SPR upgrades again. 29th April: Santa Pod Raceway has undergone the latest in its programme of upgrades. The pairing lanes, the turning area in front of the Barn (right, picture courtesy and ©Santa Pod Raceway), and another large part of the pits have all been relaid with fresh tarmac by Tarmac Ltd. ©Eurodragster.com "You only have to look at the entry list for the FIA Main Event to see how fields are growing", Santa Pod's Track Manager Kjell Pettersson told Eurodragster.com. "Both Pro and Sportsman entries are increasing rapidly and we are very pleased that Santa Pod Raceway is upgrading in line with the growth in the sport, and that the upgrade is ready in time for the Main Event." The latest area of the pits to become hard standing starts at the Toilet/Shower Block and stretches past the finish line, and is approximately the section usually allocated to ET classes and Junior Dragster. Dave Jones of Santa Pod tells us that at events such as the Redline Rumble this area will be used for special displays. You can see a picture of the newly-laid pit area by clicking here. Bennett Jr holds the keys. 29th April: Luke Bennett of the UK's Bennett Racing Nostalgia Fuel Altered and Wild Bunch team has been in touch with a major announcement about team organisation. As well as the Wild Bunch altered, Luke has announced that he is the owner of the Transworld Topolino. "We felt that we could not wait until both the cars were completely rebuilt to announce that I am the proud owner of both cars", says Luke. "The Topolino was put up for sale in 2003, but I couldn't handle seeing someone else buy the car and race it. I feel attached to the car as we have had it since I was seven years old! So I took out a large loan and bought the car as a rolling chassis because, as most people will know, we broke the crank in 2002 which did alot of damage. My dad Frank will continue to drive the Topolino in the NFAA as obviously the car is obviously too quick for me to jump in and drive with no experience of my own. As owner of both cars I am Crew Chief. "I cannot express enough my appreciation of our main sponsor the Car Clinic, as they are footing the whole bill to re-build the Topolino's engine. Thanks also to our other sponsors, which are the result of a lot of hard work, we really appreciate all of your support." The Car Clinic is based in Leighton in East London and offers servicing, repairs, welding, painting and many other services to the motorist both private and business. You can find out more about the Car Clinic's services on 020 8539 3751. "I would also like to thank RPI Engineering, who are sponsoring my Wild Bunch '23T altered with a complete motor, top to pan", says Luke. "I am really looking forward to seeing both cars on the track as they are my pride and joy and drag racing is my obssesion." You can stay in touch with all the news from Bennett Racing on the team's official web site at www.bennettracing.moonfruit.com, which is updated daily. Entry list updates. 29th April: We are as ever indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us two new entry list updates. First up is the current official entry list for Monday's ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway. Entry will be open on Monday but you can view the current list by clicking here. ©Eurodragster.com Paula has also sent us Version 3 of the entry list for the FIA Main Event. This update includes a large number of additional entries in both Pro and Sportsman classes with Top Methanol Funny Car and Pro Modified both growing quickly, full fields in two of the three FIM/UEM classes, and Pro ET fighting back against 9.50 Bike for largest-field honours with both now standing at twenty three. You can view the FIA Main Event entry list by clicking here. Points updates. 29th April: The King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com has been updated with the latest official points standings in the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, updated ACU UK records, and the 2005 UEM Championship race numbers. ©Eurodragster.com The Pit Lane Gossip page of the King Racing site is now also showing the official entry list for the Top Fuel v Supertwin Nitro Challenge, which takes place at next weekend's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway (about which more very shortly - Ed), and which is organised by TFB racer Ian King. £125 in Big Bang Perfect Awards. 29th April: Sunday's VWDRC and Super Modified Championship round, which takes place at the Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway, is the third eligible event in the 2005 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme, with a total of £125 up for grabs. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset after Outlaw Anglia racer Mark Pointer took the money at the Power Nationals. £50 will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Award is open to all three VWDRC classes and Super Modified, and is available during Sunday's qualifying or eliminations but not open practice. If the Award is not won on Sunday then the prize fund will increase to £75 at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May; if the Award is won then the prize fund will be reset to £50 at the FIA Main Event. The Perfect Light Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow, whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the Power Nationals. The Perfect ET Award is open to the three VWDRC classes, and will be awarded to the first racer to run to the thousandth on their dial-in during Sunday's qualifying or eliminations but not open practice. If the Award is not won on Sunday then the prize fund will increase to £100 at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May; if the Award is won this weekend then the prize fund will be reset to £50 at the FIA Main Event. The Perfect ET Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and performance supplier LA Racing Parts, whose web site you can find at www.laracingparts.com. Good luck to all racers competing at the Big Bang on Sunday. Eurodragster.com update. 29th April: It is possible that there will be no Eurodragster.com news update tomorrow (Saturday 30th April). This is because Tog will be concentrating on licencing in Grumpy's Dodge tomorrow, preparatory to competing in Monday's ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway. If there is no update tomorrow then news service will be resumed again on Sunday together with our live coverage of the VWDRC and Super Modified Championship round at the Big Bang. ©Eurodragster.com Big Bang latest. 28th April: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for letting us know that Santa Pod Raceway's gates will be opening to racers at 2:00 pm tomorrow (Friday) for entry to this weekend's Big Bang. Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to remind readers that tickets will be available on the gate at Santa Pod this weekend. You can find ticket prices and more information on the official Big Bang web site at www.big-bang.co.uk. "As well as the VWDRC and Super Modified racing on Sunday, and the ET Challenge on Monday, it seems increasingly likely that we’ll have the first three nine-second street-legal Dubs running at Big Bang", adds Rick. "Paul Hamilton, Richie Webb and Russ Fellows have their Beetles running better than ever and are looking forward to seeing if they can crack that nine-second barrier together." ©Eurodragster.com We will be posting the official ET Challenge entry list very shortly, although racers are reminded that entry will also be open on Monday. Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from the Big Bang on Sunday, when the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club and Super Modified classes will be contesting a round of their 2005 Championships. Our coverage, in association with American Car Imports, will consist of regularly-updated reports on qualifying and eliminations, together with a Photo Gallery. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will also be on-line on Sunday and is scheduled to broadcast a picture every two minutes. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences, but in the meantime you can reach the Big Bang coverage index, which includes the official entry list, by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Malta's talented youngster. 28th April: Our good friend Anthony Borda, President of the Malta Drag Racing Association, has been in touch with a profile of Joseph Tabone, who he tells us is one of the youngest and finest tuners in Malta. "During our last Event, Joseph and all his competitors whre more than happy with what they achieved", says Anthony. "Joseph better known here on Malta as is-Sieheb, tunes no less than seven cars in total from Altered cars to Super Street cars, as well as Gary Curmi's Toyota dragster which recently had an accident during testing but which will be back at the end of this year. "From an event to the next, Joseph improves his customers' ETs, especially on Rodrick Pulis' Altered Escort, which is fitted with a two-litre Ford OHC engine, souped up with a T4 Turbo and nitrous. Rodrick achieved his personal best ET at the last event, when he recorded 1.260 sixty foot, 9.0 ET and a terminal speed of 150 mph. This Escort started in the tens in its first outings, but Joseph likes to take things easily and not rush into things straight away. Rodrick, who owns and drives the Escort, is improving on his driving skills as he drives the car like a professional driver now. ©Eurodragster.com "Apart from Rodrick's car, Joseph has another winner in Super Street Class 2, Karim Cassar. This Super Street Escort has been unbeatable for the past two years if I'm correct. Fitted with a 2.1 litre OHC engine, the Escort runs consistent 11.5s. It must be said that Karim is the best in this class, but every other competitor is doing their utmost to beat him although they finding it a bit hard. "Joseph himself drives another Ford Escort souped up with Nitrous Oxide, which belongs to a good friend of his. His best ET in this car is 10.3 seconds. So, as I said, Joseph has a good bunch of cars which he tunes well. Keep it up Joseph, and keep everyone in your workshop happy. Well done to all of the Sieheb Racing Team." Time to shake it down! 28th April: This Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, York Raceway's 2NZ and the UK Open Nationals feature the Annual 0-60 Challenge, first rounds of the Northern Drag Racing Championships for Pro ET and Sportsman ET bracket classes and the Hot Rod Challenge, plus the American Super Stock series meet up for Show, Shine and Shakedown, writes PR Howard Holmes. "Speaking of shakedowns, there'll be plenty of track time", says Howard. "John Sleath is looking forward to the weekend with a number of his recent builds making their track debuts. As well as York's 2004 Racer of the Year, Moose Hollingworth and the 'hearing aid beige' but ballistic Cortina will be there, and Nigel Parkin will be putting his stunning new 454 Chevy-powered Jaguar XJS down the track. "A guy called Simon, who happens to be the landlord of Moose's local, has just brought in a very nice Roadrunner from America. John Sleath has done a lot of work on it, including a motor rebuild. A pressure shot for Mr Sleath, the Mopar guys will be watching!" "The Met Office is forecasting dry, bright with sunny intervals for the area, the Midway Pits have been freshened over, and we're good to go for a great weekend's racing. Racing or participating, we hope to see you there!" For more details check out York Raceway's web site at www.york-raceway.co.uk. Swift snippets. 28th April: Those of our readers in the UK who are also interested in off-road activities might be interested to read the latest press release from UK Government department DEFRA, to which we were alerted by Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe. DEFRA have ordained that farmers in the UK will lose subsidy if they allow certain non-agricultural activites such as motor racing to take part on their land: you don't need to be Einstein to work out what is probably going to happen next. You can see what DEFRA have to say at www.defra.gov.uk/news/2005/050329b.htm. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 28th April: Our good buddy James Hands has updated his Racing 05 fan site with a brief Q & A with UK Top Methanol FC racer Steph Milam. Check it out at www.racing04.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Nilsson drops title defence. 27th April: Courtesy of team member Ulf Stadig comes the shock news that multiple, and reigning, NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Champion Håkan Nilsson will not be defending his title in 2005 but will instead be running a limited schedule. "Last year was a long year for the Nilsson Motorsports team", says Ulf. "The test season started at the end of April, and included three test weekends before the FIA Main Event. There were six rounds to clinch our fifth Pro Mod title. It wasn’t a great year as we were really working hard trying new stuff but without much success. The numbers didn’t really show up, but with our smart racing and consistency on race day, we took home the number one plate again. "Over the winter the team has been talking a lot about our future plans and past seasons and Håkan and Markus haven’t been able to have a calm summer since 1998, when the Nilsson Motorsports era started with a Championship win and that, together with a busy work load on Håkan over the winter, decided us to withdraw a little from the upcoming NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod battle. ©Eurodragster.com "This decision couldn’t have been made with out our great longtime supporter Rickard Pålsson at Veidec, who is and has been the longtime main sponsor on our Veidec Racing Pro Mod cars through the years. He gave us his blessing to do what we wanted, as long as we go to the Veidec Festival in July, and that is a event we are not going to miss. We are also going to Meca Raceway in Malmö's 'oil harbour' where Håkan started his career. "The plan right now also includes the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod, but you never know for sure what’s going to happen. "I can tell you that we haven’t been resting much over the winter. Last autumn we had a business trip to the IHRA World Finals in Rockingham to catch up with the latest stuff, so when we show up at the track we will certainly be trying to win each event." You can read more on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com. Not a Ford, but fast... 27th April: This weekend's Ford Weekender at Shakespeare County Raceway is this season's second outing for the returning Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster team. The only thing that is Ford about the dragster is its beautiful Ford Aquarius blue paint and the Cosworth engine cover, but it is not only the paint that will be wowing the crowds this weekend. Saturday is scheduled for another ‘John Wright Special’ warm-up and tower-shaking session, followed by two blasts at the 1320 on Sunday. Driver Darryl Bradford can’t be there on Saturday due to work commitments, so he’s giving up the seat for the warm-up to none other than car owner/team manager Lesley Wright. ©Eurodragster.com "It’s a shame to be missing the warm up on Saturday, as the last warm-up at the Power Nationals almost seems to have semi-legendary status already!", says Darryl "I think it was my fault in the first place because after the first warm-up, prior to going out on the track on Sunday, I told John that he was going soft because when he blipped the throttle my head didn’t hit the cage as it has done on the odd occasion before. Hence the magnificent encore performance later in the day to show that John has lost none of that nitro glint in his eye. "After Saturday Les will never want to get out of the car again, or will never be able to because of the ten-foot-wide grin!" ET Challenge entry extended. 27th April: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for letting us know that racers will be able to enter Monday's ET Challenge at Santa Pod on the day. ©Eurodragster.com "Entrants will obviously need to be Competition Licence holders", says Paula. "The fee for VW racers is £60, for all others it is £90. I will leave entry forms with Carole Ismail in the signing-on office, as well as scrutineering slips for racers who have not raced during the weekend." And then there were four! 27th April: Paul Marston Racing are fielding no less than four race cars in Monday's ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway. Surprisingly, Paul himself is not on-track; instead he will be crew, technical and tactical advisor. "Firstly, driving his recently-imported Yenko Chevy Chevelle is ex-PMR Drag Race Driving School graduate Steve Bolton", says Paul. "Steve and I recently attended a test session at Santa Pod where we fine-tuned the Chevelle to some very consistent ETs. Second is Dave Catton, another School graduate, who returns to the infamous Insanity Chevy Vega fresh from going rounds at the Easter Thunderball. Dave is really looking forward to capitalising on this success. "Meanwhile we see the return to Grumpy's Dodge of another veteran of the Paul Marston Racing stable, none other than the News Editor of our very own Eurodragster, the Togmeister himself once again taking advantage of a rare opportunity to get behind the wheel of his favourite Dodge Dart. For people in Tog's business the opportunity to drive without neglecting their commitments to our beloved sport are few and far between. With the whole of Saturday's RWYB to reaccustom himself to the latest version of Grumpy's Dodge, look out for this guy to steal some rounds: make no mistake, losing early is not an option currently being considered by this talented driver (Paul's words - Ed). "Last but by no means least, Paul Marston Racing must first make an announcement and confirm one of the worst-kept secrets of 2005. Yes, it was us who acquired the ex-Dave Mingay Hellraiser Pro Mod Chevy Monza, most recently driven by Ashley Bell of the Gleeson Wright Security team. Thie brings the PMR stable up to five operational race cars. These kind of opportunities come up rarely, and the Hellraiser Monza has potential to be a truly great race car. Monzas and Vegas are a little forgotten over here but in the States they are still very popular, even after thirty years they still stand the test of time. Untold newer, and arguably better, more modern-looking models have come and gone, why? They don’t win races, that’s why! ©Eurodragster.com "The Monza was on my 'purchase if available' list for a long time. It was updated at Andy Robinson Race Cars just prior to Ashley returning it to competition. Every part of its construction was perfect. You could not build better, it’s a good example of how to do it right. It does need work but all the main ingredients are all there, PMR just need to get the blend right. The Monza will undergo a complete refurbishment and new paint at the end of this year, and will make only a couple of appearances this season strictly for evaluation, unless someone comes forward with a proposal and backing for the remainder of the 2005 season (in which case please contact us on 0208 597 4575, 07831 650230 or E-Mail office@pmracing.fsnet.co.uk. "The Monza will be our fourth entry for the ET Challenge, and will be driven by none other than the School's most successful graduate, 2004 season Most Primising Newcomer nominee Gary Springford of Drag Race Engineering (0208 597 9484). This will be potentially the fastest race car Gary has ever driven, and he is very much looking forward to the challenge. Gary will be using the Saturday RWYB to gain his licence in this new mount and evaluate the potential of the latest addition to the PMR fleet. Having given up his seat in Grumpy's Dodge to everyone’s favourite journalist, this was the ideal opportunity to stretch Gary a little, give him some good experience, and allow PMR to evaluate our latest acquisition in race conditions all in one go, perfect! "Anyone who is thinking of entering the ET Challenge this weekend could do a lot worse; race entry includes full access to all the entertainments that make the Big Bang Event so special, free use of the Saturday RWYB to set up your race car, and there is even a buy-back for just £10 after the first round on Monday. Don’t forget all that lovely prize money! Plus you get the whole of Sunday to lay back and relax, watching the VWDRC and Super Modified racers do their stuff. You can even enter on the day! Call Santa Pod Racers Club on 01933 313625 for more information. "So what are you waiting for - you can have a great Bank Holiday weekend, go rounds and walk off considerably richer than when you arrived." Swift snippets. 27th April: Rounding off a trio of news items about Monday's ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway, Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog, who will be driving Paul Marston Racing's Grumpy's Dodge, will be using firesuit and safety kit kindly loaned by 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter (right). "As soon as Andy heard that I was taking part in the ET Challenge he got in touch to ask if I needed a firesuit, and if so would I like to borrow his outfit", says Tog. "I am very grateful to Andy for his kind offer and I will do my best to live up to the prestige of the firesuit's owner!". As mentioned yesterday, the updates to the official FIA Main Event entry list are coming in frequently with more additions already made since yesterday's initial posting. Click here to view the updated FIA Main Event entry list, and stay tuned for more updates. ©Eurodragster.com UK Funny Bike racer Chris Tombleson of Straightline Racing says that he will be testing his new Pro Mod Bike at next week's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway prior to contesting FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike at the FIA Main Event. "I will be going on both Saturday and Sunday to try to acquaint myself with this machine", says Chris. "It seems totally alien, but hopefully I will pick it up quickly! I did a burnout for the first time the other week, what an experience!" Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andréasson has announced two new sponsorship deals. Autoverkstaden, a chain of more than 230 car service and repair shops, and spares, accessories, tools and oil retailer Autoexperten will be backing Leif's 2005 FIA European Championship bid. You can read more on the Andréasson Motorsports web site at www.andreassonmotorsports.com. UK Pro ET racer Malcolm Motler tells us that things are looking good for the return of the Spellbound Morris Minor at the FIA Main Event. "We had the engine dynoed last week", says Malcolm. "It made 562 hp - 42 hp more than last year - and a good increase in torque so we've got everything crossed for our first nine this year." Luke Bennett has been in touch with the great news that Avondale Composites and Mer Polishes are the latest sponsors of the Bennett Racing NFAA and Wild Bunch team. You can find out full details on the Bennett Racing web site at www.bennettracing.moonfruit.com. Also in touch with good news is Vic Smith, who tells us that Monday's UK Northern Drag Race Night was a great success. "Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks to Eurodragster for your support", says Vic. "The hospitality and food at the Red Lion Inn were superb. The next Drag Race Night will again be at the Red Lion Inn at Jackson Bridge, at 8:00 pm on Monday 23rd May." A long work list. 27th April: A mass of work has been carried out on Northern 1/4 Racing's Between Heaven and Hell altered over the last couple of months, says Elliott Jones. "Dave Leighton (aka Brucey) has applied his amazing fabrication skill to many areas of the car including mounting of the body, levers, fire extinguisher, fuel tank, oil filter and the list goes on!", says Elliott. "The car is looking good, finally sat on all four wheels (albeit not the correct wheels yet!) and looking almost complete. ©Eurodragster.com "The next step is for the body and chassis to be prepped and painted, with the paint scheme sponsored by our sponsor cheaptones.com, to whom we must say a big thank you as always, along with Jon Rathbone who built the chassis, and of course Brucey himself! "Stay tuned as things are flying now. We're hopefully looking forward to a Nostalgia Nationals début should everything go to plan from now on". You can see the latest on the Northern 1/4 Racing web site at www.northernqtrracing.com. Points updates. 27th April: We are indebted to Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship Co-ordinator Simon Groves for sending us the post-Power Nationals standings in the 2005 Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championships. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to view the Ultimate Power points, or click on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. "The UK National Championship points will follow after they have been ratified", says Simon. Web site updates. 27th April: Can a dragster really accelerate to 100 mph in a second? How many G is it pulling off the line? These are commonly-asked questions which our good friend Alan Currans has tried to answer using some schoolbook maths and a bit of help from Ask Jeeves. Take a look at Anatomy of a Top Fuel Run in the Feature Articles section at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk and see just how quick Kim Reymond's 4.645 second run at the 2003 Euro finals really was. ©Eurodragster.com FIA Main Event entry list. 26th April: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the latest version of the official entry list for next month's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Pro entry closes on 29th April and Sportsman on 6th May but the fields are already sizeable. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to view the FIA Main Event entry list, and stay tuned as Paula is sending frequent updates. For ticket prices and other FIA Main Event information check out Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com. Take the bus to the track. 26th April: UK VW Alternate Engine racer Matt Finney says that he has taken inspiration from Dan Buzzo's Team Akciddento in his rookie year. Matt drives his Porsche-engined VW Camper to the track, races it, sleeps in it, then drives it home again. "The Easter Thunderball was a bit of a learning experience for me", says Matt. "I was eliminated by Matt Attwood in the quarter-finals, but it was the first time I had staged against anyone as I had had to make three observed runs." ©Eurodragster.com Matt says that the Power Nationals was much better. "Qualifying was really good", he says, "I was second behind the rock that is Spencer Tramm! I beat Andy Raw by 0.007 in the quarter-finals, then I had a free run straight into the final because Spencer's car failed to start. A Spencer-free final! And then it rained. Humph..." Matt has added some new parts to the bus for this weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway. "I have a new exaust system running a pair of 3-1 race manifolds and a pair of Stingers", says Matt. "It's worth another thirty five horsepower and will make the bus sound a bit more the part!" Matt asked us to thank all of his fellow racers for welcoming him and making him feel at home. "They know who they are", he says. Swift snippets. 26th April: If you're wondering where our lead story about UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head disappeared to, the answer is that an old E-Mail was re-sent to us inadvertently. Scary is currently at home recuperating. "The doctors are really pleased with the progress of my ankle", Scary told us today, "but they can't do anything with my arm until they remove the support from my ankle. The plan at the moment is to remove the metalwork mid-summer. I am at home, if you want to get in touch then you can E-Mail me at scaryjane278603@aol.com." Kelly Ingall of Santa Pod Raceway tells us that the deadline is fast approaching for VIP bookings for the FIA Main Event. "Make your day extra special and let the Santa Pod Hospitality Team look after you", says Kelly. "We still have some packages available on the balcony and in the grandstand so call us on 01234 782828 (+44 1234 782828) by 17th May to book. The VIP packages include Weekend or day admission, access to the VIP Balcony or Grandstand, access to the Hospitality Village, refreshments throughout the day, hot bacon rolls on arrival, hot and cold buffet lunch, VIP parking and toilets, souvenir of the day, and complimentary ear plugs and programme." ©Eurodragster.com Four race cars appeared at Saturday's Motorshow in Högsäter, Sweden, says our good friend Patrik Jacobsson. "We had our Competition Corvette, Frank Gudmundsen's A/A Competition ex-Pro Stock, a 1959 Triumph Herald and a turbocharged Volvo Amazon", says Patrik. "Lots of spectators and lovely weather made it the perfect day! The local fire brigade also cut up a new Saab 9-3 to show how they work on a traffic accident scene". You can see some pictures from the Motorshow at www.racebilder.nu. Congratulations to 2004 VW Alternate Engine Champion Spencer Tramm on winning Best Engineered for his Quantum Leap Corrado at the GTi Festival at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. "I didn't expect to win anything as it was self-judge, and these boys take it seriously", says Spencer. "I am very pleased indeed, and credit to Chris Isaacs for building such a damn fine race car." Hal-Far just as predicted. 26th April: The Malta Drag Racing Association organised its second drag race of the season at Hal-Far Raceway at the weekend. MDRA President Anthony Borda says that everything went as predicted; the weather was wonderful, and there was great racing in the various classes: "The track had its best-ever traction, since we got to use the new product from VP and gold dust as well", says Anthony. "Everyone was more than happy with the traction this time, especially on Friday night. For this event, we used VP LC6, bought from Lee Child of LA Racing Parts. Thanks to Lee we are very satisfied with the product he sold us and it won’t be the last time that we will be using LC6, because it’s far better than the LC5 which we usually use. "This event started on Friday, with a test day. During testing, we saw some cars record great elapsed times although we had strong head wind. We had strong head wind which ruined everyone’s ambition to break any ET records, although plenty racers ran Personal Bests including Alan Zammit, Paul Pace, Alan Camilleri, Emanuel Muscat and many others "A PB of 7.8 seconds was registered by the cool driver Alan Zammit, who was again driving Emanuel Mangion’s Modified Ford Escort Cosworth of Zoqdi Racing Team. Everyone was happy for Emanuel, since with the help of his tuner Charles Camilleri he is as competitive as he was a year ago. We had Paul Pace of Felulu Racing, in his newly-purchased Modified Sierra V8, who registered an impressive time of 8.5 seconds having to pedal twice since the Sierra’s Front End lifted about two metres in the air. He could have run an 8.2 if the car had made a decent run. Another great run was by Emanuel Muscat of the Ginger Racing Team, who registered an impresive 8.5 with his Cortina Cosworth. This car is improving during every event and you can see it running under the eight second mark shortly. ©Eurodragster.com "After a bit of an absence, we saw John Ellul (aka Banzai) once again, with his newly-painted Fontana Dragster of the Elbros Racing Team. John made three six-second runs during the event testing some new parts bought from the USA for the Fontana Engine. Afterwards I had a talk with John’s Crew Chief, his brother Carmel, who told me that they played it a bit safe this time since they were the only competitors in the DTA Class. The best elapsed time during this event was the final run, when John registered a 6.0. We'll see how fast John can go during the next event, since he’ll have the Borg Brothers' mighty Small Block Dragster to race against. "Other Competitors who did pretty well during this event where Rennie Zammit, who won The Classified Altered 2 Class and had the best Elapsed Time in the class. Jason Camilleri won the Classified Altered 3 Class and was the winner of the Bracket Class as well. Another competitor who did pretty well during this event was Paul Fenech, who won all three classes that he competed in. He really amazed everyone this time, especially with his perfect reaction times. "I could keep mentioning other competitors, but I will say one last thing: Well Done to everyone, and to every team who competed during this Event. For me, everyone was a winner, with the participation and abilities which they displayed. If you would like to see the results of this event, visit our web site at www.maltadragracing.com. Our Drag Race event will be the first of our three Night Events, which will take place in June. "I personally would like to thank Jeff Rainbird, who spectated at this event, for the American Car Imports tokens. Thanks a lot Jeff, you’re always welcome here in Malta." Web site updates. 26th April: Thanks to Johnny Hall for letting us know that the B+J Nostalgia web site at www.bjnostalgia.com has been updated with the latest news from the Crow Lane Skunk Works. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 25th April: Vic Smith has been in touch with a reminder that the first UK Northern Drag Racing Night takes place at 8:00 pm tonight (Monday) at the Red Lion Inn in Jackson Bridge, West Yorkshire. You can find the Red Lion Inn web site, which contains a map, at www.the-red-lion-inn.com or call 01484 643499. ©Eurodragster.com Lee Kirk has asked us to remind Super Modified racers wishing to run in Saturday's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway that they will need their DVLC licences for that day. Web site updates. 25th April: Luke Bennett tells us that he has finally found the Bennett family's Phantasm scrapbook and so has updated the Bennett Racing web site with more than thirty photographs of the famous Ford Pop. Check it out at www.bennettracing.moonfruit.com. ©Eurodragster.com The official UK Super Modified web site at www.supermodified.co.uk has been updated with a report from of the Power Nationals as well as reports from Andy Kirk and Rob Millward, provisional points standings courtesy of Kev Perkins, and an announcement regarding Obsession Motorsports' sponsorship of the class. "Big thanks to Terry and Tina Gibbs and all at Obsession Motorsports for sponsoring the class", says Lee Kirk, "and thanks to Andy Robinson Race Cars for their continued support." Big Bang entry, running order. 24th April: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the official entry list and running order for next Sunday's (1st May) VWDRC and Super Modified qualifying and eliminations at the Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com You can view Sunday's official entry list by clicking here, and you can view Sunday's running order by clicking here; alternately click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select Big Bang. As ever, published running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions, or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from the Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway next Sunday in association with American Car Imports. Stay tuned and we will bring you Monday's ET Challenge entry list shortly. Swift snippets. 24th April: With the FIA Main Event five weeks away entries are coming in steadily with Top Fuel Dragster already standing at four, Top Methanol Funny Car at five, Pro Modified at nine and the three FIM/UEM classes at three apiece. In the Sportsman ranks 9.50 Bike leads the way at sixteen including a number of Super Street Bikes, Pro ET unsurprisingly is up there too at twelve and Super Comp at ten. The UK, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway are all already represented. If you have not yet entered then be aware that Pro and Sportsman entry close on 29th April and 6th May respectively; you can find entry forms on the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se. ©Eurodragster.com FIA Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson has been in touch to remind racers that they can pre-enter the FIA European Finals without the money being taken from their account until nearer September's race. Simply send completed entry forms to Paula Marshall at SPRC and include a post-dated cheque for payment of the entry fee, providing the cheque is dated no later than the official closing date of 11th August. Alternately, racers can include their credit card numbers on the entry forms and insert a date on which payment is to be taken, again no later than 11th August. If you have any queries then please drop Paula Marshall an E-Mail at paula.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Street Cars take the Challenge. 24th April: With a week before next week's first round at Shakespeare County Raceway, this season's HotRod Gazette National Street Car Challenge looks set to be one of the hottest ever, writes Shaun Wilson. "Competitors are frantically spannering away to be ready in time, with a couple of new entrants who may yet upset the form book", says Shaun. "Gary Leece has not made any changes to his victorious street-sleeper 5.0 Capri which took last year's title – consistent low twelves proving enough to win. James Murray, twice NSCC Champion, will still be running the nitrous’d Rover motor in his tubbed Mk2 Cortina Estate, another twelve-second contender who scores well on consistency. Quickest man in the pack, Russ Pursley, whose Chevy-powered Dutton has run low tens on treads has a couple of people gunning for him this year – Steve Stringfellow with the ex-Ian Jackson Herald, now running a stroked small block is already into the tens, Jon Hollingworth’s ProStreet Cortina will be returning from its duty in Street Eliminator to run in the class again, and rice-boy Stuart Harrison could upset the V8 boys with his Supra which has allegedly already run tens. Chistine Osbourne has a hot smallblock being fitted to the 100E after a good shakedown season last year, so the ante is truly being upped! Regular competitor Chris McCullough is finishing a blower installation on his Mk2 Cortina, which should poise him for the twelves and fellow Fat Chance club member Jon Smith will be looking to put his big Charger down into the elevens this season. A fresh 427 stroker motor for Graham Bell’s Mustang has already been given plenty of road miles and picked up some cruise points already, although it is Al Williamson in his gorgeous ProStreet Chevy Stepside who officially leads the pack into the first round. We hope to see John Rowley back in competition too, the 318ci Dorset having been rebuilt after his nasty crash at the Pod last year. Can Mick Wilkes keep that insanely quick Firenza together this season, or will it be newcomers Damian Bacon (blown A Sedan) or Karl Polhill (Mustang) who rack up the reliability points to take a win? You have to be able to cut it at the track and on the street in this series, so anything could happen! Checkout the action at the track or read about it in HotRod Gazette." ©Eurodragster.com York's busy Bank Holiday. 24th April: 2NZ at York Raceway next Sunday, 1st May, includes the annual 0-60 Challenge, with trophies awarded for quickest four-cylinder street car, quickest six-cylinder, quickest normally-aspirated V8, quickest ET, fastest terminal speed and overall 0-60 Champion, writes PR Howard Holmes. And that's not all, he says. "Sunday also features round two of the Modders Shootout and Run What You Brung", says Howard. "For the 0-60 Challenge, once participants are signed on for Run What You Brung or racing, registration and qualifying for 0-60 runs is free. Both lanes will be running 0-60 timing equipment. "As if that weren't enough, York Raceway's Northern Drag Racing Championships get the drag racing season fully underway: the first qualifiers for the 2005 season for round one of the Pro ET and Sportsman ET bracket series, and there's qualifying for Hot Rod Challenge, York Raceway's heads-up street car series. "On Bank Holiday Monday (2nd May), the UK Open Nationals gets the drag racing season fully underway with round one of eliminations for the Northern Drag Racing Championships in Pro ET and Sportsman ET and the Hot Rod Challenge. There's also a Show, Shine and Shakedown for the American Super Stock Series, it's not for points on this day, but the opportunity to get rid of cobwebs and gremlins! It looks set for another great series for 2005, with a good number of new contenders. And there'll be track time a-plenty for the Run What You Brung sessions and Test and Tune for the season ahead." ©Eurodragster.com Pre-FIA Main Event testing. 22nd April: David Lloyd-Jones of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to remind racers that the pre-FIA event Professional Test Days of previous years have been replaced this year with Peak Performance Days. The pre-FIA Main Event Peak Performance day takes place on Saturday 21st May and is open to racers in all classes. "The Peak Performance Day provides a cost-effective way of testing, with lots of track time and pit space and full track preparation to race standard", says David. "Sign-on is restricted to a maximum of one hundred racers and is available on a first-come first-served basis. ©Eurodragster.com "All racers who test at the Peak Performance Day and have entered the Main Event will be pitted in their correct space and trailers and rigs can be left in situ." To participate in the Peak Performance Day the advance fee is £50 per driver/rider, plus £10 per person entry to the track and a £1 booking fee. On the day, sign-on is £60 per rider/driver plus £12 per person entry to the track. Santa Pod Raceway strongly recommend advance booking. Spectators are admitted to Peak Performance Days and pay the track entry fee of £10 advance or £12 on the day. For more details, or to reserve your place, check out www.rwyb.com or call the Santa Pod Raceway office on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). UK National points update. 22nd April: We are indebted to UK National Championship Points Co-ordinators Yvonne Tramm and Simon Groves for forwarding us the post-Easter Thunderball points standings in the UK National Championships. ©Eurodragster.com "As usual, please direct any queries to me at simon.groves2@ntlworld.com", says Simon. "For example there may be some queries concerning overseas competitors without MSA licences, who are now awarded no points in the Championships". Simon adds that he and Yvonne are working on the post-Power Nationals points and that they should be available in a few days' time. Click here to see the post-Thunderball UK points, or click on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 22nd April: UK Funny Bike racer Steve French tells us that he has yet to make a "decent" full-power pass this season after two races and one Run What You Brung. "Some of you may be wondering, watching the bike, if I have forgotten how to ride", says Steve. "Well, a bit - but not for the strange sideways lurches seen at Shakey. That was the wheel locking up as I shifted into third. Thankfully it put me far enough behind Chris Hall to avoid most of the bits he was chucking at me, including the entire left hand crank web! Although, I have a new chip on the body..." ©Eurodragster.com Lee Child of LA Performance Services has been in touch to confirm that the track will be prepped to National event standard at next weekend's Ford Weekender and Vauxhall Speed and Show Day at Shakespeare County Raceway. As reported on Wednesday, next weekend's events at SCR also feature Run What You Brung open to all cars and bikes. Shelly Anderson of NHRA Top Fuel fame has been in touch from across the Pond to offer her love and best wishes to Junior and Maria Olley on the arrival of their third son. "Brad, our family and I also wish Junior all the best when he débuts as pilot of the Houndog Funny Car, hopefully this season", says Shelly. "Knowing Junior as I do, I know he will be a match for all of them!". We're sure that all of Eurodragster.com's readers will join Tog and Sharkman in adding their own congratulations to Junior and Maria. Flynn has another tinkle. 22nd April: UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn says that he is a tad frustrated but ultimately grateful after making it to the far end of Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend after nearly a year and five attempts. Derek got a round of applause at the Power Nationals when he held onto a wayward dragster after finding all the power hiding in a barrel valve. "Boy, did we learn a lot about our new car!", says Derek. "It all started on Friday; we arrived early, set up and tried to fire the car up...no go - no fuel going to the engine, then too much fuel, then misfiring, then no more time to start the engine until the morning. We coughed and spluttered our way through qualifying, with a car sounding very sick under load, but at least we got further than last year (and the now-infamous Flynn has a little tinkle, thanks Tog!). Our main problems were that the car arrived with two pills in the main, and when we removed one it caused another problem with the idle check valve, and on top of all that the timing moved on us. "We finally got it sorted and this is where I must say thanks to so many people (sorry Ed). Thanks to Richard of J & W Automotive, who helped us all weekend and also helped with running Arlo in our Junior as well as running his own son Pete. Thanks also to Andy Robinson for some late-night tips on what we could try in the morning; thanks to all the Super Pro teams who at one stage all seemed to be in our pit trying to suss out what was going on with our fuel system. I believe this sort of camaraderie between competitors is absolutely brilliant (Hear, hear - Ed) and probably does not exist in many other forms of motor sport! ©Eurodragster.com "Also thanks to Steve Turner for his help and advice at the end of the phone: Steve explained the inner workings of an Enderle barrel valve, not an easy job over the phone. Thanks also to Ozzy Ewing and sorry for our little mishap. Thanks to all the Shakespeare County Raceway crew, and the safety crews including all the fireman at the first turn-off who all showed concern as I coughed and banged my way towards them each time; thanks as always to the Go Gold Crew. And finally, thank God I missed that barrier and we got the car going something like it should. Now if only I can keep it straight I am confident there is a lot more to come! "I will be competing in the ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway next weekend and I can reveal that Steve Turner is coming to help us fine-tune our car, that should really help us to lower those ETs providing I can keep it straight! I'm looking for a new PB if the weather and track conditions are good. "On another note, it was great to see John, Lesley and Darryl and their much-revamped Top Fueller out again. It sounded awesome, shame they did not get to run, but best of luck for the rest of the season." Rampaging into the nines. 22nd April: UK Pro ET racer Dave Ward's Rampage Funny Car (right) made its first outing with its new 500 ci Mopar engine at last weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and promptly blasted away Dave's Personal Best. Crew Chief Ian Gibbs says that it was a very successful weekend all round. ©Eurodragster.com "Dave had three passes over the two days, choosing to run in the Wild Bunch for the first time", says Ian. "Saturday’s first qualifier was to be a shakedown run as the car had not been run since the new power unit was installed. After the burnout we were held on the line while the previous pair cleared the run off area, Dave was concerned that the engine was overheating and switched off, the crew pushed the car back to cool down. We were allowed to run at the end of the session so Dave brought the car forward for a short burnout then launched the Funny Car on the clutch, running through to a thousand feet clicking off recording 9.618/134. The crew congratulated him on his first run, but asked what happened to the eleven-second dial-in! "The second qualifier was a full pass of 9.608/136 and the third run, in eliminations, was 9.625 again getting off it just before the finish hence 124 mph across the line. "From the 990ft time we calculated that the run would have been a 9.56 second pass." Still chasing the twelve. 22nd April: UK Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay (at right, with Ian Petrie and Tanya Partridge) has been in touch with the view from the bottom of the field at the Power Nationals. "We weren't pitted there this weekend", he says. "Firstly, congratulations to Tanya Partridge on reaching her first final, it's a shame that the rain stopped us running it. Also well done Ian Petrie for his first round win, and well done and to Jon Turner, #1 qualifier with his first-ever run at Shakey, but hard luck blowing an exhaust bolt out of the head along with most of the engine's water on the burnout before his first round bye. "As for my Metro, she's running great - too well if anything - and even with new supersoft Dunlops on the front I couldn't get her off the line at full throttle without wheelspin. So that elusive twelve is still out there, 13.18 was the best we managed in qualifying and I shut off both runs in competition as my competitors broke out. I'm just hoping that we are still in on Sunday and Monday of the Main Event when the track comes round. "SSPW's web site is now up and running, with two pages dedicated to my racing at www.sspw.co.uk/Nicks_car.html. "Please say a big Thank You to everyone Sportsman ET, especially those involved in the Saturday night Greek barbecue and video show - they know who they are. Finally can I say if there are still fans out there who want to race but don't think they can, there is no reason they can't come and have a go in the friendliest class out there - Sportsman ET!" Web site updates. 22nd April: UK Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook tells us that the recent problems with access to the Real Steel Street Eliminator web site site have now been cured. "Thanks are due to Darren James (aka Flapper) for his hard work", says Fatty. "The site has been updated with the points standings after Colin Lazenby's win at round two. If you haven't visited the site before take the time to check out some of its many features including a history of street legal drag racing, pictures of some of the new cars being built for the class, detailed results and more. If you like to your race cars to have tax discs go to www.streeteliminatoruk.com." ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Alan Currans has added the 109th page of pictures to his excellent Acceleration Archive. "I am pleased to announce the third page of pictures from Dennis Priddle's own collection", says Alan. "There are several pictures of Dennis' first Chrysler Avenger-bodied Funny Car including some rare shots of the body in Shell Sport livery. There are also a number of very interesting press cuttings including a report of a storming seven-second pass along the seafront at Brighton!". You can check out the latest Acceleration Archive update at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. MPM's promising Top Fueller. 21st April: Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon says that he and the MPM Oil team are feeling good about next month's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. "We have been through all of the data collected at the Easter Thunderball, and we can say that things look really promising", says Lex. Lex says that even with track temperatures in the fifties and below-sea-level altitude at Easter, he achieved his aim of getting the car running properly. "We took all the power we could out of the car and it still responded to our tuning changes", he says. "Of course we have to do the whole 1320, but the main issue for us was to get the car off the startline and we did that." ©Eurodragster.com Since Easter the MPM Oil team, all-Dutch with the exception of Crew Chief Eddie Corr, have serviced the dragster and have been training. "With the spare parts we have available, we can turn round in seventy minutes or less, and our goal is to do it in an hour", says Lex. "Before the Main Event we will also get the trailer finished inside and out and get the last details done on the car. Some of the body panels are being airbrushed right now. The car will be real state-of-the-art, not only in technical terms but also when you look at the way it has been airbrushed." Lex says that it would be "awesome" to run his first four and three hundred at the Main Event. "The fact that we know that we have a hot rod which can win the event makes it even better", says Lex. "But as we have said before, we will take it round by round - every race will be a final." Racers: It's not too early to send us your FIA Main Event previews. Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish your news here. Pro Mods sought for Drachten. 21st April: Lex and Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra would be pleased to hear from any European Pro Mod racers who would be interested in running at the MPM Internationals, which they promote, at Holland's Drachten Airfield on 15th-17th July. "We want to make the MPM Internationals", says Gerda. "Not only will we run our MPM Top Fuel Dragster but we also want to have an eight-car Pro Modified field at this event. We have three Pro Mods in Holland so we are looking for five other cars from outside Holland. We will be running Pro Mod over the eighth mile. ©Eurodragster.com "Travel and prize money will be available. If you are interested then please send an E-Mail to gerda@lexjoonracing.nl and we will take it from there." Swedish JD Championship. 21st April: Lars Pettersson has been in touch to give us the details of this year's Swedish Championship for Junior Dragster. The Championship dates are as follow: 10th-12th June: MECA Nationals, MECA Raceway 2nd-3rd July: Aros Nats, Johannisberg 8th-10th July: Midnight Sun, Piteå Dragway 16th-17th July: Gold Town Summer Nats, Torsgatan 23rd-24th July: Borlänge Street Open, Dala Airport 28th-31st July: VEIDEC Nitro Festival, Mantorp Park 20th-21st August: Linde Open, Fotbollsgatan 3rd September: Junior Finals 2005, Johannisberg The prize ceremony will be held at the Svenska Bilsportmässan Bilsport Gala at Älvsjö on 26th November. The Championship rules are as follow: Drivers from 10 years The Championship is open to foreingers Swedish Automobile Sport Federation Junior Dragster rules The Championship has eight events of which the racer counts six. Swedish Federation medals: Gold for 1st, Silver for 2nd and Bronze for 3rd More information including rules and points can be found at www.sdl.se or www.sbf.se. ©Eurodragster.com Orange crew on the hunt. 21st April: The crew of Simon Barlow's Orange Pop Outlaw Anglia have stripped the Pop's engine to attempt to locate the source of the weekend's misfire. Team member Jay tells us that he, Andy and Phill have not been able to find it - yet. ©Eurodragster.com "We took the head off the engine and a good look round, but we can't find anything", says Jay. "It's probably going to be something very stupid which is causing the misfire. Unfortunately we are not going to have the Powerglide in the car for the next even, which is the American Car World Nationals, as the car will be at the repair shop having the back end repaired, so we will not have enough time to do everything. "The next event is only four weeks away, and we have a lot of work to do, but we will definitely be there." Weekend looks good at Hal-Far. 21st April: The Malta Drag Racing Association will be organising its Second Drag Race Event this weekend, 22nd-24th April, at Hal-Far Raceway. "This event was due to take place last weekend, but we couldn't hold the event then due to certain circumstances out of our control", says MDRA President Anthony Borda. "I’m very sorry for the inconvenience, especially to Charlie Draper who came to see the event but will now miss it, and Jeff Rainbird who was due to come from Cyprus but was able to arrange to come this weekend. Sorry guys. "There are going to be a few new cars competing at this event, such as a Holden Pro Mod of newcomers the Grech Brothers. They really have done a great job on this car. The chassis was built by one of the brothers and boy did he do a nice job on it. The engine, a newly-bought 454 ci Chevy engine, assisted with a twin-stage Nitrous system, has been fitted under the Holden’s hood. We should see some great runs from this car during our three-day event. I would like to say well done to the two brothers and their team and good luck for the event. ©Eurodragster.com "As well as the Holden, we are going to see John Ellul - nicknamed 'Banzai' by Eurodragster - once again, after a short absence from drag racing. John of the Elbros Racing Team will be testing the newly-painted Fontana Dragster. The dragster has had new parts fitted on the engine and we are expecting that this dragster will go faster than ever if everything works right. John's personal ET was 5.78 seconds here in Malta and 5.76 at Santa Pod, but the team will be expecting better this time. Good luck to all Ellul Bros and the whole crew. "We should see the four-cylinder ET record broken this weekend. The Modified Escorts, both fitted with Cosworth Engines, will be battling it out. Emanuel Mangion's car, driven by Alan Zammit Of Zoqdi Racing, and the National record holder himself, Chris Polidano of the Powerhouse Racing Team, will doing their utmost to beat one another and they will be doing their best to break the ET record. These two cars will be going to the limit this time and they will giving everyone a good show. "The weather is predicted to be good for the weekend, so let's hope that we will see some great races as well. The event will start on Friday with practice runs, Saturday will be a full day of qualifying for all competitors, and Sunday will be Eliminations day. See you at the track." The best possible start. 21st April: The UK's Jones and Friend Comp Bike team had the best possible start to their 2005 season after spending nine months away from the track whilst rider Gary Jones recovered from an injury. The team qualified #1 and took the win at the Easter Thunderball and then qualified #1 at last weekend's Power Nationals with a PB before an electrical problem put Gary out of competition in the semi-finals. "The start to our season has exceeded out expectations", says Dave Friend. "The electrical problem at the Power Nationals could have been fixed if we had had a little more time, but hey that's racing and it's sorted out now. ©Eurodragster.com "We have a break until the Main event to get the clutch sorted out, so that we can launch on the two-step, instead of Gary just riding the bike off the line with hardly any boost. We are looking for a good improvement in our performance once we have this dialled-in, and we can then really start to develop our turbo EFI blowthrough system. "The team would like to thank all of our sponsors for their superb continued support. They are: Extreme Electrical Ltd, Universal Turbos, Ian Carver, Mistral Engineering, BEK Wholesale, and Worldwide Bearings USA. Thank You also to the staff of Hotel Charman for the fine hospitality, not forgetting the evening's entertainment from the Irish No Hands Cartwheel Team." Swift snippets. 21st April: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch to remind Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association racers that they are invited to the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-26th June. An entry form for NFAA racers is available on the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to our buddy Patrik Jacobsson for lettign us know that there will be a motor show in the village of Högsäter in Dalsland, Sweden this Saturday (23rd). "We will be displaying our 'Vette and trailer", says Patrik. "I think that Eero Knihtilä´s old Pro Stock will show up. It´s now owned by Frank Gudmundsen from Gothenburg and will run in Competition. We hope to build a new motor stadium in western Sweden, and the display on saturday is to inform people about our plans. The stadium will also include a quarter mile drag strip!" Henrik Karlsson tells us that things didn’t look too good for Swedish Pro Mod racer Freddy Fagerström at the beginning of the first Monstergarage TV programme on Monday evening. "Things also took a turn for the worse when the ladies rejected the Lobster, the Swedish answer to a Hummer", says Henrik. "Next time on Monster Garage Sweden they are building a snowmobile out of a Harley Davidson! I guess Freddy will keep the throttle wide open on the snow covered fields." ©Eurodragster.com Many thanks to our good friend Elias Vathias for letting us know that the entry list for the first Greek Championship race at Serres is now available on the Greek Dragster web site at www.greekdragster.com. Thanks also to Shakespeare County Raceway Press Officer Jerry Cookson for confirming the weekend's track records at Shakespeare County Raceway. "Congratulations to Colin Lazenby (Street Eliminator, 180.03 mph), Mark Fisher (Super Street Bike, 7.974 seconds), Steve Venables (SSB, 190.16 mph) and Andy Smith (Supertwin Gas, 9.470 seconds)", says Jerry. A very Happy Birthday to Benito Chiarella of the UK's Straight To The Point 2 Pro Mod-in-waiting team. Hope you have a great day, Ben. Editor's note: Could the sender of the E-Mail Junior's new baby please re-send it to news@eurodragster.com as it arrived with corrupted header information. Web site updates. 21st April: Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with his pictures from the weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Sharkman's pictures at www.topendtales.com. ©Eurodragster.com Let's go the the Main Event! 20th April: The UK's Canto Consultancy Top Fuel Dragster team will be contesting next month's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Crew Chief Peter Knight says that the team are flushed with renewed enthusiasm after their successful outing at the Easter Thunderball, and that the dragster will return to Santa Pod in May with Jon Webster at the wheel. "Although we had bigger plans for the team this year, Jon is very busy at work and my own business, Knight Racing Services, is in its busiest year ever", says Peter. "We now have contracts for the factory TVR team (LNT motorsports) for the T400R GT cars, and Konrad Motorsport in Germany for their Saleen S7R's, which we won after our work with the RML Saleens last year. This means that we have engines running in every GT and endurance race in Europe, and pretty much the world this year, as well as our usual historic GT40, Mustang and Cobra stuff. Expansion, and a second dyno are on the cards. As all this came into place during February, and means that we will be preparing around one hundred engines this year, which doesn't leave much time for Top Fuel racing!" Peter told sponsor Martin Canto and Jon Webster that he needed to reserve the right to park the car up if necessary and that the Easter Thunderball would probably be the last event for the time being. "Jon and I have always felt that neither of us have the time to do the job justice", says Peter. "We always feel on race day that we are not as well-prepared as we would like." However, after the performance of the car and crew at Easter Peter says that he couldn't let it lie. "I've just come back from a weekend in Rome to find out that the TVR's got first and second in class at the Spa 1000 Km race at the weekend, soundly beating the Ferraris and Porsches, and feeling pretty good about life in general", he says. "I called Jon and Martin to confirm that the Main Event is on! ©Eurodragster.com "With some sort of tune-up in the car, I now feel confident enough to re-fit the new billet block BAE motors to the car, and retire the older cast Brad 98 engine. Until we got the car somewhere near we were wounding some really nice stuff, and I didn't really have the stomach for it! Since we put the old one in, we haven't hurt a thing! The fuel pump - we're still on a tiddler - is on it's way back to Rage via Gary Burgin for a freshen up, and a fresh blower will be fitted; the current blower is going back to Alan Jackson for rebuilding together with the clutch and reverser - pushing the car back is too much like hard work! Who knows, we might even go a bit faster yet. You'll have to wait and see!" Peter adds that he has a list of Thank Yous for the Easter Thunderball. "Thanks to Jon Webster, Ian Marshall, Johnny Mac, Graham Rice and the Webster Race Engineering crew; to Martin Canto for the continued support; to Laurie, Tim, Alex and the other hard-working crew members who appear from no-where! Thanks also to Gary Page for pitching in and being so quick at turning the car round, Alan Jackson and Sparky who didn't help me at all, honest Knut! Annie and the catering team for looking after us all so well; and to Dave Bryant, Gordon Smith and Rune for help on the day. Thanks also to Santa Pod for asking us to run again on the Sunday; all the racers, spectators and commentators for their kind words on our first four-second pass. You might have noticed, we were made up about it too!' "The Main Event looks like being a proper race! Plenty of good cars, what with everyone being on the pace, it could and should be the closest and fastest race meeting yet. Bring it on!" Time to get Nasty. 20th April: Sweden's Jöran Persåker and the Nasty Toys Top Fuel Dragster team are also set for the FIA Main Event having spent the weekend preparing the dragster for the start of the season. "One thing is for certain", says clutch technician Mark Turner, "don't underestimate us - we have the potential to run with the best, if not to be the best." The Team Nasty Toys dragster, owned by Knut Söderquist, has a series of updates including new Rage fuel pump, trick blowers from John Force Racing, and updated management systems. "The list goes on and on", says Mark. "The team are looking to improve not only on our best ET but also on our points position. After last year's three final rounds and fourth-place Championship finish there is plenty of room for improvement, but I am sure there are some teams who would be happy with that - we're not one of them. We have done the 'rookie' but, now it's time to follow our name and get nasty with our opponents. ©Eurodragster.com "Our hopes are high for the Main Event even after our effort to develop a cloning machine over the winter failed - it kept producing a Country and Western singer of the same name. So we have done the next best thing, that's why Bill Shultz is back. The rest of the team remains the same, all getting a little older but still as hungry. "A big Thank You to Knut and Chris Andrews for all their help over the weekend, and let's hope you have a smooth time this weekend when the Animal lands - I hope Sweden can handle it...." Last man standing, but... 20th April: UK Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby took his second straight win with his Pinnacle-backed Chevy at the weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Colin was the last man standing after a weekend of attrition for the four-car field, but he tells us that it was not an easy ride. "We had hoped for an increase in numbers from the Easter Thunderball, even given that this event was only three weeks later", says Colin. "With the much-anticipated new cars being oh-so-close to final assembly, and the bulk of the World Street Race boys not understandably not wanting to collect their cars from the docks and then take them straight to the race track, it did make the low numbers somewhat predictable. The single exception to this being Steve Pateman, who after making a huge effort to get the Calibra there, sustained engine damage on his first shakedown lap. "The simple fact is, we all had problems. And, as I said to Tog in Eurodragster's Event Coverage, if anyone had visited our pit just prior to the Cruise, it would have been a fair assessment to believe that we would DNQ. We couldn't find an electrical fault which engaged the starter motor as soon as the power was switched on. We changed the starter, but to no avail. Luke eventually had to hot-wire it - he looked strangely comfortable doing the job too. Oh, and I nearly forgot, we also had to pull the transmission out. Though this is less of a problem now, it still takes around an hour to get it out and back in again. The Cruise itself was uneventful; the fuel stop, the hot start and even with every traffic light in Stratford seemingly against us. The worrying engine sound the result of a partial header gasket, no more. ©Eurodragster.com "Our final run on the Sunday was uncontested, with everyone else being broken. It's not the way we like to win our races. Still, an 8.37 et with only one system represents a tremendous leap forward for us. The 180.03 mph run on the Sunday was simply a reflection of a slightly over-zealous tune off the line, the wheelspin bringing the revs up, and therefore the shift points. The unusual top speed was further helped along by the high-lustre polish (a combination of Autoglym, and our Brian's wax on - wax off detailing). This event also brought about our initial stocks of our new-for-2005 Torco oils and lubricants. Many thanks to Garry Coull of Pinnacle Autocentre and Steve Clark from Nimbus Motorsport for securing what will be a great partnership package. "It goes without saying, though I'll say it anyway, many thanks to Luke and Garry for making all the right tuning calls. We've never run as quick as we did this weekend at Shakey and there's still more to come, of that I'm sure. Thanks also to Darren Prentice and his crew for the track prep, clearly the new solution works a treat. "Our next events are a static display at Knockhill, Fife, on 7th-8th May, then testing at Santa Pod Raceway on 21st May. Our next Championship round is back at Shakespeare County Raceway on 18th-19th June, hopefully we'll see you all there." A fantastic début. 20th April: UK Super Pro ET racer Rick Cooke tells us that he had a fantastic weekend at the Power Nationals, which was his first competitive outing. "I started as number one qualifier straight off the trailer", says Rick. "I had no idea what the dragster would run as we could not get it to run consistently on RWYB tracks. It had run 9.0 so I left it set up as it was, with new slicks and (hats off) a well-prepped track I dialled up 8.90 and ran 8.93. On Sunday we were paired up against Mark Flavell, but unfortunately he suffered engine damage on Saturday and so we went through the next round and won against Ashley Bell. That put us into the semi-final against Ian Tubb, but then it rained and spoilt all the fun. ©Eurodragster.com "First of all I want to say Thank You to Spencer Tramm, who has helped me from the first time I got in the dragster. He was running in two classes at the weekend and still found time on Saturday to help out on the start line - thanks mate. I also would like to thank my super crew Andy, Chris, and Barney who was unable to be there this weekend but has helped me in the past. Thanks also to my girlfriend Becca who has had to put up with me living in the workshop for months. "Thanks also to Hauser Race Cars, ICE Automotive, Webster Race Engineering and to everyone else who has offered me advice and encouragement over the past years, and a big Thank You to Pat and Steve Talbot for selling me a great race car. I am looking forward to running again at the Shakespeare Nationals in June - see you there." Another run, another two goals. 20th April: UK Wild Bunch racer Crazy Chris Hartnell achieved two goals in one run at the Power Nationals, clocking at eight at 150 mph on the first run off the trailer and at the start of his eleventh season. "It has been a dream of mine since before I started racing to achieve a 150 mph pass in our Backdraft slingshot", says Chris. "With a 2004 best of 9.126/146.37 we were very close to getting there, as well as running an eight-second pass. We were looking for those magic numbers all of last year, and trying to chase away some gremlins! We have often heard other racers talking of the legendary off-the-trailer runs, but never experienced anything like it. This weekend we not only ended up with an off-the-trailer run, but also a ‘straight out of the container from Finland’ run (must be even rarer!) as on my very first run of this season, I recorded an 8.885/150.03! I was absolutely over the moon, and Claire was ecstatic, deafening half of the fire-up road in the process (It was a close thing between Claire and the Wright Racing TF - Ed)! Lee, Mark and Claire drove down to the top end to meet me, and Lee had all the hazards flashing and the horn blaring, joking "Did you have the brakes on Dad?". I couldn’t believe it when they told me what I had run! Also joining in the celebrations at the top end were good friends Sarah and Darryl Howells, Sarah just having run alongside me in the Destiny’s Angel altered. ©Eurodragster.com "The run caught us all by surprise, probably because we had spent so long last year hoping that it might happen, and not thinking that it would on the first run of the year! It’s still only starting to sink in now, two days after! And many thanks to all the people who came up and congratulated us, phoned, texted, and E-Mailed, and got almost as excited as us! Thanks also to Sharky for that great pic of the scoreboard at the top end – that’s really something to treasure, along with the timing ticket, which we keep having to look at. Wow! What a feeling! "Congratulations also to Sarah Howells for running some excellent numbers of her own, with a best of 9.54/145 in Bernie Nicholas' altered, and thanks to Darryl for videoing our scoreboard at the end of our side-by-side run, and for being so excited that he missed Sarah’s time! Kiitos! And congrats to Dave Ward in the Rampage Funny Car, who ran his first nine-second pass, and repeated two more within a hundredth. Fair play to all the Wild Bunch for a great start to our tenth Anniversary year! "Several people asked us what we we are going to do now, and we replied that we’ll just have to try to keep on doing it and hopefully win a couple of races along the way. So we're really looking forward to the next event!" Sportsmanship at the 'County. 20th April: 'Slinky' from UK Pro ET team 587 Racing has been in touch to pass on Chris Hodgkins and the team's thanks to a number of people after the weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "Firstly, thanks to Carl Burton of English Rose Racing for being a true gent on the startline and giving us an opportunity to get the car re-started", says Slinky. "Unfortunately, we couldn't return the favour with a race as our auxiliary battery had been maimed by the overnight frost, which meant that the car had no gauges or transbrake on the line. "Secondly, thanks to all of the crew at Shakey for continuing to make us so welcome, they've been great at the past two Test and Tunes and have been very supportive indeed, so thanks again to them. "From Hodgy, Dick, Slinky, Lola, Ena-Bob, Robot and Matt at 587racing, thank you all." Know-nothing grown ups... 20th April: UK Junior Drag Bike racer Scott Collier has adopted the mantle of Jade Racing Dial-in Expert after urging parents Jerry and Sharron to choose a particular dial-in for eliminations and turning out to be correct - but only after breaking out. Sharron dropped us a line to explain. "After the first qualifying session, Scott was number one qualifier on his 50 cc bike Junior Storm. We were chuffed, as he is the only eight-year-old, and the only 50 cc bike, yet he is a complete natural. The rolling burnouts are dead cute and his own addition to Jerry’s instructions! Scott was knocked down to number two in the second session. On Sunday Jerry and I decided to change his dial-in from 13.5 to 13.6 as he had been running 13.8s the previous day. Scott wanted to leave it as it was! He had Dan Baldwin in the first round of eliminations and he rode perfectly but unfortunately went under his dial-in and ran 13.54, handing the win to Dan. "Scott wasted no time in telling us that he had wanted to keep the same dial-in and that we grown ups know nothing! Jerry and I are really kicking ourselves, we must get our heads around this bracket stuff. Scott wasn’t down for long, he and Jake Carruthers were sat in the stands watching and chomping on huge gobstoppers. ©Eurodragster.com "We would like to say a few Thank Yous, first of all welcome to crewing for Jade to Graham and Keith, with special thanks to Keith for arranging our recovery home on two recovery trucks due to our camper breaking down on the way to the track, and to Keiths fiancée Jayne for tiny leather gloves and dealing with certain faxes in Stratford! Also to Scott's godfather Steve 'God I am on fire again' French (welcome back!) for wires and the loan of his car, thanks to all the other lads for being great opponents especially Jake who is a real dude, and also gave Scott the race boots he had grown out of . Finally a big SORRY to Don Irvine for blasting his tent with knackered diesel engine fumes in a pathetic attempt to get our camper running again. "Roll on the next round!" All welcome for Weekend. 20th April: The next event at Shakespeare County Raceway is the Ford Weekender and Vauxhall Show and Go Day, which take place on Saturday-Sunday 30th April-1st May and Monday 2nd May respectively. Lee Child of LA Performance Services tells us that three days of Run What You Brung are available to all comers over the Bank Holiday weekend. "Everyone is welcome to the RWYB, however many wheels you have", says Lee. The Ford Weekender and Vauxhall Show and Go Day feature Run What You Brung, Show and Shine, Driver Skill Challenge, trade stands, and a dance tent and band. Demonstration runs will be made by Darryl Bradford in the Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster, Roger Goring in the Firestorm Jet Funny Car, and Steve Pateman in his Street Eliminator Vauxhall Calibra. Tickets are available now from the LA Performance Services Credit Card Hotline on 01803 550306: ©Eurodragster.com Day Advance Gate Saturday n/a £10 Sunday n/a £12 Monday n/a £10 Two days £18 £20 Three days £26 £30 The track will be open for RWYB between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm on Saturday, and between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm on Sunday and Monday. Swift snippets. 20th April: Many thanks to National Association of Supertwins Championship Co-ordinator Lorraine Laycock for sending us the post-Power Nationals NAST points standings. You can view the NAST points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com David Lloyd-Jones of Santa Pod Raceway tells us that this Friday (22nd April) is the deadline for entries to the ET Challenge, which takes place at Santa Pod on Monday 2nd May. "There is no late-entry fee to the ET Challenge but all entries must be in by Friday", says David. "If you are entered in the ET Bracket then you also get free Run What You Brung on the Saturday". You can read full details, including the significant prize fund, and download an entry form at www.big-bang.co.uk/et.htm. UK Super Street racer Mark Watkins tells us that the Team Nippon Datsun should be back in action at the FIA Main Event in May. "We've got the new block, crank and heads and I hope that the rest is on the way!", says Mark. Web site updates. 20th April: Many thanks to our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson for letting us know that Swedish Pro Mod racer Urban Johansson has launched a new web site, to complement his new Corvette Pro Mod, at www.vbsracing.nu. The very professionally-presented site features news, driver and team biographies, car details, calendar, photgraphs, results, links and much more. ©Eurodragster.com Another good friend, James Hands, has updated his Racing 05 fan site with an interview with 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter. Check it out at www.racing04.co.uk. Hill's Sunday spin. 19th April: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Martin Hill says that his Fireforce FC should be back on track within a couple of weeks after suffering minor damage in an accident at Enniskillen on Sunday. Running in its Fireforce 3 guise with the Santa Pod Raceway-themed Chevy Lumina body, the car spun on a damp track, suffering minor chassis damage and wrecking the body which departed during the spin. "It had been raining but we knew from walking the track that it was uphill and that there was no standing water", Martin told Eurodragster.com. "In these circumstances I do the flame and smoke show and if the car doesn't move about then I go under power for a count of three and then coast. Michel Kooy did his show on his Jet Quad with no problem, then when it was my turn I did the flame and smoke show and the car stayed where it was, so I knew that there was grip there. I went under power for a count of three and then clicked it off, we were coasting and then after a couple of seconds the car stepped out on me with no warning and went into a spin." As the car spun the body came off and then the chassis hit a fence post, bending a bar on the driver side. "I waited for it to stop spinning then I climbed out", said Martin. "It's a real disappointment that the body detached, it should not have done that, and had it stayed on it could have taken the impact of the fence post. The body is reparable but I won't use it again, I will put a new body on the car. I have spoken to one chasis builder already about a repair to the bent tube. If they can't fit us in then I can repair the damage myself, it is one bar and some tinwork. But whichever way it works out the first thing we are going to do is to lift the jet out of the chassis and throughly inspect the chassis and jet. We looked at the jet at the track and it looks just fine, it still spins happily and there is no visible damage to indicate that anything was sucked in; the jet was already shut off before the car started to spin." ©Eurodragster.com Martin said that he is not sure what caused the car to spin but that ultimately he accepts responsibility for the accident. "One idea we had was that two wheels might have gone over the white line at the edge of the runway, or maybe there was some standing water, or maybe I just counted to three too slowly!", he said. "In the end it was a bad call to run, which was down to me, and it turned round and bit me!" The FC should be running again at the Big Bang on 30th April-2nd May sporting the yellow Fireforce 2 body, will be running again at the Speedfreaks Ball the following weekend, and will be back in Santa Pod Raceway's colours as Fireforce 3 at the FIA Main Event. "We have a tight schedule", said Martin. "As well as repairing the car I am still working on the arrangements for the Speedfreaks Ball (about which more very soon - Ed) and of course I have a day job and we have bookings for Fireforce 1. But we will be back up and running as soon as we can, and the car will be back with the Santa Pod body by the Main Event at the very latest." Entry deadlines approaching... 19th April: Next Wednesday, 27th April, is the deadline for FIA and FIM/UEM entry to the FIA Main Event at normal price, says Kjell Pettersson. "If you plan to take part and have not yet sent in your entry form, I would recommend that you do so in the next few days", says Kjell. A late entry fee will be levied after next Wedesday's deadline. Next Wednesday is also the deadline for registration for the 2005 FIA and FIM/UEM Championships if you wish to compete at the FIA Main Event. Invitations, registration forms, entry forms and supplementary regulations for the FIA Main Event are all available on the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc as well as on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se. ©Eurodragster.com If you have any queries, or any problems with the download of entry forms then please contact SPRC Club Secretary Paula Marshall on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail paula.marshall@btconnect.com. Santa Pod Raceway are still accepting entries for the all-in car ET Challenge, which takes place on Monday 2nd May. You can find full details and an entry form link at www.big-bang.co.uk/et.htm. Send 'em home smiling! 19th April: The UK's Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster team are reflecting on a difficult couple of days at Shakespeare County Raceway, which ended with a showpiece fire-up of the engine in the pits and sent all the fans home happy, writes team PR Derek Todd. "It’s a time-consuming business to get what is effectively a brand new Top Fuel car onto the track", says Derek. "By early Sunday afternoon all the fine adjustments were done, and then the weather made for a busy weekend without a run." "We feel for promoter Lee Child as we did everything we could to get the car onto the track, only for the weather to intervene", said Lesley Wright. "In thanks to the fans who patiently watched and waited for us we gave them the loudest and longest fire-up of the engine the pits have seen for many years. We simply couldn’t leave without giving them their taste of nitro and John blipped the throttle six times in all which really made them feel the power under their feet." “The car took time to build as we were kept waiting for deliveries of key parts until the very last minute", added tuner John Wright. "It seems that there is a waiting list in the US and we just had to take our turn. The good news is that in the end everything worked, the engine fired smoothly and sounded very strong. I hear we even shook the Race Control building at the start line (Oh yes, believe me you did - Ed)!” Driver Darryl Bradford was naturally fed up at not getting onto the track to lay some rubber. He will now have to wait another two weeks for the Ford Weekender at Shakespeare County Raceway. Still, he got a taste of the old job by teaming up with John Price in the commentary box for a while and certainly got comfortable in the seat again whilst John was burning up ten gallons of fuel. “We’ve hopefully got the gremlins out of the way and can’t wait for Sunday 1st May to run the numbers on the Wright Racing home track", Lesley said. "If you want another close-up all-sensory experience of Top Fuel then make sure you’re there on the Saturday for another John Wright fire-up in the pits!" ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 19th April: UK Super Street racer Nick Curtis tells us that he was not using the transbrake on his spectacular Chevy at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend, which accounted for the slightly moderated launches. "I was trying to calm it down a bit", says Nick. "As much as I love the way it leaves using the transbrake, by the time I've got it straight I'm two or three cas lengths behind. But as you could see it still left with the left front doing its stuff, and I'm chuffed to bits because I love it!" Crew Chief of Jamie Sneddon's Super Street Bike, Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor DynoSpeed Developments, said that he found the new traction compound in use at Shakespeare County Raceway difficult to get to grips with at the weekend. "We backed the power down from the 7.74 run at the WRE Test Day the previous weekend thinking that would give us a good starting point, but on launch it blew the tyre away and never recovered", says Paul. "We knew then we had our work cut out. We managed 8.55 on the next run but still had problems, in the first round against Wayne Bradley we ran 8.17, the track was slightly better but we were still struggling. We ended the weekend with some damage to the motor. It was a tough learning weekend but we will be better prepared for the track when we return." ©Eurodragster.com Many thanks to our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson for letting us know that Fast Freddy Fagerström is one of the presenters of a new Swedish TV programme named Monstergarage, which will be showing on Kanal 5 at 20:00 on Mondays. You can find out more at www.kanal5.se/templates/page.aspx?id=10148. Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from the Sunday of the Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 1st May, covering VWDRC and Super Modified qualifying and eliminations in association with American car Imports. Web site updates. 19th April: Jon Best has updated his fan site with a report of Outlaw Anglia action at the weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Jon's report at www.bestintentions.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com One run, two aims achieved. 18th April: UK Super Street Bike racer Mark Fisher achieved both of his 2005 aims - a seven-second pass and 180 mph - at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. Mark clocked 7.974/181.08 in qualifying on Saturday on what he described as only his fourth proper run of 2005, making him the recipient of the last of the Webster Race Engineering gold rings presented to the first four SSB racers to record a seven-second pass in competition. "This is TTS' flagship bike and I think it's a good advert!", Mark told Eurodragster.com "Everyone else went turbo but I wanted to do it differently. I work for TTS and so I used one of our supercharger kits, with a Rotrex blower which was donated by Steen and Anders of Rotrex. I built the bike myself with a lot of support from Richard Albans, and help from the boys at TTS who gave up their spare time." ©Eurodragster.com Mark ran as quickly as 8.07 in 2004 so he knew that the potential for a seven was there, but he said that his 2005 season had an unpromising start. "I blew a number of head gaskets at Easter", he said. "I got a bit disheartened by that. I stripped and rebuilt the engine after Easter. Now I am contending with a gear selection problem; I have to shut off between fourth and fifth, and I daren't select sixth gear because it would waste too much time!" Mark said that he was worried that he might lose out on the chance of a WRE Seven Second ring on Saturday when he was queued up behind Richard Stubbins, who ran a seven-second pass in testing last week. "I knew that ring could go just like that!", he said. "It was really hard watching Richard run, but then he went 8.3 and I thought to myself "You have to get it right now, don't forget the fourth/fifth change". I had made some changes for the first eighth after reading the timing ticket, I don't have a datalogger so I have to make my own decisions and ride it like a real bike! The run felt really good, I didn't know it was a seven but I knew I hadn't lost any time with the fourth/fifth shift. Because I didn't want to select the last gear I had to let it over-rev in fifth but it felt OK at the top end. When I found out it was a seven I was particularly chuffed because I love Shakespeare County Raceway and so it was great to be the first to run a seven there." Mark said that there is more to come from his Hayabusa. "The beauty of the blower is off the start line", he said. "All of the power is there immediately. But when I sort out the gear changes I will be able to work on the second eighth because right now I am only working on the first half of the track." Finally Mark asked us to thank Richard Albans and all of his colleagues at TTS for their help in building the bike and their continued support, and Webster Race Engineering for the ring. BDRC like what they see. 18th April: A delegation of twelve officials from the Bahrain Drag Racing Club visited Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend on a fact-finding mission, with a number working alongside race officials. BDRC Press Officer Fahad Taqi told Eurodragster.com that it was the experience of a lifetime for the group, which included the Club President, the FIA's Drag Racing representative for the Middle East, and the General Manager of the Bahrain International Circuit. Four other visitors, including two racers, came from Bahrain at their own expense and discussions are already underway about bringing a race car or two to compete in Europe. "We have have learned a lot about procedures, precautions, safety, track work and other operations - everything from A to Z!", said Fahad. "This is the first time that any Club in the Middle East has actually gone abroad to look at an event. Everyone from our President to our race officials has learnt a lot - we have seen exactly what we wanted to see. " ©Eurodragster.com Fahad said that he was particularly impressed with the discipline shown and by the welcome which the group received from the racers. "I even sat in some of the cars!", he said. The group had their first-ever experience of Top Fuel when the Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster was fired up in the pits yesterday afternoon. "I jumped when they hit the throttle, but some of the guys ran away!", said Fahad. "I was also impressed with the VWs, it's amazing what they do with those cars." "It was really great having our guests from the Bahrain Drag Racing Club here", said Lee Child of LA Performance Services. "There has been a great atmosphere and it felt as if we had all known one another for years. The guys have been working very hard helping out this weekend, their efforts were much appreciated and it was the best way to show them how we run events." "We would all like to thank Anthony Hodges and Lee and Emma Child, and everyone else we met", added Fahad. "We have learnt so much and now we can go back to our governing body and feed the information back to them." Tet gains his licence. 18th April: The latest graduate of Paul Marston Racing's Drag Race Driving School to compete in a UK National Event was Tethys, who contested Pro ET at this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Tet dropped us a line to let us know how he got on in Grumpy's Dodge. "My objective for the weekend was simply to get through my observed runs to get my licence and then see how it went from there", said Tet. "The car had seen a host of changes of the winter, and this was its first outing of the season, so it was doing double duty to try and get in as many runs as possible and shake down any teething troubles. I was driving in Pro ET, and Paul Marston was driving it in Super Street. ©Eurodragster.com "Despite having a few minor problems with the car, I made my observed runs without major incident. A combination of factors meant that the car was running off the pace by several seconds, which wasn't a big problem for getting my licence, but left me at a disadvantage in eliminations. Thus it was that Lee Huxley easily knocked me out in the first round, bringing an early but not entirely unexpected end to my weekend. "Despite the early exit, I enjoyed the weekend, gained my licence, and am looking forward to doing it all again. Fortunately, the problems with the car were ironed out after my last run, leaving the car back on form for Paul to progress in Super Street. I'd like to thank all at Paul Marston Racing for their efforts over the weekend, and also to wish a certain Eurodragster News Editor the best of luck when he gets to drive the car in a couple of weeks (Thanks! - Ed)." Racers: Send your Power Nationals reviews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here. Swift snippets. 18th April: Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jonas Staflund has teamed up with Jeff McGaffic of J & B Motorsports to offer European Top Methanol racers a good deal on FireFox fire supression systems. "Jeff would like to put together one large order to lower shipping costs", says Jonas. "We will also shortly have details for a system for Pro Stock". If you are interested then you can read more details by clicking here (PDF format) or please drop Jonas a line at jonas.staflund@telia.com. The Shakespeare Nationals, to be held at Shakespeare County Raceway on 18th-19th June, will feature a Top Fuel match race between 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter and Darryl Bradford. Andy and Darryl are also booked for the Custom Car Magazine Allstar Nationals at SCR over the August Bank Holiday weekend. After their return to Top Fuel was rained out yesterday, John and Lesley Wright will be taking their Top Fuel Dragster to the Ford Weekender/Vauxhall Speed and Show Day at SCR on 30th April-2nd May. ©Eurodragster.com UK Jet Funny car pilot Martin Hill is OK after spinning his Fireforce 3 and losing the FC's body during a demonstration in Enniskillen yesterday. Just before we went to post this update Martin called to tell us that he is just fine; stay tuned and we will bring you more once we have spoken to him. UK Outlaw Anglia racer Simon Barlow gained his licence at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend but also gained a modification as a Supertwin Gas bike ran into the back of his Orange Pop in the pairing lanes. "We had misfire problems all weekend", says crew member Jason Yates. "We are pulling the engine out next week to put on the new Powerglide and look at the misfire, then put the engine on the dyno. We will also repair the back end of the car. We would like to thank Andy Frost for his help and advice over the weekend." Web site updates. 18th April: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site at www.dragracing.se with the current NDRS points standings and a season preview for the Swedish Dragracing League, as well as NDRS and FIM and UEM documents for all Finnish Hot Rod Association events. The Finnish Hot Rod Association site has been updated with invitations and entry forms to all NDRS events in Finland as well as FIM and UEM forms for the FHRA Nitro Nationals. You can go directly to the forms at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=44. ©Eurodragster.com Gwynn has updated his Slimboyfat web site with photographs from the weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Gwynn's photographs at www.pbase.com/slimboyfat Richard Stirling has updated his Top Nitro fan site with reports, pictures and some audio clips of the Easter Thunderball and yesterday's action at the Power Nationals. You can check out Richard's site at www.topnitro.co.uk. Power Nationals rained out. 17th April: The weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway were rained out with most classes up to the semi-final stage. Up to that point it was an exciting event with close qualifying and eliminations, two new National records - 7.586 by Kev Perkins in Super Modified, and 9.470 by Andy Smith in NAST Supertwin Gas - and a number of track records including the first seven-second Super Street Bike pass at SCR, a 7.974 by Mark Fisher. Colin Lazenby (Street Eliminator), Steve Carey (Top Fuel Bike) and Steve Clutterbuck (Supertwin Gas) took the event wins in classes which were whittled down to one by attrition or had two contestants. Outlaw Anglia racer Mark Pointer took the £50 Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 Reaction Time in eliminations. ©Eurodragster.com You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored reports, pictures and pit notes by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our good buddy Gareth Evans has also posted end-day updates and pictures on his UK1320 web site at www.uk1320.com. Looking for help... 17th April: UK Pro Mod racer Ray White has been in touch to ask if any Eurodragster.com reader can help with the broken hydraulic tail lift on his trailer. "If you can help, or if you know anyone who can help, then please get in touch at specialistlx@ukonline.co.uk", says Ray. "The truck is in Northfleet in Kent." ©Eurodragster.com Danny White would be pleased to hear from anyone who has pictures of Rune Fjeld's Mustang II Funny Car or Tom Andersson's Sko Uno Paeppen Funny Car, for use in his 1970s Funny Car site. If you have any pictures of either of these cars then please drop Danny a line at white@neto.com. Web site updates. 17th April: Our good buddy James Hands has posted a number of photographs on his fan photo site. You can check out James' pictures at www.freewebs.com/photolife. ©Eurodragster.com Statements on Power Nationals TM. 15th April: This weekend's Power Nationals have been the subject of some rumour and speculation surrounding the participation of Top Methanol. This morning it has been announced that the Top Methanol racers have withdrawn from the race at Shakespeare County Raceway. The rest of the event will continue as planned. Eurodragster.com has received statements from both the Top Methanol racers and promoter Lee Child. The official statement from the Top Methanol racers reads as follows: "In view of rumours and misinformation which seem to exist the Top Methanol racers shown as entered at the Power Nationals would like to make it clear that they will not be attending this weekend. With great regret their entries were collectively withdrawn and the withdrawal accepted by the Race Secretary on Monday 11th April. We would all hope that the circumstances will change and that we will be able to attend the MSA Championship round at the Ultimate Power event on 18th-19th June." ©Eurodragster.com Promoter Lee Child of LA Performance Services said: "We have been in negotiation with the Top Methanol racers for some months, and we have fulfilled what we had to do legally. The entry list and running order for this weekend contained Top Methanol because, with the nature of the the withdrawal, it should have been in writing and we did not receive it. It is regrettable that after a lot of hard work, and after I have brought sponsors into the Ultimate Power Championship for 2005, the racers have chosen not to attend. Regrettably I cannot see Top Methanol racing at Shakespeare County Raceway in 2005. For the rest of the racers it is business as usual and the Power Nationals will continue this weekend." Swift snippets. 15th April: UK Super Comp racer Paul Knight has been in touch to let racers know that a large consignment of VP and Klotz racing fuel has arrived and that it will be available from MotorShack at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. "Steve Wood and I will both be at SCR with a vast range of fuels for sale", says Paul. "If anyone needs fuel, or advice on fuel, you can see either myself in the pits or Steve will be in the shop (Shakey have kindly made a building available for us to use). So we can offer a great service in professional manner." The world's fastest Jet racer Martin Hill will be breaking new ground yet again this weekend as he makes demonstration passes in his Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car at a drag race at Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. "Michel Kooy with his Pyromania Jet Quad will also be performing for what we understand will be largest gathering of modified cars in the north", says Martin. ©Eurodragster.com Bob Roberts has been in touch to let us know that Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars sell materials as well as doing fabrication work. "ARRC keep large stocks of both mild steel and chromoly tubing, sheet aluminium and steel plate which they are prepared to sell to those who wish to build their own cars", says Bob. "In addition they have stocks of parts such as wheel tubs, Dzus fasteners, brackets, tabs, four link and ladder bars to help home builders speed up the construction process. In fact they will even bend up tubes on their CNC bender for the home builder who has his design all worked out. Check the Parts section at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk to see some of the handy bits and pieces they can supply or call 01256 880589 to discuss your requirements." From Show to go. 15th April: UK Wild Bunch racer Crazy Chris Hartnell's Backdraft slingshot is back in the UK and ready contest this weekend's Power Nationals after its trip to Helsinki to appear at the Finnish Hot Rod Association's American Car Show. Chris' partner and Wild Bunch Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows dropped us a line to tell us how they got on in Finland. "Chris, Mark and I flew out at Easter to join our slingshot at the Show", says Claire. "We had a brilliant time showing the car at the front of a drag strip display, paired up with Daz Selwyn’s awesome Pandemonium Dodge AFX car, and ‘launched’ on the Alastaro Christmas Tree! We also had a DVD playing in front of the display, with footage of our car as Malibu Express in 1969, and Pink Panther in 1973ish, plus loads of footage of Backdraft over the years at Shakespeare County and York Raceways. "We were warmly welcomed by Tapio Väljä and the good folks of the FHRA, and we really enjoyed being a part of an excellent show which featured hundreds of Hot Rods, Yanks, custom bikes and ‘tuning cars’. We hear that there was a record attendance for the show’s twenty eighth year and the thirtieth anniversary of the first official drag race in Finland - and for good measure the first Finnish drag racer, a Mk I Cortina, was also on display. So fair play to all the organisers who worked really hard to put on a very professional, diverse, and exciting show with a very high quality of machinery on display. ©Eurodragster.com "You can see some pictures from the show on Zane Llewellyn’s web site at www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk/helsinki2005.htm. Thanks to Zane for all his efforts in arranging the six English cars, three of which won Top Ten In Show trophies - and many thanks to the FHRA for having us all there Kiitos! We hope that the Finns enjoy the anniversary celebrations all year, and best of luck to them all for their drag eacing season. "We’re now really looking forward to getting back out racing for our eleventh, which starts this weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. Can’t wait!" PMR: we all love Grumpy. 15th April: After the Easter Thunderball, at which they fielded three race cars and four drivers, Paul Marston Racing went to the Fast Show at Santa Pod Raceway where two drivers were trained on the Saturday and then Paul himself took to the wheel of the School's Insanity Vega pick-up to test chassis settings, leading to some best incrementals for the car which is known as a bit of a handful. The PMR team are now all set for this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway where they will be running two cars and three drivers. "This weekend sees the 2005 début of Grumpy's Dodge, joined by the Alien altered shoed by John Everitt", says Paul. "Grumpy will be running double-duty in Pro ET, with PMR School graduate Tethys making his début, and I will be driving her in Super Street. I will be leaving the PT Bruiser at home this weekend, but I just love driving the Dart, she still is my very favorite race car and with all the work put in by Gary Springford and myself along with the rest of the PMR crew I just had to drive it. "Just to give you an idea, Grumpy has a completely new braking system all round, all disc brake conversion, lightweight master cylinder, new radiator and electric fan assembly, new motor mounts and engine repositioning, new Dart Pro 1 cylinder heads, state of the art Bo Laws Performance alcohol carb set-up, replaced and repositioned fuel cell, new shifter, brand new Pro Stars all round, brand new Hoosier rubber, reworked rear chassis and repaired bodywork, fully-detailed nylon-coated four-link, get the picture? We were at Drag Race Engineering on Tuesday as Grumpy's former owner Paul 'Grumpy' Watson stopped by to inspect our work. I think the smile on his face and the firmness of his handshake could only mean our work met with his approval. So it was only fair to offer Grumpy the opportunity to drive Grumpy's Dodge again in the future, I think he liked the idea! Watch this space for further details. "The PT Bruiser succumbed to a small problem just prior to first round eliminations at Easter, we fixed it on the day but there was not enough time to make the call. The team have collectively and reluctantly decided to forsake the Super Pro Championship bid for 2005 and instead have some fun with Grumpy and the Alien, then once and for all fix this niggling problem with the PT Bruiser to come out in the summer. This allows time to fit the alcohol fuel injection, the ingenious new petrol injection system, new tyres and new converter too. "Everyone is really looking forward to our return to SCR, with the clock still ticking it's going to be hard work to have everything ready in time, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going...rest assured, we will be there. Please stop by this weekend to say hello, and to meet the drivers and the rest of the PMR gang. Finally a big Thank You to all of our sponsors: Chrysler UK, MAC Tools, Black Box London Limited, London Road Tyres, Drag Race Engineering, Cooke’s Chadwell Heath, Gosnays Engineering and all our friends and associates." Web site updates. 15th April: Andrew Kirk has updated his excellent Drag, Rod and Classic Review magazine with an interview with Cruz Pedregon about his father's famous old Fiat-bodied dragster, as well as some comments from FIA European Championship promoter Keith Bartlett in response to an article by Jeff Burk. Check it out at www.drcreview.com. ©Eurodragster.com Power Nationals running order. 14th April: We are indebted to Ozzy Ewing of APIRA for forwarding us the provisional running order for Saturday's qualifying at the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "I would like to draw racers' attention to the Riders' and Drivers' meeting in the grandstand at 8:45 on Saturday morning", says Ozzy. "Please make every effort to attend." ©Eurodragster.com You can view Saturday's provisional running order by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the Power Nationals. Please note that as ever the running order is subject to change due to weather or track conditions, or for any other reason deemed necessary by Race Officials. SFI 17.1 Fire Extinguishers. 14th April: Please note that this news item, published yesterday, is being re-run today because the version published yesterday contained an error inserted by Eurodragster.com and which was not in any way Geoff Martin's fault. Tog, whose mistake it was, would like to apologise personally to the FIA racers and to Geoff for any inconvenience and/or shock caused by his mistake (I was trying a bit too hard to be helpful and made a complete bog of it - Ed). UK Tech Inspector Geoff Martin has been in touch with an important message for racers whose cars are covered by the FIA rule book. "For the 2005 Season, it is mandatory for certain FIA classes to be equipped with an SFI 17.1 Fire Extinguisher system", says Geoff. "Contrary to talk in the pits, this is not a Spec for bottles alone, and for a system to comply, it must pass a prescribed series of tests carried out in the SFI laboratories. ©Eurodragster.com You can view a list of SFI 17.1 Participating Manufacturers by clicking here. "Please note that not all of these manufacturers comply with FIA Accepted Extinguishants in the EU, but GEMFOAM is a AFFF water-based liquid", adds Geoff. Other accepted extinguishants can be found on the FIA web site at www.fia.com/resources/documents/1600828209__List_06_Ext_Products.pdf (PDF format)." If you have any queries then please get in touch with Geoff by E-Mail at chassis1@onetel.com. Eighteen months in the making... 14th April: This weekend sees the return of the original all-British Top Fuel team. It's been a year and a half since the last blast down Shakespeare County Raceway and the Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster is ready for battle again, says Derek Todd. The race car has been extensively re-worked with more length in the rear, shorter in the front, a new higher body and windshield, re-positioned rear wing, bigger fuel pumps, wider section blower drive belt and pulleys and the latest MSD Digital Retard Controller. "The new configuration is focussed on getting a much better launch", said John Wright. "We shall work on getting that sorted out first and then creep up on the rest of the combination. We’re looking forward to the weekend and the promise of a more consistent track will make my job a lot easier." ©Eurodragster.com Driver and TV presenter Darryl Bradford has an understandably itchy right foot. "Getting to talk about everyone else racing was fun, but it's like being at the dinner table and watching everyone else eat their dinner while you’re sitting there starving and just dying to get stuck in!", he said. "Well - all that’s about to change again and I can’t wait to get going! It’s also a good job that a Top Fuel Dragster is three hundred inches long because the list of supporting companies has grown considerably since our last outing." Lesley Wright agreed that the return to the track would not be possible without the help, advice and support of the following great companies and individuals. "Many thanks to all the crew, John Woolfe Racing, Shakespeare County Raceway, LA Racing Parts, White's Contract Services, Royal Purple, Flint Insurance, Cyclops Signs, Lipsync, Mass Racing Developments, IMAX Birmingham, Curbishley Automotive Finishers, John Webster Engineering, Andy Robinson Race Cars, Speedflow and G-Max Fuels", she said. "We wish everyone a safe and fast weekend and look forward to seeing you all at the track!" Pateman makes it. 14th April: If you were tuned in yesterday then you will have read that we promised more news of UK Street Eliminator racer and World Street Race winner Steve Pateman's appearance on the entry list for this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. We spoke to Steve and he filled us in on how it became possible. "The ship transporting the four Street Eliminator cars back from the World Street Race docked on Tuesday", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "All of the containers were unloaded yesterday and if the Customs don't pull over our container then we should be able to pick up the car this afternoon (Thursday). We are going to the Isle of Grain today, hopefully to pick up the car from the port and then we will go directly to Shakespeare County Raceway." ©Eurodragster.com Steve and his crew will be giving the low eight-second Vauxhall Calibra the once-over on Friday. "We need to work on a few things", said Steve. "All routine stuff, we want to have a good look around since the last time I saw the car was at the World Street Race. The car is running like clockwork and I want to get back in it and drive it; I have also entered Super Pro ET this weekend to get more track time." Steve's next date after the Power Nationals will be the Vauxhall Speed and Show Day back at Shakespeare County Raceway on 2nd May, where he will be making demonstration passes. "That will be useful because I will be able to learn more", he said. Swift snippets. 14th April: 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter tells us that his Crew Chief Ben Allum will be spending this weekend training with Scott Weis' Top Fuel team at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas. UK Super Gas racer Brendan Clancy should be back on track for the FIA Main Event in May after his Dublin Up Nova suffered rear axle damage at Saturday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day. "Preliminary inspection shows that the rear axle damage caused the gearbox housing to break", says team member Paul Chandler. "Brendan and the crew are very confident that the car will be back together and ready for the Main Event. Brendan is very pleased with the front-end suspension work carried out by Jon Webster, and other electrical and mechanical mods made by Crew Chief Vic Jones and myself." UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett had a more successful weekend at Santa Pod, recording a best Reaction Time of 0.22, says dad Peter. "Joe made some great passes getting used to the Tree", says Peter. "He is over the moon about the 0.22. Joe would like to thank his crew Nev and Libby Mottershead for their commitment, help and advice over recent weeks, and Jon Webster and Ian Marshall for sourcing the car from Summit Racing. Any dads out there who are thinking of starting their son or daughter in a Junior Dragster, go to Webster Race Engineering - they have been excellent and have been keeping an eye on Joe at the track showing great interest in how he is doing. Also a big Thank You to Neil Milliard of Prosign for the paint job - it really does stand out." ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com's Swap Meet sponsor Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts has unveiled a new logo designed by Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Power Race Graphics. "We'd like to thank Darren at Power Race Graphics for doing a great job on the new logo", say Jeff and Belinda Bull. "Darren came up with some great designs for us to choose from but this one (right) did it for us. As most of our regular customers will know we stock a wide variety of Big Block Chevy performance parts from a spark plug to complete engine, and take many items to the track with us on race days." UK Outlaw Anglia team Orange Pop Drag Racing have asked us to say a big Thank You to Mick Pusey for loaning Simon Barlow his transmission blanket for this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "I put an advert Eurodragster's Swap Meet on Tuesday night and I got an E-Mail straight back from Mick", says Jason Yates. "I gave him a ring yesterday morning and Mick only lives ten miles up the road so Phill and I went there last night. Thank you very much Mick." Adam Charnley has been in touch to let us know that his Predator altered now has a choice of bodies after he purchased an ex-Norm Wilding Chevrolet Beretta Funny Car body from Glenn Child. "The plan is to use the body next year, swapping the Topolino and Funny Car bodies between Championships", says Adam. "We will run the Topo in the Wild Bunch and hopefully the Funny Car in Pro ET if funds permit". Adam would be pleased to hear from anyone with any more history on the Beretta body, or with any ideas for a name. If you can help with either then please drop Adam an E-Mail at chara003@sgfl.org.uk. ET Challenge: you're invited. 14th April: Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to remind racers that the ET Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway on Monday 2nd May is open to all cars. ©Eurodragster.com "Sportsman racers: there is still time to enter the ET Challenge on 2nd May", says Rick. "The competition is open to all cars whatever the make, model, speed or specification. If you can run consistently, you are in with a chance of winning some big prize money. The more people to enter, the bigger the prize-pot, so tell everyone you know to get their entries in too!" For full rules and entry information check out the ET Challenge Home Page at www.big-bang.co.uk/et.htm. Roll cage padding. 13th April: Scrutineer Glenn Stockton has also been in touch with a request to racers attending this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "If you are one of the racers with your roll cage padded with pipe lagging which is all wrapped up with coloured PVC tape, we would like to see it removed for the first event so that we can have a look at the cage construction and weld quality - free from any cracks etc.", says Glenn. "Once we have had a look you can refit the padding and retape up to a colour of your choice. ©Eurodragster.com "But please bear in mind that pipe lagging is for stopping pipes from freezing! The proper SFI/FIA padding is designed for the job of protecting your helmet with your head inside it! Think about it the proper stuff costs - less than the beer you lot consume over the weekend - and we can see the cage in its entirety." If you have any queries then you can drop Glenn a line at glennstockton@123thedowns.fsnet.co.uk. More from MT. 13th April: Mickey Thompson Tyres have increased their involvement in the Sportsman classes in this year's Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship at Shakespeare County Raceway, starting with this weekend's Power Nationals. The winner and runner-up in Super Gas and Super Street will now receive cash awards. The Mickey Thompson award list is now as follows: Super Pro ET: Winner £50, runner-up £25 Super Gas: Winner £50, runner-up £25 Super Street: Winner £50, runner-up £25 Street Eliminator: Winner £50, runner-up £25 Outlaw Anglia: Winner £50, runner-up £25 Super Street Bike: Winner £50, runner-up £25 9.50 Bike: Winner £50, runner-up £25 To qualify for the award, competitors must run Mickey Thompson tyres, run MT decals, and produce a receipt from an authorised UK distributor. "I am very grateful to Mickey Thompson Tyres for their further support of the Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship", says promoter Lee Child, who jointly sponsors Eurodragster.com's Links pages through LA Racing Parts. "With this sponsorship, and their backing of our Jap Racer Days and American Car World Street Racer Series, Mickey Thompson Tyres has become a major supporter of UK drag racing." The snug Zephyr. 13th April: UK Pro Mod racer Ray White has ensured that his new Lethal Z 2 blown-alcohol race car fits in its new trailer before he sends the car off for painting. "I know it sounds a bit daft that a little Mk 1 Zephyr won't fit in a forty foot artic", says Ray, "but the trailer was made to carry cars up top. We have converted the downstairs to take the car as you can see it's a snug fit. I've been used to a three-foot work bench and we've got nearly eighty feet downstairs, so the whole upstairs is now accommodation." ©Eurodragster.com Ray says that the truck will make a great rolling billboard for a sponsor. "What a place to start - an awesome car in an awesome trailer", he says. If you would be interested in sponsoring Ray's forthcoming Zephyr Pro Mod then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com and we'll put you in touch. Swift snippets. 13th April: 22:00 tonight (Wednesday) is the deadline for advance tickets to this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. For more details check out our news item Power Nationals fast approaching of 7th April, or to order your tickets call the LA Performance Services' Credit Card Hotline on 01803 550306. ©Eurodragster.com UK Street Eliminator racer Pete Smith has had to withdraw from this weekend's Power Nationals after detonating three pistons and blowing both head gaskets on his Just Mental Corvette. "The car has been overheating and now it's given up on us - I'm gutted!", Pete told Eurodragster.com. "I was really looking forward to the race. Sorry to all the guys but I will be back harder and faster - I am ordering the parts from Burgin and they will be here next week". Meanwhile World Street Race winner Steve Pateman has appeared on this weekend's Street Eliminator entry list; the four WSR cars arrive back from the USA this week and it looks as if Steve is going straight from the container to the track - stay tuned for more news. Not too late to race in Serres. 13th April: Our good buddy Elias Vathias has been in touch to let us know that the application form for the first Greek Championship round is available on the Greek Dragster web site at www.greekdragster.com/news/news050411-3.htm. ©Eurodragster.com This year's Championship dates are: 23rd-24th April, Serres 14th-15th May, Serres 11th-12th June, Serres 9th-10th July, Athens (provisional, non-Championship) 10th-11th September, Serres 24th-25th September, Athens 15th-16th October, Athens Don't forget that you can stay in touch with all the news from Greece on the Greek Dragster web site at www.greekdragster.com. SCR upgrades underway. 12th April: Lee Child of LA Performance Services, promoter of the Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship and other events at the UK's Shakespeare County Raceway, has been in touch to bring us up to date with news of upgrades to the Warwickshire facility in time for this weekend's Power Nationals. "Today (Tuesday) we will be taking delivery of one hundred and fifty metres of concrete barriers which will be placed alongside the Japanese Performance (left) lane in the shutdown area" says Lee, who jointly sponsors Eurodragster.com's Links pages through LA Racing Parts. "The left-side bank has been extended which will help bike racers with crosswinds and the new barrier extends along that stretch. I am very grateful to everyone at Hardstaff Barriers for their tremendous help and attention to our needs, and I would like to thank George Chiarella of Straight to the Point Racing for the introduction." ©Eurodragster.com This weekend will also see the first use in competition of a new traction compound supplied by Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor VP Racing Fuels. "We had great results with VP Lane 6 traction compound at the APIRA Test and Tune", says Lee. "We were particularly impressed because it doesn't lose its edge as the day goes on and so is very consistent which will help racers with their tuning calls." Racers will also benefit from a new PA system in the pits which is tailored to their needs. "Wayne Schreier of our Tech Crew has been hard at work putting in the new pit PA system", says Lee. "This is a separate PA system which will only be used for call-ups to the staging lanes; from now on commentary and music will only be broadcast alongside the track." Lee had an enjoyable and relaxing weekend at the Ripspeed Donny Show (about which more below - Ed) where he was promoting the Ford and Vauxhall weekends as well as Ultimate Power events at SCR. "It was good to meet everyone and to see so many enthusiastic young people completely into their cars", he says. "I think that customising and Hot Rodding has come full circle. I also had my annual cup of tea and chat with Steve Murty!" Goring continues on. 12th April: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring will literally be picking up where he left off at the end of 2004 as pressure of work over the off-season meant that he could only carry out routine maintenance on his Firestorm Pontiac. Roger will be making demonstration passes at this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and says that the aim for this weekend is to "Be safe, go fast, put on a good show, and have some fun". "We have stripped the motor and rebuilt it, and done one or two other little jobs, but nothing major", says Roger. "We are still on last year's set-up because my work commitments left little time for R and D. We will be happy to repeat last year's 6.2s at 250 mph this weekend but we won't be beating our brains out." Roger's first outing of the year, at York Raceway at Easter, was curtailed by rain. "The track was very wet so I just went to the start line and did flame shows until the fuel ran out", he says. "Even then the car was sliding a little." ©Eurodragster.com Testing of new parts which Roger obtained for Firestorm last year will have to wait until after the Power Nationals. "We refuse to use races as test sessions", says Roger. "That's not what the promoter books us to do. We will hopefully be testing at Test Days later on this year with the parts we already have in our workshop. If they work, then we will go even faster - if they don't work then they'll go in the bin!" Roger and Crew Chief and partner Helen Rusling have a new team member trying out this weekend in the person of Stuart Every. The Firestorm team will also be accompanied by longtime friend and supporter Colin Fallows, and they are looking forward to seeing their fans again. "I am looking forward to seeing everyone, please be sure to stop by and say Hello", says Roger. Racers: It's not too late to send your Power Nationals previews. Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish it here. Power Nationals snippets. 12th April: UK Outlaw Anglia racer Simon Barlow and his crew Phill, Jay and Andy have been in touch to thank Andy Frost of Penn Autos for building Simon's Powerglide, which will be used later this season, whilst Simon's first competitive outing is at this weekend's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "We went down to Andy's workshop on Saturday morning to collect the Powerglide and it looks fantastic", says Jason Yates. "We would also like to say another big Thank You to Andy for coming to the track this weekend to crew with us and to help set up the engine." ©Eurodragster.com £100 for Perfection. 12th April: This weekend's Power Nationals is the second eligible event in the 2005 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme, with a total of £100 up for grabs. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset after Super Gas racer Olav Skjervo took the money at the Easter Thunderball. £50 will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Award is open to all classes and is available during qualifying or eliminations but not open practice. If the Award is not won this weekend then the prize fund will increase to £75 at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May; if the Award is won this weekend then the prize fund will be reset to £50 at the FIA Main Event. The Perfect Light Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow, whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award has also been reset after Super Comp racer Andy Williams clocked an astounding 8.900000 at the Easter Thunderball. £50 will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their class index or dial-in. The Award is open to all index and dial-your-own classes and is available during qualifying or eliminations but not open practice. If the Award is not won this weekend then the prize fund will increase to £75 at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May; if the Award is won this weekend then the prize fund will be reset to £50 at the FIA Main Event. The Perfect ET Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and performance supplier LA Racing Parts, whose web site you can find at www.laracingparts.com. Good luck to all racers competing at the Power Nationals. Wrattens like WRE Test. 12th April: Charlie Draper, tuner for the UK's Wratten Brothers Top Methanol Funny Car, says that the team were pleased with their testing at Saturday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com "We wanted to get that blower banging out of the way", says Charlie. "I must admit that the weather conditions did have me scratching my head, and I was concerned about getting past sixty feet in one piece so I made the fuel side of things so safe that it wasn't an issue. What we need now are some more days like that but with less severe weather: don't get me wrong, if you had a sorted car you could have made some record runs but when you're purposely trying to play safe those conditions are the last thing you need. Still, it doesn't look like there is much in the way of prepped tracks until the week before the Main Event, shame! "We would all like to thank all at the WRE Test Day for an all-round quality day and we would recommend them to anybody whatever class. Wherever possible we will be attending them from now on." Kitneys reading return. 12th April: With a profile usually almost as high as its engine the blown, bad and black Escort RS8000 of the Kitney clan was conspicuous by its absence at the Easter Thunderball, and will continue to be for a few meetings yet says Trevor Kitney. "We pulled the engine apart for a bit of a refresh", says Trev, "and found a fair deal of carnage: one of the lifters was soft and took out a cam lobe, one of the rods was about a quarter of an inch shorter than the rest, a few more of the rods were oval, some of the piston rings were missing, and there was a severe problem with one of the heads. Essentially it had been running tens on only six cylinders!" Most of the necessary new parts are winging their way in from the USA, but Trev would like to say huge Thank You to Alex McIntosh (Street Eliminator Mustang) for the replacement heads (which were sourced through a Parts Wanted ad on Eurodragster.com's Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts Swap Meet). ©Eurodragster.com "Work has prevented a quick build-up, but we should be race-ready sometime in July", says Trev. "In addition to the engine work, the troublesome fuel system has been totally re-vamped as have the nitrous and water injection systems, and the exhaust is now a little less restrictive, but still road legal!" The team hope to be testing as soon as the car is complete, so watch out for Trev, Ellie and a 'mystery driver' who will hopefully be sorting the car out for an assault on "Maybe Pro ET plus one other!" in 2006. Swift snippets. 12th April: 9:20 Adrian Spencer, Crew Chief for UK Pro Mod racer Gordon Appleton, has been in touch to ask if anyone can help with the loan of a BAE Fat Head. "As you know we have a new motor on order with BAE", says Adrian. "We are trying to get everything ready in time for the Main Event, and we need a head to mock-up the zoomies". If you can help in any way then please call either Adrian on 07734 808847 or Gordon on 07721 037122. ©Eurodragster.com Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing is offering Ford-bodied cars free track time to make demonstration passes at this Sunday's (17th April) Ford RS Owners' Club Day at Santa Pod Raceway. "We are looking for racers to make a few runs on the day and impress those people who are unfamiliar with really quick cars! All Ford-bodied cars are welcome, and it’s a great opportunity for some free testing and a chance to be the centre of attention." Donny success. 12th April: Alongside fifty of the finest modified cars in the country taking pride of place in the Best In Britain competition at this year's Ripspeed Donny Show, Shakespeare County Raceway enjoyed another successful weekend highlighting the forthcoming Ford and Vauxhall Show dates to be held at the Warwickshire quarter mile later this month, writes Press Officer Jeremy Cookson. Catching plenty of admiring glances, and some of the photo shoots featuring the hottest babes, was Dave Brown’s stunning 350 bhp Ford Focus RS and Jacko’s 1.4 Vauxhall Corsa SRi. "I can’t wait to get this car on the track at the Ford Weekender", said Dave. "All I’ve done so far is display the car at shows like this and 0-60 challenges but I’m eager to see what it will do on the quarter mile especially as it’s my daily driver to and from work." It was a close call whether Jacko could even make the show as the car had only just come out of a Manchester paint shop just hours before the doors where due to open, but as the hours ticked by and the snowy blizzards rolled in over the Doncaster Racecourse, Jacko’s two-tone phat-painted Corsa thundered into the show hall to take pride of place alongside Dave’s Focus and SCR’s practice show tree, complete with its fully tricked out body kit, stereo install and in-car hydraulic dance movements. By the close of the show Jacko was more than pleased when finally got his promised Fast Car photo shoot completed. LA Performance Services would like to take this opportunity to thank both Dave and Jacko for the loan of their cars for the show. Also on display and taking pride of place in the Best in Britain competition was Rotorstock import racer Martyn Clifford who, for his efforts of some two years, picked up the Show's Best Interior award for his 265hp Nismo-kitted ’95 Nissan Skyline R33GTSt. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 12th April: Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a small number of Windows wallpaper files from the weekend's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Sharkman's Wallpapers at www.topendtales.com. ©Eurodragster.com James Hands has updated his Racing 05 web site at www.racing04.co.uk with a short interview with Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon, who we understand is the first Top Fuel racer to submit an entry for the FIA Main Event. Step 1: Check list of parts... 11th April: Germany's Marco Maurischat will be contesting Pro Mod in 2006 after selling his record-holding Comp Eliminator dragster. Marco and his team will be building the blown-alcohol '53 'Vette from a kit purchased from Tim McAmis Race Cars in the USA. "We will be sitting out this season to prepare the new Pro Mod car", says Marco. "We bought it as a kit with an unwelded chassis, and we will be building it in our new race shop. We have bought everything we need to build what will hopefully be a very good race car including a Tim McAmis floater rear end, Weld wheels, front and rear suspension and thousands of smaller parts. "I went to the Winternationals at Pomona and then spent two days in Missouri at Tim McAmis Race Cars to see how I was going to spend my money. I was very excited to see Tim's shop and how professionally well they build race cars. Tim spent the day with me (right) and showed me everything I was looking for. He is a very smart man and I am glad that we decided to buy everything from him. ©Eurodragster.com "I also made a short trip to BAE to get some information about engines - we don't have an engine and trans yet, and at the moment I don't know whether it will be new or used, but it will definitely be a BAE/Lenco combination. We will get all the parts from Tim in June, so we have something to do for the rest of the year! We will also visit some of the NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified rounds, such as the FIA Main Event and Veidec Nitro Festival, to talk to some of the teams and to learn something about the class. Hopefully Pro Mod will be an FIA class in 2006. "I am very excited about my new ride and I can't wait until 2006 to make the first run down the quarter mile. For the last ten years I have driven dragsters, in Super Comp and then Comp Eliminator, and I think that driving a doorslammer will be a lot different, especialy with two housand horsepower, so there will be a lot to learn." Baldie: I'll be there. 11th April: Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Määttä tells us that he will be racing his Baldie's Gun III Suzuki this season, although on a limited schedule. "Although I am on a limited schedule and this is my fiftieth anniversary season I am not limiting myself", says Asko. "My bike and I will be better than ever at every outing this season! My Baldie's Gun III ProTurbo Suzuki has a Hestec datalogger, new cams and timings determined by me after some serious discussions 'over there'. The crank is new, the clutch and the turbo tune-up management systems are much better (tuneability and sensibility in mind), the frame is still good as it has been since the late 1980s, and there are some minor changes including a wider and taller rear tire, and I have a new crew." ©Eurodragster.com Asko says that although there is no single major change to the bike, the alterations he has made over the winter seem to have added up although he doesn't think anyone else will notice. "The bike is there and I'm on it, neither the spectators nor the track crew will notice any change", he says. "My main goal this year is the same as in earlier seasons: to do the best on what I am racing, and for 2005 the Finnish Championship. It would be nice to race some NDRS Funny Bike races in Sweden, at the moment it doesn't seem possible but who knows what will happen. My own wallet is the only limiting factor at the moment as it has been over the years. "The best thing for me is that I'll be on the track, faster and more determined than ever, and on a more capable bike - I couldn't ask for more. Thanks to ProTurbo Systems, Kopparin Kukka, NeoBest/AutoBest, and Baldie Racing and Media Relationships." Swift snippets. 11th April: Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing tells us that Santa Pod Raceway had a good weekend at the Ripspeed Donny Show at Doncaster racecourse. "We exhibited the Santa Pod show cars, PTI Motorsport’s Rover 220 Turbo, and Martin Hill and Tony Baker entertained with the Fireforce Jet Funny Cars", says Rick. Rick also sent us this picture of what he says are two old nags leaving the traps for another two-furlong pass, on the backs of Martin Hill and Barry Sheavills. Barry, when you said you were "Looking for a ride"... ©Eurodragster.com King Racing press release. 11th April: Despite the intention for the UK's King Racing Top Fuel Bike team to sit out the 2005 ACU Drag Bike Championship to concentrate on the UEM European Championship, a request for the bike and rider to be featured in a forthcoming documentary on motorcycles on the Discovery Channel meant a rethink of the race schedule. As footage had to be `in the can’ by today the decision was taken for the team to compete at the British Championship season opener, the Easter Thunderball event at Santa Pod Raceway. For the TV production company it was a leap of faith, the weather forecast was not good, the new two-valve billet head was not ready for fitting to replace the ailing standard Yamaha FJ item, and the team were in the dark about clutch settings due to the incorporation of a new state-of-the-art clutch flow control system from fuel and clutch management system guru Bob 'Automan' Ottow. Due to financial and schedule constraints, the five crew members from the TV company were only able to film on the first day of qualifying, with a modest two qualifying shots to get the desired race footage. Unfortunately, a failed seal in the three way shutoff valve meant the team failed to make the first session, and then the ensuing rain did not bode well for hopes of making the cut. Rider Ian King and the team of Mike Beaumont, Chris Powell and Martin Brookman spent much of the afternoon being interviewed for the program whilst patiently waiting for the track to dry and to make the last session of the day. At last the rain abated long enough for the hard-working track personnel to get vehicles back down the quarter mile, and the team made their way to the line with the TV crew in tow. King was fitted with a helmet camera, a further on-board pencil cam fitted to the lower right of the bike, and a roaming cameraman positioned himself in the rear. Suddenly, the team were challenged by one of the track safety crew who was unhappy with the safety of King riding with dual backpacks containing the recording equipment. A quick discussion ensued, and the official reluctantly let the matter drop. The bike was fired up, and the TV crew frantically tried to connect up the cabling between bike and rider. After what seemed an eternity all was ready, and King pulled forward and performed a hard and long burnout. But by now the light was fading into dusk, it was exceptionally cold, and the track had started to dampen. It didn’t look good for the run. King pulled forward into prestage, and pulled down his visor. Disaster! The visor misted up due to the cold and damp conditions leaving King to make the decision to shut down or go for it. The pressure was on. With King on a solo run, and knowing this was the last chance for the precious footage, he opted to run. King took a handful of throttle and launched hard. Unbelievably, the bike hooked up and left well without smoking the tyre. The bike pulled the front wheel up as the clutch started to lock and King smoothly shifted into second, still with all four cylinders lit. A bit of movement at around the thousand-foot mark was easily corrected and King crossed the line. The finish boards flashed up 6.511/200.73, sending both the team and the TV crew into raptures, expressing their relief that the objective had been met. Upon returning to the team area, the cameras were extracted from King, and the tapes rewound for viewing by the director. Success! The footage was even better than expected, and the director was ecstatic at being able to show the viewers what it is like to run from a standing start to over 200 mph in 6.5 seconds. Not only that, but the pass was to remain the fastest in qualifying by more than half a second over the rest of the field, cementing the team firmly in the #1 position. Race day dawned bright and sunny, and King continued apace with a six-second pass to the final, where he was due to meet 2004 Champion Steve Woollatt. However, engine damage sustained in his semi final win over Steve Carey meant that Woollatt was a no show. King could have taken a green under power for the easiest win of his career, but the crowd were treated to King’s best run of the weekend, a 6.482/209.29 whilst carrying the wheel through the eighth mile markers. “I’d like to thank my crew of Michael Beaumont, Chris Powell, Debbie King, Martin Brookman and Nick Pepper for providing first class race support, and a very special thanks must go to the team engineers - Mark Hawkins and Martin Brookman who have gone beyond the call of duty in repairing, fabricating and toiling away in what should be their free time to ensure we made the such a great string of six second passes each every time", said King. "Special thanks must go to Kath Carter who once again has stepped up to the plate to show that her support for UK drag racing is absolute. I’d like to thank the people from Onfire clothing for giving us the chance to show what we do, and I must once again thank our many supporters and sponsors without whom we would not be at the track. Year in, year out they continue to support us. Thanks all!” King Racing are proud to be supported in their 2005 campaign by Obsession Motorsports, Mickey Thompson Tires, Gates Performance Belts, Performance Machine, Pinnacle Autoparts, Wackyshack Paintshop, Turboville.com, RSG Customize, House of Kolor UK, Murdoch Racing Enterprises, Goodridge UK, Vanson Leathers, White Line Cycles (Athens), Cometic Gaskets UK, Aerotek Fasteners, Straightline Racing, Pixeleye Design, Web Camshafts, Mark and Jackie Hawkins, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes. Any company or individual who wish to be involved in the King Racing 2005 race effort can contact us at admin@kingracing.com, by telephone on +44 (0) 7785 341099 or fax on +44 (0) 1763 852707, or at www.kingracing.com. ©Eurodragster.com Guess Who won? 11th April: After posting no less than forty pictures during his annual off-season Guess Who contest, UK Wild Bunch racer Tony Smith has announced that Guy Waltham and - for the second year in succession - Darrel Bennett are joint winners. "Both got full marks, following directly behind with 39 was Mathew Seamarks and Andy Marrs with 38", says Tony. "As there are two winners, I have arranged for both to go out on the Cruise in a Street Eliminator car: John Sleath will be taking one and Andy Frost will be taking the other. These will take place during one of the events at Santa Pod Raceway this season. Both will also get a trophy from Paul Bland at Avondale Composites. I would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and I hope to do the same for the next off-season. I would also like to thank John Sleath, Andy Frost and Paul Bland for the great prizes." ©Eurodragster.com Tony has also asked us to thank his Crew Chief Dave for securing the Cunning Plan team's latest sponsor, Smith Builders Supplies in Abergavenny. "Dave works for the company and asked the Boss, John, what deal he could do on a generator to power my van and his caravan, he said that we could have one for free as long as we display his company stickers on the sides of the race car", says Tony. "No problem, welcome to Team Cunning Plan. "I would like to thank my other sponsors Newgate (Newark) Ltd, Tonypandy Motor Co and Tuneup Autospares for their continued support for this year." Web site updates. 11th April: If Fuel Altereds are your thing then be sure to check out one of the latest updates to our good buddy Bill Pratt's Draglist web site, which is a history of AA/FA racing in the UK. The excellent three-part piece is written by Danny White with photographs supplied by Alan Currans of the hugely-popular Acceleration Archive web site. You can find the articles at: Part one: www.draglist.com/artman/publish/daily_stories/article_1017.shtml Part two: www.draglist.com/artman/publish/daily_stories/article_1018.shtml Part three: www.draglist.com/artman/publish/daily_stories/article_1019.shtml The official web site of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Power Race Graphics has been updated to coincide with the second anniversary of the launch of the company. "Lots of new customer work has been added, including the company’s first International commissions for Ton Pels and Håkan Mattsson", says Darren West. "Amongst the new material you’ll find design work for Danny Cockerill, Ross Norris, Mark Pointer, Tim Garlick, Nobby Hills and additional gallery pages containing more of Power Race Graphics' own vehicle illustration examples". You can check out PRG's update at www.p-rg.co.uk. Darren has also asked us to mention that Power Race Graphics' E-Mail address has changed to powergrfx@macunlimited.net. ©Eurodragster.com Horsepower is on its way. 10th April: Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Matthew Wright says that he is peeved that the oil pressure gauge on his Super Gas Chevy C10 reads zero, but that there is an up side to his problems at the Easter Thunderball. "As you know Andy Hone did some serious and terminal engine damage to his seven-second Gleeson Wright Security-backed Granada Scorpio (it was more than a good driving job which saved the car from hitting the guardrail)", says Matt, "but some good came from my misfortune. On inspection of my spare engine whose number matched, it turned out to be an unbored minter apart from small amount of damage around the oil filter seating surface so everything looks good for a rebuild and duty in the Granada." Matt says that he had a hard weekend at the Easter Thunderball which ultimately ended in disaster, but which led him to a big decision. "We hard a hard time trying to get a handle on the new blower set-up", says Matt, "and then we finally started going the right way towards the desired 9.90 on our first round run. We ended up being Tree'd for a start line violation and then on the return road the oil pressure said bye-bye - great. On inspecting the engine with a lot of help from Ashley 'Dinger' Bell, Fred Hone and of course Cheryl with tea and toast we found that number four main bearing had spun and the big ends weren't in good shape, and to finish things off good and proper the crank may be bent just to finish things off good and proper. "After some careful consideration (about 15 seconds) I made the educated decision to go bigger. Not one to waste my hard-earned cash and knowing that I was looking at a new crank, rods and a bunch of maching on the block, we decided to go 540 ci in the shape of a brand new Dart Sportsman block, Scat crank, JE pistons, the whole shooting match. We'll keep the cam and Dart alloy heads and of course the new blower. So after a phone call to Peter Knight of Knight Racing Services in Daventry, a deal was struck for a new 540 ci short motor in kit form. I must just add that if you need good advice and great deal give Peter and the guys a call on 01327 871177, you won't be disappointed. ©Eurodragster.com "As I said earlier, good does come from bad, especially if you are Andy 'Fred' Hone who now has two blocks to play with and on closer inspection we have gone with my now redundant 461 ci spare. Andy has a spare crank and rods, pistons are on their way as I write, so all being well the Granada should be at Shakey for the Power Nationals this coming week end to defend Fred's Super Mod Championship. Unfortunately the truck won't be as there isn't enough time, so I'll go along and help Ashley and Paul try to tame that wild hissing Cobra in Super Pro ET. "I hope that Rob Smallworth, and Paul Brooks in Super Mod, and Mark Watkins in Super Street who has gone blown for 2005 all get their damage sorted soon - good luck and see you all at the track. "Finally I must thank Andy Frost for giving me the honour of presenting Steve Pateman, Jeff Meads and Andy himself with the Team Trophy for their success in returning victorious from the World Street Race at Belle Rose. Well done guys and thank you." Swift snippets. 10th April: UK Street Eliminator racer Wilf Stacey is seeking crew as he prepares to return to the track in his Mk II Zephyr which is now, he tells us, a completely different beast to its last incarnation. "I would like a minimum of one, preferably two crew members", says Wilf. "You will need a good mechanical knowledge and some knowledge of computers, and of course commitment. You will be well looked-after". If you would like to join Wilf's Street Eliminator team then please call him on 01268 511133 (days) or E-Mail mirror.finish@btinternet.com. Wilf is based on Canvey Island in Essex. The UK's newest Super Gas racer Matt Gatland told Eurodragster.com that his licencing runs at yesterday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day yesterday were "A bit daunting". Matt, who has for several years crewed with Super Comp/Super Gas racer Tim Adam, has been putting together his very tidy Big Block-powered Firenza since 1999 and after running into the 9.7s yesterday said that he was very happy with the way things went, but that the gear set would need to be changed. Congratulations to Rob, Carmel and Steve Turner of UK Top Methanol Dragster team Turner Motorsport on their twenty fifth anniversary of racing, which falls this season. Turner Motorsport PR Sarah Foster asked us to pass on the crew's best wishes to the multiple Champions. Sarah also tells us that the team have a new web site at www.turnermotorsport.co.uk which will contain team news and race reports as the season progresses. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Alan Currans asks us "How many race cars have had a pub named after them?". We couldn't think of any until Alan told us about a pub in Holland called The Pubcrawler. "Check out www.pubcrawler.nl and click on the row of beer drinkers", says Alan. Ruth Curbishley has been in touch to let us know that today (Sunday) is the twelfth anniversary of her marriage to Martin Curbishley. "I would like to send all my love to Martin and say that the last twelve years have flown by", says Ruth. We're sure that everyone will join us in wishing Ruth and Martin a very Happy Anniversary. Thunderball anorak stats. 10th April: We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us his 'anorak stats' from the recent Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway: Track clear/Tower ready: 632 Pairs: 489 Single runs: 115 Byes: 28 Total vehicles entered in System: 1121 Made it to the finish line: 1036 (including 90 Junior Dragsters) Made it to quarter mile: 946 Average ET (not including JDs): 10.762 Average MPH (not including JDs): 132.27 Low ET: 4.979, Jon Webster High Speed: 336.10, Martin Hill Closest Race of eliminations: Super Gas Round 1, Chris Isaacs (winner) v Martin Curbishley, 0.003 seconds (approx 0.547 feet, 6.561 inches) NB Pro Fuel Shootout Final, Thomas Nataas (winner) v Andy Carter, 0.004 seconds (approx 1.61 feet, 19.324 inches) Closest to index/dial-in: Andy Williams (Super Comp) spot on, 8.900000, (13:05 on Saturday) Bernard Newbury (VW Pro) spot on, 11.100 (13:59 on Sunday) ©Eurodragster.com Best Reaction Time: Olav Skyervo (Super Gas) 0.000, 10:19 on Monday John Morris (Pro ET) 0.000, 10:58 on Monday Total run time (all cars to reach finish line): 3 hours 7 minutes 14.245 seconds Runs under 5.000 seconds: 1, Jon Webster Runs under 5.500 seconds: 7, Jon Webster (3), Thomas Nataas (3), Andy Carter (1) Runs Under 6.000 seconds: 24 See Frost on the ground. 10th April: UK Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost is looking to enlarge his Penn Autos/Andy Frost Race Transmissions business and has been in touch to let us know that he will be able to provide parts at the track. "Anyone who has transmission work done for the first time at Penn Autos/Andy Frost Race Transmissions will receive a 10% discount on labour from their first order until the end of July", says Andy. "I am also thinking of starting a race track transmission parts service. At first it will be mainly Powerglide but as time goes on I'll branch into TH350/400/700R4/4L60E, C4/C6, Torqueflite 727/904. Available will be Dextron 2 and 3 oil, pump gears, gasket and seal kits, bands, input shafts and high drums (Powerglide), Hi-Perf plates and steels, two ring pistons and Roller billet governor supports. To begin with I will also carry a couple of spare 1.82 gear sets and some 1.76 gears (not in the carrier). This will hopefully start at the Power Nationals and obviously will be available when I am at the track. "If you're at the track and need to call to see if I have what you need then i'll be available on 07970 573872. The shop number is 01902 344004." ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 10th April: Our good buddy Anders Envall, he of the ten-second Chevrolet Impala which he drives to the track, has updated his web site with an entertaining account of his latest holiday, during which he found a very interesting book to read. We will say no more but advise you to check it out for yourselves on the News page at www.blackout.nu (Parental advisory on some of the text - Ed). ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a number of Windows wallpaper files from the Easter Thunderball, including a special item celebrating Martin Hill's 336 mph pass in the Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car. You can check out Sharkman's wallpaper files at www.topendtales.com. Attention UEM Bike racers! 9th April: We have been asked to draw UEM Bike racers' attention to the rules on the UEM web site, specifically rules RR09 2.7 Wearing of helmets and RR09 2.8 Recognised International Approval Marks. Only those helmet standards specifically mentioned in RR09 2.8 will be accepted for UEM competition. ©Eurodragster.com You can go directly to the UEM Technical Rules for Drag Racing (PDF format) by clicking here, or go to the UEM web site at www.uem-online.org then follow Sporting Rules, Road Racing, Vintage Rules, then RR 09-UEM Technical Rules for Drag Bikes. WRE Test Day coverage. 9th April: A Top Methanol Funny Car sideways on two wheels, three Super Street Bikes in the sevens, new Personal Bests, a new race car, a street-legal VW putting on slicks and running low tens, and a depressing experience for a timing sponge: just some of the highlights of today's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway. We have been at Santa Pod Raceway today to bring you all the action in association with American Car Imports and you can check out our report and pictures by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. An up and down Thunderball. 8th April: Christer Gustavsson tells us that daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Jonas Dantanus had a weekend of ups and downs at the Easter Thunderball after coming all the way to Santa Pod Raceway from Sweden. Jennifer was racing in Junior Dragster and Jonas in Super Street whilst Christer undertook the duties of Team Manager. "We went to England for an early start to the season and to test our cars and bus", says Christer. "We had hoped for some more qualifying runs to test, but oildowns and track drying took away some sessions. It started well with Jennifer on pole after the first run, and she ended up second after qualifying ended. She went all the way to the semis before losing to Collin Morrice. ©Eurodragster.com "Jonas had problems setting the throttle stop properly and ended up qualifying ninth. Then in the first round of eliminations the vent hose from the transmission came loose, a couple of drops of trans fluid dripped on the track and that was it. We were allowed to do a test run later on Monday to make sure that everything was alright. "Overall we are pleased with the weekend, and we want to thank all of the racers and the track personnel for a good race." Power Nationals entry list. 8th April: We are indebted to Avon Park International Racers Association Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot for sending us the official entry list for next week's (16th-17th April) Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The list shows a healthy entry in most classes with Junior Dragster (16), Pro ET (15) and 9.50 Bike (13) leading the way and a number of other classes into double figures. Wendy tells us that there will be another update to the list between now and the race as a number of racers are working hard to repair their vehicles after the Easter Thunderball. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out the Power Nationals entry list by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page and clicking on the Power Nationals link. Allen's thanks. 8th April: If you were tuned in on Tuesday you will have read that Danny Allen unveiled his turbo-equipped 1968 VW Beetle (right, picture courtesy and ©Slimboyfat), destined for VW Pro, at the Volksworld show at Sandown Park last weekend. Danny has been in touch with some more information about the car and the help he has received putting it all together. ©Eurodragster.com "The car will be powered by a 1914 turbocharged flat four VW engine and should be turning its wheels in anger at Big Bang at the end of the month", says Danny. "I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people without whose help IF, as the car is known, would not have been built. Thanks to Spencer Tramm for spannering late into the night for the last week, Brian Burrows for endless help and support, and Nigel Hart and Kim Cowden for paint and prep duties. "I would also like to think Anders Hildebrand and 76/Sunoco Race Fuels at www.aaoil.co.uk, VW Heritage, Street Style and Power and Meguiars Polish, all who have helped me out with some great sponsorship deals along the way." Swift snippets. 8th April: UK Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook says that he will be racing in full street trim in Super Pro ET at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in May, a race at which Street Eliminator is not contested. Ian's FB Racing '34 Ford is also entered in the King of Europe street-legal race at Chimay in Belgium in June. ©Eurodragster.com UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Pointer is having the wheelbase of his 8.5-second van shortened by two inches so that he can compete in Outlaw Anglia this season. The Hooligan is taking his van to Webster Race Engineering this weekend and hopes to contest Outlaw Anglia at next week's Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Northern Modified. 8th April: Shakespeare County Raceway and LA Performance Services go on the road tomorrow as they head up to Doncaster Racecourse for Ripspeed Donny 2005, the north of England's annual Modified Car Show, writes SCR Press Officer Jeremy Cookson. Promoting the forthcoming Ford Weekender (April 30th - 1st May) and the inaugural Vauxhall Speed and Show Day (2nd May) LA Performance Services have lined up two of the marque's outstanding modified motors to marvel at: a Shelby-striped Ford Focus RS and an all-singing flame-spitting 1.4 8v Vauxhall Corsa SRi. Featuring cars, babes, action and speed (no Great Alberto? - Ed), Donny 2005 features the all-new Best in Britain indoor show, IASCA Sound Off competition, Miss Fast Car, and outdoor fire-ups from Martin's Hill's Fireforce 1 Jet Funny Car, Russ Swift's Stunt Show and the Show's annual Shred The Tread Burnout competition in the Live Action Arena. ©Eurodragster.com Martin Hill has also been in touch to let us know that his world record-holding Fireforce 2 Jet FC will be on static display at the Donny Show whilst as mentioned above Fireforce 1 will be performing the traditional flame and thunder show in the Live Arena on both Saturday and Sunday. For more information about Ripspeed Donny 2005, visit the Show's web site at www.donnyshow.co.uk. Web site updates. 8th April: The official web site of the UK's Super Modified class has been updated with Easter Thunderball accounts from Andy Kirk and Kiwi Kev Taylor. Check it out at www.supermodified.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com James Hands has given his Racing 05 fan site a new colour scheme. You can find James' site at www.racing04.co.uk. The Nitro Ambassadors. 7th April: Sweden's Lorentzon and Möller Top Fuel Dragster team are to take Top Fuel racing to a new audience. The team will be taking their new Top Fueller to Estonia with every intention of putting on a good show and putting the track record out of reach for quite some time. "Together with Tallink and some other partners such as Priit Vaikmaa at Rodeo Event Marketing we are now spreading the word about Top Fuel Racing to the Baltic states - this time to Estonia", says Crew Chief Kenneth Lorentzon. "On 23rd July they have quite a big event called the RockRace at Pärnu airfield just outside the capital Tallin." ©Eurodragster.com The team will be firing the car up twice and explaining Top Fuel to the Estonian fans, and Tommy Möller will be also be attempting two full passes. "I don’t expect four-second passes but if the the clutch is prepared to take some serious beating, we will see some five-second runs", says Kenneth. "We have run 5.13 before now in similar conditions so why not now. That will be a good record since I think the quickest cars in Estonia run eight seconds flat." Lorentzon and Möller Racing also have a new associate sponsor, Race Equip. "Hawker batteries and lots of other race parts for European cars, Japs and Rallying is what these guys are good at", says Kenneth. "You can find their web site at www.raceequip.com." With the FIA Main Event only a few weeks off, Kenneth has some advice for his fellow competitors in Top Fuel Dragster. "Continue with your Valium prescriptions so you don't feel the pain of coming second", he says. Power Nationals fast approaching. 7th April: There is less than a week left to take advantage of the advance-booking discount for next week's Power Nationals, the first round of the 2005 Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 16th-17th April. The Power Nationals sees the welcome return of three names to the sport. The John Woolfe Racing wolf head logo will be returning to drag racing, on the side of John and Lesley Wright's Top Fuel Dragster which will be making demonstration passes at the Power Nationals in the hands of Darryl Bradford. Also lined up to make exhibition passes is Roger Goring in his Firestorm Jet Funny Car. The entry for the Power Nationals is approaching 200 and features the second round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship (for Top Methanol), the second round of the UK National and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships including Top Fuel Bike, the second round of the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships, the first rounds of the Real Steel Series for the Wild Bunch and the Outlaw Anglias, the first round of the National Association of Supertwins Championship, and the first round of Junior Drag Bike. Catering and trade stands will be on hand in the pits and parking and camping are free. Weekend tickets are available at a discount if booked through LA Performance Services' Credit Card Hotline on 01803 550306 before 22:00 UK next Wednesday (13th April): ©Eurodragster.com   Advance Gate Saturday N/A £15 Sunday N/A £20 Weekend £26 £30 Stay tuned as we hope to bring you the official entry list very shortly. Racers: Send your Power Nationals previews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here. Swift snippets. 7th April: Further to Monday's Swift Snippet, Björn Anderberg of Fast Freddy Racing tells us that Freddy Fagerström's pick-up will be toting a new BAE 5 engine this season. "We will come over to test before the Main Event", says Björn. "We have changed the chassis so that Freddy will sit better in the car. The whole car has been looked over and we hope to have a better year, and quicker times than last season." ©Eurodragster.com Yvonne Tramm has been in touch to ask us to wish a very Happy Birthday to Steve Tramm from herself, Spencer, Kirstie and the Quantum Leap crew. We're very happy to do that. Have a great day Steve and we're sure that all of our readers will join Tog and Sharkman in wishing you the Happiest of Birthdays. PMR take the Challenge. 7th April: Paul Marston Racing are pleased to announce that they will be fielding two cars in the ET Challenge at the Big Bang, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 30th April - 2nd May. Two graduates of the Paul Marston Drag Race Driving School will be taking to the track in the Grumpy's Dodge Dart and the Insanity Vega pick-up. "It's great to see our graduates entering the fray", says Paul. "As ever they will be receiving full PMR tactical, technical and logistical support: we never go to make up numbers, we go to Win! As soon as the rules for the Big Bracket were published, the phone just started ringing. A great weekend's racing is in store for anyone lucky enough to have a race car. I mean, how often does a Sportsman ET competitor get to race an experienced Super Comp competitor, believe me there will definitely be some giant killing going on. Add to that the random pairing for the first two of three rounds. I have experienced this format of racing when I competed at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Florida at the five-day Big Bracket. I can tell you, it's really exciting, pure racing, neither driver has any advantage, it's a straight 50-50 chance of winning, the driver really makes the difference. In addition there is always the first round buy-back, set at just £10.00, how could you resist! Hell, I might even try to get the PT Bruiser down there and have a crack myself! "With the Saturday Run What You Brung open to competing Big Bracket race cars, the chances are that we will get the two race cars pretty well dialled in. Our drivers should have a great chance of scooping some of that lovely money, it really has all the ingredients to become a huge prize fund. "Fresh from his Easter Thunderball success, Dave Catton will be driving the Insanity Vega. Dave went two rounds in the Vega under tricky conditions and is hungry for more. Grumpy's Dodge sees the very welcome return of the Togmeister, Eurodragster's finest (This one isn't an April Fool - Ed). Everyone at PMR wishes both of our drivers the very best of luck for this exciting new event." WRE Test Day coverage. 7th April: As mentioned on Monday, Eurodragster.com will be reporting from Saturday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway in association with American Car Imports. ©Eurodragster.com We will be posting a brief greeting at the start of the day and then summary reports at lunchtime (approximately 13:00 UK) and then when the track closes (approximately 17:00 UK). A Photo Gallery will also be posted at the end of the day. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will be on-line all day and is scheduled to post a picture every two minutes. We will post a direct Home Page link to our WRE Test Day coverage as soon as it commences but in the meantime you can reach the Event Index by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Racers: Testing at the WRE Test Day on Saturday? Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll let your fans know. Flying the flag I. 6th April: The Gibbs family's Obsession Super Modified Camaro and Bob Glassup's Xtreme Wheels NFAA altered will be flying the flag for British drag dacing at the Stars On Wheels show in Antwerp, Belgium this weekend (9th-10th April), writes Terry Gibbs of Obsession Motorsports. "Both Craig and Bob where proud to be asked by the organiser Hugo Vervliet to attend on behalf of British drag racing", says Terry. "We hope to be able to talk with many visitors over the weekend about the sport in this country. "On another note, as some of you may be aware Obsession at the Easter Thunderball. Our first run of the weekend was with a new fogger system and a mild tune-up, courtesy of Kev Perkins. The car ran well, clean and straight, we thought this boded well for the future particularly as our last run of last season was a 7.90 on a plate-only system. This was not to be the case for the rest of the meeting, we incurred problem after problem - even the Gurus of the sport couldn't solve the nitrous cough backs. ©Eurodragster.com "We have been able to conclude over this past weekend that the engine is fine and we are now looking at the electrical side of the car. John Atkinson has kindly offered to look at the electrics in the next couple of weeks and hopefully we will be able to test at Santa Pod on 17th April in preparation for the Super Modified round at the end of the month. From everyone at Obsession we would like to thank everyone who helped us over Easter, it was a very frustrating weekend. "On a lighter note, the Obsession team would like to say Well Done to Barbara Kirk for her hard work over Easter, which was her first meeting as co-ordinator for Super Modified." Flying the flag II. 6th April: The UK Volkswagen Drag Racing Club displayed several cars at last weekend's Volksworld Show at Sandown Park in Esher, writes VWDRC Chair Spencer Tramm. Easter Thunderball winner Jonny Grigg, Bernard Newbury, Joe Gallagher, Chris Emmens and Justin Aldred represented VW Pro whiilst VW Sportsman was represented by Neil 'Dude' Ellis and Andrew Agroment and VW Alternate Engine by Spencer's own Quantum Leap Corrado. ©Eurodragster.com "New VWDRC member Travis Rider won the award for Best Race Car and Best in Show for his Inch Pincher replica (right, picture courtesy and ©Slimboyfat). The show also saw the début of Danny Allen's VW Pro entry which was completed at 3:00 am on the Friday before the show! This is the first air-cooled car which Danny has shown after previously campaigning a Mk1 Golf. "Danny Allen and I would like to thank Steve King from Meguiars for providing both of our cars with a range of car cleaning products which we will be using throughout this season." Turner goes into meltdown. 6th April: If you were tuned in to our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage of last week's Easter Thunderball, you will recall that rookie Nigel Turner qualified #2 in Super Pro ET but broke on his then-top-qualifying pass and was unable to race. Dave Taylor of Kent Scale Engineering got in touch to let us know what happened, and what has happened since. ©Eurodragster.com "Chief mechanic Phil has had a chance to strip the engine and establish what the problem was", says Dave. "Number seven big end bearing melted again, resulting in a bent con-rod and damaged piston. The crankshaft is also badly scored and will need a re-grind (thanks to Kent Scale Engineering for the use of their inspection equipment). We think that the melt-down was a knock-on from an unsolved problem from the previous weekend's testing. "We have also discovered that the rev limiter is not working and, having played back the recorder, found that the engine revved to over 9500 rpm as Nigel crossed the line. "We are expecting to have the car running again in a couple of weeks, and expect to be testing at Santa Pod Raceway on 21st May. Thanks to all of the Super Pro ET teams for their support at the Easter ThunderBall." Swift snippets. 6th April: 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter is the subject of the Big Interview in this week's edition of UK motorsports newspaper Motorsport News. The interview with Jo Holland, who has made a huge difference to MN's drag racing coverage since she joined, is interesting and wide-ranging. Motorsport News costs £1.99 and is available from good newsagents. The interview coincides with the launch of Andy's new B&Q-themed web site at www.andycarter.net. The tremendous web site, by sponsor Binamic, features news, driver and team biographies, details on the Top Fueller, Photo Gallery, race calendar, sponsor and merchandise pages, links and much more. ©Eurodragster.com UK Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association racer Frank Bennett has signed a sponsorship deal with K & N Filters, bringing his tally of sponsors up to seventeen which range from cash to product sponsors. "All of our sponsors are very much appreciated and get the same level of attention in exposure and promotion", says Luke Bennett. Luke adds that most parts to repair Frank's engine are on order, and that the crank is nearly finished. Frank plans to test before making his first competitive NFAA outing at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of May. You can find the Bennett Racing web site at www.bennettracing.moonfruit.com. Vic Smith tells us that the UK's first Northern Drag Night will take place at 8:00 pm on Monday 25th April at the Red Lion Inn in Jackson Bridge, West Yorkshire. "It's a great pub which has won Pub of the Year for its great ales", says Vic. You can find the Red Lion Inn web site, which contains a map, at www.the-red-lion-inn.com or call 01484 643499. "Please come along and support the Drag Racing Night", says Vic. "A lot of time and hard work have gone into arranging it, as well as a lot of begging! Thanks to everyone who has helped with tapes and DVDs." Our good buddy Dennis Kieselhorst tells us that the new issue of Dragracer magazine is now available. The German-language hard-copy magazine contains drag racing news, car and bike features, a report on Xtreme Wheels International, 2005 Calendar and more. You can find out more at www.dragracer.de. It's a day late but Happy Birthday for yesterday to American Car Imports Racing Team Principal and Eurodragster.com Main and Event Coverage sponsor Tony Cohen. Hope you had a great day, Tony, and that you were able to switch off the phone eventually. Santa Pod latest. 6th April: Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to bring us up-to-date with the latest news from Santa Pod Raceway. "The second ever Fast Show was another huge success with good weather, thousands of club cars, great action on track, and loads to see and do off-track", says Rick. The official web site at www.thefastshow.com has been updated with a full report, loads of pictures from the event, and a list of Run What Ya Brung class winners. The show was all about variety, and it was great to see 1970s Corvettes racing against the latest Japanese machines and oddballs which included a Kawasaki-powered Bedford Rascal van. Fireforce 3 put in some great runs, and Keith Ridley, Paul Marston, Gary Malin and Malcolm Francis ran some great demo passes on a track which demanded a lot from the drivers and crew. ©Eurodragster.com "Santa Pod Raceway is keen to announce its latest sponsorship deal with Castrol. Castrol has been helping people get the most out of their vehicles for over a hundred years, and its involvement with grass-roots motorsport events, including Santa Pod’s Run What You Brung events, confirms this commitment. Whether you drive a big V8 or compact sports car, Castrol knows what it’s like behind the wheel and has developed a line of products which are right for your vehicle. For those of you keen to get in some more track time, there are a number of specialist events and track days left in April, so check out www.rwyb.com for the full calendar. "Although billed as a 'VW-only Run What You Brung' day, the Saturday of Big Bang (30th April) is also open to all cars wishing to test for the Big Bang ET Challenge which takes place on the Monday. Racers: if you want to be in with the chance of walking off with some serious cash, get your entries in now via the ET Challenge web page at www.big-bang.co.uk/et.htm" Web site updates. 6th April: The official web site of the UK's Super Modified class at www.supermodified.co.uk has been updated with Easter Thunderball reports from Andy Hone, Paul Brooks and Steve Rawlings, pictures of the remains of Paul Brooks' engine, and provisional UK Championship points courtesy of Paula Marshall and Kev Perkins. "Thanks to the racers, without whose help and co-operation I would not be able to run the site", says webmaster Lee Kirk. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend James Hands now has a much easier URL for his Racing 05 fan site. You can find James' site at www.racing04.co.uk. Enter the Tyre Shake Express! 5th April: Easter Thunderball Top Methanol winner Dave Wilson says that although the American Car Imports Racing team were victorious at Santa Pod and set a new Championship record of 5.500, they had the "Weekend from hell". "So many things went wrong one after the other", Grumpy told Eurodragster.com. "There were some wonderful problems but we couldn't go home, we just had to carry on. For example I called Carlo Gandolfi (of CG Composites Manufacturing) to come to the track and take a look at our injector because he wouldn't believe it if I just told him what was happening. So he came to the track and looked and I was right, he didn't believe it!" The ACI Racing team took the event win with an 'old' Keith Black short block fitted with heads bought second hand from Bob Hafner. "We have two BAE engines but they weren't ready", said Grumpy. "This engine was good enough to do the job, its previous best was 5.59 and we went 5.50. We have re-christened the car the Tyre Shake Express though. I can't remember it shaking so much, usually when you shift from first to second the shake stops but this time it would settle down for a second and then the shake kicked in again." Grumpy added that he thought that the new arrangements for the MSA British Championship worked out very well at last week's first round. "After all the discussions over the winter everyone delivered", he said. "They turned up, ran well, and we saw some new Personal Bests, and every race was a close one. Considering we were the largest and least-publicised Pro class I think we put on a good show (Hear, hear - Ed)." For a full run-down of everything which went wrong for the team last weekend don't miss team member Phil James' highly-entertaining race report Fireman Sam and the elusive spark on the the American Car Imports Racing web site at http://www.americancarimports.com/racing/racereports/2005easter.asp. O'Connor in the triumvirate. 5th April: UK Super Street Bike racer Brad O'Connor was one of three SSB racers to record a seven-second pass at last week's Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. Brad has been in touch to let us know how it came about. "It's taken a while for it all to settle in", says Brad. "It was a great weekend in Super Street and to have three seven second guys made it a great event for us. Congrats to Jamie Sneddon and Steve Venables, both made some great passes - Steve on the bucking bronco (I thought that was my job) and Jamie, how quickly did he get used to that bike! We had problems with the plenum blowing off, which is what happened in the semi-final. Had that not happened the result may have been a little different. "I have had help from all quarters in the last year. The Big CC engine with Dom Trickett head, dyno work and set-up at DSD, and the Velocity Racing turbo kit are all key parts to making this happen. Other tuning tips have come from both Barry Henson and Kent Stotz. Pete De La Mare has been with me digging up development information all along the way and made a great Crew Chief at the weekend. ©Eurodragster.com "Last year was a spectacular wheelie-fest from my point of view, and this year's chassis mods have really helped to calm the bike down, so I can now run the bike out the back door without the 175 mph wheelies! It just goes to show how important it is to get the chassis right, and how important it is to have a camera in your pocket when walking around the Gainesville Streetbike Shootout pit area. "Is there any more left? Hell yes, we still have quite a bit more of boost to go yet!We were on the limit of the gearing last weekend so I expect to eventually go over 190 mph, closer to 195mph! But the first eighth is where a lot of the ET will come from. The rear shock wasn't all it could be and we were only a few hundredths behind Jamie and a tenth or so off Steve, so who knows what might happen when that's sorted. "I'd like to thank Webster Race Engineering for the gold ring; it's great to have something to keep from a little moment of Super Street history." Ny Dragracing Klub i Danmark. 5th April: En ny dragracing klub i Danmark har set dagens lys, men det er bestemt ikke nye folk der står bag. DRAGRACING.DK er stiftet af kendte ansigter som f.eks. Gøsta Bøie og Jackie Hansen Dette er sket på grund af store meningsforskelle mellem Street Legal og de etablerede kørere i National Dragracing Club Denmark (NDCD), derfor har de etablerede valgt, at gå nye veje. Dette har endvidere betydet at en del medlemmer trådt ud og har dannet en ny klub hjemhørende i København. DRAGRACING.DK er pr. 1/3.05 medlem under DASU klub nr. 009. Blandt medlemmerne kan findes bl.a. Dan Larsen (TM/FC), Jackie Hansen (Pro), Per Mikkelsen (A./Comp), E.T. Jørgensen (SST), Lene Jensen (SG), Kim Kristiansen (Pro Mod), Kim Andersen (PS), Henning Thygesen (TD), Søren Madsen (PS), som det ses, er det erfarne kørere med Teams der er medlemmer. Lidt information om DRAGRACING.DK: Klubben vil satse på at styrke sammenholdet blandt klubbens medlemmer med udgangspunkt i Dragracing sporten. Arbejde mere intenst med ungdommen og har lavet et ungdomsudvalg. Der vil blive arbejdet på at deltage i og arrangeret løb, der er internationale godkendt af DASU og FIA. Der vil på banesiden blive arbejdet på at få etableret baner på Sjælland. Der arbejdes i øjeblikket intenst på at få hjemmesiden www.dragracing.dk op at køre optimalt, denne forventes færdig i løbet af april 2005. Der vil alle nødvendige oplysninger og informationer, være tilgængelige, om klubben og klubbens aktiviteter. Kontaktinformationer: Formand Gøsta Bøie, Slotsvænget 12, 2800 Lyngby, Tlf. +45 45889176 gb@dragracing.dk Kasserer Joan Larsen, Snogebækvej 35, 4600 Køge, Tlf. +45 56660373 joan@dragracing.dk Eller via DRAGRACING.DK’s hjemmeside. ©Eurodragster.com New drag racing club in Denmark. 5th April: A new drag racing club is born in Denmark, but it is not new people behind it, says a Press Release from Dragracing.dk. The Club has been started by well-known names such as Gosta Boie and Jackie Hansen. This has come about due to disagreements between Street Legal and established drag racers in the National Dragracing Club Denmark (NDCD), and is the reason why the established racers have choosed to find new ways. A number of members have left NDCD and started the new drag racing Club based in Copenhagen. As of 1st March Dragracing.dk has become a member of Dansk Automobil Sports Union (DASU), Club number 009. Amongst the experienced drivers and teams in the new Club are Dan Larsen (TMFC), Jackie Hansen (Pro Stock), Per Mikkelsen (A/Comp), ET Jørgensen (Super Street), Lene Jensen (Super Gas), Kim Kristiansen (Pro Mod), Kim Andersen (PS), Henning Thygesen (TD), Soeren Madsen (PS). The Club will work to strengthen the solidarity among the members with the starting point being drag racing. The Club plans to work more closely with youth and has established a youth department, and will work to enter and arrange International races approved by DASU and FIA. The Club are also working very hard on a Raceway at Sjaelland, close to Copenhagen. At the moment the Club's IT people are working very hard on a web site at www.dragracing.dk which is expected to be ready this month, and which will contain all of the important information about the Club and the activities. Contact information: President: Gøsta Bøie, Slotsvænget 12, 2800 Lyngby, Tel. +45 45889176 gb@dragracing.dk Treasurer: Joan Larsen, Snogebækvej 35, 4600 Køge, Tel. +45 56660373 joan@dragracing.dk Or at the Dragracing.dk web site. ©Eurodragster.com An engine with the Angels. 5th April: The DASH Racing 355ci Chemical Reaction slingshot ventured out of its lab for its first test of the season, unfortunately to a very explosive end says UK Wild Bunch racer Sarah Howells. "Sadly the engine performed its own Chemical Reaction at 990 feet on its very first run leaving a rather large hole in the block", says Sarah. "Darryl was gutted to say the least...and it was his birthday weekend too (D'oh! - Ed)! The car is now back in the lab waiting for the planned Wednesday night strip down, then we'll really be able to see exactly what we're up against but at a guess the only salvageable bits are the heads. Huge thanks to Bernie Nicholas of Evolution Racing for all his encouragement and support over the weekend, and thanks to Edd Yates and all the Wild Bunch racers for their offers of support and parts." ©Eurodragster.com Meanwhile Sarah was back in the seat of the Evolution Racing team's Destiny's Angel. "My aim this weekend was to dip into the nines, and I did just that with the first run", says Sarah. "I'm just working on getting comfortable with the car and the transbrake etc. My aim is to run a 9.6 at the Power Nationals in two weeks' time. I got down to an ET of 9.956 and a best speed of 144.14 so I'm nearly there, but my launch technique needs some work! Bernie Nicholas who owns the car has been fantastic and I'm so grateful for the opportunity - it's ace fun and I've got a permanent smile on my face, although this weekend was not as smiley but only because of the Chemical Reaction engine explosion. But Destiny's Angel is back in the nines with the car's third 'angelic' driver...long may it continue!" Jap Racer success. 5th April: Sheffield steeler Steve Brookes (right, pictures courtesy and ©Richard Nicholls and Lee Child) certainly made use of this weekend's early-season start at the first-ever running of Shakespeare County Raceway’s Jap Racer Days, a three-round series to find the quickest and fastest vehicle from the land of the rising sun, writes SCR Press Officer Jeremy Cookson. Driving a kitted out clean Diamond White Nissan Skyline R33 GTR, Steve commenced the day comfortably easing out mid twelve’s from the already potent rice rocket but once the 2.8-litre engine had been carefully mapped and chipped, by midday the outcome was very different indeed; 11.935 seconds coupled with a top end charge of 124.68 mph earned Steve a trophy and a hefty points haul going into round two in May. As the day progressed, and with over fifty cars signed on by mid-morning, a performance pattern was beginning to emerge as the endless patter of finely-tuned engines began to tame the always sticky surface at Shakespeare County. For two hours or more Nuneaton’s Garth Wong emerged as the prime mover and shaker as not once, not twice, but three times ran quicker than his previous times. From 13.0s to 12.4s to 12.1s Garth’s Fusion-backed Type R32 Skyline was the man of the moment until Kev Carrington’s R32 Skyline arrived on the scene. Within the space of five minutes the lead changed hands twice as Kev’s 12.07s demoted Garth to third place before Steve Brookes finally wrestled it away with that untouchable 11.9. In the Front Wheel category Cheshire based Paul-Jones came out on top posting a day's best of 13.753 seconds at 103.69 mph from his two-litre Honda Civic Type-R. Second quickest was Nicky Haddon’s 1800cc Honda Integra Type R. The next Jap Racers encounter plays host to the Mazda Rotory Club’s Rotorstock Show on May 29th/30th at Shakespeare County. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 5th April: Many thanks to Lee Child of LA Performance Services for letting us know about the latest piece of work at the UK's Shakespeare County Raceway. "Darren Prentice and Jon Cross have graded the transition between the concrete launch pad and the asphalt" (right) says Lee, who jointly sponsors Eurodragster.com's Links pages through LA Racing Parts. "A small 'lip' had developed at the crossover but it's now flat." ©Eurodragster.com 2004 FIM/UEM Supertwin Champion Ton Pels and his son Vincent have spent the off-season designing and fabricating a new clutch from scratch, writes Monique Pels. "As well as numerous other enhancements and alterations, the Zodiac Top Fuel Harley team is planning yet another brand-new look for the 2005 season with a new color scheme designed by Power Race Graphics", says Monique. You can see the new colour scheme on the News page of the Zodiac Racing web site at www.zodiacracing.com. Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andréasson had the privilege to meet legendary hot rodder and racer Gene Winfield at the Elmia Motor Show over the Easter weekend. Gene had brought some of his classic pieces of work to the Show. You can read more on the Andréasson Motorsports web site at www.andreassonmotorsports.com. Our good friend James Hands of the Racing 05 web site tells us that he will be making Junior Dragster licencing passes in Santa Pod Raceway's Junior Dragster at the Peak Performance Day at SPR on Saturday 21st May. Look good with ARRC. 5th April: If you want your crew to look good this year then Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars has the answer, writes Bob Roberts. "TeamWear is a range of top quality, hard-wearing and colourful crew shirts as worn by Team Automate, Santa Pod Racers Club's Most Professional Appearing Team of 2004", says Bob. "These shirts would also look good as club uniform offering a serviceable alternative to T-Shirts or polo shirts. The shirts are made from cotton twill in three different designs and many different colour combinations to match your race car or club colours. The shirts can be embroidered with names and logos at additional cost although they do look good on their own. More details and illustrations to be found at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com "ARRC now have stocks of the latest product from Sunoco, a fuel additive for all methanol-powered cars called Sunoco Alky aka Blue Top Lube. As well as providing for improved valve train and cylinder lubrication it causes the fuel to burn with a yellow flame should the worst happen. At only £12:50 for enough to treat a forty five gallon barrel can you afford not to use it? As usual contact ARRC via our web site." Web site updates. 5th April: Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a large number of photographs from last week's Easter Thunderball. Sharkman adds that Windows wallpaper will follow soon. You can check out Sharkman's Easter Thunderball pictures at www.topendtales.com. ©Eurodragster.com Shelly Howard. 4th April: We were shocked and stunned to hear of the death of US Top Alcohol Dragster racer Shelly Howard and her son Brian in a crash during testing at Tulsa Raceway Park on Saturday. Shelly had been a Top Alcohol racer for some years, moving to an injected-fuel combination this season after running both blown and injected set-ups last year. Amongst the highlights of a racing career which started in 1978, Shelly was NHRA Division 4 Champion in 2001 and 2003, was in the Top Three of Division 4 every year since 1999, and was runner-up at the US Nationals in 2003 and 2004. ©Eurodragster.com We are sure that all of Eurodragster.com's readers will join Tog and Sharkman in sending their deepest sympathies to Shelly's husband Paul and daughters Jennifer and Tracy, and all of Shelly's family and friends. Heezen heads for UK. 4th April: Dutch Supertwin Gas racer Job Heezen is heading for the UK to test after running a limited schedule in 2004. Job took the Dutch Championship in three races at Drachten last year although experimenting with different set-ups on his blown-gas Harley. "We have tried it all and learned a lot", says Job. "And, as noticed in one of our conversations before, when solving each problem we ran into three new problems, which is indeed the essence of drag racing. This winter we have been working with Poeton Industries of Gloucester to try out a new style of cylinder coating to see if we can improve the sealing of the pistons, and to extend the life-span of both piston and cylinder. ©Eurodragster.com "But I think we are now able to go fast and steady, so we are planning to come to the Speedfreaks Ball to see where we stand. The next job will be the construction of a new transmission together with Goedhals/Gerard Willemsen, but that will probably be for next season." Swift snippets. 4th April: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Dave Newbery has dropped us some pictures of the current stage of construction of his bike. As well as the picture at right (click on the picture for larger version) Dave has sent a front three quarter view plus detail of the back half. ©Eurodragster.com We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers for sending us an updated version of the European Bests table which now includes Steve Venables' UK Super Street Bike records. You can check out the European Bests table by clicking here, or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. After several years of black race cars, Swedish Pro Mod racer Fast Freddy Fagerström has gone to the other end of the visible spectrum with the new paint job on his six-second blown-alcohol pick-up, seen here in this picture kindly sent by our good friend Patrik Jacobsson (click on picture for large version). You can see more pictures and read a few words about what Freddy has been up to on the Gossip page of the European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu. We would like to remind users of our Swap Meet that abusive or racist comments within advertisements are unacceptable. Although we agree that the practice of scamming is highly irritating to say the least, abusive or racist comments on Swap Meet advertisements upset other readers and could get Eurodragster.com closed down by our ISP on the breach of acceptable use. The notes at the top of the Swap Meet page explain how to avoid being bothered. Any Swap Meet advertisement containing abusive or racist comments will not be edited but will be removed without warning. First WRE Test Day beckons. 4th April: The closing date is fast approaching for this Saturday's (9th April) Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway. This is the first of three Test Days organised this season by Eurodragster.com's joint webcam sponsor, with the others on Friday 24th June and Saturday 20th August. Webster Race Engineering Test Days feature a track prepped to event standard as well as full marshal and safety cover. Catering is also available on-site throughout the day. The track is open betweeen approximately 10:00 and 17:00 with a half-hour break for lunch. ©Eurodragster.com Entries will be accepted up to four days before each Test Day; after this deadline an additional £25 late entry fee will be payable if entry is accepted. You can download the official WRE Test Days entry form (Word format) by clicking here. For more details about the Test Days, call Webster Race Engineering on 01933 315236 or check out the WRE web site at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk. Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from this Saturday's WRE Test Day; we will bring you more details of our coverage later on this week. Web site updates. 4th April: The Dragsterworld web site at www.dragsterworld.com has been updated with an interview with Guy Burtenshaw, who brokered Carter Motorsports' new sponsorship deal with B & Q, and sixty photographs from the Easter Thunderball. ©Eurodragster.com The best Bike event. 3rd April: Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor DynoSpeed Developments says that last weekend's Easter Thunderball was probably one of the best event for bikes in a long while. With DSD-backed Jamie Sneddon (right), for whom Paul is Crew Chief, and Brad O'Connor both running into the sevens in Super Street Bike, and Jamie twice setting a new Super Street Bike ET record during the course of the weekend, Paul is understandably delighted with the DSD team's progress. "First of all big congratulations to Brad O'Connor for running his first seven-second pass", says Paul. "All of the DSD team are over the moon with our achievements." ©Eurodragster.com Jamie Sneddon tested at Santa Pod on the Sunday before the Easter Thunderball and made four passes on the Honda Blackbird, running to a thousand feet on a cold track and with low boost, and recording a best of 8.265/174.44. Although the race was on for the first seven-second pass at Easter, Paul says that the DSD team stuck to their game plan. "We lept the boost low so that Jamie could get get comfortable with the bike", says Paul. "So we were delighted to run a string of 8.0s and a couple of sevens". Jamie was assisted by multiple champion Kent Stotz, who built the Blackbird and who flew over to the UK to oversee his testing and first competitive event. "It was great having Kent Stotz and his family over", says Paul. "A big Thank You must go to Kent for building a truly fantastic bike, along with the knowledge he gave us to tune it. "I would have to say it was probably one of the best meetings for bikes in a long while, with the introduction of the 9.50 class won by Steve Coombs who has got to grips quickly with this class, and the seven-second runs in the Super Street Bikeclass, Steve Venables who became the first and the fastest outside of the USA with some of the most skilful riding I have seen in a very long time. Talking of which, Brad also had his hands full and definitely rode his bike into the 7.9s. A special mention to David Warren on the Krazy Kat running an excellent PB of 8.5. "Jamie would like to thank Kent Stotz for all his help, Webster Race Engineering for the gold rings, all of the crew at Santa Pod for making it one of the best tracks outside the USA to race on, his friends and family for all their support, and finally his superb crew Jules and Pixie, who worked so hard under the watchful eye of the nicest Crew Chief there is - at least I'm sure thats what they said. "We look forward to the next round of Super Street Bike." Swift snippets. 3rd April: April's Drag Racing Night will be taking place this Tuesday (5th April) at The Swan pub in Newton Bromswold (near Santa Pod), starting at 8:00 pm. "I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday", says organiser Nigel Anniwell. The Swan is in Newton Bromswold, near Rushden, not far off the A6: click here for a map of the area. You can call The Swan on 01933 413506. Nigel adds that he would like to thank everyone who read his interview on Eurodragster.com and spoke to him to thank him for his work over the years. "I'm sure that the guys and gals on the crew will carry forward the skill and professionalism they have gained to keep everyone safe and sound", says Nigel. ©Eurodragster.com Ian Turburville's Championship-winning S&S Sure Shot Supertwin Fuel Bike has been purchased by Santa Pod Raceway as an exhibition vehicle to join their Top Fuel Dragster and Fuel Funny Car. The bike has been refitted with its original Ronny Aasen motor, and Turbo says that it will make a fitting memorial to his late friend and mentor Jim McClure. Turbo is mid-way through the construction of his new bike, but says that he needs to sell the complete 2004 McClure/S&S package to complete it. If you are interested then you can find more details at www.turboville.com. Easter Thunderball Pro ET report. 3rd April: Carla Pittau of 2004 UK National Pro ET Champions Heaven and Hell Racing writes with a report on Pro ET at last weekend's Easter Thunderball: Despite our own team’s lack of success it was great to be back at home at the Pod for the Thunderball, great to see everyone again, busy sorting out their new combination or perfecting the old one, and to welcome the new faces in the biggest car class. Nice to see Lance Richards come from the Sportsman ET ranks with his big block Capri, although he had a few problems which he will hopefully cure for the next meeting. Lance red lit by a whisker in the second round against a perfect 0.000 pulled by John Morris (half an hour too late for the Perfect Light Award - Ed). Another new Pro ET racer was Joe Stevens who normally races in the Wild Bunch, and who despite gearbox problems managed to skilfully row around a malfunctioning second gear and defeated Paul Baynton in the first round and Mike Lacey in the second using quicker lights, and only went out in the third round when despite a better light he broke out against eventual winner John Atkinson. Joe runs a 23T Altered with a 454 Big Block which he built himself. Welcome also to Anthony Wilkins in the '55 Chevy, who qualified no. 2 with a +0.002 and did an excellent back up running a +0.004 in the third round of qualifying. The '55 ran very consistently and Anthony’s march was only stopped by his red light against Keith Herbert. Jerry Denning with his mate Lee Pike were running both Pro ET and Super Gas sharing the wheel of Honky Tonkin', their wheelstanding sixties Gasser style '57 Chevy, which doesn't weigh as much as it looks, and runs high nines with a big block and a little bit of blower. The Honky Tonkin' Team turned out to be a lovely bunch of absolute gearheads, it was great to get to know them a bit in the fire up lane, although Team Heaven and Hell, with Yours Truly at the wheel, pulled a cherry in the first round against them. Jerry got as far as the third round getting past another cherry in the second round, compliments of Gary Springford at the wheel of Paul Marston’s Insanity Vega, and was stopped by the ineffable Keith Herbert despite a better light when the Super Stock replica Plymouth Fury ran within two thousandths of the dial-in. It was really good to see Mike Lacey in the Metamorphosis Camaro finally run the quarter mile without spitting out engine and gearbox on the way. Mike is now running Peter Lane's old engine rebuilt by Jeff Bull and as of Good Friday a heavy duty TH400 with transbrake. Unfortunately the weak link in the set-up is now the rear end and suspension, so Mike had a hard time trying to launch without spinning the tyres, and found later that his mono-leaf springs went somewhat pear-shaped after the punishment they received. However he enjoyed the meeting very much, managing to be a contender at last. Going back through the ranks to meet the Pro ET veterans we find Wayne Hiscock getting serious numbers out of his new 468ci Big Block and running spot on in the process. Wayne qualified #1 but met the trailer prematurely in the first round through a bit of a start line snooze which allowed John Morris to start his implacable march to the finals. Good to see Dave Billadeau with the big white GTX down from Up North, the car always looks good coming off the line but unfortunately lost in the second round against Phil Toppin. Phil Toppin and crew with the yellow Pop must take the most serious crew award, serious about taking the piss that is. But it seems to help with defusing those pre-race nerves as Phil got to the third round and we always have a good laugh with them in the fire-up road. The Yellow Belly Satellite of Kevin Slyfield looked good in qualifying with big plumes of purging nitrous before the launch. Unfortunately with so much extra power he was spinning the tyres and getting out of shape, and although he got a handle on it by the end of qualifying and he dialled it in good, he broke out in the first round. Lady Nitrous is a finicky Mistress. Other first round casualties included Nicky Frost in the gorgeous wheelstanding '67 Camaro who had a bit of a hairy ride and wisely backed off to keep the car straight, whilst red-light woes affected Aidan Kenny in the 427ci powered chopped Pop, he was told so many times not to red light in the first round that he did. Ouch! Terri Lee did likewise in the blown Escort Van, and as I said before, yours truly. I wasted consistent .01 lights in qualifying when the Heaven and Hell Camaro was busy giving us a bit of Hell with rude carburettor burps during the launch. We managed to solve the problem at the last minute, but by the fourth round of qualifying we didn't really believe we had, so we dialled slow and of course broke out and qualified crap. To add insult to injury I then pulled a -.01 and for the first time Heaven and Hell did not race on race day. Still, worse happened to Clive Cox in the lovely Joyrider 68 Camaro when his distributor gear sheared off and he was forced to give Mike Lacey's 67 a default win with a first round no-show. ©Eurodragster.com Jack Brewster in the bright yellow Just Mustard Firebird also did not make the first round, as he lost oil pressure in the last qualifying round, his demise giving Keith Herbert a bye, and Jon Hollingworth in the Ford Cortina sleeper suffered head gasket failure and gave a first round bye to Gary Springford. And now to the finalists: John Morris in his 320ci powered Stimulator Scimitar started his march to the finals by getting past Wayne Hiscock in the first round, pulling a 0.000 light in the second against a red-lighting Lance Richards in the second, then meeting good mate Phil Toppin in the third round, Phil forgot what he dialled and broke out by about half a mile - what happened there, Phil? Did you get the dial in back to front, 11.50 instead of 11.05? - and then had a relaxing bye in the semis, going on to meet John Atkinson in the final. On the other side of the ladder we find good old Time is Money John Atkinson. John's blue Cortina Estate pulled a serious wheelie during qualifying and I'm really sick I missed it, although John has the marks on the rear valance to prove how much sky he got to observe during the launch. John got past Richard Webb in the first round, the Beetle aborting the run, then Carl Burton's and Joe Stevens' breakouts in the second and third, then defeating Keith Herbert in the semis. John had been back to the pits for just ten minutes when the finals were called and it was mad panic for a while trying to cool the engine and charge the battery as opponent John Morris did not appear to be in his pit and Ian Brown of Thatadoo Camaro fame acted as Chief Calmer Downer, telling John and Crew Chief Tom that they wouldn't run without them. John Morris's Scimitar turned out to have gone to see Amos for the MSA log book and all was well again. Whatever happened at this stage you could be sure that "John" was going to win the meeting, and as it happened it was John Atkinson, with a better light and a closer run. Congratulations to both and thanks to everyone in Pro ET for making even a first round exit easier to bear, the class could not be made up of nicer people and it was great fun to meet everyone again. Unofficial Points standings (but remember to check them out against the official points when announced) are now posted on the Pro ET web site at www.pro-et.co.uk and on the Heaven and Hell web site at www.heavenhell.org. Plan A, and Plan B. 2nd April: Sweden's Lorentzon and Möller Top Fuel Dragster team are waiting for their ex-Doug Herbert Top Fueller to arrive, and the 'old' car is waiting to stand in should there be any problems, says Crew Chief Kenneth Lorentzon. "We're now heading towards the start of the season, which we have all been waiting for", says Kenneth. "Some teams got the jump at the Easter Thunderball, I was tuned in and following the race and from what I could understand Jon Webster was the only guy who had anything to write home to his mum about, the other teams didn't scare anyone. It is great to see that Wright and Bradford will be back again, we need more cars. Maybe even Anita will come out of retirement, who knows?" The team's season starts next Saturday with a warm-up at Harley Davidson Center at Helsingborg in Sweden. "We will be performing a great show with all the sound and fumes necessary to wake up the croud!", says Kenneth. ©Eurodragster.com The team are doing well for themselves on the sponsorship front for 2005. "I am very proud to announce that MAN-Truck are back with us" says Kenneth. "They are delivering a brand new 2005 top-of-the-line truck with all the horsepower, leather and chrome you could ask for. Other companies who believe that we will take the Championship are Tallink, who have the most luxurious and modern cruise ships on the Baltic Sea between Stockholm and Tallin in Estland; CRC Industries Europe is another company which will be supporting us this year with such fine products as their 5-56 spray, Brakecleen/Quickcleen, and a lot more. Dekor and Design are putting a stunning photoscreen on the new trailer - believe me, it will be something special, this will be a Las Vegas billboard on wheels. Pennzoil are still hanging in there, and so are Sunoco Race Fuels and Power magazine. "Back to racing and it seems that we have a slight problem getting the new missile as soon as we would have wanted it. With luck it is supposed to show up on 27th April, and our plan is to put it together and go to the Pro Test at Malmö's Meca Raceway and then the test weekend at Santa Pod Raceway the weekend before the Main Event. If it comes to a struggle we can always roll out the old warrior from the retirement home - it is ready to go and kick some butt." Hill on that pass... 2nd April: Martin Hill, who took the title of Fastest Jet-powered drag racer on the planet with a 336.10 mph blast in his Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car at the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend, has been in touch to tell us how the pass came about. "The Fireforce 3 FC has undergone various modifications since it début at Santa Pod back in early 2000", says Martin. "It is a heavy car by today’s standards, a good few hundred pounds heavier than another Jet FCs. With weight being a major issue this car would never attain such low ETs as recorded in the States. Some of the cars with the low ETs never duplicate them at events and are sometimes set at the expense of engine parts. I knew that with the right set-up and weather conditions this car could set a new terminal speed record. "We have had a few setbacks over the last few years. The major one was losing the body at the top end and having subsequent problems with the replacement fibreglass body, which just put the development back further. "Since Christmas I have been working on the fuel system, trying to eliminate a couple of problems. We ran the car at Pod in February and at that point it seemed to have new life. We followed this up with testing at the Peak Performance Day and it was becoming clearer that the car was making more power. Every time we have run the car this year, the weather has been excellent for us with cold dense air. At the Test the car ran a 5.9 without any hassle and on the Sunday we were running 250+ mph terminals at 6.1 clicking off at half track. This all was leading up to the Easter Thunderball. "The first run of the day at this event, it was decided to put the last of the normal chutes in the main as the original had taken a beating over the season. As with all new chutes I prefer to do a three quarter pass to check them out. We ran 288 mph clicking off at a thousand feet and just in the fives. Looking at the info I knew that the conditions were perfect to get a good terminal and the car was prepared, unfortunately due to problems on the track our run was delayed and just a show was performed and a quick launch to check things out. Back at the pits the chute was inspected and was found to have sustained damage. "On Sunday the weather was ideal to run fast again, cold dense air and a good track. Another new chute was loaded, this time it was one specially built for the car by Tom Abbott from Chute Metal in the States. It had been designed to for speeds up to 350 mph and would stop the car progressively rather than hard-hitting like the previous chutes. We brought the car round to the tower and it started up clean as a whistle and sounded crisp. We did our usual trick of trying to scare the commentators and burning off some fuel with our traditional burner pops to the line. On the green I got the power up to 100% and let it go, slamming the throttle to the stops as soon as I had passed the sixty foot mark. The car was arrow straight and fast, as I got to the three-quarter track it felt good so I kept on it and it just hit again - it was like pushing in the nitrous it just found another speed. I was pushed back in the seat further and hung on for the ride. I clicked it off at the traps and I knew it was fast, I knew it had to be 300+. The car stopped just as planned, the 'chute did just what it said on the box. "Waiting at the end of the track seemed an eternity, the crew got to me and we discussed the finer points of track etiquette. Like hell we did! Now I needed a brew and then face the Race Director. I didn't have time as I was summoned to appear straight away. Darren Prentice explained subtly and politely that I should not do it again at any permitted event, but he still managed a grin. Jet Funny Cars are limited to 280 mph, this was introduced when we wrote the rules last year. I think it will have to be lifted slightly, now that we have new concrete walls down both sides of the shutdown area I do not think it will be a problem. ©Eurodragster.com "I would like to thank Monty from Jett Tech Engineering in Texas, Ralph Snider in Okalahoma, Tom at Chute Metal, my crew, and the guys from Pod who are supportive everytime we run. "The answer to the question is yes, it was genuine, and if the conditions are as good next time I will do it all over again. We are the fastest Jet over a quarter of mile in the world, and I hope it keeps Sammy smiling because that one was for him!" Martin's pass engendered quite a reaction around the world. A number of Jet racers outside the UK, so far from than congratulating Martin, were almost as fast as his terminal speed in weighing in to contradict our report (whilst also for the most part electing to ignore the preceding 288 mph three-quarter pass - Ed) and then questioning the official timing data when it was published. Andy Marrs of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew, who is widely acknowledged as one of Europe's leading experts on timing, looked at the details of Martin's pass and this is what he has to say: "Just looking at the incrementals it's clear that Martin was on stormer", says Andy. "Any kind of beam blocker can be ruled out by the normality of the sixty foot time. The important figure as far as I'm concerned is the time taken between 990' and 1320', which in the case of the 336 pass is considerably quicker than anything previous. As we know the distance and the time taken to cover that distance, we can obviously work out the average speed over that distance, again this is considerably higher than anything previous at 244 mph. "Now, a 244 average isn't that much higher than a 239 (Martin's previous best), but bear in mind the average I have used is taken over 330 feet, and the speed trap is sixty six feet. As 0.01 seconds over sixty six feet can easily mean a difference of 20 mph at 300 mph, and Martin's 990' - 1320' was 0.018 quicker than anything previous, and his speed was obviously quicker entering that speed trap than ever before (see the 660' speed), I conclude that it was genuine." Good enough for us... ...Venables on that weekend. 2nd April: Also in record-setting mood last weekend was UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables. Steve ran the first seven-second SSB pass in competition during qualifying for the Easter Thunderball, then spent the weekend swapping the ACU UK National ET record with Jamie Sneddon who together with Brad O'Connor also got into the sevens, before ending the weekend with the event victory and new National records of 7.742 seconds and 193.20 mph. Steve told Eurodragster.com that he couldn't possibly have asked any more from his weekend. "It was a brilliant weekend", said Steve. "It was above our expectations. We achieved everything we wanted to do and it's not often that that happens. I was really pleased for Jamie and Brad on their sevens, and some of the other racers are not far off. We have taken Super Street Bike to another level and we certainly gave the spectators something to watch! The amount of feedback I got from fans in the pits was unbelievable, some were even telling me that I had made their weekend! I should add the reason that we spent so much time in our motorhome, we weren't being unsociable or secretive - the simple fact was that Barry Henson was just so bloody cold! We were using Graham Dance's hot air gun to keep him warm!" Barry Henson of the USA's Velocity Racing, who was overseeing Steve's operation last weekend, was impressed by what he saw at Santa Pod last weekend. "Barry asked me to pass on a big Thank You to the organisers for putting on such a good show", said Steve. "He also said to congratulate the track crew for doing such a great job on the track. He said that they just would not be able to get such great performances out of a track in the USA in those conditions! I would also like to add my own Thank You to Ian Marshall for his patience with my excessive burnouts - Barry just kept me in there! I would also like to thank the Funny Bike racers for putting up with me. It was great to use Funny Bike for testing, I turned it down a bit so I didn't take their speed record off them! It was very tiring running two classes though." ©Eurodragster.com Steve said that there was something unique about the Easter Thunderball. "It was nice to see three different manufacturers represented in the sevens", he said, "and they all had Velocity turbo kits on so Barry was happy! We had the two Americans at the track, and I bet they had a side bet going on! And I must say that Jamie did bloody well for a new bike." Steve was quick to credit a number of people for his success last weekend, starting with his sponsors. "Thanks to Graham Balchin, Debben Performance, Bournemouth Kawasaki and ASAP Signs - and anyone else who wants to come on board!", said Steve. "Big, big thanks to Barry Henson for dragging himself over here, freezing, breaking down in the motorhome, having no sleep, and being dumped at the airport, and still saying he'd had a great time! Thanks to everyone who has E-Mailed to congratulate me. Thanks to Jon Webster for the Seven Second gold ring; thanks to Sharkman for the Seven Second trophy, which I will always treasure, and finally thanks as ever to Eurodragster.com for reporting it all." A lass Inzane. 2nd April: UK Sportsman ET racer Tanya Partridge and her Inzane Racing Team had one of the best starts to the season they could have hoped for, with Personal Bests in testing and then at last weekend's Easter Thunderball. However team member Ross Spencer kicks off his weekend account by congratulating some of Tanya's colleagues. "What a weekend!", says Ross. "Massive congratulations to Martin Lewis on his Sportsman win, from all of the Inzane Racing Team. An excellent start to the season for him, well done mate! Lots of the other Sportman crowd were in attendance and it was fantastic to see them all. The friendliness and mutual support that is displayed by all members of the class is something that we should be very proud of, as the racing just wouldn't be the same without it! We'd also like to welcome the new teams we saw beginning their season. Nicola La Grue and the Race Shack team made it through to the semi finals in their Honda Civic, and it was especially good to see the Dave Nelson with his new slingshot running on Sunday and Monday, and we commend them on their efforts and sheer determination to get the car through scrutineering. "This was one of the best starts to the season that we could have hoped for. Over the winter the Camaro has had a major overhaul. New engine, new rear diff gears and a new torque converter being the main changes. We achieved a personal best over the weekend of 12.399 (nearly two seconds off of our best time last year) and we are consistently hitting the sixty foot marker at 1.6 (-ish) seconds. Tanya said that this improved performance made the Camaro "Feel like a completely new car" and made the dial-in a little difficult to workout, but we still managed to qualify third and make it through to round two. ©Eurodragster.com "The weekend didn't get off to the best start when a miscommunication between two of our team members (I won't mention any names) caused the front bumper of the race car to get ripped off on our trailer as it was being loaded (Oops!). Our Crew Chief then decided that he would attempt to improve the aerodynamic qualities of the car yet further by sticking his great big, size twelve working boot into the front wing (well, that's his story and who are we to argue). Not only that, but once we got to Santa Pod and checked the car over, we discovered that the prop shaft had a rather scary amount of lateral movement. Luckily, both the front of the car and the prop shaft were reparable (at least sufficiently to last the weekend) and we were able to run. A massive thanks to Chris Isaacs, Jon Webster and the rest of you who helped us stay on track. "Unfortunately our luck was not to hold, as the Camaro blew a carburettor gasket in round two and we lost by 0.16 of a second. Thanks for a great atmosphere down at the gravel pit from all of the Inzane Racing Team and we look forward to seeing you all again soon!" The team's official web site at www.inzane-racing.co.uk contains a longer version of Ross' report as well as five pages of photographs. Swift snippets. 2nd April: We have had a warning from Lee about an E-Bay scam which unfortunately stung him when buying Weiand 8-71 and 6-71 blowers. "Be very cautious when bidding for these blowers on E-Bay as there is a major scam going on", says Lee. "I myself was a victim and lost a great deal of money. The scammer always keeps ID private has no history or feedback score, so beware." ©Eurodragster.com Steve Wood of the UK's MotorShack tells us that the company will be on-site selling VP Racing Fuels and Klotz Race Fuels, as well as associated kit such as fuel jugs, at the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 16th-17th April. For enquiries, to find your nearest stockist, or to place an order contact MotorShack on 01926 633379 or check out their web site at www.motorshack.com. March 2005 was Eurodragster.com's busiest month since we started to keep access records in 2003. In March we clocked up no less than 146,273 visits and 3,759,678 hits. Many thanks to all of our readers for coming back on a regular basis and to our sponsors for their support. Errata. 2nd April: As our readers are aware, we pride ourselves on factual accuracy here at Eurodragster.com, and so we are always quick to correct any inaccuracies in news items. Therefore we must make the following corrections to yesterday's news: Johnny Hall has not built a Rocket Kart Paul Watson is not riding Jamie Sneddon's Honda Blackbird SSB at the FIA Main Event The FIA are not considering a "one block per event" rule for 2007 Santa Pod Raceway are not holding a Saab Jam in August Tog is not doing a burnout and launch in Doug Ripley's Top Methanol FC next weekend In other words, every story we ran yesterday was an April Fool. Many thanks to Johnny Hall, Paul Watson and Jamie Sneddon, Andy Marrs, Rick Cuthbert, Doug and Jane Ripley, Cliff Gould, and Darren Gould for variously going along with or suggesting our April Fool stories, and apologies to our readers but we had so many credible-sounding stories for April Fools' Day that we just had to do it. ©Eurodragster.com Tog would like to add a personal Thank You for the goodwill of everyone who sent him messages of encouragement after reading the Top Methanol FC story. "The messages I got were full of such genuine warmth and good wishes that I was taken aback, and now I feel a bit embarrassed!", said Tog. "Thank you all very much indeed and I hope that you can forgive us!" Web site updates. 2nd April: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site at www.dragracing.se with NDRS-class results from last weekend's Easter Thunderball, which was the first round of this year's Nordic series. Lee Kirk has updated the UK Super Modified Racers Association web site with a detailed report on the Easter Thunderball and updated Teams page. Check it out at www.supermodified.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Santa Pod Raceway's web site has been updated with a report and a number of excellent Photo Galleries from last weekend's Easter Thunderball. You can go directly to the Easter Thunderball coverage at www.santapod.co.uk/e_easter2005.php. Earlier news

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