Nixxon and Osterberg's Pro Stock deal. 30th November: Finland's Richard "Nixxon" Sundblom and Mikko Osterberg will be joining forces for the 2008 FIA European Pro Stock Championship. In 2008 Nixxon will be driving a Rick Jones Race Cars Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stock owned by Mikko. Nixxon has purchased a powerful new engine from USA, so the team have great expectations for the coming season. ©Eurodragster.com It will be the same Cobalt Motorsport team in 2008, but with two new cre members: Crew Chief Heikki "Hessu" Parviainen (previously of Malmgren Racing - Ed) and mechanic Ronny "Kongo" Lindström. You can find out more about Cobalt Motorsport and check out what was left of the 2007 car after the top end crash at Mantorp on the team's web site at www.cobaltmotorsport.com. Looking good for Drachten 2008. 30th November: Herman Zijlstra has been in touch from The Netherlands with the great news that eXplosion Club Chair Theo Willemse has announced provisional dates for races at Drachten Airfield in 2008: 20th-22nd June 11th-13th July 29th-31st August ©Eurodragster.com The return to Drachten comes as a result of a considerable local campaign and support from racers and fans around Europe. Stay tuned and as things are firmed up we will of course let you know. Swift snippets. 30th November: Entry is now open for the 2008 Mosten Race Day which takes place on a specially-prepared one-lane eighth-mile strip at Mosten in Denmark on 28th-31st August 2008. The strip is eight metres wide and a total of seven hundred metres in length of which five hundred metres has crash barriers. The bike-centred event attracts thousands of bikers from all over Europe and also includes Top Fuel Dragster demonstrations. For more details, or to enter, check out www.mosten-mc.dk. ©Eurodragster.com We're nowhere near the new season yet but UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter has already got his act together and posted his provisional 2008 calendar, which you can find at www.andycarter.net/schedule.php. Andy advises us that there are dates yet to be added to this calendar. UK Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett has decided not to sell his wild Cortina after his planned replacement vehicle proved not to be up to the job. The Cortina's engine is to be stroked to 545 ci, the Wizards of NOS nitrous system is to be upgraded, and Ron plans to add a transbrake. Editor's note: Most of today's news update should have been posted yesterday but we currently have a case of Man Flu at the Eurodragster.com offices. Flowers, pizza etc. to the usual address. Hauser Racing's new home. 30th November: The UK's Hauser Racing has opened its new seven thousand square foot facility in Finedon, Northamptonshire, three miles from the former workshop in Higham Ferrers, HRC's home since 1994. "We are all really excited about the move", says Geof Hauser. "Our new workshop has so much more potential, a lot more capacity and has great offices, a showroom, more floorspace with dedicated areas for fabrication, machining and a clean room for axle and engine assembly. It has been a massive task to move all of our equipment, and apart from the Hauser Racing staff who continue to work their butts off, I would like to sincerely thank Billy, Jason, Jeff, John Ev and Chris for their help. It would have taken a month to move without them. "The final touches are still being applied, and there are a lot of parts still to be sorted, but we should be back to a hundred per cent within a week. Our new place is easy to find, we are located right next to the water tower in Finedon on the A6." ©Eurodragster.com You can find the relocated Hauser Racing at: 101A Irthlingborough Road Finedon Northamptonshire NN9 5EJ Telephone: 01933 682500 Fax: 01933 682700 Click here for map Powerpoint DVD reviews II. 21st November: Powerpoint Communications, purveyors of high-quality drag racing DVDs, have released more of their 2007 titles and have been kind enough to send a set to Eurodragster.com for review. Here are Simon's thoughts on the second pair of DVDs: If it's the variety and closeness of out-and-out UK Sportsman drag racing that interests you, the DVD of the 2007 Open Sport Nationals from Shakespeare County Raceway has it in abundance. All classes that competed at this event are included. There are excellent captions showing ladders, identifying racers and their dial-ins at the start line as well as showing the times and speeds of the winner and loser. The racing action is intense, reflecting the multitude of classes at the Open Sport Nationals The programme goes straight into Super Street eliminations and shows the eliminations from quarter finals for each class, which is also separately indexed within the menu to the DVD. Whilst space considerations prevent all rounds of eliminations being included, in Super Comp, Super Pro and Super Street Bike all rounds are shown, which provides excellent coverage of these stalwarts of the sport that are not represented elsewhere in this year's Power Point Communications offerings. The Street Eliminator and Super Modified classes are shown from the semi final stage as a trailer for their dedicated DVD, which avoids duplication. Qualifying is shown from Outlaw Anglia, with interviews with Paul Wright and Pete Ashworth, who is fast catching up with the dominant Guv. In Super Street bike, Mark Watkins tells us how he deals with the competition and Rick Stubbins tells us what his expectations are for his new-for-2007 bike. Gary Bowe gives the perspective of a rookie to the class, coming runner up to Dave Smith at the event. An on-bike camera on Ian Turburville's Mr Spokehead gives a unique view from the rear of a Top Fuel Bike. There is also heavy action from the NFAA – just listen to Frank Bennett's blower screaming as he blasts down the track to a 7.01. The Outlaw Flat Fours were a highlight of 2007 and Ritchie Webb talks about running his Street-driven Beetle convertible down into the 9.8s. Travis Rider talks about his replica of the US Inch Pincher running an Autocraft motor producing 320 bhp, the ultimate in normally aspirated flat fours and running low tens. Bernie Newbury added nitrous for another 70bhp to knock on the door of the nines, these two vehicles having standard floorpans. Frank Hoffman from Germany was driving rather than tuning the Martin Greaves car. The camera angle makes it possible to see the cars along the whole track and well into the shut down area. Paul Venners who provides commentary for all this year's Power Point DVDs is a most knowledgeable presenter and interviewer. The production as ever is superb and the action non-stop. Whilst the logistics and resource requirements of filming the entire UK Sportsman Championships are a challenge, a general sportsman Championship-based DVD would be a great development to the series, adding more stories and thrills to the mix. But for now, this will do nicely. The Open Sports Nationals can be bought from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus £1.50 post and packing. ©Eurodragster.com In a memorable year of racing in Real Steel Street Eliminator the car count, reliability and performance have all moved on dramatically and this year's Hardcore Street DVD tells the story with a lot of behind the scenes footage. At the start of the season, no-one could agree who was most likely to win the Championship, but the big horsepower twin turbo assisted cars of Steve Nash and Andy Frost can be seen to be slugging it out like a pair of prize fighters. Steve Nash was interviewed shortly after Christmas 2006, building with ace constructor Chris Isaacs what eventually became the quickest street car in the world on block tread tyres. The old car was 3,900 lb and that figure has reduced to 3,200 lb with the help of a self-built fibreglass body. Splinter was looking for a seven even at the first two meetings. Arriving with the car still having final adjustments off, it ran a 8.76 on his second pass in the brand-new car. His wheelie at the SPRC Summernationals was one of the runs of the year, and his reluctance to lift even when on two wheels and headed towards the guardrail on a crucial run is the stuff that true Champions are made of. 2006 Champ Ian Hook went through most of the season with a borrowed engine while Jeff Meads was a welcome returnee with a new chassis for his Ford Pop. Ian Jackson also returned with his turbo 'Vette after a trying time when a broken ECU resulted in severe engine damage in 2006 resulting in the team getting back to square one in the all-important engine mapping work. Jerry Charles had too much power for his chassis, causing more than a few interesting moments. The biggest change was Mickey Thompson Drag Radials being outlawed by the rule makers. But Andy Frost switching to the still-legal BF Goodrich radials had handling concerns at the top end arising from the "Radial Rock". Bill McDermid was a welcome returnee after a long layoff in his beautiful Camaro whilst Alex McIntosh broke into the eights in his rookie season. Steve Pateman came on really strong at the end of the year to show the Calibra can still run the numbers and will be a strong contender for 2008. Colin Lazenby started strongly but the car showed handling problems and the car paid a visit to Andy Robinson's shop early on for new front struts. At the Bug Jam there is footage of what must be some of the most vicious tyre shake ever caught on film, sadly resulting in contact with the wall, but in typical never-say-die fashion, Colin was back only weeks later. Andy Frost's consistency and performance kept him ahead in the points for most of the season, but an early red-light exit at the Open Sport Nationals and handling problems at the National Finals resulted in a down-to-the-wire Championship race going to Splinter and his new Cougar. What makes this class so special is the close involvement of Britain's top chassis builders, the variety of body styles that retain a streetable appearance, traction frequently being marginal on the street tyres and the sportsmanship of the drivers. This is all conveyed in detail on the DVD. The production is up to the high standards which can bear comparison with any other drag racing video, the knowledgable interviews from David Coleman and Paul Venners, a large variety of camera angles and close-ups in the driver cockpits and of mechanical details as two examples of the care and effort put into the production. The night shots at the UK National Finals are the icing on the cake. This exemplary DVD of Hardcore Street can be bought from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus £1.50 post and packing. Riding the Dragon. 27th November: The Bavarian Drag Race Club, the biggest drag racing club in Germany, has its own Junior Dragster which is loaned to young racers to support youth in the sport. The JD has been given a new coat of paint for the 2008 season, writes Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing whose base is also the BDRC HQ. "Sally Ekerst has been running the BDRC Junior Dragster for three years and loves the car and racing it", says Gittli. "Sally's dream is to race the car in England and Sweden. Her dad Holger has been involved in the sport for many years too. ©Eurodragster.com "This year the Club decided to buy a new, bigger engine for the car and Sally managed to get several trophies during the year and a lot of #1 qualifiers as well. Now the car has got brand new paintwork which was donated by Franz Reil, a very famous painter in Germany. Franz sponsored all his work and the paint as well. "The car was presented at last Saturday's BDRC end of season party. You can imagine how excited Sally was when she saw her 'new' car for the first time on Saturday. Sally and everyone at the party was very impressed to see the Magic Dragon. Sally was hoping the dragon would be included as it was on the old design too, and the BDRC Club logo is also included. Many thanks to Franz." The media shag it up again. 27th November: Weekend media reports stating that Long Marston Airfield, home of Shakespeare County Raceway, has been targeted as a potential site for one of the UK Government's new Eco villages, are totally unfounded writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. The story came to light late on Friday evening in a news report transmitted on a local BBC news programme which stated that, along with Fradley and Throckmorton airfields in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, Long Marston Airfield had also been shortlisted. In actual fact the site under discussion is the former MoD Army Camp which is over a mile away and has no connection whatsoever with the owners of the airfield or with the drag strip itself. A follow-up story on Sunday's Politics Show used library footage from the Raceway itself and quoted the airfield as a possible target site, causing much unrest within and outside the racing community (Not amongst those of us who actually bothered to check the story rather than spread rumours - Ed). The local media reported the story correctly from the outset, with the planning authority confirming this. Drag racing activities at SCR will commence in 2008 with a Public Track Day on 5th-6th April. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 27th November: UK Super Pro ET racer Chris Orthodoxou is on the road to Germany's Essen Motorshow where his seven-second Dodge Viper will be featuring in the motorsports exhibition hall. The Press Day takes place this Friday and then the Show is open to the public from this Saturday (1st December) to 9th December. For more details check out the Show's official web site at www.essen-motorshow.de. ©Eurodragster.com Following his 6.90/230 final licensing run in the Split Second Jet Dragster, Julian Webb has been in touch to pass on his thanks to all who helped. "Special thanks to the Primetime team of Colin Fallows and Mark Newby for their technical assistance and driver training", says Julian. "I am very proud to have gained my licence and I can't wait to run the car again next year. Colin has told me there is a great deal more to come from the car. We intend to step things up gradually and to learn all we can as we start pushing the car from its current mild tune-up. This has been a fantastic experience for me, and the support of other racers and huge interest in the dragster from spectators have been amazing. Thanks once again." Good cheer at the first Bash. 27th November: A great evening was enjoyed by all at the first annual UK Pro ET Bash, held at the Cromwell Hotel in March, Cambridgeshire, on Saturday, writs Carla Pittau: A good live band further enriched the atmosphere, but at times it was like attending the National Convention of the Mutual Appreciation Society! Trophies, sponsored by class Sponsor Real Steel, were awarded in the following categories: Rookie of the Year: Mark Bishop (Vegas Hustler) Best Appearing Car: Nick and Nicky Frost (Nicky Frost Racing) Best Wheelie: Rick McCann and Carla Pittau (Team Heaven & Hell) Furthest travelled to race Pro ET: Anders Envall (Blackout Racing) Crew Chief of the Year: Podge (English Rose) Hard Luck: Billy Gane (Fat Pack Racing) Most F*** Ups: Mike Lacey (Metamorphosis) ©Eurodragster.com The trophy presentation went very well, with all winners delighted with the support and the cheering from all. A surprise award was made on the night for the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme Organiser Carl Burton, presented by Carla Pittau. Carl was unanimously chosen by the Pro ET racers to receive the Diamond Geezer 2007 award, for working tirelessly on behalf of the whole class and organising both the Sponsorship Scheme and the Bash. Carl received a trophy especially made by Rick McCann using race car parts - a radical camshaft and a cam sprocket which have run a nine-second quarter mile! - which were nickel plated and mounted on a granite base. No off the shelf trophy would have been good enough for the Pro ET Diamond Geezer! Carl also received a voucher for £200 for goods and merchandise to be spent at class sponsors Wisbech American Street and Performance who very kindly greatly contributed to the value of the voucher, alongside the Pro ET racers. Class Sponsors Motor Shack, Metamorphosis Finance, Alley Jax, Inkwell Printing, Penn Autos, A1 Motor Stores, WASP, Hauser Race Cars, Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Real Steel and Sandy Scooters were officially thanked for their continued support and each presented with a bottle of wine, as was Bob Regis of the Escape from Reality team for setting up and updating the Pro ET web site. Doing the SE honours. 27th November: The UK's top street legal racers their crew and families descended on the Brandon Hall Hotel in Warwickshire on Saturday 17th November for the Real Steel Street Eliminator UK awards dinner dance and awards evening, writes Ian Hook. The attendance of around a hundred was the biggest seen in the thirteen years since Custom Car's Tim Baggaley launched the first multi-round, multi-venue street-legal Championship in Europe, and reflects the continued growth in both support and participation for the class. The event got underway with a few drinks and a lot of bench racing before everyone sat down to enjoy a superb three-course meal. Then it was down to the real business of the evening - the awards. Paul Venners once again ably handled the MC duties assisted by class secretary Ann-Marie Lazenby. Paul first recognised the support of the class sponsors and echoed the sentiments of those present in thanking them for their generosity before moving on to the presentations themselves. Racers taking home trophies and awards this year were as follow: Steve 'Splinter' Nash took the Championship trophy, a framed photograph of the Cougar in action, cash, vouchers and one of only four Webster Race Engineering commemorative seven-second gold rings. As well as winning his first Championship, 2007 also saw Splinter reset the class ET record on the final run of the last meeting of the year with a stunning 7.84. Andy Frost was runner-up in the Championship also taking home a trophy, cash, vouchers and framed photo - Frosty was the first to run and back up a seven-second ET in the class. He also holds the class speed record at 188.53 mph. Jeff Meads took third place after a titanic battle with Colin Lazenby which was only settled at the final meeting. Jeff received a trophy, cash, vouchers and the last of the framed photos. Fourth place went to Colin Lazenby (cash and vouchers) whilst fifth went to Steve Pateman (cash and vouchers). Steve also took the trophy for Hardest Launching Street Car with a 1.28 sixty-foot time. Alex McIntosh was in sixth collecting cash and vouchers along with the prize for the Most Qualifying Passes. Alex was also runner up in the Perfect Light category. The last of the position prizes went to Jon Webster in seventh followed by Jerry Charles. Ian Hook went away with a trophy and cash award for winning the Perfect Light category (for the sixth year in succession!) with an average reaction time of 0.034 whilst George Scanlon, the only racer to drive his vehicle to the track, took home embroidered team jackets and T-shirts as his reward for the racer having made the biggest improvement in ETs this season. ©Eurodragster.com Finally a perennial trophy was introduced for The Spirit of Street Eliminator thanks to the generosity of photographer and fan Mark O'Hanlon. This award recognises the contribution and dedication of the SE racer seen to be the most dedicated and hard core who yet still finds the time to help others. Winning this trophy means a lot as it is voted for by all the drivers in the class. This year's winner Colin Lazenby not only works tirelessly as the class Chairman but also came back from the disaster of smacking the wall due to rod end failure and getting the car repaired and back out within six weeks to maintain a one hundred per cent appearance record. It must be remembered that none of the awards above would happen without the support of a lot of sponsors. Those who have supported the class in 2007 are listed below. Thanks are due to them from the drivers, crew and fans of the quickest, fastest and toughest street-legal Championship in Europe - Street Eliminator UK. Real Steel: suppliers of all things V8 from dress up to hard core and have been title sponsors for the last three years. Thanks go to proprietor Charles Pinion for his generous support. American Car World magazine covers the American car scene, with a mix of hot rodding, drag racing and technical features. You will also find, of course, round by round coverage of the SE UK season. Quartermilehigh, producers of the SE Championship DVD (and of many other motor sport/hot rodding DVDs). Hard Core Street 2007, covering this year's exciting season, is available now via the web site. Webster Race Engineering: Jon Webster's company has built a number of the SE cars and, as a competitor himself, Jon plays a very hands-on role. WRE are also sponsors of the SE seven-second club providing gold commemorative rings to the first four SE racers to run, and back up, seven-second passes. Power Pour are contingency sponsors of the Best Reaction Time at each meeting and of the best average Reaction Time over the season. This fuel additive is used by a number of racers in the class to help get the best out of the obligatory unleaded pump fuel. Eurodragster.com: as everybody's first stop for the very latest news from European drag racing this web site needs no introduction. Street Eliminator UK are proud to be associated with Eurodragster.com who presented each of the top three finishers with a framed photographs of their car in action. B & H Autokraft provide a comprehensive range of automotive services from crank balancing to performance engineering and everything in between, and are one of the most knowledgeable companies in the UK for ProChargers. B & H rewarded the driver who made the most qualifying passes throughout the season with £500 worth of engineering services as well as paying out cash prizes to each round winner Embroidery Solutions offer everything from a one off baseball cap to a full in-house design and supply service for embroidered race wear, promotional items, commemerative shirts, etc. Embroidery Solutions sponsor the Most Improved award. Robinson Race Cars/Stroud Safety: Stroud Safety's mission statement is "To provide the best quality in safety equipment for the racing industry using superior technology and to provide fast service". And that just about says it all! In partnership with ARRC, builders of race cars and suppliers of a myriad variety of parts, Stroud sponsor the winners and runners up of each round. Web site updates. 27th November: Tim Fountain has updated his web site at www.timtime.co.uk/galleries_drag.htm with a set of pictures from the UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. "As a Thank You to the racers for the tremendous entertainment over the season I would like to offer a full size file of any photos taken over the year to the first five in the categories Motorbikes, Cars and Pits/Off-track", says Tim. "Please write to [email protected] with Thanks as the subject. Any other riders or drivers wanting copies of photos for their own publicity material are also welcome to contact me at the same address with 2008 as the subject." ©Eurodragster.com Pro Mod at the health farm. 26th November: Ray White's Lethal Z Pro Mod is receiving attention at Absolute Moulding in Dartford. After long service, the body is to be removed and condemned to a terrible end, to be replaced by much lighter panels. "As you can see from the picture, it's been a major job to strip the car down and to prep all the damaged panels - and there have been a lot, Pro Mod hasn't been kind", says Ray. "The car will have new moulds made, then we will bring it back home and take the body off. Chris will then take the body to Brantwood Auto Breakers where he will weigh it and then crush it...what a picture that will make. ©Eurodragster.com "Then the car will be back down to Absolute Moulding to have the new body fitted. The quality of the panels and the speed they turn them around is amazing. Absolute have made all the 'glass panels for the Z and they also made the replacement front and rear quarter for Gordon Appleton's Camaro after the crash last year. Absolute can also modify your panels to your requirements, repair damage, and make panels from scratch. You will see the mould and the body being made here on Eurodragster.com so you will be able to follow its progress. "You can get in touch with Absolute Moulding at Unit 12/13, Victoria Industrial Park, Victoria Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 5AJ, or telephone 01322 226466 and ask for Russell. Tell him you saw details on Eurodragster.com and he will do you a good deal." I hear voices... 26th November: UK Super Modified racer Craig Gibbs says that he has given in to the demons who have been talking to him. "I haven't gone completely stark raving bonkers", says Craig. "I have taken the very hard descision to install a clutch in Obsession. At the end of this season I had several people - whom we shall call Mr E and Mr P and Mr C for this purpose (they know who they are) - trying to convince me to put a clutch in the car. Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to spend countless hours upon hours messing around with clutches at the track when I have a great gearbox in the car that is virtually maintenance free? "In the end our hand was kind of forced to go this route. Due to proposed rule changes in Super Modified next year, Obsession is approximately 170 lb over the weight break for an automatic gearbox. Our options were either to build a bigger engine, or to 'bite the bullet' as Mr E once put it and put a clutch in the car. Having spoken to Mr P and having worked out the new possible weight break for a clutch car, it kind of makes sense. ©Eurodragster.com "Our beloved Bruno converter drive is up for sale, complete with the Neal Chance Pro Mod bolt together converter, spare stator, and Stroud SFI Bruno safety blanket. It genuinly breaks my heart to put this up for sale as it has been so good to us, apart from the odd top up of fluid it has needed nothing else. You can find it in the Parts For Sale section of the Swap Meet. It really is as good as they say, and remember it helped to power Obsession to the quickest-ever run for a converter driven Super Mod, 7.72/174. "I am assured by Mr P that the voodoo surrounding clutches is purely hearsay, and that we won't be pulling it apart every other run. Personally I'm actually looking forward to having something to do in between rounds other than watching the other teams set up their clutches! I trust Mr P, Mr E and Mr C wholeheartedly, and have no reason to doubt them, or Mr R who is helping us with the installation, and if their calculations are correct it could hopefully make for an interesting combination next year. "For those who are considering running in Super Mod but are sitting on the fence at the moment with the newly-proposed rules, next year should prove to be the best yet. My advice would be don't miss out: don't watch it from the fence, be a part of it." Swift snippets. 26th November: The latest spy picture to reach the Eurodragster.com offices shows a supercharged Keith Black which our mole tells us is destined for work in the UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association in 2008. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. ©Eurodragster.com Michel Ruis writes from The Netherlands to tell us that Eric Pellegrom of the West Coast Outlaws has sold his '63 Nova and is working hard on the chassis, tinwork and other details of his dream car, an ex-Peter Wacker '57 Bel Air which is to be fitted with a 582ci Scott Shafiroff powerplant. Michel adds that Eric is in a race with the HouseBros team to get his car finished before the end of 2008. Eric is also kept busy running KR8 Cruise Magazine. Michel Ruis has also asked us to thank Xplosion Drag Racing Club Chair Theo Willemse and the other Club volunteers for their efforts this year to find Dutch racers and fans a venue in 2008. Elias Vathias writes from Greece that AA1 class record holder Vagelis Tzanetis, tuner Yannis Kafetzis, engine builder Yannis Stamoylis and assistant Michael Halaris recently put Vagelis' Peugot Rallye on the team's self-built dyno. "We can't reveal the horsepower and the torque, but we can say that the horsepower is way less than 300 hp", says Elias. "During the tuning, a small loss of power was detected in one of the cylinders so the fine tune was postponed until this is fixed". You can check out Vagelis' personal page and stats by clicking here and find a couple of videos on YouTube here and here. Photo-journalist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski tells us that he is able to supply photographs from his large library stretching back more than twenty years. We know from our own recent experience that Mark provides a speedy and very reasonably-priced service. If you are interested then you can get in touch with Mark at [email protected]. Thanks to Nicky Frost and John Atkinson for telling us about an addictive drag racing game which can be found on the web site of Leo van der Kuijl's Awesome 50 Super Comp/Super Gas Mercury. We've tried this game ourselves and it is indeed very difficult to stop playing once you get started. Check it out at www.awesome50.com. Submissions are still being accepted for this year's Christmas Gift Mart news item which will be posted here on Eurodragster.com News on Saturday 1st December. Ideas, reviews or indeed blatant advertisements for Christmas gifts for the racer or race fan in your life can be submitted to [email protected] and all will be included, unless in questionable taste, in order of receipt. Please keep write-ups brief and to the point, and only one picture per E-Mail thank you. Christmas gift ideas arriving after 1st December may not be included on the news page. Swift snippets. 24th November: Eurodragster.com have been promised the full story as soon as it can be confirmed, but a UK racer has told us that they are very excited about the prospect of finding a Top Fuel Dragster under their Christmas tree, if Santa has a big enough sleigh. Assuming that the racer continues to be happy and good, and that Father Christmas delivers, licencing passes are planned for the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com Santa Pod Raceway are holding their first Alternative Energy Racing event on Friday 25th April 2008. "The main drive of this event is to showcase vehicles which do not use fossil fuels, and explore greener forms of motorsport which may one day be the future of drag racing", says Rick Cuthbert. "The USA already has a well-developed electric drag racing scene with wheelie-popping cars and seven-second bikes. We are a bit behind in the UK, but as alternative fuel and electric vehicles become exponentially more popular, it's long overdue that we held an event for them where they are not penalised for using sunrise technology. Racers who fancy a new challenge might like to have a look at the event's web site at www.aeracing.org." Web site updates. 24th November: The official web site of the UK's Showtime Racing Fuel Funny Car team has been updated with a report and pictures from the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway, and news of the team's traditional appearance at Autosport International in January. Check it out at www.showtimeracinguk.com. ©Eurodragster.com The world's heaviest Coke bottle. 22nd November: Never Again Racing's new project, a 1968 Chevy Impala, has arrived at the back at the team workshop sporting an SFI 25.2 chromoly chassis built by joint Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Webster Race Engineering, writes Andy Bennett. "The car has been provisionally tagged for 6.0 and Jon has done an outstanding job", says Andy. "The full size Chevy will hit the scene in 2009 as there is a heck of a lot of work to do. Basically it is just four wheels and a frame so far. Doors have to be hung, a glass front needs to be made, interior, engine and trans have to be fitted, and there is a lot more fabrication etc to be done. There is a good year of work in it, and that's with two or three of us at it almost every evening and all weekend. ©Eurodragster.com "The car will be a heavy Chevy and will have to displace a lot of air, but what a car! The classic 60s Coke bottle styling is phenominal, and scraping the weeds at approximately three inches off the ground she will be a real head-turner and something quite out of the ordinary. "Coco Connection is still up for grabs either turnkey or rolling. If you are interested then call Dave on 07778 646 905; the money from that will put a heart and soul into this project." DS Racewear season review and offer. 22nd November: 2007 has seen another successful year for both of the DS Racewear-sponsored slingshots, reports Eurodragster.com News sponsor Pete Yates: The Dog's Bollocks Racing-owned Ramraider slingshot has proved a very consistent car with all four drivers - Pete Yates, Andy Gosling, Ray Ford and Sarah Howells (Isn't it five with Ed Yates? - Ed) - achieving low nine-second runs with the lightest driver taking the team into the eights! We won't go on about it but it was the girl who got the eight and yes, the rest of the team are now on a strict diet over the Christmas period - no extra stuffing for them! The DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot, which is also sponsored by DS Racewear has already been the subject of a spy picture now sporting an Enderle injection Darryl ran down to a best of 9.98 with the carb during 2007 but there's plenty of work to be completed over the winter and the team are determined to be running low nines by the end of 2008. We've had quite a busy year with both cars, running around fifteen events at York, Shakespeare County and Santa Pod both with the Wild Bunch Pro ET. We loved being a part of Main Event and European Finals so we'll definitely be doing it again next year! ©Eurodragster.com To celebrate a successful season, DS Racewear have a special offer for all those racers looking for a new RJS Full Size or Junior Dragster race suit for 2008. If you buy one of our RJS race suits before Christmas and you will receive a ten per cent discount on the 2007 price. Furthermore, if it is a dated suit (-15 or -20), I will defer the manufacture until 2008 so your SFI tag will be 2008. A 2008 tagged suit at less than the 2007 price. For details check out the web site at www.dsracewear.co.uk. As well as a complete range of SFI-certified race wear and safety equipment for Sportsman to Top Fuel racers, we also supply any SFI-certified parts from the world's top manufacturers for your engine, transmission and chassis. You can contact DS Racewear via the web site or on 01454 857328. Swift snippets. 22nd November: The December issue of American Car World magazine features an in-depth look at Mats Eriksson's awesome Green Goblin '56 Ford Crown Victoria Pro Mod, writes Jerry Cookson. Written and photographed by Mark Gredzinski, the four-page feature details the story behind this 200 mph plus blown charger. The magazine also carries reports from the final round of Real Steel Street Eliminator, NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals, NASC Street Rod Nationals and the AACI Summernationals. Priced at £3.60 ACW is available now at leading newsagents. ©Eurodragster.com We would like to wish our readers in the USA a very Happy Thanksgiving. Have a great day guys. Web site updates. 22nd November: Colin Donisthorpe has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from this year's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway and the 1993 Easter Thunderball and Main Event. You can check out Colin's shots at colindonisthorpe.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com This week's edition of Drag, Rod and Classic Review magazine features the concluding part in the build-up of the famed Mondello Matsubara Fiat Fuel Altered, a report on the recent Irwindale Reunion at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, a story on Ford's new Bullitt Mustang, and brief news of a forthcoming new nostalgia drag race series in the USA. You can find all this at www.drcreview.com. Woollatt heads up Bike Show cast. 21st November: Steve Woollatt's multiple ACU Championship-winning Top Fuel Bike heads up a small but select list of drag bikes appearing at the NEC Bike Show 2007 which opens to the public on Saturday (24th November). Steve's bike has been chosen to appear in the Drag Bikes Zone organised by Tony Huck. "The bike will be at the Show from tomorrow's Press Day until it closes on 2nd December", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "We will be at the Show some of the time so please come and say Hello. We're very grateful to Tony Huck for inviting us and we're looking forward to it." ©Eurodragster.com "The Drag Bike Zone features Steve's Top Fuel Bike, Paul Watson's Pro Stock Bike, Mark Watkins' Super Street Bike, Andy Haley's 9.50 Bike (one of very few to clock 9.500 - Ed) and Dave Jones' Supertwin", said Tony Huck. "We used to do a lot of this sort of thing. We did the Bike Show at Alexandra Palace and the organiser of this NEC Show bumped into us and said we should come. They are relaunching the Show this year and decided to include us." You can find out more about the NEC Bike Show 2007 including ticket details and directions on the event's official web site at www.motorcycleshow.co.uk. No nitro, yet. 21st November: Following on from our recent spy picture of a blown VW engine, UK Super Pro ET and VW Pro racer Ken Blomer has been in touch with news of his own new engine (right) which is destined for his Karmann Ghia. ©Eurodragster.com "Just arrived from Billet Racing Engines in Florida, the motor is a 3.3-litre blown methanol Flat Four topped off with a custom-made high-helix Littlefield supercharger", says Ken. "The engine will replace the turbo motor currently used in my eight-second Ghia. The engine is similar to that run in BRE's own dragster although they run theirs on ninety five per cent nitro: we will be sticking to methanol for the forseeable future. We hope to have the engine installed and running in time for the start of the season, depending on what the tech guys make of it. "I would like to thank Steve at Air Sea Logistics for the smooth collection, shipping and delivery of the motor. Their door to door service takes all the worry out of shipping and made it all far easier than I would ever have imagined. Top class service all round!" UK Junior Dragster 2008 numbers. 21st November: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with the official race numbers for the 2008 UK National Junior Dragster Championship: ©Eurodragster.com 1. Nicholas Mugridge 2. Anna Stanley 3. Peter Walters 4. Joe Kellett 5. Zak Johnson 6. Rosie Hunt 7. Matthew Seamarks 8. Scott Hauser 9. Daniel Giles 10. Vicky Molden 11. Jayne Kay 12. Rebecca Evans 14. Ross Norris 15. Team 4 Gs 16. Clare Giles 17. Charlotte Watts 18. Gabrielle Barton-McDonald 19. Rhiannon Bellenie 20. Jordan Keelan If you have any queries then you can contact Paula on 01933 313625 or E-Mail [email protected]. Swift snippets. 21st November: Keith Abrehart is trying to track down Swedish racer Benjamin Wahlström, who originally built a race car which Keith now owns. If you know of Benjamin's whereabouts please drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll put everyone in touch. UK Super Gas racer Mike Bentley is offering his Sierra for sale. "Also going with this Championship winning car is the camper-transporter plus all necessary equipment to get you racing straight away", says Mike. "I have campaigned this beautifully-turned-out set-up for well over ten years winning numerous Championships, and also the famous NitrolympX twice! For 2007 it was improved with an alcohol Big Block Ford and subsequently moved into Super Gas. All run data will of course be supplied with the car". Mike plans a couple of years out before returning with an alcohol-powered rail. You can find more details in the Cars For Sale section of our Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts-sponsored Swap Meet. G&R in Germany and Sweden's Summer On Wheels have joined the growing number of companies to stock the 2007 FIA/UEM European Championship Season Review DVD. You can contact G&R at Hauptstrasse 62, 76833 Walsheim, Germany; Tel +49 6341 960 117; web site www.torquemaster.de and Summer On Wheels on +46 (0) 8779 38 00; web site www.summeronwheels.com; or E-Mail [email protected]. You can find the full list of dealers at www.powerracing.eu. John Spuffard and Jo Green have been in touch to ask us to congratulate Showtime Fuel FC team member Lee Brown and partner Tracey on the birth of their daughter Ellie May who arrived last Thursday weighing in at just over six pounds. Our pleasure, congratulations guys and welcome to Ellie. ©Eurodragster.com Submissions are now invited for this year's Christmas Gift Mart news item which will be posted here on Eurodragster.com News on Saturday 1st December. Ideas, reviews or indeed blatant advertisements for Christmas gifts for the racer or race fan in your life can be submitted to [email protected] and all will be included, unless in questionable taste, in order of receipt. Please keep write-ups brief and to the point, and only one picture per E-Mail thank you. Christmas gift ideas arriving after 1st December may not be included on the news page. Leaving aside the question of why anyone should be looking at this time of the off-season, in response to those readers who have asked what our Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is currently showing, the answer is the view out of your News Editor's bedroom window. Both a new webcam and new webcam software are on test and are proving very reliable - the record so far is two and a half days without a hiccup - which bodes well for 2008. The (female) reader who suggested turning the webcam through 180 degrees really does not want to go there. Powerpoint DVD reviews I. 21st November: Powerpoint Communications, purveyors of high-quality drag racing DVDs, have started to release their 2007 titles and have been kind enough to send a set to Eurodragster.com for review. Here are Simon's thoughts on the first pair of DVDs: First up is the 2007 Mopar Euro Nats which was thankfully run under sunny skies back in July. As well as a huge showing of Mopars and other classic American cars, the Street Racers Series were in attendance and even a few Chrysler Neons, some on slicks. Mick Payne's Keith Black-powered Dodge Coronet is featured, repaired following a guardrail swiping incident at the Main Event and sporting his new wheelie bars from Dave Milam, which helped the directional stability and making life for Mick less stressful but quicker, running a 7.86. Tim Holmes co-ordinated the Run What You Brung runners and explained the rules for Stock Appearing Modified and King of Street (limited and unlimited). As well as these, a special class for A-bodies was run. Many of the cars running could be competitive in National Championship drag racing. Regular European visitors The French Connection team are interviewed. Other continental visitors included Clemson Floyd Lourens from Curacao, now resident in Holland who described the drag racing scene on the island, running a B1-engined '68 'Cuda which ran an 8.29 there. Clemson is a friend of regular Super Comp competitor Marck Harteveld from the Netherlands, who was also present with the Voodoo Hemi Road Runner, winning the Unlimited King of Street title. In the Show and Shine, Robert and Stuart Lane's '63 Max Wedge engined Dodge will still run thirteens and was capable of running twelves off the showroom floor. Overall, this meeting is a superb opportunity to see a large turnout of classic American cars. The worthy winner of the Show and Shine was Steven Hughes with a '69 Road Runner. Jason Weir, now with a Procharger on his Plymouth Suburban was in the 9.3s. Fastest runs were Kev Slyfield's 7.46 test pass in his Pro Mod Willys and Ian Bishop's 7.03 in the Dodge Avenger Pro Mod, both on a not fully prepped track. The initial runs of the Sierra of Phil Toppin with the blower setup were also shown. The Honky Tonkin' car of Lee Pike and Jerry Denning is shown prior to its recent visit to the California Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield. The grudge match between Surrey Muscle and Chris Gidder's Taz Racing team, which raises funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Charity, is becoming a tradition of the event. The Fiat 126s of Taz Boss and Taz Buddha are now nine or low ten second runners at over 130 mph. In fact both teams have stepped up and it's great to see how intense yet friendly the competition is between them. The lifestyle aspects of the event are well caught with tunes which are credited at the end. Camera work by David Coleman and Helen Todd is excellent, particularly the top end shots on Sunday, and Paul Venners is the well-informed and frequently humorous presenter and interviewer. This excellent DVD of the Mopar Nats can be bought from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.75 plus £1.50 post and packing, or as a two DVD set with 2007 Hot Rod Drags (see below) for £24.95 plus £1.50 post and packing. The Hot Rod Drags was held under the Indian Summer skies at Shakespeare County Raceway in mid-September. The bright conditions certainly enhance the images from the event. A plus point is this DVD being in 16:9 format, which is superior for drag racing coverage, being essentially a horizontal sport, so to speak. From the shots around the track at the start it was clear that the pre-'69 cut-off was rigorously observed. Included with the general array of hundreds of hot rods, are Outlaw Anglias, the Gasser Circus, Outlaw Flat Four, Flathead Meltdown, the Wild Bunch and the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association. The Outlaw Flat Four are featured for the first time and Bernie Newbury explains how the class fits in with the Hot Rod ethos, with their own distinctively nostalgic approach. The event is over twenty years old and is a great social occasion as well as a car show and drag event. Like all of the lifestyle events, everyone seems to be having a good time and there is a really relaxed atmosphere as cars run down the quarter mile at their own desired frequency. Andy Fadster's nine-second street-legal T made quite an impression. Terry of Pro Street Engineering came out with four cars, two in the nines and two in the tens. Anthony Wilkins was there in the Ground Zero Model A Pickup running low 11s. Muscle cars were represented by Taz Racing and Surrey Muscle and others. Jet car action was provided by Roger Goring with a 6.12/258 in Firestorm. But it was the pre-1950 Hot Rods that made the biggest impression. No fewer than twenty Outlaw Anglias attended in a round of their Championship and were undoubtedly spectacular with Pete Ashworth running a personal best 7.86 and Ray Guy pulling spectacular wheelies on the way to nine second passes. Richard Colby ran his first ever eight in elims and class organiser Paul Wright ran an incredible 7.4 quickest ever pass for the class. One of many outstanding races saw Ian Norman running a 8.98 Personal Best against Rob Stone's 9.16, also a Personal Best. In the Gasser Circus Jay Somerville ran massive wheelies and The Hooligan Chevy Estate and Daz Selwyn in the Pandemonium A/FX were both spectacular with their high riding wheelies. The Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association came loaded for bear with Jim Usher in The Mob and Tony Betts in Venom, both running nitro, Tony running 6.61/198. Sweden's Northrace team with Kenneth Feldhuesen were special guests, Kenneth running an amazing 6.66 in the methanol-fuelled car. Clayton Round ran a creditable 7.20/190 as Frank Bennett had a real handful with the Topolino on their first run, later recording a PB 6.90/200.71. If it's race track atmosphere you want then this DVD of the 2007 Hot Rod Drags has it in spades and it adds a generous dash of Summer to the most bleak of winter evenings. It can be bought from www.quartermilehigh.com or as a two DVD set with the Mopar Euro Nats (see above) for £24.95 plus £1.50 post and packing. Gatehouse in "Lost for words" shock. 21st November: The Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association held its second Dinner and Dance and Prizegiving at the Stourport Manor Hotel last Saturday, writes our good friend Alan Currans of The Acceleration Archive: Contingency cheques from Andy Robinson Race Cars went to Bob Glassup, Clayton Round, Frank Bennett, Joe Bond and the Wratten Brothers. The NFAA 2007 Series winner for the third year in succession was Clayton Round, with Joe Bond and Frank Bennett in second and third places respectively. John Wright won the trophy for low ET of the year for his fantastic 6.335 second run in Chaos, whilst Bob and Kathy Glassup received a trophy for the team's sterling representation of the NFAA at the recent California Hot Rod Reunion. ©Eurodragster.com New for this year was a special trophy to honour the ladies who give such vital support to the teams. This year's worthy recipient was Gill of the Rebel 'T' team, to recognise her efforts in backing up the speedy reversals of Clayton Round. The final award of the evening was also a first - in more ways than one. It was presented by Glenn and Mandy Ramsden of UK Event Safety and was called the Spirit of Fuel Altered Trophy. It went to NFAA founding father NFAA Lawrie Gatehouse as a mark of appreciation for all his hard work in setting up the class and promoting it so successfully. This was greeted by loud applause from the audience and rendered Lawrie speechless - everyone I spoke to said they had never seen such a thing before. The dancing and merriment went on long into the night and a very enjoyable time was had by all. PMR checking out SuMo. 21st November: Representatives of Paul Marston Racing attended the UK Super Modified Racers Association Annual General Meeting at the weekend. Paul Marston writes with his take on the agreed rule changes, which have gone to the UK Tech Committee for ratification: The AGM was a bit of a marathon, but with so many important topics to be discussed it was only right that each competitor had their say and that everyone's view was heard. The meeting very well attended and organised, having a very positive air about it. Along with all the usual items which need attending to at any AGM, one of the items up for debate was proposed class rule changes. It has been some time since such rule changes were considered. Anyone who follows Super Modified, and I know there are many, will know the main points of discussion, which were: how to create a more even field for all competitors, and how to make these changes without resulting in large expenditure for existing competitors and newcomers. Keeping the rules simple and easy to understand. It must be said that a genuine effort was made by the SMRA to make the naturally aspirated, automatic tranmission combination potentially a lot more competitive, which along with addressing a similar issue for automatic nitrous competitors was the crux of the matter. The SMRA were very fair. You will not be able to take your Super Pro/ Super Comp doorslammer, come and race and qualify in the top five of Super Modified at the 2008 Easter Thunderball. But with the new rules proposed for 2008 you can see where picking up a few tenths could put you right in the thick of it. If you want to know more, read about the finer points on Eurodragster.com or check out the Super Modified Racers Association web site at www.supermodified.co.uk. I would like to personally thank Rob Loaring and others for all the hard work which he must have put in to come up with a new set of weight breaks which were, after careful debate, agreed upon unanimously by all current and past teams as the way forward. I would also like to thank everyone who attended, in particular Nick Davies, Graham Ellis, Kev Perkins and Andy Hone who all played their part in sharing experience and knowledge regarding the proposed changes. It now remains for Paul Marston Racing to review the new weight breaks and make a decision whether we will be able to field a Super Modified entry in 2008. Web site updates. 21st November: The official web site of the UK's Heaven & Hell Racing Pro ET team has been updated with your News Editor's personal account, with parenthetical additions by the webmaster, of his drive of Carla Pittau and Rick McCann's nine-second Camaro at the Flame and Thunder Show, as well as news of a new arrival. You can check out both stories by following the News link at www.heavenhellracing.com. ©Eurodragster.com Julian Hunt has launched a photo gallery site at www.julianhunt.net. Julian's site includes pictures from this year's NitrolympX, FIA European Finals and FIA Main Event as well as car shows, rod runs and more and is well worth a look in. If you are already getting twitchy in the off-season you could do a lot worse to visit our partner site EurodragsterNorth.com, which is currently featuring a practice tree. You can run a Sportsman or Pro Tree, but take our advice: be pretty quick unless you like chiding comments. Check it out at www.eurodragsternorth.com. Feature: Primm Valley Sand Drags. 19th November: The latest in our occasional series of Features in association with John Woolfe Racing, and the fourth in a set of reports from his recent trip to the USA, is Roger's report from the recent Fall Nats Sand Drags at the Primm Vallery Resort. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out Roger's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Still to come are Roger's reports from the NHRA Championship Banquet and SEMA Show. Highlander on the market. 19th November: Ian and Paula Marshall have put their Highlander Camaro up for sale. The car started life as a Super Gasser in Paula's hands before it was upgraded to run in Super Modified. "The car was originally built by Hauser Race Cars together with Kev Taylor and I, and was completed in 1996", Ian Marshall told Eurodragster.com. "Paula ran the car in Super Gas with a best finish of third in the UK Championship. We then moved up to Super Modified at the inception of the class and the car has been constantly updated to go faster. The car has run a best of 8.04/173 with a sixty foot in the area of 1.19, although it is to be sold without the engine and transmission. The chassis is currently tagged to 8.50 but it would not take a lot of work to spec it to 7.50. ©Eurodragster.com "It's kind of funny how you can become attached to a big lump of metal and fibreglass. I don't want to sell the car, but short of a lottery win it is the only means to build another car." You can find more details in the Cars For Sale section of our Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts-sponsored Swap Meet. Swift snippets. 19th November: The latest spy picture to arrive at our offices shows a Funny Car body which we are told is patiently awaiting its destiny at the workshop of a well-known UK chassis builder. "Could this be another entry in the 2008 Fuel Funny Car wars?" asks our mole. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. ©Eurodragster.com Karen Wheeler has been in touch to ask us to say a big Happy Birthday for today to Bob Day of Santa Pod Racers Club's start line and safety team. Our pleasure Karen, have a very Happy Birthday Bob. Also celebrating his birthday today is Dutch Pro Modified racer Marc Meihuizen; Dick Koster asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to Marc and we are very pleased to do so, have a great day Marc. Super Pro ET comes to Germany. 18th November: Markus Münch tells us that moves are afoot to introduce the increasingly popular Super Pro ET class into Germany. "Many racers have confirmed their intention to run in this class in 2008, for several reasons" says Markus. "Going full throttle, not being stopped by a class or vehicle index, choosing your own index. Patrick Kaiser of the Hubraumbrothers Dragracing Team is taking the things forward. ©Eurodragster.com "It is not yet confirmed but an Open Challenge is planned at six races in 2008, at Luckau, Wittstock, Turtmann and Drachten. There will be prize fund for the points leaders at the end of the season." A German-language report and pictures of those intending to race in Super Pro ET in 2008 can be found by clicking here. A bit late, but it works! 18th November: UK Rocket Dragster pilot Carolynne Campbell says that there is a Rocket Car version of Sodd's Law which states that the car will go, but not when you want it to: After being defeated by the weather at our last event of the year at Shakespeare County Raceway we went back to Plan A, a tethered firing down at the Farm, which we had hoped to do before going to SCR. That test had fallen foul of a hiccup in getting hold of Nitrous Oxide in time! We tethered the car by means of two gigantic chaIns to a huge old empty storage tank weighing several tons. The chains were so heavy that even when we tensioned the front of the car we couldn't get them off the ground! We decided to simulate the entire start procedure, with me in the car and Fred Thomas on the radio giving the instructions. With everybody standing well clear, the car was energised and the automatic timers and relays started the ignition sequence. From the cockpit, I heard the familiar 'pop' as the pyros lit up. Fred gave them a couple of seconds to get going well and told Carolynne to switch on the pilot N2O. All four rockets came to life, burning very vigorously on the small amount of Nitrous that is introduced to establish a plasma (rocket-length burn) inside all four rockets. Then came the instruction to 'GO'! Four rockets fired up and burned like good 'uns. The video showed the heavy chains popping off the ground and going tight for a little over five seconds before the power started to diminish. I let the car run for seven more seconds to give the structure of the car and the rockets a thorough examination. On inspection, all was absolutely intact. We are pretty sure that the car was producing about five times more power than when it clocked 4.6 at the eighth mile earlier in the year. The car can be set up to produce twice that level of thrust, but until we know just how fast she is, we'll not go there for now! Success at last! The only trouble is...the season is over. We are now trying to put together a private test over the closed season to get some actual performance figures. You can see the test at www.myspace.com/laffingasrocket. Swift snippets. 18th November: The latest spy picture to arrive in our mailbox shows a Volkswagen race car with its race number cunningly concealed. Our mole tells us that the car used to run in VW Sportsman with a 1776 cc engine but will be running in VW Pro in 2008 sporting a 2110cc motor with DLI supercharger (click on picture for large version). If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Sweden's Ulf Ögge has acquired a G2/Buell Pro Stock Bike for the 2008 season. You can find out more on the Öggeracing Team Bike Line web site at www.harleyracing.se. ©Eurodragster.com The National Street Car Challenge AGM, Drivers' Meeting and Trophy Presentation will take place on Saturday 2nd February 2008 at Hacketts York House Hotel in Blackpool, writes Shaun Wilson. "Although the meeting will officially begin at 7:00 pm, folk generally meet in the bar from midday to, er, discuss agenda items, honest!", says Shaun. "All drivers to fulfil the qualifying criteria of two cruises, one show and one race will receive momentoes with trophies for Top Three, Best Newcomer and Class Record, as well as others which will be kept under wraps until the evening. Other entertainment will include free beer and pole dancers. Maybe. Bookings can be made on 01253 351465 with rooms costing just £25 per night. More details at www.hotrodgazette.com. Robin Jackson has been in touch to let us know that the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona, which was attended by a large number of UK visitors, will be broadcast on UK terrestrial and satellite station Channel 5 at 04:10 on Thursday 22nd November. UK Funny Bike racer Tim Blakemore tells us that he has a dyno for sale. The Dynojet 150 has been converted to a 200 with air fuel module and will read up to 750 bhp. Tim says that the dyno can be converted to a 250. The asking price is £4250 and if you are interested you can talk to Tim on 0117 9042216 or on his mobile 07876 165613. 2007 Supercharged Outlaws review. 18th November: Dave McKenzie has been in touch with a review of the 2007 Supercharged Outlaws season: The season started at Shakespeare County Raceway on 19th-20th May with just two cars, Lee Gallimore and Dave 'Fuzzie' McKenzie. Both cars were new and were making shakedown passes, but the Saturday ended in disaster for Dave when a pushrod broke wrecking the valve train and bending an inlet valve. Luckily the valve did not drop and destroy the engine. Lee came out on the Sunday and put in a couple of eight second passes. The second round at SCR's Yanks Weekend in June saw only Fuzzie's altered as Lee was on holiday in the States. Dave put in five passes getting prograssively quicker, lowering his ET to 9.4 seconds and increasing his terminal speed of 155 mph. The third round was at York Dragway and things started to look up with seven cars in attendance. Dave and Lee were joined by Roy Wilding with Hemi Hunter, Des Taylor driving Mark Flavell's Super Pro ET dragster, Brian Gandy with his new altered, Tony Smith (not the Welsh one) with his blown small block Topolino, and Ian Hanson with his immaculate blown Corvette. The Outlaws put on a real good show for the Northern crowd and Lee Gallimore came away with the winners tankard from Steve Murty. ©Eurodragster.com Next up was the Hot Rod Drags at SCR again with seven cars in attendance, Des Taylor being replaced by Frank Griffin and his blown Pop. This meeting proved to be a cracker with some excellent side by side passes. It was decided that this year's overall winner would be a straight one-race shootout between Lee Gallimore and Fuzzie. It turned out to be a one-horse race when Fuzzie lost fire on the burnout and Lee stormed to a personal best of 7.6/181. Fuzzie also set his own personal best on the Saturday with a 8.9/155. On a sad note Brian Gandy totally wrecked his motor. After this meeting Lee attended the Straightliners event at SCR in October but due to weather did not get a run in. Fuzzie took his altered to SCR for the Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up Mark Windridge a run in the car, but on Mark's second pass the engine started to eat itself. Luckily the damage might not be to bad and the car should be out at the start of 2008. Lee took his LA Commercials-sponsored altered to the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod. Lee ran another PB during the afternoon and followed it up with a starming eighth-mile burnout in the dark. A good end to the season for the Supercharged Outlaws. Next year looks to be promising for the Outlaws with Alec Coe and his beautiful blown slingshot joining the fun and with a few more cars in the wings. We could have eight car fields at most events in 2008. To back this up we have secured some series sponsors for 2008: LA Commercials of Kidderminster, BG Services of Birmingham and Roy Wilding Race Cars. We have also secured sponsors for each round of the series with £100 and a trophy for each event. These sponsors include Bill Felstead's Fester Race Cars, Roy Wilding Race Cars, LA Commercials and BG Services. We hope to have the calendar sorted before Christmas with events at Shakespeare County, Santa Pod and York Raceway. If anybody is interested in running with the Outlaws please get in touch with Fuzzie at [email protected]. The more the merrier and there is a little money to be won. See GGR for B&M... 18th November: Suspension gurus Eibach UK are delighted to announce their appointment of Graham Goode Racing (GGR) as UK and European distributor for all B&M Shifter and transmission products. Announced at the 2007 SEMA show in Las Vegas, the move sees GGR taking the exclusive rights on over two hundred product lines for the UK market, with effect from 1st January 2008. The deal also gives them access to a wider European clientele. The decision to appoint a distributor is part of Eibach's clear strategy to re-focus the business emphasis on their core suspension, alignment and wheel-spacer product ranges. "We're delighted to be representing B&M in these markets", enthused GGR's Business Development Manager, Glenn Hardy. "We have been retailing the product for many years now and have been extremely impressed with the quality, ease of fit and standard of engineering. They sit extremely well alongside our existing product portfolio." With B&M already being one of America's leading component brands, and a strong following in Europe, GGR see an evolution of the range as their future priority . "We're keen to build on the current, strong product range", explained Hardy. "Naturally we're keen to research and develop more European fitments and supplement this with dedicated point-of-sale and marketing solutions to support the dealers and inform the end-user." As well as a dedicated area on their web site at www.grahamgoode.com, GGR will also be supporting the product with a carefully co-ordinated advertising and live event programme which will start in the New Year. But for those wondering what the first new product release will be, GGR seem as keen to listen as they are to promote. "Talk to us!" encourages Hardy. "We're actively encouraging dialogue from our dealers – and from drivers. If there's a product opportunity out there that we're not offering, I'll be glad to hear from you!" ©Eurodragster.com ...and PMR for PiranaZ. 18th November: Paul Marston Racing are pleased to announce an alliance with hard-core race wear clothing and apparel manufacturer PiranaZ, who will be a primary sponsor for 2008 and beyond: Throughout the season Paul Marston Racing will showcase PiranaZ race wear and apparel. PMR will also continue their association with Paul Marston's Drag Race Driving School and Passenger Ride Experiences, Drag Race Engineering, CTM Performance and Machine, London Road Tyres, and all their friends who have supported them over the years. PiranaZ is a US company offering much sought after clothing with attitude, a line which is completely unique in drag racing today. PiranaZ currently sponsor NHRA Pro Stock driver Mark Whisnant whom they have backed since 2001 when Mark drove in the NHRA Pro Stock Truck Championship. A lot of PiranaZ' new range of clothing is not drag race specific which is the major secret of their success, it has a hard edge attitude to living life on the e dge, so is appealing to many extreme motorsport. This is PiranaZ' first endeavour into the English market. PiranaZ would like to learn about the UK market and make sponsorship of a drag racing team work for their company. ©Eurodragster.com The company has recently launched a completely new image, wanting to get away from the run of the mill T-Shirts and apparel usually seen at the race track. Their new look is raw and edgy, hard-core race wear for the hard-core drag racing fan. The new look speaks for itself, and fits perfectly with the PMR image. Paul Marston has a long association with the owners of PiranaZ, the Paul Marston four-link dragster being painted in PiranaZ colours and design for example. PiranaZ respected that commitment and started talking about putting something together with PMR at the beginning of the 2007 season. PMR are lucky enough to be able to offer a limited range of PiranaZ clothing and apparel and also their wicked decals. Details will be released soon, in time for Christmas, so if you are looking for a competitively priced, extra special Christmas present which is truly unique, stay tuned to Eurodragster.com for details. Due to the demand for PiranaZ apparel in the States, the next stock shipment is not currently due until March 2008 so don't miss out. It is PMR's goal to see PiranaZ-backed drivers visit the winners circle again in 2008 as they did in 2007. Two of the PMR race cars are candidates for PiranaZ branding, but Paul Marston is tight-lipped which they are or when a decision will be made. PMR had a great 2007 season and the whole team is looking forward to building on that success and hitting the ground running in an aggressive fashion in 2008. Web site updates. 18th November: The European Pro Stock Bike Racers Association has launched a web site at www.epsba.com. "We hope it will used as a medium for information and to progress the class in the future", says the webmaster. "I need more information and photos from the riders and teams to complete the Rider Profiles, and also any news or gossip, items for sale or anything the Pro Stock riders would like added". ©Eurodragster.com Rick Cuthbert of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to invite readers into his YouTube video vault which will feature previews of official SPR productions including the FIM/UEM European Drag Racing Championships which you can view by clicking here. You can also check out action from the 2007 Bug Jam DVD, and from this year's HKS Drag Series DVD, currently in production, the Front Wheel Drive final, the Street Class final, Steve Whittaker's 8.0-second run in his XS Power Mk3 Toyota Supra, and Andy Barnes' 8.4-second run in the Sumo Power Nissan Skyline. Feature: NHRA at Pomona. 16th November: The latest in our occasional series of Features in association with John Woolfe Racing, and the third in a set of reports from his recent trip to the USA, is Roger's report from the recent Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out Roger's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Still to come are Roger's reports from the NHRA Championship Banquet, SEMA Show, and the Sand Drags in Primm. Carter Motorsport press release. 16th November: Although the racing season is over for this year most teams will already be very busy preparing for the 2008 season, and this is certainly true in the Carter Motorsport / Andersen Racing / Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster team. Andy Carter has just attended the Classic Car Show held at the NEC in Birmingham. The enormous show had around one thousans cars on display from 1920s gentleman's carriages to Italian super cars and hundreds of trade stands where you could buy anything from a nut and bolt to a fully restored classic. Over 70,000 people visited the five halls over the course of the three day show. Where better for the team's principal sponsor, Lucas Oil, to showcase their wide range of products. Andy was on hand to assist Les and Stuart from Lucas Oil, answer questions about Lucas Oil products, talk about drag racing and sign posters. Like all the other non-racing events the team have attended this year it was a great opportunity to talk to people without the pressure of a race environment. Coming up is a joint work weekend in Denmark where the UK based crew will join the Andersen Racing team at the workshop to help prepare the race car for next season. There will be a small amount of relaxation time as well and it will also a good for everyone to meet up again outside of a race event and further increase the strong bond which was formed between everyone in 2007. In early December the UK based show car will be completely stripped and cleaned ready for the Autosport International show at the NEC in January which will be the team's first promotional event of 2008 for Lucas Oil and associate sponsors. The team will also be cleaning and tidying the race trailer to maintain the high professional standards they set themselves. Andy and the team are again proud to be part of the impressive Santa Pod display at the NEC and they are looking forward to meeting the public and the many drag racing fans that attend this massive event. The team's web site at www.andycarter.net will be updated in December with a report and pictures from the work weekend. Andy, Karsten and Per Andersen and the team would like to thank their sponsors for their invaluable support in 2007 and they look forward to another successful season in 2008: Lucas Oil, Landmeco, American Auto Club International, Autotel, CAAR, Teng Tools, RCS Cables, Norfolkline, 3T Creative, Rainbow Conference Sets, Sigma Signs, BMRS, Yuasa Batteries, K&N Filters, Crane Cams, Pioneer Print, Binamic, NGK Spark Plugs, Jerry's and US-Autodele. ©Eurodragster.com The spies are out again... 16th November: The latest set of spy pictures to arrive at the Eurodragster.com office show two cars being attended to in a workshop which we have reason to believe is John Sleath Race Cars: Judging by the visible bodywork we think we're maybe looking at Moose Hollingworth's Cortina and Nigel Parkin's Jaguar. If you know more, or if you know different, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Eric Pellegrom writes from Holland with links to pictures which aren't strictly spy shots but which show cars being prepared for 2008. ©Eurodragster.com First up is the '68 Firebird Pro Mod being built for Robert Koper by Vanishing Point Race Cars, which you can check out by clicking here. Next, three guys from Curacao are constructing a Engelage Brothers' Small Block-powered Chevy Beretta Super Comp / Super Gasser; pictures here and here. Finally, two brothers from the Hook of Holland are constructing a '55 Chevy Handiman toting a 1000+ hp clown Big Block Chevy supplied by The Engine Shop in Orlando. You can check out the Handyman by clicking here. Finally for today, Jan Engmann has been in touch to let us know that the very tidy twin-turbo '53 Corvette which we featured on Wednesday is destined for Comp Eliminator and can be seen in all its glory at www.zero-to-nine.de. Editor's note: Only a brief update today as your News Editor had to keep a medical appointment this morning (routine, don't anybody worry). We have a backlog of news which we will post tomorrow, and in the meantime keep those news items coming to [email protected]. Super Modified AGM. 15th November: If you are interested in running in the UK Super Modified class in 2008 then you could do a lot worse than to attend the Super Modified Racers Association Annual General Meeting this Saturday (17th). ©Eurodragster.com "The venue is The Hind Hotel, Wellingborough and the meeting kicks off at 2.00 pm sharp", says SMRA Chair and 2007 Champion Andy Kirk. "Amongst the items up for discussion are next year's Championship dates and a debate on the proposed rule changes. "This is your chance to get the correct information from the horse's mouth, whilst at the same time learning that many of the rumours regularly spread about the class and its rule structures are in fact fictitious. So if you fancy close, heads up doorslammer racing which tests your skills as a tuner or driver please come on down, we don't bite!" Wanted: Big noise. 15th November: Sound Editor Michael Maroussas has been in touch seeking racers' help with an action movie to be released in 2008. "The film is called Doomsday and I am working on the sound effects", says Michael. "I need to get sound recordings of different powerful car engines - we've so far recorded cars as varied as F1 Stock Cars, up to Matthew Wright's Fuel Altered. Although the season is now over, we still need to get a few more recordings of a variety of different cars so I was wondering if anyone would be interested in letting us come and record their vehicle. ©Eurodragster.com "We would prefer to record the vehicle being driven, but if that's not possible then we would just record some high revs. "We are London based but are happy to travel further afield such as Northamptonshire, where we went to do some recording at the Flame and Thunder Show at at Santa Pod." If you would like to help then please call Michael on 07879 622723 or E-Mail [email protected]. Web site updates. 15th November: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon describes his trip to the NHRA Finals at Pomona. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has updated his Nitro Exposure web site with pictures from the California Hot Rod Reunion and AC Delco NHRA Nationals. Forthcoming updates include the Auto Club NHRA Finals and the Primm Valley Resorts National Sand Drag Association Fall Nationals. You can check out Roger's work at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Feature: NHRA in Las Vegas. 14th November: The latest in our occasional series of Features in association with John Woolfe Racing, and the second in a set of reports from his recent trip to the USA, is Roger's report from the recent AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out Roger's report and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Still to come are Roger's reports from the NHRA Finals at Pomona, NHRA Championship Banquet, SEMA Show, and the Sand Drags in Primm - stay tuned. Swift snippets. 14th November: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com comes all the way from Germany. "The twin turbo trend is not passing by our country", says our mole. "This '53 Corvette is nearing completion". If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected] Thanks to our good friend Dawn Mazi-Hovsepian for alerting us to Eurodragster.com's appearance in Phil Burgess' Inside National Dragster Blog on the NHRA web site. You can check it out by scrolling a short way down the Monday 12th November entry at www.nhra.com/2007/dragster.asp. Bill McDermid has been in touch with more information about the Camaro whose spy picture appeared on last Wednesday's news item. "It's Tim Mugridge's old '68 Camaro which my brother Scott bought about three or four years ago", says Bill. "He has spent a small fortune on it - new pump gas 800 hp 540, new trans and axle and wheels to name but a few. It will be finished soon but unfortunately Scott has to sell it. Pity since our two Camaros would have looked awesome on the strip together!" Latest early Christmas ideas. 14th November: If you're already thinking about compiling your Christmas present list then Dirk Behlau has a couple of great ideas. First up is the official DVD of this year's drag race at Turtmann in Switzerland which was directed by Dirk himself and which is now ready for shipping. "The DVD is presented by Zoe Scarlett and features ninety minutes of raw power and action, filmed with four high-definition cameras including towercam", says Dirk. "Other features are a Making Of, interviews with Urs Erbacher, Marcus Hilt and others, burnouts, show runs, a pin-up shoot with Zoe and more!". The DVD comes in at €19.95 and is available at www.turtmann-dvd.com or within Germany at www.thefilthyrats.com. ©Eurodragster.com The eminently pulchritudinous Zoe Scarlett (your News Editor is a big fan - Ed) also has her own full-colour large-sized limited-edition autographed 2008 calendar again produced by Dirk with his photography hat on. "All of the pictures were shot just for this calendar and have not been published anywhere yet", says Dirk. "You will see the attention to details that went into every shot. This calendar offers only first-class material of Zoe, which will light up any room or garage. The calendar is all about Hot Rods and Rock'n'Roll! The pictures were taken at different locations all over Europe and at various Hot Rod Events. For example one picture was taken at 20 Flight Rock in Hamburg, one at a Burger King restaurant, and so on". Zoe's calendar is ready to ship and is available for €19.95 plus shipping at the Filthy Rats on-line store at www.thefilthyrats.com or on Zoe's own web site at www.zoescarlett.com. Editor's note: We will shortly be soliciting contributions for our annual Christmas Gift Mart news item so have your suggestions and blatant advertisements ready to send us when we ask. Any Christmas gift ideas we receive between now and then will be held back for inclusion in that news item. Web site updates. 14th November: Anders Envall has updated his Blackout Full Size Racing web site with part two of his three-part report of his racing trip to England for the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Bostic's highly-entertaining report and pictures via the News or Races links at www.blackout.nu. If you've not checked out part one then we can recommend that, and in fact the whole of Anders' web site. ©Eurodragster.com A fantastic end. 12th November: The Red Mist / LA Commercials drag race team had a fantastic end to their first season in the blown-alcohol altered, says driver Lee Gallimore: We used the season as ot test and to set up the car and driver. We have been very lucky to have put together what seems to be a very strong engine and chassis combination. The engine was built by Bill Todd and shipped in last year, and the chassis is the ex-Ian Hanson 23T altered. Both are working very well and the motor seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Most of the passes have been leaving in second gear as first gear is a bit lively at the minute and the car is hitting hard left, but we should have this sorted with some small set-up changes next season, then we can bring the transbrake into play for some hard launches. We ran a Personal Best in the Supercharged Outlaw final against Dave McKenzie at the Hot Rod Drags. With a slight turn of the timing by Ian Hanson we ran a 7.65/181.59 off a second gear launch. What a ride! ©Eurodragster.com Our first run at the Flame and Thunder Show was against John Everitt in the Alien. I was asleep on the line, John hit the light hard and left us for dead. We dropped the pedal after watching John leave and Red Mist pulled hard for the line and just took the beam with a PB-equalling 7.6/176. Cheers John, great race and I was still laughing on Saturday night. As we went through the line the car got a bit loose before the chute came out, then we blew out a rocker cover gasket and I got sprayed with oil, luckily no oil on track. Not bad for a first run at Santa Pod, a great race. Back to the pits and new joints all OK. The second run was a solo and slightly backed off 8.0. The night run was the best, last out on track - wow, never seen so many people. Just had to put in good burnout, what a buzz, awesome, end to end and side to side in true fuel altered fashion. I've never reversed so far before, almost from the end. My crew Lee said "I ain't running that far unless I can stop for a fag on the way". The run was a hit and pedal all the way up, as track was damp, great for burn outs but not so much for a run. What a great end to a fantastic season. Thanks to Darren Prentice and Santa Pod Raceway for inviting us and for our tickets, we had a ball. Thanks to the Motor Pscho team for the loan of your generator. Sorry about the blow up lads, still I owe you a beer...lights on lights off. Thanks to Lee Birch and to Julie for crewing duties, and to Julie for the tow backs with the slow Golf, and not forgeting Nicole. Finally a big thanks to all the crews at Shakespeare County and Santa Pod - without them we would not be able to do what we do. Swift snippets. 12th November: UK Super Comp racer Brian Pateman of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Florida Land and Property Sales was at the Orlando Street World Finals and spotted a Camaro sporting Eurodragster.com and Nitro FM decals (click on picture for large version). Our thanks and greetings to the racer concerned...why not drop us a line at [email protected] and introduce yourself? ©Eurodragster.com UK Super Gas/Super Street racer Paul Spiers has been in touch about the service he recently received from Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV. "I have purchased another RV, this time a Fleetwood Flair 6.5 turbo diesel", says Paul. "I thought that I would give it the once-over before the winter sets in. My first port of call was Gold RV, namely Gary, Crew Chief of Derek Flynn's Top Methanol Dragster and Derek himself, sponsor of Eurodragster. I gave Gary a shopping and to my amazement Gold RV carried everything in stock and not at silly prices. Gary was very helpful and gave me lots of advice enabling me to winterise my RV safely. To sum it up Gold RV stands for professional service, advice, and quality spares. Always very helpful , the one stop shop for all your RV needs." Magazine update. 12th November: Included in the December issue of Custom Car magazine is Mark Gredzinski's four-page photo report of Santa Pod's amazing FIA European Finals as well as the NSRA's Hot Rod Drags which packed out Shakespeare County Raceway, writes Jerry Cookson. The mag also features the LA Roadsters Father's Day Show and Swap Meet, a unique two-ton Chevy hauler and Dave Sturgess' gold carat 1932 Ford three window Coupe as its centre spread. The latest issue is available now priced £3.50. The ACU's in-house magazine SportMoto carries a report from the FIA/UEM Drag Bike Championships at Santa Pod as well as a "Getting to know you" feature about NAST Supertwin Fuel Champion Wendy Clutterbuck. If you are an ACU member then look out for SportMoto dropping through your letterbox real soon. For nostalgia fans there's a new issue of Vintage Fuel in town. Features include a look at the George Bolthoff Dragster which now resides in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum next to the famous Chizler dragster of the fifties, Rocky Pirrone's Boss Hydro AA/Gas '33 Willys, the return of Larry Reyes' Super Duster Funny Car and an industry profile about Jimmy Shine, a frequent face on the Discovery Channel. Race reports centre on the 1320 Invitational at Arizona Speedworld, Mopar Fun in the West and the Goodguys East from National Trail Raceway. Priced at £4.25 Vintage Fuel is available now along with copies of Drag Racer, Full Throttle News, Gasser Wars, RPM Magazine and Drag Racing Action from American Auto Mags. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 12th November: In association with American Car Imports we have posted the promised Photo Gallery from Saturday's Claim and Blunder Nationals at Brainless Raceway Park, hosted by Bob and Tracy Doyle of the UK's Z Case Super Gas team. It was a tremendous evening which culminated in Rick McCann winning the eliminator on the 1/24-scale strip whilst Bob, Jack Brewster and Stuart Peck traded track records with their rocket cars, the final numbers settling at 0.6 seconds and 92 mph for the fifty five-foot track. Of the three rocket cars only Bob's survived the evening intact, whilst some other cars also went to Valhalla on the top of fireworks. You can check out the Claim and Blunder Nationals gallery by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with a twenty second Readers' Gallery. "There are forty one pictures in all covering everything from Top Fuel Dragster to Competition Altered with doorslammers, a jet, a Formula 1-engined Transit van, lots of Funny Cars and even some US stars thrown in for good measure", says Alan. You can find the latest update at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Dick Bodily has set up a Fotopic gallery including action shots from three of this season's events from Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Dick's very nice pictures at dicksphotos.fotopic.net. 2008 FIA regulations. 10th November: Geoff Martin of the UK Tech Inspection team has been in touch with some advice for racers planning to run in any class covered by FIA rules in 2008: "Take a good look at both the Class and General Regulations", says Geoff. "There is more red type than ever this year and it affects everyone in a big way. There are a few anomalies but they will get sorted out." ©Eurodragster.com You can view the 2008 FIA regulations by clicking here and the SFI specifications by clicking here, or see the FIA web site at www.fia.com. Swift snippets. 10th November: DJ of Santa Pod Raceway has sent this picture confirming the demise of the Barn at Santa Pod Raceway, which was ordered to be removed by the local authority at the start of this year (see story of 14th March and write to someone else if you want to get obnoxious about its content - Ed). The Barn is to be replaced by a wall incorporating storage space for track equipment and Nitro FM's new studio. ©Eurodragster.com From the workshop, from a spy. 9th November: We would hesitate to call today's first pair of pictures "spy pictures" as they have come with the relevant detail from the racer concerned (click on pictures for large versions): Simon Williams, who with dad Paul campaigned the Spirit blown-nitro dragster in the Wild Bunch between 2002 and 2004, tells us that this pretty slingshot is destined for Pro ET and the Wild Bunch in 2008 with a view to stepping up to Super Pro ET in the future. The 150 inch-wheelbase CDS Chassis is built to SFI 7.50 specification and totes a 355 ci Small Block Chevy with Ron's 'Flying Toilet' alcohol fuel injection. An Art Carr two-speed Glide transmits the power through a narrowed eight-inch Ford rear axle. ©Eurodragster.com Next up is a pair of spy pictures which show what your News Editor immediately recognised as a hydrogen peroxide rocket motor: Our mole tells us that the rocket motor has the option of a new chassis or retrofitting to an existing piece, and that it is capable of up to 7,500 lbs of thrust although initial tests will be limited to 5,000 lbs - which is what Sammy Miller's Vanishing Point Rocket FCs were packing. If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. 2007 APIRA Champions. 9th November: The relevant sums having been done, our very own Simon has confirmed the 2007 Avon Park International Racers Association Champions. Congratulations to: Super Modified: Andy Kirk Super Pro ET: Barry Giles Pro ET: Paul Baynton Sportsman ET: John Parker Super Comp: Paul Knight Super Gas: Conrad Stanley Super Street: Bob Lees Junior Dragster: Anna Stanley Street Eliminator: Steve Nash Outlaw Anglia: Pete Ashworth Wild Bunch: Roy Wilding Outlaw Flat Four: Bernard Newbury VW Sportsman: Paul Herbert ©Eurodragster.com Top Fuel Bike: Steve Woollatt Funny Bike: Tim Blakemore Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck Comp Bike: Kev Charman Super Street Bike: Dave Smith 9.50 Bike: Andy Burfitt Supertwin Fuel: Andy Smith Supertwin Gas: Chris Stebbings Supertwin ET: John Hackney Junior Drag Bike: Scott Collier You can see the final APIRA points on our Simpson Race Products-sponsored points standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Fireworks across two generations. 9th November: Eurodragster.com Assistant Pit Reporter Kirstie Tramm writes of a weekend of relaxation, fun and fireworks at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend with UK Super Pro ET and Junior Dragsters John and Billy Everitt, for whom she crews: Saturday was a sunny, crisp and promising start to what seemed like the begining of a fun weekend. There had been a massive thrash to get the Alien ready for the weekend due to some bits being chewed up like sweets on a prior outing! Billy brought his Junior along too, this being his second outing in the dragster since its purchase. Billy has completed his licencing runs already - making it look easy at the BMW Show! The plan was to get the Alien ready and to make a couple of runs, then concentrate on Billy having some fun in front of the large crowd. We had the go ahead for the Alien to join the fun and towed down. On our first run there was massive tyre spin to about sixty feet and John ran a low nine. On our two other runs of the day we were back in the eights. Let's be honest, as usual it was the Alien's own way round the track...I don't think I remember what a straight run is any more! Then we waited and waited for what seemed like an age and were called down to make a pass in the dark. It was what we expected, but we were told it was a little bit of an ice rink out there! Four ice skates later and John remarked about not wanting to bring 478 small pieces of metal home on the trailer or something. It was hazy...I said "You...bring your right foot off the throttle? Sounds impossible" but when we got down there they were clearly not the best conditions. The car had enough water sitting on it to irrigate the Gobi. ©Eurodragster.com Adam Gleadow was to be in the right lane in the Motor Psycho and it was fantastic when they both started up their engines, ready to pull round under the tower. After the not very straight burnouts John and Adam got into stage and hit the throttle...off the throttle...on the throttle...off...on to a very enthusiastic crowd. Not the quickest runs ever, but great fun nonetheless. Time went so quickly on the Saturday that it's going to be interesting trying to time the call-outs for Billy's Junior and the Alien next year. On Sunday the Alien made another run against Adam, which turned out to be a re-run of Saturday night. Adam did a great driving job, one that John is quite proud of! Adam, are you trying to take the Leadfoot title? Billy had a run in front of the huge crowd on Saturday during the day gaining another thirteen second run. On Sunday he had three runs, this time we removed some weight to see what he could do and his was a 12.89...ssshh, please don't say anything because that is a tad too quick. Billy also had his first proper race and won! Was he nervous? Nope! Did he notice that there was less weight on board? Nope! The whole team are so proud of Billy, especially John and so he should be. I know Billy is going to be a fabulous second generation drag racer, he's such a pro and modest with it at only eight years old. He's not bothered in the slightest to be at the end of the track on his own as we drive down to collect him - the helmet, arm restraints and neck brace are off already as he nods while we fuss round him. I'm certain that on his seventeenth birthday he will tell dad "Move over! It's my turn in the Alien!". Here we go with the many thanks. Of course to Crew Chief and engine wizard (tea monster extraordinaire) Chris, Keith, Tony, Jesse, Josh, Billy, Jovie and the rest of the Everitt family. Also to Sam Freeman and family for all the support and help. A big big thank you to all the track crew at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County for all the excellent assistance and hard work over this past year and keeping us all safe. To Adam Gleadow for the entertainment and runs over the weekend too. I've enjoyed every minute of crewing with the Alien guys and I would personally like to say a big thank you to each one of them for allowing me to bring even more panic, chaos and disorder to the pit area than they do. When it all came together... 9th November: After a long season of rain and niggling problems things finally came good for the above-mentioned Adam Gleadow and the Motor Psycho team at the Flame and Thunder Show: We received our block back on Thursday morning after having the bottom end rebuilt and Darren, my Dad, Luke and I set about rebuilding it and getting it back between the chassis rails. By Friday we were ready to fire the motor up - all was well and we were looking forward to the weekend ahead. Saturday morning arrived and a starter motor problem held us back from the first session and a slight oil leak saw us shut off after the burnout in the second session but the burnout sounded promising. In the 6:30 night session Darren Prentice asked John Everitt and I just to do burnouts and a launch as the track was cold and getting damp, but what a launch, it found some traction and pulled the front wheels right up. Shifting into second they stayed up and tripped the sixty foot beams with the rear wheels still clocking a 1.24 - after that it I shut it off, but we were extremely happy with the launch and running at night was an amazing experience with some throttle barks and dry hops with John. When the crew came to get me at the top end there were grins all round and we decided to run in the Run What You Brung on Sunday to see what would happen on a full pass. Sunday dawned and the pits filled up quickly, it was a really busy day at the track. We made it to the start line at around lunchtime and once again paired up against John. At the hit it spun the tyres then turned right and lifted the wheels when I pulled second. I stayed in it until the centre line was getting too close for comfort, lifted and straightened up then nailed it again, weaving all over the lane. Great fun but no good for my ET, only managing a 10.1 but we were all pleased with the car's performance. ©Eurodragster.com This leads us on to the spy picture published two weeks ago. The blown Chevy pictures is sat in Doug Ripley's workshop waiting to go between the rails of Motor Psycho next year. It is a 481-X Rodeck block with Bac-Man billet heads and an 8/71 blower - I'll have more news in the next few weeks. Unfortunately this means that the current injected Big Block has to go, so if anyone wants a freshly rebuilt 489 ci injected alky motor that has serious eight second potential then contact us via the ad in the Swap Meet. After all that we have a few thank yous: the crew for all their hard work on the car all season, allowing me to go out there and have a blast; John Everitt and the whole Alien team for rescuing us with a spare starter motor and being a great match race partner; Sam Freeman for the loan of a generator after ours died; and Darren Prentice for keeping us informed, and generally being one of the most helpful people you could know. Finally if anyone has any pictures or videos from the weekend, especially from the night run, please E-Mail me at [email protected]. Swift snippets. 9th November: Tim Blakemore Racing have just received the first batch of Akrapovic full racing exhaust systems released for the Kawasaki ZZR1400, which are to be used as part of a new project in conjunction with Kawasaki Motors UK. "These beautifully crafted systems weigh a fraction of the standard pipe and will add an impressive twenty ponies out of the box!", says Tim. "Due to an ordering error we have a spare system going begging. If anyone wants one of these little gems, which fit all models, give me a call on 0117 9042216." ©Eurodragster.com UK Pro Mod racer Ray White has asked us to congratulate his daughter Holly and her boyfriend Mark (who will be crewing on the Lethal Z next year) on the birth of his beautiful grandaughter Lily Rose. "As we speak Lily's dragster pushchair - bought from Albert Carter as he has now stepped up to kart racing - is on its way to the paint shop ready for the Dartford Racing Black and Lethal graphics", says Ray. "The Z has taken a back seat at the moment as I can't seem to tear myself away from cuddling Lily". Ray White - Pro Mod racer and softie. We have made a last-minute addition this year's live Event Coverage schedule in association with American Car Imports. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will be broadcasting from tomorrow's (Saturday's) Claim and Blunder Nationals at Brainless Raceway Park, with a photo gallery to be added shortly after the event. We will post a direct Home Page link to the webcam as soon as it is switched on tomorrow. Editor's note: Apologies for another missing news update yesterday. A banking firm who should probably remain anonymous decided to schedule a two-hour meeting right through lunchtime, which is when your News Editor was planning to do the news update. It wouldn't have been so bad had a single word of it been comprehensible or had the sandwiches been edible... Web site updates. 9th November: Sue Whyte of drag racing sponsor Motorshack has updated her Fotopic gallery with shots from the recent NHRA National event at Ls Vegas, at which Urs Erbacher competed in Top Fuel Dragster. You can check out Sue's work, which is to the usual high standard, at suewhyte.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com Also updating a Fotopic gallery is Jamie Dyks whose Flame and Thunder Show pictures you can find at topnitro.fotopic.net. Erbacher, leg II. 7th November: As promised, Andrea Wucher of 2007 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Team Erbacher has forwarded a report of the second leg of Urs Erbacher's US trip, this time from the weekend's NHRA Finals at Pomona: We used the two days before the first qualifying run to stock up on parts and get some tools we missed at Las Vegas. With just one qualifying run on Thursday and Friday we had enough time to do our duties. But as we have often seen in Europe, it does not always help if you have enough time and not enough pressure on the team. On the first run we had a problem with the clutch management system. An air line came off and so the whole run was not ideal. The 4.849 was just enough for number eighteen. On the second run Urs rolled out of stage and again the clutch management was not working properly. That was the reason why he went up in smoke at the hit and had no time for this run. We had beaten ourselves in the last two runs and we had a long team meeting in the evening discussing what we can do about it. Two more qualifying runs on Saturday and our last chance to get into the field at the Pomona race. We improved with a 4.731 but just not enough - we were still outside the field. The bump spot was 4.589. We knew that we could do it and it was in the car, but everything had to work hand in hand to get down the track in a nice and clean run. The last chance was at 4.30 pm. We were in the second pair and just before we ran Mike Strasburg destroyed his engine and a rear tyre trying to qualify. So we were sitting there for quite a long time until the clean up was done. Great, that didn't help to calm us down. Starting procedure as usual and a good start for Urs but then the blower belt came off and the Pomona race came to a sudden end for us. Again it was a mechanical failure which stopped us. ©Eurodragster.com Overall it was a great experience and we made some promising sponsor contacts for next year. When we consider what we learned about Top Fuel racing from Wayne Dupuy and Rick Johnson in the last two weeks it was worth doing. The fans gave us a very warm welcome in Las Vegas and Pomona. The thrill for the team to race with the big guys was a once in a lifetime experience. On Sunday we watched the races and seeing Tony Schumacher winning the NHRA Championship the same way we won our FIA Championship was fun: coming in as number four, with all the if / then / when calculations and the need to win the race was an exact copy of the European Finals. Last season we destroyed quite a few engines. In the US we made nine runs with the same engine, the same crank and only the usual small parts changed. It seems that we have cured our major technical problems. If we can keep that statistic up we will have a much smoother season next year. Part of the team are on their way home, the rest are staying in the USA to take some holiday and prepare for the next season: it is easier to talk to your suppliers in person than on the phone, and it is always nice to visit them from time to time. Next season's plans are not yet fixed. The truck and dragster will stay in the US over the winter and we will decide in the next few weeks if we will start 2008 in the USA or whether we will take the whole operation back to Europe. It all depends on sponsorship deals and the needs of our sponsors, as well as on our personal schedules for next year. As soon as Urs and the team are back in Switzerland we can probably say more about next season. Another spy picture explained... 7th November: If you were tuned in on 29th October you will have seen the spy picture at right. We have heard from UK Wild Bunch racer Sarah Howells that the picture shows the new injection system on husband Darryl's slingshot dragster. "The change from carb to injection on Chemical Reaction was completed by the master of all things injection, Crazy Chris Hartnell, at the Hartnell stable in Bristol", says Sarah. "In fact the injection is the unit Chris used to run on Backdraft before swapping it for a Crower. Under Chris' watchful eye Darryl managed two successful fire ups with awesome header flames and plenty of cheering from the small and exclusive gathering of myself, Claire Hartnell, and Daz Selwyn and girlfriend Sarah who were just in the right place at the right time. ©Eurodragster.com "Major thanks as always go to Chris for all his hard work and craftsmanship, to Claire for being so utterly enthusiastic, to Mark Hartnell for his work in preparing the transbrake installation and also to Fay Fischer of Speedflow for her expertise and assistance. "Stage two of the slingshot's winter makeover is already underway and the DASH Racing team are determined to run down into the very low nines and to be as ready as possible to challenge Team Cunning Plan for the Wild Bunch number one spot in 2008." Rush cries for his bike. 7th November: UK Supertwin racer Ian 'Rush' Carruthers shed a tear or two last weekend as he parted company with his beloved Top Fuel Supertwin, writes Ian Turburville: The bike was sold to French racer Bruno Salesse, who was last seen racing a neat Pro Stock Bike. Bruno races in the French Championship mainly at their nice eighth-mile track at Le Pecherau in the centre of the country. The track looks pretty good and is reminiscent of Drachten. Take a look at their great web site at www.runcapsud.fr and check out the really nice quality race vehicles! I can feel a road trip coming on here! Bruno has enlisted the help of Paul Van Eeten, formerly of Team Van Geffen, to help Pascale and Jean Luc learn the ropes and will soon be shattering the tranquillity of the French countryside with his fabulous bike. Meantime Rush will be getting back to work on his Top Fuel Parallel Twin project. To ease the pain of his loss Rush will be joing the thousands of others who are making the pilgrimage to Las Vegas on 16-18th November to see the best race of the year, the AHDRA finals. The race, along with the California Bike Week Nationals at Pomona this coming weekend, can be followed live on-line as usual at www.ahdra.com/liveupdate.html. There promises to be a massive field of nitro bikes and some very hot action! ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 7th November: Another spy picture has arrived at the offices of Eurodragster.com, this one showing what we are told is an ex-Street Eliminator Camaro nearing the end of a two-year rebuild in the south of England (click on picture for large version). Apart from the car toting a pretty hefty lump we don't have any more information. If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. ©Eurodragster.com Further to last Thursday's news item, Zodiac International BV and its dealer network will also be stocking the official 2007 FIA and FIM/UEM European Championships Review DVD throughout Europe. You can find your local Zodiac dealership at www.zodiac.nl and keep up with the list of DVD distributors at www.powerracing.eu. Congratulations to Marc Smith who blasted his Personal Best with a 13.1-second pass in dad Jerry's Grim Beeper Pro ET Roadrunner at Santa Pod on Sunday. The team think they have located a problem with the carb as Jerry clocked 10.2 on a half pass also on Sunday only for three cords on the new parachute to break. "We would like to thank Darren and the crew at Santa Pod for lettining us run on Saturday and for doing a great job all season, Andy Frost for all his help and advice in the pits, Mark Bailey for the loan of the carb, and anyone else who helped out or gave us encouragement throughout this season", says Marc. Happy Birthday wishes for today to News Editor Tog. We're sure that all our readers will join Roger and Simon in wishing Tog many happy returns - have a great day, buddy. Editor's note: Apologies for the non-appearance of yesterday's news update, which was due to pressure of work in your News Editor's day job. We have a small backlog of news which we will publish on the next update, and please keep the news items coming to [email protected]. Web site updates. 7th November: We have a tranche of Flame and Thunder Show web site updates for you today. First up is Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson who has updated his Fotopic gallery with over three hundred pictures of Saturday's action. You can find Peter's shots at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. Santa Pod Raceway's official web site has been updated with webmaster DJ's report and pictures which are well worth a look at www.santapod.co.uk/e_flame.php. ©Eurodragster.com Tim Gregory has updated his Doorslammers web site with several pictures, not all of doorslammers, at www.doorslammers.co.uk. Finally Paul Lister's Drag Car Anon web site has been updated with several Flame and Thunder Show shots which you can find at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Erbacher wows the US. 5th November: After a successful weekend in Las Vegas Swizerland's Team Erbacher headed to Pomona for the last race of the season. But first, a short review of the Las Vegas race from team member Andrea Wucher: The first qualifying round was not worth mentioning. The dragster went up in smoke immediately. But no worries, we had three more runs to go. Wayne Dupuy and Rick Johnson did a great job in the pits. Wayne was tuning in the car for the next round and Rick was all over the car giving everybody a helping hand. For the first time we were faced with the short American turnaround times. Can we make it for the next call? Time was running and Wayne decided that we would do no warm-up as we just didn't have enough time. Okay we took the risk. The Friday night session is the most important session in Las Vegas, as during the day the air is too bad and the track too hot. We knew we had to make a good run to be in the field. The dragster went straight down the boulevard, header flames high over the wing and Urs clocked 4.594/326. The new Personal Best put us in number twelve spot in the qualifying list. Everybody was surprised or shocked and we were jumping up and down. On the second run on a US race track we just run into the field of the sixteen best drag race cars. Who would have expected that? There were still two qualifying runs to go on Saturday. We had to run the second blower to check it out after the overhaul. The second blower produced even more boost and so we smoked the tyres in the third round at about half track. This time the turnaround time was even shorter but we made it including the warm-up. Our crew was working like hell and everybody showed a lot of respect for them. Before the race we were aware that the Americans paid great attention to the time taken for the start line procedure. We normally take about one minute and fifty seconds before the car is staged, so we just sped up a little and ended at one minute thirty five. The result: We had to wait for our American competitor at the start line until he was ready. On the last run we had a minor technical problem which slowed us down at the top end. We couldn't improve our qualifying time but stayed in the ladder in fifteenth spot. We were in the race on Sunday. That was more than everybody expected. ©Eurodragster.com All our fellow racers from Europe - Micke Kågered, Freddy Fagerström, Lex Joon, Team Schöfer, Markus Hilt and many more - came to our pit and shared a great moment in European drag racing with us. All our friends from Europe were supporting us and it was one of the best moments of the weekend. On Sunday morning we were at the race track at about 07:00 to prepare everything for the first round. Doug Kalitta was qualified number two. One of the fastest man at the tree was challenging Urs. What a great moment to see our dragster at the startline in an NHRA elimination. Doug and Urs' reaction times were more or less identical. The Erbacher dragster launched hard, straight and powerful. The set-up seemed to work and we were looking at a great side-by-side run. At half track Urs smoked the tyres and Doug pulled away to take the first round win. The reason we smoked the tyres was a pressure problem in the air bottle. We were a little bit disappointed, but we soon realised we had no reason to be. We accomplished more than we expected in the first race. Also the American racers showed great respect for the Europeans who just came over the Pond and qualified. We had a lot of fun with the other teams and Urs received a warm welcome from all the other drivers at the driver's presentation on Sunday morning. Also the fans loved the Swiss guys and our T-Shirt sales were skyrocketing for a team no-one had ever heard of before. After the weekend there was a big fan crowd for the Erbacher Team and we were looking forward to a warm welcome in Pomona. On Monday we will send our Pomona report to Eurodragster.com. Spy pictures update. 5th November: Peter Walters has been in touch to claim ownership of the Super Pro ET dragster whose spy picture was featured here on Eurodragster.com on 22nd October (right). Over the last few months J&W Automotive have been working on my 2008 ride, a 225" Super Pro dragster. It started off as a kit chassis from Applied Racing Technology, and is now a state of the art dragster. It is hoped that the car will début at the 2008 Easter Thunderball. I will be driver with dad Richard as Crew Chief, and Lee Johnstone and Tom Watts as crew. We are hoping to have the car completely fabricated by Christmas, then it's a case of taking it apart and painting, polishing, chroming etc before it goes back together. I will come up with a stunning paint job for the car's Top Fuel-style body. Richard Walters and Lee Johnstone of J&W Automotive have now sold on their ex Thriller topolino altered Tom Watts but have still got the motor, transmission and axle which are now in the dragster. The motor is a 383 ci Chevrolet Small Block, with a 6/71 blower sitting on top. It is hoped that the car will run mid to low eights with a minimal tune. We would like to thank our sponsors Gold RV, PWRD, and J&W Automotive. We would also like to thank Applied Racing Technology for the chassis, Good Vibrations and Jegs for a lot of the parts. We will see you all in the Super Pro ET pits in 2008 - I am looking forward to it! You can see construction pictures at www.jwautomotive.co.uk/petedragster.html. ©Eurodragster.com Meanwhile we received some more spy pictures over the weekend (click on any picture for large version): The picture on the left came with a one-sentence E-Mail reading "Outlaw Anglia here we come". The centre and right pictures came with a little more information: "Not every Supercharged Outlaw feels threatened! It has an ex-Lindsay Deuchar Top Methanol Dragster engine, and a spare if it all goes tits-up." If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. A bit more Mister Nine. 5th November: Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog set new Personal Bests for both ET and speed courtesy of Carla Pittau and Rick McCann who offered him the seat of their Heaven & Hell Pro ET Camaro for Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Running in the racer demonstration sessions, Tog recorded bests of 9.7981 seconds and 138.41 mph with sizeable wheelies for good measure. ©Eurodragster.com Tog would like to say a huge Thank You to Carla Pittau and Rick McCann for the offer of the drive and their hard work, to crew-of-the-day Jemma Harrison and Julia Cooper for their support, to Nev and Libby Mottershead for being there and for dinner, to Paul Venners for talking him up, to Jerry and Marc Smith for the race side-by-side time trial, to the start line, top end, safety and Race Control crews for their hard work, and to everyone who offered good wishes and congratulations on the day and since. If you have any pictures of Tog in Heaven & Hell on Saturday then please drop a line to [email protected] so that we can negotiate copies. Swift snippets. 5th November: Congratulations to Julian Webb on a storming 6.90/230 in the Split Second Jet Dragster which the Webb family acquired earlier this year. "I think he's getting the hang of it" observed our Assistant Pit Reporter Kirstie Tramm who was at the Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday. ©Eurodragster.com We would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to our good buddy Sharkman. Hope that you have a good day Shark and just as importantly that you feel OK. Web site updates. 5th November: We have posted a gallery from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Peter's shots, which are presented in association with American Car Imports by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the Flame and Thunder Show - you will have to scroll down to 2007 since we have now posted our initial 2008 coverage schedule. Peter's full gallery will be published on his own web site shortly. ©Eurodragster.com The official web site of the UK's Mad Rs Drag Racing blown-alcohol slingshot dragster has been updated with pictures, video and short Blog entry. Check it out at www.madrsdragracing.co.uk Showtime hold Open House. 2nd November: The UK's Showtime Racing Fuel Funny Car team will be holding open house in their pit at tomorrow's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. "This is a low pressure event for us", says Crew Chief Bob Jarrett. "There seems to be a never-ending amount of questions about how a Fuel car works, so we are doing an open house on Saturday afternoon. Anyone can come by and take a close look at the car, take pictures, ask questions, even look at the run data. ©Eurodragster.com "Time schedule permitting, our first warm-up will be at noon with our first run planned for 1.00 pm." Swift snippets. 2nd November: The latest spy pictures to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com show a slingshot dragster under development in a workshop in deepest Essex. "Notice the early Moon tank, MH Racemasters and a four-port Hiborn injector which has been in the UK since the sixties - we have not been able to trace its history fully", says our mole. "This item may not be used as owner of the dragster has a twin-carb setup. The chassis has just been updated at a well-known chassis builder and is expected to tag at 7.50". If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. ©Eurodragster.com European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Urs Erbacher is racing at the NHRA Finals at Pomona Raceway this weekend on the second leg of his US visit. You can stay in touch with Urs' progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com or on NHRA's web site at www.nhra.com. Ian Turburville tells us that he now has in stock a limited number of Impact Nitro and Champ helmets at discount prices together with Impact sport shoes and Street Sport shoes. "You can see them on my web site at www.turboville.co.uk/turbo-7/classifieds.htm", says Turbo. "The super-cool Nitro helmets are not just popular with dragster and Funny Car drivers but are becoming increasingly popular with Top Fuel Bike teams as the built in respirator stops you getting gassed by nitro on the start line!" SCR Jap Racer outcomes. 2nd November: With points added and bonuses allocated the organisers of Shakespeare County Raceway's Jap Racer series are pleased to announce that this year's category series winners are Steve Guirey in the Unlimited class and Paul Jones in Front Wheel Drive, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. After missing round three in June and sustaining engine damage in round four, SMG Tuning's Steve Guirey clawed back the series lead from MGT Racing's R32 GTR Skyline driven by Dean Buxton to take the overall win on bonus points after setting the class ET and speed records in May with his Subaru Type R14. Although half the day was lost to bad weather, the Front Wheel Drive category was dominated by the TDi-North/Toda Honda Civic Type R of Paul Jones running a day's best of 12.91 to over take CPL Racing's Scott Whitelaw in the title points race. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 2nd November: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon talks about his trip to last weekend's NHRA National event in Las Vegas including his thoughts on Urs Erbacher's weekend and a presentation to John Medlen. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Dawn Mazi has been in touch to let us know that she has updated the Combustion Chamber web site with a report from the recent California Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield, including pictures and a few words about the appearances of Bob Glassup, Jerry Denning and Lee Pike. Check it out at www.maziracing.com. Alec Coe has launched a web site featuring his Shy Talker blown-alcohol slingshot. The site features team run-down, gallery, history, links and more and Alec promises "A load of drivel" on his Blog during the off-season. You can find the Mad Rs Drag Racing web site at www.madrsdragracing.co.uk. Haslett's season. 1st November: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett says that the last couple of months have been strange. "We started the season with a new sponsor our new nitrous controller finished and installed", says Ron. "Round 1 ended on a high with new Personal Bests of 9.86/141.15, and again at round 2 with 9.75/145. "Then it all went wrong on the racing front. Our sponsor, who to this point had not given us a penny, stopped retuning my calls. So at midnight on the Friday of round 3 I spoke to my crew and decided that we would call it a day for this season, go back to our roots and go to a couple of shows. Our first was the Classic Ford Show where we were again taking passengers down the track for Macmillan Cancer Support. We had a great time on Saturday evening as people were throwing parties all over the place to help us raise money. We ended up with over £500. ©Eurodragster.com "Next were a couple of shows at Broadlands in Romsey, which felt really strange as we went fairly empty and not a lot to do other than enjoy ourselves. The last appearance was at a local show organised by Solent Renegades where I took my first trophy - rumour has it that I was up against a VW buggy. We also did all the Portsmouth and Hayling Island cruises, which brings us up to date. "At present the car is having its annual inspection,the gearbox is back with Express Gearboxes, and my nitrous system is back in the capable hands of Trev the Wizard of NOS. We are aiming to be out for round 1 in 2008 with a few mods to the car and nitrous system so fingers crossed. "I'd like to thank my crew and Express Gearboxes for their support and, for their help with our fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support, Oaktree Property Management, Gleeson Wright Security, Adrenaline Race and Performance, Eurodragster.com, buysellcortina.co.uk, Quartermilehigh.com and Classic Ford." Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up review. 1st November: With the curtain finally coming down on another successful season at Shakespeare County Raceway, Public Track Day racers Mick Rogers, Chris Impey and Mick East took home the Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up trophies home as the weekend's quickest and fastest drivers in the Motorshack-supported Street Car categories for four, six and eight cylinders, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. Always a strong contender in any four cylinder category, Wolverhampton's 'Mad Mick' Rogers was on top form carding a best of 11.377/124.21 with his black 1600 cc Cosworth powered Cortina. Not quite on the same pace but nevertheless the second quickest four cylinder street car on the property was David Reed's 1400 cc Renault 5 Turbo (12.287/114.98) followed by Gareth Wilson's two litre Pulsar GTI-R with times of 12.824/106.88. With a multitude of six cylinder cars on hand the category win went to Chris Impey's 1300cc Rotary Mazda RX7. Now sporting a ported HKS T51 turbo Impey's Mazda went well under his previous Personal Best of 9.9 to finish off the day with a 9.690/144. 79. Taking the V8 category was Mick East's potent supercharged 350 ci Chevy powered Camaro locking down a best time of 9.851/139.04. In the Bike category Ray Shortland blasted his Suzuki to a 9.810/143.83 which was closely hounded by the wheel standing antics of Rick Brett's 750cc H2 Kawasaki. Saturday was also a season-ending last thrash for some of the National Championship racers. Super Pro ET's Rick Cooke took his 498 ci Mopar powered dragster to two consecutive 8.1s while Sportsman racers Geoff Cowley and Ian Jackson squared off a couple of times resulting in a 15.1 for Geoff and a 13.9 to Ian. Gloucester's Mats Andersson was testing the ex-Clifton Brothers big block Opel with new ECU settings to a new Personal Best of 10.41. On the bike front Lee Baxter rode his 1200cc Kawasaki ZX12R to a perfect 9.500 while making his first test laps in NAST Top Gas was the new 1000cc Honda V Twin of Birmingham's Robbie Dobbie with times of 14.10/88. Harrison Brown took the Best Burnout Award for his almighty whiteout of the startline on Sunday afternoon in the family-owned Thatadoo Chevy Camaro. In addition to those web sites already mentioned on this week's news updates a selection of Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up photographs can be found on the Eclipse Photos web site at www.eclipsephotos.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 1st November: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came only with the words "A threat to the Supercharged Outlaws". If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy pictures, then drop us a line at [email protected]. European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Urs Erbacher opens his account at Pomona Raceway today (Thursday) on the second leg of his US visit. You can stay in touch with Urs' progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com or on NHRA's web site at www.nhra.com. ©Eurodragster.com UK Super Modified racer Paul Mander has asked us to say a big Thank You to Cliff Bagg, Mick Slocombe and Daryl Bagg for keeping his Plymouth Arrow reliable and consistent through the season and for taking the money round at the UK National Finals with a Personal Best 7.851/177.88. "A very big thank you also to Clive Bond of Ultimate Race Cars for building the bulletproof big block Mopar and for all the financial support", adds Paul. Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars have released their first newsletter, which features Flaming River products. "The lucky winner of a Flaming River T-shirt is Pete (Flynn the milkman) Hewitt", says Bob Roberts. "Any Eurodragster readers who want to receive the next issue and enter the draw for next month's prize can subscribe via our home page at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk. Anyone who believes they have subscribed but did not receive a newsletter please E-Mail me at [email protected]." UK Pro Mod racer Ray White has been in touch to ask if anyone has a hotel room which they no longer need for the night of the UK National Championships Dinner Dance on Saturday 2nd February. If you can help then please get in touch with Ray on his mobile at 07850 200260. With another two months of 2007 yet to go, and even though things are now beginning to quieten down, Eurodragster.com has already exceeded its total visitor, page view and hit statistics for the whole of 2006. Thanks to all of you for coming back, to the racers for giving us material, to the clubs, tracks, race officials and promoters for their support, and to all of our sponsors for their backing. Earlier news