Kunmadaras qualifying update. 30th April: Many thanks to Zoltán Hernády for forwarding us qualifying standings from the UEM European Drag Bike Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary. ©Eurodragster.com Qualifying after session 1 (PDF format) Qualifying after session 2 (PDF format) Qualifying after session 3 (PDF format) Thanks to Steve Horn for his help - Ed Swift snippets. 30th April: Steve Horn tells us that UEM European Pro Stock Bike Champion Ulf Ögge set the pace in testing at Kunmadaras, Hungary yesterday (Thursday). Ulf clocked a best of 7.285 at 294.42 kmh. Subject to mobile internet access our good buddies Makus Münch and Mathias Wienand plan to post regular reports and pictures from Kunmadaras on their excellent web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de, again subject to access Ian King will be posting updates on his web site at www.kingracing.com, the CeDrag.com web site at www.cedrag.com also plans updates, and we hope to bring you timing sheets as we did last August. A short break in the Dominican Republic turned into a marathon holiday for Dex Price of the UK's Team Gridlock Wild Bunch team. Dex planned on having plenty of time for the engine rebuild after losing a valve, pushrod and the subsequent piston and bore damage Easter. The flight delays were eating into the available time and with no definite date for a flight home the team turned to old friend Paul Bristow of Pauls Place for help with the rebuild. Paul was extremely busy but worked late into the evenings - whilst Dex was laying out under the sun and drinking sangria - to completely rebuild the 360 Mopar ready for this weekend's Springspeed Nationals. Luckily enough Dex has made it home in time for the weekend's racing and wants to send a massive thank you to Paul for all of his efforts in helping the team. European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's IHRA Spring Nitro Jam at Rockingham as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting Pro Fuel at the event. The event takes place tomorrow and Sunday; as ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com Thanks to Top Alcohol tuner and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna for giving us a sneak at the design for Top Methanol Dragster racer Fred Hanssen's 2010 season T-Shirt. The shirt was designed by US Pro Stock Racer Danny Gruninger of US Recognition/T-Shirt Technologies Design. The shirts will be on sale from the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Tig Napier has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to his wife Cath Napier. Our pleasure Tig, you have a lovely day Cath. Editor's note: A funeral yesterday and another funeral today means that we have a small backlog of news here at Eurodragster.com. We will clear the backlog on tomorrow's (Saturday's) update and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Springspeed Nationals coverage. 30th April: Eurodragster.com will be at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to bring you all the news from the Springspeed Nationals in association with American Car Imports. Our coverage will consist of frequently-updated reports on the on-track action throughout each day together with regular pit notes and an end-day gallery each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line from approximately 8:00 tomorrow morning and will post a picture every sixty seconds until the track closes on Monday. ©Eurodragster.com We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences; in the meantime you can check out the Springspeed Nationals event index page by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Santa Pod goes All American. 30th April: If your idea of proper transport involves acres of chrome, a displacement measured in cubic inches and plenty of cylinders, then you'll love the All American Show at Santa Pod Raceway tomorrow and Sunday. For one weekend, the Northamptonshire countryside echoes to the blissful sound of big block Hemis and flathead Fords, as the cream of the UK's American cars and their enthusiastic owners descend on the venue for a weekend of racing, dancing, and fun! Although it's a Yank-lovers' paradise, the event is for all genres of custom, classic and retro car and bike owners, so whether you're running a Chevy or a Chevette, you'll be made very welcome. Precious metal from both sides of the Pond is welcome with Run What You Brung sessions all weekend to allow pub arguments on who can out-drag who to be finally settled. Just bring your driving licence - and if you'll be travelling faster than 110 mph a crash helmet - and tear up the world-famous quarter mile! This year, the 'Pod is also allowing passengers carrying a valid UK licence to ride shotgun in any car that will have them. Weekend tickets even include entry to the additional RWYB event on Monday 3rd! As a part of the RWYB competition we will be running a shootout for the top sixteen cars from the Street Legal Car classes (A-H, see web site for class details). The cars with the sixteen quickest times up until midday on Sunday will be entered into a sixteen-car eliminations ladder. Eliminations will commence at 1:00 pm and there is a cool £500 cash prize for the eventual winner and £250 for the runner up! A leader board for cars that have qualified for the shootout will be displayed at the signing-on office throughout the weekend so keep an eye out to see if you have made the cut! The Mopar Muscle Association Power Tour will also be flexing its muscles on the strip, with these powerful RWD machines looking to make the most consistently quick runs to win. Nostalgia fans will also love the sight of classic slingshot and classic dragster old timers tearing up the quarter, rather than gracing a museum somewhere. It's not just about V8 grudge matches on the strip however, with a full programme of live bands with suitable transatlantic rock-and-roll set-lists to provide the perfect soundtrack for those who prefer their music not to come from a set of headers! The ticket price also includes entry to the Monster Truck Nationals 1st May, where you can witness the incredible sight of these car-crushing monsters racing each other and performing stunts which truly defy the laws of physics. The Live Action arena also hosts the ever-popular Burnout Competition, where anybody with a heavy right foot and a spare set of tyres can become a hero for the day… There's a hotly contested Show and Shine on the Sunday to satisfy the most ardent of polishers, and with the Top 10 trophies, open to the entire spectrum of two- and four-wheeled Yank ownership, there's no excuse for not breaking out the Autoglym! There's free camping of course, with an RV area for those lucky souls who are really living the American Dream, fun fair rides to keep the kids (both young and old) happy, and a mobile dyno just in case you didn't get the result you wanted on the quarter! Best of all, under-sixteens get in free and clubs are extremely welcome, with discount structures in place for groups turning up en masse and a huge designated club area on tarmac to allow you all to park up in formation. What are you waiting for? See you there! For more information visit www.allamericanshow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Nosferatu comes out in daylight. 29th April: The UK's Team Nosferatu are thrilled to announce the appearance of their Gothic, six second, blown Firebird at the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June: After a request from Bob Glassup, via the excellent news page on Eurodragster.com, for interesting race cars to appear at the show, driver Vince Gibbs got in touch to see if the Xtreme team would accept Nosferatu. The response we had from Bob and Matt was one of excitement, which made us feel very special. So special, in fact, that Nosferatu appears on one of the "Top Trump" cards on the Xtreme Wheels web site. We plan to do some fire-ups and some rolling burnouts to show the people attending, who may not be too familiar with drag racing, what a blown alky Big Block sounds like and hopefully replicate the long and smoky burnouts that Nosferatu performs on the strip. "We are really looking forward to the show", explains The Fearless Count. "The majority of the team will be attending to show people around the car, answer questions, have a sit in the drivers seat and to promote our current sponsors". On this subject, the team are looking for a sponsor specifically for the Xtreme Wheels show, if you would like to promote your company at this major event with one of the most popular sportsman cars (also the quickest Sportsman doorslammer in Europe) please get in touch. Contact Vince at vincentgibbs@aol.com or via our web site at www.nosferatu-racing.co.uk. It won't cost very much at all and could bring your products or services in contact with thousands of car enthusiasts. ©Eurodragster.com On a slightly more depressing note we have to announce that we will not be able to attend the FIA Main Event at the end of May. Over the winter many improvements and repairs were made to the car costing quite a lot of our hard earned cash. We replaced rods, pistons and piston rings, and made modifications to the Powerglide and torque converter. We also purchased a nearly new pair of fully built Dart CNC cylinder heads. We were hopeful of continuing our six-second performance and pushing for the 200 mph ticket. Unfortunately on the first qualifying run we suffered a valve failure which dropped the head of no. 2 cylinder inlet valve into the combustion chamber. This then broke up the valve seat which then found its way back into the inlet manifold and into all of the other cylinders damaging pistons, block, bending more valves and also destroying a cam follower. The new cylinder heads are also junked. The repair is well underway but the cost of the repair has hit us hard: all of our new parts, apart from the rods, were destroyed in five seconds. We hope to be ready for the Summernationals in June, funds permitting. Keep an eye on our web site for progress reports. We would also like to once again thank our 2010 sponsors Hauser Race Cars, Torco, The Gothic Shop, The Dark Cult and Nick Bolton Body Shop who help to make our team's existence possible. Number crunching with Haslett. 29th April: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett decided to make the most of his time at the weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway: We arrived at 3:00 am on Friday morning and got our heads down outside the main gates...which muppet left their alarm set for 6:00? We were set up and ready to play by eleven. We also had the company of team member, good friend and neighbour Russ Walker running his VW Scirroco in VW Sportsman. The first pass was a gentle 11.0, no gas but a complete gearbox. I turned the gas on bue as this was a RWYB track I turned everything down but as the nitrous was coming up to full power (300 jets) we lost all power so I shut everything off and cruised back. Next run same again. But this time I watched the max and it was shutting the system down due to only getting six volts, a safety feature. Checked everything only found a loose battery terminal on the alternator. Fitted a new one but it was still the same. So I bypassed the extreme and blew a fuse. Now we're getting somewhere! Fuse changed and a new relay fitted off we went. But after speaking to Trev we turned it down to 80% and it worked. Next step a full pass. 20% on the hit with 3.5 build time - both wheels off the ground but as it came down it unloaded the rear wheels, big tyre shake (three chipped teeth), a couple of big pedals, 9.7/149 well happy. Backed up with 9.66/146 but then had another problem - how to stop the rear unloading. We'd now run out of time and we drew Steve Pateman in eliminations. When I got into stage a bit to deep and activated the trans brake the car rocked and broke the beams. Arse! But I still ran a 9.8/146. I hope Mark Skinner, my passenger on the Cruise, enjoyed himself, going by all the pictures I think he did. Now for you number crunchers out there. The car weighs 3285 lb, we ran 149 mph, we used 1020 bhp at 963 lb TQ to do it. We crossed the line at 5565 rpm. That's a gain of 250 bhp with one second delay and a build time of three seconds. The pistons were travelling at 4173 feet/min. Swift snippets. 29th April: The 2010 European Championship season starts in Kunmadaras in Hungary this weekend with a Test and Tune today and then the first round of the UEM European Drag Bike Championships from tomorrow until Sunday. The event also includes an FIA exhibition as well as Super Street Bike invitational and National classes. Subject to mobile internet access our good buddies Makus Münch and Mathias Wienand plan to post regular reports and pictures on their excellent web site at www.derbeschleuniger.de, again subject to access Ian King will be posting updates on his web site at www.kingracing.com, the CeDrag.com web site at www.cedrag.com also plans updates, and we hope to bring you timing sheets as we did last August. After a short absence, UK Event Safety are pleased to have been invited back to Shakespeare County Raceway to provide support for public safety matters. Glenn Ramsden from UK Event Safety said "We were contacted over the winter and we have made some very good progress in discussions with the team at SCR. Of course public safety is paramount and working in partnership we will try to make any necessary improvements at the venue. Of course all of this costs money and we ask racers and spectators alike to be patient in the knowledge that we are working alongside the council to progress the good work which has been done recently." European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's IHRA Spring Nitro Jam at Rockingham as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting Pro Fuel at the event. As ever you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June tell us that there is still space for trade stands for the very reasonable sum of £50 for the weekend. For details or to book your site contact Dan Welberry at dan@xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. A sign of the times at PMR. 29th April: Paul Marston Racing have endured a rollercoaster few days in the run-up to this weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Although the current UK National Pro ET Champion Mick Howling and Grumpy's Dodge are on the entry list, it is quite doubtful that Grumpy will make it. We started to see a bit of a trend amongst crew last year. A lot of people are now salary paid, which means that in effect you have no fixed hours so if you are quiet it's regular hours but if busy you are expected to work the overtime which can roll into Fridays and Saturdays, even Sundays. With the economy being what it is if you are asked you have to say "Yes". Although crew members are missed, you adapt and survive. I know of one crew member who has done a deal and is working every Saturday and even a couple of Sundays so that he can make the Friday of the FIA Main Event, and he may even have to go back to work on the following Saturday. I am very sorry to say this but because he is in a management position in his day job, Mick Howling has become a victim of this curse of modern society. Having fought this situation last year Mick just made it to the Easter Thunderball. However, he did suspect that it may be his last race this year and the way things have moved towards the end of the week Mick has had no choice but to cancel his entry, very reluctantly. In fact it is so sudden that there is not even enough time to get Grumpy collected from Mick's place in Kings Lynn so that Paul can drive it. As it stands the very earliest that Mick will make the track is Saturday evening. It goes without saying that work permitting Mick will still support the team when and how he can. ©Eurodragster.com Meanwhile eagle-eyed Eurodragster readers will have also noticed that Paul Marston's name has also disappeared from the entry list. Martin Curbishley approached PMR just after the Easter Thunderball and asked about driving the Ugly Stick dragster, and we pretty quickly struck a deal which is mutually beneficial. It's exciting to have a driver of Martin's unquestionable ability and pedigree join us. Everyone at PMR is very much looking forward to seeing what Martin can do. Last weekend PMR successfully taught a rookie driver to drive the dragster for a feature in a very well-known national magazine. The feature will be in the June edition of the magazine, stay tuned for details. This has been an upside down week for us at PMR: we lose our best driver and gain another equally capable. It just goes to prove that there is never a average week in motorsport and that you cannot take anything for granted. As ever we look forward to seeing all our fans and to representing our sponsors at Shakespeare County Raceway - who themselves had their problems with key staff being stuck in the States. See you there. Web site updates. 29th April: The official web site of the FireForce Jet Funny Car has been updated with reports from the Central Ford RS Owners Day and Big Bang as well as a gallery of images from Big Bang courtesy of Ingrid Chesworth. Don't forget that the closing date for the Spot The Difference competition on the web site, in which some lucky person can win a family ticket to the FIA Main Event, is 21st May. You can find the FireForce web site at www.fireforce.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Welcome ModUrSTANG. 28th April: We are very pleased to welcome ModUrStang as a sponsor of Eurodragster.com News. ModUrSTANG is based near Bicester in Oxfordshire and can offer anything from small upgrades and servicing to complete rebuilds for a wide range of requirements, from street cars with attitude to circuit and drag racing machines. Owner Mike Lacey , who took a 2006 Mustang to second and third places in the Cannonball Run Europe 2007 and 2008 driving his American Muscle past Porsches, Lamborghinis and Maserati super cars, told us that ModUrStang's expertise extends to any American vehicle but that their speciality is S197 Mustangs. ModUrSTANG can make your dreams reality. For more information on how to wake the giant in your Yank check out ModUrSTANG's web site at www.modurstang.co.uk, or click on the log in the right column of the News page. ©Eurodragster.com ModUrSTANG is also one of the many prestigious companies sponsoring the UK's Pro ET class in 2010. For more information on the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme please see the class' excellent web site at www.pro-et.co.uk. We would like to say a big Thank You to Mike Lacey for his support of Eurodragster.com. As with all of Eurodragster.com's sponsors, please show your appreciation for ModUrSTANG's support of your favourite web site and of drag racing by considering them when looking for goods or services. FIA Main Event entry. 28th April: Racers both Pro and Sportsman are reminded that Friday of next week, 7th May, is the official closing date for entry to the FIA Main Event, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-31st May. Entry after this date, if accepted, will be subject to a penalty fee. You can download the official entry forms for all classes from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and FIA and UEM registration and FIA Main Event entry forms are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. ©Eurodragster.com Many thanks to SPRC Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the FIA Main Event entry list, which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Farrugia, Andréasson double up. 28th April: Malta's PowerPlan Ltd, a subsidiary of Johns Group of Companies of Hamrun, is to field a two-car Top Methanol Funny Car team, Zmoke Z1 Drag Racing, in the 2010 FIA European Drag Racing Championships. Team Manager Dean Mansueto announced the formation of the team at the Radisson Blu Resort, St Julian's, revealing the drivers to be three-time FIA European Top Methanol FC Champion Leif Andréasson and FIA Championship rookie Chris Farrugia. The team will contest all five FIA European Championship rounds. Chris will drive the Dodge Stratus TMFC formerly campaigned by Leif, whilst Leif will field a TMFC newly imported from the USA. "The expertise of our Maltese driver and crew, coupled with Leif's Championship-winning experience, will hold us in good stead for the challenges and opportunities which will present themselves throughout this year's season and beyond", said Dean Mansueto. ©Eurodragster.com Leif said that he was proud to form part of the Maltese drag racing community. "I have been racing in Top Methanol Funny Car in the US and Europe for the past fifteen years", he said. "I have personally seen what the 'Maltesers' can do in drag racing and we have had a very good relationship with the guys at Zmoke for the last ten years. "Chris has a fantastic car as it was built by the renowned chassis builder Brett Williamson and was a winner of the Best Engineered Vehicle award in 2005. It will output 3500 bhp with the supercharger forcing induction at 50 psi. I might add that the fuel we use is environmentally-friendly Methanol." For his part, Chris said that he was enthusiastic about Leif's involvement and that he looks forward to learning a lot from Leif in his rookie season. Ålund on an island. 28th April: Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund, whose operation is currently in the USA, is to take time out from his NHRA schedule to fulfil an invitation to drive a car on the island of Curacao. "Crew Chief Petter Greborn and I flew to Curacao, off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean, on Monday", says Jimmy. "The island is located on the equator so the one thing that that would be guaranteed is racing in good weather. "We are attending the International Drag Festival 2010 which is a large annual event which this year runs from 28th April to 1st May. I've been invited to run a former Pro Stock car which I think came from the Alderman/Geoffrion team once upon a time. It now sports a Pat Musi/Hallberg-built 648 cubic inch motor running a nitrous oxide system, and the transmission is a five-speed Lenco with separate levers for each gear. The car has also been updated courtesy of the magic of chassis builder Jerry Haas. ©Eurodragster.com "The owner of the car is Frank Brandao and he also owns another five cars, most of them former Pro Stocks. This is going to be real good fun, so long as I remember to release the lever and pull another one when shifting gears. It's a bit different to Europe; as it is too hot to race during the day it will all be night racing. "Please visit www.curacaodrag.com for more details on the International Drag Festival 2010 and drag racing in the beautiful Caribbean Islands." Swift snippets. 28th April: Further to yesterday's Springspeed Nationals update, Shakespeare County Raceway have ask us to clarify that only empty trailers such as flatbeds will be required to be moved to the secure area, and that if you work out of your trailer then obviously you will not be required to remove it ("Obviously" being the operative word - Ed). If you have any queries then please call Shakespeare County Raceway on 01789 720180 or 01789 414119. 16:00 Many thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for sending us the final version of the official entry list for the Springspeed Nationals which takes place at SCR this coming weekend. You can check out the Springspeed Nationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 19:30 Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding the final version of the official entry list for the PTM Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 9th May. You can check out the PTM Show entry list by clicking here, and you can find out more about the PTM Show on the event's official web site at www.ptmshow.co.uk. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "What's new pussycat?". If you know more, if you could get the cat to E-Mail us, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding the timing data from the weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the Big Bang timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Alec Coe tells us that his seven-second blown-alcohol Shy Talker slingshot will be on display at the BHP Performance Show Lydden Race Circuit near Dover next Monday (3rd May) "To show the drift guys what a car should look like". Sounds good to us, Alec. You can find out more on the Show's web site at www.bhpperformanceshow.com and you can find the official MadRs Drag Racing web site at www.madrsdragracing.co.uk. Beth and Paul Satchell tell us that neither Bev Batsford nor Nigel Batsford will be contesting Supertwin ET at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. "Nige is having an operation today which will will put him out of action for a short while", they say. "We would like to wish Nige good luck for the operation, a speedy recovery, and a swift return to the race track". We second that, get well soon Nigel and we'll still all be there when you're ready to return. Claron Graphics, supporters of Shakespeare County Raceway, will again be running its popular sticker give-away at this weekend's Springspeed Nationals this weekend. Drivers can collect a voucher at the signing on office which will entitle them to a free sticker, collectable from Claron's stand in the trade area. "Numbers are limited so pop along and see us as soon as you can", says Simon of Claron. "As well as supplying a lot of the signage at Shakespeare County Raceway and supporting events there for the last three years we can help with anything from simple driver name graphics and race numbers to full team race car and transporter livery design, production and application. You can find our web site at www.claron-graphics.co.uk." Crazy Horses author Brian Taylor is seeking the whereabouts of John Siggery and Alan Blount. If you're out there guys, or if you know where these two gentlemen can be found, then please call Brian on 01395 579733 or E-Mail him at brian@petrolhead.vianw.co.uk. Springspeed Nationals Perfect Awards. 28th April: This weekend's Springspeed Nationals is the third event in the 2010 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by 9.50 Bike racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong at Big Bang. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of May; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. Although the Perfect Light Award goes to three places, we will not pay out for red lights with zeroes in the first three decimals since a foul is a foul however far in the first non-zero digit may be. So a reaction time of 0.0001 will win you the money (if you're first to do it), but a reaction time of -0.0001 will not. Decals are not formally required for the Perfect Light Award but of course we appreciate it: you can get Eurodragster.com decals at the track from any member of the Eurodragster.com staff. ©Eurodragster.com The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was win by 9.50 Bike racer Richard beck at Big Bang. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 9.50 Bike, Supertwin ET, the Wild Bunch, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, 8.50 Bike and Junior Drag Bike but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the FIA Main Event; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. The decals will be available from the Signing On office; please note that, as is usual with contingency schemes, racers are responsible for requesting or picking up decals when signing on. A list of required decals per class is always on display in the Signing On office. Live action in the Xtreme. 28th April: Prepare your senses as Xtreme Wheels proudly announce their spectacular live action arena schedule at the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June. Following three hugely successful years in the London, the Show is set to hit the West Country for the first time, with the Haynes Museum providing the perfect location for an awesome live show. For the first time in the events history, visitors will not only be able to view these 'Xtreme Machines' but also to witness them in action. The track action will take place on both Saturday and Sunday and will include: Morning: Bigfoot 17 on track warm-up Subaru Rally Experience demo laps and passenger rides ©Eurodragster.com Live Afternoon Show: Drifting Team demo Subaru Rally Experience demo laps and passenger rides Dragster burnouts to include Nostalgia Fuel Altereds, Dragsters, Nostalgia and modern Funny Cars NASC demo and hot laps Bigfoot 17 afternoon car crush Junior Dragster demo 'The Players' live demo ZIPKART demo Dragster Cacklefest Sunday afternoon only: Winners' presentation The afternoon live action kicks off at 1:00 pm on Saturday and 12.30 pm on Sunday. Darryl Bradford will be providing commentary throughout the event. You can be a part of the live action by entering a competition to win a Subaru Rally Experience passenger ride or drive! More details coming soon. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Springspeed Nationals update. 27th April: Thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for passing us Version 3 of the entry list for the Springspeed Nationals this coming weekend. The Springspeed Nationals comprises the second or third rounds of the UK National and ACU UK Championships depending upon class together with Championship rounds for the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, Volkswagen Drag Racing Club, Outlaw Flat Four, Wild Bunch, Outlaw Anglia, National Association of Supertwins and Junior Drag Bike, as well as an exhibition round for 8.50 Bike. You can check out the Springspeed Nationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the Springspeed Nationals. If you have any queries about the Springspeed Nationals entry list then please call Shakespeare County Raceway on 01789 720180 or 01789 414119. ©Eurodragster.com Entry to the pits will be from 12:00 midday on Friday. Anyone who wishes to arrive earlier is welcome to do so, but you must queue on the road leading to the Ticket Office and you will directed/taken to to your pit allocation by SCR staff. If racers do go into the pit area before 12:00 midday on Friday they will be moved to their correct pit area by the pit marshals, in other words don't set up because if you are in the wrong area you will be moved. Anyone who has not submitted a pit plan will be pitted where there is space and not necessarily in their class area. Also please be aware that there will be a maximum area allocated to each team, and although some teams would like huge amounts of room, SCR have to be fair to everyone. All empty trailers such as flatbeds etc will be put into a secure area behind the Clubhouse, to ensure maximum pit area available for race cars etc. SCR will be tough on this. If you have any queries then please call Shakespeare County Raceway on 01789 720180 or 01789 414119. A grand effort, or two. 27th April: Throughout 2009 season Luke and Lisa Bennett and UK blown-alcohol altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing tried their hardest to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. As you can see from this letter (right, click on image for PDF) they more than succeeded, having raised no less than £2000. ©Eurodragster.com "We have to say a very big thank you to each and every person who put their hand in their pocket and donated", says Luke Bennett. "Needless to say we simply could not have done this without you all. So thank you from us all, and thank you from me to Lisa who organised most of the fundraising and to Eurodragster.com for running news items about our efforts (Thank you, any time - Ed). "Hopefully people are aware what Macmillan do and the much-needed help that they give. Sadly pretty much everyone reading this probably knows someone who has had or is fighting cancer. That's a very scary statistic but progress is being made every day to find cures and better treatments for this disease. "Once again a huge Thank You from everyone at Bennett Racing." Alamo JD Challenge standings. 26th April: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-Big Bang standings in the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: For more information about the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, check out our news item Alamo backs Junior Dragster Challenge of 1st April. ©Eurodragster.com Don't forget that Alamo Rent A Car are offering 10% off car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for Mantorp Park, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. For more details, check out the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 22nd February, or to book your discounted hire car check out www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. A good start for 8.50 Bike. 26th April: Paul Watson of DynoSpeed Developments writes that it was a great start to 2010 for the 8.50 Bike class, which had its first exhibition outing of the year at Big Bang: Unfortunately Julian Harris had to pull out due to a small problem with his new motor, but we still had eleven riders and some close racing. This was my return after a two-year break with a new bike which I built for a customer last year. With this in mind I also decided to test the new MTC Gen 2 clutch for another of my customers so I might be able to help with his future set-up. My first run during the RWYB had too much base and it bogged on launch, a 9.7 wasn't the start I was hoping for. With some small changes we came back out and ran an 8.6 but the bike was fighting against keeping the front down, so with some more adjustments we came out for the first qualifier and ran an 8.8 but due to the wheelies an oil line came loose and unfortunately oiled the track, sorry guys. We then missed the next two qualifiers finding the problem and doing the clean-up. In the meantime we helped Andy Haley to run a new PB of 8.59 and take number one qualifier, great stuff. So Andy was first, Chris Reed aka Bois second with an 8.62, John McDonald third with an 8.70, Andy Fawcett fourth at 8.72, myself in fifth, and Sam Sykes sixth on his GSXR1000 turbo with an 8.91. The rest were in the nines. On Sunday we had to wait for the rain to stop then we had one more qualifier so it was all to play for. Things were really hotting up now. I had my first clean pass and with the wheelies becoming a little more manageable we ran 8.538 to hold number one for about three minutes when John McDonald took it away with an 8.534. Rob Lee ran a PB of 8.80 but was having problems with his new Hays clutch. Jamie Sneddon was having a small problem and decided to leave on Sunday morning and find the fault for the Main Event. Mark Winder was having some issues too but is sure to have them resolved by the next event at Shakespeare County Raceway. Mark Slade was having issues too but with his datalogger not working he was finding the problems difficult to pinpoint so ran a best of 9.3 but he has more to come as it proved very good on the dyno. Sam Sykes was having trouble with his new shock and was suffering with his sixty foot times, hopefully with a bit of help this will be sorted quite soon but well done on the 8.91. Sandra Chaplain was also having problems, the bike had been cutting out whilst on the two-step but this is one of those intermittent faults. Andy Haley was also having a couple of issues with clutch and tyre combinations and was trying to find a happy medium. Eliminations started with John McDonald on a bye run, Bois taking out Mark Slade with an 8.6, I was against Sandra Chaplain but again her fault stepped in and gave me the win with a soft 9.0, Andy Haley took out Sam Sykes with an 8.7 and Rob Lee went through with a 9.2. The next round saw the field slightly depleted with Rob having problems and Jamie gone home so that meant we both had bye runs. However there was a great race with John and Bois, John taking Bois out with a 8.6. The semis gave me a bye into the final but this was allowing me to do more testing with the new Gen 2 clutch. I wasn't making great progress but had a best sixty foot of 1.39. Unfortunately Andy stalled on the line as he launched, not yet sure why, and that gave the win to John so John and I were in the final. It was a great match with John the number one qualifier running a new Personal Best and taking a well-deserved win. I would like to say a big well done to a couple of DynoSpeed Developments bikes, Big Rich of Santa Pod's start line crew who ran in 9.50 Bike and went through with a 9.8 and Jim Beck who ran a perfect 9.500 for the second time. So all in all a great weekend with a few people running Personal Bests, and with a few more joining 8.50 Bike at Shakespeare County Raceway this is looking to be the class of the future. Swift snippets. 27th April: Thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding the post-Big Bang points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the UK and SPRC points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Lynda Stanley has been in touch to say a big Thank You to all the Sportman ET racers who made her feel so welcome at Big Bang, her first National Championship event. "To anybody thinking about having a go in Sportsman ET, come and chat with us", says Lynda. "It was awesome, you won't find a more friendly bunch. By the way Spencer, your sister paid me to make you look good! Congratulations to Ian Jackson on taking the win." UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables will have to sit out this weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway due to an excruciating back problem. "I will be there to support Jemma in 9.50 Bike but I can't ride my own bike as the GP said no!", Ven told Eurodragster.com. "I am getting an epidural on Thursday. I was very proud of Jemma at Big Bang, but for a slightly early shut off she would have taken out Shaun Spiers but that's racing and it proves that unlike me she is thinking!". Get well soon Steve. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) arrived with the simple explanation that it was a birthday present. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. ©Eurodragster.com Congratulations to Peter Walters of Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters Race Design who won a contest to design a 2010 scheme for US Pro Mod racer Mike Janis who is sponsored by Aeroquip (above right, click on picture for large version). A day late because we only found out late on, but a very Happy Birthday for yesterday (Monday) to UK 9.50 Bike racer and Big Bang winner Jake Mechaell. Hope you had a great day Jake. Postcard from The Edge. 27th April: The UK's Team Edge Pro ET and Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator team have been hit by early-season problems with both The Edge Cavalier and the Enigma pick-up, say team members Mel and Martin: The Edge has a problem with its gearbox, which has had to be removed and sent away for rebuild and test. It should be back early next week for refitting and possible testing at the Run What You Brung on 3rd May. Otherwise, the team are looking forward to an exciting and competitive time at the Main Event. The truck also has gearbox problems - possibly due to having 800 bhp thanks to Danny at Adrenaline Race and Performance. Team Edge have taken Danny's advice to turning down the boost and use a throttle stop which should save costly repairs later in the season. A possible class drop to Sportsman ET will further protect our investment. ©Eurodragster.com This week, 26th April to 2nd May, is MS Awareness Week. Melanie, one of our Pit Crew, is an MS sufferer herself and would like to personally thank Gordon and the team for the opportunity to further her passion in drag racing. It is the team's top priority to inform, educate, help, support and raise awareness for the thousands of people living on a daily basis with this debilitating disease. Please give generously where you can. Vehicles sought for SCR display. 27th April: Shakespeare County Raceway is looking for a number of locally-based cars and bikes to display at the airfield's Long Marston Model Air Show on 8th-9th May. The show is a two-day affair with a full flying schedule planned by some of the country's leading show pilots demonstrating all disciplines and aspects of large model flying and with a full complement of trade stands expected as well as radio-controlled speed challenge cars visitors can be assured of an interesting and entertaining weekend. The aim of the drag racing display is to help promote awareness of forthcoming events being held at the Raceway as well as presenting race teams and vehicles to the public. If you can help then please contact the Raceway office on 01789 720180 or E-Mail enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Big Bang results. 26th April: Congratulations to the winners of the weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway: Super Modified: Belinda Bull 7.5364/178.52 def. Andy Hone 7.5974/178.55 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Ian Hook 8.6036/169.16 def. Steve Pateman 9.0804/126.64 Sportsman ET: Ian Jackson (12.80) 12.9505/95.84 def. Nick Gay (13.80) 13.9112/94.68 Junior Dragster: Josh Saunders (8.01) 8.0473/74.91 def. Joe Kellett (8.53) 8.6045/72.72 VW Pro: Dave Bridge (12.72) 12.8006/100.79 def. James Hodson (10.90) 10.9018/125.91 VW Sportsman: Russ Weir (17.65) 17.8903/67.44 def. Matthew Bennett-Sime (18.25) 18.4836/69.05 Outlaw Anglia: Colin Millar 10.1445/125.25 def. Mark Bracking 10.3303/130.95 ©Eurodragster.com 9.50 Bike: Jake Mechaell 9.5983/135.64 def. Shaun Spiers 9.8676/141.24 8.50 Bike: John McDonald 8.8367/157.93 def. Paul Watson 8.8082/156.90 It was a clean sweep for 9.50 Bike in the Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme this weekend as Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong won the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and Richard Beck won the Eurodragster.com Gold RV Perfect ET Award. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for this weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored Big Bang coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting Big Bang. Getting prepared in Hungary. 26th April: A forward team from Trakbak Racing and Santa Pod Raceway are in Hungary preparing the Kunmadaras drag strip for this weekend's UEM European Drag Bike Championship round and FIA exhibition race: We started track preparation with Totya and Zsolti last Tuesday, with weather conditions in the low twenties making conditions perfect. ©Eurodragster.com Darren Prentice, David Warren and Steve Horn would like to thank the S Riders for their hospitality and help, and to Toyota Road Services Gyarmati Ut for the use of a Toyota Hiace which has turned into a formidable workhorse while preparing the track. Moore Pro Mod. 26th April: The UK's Roger and Dave Moore will be returning to the track with their Dodge Viper Pro Mod at next month's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Roger says that the brothers are not expecting to set the world alight, but that a new sponsor has signed up for 2010: Last season we suffered a lot of engine damage at Easter when we made it to the final against Henri Joosten. We hurt the crank, block, pistons etc but we managed to to get back for the European Finals and we got the car back into the sixes. We won't mention knocking out Andy Robinson in the first round depriving him of the European Championship, nor the sideways burnouts - I must stop doing those. We suffered more damage from the flywheel coming loose which we didn't find until the UK National Finals, but that's Pro Mod. I was disappointed to not be able to run at Easter due to various reasons, but Dave and I are looking forward to racing at the four remaining events in the MSA British Championship. I am very pleased to welcome our new sponsors Generator Power Systems Ltd, who specialise in industrial and commercial standby and prime power systems. Amongst their services are generators, Uninterruptible Power Supplies, switchgear, service and maintenance of standby and prime power systems, full design, specification and procurement of equipment, electrical installation, mechanical installation and commissioning. ©Eurodragster.com Dave Campbell from Generator Power Systems attended the European Finals last year as my guest and was very impressed with whole event - he couldn't have picked a better race - and with how things have moved on at Santa Pod since he last visited many years ago. Generator Power Systems Lts join our longtime sponsors Shakespeare Engineering and www.challengersolutions.com. We won't be setting any European records this year, but we have the unofficial British nitrous Pro Mod record of 6.5 seconds in our sights. But the one sure thing is that we are going to have plenty of fun! Web site updates. 26th April: Our good buddy Jon Spoard has updated his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with pictures from last weekend's Public Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Jon's shots via the Pictures link at www.ukdrn.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog made a rare trip trackside with his camera during Saturday morning's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway and you can see the results at eurodragster.fotopic.net or www.togsdragracing.com. Enter the General. 25th April: One of the eyebrow-raising names on the entry list for next week's UEM Championship round at Kunmadaras in Hungary is that of Filippos Papafilippou of Eurodragster.com sponsor Greekdragster.info. Fil has long been well-known to European fans for his spectacular collection of race cars but on next week's entry list his name is to be found under Funny Bike. Fil said that the switch to two wheels - or, as it turns out, back to two wheels - is down to traction considerations. "Last August I travelled to Hockenheim and then Kunmadaras with the Greek bike teams to race my Pro Mod/Pro Outlaw Tim McAmis '53 Corvette", Fil told Eurodragster.com. "At Hockenheim traction and general conditions were perfect but Kunmadaras was too slippery for a Pro car, so I tried a burnouts and exhibition runs. Most of the bikes managed to find some traction and especially on Sunday, the Top Fuel and Supertwins ran into the sixes and the Pro Stock Bikes in the 7.2s. For the cars traction was similar to our strip at Polikastro in Northern Greece but there we can also suffer punctures, damage, failure or even accidents due to the absence of serious preparation. Somehow bikes always to find the way to grip, even in our car wash conditions. It's simple physics - a lighter bike will always adjust easier than a car to slippery conditions. "So I decided to store my '53 Pro Mod 'Vette, my Pro Outlaw '67 Camaro in the States, my BMW M3 twin turbo (ex-Vidar Strand 1414 hp beast), my ex-Kenny Coleman Top Dragster and a few other toys and I entered a few events with a Pro Street Suzuki Hayabusa Turbo and then with a Trac Dynamics Suzuki Pro Stock Bike. I enjoyed racing a bike after a whole decade, since I used to race bikes in circuit racing. ©Eurodragster.com "During the last three of four years I have dealt with the best bike people in the States on various projects such as bringing Geno Scali's 6.9-second Vance and Hines Pro Stock Bike to Greece dealing directly with Ed Krawiec, bringing in some of the best Pro Stock Vortex II engines from Rick Ward and some of the best Pro Stock Bikes directly from the NHRA Championship, bringing in Mimmo Marciano's 6.6-second Pro Mod Bike, the list goes on. I got excited with all this bike stuff so at the end of 2009 I decided to buy myself a nice Pro Mod Bike, the Koenig General Pro Mod Bike. "I will race in Funny Bike in Kunmadaras to have fun and gain some experience. I will always be a car guy, but until the traction improves in my country I can make a few runs with my bike from time to time. I have some other bike toys in my garage for different occasions such as a Pro Stock Bike and a narrow-tyre Top Gas Bike. "I have a clone of my Pro Mod Bike for sale if anybody is interested. It is a top-notch Pro Mod Bike, which has run a 4.3-second eighth mile and a 6.7-second quarter mile. If anybody is interested then please contact me at fastfil@gmail.com." The legendary Xtreme Wheels Show. 25th April: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are pleased to announce the attendance of one of the most talked-about nostalgia cars in the UK, the 1961 Allard Chrysler Dragster. The car will take pride of place in the show's nostalgia collection and it is hoped that this will be the first appearance of the dragster complete with its new 354 Hemi engine. "We'd like to thank the Allard Chrysler Action Group for their support in making this happen, as well as the Beaulieu Motor Museum for their support" says organiser Dan Welberry. "As well as the Allard Chrysler, we're delighted to also have the Allard Dragon dragster as part of the collection. This will be the first time that both cars have been together since the 1960s, something we're sure you'll agree should not be missed!" The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show will also be playing host to one of the hugely successful Legends Signings. In association with Haynes Publishing the book Crazy Horses - The history of British Drag Racing will be on sale and you can get your copy signed by the drag racing legends who will be confirmed nearer the event. If you already have a copy of this fantastic book, why not bring your copy along or anything you want signed by the guys who helped build the sport of drag racing in the UK. "We'd like to thank Brian Taylor and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame for organising the legends for us", says Dan. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com SFI Foundation Impact updates. 24th April: We have been asked to post the latest two press releases from the SFI Foundation outlining the latest developments on Impact safety kit. As previously posted here on Eurodragster.com, Impact kit dated 2009 and 2010 is still valid for use but the below press releases explain the status of kit manufactured in previous years. SFI Foundation press release 21st April 2010: 1. Impact Racing has withdrawn its appeal of the decertifications of its products bearing SFI 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 specifications manufactured in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The decertifications of these products are now permanent. 2. The decertifications are based upon a number of the affected products being noncompliant with SFI specifications concerning labeling and construction. In addition to the presence of non-compliant SFI tags and the absence of Dates of Manufacture on products, 3.2A/5 suits made prior to 2009 have been constructed with non-compliant materials that, in SFI's judgment, pose a safety risk to users of these suits. 3. Impact Racing is permitted to maintain the certification for products bearing SFI 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 specifications manufactured in 2009 and 2010. SFI's investigation of the labelling and construction of these products is ongoing. Impact's participation in the SFI specification programs ends June 22, 2010. 4. Any Impact product with SFI specifications 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 without a date of manufacture (DOM) is deemed to be a decertified product unless the manufacturer has provided the product user with proof that it was manufactured in 2009 or 2010. This proof must be presented to track officials upon request. Impact believes that its products made in 2009 and 2010 have the DOMs affixed to products to the extent mandated by SFI specifications. Impact Racing released a statement in response to the above press release, and you can read that response at www.impactraceproducts.com. SFI Foundation press release 22nd April 2010: Yesterday, SFI advised the racing community that Impact suits bearing 3.2A/5 certifications "made prior to 2009 have been constructed with non-compliant materials that, in SFI's judgment, pose a safety risk to users of those suits". Impact responded by attacking SFI certification programs (although Impact and the other major equipment manufacturers have agreed to and participated in the development of these well-established programs); by claiming it could not get a fair hearing of the decertification appeal (although Impact asked for and received an expedited appeal procedure); and by claiming that "SFI's actions have caused racers unnecessarily to question their safety". It is this last point that requires a very specific response. Scientific testing just conducted on 2008 Impact 3.2A/5 suits has determined that the thread melts away in a fire. This causes the fabric to come apart since there is no longer thread to hold the suit together. SFI believes this poses a significant safety risk to the racer involved in a fire. Rather than being constructed with Nomex (heat resistant) thread, the suits were constructed with some sort of unknown non-compliant thread that melts during heat testing. This thread failure is contrary to the SFI specifications that Impact agreed to follow. The reason that this failure was not discovered sooner is that Impact provided SFI with Nomex thread samples in order to get their products tested and certified initially. Manufacturers are only supposed to provide samples of the actual materials to be used in their products. It appears that Impact failed to comply with this procedure regarding thread. Finally, one suit tested failed to have the proper thermal protective properties in the material itself. Again, such a failure poses a significant safety risk. This safety failure by Impact is consistent with a pattern of non-compliance: 1. Last year, SFI discovered that Impact SFI 3.2A/15 and SFI 3.2A/20 rated fire suits produced in 2007 and 2008 were also made with thread that melted during testing. In addition, these suits were often poorly constructed, without sufficient protective layers of Nomex material. SFI ordered the immediate decertification and recall of these potentially dangerous products. 2. Last year, SFI discovered that Impact SFI 3.3/15 and SFI 3.3/20 boots produced in 2008 were defective. Their materials failed heat resistant testing. SFI ordered the immediate decertification and recall of these potentially dangerous products. 3. Hans Performance Products discovered last year that Impact deliberately manufactured and sold counterfeit Hans helmet clips and attached them into the helmets of unsuspecting customers. These foreign made knock-offs were inscribed with the "SFI 38.1" inscription. Impact has never participated in this program. These counterfeiting activities were occurring at the same time that Impact was manufacturing counterfeit SFI conformance labels and patches. Hans filed suit against Impact in Federal court last year in Atlanta. SFI intervened and joined in the suit against Impact. That suit is pending. 4. In 2004, SFI discovered that Impact gloves bearing SFI 3.3/20 specifications were made of material that was too light and failed heat resistance testing. SFI ordered their decertification and recall. Impact's press release claims that "there have been no burns or other injuries reported to Impact by any racer wearing Impact Race Products since its inception". If this is true, the avoidance of injuries is due in large part to the policing of Impact products by SFI. SFI was heartened when Impact finally admitted its own fault for previously making non-compliant gloves, boots, suits and helmet clips and acted to address those problems. SFI holds out the hope of a similar outcome regarding its pre-2009 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1 and 16.5 products, and that it will act in the best interests of the racing community without further prodding by SFI. However, admission of their fault will not change the fact that these products remain decertified and that Impact's participation in all SFI programs will end June 22, 2010. ©Eurodragster.com If you have any queries then please do not yell at the Eurodragster.com staff - we got seriously p'd off with the messenger being shot when this situation first arose - but instead please contact either your safety equipment supplier, contact the SFI Foundation via their web site at www.sfifoundation.com, or contact Impact Racing Products at www.impactraceproducts.com. Team VEIDEC head for Hungary. 24th April: The start of the 2010 European Pro Stock Bike Championship season is getting nearer, and for the Team VEIDEC Pro Stock Bike team it has meant a lot of work in recent The early strat to the season in Hungary next weekend has not made the task easier. Team VEIDEC feel confident, although time is as always a problem. The team has been building and tuning engines during the winter but as yet none of the Suzuki bikes has moved a yard. "Because of the early start of the season we have not had time to test the bikes", explains Team Manager Roger Lyrén. "Usually we spend a week in Norway testing before the first round. This year we only get one day of testing and that is in Hungary before the race next week." But still the team feel confident. All four drivers in the team are skilful and a good mix of youth and experience. The hopes are especially high for 51 year old veteran racer Anders Abrahamsson who won the Championship in 2006. But this year the Pro Stock series has a lot of fast and competitive riders and there are six or seven racers who can win the Championship. ©Eurodragster.com "You can never take anything for granted in drag racing", says Roger. "We will go step by step, start by qualifying and look forward from there. But on a good day all of our riders have a good chance of achieving good results." Team VEIDEC are now making last minute checks before leaving for Hungary where the first Championship round takes place at Kunmadaras on 30th April-2nd May. The UEM European Drag Bike Championship consists of six events this year including the VEIDEC Festival at Mantorp Park in Sweden at the end of July. Swift snippets. 24th April: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Division 4 event in Dallas as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the event. At the same event, Top Alcohol FC racer Chris Foster is being tuned by Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna. You will will be able to stay in touch with Mike's and Chris' progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com Many thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for sending Version 2 of the official entry list for the Springspeed Nationals which takes place at SCR on 1st-3rd May. You can check out the Springspeed Nationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry is still open; the form can be downloaded from the SCR web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. SCR have asked us to thank those who returned pit plans. Best efforts will be made to accommodate everyone; the pit plan will be posted here shortly. Still on the subject of Shakespeare County Raceway, the SCR crew have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for today (Saturday) to Janet Brown. Our pleasure guys, have a lovely day Janet. A big Happy Birthday also to honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Colin Roaf, hope you have a great day Colin. Neil, Richard, and Katie Bell and family wish to thank everyone in the drag racing community for their love and support during this difficult time. "You know who you are", they say. "One life - live it!" Web site updates. 24th April: Our good friend Alan Currans is pleased to announce that Peter Quinn is the latest high-profile photographer from back in the day to join his Acceleration Archive. "Peter's drag racing photography started in the late 1960s and his first page features thirty nine images taken during that period and includes many interesting and seldom-seen machines", says Alan. "There is also a colourful and informative introduction page to kick off his collection". You can check out Peter's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com UEM Funny Bike Cup update. 23rd April: We are repeating this story from yesterday as we received an important update late in the day (fourth paragraph below). Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with news regarding the UEM Funny Bike Cup to be held alongside the UEM European Championships at a number of events this season including the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: Any UK ACU National Licence holders who wish to compete in the Funny Bike Cup Series need to have a medical and eyesight report, and to purchase from the ACU a UEM Promo Sport Licence. I believe the licence is £30 per event. ©Eurodragster.com If they are intending to race in the Series abroad then they also need start permission and insurance via the ACU. Update: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing says that due to the decision to run the Cup being made so late in the day, it has been decided that although UEM registration is still necessary, the requirement to register thirty days in advance of an event is to be waived for the first two rounds at Kunmadaras on 30th April-2nd May and at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-31st May; in both cases riders may register and pay at the track on the day. You can download the UEM Funny Bike Cup registration form (PDF format) by clicking here. The entry forms for the Funny Bike Cup at the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals are now available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu; the UEM registration form will follow shortly. Outlaws love the Shack. 23rd April: The UK's Supercharged Outlaws are pleased to announce that MotorShack High Performance Superstore have signed up as contingency sponsor. "For the 2010 season the team which finishes number one in the Supercharged Outlaw series will receive a £150 MotorShack voucher", says Dave McKenzie. "To qualify you must display a MotorShack decal on your vehicle. MotorShack join our other sponsors Good Vibrations, Fester Race Cars, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, B&G Multiservices, Academy Glass, Mad Rs Racing and LA Commercials. We would like to thank all of these companies for their support. "Our season starts with the All American Show at Santa Pod Raceway on the weekend 1st-2nd May. Traditionally we have a small turnout at our first event but this year sees an upward trend with nine teams booked in for this event. These include Lee Gallimore with the rebuilt engine in the Red Mist altered, and Steve Goode with the brand new Funny Car (if the damage can be repaired in time after the Test and Tune weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway). Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge will be there with the 1933 Plymouth-bodied altered. The team are hoping that their luck will change this year and that they will be able to put in a full season! ©Eurodragster.com "Alec Coe and the Shy Talker slingshot hope to improve further on their end of season performances last year when Alec and Tom drove the car into the mid-sevens. Ian Hanson and his beautiful Corvette are looking for some good performance figures this season, and if last weekend's test session at SCR is anything to go by Ian will be looking at low sevens - he ran 7.6/174 with the throttle stop on! Paul Watts will be out with a lot of updates with the Chevy truck which has been in Andy Robinson's for a new rear axle, and I believe that Paul is fitting a whopping 540 ci Chevy motor. Vic Hammond will be driving the superb Speed Demon slingshot, and Brian Gandy is back out after two seasons with the Skullduggery altered. Last but not least Trace Froome with the Ultra Racing Dodge Avenger Funny Car will be looking to carry on making steady improvements. "Round 2 of the Outlaws follows at the Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway on 29th-31st May." SPR put the rush into Rushden. 23rd April: If you're a motorsport fan, or just want to see something a little out of the ordinary, then make sure that you make your way to Rushden Town Centre at 2:00 pm on 22nd May for the Rushden Powerfest. This unique celebration of outrageous machinery parades through the Town Centre in order to promote the FIA Main Event which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway between 28th-31st May. It's a high-octane mix of powerful cars, motorbikes and dragsters pounding the tarmac in an unadulterated celebration of all things fast and loud. David Lloyd Jones, Santa Pod's General Manager commented "This is our little way of saying thanks to the local community and giving everybody the chance to see the simply incredible machines that race at Santa Pod Raceway. Last year's Parade of Power event in Wellingborough was a great success as a real family event, so we thought it would be fun to hold something similar in Rushden. This year, being the event's first, we're hoping for good weather and to draw a good crowd so that we can do it again in future. It's one not to miss!" The event will feature dragsters, motorbikes and other machines parading through Rushden Town Centre. The route will be around the one way system in town from Duck Street, to Rectory Road, down Skinners Hill and back around again, avoiding all speed bumps. Any car enthusiasts with an unusual or interesting car are invited to send their details and pictures to james@santapod.com in order to take part. Martin Hill's Fireforce 3 Jet Car will be making a special guest appearance in the static display along with Santa Pod Raceway's own Top Fuel Dragster and merchandising trailer. Before and after the display, you will be able to find a selection of these monstrous machines on display in the High Street as a section will be closed off for the duration of the day. Drivers will start their engines at 2:00 pm, so make sure you get into town early to get a spot right near the front. Some of these cars have literally thousands of horsepower, so you do not want to miss the action! Autoglym take a Shine to Xtreme Wheels. 23rd April: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show are delighted to announce that there will now be a Show N Shine on both the Saturday and Sunday of the event, which is to be held over the weekend 12th-13th June at the Haynes International Motor Museum, and that they are delighted to welcome Autoglym as official sponsors of the Show N Shine. Autoglym's professional motorist's vehicle care ranges are highly respected around the world and proudly hold many important endorsements for exceptional performance and dependable quality. For further details and to see demonstrations of the products in use please visit www.autoglym.com. "The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is a two day event", said Bob Glassup on behalf of Xtreme Wheels. "There is an increasing number of vehicles looking to come whose owners are struggling to commit to a two day show. The beauty of the venue is that we can accommodate single day entries, in a designated area of the show field and it just seemed like a natural step to introduce a Show N Shine. We're delighted to welcome Autoglym on board. They will be providing us with a number of sample car care products as give-aways at the event, as well as providing our Show N Shine prizes." commented Bob Glassup on behalf of Xtreme Wheels. The Autoglym Show N Shine will be £5 to enter and each adult or child in the vehicle will be expected to pay the normal admission fee (see www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk for full admission prices). Don't forget that the admission fee not only gets you in to the show but also the fantastic Haynes International Motor Museum! There will be a number of Autoglym goodies up for grabs for the best vehicles, a full list of which will be published on the show web site as details are confirmed. All Autoglym Show N Shine entrants must be on site by 12:00 pm to be considered by the judges. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 23rd April: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Division 4 event in Dallas as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the event. You will will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com Jörgen Kalmerfjord of Eurodragster.com sponsor TPM Trailer writes to thank Norway's Trond Horst for choosing one of TPM's F1 26-foot trailers to transport his Mustang Pro Mod. TPM are also now offering the 21-foot F2 Clubman trailer for motorcycles (right), with room for three bikes plus accommodation. The trailer can of course be supplied with graphics. To find out about the extensive range of trailers and services which TPM Trailer can offer, check out their web site at www.tpmtrailer.eu. A reminder that Dave Prior's funeral is to be held at 1:45 pm next Friday, 30th April, at Bedford Norse Road Crematorium, 104 Norse Road, Bedford MK41 0RL (map). Family flowers only but donations if desired to Friends of the Canal Museum c/o A L & G Abbott, 150 Bedford Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire MK42 8BH. You can still contribute to Dave's tribute page by E-Mailing us at tributes@eurodragster.com. Luke Bennett tells us that his web company Escape Design has a new office number, 01268 534029 or mobile 07843 619724. You can check out Escape Design's services at www.escapedesign.net and don't forget that the company is offering a free web site in a contest - more details on our 12th April news update. Could UK Jet Dragster pilot Julian Webb please get in touch with us at editor@eurodragster.com so that he can discover something to his advantage. Thank you! Attention thrill-seekers! 23rd April: Rhonda Cohen has been in touch to bring us up to date on her PhD on Sports Psychology and to enlist more help from racers: PhDs take a really long time to write especially when they are part time! They are continuously scrutinised and the focus they take often changes. So I plan to finish next year. In addition, I have taken on a new post as Head of the London Sport Institute at Middlesex University and we are busy getting ready for the Olympics. As you can see on my web site at www.sportpsych.co.uk I am also enjoying a lot more exposure in the media. My highlight of this year was being interviewed for an hour by Michael Johnson though I also gave a talk with Harry Redknapp. ©Eurodragster.com I am currently undertaking a survey into thrill-seeking and would like to invite racers to participate. It should only take five to ten minutes. I plan to link this study into my next and final study which will be on reaction times and I will let you know more about that later. If you would like to help Rhonda's survey into thrill-seeking then you can take part at www.sportpsych.co.uk/drag-racers-survey. Big Bang coverage. 23rd April: Eurodragster.com will be at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend to bring you all the news from Big Bang in association with American Car Imports. Our coverage will consist of frequently-updated reports on the on-track action each day, commencing at the start of qualifying at 4:30 pm on Saturday, together with a photo gallery at the end of each day; there will be no pit notes this weekend as Simon is unable to attend. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line from approximately 7:30 am on Saturday and will be scheduled to post a picture every sixty seconds until the track closes on Sunday. ©Eurodragster.com We will publish a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences, but in the meantime you can check out the Big Bang event index, which includes the official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting Big Bang. Nitro FM will be broadcasting from Friday morning starting with the Alternative Energy Racing Day. Nitro FM broadcasts between 7:00 am and 22:00 pm each day and you can tune in by going to www.audiorealm.com and searching for Nitro. First Division 4, then Europe. 23rd April: Defending NHRA Division 3 Top Alcohol Funny Car Champion Chris Foster will make his divisional debut at this weekend's Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener at the Texas Motorplex just south of Dallas. The Goodridge Hoses & Fittings/DragRaceHose.com backed team will claim Division 4 this year due to Crew Chief Will Hanna's racing schedule in Europe. Foster, from Davenport, Ia., regrets not being able to defend his Division 3 crown, but is looking forward to the challenge of racing in Division 4. "We're kind of bummed out we can't go back and defend our Division 3 title", said Foster. "Jay Hullinger and his crew up there are a great bunch of people to race for. This year will be a new challenge for sure. All of the Divisions are tough out there. We'll be racing against different teams, but the bottom line is you have to bring your A game if you're going to succeed on this level. This is our last race on the Goodridge deal, so we hope to close it out with a strong showing this weekend. "Our Crew Chief Will Hanna is booked in to run all of the European races with Fred Hanssen's Top Methanol Dragster team", explained Foster. "They offered me a deal to come over there and work with his team for a few races, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to go race in Europe. The way the schedules line up, if we raced Division 3 again, I wouldn't be able to go to Europe, and we would lose Will for three or four races, so we decided to come down here and race Division 4." The team ran career best numbers at the Houston National event two weeks ago en route to a quarter final showing, but Hanna is not satisfied with the numbers and hopes to improve this weekend. "We ran our career best numbers in Houston, but as good as the conditions were, it was almost like they were handing out career-bests at the gate", stated Hanna. "We just had a few things throw us a curveball in qualifying, and once we figured out what was going on, we got things going back in the right direction, running our best run in the worst conditions of the weekend. Classic day late, dollar short kind of deal. We've all looked real hard at the data and I've got a pretty good idea what we left on the table and where to get it. You never know sometimes, these cars can humble you. We'll dig in and try to get it in Dallas." Team sponsor DragRaceHose.com will host a Racer Appreciation party Friday night at the track, featuring Texas Country performer Brett Crenshaw. Texas-style BBQ and all the fixings will be available to all Goodridge Hose & Fittings customers. "This is just a small way of saying thanks to our Goodridge Hose & Fittings customers", said Hanna. "Not to mention here in Texas we're always looking for an excuse to BBQ and have a good time. We're really looking forward to eating some good food and listening to some good music with our customers." Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with one session, followed by two more sessions on Saturday. Final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 23rd April: Our good friend Jon Spoard has added another 1970 to the archive of UK entry lists and event results on his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site at www.ukdrn.co.uk. "1970 was the year in which the NDRC was formed and ran events at Santa Pod and Blackbushe", says Jon. "More programmes and results are needed to complete the 1970s so if anyone can help then please contact me via the web site." Another good buddy, Alan Currans, has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with his own pictures from the weekend's Public Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Dick Parnham has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. You can find Dick's pictures at dickparnham.fotopic.net. UEM Funny Bike Cup update. 22nd April: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with news regarding the UEM Funny Bike Cup to be held alongside the UEM European Championships at a number of events this season including the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: Any UK ACU National Licence holders who wish to compete in the Funny Bike Cup Series need to have a medical and eyesight report, and to purchase from the ACU a UEM Promo Sport Licence. I believe the licence is £30 per event. ©Eurodragster.com If they are intending to race in the Series abroad then they also need start permission and insurance via the ACU. 18:00 Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing says that due to the decision to run the Cup being made so late in the day, it has been decided that although UEM registration is still necessary, the requirement to register thirty days in advance of an event is to be waived for the first two rounds at Kunmadaras on 30th April-2nd May and at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-31st May; in both cases riders may register and pay at the track on the day. You can download the UEM Funny Bike Cup registration form (PDF format) by clicking here. The entry forms for the Funny Bike Cup at the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals are now available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu; the UEM registration form will follow shortly. FIA Main Event fuel orders. 22nd April: Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor and VP Racing Fuels UK distributor LA Racing Parts says that Santa Pod Raceway and LA Racing Parts are now taking orders for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. "Stock has been increased to cover one of the most popular events on the European calendar", says Lee. "But to ensure that you have your race fuel at the event and to avoid disappointment please submit your order by the 28th April. Advance orders are being taken for C10, C12, C14, C16, Q16, C23, VP Import, SV-05 and VP Racing Methanol. Fuel can be collected from the Pod shop or delivered to your pit bay. ©Eurodragster.com To keep up with demand we have stock in the UK and at Santa Pod Raceway, fuel is already travelling from USA, and extra fuel is being dispatched from the USA as I speak. You can place your order at www.santapod.com, contact Lee at LA Racing Parts on 01803 554308 (+44 1803 554308), or E-Mail lee@laracingparts.com. Lee adds that he is also taking tyre orders for delivery to the FIA Main Event including Top Fuel Dragster, Fuel Funny Car, Pro Modified, Top Methanol Dragster and Funny Car, Pro Stock, Sportsman classes and all motorcycle drag racing tyres. Again either contact Lee at LA Racing Parts on 01803 554308 (+44 1803 554308), or E-Mail lee@laracingparts.com. Cross-Channel ferry deal for racers. 22nd April: Long standing sponsors of Santa Pod Raceway Norfolkline Ferries would like to remind all racers contesting the 2010 European Drag Racing Championships that heavily discounted rates are available for the Dover-Dunkirk cross-Channel ferry route. The special deal costs just £10 per metre with a minimum of a six metre booking. A booking form (Word format) can be downloaded from Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.co.uk/Norfolkline_Promotion.doc and should be emailed directly to Joanna Hardman at the Dover port office, whose address is on the booking form. ©Eurodragster.com "We are very grateful for Norfolkline Ferries' continued support with these heavily subsidised fares", said Santa Pod Raceway. "It will certainly help with travelling expenses and can only help in the quest for more racers to campaign more European rounds." Editor's note: Your News Editor has been up against it in the last twenty four hours with a family bereavement and pressure of work in his day job. We have a number of news items queued up which we shall post on tomorrow's update, and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Additional Main Event test offered. 21st April: Top Alcohol tuner and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna tells us that with the assistance of Dan and Joan Larsen he is organising an additional pre-FIA Main Event Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com The Test Day will take place on Wednesday 26th May and is open to fifteen teams first-come first-served. Teams entering this Test Day must also enter or be entered for the Pro Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Thursday 27th May. For more information please E-Mail Will at will.hanna@insidetopalcohol.com. A return and a début. 21st April: This weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway will be the first outing for some time for UK Outlaw Anglia racer Matthew Cooper. It will also be the début for Matthew's new sponsor: ©Eurodragster.com I would like to welcome and thank Mills CNC. Established thirty seven years ago Mills, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, does things differently. These differences are exemplified by the world-class Doosan products; the innovative, added-value solutions they deliver, the technically-consultative and non-aggressive business approach they adopt, and the accessibility and progressive nature of the support services they provide. All of these result in high customer retention and loyalty, and help generate significant new business growth year-on-year. If you are in the market for a new machine tool then Mills are the team to talk to. I'd also like to say thanks to my brother Adam for his help getting the car ready over the last two years and to my dad Rob Cooper for his help and advice. A weekend which almost wasn't... 21st April: Sharron Collier says that the UK's Junior Drag Bike racers had a great start to the season at Shakespeare County Raceway, but that it could have been a lot different: The weekend may not have happened at all if it were not for the determination and hard work of the Shakespeare County Raceway crew. With five key members of the team stranded in Dallas by the Icelandic volcano, it could have been curtains for the opening round but the team rallied round and worked over and above the call of duty to make sure that the weekend not only went ahead, but that it was a brilliant success. Along with wall to wall sunshine, this turned out to be a corker of a meeting with a brand new sponsor in the form of CC Medical Services and an eight bike field for the first time ever in JDB, with four new riders and four established riders. We had three rounds of qualifying after which the positions were as follow: Brett Cordelle dialled 9.40 ran 9.400 Jordon Bissell dialled 10.00 ran 10.06 Alfie Udall dialled 13.10 ran 13.18 Louis Davies dialled 17.75 ran 17.85 Scott Collier dialled 9.70 ran 9.83 Giselle Moor dialled 11.30 ran 11.74 Jack Wildeman dialled 13.20 ran 14.29 Jasmine Cordelle dialled 16.50 ran 17.68 After racing finished on Saturday evening we took all the riders and their bikes down to the start line where Ian and Dorothy of CC Medical Services presented us with a cheque for £1000, their sponsorship for the 2010 season.This means that we can present prize money to winner and runner up of each round, among many other things. Sunday was just as sunny and warm as Saturday and we began eliminations. The first round was Brett against Jasmine, brother against sister, with Brett taking the win; Louis was up against Scott, with Scott getting the win; Jordon was racing Jack, with Jordon taking the win; and Alfie was against Giselle, with Alfie getting though to the semis. In the semi-finals we had Scott and Brett with Scott getting to the line first, and Jordan against Alfie with Jordon beating Alfie to the win. The final was old stalwarts Jordon against Scott, long time buddies and competitors, with Jordon taking the win. After the racing Ian and Dorothy of CC Medical Services presented Jordon and Scott with their trophies, and gorgeous trophies they are too. Not only that, but each child was presented with a medal for being a competitor, which was great especially for our new riders who got to take home some bling to show their mates at school! We also gave £30 and £20 to the winner and runner up respectively. We are so proud of all our riders old and new alike. The old hands were so great at showing the newbies what to do and making them feel welcome, they all got along really well and were good buddies. Our new riders amazed us at times, they picked up the ropes so quickly and soon felt comfortable in a race situation with no dramas, breakdowns or tantrums, and the same for us parents! Everyone did a fantastic job, the new bikes were beautifully turned out (as were the old of course) and all the kids behaved brilliantly throughout the weekend. Truly a credit to their parents and, in Louis' case, grandparents - Louis' bike was built by Grandad Pete, a well known name in drag race circles and we are very proud to have them aboard. During the afternoon we were given a cash donation by Roy Wilding, who told us that he was very impressed with the class and the riders. Thankyou so much for that Roy, totally out of the blue and much appreciated. What a great man. Thank you to all the staff at Shakey, they cannot be beaten for their enthusiasm and care for the children and they give our kids so much confidence because of their kindness and approachability. When the kids are happy we are all happy. Thanks to each and every one of you for that. Its going to be a great and record breaking year, keep watching! Easter? What Easter? 21st April: The Auto Trader Easter Thunderball just didn't happen for UK Pro ET racer Paul Baynton and the Capricious team: On Friday we were one of the few cars which got down the track, running 10.79 on a 10.50 dial-in which was a new best for the car as it had previously run 10.91. The replacement engine for the trusty old 327 showed promise. Unfortunately just before the warm-up on Saturday morning I noticed that the bottom of the dipstick was missing. After removing the engine diaper a discussion followed and the decision was that it was probably sitting at the bottom of the sump. I decided to put in a qualifier as the first run was scrubbed. Unfortunately, or fortunately whichever way you look at it, whilst waiting in the queue in the pairing lanes an oil leak was spotted coming from the front of the engine. So I returned to the pits and started to pull the pan. At this point we noticed that the oil pick-up which was extremely loose had moved and been hit by the stroker crank fortunately with no loss of oil pressure. The pick-up was so loose that I removed it from the pump by hand. The oil was then strained but a two-inch piece of dipstick was still missing. It was eventually found sitting next to one of the lifters, once we'd taken the intake off. ©Eurodragster.com The pump was removed and taken to Andy Robinson who very kindly tacked the pick-up in position for me. Thanks Andy. Steve Hudson and I then put everything back together. Unfortunately when we fired it up, the oil leak was still there. At this point I made a decision that the car was trying to tell me something. The following weekend Steve very kindly offered to pull the motor with me and take it to Dave Milam, who had offered to check it over Some new parts were ordered and taken to Dave. The timing cover needed to be replaced as the cam had tried to escape, a new stroker sump was fitted, along with a pump and pick-up. The engine was ready within the week, is now back in the Capri, and has been successfully fired up. Thanks to everyone who helped, especially Dave Milam for his usual excellent service and Steve Hudson for helping pull and refit the motor and also for his help at the track, including the use of his awning. Steve, you really should think about widening it so you can get your car out of the rain as well! Swift snippets. 21st April: Thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding the post-Easter Thunderball points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the UK and SPRC points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We have two spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) came with the words "Proper chopper"... ...whilst the second (above right) came with no words at all but originated from the same E-Mail address as Monday's spy picture. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Many thanks to Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing for passing on an updated official entry list for the first round of the 2010 UEM Drag Bike Championships, which takes place at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 30th April-1st May and which also features a round of the Funny Bike Cup and Super Street Bike Invitational. You can check out the official entry list for the three UEM classes, Funny Bike and Super Street Bike by clicking here. ©Eurodragster.com With his latest shipment of spares stuck on the wrong side of the Pond by the ash cloud, UK Pro Modified racer Ray White is looking to borrow Lenco CS1 reverser fine spline, or he needs a fine spline reverse sun gear no. 29 on Lenco's schematic and a forward drive gear no. 35 on the schematic. "I can buy, borrow or replace when my parts arrive", says Ray. If you can help then please E-Mail Ray at specialistlx@ukonline.co.uk. UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Bill Macdermid of Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive has had to withdraw from this weekend's Big Bang. "Due to the ash cloud we have a staff shortage", says Bill. "The shop manager is stuck out in Spain, so Vinnie and I are back to the grindstone and have to work all weekend with no chance of parole! Thanks to all our new on-line customers and we'll see you all at the Springspeed Nationals. FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter is the subject of a Q&A in the May edition of Max Power magazine. Although short the Q&A packs in a fair bit of information about a day at the track, what it takes to go Top Fuel racing and more. UK Pro ET racer Keith Herbert aka Mr Furyous says that if you are in the Uxbridge area this Saturday (24th) then Power Engineering London Ltd are holding a dyno rolling road day in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. All cars are welcome and dyno power runs will be half price. There will be prizes for Biggest Horsepower and Best Appearing Car and a barbecue, refreshments, raffle and auto jumble. The same event last year raised £320. For more information call Dan on 01895 255699. Brian Taylor tells us that he has one of his two special copies remaining of his book Crazy Horses. This copy has been signed by Viveca Averstedt, Bud Barnes, Tex Blake, Gordie Bonin, Andy Carter, Peter Crane, Don Garlits, Bob Gladstone, Roger Gorringe, Micke Gullqvist, Tom Hoover, Ed Iskenderian, Tommy Ivo, Cliff Jones, Bob Keith, Pelle Lindelöw, Carl Olson, Bob Pacitto, Les Sanderson, Don Schumacher, Clive Skilton, Rex Sluggett and Brian himself thus making it a very desirable copy of the book and a great start for those collecting signatures. The first of the two copies went for £50 for the Allard Chrysler Dragster restoration fund; to get this copy make Brian an offer he can't refuse at brian@allardchrysler.org or call 01395 579733. The Beaulieu Motor Museum is holding a Hot Rod and Custom Drive-In Day on Sunday 20th June. All hot rods, customs, classic Americans, chops and bobbers (Whatever they are - Ed) are welcome. Rockabilly, swing and jive will be on tap from The Ace Trio and 40s and 50s swing jump jive from Big Al and the Fireflys (sic). More information at www.beaulieu.co.uk. Prepare to hail the King. 21st April: The countdown is on for a newest street-legal drag race event which hits Santa Pod Raceway as part of the PTM Show on the 7th-9th May. King of the Street hosts eight car categories and two bike categories which will battle it out for their respective crowns, with the top sixteen cars and top sixteen bikes headlining along side Santa Pod's HKS Drag Series and Euro Sports Compact series at Sunday's PTM Show. Day one of the King of the Street takes place on Friday 7th May, with the track open only for King of the Street drivers and riders with all times counting. Saturday will feature the King of the Street sessions. Any driver or rider wishing to run outside of these sessions will have to pay the normal fee to run in Santa Pod's ever popular Run What You Brung. The King of the Street entry fee is £100.00 which includes two crew tickets. There is guaranteed prize money for any category with over sixteen cars or bikes, with prize money for the King of the Street semi-finalist and finalist of the top sixteen. ©Eurodragster.com Organiser Lee Child is proud to announce that not only is Matt Wright running his Chevy truck in King of the Street but that Matt's security company Wright Guards Security is sponsoring King of the Street. "Wright Guards Security is a great company to work with, from businesses to outside events", says Lee. The burning question is who will take the title of the first ever King of the Street? For details on the event visit www.kingofthestreet.net. More details about the PTM Show at www.ptmshow.co.uk or www.santapod.com. MGW add colour to Xtreme Wheels. 21st April: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes Museum on 12th-13th June, are pleased to welcome MGW Print and Design on board for this year's show. MGW will be meeting all of the Show's print requirements ©Eurodragster.com With over ten years' experience in providing their clients with a fully managed print, design, exhibition and graphic service it's safe to say that MGW have the experience and the quality of service that would benefit anyone looking for printed material. Their goal is simple in providing clients with a comprehensive range of services, suitable for virtually any communication challenge. Amongst their services are print, large format graphics, exhibitions and promotional gifts. "I can personally recommend MGW as my company 3t creative use them for all our printed needs" said Dan Welberry on behalf of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show "We believe in MGW we have found a print company which delivers the quality we'd expect but at hugely competitive rates. Our Xtreme Wheels fliers are a superb example of their work and we're delighted to welcome them on board." You can find out more about MGW on their web site at www.mgw.uk.com. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming weeks. The Xtreme wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. PMR extend curriculum. 21st April: Paul Marston Racing are very pleased to announce a thrilling new development at the PMR Drag Race School: For a long time now there has been a need to offer coaching to newer race teams. Everyone, even professional golfers like Tiger Woods, has coaches and everyone can benefit from a good coach. Paul Marston Racing have enjoyed success at UK National Championship level in both ET and Super classes; our results speak for themselves and we would like to share that information. Areas to be covered race car preparation and set-up, consistency, tyre choice, burnouts, start line procedures, launch settings, chassis and suspension set-up, shift points, throttlestop set-up, weather stations, timeslip analysis, dial-in etc. You tell us the areas you want to work on and we will help you achieve your goals. ©Eurodragster.com The first Coaching Day is open to anyone who thinks they can benefit. We only have a limited number of places, probably just six to maximise the amount of individual attention that each team will receive. The attraction of this kind of coaching is that the teams taking part use their own race cars and can then use their new skills and set-up and reap the rewards immediately at a National event. The first Coaching Day will be held at the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 23rd May, the weekend before the FIA Main Event. For further details, costs and bookings please E-Mail Paul Marston Racing at pmracing@fsmail.net or call Paul on 07831 650230. Big Bang Perfect Awards. 30th March: This weekend's Big Bang is the second event in the 2010 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Pro ET racer John Everitt at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the Springspeed Nationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the Springspeed Nationals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. Although the Perfect Light Award goes to three places, we will not pay out for red lights with zeroes in the first three decimals since a foul is a foul however far in the first non-zero digit may be. So a reaction time of 0.0001 will win you the money (if you're first to do it), but a reaction time of -0.0001 will not. Decals are not formally required for the Perfect Light Award but of course we appreciate it: you can get Eurodragster.com decals at the track from any member of the Eurodragster.com staff. ©Eurodragster.com The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was win by Pro ET racer Mark Bailey at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Sportsman ET, Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 9.50 Bike, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, and 8.50 Bike but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the Springspeed Nationals; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the Springspeed Nationals. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. The decals will be available from the Signing On office; please note that, as is usual with contingency schemes, racers are responsible for requesting or picking up decals when signing on. A list of required decals per class is always on display in the Signing On office. Web site updates. 21st April: Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson has updated his Fotopic gallery with pictures from the weekend's Public Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Peter's shots at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team tells of the team's new workshop and of work on one of the team's other cars. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com The official web site of the UK's Fireforce Jet Funny Car team has been updated with reports from the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball and GTi Sprint Festival where Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Hill blasted back into the 5.7s. There is also a spot the difference competition to win a family ticket to the FIA Main Event and other goodies. Check it out at www.fireforce.co.uk. Don't forget that if you are looking for on-board fire extinguishers then Martin is the European distributor for DJ Safety products and you can also find details on the Fireforce web site at www.fireforce.co.uk/djsafety. Back to Blogs and Alan Currans tells us that his excellent Acceleration Archive now has a new Blog entry from Keith Lee with the latest on his book Drag Bike Racing in Britain From the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. As if that wasn't enough Alan has launched a new Blog from historian Nick Pettit who is writing a book about drag racing in the 1960s. You can check out both Blogs via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Big Bang racer update. 20th April: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with an update for racers attending this weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway: Santa Pod Raceway's gates are open between 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Thursday, and then open for the weekend at 9:00 am on Friday. Signing-on is open between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Friday, and then from 8:00 am on Saturday. Scrutineering for cars starts at 3:00 pm on Friday and then from 8:00 am on Saturday. Scrutineering for bikes starts at 8:30 am on Saturday. ©Eurodragster.com The track will be open for Run What You Brung between 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Friday and this is open to all racers ar a fee of £20. A DVLC, not a race licence, must be presented to sign on for RWYB. Run What You Brung takes place until 4:00 pm on Saturday; Saturday's RWYB is free of charge to all racers but you must still sign on for the RWYB and you must present a DVLC, not a race licence. Qualifying commences at 4:30 pm on Saturday, and qualifying and eliminations take place on Sunday (no RWYB). The provisional running orders for Saturday and Sunday are now available and can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting Big Bang. Please note that as ever the running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weathe ror track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. UEM Kunmadaras entry list. 20th April: Many thanks to Geof Myers of Trakbak Racing for passing on the official entry list for the first round of the 2010 UEM Drag Bike Championships, which takes place at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 30th April-1st May and which also features a round of the Funny Bike Cup and Super Street Bike Invitational. The entry is sizeable in most classes most notably in Pro Stock Bike which has attracted no less than seventeen entries and which will be running a sixteen-bike field whilst Super Street Bike has also attracted big support with nineteen riders listed. The total bike entry is sixty two. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out the official entry list for the three UEM classes, Funny Bike and Super Street Bike by clicking here. Springspeed Nationals entry list. 20th April: Thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for passing us Verion 1 of the entry list for the Springspeed Nationals on 1st-3rd May. The Springspeed Nationals comprises the second or third rounds of the UK National and ACU UK Championships depending upon class together with Championship rounds for the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, Volkswagen Drag Racing Club, Outlaw Flat Four, Wild Bunch, Outlaw Anglia, National Association of Supertwins and Junior Drag Bike, as well as an exhibition round for 8.50 Bike. ©Eurodragster.com You can check out the Springspeed Nationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the Springspeed Nationals. Entry list updates, running orders etc will be provided in due course. If you have any queries about the Springspeed Nationals entry list then please call Shakespeare County Raceway on 01789 720180 or 01789 414119. Editor's note: The rest of today's news is on hold because of pressure of work in your News Editor's day job. We will catch up as soon as we can and certainly in time for tomorrow's update; in the meantime please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Savolainen seeks the spark. 19th April: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News on 7th April you will recall that the new Pro Stock Bike to be campaigned by Finland's Timo Savolainen made its début at the American Car Show in Helsinki. Jouni Vesterlund got in touch with some more details about Timo's bike and his plans: Timo 'Jallu' Savolainen is a double Super Gas Bike Champion in the Nordic Drag Racing Series and in Finland. Timo has made a huge number of runs on the Strip on two and four wheels since 1997, the last eleven in Super Gas Bike and he has won won everything possible in that class. So now is the time to find a class where he can really turn then throttle! Pro Stock Bike is a two-wheel F1, the strongest and quickest class based on naturally aspirated engines and the latest high tech equipment. Behind the class change is of course the desire to find a new spark. Competing in Super Gas Bike for so long has eroded Timo's motivation for racing and that is the biggest reason for class change. "And as soon as possible" says Timo. When the opportunity came to climb on the Pro Stock Bike Timo took it right away without any hesitation. He had a chance to get the best engine on the market, over 350 hp of Vance & Hines motor from the US of course, and high-end bodywork from Sweden's Motospeed. It is a well known fact that the Yanks dominate almost every category including Pro Stock Bike. Vance & Hines engines are known as the major force and therefore they are not only expensive, but also very much sought after. This motor was used by Joe DeSanti in summer 2009 and he recorded 6.95 seconds on it. time with it. As the European Pro Stock Bike class record is just over seven seconds, Timo Savolainen says that he will be close to winning. ©Eurodragster.com Pro Stock Bike will take Timo's racing to the next level in every respect: the high-tech and electronics are strongly in play and of course the expenses are much more than before. The remarkable thing about the project is that this is the first Pro Stock Bike with completely Finnish ancestry; everything will built from the beginning to meet the European conditions and tracks. On US tracks the asphalt is smooth, but we have a crack here and a hole there, imposing much tougher chassis strength requirements. Even braking from over 300 km/h in an orderly manner may remain a dream, says the experienced Timo. Between Super Gas Bike and Pro Stock Bike the only similarity is that they have two wheels, as crazy as it might seem. The steering geometry is completely different; Pro Stock Bike will not forgive a single error. So the real racing will start in 2011, whilst in summer 2010 Timo will gain a feeling for the bike. "I think I'll put training wheels on", he says. The rider's work takes only a fraction of the time which the team team spend working in the background. In the worst scenari, lightning-fast Timo could destroy everything in seconds. Timo's team consists of experienced professionals from drag racing. The Chief Mechanic is Bike Doctor's Mika Ruusila and he will be assisted by Jussi Ristolainen and Sami Varis. "In this work we need to be responsible and experienced, there are economic values in addition to the driver's health and life on the line", says Timo. Timo's team and the project have attracted attention within the industry and within the media, as there has been no such project in the past. Among others, Finnish magazines like Vauhdin Maailma will track the progress of the project. The Joker in hand for 2010. 19th April: German Super Street Bike racer Thomas Granica and brother Peter had a successful season in 2009 and Team Joker look like continuing just where they left off: In 2009 we achieved a new Personal Best of 7.69 seconds, we were top qualifier at Drachten before it was rained out, and at the NitrOlympX we were the first German SSB team to achieve a seven-second pass on German soil. We also won the Kunmadaras event, won the German Championship and finished tenth in the UK Super Street Bike Championship. We started 2010 at the Straightliners event at Santa Pod Raceway in March. The track was well-prepared as usual, and we got many runs over the weekend. We tried a new set-up, but the track wasn't as good as expected so the runs weren't that good. After a few minor changes we were back in the sevens and after a couple of 7.8s we won the event. We planned to attend the Easter Thunderball but we couldn't make it due to family commitments. ©Eurodragster.com We have set our goals high. We want to run in the 7.5 this year. Our next start event will be the race at Kunmadaras where we aim to defend last year's win. The next highlight will be the Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, where Super Street Bike will be running for the first time in years. More race dates can be found on our web site at www.teamjoker.de. We would like to thank our sponsor Ernst Handel for his support, which makes it easier to travel around Europe. Thanks to Markus Münch for his help with this news item Looking right at home... 19th April: The UK's Stuart Smith picked up his Chevy S10 race truck from the workshops of Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs Race Cars last weekend and it is now in his garage at home in Romford, although we agree with Stuart that it looks just great on the street. "I bought the incomplete chassis, body and wheels from Jon Hogarth", says Stuart. "All the chassis work is complete and the truck is now all powder coated. I am now getting the engine parts together. I have some internals and have a short deck big block on order from Dart. It will be a 540 ci on methanol backed up by a 'glide. I just need to plumb in the braking system, wire it up and get it painted. I reckon it will be white with some black graphics but it may not be finished until next year. "If all goes to plan then I hope to run in Super Gas and Super Comp. I am new to racing although have been spectating for over twenty years with my brother Eugene who will be helping me with the car. Many thanks to Chris Isaacs for all his help and advice to enable me to get this far." So much to do, so little time. 19th April: UK Funny Bike racer Kev Charman is set to leave for Kunmadaras next Sunday, but he says that it has been one saga after another getting everything together: I decided that it would possibly be a bit sensible to get the van serviced before I went, so I booked the van in and then one of the injectors went. It couldn't possibly be one of the £70 ones, oh no, it was the one with the sensor on, and about £400! Plus MoT and service it came to little short of £1000. Then there was "Do I, don't I need a medical". Now advised that the answer is yes, the fun was trying to book one in, and get the paperwork back for the ACU before I leave. Medical on Wednesday, more money! I'm going to fax the form up to Rugby, to give the documentation a fighting chance of getting back to me before Sunday, or Lizzy will have to bring it with her when she comes over on Thursday. Adding the money up for the van and the medical, my new leathers budget was totally blown. Lizzy was telling the saga to Jo Venables at the track, and to cut a long story short I went down to see them, and I now have a new pair! Huge thanks to Steve and Jo, who was kind enough to let me have a pair of leathers. Meanwhile the never-ending saga of Lizzy's new bike. Lizzy and I have been mulling over what is left to do on the bike and time we have to do it. John (Mental) Hall from Stamford Speed Shop has done a fantastic job of the re-fabrication of the new chassis and making wheelie bars too. His relentless interest has been brilliant, and we have also made a new friend. Simon, boss man of Mitchville Autos, has been on standby for ever to paint the bike in its new colours. Unfortunately we have more pressing things to do with the bike, before we can consider the cosmetics of the bodywork. We have to fit it first anyway (Si, we also know you are a bit busy at the moment ) Rich, of Stovepuppet, just wants her out there, and see his business advertised on the track! The electrics and nitrous system need plumbing in, a wheel needs to be made larger to accommodate the ten inch tyre, A-blocks are still having to be made, and having being let down by couple, my poor bike has taken a backwards step instead of moving forwards. because of this, I am fast running out of ready cash and time. I leaves next weekend to test the Turbo bike and then race; Crew Chief Chris, and Lizzy fly out (Gulp - Ed) on the 29th. That's another week gone! ©Eurodragster.com Whatever possessed Lizzy to think we could finish two other bikes by the Summernationals for her first time out, and observed runs beforehand, I really do not know! Every cloud has a silver lining, and hers has come in the form of someone we haven't heard from in a long time. John Austin - Marlon to his friends - bought my original Comp Bike rolling chassis in 2007. This was the chassis on which I won the Comp Bike Championship in 2006, and runner up in 2007. We know this chassis runs straight and true up to 7.50 secs. This won't need to be tested, as we know it goes straight, and Lizz so wanted to buy this chassis when it was up for sale, but Marlon got there first as he had the money! He was going to start racing, and then he and his wife had a baby. Long story short, he has offered me the use of the chassis, as it is no good to him sitting in the garage. I can stop sulking, get myself on the track racing, and this way takes the stress of my purse. All we need to do with this one is to plumb in the motor and fit the Schnitz box and the nitrous. Couple of days work. This will also take a lot of stress from me as well, as I need to get Jake's Junior bike finished too. Offer made, Lizzy has accepted. She has had a chat with her sponsors, and will still be running the logos and stickers on this chassis, and carry along with the original one at a less hasty speed, thus getting her out there. They will still get the advertising and plugged unashamedly at every opportunity, and nothing has to be rushed. As I said to Lizz, it would be a shame for her to compromise any part of the bike, slow down and have it like she wants it. Jake's Junior Bike should be back with us next week so hopefully we can make some progress with that, as it still needs its body fitting as well as a shift light and air shifter. So there you have it. Here's hoping the next few months are plain sailing, and all the best and safe journey to everyone racing at Kunmadaras. Swift snippets. 19th April: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. After the catastrophic engine implosion at Easter, the Felstead, Best and Lotsabeera Fuel Altered is now in possesion of a real engine, namely a 500 ci nitro hemi, says Bill Felstead. "Lots of thanks must go to Tony Betts for swopping said engine for Jon's slingshot", says Bill. "The new engine was in Matt Wright's Fuel Altered a couple of years ago. "It has a three quarter inch crank, single mag, single pump, 6/71 and bird catcher. Hopefully this will be as noisy as the Chevy as this will be on 90% as well, see you all at the Summernationals!" ©Eurodragster.com UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Steve Goode tells us that he had a smashing weekend (Not literally I hope - Ed) at Shakespeare County Raceway where he tested his new Funny Car. "Thanks to all of the crew for their help", he says. Christine and Frans and the rest of the Werner Habermann Racing Team would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Heidi Habermann, mother of Timo and Dennis Habermann "and probably the best cook in the European drag racing pits". We'll be around to check that last claim, have a lovely day Heidi. Stan Weiss has updated his DFW files product with a package of more than 2050 files for use with dyno simulation programs. "The information is formatted into individual files for use with different versions of DeskTop Dyno, Comp Cams CamQuest program and Dynomation Versions 4 and 5", says Stan. "The latest version of Performance Trends Engine Analyzer (V3.9) will now also import this information. The files are in separate folders for the different engine types". You can find out more at users.erols.com/srweiss. Fifty, going on twenty two. 19th April: On the 13th May Swedish Pro Modified racer Urban 'Ubbe' Johansson is turning fifty although he claims it is twenty two writes Urban's son David. All are invited to Ubbe's birthday party: We are celebrating on 15th May on our home island of Gotland just east of mainland Sweden. All of Urban's friends in the racing community are invited to the celebration. Accommodation can be arranged at our apartment hotel and hostel just next door to the party. If you plan to come then please send an RSVP to dave.king@telia.com before 8th May or give me a call on +46 735 082 434. ©Eurodragster.com If you can't come along but would like to send greetings then please send them to the above address and they will be put together and read to Urban on his big night. We hope to see many familiar faces there and those of you who can't show up we will see at the Main Event. Sunday Street Wars Round 2. 19th April: Not even the odd afternoon shower could dampen the Sunday Street Wars atmosphere at York Raceway on Easter Sunday. The event was completed and now it's time for bragging rights from the Sunday Street Wars drivers, writes organiser and Eurodragster.com sponsor Lee Child: The Front Wheel Drive category had a healthy entry of tens cars with very close performances. The final four placed Errol Huell's 92 turbo Honda Civic against the non turbo Honda Civic of David Letch. Mansfield's David Letch had to do something special because he was down on performance. David did not disappoint by taking a big advantage on the start line but at the eighth mile developed neckache looking for Errol's turbo Civic, and at 1000 feet the Huddersfield driver powered by and took the win. The other pairing can only be said to be a very similar race. Sam Atkinson was down three tenths in his Peugeot 106 against Gareth Shutterworth's Golf GTI. Sam pulled an ace and got the startline advantage over Gareth's GTI but the VW had enough power to get by the start line advantage and take the win. After a couple of rain showers York Raceway officials and PDRC marshals gave us some options for when to run the final and this was passed on to the drivers. Errol replied in true street racer style "I will race whatever track you give me" and Gareth was of the same opinion. So the final was set. Both drivers had very similar reaction times but it was Gareth who got the slight advantage off the startling line. Errol came back with a the day's best ET of 13.78/106 to a losing 14.50/106. The big subject after the race was "How can we make ours cars run quicker?". ©Eurodragster.com Top honours for the All Wheel Drive class went to Johnny Barber in his Audi twin turbo S4. This car is a nice-looking street sleeper with full leather interior, normal road radial tyres with a nice set of wheels. Johnny made a run in far from ideal conditions. The track was cold and there was a lot of moisture in the air but the Audi shocked more than a few people by running a 12.72/113. Rear Wheel Drive honours had Newcastle's Phil Barrows and his ultra-clean Mk II Escort punching some very nice thirteen second runs with a winning 13.67/105. Dave McAllan ran an unfazed 12.10/120 in his blown Big Block Model A to take the Pre '79 honours. Paul Moore took Best of Show with his VW bay window bus which although not quite finished still looked stunning. Big thanks to everyone at York Raceway, who really know how to make you feel welcome. Special thanks go to Steve Murty and family, the PDRC marshals and the IOPD. Big thanks also to racers and sponsors. The next round of Sunday Street Wars takes place back at York Raceway on 4th July. For more details checkout www.streetnights.com. First Foote your trailer. 19th April: If you have put Eurodragster.com decals on your car, bike or support vehicle this season then they will have been supplied by UK Super Gas racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Paul Foote's company Paul Foote Ink. If you want to go a bit further then Paul is now offering a trailer design and wrapping service at reasonable price. "Race car graphics and trailer designs are so much a part of motorsport", says Paul. "The design and production has always been out of reach for the non-professional teams, but this has all changed with the development of wide-format printers. I am now offering this service to anyone who would like to have that NHRA/Formula 1 professional look without huge expense". For an example you need look no further than Paul's own completely-wrapped race trailer (right) or at fellow Super Gas racer Jon Giles' trailer which features a cartoon graphic. ©Eurodragster.com For more information about Paul's trailer design and wrapping services check out his web site at www.trailerwraps.co.nr which includes a great animation of a trailer being wrapped. Paul Foote Ink can also design and provide signs of all types for use on shop frontage and other buildings, vehicles, banners and other applications...and of course decals. For more information on Paul's sign services check out www.paulfoote.com or call 07786 541959. Carter Junior aims for Championships. 19th April: Martin Hines, the man who discovered Lewis Hamilton and many more top racing drivers through his Zip Kart Young Guns Team, has launched a new initiative to find a future Formula 1 World Champion - the Zip Kart Bambino Young Guns Team. Martin - three time World, five time European and six time British Kart Champion - has signed his youngest protégés ever, as he begins to guide them to international sporting stardom. Running under the newly created Zip Kart Bambino Young Guns Team in 2010 will be two of Britain's youngest hopefuls, six-year-old Leonardo Panayiotou and seven-year-old Albert Carter. Leonardo and Albert will compete in speed trails in a Zip Bambino Kart, getting expert driving tuition from Zip Kart's resident professional race driver Luke Hines and learning the art of kart control and racing lines as they appear on circuits across the UK. "Lewis Hamilton was eight years old when I saw him drive a kart for the first time, and I knew then what exceptional natural talent he had", said Martin. "Racing drivers these days are getting younger and youngsters are more mature, and yesterday's eight-year olds are today's six and sevens. "Leonardo and Albert have the raw talent, passion and support from their parents to reach the very top, and they are very eager to learn. It's important not to put them under any pressure, but to guide their enthusiasm and love of motor racing in the right direction. This is what the Zip Kart Bambino Young Guns Team is all about." At six years old Leonardo Panayiotou, from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, is the youngest driver to join the Zip Kart Young Guns Team. He first drove a 50 cc kart at the age of three, setting impressive lap times around Rye House Kart Raceway (a stone's throw from the Zip Kart headquarters in Hoddesdon) and developed such a passion for motor racing that he insisted on sleeping in his racing overalls and watching TV with his crash helmet on! Supported by his father Jason, an IT company director, and coached by Luke Hines, Leonardo is looking forward to learning from the same Zip Kart organisation that developed the likes of David Coulthard, Anthony Davidson, Jason Plato and Gary Paffett. "I will be spending as much time as possible testing, practicing and learning until I'm eight and ready to race in championships", says Leonardo. "School is very important too, so I must do well so I can become a racing driver. My kart has become part of my body, from the first time I sat in the seat I knew what I wanted to when I am older! A warm Thank You to all at Zip Kart for their help and support and also a big Thank You to my sponsors in helping me in my passion." Albert Carter has just turned seven years old and is the son of four time FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter. Albert, from Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, was just six weeks old when he attended his first motorsport event at Santa Pod Raceway. He started quad bike riding when he was two and was bought his first Zip Bambino Kart at three years old. In August 2007 he started attending Rye House Kids Club in England, learning basic skills with track time on Saturday and Sunday mornings. When his family went to America the following year, Albert made his karting competition debut in December 2008 at the Daytona International Speedway. In January 2010, Albert won four out of four races at the Desoto Super Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, beating the local champions by coming from the back of the grid to win each race. "I will continue to practice in my Zip Cadet and do at least six Bambino events during 2010 and I want to get Gold awards at these", says Albert. "In the long future I would like to be a good racing driver and a good pilot. I would like to say thank you to Martin Hines, Ollie Walker, Gary Walker, all my sponsors and everyone who is helping." ©Eurodragster.com Dave Prior's funeral. 17th April: Thanks to Brian Taylor for passing on details of Dave Prior's funeral. Dave's funeral is to be held at 1:45 pm on Friday 30th April at Bedford Norse Road Crematorium, 104 Norse Road, Bedford MK41 0RL (map). Family flowers only but donations if desired to Friends of the Canal Museum c/o A L & G Abbott, 150 Bedford Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire MK42 8BH. Swift snippets. 17th April: We were very pleased to hear from ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck that he is on the mend after his recent illness. "I have got the workshop key back off Charlotte", he says. "I have my regular Fedex shipments coming across the Pond so anybody wanting parts please let me know via my web site at www.davebeckracing.com." HKS Drag Series racers are reminded that next Friday (23rd) is the official closing date for entry to the PTM Show which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 9th May. You can download the official entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Version 1 of the official PTM Show entry list is available by clicking here. ©Eurodragster.com The Auto Trader Easter Thunderball is due to be broadcast on Eurosport UK at 13:30 today (Saturday). Stay tuned to www.santapod.com for further broadcast and repeat details. Santa Pod Raceway are offering racers portable toilets for hire at the FIA Main Event. Cleaning and servicing is included in the hire fee of £100 plus VAT. If you would like to hire a portable toilet at the FIA Main Event then please contact Darren Prentice at darren@santapod.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +1234 782828). Santa Pod are also seeking race cars for display at Oulton Park next Saturday (24th) and for a show at Knockhill on Sunday 16th May. For more details, or to vounteer, contact Andy Barnes at andy@sumopower.com or andy@timeattack.co.uk. Jeff and Belinda Bull have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to Mick 'The Fish' Smith. No sooner said than done, have a great day Mick. VP Racing Fuels UK distribution. 17th April: Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels has announced the signing of LA Racing Parts and Geoff Page Racing Fuels as distributors for race fuel products in the UK. "We're pleased to make this announcement", said Jim Kelly, VP's Regional Manager for European Sales. "The season is just underway and our new partners are already entrenched in all forms of racing in the UK. They'll now be able to provide our existing and future customers with easy access and affordable pricing to our most popular fuel blends." Lee Child's LA Racing Parts, UK distributor for Mickey Thompson Racing Tires, has been selected to handle primary distribution of VP's drag racing fuels in the UK and VP's Lane Choice traction compounds in the UK and Europe. Geoff Page, a well regarded engine builder and tuner, has worked with VP's diversified products for years in the UK, Europe and the US. Page will distribute FIA, FIM, MSA and specialty blends for all other forms of motorsports throughout the UK including circuit, rallying and motorcycle racing. Santa Pod Raceway, the premier drag racing facility in England and host to the UK rounds of the FIA Championship, has signed a multi-year agreement designating VP as its Official Fuel Supplier. As part of the agreement, VP's popular drag racing products will be available at the track throughout the season. More information about VP fuel availability in the UK can be obtained from Lee Child at child.lee@laracingparts.com or 01803 554308 (outside the UK +44 1803 554308), Geoff Page at geoff.page@btconnect.com or 07968 163602 (outside the UK +44 7968 163602), Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828, VP Racing Fuels Inc on +1 302 368 1500 or at uksales@vpracingfuels.com. ©Eurodragster.com Bartlett's Kunmadaras update. 16th April: Keith Bartlett, CEO of Trakbak Racing, has sent the latest update on the drag racing event to be held at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 30th April-2nd May: Last year was the first year that any form of official Championship drag racing had been held at Kunmadaras, when Trakbak Racing took a round of the UEM European Drag Bike Championship to the facility in August. It was an extremely hot weekend and on a virgin track, which had taken Trakbak's crews over ten days to prepare, it took three days of racing to get the track to come round to produce reasonable numbers. This year will see the first round of the UEM European Drag Bike Championship, coupled with an exhibition race for selected FIA classes. The intention is to run the exhibition race, obtain a Grade A International track licence with a view to holding a full FIA European Drag Racing Championship round at the track in 2011. In 2009 Trakbak Racing organised and oversaw the installation of concrete barriers the full length of the track (1.2 km) and assisted in making sure that the track got its full licence for UEM Championship competition. Trakbak ran and organised the 2009 round of the UEM European Drag Bike Championship at Kunmadaras. The first part of our track inspection for the FIA cars will be carried out this coming weekend (17th April) with Kjell Pettersson at the helm, with the next stage of the inspection over the event weekend when the FIA cars will be running. Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing has been responsible for most of the planning for this year's event and has continued to work closely with József Hadnagy and the S-Riders Club. Keith still feels that the track may still be fairly marginal in 2010, but with the big cars running should see an improvement on last year's racing surface. Keith added that they have established a good working relationship with the track organiser József Hadnagy and the S-Riders Club. After several visits to Budapest over the winter months by Keith Bartlett and Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing, including meeting Government ministers to obtain financial support for the project, they now feel that they are heading towards being able to establish the Kunmadaras track for legitimate FIA and UEM Championship drag racing. There are more improvements that they would like to carry out to the facility for 2011 before the FIA European Drag Racing Championship goes there, but that is all in the plans projected for the next stage of the track's ongoing development. Keith added "I would like to see the track surface benefiting from surface grinding, plus some additional and improved grandstand seating. But Rome was not built in a day and it takes time and money to make these improvements, especially in a market like Hungary where the average wages are so low and gate entry ticket prices have to reflect that factor." The main man in Hungarian drag racing is József Hadnagy. Keith says that József is a very special person without whom, in his opinion, there would be no drag racing in Hungary. Going further, Keith said "I have not only been able to establish a working relationship with József, but our two families have met several times socially and our children have all got on very well together despite the language barriers. My young children all speak fluent Swedish and English while Joseph's speak fluent Hungarian and can get by in German, yet they all get on so well. Drag racing is the common ground. Meanwhile József and his wife Judy are two of the nicest people I have ever met in drag racing." ©Eurodragster.com Keith also made clear that József Hadnagy is one of the best and wildest drag racing commentators he has ever heard and plans to bring him over to Santa Pod to colour commentate, hopefully this year...the spectators and drag racing fans will love him madly! The full list of UEM Championship riders and teams appearing at the Kunmadaras event on the 30th April-2nd May will be published later this week, although it can be stated that the Pro Stock Bike entry is around eighteen bikes racing for a sixteen-bike ladder for the first time in the UEM European Drag Bike Championship. The FIA class cars which will be appearing at Kunmadaras are as follow: Top Fuel Dragster Risto Poutiainen (Finland), RF Motorsport Jari Halinen (Finland), RF Motorsport Pro Modified Mats Eriksson (Sweden), 2009 FIA European Champion Andy Robinson (England) Freddie Fagerström (Sweden) Graham Ellis (England) Top Methanol Danny Bellio (Belgium), TMFC Methanol altered (non FIA) Paul Wratten (England) 221 mph on a Super Street Bike. 16th April: Easter was a mixed bag for the UK's Super Street Bike racers, writes Dave Smith: I was trying a different clutch combination which didn't work, so I went back to what I know. I had put up a trophy for the highest terminal speed of the weekend, which I unfortunately won with a speed of 192.92 mph, but on the whole not a bad outing. I think most of the SSB riders were struggling for grip if they got out of the groove as I found out in the semi-final, where my rear wheel speed at a thousand feet was 221 mph! ©Eurodragster.com At the end of qualifying there were no less than six or seven racers in the 7.8s. Wayne Saunders had a good showing with 7.51, a Personal Best. Chris Reed had a magnetic attraction for the wall on several occasions, damaging his lovely paint job. Steve Venables struggled a bit with his new bike set-up, whilst Dave Holland had a good weekend and Garry Bowe found more power - now he has to use it. Richard Hann was also back into the sevens. Scott Baldwin had a massive engine explosion in the quarter-finals - sorry to everyone who was held up by the clean-up which was top class by the pod crew. Rick Stubbins the eventual winner ran consistently all weekend, and well done to Mickey Templeman the runner-up. My apologies if I have missed anyone with good results, but I didn't manage to see much of it. The Main Event will be great! Thanks again to Eurodragster.com for sponsoring Super Street Bike (You're welcome - Ed). Pro ET's Easter. 16th April: After a cold, windy and slightly wet start, the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball managed to be completed writes Pro ET racer and sponsorship organiser Mike Lacey: The first round of qualifying was brought to an abrupt halt when I managed to lose a right rear wheel on launch after shearing all five studs off. This meant a short clean-up of the start line, but unfortunately the rain returned and that ended proceedings for Friday. Due to an uncompleted round, that qualifier was void, leaving Carla Pittau rather disappointed as at that point she had qualified number one. Another three qualifiers followed over Saturday and Sunday resulting in Paul Brown, a Pro ET rookie, getting number one qualifier with a 9.302 on a 9.30 dial-in. ©Eurodragster.com Mark Bailey ran a perfect 9.320 in his first round of eliminations, winning the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award of £50. As rounds went by, teams fell by the way side leaving Keith Herbert against Liz Malcolm on one side of the ladder and Rick McCann against Dan Williams on the other. Rick pulled a red and Keith broke out, leaving Dan against Liz in the final. Dan managed to complete a great weekend, with a near perfect run of 9.605 on a 9.60 dial. Liz was close but just lost out this time, but it was great to see her in a final - well done Liz. Congratulations to Paul Brown on qualifying number one and Dan Williams on the win, and well done to everyone else on making Pro ET such a fantastic class to race in. Thanks must also go to our 2010 sponsors Toxico, Penn Autos, Performance Unlimited, Total Seal, Hauser Race Cars, DS Racewear, LA Racing Parts, Engine Data Analysis, Motorshack, Modurstang.co.uk, Power Engineering, Avonside Engineering, Webster Race Engineering (Power Pour), Paul Marston Racing (American Racing Fuel), and Norbar Torque Tools Ltd. The photograph (click for large version) shows number one qualifier Paul Brown (centre) with Glen Blacker, MD of Avonside Engineering, who presented the Number 1 Qualifier trophy (left), and sponsorship organiser Mike Lacey (right). PMR's lottery result. 16th April: Paul Marston Racing are very pleased with Paul's runner-up finish in Super Comp at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball, driving the PiranaZ-backed Ugly Stick dragster. Paul says that as with the opening event of any season, it is a bit of a lottery as the weather and luck usually play their part in the result: Firstly I would like to thank all the PMR Crew. They all did an outstanding job in freezing conditions, we owe them big. The dragster was untouched since last October and its performance was flawless. It speaks volumes for the PMR crew who prepare the cars. Personally my first round was just the toughest you could imagine. Johnny Morton, who qualified second, is one bad hombre, a former Champion and never easy. The next round was a bye, then Steve Wells who is never a pushover. For the final it was Pete Creswell, the Creswellator. I took my best game and did my job, but it was not enough: I was beaten by a better man on the day. ©Eurodragster.com Reigning Pro ET Champion Mick Howling had a tough day in the office, struggling in qualifying with a lack of traction in the cold conditions with a race car which we finished assembling at the track on the Friday. This was a puzzling situation as Grumpy's Dodge will usually go down any track. But at Easter, with a start line which was under fifty degrees, it was too much to ask for the mighty Dodge first thing in the morning and Grumpy bowed out in round one of eliminations. There was nothing Mick could do, but that is drag racing ladies and gentlemen. Upon studying the video footage after the event, it seems that the extra crossmember we fitted has stiffened the chassis and the extra weight transfer was bottoming out the rear suspension springs and unloading the rear tyres. We knew it would possibly make Grumpy react faster, but we had not anticipated the weight transfer issue. Dave Catton fared better with number two qualifying position in his first full season of Super Pro ET, with the PiranaZ dragster pulling double duty in Super Pro ET and Super Comp. Dave Catton has the uncanny knack of being able to dial in very accurately in any conditions, especially unusual. Dave bowed out in round one to ex-Junior Dragster driver Peter Walters in the Canon Reloaded dragster. There must be an irony there, a National Champion being beaten by a future star. Special thanks go out to both Jason Phelps and Peter Walters for all their help, and to Dave Gibbons as his guest appearance starring as special crew member. Swift snippets. 16th April: Jerry Cookson of Shakespeare County Raceway has been in touch to let us know that this Sunday's Quick 32 ET Bracket Gamblers' Race has been postponed as a number of key SCR personnel are stranded in the USA, and unable to get back in time for the weekend, because of the UK and European flight ban. Saturday/Sunday's Public Track Weekend, Junior Drag Bike Championship round, Trophy Bike Dash and other planned features will go ahead as planned. More information about this weekend on SCR's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. As promised yesterday we have set up a tribute page to the late Dave Prior which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you would like to send a tribute for posting on the page then please E-Mail us at tributes@eurodragster.com. ©Eurodragster.com Our best wishes for a long and happy future to ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Read and Heather Bond who are to be married at Willowbank Raceway ahead of this weekend's race. Here's hoping for a great wedding gift on the track also. Eurodragster.com sponsor RaceAmerica have released a new catalogue featuring their entire product line of portable timing systems, scoreboards and LED displays for drag racing, autocross, mud bog, ATV and dirt drags, soapbox derby, and just about any timing application as well as their informative books and videos to help get that racing action started. You can check out the RaceAmerica catalogue at www.raceamerica.com. Web site updates. 16th April: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Top Alcohol tuner Will Hanna explains how time flies when you are having fun, a lot of which Will has had since he last wrote, as well as describing the testing of an ingenious-looking new injector scoop. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Dave Prior. 15th April: With great regret Lesley Prior has announced the passing of Dave Prior yesterday, at the age 68, after a short battle with cancer. "Dave was the driving force behind Roz Prior's drag racing success, also managing son Stuart and daughter Lesley in the Priors' Vega Funny Car", says Lesley. "Dave's latter years have been at a lesser speed, up and down England's canals in his narrowboat, which he thoroughly enjoyed. His passing will be a tremendous loss to everyone who knew him." Our deepest sympathies to Dave's family and friends. We have set up a tribute page to Dave which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you would like to send a tribute for posting on the page then please E-Mail us at tributes@eurodragster.com. NDRG confirm UEM Funny Bike Cup. 15th April: UEM Drag Racing Co-ordinator Palle Lind has been in touch to let us know that Lin Granlund of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen has confirmed that the UEM Funny Bike Cup will be contested alongside the UEM European Championship classes at the Sunoco Drag Challenge at Gardermoen on 6th-8th August. Confirmed UEM Funny Bike Cup dates for 2010 are: 30th April-2nd May: Kunmadaras, Hungary 28th-31st May: FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England 6th-8th August: Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen, Norway 9th-12th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England You're invited... 15th April: Mikael Angelin and Niklas Klaesson have been in touch on behalf of SRIF to invite racers for a Test Weekend at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö on 1st-2nd May. The eighth-mile track will be fully-prepped, ready and waiting for cars and bikes. Entry is 5000 SEK for which you get prepped track, timing, safety team, breakfast and lunch for five people on both days, and twenty tickets for sponsors etc. For more information or to enter visit www.srif.se. ©Eurodragster.com Spring has finally arrived in Norway and Lin Granlund of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen tells us that registration has opened for the NDRG Springnats, the first race of the season at Gardermoen Raceway on 8th-9th May. Lin says that this event will include a new Supertwin racer licencing to be ready for the FIA Main Event. For more information and to enter visit the NDRG web site at www.ndrg.no. The magnificent seven ride. 15th April: Andrew of Greekdragster.info tells is that no less than seven of Greece's top bike racers are set to represent their country at the first round of the UEM European Drag Bike Chamionship at Kunmadaras in Hungary on 30th April-2nd May. The Greek entry is: Antonis Zafeiriadis, Team Gabriel Suzuki TL Stavros Svrachnos, Team Motospeed Sweden Moto Svrachnos Suzuki TL Babis Bousinis, Team Motomihaniki Suzuki GSXR Dimitris Petridis, Team Gabriel Suzuki Vance Hines TL Nick Tzanidakis, Team Moto Harris Suzuki GSXR Pro Stock Bike Filippos Papafilippou, Koenig Suzuki Pro Mod Bike John Dotsikas, Team Motormania Suzuki Hayabusa Turbo. ©Eurodragster.com "All of our teams are ready and will give their best", says Andrew. "More information can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greekdragster or at www.greekdragster.info." The Black Seven rides. 15th April: Erik Jennes writes from The Netherlands that it was a promising start to the season for Germany's Black Seven Racing Funny Bike team despite the less than promising start to the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball: Typical English weather on arrival on Thursday, very cold and rainy. It didn't change on Friday, so Saturday was our first day of qualifying. Very cold still, but dry (-ish) with a front three quarter headwind from the right. Our reason for coming to the Pod was to make some shakedown passes, and boy did it shake. First run: big tyre shake. You could actually hear the shaking in the start area (Believe me you could feel it in Race Control too - Ed). The times were very disappointing, so back to the pits for some tuning. We decided to stop the shake by putting more power into the bike. This turned out to be a little too much for the second run, big spin off the line. The bike slid its back end to the right and Christian Jäger was off into the other lane. Luckily there was no other racer in the other lane. It looked so violent that we got the scrutineers to check out both the bike and Christian. Thanks guys for double-checking us, very much appreciated! Everything was fine though, just a little too much power. Run number 3: out with the power! 1.177 to sixty feet and a 330 foot time of 3.17, then at 3.5 seconds the run the clutch quit on us. Christian coasted to an 8.317. ©Eurodragster.com Back in the pits we cleaned the clutch, put new plates in, and it was time for eliminations. 1.17 to sixty feet again, 3.15 to 330 feet and then the clutch decided to stop engaging again at roughly the same time. Luckily for us Mike Olie couldn't catch up and we were into the final against Steve French on his new bike. Clutch came out again, cleaned and inspected, and we made some crucial changes to it. This should help! Again Christian ran a sixty foot time of 1.17 and a 330 foot of 3.148. It looked to be a real good pass again until 3.5 seconds when the bike slid to the right side as the wind had changed direction. Christian clicked it off four seconds into the run and hung to the side to get the bike back. He managed to keep the bike into his own lane and coasted to the end of the track in an 8.59 seconds. Our goals were to make shakedown passes. This was partly successful, but what a weekend what with waiting for the rain to clear, the track to be cleaned, the bike eating clutches and wicked looking passes. Unfortunately no full passes were made. But after all that happened, everything looked very promising. The incrementals were equal to the bike's best run and we sorted out the clutch. We will be back at the track in Hungary to make more progress. We would like to thank our sponsors Gremium MC World, De Walt, E&R Turbosystems, Big Boys Cycles, Kade Oil, Bodyart Arafat, South West Customs, ABM, Arno Hänsel Transport, Different Fashion, Gabriel Transport, Big Cash Casino, HD Motorcycles Service and Twin Service Alsdorf. Grumpy re-emerges. 15th April: As mentioned in Tuesday's news update, UK former Pro Stock Bike racer Paul Watson's name has appeared on the 8.50 Bike entry for next week's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway despite Paul having long ago announced his retirement from racing to concentrate on DynoSpeed Developments. We asked Paul what was behind his surprise but very welcome return. ©Eurodragster.com "It has all been a bit sudden", says Grumpy. "In the last couple of weeks I purchased of one of my customers' bikes which I built last year. It's a turbo Hayabusa running base boost so far. We thought it would be good to go testing on - I ran 8.5 on this bike testing it for the customer last year - then we thought it would be great to enter 8.50 Bike which Chris Jones and I worked so hard to get going. We will be using this as a test as this will be my first time on track for a while, even though I was at Santa Pod the other week running the DSD Drag School, but we are looking forward to the event. "I would like to thank Paula Marshall for all her help." Goode plan. 15th April: UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Steve Goode has given in to our blandishments and revealed some more information about his Funny Car hinted at in Monday's Eurodragster.com News update and then pictured on Tuesday's update. "I shipped the car from LA at the end of last season", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "It's a Gordie Bonin / Whit Bazemore chassis built by Steve Pleuger with a carbon fibre 2002 Trans Am body. I had a new Hemi made at Blacks three years ago. AJ heads, SSI blower, Lenco, Strange Toploader, all the usual crap. It has always been a Fuel car, running in the fours for years. Not that I will go that fast at the moment: we will run to the eighth to set the car up then move on. I have left Fuel rear wing on to save me refitting it later. I will be running 20% fuel with the set-up I have until I cane all my stock, then I will change the combination to run more fuel. "My intention is to test the car at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend, before the first Outlaws race. This may be the paint job, it may not..." Swift snippets. 15th April: Eurodragster.com Blogger Karl Lyrén's Team VEIDEC Racing Pro Stock Bike, now in its stunning 2010 colours, took centre stage at the 75th Anniversary of SVEMO in Stockholm this past weekend. You can find out more, and catch up with the team's preparations for the 2010 season, in Kalle's exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car by clicking here, or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We were very pleased to hear that the Allard Chrysler Dragster will be on show at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway between Saturday 29th May and Monday 31st May. "This is a great fund-raising opportunity and we are looking for ACAG volunteers to man the stand to talk to people about the car, its history and our restoration project", says Brian Taylor. "Anyone available please let me know ASAP at brian@petrolhead.vianw.co.uk". The Dragster will then be appearing at the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes Museum near Yeovil on 12th-13th June and then at Beaulieu on 19th-20th June as part of the Hot Rod Weekend. ©Eurodragster.com British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury has asked us to thank everyone for their Get Well messages and concern after his recent operation for bowel cancer. "The response has taken me quite by surprise and is very touching", says Stu. "This episode only came about as I sent back a bowel cancer screening kit received through the post from the NHS. If I had not completed the screening, and I must say I had second thoughts, I would have had no idea I had a problem. So my point is that if you get one of these kits then complete it and send it back - it could save your life." What's on this weekend. 15th April: This weekend's Public Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway includes the first round of this year's CC Medical Services Junior Drag Bike Championship. "We have an eight bike field consisting of four established riders and four new junior competitors on new bikes", says Sharron Collier of the Junior Drag Bikes. "It promises to be an exciting start to the season where anything could happen, the new guys were very professional at their first outing two weeks ago. This will certainly stir things up with the 'old' riders, some of whom are on fresh engines which they must now get to a good level of consistency. This is the first time there has ever been an eight bike field in JDB, and there are a few more bikes still being built for later in the year. We would like to say thanks once again to all at Shakespeare County Raceway and to Ian and Dorothy of CC Medical Services for becoming this year's title sponsors. This is going to be a fantastic year for Junior Drag Bike and the class is going from strength to strength. Visit us at www.juniordragbike.co.uk and become a fan on Facebook - search for Junior Drag Bike Club. ©Eurodragster.com For more information about this weekend's Public Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway, including full Test and Tune rules and safety requirements as well as entry and track fees, check out the track's official web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Santa Pod Raceway are hosting a Run What You Brung open to all on Saturday, and the Central RS Owners Club Day on Sunday. "We've got Martin Hill with Fireforce, will we see another great performance topping the 283 mph he put in last weekend?", says Jo Harris of Santa Pod Raceway. "As well as top action on the track there will also be demos from Podzilla the monster truck as well as drifting". More details about the RWYB at www.rwyb.com and about the Central RS Owners Club Day at www.central-show.co.uk. If you have an event this weekend or indeed any weekend and would like us to give it a plug here on Eurodragster.com News then send details to news@eurodragster.com. Web site updates. 15th April: As promised on Tuesday's news update, all FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals entry forms with the exception of the Funny Bike Cup (coming soon) are now available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc Our good buddy Alan Currans tells us that for the latest update to his excellent Acceleration Archive Andy Barrack has been hard at work researching the 1971 Santa Pod International meeting organised by the BDR&HRA, and has come up with another of his meticulously-researched pieces. The story of the meeting is told in detail with extensive illustrations from Custom Car photographer Roger Phillips. This one is well worth a look via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Stefani Robinson has been in touch to let us know that the Robinson Race Reports web site has been updated with all the latest from the Pro Mod pit of Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson. "We've played around with the layout to make it easier for visitors, posted an Easter report and photos from the Dinner and Dance and filled in any gaps from last year's events", says Stef. You can see the outcome of all of this hard work at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk. Back to the always-active Alan Currans and in his capacity as webmaster of the official web site of the UK's Chaos Fuel Altered team, he has posted car owner Lawrie Gatehouse's report on the ill-fated Easter Thunderball. Also included in the update are a 2010 gallery containing seventy two images, and a 2010 video page with footage kindly made available by Tim Cooper-Brackley. You can find the Chaos web site at www.chaos-fuel-altered.com. Webmaster and Sportsman ET racer Nigel Holland says that the UK's Sportsman ET web site will be down for a short period while the site is reconstructed. "This is due to some cyber vandal hacking and deleting the contents of the site", says Nigel. "I suspect that the culprits are nothing to do with drag racing or the drag racing community so the chance of them reading this is slim. But if they are I'd like to say it's not just the site you're damaging. The Sportsman ET web site is a communication tool, it informs and allows its users to converse and discuss. Whoever you are you obviously have some talent to do what you did so put it to good use; don't be an idiot all your life and have a day off!" Editor's note: We have a backlog of news which we will post on the next news update. Stay tuned for Pro ET and Super Street Bike Easter Thunderball notes, some words from our sponsors and more, and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Main Event, European Finals bike entry. 13th April: The official entry forms are now available for UEM Top Fuel Bike, UEM Supertwin, UEM Pro Stock Bike and ACU Super Street Bike at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, and UEM Top Fuel Bike, UEM Supertwin and UEM Pro Stock Bike at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. These entry forms will be posted within the next twenty four hours or so on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc but if you are sufficiently impatient to enter the FIA Main Event or FIA European Finals then courtesy of SPRC Club Secretary Paula Marshall you can download the forms (Word format) right now by clicking on the relevant link below: ©Eurodragster.com FIA Main Event UEM Top Fuel Bike, UEM Supertwin, UEM Pro Stock Bike FIA Main Event ACU Super Street Bike FIA European Finals UEM Top Fuel Bike, UEM Supertwin, UEM Pro Stock Bike The entry form for the Funny Bike Cup will be posted shortly. The entry forms for FIA and Sportsman classes for the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals are already available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and FIA and UEM entry forms plus Championship registration are also available on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. A win, but more practice needed. 13th April: It's amazing how quickly Easter came around this year, writes Auto Trader Easter Thunderball 9.50 Bike winner and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster, who took the event win on Tim Blakemore Racing's Kawasaki: There never seems enough time to do everything without having to rush around. Tim had prepped the bike up in the weeks leading up to Easter but was unfortunately unable to attend the event, so Wendy brought the bike up on Thursday evening. The forecast inclement weather arrived on Friday, but we remained optimistic for the rest of the weekend. No changes had been made to the bike over the winter, just routine checks and maintenance so we were hoping to start off the season with a known combination. The plan was to run the bike exactly the same as always during qualifying as the dial-in is there or thereabouts by short shifting at 8500 rpm and rolling off the throttle at the top of fourth gear. We got our first call at 1:00 on Saturday. Super Street Bike ran before us and had a few problems on track but when we got our turn the bike ran faultlessly resulting in second qualifier with a 9.57/127, not bad to start with. The rest of the day had down time for various reasons such as weather and on track incidents. On Sunday we had two more qualifiers neither of which improving our position. Q2 netted a 9.491 and we were relegated to third by Jemma Venables and in the final qualifier a shift solenoid gave up the ghost resulting in a ten-second pass. Our final qualifying position was sixth; I was quite happy with that because we were in the lower side of the pairings of a Sportsman ladder which was an advantage for bye runs later in eliminations should we be fortunate to progress that far. We were all set on Monday; the weather looked promising but there was a strong headwind which is better than a side wind for safety reasons, but which could prove difficult to dial in close to 9.50 for all riders in terms of judgement, power etc. The Kawasaki has plenty of power to overcome the resistance of the head wind but I was very aware it could result in a breakout. The plan was to try to stage deeper, go for the light and try and maintain a nose until as late as possible, and if the guy or girl in the other lane was nowhere to be seen then get off it in the usual spot. As plans go, by luck or judgement the first two round went more or less that way. Stuart Ashby lacked speed and I backed out early making our 9.93 to his 10.36 a good dial-in point for the next round against Aaron Sparks. Aaron got out on me slightly then disappeared behind with some sort of problem, so I got off the throttle a bit earlier making our 10.10 to his 10.27 good enough to face Phil Pratt in the quarter final. Phil is a really tough competitor, always on the money and renound for good lights, my chances weren't good but the bye run for the winner was the route to the final. I really lost my cool moving out of the burnout when my front wheel slipped away and I almost low-sided it, but I gathered my thoughts and went for the game plan. What a race! Phil's 0.16 light to my 0.14, he was well out by sixty feet - over a bike length - but then the turbo power started coming in and by third gear we were pretty even, I short shifted fourth gear and even hit fifth as we crossed the line. It seemed to take an age for the win light to show on my side of the wall but a huge relief when it did my 9.53 to Phil's 9.47 breakout. ©Eurodragster.com That meant we had the bye run. Fred Furlong and Richard Beck squared up in front of me and by the time I had finished the burnout I saw Richard take the win so I knew who my next opponent was. I was going to just stage the bike for the bye run and take the light, but I decided to try something a bit different, which didn't work.So for the final I went back to the original plan. We only had five minutes in the pits before our final call, but with only air pressure to check there was no stress. I was quite relaxed for the final. I had gone a lot further than I thought I would, based on the calibre of the riders attending that weekend. I learned a long time ago that bracket racing is a game of mistakes, whoever makes the worst mistake "loses". No mistakes means you run a perfect 0.000 light and run a perfect 9.5000 and that is a rare thing. But primarily if you can leave first then you have more chance of controlling the race. Richard has historically made less mistakes than me in 9.50 so it wasn't going to be easy. Richard staged first, I followed my previous procedure and managed to get the light. As with Phil, Richard's bike's sixty foot gave him a short lead but again Kawasaki turbo power proved good and I pushed the line anticipating that Richard would lift. I throttled back twenty feet from the line as I had pushed harder in fourth than previously and I thought I would go under, and I figured Richard would too. I looked at my side of the wall and the light was on, so all was good but without the light it would have been difficult to call. Another awesome race, my 9.59 taking a 9.47 breakout. I must admit I didn't expect the win this early in the season as I have always found too many faults in my riding, which still need fixing. I just figured more practice required, I guess the thing about going rounds is you get more practice, so hopefully I'll be in better shape for the next round. Many thanks to Kawasaki UK, Tim and the team at Tim Blakemore Racing for giving me a great bike, Jeanette and Shelby my family and crew, Jamie Sneddon for help and the shift solenoid, and to the well-wishers who came by. Swift snippets. 13th April: If you were tuned in to Dave McKenzie's Supercharged Outlaws season preview on yesterday's news update you will have read that "Steve Goode is keeping his cards close to his chest but I believe something special is about to be unveiled". No sooner do we publish the news item than this picture arrives from Steve Goode. We asked Steve if he would like to furnish some details, but he declined citing pork pie consumption. 11:10 Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding the final version of the official entry list for Big Bang, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-25th April. Click here to check out the Big Bang entry list, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. One notable and very welcome addition to this entry list is Paul Watson of DynoSpeed Developments, who is officially retired from racing but whose name has popped up in 8.50 Bike. To hear Paul tell it, the retirement is not off: he just happened to have a bike laying around and that gave him the chance to support the class. Fred Furlong of Eurodragster.com sponsor and Super Street Bike contingency sponsor Furlong Tyres has been in touch to congratulate Rick Stubbins on winning the Super Street Bike final at the Easter Thunderball using a Mickey Thompson MCR2 tyre and Mick Templeman on his runner-up spot using the Michelin Power One tyre. Rick wins £100 and Mick £50. "Thanks also guys for running the Furlongtyres.com Drag Race Rubber decals on your bikes", says Fred. Jo Harris of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to remind readers that the FIA Main Event VIP Early Bird discount ends this Friday, 16th April. "If you want to take advantage of this for family, friends, sponsors or indeed just want to treat yourself then please contact us on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828) to avoid disappointment. Please be aware that Early Bird Discount will close at 5:00 pm on-line and 5.30 pm on the phone." ©Eurodragster.com Also closing this Friday, 16th, are advance ticket sales for Big Bang which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-25th April. You can buy your advance tickets on-line at www.santapodshop.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). We would like to say a big Happy 50th Birthday to Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andréasson. We hope that you have a great day Leif and, whilst you're in a good mood, a word about that burnout... Web site updates. 13th April: Eurodragster.com sponsor and Showtime Fuel FC sponsor Allegheny Technologies Ltd have a new updated web site www.atimetals.co.uk/titanium which includes a Motorsport section covering the range of titanium alloys which they stock and supply to the motorsport industry, including drag racing. Nigel Hoskison tells us that Allegheny Technologies Ltd supply material to teams in the UK and Europe in Top Fuel Dragster, Fuel FC, Top Methanol Dragster, Top Methanol FC, Pro Modified, Top Fuel Bike and Pro Stock Bike. Nigel will be pleased to speak to anyone who either needs titanium or is thinking of using it. He can be contacted through the new web site, or in the Showtime pit at the track. ©Eurodragster.com Contest: Win a free web site! 12th April: Escape Design are proud to announce the launch of a competition to win a free web site. Luke Bennett tells us that the offer is open to all Eurodragster.com readers, not just racers, as Escape Design create sites for business or pleasure: The idea is very easy: simply send in your idea for a slogan for Escape Design. The winning entry will then be used on the Escape Design web site at www.escapedesign.net and our stationery. Send your entry and details with the subject Escape Design Slogan to us at escapedesign@escapedesign.net by 14th May. The winner will be picked from all entries on 15th May and the winner announced here on Eurodragster.com. For some inspiration visit us at www.escapedesign.net or check out the sites which we have already have built for Bennett Racing, Malmgren Racing, the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, SuperPower Unlimited and many more. So if you're interested in a web site you will be in good company! ©Eurodragster.com All of our web site design packages - starting from just £195 - include: Professional website design Unlimited website design revisions Web site hosting and support Domain name registration and management Search engine optimisation Multiple E-Mail accounts Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome compatible Visitor statistics Superb web site design which works Custom build - no templates Free logo design Free domain name One free year's hosting Escape Design specialise in high-quality, fast turn-around website Design. Maybe you have a new business. Or you are already an established company, venture or organisation. Whatever type of operation you are you will need a web site to achieve your potential and, most importantly, attract new customers. This is where Escape Design can help. We offer individual customer attention, and listen to your comments and value your feedback - ultimately producing visually stimulating solutions to your brief and requirements. With a keen eye for detail and originality, we aim to satisfy and thrive on your input, believing this delivers the best result. Asking questions about what you do and how you do it, to get to know you and your company. Tailoring our skills to suit your target market; this information allows us to excel where other companies simply cannot. Get in touch today for details or information on anything we offer. Alamo JD Challenge standings. 12th April: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-Easter Thunderball standings in the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season:   Index Name RT ET Speed ET v Index Package 1. 7.90 Gabrielle McDonald 0.0075 8.0171 82.17 0.1171 0.1246 2. 8.60 Zak Johnson 0.0860 8.6717 74.52 0.0717 0.1577 3. 8.59 Joe Kellett 0.1408 8.6296 71.94 0.0396 0.1804 4. 9.14 Paige Wheeler 0.1352 9.2145 68.06 0.0745 0.2097 5. 7.95 Brad Jackson 0.0688 8.0967 77.19 0.1467 0.2155 6. 8.21 Anna Stanley 0.0416 8.4854 75.02 0.2754 0.3170 7. 8.00 Laura Turburville 0.0494 8.7166 74.91 0.7166 0.7660 8. 11.80 Billy Everitt 0.3558 12.3106 49.08 0.5106 0.8664 For more information about the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, check out our news item Alamo backs Junior Dragster Challenge of 1st April. ©Eurodragster.com Don't forget that Alamo Rent A Car are offering 10% off car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for Mantorp Park, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. For more details, check out the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 22nd February, or to book your discounted hire car check out www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. MPM Oil joins Speedgroup contingency. 12th April: Speedgroup Contingency Co-ordinator Gittli Koller tells us that the value of Speedgroup's contingency programme for the European Championships has passed the $150,000 mark, with more companies yet to join. The latest addition to the program is the MPM Oil Company, which has long been involved in European drag racing through the MPM Oil branded Top Fuel Dragster piloted by Lex Joon. The Netherlands-based company wishes to support all FIA and UEM classes. This means that MPM's contingency support is offered to riders and drivers in FIA Top Fuel Dragster, Top Methanol Funny Car and Dragster, Pro Modified and Pro Stock as well as to teams active in UEM Top Fuel Bike, Supertwin and Pro Stock bike. ©Eurodragster.com "MPM Oil make a great addition to the contingency programme", says Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar. "We have been looking to add and co-operate with an oil company for some time and MPM Oil is among the few oil companies which has a vast range of products suitable for most types of race cars and bikes. Our discussions centred on support for a majority of classes, and we ended up agreeing on all classes in the championship, which I am of course very happy about!" Orders within the contingency programme are handled via Swelube, MPM Oil's main distributor in Scandinavia. The owners of Swelube have been experts on oils for many years and will have no problem telling teams who want to start using MPM Oils which specific products can be used for their cars or bikes. Pre-ordered oils are offered for delivery at race tracks on the FIA/UEM Tour without cost. Payment can easily be handled via Paypal (credit or bank card). For more information on MPM Oil please visit www.mpmoil.se, which is presented in several languages, contact Swelube AB on +46 31-518400, or E-Mail info@swelube.se. Please mention the Speedgroup Drag Racing Contingency Programme when enquiring. Outlaws set for 2010. 12th April: 2010 looks to be shaping up to be another good year for the UK's Supercharged Outlaws, with new teams added and other teams re-emerging after fixing damage, writes Dave McKenzie: Teams coming back include Brian Gandy with the Skullduggery altered; Brian suffered serious engine damage at two meetings in 2008, which kept him out in 2009 while he rebuilt and restocked his car. Brian is now ready to run the altered with a new Hemi between the rails and a spare engine in the trailer. Lee Gallimore was another racer to suffer in 2009, Lee was preparing to run at the Hot Rod Drags when a leakdown test revealed a split in his block. Lee has now bought a brand new block along with new rods and refreshed parts and will be looking to repeat those impressive 1000-foot burnouts and get the car back into the low sevens. Dave McKenzie and Mark Windridge will be back this season after a major engine blow-up in 2008. They made it to the Hot Rod Drags but were limited to the cacklefest only. Dave then tested the car in October with impressive results on a very cold track, the timing increments show Dave was on a seven second pass before he had to lift of the throttle. Roy Wilding will be débuting a brand new car this season. Roy has built a new slingshot with new engine and gearbox, and the only difference is that Roy will be stepping up to Nitro this season. ©Eurodragster.com New teams joining the Outlaws this season include Charlie Chivers with his yellow Capri now sporting a blown engine Charlie is looking for seven seconds out of the Capri this year. Another is Jayne Kay with her brand new Funny Car called the Pink Lady. Jayne is looking to become one of the youngest ever female Funny Car drivers. Gary has worked hard all winter and has already fired the car up and they are looking good to be out in late May. What about the 2009 series winner Steve Goode? Well, Steve sold the winning Wobble car over the winter and he assures me he will be out to defend the number one plate in 2010. Steve is keeping his cards close to his chest but I believe something special is about to be unveiled...watch this space. We have a new sponsor, Good Vibrations of California, with the Good Vibrations quick reaction bonus worth $100 to the quickest reaction time at each event. Another new sponsor this year is the Mad Rs Racing Team of Alec Coe and Kev Mortimer who have kindly sponsored a trophy for this year. They join our established sponsors Fester Race Cars, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars, B&G Multi Services, Academy Glass, and LA Commercials: we would like to thank them all The Outlaws have commissioned Stith Printing of California to design an Outlaws T-Shirt for this year We are hoping to have the shirts on sale some time in May. The Outlaws will also soon have a new web site at the usual address www.supercharged-outlaws.co.uk. The Outlaws season starts at the All American Show at Santa Pod Raceway on the Bank Holiday weekend 1st-2nd May and then we move to Shakespeare County Raceway at the Yanks Weekend on 29th-31st May. Look forward to seeing you all then. Swift snippets. 12th April: Kenny Gomez of Eurodragster.com sponsor Superpower Unlimited is offering a great incentive to the UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association and Super Pro ET racers for the 2010 season. "I am offering a free blower freshen-up, new teflon, nylatron and rotor seals to the first two NFAA teams to run 6.000 or better at any of their outings in 2010", says Kenny. "The same deal is also available to the first two blown Super Pro ET teams to make perfect runs this season". If you have any queries then you can get in touch with Kenny via his web site at www.superpowerunlimited.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Bill, Vinnie and Scott of Street Eliminator title sponsor and Eurodragster.com sponsor Topspeed Automotive are very pleased with the coverage which their sponsorship received from Eurodragster.com, the track anouncers and in general at last week's Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. "I wish I was as happy with our Street Eliminator '69 Camaro", says Bill Macdermid. "We are still plagued with a persistent problem which is proving to be a real pain, but it was still great to be back at the Pod and seeing all my old friends. On another subject we are pleased to announce that Topspeed Automotive have just been appointed ProCharger Dealers." Out of a Comer. 12th April: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ray Comer has been in touch with a report on his first competitive event since sustaining engine damage at the end of the 2008 season: 2008/2009 was a bit of a rough eighteeen months for us with the business and Denise's health so I had to take the decision to drop out of the class last year until life had run out of boulders to hurl at us. By January this year the worst was behind us and with the news that the class had been adopted into the National Championship, I could seriously start thinking about bringing the Camaro out again. The engine had been rebuilt and upgraded by Peter Knight at Knight Racing Services with thermal coated pistons and new Carillo rods at the end of 2008 and had been sitting in the car, in the garage, since the middle of last year. The only major change was the removal of the somewhat erratic fogger system that we had been using and the fitting of a trans cooler and a temporary Webster Race Engineering-designed ram air system. It worked a treat on the road so a more permanent replacement was fabricated at home which has solved a negative pressure issue with the cowl induction and helps keep the car cooler. The car was ready to run having been checked over during the year and I intended to run it at the Peak Performance Day the week before the Easter Thunderball to get a baseline but a minor fuel pump issue saw the car back on the trailer an hour after getting there. The fuel pump was sorted on the Friday shortly after arriving at the track so we went into the event without any confirmed tune in the car. A gentle off the bottle pass on Saturday morning confirmed that everything seemed to be in order so a small nitrous tune was put in for the next run. Sitting out a season obviously hasn't done much for my memory because on the next run I completely missed the lights and got feet and hands mixed up resulting in a 0.97 reaction time and launching off the footbrake instead of the transbrake. Again, the car ran flawlessly with a lazy 1.55 sixty foot time. ©Eurodragster.com It was hard sitting around most of Sunday waiting to run but it gave me plenty of time to confirm the next tune so we could test the launch settings with a bigger hit of gas. Unfortunately a delay on the track found me on the start line with low gas pressure but again, a good two tenths' improvement on the ET. Only one qualifier on the Saturday meant sticking with the tune in the car from the last run. All was going well until I got the saw across the throat sign and got pushed back - a small drop of trans fluid on the track. Fortunately Jon Webster was on the start line to help sort out the minor problem and, due to a clean up at the top end of the track, I was ready to race again when called. By now the gas pressure had dropped a bit but was still usable. A good burnout and I could feel the car sticking to the track. It was a good hard launch and she just ran as straight as ever. A 1.406 sixty foot took me to a 9.35, a good two tenths' improvement on the previous run and as good baseline set to work from at the next meet. A big thank you to the ever hard-working track crew - they worked their socks off over the weekend; the commentary team - excellent job; Jon Webster for help and advice; Topspeed Automotive and the other SE sponsors for supporting the class and to Ian 'Fatty' Hook for winning the event on four wheels and for taking the time to convince me to come out to play again. Straight talk. 12th April: The start to the 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship was a real challenge but ended on a super high for FB Racing, writes Easter Thunderball winner Ian Hook: After the usual thrash which I think many drag racers go through before the season starts (To be fair, you'd only had since September - Ed), a last-minute MoT and the loss of an alternator belt on our way to the track I thought we'd had our quota of drama for The Thunderball. But the '34 had other plans! On Friday we pulled the Powerglide transmission so that we could cure an oil leak and fit our newly-arrived flexplate. Thanks are due to Andy Frost for his invaluable advice over the phone. Our first pass was a relatively undramatic no-gas 8.98. Although this was off last year's pace we were not overly concerned as the low temperature, damp air and lack of recent use meant that the track was challenging to say the least. The tyres could be heard squealing past the eighth. We were pleased to be in provisional second place. We put the gas on for the second qualifier and the '34 was wheels-up off the line but pulled to the right. As the front came down the car suddenly turned left. I managed to correct it and wrestle it down the track but not until I'd had it alternately on its two left wheels and then the two rights. Quite a wild ride! Before session three we found what we thought was the problem and corrected it but on track the car behaved in much the same way. Back in the pits Jeff Meads told me the '34 looked "scary". If Jeff tells you your car is scary you know it's really scary! We came up with a second theory about the problem and the anti-roll bar we'd hooked up over the winter was removed. Unfortunately we had run out of qualifiers and our failure to improve on the 8.98 had now dropped us to fifth. In round one of eliminations on Monday morning we faced Bill Macdermid, co-proprietor of class sponsors Topspeed Automotive in the first round. The '34 pulled to the right off the start line but at least went straight...well, more or less straight...after that. An 8.54, our best of the weekend, plus a 0.05 light saw us progress at Bill's cost. Round two wasn't held until some five hours later. I'd staved the boredom off enough to clock another zero light but the '34 still wasn't handling well and I fought it to an 8.69 ET. Fortunately for us our opponent, Jon 'Moose' Hollingworth, had issues of his own in the twin-turbo Cortina and a second gear launch left him trailing with an off-pace 10.44. It was after this pass that Jon Webster suggested that there was something broken or loose on our car so back in the pits it went up in the air again and Martin took a long hard look at the back end. Initially he could find nothing amiss until he put his hand on the LH rear spring platform. Despite the fact that the lock ring appeared properly snugged up the platform could be turned by hand. It had obviously been de-adjusting itself since last week! Without time to properly re-baseline the settings we quickly put the spring height to where we thought it should be and made our way down for the semi-final where we would be up against rookie Andy Hadfield in his wild and wacky Fad T. After another 0.05 light there was at least some variety with the launch as I immediately lit up the rear tyres. Andy had done the same but I won the battle of the pedals and took the win 9.0 to 10.2. And a real bonus for us was that despite spinning the wheels the car had gone straight for the first time that weekend. Martin was confident that some minor tweaking would get the car back into the correct launch mode. We were into the final and faced the huge power of 2009 SE Champion Colin Lazenby's 800+ inch '56 Ch*vy. We debated putting back some of the power we'd taken out but by now it was 7:30 in the evening and track conditions were only getting worse. Martin made his suspension adjustments, we were called, then followed the big Ch*vy down to the start line. I pulled my best light of the day, a 0.03 and the '34 launched hard and in a straight line! As I raced up the strip I kept looking over my right shoulder, expecting the '56 to overtake with its massive top end charge. But it didn't happen and I crossed the line to take our first event win since 2006. We'd saved the best 'til last with an 8.26 ET but what I hadn't realised was that I'd won at the start as Colin had left early. So we went home as very happy bunnies. Not only did we have the event win but we'd finished with a straight and fast pass which bodes well for the rest of the season. My crew did a fantastic job both before and during the event - I'd be nothing without them. A big thanks too for our sponsors the FB Associates, Serck Services Motorsport, Hotrodtees.co.uk, RS Autos, Powerpour, Messier-Dowty, the Everest Balti Restaurant, and A & E Fire Equipment. We will have news soon on another sponsor joining us for the rest of the 2010 season. Additionally I have to mention the track crew who always give of their best. Last weekend must have been particularly tough dealing as they did with cold, wind, rain and plenty of incidents. The instant information supplied by Eurodragster.com was superb (Thanks, credit to the timing crew - Ed) and a well done to all the other SE drivers who provided an impressive turnout with a record first meeting entry of sixteen cars. Finally, a big thank you to Steve 'Splinter' Nash who did a great job in organising the class (both trackside and on the Cruise) and provided some excellent colour commentary. See you all at the Big Bang. ©Eurodragster.com Walters' weekend. 12th April: UK Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters says that he had a brilliant weekend at the Easter Thunderball: Over the winter the car was refreshed and prepped ready for Easter. No major changes, we just upped the blower overdrive and also changed the gear ratios. We also sorted out the trailer with new cupboards etc, and the car was loaded about four weeks before Easter - we even had time to refresh the golf buggy engine! On the Friday we got the car scrutineered, went for the first run, but unfortunately the rain came and we went back to the pits. Saturday came and on the first run we shut down after the burnout due to an oil leak. The second run of the day was an easy 8.48/151. On the Sunday we only got the one run which resulted in an 8.41/158, a new Personal Best speed, although there were some problems shifting into second which didn't help! We eventually qualified eleventh. In the first round we faced Dave Catton, we dialled an 8.25 and the race was won on the tree, my 0.043 to Dave's 0.285, I got ahead and backed off before the line running an 8.48 at just 131 mph. In the next round we were up against Rod Harrison in the Stardust blown dragster, and I cut a 0.024 to Rod's 0.142; Rod chased me down, but broke out by the tiiyest of margins. We were happy to win this race as it meant a bye to the semis. Because of the quick turn arounds in Super Pro, we decided just to stage and roll down the track to save the engine. Next in line was Barry Giles, the race was won on the tree, as Barry red lit by -0.007, I cut a 0.014 light and ran an easy 8.60. ©Eurodragster.com The final came around quickly and we were faced against Chris Isaacs who had been cutting some brilliant reactions all day. The final turned out to be a great race. I cut another 0.02 light to Chris' 0.01, but unfortunately I couldn't catch him and he got to the finish first by 0.06, a big well done to Chris. Even though we didn't win it was still fantastic to be in our first Super Pro final and we can't wait for the next meeting. It was a brilliant weekend and wouldn't have been possible without my dad - he puts all the hard work in and I couldn't do it without him; thanks also to my crew Tom Watts and Mick Slocombe; my mum and xister for their support; Derek Flynn and the Gold RV crew; the Glassup family; all the Santa Pod crew for their brilliant hard work; Eurodragster.com for the updates (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). and everyone else who has helped out. During the last few rounds on Monday we had an in-car camera installed on the car, you can view the footage at vimeo.com/10757017. My web site at www.pwrd.co.uk has also been updated with some 2010 work including paint schemes for Robert Joosten, Clare Giles and Zak Johnson, also a new T-Shirt design for the Habermann family and much more! Get in touch for more information on what we can offer. 1. Get spliced; 2. Qualify. 12th April: Former multiple Australian Top Fuel Dragster, ex-pat Brit Steve Read, will # have a rather unusual lead-up to the Enzed Top Fuel Championship at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, Australia next weekend. Read, affectionately known as 'The Pom', will marry long-time partner Heather Bond at Willowbank on Saturday morning, and then after the wedding breakfast take part in qualifying for round five of the Australian Top Fuel Championship series round five. The Brisbane-based English couple first met when Read was racing at Avon Park Raceway, Warwickshire, England in 1989 where Bond, who was educated in Australia in the early 1970s, was an official and later Avon Park Chief Executive Officer. While Read migrated to Australia in 1993, Bond returned to Australia in mid-2005, catching up with Read at that year's Winternationals event at Willowbank. Read and Bond re-established Read Speed Racing (RSR) mid-2006 when they purchased a lightly-raced Brad Hadman-built Top Fuel Dragster from US racer Gary Clapshaw. Read and Bond debuted the car, still in its original Spirit of Las Vegas livery which depicts artwork of a Las Vegas showgirl and the city at night, at the January 2007 Willowbank Top Fuel event. However, the car was destroyed during the fourth and final qualifying session at the 2008 Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway after the fuel shut-off valve stuck open just before the finish line, causing the car to hurtle into the sand trap and safety net at the end of the braking area at over 300 kmh. Read walked away from the crash with just a broken finger when it was wrenched off the steering wheel. After missing the remainder of the 2008-2009 season, RSR formed a partnership with Dwayne Riley, who owns an identical Hadman chassis to the crashed dragster and who offered the car to Read and Bond to race. The new RSR/Riley partnership's first event was the 2009 Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway, where twelve months after his disastrous crash, Read top qualified and won the event. Read and Bond adored the Spirit of Las Vegas Dragster. "It was not just bars, panels and an engine to us, the Spirit car was a part of the family" Bond said. "That crash started a tough emotional run for us. We destroyed the car, Steve and I got engaged in the October, our Read Speed Transport business suffered during the global economic downturn and an overseas sponsorship prospect was derailed with the Global Financial Crisis. 2009 was also Steve's fortieth year in drag racing and my twentieth year and we came back and won the Nationals after being out of the sport for a year." While Read is a drag racing veteran, even he has been amazed at the events of the past 18 months. "If I Twittered all the dramas we have had since that September 2008 crash, no one would believe me", Read said. After getting engaged, Read and Bond had trouble finding a suitable wedding date, due to their busy business commitments. "So we thought, why not get married at Willowbank on the morning of the Top Fuel event", Read said. "Most of our closest friends will be there as well as our crew and family. The only thing is I will not be able to have a champagne toast that will have to wait until after we win on the Sunday." While Read is out of contention for the 2009-2010 Australian Top Fuel Championship series after missing the two Perth rounds, which carried fifty per cent bonus points, and the February Summernationals at Sydney Dragway was rained-out – the Willowbank event is the fifth round of the series – he is aiming to be the first driver to win two events this season at Willowbank next weekend. Read also said while RSR receives good support from several minor sponsors, the team is on the lookout for a major sponsor. "We are searching for sponsors. While we have been in this game for a long time and have a workshop and transporter, if you want to do it properly, you need at least one full-time person and various infrastructures, which we don't have at the moment", Read said. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 12th April: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn looks forward to a trip overseas. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com The Champ has not quit. 11th April: Three time European Supertwin Champion Per Bengtsson has been very busy over the winter both with his business and with the Beast Drag Bike. Per and the team have been working really hard with upgrades and maintenence and had to have most of the work ready in time for a big Industry exhibition in Gothenburg in the middle of March: Right after the Gothenburg event where the bike was dispalyed in our sponsor Lönne Scandinavia AB stand the Beast went straight down to an art exhibition in Höganäs in the south of Sweden where it was on display during Easter. The theme at the art exhibition was Bikes, and the Beast was the only race bike to attend. "The promotor of the exhibition is an old friend of mine and I just couldn't say no", says Per. "That meant a lot of hard work to get as much of the bike as possible race ready but the good thing about it is that you get a lot of things done under pressure. "Our plan for the coming season is to try to run quicker and faster than anybody has done before in Europe. Our goal is to set new ET records both over quarter and eighth mile. We can see a huge potential in the combination we're running and we are still working on the first one hundred metres where we should be able to go about 0.1 seconds faster. If you're going to succeed with this ambition both the bike and the track need to be absolutely top standard. That means that we will concentrate on the best tracks and therefore this year we will not run in Hungary and Finland. ©Eurodragster.com "This is the right time to try to set records in many ways. First of all the team works better than ever together and as I said there's a strong potential in our combination and set-up. Another issue is of course the time factor. Everyone involved in the team has very busy day jobs and three of our crew members runs their own business. It's hard to find the necessary time to run the whole tour this year. We're sorry for the fans especially in Hungary, where we were so well treated last year, for not showing up this season but if we succed with our goals we may be back for another full Championship tour next year. "Our first outing will be the Pro Test and Tune Weekend at Veidec Raceway in Malmö on 1st-2nd May. Hopefully we will get the answers we need in Malmö and then the race bus will head for Santa Pod and the Main Event. "The whole team feels that this is a new level of challenge and as always our ambition is very high. Hopefully this season will supply the answer on how fast the Beast can go down the quarter mile." Swift snippets. 11th April: Thanks to Stephen Moon for letting us know that ACU Pro Stock Bike Champion and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck's health has improved. "Dave had a number of tests in the week, and after a scan and a further meeting with the consultant on Friday it was agreed that the situation had improved and that he was able to go home", says Stephen. "He needs to return to hospital next week, and he will also have to have a minimum of three weeks of complete rest. But it's great to see the improvement in Dave's health, as he was very ill indeed. The big challenge now will be for Dave to find the workshop key. Charlotte tells me it will be harder for him to find than a six-second tune up. Dave was overwhelmed by the number of messages wishing him well from Eurodragster.com readers in the UK, across Europe and from the US and he wanted to say thanks to all for their kind words. A great reminder of what a tight-knit and supportive community the drag race family is." If you were tuned in to our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage of the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball you will know that there was a fair amount of downtime at the race due to weather and various incidents. Here, Super Pro ET racer Joe Williams and John of Phil Toppin's Pro ET team pass some of that downtime by re-enacting a famous Frost Report sketch with your News Editor. "I know my place", says Tog. The UK's Team Gridlock Wild Bunch team is extremely please to announce that Paul of Pauls Place is helping out big time with their rebuild after a valve and rod failure at the Easter Thunderball. "We were determined for Adam to run on Easter Monday, and drove back to Essex for some spares", says Dexter Price. "We ended up working into the early hours to cobble together a mismatch of parts so we could run on the Monday. Paul will be crewing with us at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway for some fine tuning of the car as well as appearing with the team for some filming. More news on this will be announced on Eurodragster.com soon - it will be a great boost to the Team Gridlock portfolio." ©Eurodragster.com On the subject of the Springspeed Nationals, which is the second or third UK National Championship round depending upon your class as well as a Championship round for several other series, entry is still open for the event which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 1st-3rd May. You can download the official entry form from the Downloads page of the Shakespeare County Raceway web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Christine, Sandy, Stuart and Holli have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for today (Sunday) to UK Super Comp racer Collin Morrice. No sooner said than done guys, have a great day Collin. Christine adds a big Good Luck to Collin and to Linton Granta FC for their Cup Final in May. These came too late for yesterday's news update so a big Happy Birthday for yesterday to Lizz McCarthy of Kev Charman's Funny Bike team and to Santa Pod Raceway Track Announcer Colin Theobald. Hope you both had good days, guys. UK Supertwin racer Ian Turburville has reluctantly put his Overkill-powered Mr Spokehead bike up for sale. For full details check out www.turboville.co.uk/turbo-7/classifieds.htm. The Jago Owners Club would like to invite Jago Hot Rod owners, past and present, to join them as at Stoneleigh on Sunday 2nd May as they once again play host to Geoff and celebrate his 50th year in business. "We were honoured to have Geoff, his family and the management of Jago Developments join us last year for the Club's 25th anniversary and are delighted he wants to return this year - and we still have the 40th anniversary of the Geep/Sandero to celebrate next year!", says Mark Elliott. "For further details please visit the forum at www.jagoownersclub.co.uk and check out the Show section. If you would like to display your vehicle on the stand please let us know in advance. Last year we had fifty vehicles on display so space is at a premium and we would like to set aside a specific area for Jago rods." Swift snippets. 10th April: Santa Pod Raceway have announced the first TV broadcast dates for its 2010 shows on both Motors TV and Eurosport. "We are particularly looking forward to the Easter Thunderball where we get the chance to see former Top Fuel Champion Barry Sheavills strutting his stuff in front of the cameras as a co-presenter of the show!", says Caroline Day. Current broadcast schedules are The Fast Show on British Eurosport tomorrow (Sunday 11th) at 19:00 and the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball next Saturday (17th) at 13:30. Stay tuned to www.santapod.com for further broadcast and repeat details. Bug Jam and Ultimate Street Car are also on the broadcast schedule later this year. European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the event. Mike is currently qualified second in TAD and you will be able to stay in touch with his progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter is the subject of a Q&A on the web page of his sponsor K&N Filters. You can check out the Q&A at www.knfilters.com/news/news.aspx?ID=2611. Spencer Tramm has asked us to send his very best wishes for a long and happy future to UK Outlaw Flat Four racer Jim Smith and fiancée Sharon Williams who are to be married in Cheltenham at 1 o'clock today. We're very pleased to do so, all the very best to you guys and you know where to send our slices of cake. ©Eurodragster.com Adam Gleadow and everyone on the Motor Psycho blown altered team has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to Mick Gleadow. No sooner said than done, have a great day Mick. UEM Kunmadaras entry update. 9th April: Thanks to Geoff Myers of Power Racing Promotions for passing on the current entry for the first round of the 2010 UEM European Drag Bike Championship which takes place in Kunmadaras, Hungary on Friday 30th April to Sunday 2nd May: Top Fuel Bike Petri Paljakka (Finland) Rene Van Den Berg Supertwin Hans Olav Olstad (Norway) Trond Jostein Hoiberget (Norway) Ismo Maenpaa (Finland) Roel Koedam (Netherlands) Roman Sixta (CZ) Martyn de Haas Sami Kempainnen (Finland) Lorenz Stauble (Switzerland) Job Heezen (Netherlands) ©Eurodragster.com Pro Stock Bike Tóth Zoltán (Hungary) Ulf Ögge (Sweden) Kalle Lyrén (Sweden) Anders Abrahamsson (Sweden) Kenneth Vik (Norway) Karl-Heinz Weikum (Germany) Per M. Olsen (Denmark) Fredrik Fredlund (Åland) Gert-Jan Laseur Bousinis Haralambos (Greece) Jesper Thiel Petridis Dimitrios (Greece) Zafiriadis Antonis (Greece) The Hungarian event entry fax is 00-36-36-516-612: this number is available Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 16.30. Due to an earlier fax problem, if any team believes that they have entered yet do not appear on this list then please E-Mail the Hungarian promoter immediately at hajoe@t-online.hu. You can download the entry form (PDF format) by clicking here. Out for Revenge! 9th April: Sweden's Ulf 'Totte' Lindqvist says that it is time not just for revenge, but big time revenge. Not Freddy's Revenge either, but the Bad Luck Boys Revenge Tour 2010. "After two major engine breakdowns and the lack of cash and sponsors the 2009 season was a big disappointment to the team, our sponsors, and myself", says Ulf. "The low ET dream with the high-revving ex-Skinne Pro Stock engine will remain a dream as we have made plans for a softer set-up. ©Eurodragster.com "Don't all kids love blower engines? And all altereds should have a blower on top. When I saw my first methanol-burning Funny Car in the early 1970s I was hooked for life, and now the plan was to get a nice and gentle blower motor. A US-built 468 Chevy engine was located - with a 10/71 blower on top of course. The bonus is that it has a modern electronic injection system from FAST which is up to date and with which it is possible to run on gasoline, E85 or methanol. We will start with racing gas because that was the last fuel it ran on, and we don't want to make any more stupid mistakes. "This year is our year for revenge on Bad Luck! We hope to get out on track in Sweden in May and let the new-style blown Topolino make its way down the strip a lot more times than in 2009. We have also made the Topolino style complete with some new fibreglass stuff. This will hopefully make our main sponsor The Lonesome Pine happy. "Check out our web page at www.smokingtire.se and our Blog at badluckboys.smokingtire.se." Malmgren set for 2010. 9th April: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren has been in touch with the latest from the Lahega-sponsored team: Malmgren Racing has renewed its contract with Lahega as Title Sponsor. In addition Oakley are renewing their deal and will supply the team with safety gear, driving suit, eye wear and other cool stuff for all of our ccrew members. With Lahega we will do a lot of business activities including twenty five to thirty VIP passenger runs at Veidec Raceway in Malmö. Also will we put our rig on display at several truck shows and automotive shows. ©Eurodragster.com Last year's race engine is at Bob Ingles' shop for updating and we hope for good power to be able to run at the front of the pack. We know for sure it's just going to be more and more tough each year as more and more teams are getting good power and buying good engines in the USA. But Bob Ingles has proven over many years to be up to the challenge as his engines have always been the fastest. For more information see www.malmgrenracing.com. Goring aims to return. 9th April: UK Jet Funny Car pilot says that the Firestorm team will be back if humanly possible after a high-speed crash on Monday which severely damaged the 6.0-second Firebird. "The car is very, very ill but where there's a will there's a way", says Roger. "We will put it in the garage and leave it for a few days, and then we will start to take it apart and see what's what. Right now it looks like junk." Roger says that he and partner Helen have been overwhelmed by the response to the crash. "Firstly I must say Thank You to the SPRC crew and the medics who were all so professional", he says. "I hope I never have to witness it again but those guys are the best. And all that SFI stuff which people moan about - well, that does the job when you need it. That's the difference with drag racing. "As for the fans - soon as we got back to the pits literally hundreds of people bought posters, shirts and merchandise because they wanted us to have the money to rebuild. Others just walked up to us and made donations there and then. It's fantastic and very humbling." Roger's web site at www.firestorm-jfc.co.uk has been updated with Helen and Roger's thoughts in the wake of the crash, as well as links to Merchandise and a means to donate via PayPal. Page: I'm OK, but... 9th April: Legendary UK Fuel pilot Gary Page asked us to reassure his fans that he is quite OK after his fearsome crash in the Chaos Fuel Altered at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. Gary is quite fortunate in that he is the only person who doesn't remember the impact. "It felt quite smooth and pulled the wheels up", Gary told Eurodragster.com. "I took a handful of brake and got off the throttle a bit and steered it. The next thing I remember is sliding down the track with the Mapei banner across the window thinking "What the hell?". Johnny Mac was one of the first people there and he said that he knew that I wasn't totally OK because I wasn't talking! He said that I was removing my gloves pulling on each finger in turn as if I was at a dinner party. "I am very grateful to the safety crew, the doctors, and the staff at Bedford Hospital whom I hopefully won't see again this year! Thanks to Kathy Taylor, Lesley Wright and my niece Heide who came to hospital to listen to me talking rubbish or snoring. Thanks also to everyone who has sent messages and to Paul Wratten who came by - I very much appreciate what you said Paul. I am sorry to everyone for the delay, that was because the safety crew didn't think my neck felt right so they wanted to take their time." Incredibly for someone with his years of experience in Top Fuel, Fuel Funny Car, Fuel Altered, blown-alcohol altered and Senior Comp Altered and with a huge number of Championships and event wins in the UK, Europe and Sweden to his and his brothers' names Gary tells us that a number of 'experts' wasted no time in loudly pointing the finger over what happened on Sunday. "The great thing about England is that it's a democracy and that you can say what you like", said Gary. "You have to draw the line at people saying I shouldn't have been in that car though. If any of you are at the Main Event and have time between slating people to come and tell me what I have been doing wrong all this time then maybe I can take your advice and start to win. I know who you are, you know who you are, come and talk to me any time." Car owner Lawrie Gatehouse asked us to add his own his team's appreciation to the emergency rescue crew, medics, marshals, track crew, tech crew and all involved in sorting out Chaos' altercation with the guardrail. "Thankfully Gary is OK, apart from a terrific headache on Sunday night and various bruises that are starting to come out", said Lawrie. "Apologies also are due to SPRC, SPR and fellow racers for the delay to the racing programme caused by the necessary clean-up. "We had high hopes for the season and it is disappointing that we now have to substantially rebuild, which will involve quite a raid on the piggy bank. But, as they say 'Never quit', so we will be back, trying to tame the nitro dragon which goes with Fuel Altered racing." Swift snippets. 9th April: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the event. The race starts today and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com The Dealer's weekend of positives. 9th April: After a disappointing 2009 in which they struggled with the clutch all season, ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt and the Dealer team arrived at the 2010 Easter Thunderball with a bunch of new parts and high hopes, writes Phil Baimbridge: During 2009 we couldn't get the clutch to engage properly for the first two seconds of a pass and although the incremental times from 330 feet onwards were 6.30 standard our season best was 6.43 - often much slower. Over the close season we fitted a new larger diameter gearbox input shaft, totally rebuilt the clutch and invested in new friction plates of a different grade of friction material. We set the clutch to our original trusted "safe" setting. After not insignificant persuasion from the Dealer crew, Steve finally came up with a MSD Pro Mag 44 magneto, which replaced the twin Mallory Supermags we had been running. Rebore Rod made an excellent job of manufacturing the crank trigger arrangement and modifying the magneto drive, and the team fitted the associated components neatly on an already "busy" motorcycle. After making the biggest single change to the fuel system that I had made in twenty five years of Fuel Bike racing and reducing the nitro load substantially the team prepared for our first pass at the Easter Thunderball. The bike fired up easily, sounded strong and burnt out without any problems. Steve hit the throttle and the back tyre lit up immediately. Well, at least the clutch worked (and I was happy to get through the burnout!). Back to the pits. We increased the overall gear ratio, took a lot of weight off the clutch arms and waited for the second qualifying session. Steve hit the throttle and the back tyre shook, but stuck to the track; a short-shifted half pass (shut down after 4.65 seconds) resulted in 6.96/150. The timing ticket showed a 1.06 sixty foot time, close to our best, and 4.23/172 at the eighth mile. The team were happy with the progress. ©Eurodragster.com Sunday arrived and the weather stayed kind to us. We had added some weight to the #2 stage clutch arms. On the third qualifying session the bike launched, but spun the back tyre after just under 0.5 seconds. We weren't sure if it was the bike or the track - Dave Wilson had spun the rear tyres at the same place - so we left the clutch as it was for the fourth qualifier and, you guessed it, exactly the same happened. Not much progress, but never mind: Jackie made jam and cream scones for afternoon tea. We had a single qualifying session on the Monday morning. After some discussion we took weight off the #1 and #2 stage clutch arms and added weight to the #3 and #4 stages, and moved the release time out on all stages. On the pass the rear tyre stuck to the ground and the bike ran smooth, without any tyre shake, and straight until it was shut down after 4.7 seconds, carding a 6.66/159. Back in the pits we found that we had run our best ever sixty foot time of 1.05, 330 foot of 2.71 and eighth mile of 4.09. The datalogger showed that Steve had short-shifted, allowing the clutch to drop out of engagement, something that would cost us close to 0.1 seconds with the old set-up. We'd also nibbled the electrodes on three of the spark plugs. Having serviced the bike and adjusted the fuel system the team went out for the first round elimination against Rene van den Berg expecting great things. Unfortunately, the blower belt tensioner idler came loose during the burnout and we had to shut down, giving Rene the win. Rene went on to win the meeting, well done Rene. The early exit provided the Dealer team with the opportunity to reflect on the positives: All of the engineering work undertaken to install the "big" mag and associated parts has worked without fault. The clutch clearly works, and we have some control. The engine is still in one piece. First time out with the "big" mag Steve had run his best ever eighth mile with a higher gear ratio and a substantially lower nitro load and in less than ideal track conditions. As always, Steve's reaction times were consistently quick - compare them to other Fuel bikes - and the Dealer crew had maintained the bike faultlessly throughout. The Dealer team left the meeting happy with our progress and looking forward to running the race bike again. We would like to take the opportunity to thank our sponsors for their continuing support: Motorcycles Unlimited, G&S Valves, G-Max Racing Fuels, Mickey Thompson Tyres, PreTech Engineering, ACL Bearings, NGK Europe, Bikes of Brighton, Richa, Shoei, Rebore Rod...and me! Dr Evil's mad weekend. 9th April: UK Pro Modified racer Ray White says that the Lethal Z team had a mad weekend at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball: The weekend started on a bit of a low with my old mate and crew member Big Steve Dowler at home after his hospital stay. I have never driven the car without Steve being in the front bringing me into stage but on a better note I had the dream team: Adrian "Big Dog" Spencer, Danny "Big Balls" Cockerill, Chris "Hooligan" Manning, Danny "Caveman" De'ath and last but not least Steve "The Escort" Macintyre. I thought I had found the oil problem doing burnouts at Brands Hatch but after our first burnout I was wrong. Stopped again, tow back, crew start inspecting the motor and five minutes later Adrian finds it - two unplugged holes, one in each head, which I thought went nowhere. Wrong! Adrian looked at me and said "Best you go for a walk and leave this to us", but not quite as polite as that. Bit of a weird feeling walking off and leaving the others to work on the car. Still, quite nice to go for a walk and have a chat. Got called back, fired the car, all was well. Down to the line to try again. Nice burnout, Adrian told me the motor's clean at last. Going into stage Ian Marshall did that all-too-familiar hand across the throat. What now? We had too much fuel venting from the breather which exits through the back. You can't drive these cars with any chance of a fluid leak. Back to the pits again, up the track the wrong side of the wall. On further inspection the breather tank had no baffles. Split the tank, tigged in some plates. The motor was also running fat because of the weather so we added a bit more timing. Wow, the motor sounded diffrent again. ©Eurodragster.com On Sunday we went down to the start line. Burnout, no oil or fuel leaks, thumbs-up from Ian, Adrian began to bring me into stage. Just about to put on the first bulb and it started to rain. Turned off the motor and pushed back. I just had to laugh, Adrian was laughting and shaking his head, I sat in the car for what seemed an eternity and actually fell asleep strapped in. I got the call to fire up, into stage all good let the clutch up - instant shake, still 1.175 sixty foot. Backed off, punched second gear, hit the throttle, where did all this power come from?! It was like being drop-kicked in the chest, never felt anything like it. Clicked the motor off and coasted through. Back to the pits and couldn't stop smiling. Adrian said "She's got some power, boy". Adrian wanted three runs to set up the new clutch. On the second pass into stage, brought up the revs 6000 rpm and dropped the clutch. 1.05 sixty foot, just about to punch second gear and had shake. Backed off, nailed it again punched second gear just to check the box and the car just flew. Backed off and coasted to the end and back to pits for a few more clutch adjustments. Had Graham Ellis in the first round on Monday, Warmed up the motor in the morning, all the usual checks were OK. Fired the motor down on the line and tried to engage first gear - nothing. Clicked into reverse, OK, tried forward - nothing. Clicked off the motor because I didn't want Graham waiting too long. Back to the pits, pulled the Lenco out and first gear was smashed. I came away with the oil leak fixed, the original Lenco problem fixed, a 1.05 sixty foot time and the 330 foot times were OK for a good six second pass. Bring on the Main Event! I must thank all the crew who made my weekend, Ian Marshall and all the guys for being so patient, my wife Jacky for keeping all the crew fed and watered, and of course all you Eurodragster.com staff for your relentless hard work (Thanks! - Ed). See you all at the Main Event. The Snake's last bite. 9th April: UK Fuel Altered racer Tony Betts says that the Venom team faced the hardest ever thrash to make the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball: Jason, Roy, Dave, Jamie and Jeff of FGR Motorsport pulled out all the stops to make sure the car was ready for the team to add their final touches to a masterpiece. We finally started the car on Saturday night and all looked good until we went to turn the engine over to lube the supercharger. The engine was really tight so we decided to strip the engine down through the night. Due to other commitments Kevin, John and Micky were not able to be there so stand in Crew Chief fell to Ian who worked his socks off along with Jim, Ken and Alex to get it stripped ready for Kevin and John to look at in the morning. Kevin found the buttons on the pistons were a bit proud and once machined back a bit all was ok. We were ready for the 4 o'clock session and Venom looked awesome. Our oldest fan Brian said that Venom looked more like a show car than a race car and he was right. We had changed a few things through the winter so everyone was waiting to see the results. We were not disappointed: Venom sounded awesome on the track even though she had a mild tune-up. ©Eurodragster.com On the burnout she spun up well and went arrow straight. "Something must be wrong, she never does that" I thought. Kevin gave me the nod to go to the line and Four Arms guided me in. The launch felt good but there was something missing...oh yes, no tyre shake. I could see everything and this was not normal. The rattlesnake had turned back into the the King Cobra. I had my orders for a sixty-foot pass and was ready to get off the throttle (honest) when the cable broke loose. This meant a slow idle down to the first exit and a very pleased Mr Da Snake. Ah but there was a sting still left in the tail of the rattle snake. The marshals guided me into the gate and as I was turning the steering wheel the column snapped and Venom went into the wall at about 10 mph. I was livid and jumped from Venom and helped the marshals get her off the track. On inspection the column, which comes in two pieces and is then welded once the length is sorted, was only tack welded. This was the only piece used from the old car which was built by the guy in USA so hopefully the rattler has gone. This means a bit more work for FGR and Signarama but we know this is going to be one awesome Fuel Altered. Thanks go to Teng Tools, Signarama, NGK Spark Plugs, J A Mackenzie Haulage, Superpower Unlimited, Motoserve, Autobrite, S-3 Solutions and MHD Group Ltd. Finally a big thanks to Venom's great crew and catering staff. Making a long wait worthwhile. 9th April: Having been out of competition for nearly two years following major engine damage at the 2008 FIA Main Event, UK Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris Isaacs was looking forward to the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball more than to any race meeting for as long as he could remember: In the week leading up to the event I was faced with a weather forecast which suggested that I may have to wait a bit longer for my return trip down the track! As we all now know, the reality was rather kinder than those grumpy people at the Met Office predicted, and whilst the weather and the various unfortunate incidents kept us to only three qualifying shots to sort out the new motor, the weekend couldn't have gone better for us. ©Eurodragster.com We only got to switch on the nitrous in the first round - not ideal preparation, perhaps, in a consistency-based class - but managed to get through against some of Super Pro's confirmed heavy-hitters and win an excellent final round against Peter Walters. He and I cut 0.02 and 0.01 lights respectively, and I had just enough room at the other end to work the throttle pedal and take a narrow finish-line margin at the stripe. Now, all that wouldn't have been possible without a lot of help from various people so, hopefully without sounding too much like an Oscar acceptee, I would like to express my gratitude to the following people. First and foremost to my lovely girlfriend Rosie, who in November 2009 told me "We are going racing next year even if we have to drink tap water all winter, so fix that car!" and then worked hard both at the track and in the weeks leading up to the event to make sure all of us were comfy and well-fed. There's no escape now, honey! To my great crew of George and Rachel Georgiou and Chris Dixon, who worked with their usual enthusiastic and selfless efficiency all weekend to the point where I did almost nothing to the car other than to drive it. To Jeff Bull who took my old Corvette aluminium heads and crafted an eight-second doorslammer engine running on Super Unleaded and a tiny hit of gas - top stuff. To Spencer Tramm for all his help and support over the winter in getting us back to the track, we wouldn't have made Easter without you. And finally to Tog and all at Eurodragster.com for a great service (You're welcome, thank you - Ed) and for printing all the run data in the race report so people like me can scare ourselves looking at how consistently good on the tree the likes of Messrs Walters, Giles and Everitt are... The only trouble now is, I wish my next race was this weekend! Belinda's memorable weekend. 9th April: UK Super Modified racer Belinda Bull says that the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball will be a weekend to remember for herself and husband and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff for several reasons: We were very honoured to have Doug Herbert and his wife Ginger as our guests on Good Friday and the great company and the hospitality from the Santa Pod staff more than made up for the weather. After only one qualifying run on the Saturday and two aborted runs on the Sunday due to tyre shake, we managed to qualify second with a 7.54. Jeff had made what we hoped would be the right adjustments to get the truck out of the hole and a very nice 1.06 sixty foot and a 7.51 were the result. Despite being disqualified for a blue line violation we were very pleased with the ET and a new Personal Best over sixty feet, and we got the data that we needed. ©Eurodragster.com All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and we'd like to thank a few people. Special thanks to Doug and Ginger for making the trip over from North Carolina to spend some time with us at the track. Doug's support for 2010 is also very much appreciated as is his advice which I will be putting into practice throughout the season. Thanks to David and Caroline at Santa Pod for their help in making the arrangements for Doug's visit and to everyone else at Santa Pod, Eurodragster.com, Nitro FM and of course the Herbert fans for making Doug and Ginger so welcome. Thanks also to Ken Coleman for making the six-hour round trip, to Spencer for his help, to Yvonne for the cake and, as always, a huge thank you to the hardworking Tech guys and the Santa Pod crew, every single one of you, well done! Well done to Fred on the win and also to Martin for a great driving job keeping the 'Vette shiny side up. See you at Big Bang! Nice paint, bad transmission. 9th April: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett and team started the weekend at Santa Pod on a high due to the reception which the newly-painted car received. Ron tells us that the weekend was unfortunately soon overshadowed: After pulling the box from the car we found that the high gear clutch drum was eating the pump. The prop was now too long. So a quick trip back to the workshop, over 300-mile round trip, and some eight hours later the gear box was back in the car. With no time to test we were out on another qualifier and ran 10.8 without nitrous, with a very soft launch, and with a complete gearbox. The cruise went without a hitch. ©Eurodragster.com In the first round of eliminations we were up against Moose's Cortina. I put a bit more nitrous in the car than we had previously run and took out a little more timing out which resulted in a cough on the line giving the win to Moose. When I restarted the car Ian said to go. I got to about sixty feet then activated the nitrous and went through the top end at 148 mph. But all was not good as something let go in the transmission and the motor lost fire, so I coasted to a halt after being told to stop by the fire marshal. After checking it on Wednesday night we found the coil wire off and the oil cooler line broken as it bolts to the block. Thank god for that. Easter Thunderball NFAA review. 9th April: Matt Glassup has been in touch with a review of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association's weekend at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball: I guess the best place to start would be to comment on the success of the Wratten, Draper and Lotsapower stickered Dirty Harry Topolino. The boys done good, and put in consistently quick qualifiers, sitting out one round of qualifying only and taking the winning trophy at the end of the weekend in fine fashion with a six-second pass. Well done guys, keep 'em coming! I know you'll be hunting down that new PB at the next meet, hopefully the track will be a bit warmer and you can get the job done. Bob and I would like to express how sorry we were to see Lawrie Gatehouse's Chaos in such a state after Gary Page's impact with the wall. Gary hit the wall pretty hard (see above) and was considerably shaken up, luckily he was all OK and thankfully after a hospital visit and check over Gary was back to the pod with the rest of the team. Joe Bond and the Nuthin' Fancy team put in a superb pass of 6.62 and 205 mph which was a new PB for Joe. He was off the pedal for some direction adjustment in that time period too, so there is certainly a 6.50 in there! Unfortunately things ended a little badly for Joe as the engine decided to send a rod through the block and cut short his weekend of fun. Not down about it, Joe insisted he would be pretty quick to get things back on-track and hopefully get the car repaired for the Summernationals all being well. Jon Best, Bill Felstead and the rest of the crew worked tirelessly all weekend to get a pass in, but just couldn't get the car down the track until the very last opportunity, a gifted pass into the last pairing on Monday afternoon as fifth qualifier. If races were won on audio then Jon would be celebrating now because the car sounded cracking and there were a lot of positive remarks about how mental it sounded. After a storming start to the run, the engine unfortunately decided to bite back and began systematically throwing a rod or two south until the team were left with four jingling around where they shouldn't be. ©Eurodragster.com Tony Betts had been testing his new car, and after a super smooth sixty foot launch, which Tony reported back was 'beautiful' when he crossed the line a tack weld on the steering side broke and the car saw some damage as it veered into a gate at the top end, hurting the new body and the fuel tank (see above). I would like to thank all the teams and drivers for their support, attendance, and communication over the weekend. It was the first weekend of the slightly revised NFAA point structure, and it ended up being somewhat of a task due to the nature of unpredictability and the number of cars that ended up hurt and unable to make the final four pairings on Monday. Everyone was fantastic and the weekend was a pleasure despite all the heartache and troubles individual teams suffered. Our own team didn't escape the gremlins and we actually managed number six qualifier in the six-car field. This was achieved by being the only car in the class not to make a pass, or even get into stage all weekend. With five trips down to the start line and five burnouts, we just couldn't get the car into reverse and then subsequently forward gear. Lee, Mark, Richard, Bob, myself worked so hard to fix the problem with assistance from other racers including our A/Fuel compadre Derek Flynn. We spent all weekend trying various things and tinkering, unfortunately the car was perfectly well behaved up on its stands in the pits, however when we got on the track...things played out a little differently. We have whittled it down to a transbrake issue with our Bruno Lenco, however we can't be sure as it does seem to work perfectly when in the pits, so we will be investigating further down at Xtreme HQ, Steve Wright's Hangar in the west country. Thanks to all the crew for working so hard over the weekend, your efforts were well appreciated, and it was great to cheer Pete Walters along into his first Super Pro ET final! Thanks Derek and Fiona for all your help with the Jetsize DOS magic of Bessie, she did good! Shame we didn't get to put it to good use. Thanks to Santa Pod for the support of the NFAA, and hopefully we can come back stronger at the Summernationals after our next round at Shakespeare County Raceway, the Open Sports Nationals. Thanks to the Eurodragster.com team for the coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed) and anyone who came by our pit and threw in some technical support over the weekend, particularly Kev Slyfield, Andy Robinson and Paul Stubbins. Web site updates. 9th April: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, a busy Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén gives us a rushed update from the VEIDEC team's workshop, with the promise of more soon. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Dart product update. 9th April: Now Ford Windsor enthusiasts have an affordable foundation for building Sportsman racing and street performance engines. Eurodragster.com sponsor Dart has introduced a new SHP block for the 9.500" deck 351 Windsor Ford small block. Designed for high performance applications, the SHP block comes with 4.000" or 4.125" Siamese cylinder bores and four bolt main caps on the center three main saddles. The front and rear caps are two bolt, allowing the use of stock type oil pans. A priority main oiling system supplies oil to the critical main bearings first for improved high rpm lubrication. The valley is machined to allow the use of OE style roller lifters and retainer (spider), and most stock type accessories will fit the SHP block. The future just got a little brighter for those looking to build a street performance or Sportsman racing small block Ford engine without breaking the bank. More information at www.dartheads.com. ©Eurodragster.com Beck hospitalised. 8th April: We are sad to have to report that multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck is currently in hospital with an as-yet unidentified but serious health issue. Stephen Moon, sponsor and PR manager, takes up the story: Dave has been feeling unwell with what he thought were 'flu symptoms for a number of weeks. In the busy days leading up to the Easter meeting, he began to feel worse with severe fatigue and bouts of muscle weakness. The decision was made to compete in the meeting in order to give the new bike some track time, hopefully in the process collecting some points for qualifying and making the elimination rounds. Dave checked with the Santa Pod doctor and was cleared to race. Sunday's motor change taxed him a lot and by race day he was feeling a lot worse. He took it relatively easy on race day, but by Monday evening was worse and on Tuesday morning his doctor had him admitted to hospital, where he currently is. ©Eurodragster.com The problem is not yet fully diagnosed, but Dave has an extremely elevated level of an enzyme in his blood which can indicate serious issues including muscle breakdown or problems with major organs including the heart, liver and kidneys. At present Dave is being seen by a series of specialists who are trying to understand the underlying issue and it is expected that he will be hospitalised for some days until the situation becomes clearer. Dave sounds very upbeat and is already planning the next meeting but at present his heath is the primary concern. Knowing Dave, it won't be long before he is trying to sneak back into the workshop. We are sure that Eurodragster.com's readers will join us in wishing Dave well. Get well soon Dave and we hope to see you back on track very quickly. Swift snippets. 8th April: Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. You can check out the timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. With a full season of 9.50 Bike planned for 2010, the UK's Jake Mechaell is pleased to announce sponsorship from Portfolios Property Management who are celebrating ten successful years as property managers and property investors. Managing Director Andrew Beales says: "We at Portfolios pride ourselves on attention to detail and identifying good opportunities at an early stage. When we became aware of Jake's burgeoning drag bike racing career, the accuracy that is required, and his undoubted natural talent we were pleased to help and support him and to prove once again we know a good thing when we see it." European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting the event. The race starts tomorrow and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com This picture by Paul Whitehouse is being auctioned for the Allard Chrysler Dragster restoration fund. The picture shows Alan Allard driving the Mk II Allard Chrysler in the rain at Blackbushe in 1965. "Paul has called the painting Reflections of 1965 and, as with his painting of the Mk I dragster racing Mooneyes in 1963, it is of the highest quality", says Brian Taylor. "As most of you will know the Mk II is the car which replaced the dragster currently being restored by the ACAG and the engine is the unit previously residing in the earlier car. It was eventually purchased by Clive Skilton. The current top bid is £500, those interested please contact brian@allardchrysler.org." Steve Dudley tells us that the last event of the season takes place at the 1/24 scale MrC Raceway from 2:00 pm this Sunday (11th). The Club is located at The Sturdee Sports and Social Club, Stoke Road, Hoo, Rochester, Kent ME3 9LT. Steve says "From the A2 (M2 Junction 1), follow the signs to Grain A289, then following the Grain signs onto A228, pick up the signs for Kingsnorth Power Station which will turn you right into Stoke Road. Continue towards the river, the road will turn sharp left, go straight on into the Sturdee Club which is right on the bend. Don't look for the Sturdee Club sign as it's blown down, look for the big black gates right on the bend!" All of the Santa Pod Racers Club marshals and Santa Pod Raceway staff have asked us to send their best wishes for a long and happy future to SPRC Pit Marshal Marcus Walker and fiancée Shona who are getting married today (Thursday). Our pleasure guys; we would like to add our own best wishes to Marcus and Shona as, we're sure, will all of our readers. Editor's note: Your News Editor is still a little unwell so it's another abbreviated news update today. Tune back tomorrow and we'll bring you right up to date, and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. VP Racing Fuels to supply SPR. 8th April: Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European drag racing, has signed an exclusive deal for VP Racing Fuels to be their official fuel supplier for the entire 2010 season. The deal sees the respected fuel manufacturer supplying its diverse range of race fuels to racers and teams throughout the year. With many of the 'Pod's front runners from across Europe already relying on VP's unique formulations to power them to victory, the move will undoubtedly be welcome news, thanks to the new facility for teams to either buy fuel at the Pod Shop or, for the heavy drinkers, to have it delivered in bulk to their pits for the ultimate in convenience. Commenting on the deal Jim Kelly, European Regional Manager for VP, said "We're thrilled to be involved with Santa Pod Raceway on this level. VP is the Official Fuel of NHRA, IHRA and ADRL in North America as well as the FIA European Pro Stock Championship and we are the fuel supplier to some of the highest profile drag strips there. Santa Pod is the premier drag facility in the UK so we are honoured to have been selected as their Official Fuel Supplier." David Lloyd Jones, Santa Pod's General Manager, added "Naturally we're delighted to have VP as our official fuelling partner. Because so many of the leading teams use it already, we know that this will be a popular move - and it hopefully removes some of the logistical problem of moving large quantities of fuel for some of the European teams." The timing of the partnership is perfect with racers able to order fuel immediately for delivery in time for any of the 'Pods forthcoming meetings simply by clicking to the online order section at www.santapod.com or by calling the team on 01234 782828 (+44 1234 782828). ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 8th April: Further to yesterday's Swift Snippet the official web site of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship has been updated with a report and pictures of the Pro Modified action at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. Check it out at http://www.msadragracing.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Santa Pod Raceway's web site has been updated with trophy presentation pictures from the weekend's race. You can find the trophy shots at www.santapod.co.uk/e_easter.php. Jamie Dyks has updated his Fotopic gallery at topnitro.fotopic.net with pictures from the Easter Thunderball. New on two wheels. 7th April: Our good buddy and honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Christer Abrahamson attended the FHRA American Car Show and MC Heaven in Helsinki over the weekend with former Santa Pod track manager Kjell Pettersson and a bunch of guys and girls from Iron Horse Motorcycle Club. "We were all doing a little bit of promotion for the Iron Horse Show which takes place on 3rd July in the harbour at Nyköping", says Christer. More than 65,000 visitors looked at five hundred vehicles from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, the UK and Canada. There were lots of drag racing cars and bikes, but what caught my eye the most were two new bikes from FIM/UEM categories. "The first (below left) is a Top Fuel Bike - not really a new bike, I realise, as it was formerly owned by Ian King - but some of the team members are familiar names from the bike scene in Scandinavia: rider Petri Paljakka; Crew Chief Pasi Söderlund; mechanics Ripa Toikkainen, Pasi Hirvasoja and Markku Hirviniitty; maintenance Minna Paljakka and Virve Voutinen. ©Eurodragster.com "The other is well-known NDRS Super Gas Bike racer Timo Savolainen who has entered Pro Stock Bike with a completely new bike (above right). The chassis was built by MotoSpeed. Timo plans to start out at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro and then maybe Mantorp and Gardermoen." Hanssen gears up for 2010. 7th April: It has been a very busy off-season for Fred Hanssen's Islanders Black & White Drag Racing Team. The Top Methanol Dragster team hopes to improve on their sixth place finish in the FIA European Championship last year. As if losing in the first round at the last race at Santa Pod was not enough of a sour note to go into the off-season, the chassis was found to be tweaked from the rear tyre explosion which occurred on that run. Luckily the talented Norwegian chassis builder Jan Arve Nygård was able to replace a few sections of pipe to get the car back square. Team Crew Chief and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna has been busy back in the USA co-ordinating all of the parts for recertification and refurbishment, and getting the new parts on order. Hanna will make the trip to Norway in late April to assemble the car. "We have been pretty busy over the winter", said Hanna. "We're just double checking everything and trying to make it all just a little better. Most of the big things are done, now it's just a matter of chasing down the small parts. ©Eurodragster.com "I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do at Santa Pod. We had the horsepower back at Santa Pod, but we never made a good run. We ran a 5.38 out of the trailer shaking very hard. We had parts problems the rest of the weekend, but we went 216.95 mph to half track twice. As tough as the fields are now, we will have to run low 5.30s or better just to compete. I predict by the end of the season one of the blown cars will have run a high 5.2, and that one of the A/Fuellers will have run a low 5.2 or high teen at 280 mph plus." Hanna will not only work with the team at the track, but will also oversee between race maintenance. "There's a lot of work that has to be done to these cars between races to be 100% ready", he explained. "The deal came together so quick last year, we really didn't have any provisions to get the car ready for each race, so it was whatever I could get done to the car before or after a race. This year our goal is to show up, put the awning up and roll out a race-ready car." For 2010 the team has added associate sponsorship from Brad Penn Oil and Fosen Tools. Swift snippets. 7th April: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secratary Paula Marshall for forwarding Version 4 of the official entry list for Big Bang, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-25th April. Click here to check out the Big Bang entry list, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry to Big Bang is still open but is now subject to a penalty fee. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. ©Eurodragster.com Thanks also to Paula Marshall for sending us the post-Easter Thunderball points standings in the 2010 MSA Pro Modified Championship: Andy Robinson 103 Graham Ellis 77 Kev Slyfield 55 Philip Englefield 36 Henri Joosten 34 Ray White 14 You can find out more on the Championship's official web site at www.msadragracing.co.uk. Further to last Thursday's Swift Snippet, Lena Perés tells us that Chip Foose stopped by for a chat with FIA European Pro Modified Champion Mats Eriksson at the Custom Motor Show at Jonköping. "Chip remembered the Green Goblin very well from our last meeting about nine years ago", says Lena. "He knows Ray Hill very well so we gave him a greeting to take back home. At the Show we had a TV showing movies from racing and the workshop, so Chip had a good idea of what we are doing and he was very impressed with Mats' workshop, the machinery and L-G's welding job on chassis. He is a very nice and easy-going person." Web site updates. 7th April: Pelle Stanikowski has spent the off-season working on a new European Drag Racing Database to succeed the much-missed Eurodrag.com, which is now on-line at www.drdb.eu. "From the start I decided that if I was going to have the time to update this database it must be very tightly restricted", says Pelle. "So this is not a result list or database of competitions, but a list of drivers' best ETs in each class in European competition. I chose classes where the results are comparable, which is all classes of the FIA and UEM series, Comp Eliminator dragsters and altereds, and some regional or national classes: I chose to start with the Nordic Top Doorslammers, British Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association and Supertwin Top Gas running in different series across the continent. I started by collecting results published on the internet and also contacted some organisers and timing teams. Now I am continuing the search whilst I'm waiting for some answers. I realy hope that everyone who has access to the results lists, including cup organisers, race organisers and racers, will send in the missing results. Even those who find factual errors are welcome to let me know at info@drdb.eu." First with the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball photo updates is Colin Donisthorpe whose shots you can find at colindonisthorpe.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com Also posting from the Easter Thunderball is Paul Lister and you can check out his pictures on the Drag Car Anon web site at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Whilst we were all getting cold at Santa Pod Raceway Alan Currans completed some changes to the Allard Chrysler Action Group web site at www.allardchrysler.org which Brian Taylor tells us make it an even more useful reference. "As well as updating the News and Engine Progress pages, Alan has added a list of nostalgia items on which people can make offers with the proceeds going towards the restoration funds", says Brian. "The site also now features a page devoted to pictures of Ally in action and on display during the 1960s, and another page which starts a collection of articles about the car's early years. New postings for both of these history pages are most welcome. We now need to raise more funds so new supporters would also be most welcome. Support can be in the form of donations, buying items from our Merchandise page or downloading the song Ally Blue via the special link on the Ally Blue page. Help us bring history back to life by contacting brian@allardchrysler.org." Editor's note: Only a brief news update today as your News Editor is under the weather and needs rest. Tune back tomorrow for updates from the Bad Luck Boys, Roger Goring, Lawrie Gatehouse, Ray White, Tony Betts, Michael Malmgren and more, and keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Easter Thunderball results. 6th April: Congratulations to the winners at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway: Pro Fuel Shootout: Janne Ahonen no time def. Gordon Smith no time DQ MSA Pro Modified: Andy Robinson 7.4972/148.57 def.Graham Ellis 6.6061/219.09 DQ red Top Methanol: Dennis Habermann 10.3415/70.50 bye, Esko Raisvuo shut off Super Modified: Andy Hone 7.6519/181.31 def. Martin Curbishley no time DQ Super Pro ET: Chris Isaacs (8.92) 8.9402/142.90 def. Peter Walters (8.28) 8.3567/154.68 Pro ET: Dan Williams (9.60) 9.6058/125.79 def. Liz Malcolm (11.00) 11.0697/118.03 Sportsman ET: Geoff Cowley (14.75) 14.8658/91.42 def. Matthew Seamarks (18.30) 18.5142/68.25 Super Comp: Pete Creswell 8.9198/149.11 def. Paul Marston 8.9072/154.24 Super Gas: Jon Evans 9.9200/142.94 def. Stuart Morrice 9.8846/141.68 b/o Super Street: Neil Grant 10.8853/131.44 b/o def. Mark Watkins 10.8762/124.11 b/o Junior Dragster: Gabrielle McDonald (7.90) 8.0270/76.70 def. Zak Johnson (8.60) 8.9632/72.26 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Ian Hook 8.2601/169.82 def. Colin Lazenby 8.7749/167.28 DQ red Wild Bunch: Dave Rowlands (9.70) 9.7523/138.25 def. Darren Law (9.00) no time DQ Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association: Paul Wratten 6.7871/178.51 def. Jon Best 9.6749/76.04 VW Pro: Dave Bridge (12.70) 12.9966/101.02 def. Sam Young (11.99) 11.9567/97.04 b/o VW Sportsman: Dennis Cox (15.50) 15.5846/73.43 def. Matthew Bennett-Sime (19.10) 19.3564/63.83 ©Eurodragster.com Top Fuel Bike: Rene van den Berg 7.7912/198.01 def. Roel Koedam 7.6668/170.43 Pro Stock Bike: Len Paget 7.4736/176.44 def. Dave Beck 7.8815/147.60 Funny Bike: Christian Jäger 8.5985/138.13 def. Steve French no time Comp Bike: Ivan Birch 7.5140/173.05 bye, Dave Peters did not start Super Street Bike: Rick Stubbins 7.5847/186.59 def. Mick Templeman 8.0720/177.14 9.50 Bike: Jon Webster 9.5922/144.30 def. Richard Beck 9.4780/139.91 b/o The race was run in difficult conditions especially in the first couple of days and was marred by crashes but as ever SPRC race officials and racers pulled together and got the job done. Congratulations to the Eurodragster.com Perfect Award winners: Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award: John Everitt Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award: Mark Bailey Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award: Stuart Morrice You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored Easter Thunderball coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift snippets. 6th April: Fiona Flynn and the whole Gold RV team have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to UK Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor and Blogger Derek Flynn. No sooner said than done, have a great day Derek. We've also been asked to say a big Happy Birthday to Karen Wheeler by Bob and Rachel Day. Our pleasure, have a lovely day Karen. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 5th April: Speedgroup Co-ordinator Åsa Kinnemar sends Easter greetings from the BILSPORT Performance & Custom Motorshow at Elmia Fairgrounds at Jönköping Sweden. With one day of four left to go, the exhibition has attracted close to 70,000 visitors. Mantorp Park's display has focused on drag racing this year and newly appointed CEO Torbjörn Ekstrand asked FIA European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson and crew to bring Europe's quickest Pro Mod to the show, as well as Ludvig Perés' Junior Dragster to attract the younger visitors. Pictured is Top Fuel Dragster racer driver Jöran Persåker with crew and representing Mantorp Park Aila Striem Åsa. ©Eurodragster.com Finland's Mad Bomber Racing have decided to sit out 2010 due to personal and business commitments affecting key personnel. "We wish all the best to Jari Halinen and Janne Ahonen in their efforts in Top Fuel, as well to all their fellow Top Fuel competitors", says Simo Patoharju. "We hope everybody has their studded tires with them for the Easter meeting. Later in the year, Mad Bomber Racing will evaluate the situation regarding 2011 then make preliminary plans." We would like to wish a very Happy Wedding Anniversary to our Pit Reporter and Blog Editor Simon and his wife Ros. Have a lovely day guys. Impact decertification withdrawn. 2nd April: SFI Foundation's decertification of Impact Racing safety kit has been withdrawn for kit manufactured in 2009 and 2010. Kit manufactured before 2009 is still subject to decertification. A joint SFI Foundation/Impact Racing press release reads as follows: Impact Racing, LLC and SFI Foundation, Inc., in the litigation pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, have agreed that: 1. Impact Racing, LLC has provided sworn testimony that, upon review and investigation, no counterfeit SFI Conformance Labels have been used on Impact Racing products during the production years of 2009 and 2010. 2. Impact Racing, LLC has provided sworn testimony that, upon review and investigation, all Impact Racing products manufactured and sold during the production years 2009 and 2010 meet SFI specifications. 3. Based upon this sworn testimony, the decertification against Impact Racing products for the production years 2009 and 2010 is lifted. The decertification of the production years prior to 2009 and 2010 remains in effect. The parties will continue to work cooperatively in an effort to resolve the issues relating to decertification in these years. 4. Impact Racing stands behind the safety of all products it has manufactured and to which SFI Conformance Labels have been affixed. SFI will continue to monitor compliance with product specifications. 5. Impact Racing, LLC and SFI Foundation, Inc. will cooperate in determining whether any Impact Racing product bears a counterfeit SFI Conformance Label and if any safety issue exists in regard to products manufactured prior to 2009 and 2010. 6. If any Impact Racing product does not bear the date of manufacture the purchaser or user is instructed to immediately contact Impact Racing who will provide verification of the date of manufacture. Impact Racing, LLC will immediately notify SFI Foundation, Inc. of this occurrence. Impact Racing, LLC and SFI Foundation, Inc. will work with the sanctioning bodies to determine the best method for product users to present verification of the date of manufacture. ©Eurodragster.com If you have any queries then please contact your safety kit supplier, Impact Racing, or SFI Foundation. Feature: Yenko Nova. 1st April: In the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport we spoke to Amanda Cox, owner and driver of the Yenko Nova, who makes her competitive début in Pro ET at this weekend's Auto Trader Easter Thunderball. ©Eurodragster.com No stranger to the track, Amanda has driven at Run What You Brungs and also crewed on a Pro ET team but has now decided to enter competition. We spoke to Amanda about her racing history, about her plans for this season, and about her beautiful Nova. Click here to check out the Feature, or click on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Alamo backs Junior Dragster Challenge... 1st April: Eurodragster.com sponsor Alamo Rent a Car is delighted to announce details of the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge. Alamo will be offering all Junior Dragster racers entered in UK National events the chance to win some great prizes. Over the 2010 season Junior Dragster Drivers will be ranked in order with a combined Reaction Time and Dial In against Elapsed Time. For example if their RT was 0.019, their dial-in 8.00 and their actual ET were 8.05 then the 'package' score would be 0.019 + 0.05 which equals 0.069. Package RT and ET times must be from the same run and are only valid during eliminations, not qualifying. Breakout runs of course are not valid. Each Junior Dragster racer will only carry forward their best packaged RT and ET after each meeting. After the last meeting it will be only the driver's best package R/T & E/T that will be counted for the final rankings, so a driver can only win one prize at the end of the season. Only runs during the eliminations stages will count and only at the following events: ©Eurodragster.com Auto Trader Easter Thunderball Big Bang Springspeed Nationals FIA Main Event SPRC Summernationals Bug Jam Open Sport Nationals FIA European Final UK National Finals After the close of the last race meeting, prizes for the top three Junior Dragster Drivers ranked in order of their best RT and ET package will be awarded as follows: 1. £200 in retail vouchers 2. £100 in retail vouchers 3. £50 in retail vouchers Updates on the Alamo Challenge current top three ranked Junior Dragster Drivers will be posted here on Eurodragster.com after each race meeting. In the event that Paige Wheeler, who is sponsored by Alamo Rent A Car, should win her prize will be donated to Help For Heroes. The Judges decision is final Good luck! Alamo Rent a Car are sponsors only of the event. They are in no way responsible for the organisation or safety of any of the events. Don't forget that Alamo Rent A Car are offering 10% off car hire. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for Mantorp Park, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. For more details, check out the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 22nd February, or to book your discounted hire car check out www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. ...as Juniors launch web site. 1st April: Regular readers of Eurodragster.com will remember our 3tcreative launching a free web site competition, open to all riders and drivers. The competition proved to be a huge success and, as previously announced, was won by the Junior Dragster class. 3t are delighted to confirm that the site is now live, in time for this weekend's Auto Trader Easter Thunderball and can be found at www.juniordragracing.co.uk. "I'd like to thank the guys in the Junior class for entering", says Dan Welberry of 3t. "This has proved to be a great opportunity for 3t. It has enabled us put something back in to racing at grass roots level. Working with Laura Turboville, Daren Brett and Andy Wheeler has been easy and we're all really pleased with the way the site has turned out! I accept that there are still a few 'coming soon' pages but the effort has been massive to get to where we are. We'd like to wish all the Junior racers a fast and safe weekend and we look forward to continuing our support throughout the 2010 season." ©Eurodragster.com Representing the Junior Dragster class Andy Wheeler commented "This is a fantastic opportunity for the Juniors to spread the word about the class and sport to youngsters all over the country. Video, pictures, race results, drivers blogs, we can now share and update all types of content on our own. The site looks very professional and it's a real asset to the Junior Dragster class. On behalf of the class, we would like to thank 3t Creative for creating the site and hosting it for us." Don't forget that 3tcreative are currently offering web sites from as little as £250. Duntestin'. 1st April: The Netherlands' Zodiac Racing Supertwin team's race season is about to start for 2010 and with last year's s pectacular progress at the end of the season they want to aim high, writes Vincent Pels: This year started with the good news that all the major sponsors will continue their support for the coming race season. So the name of their lead sponsor Zodiac International BV, Europe's premier supplier of Performance Products for Harley-Davidson, will be flying on the Godfather VII again along with their other main sponsors Supertrapp - Performance Exhaust Systems, Accel Motorcycle Products - Performance Electronics, Spectro Oils of America - Top Motorcycle Lubricants, and Kibblewhite Precision Machining Inc - Manufacturer of Valvetrain Components. The team is also going to rely on their valuable parts supporters again and for this season National Cycle has stepped in and developed a purpose-built version of their highly effective VStream wind screens. This should make the rider Roel Koedam even more comfortable on the Top Fuel Harley and test the VStream technology up to 200 mph and beyond! The first outing of the Zodiac Racing Team will be at Santa Pod Raceway's Easter Thunderball. The team has signed up for the Top Fuel class mainly to test the newly developed components that have kept Ton and Vincent Pels (T&V Racing) busy over the past winter and to find a baseline for the upcoming UEM European tour. But they will treat the first round of the British Championship as a regular race to get in the pace of racing again and to give the four-cylinder bikes a run for their money. T&V Racing were very pleased with the progress they made that last couple of rounds in 2009 and will try to keep this momentum going. They will start 2010 with a faster spinning supercharger that should give them ten per cent more boost. Also the fuel system setup is drastically changed and the team's aim for the Easter Weekend is to become competitive for the 2010 Championship. Last year was primarily a test year for the new supercharged bike. But for this year the aim of the Zodiac Racing team is the same as it has always been: to win the European Supertwin Championship. The team has a new complementary card made for the 2010 season (right), so please come by and pick one up if you have the chance. Our provisional race calendar is: 2nd - 5th April: Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway 30th April - 2nd May: Kunmadaras, Hungary 28th - 31st May: FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway 1st - 4th July: FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro 29th July - 1st August: Veidec Festival, Mantorp Park 6th - 8th August: Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen 13th - 15th August: NitrOlympX, Hockenheim 9th - 12th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway ©Eurodragster.com Ready to retain the crown. 1st April: After a tremendous 2009 season with in which Timo Habermann became FIA Top Methanol Dragster Champion and Dennis Habermann got used to his new car and ended the season in seventh place in the most competitive Top Methanol field in Europe, the team can be forgivn for thinking that they had had a good year, says Frans Steilberg: The year ended even better when Timo was voted as Germany's Motorsportsman of the Year 2009. This was a great honour for Timo and the team. We knew that Dennis would need a bigger engine for the 2010 season to be more competitive - he ran the smallest blown engine in the class in 2009. We decided to take Timo's Championship-winning engine and put it away as a spare engine, which perhaps makes it the quickest spare Top Methanol engine in Europe with a 5.31 written on it. So a new Engine was built for Dennis' car and his engine was altered to get more cubic inches and put into Timo's car. ©Eurodragster.com After running Dennis's new engine at our shop we realised that we may now have created the biggest competitor for the 2010 Championship. We found some other small bits and pieces to alter on the car in order to get Dennis to go faster. We know it's going to be an even tougher challenge in 2010 as nearly every team competing in the Championship is capiable of winning especially with the percentage of Nitro staying at 97%. But we will go for it again and try our best to keep the crown in our team. We are now on our way to the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball to make sure the cars are ready for the challenge. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Sponsors Boehm Solartechnik and UNI-FIT Katalysatoren, and to welcome new sponsor my-shirt-shop.com for making all this possible. Gus goes round the bend. 1st April: Not many people know that MSA British Pro Mod Champion and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's first entry into motorsport was circuit racing. He was a regular at places like Thruxton and Brands Hatch long before he saw his first drag race. Bob Roberts tells us that Andy will be returning to his roots in 2010 with an Historic Saloon Car entry. ©Eurodragster.com "Since there was no suitable Studebaker available Andy went for the "Big car for a big man" option and has acquired a 1963 Ford Galaxy like those which terrorised the British Saloon Car Championship in the mid 1960s dicing with Lotus Cortinas and Mini Coopers. He gained his ARDS license at Thruxton last November in preparation for this year and looks forward to entering the Top Hat series. Purple and flames is not really a 60's look, at least in the UK, so Andy has limited himself to using his signature purple for stripes rather than the blue which would be period perfect. "Fortunately there are no clashes between meetings in this new race series and those Andy will be attending to defend his MSA Championship and improve on his position in the FIA Championship - it just means no weekends off this summer." Barker makes it. 1st April: UK Super Street Bike racer and happy shopper Nigel Barker will be able to race at this weekend's Auto Trader Easter Thunderball after mechanical problems threatened his participation. "I had to cancel for the Peak Performance day last Sunday after Brad O'Connor, who was preparing the bike, found problems with it on the Friday night", says Nigel. "At that stage I thought that I may not make the Thunderball either, as I am working in Gloucester so no chance to do any work on the bike as it is in Sussex! Luckily Brad got Grumps and Rob to get cracking on the bike this week, and the good news is that I should now be there after a quick bit of work on the top end and sorting out a few other bits. Huge thanks to Brad, Grumps and Rob for turning it round in time. I hope to get to Santa Pod some time tomorrow morning after a few hundred miles' round trip to get the trailer, then get the bike, then on up to the Pod. ©Eurodragster.com "I will have to turn the boost down for the first couple of runs just to make sure all is as it should be, but then weather permitting (where's the forecast PeteB?) I hope to turn it up and get it going as it should be. Also thanks to Paul Wing who will be helping me and a big thank you to me ol' mucker and crew chief Diesel, who has helped me all the way through. Cheers mate! "See you all at the weekend and good luck to everyone - lets see that all-seven second qualifying for SSB, with Barker's Busa in there I hope!" Dorris shall go to the 'Ball!. 1st April: UK Super Pro ET racer Dave Nelson's Dorris Dormouse slingshot will be hitting the track at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball despite suffering catastrophic failure of his newly developed 545 ci Ford V8 with just a few weeks to go: Thanks to our hard-working team and parts suppliers across England and the US we have built a new, more powerful 552 ci injected methanol-burning Big Block Ford V8 which we are hoping will propel the car not only to her first eight-second run but possibly into the sevens! We have now moved up into Super Pro ET. I can't wait, it should be an awesome weekend! Many thanks to Lem Evans of BF Evans Ford, Real Steel, James Monroe, Geof Hauser, Nuneaton Hose and Fittings and Zane Llewelyn for helping us prepare, and to my dad John Nelson and Steve Rowe for yet again pulling out all the stops to get the car to the track. ©Eurodragster.com We have also finally launched our own web site at www.jdn-racing.co.uk which the team, and we are on the hunt for sponsors to help us to continue racing and to develop Dorris Dormouse to her full potential. Swift snippets. 1st April: The UK's Wratten Brothers blown-alcohol altered team are urgently seeking a pair of 34½ x 17 x 16 alcohol slicks to enable them to run at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. If you can help then please call Paul Wratten on 07976 433454. Swedish photo-journalist Stefan Boman tells us that Pro Stock racer Jimmy Ålund went testing in Moorsville, North Carolina after the Charlotte race and that Dutch Pro Mod racer Robert Joosten was there with his new 1970½ Camaro. This is a picture of Robert's first run with the car. Looks good to us and we can't wait to see it on the right side of the Pond. Thanks to Jeroen Dondorp for letting us know that the official entry forms are now available for this season's eXplosion events at Drachten Airfield on 18th-20th June, 9th-11th July, and 20th-22nd August. You can find the entry forms at www.explosion.nl. Thanks also to Santa Pod Racers Club Secratary Paula Marshall for forwarding Version 3 of the official entry list for Big Bang, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-25th April. Click here to check out the Big Bang entry list, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Entry to Big Bang closes tomorrow, Friday 2nd April; entry after tomorrow, if acepted, will be subject to a penalty fee. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. In 2009 UK Super Comp racer Steve Wells tuned his Team Orange Pop pick-up to run 8.90s by changing pullies before each run, but he has hit on an ingenious solution for 2010. "Changing pullies is not a quick process and as we run a Liberty gearbox backing off is not an option as it jumps out of gear", says Steve. "So over the winter, whilst machining up pullies on our sponsor Cam Auto's lathe, we decided to machine a variable pulley system to enable us to reduce and increase the overdrive of the supercharger at the pull of a lever. Hopefully this will enable us to run bang on 8.90 without the use of a throttle stop. As last year the Motlers will again be crewing for us until Malcolm finishes modifications to the Moggie." The European Championship season is coming up soon and racers are ordering a lot of parts. Speedgroup CEO and Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist would like to remind teams that Speedgroup have signed up a lot of high-quality suppliers of racing gear for the 2010 contingency programme and urge team to support these fine companies which support European drag racing. Check out the Contingency Programme page at www.speedgroup.eu. The Speedgroup contingency programme is open to teams registered to run the FIA and UEM European Championship. Dave Friend has asked us to say a big Happy 50th Birthday to race partner and best mate Gary Jones. "No, it is not an April Fool joke, he really is 50 but he ain't allowed cake as he has to make his race weight", says Dave. Have a very Happy Birthday Gary. 15:00 The bike was finished not more than a couple of hours ago, but our spies have already got us a first look at ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion, European record holder and Eurodragster.com Blogger Dave Beck's TVR Power Pro Stock Bike in its 2010 colours (below left): Courtesy of Lars-Göran Eriksson, above right is a shot of the new front end of FIA European Pro Modified Champion Mats Eriksson's Green Goblin. "It looks good and fits well on the car and round the turbocharged engine", says L-G. The Green Goblin is on display this weekend on the Mantorp Park stand at the Bilsport Performance Show & Custom Motor Show at Jönköping. Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to say a big Happy 21st Wedding Anniversary to her husband, SPRC Chief Starter Ian Marshall. No sooner said than done, Happy Anniversary to you both. Easter Thunderball coverage. 1st April: We are now setting up in Race Control at Santa Pod Raceway to get ready to bring you all the news from the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball, which starts tomorrow. Our Event Coverage, brought to you in association with American Car Imports will feature real-time updates on the on-track action and frequently-updated pit notes throughout all four days of the race together end-day photo galleries each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line throughout the weekend and will broadcast a picture every sixty seconds until the track closes on Monday (in fact the webcam will likely go on line around lunchtime today - Ed). We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences but in the meantime you can check out our Event Index, which includes links to the official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our good friends at Nitro FM will be broadcasting on-line throughout the weekend with their usual mix of race commentaries, interviews and features, music and more in association with sponsors Webster Race Engineering, Carter Motorsport, the National Association of Supertwins, Quarter Mile High, Paul Marston Racing, Mapei, Shockwave Racing, Karen Aston, Powerclip, Mongoose Exhausts, and of course Eurodragster.com. The guys have a more powerful signal at the track on 96.2 FM, or go to audiorealm.com and search for Nitro: so long as the station is broadcasting then it will turn up on the search. Broadcast hours are 07:00 to 22:00 each day of the race with an extra broadcast this evening (Thursday). Earlier news