As told exclusively to

Thanks to our major sponsor Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. If you have a question for Derek or the team or if you would like to send a message of support then please E-Mail us at derekflynn@eurodragster.com.

Sunday 8th August: Losing a good friend.

Well I have tried to write this blog a few times before we went to Sweden and since returning, but just could not seem to do it, I was so upset and angry after losing a good friend in Mark Niver, it really hit home in Sweden when we put the black line through our number on the race car in respect of Mark and I just broke down, I guess I needed to grieve the sad and tragic loss of Mark.

I am proud that I was able to call Mark a friend, he was an excellent machinist by trade, a great innovator, a true gentleman, a great racer with so many stories and a really great sense of humour and most of all just a great all round guy. I, as will many, will really miss the times with him and his team in their pits and I shall also miss our regular telephone chats… my condolences to all the Billet Bullet Team, friends and family, especially, Tanis, Cory, Samantha and Bobby.

Jim had brought with him a few of the Mark Niver tribute stickers that we promptly put on the car as did some of the other racers that knew him, I think it was really neat he was being remembered this side of the pond too, such was his influence to our sport around the world, especially to all involved in TAD/TMD. Should anyone else wish to have Mark Niver tribute stickers then come and see me in our pits.

Our first ever Championship Trophy was down to Mark, we were leading the UK Championship but we had had major problems with our engine and had damaged two cranks in two meetings, and were looking like we could not make the National Finals when I was discussing our problems with Mark, he piped up ‘what stroke do you run?’ I told him and he said ‘I think I got one of them, I don’t run that stroke any more and I bought it as a spare a few years back so you are welcome to it free of charge as I am not totally sure of its history.’ I knew the perfectionist Mark was and if it was good enough for a spare for him, it would be just fine and he promptly sent it to us the next day, which meant we could run the National Finals. This sums up the man, he would help anyone even a guy from ‘bloody ol’ England’ as he used to say.

I really wanted to try and win Sweden and dedicate it to Mark, but our car was just too good for the track conditions mainly due to the fact the weather was against us, a newly laid track and the lack of a day of sportsman racing and the subsequent lack of rubber.

I love Mantorp but it does not seem to love me; the A fuel cars that made it down the track all seemed to drop cylinders from the get go, but our car was happy off the line but just overpowered the track conditions every time, despite us taking as much power as possible out. Jim was pulling what hair he has left out after the runs and we even joked about pulling some spark plugs leads off and may be we might make it down.

Unfortunately on Q2 despite me seeing Jim had put down plenty of water in the burn out box, in between that and us starting unfortunately it had been swept away and with the lack of water that we really needed, we could not burn out and that was that run gone. On the last qualifier we smoked the tyres again down track, and despite running 204 MPH at the 1/8th, we dropped 4 cylinders after the tyre smoking and only managed a 6.0 at 201 MPH, it did not help that I lifted 0.2 of a second early either... D'oh... but as it happens the engine was chewing up a head and liner so probably just as well. So it looked like we were a DNQ again, but when we got back to the pits, Esko was straight down to see us saying he was broke and he would not be running in eliminations and we would be in as first alternate, thanks Esko. But, alas, despite all the hard work by the track crew who managed to get the track dry at least twice on that Sunday, we never got a run and the meeting was called due to rain.

Thanks to all the Go Gold crew, for all your hard work yet again and special thanks to Jim & Kay Rizzoli for coming over to help too. Jim and Kay have gone off for a tour around Europe in their Alamo/Europe car (thanks to Andy Wheeler for his assistance and the great drag racers deal they offer) and they will be meeting up with us again in Germany, where we have some unfinished business from last year; lets hope the weather is with us and we can really make the most of our hot rod, it just really wants to go and I am looking forward to learning even more about the tuning.

Friday 9th July: Alastaro: Will everybody stop shutting me down...

Q1 and an up in smoke on the hit, which was the same as last year when we won, but that is where the similarities ended unfortunately... Oh, what could have been if everybody could have stopped shutting me down...

Q2 - with a few modifications to the tune up we were back on song, although this run was a little scary as I got close to the guardrail and a little out of shape as well as a little too close to the grass once the barriers ended. But it was a 5.42 with a massive 273 mph and we were on for another speed record if we could back it up. I was a little too long on the throttle as I was busy trying to keep it away from the wall and missed the finish line by a second. Oops... looking at the data we reckon I was doing around 284 MPH before I lifted. Sorry for scaring everyone who thought my throttle had stuck, I knew it was a fast run as the chutes hit really hard thankfully and I made it all the way to the end of the track which I did not do last year.

Q3, and we were shut down due to fuel coming out of the header gaskets, which happens a lot on our car and is not a problem on the run, but the keen eyed start line official was not happy and insisted I shut down…

Q4 - good burnout, but when I depressed the clutch it went past the pedal stop and got stuck behind it and I could not get it back, so with the clutch fully engaged I had no option but to shut myself down. Thanks to Andy Robinson who welded and strengthened the clutch pedal stop, despite his own woes.

Elim 1: We were against Fred Hansen and the tuning prowess of Will Hannah. Our car really struggled to burn out, I had decided to give it all I thought the track would take, but with the lack of burnout the tune up was too much and after one second it blazed the tyres and I thought that was us done then I saw Fred get very sideways and thought he is going to lift so I got back on it again, and then pedalled it as it went up in smoke again, but too late, he beat me across the line and then the team informed me on the radio he had red lit. Phew that was lucky!

Elim 2: Against Dennis and the Habermann team and I must admit I was looking for revenge for the Main Event, but alas it was not to be. After a great burnout, I was struggling to find reverse, when John my crew guy who was up front told me to shut it down as we had a fuel leak from one of the barrel valve fittings - aghhhh! Apologies to the Habermanns for keeping them waiting. My comments on my last blog had obviously hit home with Werner, as I saw in their runs against Grumpy and Krister (as I was the car behind in the fire up road), they waited for the nod from all the A Fuel crew Chiefs before starting their cars at this event, just as it should be, thanks guys.

The Habermanns are obviously the team to beat with Timo’s unbelievable top fuel like 60 ft times and Dennis’ reaction times. They are proving to be very tough to beat, but to keep the Championship alive, beat them we must and I am sure all the teams like ours will be doing all they can to do so.

We came away from Alastaro a little disappointed not to have closed the gap and we had tripped our selves up at this event with the problems we had had. The team worked hard and I would like thank them for all their efforts and I know they are all determined that we will improve. Thanks also to all the FHRA crews for putting on a great event and special thanks to Mattie our pit Marshall. Big thanks to Andy Wheeler and Alamo for all their assistance with the car rentals. Also it was great to see Tog and the guys from Eurodragster on track and thanks for the excellent coverage, when you are running a car you don’t get to see any racing and it was neat to keep up to date with what was going on real time. Last but by no means least, a massive thanks to Jim Rizzoli who once again allowed me to phone and wake him in the wee small hours for help and advice; sorry we did not make the most of it, Jim, and good luck in Seattle, where Jim is tuning no less than three A Fuelers; son Kyle, Larry Miersch, as well as helping good mate Mark Niver. I would also like to take this opportunity to pass on our condolences, hugs and best wishes to his wife Kay who has unfortunately lost both her parents recently within a few weeks of each other.

It was sad to see the state of my mate Andy Robinson’s car after his top end fire, although it was good to see he is all OK and if anyone can rebuild a race car better than it was before it is Andy, but I know running a small business and trying to finance a race car on a budget is not easy, especially when you are the team owner and sponsor. Good luck with it all Andy and team, we hope to see you back at the track soon...

Thanks for stopping by. Roll on Sweden, we can’t wait.

Photos courtesy and © Fiona Flynn

Sunday 6th June: Farmer Flynn, and he drove the fastest plough from the west...

What a couple of weeks that was; I am glad to be back at work for a bit of a rest… not for long though, as we are already preparing for Finland.

Huge thanks to the Go Gold Crew; they worked their socks off just to get us to the event, as the new block and parts arrived just in time and took a couple of weekends to put everything together.

The test day was a little disappointing as we were late getting the car ready to run and only managed one shot in the day, and that was an ‘up in smoke at the hit’, which meant we learned very little from the data, other than we were making more horsepower than before.

After a great day of Sportsman qualifying, we had rain on Saturday, so we were down to just two qualifiers. I am pleased to say our first run was a team best of 5.42 and that was with a dropped cylinder after 3.5 seconds. After the session, we were qualified number two, however we had hurt a head; the crew turned the car round and we were ready for Q2, but with all the on-track delays (well done to all the track crew who worked their socks off too) it was getting later and later and the weather was getting colder and colder. We were in the pairing lanes and due to run as the last pair, but with only one car bumping us down a spot we decided to err on the side of caution and towed back. Sorry to the fans for that, but from the applause we received as we towed back down the return road, I think you understood our position, no point risking breaking more parts and not making eliminations, as we experienced in the Euro Finals last year, where we qualified and then had to give our spot in Eliminations to Esko due to a bent crank.

So the team had an early night for a change, as the car was ready to run and we were looking forward to race day proper. We were up against Paul Ingar Udtian in the first round and after going over the data with Jim, we really fancied that we could improve on our 5.42 and hopefully take the win. This run was one of the few times we have had all eight cylinders lit to the line and it showed with an awesome 5.35 at over 271 MPH. Just brilliant... I went through the line, pulled my chutes and started braking, but there was no hit as is normal when the chutes hit hard. Looking at the data, I lifted at 5.75 seconds and was on the brakes by 6.2 seconds and managed to get the brake pressure up to a whopping 500 psi, pulling so hard on the brake lever trying to get stopped. The car was slowing but I could feel it was about to start the dreaded bounce, so had to ease off the brakes a little, three quarters down the shut down area and I knew I was going off the end. Just like Drachten, but this time going quite a bit faster. I estimate I scrubbed off over 200 MPH but braced myself for the off and just concentrated on keeping the car shiny side up, and hopefully the car and I would be OK.

A massive thanks to the excellent Santa Pod Crew and safety teams; they were there with me in the field in a flash and I signalled to them with a thumbs up that I was OK, although covered in dust and dirt, and rather shaken up by my high speed ploughing experience... After the Safety Crew checked me over they then allowed me out of the car and it was straight to the back of the car to check what had happened to my chutes. They had in fact deployed, but had somehow twisted together and dropped through the wheelie bar above the netting used to stop that happening - honestly, if you tried to dangle a single drone through that gap while the car was stationary, it would have taken you ages, let alone at 271 MPH and near on impossible to get both through. Darren Prentice arrived and after he checked I was OK, he gave me the news that it was a 5.35 at an amazing 271 MPH; well I jumped in the air and screamed yeeessss! A quick look over the car and nothing obvious was broken. My crew then arrived, all very concerned that I and the car were OK and we then set about getting the car out the field and back to the pits to check it out properly. I learned later that my wife, Fiona who was watching from the bank as she normally does, knew I had gone off the end and was standing in a corner down by VIP, not knowing if I was OK and wondering whether she should go back to the pit or to the medical centre. Luckily the Walters family came across her and reassured her (thanks guys), saying that I was probably fine as the start-line crew had let our crew go to collect me, which they do not do if there is a problem. Sorry for the scare hon. The crew were awesome stripping the car down, removing all the bodywork, fuel tank and fuel pipe to clean it all through and checked over all the chassis and A arms etc. on top of our usual turnaround stuff. Amazingly, apart from a little body damage to the under tray and a small crack in the screen, we had got away with our high speed ploughing. The engine had not fared quite so well as again we suffered head damage on a couple of cylinders, not as bad this time but we had eaten away a few spark plugs and it had picked up on a few of the combustion chambers. Unfortunately our other spare head had unseen damage (prior to the event) with a split around where one of the head studs goes through and could not be used. We thought that was it and we were out, but, no, Dave Wilson to the rescue! With a very sporting gesture he lent us one of his heads, thanks mate. What a thrash by the Go Gold Crew, really proud of you guys. Steve Wright, my new partner in the race team, had a baptism of fire with this turn round (thrash) but it was as if he had been with us for years, helping to take everything apart, cleaning, metal working and helping to ensure the car was ready and we made the call.

During this thrash, I downloaded the data and sent it to Jim Rizzoli who had been up most of the night checking and advising on our tune up and progress. Thanks again Jim, you are a real Star! I also had to have the obligatory check over by the medical crew half way through the thrash. I must say the adrenaline was still pumping from the run, going into the field as well as trying to get the car ready for the next round. It was quite amusing after the Ambulance Crew were checking my pulse and blood pressure and confirming I knew what day it was etc they commented that my blood pressure was a little on the high side - really, wonder why?? Anyway, they were great and after a couple of jokes about my mental stability with regard to strapping myself into a 270 MPH missile, they gave me the all clear physically, but ‘no comment’ on my mental state. It is great that we have these guys and girls on hand and a Big Thanks for checking me out!

Just as we were about to do the warm up after the rebuild and the amazing effort by the Go Gold Crew we got the call to go to the pairing lanes. Phew...we made it, and we even had time for a sandwich, watch the Battle of Britain fly past, whilst we were waiting in the pairing lanes…

Unfortunately this is where it all went awry after the great sportsmanship extended to us by Dave Wilson, and to be honest this is quite representative of the class. We then experienced probably the worst unsportsmanlike behaviour we have had since we started racing. As some of you probably don’t see our start up routines, I will explain: A Fuel cars are unable to start on nitro due to the high percentage of Nitro we use and the compression of our engines. One wrong move and the engine goes bang and someone could get seriously hurt. We have to start on methanol first, via a little tank we have on our rear wing. We warm the engine a little then switch it over to nitro, set the rpms and fuel pressure, and then remove the little tank, starter etc. and then we are ready to pull round.

It is accepted by all the teams around the World, that when a Blown car races an A Fueler, the A Fuel car starts first and once it switches to nitro, the A Fuel Crew Chief gives the blown car’s crew chief the OK that they can start. In our case my Crew Chief Gary always goes to see the opposing crew chief just to confirm and to be sure they know he will give them the thumbs up when they can start. Due to the sharp turn from the fire up road to get into the water box at the Pod, especially the left lane, the TMD Class start line astern in the fire up road. Well, when we got the signal to start up, Werner started Dennis’ car at the same time right behind us and did not wait for us to switch to nitro, then just as Gary was about to switch over to nitro, Werner came running down to us, banging on our tow car, shouting and waving his arms at Gary and our team. At first Gary thought there was some sort of emergency and stopped doing what he was doing, but, no, Werner was trying to get us out of his way. Not only was this dangerous but as I say, very unsporting. Unfortunately all this distraction meant our normal start routine of Gary and I setting the rps and fuel pressures were out of whack, and this was the reason our car did not burn out properly as the fuel pressure was wrong and our rpms and EGTs were way too high as was the clutch temperature, which meant our run was done before we even started, as was our chance to back up the European speed record. I do not want to take anything way from Dennis who pulled an amazing 0.0001 light, but if things had been equal and Werner had not rudely interfered with our normal start routine, I am certain we could have given Dennis a run for the money as we should have equalled or even bettered our previous run as Jim and I had tuned the car up just a little. We will all be ready for any such antics in the future should Werner try that again and we have all learned from this experience, and it will not faze any of us again. This was a rather sour note to end the meeting on, especially after all the hard work by the team.

I am so proud of the team and really grateful for all their effort, and I would just like to say special thanks again to both Larry Miersch and Jim Rizzoli for all their help and assistance too. Steve Wright absolutely loved his first event with us, saying it was just so great working with the team. He also said that until you are physically involved with a team you do not realize how hard they all work between rounds (as did Steve) to get the car ready, and watching a nitro car he part owns thundering off down the track and performing so well, was brilliant.

We cannot wait for Finland and to meet all our Finnish friends again and look forward to the chance to defend our win of last year.

On-track photos courtesy and © Rose Hughes; field photo courtesy and © Ed O'Connell

Sunday 11th April: Gearing up for 2010.

Well, the 2010 season has finally started and it was disappointing not to be involved at the season opener, especially as we are the defending TMD Champions but we are still awaiting parts. It was great to catch up with so many of my friends at the Pod on Easter Sunday and I would like to congratulate both Dennis and Esko for their achievements.

As you may have read on Eurodragster.com NewsI have a new partner in Gold RV Racing Ltd. Steve Wright and I have relocated the entire race team set up to his excellent workshop and facilities in Somerset. Having a dedicated workshop for the dragster is going to be great; it was always hard juggling space at our RV workshop in Alton to accommodate the dragster, truck and trailer. Steve is looking forward to getting well and truly stuck in and learning all about the A/Fueller he now jointly owns. Steve will also assist me with increasing the trading opportunities of the company, especially now we have the extra space and resources to expand.

Steve, wife Kim, Fiona and myself are all excited to be off to LA on Monday and then Vegas for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, where we will meet up with our good buddies Jim Rizzoli, Larry Miersch and Crew, with the A/Fueler which Larry so kindly let me drive last year. Making his début in TAD competition proper will be Jim and Kay's son Kyle in the Rizzoli Automotive A/Fueller, and we wish them good luck for the event and season.

It will be great meeting up with our friends the Nivers and all of the Billet Bullet Team too; being involved with these teams will allow us an excellent opportunity to learn from these seasoned A/Fuel campaigners. Also helping out with Larry and Jim's A/Fuellers are Go Gold Crew members John and Sarah Foster ;John is going to be busy helping prepare both cars' clutches.

Another reason for the visit is to collect our new block and spares which we need, and I would like to thank Jim and Larry for all their help in assisting us with this. Thanks also to Roy and Diane Miersch for the airport shuttle service, and for storing our RV at their place, it is great to have a home away from home waiting for us.

It is going to be a bit of a rush getting everything back from the US and ready for the Main Event. We shall be attending the Pro Test and Tune prior, to give us at least a couple of runs to blow out the cobwebs and get some data on our new combination before we go in to competition proper. I know we are in for another tough and exciting battle this year in TMD and we hope to continue our climb up the TMD ranks, which should be achievable if we can continue to improve, we start this year as TMD 5.

I am pleased to say that the excellent Go Gold Crew will all return again this year, with the addition of Steve Wright and I know they are all chomping at the bit to get going. Crew Chief, long time friend and Gold RV Sales and Service business partner Gary Jenkins says he is also looking forward to 2010 and believes, like me, that we can improve on last year's performances and consistencies. I would like to say a big Thank You to the Go Gold Crew. You are the best - I am so proud of you for getting the Gold RV Dragster two Firsts for an A/Fueller last year. First to win an FIA Event, and First to win a Santa Pod/UK Championship. The Go Gold Crew are:

Gary Jenkins: Crew Chief
Steve Wright: Co Owner / Short Motor
John Foster: Clutch
Alistair Cole: Clutch Assistant
Sarah Foster: Safety / Fuel / Tyres and tow vehicle
Ian Moore: Cylinder Heads
Colin Chapman: Cylinder Heads
James Blackman: Bottom End
Fiona Flynn: Cook and Secretary

US Consultants: Jim Rizzoli and Larry Miersch - thanks guys, we really appreciate all that you do for us.

A big Thanks to all our fans and supporters too! We look forward to sniffing nitro with you all again soon...

Monday 15th February: First championship trophy.

Hi again, I know it’s been ages since my last blog, sorry about that, but not too much has been going on racing-wise for us.

It was great to catch up with so many of my drag race friends at the dinner dance the other night and it was really neat to pick up the Santa Pod Top Methanol Championship trophy, our first Championship. I would just like to say thanks and well done to all the Go Gold Crew, it is very much a team effort and I really appreciate all the hard work the whole team puts in, also a big thanks to Jim Rizzoli and Larry Miersch, without whom none of what we have achieved would have been possible. The trophies we have picked up with the A fueler since we first campaigned it at the Euro Finals 2008 speak for themselves and it is has been great dusting them off over the winter months and remembering the events.

It was good to see Krister Johansson and his team at the dinner dance too and so cool that his achievements and dedication to our sport was recognized with his entry into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. I am so pleased to be racing with Krister, a brilliant machinist, a living legend and a true sportsman, it was definitely seeing, feeling and hearing his car that helped to persuade us to go A Fuel, and now we have I appreciate even more what he has achieved, these A Fuelers are not easy and he has pioneered the way since the ‘70s, often making the parts that were needed, not buying them off the shelf like we can today, well done Krister.

We had not touched the car since holing the block and winning the Santa Pod Championship, until recently, when Steve Wright (thanks mate) and myself removed the engine and stripped it all down. It was not a pretty sight and I must admit it was a little depressing. Oh well, that’s racing and no use crying over spilt milk as they say, although we do need to learn from our mistakes and damages and it looks like we have had an oiling issue with the block since Germany.

I have been working with both Larry & Jim to secure a replacement block and rotating assemblies. We are taking the opportunity to make a few changes to our current set-up which will hopefully keep us in the hunt, and I am pleased to say it is all well underway. The BAE billet block has just come back from Brad Andersons after getting a once over and the lifter bores made bigger to take our larger Top Fuel lifters. Our spare heads have also had a make over at Brad’s and we hope to ship all our parts back in March, when the team will be able to complete the rebuild and hopefully we will be sniffing nitro again soon. I can’t wait….

I have also been working on trying to raise additional sponsorship that will allow us to do the whole European tour again. We ended the 2009 year in fifth place out of eleven cars, so not too bad especially when you consider this was our first full year with the new car and how much everyone has stepped up in the TMD ranks, and I think that TMD 2009 was one of the most competitive and exciting fields ever! It looks like it is going to continue in 2010 too.

Thanks for reading and I will catch you again soon.

Photo of Derek courtesy and © Sharkman