A good year gets better. 31st December: It has been a good year for UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh as not only did he repeat his fourth place in the Championship but he also managed to achieve a personal ET goal: I am very proud of the fourth place in what is now a National Championship, considering the competition. Looking at the list of competitors in the Championship table, I would not have dreamed of being up near the top a few years ago. The 8.47 was special as breaking the 8.50 barrier was a personal goal I had set myself at the end of last season. The car has been updated at Webster Race Engineering and is now tagged to 7.50. Towards the end of the season I had a few fellow racers and spectators say how well I managed at the track on my own. This is far from the truth as there are many who help my racing programme. Jon Webster has supported me with advice and technical back up ever since I started racing and I'm sure I would not be where I am today without him and his team at WRE. Dave Rowe of Electronic Performance Systems has also helped with EFI and datalogging support - after nearly every run he meets me back at my pit and analyses my run data and makes mapping changes if required. Jonny Mac helps out with between meeting maintenance and at the track when he is not working for the Pod. Laurie Bamford also helps out when time allows him to get away from his Crew Chief duties on one of Rune Fjeld's Top Fuel Dragsters. Ian Hook and the whole FB Racing team not only helped out on the start line but also fed and watered me at most meetings this season. There are many more who have helped during the year and may not have thought they had done much, but every little helps. What makes this all even better is knowing that with the increased support from Webster Race Engineering and Power Pour next season (announced on Eurodragster.com) can only bring even better results. Rovers reunited. 31st December: The first ever Rover V8 Championship race was held no less than twenty five years ago, at Santa Pod Raceway's 1986 Labour Day Nationals. Although this historic meeting failed to reach a conclusion the first round proper was held at North Weald, one of the National Drag Racing Club's many on-tour meets where Tim Hines took the win in the 100+ Wheels Ford Escort MK1 against the TR7 of Neil Hall. To help celebrate this twenty five-year milestone in drag racing history a special Rover racers' reunion meet is to be held at Shakespeare County Raceway's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals in June, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. In its heyday the Rover V8 Championship, backed by John Woolfe Racing, Real Steel and Custom Car and Street Machine magazines, produced a lot of quick cars and celebrity names in British drag racing such as Steve Green, Paula Atkin and Kev Jenkins to name but a few. "The idea came about after much talk and banter from some of the class stalwarts on the excellent UK Drag Racing Nostalgia and Rods'n'Sods forums", says 'Flying Phil' Herrick, organiser and former Rover V8 Championship racer of Muscle Sprout Austin Sprite and Super B MGB fame. We aim to reunite as many former racers - with cars if possible - to present a display in the event's main marquee. We know that there are still a few of the original Rover V8 cars out there and we would love to see some kind of match race taking place at the Nostalgia Nationals. "We have already been in contact with JWR and Real Steel to seek support, and interest at this early stage is very encouraging indeed with offers of support and ideas coming in already." Having rekindled his enthusiasm for the sport following visits to both Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Phil is very keen to make the Rovers' Reunion an annual event. If you were one of those original racers or if you still have a car or any Rover V8 racing memorabilia which you would like to exhibit then please get in touch with Phil at [email protected]. Incidentally one of Phil's earlier race cars, Vicious Trait, is still in existence and in the ownership of Simon Day of APIRA's Tech Crew. Swift snippets. 31st December: We were very pleased to hear from multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion, European record holder and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck that he will be continuing to race in 2011. Becky had put his bike up for sale but as soon as he announced his intentions his team and sponsors started to talk him out of it. Good work guys! You can read more on Dave's Blog, which is presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "I've been playing silly Bs". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then please drop us a line at [email protected]. We have a couple of birthday notices today. First up is a Happy Birthday for yesterday (Thursday) to Junior Dragster dad Pete Kellett. Hope you had a good day Pete. Next up is Happy 20th Birthday for today to Sean Bowe. Have a great day Sean. Thanks to everyone who has entered our give-away of five pairs of Autosport International tickets. Entry closes at 23:59 UK time tonight so there is still time to get your details to us. For more information on the give-away check out the Christmas Eve news update. Could the person who is trying to organise a vote for one of the SPRC Best Appearing Bike candidates please cut it out. We have made it clear that we can easily identify organised votes, we have identified this one, and we have made it clear what the ultimate sanction could be. First and last warning. Broken block? 31st December: US Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car racer Terry Haddock, the 2008 IHRA Funny Car Champion who has worked with several British tuners and racers over the years, has bought the block repair business of Mike Kopichick Sr who trades under the name of Rage Racing. Mike still operates the fuel pump business Rage Fuel Systems and has moved shop down to North Carolina (+1 843 623 3500) whilst Terry now trades under the name Lone Star Aluminum Block Repair. Lone Star offers many services including block repair, anything from welding to CNC machine finishing. They can also offer used or new TFX and Brad Anderson blocks, cranks, pistons and Clevite Rings and bearings all at competitive prices to race teams on either side of the Atlantic with Terry having a hands-on approach to the complete service. Lone Star can be initially contacted via their web site www.brokenblocks.com or E-Mail [email protected]. Web site updates. 31st December: In the second of today's exclusive Racer Blogs presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing Top Methanol FC team answers a reader's question about the rôle of sponsorship in a race team. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: As this is the last news update of the year Tog, Simon, Roger, Kirstie and Ed would like to wish our readers a very happy and prosperous 2011 and to thank everyone for their support in 2010. We'll be back on Sunday with the next Perpetual Awards vote and the winners of the Autosport ticket give-away, and please keep those news items coming to [email protected]. SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 3. 29th December: Santa Pod Racers Club, Obsession Motorsports and Eurodragster.com are teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the SPRC Perpetual Awards and Obsession Motorsports Sportsman of the Year, which will be presented at the joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy presentation on Saturday 5th February 2011. For several of the 2010 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committees and Obsession Motorsports decide upon their winners. This week's category is SPRC Best Appearing Bike. The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows. You can see larger pictures on the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Martin Bishop Pro Stock Bike Vote for Martin Bishop Dave Holland Super Street Bike Vote for Dave Holland Shawn Rodman Supertwin Fuel Vote for Shawn Rodman Wayne Saunders Super Street Bike Vote for Wayne Saunders Steve Venables Super Street Bike Vote for Steve Venables To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. ©Eurodragster.com The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which votes are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Raceway's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club official Carole Ismail. Again see the official web page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail. For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. And every year we say this, but every year someone tries it on: please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. Concerted attempts at vote-rigging will result in the nominee being removed from the shortlist. We know all the dodges so it's just not worth trying. We are very pleased to announce that Avon Park International Racing Association have again asked us to host the vote for their Perpetual Awards. We will announce the first APIRA Perpetual Award shortlist very soon. LA, VP back Spiers. 29th December: Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts and VP Fuels UK is proud to announce support of Paul Spiers' Super Comp '69 Camaro for the 2011 season. Lee will be supplying Paul with VP Racing Fuel Q16, a top-quality fuel with a 5% oxygen content which increases power and gives better consistency. LA Racing Parts will also supplying quality race parts to maintain Paul's car during the 2011 season. Paul will be displaying the VP Fuels and LA Racing Parts decals on his car. "If any racer or racer to-be would like information on the services I can provide from a customer perspective, then Paul would be happy to answer questions at the track", says Lee. "I have known Lee for a number of years now, and I have always found him to be very helpful in sourcing parts and very competitive on price and also providing a quick delivery service", says Paul. "I am looking forward to building on our working relationship during the coming months. LA Racing Parts will be supplying all of the parts to upgrade the car to make it competitive in Super Mod over the course of the year." "Paul has been very active on the promotional side of his race team and pushing the sport as a whole", adds Lee. "I am really looking forward to working with him." You can find out more about LA Racing Parts and VP Racing Fuels at www.laracingparts.com or by calling 01803 554308 (outside the UK +1803 554308). Swift snippets. 29th December: Also proud to announce a new sponsor is UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Roy Wilding whose Chariot of Fire team now have the support of Nigel Jenkins of UK Blowers. "Sponsorship came in the form of a complete overhaul of the 12-71 Littlefield blower plus parts and repolish (below left)", says Roy. The UK's F&A Racing Top Fuel Dragster team have had a visit from Santa (above right) and say that they are ready but not yet fully-financed for 2011. "We are working tirelessly to win the support to race the full 2011 season", says Team PR Neil Williams. "If anyone is interested in sponsoring this beautiful Top Fuel Dragster, no matter what budget, please get in contact via www.faracing.com or www.millionpixelracing.com. More information and announcements will come in the New Year." Eurodragster.com sponsor TPM Trailer invite readers to visit their stand E320 in Hall 9 at Autosport International at Birmingham's NEC on 13th-16th January "We are now building trailers up to 9.5 metres (31 feet) in length, complete with living area and to a high standard", says Jörgen Kalmerfjord. "The image is a 9.5-metre trailer made for a Swedish motocross team. The trailer has 3.5 metres cargo space and 6 metres living area, luxuriously equipped with a toilet and shower, air conditioning and heating, stove, leather sofas, floor heating etc". You can find out more at www.tpmtrailer.eu or take up their invitation to visit at Autosport International. Geoff Martin, who heads up the UK Tech Crew, asked us to wish a Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to his wife Pauline Martin. "On Christmas Eve 1960 we took our vows: she a lovely young country girl, me a young soldier come to whisk her away to a new life", says Geoff. "Never any regrets". We're sure that all of our readers will join us in sending their congratulations to Geoff and Pauline. The next news update is scheduled for Friday (31st) so we will send Herb and Kim Andrews' love and congratulations today to their son William Andrews (right) who is celebrating eighteenth birthday tomorrow (Thursday). "Will really enjoys being at the track, taking pictures and crewing on Norm Wheeldon's Two Much twin-engine Nostalgia Dragster", says Herb. "Will is looking forward to the 2011 season. Happy Birthday wishes also come from Will's brother Cory". Have a great day Will. Gittli Koller asked us to wish a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Tuesday) to her friend Kirsten Krause. Gittli told us about it in plenty of time but unfortunately there was no news update yesterday so a belated birthday greeting, nevertheless we hope you had a great day Kirsten. Thanks to everyone who has entered our give-away of five pairs of Autosport International tickets. Entry closes at 23:59 UK time on Friday so there is still time to get your details to us. For more information on the give-away check out the Christmas Eve news update. ARF extend range, support. 29th December: Following on from their successful 2010 season as a contingency sponsor of UK Pro ET, American Racing Fuels are adding another new product, methanol, to their UK market range writes Paul Marston: American Racing Fuels methanol, unlike other brands, will come with Top Oil already added. ARF feel this is an essential ingredient for which your engine will thank you with longer service and better performance. Top Oil is the lubricant which keeps your valves and bores lubricated and helps prevent premature wear in these areas, and rust which is always a criticism of using alcohol. With other manufacturers and suppliers you have to buy your Top Oil separately and mix yourself, but with ARF it comes as standard in all their products. It's much like the lubricants added to their premium quality racing gasoline, which again sets it apart from ARF's competitors. ARF's customers know that they enjoy using a racing gasoline which is perfectly safe to leave in your fuel system over the whole of the winter with no detrimental effect whatsoever. No milky deposits, no rust build-up, water absorption, either in the motor or in your electric fuel pump and system. Everything is ready to go right away as soon as you are come spring. All this at unbeatable low prices. American Racing Fuels would like to thank all their loyal customers who enjoyed using their product over the 2010 season. They would also like to recognise the success again achieved by Paul Marston Racing by regaining their UK National Super Comp Championship title and the Santa Pod Racers Club Super Comp Championship, exclusively using American Racing Fuels Premium Gasoline. Paul Marston Racing are again during happy to deliver any pre-ordered ARF Premium Racing Gasoline to the race track in 2011 and will provide the same service for ARF Methanol. By prior arrangement orders can also be collected from Drag Race Engineering. Please call Paul on 07831 650230 or E-Mail [email protected]. A meeting of minds. 29th December: UK Super Pro ET racer Chris Orthodoxou got in touch to tell us about the best two hours he has ever had with his clothes on. We'll let Chris take up the "Long story": A Tennessee girl with whom I work in Kazakhstan is the niece of an old-time 1970s Top Fuel racer named Andy Spada. Dunno if you've heard of him (Yes - Ed). She does a bit of Run What You Brung in a 1984 'Vette and was telling Andy about my racing in England, that I'd be going to a meeting at Bradenton, and also to Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing during my holiday there. Her uncle suggested that he contact Don and arrange for me to meet him, as they are still good friends. I didn't think much more of it. Anyway, on arrival at the museum, we asked the reception lady if Don was on-site that day as I'd be honoured to shake his hand. She said no, as he was doing some business at home. I thought "Oh well, I won't get to meet him after all". Later, after drooling through the exhibit halls, we were in the shop at the front of his museum looking at T-Shirts when suddenly there was a commotion and Big Daddy himself came storming through from his office out back and called out laughing to me "Hey, are you Chris from England who I'm supposed to be meeting?" much to the stunned, amazed gasps, smiles and cheers from other people in the place! His receptionist had actually called him at home to let him know I was there. He knew all about me and was expecting me, so came back to the office! I was stunned into silence and for one of the very rare occasions in my life lost for words as he shook my hand. Don took Angella and I around his own private workshops and garages out back, showing us stuff that visitors would normally never see. I saw the new 2009 Super Stock Challenger which Chrysler had given (!) him to campaign on their behalf. Also various historic Front Engined Dragsters under restoration - stuff I remember seeing pics of in 1970s Hot Rod magazines - his own private 1940s Ford Rat Rod with a 556-inch motor which he was building as a daily driver, and other ultra-rare stuff. He still has all the enthusiasm as I imagine he had when he first started out. We chewed the fat as though we'd been best mates for years on cars, stories from Don's racing days, and life in general, while he laid down the law and lectured us on the world and how it should be - Garlits-style etc etc. Web site updates. 29th December: Avon Park International Racing Association's Facebook page has been updated with galleries of past APIRA events 1991-1993 and the construction of of Avon Park Raceway 1989-1990. At this time of year our good buddy Alan Currans tries to shake race fans out of their post-Christmas hangovers by updating his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures taken from public areas at Santa Pod Raceway throughout the year. This year is no exception and despite illness (Get well soon Alan - Ed) Alan has posted two galleries containing a total of 62 images. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New? link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Christmas Give-Away: Autosport tickets. 24th December: Eurodragster.com has teamed up with the organisers of Autosport International, which takes place at Birmingham's NEC on 13th-16th January 2011, to offer Eurodragster.com readers five pairs of tickets to the show's public days, Saturday and Sunday, whichever day you would prefer to attend. In the spirit of Christmas we have decided to make this a give-away, so all you need to do is to send us your name, address and a telephone number (see below for entry details). As well as Santa Pod Raceway's annual display, the Allard Chrysler Dragster, Eurodragster.com Blogger Andy Frost's street-legal Pro Mod and more, Autosport International will kick off the 2011 motorsport season with a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the exciting and glamorous world of motorsport. An astounding collection of features, incorporating cars from Formula One to grass roots racing, will give show visitors an insight into this exhilarating industry. Interactive elements, such as the latest in race simulator technology and the Caterham Driving Experience, will provide a hands-on taster for show goers, while the Fifth Gear Live Action Arena is set to be a spectacle of daring stunts and extreme wheel-to-wheel racing. A host of motorsport stars, including legendary commentator Murray Walker and BBC F1 presenters Martin Brundle and Jake Humphrey will make appearances on the Autosport Stage. Also confirmed for Autosport International 2011 are multiple 24 Hour of Le Mans winners Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, F1 test driver Gary Paffett, as well as touring car aces Andy Priaulx and Rob Huff, plus many more! As well as the Autosport Stage, guests of the show will also feature in the Fifth Gear Live Action Arena, which is hosted throughout the weekend by 2010 British Touring Car Champion and Fifth Gear TV presenter Jason Plato, alongside motoring personality Tiff Needell. The Fifth Gear Live Action Arena will be packed with daredevil stunts and high-octane action from a variety of series and disciplines, including rally, Autograss, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars, European and British Rallycross, and National Hot Rods. Among the incredible cars on display will be the iconic McLaren MP4/4, driven by racing hero Ayrton Senna to F1 World Championship victory in 1988. The MP 4/4, the most successful car in F1 history, headlines a stunning McLaren Racing feature that also includes the much-anticipated new road car, the MP4-12C. Showgoers will also get the chance to experience the thrill of the action for themselves at the Caterham Driving Experience, where professional drivers will weave, power slide and doughnut their way through a specially constructed drift course. Meanwhile, performance lovers will get the chance to get close to some of the most desired road and track day cars in PistonHeads: The Performance Car Show. Among the fantastic cars on display will be the 2011 Nissan GT-R, which will make its UK debut at the show. How to enter To be in with a chance of winning one of the five pairs of Autosport International tickets, simply E-Mail [email protected] with the following details: Your name Your address A phone number on which you can be contacted if necessary As we said, it's Christmas so this is a give-away - you don't even have to answer a question! Entry closes at 23:59 UK time next Friday, 31st December. Five winners will then be chosen at random from all entries received and announced here on Eurodragster.com over the weekend 1st-2nd January. The usual Eurodragster.com Contest rules apply, i.e. one entry per E-Mail address, winners will have to make their own travel arrangements to the NEC, no cash alternative is on offer, and entries sent to the wrong E-Mail address will not be counted. If you don't win then tickets are on sale for the public show: adult tickets cost £30 per day, with children's tickets priced at £19.50 (children under five years of age go free). For more information or to book tickets, please visit www.autosportinternational.com or call 0844 581 1420. Allard Chrysler at Autosport. 24th December: Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler will be appearing at Autosport International held at Birmingham's NEC on 13th-16th January. 2011 marks the car's fifieth birthday and the show is the start of a year of celebrations. Handling the unveiling will be Sydney's son Alan Allard who drove the car the last time it raced back in 1964. The unveiling will take place on Thursday morning; timing to be announced shortly. Hosting the car, the engine and the unveiling is the Aurora Bearing Company stand number 8330 in one of the main display areas, Hall 8. This company manufactures the world's widest range of rod end and spherical bearings, supplying products to manufacturers of lawn equipment right through to jet fighters. Since Aurora started nearly forty years ago, motorsports has been one of their most important markets - all areas of motor sport including drag racing. ora, said "We are pleased to help honour a true motorsports pioneer by hosting the car and the new engine on our stand. Sydney Allard was certainly a man of many talents and much foresight. To be involved, and excel in, Hill Climbing, Trials, Endurance Racing, and drag racing would be unusual today. Fifty years ago it was unique and it takes a special person to cross over the boundaries that the establishment in any field tends to put up. "In motorsports, to embrace and promote drag racing in the UK during the early 1960s, when it was barely into its adolescence in North America, took perseverance and strength of character. It's not enough to be the first to do something; to be a pioneer you have to do it, and keep doing it until others see the worth in what you are doing. By that definition, with this car, Sydney Allard was the foremost pioneer of British drag racing." It was Allard Chrysler Action Group supporter Andy Robinson who brought Aurora and the ACAG together. John said, "Aurora Bearing is a proud to supply product to Andy Robinson Race Cars, a top builder of race cars, not just in the UK but worldwide. Andy is also a Championship-winning driver, and has helped Aurora with product development and testing. So it is fitting that we host the machine that laid down the foundations for Andy Robinson and others to build and drive world class race cars in the UK today." ACAG Chair Brian Taylor said "We are very excited that Aurora have allocated space on their stand this year to highlight Sydney's Allard Chrysler dragster and we are truly thankful. We started the restoration project back in 2008 and have been looking forward to celebrating the car's fiftieth birthday. This is a great way to start the party as well as introduce what we are doing to other companies and enthusiasts who might want to be a part of the project - because there's still lots to do on the chassis and transmission". Three ACAG members will be on duty each day of the show and they will include pioneers of the sport in the UK. Attending are Brian Taylor, Stuart Bradbury, Bob Roberts, and Paul Whitehouse. ACAG is still looking for volunteers to help with the stand on Saturday and Sunday. Contact [email protected] or call 01395 579733. Swift snippets. 24th December: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch to let us know that the two Junior Drag Bike rounds at Santa Pod Raceway in 2011 will be at Big Bang on 6th-8th May, as previously advised, and at the VP Racing Fuels National Finals on 24th-25th September not the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "Outlaw. Twin-turbo. Street-legal. And coming soon". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. David Lloyd-Jones writes from a snowbound Santa Pod Raceway to send sincere wishes for a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to racers, fans, sponsors, media partners (including Eurodragster.com) and of course to all their hard working marshals and staff. "Santa Pod could not operate or be what it is today without the enthusaism and dedication of all of you", says David. "Therefore enjoy the festive period and we look forward to seeing you on the first Run What Ya Brung on 16th January 2011 - don't forget your shovels!" The UK's Rampage Super Pro ET team will be fielding two cars in 2011. Dave Ward will continue to drive the dragster whilst rookie Dave King will race the well-known Funny Car. "Dave is pleased that Dave has joined the team and wishes him all the best for the following season as Team Rampage compete on two levels", says Jon Ward. You can stay in touch with the Rampage team on their web site at www.rampagefunnycar.co.uk. If the off-season is getting too much for you then our good buddy Maikel Gloudemans, in the spirit of TV repeats at Christmas, will be re-running his live web broadcasts from the 2010 season at Drachten Airfield. Broadcasts commence today (Friday) and you will be able to tune in at www.doyousee.me/re-live. PMR plan for 2011. 24th December: Off-season progress at Paul Marston Racing has been slowed by the inclement weather currently being experienced in the UK. "It's a little frustrating but nothing new really, every year there is something and this year it's the weather", says Paul Marston. "A new season brings new challenges, 2011 will bring its share. Most exciting is defence of our Super Comp National Championship title, it was hard fought and paid for as a team effort. The crew at Paul Marston Racing are some of the best out there and they proved it once again in 2010. "The challenge of continuing to improve the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School is always a task which no one at PMR takes lightly. The School have improved our techniques and skills to make this UK school, based at Santa Pod in England, as good as any Drag Race School on the planet. Our results and successes speak for themselves: we train Champions. Anyone who needs any details or wishes to discuss their ideas then please contact us on [email protected] or call me on 07831 650230. "With the Paul Marston Racing driver line-up still to be finalised for the 2011 UK National Championship season there are seats still available at National events in Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Super Pro ET and Pro ET. If you are interested in competing at National event level with a team who can provide you with all you need to win, then now is the time to contact PMR and discuss your options. We are ready - are you?" Drag Racing Unplugged XII. 24th December: As has become traditional on our last pre-Christmas update, we have posted a page of the best quotes from this season's Eurodragster.com Event Coverage including Tog's, Simon's, Roger's, Kirstie's, Ed's and Christer's personal Quotes of the Year, together with other one-liners we didn't publish at the time. In association with our outgoing Event Coverage sponsor American Car Imports we are pleased to present Drag Racing Unplugged XII, the 2010 collection. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to view Drag Racing Unplugged XII, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Enjoy! 2010 Champions' Champions. 24th December: Honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers and Simon have again been hard at work to compile lists of European and UK Champions' Champions. The Champions' Champions tables show the all-time highest points earners since the FIA and FIM/UEM European Championships began in 1996 and 1992 respectively, and the UK National Championships began in 1999. On the European Championships front, Michael Malmgren remains the all-time highest points earner in the FIA European Championships but Roel Koedam has taken over from Roger Pettersson as the all-time highest points earner in the UEM European Drag Bike Championships. In all-time FIA Championship points, Michael Malmgren passed 5000 career points whilst Peter Schöfer passed 4000, Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher passed 3500 and Anita Mäkelä passed 2000. Urs Erbacher has taken over sixth placing from Ulf Leanders, and Rob Turner has overtaken Niclas Andersson for eighth. Jonas Hall (Pro Modified) became the two hundredth racer to take part in FIA competition when completing his first qualifying run at Mantorp Park in July. In FIA Top Fuel Dragster, Anita Mäkelä passed 1500 points and Urs Erbacher passed 1000. Anita has moved up from sixth to fourth in the TF standings, overtaking Lex Joon and Tommy Möller. Urs has moved up from twelfth to eighth, overtaking Thomas Nataas, Kim Reymond and Jens Nybo. Peter Schöfer passed 4000 points in FIA Top Methanol Dragster whilst Krister Johansson passed 1500. Krister has moved up from sixth to fourth in the TMD standings, overtaking Peter Beck and Jarmo Roivas. Paul Ingar Udtian has moved up from eleventh to ninth, overtaking Eero Kilpelainen and Manty Bugeja. Jarmo Kuutniemi has overtaken Niclas Andersson for ninth place in the FIA Top Methanol Funny Car standings. Michael Malmgren passed 5000 points in FIA Pro Stock whilst Jimmy Ålund is one point short of 3000 career points. In FIA Pro Modified both Micke Gullqvist and Urban Johansson passed 1500 points and both Micke Lindahl and Roger Johansson passed 1000 points. Marko Lantto has overtaken Norbert Kuno for tenth place. As mentioned above, Roel Koedam has taken top spot in the all-time UEM Championship points. Roel also passed 2500 career points and Sverre Dahl 1500. Sverre Dahl and Len Paget have overtaken Ian King in the all-time standings, in eighth and ninth place respectively. Sverre Dahl passed 1500 points in UEM Top Fuel Bike whilst Steve Woollatt passed 1000. Sverre has overtaken Ian King for third place. In UEM Supertwin, Lorenz Stäuble passed 1000 points. Hans Olav Olstad has moved up from seventh to fourth in the STF standings and Lorenz from ninth to fifth. Anders Abrahamsson passed 1500 points in UEM Pro Stock Bike whilst Ulf Ögge passed 1000 points and also moved up from fifteenth to sixth in the standings. Fredrik Fredlund moved up from fourteenth to ninth. Scoring for the UK National Championships Champions' Champions is based on an event having to be completed for a win to be registered. Race wins are ranked based on the driver or rider. Points however are scored and ranked on a team basis, as they are for Championships. For teams with multiple cars or drivers changing teams during or between seasons, the compiler's decision is final. Turner Racing remains in front in Top Methanol, now calculated using points counted towards the SPRC Championship, which was a sole round in 2010. They have seven Championships, and fifteen wins for Rob and the team heads the points tally over second-placed Dave Wilson. Over his entire career, Rob has won the UK Championship ten times. In the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, Rebel T and driver Clayton Round's hat trick of Championships in 2005-7 still head the standings. In event wins, Dennis Wratten is now out in front with seven. Frank Bennett's Relentless team, 2009 champions and Eurodragster.com Bloggers, now lead in the aggregate points and have six wins. In MSA Pro Modified, Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson has three Championships in the last twelve years and also won the 1997 and 1998 Championships. Andy has the most wins with twelve and leads aggregate points with an increased margin of 742 over Bert Englefield. Super Modified now has four racers on two Championships each: current Super Mod champ Andy 'Fred' Hone joins Nigel Payne, Ellis Racing and Danny Cockerill. After three wins in 2010, Fred has now the most wins with with a total of ten to date. In the points chase Fred now has a 4649 point lead over Ellis Racing. In Super Comp Paul Marston Racing, with a multi-driver line-up but the same team and car, have achieved their second Championship this year to join inactive racers Chris Johnson and Tim Adam. Tim Adam still leads event wins with ten to Brian Pateman's nine. In points, likewise, Brian has edged closer to Tim's total and now trails him by only 430. Tim Adam continues to lead the number of Championships in Super Gas with four, against Jon Morton, Conrad Stanley and Frank Mason with two each. Dan Page now appears with his 2010 Championship and two wins. Retired racer Frank Mason is still well ahead in event wins, having won twelve events, and Super Gas points with a margin of 5690 over Tim Adam. With their long and successful racing history, we can see Frank and Tim being on top of aggregate points for some time to come. In Super Street, 2009 Champion John Grant, Leigh Morris, Bob Lees, Mike Bentley and Team Rat Rage each have two Championships. John Grant ties with Leigh Morris on number of wins, eleven in the last twelve years. Bob Lees still has the greatest points tally, with a reduced margin of 110 points over Leigh Morris. In Super Pro ET, Martyn Jones, Steve Green and Ian Tubb have two Championships each. Barry Giles leads wins with thirteen in total to Steve Green's eight. The class' long-time competitors Barry Giles, Steve Johnson and Martyn Jones (Team H&C Racing) are also in the first three positions in aggregate points. Pro ET has three teams with two Championships each: Paul Baynton, Team Heaven & Hell and Team Top Banana. 2010 Champions Rick McCann's Heaven And Hell As Well enters the list of Championships. Team Heaven & Hell's original Camaro leads the points from the Huxley's Team Top Banana/Dark Horse with a margin of 6350. Lee Huxley is the lead on wins with eight against Bob Doyle's six. In Sportsman ET, Geoff Cowley's 2010 Championship is his third and he joins Al and Linda Platt's Team Rainy City Lightning at the lead of Championships won and Rick Denny with the most number of wins at seven. Team Rainy City Lightning is ahead of Nick Gay in the points by 560. Steve Pateman leads Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator with five Championships, seventeen event wins and a points margin of 8310 over second placed Jeff Meads who in turn has 100 points more than 2010 champion Ian Hook (points for Street Eliminator are scored since 2000). Scott Hauser and Nick Mugridge have both won the Junior Dragster Championship twice. Nick continues to lead the points tally with a lead of 3700 over Anna Stanley in second place and Nick also leads the wins with nine in total. 2009 9.50 Bike Champion Richard Sawatzki remains the only three-time Champion in the class over the last twelve years. Richard leads Fred Furlong in the the points tally with a margin of 2690 and Richard has the largest number of wins with eleven. In ACU Top Fuel Bike, Steve Woollatt has won nine Championships since 1999, has twenty two event wins to his name, and leads the points tally with more than double the points of second-placed Steve Carey. In his career, Steve has won no less than thirteen Championships. Neil Midgley retains his lead in all categories for ACU Funny Bike as does Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck in ACU Pro Stock Bike. Dave has scored the most wins of any UK racer in the last twelve years with an incredible thirty four. In ACU Competition Bike, 2010 Champion Ivan Birch has moved ahead of Phil Leamon with three Championships. Ivan also now leads wins with a further two this year making ten in all. However, Phil has a commanding points lead of more than twice the points tally of Ivan. In ACU Super Street Bike, Graham Dance still remains ahead in Championships with four, and wins with eighteen to Steve Venables' seventeen. Ven is now ahead of Graham on points with a lead of 165. You can check out this year's Champions' Champions tables by clicking here or by clicking on the Champions' Champions link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please join us in a big Thank You to Andy and Simon for their hard work. Eurodragster.com's Christmas break. 24th December: We will now be taking our Christmas break. We plan to return next Wednesday, 29th. Keep those news items coming to [email protected] and we will post them on Wednesday. In the meantime we have compiled our usual requests to Father Christmas, together with our New Year resolutions, and you can hold us to these: Top of Tog's Christmas list: Sponsorships from an airline and a hotel chain. Top of Simon's Christmas list: Additional annual leave from the day job. Top of Roger's Christmas list: Very short winters and much longer hot, dry summers. Top of Kirstie's Christmas list: My very own boy basher stick to beat John Everitt with when he decides to sit out a round of qualifying. Top of Ed's Christmas list: Anything Nikon and plenty of interesting well-lit subjects to photograph. Tog's New Year resolution: To fire Ed if he doesn't come to Europe in 2011. Simon's New Year resolution: To take Eurodragster.com boldly where it has not been before. Roger's New Year resolution: To have all-seeing eyes to ensure I can see race vehicles' race numbers even if they are only on the rear and I'm in front. Kirstie's New Year resolution: To make it through the month of January with no unexpected visits to hospital or doctor's surgery. Ed's New Year resolution: To try to slip past the Swedish Police once again to check out an event at Tierp Arena. Tog, Simon, Roger, Kirstie and Ed would like to wish all Eurodragster.com readers and their families the very Happiest of Christmases, and to thank everyone who has sent us personal Christmas wishes and cards as well as those on our on-line Christmas Card. See you on Wednesday when we will bring you the candidates for SPRC Best Appearing Bike. Until then please eat too much and drink too much, because we're going to. Bengtsson plans full Tour. 22nd December: Swedish Supertwin racer and three time UEM European Champion Per Bengtsson and the Beast team have decided to run the whole UEM Championship tour in 2011. After a limited schedule during this season where the team focused on performance and development of the tuning combination they feel that it is time to step up even further. "We feel that we learned a lot during this season", says Per. "A summary of the 2010 season is that we lowered our Personal Best by eighth hundredths of a second, we ran the quickest pass in the class this year (6.473 at Gardermoen), and we also managed to put down the second quickest ever run in Supertwin. "After the last race of the season the team sat down in October to analyse the year and to decide what to do next year. It was clear that everyone in the team felt that the tools to be competitive are there, and the ambition is to get a fourth title home to Sweden. But one important factor to do this is a realistic race calendar, both when it comes to the number of events and the spread of dates. One problem is that official information is almost non-existent about the 2011 UEM calendar, and there has not been a word from promoters since the Finals in September. We try to run this operation as professionally as possible but it's hard to work with our existing sponsors and search for new backers when you can't present them with race dates before we go in to the New Year. It's not acceptable." If Per and the Beast team succeed with their goals for next season there might be some different ideas in the future. "The ambition for the coming season is a fourth Championship title and hopefully some records along the way", says Per. "If we are satisfied performance-wise after the Finals in September we are looking at a US tour in the autumn of 2012." A big thank you to our sponsors who make this possible: Swedcut, Autoexperten Växjö, Ulvsgården AB, Fanhultstvätten AB Älmhult, Gates/Lönne, Bilservice i Åseda AB, Cemecon, Flexoart and Bentec Engineering. More support from WRE/Power Pour. 22nd December: Eurodragster.com sponsors Webster Race Engineering and Power Pour are to continue support and sponsorship to Sportsman racers in 2011 including more special awards for performance benchmarks in Super Street Bike and Street Eliminator. "We will provide contingency support to Pro ET as per 2010 and Street Eliminator as per previous years - details are available from class organisers", says Jon Webster. "Individual support will continue to go to 2010 Street Eliminator Champion Ian Hook, who has proved a great ambassador for our product. New support will extend to Alex Macintosh; we recognise the dedication which Alex has for his racing and his never-say-die attitude is synonymous with our ethos, so WRE and Power Pour are proud to be associated with him in 2011. "2010 gave some indications of new milestones which may be reached in 2011. Both the pinnacle street-tyre classes for bike and cars, Super Street Bike and Street Eliminator, got close to 200 mph. We recognise the significance of these potential achievements and, as with the Seven Second rings which we have posted in the past, we wish to signify theses goals with special awards. The ring thing has been done of course, but continuing the theme of jewellery we will be commissioning four 200 mph gold pendants for Street Eliminator. The first four drivers to exceed 200 mph and back up the speed within one per cent at the same event will receive a pendant engraved with their name, speed and date together with the pendant number one to four respectively. "For Super Street Bike, it is appropriate that the four awards be made on the same basis, however instead of pendants these will be gold 'Dog Tags'. The Dog Tags are significant as they are an ACU requirement for all riders in competition - you know, in case identification has to be made in a multi (one pair?) bike pile-up. "We wish all competitors the best of luck! "WRE and Power Pour will be displaying at the Autosport show in January. We welcome everyone to our stand, which will host Andy Frost's Pro Mod Vauxhall on display in the raw before it goes for paint. "Four test days have been provisionally agreed for 2011; conformation will follow shortly. As previously the entry level is limited, and whilst open to all priority is given to WRE customers. Traders wishing to test with their own customers will be strictly by arrangement - prices on application." Memories of Madeira Drive. 22nd December: Drag racing artist Paul Whitehouse has been in touch with details of his latest painting, which he tells us has taken a long time to complete between commissions. This is a painting which Paul has wanted to produce for a long time as it represents his introduction to drag racing, at the age of twelve, on 8th September 1973 at the Brighton Speed Trials on Madeira Drive. The image depicts Dennis Priddle on a demonstration pass in Mr Six. The crowd, many of whom had never seen a dragster before, were stunned when Mr Six fired into life. 7.68 7.69 seconds later Dennis had crossed the quarter mile marker leaving in his wake a cloud of burning rubber, clutch dust and nitro fumes, a feat made even more impressive as this seafront road is very bumpy with a lot of camber. The crowd erupted into raptuous applause. "The thing that I will always remember", says Paul, "is the sound of Mr Six on full bore reverberating around those arches...it was awesome!" If there is enough interest in the painting then similarly to his Famous Five Paul is considering a limited-edition print run of this image. Paul can be contacted via his web site at www.paulwhitehouseart.co.uk or E-Mail [email protected]. Swift snippets. 22nd December: 20:45 US Pro Modified racer Melanie Troxel has announced that she is to contest the Get Screened America Pro Modified Series again next season in one of Roger Burgess' R2B2 cars. In the press release announcing her intentions Melanie did not rule out a return to FIA European Championship competition in 2011. "You never know. I'm certainly game for anything", said Melanie. "We had a great time over there and I feel like we made some friends on that tour. As of right now nothing is set, but nothing was set last year up until about two weeks before the first FIA race and we ended up putting it together, so like I said, you never know." This year, Santa came early for Belgian Top Methanol Funny Car racer Danny Bellio as he brought him his first grandson. The proud parents are Sandro Bellio and Nikka Groenen and the next generation of Danny's Racing Team is Mauro Bellio (below left), who measured 51 cm and weighed in at 3.575 kg. Sharron, Jerry and Skye Collier have asked us to say a huge Happy 14th Birthday for today (Wednesday) to UK Junior Drag Bike racer Scott Collier. "He's a top lad and we are very proud of him", says mum Sharron. "We have had a cake made by drag bike racer Bryony Wadkin-Snaith and it is a work of art (above right), a miniature model of Scott riding his bike. Bryony has just started up making cakes for a living and we think she is amazing, a big Thank You to her and please look at her web site at www.queeniescupcakes.co.uk. Have a very Happy Birthday Scott. We don't have a news update planned for tomorrow (Thursday) so we will say Happy Birthday for then to Shakespeare County Raceway's tireless Jerry Cookson from Julie Willcox and everyone at SCR. Have a great day tomorrow Jerry. A new safety rule for 2011 requires Pro Mods to have additional driver head protection and moulded driver seats. The rules follow those for dragsters and Funny Cars which require a plate to be fitted around the sides and back of the roll cage which is then covered by shock absorbent material. Whilst at the PRI show Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson discussed this requirement with BSCI who supply the existing SFI/FIA roll cage padding sold by Andy Robinson Race Cars, and ARRC are now able to supply and fit suitable material to meet both needs. Optionally these additions can be SFI certified although this is not required by the rules. Since every car is different it's probably best to call 01256 880589 (outside the UK +44 1256 880589) or E-Mail [email protected] to discuss how they can be fitted in any particular situation. Staying with Andy Robinson Race Cars, Bob Roberts invites customers and readers to check out ARRC's Christmas greeting at sendables.jibjab.com/view/ZkpbjPsxtl4TV0So. Eurodragster.com sponsor Custom Cruisers UK is offering special deals on MSD tuning, ignition, supercharger boost timing masters and fuel adders plus distributors, Top Fuel verification units, dual curve LPG remappers and injector disablers for American vehicles. "They just plug straight in to the main loom and recurve and stop all warning codes coming on even for V10 Dodge Viper or SRT10  trucks", says Mike Chadwick. You can see a list of MSD parts on offer (Excel spreadsheet format) by clicking here or for more details contact Mike via his web site at www.customcruisers.co.uk. As if that wasn't enough, Custom Cruisers UK offer Eurodragster.com readers 10% discount on helmets ordered on or before 5th January via www.simpson-helmets.eu. The last Eurodragster.com News update before Christmas will be on Friday, Christmas Eve (actually likely to be posted tomorrow evening - Ed). The Christmas Eve update will include a special give-away, the annual and eagerly-awaited Champions' Champions update for FIA, UEM and UK Championships, and of course the latest in the ever-popular Drag Racing Unplugged series. We then plan to take a break and to return next Wednesday, 29th, unless we receive any earth-shattering news in the interim. The deadline for news items for the Christmas Eve update and Christmas Card posts is 21:00 UK / 22:00 European tomorrow (Thursday). UK Top Sportsman update. 22nd December: Paul Marston tells us that Top Sportsman is becoming the most talked-about new-format doorslammer class. Top Sportsman features two races in two days with a one-shot qualifier, sixteen-spot qualified field and a heads-up eliminator on day one, and a UK first on the second day of a one-shot qualifier all-run fully-blinkered .400 Pro Tree Bracket Race. "It's an exciting format and will give the UK doorslammer racer a whole new experience to pit their skills against", says Paul. "The UK Top Sportsman rules have now been agreed and once ratified by the authorities will be posted on a web page for easy reference to any more interested teams. The number of interested teams has now reached forty five and is still increasing. "Eagle-eyed racers and fans would also have noticed that UK Top Sportsman is also now listed on the provisional entry list for the Dragstalgia Event on Santa Pod Raceway's web site. Not all the forty five teams will find themselves listed but we know who you are and turning up on the day is what matters. We need your support to make this happen and to be the success it shows every sign of becoming. All you need is a fast doorslammer, it can come from any class or just be a Test and Tune RWYB car. This event will crown a new champion, who will it be? Remember you have to be in it to win it, register today. "If you are interested in racing in UK Top Sportsman then please register your interest today by calling me on 07831 650230 or E-Mail [email protected] or E-Mail Jeff Bull through his sponsor logo on the Swap Meet. Web site updates. 22nd December: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Modified racer Andy Frost brings us up to date with his Red Victor 3 street-legal Pro Mod. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 2. 20th December: Santa Pod Racers Club, Obsession Motorsports and Eurodragster.com are teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the SPRC Perpetual Awards and Obsession Motorsports Sportsman of the Year, which will be presented at the joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy presentation on Saturday 5th February 2011. For several of the 2010 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committees and Obsession Motorsports decide upon their winners. This week's category is SPRC Best Appearing Car. The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows. You can see larger pictures on the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Paula Atkin, Super Pro ET Vote for Paula Atkin Richard Billings, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Vote for Richard Billings Amanda Cox, Pro ET Vote for Amanda Cox Rick Garrett, Super Pro ET Vote for Rick Garrett Marck Harteveld, Super Pro ET Vote for Marck Harteveld Robert Joosten, Pro Modified Vote for Robert Joosten Brian Payne, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Vote for Brian Payne Kev Slyfield, Pro Modified Vote for Kev Slyfield To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. ©Eurodragster.com The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which votes are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Raceway's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club official Carole Ismail. Again see the official web page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail. For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. And every year we say this, but every year someone tries it on: please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. Concerted attempts at vote-rigging will result in the nominee being removed from the shortlist. We know all the dodges so it's just not worth trying. Swift snippets. 20th December: Europe's only five-second Top Fuel Bike, Peter and Sören Svensson's Team Kendall Racing TFB, has a new fourteen-inch PMFR rear wheel courtesy of sponsor Anders Forsberg Engineering. You can check out pics of the wheel mocked up in position on the Billet Racing web site at www.billetracing.se/new-rim. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with no words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Allard Chrysler Action Group Chair Brian Taylor tells us that sole Honorary ACAG Member Linda Vaughn has autographed twelve posters which are on sale for restoration funds. "The CMW motorsports poster (above right, click for large version) features Linda as she looks today - still amazing and with the same unique personality. What do you say - £5.00 plus postage of £2.50 to the UK, £3 Europe including Eire, and £3.50 USA? If you send more it will all go to the Fund. There are only twelve posters available". To buy your poster visit the Merchandise page at www.allardchrysler.org. Our ISP's and thus Eurodragster.com's E-Mail service was down for several hours yesterday (Sunday) so we cannot guarantee that E-Mail sent to any Eurodragster.com address yesterday actually got to its intended recipient. If you wrote to the News or any other Eurodragster.com E-Mail address yesterday and your news has not appeared or you have not received a reply when you would normally have expected one, then please re-send the E-Mail and we will give it our immediate attention. Christmas Card submissions were not affected as they go to a different server. The last Eurodragster.com News update before Christmas will be this coming Friday, Christmas Eve. This will include the anuual and eagerly-awaited Champions' Champions update for FIA, UEM and UK Championships and of course the latest in the ever-popular Drag Racing Unplugged series. We then plan to take a break and to return on Wednesday 29th unless we receive any earth-shattering news in the interim (We'll try not to kill anyone off this year - Ed). The deadline for news items and Christmas Card posts is 21:00 UK / 22:00 European this Thursday, 23rd. Database needs your help. 20th December: Pelle Stanikowski, who runs the excellent European Drag Racing Database at www.drdb.eu, has been in touch to ask the help of Eurodragster.com readers with historic results and timing data. "Anything before the year 2000 is of interest from Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway", says Pelle. "I have only a partial list of results from a few events at Drachten. My list of results from Hockenheim is incomplete, all the eighth-mile times are missing." If you can help then please get in touch with Pelle at [email protected]. Web site updates. 20th December: Rocket fans will love the latest video posted by our good buddy John Spoard on his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia forum; no less than six and a half minutes of Sammy Miller running in The Vanishing Point Rocket FC and Oxygen Rocket Dragster plus a TV interview, and footage Sammy racing Al Eierdam in the first of the classic rocket races at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the video clip at www.ukdrn.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2468. Another one for the ladies. 18th December: Following the success of this year's maiden For Ladies That Launch meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway, and fuelled by the valuable information she picked up at the Women in Motorsport seminar in Coventry last weekend, organiser and APIRA Marshal Beth Satchell has been in touch to let us know that a new fans' Facebook page has been created for the event. "I attended the seminar last Sunday with Julie Brett, mum of Junior Dragster racers Alex and Joy Brett", says Beth. "We went with the intent of seeing what it was all about and hopefully getting some tips on how to make For Ladies that Launch a roaring success this year.  I have to say that the day was exceptionally interesting, we met some very enthusiastic ladies from all different sports and I have to commend the Women in Motorsport committee for putting together such an informative and enjoyable day, we really look forward to the next one! "Our new Facebook page features photos and information about this annual celebration for women in motorsport, and has been set up to keep everyone informed of what's happening when the race comes around again on 11th-12th June, again at Shakespeare County Raceway. So ladies, if you race, rally, kart, marshal, officiate, spectate or are interested in motorsport in any capacity then sign up to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/For-Ladies-That-Launch/160419857336766 to keep up with all the information as it happens and be part of the party atmosphere in June." Junior Dragster League update. 18th December: As momentum grows for Shakespeare County Raceway's Junior Dragster League programme, due to start next April, the latest from Junior Dragster HQ centres around the Leagues existing sponsors and the increased support for the 2011 season, writes Daren Brett: Roy Wilding of RW Nostalgia Race Cars is very delighted with the coverage and the commitment shown towards the League and Shakespeare County Raceway since the news first went live on Eurodragster.com on 2nd December as well as on the SCR Junior Experience Facebook page over a week ago. Roy has further enhanced his commitment to the League's programme. Staying with the nostalgia theme, Bill Felstead of Fester Race Cars has also enhanced his support with details of which will be released shortly. Bill has also asked to point out that his web site is currently inactive but that a new site is pending. Bill's existing contact details remain unaffected. Supercharged Outlaw racer Lee Gallimore has also been in touch voicing his pleasure at reading the press release giving a strong commitment that if anyone is struggling at the track next year that the Outlaws will always be there to help out the future of the sport. Thanks Lee. Ian Turburville of Turboville.com has presented the League with a fully digitised embroidery design incorporating the same fonts used by Peter Walters Race Design on the current SCR logo. We are planning to have a series of garments made including baseball caps and beanies. The same design will also be used to produce badges. Ian is very much committed to the League programme by pledging all the support he can financially provide with discounted merchandise when possible. We have also placed an order for League stickers with Simon Cardwell of Claron Graphics. These will be available free to all JDL entrants, but can be purchased separately at the track from supporters Claron Graphics, SCR Signing-On Office or from Claron's on-line shop. Finally, Uncle Steve Wood of Motorshack fame has also offered product to the winners in the form of fuel additives and boosters. 2011 JDL supporters include Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Peter Walters Race Design, CC Medical Services, the Supercharged Outlaws,  Turboville.com, Fester Race Cars, Claron Graphics, Webb Express Couriers, and Classic Designs. Swift snippets. 18th December: If submitting votes for the Santa Pod Racers Club Perpetual Awards then please note the rule that only one vote per E-Mail address will be accepted for each week's category. Multiple votes from the same E-Mail address are assumed to be attempts at cheating and are all deleted. The next category, which will be on Monday's news update, is Best Appearing Car. Web site updates. 18th December: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén bring us up to date with off-season work in the Team VEIDEC workshop. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Mopar returns to FIA Pro Stock. 16th December: Thomas Lindström and Rolf Sulyok of Stockholm's R/T Racing are stepping up from Competition Eliminator to Pro Stock for the upcoming season, writes Stefan Boman. The car is a turn-key Dodge Stratus acquired from Allen Johnson complete with the latest Pro Stock Hemi engine. "To compete in Pro Stock has always been our highest goal", says Thomas. "We see it as the ultimate class in which cars are still cars, using the same basic technology as they are built, but within these limits have on-the-edge performance in every part." Markus Svensson of Clutch Service, who is a big helping hand to many Pro Stock teams, was on location at Allen's racing shop and put the car together for shipping after the engine was run on the dyno. The car has been running 6.5s in the USA and will be a colourful newcomer on European tracks, which have not seen an all-Mopar contender since Jari Konola. "This is rock'n'roll all the way and a dream come true", adds Thomas. "When there were no factory-backed Mopar teams in the USA there were no realistic ways to drive a Mopar in the class, but with Allen in the sport we could get hold of a good car. For us, as addicted to Mopar as we are, to get one of Allen's cars in our team is like the Ferrari F1-freak getting hold of an ex-Schumacher car. GM cars beware: we are not there for a picnic when we meet this summer." Pots and sightseeing. 16th December: 2010 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren says that the FIA European Champions had a very good weekend in Monaco, where the FIA Championship Gala took place. "We started the afternoon at Hotel de Paris where Johan and Jonnie Lindberg's father served all of us some real good Champagne, and we had a nice chat", says Michael. "Then off to Sportings where the banquet was hosted. A nice dinner, maybe the prizegiving ceremony was a little too long, but the Champions were saluted and we all got our very good-looking trophies: Pro Stock: Michael Malmgren, Sweden Pro Mod: Johan Lindberg, Sweden Top Methanol Funny Car: Dan Larsen, Denmark Top Methanol Dragster: Timo Habermann And in Top Fuel, the King of Nitro: Urs Erbacher, Switzerland "We all finished the evening at Jimmy's Nightclub (Jimmy Ålund? - Ed) where we had a very good time. The next day we all took the opportunity to walk around Monaco to see the castle, harbour and all of the nice buildings etc. Monaco is a fantastic place in every aspect, and if you haven't experienced Monaco it's a must-do thing, even if just for a weekend. "We wish all of our racing colleagues, promoters, track staff etc a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. See you in 2011!" Gingermen Racing. 16th December: The UK's Gingerman Racing will be fielding two cars in 2011. Matt Seamarks will be running the ex-Chris Bishop Ford 100e in Pro ET, while Craig Wright will be driving Matt's 1994 Camaro in Sportsman ET. "Craig used to race Sporstman ET back in the Li'l Green Box 105e Anglia and before that helped Ian and Paula Marshall with the Highlander Camaro with his dad", says Matt. "He also worked at Santa Pod for a while but turned to oval racing; after getting dizzy going round in circles he is looking forward to making a return to the strip in 2011. I drove Junior Dragster for a number of years and last season ran the Camaro in Sportsman ET, I cant belive how friendly and how good everyone in Sportsman ET was to us last season and we thank them for that. Dad and I also crewed on Dave and Sarah Day's Super Comp/Gas roadster for a few seasons. Obviously the team name won't really suit Craig but I'm sure that wont make much of a difference! "The idea for the year is to get me comfortable with running the car, as I have never driven a car with transbrake and have never used a line lock, so just need to get my head around it all. However I'm sure that Craig will be sorted in the Camaro by the end of Easter. "I would like to thank Antony 'Butch' Wilkins, Ian Marshall, Paul Watson and Kenny Coleman for their help and advice so far, and thanks to The Curry Garden for their continued support right from the start. I hope everyone has a good Christmas period and good New Year." Swift snippets. 16th December: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Would this fit in your spy pictures?". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Speedgroup had a fruitful time at the PRI Show in Orlando representing the European Championships, with much interest in sponsorship from the US racing industry as well as in media involvement. You can find out more on Speedgroup's web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Carolynne Campbell's Laffin-Gas Rocket Dragster has a new driver. Joanna Finch is taking the wheel to allow Carolynne to concentrate on the car's engineering. You can read more and find out the latest on the Laffin-Gas Blog at laffin-gasrocket.blogspot.com. Collin, mum, dad and Hollie have asked us to say a big Thank You to UK Super Gas racer Stuart Morrice. No sooner said than done, have a great day Stuart. The last Eurodragster.com News update before Christmas will be next Friday, Christmas Eve. This will include the anuual and eagerly-awaited Champions' Champions update for FIA, UEM and UK Championships and of course Drag Racing Unplugged XII. We then plan to take a break and to return on Wednesday 29th unless we receive any earth-shattering news in the interim (We'll try not to kill anyone off this year - Ed). The deadline for news items and Christmas Card posts is 21:00 UK / 22:00 European on Thursday 23rd. Cream of Devon. 16th December: UK photo-journalist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski tells us that after a day at work lugging stainless steel tubes around the place he likes to relax and manipulate his fingers with something more gentle, such as model making. "I've been working on and off on this 1/25th scale model of a 1950 Austin Devon gasser for five years now", says Mark. "It's based on the notoriously difficult to make (anything decent of) Revell kit of the 1960s. I first had a go at a glue-spattered unpainted version of it in around 1973. Many years later and I'm a bit better at making scale replicas thankfully, so this version features a complete scratchbuilt fuel and brake system, steering box and Moon tank with fabricated brackets. "The idea was to duplicate a typical mid-60s gasser with M&H pie crust slicks, so no wheelie bars needed! The engine is a 427 ci Cammer Ford with reworked Hilborn injection with period plumbing and ignition system added. The paint is airbrushed scarlet acrylic lacquer with period signwriting and decals from various sources. "Next to be completed of over fifty ongoing projects will be some sort of 70s nitro car, either a Fuel Altered, Funny or Fueller - whichever gets completed first without me flitting off in another direction." Web site updates. 16th December: Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs has updated the Chris Isaacs Race Cars web site at www.chris-isaacs.com with a build-up page for the 1970 Plymouth Duster turbo Pro Mod which he will be campaining with Spencer Tramm. Johansson, Tønseth's Pro Mod pair. 14th December: Sweden's VBS Racing Pro Mod team will be fielding two cars in 2011 as Norway's Linda Thun Tønseth has joined Urban Johansson. Linda drove Rune Fjeld's Top Fuel Dragster in 2009, and gained her Pro Mod licence in Jan Arve Nygård's Corvette back in 2006. "During the Autumn I bought Tommy Gray's '68 Camaro", says Urban. "The car went very fast back in the USA, with a quickest ET of 5.88. I bought the Camaro without the motor, and for next year both cars will be running on engines from BAE. The car will be shipped shortly, and will hopefully arrive in Sweden in January 2011. If everything goes as planned both cars will be competing in the full FIA European Championship tour, but that still depends on sponsorship. We are building a new trailer which will be able to transport both cars to each race. "As we've got an extra car, we also need a few more team-members. My 'old' crew will still remain, with David Johansson as Crew Chief on both cars. We've got Tore Axelsson on clutch and Håkan Karlsson working on the engine. New members on the Camaro will be Christer Haglund from Boden, Sweden, and Jeanett Nygård from Norway. But we still need at least two more crew members. So if anyone is interested then please contact Urban at [email protected] or Linda at [email protected] for more information. "There will of course be quite a lot of work to do, but it will be exciting. It is going to be fun getting Linda into Pro Mod, as the only woman with a Pro Mod licence. Please also contact us if you are interested in sponsorship!" Outlaw Street season review 14th December: Outlaw Street was first launched via American Car magazine and Eurodragster.com on Monday 14th December 2009, the brainchild of a small group of drag race fanatics who'd raced in a number of different series and challenges over the years but were noticing more and more that new blood was now coming into the hobby, a great deal of this due to the 'Fastest car wins' design of a lot of events which priced the average American car, V8 fanatic out of the hobby. Mark Wallington writes with a review of the series' very successful first season: The whole ethos of the series was agrass roots drag race series open to all, with a scoring system based on individual drivers' improvements on their ETs and attendance at the rounds across the year, meaning in essence that the person you're trying to beat is yourself and not necessarily the guy/gal in the next lane. The series was set up to run eight rounds spread across 2010, split between Santa Pod Raceway and Shakespeare County Raceway to be able to enjoy the main favourite events for any American car fan/petrolhead, these being Gary's Picnic, the MOPARs, some Peak Performance Days at Santa Pod to be able to run on a race-prepped track, and the season finale at the Halloween Burn-Up at Shakespeare County Raceway. We started on 14th December 2009 with seven members. This quickly grew as word spread about the series, and we started the first round of 2010 with fifty three signed up to race. Naturally, due to individuals' work constraints, budgets and breakages we were never going to get fifty three cars at a round at the same time, but at Gary's Picnic and the MOPARs we came pretty close. Members have ranged from out and out Pro Street cars, to late model daily driver Mustangs. Members' ETs have also ranged from low eight-second passes to nineteen-second passes, which has led to a number of head-to-head fun races and bench racing banter across the season as members have tried to chip away at their PBs. The key focus for the series is for it to be a laid-back family friendly series. It has been common throughout this season to see seasoned eight-second racers swapping tips with first-time racers, and vice-versa when seventeen-second members have cut the perfect tree and won themselves a Reaction Trophy. Any series is only as good as the members in it and I have to say that despite being in and around the American car and drag race scene for the past twenty three years, this group is without a doubt the friendliest, most laid-back and at times wacky bunch of petrolheads I've ever had the pleasure to know. A vast number of members have secured new PBs throughout the year, many breaking into that lower second bracket that they've been chasing, whether it be getting their '60s Mustang out of the sixteens into the fifteens, or their '55 Chevy into the eights. There have also been a number of members who have been trying to hone their skills to make themselves consistent. This has included four members in last model Mustangs who have also dipped their toes into bracket racing by supporting Shakespeare Country Raceway's ET Bracket Gambler Shootout. Two members, Vic Fisher and Nigel Jenkins, went on to win during the series. As well as the focus of trying to win a first, second or third place trophy, members have had the added incentive at each round of trying to net the most points for a round and win a year's free subscription to American Car (thanks Dave and Tony for the support) and to try to cut the perfect tree to win a Reaction Trophy and £25 prize money. These RT Trophies have been on every member's wish list this season and have been won by members running eights to eighteens proving that it's not the car but the driver's skill which can net you the bragging rights and new mantlepiece ornament. The first, second and third place winners for the 2010 season, when it came down to the final round, were only separated across all eight rounds by 36 points: 1st: OS-07 Andrew Murton 2nd: OS-29 Bryn Thomas 3rd: OS-42 Nigel Jenkins The cars which won the trophies run nines, tens and elevens. Some are Pro Street cars, but one is a daily-driven modern muscle Mustang, which just goes to show how assessable to all the series is. The top three contenders for the season Reaction Trophy were separated by eleven hundredths of a second and the gap between the top two was an amazing three thousandths of a second! OS-1 Reaction Trophy: OS-42 Nigel Jenkins 0.269 OS-2 Reaction Trophy: OS-18 Vic Fisher 0.189 OS-3 Reaction Trophy: OS-33 Jeff Thurston 0.059 OS-4 Reaction Trophy: OS-12 John Latham 0.058 OS-5 Reaction Trophy: OS-13 Stuart Ramsay 0.138 OS-6 Reaction Trophy: OS-33 Jeff Thurston 0.047 OS-7 Reaction Trophy: OS-33 Jeff Thurston 0.075 OS-8 Reaction Trophy: OS-18 Vic Fisher 0.050 RT Fastest Reaction 2010: OS-33 Jeff Thurston 0.047 What makes this even more amazing is that one of these cars is a 60s Pro Street Mustang, one is a late model V6 Mustang which is used as a summer daily driver and one is a daily-driven diesel PT Cruiser! Proving that the Reaction Trophy isn't what you drive but how you drive. The 2011 season is already looking very strong with members from 2010 all committing to race in 2011, as well as invitations from Santa Pod Raceway to run an Outlaw Street round at the Flame and Thunder weekend, making Outlaw Street the only competition series to run at such a weekend. Members are already busy in their garages carrying out those winter upgrades, roll on 2011. Worth getting up for! 14th December: The MSA held its inaugural Women in Motorsport seminar in Coventry on Sunday and approximately one hundred women and a couple of men were treated to a very well run, informative seminar with some very well known speakers writes UK Pro ET racer Deborah Laugher: Nicky Grist (WRC Championship winner with Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae) talked about safety in the driving seat which included a very informative session on HANS devices. Michelle Mouton, President of FIA's Women and Motor Sport Commission, spoke about her time in rallying and Stuart Turner, author, Ford World/European rally team manager and after dinner speaker spoke amusingly about working with top woman rally driver Pat Moss. One of his top tips, other than being a good driver, was always look good - so if I'm late to the start line next year, I'm sorry but I was putting my lippy on! Louise Goodman took time out from presenting British Touring Cars on ITV to run a workshop on "Getting the Right Attention – Media Skills" which proved very popular with the drivers, whilst the workshop on Personal Safety in Conflict Situations proved equally popular with the marshals and officials. Drivers, marshals and officials from all aspects of motor sport were present and amongst those representing our sport were Carole Ismail, Angela Daly and Emma Humphreys (all part of the Santa Pod team) and Deborah and Natalie Laugher from the Miss-Guided Pro ET team. Overall it was a very interesting day and gave us the opportunity not only to learn something but to promote our sport to a wider audience and there was a lot of interest, as people generally did not seem to know anything about drag racing and wanted to learn more. The MSA are hoping to make this a bi-annual event and it was certainly worth making the effort to get up early on a Sunday morning to attend. Swift snippets. 14th December: Further to last Friday's news item, Dave Beck tells us that the V500 Racepak will need updating as well as the V300. More details on the original news item. Patrik Larsson tells us that tickets will shortly go on sale for Tierp Arena's first International drag race on 8th-12th June. You can stay in touch with updates from this exciting project at www.tierparena.com. Andy Bennett of Doomsday Impala fame tells us that two UK members are featured in the 2011 calendar of the 34,000-member Chevy Talk forum. Congratulations to Andy and to Adam Sayers. The calendar is £15 and you can get your copy at www.cafepress.co.uk/ctgoodies. Pelle Stanikowski says that Johan Lindberg won the European Drag Racing Database poll for Drag Racer of the Year 2010. Johan polled 21% of more than two thousand votes received. Timo Haberman was second on 19% and Andy Carter and Adam Flamholc tied for third at 17%. Many thanks to those readers who got in touch with Get Well wishes for your News Editor. We did have a voice of dissent as one correspondent took the trouble to write to wish Tog dead, but it's not swine flu as originally feared so hold off on the tributes for now. Marangoni renew SPR sponsorship. 14th December: Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European drag racing, has announced that it is once again to partner with Marangoni, the respected Italian tyre manufacturer for the 2011 season. The deal sees the tyre firm taking title sponsorship of two of Santa Pod's key events, The Marangoni Fast Show on Sunday 27th March and Marangoni USC on the weekend of the 5th-7th August, in addition to branding around the FIA-sanctioned venue. The package also includes significant coverage of the two television shows that are created around each event and will be aired on Motors TV and Eurosport throughout the year. Commenting for Santa Pod, Marketing Manager Caroline Day said "We are delighted to welcome Marangoni back for another year with us. It's always very gratifying when we can see that previous sponsorship placement has worked and the client has clearly derived value from it. Next year, both shows look set to draw even bigger crowds, thanks to greater pre-publicity and an even better line up, plus our TV format is also drawing bigger viewing figures each year, meaning that Marangoni's presence at The Pod will be very hard to miss." For Marangoni, UK Brand Manager Greg Graham said "Santa Pod is a fantastic fit for the Marangoni brand. Not only in terms of the sheer number of enthusiasts that pass through its gates each year, but also because both the show-goers and Santa Pod staff are passionate about the tuning and motorsports scene. When we first took brand space and title sponsorship here two years ago, it helped us to quickly achieve a higher level of brand recognition in several key markets, and undoubtedly assisted us when we forged our exclusive supply arrangement with Kwik Fit. Our goal for 2011 is to further enhance the visibility of the Marangoni brand in the UK consumer marketplace, in turn assisting our partners at Kwik Fit to maximise the brand's potential. We can see already that our shows promise even more core content for true petrolheads this year, so I hope that you'll all join us on Europe's most famous drag strip!" SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 1. 13th December: Santa Pod Racers Club, Obsession Motorsports and Eurodragster.com are teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the SPRC Perpetual Awards and Obsession Motorsports Sportsman of the Year, which will be presented at the joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy presentation on Saturday 5th February 2011. For several of the 2010 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committees and Obsession Motorsports decide upon their winners. The first voting category is SPRC Most Promising Newcomer. Nominees for SPRC Most Promising Newcomer have impressed whilst contesting their first full season or making their on-track début in 2010. The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows: Richard Billings, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Vote for Richard Billings Paul Brown, Super Comp and Pro ET Vote for Paul Brown Jake Handy, Sportsman ET Vote for Jake Handy Brad Jackson, Junior Dragster Vote for Brad Jackson Dave Raper, Super Comp and Super Gas Vote for Dave Raper Rob Stanley, Super Street Vote for Rob Stanley Steve Taylor, Sportsman ET Vote for Steve Taylor To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. ©Eurodragster.com The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which votes are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Raceway's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club official Carole Ismail. Again see the official web page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail. For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. And every year we say this, but every year someone tries it on: please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. Concerted attempts at vote-rigging will result in the nominee being removed from the shortlist. We know all the dodges so it's just not worth trying. Web site updates. 13th December: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Modified racer Andy Frost reveals that his Red Victor 3 street-legal Pro Mod will be appearing at Autosport International. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: Your News Editor is laid low with 'flu so we have a small backlog of news which we will post on the next update. In the meantime please keep that news coming to [email protected]. Junior Drag Bikes to run at SPR. 12th December: Sharron Collier writes that the UK's Junior Drag Bike racers had some great news from Phil Evans, Chair of the UK's Tech Committee. "Phil has told ys that Junior Drag Bike will be running at Santa Pod in 2011!", says Sharron. "We would like to say a huge Thank You to Phil and to all the people at Santa Pod who have supported us and also to Anthony Hodges, Julie Willcox, Jerry Cookson and all the crew past and present at Shakespeare County Raceway who have supported and believed in us these past years. Thanks also to Ian King and the Eurodragster.com team for reporting our results and news items. "Junior Drag Bike has come on in leaps and bounds these last few years, and we are already up to thirteen riders for next season with more in the pipeline. This could be the year in which we see our first sixteen-bike field! "The APIRA Junior Drag Bike Championship calendar at Shakespeare County Raceway is: Round 1: 16th-17th April Round 2: Springspeed Festival, 14th-15th May Round 3: 9th-10th July Round 4: Open Sport Nationals, 27th-29th August Finals: 1st-2nd October "The two rounds at Santa Pod Raceway are: Big Bang, 6th-8th May VP Racing Fuels National Finals, 24th-25th September "This is a trial year for Junior Drag Bike at Santa Pod but we are certain that our riders will step up to the mark and put on a great show as always. This is a brilliant up-and-coming class, with close, professional racing which is edge-of-the-seat stuff. We are so proud of all the riders, and are so chuffed that we can now show a wider audience just how great they are and how brilliant this class is. We as a country should be very proud that we have the Junior Drag Bike class. You can find more information, regulations, pictures and news at www.juniordragbike.co.uk and on our Facebook page." Swift snippets. 12th December: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came without any words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. UK Pro Stock Bike and Funny Bike racer Richard Gipp has a Pro Mod Bike available "To the right rider with the right bank balance" for the 2011 ACU UK Drag Bike Championships. If you are interested then you can contact Richard at [email protected]. It came too late to make Friday's update but a Happy Birthday for Friday to Lin Granlund of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen. Hope you had a great day Lin. If you would like to have your say in the Santa Pod Racers Club Perpetual Awards for the 2010 season then tune in to the next news update as we will be starting the annual vote. The first category will be Most Promising Newcomer. 2010 Christmas Card opened. 12th December: We have now opened the 2010 Eurodragster.com Christmas Card, which you can read by clicking here or by clicking on the 2010 Christmas Card link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com If you would like to send a Christmas message to your fellow readers, fans, fellow racers, favourite racer or race official or indeed anyone (Even us - Ed) then drop an E-Mail to [email protected] and we'll add it to the Christmas Card as soon as we can. We would prefer words to images, but if you do send an image then to save your editing team aggravation please send it as a .JPG or a .GIF attachment rather than embedding it within a Word document or PDF file - embedded pictures will likely not be posted. Web site updates. 12th December: Our good buddy and occasional stand-in photographer Julian Hunt has updated his web site with pictures from September's VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway. Julian tells us that he is very happy with this set of pictures and having taken a look we can see why that is. SPR was also hosting pre-FIA European Finals testing that weekend so there are a number of non-VW shots too. You can check out Julian's VW Action pictures at www.julianhunt.net. Racepak V300 update. 10th December: Multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion, European record holder and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck has been informed by Racepak representatives at the PRI Show that all V300 Racepaks need to go back to the company for a free chip update. "They have had to change the chips which they install in the modules and they are not compatible with the chips in the V300 so they are offering a free upgrade", says Dave. "It will only be an issue if you install a new or replacment module on an old V300. The new chip in the V300 will work with the old module. "I will be sending a box full of V300s back to Racepak around the middle of January and I will send back any V300s which I have sold for the free update. The only charge will be shipping and handling of around £20-£30 per box depending on numbers." For more information please contact Dave via his web site at www.davebeckracing.com. GSK Motorsport expands. 10th December: Germany's GSK Motorsport Drag Racing Team was formed in 2008 from former DBJ Racing Team Jens Schmidt (Crew Chief) and Bert Gorselitz (Driver), together with former Hockenheim NitrOlympX Official René Kloss (Mechanic and Marketing). Since 2008 GSK Motorsport have successfully raced their Porsche 924 powered by a Chevy SB 355 which runs on E85 ethanol in Super Comp and Super Pro ET. Andrea Kloss tells us that the team has been looking for an opportunity to expand with a further car: A couple of months ago René's brother in-law Tony Morris found exactly what René was looking for and successfully negotiated on his behalf with US drag racer Vic Fera of Merritt Island, Florida, and René is the new owner of a Miller four-link Dragster powered by a 468 Big Block Chevy. Due to the team's experience successfully running their Porsche 924 on E85 ethanol, the decision was made to use the knowledge they have gained over the past three seasons and run the dragster on E85 too. Tony custom built and fitted a Holley K&M Carburetor (built for K&M by BLP Products Inc.) to run the car on E85. On 13th November Tony made test runs at Orlando Speedworld and off the trailer the car ran a 8.29/161. After that short and successful test run Ren&ecaute; made his first passes in the dragster to obtain his NHRA Super Comp licence. The car will be shipped out at the end of the year and as soon as the car arrives in Germany the team will go to work getting it ready for the 2011 season in Europe. René would like to thank his brother-in-law Tony Morris for all of his support as well as BLP Products Inc and Vic Fera of Brevard Cylinder Head. Swift snippets. 10th December: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher sent us this picture of his Top Fueller in front of the Hotel Paris in Monaco. The dragster will be making other race cars look ordinary before the FIA Prizegiving Gala. Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpsonshop Sweden tells us that Simpson Performance Products have acquired Safety Solutions Inc, manufacturer of amongst other products the HNRS, a HANS device which protects against side and angular impacts. You can see more at www.simpsonshop.se. One of the hazards of moving to alternate-day updates is the 50% chance of not being able to wish someone a Happy Birthday on the actual day. So a Happy Birthday for yesterday (Thursday) to Track Announcer, Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member and all-round good guy Christer Abrahamson and to former Sportsman ET racer and Drag Racing Confidential Technical Editor Nigel Holland. Hope you had good days guys. We will be opening the traditional Eurodragster.com Christmas Card this coming weekend. If you would like to send a Christmas Greeting to your fellow Eurodragster.com readers then please E-Mail it to [email protected]. You know what you're following... 10th December: Peter Walters of Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters Race Design PWRD has created a basic design brief for a trailer to transport Europe's first dragster, Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler. Allard Chrysler Action Group Chairman Brian Taylor said "With the engine now on its way back to the UK I thought it important to give potential sponsors an idea of how the on-the-road show could appear. Peter has been involved with the ACAG for a while and designed the dragster's Facebook page. We like to keep things in the family so I asked him if he would give designing our trailer wrap a go. The design shows the car along with the names of all those who have donated money to the restoration fund. Sponsors' logos will be on the back with the Beaulieu logo prominent on the sides and the back. The illustration does not include all names or sponsors' logos but gives an idea of how things might look. "At the moment we do not know whether we will go for a trailer or a flatbed truck so the design might change. New sponsors will need to be included in the visual and a major sponsor would clearly need prominent identity." Peter Walters said "I'm really glad to be working on the Allard project. It's quite different to my normal design work and very challenging. The car is a legend and to have my racing design business associated with it is an honour." Web site updates. 10th December: UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers has launched a web site at www.wikid-racing.co.uk. The very tidy-looking and well-produced web site includes details on the car, driver and team, racing history, photo gallery, sponsor page, links and more. UK Junior Dragster racer Brad Jackson is pleased to announce that 3t creative have built him a new web site at at www.bradjacksonracing.com. "3T have built the site with a view to it being easy to use with links to all the tracks and popular websites associated with Brad and drag racing", says Wayne Jackson. "The front page links feature a link to Lucas, Carter Motorsport, 3T and Alamo with a direct link to discounted car hire for drag racers, just click on the Alamo link and save money on your car hire anywhere in the world! The Links page on the web site takes you directly to Santa Pod, Shakespeare County, Hauser Racing, the UK Junior Dragster web site and others. Brad is in the process of having a new body built for his car and this will be  painted with the Lucas Oil livery and mirror Andy Carter's new car for 2011; pictures will follow in late January when the new body is complete. Yesterday Brad displayed his car and I helped to give him a in York in conjunction with Go Motorsport, the MSA's web site with information on all motorsport including drag racing." It's cold and dark outside, so photographer Dominic Romney offers help to ease the CH3NO2 cold turkey with a quick look back over the 2010 season. "I've put together a Best Of collection with what I think are my best images from 2010", says Dom. You can check out Dom's 2010 gallery at blog.modernpics.co.uk. Andrew Wright has opened a new drag racing discussion forum at www.drag-zone.net. "There is a room for every class as well as other rooms for tech talk etc", says Andrew. "At the moment the site is pretty basic but as the site grows I will invest a lot more time and money." Gather winter fuel... 10th December: With Christmas fast approaching it's the perfect time to fill up your tanks with VP Racing Fuel before the winter really kicks in and grinds the entire country to a halt, not just Scotland! New lower prices were announced on Santa Pod Raceway's entire range of VP Fuels - including C12, C14, C16, C23, Q16, Import and SV05 - in October and with a flurry of sales stocks are now replenished ready for another season. With the racing season now long gone dyno testing now takes the place of track running, but this still uses fuel and what a perfect opportunity to test, once and for all, what difference VP Racing Fuel really makes. Power gains can be achieved of up to 5% and, with prices dropped by up to 32%, trying VP Fuel has never been a simpler decision to make. So get yourself an early Christmas present and power up your engine for the new season. Prices including VAT for five US gallons including VAT: C12 Leaded 108 Octane £94 C14 Leaded 114 Octane £104 C16 Leaded 117 Octane £107 C23 Leaded 120+ Octane £128 Q16 Leaded/Oxygenated 116 Octane £107 Import Leaded/Oxygenated 120+ Octane £154 SVO5 Unleaded/Oxygenated 98 Octane £106 For more information on the VP Racing Fuels range and to buy on-line, visit the Pod Shop link at www.santapod.com or call the team on 01234 782828. Giordmaina wins it all. 8th December: Congratulations are due to Maltese Super Street Bike racer Simon Giordmaina and team on a stellar year. Simon has won two Malta Drag Racing Association Championship classes, is officially the Maltese Champion, and has an unbeaten record in every race or qualifying pass this season: I raced in two classes at every event I attended here in Malta, Super Street and Open in which I race against bikes with wheelie bars, nitrous and slicks. We only missed one Maltese event  and that was when we were racing at the Nitrolympx in Germany. Still, having missed one race I was already the Maltese Champion even before the last event so I thought that our last MDRA meeting would make a good test weekend. All year we have had sixty foot problems. The bike was having problems off the line but it was not really bothering us as we were still winning races at the top end, but at this last event some good competition showed up and we had no room for mistakes. I needed to cut good lights in every race to compensate for our sixty foot times. I am proud to say that in my last events, including Hockenheim, I cut .0 lights in all twenty seven races and that helped me to win. But we also needed to concentrate on our sixty foot timesnow, we could not live with our best of 1.43 so we had a good look at the data and realised that we had a more consistent bike before we changed our chassis set-up for Germany. We thought of changing it back to our old set-up and it all worked out perfectly running better than ever in the low 1.3s. So at least at our last event of the year we solved the sixty foot problem and I am confident that it will get better as we know what we are doing now. Thanks to the Malta Drag Racing Association the track was at its best on the last day of the Finals and we ran consistent 8.02, 7.93, 7.88, 7.82, and 7.86/189 mph on the final day. Although we really wanted to see a 7.7 run we ended the season with flying colours knowing that we have found a better than ever set-up. The team is also very happy that this year we were recognised a lot by the media and authorities locally and internationally. His Honour the Minister of Sports Dr Clyde Puli dedicated some time to attending Hal Far Raceway to me testing the bike to give his regards, and it was also a great feeling to see Simon's name in the newspapers nominated for the Sportsman of the Year Award. This would be a great achievement as we really feel that this year we flew the Maltese flag high enough, and we know for sure that with Simon's achievement as a Maltese ambassador there are thousands of people around the world speaking highly about Malta when they never knew it even existed. Back to the bike and we are very happy with all we achieved this year, especially the knowledge we gained. Next season we will be looking forward to more racing and good times with other SSB racers. I believe that the high level of this class is being recognised and that Super Street Bike racers put on the best show wherever they run. Remember it takes a lot of knowledge and work to take these street bikes on a street tyre up to 190-205 mph in seven seconds.  The team and I would like to thank everyone involved in encouraging us during the year, and all the people who were honest with their help during this year. This includes a lot of people for a lot of different reasons so I would personally like to thank all of you guys again. Mainly I would like to say a big thanks to all my supporters and the Maltese crowd who were very supportive all year and made us stronger every time. A big thanks to some special friends who where a big part in our racing preparation and set-up and during racing days, they are Richard Demicoli, Roswell Bugeja and Dominic Mallia who were there whenever I needed anything from them. Eddie Muscat (Ladmu Chassis Builder) for working on the bike's chassis, finding the perfect spots and mentally keeping me calm. The Malta Drag Racing Association Committee for all the hard work, help and encouragement they gave this year. My brother George for being there and giving me ideas and pushing me to try new things on the bike. My parents who are supportive and always back me up in all my needs. My wife Graziella who is pregnant (Yaay, excellent - Ed) and due to give birth to our first baby next April, she supports me all the time and has been very understanding throughout the year even when things started to go the wrong way. We would like to end this by thanking God for always keeping his hands on us and on all of the racers. Swift snippets. 8th December: Sweden's Wålmracing Nostalgia Fuel FC team have new plans for 2011, says Marcus Wålm. "We have a new body which was used by Robert Hight of John Force Racing (below left) and lot of new stuff", says Marcus. "We do not want to reveal everything yet, but here is a taste of what is to come!". Marcus has promised more, but in the meantime you can check out the Wålmracing web site at www.walmracing.se. Showtime Fuel FC Crew Chief Bob Jarrett says that a one-on-one meeting with John Force last Saturday lit his racing fuse again. "John had one of his massive hot rod shows on Sunday which closed off half the town. The public had access to his shop where he had some of his show cars on display (above right). All but one was a show car, no prizes for guessing." We will be opening the traditional Eurodragster.com Christmas Card this coming weekend. If you would like to send a Christmas Greeting to your fellow Eurodragster.com readers then please E-Mail it to [email protected]. SPR introduce Club RWYBs. 8th December: Santa Pod Raceway has just announced its latest innovation in truly competitive, cost effective motorsport: Club Run What You Brung. The inaugural event, to be held on Sunday 6th March offers car clubs the unique chance of experiencing an exclusive track hire session, but without the cost! This new initiative to a RWYB day will allocate attending car clubs exclusive sessions on track so that for the first time they can run as a collective group can race in dedicated sessions. This will ensure that friends and 'bar-room rivals' get the chance to race side by side and settle old scores on the FIA-approved track, under fully timed conditions. The more cars that each club pre-books, the more track time will be allocated to them. Spilt into sessions ten to twenty cars will get a total of forty minutes of track time, thorty to forty cars will get eighty minutes, and so on and so on - meaning that every car in each club can expect a minimum of four runs each, conditions permitting. Then as an extra twist to the event the fastest runners in each club will be run wheel to wheel at the end of the day in a competition-style elimination ladder, to reveal an overall Champion for the day: The King (or Queen) Of Clubs! When not on the quarter mile, guests can avail themselves of the handling circuit or drift course at no extra cost, making the day exceptional value for money. Clubs are also invited to have free stand space to socialise and recruit and of course, passengers and guests are all very welcome to join in the day's activities. With full catering facilities and the Pod Shop open all day, you don't even need to bring any sandwiches! Announcing the event, General Manager David Lloyd-Jones said "We've aimed this day squarely at the true enthusiasts that make the scene what it is – the clubs. Many have wanted to hold their own exclusive event but in most cases, the cost of hiring the whole venue prohibits single clubs being able to. With our new Club RWYB event we have been able to offer exclusivity while spreading the cost amongst a number of clubs. Sunday 6th is our first but we have more planned and expect to make it a monthly fixture. We hope Club RWYB will make a dynamic change to static monthly club meets, and with the handling track and drift arena there to fill in any downtime, it means there will be loads to do all day." The track opens at 9.30 am and closes at 5.30 pm, but in case of track downtime can run under floodlights all the way through until 9:00 pm, with a short lunch break. As the perfect way to blow out the cobwebs for the season opener at The Marangoni Fast Show, this is the ideal event to get you, your club and your cars ready for the 2011 race and show season! The cost for a Club RWYB ticket is only £50 if bought in advance before Friday 18th February. This includes general admission, track sign-on and drift and handling track admission. For non drivers and spectators general admission is £10 on the gate and passengers wishing to ride in a car on track are charged £10. For full information and fees please visit www.rwyb.co.uk or call the team on 01234 782828. Web site updates. 8th December: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén reveals the result of the Rookie of the Year poll for which he was nominated. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Andy Bennett has been in touch to let us know that the Never Again Racing aka Doomsday aka Frankimpala '68 Impala now has its own web site at www.68impala.co.uk. The great-looking web site features details about the car and its build, the team, and also includes pictures and video, history and more. Andy tells us that all being well the Impala will be running in competition in 2001. Please let all be well! Frost joins the Blog team. 6th December: We are very pleased to announce the addition of the UK's Andy Frost to our Racer Blogs brought to you in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Andy has been racing for more than twenty years in a variety of classes, all but one of those classes with his Red Victor Vauxhall which set world records for a pump gas-powered car when running in Street Eliminator. Andy is now building Red Victor 3 for MSA and ultimately FIA Pro Modified, and in keeping with the manner of Andy's career the car will of course be street-legal. In the first instalment in his Racer Blog Andy introduces himself and gives us an overview of his plans for Red Victor 3. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Pietilä to TMD. 6th December: Finnish Top Methanol Dragster racer Esko Raisvuo tells us that the team's Autorotor blown-alcohol dragster will be making some appearances in 2011. What was previously the Mad Bomber dragster is to be driven by former Super Comp and Super Street Champion Ari Pietilä. "The plan is just to get Ari licenced, have a lot of fun at national level, and get a handle of the modern tune-up just to keep it together", says Esko. "If that programme continues then we will naturally try to make it a lot quicker. Old books say that the record over ten years ago was 5.68 and 402 km/h, back then it was the first car outside the USA to go over 250 mph. "Things getting better on the wider range. Now we are looking around to find a driver for our second A-Fueller, the one with Chrysler-based engines. Hopefully we will all get out together some day." It's gonna be tough in '11... 6th December: Three European Pro Mod competitors were in attendance on the final Saturday of this year's Essen Motor Show, writes photo-journalist and Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Member Andy Willsheer: Sweden's Jan 'Badillac' Gunnarsson (left of pic) and German Jurgen 'Master of Desaster' Schomann (middle of pic) each had their race cars on display at the Messe, where they were joined by Norbert Kuno, who campaigns the Lucas Oil-sponsored superchaged Dodge Avenger in the ultimate doorslammer ranks, making for an entertaining discussion on the Hockenheimring stand about the quarter-mile sport that I found rather enlightening. All agreed that the class can only be tougher in 2011 and just to make the sixteen-car field at any of the FIA scheduled five-round series will be quite an achievement in itself. They all look forward to entering the FIA/UEM NitrOlympX - Germany's sole 'proper' drag race - where action on the Rico Anthes Quartermile invariably produces a passel of notable numbers. Here's hoping... Swift snippets. 6th December: We have two spy pictures for you today (below). Neither came with any words although they both came from similar addresses as spy pictures which we published last week. If you know more, of if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. Belinda Bull asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to her husband, engine builder and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff Bull. No sooner said than done, have a great day Jeff. Tog's brother Martin got in touch yesterday to say that he had spotted a Eurodragster.com decal on a "People carrier type of car" in Banbury in Oxfordshire. If that was your car then do let us know who you are, and thank you for your support. Gredzinski's latest masterpiece. 6th December: UK photo-journalist, artist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski has been no stranger to these pages in the past, but he tells us that in recent months he has been quietly beavering away on various projects. "Midway through the year I was approached by Cliff Gromer who is the editor of the American magazine Mopar Action", says Mark. "He spotted my oil painting depicting the Sox and Martin early 70's Barracuda Pro Stock machine on the internet and enquired if he could use it in the magazine. The reason was that an article was being prepared on Buddy Martin, the partner of the late Ronnie Sox. "I explained that the painting was not quite finished but he was okay with that. However, I wanted to put some further detail into it and re-photograph it before releasing it for publication and so put a further five to six hours' brushwork on the canvas to improve it. It's still far from finished even now. I was expecting it to be used fairly small in the December issue of Mopar Action but was pleasantly surprised to see the painting spread across two full pages to introduce the Buddy Martin interview. Here is how it looked: as you can imagine, I was most pleased with the end result. "As a further point, I was already preparing another Sox and Martin Pro Stocker painting but that's a few weeks away from completion yet." SBS Worldwide's valuable cargo. 6th December: Global freight forwarding and logistics company SBS Worldwide has announced that it will sponsor the Allard Chrysler Action Group project to restore Europe's first dragster, Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler. SBS will be returning the Allard Chrysler Dragster's rebuilt motor from Booth-Arons in the USA. SBS is a privately owned British company that commenced trading in 1983. With its Head Office in Dartford, Kent it has six offices in the UK and four in the USA: Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It also now has fifteen offices in China. For nearly fourteen years, the company has been the freight forwarder for ACAG technical and transportation logistics advisor US Automotive of Bedford. Pete Stafford of US Automotive said "US Automotive has supported the Allard Chrysler dragster restoration project since the ACAG was created in 2008. We have built up a good relationship with SBS and I'm personally very pleased that they have joined us as a sponsor of the project "I know we can trust their expertise and capabilities and it's nice to keep it in the family so to speak. The initial task is to return the completed engine from Booth-Arons in Michigan to Beaulieu in Hampshire so that it can be fitted to the rolling chassis. This is taking place this week." Nick Walker, SBS Group Managing Director, said "We are pleased to work with our client US Automotive and with the ACAG to help restore this historic vehicle, Europe's first ever dragster. As a British-based company with a strong US presence, and a number of significant clients in the automotive sector, we feel a special affinity with this project." Chairman of the ACAG Brian Taylor said "Having a company as important as SBS join our list of sponsors is a great tribute to the project and all the enthusiasts who have donated money and bought products to support the restoration so far. "SBS expertise applied to transporting the engine takes a great weight off my shoulders, as does the fact that they are covering the costs. Dennis Potts, General Manager of the Chicago office visited Sam Eidy at Booth-Arons to advise on the crating and I thank him and his colleague Debbie Milone for their help. And a big thank you to Nancy Bolt at Sam Eidy's Berkley office." SBS Worldwide has just been named as Freight Forwarder of the Year at the prestigious IFW Freight Industry Awards, which recognise excellence and innovation in the logistics industry. You can find their web site at www.sbsworldwide.co.uk. Zeon TV DVD reviews. 6th December: Zeon TV, the UK drag racing video company of David Coleman and Helen Todd have again produced five top-quality drag racing and hot rod videos of 2010 action which are available to purchase at their web site www.quartermilehigh.com. All DVDs are produced to very high standards with race commentary and interviews by Paul Venners, and superb camera work. The Open Sport Nationals does what it says on the tin; it shows all the elimination action from the event at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of August. Being a UK MSA/ACU meeting, all Sportsman classes are represented with close racing under thankfully sunny skies. This event is great both for team members at this event because it is the only round of the UK Championship to be lavished with such comprehensive coverage. It is also invaluable to a newcomer to the sport as a guide to all the classes in Sportsman racing, each class being separately indexed. In contrast Hardcore Street is a record of a single class, Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, throughout the 2010 season. This was a vintage year for the class, running as an MSA Championship class for the first time ever with several new entrants. Generous quantities of interviews and in-car footage are included, the latter with camera angles showing what the driver has to do during the run. Camera angles are plentiful too, showing some unpredictable car behaviour both on the start line and at the top end. A bonus is the visit to the Fat Boys' workshop on the day of the '34 Ford's MOT test. The NSRA Hot Rod Drags from Shakespeare County shows many old-school cars both on the track and around it. The variety of machinery is awesome and there is tons of atmosphere and plenty of material for both hot rod and drag fans. There were full staging lanes throughout the event and with hundreds of pre-'69 rods and race cars on the facility, this DVD is a must for those who love nostalgia in all things automotive. Classes featured include Supercharged Outlaws, Outlaw Anglia, Gasser Circus and Wild Bunch. Footage is included from the Cacklefest held on Saturday evening and also from Nostalgia Nationals from earlier in the season. The Mopar Euronats is one of the UK's most popular lifestyle events and in spite of damp conditions for the Friday night Cruise many muscle cars of the '60s onwards turned out. Several even braved Santa Pod's Live Action Arena the same evening, which on this occasion resembled a skid pan. The strip was packed full of the immaculate machines for the whole weekend's racing. The event is open to makes other than Mopar and this year included more hot rods than the past due to the NSRA Super Nationals date not coinciding with this event. Other now-regular parts of the event are the Taz Racing v Surrey Muscle grudge racing and the final round of the Power Tour. The music track is well chosen and the live band was '70s rockers Mungo Jerry. New to the Zeon TV line-up is the 2010 NSRA Supernationals, held at Shuttleworth Old Warden Park near Biggleswade. This was a very special event, in its 20th anniversary and hosting the ESRA Euro Nationals for the first time in over a decade. The Euro Nationals includes a seventy-mile cruise and although there is no racing in this DVD, the event includes generous footage of cars on the public roads and many rods that have not appeared in the UK before from the thirteen countries involved. This DVD is hosted by John Price whose interviews include Nobby Hills, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and SoCal Speedshop head honcho Pete Chapouris. These excellent DVDs are available from www.quartermilehigh.com at £14.95 each plus post and packing of £1.50 per order for UK and Europe, or £13 each plus £1.75 postage and packing per order outside Europe. Details of special offers on multiple DVD purchases are shown on the site. 2010 Christmas Gift Mart. 4th December: If you are looking for a Christmas gift for the drag racer or drag racing fan in your life, or indeed if you fancy treating yourself, then Eurodragster.com's sponsors and contributors have the following ideas for you. For fairness we are listing items strictly in the order in which we received them: Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts, UK Distributor for VP Racing Fuels, are offering free shipping on all VP Racing Fuels ordered on or before 24th December. If you purchase more than 38 litres of fuel you get a free red Christmas fuel jug. LA Racing Parts are ready to ship C12, C14, C16, Q16, NO2, C23, Import, MR8, MS109, Rally  Plus and Rally Max. Call 01803 554308 or get in touch via LA Racing Parts' web site at www.laracingparts.com. Drag racing artist Paul Whitehouse invites commissions for any drag racing subjects. Have your favourite car or bike captured on canvas. Prices vary according to size and medium preferred. Anything from pencil sketches to a large painted canvas. To discuss your requirements please contact Paul via E-Mail at [email protected] or telephone 01293 532328. Visit Paul's web site at www.paulwhitehouseart.co.uk to see examples of his previous drag racing commissions. Some of the paintings on the web site are available as limited-edition prints. Eliminator is a drag racing-based card game which makes a brilliant stocking filler for young and old racers and fans.  Each pack features twenty European racers and their cars and twenty random Christmas Tree reaction times (including bye runs and red lights). The list includes all the FIA 2010 Champions. Each car and driver card  has a "time": players draw cards for a driver, a car and a reaction time which combine to form an ET. Lowest ET in any round wins. This is but one of the six games which can be played with each pack. Packs cost £5.50 and can be purchased on-line from the Santa Pod shop at www.santapod.com. 60% of the funds raised from the sale of Eliminator cards goes back into European racing as cash grants to teams or individuals in hardship. Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars has plenty for the racer, says Bob Roberts: We keep stock of the the ever-popular Ringer Authentic Mechanics gloves in basic black at £13.99 plus £1.99 P+P. Order via our PayPal shop on the web site at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk. Other Ringers products such as driver's gloves are available to special order. We are still offering Sportsman harnesses at 15% discount until year end, and of course payment this year avoids the VAT increase. They come with SFI and FIA stickers and will be shipped in January to get a 2011 date. They come with a variety of options but only a rotary latch since the NASCAR style is not approved. Call 01256 880589 or E-Mail [email protected] to discuss. We have two transmission manuals in stock, one for Powerglide and the other for Torqueflite. These books by Carl Munro cover most aspects of rebuilding or modifying these transmissions for street or strip. Ideal after Christmas lunch reading as a healthy alternative to Morecambe and Wise re-runs (Yellow card - M&W fan Ed). These go for £18 plus £3.50 P+P. After the season we've had, nobody will be surprised to learn we have good stock of damaged engine parts; rods and pistons can be ordered via the web site for a lot less than we paid for them! And finally, if inspiration fails, we can offer Andy Robinson Race Cars gift certificates to suit every pocket. The Allard Chrysler Action Group has a range of exclusive branded products designed to promote the restoration of Europe's first dragster – Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler - and raise funds to pay for the work required. Sydney was known as The Gov'nor to all who worked for him and to drag racing fans he is the father of British drag racing. Donations and sales of merchandise have already funded the re-creation of a 354 Chrysler Hemi engine that has been built in the USA by nostalgia experts Booth-Arons. The finished unit arrives in the UK this December and more funds are now required to complete work on the chassis. 2011 marks the car's fiftieth birthday. Make it a year to remember by purchasing one of these exclusive items: limited-edition prints from works by Stuart Taylor, Tommy Vågen and Paul Whitehouse; audio CD or download of the tirbute song Ally Blue by Ked Dieter; or T-Shirts and polo shots of the new 'rock tour' design. Also available is a selection of special nostalgia items. So there are many ways to support the restoration of Europe's first dragster. Full details are available via the Merchandise link at www.allardchrysler.org, call 01395 579733, or E-Mail [email protected]. Georgina Green of the Punisher Pro Stock Bike team offers drag racing pictures and gifts via her web site at shootmephotos.zenfolio.com. Dezsoe Krivan is offering the RePlay XD mini digital camera/recorder which at 36 grams is ideal for on-board use, The RePlay XD records DVD quality video to a microSDHC Memory card. The RePlay XD is designed to be easy to use and intuitive with its simple on and off two-button operation and vibration feedback feature. You can record video of your action adventures for up to 110 minutes on a single charge and re-play what you have recorded from your PC or Mac. "We know that pleasant-smelling toiletries are always a good bet and offer protection against start line fears", adds Dez, but for some really useful gifts for racers to keep your loved ones safe go to DJsafety.eu!" Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Hill and the FireForce Jet Funny Car team are delighted to announce a brand new FireForce 3 kids' T-shirt. The kids' shirt is the first in a new line of clothing, with adult clothing hopefully ready for Easter Thunderball 2011. "We have many things in the pipeline for 2011 and this is just the first of them!", says Martin. The kids' T-Shirts will be available in red, steel blue or graphite grey in ages 5-6, 7-8 and 9-11 years, depending on stock availability. Delivery has been promised by Thursday 16th December; if you would like to pre-order, or for more information, please contact Martin via the Contact Us page at www.fireforce.co.uk. UK Top Methanol FC team and Eurodragster.com Blogger Bennett Racing are still selling their Relentless Fuel Altered T-Shirts. "These are an ideal Christmas present, priced at only £10 each or two for £18", says Luke Bennett. "They are available in all sizes and made in high-quality 100% cotton. You can buy direct from our web site at www.bennettracing.co.uk. We will post for free and will get your shirt to you before Christmas. T-Shirts are limited so get in quick as once they are gone they're gone!" UK Super Pro ET racer Nick Good offers a great gift idea for anyone who cares about their loved ones safety whilst racing: the MotoR head and neck restraint from Leatt is available from NGMotorsport at the specially reduced price of £465 including VAT until 4th January 2011. The most technically advanced restraint system meets the SFI 38.1 specification. Although mandatory for any car going over 200mph, it makes real sense for any racer. The MotoR meets the Sfi 38.1 spec without the need to buy a new helmet with HANS mounts, although a version is available for HANS-equipped helmets. NGMotorsport are also agents for the stunning range of SFI spec Spinwerkes drag racing wheels. Guaranteed to make your ride standout from the pack with a performance advantage. Available for all drag racing applications including a new compact and import range. Beautifully machined, lighter than the competition and incredible value. Contact Nick on 01366 387500 for more information or check out the team web site at www.ngmotorsport.co.uk. Ian Turburville tells us that he has a two-piece Simpson firesuit for sale: it is great looking in bright red with white bands. No rips, tears etc. just cleaned. It's a STD-19 suit in Large and is tagged SFI 3-2A/5 so good for all Sportsman classes, £249.00 Also have a Medium RCI suit, crimson with cream bands, beautiful suit, also SFI 3-2A/5, £199.00 Grab a bargain! I will include a free CarbonX top with either suit. I also have head socks and neck restraints to clear. Special: I have a few pairs of Simpson SFI-20 gloves for Top Fuel, Funny Car, altered, Pro Mod, in Large or X-Large just £99! One pair of Sportsman gloves in X-Large just £49. Just two pairs of superb SFI-tagged Sprint driving shoes, size UK12, UK13, black leather and nomex, awesome! I have two HANS ready Diamondback helmets left and two Impact Nitro helmets left. First come first served on those. My fantastic Flash Red Diamondback, with extra visors, in perfect condition and ACU Gold stamp along with Snell stamp, is for sale for £399 Clearing various Simpson T-Shirts and sweats at half price. Don't forget Nitro Knucks mechanics gloves, great stocking fillers! Mail me at [email protected] for pictures and details! Merry Christmas to all! If you have not ordered a copy already, a perfect gift for drag race fans this Christmas is the newly-released book written by Keith Lee, which takes a nostalgic look back at the first twenty years of drag bike racing in Britain, and its spread into Europe. Illustrated with more than one hundred pictures, most of which were taken by the author, this book recaptures the atmosphere of the early days of our sport, and highlights the riders and their machines who set the benchmarks. Already receiving great reviews, and positive feedback from readers, Drag Bike Racing in Britain - From the mid 60s to the mid 80s is now available worldwide, and from the publishers Veloce at www.veloce.co.uk. Zeon TV, aka Quarter Mile High, have a whole batch of 2010 drag racing DVDs available for ordering. Currently available are this year's Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship, Open Sport Nationals, Mopar EuroNats, NSRA Hot Rod Drags, and ESRA EuroNats/NSRA SuperNats. You can find out more, check out clips, and order at www.quartermilehigh.com. Santa Pod Raceway's extensive and unique merchandise catalogue is available on-line although if you are quick and can get to the track today then the Pod Shop is open until 4:00 pm. Whether you're looking for a woolly hat for that up-coming ski trip, a toy for your car-mad kids, a Christmas present for the hard-to-buy drag fan in your life including season review and other DVDs, clothing, models, toys and car accessories, or just stocking fillers such as key-rings, fridge magnets and stickers, you can browse for it all in The Pod Shop Online You can also now purchase 2011 Event Tickets at a discount either by telephoning the track office on 01234 782828 or on-line via the Santa Pod Ticket Shop at www.santapodshop.com. Gift Vouchers are available to be used against either admission for Santa Pod organised events or in the Pod Shop located on site. If you want your gifts in time for Christmas, order now to avoid disappointment as some stocks are limited. Merchandise orders must be received before 9:00 am next Wednesday (8th), or ticket orders by 9:00 am on 17th December, to be dispatched in time for Christmas. At Christmas or at any time, a photo is a valuable memory. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe offers photographs of almost any class from the 1970s to date, available from postcard to poster sizes at competitive prices. For details see Roger's web site at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Brian Huxley is offering a 30" x 22" Eddie Hill lithograph by James Ibusuki, commemorating the year in which Eddie ran the first four-second pass and won the 1993 Winston Top Fuel Championship. The print is framed and is available for £200. If you are interested then call Brian on 07837 985973. Frost gets his coat. 4th December: UK Pro Modified racer Andy Frost is pleased to announce that ceramic coating specialist Zircotec will be a technical partner to the official VXR drag racing team in 2011. "We have used Zircotec's durable ceramic coating on Red Victor 2, our 2,200 bhp car, with great success for a number of years", says Andy Frost. "The exhaust manifolds and turbos on the car put out an amazing amount of heat yet, the Zircotec ceramic coating performed extremely well and never failed. We are very happy that they will be coating Red Victor 3s whole exhaust and turbo housing in their ThermoHold ceramic material, particularly as there are some very delicate components around the exhaust area, which if not heat managed could get severely damaged." Peter Whyman, sales director of Zircotec, adds "We are pleased to be involved with the Red Victor 3 project. This car will deliver more than 3,000 bhp and will generate massive amounts of heat. This is the kind of application that a Zircotec heat resistant coating excels in. High-performance engines require careful thermal management to perform at their optimum. Our coating will protect fuel and electrical systems from the effects of heat whilst also ensuring a performance advantage." Zircotec's coatings are plasma sprayed offering a light, durable and effective thermal barrier that can reduce surface temperatures by over thirty percent. Used extensively in F1 and other motorsports, Zircotec's coatings and flexible heat shield material ZircoFlex are also available to protect road and race performance and classic cars, helping to improve reliability, safety and performance through better heat management. "The team is very pleased to be associated with Zircotec and look forward to using their product with confidence", says Andy. You can visit Zircotec's web site at www.zircotec.com. Andy and all of the Red Victor 1 team wish crew man Rob 'Henchman' Kearns a very Happy Birthday for today (Saturday). Another good night had by all. 3rd December: The NDRS Banquet attracted even more guests than expected to the Scandic in Upplands Väsby, writes Lena Perés: Nearly sixty trophies, a number of prize cheques and lots of diplomas were awarded during the evening to the amazing drag racers and operators who have participated in this year's Nordic Drag Racing Series and Swedish Dragracing League. A total of 314 participants competed in the SDL and 451 in NDRS. The evening offered a nice dinner followed by prize presentation including the Swedish Motorcycle Association who took the opportunity to present their plaques to their Swedish Champions in Pro Twin Bike and Snowmobile. A few sponsor prizes were distributed by Christer Uhlin and Håkan 'Strawhat' Mattson. Last but not least was the Eagle of the Year award, and the choice was between Daniel Nyling for his contributions as a newcomer in Stock/Super Stock; Speedgroup for their enormous work carried out for European drag racing; and Micke Gullkvist who was the first European to win an NHRA National race in the United States and to bring home a Wally. The choice fell this year on Micke as a Wally is equal to a European Championship trophy and is a huge achievement to take home. After all this it was time for the traditional bar visit where relaxed racers shared their experiences and ideas with their peers. There was a positive and convivial atmosphere among the participants, which shows that drag racing is a sport that will grow even stronger in the coming season. Our good buddy, photo-journalist Stefan Boman has kindly provided us with a gallery of pictures from the NDRS Banquet, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the picture at right. Swift snippets. 3rd December: Martin Agius tells us that the popular Maksar Racing drag truck team wowed the crowd with another Personal Best at Malta's Hal Far Raceway. "After a couple of safe 10.5-second passes the team decided to spice it up a notch", says Martin. "The result was an early Christmas present, 10.14/135 mph. You can find a video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6NXvOcF81Y." Mum, Leon, Sarah and James asked us to say a big Happy 21st Birthday to David Anniwell of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew. Very happy to do so, guys, have a great day David. We will be posting our annual Christmas Gift Mart here on Eurodragster.com tomorrow. If you would like to advertise drag racing-related products or services which would make good gifts for racers, race fans, officials, the media or anyone else then please send a paragraph, or at most two, with details including price and how to order to [email protected]. One photograph per submission will be accepted. F&A aim for Top Fuel fray. 2nd December: F & A Racing is a new team planning to compete in the 2011 European Top Fuel Dragster Championship with Chris Andrews in the driving seat and Mac Forbes as Crew Chief. Team PR Neil Williams tells us that the team will be toting a new chassis with an impressive array of equipment and an enthusiastic backroom crew and that they will be a force to be reckoned with. "The new car which F & A Racing have is a Top Ten NHRA car which has won NHRA events and is a real class dragster", says Neil. "The team at F & A Racing are offering sponsorship opportunities not only for the big corporations but also smaller companies to beat the global recession. We aim to build long-term relationships with all sponsors and advertisers. Details of the team and sponsorship packages available can be found via our web sites at www.faracing.com (parent site) and www.millionpixelracing.com (sponsorship site)." SCR launch Junior Dragster League. 2nd December: Shakespeare County Raceway in association with Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars are pleased to announce the launch of the 2011 Shakespeare County Raceway Junior Dragster League, writes organiser Daren Brett. Following in the steps of our American cousins, the five-round Junior Dragster League will be held at the Midlands drag strip. The League will be adopting the highly-regarded Supercharged Outlaw/Wild Bunch time trial format developed by Roy Wilding. During the course of last season the Raceway held a number of popular time trial shootouts with great success. Under this format all of those who entered enjoyed the maximum seat time, with no eliminations or pressure of red lighting: it's purely an ET-based time trial. "Just before the Open Sport Nationals I was asked by Jeremy Cookson to look at the possibilities of the track running their own League programme", said Daren. "Before giving it more thought I was approached by Roy Wilding who there and then made a commitment to support the Juniors in any format we presented. Roy has put forward prize money and a winners shield as part of the prize fund. "I was asked to form a small committee, and after a meeting at the track in November to discuss dates, prize fund and permitted index times in relation to age, that committee of moderators was formed with Carl Webb as Treasurer, Joanne Kopasz as Official Timing Officer and myself looking after PR and Marketing. "The League dates were given a great deal of consideration to avoid conflicting with MSA and European rounds as much as possible. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to cover every angle a compromise was reached with the following dates counting towards the League. The only conflicting European date is 23rd-24th July, but this still doesn't hamper the running of the League as the best four out of five rounds will be counted but one attendance point will be missed." The 2011 Junior Dragster League dates are as follow: 16th-17th April: Public Track Day Test and Tune 11th-12th June: Public Track Day/For Ladies That Launch Weekend 9th-10th July: British Mini Showdown and Public Track Day 23rd-24th July: Public Track Day Test and Tune 1st-2nd October: Public Track Day/Ford Fever Weekend 15th-16th October: Public Track Day League rain date The following prize fund will be dependent upon a ten-car entry: first place £750, second place £400 and Best Reaction £150. There will also be round trophies for first to fourth place with a Best Reaction Trophy plus event prizes. The total cost for ten days will be £375. This will include entry for the driver and two adults and the track sign on fee for the weekend. Rules and entry forms will be available via the Downloads section of SCR's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Shakespeare County would like to thank the following partners who have jumped onboard with commitments to the League's programme. They will also be promoting the Juniors through their own companies in 2011 and we sincerely hope we will have support and enthusiasm for some time to come: Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, Peter Walters Race Design, CC Medical Services, the Supercharged Outlaws, Fester Race Cars, Claron Graphics, Webb Express Couriers, and Classic Designs. "We are committed to getting as many people involved as possible with frequent updates on Eurodragster.com and SCR's Junior Experience Facebook Page", said Daren. "Furthermore before the start of the season in April we expect to launch our own League web site once the domain is confirmed. "Furthermore we are also hoping to have a Junior Dragster School Day in the summer holidays where the kids will be spend two days under supervision prior to a RWYB event building their own team flathead motors and racing them at the weekend, dates to be announced. I would also like to say a big thank you to Pete Walters of PWRD, who immediately stepped up with the offer of our superb League logo." Swift snippets. 2nd December: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Another Christmas present, no more nines!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. If you fancy a bit of Christmas shopping then Debbie of Santa Pod Raceway tells us that Santa Pod's Pod Shop merchandise outlet will be open this Saturday (4th) between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. We will be posting our annual Christmas Gift Mart here on Eurodragster.com this coming Saturday. If you would like to advertise drag racing-related products or services which would make good gifts for racers, race fans, officials, the media or anyone else then please send a paragraph, or at most two, with details including price and how to order to [email protected]. One photograph per submission will be accepted. UK Top Sportsman update. 2nd December: Eurodragster.com sponsors Jeff Bull Racing Engines and Paul Marston's Drag Race Driving School are set to finalise the rules for the inaugural running of UK Top Sportsman, which takes place at Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway on 16th-17th July 2011. Paul Marston writes that more than forty teams have expressed an interest in this exciting new development in UK drag racing: Doorslammers only, heads-up racing at its very best, open to anyone who has a fast car. You do not have to be running in any class, if it's fast, you can qualify. This is a non-MSA licence event; so long as you have a driving license you can run. With so many really fast cars out there now, either built here in the UK such as Marc Lamude's Prochargered '55 Chevy or Steve Pateman's Street Eliminator entry or imported such as Brendan Clancey's Top Sportsman injected nitrous-assisted 1950s Corvette. There are many many worthy of the crown but only one can win it. The rules currently stand as Saturday one-shot qualifier for a sixteen-car field, .400 Pro Tree, heads-up. Sunday Bracket Race, everyone runs, first round buy-back, no throttle stops, no delay boxes, no sandbagging. The main point which has attracted a lot of debate is the type of Tree which we will use in Sunday's race. If we run a Sportsman Tree it could be argued that it's just like running Super Pro for door cars, so Jeff Bull suggested we run it like the Australians do which is still bracket racing but on a Pro Tree, with a blinder on the tree so that the first car leaving does not distract the second driver's focus. The last time Top Sportsman was tried, at Santa Pod in 2007 and without a blinder on the Tree, the slowest car won. We have learnt that lesson. Hopefully over the next few days the rules will be finalised and the entry fees agreed. For further details or to express your interest in entering UK Top Sportsman please contact Paul Marston at [email protected] or Jeff Bull via the banner on the Swap Meet. Web site updates. 2nd December: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Kalle Lyrén awaits the results of a Rookie of the Year poll. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has updated his Nitro Exposure web site with three new galleries: the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals and the Auto Club NHRA Finals. In addition there are a couple of vintage photos on the Home and News pages. The photos are different from those used in Roger's Eurodragster.com Features and other publications and contain a few slow sync night photos which Roger says are always fun to play around with. You can check it all out at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. 2011 FIA rules posted. 1st December: Many thanks to Lars Pettersson of the FIA Drag Racing Commission for letting us know that the 2011 FIA European Championship rules are now available on the FIA web site at www.fia.com via the Sport and Regulations links. The document comes in PDF format and changes are marked in red. Lars has asked us to draw racers' attention to the following mandatory items for 2011: The Eject Helmet Removal System (Part # SDR 890-01-30) is mandatory in Pro Modified, Pro Stock, Top Methanol Funny Car, Top Methanol Dragster, Fuel Funny Car and Top Fuel Dragster and must be installed per manufacturer instructions. A properly-installed and operational Electrimotion Shutoff Controller Kit is mandatory in Top Methanol Funny Car, Top Methanol Dragster, Fuel Funny Car and Top Fuel Dragster. The Controller Kit must be installed per manufacturer instructions. Modification of or tampering with the Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller Kit is prohibited. Beck selling up. 1st December: Multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion, European record holder and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck has put his 7.0-second bike and associated operation up for sale. "I was made redundant a few months ago and do not now have the funds to run it as I would like", explains Dave. "It needs to be raced in the UEM on the best tracks in Europe. The ACU Championship has been a lot of fun over the years, but is not enough of a race for me now due to the performance advantage I have. However the UEM is a large undertaking due to the logistics, time away from work and home, and the costs involved in travel and in maintaining the bike. "Should I still own the bike I will aim to run the Easter Thunderball and FIA Main Event at Santa Pod as I believe I have the tune-up and power to run a six-second pass. "I am putting my whole racing operation up for sale. The bike has the best parts money can buy. It is a 2009 PMFR chassis with all PMFR running gear, carbon fibre bodywork, Berry vacuum pump, Racepak datalogger including laptop with seven years' run data and set up information. Milwaukee 18v battery system including chargers. It has MC4 ignition, electric oil pump set up and exhaust pipe from Paul Gast's bike which went 6.89. The motor spec is 2011 Vortex head with new 1755cc crank, Liberty six-speed trans, MTC billet block and lightweight pins and pistons all HP coated. Very trick Lectron carbs. 28,500 GBP. Spare motor as above only with new 1655cc crank, 12,500 GBP. 26-foot Featherlite trailer, 5000 GBP, this will be sold only after the bike is sold. Numerous spares. "I would like to thank all the people and sponsors who have helped me with products and funding to acheive all the titles and records over the years. Steve Clark at Nimbus Motorsport, Rick Ward, Don Plesser, Jay Regan,  Roger Upperton, Paul Gast, Eric at MTC, Dom at TVR Power, Stephen Moon and of course my hard-working crew. You are the best - just look at the record books." If you are interested in buying Dave's operation then you can bite his hand off via his web site at www.davebeckracing.com. Nostalgia, baby! 1st December: If you were tuned in to yesterday's Eurodragster.com News update you will have read that the revelation was promised about the first of the two spy pictures. That revelation comes courtesy of our good buddies Mathias Schneider and Markus Münch of Der Beschleuniger.de who took a 900-kilometre round trip from Germany to Belgium to find out all about Ramon van der Weurf's Nostalgia Funny Car: Ramon is a well-known drag racer from The Netherlands. He looks like a guy directly out of a 50s garage with greased hair, jeans and boots. He built the very nice looking and sounding Wild at Heart blown '41 Willys Coupe which he raced at Drachten and Hockenheim for two years but crashed the car at Drachten 2009. The motor, a door and Ramon escaped unhurt; the rest was a mess and couldn't be used for racign any more. But from every bad thing there is something good to be found, so Ramon's dream of a 1970s FC came true even faster than he and others ever thought possible. Before our trip we had spoken to Ramon about his FC and how it came together, and this is what he said. "I built this Funny Car myself over the last ten months and finally made my ultimate dream come true. This suddenly became more serious after I crashed my Willys and miraculously survived. This mishap made me realise even more that life is just so short that I really had to fullfil all my dreams as soon as possible! "And here I am, in the final stage of putting together this genuine 70s FC. It's eaten up all my spare time over the last year, cost me all my money, has taken away a lot of other pleasures...but what a great time I got in return! I have admired 1970s FC racing so much for more than twenty years. You know as well as I do that it is suddenly popular in the US right now (and that may not be a good thing for us guys who are really into the Ol' Skool stuff already). Still I sincerely expect and hope it will become a true class over I also know about rumours of a British FC class. The Time Warp was amazing at Hockenheim in August. This year they really said it's gonna happen in 2011. I really hope it'll happen in '11. I know the two Swedish FCs are in, and part of the show. Those Swedes are way ahead anyway. Trust me, I'll be testing and running my Nostalgia FC in 2011 all over Europe. Sweden, Hockenheim, the Pod and Drachten are included. "I had to build the car the way I like it to be: my Funny Car. Just like I built my Willys from the ground up. I just want to be involved with every aspect of the car I am driving. This project was a little over the top, but still I am convinced that it'll work out just fine. The truck, trailer, awning, organisation have been settled as we speak. "I do consider myself lucky to have some serious sponsors who also like the sport and would like me to continue the way I did only a little bit faster. This helps a lot money-wise! Those sponsors are Kendall, Six Pack Speedshop and Roltrex. "I had had for many years but especially after my crash, and dreams do become real. A Funny Car it'll be. A '71 Charger body it had to be and it was specially ordered from The Funny Factory in PA. In my honest opinion this body - as I am a Mopar lover anyway - is the best example of a 70s FC. My all-time favourite was the Chi-Town Hustler. The five-inch lengthened nose, for my 125-inch wheelbase, suits the FC the best. The complete rolling TMFC chassis was bought from Finland and belonged to Bucky Austin, who set a world record in '99 with it at 5.53. "I started the project in December 2009 and meant to continue with my old blower engine from the Willys (8.80 ET on gasoline), which was the only part to survive the crash. It would cost a lot of money to convert everything to alcohol, since alcohol was the way to go. By then I knew of a complete blown Hemi engine for sale on Eurodragster.com. The engine belonged to the original Texas Big Bird. I mean, if I am going Mopar Ol' Skool FC, this blown motor would be the best way to go. The engine was found in Australia and went to the UK, where I found it. And I think it'll be a wise and wild decision." Ramon wants to run the FC on Methanol to get used to the routine in the car. He plans to test a lot in 2011, so don't miss that piece of pure Nostalgia. The future vision is to run the car on Nitro...and, you know, dreams can come true. You can read this story in German and see more pictures at www.derbeschleuniger.de, and a big Thank You to Markus and Mathias for translating it and sending it to us. Photo Feature: 2010 SEMA Show. 1st December: Once again, the immense SEMA Show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center along with the AAPEX Show at the Sands Expo and Convention Center was held directly after the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, fitting in nicely with many schedules during the week of 2nd-5th November, writes Roger: Over 100,000 industry professionals took up the invitation to view the products of more than 1,800 exhibitors anything from rubber gaskets to new automotive models both, stock, or fully customised. Each item is produced to encompass safety, performance and convenience and attracts manufacturers and customers from across the globe. Despite the global market being somewhat depressed, the enthusiasm was high and positive and the attending crowds of exhibitors, buyers, customers and media looked to be up on last year's attendance. The inaugural SEMA Award was presented to the Chevrolet Camaro for the Hottest Car whilst the Ford F-Series clinched the Hottest Truck with the Jeep Wrangler securing the Hottest 4x4 SUV. There were a number of dragster related displays and some big names came in to perform autograph sessions culminating in large queues. The hot rod scene was huge with some stunning examples of the genre from reasonably stock to exotic to downright bizarre both on four and two wheels. The shows are always well worth attending if you are involved with the auto industry in any shape or form. Next year's event is scheduled to be held between 1st and 4th November. In association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport we are pleased to present a Photo Feature of Roger's pictures from the SEMA Show. You can check out Roger's SEMA Show pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 1st December: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Getting there". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected]. The excellent European Drag Racing Database is holding a poll for Europe's Premier Drag Racer in 2010. FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher was the first to write and tell us that he was on the shortlist, but for whomever you would like to vote check out the News page at www.drdb.eu. Jeanette and Jon Webster have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to their daughter Shelby Webster. "We wish Shelby a great day and an even better year ahead", they say. "She has been busy trying to get her race car ready for painting as well as writing her dissertation for her degree. The car would probably be finished by now if she let Dad loose on it but Shelby wants to do as much of it as she can herself". Have a lovely day Shelby. We will be posting our annual Christmas Gift Mart here on Eurodragster.com this coming Saturday (4th December). If you would like to advertise drag racing-related products or services which would make good gifts for racers, race fans, officials, the media or anyone else then please send a paragraph, or at most two, with details including price and how to order to [email protected]. One photograph per submission will be accepted. Earlier news