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30th September: Lizz McCarthy asks: who would have thought, at the beginning of the season, that Kev Charman and
the Nitrous Junkie team would come away with the number one plate in the
2011 ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship? "What an incredibly unpredictable and amazing sport this is!" she says.
"On the first run of the day at the weekend we were not too sure what to expect. Craig had changed the ratio the week before, and we went to Santa Pod to test the bike last week. Unfortunatley the weather was not on our side, so we never got out to test. Kev had Steve Woollatt in the first round of qualifying. Steve had gone into pre stage before Kev had been pushed back from his burnout, but unfazed Kev launched and the bike just flew, 6.71/202, the only Fuel bike which ran a six in the first round, giving Kev number one qualifying position. Needless to say we were very happy with that. Steve unfortunately had problems, running a 12.79. "As drag racing goes, the highs and lows always come with it, and the second run against Chris Hannam Kev launched, the bike charged off again, sounding strong (1.08 sixty foot) but then the primary drive belt was destroyed again, thus running a 11.22/66. Chris on the other hand ran an awesome 7.13/189 mph! Got back to the pits and then to our horror discovered that we only had one belt left. We put a call out, thanks to Eurodragster.com for putting an SOS out on the web site and to Colin Theobald for putting a shout out, and the Hero of the Hour goes to Alex McIntosh,of Street Eliminator fame, who pooped over with a belt we could use. He would take no money for it, as he was pretty sure we could return the favour at some point. Big thanks to him. "Third and last one of the day, and it was mildy comical. Kev had Chris again. Kev launched and the tyre just smoked. Chris had waited for a while before launching and ran a 7.24/187, but Kev effectively did a quarter mile burnout, getting hardly any traction at all. He feathered the throttle, but the bike was having none of it, and ran a 10.06/173, huge mph for such a slow time! Ian King ran an amazing 6.14/213 which put us in second spot. Many congratulations to Ian and the team! "Usual servicing and maintenance done in the evening, leakdown was all OK, and then decided what we were going to do the next day. Massive commiserations to Steve Woollatt and the team who damaged their engine and could not make the the first round of eliminations; as Steve could not race we had a bye in the first round on Sunday, so we just staged for the next round. We staged again in the semi-final for no other reason than we were trying to save parts. This was the clincher for the number one plate in the ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship. 
"We were to meet Ian King in the final. Would we be able to win the meeting as well as the Championship?
Just before our round there had been a small mist of an oildown, and Ian and the team decided to swap lanes with us, which was no problem,
and then we felt a small splatter of rain. Thankfully this blew over, and away we went. Kev's burnout was a bit longer than expected, but Ian waited
and we are sorry if we held you up Ian! Ian just got away first, Kev's tyre lit up again and he feathered the throttle and was chasing Ian. Ian was
heading towards the guardrail, and by the time they both got to the end, neither of them were too sure who had taken the win. Kev lost by 0.122
seconds! An honourable second, and a very good race: 7.78/140 for Ian to Kev's 7.87/199 - that was some chase!
"So there we are, runner-up in the meeting, and number one in the Championship. We are under no illusions that we won because we have the quickest or most consistent bike, with rolling sprags, chains, and belts, but as they say you have to be in it to win it, and we did! Not bad for a rookie season, and there is still so much to learn. "We could never have done this without the help and support of the incredible Rene den Berg and his crew, Craig Boulton and Binzi, our Crew Chief Chris, Pyke, and the back up gang. Our sponsors Doug at Ensys, and Steve at Motorshack. Thanks to Eurodragster.com and Colin Theobald, as always, for the excellent coverage over the weekend (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). And big thanks too to everyone who came and congratulated us on the win. It's a bit of a thing to have run a six-second pass first ever run, thinking it was a fluke, running a PB this weekend, and now to have had three number one plates - Comp Bike, Funny Bike and Top Fuel Bike. What an achievement! "Also big well done to Kev's son Jake, who got through to the semi-finals of Junior Drag Dike, we are proud of you too! "We would also like to say Hi, and please get well soon, to Paula Marshall and we hope to see you back at the track soon." Pateman doubles up. 30th September: 2011 UK National Super Comp and Super Gas Champion Brian Pateman has been in touch to thank Julie, George, Stef and Katrina who all helped towards winning the double this year, thirty years after running his first RWYB with the same car. "Thanks also to Dodgy Dave's Dial-ins and Britex Services Ltd communications", says Brian. "It has been a stellar or is that Stella year for us. Returning to race in the Super Gas National Championship has been great fun, it was just a shame that Jon Morton was robbed of the chance to race for the title by mechanical problems. It is hard on the cars when you double-class. "Super Gas entries have been low this year, the impending noise testing has put people off and it looks like the 120db (+ or – 2) limit will be imposed next year. My car has headers exiting rearwards and was tested at 121 db which is a pass, the Morrice Methanol Camaro was tested at 123 db which is a fail. I have tried the Dynomax cones in my car which can reduce the level by 3 db but I lost a tenth and a half of a second in power. If you know of a cheap way of reducing the noise without losing power please let me know on 01702 343401. "I would love to see Super Gas entries grow again, as it is a great feeder class . I am going to post £250 for the winner of the 2012 National Championship as a payback for the enjoyment I have had over the years, anyone else want to add to that? Even £100 for runner up would help revive some interest. At the height of Super Gas in the 1990s, Lesley Digby / Wright did a fantastic job as Co-ordinator, approaching sponsors and writing race reports, anyone got the time to take that on? There is also some talk of a Super Gas posse going to Tierp next year, do you remember how good the Terry Gibbs' Hockenheim trips were? Eighteen UK Super Gas cars, it was awesome! "Thanks to the track crews and staff at both tracks for their efforts." Alamo JD Challenge results. 18th September: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the final standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent-A-Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which awards the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
"Congratulations to Rhiannon on taking the number one spot, to Rachel for coming second, and to Joe for finishing third", says Andy. "An IPad2 is on its way to Rhiannon and IPod Touch to Rachel and Joe. Well done!" Even better than it appears... 
30th September: Geof Hauser of Eurodragster.com sponsor Hauser
Race Cars says that his new Super Pro ET dragster, built by HRC and now driven by Scott Hauser, has performed better than his expectations:
The car has run arrow straight on every pass and at each outing it seems to go quicker than before, running a best of 8.060/164.24 during the National Finals. Our motor so far has been a fairly mild 509 Big Block Chevy which will probably give way to something bigger over the winter. Although I drove the car on its initial outing and on a couple of test passes since, Scott has taken to it like a duck to water so I can see my briefly-resurrected driving career taking another long hiatus! I would like to thank everyone for their compliments, it really means a lot and I am proud that the car has done exactly what it is supposed to. I would also like to thank the following companies for their support and assistance, without which the car would still be waiting to be completed: Strange Engineering, Crane Cams, Motive Gear, Hughes Performance, Weld Wheels, ARP, Hoosier Tires, Total Seal Autometer/Stack, G-Max, CSR and Fineline Graphics. We can, of course, supply products from all of the above companies and are happy to help in any way we can. Of men and manuals. 30th September: It was a largely wet weekend at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway but Matthew Wright of Eurodragster.com sponsor WG4 Facilities and Services and the WG Racing team had a good time with the Outlaw Rolls Royce. PR Danielle Wright writes: Firstly the team would like to thank everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway for the invitation. We would like to say a massive Thank You to John Sleath for assisting Matthew with the tuning at the track. Friday produced a run of 8.70/161 with Matt lifting at 900 feet purely so that John Sleath could collect some data. On Saturday we had a problem with the valve train where the rocker stud had pulled out of the head. With assistance from Andy (Fred) Hone and Crew Chief Bill Felstead, the problem was soon resolved and we were then prepared for another run. We were then on standby, waiting for a break in the weather but unfortunately that never came! By Sunday morning we were all raring to go, but still we were waiting for the all-important break in the weather. Finally we got a run in late afternoon which gave us a very disappointing time of 8.50/171. It just didn't make sense! This ET baffled us all. It wasn't until we got the car back home that Matt and Bill realised that the switch which arms the AMS1000 was in the adjust position and not armed! For those who think I am talking German... this means that with four pounds of spring pressure on the waste gate, and eight pounds of creep, we ran that 8.50/171 on only ten to twelve pounds of boost. Why don't you men read the instructions! Matt does like to keep Felstead busy. The daft idiot hit the car with the car transporter whist loading it up at the last meeting, so yet again my kitchen window is a serving hatch. What is it with my husband and loading and unloading the car, he really should come with a hazard warning! The good news is that we are all ready to go back out this weekend, to Santa Pod, and aim yet again for the sevens. Maybe my daft husband will remember to flick the switch this time! FBs' finest year. 
30th September: Despite a small field for the Topspeed Automotive
Street Eliminator Championship's final round, last weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding
SE rounds in which Ian Hook and the FB Racing team have taken part:
We arrived at the track with a very small lead over Alex McIntosh with whom we have been battling for the Championship runner-up spot, Brian Payne having secured the title at the European Finals. Any hopes we had that the new track surface may have bedded in were dashed when we smoked the tyres to a 9.46 in the first of our three qualifying sessions. To make matters worse, Alex stormed to an 8.31 for provisional pole – damn those big sticky Hoosiers! However, our 164 mph terminal showed that the extra 100 or so horsepower which Brain (Martin Kerr) had squeezed from our single shot system was paying dividends. With Alex not able to better his Q1 time we took power out (!) and got closer in the second session with an 8.69 and then removed even more to get very close (but no cigar!) with our final run of 8.40. Alex had taken pole and closed the points gap to zero! All to play for on race day. Sadly we lost Alan Williamson and his heavy Ch*vy on Saturday (broken third member) so just four SE cars lined up for the first round of eliminations with only Brian Payne - in his substitute car, a really cool ten-second Zephyr sleeper - and ourselves having to race. With a semi-final bye our reward for getting through round one we made only a minor tweak and progressed with an 8.36. For the semi-final we took note of the golden rule to make only one change at a time. We took note of it then tore the note up and burnt it! Changes were made to the four-link, shock settings, timing curve, nitrous delay and nitrous delivery curve. And just to cap it off we bolted on a rear anti-roll bar. The last time we'd tried an ARB the car had made a beeline for the rear of the signing on office but we believed the new chassis would allow us to make much better use of it now. And we were right. The launch was almost text book, the '34 coming off the line much flatter, driving straight and hooking well. The only fly in the ointment was a loss of power right at the top end when all the N2O system solenoids shut down. Despite this we ran a stout 8.23 to give us lane choice against Alex who had got past Bill MacDermid with an 8.69. So to the final – runner up and third place in the 2011 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship were to be decided by the last race of the last meeting of the season and I decided we'd taken enough chances so made no further changes! After the burnout we both pulled up to the line, Alex going in first followed by myself after a quick purge. I was surprised how calm I felt at this point as the nerves had been jangling all day but I was out first, my cautious .05 light enough to get me half a tenth ahead from the off. I knew I had the lead but suddenly the engine started to falter, power seeming to rise and fall. I looked to my left expecting Alex to flash past but he was still out of sight (the '34 having a major rear three-quarter blind spot!). The problem got worse, yet I continued to build a lead to the 1000 foot mark where Alex reeled me in a little but not enough to prevent me crossing the line first, my 8.82 to his 8.90 giving me a win margin of 0.13 seconds. As I hit the brakes Alex passed me with worrying smoke streaming from under the Mustang. Back in the pits he was there to shake my hand as I got out of the car. He explained that he'd been fighting a trans problem all weekend and that the final had been the last straw. I was relieved for him that it was nothing more serious whilst my problem seems to be no more than a recalcitrant N2O solenoid which decided to have a hissy fit at exactly the wrong time! 
Guy Scofield had his camera on the car for the final, and you can see the video on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg1S3P-yLtY.
Thanks Guy!
But I was as pleased as punch for myself and the team that, despite missing the first round at Easter, we'd netted the runner-up spot, something we'd never done before in SE, after an exciting race. Five consecutive final appearances with two of those converted to event wins made 2011 our best ever season in terms of results. As in most cases, there is always so much more that goes into getting a car like the '34 down the track than can be seen on the surface - good people being the major ingredient. The first of these are my crew: the stalwarts of Brain, Oily Poily, Fester, Squeak and Spud along with Flash, Wires, Dole Monkey, Josh and Stinkin' Student have shown great generosity with time, spirit, cash and, most importantly, humour which often keeps me going when it gets a bit tough! Also, of course, a huge thanks as always to our sponsors. Rob Hands and Roy Palmer of RS Auto Services have backed us for a long time and, despite the current economic climate, have increased that support in recent years – on top of that they usually win the award for the loudest table at our annual Curry Night! I first made contact with Graham Smith of Serck Services Motorsport when the company supplied our aluminium radiator back in 2002 - it's still doing sterling service on board the '34! We welcomed the company as joint principal sponsors in 2010, were delighted that they continued their support in 2011, and are very pleased that Graham, always one of our most enthusiastic fans, has pledged to continue our association in 2012. Thanks go to Jon Webster for his support, not just in terms of the supply of PowerPour - which I'm convinced saved our engine when our fuel pump failed - but also for the generous way he has shared knowledge, both with set-up tips at the track and help with the design of our re-born chassis. Definitely one of the good guys! A key tool to our performance on the less grippy tracks we seem to have encountered this year has been our Max Extreme controller coupled with Pulsoids from Trevor Langfield's Wizards of Nos. Trevor is another enthusiastic fan and a keen watcher of Eurodragster.com's live coverage (Good boy - Ed), often texting his comments on the previous run before I've even picked up the timing ticket! Keeping it local are The Everest Balti Restaurant and my employers Messier-Bugatti-Dowty. The Everest ensure that the Fat Boys remain well fed even between meetings and also play hosts to our annual Curry Night (Tenth Anniversary in 2012 – don't miss it!). A huge thanks to Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, as well as making the world's best landing gear they also ensure my mortgage gets paid! And last but not least are the FB Associates. My faithful band of "mini sponsors" who share in our trials and tribulations both on and off track. Thanks to you all, I hope we made you proud! Swift snippets. 
30th September: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came
with the words "Looks like I have run out of time to race this year but will see you in 2012". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy
picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].
This year's last race event at Tierp Arena, the Racestar Night of Fire, takes place today (Friday) and tomorrow. The end-of-season bash features thirty Top Doorslammers, various Sportsman car and bike classes, and a huge party amongst other attractions. You can read more at www.racestar.se and coverage is available at on the Nitroz web site at www.nitroz.se. Another Allard original. 30th September: Gloucester-based artist Stuart Taylor has donated his original illustration of Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler dragster to the Allard Chrysler Action Group to be auctioned for funds. ACAG Chair Brian Taylor says that prints have been available for some time but that this is the original: 
Stuart specialises in transport and racing cars of different types, and for most of his work he uses graphite pencil.
More recently he has returned to using colour pencil to add depth to his drawings and it is this technique which he has
used on the drawing being auctioned. It features a unique illustration of the Guv'nor himself – Sydney Allard - and the
Allard Chrysler at Kemble in 1964 sporting the race number 121. Measuring 23¾" by 16½" and on 220 gsm
heavyweight cartridge paper the original drawing is signed by the artist, ACAG Patron Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Alan
Allard. It is mounted, framed and glazed.
The auction is open until the end of October. Offers should be E-Mailed to [email protected] or please call 01395 579733. Bengtsson's Hollywood ending. 
29th September: UEM Supertwin Champion Per Bengtsson had a real Hollywood weekend at the
FIA European Finals, writes team member L-O Jonsson:
We qualified on the pole with a 6.60 second run in the quickest Supertwin ladder ever! Despite the resurfaced startline the team believed the track would be of Santa Pod standard for Sunday's eliminations so the tune-up was kept as planned and produced a 6.49-second pass in the first round, which was low ET of the weekend. Per repeated with a 6.53 side by side race in the semi against Mark Ashelford's 6/73 and made it to the final which turned out to be an unusual one with Ronny Aasen blowing the engine after the sixty foot mark and The Beast throwing off the chain after about 80 metres but still crossing the finish line first. A new Personal Best sixty time of 1.07 seconds was recorded on that launch pointing at a run somewhere in the low 6.40 zone. Number one qualifier, Low ET of the season, winner of the event and the 2011 UEM European Supertwin Champion, you couldn't ask for more during the same race! "The quality of the Supertwin class has really stepped up to a new level and we as a team are really proud to bring home the Championship title to Sweden", says Per. "This is my fourth Championship title and the one I value the most given the high quality of the competition which been world class. "I'm also very glad to be the first winner of the Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena, a special weekend at a facility which will move the sport forward in a big way. "When it comes to our competitors we have to mention Roel Koedam and the Pels family who turned out to be our main contenders in the series; Australian Mark Ashelford who deliver every time he is on the track; two names that have proven their potential for the coming seasons are Samu Kemppainen and Christian Jäger. And our tent partner Hans-Olav Olstad for several great side-by-side runs. "I also want to say a big thank you to all my crew members who have all done a tremendous job during the season and have worked so well together. It's been an extremely long season with a massive amount of work both at the races and in the shop between events. "We will now enjoy the sweet taste of victory for a few weeks and the whole team will gather at the end of October for a summary of the season and to make some decisions for the future. It's already clear that we will not defend the title next year since we are not able to do another full tour because of business commitments. But you will definitely see The Beast at the race track again in the future!" The Beast Drag Bike Team wants to say a Big Thank You to all our sponsors and partners this season. We couldn't have done it without you! Swedcut, Red Line Oil, Gates/L¨nne, Autoexperten Växjö, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Ulvsgården AB, Bilservice i Åseda, Larssons Bilverkstad Lenhovda, Kalvsviks Bilverkstad, Rävemåla Bilservice, Cemecon, Liqui Moly, Bentec Engineering and Flexoart Graphic Systems. Please visit the team web site at www.bentec.net. Where did 2011 go? 29th September: UK Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson is already wondering where 2011 went: It only feels like five minutes since we were pulling in to the pits at Easter, with a new Hemi and some new team. We have had some really hard work this year, some great performance (more to come), some good fortune, and some bad luck thrown in too. But I think we finished on a high, getting to the finals this weekend was a deserving finish for us even though we came runner up. I could not have done any of this without my crew Dennis, Tony, Adam and Joe. They have worked tirelessly all year, thank you! Adam and Tony joined us at Easter this year and instantly become part of a great team, thanks boys. Dennis has been my Crew Chief and close friend for a number of years, a true diamond, thanks mate. Joe, my youngest son, has been so reliable and supportive, thank you son. And Belinda, what can I say, she is so supportive, thank you. Thank you to our sponsors, Lucas Oil, faultless products all year; Originals Hot Rod Supply, fantastic support and service; Allyfab, great support and service; EDA, years of support and friendship! Thank you! We have more performance available , and we will be back for more next year, I am missing the driver's seat already. Funny Bike thanks. 
29th September: Wendy Clutterbuck has been in touch to thank everyone who supported Funny Bike at the VP Racing
Fuels National Finals at the weekend:
The enthusiasm from the riders and crew was amazing with many now gearing up for a full 2012 season in the class. Also, a huge thank you to Thomas Joswig and Klaus Brinkmann for travelling all the way from Germany to support the cause. The event win went to the very deserving Dave Peters who, rumour has it, may invest his windfall in a new pair of diamond-encrusted rigger boots! Runner up went to Thomas Joswig who has told us that, if all goes to plan, he hopes to return to race with us next season. It would be an honour to have you back Thomas! We would also like to say thank you to Jon Webster of Webster Race Engineering, Neil Barratt of BP Roofing Services, fellow racer Mike Vickers, and Alan Rowcliffe of plastic moulding specialist Mirage Ltd, all of whom kindly sponsored the event. We are very passionate about the success of this potentially great class and hope that we can build on it from here. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Extreme Performance Bike weekend on the 8th-9th October and hope to see some great racing from all the fantastic and diverse machines in both the ACU and Straightliner series! Best of luck to you all. "My red light at the weekend put paid, or rather not paid, to the chance of winning a sizable pot of cash" says UK Funny Bike racer Steve French. "It transpires that it was my thirteenth run of the year. Bugger. Well done to Dave Peters for taking the win, to everyone who entered Funny Bike, and a huge thanks to all those who put up the money. " Laura Grace: Born to race. 29th September: The VP Racing Fuels National Finals was a fabulous event. The weather was fine and the racing hot. It was an emotional race for Team Turboville as it was Laura Turburville's swansong in Lucas Oil Junior Dragster. Ian Turburville writes: We had sold Laura's car to John Bradshaw at the European Finals but we were very lucky to learn that Santa Pod Raceway had invested in two more dragsters of their own. This time they were lovely Junior Modified Advanced cars. Laura rented one for a very reasonable price so she could complete her Championship year and it didn't disappoint. The sleek black Mike Bos car instantly went 7.8 seconds (Tut tut - Ed), the quickest she had ever been, but it was so totally different to her car. After we bolted twenty pounds of lead weight to it, the car ran a safer 7.9-8.0 seconds, making it legal. Laura said that it left the line really hard but the new clutch was very different as it locked up quicker and unloaded quicker too. This was to be her downfall as she beat Josh Saunders off the line in her semi final but couldn't judge her back-off as planned. It was however a very close and thrilling race. If only we had more qualifying runs to dial it in then it would be a different story. We couldn't find out why we were restricted to only three runs on Saturday with such a small entry and perfect weather! That was the end of Laura's Junior racing career and she now looks forward to racing the unique Overkill dragster for CHF Racing in Pro ET next year. We took it to the National Finals to give everyone a sneak preview and it left a lot of people puzzled but most were amazed! The full story on the car will be in Drag Racing Confidential soon but there is an exclusive peek in the weekend's pit notes on Eurodragster.com. The last two years in the Lucas Oil Championship have been incredible fun and we have made a lot of new friends. The Lucas Oil Championship is the perfect springboard for any budding drag racer, giving them the skills and confidence to move up to the adult classes where they excel! I know Callum Bradshaw will fit right in and have lots of fun. Laura finished sixth in the National Championship amongst twenty five other keen racers. I would like to say well done Laura, you have always been a totally professional racer and given it your all. You will be my Champion always and I hope we race together for many years to come. Laura and I would like to say a big Well Done Champ to Joe, Pete and Kim Kellett for their friendship and help throughout and for their fantastic achievements in winning everything except a Wally this year. They deserved it as they went that extra (2000) mile(s) and completed not only the UK championship but the Nordic and Swedish Championships. That is true commitment to the sport and they were our best ambassadors! Team Gridlock's great year. 29th September: Dexter Price says that it has been quite a year for the Essex-based Team Gridlock family drag racing team. "We started with the addition of baby Hollie, a magnificent wedding, and now we have won the Wild Bunch series and can proudly display WB1 on the car for 2012", says Dex. "But the team could only do this with the help of their sponsors who have been there to make it all happen, so the team would like to say a big Thank You to Paul of Paul's Place for his engine skills throughout 2011, Voltz Energy shot drinks that kept us all buzzing along, RCS Cables, Artel Rubber, Substation Supplies, Photo-Excellence and the London Motor Museum for all their support. We could not have done it without you all. "The team would also like to thank Chris and Claire for all their hard work to make the Wild Bunch such a great class to race in. The car is now being stripped down ready for its re-launch in January 2012." Swift snippets. 29th September: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding us the post-VP Racing Fuels National Finals points standings in the 2011 UK National Drag Racing Championships. These are the final points standings in the car classes; 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike have one round left to contest. You can check out the UK points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official Timing Data from the VP Racing Fuels National Finals. You can check out the Nationals Finals timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of next week, 8th-9th October. You can check out the Bike Weekend entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UK Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Thomas Cook-Abbott and parents Mark and Rebecca would like to thank Ian Marshall and Santa Pod Racers Club for the help and hire of the Junior Dragster, M&S Ambulance and Tog for their sponsorship, and everybody in the Junior Drag Racing family for help and advice and for making them welcome in the pits. "Thomas has had a great year and has made lots of new friends", they say. "The season came to a sad end with the news of Paula Marshall's illness, our thoughts are with Ian, Paula and Holley and we wish Paula a speedy recovery. We look forward to being in JS26 and to seeing everybody back next season." We couldn't post this yesterday for obvious reasons but we would like to wish a very Happy Birthday for yesterday (Wednesday) to our good buddy Michael Lukowski. Hope you had a great day Michael. Eurodragster.com photographic kit sponsor, Denmark's Andersen Racing Top Fuel Dragster team are selling their trailer. The Wilson double decker was rebuilt to their specifications in 2006, is in excellent condition, and is equipped throughout. Click here for full details (PDF format). 
Miffy the Rabbit had a busy weekend at the National Finals with Pro ET crew members Mel and Martin: After a Nitro FM interview with Nigel, which he found difficult as she doesn't give much away, she decided to give Tog a hand on the laptop in the Tower. Always ready to spot an opportunity, Miffy then discovered that as it was Darryl's weekend off she could grab some headphones and assist Colin with his commentary... perhaps certain Team Edge crew have been spending too much time with Mr Northway (aka The Hatter) and need the winter to recover. Miffy says thank you to Eurodragster.com for an excellent 2011 (Thank you Miffy! - Ed) and see you all in 2012... The story of 0000. 29th September: Somewhat embarrassingly missed by your Race Reporter at the time (Sorry - Ed), UK 9.50 Bike racer Andy Burfitt clocked a 0.0000 Reaction Time in the third qualifying session at the weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Andy asked us if he was the first to achieve the feat. Off the tops of our heads we were sure that car racers had pulled 0.0000s before now but we weren't sure about bike racers. For confirmation there was only one person to whom we should turn: Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe. Andy quickly responded that there have been eight 0.0000s at Santa Pod Raceway since the TSI Racenet system was installed prior to the start of the 2007 season: 24/09/2011: Andy Burfitt, 9.50 Bike 29/05/2011: Rick Denny, Pro ET 07/05/2011: Richard Beck, 9.50 Bike 10/09/2009: Ian Hook, Street Eliminator 30/09/2007: Ian Brown, Pro ET 08/04/2007: Neil Grant, Super Street 07/04/2007: John Morris, Pro ET 07/04/2007: Ross Norris, Junior Dragster Well done all. Something for the weekend. 29th September: Run What You Brung, a simple concept - drive your car or bike down the famous Santa Pod drag strip as quickly as possible from a standing start. Your performance is measured in Elapsed Time and Terminal Speed. No police speed-traps to worry about, no oncoming traffic or potholes, and no risk to your licence. Going flat-out is a rare pleasure that can only be experienced at track days in this day and age. Luckily, Santa Pod Raceway offers the cheapest and the most accessible of the lot, and it’s based about as close to the centre of the UK as it is possible to get. Run What You Brung is an addictive formula, and for those who just can’t get enough, the Saturday Night Special event this Saturday is a top date on the Santa Pod calendar, because the racing runs long into the night for extra track time and a fantastic atmosphere. If you fancy getting your backside trackside for the final Saturday Night Special of this year then head to the Pod on Saturday and stay for Run What You Brung on Sunday. A variety of tickets are available at the Saturday Night Special events including day, evening and full weekend tickets. All the information is available on-line on Santa Pod’s Run What You Brung web site at www.rwyb.co.uk/sat_night_special.php. 
Following the hustle and bustle of the Hot Rod Drags, Warwickshire's Shakespeare
County Raceway hosts the first of three October Special Public Track Weekends this Saturday and Sunday featuring the finals of the ACU
Junior Drag Bike Championship and the National Street Car Challenge.
Further action comes courtesy of another fast line-up of doorslammers from the guys in Outlaw Street while for the Japanese enthusiast Sunday sees the penultimate rounds for the Honda Street Stock and Pro Street Drag Series. The postponed For Ladies That Launch competition also reaches its final conclusion in the car bracket on Sunday. Cruise Mids will be taking on fellow club mates Streetrace in a head-to-head battle in Club Thrash: The Sequel while the Datsun Z Club makes its second appearance at the track in a special 8 car Super Z Eliminator. Additional clubs are also in attendance. The first of three Gamblers races will be taking to the track on Sunday for the Autumn Gambler with qualifying and eliminations supported by Piston Apparel, Motorshack, Ace Cafe and American Car Magazine. Further details can be on the SCR web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk/bracketgambler.asp or the SCR Bracket Gamblers Facebook page. Saturday night's entertainment in Kenny's Bar will be provided by Wendy's Disco. There will also be old time drag racing on the big screen as well. Gates open 6:00 pm Friday evening. Track opens for RWYB at 10:00 am each day subject to the usual track and weather conditions. Admission is £12 per person on both Saturday and Sunday or £22 for the weekend. RWYB Track Fee is £20 per day or £35 for the weekend. Please remember your driving licence and crash helmet. Further information can be found on the track's web site, on SCR Facebook page, or by calling 01789 720180. See you at the strip! Outlaw Street sweeper appeal. 29th September: As a grass roots drag race series Outlaw Street have always loved racing at Shakespeare County Raceway, with its relaxed grass roots and friendly atmosphere, holding four of the series race meets at the track this year. Through racing at the track it came to the Outlaw Street racers' attention that SCR were really in need of a replacement track sweeper as the current model had been in loyal service for over over fifteen years and had sadly reached the end of the road: No racer ever wants to detonate their pride and joy on the track but as we all know it can happen to any of us and with the old sweeper the track crew have a devil's own job of clearing trackside. Sweepers in today's economy are often hard to come by and when one does come along it usually comes with a hefty calling card which is why Outlaw Street have committed to SCR to try and assist in offsetting some of its funding. After all, it's to all of our benefit to have the best track possible. We started collecting this week and thus far have already raised in excess of £300 with a target of £1,500. Outlaw Street members will also be at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend with collection buckets and will make a cheque presentation to Jerry Cookson at the Outlaw Street 2011 Prize Night on 26th November. If you would like to make a donation to the collection you can do so via our PayPal account at [email protected]. If you would like to send a cheque or make a donation as a Club or Series then please email [email protected] to arrange. We would really appreciate any and all support to achieve this target for SCR. More HRDs winners. 29th September: Congratulations to both Ray Turner (Green Onions '55 Chevy) and Paul Watts (No Easy Pick Up Chevy Truck) for taking the Gasser Circus and Supercharged Outlaw titles at last week's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway. The Gasser Circus Showdown was effectively decided when Ray won the held over final from Dragstalgia, beating Ken Britton, who was drawn alongside him in the Pozzessed Morris Z van, 12.80 to a 13.33. Both Ray and Ken advanced through to the final run-off after receiving byes in the semi finals due to the non appearance of Nick Brooke-Langham's Nogbad the Bad '48 Austin Devon and Ken Brookes' iconic blown '57 Chevy Roarin' Rat. Both drivers were trackside, but their cars languished elsewhere! 
The Hot Rod Drags was also the final points round for the Good Vibrations sponsored Supercharged Outlaws Series with Paul Watts taking back-to-back titles. Second in points was the Speed Demon slingshot dragster of Sam Freeman and car owner Vic Hammond followed by Mr Entertainment Lee Gallimore. Winner of the day's Reaction Time competition was Trace Froome and the Ultra Racing Dodge Avenger Funny Car with a 0.414 light. An Extreme weekend for bikes. 29th September: Next week's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway is the ultimate track day event for bikers and scooterists, a weekend of full-throttle thrashing on Europe's most famous drag strip. All types of motorcycles and scooters are welcome from superbikes to cruisers and auto scoots to classics. If it's got two wheels, it's welcome at the Pod! Featuring Championship drag racing, bike-only RWYB, bar and catering, funfair rides, traders and free weekend camping! Championship classes running are Pro Stock Bike, Funny Bike, Comp Bike, Super Street Bike, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Supertwin Fuel and Supertwin ET. The Extreme Performance Bike Weekend takes place on 8th-9th October. Gates open at 5:00 pm on Friday 7th, camping is included with a weekend ticket. Visit www.extremebike.co.uk for further details. Web site updates. 29th September: In association with Alamo Rent-A-Car we have two exclusive Racer Blog instalments for you. The first update is from street-legal Pro Modified racer Andy Frost who explains his absence from the VP Racing Fuels National Finals, whilst the second is from Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon who explains his absence from the FIA European Finals and discusses 1000-foot Top Fuel Racing. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with a large number of pictures from the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Paul Lister has updated his Drag Car Anon site with pictures from the Saturday and Sunday of the FIA European Finals. You can check out Paul's pictures at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Editor's note: We still have a small backlog of news with which we will catch up on the next update. Tune back tomorrow for news of WG Racing's latest outing with their Outlaw Rolls Royce, ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Kev Charman's weekend, another picture up for auction by the Allard Chrysler Action Group and more, and please keep the news items coming to [email protected]. Rene Hersland. 28th September: We were sorry to hear from Michael Møller of the death of Denmark's Rene Hersland in a motorcycle accident. Rene raced for several years culminating in a number of outings in Top Fuel Dragster in an ex-Kim Reymond car in the mid-2000s. He was famously involved in a Top Fuel Dragster game of Chicken with Stig Neergaard at Vandel in June 2007 when Stig's car crossed lanes in front of Rene's car whilst Rene was under full power. Rene was a willing and regular contributor to Eurodragster.com during his Top Fuel days and always gave our Pit Reporter Simon a very friendly reception during his appearances at FIA events. Our deepest sympathies to Rene's family and friends. UK Tech Meetings. 27th September: Note the plural: Phil Evans, who heads up the UK's Technical Committee, tells us that he has decided to hold separate bike and car meetings in order to give enough time to discuss any changes to the regulations. The Bike Tech meeting will take place on Wednesday 5th October and the Car Tech meeting on Wednesday 12th October. Both meetings will be convened at 8:00 pm at the Elstree Holiday Inn, Barnet Bypass, London, WD6 5PU. The hotel is situated on the A1 just off Junction 23 of the M25. All are welcome to attend, and items for inclusion on the agenda should be sent to Phil at [email protected]. Swift snippets. 27th September: Eurodragster.com photographic kit sponsor Karsten Andersen has confirmed that the Andersen Racing Top Fuel Dragster team will be contesting the NHRA Auto Club Finals at Pomona in addition to the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas in late October. Norway's Thomas Nataas will be at the wheel at both events. Editor's note: A very rapid news update today due to pressure of work in your News Editor's day job. We have a fair backlog which we will post on tomorrow's news and please keep the news coming to [email protected]. 2011 UK National Champions I. 26th September: Congratulations to those UK National Drag Racing Champions whose titles were decided at this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: MSA Pro Modified: Graham Ellis Super Modified: Nigel Payne Super Pro ET: John Atkinson Pro ET: Rick McCann Sportsman ET: Sean Armstrong Super Comp: Brian Pateman Super Gas: Brian Pateman Super Street: Leigh Morris Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Joe Kellett Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Brian Payne ACU UK Top Fuel Bike: Kev Charman Wild Bunch Series: Adam Price VW Pro: Phil Norman VW Sportsman: Matthew Bennett-Sime Outlaw Anglia: Cliff Griffin (decided at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway) Extra congratulations to Brian Pateman on his Super Comp / Super Gas double, to Rick McCann for winning Pro ET for a second year running, to Joe Kellett on adding the UK National Junior Dragster Championship to his NDRS Series title, and to Kev Charman for winning the ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship in his rookie year. The remaining UK National, ACU UK Drag Bike and National Association of Supertwin Champions will be decided at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway whilst the Junior Drag Bike Championship has its deciding round at Shakespeare County Raceway on 1st-2nd October. National Finals results. 26th September: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: MSA Pro Modified: Graham Ellis 7.5927/114.96 def. Wayne Nicholson 14.2619/56.74 Super Modified: Nigel Payne 7.6175/179.16 def. Andy Hone 8.0008/177.83 Super Comp: Brian Pateman 8.9792/144.85 def. Paul Brown 9.0456/144.29 Super Gas: Stuart Morrice 10.1857/109.09 def. Jon Turner 10.2480/131.41 Super Street: John Grant 14.7984/69.81 def. Leigh Morris 10.8790/121.52 red light Super Pro ET: Dave Catton (8.08) 8.1764/159.02 def. Vince Gibbs (7.72) 7.5128/172.39 b/o Pro ET: Mike Lacey (9.55) 9.6993/130.99 def. Rick McCann (10.25) 10.4546/126.85 Sportsman ET: Jake Handy (13.80) 13.9274/97.67 def. Kev Long (15.45) 15.3956/89.79 red Junior Dragster: Joe Kellett (8.18) 8.2331/78.96 def. Josh Saunders (8.05) 8.1234/79.09 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Ian Hook 8.8245/155.25 def. Alex McIntosh 8.9080/156.84 Wild Bunch: Dave Williams (11.68) 11.8990/110.87 def. Bob Hawkins (8.82) 8.9099/150.07 VW Pro: James Hodson (10.75) 10.9881/112.19 def. Lucy Matthews (11.55) 11.7850/116.11 VW Sportsman: Dean Clatworthy (16.48) 16.5011/74.68 def. James London (19.39) 19.5552/67.82 Top Fuel Bike: Ian King 7.7830/140.32 def. Kev Charman 7.8774/199.67 Pro Stock Bike: Len Paget 7.4789/165.45 def. Ray Debben 8.3419/148.15 Funny Bike: Dave Peters 7.8954/166.68 def. Thomas Joswig 8.5198/152.14 Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 7.4917/189.02 def. Graham Dance 7.6092/185.08 Comp Bike: Harold Wolfenden 7.8967/176.42 def. Phil Leamon 8.3672/152.59 8.50 Bike: Jemma Venables 8.6846/161.88 def. Sam Sykes 8.8900/159.03 9.50 Bike: Richard Beck 9.6371/134.82 def. Richard Sawatzki 9.6116/140.38 Supertwin Gas: Joe Elliott 9.5310/138.16 def. Dave Smart 28.5106/22.32 Supertwin ET: Simon Clamp (11.10) 11.2966/118.21 def. Martin Brookes (10.80) 11.2404/121.19 Junior Drag Bike: Scott Collier (9.20) 9.4486/62.65 def. Josh Webb (10.00) 10.0527/64.58 Congratulations also to Laurie Bamford who gained a Top Fuel Dragster licence with a fine set of runs culminating in a 4.9849/308.46 full pass, and to Super Street racer Mark Watkins and Pro ET racer Gino Bernadine who took the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award respectively. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored VP Racing Fuels National Finals coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We are very grateful for the kind compliments which we received on our coverage over the weekend, both in person and via E-Mail. Although we are usually elbow-deep when these E-Mails arrive and so can't respond, please be assured that they are read and are very much appreciated. Swift snippets. 26th September: Paula and Holley Marshall asked us to send birthday hugs and best wishes to SPRC Chief Starter Ian Marshall. Ian showed us again at the weekend just why he is admired throughout Europe for his professionalism and we are pleased to wish him the very best. Paula Marshall also asked us to thank everyone for the love, good wishes and help which she has had since falling ill last week. Paula was tuned in to our VP Racing Fuels National Finals coverage and told us that she was overwhelmed by the messages she has received, by the messages written on race vehicles, by the waves and kisses on the webcam, and by the two Mexican waves organised just for her by track announcer Colin Theobald. We can't wait to see you back Paula. Murder getting into the eights. 
24th September: When Martin Green offered Des Taylor the chance to drive his Duster Mopar Murder in the Spring,
Des asked Martin what he would like to do with the car this year. Martin said "Run eights and win SuperCup", Des said "You better fit some wheelie bars", and
the rest is history:
The Duster was taken off the road many years ago and had never really been finished after the car was tube chassised and re paneled, it had been through a few owners and was still unfinished when Martin bought it off Jerry and Mark. Martin, Dave and the rest of the guys at M Green Fabrications built the car with the bits which came with it and then put in the quite awesome, 540 ci blown Big Block Chevy built by John Sleath. Our first test sessions at the track revealed a few initial problems, the first one being that the car was undriveable. The guys "forgot" to fit the wheelie bars which led to some excitement through first and second gear which was interesting to say the least. We managed a 9.77 spinning the tyres in third gear and going through the traps fishtailing side to side. I could more or less drive it up to the eighth mile and then from the eighth to the quarter it just gradually lost traction as the car became aerodynamically unstable and wanted to swap ends. I was just fighting it all the time to stop it crashing. Absolutely nothing to do with the track, it would have been easy to blame that and many do. There were some pretty serious handling problems with the car. At the first meeting it was so bad that I was having to pull the chute at 136 mph to pull the car back straight before the finish line.We were racing the next day and had to try and get down the track, not going backwards and the right way up. After some rather heated discussion it was decided to put a throttle stop on the car, which gave only 10 mm of travel. The car immediately became more controllable and responsive and ran 9.20 and won the class. We initialy wanted to run American Super Stock as well as Super Cup but it soon became apparent that with the big field in American Super Stock we couldn't get turned around fast enough in eliminations. It took too long to repack the chute, refuel and cool down, especialy the blower, so we ran in American Super Stock qualifying to get track time to set the car up for Super Cup. Martin took the car away and the team started to address the problems. The wheelbase was 3" too short so was lengthened, the ride height was 3" too high so was lowered, the old slicks were replaced and the car just went faster and faster. Then we made the biggest improvement: the team fitted a rear wing with an additional gurney flap. The car became straight and stable and ran arrow straight 8.9s at 150+ mph terminal speeds. A lot of people put in a lot of hard work to make the car so successful. John Sleath, Dave McCallan, Scotty, Paul, Howard, all the guys at Martins work and of course the late Kasey Dixon Grainger who was involved from the start. I want to thank all those guys but especialy Martin for giving me the fantastic opportunity to drive the car and to help the team dial in the set-up. I can now add eight-second doorslammer driver to my CV and I am very grateful. Without Martin's help and support I would probably have been running my tow truck, sorry luxury motorhome, in Sportsman. The team managed to achieve all Martin's objectives and certainly exceeded all expectations. For people who like statistics, heres the team's season in Super Cup:
Thanks again Martin. Swift snippets. 24th September: Santa Pod Raceway plan to start a Junior Funny Car League in 2012. Interested parties are invited to step over to the Two Seat Dragster pit at this weekend's VP Racing Racing Fuel National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway and ask for Andy Richardson. Andy will be glad to take your details and SPR will keep you informed as things progress. Tim and Diane Cooper have asked us to wish every happiness for the future to UK Pro ET racer Dan Williams and fiancée Elaine who are to be married near Northampton today. No sooner said than done, and may we add our own very best wishes to Dan and Elaine. Chris Orthodoxou has asked us to say a big Happy 50th Birthday to UK Super Pro ET racer Robin Orthodoxou. Your News Editor would hazard a guess that the large box wrapped with a ribbon delivered to Robin's pit contains what Chris would consider a real motor. Have a great day Robin. IROC plugs SCR. 
24th September: In addition to the track's Junior Dragster and complement of Supercharged Outlaw dragsters
and Funny Cars Shakespeare County Raceway has added a further promotional display car to its line up thanks to American car
enthusiast Martin Goldingay, writes Jerry Cookson.
Martin's 1989 Chevy Camaro is a genuine IROC Z model made famous, alongside the Rally Sport model, with the running of the North American International Race of Champions road and stock car racing track series. The final time this model was used in the IROC Series since 1975 was, funnily enough, 1989 and won by NASCAR Winston Cup star Texas Terry Labonte. Although very much in stock trim at the moment the Camaro's 350 ci engine is good for mid fourteen-second quarter mile passes at just over 96 mph, and if you were to take it for lap around the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway then its lap times would be somewhere around the 1' 30" mark which ain't bad for a stock-equipped car! When Martin was first united with the car just under a year ago it was a bit of a basket case but over the months he's spent quite a bit of wonga on paint, welding and mechanicals. And there's still more to come now that he's got the drag racing bug back again. But this time, it's a bit harder than he thought which is why Martin is currently looking for deals with engine suppliers and equipment manufacturers to help him source some go faster V8 goodies and will be amply rewarded with signage on the car to go with local and race track promotions. A monthly magazine build is also on the cards. Race track sign specialists Claron Graphics were tasked to applying the SCR logos and address work. So if you see Martin's Camaro in the High Streets of Warwickshire or even down at the local drags then be sure to issue a challenge for any of Shakespeare County Raceway's Public Track Days, but don't shout too loud if you get beat! Web site updates. 24th September: Colin Donisthorpe has updated his Flickr gallery with shots from the FIA European Finals. You can take a look at Colin's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe. The latest issue of the Speedgroup newsletter contains a review of the FIA European Finals. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu/newsletters/2011/edition15_2011/edition15_start.htm. 1000-foot Top Fuel in 2012. 23rd September: Keith Bartlett, CEO of Trakbak Racing Ltd and FIA Championship promoter, has taken the decision to reduce Top Fuel Dragster racing at Santa Pod Raceway to 1000 feet for the 2012 FIA European Drag Racing Championship. The decision was taken by Keith at a meeting of the track organisers and promoters of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship in Stockholm last Saturday, and was immediately echoed by the Hockenheimring meaning a full season of 1000-foot Top Fuel racing in 2012. Keith said "We were heading into a situation for 2012 where in the FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship we were going to have two tracks running 1000 feet, those being Tierp Arena (Sweden) and Alastaro (Finland), and then two tracks running the full quarter mile, Santa Pod Raceway (UK) and the Hockenheimring (Germany). This is far too confusing for all the drag racing fans who follow the Championship plus, and more importantly, the television production and shows which are broadcast worldwide. It is not acceptable to the TV viewers at home and the sponsors involved in an FIA motorsports Championship to have a situation where the FIA European Drag Racing Championship is not consistent across all rounds. "Another major factor for me in reaching this decision was the fact that most of the teams who race Top Fuel in Europe buy their engines and parts from the USA and all their tune-ups are based upon current and up to three-year-old settings from 1000-foot racing in the NHRA National Championship. This for me was a crucial factor in reaching this decision. I do not believe that the Top Fuel teams are saving any money by running 1000 feet against the full quarter mile, in fact the situation in the USA is that they are blowing their engines up just as much as they did over the full 1320 feet, because the competition is just as hard and the speeds are almost the same as for a full quarter mile. Also in my opinion it is not really a safety matter as engine explosions, fires and crashes can happen at any distance and once a car has reached half-track the speed is there anyway. "So with my FIA Promoter's hat on, along with the fact that I produce the TV shows, we feel it is in the best interests of all parties to run the same distance for Top Fuel in 2012. But we will see how that pans out in terms of performance and show from the Top Fuel cars next year." Keith added that the decision was agreed by the Hockenheimring who will also be running 1000 feet in Top Fuel for 2012, even though both Keith and Jerry Lackey of the Hockenheimring are truly in favour of running the full quarter mile. Keith also said that the decision was made by himself and without pressure or demand from any outside parties including other tracks, Speedgroup, or the Top Fuel teams themselves: it was a decision for the common good of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. Finally Keith told Eurodragster.com that Fuel Funny car will run the full quarter mile at Santa Pod Raceway in 2012, "At least until we get that magic four-second Funny Car run!". Stay tuned as Keith has promised us a statement about Tommy Johnson Jr. Editor's note: Please see News FAQ 16 and News FAQ 17. A6 night closure near Santa Pod. 23rd September: Thanks to Kathy Taylor for alerting us to the complete overnight closure of the A6 between Bedford and Rushden, one of the main routes to Santa Pod Raceway. The unannounced closure affects both directions of the single carriageway section starting at Milton Ernest and extending to the roundabout at the south end of Rushden. Kathy also advises that racers coming southbound through Rushden should turn into Wymington Road (opposite the Texas Longhorn) since the lane from the A6 through Wymington is access only and not open throughout. The alternate route is via the A509. Click here to see a map of the affected area. Commentator's Eye. 23rd September: We are pleased to announce the launch of another exclusive Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Our new Blog is written by Santa Pod Raceway track announcer Colin Theobald who offers a light-hearted and enthusiastic view of the sport from the commentary booth. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 23rd September: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Race Director Robin Shone for forwarding us the provisional running orders for this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the running orders on our VP Racing Fuels National Finals Event Index, which also includes the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that as ever these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Thanks to Yvonne Tramm and Sharron Collier for forwarding us the latest points standings in the Santa Pod Racers Club and Junior Drag Bike Championships respectively. You can check out the SPRC and JDB points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
Jerry Cookson has kindly sent us a report from the weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare
County Raceway including pictures courtesy of Jeni Long and Jon Spoard to add to shots by our very own Kirstie. You can check
out Jerry's NSRA Hot Rod Drags report, which is presented in association with Alamo
Rent-A-Car, by clicking here or by
clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting this weekend's NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas. Mike's involvement commences today and you will be able to follow his progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. We would like to wish a huge Happy Birthday to our good buddy and Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe. Have a great day Andy. Readers interested in Land Speed Records, of whom we know we have a few, will have read that the Speed Demon streamliner was driven to the world's highest-ever speed for a piston engine at Bonneville this week. Les Downey of Eurodragster.com sponsor Lucas Oil tells us that the 462 mph streamliner uses Lucas products, which pretty much says all which needs to be said. You can read more on the excellent Drag Racing Online web site. SPRC office notice. 22nd September: The Santa Pod Racers Club office is currently unattended as SPRC Club Secretary Paula Marshall is unwell. If you have any queries for SPRC then please contact Robin Shone on 07585 918577 (outside the UK +44 7585 918577) or E-Mail [email protected] and he will respond as promptly as he can. Our best wishes to Paula. A serious move to avoid mufflers. 22nd September: Willy Reerink writes from The Netherlands that yesterday's spy picture featured his just-acquired 1965 Ford Taunus 20M TS Hardtop. "We drove 2200 km and it took us three days, but this unique vehicle is no longer in Sweden but in Holland", says Willy. "We intend to race this vehicle next year in Super Comp and Super Pro ET. It has a 377 CSB with turbo, making almost 1,000 hp. It was built to run low eights, but when the owner finished the car he lost interest in drag racing and put it up for sale. 
"We have run a Super Gas Vega, but next year mufflers are required in Super Gas. There is one thing that we don't want and that's mufflers! We want it loud! So the choice was quit drag racing or buy a faster car and race in a faster class in which mufflers are not required. We decided to go faster. We have put the Vega on sale as a turnkey car. "We are very happy that we were able to find this unique European-built car. There are only about 150 of this particular model in existence and I believe this is the only one converted to a race car. My father owned the sedan version in those days, so for me it is also going back to my roots a bit." Wild Bunch weekend preview. 22nd September: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows writes with an update on the Club Series points going into this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: The Wild Bunch are really looking forward to the weekend when eight cars will be competing at the Club's sixth and final round of the 2011 Wild Bunch Series. The top four for the season will earn the numbers WB1 to WB 4 for 2012. The Series has seen some close exciting competition, with three teams still in with a mathematical chance of taking the title. Adam Price is currently leading the Series with the Team Gridlock Go Hard or Go Home!!! Topolino altered. Terry Clifford is only a few points behind with his Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot so could take the title if he went a round more than Adam. Crazy Chris Hartnell is in third place with Backdraft, and could win if Adam went out in the first round and he went on to win the event. Dave Williams could take third or fourth spot and leapfrog the RamRaider team (who are not entered) if he were to make the final in his Green with Envy altered, and Bob Hawkins in Timetraveller and Keith Crampton in Soultown Shaker could also earn fourth place if they were to win the event. Whatever happens, we will be seeing a first time winner this season, as none of the top three have won before. The event is also the ninth and final round of the Series for contingency sponsors Real Steel (Performance Parts), which takes place over four MSA events and five RWYB events. Terry Clifford has a sizeable lead in the Series, though Chris Hartnell in second place could take the win if he won the event and Terry had gone out in the first round. Adam Price is in third place but can only move up one spot, and Bob Hawkins could overtake the RamRaider team in fourth place if he makes the final. The top four will share £250 prizes in Real Steel vouchers. Also, the Club's four-round MSA Challenge Series will be concluded at this event. The Challenge covers the Easter Thunderball, Springspeed Nationals, Open Sport Nationals and the National Finals and is currently being led by Terry Clifford on 1510 points, followed by Chris Hartnell on 1380, and Bob Hawkins on 1140. All three racers are entered this weekend, and with 600 points available, any one of them could win it. The winner earns the Challenge Cup and one free MSA event entry for 2012. Can newlywed Adam Price maintain his lead, and earn his first Wild Bunch Series win in only his third season in the Go Hard or Go Home!!! altered? Will Crazy Chris wheelie his way with Backdraft into the event win and first ever Wild Bunch Series win in the Club's sixteenth season? Can Mark Coulsell propel his way into a Top Ten finish with the Limited Funz team Ballbreaker slingshot? Will Dave Williams move on up the order and earn a top four placing with his Green with Envy altered? Can Terry maintain his consistency and earn back-to-back event wins with the Ratcatcher Resurrection and become a multiple Series winner? Will Sean Law (son of Darren) take a rookie win in his first ever MSA event with the team's Wicked Lady dragster? Can Keith Crampton go rounds and break into the top four for the first time with his Soultown Shaker slingshot? Will Bob Hawkins continue going deep into the eights and take another event win with his Timetraveller slingshot to get into the top four? And who will earn their first ever Wild Bunch Series win? We can't wait 'til Sunday, Sunday, Sunday to find out! Full results and news from previous events can be found on the Club's web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk. Swift snippets. 22nd September: Eurodragster.com photographic kit sponsor Karsten Andersen has confirmed that Thomas Nataas will be driving the Andersen Racing Top Fuel Dragster at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas in late October. Andersen Racing join Adam Flamholc (Pro Mod) and Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences in representing Europe in Las Vegas. Subject to funding and being able to make the arrangements the team hope to contest the NHRA Finals at Pomona. Mike Manners will be contesting Top Alcohol Dragster at this weekend's NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas. Mike's involvement commences on Friday and you will be able to follow his progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. UK Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson is looking forward to this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals. "We had a disappointing European Finals, we should have qualified" says Wayne. "We should be able to go a bit quicker again at our last event of the year". Check out the Lucky Devil web site at www.luckydevil777dragracing.com for the latest update from Wayne's workshop. Back to Andersen Racing and the US' Competition Plus web site has published an interesting interview with Graham Light of NHRA and the FIA Drag Racing Commission regarding Tommy Johnson Jr's suspension. All at Shakespeare County Raceway and CC Medical Services asked us to send their love and thoughts to Karen Hancox, part of the SCR medical team, and family after her son Matthew was shot and wounded on service in Afghanistan. Matthew, who is serving with the Royal Marines, will be flown home today to hospital in Birmingham. We are sure that all of our readers will join SCR, CC Medical Services and the Eurodragster.com team in wishing Karen, Matthew and family the very best. We have three birthdays today. Happy Birthday to Sharon Norris of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew - the second TSI Timers Europe birthday in two days and we're not done yet - to Santa Pod Racers Club official Emma Humphreys, and Junior Dragster racer-in-waiting Belle Wheeler. Have a lovely day girls, and only another twenty four hours to go Belle! It came too late to be included in yesterday's update but Chris Orthodoxou asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for yesterday to Lee Orthodoxou, who crews on Robin Orthodoxou's Super Pro ET altered. Hope you had a great day Lee. Red Victor signs Red Line. 22nd September: The UK's Red Victor 1 racing team are proud to announce a partnership with the world renowned Red Line Synthetic Oil Corporation for the 2012 MSA Pro Modified season with the street-legal Pro Modified car Red Victor 3. Team principal Andy Frost says "For a number of years we've used Red Line Racing ATF in our own and our customers' transmissions with fantastic success. When we finished building Red Victor 3 we were looking for an engine oil which would survive the incredibly harsh enviroment that is a methanol turbocharged engine, but which would also work with a street cruise too. Red Line were our first port of call and we were not disappointed. Red Line is now the exclusive lubricant for Red Victor 3, which includes the engine, converter drive, transmission, axle and wheel bearings. Along with the product comes the wealth of technical support which only a worldwide company can give, and we'll be very happy to be able to call on Red Line for tech support and the best lubricants in the racing world!" Red Line Oil Director of Sales Cameron Evans says "Andy and his group do a great job with their car and it is always good to be associated with a brand like Vauxhall. We have a lot of experience with the auto trans side of drag racing, as well as with the turbo engine side with folks like Mike Moran and Brad Personnett. We hope to bring some our our USA success and technical input over to Europe to help Andy succeed." The team thank Red Line Oils for their foresight and look forward to working with them throughout the 2012 season. National Finals event coverage. 22nd September: Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Our coverage will consist of frequently-updated reports on the on-track action throughout each day together with pit notes on Saturday and end-day photo galleries at the end of each day. There will be no pit notes on Sunday as Simon will be calculating Championship points in real time. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and broadcasting live video with commentary / Nitro FM audio so long as the track is open each day. Thanks to Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. We will post a direct Home Page link as soon as our coverage commences, but in the meantime you can check out our VP Racing Fuels National Finals Event Index, which includes the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Unfortunately we will not be able to attend Friday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day. UK Championship outcomes I. 21st September: This weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway includes the final round of twelve car classes; bike classes have their finals at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend, also at Santa Pod, on 8th-9th October. In his capacity as one of the UK National Championship Points Co-Ordinators, with Yvonne Tramm, our very own Simon summarises the the possible National Championship outcomes: The MSA Pro Modified Championship has been between Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis, who won the Summernationals, and Roger Moore who won at Easter. Graham has a 22 point lead and with eight cars entered the Championship will be close between them. Graham will have to go further than Roger in order to be certain of winning. Neither have won the Championship in this class before and three time prior Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson is not entered (see Swift Snippets - Ed). Super Modified is between Andy 'Fred' Hone and Nigel Payne. Both have won two Championships before but no-one has won three before. With a relatively slender points lead of 150 (compared with 100 points scored for a round and 200 points for winning the event), Fred will win as long as he stays ahead of Nigel. But if these two meet in the final of the four car field, then the Championship will go down to the last race. In Super Comp, Brian Pateman leads Jon Morton by 530 points. With nine cars entered, there are only 780 points available including the bonus for running a perfect 8.900 (a feat Brian achieved at Easter). So Brian is looking very comfortable and just needs to qualify mid-field and take a round win first round for the Championship. Collin Morrice is another 180 points further back and needs to go at least a couple of rounds further than Jon to overtake him for runner-up position. Brian Pateman is also leading the Super Gas Championship. Can he be the first racer to win Championships in both Super Comp and Super Gas since Tim Adam (a welcome returnee at the Finals) achieved this feat in 2001 and 2003? With six cars entered there are 650 points available. Brian actually has only a small 110 point advantage over Jon Morton who himself is going for his third Championship in this class. But Stuart Morrice is over 900 points further back from Jon, so it seems almost certain that these two will pick up the Championship trophies. Super Street is a three-way battle between Leigh Morris (with two race wins this season), Bob Lees and John Grant (aka Team Bristol Doorslammers). Leigh leads Bob by 130 points and John is 240 points further back. Congratulations to Brian Payne who is 2011 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Champion. Brian's margin of 1190 points over second-placed Ian Hook and 1260 over third placed Alex McIntosh is insurmountable. However runner-up position in the Championship is not yet decided and will be very tight between Ian and Alex. Super Pro ET is always very competitive and with a margin of only 100 points between leader John Atkinson and second-placed Barry Giles, this will be a hard-fought final round of the Championship. Peter Walters is in third place a further 710 points back and he would need to qualify high up, win the event and have John or Barry qualify poorly and not make eliminations to improve on that. There is a bumper field of twenty nine cars in Pro ET meaning 1030 points available. Rick McCann is 170 points ahead of Paul Brown (Weekend birthday boy - Ed) and Steve Hudson is a further 270 points further back. Whilst these three are in serious contention, if any two of them have problems, then top qualifying and a win by Dan Page, Billy Gane, Bob Molden or Carla Pittau may earn them runner-up honours. Sportsman ET is another contest between two leading racers with 760 points available and Sean Armstrong ahead of Team Gecko by 220 points. A further 320 points back are Craig Wright and another 60 points back are Eurodragster.com sponsors Team Jacksons MoT. Either of these could worry Team Gecko if they slip up. 2011 NDRS Series Junior Dragster Champion Joe Kellett has a 160-point cushion over Rhiannon Bellenie, less than two rounds of competition, with Josh Saunders and Brad Jackson a couple of rounds further behind. In VW Pro, Phil Norman is leading the Championship by 260 points from Sam Young and the Championship is between these two. VW Sportsman has Matthew Bennet-Sime in a 600 point lead over James London with Martin Ayton another 330 points further behind. Courtesy of Yvonne and Simon the post-FIA European Finals points standings in the 2011 UK National Drag Racing Championships are now available on Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. JDBs' second SPR outing. 21st September: Junior Drag Bikes making their second appearance at Santa Pod Raceway at this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals. Lizz McCarthy writes: This is a non-points demonstration round and the Junior Bikers very much hope that the professionalism of this up and coming class may allow them to compete in their own right at points rounds at Santa Pod next season. In the first round, at the Big Bang in May, Scott Collier won with Louis Davies runner up. Who is going to take the crown in the second round at the Pod? The ride down alone makes for quite a spectacle as they are escorted from the pits to the pairing lanes in formation. The class is for children of eight to eleven years old who can run 50 cc bikes and go no quicker than 12.90 in Junior Bike, and children between eleven and sixteen on 125 cc bikes which are limited to 8.90 in Junior Bike Modified. Next season we are looking to include a new class, Junior Bike Pro, which will be for children between fourteen and sixteen on 200 cc bikes which are limited to 7.90. To run Junior Bike Pro you will have to have raced in Junior Bike Mod for one year and raced at five points rounds. This additional class will bring us in line with the Junior Dragster classes. Please visit us in the pits. We don't bite, and we would be happy to show you the bikes and to answer any questions that you may have. Come and support us! Thanks to Jerry and Sharron Collier without whose tireless campaigning, plus the enthusiasm of everyone in the class including the parents, this class may never have happened. Malmö looking to 2012. 21st September: After holding the finals of the Scandinavian Dragracing Series on 9th-11th September, SRIF and AutoExperten Malmö Raceway would like to thank all of the racers and sponsors for the year. Mikael Angelin writes: We started out well in May with a new track record of 3.944 (Top Doorslammer) and the seasson carried on the same way. We have had many good runs this year and we have been happy to see so many three-second runs at our track. We have had many Personal Bests and some Swedish and European records as well. In the finals of the SDS we had the quickest time ever in Pro Twin Bike, a world record time of 5.429! We hope to see many of the racers at our track next year and we will do our best to give you all a good time and fast racing in Malmö. We also thank Lee Child of LA Racing Parts for his help and we will welcome him back for the season in 2012. For news and updates check out our home page at www.malmoraceway.se. The next big events are the Test'n'Tune weekend on 28th-29th April 2012 and the first Scandinavian Dragracing Series race, with Top Doorslammer and more, on 18th-20th May. The 2012 season is just around the corner! Pers' Finals. 21st September: Mark Bodimeade aka Animal says that the FIA European Finals was a race of highs and lows for Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Patrik Pers: The two main highs were that we qualified at only our second FIA event, and that we ran 300 mph. The weekend started pretty badly for us, as it did for all of the Top Fuel teams. For Q1 we were in the right lane, and it seemed every car could get down the left lane but not the right. Q2 was our turn in the left lane and to our surprise the lanes seemed to have swapped. We were back in the right lane for Q3 on Saturday afternoon, the car hooked up and ran 5.15/300 and we were all very happy to get a full pass at last, our first of the year. When we got back to the pit it was discovered that Patrik had pedalled at 3.5 seconds because of shake. We were so close to running our first four but it was not to be. On Saturday there were lots of incidents in qualifying, so by the time we got to run it was 20:30 and by then the track had gone cold and vanished so it was up on the tyres again. In Sunday's eliminations we were up against number one qualifier and FIA Champion Urs Erbacher. We had changed motors overnight due to a damaged crank and we were certainly confident that we could give Urs a run for his money. Unfortunately it was not to be as our motor went away at about the eighth and Urs just drove around us. A big congratulations to Urs, Robin and all the guys on another Championship. Patrik has asked me to say a big thank you to everybody who has supported us this year and who made it possible for us to make it to the track. A special thank you to our sponsors Autounique AB and Grimbergs Tryck AB. Roll on next year and see you all at the track. Yes, we will be back... Heezen's season. 21st September: Dutch Supertwin racer Job Heezen will move to the latest Godfather bike in 2012 as he will be taking over the saddle of Ton and Vincent Pels' bike just vacated by Roel Koedam. Job, whose current bike is for sake, got in touch to tell us about the 2011 season: For business reasons I have not been able to attend all of this year's events. Lack of time forced me to skip the most time-consuming races in Hungary and Finland. Because these races turned out to be among the few which had no rain-out or other inconvenience, our hopes for a good place on the Championship ladder were in vain. Three races this year - Tierp, Hockenheim, and the European Finals at Santa Pod - made my season for different reasons. First we travelled to Tierp and we were very impressed to see the development of the track. It had everything you hope for as a racer : beautiful and fast track, nice pitting with all the facilities you need, lots of spectators, nice video coverage on- and off-track, and excellent weather. We had a lot of plans for this weekend but it didn't work out well for us. This was a race where a lot of stupid things come together all at the same time. In qualifying we started for the first time with a new Mickey Thompson rear tyre to see if that might help us to better sixty foot times, but both runs on Friday had nothing in common with straight line racing. I went all over the place because the bike had a preference for the wall and/or the centre line. Nevertheless I managed to record a 6.7 in Q1 but that result was taken away from me because I touched a marker half-track. It took us two qualifying rounds to find out that we had a tyre with a production failure. Obviously the rubber of the tyre had not been mixed well or some substance which shouldn't have been there had got into the rubber as we found material that looked like plastic all over the footprint of the tire and it didn't come from an outside source. With two more runs to qualify we ran into the same shit as always: when it starts with problems, it ends with problems: in Q3 the microswitch which operates the timers broke in the burnout and in Q4 we broke another two-dollar part, a little rocker arm swivel which opens one of the intake valves. So there we were, outside the ladder as a first alternate with a nice 6.93 run and to top it off we figured that we would have been qualified with the 6.78 run of Q1 which they took away. Hockenheim was another story. All weekend long the bike ran like a Swiss watch, running a string of 6.6s and 6.7s like never before. No problems at all, just good runs one after another, number one qualifier after day one and still number three after day two, meanwhile setting a new Personal Best speed of 350+ kmh (217+ mph ). During eliminations the same thing: first round put us against Lo Stäuble who had no answer to our 6.68 run; in the semi-final we met Acka Riemer and again the strong-running machine took no prisoners. We were all set for a beautiful finale against our friend Samu Kemppanen at about six o'clock on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon. This did not happen but that's another story. Last but not least: the European Finals Santa Pod. On Friday we had a head start. Boom, in Q1 a 6.65 and a new PB! The track was pretty tricky and I needed the whole lane to get to the end but with a lot of sliding and drifting and a lot of extra metres the new record was there! At the end of the day Frank Brachtvogel dropped in and stated that this was one of the best runs he had ever seen on track. Knowing his reputation this was one of the best rewards of the season. At the end of qualifying we again ran a new PB, this time a 6.607, just 0.005 short of top qualifier. As at Hockenheim the bike was in excellent shape so we were ready for our first 6.5. I reckoned the track would be better on race day so we put everything in the bike to run the 6.5. That was a mistake; we spun the tyre at the start line, moved too much out of the groove, got into the slippery part of the track, spun the tyre again, and saw Ronny Aassen crossing the finish line just before me. All in all we had a very good season. No major problems, ran a few PBs both in time and speed, broke hardly any parts, and had great fun. I am very greatful to my team members Eveline, Winnie, Maxim, Paul, Cor and Hartger for their support, as well as the sponsors who made it happen: Zodiac International, Spectro Oils of America, Supertrapp, Accel and Garage Heezen. What about the 2012 preview? The Pels family asked me some time ago to take the baton from Roel Koedam. After ample consideration I decided to take the challenge but I'm well aware that it will not be easy to follow in his tracks. I will do my best next season and see what the effort will bring in the 2012 Championship. For now I will service my bike for the last time and put it up for sale. It will be with pain in my heart as we had a great time together. Swift snippets. 
21st September: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com was snuck somewhere
between Scandinavia and The Netherlands. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
[email protected].
Lena Perés tells us that the 2011 NDRS Banquet and Prizegiving takes place on at 18:00 on Saturday 26th November at the Scandic Star Hotell in Sollentuna, Stockholm. Two-course dinner is 495 SEK per person or 99 SEK for a burger for children. The prizegiving ceremony takes place after dinner followed by dancing into the small hours. Click here for more information on the NDRS Banquet including how to book and pay for your tickets, and how to book concessionary hotel rates. Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars says that Andy Robinson will not be contesting this weekend's VP Racing Fuels National Finals. "The damage from the European Finals means that the axle needs to be fully checked out and re-aligned, and customer work has to come first", says Bob. "It will be the first MSA Pro Mod Championship without Andy on the podium!" Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences says that Houston felt like Santa Pod at the weekend except that those locals who weren't racing had been begging for rain. "We made three reasonable qualifying passes", says Mike. "We qualified third but the top two qualifiers had only got down the track once, and we posted Low ET in one of the qualifying hits and also in round one which we won whilst the #1, #2 and #4 qualifiers all went out. We were looking good but then the rain started. So we are set to finish the race on 22nd October; they have told us no time trials, just eliminations". Mike is contesting the NHRA National event in Dallas this week. We have no less than four birthdays today. First up is UK Pro ET racer Carla Pittau who got a wheelie bar as an early birthday present but is still not sure that she wanted it. Have a lovely day Carla. Happy Birthday also to TSI Timers Europe Chief Timekeeper, Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member and all-round good guy Steve Horn, to Steve Silvester, and to Draglist.com supremo Bill Pratt. Have a great day all. Santa Pod Raceway are able to supply fuel to racers this weekend courtesy of event sponsor VP Racing Fuels. "We currently have our full range in stock and it's available at some very competitive prices", says James Forster. "To place your order or for more information please contact the office on 01234 782828 or E-Mail [email protected]. If you would like the fuel delivered to your pit then please let us your name and race number. To view our full range of stock or to order on-line please visit www.santapodshop.com, or you can buy directly from the Pod Shop on the day!" SCR JD for hire. 21st September: As a special end-of-season deal, Shakespeare County Raceway are offering the hire of their Junior Dragster at a giveaway price of £99 per day at three of the Warwickshire drag strip's October Public Track Days. This unrepeatable offer allows admission for the driver and two adults, all the race equipment and safety gear, plus you get to go home with some mementoes from the day including timing tickets and a signed Track Certificate. Full driver and crew tuition will be available as well as booking the car for 2012 MSA licensing runs! Full details can be found by clicking the Junior Dragster hire button at www.juniordragsters.co.uk or at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. You had better be quick as there are only four hire days remaining: Sunday 2nd October, Sunday 16th, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th. Give the track a call on 01789 720180 or drop them a line at [email protected]. Help from the family. 
21st September: UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers would like to say a massive thank-you to Cindy Andrews and family and UK
Top Fuel Dragster team F&A racing for their help, support and encouragement following his crash at the recent Pro Peak Performance Day:
We spent many hours setting and checking the car prior to the Test Day, but all to no avail. On our first launch, for the first time ever the wheels spun severely which meant that the car did not hook up. It went in a straight line smoking the back tyres, and then at about 200 feet one wheel got some traction and the car veered hard right into the wall, causing damage to the fibreglass body, chassis and front suspension. So, with our 2011 European Finals over before in began, we placed the car on the trailer and made the decision to stay and watch. This is when, by chance, a member of the F&A Racing team (you know who you are) started talking to me and said "Sorry to see your car crashed". They then said "I have a '69 Camaro fibreglass body and if it helps you can have it". Can you imagine the surprise! A person I have never met before offers a complete body. No catch, no money... I was almost waiting for somebody to jump out and say "Gotcha" but no, just a genuine person wanting to help a fellow drag racer get back on the track. I have not met many people with generosity and a big heart like that. We were also invited to the F&A Racing / Team West-Tec hospitality enclosure for the rest of the meeting and we were made very welcome as if we were part of the family. Last Friday my phone rang and Cindy said "Paul, this is the address where the Camaro body is", which happened only to be one hour from Bournemouth. Off we went on Saturday morning to collect the new body, back home by lunch time - so it was not a dream. It turns out that the body we collected is the sister body to the one that I have, being made from the same mould by former Super Gas racer Mark O'Halloran. To F&A Racing, Cindy Andrews, driver Chris Andrews, Fi Andrews and all the other team members a big Thank You. This to me proves that drag racing is not only a sport, but a family. Jap Series Champions crowned. 21st September: The final round of the Jap Drag Series took place at the JapShow Finale at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday. Despite forecasts of significant rain, the weather mostly stayed on-side and the racing ran its course, writes Rick Cuthbert: Congratulations to the 2011 Champions in each class: JDS FWD: Adam Buckley, Honda Civic JDS Street: James Willday, Mazda RX7 JDS Fac Mod: Stuart Williams, Toyota Supra JDS Pro: John Bradshaw, Nissan 350Z 
It wasn't all plain sailing for Adam Buckley in his Honda Civic in the Front Wheel Drive class. His highly experimental
car was capable of punching into the nines on a good day, but he left it until the last race of the last round of the Championship
to assert his authority over title competitor Douggie Gemmell. Adam actually only won one round of the Championship, but regularly
scored big points for getting to the finals and securing Low ET and High Speed.
Winning his first round at the last event, and also securing the Championship, was a sweet victory at the end of a really hard-fought season. Adam's Honda Civic uses the original factory steel monocoque chassis and a 2000 cc four-cylinder turbo and nitrous engine. 
Another Championship which hung in the balance until the last race of the last event was Street. James Willday fought off
a class that grew in size at every round and finished the season with 15 competitors. The class was so competitive that James didn't
even qualify for the final round, and had to just sit back and watch as his Championship lead was torn into by fellow Mazda RX7 driver
Mark Salem. However, Mark threw away his hopes of beating James at the final round of the final race, when he lost out to yet another
RX7 belonging to Rob Blackshaw.
James endured a real nail-biter of a finish to his season, but took a well deserved Championship win by consistently scoring big points and always being a serious threat in his street-driven, nine-second Mazda. James' Mazda RX7 uses the original steel monocoque chassis and a two-rotor turbo-charged 1300 cc engine. 
The Factory Modified class was dominated by one man, and Stuart Williams' rookie year really put a cat amongst the pigeons. Stuart's
Toyota Supra looked good from the very first event, and was putting in steady and convincing performances.
But as the season progressed, he started to leave 2010 Champion Mark Moselely wondering what he needed to do to keep up, and by the final rounds of Championship, Stuart was running unbeatable 8.5s and launching with phenomenal ferocity. Stuart Williams races a Hauser Racing back-halved Supra with a Ford rear axle and a turbocharged 3000 cc straight-six engine. 
The Pro class features the very fastest Japanese race cars in existence and the winner of this year's Championship, John Bradshaw,
has the fastest of the lot. His 350Z looks like it is going 100 mph when it's standing still so it came as no surprise when the car was hitting
200+ mph early in the season.
As the Championship progressed, John's closest competitor Leon Green got a few wins in, but the performance gap widened and John finished the season with a 6.63 second run under his belt, and a top terminal speed of over 211 mph. Consistent points throughout the season meant a convincing Championship win. John races a full tube chassis Nissan 350Z equipped with a turbocharged 3,800cc V6 engine which develops around 2000 bhp. John Bradshaw and the Abbey Motorsport team are almost speechless after shouting themselves hoarse at the Japshow Finale: The team recorded their highest ever terminal speed on the first run of the day with the 350Zed Nissan V6 powering to a 6.74/211.8 with a fairly wild run covering a lot more than a quarter of a mile. In the team's last run of the year they smashed the current quickest time for a Japanese car in Europe with a 6.63 taking nearly a tenth off the previous best of 6.72. "The 6.63 was stunning and could actually have been a tad quicker", says John. "The car hit a pre-set boost cut in top gear at around the 1000 foot mark which took some speed off and the run could very well have been a very high 6.5 – but much better to be safe than sorry! 2011 has been a stunning year for the team - to think our PB was 7.30 in 2010 and to reduce that to 6.63 in 2011 is a huge move forward. Even more pleasing though is the brilliant reliability and consistency this season and we are very, very proud of that. Right from the word go at the Easter Thunderball we have been seeing sixes. The Europeans saw six sixes out of a total of seven runs at Hockenheim which was an amazing experience and a great result. The team has really done itself justice in 2011. "I think we have really shown that although Japanese powered cars might be lacking in size, i.e. 3.5 litres, but that given time and development they really can perform. It’s such a shame that our engine is too small to be allowed into any form of Pro Mod racing whether FIA or MSA as I’m sure that adding the large and ever growing crowds seen at the Jap events to the mix would be great for the UK and attract a lot more sponsors going forward. "We are now taking a well-earned rest and will spend time reviewing plans and schedules for 2012. We have to follow the best route to maximise our budget and also try to drop our times further to catch the quickest Japanese cars in the world (currently 6.38). We would like to run in the Japanese Drag Series in 2012 to defend our title, we will return to Hockenheim for sure, and we will also actively look out for the best locations for Comp Eliminator or Top Doorslammer type racing for the car as breakouts are not something that we want to be worried about in 2012. We intend to race at Tierp and are very very excited about 2012. "A huge Thank You to Santa Pod for providing a great track for Jap events in 2011, the times have dropped accordingly in all classes. A huge well done to Abbey Motorsport who remain at the forefront of Japanese tuning and engine building and repairs. A huge personal Thank You to the Brams Racing crew; whether we win or lose we have a fantastic time with lots of laughs and that remains more important that anything. A huge Thank You to our sponsors Motul, Sanyo, AET Turbos, Autoglym, Gizzmo, Darton, Bosch, Kelford Cams, 6 Boost, Turbosmart and Performance Motorsport. Without them it simply could not happen. "The icing on the cake had to be seeing my oldest son Callum (12) take to the track for the first time for his licencing runs on Sunday. A very, very proud moment and Callum did brilliantly - well done, son." National Finals Perfect Awards. 21st September: This week's VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway is the penultimate event in the 2011 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance. 
The Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer
Fred Barendse at the FIA European Finals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds.
The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light
of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend; if it is won then
it will be reset to £50 for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with race
car builder Cotsweld Race Cars whose web site you can find at www.cotsweld.co.uk.
The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Lee Huxley at the FIA
European Finals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations.
The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster (eliminations only),
8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, the Wild Bunch, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Supertwin ET and Junior Drag Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event.
If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend; if it is won then it will be reset to £50
for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose
web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. As with all contingency schemes racers are responsible for collecting decals; Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award decals are available in the Signing On office. Web site updates. 21st September: Richard Smith has updated his Zenfolio gallery with shots from York Raceway's UK Northern Finals and the FIA European Finals. You can take a look at Richard's work at rdsmith.zenfolio.com. Mark Skinner has posted a huge FIA European Finals and associated Test Day update on his FlickR site at www.flickr.com/photos/fast_n_bulbous. Also updating from the FIA European Finals and also on FlickR is The Mad Welshman whose pictures cover the Saturday and Sunday of the event. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Back in April Keith Lee posted on Jon Spoard's UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site that Pat Neal is now the proud owner of Ken Veney's last Pro Comp Funny Car. With Pat's co-operation our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his Acceleration Archive with the first part of a feature which will eventually detail the entire reconstruction of this historic car and hopefully then follow its progress on the strip. "As you will see from the article the standard of work is second to none which is exactly what you would expect from Pat", says Alan. "He has previous, as they say". You can have a look at Alan's feature via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Hall of Fame nominations open. 19th September: At the 2009 meeting of the Board of Selectors of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame it was decided that Eurodragster.com readers should be given the opportunity to submit nominations for the Board's consideration at their annual selection meeting. Nominations are therefore invited for the next induction to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame which will take place in February 2012. Eligibility for induction into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is extended to any person who has driven, piloted, owned, designed, built, maintained, prepared, promoted, officiated, supported or taken part in any capacity connected with British drag racing. An inductee must have been retired for at least three years, or must have been engaged at the top level of their area of British drag racing for at least twenty years, or must have made a recognisable and significant contribution to the sport. Inductees are characterised by their desire to win, mastery of their own particular field, and the courage to innovate. Five members are inducted each year, of whom four are British and one from overseas. If you would like to send a nomination for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame then please E-Mail your nomination and a brief supporting paragraph to [email protected] before midnight UK on 30th September. The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is supported by US Automotive, Power Race Graphics, Santa Pod Raceway, Shakespeare County Raceway, York Raceway, Avon Park International Racers Association, Pennine Drag Racing Club, Santa Pod Racers Club, and Eurodragster.com. Although nominations via Eurodragster.com will be open, the British Drag Racing Hall Of Fame office will be out of commission for a while as Chair, office girl and tea maker Stu Bradbury will again be in the charge of the NHS Surgical department of Leicester General Hospital from today (Monday). Please continue to E-Mail the enquires and questions and Stu will get back to you as soon as the repair heals and allows connection between brain, fingers and keyboard. Hope it all goes well, Stu. Friday hero to Sunday zero. 
19th September: The final round of the 2011 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship started well for Finland's
Anita Mäkelä but went downhill from there:
On Friday night I went to sleep with a smile on my face as I was number one qualifier. Even the Saturday wasn't too bad: I lost the blower belt at 3.8 seconds and still the time was 4.95. For the first time this season we missed a round later in the evening. When it came to our turn to run, it was just too dark for me to handle a 300 mph car, and the track had got so much more cool that we couldn't have improved our time. Everything was ready to meet Micke Kågered on the first round on Sunday morning. And there it happened again: instant smoke. "Holy Chicken" like my Tommi said. I backpedalled four times, but I couldn't get it hooked up. And then I saw Micke cross the finish line. Well, I'm not going to buy the season review DVD. Racing just is so hard sometimes. I know I have a good, powerful, fast car and an excellent, hard-working crew. But it looks like that just isn't always enough. Fortunately, I'm blessed with a short memory. Soon my mind will be full of nice, bright plans for 2012. Although there isn't much which was good about this season, I must give a huge credit to the nice and friendly atmosphere we have within Top Fuel. By the way, is there anyone left who doesn't know that Rune's partner Lindsey ground over 500 floaters? Guys, try to match those numbers during the winter! I just love this sport! And I know that one day the sun will shine on us! See you next season! Svensson takes the title. 19th September: Less than two weeks after the NitrOlympX Peter and Sören Svensson and the Team Kendall Top Fuel Bike team we were on their way to their last race of the season and after for our team and after the race in Germany they were thinking seriously about trying to win the 2011 UEM Top Fuel Bike Championship. The team went into the race with the same points as Petri Paljakka, and Ian King was only eighteen points (less than a round) in the lead, and that lead could be overcome if everything went the team's way. Sören Svensson writes that that is what happened: 
Qualifying was already ongoing in the Sportsman classes when we arrived at the track and after checking the track we found out that the owner had put in some new asphalt
on the very first part of the track in both lanes, which made it a bit hard to know which tune up to use for Fridays Q1. Friday morning and we were called to the lanes for Q1.
Peter met Ian King and after a long nice burnout the guys were in pre-stage. The green light came on and we were more or less surprised that Peter passed the sixty foot mark
without smoking the tyre (which most of the other guys had done) but after about two seconds into the run something fell off the bike. We later found out that it was the chain
which caused the motor to go way too high in revs, hurting all eight valves and some more minor parts. Peter still ran 9.82 seconds on that run which gave us the number five
spot after the first qualifying session.
We started to fix the engine immediately after the run and had about half an hour more work when we were called to the lanes for Q2 but decided to take it easy in order to be ready for Q3 on Saturday morning, when all the fuel cars had had two qualifying sessions which we thought should help us a lot to get good traction on our next run. Saturday morning came around and we decided to keep our previous set-up in order to get a good run, knowing that Ian King had run a 6.25 in Q2. Peter was up against our good friend Steve Woollatt and both guys were in pre stage. Steve left a bit before Peter but at the sixty foot mark Peter had passed him and the bike was going for a good run with the front tyre hanging high in the air. Peter clicked off the throttle a bit early and the win light came on, showing 6.003 which meant that we had passed Ian and we were number one qualifier. The Racepak showed us that the previous run was very smooth and since we had already qualified with an a low 6.0 we decided to add some more fuel and ignition to try to run a five second pass in Q4. 
Q4 came up and the weather changed a bit with some cold winds late Saturday afternoon which made us a bit worried whether the track could take the added power.
Peter made a nice long burn out and it felt like the track had became a lot better since last the run when I was pushing him back to the start line. Ian and Peter were in pre-stage, they both
got the green light and our bike was almost flying, responding well to our tune-up and Peter crossed the finish line at an incredible 5.881 at only 224.40 mph showing that he got of the throttle
just after the 1000 feet mark. This is by far the quickest time ever recorded outside the US and the 3.87/202 at the eighth mile showed that we were on a good track in order to run even
faster! We got back to the pits and checked everything after the last run and put in a softer set-up for E1 on Sunday in order to be ready for the race.
Sunday came around and our first elimination run was against newcomer Otto Knebl. We were called to the lanes and everything went as well as we planned the night before when the scoreboard showed 6.05 after Peter was off the throttle around the 1000 foot mark due to a bad head and cross wind, taking out Otto who unfortunately crossed the centre line around 1000 feet. In E1 Petri Paljakka took out Steve Woollatt and Sverre Dahl took out Ian King which meant that there would be a definite run for the UEM title in the upcoming semi-finals were Peter would meet Petri. We were called to the lanes for the semi finals and both riders made great crowd pleasing burnouts. We could all feel the nerves in the air and the guys were in pre-stage. Peter away first on a 1.03 sixty foot and the clutch management system did the job on the first part of the track. Peter clicked off the throttle a bit early getting the winning light in 6.01 seconds at only 198.99 mph meaning that we had won the UEM title 2011, what a great achievement for the whole team! The final against our good friend Sverre Dahl was supposed to be the climax of the race since we know that Sverre is a hard hitter if he finds the right tune-up. Peter made a really long burnout and Sverre just a short one after being forced to put on a new tyre after the semi-finals against Steve Woollatt. Both guys were in pre-stage and the green light came on and both hit the throttle at about the same time. Peter had a 1.02 sixty foot time and unfortunately Sverre's tire went up in smoke. Peter had a storming pass, off the throttle at about 1000 feet, getting the win light in a great 5.96/210.10. We could not be anything other than satisfied with the weekend. Number one qualifier, running the quickest time ever outside the US, UEM Champions 2011 participating in only four out of seven UEM events, and winner of the race! This race ends the 2011 season and what a great season it has been for the team: track record at Tierp in Sweden, track record and two new European records at Hockenheim, and a new track record at Santa Pod, together with the 2011 UEM title! A big thank you to everyone who makes this possible: Kendall Motor Oil Sweden, supplied by Sollebrunns Oljeservice Samek Tool AB, who make some of the best moulding tools in the automotive industry in Sweden CemeCon A/S, one of the best coating companies in Europe when it comes to camshaft coating etc Real Form, product development within mechanical design Romnet, consultants with computer network favours AF Konsult AB, consultants within most electrical installation areas PiPPi, Number 1 when it comes to marketing All the nice and hard working staff at Santa Pod who helped us to run quicker then ever on a new refurbished starting area! All our fans and family members who support us towards new achievements every year! For more information about our previous achievements and updates please visit www.billetracing.se. A video of the 5.881 second run by our good friend and sponsor Tony Zetterstrom is on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ki-rqZepU. Hanssen hooks the crown. 
19th September: In just his third year of FIA Top Methanol Dragster competition, Norwegian Fisherman Fred Hanssen secured
his first European Championship with a runner-up finish at last weekend's European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in England. Hanssen and his Islanders
Black & White team locked up the title when his closest opponent, former five-time European Champion Dave Wilson smoked the tyres in round one, while
Hanssen advanced.
Hanssen, 43, of Afjord, Norway, had battled Wilson all season long. After rain ended the season-opening Main Event at Santa Pod in May, Hanssen scored his first professional win by taking out Wilson at the next event, the Sweden Internationals in June. He then kept the roll going by taking another win over Wilson at the FHRA Nitro Nationals in Finland. Wilson was able to strike back last month at the NitrOlympx in Germany, when Hanssen had a clutch linkage bolt bend in the first round, leading to an early exit while Wilson advanced to another final. Heading into the final event at Santa Pod, Wilson held a slim nine point advantage, meaning Hanssen would need to go one round more than Wilson or win the event to overtake him. Hanssen fired the first shot in his blown alcohol dragster, tuned by American Will Hanna, with a 5.409 second elapsed time at 264.08 mph in Friday's first session that would put him in the top qualifying position, a spot he would not relinquish. He backed that time up with a 5.402 second blast Saturday night that would stand for Low Elapsed Time of the event. Meanwhile, European record holder Wilson qualified with an off-pace 5.522 to place him fifth. With qualifying points tabulated, that put Hanssen and Wilson in a dead tie going into the first round, if Hanssen held on to the Low ET points. Wilson would face off with Hanssen's Islanders Drag Racing teammate Paul Ingar Udtian as the first pair of round one. Wilson went up in smoke at the launch, handing the win to Udtian. Hanssen, who was last pair of the round now just needed to defeat Oliver Azzopardi, a rookie driver from Malta. Azzopardi had problems with his engine and was forced to shut off, while Hanssen clinched the Championship with a 5.408 at 264.20 mph. Hanssen then squared off against his teammate Udtian in the semifinal round. Udtian went up in smoke while Hanssen scored the win with a tire-shaking 5.52 at 259 mph. In the finals, a broken parachute mount deployed a parachute prematurely, allowing out-going European Champion Timo Habermann to collect the victory. "I am very pleased to have reached the goal of a European Championship", said Hanssen. "This is great for a fisherman from Afjord, but it has cost a lot of hard work. Our crew has done such a great job this year, Will Hanna the Crew Chief, Per Skjoelberg, Ingvald Fredagsvik, Thore Bakken, Howie Main, Joseph Satterfield and Chris Foster; without them, this would not have happened. Also, without the support of our sponsors Brad Penn Oil – Tore Grannegen, Norwegian Distributor, Fosen Tools, VSP, Hansson Fishing A/S, VP Racing Fuels, Victory Valves and RS Bilpleie, this would not be possible. It is very gratifying to be able to reward all of their hard work and support with this Championship." Rather than flying home to celebrate, Hanssen flew back to Norway, where his fishing ship was waiting for him to go back out to sea, where he will be until November. Won in one. 19th September: Sunday 11th September was a day which all of the team members of Leanders Bros Drag Racing will long remember, as Ulf Leanders captured his fourth Top Methanol Funny Car title in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. This is more titles than anyone else has ever achived in the class. Jörgen Leanders writes: The 2011 season started in the US where Leanders Bros Drag Racing had the Funny Car based for about a year at our great friends Todd and Denise Tutterow's shop in Yadkinville, NC. We went to Valdosta, GA and did some testing with a new fuel system from Randy Anderson at APS and we saw right away that this made a huge difference in our performance. From there we went to the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL. This was our last stop in the States before we sent the car home to Sweden. The FIA series always begins at Santa Pod in England. Next stop on the tour was Tierp Arena, every racer in Europe has waited for this so long, a brand new state of the art facility built in just eight months in Tierp, Sweden. The race however was not that good for us when we lost in the first round to our great friend Jonas Staflund who went on to win the race. Next stop, Alastaro, Finland and this would be our only win this year. The NitrOlympX at Hockenheim in Germany is always a great race with a lot of spectators but a second round exit was not what we needed before we headed back to the legendary Santa Pod track in England. Twelve points behind the lead we knew that every point was very important so the goal was to qualify at the top and just do what we could to grab every point that was available. What we did not count on was that after qualifying was over on Saturday night the Championship was going to be decided in the first round on Sunday when we qualified #1 and Arvid Gr&oslasg;dem, who was the points leader, qualified #8. The FIA Championship title was ours after winning the first round. We went on to the final but lost to Rob Turner, this was his first win since they switched over from the dragsters to Funny Car. As many involved in drag racing know, we design and manufacture our own clutches and they have helped us and many other racers to win a lot of races for many years now. This year we have been #1 qualifier and we had Low ET at every race, we also have both the European speed and ET record at 5.687 seconds and 406.85 kmh (252.86 mph). In testing at the excellent all concrete Tierp track we have been as low as 5.62/411.6 kmh (255.8 mph). We also would like to send a big Thank You to our sponsors IronCAD, Haas Automation, 76 Lubricants, Hali, Swedhandling, Engcon, Persåkers Speed Shop, Nordtrafik, Åre Produktion, Featurecam, Norden & Co, Speedy Engineering, Svetek, System Edström and Custom Parts AB. TFB: Not a piece of cake. 
19th September: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Kev Charman has been in touch with a report of his FIA European Finals weekend
during which he was riding Rene van den Berg's bike:
All arrived, the bike unloaded, and we went about checking it all over, and discussing what the game plan was. We were concerned that after the issues we had with the chains snapping, and wanted to try to re-tune the bike, as it is tailing off after the 1000 foot mark, and we really needed more track time to get it back into the sixes. We had two qualifying rounds on Friday and Saturday, so any changes we made had to be important ones, to make this worthwhile. Friday dawned, final checks, and started the bike up. It sounded strong and good, so now ready for the first run. Good straight burnout, and as I was being pushed back, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire flew over the track. Mentioned on Eurodragster.com as being "A great sight" (The Spitfire, not your butt reversing towards me - Ed). Launch was also good, and a 1.12 sixty foot, which was better than it had been for a while, then the motor revved. The primary drive belt had snapped, so a disappointing 9.55 sec run at 85 mph was my qualifying run. This put me at Number four, surprisingly as the only three to have gone quicker than me in this session were Steve Woollatt (6.34), Petri Paljakka (6.42), and Ian King (6.94). Back to pits and changed the belt, checked the timing, clutch and usual maintenance, and ready for the next one. The second run was great 1.13 sixty foot, and the bike flew. 6.88 at 197 mph, big thanks to Craig and a very happy crew! Not much more I can say. No dramas! Saturday's first run 1.11 sixty foot, 6.90/194. The sixty foot times are coming down slowly. We discussed changing the ratio, and maybe testing next weekend, and see if we can get the bike up the track more consistently in time for the National Finals. The second run was disappointing again, when the bike decided that it was going to throw another primary belt, giving me a thirteen-second pass. We have sorted out the chain issue, and now replaced it with a belt one. I do have to say a huge congratulations to Peter Svensson and the team, 5.88 at 224 mph, quickest Top Fuel Bike pass in Europe! Elimination day, and I had Steve Woollatt in the Quarter finals. He had been running quite well, with a couple of nice sixes, but you never know what could happen; his last two runs were problematic, with a thirteen and twenty two second pass respectively. Could today be a zero to hero one for me? No it couldn't! Both of us had trouble trying to get our bikes to burn out. I ended up driving up the track, and when Chris came to push me back, he was having trouble getting the pin back in to the throttle stop. When I tried to launch the bike was having none of it, almost like the throttle cable had snapped. Steve too had problems, and won the race with a 7.5, which was more disappointing for me, as that could have been beatable. The problem was that the nipple came loose on the throttle cable so as much as I turned the hand grip it had no cable attached! A fifty cent part that had let us down. Thanks, as always to Rene, Craig and Binzi , and ro my crew Chris and Lizzy. Also to Doug at Ensys, Eurodragster.com for the live coverage, thank goodness for the live reports, or Lizzy would never have a reference to get our race report done (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed)! Lizzy too would like to say a very big thanks too must go to Bryony of Queenie's Cup Cakes for the art form drag bike cake which she made. Her cakes are awesome, and worth every penny should you consider having one made. She is contactable via our team, or through their Facebook page. End of an era. 19th September: Last week's FIA European Finals was the last race for Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad's six-second mount Lightning, and Hans Olav showcased the bike to its new owner in spectacular fashion. Hans Olav writes: 
First of all we would like to congratulate UEM Champion, Tent Champion and winner of the Finals at Santa Pod Per Bengtsson. We had a great time together sharing tent the whole season.
We would so much like to see Per back next year, when we will be racing the same kind of engine (parallel twin). Per and his crew have convinced me about the strength and potential of
this kind of engine, and when we got the opportunity to build and race this type of bike we took it.
Lightning's last trip with us proved to us and the new owner that this is one of the best bikes in Europe. We did a nice 4.33 on the eighth mile in Mosten, Denmark, and finished the three last runs at Santa Pod, England with a very strong 6.69, 6.69 and 6.69. I'm happy and proud to deliver Lightning in this condition to Ulf Ledström from Sweden, and I'm sure we are all going see Lightning back in business in the future. Before the last UEM race at Santa Pod, there were still four people fighting for the Championship: Per Bengtsson, Roel Koedam, Jan Sturla Hegre and me. Jan Sturla Hegre killed his engine in the qualifying session, and did not qualify at all. That brought me one step up to third in the Championship. 
Supertwin has raised its level of quality to new dimension this season. And we have been a part of it. We had never seen a six second ladder in Europe before this season, and out of
seven events in 2011 we had four six-second ladders. The bump spot record was set in the finals at Santa Pod with a 6.77. I think this proves a new era for the class.
In the first round of eliminations, we met Roel Koedam. We did a nice side by side, but loose, Roel ran 6.61 to my 6.69. I ended as number three in the UEM Championship 2011. Per Bengtsson 6.49 beat Samu Kemppainen 6.79, Mark Ashelford 6.81 took out Lorenz Stäuble 8.58, Ronny Aasen 6.98 took out Job Heezen 7.08. Roel and Per still fighting for the title. Semi-finals. Per 6.53 took out Mark 6.73, Ronny 6.69 took out Roel 7.07. At this point Per Bengtsson was European Champion 2011. Final: Per was very fast from the start line, but chain trouble prevented him from going the whole distance. Ronny got a even bigger problem when he burned a cylinder head, and the finals win went to Per Bengtsson. For us this was a kind of an ending, as we knew that this was the last race with Lightning. We're going to finish our new bike during the winter and it will for sure be sensational. I also have to say a special Thank You to my sponsors who make this possible: Automester, Jessheim Bilskade, Sande Gåd, Dekk Team, GB-Tech AS, Billakkspesialisten, Profilhuset, Lena Graveservice and Tech-Con. Thanks to all of the race fans, and we will meet you next year with a new bike and new colours. Malmgren's double disappointment. 19th September: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren and the Lahega-sponsored team went to Santa Pod with high hopes and with the car set up for the usual good conditions, but Michael says that they turned out to be wrong: With new asphalt on the start line it was a shock for everybody how poor the traction was. Bearing in mind what happened when Mantorp put in a new start line in 2010 and everybody, including FIA Commission staff and track owners / promoters, complained how stupid that was only a couple of weeks before a main event it did surprise me and I think everybody else that it happened again at Santa Pod. At least we could have been informed so we could choose to stay home instead of braking parts and to try to win a lottery. The whole race for most car classes - it seems the bikes were not that badly affected - turned out to a lottery race of who could backpedal most, or who wanted to risk his engine most. Several broke their engines not only in Pro Stock but also in other classes. When a fast revving Pro Stock left the line, it was more unusual that it didn't break than that it did break. Out of a total 54 runs in Pro Stock, eight were OK due to very soft clutch settings that in some cases killed and burned up the clutch totally, the other 46 runs were wild tyre shake, shut off, all over the track, or burned clutch. I don't think it's acceptable to run under these conditions at the FIA Finals and I think most agree with me, even if it was the same for everybody which was not the case. A bad track you can tune for, but no track / start line you can't tune for, and secondly what about safety, which everyone talks so much about? Yes they needed to do something as the track was falling apart on the start line, but wouldn't an easier way just have been to move the start line thirty feet forward for now, until a new quarter mile was laid down. Or made this first part in the same concrete as at Tierp so it would be much quicker to get rubber on it to stick and make it work. Well, I am not an expert but anything would probably have been a better solution than this. When did we last time see a Top Fuel final where both cars backpedalled five times and run 7.6 seconds, or when was the last time that a Pro racer like Gullqvist couldn't get down at all on Sunday, even Ålund couldn't make it work and he can handle almost any track better than anybody. I am not writing this as an excuse for ending up fourth due to a second round defeat. If the conditions had been as they usually are (very good as Santa Pod's track prep crew always do a very good job) we might still have ended up fourth, but at least we would have done it under good racing conditions where we could all have run our best, run fast, and given the public close racing. Editor's note: Please see News FAQ 16. Mad Max does the Finals. 
19th September: The inaugural season for Dave Evans' Super Pro ET Impala began at the Webster Race Engineering Test Day in March of
this year, and would become an initiation with a trial by fire at the FIA European Finals, Santa Pod. Andy B writes:
This was some what of a ying and yang weekend for the Never Again Boys. Good and Bad. The Doomsday Impala proved its realibility with the Jeff Bull 489 ci motor giving consistent 8.9 second runs over the whole event, that consistency briefly pushing the big Impala into the #2 qualifing slot on the Thursday, to be bumped quickly to #3 by Dave Gibbons, and ending up #8 in final qualifying. But at least the 8.90s were coming over and over. In qualifying session 3 the car suffered a bizarre accident. After a hard launch, Dave (aka Geoff Capes) actually managed to yank the steering column off the splines at the business end. You can then turn the wheel as much as you like, but if it's not connected to anything you're along for the ride. The car glanced the wall which along with an AutoTrader sign managed to wear the shiny off the left hand side front to back. This was such an easy fix at the track and such an easy fix to stop it happening ever again, but it's a really hard lesson. The car is still brand new this year and we have been ironing out gremlins all season, this was just another to add to that list although this one was a little more in the vein of Mad Max than we would have liked. After the incident, the team managed to turn the car around, albeit a little less respendent, and Doomsday still ran an 8.90 in the next qualifier. Dave pulled a cherry in eliminations with Thomas Haas, could have been warming up to be a close race, but the last amber and that nervous tic in his big toe meant he was away on a red. Overall the damage to the car is superficial and requires the experience of our painter Fred Cooke at Autoline to bring the Imp back to top notch again for next season. Thanks to all the team, Jay, and also to everyone who comes to say hello. When a plan comes together... 19th September: Alex McIntosh and the Team Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator team arrived at the FIA European Finals with a plan, to use the tune-up which had worked so well at Bug Jam as their starting point. The plan came to fruition, as Alex writes: Day one was Sportsman day and 4 qualifiers. The Bug Jam tune worked straight off the trailer, the tyres turning slightly off the line but not enough to have to pedal. Shelby Webster was in charge of videoing the runs, the information gained from the video and the data logger allowed her father Jon to tune the car between runs. We ended the day number one qualifier. Day two and Jon Webster was crewing for Andy Frost in Pro Mod so James Jarvis stepped up to Crew Chief. James has helped all season, he obviously knows his stuff as after Q5 he made a rear shock damping change and the car's sixty foot time improved. We ended day two number two qualifier behind Brian Payne. Day three's qualifiers were cancelled leaving just the cruise which all the cars completed with outany problems. Day four, Eliminations. With the Pro classes finished Jon Webster was back as Crew Chief and Gerry Treit was our first round opponent. Gerry has been trying to run a nine on the motor all season and, this being his last meeting of the year, he had decided to turn the nitrous system on. This resulted in a 9.5 Personal Best for Gerry but we went quicker again with an 8.2 which would give us lane choice against Richard Billings and the 180 mph twin turbo Mustang. My reaction times had been good all weekend which may have Richard try a bit too hard resulting in him red lighting. We were rewarded with a bye in the semi Sitting behind Ian Hook and Brian Payne I had the best seat in the house to watch a real close race, Ian beating Brian on reaction time, Ian's 8.28 beating Brian's quicker 8.27. We went for lane choice and matched Brian's 8.27. By this point there was no pressure, we had achieved far more than I could of dreamt of. With Ian Hook and I sitting in the pairing lanes waiting to run the final Jon went to look at the track and chose a lane. Jon came back telling me "Right lane and I might need you to do a rolling burnout". As I entered the water box time seemed to slow down. Ian Marshall waved us forward and Jon signalled he wanted a rolling burnout. The burnout went perfectly, I backed up, James pulled the chute pin and Jon lined me up in my own tyre tracks. As it was getting dark I knew I had to be careful on the lights. For once I beat Ian on reaction, a bit too good for my liking with a .005. The rest of the run was text book resulting in my best ET and MPH of the weekend. Team Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour had won the Final. Thanks to my crew of the Websters and James for all their help this season. I'd also like to thank all of the Santa Pod staff for a great weekend. National Finals next, can't wait. Crewing for a winner. 19th September: Team Edge crew member Martin Davey has been in touch to congratulate Rick Denny on his Pro ET win at last weekend's FIA European Finals: After a major transmission failure during the burnout on the very first run of the weekend, Gordon and the Edge team tried in vain to fix the problem. Thank you to all those in the Pro ET pit who offered help and parts. Unfortunately this was a premature end to Gordon's weekend, and the team were resigned to watching some fantastic racing. Rick is a unique Pro ET racer who competes totally, and successfully, on his own with no crew members. He even has a tow-bar fitted to his 1969 Pontiac Firebird to tow his caravan from storage. I decided to offer my services to Rick this weekend as a crew member, and to assist in any way I could. I think it worked! Rick is a great guy and a determined racer, if he wants my help in the future I will be only too pleased. The standard of racing in Pro ET this weekend was, as always, excellent. Rick had some really close races, especially against Paul Marston and Paul Brown, but was a worthy winner of the trophy. Good luck to Gordon getting the car back to full racing fitness for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod next week. And, of course, thank you to Eurodragster.com for their excellent coverage of the European Finals (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Pedalling by numbers. 19th September: If you were at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend, or if you were tuned in via the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam or reading our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Event Coverage then you will have seen that the final of Top Fuel Dragster between 2011 FIA European Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher and Risto Poutiainen was a pedalfest which resembled a cannonade as much as it did a drag race. Watching the timing data come up on the screen at our desk - since we couldn't see a lot of the race for smoke - it looked as if the lead changed hands a number of times during the race. Courtesy of the official timing data supplied by Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe and one of Eurodragster.com's magic spreadsheets we were able to confirm that both Urs and Risto had the lead at different times, and that Risto looked to call it a day a touch before 1000 feet: Start line: Urs ahead by 0.009 seconds 60 feet: Urs ahead by 0.010 330 feet: Risto ahead by 0.064 594 feet (start of eighth mile speed trap): Risto ahead by 0.055 Eighth mile: Risto ahead by 0.047, or 9.88 feet 934 feet (start of 1000 foot speed trap): Urs ahead by 0.096 1000 feet: Urs ahead by 0.174, or 32.68 feet 1254 feet (start of quarter mile speed trap): Urs ahead by 0.662 Quarter mile: Urs ahead by 0.818, or 126.92 feet Swift snippets. 19th September: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Bill Macdermid says that his team had a great weekend at the FIA European Finals going 8.93/155 in full Street Eliminator trim in his 3850 IBS + Topspeed '69 Camaro. "We at Topspeed would like to say a big thank you to all the Street Eliminator Teams for making it a superb European Finals and for putting on a great show, winner Alex Mcintosh and especially Jeff Mead (both running our new extra sticky compound Hoosier street tyres), Jeff pulling the biggest wheelie I have seen for years - that's got to be a good advert for our Hoosiers." Having broken the supercharger shaft at the Open Sports Nationals at the end of August, it was touch and go whether Customs would release UK Outlaw Anglia racer Steve Wells' new snout in time for this weekend's Hot Rod Drags at Stratford County Raceway. Luckily it arrived and after a couple of late nights in the garage was fitted and ready for action. "I would like to thank Cam Auto and Nimbus Motorsport for their continued support this year", says Steve. "Their top quality products, including Goodridge hoses and Torco racing oil, have been used on the Pop ever since we started racing." Les Toulousains are back! 19th September: Formerly known as Crazy Drivers, the Toulouse Drag Racers have been involved in racing since 1981 in drag racing, writes Pascal Thébault: Reunited under the Odyssey banner (the chopper- and hot rod-dedicated workshop of Bertrand Dubet) Jacques Bidard, Bertrand and Thierry Vayssade were present at Mende for the last round of the French ATD drag series. Thierry drove a 125" former Funny Car chassis with '23 Ford T body, blown alcohol Big Block Chevy and Powerglide. Bertrand and Jacques were on the wrenches. 
The car had never run before and so this appearance had to be considered a shakedown. The reverser didn't work after the first burnout so the altered had to be pushed back to the start line by helpers: involuntary, but an accurate Old Days attitude for a nostalgia racer! Thierry suffered from a badly-adjusted accelerator on the second run, over-revving and grenading some rocker push rods in the attempt. A fast trip to Toulouse was needed for spare parts. Following attempts saw Thierry pedalling to avoid instant burnouts so the weekend ended with a modest 9.328 best ET. 2012 plans are to race the car in the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association plus selected ATD events. Jolink takes Top Gas title. 
19th September: The final round of the 2011 Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gastook place at the Mosten
Race Days on 1st-4th September over an eighth-mile sprint with prep by Holger Dueholm and his team providing very good traction. The event was contested by 265 bike and car teams and was attended by 8000 visitors
who also enjoyed twenty bands.
Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266), in his 36th year of drag racing, became Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Champion for the second time (right in picture). After five rounds, qualifying on the single-lane sprint track was as follows:
2011 Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship:
19th September: UK Pro ET racer Tim Stanbury has been in touch with an account of his season: Having been an obsessive American car and drag racing enthusiast since an early age (Hot Wheels have alot to answer for), I gave up the track in about 1990 and returned my 1965 Mustang to a more sedate trim. The interest never faded though with many a holiday across the Atlantic finding me seeking out local tracks to see what was going on. Finally, there I was on Racing Junk cruising the ads , when after some months I found Bubba a 1968 Camaro for sale by a racer in Idaho. All steel apart from the hood, original front frame rails,dash,working windows and running mid nines ticked all the boxes for me. Some lengthy discussion and we seemed to getting along fine so I took the plunge and wired the money. By the end of October 2009, Bubba was lashed into a container and heading down the West Coast before going through the Panama Canal. He arrived early December and by all accounts appeared to be pretty much as described. Over the winter I uncovered a few gremlins, sought advice from various MSA scrutineers and attempted to be ready for Easter 2010. I actually had no idea what class I would end up racing in but after a short search found Pro ET seemed to be the one. Things were made alot easier with all sorts of helpful advice from Carla Pittau of Team Heaven & Hell and it was also good to know I would be seeing some old faces at the track. The first season was a bit of a blur to be honest. I found myself fighting various oil leaks which, as fast as they were fixed, returned elsewhere. I finished the year with a misfire and decided a bit of winter prep was needed. I took the car up to John Sleath Race Cars last October for an engine refresh, crank balance and a new axle case and shafts. John's hands-on approach and reasonable rates were a breath of fresh air. He dynoed the engine (unchanged in spec, just freshened) it made 851 hp, almost exactly what Ken the previous owner had advised. We made a 30 hp improvement just by changing the carb jets, dispelling the dyno critics in about ten minutes! I also had John install some wheelie bars so I could experiment with the transbrake (search Ken Windley on YouTube and you will see why). By late January this year, I thought I was ready for 2011. Fabricating an exhaust system with silencers in order to address rule changes and some cosmetic jobs later we were ready for Easter. Sadly, the season started with a bit of jolt, with an oversight from John which I must say was handled immediately, professionally, and with little lost track time. Although neither of us needed a setback, it was nice to have such support and without any quibble. The rest of this year has been a bit mixed. We havent been able to attend all rounds, due mainly to the fuel costs towing the car to and from the track. My own fault for living so far away. A testing session for the transbrake was rained off prior to the Main Event so finally I was able to face my demons last week before the European Finals. A lot of fuss about nothing that was, and by eliminations I was actually producing some decent reaction times before red lighting in the third round. That will teach me to be too eager. That's me pretty much me done for this season, hence this essay. Hopefully next year I will be back again for some more. Special thanks to my family and old friends Paul Edwards, Frank, Darren, Lee and Chris Orthodoxou (Frank is also known as Robin, I refused to go in a car with him again about thirty years ago, see his antics on the track to see why), and all my new friends in Pro ET, there are quite a few of you. Not forgetting Mark Todd, Paul Houston, Ken Windley and Ian Marshall (in his professional capacity at Webster Race Engineering) and finally John Sleath, who has made my now-precious race car more refined and without a leak to be seen. Outlaw Street Round 7. 
19th September: The seventh meeting of the 2011 Outlaw Street series was held during the
VW Action weekend at Santa Pod Raceway, writes Mark Wallington:
The event is a long-standing event on the Outlaw calendar due to its relaxed family atmosphere and the added bonus of the Sunday always being a Peak Performance Day. This means that although the sign on is more expensive you get a track prepped to full race standards with lots of glue and also the chance to see some of the Pro racers testing prior to the European finals. The meet was well attended with many members trying to squeeze as much track time in as possible to chase those new PBs seeing as there are only two more meets this series and lots of trophies still to chase. Despite it being September the weather was kind to us on the Saturday will a full day and night of racing, naturally the banter was high as no one wanted to come back to the pits after being beaten by a VW, on a whole V8 ruled although there were a few surprises and a couple of big block V8 members who went home heads in shame muttering about needing to buy more go-faster parts. The American Car magazine, year's free subscription was won by Roy Collins in his Red Rose Garage Pro Street Camaro with 224 points for the weekend, this was the icing on the cake for Roy who also set a new PB over the weekend and has now broken into the tens with his newly built Camaro, although there is a lot more to come from the car yet. The Joe & Co-sponsored Reaction Time Trophy was being chased by all over the weekend with a mere over the weekend with only 0.201 of a second splitting first and second place. With first place going to Vic Fisher in his supercharged V6 Mustang with a 0.061 RT, this was the third RT trophy Vic has won this season and he's clearly proving to be the man to beat if members want to lay claim to a trophy of their own. Reaction Times
FWD History I. 19th September: In June 2010 CPL Racing's car driven by Guy Chamberlain became the first Honda into the nines in Europe with a 9.91 second run at 149 mph. This also meant that at the same time they had taken the title of quickest Front Wheel Drive car in Europe. Towards the end of 2010, however, their 9.91 FWD record was taken by a Vauxhall Tigra, built and driven by Andy Speck. 
Never ones to rest on their laurels, CPL Racing put the car back in the workshop over the winter of 2010/11 and made further refinements to the car, including in-house design and manufacture
of lightweight components and some secret alterations under the bonnet. A retune on the CPL dyno in early August showed the car was putting out an amazing 936 bhp (and that's on the
conservative-reading Dyno Dynamics dyno, aka The Heartbreaker).
The enhancements certainly paid off, as on the second run out on 20th August this year, CPL's Guy Chamberlain smashed the record again with an impressive 9.769 second run at 151.64 mph, taking back the record for fastest FWD in Europe with his turbo Honda. So is it just the sheer horsepower of the car that has got this record back for CPL? "Absolutely not" says Guy Chamberlain, owner of CPL Racing. "It doesn't matter how much power you have, if the chassis design and set-up aren't correct, and you don't have a transmission set-up you can rely on, all that power is worthless." CPL Racing did fit a locked differential to the car for a short trial period but, after suffering severe handling problems, they quickly took it back out. "It's one of the best decisions we made to put the Quaife differential back in", says Guy. "It's safer, it's never let us dow,n and it played a big part in us getting our 0-60 times down to 2.3 seconds!" CPL has retired the car for the remainder of 2011 for yet more improvements, so will we see this little Honda break through the 9.5 second barrier? Watch this space! FWD History II. 19th September: 21st August 2011 is a day which will go down in history as the day on which Front Wheel Drive drag dacing took a massive step forward. Organised by drag racing enthusiasts Richard Batty, Guy Chamberlain and Rob Carnson, whose cars already regularly compete in the Jap Series at Santa Pod, the aim of the Outlaw Shootout was to bring together all the quickest FWD cars, be they of Japanese, European or any other origin. The organisers had received backing from companies both within and outside the racing community, and entries for the race were received from all over Europe. In total twenty four cars were entered, but as with racing of any kind, mechanical and other problems occurred. Organiser Richard Batty had to leave the UK's quickest FTO at home in the garage due to gearbox problems, and Europe's fastest FWD car, CPL Racing's Honda, had set a new record the day before running a 9.7 second quarter mile but had run out of puff. This brought the number of cars competing for the crown on the day to fifteen. This did not detract from the excitement and buzz of having all these highly competitive cars and drag racing enthusiasts in the form of spectators from all over Europe, being brought together to see who would win what in the £4000 prize fund on offer: more than any of the racers had ever competed for before. With a fifteen car field, all cars made it through qualifying with the notable exception of Yasir Dar, whose gearbox failure in his first run proved terminal. He still managed to pick up the prize for the Fastest Eighth at 115 mph. With a speed like that it would have been on course for a nine-second run. The first elimination round saw some tight and exciting battles, none more so than that between supercharged Honda Civic Type R owners Karl Hart and Dougie Gemmell, with Karl just edging it by 0.02 seconds. Neil Wrenn in his Honda CRX ran a new PB of 11.747/121 to knock out Lee Walker. Civic Type R owner Adam Buckley had two seconds to spare over Paul Bargate's Nitrous Only powered VW Scirocco. Rob Carnson with his newly built Back Yard Racing Honda knocked out Mark Galvin in his Renault 5 GT Turbo, whilst Kiel Priestman, winner of 2011 Ten Of The Best FWD Drag lost out by 0.2 to the eventual finalist Allan Duthie in his Vauxhall Corsa. The quarter finals saw the legend in FWD Drag racing Andy Nichols, multiple time FWD Champion of Ten Of The Best, returning to his old form, knocking out Neil Wrenn. Karl Hart had gearbox issues against fellow CPL Racing team mate Neil Knight which gave Neil an easy victory. Rob Carnson fell asleep on the start line, which gave Allan Duthie a two car length lead that Rob just couldn't pull back despite running a faster time than Allan. The shootout of the round was Adam Buckley against Alvis Moronta in his normally aspirated Honda. Alvis had been quick out of the blocks all day in his normally aspirated Honda and pulled out a massive lead over Adam, but the superior power and top end speed of the turbo Honda won out by 0.01 seconds. The semis saw Andy Nichols against Adam Buckley in a tight knit race, Adam taking the victory with a 10.513/144.3 against Andy's 10.617/142. Neil Knight had gearbox issues against Allan Duthie, and Allan romped home over two seconds in the lead. And so to the final: Adam Buckley turbovCivic against Allan Duthie's Corsa. Adam was capable of running a high nine and Allan had been running elevens all day. The Final was in no way a foregone conclusion though, Adam was on borrowed time with a stock gearbox that had a damaged second gear, but it didn't disappoint. Both got off the line together and were still together at the eighth, however Adam's superior turbo powered Honda won through at the end to see him take the title for 2011. Prizes were as follows: Winner: Adam Buckley - Honda Civic £1500 Runner up: Allan Duthie - Vauxhall Corsa £500 Losing semi-finalists: Neil Knight - Honda Civic £200 and Andy Nichols - Rover MGZR £200 Quickest ET: Adam Buckley - Honda Civic £150 Quickest N/A ET: Alvis Moronta - Honda Civic £150 Quickest Supercharged ET: Douglas Gemmell - Honda Civic £150 Quickest NOS Only Car ET: Paul Bargate - VW Scirocco £150 Quickest Reaction Time: Allan Duthie - Vauxhall Corsa £100 Fastest 60 Foot Time: Douglas Gemmell - Honda Civic £100 Fastest 1/8 MPH: Yasir Dar - Honda Civic £100 Fastest 1/4 MPH: Andy Nichols - Rover MGZR £100 Number 1 Qualifier: Andy Nichols - Rover MGZR £100 First 150 mph car: No winner £100 Every exciting round of the action can be viewed on the dedicated YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/UKOutlawFWDShootout. Additional pictures and discussions can be found at www.outlawshootout.co.uk and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UKOutlawStreetFWDShootout. The organisers would like to say a huge thank you to the following sponsors for 2011: Aford Awards, Concept Graphix, CPL Racing, Driveshaft Shop, East Coast Customs, EFI Parts, Garage 786, GB Enterprises, LA Racing Parts, Lou Connor, Quaife, Renault Turbo Owners' Club, S1 Chiropractic, TDi North, TTS Performance and Wizards of NOS. Thanks also to all race entrants, competitors, spectators and Santa Pod staff for making the day such an outstanding success. The organisers have already started the planning and promotion for next year's event. Anyone wishing to either sponsor the 2012 event or register their interest in entering their car can do so via the Outlaw Shootout web site at www.outlawshootout.co.uk. If you have a quick FWD car it really will be a case of be there or be square in 2012. Web site updates. 19th September: Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with pictures from Saturday's Mälardalen Open Slight Return at Kjula Dragway west of Stockholm. Look out for pictures of Jonnie Lindberg making passes in an altered assisted by brother Johan and Pro Mod racers Urban Johansson and Linda Thun Tønseth. You can check out Patrik's pictures at www.racebilder.nu. Swift snippets. 18th September: There are some places left for the Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway this Friday (23rd) but they are going quickly. WRE Test Days feature a track prepped to event standard and of course safety and marshal cover. Entry is limited to maximise track time and WRE staff are on hand for advice and assistance. For more information or for an entry form visit Webster Race Engineering's web site at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk. Many thanks to Palle Lind for forwarding us the final standings in the 2011 UEM European Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the UEM points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences had a reasonable weekend at the NHRA Lucas Oil Divisional event in Earlville, Iowa last weekend. "The countryside up there is magnificent, quite English in many ways", says Mike. "We qualified #2 and ended up being beaten by the #1 qualifier in the final. We felt our car could have run a little better but overall were pleased with the results. This week we are in Houston for another points meet". Mike goes into today's eliminations in Houston in third qualifying spot; you will be able to stay in touch with his progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. The first of today's two spy pictures isn't so much a spy picture as a worrying development as this decal (below left) was spotted on a vehicle in Wellingborough. Click on the picture for the revelation. 
The second spy picture (above right) came with the words "It's a long time since we had a Ford in European Pro Stock racing". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. UK Junior Dragster racer Brad Jackson presented a signed photograph of his Lucas Oil Junior Dragster to both Andy Carter and Les Downey as a thank you memento for their support in 2011. Brad is pleased to have the continuing support of Lucas Oil and looks forward to promoting the Lucas products brand in 2012. "Andy Carter will be a loss to the UK drag racing scene and I wish him every success in his new venture supporting Albert Carter in his Karting career", says Brad. "Andy has been a great help to me this season and I'm sure he will be a great help and inspiration to Albert." 
Cath Napier has been in touch to explain her husband and Pro ET racer Tig Napier's purple hair at the FIA European Finals. "It wasn't a bet and no, I didn't sneak up on him while he was asleep with a bottle of purple hair dye", says Cath. "Driving down to the Open Sport Nationals, Tig said to me "If I win the Shakey Pro ET Championship, I'm going to dye my hair purple for the European Finals!" Alamo JD Challenge standings. 18th September: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-FIA European Finals standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent-A-Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
Don't forget that Alamo Rent-A-Car are offering up to 30% discount on car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA European Finals, an official headed for a meeting overseas, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. Check it out at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. A tribute to Kasey. 18th September: Chris of York Raceway has forwarded the following letter from the Reverend D M McKie, Perminate Decon St Thomas of Canterbury RC Parish in Billingham, about Kasey Dixon-Grainger's funeral: "I was deeply moved by the huge attendance from the drag racing community, many of whom I understand travelled great distances. These wonderful people created an atmosphere of reverence and impeccable respect both for their lost brother, and for his family. The silence was incredible. I can say without a shadow of doubt that I have never experienced a more dignified congregation; testament to what I tried to portray when I spoke about the sport being one big family. The three eulogies were delivered with great strength of character, and it was apparent that the mourners were listening intently - hanging on to every word. We don't have an outdoor sound system so my apologies go to those who had to stand outside the church, thus missing the service. My parishioners, and the town as a whole, have been buzzing all week about the funeral, the cortege of fascinating vehicles - and of course the burnouts - which could be heard all over Billingham! Everyone was impressed by the drag racing scene, but especially the love for Kasey and their sport which was clearly evident to the bystander." Reverend McKie's address at Kasey's funeral was as follows: We all know what happened on the Sunday before last - a young man's life was cut short in tragic circumstances. However, Kasey's family want this service to be a celebration and a thanksgiving for his life and for all he meant to those who knew and loved him. He started school at Holy Rosary RC Juniors next door, and then went to St. Michael's RC Comprehensive here in Billingham. All our children and young people are taught the message of Christ, who tells his followers to "Live life, and live life to the full" (John 10:10). Kasey did just that. He crammed all his energy and enthusiasm into living a full life. In his love for his family and friends, but also in his love for cars and in particular the sport of drag racing. Perhaps the combination of man, machine and speed is the most dynamic and addictive structure of all sports. Why do people spend their weekends competing in motorsports which, to the outsider, may appear reckless or even foolhardy? What is the attraction of motor racing, speedway, motocross, rallying, or drag racing? Ask any motorsport competitor why they race and they will probably tell you that if they need to explain, then you wouldn't understand. It's something that gets into the blood, a bit like a drug which enters the heart and then you are hooked for life. Someone told me that there is a wonderful feeling of togetherness at each drag race meeting, everyone is part of one big family; something which may be lacking in other motorsports. There are many elements which make up the sport: competition, naturally, but also a great camaraderie between the drivers, mechanics, officials and spectators. Countless hours are spent in workshops and garages up and down the country in the engineering of parts, design, construction, and testing. Lots of time and money are spent with one purpose - to improve performance, since a fraction of a second can be the difference between success and failure. There is also a lively social side, eating and drinking and sharing a laugh together. Kasey not only experienced and enjoyed these aspects of drag racing - he was an integral part of them. That may explain why Kasey was involved in his sport, but it doesn't tell us why he, or his contemporaries, might risk paying the ultimate price. One day, in 1967, Donald Campbell climbed into the cockpit of Bluebird on Coniston Water. He was attempting to break the World Water Speed Record. As he strapped himself in a TV reporter asked him why he was risking his life. With a glint in his eye he very calmly replied "That's the terrible thing about trying to break a record, you see? Once you start you are past the point of no return. There's no going back in life. If you start something you've got to finish it." He then tore down the lake at a terrific speed, breaking the world record by attaining 297 mph. He stopped, turned around and made another run, this time smashing the magical 300 mph barrier. But then the boat somersaulted and disintegrated on landing, killing him instantly. There are many parallels between Campbell and Kasey. Both men had the same mindset about racing and breaking records. They died in very similar circumstances. And they shared the same spirit, bravery and commitment that are reserved for only a very select few. Kasey loved drag racing with a passion. He was tipped to be a bright star for the future of the sport, perhaps one of the best. You - his family and friends - you have cause for celebration and pride in what he achieved in his life. Web site updates. 18th September: Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Lex Joon has posted a first Video Blog which you can check out on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LgM1oqrnfo. Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell made a sizeable contribution to the end-day galleries in our coverage of last weekend's FIA European Finals, and now that he is home Ed has posted a gallery of more FIA European Finals pictures on his web site at www.surfphotonh.com. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his SmugMug site with two galleries. The first is a large gallery of shots from the pre-FIA European Finals Test Weekend which you can check out by clicking here and the second is a small gallery of grab shots taken mainly from his seat in Race Control which you can check out by clicking here. Alternately visit eurodragster.smugmug.com or www.togsdragracing.com. Patrik Jacobsson tells us that galleries from all FIA and UEM European Championship rounds, with the exception of the UEM round in Hungary, and an NDRS Series gallery are available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Eurodragster.com sponsor Pete Walters has been in touch to let us know that the UK's Super Pro ET racers now have their own Facebook page at www.facebook.com/superproet. Racestar Night of Fire. 
18th September: On 30th September the newly-built super stadium of Tierp Arena in Sweden will host the most awesome
season finale in northern European drag racing. The monster that is Racestar has come to life!
The story begins about a year ago when the local TV show Nitroz Burnout on TV4 Sports got a new owner and name. The focus changed from easy reports around the Scandinavian quarter mile tracks into a summit of colourful characters battling over the ultimate Top Doorslammer dominion. "We're embracing the blabbermouth v diva concept in terms of entertainment and tempo and interchanging it with the silent killer teams who go for the world record or nothing" says Lelle Olsson, general in command of Racestar. "The 2011 season has since then been a great work in progress for Racestar, we've engaged in collaborations with most of the Scandinavian arenas and motor stadiums able to give a breathtaking show with a separate Racestar Show on the final night. For season 2012 we plan on doing more shows on TV4 Sports, broadcast live radio on all the events, Podcast the shows in real time on the internet, and arrange bigger events, all in the name of great entertainment. The sponsors are really positive and so are the teams, we're putting together the complete package and people are really starting to notice it. The future is bright." Racestar Night of Fire will hit Tierp Arena on the last weekend of September, prolonging the season a bit further into the Fall. Hopefully the weather will be on our side. If not, the show and after race party will definitely make up for it. We're working on a 200+ competing team line-up in Top Doorslammer, Pro Street, Street 10.5, Competition, Stock, Super stock, ET Pro, 4TO6 (four to six cylinder engines), Junior Dragster, Test'n'Tune, and Vintage Dragsters. Motorcycle classes will be Pro Twin Bike, Pro Street Bike and Funny Bike. You can find out more at www.racestar.se. MTC upgrade Pro Mod pistons. 18th September: Motorcycle drag racing is constantly changing. It's dynamic! For nearly fifty years, MTC Engineering has been a leader in the High Performance parts industry. Every racer knows that, to remain competitive, you have to constantly tune and refine your bike. MTC understands this and maintains a close relationship with their network of dealers, engine builders and sponsored race teams. A working relationship between a high performance parts manufacturer and the users of those parts is essential. Bill Warner, world land speed record holder, when asked why he uses MTC pistons and clutches in his Haybusa responded "Because I have less to worry about at 311 mph". Kory Hogan, the world's fastest drag bike racer, knows he can rely on MTC products because, like Warner, his team has had direct input to their design and manufacturing. From ATVs and Jet Skis to the world's fastest Hayabusa, MTC consults with racers, mechanics and builders who use and test their products. This race track research is then incorporated into new generations of parts. The results are faster times and broken records. For example, Pro Mod engines have been getting consistently more powerful year-to-year. This increase in power has also lead to an increase in heat, pressure and stress applied to the pistons. Dan 'The Man' Wagner from DTM Performance has been a major source of information on the Pro Mod piston evolution. He came to MTC and explained "We're generating 100 more horse power now than we were a few years ago. The MTC ProMod piston ran fine then. Now, with the increased power, they are starting to show some stress failures in several areas." MTC Engineering spent time with DTM analyzing the failures and developed a two step plan to make the pistons more robust. Step one was a machining change to solve a stress fracture problem in the skirt legs caused by flexing bosses. The CNC programs were re-written on the next production run and a 'bridge' was developed to solve the flexing issue (see Fig. 1). 
Step two was a little more complicated and required a forging die change. This change increased the width of the bosses and increased the thickness of the skirt legs (see Fig. 2). Because this change required a longer time period to implement, step one was developed as an interim countermeasure. The engineering/technical staff at MTC analyzed the problem and made the modifications necessary to keep pace with needs of their customers. This is the type of results driven engineering that keeps MTC parts finishing first and fastest. "We can't just tell our customers this is the way we have always done it", said Eric Hochstetler, President of MTC Engineering. "That is a sure sign of a dying company, which doesn't want to grow with the ever changing technology available today". That is why their experienced engineers and skilled technicians are on hand to provide superior customer service. Increase your performance and reliability with MTC Engineering's exclusive Enhanced ProMod Pistons. Call for information or a dealer near you; in the UK contact Dave Beck via his web site at www.davebeckracing.com. For other High Performance Motorcycle products and news visit www.mtceng.com. Editor's note. 18th September: As you can see we have started the job of catching up on the news backlog. Tune back tomorrow for a number of FIA European Finals reports, to discover who won this year's European Top Gas Series, a new European record, the latest round of Outlaw Street and more, and please keep the news coming to [email protected]. Event entry update. 15th September: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the final versions of the official entry lists for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September, and JapShow Finale at Santa Pod on 18th September, and Version 3 of the entry list for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod on 8th-9th October: Click here for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals entry list Click here for the JapShow Finale entry list Click here for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend entry list Entry to the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend closes tomorrow (Friday 16th) after which entry, if accepted, will be subject to a Late Entry Fee. You can download the official entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Swift snippets. 
15th September: The Italian Nitro Drag Racing Challenge and the French Association Trophée Dragster are organising the
eleventh Nitro Drag Day at
Biella
Airport, midway between Turin and Milan near the Swiss and French borders. Pascal Thébault tells us that you can find full information in English at
www.dragster.it.
Finland's Janne Ahonen will be making a return to the track in 2012 with his own team. Janne will be racing in Top Fuel Dragster whilst son Mico will contest Junior Dragster. The team will also involve other drivers. If your Finnish is up to it then you can read more at www.mtv3.fi/viihde/plustv/urheilu.shtml?1387072. Further to last week's snippet, Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe tells us that having set Low ET and High Speed at the FIA European Finals, FIA European Top Methanol FC Champion Ulf Leanders becomes the first TMFC racer to set Low ET and High Speed at every event in a season. Ulf was also top qualifier at every event in 2011; Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren is the only other FIA racer to have achieved that feat, in 2001, although Jimmy Ålund came close in 2009 until Richard Sundblom spoiled his party. FIA European Pro Modified Champion Micke Gullqvist was up for a similar Low ET/High Speed feat until Johan Lindberg outpaced him by 0.1 mph. Micke did however set Low ET and so achieved the quickest run at each event this season. As a result of a passing comment made by your News Editor on Nitro FM at the weekend, UK former Pro Modified racer Ray White has offered his services as head of the Eurodragster.com Complaints Department. "If you get any moaners then send them to me", says Ray. Ray has been given the job nem. con. Web site updates. 
15th September: Chris Eyre has updated his photographic site at
www.eurodragpics.com with with two galleries from the FIA European Finals:
one of qualifying and one of eliminations.
Eurodragster Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has updated his personal web site at www.nitroexposure.co.uk with a gallery up from the FIA European Finals which includes shots of Champions, event winners and a few arty night shots not already seen in the Eurodragster.com coverage. Roger also has reports and pictures on the US' Competition Plus and Canada's Drag Race Canada. Editor's note: Your News Editor is still prostrate after a long week at Santa Pod. Because of day job commitments the plan is for a monumental news update on Saturday to clear the queue, and please keep those FIA European Finals reviews and other news coming to [email protected]. FIA European Finals snippets. 14th September: Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official Timing Data from the FIA European Finals. You can check out the Finals timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs for forwarding us an updated table of European Bests now including the new quickest Supertwin bump spot set at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. You can check out the European Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the post-FIA European Finals standings in the MSA British Pro Modified Championship. You can check out the MSA points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Event Coverage of the FIA European Finals attracted 141,139 unique visitors who generated 887,851 page views and 9,595,750 hits. During the same period the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam on the Doyousee.me servers attracted 18,840 unique viewers. Many thanks to everyone who tuned in; to Santa Pod Raceway, Santa Pod Racers Club and TSI Timers Europe for giving us the facilities; to Julian and Nigel at Nitro FM; to Alamo Rent A Car, Webster Race Engineering, Nimbus Motorsport and Doyousee.me for their support; and to Darren Prentice and Syd McDonald for accommodating and feeding us. Thanks also to those who have been in touch with appreciative comments. The abundance of smoke from UK Pro ET racer Phil Toppin's altered was down to an offering to the Gods of Speed. Click on the picture below left to see a more detailed picture of the sacrifice. 
We may have lost the King Of Europe with Andy Carter's retirement but Her Majesty Queen Carole of Race Control was crowned at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. Assistant Race Director and Queen Carole Ismail was supported by Princess Emma. The Netherlands' Autosport.nl web site is now showing two FIA European Finals reports by our good buddy Remco Scheelings. The first report covers the on-track action and the second report covers other matters. Swedish Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyreén has updated his Alamo Rent A Car Racer Blog with a report of his weekend at the FIA European Finals. During the weekend street-legal Pro Modified racer Andy Frost was also updating his Blog from his pit. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: We're still tired and shagged out after a long week at Santa Pod. We have a backlog of news which we shall clear on the next update, and please keep those FIA European Finals reviews and other news coming to [email protected]. 2011 European Champions. 12th September: Congratulations to this year's European Champions: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Urs Erbacher FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Fred Hanssen FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders FIA Pro Modified: Micke Gullqvist FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund UEM Top Fuel Bike: Peter Svensson UEM Supertwin: Per Bengtsson UEM Pro Stock Bike: Jesper Thiel UEM Funny Bike Cup: Rikard Gustafsson European Super Street Bike Series: Graham Dance Courtesy of Championship Co-Ordinator Kjell Pettersson the provisional FIA European Championship points (pending FIA's announcement of Tommy Johnson Jr's points status) are already available on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. FIA European Finals results. 12th September: Congratulations also to the winners of this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Urs Erbacher 7.8459/166.65 def. Risto Poutiainen 8.6548/105.79 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Timo Habermann 5.4160/254.77 def. Fred Hanssen 5.5209/228.16 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Rob Turner 5.8090/236.05 def. Ulf Leanders 7.0907/130.57 FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Urban Johansson 6.2049/223.39 def. Johan Lindberg 6.1373/234.07 red FIA Pro Stock: Richard Sundblom 7.0748/195.42 def. Micke Callin 7.4763/193.05 Fuel Funny Car: Gordon Smith 14.8656/81.39 def. Leif Helander no time UEM Top Fuel Bike: Peter Svensson 5.9646/210.10 def. Sverre Dahl 22.5696/34.34 UEM Supertwin: Per Bengtsson 10.3746/79.41 def. Ronny Aasen 17.9023/37.54 UEM Pro Stock Bike: Fredrik Fredlund 7.1725/181.33 def. Karl Lyrén 7.2696/178.54 Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 7.6921/150.05 def. Steve Venables 7.7224/157.42 DQ Super Pro ET: Nick Good (6.97) 7.3800/146.18 def. Peter Walters (8.94) 16.0023/43.42 Pro ET: Rick Denny (11.47) 11.4186/115.50 b/o def. Paul Brown (9.22) 9.1489/143.42 b/o Super Comp: Collin Morrice 8.8965/145.76 def. Jon Morton 8.9734/146.65 red Super Gas: Stuart Morrice 9.9374/143.84 def. Tim Adam 9.8991/136.54 Super Street: Tom Perkins 10.9385/107.27 def. Leigh Morris 10.8284/120.25 b/o Junior Dragster: Zak Johnson (8.15) 8.1922/78.54 def. Fredrik Leanders (13.60) 13.3019/45.89 red Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Alex McIntosh 8.2488/169.18 def. Ian Hook 8.4032/164.84 Congratulations to Pro ET racers Fred Barendse and Lee Huxley who won the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award respectively. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored FIA European Finals reports, pit notes and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ATD Finals underway. 
10th September: The Custom Gang Drag Race, the fourth and last round of the 2011 ATD French Championship, takes place
this weekend at Mende-Brenoux Airfield. A round of the French Drag Bike Championship will also be contested. Pascal Thébault writes:
ATD have now published the entry list. Looking at the ATD points standings every class is wide open with the exception of Junior Dragster. In Super Pro ET there is just one point between Eric Angeloni and Sébastien Lajoux. The big thing is the unexpected comeback of the Toulouse drag racer squad. When Bertrand Dubet raced his Shimster rat rod some years ago, it was a one-off at a Run What You Brung. The entry of Thierry Vayssade looks like the beginnings of a more serious affair. Rumour has it that Thierry coud be crewed by Jacques Bidard who stopped racing after an awful crash at the 1992 NitrOlympX when he knocked out himself against the rollbar and totalled the car. 2011 APIRA Champions. 10th September: Congratulations to the 2011 APIRA Ultimate Power Champions: Super Pro ET: Bob Doyle Pro ET: Tig Napier Sportsman ET: Nicole Parker Super Comp: Dave Raper Super Gas: Brian Pateman Super Street: John Grant Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Joe Kellett 8.50 Bike: Peter Austin 9.50 Bike: Fred Furlong Comp Bike: Harold Wolfenden Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin Outlaw Anglia: Cliff Griffin Wild Bunch: Terry Clifford VW Sportsman: James London VW Pro: Phil Norman SuperTwin Gas: Dave Smart SuperTwin ET: Simon Clamp You can check out the APIRA Ultimate Power points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. TJ Jr's statement. 9th September: Further to Tuesday's and yesterday's news, thanks to Keith Bartlett for forwarding us this statement from Top Fuel Dragster racer Tommy Johnson Jr: Thank you to everyone for the support received throughout this experience. At the hearing we proved that I had no intension to enhance my performance and the use of my medication was purely to treat my condition. The FIA agreed, but the nature of the substances included in my prescribed medication did not allow for exception and also the TUE was denied. The sanction imposed was the minimum possible under the circumstances and I'm glad to announce I will be able to race again in Europe after July 2012. I've learned much through this experience and think there is a need to raise awareness on Narcolepsy and how it can affect people's life. It's a shame we are told what not to take for medication instead of what could be taken. Black Seven miss the Finals. 9th September: Germany's Black Seven Nitro Racing Supertwin team is unable to attend this weekend's European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Our good buddy Markus Münch of the excellent der Beschleuniger web site wrote to explain the absence of Christian Jäger and the team: This year started very well in Hungary and England, as well as at Tierp. Top qualifier and rounds won are proof that the bike, the driver and the team are ready for the tough UEM Competition. They are still rookies in this class and on a learning curve, and after Gardermoen and Hockenheim they found out that the bike needs more attention then they first thought. Running fast takes its toll. So the team nearly ran out of time to prepare the bike for its last competitive outing of 2011. On top of that, Christian has had to deal with a serious injury in the last couple of days. The Team therefore decided not to go to Santa Pod and race against Europe's finest this time. "You have to be under full power or you have no chance", said Christian. The bike will be prepared for the 2012 season when they will return at full throttle. Two Top Fuel tales. 8th September: Late yesterday afternoon we heard from Karsten Andersen that Tommy Johnson Jr's appeal against his licence suspension did not succeed and that he remains suspended from FIA competition. TJ Jr's licence was suspended for twelve months of which he has already served two months. The assumption is that TJ will be stripped of his FHRA Nitro Nationals points although confirmation of that should come with the official statement. The Andersens were on the way to Santa Pod with their dragster on the off-chance that enough runs could be made to secure the Championship for TJ, but on receipt of the news the team turned round and went home. Late last night we heard from UK Top Fuel Dragster racer and multiple FIA European Champion Andy Carter that he quit the Team West-Tec operation yesterday and that he will be running the dragster under the Lucas Oil / Carter Motorsport banner at Santa Pod this weekend, which is his last weekend in competition before retirement. Andy told Eurodragster.com that his withdrawal from the West Tec operation was due to disagreements with Team Principal Gavin Wills (please see Eurodragster.com News FAQ 26 - Ed). Obviously there is more to come on both stories so stay tuned to Eurodragster.com and we will bring it to you as we get it. UK Finals Funny Bike update. 8th September: Further to last Friday's news item, Tim Blakemore writes with an update on Funny Bike prize fund at the VP Racing Fuels National Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September: We have had a further pledge of £200 from Neil Barrett of BP Roofing Services raising the event win total to £1300. Sponsors Include Tim Blakemore Racing, chassis god and all-round brilliant race car builder Jon Webster and fellow racer Mike Vickers and Bristol-based Injection Moulding company Mirage Ltd. Entries for the event are still being accepted but please note that, in the interest of running the class to its original format, race vehicles must be fitted with wheelie bars and run at least a ten-inch slick to qualify for the additional prize fund. I wish all entries for the European Finals the best of luck and hope that the sun shines through for you all! Championship points updated. 8th September: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding us the official points standings in the 2011 UK National Drag Racing Championships after last week's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out the UK National points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Ian King for letting us know that the post-Open Sport Nationals standings in the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com. Event entry update. 7th September: Thanks also to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September, Version 3 of the entry list for JapShow Finale at Santa Pod on 18th September, and Version 2 of the entry list for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod on 8th-9th October: Click here for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals entry list Click here for the JapShow Finale entry list Click here for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend entry list Entry is still open for all three events although a late entry fee is now applicable to VP Racing Fuels National Finals entries. You can download the official entry forms for all events from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. The view from #1 spot... 
7th September: With just one race left on the UEM European Championship Tour, Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson and The
Beast Drag Bike team feel very confident. Many hours spent in the shop since the Hockenheim race guarantee a very well-prepared bike and crew going in to the
final battle of the season, writes L-O Jonsson.
To say that the fight for the Championship is wide open is not an understatement when you look at the point standings: four teams are very close, and on top of that there are several very competitive bikes which can produce runs in the 6.5s if the weather stays with us. "Team spirit is very high and we are very much looking forward to this weekend, which I think can produce the quickest Supertwin ladder ever in drag racing", says Per. The bump spot during the Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena was 6.79 seconds and I think that number will be history after the last qualifying session on Saturday. To be able to qualifay in the top and make it to the final I predict you need to run ín the low 6.5s and that's where we will place the Beast. "We will have several sponsors and guests over the weekend and we will do our very best to produce a good show for them and for all of the fans." The Beast Drag Bike Team would like to say a big Thank You to all of their partners during the 2011 season: Swedecut, Red Line Oil, Gates/Lönne, Autoexperten Växjö, Fanhultstvätten A¨lmhult, Ulvsgården AB, Bilservice i Åseda, Kalvsviks Bilverkstad, Larssons Bilverkstad Lenhovda, Rävemåla Bilservice, Cemecon, Liqui Moly, Bentec Engineering and Flexoart. For more information please visit the team's web site at www.bentec.net. ...and from #2 spot. 7th September: After their win at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, The Netherlands' Team Zodiac Supertwin team headed for the back-to-back tour of the Sunoco Drag Challenge in Gardermoen, Norway, and the NitrOlympX in Hockenheim, Germany. Championship hopes were alive again, as they were in third position with the top four less than one round of eliminations apart. Vincent Pels writes: The competition in Supertwin has never been as strong as during the 2011 season, making it the most exciting motorcycle class in Europe and arguably beyond. At Gardermoen there were no less than eighteen riders trying to qualify for eight elimination spots and with the Friday qualifying session washed out by rain, the teams were given three opportunities on the brighter Saturday. As expected it was an all s-x-second field and the top three qualifiers showed how competitive the class has become. Number one qualifier was Per Bengtsson with a 6.602 pass. Australian Mark Ashelford was second, only trailing one hundredth of a second with a 6.612 second effort. Roel Koedam on the supercharged Zodiac Godfather VII bike qualified third with 6.631 seconds, so less than 0.03 seconds separated the top three after qualifying. Job Heezen, who for this year is riding a limited schedule on another Zodiac-backed bike, qualified fourth with a solid 6.785 second performance. Added to all the excitement of stellar performances by all those qualified, and even non-qualified riders, there were also some major upsets. Among a long list of big names which didn't make the field were youngster Jan Sturla Hegre and veteran Hans Olav Olstad, the numbers two and four in the Championship. This moved Roel to the second place in the points chase before the race even started. But, sadly, the weather was the biggest winner this race, as the rain came just before the first Nitro burning engine was started for eliminations and never went away before the race was cancelled late in the afternoon. 
Next stop was Hockenheim, and this must have been one of Zodiac Racing's most unusual weekends. The big news was that Roel officially
announced he would retire from racing after the last race of the season. Although his hip replacement over the winter was a great success
and made him much more mobile again, his doctor advised him to quit riding Top Fuel motorcycles. Because it had been less than a week
since the last outing on the bike, he had more aches and pains than usual. Taking the risk of not being qualified into account, the
difficult decision was taken to not ride on the Friday and focus on being in good condition for the Saturday. Fortunately Roel was fit
again on Saturday morning and the team was all set for the morning qualifying session. At the hit of the throttle for the burnout, the
engine revved up too quick and hit the rev max set in the ignition. On Nitro engines this feature will not cut the ignition intermittently
like a normal ignition, but simply switch off the ignition totally to save the engine. Being a Nitro engine, it cannot simply be started
again.
The team was still not qualified and was only left with the final qualifying session. In the hot afternoon the bike performed like never before and after some serious fishtailing Roel had to wrestle the bike as it headed for the centre line. At 1000 feet he rolled off the throttle to make sure he kept it in its own lane to prevent being disqualified. A season's best of 6.562 seconds came up on the scoreboard and the Zodiac Racing team got their first pole position with the supercharged Godfather VII bike! Points leader Per Bengtsson was qualified second with a 6.678 and Job Heezen, with the Zodiac sponsored Godfather VI bike, was in third spot on the quickest normally-aspirated bike with a 6.697 seconds and a huge speed of 350.08 kmh (217.5 MPH). The bike was quickly readied for Hockenheim's famous and spectacular Saturday Night Show, the injection was set a bit softer to prevent any engine damage and the crowd could enjoy how the bike ran another great six-second pass into the dark on a cushion of Nitro flames. Back in the pits it turned out a bad habit was back, as at Alastaro a crank was damaged. Ton and Vincent knew it was going to be a long night for them, as the engine had to be replaced and it was already late. On Sunday the weird stuff wasn't over yet. Being #1 qualifier, Roel had to run against Samu Kemppainen on the huge 196 ci (3211 cc) sixty degree V-Twin. Samu was the only rider in the eight bike field who had not run a six-second pass in qualifying, so the safe Night Show set-up was kept in the bike to get some data from the new engine. Surprise, surprise from Samu! For the first time he ran a good pass on the 196 ci engined bike and took the win with a 6.864 against a 6.892 and congratulations to Samu. Luckily Per Bengtsson and Hans Olav Olstad fared the same as the Zodiac Racing team, out in the first round. So nothing changed in the points chase and Santa Pod must produce the new European Champion. See you at the race track! Shockwave crams for the Finals. 7th September: The UK's Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team are hard at work preparing the car for the FIA European Finals, says driver Gordon Smith: Dave Bryant has purchased some new digital retard ignition systems for the car along with some other go-faster parts and we are looking to make some ground on the safe and consistent 5.20 passes for which we have become well known over the last few seasons. Dave believes that we now have some of the required parts to step on the tune-up and I am looking forward to pushing the car to its limits. We intend to put in a 300-foot pass at today's Pro Peak Performance Day just to see if we are going in the right direction. We need to get our sixty and 330 foot times down to get the car moving if we are to get the ETs down to where we want them. I am looking forward to the competition from Leif Helander as this year has been a bit of a let-down in terms of competition. I can also confirm that Shockwave will continue to run with MPM Oil sponsorship for the rest of 2011 and we are negotiating hard for this sponsorship to continue in years to come. Thanks Richard Stevens for your help this year and long may it continue. If we can get things right then we will run a two-car operation in 2012. That will keep Dave busy" We are very keen to see this class grow over the next few years so that we can go to the promoters with a deal to run a Championship. My time as a Funny Car pilot is nearing an end and I am pleased that Jason Phelps has now achieved his Funny Car licence, just in time! However I will carry on for the next year health permitting and see where the team and I are then. We are looking forward to seeing all our friends at the Pod so come round and have a chat with us, we are always happy to greet the race fans: after all, that is what we all do this for. Going out a high? 7th September: Going in to the 2011 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Championship, five-time Champion Dave Wilson surprised the racing world by announcing that this was to be his last season in competition. Carrying the statement The Last Chance on his farewell tour branding, it looks like Dave could grab that last (Championship) chance with both hands. Heading to the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway this coming weekend, Silverline Tools-sponsored Dave leads the Championship by nine points ahead of nearest rival Fred Hanssen of Norway. Germany's Timo Habermann sits in third place with an outside chance of the title but it looks most likely to be either the Norwegian or the Brit who will be celebrating come Sunday night. "I said this was my last chance and I'm so pleased to go in to the final round in such a good position", says Dave. "We knew that there were some gremlins to sort out but over the course of the Championship we've managed to do that. We proved this in Sweden where ours became the first European Top Methanol Dragster in the 5.20s. I really wanted that one, having already been the first in to the 50s, 40s and 30s! No one can ever take that away from me! "It's going to be an emotional weekend for us. I've been around these cars for thirty years now but it's time to call it a day. I want to say a thanks to all those who have helped me over the years - there are simply too many to list! I'd also like to thank the fans for their continued support through the highs and lows that racing brings. Please make sure you drop by and say Hi for one last time at our pit. I would also like to thank our sponsors for 2011 who have made it possible to go racing for one last season: Silverline Tools, Sony PlayStation, Red Line Oil, Crane Cams, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Euro American Car Services and 1st Line Motorcycles. I'll see you all at the track!" This sponsor goes to 11. 
7th September: Eurodragster.com sponsor MPM Oil
have welcomed a new partner to the MPM family for the 2011-2012 season: Marshall
Amplification.
"I have known Jim Marshall for some time, and I realised that getting Marshall involved with our teams was a no-brainer as we soon realised that we could not only help to promote Marshall for helping in the past, but to promote drag racing to a larger audience as well", says Richard Stevens. "We will be working closely with Jackie McKenna and Steve Hill to ensure we promote the Marshall brand, and hopefully with their support be able to offer the drag racing community access to what we believe is the best music equipment on the market. We will be looking to represent and celebrate with Marshall next year as it is their Fiftieth Anniversary, which is a big milestone for the local company and one with which we are very proud to be associated. "I have to thank Jim, Ellie, Jackie, Steve and Jon for their offer to get involved with us, and we must say that we are more than happy for them to join and work with our MPM family. I look forward to seeing everyone later in the week at the finals, and make sure you drop into the MPM team pits to say hello." You can find out more about Marshall Amplification at www.marshallamps.com. Swift snippets. 7th September: If you are away from web access but have your mobile phone about your person then once the European Finals proper starts we plan to send alerts of the top qualifiers in Pro and Sportsman classes from Eurodragster.com's Twitter account when each complete qualifying cycle (not session) finishes. You can sign up at twitter.com/eurodragster. The messages will be very simple with class, surname and ET, and should we get snowed under doing the race reports then we hope that you will understand that the Twitter updates will be the first thing to be put aside until we have the chance to catch up. From the workshops of Roy Wilding Race Cars comes the below left shot of Mickey Moore's new Fuel Altered currently under construction. "You can see the Topolino body in the background", says Roy. "That will be going to paint very soon. Mick and Mark Gredzinski will be designing the new paint. Engine and box to follow soon, after a trip to the Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield." 
We don't normally run Good Luck messages as news items but we are pleased to make an exception for Mike Chalke and Emily Clarke (above right), former members of the UK's Turner Motorsport Top Methanol team, who asked us to wish all the best to their former team-mates as they are unable to attend the European Finals. "We moved to British Columbia in November", they say. "We remain in contact with the team but we were gutted that we could not be with them again this year. We had to watch via Eurodragster.com - thank you (You're welcome - Ed). Please wish Rob, Steve, Carmel and the team good luck and tell Rob to keep up the good work, he is driving the car like a Champ. Go get 'em!" Ex-Junior Drag Bike racer Tyler Clutterbuck would be pleased to hear from anyone able to give him a lift from Bristol to Santa Pod Raceway this evening or tomorrow morning. "Tyler has been looking forward to the European Finals all year but has been let down for transport to the track, and the journey would be a little much for his 50 cc moped!", say Wendy Clutterbuck and Tim Blakemore. "He was hoping to get there to watch the Thursday Sportsman field (his favourite racing) but he doesn't finish work until after 8:00 pm on Wednesday. If anyone can help out we would be most grateful! Please call Tim or Wendy on 01179 042216." Carla: My husband beats me. 7th September: UK Pro ET racer Carla Pittau writes that it has been a season of highs and lows for the two-car Heaven & Hell team, with both a high and a low occurring on one run at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway where her 1970 Camaro reached for the sky as usual, but went a tad too far this time: She had been pulling wheelies with abandon all season, but this time the headwind grabbed hold of the underside and pushed it just that little bit too high and the rear valance dug into the track, unloading the rear tyres. A few people asked me if it was scary. I don't think you have time to be scared when something like that happens, I was too busy thinking "Uh-oh, the engine's revving, that means the rear tyres are off... if I don't go over I'll pedal before the front hits the ground again to get momentum back... did it work? Oops, that was a big bang, any fluids dumped on the track? No, it doesn't look like there are. Sod it, hope it's not too bad." But the pedalling probably didn't help much, the car lost momentum and came crashing down with great force cracking the transmission housing, the fibreglass hood, the motor mounts and creasing the sump. Fortunately no major damage was suffered and Nic Williams came to the rescue with quick repairs and a respray of the front end in time for the Open Sport Nationals, thank you Nic! The sad part is of course that I can no longer ignore the need for wheelie bars - so far avoided purely because I think that they look ludicrous on a largely stock car with a heavy frame. Alas, I have to capitulate and suffer it. Due to the expense we decided to do the job ourselves, so Rick is now on the case and a single bar has been fitted in time for the European Finals. The SPRC Summernationals also brought another high, though, with Rick reaching the finals in the Heaven & Hell As Well Camaro, where he was defeated in a great, close race, decided totally on a 0.02 advantage on the tree, by the only guy in England to have won a Best Back-Up Girl award, namely Steve Hudson whose photo sporting a purple tutu is now widely available on the internet. The Open Sport Nationals at SCR saw Rick taking revenge on Steve, perhaps hindered by his purple tutu, in the first round, which also brought another high when I collected the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award, running a 9.650 against good friend Ian Brown in the Thatadoo Camaro. Rick then proceeded to defeat Nigel Green in the equally green Beetle, Nigel has the new engine back in his car and he's had a few problems with traction, whilst I got through a red-lighting Dan Page - the long delay caused by the difference in our dial ins meaning that I saw his red light just before my first amber lit up and that really felt like an anticlimax, the race over before I even launched. In the third round and for the fourth time since we've been campaigning two cars Rick and I faced each other. The winner would get a bye into the final, where we hoped we would meet good friend Tig Napier who had been successfully climbing his side of the ladder. I love running with Rick, it seems to me that everything we work for comes through when the red car and the blue car are side-by-side on the track, and hey, Team Heaven & Hell were going to get to the final, it already felt good. I guess it was Rick's turn to beat me and much to my disappointment my car's launch was flat, the wheelie just a low hop although no wheelspin was observed and I slowed down to a 9.71 on a 9.65 dial in, so I couldn't catch him, especially with his 0.01 reaction. This is not how I envisage our races: they should be near perfect with, possibly, a 0.001 margin. I guess I need to work on it some more. In any case Heaven & Hell was in the final after a bye run, and sure enough Tig was in the other lane, albeit pulling a cherry which somewhat dampened down the joy of the win. We are testing Rick's Camaro at Santa Pod before the European Finals where I hope that Rick won't beat me again. Thanks again to Nic Williams and Thank You as ever to our hard-working crew of Dave and Christine Buckland and Colin and Grace Roaf - and congratulations to Grace who proved what I said in a previous news item about being the cleverest member of the Heaven & Hell crew by achieving excellent results in her exams. Kellett collects the titles. 7th September: As mentioned on Monday's update, UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett won JD in the NDRS Series. Joe was also runner-up in the Swedish Dragracing League and is provisionally APIRA Champion - official confirmation on that has been delayed as the APIRA Championship Co-ordinator, our very own Simon, was detained in New York when the storm hit and thus has been separated from the paperwork. "We would like to thank all our race friends in Sweden for their hospitality and congratulations for Joe", says dad Pete Kellett. "We will have a party in our pit at the European Finals where we will also be hosting Marcus Back Andersson and Mattias Edvindson. Joe only lost the Swedish Dragracing League by five points and I think we did real well to finish runner-up as we only competed in five rounds whilst everyone else had ten rounds. "It's a shame that there are no points on offer for the FIA European Finals but let's hope that we have a good weekend anyway. We wish all our Junior Dragster competitors good luck at the Finals. Congratulations to Zak Johnson on winning the Open Sport Nationals." Johnson out. 7th September: UK Junior Dragster racer took the win at his last competitive event in JD, the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, as this week's FIA European Finals is a non-points event. Zak's dad Rick got in touch to let us know about Zak's future plans: Could we firstly thank Shakespeare County Raceway for working so hard to get the track operational at the Open Sports Nationals. After having his worst year in Junior Dragster so far he won the meeting beating some very good opposition, gaining provisional runner-up in the APIRA Championship as a bonus. Well done Zak! As the European Finals is Zak's last meeting we are really hoping for good weather to finish on a sunny ending. The car is going to Stacey Reed at the end of the weekend and we hope that she enjoys the car as much as we have, it is a great little race car! Good luck Stacey. So what next for Zak? A bit of crewing for me for a year and then as soon as he is old enough (October 2012) he will hopefully be making his observed runs for Super Gas, but that will be the year after. Thanks to all the Junior racers and parents past and present for the great times in the Juniors. Thanks to all the photographers for the pictures and to Eurodragster.com for the second-to-none coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed), to Santa Pod for Zak's time in Junior Dragster when we were invited to run nearly every weekend for the BMW, Mini, Vauxhall etc brigades. Thanks, we will be back! Macdermid gives up smoking. 
7th September: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor
Bill Macdermid and team have managed to find some time
to work on his 1969 Camaro and they think that they have found the problem:
The car was getting slower and slower on every run no matter what we did. We checked everything but eventually decided to attack the intercooler as the Camaro was running really rich as you can see from the picture of our visit to the Crispy Creme car meet in London a few weeks ago. On inspection we found that the intercooler was totally blocked. It looked like I had a bird's nest in there but in fact the ProCharger had been devouring the header wrap which blocked the intercooler. So naturally we are really looking forward to the European Finals to see if we can get this "back-halved heavyweight" into the eighths on fully-treaded tyres. Also if anyone needs any parts brought to the track for the European Finals then please contact us on 01932 341700. Fatty: Five inches short. 7th September: Regular readers will be aware that last week's Open Sport Nationals was the first outing for the new fuel system on Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook's '34 Ford. Fatty says that despite losing to Brian Payne in the final the FB Racing team had a great weekend: The weather gods weren't on our side with regard to racing but at least the wind and rain subsided for the annual Street Eliminator barbecue. Thanks are due to Paul Wright and Ron Haslett for cooking duties and to FB Racing team member Matt Long for providing music and lights. Even the '34 joined in and nobody went home hungry. A difficult qualifying session left us in third place behind Brian Payne (Mustang) and Stuart Williams (Supra) with over half a second between us and Championship leader Brian. After an uneventful cruise we lined up against Alex McIntosh for round one of eliminations. This was a big race for both of us as we are placed two and three in the hampionship with Alex (in third) very close behind us. Martin had taken power out after our nitrous time was slower than our no-gas pass in qualifying and once again he lived up to his nickname of The Brain. The car hooked pretty well and I managed to get out ahead of Alex - it was a good job too as he coaxed an 8.82 from the Mustang to our 8.86, only my better ET allowing us to progress. In round two we faced another driver who always seems to be smiling, Stuart Williams in the turbo Supra. The improving track meant that Brain had put some more power back in and the resulting 8.55 was pleasing and enough to beat Stuart's 8.63. However Stuart was now smiling more than ever as that was his quickest ever time on treads, well done Stuart and team. On to the final and for what seems like the umpteenth time we were to face Brian Payne. But this was to be our closest race ever - perhaps the closest in SE history? For once I was beaten off the line but only by just over a hundredth. At 330 feet the torque of the big Ford 598 had hauled us back into the lead but the gap was less than half a tenth all the way up the track. I was powerless as the top end charge provided by the twin-turbo set up and the sleek aerodynamics of the late-model Mustang allowed Brian to edge ahead right on the finish line. The gap between the cars was just five inches! What a race. Despite losing we were pleased to run as quick as 8.38 to Brian's 8.39 and we are very happy with the way the car is shaping up. Round 6 of the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship forms part of the show at the FIA European Finals where we are sure a superb racing surface awaits us. We are keen to apply some of the knowledge gained at Shakey and are very hopeful of a long awaited return to the sevens; it's been almost two years! Brain even has a set of bigger nitrous jets in his pocket... eeek! If you're attending then come and say hello. We don't bite, although I'm not too sure about Spud! Interview: Three Retiring Heroes. 6th September: Andy Carter (Top Fuel Dragster), Roel Koedam (Supertwin) and Dave Wilson (Top Methanol Dragster) announced their retirements at the end of the 2011 season. Each had long and successful careers in various classes with European and National Championships and records to their names. In the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport, Eurodragster.com spoke with Andy, Roel and Dave about their careers and their retirements. We asked the three racers the same ten questions to see how their answers compared. Click here to read our interview with Andy, Roel and Dave or click on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 6th September: Many thanks to Darren Prentice for forwarding us the points standings in the European Super Street Bike Series whose final round will be contested at this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. With the top six in the Series entered for this weekend's race there is plenty to play for in the closely-fought class. You can check out the European Super Street Bike Series points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Vehicles sought for display. 6th September: Jasvir Mann of The Chimes Shopping Centre in Uxbridge, London has been in touch with Shakespeare County Raceway to ask if any local racers or hot rodders would be interested in displaying their vehicles at Big Boys' Toys, one of the Shopping Centre's events which takes place on 23rd-25th September. "The event is based around men's hobbies and interests such as cars, bikes, electrical goods etc", says Jasvir. "We are very interested in having drag racing vehicles displayed in the centre that customers can get an insight into these particular cars and bikes." If anyone is interested in helping out Jasvir and Shakespeare County Raceway, then please get in touch on 01895 817513 or E-Mail details and a picture to [email protected]. FIA European Finals Perfect Awards. 6th September: This week's FIA European Finals at Raceway is the latest event in the 2011 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance.
The Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Junior Dragster racer
Rachel Giles at the Open Sport Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds.
The Perfect Light Award is available this weekend all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first
Perfect Light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals; if it is won
then it will be reset to £50 for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals. The Perfect
Light Award is presented in association with race car builder Cotsweld Race Cars whose web site you can find at
www.cotsweld.co.uk.
The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Carla Pittau at the
Open Sport Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during
qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street
and Junior Dragster (eliminations only), but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the
Award will be increased to £75 for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the VP Racing Fuels National
Finals. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can
find at www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. As with all contingency schemes racers are responsible for collecting decals; Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award decals are available in the Signing On office. Web site updates. 6th September: In the latest instalment in his Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, street-legal Pro Mod racer Andy Frost reports upon his return to the track. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The latest edition of the Speedgroup newsletter includes a preview of the outcomes in the FIA and UEM European Championships ahead of the FIA European Finals. You can check out the Speedgroup newsletter at club.speedgroup.eu/newsletters/2011/edition14_2011/edition14_start.htm. Editor's note. 6th September: Only a brief news update today as our advance party is on the way to Santa Pod Raceway to set up our office ahead of tomorrow's Pro Peak Performance Day. All news items received before 21:00 UK / 22:00 European this evening will be posted on tomorrow's news update so please keep the E-Mails coming to [email protected]. FIA European Finals racer update. 5th September: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the arrangements for this week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Santa Pod Raceway's gates open at 14:00 on Wednesday (7th). Obviously if you are entered for the Pro Peak Performance Day then you will be able to enter earlier. Signing On will be open between 14:00 and 20:00 on Wednesday and will then reopen at 07:00 on Thursday. Car scrutineering commences at 15:00 on Wednesday and then recommences at 07:00 on Thursday. Bike scrutineering commences at 08:00 on Thursday with Super Street Bike followed by UEM classes. The weekend's provisional running orders are now available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA European Finals. Please note that, as ever, these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to track or weather conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Event entry update. 5th September: Thanks also to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 3 of the official entry list for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September, Version 2 of the entry list for JapShow Finale at Santa Pod on 18th September, and Version 1 of the entry list for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod on 8th-9th October: Click here for the VP Racing Fuels National Finals entry list Click here for the JapShow Finale entry list Click here for the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend entry list Entry is still open for all three events although a late entry fee is now applicable to VP Racing Fuels National Finals entries. You can download the official entry forms for all events from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Entry is open for the Custom Gang Drag Race, the fourth and last round of the 2011 ATD French Championship, which will take place at Mende-Brenoux airfield this weekend, 10th-11th September. Entry at €90 is now open both for the race and for Run What You Brung. Click here for the race entry form (PDF format) and click here for the RWYB entry form (PDF format). Malmö Raceway is holding its Winternationals this Friday to Sunday September featuring the finals of the Scandinavian Dragracing Series including a large entry of Top Doorslammers. SRIF has posted an award of 10,000 SEK to the first driver in any SDS class to record a 3.8 at this event. For more information pleas visit www.malmoraceway.se and to enter visit www.s-d-a.se and then Registration. If you have any questions then E-Mail [email protected]." Elvira joins Team Veidec. 5th September: Sweden's Team Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team have announced that sixteen-year-old Elvira Karlsson has joined Eurodragster.com Blogger Karl Lyrén on the team. Elvira will start to ride under the Veidec banner at this Wednesday's Pro Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. "We decided early on this year that we want to have everything ready for 2012 in good time, and hopefully before the European Finals", says Roger Lyrén. Elvira will start with the team on Wednesday. We have also taken on some more team members for 2012. I will hand over the main mechanical work to Atle Pedersen of Norway, and Pål Wernerhof will also join the team for in 2012. "The 2011 season is still not over, and right now Karl is in second place in the Championship with Fredrik Fredlund and Rasmus Olsen right behind. We can't catch Jesper Theil as he is already Champion, big congratulations to him and the team. Karl and the tean will do all they can to keep the second place but it will be hard. "The good thing is that we have our new Vance & Hines 1755cc engine in the frame now, and hope we can get it tuned in for Friday's qualifying. We will have a big team with a lot of supporters at the Finals, so we hope to get some good conditions for the weekend. See you all there." You can read more about Kalle Lyrén's plans for the Finals in the latest update in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Alamo JD Challenge standings. 5th September: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-Open Sport Nationals standings in the 2011 Alamo Rent-A-Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: 
Don't forget that Alamo Rent-A-Car are offering up to 30% discount on car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA European Finals, an official headed for a meeting overseas, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. Check it out at www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. Swift snippets. 
5th September: Proving for the nth time that trackside is not the be-all and end-all of drag racing
photography is ten-year-old Hayden Hill, who is never going to be allowed to use mother Lisa's camera again because, she
says, he took better pictures than he did. Hayden caught this shot of Rob Smallworth's unfortunate moment at Bug Jam back in July.
Congratulations to UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett who has won the NDRS Series Junior Dragster title. You can find out more on Speedgroup's official NDRS Series web site at www.speedgroup.eu/ndrs/index_ndrs.htm. UK Junior Dragster racer Stacey Reed has acquired Zak Johnson's Junior Modified Advanced Dragster. Stacey's Junior Modified Dragster is therefore up for sale; for details please contact Chris Reed in the Super Street Bike pit or Stacey in the Junior Dragster pit at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Could UK VW Pro racer Sam Young or a Black Current team member please get in touch with us at [email protected], thank you. Web site updates. 5th September: As well as Kalle Lyre&ecute;n's Blog update we have another exclusive Racer Blog for you today: UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler's account of her recent trip to the USA to compete and to visit with the R2B2 team... and of course to do some shopping. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 
Our good buddy Jon Spoard has posted a gallery of Open Sport Nationals pictures on his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia
web site at www.ukdrn.co.uk. Whilst on Jon's site be sure to check
out the all things Nostalgia which are on offer such as photographs, videos, entry lists, results, the best-run drag racing
forum out there, and more.
Also updating from the Open Sport Nationals is The Mad Welshman whose shots from Saturday's qualifying can be checked out at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Pre-Finals Test Weekend coverage. 3rd September: Eurodragster.com kicks off the build-up to next week's FIA European Finals with coverage of this weekend's Run What You Brung / VW Action and Peak Performance Day / VW Action at Santa Raceway. In association with Alamo Rent-A-Car we will post an end-day report and an end-day gallery each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be broadcasting live video and trackside audio as long as the track is open. Thanks to our good friends at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. You can check out our FIA European Finals Event Index, which includes a link to the official entry list as well as to this weekend's coverage, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UK-bound Pro Mod revealed. 3rd September: Last Thursday's spy picture showed a Pro Mod headed for competition in the UK in 2012. The blown-alcohol 1970½ Pro Mod in question is about to leave Houston in the USA for Chatham in the UK where its new owner, former Super Pro ET racer and Pro Modified racer-in-waiting Rick Garrett, will be eagerly awaiting its arrival. 
Regular readers will recall that Rick announced the construction of a nitrous-assisted '56 Chrysler New Yorker Pro Mod but he told
Eurodragster.com that impatience has always been his downfall.
"I was getting itchy feet and just needed a car for next year", said Rick. "I've already had a year out and the '56 won't be done for 2012, so I got the Camaro so that I could race next year. I so want to build and run the '56 so that will still happen." Rick located the car as the result of a tip-off from a friend. "My friend phoned me up and asked if I was looking for a Pro Mod", said Rick. "He said a friend of his named Larry had an awesome 1970½ Camaro". "Larry" turned out to be Larry Jeffers, who raced the Dan Page-built Camaro over the eighth-mile in ADRL where it has run as quick as 3.7 seconds. 
"It has been a quick beast", said Rick. "When it has been set up for a quarter mile it will easily run a five. It is a very lightweight car, lots of titanium and the body weighs forty five
pounds! The 1970½ Camaro is one of the lowest Pro Mod bodies they make and it will take any size rear tyre. It's only a year and a half old, it's a rarity to get a Pro Mod which
isn't worn out. I liked the look of it. It works really well. I thought that'll do before I get too old!"
Rick is travelling to the USA after the FIA European Finals to finalise arrangements and to choose the motor. "Larry has got three or four BAE motors and we'll bring one of those back", he said. "It ran with a screw blower in ADRL so we'll have to put a Roots blower on it, but it has run 3.7 with a Roots blower. Larry is a real nice guy and offered to fly over when we are ready to run - he said he has always wanted to come to England. We'll be out next Easter - I can't wait to get it over here and get out racing!" Rick will have a two-car team when the '56 New Yorker is built. "We have to do some work on the body", he said. "The '56 is a real slab of a car, even bigger than Jan Gunnarsson's Badillac and I have spoken to Jan about scaling it down. My boys are growing up and I won't mind putting one of them in the seat of the '56 when it's built." Onwards and upwards... 3rd September: After a dismal showing at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend, all of which he says was his own fault for not setting his bike up properly, UK Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance can only look forward to next week's FIA European Finals: 
Last weekend started badly with the drive down on Friday morning which took over five hours rather than the usual three and a half hours! On looking at the weather and the track,
which always takes a while to come in, I chose to run a Mickey Thompson tyre thinking it would give me more grip off the start line instead of the trusty Michelin which I've used to
good effect this year. A huge mistake!
The first pass resulted in wheelspin and on the only other qualifier it hooked up harder but got out of the groove and I qualified sixth out of nine. A re-think on Saturday night, and a return to the Michelin, made things better but my first round against Steve Venables resulted in a defeat. However my quickest ET of the weekend, a 7.8, meant we'd made progress. Trailing Steve in the points means no more mistakes can possibly be made this season if I want to stand a chance of regaining the title. Late nights in the workshop this week have been essential to get the bike back to "Pod Spec" as next weekend is the wedding of my my long-standing and -suffering crewman Sam Birch which is going to be a hectic couple of days. Stand-in crew for the Finals includes Dave Hall and Richard, and I'm going to run 'Popeye' which is my back-up motor which has a skulled head and I think a lot more potential than we've seen so far. Roger Upperton has freshened my number one bullet with new parts, I've built it and it is ready in the trailer if we need it. A great entry of twenty two Super Street Bikes qualifying for sixteen places gives at least nine riders a very real chance of winning with pure performance and the others great possibilities with the unpredictability which goes with no-bar racing. With a little luck from the weather, and the legendary track prep which this meeting has, the whole class can't wait! Against the odds. 
3rd September: Tony Stamp says that UK Sportsman ET racer Sarah Styles' first final round appearance and runner-up
placing at last weekend's Open Sport Nationals came at the end of a weekend plagued with problems for the Unicorn Drag Racing Team:
It started off with a misfire. After checking and borrowing a cylinder leakage tester from Conrad Stanley and a compressor from Carla Pittau and Rick McCann we found number three cylinder down to 100 psi on compression. We decided to run the motor anyway. Whilst Sarah was driving down through the pits she suddenly lost brakes, this turned out to be a burst servo hose. There was a rush to repair it in the lanes, with that sorted Sarah raced her next round and won. We had made the final round for the first time. Upon the crew returning to the pits Sarah was in a panic as there was smoke pouring from under the hood. After inspection it was found that we had blown out the valve cover gaskets out. Another run to the Heaven & Hell team to borrow valve cover gaskets from Carla - where would we be without these guys. Gaskets fitted the car was still missing. I told Sarah to take a chance and run the car, we needed to be in that Final. During the very hard burnout Sarah and I both heard the engine drop a cylinder but hey, we wanted to race. So on seven cylinders Sarah staged on a 13.25 dial-in, ran that car hard and lost with a breakout of 13.0137. Not bad for seven cylinders. Back in the pits the car was running really rough and banging. After arriving home, the cylinder heads came off and yes we had dropped inlet valve on number three cylinder but by luck it was just hanging in there. I pushed the retainer cap and the valve dropped from the head - that's what i call a lucky escape. With a new valve and full spring and retainer set, we should be back at the National Finals at the end of September. See you there. We would like to thank Carla and Rick for loan of tools and supplying parts, Conrad Stanley for the loan of the leakdown tester, and Ian Jackson of Jackson MoT for his help over the weekend. Without your help, guys and girls, we would not have raced and we would have missed out on a chance of a win. Thanks! Hurst Boiler back Flamholc. 3rd September: Hurst Boiler is proud to once again be a sponsor of Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc and the MMR Racing team. Hurst first became involved with Adam Flamholc and the MMR Racing Team four years ago after seeing him race in Richmond, VA. Each time Adam has raced in the USA, Hurst Boiler has participated in sponsoring Adam who has proudly displayed the Hurst logo on the Flamholc/MMR racecar. An integral part of the series in 2011 will be the television coverage provided by ESPN2HD. Due to the popularity of the class, NHRA will increase entry quotas from 24 to 26 per event. The elimination rounds will continue to feature sixteen-car fields, and thanks to the Get Screened America sponsorship, drivers will compete for World Championship points and an overall purse, including event purses and a year-end bonus fund totaling $470,000. Featuring the world's fastest and most unique doorslammer cars with an extremely diverse collection of vehicles, including '63 Corvettes, '68 Camaros, '67 Mustangs, '68 Firebirds as well as late-model cars, the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series offers something for every kind of hot rodding enthusiast. The next race that will include the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is this weekend's US Nationals presented by Lucas Oil in Indianapolis. Adam and MMR will race in ADRL Texas (October 21-23) and then Las Vegas in NHRA (October 27-30). Following that, they will remain in the Florida area over the winter and race in Bradenton and West Palm (November-December). Next year the plan is to start in Valdosta, GA and Gainesville, FL. Swift snippets. 3rd September: UK Fuel legend Gary Page added his voice to the tributes to late Top Fuel Dragster driver Kent Persson. "Kent was a real nice guy", Gary told Eurodragster.com. "I saw him at Tierp in June. He had been in hospital and looked unwell but he said he had to be there to see the track. That was the kind of guy he was, and it will forever be set in stone that he ran the first Four." 
Pete Walters of Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters Race Design says that Pro Modified prints will be available at the FIA
European Finals including Jan Gunnarson's Badillac, Graham Ellis' Turbo Superbird, Mats Eriksson's Green Goblin and Freddy Fagerström's truck. The A3 card prints are £5 each or two for
£8. "Come see us in the Super Pro ET pits", says Pete.
European drag racing's own Statto, Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe says that Ulf Leanders and Micke Gullqvist could be the first drivers to set low ET and high speed at every event in a season in Top Methanol FC and Pro Modified respectively should they achieve the feat at next week's FIA European Finals. "It's only ever been done in Pro Stock before", says Andy, "by Michael Malmgren in 2001 and Jimmy Ålund in 2009." The latest addition to Spencer Tramm's and Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs' Plymouth Duster Pro Mod is the exhaust system. You can follow the construction on the Chris Isaacs Race Cars web site at www.chris-isaacs.com. Lightning: Mission complete. 3rd September: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad says that he has sold his six-second bike and it has one last journey to make: 
We started the long journey with a win at the 2004 FIA Main Event at Santa Pod, maybe we can end the eight-year-long trip with a win at the 2011 Finals. Another message to all of
our racing fans: we will be back next year. Since 2003 we have raced at every UEM event.
Gardermoen was one of our biggest steps back, we didn't qualify at all. Lightning seemed to have an ignition failure, and we didn't manage to solve the problem before Hockenheim the following week. We thought we would run some good times at Hockenheim with 6.73 and fourth spot on the ladder. But a battery failure, and bad contact in a fuse holder, prevented Lightning to achieve anything except damaged cylinder, piston, wrist pin and rods. After a huge check-up back at home we found a fuse holder with bad contact points, and with no power transfer to the ignition there is no ignition. We have been running on one ignition system for goodness knows how long. So for the last tour with Lightning we hope to perform well and show the new owner that he has bought the right bike. First we have the race at Mosten in Denmark this weekend, and then the European Finals at Santa Pod. Euro Top Gas Round 6. 3rd September: The sixty round of the Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship took place over the quarter mile at Drachten in The Netherlands last weekend. Herman Jolink writes: Rain again on Friday so no runs - every time the track was dried, another shower came down. Top Gas had two qualifying sessions on Saturday between showers. Qualifying after two rounds:
At 06:30 on Sunday eXplosion crew started to prepare the track then we had some showers. The track was dry again but at 14:00 Race Director Karin de Haas desidid to cancel the race,
because every time the track whas dry more rain fell down.
Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship after six rounds:
Davies' third. 3rd September: Once again it was a bid from drag racer Nick Davies which topped the list of those wanting the latest original painting of the 1961 Allard Chrysler Dragster by artist Paul Whitehouse. 
Nick's £500 means that he is now the proud owner of all three original paintings of the car offered by the
Allard Chrysler Action Group as part of its fund raising programme, two by Paul one by
Norwegian artist Tommy Vågen and each one signed by Nick Mason and Alan Allard as well as the artist.
ACAG Chair Brian Taylor said "Right from the start Nick Davies has been a great supporter of our project and although we need to raise more funds it is a fact that we would not be on the final leg of the restoration without benefactors like him. As a token of our gratitude I have asked Nick to join Alan Allard, Nick Mason and Doug Hill in our team of official 'cackle' drivers. He has promised no flame burnouts." If you would like to help ACAG complete the restoration of Europe's first dragster then please contact [email protected] or call 01395 579733. Event entry update. 2nd September: Today (Friday) is the closing date for both the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September and the JapShow Finale at Santa Pod on 18th September. Entry after today, if accepted, will be subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms for all classes from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Staying with the VP Racing Fuels National Finals, Tim Blakemore and Wendy Clutterbuck write that the rewards will be great for the winner of Funny Bike at this event. "Depending upon the size of the field, the prize money from SPRC for winning the event is at least £200", they say. "Tim Blakemore Racing will be posting a further £400 for the race winner, Mike Vickers is pledging £200, Webster Race Engineering is pledging £200, and Mirage Ltd Bristol adds £100 making a total prize fund of £1100." Entry is open for the Custom Gang Drag Race, the fourth and last round of the 2011 ATD French Championship, which will take place at Mende-Brenoux airfield on 10th-11th September. Entry at €90 is now open both for the race and for Run What You Brung. Click here for the race entry form (PDF format) and click here for the RWYB entry form (PDF format). Malmö Raceway is holding its Winternationals on 9th-11th September featuring the finals of the Scandinavian Dragracing Series including a large entry of Top Doorslammers. SRIF has posted an award of 10,000 SEK to the first driver in any SDS class to record a 3.8 at this event. For more information pleas visit www.malmoraceway.se and to enter visit www.s-d-a.se and then Registration. If you have any questions then E-Mail [email protected]." Burnt orange! 2nd September: UK VW Pro ET racer Richard Merriman went to the weekend's Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway hoping to find the elusive 0.1 second to get his Beetle into the elevens. However it turned out not to be Richard's weekend: The first run on Saturday resulted in wheel hop and a misfire meaning a measly fourteen-second run. Back in the pits I sorted the misfire and decided to up the launch RPM and alter the shift point to see if we could do better. Sunday came and I staged the car, launched on the green only for the car to hop like a kangaroo and lose power. So I trundled down the track and back towards the pits only to be halted by lots of shouting! On looking in the rear view mirror I could see flames as high as the back window. I killed the engine and jumped out looking around for the nearest extinguisher - at this point I felt so helpless. Thankfully Steve Hudson of Pro ET leapt into action and unloaded the extinguisher in the right place to put the fire out in a couple of hits. Thank you so much for your quick actions, Steve, which saved any more damage to the car. I have already stripped the car out and cleaned up the worst of the mess but the list of work is growing. Currently most of it is paintwork and some wiring which will take some time to sort out. However I have a growing list of modifications which should hopefully see the car out next year and running quicker. Stefani bests the Sierra. 
2nd September: The UK's Stefani Robinson is pleased to announce the details of her new drive:
At the beginning of the year after I got back from America I started looking at possibilities to drive again. I spoke to a few people about options and even looked at financing a car myself, and within a few weeks of Eurodragster.com posting the news about me gaining my licence, Mark Ramplee owner of the Electromec Racing Sierra Sapphire got in touch to talk about an idea he had had. The Sierra has a lot of history as it was one of the first purpose-built Super Gas cars - since then it has been raced in Pro ET and Super Gas by Mark under the Electromec Banner. The car has been updated considerably from its initial build by Electromec Services as well as by Andy Robinson Race Cars and really is a beautiful race car. Not only that but it feels nostalgic to be driving a Sierra considering that Dad was racing a Sierra in the 1980s when I was first brought along to the track. The car's last outing was in testing in 2009 where, after a new engine was fitted, Mark ran the car into the 8.7s. After that test session, work commitments meant that race car had to be parked up... until now! Last weekend at the Peak Performance Day we finally managed to get the car out onto the track for some testing after many months of work, and we were all very pleased with the outcome. By the end of the day the car was running really well and consistent with minimal maintenance needed between passes. I drove the car to new bests of 8.67 /155. These are PBs for me, and the car's best ET; Mark still holds the best speed but I'm sure I'll nick that off him soon too! Having proven myself to the team and having my UK licence officially signed off we are hoping get some more test time this year before the 2012 season. None of this would have been possible without help of some very special people. Massive thanks go to Mark, Claire and Electromec Services for their faith in me and for letting me loose in the race car - I hope that I've proven that it's a decision you won't regret! The crew and everyone who has supported me getting to this point and while testing: Curt, Rich, Mum, Dad and Luke, having your encouragement was priceless. Clive Bond at Ultimate Race Cars for helping build and supporting the team with the methanol Big Block Ford engine. Jason and Jamie from FGR Motorsport for very kindly helping me last minute with fuel. Matt Woods for taking some brilliant photos while I was testing and helping me with promotion for the team. Finally, thanks to my sponsors who have helped to get the team back onto the track: Dance2Fitness, Lucas Oil and Andy Robinson Race Cars. We're extremely proud to represent your companies and we appreciate your involvement with our team. Eights for Kasey. 2nd September: The UK's Andy Hadfield, aka Andy Fadster, writes that racers at York Raceway did their utmost to pay tribute to Kasey Dixon-Grainger in the most fitting manner after his untimely death on Sunday: After the shocking loss of our friend, the track closed but a fantastic turn out of hot rods and race cars held a procession on track towards the end of the afternoon to pay tribute. Monday came around and everybody who could paired up in the lanes ready to give everything they could to the track in memory of Kasey and to make a great show for the spectators who had persevered to stay for what turned out to be a superb day's racing. Track conditions were amazing and, there being no shortage of grip, many teams ran new PBs including the Twister team. We made a steady first run and followed this up with a 9.06, this being the second quickest-ever run at York on treaded street tyres. We had come to York to compete in a round of NSCC and our intention was to run an eight-second pass, which would make ours the first street-legal car on treads to run an eight at all three major UK race tracks. On our third run we did just that and a new PB as well! Our run was an 8.35/169 closely followed by a nice back-up run of 8.41/164. Our next three runs were all in the eights and all on street tyres. Never let it be said that York doesn't supply excellent and exciting racing. Respect should be given to the Pennine Drag Racing Club on the way they handled the whole weekend, and for the track prep which was clearly there. We were lucky enough to win this round of NSCC and score the quickest run of the day, including full race cars running slicks. Our aim now? To run a seven at the other two tracks on treads and then head to York to see if we can run one there. Given the grip we experienced last weekend, I can see no reason why not! Thanks again to the PDRC and to Steve Murty for the handling of the weekend and to my crew who performed amazingly under extremely difficult circumstances. A sponsor's tribute. 
2nd September: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter's decision to retire from Top Fuel racing, announced here on Eurodragster.com on
Tuesday, means a premature end to a long-standing sponsorship agreement with Lucas Oil Products (UK), who also sponsor
Eurodragster.com.
"For the last eight years, Andy Carter's cars have been a test-bed for our oils, additives and lubricants" said Lucas Oil Products' managing director Les Downey. "During our association, the Lucas name has literally become the fastest-moving brand in Europe and he has won the FIA European Top Fuel title four times. He and his wife Sarah have been superb ambassadors for Lucas Oil both at home and abroad, so from a sponsor's perspective, our involvement has been a complete success. On a personal note, I and my wife Maureen are proud to call them personal friends. "Andy and Sarah plan to devote more time to supporting the career of their eleven-year-old son Albert, one of the UK's brightest driving prospects who is currently starring on the Karting circuit. On behalf of everyone at Lucas Oil, I wish them every success with their future plans." Swift snippets. 2nd September: Many thanks to APIRA Chief Marshal Wayne Schreier for forwarding us the official timing data from the Open Sport Nationals. You can check out the Open Sport Nationals timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the post-Bug Jam points standings in the 2011 Santa Pod Racers Club Championships, which you can check out on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. European fans have someone to cheer on in the USA starting today as ex-pat Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the NHRA US Nationals at Indy. You will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. Santa Pod Raceway are currently taking advance orders for VP Racing Fuels for collection or delivery to the pits at the FIA European Finals. "We currently have all of our range in stock and it's available at some very competitive prices", says James Forster "To place your order or for more information please contact the office on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) or at [email protected]. If you would like the fuel delivered to your pits then please let us know for which event along with the driver's or rider's name and race number. To view our full range of stock or to order on-line please visit www.santapodshop.com. Alternately, fuel can be bought directly from the Pod Shop on the day." A day late as there wasn't a full news update yesterday, but a very Happy Birthday for yesterday to UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables. Hope you had a good day Ven. Field set for Pro Mod Challenge. 
2nd September: The Exhaust-Coating.de
Shootout Challenge, which takes place at next week's FIA European Finals, is open to eight
Pro Modified racers determined by the total qualifying points earned at four previous FIA European Championship
events. These points standings form the basis for the Shootout elimination ladder at next week's race.
Shootout eliminations are planned for qualifying sessions Q2 on Friday, Q3 on Saturday and Q4 on Saturday. Q1 on Friday will not be included in order to give teams a chance to find a baseline. The Exhaust Coating.de Shootout Challenge winner will be presented with €2000 whilst the runner-up receives €500. The winner and runner-up will be presented on the start line immediately after the Shootout final. Points standings going into the Shootout are as follow:
Friday's first round will be: Micke Gullqvist v Andy Robinson Johan Lindberg v Robert Joosten Mats Eriksson v Urban Johansson Bruno Bader v Marc Meihuizen If eliminations cannot be completed then the driver with the best ET after the last Shootout round will be the winner. If the Shootout cannot be held at the FIA European Finals then the winner and runner-up will be the racers with the most points. For more about the Shootout, visit the Pro Mod Challenge page at www.speedgroup.eu, and for more about Exhaust Coating's services please visit www.exhaust-coating.de. Bennetts secure new sponsor. 
2nd September: UK blown-alcohol team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing work tirelessly to promote the team and their
sponsors, and of course to search for new companies to partner the team, and Luke Bennett is delighted to announce that they have secured HRB Automotive as a team sponsor for
2011-2012.
HRB Automotive is a Portsmouth-based paint shop specialising in fibreglass and custom paint work. Based on the South Coast, HRB Automotive are the premier fabricators of classic hot rod and race car body panels, body shells and bespoke parts. They also operate with their sister company Solent Blasting, who can undertake soda and media blasting. HRB Automotive can be contacted on 07709 047849 whilst their web site is being built by Escape Design. HRB will be painting all of Bennett Racing's race cars at their premises including the SuperPower Unlimited Bantam altered, the Dark Side slingshot, the Relentless altered and hopefully one day soon, depending on their search for a primary team sponsor, an FIA Top Methanol Funny Car. Something for the weekend. 
2nd September: Clapham Classic Events are holding their End of Season Get Together at the old WW2 Twinwood RAF station in Clapham, Bedfordshire
this Sunday (4th). There'll be a great mix of vehicles from classics to Hot Rods, all parked in wooded surroundings and restored wartime buildings. Pro ET's Paul Brown and Super Street
racer Butch Wilkins will be there with their Dunster House dragster and Morris Minor Traveller Minor Alterations respectively, along with Junior Drag Bike rider Louis Davies and
his dad Allan with his Funny Bike. For more information about this chillax-to-the-max day, visit www.claphamclassicevents.co.uk.
The UK's Ratcatcher Racing Wild Bunch team will be taking the Ratcatcher Resurrection Nostalgia Slingshot to the Wessex Ferrari Concorde Classics Car Show at Eastleigh, Hampshire this Sunday. The show is a charity event in aid of Naomi House Childrens Hospice, and all funds raised go to support this very worthwhile cause. Gates open at 10.00 am and entry is £2 per adult and £5 per family. Celebrity chef James Martin is in attendance and it promises to be a good day out. Full details at www.concordeclassics.co.uk. Pre-Finals Test Weekend coverage. 2nd September: Eurodragster.com kicks off the build-up to next week's FIA European Finals with coverage of tomorrow's Run What You Brung / VW Action and Sunday's Peak Performance Day / VW Action at Santa Raceway. In association with Alamo Rent-A-Car we will post an end-day report and an end-day gallery each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be broadcasting live video and trackside audio as long as the track is open. Thanks to our good friends at Doyousee.me for the provision of streaming services. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences, but you can check out our FIA European Finals Event Index, which includes a link to the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. VP introduce C9. 
2nd September: Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels
have announced the introduction of C9 racing fuel to complement its longstanding C10 blend.
"Like our very popular C10, new C9 is an ethanol-free, non-oxygenated unleaded product" said Jim Kelly, VP's Corporate Director - Sales. "C9 prevents all the problems associated with ethanol in pump gas, thus making it a great fuel for seasonal storage. Unlike pump gas which leaves deposits, clogs injectors, attracts moisture and separates while in storage, C9 won't go bad. You won't have to drain fuel from your carburettor even if your engine sits idle for weeks or months, and C9 will remain stable at least two years in a sealed container. Make C9 the last thing you run through the carburetor and fuel tank before putting your boat or favourite ride away this winter and you'll see instant results when it's time to get things started in the spring. "With an octane rating of 96 (R+M/2), C9 provides an economical alternative to C10 that still offers more resistance to detonation and improved performance over premium pump gas. C9 won't harm catalytic converters or oxygen sensors and will provide great starts in heat or cold." In addition to automotive applications, C9 will perform well in motorcycles, quads, snowmobiles and more. C9 racing fuel is for use in racing vehicles only and may not be used in street-driven motor vehicles. In addition to racing fuels, VP's product line includes performance chemicals, traction compound and race fuel containers, as well as PowerMaster hobby fuels for R/C racing. More information is available on-line at vpracingfuels.com or powermasterfuels.com. Event entry update. 1st September: 14:30 Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com Blogger Lex Joon has announced that he will not be contesting next week's FIA European Finals. "When the news was posted on Eurodragster.com that I was proud to carry the Fueled by the Fallen 9/11 tribute decals on the MPM Top Fuel Dragster, we still were working on the final details", says Lex. "I am sad to say that we haven't managed to make all the arrangements to be competitive as a professional team so I have decided to step back and to start working on our programme for 2012. We still hope that all of our fans will have a great weekend with enough nitro fumes to last through the winter." Tomorrow (Friday 2nd) is the closing date for both the VP Racing Fuels National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-25th September and the JapShow Finale at Santa Pod on 18th September. Entry after tomorrow, if accepted, will be subject to a late entry fee. You can download the official entry forms for all classes from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Staying with the VP Racing Fuels National Finals, Tim Blakemore and Wendy Clutterbuck write that the rewards will be great for the winner of Funny Bike at this event. "Depending upon the size of the field, the prize money from SPRC for winning the event is at least £200", they say. "Tim Blakemore Racing will be posting a further £400 for the race winner, Mike Vickers is pledging £200, Webster Race Engineering is pledging £200, and Mirage Ltd Bristol adds £100 making a total prize fund of £1100." Entry is open for the Custom Gang Drag Race, the fourth and last round of the 2011 ATD French Championship, which will take place at Mende-Brenoux airfield on 10th-11th September. Entry at €90 is now open both for the race and for Run What You Brung. Click here for the race entry form (PDF format) and click here for the RWYB entry form (PDF format). Editor's note: Only a brief news update today as your News Editor has a medical appointment to keep. We have a backlog of news which we will post on the next update, and please keep the news and FIA European Finals previews coming to [email protected]. Earlier news |
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