Veidec Festival entry. 30th May: Many thanks to Tomas Pettersson of Svensk Dragracing for forwarding us the official invitations and entry forms for the Veidec Festival which takes place at Mantorp Park on 23rd-26th July. The forms are in Adobe PDF format: FIA classes invitation and entry form FIM/UEM classes invitation and entry form NDRS classes invitation and entry form ©Eurodragster.com Tomas adds that on-line entry is not currently available but that it should be organised within the next week or so. In the meantime forms can be mailed or faxed direct to Mantorp Park. The invitations and entry forms are also available at www.dragracing.se and www.motorevents.com. Gullquist blows a fuse. 30th May: Last weekend's FIA Main Event was a series of challenges for Swedish Pro Mof racer Micke Gullquist: In the first round of qualifying the tyres were almost instantly up in smoke, and in the second round the transmission failed on the start line. In the third qualifying round on Sunday morning everything worked fine until a piston went away at half track but we still ran a 6.17 to qualify in fourth spot. We then decided to fix things properly instead of rushing to make the last qualifying run. ©Eurodragster.com Our first run in eliminations against Graham Ellis produced another 6.17, now running in "safe mode". The second round was against Micke Lindahl and we had the set-up on "charge". Lindahl staged first and I was very focused in pre-stage. I raised the RPM a little, turned the stage bulb on, and floored it to let the two-step launch rev limiter take over. The problem was that a major fuse had failed and the two-step was dead, so when I floored it the car left before the tree was activated. I was surprised as anyone! It was a great race weekend anyway and there were lots of good runs from several racers. I was sorry see Robert Joosten's crash, but Robert was OK and the car did not look too badly damaged. I hope they will be back sometime soon. Congratulations to Andy Robinson and his team who won the race with consistent record-setting performance throughout the weekend, and to all the other guys who ran very well. Heezen, no longer the lightbulb. 30th May: FIA Main Event Supertwin runner-up Job Heezen says that he had an excellent weekend at Santa Pod: For the first time in five events we had the conditions we all like, dry and sunny weather. At this race we made seven runs in total, as many as in the last four events put together. The sun was so good to us that even my bald head has bronzed and stopped shining like a lightbulb. From the first qualifying run on, the bike ran very strong, it might have looked different from the grandstands but we had a luxurious problem: we overpowered the track and went up in smoke. Finding traction all the way down the track was the main concern during the weekend. Although having a luxurious problem sounds good, it still is a real problem to fix especially if it comes with strong fishtailing. Before eliminations we checked all the usual suspects but no clear answer could be found. To make sure that we had tried everything we changed the rear tyre and finished the bike at three o'clock in the morning. The first round of eliminations showed that we had done the right thing. The bike drifted big time towards the guardrail as a new tyre needs some time to break in but the fishtailing was gone. Even though the run was far from perfect, we managed to run 6.83/205. With a bit of luck I might have won the race. In the final against Lorenz Stäuble everything went A-OK until I lost traction at approximately 600 feet. With the loss of traction the load on the bike went too, which made the engine go rich and drop a cylinder. I tried to bring it back but it came too late as Lo was on a mission on this run and passed at a good speed. But what the heck, that's racing, we'll be back and try it again. With three runs into the 6.8s and 200+ mph we have nothing to complain about. I set new PBs three times over, got to the final and collected a nice amount of UEM points. What more can a man want? ©Eurodragster.com Over the winter we mainly worked on parts of the bike that kept us from finishing races, almost all related to the valve train components such as cams, rocker arms and pushrods. Both Zodiac International and Goedhals have worked hard to make stronger parts and with seven runs under our belts it does not show any sign of fatigue. I know that you can't be careful enough but it seems that these problems are solved now. Besides a few minor things like a leaking fuel pump, the bike ran as consistently as an index bike during the weekend. Besides the great support from my team, Eveline and Hartger, this time I got help from an experienced Top Fuel guy, Maxim Spaans, who helped us a lot to perform well this race. Hopefully he will support us in Finland again. And of course we could tap in again to the truckload of experience of the trio of Ton, Vincent and Roel, many thanks! Special thanks to my sponsors Zodiac International, Supertrapp Exhausts, Spectro Oils of America and Accel Motorcycle Products. Cannon fires first shots. 30th May: Fellow Supertwin racer the UK's Chris Hannam says that the good weather was just the start of a good weekend at the FIA Main Event: After our primary gear faliure at Easter I had to get busy in the wrokshop designing a stronger drive system as we did not want a repeat problem. I went through hours of thought and came up with a great solution which I have to say I am very prond of, however getting it made was different deal as we had a hectic month in the shop in April and machining my bike parts came second to customers so you could say I was panicking! Anyway at the eleventh hour I got it done and shipped down to Neil Midgley to reassemble and tell me it all fit, which it did so I was pleased. We loaded up and set off for the Pod on Thursday albeit late due to Neil's road beig dug up by the water board. We arrived at the track about 2:00 pm, got it all out and set up as all the team had made it; we did have one limping due a football injury but Al 'Prawn Cocktail' Smith was as eager. Between them they decided I would make a pass if we could sign on. At this point I would like to thank Darren Prentice and the Santa Pod crew for letting us sign on at 4:00 pm and make a pass which really was my first of the year. It had to be a half pass to check the motor and the repair to the primary as Neil didn't want to waste a qualifier. It went great, the team was awesome and I was like Laid Back Larry (no nerves). We ran our best eighth of 4.81/159 and all was mint with no leak down, and the crank repair was good. We were all pleased and got the bike serviced and went out to dinner. On Friday we got the bike ready and made some adjustments to the clutch for first round on Saturday which seemed to creep up rather quick. As we got to the line the nerves did creep in as this was my first round in competion and I made a lousy attempt as I rushed and went to the wall, got back on it and broke the drive belt and ran 8.3 for #2 qualifier. I was disgusted with myself and apologised to the team as it is their hard work which gets this bike on the track, not mine. We did a little better next round but I knew we were miles off what we could do. Sunday morning after a 1:00 finish trying to solve our clutch cannon issues the bike was all good to go we fired up to warm and check the motor and oil peed every where. The new modded crank seal had rotted with nitro so we had to change it and miss the first round. I was gutted but hey the team just got it turned round for the fourth qualifier and boy did we improve, 7.332/189 and I clicked a little early I'm sure but I was hauling in the second eighth, 2.6 seconds which is six-second pace. I knew it was fast but in the first eighth it was feeling like nothing was happening as the clutch was just slipping. The problem was that the clutch cannon bleed off valve was not working on the timer: it worked in the pits but wouldn't release on the run hence no drive and clutch slip. We checked the bike and had leakdown on the front cylinder as I'd shut off too early going faster. We were looking at the front head off, at this point over walked my longtime friend Roel Koedam to see how we were going and he promptly told us to re-fire the bike to re-seat the valves which we did and bingo! Better than before so thanks for that Roel you're a star! So we were in at number seven and we'd made the show so my first goal was achieved. ©Eurodragster.com However my second goal of winning a round was going to be harder as we had the super consitent Hans Olav Olstad who I have to say is a really nice guy. In fact all of the Supertwin guys are top notch and great to get on with. So we fired up and got to the line, I cut my best light but with my dodgy clutch it was still too slow and Hans Olav was gone to his best run of the weekend, a 6.77, while we ran our best to eighth mile 4.64/161 knocking one and a half tenths off our best. Now we know which way to go and a new timer is being desgined by Midgo and Al Smith for our next test. I should say our best run was aborted due to operator error and not lining up straight but I'll get there as we still only have about ten passes on the bike. As a team we have reluctanly decided to pull out of the Summernationals as I want to fit my new front wheel and brakes. This was another small issue we had, warping the front discs, and stopping from 200 mph doesn't fill me with confidence on bad brake. This had to be changed as we are getting quicker, this coupled with the clutch cannon and timer was just a bridge too far to make and we will be out testing before the European Finals to lay down some numbers which will hopefully start with the magic six. I'd like to thank Dicko and the HA for sponsoring the Summernationals and can only apologise for not making the field as I know only too well how hard it is to get sponsors these days. I hope the event goes well. Lastly I'd like to thank my hard-working crew of Midgo, Al Smith and Mike Vickers for making the bike work and making the whole thing happen as without them this would most definitely not happen. Also thanks to Puma Engineering's Gerrard Willemse for the parts and tuning advice and last but not least all the Santa Pod track staff and commentary team for an outstanding performance over a long and hot weekend. Roll on the next one. Turbo v the bad Supertwins. 30th May: Ian Turburville's Mr Spokehead Supertwin had been repaired and readied just in time for the FIA Main Event but Turbo says that the team were slightly apprehensive about their tune-up against eleven of the baddest Supertwins in Europe: It turned out to be an incredibly intense four days of top class racing, in glorious sunshine, with all classes hard fought all the way to the finals. We had big problems on start-up in the pits with a number of little problems compounding to make one big one. They necessited three complete rebuilds of the motor over the event so sleep didn't feature much in our itinerary! Faulty oil control rings, sticking fuel valves, too aggressive settings etc. So we decided to put it all back to a safe setting from last year and at least get one clean run and qualify. This turned out to be the smart move as it did a nice, lazy 7.9 which went a bit rich at half track and fell out of the sky, but still beat a wall-hugging Lorenz Stäuble. Things were looking promising! We were in at number seven, perfect! The rest of the field were having similar problems finding a base with new bikes and new set-ups. Roel Koedam banged his motor, Tommy Möller banged his, and then it was my turn. I had upped the tune to get with the pack and launched well against Matti, getting a big hole-shot, but it proved too much and the repair to the rear head let go again with an even bigger bang and a another flash. It was another long night as Al 'Prawn Cocktail' Smith repaired the damage with Karsten and Per Andersen's help, then Paul came back to his workshop on a holiday Sunday and machined it all for us. We were all buttoned-up for 1:00 am, hooray! Monday was eliminations day, and although we had been bumped to number nine that meant we were first alternate, and I know how temperamental these bikes can be, so I was going to be ready! Before we started the bike I decided to double check by turning it over by hand and immediately found a new problem, the motor locked up! A quick bit of diagnostic reasoning told me that the valve was hitting a piston, but why? I quickly stripped the cam-chest to check the timing and it was all good but then noticed that some cam bearings had collapsed. Damn, that was it, forty minutes to go, game over. I ran next door and told Tommy he had better suit up quick as he was next alternate and went down to the line with him. He never thought he would get to run but I told him to be ready. A nerve-wracking wait ensued. The first couple was Per Bengtsson against Martijn De Haas and guess what, Matijn's bike would not fire! I shouted to Tommy "Go!". Per did his burnout and then his clutch broke which banged his blower, he was now dead in the water! Tommy could not believe his luck: not only back in the show, but with a bye! My crew just shook their heads in total disbelief. "That should have been us", unbelievable. Tommy launched and gave it his best shot but blew his rear head a second time just exactly as we had done, what a shame. On reflection it might have been wise to just stage for the win but when the adrenaline is flowing that hard and the crowd is that big, well, you just have to put on a show. The rest of the eliminations were very exciting and the final was breathtaking. Job Heezen's 'lucky boots' kept him out in front of Lorenz to about half track when all of a sudden the tell-tale plume of fuel from one pipe showed the loss of one cylinder and Lorenz screamed pass for a well deserved win in the six-second zone at over 200mph. I watched it from half track with mixed emotions and was nearly blown off my feet, fantastic! I never realised that was what we looked like to the spectators, blimey! No wonder they all look at me as if I were mad! I would like to thank my crew of Joe, Nat, Pete, Tim, Martin and Ingrid, who all went well above the call of duty last weekend. Congratulations to our young Junior Dragster star, Rhiannon Bellenie, who gave it her best shot in eliminations, well done! Thanks to all the other racers who helped out all weekend and to Paul and Sue for giving up their day off to help Tommy and I. Santa Pod Raceway can at last breathe a bit easier and we hope the rest of the year is as successful as this for them. Congratulations also to Ian King and Ulf Ogge on their wins, both great performances. The great picture of my scorcher was taken by spectator Anthony Onions who has a great gallery of shots at www.car13.net. Superheroes of the blacktop: Custom Chrome Europe, Gates Belts, Red Line Oil, Tim Fountain, the Chesworths, Innovate Dataloggers, Sprint Dampers, EGT, Arias Pistons, Slidercovers.com, Curbishley Automotive, Rush Racing UK, Fast Lane Racing, King Racing, Northants Nitro, and RST Wheels. ©Eurodragster.com Tales of the flying Shogun. 30th May: If you read the driver's manual for the Mitsubishi Shogun you will unsurprisingly find no mention of a maximum recommended speed. However, following a number of lively runs at the FIA Main Event, Team Drag Race Engineering are sure the answer is 142 mph writes Dave Catton who co-drives the car with Gary Springford: At 142 mph aerodynamic effects - yes I know aerodynamic and Shogun don't normally go together - acting around the car cause the rear to lift which in turn makes the back wheels lose traction. At best this would slow the car down, but in the real world one tyre loses grip before the other and the car steers itself from the back. ©Eurodragster.com Close to the the finish line I heard the rev limiter operate, which is unusual, and in the next instant I was looking at the wall! In Pro ET trim Hulk Shogun is untroubled by this effect, but in order to continue in Super Comp we need to download the rear with a wing to race safely and to continue development of the first eight-second Shogun. Hopefully a suitable wing can be installed for the Summernationals but there is much to consider before work can start such as size, height, angle of incidence, mounting points and so on. But at least we now know what the issues are. All the moves cure the Trip. 30th May: The UK's Team Risky Trip moved up from Super Gas to Super Comp at the FIA Main Event with Personal Bests both for sixty feet and ET, but driver Matt Eley says that it it didn't come without its problems: ©Eurodragster.com Friday qualifying went without any hiccups but then on Saturday evening the problems started. The team worked until midnight on Saturday trying to source the problem unfortunately we were unable to fire the car up that night to see if we had cured it. However the problem would never had been resolved without the crucial help of Matt Atkinson - who learnt from the best, his old man - who had already come over earlier to crack some moves in the Fuelers bar (good ole Essex boy) but never quite made it. All in his best dress Matt rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in just like any true drag racer, and with one emergency phone call we then had the help of both Matt and John Atkinson, who was just there as purely a spectator for the day. John couldn't help getting his hands dirty and found the problem straight away. So on that note the team would like to sincerely thank Matt and John for all their help, and also to thank all the other racers who kept us on the track at the weekend - you know who you are. Roll on the Summernationals. Brittin first-foots. 30th May: The UK's Jem Brittin made his first competitive Super Street outing in his very pretty Camaro at the FIA Main Event and had a whale of a time. Although we went out in the first round because I pulled a big cherry, we did manage to get the car running very close to the index during qualifying. Unfortunately I was just the wrong side with a 10.89 and a 10.86. The best we could manage above the 10.90 index was 10.99 which put us at the bottom of the pile. This class is super competitive and the car is not far off the pace - it's just me who needs sorting out now! ©Eurodragster.com I would like to say a big Thank You to all the guys and girls in the Super Street class for giving us a very warm welcome and being very supportive, not least Nick Griffin and team Precious Metal for their help on the start line etc and Mark Watkins of Team Forge Motorsport. It was nice to catch up with Mark again as we were racing together back in the early nineties. I would also like to congratulate all at Santa Pod for pulling off a blinding meeting and I am so glad the weather came good for everyone. I was doing double duties on Sunday and Monday, my normal start line security job for the Pro classes in between racing the car, and witnessed how hard the track marshals worked to keep things on schedule with oildowns, crashes etc during the heat. Hats off to them all, they did a great job! UK Spring Nationals review. 30th May: Richard Smith has been in touch with a race report from last weekend's UK Spring Nationals at York Raceway: First thing on Sunday morning it was decided that the rained off UK Open Nationals eliminations from 4th May would be completed, after a little RWYB time so tht competitors could dial in their cars. The first American Super Stock final of the year came down to Lee Chiles' modern Charger and dad George in his classic Satellite but George left a red light on the Tree and handed an easy victory to Lee. The Shogun, Pel Norman, took the first win in Pro ET, while Des Taylor took round one of Sportsman ET. New to the PDRC championship this year, Derek Beck raced to the win in the first round of the heads up HR Challenge. Air Cooled Eliminator completed their second round with Craig Perry coming out on top. The computer was then rebooted and the UK Spring Nationals began in the blazing sunshine! All classes were qualifying on the Sunday but American Super Stock and the returning National Street Car Challenge were running an elimination round. Scott Billadeau topped the qualifying list of thirty one cars for Round 2 of A/SS but got no further than the first round of eliminations. In the final, the bright yellow Charger of Martin Hough stayed ahead of Dan Houlston's Camaro to take his first win in competition. Andy Hadfield's mental Model T cruised to victory in NSCC with 9.8 at 141mph. On Monday the weather was forecast to close in late afternoon, so qualifying was pushed through quickly. American Super Stock hit the magic thirty two car field mark with Cheryl Swift posting the number one qualifying time for Round 3. Dan Houlston reached the final yet again but this time faced Ashley Rawson. It wasn't to be for Dan again, his 11.35 on 11.30 dial-in not enough to beat Ashley's 12.73 on a 12.70. Des Taylor was on double duty running both Sportsman and Pro ET and despite blowing the core plug out the block mid eliminations he went on to the final in both. Al Platt faced him in Sportsman but his 13.88 on a 13.78 lost out to Des's 12.26 on a 12.20. After being towed back round, very slowly, Des took the waterless Coupe out against Pel Norman in the Pro ET final. Des got a huge holeshot off the line ensuring Pel's 10.46 on a 10.44 dial-in still wasn't good enough against his 12.26 on a 11.99. The second round of the Hot Rod Challenge saw the debut of Adam Cuthbert's Jago Jeep with new supercharged Chevy power. Slowly building confidence with the new beast he managed to get to the final against Chris Round's Chevy powered Pop. Adam took the win with a 10.75/126 beating Chris's 11.64/114mph. Air Cooled were running their third round of the year and the twenty one second Beetle of Richard Johnson was, literally, the one to catch. Everyone failed up until the final round when Steve 'Haircut' Purdon caught him at the line with a 14.40 on a 13.94 dial-in against Richard's 21.88 on a 21.3. NSCC was won once again by Andy Hadfield's T. Special mention must go to Julian Webb and his Split Second Jet Dragster, keeping the afterburner firing for most of the quarter and posting a pair of awesome 6.9-second runs! The next event at York is on the 4th and 5th of July with the Ultimate Road Car Challenge and the Northern Sportsman Nationals. Richard's photos from the UK Spring Nationals can be found at richardsmith.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com FIA Main Event coverage stats. 30th May: Eurodragster.com's American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage of the FIA Main Event again attracted a large number of visitors, page views and hits: Unique visitors: Four race days: 49,267 Total of race and test days: 96,418 Page views Four race days: 1,353,637 Total of race and test days: 1,808,969 Hits: Four race days: 5,646,071 Total of race and test days: 8,878,528 Views of Webster Race Engineering/Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 webcam: Four race days: 533,429 Total of race and test days: 645,694 ©Eurodragster.com As you can imagine these numbers plus all of the positive feedback we have received make all of the hard work worthwhile. Tog, Simon, Roger, Kirstie and Ed would like to say a huge Thank You to our sponsors American Car Imports, Webster Race Engineering and Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 for their support, to the racers for giving us so much to write about and for taking care of us in all sorts of ways, to all the SPRC, FIA, FIM/UEM, MSA and ACU Race Officials and Santa Pod Raceway staff who gave us the facilities and no end of help, to Syd McDonald and Yvonne Tramm for feeding us and thus stopping us from fading away, and to all of Eurodragster.com's readers for continuing to come back in such large numbers. We couldn't do it without you guys. Happy Anniversary! 30th May: Congratulations to UK B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Colin lazenby and his wife Ann-Marie whose Wedding Anniversary it is today. "Bradley's twelve years old in December so I deduce that we must have been married thirteen, maybe fourteen years", says Colin Laznby. "I have to say it's been sheer bliss, like heaven I guess, I know I must be a nightmare to live with; dry, sarcastic, often insensitive but naturally a great lover - oh, and I'm humble too. ©Eurodragster.com "Now, we've owned the '56 for fifteen years this year and without Ann-Marie's support...OK then, permission we wouldn't have done half the things we have with the old girl, and we've still a great deal of unfinished business yet to achieve. So here's to another thirteen or fourteen years and on and on...(raises virtual glass)... "Eldest boy Joe with Becky and daughter Charlotte with Grandson Luke are up with us for the duration of the weekend. Luke is three years old on Monday so we'll be having a celebratory family weekend bathed in the glorious Scottish sunshine. Congratulations and all my love to Ann-Marie for our anniversary, and of course a happy third birthday to grandson Luke." Papadeas on-line. 30th May: The name Dean Papadeas is synonymous with quality and spectacular drag racing and motorsport footage; his was the forerunner of the current method of drag racing coverage. Dean’s many Main Event Entertainment videos have been collector's items over the years but now with the launch of the Main Event Entertainment web site at www.actionmotorsportsvideos.com you can view clips and purchase complete titles to download and keep. All download shows average between forty and sixty minutes of outrageously high-octane and nitro-powered sequences featuring both daylight and night races, crashes and spectacular racing images. The web site features: Free previews of all forty eight shows Ten exciting motorsports categories Full, high-quality 40-60 minute episodes at only $2.99 per download Outstanding critical reviews. Buckle up, let your eyes sting with nitro and get your ears blasted at the exhilarating, energised and relentless Actionmotorsportsvideos.com. Experience the thrill...and thanks for logging on. ©Eurodragster.com Event entry update. 29th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here. Entry is still open but is now subject to a late entry fee; you can download the entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. ©Eurodragster.com Super Modified and National Association of Supertwins racers please note that there is one week left to enter the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday-Sunday 27th-28th June and which is a Championship round for Super Modified, Supertwin Fuel, Supertwin Gas and Supertwin ET. Entry closes next Friday, 5th June, and again you can download the entry form from the SPRC web site as above. Friday 5th June is also the official closing date for the HKS Series round at the Jap Show which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 21st June. Again you can download the entry form from the SPRC web site as above. Hanna's busy introduction. 29th May: US Top Alcohol Dragster tuner Will Hanna says that he had a blast at the FIA Main Event. Will tuned Frøya's Fred Hanssen from his first observed run right into the 5.4s and to a new European speed record but he says that it was a busy week. "It was a lot of work because I didn't really get my hands on the car until I got to the track", says Will. "There is a lot of prep and organisation which goes into preparing for a season which we were unable to really get 100% just showing up at the track. But the track was as good as any I've raced at in the States, including tracks like Vegas and Chicago. I just didn't have the balls to get after it early enough, or we could have run better numbers. I’m really looking forward to Finland. ©Eurodragster.com "On another note, not just on behalf of Fred and the Islanders but the whole Top Methanol Dragster class I hope that the powers-that-be determine quickly what overdrive rules the FIA are going to have in place for Finland and the remainder of the season. When the FIA arrived Wednesday, we got a tech bulletin stating that they were limiting the Whipples to 1.70 over and allowing the PSIs to step up to 2.25 over. Same as TMFC, and very close to the NHRA regulations of 2.28 over for PSI. "The racers need as much heads up as possible to make necessary changes and purchases for not only pulleys but rods, pistons, gear ratios, fuel system changes etc. I don't have a problem running whatever they want us to run, just give us enough heads up so that we can prepare properly. It's kind of hard on the racer to get a tech bulletin when he shows up at the track. Not to mention those pulleys are a bit too expensive just to buy and have sit in the trailer unused." Swift snippets. 29th May: Dutch Pro Mod racer David Vegter is urgently seeking a twelve stand 11" AFT flywheel with ring gear. If you can help then please get in touch with David at vegter3@hotmail.com. Congratulations to UK Pro ET racer Mark Bailey who was presented with £100 cash, Hauser Race Cars vouceher and a trophy for #1 qualifying spot by Pro ET event sponsor Neil Hunter of Spirrac Ltd. Mark also took the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award including £25 donation from Syd McDonald for a perfect run, and he also took the event win so it was pretty much a clean sweep. Thanks to Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme sponsors Motorshack, Toxico, Brize Norton Hot Rod and American Specialist, Real Steel, LA Racing Parts, Performance Unlimited, Cometic Gasket, Total Seal Rings, Engine Data Analysis, Hauser Race Cars, A1 Motor Stores and Inkwell Printing. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Topeka with his injected-nitro dragster. The event starts today and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. ©Eurodragster.com Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith is also in action this weekend, racing the Leverich family's Top Fueller at the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals in Dallas. "We've made a ton of changes and turned this car around a lot, and we are 100% sure we're going to run the car's first four!", says Aidan Heatley Smith. Again you will be able to stay in touch with Smax's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. Generating some coverage for UK drag racing in the mainstream media was the legendary Harold Bull whose return to Santa Pod Raceway for the Crazy Horses launch was the subject of an article in the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, which you can check out at www.northantset.co.uk. Classic weekend at SPR. 29th May: If you fancy a day at the drag strip in warm sunshine then Santa Pod Raceway are hosting a Run What You Brung tomorrow (Saturday). Entrance is £10 and a further £25 and the production of a valid DVLC licence buys you as many runs as you can make down the track. For more details check out www.rwyb.com. ©Eurodragster.com On Sunday Santa Pod Raceway hosts the Classic Ford Show, and B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Wilf Stacey will be making demonstration passes in his Gone Krazy Ford Zephyr at the event. "Although unable to compete in the Street Eliminator series due to our imminent relocation, we are delighted to have been asked to attend this event and we wanted to represent the class in this way", says Wilf. "I have also been asked to display my almost concours Anglia van as a static-only display on the Classic stand for the Ford Anglia 50th anniversary. Oh how I wish we had a stacker trailer. If you are coming to the Classic Ford Show then please come and say Hi". You can find out more at www.classicfordshow.co.uk. Web site updates. 29th May: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog, UK Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn relates the story of his DNQ at the FIA Main Event. As ever you can check out the latest Blog update by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our good buddy Markus Münch has updated his Smugmug gallery with shots from the FIA Main Event. You can check out Markus' pictures at dragstripper.smugmug.com. ©Eurodragster.com Editor's note: Your News Editor's day job is getting in the way again so we have a small backlog of news for the next update. Tune back for FIA Main Event reviews, reasonably priced US drag racing video downloads and more, and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. We have lift-off! 28th May: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in association with US Automotive along with Santa Pod Raceway, Trakbak Racing CEO Keith Bartlett, and Haynes Publishing were proud to host the launch of Brian Taylor's book Crazy Horses at the FIA Main Event. The list of drag racing pioneers was a Who's Who of British Drag Racing. Top row, from left to right in the below picture (click for large version) Bob Keith, Tony Beadle, Alf Hagon, Gerry Belton, Alan Allard, Dave Lee Travis, Sylvia Hauser, Brian Taylor, Phil Pead, John Bennett. Bottom row left to right Russ Carpenter, Peter Crane, Barry Sheavills, Harold Bull, Brian Johnson, Dave Riswick, John Price, Keith Bartlett, Roz Prior, Dennis Priddle, Stu Bradbury, John Hobbs, Mick Butler, Owen Hayward (behind) Ian Messenger, Gerry Andrews, Dave Stone, Derek Chinn. "It was absolutely fabulous to have these guys and girls all in one place at the same time", said BDRHoF Chair Stu Bradbury. "I think the crowning glory was Dave Lee Travis presenting John Bennett with his Hall of Fame trophy on the start line. John Bennett was the man who gave us Santa Pod Raceway and his involvement goes back to 1962. In 1965 Sydney Allard, who at that time had been organising the early meetings in the UK, became ill. John Bennett agreed to take over the sport from Sydney and drive it forward. In 1966 along with Bob Phelps he found a disused airfield in Bedfordshire, and called it Santa Pod Raceway. The rest is history." Author Brian Taylor tells us that Crazy Horses is now the best-selling motorsport book on Amazon. "In Britain, the home of Formula One!", says Brian. "That’s one for potential sponsors." ©Eurodragster.com Being amongst Funny Cars was just too much temptation for UK legend Dennis Priddle who accepted an invitation from FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champions and Eurodragster.com sponsors the Leanders Brothers to sit in their five-second TMFC for a warm-up (above, click on picture for large version). "Dennis first got me into the sport in 1973, seeing Mr Six run at the Brighton Speed Trials", says Paul Whitehouse. "I happened to be walking past the pit as Dennis was taking his seat. Let's hope that the next time this happens, it will be in the seat of the restored Mr Six!" Bengtsson out, to stud. 28th May: Finally we got the right conditions with splendid weather and a good race track when the FIA Main Event winners were decided during the weekend. Unfortunately Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson and the Beast were not among those lucky winners at Monday's prize ceremony but they showed their competitors that they are serious contenders for the Championship: After some struggling in the pits we started qualifying with a 7.30 which may not sound a success but that run gave us a lot of answers and a baseline to start with. Next round produced a 6.68 second run and the bike was really strong after Per shifted to second gear. That run was good enough for the first qualifying spot. ©Eurodragster.com The computer showed that there is very good potential in our new combination and the main task in the coming races will be to tune the bike to be easier to handle for the rider. It's just a little too aggressive at the moment. As always qualifaying and eliminations are two totally different things. As we went out for the first round against Martijn de Haas a stud in the clutch broke just as we started the burnout which caused the engine RPMs to go down. The result was a blown burst panel and the end of the weekend. To say that the situation was very frustrating is no understatement. "This is something you just cannot predict", said Per. "We put a brand new clutch in the bike before eliminations and this was the first time we ever broke that particular stud. That's racing. I will make new studs in a different material. You always learn new things but sometimes they appear at the worst moments. We look forward to the next round in Finland where we will do our best to develop our performance even further. I would like to thank my sponsors for their support for this year's Championship: Swedcut, Quaker State, Autoexperten Växjö, Ulvsgården AB, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Gates/Lönne, Flexoart and Bentec Engineering." FIA Main Event FIM/UEM review. 28th May: The FIA Main Event was a weekend full of sun and good racing, writes FIM/UEM European DRag Bike Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson: I arrived at Santa Pod on Thursday and did the track inspection. At the same time there was a Test Day on the track. I found the track in good shape and in nice weather. After this the weather and the track just became better. It was nice to see the new garage for technical inspection and also to see that the medical centre was now back in order after last year's firer. I must say that the facilities are getting better every year After the two qualifying days and two rounds each day without any problem, there was a new record in Pro Stock. Ulf Ögge was number one qualifier and also set the new record of 7.161. Due to the fact that only five bikes turned up was it a ladder of five. Not the best ladder we could have but everyone got the chance to race. I am sorry that not more riders turned up and I hope very much that it will be better at the next race in Finland. We can easily make a sixteen-bike ladder of all the bikes we have in Europe and then only five turm up. Maybe this is a sign of the economic situation in the world and not so many want to race. After the first round Ulf Ögge was in the semi against Fredrik Fredlund and Ögge won over last year's Championship winner. Len Paget had a bye run to the final. So it was Ulf Ögge against Len Paget in the final and it was Ulf who returned to the pits with the victory. Then a little story about Top Fuel Bike. One of the biggest questions was whether Peter Svensson was able to set a new record and he had a good try. In the first qualifying run the time was 6.22 and that was the quickest of the weekend. After that he broke the chain and damaged the engine. They managed to repair and were ready for the first round, which Peter won. But some leakage in a valve forced them to remove the cylinder head and then Rene van den Berg was in pre-stage when they arrived in the starting area missing the race by one minute or less. Now it was a solo run for Rene and his ever first final. He was up in the final against Ian King who won over Steve Woollatt in the semi. But after the burnout Rene's bike stopped and Ian had a solo run in the final. There were a lot of Top Fuel Bikes in this event and we have more coming out soon here in Europe. ©Eurodragster.com In Supertwin we had twelve riders, a lot of new bikes and some new riders. Martijn de Haas was back in racing with a new bike very different from his old Funny Bike. We also saw Roman Sixtra from the Czech Republic on a new bike; we also had new bikes from Norway. Svein Olaf Rolfstad had built a new bike and it looks very good. The old bike is now taken over by some of his friends and Matti Vähäsaari will ride it. Matti had a small problem in the first round which stopped him - the steering damper decided to fall in pieces and leave a small amount of oil on the track. Tommy Möller had the best luck. After some problems in qualifying he was number eleven. Tommy had some bad luck in qualifying and some misunderstandings in the starting area. But Ian Turburville and Roel Koedam were also broken so Tommy stood ready as first alternate. And then Martijn de Haas' bike refused to start so it was Tommys turn instead. And then a small bolt refused to work on Per Bengtsson's bike so it stopped and Tommy had a solo run instead. But a flame come frome the engine and so the weekend was over for Tommy. This put Lorenz up in the final against Job Heezen who defeated Hans Olav Olstad in the semi. This was a short report from the first event. The text this year is not a copy from last year - this time we had wonderful weather and nice racing. I must also mention that on Saturday Ted Bartlett was here and looked at the race. In the evening some information regarding Hungary was given out by Keith Bartlett and also by Joseph and Judy from the club in Hungary who were here at Santa Pod looking at the race. Together with Keith Bartlett they made a presentation of the race in Hungary. Many of the racers are very interested in this event. The next event is at Alastaro in Finland. I hope that we will have a nice race in the land of thousand lakes and that many more bikes turn up in Pro Stock this time. JDB Round 2 report. 28th May: Round 2 of the 2009 Insane Motorcycles Junior Drag Bike Championship took place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 16th-17th May, writes Sharron Collier: We were severely limited to qualifying runs due to the bad weather, and we only managed to get one on Saturday and one on Sunday after which the heavens opened and no more qualifying was possible, with all our eliminations completely rained out. Points have been awarded after qualifying only. The qualifying was Brett first, then Jorden, Scott, Giselle and Luke. The usual 25 points for closest to dial-in went to Brett Cordelle, and the 25 points for best RT went to Scott Collier. So the Championship stands like this after two rounds: 1. Brett Cordelle 505 2. Jorden Bissell 480 3. Scott Collier 455 4. Luke Argyle 220 =5. Joe Dear 120 =5. Giselle Moor 120 The next round of the Insane Motorcycles Junior Drag Bike Championship will be at Shakespeare County Raceway on 11th-12th July, hopefully with another two riders joining the ranks. Our thanks as always to Julie, Jerry and all the crew at Shakey for their support of this fabulous and expanding class, and to Nick Argyle of Insane Motorcycles for his sponsorship of the Championship. Insane Motorcycles specialise in custom frames and one-off designs and can be reached on 01386 41164. For information on Junior Drag Bike Racing please contact us on 01246 570304 or look at www.juniordragbike.co.uk, our newly-made site by Wizzard Technical Designs, which will be fully functional shortly. ©Eurodragster.com Yanks Weekend beckons. 28th May: After the opening heat of the popular MMA Muscle Car Power Tour series earlier this month, the action moves on to Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend for Heat Two at the Warwickshire drag strip's dedicated American car weekend, Yanks incorporating the NASC's Gary's Picnic. If you haven't heard of the series before - and if not why not! - then organiser Tim Holmes can tell you what the Muscle Car Power Tour series: This is a series bringing together all three drag strips in the UK (Shakespeare County, York Raceway and Santa Pod) in a series of RWYB heats consisting of two runs per entrant. After the two runs have been completed their combined times are collated. There are four heats throughout the year, so eight runs will be timed, and the winner will be the car with the most consistent times over the series but not necessarily the quickest! Any American rear-wheel drive car can enter. The only restriction is that you must run a 10.5 inch rear tyre. The overall winner will receive a set of slick tyres from series sponsors Wisbech American Speed and Performance, the runner-up £100 and third place £50. Joining the series is free. All you need to do is to complete a simple registration form at www.moparnats.co.uk and send it to timholmes426@hotmail.co.uk or call 0773 890 2745. Or you can enter at the weekend. The first heat of the series was held at Santa Pod's Wheels USA weekend where the overall heat winner was Laurie Bamford with an average time of 9.857 seconds from his small block Chevy powered Nova. Defending title holder Andrew Murton came in second with an average time of 10.529 from his street racing '68 Chevy Camaro, and third was Roger Luty's 442 Olds Cutlass at 10.671. Who will be this weekend's winner? Find out at Yanks. ©Eurodragster.com Round two of the UK's Supercharged Outlaws Championship takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Yanks Weekend incorporating Gary's Picnic this coming weekend, but it does not seem like five minutes since last season ended, says Dave McKenzie: The Supercharged Outlaws will be fielding at least ten cars at this event including the debut of the Bill Felstead/Jon Best Fuel Altered. Bill Felstead is also sponsoring this event to the tune of £100 to the winner plus the Fester Race Cars Trophy. There are two more cars making their début with the Outlaws this weekend. One is Andy Hadfield's very quick Model T - this car is running down to 8.9s at 150+ mph and is on petrol. The third début car is the well-respected altered of Clayton and Chris Round who are running with the Outlaws to get some more track time, and we are all looking forward to seeing Clayton alongside Lee Gallimore. This will make a great photo opportunity to capture both the red Model T altereds on the track at the same time. The fourth début car is the long-awaited return to the strip for Clive Bush. Clive has built a new altered and is finishing off the last few jobs as I write. Clive has entered and hopefully should make the show this weekend. After the first round at Santa Pod the points leader is Roy Wilding, defending his series win from last year. Roy has spent time over the last two weeks freshening up the motor of the Hemi Hunter slingshot ready for this weekend. Second in the points this year is the newly imported slingshot of Vic Hammond driven by the very capable Sam Freeman, and at Santa Pod Sam drove the car to a personal best of 7.711 seconds at 163 mph. This is quicker than the car ran in the USA so well done guys. When the team arrived home they found they had cracked a rod on that run and a new set of rods were quickly sourced and the car should be ready to roll come this weekend. Third in the points is Lee Gallimore with the well turned out Red Mist altered. Lee has a six second tune ready for the car and if the track and weather are with us this could be the weekend that Lee hits the sixes...alongside Clayton would be even better! Fourth place in this years points is Steve Goode with the awesome Wobble. Steve is learning all the time with this combination and ran a very early shut-off 8.3 at Santa Pod a couple of weeks ago. Steve wants the car into the sevens this weekend. Number five in the points is Paul Watts with the No Easy Pick Up. Paul has had a terrible run of luck and this weekend he hopes his luck will change and it will all come together. Paul travels up from the Isle of Wight for every meeting, and if determination won events Paul would win every time Also first time out this year with the Outlaws will be Richard Davis with his immaculate '41 Willys and Ian Hanson with the well turned out Corvette. Last but not least Mark Needham will be out with his mean black altered with his wild burnouts and even wilder runs! The Supercharged Outlaws always try to put on a good show and this event will be no exception - so get down to the Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. Swift snippets. 28th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here. Entry is still open but is now subject to a late entry fee; you can download the entry form from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. ©Eurodragster.com Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Topeka with his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying starts tomorrow and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. Congratulations to Andy MacMillan of Stockton on Tees who won the copy of Crazy Horses on offer in our latest contest. Andy correctly predicted that Andy Robinson would win Pro Modified at the FIA Main Event. Many thanks to author Brian Taylor for putting up and autographing the copy of the book. Our next contest launches next Monday and is exclusively for our younger readers - stay tuned. A Fadster double. 28th May: The National Street Car Challenge was at York Raceway last weekend for a double header of Rounds 5 and 6 and what a weekend it was, writes Andy Fadster: The weather, although promised good, turned out to be a real scorcher. Eight cars turned up to race for the start of proceedings on Sunday with ten cars for the Monday. Two sessions of qualifying on the Sunday saw some really amazing times and although the sixty foot times were down, this is only to be expected. The track marshals and crew were, as usual, really helpful and friendly and organised things brilliantly providing two days of well-organised racing. I wasn't sure how well my T would perform, traction being the Achilles' heel for us and things went as expected with the best sixty foot time of 1.66, some 0.26 off our usual 1.40s. Sunday afternoon saw us win Round 5 and a new Personal Best for York of 9.36/152. Amazing considering the best we could muster last year was 9.69. The track record for York is 9.1 with treaded tyres, this being set by John Sleath a couple of years ago. ©Eurodragster.com On Monday, the track had been freshly prepped and with exceptional weather mine was one of the first cars up the track and I posted a 9.2/154 which was our best of the weekend. I haven't checked with the track but aside from the jet car I think this was the fastest run of the weekend. Incredible considering all the Skyline and Subaru owners who were there with eight and nine second cars! After some hasty repairs following a brake line issue and a very fortunate bye run, we went on to win Round 6 with only the front brakes operating and the very necessary use of the 'chute. Anybody who has driven York knows what I mean about the short run off! So it's on to the Nostalgia Nationals next where we are hoping to post a nice eight for the spectators and make our maiden run with the Outlaw Supercharged squad, which should make some interesting viewing. Thanks again to all the staff at York for the best of weekends and to the NSCC organisers and members for the laughs and support. See you all at the Nostalgia Nationals...and to prove the street reliability of the T, we shall be at the Hot Rod and Hills run where we shall be attempting the Kirkstone Pass run. FIA Main Event thanks. 28th May: Nick Kerswill, Crew Chief for UK Super Street racer Mark Watkins, has asked us to say a big thank you to the staff of the Medical Centre at Santa Pod Raceway. "I was in the midst of supervising Mark Watkins' burnout in the first round of Super Street eliminations when I felt a 'snap' in the calf of my right leg", says Nick. "My fiancée Debbie, who luckily for me also does start line duty, helped me limp off after Mark had run his race and ordered me (who's the Crew Chief here?) to the Medical Centre where the problem was quickly diagnosed and appropriate treatment given. Now all I have to do is to sit around and wait for it to mend itself. Marvellous! Many thanks to you guys (and girl) for your help and treatment." ©Eurodragster.com Thanks also from UK Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones for the care he received after his crash on Saturday. "Thanks to everyone apart from the paramedic and Trev who tried to remove my nose along with my crash helmet - I suppose that was my fault for having such a big nose", says Syd. "I would like to apologise again for the mess I made of the track, the work it caused all the crew and the downtime which everyone else suffered. Thanks also for the generosity of all those who donated their hard-earned cash to the rebuild fund. As for the cause, the motor was still running when the car stopped and I still had oil pressure when I hit the wall the first time (at least with the front of the car). All the rods in the correct place, no holes in the oil pan, no lost oil lines. The motor still turns over fine and feels OK. But we have no compression on #8 and looking at the cylinder with a endoscope there appears to be a large crack in the cylinder wall in that cylinder. Best I can guess is that the liner failed and pressurised the block, eventually overwhelming the breathers and pushing out the rocker cover gaskets and oiling first the left slick then the right. By the way my thumb isn't sore any more." Mike and Sandra Jones came up to Santa Pod from Bristol and asked us to congratulate commentators Colin Theobald and Darryl Bradford, to thank the track crew who worked tirelessly all weekend to keep the track in tip-top condition, all the behind the scenes workers, and last but not least all the teams and individuals who gave us a brilliant weekend's racing. Web site updates. 28th May: Santa Pod Raceway's web site has been updated with an FIA Main Event report written by Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe, which you can find at www.santapod.co.uk/e_main.php. Whilst headed that way check out DJ's FIA Main Event daily galleries at www.santapod.co.uk/e_main2009daily.php. ©Eurodragster.com Next with an FIA Main Event update is Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com Home and News and joint Features sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars who has posted four slow motion video clips at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk/indexslomo.htm. Dick Bodily has posted some great FIA Main Event pictures on his Fotopic gallery at dicksphotos.fotopic.net. Andrew Bamford has updated his Racing Green photo site with pictures from April's Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Andrew's shots at www.racing-green.co.uk. Post-FIA Main Event notes. 27th May: We are indebted to Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for sending us the post-FIA Main Events points standings in the FIM/UEM European Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the FIM/UEM points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We expect to receive the FIA Championship points within a few days, and we shall publish Lars' Main Event report on tomorrow's update. Bob Roberts sent us this picture of the reception afforded to FIA Main Event Pro Modified winner, 2008 Exhaust-coating.de Pro Mod Challenge runner up, new European ET record holder and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson upon his return to the pits after Monday's final. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us the official FIA Main Event Timing Data. You can check out the timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Thanks also to Andy Marrs for forwarding an updated sheet of European Bests taking into account the records set at the weekend in Top Methanol Dragster, Pro Modified, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Bike. The sheet also includes tabs for records in chronological order, quickest bump spots, closest races and quickest and fastest races. You can check out the European Bests sheet by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. On the subject of bump spots Andy points out that Peter Schöfer's 5.580 bump at the weekend's race would have been good for #1 spot at last year's FIA European Finals. We would like to thank everyone who has taken the trouble to get in touch to compliment us on our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage at the weekend. We have not yet added up all the numbers but on Monday alone Eurodragster.com received 15,528 unique visitors who requested 438,107 page views and generated 1,909,709 hits. Swift snippets. 27th May: We would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to our good friend Heike Schäfer of Peter Schöfer Racing. Have a lovely day Heike. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 27th May: Dominic Romney has updated his Modern Pics photographic site with shots from the FIA Main Event. You can check out Dominic's pictures at www.modernpics.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Also updating from the FIA Main Event is John Seymour whose shots you can find on his Bald Photographer web site at www.TheBaldPhotographer.com/Motorsport. Editor's note: Only a brief news update today because we're still shagged out from the weekend and we're also getting back into the swing of having a day job. We should catch up on tomorrow's update and please keep the FIA Main Event reviews and other news coming to news@eurodragster.com. FIA Main Event results. 26th May: Congratulations to the winners of the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Andy Carter 4.9084/293.12 def. Stig Neergaard 7.8718/100.01 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Timo Habermann 5.4283/242.23 def. Fred Hanssen 5.4288/253.95 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders 5.8089/246.81 def. Leif Andréasson 5.7952/244.88 FIA/NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Andy Robinson 6.1067/228.89 def. Urban Johansson 6.4700/220.29 FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund 6.7858/204.06 def. Jonas Dantanus 6.8777/201.53 Fuel Funny Car: Gordon Smith 5.6965/244.88 def. John Spuffard 7.1603/125.80 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Ian King 6.4774/210.78 bye, Rene van den Berg shut off FIM/UEM Supertwin: Lorenz Stäuble 6.9693/208.12 def. Job Heezen 7.9536/132.44 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Ulf Ögge 7.2960/170.40 def. Len Paget 7.4526/176.31 Comp Eliminator: Roland Bolleter (7.92) 7.8959/174.12 bye Super Pro ET: John Everitt (7.87) 8.0042/154.52 def. John Morris (8.80) 9.1292/150.95 Pro ET: Mark Bailey (9.52) 9.6000/142.36 def. Chris Hodgkins (9.76) 9.8471/138.87 Super Comp: Pete Cresswell 8.9309/141.98 def. Frank Mason 8.9248/150.01 Super Gas: Jon Morton 9.9387/138.53 def. Conrad Stanley 9.9375/154.11 Super Street: John Grant 11.7839/93.49 def. Leigh Morris no time Junior Dragster: Matthew Seamarks (7.95) 8.0135/73.61 def. Lisa Selles (7.90) 7.9198/82.36 Exhaust-Coatings.de 2008 Pro Mod Challenge final Bruno Bader 6.1359/226.49 def. Andy Robinson 6.2720/199.80 Subject to official ratification the following records were set: Top Methanol Dragster ET: 5.304 seconds, Dave Wilson Top Methanol Dragster speed: 266.47 mph, Fred Hanssen Pro Modified ET: 6.100 seconds, Andy Robinson Pro Stock ET: 6.694 seconds, Jimmy Ålund Pro Stock speed: 206.84 mph, Jimmy Ålund Pro Stock Bike ET: 7.161 seconds, Ulf Ögge Congratulations to Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award winner John Grant and Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award winner Mark Bailey on going on to win their classes. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to check out our FIA Main Event coverage, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select the FIA Main Event. Changes in Kågered camp. 23rd May: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered has announced that Alan Jackson will not be tuning the Bahco Tools Top Fueller this season. ©Eurodragster.com "We had a team discussion and we are having to face up to racing without Alan Jackson as tuner", Micke told Eurodragster.com. "Alan is one of the best tuners out there and it will be scary to run the car without his input. We acquired a set-up from Lance Larsen and the car ran really well winning at Alastaro and Hockenheim in 2008 and running a best time of 4.80 at Hockenheim. Now Göran 'Emil' Edman will be calling the tuning shots for us to hopefully have a successful season. "Sponsorship is very difficult for this year and we are proud that we have retained our main sponsor BAHCO and Eurotools, which are the two Snap-On owned companies which produce tools in Europe under the name SNA Europe." The Kågered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com will be updated from Santa Pod Raceway starting tomorrow. Glassup misses FIA Main Event. 23rd May: UK blown-alcohol altered team Xtreme Racing are disappointed to announce that Bob Glassup and the team will not attend this weekend's FIA Main Event. "Despite our best efforts, engineering issues with the block have meant that we're not ready which is a massive blow for us", says Team PR Dan Welberry. "We always want to go out and put on a great show for the class' many fans, and win over some new fans, and to us being invited to do so at the Main Event was a great honour. ©Eurodragster.com "We now look forward to the SPRC Summernationals where we will once more be out to run our first six which we know is very close. We'd like to wish our fellow NFAA competitors a fast and safe weekend and we're sorry we couldn't be there with you. Maybe we'll be there again for the big stage at the FIA European Finals?" Pre-Main Event Test Days coverage. 21st May: Frøya's Islanders Drag Race Team hired Santa Pod Raceway for a private test yesterday (Wednesday). One of the main aims of the day was to complete Fred Hanssen's licencing in his Top Methanol Dragster and it was one of the most competent set of licencing passes we have ever seen; Fred ultimately clocked a best of 5.542/256.68. Paul Ingar Udtian recorded a best of 6.162/249.48 although we estimate that some 0.4-0.5 seconds was added to the ET as Paul Ingar's dragster rolled the beams before he hit the throttle. Dan Larsen was creeping up on clutch settings on his new Dodge Stratus Top Methanol FC and his best of the day was a 6.329/224.39. Patrick Wikström made his first runs with the new motor in his Thriller Pro Mod and on his second pass ran 6.283/228.93 which was visibly on soft settings and Patrick took the long way round so there is plenty left in there. Kristian Nyström idled down the track in his first pass in the ex-Danny Cockerill Chevy Pro Mod, clocking 11.484/92.00. Finally Miriam Sortomme ran a best of 11.484/52.00 in her Junior Dragster. In association with American Car Imports Ed and Tog have put together a small gallery of shots from the private test which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. Today we are back in place in Race Control at Santa Pod Raceway to report from the Pro Peak Performance Day in association with American Car Imports. With a large number of racers in various classes already entered, and more expected to enter on the day, the coverage plan is for frequently-updated reports throughout the day and a photo gallery at the end of the day. The Webster Race Engineering/Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 webcam is on-line and as ever is scheduled to post a picture every sixty seconds. ©Eurodragster.com We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences, but in the meantime you can check out our FIA Main Event coverage index, which includes the official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. SPRC Summernationals entry. 21st May: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here. Tomorrow (Friday) is the official closing date for entry to the SPRC Summernationals. Entry after tomorrow, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download SPRC Summernationals entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. ©Eurodragster.com HKS Drag Series coordinator Rick Cuthbert writes that he expects a full field of Front Wheel Drive cars in the HKS Drag Series round at the SPRC Summernationals. "The FWD class is looking really strong this season", says Rick, "and the drivers are all looking forward to running at the Summernats. The biggest problem for all FWD racers is traction, and the drivers can't wait to run on the best-prepped track they will ever have experienced. We can expect some Personal Bests...possibly even the long-awaited first nine-second run." Unique Crazy Horses auction. 21st May: Santa Pod Raceway's radio station Nitro FM will be auctioning a copy of Crazy Horses - The History of British Drag Racing over the FIA Main Event weekend. This copy is very special because the proceeds will go to the restoration of the Allard Chrysler dragster. The book will accordingly bear the signature of the Allard Chrysler Action Group Patron Nick Mason of Pink Floyd fame, and that of the book's author and ACAG Chairman Brian Taylor. For those who don't know, the Allard resides at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and was Britain’s first dragster. It was originally fired up in 1961 and spearheaded the sport's embryo years. The Nitro FM team will be collecting the signatures of as many as possible of the other drag racing stars and pioneers attending the event. The book will therefore have considerable added value and will carry an undisclosed reserve price so that it doesn't go for silly money. It will make a unique piece of drag racing memorabilia, a great present for someone special, or maybe an item for a club to re-auction or raffle for a special cause of its own. ©Eurodragster.com Bids can be sent in from tomorrow (Friday) evening by texting POD and your bid to 88222. Listen to Nitro FM over the weekend to check when the auction opens and continue to listen to hear whether your bid is at the top of the pile. Brian Taylor adds that Crazy Horses is currently Amazon's best-selling drag racing title and number forty two of all motorsport titles sold. Xtreme highs and lows. 21st May: It's been a crazy season so far for the UK's Xtreme Racing blown-alcohol altered team and the pressure is on to be at the FIA Main Event, writes Team PR Dan Welberry: Our first outing of 2009 with the new engine and transmission set-up was at the Easter Thunderball where hopes were high for improved performance. Once more, though, the poor UK weather limited us to only three runs throughout the meeting, not enough to really get a handle on this exciting new combination. We came away with a best of 7.4, a small issue with the gearing meaning we were forced to leave the line in second gear. We were looking to make some real progress at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway but as you will no doubt have read, things didn't go entirely to plan. The forecast looked good and we were looking forward to some more track time. Things started positively with an off-the-trailer 7.2/191, this with a second gear launch and a shift into third just before the line. Bob Glassup had taken his time deliberately on the line, in order to launch the car at a conservative rpm using the transbrake for the first time. Aiming for our first six we decided to up the launch rpm, which would help the sixty foot times, given that we still had no first gear and hopefully give us the numbers we were hungry for. As the car launched it went hard right and then begun to straighten up but Bob brushed the guard rail with the rear slick. The impact felt slight and the car seemed fine so he hit the gas once more to get the car down the track. The second pedal sent the car back to the barrier with the front wheel hitting first this time. At this point Bob gave in to the inevitable and drove the car down the remaining track length to the return road and clear the track for the next pair of altereds. ©Eurodragster.com When we got the car back and began all the usual checks we found that something was wrong, despite it running seemingly fine until it was shut it off at the top end. The crew worked hard stripping the motor down to find that the crank had snapped and caused a small amount of damage to the block. At present we are making a huge effort to get to the Main Event to join the rest of the NFAA cars exhibiting at this prestigious meeting. With the car stripped, parts being shipped from the US and the block having only been collected from repair yesterday morning (Wednesday), the team is doing everything possible to get things together. Fingers crossed we can make it, so watch this space and hopefully we'll see you there. As ever, Bob would like to say a huge Thanks to all the crew for their effort and support in trying to achieve our goal to compete this weekend. He would also like to thank all the people who called by the pits to check both Bob and the car were in good shape after the brush with the barrier - the general consensus is that one swipe per run is quite enough! Swift snippets. 21st May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Coming soon, we hope". If you know more, or if you would like to send you own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. ©Eurodragster.com Don't forget that tomorrow, Friday 22nd, is the closing date for entry to the Drachten Nationals which takes place at The Netherlands' Drachten Airfield on 19th-21st June. For more information check out Monday's news item Event entry update or to enter go to www.explosiondragracing.com. Tog would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to his good friend Julia Cooper. Have a lovely day Julia. We would also like to say a big Happy 40th Birthday for Monday (18th) to Richard Henry of the Fireforce Jet FC team. Hope you had a great day Richard. Raisvuo returns. 20th May: Finland's Esko Raisvuo is making a welcome return to the track this weekend with an ex-Keith Stark Top Methanol Dragster which formerly held the world record. Keith and Greg Stark will be assisting Esko at Santa Pod this weekend. "Many will know that my old ride was the car which Timo and Dennis Habermann used before getting fine new dragsters", says Esko. "I had to sell the old car, because of a burglary at my garage when I lost half of my life. We found most of it afterwards but it was too late to continue. Together with some of the guys we crewed with Eero Kilpeläinen for the 1999 European record season and the 2000 Chamionship season. In 2001 Eero decided that he had done what he wanted and that was that. Since then we have been penniless and unemployed, only consulting with the Habermanns and also Danny Bellio. "We have saved like crazy monkeys for the last nine years after the big loss. The guys have now wives, kids, houses etc. So do I and it has been hard to find the finance to play hard enough. Meanwhile time has gone and our old cars, Eero's car and the ex-Mad Bomber car are in our garage and we will play with those some other time - it depends whether we can get drivers with money because one guy's wallet is not enough. ©Eurodragster.com "Now we are making our comeback and we will have good times, hopefully people will like it and we won't destroy everything. The new car is Keith Stark's ex-world record holder TAD which has also collected a few Wallys. It only arrived last week so we won't have time to paint it - just to put our company stickers on it if we have the time to make them. We will bring it back to life and ourselves too. The engines are all new for rule changes. Some chassis modifications have been done at Spitzer Race Cars and Paul Brander Racing have been working with its wheelie bar. It didn't have one and I don't think it should have one, they should be used on other types of cars. But Brander is trying to minimise the chances of an accident. Keith and Greg Stark will be coming along to guide us a bit. "We know we have no chance of winning but we are just having summer trips, trying to have fun, trying not to destroy everything, learning new tricks and, for me, learning how to drive. We won't argue if the Finnish record goes to those it belongs to and it would not be bad to have a single-digit race number for 2010. "Thanks to our sponsors EE-Speed, Motoring Finland, the band Amberian Dawn (their new album The Clouds of Northland Thunder is out this week. When we have more time and something to write, we will launch a new web site." Svenssons looking to full quarter. 20th May: After a long off season, Peter and Soren Svensson and the Team Kendall Racing Top Fuel Bike team are ready for the FIA Main Event and are on their way to Santa Pod Raceway. "We are really looking forward to this race, since we were able to run a 3.91 over the eighth mile at the 2008 FIA European Finals, and we would really like to have a full run over the quarter mile to see what the bike can do with our new set-up", says Peter Svensson. "The bike has been updated with several changes within the fuel system and new coated pistons (thanks to Uddeholm/Cemecon) and is ready to run some big numbers if the track can take the power and the weather is nice. "We are very glad to announce that we have been able to renew our sponsorship contract for 2009 with our main sponsor Sollbrunns Oljeservice AB and Cemecon A/S and we also been able to add some new sponsors such as Uddeholm, Endorf and Spikmattan.nu who all supply the very best product available within their own markets. "The Team Kendall Top Fuel Bike schedule for 2009 is: ©Eurodragster.com 22nd-25th May: FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England FIM/UEM 23rd-26th July: Veidec Festival, Mantorp Park, Sweden FIM/UEM 31st July-2nd August: Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen, Norway 10th-13th September: FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England FIM/UEM "Special thanks to our sponsors for supplying the very best product available: Kendall Motor Oil in Sweden, supplied by Sollebrunns Oljeservice Samek Tool AB, who make some of the best moulding tools in the automotive industry in Sweden CemeCon A/S, one of the best coating companies in Europe when it comes to camshaft coating etc. Endorf, manufacturer of the new top of the line Swedish acupressure mat Spikmattan.nu, retailer of Swedish acupressure mats Uddeholm, manufacturer of the best aluminium you can get "We would like to say a big Thank You to our Team Kendall Racing teammates and 2008 FIA European Pro Mod Champions Mikael and Magnus Lindahl for helping us with the transport of our Top Fuel Bike and all of our equipment in their coach to and from Santa Pod this weekend." Maurischat awaits the fourth run. 20th May: German Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Marco Maurischat says that he has has made small changes to his blown-alcohol Corvette, which is to all intents and purposes new having made three runs so far. "We don't have much data to work with", says Marco. "The biggest thing we changed is to step up to a new DMPE M4 blower. This will give us much more horsepower than we had with the old SSI. We also have a new rod/piston/crank combination at the race shop to step up a little bit with the compression ratio. We will have this in the car for the second FIA round in Finland. We worked many hours over the winter to complete our race equipment. Last season everything was a last-minute deal so nothing was really ready. Now we have a perfect new tent for the trailer, we have built a clutch grinder, and worked on the trailer to make things a little bit easier to use and more comfortable. ©Eurodragster.com "We did some testing at a small track here in Germany at the end of April to become a little bit prepared for the new season. Everything went well and we feel much better than last year, when everything was brand new. The plan is to run all of the FIA rounds this year. At the moment I run the whole racing operation mostly out of my own pocket with some small support. We don't have so much in the way of spare parts (such as a second engine) in the trailer right now so lack of parts could be the only way our dream to run every race will be stopped. "I'm also very happy that we will run the Shoot Out for the 2008 Exhaust-Coating Pro Mod Challenge (sponsored by my company Pulverbeschichtung Nord GmbH) at the Main Event. I hope that everybody will enjoy it and that we will have some fun." No wheelies? Sorry... 20th May: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad is looking for a better finish than in last season when a blown motor at the Veidec Festival held him back to fourth place in the 2008 FIM/UEM Championship. "Looking back on 2008, we ran the second-quickest time in the Supertwin series with 6.68, and the quickest sixty foot time of 1.08 seconds", says Hans Olav. "Lightning is going into the season with new heads thanks to Stefan Junerud and Servex Racing Tech. So with new heads, we hope to perform well. Also we think we have solved the problem with our main crank bearing which also gave us some surprises in 2008. Lightning has also had a few small changes in geometry. We have moved twelve kilogrammes one metre forward on the bike so that we can use the power to push and not just lift the front - sorry if we don't do the great wheelies we used to (Looked good enough to us in testing at the weekend - Ed). During the winter we also developed a new fairing with channels to get better airflow to the intake manifold. It looks a bit strange but we believe it will work out well. That was one of the changes after testing the airflow in the home-built wind tunnel. ©Eurodragster.com "If everything holds together we believe that 2009 is our time for a better season and we want to fight for the top spot. I think our chances are good, but we expect a real fight from Lorenz Stäuble, Job Heezen and Per Bengtsson. I still think there is a way to go before the new blown bikes find their set-ups but I know that there are always surprises in this class. "We have a new man on the team, Axel Birk, who is going to work on the clutch and data programming. We have a new sponsor, GB-Tech, a water cutting and CNC milling company located in Kapp in Norway, and I would like I like to thank the remain sponsors who support us year after year: Profilhuset, VP-Racefuel, Fannrem Motorverksted, Sande Gård, Jessheim Bilskade, Nordea and Mekonomen. Our outgoing sponsor is Røynås Fyringsservice, who has decided to leave us and start his own Supertwin team." Out of the field, into the field. 20th May: Frøya's Paul Ingar Udtian and the Islanders team are set to test at Santa Pod Raceway tomorrow (Thursday) after spending the off-season making sure that Paul's Top Methanol Dragster suffered no lasting ill effects from its trip into a corn field at Mantorp Park last July. "We haven't made many changes to the car except to get new parts to replace those destroyed during the Veidec Festival when the car ended up in the corn field", says team member Konrad Ree. "We really appreciated the help from our competitors who let us use their parts for the rest of the 2008 season. Thanks again. Of course we have gone through the chassis and the engine, and the car is race-ready with the new fill-in seat and updated for the 2009 FIA rules. "We are excited that the Top Methanol Dragster field this weekend is ten cars and it's going to be a hard battle for the points this year with so many good cars and drivers. But we are aiming for a better race number for the 2010 season. ©Eurodragster.com "The car is still in the same colours, but we had to buy a trailer for the coach to bring everything we need at the track. That trailer isn't finished so we are working on it at Santa Pod this week. As most drag racing teams, we have worked hard this year to get the sponsorship together in this financial crisis, but we are proud to announce that Q8 Oils are still the main sponsor and that Sande Gaard, Lerøy Midnor, Frøya Sjøservice, Eidsvaag Rederi and Teng Tools are still with us, and we welcome our new sponsors Aqualine, Fluid Control, Multipump Innovation, Marine Constructions, Bergen Hydraulik, Tess and Dekorcut. Thanks for their trust in us. "The crew is almost the same, but there are some changes which started last season. Odd Rune Olsen joined the team at the Veidec Festival, to step in for Tormod Årvik who had been with us as a clutch mechanic for two years. Thanks to Tormod for all his help. Helge Myrseth is getting more involved this year, he has been working on marketing and on the web site and he will join us as a mechanic starting in Finland. We are looking forward to seeing everybody again, and we hope we will get a good season of racing." The Beast is ready. 20th May: Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson, who finished third in the 2008 FIM/UEM European Championship, is ready for the battle as the first round of the 2009 Championship closes in. The Beast Drag Bike Team, from the southern part of Sweden, tested new equipment at Meca Raceway in Malmö with good results. ©Eurodragster.com "We are very well prepared for the season opener and we're going to Santa Pod to win the event", says a confident Per. "I must say that it's really nice to see twelve Supertwin entries at the first race of the season. That means that we have a very strong class in the Championship which is important for the sport itself. We are ready to go for the whole tour including the new round in Hungary. Let's just hope that the infamous weather we all suffered the last two seasons will stay away this year. We all need a lot of rounds to develop our performance even further." The Beast Drag Bike Team will run this season with support from Swedcut, Quaker State, Autoexperten Växjö,Ulvsgården Ab, Gates/Lönne, Fanhultstvätten Ab Älmhult, Flexoart and Bentec Engineering. Stand by for Year Three. 20th May: JD Racing Crew Chief Christer Gustafsson says that when Jonas Dantanus decided to move to Pro Stock in 2007 they made a three-year plan. We're now in year three and everyone had better watch out since the JD Racing team is packing some serious heat in the engine department. "In the first year we bought Michael Malmgren's record-holding 2004 Grand Am and his transporter", says Christer. "The plan was to attend all the FIA races and to try to qualify at some races. So we did that and by the end of that year we had been to one semi final and run a impressive 6.83/200. "The plan for year two was to qualify at every race and to aim for a top five finish. This didn't happen after a disastrous engine problem at Alastaro and not having a good enough back up engine. The engine was back to full power at the European Finals but the rain ruined that race. ©Eurodragster.com "In year three the plan is to play with the big dogs and go for the medals. This requires a top engine and after some looking around and talking we managed to buy an engine from KB Racing, Greg Anderson and Jason Line's team. This was the engine in a spy picture last week. We also have some other new stuff such as a Leanders six and a quarter inch clutch. This gives us the possibility to fulfil the third step in our plan. "The team is Jonas Dantanus driver, I am Crew Chief, Simon Gustafsson works on the engine, Mikael Börjesson on the clutch and transmission, and Roger Larsson on rear end and he does some of the cooking. Jennifer Gustafsson is driving the Challenger this year after a year's absence being a mother to little Danny. Pontus Dantanus is driving the Junior Dragster and is aiming for NDRS and Swedish Championships." Straight talk from Amman. 20th May: Now that he can trust his Blown Nugget Pro Mod to run straight, Switzerland's Rolf Amman has added power and made other changes with the aim of 6.3-second passes. Team member Theo Hürlimann says that Rolf also has a scheme to allow fans to get more involved. "After the big crash in 2007, Andy Robinson fixed our chassis and after that Blown Nugget went straight for the first time", says Theo Hürlimann. "Since then we increased the power from run to run working on the injection, blower, ignition and clutch. This season we have changed the gear ratio which should result in a better sixty foot time. We have made a few more changes to make more horsepower. ©Eurodragster.com "Team-wise Blown Nugget family is still complete. Unfortunately we still don't have that many sponsors and we could use some additional financial support. But we have the sponsors we have always had, plus our Club 200 for which Blown Nugget enthusiasts pay a yearly membership of at least sFr 200. Members get a premium-quality short plus frequent news updates, and every year they get a patch to stitch onto the shirt. For more information please check out web site at www.blown-nugget.ch." FIA Main Event shorts. 20th May: A last-moment entry to Top Fuel Dragster this weekend, subject to licencing, is Denmark's Tommy Rostgaard who will be driving one of Stig Neergaard's dragsters. We understand that Tommy has already made his first licencing pass (launch) and that he aims to complete his licencing by tomorrow's Pro Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. Tommy is one of Stig's cylinder head technicians and has also raced in the Danish Street Cup. His entry brings the total of Top Fuel Dragsters to nine which has put a new complexion on qualifying. UK Pro Mod racer Graham Ellis says that his latest pair of heads have arrived from Carl Spiering's ERD and are due to be collected from Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Air Sea Logistics and brought to the track today. "This will complete our arsenal of spares meaning we can really get after some performance without worrying too much about breaking stuff", says Graham. "These heads have the latest down nozzle arrangement instead of the usual port nozzles, as pioneered by Carl in PM. With close support from Carl, along with the new PSI blower, we are confident that we can mach anyone in Europe and have proven 6.0 power. Using that power is a little different, that will be the tough part, but we are going to try hard and hope for a good track. All being well we will test tomorrow and we are close to a decision regarding the whole FIA Tour." Having had a good year in 2008, FIA European Pro Mod Champion Micke Lindahl, brother Magnus and Team Kendall want to run in the 6.0s in 2009. "We have put much time and money in new technology in the engine together with Volvo Aero Corporation", says Micke Lindahl. "This year we have had the time to make all the small adjustments and we hope it is enough to lower our ET record of 6.110. We went to Malmö to test at the beginning of May and it looks good. We have a new engine in the bus and hope it can take us to all of the races in Europe." His bike having been ready for months, UK Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop hit a problem when he fired it up recently. "I started the motor and there were clouds of blue smoke", said Martin. "It turned out to be a crack in the epoxy cylinder head. Luckily Roger Upperton has done a fantastic repair job. We have a new sponsor this year in Psycleworkz who produce performance bike equipment and bespoke machining. We plan to race at every round this year although not many of us are going on the tour - just crewman Baz and I." ©Eurodragster.com If you are coming up to Santa Pod this weekend and fancy eating out then don't forget that Eurodragster.com News sponsor The Curry Garden is a short drive away at 24 Church Street, Rushden NN10 9YT. Alternately the guys at The Curry Garden will deliver to the track given a big enough order; to enquire call 01933 314121 or 01933 359581. If you are around this evening (Wednesday) then The Curry Garden has a special eat-in deal on Wednesday evenings of two curry meals for £10, cooked by their award-winning chef. For more details including the menu check out the restaurant's web site at www.thecurrygarden.co.uk. Swift snippets. 20th May: Marcus Hilt of Switzerland's Trouble Racing Pro Mod team tells us that he has been fortunate enough to buy one of Mike Janis' current 526 ci hemi motors (below) for his Punisher '63 Corvette. "This BAE VI FatHeaded JAN-CEN Engine ran as fast as 5.90 at 240+ mph in IHRA trim last season", says Marcus. "Mike will provide us with a lot of useful help to get our program running fast. Due difficulties fitting, we were not able to attend the FIA Main Event to unleash this beast's full potential." ©Eurodragster.com The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words but if you've been keeping an eye on event entry lists recently you can probably work it out. If you'd like to confirm what we think, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences initially qualified #1 at the weekend's NHRA Sportsman Challenge at Houston Raceway Park with his injected-nitro dragster. However Mike and the team sat out the final qualifier to work on the car and were bumped down to #2. "I didn't have a good run in the first round of eliminations", says Mike. "The car left really soft and picked up going down track but we lost with a 5.54/269. Our next race is the NHRA National round at Topeka on 28th-31st May." FIA Main Event Perfect Awards. 20th May: This weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway is the the fourth event in the 2009 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £125 is on offer for perfect performance. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by 9.50 Bike racer Jake Mechaell at the Springspeed Nationals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available to all racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. Although the Perfect Light Award goes to three places, we will not pay out for red lights with zeroes in the first three decimals since a foul is a foul however far in the first non-zero digit may be. So a reaction time of 0.0001 will win you the money (if you're first to do it), but a reaction time of -0.0001 will not. Decals are not formally required for the Perfect Light Award but of course we appreciate it: you can get Eurodragster.com decals at the track from any Eurodragster.com staff member. ©Eurodragster.com The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Gas racer Stuart Doignie at the Springspeed Nationals. In addition former Santa Pod Raceway Race Director and Eurodragster.com supporter Syd McDonald has donated £25 bringing the Award total to £75. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street and Junior Dragster (eliminations only), but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle whether car or bike. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. The decals will be available from the Signing On office as soon as it opens on Saturday morning; please note that, as is usual with contingency schemes, racers are responsible for requesting or picking up decals when signing on. A list of required decals per class is always on display in the Signing On office. Web site updates. 20th May: The official web page of the Allard Chrysler Action Group, which is hosted on Alan Currans' excellent Acceleration Archive, has been updated with the latest news to restore the motor of the Allard dragster to running order. Also on the Acceleration Archive site is the latest entry in Brian Taylor's Crazy Horses author's blog. You can check out both updates via What's New at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com FIA Main Event running orders. 19th May: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club International Race Director Darren Prentice and SPRC Club Secretary for providing us with the provisional running orders for this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the running orders by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. ©Eurodragster.com Please note that these running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by Race Officials. Bradshaw's six-second Import. 19th May: UK HKS Pro Champion and Super Pro ET and Comp Eliminator racer John Bradshaw and Abbey Motorsport have finally unveiled pictures of the new Nissan 350Z which will touch down in the UK shortly. The car totes a twin-turbo 4.0 litre Nissan 350Z engine running on methanol. "We are delighted to say that the car is almost finished and ready to ship from the States", says John. "Despite having sat for three years this is actually a brand new sister car to the original car put together and still owned by Performance Motorsports in New York. They managed a few 6.6s at 215+ mph in 2005 and beat Titan in the process at the time. They have since hung up their race suits and wanted to sell the spare they had on site. The chassis was built by Vanishing Point and thankfully we can run as quick as we can manage with the cage etc built to cover all regulations. "We hope that the motor will eventually be running over 2000 bhp once we have had a decent chance to test and to learn a lot more. Methanol is going to be another new learning curve for us. ©Eurodragster.com "Fingers crossed it should be here for July and we plan to get some testing and shakedown runs completed this year to start the learning process. We are going to be very relaxed this year and just enjoy trying to get to grips with the car. We will make some gentle passes and test to get datalogging information and get clutch and suspension settings together and then we will slowly start to up the power. We have numerous avenues open to help increase horsepower, potentially up to around 2400 bhp but there is no real point until we can get our head around the set-up of the car. "I am really looking forward to getting into the car and driving it, but with it being left hand drive, running a different gear box and making a hell of a lot more horsepower I know that it’s going to take some while before I get my head around it. The ultimate aim would be to make the car competitive enough to be able to compete in Pro Mod one day, but that's certainly not going to happen overnight and there's a hell of a lot of development to happen first. "We will run the 350Z in mainstream racing in Comp Eliminator and Super Pro ET in 2010. As for the Skyline, we will run it again in 2010 with some changes over the winter. We also plan to change it to methanol which will give us a fairly healthy leap in horsepower - fingers crossed times will drop again." Pers' plans fall into place. 19th May: Sweden's Patrik Pers will be joining the FIA Top Fuel Dragster tour later in the summer after his plan to sell his Fuel Funny Car to acquire a Top Fuel chassis worked out. Patrik has sold the Speedghost Fuel FC to Johnny Nilsson, who already owns the Tre Kronor Nostalgia Funny Car, and has purchased two ex-Knut Söderqvist Top Fuel Dragster chassis with the eventual plan to run a two-car team. "Patrik picked up the first chassis a couple of weeks ago and took it straight to Mats Eriksson's shop to have the 2009 updates applied", Mark Bodimeade told Eurodragster.com. "Patrik has picked up this chassis and it is in his shop now. The second dragster, which is more or less new having only made a few runs with Harlan Thompson and Håkan Fällström, is now at Mats Eriksson's and it is expected back in a fortnight. ©Eurodragster.com "Patrik will be driving new dragster at Mantorp Park, Hockenheim and Santa Pod this season and will then run the full FIA Championship next year. The first dragster has a driver but the Speedghost team do not yet wish to release their name. Patrik has six blocks, ten sets of heads and three blowers from John Force Racing so he has plenty of spares." Animal added that Patrik has for sale an ex-John Force Racing 2004 Mustang body for a very reasonable price. If you are interested then have a word with Animal on 07836 781720 (outside the UK +44 7836 781720). Fredlund's aim: keep the plate. 19th May: Winning the FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike #1 plate last year was really inspiring for Fredrik Fredlund. The team have stepped up the pace a bit for 2009 which they hope wil keep them from having to change the number on the bike after this season writes Par Willen: The engine has of course been in the shop over the winter, both for the normal maintenace bits and performance improvement work. All-Mek together with Micke Rönn on Fredde's home island of Åland have been busy with the motor including head and cam work. We've switched to a six-speed transmission and we will put even harder focus on clutch adjustment and gearing as we feel that after 2008 we are in a tuning window we can handle well. It's worked well so far, testing two weeks ago at the NDRG Spring Nats at Gardermoen Raceway netted us a new Personal Best in the first full power run of the season, and we left Gardermoen with four new Personal Bests with room for more improvement in tuning both gearing and clutch. No surprise, robot-rider Fredde Fredlund performed well as usual, riding with a solid consistency which is key to tuning the bike and defending the Championship. As we reported earlier here on Eurodragster.com, part of the team went to the USA in January where Fredde showed his riding ability to NHRA Pro Stock Bike legend George Bryce which led to Fredde being awarded an NHRA Pro Stock Bike license. That all happened at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing school where Fredde picked up not only a Pro licence and new technical driving skills but we also learned and confirmed that the mental attitude we have put in place in the team coincides with what George Bryce and Frank Hawley have been preaching for many years. ©Eurodragster.com The rest of the set-up is pretty much the same as for our 2008 Championship season. Same paint, same race bus, no changes to our small crew makes for a tight-knit team which works well together with no surprises or problems so long as PiPPi can keep them on the straight and narrow. Looking at our competitors for 2009 we're in the same position as last year as regards to not having the strongest bike in the line-up. However, we believe that what we learned from winning the Championship last year and the improvements we've made over the winter together with our driving and tuning consistency will have us very high up in the standings when the smoke has cleared at the Finals. In all we're feeling good and confident about what we have in place for the 2009 UEM Pro Stock Bike Championship. Be assured that the team is very anxious to get to The Main Event. Our main sponsors for this year are the Åland-based gaming company PAF and Teboil, the Finnish full-service oil company. We're obviously very grateful to the support from our sponsors as there simply would be no racing without them. Malmgren rings the changes. 19th May: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren and the Lahega-sponsored Pro Stock team have made a few off-season changes. Michael says that he thinks that his chances of the 2009 FIA Championship will be improved by the winter work and a revolutionary change in team structure. "We have repainted the front end after going into the field at the 2008 European Finals", says Michael. "We have also made some small chassis updates - I can't tell you about those but they are hopefully for the better. We have a new 6.25 ACE clutch instead of the old-fashioned eight-inch clutch we used in the past. We are getting more power this year with support from CFE with new-style heads and manifold and Bob Ingles is making the rest to provide us with top-shelf power." ©Eurodragster.com Michael says that the team personnel have also changed over the off-season. "Anders Wall is not with Lahega Racing any more", he says. "For now I will run the show myself, but we really don't have a Crew Chief - we all are involved and I also think it is good that everyone feels important to the team I can already see some good positive results and attitude in my team. Our new lads are Mike Öhman on clutch, he was also a team member in 2007, and Emil Lundquist who started with us in 2008 has stepped up in responsibility and now is the main engine guy and also responsible for all of the computer work. Our new sponsors are Ionbond Coatings, PAC Valvesprings and CFE Heads. "We have tested at Meca Raceway with our old engine but we may test with our new engine at Santa Pod this Thursday." Shockwave aiming for big numbers. 19th May: The UK's Shockwave Fuel FC team are looking forward to the FIA Main Event with a repainted car and new sponsors. "We are looking to put on a good show and run some real fast times, all we need is the weather", says driver Gordon Smith. "Dave Bryant has been looking at a lot of things on the car and we feel that we have a good 5.40 combination which does not hurt parts so we will be looking to build on that and run with the other cars in the low five-teens. We had to completely renew the front half of the car for this year and we feel that this had a very good test at Easter where we all seemed to suffer from tyre shake. Many thanks to FGR Motorsports for their fantastic work on the car. I am so glad that we have all the padding in the head area now as this helps with the tyre shake and the headache is less severe. ©Eurodragster.com "All of the Funny Cars are looking to run low fives or in some cases high fours - I can assure all of our fans that we are not so far away from this ourselves. "Thanks to our sponsors for this year Mapei UK Ltd , West Ten International Transport, Lillies Ceramic Distribution, Autolite Spark Plugs and of course FGR Motorsport. We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Main Event. Come and talk to us and don't forget to listen to Nitro FM who will be running competitions with giveaways from Mapei UK Ltd and the Shockwave team." FIA Main Event shorts. 19th May: Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion, Sweden's Jimmy Ålund, and team are really looking forward to the 2009 season. "The car is pretty much the same as last year, just regular maintenance over winter", says Lars Rodeblad. "Jimmy has been training hard all winter to be fit for the fight. We hope to go to the start line at the Main Event with a competitive package. We recently ran the car at Meca Raceway and ran a best of 4.32/162 which is promising for the future. We know that the other guys are not resting either, so it should be another interesting and spectacular season in Pro Stock. The crew is the same as last year, but we can proudly announce that we added a new sponsor, Conoco Lubricants, in our quest for another Championship this year. Our 2009 Greg Ozubko-designed T-Shirts (below left) will be on sale at the Main Event. Please come and visit us and buy the multiple Champions T-shirt!" ©Eurodragster.com The Czech Republic's Otto Knebl will be contesting FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike on his Kawasaki ZX12R NX this weekend, as his new KDF Kawasaki ZZR14 turbo (above right) will only be ready to test after the FIA Main Event. "We raced in the first round of the Czech Drag Serie 2009 and came first in Competition, the highest category in the Czech Championship", says Yvona Kneblova. "We would like to defend our eighth place in the UEM Championship, or improve upon it. The bike is still Chamelion Green and we are sponsored by Pure Solve. The team remains Otto, mechanic Pavel Snítilý and myself." Swift snippets. 19th May: Steve Moxley tells us that UK Wild Bunch racer Martin Holgate made his first outing on his ex-Bill Marchetti Harley Gas Bike at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. "The bike has run 9.0", says Steve, adding "One for Best Appearing Bike at the end of the season." ©Eurodragster.com Following the news of the reinstatement of Top Fuel Bike at the SPRC Summernationals following the kind offer of financial support from Bulldog Bash Ltd, Dicko and Sarah say that they and their fellow drag race colleagues on the Bulldog Bash Ltd Committee have planned bigger and better drag strip activities than ever. This year's Bulldog Bash takes place on 6th-9th August at Shakespeare County Raceway. For more information check out www.bulldogbash.eu. Street Eliminator catch-up. 19th May: Ian Hook has been in touch with a review of the last two rounds of B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator: Sadly, with round two just two weeks after the opening shoot out of the season several cars were now reported as missing in action at Santa Pod's Big Bang. The forced induction quartet of Jon 'Moose' Hollingworth, Alex McIntosh, Davie Murdoch and Billy the Kid MacDermid had all suffered damage at round one and with just two weeks between meetings were unable to effect repairs. So that's who wasn't there, who was? Winners of round one the Lazenbys were there with their immaculately prepared '56 Chevy as was runner up Jeff Meads. Andy Frost made his return to the class, his twin-turbo Vauxhall Victor sporting its freshly rebuilt big-block Chevy, and he was joined by rookie Mark Todd along with SE's Scandinavian representative, Mats Andersson. The talk around the track on Saturday morning was of the match up between Frost and Lazenby, twin-turbo and radials versus mega-inches, nitrous and Sportsman Pros. After two sessions of qualifying it couldn't have been closer, Lazenby in first spot on 8.25 with Frost just two hundredths behind and with the fastest ever pass from an SE car under his belt at 189.4 mph. Sadly all the excitement generated was to come to nought when the '56 failed to appear at the gates for that evenings qualifying road cruise due to a valve spring failure. The following morning's qualifying saw Frost run an 8.17 to take pole and become the first SE car to top 190 mph with a terminal speed of 190.40 mph. Unfortunately this will not stand as a class record as current rules deem the on-trial Mickey Thompson Drag Radial tyre a temporary addition to the rule book thereby making cars shod with these tyres ineligible to set records. Frost, despite being aware of the rule beforehand, was understandably displeased with the situation. Lazenby's qualifying pass meant that there would still be three rounds of eliminations despite there only four cars being left in competition. The first round saw Frost, Meads and Andersson progress with Todd again having trouble in the Pontiac. The semi-finals presented Andersson with his second bye and an automatic berth in his first-ever final. In the other semi Meads actually took the lead on Frost but the turbo power of the Red Victor kicked in and took the win with the quickest ET of the weekend, 8.12. Meads also ran his quickest of the round with a stout (but losing) 8.6 second pass. The final looked a foregone conclusion - so long as Frost stayed away from the cherries! - and proved to be as the Vauxhall produced an 8.66 for the win over Andersson's 9.9 in the Opel. Just a week later the 'Few' reassembled at Shakespeare County Raceway in Warwickshire for round three at the Springspeed Nationals. Lazenby had new valve springs in the '56 and was ready to continue his quest for the title. Any hope of a continuation of the epic struggle for supremacy seen at Round 2 were dashed when it became evident that Andy Frost would not be showing up. Despite rumours of engine damage Frost stated that he was busy prepping the car for the following weekend's King of Europe West. But the real answer was on Frost's web site where he declared that he would no longer be racing in the class, citing the non-record from round two as a major reason. Although it is a shame to lose such a high-profile vehicle from the class the greatest loss was to the fans who, having had their appetite whetted the previous weekend, were keen to see a Frost/Lazenby battle played out to a conclusion. Jeff Meads, the super-enthusiastic Mark Todd and the ex-pat Swede Mats Andersson made up the rest of the small field. Qualifying went pretty much to form with Lazenby's off-the-trailer 8.28 taking pole. Meads' performances were below par but he still secured the second qualifying spot with a best ET of 9.02. Todd ran a PB of 9.2 but then was forced to retire with engine damage! There was a PB for Andersson with a 9.5. The remaining three drivers got their cars around the cruise OK and readied themselves for action on Monday. But with Monday came the rain! Finally at 5:00 pm the action started. Lazenby ran an 8.4 on a bye and was followed by Meads and Andersson. All the smart money was on Meads but the result was a lot closer than expected as Andersson smacked the Anglia driver with a huge two tenths holeshot and Meads was still lagging behind at 330 feet. But by the eighth mile mark the number two qualifier had caught the little Opel and took the win with his best ET of the weekend, a 9.01. However, Andersson could hold his head up as he finished only a couple of tenths behind. Extreme late running courtesy of the weather forced the organisers to abandon the meeting. The next round is at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com NSA brave the elements. 19th May: Although heavy rain put a huge damper on the day's anticipated sessions of timed motorcycle sprinting, those who did manage to brave the elements for the National Sprint Association's Southern Section Championship were treated to a well-prepared Shakespeare County Raceway strip which eventually led to some Personal Best performances being achieved by man and machine writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. With twenty riders converging on the Warwickshire facility drag legend Keith Parnell showed once again that he doesn't need a bus pass to get around these days! For personal transport he ought to be using his nine-second Kawasaki ZX12R with times as low as 9.200 at 157.16 mph. Also in fine form was Western Zoyland record holder Steve Mead on his immaculate K8 Suzuki Hayabusa turbo. Of the two runs made, Steve's best was an 8.169/179.30. Former NDRC Comp Bike racers Jayne and Dave Glover made a welcome return to the Long Marston track. Dave took his self-built Ducati 996 SPL drag bike to a best time of 10.451 while Jayne rode her 675cc Triumph Daytona to an 11.508/126.52. Rider of the day for Your Reporter was John Young. At sixty four years of age John was riding two near-identical 1936 Triumph Jap machines, found and built in France, in the Vintage class. John put down a far from straight 12.916 with the 500 cc machine whilst the 350 cc model fought its rider all the way down the quarter mile to register 13.877. ©Eurodragster.com Contest: Win a copy of Crazy Horses. 18th May: Eurodragster.com has teamed up with author Brian Taylor to offer readers a copy of Brian's excellent book Crazy Horses - The History of British Drag Racing which was recently published and which will be officially launched at this weekend's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Brian will sign the winner's copy. ©Eurodragster.com To enter, all you have to do is to predict the winner of FIA Pro Modified at this weekend's race. E-Mail eurodragster.win@btinternet.com specifying Crazy Horses contest as the subject and including the following details: Your pick for the winner of FIA Pro Modified at this weekend's FIA Main Event Your name Your address A daytime telephone number Entry closes at 23:59 UK this Friday, 22nd May. One entry per E-Mail address will be accepted and the winner will be picked at random from all correct entries received. Good luck! Event entry update. 18th May: Mikael Gloudemans tells us that entry closes this Friday (22nd May) for the Drachten Nationals which takes place at The Netherlands' Drachten Airfield on 19th-21st June. Entry is open to the following classes: Top Fuel Bike, Funny Bike, Super Twin Top Gas, Super Street Twin, Super Street Bike, Ultimate Street Bike (index 9.50), Street Twin (demo only), Street Bike, Street Bike ET (new ET-based class for 11.00 and slower), Junior Drag Bike. Top Methanol (demo only), Pro Modified (demo only), Competition Eliminator (demo only), Super Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Junior Dragster. To enter the Drachten Nationals, the Drachten Internationals on 10th-12th July, or the Goodridge Dutch Finals on 21st-23rd August visit www.explosiondragracing.com. ©Eurodragster.com This coming Friday is also the official closing date for entry to the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June. Entry after Friday, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. You can download SPRC Summernationals entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Schöfers' short off-season. 18th May: After winning the 2008 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Championship, Germany's Peter Schöfer Racing had a short and interesting off-season, writes team member Gittli Koller: We went to the States to get more information about how to run our car more quickly and faster, and we really hope that we transfer this information to the track. The car is more or less the same, we have some news toys to play with and we will try to get even better information about how the car runs. Many safety changes were necessary for both car and driver to conform to the FIA rules. Maybe some fans do not realise that it costs a lot of money to follow all these changes, but as we all know safety comes first and we should not complain if it saves keeps our drivers or spectators secure. Unfortunately we had no chance to test this year. Usually we go to the track at Kunmadaras in Hungary to open the season but of course they are focused on the UEM Championship round coming up in August. So we fired the motor up next to our workshop, which is in the middle of a residential area, so the neighbours had some entertainment. ©Eurodragster.com The car has the same paint so you will the silver and red Bavarian Thunder car, although the front wing looks a bit different. It will be the same old crew with the three Schöfer brothers Peter, Wolfi and Rudi, Kirsten Krause, Ralf Rowold, Heike Schäfer, Christl Sulz, Alfred Widmann and myself. So no big changes. We plan to contest all of the FIA races and some other races too. Our goal for this year is to run the car consistently and a bit quicker than last year, when we had a new engine and had to start from scratch with the tuning. We are definitely looking forward to go racing and to see our racing friends. We would like to to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors and supporters Normstahl, Norfolkline, JE-Pistons, Sunoco, Uvex, Mipa, PePe Calwer, Weindel US Parts, Fa. Reindl, the Friends of PSR, Schneider, Widmann, GRP Rods, Taylor Motorsports and MoTec. And we thank you guys at Eurodragster.com for every day's news. Keep up the good work (Thanks, we'll do our best - Ed). FIA Main Event shorts. 18th May: UK Fuel FC pilot Gary Page is looking forward to getting back into the Mongoose Performance Exhausts/Pennzoil FC now owned by Sue Collins of Collins Performance Engineering. Kenneth Lorentzon is still tuning the car and he came over from Sweden a couple of weeks ago and the team fired up the car", Gary told Eurodragster.com. "Now we can't wait to get to Santa Pod. I really must thank Sue Collins who has done everything she can to make the transition of ownership as easy and painless as possible, and she wants to do it right. Sue wants us to get out there and run well and advertise Mongoose Performance Exhausts and Collins Performance Engineering and we can't wait to do it for her." UK Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Carey says that his Purple Princess should be somewhat different this season after some wayward passes in previous years. "After some work on the fuel tank and moving weight around the bike now balances on a knife-edge", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "All being well we will be at the Main Event. We started the motor so we know that we have all the bits in the right places and the bodywork is due to come back with its new colours although it is of course still purple. Riding the bike should be a different experience now and there will certainly be some anticipation at the first launch." Reigning FIM/UEM Supertwin Champion, Norway's Svein Olav Rolfstad, jokes that his chances at the title this year are better than in last year. "We have built a brand new bike", says Svein Olav. "We tested at Gardermoen in May but we only made one pass of 7.43/191. So far it looks promising as we ran a really mild set-up. We have four new sponsors this year: Midthaug AS, Notaplan AS, Røinås Fyringsservice AS and ITC from Florida. The crew will be the same as before, but with some extra help from Hansa". You can find out more at www.rolfstad.com. Swedish Top Methanol Dragster racer Krister Johansson has high hopes for the class at the FIA Main Event. "It is a dream for me to have four injected-nitro dragsters at the same event", he says. "It means so much to me as does having ten TMDs in total. I think the bump will be 5.55 or faster and top spot 5.37/274. I have a lot of new parts and even a new tune-up, and my team is the same old gang but little reinforced. So watch out for that yellow car this year!" ©Eurodragster.com Swedish Pro Modified racer Mats Eriksson is looking to continue where he left off in 2009 so has not done much more than to service the car, says Mats' wife Lena Perés. "The Easter Thunderball was meant to be a test weekend to learn about the car but the track conditions were difficult so the results were not too good", says Lena. "This year is going to be tougher than ever with so many good teams at the top of Pro Mod. The car still looks the same (so far) and the crew has not changed. They are learning more routines to become even more effective. I don't have to cook so much any more because our new girl Åsa has the education for that. We will be selling our T-Shirts including the new children's sizes." The UK's Bob Brooks had a frantic thrash to get the Yellow Metal bike ready for its last outing at Shakespeare County Raceway and has had some work to do before contesting FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike at the FIA Main Event. "I made up some patterns and had a new head cast (for the bike, not for me)", says Bob. "The head performed well at Shakespeare County but other problems surfaced, the main being a seized input shaft in the back of the clutch. Hopefully with these fairly minor problems sorted the bike will start to work properly at the Main Event. It'll be a thrash but it always is! We've got to go to pick up our trophy for Best Engineered Bike at the Springspeed Nationals. I'll be happy to get a few runs in under full power so we have a baseline to work on. We hope to get to Hockenheim this year if the bike is performing reliably and I've still got some money left." BA Racing Realise a sponsor. 18th May: 2008 MSA British Pro Modified Champions BA Racing are pleased and excited to welcome Realising Designs to the team for the 2009 season. Realising Designs join Bert Englefield and the team just in time for the FIA Main Event and are set to release BA Racing's amazing new site later this month, featuring the latest news, photos, videos and feeds to keep up to date with the team. Realising Designs are a well-established Kent based company, working with clients both across the county and nationally. They are able to offer professional and skilled services at competitive rates, with all work to the latest web standards and designed to put the customer in control. They offer web site design, hosting, ecommerce and are experienced with content management systems. ©Eurodragster.com "We are very excited and thrilled to be part of the BA Racing Team and look forward to the season ahead" said James Montgomery, owner of Realising Designs. Realising Designs will be happy to build any racers their own amazing site and don't be scared to contact them for a free quote at really competitive price. You can check out their portfolio at www.realisingdesigns.com. Swift snippets. 18th May: Worrying rumours of endless Main Event sunshine reach the crypt of the UK's Team Nosferatu Super Pro ET team. The team is therefore eternally grateful that Gothic clothing company Dark Cult have decided to sponsor them, and have come to their aid with a casketful of their very best dark, mysterious, long-sleeved tops. "It is hoped that these will prevent us all spontaneously bursting into flames on the start line when we step out of the hearse into the late May sunshine", says Mysterious Count Ray Eldred. "If you also fear the effects of exposure to the sunlight, or if you harbour a desire to dress in dark, stylish or alternative clothing, then visit Dark Cult's lair on the web at www.darkcult.com." Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä is planning to test at this Thursday's pre-FIA Main Event Pro Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. If you fancy testing yourself, or if you fancy a sneak nitro preview, then you can find out about the Peak Performance Day at www.rwyb.com. The Tommi and Anita Top Fuel Team web site at www.anitamakela.com has been given a new look for 2009 and features Anita's blog, team list (Check it out and see why we call them the J Team - Ed), race calendar, biographies of Anita and Tommi, and more. The current points standings in the 2009 ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com. Thanks very much to Wayne Schreier of APIRA's Tech Crew for sending us the standings from what little qualifying was possible for the National Association of Supertwins and Junior Drag Bike at a rain-affected Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. Click for the Supertwin Gas, Supertwin ET and Junior Drag Bike numbers. ©Eurodragster.com The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com arrived from The Netherlands with the words "Birdy 598". This is pretty obviously Wildo Sijm's wild altered so we are guessing that it has had a motor transplant. If you would like to send your own spy picture then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Colin Stevens tells us that C&P UK Nitro are now able to offer drag racing books in addition to their excellent T-Shirts. "I will have a small range with me at the Main Event", says Colin, "including John Force 300 mph Superstar, Quarter Mile Chaos, Gasser Photo Archive, Pro Stock Drag Racing of the 70s, Funny Cars of the 70s, Fuel Altered Archive and more. I can be contacted at colinhotrodts@btinternet.com, call 07903 313384, or of course see me at the Pod and Shakey." Congratulations to Matthew Rayner from Kent who was the winner of last week's Lucas Oil/Carter Motorsport contest and who receives a pair of weekend tickets to the FIA Main Event. Enjoy your weekend Matthew. Our good buddy and Supertwin ET racer John Hackney of Copyprint Depot tells us that his friend and business partner Keron Rogers' band Deaf by Thirty will be playing a set in Fuelers (sic) Bar at Santa Pod Raceway this coming Saturday evening. You can find out more on the band's official web site at www.deafbythirty.co.uk. Saturday's lunchtime report from the pre-FIA Main Event Run What you Brung at Santa Pod Raceway raised much hilarity and a number of appreciative comments. We cannot however take the credit as our list of lunch choices which formed that report was the idea of Lee Child of Eurodragster.com Links sponsor LA Racing Parts. Nice one Lee! Problem solved! 18th May: The good news from B&H Automotive / LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Mark Todd, after his retirement from the recent Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, is that there is no motor damage to his Firebird but that the team have found and rectified a problem: Having struggled with interference problems at rounds one and two, I was really looking forward to this meet. I had re-mounted and fully re-wired the boost controller so was fairly confident that the problem was solved. Saturday morning was an early start as Street Eliminator were first out. I was up against an ever improving Mats Andersson. As soon as I let go of the transbrake I knew the car didn't feel quite right but temperatures and pressures were good so I kept my foot down. It pulled a relatively sluggish 1.7 sixty foot but seemed to hold boost for the entire length of the track which was a massive relief. At the back of my mind I knew that it hadn't pulled as hard as it had done at previous meets before the controller had failed. On the return road I realised there was a problem as tickover was down by 200 rpm the ECU was struggling to maintain idle. I was surprised by a 9.26 second time slip, however that slip showed poor top end gain. Plugs were pulled and it was immediately apparent that a problem had occurred with the front two driver's bank cylinders. The cylinders contained antifreeze and electrodes were green and melted. The run had been fully datalogged so all eyes switched to the log. This is when the problem became more of a mystery as the data log showed a very safe 10.5 AF ratio throughout the run. The regrettable decision was made to withdraw from the round. We decided to stay Saturday night which was a great decision as a good time was had by all (Street Eliminator drag racing on the dodgems). On Sunday Paul Houston, who had driven all the way from Bathgate in Scotland to help crew, offered to hitch up the car and drop it at John Sleath's on his way home. Big thanks Paul. This week the engine was pulled and the heads removed. At first the mystery continued as there was no apparent engine damage. However further investigation revealed the problem. Combustion marks on the head gasket told the story: under boost the heads had lifted very slightly between cylinders This is a common phenomenon and had occurred in previous years without a problem, the difference this year was the heads. The new heads have water jackets very close to the between-cylinder region. As soon as the head lifted, instead of harmless combustion gasses passing between cylinders, not so harmless coolant filled the cylinders taking out the spark plugs. All in all a great result as: It was not a tune issue. No major parts need replacing. A definitive cause was determined. The solution is simple: the problem waterways stop at the head gasket anyway so weld them up and quick skim. Now we are looking forward to round four. A massive thanks to Jonny 'Two Tins' Sleath for support on the day and the quick repair, and to Paul Houston and Mike Lacey for a great crewing job - sorry it was cut so short. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 18th May: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and joint Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Lex Joon tells of the rush to attend the FIA Main Event after clinching a sponsorship deal with Corporate Persuasion. As ever you can check out the latest Blog update by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Pre-FIA Main Event Test coverage. 16th May: We are in our usual place in Race Control at Santa Pod Raceway to bring you all the news from the pre-FIA Main Event Test Weekend in association with American Car Imports. The plan for today's Run What You Brung is for lunchtime and end-day reports and a photo gallery at the end of the day, whilst the plan for tomorrow's Peak Performance Day is for a live report and an end-day photo gallery. The Webster Race Engineering/Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 webcam will be on-line all weekend and as ever will be scheduled to post a picture every sixty seconds. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to check out our pre-FIA Main Event Test Weekend coverage, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select the FIA Main Event. Welcome Superpower Unlimited. 16th May: We are very pleased to welcome Superpower Unlimited as a sponsor of Eurodragster.com News. "Although based in Scotland we offer a truly American flavour for big-inch engines and have built up a reputation for value and reliability within a diverse range of motorsports ranging from fast road cars to nitro-burning dragsters!", says Kenny Gomez. "Having worked as a Jaguar mechanic in the 1970s and honed my skills in the States back in the early 1980s I soon realised that the saying "There ain't no substitute for cubic inches" is true! "All of our primary parts are manufactured in the USA. Assembly and building are carried out at our workshops to your specification. Our specialities include Big Block Chevy 454 ci to 706 ci and Ford 460ci to 690 ci for street, strip and marine applications. We can install Nitrous Oxide injection and supercharging and supply complete engines from 450 hp to 2000 hp plus! ©Eurodragster.com "We have partnered with most major supercharger specialists in the USA and we can supply all their products with a full backup service for all makes of roots-type blowers from 4-71 street blowers up to Top Fuel 14-71 units. Our blowers are used by top teams who have been setting records on the drag racing circuit for the last four years such as the Venom Racing Fuel Altered team, the Chaos Fuel Altered team and the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team. Please see www.superpowerunlimited.co.uk for what we can offer, and thanks to Luke Bennett of Escape Design for a great job on the web site." We would like to say a big Thank You to Kenny Gomez for his support of Eurodragster.com. We are very proud of our roster of sponsors which gives our readers a wide breadth of choice for anything they could possibly need. We are sure that our readers will repay the support of Superpower Unlimited when looking for goods and services. About time too! 16th May: After two years of running low nines, the UK's Bryan Whiltfield hit his goal of an eight-second pass at Wheels USA at Santa Pod last week. "Thanks to Ian Tubb, who went through the car and thought he'd found some improvments over the winter, we went to the line on Saturday morning feeling fairly optimistic", says Bryan. "A decent rolling burnout and then the car seemed to launch pretty hard. It felt a good run. When they came to tow me back it was "How did that feel?". I said "Pretty good" and they replied "9.1...only joking, 8.9!". I said "Whoo-hoo" or something similar. ©Eurodragster.com "The next three runs were all clean 8.9s and then on Sunday morning in better air we ran a storming 8.78/152 against Andy Fadster in his wild street-driven T-Bucket. Big congratulations to Andy on running his first eight, and respect, a top guy and racer - you could dedicate a whole page to that guy's efforts. "Anyhow, deciding you can have too much of a good thing we headed home. I'm glad we set off early because the normally ultra-reliable Bigjob truck broke down, adding about three hours to our normal journey. And now I'm looking forward to Gary's Picnic for obvious reasons! Thanks to the guys and gals at the Pod for a first class track, Liam, Dazz, Louise, Dani, Wayne Nicholson, Ken and Dennis at EDA, Ian Tubb, Roger Butterworth, and a list a mile long - you know who you are." Venom recovered. 16th May: After a catastrophic weekend at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway the UK's Venom Racing Fuel Altered team have rallied round in more ways than one, writes Tony Betts: ©Eurodragster.com The team have been round most nights burning the midnight oil. They have been chasing potential sponsors and have managed to secure monies to put the car back on track for the FIA Main Event. A big Thank You goes out to Gary Burgin who has pulled out all the stops, to Barry at RCD for all his help in locating the only other timing cover and snout in the world, to Tracy, Darren and Martin of Signorama for all their hard work in getting Venom re-wrapped for the Main Event - you won't believe it - to Kenny Gomez for the quickest turnaround of our supercharger and finally to my crew whom I cannot thank enough. Evening Charge. 16th May: Photo-journalist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski has been in touch to afford us a sneak preview of his latest work. "This was actually the first oil on canvas I attempted a couple of years ago, and it has only just been completed", says Gredzo. "I don't normally go for giving my paintings twee names, but this one was always called Evening Charge from the outset. "The subject is the 1973 Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger of Charlie Proite with Russell Long at the wheel. I employed a quadruple 0 brush, which is about the finest you can get at the art shop, for the first time to get the sponsor names in place. Not quite with one hair but not far off! ©Eurodragster.com "The picture depicts the car on a typical Saturday night qualifying pass. The main reference was from a black and white shot with the body up - I painted in the wheels and engine while converting it to colour. What is not immediately apparent about the image is that it would be nearly impossible to capture on film at the time. This is because the viewpoint is moderately wide-angle and taken from the centre of the track past the Tree (You know one photog who would be mad enough to stand there - Ed). Also, technically, the car would have been backlit. By manipulating the tones the 'exposure' of the image could be balanced. This is what I really enjoy about painting race cars: making a difficult-to-capture image possible. Like getting a fire burnout while viewed from about four feet in front of a Funny Car. Now there's a thought... Nitro FM invite fans' views. 16th May: To add to this year's new features Nigel Fitzmaurice of Santa Pod Raceway's radio station Nitro FM is inviting fans to contribute their own views at next week's FIA Main Event. "We are looking for fans, one each day, to come into the studio at the end of the day and give a fan's view of the racing and events that day", says Nigel. "It's your chance to have a say about what they have seen and what they have done, and how they have enjoyed the day. Whether it is your first visit to Santa Pod or whether you have been coming for years it is your chance to be feature alongside our regular slots such as On-line with Eurodragster.com and Top Fuel Views with Gary Page. ©Eurodragster.com "We need one volunteer each for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If you are interested then please get in touch with me before next Wednesday at nigel@nitrofm.co.uk. I will reply to all E-Mails." A weekend of bests for Crossley. 16th May: The Springspeed Nationals was the most successful event so far for UK Comp Bike racer Phil Crossley and the Bopchop team: This year I set two goals, one was to run into the low eight-second zone, and the other was to survive one round of eliminations. We came close on one count! The Springspeed Nationals was the perfect antidote to the Easter Thunderball, where we had problems with the bike hurtling to the right just after launch. The first run of the weekend was a complete wind-up. We made it to the line, went into stage and when I opened the throttle wide open, instead of the revs rising to the limiter, the engine just coughed and cut out completely. Run over! With that out of the way however we went on to make five successful runs over the course of the weekend. Some careful tweaking of the wheelie bars seemed to have vanquished the handling problems of the last round. All but one run were new Personal Bests, both ET and speeds. We did have the obligatory no nitrous run after it failed to come on, a faulty relay being the culprit there. And we did have a tiny incident on the return road which ended up with the tow rope wrapped round the front wheel and my crewman Stuart tumbling across the return road and into the grass. He was glad he had his helmet on but was largely unhurt. The Bopchop suffered some minor flattening of its exhaust which is rather beneficial as there is more ground clearance now! ©Eurodragster.com In the first round of eliminations we were paired against Dave Buttery. The evening before, Dave had been lulling me into thinking I might have a chance when he was telling me that he'd being having trouble getting the bike's turbo to spool up off the line. He whupped me completely of course! But we were celebrating anyway as we posted a new PB of 8.52/156, two tenths quicker than last year's best ET. Thanks to the all the folks at Shakespeare County Raceway for preparing such a good track, and putting on such a good event. Can’t wait till the Open Sport Nationals in August. We have some much larger carburettors on the way for the SPRC Summernationals, and are hoping for a decent improvement in top end speed. Oh, and I have some some larger footpegs so I have at least a mild chance of finding somewhere for my feet sometime before half track! You can stay in touch with all the latest from the Bopchop team on Phil's excellent Blog at gsxbopchop.blogspot.com. Making a Good start. 16th May: UK Super Pro ET racer Nick Good and the NG Motorsport team were pleased with their start to the 2009 season: We missed the Easter Thunderball last year and the 200 points bonus for attending all rounds of the Championship, along with any points we may have gained, really hurt us in the final Championship standings. So we were determined to get off to a good start this year. The rain over the first couple of days of this year's Easter Thunderball did give us a chance to get the ATI trans casing recertified by Andy Robinson...carrying the box 50 yards to Andys pit was better than a 220-mile round trip later in the year. With the trans out we discovered the flex plate had been moving on the crank. Thanks to Jeff Bull, Geoff Hauser and Jon Webster who got the necessary parts together we had the car ready for the anticipated sunshine on Sunday. Well, the sun never did appear on Sunday and after two unsuccessful attempts to get the power down onto a marginal track we were left qualified in 19th position. Not knowing whether this was down to the track or the changes we had made to the car over the winter, we decided to revert back to our 2008 tune-up, and to keep our fingers crossed for a warm(-ish) track. By the time the first round of eliminations came round the track was behaving itself and we had a good idea of how the car would perform. Tight wins against Jack Brewster, Barry Giles and Rod Harrison took us to a semi-final match up against Bob Doyle. Unfortunately a red light in the dark handed the win to Bob who went on to win the event. Well done to Bob for the win and also to Steve Taylor for reaching the final in his first event. There was no time to rest after our return from the Easter Thunderball. We were honoured to have been asked to display our car as the prime exhibit at the opening of the stunning new Frederick Bremmer School in Walthamstow, so the Beovax Computer Services dragster had to look its best. The twenty five million pound school is the first of the Government's Building Schools for the Future program and is a Specialist Engineering College. Frederick Bremer built the first petrol-powered car in the UK in 1894 and we were chosen to illustrate the advances made in engineering and performance over the last 115 years. The opening was on 29th April so we headed off to London to arrive after the pupils had left for the day and the car was assembled in the main entrance hall of the school. The 150 invited guests were a who's who of local and Government education departments, architects, suppliers and local dignitaries along with the press and TV. It was a busy evening. All the guests took a great deal of interest in the car, and the NG Motorsport team answered what seemed like thousands of questions about the car and the sport of drag racing. After the speeches the school plaque was unveiled by the BBC Education Correspondent James Whitehead. We are also pleased to announce a partnership between the Frederick Bremer School and NG Motorsport after discussions with Nigel Bell, the school's Director of Specialism. A close involvement with the team, race day visits to Santa Pod, and the manufacture of components for our race car using their specialist facilities will bring benefits to both parties. I don't think they can wait to see some serious engineering in action! Swift snippets. 16th May: Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences is contesting this weekend's NHRA Sportsman Challenge at Houston Raceway Park with his injected-nitro dragster. You can stay in touch with Mike's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words at all (below left). If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. ©Eurodragster.com UK B&H Automotive / LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Bill Macdermid has stocked up with a new batch of T-Shirts (above right). The shirts are available in all sizes, adult and kids', and they can be purchased using Paypal on Bill's newly-updated web site at www.billythekidracing.co.uk or E-Mail billyhotrodz@hotmail.com. Web site updates. 16th May: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News on Thursday you will have read about Andy Fadster's radiator-wrecking wheelie in his street-legal eight-second T-Bucket. Photographer Ian Blackett has been in touch to let us know that he caught Andy's wheelie in slow motion and you can check it out at www.blackettphotography.com/videos/ModelT.mov. ©Eurodragster.com More advice from Bradford. 16th May: Santa Pod Raceway track commentator, TV presenter and Financial Adviser Darryl Bradford has been in touch again with an update to his news items offering a free and exclusive financial advice service to racers and spectators. "I was contacted by a couple of racers who have given their kind permission to share their stories with you" said Darryl. "First was Mark Bishop, who we all now remember from that infamous wheelie at Easter. He was rather upset that his bank and anyone he could find were going to charge him so much to have his life and critical illness covered because he raced. Well long story short, other than being upset about bending the car I managed to do it for him for about one third of the cost he was quoted elsewhere, and cover him while he was racing! "Also, I've recently managed to get Ian Carruthers, or Rush as everyone knows him, covered to ride the Top Fuel Bike. Now if anyone who races has a mortgage or family they will appreciate that it is a very valuable thing to have. Also, Rush was previously paying more and was not covered while racing, so a good deal all round especially as most insurers will exclude timed motorsports events from being covered. "This free specialist service is for any racer or spectator who comes to me via my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=688381427 or by E-Mail at dbradfordifa@yahoo.co.uk. "Also, if you need help with remortgaging or buying, life insurance, investment or any other financial matter stop by and contact me, and all the best for a safe and fast Main Event!" ©Eurodragster.com Event entry update. 15th May: Hot on the heels of the news that the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June, will be hosting a round of ACU Top Fuel Bike with backing from Bulldog Bash Ltd (about which you can read more on the King Racing web site) comes word from Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall that the Top Fuel Bike entry form for the event is now available on the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you wish to contest the SPRC Summernationals in whichever class then please remember that next Friday, 22nd May, is the official closing date for entry. Entry after next Friday, if accepted, will be subject to a 100% late entry penalty. Again you can download SPRC Summernationals entry forms from the SPRC web site as above. ©Eurodragster.com Super Modified and National Association of Supertwins racers please note that there are three weeks left to enter the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday-Sunday 27th-28th June and which is a Championship round for Super Modified, Supertwin Fuel, Supertwin Gas and Supertwin ET. Entry closes on Friday 5th June and again you can download the entry form from the SPRC web site as above. Friday 5th June is also the official closing date for the HKS Series round at the Jap Show which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 21st June. Again you can download the entry form from the SPRC web site as above. Troa's first date. 15th May: Frøya's Per Håkon Troa is headed for Santa Pod Raceway this weekend to make his first passes in his Top Methanol Funny Car which was formerly owned by Freddy Fagerström. The plan is for Per Håkon to gain his licence during this weekend and then to test at next Thursday's Pro Peak Performance Day. Konrad Ree of the Islanders Drag Race Team tells us that Per Håkon and the team are very much looking forward to racing at the Main Event and that they hope they learn a lot. The team do not yet know how many other races they will contest this year, preferring to make a decision based upon their experienced at next weekend's race. ©Eurodragster.com The Firebird-bodied TMFC, still the quickest and fastest TMFC in Europe from its days under Urs Erbacher's ownership, has been updated to 2009 spec and the motor has had a complete overhaul from team Ingvald Fredagsvik, Øystein Sørtømme, Ronny Sandvik, Martin Hongeseth and Raymond Kavli. The team race on a low budget but are very grateful for sponsorship from Frøya Transportsenter, Sandvik Transport, Sandvik Bilakkering, Fosen Tools and HM Transport. Per Hå would like to thank Fast Freddy for his help and supervision, and Paul Ingar Udtian for his advice. So that's what the pictures were... 15th May: Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed a series of spy pictures on this week's Eurodragster.com News. All were of the brand new Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster to be campaigned by defending FIA Top Fuel Champion Andy Carter and the Andersen Racing team. The team met in Denmark over the past weekend to make final preparations for their first outing of the season at next week's FIA Main Event. As well as a seat fitting for Andy and the cleaning and preparation of the race trailer the team also shattered the peace and quiet of their small and sleepy home town when the 8000 bhp Top Fuel monster was brought to life in a very smelly nitro warm-up inside the Andersen Racing workshop. Over the winter the Championship-winning car has seen significant changes in the workshops of Mats Eriksson and Andersen Racing. As well as the mandatory rear chassis changes, the front half of the car is new, there is a new body, there are a few new 'custom' new parts and a fantastic new Lucas Oil colour scheme. ©Eurodragster.com "The car has been updated to the latest specifications", said crew Chief Karsten Andersen. "We have also taken the opportunity to make changes to the front end of the car. The car is essentially all new and we can't wait to get it onto the track". When asked why the changes were made Karsten quipped "Well, we are not planning on going slower!" "The cockpit on the new car feels great", commented Andy Carter. "The roll cage has been lowered and this weekend I had my fitting and cast made for a custom-moulded seat. Add in the new Impact Racing harnesses and I feel very at home!". Blower Technician Henrik Lund added "The new blue paintwork looks stunning; when the sun hits it on the track it will look fantastic." Be sure to visit the team in the pits and say hello to the crew, and don't forget to pick up your copy of King Of Europe and to enter the team's grand prize draw in which you can win tickets to join them in the USA. For more from Andy Carter and the Carter Motorsport / Andersen Racing Team visit www.andycarter.net. Joon goes Corporate. 15th May: if you were tuned into Eurodragster.com News on Tuesday then you will have read that Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and joint Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Lex Joon is to contest next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. The MPM Oil-sponsored racer had planned a limited schedule this year but additional funding has been secured from London-based Corporate Persuasion to enable Lex to attend the first Championship round. "I'm thrilled to be able to announce that we will enter the FIA Main Event", Lex told Eurodragster.com. "It was unthinkable for a lot of people that we would not take part, but at the last moment a Corprate Persuasion have stepped forward and made it possible for us to compete and for our fans to see us." Corporate Persuasion assists both teams and organisations seeking sponsorship, mainly within motorsports but also other sports and brands. The principal strength of the company is in identifying the sponsorship required by both parties, sponsor and team, and then working up the overall proposal to final presentation and assisting in any presentations. ©Eurodragster.com At this stage this is a one-off deal for the FIA Main Event, but with the possibility of future events in the UK and Europe. The deal is seen as a win-win for all concerned, including Lex Joon Racing, Santa Pod Raceway and the potential for raising sponsorship for the FIA European Championship in the future. Corporate Persuasion CEO Ian Forbes is working with European Championship promoter Keith Bartlett to raise sponsorship for the FIA Championships in 2010 and 2011. "I am very proud to carry the name of Corporate Persuasion on the dragster and grateful for their support which allows us to race next week", said Lex. "When my crew asked me what our plans for the Main Event I told them that I would like to go but that we did not have the budget to make the trip to Santa Pod. E-Mails kept coming from fans asking if there was a possibility that we would enter. It gave me a warm feeling and makes me very proud to see that the fans think you need to show up because a Main Event without you will not be the real deal. I told my crew that I was keeping on working to find the opportunity to make it and that they should keep their schedules clear in case I need them. "The car is in top shape. With all kinds of changes performed over the winter it will be better then ever before, and now we get the chance to prove it. I can't wait to start racing. "And, for Anita: I sent in my entry form straight away!" Swift snippets. 15th May: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Urs Erbacher has a number of parts for sale ranging from clutch stands through tyres, belts, blocks, to nitro and a lot more. Check out Urs' list (Word format) by clicking here and if you see anything you like then get in touch with Urs at bikes@fatattack.ch or call +41 61 743 0400 and the parts can be brought to next week's FIA Main Event. ©Eurodragster.com The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no description but with a promise of more information soon. As you probably know we are impatient souls here at Eurodragster.com and we just can't wait so if you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, please drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting this weekend's NHRA Sportsman Challenge at Houston Raceway Park with his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying commences today; you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. Lex and Gerda Joon have been in touch to ask us to wish a big Happy 50th Birthday to Dutch photo-journalist Remco Scheelings. Our pleasure guys, have a great day Remco and we'll see you next week. Hot night in the 'nam. 15th May: Although he's still waiting for parts for FB Racing's new big block Ford, B&H Automotive / LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook has kept himself busy recently by organising the annual Rodders'n'Racers Curry Night which was held on Tuesday night in Cheltenham. The Everest Balti Restaurant played host to the event, which is now in its seventh year, and staff were kept busy feeding and watering over seventy hungry hot rodders, drag racers and various other petrolheads. The free raffle featured over £600-worth of goodies and Ian is grateful to The Everest Quartermile High, Widdows Motors, Halfords, A&E Fire Equipment, American Car World, Santa Pod Raceway, Shakespeare County Raceway, Cheltenham Motor Club and Hot Rod Tees as well as fellow team members and friends for the generous donation of a multitude of prizes. Fatty would also like to sincerely thank all those who attended on the evening as they are what make the work required more than worthwhile. "I hope to see you all again next year", he says. ©Eurodragster.com Unfortunately the pistons needed to continue the build of the eight-second street-legal '34 Ford's new engine continue to be elusive - "I reckon they're made of unobtanium" says Fatty - and attendance at this year's SPRC Summernationals is now highly unlikely. However the team do promise to be out this year, hopefully for the party that is Bug Jam, and to continue to provide the high-speed entertainment Street Eliminator style. For Ian and the rest of the FBs the return to the track just can't come soon enough! Paul Rose's ashes. 14th May: Terry Revill has been in touch to advise that the late Paul Rose's ashes will be scattered at the top end at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of day one of qualifying for the SPRC Summernationals, Saturday 13th June. All are welcome to attend. The exact time of the ceremony will be advised on the PA and on Nitro FM on the day. Erbacher at Santa Pod, but... 14th May: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Urs Erbacher says that there has been a misunderstanding about his attendance at the FIA Main Event. A press release sent last week gave us all the idea that Urs would be racing at Santa Pod but although he will be there in person Urs has left his Top Fuel operation in the USA. "We will only run Lo Stäuble's Supertwin next week", says Urs. "I will be there with Lo to help the bike to run fast and to hang around in the pits. For the first time I will have more time to talk to my friends and spectators. "To bring my race operation from the USA to Europe and back would cost me $50,000. If we could find a sponsor to pay that much then we would load up today - if anyone knows someone out there then let me know. ©Eurodragster.com "We have just finished Lo's bike (right) and we are still working on our second trailer. It's the same MAN truck and three-wheel Wilson trailer as we have in the USA. I need to get the truck and trailer inspected today and we are running short of time. The truck still needs a paint job and our big awning is not ready. But everything will be ready for Hockenheim. A third trailer is being worked on in England, so we will end up with two MAN trucks and four trailers. Two trailers, one for my Top Fuel car and one for my School car, are in the USA. The two other trailers and MAN truck are in Europe for racing here. "We are trying to fix my new Hadman car in time to race in Chicago or Norwalk in June and in Sonoma in July. The second car is 2009-legal and ready to rent. You could live the dream like Jens Riehl did in Las Vegas: he made four runs and John Force signed his licence. Where can you have that? Only with the Erbacher Top Fuel Racing School in the USA." If you are interested in renting Urs' spare car to race or to licence then you can contact him through his web site at www.fattack.ch. The Crazy Horses reunion. 14th May: By now you will be aware that the official launch of Brian Taylor's excellent book Crazy Horses – The History of British Drag Racing, is to take place on the Sunday of the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway (24th May). Brian tells us that the launch is promising to be the largest gathering yet of the sport's pioneers. "Attending will be John Bennett, Alan Allard, Gerry Belton attending Santa Pod for the first time since the late 1960s, and in the case of Californian Bob Keith his first time ever", says Brian. "They are being joined by many more including Dave Lee Travis, Dave Stone and Gerry Andrews (a Stones Racing Team reunion), Dennis Priddle, Peter Crane, Roz Prior, John Hobbs and the complete Pegasus team of Ian Messenger, Mick Butler and Derek Chinn. ©Eurodragster.com "Two more bike racing contacts who have recently confirmed their attendance are Alf Hagon and Brian Chapman. And although he is now in his eighties, I've just had a call from Harold Bull of Stripduster fame who says he will make it. Harold received the first timing ticket issued at Santa Pod in 1966. There will be several book-signing sessions during the weekend and the Pod Shop will have plenty in stock. This really is an occasion not to be missed." An eight and a tenner. 14th May: Congratulations to Andy Fadster who ran the first-ever eight-second pass in the National Street Car Challenge with his wild street-legal T-bucket at Wheels USA at Santa Pod Raceway last week. "With all the work over winter the street-legal T now runs 966 hp with a small nitrous tune",says Andy. "Our best ET of the weekend was an 8.9644/152.00 with a backup run of 8.9646/150. An early wheelstand killed the radiator but we made a trip to a local scrap yard and one £10 Vauxhall radiator later our goal for this season was won. "The hard work has paid off and we are hoping to be around the 8.6s at some point during the season with more development on the rear suspension. We are still aiming to be the fastest street-driven T-bucket in the world, and with 4000 street miles last year we are hoping to take some beating. An invitation to join the Supercharged Outlaws will see us running against some incredible race cars and we are hoping to provide the kind of show the Outlaws expect. "Thanks really go to my Crew Chief Craig Dixon who organises the Hot Rod and Hills weekend and still finds time to crew for me, and also to John Sleath who seems to have the genius to keep the T reliable. "The NSCC is open to any rear wheel drive muscle car or hot rod. Cars are running from...well, the eights up to the twenties but the fastest car has never won the Challenge so its real grass-roots racing at the best tracks Britain has to offer. Details can be found at www.hotrodgazette.com." Swift snippets. 14th May: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the final version of the official FIA Main Event entry list. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Ulf Holtholm tells us that Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Timo Lehtimäki will be making his first competitive outing of the year at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro in July. "We had our chassis updated at ME Racing during the off-season", says Ulf. "We are just finishing the car and we will try to test at Alastaro before the Nitro Nationals." We have been sent four spy pictures with the instruction was that we should run one per day this week. So here is today's fourth of four; again no information came with the picture so if you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. ©Eurodragster.com Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting this weekend's NHRA Sportsman Challenge at Houston Raceway Park with his injected-nitro dragster. Qualifying commences tomorrow; you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. German Pro ET kicks off. 14th May: Twenty seven entries made a picture-perfect start to the German Pro ET season, writes our good friend Markus Münch: German Pro ET was formed last year. Tony Brandes, a hot rodder from the heart and former Street Eliminator racer together with Boris Bauer, also a former SE driver, took things over and started the project in 2008. Good events were held in Bitburg and Rothenburg and the racers' interest was sparked. Twenty seven racers at the first event in 2009 was a more than decent turnout for the very pleased organisators. Jerry Lackey was also very pleased with the performance and appearance of the class. The racers enjoyed the racing and the spectators enjoyed the cars so there is a lot to come in future. There were four qualifying runs and then eliminations. The top four were: Thomas Helmbrecht (Chevy Camaro) Jens Dahms (Dodge Coronet) Dominic Mucha (AMC) Ralf Klinge (Shelby GT 500) The KTS Car Parts extra prize money for Closest to Dial-in was won by Frank Wambach, and the Alkoholix (E85) for best Reaction Time was won by Ronny Schnievel. The next events for Pro ET in Germany are: 20th-21st June: Nüburgring (eighth mile) 4th-5th July: Grand Nats, Luckau 18th-19th July: 1on1 Motorsport, Bitburg You can check out the cars and find out more about German Pro ET at www.proet.de. See a doctor. 14th May: If you were tuned in to yesterday's Eurodragster.com News then you will have read Anthony Cohen of Eurodragster.com Main and Event Coverage sponsor American Car Imports mention his wife Rhonda's PhD on Extreme Sport which heavily features drag racing. No sooner had Tony mentioned Rhonda's PhD than the future Dr Cohen got in touch to let us know how it is coming along: The article examines the personality profile of 135 drag racers and their motivation towards participation in the sport, based on the results of a survey linked via Eurodragster.com. I am also exploring the research around the perception of risk-taking in extreme sport. ©Eurodragster.com As soon as I have completed the background to this section, I hope to release another questionnaire similar to the last one although this survey will obviously explore risk. This will be after the end of the season and the link will be available through Eurodragster.com so the study will include the views of Eurodragster.com readers! I miss the racing though I am really busy at work as the Director of Programmes for Sport at Middlesex University. In addition to managing, lecturing and researching, I am also working as a licensed and chartered sport psychologist with a variety of sports persons. In fact, I was mentioned in an article on Cliff Diving in the Red Bulletin magazine (sponsored by Red Bull). The magazine comes with the Independent Newspaper once a month although there is also an online version which you can check out at en.redbulletin.com/articles/orlando. Give me a D! 13th May: If you were tuned in last Thursday you will have seen the urgent appeal from Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen for a PSI D blower after his was damaged during a fire-up. Joan Larsen tells us that the drag racing community came to the team's aid after the plea here on Eurodragster.com, so Dan will be able to contest the FIA Main Event with his new Dodge Stratus TMFC. ©Eurodragster.com "This is the great thing about the drag racing community", says Joan. "We had several offers of help. Amongst them was Anthony Cohen of American Car Imports who offered to lend us the blower from his showroom's exhibition car, but now we have purchased Rob Turner's spare blower. Rob is kindly delivering the blower to us at Santa Pod this weekend so that we can run at the Test Day. "So all of the problems have been cured at last. We would especially like to thank Tony at American Car Imports, the Peter Schöfer Racing team who have been a great help, Turner Motorsport, and Tog of Eurodragster.com, who acted immediately (You're welcome - Ed)." At the shrine of good memories. 13th May: As mentioned above, one of the first to respond to Dan Larsen's plea here on Eurodragster.com was Anthony Cohen of our Main and Event Coverage sponsor American Car Imports whose showroom in North London has one of the Championship-winning ACI Top Methanol Dragsters on display. The Show Dragster just happens to sport a PSI D blower and Tony responded to a query from your News Editor by offering its loan to Dan. Whilst talking to Tony we took the chance to find out how he and American Car Imports have been getting on since he withdrew from active involvement in drag racing. "Although we are not directly involved, drag racing is still part of our history", said Tony. "We have the dragster on display here and we even allow visitors to sit in it. We have walls filled with framed articles from newspapers and magazines and our upstairs room is like a shrine to drag racing with models of dragsters and Funny Cars, trophies and even a Wally. "The business took over but we still talk the talk and we send customers up to Santa Pod. A lot of the cars we sell are ideal Run What You Brung cars such as the Mustang, Challenger and the new Camaro SS as featured in the Transformers film. We would be surprised if you could find any car dealership in Europe which is more drag racing-oriented than American Car Imports. If anyone wants to come and visit and to sit in the old car then they are very welcome." ©Eurodragster.com Tony said that the offer to Dan to use the blower came after a small amount of arm-twisting. "I came round to the idea after Tog got involved", he said. "There is a lot of camaraderie in drag racing, with teams freely lending parts and a general sporting spirit. In drag racing competition often comes second to caring about your competitor. My wife Rhonda's PhD is almost complete; it is about extreme sport and a lot of it concerns drag racing because the racing mindset is unique. "We still think a lot about drag racing and we are pleased to see people still out there in these difficult times. We are still involved via Eurodragster.com because we didn't want to leave the sport completely, and we don't rule out a return if the money and opportunity are still there." If you are interested in acquiring an American car or in upgrading or servicing your existing American vehicle then check out the American Car Imports web site at www.americancarimports.com or call 0208 889 4545. Swift snippets. 13th May: Racers requiring Hoosier tyres for the FIA Main Event have until close of business tomorrow (Thursday) to order them for delivery to the track by the Friday of the event (22nd). To order your tyres please contact Looby Postance of Hoosier Tire UK at loobyhoosiertire@aol.com. We have been sent four spy pictures with the instruction was that we should run one per day this week. So here is today's third of four; again no information came with the picture so if you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. ©Eurodragster.com Jo Harris of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to recommend that if you wish to order advance tickets for the FIA Main Event then you should not leave it until the last moment. "The deadline is Friday but the phones get very busy and we'd hate for anyone to miss out on the advance ticket price", says Jo. "You can purchase your Main Event tickets on-line at www.santapod.com any time up to 5:00 pm on Friday, or the ticket hotline is open between 8:30 am and 6:00 pm every day on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828)." Lex Joon has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to his wife and Team Manager Gerda Joon. Our pleasure, Lex: have a lovely day Gerda and when you are doing the logistics for next week don't forget the coffee and chocolate. Darren West of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Power Race Graphics is looking for a picture of Matthew Wright's pick-up at the 2006 Parade of Power in Wellingborough. If you can help then please drop Darren a line at info@powerracegraphics.com. Craig Gibbs has been in touch to ask Brendan Clancy to contact him. "The E-Mail address I have for Brendan keeps bouncing", says Craig. If you're out there Brendan then please contact Craig on craiggibbs2@aol.com. Web site updates. 13th May: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team tells of a very sad loss and a very happy event for the Bennett family. As ever you can check out the latest Blog update by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has only just now managed to find the time time to update his Nitro Exposure web site with galleries from April's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway and last week's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The sample galleries contain a lot of photos which were not published in the Eurodragster.com Event Coverage galleries. "I have, as Tog puts, it been under the cosh, what with compiling and editing the FIA Main Event programme for Santa Pod Raceway as well as doing lots of Eurodragster.com duty alongside Tog, Simon and Kirstie", says Roger. "And no rest now as another full weekend is coming up at Santa Pod followed by the long five days of the Main Event. From there it's straight into race reports for clients and the SPRC Summernationals programme to organise. If only I could earn a living at it!". You can check out Roger's updates at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Joon to contest FIA Main Event. 12th May: Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer and joint Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Lex Joon is to contest next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. The MPM Oil-backed racer had planned a limited schedule this year but additional sponsorship has been secured to enable Lex to attend the first Championship round. ©Eurodragster.com Stay tuned and we will bring you full details as soon as we have them. Malmgren signs IonBond. 12th May: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren has signed a deal with the US' IonBond Component Coatings. "We are very happy and proud to have IonBond on board", says Michael Malmgren. "IonBond is a worldwide company and a leader in component coatings. All of our rear end gears and engine parts such as valves, wrist pins, lifters and other parts have been coated by Ionbond." ©Eurodragster.com IonBond is a Global leader in thin film technology and has the largest portfolio for coating selection in the industry. IonBond has an interest in several markets including medical, aerospace, racing, plastic injection moulding, cutting tools, die casting and decorative applications. "IonBond has chosen to support Michael Malmgren to open additional doors in the racing world on a Global scale", says Jeff Bulmer. "We have forty six facilities in thirty countries and can offer our technology around the world with reduced shipping and lead time. We look forward to working together with Michael in 2009 and wish him all the best for a great year. "If you have any questions then please feel free to contact me at j.bulmer@us.ionbond.com or call +1 585 354 2236". You can find the IonBond web site at www.ionbond.com. Junior Drag Bike update. 12th May: The 2009 Insane Motorcycles Junior Drag Bike Championship started at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway and already the racing is very close, writes Sharron Collier: 2008 Champion Giselle Moor was missing from this first round. Scott Collier, Jorden Bissell, Brett Cordelle and Joe Dear were joined by rookie Luke Argyle in what turned out to be an incredibly close round. Jorden lead the qualifying ladder from session one when he ran a 10.266 on his 10.20 dial-in, and Brett ran an 11.066 on his 11.00 dial-in. Jorden took the number one spot due to his quicker reaction time, and Scott Collier was third until session four when Scott ran 9.885 on his 9.850 dial in. Joe Dear ran 11.56 on his 11.32 dial, with Luke running into the fifteen second bracket, learning to get to grips with his new bike. Plenty more to come there. In round one Scott had a bye run and Jorden was up against Luke but disaster for Luke when he couldn’t hold his bike on the line and it crept forward and red lit him, so Jorden took the win. Brett was set to race Joe, but Joe failed to show and Brett took a bye into the next round. Round two and Jorden had the bye run, running 10.0 on his 10.20 dial in, and Scott and Brett had to fight it out together, with Scott breaking out on his 9.80 dial after rolling off and braking, running 9.76 as Brett went through at 11.25 on his 11.10 dial in. Unfortunately the meeting had to end there due to the time, so no finals were run. We are pleased to announce that over the weekend a deal was struck with Nick Argyle of Insane Motorcycles, and he is sponsoring the 2009 Junior Drag Bike Championship, so many thanks to him for his interest and support. Insane Motorcycles build custom bikes and choppers to individual design, and can be reached on 01386 41164. We are having a range of T-shirts and hats designed which will be for sale in the near future, perfect gifts for any child who is interested in drag racing. The points for Junior Drag Bike after round one stand as follows: JB4 Jorden Bissell 340 JB3 Brett Cordelle 330 JB2 Scott Collier 320 JB5 Joe Dear 220 JB10 Luke Argyle 210 Round two of the Insane Motorcycles Junior Drag Bike Championship will be held this weekend, 16th-17th May, at Shakespeare County Raceway, with reigning champion Giselle Moor back in the pack to stir it up with the boys. They are all keen to win the coveted JB1 plate, it's going to be very close. As always thank you to Julie and Jerry and all the team at Shakespeare County Raceway for their support and help with this fantastic class. With more bikes being built as we speak and new riders in the pipeline, we think the next couple of years are going to be great for JDB. For more information on Junior Drag Bike racing, please contact us on 01246 570304 or look at our web site at www.juniordragbike.co.uk, created and maintained by Wizzard Technical Designs, which is due to be fully functional within the next two weeks. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 12th May: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for producing the post-Springspeed Nationals standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships. You can check out the UK National points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Norway's Linda Thun Tønseth has made a late entry into Top Fuel Dragster for next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. We will post an updated entry list in due course but you can check out Version 12 of the FIA Main Event entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the FIA Main Event. On the subject of event entry, Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to remind racers that next Friday, 22nd May, is the official closing date for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 13th-14th June. You can download the entry form from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you were tuned in yesterday then you will have seen that we have been sent four spy pictures but the instruction was that we should run one per day this week. So here is today's second of four; again no information came with the picture so if you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. UK Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson's Lucky Devil Corvette is the subject of a feature in the current edition of Custom Car magazine. Wayne tells us that he has repaired the engine damage suffered before Easter and that he is looking forward to making more six-second passes at the FIA Main Event. Santa Pod Raceway are hosting a Run What You Brung this Saturday (16th) and a Peak Performance Day on Sunday. This weekend will be almost the last opportunity for racers to get some track time before the FIA Main Event, with next Thursday's Pro Peak Performance Day the very last chance. Roger Goring and the Firestorm Jet FC team plan to test at Santa Pod this weekend and a number of racers have entered at least Sunday's PPD (You have to bet that a lot of them will run on Saturday also - Ed) so there will be plenty of action. Weekend tickets are available on the gate for £20 which includes camping on Saturday night. Fuelers bar will be open from 3:00 pm till 11:00 pm on Saturday. More information at www.rwyb.com. A very Happy Birthday to Eurodragster.com sponsor Matthew Wright. Hope you have a great day Matt. Matt tells us that his truck suffered damage at Friday's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway but that he will be back as soon as possible in B&H Automotive / LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator. This one's for Keith. 12th May: In 1975 Keith Parnell, riding Rouge et Noir, became the first European drag bike rider to break the nine-second barrier. Now well past the age when bus passes are handed out Keith continues to compete in sprints all over the country and delights and amazes all who see his aggressive riding style and low nine second passes on the Parny Express ZX12R. So with great delight the National Sprint Association would like to announce the Keith Parnell Tribute Sprint which will take place on 20th-21st June at Weston Zoyland airfield near Bridgwater in Somerset. Come and be part of this great event. Day entry for competitors will be available on both days. Just bring your bike and full or zip-together two-piece leathers, ACU-approved helmet, gloves and riding boots and give it a go. Entry fee is £55 for one day or £75 for two days to include NSA day membership and ACU licence. Free entry for spectators. There is nothing on earth quite like the sheer adrenaline rush involved in winding open the throttle of a high-powered motorcycle! Bikes offer more performance per pound note than anything else on the planet, but how can you push your Fireblade, R1 or Hayabusa to its limit without risking your driving licence and a hefty fine? The NSA has classes for all types of machines from bog-standard road bikes to nitro-burning supercharged specials. Riders as young as eleven can compete safely on 50cc machines, whilst some of the older NSA riders regularly blow the rest of us into the weeds when they should be down at the Post Office collecting their old age pensions. Those who were lucky enough to spectate or who competed at the WZ event on 9th-10th may witnessed, for first time ever, two eight-second passes from Steve (Copperhead) Mead running 8.76 and, all the way from the Isle of Man, Paul Hodgson running 8.79 on his stunning 500 Yamaha. And of course Mr Parnell not to be outdone ran a 9.15. The next outing for the NSA is this weekend (16th-17th) at Shakespeare County Raceway. More information about the NSA at www.sprinting.org.uk. ©Eurodragster.com A day in the meadow beckons... 12th May: First Stage Music, organisers of the Evesham Air Balloon and Vehicle Show, have once again asked Shakespeare County Raceway to diversify the show's motorsport content by calling for some drag racing and custom machines for a display at the town's Crown Meadow Park next month starting Saturday 6th June, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. "When Shakespeare County attended a couple of seasons ago, Sportsman racers Geoff Cowley and Chris Hodgkins brought along their vehicles which fired up several times during the day, causing quite a stir in the Meadow and gaining further odd looks from the Autograss teams nearby", says Jerry. "And it's not just for cars either: drag and street bikes are quite welcome to come along and perform start-ups for the crowd." The show is also being combined with the Vale of Evesham Safety Weekend with many local public safety authorities coming along to perform water and traffic incident demonstrations. There will also be the usual fun fair and Car Club displays as well as a Night Glow Hot Air Balloon Spectacular and Firework Show. Overnight camping is available from Friday 5th Juneby calling 07852 823880. If any drag racing individuals and teams living in and around Evesham as well as the Worcester, Cotswolds and Gloucestershire areas would like to put on a display and help promote the sport and the events held at Shakespeare County Raceway then please get in touch with Jerry on 01789 720180 or drop him an E-Mail at enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 12th May: The web site of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Peter Walters Race Design at www.pwrd.co.uk has been updated with the latest material for 2009, including new designs for Martyn Jones, Jayne Kay and Ben Rushforth and also some new T-Shirts, logos, webites and handouts. "There is a lot more coming in the next couple of months so keep an eye out!", says Peter. "If you would like to add your name to the growing list of clients, don't hesitate to contact me for more information via the web site. We are also now offering fully vectorised T-Shirt artwork, ready for print. Take a look at the web site for more information on this service and some samples of work. To the right is a new design for our own race car The Canon Reloaded. The shirts should be appearing at the track in the next few months." ©Eurodragster.com Lars-Göran Eriksson has been in touch with news of an interesting YouTube video showing the construction of the Green Goblin Pro Mod's 2007 chassis. Check it out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIA4Pqimgec. PTM Show results. 11th May: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's PTM Show at Santa Pod Raceway: King of Europe West: Andy Frost 7.9731/187.95 def. Jon Webster 9.0458/165.40 HKS Pro: Leon Green 10.4674/79.53 bye HKS Factory Modified: Mark Moseley 9.8193/148.20 bye HKS Street: Johnny McKeon 10.4999/133.58 def. Gareth Owens 12.5313/113.83 HKS FWD: Neil Knight 11.8741/117.88 def. Douglas Gemmell 12.3028/115.58 Euro Sports Compact: Andy Waite 10.2657/141.54 def. James Hodson 11.4580/126.23 ©Eurodragster.com Subject to confirmation Andy Frost set new King of Europe records of 7.817 seconds and 188.81 mph. You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored PTM Show coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the PTM Show. Lucas Oil/Carter Motorsport contest. 11th May: Eurodragster.com News sponsor Lucas Oil and defending FIA European Top Fuel Champion Andy Carter have teamed up to offer a fantastic prize for a lucky fan. For your chance to win a pair of weekend tickets to next week's FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway - where the Lucas Oil team will start the defence of their title - just answer the following questions: 1. By how much does Lucas Oil Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer increase oil life? a) At least 40% b) At least 50% c) At least 60% 2. At which show will Andy Carter be making an appearance at on 27th June 2009? a) UK Truck Show b) Bug Jam c) USC 3. What does the Lucas Oil online store sell? a) Oils b) Additives c) Oils, additives, greases and lubricants All of the answers can be found by visiting www.lucasoil.co.uk and www.andycarter.net. E-Mail your answers to carterquiz@googlemail.com and include you name, postal address and contact telephone number. The contest closes at 23:59 UK this Sunday, 17th May. The winner will be drawn at random and tickets posted to the address on the contest entry. ©Eurodragster.com Two years' success, so change it all! 11th May: After a great year in 2008, achieving everything he wanted and more with his then-current set-up, NAST Superwtin Gas Champion Chris Mott decided to make a change for 2009: We'd had some good results with the big bore, stroked 1620cc high compression set-up on the V-Rod motor, but we'd also had some failures and were always worried about what would happen if we pushed the motor much harder. There wasn't a lot of metal left in the cases to hold them together. So I thought "Let's try and get the power another way, turbo"! Now that's a large learning curve! With the help and support of Martin Ginns at Harley Davidson we were able to locate a second-hand, 1130 cc stock size engine and start again. Thanks to the help of Terry Stewart at Shaker Products we fitted low comp CP pistons and mixed parts from both the old motor and this one to get the set-up we wanted. We then bought a Garrett turbo and blow off valve from Lee at Owen Developments and took everything round to Dave Branch Engineering. Dave worked his magic and did a great job of making the plenum chamber, pipework etc and plumbing everything in. ©Eurodragster.com We'd used the old engine to mock everything up and with not long until our appointment on the dyno we picked everything up from Dave and set about stripping the motor, building the new one and putting it back into the frame. Nine thirty at night and with only days to the dyno appointment, we come across a slight hitch. The engine wouldn't fit in the frame! It turned out that the later cases are six millimetres wider at the rear engine mount than the early cases. Help! With no time to strip and rebuild the motor again, we manhandled the complete engine into the back of the car, took it round to Dave's and, with the help of a press-ganged neighbour, we were able to lift it onto the milling machine and cut three millimetres off each side of the rear mount. Dave saves the day again! We got the bike on the dyno and after a lot of adjustments were able to get slightly more power than the old set-up, with hopefully more to come when we have the bike dialled in. Thanks to Nick and Larry at PDQ Motorcycle Developments for their help: Nick worked late into the evening with us to get the bike sorted in time, much appreciated. With only days to spare we had the bike ready for the first round at Shakespeare County Raceway. The first run was interesting. It's a completely different feel with the turbo, it just keeps pulling! We finished the weekend with a best of 9.30, number one qualifier and we made the final round, a great result for its first outing. Biggest thanks of all must go to Gavin Cupit, Crew Chief and tireless worker on the bike, for all his help with the build and the late nights he put in helping to get the bike finished in time. Thanks also to my other half Yvonne for all her help, support and understanding. Thanks also for their continued support to Steve at Motorshack, Keith at Classic Cycle Works, Mike and Sylvia at HQ Fibre Products, and Phoenix Distribution NW Ltd. Finally, I knew I'd made the right decision to go turbo when showing the bike to Bois from the Hyenas at Shakey. He looked round the bike, smiled, shook his head and said "You're not right... you're not right... I'm proud of ya!" Swift snippets. 11th May: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter tells us that it is not too late to order your Lucas Oil products for the FIA Main Event. "Racer prices are excellent and your product can be collected from the Carter Motorsport / Andersen Racing pit", says Andy. To place your order E-Mail cartermotorsport@hotmail.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com, or more accurately the first of a set of four, came with no words save an instruction to publish one a day for the next few days (below left). If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Colin Stevens of C&P UK Nitro has given us a look at a C&P's latest T-Shirt fresh from the printer (above, click for large version). "The T is two-sided and is available for £15 from UK Nitro, 60 Palmers Way, Cheshunt EN8 9HS or call 07903 313384", says Colin. "Also due to the success of the Anglia shirt (see news of 20th March - Ed) it is now available on black and will be available on T-Shirts and hoodies." Close but no Eight. 11th May: UK Super Comp racer Steve Wells dropped us a line to let us know how he got on in his quest for his first eight at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: A change of direction with the clutch, thanks to advice from Jon Webster of Webster Race Engineering, netted a new pb of 9.053/143.97 in our second qualifier. The third qualifier was an oh-so-close 9.005/144.35. Things did not go so well on day two as I made two out-of-shape runs, 9.14 and 9.17. On Monday, once the rain stopped and the track dried - thanks to the Shakespeare County Raceway track crew - we warmed up the motor ready for battle with Paul Marston. With a strong tailwind and excellent air we were hopeful of our eight only to find a head gasket had blown and was leaking water into a cylinder. With no time to change it we had no option but to pack up and go home. ©Eurodragster.com Our weekend was not over yet as my tow van decided to break down. The bolt holding the cam belt tensioner had snapped. A long wait for the right size tow truck eventually got me home at about 12.45 am. A big thank you to Malk, Marcie and Callum for crewing in Jayne's absence, to Ian at Cam Auto for his continued support, and of course all at Eurodragster.com for keeping us all informed as to what's going on (Thank you, you're welcome - Ed). You can find out more on the Team Orange web site at www.teamorange-racing.co.uk. Web site updates. 11th May: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog, UK Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn tells of a repair job on the Gold RV Racing dragster and announces his 2009 T-Shirt. As ever you can check out the latest Blog update by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Jon Spoard has updated his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia site with pictures from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Jon's shots at www.ukdrn.co.uk and whilst there take a look at a sizeable library of historical pictures and video clips and also talk about historical matters on the best-run drag racing forum on the web. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog was on rare photographic duty at Friday's Peak Performance Day and Saturday's first day of the PTM Show at Santa Pod Raceway. In addition to the pictures on the weekend's Event Coverage you can also check out Tog's 'unreleased' shots at www.togsdragracing.com or eurodragster.fotopic.net. Three tenths in. 10th May: If you were tuned in to Dave McKenzie's Supercharged Outlaws report on Thursday you will have read that Sam Freeman made a great Outlaws début in Vic Hammond's Speed Demon slingshot. Sam has been in touch to tell us about his weekend: Over the winter Vic and I decided to run his FED in Supercharged Outlaws as his re-introduction to drag racing as a car owner / driver. To this end we set off last weekend to Santa Pod where Vic nominated me - a veteran of four passes in the car - to drive for the first meeting. The first run, to establish a time to set a dial-in for the rest of the weekend, was an 8.0/169 so we decided on a 8.00 dial-in. In the first round the car made a move toward the wall around half track and I backed out for a bit. We netted an 8.33 which was not so clever on an 8.00 dial-in but we were happy enough with the car's performance overall. ©Eurodragster.com On Sunday morning we managed an 8.04/155 which was very pleasing as I'd looked at the track a bit earlier and decided to not hit it quite so hard off the line and get on it about fifty feet out where the grip was much better. I'd also decided to lift before the finish line to try and stop some of the bouncing in the shutdown area. Both things worked so on to the final. The format is that all runs are averaged and the closest to dial-in is the winner. Roy Wilding had been told that there was just over 0.1 seconds between us. Having been caught asleep by Roy on Saturday I moved into pre-stage and stage, the lights ran and I was away...now, contrary to what you hear elsewhere, the holeshot was Roy's by 0.05 even though Roy thought I had moved first. The tale of the run is the sixty foot: times my 1.12 v Roy's 1.5. It continued on to 4.88 in the eighth and 7.71/163 for the quarter. That's PBs for me for all sections of the track. I understand that everyone back on the start line was pretty pleased but being three quarters of a mile away we could not quite hear the yelling. So my first seven and in by three tenths. I was pretty pleased with myself. All this is not possible without the help of a few others: the car is so easy to drive, I just steer the thing. Ao in no particular order, my personal thanks go to all the other competitors for making us feel so welcome at our first meeting and to Paul Watts of Academy Glass for sponsoring the meeting. To Vic for allowing me to drive a great car, to the ever-suffering crew who do everything for me, Chris Bishop, Paul Shaw, Cyril Hooper certainly not forgetting Lindsey who keeps us under control and level headed - I think it's something she puts in the tea. Also to the track crew for the track prep, it was excellent. And lastly to the Lay brothers of Lay's Transport, Thorpe Park, Windsor for the use of the truck to transport everything about in. PMR's effort rewarded. 10th May: Paul Marston Racing had their toughest yet most satisfying outing of the 2009 season at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend. With just two entries to look after - the 2008 Super Comp Championship-winning PiranaZ Dragster and Grumpy's Dodge in Pro ET - the PMR Crew, used to taking care of up to five race cars, thought that 2009 would be a walk in the park. Strange how things work out! Mick Howling had one of those weekends which really test a driver, race car and crew to the fullest. On Saturday, in second round of qualifying after curing an ignition problem, Grumpy rewarded the team with a two-tenth performance improvement a 9.70, but strangely did not clear the track after the run. Upon rescuing Grumpy we found that the distributor had broken. It was new and only two runs old so we suspected it was potentially faulty. So we refitted the old one which upon fire-up also broke! So with two broken distributors, we investigated a little deeper and the damage was a broken oil pump, oil pick-up and damaged big end bearings due to the broken oil pump. Things were looking pretty terminal for the event at this stage. But, as is often the case, the extended family of drag racing stepped up and things started to happen. Brian Huxley shared some worldly sage advice: "It's a three day event, you have qualified, which means you have a whole day to fix it and still make eliminations". With PMR's comprehensive stock of parts at the track gaskets, oil, oil filter, and even yet another spare distributor were easily replaced, all thanks to American sponsor Automotive 1 Speed Parts. Good friend John Everitt of the Alien Super Pro ET team came to our rescue with a brand new oil pump and pick-up already attached. This just left the small problem of the bearings. Paul went through the whole of the pits and came up with every size but those needed. Paul would like to personally thank all the teams who tried to help - you know who you are. ©Eurodragster.com A phone call to John Sleath established that he had a set of bearings in stock and was prepared to meet us at his workshop on Sunday morning, so a 250 mile round trip ensued for Chief PMR Crewman Sefton Whitlock. Upon Sefton's return at 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon Paul, assisted by Mick, Mick Pussey, Sefton and Lighthouse Lee., carefully re-bearinged Grumpy and reassembled the motor after some modifications to prevent a reoccurence of the problem. Special thanks to Jerry Collier of Jade Racing for the Wellseal. Grumpy was pre-lubed, test fired, and a full systems check was performed late Sunday night, including a burnout and launch. Now ready for class eliminations Mick Howling went three rounds of competition in a race car which just twenty four hours earlier was very broken. Not only that, but Mick also ran three more 9.70 ETs which brought the tally to four consecutive 9.70 runs, so quite consistent! "I could not put into words how proud I am of everyone in the Paul Marston team", said Paul Marston. " Firstly Mick Howling, were it not for his quick thinking and presence of mind, the repairs could not have been attempted in the first place. His faith and trust in the PMR team to go out and race and win with an untried racecar speaks volumes. Not only that, but Mick's brilliant last minute dial-in change from 9.80 to a 9.70 was unbelieveable, what a player, and to go two more rounds showed real class. The whole PMR crew rose to an occasion which called for an effort way above and beyond the call. I can only convey my profound gratitude for having such a talented group of true friends in our crew. If we don't win another round of eliminations for the rest of the season, it would not matter and it would not in my eyes cast any shadow on what we achieved last weekend. "Once again thank you to all the teams who advised and helped in this great sport of drag dacing, we owe you all big. Particular mention and a big thank you must go to the staff at Shakespeare County Raceway who put on one hell of an event, gave us a simply awesome race surface and put in a lot of very hard work. Everyone at Paul Marston Racing is already looking forward to returning to the track in August." Web site updates. 10th May: Richard Smith has updated his Fotopic gallery with some excellent shots of last weekend's events at York Raceway. You can check out Richard's pictures at richardsmith.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com Book review: Crazy Horses. 9th May: Crazy Horses is the first book on the history of drag racing since Drive It! The Complete Book of British Drag Racing appeared in the early 1980s. It has been a long time coming and a labour of love by author and former Santa Pod commentator Brian Taylor but the wait has definitely been worth it. We can confidently say that this is the finest book on drag racing in Britain ever published and one of the best books on motorsport we have ever seen. The quality of the product is breathtaking. It is a well-bound product with high quality glossy paper indicating the standards that publishers Haynes have been prepared to give to this undertaking. And the content exceeds the highest expectations. The pictures, mainly from Eurodragster.com photo editor Roger Gorringe's collection are of stunning quality and clarity. Brian Taylor's research has been meticulous and tells a story of our sport which has thrived in the UK for almost half a century in spite of being imported from America to a country where the climate and financial odds are stacked against it. The book starts with a foreword by Don Garlits which in some ways sets the tone for the book: a serious retrospective with respect for those who made great sacrifices to build the sport in Britain. Throughout the book there are short interviews with those who had a high profile in the sport and survive to tell the story: Bob Keith, Brian Sparrow, Alan Allard, Roy Phelps, Dennis Priddle, Dave Lee Travis, John Price, Keith Bartlett, Carl Olsen. Many others are mentioned in the text and may be no longer around to tell the story, but the excellent index means that they can be located in the extensive text easily. The roots of the sport really go deeper than the wildly successful American visits in '63-'65 culminating in the establishment of Santa Pod in April 1966. Traditional sprinting took place from the birth of the car in the 1890s and this was built on by the Hot Rod culture spreading from the US in the 1950s. The establishment of the British Hot Rod Association was a key moment and brought people to the fore that were to go on to establish the sport. Politics were never too far away in the sixties and it seems that more time was spent on political arguments than running the events; your News Editor remarked after reading the book that he is glad that Eurodragster.com was not around in those days to be used as a political football (Although one or two soi-disant legends try it even now - Ed). After the split with the NDRC, which is documented without ever becoming personal or partisan, the sport expanded in the 1970s both on a centralised level at Santa Pod Raceway and a national level with NDRC touring meetings. In the 1970s Britain led Europe in the growth of the sport and by 1980 a peak had been reached. After that troubles in the UK economy led to stagnation and a debt crisis at both Santa Pod and the NDRC. In his account of this trouble period Brian gives a clear-headed account with racing taking the foreground and the organisational side a backdrop. By the end of the 1980s the NDRC had collapsed, Santa Pod had gone into liquidation and class associations were starting to have an influence on the sport. The 1990s saw wholesale changes that in retrospect laid the foundations for the sport's growth in the last ten years. Avon Park was improved at the start of the decade and Santa Pod changed ownership to Keith Bartlett and associates in mid-decade. Since these events the sport has flourished and performances achieved that were not even dreamed of when the sport first started in the country. Crazy Horses is simply a must-buy for anyone who is interested in the sport. It will provide the answer to all those questions on the sport you have been thinking about and a few more besides. It is available priced £25 direct from Haynes Publishing, Amazon, the Pod Shop at Santa Pod Raceway, all good UK bookshops, and those overseas stockists listed in our news item of 6th May. Erbacher aims for FIA Main Event. 9th May: The big engine explosion in Houston was a real setback for Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com News sponsor Urs Erbacher, and the Fat Attack team has been very busy since the Las Vegas event, both in Switzerland and in Texas: Wayne Dupuy, our American Crew Chief, has been working hard to get the car we damaged in Houston and our second car back in shape for more racing, both in the US and the FIA tour here in Europe, which starts at the end of the month. Our original plan at the start of the year was to stay in the US for the entire NHRA season pending a solid sponsorship deal. We wanted to go to as many races as we could to try to get some attention from the big corporations but the explosion, although it got us a lot of TV coverage, really drained our extra stash of money so we had to do the sensible thing and come back home to regroup. Like every team out there, our search for sponsorship never ends and we will be back as soon as possible to race against the best on the NHRA Tour. We have some funding in place to run at the Chicago race at Route 66 Raceway but still need a little more money, about $20,000, to make that happen. Please E-Mail Wayne at wdupuy@digitalpassage.com if you have any ideas on sponsorship for us. Away from the track, my Fat Attack custom motorcycle shop has been very busy this year. My sales manager Didi and one of our workers, Sascha, who once raced for our Erbacher Racing team and won the European Destroyer Bike Championship in the past, both decided to leave me. Because of that, the old man (me) has gone back to work making motorcycles. It's been really nice to get back to my roots and my love of creating something from the ground up has been rekindled. It's fun for me, and I'm actually enjoying the work quite a bit. Selling our bikes requires attending a lot of motorcycle and car shows and working a display booth with some of our bikes so we can show people what we do. The show tour is almost like the racing tour, except it costs a lot less money. Sometimes we even make some money! What a concept! The first Sunday each May is time for the Love Ride of Switzerland. This is the largest fun ride of the year and we broke a record this time with 10,000 riders and an estimated 17,000 visitors at the show and party afterwards. We had Lo Stauble's Super Twin Top Fuel bike on display, and that was a big hit with everyone. The ride raises money for people afflicted with muscular illnesses and this year we raised $460,000 for them. It was a great deal. Coming up we have a show this weekend in Geneva and the following weekend we'll conduct an open house at our shop with a live band and lots of friends. Then it's off to Santa Pod Raceway in England for the FIA season opener. I'll check back with everyone very soon. Thanks to Rob Geiger for passing this on ©Eurodragster.com A German success story. 9th May: Our good friend Markus Münch has been in touch with a report from round one of the German Super Pro ET Challenge, which took place at Luckau at the end of April: Super Pro Et ran the eighth mile at Luckau. Sixteen cars showed up, a big sucess for the class itself. Four rounds of qualifying saw long time drag racer Gerd Habermann in number one spot (+ 0.002), Norbert Scneider in the Silver Bullet Corrado was second (+ 0.009) followed by Dany Burger (+0.023), Ingo Ekert (+ 0.037) and Andre Müller (+ 0.040). The top five all went through round one. In round two Gerd met with Andre. Both redlit and Andre was too early on the lights, so Gerd went on to the semis. Dany Burger had an easy race, Hotrod Ove redlit and was out. Norbert Schneider also went on to the semis due to Peter Ellguth's red light. There was also a double red light in the last quarter final between Ingo Ekert and Jürgen Schubert. Ingo went on to the semis, so he thought, but he had a gear box problem which was not be be repaired in time for the semis. Norbert got a single to the final in Ingo's absence. The second semifinal was Dany Burger against Gerd Habermann. Gerd was very consistent on his index for the whole weekend. Dany left the tree with a holeshot and took this round. The final saw Dany Burger and Norbert Schneider on the track. It was close and Dany took the win, congratulations to Dany who also gets the €100 Best Light of the Weekend from Jolly Flowers. ©Eurodragster.com Something is growing in Germany: sixteen cars is a big thing in a class such as Super Pro ET. The Luckau crowd and the drivers enjoyed the weekend: good-looking cars, close racing and brilliant weather. You can't ask for much more. We are all looking forward to the next round at Drachten in The Netherlands on 19th-21st June. Pictures from Lucka weekend are available on our web site at www.suproet.com. Thanks to our photographers Christoph Lange, Matze Chemnitz and Christel Sulz. Also a big thank you to all the supporters and sponsors who have filled the season end purse with about €5000. Thanks to Schöninger Glas, Hubraumbrothers Speedshop, Schneider Holzbearbeitung, Axxaspalt AG, Black 7 Wear, Danys Garage Speedshop, Hair and Flair, Team A5, CG Design, and Jolly Flowers. York's cliffhangers. 9th May: York Raceway's first Championship round has been left with cliffhangers after the weather affected the UK Northern Nationals: With most of American Super Stock there on Sunday for practice, and with full pits of RWYBers, we had the chance to run an impromptu Jap v Yank Shootout. It was decided that an equal amount of random Japanese powered cars would go up against an equal amount of random American muscle cars. The result in the end was 5-2 to the Yanks. Some would argue that the result went the right way but not entirely. ©Eurodragster.com Monday started off wet, but with the track drying at midday and a full day of racing ahead there was a small window to start. With twenty seven American Super Stock queuing and ready to go it was decided that it was going to be a one-round qualifier over the eighth. By the time the American SS finished the track was then fit to run full quarters for the other Championship qualifying rounds. American Super Stock managed to get to the quarter finals which will be Lee 'Cookie' Chiles, 2007 Super Stock winner, up against Dan Houlston the 2008 #3 and SS402 up against George Chiles. Air-Cooled got their semis out of the way but not the final, with last year's Air Cooled winner Craig Perry up against a newbie. The Hot Rod Challenge has only their final to run with Derek Beck against James Hughes. Pro ET and Sportsman ET have still got to get past the first round. Nosferatu gets more Gothic. 9th May: UK Super Pro ET team Nosferatu Racing are very pleased to announce that a new sponsor has joined them in their quest for global domination, says The Mysterious Count, aka Ray Eldred: "On a car as Gothic as Nosferatu, it is fitting that The Gothic Shop have joined our team's very loyal sponsors Torco Racing Oils, Wipac and Hauser Racing", says Count Ray. ©Eurodragster.com "The Gothic Shop offers a huge range of Gothic and alternative fashions from well-known names such as Kate's Clothing, Dark Star, Raven and Omen clothing. Whether you're looking for an extravagant Gothic-Victorian skirt and corset for a Gothic wedding, medieval Gothic dresses, black clothes, Gothic clubwear or a Spiral Direct casual Gothic top, they will have something for you. They have a pretty cool range of jewellery and other products too. If you're into unusual and alternative clothing, we recommend you pay The Gothic Shop a visit. "We have some very spooky stuff going on in the Crypt at the moment; our fans are going to love what we have planned for the Main Event - I will let you know more about that later." From Breakout Central. 9th May: After the disappointment of not being able to make round two of Pro ET eliminations at the Easter Thunderball due to a cracked weld on the coolant filler neck, Liz and Iain Malcolm were eagerly looking forward to competing at last weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: ©Eurodragster.com What a great race weekend it was. It seemed at one point that the Pro ET qualifying ladder would be decided on who broke out by the least - some of it was! Iain and I decided to put an unachievable (or so we thought) 10.88 dial-in during qualifying to get on the right side of our index running a 10.91 putting me fourth on the ladder for eliminations. This gave me lane choice in round one against a no-show Gary Springford (sorry Gary); this would have been an interesting match up because we have the only two methanol-injected race cars currently competing in Pro ET. It also gave me the opportunity to run a PB of 10.86 on a 10.90 dial in. We went out in round two with a red against Neil Hunter, but Iain and I were more than pleased with the perfomance from my little dragster which we put doiwn to good air and superb track prep. Thanks to all the staff, track crew and pit marshals for putting on a great race meet - well done. Swift snippets. 9th May: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 12 of the official FIA Main Event entry list. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UK photo-journalist and graphic designer Mark Gredzinski kept if very quiet that last Tuesday was his 50th birthday. "Normally I wouldn't mention this but I was very tickled to recieve a custom-made birthday card and a big cut-out logo from my good friend and fellow flopper fanatic Andy Barrack. As you can see, it covers my main interest and was cleverly done in a period Car Craft style magazine typeface. I thought I would share it with you as it pleased me immensely". Hope you had a great day Mark. ©Eurodragster.com Santa Pod Raceway have one Two Seat Dragster ride left for the entire FIA Main Event weekend as part of a VIP package which also includes admission for two to the event and access to the VIP Startline Balcony, privilege seating in the Live Action Arena, refreshments throughout the day, buffet lunch, VIP toilets, privilege parking and complimentary programme and souvenir. The package costs £500 and can be booked with Kelly Dormer at Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). Santa Pod Raceway can again offer racers portable toilets installed in their pit, cleaned and serviced for the FIA Main Event for £100+VAT. If you have any queries, or to book your portable toilet, E-Mail Darren Prentice at darren@santapod.com. Further to Friday's news item, Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen has now acquired a blower and so will be able to contest the forthcoming FIA Main Event. Stay tuned for more as this is a very nice story. Your News Editor would like to make it clear that he does not have a Yahoo.co.uk E-Mail address. If you receive an E-Mail from a Yahoo address which at first glance appears connected with Tog then feel free to reply with torrents of abuse. Web site updates. 9th May: To add to their gallery published very quickly after the event, the UK's Outlaw Flat Four racers have now posted a Springspeed Nationals report on their very tidy official web site at www.outlawflatfour.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Larsen seeks urgent help. 7th May: Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen is urgently seeking help from the racing community to be able to take part in the FIA Main Event. "We are urgently looking for a PSI D Supercharger", says Joan Larsen. "We have problems with the supercharger we have, it is at Schöfer's place at the moment and it cannot be repaired in time for the Test Weekend and FIA Main Event due to back orders at PSI. ©Eurodragster.com "We are therefore seeking a used PSI D which we can borrow, rent, lease or buy. It must have an up to date SFI tag. If we cannot find a solution this week, we have to cancel our trip to England for both the Test Weekend and the FIA Main Event." If you can help then please contact Dan on +45 4020 2498 (mobile), on +45 5666 0351 between the hours of 10:00 and 18:00, or E-Mail dan@funnycar.dk. Ystra hingstar. 7th May: Brian Taylor tells us that he has received enquiries about the availability of his book Crazy Horses – the history of British drag racing in Sweden. The good news is that the book will be available from MarGie Bookshop, Roslagsgaten 14, 104-32 Stockholm. Telephone 08 612 7050 or E-Mail info@margie.se. "Any other Scandinavian book retailers interested please contact me at brian@petrolhead.vianw.co.uk and I will get Haynes on the case. In the meantime, Scandinavians visiting Santa Pod for the FIA Main Event can purchase the book at the Pod Shop and get it signed by the author, the drag racing pioneers attending and the cream of today's European racers." ©Eurodragster.com Getting around Europe quicker than the tabloids told us that swine flu would, Crazy Horses is available at: Kosters, Denmark Automobilia, Norway Alfamer, Finland ASN, Holland Disch Fachbuchhandlung, Germany Libro Motor, Madrid Spain Libereria dell'Automobile Milano Italy Gilena, Brescia, Italy Passion Automobile, Paris Central European update. 7th May: The central European season is now under way with events and RWYBs having been held in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia - all without rain! Our friends at Cedrag.com have been busily gathering news and views about the central European scene and reporting it all in international English. That may sound a little strange to native speakers but it is compiled in a way to assist the on-line translation services. ©Eurodragster.com This month's updates include reports from the two races already held at Kiskunlachlaza (near Budapest) which is also the venue for the east-versus-west King of Europe shoot-out in September. There's news of a deal between the Croatian 402StreetRace organisation and RTL television, the Czech track at Hoskovice has secured a race on the European Super-Twin Top Gas series, the Slovak drag bike series has been finalised and a series sponsor signed up in the shape of Bobcat, the American earth moving equipment company. There's a racer profile for those who like their cars hi-tech with more of those to come in the near future. In a bit of a coup, the guys at Cedrag.com pinned down the top man in Croatia, "Dass" Dasovic, who agreed to a detailed interview. This is the guy who gets about a quarter million spectators to come to his series of drag race shows, so he is well worth listening to. Turbo: The season so far. 7th May: It has been a hectic few weeks for the Team Turboville, writes UK Supertwin racer Ian Turburville: Easter was a tricky meet for all of us in ACU Top Fuel Bike with cold, wet, weather and a green track attacked by bikes which had not been run since last September so we were all finding our way. We finally got some racing in on the Sunday afternoon and each run got better and better on the top half with great terminal speeds but it would just not pull itself out of the hole. The best run was against long time friend Job Heezen who spun his slick at half track letting me zip past him at 195 mph for the win. We realised that we had met over sixteen years ago and both run in Top Gas and now Top Fuel, but never raced each other before! Everyone was trying out new set-ups and I was no different. I had a new gear ratio, new ignition, new fuel settings and a new clutch set-up. It wasn't going to be easy. We awoke on Sunday morning and got the bike ready for our first elimination against Steve Woollatt but to our horror it wouldn't start! Steve gamely waited in the pairing lanes for us and we tried desperately to find the problem, but to no avail so we missed our run. It turns out that the power had been off all night and so our battery never got charged and didn't have enough left to run the new DARC ignition! Oh well, we had made good progress and got nearer a base on out tune-up. The weekend was the baptism of our new crew, Joe Lann, Pete Bellenie, Gothie, Sue, all ably looked after by Ingrid and Martin. It was also the first time we had raced Rhiannon's Junior Dragster out of our pit and it all went really well. Of course Rene van den Berg had to outdo us by racing two Juniors alongside his bike out of his beautiful new awning and had brought a full time chef! The Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway was next and the weather looked much better so we were eager to improve on Easter. The track and the organisation at the event was showing a marked improvement and I had been thinking of ways to get Mr Spokehead to run a decent sixty foot so had fitted a bigger fuel pump. This meant changing all the settings once again and finding a base but we just had to get the bike to leave the line quicker. We already had the last half of the track covered so knew that if we ran sub. 1.2 seconds then we were on for a great run. It turned out to be a step too far though! On warm-up in the pits it sounded incredible, very powerful, and a much more aggressive bark. The first couple of runs went well and improved on the Easter ETs, carrying the front wheel for most of the track, it looked promising! Sunday was going to be a another step forward as I upped the fuel settings even more but that proved to be my undoing. The bike sounded very fat in the burnout but it was unknown territory for me and I hoped it would clear up once hot and the throttle was snapped open. My mistake! On the hit it just washed the front cylinder out and then overloaded the back one. I was in effect trying to launch a 700 lb motorcycle with a 1340 cc single cylinder motor. It didn't take too kindly to that so decided to bite me, and blew the rear cylinder head in spectacular fashion! The moment was caught in all it's glory by ace photographer Peter Donaldson; his gallery has been updated with all the action at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. Looks like my new team shirts were a bit prophetic in featuring the Flash logo as I seem to be wearing a big flash on my chest in that one! Oh well, it was going to happen sooner or later I guess and I can get the damage repaired by Al Smith (Cannon's crew and drag race fabricator extraordinaire) in time for the Main Event. Congratulations to Al and Julie Smith on their recent marriage in Las Vegas by the way! All in all an exciting start to the season and we look forward to the opening round of the UEM Championship and racing in a field of twelve of the fastest Supertwins in Europe! Big thanks to all the team for the hard work and enthusiasm and to our fantastic sponsors for helping us compete in the increasingly difficult financial climate! The real heroes are Custom Chrome Europe, Gates Belts, Red Line Oil, Tim Fountain, The Chesworths, Innovate Dataloggers, Sprint Dampers, EGT, Arias Pistons, Slidercovers.com, Curbishley Automotive, Rush Racing UK, Fast Lane Racing, King Racing, Northants Nitro, and RST Wheels. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 7th May: Many thanks to Wayne Schreier of APIRA's Tech Crew for forwarding us the official Springspeed Nationals timing data. You can check out the Springspeed Nationals timing data, which comes in Excel format, by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us an updated list of UK records now including Nigel Payne's Super Modified ET and speed records set at the Springspeed Nationals. You can check out the UK record list by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "In for a super, pro spray job!" (below left). If you know any more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. The latest offering from Eurodragster.com News sponsor Tireshake.com is a zip hood with Drag racing - fastest motorsport in the world embroidered on the front left breast and in large type across the back(above right). The hoods are available in small to XXL and cost €39. For more information or to order your hood visit www.tireshake.com or click on the Tireshake.com logo at left. Supercharged Outlaws Round 1. 7th May: Five of the UK Supercharged Outlaws' finest rolled through the gates for their first round hosted at the weekend's Wheels USA at Santa Pod Raceway, writes Dave McKenzie: With the current economic climate and some teams still on their winter rebuilds, the number of race cars was down on what we would like to see. What we lacked in quantity we made up for with the quality. We started the weekend with a practice session under a lovely blue sky and in warm temperatures. The second session was at 3:30 in the afternoon with the weather still warm and sunny. The first pair was the two slingshots, Roy Wilding and Sam Freeman, Sam driving Vic Hammond's imported small block dragster - this is their first season with the Outlaws - and Roy driving the Hemi Hunter. Sam crossed the finish line with a 8.3392/164.19 to Roy's 8.4919/157.33. Next up the two altereds, Lee Gallimore in Red Mist alongside Steve Goode in Wobble. Super strong burnouts from these two and at the finish it was Lee first with 8.0794/141.58 to Steve's 12.9225/63.10. Steve was off the throttle very early after getting out of shape. Our third session 12 o'clock on Sunday morning saw Roy Wilding clocking a quicker 8.1875/165.95, Steve Goode running a new Personal Best of 8.3608 at only 118.82 mph - Steve was of the throttle just after the eigthh mile. Lee Gallimore carded a slower 9.5388/92.91 and finally Sam Freeman carded a quicker 8.0457/155.69. The fourth session was delayed when a RYWB car ended up on its roof at the finish line, and then after the restart another car put oil down in the shut down area. This session saw Paul Watts out for the first time. Paul was late arriving at the track after having to put his old axle back in the car before setting off from the Isle of Wight, arriving at the track late Saturday night only to blow a head gasket in the warm-up on Sunday morning. Paul and his crew never gave up and changed the gasket to make this session. With five cars the first run was a bye for Steve Goode. Steve left hard on the green and the car moved hard to the left, he had to lift a little and then back on the throttle for a solo 9.2327/136.95. The next pair were Paul Watts in the No Easy Pick Up against the burnout king Lee Gallimore. Paul sat and waited patiently while Lee did his customary eighth mile burnout. Then both cars staged and Lee was away first crossing the line at 8.9256/113.27 while Paul put down his first pass of the season 10.1313/120.4. ©Eurodragster.com This left the two slingshots to battle it out for the Academy Glass trophy for this event. and the best was saved to last. Both cars came round the tower looking the part of a nostalgia show (we could have been at Bakersfield), the side by side super smokey burnouts looked fantastic. The lights burned down and Sam stuck a hole shot on Roy, away first and pulling away all the way down the quarter mile, arrow straight and the time came up for Sam 7.7115/163.56. This is the quickest this car has ever gone, even in the USA where I believe it ran down to 7.8. In the other lane Roy ran an 8.589/160.69 but all the joy was in Sam's lane with the whole crew punching the air with delight. What a great way to see out the weekend. When the dust had settled the times were added up and a winner was decided for the trophy over three runs and the winner of the Academy Glass trophy was Roy Wilding in Hemi Hunter by eighth thousandths of a second, runner-up going to Sam Freeman in Vic Hammond's Speed Demon slingshot. Roy starts the defence of last year's series win with a win at Santa Pod but the performance of the weekend must go the the début team of Vic Hammond and Sam Freeman, a great start for them. The Supercharged Outlaws would like to thank Paul Watts of Academy Glass for sponsoring the event, and all the start line crew, marshals and staff at Santa Pod for a great weekend. The show now moves on to Shakespeare County Raceway for the Yanks Weekend/Gary's Picnic on 30th-31st May. With a few more teams ready to come out we should have eight to ten cars at this event. Don't miss one of the best nostalgia shows in the UK. Springspeed Nationals notes. 7th May: All of the staff at Shakespeare County Raceway would like to thank all the competitors and teams for their support and co-operation to assist them to achieve as much as they did at last weekend's Springspeed Nationals: Drag racing is always tainted by the weather, and after two glorious days of sunny skies for qualifying and a weather forecast saying fifty per cent showers, after the first shower we were right. But we stuck with it as long as we could. Thanks go to all the racers who stuck with us to do what they do best - race. We have received nothing but praise for what the track staff did, the preparation of the track right through to the organisation of the whole weekend. Comments have been noted regarding the pit plan and these will be addressed before the Open Sport Nationals. So it is our turn to give our recognition to you guys for what you did for us. ©Eurodragster.com UK Comp Bike racer Bob Brooks has been in touch to say how much he and the Yellow Matal team appreciated the Best Engineered Bike Award. "We worked right up to the last minute to get the new YMR cast head finished for the meeting", says Bob. "I made the last parts at lunchtime on Friday so it was a bit tight! Thanks to all the track staff for a very slick meeting, although our performance was disappointing we did have a great time. See you all at the Main Event." Congratulations to Super Modified racer Nigel Payne and Pro Stock Bike rider Dave Beck on setting new Shakespeare County Raceway track speed records at the weekend's Springspeed Nationals, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. Nigel Payne's 532 ci Sticky Situation Corvette reset Graham Ellis' six year old record at 183.13 mph while Dave Beck's 1655cc MTC Engineering Suzuki broke his four year old Pro Stock Bike record at 185.67 mph. Well done guys. Web site updates. 7th May: Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter D0naldson has updated his Fotopic gallery with shots from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Peter's shots at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. ©Eurodragster.com The official web site of the UK's Chaos Fuel Altered team at www.chaos-fuel-altered.com has been updated with a report and pictures from the Springspeed Nationals and a slow-motion video of John Wright's eventful run on Sunday afternoon. Welcome Cosmo Residences. 6th May: We are very pleased to welcome Cosmo Residences as a sponsor of Eurodragster.com News. Cosmo Residences, in which ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners is a partner with Shaun Wymes, is a seven-acre gated beachfront community under construction at Cosmo Beach in Huatulco, Mexico, which Forbes magazine rates as one of the top ten beaches in the country. The spacious three- and four-bedroom properties feature distinctive and unique progressive classic architecture and the fifteen Phase 1 residences are now available from $498,500 with occupancy planned to be available in the autumn. Cosmo Residences includes generous botanical gardens and green space, and multiple swimming pools, exercise and spa areas. You can find out more at www.cosmoresidences.com or click on the logo at left. ©Eurodragster.com We would like to say a big Thank You to Michael Manners for his support of Eurodragster.com and we are sure that fans attending races in the USA will be sure to cheer him on, and should you be looking for what is bound to be a sound investment in a beautiful setting then be take a look at the Cosmo Residences web site. NFAA accept Main Event invitation. 6th May: The UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association have been invited by Santa Pod Raceway CEO Keith Bartlett to field up to six cars at the prestigious FIA Main Event on 22nd-25th May. "This is a considerable step up for the class and the opportunity to perform in front of a large crowd is not to be missed", says series promoter Lawrie Gatehouse. "The majority of the spectators probably only go to the two FIA events in a year and will not have seen this popular class before." ©Eurodragster.com The format agreed is for the altereds to run once on the Saturday and once on the Sunday and the aggregate ETs to be calculated. The four quickest runners will go forward to run on the Monday. The third and fourth quickest will face off after the FIA class semi-finals, and the first and second quickest will run off immediately prior to the FIA class finals. "Whilst a number of teams have recently sustained damage, they are all going to do whatever is possible to repair and appear at the FIA Main Event", says Lawrie. "All of us at the NFAA are determined to put on a good show to return the faith shown by Keith Bartlett towards the growing class, and to enhance the spectator experience for all those who are seeing the altereds for the first time." Three straight for Obsession. 6th May: Congratulations to UK Super Modified racer Craig Gibbs who set new Personal Bests for ET, speed and eighth mile speed at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "In the first round of eliminations we ran 143 mph in the eighth and 7.64/177.85 in the quarter, which is by far the quickest Obsession and I have ever been", says Craig. "I'm not going to ramble on. I just want to thank everyone involved at the weekend: Crew Chief Adrian Spencer, Dave Clarkson, Darren and Marie Herbert-White, Rob Chilton, mum, Portia (as in the Greek goddess) - even though she slept through it! - Jeff '7.60' Bull, all the guys in Super Mod for the loan of tools and equipment throughout the weekend. But most of all thanks to little Max Clarkson for all his help packing the parachute and painting my wheelie bar wheels - that's your job now Max. ©Eurodragster.com "It was a great team effort again, and when I say we spend most of the weekend laughing and joking, I mean just that. "Whenever we run a PB, I take the timing ticket down to Winchester to be with my father Terry partly for sentimental reasons, but mainly out of respect for the man, without whom I wouldn't even be driving his car now. The last time was in 2007 when I last ran a PB. "So with the tightest and fastest ever Super Mod qualifying ever last weekend - number six qualifier a 7.69! - the Summernationals is going to be a corker!" Springspeed Nationals Best of Awards. 6th May: Although Monday's Springspeed Nationals action was truncated by the weather, Shakespeare County Raceway can now reveal the winners of the event's Best of trophies which were judged by the event's commentators and scrutineers and which were due to be presented towards the end of the day, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. Congratulations to the winners: Scottie's Vehicle Transportation Best Appearing Car Crew Dave Cherrett - Dark Revenger Model A van Best Appearing Bike Crew Tim Blakemore - Kawasaki Funny Bike Team Barton Care Best Appearing Car Mark Flavell - Steel River Hot Rod Saab Funny Car Barton Care Best Appearing Bike Chris Hall - Roar Power Suzuki Hayabusa Funny Bike Drag Race Engineering Best Engineered Car Charlie Chivers - Taxi Express, Pro ET Best Engineered Bike Robert Brooks - Yellow Metal Comp Bike It is anticipated that we will be able to present these trophies formally in the pits at the FIA Main Event. Thank you to all of our trophy sponsors and judges. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 6th May: The UK's Simon Cooper is looking for assistance in setting a baseline for his blown-alcohol Chevy Nova which will be making its first outing at the FIA Main Event. "The engine has been checked out and the chassis has been strengthened and tagged to 7.50", says Simon. "What we now need is someone with experience in a car/engine combination like this who can help us to set things up and give us a baseline to work from. If anyone out there is able to help then please give us a call any time on 07970 669159." Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson tells us that the NDRG Springnats at Gardermoen were cold with occasional rain showers on Staurday but much better on Sunday with some good racing. "The Lindberg Brothers improved with their Pro Mod Nova and Roger Johansson, Ulf Rapp and Terje Håkonsen also did some testing", says Patrik. "S-O Rolfstad also showed his new Supertwin ride, a good-looking piece of high tech". You can check out Patrik's pictures from Gardermoen at www.racebilder.nu. Congratulations to UK Pro ET racer Charlie Chivers and the Taxi Express team on Personal Bests of 10.36 seconds and 130.56 mph at the weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "Due to the car going quicker and quicker each run we only qualified sixteenth, eventually going out to the Dark Revenger in the semis", says Charlie. "The team would like to thank our sponsors Oxford Fencing Supplies. Platinum Choice Insurance and Brize Norton Hot Rod Specialists for their help. Many thanks also to Charlie Jr for all his hard work over the weekend." ©Eurodragster.com Staying with Pro ET, Springspeed Nationals #1 qualifier and official race car supplier to Eurodragster.com Carla Pittau took home £100, a Hauser Racing voucher and a trophy from event sponsor Charlie's Taxis courtesy of the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme. "A big Well Done from all in Pro ET on a storming pass to get that oh so difficult number one spot", says Neil Hunter. "Thanks to all the Sponsorship Scheme sponsors: Motorshack, Toxico Clothing, Brize Norton Hot Rod And American, Real Steel, LA Racing Parts, Performance Unlimited, Cometic Gaskets, Total Seal Rings, Engine Data Analysis, Hauser Race Cars, A1 Motor Stores and Inkwell Printing." Santa Pod Raceway are hosting a Peak Performance Day open to all this coming Friday (8th). "Anyone who is coming to this weekend's PTM Show, which is a round of the HKS Series and King of Europe, and who wishes to test has until the end of office hours today (Wednesday) to book in advance", says Darren Prentice. "To book your place ring Santa Pod on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). We are also getting near to full for the Peak Performance Day on Sunday 17th May (That's not a mistake: there is a RWYB on Saturday and the PPD on Sunday - Ed). Again you can book by calling Santa Pod or at www.santapodshop.com." Santa Pod Raceway can again offer racers portable toilets installed in their pit, cleaned and serviced at the FIA Main Event for £100+VAT. If you have any queries, or to book your portable toilet, E-Mail Darren Prentice at darren@santapod.com. Zodiac Racing ready for 2009. 6th May: After last year's somewhat earth-shaking introduction for the The Godfather VII Supertwin, in which both cylinder heads were blown off on its first shakedown pass, the team are now ready to take up the challenge of the 2009 European Championship tour with the new bike writes Vincent Pels: There are still gremlins which need to be sorted out, but at Easter the team visited Santa Pod Raceway to test the newly-designed engine parts and apart from some minor issues, everything seemed to be working as they hoped. At the start of the season the team is happy to announce that Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc has joined the team's very loyal sponsors Zodiac International, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, Spectro Oils of America and ACCEL Motorcycle Products. The team have been relying on Kibblewhite valve train components with great success for as long as they have been running Nitro Harleys and now KPMI have decided to increase their support for the Zodiac Racing team. It was back to the drawing board after last year's first shakedown pass for the new Zodiac Top Fuel SuperTwin, as things didn't go entirely as expected. A huge engine explosion blew both the cylinder heads off at the hit of the throttle in its first trial. Fortunately all safety features worked as they should, and the damage was solely mechanical. Still a lot was learned and over the winter new cam profiles were designed in conjunction with Andrews and new rocker arms were designed by Ton and manufactured by Puma Engineering, to withstand the increased exhaust pressure of the supercharged engine. On top of that a new state-of-the-art fuel management system was installed to more accurately control the fuel pressure of the BDK valve. Flexion came with a new Gates Poly Chain GT Carbon, to get maximum reliability out of the primary drive and a complete spare engine was also manufactured over the winter along with extra spare engine parts. Finally a lot of effort was put into new bodywork and the cosmetic aspects of the bike to give it an appearance worthy of the name The Godfather VII. With all the new parts in the bike it was set up fairly safe to do some testing during the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. Modest boost, ignition timing and nitromethane percentage were put in for the first pass of the season, with the objective to get some data and see if the new engine parts would be able to cope with the harsh environment of Top Fuel drag racing. With the tricky track conditions in the cold and damp weather (at least no snow this Easter!), the throttle was modest as well when leaving the start line and Roel was able to feed the throttle slowly as the bike started to gain some speed. No big numbers on the scoreboard, but the bike did run in a nice straight line and the skies were lit by the header flames from the exhausts for some four hundred feet. Around the eighth mile the bike lost its power so Roel shut the throttle and coasted past the finish line. Back in the pit the team found that there were still some issues with the rocker arms as they seized on the axle, causing all the push rods to bend. But the rocker arms themselves were still in one piece. The team decided to skip the second qualifying round to double check the whole bike and found that everything was in good condition and prepped the bike for the next day's eliminations. With the fuel system altered a bit and the idle set a tiny bit lower, the bike was fired up the next morning after some hilarity about a loose connector. All was checked A-OK again and so they prepared themselves for first round to get some more data. Roel was up against his old racing buddy from back when he was running four-cylinder bikes, multiple UK champion Steve Woollatt. After a long smoky burnout from the T&V powered twin, a small fuel leak was detected and Vincent immediately signalled Roel to kill the engine. It turned out to be a good thing to shut the engine off, as now the rocker arms and shafts that gave trouble in qualifying could be examined after very little stress. Again the seize marks were present, so some modification was clearly needed for the rocker arms. The rocker arms have been redesigned and altered in some small areas and Team Zodiac is confident that the modified items will be up to the task for the season opener of the European Championship, the FIA Main Event on the famous quarter mile of Santa Pod Raceway. They will probably need a couple of runs to find their base setting but with a little luck, and weather permitting, they hope to run all four qualifiers. It will be tough to qualify with twelve Top Fuel Super Twins entering the event to try and get a spot in the eight-bike field, but hopes are high! The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proudly sponsored by Zodiac International BV, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, ACCEL Motorcycle Products and Spectro Oils of America and Kibblewhite Precision Machining. The Zodiac SuperTwin Top Fuel drag racing team is proud to use products from Zodiac International BV, Supertrapp Exhaust Systems, ACCEL Motorcycle Products, Spectro Oils of America, Performance Machine Disk Brakes and Wheels, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems and Gates Belt Drive Systems. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 6th May: Sandra of Eclipse Photography caught this shot of Super Street Bike racer Chris Reed doing quite nicely enough thank you without wheelie bars at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The Eclipse site at www.eclipsephotos.co.uk is to be updated today with pictures from the event; Steve Wexler adds that if any racer would like to see a complete set of their shots then drop him a line via the web site and he will post an additional gallery. Standing right next to Sandra and getting almost an identical shot of Bois was Sue Whyte who has posted her pictures on Fotopic at suewhyte.fotopic.net Next up with the Springspeed Nationals photo updates are the Outlaw Flat Four racers whose gallery you can find at www.offdrc.co.uk/files/pages/gallery_2009_002.htm. Mat of OFF adds a big Thank You to the SCR crew for a great weekend. Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive web sites with shots of the weekend's action at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Dominic Romney has updated his Modern Pics site with Springspeed Nationals shots. The site now offers picture search by racer name or race number and also image download options. You can find all of this at www.modernpics.co.uk. Editor's note: We have a backlog of news which we will post tomorrow; please keep those updates coming to news@eurodragster.com. Hungary UEM round confirmed. 5th May: The UEM European Drag Bike Championship has an additional round confirmed for 2009. This will take place at the Kunmadaras drag racing track in Hungary. The ongoing contract negotiations and track licence approval have taken far longer than anticipated, but both the UEM and the Commercial Rights holder, Keith Bartlett, feel that despite the very late announcement of this Championship round, it is in the long term interests of UEM European Drag Bike Championship that this round goes ahead in 2009. The date for this years round is 21st-23rd August. All three UEM European Drag Bike Classes are invited to enter and full details of prize money and travel money are available from Trakbak Racing Ltd, via their London office. Keith Bartlett said "It has taken many months of discussions and negotiations to arrive at the point where the Championship round can proceed in 2009. After spending time meeting with various organisations over the past few weeks, including the Hungarian Government, the tourist office, the mayor of Kunmadaras Municipality and various major commercial sponsors for the event, the potential for this round of the Championship in the future is very good. In addition we have implemented several upgrades to the actual track, including the construction and addition of concrete safety crash barriers, plus various other elements to make the track a better all round race track and facility overall to that which it currently has been. With that said we do not expect that all the teams in all the classes, will be able to attend the event in 2009 as a result of such a late confirmation." Keith added "Trakbak Racing will be very involved in the event in terms of assisting with track preparation and actual event organisation and promotion, assuring that we will do our best to assist the event promoter of having a good round of the Championship in 2009. In the future from 2010 this will be a key event for other markets and new teams from countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Turkey and other eastern European countries. Hungary already is an established motor sports country with both high profile F1 Grand Prix and Moto GP Championships being held in the country, in addition to having the mighty Hungaroring circuit so close to Budapest the capital." Keith Bartlett, track promoter Josef Hadnagy, the Hungarian Government and Tourist Office are seeking to have the Championship round held in 2010 on the weekend of 30th April-2nd May as this is an annual holiday in Hungary that would likely see a high spectator attendance for such an event. This would make it the first round of the 2010 UEM European Drag Bike Championship, should this be confirmed. In addition Keith Bartlett has said that they would also be looking to take the FIA European Drag Racing Championship to Kunmadaras in 2010. This would then bring the Hungary event into line with all the other Championship events (apart from Hockenheim) where both the FIA and UEM European Championships are campaigned at the same event. It is the intention that in 2010 Trakbak Racing would be the Championship round organiser alongside the track promoter Josef Hadnagy. ©Eurodragster.com Springspeed Nationals: almost there. 5th May: Yesterday's eliminations Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway were badly affected by the weather with rain forcing a late start and then holding up racing a number of times when it did get started. Congratulations to the winners of those finals which did take place: Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association: Joe Bond 7.175/196.22 def. Paul Wratten 7.503/142.38 Outlaw Flat Four: Dave Dinning staged (bye) Funny Bike: Tim Blakemore staged (bye) Subject to official ratification the following records were set: Super Modified ET: 7.529 seconds, Nigel Payne Super Modified speed: 183.13 mph, Nigel Payne All other classes completed their semi-finals and a huge Well Done is due to the race officials, track crew and racers who worked hard to get the racing as far as it reached. Fiona Moor and Ray Debben escaped unhurt from top end crashes on their Comp and Pro Stock Bikes; Ray actually appeared in round one of PSB eliminations after the Debben Racing team worked into the night on repairs. Congratulations to 9.50 Bike racer Jake Mechaell and Super Gas racer Stuart Doignie who won the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award respectively. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to check out our American Car Imports-sponsored Springspeed Nationals coverage, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Clock's a-ticking... 4th May: With confirmed entries from Poland, France, Germany, Croatia, Netherlands and UK, this weekend's (Saturday-Sunday) King of Europe West at Santa Pod Raceway is shaping up to be the toughest street race in the UK. There are also possible last-minute entries from Russia and Italy for the event which is part of the PTM show and which looks to be an excellent weekend no matter how many cylinders you love in a car. "We have been getting lots of positive feedback and a number of street racers are working like crazy to get their cars finished for the event", says Lee Child of Eurodragster.com sponsor LA Racing Parts. "So to make it easier, you can enter the King of Europe West at Santa Pod Raceway on the day. Make sure you enter by 14.30 to avoid disappointment and to be part of the first ever King of Europe West in the UK. Some of the European street racers will also be testing at this Friday's (8th May) Peak Performance Day." ©Eurodragster.com For more information check out www.santapod.com, www.ptmshow.co.uk and www.kingofeurope.net, or E-Mail Lee at lee@kingofeurope.net. Swift snippets. 4th May: Hans Karlsson tells us that FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund impressed in testing at Malmö's Meca Raceway at the weekend with a 4.32/260 kmh over the eighth which would extrapolate to a 6.69 or 6.70. You can check out pictures and video from the Pro Test and Tune at www.hassebilder.se. The UK's Junior Drag Bike racers have announced that this year's Championship is now to be known as the 2009 Insane Motorcycles Junior Drag Bike Championship courtesy of Nick Argyle of Insane Motorcycles. Nick's son Luke made his Junior Drag Bike début this weekend. To allow himself a lie-in in the mornings, UK Super Street racer Richard Hillier is utilising child labour in the form of Demi and Connor to clean the chassis of Mustang Sally before it is painted (below left). "Richard is meditating and having counselling to deal with the Pro Tree for Super Street and Super Gas", adds Colin Weber. ©Eurodragster.com Drag racing and Eurodragster.com fan Shaun Ward, who is on active service overseas, got in touch to show us what the best-dressed vehicle is wearing (above right). We understand that Shaun will be joining us at the FIA Main Event where he will be crewing with a Top Methanol team. Our best wishes to ex-pat UK Top Fuel Bike racer and regular Eurodragster.com News contributor Jay Upton who parted with his bike on the finish line after a 6.357/312 kmh pass at Western Sydney International Dragway on Friday. Initial reports were that Jay was unscathed but we understand that he is now in hospital. Hope to see you back on track again soon Jay. We have a couple of birthdays today. First up is a Happy Birthday to our good buddy Alan Currans of the Acceleration Archive web site. Happy Birthday also to UK 9.50 Bike racer Steve Whiting who is in action at the Springspeed Nationals. Have a great day both of you. Cuff him and stuff him! 2nd May: Having been uncuffed and released from his cell, ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith has been in touch with an account of his weekend driving the Leverich family's Top Fueller in the IHRA Springnationals at Rockingham: Yet another mega drive for eighteen hours from Ontario to the southern part of North Carolina to compete in Top Fuel. When we got to the track I jumped out to greet the team who all had their chins on the deck. Bob (car owner) told us we had spun a main bearing and were done for the weekend because we had no spare block or crank. Gary the Crew Chief was even going to call me to turn back home, but those who know me know this isn't an option and I'll do whatever I can in my power to make things happen. The crew yanked the block out and looked at the damage. My friend Barry Paton was also there and had a spare crank and a cap and saddle he could sell us. The problem then was where to get a line bore at 4:00 pm on a sunny Friday. We called many machine shops and even downloaded info from the net but eventually one guy recommended Clay Ewing who was an absolute star. We dropped the block at his shop and he worked on it till 10:30 pm, even power-washing the block. What an angel, he did a stirling job. Clay had never seen drag racing so we invited him to join us and sure enough he turned up on Saturday to see what all the fuss was about. We also had just met Mark Jones who lives in Florida and helps the Leverich family. What a riot he is. I am sure half of America has seen his butt because his shorts don't fit properly! He has a six second altered which he just crashed and even when it landed on him on fire he got out OK and went and bought a nitro altered for good measure. ©Eurodragster.com Mark helped Gary and the team put the crank etc back together and dropped the block in the frame at approximately 2:00 am Went to bed approx 3:00 am - not bad, only been awake for forty three hours - then got up four hours later to return to the track and build the motor for session two. It was a huge thrash but we made the call and between Gary, Aidee and I had a tune up ready for the hot sweaty track. We pulled forward to fire up but Mark noticed a bolt through the wheelie bar was not right and dived under the car again, his butt attracting all the IHRA officials while I was yelling "Leave it!". The marshals gave us a few minutes but we were told to go back to the pits, bummer. At least we were ready for the night session except we forgot to bump up timing as planned. In front of a capacity crowd we were first pair in the dark with Terry McMillan an IHRA record holder. Terry runs for 1' 15" to our 2' so we fired up first - well, we started but stalled and took forever to refire - and was to do the first burnout for the nitro junkies and uninitiated alike, so of course I rose to the occasion with a fierce burnout to the delight of the crowd. I guess the other racers and IHRA weren't expecting much from us due to our misgivings so after staging I drilled the tree to a fine 0.090 light, 3.69/223 to the eighth and 5.45/253 but broke a rod at 1100 feet so I was only on throttle for 4.9 secs. We were all delighted as we had stout eight-foot header flames and a best run for this team but more importantly a baseline so we can now start tuning this animal. We didn't qualify but got tenth place money to fix the relatively minor damage. We partied with the Jet Bike guys and went out for tea with Bob and the crew, up until 3:00 am We watched Top Fuel on Sunday morning then started back. Got to the border at 4:00 am- only up yet another 27 hours - so imagine the stress when we were detained and searched and detained by the border guards who said we that had suspected stolen plates on the car. I had used a customer's car and he knew I was using so I presumed it was his plate but the border guards contacted the cops who said it came up on computer as lost or stolen. The border guards decided to let us go but called the police who came and handcuffed me and took me to station, saying I was being held on suspicion of possessing stolen property! I was put in a holding cell, had to remove my shoes and had my mobile phone taken off me while they figured things out. Anyhow half an hour later they found I was telling the truth and released me without charge, but they had delayed us for three. It turns out a mistake that there was a mistake on the computer...yeah, thanks guys! We finally got home 10:00 am but reflecting on those header flames we all agreed that it was an awesome weekend but a long way to go for five seconds of fun. Hopefully we can make round three in Texas but I'm not driving down there! Thanks to all the well-wishers for the E-Mails and congratulations to Stu and Rich McDonald for getting a car out with Jon Webster from Rune's camp. You can check out a YouTube video of Smax's qualifying run by clicking here, and a photo gallery can be found at 66.116.164.78/mydownloads/dragster/images/2009/rock1. Swift snippets. 2nd May: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding the post-Big Bang standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the UK National points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. ©Eurodragster.com Tomorrow's (Sunday's) Damn Yankees May Day Nationals event at North Weald Airfield features commentary by John Price and an appearance and fire-up by Graham Ellis' Superbird Pro Mod. The event includes American cars, Hot Rods and custom cars, live band, bar, kids' go-karts, childrenls rides, trophies, trade stands, children's entertainers, face painter, music all day, food stalls and ice cream. Gates open at 9:00 am and close at 3:00 pm. Prices for adults with Yanks, Rods Customs, and Harleys is £5, general admission £10, accompanied children under 14 Free. Situated in the Essex countryside not far from junction 7 on the M11 the airfield is on the A414 between Harlow and Chipping Ongar, postcode CM16 6AA. Web site updates. 2nd May: Ian Blackett has updated the Blackett Photography site at www.blackettphotography.com with pictures and slow-motion video from last weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out another sample of Ian's slow-motion video, this time Andy Haley's wheelie in 8.50 Bike, at www.blackettphotography.com/videos/andyhaley.mov. ©Eurodragster.com Another world record for SPR. 2nd May: Visitors to Santa Pod Raceway last weekend would have enjoyed both fun and frolics at their superb Big Bang VW event, but also the incredible sight of a rusty 56-year-old VW Van or 'Bus' launching down the hallowed quarter mile in considerably less time than it would take a contemporary Ferrari or Porsche. Adding insult to injury, the bus has been deliberately left with its original patina to add charm and character. The amazing machine, run by team Wheeler Dealer from Frankfurt in Germany, is a rare early 'Barndoor' model, so called because of its huge engine cover. This fact alone makes it a five-figure museum piece despite its outwardly shabby demeanour. But, as you might imagine, all is not standard underneath, with the van packing a highly-tuned VW engine. Built by owners Tom Gotta and Stefan Betzeüga, the Bus went on to set a new World record for non-turbocharged VW vans, clocking the quarter mile in just 12.656 seconds at 102.84 mph! Impressive enough for any car, but doubly so when you start to factor in the lack of aerodynamics associated with the much-loved commercial. Driven by Stefan, the VW put in consistent performance all day, despite the sweltering heat, resulting in the crowd-pleasing times. With the outright World Record for any shape of VW Camper standing at 12.5 seconds, also set at Santa Pod by a 'Bay' window bus, the team have been invited back to the famous Bug Jam at Santa Pod on 17th-19th July to try and crack the record once and for all. So make sure you're there to see history being made! One thing's for sure. Whatever you're driving, if you see this old Bus in your rear view mirror, best pull over and concede gracefully. Proof indeed that old VWs never die - they just get faster! For more information, or to book tickets, visit www.bugjam.co.uk or call 01234 782828. ©Eurodragster.com Speedgroup/Trakbak alliance. 1st May: A new and strong alliance in European drag racing has been formed between Speedgroup and Trakbak Racing Ltd. "I'm excited about working with Keith Bartlett and his team to further explore opportunities for developing European drag racing", says Speedgroup Managing Director Michael Gullqvist. "They have been essential for developing the FIA European Championships and we will now be able to assist by adding more resources. "One immediate action that this co-operation has allowed is that the Speedgroup will be conducting the administration tasks of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, which will allow Trakbak Racing to focus more on securing and bringing additional events to the Championship in the near future. "We have also agreed upon signing up a new TV production and distribution company for the 2009 Championships. Keith will take the role as the Executive Producer. The format will be different to that of the last few years with a fifty two-minute show (one-hour programme) per event, replacing the four twenty six-minute shows. We have chosen to do it this way because we can now have the shows broadcast much sooner after each event. There will be less time to edit the shows, which will in some cases result in less content, but we think that being able to have the racing footage ready for broadcasting quickly will be very attractive for many of the TV channels and at the same time will be of benefit to the teams and their sponsors. ©Eurodragster.com "The UEM European Drag Bike Championship will remain fully under the umbrella and control of Trakbak Racing Ltd, but both Trakbak Racing Ltd and Speedgroup AB will be looking to work together on this Championship in the future for its ongoing development alongside the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. "This new alliance with the Speedgroup will be of benefit to everyone involved in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship", says Keith Bartlett, CEO of Trakback Racing. "It will also allow Trakbak Racing to concentrate more time and resources, including my own, on the larger commercial issues such as the addition of new rounds and securing various new partnerships and commercial sponsorships in the near future, in which Trakbak Racing has been heavily involved over the winter months." A weekend to forget. 1st May: B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby says that last weekend's Big Bang at Santa Pod Raceway is another weekend on which he would rather not dwell. "On the first run qualified number two behind Andy Frost but lost half the rear quarter as a dzus fastener failed", says Colin. "On the second run the boys called for a brilliant tune with a partial one-system pass, marginally bumping Frosty into second place although he had also found improved form. ©Eurodragster.com "All was not good, however, as we checked the lash only to find we had broken a valve spring. It wasn't so much the lack of parts as the greater risk of breaking more springs and causing potentially more damage to a motor which we had just run in. We made a team decision not to attempt the Cruise and called the guys at the gate more out of courtesy than anything else. They had waited for us but we told them that we would not be doing the Cruise and that's pretty much where our weekend ended. "Congratulations to winner and runner-up Frosty and Hans Christian Andersson; for Hans it's his first time on the podium. For us it's a special thanks to Willy at Gazebo Auto Bodies for the rapid turnaround of the repaired rear quarter, and thanks also to Clive Bond for organising the PSI valve springs from Sonnys." Swift snippets. 1st May: Lars Pettersson writes from Australia where the FIA Drag Racing Commission are meeting to work on the FIA European Championship including the 2010 rulebook. From left are E Semaan (Bahrain), G Light (USA), T Välja (Finland), S Vorobyov (Russia), L Pettersson (Sweden), T Thornton (Australia), R Anthes (Germany), C Tynan (New Zealand), Jim Read (track owner), P Evans (UK). "We are going to attend the Karcher Nitro Champs at Eastern Sydney International Dragway", says Lars. "ANDRA, CAMS and Eastern Sydney International Dragway Chairman Jim Read is taking care of the group and we have so far had a successful meeting .We really looking forward to attending the event and picking up some influence from the track and the event and the drivers here in Australia. It is a marvellous track which Jim Read has built." ©Eurodragster.com Earlier news