Danish Nationals coverage.
31st May: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing are posting results and reports from this weekend's Danish Nationals at Vandel, which is the latest round of the Nordic Drag Racing Series. You can find out the latest from Vandel at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
The Svensk Dragracing web site has also been updated with a Main Event memoir and the full set of Christer Abrahamson's excellent pitside and end-track pictures, some of which we were privileged to use last weekend. Don't miss them!

Joon's great début.
31st May: Dutch Fuel FC débutant Lex Joon thoroughly enjoyed his first event in the class, says Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra. Lex made two passes at the weekend, both quite eventful with long burnouts, burnt pistons, tyre shake and a wayward oil line to contend with.

"We had a great time", says Gerda. "You have all kind of thoughts before you enter a new class for the first time. Despite all kind of small problems we managed to get the car going and the team ready for their new task. It's amazing to see how our crew enjoy their new job. They are very keen on learning all aspects of Nitro racing. Despite the fact that we didn't have enough crew members, the atmosphere was tremendous. Also the cooperation with the Showtime team went really well. The crew worked together when necessary, and Bob's boys didn't hesitate to tell us everything there is to know.
©Eurodragster.com
"Lex had a real good time driving the new FC. He never expected that it would be so enjoyable. He enjoyed his new office! During his first burnout Lex had to force himself to stop, because as he saw it he had made it to the finish line. When we went into eliminations we agreed with the Shockwave team that we would do a shorter burnout because the capacity of their fuel tank is limited. According to Lex it's amazing to feel the difference between a Methanol and a Nitro car, and it is good to have the experience from previous cars when you step into this kind of hot rod. That is probably the main reason that Lex saved the car during eliminations when an oil line came lose caused by tire shake.

"The Fuel Funny car class showed this weekend that they are ready to show their real nature. John Spuffard who made a tremendous run into the 5.2 and just missed the back-up because the blower belt let go, Gordon Smith who had a successful weekend, running the quickest side by side with John in qualifying. We will also do our best to be a good contender and it looks really promising to do that. Gary Page will be back in a Funny Car later this season. Enough to think about for all the Nitro FC fans!

"Lex Joon Racing want to thank the safety crew for their tremendous work at the track, these guys are really awesome!"

You can read more about Lex's weekend on the official LJR web site at www.lexjoonracing.nl.

You bet Koedam's happy!
31st May: Lex's fellow Dutchman, Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam, didn't put a foot wrong at last weekend's FIA Main Event. He qualified number one at the first attempt, won the event, and set personal bests more than once. Roel's Crew Chief Marius van der Zijden kindly sent us an event report.

Only two weeks since we won the Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway, and we were already back en route to the same venue for the Main Event. Despite the forecast Saturday and Sunday turned out to be nice days and Monday was even sunny & warm. In other words, excellent race weather all weekend. The entry list of our Top Fuel Bike field showed a total number of eighteen competitors, of which a record number of no less than twelve were Fuel bikes.

Our first qualifying attempt was tough one. The bike lost some traction right off the line and when it hooked up it became a little loose and started to drift towards the centre line. Roel was off the throttle for a second and a half to correct this. When he opened the throttle again it started to move sideways again a bit, so he decided to back it off, 6.1 seconds in the run. The result was a still respectable 6.512/209.5. We were well-qualified and because we had to re-torque the cylinder head gasket (which is quite some job on our bike) we decided to sit out the last qualifying round of Saturday. Though Sverre Dahl came within 0.004 seconds of our time, we kept the provisional # 1 spot at the end of the first qualifying day. We were really sorry for Sverre as he broke the drive shaft of his oil pump during his run, and the damage to the crank was beyond repair, forcing him out of competition.

Because of our comfortable lead we decided to sit out the first qualifying round of day number two as well. It was at such an early time of the day that we expected not to have the optimum grip to make an improvement. It proved to be a good decision, as most of our competitors went up in smoke or didn't improve their previous times. We took the second session of the day which took place at about 14:30. We had added just a little more nitro and made a small change to the clutch. The next thing we saw on the score boards was a 6.26/221! An improvement on our #1 qualifying position and a new personal best. Number two spark plug had lost a porcelain which slightly damaged the exhaust valve, so we had to take the cylinder head off and skip the last qualifying round. Eventually the bump spot stopped at a record 6.94.
©Eurodragster.com
In the first round of eliminations we took a first round win at 6.31/218. In the second round we had a bye because Eric Teboul suffered a major engine problem. A 6.35/223 gave us the ride to the final round of the event. On race day we discovered a malfunction of the clutch throw-out bearing which affected the second and third stage action of the clutch system. This mainly influences the bike's behavior at the mid section of the track. For the final round we even had to make a decision to compromise for this. We made a small change to the first stage of the clutch and went even down a little on the (still relatively low) nitro percentage. We gambled for a small improvement in ET, the results however were stunning. Not only was the win light in our lane, but also a 6.23/223 came up the scoreboard! Again a new personal best. Our eighth mile results are even more encouraging (especially with the clutch throw-out bearing problems in mind), 4.09/183mph. This was all still without pushing the engine to its limits.

Later on back at home we discovered that the lock up system didnt work well because of a bad seal in the clutch bearing. Also we found out that the puff of smoke which was seen at the finish line was caused by a piston ring malfunction - we had an 80% leak down on one cylinder in the last run. Running consistently in the 6.2s-6.3s, number one qualifier, event winner, new personal best, Low ET and High Speed of the race, and leading the Championship comfortably, with a malfunctioning clutch system and a huge leak down on one cylinder. What more could one ask for? Happy, you ask? You bet we are!

Team Koedam like to thank the following companies: Torco International Corporation, Santa Fe Springs (USA); Nimbus Motorsports, Baiton (GB); Dakota-Industry, Ettlingen (Germany); Flexion bv, Roermond (Holland); Goodridge Benelux BV, Delft (Holland); Goedhals Machine Fabriek, Amersfoort (Holland); Jan Smits Power Parts, Wormerveer (Holland); Motorparadijs, Eindhoven (Holland); Jan Roelofs Race Service, Valkenswaard (Holland); Arai Helmet (Europe) BV, Hoevelaken (Holland); Zodiac International, Mijdrecht (Holland).

Hope for a victory.
31st May: FIA Main Event Pro Stock Bike winner Chris Hope is crediting - or blaming - just about everyone else for his victory last weekend. "It's hardly a win in the true sense of the word", he says. "We didn't really win the Main Event, other riders lost it and we just happened to be in the right place to collect the pieces.

"After our continued problems at the Main Event I was happy to qualify, let alone take the win. We managed to damage both of our engines during the weekend amidst the catalogue of other mishaps, including starter motor and generator failures. I would like to be able to say what a great weekend's racing it was, but unfortunately I hardly saw any and certainly by our standards, we didn't do any.
©Eurodragster.com
"Congratulations to Cannon on his ever-increasing performance, and to Roger Petterson on setting a new European record and displaying the qualities of true sportsmanship (Hear, hear - Ed). I feel a lot of respect has been generated both on and off the track.

"Hopefully both engines will be repaired in time and we look forward to some good quality racing in Finland...if Mr Gipp and myself can find it!

"A big Thank You goes to Ian, Gary, Alex and Mark for all the hard work on the bike and to Lynn for keeping everyone smiling. Thanks to everyone for their support."

Krazy naughtiness!
31st May: UK Super Street Bike racer Karl Larcombe and the Krazy Kat team were one of the leading exponents of the 9.90 Bike naughtiness at the FIA Main Event. Karl was one of the favourites to record the biggest break-out (for the record it was Graham Dance - Ed) since the low eight-second Krazy Kat bike was running Nitrous for the first time. Crew member Bert gave us the latest from the Krazy Kat pit.

The Nitrous system is now definately working and Roger will be fine tuning the settings for the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 14th-15th June. We experimented with gas on both Kat 1 and 2 but this is the time we needed it to work, and jugding by 'Hollywood' Karl's expression after the first couple of runs last weekend it did, and some.
©Eurodragster.com
We now know we can run right down to low eights at 170 mph with a headwind! So all we have to do now is to run that seven! Roger is checking through the bike this weekend, although after the Main Event he was sure of a clean bill of health, and we'll be heading for SCR in two weeks.

Main thanks from the team to: Braggs of Surbiton Limited, and to Roger for all his hard work. Thanks to the crew Steve and Bert, to Hollywood for riding so well, to Brad for the nitrous bits, and to everyone who came by to wish us luck in finding that seven and some naughtiness on the way.

Anyone seen a blower pulley?
31st May: Swiss Top Methanol Funny Car racer Deszoe Krivan's car ended the weekend looking like a piece of the eponymous cheese after the blower pulley broke up and exited the FC's body by the quickest possible route. Crew member Steve Wilson wrote us this entertaining account of the team's weekend.

Deszoe and Steve set out Thursday morning for the journey to the UK in the faithful old Saurer, which is called Sweet - Sweet and Saurer, get it? We left Krivan HQ at 9:00 Thursday and arrived at Santa Pod Friday 12:00 via Dunkirk/Dover on a Norfolk Line ferry, which was nice! The rest of the Krivan crew - Iris, Adrian, and Marcel - flew out on Friday morning and drove up from Luton in a hire car which changed into a crew car for the weekend. We were joined by Robin Grice, who also flew in from Switzerland, and Lindsay Deuchar of LA Racing who drove in from deepest Yorkshire.

Once all the crew was assembled on Friday it was found that due to a lack of communication all of the Swiss teams' race cars required some extra tubes welding on the roll cage. So as the rest of the crew unloaded the truck, Steve (der Englander) was despatched on a mission to find a suitable trailer to haul the race car to Webster Engineering. Many thanks to Wayne who let us borrow his trailer. The exchange went something like this - Steve "is this your trailer mate?", Wayne "Yes", Steve "Can we borrow it?", Wayne "Yes". Great lad no questions and we are away with his trailer! Wayne has a really fine SS Chevelle. With the car on Wayne's trailer, Tech guy Mark Nortontowing it, and Des and Steve installed in the back seat we set of for Webster Race Engineering. The car was left at John's to be picked up at 22:30. we returned to the Pod to finish setting up the pit area. We whiled away the time watching people's reaction when looking under the car body to find that there was no car under it.

At the appointed hour we picked the car up from Jonn Webster's, an excellent job carried out in a pristine workshop, very impressive. Back to the Pod by 23:00, with Mark putting up with some more of Steve's crap jokes on the journey, got the race car unloaded and returned the trailer to a relieved Wayne. We started to prepare the racecar and lo and behold all the lights went out, so the hire/crew car was positioned with its lights on so we could finish.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and bright, a lavish breakfast was provided by Iris, which involved the largest jar of chocolate spread you have ever seen - note for all you Johnny Foreigners out there, the Swiss eat bread and chocolate for breakfast, it's great! The crew did the final preparation on the race car ready for the first qualifying run, working together like a well-oiled machine, that oil probably being Kendall. After Adrian fettled the clutch, Lindsay and Robin the bottom end and Marcel and Steve the top end, the car was ready for a warm-up. The warm-up went without a hitch and we were ready. It is strange how during the warm up a crowd gathers, but always within seconds of the engine starting they all run away crying, probably overcome with emotion at seeing such a fine example of engineering!

Ready to qualify; the race car was towed around to the fire-up lane, Des was strapped in and on the signal the car was fired up. Des took the car into the lane performed a perfect burnout, Adrian took the car into stage, and we were up against Dan Larsen. Des launched strongly with a very powerful sixty-foot, however at three-quarter track the blower belt snapped, and the blower pulley disintegrated and left through the side of the car. The timing slip read 6.286/204.97, good enough to put us in fourth at this stage.
©Eurodragster.com
We towed the car back to the pit area and carried out post-race maintenance. However the engine was not well, a lot of oil at the back end, and the crank was looking a bit scored. We had a team discussion and decided that rather than sort the car out we needed to look at the oil system before more damage was incurred. So a tough, but correct, decision was made by Deszoe to stop racing for the weekend. We finished the car and put it into display mode for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching the races. Steve was positioned out front to network with the customers and ensured that a steady stream of kids kept Des busy signing autographs. Thanks to everybody who stopped by to chat, we don't usually have the time as we are busy with the car, but it was nice to have the time to meet everyone! Monday evening we packed up and Des and Steve set off in Sweet for the Norfolk Line ferry back to mainland Europe, arriving back in Switzerland at 20:30 on Tuesday evening.

Besides Iris, Adrian, Marcel and Steve, we would like to thank the following: Wayne, for the trailer; Mark Norton, for driving us to Webster's and back; Jon Webster, for doing an excellent job on the car; Robin Grice, for coming over and helping out on the bottom end; Lindsay Deuchar, for leaving darkest Yorkshire and helping out on the bottom end; Kendall Motor Oil; Energy Release; Norfolk Line; the Santa Pod crew; and the Eurodragster crew. We would like to congratulate Urs Erbacher, Peter Schfer and Smax for some exciting races and new records! And thanks to everyone who turns up and makes it a great weekend...

You can find Deszoe Krivan's web site at www.dragracing.ch.

Of sprained wrists and breakouts.
31st May: The FIA Main Event turned out better than expected for UK Pro ET racer Steve Wells, after he suffered an unfortunate mishap two days before the race which made it difficult to shift his fan-favourite wheelstanding pick-up.

"I fell from a scaffold on Thursday, landing on my face and spraining both wrists", says Steve. "As I have to hit my shifter hard to change gear with my left hand - the one which hurt the most - I thought I might just have to stage for the points. But I thought what the hell, let's give it a go. Jayne got the dial-in one thousandth off on our first qualifying run. We got through round one on Sunday evening but lost to Aidan Kenny on Monday morning, breaking out by four thousandths, but at least we kept our championship hopes alive.
©Eurodragster.com
"A big thanks to Jayne, and to Ian and Terri Lee for pushing the truck everywhere to save my wrists, and thanks to Jayne for getting the dial in so close on our first qualifying run, so that I could rest my wrist and spend the rest of Saturday at casualty waiting to be X-rayed."

The Team Orange web site is now up and running at www.teamorange.org.uk.

Main Event Pro ET review.
31st May: We are indebted to Carla Pitau of the UK's Heaven and Hell Pro ET team for sending us a review of the Pro ET action at the FIA Main Event.

Notable misadventures in Pro ET were the absence of Terri Lee's beautiful Escort van, her much awaited return being once more delayed by new problems. We heard that this time it was a cracked block. We would like to extend our sympathy and best wishes to Terri and her husband Ian, they have endured so much bad luck and yet persevered. We hope this further setback will be overcome soon.

Gareth Mogford didn't have much luck with his first qualifying round - his propshaft yoke giving up the ghost just after the burnout. Again we hope Gareth will persist and be back at the next event. Worse fate befell Ray Perkins in the well presented blue zephyr when he crashed during an early qualifying session. Fortunately Ray was not badly hurt, but the car looked as if a major rebuild will be needed.

Heaven and Hell's adventures were also not of the Heaven persuasion. The transmission used on the first Webster Test Day (which gave them lovely launches but no second gear) was installed in the Camaro for the Main Event, don't ask why - brain fade and too many transmissions in the garage come to mind - and the team had to take the car home to London to swap it with one which actually worked, coming back to the pits at ten to midnight on Saturday and eating cold sausages and burgers kindly kept for them by the Z Case team. This resulted in only one proper qualifying effort and a qualifying position which made Carla ask for hemlock and cyanide for breakfast.

Steve Wells in the lovely Team Orange Pop pick up, in the mean time, was overcoming serious pain when shifting gear - we could tell you why, but then we'd have to kill you (or alternately read the news item above this one - Ed) - and managed to pull a .001 qualifier in his first outing. The numbers ensured a #1 qualifier. That'll do, he thought, I don't have to endure the pain any more, I can just sit back and reasonably hope that nobody will get better that one thousandth off. Oh, no. Not in Pro ET. Marius Blackburn, like a thief in the night, decided that yes, there was enough space to topple Steve. After all, one thousandth of a second is a long time in Pro ET. And yes, he pulls a .000 from his dial in and steals #1 from right under Steve's nose. No mercy shown for Steve's heroic gear shifting.

Marius deservedly went all the way to the final when he unfortunately redlit against Lee Huxley. Marius is not new to these upsetting dead-on runs when other racers are basking in the glory of a #1 qualifier earned with one-thou off. He dislodged Bob Doyle last year in much the same way. Talking of Bob, Marius beat him in the first round by one of bracket racing's weird rules, first or worst. Bob and Marius pulled identical red lights (0.483) but the quickest car had the upper end in bracket racing and Marius redlit last. As a consolation Bob ran consistent 10.2s during the weekend, proving that he built a strong combination which is well capable of running a nine-second quarter with the right weather (best time so far 10.05). It must be kept in mind that not only we are talking of a small block here, but a 340ci small block at that.

In the meantime the Spellbound team were having quite a good weekend. They were happy to qualify fourth at six thousands off their dial in of 11.05. They were also pleased to ran two back to back passes with identical times, both 11.041 and they got through the first round of eliminations on Sunday evening against Rob Elsom who pulled a red light. The second round was against their good buddy Kev 'Kiwi' Taylor, and Kev proceeded to beat them by .063 secs. Malk beat Kev off the line but then broke out running a 11.02 on an 11.04 dial in, while Kev ran a 10.41 on a 10.40 dial in. Great race. All in all a brilliant weekend as always, with Marcie having her first experience of starting the car and using the two-step, one very happy bunny.
©Eurodragster.com
Steve 'Smokin Gun' Good (Pulse Rate, a Cavalier driven by a round head) was very happy to have sorted out his suspension and missile launching backfires, and with these problems sorted Steve went on to run a 9.98/138 which put him well and truly back in the nines. Unfortunately Steve was knocked out in the first round of eliminations. Steve says he reacted to Aiden Kenny's lights instead of his own, which left him with a big red light that burnt his face and he's still recovering from it (PS snippet supplied by Marcie, Steve. Don't beat up Heaven and Hell!)

Tokyo Toy added another first round red light to their collection after pulling a .503, .511 and .540 in qualifying. Our commiserations to the team. Not far behind in collecting unlikely defeats were the Heaven and Hell team, of course. Not content with losing at Shakespeare County Raceway with a .511 light (breaking out by four-thou) they decided to beat themselves even if their opponent broke on the line, and proceeded to break out by .027 for good measure. This put a smile back on the lips of David Vegter, who thought he was loading up to go back to the Netherlands. However his hopes were then dashed by Terry Wareham, as David fell asleep on the line and then broke out by three hundredths trying to catch Terry up.

Gino Bernadine put up an excellent fight by qualifying #6 .016 off his dial in and running strong 9.60s. His luck came to an end when his starter motor gave up the ghost and he didn't have time to fix it before first round on Sunday evening. This left Jerry Charles on a bye on his first ever round of eliminations. Jerry is new to racing on the track (but certainly not new to racing on the street!) and had lots of fun at his first meeting. His well presented blue Capri sports a 502ci engine and (we know this as absolute fact) the car is his daily driver, complete with stereo, heater and various creature comfort stuff. He also claims low fuel consumption (although whether I can believe his claim that it is less juicy than my Firebird is another matter) and ran effortless 10.3s. He still has a few things to learn about bracket racing, but his enthusiasm and love of speed will certainly make him into a contender in the near future.

All in all the class was as competitive and fun to race in as always. I am sure everyone in Pro ET will want to join me in congratulating the ex-Pro ET racer Al Golding for his much-awaited eight-second run and his well deserved win in Super Pro ET. Three hoorays for Big Al!

My apologies to the racers who have not been mentioned - please let us know a few bits about what's going on in your pits and we'll try to put together a more complete report next time.

You can find the UK Pro ET web site at www.proet.co.uk.

Main Event web site updates.
31st May: The official web site of NDRS Pro Modified Champions Nilsson Motorsports has been updated with an excellent report and pictures from the FIA Main Event. Crew member Ulf Stadig has as usual done a superb job on what is a very professional web site. Check it out at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Photographer Bill Sly has updated his revamped Bad Boys Imagin' web site with his first set of photographs from the FIA Main Event, these featuring the Fuel cars. Bill promises the rest of his photographs soon. Bill has also posted his photographs from last year's Drag Challenge at Gardermoen. You can find Bill's site at www.badboysimagin.com.

Racers sought for show.
31st May: Ryan Wright has been in touch seeking race vehicles to represent drag racing at a shoe on Saturday 28th June.

"I run a motor sport rescue ambulance and as a keen supporter of all things motor sport I am trying to promote the joys of going to motor sport events to the general public", says Ryan. "To this end I am putting together a motor sport stand at Thrapston Charter Fair (fourteen miles from Santa Pod) on June 28th where as many things as possible in the motor sport domain will be represented to try to whet the appetites of the general public to get involved, marshalling, watching, or competing.
©Eurodragster.com
"This is where I need your help. I am looking for some dragster exhibits to represent drag racing. Is anybody available on Saturday 28th June from 12:00 till 5:00 to show off their machinery? Caroline Day of Santa Pod fully supports this venture and will help in any way she can. To give you some idea what I am looking at pulling together here is a list of what else will be there or has been invited: F1 simulator, Jedi single seater manufacturer, Superbike, Subaru, VW Polo works and Skoda rally cars, historic rally cars, rescue ambulance (me), CSMA motor club, go karting, motor sport recovery, Ascar/Rockingham, Mamba sports cars, and Moto X."

If you can help then you can contact Ryan by E-Mail at ryan.wright@bt.com, or by phone on 01908 297713 days or 01832 732345 evenings.

Prentice's thanks.
30th May: Santa Pod Raceway's International Race Director Darren Prentice has expressed his appreciation to everyone who helped to make the FIA Main Event such a success.

"Now that the dust - or should that be oil dry - has settled, I think a few Thank Yous should go out", says Darren. "Firstly thank you to all the Sportsman racers for their patientce and understanding when we run an FIA/UEM meeting. Thank you to all the marshals for their hard work and dedication, and to the team of Swedish friends we had over from Mantorp Park - Thomas, Netten, Suzzi and Håkan - I look forward to working as hard for you as you did for me this weekend. See you at Mantorp Park soon guys. Thank you to Kjell Pettersson, David Lloyd-Jones, Pete Button and Eurodragster.com for their support and help over a very stressful weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"Last but not least, thank you to the crew who took care of those thirteen oil downs on Monday. You saved the meeting, no if, buts or anything. Cleaning up an oil down which goes from the 330 foot mark all the way down the track and the shut down area, making that just under three quarters of a mile of oil, in twenty five minutes deserves respect. Id take off my hat to you, if I were wearing one and if my hair was not full of grey dust!"

We are sure that everyone will join Darren in congratulating everyone involved, and we are equally sure that everyone will want to congratulate Darren on running such a hugely-successful event.

Smax goes all Kate Bush.
30th May: FIA Main Event Top Fuel Dragster winner Smax Smith is "still grinning" after an amazing weekend in which he got into the fours, over 300 mph, and retained his unbeaten-in-2003 record. The irrepressible Smax gave it to us in his own words:

Wow! Wow! Wow (Isn't that a Kate Bush song? - Ed)! What an amazing weekend for the Ant Hill Mob! We won the deal and ran an incredible 4.89/303.14, which is .07 faster than Andy Carter's incredible 4.89/303.07 last year!

I would firstly like to thank Tommy Moller for reminding me that a 5.07 wouldn't cut it, so out hero Alan Jackson dialled in a 4.89! Most of the thanks of course go to Al for his amazing feat of running three Top Fuellers and Leif Helanders Fuel FC, and getting two of us - Gary Page and I - into the Top Fuel final. It was a fantastic race for me and testimony to the statement "Everything comes good to he who waits"...bloody hell, this is my thirtieth year drag racing!

King Knut is a star. The new Purple Loans-backed dragster needed lots of work so we were all at the Press Day working hard and animal Mark, Mack, Franko and buddy from Malta worked right throught the next few days to get us on the track so a big Thank You there. Mark and Dave did a sterling job on the three clutches, and Gary Page and Terry pitched in, and nice to see John Sharod! Scotch Rob left his band to 'get dirty' all weekend. Knut, Sharon and Robin got stuck right in and despite a few problems pulled out all the stops to make sure we got to the start line.
©Eurodragster.com
A cracked fuel pump spoiled our qualifying chances but Knut worked his magic and got us up and running by Sunday only to be scuppered again with a burnt push rod, although it was replaced I was ready to abort the qualifying run if it didn't feel one hundred per cent. A small misfire occurred and I got off it early enough to save the motor after two push rods broke. King Knut's chess-playing skills kicked in and we decided to sit out the third qualifying session in favour of going through the whole car so we could be awesome on race day!

And what a result! Being number eight qualifier meant I faced Andy Carter in the first round, and putting him on the trailer first round was awesome. It felt like the fans picked me up and threw me down the track. I can't take anything away from Andy, he ran a 5.00 and was ahead at the eighth-mile mark, but the power of the Purple Dreams machine kicked in and kicked butt! Thanx Alan! The chutes didn't open so it was a hell of a ride getting it stopped after a 303 mph run but we eventually did!

In the second round I faced Øvyor Jacobsen, but now the fuel pump leaked and after changing the clutch we had to 'borrow' Micke Kågered's pump and put in a base line tune up. We ran a 5.05/294, narrowly missing backing up the speed record but getting the win by driving round Rune's missile. This meant that I was now in the final against team-mate and legend Gary page, driving my old red car. We both had stageing problems but I pulled out another 4.95/280 to take the win. We blew out a spark plug well before the thousand foot mark, fireballing the car and missing out on the record, but Knut was happy and I was ecstatic! Unbeaten in Top Fuel, three races out of three.

Keith Bartlett put on a excellent event, and Kjell and Darren gave me a first class race track. The crew where magical and amazing. Big congratulations go to Gary Page for getting to the final, to Dave Wilson and Urs Erbacher for their new records, to Peter Schöfer and Martin Hill for setting new personal bests, and to all the record breakers who made the Main Event one class act. And a big, big Thank You to all of the supporting fans and crew. See you all at the track!

Carter sponsor repeats.
30th May: Although fellow Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter didn't have quite the weekend he would have wanted, he too has much to be happy about. He ran the quickest-ever ET by a European Top Fueller with a 4.884 in qualifying, and his primary sponsor First National Telecom Services signed up for 2004, surely setting some sort of record for the earliest renewal in a season. First National's founder and CEO Albert Mackey tried out the Top Fueller's cockpit for size at Santa Pod on Monday morning (right, picture by Jon Crawford) and was impressed enough with what he had seen to put pen to paper, as Carter Motorsport PR Dan Welberry writes.

"It was our great pleasure to welcome forty two guests from 1st National Telecom services to Santa Pod Raceway. The first to arrive on Moday morning included Albert Mackey. Albert was clearly impressed by the operation and the professionalism with which Carter Motorsport operates. A photocall was arranged for 9.30 am and I must say a huge thank you to all the press guys who responded superbly. Albert was pictured sat in the car and really enjoyed the experience despite being a little cramped! He and the other guests were also impressed by the size of the crowd and thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.
©Eurodragster.com
"We are delighted to say that First National will again be primary sponsor of First National Telecom Services/Carter Motorsport Top Fuel Dragster for 2004. Further details will follow later in the season. I am very grateful to Miles Barry and Steve Smith from First National for their continued support. We are really looking forward to developing this relationship with you, guys.

"We also enjoyed the company over the weekend of Brent from Lucas Oils and Paul from Wynn's Lubricants over the weekend. We know you guys had a great time and we look forward to seeing you at the track again.

"On the racing front, obviously we were disappointed with the outcome but we can take a huge amount from the weekend. You have to rememebr that this is only our second outing with the new car, and to come out and run 4.88 and get number one qualifier ain't too shabby!"

You can find the Carter Motorsport web site at www.andycarter.net. The guys from the Dragsterworld web site spent the weekend with Andy and the team and you can find their very interesting report at www.dragsterworld.com.

Leanders in lucky escape.
30th May: Sweden's Leanders Brothers Top Methanol Funny Car team had a lucky escape at Santa Pod last weekend when a problem at the top end could have blown their new engine to pieces.
©Eurodragster.com
"On my last run the throttle cable came off because of bad tyre shake", said driver Ulf Leanders. "When I pulled the chutes and engaged the clutch, the engine went to full throttle and reached twelve thousand revs. There was very little damage, we fixed it on Monday night, but we were very lucky."

You can find the Leanders Brothers web site at www.leandersbros.com.

Maurischat's best weekend.
30th May: German Comp Eliminator racer Marco Maurischat kept resetting his personal bests in his AA/D dragster at the FIA Main Event.
©Eurodragster.com
"We came to the race with the same 302 ci engine with which we ran a best of 7.49 last season", says Marco, "but we now have a new blower setup and we made some changes to the fuel system. On our first qualifier we ran 7.42 with a tune-up on the safe side. The next runs were 7.33, 7.23 and in the last round off qualifying we run a stunning 7.189 at 189.1 mph. That's nearly the European AA/D record held by our friend Peter Schöfer.

We lost to Bruno Bader in the final, but I am very happy with our performance this weekend. I must thank all the guys at Santa Pod for the great race track, my sponsor Holiday Autos, and my crew members Carsten and Olaf."

Paranoid change plans.
30th May: Greece's Paranoid Racing drag bike team are set to step up big time with the imminent arrival of a Top Fuel Bike chassis in their workshop. Our good friends Panagiotis and Ilayali (aka Zman and Yla) had purchased Nick Pepper's Pro Stock Bike but have sold it on after changing their plans.

"A brand new ninety six-inch Racevisions Top Fuel Bike chassis is on its way, together with a set of billet PRP crankcases and cylinders and other parts, so it looks like we'll have a busy and hot summer", say Zman and Yla. "The ex-Pepper Pro Stock Bike roller has been sold to Antonis Mathiopoulos of Mathiopoulos Racing and is almost ready to race with a nitrous 1400 GSX engine sponsored by Greece's distributor of Auto Glym car care products.We have one high deck cast and one higher deck billet set of W3 crankcases in California waiting for us to pick them up and start working..."
©Eurodragster.com
Zman and Yla couldn't make it to Santa Pod at the weekend but they have also benefited from the new TV deal for European Drag Racing. "We would like to congratulate all the racers, sponsors and fans for putting up a great show at the Main Event this year. We were really sorry we couldn't make it this time, especially after all the great times from what seemed to be the biggest and fastest-ever gathering of Pro teams in Europe so far. We had the opportunity to check out the Top Fuel final on NET, our national TV channel, during the inernational section of the evening news. It was great coverage and it looks like Keith, Fredrik, Caroline and the rest of the promoter's PR team are outdoing themselves this year. Let's hope that the rest of the Championship continues with the same level of success, and maybe we can catch the Swedish round this time."

Frost settling scores.
30th May: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost is headed for the UK Modified Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend with some scores to settle. Not only are he and his eight-second Vauxhall Victor lined up to match race fellow CCSE racer Ian Hook in his FB Racing Ford, but he is looking forward to encountering some of his 0-60 Challenge rivals.
©Eurodragster.com
"As you know there is a massive Ford/Chevy rivalry between Ian and I on the track", says Andy. "Of course we're great friends off the track but there will be no love lost when we're on that start line! I've made a couple of major changes to the car which should get us further down in the eights. I'm confident that we can get the car down the track with some reasonable speed. I'm also going to cruise into Stratford on Saturday night to prove to the unbelievers (the FWD lot) that it really does drive on the street! I haven't spoken to him but hopefully Fatty will be doing the same. That'll put the cat among the pigeons!

"One thing I'm hoping is that some of the competitors from the 0-60 Challenge will be there so that we can issue a challenge to them to run against us on a proper surface. Will they? We'll see..."

You can find Andy's web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.

Web site updates.
30th May: The official web site of Holland's Henri Joosten Racing Pro Mod team has been updated with a report and photographs from the FIA Main Event, where Henri was event runner-up. You can find Henri's web site at www.joostenracing.nl.

The UK's Flying Dutchman Comp Bike and 10.90 Bike team have updated their web site with a report from the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can find the very professional-looking Flying Dutchman web site at www.flyingdutchmandragbikes.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Söderquist's list of superlatives.
29th May: Carbon By Design Top Fuel team owner Knut Söderquist was a happy man after the weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. The CBD team fielded three Top Fuellers, two of which made the final round which was won by Smax Smith over Gary Page.

Knut had particular praise for Crew Chief Alan Jackson who really had his hands full at the race, tuning the Top Fuellers as well as providing tuning advice to Fuel FC racer Leif Helander. "There is only one word you can use to describe a man who tunes three Top Fuel cars in one weekend and gets two of them to the final: AWESOME!", said Knut.

"I would also like to thank John at Armour Fabrications. John did a great job of rebuilding Micke Kågered's car after the crash last September, and he turned it back into a 300 mph race car (the Purple Loans car now driven by Smax - Ed). Well done, John!
©Eurodragster.com
"I would also like to say that Micke Kågered is a true professional. He saved the car during qualifying when he was worried that the car had run out of fuel. With his ninety two-gallon fuel pump he had run out of fuel and if he had tried to run then the engine would have blown to bits. Well done Micke! No-one apart from a driver understands how difficult it is not to run when the light turns green."

The Carbon By Design team's next event is the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 14th-15th June, when the 'red' car is scheduled to match race against the Wildside Inc team. "I don't yet know who will be driving the car at that race", said Knut. The team are also preparing for the next round of the FIA European Championships at Alastaro in Finland, where Smax Smith will be defending his Championship lead in the Purple Loans dragster. "We are thinking of maybe running two cars in Finland", added Knut, "and we are in negotiations for Susanne Callin to run one of our cars at Mantorp Park in July."

When Knut spoke to us last night he had had his wallet out again "I have just bought two motors from Don Prudhomme", he said. "If you want to be serious you have to run 4.8s. And if you want to run 4.8s then we have the fuel pumps to do it!"

Great weekend for FIM/UEM.
29th May: FIM/UEM European Championship co-ordinator Lars Andersson is now back at home in Sweden after the FIA Main Event and is still on a high after some great performances in the three classes under his wing.

"We had a very good time in England", says Lars. "We had the fastest Top Fuel Bike qualifying in the world. The last qualifier was 6.94, this is probably the fastest qualifying field in the world, ever. There were seven Top Fuel Bikes and one Funny Bike, and we had three more Top Fuel Bikes which didn't qualify: normally Jon Leret should be in the mid sixes. This looks very good for the future. The elimination in Top Fuel did have some problems with broken bikes, but we did see some really good racing. Roel Koedam showed us that he is very fast this year.

"Super Twin Bike was not as strong as normal. Only six racers qualified. This due to the fact that many of the racers are still working on the bikes and the others can't afford to go to England. Per Bengtsson had big problems in qualifying and was number six. This meant that he met Ton Pels in the first round. This time it wll worked for Per and he did took the win. He was also the winner of the event, Ronny Aasen was in the other lane in the final. My personal feeling is that Ton Pels, Ronny Aasen and Per Bengtsson are the three racers who will be battling for the championship this year.

"Pro Stock Bike is getting stronger and stronger. Riders from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Italy and England were battling for the eight places. Roger Petterson set a new record in qualifying but a small error eliminated him in the semi-final. The final was Chris Hope against last year's Champion Øivind von Essen. Øivind was in too much hurry and had a red light. So this time it is Chris Hope on the top of the Championship after the first race. Chris is planning to do all rounds this year and so will be a very strong candidate for this year's title."

You can find the post-Main Event FIM/UEM Championship points on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Super Time Machine.
29th May: UK Comp Eliminator team Time Machine Racing got in their first passes down the track at the FIA Main Event in their new altered, in an eventful weekend which amongst other things saw a change of class to Super Comp after the altered was found to be much lighter than expected.

Driver Martin Gleadow takes up the story:

"Friday night at the Main Event saw us encouraging an 8-71 to fit our small block Chevy - it didn't, instead fouling the distributor and damaging the cap and rotor - and attempting to fit the supercharger restraints, which of course also didn't fit. A trip to the workshop in the early hours of the morning turned up an aluminium plate which Darren Galloway cut into a spacer for the hat with nothing more than a jigsaw and several cups of tea, a superb achievement. The 6-71 went back on, and a trip to US Automotive produced spare dizzy caps and rotors.

"With Brent from Lucas Oil Products on board for the day, we went to do our observed runs. The launch went ok, but then the motor cut out, our second attempt saw the car cough on the attempted burnout and cut out, and finally on the third attempt I got up the track. However, due to a rapidly misting up visor, I took it slow and steady, and once I had popped the chutes and opened my visor I could see that I was still heading the right way.
©Eurodragster.com
"The engine troubles were traced to a worn fuel pump, so we are on the lookout for a new (unused) Kinsler 700 series or equivalent pump (see the ad in our Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet - Ed). Since this was causing the engine to run lean we decided not to and risk damaging it and oiling the track down but instead to kick back and enjoy an excellent weekend. Due to the cost of a new fuel pump it is likely we will have to sit out the next meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway.

"A massive YEAH! goes to Smax Smith from all the team, and well done to Joe Bond, Dave Wilson, Peter Schöfer, Martin Hill, John Spuffard, Urs Erbacher and all the other racers who made the weekend so enjoyable. A big Thank You also to all who have helped and encouraged us, including everyone who came to wish us well, Bob Jarrett, Doug Bond, Dave Wilson, Steve Turner, Doug Ripley, Darren Prentice, Steve Silvester, Knut Soderquist (especially for the hair styling advice), anyone I have forgotten, and of course Lucas Oil Products, R-M Automotive Refinish, and Speedflow.

Martin tells us that although the team have switched to Super Comp, he will still be running his excellent UK Comp Eliminator web site at www.compeliminator.co.uk. He adds that the team now have their own URL at www.timemachine.co.uk.

UK National points updated.
29th May: We are as ever indebted to UK National Championship points co-ordinators Yvonne Tramm and Simon Groves for sending us the post-Main Event standings in the UK National Championships. You can view the UK National points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Main Event already on TV.
29th May: Caroline Day of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to let us know that the FIA Main Event has already had TV coverage, with more to come. If you were tuned in last week you will have read that this year's TV package is the biggest yet for European drag racing, and it looks as if the new arrangements are already bearing fruit.

"A Video News Release was sent to both Reuters and the European Broadcasting Union", says Caroline. "These are the two largest international News Agencies who feed international news and sport to their satellites. Almost every major broadcaster has access to this service and can 'download' our drag racing news/features as participants of this service."
©Eurodragster.com
Reuters serves 335 TV stations in ninety four countries right around the world, whilst the EBU serves sixty five channels in forty six countries across Europe, giving racers and their sponsors huge potential exposure.

"I can also confirm that the Swedish terrestrial channel TV2's sports news picked up the Main Event and broadcast it on Tuesday night between 10:00-10.30 pm", adds Caroline.

Update 15:30: We have just heard from Lex Joon Racing Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra that Lex is to be the subject of a feature on Dutch TV tonight (Thursday). "SBS6 did an interview with Lex this morning at our shop, and filmed also the MPM Dodge Avenger. We also gave them footage which Martijn filmed at the Main Event. It will be broadcast on SBS6 tonight at 22:30."

How to handle the Media.
29th May: Mention of TV coverage leads us very nicely to Sportsman ET racer and proprietor of Wiz Training and Development, Keith Crampton, who has been in touch to congratulate Andy Carter and Micke Kågered on their performance on Channel 4 Breakfast TV last week. "It was a lot better than when Johnny Vaughan described Drag Racing as a waste of time on The Big Breakfast - I still haven't got over that!", says Keith.

Keith's business is management and individual development and training, working with a lot of major private and public sector organisations. He tells us that a large part of this is work on presentation skills, media handling and personal impact.
©Eurodragster.com
"For ages I have been thinking of trying to get something together for drag racers", he says. "Seeing Micke and Andy on the TV and noticing what a big part TV and image now play in European Drag Racing gave me the nudge. I am interested in putting together a one-day workshop for drivers and Crew Chiefs. The content can be decided based on the needs of those taking part, but will broadly be focussed on the impact they make in interviews, to supporters and in making sponsor proposals.

"I haven't thought about dates and venue yet, as this will need to fit everyone's commitments. UK and European racers will be welcome". If you are interested and would like to find out a little more, contact Keith by E-Mail at keith.crampton@wiz1.demon.co.uk or by phone on 07770 593425.

Keith and everyone else will get another chance to see Andy Carter's TV performance as Carter Motorsports PR Dan Welberry tells us that Andy is to be on RI:SE again this Friday, which is broadcast on Channel 4 between 06:55 and 09:00.

Appreciation from Malta.
29th May: Adding to the very long list of readers to write to us about the FIA Main Event is Malta Drag Racing Association President Anthony Borda who had word sof appreciation for everyone involved.

"I would like to congratulate everyone taking part in the FIA Main Event, especially racers such as Roger Patterson, Dave Wilson, Urs Erbacher and all the rest who broke the European records; Kjell Petterson for preparing a good track as usual; and Keith Bartlett and all the crew at Santa Pod for the organisation. I can't leave out Tog And Sharkman for all those nice pics they take during every event, well done guys (Thanks! Ed)."

We have had several such E-Mails about our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage of the FIA Main Event. All we can say is thanks to everyone who has written with appreciative comments, and thanks to the 53,026 readers who tuned in to Eurodragster during our FIA Main Event coverage.

Hellbound for Spellbound.
29th May: UK Pro ET racer Malcolm Motler will soon be looking over his shoulder as his eldest son Lee has just acquired a race car with the intent of taking on the Spellbound Morris Minor pick-up in the not-too-distant future.
©Eurodragster.com
"Lee has just purchased a rather wicked looking Rover V8-powered MK 1 Lotus Cortina", says Malcolm's partner Marcie. "He is hoping to attend Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in August is everything goes to plan. Lee will be joining the ranks of Sportsman ET, and is hoping to progress into Pro ET where he hopes to kick his dad's butt! He is going to call his car Hellbound. Malk and I are really looking forward to seeing Lee out on the track and having loads of fun!"

Pubcrawler help sought.
29th May: We know that there are several pub-crawling experts amongst Eurodragster's readership but put away your tankards, that's not what we're after. We've heard from Mark Slattery, who is seeking the help of Eurodragster readers with his latest project.
©Eurodragster.com
"I have recently bought a slingshot dragster called Pubcrawler and I am patiently trying to restore it to its former glory days when it was Jag-powered", says Mark. "I am trying to locate Richard Dawson, who was its owner up to 1985. If Richard is reading this, or if anyone knows him, then please get in touch with me on 07965 110391."

Page's manic weekend.
28th May: Knut Söderquist's Carbon By Design Top Fuel team had a very busy weekend at the FIA Main Event, fielding three cars two of which - the mounts of Smax Smith and Gary Page - were in the final round. Runner-up Gary Page gave us his take on what he described as a "manic" weekend.

"I never expected to be in the final", said Gary. "There were a lot of shocks and upsets. We weren't the fastest car out there, but we had a good go and I certainly didn't give the race away to Smax. For the seventh and eighth qualifiers to be in the final was awesome. I don't know how we got through the weekend but we did! Alan Jackson (Crew Chief - Ed) was calling the shots on all three cars, I don't know how he does it. And I don't know how I did it because there were really only four of us!"

If you were tuned in in to our Event Coverage on Monday you will have read that Top Fuel winner Smax Smith's engine fireballed at the finish line and that Gary's engine smoked and dropped oil. "We've given Smax's car the once over and it appears that all it did was to spit a spark plug out", said Gary. "We did a couple of pistons on my engine but it's nothing serious. We are getting Smax's car ready for the next FIA round at Alastaro and the red car, which I drove at the weekend, is being prepared for a match race at Shakespeare County Raceway in a couple of weeks' time."
©Eurodragster.com
Gary said that he and winner Smax Smith were surrounded by fellow racers and fans congratulating them on their exploits at the weekend, but he was quick to add that they could not have done it without the help of a number of people. "I would like to say a special Thank You to Terry Giles", he said. "Terry has been with me since my brother David died and I would like to thank him for always being there. I want to thank Knut Söderquist and Alan Jackson, and my crew including Richard who cleaned everything. I would also like to congratulate Smax, Dave Wilson, Urs Erbacher, John Spuffard, and Roger Pettersson on their record-setting performances, and Roel Koedam on his awesome runs!"

Cannon fired up.
28th May: The UK's newest Top Fuel Bike racer, Chris 'Cannon' Hannam, looked as if he felt right at home on his and Jon Morton's ride at the FIA Main Event this weekend. Cannon tells us that there was a simple reason for that - because he did! "What an awesome time!", says Cannon. "This is definitely my calling."

The bike has a Puma bottom end with an MTC top end and Sprintex blower. "It is basically the same as Tony Lang's bike", says Cannon. "It has all the right bits to work with as I get more competent on the bike. My Crew Chief Frank Brachtvogel, who has in the past been linked with Top Fuel legend Larry McBride, is the one calling the shots and I have to say it's an absolute privalige to work with someone so dedicated and an absolute professional. All that we have acheived so far is totally down to Frank - all I do is ride. We have now made seven passes on the bike and have got faster and further down the track with every pass, the best being 7.33/181.50. Unfortunatley we didn't qualify for the fastest Fuel Bike field in Europe with the bump at 6.94, but the team and I are totally satisfied with our meeting and we have had the pleasure of Jay and Schooly from the MRE camp with us this meeting for extra support.
©Eurodragster.com
"Frank has now changed the low gear ratio, as we feel this may be better to get the bike moving with my big arse on the bike. We have no datalogger and no clutch or fuel timers on the bike yet, so we are stepping up a bit at a time as the crew and are learning from Frank. We just need laps to gain confidence and consistency.

"I would like to thank all the crew: Frank Brachtvogel, Jon Morton, Wayne Little, Paul Beaumont, and Andy Richards for their time and dedication to the team. Without them this couldn't and wouldn't be happening. Thanks also to Jayne for keeping us all supplied with food and drink. Roll on the next meeting, 28th-29th June at Santa Pod, and hopefully that elusive six-second pass.

"We are proud to be associated with Cannon Engineering, International CNC Limited, MRE, G-Max Fuels, Torco Oils and Mitchell Fox Limited."

Racers: Send your FIA Main Event reviews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.

NDRS points updated.
28th May: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their official web site with the latest points standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series, which had two events at the weekend at Santa Pod and Frøya. The site at www.dragracing.se has also been updated with qualifying and elimination details from the FIA Main Event and the Islanders Speed Weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
Erwin Raets has also been busy updating the European Drag Racing Database at www.eurodrag.com with qualifying and elimination details from the FIA Main Event.

Also working hard is Showtime Fuel FC team member Chris Dossett who has already updated the team's official web site with a report from the FIA Main Event. Chris' report is as usual interesting and informative and is well worth a read. Check it out at www.showtimeracing.co.uk.

FIA Main Event timing data.
28th May: We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us the timing data from the FIA Main Event. You can view the timing data by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Andy has also confirmed the weekend's performance benchmarks:
  • Dave Wilson, new European Top Methanol Dragster record of 5.461 backed up by a 5.483
  • Dave Wilson, first ever TMD in the 5.4s
  • Dave Wilson and Peter Schöfer, first ever side-by-side 5.4s in TMD
  • John Spuffard, new European Fuel Funny Car speed record at 266.57 backed up by a 265.59
  • Urs Erbacher, first ever Top Methanol Funny Car in the 5.6s
  • Urs Erbacher, new European TMFC record of 5.694 backed up by a 5.715
  • Fastest UEM Top Fuel qualifying field ever with a bump spot of 6.941
  • Roger Petterson, new FIM/UEM European Pro Stock Bike record with a 7.396 backed up by a 7.456
We have also as promised now set up a proper index page for the Main Event ladders, also supplied by Andy. You can reach the Main Event ladders by clicking on the above link to the timing data.

Johnny Mental as usual.
28th May: UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Johnny 'Mental' Hall led the way for the Outlaws at the Classic American Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway two weekends back. Johnny Mental had hurt the engine of his wild wheelstanding slingshot at a test session few weeks ago, but got things back together in time to put his pedal to the metal at the muscle car event. Johnny takes up the story:

We arrived at the track on the Friday afternoon, set up the pit and proceeded to put the engine back together after our torching escapade at Santa Pod on the Webster Race Engineering Test Day. The block and head was welded by an old guy in Grimsby called Strante, who has been welding BSA and Norton crankcases since the year dot, and who did a fantastic job.

Crew Chief Mark Windridge made up a tool with a dremel to re-o-ring the block and it worked fine right there in the pits. New copper head gaskets were bought and installed, although Dave Mckenzie spent a lot of time opening up the holes because someone (me) didn't order clearance holes for the half-inch moly studs which we are now using. New team member, eighteen-year-old Nathan did really well and just got on with any job he was asked to do, and remember all this work was being done under an awning in the pouring rain.
©Eurodragster.com
The guys worked until midnight on Friday and were back working on the car at eight on Saturday morning, and finally getting the car fired up at 4.30 that afternoon. Why is it that when you fire an engine up after a rebuild it sounds stronger than ever? Sunday dawned bright and breezy...did it hell, it was raining, so we waited and waited and eventually we went to the fire-up road to join the queue at around 2.00 pm. The track was prepped after we had all got suited up so I got out of the car to wait.

When we did get on the track, the surface turned out to be one of the best we have ever raced on at Shakespeare County Raceway. As Crew Chief Mark Windridge was backing me up after the burnout, he had to move to the side of the strip because his shoes were coming off. He pointed to the track and put his thumbs up. It's funny how you develop an understanding with your crew and know exactly what they mean, with hand gestures and the like. When I launched, I recorded my best-ever sixty foot of 1.23 but under load at half track we developed a misfire. On the next pass it was slightly worse so a new ignition system has already been bought and fitted in time for our next outing at the Modified Nationals at Shakey this weekend.

The bottom line is 'We Kicked Ass As Usual', we recorded the fastest times of all the Outlaws present, and that with a sick engine to boot!

Jumping to help.
28th May: Iain and Liz Malcolm have been in touch to express their heartfelt thanks to John Atkinson of Jumping Black Flash fame and his family for his swift and caring first aid at the FIA Main Event. "John attended to a burst blood vessel in my ankle which without his knowledgeable help was potentially dangerous", says Iain. "We would also like to thank the excellent paramedic team who attended. It's a good to know that there are people like John and his family involved in drag racing."
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Main Event results.
26th May: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Smax Smith 4.959/280.53 def. Gary Page 5.382/211.65
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dave Wilson 5.461/244.44 def. Peter Schofer 5.488/247.57
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Urs Erbacher 5.715/248.36 def. Leif Andreasson 5.901/241.70
FIA Pro Stock: Rune Berg 7.071/194.77 def. Michael Malmgren 7.419/152.99
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Roger Johansson 6.462/215.58 def. Henri Joosten 6.880/196.43
Fuel Funny Car: John Spuffard 5.410/265.59 def. Gordon Smith 7.053/124.36
Comp Eliminator: Bruno Bader (8.28) 7.687/157.11 def. Marco Maurischat (7.55) 7.347/187.88
Super Pro ET: Al Golding (8.98) 9.005/147.75 def. Steve Johnson (7.60) 7.634/161.35
Pro ET: Lee Huxley (10.70) 10.774/120.64 def. Marius Blackburn (9.58) 9.652/137.71 red light
Sportsman ET: Paul Bishop (16.50) 16.675/78.52 def. George Greves (13.43) 13.590/100.30
Super Comp: Brian Pateman 8.924/152.96 def. Mark Fairhurst 8.855/152.36 breakout
Super Gas: Tim Adam 9.949/140.58 def. Will Furniss 9.978/135.36
Super Street: Stu Doignie 10.914/122.28 def. Ian Brown 10.875/119.16 breakout
Junior Dragster: Joe Bond (9.35) 9.405/67.78 def. Colin Morrice (9.21) 9.198/66.43 breakout
©Eurodragster.com
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Roel Koedam 6.237/223.44 def. Tim Blakemore 7.305/163.93
FIM/UEM Supertwin Bike: Per Bengtsson 7.212/145.16 def. Ronny Aasen 9.668/84.53
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Chris Hope 8.482/149.92 def. Oivind von Essen 8.055/121.47 red light
9.90 Bike: Steve Coombs 10.121/128.62 def. Stu Conway 10.018/128.45
10.90 Bike: Phil Pratt 10.979/125.42 def. Richard Amos 10.995/120.36

You can view Eurodragster's American Car Imports-sponsored reports and pictures by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

FIA Main Event ladders.
26th May: Many thanks to Andy Marrs of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew for providing us with the weekend's ladders in double-quick time.
©Eurodragster.com
You can find the weekend's ladders in their temporary home by clicking here; in the next day or so we will produce a proper index page.

FIA Championship points.
26th May: We are indebted to FIA European Championship co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for passing us provisional standings in the FIA Championships after this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.

Top Fuel Dragster
  1. Smax Smith 93
  2. Gary Page 73
  3. Kim Reymond 56
  4. Øyvor Jacobsen 54
  5. Andy Carter 43
  6. Anita Mäkelä 37
  7. Tommy Möller 35
  8. Micke Kågered 34
Top Methanol Dragster
  1. Dave Wilson 81
  2. Peter Schöfer 58
  3. Rob Turner 37
Top Methanol Funny Car
  1. Urs Erbacher 103
  2. Leif Andréasson 77
  3. Niclas Andersson 56
  4. Dan Larsen 55
  5. Freddy Fagerström 34
  6. Ulf Leanders 33
  7. Steph Milam 33
  8. Deszoe Krivan 24
  9. Jurgen Nagel 12
  10. Doug Ripley 12
  11. Dennis Wratten
Pro Stock
  1. Rune Berg 96
  2. Michael Malmgren 83
  3. Jan Murén 57
  4. Magnus Hansson 55
  5. Christer Andersson 34
  6. Tommy Leindahl 34
  7. Kenneth Soderström 33
©Eurodragster.com
Fuel FC Championship points.
26th May: We are also indebted to MSA British Nitro FC Championship co-ordinator Jim Broome for passing us provisional standings in the British Nitro FC Championship after this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.
  1. John Spuffard 236
  2. Gordon Smith 194
  3. Lex Joon 76
  4. Leif Helander 15
Friday afternoon testing at SPR.
23rd May: Earlier on we promised that we would bring you news of this afternoon's private test here at Santa Pod Raceway. We have one or two more runs left to go but here is what he have had up to 18:00:

Roger Pettersson (Pro Stock Bike): smoked tyre, 7.695/168.46, 7.840/174.30

Kim Reymond (Top Fuel Dragster): smoked tyres

Anita Mäkelä: 0.872 sixty foot, 9.360/83.42

Ian Marshall (Super Modified): 8.648/155.22

Kim Reymond is planning another pass this evening - stay tuned.

Woollatt in Chains.
23rd May: 2002 ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt has announced a new sponsorship deal with US company EK Chain. The new chain for Steve's six-second Puma arrived yesterday in time to be fitted for this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. "You can't get EK chains in England", Steve told Eurodragster last night. "You have to get them in especially from the USA."
©Eurodragster.com
The deal was assisted by another of Steve's sponsors, Steve Conway of Bikes of Brighton. "We've been working on the deal for two months", said Steve. "Steve helps with a lot of my deals, he is one of the team, and I am very grateful to him for all of his help."

The Dealer Top Fuel Bike will be running a different engine configuration this weekend after Steve's last outing at the Speedfreaks Ball. "The bike was just fine after the Speedfreaks", said Steve. "A belt broke but we know why that was and we have fixed it. We're really looking forward to the race."

Good news from Robinson.
23rd May: It's all good news for UK Pro Modified racer Andy Robinson as he has confirmed that he will be racing at the FIA Main Event this weekend despite suffering engine damage at last week's test session, and he has also announced a new sponsorship deal with Hylomar.

"Hylomar are the manufacturers of high-performance sealants and adhesives, several of which I have been using on my '53 Studebaker", says Andy. "I can highly recommend their excellent products. For more information check out their superb web site at www.hylomar.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
"At the same time I would also like to thank all the members of my race team who have put in a sterling effort this week to make sure that the Studebaker will make it to the track this weekend. Thanks guys!"

Sheavills attends Main Event.
23rd May: Top Fuel Dragster racer Barry Sheavills is looking forward to meeting fans at Santa Pod this weekend. The first European racer to three hundred miles per hour, European speed record holder, and the racer who has run the most four-second and three hundred mile per hour passes in Europe, is taking a year out to seek sponsorship for a return to the track in 2004, but will be at the Main Event on Sunday and Monday to meet and greet fans and to provide colour commentary on the PA.

"To all those who have E-Mailed and called, I'm still alive and kicking and desperately trying to go racing!", says Barry. "It's going to be a difficult weekend for me because it will be the first time in thirty years that I have not had a race car. But you know how it is, I have to go if only to get my fix of nitro!"
©Eurodragster.com
Barry says that he is actively involved in seeking funds for next year. "I'm talking to a couple of large companies", he says. "You have to have a proper budget for Top Fuel or else there is no point in doing it. But what you don't realise is that it could cost five thousand pounds or so just to put together a proper presentation for prospective sponsors."

Barry is bringing some limited-edition merchandise with him, which will be on sale in the Pod Shop. "I have some First to 300 T-shirts, and some prints of an oil painting which I will be pleased to sign", he says. "I also have some pieces of the old car which I will sell if anyone wants them - come and see me!"

FIA Main Event running orders.
23rd May: We are indebted to Santa Pod Raceway's International Race Director Darren Prentice and Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for passing on the provisional running orders for the first two days of the FIA Main Event. The running orders are as usual subject to alteration due to weather, startline conditions, or any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the running orders on our 2003 FIA Main Event coverage index, which you can reach by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Testing on the webcam.
23rd May: Eurodragster's Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will be on-line this afternoon as Top Fuel Dragster racers Kim Reymond and Anita Mäkelä hold a private test session at Santa Pod Raceway. Kim did a deal with SPR Track Manager Kjell Pettersson to hire the track as soon as his pre-season testing plans were thwarted by the weather at Santa Pod last weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"I am due to arrive at Stansted at 11:00, I should be at the track within an hour or two, and I'm getting straight in the car when I arrive!", Kim told Eurodragster last Sunday. "We have a completely new set-up this season so I really need a test run to get some data."

We plan to switch on the webcam as soon as Kim or Anita arrive in the pairing lanes and it will be updating once a minute for the duration of the test. You can view the webcam via our 2003 FIA Main Event coverage index, which you can reach by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

We will post brief details of the test session here on the news page as soon as we can after it concludes.

UK National points revised.
23rd May: We are indebted to UK National Championships points co-ordinators Simon Groves and Yvonne Tramm for forwarding amended points standings for 9.90 Bike and 10.90 Bike after the Excitement Nationals.
©Eurodragster.com
Simon tells us that it was agreed between APIRA and SPRC that as the first rounds of the two classes were run heads-up, rather than indexed, over the eighth-mile at the Excitement Nationals, the only fair way of distributing the points is as follows:
  • Qualifying points as normal
  • All qualified riders who completed the first round to receive 100 points each, plus their respective qualifying points
  • No second, third etc. round points to be issued
You can view the amended points standings by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. The points for Junior Drag Bike and the Wild Bunch in the Ultimate Power Championship have also been added and revised respectively.

The guys Didwell.
23rd May: Pamela Rumble and Wayne Hiscock have been in touch with some great news from the ranks of UK Pro ET.

"One noticeable name missing from the Main Event competitor list is that of Pro ET racer Alan Didwell who is currently honeymooning somewhere on a cruise ship with his blushing bride Leigh Bendy Cats Rule OK. Alan and Leigh were married on 10th May at The White Lion Hotel, Wisbech and a great day (and evening) was had by all.

"Leighs first weekend of drag racing was met with torrential rain and hurricane winds which totally destroyed their tent resulting in them both travelling home - not to retire from the weekend's racing, but to buy a new tent and return the next morning! Leigh has been a great pizza delivery girl and tea maker for the crew whilst they were rebuilding gearboxes 'til one in the morning so that racing could carry on. Long may her dedication, and Alans racing, continue.
©Eurodragster.com
"Please drop in at Alan and Leigh's caravan at the SPRC Summernationals and give them your congratulations. They make a great couple and drag racing wouldnt be the same for us without them."

We are sure that everyone will want to join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Al and Leigh all the very best for the future.

Black cats to Bishop, please.
22nd May: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop is hoping for an end to a streak of bad luck at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Speaking to Eurodragster at yesterday's Press Day, Martin listed his 2003 catalogue of grief.

"We've had two meetings of disaster", he said. "I blew up my new 1640 on the first pass at the Easter Thunderball. Then I blew up my 1500 on the second pass! Then my pit bike blew up, and my Transit blew up on the way home.
©Eurodragster.com
"I fixed the 1500 for the Excitement Nationals, but I had electrical problems with it. Then a mini-typhoon blew through the pits and picked up my marquee, tool box and generator and damaged them all. The pit bike blew up again! On the way home, the toolboxes came dislodged and smashed the front of the bike. Oh, and the crankshaft for the 1640 has disappeared - the courier can't find it. We'll be selling the Big Issue this weekend!"

You or I would be calling the Samaritans by now but Martin soldiered on. "We have shoehorned together all the bits and made a 1570 which we finished on Tuesday night", he said. "We're still going to send the Swedes home! And if Snap-On are reading this, can I have a new toolbox please?"

FC rookies welcome, but...
22nd May: UK Fuel Funny Car racer Gordon Smith and the Shockwave team are promising Fuel FC rookie Lex Joon a rude awakening when Lex makes his début in the MPM Oil-backed Avenger at this weekend's FIA Main Event. Lex will be running the ex-Showtime spare which has run easy 5.5s so far, but Gordon has a word of warning for the Dutch racer.
©Eurodragster.com
"5.4s and 5.5s ain't going to cut it!", says Gordon. "Dave (Bryant, Crew Chief and co-owner - Ed) has a 5.20 tune-up in our car, and given the weather that's just what we'll be doing. Shockwave is the most up-to-date Funny Car in the UK in terms of the engine and body. The potential is there. The car is ready to go and we've got loads of spares. So if Lex wants to get past Showtime then he's got to get past us!"

Gordon adds that he is very pleased to see new faces in Fuel Funny Car. "I would like to welcome Lex and Leif Helander to the class", he says. "They're both great racers, they will bring a lot to Fuel Funny Car, and they will be a real challenge. But they'll know that we're there, that's for sure!"

Team Kågered happy.
22nd May: Sweden's Team Kågered were in good spirits when we visited them at the end of yesterday's FIA Main Event Press Day at Santa Pod Raceway.

Top Methanol FC racer Niclas Andersson clocked a 7.030/218.83 in his latest observed run in the Sandflex-sponsored car yesterday, leaving him just the representative full pass to gain his licence. "I am very happy", said Niclas, "and I am looking forward to the weekend. I'm here to win the race!". Niclas said that he felt more and more comfortable in the car, which is a world apart from his previous rides in Pro Mod and Pro Stock, in which he won several Championships. "It all takes time", he said. "It's very new for me and a big difference from the Pro Stock car, but it feels right to step up to the Funny Car after four successful seasons in Pro Stock."

Niclas expressed himself very proud to be racing with the Kågered team. "I'm with the best team, and I have the best teacher", he said. "I remember when I was younger watching Micke race at Mantorp and looking up to him. Now I am even wearing his Championship firesuit!"
©Eurodragster.com
Micke Kågered would have had every reason to be frustrated after sitting strapped into the Bahco Tools-backed Top Fueller waiting for the rain to stop, but he was in good spirits. "I thought that if I could make a half pass, if Niclas could do well in the Funny Car, and if I could beat Andy Carter in the pick-up match race then it would be a perfect day", he said. "Niclas did well and I beat Andy, so that was a good day!"

Micke expressed admiration for Niclas' performance in the Funny Car. "I am very pleased", he said. "Niclas is getting better and better in the car, and he is learning to do things around the pits too! He just needs to hit first gear a bit harder, but he is only two runs from running a 5.80". Micke added that he is finding it easier to watch his beloved FC in someone else's hands. "Yes, I feel OK now!", he laughed.

Micke will be joining Andy Carter on breakfast TV tomorrow - see below for more details.

Team Manager Åsa Kinnemar said that she will be updating the Kagered Racing web site from Santa Pod over the weekend. You will be able to read Åsa's updates at www.kagered-racing.com.

Aladdin's Cave at CBD pit.
22nd May: Carbon By Design Top Fuel team owner Knut Söderquist (right, with tuner Alan Jackson) has a trailer crammed to the roof with spares to support the three cars which he is fielding at the FIA Main Event this weekend. We were invited into Knut's trailer yesterday afternoon and we stopped counting at fourteen cylinder heads, eight blowers, four clutches and a huge number of pistons.
©Eurodragster.com
"I sold six of my injectors to Don Prudhomme in the USA", said Knut. "We did a bit of wheeling and dealing and the deal was to give me some heads. They came out with all these heads and I thought it was their new stuff, but when I went back to my truck they were all in there!"

Knut joked that the CBD team, under whose aegis Micke Kågered, Smax Smith and Gary Page will be racing this weekend, "Only have six spare motors for this event". There will be spares on offer to other teams too. "If anyone needs anything then I hope they will come to see me!", said Knut. "It will be different prices for different people though!"

Dahl chasing lost speed.
22nd May: 2002 FIM/UEM Comp Bike Champion Sverre Dahl left Norway for Santa Pod yesterday, his six-second Sunshine Express Top Fuel Bike sharing a trailer with that of Supertwin racer Svein Gottenberg.

"Over the winter we have made many modifications to get the rod bearings to last longer", says Sverre. "This includes including a new way of hardening the crank, and new con rods. The head has been refurbished with new seat and valve guides. The blower has also been modified and we have also done some clutch work. We will probably get back the miles per hour which we didn't have at Santa Pod last year.
©Eurodragster.com
"As always, the first race is too early so we only sprayed the bike on Tuesday night, and we have not actually started it up since last year, but I think that it will work OK. The goal for this weekend is to try to qualify, and hopefully to make some good passes."

Nilsson hopes for 6.3s.
22nd May: 2002 NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Champion Håkan Nilsson and the Veidec Racing team are also on their way to the UK and are looking forward to racing at Santa Pod again, writes team member Ulf Stadig.

"We are really looking forward to starting the 2003 Bilsport Pro Mod series at Santa Pod", says Ulf. "The track is the best in Europe so there isnt anything to complain about.

"For this season we have made two major improvements to our Veidec Rocket. The first is that we have put in a new 'old' clutch, this clutch is the one with which we have had the best luck in all our years of racing. The next big thing is our wheelie bars. The old wheelie bars were kept and repaired from the Corvette which crashed. So when we were competing in the States earlier this year we bought new wheelie bars from TM Racecars, and we are really feeling confident about them. We feel that these two improvements were a big part of our 6.34 runs up in Virginia this spring.
©Eurodragster.com
"We hope that we can take some of that momentum with us to the Pod. We will be really happy if we could dip in to the high .30 zone this weekend. We know that it will be possible if the weather and the track are on our side."

The Nilsson Motorsports team are also launching their very smart new T-Shirts this weekend. "Please come by and buy one to support our team", says Ulf.

The Veidec Racing web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com will be updated by Ulf throughout this weekend with the latest news from Håkan Nilsson's pit.

Two-mode Andréasson.
22nd May: Another race team posting reports from Santa Pod Raceway this weekend are Swedish Top Methanol FC team Andréasson Motorsports. Team member Anders Magnusson is planning updates at the end of each day of the Main Event. Anders also brought us up to speed on the latest from Leif Andréasson's pit.

"We have not made any major changes to the race car except for the new Alfa Romeo body", said Anders. "There have only been some minor parts changes, to gain quality and reliability. It's time for revenge for the entire team, who had a combination of tough breaks and embarrassing mistakes during 2002 to make up for.
©Eurodragster.com
"Our main concern will be to gain some speed, and cut some time off the ET. Our opposition are going fast and we need to go even faster, preferably as fast as the top teams of the NHRA circuit. Our cecond concern is to establish a high level of performance to perform well in eliminations. Experimental mode, and Racing mode..."

You can find the Andréasson Motorsports web site at www.andreassonmotorsports.com.

Carter defeat on TV tomorrow.
22nd May: If you were tuned in yesterday you will have read that Top Fuel Dragster racers Andy Carter and Micke Kågered were to have a match race at yesterday's Main Event Press Day, using two Ford Lightnings supplied by American Car Imports. Andy and Micke had two races, and Micke won 2-0, the second on a huge holeshot. The races were filmed by the UK's Channel 4 for broadcast on their breakfast programme RI:SE tomorrow.
©Eurodragster.com
"My foot slipped, I wasn't ready, I had problems with the car, there were games on the start line, I let Micke win...I could have said all of that but I didn't!", joked Andy Carter. "Micke beat me fair and square. It's going to be a different story at the weekend though!"

As well as all of the filming yesterday, Andy and Micke will be appearing live in the studio on RI:SE, which is broadcast from 6:55 am-9:00 am tomorrow morning (Friday).

2003 biggest TV year.
22nd May: Mention of drag racing on TV leads us very nicely into details of the TV package for the 2003 FIA and FIM/UEM European Championships, which were revealed to us by FIA Championship promoter Keith Bartlett at yesterday's Main Event Press Day.

"The 2003 TV deal is the biggest ever", said Keith. "We have wider distribution and more broadcasts than ever before. This doesn't just benefit the racers and their sponsors, but it benefits me and my organisation too. I am currently in negotiations for Championship sponsorship for 2004, and the TV coverage is proving to be one of the most important criteria in the sponsors' requirements. In fact we are now getting sponsors coming in on the TV shows themselves."
©Eurodragster.com
There will be twenty three core shows from the European Championship this season, featuring FIA Top Fuel and Pro Stock; FIA Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car; FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike and Pro Stock Bike; and FIM/UEM Supertwin and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod. This will be the first time that Top Fuel Bike and Pro Mod have been included in the core shows. "I am personally delighted to have been involved in the inclusion of Pro Mod", said Keith, "it has always been one of my dreams."

The core shows will be broadcast all over the world. "There will be terrestrial coverage on TF1 and TF4 in Sweden, coverage on Sky Sport, Channel 5 and Granada Men and Motors in the UK, and on RTL and Motors in Germany", said Keith. "I am also proud to have signed deals with Speedchannel and the Sunshine Channel in the USA to take all twenty three shows. The US markets are very interested in European drag racing."

On a worldwide basis European drag racing will be featured in twelve-minute slots in Gilette Sports Special and Fastrax. "Add to that the broadcasts in Australia, Japan, and the Middle East and you can see just how wide the exposure is this season", said Keith.

We have been promised full details of the TV schedules so stay tuned and we'll bring you that as soon as we receive it.

Busy weekend at York Dragway.
22nd May: This weekend's UK Open Nationals at York Dragway features this year's inaugural round of the American Superstock Series, writes York Dragway PR Howard Holmes. The Series is primarily for classic American muscle: the cars are factory production cars or at least of 'streetable' appearance (including virtually any American professing to have some performance!), although not necessarily taxed and tested.

"It's a great opportunity to use these cars competitively and is a big hit with racers and spectators alike: it's poised for a great year in 2003", says Howard. Open headers and slicks are allowed, as well as nitrous oxide injection, racing is heads up within a 12.50 index with a .500 pro tree, but consistency and reliability naturally play their part. Last year's series presented a field of over twenty cars, with much rivalry between the GM, Ford and Chrysler marques, over a dozen classic Chryslers represented. If you would like to get involved then call Tim Holmes on 0114264 8185.

"The series has attracted the attention of sponsors, to whom we are grateful", says Howard. "Kenny Coleman of EDA - 01977 516622 for all your engine building and dyno needs - is sponsoring 50.00 per round and George and Pete Childs of Transaxle Services Halifax - 01422 344347 for commercial vehicle rear axle repairs - have sponsored 300.00 to the finalist. Thanks very much for your support!"

The UK Open Nationals also features the Northern Drag Racing Championships, which is a two-tier bracket series for Street ET and Pro ET, and Round 2 of the Hot Rod Challenge for Street Cars. Providing that the vehicle has a current MOT certificate, it can even be (horror of all horrors) front wheel drive, if you feel so inclined, or four-wheel drive. Slicks, open headers and nitrous are all allowed. The class rund to a .500 sportsman tree and is good, competitive fun. To get yourself involved call Cath Napier on 01325 350268.

York will also be running with the Bunchers, the Wild Bunch series for nostalgia race cars, as well as hosting the round two of the Cruise Missile Shootout, which features several categories for GTi-type vehicles, and Run Wot You Brung for just about everyone with a licence and helmet. Camping is open from 6:00 pm on Saturday.

For more details check out York Dragway's official web site at yorkdragway.intrica.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
22nd May: UK Pro ET racer Terri Lee has updated her web site with the latest news from the pit of her Blown It Escort van. Unfortunately this news is not good. Check it out at www.terrileeracing.co.uk.

The guys at the Dragsterworld web site will be spending the weekend with UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter, getting behind the scenes to try to show fans the hard work and dedication which goes into running a Top Fuel team. Webmaster Gary Cottingham tells us that if any fans have specific questions about running a Top Fuel Dragster which they would like answered then it is not too late to E-Mail them to info@dragsterworld.com. The reports will be posted at www.dragsterworld.com over the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Rule Book change for TMFC.
21st May: We are indebted to Kjell Pettersson for passing on details of a change in the FIA Rule Book for Top Methanol Funny Cars, which takes immediate effect.

Where the FIA Rule Book previously read:

SECTION 2 - Top Methanol Funny Car
Article 1.7 - Supercharger

Maximum supercharger overdrive limits are 1.36 on Whipple screwtype; 1.92 on PSI screw-type; 1.70 on Roots

It should now read:

Maximum supercharger overdrive limits are given under article 1.12 of section 7 - General Regulations

See that section of the FIA Rule Book for more details.
©Eurodragster.com
Workshop visit: Lex Joon Racing.
21st May: One of the several eagerly-awaited headliners at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway is the début of two new Fuel Funny Car racers, Holland's Lex Joon and Sweden's Leif Helander. Both have long and successful careers in Top Methanol FC before moving to what their fans know is their spiritual home.
©Eurodragster.com
On Monday, Eurodragster staffer Tog took a cheap day return across the North Sea to Zaandam in Holland where he spent a very pleasant few hours interviewing Lex Joon and Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra about Lex's move to Fuel Funny Car and getting a close-up view of how much work is involved in trying to run a business, promote races, and prepare to race a Fuel FC all at the same time.

Click here to read about our workshop visit, or click on the Team Features page on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Malmgren after 200 mph.
21st May: 2002 FIA European Pro Stock Champion and record holder Michael Malmgren is predicting low 6.9s from his Camaro at the FIA Main Event this weekend if the conditions are right. "We haven't changed much", says Michael. "We have built another spare engine as Kenneth Soderstrom has bought out number two from last year."

Michael and the team were due to finish installing the engine last night before leaving for the UK today. "There is a lot still to do and we are up against it", he says.
©Eurodragster.com
Michael says that having got a consistent six-second tune-up the team are now aiming for two hundred miles per hour. "We're the only ones with the power to do it", he says. "Jan Murén has bought a new engine but I don't think it's as good as ours! Jacob Ferrer has sold his entire operation to Jimmy Ålund, and they broke the engine last Saturday. Jari Konola has sold his car, and it's Micke Lindahl's first season in Pro Stock and he has an old engine. Everyone else is running the same as last season."

Team TIL going spare.
21st May: The UK's Team Titanium International Limited Funny Bike will have a spare engine at this weekend's FIA Main Event, where rider Dave Holland will be hoping to cause a few upsets in the FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike class. Nigel Hoskison of Titanium International brought us up to speed with events in the Team TIL pit:

Claire and I drove down to Ken Coopers workshop on Saturday to deliver a new billet crank, rods and gearbox which had been shipped over in record time from Jay at MRE by Emery Worldwide. Ken can now build a spare motor in time for the Main Event. Ken will be looking after the motors this year, his knowledge and experience has been much appreciated and has been a major contribution to our excellent start to the season, which includes the new Person Best of 7.131 seconds which Dave ran at the Excitement Nationals. We hope that Dave can go even quicker at the Main Event where the track is sure to be prepared to perfection.
©Eurodragster.com
We will have a very special guest with us in the pits at the weekend. Jay Regan of Murdoch Racing Enterprises (MRE) is making the trip over from Florida. Jay is well known to many UK bike racers, especially those who have made trips to Gainesville! His last trip to the UK was when Dave bought the bike in 2000. As well as Jay we will again be supported by guests from Stainless Steel Fasteners.

Since the Excitement Nationals we have taken delivery of our supplies of oils, lubricants and cleaners from Rock Oil and Earls Performance Products, through their sister company Nos, have had shipped over from the USA a full range of the latest sapphire jets, a nitrous filling station and other plumbing ancilliaries. I am hoping to fit all of this into the car to deliver to the track on Friday!

Away from racing, the Team TIL Funnybike is to be part of two upcoming features in the Titanium industry. The Titanium Information Group publishes a series of engineering guides on the use of Titanium. The latest guide covers Automotive and Motorsports Applications. There will be a picture and full description of the bike included. The guide will be published on CD with a print run of 2000 copies going to schools, colleges, universities and for distribution at industry exhibitions. The Titanium World Conference takes place in Hamburg in July, and will be attended by one thousand delegates from around the world. Each country represented is invited to give a keynote paper. The UK representative, a professor from QinetiQ, will be speaking on 'The Innovative Use of Titanium in the UK'. He will be including pictures and a description of the bike highlighting the Titanium components. I have also submitted to both authors pictures of UK car dragsters that feature Titanium parts, and I am waiting to see if these will also be included.

Watson announces sponsor.
21st May: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Paul 'Grumpy' Watson, who took the win and ran into the 7.6s at his second competitive event, has announced that he is to be sponsored by Q8 oil this year. Paul attended the BMF Rally for the first time last weekend, taking both his Hayabusa PSB and his Championship-winning Grumpy's Bandit. "The weather could have been better but we had a great time together with David Warren and family, all three bikes got a great response from the public", says Pauk. "A big Thank You to Trevor Rolph at Q8 and to Bob at Suzuki hospitality for all of his help.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have been busy since our success at Shakespeare County Raceway. The bike has been thoroughly gone over and although we are still having problems downloading the datalogger we hope at least to have the same performance as we did at SCR. We may even step it up although I am still getting used to it the ride, it is different to the Bandit. A really big Thank You to Ken Cooper for his help, and we look forward to seeing everyone at the track."

Lightning-quick match race.
21st May: Top Fuel Dragster racers Andy Carter and Micke Kågered will be holding a special match race for the cameras at Santa Pod today for a feature on the UK's Channel 4 television channel.
©Eurodragster.com
American Car Imports joint MD Anthony Cohen, who owns a Top Methanol Dragster team as well as sponsoring Santa Pod Raceway, Eurodragster and Sportsman ET racer George Greves, has arranged for two of the latest Ford Lightnings to be delivered to Santa Pod for the race between two of Europe's three 300 mph racers. One of the Lightnings is that raced by George, which runs easy twelve-second passes.

The American Car Imports Racing team's official web site has been updated with a report of their successful weekend at the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, together with reports of the progress of George Greves, Malcolm Francis and Dave Holland who are sponsored by or connected with American Car Imports who of coursr also sponsor Eurodragster's Home, News and Event Coverage pages. Crew Chief Andy Bissett's report is the usual entertaining affair especially given that at time of writing he had other distractions...check it out at www.americancarimportsracing.com to find out why!

Final FIA Main Event entry list.
20th May: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the final version of the entry list for this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod. "Entry is now officially closed, thank god!", says Paula.

Click here to see the final FIA Main Event entry list.
©Eurodragster.com
Kågered Racing face the media.
20th May: Micke Kågered has joined Niclas Andersson to present the full Kågered Racing team to the media at tomorrow's FIA Main Event Press Day at Santa Pod Raceway. As we mentioned yesterday, Niclas has to complete his Top Methanol FC licencing in the Sandtex-sponsored car, and Team Manager Åsa Kinnemar tells us that Micke will now be there to scare unsuspecting journalists with the power of the Bahco Tools Top Fuel Dragster.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster will be at tomorrow's Press Day so stay tuned to our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage to find out how things go. The webcam will also be online, in association with Webster Race Engineering and latest sponsor MPM International Oil Company, who are major backers of Lex Joon's Fuel Funny Car as well as title sponsor of one of this year's events at Drachten.

The latest from Smax.
20th May: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith is elbow-deep in preparations for this weekend's FIA Main Event where he intends to continue this season's two-for-two winning streak. Smax got in touch to bring us right up to date with some team changes and the latest news about his Top Methanol driving school.

"A partnership arrangement was announced last year involving my Mainline Menace team and the JAT Racing racing team of Vince Andrews and family", says Smax. "The purpose was to jointly run my nitro Funny Car in the UK series together with working on a Top Fuel dragster project - Vince's son Chris was heavily involved in the team at the race meetings being an excellent driver and mechanic (having worked as an instructor at the Frank Hawley school in Florida) with Vince providing excellent back-up and support to the team.

"However 2003 has seen us move in different arenas with me competing in a Knut Söderquist's Top Fuel Dragster with Vince and Chris working on a new exciting project. We have therefore drawn our joint venture to a close but I must emphasise that the parting is on totally amicable terms, and I wish them well.

"I'm grateful to Vince and the JAT team for their hard graft and financial input at what was a difficult time, financially, in my racing career. Their involvement then did allow me to keep racing.

"It's getting tough for me. What with the young guns - Darryl Bradford out in the Wildside Inc car and Chris's fantastic run at the end of last year - I'll have to keep my wits about me, but I promise that I'll be around for a few years yet to show these youngsters that they've got to be good to beat the old timers!
©Eurodragster.com
"Meanwhile the bookings for our Top Methanol driving school are filling up nicely. As many of you know, we have bought the sub six-second ex-Leif Helander Kaxig TMFC, and we have start to prepare potential Methanol racers for their licence runs.

"All the investment has been made to make the car fully 2003 compliant, and we have a very dashing line of new race suits to suit most body shapes...and we are offering personal supervision for any ladies to ensure a suitable fit of the suit. We have limited spaces available this season for anyone wishing to try driving a Top Methanol Funny Far. We can not disclose who at this stage, but we have some really serious interesting pupils lined up for 2003 already.

"Come to see us at the track with our all-new beautiful 2003 Purple Loans Top Fuel dragster, and stay for a chat."

You can find Smax's web site at www.smax.co.uk.

No Wildside walk.
20th May: The UK's Wildside Inc Top Fuel Dragster team have reluctantly withdrawn their entry for the FIA Main Event. "On the day after the Excitement Nationals we told the FIA European Top Fuel Championship organisers that it looked unlikely that we would be able to compete, and we made our final decision last Friday", says Lesley Wright. "We do not have the resources needed. We have spoken with our associate sponsors who all understand our decision. In particular Whites Contract Services, who were due to back us at the event, have extended their support to enable us to fulfil our commitment to appear at the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 14th-15th June."

Lesley tells us that Josh White is going ahead with his fund-raising evening at the Needle and Awl pub in Higham Ferrers this Sunday evening (25th May). Josh is active in raising funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Racing Champions Wildside Top Fuel die cast models have been raffle prizes in Tom Cobleigh pubs over recent weeks. The Needle and Awl is five miles from Santa Pod, just off the A45 close to the Safeway Megastore.

"Noticing on Eurodragster that nine Top Fuel cars were due to be at the event, no doubt some fans were looking forward to some proper qualifying", says driver Darryl Bradford. "Even if their place in eliminations is now guaranteed, let me tell you that each and every one of the guys and girls in Top Fuel will be giving it one hundred per cent effort. Im just sorry that we cant be there, but we wish everyone a fast and safe weekend. However we have our return to Shakespeare County Raceway to look forward to in a couple of weeks.

"Thanks to Cambridge Motorsport, Royal Purple, Whites Contract Services, Thinktank and Flint Insurance for their continued support."

You can find the Wildside Inc web site at www.wildsideinc.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Håkan Nilsson interview.
20th May: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with a very interesting and informative interview with NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Champion Håkan Nilsson, who commences his title defence at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Håkan gives the low-down on his recent trips to the USA as well as his plans for this season and much more. Check it out at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Ford v Vauxhall for bragging rights.
20th May: The UK Modified Nationals, to be held at Shakespeare County Raceway, on 30th May-1st June, will amongst other attractions be featuring the street-legal eight-second cars of Ian Hook and Andy Frost in their twice daily Hour of Power drag racing demonstrations. The two arch rivals and good friends will have four match races to help decide the Ford v Chevy and Ford v Vauxhall debates "Dont think for one minute that demo means that we wont be going for it", says Ian Hook. "Both of us would love to go to round three of the Custom Car Street Eliminator Championship holding bragging rights over the other. Performance to date couldnt be closer with my PB of 8.87 just two hundredths quicker than Andys, and Andys mph of 162.66 just .21 ahead of mine!"

For more info check out the FB Racing web site at www.fbracing.co.uk or the event's official web site at www.modifiednationals.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Parkinson loses #1 fan.
20th May: John Parkinson of UK Super Pro ET team Every Penny Racing writes with the sad news that he has lost his biggest supporter. "My father passed away on 11th May in the Santa Elena Hospital in Spain" says John. "As those in the racing world who met and knew him will know, he was a generous and supportive dad to me, to my brother and to my sister.

"He came to be with me the very first time we brought the car to Avon Park. Those who remember that day will know that we crashed the tow car on the way up, luckily the race car survived the crash. Within hours of our rescue by Paul Stubbings and Wendy Baker my father had written out a cheque to repair the damage to the tow car so that I could continue racing that day and be able to put that part to the back of my mind and, in his words, "Just get on with racing the car".
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like to say thank you to all the people that have sent their condolences. We will be back out with the car as soon as we can, my Dad would have wanted that."

We are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in sending our very deepest sympathies to John and his family.

The Beast, updated.
19th May: Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson has a whole new set of weapons in his armoury as he contests the first round of the FIM/UEM Supertwin Championship at this weekend's Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.

"The Beast has a bigger bore - now 1700 cc - a new big injector body (right - Ed), bigger fuel pump from Bentec, new wider primary belt drive, updated four-plate Bentec clutch, new longer wheelie bars, new MT fourteen-inch motorcycle rear slick, new paint work and a small rear wing to try to improve the top end performance", says Per.
©Eurodragster.com
"This really means a lot of things to test. We have already been testing at Gardemoen, we ran some good sixty foot times (1.11) and a good half pass but there is still a lot left.

"We'll be going to England with lots of confidence, and we hope for a good race. See you at the Pod!"

Never a dull moment at Zodiac.
19th May: Fellow Supertwin team, Holland's Zodiac Racing got in some pre-season testing of their own as Ton, Marianne and Vincent Pels attended last weekend's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway. Ton made the final of the Fuel v Supertwin shootout only to lose out to Roel Koedam when the bike stopped inexplicably (at the time) off the start line. Monique Pels kindly wrote to explain what happened:

Last weekend the Zodiac Team went to the Speedfreaks Ball to check out their newly-made one to one primary and the new 'inside the engine plates' three-stage R and P clutch. After a few low seven try-out passes and some adjustments to the clutch, they were ready to go for it and loaded the engine with 98% nitro. The low seven-second passes were good enough to get into the final of the Speedfreaks Top Fuel Bike shootout and they were up against very well-running fellow countryman Roel Koedam on his blown Yamaha. The engine on the Zodiac bike sounded very strong in the long and smoky Burn Out. When Ton lined up and the green light came on, the bike blasted off the line. But unfortunately not for long...something snapped in the drivetrain. The team did not have the time to find out what had happened, as they had to load up the bike to make the ferry back home.

Travelling home from England, Ton and Vincent were not exactly sure to what extent the engine was damaged, nor were they sure about the cause of it. Considering the short time-slot between the Speedfreaks Ball and the Main Event, the Zodiac bike was taken apart minutes after arriving home on Monday Evening.

It turned out that all the changes which Ton and Vincent made to the Zodiac-sponsored bike over the winter had been working well, but the six bolts and three dowel pins of the primary belt drive front pulley ahd given up. Since the crank was severely damaged, repairing it would take too long, so Ton got a new (and stronger) crank from his buddy Jim McClure in the States that same evening, which is being installed right now. To strengthen the mount of the pulley to the crank, Ton and Vincent have also had to make some new parts from scratch, but everything is expected to be ready before Thursday, when they leave for the Main Event.

You can find the very professional Zodiac Racing web site at www.zodiacracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
See Furlong for MCR2.
19th May: Fred Furlong, proprietor of Furlong Tyres and 9.90 Bike racer, tells us that he now has the new lightweight Mickey Thompson MCR2 available from stock. Fred is the official UK trackside distributor for streetbike shoot-out tyres, and will deliver free to the Main Event for collection. You can reserve your tyres by calling Fred on 01935 425888.
©Eurodragster.com
King launches Championship push.
19th May: The UK's King Racing Top Fuel Bike team launched their push to regain the Euuropean Championship crown they last won in 2001 at the second annual Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend. After a frustrating time spent chasing incremental improvements during last season, it seems that the team have finally alleviated problems caused by an all-new fuel system installed early in 2002.

Substantial modifications over winter to the fuel cell and pump delivery seemed to have done the trick and the team made a number of runs down the famous quarter mile without the familiar blower belt-tossing which blighted most of their passes last season.

King Racing return to Europes premier dragstrip this weekend for the first round of the FIM/UEM Championship. The event is shaping up as possibly the best ever with twelve Top Fuel Bikes already entered in the flagship class

King Racing will contest all rounds of the FIM/UEM Dragbike Championship during 2003. The most prestigious international championship in drag bike racing will see current European Record holders King Racing in action in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the two UK rounds, as well as exhibition events to be staged in the UK and Athens, Greece.

King Racing are proud to be supported in their 2003 campaign by Obsession Motorsports, Straightline Racing, New Engineering Ltd, Rofor Engineering, Performance Machine, Wackyshack Paintshop, Turboville.com, RSG Customize, House of Kolor UK, Murdoch Racing Enterprises, Royal Purple UK, Goodridge UK, Vanson Leathers, MotorGraphic and Cometic Gaskets UK.

Racers: It's not too late to send us your FIA Main Event previews. Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com at any time up to midnight UK on Thursday and we'll publish them here.
©Eurodragster.com
See Perfect Light for yourself.
19th May: Santa Pod Raceway's top end scoreboards will be displaying ETs and (during qualifying) reaction times to the third decimal place in time for this weekend's FIA Main Event. Chief Marshal Steve Horn, Chief Safety Officer Bob Day and Martin Wallis of SPR's Tech Crew have constructed the new displays, which are due to be installed starting this morning (Monday), if weather conditions allow. The plan is for the new scoreboards to get their first run out at Wednesday's Press Day.
©Eurodragster.com
The new scoreboards could give racers, crews and fans the chance to spot the next winner of Eurodragster's Perfect Light Award, at least if the first perfect RT is recorded during qualifying. The Perfect Light prize fund has been increased to £75 this weekend as it went unclaimed at the Excitement Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer at this weekend's race to record a perfect Reaction Time, 0.400 or 0.500 as appropriate, during either qualifying or eliminations. The Award is open to all classes, Pro and Sportsman. Good luck everyone!

Weather frustrates testing.
19th May: The weekend's pre-Main Event testing at Santa Pod Raceway was severely hampered by the weather. Some runs were possible during a short window on Saturday, and yesterday's RWYB saw a dramatic race against time as Kim Reymond sat strapped in his Top Fueller watching a mass of black cloud approach the track. Kim managed a burnout but was shut off as he pulled forward to stage, an excellent call on the part of the top end crew and Chief Starter Ian Marshall as the track was inundated less than a minute after the first drops forced Kim's shutdown.
©Eurodragster.com
The curtailment leaves new Top Methanol FC racer Niclas Andersson with only Wednesday to complete his TMFC licencing in the Sandflex-sponsored car. Niclas put in a sixty-foot squirt on Saturday afternoon but was one of a number of racers in the collection area later on Saturday when action was stopped by the rain, and he was again in the collection area yesterday when rain stopped play. Other racers, notably Kim Reymond, Ulf Leanders and Ronny Aasen, were left with no data at all for completely new combinations, and not all of them can make Wednesday's Press Day which is traditionally used as an extra test which, coincidentally, wows the media.

Gordon Appleton took low ET and high speed of the (short) weekend with a 6.83/203.55 in his new Pro Mod, whilst Chris 'Cannon' Hannam took two-wheeled ET and speed honours at 8.03/157.22 on his second pass on his and Jon Morton's Top Fuel Bike.

You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored reports and pictures of the test weekend by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

The Classic American Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway were also rain-affected although, by the look of APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson's event coverage, not quite as badly. You can check out the weekend reports from SCR on the APIRA web site at www.apira.org.uk.

Ultimate Power points.
19th May: Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship co-ordinator Simon Groves has kindly sent us the official points standings in the LA Performance Services-promoted series after the first event, the Excitement Nationals. You can view the Ultimate Power points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Beck working on return.
18th May: One much-loved name missing from the entry list for next weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway is that of Peter Beck and Top Fuel Team Switzerland, who last raced in 2001. Peter wrote to us to let us know the latest from Oberonz.

"We have not retired", says Peter. "Even though we did not take part in last year's Championship, we were watching all the races on Eurodragster and we really missed our racing friends, the life in the pits and the smell of Nitro!
©Eurodragster.com
"We took the time to work out sponsor deals or to investigate other possibilities. But the budget is not together, and we haven't yet fixed anything to come back to Top Fuel Racing. Unfortunately we will again miss the start of a new racing season; the Main Event. But we will keep on working.

"Some of our crew will be again at the races this summer with other Swiss teams and they always keep us informed. And of course Eurodragster; thank you guys for the excellent job you are doing (Thank you! - Ed)! We really hope to be back soon and to keep you even more busy.

We wish everyone good luck and a successful racing season!"

NAST Championship points.
18th May: The latest points standings in the 2003 National Association of Supertwins Championships are now available courtesy of Championship co-ordinator Sue Beneke.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the NAST points, or click on the Points Standings on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Larsen heading for the ferry.
17th May: Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen and his Boxter-sponsored team are just about ready to go for next weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.

"The team are bringing quite a few new things, and they are working around the clock to get the car ready for Main Event", says Dan, but we will be there. "Amongst the new things is a complete new engine set-up with a new PSI blower, new special carbon-fibre injector and new timing system.

"The Norwegian team members came to Denmark in the Easter holidays to get some work done, even though it is a very long drive. Crew Chief Torsten Dahl from Sweden, who has been in charge of the fuel system for six years, has been working in the Danish workshop for several weekends and is coming again this one last weekend to set up the new fuel system.

"The team has raced without a spare engine for five years, and we have never made any windows, but after the accidents with the engine at Hockenheim last year we needed a spare and that is now finally and ready to go. All the new stuff and the spare engine give the team more opportunities for making more aggresive set-ups, and we plan to get the set-up in place during this first race.
©Eurodragster.com
"The team has three new members this year, and two regular members. The two regular mechanics are Torsten Dahl and Ulf Johanson from Sweden, Ulf is only attending some of the races though. The three new members are Jan Vidar Vestvik, Tore Karlsen and Paal-Henning Srensen from Norway. None of the Danish mechanics from previous years are coming this year, so the Main Event is the very first time that the Norwegian team members are managing the car all by themselves together with Torsten from Sweden."

Dan tells us that he is not nervous but is in fact quite calm. "They are very professional", he says. "I am very pleased that Arvid Grdem has kindly lent me my crew, as he is not racing this year."

Dan says that the team are now doing all of the last-minute work before loading the trailer and taking the ferry to England.

You can find Dan Larsen's web site at www.funnycar.dk.

Jackson bounces back.
17th May: Regular readers will recall that UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Sue Jackson got out of shape off the line and kissed the armco at the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway last week. Ten days later and Ian Jackson tells is that the car is ready to test again. "Thanks to Andy Robinson and Dale at DRE who made a new front end, replaced the bent tubes and sourced a radiator and assorted parts in double quick time", says Ian. "Ready for some 8.6s in street trim? Don't rule it out!"
©Eurodragster.com
Sue is entered in Super Pro ET at next week's FIA Main Event. In the meantime you can find out more on the Silver Fox Racing web site at www.silverfoxracing.org.uk.

Ripley seeks crew.
17th May: We have received another call for crew to join a race team. UK Top Methanol FC racer Doug Ripley is looking for crew members to work on his CC Racing team next week.
©Eurodragster.com
"You don't have to know lots, just be eager", says Crew Chief Cliff Gould. "If you would like to join the team at the Main Event, please E-Mail me at clifford.gould@ntlworld.com."

Speedfreaks Ball on TV.
17th May: Thanks to David Long for letting us know that last weekend's Speedfreaks Ball is to be televised on UK satellite and cable channel Granada Men and Motors this afternoon, having been broadcast for the first time yesterday. "I saw it by chance on a half-hour programme called Bike Shows UK 2003 which is due to be shown again today at 15:30. Quite good it was, too!"
©Eurodragster.com
Helander's credit is good!
16th May: One of Europe's two new Fuel Funny Car pilots, Sweden's Leif Helander, is busy working on his ex-Smax Smith Funny Car in order to be ready to compete at next weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. "I'll definitely be there!", Leif told Eurodragster last night. "A load of parts arrived from Gary Burgin this morning. We've put in the crank and we are now fitting the pistons, and we have already worked on the heads. We've already put in a dry sump system so we had to build an oil pan, and we changed the fire bottles because we now can't use halon. We've also bought valve cover blankets."

Leif plans to replace all the tinwork inside the FC's body, and will be constructing a 'dog house' to go around the steering wheel area.
©Eurodragster.com
Leif is running almost exclusively on his own dollar. "We haven't got any new sponsors", he says. "I've got one month's credit at Gary Burgin's and we'll see how we get on after that!". Leif will be appearing at Sundsvall in a few weeks' time and says that a number of local companies have expressed interest in backing him there.

Leif and his crew will shortly be leaving for the UK. His ETA is Thursday lunchtime, and he tells us that he must make that time. "I have an appointment with Alan Jackson to look the car over before the weekend starts", says Leif, "and Knut told me that if I wanted that then I had better be there on Thursday!"

You can find the Starkotter web site at www.starkotter.se.

Jacobsen plans surprise.
16th May: Norway's Øyvor Jacobsen says that fans might be in for "a nice surprise" when she races in Top Fuel Dragster at the FIA Main Event. Øyvor last contested European Top Fuel in 1992, and returned a few weeks ago at the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod in a car owned by Rune Fjeld.

"We wanted another run at the Thunderball, but time worked against us", says Øyvor. "Otherwise the weekend went very well. The car is working very well and the engine was fine, no damage at all. I was there to do my licencing runs and to get used to the car, so it was all good. We are taking everything step by step, but you might be up for a nice surprise at the Main Event! I'm looking forward to it very much."
©Eurodragster.com
There will be another familiar face in Øyvor's pit at the Main Event in the person of Christian Merlid, who is Supertwin Champion Anders Karling's Crew Chief and son-in-law, and who has in the past worked with Øyvor and Peter Lantz amongst others. "Unfortunately my mechanic Konrad Ree can't make this event", says Øyvor. "He has to go to Frya to take care of the timekeeping at the NDRS event there. As you might know Christian started his career as a Top Fuel mechanic with Thor and I at the age of seventeen, and he has worked with fuel cars and bikes ever since. I'm looking forward to working with Christian again, and I'm sure that he will do an excellent job with us."

Rautio's Santa Pod début.
16th May: Finnish Pro Stock Bike racer Vesa Rautio and Team Unity will be making their first competitive trip to Santa Pod Raceway for next weekend's Main Event.
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"Due to budget limitations, we will make the trip from Helsinki to Santa Pod with my van only", says Vesa. "We have freshened the Cope mountain motor, and we will have a different strategy with the clutch and the extra weights needed with 1640 motor under UEM rules. We have made only one practice run, which showed it is not easy to drive this thing - with very soft cluch the motor was on the limiter all through to fifth gear when I shut off because I was afraid I had broken something. The motor is fine but our Alastaro track, with no Pro-class cars, can't give us the traction. We expect that the traction will be very good at Santa Pod, so the clutch set-up will be a challenge."

Bader Junior makes most news.
16th May: Swiss Comp Eliminator racer Bruno Bader has been outdone on the news front by his Junior Dragster-racing daughter Yvonne, says Franzi Bader. The seven-second fan-favourite 'Vette is in the same shape as last season, whilst Yvonne's JD has had a major update.

"We have found a sponsor for a new engine for Yvonne's dragster", says Franzi. "She has a new 407 cc engine."
©Eurodragster.com
Franzi tells us that the Golden Vette team will be contesting the Nordic Drag Racing Series this season, after spending the winter working on their support equipment. "We worked very hard on the truck", she says. "We had a four-axle truck, now it is three-axle! We have also done a lot of other work on the trailer."

It will be Bruno's turn to take the family headlines next season as he has plans to contest Pro Mod in 2004 if the team can find the sponsorship funds.

Whilst we were talking to Franzi she asked if any of Eurodragster's readers would be interested in working as an English translator for the team's web site. If you would be interested in helping this very popular team then you can contact Franzi by E-Mail at bruno.bader@bluewin.ch.

Koedam win instils confidence.
16th May: Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam had a great start to the season, running a 6.6 off the trailer and then taking the Shootout win with a 6.4 at last weekend's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway. Crew Chief Marius van der Zijden writes that the event win and the numbers have made the Dakota-sponsored team very confident about the first round of the FIM/UEM European Top Fuel Bike Championship at the Main Event:

Our first run of the season is always an early shut off/check-out pass to see if all is well on the bike and also for the rider to get used to the bike again after the winter stop. It was on the throttle for some three quarters of the track and still it was a 6.65 second pass! The bike ran fine all the way and everyone was very surprised with our off the trailer 6.6. Anyway it was more than enough to wake everyone up. On the second pass it left the line real good but the bike lost drive some two seconds into the run. It turned out that we blew a sprag in the transmission, so we had to change the gearbox on Saturday night. However our sixty-foot time on this run equalled our previous best which was set back in 1999 at the superior track conditions of Gainesville. The 60 foot is a very important base for a good run, so hopes were high. Saturday evening we also took delivery of a newly-developed Mickey Thompson tyre which we planned to test.

On Sunday the track was treated with some extra trackbite for the first thirty metres or so to give the Fuel bikes some extra grip. Once again the bike left very hard, but got into a tyre shake and lost traction. However our sixty-foot time was better again, and with a brand new tyre completely unknown to us. Roel gave it some throttle again when traction was regained and it picked up the front wheel again carrying it through the finish in a still-respectable 7.1. Our sixty foot times remained under 1.10 all weekend, which pleases us very much.

We remained the quickest bike overall and qualified for the final of the Shootout. On the other side of the ladder, the Fuel Supertwins, Ton Pels, another Dutchman had his completely redesigned Zodiac Harley running very well and he qualified for the final. Unfortunately for Ton he sheared all the bolts of his primary drive pulley as soon as the light turned to green and he was left at the line, giving us a free ride for the victory.

It looked like we had the bike pretty well dialled-in as the score boards showed an impressive 6.42/222. Needless to say we were very happy with our numbers and our event win as well. Our bike remained the quickest and fastest of all weekend. With just over a week to go, we have a whole lot of work to do before we can load the trailer again for the next meeting. As you will probably understand, we are very hopeful about the first round of the European Championship.
©Eurodragster.com
Main Event snippets.
16th May: NDRS Pro Mod Champion Håkan Nilsson and the Veidec team have completed their off-season work on the 6.3-second Camaro, including a very smart new paint job, just in time to leave for the Main Event. "We are very pleased with the new look, it feels like it will match the performance we already have in the car", says crew member Ulf Stadig. You can get a sneak preview on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

Sarah Jane Head tells us that she will not be testing her recently-acquired ex-Budster Funny Bike at Saturday's pre-Main Event Test Day. "I am going to run the turbo Comp Bike at the Main Event", says Scary. "Dave (partner and Crew Chief - Ed) has got some of the work done on the Budster, but can't get it finished for this weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
Super Street Bike racer Pete Bellenie has had to withdraw from 9.90 Bike at the Main Event. "At the Speedfreaks Ball I torched a valve and had no compression on one cylinder", he says. "Now it's been stripped there are two valves, one piston and a torched head to contend with. So no Main Event for me, and I was so looking forward to breaking out along with the other naughty nine ninety boys!"

Pre-Main Event testing coverage.
16th May: We will be at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend covering both tomorrow's Test Day and Sunday's Run What You Brung. Our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage will as usual consist of pit notes, frequent updates during the day, and a photo gallery at the end of each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Dragrace Drachten webcam will also be on-line with broadcasts scheduled every two minutes.
©Eurodragster.com
We will post a direct link to our coverage when it commences, and you will also be able to access it via the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Funny Boy after Greek record.
16th May: If you were tuned in yesterday you wil have read about the latest race in the Hellenic series, at Serres in Greece. Our good friend Zman has sent some more details about Dimitris Androulakis' Funny Car.

"Dimitris had a great race with his newly-built Funny Boy BMW 850 turbo Funny Car", says Zman. "He won the second race of the Hellenic championship on a series of mild shakedown runs, the best of which won the best time award at 10.50 seconds. That was with a three-eighth mile shutdown due to the dangerously short braking area of the hot Serres track.
©Eurodragster.com
"This run could be substantially quicker had Dimitris launched the car with the transbrake, as his 2.2 sixty-foot time is way below the car's potential. The engine is being broken in on only 1.3 bar of manifold pressure, of a targeted 2.0 bar. The car launches and accelerates straight, and Dimitris has adopted to it very quickly. He says that he is ready for a proper race in Ellinikon Airport in a couple of months.

"The ex-Joon roller features an inline six 3.5-litre M5 BMW engine built by Tsakanikas Performance in Athens. It is equipped with electronic fuel management and an enormous water-cooled chargecooler, and transfers the power through a race powerglide and 5200 rpm converter. The power is estimated at over 1000 BHP at full boost and the total weight is approximately 950 kilogrammes.

"The next quest is the Greek record and the title of the world's quickest BMW."

UK Championship points standings.
16th May: The post-Excitement Nationals standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships are now available courtesy of UK Nationals Points Co-ordinators Simon Groves (APIRA) and Yvonne Tramm (SPRC). We are very grateful indeed to both Clubs for continuing to send us the points this season.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the points standings, or click on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

The ACU points standings are now available on Ian King's web site

Timing Data updates.
16th May: We have in the last couple of days updated our Timing Data page with three new additions. First up is the timing data from the Excitement Nationals st Shakespeare County Raceway which was kindly provided to us by our good friend Ozzy Ewing of APIRA's Tech Crew. Another good buddy, Andy Marrs of Santa Pod's timing crew, has kindly sent tining data from the Big Bang VW event and from last weekend's Speedfreaks Ball.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the timing data by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Classic American at Classic American.
16th May: Celebrated American drag racing legend Al Eckstrand will be the guest of honour at this weekend's Classic American Nationals, May 17th/18th, a celebration of Detroit's finest at Shakespeare County Raceway, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson.

Eckstrand, a successful lawyer in corporate law and a recent inductee into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame, raced in America in the NHRA Super Stock Automatic classes before joining the famous 'Ramchargers' team where he drove a Dodge to the 1964 Stock Eliminator winners circle at the NHRA Winternationals; the first time that an automatic car had won the 'Mr Stock Eliminator' trophy. Eckstrand also pioneered the introduction of the Hemi V8 as well as being one of the front runners in the Factory Experimental class later to be known as Funny Car.

In 1966, Eckstrand formed the American Commando Team and was responsible in part for bringing the sport to Europe and Santa Pod. Along with team mates Bud Barnes, Larry Arnold and the 'Michigan Madman' E.J. Potter, Eckstrand drove a 1966 Hemi Charger which was given to him by the Chrysler to help promote their company. The Hemi Charger still resides today complete in it's original 'Lawman' colours in Al's private collection after spending most of its life here in England as a street machine. The Charger still retains it's Santa Pod advertising on the rear panels. His last appearance in England was in 1997 at the Mopar EuroNationals, strangely enough at Santa Pod as guest of the Mopar Muscle Association.

During the course of the weekend Al will be chatting to his English fans, trading exclusive Lawman merchandise as well as sharing racing memories with event commentators Barry Bohannon, Ozzy Ewing and Jerry Cookson.

Joining Al will be Roger Goring's Pontiac bodied Jet Funny Car 'Firestorm', together with the Outlaw racers, Wild Bunch and round two of the National Street Car Challenge. The drag strip will also play host to some of the quickest and fastest slabs of American muscle, a burnout contest, horsepower cruise and the infamous show 'n' shine to keep everyone entertained. It is also hoped that Dave Wilson's American Car Imports 250 mph Top Methanol Dragster will be present for some demo runs, but is yet to be confirmed.

If you intend to take part in the RWYB please remember that all cars MUST have a radiator overflow catch can, a seatbelt or lapbelt if originally fitted (or running quicker than 14.0 seconds) and be up to basic MOT standards. Drivers MUST present a valid drivers license, and should have a crash helmet and long-sleeved top.

The action gets underway at 10.00 am on Saturday and 11.00 am on Sunday. Admission is 10 per day and 18 for a weekend pass. Track fee is 15 per day or 25 for unlimited runs over the weekend.

Jerry is planning to post news from the Classic American Nationals over the weekend on the APIRA web site at www.apira.org.uk.

Web site updates.
16th May: Chris Dossett's excellent Trakbyte's UK Drag Racing History web site has had its first update in quite some time: as you probably know, Chris is on the Showtime Fuel FC team and recently became a father so time is doubly at a premium. "This update sees additions to the 1964, 1973 and 1975 sections", says Chris. "There is also the first in a series of photo galleries from ex-racer Tim Claxton, a profile of Brian Chapman's 'Mighty Mouse' Vincent drag bike and the results of the latest vote for a new inductee in the Trakbytes Hall Of Fame. There are also updates to the Hall Of Fame files for Sydney and Alan Allard, Peter Crane, Dennis Priddle, Tony Dickson, Allan Herridge, John Hobbs and Clive Skilton. A new Hall Of Fame vote starts from this update so check the list and vote for your favorite. The site also now features a new page where people can view requests from other readers for help in locating old friends, cars or bikes from the past in UK Drag Racing. There is also a form for you to post your own requests for help. The page has been updated regularly with new entries so be sure to check out the list and see if you can help anyone in their search". Check it out at www.trakbytes.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with two pages of photographs from the Excitement Nationals, two pages of photographs from last weekend's Speedfreaks Ball, together with a page of photographs showing what happens when you mix chilled-out Eurodragster staff with Super Street Bike racers bent on naughtiness. You can find Sharkman's site at www.topendtales.com.

Not a web site update, but Steve Collins dropped us a line with news of a magazine of interest to race fans this week. "This week's Classic Cars Weekly has a photo of Big Daddy Don Garlits on the front page, and an interesting and informative two-page article on him inside", says Steve. "£1.60 but what the hell!"

Paging another Top Fueller.
15th May: Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team owner Knut Söderquist has announced that he is to enter another Top Fuel Dragster in next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Knut's "red" dragster, which has been driven by Smax Smith so far this season, will be driven by legendary Fuel pilot Gary Page at next week's race. Smax will be in the new Purple Loans car at the Main Event.

"Gary has run my cars before, and he has worked on my cars before, I am very pleased about it" says Knut Söderquist.

"I'm very excited about racing in Top Fuel again", says Gary Page. "It's always exciting, never boring, racing Fuel cars. I learn something new every time."

Gary's normal ride, Mark and Jackie Hawkins' Fuel Funny Car, will not be ready in time for the Main Event so Gary was to work with Knut and the CBD team. Gary will still be working on two of the three cars to be fielded by the CBD operation next week as well as driving one of them. "It's going to be a very busy race for us all", he says. "The red car is just fine after the Excitement Nationals, not even the bearings were damaged, so we are going to give it a service this weekend and it will be ready for the Saturday. The car runs consistent 5.0s and there's more in it - hopefully it will be me who finds it!"

Gary says that he is going to the race to win. "We're not just there to make up the numbers. Knut's happy about it, I'm happy about it, and it's another English racer for the fans to cheer on". Knut agrees: "Gary is there to win the race".
©Eurodragster.com
Gary is very keen to stress that the Top Fuel drive does not mean the end of his Funny Car career. "Mark Hawkins is champing at the bit to get his car out there again", he says. "We just ran out of time for the Main Event". The next date for the Fuel FCs after the Main Event is the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in August.

The Carbon By Design stable of cars is just about ready for next week's race. As well as the "red" car, Knut tells us that Micke Kagered's Top Fueller is almost there. "We had the fuel pump flowed on John Force's workbench so that we can get an idea of the throughput" he says. "Micke's crew are flying over this weekend to start the fine-tuning. Smax's car is more or less done, Alan Jackson (Crew Chief - Ed) has done a hell of a lot of good work on everything."

Whilst we were talking to Knut, he gave us some more details about his trophy scheme which we revealed back in April. The Crew Chief of the highest-qualifying car with a Carbon By Design injector at each FIA event will be awarded an Oscar-type trophy similar to those presented to NHRA winners. There will also be a points scheme running throughout the season: the team whose Crew Chief accrues the most points will all be presented with Oscars at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. "There are ten points for the top qualifier with a CBD injector, eight points for the second, six points for the third, four points for the fourth, and two points for the fifth", says Knut. "Almost everyone runs my injectors so almost everyone has a chance to win!"

5.0 won't get you past Möller.
15th May: Sweden's Lorentzon and Möller Top Fuel Dragster team are promising "jaw-dropping action" at next week's FIA Main Event. Tommy and the team ran their first four-second pass in 2002 and are promising more of the same in 2003. The Pennzoil-sponsored team have also been doing some promotion in advance of the season.
©Eurodragster.com
"Over Easter we were at the Elmia Custom Car Show for four days", says Crew Chief and co-owner Kenneth Lorentzon. "It was a really good deal for us and for our sponsor Pennzoil. We had one warm-up every day and we had a great audience - I think that over the four days it was over sixty thousand spectators. The coolest moment was when we put Paul Lamat in the car (right). Anyone who is interested in cars has probably seen Paul in the movie American Graffiti as John Milner, the dude with the yellow '32 Ford. We gave him a couple of good heart-stoppers, he looked kind of shaken when he got out of the cockpit!"

Kenneth says that the team are deadly serious in their approach to the FIA Main Event. "Even though Smax is on a roll right now, we are coming to put an end to it. It is now time for some serious action and a 5.0 won't get by us! We are hoping for an eight to ten car field, and we are looking forward to seeing you all at the Main Event."

You can find the Lorentzon and Möller web site at www.tf25.com.

Krivan avoids synchronised swimming.
15th May: Swiss Top Methanol FC racer Dezsoe Krivan's FC is ready for next week's FIA Main Event after a long winter's work, writes team member Steve Wilson.

"Our strategy this year is to have enough spares and equipment to allow us to get to the other end of the season without having to withdraw from an event due to the lack of spares", says Steve. "So Deszoe got his wallet out and spent many an enjoyable evening on the phone to the USA spending money!

"The race car is in our maintenance facility where it has undergone a complete overhaul. This involved Deszoe getting out of bed by 9:30 on Saturday mornings to be down to Georges Café in time to meet me, the BFG (Big Friendly Geordie), who joined the team at the end of last year, Marcel 'The Younger' and pizza specialist whom the rest of the team are trying to cure of a front wheel drive fetish, and Adrian 'der clutch' and cake specialist. The rest of the team turn up on a family commitment basis, which has sometimes led us to think about jacking in drag racing and taking up synchronised swimming.

"The car was in bits and every part removed checked. I am able to use the NDT facilities at Pilatus Aircraft Limited, where I work, so every Monday I would turn up with crankshafts, crown and pinions etc. for them to examine. During this time parts would arrive from the USA and sometimes they would be the right parts and sometimes they would be the wrong parts (cue swimming music).
©Eurodragster.com
"If we were unable to complete a job on Saturdays - the team all have full time jobs to fill in between drag racing - then Dez and his missus, the lovely Iris, would be down there in the evenings finishing off. We now have assembled an engine, which is installed in the car, and we have a spare, just in case. The engine is a Keith Black and we are using Veney heads and to top it off a Whipple blower. The chassis required a bit of welding to sort it and the rear axle was overhauled.

"Now the car is complete and ready to go, so we are looking forward to the Main Event. Due to the racing ban in Switzerland the only time we know the car will perform is when we are at the race.

"Our faithful old Saurer truck retires after the Main Event and we have purchased a new MAN tractor unit...well it's new to us it only has 300,000 kilometres on the clock and one careful owner! We are still trying to nail the doors back on the trailer, and hopefully the rest of it will be painted in the summer. Hang on for some exciting news around the end of June, say no more...

"So come and chat with us at the race, we will be the ones in the pink swimsuits and nose clips."

You can find Dezsoe's web site at www.dragracing.ch.

Main Event Test Day entry list.
15th May: Whilst we are on the subject of the FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway's Track Manager Kjell Pettersson very kindly sent us a list of racers entered for the Test Day at Santa Pod this Saturday:
©Eurodragster.com
Kim Reymond (Top Fuel Dragster)
Urs Erbacher (Top Methanol Funny Car)
Niclas Andersson (Top Methanol Funny Car)
Ulf Leanders (Top Methanol Funny Car)
Jimmy Ålund (Pro Stock)
Andy Robinson (Pro Mod)
Henri Joosten (Pro Mod)
Al Golding (Super Pro ET)
Malcom Francis (Super Comp/Super Gas)
Will Furniss (Super Comp/Super Gas)
Chris Hannam (Top Fuel Bike)
Ronny Aasen (Supertwin)
Sarah Jane Head (Funny Bike)
Both Paul Marston Racing School cars (driver training)

Saturday's Test Day is open to the public; entry to the track will be £10. Please note that Saturday's event is also a Street Machine Street Racer Saturday but is not a Run What You Brung. Sunday is a Run What You Brung, open to all, and we understand that some of the racers entered on Saturday are also planning to run on Sunday.

Hot race at Serres.
15th May: High temperatures prevented any record performances at the Second Hellenic Dragster Race 2003 at Serres in Greece, writes Elias Vathias. "The big winner in the car categories was Mr Androulakis in his first race with the new BMW Funny Car", says Elias. "He won the Open category and at the same time he had the fastest time of the weekend among all the cars, at 10.5 seconds."
©Eurodragster.com
There are three hundred and five pictures of the Serres race on the Dragster.gr web site at www.dragster.gr/images/Shows_Races/030511Serres/index.htm, and you will be able to read a race report shortly at www.dragster.gr/events/events030511_SerresDragster.htm.

Web site updates.
15th May: Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook has updated his FB Racing web site with a report from the Excitement Nationals. "Its optional title is 'How to break an eight-second Ford again'!", says Fatty. Check it out at www.fbracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Baby Grands at Classic American.
15th May: We know that one or two of our regular readers aren't just straight-line afficionados (La la la, I'm not listening - Ed) so we know that a press release which we received from Robert Daines at AutoPR will be of interest to a number of those going to the Classic American Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend.
Copy this one without a credit and
Trans World Motorsport are to showcase three of its rapid and affordable two-third scale Nascar stock cars at the Classic American Nationals this weekend. The Grands, which are winning race fans and drivers alike with their high-speed, bumper-to-bumper racing will show American auto enthusiasts their unique blend of high power and race-bred handling when they take to the strip and burn rubber on the Shakespeare County quarter mile. While the oval circuits are the cars natural home, their ability to hit 140 mph in the hands of seasoned drivers will no doubt surprise a few drag race fans as the FJ1200/1300 Yamaha motor powered cars storm through the traps on race day.
we'll stop feigning ignorance of
Alan Currall, the sole importer of the scaled down Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Monte Carlo stock cars, felt that American auto fans who would love the chance to be Richard Petty for a day will enjoy checking out the Baby Grands. "American car enthusiasts are naturally big fans of US style stock car racing", he said, "unfortunately, running a US auto on the road is expensive enough in the UK so going racing Nascar style is out of the question for most fans. That is why the Baby Grands are proving so popular, as they allow average guys and girls to go racing without having to sell the house just to buy a set of tyres."
the falsification of typos in ticket prices
For more information on Baby Grands check out the Trans World Motorsport web site at www.transworldmotorsport.com, E-Mail transworldmotorsportuk@yahoo.co.uk, or call 07951 812479.
©Eurodragster.com
SPR seek Press Day help.
14th May: Caroline Day of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch urgently seeking racers willing to make demonstration passes at next Wednesday's (21st) FIA Main Event Press Day. "We did have a number of vehicles lined up but some racers have had to pull out, so we would like some more volunteers, both cars and bikes", says Caroline.
©Eurodragster.com
Caroline says that Santa Pod are offering help towards travel expenses, plus Main Event tickets, to any racer who can attend the Press Day. "We have a lot of National and local TV stations coming plus National and local press", she says. "So it will be a chance for you to get exposure for your sponsors and to become a star in your own right. And of course you can make as many runs as you like so you can use it as a test!"

If you would like to appear at next Wednesday's Press Day then call Caroline as soon as possible on 01234 782828 or E-Mail caroline@santapod.fsnet.co.uk.

Reymond's aggressive rebuild.
14th May: Denmark's 2002 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Kim Reymond and his team have been burning the midnight oil for several weeks as they prepare their title defence. "We are working every hour we can", says Kim. "We really should have started work before Christmas because there is so much to do."

A significant portion of the chassis has been rebuilt by Peter Lantz, and Kim had a very long off-season shopping list. "The seat and steering wheel are the same!", he says. "We have a new blower, a new Carbon By Design injector, new heads, new fuel system, new clutch and new timing system. We also have a Racepak computer for the first time which will be a help because we have a totally new combination this year."

Kim has a simple explanation for all of the chassis work. "I changed it because I saw what happened to Barry Sheavills", he says. "The chassis was twisting and it was not aligned. Peter Lantz has done a great job and the car looks really good!"
©Eurodragster.com
Kim has his own business to run, USA Autodele which specialises in spare parts and performance parts for American cars, as well as putting in time on the dragster, but he says that his efforts are excelled by those of team member Karsten Andersson. "The car is in Karsten's shop", says Kim. "He works on the car from three in the morning until noon. Then he goes to his own business, and then he goes back to work on the car in the evening. But that's the effort which my whole team put in, they are all great guys. We also have a new team member this year, Michael, who is a spare hand."

The USA Autodele team are now headed to Santa Pod Raceway for this Saturday's (17th May) pre-Main Event Test Day. "We fired the car up and it sounds very aggressive", says Kim. "On Saturday we will start with sixty foot launches but if it feels good then I will run all the way, because otherwise you don't learn anything."

You can find the USA Autodele web site at www.usa-autodele.dk.

Schöfer stocks up.
14th May: 2002 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion, Germany's Peter Schöfer, had a damage-free season last year, which has worked out very well as the team's budget has dropped in 2003, writes team member Gittli Koller.

"Our sponsorships are not as big as they were last year, so our investment has not been that big", says Gittli. "We had two new engines last year and, thank God, we broke nothing. So we concentrated on spare parts this year. We went to the States in February and we learned a lot from our friends there, who are the leading teams in the US.

"We were very pleased with our results from last year and now we will try to make the car a little bit faster. One of our goals for this year will be to run in the 5.4s, maybe once or twice, but we will try to make the car as constistent as it was last year. Our crew is the same as it was last year: the three Schfer brothers Peter (driver), Wolfgang (Crew Chief) and Rudi (bottom end); Holger Werling and Clem Sayers (mechanics) and Gittli Koller (PR and datalogging).
©Eurodragster.com
"We will contest all of the FIA Championship rounds, and we are happy that the German race, the Hockenheim Nitrolympics, is back on the FIA calendar. We are looking forward to the season and we will be glad to see all of the TMD teams back again together with some new teams. Last season the cars were so fast, and the times were so close - just hundredths of a second between us - that this year promises to be very exciting again."

You can find the Peter Schöfer Racing web site at www.p-s-r.com.

NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod on TV.
14th May: The Nordic Drag Racing Series and the European Pro Mod Association have announced a television package for the 2003 NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Series.

Svensk Dragracing and the European Pro Mod Association have reached an agreement with Power Racing Promotions and the production company IWTV. IWTV will produce a fifteen-minute Pro Mod show from each round of the Series. There will be a total of six TV programmes, one from each of the five events and a summary of the season before the final event. There are over ten broadcasting channels confirmed already, with various broadcasting lengths and formats, including Swedish channels TV4, TV4 Plus, TV1, SVT 24, and ViaSat, English channels Sky Sports, Channel 5, and Granada, German channel DFS, France's ABS Motors, the US' Speed Channel and worldwide Extreme Sports Channel. Negotiations are currently underway with several more channels.

"This is a great opportunity and enables great visibility for our sponsors" says Michael Gullquist of the EPMA. "The deal has been made possible this year because we only run at the major events in Europe, and there are already cameras and people on the track from the production company to cover the FIA European Drag Racing Championship and the UEM European Drag Bike Championship. I want to thank Svensk Dragracing, who put in a lot of effort to make this deal come through."

The NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Series is contested at the following events:

FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England, 24th-26th May
Nitro Nationals, Alastaro Circuit, Finland, 4th-6th July
Veidec Nitro Festival, Mantorp Park, Sweden, 24th-27th July
Drag Challenge, Gardermoen Raceway, Norway, 1st-3rd August
FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England, 5th-7th September
©Eurodragster.com
Carter Factors another sponsor.
14th May: UK Top Fuel Dragster team Carter Motorsport are pleased to introduce another new name to European Drag Racing: Camberley Auto Factors, the largest independent distributor of motor components in the South of England. Through their network of twenty six branches Camberley Auto Factors provide an express delivery service of top quality replacement parts to the motor trade in an area bounded by Swindon and Bournemouth in the West, to London and Brighton in the East. "We are delighted to welcome Camberley Auto Factors on board for the Main Event and look forward to furthering this relationship throughout the season", says Carter Motorsports PR Dan Welberry. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead to the first round of the FIA season, next weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, Andy Carter said "Could this be the time when we will see a nine-car Top Fuel field? I certainly hope so, but whatever the number it looks set to be a great event! With so many teams now contesting all rounds of the championship, it is really important for us to stamp our authority on the points chase early in the season. One thing that is worrying me is the extra weight on the car, with so many sponsorship stickers on board now, but I'm sure that Eddie will allow for this in his tune up! All joking aside, the First National Telecoms Top Fuel Dragster is ready for war!"

Off the track, the team are proud to announce that European Top Fuel veteran Pelle Lindelöw will be their special guest during the event. Pelle and Andy will be holding thirty-minute autograph signing sessions on the Sunday and Monday. "Please come over to meet the drivers and take away a fantastic picture of the new car, signed by these two great Top Fuel stars", says Dan. "This unique opportunity will be a one-off so be sure not to miss out. The signing times will be confirmed by John Price at the track. We will also be welcoming guests from First National Telecom Services, Wynn's Lubricants, Earls Performance products, Obsession Motorsports and Sigma Signs during the course of the weekend.

"We will of course have the new Andy Carter T-shirt on sale as well as our fantastic, ever-growing range of merchandise. We are really looking forward to being back at Santa Pod Raceway and catching up with our many fans and friends (and don't forget to go to meet Andy and Sarah's son Albert - Ed)."

Dan also tells us that the guys from Dragsterworld.com will be doing an in-depth feature on the team and all that goes on during a race weekend. Their inside report will be posted after the event.
©Eurodragster.com
Supercharged Outlaws kick off.
14th May: This weekend's Classic American Nationals/Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway hosts the first round of the 2003 Supercharged Outlaws Championship. Supercharged Outlaw racer Johnny 'Mental' Hall kindly sent us a preview of the weekend's action.

There has been lots happening as the bug to go faster has bitten many competitors, with lots of new cars on chassis jigs around the country. Roy 'Little Daddy' Wilding has been spending plenty of his hard earned bucks Stateside with a brand new two-speed Lenco to try to launch the beautiful Hemi Hunter slingshot that little bit harder, and with a brand new set of soft compound Monster slicks Little Daddy is going to be one tough dude this year. Ian 'Secret Lemonade Drinker' Hanson has had enough of carbs and racing gas on his blown Small Block altered, and has decided that only alky will do, so Enderle got a call. With a new ally block, another monster is waiting to pounce.
©Eurodragster.com
Chris and Clayton Round's Rebellious rear engined car was seen getting tune-up help from none other than Lindsay Deuchar at the first test and tune in April, and ran mid-eights straight off the trailer. One of the most radical Outlaws out there is the mean-looking A35 of Dave 'Sideways' Grabham, and a new chromoly chassis will help to get the power to the ground. Recent good form from the Charmans' Alkymist makes it one to watch. This car has huge potential once the bugs are ironed out.

Pete and Fay Radcliffe will be out there in the Blown Hemi Altered, putting on a show. Let me know when you're doing your burnout Pete, and I will get suited up and meet you in stage. What about the little guys...well, that's pretty obvious, the Windridge Hall McKenzie blown 260ci Rover slingshot The Happening is going to kick ass just like it did last year!

You can find out more about the Supercharged Outlaws on their official web site at www.superchargedoutlaws.co.uk.

Mean As Hell is Out A Time.
14th May: After an approximately nine-year rebuild, Dave Warnes old Mean As Hell Sierra re-materialised as the Out-a-Time Super Mod at the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Paul Brooks dropped us a line to tell us about his successful first outing.

In the nine wilderness years the car has gone from right- to left- hand drive, gone completely fibre-glass, had a number of engine combinations finally arriving at the present, a 500ci B1 Chrysler and Glide. I entered the first round at Santa Pod, unfortunately I fell foul of the flu, quickly turning into pneumonia and pleurisy, which completely knocked me off my feet for seven days causing me to miss the first round. The second round at Shakespeare County Raceway loomed but the car still was not quite ready. Nor was I to be honest, but during a conversation with my good friend Graham Ellis he convinced me that I should get the car there and if I still didnt feel well then I could go home and come back on Saturday. After a last-minute thrash on Thursday and Friday I finally arrived at the Excitement Nationals at 11.45 pm Friday night. I parked up and had a beer in Danny Cockerills new 'palace' ready for morning.

A 7:00 am start followed. We unloaded the car and picked a pitch. Graham and Rob Millward quickly realised just how much work there was left to do. No fluid at all including brakes, pedals had to be bolted on, switches to wire, engine to put back together after Super Mod inspection, hoses to make - the list went on. But thanks to Graham, Rob, Gareth and Anthony (Grahams two sons) we had it virtually finished at 10.30 pm on Saturday night.

An early start on Sunday saw us wrap up nearly all outstanding work apart from the shift solenoid (well, real men shift manually anyway!). Some time Sunday afternoon whilst in the fire-up lane with the other Super Modified cars I was finally strapped in and Graham then explained to me that because of a time limitation I was to do a burn out, stage, launch, go sixty feet, stop, reverse, re-stage, launch and proceed with a half track pass, coasting over the finish line. Seems easy enough, I thought, time to see which way the car would go! It launched straight as an arrow and I crossed the finish line at approximately 90 mph in 12seconds, not ground breaking I will admit but OK for a first-ever shake down run.
©Eurodragster.com
Some negotiations followed until it was agreed that I could finish my observed runs as the last car down the track of the meeting. We were rewarded with another arrow-straight run in 9.1 seconds at 152mph. Now Ive heard of a saying that mainly seems to be used in drag racing these days, and when used seems to be a kiss of death, but being as weve done it I will use it: we hope to hit the ground running. Well, Id say we just have.

I cant go without saying a big thank you to a number of people, some are from the past years and others are very much from the present. They are: Tony Jarvis, Graham Ellis, Rob Millward, Gareth and Anthony Ellis, Nick Davies and Rob Loaring of ICE Automotive Racing Engines, John Webster and John McIntyre of Webster Race Engineering, Fred Hone for the help Sunday night (hope to see you back out next meeting 'Mini Me'), Danny Cockerill for the last minute bits, and Eurodragster for the excellent event coverage (thanks, you're welcome - Ed).

If Ive missed anybody please except my apologies because Im still on a bit of a high, and at present Ive got the car in bits again making some changes which will hopefully reap benefits at the next round at Shakespeare County Raceway.

Become a Rat Fink.
14th May: Fellow UK Super Modified team Kirk Motorsport are looking for a crew member to work on the Rat Fink Camaro. "Mechanical experience would be an advantage although not essential", says Lee Kirk. "You would need to commit to attend all race meetings for which you will receive free entry, food and accomodation. A Midlands-based candidate would be ideally suited as we are in Nottingham. Another member to the team would be more than welcome at the moment, Super Mod has proved to be a little more involved than Super Gas/Comp ever were!"
©Eurodragster.com
If you fancy joining a Super Mod team then drop Lee a line at kirk@kirkmotorsport.com.

Marston kept busy.
14th May: Paul Marston Racing were absent from the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway as the team were at Santa Pod's Big Bang VW event with their Drag Race Driving School and Passenger Ride Experience. Paul Marston takes up the story. "First and foremost, apologies that Paul Marston Racing have not been in touch sooner but we have been extremely busy with race car preparation and development along with the School commitments. Add to that all the logistics and believe me, it keeps you busy.

"Our sympathies go to our racing friends Ian and Sue Jackson along with Andy Hone, aka Fat Fred, who both unfortunately crashed their cars at the aforementioned event, lets hope they are back soon. It's tough enough competing in a heads-up class without these kinds of setbacks. On a happier note, it was great to see the boys at C and S Racing back in action with the Pro Modified Lethal Calibra, dealing with the tricky track with aplomb.

"Back to our exploits, and I thought the ChryslerCard PT Bruiser was near enough full time, so far this year the Drag Race Driving School is taking easily twice as much time, but it's been a blast and I would not change anything. With the Santa Pod being so busy this year, there are only so many slots available to the School, as much as we regret missing the event at Shakespeare; this was one of the dates offered to us by Santa Pod. With so much interest in the Drag Race Driving School, plus all the Passenger Ride Experiences, we just have to take every opportunity.
©Eurodragster.com
"The Big Bang was a great weekend for the School. We had Grumpy's Dodge out for the first time this year, having fitted a Jeff Bull Big Block Chevy tailored to our requirements on the previous Wednesday. We ran a successful driver installation day on the Thursday dodging the showers, then off to Santa Pod to set up ready for the weekend. At the Big Bang we gave two passenger rides and had our first licensed graduate complete his observed runs before Race Director Darren Prentice, he is now entered to compete at the Main Event; you can follow his progress in Grumpy's Dodge running Super Street over the race weekend.

"We are all very excited at the prospect of one of our graduate drivers competing in a National event; it is exactly what the School was instigated for, to achieve this so soon is a real credit to everyone involved. This week sees another new driver with an installation day Wednesday and the Saturday sees Paul Marston Racing at Santa Pod for the Professional Test day with not one but both race cars, Insanity and Grumpy's Dodge, more drivers to train along with a couple of passenger rides thrown in for good measure. Then back the following Wednesday at the Press Day for yet another driver installation day and some more passengers.

"May is set to be our busiest month so far, with the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod over the May Bank Holiday and our debut at Shakespeare County Raceway for the Import Nationals at the end of the month, where we will again be performing some more passenger rides for some lucky competition winners during the 'Hour of Power'. There is stacks more to tell but that will have to do for now.

"Paul Marston Racing would also like to take this opportunity to thank Geddex USA for their support with their Dial-Down and Wheeleeze products along with the great Burnout-Guard already being enjoyed by quite a few racers already. if you want to buy any of these products please come and see us in the pits or E-Mail your order to office@pmracing.fsnet.co.uk.

"Thanks go to London Road Tyres Romford and Jeep Club (0208 501 4471), for all the fabrication and use of their workshop facilities over the past couple of months, your support has enabled us to get the job done. Thanks also to Santa Pod for supporting this project from its inception. Lastly Thank You to all our usual star sponsors: ATI Transmissions, Chrysler UK, ChryslerCard, MAC Tools, Street Machine Magazine, 76 Racing Fuel and Oils, Black Box Productions (01708 377523), Disco Equipment Hire (020 8597 4575) and all the rest. Special thanks to the best crew in the business, everyone at Paul Marston Racing."

NDRS points updated.
14th May: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with the points standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series after the weekend's Springnats at Gardermoen. "Your British guys are still on top but they had better plan their Scandinavian tours now or they will soon be down the order!" say Erik Zettervall and Christer Abrahamson
©Eurodragster.com
The web site at www.dragracing.se has also been updated with an excellent set of photographs from the Springnats. Don't miss them!

Web site updates.
14th May: UK Pro ET racer Terri Lee has posted another update on her official web site at www.terrileeracing.co.uk. Terri's first visit to a track this year, at Sunday's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway, is on and you can read all about it on the Latest News page.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good friend Gareth Evans has updated his UK1320 web site with some excellent photographs from the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Check them out at www.uk1320.com.

Team Veidec looking forward.
13th May: Many thanks to Roger Lyrén for bringing us up to date on whats been happening at the Veidec Pro Stock Bike team. The team have been extremely busy this winter once again building a new bus as the team is now made up of 2 riders and 9 team members and as they are planning on running the full season more transportation space and living area was needed. "We missed the test at Gardemoen last weekend because our bus needed a new engine so we could not make it in time" says Roger. "Once we have done the bus we go to Emmaboda for exhibition runs next weekend and from there we go directly to Santa Pod to do the Press Day."
©Eurodragster.com
With the bus receiving most of the attention over the winter the changes to the bikes have been small. "On Roger's bike we have made only small changes, we want to find the "right settings" for it first before we search for more power. Last year the biggest problem was spinning tyre, so we will try to get the bike to hook up better and get the 60 foot down more. The best last year was 1.12, hopefully we can get below 1.10 this season and that will hopefully lead to low 7,3 runs.

"Oivind has moved some weight around on the bike and just made some small adjustments. Oivinds biggest problem last year was to get the power in to the ground, he was spinning tire on almost all gears! His best run in 2002 was 7.35 in Alastaro, Finland so this season we hope to be in the low 7.3 with Oivind as well.

"We have also been working very hard with sponsors and we are pleased to welcome NGK, Cometic Gaskets, GE Capital Finans and Papyrus to Team Veidec "

Main Event entry list.
13th May: Many thanks to Kjell Pettersson and Paula Marshall for supplying us with the entry list for the 2003 FIA Main Event which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway over the bank holiday weekend. The entry list shows a healthy entry in just about all classes and includes a number of sportsman racers from Europe and Scandinavia
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the entry list by clicking here. Ticket details for the Main Event are available on the Santa Pod web site at www.santapod.com

Two engines for Malmgren.
13th May: One of the teams on the entry list is Michael Malmgren's AC Delco backed Pro Stock Camaro and Magnus Cato from Michael's crew has been in touch to let us know that the team are looking forward to going racing with the number 1 on the side of the car after winning last years championship.
©Eurodragster.com
"It seems to have been a long time coming, but we are really looking forward to racing again, particularly with the PS1 number on the car." reveals Magnus. "Christer, our team supervisor, has been very busy assembling both engines and putting them through the vital dyno tests as well. Both engines (O'bej and O'bejb) are now complete with all parts which puts us in a stronger position as last year O'bejb was only a short block (no heads or intake manifold)."

Although the team are ready to go, Magnus will not be making the journey himself this year as he is moving apartments, but we understand that Tomas, who was scheduled to be taking a year out from the team will be stepping in for Magnus. "A big thanks to Tomas for filling in for me and I will be glued to Eurodragster's live coverage" says Magnus.

Family Rivalry.
13th May: Also appearing on the entry list is Stuart Doignie. Stuart has of course appeared on entry lists before at the wheel of dad Bob's "Flying Doctor" Ford Pop, but this time he entered as well as his dad in Super Street Car and is debuting his own race car. " I bought the car as as unfinished project about 2 years ago and I spent the first year collecting all the necessary parts to finish" says Stuart. "Since July me and my Dad have been spending every spare moment putting it all together."
©Eurodragster.com
" The car is a BMW E30 (80's era) sporting a full tube chassis with big block Chevy power. The engine has previously seen service in Stuart and Anne Pecks Rat Rage Camaro. In Stuart Pecks words "it should fly in your crisp packet!" With the BMW weighing in at around 800-1000lb lighter than the Camaro it should run some very respectable times. On the back of the motor is an Al's Glide to help put the power on the track.

"I am really pleased with how the car has turned out and I hope it goes as well as it looks!! I will be competing in Super Street to start with, with a possible move to Super Gas for the 2004 season if all goes according to plan. The car should run in the nines if everything works out and I have a throttle stop on board to slow the car down for Super Street. I am looking forward to competing in the same class as my Dad and generating a bit of family rivalry.

"I would like to thank Jon Webster and all at Hauser Racing for doing such a good job and giving me excellent advice. I would like to extend thanks to my Dad for taking the time to put the car together and Ang for being so patient and letting him do so. Finally I want to thank my fiance Rachael for being so understanding and very supportive (doubling the original budget!!!). Just remember guys when you budget to build a car just double it and add a bit and you'll be about right!!"

Danish Nationals.
13th May: Per Mikkelsen from the Ndcd Denmark has been in touch to ask us to put racers minds at rest regarding the Danish Nationals which is to be held over the weekend 30/05 - 01/06. "We have had several calls from racers asking if the event has been cancelled" says Per. "Please reassure all the racers that the event is not cancelled, in fact we are 100% ready, we have 600 litres of Track Bite for preparing the track and 50 race officials that are looking forward to seeing all the racers again." For more information log on to the Ndcd web site at http://www.ndcd.dk/

After 8.
13th May: All the riders that we have spoke to have said how much they enjoyed last weekends Speedfreaks Ball, but for Rachel Pattison in particular the event was extra special, as she achieved her long time goal of running an 8 second pass on her Super Street Bike.

"What an absolutely blinding weekend, I've got the biggest cheesy 8 second grin you've ever seen!!"enthused Rat. "It was a bloody long time coming, and I've worked damn hard for it, but now I know me and the old bandit are capable of starting to get competitive. The plan is to chip off a bit here and there with the tune up, starting with adding a little more gas. I hope to give Kev Charman a bit of competition in taking the fastest Bandit in Europe title away from Grumps! (Paul Watson - Ed) "
©Eurodragster.com
Before returning to her rider training duties at Abbey Rider Training Rat signed off by saying "Everyone has mailed me, phoned me, texted me with congratulations, now I remember why I love the sport so much. I couldn't have done it without my super crew though so I want to say a huge 8 second thank you to Andy, Richard and Squirby for all their help and support."

Bailey on bars.
13th May: One of the standouts from the Speedfreaks Ball was Dave Bailey who, with his Super Street Bike still under going repairs, put in his first runs on the Pro Mod bike he recently purchased from Ken Cooper. Dave went from being towed around the pits on the bike to get used to it to running a 7.40 with some stunning 60 foot times thrown in as well in the space of two days. Here's Dave view of the weekend, in his own inimitable style!

"The start of the learning curve consisted of being towed through the pits. By the time Id reached the pairing lanes I was ready to sell the thing; thinking I cant ride this!

"The 1st run was to be nitrous free. I was ready for a fairly hard launch, but it felt more like being shot out of a cannon! (1.257 60ft) I changed gear in all the wrong places and discovered how different steering a bike with an 11 inch slick was. 9.137@140mph.
©Eurodragster.com
"I decided to keep the same settings for the second run and was more confident now I knew what to expect. It launched just as hard (1.249 60ft) and then mid track I over corrected the steering and had to reduce the acceleration to prevent the bike crossing the centre line. 9.282@137.44mph.

"The 3thd run was to be my first pass with nitrous. Having failed to warm the engine before the pairing lanes, the bike wouldn't hold full throttle on the start line. At this point I must thank everyone for being so patient whilst I tried to get the thing to work. In the end I gave up and launched at just less than full throttle. The launch eclipsed anything I'd ever experienced! The pull was so hard I couldn't reach the button to shift into 2nd. By the time I'd changed gear (a couple of times very quickly!) I was heading straight for the wall. I though gearbox (back off and destroy it?),wall, gearbox, wall, in the end the wall won and I wound the throttle off slowly. I returned to the pits very dejected, expecting a damaged gearbox. Mr Cooper soon arrived with my timing ticket and said, (in disbelief), "you've just run one of the quickest 60foot times in Funny bike; 1.088."

"The gearbox appeared to be OK so I decided to keep the same settings for the 4th and final run of the weekend. One of the most useful bits of advice given to me that day was about thrusting myself forward as the bike launched. So I spent 5 minutes sitting on the bike and trying to throw myself over the handlebars as I let go of the 2-step button. This was the pass that showed Id made the right decision about buying the bike.It left the line like a scalded cat and I was poised to change into 2nd gear before the shift light came on (0.6 seconds into the run!). By 3rd gear I was starting to drift to the right , so, wondering if the front wheel was on the ground yet, I moved the bars a bit; nope it was still up in the air. The front was on the ground by 4th gear and I managed to keep away from the centre line without backing off. I crossed the line in 5th gear at about 10,000 revs and coasted to a stop. I got off the bike, removed my helmet, and spent the next few minutes exclaiming and whooping like a madman! When Mr Wing arrived to tow me back I said , nonchalantly, I want a Top Fuel bike, these things are slow. He then told me I'd just run a 7.4! I arrived back at my pit to a large group of people clapping and congratulating me (for not falling off!). Mr Cooper then told me it was a 7.409@170mph. Not only that, but the 60ft time (of 1.033) may be a (unofficial) record for a Funny Bike. Not bad for a 4th run! Later I worked out (from the datalogger) that the 0 to 60(mph) time was about 0.85 seconds!

"Quote of the weekend goes to Ken Cooper with: Ill give you a soft nitrous setting to start youll run an 8.4 (elapsed time). Runner up quote: Cooper (after the 3rd pass):You may want to take some clutch out of it for the next run Bailey: (pause) Naaaa, lets go for it!

"I would especially like to thank my brother Steve and Paul Wing (of clutch fame) for their help and of course Ken Cooper for his excellent advice and 8.4 second nitrous setting I can't wait to ride his 7.4 second setting! (though not quite yet)."

No go for Turbo.
13th May: One man that didn't have quite such a successful Speedfreaks ball was Ian Turburville who debuted his new nitro burning S&S-Sure Shot Harley Davidson. Here's how Turbo's weekend went;

"Well, what can I say? Crap happens! I took the S&S-Sure Shot to its first race, fired it up several times and checked everything, it sounded strong but a little fat so we left it at that. We were only going for a soft launch and a half pass to check everything. Everyone was enthusing over the bike and complementing me on a nice job which was cool. We got down to the startline but a combination of showers, oil downs and an accident meant we had to sit for about three hours before we got to run, which wasn't good. Funnily enough my first time jitters had just faded away by the time we got the nod, I felt confident about the whole thing. We fired it up, took the stand away and I rolled to the water. Rush my crew man pushed me back and Al Smith lined me up, I put it in second and cracked the throttle, great noise, nice smell, good burn out and I rolled the throttle off as I eased off the brake, perfect. Then the motor stopped very suddenly with a 'CLUNK!'

We quickly pushed the bike to the side so that Ton Pels could do his pass, he blasted the track with a seven-one, a good opening lap. The funny thing was some of the local club members were watching from about three quarter track and all they saw was me burn-out, get pushed back and then burn out again and blast down the track at 200mph! It took a couple of minutes to realise it was Ton that had made the lap and not me but I was a hero for 5 minutes there! If only it had been me....
©Eurodragster.com
Back in the pits the autopsy began and we feared the worst. It turned out to be the famous ten cent piece that let go (I must stop fitting 10 cent bits) and although not the complete disaster we anticipated it is enough to put and end to our racing for a few weeks. The problem? Well the nut on the pinion gear came loose and the key sheared, this meant the cam stopped turning so both pistons decided to knock the heads off the valves! It happened on idle so I hope I can clean the heads, fit new pistons and valves etc. and maybe clean up the bore, we'll see. On the positive side we learnt a lot over the weekend, got our pit routine sorted out and had a great time at this fun event organised by jet-car supremo Martin Hill. We also got to see some memorable runs like Martin and Tony's side by side jets, Teddy Bears in a side hack, a very scarey Ariel Trike, Roel Koedam's 222mph six second pass and of course Eric Teboul's amazing five second rocket bike. The evening entertainment was also first class and it was a great family event. I can't wait until Speedfreaks 3 in 2004!

I would like to say a big thank you to all my sponsors, S&S Cycle, JIMS, Red Line Oil, Sure Shot, Primo/Rivera, Custom Chrome Europe, Braided Steel, Zodiac, and 'Off My Head'." You can stay in touch with Turbo via his web site at http://www.turboville.com.

SPR seek bikes for rally.
13th May: Kelly Ingall of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch seeking Bike racers who would like to display their race vehicles at the BMF Rally at the Showground in Peterborough this weekend. Bikes will be needed for Saturday, although arrival on Friday is preferable, and Sunday. Entrants will be given tickets to the rally and travel expenses will be paid.
©Eurodragster.com
This is quite an urgent call so if you would like to take part then please drop Kelly an E-Mail as soon as possible at kelly@santapod.fsnet.co.uk or call her on 01234 782828.

Video clip of Teboul five.
13th May: Still on the subject of the Speedfreaks Ball, we are indebted to Rose Donohue for sending us an excellent trackside video clip of Eric Teboul's five-second Rocket Bike pass on Saturday. The clip is in .avi format which can be read by Windows Media Player or Quicktime, and comes in at about 1.8 megabytes.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the video.

Web site updates.
13th May: Markus Ek has updated his website with over 200 pictures from the NDRS round held at Gardemoen over the past weekend. You can find Markus' site at www.mek.nu

Happy Birthday Gerda!
13th May: A very Happy Birthday to Lex Joon Racing Team Manager and our good friend Gerda Dijkstra. Gerda and Lex are very busy preparing for Lex's entry into Fuel FC at next week's Main Event but doubtless even hard taskmaster Lex will allow Gerda some time off to enjoy her special day. We are sure that everyone will want to join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Gerda the very happiest of birthdays.
©Eurodragster.com
Krivan urgently seeks crew.
12th May: Swiss Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dezsoe Krivan is urgently seeking an experienced bottom-end mechanic to work at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway on 24th-26th May.
©Eurodragster.com
"One of our bottom end guys has suffered a motorbike accident and has neck injuries", says team member Steve Wilson. "We were planning on being at the Test Day this weekend but now we are just concentrating on getting to the Main Event. If anyone is available and would like to help out on this friendly Swiss team - don't worry, we speak English - please contact Deszoe as soon as possible either by E-Mail at krivan@dragracing.ch, or call 00 41 61 741 33 33 (days) or 00 41 61 761 83 01 (evenings)."

Pre-Main Event Test still open...
12th May: Santa Pod Raceway track manager Kjell Petterson has been in touch to let us know that SPR are still accepting entries for this Saturday's pre-FIA Main Event Test Day. Entry is £117.50 per vehicle including VAT, which includes six admission tickets. Full details, conditions, and an entry form can be found by clicking here (PDF file for Acrobat Reader). If you have any enquiries then call Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).
©Eurodragster.com
This Saturday's Test Day is open to spectators, and is also a round of Street Machine's Street Racer series. Kjell tells us that at least one Top Fuel Dragster, that of 2002 FIA European Champion Kim Reymond, will be testing on Saturday together with ex-Pro Stock Champion Niclas Andersson in Micke Kagered's Top Methanol Funny Car, Switzerland's Urs Erbacher in his TMFC, and Sweden's Jimmy Ålund who has bought Jacob Ferrer's entire Pro Stock operation. Andy Robinson recently told us that he is planning to test his Studebaker Pro Mod in its first outing of the year. On two wheels, Norway's Ronny Aasen will be testing his Supertwin. Kjell has promised the full list later on this week so stay tuned.

Spectator entry to Santa Pod on Saturday is £10. Please note that Saturday is not a Run What You Brung; only pre-entered racers and pre-registered Street Machine contestants will be allowed to run. There is a normal Run What You Brung at SPR on Sunday.

...as FIA Main Event entry grows.
12th May: Whilst we were talking to Kjell he gave us the latest numbers for Pro classes at the FIA Main Event.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster stands at eight, FIA Top Methanol FC also stands at eight, FIA Pro Stock stands at seven, Pro Mod stands at eight, Fuel FC stands at four and FIA Top Methanol Dragster currently stands at three.

On two wheels, FIM/UEM Top Fuel (previously Comp Bike) stands at seventeen, FIM/UEM Supertwin has seven entries and FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike thirteen. We understand that a huge number of Sportsman entries has arrived over the last couple of days; we hope to publish the full official entry list very soon.
©Eurodragster.com
For more details about the FIA Main Event including ticket prices check out Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com.

Great weekend for Wild Bunch.
12th May: Last weekend's action from the Wild Bunch Nostalgia racers at the Excitement Nationals saw the usual hair's-breadth racing and a number of new Personal Bests. Championship co-ordinator Claire Meaddows very kindly sent us an event report.

Tony Smith ran an 11.985, recording the Cunning Plan altereds first ever eleven-second pass with its body on! Congratulations to Tony who has been waiting a long time for this one! It was in a close race and Tony also took home the Closest Runner-up spot prize (losing by only .018) as well as the Personal Best ET (well worth a trip to Wales during the weekend to fetch parts to repair broken valves!). Chris Hartnell was finally back in the nines in the Backdraft slingshot, firstly running a good 9.559 on a 9.50 dial-in to take #2 qualifying spot. Chris was back into wheelying form and carried the wheels on several launches. He lost in the semis to Mark Coulsell with a breakout of 9.346 on a 9.50 dial-in, but didnt mind as this was his best run for nine months and resulted in his first speed ever over 140 mph, with a terminal of 141.96 mph! This had been a few years coming and meant that Backdraft was well and truly back on song! Chris took fourthth place at the event and was chuffed with his return to form!

Chevy Charman-Osborne was back in the Alkymist and ran a great Personal Best ET of 8.545 at 157.89 mph, for her first trip into the eights. This was also a Team Best for the car, topping Dads 8.69 at the Season Opener, and was Top MPH and Low ET of the Wild Bunch for the weekend! Chevy also took the Best Radical/Dragster Spot Prize for her efforts. Congratulations again to the whole team! Gareth Kent was in his first race of competition in the Hot Dog altered and qualified very well, third spot on his final observed run. He posted a good 12.382 breakout on a 12.40 dial-in, going out in the first round, but took the Closest Breakout Spot Prize for this, going under his dial-in by only .018. He also took home Best Engineered and Best Altered Spot Prizes for his well-turned out car this weekend, and made a very good showing in his first competition outing.
©Eurodragster.com
Scottie Durrant had fixed the problems with the gearbox of his beautiful purple Topolino In the Dog House Again, and after a trip to Bristol for a torque converter took the altered down to the fire-up road for the first time after three years' building to do an observed run. The car fired up and sounded strong and Scottie put in a good burnout, but was unfortunately unable to get in his half pass. Scottie and the whole Dog Squad took the Best Appearing Team Spot Prize for their smart appearance and new purple team wear (once again beautifully made by partner Karen) and the whole team were thrilled to be making the appearance with the altered! Ray Ford was back in the hot seat of the Ram Raider slingshot, and on the second qualifying round amazingly ran the teams first nine-second pass in the slingshot, carding a 9.929/130.06. Fair play and many congratulations to Ray and the whole team, who didnt mind breaking out a second time for that one! Ray ended up third at the event on the tot-back system, by virtue of being closest to dial-in (without breaking out) of the semi-final losers, and he also took the Best Slingshot Spot Prize for his Personal Best first nine-second pass and consistent efforts.

Throughout the weekend, Alec Coe had repeatedly been lowering his PBs in the Shy Torque slingshot and when he met up with Mark Coulsell in the Limited Funz slingshot in he Final, they both dialled-in 10.50. It was an absolutely cracking race, with not much between the two drivers all the way down the strip. Mark ran a brilliant Personal Best ET of 10.413 (his first for years) but Alec took the first-ever Ultimate Power Series victory for Wild Bunch with a lesser breakout of 10.437, also yet another new Personal Best ET! Congratulations to both drivers on their achievements this weekend!

The whole weekend was close and exciting racing once more, and a great start to the Ultimate Power Series, with such a big field of Wild Bunch. We would like to thank all the hard working marshals and officials for their efforts (they had a lot of incidents to cope with at this event, even including runaway gazebos trying to get on to the track!). Thanks also to APIRA, track owner Anthony Hodges and new promoter Lee Child of LA Performance Services for making the event possible in the first place. We had a great time!

Track records fall at SCR.
12th May: Also on the subject of the Excitement Nationals, Avon Park International Racers Association Press Officer Jerry Cookson has compiled a list of track records broken at the event. Congratulations to:

Funny Bike: 7.131s, Dave Holland
Super Street Bike: 181.45 mph, Graham Dance
Supertwin Street: 135.95 mph, Mark Earrey
Supertwin Gas: 137.20 mph, George Laycock
Supertwin Modified: 9.844s and 144.69 mph, TJ O'Brien

You can find a full list of Shakespeare County Raceway track records on the APIRA web site at www.apira.org.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
12th May: The official web site of Steph and Dave Milam's She Devil Top Methanol FC has been updated with results from the Easter Thunderball and Excitement Nationals. The News page also has some interesting pictures of the FC's new look being applied. Check it out at www.shedevilracing.co.uk.

UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost has updated his Red Victor web site with a report from the Excitement Nationals, where he qualified third and got to the semi-finals. "Thanks to my crew, especially Steve who pitched in to get the engine sorted, Knight Racing, JJ Automotive, and Deb, who all worked hard to get the job done", says Andy. "Roll on the next CCSE round...". You can find Andy's web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.

Fellow CCSE racer Allen Curtis has posted an Easter Thunderball report on his web site, with an Excitement Nationals report promised very shortly. Check it out at www.nomannersracing.co.uk.

Alan Currans has updated his Acceleration Archive with the first Feature Article. "Have you ever wondered what it is like to drive a Funny Car?", says Alan. "One of Motor magazine's writers found out when he took Liam Churchill's Euro Sting for a spin down the strip at Snetterton in 1976. Read Rex Greenslade's excellent article to get some idea of what 2000 bhp really feels like under your right foot". You can find the Acceleration Archive at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Speedfreaks Ball day two report.
11th May: We have now posted our report of today's action at the Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway. It's been another action-packed day including a new world record.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Speedfreaks Ball day one report.
10th May: We have now posted our report of today's action at the Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway. It's been a great, and historic, day with a lot of exciting action to report on.

You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Teboul into the fives.
10th May: History was made at the Speedfreaks Ball this afternoon when France's Eric Teboul clocked 5.968/183.18 on his first pass of the weekend on his Rocket Bike, the first five-second pass by a bike outside the USA. Eric also wiped out the world best for the eighth-mile on the pass. The incrementals for Eric's stunning run were:
©Eurodragster.com
60 feet: 0.985
330 feet: 2.521
Eighth time: 3.714
Eighth speed: 207.84
1000 feet: 4.788
ET: 5.968
Terminal speed: 183.18

Funny Scary.
10th May: UK Comp Bike racer Sarah Jane Head will be moving up to Funny Bike later this year after purchasing the ex-Budster Pro Mod Bike from Chris Hannam. The 6.8-second bike, raced by Tom Sachs in the USA and which has run in the 6.8s, was brought over to the UK earlier this year by Cannon.
©Eurodragster.com
"The bike is ready to run but Dave (partner and Crew Chief - Ed) wants to strip it down and check it out first to make sure that we know what goes where", said Scary. "We'll take our time and look to test it out in July or August. The problem is finding the time - Dave really needs to shut himself away and lock the door but we get a lot of visitors!"

Sarah's turbo- and nitrous-eqipped Comp Bike is now for sale at £7000 ready to race. If you are interested then you can contact Scary and Dave on 01757 212629 after 3:00 pm.

Springnats coverage.
10th May: Our good buddies from Svensk Dragracing are also covering an event this weekend, the Springnats at Gardermoen in Norway which is the the second (and first Scandinavian) round of the Nordic Drag Racing Series as well as a test session for Pro racers. You can check out the Svensk Dragracing coverage at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Smax carries on winning.
9th May: The Excitement Nationals, held at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend saw the UK's newest Top Fuel hero, Smax Smith with an even bigger grin than usual as the dream start to his top fuel career continued with victory in a match race with the Wildside Inc. car of Darryl Bradford.
©Eurodragster.com
"I'm delighted that promoter Lee Child decided late in the planning to add a Top Fuel match race, featuring us and Wildside Inc. car, to the Excitement Nationals" says Smax. "At the moment I want as much track time as possible so for me it was ideal. For our first run I did a short burnout while Darryl went with a longer one. Sitting there in the car with the motor running it seemed like it was taking a while for Darryl to get back. I moved into prestage and looked round to see where Darryl was and when I looked back I had inadvertently gone into full stage! This resulted in Darryl getting bulbed, sorry mate. Alan Jackson had set the car up beautifully, we ran good 60ft and 330ft times, but got loose just after 330ft so I clicked it off."

"We then came back out on Monday with more horsepower from top tuner Al Jackson for the start and then taking some out after the 330ft to try and keep it hooked up. Darryl had motor problems in the pits and couldn't make the call so we had a solo run. The burnout was good, but the launch was awesome! We recorded a stunning .913 sixty foot followed by best 330 ft of 2.33, we were on a stormer! The car got a bit loose after the 330ft mark, I felt it would have been ok to do the full run, but with it being a solo run and no points or anything at stake I decided it was safer to abort the run and keep in Knut's good books!"

Smax's great weekend was rounded off by his "kiddie crew" recording a best yet time of 9.2 seconds and 71mph. " I must say a big thanks to Knut and the crew; animal Mark, Terry & Mack (doing double duty as Gary Page & Scotch Rob were on holiday), Mark & Dave (perfect clutch work), we were all busy! Finally a massive thanks to the countless fans who came to support me over the weekend, The whole crew look forward to seeing you all again at the Main Event where we hope to have a brand new car, I can't wait"

On a slightly slower note, we understand that Smax is urgently trying to source a GM 6.2 diesel crank, any condition or grind. If you can help Smax out with this, please call him on 07967 738909.

Fat Boys crush pistons.
9th May: Many thanks to chief Fat Boy, Ian Hook, for an update on the state of play in the FB Racing camp following the Excitement Nationals, where the team achieved a new personal best speed of 162.5mph, but at the expense of a wounded motor.

" A new PB of 162.5 mph from the less than aerodynamic Ford came at a cost of four crushed & melted pistons." says Ian. "However, this in turn led to two damaged bores which may or may not clean up. The block will be checked out by the machinist on Friday so the whole team are keeping their collective fingers, toes and everything else crossed."

"If the bores come out OK then we'll certainly be out for round 3 of CCSE (if not sooner) but unfortunately we won't be able to make round 2 of the NSCC. If a rebore is required then custom pistons will be necessary which will be a lot more expensive and this may be a stumbling point. It looks like our first eight at Shakey will have to wait a little longer than we anticipated."
©Eurodragster.com
You can stay in touch with the team via the FB Racing web site, which as well as carrying the latest provisional Custom Car Street Eliminator championship points standings also has a report on the incident packed round 2 of the CCSE series held at last weekend's Shakespeare County hosted Excitement Nationals.

Hone working on return.
8th May: If you were tuned in to our Event Coverage from the Excitement Nationals at the weekend you will recall that Super Modified racer Andy Hone's Gleeson Wright Security-backed Ford Granada Scorpio hit the guardrail twice in the final against Danny Cockerill. We were very pleased and relieved to see Andy get straight out of the car, and we were pleased to hear from Andy's close friend and sponsor, and Super Street racer, Matthew Wright that the car is not as badly damaged as first feared.

"First and foremost Andy would like to thank the FAST Team for their quick response in getting him out of the car and checked out", says Matthew.

"We got the car back to the pits - thanks to one and all for the help - to assess the damage. Andy is fine, which is the most important thing, but the car looks a lot worse than it actually is. The problem we had was getting the car back into the trailer with one wheel hanging off. After some thought we decided to leave it on my lorry and to put my Stepside ickup in the trailer. Square peg - round hole, but after some careful measurement bu Mick Coombes and a good driving job by Ashley Bell the truck was in. It was skintight, but it was in.
©Eurodragster.com
"After the long drive home and unloading the car we got to bed at about 2:30 on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday night Andy and I burnt the midnight oil stripping the car so that it can go to Robinson Race Cars to have a couple of chassis bars replaced and the car thoroughly checked. All said and done, though, the damage was minimal. The bodywork is the problem - anyone got a mould for a Granada front end?

"Andy is a very popular guy and all his mates have the skills needed to get the car back out for the next race. I am sure I can speak for Andy when I say a big Thank You to everyone who has phoned him with offers of help and support - you know who you are. Gary Gleeson and I will continue to help out where we can.

"As for my weekend in the pickup, 4319 pounds with me in it, I made the semi-final, by default I hasten to add. We had a blast and I must say a big, big Thank You to Ashley Bell, Harry and the kids for their help crewing for me.

"The Gleeson Wright Security Scorpio will be back - we can't have Danny Cockerill having all the glory!"

Kirk gets off lightly.
8th May: Fellow Super Modified team Kirk Motorsport also had a challenging weekend at the Excitement Nationals, writes sponsor George Kinghorn. A list-minute delivery of Nitrous delayed the team's departure for the track which forced the team to plan a Saturday of baseline passes before introducing the Nitrous over Sunday.

With all of the Easter problems sorted Andy Kirk took to the track for its first pass on Saturday. The car was strong in the burnout and everything checked out fine. She hooked up well away from the line and was running strong when a cloud of white smoke ventured from the front of the car. The safety crew were soon around the car but no big problem materialised and the motor was even running at the top end. Consensus of opinion was that the intake manifold gasket had sprung a leak onto the headers. This was radioed back to the pits and the tow car was dispatched to collect Andy and the car.

Upon further investigation it was revealed that a repair sleeve from number three cylinder had completely disintegrated causing quite severe engine damage. The decision was made to leave the event early on Sunday and to spend the remainder of the weekend stripping down the motor to ascertain the full picture. At the time of writing it has been decided to replace at least the block, pistons, rods and oil pump. The marketing and media department of the team are now working feverishly to secure the funding necessary to get the car back out at the next round in mid-June. The team would like to say a big Thank You to all those who wished them luck and to the safety team for such a prompt response to what could have been a nasty incident.

"The incident over the weekend looks very negative on the surface but the whole team is relieved that due to the circumstances we were not yet running nitrous as that may have caused even greater damage and possibly ended our season before it started", said owner and driver Andy Kirk. "We are working hard to be ready for the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, and are taking the opportunity to rebuild the engine so that it makes the car more competitive in Super Modified by sitting closer to our weight break. All in all the weekend's events could have been devastating but they have actually given us an opportunity to make ourselves more competitive."

For the full story, pictures of the damage and to keep up to date with the team's progress check out their official web site at www.kirkmotorsport.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Axeman and the alternate.
8th May: The Nova Blaze and Team Czechmate Sportsman ET teams also had a problem or two to deal with over the weekend. Jeff Rainbird of Team Czechmate wrote to give us the inside story.

After a really good test day at the Pod Martin Lewis' little Nova was showing signs of getting down into the fourteens. A 15.5 was a nice surprise and showed that the motor was settling down well with no changes made to the car since the engine went in last July. With lots of mods to be done the potential is quite interesting. The first signs of parts being pushed too far was after the burnout first thing Saturday morning, with a nasty clatter with smoke puffs from the exhaust. The car was shut down and pushed back, the head and sump were taken off and we discovered that number four piston had collapsed with large lumps of skirt laying in the pan.
©Eurodragster.com
After a quick chat, Steve Partiss' Sierra, my old tow car, was pressed back into service using the alternate rule. In Sunday morning's qualifying session, with 17.3 on the window, Martin nailed it almost on the number. The car has been to the semis before with Razor in the seat. With a bye in round one Martin wound it up more and ran a 17.03. With George Greves in round two, Martin just went to sleep and George put him away with the reaction being the winning factor.If you have a model of Big Ben I will install it onto the dash of the Nova.

The Skoda still has trans problems and the weekend showed that to many neutrals is not the way to get the ET down. But the drive shafts don't break on the launch now, Steve has now got the nickname Axeman with two reds, he certainly chops the tree down. Tony Merry has the Nova's bad piston but the warranty is null and void even with only 4 miles on it, so Martin has got to purchase a another one. That will be in the car by the weekend and with most of the other mods done by the next meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway let's see what it can do!"

Bear bares bike.
8th May: UK Supertwin racer Steve 'Bear' Clutterbuck debuted his budget, big-twin, nitro Harley at the South West Bike show last weekend and from an entry of 250 bikes walked away with the Best Engineered Bike award, writes bike photo-journalist Ian Turburville. "Steve not only stood the show with his family all weekend and answered a thousand questions about drag racing but was the subject of a twenty minute interview for Granada's 'Men and Motors' show which is due to air this Friday (7th May). Well done Steve on a great looking bike and for being such a good ambassador for us all. Steve's aim was to build a seven-second nitro Harley for seven thousand pounds. We will see if the performance comes in line with the price at the track soon! Oh yes, nice start line shirts Bear, wonder where he got them?"
©Eurodragster.com
Speedfreaks Ball coverage.
8th May: Mention of Turbo leads us very nicely into our plans for Eurodragster's coverage of this weekend's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway, at which we understand that Turbo plans to bring out his own new bike. The second Speedfreaks Ball features Top Fuel Bike v Supertwin Bike shootout; Super Street Bike shootout; the largest gathering of thrust-powered vehicles ever seen including Eric Teboul's Rocket Bike, Martin Hill and Tony Baker in the Fireforce Jet FCs, Jerry Lackey in the Patriot Jet Dragster, rocket mountain bike, jet-powered carts and gopeds; Michael Kooy's Pyromania Jet Qud; bike-only Run What You Brung; Junior Dragster shootout; Show and Shine; live bands; trade stands and a lot more.
©Eurodragster.com
We are planning a relative chill-out weekend; our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage will consist of end-day reports of the highlights plus a Photo Gallery at the end of each day. The Webster Race Engineering/Dragrace Drachten webcam will of course be on-line throughout Saturday and Sunday and is scheduled to update every two minutes.

We will post a direct link to our coverage as soon as it commences on Saturday, or you will be able to access it via the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

You can find full details about the Speedfreaks Ball on the event's official web site at www.speedfreaksball.co.uk, and you can also find details on the racer contingent on the Pit Lane Gossip page of the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.

Salvage Squad seek oldtime racer.
8th May: The UK's Channel 4 network TV station is looking for a historic British race car to feature in a new series of Salvage Squad. "If any one knows of a good early dragster out there, with a British engine, a top racing history with as many pics as possible, and an old owner who still thinks he's twenty five then we'd love to hear from you", says Ed Booth.
©Eurodragster.com
If you fit the bill (are you reading this Russ Carpenter? - Ed) then drop Ed an E-Mail at ed.booth@walltowall.co.uk with as much information as you can give him. "Then who knows, good things might happen", says Ed.

Your Hornet questions answered.
8th May: Prospective racer Gary Holt turned heads and prompted discussions with his distinctive AMC Hornet (right, picture by Sharkman) at a recent Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. Unfortunately Gary's outing ended prematurely when the prop corkscrewed. Gary, a good friend of Pro Mod racer Bert Englefield, dropped us a line to fill us in on some details about the car, including his plans.
©Eurodragster.com
"The car is a 1970 AMC Hornet. The engine is a 351 Cleveland, 2v standard crank and rods. It has TRW flat top pistons, the heads are standard, roller rockers, moly push rods, triple valve springs, and molly retainers. The cam is a Fireball (no sniggers please) with serious lift and duration. It has a 750 Holley dp on Wiend Accelerator manifold, C6 box with B and M innards, and an AMC axle with 3.8 gears. Oh - and 175 hp of gas! The car runs mid elevens on slicks and low twelves on street tyres. Not bad for a ton and a half, all steel.

"At the Run What You Brung the prop corkscrewed snapping the tailhousing from the gearbox, then the headers ignited the trans oil. It also took out prop loops, fuel pipes, ladder bars and floor - a few days' work to repair.

"I hope to be back in the summer and maybe get close to a high ten. Hopefully I will test the car at the Street Racer Sunday on 13th July and blow a few Japs away. Then I'll take a look at LA Heavy Street - I should do well."

Far from Grumpy.
7th May: The UK's newest Pro Stock Bike racer Paul 'Grumpy' Watson had an eventful weekend at the Excitement Nationals, getting into the sevens in only his second race, stepping up into the 7.6s a day later, and then winning the event. On the downside Paul was in the other lane when Lucy Thorn had a top end spill in qualifying. Paul dropped us a line with his thoughts about his weekend.

"Firstly I want to send my best wishes to Lucy Thorn who came off on Sunday whilst we were qualifying together, I wish her a speedy recovery", says Paul. "It was on that run I managed my first ever seven although with the combination of the strong sidewind and the big dip I was nearly off myself. It was a hairy ride after the finish line.

"We qualified third with a 7.98 and ran the Martin Bishop in the first round but only over the eighth due to the wind, Bish still had launch problems. I had a bye run in the semis so without stepping it up, I just wanted more seat time, I ran 7.62 - a big shock both to me and my crew! In the final I had the number one qualifier Richard Gipp but he had problems up the track so I went through with another 7.6/175.

"I must say a big big Thank You to Big Dave. Without his help I would not have got this far - you are a star. Thanks also to Micky Burns for his help with the gearbox and to Chris Hope and his family for their constant help. See you all at the Main Event."
©Eurodragster.com
Bond's five bruises.
7th May: The UK's Shell Racing Top Methanol and Junior Dragster team had a great weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. Joe Bond took the win in Junior Dragster and Doug Bond was runner-up in Top Methanol, credited with a 5.940 pass in the final - the team's first five.
©Eurodragster.com
"Did Doug run a 5.94?", says Crew Chief Martyn Hannis. "The clocks said he did, and Doug knows he did. He said to me at the top end that hes never been so fast. The three-foot advantage that Dave Wilson had off the start line didnt increase all the way down the track and Dave even commented "Dont do that to me, where did that come from? I knew you were there, I could hear you, well done Doug!". The timing ticket shows a good sixty foot in the .9s, 201mph on the eighth-mile (previous PB being 189) and the Pro Light set on 8900 rpm lit on all the gear shifts and was well on before the finish line. I spoke to Doug yesterday morning and hes a bit sore, he said that five-second passes give you bruises from the seat belt when the chutes come out!"

You can view a video of Monday's Top Methanol final, as well as a number of other great clips, on Brian Fawcus' web site at drag.fawcus.com.

Unleashed from the kennel.
7th May: UK Wild Bunch racer Scottie Durant made his first outing with his new In The Dog House Again altered at the Excitement Nationals. Scottie dropped us a line to tell us how it went.

"We fitted a new gearbox last week. On Saturday morning Paul Stubbings, who built the chassis, came to give the injection a tune-up, the car sounded spot on - only to find that we had no gears again! We took the gearbox out on Saturday afternoon and found that the input shaft was to small for the converter. That was it, the weekend over, then Lee Hartnell said "I've got one, but it's in Bristol". We went to get it, and fitted it in on Saturday night. Sunday we needed some bolts for the converter, thanks to Ian Brown and the crew of the Thatadoo team who searched high and low for them! We fired up - we had gears! Down we went to make a shakedown and qualifying run, with the crew in their new crew shirts. We did a burnout but the motor revs stayed up and I struggled to hold it on the brakes so decided to shut it down. But man was I happy after three years' work!
©Eurodragster.com
"I would just like to say a big thank you to some great people who helped this weekend: Paul Stubbings, Mark Coulsell, Ian Brown and crew, Lee Hartnell, the kennel crew - Mark "Turbo Turtle" Turton, Leigh "Big Dog" Turland, Elliott "She's a babe!" Jones, and anybody else who helped. Thanks also to my girlfriend Karen Talbot for the new crew shirts, winning us Best-dressed Team in the the Wild Bunch. Big thanks to my sponsors Every Bottom Drawer (parental advisory - Ed), Demonscream Web Design and Hosting Services, and Night Vibes Entertainment."

A history of Bump Spots.
7th May: The latest oeuvre from our good buddy Andy Marrs is a historical list of bump spots in FIA, FIM/UEM and MSA Top Methanol at Santa Pod Raceway. The data goes back as far as 1996 for some classes and makes very interesting reading. "I cannot say they are one hundred per cent accurate, as there may have been the odd instance where a run was discounted for some reason and I'm not aware of it", says Andy. "That said I'm fairly confident as I have researched the eliminations for each event and it tallies with what I've produced."

You can view the lists as follows:

FIA qualifying
FIM/UEM qualifying
MSA Top Methanol qualifying

As usual Andy has unearthed some interesting facts whilst compiling the information:
©Eurodragster.com
Quickest FIA bump spots at SPR:

Top Fuel: 5.216, 1998 European Finals
Top Methanol Dragster: 6.610, 1998 Main Event
Top Methanol Funny Car: 5.995, 1998 Main Event
Top Alcohol (pre 1998): 7.531, 1996 Main Event
Pro Stock: 7.160, 2001 European Finals

In twelve events at Santa Pod Michael Malmgren has finished number one qualifier seven times and number two qualifier three times.

Quickest FIM/UEM bump spots at SPR:

Comp Bike: 7.304, 2002 European Finals Pro Stock Bike: 7.806, 2002 European Finals Supertwin Top Fuel: 7.518, 2000 European Finals

Quickest MSA Top Methanol bump spot at SPR: 6.713, 1998 New Summer Nationals

Of the thirteen MSA events which Rob Turner has entered at Santa Pod, he has won ten and been runner-up twice.

VW points update.
7th May: We are indebted to Spencer Tramm for sending us post-Big Bang standings in the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships. Youc an view the VW points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Power Nationals contest winner.
7th May: It's a bit of a Spencer Tramm benefit here at Eurodragster today because Spencer is the winner of last week's contest to win a pair of tickets for LA Performance Services' Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on 14th-15th June. Spencer's guess for the low ET in the weekend's Top Fuel match race was closest to the outcome (6.874 by Smax - Ed). As a regular crew member for Martin Curbishley Spencer will be at the race anyway, but we are sure that he would be pleased to hear from any young lady who fancies watching the Power Nationals TF match race with him. Congratulations to Spencer on his win and thanks again to Lee Child of LA Performance Services (and also our Links page sponsor through his company LA Racing Parts) for posting the prize.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
7th May: UK Pro ET racer Terri Lee has come a step closer to a return to racing with a successful dyno test of her new engine. You can read all about it on her official web site at www.terrileeracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Steiner well on the road.
6th May: The world's fastest Austrian, Nostalgia Top Fuel racer Gerry Steiner (right), is now well on the road to recovery after a horrifying top end crash at Bakersfield in March. In a note passed on to us by Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing, Gerry's daughter Gerilyn says that after a week in intensive care and then a week under direct observation Gerry is now 85% recovered and in rehabilitation therapy. "He is walking and talking very well now with the doctors giving an optimistic view towards a full recovery!", says Gerilyn.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have also talked to Gerry on the phone and he sounds normal, just a little bit tired", adds Gittli. "We are more than glad that he is feeling much better and I think everybody who knows him suffered with him and his daughter, his ninety-year-old mother and crew, because they are a very close family and crew."

We are sure that everyone will want to join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Gerry a continued rapid and full recovery. If you would like to send Gerry a card or a donation towards medical expenses then you can reach him at:

Gerry Steiner
14596 Jacksol Drive
San Jose
CA 95124
United States of America

Athens race a success.
6th May: The first Hellenic dragster race of 2003, in Athens, was a great success writes Elias Vathias. "The 166 racers and the 32000 spectators proved that the dragster races are the number one sport in Greece". Elias and the guys at the Dragster Greece web site have been hard at work and you can find their event coverage as follows:

Entry list: www.dragster.gr/events/events030412_EllinikoDragster_Classification.htm
Event information: www.dragster.gr/events/events030412_EllinikoDragster.htm
Eliminations: www.dragster.gr/events/events030412_EllinikoDragster_Kontres.htm
Pictures: www.dragster.gr/images/Shows_Races/030412Elliniko/index.htm

The next race takes place in Serres this weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
Super Mods star on TV.
6th May: The UK's Super Mod Championship co-ordinator Sharon Hogarth has been in touch to let us know that the class is to receive some exposure on UK network television tomorrow (Wednesday 7th).

"Interviews and footage filmed with the Super Mods at one of last year's Super Series events will be aired as part of tomorrow's edition of Dream Machine on Channel 5", says Sharon. "i2i Television spent quite some time with the Super Mods carrying out interviews and filming a number of the drivers and their race cars so it will be interesting to see which footage they actually use."

Dream Machine is scheduled to be broadcast on Channel 5 at 8:00 pm tomorrow evening.
©Eurodragster.com
"I will doubtless be cringing behind the settee not wanting to witness the TV adding yet more pounds to my ampleness!", says Sharon. "But hey, that's the price of stardom!"

Bonin passes on 2003.
6th May: 1999 FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion Gordie Bonin has had to give up on racing in Europe in 2003. Hopes were high that 240 Gordie would make a return to Europe this season again with Rune Fjeld, especially with Prolong's renewed involvement in the sport both at Santa Pod Raceway and with the UK's Shockwave Fuel FC team. However after protracted negotiations Gordie drew a blank. "No smiles here", he says. Although Gordie has given up on racing here in 2003, he tells us that he is already turning his thoughts to 2004.
©Eurodragster.com
Excitement Nationals updates.
6th May: The official web site of the UK's Showtime Fuel Funny Car has already been updated with a brief report of the team's ultimately-successful weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. "The result was exactly the one we hoped for although the route to get there was anything but easy", says crew member Chris Dossett. Check it out at www.showtimeracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
MSA British Drag Racing Championship Co-ordinator Dave Alexander has updated the European Top Methanol Racers Association web site with an excellent report of the weekend's Top Methanol action at the Excitement Nationals together with Championship points standings. You can find the report on the 2003 Race Results page at www.etmra.com.

Eurodragster staffer Tog has updated his personal web site Tog's Drag Racing Page with proof versions of his weekend's pictures from the Excitement Nationals, which he took in between his Eurodragster live-reporting duties. You can check out Tog's pictures at www.togsdragracing.com.

Web site updates.
6th May: The Feel The Noise web site at www.feel-the-noise.com has been updated with Anni and Bob Valder's pictures from the APIRA Test and Tune and the Easter Thunderball. The update also includes video clips of Eric Teboul's rocket bike runs at the Thunderball.
©Eurodragster.com
Excitement Nationals results.
5th May: Here are the results of the Excitement Nationals. Congratulations to our winners:

Fuel Funny Car: John Spuffard 5.633/263.16 def. Gordon Smith 6.343/183.67
Top Methanol: Dave Wilson 5.716/235.60 def. Doug Bond 5.940/no speed recorded
Super Mod: Danny Cockerill 7.794/180.72 def. Andy Hone NTR
Super Pro ET: Wayne Nicholson (8.95) 9.194/147.06 def. Nick Stephenson broke
Pro ET: Lee Huxley (10.90) 11.098/112.22 def. Dave Baldwin (11.55) 11.682/114.50
Sportsman ET: Nick Gay (15.80) 16.725/66.75 def. George Greves (12.75) 12.848/105.88 red light
Super Comp: Tim Adam 8.945/149.50 def. Martin Curbishley 8.975/154.11
Super Gas: Malcolm Francis 9.986/123.29 def. Will Furniss 10.067/137.20
Super Street: Mike Bentley 10.986/128.21 def. Conrad Stanley NTR no time recorded
Junior Dragster: Joe Bond (9.65) 19.001/16.17 def. Collin Morrice (9.03) 9.138/71.20 red light
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Jon Webster 8.742/164.23 def. Steve Pateman 12.195/85.07
Wild Bunch: Alec Coe (10.50) 10.437/114.50 lesser breakout def. Mark Coulsell (10.50) 10.413/126.40 breakout
Outlaw Anglia: Paul Hensher 8.882/153.58 def. Pete Ashworth 9.359/115.98 DQ hit timing equipment

European Top Gas: Harry van Schie 9.569/137.61 def. Cord Albers 8.619/158.45 red light
Top Fuel Bike: was not contested
Pro Stock Bike: Paul Watson 7.660/175.78 def. Richard Gipp 25.327/25.98
Funny Bike: Dave Holland 7.267/177.17 def. Stu Chamberlain DQ hit timing equipment
Super Street Bike: Karl Larcombe 8.424/170.45 def. Tony Clark 8.469/179.28
Comp Bike: Jerry Collier 8.198/157.89 def. Phil Leamon 8.752/157.34
9.90 Bike: Paul Hambidge 9.933/133.14 def. Fred Furlong 10.016/137.20
10.90 Bike: Andy Burfitt 11.151/99.78 def. Nick Holland 11.160/122.28
Supertwin Fuel: Dave Witts 10.271/123.97 def. Chris Stebbings 12.686/64.75
Supertwin Gas: George Laycock 9.612/137.20 def. Bart Salentyn 10.250/130.81 red light
Supertwin Modified: TJ O'Brien 9.926/139.32 def. Dave Bartz 9.893/135.95
Supertwin Street: Mark Earrey 10.590/135.14 def. Dave Jones 10.905/123.29
Junior Drag Bike: Jennifer Hurcomb 10.354/70.98, Dan Baldwin no show

You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
FC Championship points.
5th May: Thanks to British Nitro FC Championship co-ordinator Jim Broome for calculating the provisional Championship points after the Excitement Nationals:

1. John Spuffard 118
2. Gordon Smith 97
©Eurodragster.com
Big Bang day two report.
4th May: We are again indebted to Paul Venners for sending us a report of the first day's action at the Big Bang VW event at Santa Pod Raceway:

Well what a difference a day makes! We still have had a strong wind blowing all day, although it has been from left to right as opposed to the head-on fury of yesterday. The day broke without a cloud in the sky and remained so during the day, yesterday's hypothermia worries replaced by sunstroke concerns!

As usual the pits were a mass of friendly banter, tool loans, advice swaps and bench racing, with most teams venturing out into the various event arenas to enjoy a good night before this morning's open qualifying session. With the change in wind direction it took a while to dial the cars back in, but after a couple of runs most drivers were bang on the numbers. Qualifying in VW Sportsman was down to the second digit in the top eight places! Close racing was promised, and delivered later in the day. VW Pro suffered a lot of breakages, one by one many of the top teams broke - some with terminal damage, many with minor problems they were well-prepared for. VW Alternative Engine was halfway between the two, with fairly close racing and not too many breakages.
©Eurodragster.com
BEETLEMANIA-sponsored VW Sportsman: With a total of nineteen cars this was a monster! Stuart Hinds qualified number one and took a bye into round two. Neil Thompson def. Martin Ayton, Brian Burrows def. Stephen Lee, James Lake def. Simon Cooper, Simon Longman def. Natasha Garcia, Sarah Rolling def. Roy Ayton, Graham Fairhead def. Rob Bowler, Chris Bayliss def. Dan Buzzo, Adam Sheard def. Martin Charles, Michael Garaghty def. Ian Dale. By the quarter finals things were getting very tough, with several competitors running perfect dial-ins, and cutting .5 lights, most consistently were Brian Burrows racing the tow car of Paul Jackson's dragster after breaking the transmission in the first qualifying session. Stuart Hinds has been nicknamed Mr Clockwork. Stuart beat Brian in their quarter-final pairing, Sarah Rolling came up against a bye in her quarter-final, Graham Fairhead beat Adam Sheard and the last pairing was a pair of ghostly byes. A very close match indeed! Come the semis Sarah ran up against Mr Clockwork and despite giving it her best shot went the way of all Stuart's opponents. Graham faced the winning ghost with a bye, which left him facing Stuart in the Final. Guess who won? Tick tock, tick tock!!

AMR-sponsored VW Alternative Engine: Number one qualifier Matt Attwood in the 'Blacklisted' Type III Fastback earned the bye. Gin Marrone def. Andy Raw and Darryn Coleman def. Mark Skeen. Straight into the semi finals, (the class will be up to full strength by round three) and Matt drove round Gin to face off against Darryn who had a bye, in the Final. Matt defeated Darryn, but he didn't seem to mind, making the final on his first day of VWDRC competition!

JON RATHBONE RACING-Sponsored VW Pro: The war of attrition waged against the motors and gearboxes of the class still left us with eight cars in the first round. Paul Woodhead took the bye as number one qualifier. Neither Bernie Newbury nor Pete Englezos made it for their pairing, Pete broke a drive shaft on his last qualifying pass in the mad Fiat. Ian Clarke def. Jason Aldred (who was still shaking down his buggy). Kevo Metcalf def. Neil Robinson, who had fitted a spare 1600 engine and was hoping to 'wing it', like the Thunderball! Scott Evison had a bye as Brett Lincoln spun a bearing in the Shortarse Shaker. Russell Fellows also had a bye as Paul Jackson holed another head in the dragster, but he didn't care they had finally traced the misfire to a faulty two-step! Hooray! Paul Woodhead had a bye as a result of the no shows in round one. Ian Clarke def. Kevo in the dragster, Russ Fellows def. Scotty Evison. In the semis Paul Woodhead defeated Ian Clarke who tried just a little too hard and broke out by the tiniest of margins. Russ was fortunate enough to meet a bye so the scene was set for a battle in the final! Running similar numbers all day Russ dropped his dial in by 1/100th and it was heads up 11.39 in the final. With Russ running a Turbo he made a top end charge as it spooled up and boosted but it wasn't quite enough as the win light came up in Paul's lane!

All in all it was a fantastic day. The weather was so kind after yesterday, the racing was just so close in all off the classes with many .5 lights and runs bang on the dial-in to the last 2 digits. Do the VWDRC guys and gals think they are running in Super Gas? Sadly we lost a fair few cars to breakages, we will have to wait to see Rick Jolley who sadly stripped the splines on the drum of his mental chop top on the first qualifying run. With at least four engines seized its going to be an expensive thrash to get ready for round three at the SPRC Summernationals, here at Santa Pod in a month's time.

Big Bang day one report.
3rd May: We are indebted to Paul Venners for sending us a report of the first day's action at the Big Bang VW event at Santa Pod Raceway:

Hi and welcome from the tower at the pod, on what has to be the windiest weekend we have had for quite a while... If you were at the Thunderball then it's a LOT worse than that, and we have lost count of the race tents/awnings and trade stores which have been demolished in the consistent gales!

Despite the weather spirits are high in the pits, with forty three cars entered in the 3 VW classes (Pro, Sportsman and Alternate Engine). A further seven rookies have turned up to compete, a mixed bag with some familiar names in the VW scene turning to competition for the first time after years of RWYB, and some VERY well turned out Pro cars. The investment in terms of time, money and research bears testament to the huge upsurge in the VW performance and racing scene in the past couple of years!

Today has been a RWYB day, and for the first time in many years the number of competition car passes outweighed the number of public RWYB. The track was prepped and glued first thing and the VWDRC and guests came round for three cycles of practise on a further prepped track. Many thanks go to Darren Prentice, Race Director and to Kjell and David from Santa Pod for the extra attention, from all the VWDRC and other guest racers.

With a mixed bag of weather (what else can we expect?) we were only held up for around ten minutes in total due to rain, and with no incidents on the track aside of several broken gearboxes the track was flowing right through the day.

So onto the rookies first. Brett Lincoln was out in the Shortarse Shaker; building up his confidence after the head-butt into the guardrail in pre-season testing where he managed to make a very short Beetle even shorter! This time round his crew chief and the car's original constructor/owner Dwayne Brown made sure Brett took it steady with more power being feed in each run. Bernard Newbury is very well known in VW circles for two things; his incredible show winning interiors and his amazing show and go cars. His replica of the famous 'Berg Black Car' caused many heart stopping moments last season on demo runs. This time out the flawless car performed impeccably, with hard launches and arrow straight runs. Neil Thompson was out for the first time in Conor La Grue's last season's rookie car. Sadly he managed to break the throttle cable on two of his practise runs, but was gaining confidence through the day, being a local boy the weather hasn't bothered him as its only two miles home. Conor La Grue and his super crew are still building the truly BONKERS type 181 'Trekker', in the pits (as is traditional with most Team Botch cars!). Things are looking good with final wiring and plumbing almost complete. Dan Buzzo (photographer and artist extraordinaire) hit the track in his VW 'Samba' Split Screen VAN. These vehicles are now worth in excess of 20,000 in STOCK form, due in part in Jamie Oliver purchasing and swanning around in a former show-winning example. So to take such a valuable vehicle and race it! Finally we have the two Aldred brothers. Hardly anyone had heard anything about the cars before today's public unveiling and test runs. Jason Aldred's Cotweld built tube framed Buggy looked amazing, and with a 2332cc engine it will sure pack a punch. His brother Justin was running an equally well prepared and presented Fugitive off roader. What a debut!
©Eurodragster.com
With so many racers it will be impossible to give an update on all the other racers. So a quick 'commiseration' to Neil Davies, and Adele Atherton who have both spun main bearings. Martin Kearn appeared to suffer from gearbox failure, as did Andy Raw in the Subaru powered TSR bug (but he quickly fitted yet another stocker on the wheelstander). The Jacksons still have misfire woes after repairing the head damaged at the Thunderball. Kevo Metcalf in TeamBotch's 'Dragster #2' was bedding in new bearings and turbo. Russ Fellows' form dropped off in the Rathbone Racing-backed bug.

An unfortunate incident in the pits saw 'Stretch' Charles back the Cardiff-based 'Beetlegeuse' into Sarah Rollins' red Bug, which sustained minor damage to a wing. Adam Sheard dusted off his last year's ride, as his new machine is yet to be completed and had a few minor problems on the startline. Rob Bowler has returned to competition proper after a five-year lay off and build of a new car. He did put in a couple of appearances last season and now sports new colours on the once all satin black bug, and was running into the fourteens.

Simon Cooper is BACK! With his nutty methanol injected DIESEL Golf he powered down into the thirteen-second zone, leaving a smoke trail the red arrows or a London cab would be proud of! We have yet to see the unusual Beetle estate of Chris Kouzaris, which isn't surprising as he only returned from Honeymoon in the early hours of this morning. The UVA Shogun is scheduled to be scrutineered along with everyone else in the morning.

Pete 'The Greek' Englezos put in some WILD runs, with the Bug powered Fiat 600 completely leaving terra firma on one run! Once the crazy wheelie is out of the way the tiny car with the big man inside went arrow straight into the elevens. A real crowd pleaser

Rick Jolley makes a welcome return to VWDRC competition after an ongoing battle with ill health and a complete revamp of the former Ken Blomer chop top bug. During the rebuild Ken and Rick have updated the safety cell to 9.90 spec and fitted an 'unbreakable' Mandola VW gearbox, which incorporates a Ford nine-inch ring and pinion. The HUGE wheelstands the turbo bug pleased the crowd and photographers alike, although the true potential of the Automanics car will only be seen on a fully prepped track as Rick kept overpowering it as the turbo spooled up toward the 330' mark.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's results.

 Showtime team forget backfires.
2nd May: The UK's Showtime Fuel Funny Car team have put their Easter Thunderball woes behind them, as they go to this weekend's Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway intending to take the first round of the MSA British Nitro FC Championship. Thunderball driver Bill Sherratt suffered a couple of dramatic and in one case body-lifting backfires during the Pro Fuel Shootout but the team had the car ready to run again each time.

"We made a few mistakes at the Thunderball", said Crew Chief Bob Jarrett. "We've fixed them and now we're forgetting about it. We're going to Shakespeare County Raceway to do the job".
©Eurodragster.com
Speaking to Eurodragster yesterday afternoon, Bob explained that the backfires at the Thunderball may have looked and sounded bad but that in fact the car did not suffer very much damage. "On the first run I underestimated how cold the track was, and when Bill hit the throttle the tyres spun, the engine went up to ten thousand rpm, a head lifted and there was a backfire. On the second run we had the car set for an easy 5.4, but an intake valve stuck open. It looked bad it didn't do much damage beyond a blower belt. In fact we put it all back together again and we towed down and were ready to run in the final if Gordon Smith hadn't been able to make it."

Since the Thunderball Bob, driver John Spuffard and the team have had the heads off the engine, and Carlo Gandolfi has done what Bob described as excellent repairs to the Avenger body. "We are also looking at a new body", Bob added. "Last week I spent some time at Jerry Toliver's shop and I looked at a body run by Jim Epler which would be good for us."

The team's game plan for this weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway is to start their Championship defence without heroics. "We're not going to try to rotate the world on its axis", said Bob.

When the Excitment Nationals are over the Showtime team will be working on two cars as they prepare what was their spare car for Holland's Lex Joon, who will be making his first Fuel FC outing at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway later this month. "We've got three weeks to get it ready", said Bob. "This is the start of our aim to get more cars into the class."

You can stay in touch with the latest from the Showtime pit on the team's official web site at www.showtimeracing.co.uk.

Less shake for Grumpy's pants.
2nd May: Dave 'Grumpy' Wilson got quite a surprise in his first outing in the new American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster at the Easter Thunderball. In what must rank as the best-kept secret of the off-season, team owner Anthony Cohen purchased a brand-new purpose-built Hadman chassis which was tailored to Dave's physique and the team's requirements, and then unveiled it at the Thunderball where Dave ran a 5.7 on his first pass and was runner-up to Rob Turner.

"This new chassis is unlike anything I have ever driven before", says Dave who has been racing for the best part of thirty years, most of those in what is now Top Methanol. "It's subtle in what it tells you through the seat of your pants. Everyone noticed the tyre shake I had in the final at the Thunderball except me! I have sat in the stands at Pomona and wondered how on earth the Top Alcohol racers over there stand the shake. Now I know - they don't feel it!"
©Eurodragster.com
Dave explained what happened in the very close Top Methanol final against Rob Turner at the Easter Thunderball. "We got away with a major blow-up", he said. "An exhaust pushrod broke, after that the exhaust valve never opened and the cylinder filled up with fuel. But it still went 247!".

The ACI team have rebuilt the engine used at the Thunderball and it is now back between the rails ready for this weekend's Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, which is the second round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship. "We looked at the data from the last race and we have made a few adjustments to try different things", said Dave. "We are building a new short block right now and we will probably take it with us this weekend, but we will be using the old engine on Saturday and then we will see how we are qualified. If the car goes smoothly and everything is OK then we may put in the new engine to give it a run out. But I want to break it in gently because it is so different to the set-up we are used to, so if there is any doubt then we will leave it. We will be very happy just to get down the track!"

The team's very tidy new web site at www.americancarimportsracing.com has been updated with an excellent Easter Thunderball report written by Crew Chief Andy Bissett. If you are familiar with Andy's unique style of reporting then you will not be disappointed, and if you have never read one of Andy's reports before then you are in for a treat. As well as news and race reports the new site also features team biographies, car specs, sponsor pages, calendar, links and more.

Carter signs Sigma Signs.
2nd May: UK Top Fuel Dragster team Carter Motorsport have proudly announced Sigma Signs as an official sponsor for the 2003 season.

"Managing Director Phil Guilford of Sigma Signs has been a long time supporter of Andy Carter and the team, and we were delighted when he approached us with a view to being an official sponsor for 2003." said Carter Motorsport PR Dan Welberry. Sigma Signs aim to provide a comprehensive sign manufacturing and installation service. Their fully-equipped workshop utilises the latest computerised machinery to produce high quality work in an efficient and cost-effective manner. With over thirty years' industry experience, they are well versed in all aspects of the sign trade and as such are able to offer friendly and helpful advice on how best to achieve customers' signage needs. "Whether it's for your race car, trailer, shop, office, factory, vehicle or fleet of vehicles, in fact no matter what it's for, if you have a signage need, then Sigma Signs has your tailor made answer", says Dan. "The Carter Motorsport, First National Telecoms Top Fuel Dragster and trailer for are a fantastic example of the company's workmanship."

You can find Sigma Signs' web site at www.sigmasigns.com or you can contact Phil on 01895 273268. For the inside story from the Carter Motorsport pit check out the team's official web site at www.andycarter.net.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
2nd May: The News page of the Avon Park International Racers Association web site at www.apira.org.uk has been updated with an important reminder for racers about the new pit rules at Shakespeare County Raceway.

UK Pro ET racer Terri Lee has again updated her web site with the latest news from the workshop of her Blown It Escort van. The latest report includes some fascinating photographs of the preparation of the engine for Terri's return. Check it out at www.terrileeracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
All invited to Big Bang...
1st May: The Big Bang VW event is taking place this weekend at Santa Pod, writes Paul Venners. The first of the Pod's VW festivals this year features round two of the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships in VW Pro, VW Sportsman, and VW Alternative Engine. The tradition of VWs mixing it up on the track with more conventional V8 machinery goes right back to the early days of the VWDRC and over the years we have had either guest racing or championship rounds from Pro Mod, Outlaw Anglia, Super Gas and most recently Super Mod. With most of the UK Championship classes running down at Shakespeare County Raceway there was no single group of racers to invite along to the Big Bang.
©Eurodragster.com
After liaising with Santa Pod Racers Club's Paula Marshall and Santa Pod Raceway's David Lloyd-Jones it has been decided to invite any MSA-legal race team along this weekend. The event is a three-day affair, with RWYB on Saturday and Monday and the VWDRC Championship round under MSA license on Sunday. The track will be prepped throughout the weekend, with special attention prior to 'practice cycles' at regular intervals during the RWYB sessions. Drivers and Riders are reminded to bring valid DVLC licences in order to sign on, and to use normal MSA safety gear as appropriate to their class. The Big Bang is a mad experience, with varied entertainment in the evenings, and a whole host of wacky and quick vehicles out on the track. The normal entry fee of £75 will get four crew tickets as usual, and this will be a fun weekend with a very appreciative audience, and lots of track time, particularly on Sunday. Even with nearly forty cars and the demo cars already booked in this is an opportunity not to be missed if you need to baseline a car, or sharpen up reaction times and there is lots to see and do right through the weekend!

If you would like to attend the Big Bang then please contact Paula Marshall as soon as possible on 01933 313625.

You can find the official Big Bang web site at www.big-bang.co.uk.

...and AMR back VWDRC.
1st May: More news from our friends at the VWDRC as Spencer Tramm has been in touch to announce that AMR Motors are to sponsor the VWDRC's Alternative Engine (AE) class. AMR Motors join Jon Rathbone Racing and Beetlemania as sponsors of the VWDRC, which has become the largest one make series in the UK.
©Eurodragster.com
The Alternative Engine class was run as a demonstration last year at Big Bang and Bug Jam, and is for VW-bodied cars with alternative power plants. Cars ranged from Wayne Allman and his mad 460ci Big Block Ford wedged up front to Matt Attwood's Rover V8 fastback and a host of Subaru powered Beetles. The AE class begins its first full Championship season at this weekend's Big Bangand will also be contested at the Summer Nationals, Bug Jam, National Finals and the Flame and Thunder.

AMR Motors have provided the Subaru conversions for many of the classes racers including the AMR 'Company Car' driven by Andy Raw, Gin Marrone and Bug Jam winner Ian Sewell. AMR Motors can be contacted on 01638 577622.

Free track time for Exhibitionists.
1st May: The organisers of the UK Modified Nationals, a Modified Car Event which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 31st May-1st June, are inviting racers to apply to join their Hour of Power demonstration sessions.

"We already have demonstration racing from the Outlaw Anglias, the Supercharged Outlaws and Roger Goring in his Jet Funny Car", says organiser Mark Needham. "We have room for another six or eight cars and we are looking for something a little bit different. The track will be prepped and you will have free track time and free event admission for you and your crew, although you will have to fit around our event schedule."
©Eurodragster.com
The UK Modified Nationals features a Street Legal Run What You Brung, drag racing demonstrations, Show and Shine, sound system contest, Dance Tents, trade stands and much more. Sponsors include Nitrox and Meguiar's and the event is to be televised.

If you are interested in appearing at the UK Modified Nationals then drop Mark a line at ukmodified@aol.com. You can find more details about the event on the very tidy official web site at www.modifiednationals.co.uk.

Touch base with Kirk sponsor.
1st May: In addition to the début of Andy Kirk's Rat Fink Super Modified on the track at the Easter Thunderball, the team's web site has undergone a complete rebuild recently and was launched yesterday. Touchbase UK Ltd, who are now team sponsors, have provided the web site and will be maintaining it over the coming seasons. The company specialises in Touchscreen and internet development. Touchbase Managing Director George Kinghorn has been involved with the team since its early days and is returning to crewing duties following a three-year break to concentrate on the business.

"It's great to be back in the sport with a team as professional as Kirk Motorsport", said George. "The car and everything else about the team is top notch and I hope that we can add to that by bringing innovative features and up-to-the-minute content to the team's website. I am really looking forward to crewing on the team this season and feel confident that we can become a serious force in the Super Modified class."
©Eurodragster.com
The new web site at www.kirkmotorsport.com contains all the usual features which you would expect including news, photo gallery and information about the team but also features innovative sections such as:
  • Multimedia Gallery: containing free downloads of wallpaper, screen savers and games for your PC, and downloadable videos not only of on-track action but also behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.
  • Competitions: the chance to win all sorts of goodies by entering the regular competitions.
  • Shopping Mall: enabling fans of the team to help contribute towards its running, a shopping section which lists sites which contribute income to the team every time items and services are purchased through the links on the teams site.
New features will be added to the site constantly and a subscription E-Mail service allows fans to keep up-to-date with very little effort.

"My guys at Touchbase are looking after the web site whilst we are focused on getting the car ready for the Excitement Nationals", adds George.

Thunderball anorak stuff.
1st May: Our good friend Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has surfaced from beneath a pile of used nappies to bring us what he likes to call the 'Anorak Stuff' from the Easter Thunderball timing data.

Track Clear/Tower Ready: 818
Pairs: 638
Single runs: 154
Bye runs: 26
Total vehicles entered into timing system computer: 1430

Finishes: 1338 (including 83 Junior Dragsters)
Quarter mile finishes: 1255

Average ET (not including JDs): 11.266
Average MPH (not including JDs): 125.32

Low ET: 5.474, Andy Carter (NB: This was probably Smax Smith with an estimated 5.1, a fault on the system meant that no official time was recorded on his last run)

Highest Terminal Speed: 283.36, Smax Smith

Closest Race (Eliminations):

Sportsman ET, Rick Denny v Mark Anderson (Win) .003 Seconds, 5.155 inches
Super Street, Conrad Stanley v Bob Lees (Win) 0.003 Seconds, 6.450 inches
Junior Dragster, Colin Morrice (DQ) v Holly Glassup (Win) 0.004 Seconds, 4.876 inches

Closest to dial-in: Jon Evans (Pro ET) +0.001
Best reaction time: Rick Denny (Sportsman ET) 0.500

Total run time (all cars reaching finish line including JDs): 4 hours 16 minutes 47.795 seconds

Runs under 5.5 seconds: Smax Smith x2 (includes estimated 5.1), Andy Carter x1
Runs under 6.0 seconds: Rob Turner x5, Dave Wilson x4, Smax Smith x3 (includes estimated 5.1), Andy Carter x1, Gordon Smith x1

Runs Over 250 mph: Dave Wilson x2, Smax Smith Runs over 200 mph: Tony Baker x6, Rob Turner x5, Dave Wilson x4, Smax Smith, Andy Carter, Steph Milam

"It's worth noting that since I started doing these stats the same names have been appearing", says Andy. "Conrad Stanley had the best Reaction Time at last year's Thunderball as well as being involved in the closest race, so I guess he likes this event! Jon Evans has previous form for the closest to dial-in at the 2002 FIA European Finals and best Reaction Time at the 2002 Main Event. Rick Denny has also appeared before with the best reaction time at the 2002 National Finals."

Andy also sent an interesting comparison of Eric Teboul's 6.174-second pass on Easter Monday with Brian Johnson's FIM Comp Bike record-holding 6.119 and a five-second pass by Top Methanol Dragster racer Rob Turner:

Brian JohnsonEric TeboulRob Turner
60ft1.0560.9771.01
330ft2.7322.6482.566
1/8 ET4.0273.8893.851
1/8 MPH191.36203.26189.32
1000ftN/A4.9824.95
1/4 ET6.1196.1745.951
1/4 MPH218.5181.05224.38

"Rob Turner's run has similar incrementals so that pass could have been a five", says Andy.

Andy has also updated his data sheet of European Bests, which you can view by clicking here.


Earlier news


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