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30th June: UK Super Street racer Chris Perkins belied his rookie status as he took #1 qualifying spot at the SPRC Summernationals after a last-minute scare: Although I was feeling a bit nervous, the run up to the Summer Nationals was all going well until we noticed some damage to one of the Pop’s front tyres last Wednesday night. The following day was full of frantic phone calls to try to locate some replacement tyres and a huge thanks must go to Webster Race Engineering who located some new Hoosier tyres at Topspeed Automotive. Topspeed very kindly delivered them to the track on Friday morning. Once the tyres were fitted to the rims and back on the vehicle we were back and ready to race. Phew, that was close! As we are new to bracket racing we found it difficult to achieve a dial-in to the 10.90 index but with some deep thought and a lot of luck we ran a 10.91 which made us number one qualifier. Wow, it was hard to believe at the time and it is still making us smile and will do for some time yet. All too quickly we came to eliminations and we ran a close race with Martyn Sanger whose 10.91 beat our 10.98. It was a great race and we were not too disappointed to be knocked out. I would like to thank Santa Pod Raceway, Santa Pod Racers Club, Webster Race Engineering, Topspeed Automotive and our fellow competitors in Super Street for being so friendly and welcoming on our first outing. Outlaws at the Nostalgias. 30th June: Fifteen of the UK's Supercharged Outlaws made it through the gates of Shakespeare County Raceway for this year's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals for their latest round sponsored by Stamford Speed Shop. Dave McKenzie has been in touch with a review of the popular series' weekend: Unfortunately Chris Pattison was waiting for his rear axle to be upgraded and did not get it back in time, Johnny Hall and Nick Osgathorp simply ran out of time to have the Excalibur slingshot ready but Johnny assures us that he will be at the next round at Santa Pod. One of our newcomers got his dates mixed up - Matt Lee was actually on Honeymoon in Dubai so was unable to make his début. Again Matt will be at the next round. Another newcomer, John Reeve with the El Bandido altered, missed the race due to a bereavement. That's all the apologies, now what about the Nationals - fifteen cars was still a record entry for the Outlaws and the action was fast and furious. Lee Gallimore has turned the Red Mist altered into a bracket Fuel Altered running 7.551, 7.585, and 7.565 on a 7.5 dial-in for the three rounds which count towards the Outlaws series. This was not enough to win the event though. Paul Watts in the No Easy Pick Up was more consistent with 9.559, 9.48, 9.458 on a 9.52 dial in to take the number one spot. In Q1 on Saturday morning Lee Gallimore lined up alongside Andy Hadfield in the Twister. Two great side by side burnouts with smoke to the eighth mile mark, then on the green both cars left hard and it looked like Andy was going to get the first seven second run on the Twister until the nitrous melted all eight pistons! Andy says he will be back. Another car with woes on Q1 was Ian Hanson with the Stars and Stripes Corvette: a strong burnout then silence as two con rods let go in Ian's Big Block Chevy. Luckily the diaper contained most of the debris and oil so there was no downtime. Sam Freeman continued to be consistent with a stout 7.841/173 in Vic Hammond's Speed Demon slingshot. Dave McKenzie was in the driving seat in the Thing 5 altered for the first run since round one when the car literally took off at the finish line and turned hard left. This time Dave took it steady from the line and ran through at 9.2/142 to check the car out. Nobby carried on where he left off from the Yanks Weekend, now looking very competent in the Rover car running an 8.972/154. Tom Coe drove the Shy Talker slingshot to a 8.153/166. Brian Gandy was also looking strong with a 7.648/165. Q2 saw Tom Coe, Lee Gallimore, Sam Freeman, Brian Gandy and Neil Townson all running seven seconds. The weather for Q3 on Sunday morning was a lot hotter than Saturday with the temperatur close on 30 degrees C. This round saw Alec Coe in the hot seat of the Shy Talker slingshot. Alec's first run carded him a 7.958/171. Mr Consistency Lee Gallimore again ran a 7.558/177. The talking point of Q3 was Brian Gandy whose engine let go just before the eighth mile with oil getting under the big rear slicks. Brian did really well to keep the car off the armco, This resulted in some considerable downtime whilst SCR's track crew did the big clean-up job on the track - thank you guys for all your hard work. Brian lost a couple of rods and the back of the block but hopes he can be back at the next event. With the field of cars now getting decimated by problems, only six cars made it down the track in Q4. Lee again ran 7.556, Alec ran 7.887 and Sam 7.72 (on a red light). Trace Froome ran a twelve-second pass in the Dodge Avenger Funny Car but he had problems all weekend. In his first run the mag points welded up so Trace was just pleased to get the Funny Car down the track. Another Funny Car racer was Tony Froome who did an observed run in the Sundance Olds Cutlass Funny Car. It was a careful pass and everything looked OK for Tony to step it up a notch at the next event. In what other class in the country would you get this kind of comradeship - Team Thing lent out two crew members to other teams as they were short on crew, Vic Hammond lent Lee Gallimore his Jeep as Lee's brother had called in sick and did not turn up with their tow van. Everyone helped each other in every way they could to make sure as many Outlaw cars made it to the track for each round. This must be the friendliest class there is and they are all a credit to each other. Results:
Thanks to the NSRA for a fantastic event and to the SCR track crew for all their hard work in giving us the track to run. Finally thanks to all our sponsors Good Vibrations California, LA Racing Parts, Motor Shack, Fester Race Cars, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Academy Glass IoW, Stamford Speed Shop and LA Commercials. The next Supercharged Outlaws round is at Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway on 16th-17th July. Alamo JD Challenge standings. 30th June: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-SPRC Summernationals standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent-A-Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
Don't forget that Alamo Rent-A-Car are offering up to 30% discount on car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA European Finals, an official headed for a meeting overseas, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. Check it out at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. Swift snippets. 
30th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the
revelation that Alamo Rent-A-Car will be fielding two cars at the FIA European Finals, one of which will be driven by
a triple Champion. If you know more, of if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
[email protected].UK Top Sportsman update. 30th June: With the inaugural running of Top Sportsman at Dragstalgia just over a fornight, the entry list is growing but the message from organisers Paul Marston and Jeff Bull and Santa Pod Raceway is "Keep your entries coming as quickly as you can": In order to have enough pit space allocated to Top Sportsman we need those entries in as quick as possible. Yes there will be space for everyone but the earlier the entry is in the better idea we will have of who is coming. By this weekend the entry will be in the twenties. There has been a lot of speculation and talk on web sites regarding Pro Modified and Super Modified teams entering, but as of yet none have entered (I rest my case re Forums - Ed). Considering the purse it is a little surprising, after all this event is open to anyone with a doorslammer. On Saturday it's heads-up, fastest wins, one shot qualifier, sixteen-car field, with additional prize money for number one qualifier, Quickest ET, Top Speed, Best Engineering, Best Team, etc. Sunday starts from scratch: everyone runs, everyone races, no sixteen-car qualified field. One qualifier then straight into eliminations, but!. There is a first round buy-back at the modest price of £30. So if you lose in round one you can simply buy yourself back into competition for £30 and you are back in for round two. From the second round, which is again random pairing, if you lose you are out - no more buy-backs. The entry is £125 for which you get two races in two days, the best prize fund (100% payback) for a Sportsman racer this century, and no track signing on fees. Normal gate entry fee applies. There are some substantial purses up for grabs and a lot of the racers will be going home with a nice payday, plus a lot more racers will have won enough money to have had a weekend of racing for free. Remember 100% of the entry money is going into the prize fund, so the more who enter the bigger the payout. You can enter now, simply download the entry form and commentators' sheet from the web site at www.topsportsman.co.uk and come and have a go at this exciting new format of racing. All the rules are on the web site. If you have any questions then please E-Mail Paul at [email protected], contact Jeff via the banner on the Eurodragster.com Swap Meet, or call Paul on 07831 650230. This event is bound to separate the racers from the cry-babies, there will be no excuses, this event will find the best of the best and will bring on some big surprises I am sure. Anyone who does well in this event can hold their head up high as they will know that they took on the very best Sportsman racers this country had to offer. See you there. Web site updates. 30th June: If you were tuned in to our SPRC Summernationals event coverage you will have read about Carla Pittau's monster all-wheels-off wheelie in Pro ET qualifying. Heaven & Hell team member Grace Roaf was on the camera when Carla pulled the wheelie and has posted her video on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHRgFohgf0. Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his Acceleration Archive with pictures from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. The Single man. 
30th June: UK photo-journalist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski writes to explain his absence from the weekend's
SPRC Summernationals:
I was booked into the studio to record a single with the band with which I've been playing last three or four years. We are a four-piece band called Dinky and perform original music loosely based on the 'power pop' genre. The picture is of me last summer in the studio where we recorded a four-track EP. My drum kit is miked up in order for the studio engineer to do his thing. On Saturday, I put down three tracks, one of which will be the basis for the single with the other two to be mixed later. In two weeks' time we'll be recording a video in another studio to go with the single. I'll be trying to stay as much in the background as possible since I'm hardly telegenic. Should give the make-up artist a challenge! Then we'll be doing a couple of festivals in Birmingham, followed by a gig with the other band in which I've started playing. Pop stardom? Nah, I've been doing it too long in many bands to ever worry about 'making it'. Its just a hobby that I enjoy and occasionally someone pays you a compliment about what you've done and it all seems worthwhile. Back to reality and the smell of paint thinners! Event entry update. 29th June: Racers are reminded that this Friday, 1st July, is the official closing date for entry to Bug Jam which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-24th July and which is a Championship round for Super Modified, Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four and Outlaw Anglia, and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and you can check out Version 2 of the entry list by clicking here. Entry forms are available for the Open Sport Nationals, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on August Bank Holiday 27th-29th August. Racers are reminded that the Pit Allocation form must be completed and returned with your entry for this event even if they attended the Springspeed Nationals earlier in the year. Racers not completing the form will get the standard pit space allocation and no more. 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike and Junior Drag Bike racers are also reminded that entry forms are available for their rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway on 9th-10th July (Junior Drag Bike) and 23rd-24th July (8.50 Bike/9.50 Bike). In all cases entry forms can be downloaded from the Downloads page of Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. If you have any queries then please call SCR on 01789 720180 or E-Mail [email protected]. Introducing the Quarter Mile Club. 29th June: Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European drag racing, has launched an exciting new initiative for racegoers: the new Quarter Mile Club. With the European Finals not far away, from 8th-11th September, it's the perfect way to enjoy the event in real luxury. The new hospitality package is one of many offered by Santa Pod for its Blue Riband events. Those looking to spend a little more can enjoy private balcony suites, full seating, breakfast, full hot fork buffet lunch, souvenirs, complimentary earplugs, programmes and paddock tours on top of the already generous QMC package for just £1690 + VAT (for up to twelve people including weekend admission). If you’re the kind of enthusiast that likes to get right into the heart of the action, grandstand packages are also available, with all of the same perks as the balcony packages, but enjoying reserved, allocated open air seating for the entire day. This is just £119 + Vat per person and includes weekend admission. For more information on Santa Pod events, please visit www.santapod.com or call the team on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). Editor's note: Only the briefest news update today because of pressure of work in your News Editor's day job. We will post the backlog this evening, and please keep those news items coming to [email protected]. The glass is half full... 28th June: UK Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson had plenty to celebrate after the weekend's SPRC Summernationals where he qualified in top spot and set new PBs in eliminations. "As always our goal is to qualify as well as we can and to keep chipping away at our performance", says Wayne. "The 6.67 and 211 for number one qualifier were very welcome but also a bit of a surprise. I would have put good money on Graham Ellis being number one. I joked with Lee Kirk "See you in the final". "Well, Graham was having a nightmare in qualifying, and ended up at the bottom of the pack. This isn't how the story should go, surely? This also meant that we would meet each other in round one. As number one, I had the opportunity to decide where we ran in the pairings and in which lane. To run last and in the right lane was our decision, and let me tell you I was pumped up for it, bring it on! "Our reactions were almost identical, Graham pulled a 0.99 sixty foot time to our 1.03, then the numbers went in our favour then Graham's, then us, then Graham. The mighty Cuda pipped us, but still we ran another PB 6.58/214 to Graham's 6.44! Well done Graham, next time mate. "Thank you must go to the team Adam, Tony, Dennis, Joe, and Kev Slyfield, and biggest thanks to my wife Belinda. We are doing all this from a small budget, and making our own decisions, very very satisfying. European Finals? Can't wait." Dragstalgia beckons. 
28th June: The next drag race at Santa Pod Raceway is Dragstalgia which takes place on 17th-18th July:
The world-famous drag strip opened in 1966 and Dragstalgia is the perfect way to celebrate forty five successful years of racing. All American vehicles, choppers and Hot Rods are welcome to the event to take part in the Show'n'Shine, Run What You Brung and Club displays. We have a fantastic selection of Nostalgia vehicles already on the entry list including Timewarp, The Hobbit, Hemi Hunter, Excalibur, Paranoia, Al's Gasser, Reckless Rat, California Kid, Havoc, Rough Diamond and loads more. If you’re a true Nostalgia Drag Racing fan then some or if not all of those names will mean something to you. If not, then luckily for you we have our photo entry list online at www.dragstalgia.co.uk so you can see exactly what we have in store. We have now confirmed the full line-up of evening entertainment in the bar on Saturday night with live bands and burlesque dancers, fire burnouts, a cacklefest, Jet Car displays, an oval display from some classic F1 stock cars and loads more. Check out the web site at www.dragstalgia.co.uk for more information. Advance tickets are available until Friday 8th July and for this event we are also selling advance sign on tickets for any of you wishing to take part in RWYB. The track is looking busy at this event so booking your track time in advance is recommended. Swift snippets. 28th June: Our coverage of this week's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro is going to be a joint effort between the Finnish Hot Rod Association, Speedgroup and Eurodragster.com. In addition our good friend Patrik Jacobsson has offered to send photographs. Starting Thursday we will post results, reports and pictures here on Eurodragster.com as soon as they arrive. In the meantime you can find out more about the FHRA Nitro Nationals on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi. Thanks to Paula Marshall for forwarding us the post-SPRC Summernationals points standings in the MSA British Pro Modified Championship. You can check out the MSA points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from the SPRC Summernationals. Andy asked us to say a big Thank You to Tethys for resolving a file corruption issue. You can check out the SPRC Summernationals timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Having taken endless stick from fellow racers about running in Super Street with comments such as "It's a chicken dipper class" and "You need the brake pedal more than the throttle", the UK's Antony Wilkins has decided to return to Pro ET to teach a lesson to certain colleagues who own Jim Carrey cars. "The car's looking hot now so bring it on", says Antony. 
John Price writes to express his sadness at the death of former Santa Pod favourite, record-setting stuntwoman Jacqui deCreed who died in a plane crash last week. "Jacqui contacted me a couple of years ago to talk about insurance and it was nice to catch up", says Pricey. "Our condolences to her family". Lee Child, UK distributor for Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels, has some great news for racers who use C16. "VP Racing Fuels really do appreciate racers who use their fuels", says Lee, "and for a limited period LA Racing Parts are offering an excellent discount on 57-litre containers of C16. C16 is a leaded fuel with an MON of 117 octane - MON is the octane measured under load, don't be misled by other fuel brands quoting RON figures because it's not apples for apples. C16 will make more power and help you get the light". For more details contact Lee on 01803 391740 or E-Mail [email protected]. Lorraine Price writes to thank Simon Barlow and the Orange Pop Outlaw Anglia team for the passenger ride which she won in a draw. "It was made even better by the fact that I went faster than my partner Adam (141.28 v 139.50) on my first run!", says Lorraine. "I was a little nervous but all the team made me feel comfortable. the burnout was great, lots of smoke and in a straight line - Adz take note - the launch felt great and it was over far too quick as we passed the quarter mile and Simon popped the chute, from being thrust back into the seat the harnesses came into play as the car slowed dramatically. I was still smiling (and gloating) all the way home. Thanks again to Simon and the Orange Pop team for the ride of a lifetime. Who knows, maybe I will try the Go Hard or Go Home altered at Ladies that Launch?" Further to last Tuesday's snippet Steve Dudley writes that a Slot Drag Race will take place at Sturdee Club, Hoo, Kent on Sunday 10th July 2011. Practice and qualifying take place between 13:00 and 14:30, then eliminations commence at 14:45. Best of three runs wins the heat, dial-in can be changed for each run. The rules are "Anything goes, but no metal bodies" and that if Steve wins then it's not a fix. If you would like to participate then please E-Mail Steve at [email protected]. Web site updates. 28th June: The US' Camp Stanley, who provides tuning input for Swiss Pro Modified racer Marcus Hilt, has posted a report of his FIA Main Event weekend on his web site at www.stanleyandweissracing.com. It's an interesting report although Camp has somehow omitted the story about Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog's prediction about qualifying positions and Camp's energetic reaction when Tog turned out to be incorrect; we guess you'll have to wait for Drag Racing Unplugged XIII for that one. Another edition of the Speedgroup Club Europe Newsletter is now on-line, containing a preview of this week's FHRA Nitro Nationals. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu/newsletters/2011/edition9_2011/edition9_start.htm. First of today's two SPRC Summernationals galleries is from Chris Eyre whose Saturday shots you can check out at www.eurodragpics.com. Chris' next date at the track is crewing with the Timewarp Nostalgia FC at Dragstalgia and he invites readers to stop by the pit to purchase a T-Shirt. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with pictures from the SPRC Summernationals, again from Saturday. You can find Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has posted a gallery of pictures from Friday's Peak Performance Day on his new Smugmug site at eurodragster.smugmug.com. SPRC Summernationals results. 26th June: Congratulations to the winners at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway: MSA Pro Modified: Graham Ellis 6.5678/166.07 def. Nick Davies 10.0697/85.22 Super Modified: Andy Hone 7.4945/182.89 def. Nigel Payne 7.5755/179.93 Super Pro ET: Barry Giles (7.65) 7.7577/167.79 def. Peter Walters (8.72) 8.8409/151.55 Pro ET: Steve Hudson (9.77) 9.8187/127.33 def. Rick McCann (10.27) 10.3139/129.03 Sportsman ET: Kevin Long (15.40) 15.6812/72.88 def. Tethys (17.80) 18.0621/72.15 Super Comp: Paul Marston 8.9971/153.21 def. Brian Pateman 8.9140/153.11 Super Gas: Brian Pateman 9.8838/147.66 b/o def. Jon Morton 9.8832/147.20 b/o Super Street: Dave Cherrett 10.8305/90.33 def. Bob Lees 10.8605/129.90 red Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Rhiannon Bellenie (7.90) 7.9587/80.50 def. Rachel Giles (9.50) 9.5733/66.41 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Ian Hook 8.2671/164/26 def. Brian Payne 8.3524/173.06 VW Pro: Dave Bridge (12.70) 12.9833/93.07 def. James Hodson (10.80) 11.3115/114.61 VW Sportsman: James Clark (15.15) 15.2318/88.88 def. Martin Ayton (14.60) 14.8814/93.12 Pro Stock Bike: Mark Smith 8.3726/160.17 def. Len Paget 7.6879/167.28 red Comp Bike: Stu Crane 7.6000/169.17 def. Alan Young 8.2876/151.56 Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 8.1770/186.57 def. Dave Holland 8.2225/188.92 9.50 Bike: Jake Mechaell 9.6724/128.06 def. Jemma Venables 9.6043/139.45 8.50 Bike: Phil Bloomfield 8.6439/164.86 def. Dave Batcheler 8.7104/155.29 Supertwin Gas: Joe Elliott 9.4202/142.13 def. Dave Smart 9.5779/142.02 Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison (11.70) 11.604/103.71 b/o def. Martin Brookes (10.90) 10.8761/126.50 b/o Congratulations also to Pro ET racer Rick Denny who won the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 Reaction Time qualifying (and again in eliminations) and to Super Gas racer Jon Morton who won the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award with a 9.900 in eliminations. You can check out our Alamo Rent-A-Car-sponsored SPRC Summernationals Event Coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Euro Top Gas Round 3 review. 
26th June: The third round of the Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship took place over the quarter mile at Drachten Airfield in
The Netherlands last weekend. Herman Jolink kindly sent us a report:
We had four qualifying runs on the Friday, on Saturday there were lots of showers and a lot of work from the track dryer. The 197 competitors started the fifth qualifying session at 16:00 on Saturday. Herman Jolink was a little careful in his first four runs as in the back of his mind was the near crash at Hoskovice on 8th May. He used just five gears to start with but on Saturday morning he adjusted the gear changes and used all six gears in the fifth session. At about 300 metres the Ducati's battery died but the run was still an 8.782/208 kmh. In the fourth qualifying session Jolink ran the high speed of the class at 252 kmh in which gave him 25 points. Final qualifying:
It rained the whole day on Sunday so the race was cancelled. Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship standings:
Heading in the right direction... 26th June: As any racer knows, bouncing back from non-qualification is a great test and less than three weeks after his early exit at the FIA Main Event that was exactly the challenge facing four-time FIA Top Fuel Champion Andy Carter as he travelled to the brand new Tierp Arena for the FIA Sweden Internationals. Not only would Lucas Oil Carter Motorsport Team West-Tec have to overcome the technical issues that held back their début performance, but they would also have to compete against a bumper field of thirteen cars which would be cut to just eight on race day. "Firstly I must say what a fantastic new facility European drag racing has with the Tierp Arena", said Andy. "When I arrived I was incredibility impressed with the size and scale of what has been built in such a small amount of time, and the action on the track once again proved that Europe is capable of world class drag racing displays. Congratulations to all the staff and racers for putting on such a fantastic event and congratulations to Tommy Johnson and Andersen Racing for running the first three-second pass in 1000-foot Top Fuel competition." On the track the Lucas Oil dragster's performance improved day by day, finally making it into the field at number seven spot with a credible 4.21 second pass. "After a very difficult time at the Main Event it was great to go back to the hotel qualified on Saturday night, especially given the size and quality of the field", said Andy. "I have spoken before about building solid foundations as the fledgling Lucas Oil Carter Motorsport Team West-Tec grows; making it into the field took us one step further along that journey." Andy's progress at Tierp was halted in round one by a strong perfomance by Risto Poutiainen but as the team move onto the next round in Finland they will be taking steps to correct the mechanical issues they have suffered. "The Lucas Oil Crew have worked incredibly well together over the past two events and I can't thank them enough", said Andy. "We will be giving it our all to make sure everything is set for Finland. Eddie Corr has been closely involved since the creation of my new team and he will be back at the track with us as Crew Chief in Finland. I'm confident that adding one of the best brains in European drag racing to the fantastic team I already have will make us a force to be reckoned with. Ben Allum, Eddie Corr and the Lucas Oil Crew: the European Dream Team! Watch out, we may have started slow but we won't be for much longer!" You can keep up with all of the latest news from Andy and Lucas Oil by hitting Like over at www.facebook.com/CarterMotorsport or at www.andycarter.net and www.lucasoil.co.uk. Event entry update. 24th June: Racers are reminded that next Friday, 1st July, is the official closing date for entry to Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-24th July and which is a Championship round for Super Modified, Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four and Outlaw Anglia, and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and you can check out Version 1 of the entry list by clicking here. The NDRS Nationals II takes place at Tierp Arena on Friday-Saturday 29th-30th July as a replacement for the cancelled Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park. The NDRS Nationals is a full round for the NDRS Series and on-line entry is now open at www.tierparena.se/reg. You can download the Supplementary Regulations (PDF format) by clicking here. More details about the race and the NDRS Series as a whole at www.speedgroup.eu. Thanks to Emelie Carlswärd for letting us know that Pro and other non-NDRS Series racers are invited to apply to test at Tierp Arena during the NDRS Nationals II. To submit your application to test, fill in the application form (Excel format) which you can download by clicking here and return to Emelie at [email protected]. Tierp Arena will consider each application and if you are selected then the entry fee is 2750 SEK which includes 220V/10A electricity. 380V/16A electricity is 750 SEK. Emelie adds that most Pro Stocks can run within Competition Eliminator if you wish to make more runs than allowed by the planned two Test and Tune sessions per day. Maurischat bitten in Sweden, again. 24th June: German Pro Modified racer Marco Maurischat of Eurodragster.com sponsor Exhaust-Coating.de says that Sweden seems to be a difficult place to race for the Maurischat Racing '53 Corvette: After going into the sand trap at our first Mantorp outing in 2009 where we qualified well but couldn't make a run on Sunday because the front end of the 'Vette was badly damaged, we broke an engine at Mantorp Park in 2010 which was also was the first time that we didn't qualify for race day. I was really sure that our Swedish Gremlin would change this year running at the great US-style track at Tierp Arena. Things didn't start too badly with a 6.38 baseline run on Friday. After the second qualifier we checked the engine and found five bent exhaust valves. It took us some long overnight hours to fix some damaged valve seats and to find the spares we needed to repair things. Thanks to our "Daily parts supplier" Marc Meihuizen and Jury). In our first run on Saturday we did a 6.38 which was not too good and we were out of the field. We had to try our best to get back into the show in the last qualifier on Saturday afternoon. 
300 metres into the run there was a big bang and some bad engine shake and smoke, so I knew that something had really gone wrong under the front hood of the Corvette.
Back in the pits we found two broken rods and a really bad looking engine. So long as I have been running blown engines this is the first time that I kicked a rod (or even
some more). I have sometimes seen broken rods which did some cosmetic damage to the block or even but a hole in it, but this was a very bad one. Most parts inside the
engine are broken or very badly damaged and bent.
What really hurt is that this was a new hat-to-pan motor which I had bought during the off-season to step up with the ever-improving competition in FIA Pro Mod. We have no spare engine to keep things going. So it seems as if there are still some Swedish Gremlins which we will have to fight next year. There is no way to make it in time for Finland next week but we will try our best to get things ready to be back on track at our home race at the Hockenheim Ring in August. Kellett's Swedish Tour, Part I. 
24th June: Pete Kellett has been in touch with a report of the UK's Drummin' Man Junior Dragster
team's first Swedish Tour of 2011, in which Joe Kellett acquitted himself more than adequately:
The trip to Sweden was long but well worth it and it was good to see our Swedish friends again. Our first stop was Lindesberg, a super track and the people very friendly and hospitable. Joe had a great start with number one qualifier with a 0.001 reaction going on through the rounds and to the final. To our delight he won the event, a massive achievement as he had a class full of awesome Junior racers to get by. I think the best bit, apart from the win, was when we went to collect the car at the end of the strip and on our return to the start line everybody applauded us. That was really nice I can tell you. We then set off for Tierp Arena and what a race facility it was, a fantastic track. The whole place was mind-blowing especially going through the tunnel from the pairing lanes into the arena.We were once again warmly welcomed and the staff were really nice.We got through qualifying and noticed a fault with the clutch hence Joe's 0.025 reaction. When we fixed the clutch Joe pulled a 0.001 reaction but unfortunately it was in Round 1; he would have been top qualifier had it been qualifying but it didn't matter as we took the win against Kevin Yrjovaara who pulled a 0.002 reaction under the supervision of Spencer Tramm - Kevin's mum and dad say that Spencer now has to come back to Sweden for the other rounds. We will bring the biscuits Spencer! Joe went on to progress to the semi-finals but he broke out by 0.006. We had an absolutely superb weekend and now that Joe is second in both the NDRS Series and the Swedish Dragracing League we will go back to contest both series starting with Borlänge and then at the NDRS Nationals II, Kubbe, and finish off with Hockenheim. Livin' the dream! Adding another icon... 24th June: In a perfect partnership of iconic motorsport brands Gulf Oil Dragracing are pleased to announce that the Bell Helmets brand will be proudly carried on Ian King's Gulf Oil Dragracing – Grand Prix Originals Top Fuel Bike for the 2011 season. 
Founded in 1954, Bell started manufacturing protective headgear for auto racing and moved to the leading edge of helmetry in 1957, introducing the use of a non-resilient
polystyrene liner. One of the first open face Bell helmets, the 500-TX was selected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for Excellence of Design.
In 1968 Bell introduced the first full-face helmet, the Star. It was worn by Dan Gurney at the 500 Miles of Indianapolis. These products innovations, like expanded polystyrene liners
(EPS) or full face helmets, generated a reputation throughout the world for providing state of the art quality helmets.
In 1971 Bell diversified into the motorcycle helmet market and developed the first full-face motorcycle helmet and the first full-face off-road motorcycle helmet.
Since the 1980s, Bell has pioneered an outstanding number of innovations in all areas of modern helmetry: lightweight composite material shells, ventilation systems,
advanced aerodynamic designs, fog free shields, the list is very long.
More world champions have worn Bell Helmets than all other helmet brands combined. From Grand Prix F1 racing through Indy 500 to Olympic cycling, Bell helmets have played a vital role in protecting sportsmen and women for generations. Bell recently introduced the M5X Carbon, designed and built to comply with the strictest safety standards. The M5X motorcycle helmet was created in 'Ultralight' weight and with a very thick; 3.2mm flat racing visor with 'NoFog+NoDrop' treatment. In 2010 new safety ratings for motorcycle helmets were announced by the UK Government, the Sharp Scheme. Thirty two impact tests are conducted to assess how well the helmet will protect the brain in the event of a crash. All Bell helmets tested to date have been granted the maximum five-star rating under this most rigorous of helmet tests. For more information on Bell Helmets go to www.bell-motohelmets.com. Swift snippets. 
24th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words
at all. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
[email protected].
Spencer Tramm tells us that the chassis of the Isaacs and Tramm Pro Mod has been stripped down for welding and that a workshop update is available on the web site of Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs Race Cars at www.chris-isaacs.com. Further to yesterday's news update Richard Stevens of Eurodragster.com sponsor MPM Oil UK has asked us to thank everyone who got in touch to express an interest in running at the Drachten Internationals. Richard says that he now has enough candidates so no further applications can be accepted. Maikel Gloudemans and the guys at our streaming server provider Doyousee.me will be providing a webcast from today's DHRA King Street 2010 re-run at Drachten Airfield. We will post a Home Page link to the webcast when the event commences which is scheduled for 14:00 UK / 15:00 European. PMR ready to race. 24th June: Paul Marston Racing are extremely well prepared for this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway: Paul Marston will once again compete in both Pro ET and Super Comp, with the Whoopass Monza and the PiranaZ backed dragster respectively. "The Whoopass Monza performed very well in Pro ET", explains Paul. "The proven eight-second Monza responded to the measures which the PMR crew put in place to make it competitive and everyone was very pleased with the results. To come out for the first qualifying session at the FIA Main Event and put it straight on pole with a 9.00 dead was awesome. Racking up near maximum points at the FIA Main Event also moved the Monza up the points chase. "In Super Comp the Dragster was just a joy to drive. The setback with a motor problem at the Thunderball is fixed and although the Championship position suffered I am super confident that PMR once again has a competitive package. All the upgrades on which the PMR crew worked over the winter are working well. To pull a 0.001 light in round 1 of eliminations was a little close for comfort but it was green. Championship-wise there is ground to make up, but plenty of rounds still to fight for. Everyone at PMR will be hoping for some nice dry weather this weekend. "Adding to our line-up this weekend is the competition début of our great friend Dave Gibbons' new old race car, his beautifully-rebuilt Rough Diamond Altered. Competing in Super Pro ET, Dave is not there to make up the numbers and is fielding a very competitive entry. Testing went very well and is looking forward to going rounds. "A big Thank You to all our loyal sponsors, supporters and fans, please feel free to stop by and say Hi. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements over the next few weeks." Web site updates. 24th June: Nigel Holland writes that the official web site of the UK's Sportsman ET racers has been redeveloped and that the new version is now live. "With better content management the site will be kept up-to-date with news, images and videos", says Nigel. "Come take a look at www.sportsman-et.co.uk." Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog's personal web address www.togsdragracing.com now leads to his new SmugMug gallery. As mentioned a few days ago Tog is uploading his entire digital photography library of nearly 13,000 pictures to the SmugMug site and has so far posted all of 2011's pictures, all of 2010, the majority of 2009, and all of 2002. More updates will follow next week. SPRC Summernationals racer update. 23rd June: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding the arrangements for this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Santa Pod Raceway's gates will open at 12:00 noon on Friday (24th June). Racers booked in for the Peak Performance Day can obviously get in earlier. The Signing On office will be open between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm on Friday and will then reopen on Saturday morning (Please note that there is a boxful of Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award decals in the Signing On office so no excuses - Ed). Scrutineering for cars commences at 2:30 pm on Friday and then at 7:00 am on Saturday, and for bikes at 5:00 pm on Friday and then at 8:00 am on Saturday. The provisional running orders for both days are now available 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. As ever these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Ooh! 23rd June: The beauty below is UK Super Street Bike racer Gary Drury's revamped Turboosa which is now sporting new exhaust for side-mount turbo, intercooler and pipework, AMS1000 boost controller, Hays slider clutch, Racepak datalogger and Nitron drag shock. 
"I would like to thank Stu Crane at Warpspeed Racing for building and fitting the side mount turbo system and intercooler", says Gary. "You did a good job mate, thanks! Stu is also going to help with the bike set-up and data now that the data logger is sorted. Thanks to my brother at JE Drury Coachworks (07903 020692) who did a really good paint job and to Jamie Sneddon of JBS Roofing Ltd (01536 202800) for all his help over the years, you've been a big support, cheers mate! And lastly to my two little helpers Elbow and Womble, who also have been a massive support to me over the years and helped me at every event, thanks guys! "All your help has been much appreciated so thank you! "Super Street Bike is such a great class to race in. All the fellow racers are so helpful and we have such a good laugh at all the events. The times have come on leaps and bounds since I first started racing, and although I'm on a very small race budget it's great to be a part of it". On the Rolling road. 23rd June: Neil Warwick of Eurodragster.com sponsor WG4 Facilities and Services has been in touch with the promised update on Matthew Wright's Rolls Royce which was damaged in a trailer accident a couple of weeks back: After nine days' hard work by sponsor Bill Felstead of Fester Racecars the shell on the Rolls-Royce has been successfully replaced. On Tuesday Matthew and I loaded it into the truck, without incident this time, and whisked it off to John Sleath Race Cars for a day of tuning on John's 2400 bhp rolling road. Sponsor John Sleath is the official UK dealer for the FAST fuel injection fitted to the Rolls Royce, and he spent the day creating maps for road use on petrol and race use on alcohol. With a mild tune created so that chassis testing can commence, the engine was pumping out over 1300 bhp at the wheels at 18 psi boost and only 50% duty cycle on the injectors. There is plenty more power to come from the engine which was built by John himself! For now everyone is happy that the car runs and drives without any problems, and the hard work of tuning the chassis can commence. We would like to thank Bill (Fester Racecars) and John (John Sleath Race Cars) for their hard work, and we would like to add that anyone thinking of building a car should choose Fester Racecars for the build and get your engine work done by John Sleath. Can you shake Drachten? 23rd June: Richard Stevens of Eurodragster.com sponsor MPM Oil UK is inviting car and bike racers to come to the Drachten Internationals at Drachten Airfield in The Netherlands on 15th-17th July. Some bills will be paid and copious product supplied for vehicles which make enough noise and shake enough ground. "Lex Joon will be pulling big burnouts and making eighth-mile runs in his Top Fuel Dragster", says Richard. "The Shockwave Fuel Funny Car is also attending as well as six Pro Mods, and we hope that a Fuel Altered and a Jet Car will be there too. There will be 300 or so racers but there is room for anyone who fancies racing on MPM for the weekend. "If you have anything which will shake the ground and make a lot of noise then get in touch. Car or bike, whether you are in the UK or on the Continent or in Scandinavia then we will be pleased to welcome you. Just let us know what you can offer. "We are bringing along three thousand clients so there are plenty of potential sponsors to impress and endless opportunities for schmoozing. Plenty of food and drink will be available. "The strip will be prepared by members of Santa Pod Raceway track crew so it will be able to hold Fuel cars. If you want to treat this as an extended free test weekend then you can." Swift snippets. 23rd June: Andrea Kloss has been in touch with an update to Saturday's news item about Junior Modified Advanced Dragster regulations at August's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim: Ages 13 to 17. The eighth-mile may not be run quicker than 7.90 seconds. This applies either to an ET dial-in of your own or heads-up. Any racer who runs quicker than 7.70 seconds or faster than 140 kmh (87 mph) during the event, during qualifying or eliminations, will immediately be excluded from the rest of the event. If you plan to tune in to tomorrow's Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam from the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod then please note that the stream may stop and start a couple of times at the very start of the day as we have a new piece of kit to attach and test. The test should not take more than a few minutes and then the stream will continue uninterrupted until the track closes. Wild Bunch head for the Nostalgias. 23rd June: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows writes with an update from the Club as they go into this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: The Wild Bunch have already had four rounds this season, with the first two being the MSA rounds at the Easter Thunderball, won by Bob Hawkins in the Time Traveller slingshot, and the Springspeed Nationals won by Chris Hartnell in the Backdraft slingshot. The last two events were Wild Bunch Series rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway, which were both unfortunately cut short by the weather with just one round taking place at each event. The Gary's Picnic Yanks Weekend was won by Chris Hartnell, and the Shakey Super Pull was won by Terry Clifford in the Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot. The Wild Bunch are really looking forward to the Nostalgia Nationals event this coming weekend at Shakey, and hoping for a big field of up to twenty cars. The event will be the Club's third Wild Bunch Series round, the fifth round of sponsors Real Steel Series, and the first for the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series. Regular contenders Destiny's Angel, Go Hard or Go Home!, RamRaider, Backdraft, Ballbreaker, Green with Envy, Tiki Munki, Ratcatcher Resurrection, Dorset Horn, Soultown Shaker, Time Traveller and Pony Express will be joined by several newer members as well as some first timers, plus some more experienced racers who will be familiar to many who have been spectating for years! The competition should prodice some more close exciting racing, with some really well-turned out cars and teams, and the biggest field of Wild Bunch so far this season. The NSRA have organised some great new features this year, in which some of the Wild Bunch cars will be taking part. Terry Clifford is currently leading the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series, with Chris Hartnell in second place in each. Scot Durrant and Gina Rumble are in third place in the WB Series with their Tiki Munki Ruby-bodied slingshot coupe and Adam Price is fourth with the Go Hard or Go Home!!! Topolino altered. In the Real Steel Series, Adam Price is in third place and Bob Hawkins in fourth place. Full results and news from previous events can be found on the Club's web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk. Racers sought for TV series. 23rd June: Do you have a background in engineering, design or mechanics? If so then a TV company would like to put you on the screen on the Discovery Channel. Dragonfly TV are developing a new series for Discovery about machine engineering and design. They are putting together an international team of on-screen technical experts who are passionate about engineering, love big machines, and relish a technical challenge. Dragonfly would like to speak to creative engineers, designers and mechanics, who are happy to get their hands dirty and have practical skills and knowledge of some of the following areas: vehicle electrics, hydraulics, fabrication, mechanics, diesel or petrol engines, design. You can be from any country, but you need to speak great English and be an excellent communicator, capable of breaking down complex scientific and technical information and bring it to life for the audience. For more information, please get in contact with Hannah Runham of Dragonfly TV as soon as possible as the company is working to a tight deadline. Either call 0207 033 2268 (outside the UK +44 207 033 2268) or E-Mail [email protected]. UK Top Sportsman update. 23rd June: With entries flooding in for the inaugural running of UK Top Sportsman at Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway in July. Eurodragster.com sponsors Jeff Bull and Paul Marston have just one message: "Keep 'em coming!". Both Jeff and Paul will be at Santa Pod this coming weekend for the SPRC Summernationals. So if you have any questions about Top Sportsman, the format, the rules, the prize money, start and arrival times etc then please visit either Belinda Bull's Super Modified pit or the Paul Marston Racing ranch next to Pro ET where Jeff and Paul will be only too willing to offer help and advice. "The success of this exciting new format is now down to the UK Sportsman drag racers to support", says Paul Marston. "With just around a month to go and many teams working feverishly to have their race cars ready, the clock is ticking. Any information a perspective racer may need can be found on the web site at www.topsportsman.co.uk, E-Mail Paul at [email protected], or contact Jeff via the banner on the Eurodragster.com Swap Meet. Remember, anyone with a fast doorslammer can enter. It's the richest race around, and it will have the biggest baddest doorslammer field seen in the UK - period. You have to be in it to win it. "There are still a few sponsorship opportunities remaining, it's your chance to get involved. Please contact Jeff for further information. "A massive thank you to Santa Pod Raceway and to Ian Marshall for their help in making this a reality, to all of our fantastic sponsors for believing in Top Sportsman, and to Eurodragster.com for without your solid support none of this would be possible (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Web site updates. 23rd June: Leon Bienek of Risto Poutiainen's Top Fuel Dragster team writes that a lot of work has been carried out on the Rune Fjeld Motorsport web site at www.rfmotorsport.com including on-track updates and photographs. The team also has Facebook and Twitter accounts; the Facebook page has recently been updated with an excellent on-board video of the race between Risto and Anita Mäkelä which was decided by 0.0003 seconds or 4.03 cm (And there the argument ends - Ed). You can check out the video by clicking here. Hanssen takes first win. 22nd June: FIA Top Methanol Dragster driver Fred Hanssen and his Islanders Black & White team scored their first victory during last weekend's Inaugural FIA Sweden Internationals at Europe's first super track, Tierp Arena. The recently completed Tierp Arena was received with much fanfare as it is the only all-concrete drag strip in Europe. 
Hanssen, a commercial fisherman from Afjord, Norway, qualified his blown Methanol Dragster, tuned by Texan Will Hanna, third in the field with a 5.354 second Elapsed Time at
266.30 mph. In round one, he defeated Finnish driver Esko Raisvuo after a lengthy staging duel with a 5.547 at 266.51 mph. He then returned to the 5.30s with a 5.349 at 268.21
mph to take out former two-time FIA Champion Peter Schöfer in the semifinals. That would set up a final round bout with Dave 'Grumpy' Wilson's injected nitro dragster, which
reset the European E.T. record in qualifying with a 5.29.
With both competitors carding 5.34s in the semi-finals all eyes were on the start line to see who would get the jump in the close match-up. Wilson encountered mechanical problems that prevented him from staging, handing Hanssen the automatic win. Hanssen made the most of it, carding a career best ET and speed, a 5.305 at 269.76 mph. That run set top speed of the meet. "We really wanted the .20s", said Fred Hanssen. "I guess Wilson has that honour now. The team has worked really hard to get here; I have a great team behind me. This is our third year together, and everyone really knows their jobs and works well together. We have all worked so hard, so it is very pleasing to finally get a win. This is a great day for the Islanders Black and White team, and for our supporters Fosen Tools, Brad Penn Oil/Tore Grannegen, VSP Poland, Hansson Fishing A/S, VP Race Fuels and Victory Valves." 
"Fred did a hell of a job driving this weekend", commented Will Hanna. "We had two runs in eliminations where our opponents had problems staging, and Fred just held the car and
the motor with no problems. There are a lot of drivers out there that would have rolled through the beams or just took off.
"Tierp Arena is a top-notch facility," added Will. "It ranks right up there with some of the top tracks in the USA. Nothing against the other tracks in Europe, but the people responsible for putting this together should be commended. The track really came in quick. Looking back at the computer data, it wanted more than what we were throwing at it. A .29 at 270 would have been nice, but we're thrilled to get the win. Now that we have the first win off our back, hopefully there is more to come!" The win catapulted Hanssen to the top of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship standings with three rounds remaining (Finland, Germany and England). The next stop for the Islanders Black & White team is the Finnish Hot Rod Association Nationals in Alastaro, Finland, on 1st-3rd July. Rovers reunited. 22nd June: The first ever Rover V8 Championship race was held no less than twenty five years ago, at Santa Pod Raceway's 1986 Labour Day Nationals. Although this historic meeting failed to reach a conclusion the first round proper was held at North Weald, one of the National Drag Racing Club's many on-tour meets, where Tim Hines took the win in the 100+ Wheels Ford Escort MK1 against the TR7 of Neil Hall. To help celebrate this twenty five-year milestone in drag racing history a special Rover Racers' Reunion meet is being held this weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway's 18th Annual NSRA Nostalgia Nationals. Already organiser and former Rover V8 racer 'Flying Phil' Herrick has received a great response with some well-respected names coming to the Warwickshire drag strip including Tim Hines, Al Simms, Ian Hampstead, Kev 'The Caveman' Jenkins, Jem Brittin, former Street Machine magazine photo journalist Tony Beadle who thought of the concept in the first place, and hopefully the old Wizard of NOS Trevor Langfield. There will be memorabilia on display as well as some of the cars which fought for Championship honours all those years ago and that are still racing today: Jez Atkinson’s 105E, Ken Britton's Morris Z Van, Phil's Austin Healey Sprite and hopefully the ex-Dave Carpenter Mk 1 Cortina. Having rekindled his enthusiasm for the sport following visits to both Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Phil is very keen to make the Rovers' Reunion an annual event. If you were one of those original racers or if you still have a car or any Rover V8 racing memorabilia which you would like to exhibit then its not to late to get in touch with Phil at [email protected]. Swift snippets. 22nd June: VP Racing Fuels Finland will have all most common VP blends, methanol and nitromethane available at next week's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro Circuit. Fuel handling products will also be available. To confirm your supply of VP Racing Fuel please contact Simo Patoharju in advance at [email protected]. SPRC Summernationals Perfect Awards. 22nd June: This weekend's SPRC Summernationals is the latest event in the 2011 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £125 is on offer for perfect performance. 
The Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the Sweden Internationals.
The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available to all racers in all
classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be
increased to £100 at Bug Jam; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 at Bug Jam. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association
with race car builder Cotsweld Race Cars whose web site you can find at www.cotsweld.co.uk.
The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Comp racer Bo Ragnebro at the Sweden Internationals.
The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is
available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 9.50 Bike, 8.50 Bike,
VW Pro, VW Sportsman and Supertwin ET, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased
to £75 at Bug Jam; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 at Bug Jam. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service
specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. As with all contingency schemes racers are responsible for collecting decals; there is a boxful of Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award decals in Signing On. SPRC Summernationals coverage. 22nd June: Eurodragster.com will be covering this weekend's SPRC Summernationals live from Santa Pod Raceway in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Our coverage starts with a treat for those stuck in the office on Friday as the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be broadcasting live video and trackside audio from the Peak Performance Day. We will also post an end-day photo gallery on Friday evening. Our coverage of the SPRC Summernationals proper will consist of frequently-updated reports on qualifying and eliminations on each day of the race, with photo galleries at the end of each day. We are pleased to announce that, if all goes according to plan, Simon will be making a very welcome return to the coverage team and will be posting regular pit note updates on each day of the race. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be broadcasting live video and commentary/Nitro FM feed so long as the track is open each day. Thanks to Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming server facilities. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences but in the meantime you can check out our SPRC Summernationals event index page, which contains the final entry list, by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Web site updates. 22nd June: Maikel Gloudemans and the guys at our streaming server provider Doyousee.me will be providing a webcast from Friday's DHRA King Street 2010 re-run at Drachten Airfield. We will post a Home Page link to the webcast as soon as it commences. Another edition of the Speedgroup Club Europe Newsletter is now on-line, containing a review of the Sweden Internationals. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu/newsletters/2011/edition8_2011/edition8_start.htm. Event entry update. 21st June: Avon Park International Racing Association would like to remind racers that entry forms are available for the Open Sport Nationals, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on August Bank Holiday 27th-29th August. Racers are reminded that the Pit Allocation form must be completed and returned with your entry for this event even if they attended the Springspeed Nationals earlier in the year. Racers not completing the form will get the standard pit space allocation and no more. 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike and Junior Drag Bike racers are also reminded that entry forms are available for their rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway on 9th-10th July (Junior Drag Bike) and 23rd-24th July (8.50 Bike/9.50 Bike). In all cases entry forms can be downloaded from the Downloads page of Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. If you have any queries then please call SCR on 01789 720180 or E-Mail [email protected]. Further to our last news update NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey has been in touch to advise racers that electricity available at the event will be 380 Volt 16 Amp at €150 and 220 Volt at €80. More details at www.nitrolympx.de. TJ loses nothing in translation. 21st June: Tommy Johnson Jr. isn't having any trouble at all looking like a natural competitor in the FIA European Championships, writes Kelly Wade of DragRaceCentral.com. Two races into the five-event season, the versatile nitro pilot – driving the Andersen Racing Top Fueller owned and tuned by racing partners Per Andersen and Karsten Andersen – has been the guy to beat. 
At the Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, Johnson blasted past the competition in the Sunoco-backed rail and clocked a 4.660 to earn a start from the number one position, but wet
weather halted the event before eliminations and left the hungry driver without a chance to make good on the strong start. Even so, Johnson left Santa Pod Raceway with the points
lead in hand.
"I went there with a goal in mind, but I wasn't sure how we were going to do until I got there," said Johnson. "After I was there awhile and looked the equipment over, talked to the guys on the team and realised how smart they are and how experienced they are at racing, I knew we were going to run well. I was maybe a little surprised by just how well, and I think they were even a little surprised, but in the end, we're where we should be." A valid assertion, considering that although the Andersen Racing car struggled a bit last season, the team has won multiple Championships and last year clocked a European record of 4.57 at 320 mph at Santa Pod. And adding Johnson as the driver when Andy Carter left the group to start his own team already seems to be panning out as a wise choice. Johnson brings vast experience gleaned during a plentiful helping of successful years as an NHRA pilot with, he hopes, many more to come in the future. 
Johnson has driven for legendary team owners throughout his career, including Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein, and piloted one of two Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel
Dragsters for Don Schumacher Racing in 2010, making his debut at the Yas Drag Centre in Abu Dhabi in March of that year. A nine-time winner in twenty two final rounds of NHRA competition,
Johnson was the fifteenth member of the Slick 50 300-mph Club and the fourteenth member of the Cragar 4-Second Club. He has also been an NHRA speed record holder. Now the Avon, Ind.,
resident has a new feather for his cap: winner of the FIA drag race at the new Tierp Arena in Sweden.
After qualifying again in the top spot with a 4.01 that was ahead of the field by 0.14 seconds, Johnson made his way to the final, where he bested Risto Pouitiainen with a 3.956 to his opponent's tyre-smoking 4.378. "I could hear his car next to me, and I heard it come loose and spin the tyres at about half-track," recalled Johnson. "That's when I knew we'd won. [After qualifying No. 1], I felt pretty confident that we had the car to beat, but you never know – a fuel car can smoke the tyres, something can break. Nothing is guaranteed. "But it was probably the calmest I've ever been after a win. The thrill of victory didn't hit me until we were actually on the podium." Winning an FIA European Drag Racing event is rewarded a little differently than what a typical American drag racer has come to expect. The winner stands alongside the runner-up on the podium, and at this particular event, a medallion commemorating seventy five years of Swedish Motorsports was placed around Johnson's neck, he was handed a bouquet of flowers with the trophy, and the trophy girl planted a kiss on him before the traditional champagne showers between driver and crew began. Following a celebratory party hosted by the race track, the team headed back to their pits, and, Johnson said, "Just like a normal NHRA team, we started servicing the car and tearing the pits down. Afterwards, we got to spend some good quality time and celebrate with the team. It was all really nice." 
The team – consisting of the two Andersens, Johnson, advisor Jim Brissette, and six volunteers – gelled quickly, which surely added to their quick rise to the top. Brissette and Johnson
already had a solid foundation; Brissette, who has been an advisor to Andersen Racing for a few years now, was Johnson's first Top Fuel crew chief.
Notably, Brissette was an important part of bringing Johnson and the Andersen team together. He suggested that Johnson might be the right fit when Carter left, and the two Andersens began to converse with their potential new driver via E-Mail, finally offering the position through a message that Johnson, who has become the track specialist for Don Schumacher Racing at each Full Throttle Series event, received in Houston as he stood on the starting line just before the final rounds of the NHRA Spring Nationals. After seeking and receiving boss Don Schumacher's approval, Johnson quickly finalised plans to attend the first race at Santa Pod Raceway. Bad weather and travel mishaps nearly bungled the début, and Brissette was supposed to meet Johnson at the airport, but his arrival was delayed a full day. "When I showed up in London at the airport, I didn't have a ride to the race track, didn't know where the racetrack even was, didn't have any luggage, and didn't know anybody at all," said Johnson. "I went outside and bartered with the taxi driver to take me to the race track, pulled up the address on my phone and showed him, and away we went. I showed up at Santa Pod with lost luggage and no firesuit, no helmet. I walked into their pits after never having met them before, shook their hands, and said, hey I'm here to drive your race car, let's do it. We hit it off perfect, and luckily the firesuit showed up in time." The slow start enabled Johnson – in a winter jacket borrowed from famed drag racing artist Kenny Youngblood, who was also at the event – to form a quick bond with his new team. "I spent the entire day getting to know them," he said. "It was a match made in heaven, and I fit right in with these guys. After the first event, it seemed like I'd been racing with them for five years. 
"I think with any kind of team, there has to be chemistry, something that makes it flow and be successful, and we had it from the time I walked into their pits and shook their hands, and I
think that's been one of the biggest factors to our success. They really trust my judgment on the feel of the car and let me give them feedback, and they do a great job. In my opinion, we
have one of the best cars over there."
Johnson also has a better relationship with the race track surface than ever before as he is in the middle of a full season with DSR in the track specialist position. He regularly monitors conditions and track prep, determines the look and feel of the track, and relates the information back to the Crew Chiefs to use for their tune-ups. "The experience has been helping me a lot overseas, especially in Sweden where it's a new track and the first one that they've ever had that has any concrete," said Johnson. "I was able to show the guys on the team different things about the track, and we watched it over the weekend and noticed how much better it was getting. I think it paid off, and I can see a definite advantage already. When I get back in the seat here in the 'States, I think it'll be an advantage then, too. I know every race track really well, every track, and which lane I want to be in. I'm logging all that information so that when I get behind the wheel, I know a lot more about what it takes to be successful." Johnson is enjoying the European tour that fits nicely between Full Throttle Series events, especially the interaction with avid, well-informed fans, and the kindness of the other drivers in the series who have welcomed him to their playground. Johnson also enjoys his position both at the track and in the shop with Don Schumacher Racing, but he has never lost sight of his main objective: to return to NHRA racing as a full time nitro pilot. "I'm doing this to remind people," said Johnson, who is absolutely aiming for the FIA Championship, so long as the proper funding is in place. "We are in a fast-paced sport, and your name can get lost quickly. I wanted to show people how bad I want to drive a race car, and also how well I can drive a racecar, and that I haven't reached the retirement age yet – I'm in my prime. "This experience is doing everything that I wanted and a little more. I had high expectations and goals, and this has exceeded every one of them so far. That has a lot to do with the team; I couldn't have been put with a better team over there. " Greek records posted. 21st June: Our good buddy Elias Vathias of the GreekDragster.com web site writes that after many months of hard work he is pleased to announce that he has created a list of Greek National records. "We applied the rules for a valid record to all incrementals such as sixty feet, ET and speed at the eighth, etc. You can find a table of all of the available records at www.greekdragster.com/database/ClassRecordsNationalTOC.php On the left you can see categories which contain similar or identical classes, and along the top you can see the incrementals. So if for example you click on row BT1 (2008) and column 200T (Sec) that brings up a page of chronological records for the eighth mile for that category. The orange rows are valid National records and the light blue rows are runs which did not finally count as National records. "All records are calculated dynamically, based on the database which we have kept since 2000. "In our effort towards this goal we asked Tog's help many times and we are very lucky to have his full support. A big thanks may be not enough for his help!". A Thank You is quite sufficient Elias, very pleased to help. A big Well Done on your excellent achievement. Swift snippets. 21st June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected] 
Despite a couple of small showers, the Fathers' Day Treat at Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre was a great success with something for everyone, writes UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman. In addition to all the usual winter sport activities there were several extras including bouncy castles and Peppa Pig and her brother George for the smaller ones. Chiltern Rod and Custom Club were asked to attend and had a few cars there including Sam's Double Density altered all of which attracted a lot of questions. Flyers and information were handed out for Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Raceways. A small amount of money was raised for The Hospice of St Francis with donations for pictures and a sit in the driving seat. Steve Dudley writes that he is organising a slot race at Mr C Raceway at Hoo in Kent on either 3rd or 10th July. If you are interested then please get in touch with Steve at [email protected]. Sara Unsworth of the Gecko Drag Race Team writes to wish a slightly belated Happy Birthday to husband Steve Unsworth who turned 40 on 13th June, and who will be celebrating by driving Nigel Holland's Aveago Mustang at the SPRC Summernationals, and to daughter Abi who turned 15 on 19th June and who will shortly be jetting off to Canada for six weeks with the Canadian Army Cadets. Hope you had great birthdays guys. Outlaws' record field. 
21st June: Just how do you top fourteen Personal Bests and two class records? By bringing in a
bigger show of Supercharged Outlaws than the last, that's how. And it's happening this weekend at the Nostalgia
Nationals presented by the National Street Rod Association at Shakespeare County Raceway, writes Dave McKenzie:
With no less than eighteen teams booked in to appear this round of the series, sponsored by Johnny Hall's Romford-based Stamford Speed Shop, is already quoted as being the biggest field of blown Supercharged Outlaws cars anywhere in Europe. From the entered field fans will get a chance to see the on-track début of Nick and Sue Osgathorpe's Excalibur nitro-powered slingshot dragster with Johnny 'Mental' Hall at the wheel. Frequent visitors to the Nationals and the Hot Rod Drags will have seen Nick's car on static display and has already been dubbed as the nicest looking slingshot dragster this side of the Pond. Tuned by Bill Felstead of Fester Race Cars, Nick and Sue's dragster is powered by a nitro-burning Donovan which in its former life sat in the frame rails of the world-famous Rat Trap altered of Dominic Paris. Also making débuts with the Outlaws are John Reeve and Matt Lee. Having débuted the car at the Raceway's recent Springspeed Nationals, John Reeve is set to drive the El Bandido Topolino altered last seen in the hands of Jon Best in the NFAA. The car is now running a big block 540 ci Chevy. Former Wild Bunch racer Matt Lee is looking forward to his blown début with the Outlaws in the ex-Roy Wilding Hemi Hunter Slingshot dragster. I'm not sure in which order Matt is looking forward to the weekend's action at the Shakey, or his impending marriage a few days after the Nationals! The combination stays the same but the distinctive Wilding lime green has been toned down with a splash of British racing green and gold flames and is now called Worth The Wait. Another member making a return to the track is former Champ Clayton Round, hopefully matched against the other blown red altered of Lee Gallimore. Also making a return to the Outlaws is Tony Froome with the Sundance Olds Cutlass Funny Car which sports a body once owned by former NHRA racer Joe Amato. Some of the Series' regular stars have undergone a mad thrash last week to be ready including Brian Gandy, who damaged a crank on setting the Outlaw ET record at 7.2 seconds in the Skulldugery 23T, and Neil Townson who punched a hole in his Lenco after setting the class speed record of 197 mph at the previous round. Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge are working hard to rebuild the Thing five-window Coupe after the flying antics at the first meeting of the year. Not only did the run damage the steering but the engine block was also totalled, but they are confident that they will be ready. Lee Gallimore was not without problems also. He bent the cylinder heads again. I wonder if Lee is putting more than methanol in the tank this time? Andy Hadfield is again running with the Outlaws with the Twister Model T, and it looks like this car is going to be very competitive, whilst Ian Hanson will be chasing hard to be the first into the sixes and the first to hit 200 mph, and with £200 prize money put up by Mad Rs Racing for the first 200mph run Ian will be trying hard. Other regulars adding to the show will be Alec and Tom Coe with the Shy Talker slingshot, Sam Freeman with the very competitive Vic Hammond-owned Speed Demon slingshot and the boys from the Isle of Wight, reigning champ Paul Watts with the No Easy Pickup Chevy Stepside and his crewman Nobby with the ex-Super Mod Rover, and both with Big Block Chevys. Along with the Outlaws there will be American muscle and hot rods galore on show. So get down to Shakespeare County Raceway and be entertained! Of flags, Cafés and Juniors. 21st June: In a break with tradition this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway will feature a four bike nostalgia display provided by riders from the National Sprint Association. The display will include Simon Rees and the Green Grenade blown Triumph, the blown Hagon Weslake Triumph of Justin Newall, Tim Howell's blown UXB BSA and Phil Steele's classic McCoy Weslake Rouge et Noir 2. All four machines carry quite a bit of history in the world of quarter mile sprinting and drag racing and in particular at Long Marston. In addition to the display, the bikes will be demonstrating what they can really do on the drag strip as well as taking part in the Flagstalgia event Saturday with some old time static burnouts against the burnout block together with a flagstalgia girly to start them off. Also lining up against the flag will be five of the UK's finest in slingshot dragsters: Crazy Chris Hartnell's eight-second wheelstanding Backdraft, the ex-Pat Cuss Ratcatcher now in the hands of Terry Clifford, the Tiki Munki Comp Coupe of Scotty Durant and Gina Rumble along with the Jag-powered Destiny dragster of Sid Slattery. All will be using period fifties and sixties Chevy style push cars with old style wooden push boards. Norm Wheeldon's twin engined fuel dragster Too Much will be closing the show with its own dramatic smokefest as only Norm can. In a new marketing incentive Shakespeare County Raceway has teamed up with the legendary Ace Café London, one of Britain's greatest Petrolhead destinations. Celebrating its 10th anniversary since the grand reopening in 2001 Mark Wilsmore, MD of Ace Café London, has confirmed that the Ace will be attending the NSRA Hot Rod Drags on 16th-18th September and that the Café will be presenting a prize for Best Turned Out Hot Rod of the event. "Ace is looking forward to its first official visit to Shakey and a weekend of speed and thrills!", said Mark. Leading up to Ace Café's presence at the Hot Rod Drags, a number of ticket giveaway competitions have been arranged to coincide with their regular monthly Hot Rod Nights and All American Cruise-Ins. Prizes include tickets to the British Mini Showdown and will be available at two of the Café's Mod'n'Mini Nights. So set the wheels in motion and take a journey through the unique Ace Café London experience! Details about the ticket competitions for the NSRA Hot Rod Drags and Mini Showdown can be found on the Ace Café web site at www.ace-cafe-london.com and on the Ace Café Facebook page. 
Having kept SCR Junior Dragster League racers glued to many different weather forecasts all week, the weather gods were very much on their side on the
Saturday of the recent Gary's Picnic / Ladies That Launch / Public Test Weekend with bright sunshine and clear blue skies. But on Sunday, boy did they get it right
first time with strong winds and driving rain. In fact it was the rain that did the only driving on the drag strip and the tractor pull track that day.
All the Junior pilots were present and correct, and ready to put their cars through their paces with some really interesting set-up changes taking place on a couple of cars. Russell Victory's That's Racin' Junior Stock Dragster had taken advantage of the new rule change and had gone for an 8 hp Honda Engine which was all cammed and rodded up! Unfortunately Grant, Russell's dad, explained that a chassis modification is needed for clearance and that the engine was a mare to start due in part to carb problems. But the family were there and with Grant's hands blistered from the pull start both mum and dad had every intention that Russell would not to miss this round for anything. We have since been informed that the engine is to be returned to Briggs and Stratton will be returning with a few more mods than before. Callum Swinchatt's Tot Rod had been converted to run on methanol, so everyone was hoping for some big numbers but major jetting issues, twinned with the power of methanol acting as a stripper pulling rust and grime through the old Villiers fuel tank, finally put paid to their weekends racing with Callum's car stalling on the hit. Chris and Callum will be out at the next meeting, hopefully with all gremlins put to bed! By 10 o'clock on Saturday big Al and Uncle Jon Cross had the Raceway buzzing as usual. We were all in line, ready to put some data passes in. Two passes later Andy Wheeler, with iphone in hand, was approaching with an anxious face. The weather App was giving a strong probability of a rain shower at 2 o'clock! I thought he had finally lost it - Andy can you not see the blue skies and sunshine??So, just in case, everyone agreed to go with Andy's plan and put in a couple of League runs on Saturday afternoon. He was not prepared to leave the Alamo round to chance which would give us some numbers to issue points, trophies and attendance medals. A running timetable was formulated and was strategically planned to guide us around the rain showers which did come and, I hasten to add, as scheduled! Weather App 1 Daren Brett 0 Sunday as forecast was a complete washout. Thank god, well Andy, for the Saturday League runs. A small presentation took place in the VIP Suite with Andy Wheeler and Jerry Cookson. Once all the data had been crunched by Joanne Kopasz the results came out as a joint win for both Alamo girl Page Wheeler and Alex Brett followed by Joy Brett a close third. Declan Webb took the Reaction time trophy with a 0.001 light in the second round. With points calculated from the first two rounds, Alex Brett leads the League standings with 15 points followed by Declan Webb on 13 and Joy Brett and Tyler Webb both on 10 points. Our thanks to Andy Wheeler of Alamo Car Rental for sponsoring the round and to all of our other associated League sponsors. Well done gang. See you all at the next round on 9th-10th July. For full details about the SCR Junior Dragster League and Junior Drag Racing in general stop by www.juniordragsters.co.uk. The 2011 SCR Junior Dragster League is proudly supported by Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Peter Walters Race Design, CC Medical Services, the Supercharged Outlaws, Turboville.com, Motorshack, Fester Race Cars, Claron Graphics, Webb Express Couriers, Classic Designs, Alamo Car Rental, Tailor-Made Webs, LessTax2Pay, WG4, Team Just Smoky, Midland Tractor Pulling Club, Opie Oils, and GV Motorsport. Web site updates. 21st June: Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted an illustrated report of the Drachten Nationals on The Netherlands' Autosport web site at www.autosport.nl. Although the weather was awful Remco managed to get some excellent photographs and doubtless the text is equally good. The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with pictures of the Gary's Picnic / Ladies That Launch / Public Test Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Event entry update. 19th June: With the inaugural Dragstalgia event just over a month away, entry is now official open for Top Sportsman, writes Paul Marston. Entry forms can be downloaded from the web site at www.topsportsman.co.uk. Entry is £125 which includes track fees, but remember you will have to pay gate entry along with everyone else. Remember that all entry fees are going into the prize fund, so winners later round players can expect a nice payout. The web site contains everything you need to know regarding this exciting new class. All the sponsors are listed together with some of the extensive list of pre entries. Saturday is a one-shot qualifier, fastest sixteen cars qualify then slug it out, eliminations to be finished on the day. Sunday everyone again one-shot timed run then straight into eliminations, first round buybacks are £30 with all buyback money going straight into the prize fund. Its a blinkered Pro Tree, so anyone can win this one with a fast and consistent race car. You do not have to remove the throttle stop from your race car, just do not use it. It's pretty easy to detect if anyone is using one, so don't do it! If you have any technical or other questions then please E-Mail [email protected] or call 07831 650230. Please, please support this class and spread the word, this has all the potential to give everyone a true heads-up event to find the roughest, toughest, fastest doorslammer on these shores. Whether you have pre-entered or have never contacted us before, everyone is welcome. All you need is a driving licence, a doorslammer which runs quicker than 9.99 second, and the will to win and take on anyone who is out there to become to Top Dawg. Jeff Bull and I would like to acknowledge the help of the management of Santa Pod Raceway in putting together this unique class. Without their help and understanding, UK Top Sportsman would not be possible. NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey has been in touch with news about entry to the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim on 12th-14th August: We would like to remind everyone in Sportsman car and bike classes that we must receive two time slips with their entry form in order choose the best maximum twenty four vehicles in each class for qualifying. These requirements are outlined in our DMSB/NEAFP General Rules and Invitation Page 7 NEAFP ANHANG on our web site at www.nitrolympx.de. The deadline for reduced entry fee is 11th July, and the final entry date at the normal fee is 18th July. In order to run our Junior Dragster class in accordance with the English and Swedish rules, we have written new guidelines for Junior Dragsters at the NitrOlympX: Junior Stock J/S xxx (race number) Ages 8 and 9 The quickest eighth-mile run is restricted to 12.90 seconds. This applies either to a dial-in of your own or heads-up. Runs from 12.70 to 12.89 are regarded as a breakout. Any racer who runs quicker than 12.70 during the event, in qualifying or eliminations, will only be reprimanded once. Should that racer again run quicker than 12.70 then they will be excluded from the rest of the event. Any racer who runs quicker than 12.50 during the event will immediately be excluded from the rest of the event. Junior Modified J/M xxx (race number) Ages 10 to 16 The quickest 1/8-mile run is restricted to 8.90 seconds. This applies either to a dial-in of your own or heads-up. Runs from 8.70 to 8.89 are regarded as a breakout. Any racer who runs quicker than 8.70 during the event, in qualifying or eliminations, will only be reprimanded once. Should that racer again run quicker than 8.70 then will be excluded from the rest of the event. Any racer who runs quicker than 8.50 during the event will immediately be excluded from the rest of the event. Modified Advanced J/MA xxx (race number) Ages 13 to 17 The eighth mile may not be run quicker than 7.90 seconds. This applies either to a dial-in of your own or heads-up. Runs from 7.70 to 7.89 are rated as a breakout. Any racer who runs quicker than 7.90 during the event, in qualifying or eliminations, will only be reprimanded once. Should that racer again run quicker than 7.90 or faster than 140 kmh (87 mph) then he/she will be excluded from the rest of the event. In every class a run is considered lost if the racer goes quicker than the class index or their dial-in during eliminations (break out rule). Main Event motivation. 
19th June: Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh says that being pitted at the end of the track has its advantages:
You are near scrutineering and the timing ticket booth, for example. But the best thing is seeing all the racers return happy after a good run. Whilst waiting to be called for my next qualifier at the FIA Main Event Tommy Johnson Jr and his crew towed past returning from their first half of a European speed record. I gave them the thumbs-up sign of approval and was surprised when Tommy pointed to the Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour Mustang and asked if it was my car. "Nice car, I'll be back later" he commented from inside the Top Fuel Dragster. Thinking TJ was just being friendly and making small talk I sat back down waiting for my turn to run. Less than an hour later Tommy returned, camera in hand. He took a few photos and chatted to us for a while. It was really motivating that a racer of his high level had the time to stop by my pit and show such interest in my racing. Looking forward to the next Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator round at the Summernationals. A perfectly satisfactory weekend. 19th June: Peter and Sören Svensson and Sweden's Kendall Oil Top Fuel Bike Team went to the Sweden Internationals looking to fulfil the promise of their test passes at the NDRS Nationals. On Saturday morning we were called to the lanes for Q1 ready to see what the track could take performance-wise. Peter made a long burn out and staged, the green light came on, nice and straight run 3.95/321.05 kmh (almost 200 mph) on the eighth mile, a new Personal Best speed for the eighth, and than a white cloud from the bike. Peter got of the throttle and stopped the clocks at 6.02 sec and we were number one qualifier after the first round. We had to change a piston after the first run and decided to skip Q2 on the afternoon that day in order to be ready for Q3 on Saturday morning. We were still number one qualifier after Q2, with Ian King on his good looking new bike as number two qualifier, running 6.66. On Q3 on Saturday morning we added a lot more clutch just after the sixty foot mark and unfortunately the bike started to black track really badly so Peter had to abort the run, but we were still number one qualifier after this run. On our last qualifying attempt on Saturday afternoon the bike was more or less going sideways from sixty feet until the eighth mile mark and Peter had to get off the throttle. We were still number one qualifier after this run and Ian King was number two qualifier, running 6.36. 
Sunday came around and our first elimination run was early in the morning so we decided to run the bike on the safe side, since we were supposed to meet Jaska Salaakari who always runs fast.
However, just before we were called to the lanes we heard from Jaska that he was not able to fix his engine damage from the last run and we got a bye run. If we had known this just an hour earlier
we would have been able to step up the bike a bit, but that's the way it is and we were satisfied with our first round performance anyhow, running a 6.04/ 370.37.
In E2 we already knew that we would have a bye run and we tried to add some more power, but the engine couldn't take all the added fuel so we ran just a bit slower but still a very good 6.05/366.10.
The final was supposed to be against Ian and he had run some good numbers on his previous run where he took out Sverre Dahl, but when we were called to the lanes we found out that Ian would not be able to race due to engine damage. We had to run another bye run to get the trophy and since we had prepared the bike to run against Ian and didn't have the time to make any further changes we had to keep our set up. We were almost able to run a five second run at 6.006/354.56 dropping a cylinder. We were very satisfied knowing that we had a sampled air reading of almost 3000 feet in the finalround. We could not be anything else than satisfied with the weekend: number one qualifier and winner of the event, that was what were aiming for! A big Thank You to everyone who makes this possible: Kendall Motor Oil Sweden, supplied by Sollebrunns Oljeservice Samek Tool AB, who make some of the best moulding tools in the automotive industry in Sweden CemeCon A/S, one of the best coating companies in Europe when it comes to camshaft coatings etc Real Form, product development within mechanical design Romnet, consultants within computer networks etc AF Konsult AB, consultants within most electrical installation areas Shark Energy Drinks, supplied by Herrljunga Cider PiPPi, Number 1 when it comes to marketing Video of the final from Swedish Television SVT2/Sportspegeln at svtplay.se and our good friend and sponsor Tony Zetterstrom's movie on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_-zHfloTbE. Eating dirt in Tierp. 
19th June: Following the rain affected home round at Santa Pod, the UK's
Gulf Oil – Grand Prix Originals team eagerly anticipated the first Championship event at the new world class
facility at Tierp in Sweden. Both the venue and the weather did not disappoint, scorching sunshine and an excellent race venue with all that the organisers had promised.
The team brought their Championship lead into the event knowing this would be their toughest test so far this season, taking on the high performing Kendall Racing team of Peter and Sören Svensson on their home track and without the benefit of having tested there a few weeks earlier. In addition the Gulf Oil – Grand Prix Originals machine is still in the early stages of development and with a tuning set up far from its full potential. Nonetheless the team laid down an early marker with an off the trailer (and early clicked off) 6.698/208.55 to take second qualifying position behind Svensson's fine 6.0224/211.84. The former machine of King now ridden by Petri Paljakka of Finland followed up closely in third position with a 6.7039/201.41. The team decided to make some developmental changes to the bike and sat out the second and final qualifying session of the day with new fuel and ignition settings it was hoped would improve the performance for the second day of qualifying. Despite some other teams joining the fray in this session the Gulf Oil – GPO machine maintained its second qualifying position moving into day two. The third qualifying session was bathed in glorious sunshine and the team eagerly awaited their turn to see what the changes would bring and were not disappointed with a lazy launch but best to date pass of 6.3602/215.24. However, disaster struck when King found himself unable to brake adequately on what seemed to be a slightly oily shutdown area and ran off the end of the track into the gravel, falling from the machine in the process. Although King was relatively unhurt, the formerly pristine machine was not, with gravel, sand and dust particles in just about all open areas of the machine. Although many believed this would be the last time the team would be seen out on track at this event the team was determined to make eliminations and set about the laborious task of stripping the machine down and cleaning the polluting debris away. And despite missing the fourth and final qualifier, the team's morning run remained the second quickest (and the fastest overall) and they retained second position. The team of Michael Beaumont, Marius van der Zijden, Gerard Willemse and King spent more than fourteen hours working to return the machine to race ready state and although it was not cosmetically perfect it was certainly ready to take to competition. 
Kings first round opponent was another home favourite, Peter Andersson Ström. Despite Ström making the jump on King on the lights, King eased past the veteran, 6.3710
to a 7.6724 and into a semi final against former Champion Sverre Dahl from Norway. This time King ensured he maximized his stopping power by using his parachute for the very first time,
thereby becoming the first European rider in UEM European drag bike history to use such a device. Dahl had lane choice over King courtesy of a marginally quicker time in the quarter final,
but it was not enough to overcome the five time Champion as King ran another best for the new machine of 6.3132 to defeat Dahl's 6.4754 in what was a great race for the spectators.
So, to the final and a chance to run against the number one qualified Svensson team but alas it was not to be when the team found that a tyre had blistered in the semifinal, and a concern with slightly lower oil pressure readings that necessitated closer inspection would take too long to remedy to run in the time span demanded to be at the line for the final. However, the team left the new facility very happy after the trials of the weekend that would have seen many teams return home early. Number two qualifier, runner up position in the race, a new best for the bike, and most importantly the team extended their points lead in the Championship and look forward to the next and fourth round at Alastaro in Finland. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in their chosen markets in their quest for an unprecedented sixth European Championship title: APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Bell Helmets - The ultimate iconic helmet brand Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goedhals - The name in recision specialist gear cutting and engineering Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons Kent Cams - Specialists in motor sport camshaft manufacture, short runs and one-offs Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems MTC ENGINEERING - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators PsycleWorkz - The UK's best custom and race fabricators and innovators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts The clutch which serves. 19th June: L-O Jonsson has been in touch with a review of Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson's weekend at the Sweden Internationals: We started qualifying at the Tierp track with a soft set-up to be able to confirm the operation of the new three stage clutch manegement program. When the last session was over on Saturday evening the Beast Drag Bike team held the number three spot with a 6,61 second pass. Number one on the qualifaying list was German Christian Jäger with a nice 6.50 run. 
In Sunday's eliminations we were up against Lorenz Stäuble in the first round. As we felt comfortable with the clutch and the smooth track surface we stepped up the power and produced
a winning 6.52 second run which was enough against Lorenz' 6.74. On the other side of the ladder our tent partner Hans-Olav Olstad beat top qualifier Christian Jäger in the same round.
In the semi-final we should have raced Jaska Salakari who was forced to withdraw. Since we got a bye run we put on more clutch to see what the track could hold but went up in smoke right
after the sixty-foot mark.
The Final was a Sweden versus Australia battle as we faced Australian Mark Ashelford. We were trying to repeat the 6.52 run in the final and Per was first out of the gate. But after only one second the Beast started to spin the tyre and lose traction. When that happened Per immediately shortshifted and kept the throttle full on all the way down, and was able to find enough traction and hook up to the track again to get to the fnnish line first. The winning time was a 6.69 against Mark's 6.91. "This is probably the biggest win in my long career as a rider", said Per. "To be able to qualify number three in the quickest Supertwin Bike field ever in Europe, with the bump spot at 6.79 seconds and where everyone had the same conditions with a new track and no history to rely on, is really awesome. "It also feels good to see that all our work with the clutch programme paid off when we got this smooth race track to work on. Thanks to the smooth surface we could produce good numbers and set a new Personal Best speed of 348.61 kmh. "We also took a huge step forward in the points standings where we are now is third right behind Sturla and Olstad." The Beast drag bike team wants to thank our sponsors for supporting us in the 2011 UEM Championship battle: Swedcut, Red Line Oil, Gates/Lönne, Autoexperten Växjö, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Ulvsgården AB, Bilservice i Åseda, Kalvsviks Bilverkstad, Larssons Bilverkstad Lenhovda, Rävemåla Bilservice, Cemecon, Liqui Moly, Bentec Engineering and Flexoart. For more information please visit our web site at www.bentec.net. Expectations exceeded. 19th June: From the photos which they had already seen of Tierp Arena, Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad and his team had big expectations, and found them exceeded when they arrived at the new track: It is just fantastic. This arena is the new capital of drag racing in Europe, no question. This is absolutely overwhelming. Finally we got our six-second ladder too. And what a field, I was the last qualified on 6.79 and very proud to be part of the best Supertwin field ever in Europe. This list includes three riders from Norway, the rest from Australia, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. We probably won't get a list like this before the next race at Tierp. I just have to show you this incredible qualifying list:
From this list anyone could take the win, and we started eliminations by taking out top qualifier Jäger who went up in smoke. Ashelford took out Hegre, Bengtsson took
out Stäuble, and Salakari took out Rolfstad. In the smi-finals Bengtsson had a solo run when Salakari didn´t show. We met the fast Ashelford. Our bike stopped pulling,
probably the 6.70 previous run did some damage to the engine. Later we found under the front head a burned piston and cylinder, also damage to the rod. Under the rear head
we found a cracked wrist pin, damaged piston and rod.
The final was again a thriller. Bengtsson was ahead from the line but started to smoke the tyre. Then Ashelford was ahead, when Bengtsson put in the second gear and got grip again. In what was like slow motion Bengtsson passed Ashelford and win this historic event at Tierp Arena Sweden. Bengtsson also did well in the tent championship and is now in the leading position, seven points to my six points. We are still second in the UEM Championship, one point behind the leader. We have spare parts, and we will be ready for the next UEM event at Alastaro in Finland on 1st-3rd July. Swift snippets. 19th June: UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables has been in touch with this picture of daughter Jemma Venables' development bike in its new paint. "I will put some hits on it at the Peak Performance Day on Friday and then hope to get Jemma on it either later in the day or at a later test day to see how she feels", says Ven. 
Patrik Larsson of Tierp Arena writes that last week's inaugural Sweden Internationals was attended by a total of 28,000 visitors. "We are very pleased with the number of visitors, but we could easily have had even more had it not been for all the weather forecasts predicting rain for the finals on Sunday", says Patrik. Regular readers will know your News Editor's view on the latter and hopefully there are a lot of people still kicking themselves now. Thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us an updated table of European Bests now including best Top Fuel Dragster performances over 1000 feet backed up to within the usual 1%. You can check out the European Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Your News Editor has had a bad week and has had his fill of pompous and picky E-Mails recently so he would like to make it clear that that he is fully aware that there have been quicker ETs at 1000 feet on quarter mile passes, but that the bests on this table are for TF events contested over 1000 feet. So don't bother writing, and if you do then a polite response is not guaranteed. If you fancy some last-minute testing before next weekend's SPRC Summernationals then Santa Pod Raceway are holding a Peak Performance Day on Friday (24th). The Peak Performance Day is a limited-entry event with track prepped to National Event standard and full start line and safety cover. More details at www.rwyb.com. Euro Top Gas Round 2 review. 
19th June: The second round of the Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship took place over the quarter mile on the concrete track
at Hoskovice in the Czech Republic, wrutes Herman Jolink:
Qualifying was stopped on Saturday afternoon because of very heavy wind and rain so the final qualifiers were run on Sunday morning. Final qualifying:
At 13:00 there was a riders' presentation on the track, then at 14:30 the semi-finals took place with a stormy wind from the right. In the semis Jolink had an 8.795/249 bye run, Bruhn 12.171/165 bye run as Kolacny's gearbox was broken. In the final Jolink 9.053/244 moving to the right with a lot of leaning but held the Ducati under control, runner up was Bruhn on Turbo Honda 1000 SP 10.636/201. RTs Jolink 0.171 and Bruhn 0 .673. Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship:
19th June: The third Outlaw Street meeting of the year was held over the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway, writes Mark Wallington. The track conditions were excellent and all felt it was without doubt some of the best racing they'd had in years. Some members managed as many as seventeen runs over the weekend. 
Of the twenty two members who ran their cars over the course of the weekend, many for the first time this year, virtually all set new PBs in either their ET, sixty foot time, or Reaction Times.
needless to say the bench racing and track boasting was in full swing with many a smiling face. In addition to all these PBs three members went on to win categories in the Gary's Picnic Shootout,
which is always held over the Yanks Weekend: OS-7 Andrew Murton in his ''68 Camaro won Fastest Super Stock, OS-21 Rob Slater won Fastest Hot Rod in his 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air and OS-13
Stuart Ramsey won Fastest Chevrolet in his '67 Camaro. Unfortunately all three went out in the Shootout due to various mechanical gremlins, including Rob Slater unfortunately blowing the propshaft
on the '57 on the start line.
The American Car Magazine year's free subscription was won by Stuart Ramsay in his OS-13 'Therapy' Camaro. Stuart is a veteran of American Car having previously had his car featured in the magazine, so overall a very good weekend for Stuart. The Joe & Co-sponsored RT Trophy was again chased by members throughout the weekend, with the difference between winner and loser coming down to 0.027 of a second! The winning trophy deservedly went to Chris Antell in his VW Camper, yes you read that right, needless to say the Mustang and Camaro owing members are going to be really chasing to start building their trophy cabinets up. Chris took the win with a very impressive 0.143 second reaction time. The top six chasing a Reaction Time trophy over the weekend were:
Web site updates. 19th June: In the latest update in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon reports upon his weekend at the FIA Main Event. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
Julian Hunt has updated his web site at www.julianhunt.net with pictures from
the Pre-Auto Trader Easter Thunderball test weekend which incorporated what a few of the VW guys with quick street cars are calling UK Drag Day. "I provided pictures for
Volksworld magazine and had to wait until their article was published before I could put anything up on my web site, as is usual with any magazine work I do", says Julian.
Stefani Robinson has updated the Robinson Race Reports web site at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk with a report and pictures of Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's weekend at the Sweden Internationals. 
Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has posted a gallery of Sweden Internationals pictures on his personal web site at
www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Many of the pictures in this update
have not been seen on Eurodragster.com or in other publications. Also available now are Roger's event summaries and pictures at
www.competitionplus.com and
www.dragracecanada.com.
Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog was one of the victims of the collapse of Fotopic but has recently snatched a few rare moments to himself to set up a new gallery site at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Currently only 2011 and a few 2010 events are uploaded; it's going to be a long job but in the end all pictures going back to 2002 will be posted. MTC pistons take corners too. 19th June: UK Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck tells us that Malta's John Bull Racing Team has assembled an interesting hybrid car. The power plant is a supercharged Kawasaki ZX14 running MTC Tall Deck Pistons. The clutch plates are also MTC. The car is run in three different types of races: Hill Climbing, Sprints and Circuit Racing. Earlier this month in Sicily the car took pole position, fastest lap of the weekend and won its race. "We are very pleased with the pistons", says Joshua Anastasi, spokesperson for the team, "because they can run in a supercharged ZX14 engine fitted to a car which creates greater loads than a motorcycle for sessions greater than 30 minutes." The piston is MTC's Tall Deck Turbo designed specifically for the stress and temperatures generated by a turbo charged engine. You can find out more about MTC products from Dave Beck via his web site at www.davebeckracing.com. Event entry update. 17th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the final version of of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. You can check the 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. Entry is still just about open for the SPRC Summernationals but is subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Paula Marshall has also asked us to remind racers that Friday 1st July is the official closing date for entry to Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-24th July and which is a Championship round for Super Modified, Sportsman ET, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four and Outlaw Anglia, and a non-points round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. A case of mistaken identity. 
17th June: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita
Mäkelä has found Paradise, at the Tierp Arena. "Simply put: Thank You for Tierp!", says Anita. "This second race
was much better for us". However, the Sweden Internationals started in the same way as Anita's FIA Main Event weekend.
"I was out of the field after the first qualifying day. It means nightmares for me! But the sun was shining on Saturday and we were happy to be third qualifier with a 4.09 run. This was like a turning point and I feel that we regained our trust in our car. "We had Antti Horto in the first round of eliminations. I think that this new talented driver did very well in his first Top Fuel race, but our car crossed the finish line before him. Then we had Risto. Always a pleasure to meet him and his team. I drove full throttle all the way, but my worse Reaction Time meant that I didn't catch him. They told me that the difference was 0.0003 seconds (4.03 centimetres - Ed). But a loss is loss, that's racing and I just have to live with it. "What makes us happy is that we are getting our consistency and that there is a lot of potential in our car. And running over 300 mph feels good! I have high hopes for Alastaro. "Urs: you had Micke in the first round. You can tell me apart from Micke, I have longer hair." 'Tis but a flesh wound... 17th June: Neil Warwick of Eurodragster.com sponsor WG4 Facilities and Services has been in touch with news of a temporary setback for Matthew Wright's wild street-legal Rolls Royce: The Rolls-Royce was booked in for a full day of tuning and power runs on the 2400 bhp state-of-the-art rolling road at John Sleath Race Cars. UK Distributor for the FAST fuel injection system, John Sleath is an important sponsor for WG Racing and undertakes the engine build and tuning work. Car builder Bill Felstead of Fester Race Cars, Matthew Wright and Andy Hone had spent many hours over the past few weeks preparing the car for the rolling road session and the configuration of its ECU and onboard computer. The Rolls-Royce was being loaded into the lorry the night before the two hundred-mile journey to John Sleath in preparation for an early start. Everything was going according to plan and the car had reached its resting place at the top of the internal tilting flatbed. With the flatbed still at a thirty-degree angle, a D shackle attached to the winch cable failed. The car careered down the ramp and smashed into the garage wall. Car builder Bill Felstead was alongside the car at the time steering it into place. Bill was rolled between the car and the side of the lorry but fortunately, despite being thrown about a bit, he was not seriously injured. 
After getting over the initial shock, the damage to the car and garage were assessed, and an acrow prop hastily inserted to hold the garage roof up! The car had taken a big impact directly on the left rear corner and the energy had been sent straight down the left-hand side of the car distorting the roof and doors. Despite the damage to the bodywork, the chassis escaped any damage making the repairs just a re-shell. As luck would have it, a replacement shell appeared on eBay the very same day, so Matthew Wright and Neil Warwick took the truck to Lutterworth and loaded up another Rolls Royce Shadow. The work commenced last Saturday and, thanks to total commitment from Bill and the rest of the team, it should only take about a week to complete. The WG Racing web site at www.wgracing.co.uk will be updated soon with rebuild story. Rough Diamond returns. 17th June: Dave Gibbons writes that after a little more than three years of reconstruction and restoration, the Rough Diamond Competition Altered is once again ready to hit the track. First built and campaigned by Dave Gibbons in 1981, the neglected race car was discovered in Austria, and Dave set out on a mission to restore it to its former glory. With a new frame the car is now tagged to run six seconds and sports a 468 ci big block Chevrolet engine on loan from Paul Marston Racing. "It's been a lot more work than I had anticipated, but I've enjoyed the process and look forward more to enjoying the ride!" said Dave. The new motor fired at the first hit of the button. "I can't say enough good things about the BLP Racing Products carb built by Tony Morris", said Dave. "With no more than half a turn of the idle screw the car ran perfectly". A short video of the first start-up can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7TbEFDw2A. 
Rough Diamond is set to make its first appearance at today's Webster Race Engineering Test Day in readiness for bext weekend's SPRC Summernationals.
After that it'll be attending the long-awaited Dragstalgia event in July. "I'm really looking forward to that one", said Dave. "It promises to be a great event, and Santa
Pod should be congratulated for implementing it. I'm particularly looking forward to the possibility of turning the clock back nearly thirty years with a match race with
Alan Loten in Paranoia."
Dave will primarily campaign the altered in Super Pro ET trim and may well dabble with Super Comp. "Apart from a drive of The Alien seven years ago I've been a long time out of the saddle so it'll be tough not to be first round fodder", he said. Rough Diamond will usually appear alongside the Paul Marston Racing operation, their wealth of experience will be a great benefit, and Dave is greatly indebted to Paul for his help. All work on the car has been completed by Dave Gibbons who is now in a position to consider carrying out race car work for others. While not able to offer facilities for complete cars, work on engines, transmissions, axles and small fabrications or repairs is offered. Contact [email protected]. The recreation of Rough Diamond would not have been possible without the direct help and generosity of Alli Gibbons, Paul Marston, Tony Morris, Dick Hogben, Maurice Takoor and Neil Melliard. Honourable mention should also be made of Jon Webster, Chris Baldock, Andrea Kloss, Gary Springford and Garry Watts. Rough Diamond Racing is pleased to be associated with and enjoy the support of: Cygnet Business Solutions – business consultants Paul Marston Racing – drag racing school Hillis-Frader - vehicle turntables Mr. T's Nutz 4U – wheel nuts, bolts and accessories BLP Racing Products – fuel systems JW Performance Transmissions - gearboxes Eddie and the Hot Rods – 70s rock legends Pro-Sign – lettering and design James Motor Sports – fibreglass, paint, body and TVR specialist Watts Electrical Installations – electrical installations and building works Flint Insurance – who have made bugger-all contribution, but we like them Swift snippets. 17th June: Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts is seeking two marshals to work with the rest of the track crew at European Bugin 4 at Chimay in Belgium. "We leave the UK on 29th June and return on 4th of July", says Lee. "European Bugin is an air-cooled VW event where a public road is turned into a drag strip. Travel and accommodation are taken care of. For more details, or if you would like to work at this event, please E-Mail me at [email protected]." The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Cheers mate". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. 
Andreas Sjödin writes that Sjödin Motorsport is now your R2B2 Race Cars dealer in Sweden. R2B2 Race Cars, owned by Roger Burgess, opened in April. For more information check out www.sjodinmotorsport.com. As the weather closed down Shakespeare County Raceway's Ladies that Launch weekend early, plans have already been made for a re-run on 23rd-24th July, says Beth Satchell. "We are praying for better weather this time!", says Beth. "The Ladies' car and bike brackets will be run and if the weather is glorious and if all the girls are up for it then we may try to get another group photo! The prize of a passenger ride in Simon Barlow's Orange Pop will be drawn and run at the Nostalgia Nationals on 26th June (weather permitting). We intend to continue selling the tickets at that event and all proceeds will go to Refuge - Domestic Violence help for women and children, this year's nominated charity for Ladies that Launch. Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive have just received another delivery of Hoosier tyres. Now included in their range of Hoosier Quick Time DOT (treaded) tyres is 31 x 16.5 x 15. Also in stock are some common size slicks and Hoosier Drag front tyres. Tyres can be brought to the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod. For more information check out the Advertisements from businesses section of our Jeff Bull Swap Meet or call the shop on 01932 341700. Editor's note: Perceptive readers will probably have worked out that something is amiss since the news updates have been erratic in the last few days. What has happened is that your News Editor, already worn out from the weekend, was then pitched straight into a very busy period in his day job. We have a news backlog which, as you can see, we are working on clearing. We should have plenty of time tomorrow to post everything outstanding, and please keep those Sweden Internationals reviews and other news coming to [email protected]. Alamo JD Challenge standings. 17th June: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-FIA Main Event standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
Don't forget that Alamo Rent-A-Car are offering up to 30% discount on car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA European Finals, an official headed for a meeting overseas, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. Check it out at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. An Allard at Chrysler's. 
17th June: During July the Allard Chrysler Dragster will be making a rare
trip away from the museum, visiting Northamptonshire and appearing at events at Santa Pod Raceway - Dragstalgia on 16th-17th July and the Mopar Euro
Nationals on 30th-31st July - and at Silverstone, the Classic on 23rd-24th July. But its Northamptonshire home for this two-week tour will be the Chrysler Jeep
dealership Westaway Motors at Moulton Park, Northampton.
You will be able to get close up and personal with the Allard Chrysler Dragster on 19th-21st and 26th-28th July. On most days Allard Chrysler Action Group personnel will be on hand to talk about the car including Brian Taylor, Stu Bradbury and Liz Rowland (aka Liz Burn). Derek Westerway said "We are proud to host such an iconic Chrysler vehicle during its tour in Northamptonshire and we thank the National Motor Museum and the ACAG for entrusting it to our care. The Chrysler Jeep brand is very much about heritage and tradition so sharing our showroom with such a historically important drag racing and sprinting machine is most fitting. A particular honour is that this is the first time the car has appeared at a Chrysler dealership anywhere in the world and we look forward to welcoming all those interested to see it close up." ACAG Chair Brian Taylor said "As a past Marketing Director for a major multi-franchised dealer group I'm looking forward to visiting Westaway Motors and I'd like to thank Derek for looking after our car during its appearances at Santa Pod and Silverstone. It's a great opportunity for visitors to relate the old with the current line-up of Chrysler models and I look forward to meeting Westaway customers. Chrysler is a brand with a long and revered association with the sport of drag racing. The brand's American heritage is one of its enduring qualities and key strengths. Sydney Allard's 1961 Chrysler engined dragster brought that heritage to Europe." Obviously the ACAG will need some local support manning the car during this two-week tour and if possible some assistance with moving it between venues. Currently Santa Pod Raceway has agreed to cover this, but it would be nice to have some other options. If you can help then please contact Brian Taylor on 01395 579733 or at [email protected]. Web site updates. 17th June: In association with Alamo Rent-A-Car we have two exclusive Racer Blog updates for you today. In the first update, Kalle Lyrén reports on his weekend at the Sweden Internationals. In the second update, Luke Bennett reveals the next date on the Bennett Racing promotional diary. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Home from Europe Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell, who worked on the coverage team at Santa Pod Raceway in May and at Tierp Arena last weekend, has started to post his FIA Main Event and Sweden Internationals photographs on his personal gallery at www.surfphotonh.com. The currently not fired Markus Ek has updated his web site with photographs from the Sweden Internationals which he describes as "The most amazing event ever!". You can take a look at Markus' excellent pictures at www.mek.nu. Another good buddy posting pictures from Tierp Arena is Patrik Jacobsson whose pictures you can find at www.racebilder.nu. 
Two picture updates from Shakespeare County Raceway next, and the first is from Jon Spoard of the superb UK Drag Racing Nostalgia
web site whose shots of the Springspeed Nationals, including a sequence of the Chaos Fuel Altered crash, can now be found
at www.ukdrn.co.uk.
Alan Currans has posted pictures of last weekend's events at Shakespeare County Raceway including Ladies That Launch, Outlaw Anglia and Run What You Brung, on his excellent Acceleration Archive. You can take a look at Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Finally for today's photo updates, Paul Lister has posted a set of FIA Main Event photographs on the Drag Car Anon web site at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Thanks to Nigel Holland for letting us know that a new issue of Drag Racing Confidential magazine is now on-line at www.drceurope.co.uk, featuring everything from Sportsman ET to Top Fuel Dragster. Grumpy's shut-off. 16th June: UK Methanol Dragster racer and European ET record holder Dave Wilson has been in touch with Eurodragster.com to explain his shut-off in pre-stage in the TMD final at Tierp on Sunday. "We started the motor on methanol and warmed it up", said Grumpy. "But then the nitro lever wouldn't move an inch. In the end I bent the lever trying! I managed to get enough fuel pressure to do a burnout and everything was OK for that except that when I was in pre-stage the lever wouldn't budge. I tried everything, I even used both hands, and it just wouldn't move. Fred Hanssen had been waiting for ages so David signalled them to run the tree. "There was some fuel pressure but it was not worth an engine. It's regrettable but it's one of those things, and we'll fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again. It's a pity because it could have been a good final, and it didn't take the shine off the weekend." During qualifying Grumpy ran the first 5.2-second ET by a European Top Methanol Dragster and backed it up for a 5.298 record. "These cars are finicky animals", he said, "it's an uphill battle with them. It's a case of having the conditions and getting the runs. The conditions were best in the second and third rounds of qualifying. In the first round of eliminations we didn't realise it at the time but the on-board camera appeared to show that the Top Fuel cars had stripped the rubber off the start line and we had staged on a bare patch, and we blew the tyres off it. "I'd like to thank the crew, sponsors, and the people who kept the faith the last few years. The Silverline Playstation machine is doing alright!" Grumpy added that he and the B&A Racing Pro Modified team will have to vacate their workshop at the end of this month and that he would be pleased to hear from anyone with a shop which they could use. "We're looking for workshop premises around Aldershot/Guildford", he said, "anywhere within a decent radius where we can store and work on the cars and the trucks. If anyone has such a place or has any ideas then please contact me at [email protected]." Erbacher ♥ Tierp. 
16th June: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor
Urs Erbacher says that he was impressed with Tierp Arena:
Arena is the right name, becayse the arena is where gladiators fight. This track looks awesome. Everything: grandstands, tower, track, pits, team showers, team toilets, I can only say "perfect". Better than many tracks in the USA. The organisation was just perfect: no stress everywhere and no long waits in the pairing lanes. A special thank you to the track owners and shareholders, the Lindberg family, Leif Andréasson and all the other people behind the track. A new generation has arrived in European drag racing. The race itself was a little difficult for me. It was not so easy for Robin and my team to find a set up for this track. We always went up in smoke at around 250 metres and when we didn't we lost the blower belt before 1000 feet. We qualified fourth, which is better than fifth because we were in the quicker half and had lane choice. So in the first round we put MickeKågered in the left lane because we were sure the right lane was the better lane for us. We won the first round but we kicked a rod out and needed to change a motor before the second round. So my team changed the motor in just one hour and we were the second team in the pits to warm up. The next round was against Tommy Johnson Jr. We know that he is a a professional driver and Per and Karsten Andersen showed us that they knew how to run on this track so Robin and I tried to make the car faster. I knew I needed to deep stage and cut a perfect light. The light on the tree was perfect but our set-up was wrong. We lost a cylinder when I hit the pedal and with only seven cylinders from the start line we didn't have enough power and nothing worked. The clutch pulled the engine down too much. My good light against TJ was not enough to win, we slowed down to a 4.248 and they ran a 4.008 so my 0.143 better reaction time was not enough so we lost. If we had run a 4.125 as we had before then we would have won on a holeshot but we didn't tune the car right. Congratulations to the winning team but the battle starts again in Finland. See you there guys - we are ready! After the race we had a nice After Race Party in the barn. Really great! Like all teams in drag racing we fight it out on the track but we are real friends in the pits and always have fun at the parties after the race, win or lose. Drachten Nationals beckon. 16th June: Automotoshow and eXplosion Dragracing are hosting the 2011 Drachten Nationals at Drachten Airfield in The Netherlands between tomorrow (Friday) and Sunday. Maikel Gloudemans of our webcam server provider Doyousee.me writes: With a large field of contestants the track action will be interesting, but the new promoter has also brought in a lot of off-track entertainment. There will be displays of other motorsports, show cars and bikes, babes, and a large vendor area. On Saturday evening there will be live music. You can find more information at www,automotoshow.nl and www.explosion.nl. If you can't make Drachten this weekend then firstly you should plan your time better (smile) but secondly doyousee.me will be broadcasting the event at www,doyousee.me/explosion. We will premier our new player which has even nicer timing displays and a few other features which we will keep a secret until the time. We are also feeding a higher-quality stream to the catering area, so no-one at the track has to miss anything, even when not in the grandstand. Swift snippets. 16th June: Our friends at Bangshift.com are broadcasting another of their excellent live webcasts starting today, from the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Kentucky which runs until Saturday evening. You can find out more at www.bangshift.com. Chris Mott tells us that Round 2 of the National Association of Supertwins Championship took place at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. "Although the racing was cut short by rain, it was a great weekend especially for Supertwin Gas racer Dave Smart who in the second qualifying round ran a speed of 150.08 mph, backed up by his earlier pass, to set a new class speed record and to be the first to reach that elusive 150 mph mark. In the first qualifier he also had a reaction time of 0.000! Well done Dave! Congratulations also to Tim Boutle of Supertwin ET who ran a 12.200 pass on a 12.20 dial in! We are now looking forward to Round 3 at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod. With nine bikes entered in Top Gas, it should be a great meeting." Thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us an updated table of UK Bests now including Dave Smart's new Supertwin Gas speed record. You can check out the UK Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Les Sanderson has been in touch to invite race cars and rods to attend the Aviator Inn Real Ale and Cider Festival at the Aviator Inn near Staverton Airport, Gloucestershire, between tomorrow and Sunday, to promote next weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. There is no charge but it's all in aid of Help for Heroes and donations can be made towards the use of the facilities. Free camping is available. If anyone is interested in attending then please give Les a call on 07799 081989 or E-Mail [email protected]. Swift snippets. 15th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 7 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. You can check the 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. Entry is still just about open for the SPRC Summernationals but is subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. On the subject of the SPRC Summernationals, if you fancy some last-minute testing then Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering are holding a Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway this Friday (17th) and Santa Pod Raceway are holding a Peak Performance Day next Friday (24th). Both Test Days are limited-entry events with track prepped to National Event standard and full start line and safety cover. More details at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk and www.rwyb.com respectively. Many thanks to Kjell Pettersson for forwarding us the post-Sweden Internationals points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, and to Palle Lind for forwarding us the post-Sweden Internationals points standings in the UEM European Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the European Championship points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs for forwarding us an updated table of European Bests now including the ET, speed and Bump Spot records set at the Sweden Internationals. You can check out the European Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
Eurodragster.com's Alamo Rent-A-Car-sponsored Event Coverage
of the Sweden Internationals attracted 67,999 unique visitors who generated 444,877 page views and 5,058,956 hits. Many thanks to
everyone who tuned in; to the racers for giving us so much to write about; to the Tierp Arena staff, race officials,
Time-Tree crew and track announcers for facilities and for putting up with us;
and to Alamo Rent-A-Car for their backing. The picture at right,
sent by the aforementioned Andy Marrs, shows the lengths to which some readers will go to stay up to date.
Our friends at Bangshift.com will be broadcasting another of their excellent live webcasts this week, from the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Kentucky which runs from tomorrow (Thursday) to Saturday evening. You can find out more at www.bangshift.com. Sweden Internationals results. 13th June: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's inaugural Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena: FIA Top Fuel Dragster (1000 feet): Tommy Johnson Jr 3.9564/495.41 def. Risto Pouitiainen 4.3782/315.60 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Fred Hanssen 5.3050/434.08 bye, Dave Wilson shut off FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Jonas Staflund 15.5060/77.29 bye, Arvid Grødem no show FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Bruno Bader 6.1039/372.93 def. Micke Gullqvist 8.8511/182.68 FIA Pro Stock: Sampsa Palos 6.7897/330.07 def. Jimmy Ålund 6.7925/331.90 UEM Top Fuel Bike: Peter Svensson 6.0061/354.56 bye, Ian King no show UEM Supertwin: Per Bengtsson 6.6962/341.34 def. Mark Ashelford 6.9117/342.64 UEM Pro Stock Bike: Jesper Thiel 7.1451/296.38 def. Fredrik Fredlund 7.1598/301.00 Comp Eliminator: Mathias Stenström (7.70) 8.4382/145.43 bye Super Comp: Bo Ragnebro 8.9000/248.05 def. Niklas Öhlin 8.9691/254.60 red Super Gas: Håkan Mattsson 9.9918/225.85 def. Mats Karlsson 9.9301/230.28 Super Street: Janne Karlsson 10.9104/184.62 def. Simon Gustafsson 10.9734/190.61 Stock/Super Stock: Håkan Nordstrom (10.12) 10.1128/204.62 def. Björn Bondesson (10.54) 10.5019/201.72 b/o Junior Dragster: Iiro Laaksonen (8.07) 8.0879/129.84 def. Kevin Danielsson (8.20) 8.16154/115.83 b/o Super Gas Bike: Tommy Jonsson 9.6038/211.52 def. Robert Pettersson 9.6529/233.97 Congratulations also to the following on setting new European records (subject to official ratification): Top Methanol Dragster ET: 5.298 seconds, Dave Wilson Top Methanol FC speed: 406.93 kmh / 252.85 mph, Ulf Leanders Pro Stock Bike speed: 306.12 kmh / 190.21 mph, Fredrik Fredlund Although records are not currently kept for Top Fuel over 1000 feet, Tommy Johnson Jr set new bests of 3.956 seconds and 495.41 kmh / 307.83 mph in the Top Fuel final. Tommy was the first to record a three-second ET and Risto Poutiainen the first to record a 300 mph speed in European 1000 foot competition. The bump spot records were lowered to 4.244 seconds for Top Fuel Dragster over 1000 feet, 6.240 seconds in Pro Modified, and 6.796 in Supertwin. Congratulations also to Bo Ragnebro for winning the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award with an 8.900 in the Super Comp final. You can check out our Alamo Rent-A-Car sponsored Event Coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Tog, Kirstie, Roger and Ed would like to thank everyone who sent feedback about our coverage over the weekend. Swift snippets. 13th June: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding us the official post-FIA Main Event points standings in the 2011 UK National Drag Racing Championships. You can check out the UK points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Further to our news item of 3rd June, applications are now closed for the apprenticeship at Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering. WRE asked us to say a big Thank You to everyone who sent in their details and to add that responses will be in the mail very soon. Editor's note. 13th June: We are on our way home from Sweden today and will need a quick breather before starting work again so a brief update will be posted on Wednesday and then a full update on Thursday. Thanks for their patience to those who have news in our queue, and please keep the news coming to [email protected]. Important tyre notice. 11th June: Hoosier Tire have published a bulletin recommending that racers in Pro Modified and Top Methanol stop using the following tyre with immediate effect, until further notice: Catalogue number: 18900 Size: 36.0 x 17.0 - 16 Construction Tag: C2055 You can read the Hoosier Tire bulletin (PDF format) by clicking here. Other Hoosiers in other classes are of course OK. If you have any queries at all then please either contact your dealer or contact Hoosier Tire direct. There is no point in contacting us about it (see News FAQ 16). Thanks to Martyn Jones for alerting us to this. Weekend highlights. 
10th June: Kåre Ravnsborg writes that four riders from Hawgs Racing Norway will be racing for the Tierp event
win in Supertwin: current points leader Jan Sturla Hegre, #2 Hans Olav Olstad, #8 Svein Olav Rolfstad and #11 Trond Høiberget.
In Pro Stock bike Kenneth Vik is attacking the field from his #4 spot whilst Kristin Hegre is competing in SuperTwin TopGas, and Arild
Rundbrathen in SuperGas Bike. "All of the teams are looking forward to this historic event with great fields in classes, both bikes and cars"
says Kåre.
Heather Bond writes from Australia that ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Read and the Readspeed Racing team will be contesting the Castrol Edge Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. "We will be posting live updates via our Facebook page and the revamped web site should be back up and running over the next couple of days", says H. "The weather looks like it might throw us a curveball with some showers on the horizon but it is the winter months here now. For viewers in the UK we are nine hours ahead and qualifying for us will be around 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday". You can find the Willowbank Raceway web site at www.willowbank-raceway.com.au. It's going to be another monster of a weekend at Warwickshire's Shakespeare County Raceway this Saturday and Sunday featuring a mixture of quarter mile drag racing and tractor pulling. 
Headlining the weekend's action on the drag strip will be another seat-gripping round for the 160+ mph Outlaw Anglia series. With
two rounds concluded at both Shakey and Santa Pod, defending title holder Cliff Griffin has taken out a commanding lead over The Guv
Paul Wright and young gun Rich Colby, and with an eleven-car entry including the return of Paul Hensher's Gas Attack Pop, you can
expect the action to be on-the-edge-of-your-seat time until the end. Staying with the Outlaw theme the guys and girls from the Outlaw
Street have promised another strong showing including the low nine second Chevy Camaros belonging to Stuart Ramsey and Andy Murton.
On the bike front the National Association of Super Twins will be rocking and racing with round two of the NAST Club Championships. After the opening round in May both Martin Brooks and Chris Mott lead the ET and Gas series and in Fuel its all Shawn Rodman. The NAST will be further backed-up with riders and teams from the National Sprint Association. The SCR Junior Dragster League gets another outing this weekend with another quality line-up from the sport's rising stars of the future. Along with the Wild Bunch nostalgia series, Pro Street Drag, bracket racing for both cars and bikes, For Ladies That Launch and the Gamblers Races on Sunday together with a full weekend's RWYB. Where else would you rather be! Meanwhile over on the pull track there's a strong line-up of more than fifty BTPA/PPA tractors of varying shapes, sizes and horsepower contesting the second annual Shakey Super Pull which commences at 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon and continues into the early evening. There will also be displays of classic and modern tractors, trucks and hot rods plus the usual late night bar and band, catering, hog roast, kids' entertainment and more. The weekend is also being covered for the official event DVD and TV transmission by Dave and Helen of Zeon TV. Gates open at 6.00 pm today (Friday) and the track will be open between 10.00 am and 5:00 pm each day subject to the usual track and weather conditions. The Shakey Super Pull commences at 3.00 pm Saturday and 11.00 am Sunday. Admission is £15 per person Saturday and £12 Sunday or £25 for a weekend pass. RWYB track fee is £20 per day or £35 for the weekend. Please remember your drivers licence and bring a crash helmet. Further details can be found at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com, www.midlandtractorpullers.co.uk, on SCR's Facebook page, or call 01789 720180. See you at the strip! Racers sought for Retro Show. 10th June: Santa Pod Raceway are seeking retro race vehicles to make demonstration passes at the Retro Show on Sunday 3rd July. You can find out more about the Retro Show at www.retroshow.co.uk. If you are interested then please contact Darren Prentice with details of your vehicle at [email protected] or call 01234 782828. Event entry update. 8th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 6 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. You can check the 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. Entry is still open for the SPRC Summernationals but is now subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. The Beast is ready for Tierp. 
8th June: Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson
is looking forward to racing at the brand new Tierp Arena facility this coming weekend. After the rainout at the FIA Main
Event where the Beast team qualified thord of fifteen with a 6.72, the race bus is now loaded and the bike is ready
for the third round of the UEM Championship.
Another step has been added to the clutch control management system which allows the clutch to engage in three steps during a run instead of two. The team is confident that this will help them to achieve the performances they want. "With all the pieces in the right place in the bike's tune up, and with a brand new concrete track, it really feels comfortable to go in to the third round of the Championship", says Per. "Our ambition is to improve our best ET, set at last year's race at Gardermoen, where we recorded a 6.47 second run. The level of competition is also very inspiring. Twenty bikes from all over Europe competing for an eight bike ladder is big entertainment for the crowd! "The whole team is glad to be involved when European drag racing history is being made. A racing facility like this is something which everyone in the sport has wanted for years and we hope to give the crowd and our sponsors a good show during the weekend. "Please stop by our pit for a chat if you're at the track!" The Beast Drag Bike Team would like to thank their sponsors who have made this season possible: Swedcut, Red Line Oil, Gates/Lönne, Autoexperten Växjö, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Ulvsgården AB, Bilservice i Åseda, Kalvsviks Bilverkstad, Larssons Bilverkstad Lenhovda, Rävemåla Bilservice, Cemecon, Liqui Moly, Bentec Engineering and Flexoart. The Circus comes to Santa Pod. 
8th June: The Gasser Circus was launched in 2003 with a gathering of eight Gasser-style street-driven and race-only cars
which made its début at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The class was an instant hit and from that point forward
the Gasser Circus has grown in popularity and although competitors and cars have come and gone in the intervening period, the group of racers dedicated to
campaigning cars which resemble and pay tribute to the early era of drag racing continues to grow. So much so that after sixteen Gassers turned up to run
at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags in 2010, the decision was taken to expand the Gasser Circus to a four-round Championship in 2011, and they even picked
up sponsorship from the National Street Rod Association.
The introduction of the new Dragstalgia event on the 16th-17th July provided the perfect opportunity for Santa Pod Raceway to invite this ever-popular class to host a round of the Gasser Championship. With the event being a celebration of the early days of drag racing at Santa Pod, Dragstalgia and the Gasser Circus is a match made in heaven so we are hoping for another fantastic double figure turnout from these classic machines. The entries from other classes is not looking too shabby neither and we expect approximately seven Fuel Altereds, more than fifteen Wild Bunch Cars, more than ten Supercharged Outlaws, and a healthy entry from the Outlaw Anglias and Outlaw Street Series. Of course this is on top of the Top Sportsman class which will be running for the first time at Dragstalgia and the wide variety of vehicles that will be running as a part of the Historic Vehicle Sessions and RWYB. Santa Pod have recently released the RWYB sign on tickets so that you can even pay in advance to secure your track time at this nostalgic weekend. There will be a shootout from the Brighton and Hove Motor Club who are primarily a sprint racing organisation. Many drag racers from the early days originated in sprint racing and one member in particular, Jim Tiller, still races in both sports. Jim, who is also a member of the Allard Owners' Club, will be racing at Dragstalgia in his awesome Allard J2X and will be looking to set his fastest quarter mile time yet. Currently his best time is 9.8 seconds so you can be sure that Jim will not be hanging around. One of Jim's crewmen also helped to put together the original Allard Chrysler Dragster, the first purpose-built dragster in the UK, a machine which will also be on display at the event. In addition to this already stunning line-up of on-track action will be Ronnie Picardo in his historic Wheelie Stingray, Martin Hill in the FireForce 3 Jet Funny Car, and Julian Webb in the Split Second Jet Dragster. The line-up of evening entertainment is now taking shape and SPR have some fantastic acts lined up for you. As well as a collection of scantily-clad burlesque dancers, there is also the awesome three-piece Rockabilly group The Cheaterslicks playing alongside The Humdingers who will be putting their slant on old rock and roll and country classics. Elsewhere on site will be a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypast with a WWII Spitfire, the Historic F1 Stock Car club doing demo races around an oval track, Show'n'Shine competition, and even a cacklefest and fire burnout display. Day tickets start from just £14 and weekend tickets from just £25, and if you want to bring the little ones along then kids under sixteen go free giving you the ideal opportunity to give them a real history lesson! For more information, please visit www.santapod.com or call the team on 01234 782828. Delivering on the track. 8th June: Lee Child, UK distibutor for Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels and European traction compound consultant had a successful weekend at Malmö Raceway recently. "We got our goals at the Cramo Nationals and now we want more", he says. After a very successful test and tune at Malmö Raceway, SRIF asked Lee to work with the track crew again to get an even quicker and faster track. The Cramo Nationals started on the Friday lunchtime and the finals were run on the Sunday. The event had its fair share of good weather and the performance on the track was excellent. There were thirty cars in Top Doorslammer and, like everyone else, they loved VP Racing Fuels' Lane Choice 7 traction compound which provided many Personal Bests and track records on the all-asphalt track resulting in the quickest ever top sixteen in Top Doorslammer at the eighth-mile track. In session five, Niclas Andersson in the FIA Pro Mod-legal '51 Olds matched Mikael Lindahl's track record with a 3.997. The Kendall team didn't let the new track record holder have it for long - in fact just under two hours - and Mikael reset it at 3.995. 2010 Top Doorslammer champion Pierre Rydberg had different ideas with his black '57 Chevy and got everybody's attention in the last session taking number spot with a 3.948. VP Lane Choice LC7 gave a tight and consistent track and after six sessions the top sixteen had three cars in the 3.9s, four in the 4.0s, six in the 4.1s, two in the 4.2s and a bump spot of 4.33. The first round of eliminations was also held on Saturday to get jump on a weather front coming on Sunday. The numbers just got better for the first round winners. Mikael ran another 3.997, Ola Dahlbohm 4.07, Fast Freddy 4.08, consistent 4.3s from Michael Malmgren, and Niclas Anderson ran 3.951 with a sixty foot time of 0.985. Confidence in traction is associated with VP Lane Choice 7 and Top Doorslammer was the first class to hit the track on Sunday morning. Second round winners Ola Dahlblom improved to a 4.02, Michael Lindahl went 3.982 and Niclas Andersson got the track record with a 3.944, the sixty foot was 0.982. Semi-finals produced two bye runs but the Kendall team still went 4.02 on a single. Mikael Lindahl took the title on a single in the final with a 4.23. Many teams in Top Doorslammer, Pro Street, Comp Eliminator, Street 10.5 and other classes set track records and Personal Bests. For more details on track prep and VP Racing Fuels Lane Choice 7 traction compound, or to hire Lee for track prep, contact him on 01803 391740 (outside the UK +1803 391740) or E-Mail [email protected]. US Top Alcohol tuner Will Hanna, who will be tuning Fred Hanssen's Top Methanol Dragster at Tierp Arena this weekend, says that he uses VP Racing Fuels' M1 methanol exclusively in Fred's car. "We're playing a game that comes down to thousandths of a second, so quality really matters", says Will. "The old saying goes that "It comes down to fuel, air and spark". We spend a lot of time and money making sure the air and spark parts are the best we can make them. To go cheap on the fuel part of the equation really undermines the others. "I think it's a bit of a misnomer to consider that all methanols are equal. I'm not a chemist, but methanol is an anhydrous compound - it readily accepts water. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast where humidity is just a fact of life. You really have to make an effort to keep your methanol pure in those conditions. I've done my homework on VP Racing Fuels, and there are very few transfer points between the tanker and the product you get in a VP lined and sealed drum. There's no telling how much exposure and transfers the industrial grade methanol has seen. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that your car will slow down as the humidity goes up. As the purity of the methanol goes down, primarily due to additional moisture in the fuel, it's the equivalent to injecting artificial humidity into your motor. In a game of thousandths, that could literally be the difference between winning and losing. "That's why we rely on Lee Child of LA Racing Parts and VP Racing Fuels. Quality truly is the best economy." A rivalry is born. 8th June: Occasional UK Wild Bunch player Steve 'Jacko' Taylor's Rover-powered Claustrophobic dragster had its first outing of the year at Shakespeare County Raceway's Yanks Weekend with Dawn Watson (aka Miss B) at the wheel. A rookie driver in every sense of the word Miss B has been to many drag strips but until this time had never before been down a drag strip. With words of advice coming thick and fast from all directions, Dawn's first run went well with a 0.707 RT, a 13.709/101.26, and a smile a mile wide coming through the shut down area. The second run was a mite slower with 0.513 and 14.65/90.16. After more words of advice her third run of 0.800 RT, 14.18/98.42 was followed by her quickest run of the day of 0.387 RT and 13.68/100.52. Well done Dawn. Sunday dawned (no pun intended) and time for another go only this time with a little competition, in the form of SCR's Head of the Fire-up Road Angus Pulley who has crewed on the dragster since Jacko bought it in 2004 but who has never run it down the Strip. The plan was for both drivers to have two runs each and to see who had the best timing ticket of the day. First out was Dawn with a 0.309 and 13.55/101.64, her best run of the weekend so far. Angus had a lot to do considering he had never driven the car either. Angus pulled into stage, left with a 0.566 and went through the traps at 13.372/101.99, the car's quickest of the weekend, only to be told by Pat Salt of Shakey's Fire crew that he'd only run seventy five miles per hour in fifteen seconds flat (cheers Ed Baldwin). Things didn't get any better when Dawn got out of the tow car and said "What were you playing at", which made Angus think that he'd really made a slow pass only for Jacko to get out of the tow car and give him the real time and speed. Angus soon felt much better. The second run didn't quite go to plan as an oildown on track meant that Dawn had her second run of the day of 0.146 and 13.40/103.21 to beat Angus in the speed department. Angus' second run was a no-go due to down time but the friendly rivalry hasn't ended here! Web site updates. 8th June: The Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu is now showing the TV coverage of the first round of the UEM European Championships at Kunmadaras in Hungary, and has also been updated with a preview of this weekend's Sweden Internationals. The TV can also be found on the web site of the producers Rally Action at www.rally-action.com. Photographer Jeff Kline, who has on occasion kindly supplied Eurodragster.com with photos from the USA, has posted a gallery of excellent shots of the MPM Oil-backed at the FIA Main Event at jdkline.smugmug.com. Whilst there be sure to check out Jeff's other work which is also well worth a look. The Stude's final Tour. 
7th June: Stefani Robinson writes that Eurodragster.com sponsor
Andy Robinson's 1953 Studebaker, which has consistently been
one of the most competitive cars within British and European Pro Mod, is up for sale. 2011 is the last season in which the Stude
will complete the FIA European tour under the Andy Robinson Race Cars banner.
"The plan to build a new car has been discussed within the team since early last year, and while it hasn't been a secret that the Studebaker is for sale, plans for the new car have only recently been confirmed", says Stefani. "In a change to the original plan we can finally announce that we will not be building another Studebaker. This means that the only Studebaker in Europe is for sale and will remain a unique body shell! "The car is for sale as a complete roller and will be suitable for many classes such as Pro Modified, Super Pro ET or Top Doorslammer for instance. We are looking for offers around the £30k mark, however this is negotiable depending on exactly what is included. So for anyone who is interested, details can be discussed. "For more information please call ARRC on 01256 880589 (outside the UK +44 1256 880589) - ask to speak to either Andy or Luke - or E-Mail [email protected]. "Final details about the new body will be announced shortly, but for the moment it will be kept top secret!" Swift snippets. 
7th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the
words "She's coming home". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
[email protected].
Thanks to Emelie Carlswärd for forwarding us the latest version of the entry list for this week's inaugural Sweden Internationals, which takes place at Tierp Arena from Thursday to Sunday. You can check out the entry list (PDF format) by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link of the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the Sweden Internationals. Australia's Jim Read has a complete Australian Championship-winning Top Fuel Dragster for sale as a complete operation with spares and tune up, truck and race car transporter. For details and photos please E-Mail [email protected]. Web site updates. 7th June: In the latest update in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, street-legal Pro Modified racer Andy Frost tells of his curtailed weekend at the FIA Main Event. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The end of a dream. 6th June: Eric van Beelen of Dutch Pro Modified team Henri Joosten Racing writes that although it is hard for the team to talk about what happened at the FIA Main Event, they feel that they owe to their fans and the team at Santa Pod to get in touch: 
First we would like to mention the fire crew at Santa Pod Raceway. We would really like to thank those guys at the start line who reacted very fast, giving Henri just enough
time to get out of the car. Thank You guys for a great job! Also we would like to thank the officials on the track, giving us time to do things our way after the accident to cope
with this. Thanks!
After the accident we were overwhelmed with the responses and letters of support from our fans. Not only after the accident at the track, but also via the guestbook of our site and via Facebook Thank you for your support all these years; not only when it goes well, but also now when things get tough! Thanks to all the videos and pictures on the internet we were able to find the cause of all this. In the pictures and video a big nitrous cloud can be seen which is sucked into the engine. We found a broken tube just after the stage one solenoid. The engine mainly got fuel in stage one (which caused the slow start too); a backfire was evident with the result you all saw. 
The damage is enormous. We have already begun to clean the mess in order to salvage some components such as engine, gearbox etc. Unfortunately for us, there is no chance
of coming back due to lack of funds, so here ends our drag racing dream. The team of Henri, Eric, Eus, Frank and Sonja have been together for more than fifteen years, and in these
years not only was the drag racing important but also the fun we had and the close friendship we developed over the years. This made it all worth doing. Together we improved our
Personal Best last year to 6.42 seconds last year and we can be proud of what we have achieved over the past fifteen years with limited means.
We like to thank all who made it possible for us to participate in our sport over the past twenty seven years: our fans, our colleagues, and especially our sponsors Rijsbergen Automaterialen, Garage Rijsenhout Bedrijfswagens and MPM Oil. We will come back some day, as spectators that is. See you on the track! 56 weeks of work. 6th June: Mark Bodimeade, otherwise known as The Animal, says that the return of Sweden's Patrik Pers to Top Fuel racing at this weekend's Sweden Internationals is a long and eventful story: April 2010, Easter out of the way and back to the normal daily grind of working for a living and getting on with life in general. The phone rang and it was Patrik Pers on the phone asking if I fancied a stress-free weekend over in Stockholm to barbecue and drink Spendrups, my favourite Swedish beer. Being The Animal how could I refuse, so it was arranged that I would go over for the May Bank Holiday weekend. I arrived on the Friday, Patrik's girlfriend Annika collected me from Skavsta and we drove back to their home in the forest near Stockholm. I managed to be there a whole hour before I said to Patrik "Let's look in the workshop" and I could not believe what I saw. The whole contents of Patrik's life in racing was just dumped in boxes scattered all over the dirty floor and looked like the most unloved shambles I had seen in a long time. There were crankshafts, TFX blocks, blowers, clutches and various other bit of unused race parts that I would have loved to get my hands on and assemble. My next question was "Where is the chassis?". "Oh it's up in the top of the trailer outside" was the reply. "Why, and why is the workshop in such a mess?" I asked. "I have no time at the moment and I have no momentum", said Patrik, "I don't care so much about this stuff at the moment." A short while later Patrik had to go out, so after talking with Annika and Lars, a friend of Patrik's, Lars and I set about putting the workshop in some sort of order and creating some space so that we could get the chassis in there too. By the time Patrik returned the workshop had been swept, all the boxes and crates had been stacked properly, and the chassis was in the workshop up in the air and ready for any forthcoming work. As the chassis had previously been to Mats Eriksson to have the rear end updated to comply with the new rules, the chassis was bare. The first job was to fit the rear end, new brake pipes and sort the brakes; this was all achieved in no time and was working correctly. By the time all this was done and we started checking the parts we had and putting everything in some sort of order the weekend was over and I flew home quite satisfied. I had opened a hornet's nest but the project was now underway. 
During the next three months our plan was to try to have the car ready to attend the Finals at Santa Pod but we quickly realised that this was never going to be possible
as the mammoth task that we had taken on was never going to be finished in time, and the finances we had were not as much as we needed, so we decided to opt for
a slower continuing project over the winter. However it was getting close to the Las Vegas race and Patrik had decided it was time to do some shopping. Various phone
calls were made and a large delivery of parts arrived at The Strip at Las Vegas. Some was put in suitcases and other heavy stuff was shipped in a container directly to
Sweden. This enabled us to continue working over Christmas and start preparing short motors and build some cylinder heads so we was another stage closer.
Work went on a shutdown during January this year due to Patrik's work commitments, snow and, wait for it, he broke his leg. We told Patrik that it was time to start getting fit so he decided to take his dog Troy jogging through the forest. That was fine until he stumbled across a tree stump, fell over and broke his leg. The end result was eight weeks in a cast, lots of therapy and he is now just starting to walk properly again, but I have a feeling the car may be slightly overweight when we first attempt a run. Whilst we were all capable of building the car and assembling all the motors, clutch parts etc, we were still short of one main person. Someone who was capable of making all the bits work to get the car down the track and hopefully put some nice numbers on the board to make us competitive with all the other guys. After a two-minute discussion it was decided that there was only one person we wanted for this task. So I made a phone call and asked Alan Jackson if he was interested in getting into this and he replied "Yes". So we are now two weeks before the Gainesville Race and again we are compiling a shopping list with Donnie Holbrook at Holbrook Performance Parts, Mike Copchick at Rage Fuel Systems, Robert Hight at John Force Racing, Todd Paton at Racepak and a few other people along the way. Once again the transatlantic journey took place and Patrik returned to Sweden with even more goodies than last time. And most important we now had a computer system and various other parts that needed to complete the project. Work was continuing nicely but once again we could see that we were not going to be able to complete everything in the timescale we had set, so Easter came and went and got to Main Event weekend It was not financially viable to ship the car to England as our trailer was far from completed, but we did for the first time have a complete car and Alan gave the go ahead to fire the car up for the first time. Success, it started and no leaks were found, and the whole team congratulated each other on fifty six weeks of work which was finally complete. We are now ready to attend a track and at the very least test and try to obtain some data. We are only a week away now from the second round of the FIA Championship at the new Tierp Arena in Sweden and with some help from god and the guys in Sweden, who are working around the clock, hopefully we will attend this event. At present our intention is to attend Tierp and possibly Finland too but, like all forms of motorsport, Top Fuel Racing is very expensive and at present our budget is about zero due to the high investment that we have put into this project. If you happen to be reading this and are the owner of a company of any size and looking to advertise your company/product we have a very large amount of advertising space on both truck/trailer and race car, which if funded correctly can carry your advert all over Scandinavia down into Germany and back to the UK. To compete in the full FIA Series we need some funding so if you are at Tierp please drop into the pits to see us, or you can contact me at [email protected]. Working towards the Archive. 
6th June: Dave Riswick of John Woolfe Racing writes that work
is continuing to draw together an archive of UK drag racing:
As many as thirty years ago there was talk among the heads of drag racing about keeping a record of where we have been and where we have come from and to highlight the key elements and milestones of the development of the sport. These suggestions have not gone unanswered and back in the late 1980s plans were hatched to create a storage place for all the paperwork generated from the many years of the BDRA and then the BDR&HRA and the NDRC. In addition, plans were also hatched for a proper drag racing museum with the development of Avon Park Raceway including drawings and plans. To date this has been unrealised due to the enormous cost and responsibility which goes with the concept. What has resulted is a web domain reserved for the history at DragRacingArchives.com. The early days is the first subject to tackle, in other words the first thirty years: the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. There are many other elements to this which to date have been adequately served by the many well known enthusiasts out there who have spent many hours, days, weeks and months toiling over their computers creating books and web sites mainly dedicated to the individual racers and builders of the cars and bikes which have been the backbone of the sport. However the main idea here at John Woolfe Racing is to record and organise the thousands of documents, letters, and printed matter in the form of Club meeting minutes, AGMs, annual Award Dinners, building rules, event regulations, competitors' instructions, result sheets, race programmes etc which supported the racing from behind the scenes. The intent is to set up links to and to utilise the current relevant information already held on many UK history web sites into a network of sources for all to enjoy. DragRacingArchives.com will hope to join these mature sites to add fresh unpublished data to the scene. No doubt there will be duplication in some areas and this is to be expected. Eventually all of these records will be accessible, initially only on the internet only but hopefully in future by appointment with John Woolfe Racing at Bedford. There is a real interesting story surrounding the creation of this Archive, which stretches way back in time and which will be told in a separate publication once we have achieved what appears to be an impossible task. 
Last Thursday, 2nd June, the first steps were made with an invitational meeting with the principals of the early days of the sport with a view to setting out the information in an orderly manner so that the records reveal the true nature of their creation and use. In attendance were Brian Sparrow, David Owen, Bob Farrer, Mrs Byron Tonge, Mr and Mrs Pettitt, and myself. Further meetings are planned and I will report upon them as and when they occur. Racepak/MSD at Sweden Internationals. 6th June: A reminder that Racepak and MSD, in the persons of Tim Anderson and Joe Pando, will attend this week's Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena. Trackside service and sales will be available and a seminar is to be held on Thursday evening. "We will have a tent in the vendor midway (with banners and Racepak / MSD flag flying) where racers can stop by if they need MSD and Racepak technical support", says Tim. "If we are out helping other customers, there will be sign-up sheet they can complete with name, car number class and location in the pit area. This is the same method we use at NHRA events and works well to help us quickly locate and service all of our customers. We will be on-site from Thursday through to Sunday night. "Between 17:00 and 19:00 on Thursday evening Joe and I will be conducting a seminar at the Gold Barn. It has a stage area and everything we need to speak to everyone properly. It will be a training, new product update and question and answer session. "I will be bringing Sportsman and V300SD data loggers along with sensors, cables, cartridge to SD adapters and related spare components. If anyone needs a datalogger, this will be the place to purchase, as I will provide free installation of any data logger, along with any other components, purchased at the track. I will also be flashing older dataloggers with updated software to enable customers to add sensors. There will be a small fee for this as I have to bring the related cables and software with me, but we will save customers hundreds of dollars in shipping the data logger back and forth to the US. MSD will have products in stock at the Hansen Racing stand, and Joe Pando will be also be providing tech support based out of the Racepak / MSD tent in the vendor area, along with providing training at the seminar on Thursday evening." Sweden Internationals Perfect Awards. 6th June: This weekend's Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena is the latest event in the 2011 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. 1000 SEK is on offer for perfect performance.
The Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award has been reset to 500 SEK respectively after
it was won by Super Street racer John Grant at the FIA Main Event. The money will be awarded to the first
racer at each event weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in
all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won
at both events this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway; if
it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association
with race car builder Cotsweld Race Cars whose web site you can find at www.cotsweld.co.uk.
The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset 500 SEK respectively after it was won by Pro ET racer
Billy Gane. The Perfect ET Award will be available this weekend in Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Stock/Super Stock (eliminations),
Junior Dragster (eliminations), Super Comp Bike, Super Gas Bike, Street Bike, and Junior Drag Bike (eliminations), but will only be awarded
for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won at both events this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the SPRC
Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the SPRC Summernationals. The Perfect ET Award is
presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at
www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. As with all contingency schemes racers are responsible for collecting decals; Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award decals will be available in Signing On. Swift snippets. 6th June: Congratulations to UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett who qualified number one and then won Junior Dragster at the SHRA's Bracket Weekend in Lindesberg. Joe and his family are now headed for Tierp Arena to participate in this weekend's Sweden Internationals. Andy Bennett writes that the Doomsday Impala, driven in Super Pro ET by Dave Evans, is the subject of a feature in the latest edition of RPM magazine which you can find at www.rpm-mag.com. "It's a well-standing kick-ass magazine and I am well chuffed to be in it", says Andy. "The feature includes pictures by Julian Hunt and Mark Skinner". Andy adds that the team need more track time with the Impala and that a trip is on the cards to Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering to have wheelie bars fitted. 
Ingrid Chesworth has asked us to wish husband Martin Chesworth a Happy 50th Birthday today (Monday). "We had a great weekend at the Main Event, catching up with old friends and making new ones, including artist Paul Whitehouse who hand delivered Martin's birthday present (commissioned by me) to the Team Turboville pits on Saturday", says Ingrid. "A special thanks to Paul for the wonderful work, Martin is over the moon with the painting. It also signifies the end of an era as, sadly, Mr Spokehead is headed off to Finland. But as one era ends another begins and we eagerly await the launch of dragster Mr Spokehead II any time soon. A big thanks to Dawn and Andy Watson for their presents, a great pint glass engraved with a picture of Venom on one side and Martin's 50th on the other." A big Happy Birthday also to our good buddy, photographer Patrik Jacobsson. Have a good day Patrik. No news update yesterday so this is a tad late for which apologies but Lynn Beresford asked us to wish her parents Steve and Val Green a very Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary for yesterday from all the family. Hope you had a great day Steve and Val. Mike Lacey writes that all are invited to enjoy the live band in the Team Metamorphosis Pro ET pit at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. "Come along and have a beer and a dance with us", says Mike. "Please remember to throw your beer cans and rubbish in the bins provided, as at 8:30 am next morning Pro ET will be getting ready to take to the track again. There is a midnight noise curfew, so the band will be finishing on time and please make your way back to your dwellings as quietly as possible. Last year was a great success; it was very cold, but I know you all had a great time. More of the same is in order, join us and Party on!" The Eurodragster.com team are relocating to Tierp for the Sweden Internationals so the timing of the next couple or three news updates may be a bit erratic. Please keep the news updates coming to [email protected] and we will post them when we can. Ten record years. 6th June: 2011 marks the tenth year of the association between Dan Welberry of Eurodragster.com 3t Creative and four-time FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter. "As a new era dawns for the Lucas Oil driver, it's looking increasingly like I'll not be as big a part of this season at the track, purely because of family and work commitments", says Dan. "With the 2010 season consigned to history, I've found myself looking back over the decade with great fondness and a realisation that Andy loves his stats and records! "Most know his Championship success, however it's the five FIA ET records which also deserve a mention, and as the scoreboards lit up with another in September 2010 I wondered what the official history had been over the past ten years? "Before Andy's 2001 title, a certain Barry Sheavills had been the first European to set an ET record below the five-second barrier. His 4.942 would stand from September 1998 until Andy set his first FIA ET record in June 2002, a 4.897 which was also the number one qualifer at the Main Event. This record stood for two years until Andy reset the mark in May 2004 - 4.832, also a number qualfier at the Main Event. Another two seasons would pass before the record was lowered again, only this time it was Swedish driver Håkan Nilsson - his 4.830 being enough to claim the honour by a slim margin in August 2006. His claim was short-lived as Urs Erbacher became the first European Top Fuel pilot to push the FIA ET record down into the 4.7s with a fantastic 4.747 just one month later at Santa Pod's European Finals. "It took until July 2007 but Andy would leave Sweden's Mantorp Park with the record once more under his belt, having run a 4.732 on his way to again becoming number one qualifier. Two months later, his 4.703 at the European Finals was almost the 4.6 the team was hoping for. Andy did actually run a blistering 4.645 at the same race but this was only good enough to back up the 4.703 under the 'too quick' rule. He then held the FIA ET record for the next three seasons. "We move to September 2010 and I will never forget that Q3 at the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. It's up there with the side-by-side fours from Barry and Andy as a special moment. As a fan, I used to sit on the bank and applaud the team support vehicles as they headed up the track to collect their driver after a run. I often thought the driver really missed out on all the reaction and euphoria surrounding a record run. They're headed into the surreal calm of the run-off area, pleased that the chutes are out, whilst coasting to a safe conclusion with no unwanted ploughing excursion! They're also blissfully unaware of any numbers and not allowed to be told any info by the top end crew. Meanwhile, back at the start line, the crew gets to experience the huge roar the follows the record or winning run. They get to hop into the support vehicle and blast the horn for all they're worth, lapping up the applause all the way down the quarter mile. Meanwhile, at the top end... "For Q3, I sat in the Lucas Oil support vehicle with team mates and longtime friends Gary and Phil Cottingham, right on the start line. As 4.572 flashed up on the gantry, the roar was very similar to the Barry v Andy pass - deafening! The hairs are up on your arms as you punch the air, passing the cheering fans all the way down. Phil was so excited I thought he was going to flip the car over as we made the slight turn just past the finish en route to go get our record holder. Of course, he still had no idea just how quick the pass had been. As the first man to greet him, I felt honoured to share the news with him. Let's just say that the calm of the top end was soon shattered as we celebrated! "So, in my time on the team with Andy, he has held the FIA ET record for almost the entire last ten years, apart from the brief period from August 2006 to July 2007. Quite an achievement in anyone's book! "I'd like to thank our good friend Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for all the timing data and to Tog and the Eurodragster.com team for their continued support. (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). You can keep up to date with Andy Carter at www.andycarter.net or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarterMotorsport; please hit the Like button." Stäuble and the mystery. 6th June: Crew Chief Horst Pauli writes that Swiss Supertwin racer Lorenz Stäuble and Team Erbacher went to the FIA Main Event with high expectations: 
We really like to race in England on such a good track and under the eyes of the most informed and knowledgeable fans and spectators.
The Erbacher bike team arrived on Friday night and because the car team was already at the track our pit was built and ready. Thanks
to our hard-working dragster crew.
We just had to add the wheely bar to the bike and put in our basic set-up for Santa Pod. The goal was to make a solid run so that we would be in the ladder. Our first qualifying run was a stormer, 6.68 seconds which put us on top after the first day. We decided to use the remaining runs to try some variation in the set-up and to try to repeat our Personal Best at last year's European Finals. The second qualifying run was not as good as the first, but it was important to see how the other lane was. On the second day of qualifying we tried too hard on both runs as we lost traction soon after the sixty foot mark. I noticed a change in the track conditions compared to last year, but at that time I had no idea what it was. We went up in smoke with a set-up which worked perfectly with no sign of loss of traction on the same track last year. At the end of qualifying we ended up in second place as Christian Jäger made a nice clean 6.64 run. Well done! Preparation for race day then was easy, just put in our set-up from the day before. But, as you all know, the famous English weather changed all our plans at about 3:00 pm the officials had to call the race off. I heard that the track crew is using new chemicals to prepare the track. I must assume that this was the reason for the changed conditions I noticed, and maybe this was also the reason why other bikes were also having trouble to run the usual numbers at Santa Pod. But, as I said, this is only an assumption. We are now looking forward to Sweden's brand new track at Tierp. It is so cool to go to a new track, to find a complete new set-up, and to try to run as quickly as possible there. Rain at the Main. 
6th June: Following the Gulf Oil - Grand Prix Originals Top Fuel Bike's dream
début at the opening round of the European Championship in Hungary all eyes turned to the Main Event, the second round at Santa Pod in the UK. The oldest established
track in Europe is well known for its unique atmosphere and good racing surface, something lacking at the Hungarian facility.
With a strong showing of local riders in the Top Fuel Bike class the team expected to be pushed hard and in turn start turning the type of performance of which the Puma-constructed machine is capable. However, it was not to be as high winds and an exceptionally cold track surface for both the qualifying days meant the hard-working crew had to tune the bike to what would end as even more conservative clutch and fuel settings than at the previous race. Despite the lack of track time and the conditions the team managed to secure the number two qualifying position behind multiple UK Champion and home track specialist Steve Woollatt but ahead of reigning European Champion Petri Paljakka of Finland. The seeding of the qualifying table meant that King and Woollatt could only meet in what would be a widely anticipated 'local' final but it was not to be as Finals day saw persistent rain all day and the event was called mid afternoon. However, the team had extended their Championship lead and look forward to the third round, at the world class new facility at Tierp in Sweden. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in their chosen markets in their quest for an unprecedented sixth European Championship title: APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Bell Helmets - The ultimate iconic helmet brand Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goedhals - The name in recision specialist gear cutting and engineering Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons Kent Cams - Specialists in motor sport camshaft manufacture, short runs and one-offs Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators PsycleWorkz - The UK's best custom and race fabricators and innovators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts Charman's Main Event. 6th June: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Kev Charman has been in touch with a report on his weekend at the FIA Main Event, at which he was again racing on Rene van den Berg's bike: My thanks go to Craig and Binzi, again, for working late on the bike to get it up and running for this event. They had a lot to deal with as well as try to get the bike ready. Trying to juggle a personal life as well as working on bikes, keeping the loved ones indoors happy and going to work, late nights in the workshop are just a part of life for Lizzy, Jake and I, so much appreciated fellas! Thanks also to Dan (the man) for the late night welding, thanks mate. What we were not expecting over the Main Event was Hurricane Pod, cloudy and rainy, but the Santa Pod track crew, unrelenting as always, kept up the fight and beat the weather, and kept the track good. Although the bigger Fuel bikes were not suffering as much as the Super Street bikes (Wayne Saunders, who had an off at the top end, hope you are healing, and not feeling too sore now), it was still a bit of a thing to put into the equation. First run - technically a shakedown pass to make sure that the new gearbox was good, was 8.004/139 but 155 mph at the eighth. I did have to hang off the bike to keep it straight, but now I know what to expect and I know my limitations! Second run against Petri - my burnout good and the bike sounded strong, and as I was being pushed back (just saw the blue line) Petri came past us with a long burnout and had problems getting the bike back. I was in for quite a wait, but the starter shut him off just before Rene was going to shut me off as the engine was getting quite warm. Having been told by Rene that all I must do is ride and not worry about what is going on around me I was quite calm, and it never really occurred to me, that 1. I and 2. the engine were getting too warm! The run was OK, 7.115/198, but rolled off the throttle towards the top end. The wind was a lot stronger than before, so I was happy with 7.1 and due to Ian and the two Steves running slower than me for one reason or the other I was number one qualifier! That was us for the day and after some work on the bike, some food. Thanks Debbie for the pudding! On Sunday, the wind had decided that it couldn't decide which direction it was heading, and my first run of that day was 7.4/187. Last qualifier of the day was when I went from hero to zero! The burnout felt very good, launch was good, not the quickest sixty foot at 1.18 but felt strong, and then wallop! The chain adjuster broke, turning the wheel into the frame, and ripped all the front sprocket teeth off. My first ever run of over twenty seconds at 18 mph! All sorted within the hour, and ready for the following day. That run was a bitter disappointment. Rene had said to Lizzy earlier, while I was being pushed back, that I would run a six. I was geared up for it, the air was for the first time this weekend sensibly good for us, and the wind had dropped! The following day rain totally stopped play. So, the conclusion of the weekend? The bike was running sluggish all weekend and nothing to do with the rider, this will be addressed before the next UEM round so we will have to test at some stage. Thanks as always go in no particular order to the track crew, for never giving up until the Red Arrows cancelled! To Eurodragster.com for the great coverage (sometimes we could not write press releases without glancing back), to Andy Marrs for the timing - we could big ourselves up so much more if it wasn't for you! - Rene (Ouwe Rukker) van den Berg for taking my money and for being a good friend! To Chris for being the exceptional Crew Chief and advisor he always is. The lovely Donna and Corey for providing good food and entertainment throughout the weekend, Craig, Binzi, Debz, and lastly Lizzy, who is still smiling through the pain, and still putting up with all of this. The next report, if all goes to plan, will be from Lizzy on the Comp Bike. It will be a thrash to get ready but we'll give it our all as usual! Olstad's best start. 6th June: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad has had a great start to the season, runner-up in the first UEM race in Kunmadaras and winner of the 2011 Norwegian Championship. Because of the rain-out at the FIA Main Event Hans Olav is still in second place in the Championship and is leading the Tent Championship between Per Bengtsson and himself. Hans Olav says that this is his strongest ever start to a season ever: 
After some frame modifications during the winter, we went to Hungary for our first UEM event 2011.
Again it turned out to be a thriller of a race, with new strong racers and good weather and track.
For the third time in row, we turned out to be the first qualifier. It was in the last qualifying round, and we were the only team down to make a six-second run so far.
As I mentioned before no surprise for me, new strong contenders third qualifier Samu Kemppainen, and fourth Christian Jäger.
The first elimination race for me was against Svein Olaf Rolfstad. Rolfstad's retired reaction time was 0.38 to my 0.13, we won with a lazy 7.16 to 7.38. Next contender was Christian Jäger, who had run 7.02 and had lane choice. Previous races at Kunmadaras showed us that the right lane always has better times than the left lane. I did not have a big hope when Christian chose the right lane. As a matter of fact the left lane was rising in quality, and I did a 7.00 to Christian's 7.19. Then was the final, and it rained. After some waiting, we were able to run the final between the rain showers, where we meet our club friend Jan Sturla Hegre, number two qualifier. Jan Sturla was 0.01 second in front of me from the start line, and ran the best time ever on a Supertwin in Hungary, 6.82 to my 7.22 dropping cylinders on the engine. Congratulations to Jan Sturla Hegre. Checking the ignition devices on Lightning at Gardermoen for the Norwegian Championship we found a disagreement between the front and rear cylinders of twelve degrees. That may explain our problem with dropping cylinders. We always drop the front cylinder. The ignition point should be forty five degrees, but showed thirty five. Hmmm. With new ignition settings we ran a straight 6.96 and top qualifier. Second run was a 7.02, but beaten by Mark Ashelford 6.95. Third run 6.91 and back in first position. The second Norwegian team was Vidar Ravnsborg 7.12. Because of rain-out on elimination day, I can tell you we are the 2011 Norwegian Champion by the rules. We were the team with most points from the qualifier list. This is the second time we have been the Norwegian Champion. Another nice event during the weekend was that my daughter Benedicte did her licencing in Junior Dragster. 
With not a screw turned from Gardermoen we were comfortable with those settings for the first run at the FIA Main Event. But no way. Lifter, camshaft, rocker arm and push rod
retired and stopped the engine right off the start line. Thanks to Lorenz Stäuble, who lent us his camshaft set, we were able to race again the next day. Day one, no time
and no result. Day two of qualifying and in the first run we spun the tyre straight off the start line and the bike changed direction too much to hold on the throttle. I had to let
off the throttle for three seconds, and that's not good for good times in drag racing. I was still far away from any ladder.
For the last qualifying run we reduced the performance of the engine from the start line, but kept the settings for the later part of the track. Lightning hooked up nice with no tyre shake, and keep going for 300 metres before it dropped a cylinder again. Sadly I crossed the finish line with the throught of going home to Norway with no result from the Main Event. At that time I did not know that the ET was 7.01 and in to the qualifying list in fifth spot. Elimination day, and Main Event turns out to be the Rain Event again. We and all other racers who like to smell burned rubber and nitro left England sadly and we hope to get more good grip at the fantastic new race track at Tierp Arena in Sweden. Per Bengtsson did very well in the Tent Championship, picked up three points, but still behind my four points. Bond feels at home. 6th June: UK blown-alcohol altered racer Joe Bond has updated his web site with a report of the Nuthin' Fancy team's weekend at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, but he has some thanks to add here on Eurodragster.com. "After such a great Easter Thunderball meeting, to go to Shakespeare County Raceway for the Springspeed Nationals and reset the track BB/FA ET and Speed record to 6.47/214 is a huge achievement for our team", says Joe. "Holding track ET and Speed records at my home track, and a track which has supported me right from the first time I sat in one of the Hauser Race Cars Junior Dragsters during the one-off Juniors in the Park meeting right through to now is a great honour. "I'd like to express huge thanks to everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway for their support, effort and for preparing a record-breaking track. Thanks also to my crew and family for all their hard work and support, when everything comes together like it did it makes everything worth it. "Our web site address is www.nuthinfancyracing.co.uk, and access the Blog. If anyone is a member of Blogspot then please follow us. Also, I recently launched the Nuthin Fancy Racing Team Facebook page. Please Like us if you want to follow our workshop and racing updates over racing weekends. "Our next event is Dragstalgia, which is on the same weekend as my birthday, so we are going to be partying even harder! Look forward to seeing everyone there." One of a pair. 6th June: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News last week you will have read courtesy of Pennine Drag Racing Club Chair Al Perkins that two doorslammers had run into the eights at York Raceway. Des Taylor writes thank Martin Green's Mopar Murder Team for all their hard work building and preparing Martin's 74 Plymouth Duster American Super Stock race car, one of those to run an eight: I found the early testing at Easter interesting (below) but with the addition of a set of wheelie bars we managed to win the first round of Supercup at York's first Championship event, the UK Open Nationals, running 9.20 and 9.30. 
The team then made a lot of chassis and suspension improvements and fitted a deck wing. We also had new slicks. We felt confident we could pick up the pace and we were delighted to run 8.94 on only the car's third time out. We then stepped up the power to try to go a bit quicker but bent a chromoly ladder bar tube on the launch, and the car turned right which put a little excitement in my life! There then followed a 100-mile round trip back to M Green Fabrications in Billingham to repair the component for the following day's eliminations, only for the Super Cup eliminations to be rained out. Yep, "That's drag racing". Congratulations to Ian Kerr on running 8.95 in his amazing Willys Pickup, Street Rod, desperately unlucky to miss out on the £250 prize money by 0.01 seconds. Martin, Dave, Phil and I are continuing to develop the car and we hope to run a bit quicker next time out, perhaps with a sniff of nitrous. Looking forward to it. Bennetts generate Energy. 
6th June: UK blown-alcohol Funny Car and altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers
Bennett Racing have been working very hard to secure new sponsors
and are are delighted to announce support from BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk
in association with Battery Energy Drink for the 2011 season.
Battery, one of the world's most popular energy drinks, is now available in the UK from BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk, the one-stop shop in the UK for all your energy drink needs. Steve from BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk says "We are extremely pleased to have Bennett Racing representing us and Battery Energy Drink in the UK and Europe. They are an all family team and work tirelessly to do and to be the best...an easy choice!" BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk specialise in supplying exciting new premium brands to the UK energy drink market and they are committed to ensuring energy drinks are enjoyed responsibly. Battery is Pure energy. That's the long and short of it. Pure energy and functionality are Battery's ultimate promise - the competitive weapon against hype and over-tiredness. Function over fuss. Battery energy drink is liquid energy in a can. The can itself resembles a battery, which we all recognise as a source of energy and power. Inside the can is a great tasting, carbonated energy drink scientifically formulated to boost performance, keep you alert and help you focus. Battery energy drink comes from Finland, a country renowned for high-tech, functional and practical products. Available worldwide in over thirty five countries since its launch in 1997, Battery energy drink is now available exclusively in UK from BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk in Original, Sugarfreeand now new isotonic Hydro, all of which contain essential B-Vitamins, Caffeine and Gaurana extracts, everything you need to keep going! BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk also attend many music and sporting events throughout the UK to educate and inform the public about the wide range of products they offer. At these events they also sell a range of energy drinks and energy drink merchandise. There are many ways in which you can buy energy drinks from them, be it one can or one thousand! You can buy energy drinks and merchandise directly from the on-line shop. "We look forward to a long and successful partnership with BuyEnergyDrinks.co.uk and Battery Energy Drink!", says Luke Bennett. Web site updates. 6th June: Another edition of the Speedgroup Club Europe Newsletter is now on-line, containing a review of the FIA Main Event. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu/newsletters/2011/edition6_2011/edition6_start.htm. Our good friend Pete Roberts has updated his web site The Pod - A Look Around with some more of his excellent panoramic shots, this time from the FIA Main Event. Pete's web site is well worth a look with not just the panoramas but daily wallpaper, an interesting page about the history of USAF Podington, and more. Check it out at www.podlook.co.uk. Stefani Robinson has updated the Robinson Race Reports web site with a report of UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's FIA Main Event. You can check out Stef's inside story at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk. Next up with an FIA Main Event update is Mark Skinner whose superb Flickr gallery you can check out at www.flickr.com/photos/fast_n_bulbous. Also updating a Flickr gallery is The Mad Welshman whose FIA Main Event Saturday and Sunday shots you can find at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Finally for today, Dominic Romney has posted his FIA Main Event shots on his web site at www.modernpics.co.uk. Dom has also launched a Facebook gallery from which you can browse by class or racer names. Event entry update. 4th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. You can check the 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. Entry is still open for the SPRC Summernationals but is now subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Paula Marshall for also forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for JapShow, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 19th June. You can check out the JapShow entry list by clicking here, and you can download the official entry forms via the Entry Forms link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about entry to the SPRC Summernationals, JapShow, or any event at Santa Pod Raceway then please call Paula Marshall on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail [email protected]. Fredlund welcomes a Stoffer. 
4th June: Aland's Fredrik Fredlund is aiming for a European record in the Pro Stock Bike Championship at
Tierp Arena on 9th-12th June. Fredrik's goal is to run under seven seconds for the first time ever outside the USA and
to beat the European record of 7.078 held by Dave Beck.
In order to succeed Fredrik is importing a new engine from the USA, and tuner Gary Stoffer will be landing at Stockholm Arlanda on Tuesday morning. Gary Stoffer, who is married to and is Crew Chief for top NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Karen Stoffer, will act as Fredrik's Crew Chief at the Sweden Internationals. Fredrik was European Pro Stock Bike Champion in 2008, runner-up in 2009 and third in 2010, so the aim of his efforts is of course to regain his title. So far this season Fredrik was a semi-finalist in Hungary, second qualifier at Santa Pod, and is currently equal third in the Championship. He has increased the number of sponsors and is looking at 2011 in a very positive manner. The new Fredlund Motorsports web site will be launched shortly; in the meantime you can find Fredrik on Facebook. Revealed: Why Black & White. 4th June: Tuner Will Hanna writes that it was a busy weekend at Santa Pod Raceway for Norway's Fred Hanssen and the Islanders Black & White Top Methanol Dragster team. Will adds that the team also spent the weekend answering a question: With our new look, we got a lot of questions about what the "Black & White" meant. They are the colours of Fred's favorite football team, Rosenborg. It was a lot of work finishing the mounting of our new Spitzer carbon body. The old body was literally patched together; many of the panels were the originals from 1997, and they all survived the crash in Mantorp in 2009. One of our crew members, Thore Bakken, did much of the finishing work such as putting in the fuel/computer doors, NACA ducts, windscreen, etc. On the track we didn't run up to our standards, but if there is any silver lining is is that we at least know why. On the first run we had an ignition glitch. We fixed that, but the car still ran off pace in Q2 with a 5.46. I just thought I was too conservative and hopped it up quite a bit for Q3. We had about as strong a headwind as I've seen, but the car still ran off pace with a 5.44 deep staged. I realised then that the problem wasn't in the tune-up, something was wrong with the car. I dug a little deeper into the computer data and realised that the fuel management was not working. I tried to fix our fuel log, but it wasn't going to be a quick fix. Luckily my buddy Camp Stanley was over in our pit when I diagnosed the problem and volunteered a loaner fuel log from Marcus Birt. After a MacGyver-style mount, we were back in business for Q4. Both drivers left before the Tree, so it really didn't matter, but the blower belt started coming apart and cut the main wire going to the new Leahy safety shut-off box, so it shut the car off. I'm not going to get into predictions of what it 'woulda' run, but the team was very disappointed that we didn't get a chance to show it on Monday. I stayed over Tuesday and Wednesday getting the car ready for Tierp. As it is the closest race to home for Fred, we are looking forward to racing there, not to mention we are all excited to see the new facility we've heard so much about (You're gonna love it - Ed). Hopefully we can make a strong showing for the Islanders Black & White team and our sponsors Fosen Tools, Brad Penn Oil, VSP, Hansson Fishing A/S, VP Racing Fuels and Victory Valves. The cleanest drains in drag racing. 
4th June: On the subject of Tierp Arena, Peder Eneroth
writes that Flexiclean have delivered some eighty storm water cassettes to
the new facility in preparation for next weekend's Sweden Internationals.
"New EU regulations demand that all storm water is treated by 2015", says Peder. "According to our customers FlexiClean is the most cost-effective way to treat storm water and is probably the cheapest oil separator on the market. "The cassettes are placed in all of the drains in the Arena. They mainly render heavy metals but also clean 98% of oil and 90% of PAH substances. The picture shows former Junior Drag Bike racer Alex Eneroth installing a cassette." For more information contact Peder Eneroth at [email protected] or visit www.flexiclean.eu. An unexpected review. 4th June: Nick Saunders writes with a review of UK Supertwin racer Shawn Rodman and the AFB Racing team's UEM Championship début at the FIA Main Event. Unfortunately the review isn't quite the one which Nick was expecting to write: Although we hadn't managed to test as much as we'd have liked leading up to this event, we were still fairly confident that we could put some of the gremlins behind us and concentrate on trying to qualify in what was going to be a very difficult field. 
With overcast skies and a strong headwind, we headed into the lanes for our first run of the weekend hoping to lay down a decent number.
We were paired with Chris Hannam for the first round of qualifying but unfortunately shut off before the burnout as Shamus heard a pop.
After a quick check over all seemed fine and we were allowed to try again at the end of the session for Supertwins. We fired the bike,
Shamus moved into the box and began the burnout. The resulting bang and flame about two seconds into the burnout left us all wishing we
hadn't bothered.
Initial investigations indicate that the ignition system failed causing an interruption in the spark. When the spark re-ignited, the explosion lifted the heads and destroyed the motor from head to crank! Thankfully nobody was hurt and the engine strapping did its job. Thanks to the track crew who were quickly on scene to ensure that everything was OK, a great job as always thank you. As you can imagine we are working hard on getting back on track, and we hope to be out again later in the year. If anybody is interested in assisting AFB Racing, please contact us at www.afbdragracing.co.uk where you can also view pictures and video from the event. The man who wanted rain... 
3rd June: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter
may well have been the only person grateful that it
rained at Santa Pod Raceway on Monday. The Lucas Oil
Team West-Tec dragster did not qualify, the multiple European
Champion's first DNQ in several years, but the effect was mitigated as the rain prevented a yawning gap forming in the FIA
points standings.
"It was a disappointing weekend both for me and for the team", Andy told Eurodragster.com. "There was nothing obviously wrong. The car fired up OK in the pits and sounded good but as soon as it was on the track it seemed to have no power. Points-wise we were lucky that it rained – I was praying for rain on Sunday night! We'll go to Sweden next week with the Championship still pretty even. It's a different race on a different track, we'll go there and hope to have the Lucas Oil car running strongly." Andy had solid backing on the home front at the weekend as his wife Sarah and mother-in-law Tina Gibbs along with Phil Cottingham, Gary Cottingham, Stu Bradbury, Bev Bradbury and Paul Hart ran the Lucas Oil hospitality area in the Team West-Tec pit. "Lucas Oil had fifty five guests at the weekend", said Andy. "Sarah, Tina, Phil, Gary, Stu, Bev and Paul worked very hard indeed, the guests had a good time and were well looked-after. I want to thank the Lucas Oil hospitality team for doing a great and very important job. "I would also like to say thanks to Ben Allum and the team who worked tirelessly over the weekend trying to get us qualified, also to Les and Maureen Downey and of course all the staff at Santa Pod Raceway, it is much appreciated." If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News last week you will have seen the announcement F&A Racing have joined Team West-Tec. "It may be a two-car operation but it's not a two-car team", explained Andy. "We are both operating under the Team West-Tec umbrella but we are separate teams – we will not be exchanging data or crew or anything like that. We are the Lucas Oil team and that won't change." Anita's luck. 3rd June: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä says that the track the FIA Main Event was as good as usual, if not even better, although the team were worried about the weather affecting their qualifying chances. "In Q1 the set-up was just too soft and I ended up with severe tyre shake", says Anita. "In Q2 the high RPMs after the burnout warmed up the engine and the clutch got too hot while struggling with the reverser. I shouldn't have run at all, but because of the risk of rain and because I was still not qualified I had to try. After an 8.3-second run I was still out of the field and it was a horrible night listening to raindrops and worrying about the next day's weather. "But the cloudy sky didn't bring any rain on Sunday, lucky us! In Q3 we ran a 4.96 with a broken blower belt and that gave me some comfort. In Q4 a 5.2 with another broken blower belt took the comfort away. "We should have met Micke Kågered in the first round of eliminations. The blower belt problem was sorted out so we had plenty of hope for a pretty good run. But Monday morning didn't dawn bright at all. We got everything ready for Tierp, it was all we could do. "Thirteen Top Fuellers in the entry list for Tierp. It will be tough!" Team Erbacher's weekend. 3rd June: Reigning FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has been in touch with a report of his weekend at the FIA Main Event: As you know we only made two qualifying runs because we had a problem with our US-fixed clutch flywheels. So on both runs we hurt the main bearings on the crankshaft and that only left one engine, the one in the car. On the second run we ran that 4.772. On that run our injector blew up and the top broke off just before the 1000 foot mark. We still ran 3.993/298 at 1000 feet and 4.772 at only 284 mph at the quarter mile because the engine had shut off. The unbalanced clutch killed the blower belt and the blower belt killed the injector. I'm not a guy who calculates what might have been on bad runs but if you look at Risto's and TJ's timing slips you can see that we were on a 4.68. Lex Joon give us a spare crank so we put a number two motor together overnight for race day. After a nice good warm up we were ready to win and then the rain started and after that you guys know what happened, rain out. 
We are looking forward to the event at Tierp. The truck is already in Sweden at Mats Eriksson's shop. A special Thank You to my hard-working who stayed with me and worked like hell changing two engines, and built one overnight, so that we were ready. As you know our Super Comp driver Noah Stutz is only sixteen years old and won his Super Comp licence at the Easter race. They ran the first round of eliminations on Sunday evening and he met Martin Curbishley. Noah did a great job on the start line, his Reaction Time was 0.0196, just perfect and he run a 8.926 with a top speed of 161.31 mph. He came from behind and needed to lift just before crossing the finish line, right on time. Great job Noah, first round win at his second race. Stay tuned for a report from the Crew Chief of Supertwin racer Lorenz Stäuble. Raw Blown action. 
3rd June: Building the blown motor was one of the biggest learning curves which UK Super Pro ET racer Andy Raw
has ever experienced:
It all started with a phone call from Karl Harrison as he had found a full blown set-up for sale on Eurodragster.com. I rang the seller and the deal was done. Next was the road trip to pick up the parts which took most of the day as well as selling the parts from the old engine to fund the project. We dropped off the bottom end to Mark Pace so that he could put it together for us. The next week we received all the engine parts so we started to build it and fit it in the car. It was a very long and hard weekend but we did it, and when Karl first started up the motor it was a emotional experience and all a bit scary. We had entered the Main Event but I needed some driving time in the car, so we went to the Saturday of the pre-Main Event test weekend which is where I would experience my first time in a blown car. It was awesome and gave me some idea of that was to come! I was lucky that the Harrison family offered to let me use their artic and full set-up to take the car to the Main Event as my lorry's MOT is currently out of date. We set up on the Thursday and on Friday it was time to qualify the car in the large Super Pro field. We had a few problems with the fuel set-up but with the help of Charlie Draper it was sorted. The first full pass in eliminations on Sunday night was one of the best drives I've ever had. We dialled the car in on an 8.50 and it ran an 8.52 with a 0.0037 reaction time. The sixty foot time was a 1.2 - awesome! Then the rain came down but I didn't care! I can't wait for the Summernationals so I can run again! I'd like to mention my sponsors Pitstop Auto Factors, Fastec Engineering, and TSR Engine Conversions. I also have a few thanks for helping me to get the car to the Main Event. First of all and most importantly: the Harrison family, Rod and Kim for the use of their workshop, the equipment, cups of tea and the advice. Karl for moaning for the last four years to go blown! Without Karl's help and most of the parts off his hemi, the late nights and all the telephone calls and skill his with Chevy engines, this would not have been possible. Also Mark Pace for putting the bottom end together along with his advice and supplying parts, Nick Good for lending me parts, Steve Taylor for sponsoring me with the use of his blower guard and parts - you will get them back! Ian Marshall at Webster race Engineering, Nick George for the cable ties (to keep my foot in!) Martin Jones and Crunch, Charlie Draper - he's the man who can... And as always I couldn't do any of it without my crew, Crew Chief Karl Harrison (again), Lee Darby, Stuart 'Chunky' Fagg (the funniest man in drag racing) and Tom Pearce. Eight and out for Pro ET. 3rd June: The UK's Pro ET racers had a total of eight qualifying sessions at the FIA Main Event and Mike Lacey writes that weather conditions didn't favour the class as there was a mixture of cold, extreme wind, and even a bit of sun; the problem was that nothing was consistent which made dialling in a bit erratic: In the end we saw a heroic effort by Billy Gane to secure yet another number one qualifier with an almost bang on 10.2803, only 0.0003 off perfect, which won him the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award. Billy did leave a small gap and a couple of qualifiers to try to plug it, but in the end we all found it impossible. Tim Stanbury got the closest first with a 9.6948 and Jon Turner with a 9.9748, both with exactly the same difference but the proverbial mile off compared to Billy. A big well done to him. For his efforts, and because Billy was running stickers, he received £100, a Pro ET T-shirt, two cans of Powerpour from Webster Race Engineering, a fuel jug from VP Racing Fuels, and an engraved tankard from MissB engraving. Unfortunately qualifying saw a lot of broken cars again. Two broken rear axles for Amanda Cox and Roy Walker, a broken transmission for Dan Williams, engine damage for Nigel Green, Dan Page, Marius Blackburn and Hans Van Der Spek who had made the effort to come all the way from Holland again. First round eliminations were on Sunday night and that was as far as we got: the rain came down on Monday and an end was called at 3:00 pm. Fingers crossed for some sun at the SPRC Summernationals on 25th-26th June where Pro ET have some fun with our annual live band in the pits on the Saturday night. Hope to see you all there. Thanks once again go to our class sponsors Toxico, Penn Autos, LA Racing Parts, EDA, Power Engineering, Power Pour (Webster Race Engineering), Norbar, DS Racewear, Avonside Engineering, Modurstang.co.uk, Drag Race Engineering (Gary Springford), Grand Prix Racewear, Sick Boyz, Topspeed Automotive, LohrSpeed (Dusty Laugher), Real Steel, wolfysworkshop.co.uk and VP Racing Fuels. Another win for Manners. 3rd June: Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences followed up his win at the IHRA Nitro Jam at Pittsburgh with another win at the NHRA Division 4 race at No Problem Raceway in Lousiana. Mike is still in a borrowed car after his dragster was damaged in a crash a couple of weeks ago. "We didn't put down our best winning performance but we got the job done", says Mike. "My Dad would say "Jammy bastard" and it definitely was like that. We shook and smoked the tyres in the first round and ran a 6.245 at 219 mph but our opponent had even more problems. The number one qualifier failed to stage in round one when he accidentally triggered his emergency shut-off system and as he was my pairing for round two I got a bye. Good job too, as I shook and pedalled to run a 5.919/230. "On the other side of the ladder were four strong cars and Todd Odem driving Munroe Guest's very strong car met me in the final. On the start line Todd's crew had to fix a fuel leak and then forgot to remove his burnout limiter. We ran a 5.522/230 and had a good light so we would have been tough to beat anyway. "In two weeks we will be in Tulsa, maybe with my own car again. I'll be happy to be jammy again as I'm sure we will probably have some new car blues. "This was the last race for the Jegs All Stars, we won on a tie break to the same guy who beat us on a tie break for the 2010 Division 4 Championship. We are now second in Division 4, tied for fifth place in the National Championship, and leading IHRA Pro Fuel. Could be a good year." Too bad to be true? 
2nd June: The first outing for the Bad Luck Boys Dragracingteam in 2011 will be at the world-class Arena in Tierp
next week, although a month late.
The main reason for the late first outing this year is not any kind of problem in the worskhop, but the lack of time to get a team togetger. Team owner and driver Ulf 'Totte' Lindqvist launched his own trucking company over the winter and was dedicated to expanding the business before he taking some time off to releaase the beast inside him. But, after a quick visit to the first race at Tierp Arena Ulf just had to fill in the entry form next week's Sweden Internationals. The final touches are being applied to the Fiat Topolino Altered and some minor updates have been made to the rear end and the cooling system. Nothing spectacular to mention, but Ulf will compete in Super Comp class without a throttle stop. The goal is to win and to have a great time! "We'll see you all at Tierp Arena and please visit our small race team in the Super Comp pits", says Ulf. WRE offer apprenticeship. 3rd June: Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering has a position for a trainee/apprentice. "Preference will be given to an individual who has fundamental experience of fabrication/welding and basic knowledge of car/bike mechanics", says Jon Webster. "Although we have been involved with work placement schemes with local schools, I have never felt we had the time to dedicate to ourselves to training on a full apprenticeship. However I realise that our next generation needs to be catered for and with our workload so high I feel it is the right time to offer the post. Applicants need to be self-motivated, confident and punctual, be prepared to attend college and achieve an appropriate level of qualification. Applicants should apply in writing to: Webster Race Engineering Unit 3 Sanders Lodge Industrial Estate Rushden Northants NN106BQ "Alternately please E-Mail [email protected]. Please do not phone regarding this post." Swift snippets. 3rd June: Some places are still available for the Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Friday 17th June. WRE Test Days feature limited entry to guarantee track time, a track prepped to National Event standard, full start line and safety cover, and WRE staff on hand to provide advice and support. For more information, or to book your place, visit the Webster Race Engineering web site at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk. Race car builder Andreas Sjödin's latest delivery is LL Racing's updated 'Cuda with a new chassis from Sjödin Motorsport and a new better look with, Andreas says, "The body mounted the way it should be! Lenn Lindell hopes to test the car during the summer. For pictures of the construction visit www.sjodinmotorsport.com." 
Thanks to Emelie Carlswärd for forwarding us the latest version of the entry list for the inaugural Sweden Internationals, which takes place at Tierp Arena on Thursday to Sunday of next week (9th-12th June). You can check out the entry list (PDF format) by clicking here. Dave Riswick of John Woolfe Racing has been in touch to ask if anyone can identify the photographer of this shot of the JWR Beretta Funny Car. "This shot was taken at the NitrOlympX in 1989", says Dave. "There must be some more great shots of our Funny Car but I can't find any". If you took this shot, or if you know the photographer, then please drop Dave a line at [email protected]. 
Rob Slater writes that his Chevy got back into the tens at Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway. "After testing the motor a few weeks back we fitted the 1150 Dominator carb and on the first pass on Sunday morning broke into the tens and I wasn't hitting it too hard", says Rob. "Unfortunately on progressing to the semi-final the propshaft parted company with the car on launch so that was that. Trudy also hurt the Moggy Minor with a nitrous backfire at around sixty feet so both cars came home injured from battle, but what a fantastic weekend." The official timing data from the recent Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway is now available by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The delay was entirely your News Editor's fault; we were actually provided with the data by Wayne Schreier of APIRA's Tech Crew at the end of the event but we were only able to run it through our database query program on Tuesday of this week. Al Perkins says that York Raceway got what they wanted at the weekend with a greight day on Sunday. "We had been hoping to get an eithg out of the Super Cup class and we were granted it", says Al. "We had four cars with the potential of the first car from a doorslammer in many years. Following a series of 9.0s Ian Kerr was the first to break the barrier at 8.95, then Des Taylor countered with an 8.94. Ian returned with an 8.96, Des however then suffered a breakage to the rear suspension and took no further part. Our other Super Cup contenders had problems too with Darren Peart shutting off after his burnout in the ex-Tim Garlick Cortina, and Paul Grainger had transmission problems with the Anglia. One of our Modders also tried to get in on the action with a Subaru Impreza running 9.4 but just couldn't find what he needed." No news update yesterday due to your News Editor being tired and shagged out after a long weekend, which means that we were unable to wish Eurodragster.com Team Nutritionist Syd McDonald a very Happy Birthday yesterday. Hope you had a great birthday Syd and thanks again for all the catering at the FIA Main Event. Alamo JD Challenge standings. 3rd June: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-Springspeed Nationals standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
Don't forget that Alamo Rent-A-Car are offering up to 30% discount on car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for a meeting overseas, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. Check it out at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. Mr Spokehead's last stand. 
3rd June: Ian Turburville writes that his Supertwin Mr Spokehead has been sold and is headed for
Finland to be campaigned by Pekka and Robert of no surnames.
"We fired it up, with help from Ronny Aasen and Joe Lann, for the last time at Santa Pod on 28th May and it sounded strong as ever", says Turbo. "We shed a tear and bid it a fond farewell but hope that the guys have as much fun as we did over the past six years. Big thanks must also go to Samu at Skull Racing for transporting the bike home for them. "Team Turboville will now concentrate on the nostalgia slingshot Mr Spokehead II and the exciting new comp dragster the Overkill both owned by CHF Racing and run by Ian and Laura Turburville at Turboville Racing. Team sponsors include Gates Belts, Sprint Dampers, DJ Safety, Curbishley Automotive, IM Photography and TimTime. "Although the FIA Main Event got washed away on race day we had a great weekend with plenty of close racing in Junior Dragster against the best racers in Europe. Laura was trying so hard she pulled four red lights on Friday in an effort to get that perfect RT. That eventually went to Brad Jackson with a great 0.0000, but too late for the money! Laura won her first round against our buddy Marcus from Sweden and she had additional help all weekend from former Supertwin Champion Ronny Aasen. Ronny was bitten by the Junior bug so we expect to see his daughter Tina in one next year! A big Well Done to all the Juniors for putting on a very professional show which everyone seemed to enjoy. We would like to wish Joe Kellett and family good luck as they set off for their tour of Sweden in the NDRS Series. "The downtime at the weekend had its advantages as it left us with a lot of time for bench racing with some of our heroes. Tommy Johnson Jr came all the way up to our pit at the far end of the track to wish Laura a happy sixteenth birthday as did Barry Sheavills and several other top racers. Other high lights of the weekend for us were getting to know Kenny Youngblood and the legendary Jim Brissette who ran the fastest and quickest slingshots in the world through the sixties! We would also like to thank team Erbacher for their great hospitality all weekend as usual. Thanks must go to Miss B for her lovely engravings of Laura and Paul Whitehouse for the stunning piece he did for Martin. "The whole team sends its very best wishes to Wayne Saunders and family after his nasty spill at the weekend and hopes for a full and speedy recovery. Well done to Josh for soldiering on and doing so well in his race for dad. Big comisserations go to Henry Joosten on his terrible mis-hap that totally destroyed his lovely Chevy and a big well done to the Santa Pod fire crew on a great job fighting it. "Roll on the Summernationals for Laura and then Dragstalgia for Ian." Supercharged Outlaws Round 2 report. 3rd June: Eleven Supercharged Outlaw teams rolled through the gates of Shakespeare County Raceway for Round 2 of the 2011 season at the Yanks Weekend, writes Dave McKenzie: 
New to the Outlaws was Neil Townson making his début with the immaculate Northern Spirit altered. All the Outlaws made Neil feel very welcome.
Q1 on Saturday morning was a practice round and qualifier. This round determines how the cars will perform how the track is so that they can then
decide on a dial-in time for the three rounds to follow. Well, the track was superb with Ian Hanson setting a new Outlaws ET record off the trailer
with a stout 7.243/187.95 - this was also a Personal Best for Ian for both ET and speed. More Outlaws ran in the seven second zone: Lee Gallimore 7.49/182,
Tom Coe 7.87/170, and Brian Gandy 7.77/182. This was a super round on day one.
Although the weather was cool (good for power) there was a strong tail wind down the track in Q2. The star of this round was Brian Gandy who took Ian's Outlaw ET record off him after only two hours. Brian ran 7.238/191 to reset the Outlaw ET record by 0.01 seconds, this was also a Personal Best for Brian for both ET and speed. Nobby came out in this round for his last observed run. Nobby's previous best had been a 10.3 run on an early shut off. This time it was a full pass and he missed out the nines and ran straight into the eights with a great 8.93/152 - well done to Nobby and the team! Steve Goode was a noticeable absentee from the track; during the warm-up he cracked a selector fork on the Lenco of the Ghost Train Funny Car and had to travel back to Steve's workshop to make repairs for Sunday. Chris Pattison was slowly getting used to driving his altered, carding a 9.9/137 in this round. Seven second runs this round were Lee Gallimore 7.44/183, Tom Coe 7.634/180, Ian Hanson 7.316/186, and Sam Freeman 7.958/194 - another massive speed for the Speed Demon car of Vic Hammond. Some of the big hitters were back in the seven second zone again in Q3. Lee Gallimore with a quicker 7.385/185 and Neil Townson 7.57/196. This was a new class speed record for Neil on only his second run. Well done Neil! Chris Pattison was chipping away at his ET with a quicker 9.5/127. 
More PBs in Q4. Reigning Champion Paul Watts ran 9.16/148, a new PB for both ET and speed. Tom Coe in the Shy Talker
(Tow vehicle and the subject of a recent spy picture, right) ran 7.521/182 to give him a new
PB ET. Steve Goode in the Ghost Train Funny Car ran a better 8.4/125mph but lady luck is certainly not with Steve as this run cost Steve another engine.
We all hope Steve has a change in his fortunes soon because this car has loads of potential. Chris Pattison also ran a new PB this round down, into the
eights for the first time 8.74/147, well done to Chris. Everybody was eager to get the best out of their cars this round resulting in a big red light for
Lee Gallimore leaving before the starter had pressed the button resulting in no time. Neil Townson had broken his Lenco so was a no show, Brian Gandy
had damaged a rod bearing scoring the crankshaft so Brian missed the Sunday action.
Richard Davis was in the meantime consistently running his immaculate red Willys running 9.9, 9.7, 9.7 on a 9.9 dial-in to give him a 0.198 from his dial-in to give him the first place for this event. Second place went to Paul Watts and a great result for third, in his first full event with the Outlaws, was Chris Pattison. Well done to all the Outlaws for a cracking weekend. A big thank you must go to the track crew at Shakespeare County Raceway - this track just gets better and better, thanks to all the hard work they put in which is greatly appreciated by all the racers. Also thanks to all our sponsors Good Vibrations California, Steve Wood at Motor Shack, LA Commercials, Johnny Hall at Stamford Speed Shop, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Alec Coe and Kev Mortimer at Mad R's Racing, Bill Felstead at Fester Race Cars, and a special Thank You to our new sponsor LA Racing Parts. It's raining £s for ACAG. 3rd June: It may have been raining cats and dogs outside during eliminations day at the FIA Main Event, but inside the Team West-Tec pit it was raining twenty pound notes as new Top Fuel dragster team F&A Racing handed over a second donation for the restoration of Europe's first dragster. 
This time the donation was £500 and, following on from their original £1000, it makes F&A Racing the largest
individual financial supporter of the Allard Chrysler restoration project apart from insurance company Performance Direct.
Pictured standing in front of the team's new car (now part of the Team West-Tec drag racing operation), Chairman of the Allard Chrysler Action Group, Brian Taylor, accepts the donation from F&A driver Chris Andrews. Chris Andrews said "We are really happy to support the ACAG team and their dedication to restoring Europe's first dragster. And we pledge more funds in the future. The ACAG's dedication and enthusiasm for this important task needs to be rewarded by all those involved in our sport. It is so rare to have the first of a kind in original condition and we are looking forward to the day when we can fire up our own car and Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler at the same event." ACAG Chair Brian Taylor comments "When I first prepared a list of potential supporters of our project I must admit that a Top Fuel Dragster team was not heading the names of those most likely to be interested. My thoughts were that they would have more than enough problems sorting out the financing of their own activities. The contact from F&A came out of the blue and, to be honest, at first I didn't believe it and thought it a bit of a wind-up. But I soon found out how serious they were. As well as seeing it as a good business proposal attractive to their own potential sponsors as part of an overall package, I think this support comes very much from the heart and we thank them sincerely. With projects like ours it sometimes gets quite depressing as far as raising funds – particularly in such a tough economic climate. Donations like this really give all of us a lift." If you would like to help complete the restoration of Europe's first dragster then please contact Brian Taylor at [email protected] or call 01395 579733 (outside the UK +44 1395 579733). You can also help by purchasing ACAG merchandise at www.allardchrysler.org. Web site updates. 3rd June: In the latest update in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén finds some promise in his outing at the FIA Main Event. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has posted a gallery of FIA Main Event pictures on his personal web site at
www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Many of the pictures in this update
have not been seen on Eurodragster.com or in other publications. Roger has also posted a couple of vintage snaps on the Home
and News pages. Also available now are Roger's event summaries and pictures at
www.competitionplus.com and
www.dragracecanada.com.
Our good buddy, photo-journalist Remco Scheelings has posted an FIA Main Event report and pictures on The Netherlands' Autosport web site at www.autosport.nl. Another good buddy, Patrik Jacobsson, has updated the European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu with points standings in the FIA, MSA and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified series plus an FIA Main Event gallery. You can find no less than four hundred FIA Main Event pictures on the latest update on Colin Donisthorpe's gallery site at www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe. FIA Main Event snippets. 
1st June: Congratulations to Joe Carabott, Monty Bugeja and Malta's Mr Whippy Top Methanol Dragster team who won
Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog's vote in Speedgroup's
Vicci-sponsored Best Dressed Team award at the FIA Main Event. The Mr Whippy team
won a voucher for $250 worth of custom crew apparel fom Vicci.
Many thanks to Kjell Pettersson for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, to Palle Lind for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the UEM European Drag Bike Championships, and to Paula Marshall for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the MSA British Pro Modified Championship. You can check out the European and MSA points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from the FIA Main Event. You can check out the Main Event timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs for forwarding us an updated table of European Bests including Risto Poutiainen's Top Fuel Dragster speed record. You can check out the European Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
On behalf of the senior Management Team at M&S Ambulance Service Acting
Managing Director Matthew Whiting writes to thank all of those involved in the donation of £500 to the medical services at Santa
Pod Raceway. "As you may know, during the fifteen months we have we have been working at Santa Pod we have invested heavily in the Medical
Centre, so that we can increase the care that those on site receive, and this donation will enable us to continue doing so", says Matthew.
"It was quite a shock to be summoned to race control by Kathy Taylor and Carole Ismail to find Yvonne Tramm and Paula Marshall standing
there with a cheque for the medical services and we cannot thank you enough. I was unable to attend the start line to collect the cheque
personally but Dr M Tyler, our Chief Medical Officer, along with Debbie Hanson RN, Head of Nursing, were delighted to receive it on our behalf.
We have many plans for the Medical Centre and this will help towards new equipment. We are always looking for sponsorship for the Medical
Centre, if anyone would like to help then please contact us at [email protected]."
Pam and Wayne Hiscock have asked us to say a big Thank You to all those who visited them in the Super Gas pits to welcome them back. "Thanks especially to Jon Morton who was on hand with help on our arrival in the pits", they say. "We are really pleased with the performance of ChevyHelle. We are looking forward to more of the same at our next outing and are glad to be back in competition once again. Thanks also to Ed for stopping by and for the mention on Friday's Pit Notes (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed)." Liz and Iain Malcolm of the UK's Jus'4'Fun Pro ET team have asked us to send their best wishes for speedy recoveries to Super Street Bike racer Wayne Saunders and Pro ET crew member Big John. No sooner said than done and we are sure that all of our readers will add their own best wishes to Wayne and to John. Back to our friends from Malta and Jason Camilleri of the Malta Drag Racing Association has been in touch to ask us to thank the Santa Pod crew, staff and management for the opportunity they gave to Malta's two Top Methanol Dragster teams at the FIA Main Event. "I would also like to thank Kaz Aston of Nitro FM for the collaboration and support towards our teams and Association", says Jason. "We look forward to seeing you all at the Finals in September." 
In the final instalment of the 2011 FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car Stephen Moon reflects upon the rain-out. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We would like to say a big Thank You to Stephen for his hard work on the Blog, and to all of those racers who contributed. Our good (Un-fired - Ed) buddy Markus Münch has posted three galleries from the FIA Main Event on the excellent der Beschleuniger web site. Click for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday galleries. Chris Eyre has posted his FIA Main Event pictures at www.eurodragpics.com. "I would normally have taken many more pictures during an FIA meeting but I was helping Syd and Crunch with their Super Pro ET dragster", says Chris. "On that note I would like to thank them both for inviting me along to help out for the weekend. Normal crewing duties will resume when we take the Timewarp Funny Car out for Dragstalgia, hope to see you all there." Earlier news |
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