Eurodragster.com's American Car Imports-sponsored
event coverage of the Veidec Festival
attracted 71,123 unique visitors who generated 650,167 page views, 3,581,738 hits and 34.22 Gigabytes bandwidth. Tog, Simon, Roger,
Kirstie and Christer put in some 316 man-hours during the event. Thanks to everyone for tuning in, to the racers for giving us so much to write about,
to Mantorp Park, Svensk Dragracing and race officials for the facilities, and to American Car Imports for their support.
Editor's note: We are currently working on our news backlog. Tune back tomorrow and catch up with
what has been going on whilst we were away in Sweden, and racers please keep those news items coming to
[email protected].
Finally for the record books Top Methanol Dragster racer Timo Habermann became the first ever Pro racer to win the
Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 reaction
in the final qualifying session. In fact this is the first Perfect Light which the Eurodragster.com staff can ever remember seeing
from a Pro racer but in any case it was good for 1000 SEK which we will be presenting to Timo today.
Editor's note: Thanks to everyone who has got in touch by E-Mail to us here in Sweden. We are very busy working long hours on the
Veidec Festival coverage so may not have time to answer or act upon every E-Mail received before we return to England, but please keep the
E-Mails coming and please be assured that every E-Mail we receive is at least being read; feel free to set a view-acknowledge when writing.
Thanks for your patience.
Simon, Roger and additional reporter for this event Kirstie Tramm will be joining Tog at Mantorp Park later today
well in time to bring you full coverage of the Veidec Festival proper starting with tomorrow's Sportsman
qualifying. As their schedules permit we will also have input over the weekend from our good friends Tezzii of
EurodragsterNorth.com, Patrik Jacobsson of the European Pro Mod Association and bike journalist PiPPi.
Webmaster Gary Cottingham has been in touch to let us know that UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter's
web site at www.andycarter.net will be updated
from Mantorp Park at the end of each day. In the meantime you can check out the Carter Motorsport web site for the
latest update from the team which is a report of a promotional appearance at the weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod
Raceway.
Three runs, three blowers. 25th July: Sweden's European Championship-holding
Leanders Brothers Top Methanol Funny Car team
will be on their third blower in as many appearances at the Veidec Festival after the
IronCAD-sponsored FC suffered damage at an exhibition last week.
The team's misfortune may turn out of benefit in the end as Crew Chief Jörgen
Leaders told us that he was never happy with the original blower. "Since we put that
blower on our terminal speeds were down and I was sure that there was something not
right about it", he said. Jörgen added that the team's new clutch, built to their
own design and SFI-approved, has had to be taken out of the car because of the lack
of development time. "We have lost so many runs to the rain this year", he said. "We
know that the new clutch works but we need the time to find its operating window and
with the limited time we have left we won't be able to do that. We need to concentrate
on chasing Freddy."
Race, then chainsaws at dawn. 25th July: The UK's
Silverline/Lucas Oil Top Methanol Dragster team can't wait to get to Mantorp Park,
says driver Dave Wilson.
"After the weather the previous two FIA Championship rounds we are looking forward to the usual sunshine and good
track at Mantorp Park", says Grumpy. "We have changed the engine size to 470 ci and the lack of track time has
prevented us from fine-tuning the different combination. Initially the car seems to be running well, as shown by the 5.43
at Santa Pod and the string of 5.50s in Alastaro, but we do expect more and the lack of development time is very
frustrating.
"As soon as we arrive back from Sweden the car and trailer will be readied to attend the Silverline Power Tool Drag
Racing event the at the Haynes Motor Museum near Yeovil, Somerset on 5th August. We will have the car on display,
run the engine as per normal warm ups and possibly do a burnout or two on their track. This is quite apart from the
Power Tool Drag Racing which should be great fun with tools going forty miles per hour in three seconds on the seventy five
foot track. The Motor Museum itself is well worth a visit. See you there!"
Should the winner of the Perfect ET Award go on to win the event then a bonus of £100, which we have very slightly rounded
up to a not-inappropriate 1320 SEK, will be paid by LA Racing Parts.
Be there and get the full impact. 25th July: If you were tuned in on Monday you will recall that Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby
suffered a crash in his eight-second Team '56 Chevy at the Bug Jam on Sunday. Colin got in touch to let us know what happened:
All classes were down for two sessions on the Sunday, and presumably the officials were sufficiently confident with both the number of entries and the weather to add a third.
This turned out to be a great decision by the race officials. Having chased a number of electrical gremlins in the first three sessions we eventually found our past form with a still-improving 8.15,
putting us into the #1 slot. In truth, Luke Robinson and Garry Coull never gave up on chipping away at the faults and with each solution we were rewarded with a cleaner, quicker run.
In round one of eliminations, we were due to #16 qualifier and RSSE returnee Paul Webster with his BMW Mini. In spite of a valiant effort he failed to achieve the 13.50 ET cut off required
to get in the field and we were therefore on a bye. Having reviewed the start line the boys chose their tune and we were off. The '56 left beautifully but shook the tyres hard at the top end of first gear.
I short-shifted into second, at which point the characteristics of the shake changed and the car immediately veered towards the wall. Now, it must be the soft white paint scheme of those guardrails
which makes them appear soft, because soft they ain't. Having 'rubbed' the left wall I could see the right wall coming up quick, though I did manage to get the old girl stopped just as it crossed the
centre line taking out the eighth mile foam block in the process (I'm sure the timing crew will forgive you Colin - Ed).
The rest, as they say, is history. Needless to say the damage, quite remarkably, is largely superficial. A fair chunk is related to the back axle, which broke all but one of its associated mounts
as it succumbed to the shake, combined with the extra torque by short shifting into second. Mercifully our Andy Robinson Race Cars chassis is confirmed as unaffected by 'scuffing' the wall.
Naturally the remedial work, or at least the disassembly element, is already underway and if we don't make Shakespeare County Raceway's Open Sports Nationals at the end of August
it won't be for the want of trying. The majority of this responsibility being embraced willingly by the guys at ARRC - so, no pressure there then.
To the medics, the race officials - all of them, I can't thank you guys enough for how you handled the incident. Many, many thanks. And a special thanks to SPRC's Carole for delivering my
family to me in the medical centre. To Mark Perkins who kindly loaned us his flat bed trailer, to Wilf Stacey (who almost certainly has his work cut out) again many thanks. And the same
thanks go out to each and every one of the RSSE teams who offered their words of encouragement, and spiritual support, to get the '56 back into RSSE competition as quickly as possible.
To my hard working crew, who are completely undeterred by the apparent damage, well you know I'd be screwed without you. And the same goes for my sponsors, I bet you can't wait for
your phones to ring!
Me? I'm fine, and in the words of the Governor of California "I'll be back".
RSSE tour event number five of seven was eventually won by Andy Frost in his twin turbo Red Victor II; well done to Frosty, Tony, Rob and Debs on their win and the
8.02 ET. Commiserations to the runner up (and also twin turbo car) of the Wildcat Racing Team, who must surely be equal in numbers to the cast from Ben Hur - that's
Splinter, Mick Franklin, Chris Isaacs, Ray Perkins and the ever-excitable birthday girl, Elona. Oh, and I suppose a mention is worthy for the four-time Champion Steve
Pat*man, who recorded an astounding 8.1 new Personal Best in the red Calibra.
Swift snippets. 25th July: Best wishes to UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Pete Smith who Ray Tucker tells us
was taken into hospital last Wednesday with severe abdominal cramps. "The tests are not yet complete, so the diagnosis is not certain, but it
could possibly be gallstones", says Ray. "Pete's mobile was even busier than usual - if thats possible! - checking up on the class' progress
at the Bug Jam from his hospital bed. Hurry back soon Pete". And so say all of us. Will you stop breaking things Pete and get out on the track, but
only as soon as you are fully recovered which we hope is very soon.
An evening with Big Daddy. 25th July: Devotees of hot rodding who have any type of access to London should make a date in their diaries for
an evening dedicated to Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth at The Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury this Friday.
The evening starts with Tales of the Rat Fink, Ron Mann's wildly inventive bio about Ed who engineered a shift in mid-twentieth
century culture with his customised cars, monster T-shirts and America's alternative rodent the Rat Fink.
Mann's largely animated documentary features the voice talents of John Goodman, Ann-Margret, Jay Leno, Brian Wilson, Tom Wolfe, Matt
Groening, Robert Williams, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Paul LeMat, Billy F Gibbons, and The Smothers Brothers.
The film is followed by Ken Hollings in conversation with Edwin Pouncey (aka Savage Pencil) about Ed Roth, and ends with Roger K Burton's
Prodragpinup, a forty-minute film in which the catwalk clashes with the drag strip.
"Thanks again to all the well-wishers who missed us at the Main Event. Keep the E-Mails flowing, we miss you all."
A few words of thanks. 25th July: If you were paying attention in Colin Lazenby's news item above then you will already know that
Andy Frost took the Bug Jam event win in Real Steel Street Eliminator. Andy has been in touch to thank all those who made it such
a good weekend for the Red Victor team:
Finally commiserations to Colin Lazenby on his unfortunate incident on Sunday. Rivals we may be, but I never want to see that kind of thing happen to a fellow competitor. I'm just glad he
walked away from it without needing to be fixed, which is more than you can say about the car. Knowing Colin, though, he'll be back for the next one to keep us on our toes.
If you want to read all about our weekend for there is a report on the Blog page at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.
The bike, which has run regular 6.3s and 220 mph whilst ridden by Norbert Kutzera in the US Prostar Championship and during NHRA exhibition runs became surplus to requirements when his son, who is a talanted Kart racer, began competing at the top level and Norbert decided to concentrate on his son's efforts.
The bike features a 1325cc Puma engine with an XS1100 Yamaha head, an Autorotor OA3150 2.3 RC blower, Bentec 2 speed gearbox, Mallory magnetos and ART clutch.
Kai and are working on arranging a test for next weekend in Virginia, United States and hope the bike will be in Finland at the latest by 31st August for the Finnish Finals where they may have the bike on display as it may be too early for Kai to race in anger.
It is planned that Kai will compete in the full UEM Dragbike series in Top Fuel Bike during 2008.
Pro Dutch in Finland. 24th July: FIA Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten of team Pro Dutch had an up and down time at the FHRA Nitro Nationals but reports that he is doing his best to be ready for the next round of the championship this weekend at Mantorp Park, Sweden:
We made the long trip to Finland with Marc Meihuizen from K&H racing. It was our first time that the team went to Alastaro. It is indeed a long way, but what a beautiful countries Sweden and Finland are. If you are driving there through the woods, across the bridges in Stockholm, seeing the lakes and by the coast, so many little islands, you think that you are driving in a movie.
Well the movie went on to Alastaro, where we took first qualifying place with a 6.4 and a top speed on our first pass. Second pass was a little off with a 6.5 which put us back in fourth place. Then on Saturday, when we were on a really good pass, the movie turned ugly. With just three runs on it, a con rod decided to leave us, putting a big hole in the block. Game Over. With such a short championship like this year, we cannot do with this (well I think you can never do with it anyway).
Sorry guys and girls, but I had to do the "rain" dance for Sunday so that we have still a chance to stay in the top 10 in the points. Luck was with us; it rained after the first round and we decided to try to repair in time for Mantorp.
The first thing to do was get home as quickly as possible. So we did a non-stop 1,750 km drive. We got home at 5 in the morning, and got to work. Parts needed to be checked, and unpacked for repair. Also, work was waiting the next day for me also. If the Customs and UPS do their thing on time, we will be there. So now I am doing the "send it back quick" dance.
Hopefully we are getting it done and, I promise, no more dancing for this year.
Support teams outstanding at Bug Jam. 24th July:UK Event Safety head Glenn Ramsden says that with the support teams’ help at the Bug Jam, not only was a potentially dangerous situation arising from the weather avoided, but also the event successfully completed:
The conditions at the 2007 Bug Jam are no doubt, by now well documented elsewhere. I must admit, having dealt with the flooding emergencies of recent weeks 'up t' north lad' I was more than slightly concerned with a deluge as we were getting into the Friday afternoon and no let up in sight; however it did stop - for a short while. We were already planning for the hours of darkness when everyone was camping and asleep with their noses and mouths two inches from the floor, because with these conditions it doesn’t take that much flood water before there are many casualties. However despite everything, it all turned out well in the end.
What I would like to mention is the dedication of all the crew at Santa Pod for being able to pull the event round from a near disaster to a damn good event. For some considerable time, all of the track and safety crew were heavily involved with trying to stem the flow and remove many thousands of gallons of flood water and to their credit they did a brilliant job. It was with their determination that many of the traders, race teams and the medical centre could still operate throughout the weekend albeit with their enthusiasm slightly dampened.
I think that we should all take our hats off the the support teams that make Santa Pod what it is today, if it wasn't for them where would we all be, thanks guys you did a great job.
Swift snippets. 24th July: Congratulations to Tim Jan and Nick Mugridge for the newest arrival of the Mugridge Family and future Junior Dragster/Super Modified racer - Luke Mugridge (see right for picture). He is starting as he means to go on with his finger on the button of his reaction tester.
We would like to wish a very Happy 12th Birthday to Grace Roaf whom we understand from dad Colin is a big fan both of drag racing and of Eurodragster.com. A girl of exquisitely good taste, then: have a great birthday Grace.
For those of you who missed Driving Force first time round, we understand courtesy of Caroline Day of airtime sponsors SPR that the series will be repeated on the Biography Channel in August. Timings will be posted in your usual pay-TV listings.
Web site updates. 24th July: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon describes his experience of showing the MPM Oils TF Dragster at a tractor pulling event and his thoughts in the lead-up to the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park this coming weekend. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
A large gallery and video from the Gold Town Summer Nats held at Skallefteå have been posted by Richard Lindahl at his site race.ulkhyvlers.net/.
UK photographer Jamie Dyks has updated his web site with a few pictures from the pits at last weekend’s Bug Jam which can be seen at www.topnitro.fotopic.net.
First of all, I would like to comment on the ‘thing’ we have going within our team right now. It may not be visible just yet from our on-track performances, but the flow we have when we work together in the pits is really amazing. In Finland one of our chief mechanics, Göran Edman, came to me just after the dragster got back in the pits after a run. He made a gesture with his arm towards the car and some of our mechanics who worked around it, and he said; “just look at them..." We looked for a while and I saw it too. It was very quiet. Nobody seemed to have a need to communicate by words. It almost seemed like the communication between them were telepathic. Very focused, very efficient and very quick. The smooth cooperation between our clutch mechanics, (Robert and apprentice Edvin), our diver Mika and our two upper engine mechanics Gary Page and Terry is really impressive to watch. We have got to the point where we have a team that functions real well as a unit, even under stress. Changing an engine in between runs is at this point not a problem whatsoever. They do that just slightly slower than the usual "in between run" service.
With that said, I think we have achieved something already this year. You may find that kind of statement strange or even amusing thinking of our performance so far this year (a best of 5.13 sec/438 km in Finland). I can understand that, but keep in mind we pretty much started at zero this year. Sure, we have the same chassis as last year, but many things have changed, both technical details and the way we operate.
We have said within the team that no matter what, we are going to be patient and continue working according to plan and that will pay off eventually. One thing to realise is that Top Fuel Dragsters "eat" parts. The runs when something fails are lost runs in the sense the car does not perform at its best and yes, it may mean you are out of competition if it is during eliminations. This is not unique for our team. I dare say all teams deal with technical problems during every event (more or less).
In my opinion the teams that compete in Top Fuel Dragster at this time are only the teams that can afford the costs to keep the cars running. In Finland we had 6 cars qualified within 15 hundreds of a second, which I think is truly worth noticing. To me it reflects the efforts (and funds) all Top Fuel teams have put in to make the Top Fuel Dragster category where we are today. Urs Erbacher´s 4.82 sec run in Finland may well have set the level of performance that will be required to stand a chance at Mantorp Park 11 days from now.
Mantorp Park is a great track, a bit of a favourite for Micke actually. The fact that Mantorp also is team Kågered´s home track, means a great number of invited guests will be present and it also means a lot of focus on Micke in different ways. With extra staff present to care for our guests, we try to let our mechanics work as normally as we can, but, sure, the fact we have around 750 guests there to follow their work does affect them, but hopefully only in a positive way. Last year at Mantorp we qualified number one and got beat by Håkan Nilsson (who was number 8) already in the quarter finals. Micke´s losing 4.91 against Håkan´s 4.86 should have been the perfect final, but it rarely happens the way it is supposed to, does it?
There is absolutely nothing to take for granted. With 10 cars entered at Mantorp, it means two will be left outside the elimination ladder and be out of competition already before it starts. We will do what we can to be inside the ladder when the qualifications are completed. We have great respect for the other teams. We are also confident about what we can do and we hope the positive feeling we already hold within the team also will start showing in our performance.
Bug Jam results and photo gallery. 23rd July: Many thanks to David Anniwell of TSI timers for supplying the results of the Bug Jam. The following were the final top five qualifiers:
VW Alternate Engine
Andy Raw 11.5289 (11.52)/112.17
Laura White 16.3769 (16.35)/79.35
Ian Huggan 11.4061 (11.35)/120.97
Laurie Craig 9.2772 (9.20)/141.90
Matt Attwood 12.9437 (12.86)/110.54
VW Pro
Neil Ellis 12.2232 (12.20)/110.83
Joe Gallagher 11.9800 (11.95)/110.83
Martin Taylor 12.5589 (12.50)/104.93
Jason Aldred 11.0699 (10.90)/125.32
Travis Rider 10.7331 (10.50)/117.84
VW Sportsman
Jacob Bailey 13.5057 (13.50)/92.24
Paul Herbert 13.4773 (13.45)/93.90
Adrian Wigley 16.5990 (16.55)/82.86
Daniel Smith 16.0830 (16.00)/82.28
Spencer Tramm 19.5081 (19.40)/67.96
Super Modified
Andy Hone 7.6270/177.12
Andy Kirk 7.6308/176.40
Tim Garlick 7.6591/177.85
Craig Gibbs 7.8469/170.37
Paul Mander 7.8750/171.72
Outlaw Anglia
Paul Wright 7.6721/182.11
Pete Ashworth 7.9688/166.67
Rob Stone 9.4301/142.27
Ray Guy 9.9761/133.46
David Sidaway 10.2648
Street Eliminator
Colin Lazenby 8.1578/178.75
Steve Pateman 8.2681/175.68
Steve Nash 8.4828/172.39
Andy Frost 8.5201/184.37
Alan Simms 8.7308/159.05
Final results of eliminations were as follows:
V.W. Alternate Engine
Andy Raw 11.5451/101.75 def. Mark Skeen 15.2450/89.83
V.W. Pro
Glynn Morgan 12.7380/102.70 def. Martin Taylor (no show)
V.W. Sportsman
Craig Allen 16.3327/75.92 def. Martin Ayton 16.1301/91.10
Super Modified
Andy Hone 7.6962/172.32 def. Tim Garlick 20.4879/14.09
Outlaw Anglia
Paul Wright 7.7310/179.27 def. David Sidaway 10.4801/126.41
Street Eliminator
Andy Frost 8.0221/185.75 def. Steve Nash 8.4771/167.92
Unfortunately Andy Frost didn't manage to back-up the 8.0221 for a new record. Colin Lazenby had the misfortune of crashing, following vicious tyre shake resulting in a rod end coming out and rear axle becoming loose at 200 feet. The Chevrolet 210, on a bye-run, collided with the left wall and came to rest across the centre line. The car suffered front end damage but Colin was unhurt.
In spite of the damp stuff on Saturday, the 21st edition of the Bug Jam was a success with the new Santa Pod grandstand full on Saturday and a vocal crowd on both days. There were a sizeable crop of wheelstands and Roger has posted a photo gallery in association with American Car Imports which you can view by clicking here or via the Event Index link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Gold Town Summer Nats results. 23rd July: Tezzii and the crew of Eurodragsternorth.com have posted the results of the Gold Town Summer Nats held at Skallefteå; congratulations to the winners.
Web site updates. 23rd July: Our good friend Patrik Jacobsson has posted 125 pictures of the Borlänge Street Open held on Friday and Saturday at his site www.racebilder.nu.
Stanley Mellstrom has posted pictures from the same event covering the Junior Dragster class at his site www.bigstan.se.
More pictures from the Borlänge Street Open by Lars Sikhammar can be seen at www.ziken.se.
Andy Kirk 7.6308/176.40
Tim Garlick 7.6591/177.85
Andy Hone 7.6759/177.14
Paul Mander 7.8750/171.72
Craig Gibbs 7.9559/171.83
Outlaw Anglia
Paul Wright 7.7821/176.94
Pete Ashworth 8.7468/153.17
Rob Stone 9.4301/142.27
David Sidaway 10.5270/130.11
VW Pro
Joe Gallagher 11.9800 (11.95)/110.83
Jason Aldred 11.0699 (10.90)/125.32
Colin Jardine 12.6174 (12.30)/104.83
Justin Rivett 13.3121 (12.90)/84.26
Bernard Newbury 11.0919 (10.60)/121.65
VW Alternate Engine
Andy Raw 11.5289 (11.52)/112.17
Matt Attwood 12.9437 (12.86)/110.54
Mark Skeen 13.7921 (13.60)/99.99
Paul Braithwaite 13.5664 (12.00)/105.09
Ben Putland 15.1118 (13.50)/86.66
VW Sportsman
Adrian Wigley 16.5990 (16.55)/82.86
Polly Naylor 17.8643 (17.60)/75.47
Christopher Bray 15.8209 (15.50)/87.18
Shane Rae 19.4210 (19.00)/69.55
Paul Herbert 13.9128 (13.45)/97.40
We will be publishing the results of eliminations when received, stay tuned.
What do you get when you cross a...? 22nd July: Roger’s photo (right, click for larger version) is not a Top Methanol Dragster parked behind a shorty VW camper van but Wayne Allman's extremely wild and stunning looking VW pick-up coupled to a tagged TMD 136 inch chassis complete with a 526 cubic inch KB motor.
Wayne built the complete machine in his chassis works, the Intergalactic Custom Shop and the project was all set to be tried out at the Bug Jam. However, it was not the rain that stopped him but an input shaft that was found to be one inch too short after a hectic thrash to ready the err, car? van?
It was entered into the VW Alternate Engine class at the 2007 Bug Jam but Wayne hopes that when finished, complete with pick-up truck bodywork front to rear in the shape of a rescue tow truck, it will run at not just VW events but enter into the fray of regular racing. Which class? We will have to wait and see but he hopes to run it ultimately in the TMD wars.
Final elimination results for the Borlänge Street Open can be seen here.
Swift snippets. 22nd July: Congratulations to Bracket racer Nils Eriksson who won 500 SEK for Best Burnout posted by Eurodragster.com at the Borlänge Street Open yesterday. Nils pulled a number of rolling burnouts in his Chevelle which had the crowd clapping and cheering. Tog attended Saturday's second day of the event as the guest of organiser Christer Gustavsson and in association with American Car Imports has posted a photo gallery which you can view by clicking here or via the Event Index link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to Christer and to everyone who made Tog so welcome.
Weekend events. 21st July: On one of the busiest weekends in the season, there will be several racing events across Europe this weekend. In the UK the Bug Jam is under way at Santa Pod. Roger will be attending to report on the race, and there will be news of the top qualifiers and winners. As well as hosting the VW Drag Racing Club, Bug Jam will have National rounds of the Super Modified, Real Steel Street Eliminator and Outlaw Anglia championships. There will be a run what ya brung on Saturday for a £20 sign on fee in addition to the weekend gate fee of £40 (or £55 for those not in VW); Sunday gate admission is £15.
In Sweden there are two championship events, both part of the Nordic Drag Racing Series. Eurodragsternorth.com will be posting live updates from the Gold Town Summer Nationals here. The event will include a round of the Toyo Scandinavian Drag Racing Series and the Snowmobile Ashphalt Series and feature Top Doorslammers and the Skellefteå open. All sportsman classes will be competing and we are promised demo runs from Monica Öberg (Top Fuel Dragster) and Jonas Staflund (Top Methanol Funny Car). Racing takes place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday and spectator admission is 120kr per day (60kr for under 16 and free for under 12s).
The Borlänge Street Open takes place on Friday and Saturday at Dala Airport about 7 km southeast of Borlänge over a quarter mile and is organised by the Yankee Car Club. As well as racing in street classes, championship points will be awarded for Junior Dragster, Super Street and Super Gas (9.50) bike. Qualifications will take place on Friday from 10.00 to 18.00 and Saturday 09.00 to 12.00, and eliminations will take place from 13.00 to 20.00 on Saturday. Spectator admission is 60kr for each day.
Turtmann in Switzerland hosts the Swiss Drag Challenge, which is this year a round of the French Trophee DCR Dragster championship. There will be pro demos from nine categories of vehicle and altogether 180 teams will be taking part. This scenic track will also rumble to the sound of the Super Twin Top Gas Serie and the Harley Davidson V-Rod Destroyer Cup and a night show from 7pm to 9pm and band and DJ from 9pm to 3am are planned. The event, from Friday to Sunday will cost spectators 55 Fr. in the grandstand or 35 Fr per day (under 12s free). Turtmann is located on the A9 near Sion.
In the Czech Republic, Bechyne airport hosts the Motoklub Predators Ceské Budejovice which is a round of the Czech Drag Serie Championship 2007.
Swift snippets. 21st July: We would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to our good friend, UK Comp Eliminator racer Nev Mottershead who is the other driver of his eight-second Valvoline-backed Toyota. Have a great day Nev and we wish you were in Sweden with us.
Howard Holmes has written to ask does anybody have, or know anybody with, a 3rd generation Camaro? It does have to be a road car, it does not have to be a show car; a used car, modified is okay (preferably not pro street though), any colour, but preferably not white. It will be used for a real nice photo shoot in Derby within the next 2 weeks, and you'll get a CD of the images and magazine coverage -in a good magazine.
If this isn't you, but you know someone who might be interested, please forward my details, email: [email protected].
The car should be finished this Sunday leaving Patrick and the OFAB Thrillerteam no time to test so its first run will take place at the Veidec Festival. "We need to make a couple of checkout passes", said Patrick. "It may be a problem to get into the field but the point is to get the car together and we are looking forward to the FIA European Finals!".
Editor's note: Thanks to Anders Envall for help with this news item.
Grin Like Flynn. 20th July: The silly grins are back at Eurodragster.com news sponsor Gold RV Racing. Team head and Top Methanol Dragster racer Derek Flynn says: After the engine damage suffered to our Chevy at our last outing, the team have done an excellent job over the past few weeks and we now have the BAE Hemi fully installed just in time for Sweden and have just run it for the final time in our workshop under the watchful eyes of both Andy Robinson and Dave Wilson. The eyes and ears are still suffering, not from seeing Dave and Andy of course but from the din and the fumes from our new Hemi. We just cannot wait to see what it will do on the track; it sounded awesome. We finish packing the trailer tomorrow and leave for the Ferry on Saturday for our first FIA mainland Europe adventure and we are all really excited; let’s hope the weather gods are kind this time.
I would like to thank all my crew for all their efforts recently, although the silly grins on their faces after each of the fire ups says it all really.
Thanks to everyone at Andy Robinson Race cars for all their help and assistance with our recent modifications, fabricating a new fuel tank and converting the old fuel tank to an external oil tank and other work. Very special thanks to the Vegter Brothers of Team Force of Habit for the loan of the 14:71 blower, and thanks to Dave Wilson who is helping us with our initial tune-up. I would also like to thank Trevor Capewell who sold us our new engine who is apparently called Bob; lets hope he does as well for us as he has done for both Leif Helander and Trevor. Our plan at the moment is to run with the borrowed roots blower for the rest of this season and get the Whipple checked and tech’d over the winter ready for next year’s campaign.
It’s all a bit of a drama really... 20th July: ‘Little’ Dan(aka Mikey) from Danny Cockerill’s Pro Modified team says “can anyone with any pictures or videos of the flying ‘57 in action or in the pits please email them to [email protected]. A big thanks to all the track crew at the SPRC Summernationals who did a wonderful job and an even bigger thanks to all the crew Dave, Steve, Gareth, Andy Kirk, and another thanks to Gordon Appleton’s crew for providing us with most of the entertainment most of the weekend - and remember Ray - its only a hobby.”
PMR Update. 20th July: Eurodragster.com news page sponsor Paul Marston Racing enjoyed showing two of their vehicles at the London Drag Racing Show and are looking forward to their debut outing in Super Mod at the Bug Jam:
We would like to thank Paul Knight, Elo and the gang at the London Motor Museum and everyone else involved for a great event. Along with the Drag Race Engineering-backed Super Modified Vauxhall Calibra of Paul Marston Racing, a special mention goes to Steve Bolton who also brought his Pro ET Plymouth Scamp, a welcome addition that was admired by those attending. This, the first London Drag Racing Show, was the beginning; every year this show will grow and grow. It’s a fantastic venue in London and had a great display of quality Drag Racing machinery. Would we go again? You betcha!
Since the show, the Calibra has been at the Drag Race Engineering workshops in preparation for the team’s debut in Super Modified. Our thanks go to Mark Norton for coming to DRE on Monday evening and inspecting our 555ci naturally aspirated Big Block Chevy to ensure that it was indeed legal for Super Modified. The cylinder heads had just been returned from our sponsor CTM Performance Engineering, where Proprietor Charlie Mahoney said he would be looking forward to seeing at the track the results of his company’s labour. Charlie said ‘The BBC Aluminium Dart 320 heads came fully ported; the Americans rely a lot on CNC Machine technology which is good for mass production, as you just set up the machine and away it goes, time after time. However it can be improved on to get the optimum flow within the restrictions placed on the modifications currently allowed in Super Modified. It’s things like the attention to detail in each individual port runner that makes the difference and consequently makes the power’.
There is still a lot to do on the DRE Calibra whilst it is at the Drag Race Engineering workshops but as usual head honcho Gary Springford, is confident that the Calibra will be ready in time. Gary also added that he was quietly confident of unlocking the performance potential of the DRE Calibra. “I have taken a little side bet with Paul (Marston) that the DRE Super Modified Calibra will run a seven at Bug Jam and I am that confident. As usual it’s a race against time to get everything done but running one car instead of six will make a change. I have never been to Bug Jam before and I think we will enjoy it.”
My thanks to the PMR crew and drivers, who will be sharing the crewing duties at Bug Jam. Thanks also to principal sponsor Drag Race Engineering (020 8597 4575) and associate sponsor CTM Performance Engineering (020 8592 1180). Please stop by and say hi over the weekend and join us in wishing Bug Jam a Happy 21st Birthday.
Swift snippets. 20th July: Top Methanol Funny Car racer Ulf Leanders says that supplies of methanol racing fuel for the forthcoming Veidec Nitro Festival may be obtained via him on +46 70 376 7280 or from the handlers direct at +46 11 248484.
UK Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop is looking to step back up at Mantorp Park after hitting electrical and
fuelling issues at the FHRA Nitro Nationals. "We had the top speed at the FIA Main Event but then hit
setbacks in Finland and ran out of passes to address them and ended up in the middle of the ladder", Martin told
Eurodragster.com. "We're looking to get back where we should be at Mantorp". Martin added that this year's arrangement
to travel and pit with the Motospeed team has worked out very well.
Many thanks to FIM/UEM European Drag Bike Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson
for sending us the official points standings in the FIM/UEM Snowmobile Challenge.
You can check out the Challenge points on our Simpson Race
Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking
here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page.
Congratulations to Stuart Meads who retained the title of the World's Fastest Mini for the seventh year running at
Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. "Although it rained, and I was testing a new engine and could have done with some track time, I
three quarter pass after the car got a bit out of shape", says Stuart. "I idled across the line at 10.30/107. I will be at Ultimate Street Car at Santa Pod
in August looking to run in to the mid-nines - not bad for a Mini."
Bug Jam Perfect Awards. 19th July: This weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway
is the latest event in the Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. A total of £200
is on offer for perfect performance to those classes contesting a Championship round.
Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts decals must be carried on both sides
of the vehicle to qualify for the Perfect ET Award. As with other contingency schemes the decals are available
from the signing-on office.
Should the winner of the Perfect ET Award go on to win the event then a
bonus of £100 will be paid by LA Racing Parts.
As the Eurodragster.com staff are variously in Sweden and preparing to go there this weekend
we will not be reporting live from the Bug Jam. Santa Pod's timing crew will be keeping an eye
out but as they have plenty to do as it is we will present the Perfect Awards after the event
based on the official timing data.
Please note that as Junior Dragster is not contending a Championship round
at the Bug Jam, the class is not eligible for either Perfect Award this weekend.
Dear diary:- Test day, Friday. With a recently overhauled transmission (thanks again to our buddies at Rosslers) things went surprisingly ok, and an off the trailer 8.60, followed by an 8.50 told us we were pretty much there or thereabouts, especially given that both runs had shook or spun the tyres, or both.
Saturday: - It rained, rained, and then it rained some more. RSSE secretary Ann-Marie had managed to con (yes I used the right word) Wilf Stacey, crew chief Richard and I to fit the rear air bags on the camper. Wilf and I had shipped 2 pairs together, thereby sharing all the costs - and besides, Wilf and Richard had fitted his airbags earlier in the week and by virtue of the rain it was deemed by the boss to be an easy job that afternoon. Where was Ann-Marie? She chatted the time away with Diane Stacey in the warm, dry, relative comfort of Wilf's camper. You can bet your bottom dollar that much red wine was consumed by both during that little get together. As usual our kid handled all the dirty jobs while Wilf and I lay on the soaking wet floor to undertake the mechanical installation. Richard admirably handled all the airlines and wiring. I won't tell you what we saved in doing the job ourselves, suffice to say trackside airbag fitting is now our speciality. Shame on everyone who didn't manage to stand up to her - on this occasion. I know I didn't. Highlight of the evening was the delivery of my new Neil Tadman stitched seat covers. A large number of people had been 'scheming' for weeks on these, completely unbeknown to me; I can't believe I wasn't aware - at any point. As I've already shown my gratitude to all those involved in the ‘scam’, I won't do it again here. Needless to say they complement the sparse interior, check ‘em out at the next event.
Sunday: - With brighter weather the emergency qualifying on the Sunday should have been a breeze, given our previous 8.50. I pulled up against Ian Hook and his FB racing '34' hot rod. Man he spanked me as the '56 misfired almost all the way down the track, so much so, and believing that we had a nitrous 'malfunction' I managed to switch off the nitrous arming just after the shift into 3rd, it recovered, marginally, and as we returned I had to ask fatty if we had qualified (the cut off is 13.5) we had, we were 17th, and back in the pits we went about statically checking all things associated with the nitrous systems - everything tested out ok.
We had drawn returning veteran Ian Jackson, who was # 1 qualifier with his ever improving twin turbo'd '64 Corvette. The burn-out was ok, and I have to be honest we did consider running without the juice though having not found the fault we had to almost make it fault again. I cleared the engine with my usual 2 revs and it sounded Ok. Ian went in, I went in and as I let go of the button the b*stard thing just died on me. I'd broke the beams, but all I could do was watch Ian tear down the track. Somewhat gutted, I restarted the car ambled down the track and returned to the pits. We packed up and left for home. Somehow, the drive home seemed longer than usual, leaving us much to contemplate.
Tuesday evening: - Following a number of phone calls to both Luke Robinson, and Clive Bond, I set about checking everything, leak-down, valve spring pull, and compression test. All were ok. With everything reassembled I once again statically checked the fuel and nitrous solenoids. All were working fine. I threw the towel in just as it got dark, which in Scotland it's around midnight.
Weekend: - Garry was available and together we pulled off all the hard lines from the intake just so we could check out the nitrous jets. Again everything was Ok, but just as we were checking the seats of each the solenoid plungers we found a lose wire, 1st system nitrous side. The thing must have been making a circuit on the static test but then failed when it was under load. Fuel would then be dumped into the runners but with no nitrous to assist its burn rate it just killed the motor. Relieved, we re-made the connections and as a precaution we ordered a complete solenoid from our friends (and series sponsors) Real Steel - thanks to Mark for his prompt attention. Job done.
Monday July 16th: - MOT, we'd booked this just before our short break last week, we also had a local statutory holiday the same day. Now, that short round trip of around 20 miles ought to have provided us with no problems, having treated last years engine carnage (premature lifter failure) merely as a one off. However it was pouring down with rain and had been since dawn. Garry was charged with trying to secure another slot later in the day, but it simply wasn't available and as the MOT runs out on the 20th we had little option but to go for it, rain or no rain. Having warmed and primed the oil, we unloaded the car while it was a deluge down so we were both soaked to the skin when we left. I have to say the conditions were horendous, certainly the worst I have ever driven in and without any demisters (don't be silly) the visibilty was severely diminished. That aside, this trip was uneventful and it passed the test with only one advisory note which we'll clear at the Bug Jam.
As all the perceived RSSE big guns went out in the early rounds of the Summer Nats it really was great to hear of the nail biting conclusion between WSR runner up Jeff Meads and 2004 SE champion Ian Jackson dukeing it out for the top slot. Needless to say well done to both and congratulations to Ian on taking the win with his 8.25 PB. And I can only imagine what Mick Franklin and Steve Nash were thinking of when Steve pulled his multiple out of session wheelstands; hopefully builder Chris Isaacs has now made a couple of sensible changes there.
The RSSE series moves on to the Bug Jam this weekend boasting 20 entries. All competitors will looking to top up their current points standings, along with improved PB's. One or two will be looking for revenge. For Eurodragster readers with a favourite RSSE competitor,the entry list can be viewed here.
Swedish Bug invades UK. 18th July: Jo Harris of Santa Pod raceway writes: with only three days to go before the gates of Bug Jam are flung open for another jam packed festival weekend of all things VW, we can confirm that Leif Nyström is winging his way as we speak over to Santa Pod from Sweden with his super fast 8 second beetle, which can do the quarter mile in 8.876s/158.5 mph! Also taking to the strip will be the VWDRC and sportsman racers.
With top notch music taking place in no less than four music arenas and a first for Bug Jam with not one but two Monster Trucks, Santa Pods’ very own Podzilla and the mighty Slingshot Monster Truck going head to head in the Live Action Arena, Terry Grant and his awesome stunts and the UK FMX boys pulling big air, Kids entertainment on Saturday and Sunday there’s something to keep everyone amused!
Tickets are still available on the gate from Friday 20th July! For more information and full timetable visit www.BugJam.com.
The ones who make Baldie's plans possible. 18th July: Top Fuel Bike racer Asko Määttä says that after last weekend's testing the team is ready for the ‘driver's holiday’ trip to Estonia and then will be heading to the Mantorp Veidec Festival Top Fuel Bike UEM race.
“Baldie Racing & Media Relations is happy to announce the people that have made this possible:
“Thanks also to my son and Crew Chief Mika and the team and friends always helping: Jani, Sami, Tarmo, Jari (M2R) for your work for the team and especially to my wife Tepa; without you I couldn't do this at all!
“Not to mention my spirit of 'latter' days inspiration: my nearly half year old grandson Lenni Aleksanteri Maatta and his patient and supporting mother Tiina and father Mika."
Swift Snippets. 18th July:Marcus Eck mentions that last weekend Paolo Andreini with team drove 6.763/334km/h at the Piteå dragway. “Thats a new European best for a turbocharged doorslammer”.
You can read more about Paolo's awesome truck at www.protruck.se and Markus has just posted a stunning wallpaper from that event.
Web site updates. 18th July: Peter has added a gallery of pictures taken at last weekend’s Truck festival to his site at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net.
Allan Currans brings news of a new page published today on his excellent Acceleration Archive site: “I have been looking through the previously unpublished pictures in my collection and have decided to inflict some more of them on you. I have come up with 35 pictures of dragsters ranging from 4 cylinder Junior Dragsters up to small block Chevrolets, and there is even a Go Kart in there for good luck. John Whitmore, Russ Carpenter, Tim Claxton, Jim Read - they are all there and many more besides.” You can see them here.
"I'm delighted to be teaming up with AACI!", said Andy Carter. "We really enjoyed spending time with Harry and Pam Tune
at the AACI Summer Nationals at Billing and I was so pleased that we were able to put this deal together. These guys are
passionate about their Club and our sport with all that it has to offer. This two year association is great news for us and we
will do all that we can to promote AACI in that time and hopefully beyond!"
In addition to spreading the name of the club, the deal also includes regular exclusive features from the team for the club's superb magazine
Torque.
The American Auto Club International is a U.K. based club dedicated to promote and assist the 250,000 owners of American vehicles in the UK, as
well as owners throughout the world. The club has active members in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. The AACI has a very successful
web site at www.aacint.com which has an average of two million hits per month. The Club
is also authorised to provide expert valuations for insurance purposes and assists the DVLA with age related importation queries.
The Veidec Festival takes places on 26th-29th July and you can find out more, including the latest entry list, on the event's official web site at
www.veidecfestival.com.
One thing to look out for at Mantorp Park is the newly-completed Simpson trackside service rig (right)
which is headed for the Veidec Festival after its début at the Midnight Sun Internationals at Pite
Dragway. "All racers and race fans are welcome", says Jan.
Riding the curves in Finland. 17th July: The FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro was a weekend of ups and downs for Eurodragster.com
News sponsor Urs Erbacher and the Fat Attack team,
says team member Andrea Wucher.
School's in. 17th July: The Rushden Rebel car club flew the flag for drag racing at Kimbolton School
at the Classic Car Show at the weekend, writes UK Pro ET racer Antony Wilkins.
"Although we were the underdogs we were made to feel extremely welcome and parading around the showground certainly raised a few eyebrows and
positive comments. I recommend this show to anyone so next year come along and see us."
Swift snippets. 17th July: Following on from the Beaulieu Motorcycle World demonstration, UK Top Fuel Bike rider Steve Woollatt
was at Mallory Park at the weekend for the VMCC Festival of 1000 Bikes. Dave Powell tells us that Steve and the bike received lots of attention from the public
and also from the media who are featuring Steve, the bike and film of his demonstration burnout and pass on The Biker Show at 19:00 this Thursday (19th)
on Channel M. You can find Channel M on Sky 203, or the footage will be available on the channel's web site at
www.channelm.co.uk after broadcast.
Finnish Pro Mod racer Marko Lantto and his team have a thrash to make next week's Veidec Festival after
suffering damage at Alastaro, says team member Janne Storrank. "We dropped an intake valve just after Marko
shifted to second gear, and since it was eliminations he kind of drove it to the end", says Janne. "Two rods,
sleeves and camshaft among smaller pieces have to be replaced. Marko himself is now at Anders
Holm's shop in Sweden for some serious block and head welding, and when he returns we are going to start to
assemble the engine. We are looking forward to coming over."
Markus Münch says that the weekend's Dragracing Internationals at Wittstock was
awesome. "It was well organised by the Kath brothers, the pits were full, and the Danish
and Swedish guys did a brilliant job on the track prep", says Markus.
"The best time of the weekend was Timo Habermann with a 6.0 in his TMD, and Peter Ritscher
ran 6.9 in his fourth ever run in his Pro Mod. Bernard Goldbach, Guido Uhlir and Micha Vogt
ran nines in Street Eliminator. Top Gas Euroserie, the Harley Davidson Destroyer Cup and
the German Street Eliminator fought for Championship points". You can find results at
www.dragracing-internationals.de.
Longtime readers will remember Jo Holland of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Motorsport News
who made a lot of friends within drag racing during her time as Sporting Scene Editor. We are
very pleased to report that Jo and partner Neil Burgess were engaged yesterday after Jo accepted Neil's
proposal in a castle on the Isle of Man. Our very best wishes to Jo and Neil for a very long and happy
life together.
The first known drag race between two monster trucks at Santa Pod Raceway
took place at the weekend's UK Truck Show (click on picture for large version). Drew Thornton in the Podzilla
machine showed he had the drag racing connection in him as he pulled a one and a half truck holeshot on opponent Karl Swallow in Slingshot and
motored through the complete quarter mile, although the motor sounded a little lumpy at times uptrack. Karl followed but lifted at the sixty foot mark, as was
the initial plan for both trucks, after achieving the feat of smoking one of the truck's huge tyres.
Martyn Hannis has been in touch to wish a very Happy 21st Birthday to UK blown-alcohol altered
racer Joe Bond on behalf of himself and all the Nuthin' Fancy crew. "We had
a great party on Saturday, have a great day today", says Martyn. Have a great day Joe.
Matthew Seamarks of Gingerman Racing has asked us to say a big Congratulations to
the Mugridge family on the birth of Luke Mugridge, who arrived on Friday thus proving that
Friday 13th is not always a bad thing. We're very pleased to add our congratulations and we're
sure that our readers will do likewise.
Just think, if you hadn't gone... 17th July: Vicky Smith of
Never Again Racing had to be persuaded
to go to the track at the weekend, but she is glad she did because she set new Personal Bests in her
Nova at the Mini Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway:
I was such a miserable bitch on Friday, I didn't even want to go, I was so
sure that the weather would be crap. I am so glad Dave made me go, I had
the best day ever, loved it!
We were desperate for a day of passes
to test out the replacement pieces from the prop shaft accident, no heroics! Oh and to
come away without breakages or damage. The first pass was a 10.6 but there was very little traction on the left
hand lane and it went out of shape so I had to back off. The second pass was better at 10.4.
The third pass was the race of the day according to Dave, me against Charlie
Chivers in his Taxi Express. It was fab, two great burnouts and some real
competition. The launch felt good (no transbrake), everything felt good,
and I ran a new Personal Best of 10.1 - shaving those tenths off! It felt ace, I enjoy having real
competition, it makes me work harder.
The fourth pass was OK and felt straight, but the gear change didn't work
properly, it went straight from second into third, which you can hear ont he video.
It was a 10.4 anyway, I reckon that might have been another 10.1 or lower
otherwise. I am inching nearer to the nines all the time, just want this
crappy weather to hold off now so I can get more of this in.
I don't think the crowd expected to see a bike, let alone a Fuel bike and we seemed to capture their imaginations. The trucks were simply
awesome, every kind you could think of. To see a convoy of 250, custom painted, trucks, air horns blaring, cruise the return road in the brilliant
sunshine while a Spitfire flew overhead was unforgettable. The monster trucks put on a great show, the racing trucks were unbelievable and broke
all records running 100 mph quarters! Racing pick-ups, custom trucks, American trucks, model trucks, trade stands and a great family atmosphere
made it an unmissable weekend.
There was a nice selection of other drag race vehicles to give the crowd a taste of drag racing and they all went down very well, so I think we have
made a lot of converts! Many thanks to Russ for inviting us, to all the Truck Show organisers for looking after us, and to the Santa Pod track staff
for their usual professional job. Well done all!
Editor's note: Only a brief news update today due to pressure of work in your News
Editor's day job. Tune back tomorrow for news of the Rushden Rebels' latest outing, Turbo's
antics at the UK Truck Show, a tribute to the late Debbie Hancox, Never Again Drag Racing's newest racer,
and more.
Finally, the easiest coverage job of the weekend falls to Eurodragster.com as we will be broadcasting the
Webster Race
Engineering/MPM Oil webcam from
the UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway. The webcam will broadcast a picture every two minutes
and you can tune in by clicking here or by clicking
on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Peter will
be providing us with a UK Truck Show gallery, in association with
American Car Imports, at close of
play on Sunday.
Rain, rain, go away... 14th July: UK Top Methanol Dragster team
Turner Motorsport are hoping for
a water-free Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park, says Carmel Turner. The team have had a good season
so far but the wet stuff keeps interfering:
We had fantastic weather at Easter. Steve is diving for the British
rounds this year, and he got down into the 5.90s on a soft tune up. We were
looking forward to getting Rob back into the hot seat, back on track and
into the frame for this year's FIA Championship.
The FIA Main Event was always going to be problematic, as the weather forecast was
bleak to say the least, but you always live in hope that the weatherman is
having a Michael Fish moment.
With a lot of freshened parts, and adjustments to the tune up, new slicks
and so on the first run was a check out pass.
All was fine after checking the motor over and we went out to do a full pass
second run which was a 5.69/245 qualifying us in third place at the end of
Saturday. Then it started to rain, and it never stopped until later that week, the meeting
was called and you know the rest.
The crew flew out to Finland for the FHRA Nitro Nationals on the Wednesday before the race and arrived just past
midnight. It was still light, just like twilight over here.
Thursday had fantastic sunshine and the car was ready to go, but our first
run was the next day, We got two qualifying runs in on Friday with a 5.63/395 kmh putting us into second place, then on Saturday morning the rain gods
started playing and the waiting began.
At about two in the afternoon the track was ready to go and the sun was out.
All the Pro classes had been scheduled for three runs, although the first had
been lost to the weather, This without doubt was most frustrating day's
racing I have ever seen, Oil, rain, oil, rain and so it went on, we ran at
about six that evening, and improved our speed and qualified in second place
with a 5.63/399.
Sunday was much the same. We ran Krister Johansson in the first round and
won with a 5.76, which after the other runs would pair us against Peter
Schöferschofer in the semi final.
We towed back, got weighed and had just started to turn the car round ,and
it chucked it down with rain so hard that within five minutes the meeting was called.
We were all disappointed, as we felt really confident going into the next
round, and the car was starting to react the way Steve wants it to, but it
was not to be.
So we are going to Mantorp Park with a air of confidence in the camp, and
the knowledge that this Championship is going to go all the way to the
finals at Santa Pod in September, and we intend to be in the mix.
SCR on TV. 14th July: Helen Todd of Powerpoint
Communications has been in touch to let us know that the May's rain-affected Springspeed Festival at Shakespeare
County Raceway is to be televised shortly on UK satellite and cable channel Sky Sports.
The coverage is in two parts, both forming part of the World Motorsports programme. The schedule is as follows:
20:00 Monday 30th July Sky Sports Xtra
01:00 Tuesday 31st July Sky Sports 2
10:00 Tuesday 31st July Sky Sports 2
14:30 Tuesday 31st July Sky Sports 3
Satellite and cable channels are notoriously subject to late schedule changes so keep an eye on your electronic TV guide for any
last-minute alterations.
Nitro Nationals FIM/UEM review. 14th July: FIM/UEM Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has been in touch
with his regular post-event review, on this occasion of last weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro:
We arrived on Thursday to a splendid weather, but it changed during the weekend to clouds and some rain.
The track looked very good. It is smooth and in good condition but it is a tricky track for clutches.
We started on Friday and the bikes did alright but then we came to Top Fuel cars and it was hard. A lot
of oildowns so the track had to be cleaned. On Saturday morning it was raining so the start had to be
delayed until 13:00 but still we managed to make two rounds on Saturday.
In Pro Stock Bike there were eleven riders. Of those six were Swedish, one English, one Italian, two
Danish and one Finnish. At the end of qualifying we had three Swedish Anders and Tom Tindahn at the top.
Tom on his S&S GS2 Buell qualified first with a 7.26 which is very good.
The first round on Sunday was delayed due to rain, all the Anders and Tom went through to the next round.
But when we were ready to start a car broke and then it started to rain and since it was 19.00 and we
could only race until 20.00 there was nothing else to do than abort the race.
In Supertwin Lorenz Stäublet was the number one qualifier followed by Gunther Sohn. Jaska Salakari
as is almost normal did his best qualifying in the last round. When Jaska gets his bike running will
it be very fast but he still has a lot of work to sort it out. Here it was the same as in all other classes,
the elimination was delayed on Sunday and then aborted in the evening due to rain.
Top Fuel Bike is always something special in Finland. Not so many riders are coming and that is always a
problem. This time we had five riders entered. This led us to have a ladder of five again and that ladder
is not a good one. But the rules must be followed. Number one qualifier was Rikard Gustavsson and that gave
him a solo run in the first elimination. Then it was it Ferretti against Soren Hartvig in the next round.
This time Soren had problems getting in to stage. The lamp started to blink. We did look directly afterwards
to see if something was wrong with the beams but nothing was wrong. The only thing I could say is that if
I was racing would I use a black rim without any kind of holes.
That was the race in Finland. We're hoping to come back to Finland for a new race again next year. The new
scoreboards were very good even with some problems but when they are solved they will work very well.
They had very good contrast and could show more information than just the time. The commentator in Finland
talks mainly Finnish but with help from Pippi to talk some Swedish and English it was possible to understand
the times. A special thanks for the room that we had. This makes all easier at the race.
Gates are open between 10:00 am and 9:00 pm on Thursday (19th July) and will then reopen at
9:00 am on Friday.
Run What You Brung takes place on Friday, and on Saturday into the early afternoon. Racers wishing to
take part in RWYB must remember to bring their DVLC licences as Competition licences are not valid for RWYB.
Please note that running orders are provisional and are subject to change due to track or weather conditions
or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.
You can view the final Bug Jam entry list by
clicking here.
We will publish details of the Bug Jam Perfect Awards during next week.
Swift snippets. 13th July:10:00 Many thanks to FIM/UEM European Drag Bike
Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for forwarding the post-FHRA Nitro Nationals Championship standings.
You can check out the FIM/UEM points on our Simpson Race
Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking
here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page. Tune in tomorrow for Lars' FHRA Nitro Nationals report.
Anders Magnusson of Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car team
Andréasson Motorsports
has been in touch to advise racers that Joe Pando of MSD will not be attending the Veidec Festival
at Mantorp Park due to a personnel shortage at US races. Anders adds that the usual MSD service will still
be available from the Andréasson Motorsports pit.
Dirk Behlau also has a book scheduled for release in August. Speed Kings covers hot rodding, Mopar drag racing
and pin-ups and will be released worldwide. More information at
www.speedkings-book.com.
Sweden's Netstore is offering the latest Oregon Scientific ATC2K Action Helmet Cam. The camera is
water- and shockproof and can deliver up to thirty frames per second of 640 x 480 VGA with sound. The camera
has 32 Mb of on-board memory which can be expanded to 2 Gb with an SD memory card. Interface is via USB or
RCA connection. The camera can be ordered for 1599 SEK from
[email protected]
or for more information check out
www.wmbrons.se/dragracing.htm. Sample
video from Meca Raceway will be released next week.
At this weekend's British Mini v Caterham Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway the boys and girls of Junior Drag Bike will be contesting
the third round of their Championship which is currently being led by Scott Collier, with Jake Carruthers in second place followed by Giselle Moor and
Tyler Clutterbuck. "This round will be kindly sponsored by Motorshack, who are providing
trophies and prizes", says Sharron Collier. "Thanks to Steve at Motorshack, and to all at Shakespeare County for their enthusiasm for this great little class.
For more information check out www.juniordragbike.co.uk or ring Jerry or Sharron Collier
on 01246 570304."
If you pick up a copy of the latest American Car World magazine youll be able to find out what powers Pete Ashworth's Dayglo
Twister and how he's got to edition four, writes Jerry Cookson. "Also inside the August issue you'll find reports from Santa Pod's Main Event, round
two of Real Steel Street Eliminator, NASC's Springnationals, and a competition to find the best featured Muscle Car ever in ACW", says
Jerry. "The August issue is available now from all leading newsagents at £3.99."
Congratulations to Jon Crawford on his first class honours degree in Ancient History and Archaeology from the
University of Leicester. "Academic highlights include a comparative study of the use of local animals for the amphitheatre games in Britain
(where lions and tigers were unavailable) with the ingenuity displayed by British tuners in using the locally available Jaguar, Daimler and Rover
engines for drag racing in the 1960s, 70s and 80s", says Jon. "As a mature student (possibly an oxymoron!), there have been many challenges
along the way, and I am eternally grateful to my wife Jane and the rest of the family during the last three years. Once my teacher training is
complete, I will be back at the tracks more regularly, and may even buy a proper camera this time!"
Back home we had started the bike with a new welded head, and everything looked fine. We were ready to make a good performance in the first
qualifying round, using the same set up as at Gardermoen. Just one hundred metres down the track it happened again - we lit up the whole of
Alastaro with another burning head. There are never any boring times in the Olstad Race Team. The second qualifier took place without us.
Many people look at the parts and told us our problem. The only thing was that they all came up with different reasons. My head rolled back
in time and I discovered that we just forgot to tighten the head bolts after heating the engine. There is no place for mistakes in this class.
The bike was ready again for another try for the third qualifying session. After seeing lots of smoking tyres, we dropped the fuel pressure to get
traction. With some confused team members the bike wasn't placed correctly on the start line, I was not standing straight, and the bike went to one
side. I manage to straighten the bike over the first 150 metres, and then gave it full throttle. The front wheel was flying for a few metres before I smoked
the tyre. For me on the bike, it felt like the engine dropped a cylinder at the same time, so I shut down the engine immediately.
I rolled over the finish line with an 8.19, and was outside the qualifying list. In the fourth qualifier, with a big focus on a straight bike on the start line and
less fuel pressure, we launched pretty good, but went straight in to terrible tyre shake, and up in smoke again.
With a feather of the throttle the bike hooked up again and kept the front wheel in the air to the finish line. I managed to reach a speed of 293 km/h
in a time of 7.84 for sixth place in qualifying. At least we were back in the game.
In the first round of eliminations on Sunday we met the experienced Roel Koedam on the Zodiac bike. We drop the fuel pressure even more to be sure that
we had traction this time. Roel launched 0.10 seconds before me and we both had the same sixty foot time of 1.21. This time the bike hooked up nice and
smoothly, and I started to catch Roel. With a flying front wheel we were side by side all the way, and I just managed to pass him before the finish line with
a 6.98/325. My team and I were in heaven, all of our problems forgotten for a moment.
Happily we start to service the bike, when the skies got totally black again. When we drained the oil we found that it was gray/black and smelt terrible.
The datalogger also told us that we lost the oil pressure when we leave the start line. The engine had to be taken apart again. The crank was badly
damaged, and our future seems to be ruined. But however black our sky is, there is always a moment for a light. This time it came from Ton Pels
who told us that he wanted to take the crank with him to the Netherlands to try to get somebody to repair it before Mantorp.
The rain started again, and rest of the event was cancelled, and we stayed in third place in the UEM Championship.
"We like to thank Santa Pod Raceway for allowing us to run and Ian Marshall for use of the track at end of racing for a photo shoot by Peter Donaldson
(Of which more anon - Ed)."
Swift snippets. 12th July: The date of the Nordic Drag Racing Series Prizegiving Banquet
has been changed to Saturday 27th October. The Banquet takes place at the Scandic Infra City in
Stockholm. For more information including hotel bookings visit the Svensk Dragracing web site
at www.dragracing.se.
Monique Koedam tells us that she and Supertwin racer and husband Roel Koedam put out the
red carpet for UK Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King when he stayed with them at Alastaro at the
weekend. Ian, to whom Monique refers as "Mister Lah Di Dah", had his own
doormat and it appears
every other comfort he could need.
Jouni of www.dragrace.fi will be posting live
event coverage from the FDBA Speed Weekend at Alastaro, which takes place between 12:00 and 20:00 Finnish
time on Saturday and between 11:00 and 18:00 Sunday. The FDBA Speed Weekend is a bike-only event
featuring rounds of the Finnish Championship and Cup classes as well as a Hayabusa class. More information
at www.fhra.fi.
For our own part we will be broadcasting the
Webster Race
Engineering/MPM Oilwebcam from
the UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway this
weekend. The webcam will be on-line from approximately 8:00 on Saturday morning and will broadcast a picture
every sixty seconds until the track closes on Sunday.
Making Headway in Rushden. 12th July: Carolynne Campbell's Laffin-Gas
Rocket Dragster will be on display at this Saturday's (14th) Party In The Park in Rushden, in support of
East Northants Headway.
Lacey on the Ball. 12th July: UK Pro ET racer Mike Lacey knew it wouldn't be a lazy and relaxing six days when he entered the
Cannonball Run Europe, but his usual relentless, aggressive enthusiasm was going to be needed at all stages of this thrilling event writes Carla
Pittau:
Mike left at 9:00 am on the first day and drove the trusty Metamorphosis 2006 Mustang the first stage to Sandown.
After a quick shine up all cars were displayed at 12.30, and what a display of money and power with Porsche being the most popular entry, but with several
BMWs (M3, M5 and M6) followed by Audi, Ferrari, Maserati, and Jaguar, two Aston Martins, two Bentleys, and Ford being represented by an F150 Lightning
and a couple of Mustangs, one of them the yellow and purple Metamorphosis entry.
Here the fifty seven entrants had a chance to meet and be briefed on the next stage, which was to start at 2:30 pm, towards Dover to catch the 4:00 pm ferry to Calais.
The next 'mission' turned out to be an non-stop lap to Lake Garda in Northern Italy, 820 miles away. Mike thought that would be the end for the day, but he found
out that the plan called for a one hour break immediately followed by the next stage, five hundred miles plus to Bratislava in Slovakia.
So the total mileage for the first day was nearly 1500 miles!
So the Mustang raced on, on seven and two thirds cylinders and at 140 mph, for the remaining five hundred miles to Belgium and Antwerp and finally Calais - where
some obligatory doughnuts and burnouts were performed for the cameras - for the return home and the black tie dinner at the Outlands Hotel Surrey, where Mike
found that of the fifty seven entries the Metamorphosis Mustang had achieved second place, behind a Porsche 997 Turbo and in front of a Porsche 911 Carrera.
Amazing fun and incredibly thrilling being able to whip up on such a lot of exotic and insanely expensive cars, a pleasure Mike doesn't believe he'll be able to better
for quite some time. So he's now got a trophy for his cabinet, a pair of made to measure Vitallo racing shoes, and a huge grin on his face.
And, I kid you not, as a result there are now a Ferrari 360, a Ferrari 355 and a Maserati up for sale, and the owners are going to buy Mustangs!
Mike would like to thank Jon Webster for the input and Andy Paul and co-driver James for their help during the trip.
More information about the Cannonball Run Europe can be found on the official web site
www.cannonballeurope.co.uk.
"Before last weekend's race in Finland we worked very hard adjusting the chassis. We qualified in sixth place and after two cars were disqualified and the race was
discontinued due to rain we ended up in the top four. This puts us into fourth place in the European Championship."
Baldie changes plans. 11th July: Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Määttä has changed his plans
for 2007 after recent developments with his bike Baldie's Gun III.
"At the beginning of this season I thought I would be racing in Finland for the whole season", says Asko.
"But after the last weekend's Nitro Nationals all my plans have changed! I'm now entered in UEM Top Fuel
Bike at the Veidec Festival as well as the Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.
"Many thanks to OK Auto/Jyväskylä, Tarmo, Sami, Mika and all the others who made this possible.
And I mustn't forget my dear wife Tepa who is the most important on the list."
Open Sport Nationals entry. 11th July: Julie Willcox of Shakespeare County Raceway has been in touch to remind racers
that entry is now open for the Open Sport Nationals, the next full round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships,
which takes place on 25th-27th August.
"Some racers experienced difficulties downloading the entry forms for the Springspeed Festival, which caused some
problems", says Julie. "Please ensure that you download the 2007 forms from the APIRA web site at
www.apira.org.uk. These forms have the correct entry fees
for this year. If you have any questions then please contact the SCR Track Office on 01789 720180, call me on
07050 108043 or E-Mail [email protected].
"For all entries received before 13th August paperwork will be mailed to racers (postal strikes permitting) unless
requested to be left on the gate. Entries received after that date will be available for collection on arrival
at the main gate.
"We would like to remind everyone that the No Dogs policy will be in force along with the new no-smoking rules.
Peter Frost of Svensk Dragracing sent us this
picture taken at Legoland in Denmark by Thomas Pettersson's wife Ninni (click on picture for large
version). "It's a mini copy of Santa Pod", says Peter. "If you take a close look in Race Control
you'll see who is in there (No Marrs, it's not an actual size figure - Ed)."
Henrik Wilhelms has been in touch to tell us that Finland's Mats Björklund has a Top Methanol
Dragster chassis, engine and other parts for sale in the Parts For Sale section of our
Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts-sponsored Swap
Meet.
Further to yesterday's news item, Graham Dance has been in touch to say that he has now received the threshold
number of entries for the private test day at Santa Pod Raceway on Wednesday 1st August, and thus that
the event will go ahead. Entries are still being accepted; for more details check out yesterday's news
update.
We would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to our good friend Kirstie Tramm. Hope that you're having
a great day Kirstie...big hugs.
Bug Jam the 21st. 11th July: This year's Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on
20th-22nd July, is the twenty first and one hell of a party is planned with more than ever to
see and do.
Putting in appearances for the first time at Bug Jam will be Santa Pod's very own monster truck Podzilla as well as the Slingshot
monster truck. The master of stunts, Terry Grant, will be tyre screeching and sideways sliding with his thrilling stunt shows along with the UK
FMX freestyle motocross guys who will be grabbing big air action all in the Live Action Arena! There will be all the normal side shows, massive
trade village, fun fair, skate ramp, Auto Trader cars for sale paddock, auto jumble, Autoglym Show and Shine competition and much more.
On the track you'll see the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club, Super Modified, Street Eliminator and the wild Outlaw Anglias all eager to burn
rubber with wild burnouts and crazy launches away from the startline. The world's fastest Jet Funny Car Fireforce 3 and the Blue Max
Beetle will be here ready to entertain you with their awesome flame and thunder displays.
We'll also have Santa Pod's very own Two Seater Dragster running on Saturday! So if you fancy a go in a seven second missile at 170 mph, £499.00
will buy you the ultimate thrill ride, just be sure to ring in advance to book your time and to avoid disappointment as limited places.
"Think positive thoughts and hope for an Indian summer."
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard for racing's return to Drachten, and thanks to all of those who signed the petition.
Private Test Day on offer. 10th July: UK Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance has invited racers in all classes to a
private test day which he is organising at Santa Pod Raceway on Wednesday August 1st.
Jolly good Show! 10th July: UK Pro ET racers Carla Pittau and Rick McCann have asked us to say a big Well
Done to Paul Knight for putting in such a great effort to organise the weekend's London Drag Racing Show at the London
Motor Museum.
"The weather was great too, although it started to rain as we were loading the cars for the journey back, just to make us feel
at home I guess.
"All in all a good experience and an opportunity to do a lot of bench racing with our friends, topped by a complimentary drink
and excellent cake offered by the owners."
Eurodragster.com contest winner Vivienne Maclennan has also asked us to thank Paul Knight both for donating the ticket and for making sure
that she and husband Richard were well looked after all day despite being busy himself helping Elo with organising the Show. "Everyone we spoke to was
very friendly and helpful and really passionate about the sport they love", says Vivienne. "We're looking forward to meeting them all again at Santa Pod for
the FIA European Finals in September."
Flying the flag. 10th July: UK Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay has taken advantage of the summer break
to promote drag racing and generate some exposure for his sponsors.
"Other stuff of interest at the carnival was a display of classic motorbikes including Triumphs, BSAs, and Skyline FM's morning DJ Mike Green's Harley.
In the carnival procession itself was a big red bus, powered by Chris Johnson and Paul Somerville of the Woftam Super Comp racing team, which was
entered by local KIA dealer Viking Garages.
"So a good day was had by all, partly due to the good weather, so let's hope that it will last for the end of the racing season!"
Swift snippets. 10th July: David Lloyd Jones of
Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to let us know
that the second 'green' grandstand is now in place by the start line (right, click on picture for
large version). There are now three thousand seats alongside the left (Pukka Pies) lane. The big 'blue'
grandstand has been dismantled and is ultimately headed for the start line area alongside the right
(Autoglym) lane. David tells us that the Barn is now likely to be demolished in August once the local
authority has approved the design of the wall which is to take its place.
Many thanks to FIA European Championship Points Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending us the
post-FHRA Nitro Nationals standings in the FIA European Championships. You can check out
the FIA points on our Simpson Race
Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking
here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page.
Stuck on LA Drag Strip. 10th July: After selling car and bike parts for seven years, Eurodragster.com Links and
joint Perfect Award sponsor LA Racing Parts
has added traction-enhancing compound LA Drag Strip to its offerings.
"LA Drag Strip is designed for all drag strips but especially for non-permanent venues", says Lee Child of LA Racing Parts.
"This is the product to use if you do not have a sledge and other track preparation equipment.
"Sunday morning dawned and after some work on the surface we sprayed the track. The day was free of oildowns and saw some excellent ten- and
eleven-second runs with some new Personal Bests from the VWs, some getting serious daylight under the front wheels on the start line.
"LA Drag Strip compound is available ready to spray in forty five gallon drums. This compound is also non hazardous and reduces your shipping
and storage costs. For more details contact me on 01803 554308 (outside the UK +44 1803 554308), or please use the same number for our track
preparation team."
Web site updates. 10th July: The official web site of the UK's Firestorm Jet Funny Car has
been updated with the latest news from the team including their appearance at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals
at Shakespeare County Raceway and the answer to an oft-repeated question about the relative paucity of bookings
at that track this season. Check it out at
www.firestorm-jfc.co.uk.
The official web site of Sweden's Old 51 Pro Mod team
at www.old51.com has been updated with pictures and
video of their test passes at Meca Raceway at the weekend. The team are to start their 2007 season
at the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park at the end of this month with Niclas Andersson at the wheel.
UK Pro ET racer Vic Amato has launched a web site at
www.vicamatoracing.co.uk. The very
professional-looking web site by Nigel Holland's Mantisweb includes news, details about the car,
Vic's racing history, pictures and video (including on-board footage), and more.
The official report and gallery of Santa Pod Raceway's Retro Show, which took place on Saturday, can be found
at www.retroshow.co.uk, and a big welcome back
to Rick Cuthbert who has rejoined the staff after a year's sabbatical.
Nigel Holland has updated his web site with pictures from the Retro Show. You can find Nigel's pictures
at www.nigelholland.co.uk.
Michael Fordham's pictures from the Retro Show are now available on the Blazing Wheels web site
at www.blazingwheels.co.uk.
The ZaNNetec Motorsports web site at www.zannetec.com has been updated with
a report of the Bristol Doorslammers' progress at the SPRC Summernationals and the rained out NSRA Nostalgia Nationals.
The Bristol Hot Rod web site at www.bristolhotrods.co.uk
has been updated with a new section for the Bristol Doorslammers, writes Chris Kenny. "Each driver will have his or her own drag racing profile on there,
which contains a brief history of their past and present race cars", says Chris. "We have started with Zane Llewellyn, Neil Grant, Mike Bentley, and
Conrad and Anna Stanley. There are more profiles being written at the moment so please keep an eye on the site. In other news, congratulations to newlyweds
Neil and Julie Grant who were married last Saturday, also a big well done to Bob Lees for getting through the Best Man's speech through the heckling."
In addition we have put together a simple no-frills page to display and refresh the Alastaro webcam, which does not
automatically update on its own web site. Click here to view
the Alastaro webcam.
Andy Carter's web site at www.andycarter.net is
being updated with results and comments after each round of Top Fuel, and Micke Kågered's web site at
www.kagered-racing.com is being updated at the
end of each day. Dan Larsen of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor
Dansk Auto HiFi is also reporting live from Alastaro
with Top Methanol FC results and reports. You can reach Dan's reports through the TM Funny Car link
on the Dansk Auto HiFi web site.
If you are within driving distance of West London then it is not too late to go along and take in the Show
tomorrow. We can highly recommend it.
Swift snippets. 7th July: We understand that multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Championship and record
holder Dave Beck plans to contest FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.
We hear that Dave has secured some of the requisite sponsorship and that parts are already on their way
to Dave Beck Racing. One version of the story
has Dave flying a big-name US tuner to England for the September event. If this turns out to be true then it's
going to be one of the European drag bike stories of the year since Dave has historically only raced in the UK
Championship but has consistently out-performed his European Championship counterparts.
UK Super Pro ET racer Wayne Nicholson has asked us to say a big Well Done to Junior Dragster racer Zak
Johnson on his first event win at the SPRC Summernationals. "Don't forget Zak, starting young was how Lewis Hamilton
started", says Wayne, "so when you are racing Top Fuel Uncle Wayne wants a go!"
Also on the subject of the London Drag Racing Show, organiser Paul Knight tells us that today's edition of The Standard in London, available from mid-morning, will include a piece about the Show.
Simon will be going to the London Drag Racing Show tomorrow and will be posting a report and pictures in association with American Car Imports as soon as he can. We will of course post a link to our coverage as soon as it is posted but you will be able to reach the report by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
PMR Showing up. 6th July: Paul Marston Racing will be out in force at the London Drag Racing Show, displaying three cars under the banner of the Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School and with business partner Drag Race
Engineering:
The DRE Calibra is also available for the 2008 season through the Paul Marston Racing race car rental programme.
For anyone who is at all interested in this or any other aspect of the Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School, the London Drag Racing Show is an ideal event to come and share your ideas with us in an informal event away from the hustle and bustle of the drag strip. Everyone at Paul Marston Racing looks forward to seeing you there.
ELP on power at Santa Pod. 6th July: ELP, who supply power to the pits at Santa Pod Raceway, have apologised to racers for any inconvenience caused by the intermittent power supply at the FIA Main Event:
An internal investigation has been completed and the main reason for the intermittent power was with a fault on the generators that incorrectly thought they were overloaded, which in turn caused the generator to trip out for safety reasons
To ensure we do not get a repeat of the situation, ELP will ensure a backup generator will be on standby at future events.
At just £25 for five days' power, at any event you are getting a great deal. We believe it would be very hard to run a generator for twenty four hours on a fiver anywhere else!
The idea behind offering the power service was to enable each racer to run pit bays, i.e. compressors, electric tools, and the kettle.
When everyone starts to bring ancillary items such as patio heaters then more power is required and therefore increases costs which will have to be passed on.
Magazine update. 6th July: It might be raining outside but there's plenty to read in the latest issues of Gasser Wars magazine and the Hot Rod Gazette, writes Jerry Cookson:
Now in their ninth year, Phil and Dee Morris of Morris Motorsport Printing have taken what was simply a black and white magazine into the realms of the real publications for serious nostalgia drag racing and Gasser fans the world over, with Issue 49 packed with wall-to-wall colour. Featured Gassers in this issue includes a the daily driven replica of Don Montgomery's Rockerhead '41 Willys, Rod Barnett's '48 Anglia and a real look into the past of some of the classic North American Ford dealerships. There's the usual build up sections and a look at Willys World Downunder.
Issue 49 is now available at £4.25 from Graham Rennie's American Auto Mags at www.americanautomags.com.
Down the drain...not. 5th July: Peder Eneroth of Aros Rör & Svets has announced that he is to sponsor this weekend's Power Big Meet
at Västerås airfield. The Power Big Meet is one of the world's biggest car meets and Peter will be supplying the event with drain filters.
If you think that Peder's name sounds familiar then you are quite correct: Peder is a Board member of the Swedish
Motorcycle Federation and Crew Chief of Alex Eneroth's Junior Drag Bike.
Top Fuel driver for a day! 5th July: We are indebted to Jan Broersma of Carter Motorsport for sending us a translation
of yesterday's news item about the exciting offer at this year's Nitrolympx which takes place at Hockenheim in
August:
In a world premiere at the Nitrolympx, one spectator is to win a ride in a bullet.
From 17th-19th August, the Nitrolympx, Europe's biggest drag racing exhibition, is being held for the twenty second time.
at the Hockenheimring. As many as 50,000 spectators can witness this high horsepower vehicle shoot-out.
After that the winner will be strapped into the dragster with a full five-point harness and the team will make the preparations
to get the run on its way.
The deafening sound of the 5000 hp engine, the whining of the supercharger and the burnout, in which the rear tires are brought
up to proper working temperature, will get the adrenaline rush going.
As soon as the Tree starts running and goes green, the passenger will experience 4G, four times their own body weight, during launch
and be pressed in the seat followed by an approximately five-second run over the Hockenheim quarter mile.
After that the chutes will be released, and will bring the "Top Fuel driver for a day" back to a safe halt still recovering from the
nitro trip of a lifetime.
Further information about the event and ticket sales can be found at
www.nitrolympx.de.
Swift snippets. 5th July: Swedish Pro Mod racer Patrick Wikström has had to delay his much-anticipated return to racing which
was due to take place at this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. Although big hitter Patrik and the team
have been knocking themselves out, the Camaro just could not be finished in time.
Finland's Jari Halinen has started his Top Fuel Dragster licencing passes at Alastaro today ahead
of his appearance in Top Fuel at the Nitrolympx at Hockenheim in mid-August. You can stay in touch with
Jari's progress on the live coverage of the FHRA Nitro Nationals as detailed above.
Congratulations to Marcin Blauth who won the King of Europe race for street-legal cars in Poland at the weekend,
breaking the string of UK winners. You can find out more at
www.streetracingmania.com/2007/koedrag/history.html.
UK Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones was not in total agreement with Graham Ellis' comments about crate
motors in Super Pro ET in yesterday's news update. "Whilst some cars in Super Pro run crate motors,
far from everyone does", says Syd. "For example, Steve Johnson's motor is far from a crate
motor. And the same is true of Steve Green's, Derek Flynn's, Mark Flavell's, Wayne Nicholson's
and so on. Even my motor was built to my specifications."
Rick and Sarah johnson have been in touch to ask us to say Well Done to their son, Junior Dragster racer
Zak Johnson on his first event win at the SPRC Summernationals. "After a very wet Saturday Santa Pod pulled
off a weekend of racing in one day, which is down to their hard work and comitment to drag racing, well done all at Santa Pod", they say.
"Also after another wet Saturday at the FastFest both Grant Norris of Future Publications and Santa Pod made another good day of it, with Zak
and Rosie Hunt getting five runs at a nice leisurely rate in between showers. Finally a big thanks to Grant who really looked after us and hope we
can do something together again in the future."
UK Super Gas racer Malcolm Motler tells us that his immaculate Spellbound Morris Minor pick-up
will be appearing at this weekend's London Drag Racing Show at the
London Motor Museum. For more news about
the Show check out Tuesday's news item.
On that subject, don't forget that 23:59 UK tonight (Thursday) is the dealine for entry to our Contest to win a
family ticket to this weekend's London Drag Racing Show. For more details including the Contest rules
click here or click on the London
Drag Show contest link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
The UK's Dave Beck Racing are selling
the new MSD 4350 Powersports Launch Master for the ZX12 and Hayabusa. The publicity blurb reads that the Launch Master is "A universal
low RPM limiter which will provide consistent launches and quicker sixty-foot times by setting an rpm limit for staging. Once the green light comes
on, release the clutch and take off - but be sure to hold on! The RPM is adjusted with two built-in rotary dials ranging from 1800 to 9900 rpm in
100 rpm increments. A handy LED shows when the launch rev limit is active. Easily set an RPM limit to use for the launch. Matching connectors for
easy installation. Delivers firm, consistent holeshots."
Lawrie Gatehouse's Chaos Fuel Altered is the subject of an excellent feature in the current issue of
Dragster Australia magazine (Which also provides European drag racing with regular and excellent coverage
courtesy of Ivan Sansom - Ed). You can get hold of your copy from Graham Rennie's American
Automags at www.americanautomags.com.
Luke Bennett of UK blown-alcohol altered team
Bennett Racing has asked us to say a big Thank You
to Matthew Wright of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor
Gleeson Wright Security
for the loan of a truck at for SPRC Summernationals.
Brian Pateman would like to acquire five racer tickets for the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park
later this month. If you can help then please get in touch with Brian on 01702 343401.
Jon Best has relaunched his Best Intentions web site at
www.bestintentions.co.uk. "The look is a bit cleaner
and hopefully easy to navigate", says Jon. The latest development on Jon's blown-fuel slingshot is the
bodywork, and a large box of pieces is on its way from the USA.
Jan Samuelsson says that the Top Doorslammers were the heavy hitters at the weekend's Aros Nats
at Västerås. "Mats Brag was #1 in qualifying with 4.27, and Micke Nord was #2 with a 4.27", says Johan. "The track was great
to start with but the cold weather and some rain made the track slippery. During Sunday's eliminations Micke Nord came way too close to wrecking the
beautiful Chevy Nova. After that "show" the rain came back and the whole event was closed". You can find pictures from the Aros Nats at
www.lagergren.se/vasteras and a couple of our good buddy Patrik
Jacobsson's pictures of Micke Nord on two wheels or less at
www.racebilder.nu/nova.
Andy of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Adoorable Handles
tells us that Andy Herron's Junior Dragster is headed for this weekend's London Drag Racing Show at the
London Motor Museum. "Anyone who wants to bring their
car along and join us, please contact Paul Knight on 07821 139945", says Andy.
Thanks to Paul Webster for letting us know that UK Super Pro ET racer Spencer Tramm is the subject of a feature in
the 27th June - 17th July issue of Disney Big Time magazine. You can find Spencer's Quantum Leap
Corrado on page ten, the Lightning McQueen's Mean Machines page.
We would like to wish a very Happy 4th July to all of our readers in the USA. Have a great
day, guys. Best wishes for a good day also to Kathy Taylor of Eurodragster.com News sponsor
the Bakers Court Café whose birthday it is today. Have a good one Kathy.
PMR unsure about aspiration... 4th July: The Super Modified-bound Paul Marston Racing Vauxhall Calibra, backed by Drag Race
Engineering, made its début in Super Pro ET at the FIA Main Event. First up was a chassis tag as the car needed to be re-certified
as Super Modified legal after rule changes since it last ran, but Paul Marston says that Hauser Race Cars build a good product with an eye
on the future and that the chassis was perfect:
The PMR Calibra is presently back in the Drag Race Engineering (020 8597 4575) workshop, being prepped for its début in Super
Modified competition. As most people know Super Modified is a heads-up Doorslammer class. Fastest race car wins with a reasonably
simple set of rules which are designed to allow nitrous and naturally-aspirated entries to compete on a level playing field.
The Drag Race Engineering/CTM-backed Calibra has already been weighed at DRE and meets the Super Modified weight criteria. The next
step is the inspection of the motor, tagging and sealing by the Tech team who need to verify its capacity as it directly relates to the Calibra's
weight. Valve size and port height also need to be checked. It is a race against time to have all of this work done; it's a very busy time of year
for Tech Inspectors Geoff Martin and Mark and they are doing their level best to fit us in before Bug Jam. It will be a major setback to PMR
if we have to take the motor to Santa Pod in pieces. It will be a totally untried combination, we would at least want to have fired the motor up
at DRE prior to setting off to what will be a hard weekend's racing, with an extremely steep learning curve for everyone on the team.
Paul Marston Racing is under no illusion when it comes to Bug Jam and Super Modified. "All Paul Marston Racing can realistically look to
achieve at Bug Jam is qualifying and making the first round" says principal crew Sefton Whitlock. "If we do that I will be happy. Having
personally raced bikes heads-up, I know it's a different level of commitment. That said, I feel we are ready for this kind of challenge. It
will be tough: Super Modified is an established class with some very professional teams, and I have not seen any real weaknesses in the
top drivers, which is only right and proper. The Drag Race Engineering Calibra is running the naturally-aspirated option. I know Gary
Springford and Paul Marston have been working with CTM and their contacts in the States regarding the motor.
"That said, in my opinion there need to be some pretty reasonable and fair rule changes made for the 2008 season to level the playing
field and for us to remain in the class. At the moment the naturally-aspirated option is just not competitive, in six years of competition a
naturally-aspirated Super Modified has never won anything. Paul Marston Racing would like to attempt to change that statistic. It won't
happen this year, some serious rule changes are needed before that could ever happen."
The power plant that Paul Marston Racing have selected for our Drag Race Engineering-backed Vauxhall Calibra is based on a Pro Series
Scott Shafiroff 555 ci Big Block Chevy. Although the heads came fully ported they will be sent down to CTM so as under Charlie's
direction the valve seats can be re-cut as he wants them and the heads checked over. There is only so much that you can get from a
forty plus year old conventional factory head design, rulebook porting limitations and a limited engine size, but we will be doing our level
best to close the gap between ourselves and Nigel Payne, the top naturally-aspirated Super Modified competitor. That's a realistic goal.
As to chasing the nitrous cars forget it!
Nigel and his team have put a tremendous effort into the development of their motor, again a 555 ci Big Block Chevy and have run regularly
in the 7.90 to 8.0 range with a PB in the high 7.80s which really is a fantastic achievement. But despite all Nigel and his team's hard work
and their pioneering spirit, the Sticky Situation Super Modified naturally-aspirated 1953 Corvette still trails the nitrous by on average
three tenths.
If you are at Bug Jam, stop by to see if we made it and say Hi, it's going to be a great weekends racing and the weather is pre booked too!
"No normally aspirated entry has ever won anything in six years of Super Modified" isn't true as I won a couple of events in 2002 with a normally-aspirated
565 ci motor but I'll concede that it's been a while.
A strong point is Andy Hone's performance of late, or should I say his performance
since he has fitted a manual trans. Prior to that he was not much quicker that Nigel having a best of 7.82 with the current motor and nitrous regs,
he has changed nothing and is now a mid 7.60s runner having the advantage of a well-sorted trans and clutch right away. Should Nigel fit a five-speed
Liberty to his existing combination how do we know that that won't be far more competitive? We won't make drastic rule changes to this combination.
Before we tell you how to win the family ticket, Paul has told us the latest about the Show. Thirty
five drag racing vehicles are booked to attend including Andy Carter's Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster,
representatives of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, Kev Slyfield's Willys Pro Mod, Rob Smallworth's
Chevy Super Mod, Chris Orthodoxou's Super Pro ET Dodge Viper, Tim Adam's Super Comp/Super Gas Brogie Roadster
and Ford Falcon, Chris Isaacs' Super Comp Standard Vanguard, Jon
Morton's Super Comp/Super Gas Camaro, Carla Pittau and Rick McCann's Pro ET Camaro, the Panther Racing
UK Super Gas Firebird, Paul Wright's blown-alcohol Outlaw Anglia, three representatives of Paul Marston
Racing, Paul Knight's own race car, and many more.
Both Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Raceways are presenting displays. SCR will be bringing their Reaction Timer
and will be running a contest to win event tickets whilst Santa Pod Raceway are bringing their show Top Fuel
Dragster, Fuel Funny Car and Supertwin.
Trade stands include Motorshack, T-Shirt and model vendors and AutoTrader magazine, and catering will be available on-site.
Entry closes at 23:59 UK on Thursday 5th July, and the winner will be notified by Eurodragster.com
on Friday 6th July.
For more details including the Contest rules
click here or click on the London
Drag Show contest link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
If you are not lucky enough to win the contest then tickets to the London Drag Racing Show are £10
for adults, £5 for children, £6 for students and OAPs and as mentioned above a family ticket
to admit two adults and up to three children is £20.
The Show is open between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday at:
The London Motor Museum
Aylsham Drive
Off Ickenham Road
West Ruislip
London
HA4 7DZ
West Ruislip overground and underground stations are a few minutes' walk away and the Museum is within easy access
of the M25, M4, M40 and A40
(map). For more
information check out the Musem's official web site at www.londonmotormuseum.co.uk.
Many thanks to Paul Knight for putting up the prize for the Contest.
In with the Bugs. 3rd July: The first ever European Bug In took place at Chimay Circuit in Belgium at the weekend, writes
Mathias Wienand:
More than 150 drag racers, off road action, a slalom area, a swap meet and countless show and shine competitors filled the Chimay Circuit and
pleased the huge crowd which attended the three-day show. The drag racing entries included the UK's Outlaw Flat Four who put on a great show.
Everybody was very happy to see the guys racing outside their home track.
Swift snippets. 3rd July: NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified series leader, The Netherlands'
Robert Joosten, has a lot of driving ahead of him in the next few weeks.
"We are leaving today for the big trip to Finland", says Robert. "The Corvette is already in the trailer (right), and we can't wait for the "Scandic"
swing. 1800 km to Finland, back home (work is waiting) and then 1400 km to Mantorp Park. Should be good for the Diesel Card savings - lots of points!
We had a good outing at Easter and at the FIA Main Event so we are looking forward to this race."
The final entry list for this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, as well as other
details about the race, can be found on the Finnish Hot Rod Association web site at
www.fhra.fi.
UK Junior Dragster racer Matthew Seamarks has asked us to say a big Thank You to
Geof Hauser for making time to fit the new crank and rings into the engine of his Gingerman Racing JM/A dragster.
"Thanks also to JR Race Car, my engine builder, who made me a crank in record time - it was only finished last Tuesday", says
Matthew. "Big Thank Yous to also Dave Day and Spencer Tramm...they both know what for! We will be attending the
London Drag Racing Show this weekend."
Helping to save US-bound readers a wasted side trip, Les Barney has been in touch to advise us that the Race Rock restaurant
in Orlando has closed down.
A big Hello and Get Well Soon to Tina Carter who right now is very poorly in a Greek hospital. All
of our love and best wishes are with you Tina and we hope that you get sprung very soon.
Attending to the Garden. 1st July: Today Eurodragster.com becomes possibly the world's only drag racing web site
to be sponsored by an Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant as we are very pleased to welcome The Curry Garden
on board as a sponsor of our News page.
The Curry Garden was established in Rushden in 1989 and offers
restaurant, take-away and delivery service of Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine. Chef Joynul Abedin won
runner-up spot in the 2006-7 International Indian Chef of the Year
in Edinburgh, was a finalist the the same competition in 2005-6, and was runner-up in the 2006 UK South Asian
Chef Competition. Manager Komor Uddin has managed the restaurant since its opening. Having eaten at The Curry
Garden on many occasions the Eurodragster.com staff can attest to the excellence of Joynul's food, the
courtesy and efficiency of Komor and his staff, and the comfort of the
restaurant.
On Wednesdays The Curry Garden offers two curry meals for £10 and on Sunday an all-you-can-eat buffet
for £6.95 or £3.50 for children. A function room on the first floor of the restaurant can cater
for up to forty guests.
The Curry Garden is open seven days a week between 6:00 pm and midnight, only minutes from Santa Pod Raceway
at 24 Church Street, Rushden NN10 9YT
(map). For
reservations, take-away or delivery (within four miles' radius, £12 minimum order) call 01933 314121 or
01933 359581. The Curry Garden will deliver to Santa Pod Raceway given a sufficiently large order.
You can also check out the menu and find out more about The Curry Garden at
www.thecurrygarden.co.uk or click on the
logo at right.
We would like to thank Komor Uddin for his support of Eurodragster.com and also his support of drag racing
through UK Junior Dragster racer Matthew Seamarks. We are sure that our readers won't take much persuasion to
show their appreciation by visiting The Curry Garden or ordering a take-away or delivery.
25th July: Devotees of hot rodding who have any type of access to London should make a date in their diaries for
an evening dedicated to Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth at The Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury this Friday.
24th July: Big news for fans of Nitro Top Fuel Bikes in Europe is that Finnish Super Street Bike rider Kai Selkämaa of 
24th July: Congratulations to Tim Jan and Nick Mugridge for the newest arrival of the Mugridge Family and future Junior Dragster/Super Modified racer - Luke Mugridge (see right for picture). He is starting as he means to go on with his finger on the button of his reaction tester.
20th July: Swedish Pro Modified racer Patrick Wikström will be making his long-awaited return to competition at next week's Veidec Festival. The newly-renamed OFAB Thriller blown-alcohol Camaro will be pounding the pavement at Mantorp Park twenty two months after its last appearance on the track.
19th July: The Billadeau Speed and Automotive web site at
18th July: Jo Harris of Santa Pod raceway writes: with only three days to go before the gates of Bug Jam are flung open for another jam packed festival weekend of all things VW, we can confirm that Leif Nyström is winging his way as we speak over to Santa Pod from Sweden with his super fast 8 second beetle, which can do the quarter mile in 8.876s/158.5 mph! Also taking to the strip will be the VWDRC and sportsman racers. 
18th July: Top Fuel Bike racer Asko Määttä says that after last weekend's testing the team is ready for the ‘driver's holiday’ trip to Estonia and then will be heading to the Mantorp Veidec Festival Top Fuel Bike UEM race. 
One thing to look out for at Mantorp Park is the newly-completed Simpson trackside service rig (right)
which is headed for the Veidec Festival after its début at the Midnight Sun Internationals at Pite
Dragway. "All racers and race fans are welcome", says Jan.
17th July: Vicky Smith of
16th July: Stuart Oliver was declared the winner of the British Truck Racing
Association Sprint Cup at the weekend's UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Stuart qualified #1 at 14.319/100.65
which earned him a first round bye whilst #2 qualifer Matt Summerfield set new BTRA bests of 14.288 and 100.83 mph
in the first round before rain curtailed the race. One of the weekend's other undoubted highlights was a Personal
Best 7.954/171.10 by Belinda Bull in what is nominally a Super Comp pick-up.
Congratulations to Jon Crawford on his first class honours degree in Ancient History and Archaeology from the
University of Leicester. "Academic highlights include a comparative study of the use of local animals for the amphitheatre games in Britain
(where lions and tigers were unavailable) with the ingenuity displayed by British tuners in using the locally available Jaguar, Daimler and Rover
engines for drag racing in the 1960s, 70s and 80s", says Jon. "As a mature student (possibly an oxymoron!), there have been many challenges
along the way, and I am eternally grateful to my wife Jane and the rest of the family during the last three years. Once my teacher training is
complete, I will be back at the tracks more regularly, and may even buy a proper camera this time!"
So the Mustang raced on, on seven and two thirds cylinders and at 140 mph, for the remaining five hundred miles to Belgium and Antwerp and finally Calais - where
some obligatory doughnuts and burnouts were performed for the cameras - for the return home and the black tie dinner at the Outlands Hotel Surrey, where Mike
found that of the fifty seven entries the Metamorphosis Mustang had achieved second place, behind a Porsche 997 Turbo and in front of a Porsche 911 Carrera.
Amazing fun and incredibly thrilling being able to whip up on such a lot of exotic and insanely expensive cars, a pleasure Mike doesn't believe he'll be able to better
for quite some time. So he's now got a trophy for his cabinet, a pair of made to measure Vitallo racing shoes, and a huge grin on his face.
And, I kid you not, as a result there are now a Ferrari 360, a Ferrari 355 and a Maserati up for sale, and the owners are going to buy Mustangs!
11th July: Sweden's 
11th July: Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has updated his Fotopic
gallery with pictures from last Saturday's Retro Show at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Peter's
pictures at 
10th July: UK Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay has taken advantage of the summer break
to promote drag racing and generate some exposure for his sponsors.
5th July: Peder Eneroth of Aros Rör & Svets has announced that he is to sponsor this weekend's Power Big Meet
at Västerås airfield. The Power Big Meet is one of the world's biggest car meets and Peter will be supplying the event with drain filters.
The UK's 
Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with pictures from the weekend's Aros Nats
at Västerås including, as mentioned yesterday, a couple of shots of Micke Nord getting
bored with doing it conventionally. You can check out Patrik's excellent pictures at
Andy of Eurodragster.com News sponsor 
3rd July: The first ever European Bug In took place at Chimay Circuit in Belgium at the weekend, writes
Mathias Wienand:
3rd July: NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified series leader, The Netherlands'
Robert Joosten, has a lot of driving ahead of him in the next few weeks.
"We are leaving today for the big trip to Finland", says Robert. "The Corvette is already in the trailer (right), and we can't wait for the "Scandic"
swing. 1800 km to Finland, back home (work is waiting) and then 1400 km to Mantorp Park. Should be good for the Diesel Card savings - lots of points!
We had a good outing at Easter and at the FIA Main Event so we are looking forward to this race."
1st July: As promised on Friday Mark 'Animal' Bodimeade (right, with friends)has been
in touch from Lithuania to let us know how Patrik Pers fared on the first day of demonstration in the Carbon By
Design Top Fuel Dragster and Fuel Funny Car.
1st July: Today Eurodragster.com becomes possibly the world's only drag racing web site
to be sponsored by an Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant as we are very pleased to welcome The Curry Garden
on board as a sponsor of our News page.
The Curry Garden is open seven days a week between 6:00 pm and midnight, only minutes from Santa Pod Raceway
at 24 Church Street, Rushden NN10 9YT
(
