could not work, especially Lizz McCarthy who crewed until she had to leave for her flight to Ireland on Saturday, and Drag Race School driver-in-training Simon who was on video camera duties all weekend. Special thanks to Tony Morris over in Orlando Florida for tuning and settings advice over the weekend, especially the help he has given Tethys with the dragster set-up. Thanks to our sponsors Drag Race Engineering, CTM Performance and Machine, Black Box, London Road Tyres, JW Performance, BLP and all the others, plus all the fans who stopped by to say hi over the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Truck Show press release.
21st June: Entertainment at the forthcoming UK Truck Show includes the return of the mighty BTRA Sprint Cup, featuring race truck drag racing action over 100 mph.

Up to twenty British Truck Racing Association teams will compete at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July. Weighing in at around six tonnes, these trucks perform spectacular wheel-spinning burnouts, and can accelerate faster than a Porsche 911.

The UK Truck Show is an ideal introduction to the famous home of European drag racing for any first-time Santa Pod visitors. Unlike dedicated drag racing meetings, in the event of wet weather, there will still be plenty of action and entertainment for all ages.

Entertainment includes the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight with the historical Lancaster Bomber and Spitfire planes, car-crushing monster-trucks Slingshot and Podzilla in action, 300 mph Jet Car Fireforce, Crash Rescue recovery show and lots more.

Other attractions include a funfair and plenty of trade stands for all ages. For show information see the official web site at www.uktruckshow.co.uk or call organisers Event Developments Ltd on 01775 723723.

Ex-Boyzone TV star Shane Lynch will be appearing at the event on the Sunday to meet fans and sign autographs. Shane has a passion for motorsport, and is also an accomplished racing driver in the British GT Championships.

Hundreds of the best trucks in the UK will be on show at the event, competing in the National Show Truck Championships. The winner will receive a monumental trophy at the show and will feature within Trucking magazine. Entry is just £30 per truck but must be booked in advance to be eligible for judging by the panel of experts at the show. Vans and other light commercial vehicles are also permitted.

Admission is just £10 for adults and £5 for children (ages 5-15), with under fives free. Discounted tickets are available in advance (24-hour day ticket hotline 0870 0603798). Car parking is free and gates open at 9:00 am each day. Family camping is also available, call for details.

You can get a preview of the racing truck action at next week's Fast Fest at Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
Blessing for Pat and TJ.
20th June: If you are a regular reader of Eurodragster.com news then you will recall that Pat Ginn and TJ O'Brien have been planning to marry. The wedding was planned for Monday of this week at Pat and TJ's home, but due to Pat's deteriorating condition the marriage ceremony itself could not be performed. However Pat and TJ's wedding rings were blessed by Gretchen and Janet of Epping Registry Office in a ceremony attended by
family and friends. Matthew Wright was asked by TJ to be his best man and asked us to say a big Thank You for the honour. "I was very shocked to be asked", said Matthew. "It was a pleasure and a privilege to be TJ's Best Man". We are sure that everyone will join us in sending their continued love and best wishes to Pat and TJ.
©Eurodragster.com
Pat has asked that some of the money collected for the Pat Ginn Fund be put towards a piece of equipment for the Medical Centre at Santa Pod Raceway. After consultation with Roy and Anita Human of Human Touch, the company which provides medical services to SPR, a new burn unit has been ordered and will be installed in the Medical Centre. We will bring you more news about this when the unit is in place.


Flamholc into the sixes.
20th June: Congratulations to Swedish Pro Stock racer Adam Flamholc and the MMR/Glue Harbor team of Michael Carlsson, Robert Brodén, Johan Pripp, Fredrik Åkesson and Daniel Ambryszewski on their first six-second pass which Adam recorded at the Deep Forest Nats at Sundsvall at the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"We managed to pull off the much-wanted six second run after a long trip to the northern part of Sweden and a lot of work around the clock", says Adam. "It was a 6.94/198 run even though the car isn't yet working perfectly. This put us number four in qualifying. We managed to win in the first round, but were defeated by Tommy Leindahl in the semi finals.

All things considered we are satisfied with the weekend, and we are looking forward with confidence to the next race in Finland. Thanks to Chester Houghtaling at Progressive Performance and to Steve Schmidt at Steve Schmidt Racing."


A baptism of water.
20th June: If you were tuned in to Monday's news update you will recall that Robin Shone was Race Director at the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Robin has been in touch to give us his thoughts about the weekend and to thank those who helped:

I was eagerly looking forward to my first event as Race Director, however monitoring the weather forecasts leading up to the event I wasn't certain that I would oversee much racing action. For a change, the forecasts proved to be accurate and Saturday became a long and frustrating day for most people at Santa Pod.

I think it is appropriate at this point to thank all of the Track Crew who worked so tirelessly on Saturday to try and get the track in a go condition. There were people drying the track from 05:30 until I called it a day at 18:00, and during that period I cannot think of a time when there wasn't a sweeper, tractor or jet dryer doing laps. To all of the crew, a massive thank you for your efforts.

It was then time for me to make my first difficult decision of my Race Directing career; do I go for emergency qualifying or stick a one-shot qualifier in the next morning's running order? Remembering the weather forecast for Sunday and knowing the calibre of both racers and track crew alike, I knew we had a good chance of effectively getting the race meeting completed in just one day.
©Eurodragster.com
This is where I would like to say my second thank you. To all of the racers and crews who attended the Summer Nationals event, thank you for your ready-to-race attitude and rapid turn rounds during what was a hectic Sunday. We pushed through some 350 pairs in just over eight hours of racing, something that could not have been achieved if you hadn't been as prepared as you all were.

The day ran through relatively smoothly with few incidents of note, whilst I tried to put into practice what I had learned over the last three years. It was whilst completing my duties of the day that I came across an issue that made me start writing this review. Whilst signing off several competitors' MSA licences for upgrades, it became apparent that the paper counter part that records the Race Director's signature is now located within the MSA Competitors' Yearbook as a tear-out card. Can I remind any drivers that when completing observed runs in the future they will need to present this card for signing and that without it the Race Director will not be able to endorse you licence.

And so that was the SPRC Summernationals. My first event as Race Director completed with all the help that you would expect from our drag racing community. I'll be handing the reins back over to Darren Prentice for the FIA European Finals but will be back in the 'hot seat' for the UK National Finals at Santa Pod - see you there!


Why Craig went after Mum.
20th June: UK Super Modified racer Craig Gibbs has been in touch to explain what happened during qualifying at the weekend when he appeared to try to run mum Tina over on his way towards staging and then suffered a nitrous burp.

"Basically the nitrous throttle microswitch was stuck in the open position", says Craig. "After we had done our burnout and gone through the normal routine, I started to creep forward to go to the line. I did my usual thing and armed the nitrous system, only to find that the solenoids were wide open because of the microswitch, which then dumped nitrous into the engine where at that point it shouldn't have been, which is why you saw the car suddenly move forward quickly. Unfortunately even though I was pushing the foot brake as hard as I could and pulling back on the throttle pedal (thinking the throttle was jammed) I couldn't get the car to stop, so I killed the ignition, and it was then that it went pop due to the nitrous still going in.
©Eurodragster.com
"On Obsession we run two separate fuel systems, one for the carburettors and one for the nitrous system. It has been questioned why we run this set-up as most other teams, if not all, only run one system which feeds everything. Thankfully I hadn't armed the fuel pump for the nitrous system, otherwise I think the pop would have been more like a bang and could have resulted in the damage being a lot worse. Instead it looks as though we've got away with some bent carb butterflies, and a new switch. So I think we may now have found a benefit of running two separate fuel systems.

"Congratulations to Andy Kirk and the team on their event win, and also to Ian and Sue Jackson on the stout times and event win - well done! Thanks to the whole Santa Pod crew, staff and officials for sticking with it as long as they did on Saturday in their valiant efforts in trying to run a race meeting. I would also like to thank everyone who helped us out with bits."


Clutch plate fry-up.
20th June: UK Pro Modified racer Ray White tells us that it was another miserable weekend for the Lethal Zephyr team:

We tried a new breathing system (thanks again to Robinson Race Cars) to try to get rid of our crank case pressure and oil leak problem. We just needed to do a burnout to check that it wouldn't suck all the oil out of the pan. So we were ready on Friday then it rained, on Saturday we were ready then it rained. Luckily enough we got a qualifier on Sunday, hooray! Just a burnout then amble up the track. I didn't take the car out of top gear, not a problem I thought. Big problem, burnt the clutch to bits - these cars just don't take prisoners.
©Eurodragster.com
Back to the pits and a mad thrash. Chris and I pulled out a clutch we could have barbecued on, never known one that hot. The rest of the crew turned the motor around ready for first round against Bert Englefield. As soon as I punched third gear the gearbox let go, burnt all the Lenco clutches and boiled the oil. I lost all drive but managed to stop the motor revving its nuts off - I caught it at 9400 rpm, the most revs I've ever been on - but on the positive side we got some good data on the clutch.

I would like to thank all the crew for their hard work: Steve, Steve, Chris, Jeff and of course my wife Jacky who keeps all of us fed and watered. I would also like to thank the Pod crew who just would not give up even in the rain, up and down that track, well done guys and girls. A big thanks to all the other drivers for putting on a good show. People just don't realise how much money and effort goes into running these cars. And remember Danny, it's just a hobby.


Back in black.
20th June: UK Super Gas racer Ricthi Smith says that it is good to be back on track, after what seems like an eternity since crashing his Ventora.

"My reaction times were real bad, the car bogged badly of the line and wouldnt run the number", says Ritchi. "I think I can solve the latter two problems, not sure about the first. Still it was a huge relief after all the bad stuff I've been through since the crash, personal tradgedy and big life change put rebuilding the car not on the top of my list of priorities but I eventualy got back into it.
©Eurodragster.com
"I entered the UK National Finals last year, all in bit of rush after finishing the car a few days before. After the first run it was apparent that there was an issue with the front suspension and steering set-up. The car always had stiff and heavy steering, after rectifying this the car suffered bump steer. After consulting a few chassis builders the general consensus was that the car needed front-halving. Webster Race Engineering carried this work out for me and what a fine job they made. Jon's race car knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication are immense and he is backed up by his team of Ian, Big John and Graham. Thanks fellas especially for getting the car set up last week. Thanks also to Chris Isaacs for sorting the rear of the chassis after the crash and for all the work he has done for me over the years, plus all my mates who have helped me out.

"Perhaps in hindsight I should have kept the Zephyr but hey you can't look back, plus Neil Grant was unrelenting in his quest to own her. It feels good to be back, wheels up!"


Redeemed at the Summernationals.
20th June: UK Supertwin racer Ian Turburville went to the SPRC Summernationals eager to try out the settings which he had put into Mister Spokehead for the eliminations which never happened. The settings worked out as Turbo kicked his Personal Best ET into next week:

We had been making good progress and the top end of the runs was already covered but we desperately needed a good sixty foot to be in the programme. The Pod crew worked their magic and despite there being an inordinate amout of water embedded in the track, they quickly gave us a racing surface so the call went out, surf's up!

Brum was away on business so we roped Rush in to help but Steve, despite his damaged leg, worked tirelessly to get us ready and I must thank Adam Charnley of Cougar racing for his help too, thanks guys, you are the best. It was one-shot qualifying so no time to test, just go for it. We had Steve Woollatt in the other lane and we knew we didn't stand a chance against the Pumas if they were running right, but hey, anything can happen right?

The bike sounded good and the burnouts are getting better by the minute but no more sixty foot over the line jobs, back to the more professional short blast up to the line. That's all that's needed with modern tyres really. It is hard to race a TF Supertwin against a four-cylinder bike as they have a totally different, and much longer, starting routine. I have to watch the other teams and try to remember their routine otherwise if I start my bike at the same time as them I would be sitting in pre-stage, getting hot, burning lots of fuel, for far too long. Anyway, we got it just right and staged together, got the ambers on the tree and hit the throttle. Wow! I cut a good light as usual but the bike left the line like I had been trying for all this time, a proper drag bike! Bang! The big kick up the backside and straight onto the bars then much fiercer acceleration than I had felt before. The clutch was working at last! I got to mid track quicker than ever before but then the second stage of the fuel system kicked in and it pulled even harder which caught my by surprise and it suddenly lurched towards the wall so I had to pedal it which was a shame. The result was a 1.2 sixty foot instead of the usual 1.4, a massive difference. Put that together with the 192 mph from the main Event and we have a serious run going on!

As fate would have it we had Steve Woollatt in our first round also, and the same lane, so it was going to be a re-run. We staged together but then Steve accidentally deep staged. OK now we were set, I staged and the race was on. I snapped the throttle as hard as I could, cut a good tree again and the bike really jumped, great! This time I was ready and kept the bike nice and straight but at three quarter track the clutch really locked and the fuel clicked in making the bike jump even higher on the bars, then everything got very surreal, so this is what a proper run feels like! The rear slick must have unloaded slightly when it went harder onto the bars at that point and there was a bang and shudder through the chassis, something I had never experienced before. Steve was well in front so I clicked it off and put it down to experience. Better to live to ride another day was my motto on that run. The timing ticket showed all my incrementals up to that point were better than anything I had run before and I still ran a personal best of 7.46 seconds but I had slowed to 173 mph. The perfect birthday present, and the bike was all in one piece! A great weekend with good people, good waves, good food, great racing and lots of fun.

There were lots of great performances from the other riders and racers, like Neil Midgley, Dave Peters, Shamus, Chris Mott, Andy Kirk, Dennis Wratten and the rest of the NFAA (great show) and Mike Lacey's rock party in the pits was fantastic! Nice to see the new ET class in NAST working so well, great win for Pete Harrison.

A few minor improvements and we are ready to go again at the Bulldog Bash. Now we have to get Rush's bike running just as good, the more UK Supertwins the better! Thanks to all my other team mates Rush, Ronny, Ron Houniet, Brum, Steve Leedell, Adam, Tim Fountain, Johno at Sprint Dampers, Jock, and partners Arias Pistons, Gates belts, Custom Chrome, Curbishley Automotive, JIMS, Innovate, Red Line Oil, Simpson, A&A Business Supplies and S&S.
©Eurodragster.com

Swift snippets.
20th June: After an enforced layoff waiting for parts Sid Slattery and Martin Holgate will be back out in their Jaguar-powered slingshot and altered respectively, writes Martin Holgate. "We will be back at the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway", he says. "Both cars have many upgrades and we will be hoping for good weather and good ETs. There are not many Jag straight sixes left in drag racing these days. Steve Good with Wobble is going blown hemi and has cleared out his Jaguar parts."
©Eurodragster.com

Glassup invades CHRR.
19th June: UK blown-alcohol altered racer Bob Glassup and his team will be representing UK altered racing in the USA later this year. Bob has been invited to race his 7.0-second Xtreme Racing Topolino at the
NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield on 12th-14th October.

Bob told Eurodragster.com that the invitation to race at Bakersfield came from NHRA Tech Director Steve Gibbs. The altered will appear in Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association competition at the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in August and will then be shipped to the USA in the first week of September.
©Eurodragster.com
Bob would like to thank Steve Gibbs for the invitation; the Xtreme crew of Rich and Lee of J & W Autos for car preparation, Matti, Holley, Tom and the gang; Gold RV for sponsorship and trailer prep; the Press and Media for the pictures in magazines and on web sites; and Eurodragster.com for the reports (You're welcome - Ed).


Good weekends at Sundsvall.
19th June: Kenneth Lorentzon took his Pennzoil-sponsored Fuel Funny Car to Sundsvall Raceway last weekend in an attempt to complete Håkan Fällström's licencing.

"The race track and the whole facility have huge potential, and SHRA Sundsvall are doing a great job with it", says Kenneth. "This is the second year we been there and we still have the track record with Tommy Möller's 5.26.

"I'm getting there with my tune-up, close to a breakthrough. The engine is really stout and was way too aggressive for the track even though I took out masses of power. It still ran 0.92 to 0.94 to sixty foot which is quite a good time for a Funny Car. The car was uncontrollable for Håkan as the front wheels were still up at 200-250 feet and then got out of the narrow groove and went up in smoke.

"Håkan does a good job, it's me messing up. So don't give me a licence."
©Eurodragster.com
Thomas Dahlblom says that everything turned out well for Ola Dahlbom and the DD Racing Comp Eliminator team at Sundsvall.

"Ola was number one qualifier 0.680 under the D/A index with a 7.72/174 mph", says Thomas. "In the semi final Ola was up against Tage Avander's fast Camaro. Tage won that race also won the event.

"But we have solved some problems with the car, and we also had some help this weekend. We would like to thank Jari Konola, Ulf Stadig, Conny Johansson and Willy Hjort for their help. We also would like to thank Jeff Taylor Performance for supplying us with good parts and good HP in the engine and Mike Corvo Jr for chassis parts from RJ Racecars."


First in five for Herbert.
19th June: SPRC Summernationals Pro ET winner Keith Herbert took the event win despite qualifying #1 so far off his dial-in that he wouldn't have got into the field at some events.
©Eurodragster.com
"I had a bye into the second round, some great races, a lot of luck and I was in my first final for five years since I lost to Tokyo Toy in my first ever meeting", says Keith. "Two awful reaction times later I take the win light from a bang-on the time Neil Hunter. Huge thank you to my Dad, my crew Dan for his enthusiasm, Spooky Andy, Chris, Steve and everyone else who supports me. Respect to the Godfather Carl Burton for making Pro ET so profitable that I may have to turn professional and leave the country as a tax exile. Funny how things go but this time last year I was driving to Santa Pod with the back of my truck on fire!

Had a great night on Saturday, won a dodgy prize in the raffle thank you Carla. Big thanks to the hippy for sorting out the band. You know what we normally call you."


Swift snippets.
19th June: Thanks to Ole Marthinsen for getting in touch to let us know that entry forms are now available for the NDRG Drag Challenge which takes place at Amcar International Raceway at Gardermoen on 3rd-5th August. You can download the entry forms at www.ndrg.no.

Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Robinson Race Cars says that Pro Mod racer Andy Robinson has run better and achieved less at many meetings. "I guess our luck was in because we had quite a severe gearbox problem all weekend and we were lucky not to do major damage let alone win anything", says Bob. "Still we have time to sort things out before the car and driver go on the ferry for the long haul to Finland. There are some pictures and in-car video at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk, and look out for some damaged bits in our E-Bay shop soon."

Santa Pod Raceway are looking to add a few more race vehicles to the exhibition field at the Retro Show which takes place on Saturday 7th July. If you would like to make demonstration passes at this event then please get in touch with Darren Prentice at [email protected] or call 01234 782828.
©Eurodragster.com
Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us an updated sheet of European Bests including the UK records set by Neil Midgley and Steve Venables at the weekend. You can check out the updated sheet by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables' 198 mph Suzuki will be on show at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford on 14th-15th July. You can find out more on the event's official web site at www.airtattoo.com. Thanks to reader Steve Billings for the good spot.

Collin Morrice has asked us to thank Stef Pateman and Lee Tucker for going round the pits with the Diabetes UK collection box at the SPRC Summernationals. "I would like to thank those racers and spectators who gave so generously!", says Collin. "I think this proves how much the racing community is like a family! I would like to say a very special thank you to Steve Dunn and Jon Evans for donating their Perfect ET Award money to the charity, I cannot thank you enough! Thanks to all those who helped. The weekend coverage was once again great (Thanks - Ed) and a massive Well Done to the track crew who never gave up all weekend! Finally Happy Birthday for today from all the family to my dad Sandy."

Also in touch with thanks is UK Tech Inspector Geoff Martin who unfortunately broke his leg before the SPRC Summernationals but was given the use of one of Santa Pod Raceway's golf carts (How's that for irony - Ed) for the weekend. "The golf cart allowed me to operate normally around the pits so thanks to Santa Pod", says Geoff. "Alas it's another four weeks before I am allowed to swing a club". Best wishes for a rapid recovery Geoff.


Ready for the Show...
19th June: With just a few weeks to go until the London Motor Museum, venue for the London Drag Racing Show on 7th-8th July, opens its doors to the paying public for what promises to be a worthwhile, well-attended and drag racing-promoting exhibition Wayne Corbitt of UK Super Gas and Junior Dragster team Panther Racing UK has taken the opportunity to visit the venue and meet the team at the heart of the UK's newest automotive venue. Wayne gave us his thoughts when he returned home:

Firstly, given that the setting is in London - not my favourite place in the world to get to, I set off from my home in South Wales contemplating traffic snarl-ups, the M25 and then all I had to do was find the place. It was going to be real chore so it had better be worth it!

Well, what can I say. I went from my doorstep to the location in West Ruislip in two and a half hours. No hassle, no grief. A really easy place to get to. Question: Well, was the trip worth it? Answer: Absolutely!

In a million years you would never imagine this place would be here on an old American Air Force base in the middle of Ruislip, West London. The vehicles housed here in what I can only call a shrine to all things automotive are some of the best examples of Californian Low Riders, American Muscle Cars, East Coast Rides, Cars from the Movies, European Classics and 'Kustom' Cars to be found on these shores.
©Eurodragster.com
At the head of the dedicated team here is Elo, a guy who made his fortune as a male model, who has wisely chosen to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in this venture because of his clear love of cars. You can tell just how keen this man is on his cars. When you walk around the museum, the cars are on the carpet and the public have to walk around on vinyl walkways! Up on the walls are signed football shirts from several Premiership clubs including Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool, where Elo has supplied cars to a variety of international players.

With around forty race cars on view, and the proud teams stood alongside them, and with a selection of trade stalls the London Drag Racing Show is bound to be a great event. All the people here at Panther Racing are keen to promote the team, but more importantly the sport whenever we have the opportunity. This is definitely one of those opportunities. It's an impressive set-up to say the least and a great venue for our drag racing brothers and sisters to show off their teams, their cars, their pride and joy! Personally, I only came to be involved with drag racing and the Panther team in the off-season late last year. I've learnt a lot, seen some excellent cars, heard some good stories, met some great people, it's a brilliant atmosphere and I think it would be great if we used this as a real chance to shout out about a sport and family we love to be part of.

In closing, we all know that its brilliant to have so many captivating cars in one place at one time, but it's the audience that really makes a show. Why not take the time to visit the museum web site at www.londonmotormuseum.co.uk and whilst you're on the internet, take a look its sister site Total Kustom Organisation at www.tkolondon.com. Then come and visit us, the Panther Racing UK team, at the London Drag Racing Show on 7th-8th July. We'll look forward to seeing you all there! It'll be a great weekend.

The London Motor Museum is based at the former RAF West Ruislip, Aylsham Drive, off Ickenham Road, HA4 7DZ.


Web site updates.
19th June: Our Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from last Friday's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Peter's pictures at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net.

Jamie Dyks has posted pictures of Sunday's action at the SPRC Summernationals on his Fotopic gallery at topnitro.fotopic.net.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the UK's Showtime Racing Fuel Funny Car team has been updated with a very interesting report and gallery from the FIA Main Event and a Fans' Gallery. Check it out at www.showtimeracinguk.com.

Dan of the UK Drag Bike Forum tells us that he has sorted out the problem which users (especially on AOL) were experiencing and that the whole has been sped up. To talk Drag Bike racing check out www.ukdragbike.co.uk.


SPRC Summernationals results.
18th June: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

MSA Pro Modified: Andy Robinson no time def. Bert Englefield no time
Super Modified : Andy Kirk 7.664/175.08 def. Tim Garlick 7.715/175.80 red
Super Pro ET: Steve Johnson (7.30) 7.335/179.13 def. Barry Giles (7.73) 7.738/169.86
Pro ET: Keith Herbert (11.45) 11.506/104.10 def. Neil Hunter (10.32) 10.325/135.11
Sportsman ET: Lee Huxley (15.50) 15.616/85.27 def. Lee Hollis (19.80) 19.754/68.07
Super Gas: Jon Morton 9.920/141.14 def. Conrad Stanley 9.936/154.09
Super Comp: Chris Isaacs 10.321/103.66 def. Pete Creswell staged
Super Street: Neil Grant 10.933/131.96 def. Ian Brown 10.814/109.19
Junior Dragster: Zak Johnson (9.02) 9.007/72.07 def Scott Hauser (7.93) 7.945/82.44 red

Top Fuel Bike: Ian King 6.725/206.57 def. Steve Woollatt 11.897/67.74
Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck 7.506/173.78 def. Len Paget 18.060/37.53
Funny Bike: Neil Midgley 6.768/200.08 def. Ken Cooper 8.326/140.26
Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 7.413/195.60 def. Dave Smith 7.885/189.96
Comp Bike: Dave Peters 7.773/168.50 def. Phil Leamon 9.384/96.37 red
9.50 Bike: Chris Jones 9.654/130.83 def. Andy Burfitt 9.851/144.65
©Eurodragster.com
Real Steel Street Eliminator: Ian Jackson 8.259/169.71 def. Jeff Meads 8.510/164.20
Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association: Dennis Wratten 6.948/194.80 def. Frank Bennett 7.1160/191.47
Wild Bunch: Darryl Howells (10.20) 10.372/120.90 def. Terry Clifford (10.60) 10.702/119.64
VW Pro: Glynn Morgan (12.30) 12.689/100.03 def. Neil Ellis (12.10) 12.871/110.55
VW Sportsman: Graham Fairhead (14.75) 15.132/83.91 def. Jacob Bailey (13.50) 14.004/87.87
VW Alternate Engine: Mark Skeen (14.20) 15.109/88.57 def. Matt Attwood (12.86) 17.501/43.60 red

Supertwin Fuel: Shaun Rodman 9.883/136.80 bye
Supertwin Gas: Chris Mott 10.450/130.77 def. Chris Stebbings 9.830/128.61 red light
Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison (12.10) 12.153/111.66 def. John Hackney (10.10) 9.983/140.18 red

The MSA Pro Modified final was awarded to Andy Robinson by the Race Director in a bizarre set of circumstances after the Tree ran but the timing system then locked up showing no incrementals or finish line numbers. Andy was visibly ahead of Bert Englefield at the finish and as you would expect from a sporting pair of racers there were no dissenting voices. Not quite so bizzare, but noteworthy, was the Super Gas final which Jon Morton won from Conrad Stanley by 0.000025 seconds or 0.07 inches (or 1.78 millimetres for our metric friends).

Subject to official ratification the following records were set:

Funny Bike speed: 200.08 mph, Neil Midgley
Super Street Bike ET: 7.334 seconds, Steve Venables

Super Pro ET racer Steve Johnson and Super Gas racer Steve Dunn won the Eurodragster.com/
Speedflow Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award respectively. Both Awards will be £50 for their next events.

Only forty minutes of qualifying took place on Saturday before heavy rain started to fall, curtailing the day's activities (right, picture supplied by Pete Smith). The rest of a single cycle of qualifying and all eliminations took place in one day yesterday and the SPRC Race Officials, the track crews and the racers deserve a big pat on the back for getting the event run. As readers know we would not usually single out any one person but in these circumstances we must say a big Well Done to Robin Shone, usually Assistant Race Director, who was Race Director for the weekend and must have wondered what he'd let himself in for as the clouds gathered on Saturday. Robin was unflappable and did a great job with the backup of usual Race Director Darren Prentice and the team.

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

Our colleagues Hanski in Finland and Tezzii in Sweden struggled with network problems whilst updating from the FHRA Kamasa Tools Nationals and Deep Forest Nationals respectively but you can check out all the news from Alastaro at www.fhra.fi and from Sundsvall at www.eurodragsternorth.com.

Editor's note: Please, no more E-Mails about the Pro Mod exhibition in the USA. We do read web sites other than our own, and we will not be running a news item about it. Check out the Euro bit of Eurodragster.com.


Goring enjoys the development.
16th June: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring says that the
Firestorm team's development deal with US Jet operation Hanna Motorsports is going exceptionally well. Roger again ran into the 6.1s at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and may well have gone even quicker in what was good air until rain stopped play.
©Eurodragster.com
"The Hannas' systems have improved our standard set-up and everything looks to be going the right way", Roger told Eurodragster.com. "All of the changes we make are small increments: Al Hanna understands that we just don't have the funds to test every weekend and that we all have to work for a living. So we are working with what we know and gathering information from the car.

"This deal with the Hannas started as a business relationship and has turned into a friendship and we are really enjoying ourselves". Firestorm's next outing is at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 30th June-1st July.


Danish Midsummer Nationals update.
16th June: More than two hundred teams from nine nations have signed up for the Danish Midsummer Nationals, says Holger Dueholm:

The Danish Midsummer Nationals will be wicked action from one end to the other. On 22nd-24th June Vandel Raceway near Billund in Denmark will turn into an inferno of burning rubber and screaming engines.

One of the main attractions is the Top Fuel duel between Stig Neergaard and Rene Hersland pushing their 6000 hp monsters to the limit reaching more than 500 km/h on the quarter mile. The Danish Midsummer Nationals also features Over The Hill Racing with Jörgen Jonsson from Sweden in his record-setting TMFC, and Yngve Solberg from Norway and Mark Flavell from England will bring their methanol dragsters

At Vandel drivers from all over Europe are competing in the Toyo Scandinavian Drag Racing Series and Nordic Dragracing Series so there is plenty to see here.

But Vandel Raceway is about more than four-wheeled racing dragbikes race the quarter mile too. One racer is Finn Asserbo with his two Top Fuel Bikes. The new bike with a four cylinder Puma engine, and the old bike with the only six cylinder Honda CBX based nitro engine in the world. And just today we have made a deal with Gerd Habermann who will make demonstration passes and go for the world record with his Jet Bike on Saturday and Sunday.

Vandel is huge, and there is plenty of room for tents and caravans. There are bathing facilities with hot water and there is a family fair for the youngest. Besides the quartermile there is a drift challenge, American car show, Dyno Test and dB Drag . Entrance for the whole weekend is €35 including free camping right next to the track, and party with live bands in the evening. Lots of food and beer at reasonable prices.

Entry list and more information at www.streetfire.nu.
©Eurodragster.com

CTM supports PMR.
16th June: Paul Marston Racing are proud to announce the addition of performance tuner CTM to their Drag Race Engineering-backed Super Modified-bound Vauxhall Calibra. CTM, formerly Burton Power Products Engineering Workshop, have been cylinder head specialists for over thirty years and have over the years expanded into all forms of performance engineering, check out their website on www.CTMperformance.com.

"Some eagle eyed spectators noticed and commented on the CTM decals on the DRE Calibra at the FIA Main Event", says Paul Marston. "CTM were looking at re-establishing their presence in drag racing, being one of the original true innovators and performance tuners. Their cylinder head work is second to none and has an international reputation.

"Nearly fifty per cent of CTM's work involves customer Vauxhall engines, which made the DRE-backed Paul Marston Racing entry very attractive. Competing in a heads-up class like Super Modified allows CTM to showcase their work on the track. CTM will also be attending events with Paul Marston Racing on a consultancy basis and will be on hand to advise any racer how they may improve their performance.

"Paul Marston Racing thought long and hard before starting to put together a programme to enable them to compete in Super Modified. This is a long-term commitment. We believe that there is a massive future for Super Modified, it has a firm handle on its costs to the teams. That in a heads-up class is key to its long term future.

"Paul Marston Racing would like to acknowledge and thank the Super Modified Racers Association for their openness, as PMR's DRE-backed Calibra will be running naturally aspirated. The Association are looking now into how they can allow this combination to have the potential to become competitive for the 2008 season. At the moment the results speak for themselves, there are some very professional well funded naturally aspirated competitors who are just not regularly making it past first round. The SMRA know that more parity is needed for fair competition and to attract more teams into the class.

"To create a creditable entry PMR needed business partners: Drag Race Engineering being the principal, CTM now becoming the second, something that everyone DRE, CTM and PMR can benefit from. It's not money, it's something even more valuable for DRE to show off their talents in race car development, providing the horsepower and receiving the exposure for CTM in the best way possible - on the drag strip where performance counts. One of the primary building blocks of any campaign was to have a solid engine development program supplied by a company who know what they were doing and have over twenty years of experience with making Big and Small Block Chevrolets go fast. CTM will be working with us in our attempts to build a competitive entry for the 2008 season and we will be ready with all the engine assembly and race car preparation at DRE. With a début scheduled this year at Bug Jam, this will mark Paul Marston Racing's first competitive entry into a heads-up class, something every single member of the PMR organisation is justifiably proud of. Watch this space for more announcements regarding new sponsors for this exciting new race car.
©Eurodragster.com

NSRA press release.
16th June: The very best in nostalgic drag racing will be in action at Shakespeare County Raceway on 30th June and 1st July. This fun packed National Street Rod Association weekend will host Run What You Brung for pre-1973 only hot rods, customs, muscle cars and modified classics.

Would you like to run your modified motor flat out over the quarter mile for the first time? Check the web sites and the magazines for drag racing procedure then get your mates or club together for some friendly 'grudge' races, find out whose is the fastest car in town! Special trophies will be awarded for most improved novices, and for the spirit of hot rodding. Make this the event you get involved in nostalgic drag racing.

There will be hard fought competition from the Fuel Altereds, Outlaw Anglias, Wild Bunch, Flathead Meltdown, Outlaw Flat Four and Gasser Circus, as well as display runs from the amazing Firestorm Jet Car.

Along with the friendly family atmosphere add the hot rod and custom display, trader village, funfair, free pit access, live music marquee, clubhouse with evening disco and full camping facilities, it's more than enough for racers and spectators alike.

Admission (under 16s free): Saturday £18, Sunday £18, weekend £25 or £22.50 in advance for NSRA members (includes camping). Run What You Brung track fee is £18 per day or £30 for the weekend (both for unlimited runs). For advance tickets call 01789 414119 and for track information call 01789 720180 or visit www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. For NSRA information call 01205 310885 or visit www.nsra.org.uk.

All cars to be scrutineered. All drivers to wear crash helmets. No rear-engined race cars or motorcycles on the strip.
©Eurodragster.com

The new Gun in town.
15th June: Making an appearance at today's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway was Allan Sives' eye-catching Gunslinger 1997 Firebird (right, click on picture for large version) which he imported from the USA. Roger stepped into the pits to have a word with Allan before the rain stopped him from putting in a pass:

Allan imported the car from the US a couple of years ago where it ran in the Pro Sportsman ranks with its previous driver Randy Nelson putting the nitrous machine in the seven second bracket. The car now boasts a 588 ci Chevy with a blower running on methanol. It has run before but on non-prepared tracks giving Allan a few worries as it got really wild at over 140 mph. "I need to run it on proper tracks which have been prepped properly, as the power needs it", said Allan. "That's why we are at Santa Pod. We still have a lot to do and some niggles to sort out before I race."
©Eurodragster.com
The Edinburgh resident has decided to keep the car in the vicinity of Santa Pod to save on journey time and expense so it is being left in the capable hands of Steve Turner who will also be Crew Chief for the good-looking machine. Thoughts on a race class, once proven, will centre on the car's performance but Super Pro ET is looking likely for a start.

Editor's note: Apologies that the rest of today's news did not materialise as promised - the Peak Performance Day just kept us too busy. We will do the rest of the news from our hotel tonight and post it first thing tomorrow morning.


Championship points updates.
15th June: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Championship Co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event standings in the SPRC Championships, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com
The latest standings in the 2007 ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com


Bartlett on Fuel FC.
14th June: If you were tuned in on
5th June you will have read Carbon By Design Team Owner Knut Söderquist's comments about Fuel Funny Car at the FIA Main Event. Santa Pod Raceway CEO Keith Bartlett has been in touch to give us his own views about Fuel Funny car and Fuel classes generally, which we present verbatim:

I have read with much interest the comments made by Knut Söderquist on 5th June regarding the nitro Funny Car class. It is most unusual for me to make any public comments regarding my own and my company's drag racing and business activities, plus those of you who know me are aware of how cautious I am not to become involved in multi person discussions over the internet and world wide web. However as I feel that there are points made in that article which are incorrect, plus misleading to the general drag racing fans, I feel compelled to make some comment.

Before going on to say anything I must make clear that fuel Funny Car has been and will always remain my favourite class in drag racing. My days of seeing thirty two car fields (I never saw a sixty four car funny car event) in southern California will remain with me for ever. It is as much for these reasons as any other that we have persevered with the class for so many years at Santa Pod Raceway, despite it not making commercial sense or in fact being a good show.

Firstly for 2007 there are no individual or private deals that have been done with any of the Funny Car teams, as indicated in the article All the teams that are running in Fuel Funny Car in 2007 are on the same deal.
©Eurodragster.com
The Easter Thunderball event with the Pro Fuel Shootout had a prize fund and structure which applied to all the teams taking part, both Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car.

The remaining events that we have planned to run Funny Cars at, the Main Event, European Finals and possibly the Flame and Thunder, we have offered a normal class elimination structure, based on four car, six car or eight car fields. This carries a full prize fund similar to that posted for other pro-classes, with added performance criteria. The criteria set were not high for a Fuel car, with ET bonuses offered on all runs under additional performance criteria. In my opinion this was a very fair prize fund with bonuses, for a class which has not performed for over three years. All Funny Car teams are running for the same prize structure. Perhaps it should be made clear that this year the purse on offer to the Funny Car teams is the best for many years. This is especially true for 2007, as in the past few years we have based the prize fund in Funny Car on performance, which in reality has meant we have paid out practically no prize fund at all. So at least in 2007 all the teams competing in Funny Car can win prize money, on a much lower performance criteria, plus more bonuses if they run even faster.

We at Santa Pod are the ones trying to get away from match racing, as that belongs to the past, especially with Funny Cars. Whichever way you wish to dress it up, the bottom line is that the Funny Cars have to perform before they can move forward as a class and make more demands on the promoters, just like any other pro class. A leaf out of the Pro Modified book would be a start. First they built the numbers of cars up to above sixteen cars (average entry at major International and FIA events is now more than twenty two cars), followed by a superb show and performances, next they applied for higher prize money and finally got FIA Championship status as a result of that development.

Looking back at the Funny Car class it is fact that the class has not had any more than two or three cars at the most during the past three years and they have not really performed at all. The public and drag racing fans at Santa Pod are very aware of this and for the class to develop it has to be able to perform. Even Top Methanol Funny Cars have been running faster and more consistent times for many years. With that said I have to say that Bob Jarrett and John Spuffard, along with their whole team, have been brilliant ambassadors to the class for many years, with their appearance, attitude and enthusiasm to move the class forward. They have also been a major reason for us keeping the class alive.

How the class progresses from here is very debatable. In my own opinion, currently there is not really room for two full nitro classes, which are Top Fuel and Funny Car, especially in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. Many of the promoters cannot afford to have both Top Fuel and Funny Car (in sufficient numbers to put on a good show in both classes) and it is no good these cars just running at Santa Pod if it is to develop into a series, official or not, they have to run at other tracks and the parameters remain the same, that is just fact. Funny Car has to develop in the same way as the Pro Modified class, that is begin to work together, build the number of cars, find a class sponsor, start performing, form a series and then with the promoters and organisers of Championships like myself, build the series. That is just my view and it is not necessarily how Funny Car should or will go forward.

Also we have to consider that if teams begin to change to Funny Car from Top Fuel, all that principally will happen is that Top Fuel will dilute from the current ten to twelve cars down to say around six cars, while Funny Car will increase from two to three teams to say around six cars. This will then make both classes far less exciting as all the teams in both classes will know that they are sure to qualify for the eliminations and get paid their prize fund. It is most unlikely that there are enough new teams with sufficient budget, skills and available crews with the experience to form new funny car teams, without the exodus from Top Fuel. Even in the USA where several years ago (1980s / 1990s) teams would switch from Funny Car to Top Fuel and vice versa, the two classes see-sawed between good car counts in varying years just purely as a result of these switches and costs.

It has taken me and my team years to build the Top Fuel class to where it is now seen as true competition, where teams and drivers know they have go out and cut it to stay in the show. As a result of this the whole spectacle and the performances in Top Fuel have gone up several gears, with records being set continually at many events. The class is now exciting to watch, with run after run and very few teams are now inclined to sit out runs just to save money. This in turn has meant that the team owners and drivers have gone out and raised sponsorship, recruited pay-for-drives to carry on competing at the next level. Of course some of the slower underfunded teams will drop out of the class. And here lies another problem. The slower teams who cannot cut it or often fail to qualify in Top Fuel, either through lack of budget, or maybe a lower level operation, lack of skilled crews etc, then drop out of Top Fuel and could move over to Funny Car where they are sure to qualify and get prize funds on a six car field for example. What may then happen (although not for certain by any means) is those low budget teams who cannot make it Top Fuel move over to Funny Cars, yet still fail to perform for the same reasons as when they were in Top Fuel. This would have the effect of lowering the performance and standards of the new cars into the Funny Car class and as a result holding back the class performance and development. In that situation if it was to happen, then the Top Fuel class would then loose the car count essential for sponsorship and TV.

All I am saying that it is my view that in the UK and Europe we do not currently have the budgets, resources, crew members with the right skills, to run and develop two nitro classes side by side. This applies to the teams and the promoters and organisers. It is just a little too soon, but given time I am sure that will come about just as it has in other classes. I have personally been very involved in the development of both the Top Fuel and Pro Modified classes over the past ten to fifteen years and I feel the results speak for themselves.


Happy Habermanns.
14th June: Germany's Team Werner Habermann Racing were happy with their performances at the FIA Main Event:

Timo tested his Top Methanol Dragster with a clutch and B&J Transmission for the first time at Santa Pod Raceway the weekend before the FIA Main Event the results were good, running 6.6 on his second run after being on the throttle for only eight hundred feet. At the race one week later their good friend Spike Gorr of Gorr Fuel Systems tuned Timo's and Dennis' dragsters for fast passes.

In the first qualifying session Timo ran 5.97 with a soft set-up in the clutch and with the fuel system on the rich side. Dennis was also happy with the results with his Comp Eliminator dragster which ran 7.9 seconds. After some small changes in the set-ups, Timo ran a Personal Best 5.82/233 and Dennis also ran a new Personal Best of 7.55 which was a European record for AB/Dragster. Some more small changes were made to the tune-up for the next qualifying session. The plan was for Timo to run in the 5.70s or maybe 5.6s and a low seven for Dennis, but then the rain stopped everything.
©Eurodragster.com
The team's next race will be Luckau in Germany, where Dennis will again compete in Comp Eliminator and Timo make will make test and demo runs in their legendary Blue Swede Manta Funny Car, which was completely rebuilt earlier this year with a 460 ci Blown Big Block Chevy. The team then hope to continue to run quickly at Mantorp Park.

Werner Habermann Racing would like to thank their sponsors Uni-Fit Katalysatoren, GJD Gebäudemanagement, Autokrandienst Habermann, Exide Batteries and Norfolkline, and would like to say a special Thank You to their good friends Spike Gorr, Jon Webster, Barry Paton and Ronnie Picardo.


Swift snippets.
14th June: Tuesday 26th June is the deadline for normal entry to the Veidec Festival which takes place at Mantorp Park on 26th-29th July. You can download entry forms from the Veidec Festival web site at www.veidecfestival.com/2007/forms.htm or contact Mantorp Park at [email protected] or on +46 142 29 88 50. You can use the same contact details for queries or advice. Electricity must be ordered when you enter. You can fax your entry form to +46 142 29 88 69 or post it to Mantorp Park, Veidec Festival 2007, SE-590 17 Mantorp, Sweden.

Congratulations to Swedish Pro Modified racer Roger Johansson who tells us that his 6.276 pass in round one of Top Doorslammer elimnations at the weekend's NDRG Summernats was the quickest Nitrous Pro Mod pass in Europe. Roger also says that he clocked 363 kmh/225 mph on Sunday.
©Eurodragster.com
Santa Pod Racers Club are once again publishing an event programme for their Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. The programme has doubled in size to eight pages, is packed with quality photos of all the National Championship leaders and is crying out to be autographed by racers on two wheels and four. A whole page is dedicated to the MSA Pro Modified teams, the Class By Class page identifies each race category and the comprehensive list of competitors is, as always there to keep you informed as to who is there. The price is just £2.

UK Junior Dragster racer Rosie Hunt has asked us to say a big Thank You to Holland's Shark Attack Drag Racing Team for their hospitality during their trip to the weekend's Speed and Glein show in Amsterdam. "They kindly invited us over to display our car and make some demos in the indoor karting arena, the public loved it", says Rosie. "A special thanks to Top Fuel Bike rider Rene Van Den Berg and family for their kindness which was second to none. These people have a passion for drag racing and after the closure of their track at Drachten have to travel to England to test and race. Please sign the petition at www.dragracedr88.nl."


Media update.
14th June: Nostalgia Fuel fans had better get some pennies ready for the next issue of Vintage Fuel magazine, now available from American Auto Mags, writes Jerry Cookson. Funny Car fans can enjoy pages of nostalgia with legendary Hall of Famer TV Tommy Ivo, a look at Brian Nitro Bennett's restored Rambunctious '71 Dodge Charger formerly owned by Gene Snow, and the latest new old car builds from the Nostalgia Funny Car Association. For Altered fans, the mag takes a look behind the scenes of the Outlaw Fuel Altereds Championship, and so as not to be left out the Performance Racing Tools slingshot fueller of Tim Martinelli gets the centre page racer profile treatment along with a nice two-pager outlining the history of the UK's Crazy Chris Hartnell and his Backdraft Junior Fuel Dragster. This and other great titles are now available from www.americanautomags.com priced at £4.25.

With the current unsettled future of Channel Five's NHRA Powerade coverage, drag racing fans could do worse than to tune in to a new five-part racing series on the National Geographic Channel starting tonight (Thursday). Starting at 9.00 pm, Speedology explores the raw power of some of the world's fastest motorcycles from NHRA Pro Stockers to machines powered by helicopter engines. In later episodes at 10.00 pm the series looks at the JCB Dieselmax Land Speed Record car and 300 mph Top Fuel Dragsters. The series resumes a week later with planes, boats and a look at Top Fuel Drag Boats. The National Geographic Channel can be picked up on Sky 526 and Virgin Media/TeleWest 230.
©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
14th June: Sweden's FIM/UEM European Pro Stock Bike Championship-holding Team Motospeed have launched a web site at www.tmsracing.se. The web site includes news, introductions to rider Anders Abrahamsson and the team, bike specification, gallery, race calendar, sponsors and more.
©Eurodragster.com
In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon gives his thoughts about moving the sport to the next level. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.


Hard work pays off for Hans Olav.
13th June: Super Twin racer Hans Olav Olstad says that his luck improved, but only a little, at last weekend's NDRG Summernats.

It was the first round in the Nordic series and the Norwegian championship run at Gardermoen, Norway. It started so well for us, with new cards after the terrible trip back home from England.

On the first qualifying run we ran a really good 6.86, even with a dropped cylinder after 300 metres. We rolled over the finish line with a speed of just 282 km/h.

The timeslip for the second qualifying run told us that we had a 1.15 60ft. time, and that was it. We tore of all the bolts in the drive pulley and torched the rear head badly. Not good at all. Our bad luck seems to never have an end.

The worst part was getting the worn bolt out from the crank. John Anders did a serious job to get them all out, and showed the whole team what a great mechanic he is. We are really going to miss him in Finland. At five o'clock in the morning, we just had to take a short sleep. And about 11.00 o'clock that day we were finished, and started the bike again.

With our 6.86, we were no. 1 qualifier. In the first round of eliminations, we were up against Frank from Sweden, with Ulf Nylen's old bike. It was another 1.15 60 ft. time, but the engine dropped a cylinder at 100 meter this time. We rolled to a 9.62 without seeing Frank. He deep-staged and got a red light.

In the semifinal, we had a solo run. We had to reduce fuel pressure to overcome the dropped cylinder. This time it went well, and we ran a 7.08 and 321 km/h at the finish line. The engine was running perfectly and kept the front wheel in the air all the way. At this time the corrected altitude was nearly 3000 ft. However, the time schedule between the semi and final was to give us a challenge when we discovered a broken disc in the clutch. Again, the team worked hard, and gtt the bike ready just in time.

In the final we were up against Per Bengtsson from Sweden. Everybody who knows Per, knows he always pulls something out of his hat, so we also wanted to find our rabbit. I went away first from the start line, had terrible tire shake from 60 ft. up to 1/8 mile and our rabbit seemed to be in the tyre, making the bike jump going up the track. It looked awful for a while. Per seemed to be catching me by the 1/8 mile. We had a side by side run all the way to the finish and, this time, it was our day, and finally we won the race with a 6.95 against Per's 7.13. I also dropped a cylinder 30 metres before the finish line.

After the race we discovered we had destroyed both the wheels on the wheelie bars, and bent an exhaust valve.

I want to tell everybody about my great team, Sturla, John Anders and Sven Erik, who work so hard to get me back on track. I can't say enough to tell you how proud I am to have these hard working men on my team. This was a team victory.

Hans Olav's next race is Alastaro Finland.


Fastest turbo doorslammer run.
13th June: Also at the NDRG Summernats at Gardermoen, Johan Samuelsson ran the fastest run in Europe so far with a turbo doorslammer. He says "It was a real hot but fun weekend. There were a lot of personal bests from the Top Doorslammer teams. The track was great and the sun never went to bed...

"Top Doorslammer no1 qualifier was Mikael Nord with his new screw blower engine at 6.271/360km/h, second was Roger Johansson in his nitrous Mustang. Roger Johansson defeated Benny Strand in the finals.

"I went 6.89s 327km/h with the turbo Viper. We are using a 475 cui motor, twin 74mm turbos on methanol and a Bruno converter. The car is at 2650 lbs. Paolo Andreini with the other turbo car in the field went 7.21s 327km/h."

Johan's weekend came to a premature close when his 6.972 was defeated by Johan Westberg's nearly identical time of 6.971 in the first round of eliminations.

In the coming weekend, the Top Doorslammer tour is going to
Sundsvall in Sweden for its next event.

Alastaro Pro Testing.
13th June: Our good friend Hannele Hoyden says that almost all of the Finnish Pro teams will this weekend be undergoing final testing for the FHRA Nitro Nationals which is going to be a really huge event from 5 to 8 July.

There will be plenty of new drivers coming, in Super Twin Top Fuel, two new racers, Risto Toikkanen and Kari Rajala, are going to show what they can do and bring the number of Finnish riders in this class up to four.

The race report for this weekend's testing will be linked from the home page on www.fhra.fi and, for bikes, look at Jouni's site www.dragrace.fi


Hooligan's thanks.
13th June: Outlaw Anglia racer Mark Pointer is delighted with the performance of his Hooligan Fordson van running a best of 7.428 at the Main Event and he says it's time to thank those who have played a part in his remarkable performances:

It's very unusual for me to make public my feelings, but I think it is time for me to thank a few key people for the very "large" input contributed to The Hooligan and my racing.

Firstly, we have Trev, Steve and John from B&H Autokraft, Doncaster, who constucted the chassis, designed, built, and developed the evil Pro-Charged motor that has made The Hooligan the monster it has become. Thanks, guys.

Then, of course, we have Mr Jon Webster and the gang at WRE that assembled the mess of bits that I picked up from Steve Kellet's shed, and proceeded to turn into an 8 second car in just five weeks, in 3 passes, I might add. Good Boy!

John and Sharon Hogarth! You have got a lot to answer for also, you introduced me to Chevrolet, performed excellent chassis work and, I have to say, unrivalled paintwork that has made The Hooligan as popular as it is. We had some "mild" handling problems at Easter Thunderball, some of you might remember. John dropped his other work in the shop, identified, and rectified my chassis, including a beautiful new set of wheelie bars. He did such a good job, they don't actually touch the floor now. Now the van goes straight and true, well, almost - hey, I like it that way.

Jeff Bull, what more can you say, what a star. Jeff sold me some Powerglides, that unfortunately got a bit battered by Trevor's nasty engine. Lo and behold, Jeff did me two more free of charge. Jeff has always been there for me at home, at meetings, whatever, nothing is too much trouble for him, thanks Jeff, Good Boyo!

Last of all thanks to my Sharon and my long suffering pit man, Duncan; sorry for being me, and I will try to pay more attention in the future. My job is easy, all I have to do is drive him.
©Eurodragster.com

The London Drag Racing Show.
13th June: It's now just over three weeks before the London Drag Racing Show hits town on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July and, co-incidentally, just over three weeks to book your free exhibitor space at this unique event, says Sue Whyte of Motorworld Marketing.

Confirmed exhibitors of cars and bikes include Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, Pro Mods, Super Mods, Sportsmans Classes and more.

The UK's leading Drag Strips, Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway will have a presence and visitors will be able to test their reactions on the Shakespeare County timing light Tree.

Organiser Paul Knight reports that the response has been phenomenal. "The preparations for the show are progressing very well and he would like to thank all those who have pledged cars and bikes and to the many who have dedicated their time, efforts and invaluable services into making this show a success and promoting Drag Racing to a wider audience."

Exhibitor spaces and Trade Stalls are being snapped up. Spaces are still available but to avoid disappointment, anyone wanting to show off their car or bike to promote the most thrilling of all motorsports, or participate in any way, is advised to contact Paul as soon as possible. Contact Paul Knight on 07821 139945 or e mail [email protected]. If you would prefer to talk to Paul personally about any aspect of the show he will be at Santa Pod this coming weekend for the Summer Nationals.

The London Motor Museum is based at the former RAF West Ruislip, Aylsham Drive, off Ickenham Road, HA4 7DZ.


Swift Snippets.
13th June: We are grateful to Paula Marshall for sending us running orders for Saturday and Sunday at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the running orders by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the letf hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and then selecting the SPRC Summernationals.

Paula also reminds racers who are intending to run at the Peak Performance on Friday that they must bring their DVLC licence for this day, as Comp Licences will not be accepted on Friday - they will however be required for the weekend.

Outlaw Anglia racer Mat Cooper is looking forward to the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County where he will be out testing his new car (see photo).

He says, "It's taken a bit longer to finish than we thought. We've really missed racing over the last year or so and are looking forward to being back trackside with the rest of the Outlaw Anglias. I would like to thank my father Robert Cooper and brother Adam "Victor" Cooper for their continued support on the project. Unfortunately my girlfriend wasn't up for posing with the car, so here's my brother trying his best."


Web Site updates.
13th June: Sportsman ET racer and Northampton Evening Telegraph drag racing correspondent Nigel Holland has updated his photography site with images from the Main Event as well as images from last weekend's Classic Ford Show.

Flying the flag by the Avon.
12th June: Amongst a mouth-watering collection of classic cars, motorcycles and autograss cars, the Evesham Festival supported by the
Sporting Bears Motor Club hosted several drag racing enthusiasts to promote nearby Shakespeare County Raceway on Sunday, writes SCR's PR Jerry Cookson:

Performing several engine start-ups during the day, to great applause from the festival onlookers, was home-town racer Chris Hodgkins with the www.ojzengineering.co.uk/www.587racing.com 383 ci Small Block Chevy Pro ET dragster. Also on display, proudly showing off his UK National Sportsman ET Championship trophy, was Geoff Cowley. Always looking for a photo opportunity, Geoff took time out explaining the finer details of drag racing and the performance his street legal Z28 Chevy Camaro, affectionately known as Candy's Camaro, can achieve over the quarter mile.

Several Ford Pops also joined in the display including Martin Rock's flat black '54 Pinto-powered Pop, a race-chassised twelve-second 350 SBC Pop brought down by local street racer Arthur, and completing the trio was the Intergalactic Custom Shops purple Pop owned by Jan and Wayne Allman.

Shakespeare County Raceway would like to thank all the owners for supporting the show and the Sporting Bears Motor Club for the organisation.
©Eurodragster.com

Haslett: We went for it.
12th June: Real Steel Street Eliminator UK racer Ron Haslett went into the weekend's charity passenger rides promising not to hold anything back but to beat his Personal Best which stood at 9.7/145. Ron managed a best of 9.8/141 with a passenger on what he describes as a marginal track:

On Saturday we made a couple of checkout runs and found that we had to take out a lot of power to get any sort of traction. We had a bloody good night on Saturday, starting with BuySellCortina and a barbecue at which I had to pull a name out of my own very big Mexican hat for a passenger ride. They also had a raffle for our charity, the Macmillan Cancer Trust. Next was the Fuellers bar where Classic Ford held a Quiz with all proceeds coming to us again. Then it was talking and partying with everyone.

We had a few thick heads on Sunday morning. Dave and Helen of Quarter Mile Hihg arrived at 9.30ish to set up the filming. At 10:00 the first batch of passengers arrivedand we got under way at 10.30 ish. What you have to remember is that although these cars are street-legal, they do take a while to turn around which we couldn't do. We made two runs back to back then had a quick check-over then out again.
©Eurodragster.com
We raised £575 on the day with whatever change is left out of the running money which was raised beforehand. I'd like to thank my overworked and underfed crew for all their work, and the following for their help in pulling this off:
Swift snippets.
12th June: UK Super Comp racer Chris Johnson has been in touch with an urgent plea for help to allow him to compete at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. "I have picked up a puncture and need an inner tube for my rear tyre" says Chris. "The size is 32 x 14½ x 15. Nobody seems to have one in stock and as we need it for this weekend a new one will not get here in time". If you can help then you can contact Chris at [email protected] or call him on 01489 783022 daytime or 01489 783022 home.
©Eurodragster.com
Mike Dyrlund says that Denmark's Team Dodgeboys Pro Street team had another successful weekend at the NDRG Summernats at Gardermoen. "We qualified #1 at 7.70 and won the race, but we had some problems with qualifying", says Mike. "The index in Pro Street is 7.60 but we ran 7.43/182 in the first qualifer so we had to turn it down a bit (I hate that). But it worked out fine. Gardermoen is one of the best tracks I have raced on and there were lots of kind people in Norway. Our next race is our home race at Vandel on 21st-23rd June."

Our Photo Editor Roger is no stranger to having race cars pointed at him (I'm looking at you, Mick - Ed), readers with long memories will remember the Let's Get Tog Club, and now Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has received the Chicken treatment, from Pro ET racer Keith Ridley at the Classic Ford Show at Santa Pod on Sunday. You'll be able to see more when Peter posts his gallery of shots from Sunday at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. This just leaves our Pit Notes reporter Simon to be targeted, which would be quite some feat.


Summernationals Perfect Awards.
12th June: This weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway is the latest event in the Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. A total of £225 is on offer for perfect performance.

The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the FIA Main Event. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Award is open to all classes and is available during qualifying or eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the weekend. The Perfect Light Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Carl Burton at the FIA Main Event. The money will be awarded to the first racer to run to the thousandth on their index or dial-in during qualifying or eliminations. The Award is open to all ET classes, all Super Classes, Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 9.50 Bike, all VW classes, the Wild Bunch and Supertwin ET, and is available during qualifying or eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and performance supplier LA Racing Parts whose web site you can find at www.laracingparts.com.

Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts decals must be carried on both sides of the vehicle to qualify for the Perfect ET Award. As with other contingency schemes the decals are available from the signing-on office.

Should the winner of the Perfect ET Award go on to win the event then a bonus of £100 will be paid by LA Racing Parts. As a one-off extra this weekend, if a Pro ET racer wins either Perfect Award then Eurodragster.com will contribute £20 to the soirée which has been arranged in the Pro ET pits this weekend.


Web site updates.
12th June: Our good friend Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with pictures from Saturday's qualifying at the NDRG Summernats at Gardermoen. You can check out Patrik's pictures at www.racebilder.nu.
©Eurodragster.com

Kellett breaks cover.
11th June: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Steve Kellett made his first outing in his beautiful Mustang at yesterday's Classic Ford Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Peter was at Santa Pod and sent us this report and pictures of RSSE's latest contender which
ran into the 10.0s yesterday and which was attracting considerable interest from fellow racers and spectators alike:

The car has taken around three and a half years to complete. The 577ci 'Ford' engine was built by Trevor Hirst of B&H AutoKraft whilst the chassis was built by John Webster Race Engineering. The 2700 lb car runs on Mickey Thompson tyres. Dominating the engine bay is the extensive ducting and piping required to feed the ProCharger and the intercooler. An ice tank in the boot helps keep the inlet charge temperature down so preventing detonation and helping towards the 2000 bhp the engine will produce when the boost is turned up.
©Eurodragster.com
The 2003 Mustang's carbon fibre body weighs all of twenty six pounds and if it wasn't attached to the chassis would probably float away. Since Steve choose carbon for the bodywork the cost has skyrocketed, so we may never see the like in Street Eliminator again. But it looks stunning and is a tribute to Steve's skills.

Cost? Well, quality doesn't come cheap, but how can you quantify the hours and hours of work required to produce such a quality piece of kit? Anyway if it wasn't spent on drag racing it would only be wasted.

New car problems with the transbraked Powerglide prevented any startling times but if the burnouts are anything to go by then the Street Eliminator class will soon have another car knocking on the seven second door.

Steve would like to thank Trevor and Stephen Hirst, Jon Webster, and his wife Jane for putting up with everything.


Butch takes the Challenge.
11th June: UK Pro ET racer Antony Wilkins has joined the list of UK drag racers who have appeared as one of the resident experts on the UK Channel 4 programme Scrapheap Challenge.

"I was approached by my Brigade to appear on the program as an expert to a team of three from Scotland", says Butch who is a fireman when he is not drag racing. "We did four days' hard graft to come up with a fire engine designed to extinguish an aircraft fire at a large airport using a foam media.
©Eurodragster.com
"Being into anything American and racing the Ground Zero Model A pick-up in Pro ET, what could be a better donor vehicle than a Lincoln Limousine? Thirty feet of blacked out yank-tank complete with cocktail bar, TV and video. I think it's a first for Scrapheap Challenge to have a limo with Pro ET written down the side and four hairy firemen hanging out of and on top of it.

"I can't say much about the programme yet but will keep you informed of the viewing dates."


Summernationals RSSE preview.
11th June: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby says that one or two hopefuls may not make this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway, including his own Team 56 Chevy.

"Our transmission was temporarily 'misplaced' on the way out to Rosslers, taking eleven days to arrive", says Colin. "Amazingly it was delivered back to us last Wednesday, the return leg taking just five days - no, I don't understand this nonsense either. This weekend Garry Coull and I sweated our way through the installation in the height of the Scottish midday sun - no really, it was way too hot to work. Luke Robinson also has a number of jobs to clear, and he's right in the middle of his University exams. I did tell him that he can go back to skool any time, missing it did me no harm.

"Rob Jackson's long-awaited turbo Sierra now looks to be doubtful, as does Big Ron Haslett's Cortina Estate - both will be gutted if they don't get there, I'm sure. We also await positive news of Jason Weir's newly-Pro Charger'ed Plymouth Suburban. And Wilf (in, out, and in again) Stacey is now at least confirmed. A stout effort Wilf, I know what it's taken to make this one. Mark Perkins, well, we can't have scared him off too much as he's back and he'll be looking for improvements. And we all await the first full public sighting of Steve Kellett's much talked-about Pro Chargered Mustang, certainly it's been a almost mythical car thus far although we do understand that it truly is an engineering masterpiece (see above - Ed).
©Eurodragster.com
"OK, so with the actual numbers looking likely to achieve eighteen plus (In cash if you've got it, Colin - Ed) we should be able to repeat some of the close racing we put on at both the Big Bang and Easter Thunderball events earlier in the year.

"To all the teams who make it, well done. To those who aren't quite ready, crack on, the Bug Jam is absolutely nuts and well worth the effort. Here's to quick, fast, and safe racing - hopefully we'll see more than one or two of you there on the day."


Swift snippets.
11th June: The UK's Ultra Racing Top Methanol Funny Car team are aiming to be on-track within the next couple of weeks, says Garry Pilkington. The former CC Racing Avenger will be piloted by Trace Froome with tuning from Tony Pearson and is currently in the final stages of engine build. You can stay in tune with the latest from the team on their new web site at www.ultraracing.org.

Ioannis Mylonas has been in touch from Greece to let us know that he has J85/13 or J57 jet engines in good condition for sale to drag racers. If you are on the lookout for a jet engine then you can call Ioannis for information or photographs on +30 69 36847413 and talk to him in Greek, English or German.
©Eurodragster.com
Danny Allen has been in touch to say that Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett showed his bride-to-be Tracey a good time on a passenger ride at Santa Pod Raceway. "It was an early wedding present", says Danny. "I only told Tracey why we were there on the way up Airfield Road! Tracey was understandably nervous but Ron and his crew did a great job of calming her down. One she put on the firesuit and stuck on the skid lid all her fear went and she was like an excited child. Ron did an awesome rolling burnout and went on to run a 10.1/127. When they returned to the pits Tracey was over-excited to say the least - I think I've lost my race car drive now. Thanks to Big Ron and the guys for the run and in such a good cause."

UK Wild Bunch racer Sarah Howells would be pleased to hear from Claire Hunt who visited the DASH Racing pit at the Yanks American weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. "Claire's lads had a sit in the Ramraider slingshot", says Sarah. "Some pictures were taken and E-Mail adresses swapped, but Claire's address doesn't seem to work! If you are reading this Claire then please contact me at [email protected] and I'll gladly send on the shots of the lads in the car."

Congratulations to our good friend Jemma Harrison on the birth of her son Luke Nathan who arrived before being called to the pairing lanes yesterday, weighing in at six pounds. Jemma says that she and Luke are doing fine despite his early arrival.


NDRG Summernats coverage.
10th June: Our colleagues at EurodragsterNorth.com are at Amcar International Raceway at Gardermoen to cover the NDRG Summernats, whose eliminations are taking place today (Sunday).
©Eurodragster.com
You can find out the latest from Gardermoen by going to
www.eurodragsternorth.com and clicking on Live.

Rat Fink seeking crew.
10th June: Kirk Motorsport, campaigners of the UK's Rat Fink Super Modified Camaro, are looking to hire new crew members.

"What with work commitments and location difficulties of our present crew we need to make moves to bring in some new blood", says Andy Kirk. "We have to look at the logistics for the rest of this season but also seasons to come.

"If you fancy getting involved in one of the most exciting doorslammer classes in the UK and can show the commitment that we are looking for then please get in touch. We don't need any tuning megastars - however if you are one then I'm sure we can find a spot - but we do need people who are keen, willing to learn new things and have a love for the sport of drag racing. What we don't want are people who fancy coming along and watching the racing for the weekend, because as anyone who has ever crewed will tell you, you see very little other than the car you're working on.
©Eurodragster.com
"In return for 100% effort you will receive free entry to every meeting in the British calendar, free food and beverages, somewhere comfortable to sleep and free crew uniform. Also you will get a chance to work with one of the best teams out there, access to all the right equipment, an opportunity to learn but most of all you'll have a great (but busy) time, not only with the crew but everyone within Super Mod.

"We are based in Nottingham, so if you're in the Midlands that's even better but we are not expecting someone who can work in the week so wherever you live will work fine. If you think you fit the bill and fancy a shot please either E-Mail [email protected] or phone on 07814 009562 and ask for Andy."


Taking corners, almost.
10th June: UK Pro Mod racer Ray White was one of many who went round the bend after the FIA Main Event, but not everyone took it to the same lengths as he did.
©Eurodragster.com
"I needed to get my mind off all the money, time and effort that had gone into spending all that time sitting in the rain so when I got home I went to Brands Hatch for a track day on the GP circuit in my Cobra Mustang SVT", says Ray. "A great time was had by all. I spent more time racing around than I have spent driving the Zephyr since I have had it. In fact I did ninety five miles around the circuit. It didn't all go smoothly, I overcooked the corner at Westfields and ended up going through the gravel at about 80 mph which damaged one of my new nineteen-inch rims. At the end of the day I wore out two tyres at well.

"But I went home with a smile on my face and a promise to try again."


Swift snippets.
10th June: Werner Rüchel tells us that fifteen racers are lined up for the next round of the Supergaschamp Drag Racing Series which takes place at Vandel in 22nd-24th June. For more information check out the Series web site at www.supergaschamp.com.

Gavin Taylor taylor has been in touch to let us know that Ian Lloyd's legendary altered Gonzo the Great (right) is set for a return to the track in 2008. In the meantime, though, the car's existing engine needs to be sold to fund Gonzo's return and you can find details on E-Bay. You can check out Gonzo in action on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oz4a6JSkwc.
©Eurodragster.com
Congratulations to Ian Turburville who says that as far as he can ascertain his 192.32 mph blast in FIA Main Event qualifying was the highest ever terminal speed for a UK Supertwin, beating the previous bests of 188 mph by Al Smith, 186 mph by Adam Hewitt and 184 mph by Ben Beneke.

Turbo also tells us that a unique matched set of drag bikes is for sale in the form of Ian and Jake Carruthers' Supertwin and Junior Drag Bike. "If there are any father and son teams out there that want to have a go this set-up is ready to go at the end of the season, all freshened-up and made for good family sport", says Turbo. "Jake has outgrown the Junior now and Rush is going to concentrate on his blown, parallel Twin project. They may take a Harley road bike in part exchange but the pair will be very affordable anyway!". More details at www.turboville.com/turbo-7/classifieds.htm.


Magazine update.
10th June: This month it's a cracker of an issue for Custom Car magazine with nearly half the hundred-page edition devoted to drag racing, writes Jerry Cookson:

With new layouts, new colour and extra pages you'll be able to catch up on the latest photo reports from Shakespeare County Raceway's Springspeed event and the NHRA Powerade series, former editor Kev Elliott and Kiwi Steve Dennish look at the world's fastest Jago '32 Sedan from the Bonneville Salt Flats, a restored NHRA H/stock '56 Chevy belonging to national record holder Jim Lamatrice, Stan and Paula Atkin's eight-litre 'shotgun hemi' Ford 100E, a pair of Swiss-based doorslammers - Stefan Winter's big block Chevy powered Mercedes gullwing and the '56 Chevy Corvette of Beat Rechsteiner - and a look at the aerodynamics of a Top Fuel Dragster's rear wing by Brackley based company Advantage CFD: should it stay conventional or is the monostrut the way to go! Oh, and by the way there's plenty of hot rod stuff too.

Also keeping with the drag racing theme is the July issue of Full Throttle Motorsport magazine with a six-page in-depth feature written and photographed by Carlin Gerbich with photos from the Springspeed national meet at media partners Shakespeare County Raceway. Aimed at fans of grass-roots motorsports, the magazine also has a number of competitions this month including a chance to win tickets for Shakespeare County's August Bank Holiday Open Sport Nationals. Both publications are available now from all good news stands.
©Eurodragster.com

KJ Partnership aids BDRHoF.
10th June: KJ Partnership Ltd, the specialist automotive PR consultancy, is to assist the recently established British Drag Racing Hall of Fame (BDRHoF) with media communications support.

The aim of the BDRHoF is to recognise and honour the pioneering and deserving individuals associated with British drag racing. Nominees are selected by a panel of recognised experts, and those chosen for induction into the Hall of Fame are subsequently presented with a special trophy at an annual gala dinner.

"We are delighted to have KJ Partnership Ltd assist us with our media interests, and I have no doubt the company will help us convey a more professional image of the BDRHoF to the media and to the general public," says Stu Bradbury, one of the leading lights behind the organisation.

KJ Partnership Ltd includes automotive media stalwarts Graham Jones and Andrew Kirk, who between them have over thirty years of PR experience in the automotive and motor sport industries. During that time, clients have included Formula One and World Motorcycle Championship teams, plus major motor manufacturers. Today, the company lists among its clients Champ Car World Series competitor Minardi Team USA, the Minardi F1x2 Team, Carroll Shelby, USAutomotive Ltd, and a number of companies requiring PR assistance on an ad hoc basis.

For further information about the BDRHoF visit Eurodragster.com, or to find out more about KJ Partnership Ltd call Andrew Kirk on 01628 530323 or visit www.kjpartnership.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com

All this and the 'flu too...
8th June: UK Super Comp racer Chris Johnson is the latest to wonder whether he would have any luck at all if he didn't have bad luck:

At Easter the car was a tenth slower in the first sixty feet than it was last year. Despite all of our efforts we couldn't sort it. We went a few rounds and then it was off to Shakespeare County Raceway where we lost second gear. We took out the gearbox and found that a gasket had moved, losing oil pressure to reverse.

We got rained off, and all the way home we thought about what we were going to do with the gearbox. We got home and found that the tow bar on the camper was moving around. We got the box out of the car and sent it off to Andy Frost, and the camper went to sponsor New Farm Garage to sort the tow bar. We got it all back together including a new waste system for the camper as the tanks had had to be removed and then we were off to the Main Event at the Pod.
©Eurodragster.com
On Friday we made our first run and had no second gear! We got the gearbox out again, secured parts from Penn Autos and they were delivered by Rob to the gates of the Pod. The rebuild started after qualifying finished. We got the box back in and running at eleven o'clock and still had problems, the valve bosy was out and we had to make a long-distance call to Canada. The problem was found by eagle-eyed Andy at 1:30 on Saturday morning. We had three hours' sleep and a four and a half hour round trip home to get a spare part, had the box rebuilt and running by eleven o'clock on Saturday morning. We waited all day to be called and whilst in the queue at seven in the evening it started to rain.The rest is history. By this time Paul had a bad case of the flu, Denise went down with it on Monday followed by me on Tuesday.

A very big Thank You to Andy and Rob of Penn Autos for all their hard work and determination to sort the box out, and how about Andy's 7.68! Thanks also to Patrick for the use of the workshop - we wouldn't have made it without your support.


Swift snippets.
8th June: Congratulations to UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson whom your News Editor noticed on Wednesday evening set new MSA British Pro Modified Championship records of 6.206 seconds and 227.19 mph at last week's FIA Main Event. Andy Marrs has kindly updated his sheet of European Bests to include Gus' new marks;
click here to check out the records sheet, or click on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Santa Pod Raceway Track Announcer John Price will be MC'ing a 1970s Spectacular show in aid of charity at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford at 7:00 pm on Monday 25th June. On the bill are The Rubettes, Showaddywaddy and Boney M, but John would still like readers to attend anyway. "It would be great to see some local drag racers in the audience even if they boo me", says Pricey. For your chance to boo John off the stage you firstly need to book your £20 ticket by calling the Orchard Theatre on 01322 220000.
©Eurodragster.com
Dakota Drag Strip in Smeatharpe, Devon is hosting its first Sunday Street Wars Run What You Brung this Sunday, 10th June. The eighth-mile RWYB is open to street-legal cars and bikes and also features demo passes by Andy Frost and Keith Cowie together with Show and Shine, trade stands and catering. Entry is £5 and £20 buys you unlimited RWYB. For more information check out the official Sunday Street Wars web site at www.streetnights.com.

If you can't wait until Sunday then Santa Pod Raceway are holding a Run What You Brung tomorrow. Gates open at 8:00 am and the fully-prepped track will be open between 9:30 am and 5:00 pm. Entry to the track is £10 and £20 and the production of a valid DVLC licence will buy you as many runs as you can fit in. For more information check out www.rwyb.com.

If you fancy last-minute testing in National Event conditions before next week's SPRC Summernationals then Santa Pod Raceway are still taking bookings for their Peak Performance Day next Friday, 15th June, immediately before the race. For more information about Peak Performance Days again check out www.rwyb.com or call 01234 782828, or to book your place visit www.santapodshop.com.

Editor's note: Apologies that the rest of yesterday's news update did not appear as scheduled. This was due to an emergency which arose in your News Editor's day job just as his lunch break started.


PMR's new landmark.
8th June: Paul Marston Racing enjoyed a most successful FIA Main Event, says Paul Marston:

The weather was pretty much a foregone conclusion according to the internet weather sites, although do you try to ignore them. Friday and Saturday were actually better than forecast by most but Sunday and Monday never changed, it was going to be wet!

The FIA Main Event was a new landmark for PMR, entering nine drivers in six race cars - our most yet and a really tall order. I am proud to say that although stretched a little on Friday the team coped very well. The pit crew, the backbone of Paul Marston Racing, were very professional and rose to the task. The drivers also tried their best to not cause any problems themselves by keeping temperatures down and doing as much between-round maintenance themselves to help share the load on the pit crew.

"It's Mad Friday that always stretches us and probably quite a lot of teams", said Pit crew Co-ordinator Sefton Whitlock. "It's a real challenge for everyone with so many qualifying sessions on the same day. It becomes a race in itself to get the Paul Marston Racing cars turned round fast enough for their next sessions, in particular Grumpy's Dodge, the Ugly Stick and the Whoopass Monza, each of which were double-classing. But everyone works together to make it happen. It might look like organised chaos, and that's because it is!"
©Eurodragster.com
Saturday was a far more relaxed affair with two qualifying sessions. Tethys in the Ugly Stick four-link dragster had a very solid outing, with both Tethys and the car displaying good consistency and getting a real handle on perfecting the throttle stop in Super Comp.

With the weather in mind both Gary Springford, proprietor of Drag Race Engineering, and I decided that we would treat the event more as a Test and Tune, with Gary running his beautiful alcohol injected Hulk Shogun in Pro ET and me driving the DRE-backed Vauxhall Calibra in Super Pro ET. Both Shogun and Calibra are still in early development, National Event conditions seemed the perfect opportunity to iron out some bugs, taking the ominous approaching weather into consideration. This does seem to have been the correct tactic and both Shogun and Calibra ran bests, Hulk Shogun with an effortless 9.77/118 and the Calibra with an 8.33/162.

Mick Howling driving Grumpy's Dodge in both Super Gas and Pro ET had another solid outing with both driver and race car being the picture of consistency. A special thanks goes out to Mick for all the enthusiasm he brings and also for always being the first up in the morning, you can't keep a good man down. Dave Catton, double classing in Super Gas and Pro ET in the Whoopass Monza, was fighting an inconsistency which we think we have identified and rectified but we will have to wait to the SPRC Summernationals to find out.

Steve Bolton in the Dark Destroyer Plymouth Scamp is still top of the pile in the Pro ET National Championship, increasing his cushion over Carla Pittau and Rick McCann in their Heaven and Hell Camaro to 200 points - not much, but no harm done to Steve's Championship aspirations. But there is still a long way to go. The SPRC Summernationals marks the mid point in the 2007 National Championship season. To be competitive against the very best teams in Pro ET and all the other Sportsman classes is an aim which the PMR Drag Race Driving School-trained drivers have reached. To be consistently competitive, qualifying well and going rounds is their next goal; we to work extra hard on that.

In our third season of competition with our more seasoned drivers, it is good to see a maturity, an unspoken confidence, and a more business-like approach, with knowledge and experiences being passed on to our new crop of rookie drivers who are currently crewing with us whilst going through the PMR Drag Race Driving School. After all, that's where every single one of us started and it's what the School is all about really. Anyone who has an ambition to race with us or who just needs some advice, stop by at a National Event or contact PMR through the link on Eurodragster.com. Come and discuss your ideas from a Passenger Ride or half day driving experience to a turn-key race car.

Our continued thanks go to Santa Pod Raceway for their belief in what we do, to Drag Race Engineering (020 8597 9484) for their support, Shakespeare County Raceway for finding the Grumpy Bike, the Ramraider Wild Bunch crew for the safe return of Paul's Grumpy's Dodge pit bike, Black Box London, CTM Engineering (020 8592 1180), London Road Tyres, Custom Car, ACW, and all our associate sponsors and friends, and of course the fans. A special thanks to everyone at Eurodragster.com, we owe you big!


Web site updates.
8th June: Dutch Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten has updated his web site with a report from last week's FIA Main Event where he clocked the fastest-ever terminal speed by a European Pro Mod racer. You can check out Robert's web site at www.produtch.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Celebrating his return to racing after a ten-year sabbatical, UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Bill MacDermid has launched a web site at www.billythekidracing.co.uk. The very nice new web site tells you everything you could want to know about Bill and his very smart Camaro including race history, team run-down, car specification, photo and video, race reports, links, sponsor page and much more.

This week's edition of Drag, Rod and Classic Review magazine at www.drcreview.com is a bumper issue with five features for drag racing and hot rod enthusiasts. Included are reports from the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod, an interview with Kev Slyfield about his Pro Mod Willys Sedan, a feature on the restoration of the legendary Mondello Matsubara Fiat altered and a preview of the forthcoming NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion at Columbus, Ohio. For street rodders, there's a report from last weekend's NSRA Billing Fun Run and the chance to win a cool new book about the less well known hot rod shops.

The official web site of the UK's Venom Racing Fuel Altered team has been updted with a video clip of Tony Betts' 6.68-second pass at the Springspeed Festival at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can find the video at www.venomracing.co.uk.


Turbos ready to pounce.
7th June: This weekend's (8th-10th)
Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Series round at the NDRG Summernats at Gardermoen hosts the first of seven rounds of the 2007 TSDS Top Doorslammer Series. Johan Samuelsson tells us that no less than seventeen of the Outlaw Pro Mods from Sweden, Norway and Denmark are ready to enter the lists.

"Top Doorslammer allows race teams to use a wide range of engine set-ups", says Johan. "They can use both roots and screw blowers, nitrous or turbochargers. There is no cubic inch limit but only one power adder can be uses on the motor, and only methanol or unleaded race fuel are allowed.
©Eurodragster.com
"At the coming event there are two Swedish turbocharged cars, a Dodge Viper driven by myself and an S10 truck driven by Paolo Andreini. We are eager to wipe out the numbers for Jöran Persåker's quickest turbocharged run in Europe when he ran 6.95 seconds in 2002. We both think that we are able to run mid- or low six-second runs after some chassis tuning. There should be enough power in our engines: both have made more than 2000hp on the dyno at approximately 7000 rpm with less than 30 psi boost.

"There is a lot more to come from the turbo V8 motors in the future. Since the nitrous teams are no longer competitive in FIA Pro Modified perhaps the rule makers should look in another direction. There are several turbo race cars being built around Europe with great potential in the near future."

You will be able to stay in touch with Johan and Paolo's progress this weekend as well as the rest of Top Doorslammer and all the NDRG Summernats news courtesy of our colleagues at EurodragsterNorth.com.


Meca Winternationals deadlines.
7th June: Christer Håård has been in touch with important information for racers wishing to take part in the Winternationals at Malmö's Meca Raceway on 13th-16th September:

The last day for entry to the Winternationals will be 31st August. Please note that SRIF will not be able to handle any entries made after this date. The last day for payment is also 31st August, by mindight, and the money has got to be in SRIF's account at midnight on 3rd September, at the latest. This goes for all teams whether domestic or foreign.

Foreign teams should pay directly to:

SWIFT: HANDSESS
IBAN: SE4460000000000193573628

Handelsbanken, Malmö City
Södergatan 10
205 40 Malmö
Sweden

Teams who have not paid on the above date will be removed from the entry list and SRIF will offer their spot to teams on the reserve list. So pay your entry fee in time, don't wait til the last second. There will be no refunds if you withdraw after midnight on 9th September. If you want to withdraw you can do it through Pernilla Grahn at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
There is a limit of three hundred teams after which we will close entry. A reserve list will open on SRIF's home page as soon as we have reached threee hundred entries. If there are any withdrawals or non-payments then we will pick the first team on the reserve list.

For those teams whose pits are wider than 6.80 metres, there will be a 100 kr fee for every extra ten centimetres. If you would like a wider area assigned for your team then this will have to be notified and paid in advance, no later than 31st August. Teams who haven't applied for the right pit size and paid the fee in advance will have to pay double fee (200 kr per 10 cm) on the spot even to be able to start at Meca Raceway. Note that everything will have to fit within your pit square: tow cars, trailers, mobile homes, mopeds, tents, race cars and so on. Thomas Cronemark is in charge of pitting and he will answer any of your questions or opinions at [email protected].

Meca Raceway will be closed on Wednesday 12th September as we're preparing for the Winternationals.

Thanks to Tezzii of EurodragsterNorth.com for help with translation.


A Chaotic weekend for Page.
6th June: In a last-minute change to the official
entry list for next week's SPRC Summernationals, John Wright's name as driver of Lawrie Gatehouse's Chaos AA/FA has been replaced with that of UK Fuel legend Gary Page. Eurodragster.com grabbed a word with Gary to find out the story.

"John Wright has broken one of his shoulders", said Gary. "I got a call out of the blue from John asking me if I would like to drive the car next week. Lawrie spoke to me when they were first putting the car together but at that time I was not able to get involved for various reasons. But this looks like it's going to be fun and I am only sorry that John had to suffer for me to get back in an altered."
©Eurodragster.com
Gary last drove an altered in the early 1980s when he shoed the legendary Panic in Pro Comp. "I'll be going back to my roots and it will be interesting to see what we can do", he said. "Alan Jackson said to me "You know you have to shift gear don't you" - I thought the button was the cigarette lighter!"

Gary will get acquainted with Chaos at next Friday's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway before entering Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association competition at the SPRC Summernationals.

We're sure that everyone will join us in wishing John Wright a very rapid recovery.


The incredible journey.
6th June: If you are a regular Eurodragster.com News reader you will recall that Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad had more than his fair share of problems getting his bike together over the off-season. Just when you thought Hans Olav must have run out of bad luck we received this incredible account of his attempt to get home after last week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway:

It was only a three hour drive from Santa Pod to the ferry, and we had eight hours. We were travelling with Arvid Grødem, the Norwegian Funny Car driver. At 18:00 on Tuesday, we were about to join the M1 motorway when the bus engine stopped on one of the roundabouts. There was nothing we could do, except to drain the battery of power as we desperately tried to start the engine again. There was a lot of traffic around us. Arvid left us and headed for the ferry. We rigged up the warning sign, and started to empty the bus to reach our tools. Soon we discovered it was a fuel problem, and thought that maybe it was a blockage in the fuel line.

At 18:30 we called Gjensidige, the insurance company in Norway, to get help with rescue and we gave them all the details about what, where and when. After two hours waiting with nothing happening, we called back only to find out that Gjensidige could not get in contact with their partners in England, but they were working on it. Another problem was they did not have any partners for rescuing big trucks or buses. It was very nice to find that out stuck in the middle of nowhere and thinking that signing up for rescue insurance is supposed to help you in these situations. Gjensidige told us to phone the police to get help. We didn't have a phone number for the English police, and Gjensidige told us to look for some phone boxes beside of the road.

At 21:00 we were just leaving the bus to find a phone box when the traffic police showed up. We told them about the situation, they put up a lot of lights and signs to stop the traffic running into us. The police called a CMG rescue team to tow us away. Another two hours waiting and at 23:00 the tow car was on the scene. Another short break and Phil the rescue man decide to blow air into the fuel pipe line to clean it properly and get diesel to the engine. When the lift pump, supposed to suck diesel and pump up pressured didn't work he decided to put air pressure into the diesel tank to push fuel into the pump. Big disaster: the tank couldn't handle the pressure and fractured. Three hundred litres of diesel was now on its way out of the tank and onto the road. Another rescue team, for spillages, was called and showed up immediately. Phil was running around and was nearly hit by cars at least three times.

To move the bus, we had to connect the air line from the rescue truck to the bus to release the brakes. The connection didn't fit, but we solved that problem with a hose clamp. Then we had to be towed with a pole, which was supposed to be connected directly to the towing points on the bus and the rescue truck. Nothing fit, so shackles and joints were put together a bad way. I had to steer the bus without any power, and use the bus brakes to avoid rolling into the tow truck: there was one metre between the vehicles. It was just a nightmare to be towed five hundred metres across two roundabouts and in to a bus stop. Phil drove me to the closest petrol station so we could get petrol for our generator. The bus had a serious leak, and a big area around the bus was covered with diesel. Phil left us about 00:30 and told us he would be back the next morning. We called Gjensidige again and told them about the new situation. They wanted us to find a motel, but we just couldn't leave the bus in a lake of diesel, with all the racing equipment on board. Just a spark could ignite it. We stayed in the bus and watched the whole night.

At 6:00 on Wednesday morning Phil was back and tried to empty what was left in the tank, but all the walls inside the tank stopped the hose reaching all the way into the tank. At that moment there was almost nothing left in the tank either. Then Phil tried to rig up a portable tank beside the engine, but no way could we start the engine. Phil cut fuel lines and made a lot of connections to try to get diesel in to the engine to start it.
©Eurodragster.com
In the meantime we were in contact with Gjensidige again to try to get a deal to get us back to Norway. Gjensidige said that the insurance just covered the cost of rescue, not repair and parts, and they wanted the bus towed to the closest workshop and leave it there and get us back home until the bus was repaired. Again, we could not leave all our equipment, and we reminded him that we also had another Supertwin team's equipment in a trailer behind the bus. We were lucky to re-book the ferry ticket from Immingham to Goteborg, for two days' time.

In all the discussions we got in contact with a man who understood the problem. We told him that we had arranged parts and people to meet us when the ferry arrived in Goteborg, and that he only had to confirm the towing cost to the ferry, and from the ferry into a workshop in Goteborg. He gave us the thumbs up, and we told the CMG rescue to tow us all the way to the ferry, about 220 km. Gjensidige got CMG's phone number to confirm that they would cover the cost. Suddenly CMG said they wanted to be paid before they wanted to do anything, and that just a confirmation of payment was not good enough. At 12:30 Phil left us again with no result, and said that he could do nothing before his boss said so. Then he told us that CMG wanted to tow the bus in to secure the payment.

At 18:00 Phil was back again with the truck to tow us to CMG. Another nightmare with the same towing equipment as last time, and this time we had to be towed for about twenty minutes. Phil seemed be in a hurry, he was towing the bus at a speed of 70 km/h, no fun at all. The towing point on the bus broke, on a crossroads, and all the car drivers around sat on their horns. I told a man that I would look after his horn so that he could help out to reconnect and move the bus. We finally ended up outside CMG's office, with the feeling that the bus was tired in parts. The Gjensidige man was finish his day and we could not get the money transfer until the next day, maybe. So again we had to stay with the bus.

At 19:00 we suddenly got a phone from Leif Andréasson. He told us he had seen us beside the road with a towing truck, and asked what had happened. He told us to contact Lee Brown, a friend who runs a truck workshop in Rushden. We called Lee, and told the story. He talked to the CMG people and promised us to solve the problem soon as possible. But to release the bus, team member Sturla had to use his Visa card and pay £1250 for rescue and towing, just to get away from the situation with CMG. At 21:00 CMG showed up with the proper equipment for towing and lifted the bus up bye the front wheels and connected the bus in the right and safe way.

Lee Brown and Mark 'The Animal' Bodimeade were waiting for us when we arrived at the workshop. In their eyes, this was no problem to repair at all. After a quick look at the lifting pump Lee said that it was worn out and wouldn't work. Lee and Mark take Sturla and I out for a dinner at a nice Indian Restaurant, where we ate a very good hot meal.

On the next morning Lee went to a local store to repair the pump. Two hours later, the pump was back in, and the bus motor was running again immediately. Next was to remove the fuel tank for welding. There were still a few litres of diesel left, and Sturla and Mark discovered this the hard way when they got it all over themselves like a shower. I heard some fantastic new words in English I didn't know existed. The tank was cleaned out and taken to a local welder. Two hour later the tank was welded. After a nice lunch we put the tank back where it belonged, and about 18:00 we were ready for another attempt to catch the ferry to Goteborg. There were no more problems with the bus on the way to the ferry, and it ran perfectly all the way back home. Lee also called us to be sure that everything was OK.

A huge Thank You to Mark and Lee, we can't find the proper words to express our gratitude for all the help. Another thanks to Leif Andréasson who put us in contact with the good guys.


Another incredible journey.
6th June: UK Junior Dragster racer Zak Johnson has been in touch to say a big Thank You to Darren Prentice and everyone at Santa Pod Raceway for a great day at the Performance Vauxhall Show on Sunday. Zak and the family's day didn't start out quite so well for Zak and dad Rick, though:

About six miles from the M18 on the A1 we found ourselves in the middle of a high-speed police pursuit, ending with the "chased" ramming the rear end of our trailer in an attempt to escape - bad memories of good friend Wayne Nicholson came to mind. After a brief visit back home we were back on the road within a couple of hours, no rear door on the trailer and a dubiously strapped on trailer board.

It was well worth everything for a fantastic day, where Zak was made to feel like a hero by the Performance Vauxhall fans. Zak and the car were swamped all day by people young and old asking countless questions, and Zak performed brilliantly answering all of their questions and running a new personal best of 8.8 (Don't be doing that at a race - secretly-pleased Ed).

A big Thank You to everybody who came and asked questions, and again thanks to Santa Pod for making a fantastic day of it.


Swift snippets.
6th June: Congratulations to Swedish Junior Dragster racer Ludvig Perés who had his first event win in the Swedish Championship round at Orsa at the weekend. "Ludvig now has his first winner's cup, and he really loves the faster engine he got from Jennifer Gustafsson", says mum Lena Perés. "So this was a good weekend for Ludvig after the Main Event was rained off."
©Eurodragster.com
Real Steel Street Eliminator UK racer Ron Haslett has announced that his season may have to end after this Sunday's Classic Ford Show. "My current sponsor has pulled out of his end of our agreement and left me with unpaid bills and no money, so unless we find someone in the very near future we are out for at least the season", says Ron. "I'd like to thank all the people who have helped me get where we are today, and to Gleeson Wright Security, Ray Comer, Adrenaline and Eurodragster.com for their help with this weekend's passenger rides for Macmillan - let's go out with a bang. I'd also like to send my best to Pat and TJ."

Still on the subject of Ron Haslett and his wild Cortina, congratulations to Martin Ward of Buckingham who has won the passenger ride with Ron in this week's Give-Away on Eurodragster.com. Thank you to everyone who entered.

£200 cash, £160 in vouchers and a trophy for #1 qualifier are on offer courtesy of the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme at next weekend's SPRC Summernationals. "Thanks to our sponsors Metamorphosis Finance, Sandy Scooters, Real Steel, Penn Autos, A1 Motor Stores, Toxico Clothing, Inkwell Printing, Alleyjax, WASP, Black Bear Harley Davidson and Hauser Race Cars", says Carl Burton. "With another large field of cars the prize will be well earned, as this year you have had to be bang on your numbers. Good luck everyone."


NSCC Round 3 update.
6th June: Excellent track conditions at Shakespeare County Raceway produced some very exciting racing in the HotRod Gazette/John Sleath Race Cars National Street Car Challenge, writes Shaun Wilson:

A seventeen car field saw two racers qualify in the niness and four in the tens, with most of the drivers able to attend the evening cruise into the Warwickshire countryside. During Sunday the eliminations saw a number of new Personal Best times recorded, with the best being saved until the finals. Dave Sidaway in the street-legal Outlaw Anglia Fordson van recorded a NPB of 10.1 to lose out to Mark Todd's 1969 Pontiac. The twin-turbo'd car scortched the quarter mile in 9.614 seconds to take seven hundredths of the previous record, held by Russ Pursley. In true sportsmanship, Russ was one of the first people to congratulate Mark on his achievement (presumably now having the perfect excuse to put a bigger cam in the Dutton!).

With the show season about to come into full-swing there is plenty of opportunity for the slower cars to pick up additional points in the Challenge. Russ Pursley currently leads with his 350ci Dutton, ahead of John Osborne's 427ci 100E Ford and reigning Champion, Graham Bell in his 427ci '67 Mustang Convertible. For a full list of points standings check out www.hotrodgazette.com.


Further round the bend!
6th June: An invite to the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) and Guild of Motoring Writers' (GoMW) Trade Day at Rockingham Motor Speedway saw the incorrigible journalistic duo of Andy Willsheer and our very own Photo Editor Roger Gorringe (right, click on picture for large version) make their way to Corby to partake of the organisation's generous hospitality, writes Andy Willsheer.

Goodridge - the performance hose and fittings outfit - was one name well-known to the quarter-mile fraternity, though the majority of exhibitors on hand were more into the roundy-round and circuit racing scene.

Supported by Carter & Carter Group plc - a major provider of outsourced support services and learning solutions to major corporations - the day's arranged activities included the offer of rides for guests around the 1½-mile oval track that, incidentally, opened in 2001.

Eschewing the opportunity to take some chauffeured laps in, for example, chipped street cars, an Aeriel Atom or a variety of Formula cars, the pick of their day was a 1922 Godfrey & Nash (G&N) - of later Frazer-Nash fame - that owner Mark Walker has owned for about a decade.

The rudimentarily-constructed sporty machine is used as a road car and also in sundry vintage and sprint events. Featuring a 1908 Riley crank and two cylinders from a 1924 Salmson nine-cylinder radial aircraft engine, the chain-driven old-timer was put through its inimitable 95 mph paces with more than a modicum of verve, leading to much windswept merriment from both, ignoring the fact that there were neither seatbelts nor roll bar, the only safety equipment being the track-supplied helmets, neither of which were particularly well fitting.

Although the Rockingham experience was enjoyable, neither participant is likely to forego the delights of 1320 competition, which still remains their foremost motorsport addiction.

Picture courtesy and ©Andy Willsheer
©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
6th June: If you enjoyed our Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson's gallery from the weekend's Gary's Picnic/Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway then you will be pleased to hear that Peter has now posted his full set of photographs on his Fotopic gallery site at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of Junior Olley's Dakota Thunder Jet pick-up has been updated with the latest news from the team. You can check it out at www.dakotathunder.co.uk.


UK Championship points update.
5th June: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships.
©Eurodragster.com
You can check out the UK National Championship standings on our
Simpson Race Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you still see the old points then either click on the Refresh button, do a Ctrl and R, or clear your Browser's cache.

Söderquist: Pers knows his stuff.
5th June: Carbon By Design Team Owner Knut Söderquist was very happy with Patrik Pers' progress in Knut's new Fuel Funny Car at the FIA Main Event. Unfortunately the weather destroyed what could have been the best Fuel FC races in years.

"Patrik Pers' car with a very soft Alan Jackson set-up did exactly what I expected", Knut told Eurodragster.com. "A very nice run down a tricky track. We had planned a half pass to start with, to check if we had solved the problem we had at Easter. We are now running a dry sump instead of a wet sump and we have been struggling hurting pistons badly. I have been checkign with a few people in the USA and this is a problem they all have. There is not just one way to solve the problem. As we knew the weather was going to be bad for the rest of weekend we decided to go to about three quarter track then check the pistons to see if the changes we made helped. It was not perfect but I think we are going in the right direction.

"Patrik did a great driving job as it dropped a couple of cylinders after around 150 feet which made the car go towards the centre line. Patrik got the car back in the groove and clicked it off a little bit early as he felt something wasn't right. He was correct, a spark plug had broken in half so the car was actually running on seven cylinders. It feels nice for me as car owner to know I have a driver who knows what he is doing. As it turned out I think Patrik's run have qualifid him #7 in Top Fuel Dragster, not bad for a driver who made one run and still didn't get his licence.
©Eurodragster.com
"Right now I don't know what is happening with the Funny Cars as I can't see where the class is going. We all have put our hearts into this deal. One of the problems is that running a Funny Car is about fifteen per cent more expensive than a Top Fueller. The travel costs to go to Santa Pod are very expensive and will not be getting cheaper. It has to be a series, or it will just be match racing. So I have been trying to get everyone to do something together as everyone is doing their own deals. The reason is always the same, "I have to do it for my sponsors" but I do not really see any sponsors around...if anyone has seen any then give me a call. Now we are trying to put a deal together to run a non-official series which will have the same points system as Top Fuel. I have set up a prize for the winner, an Oscar the same as the racers get at races in the USA.

"But I am optimistic about the future of Funny Car. Right now we are preparing the car for Sundsvall which will be nice as I have not been there before, everyone tels me that it has the potential to be a really nice track and that everyone at the Club there is doing a great job."


Swift snippets.
5th June: Holger Dueholm tells us that racers have until midnight on Friday for standard-priced entry to the Danish Midsummer Nationals which takes place at Vandel on 22nd-24th June. Registration and payment after this deadline will incur a late entry fee of €100. So 122 teams from eight nations are signed up. Online entry and the official entry list can be found at www.streetfire.nu.

Congratulations to Denmark's Dodgeboys Team who won Pro Street at the second round of the Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Series at Meca Raceway at the weekend. "We were #1 qualifier with 4.70/149 mph", says driver Mike Dyrlund. "We ran a string of low 4.7s all through eliminations and won the race and lots of points, so now we lead the points race. Next weekend we are off to Gardermoen for TSDS Round 3 and our first quarter mile race this year."

Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has kindly forwarded us the final version of the official entry list for next week's SPRC Summernationals. You can view the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals.

Santa Pod Raceway are looking for race cars to make demonstration passes at the Fast Fest on Sunday 1st July and the Retro Show on Saturday 7th July, and a commercial-based vehicle to make passes at the UK Truck Show on 14th-15th July. If you are interested then please drop Darren Prentice a line at [email protected] or call 01234 782828.

Also looking for race vehicles to help promote drag racing, this time on static display, is Paul Croston of the UK's B'Sting Wild Bunch team who will be appearing at the Jetstream Club's Liverpool Aviation Fair at the old Speke Aerodrome in Liverpool. If any racers in the North West would like to take part please contact Paul on 01706 662289 or E-Mail [email protected].

Congratulations to Adele Atherton and Steve Woodbridge (couple at right in picture, click for larger version) who were married in California yesterday (Monday). Spencer Tramm and his family, George and Rachel Georgiou and Ady Goodier asked us to pass on their very best wishes, which we are very pleased to do.

We only heard about it yesterday but a belated very Happy Ruby Wedding Anniversary for Sunday to Dave and Linda Wilson of UK Top Methanol Dragster team Dave Wilson Racing. Hope that you had a great day, guys, and we'll hold the "life sentence" jokes. You can find Dave's FIA Main Event report on the team's official web site at www.silverlinedragracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Another belated wish, this time to UK former Top Methanol Dragster racer Doug Bond who son Joe tells us had a "special" birthday yesterday. Hope you had a good day Doug and all of your family, friends and team send their best wishes.

UK Super Gas racer Paul Spiers has asked us to say a big Thank You to Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett for the loan of his car trailer to transport Paul's Super Gas car to the FIA Main Event. "It's fellow drag racers like Ron who make the sport very special", says Paul. "Thanks Ron,and good luck with your passenger rides at the weekend."

On that subject, don't forget that you have until 23:59 tonight to enter for the chance to win a passenger ride in Ron Haslett's nine-second RSSE Cortina in our latest give-away. For more details check out yesterday's news update.

Thanks to those who have sent memories and tributes for our special tribute page for Santa Pod Raceway's Barn. Those who ignored the sentence in Saturday's news item regarding rants about Health and Safety or SPR's management will hopefully realise why they have not been published.


Web site updates.
5th June: The Save Dutch Dragracing web site at www.dragracedr88.nl has been updated with the latest information in the campaign to return drag racing to Drachten.

Our good friend Gwynn Clark has updated his Fatboy Slim gallery site with pictures of the Outlaw Flat Four and Outlaw Anglia action from the Gary's Picnic/Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Gwynn's pictures at www.pbase.com/slimboyfat/yanks_american_weekend_07.
©Eurodragster.com
Also updated from the weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway is the Shakespeare County Racers web site which you can find at www.shakespearecountyracers.co.uk.


Give-away: Win a passenger ride!
4th June: Eurodragster.com is pleased to offer a passenger ride in Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett's wild nine-second Cortina (right, picture courtesy and ©Sharkman). Ron is auctioning passenger rides at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend for a donation to
Macmillan Cancer Support and Eurodragster.com has made a donation on behalf of our contest winner. The passenger ride will take place during Santa Pod Raceway's Run What You Brung this Saturday (9th June).

To win the passenger ride in Ron's Cortina this Saturday, all you have to do is to E-Mail [email protected] by 23:59 UK tomorrow (Tuesday 5th) specifying Passenger ride as the subject and giving the following details:
  • Your name
  • Your home address
  • A daytime contact phone number
That's right, no difficult questions to answer, you just need to tell us who and where you are. We will pick one entry at random and that person will win the passenger ride. We will not share your details with anyone, and we will explain to the winner why we require a home address.

The only conditions are:
  • Entrants are eighteen years or over
  • One entry per E-Mail address
  • The winner must make their own way to Santa Pod on Saturday and pay £10 entry to the track
Good luck!
©Eurodragster.com

Swift snippets.
4th June: Also on the subject of charity, Collin Morrice of UK Super Comp and Super Gas team Morrice Boys Racing has been in touch to thank all those racers who gave very generously to Diabetes UK at the FIA Main Event and to let us know that the collection will continue at next week's SPRC Summernationals. "Thank you to all the people who put the window stickers on their cars, and a big thank you to Lynda Stanley for taking the stickers to the Bristol racers", says Collin. "Also thanks to all at Eurodragster.com (You're welcome - Ed) plus John Price and Graham Beckwith for the coverage over the weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
On the subject of the SPRC Summernationals, your News Editor is commentating alongside Graham Beckwith at next week's race. If you would like to send any commentators' notes about your race vehicle then please drop Tog a line at [email protected].


Web site updates.
4th June: Our Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has been in action at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend and has sent us a small gallery from the Yanks Weekend. You can check out Peter's pictures, which are presented in association with American Car Imports, by clicking here or via the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Ian Turburville has given his web site a freshen with details of all of the products and services he can offer. Check it out at www.turboville.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Hans Karlsson has updated his Hassebilder web site with pictures from the weekend's second round of the Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Series at Malmö's Meca Raceway. You can find Hasse's pictures at www.hassebilder.se.


TSDS Round 2 coverage.
3rd June: Our colleagues at EurodragsterNorth.com are at Malmö's Meca Raceway to cover this weekend's second round of the Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Series.
©Eurodragster.com
You will be able to stay in touch with all the latest from Meca Raceway by clicking on Live at
www.eurodragsternorth.com. You can also watch the Meca Raceway live webcam at www.srif.se.

Swift snippets.
3rd June: As promised we have set up a Tribute page to Santa Pod Raceway's Barn, which is to be removed at the insistence of Bedfordshire County Council. You can check out the John Woolfe Racing-sponsored tribute page by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes page on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you would like to contribute a Barn tribute or memory to this page then drop us a line at [email protected] specifying The Barn as the subject.

UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby would be pleased to hear from the fellow racer who has his Tilton starter motor. "The starter motor was lent out last year but has yet not been returned", says Colin. "At this stage the borrower's name is being withheld and this is a polite reminder to return it. Failing this the offender will be named and shamed. Anyone who has been around drag racing for a while will know the benefit of being able to ask for, and receive, help from other racers - withdraw this and you really will find yourself on your own". If that's you being gently reminded then you can contact Colin at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
We would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Raceway Track Manager, FIA European Championship Co-ordinator and Svensk Dragracing Chairman Kjell Pettersson. Have a great day Kjell.

Congratulations also to Sharon Norris of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew on the birth of Finley Benjamin at 6:00 this morning. Chief Timekeeper Steve Horn tells us that Finlay weighed in at 7 lb 14½ oz and that both Finlay and Sharon are doing just fine.

Thanks to our good friend Fahad Taqi for letting us know that the sixth round of the Chevrolet-backed Bahrain Drag Racing Championship takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit this Thursday-Friday 7th-8th June. You can find out more at www.bahraindrag.com.


Web site updates.
3rd June: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon recounts one of the more scary off-track stories from last week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
©Eurodragster.com

Top Fuel comics, Issue 2.
2nd June: UK Supertwin racer Ian Turburville says that last weekend's FIA Main Event wasn't all bad for his team despite the weather:

It was a big gamble going in for the first FIM/UEM Championship round at Santa Pod Raceway but I figured it was now or never, although I wasn't sure we were ready to face such heavy competition just yet. The prospect of having a British entry in Supertwin for the first time in years seemed to excite a lot of people, so I bowed to pressure and went for it. This was going to be the race of my life if all went to plan!

European champion Ronny Aasen jumped straight on a plane and came to our rescue with some much-needed experience to help with our tune-up and cooking, it was just so good to see him again. He immediately gelled with my crew Brum and Steve, so we all worked together like a well-oiled machine! The nitro fumes in 'Fuel Bike Alley' were overwhelming at one point when we all wheeled our bikes out and warmed them up together, quite a spectacle which drew large crowds! The atmosphere was great as we are all good friends in Supertwins and we spent the weekend swapping parts and helping each other out. I think we all had problems of one sort or another but worked hard to overcome them. You have to remember that for most of these teams this was the first time on the track since the Finals last year and with new set-ups to dial in.

Ronny spotted a big mistake straight away. He brought his fuel mixing kit and it showed four per cent difference to mine! We double-checked and, yup, we had been running on ninerty four per cent all last year thinking it was ninety eight! We tipped the can and the bike loved it, although it was a far too cold for our normally-aspirated motors on Sunday and Monday, so it was a good job we didn't have to run them.

We were first out on Saturday against new boy Roel Koedam which was fine by me. I had raced, and lost, against his Puma last Easter so wanted revenge! Mr Spokehead sounded a bit 'lumpy' at first which worried me but as soon as it gained temperature the note evened-out and sounded strong again. The burn-out went better than ever with the new set-up whilst Roel was having control problems in the other lane but we both settled down and staged in front of an expectant crowd. On the green we were away almost together and the race was on! Roel jumped out ahead at sixty foot and I just hung on waiting for my clutch to lock in harder. All of a sudden I leapt forward just as Roel's belt broke and I passed him accelerating hard but drifting towards the centre line. No way was I going to pedal it now so I just shifted my weight and the bike steered smoothly back into line. The front wheel started climbing slightly just as the finish line blurred past me. It felt like a normal run but then I realised the potato field was approaching faster than usual, oh well, I had great brakes from Jay Brake so didn't worry!

Steve appeared on the 'Pit-Bull' tow bike, waving the timing ticket with a sly grin on his face so I had a quick look. "No you plonker, where is my ticket?" I jibed. "That is yours" he said, laughing, " you did 192 mph but with the sixty foot time of a moped". A pretty cool start to the weekend!

The next one was going to be the killer of course...not! Round two was against Acka and I must have got a bit cocky as for some reason I did a big 'Fast Freddy' type rolling burn-out, which seemed to go down well with the crowd. It didn't go down too well with Brum though as he had to push me all the way back into a big cloud of rubber and nitro fumes which had us both choking. Acka had meantime been waiting patiently at the line but must have decided to teach me a lesson and kept me in full stage for ages, guess I deserved that! By the time the light turned green I had lost the plot and when I eventually woke up and hit the throttle it sent me into Acka's lane so I just went with the flow, I could see he was miles ahead anyway so no danger. I did get brownie points for missing the timing blocks - does that count towards the Championship? (No - Ed) - and a slap around the head from both Brum and Ronny. No damage though as my fabulous Simpson Diamondback helmet deflected both blows!

The lovely Carina didn't fare so well and blew poor old Klara Bella into Valhalla on her run so I donated a ballistic vest to save her from any future such mishaps, god forbid!

OK, so the next run was going to be the killer! 200 mph was in sight although running a six on a high-gear bike isn't so easy, but, who knows? Then it rained, and rained, and rained (we are talking monsoon here folks) so the race was called at Monday lunchtime. It did however give us lots of time for socialising and bench racing which is nice! There were some stellar laps from many of the racers on Saturday and I would like to congratulate them all, especially Steve Carey and Danny Cockerill, two performance jumps which shook everyone!

Well done to Santa Pod staff for all the improvements to the facility and the extremely efficient way the big races now run, good work. Good luck to everyone on the Scandinavian leg of the tour, sorry I can't make it (bar a lotto win) but plans are afoot for next year! Thanks to all the fans who came by to wish us well. Nice to meet some special people like fellow S&S racer Chip Ellis. We will see most of you at the Summernationals in a couple of weeks and the rest of you at the Finals! The bike is in one piece thanks to hard work and help from Rush, Ronny, Ron Houniet, Brum, Steve Leedell, Tim Fountain, Johno at Sprint Dampers, Jock, Arias Pistons, Gates belts, Custom Chrome, Curbishley Automotive, JIMS, Innovate, Red Line Oil, Simpson, A&A Business Supplies and Innotec.
©Eurodragster.com

Swift snippets.
2nd June: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to inform racers that entry to the SPRC Summernationals is now closed, with the exception of those racers to whom she has spoken about their entries. You can view Version 4 of the official SPRC Summernationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals.

UK Super Pro ET racer Wayne Nicholson has dropped us a line to say that the Lucky Devil team made more progress at the FIA Main Event. "Our first run was 7.49/188 which is two hundredths and seven miles per hour better than our previous best", says Wayne. Not bad fresh out the trailer! Our next pass would have been quicker still as we were a tenth quicker by 330 feet then got a bit of shake and had to pedal to run 7.9/179. Things are still going in the right direction, if it wasn't for the hellish weather! An indoor arena for drag racing?"

UK Pro Stock Bike racer Richard Gipp was happy with last week's 7.61 on the fourth passes on his UK-built 1640 cc motor. "If the weather hadn't interviened the records in PSB would have tumbled further making it the quickest PSB field in european history by a long way", says Richard. "On another note, with the resurgence of PSB why not put a sixteen-bike field into the programme (Promoter's call - Ed), delay on this and the on/off at Mantorp Park has seriously affected the number of entrants and may affect further participation. Big thanks to Psycleworkz for last minute parts, Roger Upperton for prep, Straightline Racing for continued support, and Motospeed for carrying evey spare imaginable."
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster.com reader Neil Marks has suggested that we compile a page of memories of The Barn at Santa Pod, which was in use for the last time at last weekend's FIA Main Event. We think that that is a great idea so if you would like to send your Barn memories then drop us a line at [email protected] specifying The Barn as the subject and we will publish them on a tribute page. Please note that it's memories in which we are interested, not rants about Health and Safety or SPR which will not be published.

Also on the subject of The Barn, Martin Stanberry aka Rubber Chicken Man (right) would be pleased to hear from Eurodragster.com readers with pictures of himself and Charlie the Chicken defying the Jet cars in The Barn, for use on a web page. If you have any pictures of Charlie, or indeed of Martin, then you can E-Mail Martin at [email protected].

Thanks to Peter Frost for letting us know that the post-FIA Main Event standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series have been calculated and are available on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.

UK Pro ET racers Liz and Iain Malcolm have asked us to say a big Thank You to Charlie Chivers, Sheila, Charlie Jr and Herb Andrews for their help dismantling what was left of their awning in the pouring rain at Santa Pod last week. "The wind had bent the frame", says Liz. "Iain and I could not manage to fold it in on our own. A bigger Thank You for the hot cup of tea afterwards. A new frame is on the way for the Summernationals, but let's hope that the sun shines for us all. I thought that the new system for scrutineering worked very well, it was much easier to get the dragster back to the pits."

Norwegian Top Methanol Funny Car racer Arvid Grødem has been in touch to ask us to pass on his and the Westside Racing team's best wishes to team member Pål Henning 'The Diver' Sørensen and his wife Aashild who were married yesterday (Friday). "The whole team will be at the party today and we are looking forward to that", says Arvid. We wish Pål and Aashild and their kids all the best for the future."


More thanks from Frosty.
2nd June: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost tells us that his Red Victor 1 Vauxhall reset the world pump gas record again whilst running in Comp Eliminator at last week's FIA Main Event, and that he has a few Thank Yous to the people and companies which have been involved in the project:

Firstly my sponsors which include Altiss Engineering, Mickey Thompson, Castrol Edge, Electromotive, Powerpour, Nimbus Motorsport, Cam Auto Developments, Hilton Auto Gas Centre, Pacet Fans, Activ8 Universal Friction Reducer and Street Rodding In Motion. Secondly some of the people involved include Jon Webster and staff at Webster Race Engineering who have once again sorted out the chassis side, Peter Knight at Knight Racing Engines who has been instrumental in devlopment of the turbo engine, and Steve Sczepanski from Mechanical Power Systems in Canada who has an amazing ability to tune the Electromotive TEC3R system.
©Eurodragster.com
Of course once again my crew of Tony Grayston, Rob Kearns, Deb, Gary and Damien Frost were superb and it is so good to be able to concentrate on the car when they do all the little things right. It was also great to see our good friends Camp Stanley and Brian Wood from the USA's 1320 TV giving the UK street-legal racers some air time.

Next up for the team is this weekend's Performance Vauxhall Show at Santa Pod. Let's hope the weather is kind to us so we can show the Vauxhall enthusiasts what real performance looks like.


Web site updates.
2nd June: UK blown-alcohol altered racer Joe Bond has moved his web site to its own domain name at www.nuthinfancyracing.co.uk. "This move had to be made sooner rather than later", says Joe. "The old site had restrictions on traffic and would shut down if too many people visited the site. Ten minutes after Eurodragster last posted that the site had been updated, the web site provider shut the site off because it had reached maximum traffic. Just goes to show how many people read Eurodragster.com and why not! The new site also has no pop-ups which is a Brucie Bonus. The new site is better laid out, not so much clogging, and is easier to navigate. Included in the site are are pages describing the car, the team, videos and reports from the 2007 season, and I will continue to update it as the season progresses. I am however after someone who can help me work out why the videos won't work if you view the site via Mozilla Firefox when using IE everything works fine. It's probably just me but if someone can help me solve it i'll be very grateful". If you can help Joe then drop him a line at [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the officiel European Pro Mod Association web site with pictures from last week's FIA Main Event. You can check out Patrik's pictures at www.promod.nu.

Also updating from the FIA Main Event is Paul Castle whose shots from last weekend you can find at picasaweb.google.co.uk/roborider1320.


Flamholc's first race.
1st June: Sweden's
MMR/Glueharbor Pro Stock team attended its first race at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend with Adam Flamholc driving, Michael Carlsson as Crew Chief, and Robert Brodén, Johann Pripp, Fredrik Åkesson and Daniel Ambryszewski working on the 2002 Firebird.

"Unfortunately we only had one day to qualify due to rain but our second and last qualifying run was a 7.05 which put us in seventh place before the rain started", says Adam Flamholc. "Eliminations were called off due to the rain.

"The motor we currently use is built by MMR and is not entirely up to date with the latest parts, but should be able to pull off 6.9s with the current configuration, which we think will put us in the top five in the series after which we will decide how to proceed.

"We owe our sponsors big recognition for making this possible: Amalie who were in from the beginning and then actually stepped up a level; Karlstad bilförsäljning who besides being a sponsor is also a good friend and advisor to the team; HC-Bilservice in Lund who came in late but are showing a big interest and commitment; YIT who are one of the newer sponsors but who nevertheless are showing just as big an interest; Holmeja race shop who let us put our motor in their dyno every time we have a new idea we want to try out; Custom graphics who gave the car the new look; Sunoco race fuels who provide the best unleaded fuel available; Progressive Performance who help us to find parts and give valuable technical advice; and MMR and Motorenova who perform all machine work on the motors."
©Eurodragster.com

1. Check box contents.
1st June: Marius Blackburn and Chris Gray of the UK's Escape From Reality Pro ET team have been in touch to ask us to say a big Thank You to Geof Hauser and Ray Eldred of Hauser Race Cars for their help before the FIA Main Event.
©Eurodragster.com
"Just three days before the Main Event the team did not have a torque converter for our altered", says Marius Blackburn. "Two had been sent in the ten days before the event, the boxes were OK but the contents were wrong! There were a few anxious phone calls on the Monday before the event, and by Thursday we were able to pick up the correct converter, which had been sourced from New York, from Geof's shop on our way to Santa Pod Raceway.

"We put the car together on Thursday night then chilled for a while before trying to dial in a new combination. We ran a 9.8959 on our 9.88 dial to qualify #17 in the tightest field Pro ET has seen. 0.0760 was #31! This was to give us the honour of racing Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme guru Carl 'Gangmaster' Burton in his top-qualifying Whole Lotta Rosie Sierra. Then the rains came!"


Swift snippets.
1st June: Jan Phersson tells us that important information about Simpson Top Fuel and Fuel Funny car belts can be found in both Swedish and English on the Simpson Shop web site at www.simpsonshop.se.

UK Junior Dragster racer Rhiannon Bellenie has been bitten by the racing bug after her outing at the FIA Main Event, says dad Pete. "A very big thank you to Ian and Paula Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club", says Pete. "Ian even had Rhiannon's name put on the car and was always there with a bit of help or advice. I would recommend that anyone with a child between eight and seventeen who wants to have a go rents the SPRC Junior Dragster together with all the safety clothing etc. It's absolutely fantastic for the kids, and not as expensive as you would think". For more details check out the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

This just in from our "Only Fast Freddy" department: Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Freddy Fagerström has reportedly been celebrating. "Freddy figured out that if it now rains for the rest of the season, he is going to be European Champion", says our mole.
©Eurodragster.com
Snowmobile racer Max Croot tells us that he finally got his refettled ride up and running over last weekend. "It was something to do during Sunday's rain at Santa Pod", says Max. "The snowmobile is now running injected methanol and nitrous oxide with an Electromotive ECU - the same as Andy Frost uses. We should now have around 500 bhp from 1000 cc! My thanks go to Steve Szcepanski of MPS and Andy Frost for their help over the weekend. We will be at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to tune the system and make some demonstration runs, weather permitting!"

Lex and Gerda Joon and everyone at the MPM Oil Top Fuel team haev asked us to send their best wishes to team member Hans Brings and his partner Caroline who are to be married today (Friday). We're sure that everyone will join us in adding our very best wishes to Hans and Caroline for a long and happy future.

Michael Fordham from the Blazing Wheels web site has asked if any Eurodragster.com reader can help with a lift to/from Mantorp Park from any of Stockholm's airports for the Veidec Festival at the end of July. "I have not yet bought tickets so I can be flexible about which airport I fly to", says Michael. "I will also help for fuel costs. If anyone can help please contact me through the web site at www.blazingwheels.co.uk."

Editor's note: An abbreviated news update today because of pressure of work in your News Editor's day job but tune in tomorrow for news from Ian Turburville, Andy Frost, Joe Bond and more, and keep those news items coming to [email protected]. And please, no more E-Mails about NHRA being taken over.



Earlier news