Testing the fuel and chasing the €. 30th May: Thomas and Peter Granica of Germany's Team Joker Super Street Bike team travelled to Santa Pod Raceway last week with their usual high hopes. Thomas writes: The goal was to go home with a working engine and to win travel money which meant that I would have to qualify in the first ten. We arrived on Wednesday after a fourteen-hour trip which was quick as there was no queues on the way. On Thursday we wanted to test a new fuel, but the rain stopped us after the first run. Saturday's qualifying was cancelled due to rain and hail. But on Sunday we had three qualifiers. The first run was not too bad, a 7.9 although I was a bit disappointed until my Crew Chief Peter told me that he was still playing with the fuel settings. The second run was total crap as one injector was blocked and the bike made no power at all. On the third run we had more in it but unfortunately some of the horses rode out through the clutch as the track was very sticky. All in all I was happy, as I qualified tenth and the bike was in one piece. Now we are looking forward to Hockenheim and to meeting all of our friends again. Big thanks to Dave Smith and James Atkins who built me a reliable engine in two days, to my Crew Chief and brother Peter, to our hard-working crew member Thomas, and to our sponsors Elektrotechnik Brümmel, Ernst Handelsgesellschaft, Ernst Transport + Logistik, and Turbo Total. And let's not forget the hard-working Santa Pod track crew who fought tirelessly against the water, and the Eurodragster.com team for the great coverage and their work for us racers (Thanks! You're welcome - Ed). More new Blood. 30th May: Although the rain ruined the on track action for most days, FIA /FIM Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway was still an essential event for Turboville Racing: Our first few qualifying runs were consistent with low 8.2s on the board throughout the first day and a great reaction by Laura of 0.001 meant a great start to the weekend. It was soon discovered that the secret to a seven-second run for the True Blood car was to get the engine nice and hot with early start-ups and longer burnouts, however lack of track time meant we could only predict this for round one of eliminations, on the hottest and best quality track of the weekend. With the car running high 8.1s and low 8.2s all weekend, we thought setting a faster dial-in of 8.10 would be a safe bet with the improvements. Unfortunately our first round closely mirrored the first round of the Festival of Power with an 8.07 breakout after an early lift against Alan Didwell. Another double breakout race and with 0.00 lights by both parties, except this time we were worse off. We will be trying for that seven once again at the SPRC Summernationals but until then we would like to thank Julie Braskett, Al Whiston, Ingrid and Martin Chesworth, Chris Wilson, Liam Jones and Crew and Amanda Cox for getting us through a tough weekend! The costs of racing have been steadily rising over the years and the returns diminishing, like most teams we do what we do for love, but the money soon runs out. Ian has decided to stop competing any Championship races and concentrate on building and running the team cars for BloodLines, although still having the odd bit of fun at exhibition meetings like Dragstalgia and the Mopar Euro Nats. Laura wanted to contest the full Super Pro Championship but University and thinning funds meant that it would probably not happen this year. The Young Blood slingshot was sold last year and we are planning the move to rear engine dragster soon, but meanwhile she is doing very well in the True Blood car which her dad normally drives. Laura has brought on board the new vehicle detailing company Kleen Freaks and their range of waxes and cleaners are second to none, take a look at the slingshot if you don't believe us! We hope that that support is mutually beneficial and will lead to greater things for both parties. Ian has a big circle of friends in the American nostalgia scene and one of those names is that of Braskett. Dave Braskett was a legendary Funny Car and dragster builder, owner, tuner and driver in California during the 1970s and 1980s, most famous for the Braskett & Burgin Vega and Camaro floppers. Gary Burgin still supplies us Europeans with our race parts. Dave passed away but Ian got to know his daughter Julie. Julie was brought up at the tracks of So-Cal, breathing nitro and tyre smoke, hanging around Keith Black's and the other speed shops in her neighbourhood. To make good on a promise to her late father she attended the Frank Hawley school and gained her NHRA dragster licence intending to race. About that time Julie met and married Al Whiston, who is from Wales, so all plans were put on hold while she moved across the Atlantic. Last week we all sat down over dinner and hatched a plan: Julie became part of BloodLines racing and you will now see the legend Braskett, Chesworth & Turboville along the side of the cars. This will help us to continue racing and the plan is for Julie to share the driving of the comp dragster with Laura. BloodLines have commissioned Ian to build another fabulous slingshot in the meantime, which should début later this year and will be for sale immediately. We are keeping this one under wraps until it is finished but as a teaser, think Surfers meets Nostalgia A Fuel! Team shirts and caps are now available from our pit. Swift snippets. 30th May: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-29th June. You can check out the entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The official closing date for this event is next Friday (6th June); you can download entry forms from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Many thanks also to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding us the post-FIA / FIM Round 1 and Yaks Weekend points standings in the 2014 UK National Drag Racing Championships. You can check out the UK National points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Good luck and stay safe to Sweden's Elvira Karlsson who is contesting Pro Stock Bike at this weekend's 45th Annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Qualifying commences today and you will be able to stay in touch with Elvira's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central buddies at www.dragracecentral.com. A big Happy '32'x Birthday to Sue Morris who runs the Media Centre at Santa Pod Raceway. Have a great day Suze. Web site updates. 30th May: Mark Skinner has updated his Flickr gallery with pictures from FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 plus the pre-event testing. You can check out Mark's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/fast_n_bulbous. The latest issue of ACAG Update covers all of the recent work on the Allard Chrysler dragster and its appearance at Dunsfold, plus the latest news from the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. You can take a look at www.drceurope.co.uk/acag/may2014. Event entry update. 29th May: Entry is still open for the fifth round of the UK National 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike Championships and the third round of NAST Supertwins, which take place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Mid Summer Madness Public Track Weekend on 7th-8th June. ET Bike is also due to be contested at this event. Entry forms can be downloaded from Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Entry is open for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-29th June and which is a round of MSA Pro Modified, UK National Drag Racing and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, ACU Supertwin Top Gas and Supertwin ET, Wild Bunch Series, VWDRC Championships and Junior Drag Bike. Entry closes this Friday, 6th June; entry forms can be downloaded from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Anita drives happy. 29th May: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä spent six days at Santa Pod Raceway last week and saw one dry and sunny day in all of that time. Anita explains: We went to Santa Pod so early because we wanted to test our new car. Due to the rain, hail and thunder this just wasn't possible. But I have to tell you, the weather was spectacular! We had this new chassis as a spare, bought from Snake Racing. After the last season the blue car was bending a little bit so instead of fixing it, Tommi sold me on the idea of running the spare car. It is a lot of work to put together a new car. My crew, under Crew Chief Sami Lehtimäki, did a tremendous job. There were so many small details to which to attend. That's why the Test and Tune Day was a perfect choice for us. The rain ruined it, but you can't help the weather. On Sunday we had Dom Lagana assisting us. We started with a half pass and then Dom and my crew felt that the car was ready for a proper launch. The second run was 4.01 at 294 mph, and we were more than pleased with the new car. We hit it hard for the third round, but couldn't improve our numbers due to some small problems. As you know, there wasn't any racing after that. Qualifying spot #2 with extra running points placed us equal number one in the Championship together with dear, sweet Thomas the 'Nightmare'. A new car is a new car. I really liked my blue dragster, it fit me like an old glove and I felt so cosy there. New padding, belts, pedals and steering wheel all felt different. Before the first run I didn't know if it would run straight and how it would behave. All the worries were gone after the three runs and each run made the new car more familiar. The car is carrying the colours of our sponsor Tradeparts. It looked different from the blue car and over the weekend I was more and more fond of it. The car looks fresh and bright. Actually, it looks a happy car. I have a strong feeling that I'll have a nice future with this one. The blue dragster has been left as it was. The original plan was that Tommi would contest a race or two with it. Because we didn't get enough runs with the new car last weekend and because Tierp 1 has been cancelled we'll have to see if Alastaro is a race for Tommi, or not yet. We'll see how the team feels. The bronco has been tamed! 29th May: Supertwin racer Job Heezen travelled from The Netherlands to England last week with one question, and one question only. Would the bike go straight, or would it try to throw him off as it had on every previous outing? Job writes: Last year was our first season with this bike and we made a lot of changes during the season in an attempt to make it go straight. But whatever we did, it kept  showing strange behaviour with a preference for the wall or the centre line. Leaving the groove was not the only problem, the bike had a nasty tendency the tilt sideways at a thirty to forty degree angle with a speed and force which made it  impossible to anticipate its movements. During last season we worked on this in between events but we never could solve the problem. Our work changed some of the characteristics of the problems and moved the wobbles further up the track, what had been happening in the first part of the run now occurred at around 1000 feet at speeds of 160+ mph, not something guaranteed to make you happy. With the help of a lot of good people we made major changes to the bike over the winter. We made the frame stronger and put some twele feet of extra tubing in it, we altered the clutch and made it partly out of titanium - we were never friendly with the clutch as we got it originally - we made new wheelie bars and widened the rear wheel from twelve to fourteen inches. Finally all the work paid off and it seems that we tamed the wild mustang! Both runs on Sunday might not have been perfect, but one thing is for sure: the bike went really straight and never gave me the feeling that it was going to try something funny, and that's a great feeling I can tell you. I am so used to this tricky behaviour that it will take some time before I get it out of my system, but from now on we can start tuning for the max instead of tuning to the limitations of the chassis. It might seem odd to say that we had a great weekend with all the rain and the cold but honestly, for us, it was a successful event. For me as a rider it is a good feeling to know that the bike goes straight but I know that there are other people around the track that walked away with a big smile. Even the start line crew at the Pod told me that it was a big relief for them too... Hope's Stock appearance. 29th May: UK Pro Stock Bike and 9.50 Bike racer Alex Hope has been in touch with an update on his season so far: It goes without saying that a final pass of 8.0 on the Pro Stock Bike before the rain came at Easter is nothing to shout home about, as this bike ran 7.4 seconds twelve years ago. That was with an experienced rider and a motor thrown together in a shed by a talented bloke in Leeds (Alex' dad Chris Hope - Ed). but we are well aware we have a long long way to go to get it to where we need to be. There is some method in the madness though. Dad built the number two engine extremely soft, took in the region of 100 bhp out, at Easter to make it as comfortable to ride as a Stocker can be, which is why the ETs were well off the pace. We were chipping away slowly until the rain stopped play. The motor has now been apart to give the compression back and the cam timing has been set to where we need to be to make peak power. The ignition timing was retarded all weekend but we will build it back in over the course of the Summernationals as I gain more laps and experience riding the bike. We said from the off: small steps and keep it safe, no point in throwing a 7.2 setting in it if I'm not experienced enough to process it all. All that would achieve is broken parts. We hope to make improvements as the Summernationals progresses, however the main target now has to be to get the bigger of the two trophies on offer in 9.50 Bike after a string of First Loser trophies in 2014! We will then take it from there with hope of competing in as many races as possible for the remainder of 2014, and we will then go on to compete in and support the FIM Championship in 2015. A quick Well Done to Mark Smith on his PBs on his Pro Stock Bike at Santa Pod and to Ian Crichlow on his win in 9.50 Bike at Shakespeare County Raceway. Good work gents! A new Doorslammer best. 29th May: Zoltan Kohari or, in Hungarian, Kohari Zoltan, the Budapest-based promoter of nearly everything happening in western Hungary, has decided to add to the growing number of hot quarter milers in the region with his own blown mid-70's Camaro. Paul Fischer writes: Last week at his main venue at the unpronounceable Kiskunlachaza track he set, as far as I can tell, the quickest doorslammer ET in the entire region. A storming 7.26 at 329 kmh has upped the ante among the local racing fraternity. Zoltan was matched against Robi Demeter in his super-turbo Audi which is no slouch at 9.7 seconds. Robi, it must be said, has become accustomed to blowing away all-comers. Not this time. The run is available on YouTube. Kiskunlachaza is a former military airbase from the Soviet Union days and has a runway of width and length that I can't be bothered to measure; suffice to say it's mega-wide and super-long. Zoltan and his crew at Dragracing.hu have worked hard getting to grips with track preparation and have mostly mastered the art of transforming old tarmac into a smooth race track capable of low seven-second doorslammer passes. It remains to be seen how the rest of the pack respond to this latest challenge, they certainly have a race track on which to do it. Swift snippets. 29th May: Santa Pod Raceway are seeking sub eleven-second retro vehicles to make demonstration passes at the Retro Show on Sunday 22nd June. If you'd like to take part then please contact Phil at phil@santapod.com or call 01234 782828. UK Pro ET racer Mike Lacey writes that the traditional Party in the Pits will again take place on the Saturday night of the SPRC Summernationals. "Live music will be provided by the fantastic up and coming Sons of Icarus whom you may have heard promoted and played on Nitro FM at the weekend", says Mike. "Probably the best band we have ever had so it is, without a doubt, a must for you all to come and see. Come by and join in with our festivities, but please remember that we are in the pits so keep the place tidy, putting your beer cans etc in the bins and please no bottles in the pits. Have a guess what broken glass will do to slick tyres?" With two weeks until his Top Fuel Guide goes to press, author Dan Welberry has asked if any photographer recognises the below pictures of Shelley Pearson as theirs. "These images were supplied by Shelley with no references and I need to find out who took them as Shelley can't remember! I need to apply the correct credit and indeed make sure that the photographer is happy for them to be used". If thes pics are yours then please get in touch with Dan at dan@3tcreative.com. UK Junior Dragster racer Tyler Ashdown of the Alamo Drag Racing Team asked us to say a big Thank You to Martin Hill and the Fireforce team for their help with a technical problem with his dragster. "Thanks also to everyone at Santa Pod for all their hard work at the weekend", adds Tyler. Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official timing data from FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway. 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. Dave Gibbons and all at Rough Diamond Racing have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to their work exerience lad John Price. It's our pleasure to do so, have a great day Pricey. Web site updates. 29th May: Thanks to bike photojournalist and all-round top bloke Steve Moxley for letting us know that his report of Santa Pod Raceway's Festival of Power is now showing on the Eat My Ink web site at www.eatmyink.com. Chris Eyre has updated his Euro Drag Pics site with shots from FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1. You can take a look at www.eurodragpics.com. Our good buddy, photo-journalist Remco Scheelings has had two FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 reports posted on the Autosport.nl web site. As ever there is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and an off-track report which you can check out by clicking here. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog's last breath of freedom before strapping in for the weekend's race was at Thursday's Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day where he was able to take a small number of pictures before the track and surrounding area firstly disappeared entirely and then reappeared beneath flowing water and piles of hail. You can take a look at Tog's Peak Performance pictures at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Our good friend Alan Currans appears to have had a little more luck with the weather at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend and has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures from Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic. As ever you can check out Alan's latest work via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. SPRC office closed. 27th May: Ian Marshall has been in touch to ask us to inform racers that the Santa Pod Racers Club office will be closed until Friday of this week, 30th May. You can leave E-Mail for Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or a voicemail at 01933 313625 and it will be dealt with when the office reopens. FIA / FIM Round 1 rained out. 27th May: With the exception of the track drying vehicles not a wheel turned at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday (Monday) as the rain which had been messing with us since Thursday's Pro Peak Performance Day finally got the upper hand. Only Sunday's qualifying was unaffected by the weather and a supreme effort by the race officials, track crew and racers combined to produce one of the most memorable days in Santa Pod's history with Sportsman qualifying and eliminations and three Pro sessions. Commiserations to Thomas Nataas and the Andersen Racing Top Fuel Dragster team who were robbed of the chance to back up new records of 3.910 seconds and 309.23 mph and to Timo Habermann who was likewise robbed of the chance to back up a new ET record of 5.242 seconds which after some quick research appears to put him in the Top Three quickest blown-alcohol Top Methanol Dragster racers on the planet. Congratulations to Pro ET racer Glenn Pallant who won the £75 Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 in qualifying. The Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 for the 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, NAST and ET Bike round at Shakespeare County Raceway's Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. The Eurodragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award was not won and so has been increased to £125 for the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored reports, pit notes and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please join Tog in thanking Simon, Kirstie, Julian and Patrik for their hard work in what were sometimes very uncomfortable conditions over the last week and a half. SCR bike results. 27th May: Many thanks to Jerry Cookson for forwarding us the results of the UK National and NAST Championship rounds held at Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. Congratulations to: 8.50 Bike: Dave Smart 8.729/159.48 def Mick Winyard 10.325/146.62 9.50 Bike: Ian Crichlow 9.563/140.23 def Alex Hope 9.653/118.96 Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison (10.85) 11.448/91.85 def Keiran Govender (13.40) 14.386/92.16 New kid on the block. 27th May: Nervous Nick writes with an update on the Gasser Circus' first two outings of the season: The first Gasser Circus event of 2014 was the Atomic Festival at Sywell where eight Gassers entertained visitors with eighth-mile drag racing. Unfortunately, the weekend took one casualty at the event and one shortly after, with Tim Holmes cracking the block on his Powerwagon pick-up and John Gibson suffering a bearing issue on his car's front axle stub. Both of these failed to make Round 1 of the Gasser Circus Showdown at Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway over this Bank Holiday weekend. Nine Gassers made it through the gate at Shakey and it felt good to be back at the track, especially when our eyes fell on the latest Gasser to join the Circus, the Ford Pop of Ted Booth aptly named The Mighty Mouse. Ted was eager to see what his Chevy-Powered Gasser could do on the track. Despite the forecast not being as good as any drag racer or fan would wish to see, read or hear, the pits were a busy place. Unfortunately, just after midnight Friday, it seemed the forecasters had got it spot on, as down came the wet stuff. Anyone under canvas, or even in a van, knew as they stirred from their slumber on Saturday morning what the weather was like without even opening their eyes. That drumming sound on the roof was not a flock of tap dancing chickens (It was at the Pod - Ed), it was from copious amounts of rain hitting it. The rain kept falling all morning, and only abated when it was clear that the shutdown area could not be dried before the curfew kicked in! The delay did allow time for some maintenance, most of which was being performed on a particular yellow Austin Devon. It's amazing how when racers have time on their hands they like nothing more than working on their car or, if that is all buttoned up, helping out another driver. The input was most welcome and the piss-taking, although extensive, was top notch and hilarious. Sunday morning arrived, and finally did some respite from the monsoon, with the sun even putting in a prolonged appearance. The crew at Shakey were hard at work and their efforts were rewarded when the fire-up road opened and was soon awash with cars waiting to hit the quarter mile. With no running on Saturday and with the Gasser Circus Showdown only being contested over Saturday and Sunday, qualifying was via a number drawn from a hat. Eliminations got underway, with Nogbad the Bad beating Honky Tonkin', The Mighty Mouse beating Goldrush, Whiplash beating Horrid Henry, Green Onions pulling a cherry and losing to Honky Tonkin', and 2013 Champion Ain't Misbehavin' losing to Identity Crisis. The Mighty Mouse had a bye to the next round, whilst Nogbad the Bad lost out to the hard-charging Willys Coupe Whiplash. Honky Tonkin' lined up against Identity Crisis, but Mike Noble released the transbrake button fractionally too soon, handing the win to Identity Crisis which launched really hard. Within twenty feet of the launch Brian Gibson was to discover just how hard that launch was as the car fell silent after the diff let go. The Dodge was very slowly pushed back to the pits as any speed meant that the shattered parts of the diff would lock it solid. Brian brings his Gasser to the track in the back of his tail-drop truck, and he normally drives the car up and into the truck. However this was now impossible, and with no winch and the car needing to go up a ramp which raised some five feet from ground level up into the rear of the truck, a plan was needed. The Gasser Circus guys and girls gathered round, with Jungle Pat the designated driver (in charge of the steering and brakes) it was by means of people power that the car was pushed up and into the truck. With Brian unable to make the next round and with two Gassers left in competition, the final was suddenly upon us and with the fire-up lane closed as the clock headed for curfew time, the finalists were thankfully allowed in to race. The final was between Martyn Hallam in his Whiplash Willys Coupe and the new kid on the block Ted Booth in his black Pop The Mighty Mouse. The cars burnt out simultaneously and with many of the other Gasser Circus teams in attendance the two Gassers edged to line. Dial-ins meant that Martyn would leave a second before Ted, both Gassers making use of their wheelie bars as they left the line, the drag was a side-by-side affair with Ted hanging tough and edging an exhilarating win. Not bad for his first weekend with the Gasser Circus! Ted has signalled his intentions for the year: a début victory and consistency mean that he is gunning for this year's title. Congratulations to Ted and all the Gasser Circus drivers and their crews for braving the elements and for another weekend of Racing the Dream. Round 2 will be fought out at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway over the weekend 20th-22nd June. The Gasser Circus would like to thank the crew at Shakey and their sponsors the NSRA, Mechanix Limited and Hot Rod Supplies. F&A Racing support Huxleys. 25th May: UK Pro ET and Super Gas team Dark Horse Drag Racing are pleased to announce sponsorship by Forbes & Andrews Racing. Brian and Lee Huxley have been racing in various Sportsman classes since 1981 and 1985 respectively and along the way have won too many Championship and event trophies to count. Their current '68 Mustang Fastback was built in 2010 and runs a 520 ci naturally aspirated engine. Brian and Lee say "We thank Vince Andrews and Mac Forbes for their support and funding which will go towards a new two-speed Powerglide transmission and uprating the engine for a possible move to Super Pro ET in 2015." Forbes & Andrews Racing, who run Chris Andrews' Top Fuel Dragster, have known the Huxleys since they started racing. Dark Horse Drag Racing are also supported by Blackpole Recycling, Spiers Discoteque Midlands, Sneddon and Sons Roofing Worcester, James Hunt Garage and Adley Developments. Garlits guests at BDRHoF Gala. 24th May: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is proud to announce that the King of Drag Racing, Don Garlits, will be flying in from the USA to attend the BDRHoF Celebration Gala Dinner held in the Great Hall at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on 22nd November. Together with the induction of the Hall of Fame's new members for 2014, the occasion will celebrate a landmark half-century anniversary. In 1964, the International Drag Festival gave Britain its first full taste of the American sport of drag racing. A joint venture between Sydney Allard and Wally Parks, President of America's National Hot Rod Association, the Dragfest brought a team of leading US racers of the day to race on airfield sites across England. Already the foremost star among them was ‘Big Daddy' Don Garlits, who in the ensuing decades would become the true titan of the quarter mile – not merely the greatest drag racer who has ever lived, but a touchstone figure who would define the very landscape of the sport we know today. At eighty two years of age, Don continues to serve as Chief Executive of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, both based at Ocala, Florida. Daughter Donna is General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of the Museum. While not (currently) active in competition, Don has never ceased his on-track exploits and innovations. Within the past month he has established a new quarter mile record of 7.25/184 for a battery-powered electric dragster and is intent on breaking the 200 mph barrier for the class. Don Garlits said "Travelling with my daughters Donna and GayLyn along with members of their families, this will be my first trip outside North America since my last visit to Santa Pod Raceway in 1977. Donna and GayLyn were with me during my visits in 1964, 1976 and 1977. We are all looking forward to visiting your country again because I have many happy memories of my earlier visits. I hope to meet up with old friends made during those trips and to celebrating those who have helped establish the sport since the early 1960s. As CEO of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame I know what it takes to organise such events and I congratulate the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame for their work over the last few years." Donna Garlits commented "Of course there will be one person missing on this trip and that is my beautiful Mom Pat whom we lost earlier this year. We all miss her very much. And in some ways this trip is our way of remembering what great times we had as a family following Dad round the drag strips and what a truly amazing person she was." Chairman of the BDRHoF Stu Bradbury said "Apart from film footage taken at the time I did not see Don racing in 1964. But I was fortunate enough to have been Chief Starter at Santa Pod during his 1976 and 1977 visits. I remember feeling at the time what a great privilege it was to be bringing the world's leading drag racer into stage. Now to have him and his family as guests at this year's BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner is unbelievable. I'm sure he will receive a fantastic welcome from all those attending and all of us at the BDRHoF feel honoured that he is going to join us. I must thank all those who have made this possible, particularly Geoff Stilwell of Beech Underwriting." Further news of the Gala Night and of Don Garlits' UK visit will be released on Eurodragster.com and tickets for the occasion may be obtained by contacting the Hall of Fame via its web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk. This year's new Hall of Fame inductees will be announced during Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway on 11th-13th July. The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is sponsored by many businesses and associations without whose support it could not exist. They are Beech Underwriting; U S Automotive; Power Race Graphics; Santa Pod Racers Club; Pennine Drag Racing Club; Eurodragster.com; Avon Park International Racing Association, Shakespeare County Raceway; Santa Pod Raceway; York Raceway; Allard Motor Company, Flint Insurance Group and Lucas Oil. A second great start to the season. 23rd May: Eight-time FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund is thrilled to announce a multi-race sponsorship with Summit Racing Equipment. Jimmy will fly the Summit Racing colours in 2014 as he chases a historic ninth FIA Pro Stock Championship. The news came as Jimmy returned to Sweden after substituting for Greg Anderson in his Summit Racing Camaro for the first five races of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Jimmy not only gathered qualifying and round points but capped off his 2014 season in the USA with a win at the Fifth Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. Jimmy was the first European driver to win a Wally in an NHRA Professional class. "I am stunned, these positive hits from Summit Racing keep coming", said Jimmy. "When the Summit Pro Stock racing team asked me to drive one of their cars it took me by complete surprise and last week Jim Greenleaf, Summit Racing's Motorsports and Events Manager, called and politely asked if I would accept an associate sponsorship for 2014. "The 2014 season has been a dream so far and to get to drive for such a legendary team sponsored by the finest business in the industry is a great honour. Add to that a sponsorship from Summit Racing for the European racing season... I'm at a loss for words." "Jimmy filled in for Team Summit's Greg Anderson while the four-time NHRA Pro Stock Champion recovered from heart surgery at the start of the 2014 season" said Jim Greenleaf, Summit Racing's Motorsports and Event Manager. "Greg's are big shoes to fill and fill them Jimmy did, taking his first NHRA win in Charlotte, NC at the NHRA Four Wide Nationals in April. Summit Racing is very excited to extend the relationship as Jimmy competes in the 2014 FIA Drag Race Series in Europe. We've learned that the eight-time FIA Pro Stock Champion is very interested in American muscle cars. It's a great fit!" For more information including videos, please visit www.jimmyalund.com. King of Megaspeed. 23rd May: Ian King and the Gulf Oil Dragracing – Grand Prix Originals Top Fuel Bike team start their defence of their 2013 European Championship Crown at the season-opening FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 Santa Pod Raceway, UK this weekend. Along with the usual members the team will be joined over the three days by a TV crew of five from Discovery Canada's in-house production company who will be filming the team as the subject of an episode for season two of the series Megaspeed. The first season doesn't begin airing in Canada until June, but the company has already begun working on season two. The series is comprised of six one-hour episodes, each of which tells between five and seven stories anchored by a main story of a large racing event. In their first season they filmed at events such as Goodwood in England, the European Rally in Italy and Baja 1000 in Mexico. They profiled supercars such as the BAC Mono, the Drayson Electric car as well as "Dreamers and schemers" such as a jet-powered school bus and Parker Bros concept cars. MegaSpeed will be distributed worldwide following its début in Canada. The team currently lead the US Top Fuel Bike Championship after their recent successful trip to the opening round of the Manufacturers Cup in Valdosta, Georgia where they made history by taking the last remaining spot in the MTC Engineering Five Second Club. For more information on Gulf Oil Dragracing go to www.gulfoildragracing.com. The Gulf Oil – GPO Dragracing team uses and endorses exclusively Gulf Oil greases and lubricants in their history making machine. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in their chosen markets in winning the 2013 European Championship and in their 2014 endeavours: APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Action Cameras - Europe's leading source for action sports cameras Blackcat Motorsports - The leading V Rod Harley race team Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Graphite Additive Manufacturing - A leader in 3D printed technologies and rapid prototyping Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hotrod Hangar– Home of the world renowned custom artist Knud Tiroch Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons John and Dea Morgan Racing - The creators of the world's most advanced New Age Funny Bike Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems MTC Engineering - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport NGK Spark Plugs UK - The world's number one spark plug manufacturer Pär Willen - Master webmeister and proprietor of HarleyDrags.com Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Supertough - Custom cases and covers for the Film, TV, Music and Motorsports Industries Spies Hecker - The world's leading supplier of paint for car, commercial and industrial finishing Van Es mobility - The leading manufacturer of telematic products for management of moving objects Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Web Camshafts Inc - Simply the company for Top Fuel Bike camshafts Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts Zodiac aim for title defence. 22nd May: FIM European Supertwin Champions, the Netherlands' Zodiac Racing, are about to start the 2014 season with one goal in mind, to defend their European crown. Vincent Pels writes: This year started with the good news that all of our major sponsors will continue their support for the coming race season. It became even better when long time Zodiac partner S&S Cycle, the industry leader in proven performance products for Harley-Davidson, decided to team up and support Zodiac's racing efforts. With a rich racing heritage of more than fifty five years, the support and knowledge of S&S Cycle is more than welcome, not the least because of the Hubba Hubba supercharged Top Fuel Harley-Davidson. This bike was the first V-Twin to exceed 200 mph in the quarter mile in 1995, under the leadership of George Smith Jr, an accomplishment which Zodiac Racing's Team Principal Ton Pels achieved himself one year later, as the first European. So apart from S&S Cycle, the name of their lead sponsor Zodiac International BV, Europe's premier supplier of performance products and custom parts for Harley-Davidson, will be flying on The Godfather VII again along with their other main sponsors Spectro Oils of America - top motorcycle lubricants, Supertrapp - performance exhaust systems, Accel Motorcycle Products - performance electronics and Kibblewhite Precision Machining Inc - manufacturer of valve train components. The team is also going to rely on their valuable parts supporters again such as National Cycle's 220 mph-tested V-Stream windscreen and Eriks / Gates, who helped to develop a new blower drive system for this coming season. The formation of the team will be the same as last year, with Ton Pels as Team Principal, Vincent Pels as Crew Chief and Norwegian Ronny Aasen as rider. Never change a winning combination! The first outing of the year will be this weekend's first round of the FIM European Supertwin Championship at Santa Pod Raceway's Main Event. Ton and Vincent have made some major changes in the fuel system of their 1000+ hp nitromethane breathing monster, to better control the extraordinary fuel delivery of over twelve gallons per minute better. The rest of the changes made over the winter are mostly for consistency such as a new blower drive, new designed CP pistons and a titanium nine-stage clutch. Ton and Vincent expect to need one or two runs to dial the bike in and get their baseline setting back. But from there on the plan is to run hard, so Ronny can take on the élite of European V-Twin racers in the only true European Championship. The team has a new complimentary hero card for the 2014 season, so please come by and pick one up if you have the chance. Cracks stop Bell's weekend. 22nd May: Tony Deluca writes with a heavy heart that he and UK Super Pro ET racer Ashley Bell will have to miss this week's FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway: Where do I start... A few seasons ago we had handling problems with the car which took months and months to cure. Finally we got it sorted, but since then we have had so many engine problems with torched heads and blown pistons, and our last blow-up at last year's European Finals which amounted to two torched heads, three melted pistons and a spun main journal. It was decided to miss the Festical of Power but to run this week. With the engine stripped right down to a bare block decisions needed to be made, so the block was line bored and new main cap, crank reground and polished, heads repaired and enormous amounts of skimming to get the heads flat again, and new gasket set. The rebuild was begun, five pistons fitted and every one checked with serious amounts of scrutiny. Then we found some hairline cracks in the next piston, and believe me when I say "hairline" they were so fine that we had an hour of "Are they aren't they cracks". After looking at them with a huge pair of milk bottle bottom-type glasses they were cracks. So on the phone to order some pistons only to be told "They don't make Ross pistons in your size any more". So we are three pistons short; we are hunting pistons at the moment unless someone has a set in the UK? We run a Big Block Chevy 565 ci, 14.5:1 compression, 460 bore and a piston weight of 586 grams. If you have any pistons then please drop me an E-Mail at karrendeluca@btinternet.com. On the plus side, our old ambulance tow vehicle has had the body removed and is now our race car transporter. This has a week's work left to finnish, then we have decided that the Cobra has been apple green for to long now so it will be getting a new paint job while we're waiting for pistons. We're now aiming for the European Finals. We will give the engine a complete and thorough rebuild, new paint job on the Cobra and get the truck all up and done as well. If we get out earlier then so be it but the Finals is our aim. So while Ashley is having a relaxing weekend, I will be crewing for Jack Brewster. If you have any pistons then please get in touch. Swift snippets. 22nd May: Matthew Wright of Eurodragster.com sponsor WeMoveYourCar.com appears in Cars that Rock on satellite and cable channel Quest at 21:00 tonight. In the feature Matt takes Brian Johnson of AC/DC for a passenger ride in his Outlaw Rolls Royce at Santa Pod Raceway. UK Pro ET racer James Forster has been in touch to thank those who helped with his plea for tyres. "It looks like I've been handed a Get Out Of Jail card by Tom Barnes and Paul Webster at 1320 Mini who even personally delivered a pair of tyres to my house", says James. "As usual the internet combined with the drag racing community came up with the goods." Overpowered and over here. 22nd May: This weekend's Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway is very much one of those good old traditional hot rodding and drag racing weekends, packed with colour, entertainment and big inch American V8's all pounding the quarter mile. Jerry Cookson writes: Every year the event attracts more cars, more people and more entertainment, so Raceway organsiers are expecting the same this year! Yanks features everything from American classics to late model street and strip Fords, Pontiacs, Chevrolets and Dodges, all legends in their own life time starring in a celebration of all things US automotive. As with all American car shows the event relies on Club participation and so far the response has been very good from the American Auto Club UK and the National Association of Street Clubs to name but two. Last year's event attracted big rigs, oval track racers, trucks, custom bikes plus racing from the Supercharged Outlaws, Wild Bunch, Gasser Circus and Outlaw Street doorslammers. This year will feature for the very first time the UK Power Tour as over oine hundred of the UK's finest muscle cars take on the challenging 330 mile trip from the southern end of the country before journey's end at York Raceway on Bank Holiday Monday to find the quickest and the most reliable muscle car of the tour. So that's why Sunday is Power Tour Sunday! And just to prove that American style NASCAR Stock Cars can go in a straight line there are a couple of Euro Late Model Series 500 hp monsters and Legend Coupes coming direct after competing at Venray Motor Speedway, Holland, last weekend. Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday will be given over to American Auto Club UK Show'n'Shine along with the NASC's Gary's Picnic Shootout plus traders, club displays and more. Evening entertainment comes from DJ Jamie and local band Fifteen English Pounds on Sunday night. If you're a fan of fast bikes then look out for the latest national drag racing Championship rounds for 8.50 and 9.50 Bike plus Supertwins Gas and ET classes. The weekend is also an open RWYB Public Track affair. So if you've got a quick little number then bring it along and race it up the quarter mile. All you'll need is a crash helmet and driver's licence. Full details can be found on our Raceway web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or call 01789 720180. It's gonna be a blast for Uncle Sam! SPR welcome new media generation. 22nd May: This weekend at Round 1 of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Santa Pod Raceway launches its Santa Pod Media Invitation, a new initiative aimed at introducing drag racing to motorsport's rising generation of journalists and photographers. Each year the Motor Sports Association selects its Renault MSA Young Journalist and Young Photographer of the Year. The winners tend to come from the mainstream motorsport establishment and have rarely encountered drag racing – Dominic Romney, twice Young Photographer of the Year (2009, 2011), is the exception who proves the rule. The Santa Pod Media Invitation is intended to redress that balance. Each year's MSA Young Journalist and Young Photographer will receive a personal invitation to attend one of Santa Pod's FIA European Championship events with full press credentials and access, and will be encouraged afterwards to share the experience in words and images. Santa Pod's Commercial Manager Caroline Holden explains "We're always conscious of the divide which seems to separate drag racing from other, so-called mainstream motorsports and we've devised our Santa Pod Media Invitation as a positive effort to start narrowing that gap. There's a long-term purpose – today's Young Journalists and Photographers could well be tomorrow's editors, pundits and opinion-formers and we'd like them to experience drag racing early in their careers so it won't be unfamiliar territory in years to come. Shorter-term, too, they are recognised as the leading young professionals in their field and we're very interested to learn what they make of their first taste of our sport. And besides all that, we just hope they'll enjoy the experience." This weekend, 2013's MSA Young Photographer, freelancer Tom Loomes, will be the first to accept the invitation and intends to spend all four days at the event, soaking up the atmosphere and catching the spirit through his lens. 2012 Young Photographer Nick Dungan also gains his first encounter with the sport on Monday, while 2013's Young Journalist, Motor Sport magazine's Alex Harmer, is expected to attend the FIA European Finals in September. Feature: Andy Robinson Race Cars. 21st May: For the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff Members Colin and Grace Roaf made a Sunday afternoon visit to the premises of Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars where they took a look at Andy's Camaro and other projects in the busy workshop. You can check out the Feature by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks to Andy, Luke and the team for their time on a busy day and to Bob Roberts for the invitation. Stutz on 2014. 21st May: Many thanks to Customized Sports Management for forwarding us an interview with Noah Stutz, who will be contesting his first full season of FIA Top Fuel Dragster this year. Our German interpreter is currently unavailable but our Editorial Policy is to accept relevant news items in any language so here it is as sent: Wie hast du dich auf diese Saison vorbereitet? Auf diese Saison haben wir uns lange vorbereitet. Schon im Winter haben wir neue Crew-Mitglieder trainiert und diese an das Leben im Erbacher Racing Team eingewöhnt. Wir haben viel in neues Material investiert. Ebenso arbeite ich seit diesem Jahr mit einem Management zusammen, diesbezüglich kann ich mich jetzt voll und ganz auf das fahren konzentrieren. Wie ist der erste Test verlaufen? Der erste Test verlief vielversprechend. Obwohl uns das Wetter einen Strich durch die Rechnung, besonders am Sonntag, gemacht hat konnten wir wenigstens am Freitag und Samstag Zeit ein paar Läufe fahren. Robin unser Crewchief stand auch vor einer neuen Herausforderung, er hatte keine Vergleichsdaten von vorherigen Läufen weil wir mit komplett neuem Material da waren. Doch schon im zweiten Testlauf konnten wir über 60 Fuss mit 0.85 Sekunden eine sehr schnelle Zeit fahren. Das war die zweitschnellste Zeit die in Europa je auf diese Distanz je gefahren wurde. Also sind wir mit einem guten Gefühl im Bauch wieder nach Hause gereist. Du bist bei Urs Erbacher in einem Schweizer Team, wie profitierst du von seiner enormen Erfahrung als 6-fachen Europameister? Es ist wirklich super, dass ich bei Urs fahren kann, ich profitiere von jedem Tipp den er mir gibt. Sehr speziell ist es jetzt für mich gemeinsam mit ihm und doch als Konkurrent, eine Europameisterschaft gegen ihn bestreiten zu dürfen. Im Team funktioniert alles sehr gut, die Mechaniker sind mit der Umstellung mit plötzlich zwei Autos zu betreuen, gut zu recht gekommen. Ich freue mich auf jeden fall mit dem Team Erbacher auf Punkte jagt gehen zu dürfen. Was erwartest du beim ersten Rennen Nach den positiven Testläufen erwarte ich eigentlich nur gutes, doch es ist das erste Rennen, die Nervosität wird bei mir und den Teammitgliedern wird wieder da sein und alle wollen gleich gute Zeiten auf den Asphalt brennen. Ich hoffe ich kann mich in der oberen hälfte Qualifizieren und in den „eliminations“ am Sonntag denn einen oder anderen überraschen. Was sind deine Ziele in der FIA-Europameisterschaft Mein Ziel ist konstant zu Punkten und meinen ersten Rennsieg einzufahren. Ich weiss, dass alles möglich ist und deshalb setze ich mir auch hohe Ziele um mich noch mehr voranzutreiben. Top drei in der Gesamtabrechnung ist mein Ziel für die Europameisterschaft. Auf was freust du dich am meisten in dieser Saison Am meisten freue ich mich auf die Strecken von Europa aus der Sicht im Top Fueler kennen zu lernen. Eine volle FIA EM im Top Fueler war schon immer mein Traum und deshalb werde ich alles geben. Ich freue mich jetzt auf das erste Rennen in Santa Pod am 23.-26. Mai 2014. Swift snippets. 21st May: At right is the new ride of reigning UK National Junior Dragster Champion Rhiannon Bellenie which dad Pete says is plannned to make its début in Pro ET at June's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. "It's been a lot of hard work to get here, and there's a long way to go yet, but fingers crossed" says Pete. Motive power will be provided by a normally-aspirated Hayabusa motor. We were unable to check it out at the time as we were covering the Test Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway but we were told that the FHRA Springnats webcast was excellent. Juha Nikusaari kindly got in touch to let us know that a replay is now available at new.livestream.com/accounts/8468789/events/2999429. And they were right, it is excellent. Double Perfect Awards weekend. 21st May: The Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme is available at two events this coming weekend. £175 is on offer for perfect performance at FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway and at the 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, NAST and ET Bike round at Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at the Springspeed Nationals. The money will be paid to the first racer at each of this weekend's events to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of each event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway (again a round for 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, NAST and ET Bike); if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET). Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in the Signing On office at both tracks and are also available from the Eurodragster.com staff. This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £100 after it went unclaimed at the Springspeed Nationals. The money will be paid to the first racer at each of this weekend's events to run an ET to the thousandth of a second on dial-in or index. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend during qualifying or eliminations in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street and Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only) at Santa Pod Raceway, and during qualifying or eliminations in 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Supertwin ET and ET Bike at Shakespeare County Raceway, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £125 for the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the Midsummer Madness Public Track Weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV. For more details about the services which Gold RV can provide see Derek Flynn or visit www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry the Eurodragster.com / Gold RV decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. Decals will be available in the Signing On office first thing Saturday morning. Connor's empty piggy bank. 20th May: The UK's newest-licenced Junior Dragster racer, fifteen year old Connor Holt, financed his own Junior Dragster outing for the second time at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday. Having had a day in Santa Pod Raceway's Junior Stock Dragster last year Connor, who has been hooked on drag racing since his first visit to Santa Pod four years ago, saved up to take a turn in the track's Junior Modified Dragster. "I did a couple of jobs with my dad to make up the extra money but it was mainly my allowance, birthday and Christmas money", Connor told Eurodragster.com. "It took me about a year to save up - we looked at the dates between the two days and they were one year and five days apart. It also took me about a year to save up for the original day in the Junior Stock." Connor quickly wiped out his previous best of 17.7/34.91 and ran as quickly as 8.3/75.4 in the Junior Modified car on Saturday. "We didn't get round to doing a turned-up pass as we wanted to get the licencing done first", he said. "However I was running consistent 8.4s all day and on the last run we prepped the tyres which gave us that extra tenth of a second. It's hard to put into words how it feels. I think "Mental" is the one-word summary for it! It's just an amazing feeling when you launch. "I would like to say a big Thank You to Andy, Saskia and Aaron Fensome and the whole of Fenny Racing who gave me a memorable day and great advice for my driving future." Connor plans to make his first competitive outing at the SPRC Summernationals at the end of June. "I need to send off my licence application and depending upon how quickly it comes through I will either race then or a bit later", he said. "Either way I can't wait!". Meth-Ness uncovered. 20th May: Step-a-Side Dragracing unveiled their blown-alcohol Funny Car on Saturday evening. Tom van der Wijden and his main sponsor and Crew Chief pulled back the covers of the Meth-Ness FC in a ceremony with smoke and lights and music provided by a DJ, Tom writes: The public and visitors were impressed by the scheme by Peter Walters Race Design. Television and reporters were there and I did a live radio interview on Sunday. We bought a TMFC engine from Mikael Larsson and Post&Dros refreshed it totally. It's a aluminum TFX block with Veney heads and a Whipple screw blower and injection. Before the Lenco three-speed we are using a Bruno Converter Driven unit with converter instead of a clutch. This year we will race in Super Pro ET as we have a lot to learn. We will get full support from From Post&Dros Racing Engines and Ted Berris will help our team out. This year we will work to get low six-second runs to get confident with the car and then we can grow in the future. We are still looking for the right partners / sponsors We have three weeks before we go to Santa Pod Raceway for the Peak Performance Day before the SPRC Summernationals. We must finish the wiring and refresh all the hoses and we plan to make our first fire-up in a fortnight. We will have very detailed new T-Shirts available for race fans at the Summernationals, check them out in our pit area. We are also scheduled to attend the Mopar EuroNats, NitrOlympX, Drachten Finals, European Finals and the UK National Finals. Check out our web site at www.methness.com. A match made in heaven. 20th May: TeamRock.com, the unrivalled new music platform providing rock and metal fans all over the world with exclusive news, interviews and multi-media content, is thrilled to announce its sponsorship of Jason Phelps and the Shockwave Fuel Funny Car Team for the 2014 season. The car will début at Santa Pod Raceway from 22nd May, with a full diary of events for the coming year including Round 1 of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship at Santa Pod Raceway from 23rd to 26th May, Bug Jam 28 at Santa Pod Raceway from 18th to 20th July, Geiselwind Bike and Music Weekend from 1st to 3rd August, the NitrOlympX at Hockenheimring from 8th to 10th August, and the FIA European Drag Racing Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway from 4th to 7th September. The car is also due to appear as a static display at the legendary Metal Hammer Golden God Awards 2014 taking place at London's O2 Arena on 16th June. The excitement is enhanced with the promise of extra appearances to be announced soon. These will bring the sport of drag racing through TeamRock.com to a whole new audience.  Chief Executive of TeamRock.com, Billy Anderson said "Drag Racing is where Rock and Metal fans worldwide belong. Having our own car is a great way of letting them all know about our platform and enabling them to become members of something very unique; the TeamRock.comfamily." Jason Phelps added "TeamRock.com has allowed us to spend heavily to bring the car back to a position where it can stand tall and totally compete with any other car out there. I can't wait to start driving the car competitively." TeamRock.com also owns national DAB radio station TeamRock Radio as well as a portfolio of rock magazines, including Classic Rock and Metal Hammer, Blues, Prog and AOR. You can tune into TeamRock Radio via DAB, online at TeamRock.com and on the TuneIn app. Mac Tools back Team Topspeed. 20th May: Jamie Reeves of Eurodragster.com sponsor TopSpeed Automotive has revealed that Mac Tools is the new sponsor of the Performance Parts retailer's three-car team: It is with great excitement that we welcome Mac Tools on board as our principal sponsor for the 2014 season and beyond. A huge thank you must firstly go to Mark Stenning and John Sarrington at Mac Tools for taking the time to talk with us, believing in what we do and sharing the same passion for the sport as ourselves. Mac Tools has a huge involvement with drag racing in the USA and we are delighted to be joining that winning team as its UK representatives   The first Mac Tools franchisee was introduced in the UK in 1990 and Mac Tools quickly became the number one choice for professionals all over the country. The Mac Tools philosophy of excellent quality, price and service remains unchanged over the years, and the company spirit that made them successful in 1938 is the same spirit that makes Mac Tools a leader in the automotive tool and equipment business today. Now with franchisees across the UK bringing you innovative products, offers, advice and credit on a weekly basis, plus the backup of a dedicated head office team, Mac Tools are the brand that you can trust at a price that you can afford. Mac Tools products and its associated brands are also available through Topspeed Automotive's Wellingborough HQ on 07720 678147 and we will be using some of the latest products at the track to keep the team cars in winning order. To celebrate this announcement Team Topspeed have some very good quality limited edition T-shirts for sale featuring artwork by Peter Walters Race Design. The shirts will be available in the Topspeed shop, on EBay, at our Wellingborough HQ, or at the track. So a quick update on the cars. I'm sure its not the best kept secret that the WRE built Yenko Nova of Amanda Cox is heading to Pro Modified in the very near future, after testing with the new engine and trans combination is complete. Having the support of Mac Tools has allowed us to push forward with our goals somewhat sooner than planned. A big thanks must also go to Nick and Rob at ICE Automotive and Jon Webster at Webster Race Engineering for their continued support with the new engine and car and putting up with our ever-increasing demands. We couldn't ask for nicer guys to work with. The Procharged Street Eliminator '69 Camaro of Topspeed's head honcho Billy Macdermid is to make a few appearances this year, once a few upgrades have been completed by Jon Webster at WRE. Having changed to the drag radials this car could be a bit of a dark horse, we know we have loads more power in the car so as long as we can get that down then who knows? The '69 Camaro of team principal Jamie Reeves will also make its long awaited reappearance this year. With a brand new 582 ci nitrous motor and a lot of other upgrades, it should be a little bit more fun on the track but will also spend some time promoting Team Topspeed and the Mac Tools brand at various events around the UK. See you all at the track soon. Oh, on a side note there have been rumours of two more cars under wraps at Team Topspeed but they're just rumours... aren't they? Gassers are go! 20th May: Following a weekend of racing over the eighth mile at the Atomic Festival at Sywell Aerodrome, the Gasser Circus season gets fully underway with their first round at this weekend's NASC Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway. Nervous Nick writes: After a layoff of some eight months the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend can't come quick enough, with ten cars so far confirmed. Amongst these are some new set-ups and new cars with the Mighty Mouse Pop being just one of them, the 383-powered Ford a great addition to the Gasser ranks. Other drivers have confirmed they are knee deep in a last-minute thrash to finish their cars, so we could well see more Gassers racing than those already entered. Sean Milsom is hoping to defend his title from last year, whilst Ray Turner is just as keen to win the title back, and there is also the small matter of at least another ten drivers all seeking to create their own bit of history by winning it for themselves! It looks set to be a very competitive, and exhilarating year, make sure you catch the Gasser Circus when they are in town. The Gasser Circus are delighted to continue their sponsorship with the NSRA National Street Rod Association, Hot Rod Supplies and Mechanix Ltd, and all the teams look forward to once again to spending the summer Racing the Dream. Swift snippets. 20th May: UK Pro ET racer James Forster is urgently seeking a pair of tyres so that he can compete at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. "I normally run Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials p255/60r15 but would consider anything which will fit!", says James. "New or part worns are fine. If you have anything suitable, please contact me at jamesforster@hotmail.com or call 07939 521461. Web site updates. 20th May: Thanks to DJ of Santa Pod Raceway for letting us know that the WebTV Show from Round 1 of the 2014 MSA Drag Racing Championship, which took place at the Festical of Power, is now available to www.msadragracing.co.uk/reports_round1_14.php. When you have enjoyed the excellent show then you can look forward to this weekend's FIA and MSA round at www.msadragracing.co.uk/preview.php. 2014's first edition of the Speedgroup Newsletter is now available and includes general and class previews for this weekend's first FIA and FIM Championship round at Santa Pod Raceway, Contingency Programme update, Eurodragster.com Editor's Diary and more. You can check it out at club.speedgroup.eu. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his personal web site with pictures from Saturday's Run What You Brung and Sunday's Peak Performance Day, both at Santa Pod Raceway. You can take a look at Tog's shots at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Event entry update. 19th May: Entry is still open for the fourth round of the UK National 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike Championships and the second round of NAST Supertwins, which take place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic this coming weekend (24th-26th May), and for the fifth UK 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike and third NAST rounds which take place at SCR's Mid Summer Madness Public Track Weekend on 7th-8th June. ET Bike is also due to be contested at both of these events. Entry forms can be downloaded from Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Those 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike and ET Bike racers who have already entered this weekend's race at Shakespeare County Raceway should note that tickets will be held on the gate and will not be mailed. Entry is open for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 28th-29th June and which is a round of MSA Pro Modified, UK National Drag Racing and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, ACU Supertwin Top Gas and Supertwin ET, Wild Bunch Series, VWDRC Championships and Junior Drag Bike. Entry closes on Friday 6th June; entry forms can be downloaded from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 1 of the SPRC Summernationals entry list which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Feature: HRC's Sportsman dragster. 19th May: For the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products Simon attended the recent Open Evening at Eurodragster.com sponsor Hauser Race Cars where the company's new Sportsman dragster was showcased. The idea is to make as much of the car as possible whilst giving the owner choice in adding their own running gear, and to keep the price competitive. You can read all about Hauser Race Cars' new offering by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Tributes, Interviews link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Hot Rod House offer sub-frames. 19th May: Ray White and Danny Cockerill of The Hot Rod House are pleased to offer bike racers their new rear-mounted sub-frame and radiator kit which was tested at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday with great results: The kit comprises a fully tig-welded chromoly subframe with a Pro Alloy custom rad coupled with a 9" fan mounted to the rad. It comes with Aeroquip style fittings and hose, adapters to mount hoses to standard water pump or an aftermarket water pump. The kit gives you all the space you need at the front of the bike for front- or side-mount turbo applications and the ability to lower the bike without worrying about the rad getting in the way. At the moment our sub-frames are for Suzuki Hayabusa with a Gen 2 body but we can adapt our design for any other makes of body or bike as required. We can also supply and fit Davis Craig water pumps as seen in picture and we can also fit customers' own equipment such as fuel pump, CO2 bottles etc. The basic kit starts at £1299. The picture above left shows the basic kit which comes without powder coating so that the customer can add equipment themselves. The picture above right shows our completed sub-frame as mounted to Danny's Super Street Bike. Please feel free to come to our Danny Cockerill's Super Street Bike pit at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend and we will be happy to show you our completed sub-frame or to chat about any other service which we can provide for you. If you require any more information please call us on  01268 561586 or visit our web site at www.hotrodhouse.co.uk. We hope that everyone has a safe and successful weekend racing. See you there. Swift snippets. 19th May: Our good buddy Markus Münch writes that the seventh German Super Pro ET Challenge is underway. Racers will count their best four performances from events in Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the UK. The first round held at Malmö Raceway's Cramo Nationals attracted six racers and was won by Andre Möller in his Olds Cutlass. The Challenge moves to Santa Pod Raceway this week with Marc Henney, Frank Wambach and Thomas Haas in contention then to Bechnye next week. The Challenge thanks its sponsors and supporters Team 74, Tuttufix, Garage Ehrismann, Garage Haas, Turboscheune, BW Timing and MSTO. More details at www.suproet.de. Amongst the highlights of the Test Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway were outstanding licencing performances by Tethys in Top Fuel Dragster and Daniel Giles in Super Pro ET, and the débuts of Steve Neimantas' Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Bentley and Steve Venables' Super Street Bike. You can take a look at all of the weekend action in our Alamo Rent-A-Car-sponsored galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Flint back BDRHoF Gala. 19th May: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce more support for the Gala Dinner to be held at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on November 22nd 2014. As well as marking the contributions of those who have contributed substantially to the growth of drag racing in the United Kingdom, this year's event celebrates fifty years since Sydney Allard organised the first British International Drag Festivals which sparked the development of the sport across Europe. The new support comes from the Flint Insurance Group who are sponsoring the table wine and the Public Liability Insurance required for the function. Flint Insurance are an independent broker established some thorty years ago. Now employing some eighty members of staff in offices in Sidcup and Harrow, they offer a wide range of high quality, affordable insurance products to both personal and commercial insurance clients alike across the whole of the UK. These include the traditional general insurance products such as motor trade insurance and home insurance cover along with niche products meaning that they have insurance solutions suited to just about everyone. Directors David and Darren Taylor said "We are delighted to be supporting this new prestigious event. Through John Price, who racers and race fans will know was a long time commentator at Santa Pod Raceway and who is a Consultant at the Flint Insurance Group, we have had a long relationship with drag racing and modified cars. What people may not know is that John's main Insurance Claim to Fame is that he looks after Business Insurances for Companies of all shapes and sizes, and it is great that we can now support an event which helps to raise his profile and celebrates the roles played by those who have helped the sport grow since its beginning in the early 1960s. The Gala Dinner is shaping up to be an amazing event and we look forward to meeting many of our customers and friends in Windsor." British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury said "Putting on such a prestigious event as this Gala Dinner has been quite a challenge. I knew that we would need the support of sponsors to make it happen and I thank the Flint Insurance Group and John Price for their generous offer. It is rewarding that they share our vision regarding the sport's need for such a high-profile and quality social occasion. "John will be part of our stage presentation team again and I know he will do his usual professional job." You can find out more about Flint Insurance at www.flintinsurance.co.uk. Sunoco to fuel NHRA. 19th May: Sunoco, one of America's most recognizable fuel companies with a long heritage in motorsports, will become an official sponsor of NHRA in 2015. Activation of the sponsorship will include a comprehensive package of television spots, digital presence, on-site visibility and NHRA-themed consumer and retail promotions designed to increase attendance and television viewership. The ten-year agreement calls for Sunoco to become the official racing fuel of NHRA, and to be the exclusive on-site gasoline and nitromethane supplier at all NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series National events. Sunoco gasoline will be the spec racing gasoline in the Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle categories at national events and Competition Eliminator categories at both national and NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events. "The fuel supplier is one of the most integral partnerships that a racing sanctioning body can have", said Tom Compton, NHRA President. "We've had great partners in the past, however, Sunoco not only will provide our racers quality products but our companies will be great marketing partners to increase awareness of NHRA drag racing and the Sunoco brand." According to Graham Light, NHRA Senior Vice President of Racing Pperations, "Sunoco will fulfill our ongoing commitment to provide a spec fuel that keeps the playing field level. Fuel shouldn't be a competition variable. Sunoco also will have on-site service and technical support at national events and testing sessions." "Motorsports and the manufacturing of performance fuels are in Sunoco's DNA", said Bob Owens, President and CEO of Sunoco, Inc. "Our partnership with the NHRA represents our dedication to performance at the highest levels of racing and will carry over to the fuels that consumers put in their street vehicles. "Partnering with the NHRA is another step forward in our goal to bring Sunoco performance fuels to every level of racing, from grassroots drivers and riders to drivers competing in all premiere professional series", said Rob Marro, Sunoco's General Manager for Performance Products and Automotive Events. "Our commitment to our partners within the sport, along with our promise to produce and manufacture only the highest quality product, has allowed us to fuel hundreds of sanctioning bodies, local tracks and engine builders for the past five decades." Eurodragster.com sponsor Anglo American Oil Company Ltd is the European and Middle East distributor of Sunoco race fuels, Driven Race Oil, PJ1 Track Bites and their own brand R racing fuels and oils which is manufactured and produced by the company. AAOIL also promote and run the two Sunoco Challenges, awarding race seats at the Rolex 24 At Daytona race weekend. Tethys enters the fray. 16th May: The UK's Tethys hoped to try to find funding to return to the seat of Dave Wilson's A/Fuel Dragster this season. But after a combination of factors and some chance conversations on the bank at Santa Pod Raceway, one thing led to another and he finds himself strapping in to one of Rune Fjeld Motorsport's Top Fuel Dragsters: Whilst it's great to see Top Methanol Dragster picking up again this year, Top Fuel Dragster has always been the ultimate goal since I got into drag racing. Some years back, I made the hard decision to step away from the Top Fuel world to concentrate on my own driving. It simply wasn't possible to continue to crew on the car and drive in the Sportsman classes at the same meeting. Now I'm back again, only this time I'll be sat in the hot seat rather than turning the spanners. The current plan is to licence at this weekend's RWYB / Peak Performance Day and then see how the first round of the Championship goes. As many are aware, money for this sort of thing is hard to come by and I certainly don't have the sort of sums necessary to do this on my own. I'm very grateful to my patron - it wouldn't be right to call them a sponsor as they're not trying to promote anything - who wishes to remain anonymous but without whom I couldn't do this. That said, I'm still on a very tight budget, so if anyone is looking to promote their business on the side of a Top Fuel Dragster at one of the biggest events of the season then please get in touch at tethys+tf@gmail.com. Since every little helps at this point, it might not cost as much as you think. I read with interest the banter on Eurodragster.com between Urs, Anita and Karsten about their expectations for the coming season. As a newcomer to the class, I'm not going to make any bold claims about my abilities or expected performance. I will say this, though: I'll be doing my very best to throw a spanner in the works and mess up their plans! Swift snippets. 16th May: Good luck and stay safe to Sweden's Elvira Karlsson who is contesting Pro Stock Motorcycle at this weekend's NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Qualifying commences today (Friday) and you will be able to stay in touch with Elvira's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central buddies at www.dragracecentral.com. UK blown-alcohol altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing in association with sponsor Slick Attire are offering a new range of T-Shirts. "Keep your eyes peeled as this range is set to grow fast!", says Luke Bennett. "Shirts are available in sizes S to XXL fron our online store at www.facebook.com/BennettRacing or of course via the Slick Attire web site at www.slickattire.com/shop.htm. We'd really appreciate it if you can give this a Like and a Share." Mick Brooks asked us to say a big Thank You to Steve Ashdown and Comanche Race Cars for the work on his Vega which he runs at Run What You Brungs. "Brilliant job", says Mick. "Can't wait to beat my time at the Pod now with all the work they've done!". You can find the Comanche Race Cars web site at www.comancheracecars.com. Web site updates. 16th May: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with shots from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman/sets. SPR start area reminder. 15th May: In the run-up to next week's FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway, SPRC Deputy Race Director Carole Ismail of Eurodragster.com sponsor CEJ Training Services Ltd has been in touch with a reminder of the rules concerning access in and around the start line: The start line is an active and dangerous area and has restricted access for good reason. It is not a place for social gatherings or spectating. Crew should vacate the start line area as soon as their class has run. If your class is not running then you should not cross the white line at the front of the pairing lanes. Start line security staff will be checking passes and anyone who should not be in the area will be asked to leave. Persistent offenders risk being ordered to leave the facility. Access to Race Control is for officials only. If racers or crew have queries on any subject then in the first instance please visit Kathy Taylor in the Signing On office and if necessary she will take it up with Race Control on your behalf. Access to the commentators and the Eurodragster.com office is only via the stairs at the spectator bank end of Race Control. If visiting commentators or Eurodragster.com then please do not use the stairs by the pairing lanes. Swift snippets. 15th May: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding us the post-Springspeed Nationals points standings in the 2014 UK National Drag Racing Championships, and thanks to Simon for forwarding us the standings in the APIRA Ultimate Power Championships. You can check out the UK National and APIRA points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We would prefer it if readers did not post screen grabs of our points pages on Facebook; please don't bother with self-justifying E-Mails, just don't do it. Speedgroup Contingency update. 14th May: Speedgroup's Contingency Programme Co-ordinator Gittli Koller has been in touch to remind racers to sign up for the 2014 programme. "If you have not signed up before the first round of qualifying next week then you are not able to claim the refund", says Gittli. "Signing up can only be done on-line. If you had already signed up then please check the page anyway because companies the list of contingency sponsors may have signed up since you joined the programme. You can check the list of contingency sponsors and their requirements (PDF) by clicking here. "For full details about the Speedgroup Contingency Programme please visit www.speedgroup.eu." Swift snippets. 14th May: We have two spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) came with the words "This should be ready (along with all the other mods) for next week"... ...whilst the second (above right) came with the words "Anyone at the Festival of Power might already have an idea which vehicle this belongs to". 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. The post-Springspeed Nationals points standings in the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com. On the same subject, photo-journalist Steve Moxley's reports on the Springspeed Nationals and Festival of Power are now showing in the ACU's on-line newsletter at www.acu.org.uk. Laura's car collection. 14th May: The UK's Laura Turburville has already driven a range of cars in her racing career, most recently the True Blood slingshot. Laura got in touch to tell us how she got on at the Festival of Power: Having driven my injected slingshot for a full Championship season last year, I didn't think it would be anything new to try out another slingshot, but how wrong was I? I went into Q1 without having tested the car, and when I stamped the throttle I wasn't quite ready for the raw power which the blower and the BBC made in comparison to my little Small Block. Combined with the front wheel lift and general wall-hugging nature of slingshot dragsters, I made a bit of a mess of things and got far too close to the centre line for comfort. It didn't take long to get used to that immense feeling, though, and for the next run I went out prepared, taking out the car's best with an 8.23 and, most importantly, achieving what I had set out to do that weekend - beat my dad! Our third run was another improvement, with better shifts and straighter runs we managed an 8.11/167, which on an 8.10 dial-in that put us in seventh place. With constant improvements, dialing in for round one of eliminations against John Atkinson in his Cortina Estate was a bit hit or miss. A good light, shift and our best sixty foot time yet let me catch John far too quickly, so knowing I was on one hell of a breakout run I decided to let off just after the thousand foot marker, giving me the victory in an awesome double breakout race and still running another PB of 8.07 while lifting! However, as I let off beforehand it meant I was coasting as I hit the bump at the finish line in the far lane, which sent all four of my wheels bouncing a foot in the air. From what I heard it was quite a spectacle, but from the driver's seat a blurred and concussed view of the wall being inches away was not all that thrilling to say the least. This resulted in a bent flex plate and a mashed up starter motor, on which my team worked all night to replace for round two against Jack Brewster in the morning. Unfortunately the starter gave in on us as we tried to start in the pairing lanes and a tow of shame down the side of the track ended our weekend. I could not be happier with the experience I had in that car at the Festival of Power, nothing compares to the feeling of having a blown Big Block a couple of feet in front of you, and it was not hard to convince my dad to let me take True Blood to Round 1 of the FIA European Championships so we can try for that long awaited seven second pass! Dad and I agree that a good driver's skill is truly put to the test by driving a range of different cars and that is what I am setting out to do. I want to see what I am capable of as a driver and thanks to dad and my dedicated team I am able to do that regularly. I would like to thank all of Turboville Racing and Bloodlines Racing for supporting me throughout the weekend and for their continued support: Ian Turboville, Martin Chesworth, Ingrid Chesworth, Chris Wilson and Amanda Cox. Thanks also to Julian Hunt, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes for supplying us with top quality pictures from the weekend. Helping us to get that seven at Round 1 of the FIA European Championships will be our new partners Kleen Freaks. We highly recommend their handmade prestige car wax and detailing products on your race car or show car. Their products are organically harvested with pure plant oils to give you the best finish. As True Blood is long overdue a polish with some top quality products, we will see just how many hundredths we can shave off our ETs with Kleen Freaks helping us out. You can check out their shop at kleenfreaks.bigcartel.com. We would also like to welcome Nefarious onto the team! Simon's immaculate pinstriping can been seen on all of our cars past and present, keeping our cars and gear looking cool and nostalgic. Check out his work at www.pinstriping.co.uk. FIA/FIM Round 1 racer update. 13th May: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding details of the arrangements for next week's FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway: Thursday 22nd May (Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day) Gates open: 08:00 both for Peak Performance Day and for event pitting Signing On office open: 09:00 for PPD signing on, race signing on at 10:00, closes 20:00 Car scrutineering: 10:30 to early evening Friday 23rd May Signing On office open: 07:00 to 20:00 Car scrutineering: commences 07:00 Bike scrutineering: commences 09:00 Track open for qualifying from 09:30 Saturday 24th May Signing On office open from 07:00 Car and bike scrutineering: both commence 07:00 Track open for qualifying from 09:30 Sunday 25th May Signing On office: open from 08:00 Car and bike scrutineering: both commence 08:00 Track open for qualifying and eliminations from 09:30 Monday 26th May Track open for eliminations from 09:30 NB In a change to normal practice, there will now be no scrutineering slips in racers' envelopes; slips will be supplied once a racer has signed on. Friday's and Saturday's provisional running orders are available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Sunday's and Monday's running orders will be available in the Signing On office each morning and will also be posted here on Eurodragster.com. Please note that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Please bear in mind the new curfew times in effect at Santa Pod Raceway this season. Absolutely no race car or bike motors are to be started before 09:00 or after 21:00 on any day of this event. If going round to scrutineering before 09:00 then please push or tow, do not drive. Your co-operation is appreciated. SCR notices to bike racers. 13th May: Official entry forms are now available for the fourth round of the UK National 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike Championships and the second round of NAST Supertwins, which take place at Shakespeare County Raceway's Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic on 24th-26th May, and for the fifth UK 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike and third NAST rounds which take place at SCR's Mid Summer Madness Public Track Weekend on 7th-8th June. The forms can be downloaded from Shakespeare County Raceway's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Following a recent ACU ruling preventing ET Bike from running at ths Springspeed Nationals, SCR are pleased to announce that the class will run this year at the track's Public Track Weekends commencing with Yanks Weekend / Gary's Picnic on 24th-26th May. Tony Smith writes: Even though ET Bike will not be part of the National Championship our plan is to run the events as though they are, with qualifying and eliminations. If all three events feature a good field of bikes in both Pro and Sportsman then we can then look forward to the category rules being adopted into the ACU rule book in time for the 2015 season. For further information about entry fees and forms please visit our Facebook page. Notice: DJ Safety fire bottles. 13th May: DJ Safety UK dealer Martin Hill has been in touch with an update for racers regarding SFI 17.1 fire bottles: Please note that all SFI 17.1 fire bottles are subject to re-testing as they are pressurised cylinders. All cylinders in the USA undergo a six-year hydrostatic test and if they pass are re-stamped with a new date index. This is from date of manufacture not from date of use. All bottles which have been supplied by DJ Safety have this date stamp and it is clearly visible. With this in mind I understand that with the number of bottles in the system in Europe a bottle may be up to four years old before it gets filled for use. I have, with agreement, been able to allow all bottles which I have supplied the European standard of up to ten years, providing that at six years they are discharged and inspected for damage. Any bottle which is ten years old cannot be recertified without a hydrostatic test. At this time I can not offer a hydrostatic test on the bottles at a reasonable cost. I will obviously still re-certify any bottle over its shelf life providing that the customer has had the bottles tested and presents the appropriate paperwork and that the bottles bear their new identification stamps. Bottles which have been in a fire, or which show signs of excessive damage, or which have been tampered with, will not be recertified. If any person is unsure of their system then please do not hesitate to contact me at at martin.hill@fireforce.co.uk or call 07984 364203 (outside the UK +44 7984 364203). If any race team requires fire system components at next week's FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 (aka Main Event) then please order prior to arrival at Santa Pod. Wright reaches for the sky. 13th May: Matthew Wright of Eurodragster.com sponsor WeMoveYourCar.com has revealed the company's new promotional vehicle, a wheelie pick-up which is due to commence testing soon. "I wanted a vehicle along the lines of the Little Red Wagon", Matt told Eurodragster.com. I found a Dodge Comma pick-up on E-Bay and bought it as a rolling chassis. We have turned it into a flatbed pick-up and will paint it in the company's colours." The wheelie pick-up is powered by a mid-mounted supercharged alcohol-burning Big Block Chevy. Transmission is currently TH400 but Matt may replace it with a Powerglide. "We have a twelve-bolt rear end but we're looking for an open diff", said Matt, "so if anyone has an open diff then please get in touch. Steering is a Porsche 911 rack with individual brakes on the rear wheels. All that's left is paint and plumbing and we are looking to start testing next month. We are looking for a paint sponsor for a simple scheme so please call us if you would like to get involved. "We plan to run this in a professional manner, behave like a business and take bookings. The way I envisage running the pick-up is to come out in the morning, so nice burnout, set the front wheels to come up a few feet, then come out later in the day and lift the front wheels further and so on. We're interested in standing-start quarter-mile runs rather than driving up and down the track. We also have an eye on the world wheelie record which is 2500 feet. But one thing at a time, Crew Chief Bill Felstead and I are on a massive learning curve." One of the advantages of a wheelie truck is that there is plenty of banner space on the underside so if you would like to join Eurodragster.com as a sponsor of what will be a unique and attention-catching vehicle then get in touch with Matt via his web site at www.wemoveyourcar.com. Wemoveyourcar.com can move any rolling vehicle in variety of trailers and transporters including particular expertise and experience in moving race and other valuable cars. More details on the web site. Step-a-Side until next time. 13th May: The Netherlands' Tom van der Wijden has organised an official unveiling of his Step-a-Side Dragracing Funny Car at his workshop this weekend and all are invited: We start starting at 20:00 with a DJ, light show and projector. Food and drink will be available. Support is very welcome in the form of any small amounts which can be donated in a box. For €100 supporters can get an exclusive shirt in the new style featuring the Funny Car. At around 20:30 the Funny Car will be revealed to the public. Local TV will be there to make a feature for broadcast. The presentation takes place at Step-a-Side Dragracing and USA Parts, Nobelstraat 9 BU8, 2693 BC 's-Gravenzande, The Netherlands. I would like thank my company Step-a-Side USA-parts and my main sponsor WVB Holland, without WVB Holland my dreams could not have been realised this quickly. Thanks also to West-Cars Autoschade for painting the car, Post and Dros Racing Engines and Parts, VT Autoservice, Maddass Trading, Race-Sticker.nl, and Peter Walters Race Design for a great design in the Step-a-Side style. There are two or three spots open for serious sponsors who want to joins us in our dream. On less happy note we have had to cancel out entry at Santa Pod next week. Because of some time-consuming jobs on the Funny Car we decided to skip this first race. Our first race appearance will be the SPRC Summernationals and we will test the day before. We didn't like having to take this descision, but we had a lot to learn and haven't got the Funny Car ready in time - too much to do in too short a time. Also my Crew Chief has been in hospital for ten days and is still recovering. I wish him all the best (Seconded - Ed) and we will be back at the SPRC Summernationals. PMR defend North Weald record. 13th May: Despite a dodgy weather forecast Paul Marston Racing returned to North Weald at the weekend to defend their titles and to support their local drag strip which is operated by Maitland Racing. Paul Marston writes: Despite the weather - it was still raining as we rolled through the gates - the car count was huge, with plenty of heavy hitters in attendance. The wind dried the track pretty quickly and slick-tyred cars were on track within an hour of the track opening. We were once again fielding the mighty Whoopass Chevy Monza and with some suspension upgrades to help traction off the start line we were looking to improve our numbers. We arrived with plenty of confidence knowing that the upgrades had helped to improve the car at Santa Pod and Shakespeare Country, but we quickly found out that the new set-up went in completely the wrong direction for North Weald. In fact we were 0.75 down on our best ETs of 2013 when we should have improved by the same amount. That led to a pretty tough day in the office. With the Quick 8 Competition being expanded the quality of entries had also gone up considerably including an en-masse entry from Taz Racing. It was a good field but with a little luck and some good work from the unusually limited PMR crew - Crew Chief and Funsize plus a hijacked Andy Thetford - PMR once again took the Quick 8 title. Many thanks to all at Maitland Racing for doing a stellar job and giving us somewhere to race, and Rough Diamond apprentice the imitable John Price providing the very well-informed commentary. We're already looking forward to the next event on Sunday 8th June. Erica Bartlett. 12th May: We were very sorry to hear from British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury of the death of Erica Bartlett, one of British drag racing's lady pioneers. Erica passed away yesterday following a rapid deterioration in her health. Stu writes: Peter Bartlett's and Erica's part in British drag racing history goes back to the very beginning when Peter was a member of the Highwaymen Hot Rod Club along with Allan Herridge and joined the British Hot Rod Association when it was formed in 1960. At the BHRA's first get together in 1962 he and Erica turned up in his customised '47 Plymouth Coupe complete with pinstriped dash and record player. The BHRA formed its first Committee at the end of 1962 which included Peter as Treasurer. Erica joined Peter in 1970 when the BDR&HRA lost its office in Whitehorse Lane and Erica volunteered to deal with enrolment of members and renewals, distribution of the Club magazine and all general enquiries, from their house in Stoke Poges. Erica remained as General Secretary and Peter as Treasurer until their retirement at the end of the 1980 season and they were both deservedly presented with awards for their services to the club, including a tray and hostess trolley, at the BDR&HRA's annual Champions' Trophy Night. Peter and Erica were inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2010. The opening statement on the BDRHoF web site, Honouring those who built the sport, I think says it all about Erica and Peter Bartlett. Our deepest sympathies to Peter and to all of Erica's family and friends. Toten leads the way. 12th May: Terje Håkensbakken has been in touch with an update from Toten, the centre of drag bike activity in Norway: Kåre Ravnsborg is proud Chairman of Hawgs Racing and he is working on his own bike. This is a project on which he has been working on for several years, he tried the bike last year and thinks that everything will now be in order. He will run in Funny Bike and his goal is to get down to the 7.0s. Hawgs MC is Norway's biggest and best club in drag racing and Kåre enjoys great respect for his achievements around Europe, he is happy that the Club is doing so well. That the entire National Team in drag bike represents the Club says it all. There is no other clubs in Europe which has so many drivers competing at such a high level. As Chairman Kåre manages a large group of activities and helps with practical issues. The Club is growing well, proof of which is that three Juniors will be licencing in May. Club members Svein Olav Rolfstad and Hans Olav Olstad are both well-known nitro twin racers. Both will become very competitive with their new engine parts. Both were planning their first outings at the Summernats at Gardermoen Raceway. Trond Høiberget's Supertwin is now running without a gearbox. Jan Sturla Hegre is the hired gun on the Uggerud brothers' new Top Fuel Bike. They want to be the first to run 400 kmh in Europe. Last year was a testing season, there was a lot to try out and they got the bike going fast on a very good set-up. This season they will run a limited schedule and test some more but Jan Sturla expects to run some big races. There is huge potential in the bike and Jan Sturla is sure that the results will come. We were betting on the Nordic Club Championship this year as there was uncertainty around the European Championship. But many of the Club's racers are thinking about a trip to race in the United States in the autumn if they can get their gear working properly. Marketing, Croatian style. 12th May: Paul Fischer writes that Zagreb-based team Sputnik of Edvard Galić (driver) and Jasminka Beganović (almost everything else) have finished this year's updates to their 1968 Camaro: The 632 ci BBC monster, fed with multi-stage nitrous, has been prepared for yet another assault on the Croatian ET record, and those of most of the surrounding countries too. The photo is part of a programme of publicity including a sponsor's event complete with sixteen majorettes and a whole load of hoopla. What better way is there to spend time on a beautiful sunny day in the capital?  The team will be running in Hungary and the Czech Republic and will attend the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim later in the summer. The Camaro is the first car from this region to go through the FIA / SFI certification process which has become necessary because it is too fast for any of our local tracks, it's just too dangerous. Jasminka and Edvard's Camaro is part of a general upsurge of serious drag machinery in evidence down here in the sunny part of Europe. We have a few regional tracks with well-prepared surfaces and a safe run-off area. It's slow, but things are moving along in the right direction. Steele and Mead Bonneville bound. 12th May: Fifty years ago, ten year old John Steele was taken by his mother to the old science museum in Birmingham. There amongst many other wonders was John Cobb's amazing Land Speed Record car the Railton Special. Young John was totally hooked on speed and the idea of racing on the salt desert at Bonneville from that point onwards. A life of racing on two wheels followed. Fast forward to 2014 and a fifty-year dream is about to come true. John, now called Phil, is going to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Run by the Southern California Timing Association, Speed Week is just a few months away. The event commences with tech inspection on 7th August and continues for the next seven days. Upwards of five hundred teams, both cars and motorcycles, compete at this iconic event which this year will celebrate one hundred years of racing on the salt flats. Phil Steele is Chairman of the National Sprint Association and is this year celebrating his fortieth year in quarter mile racing as well as his sixtieth birthday. Phil's first bike was a Kawasaki H1B on which he raced in Santa Pod's Street class in the 1970s. Turning to sprints in the 1980s, Phil was a multiple Champion in Welsh Sprint Society events and in recent years has campaigned the infamous Gasopaso nitrous injected Ducati Paso in sprints and top speed events, together with his turbocharged Hayabusa which he ran at a couple of ACU Super Street Bike rounds in 2008 and also campaigned in top speed events and NSA Super Street. The team will be taking to Bonneville Keith Parnell's legendary ZX12R the Parny Express, originally campaigned by Keith Parnell who was the first European to run an eight-second quarter back in 1975. Phil has competed with the Parny Express in 9.50 Bike, Pro ET Bike and NSA Super Street as well as at UK LSR events. For Speed Week the bike will be renamed the Parny Express Evolution. Co rider of the bike is none other than Steve Mead of ACU Super Street Bike fame. Steve is supported by Lucas Oil and has run mid-sevens on his awesome turbo Hayabusa as well as multiple NSA Champion and Class Track Record holder at the Brighton Speed Trials, most recently on his 1000RR BMW which is the quickest in Europe. Completing the team Is Julie Steele whom most will know for her trackside photography at Shakespeare County Raceway. Julie has compiled a number of photography books featuring the NSA at Westonzoyland as well as having her photos published in the now sadly folded Streetfighters magazine, the NSA Sprinter and a number of US magazines. As Team Photographer Julie will be keeping Facebook updated as well as publishing a book about the team's salt adventures. The team has entered the A-PS-F 1350 class whose record currently stands at 233 mph, held by a Suzuki Hayabusa run by the Vance and Forstall team. Team Steele and Mead LCR would like to thank their supporters Pike Signals Ltd (and the Evolution Product) of Birmingham, Black Dragon Motorcycles Yeovil, Victoria Westlake Florist of Yate, Bill Wilson Haulage Ludlow, Team Wrinkly (Martin Bracy) Bristol, Furlong Tyres Yeovil and Keith and Lorcan Parnell as well as a number of private individuals who have supported us and who will have their names on the bike when it is raced on the salt. Phil would like to thank Andy from Ultimate Bike Paint of Keynsham and Cherry's Express Slterations of Kingswood for their great help with the project. You can stay in touch with the team on their Facebook page. Ow, that smarts. 12th May: Regular readers will know that Andy Williams took the win in Super Comp at last week's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Wild Child team member Tom Margesson says that things have unfortunately taken a turn for the worse since Andy's victory: Over the winter the team stripped the dragster down, pulled the old paint off the chassis and gave him a new coat of a bit brighter blue! We were set for Easter after gaining a camper and getting the car ready to race. Easter went as well as it could, getting through the first round against the mad Beetle then being rained off. The next stop was the Springspeed Nationals at Shakey, always a small Super Comp entry here but we still, as always, had a right laugh with all the other teams. Our first qualifying run didn't go to plan as a rocker broke resulting in a thirty five-second pass! This is where we thank the racers for the help with the info on set-ups and a massive thanks to Team Heaven and Hell for letting is use a spare rocker to get us back in the game. Having missed a couple of runs whilst fixing the car we got back out for the last run of Saturday, running a low nine, still off the numbers but we were back. As the weekend went on the ladder ended up Andy v Paul Brown in the Oakley Motorcycle Club dragster (currently for sale). It was a brilliant race on both accounts, with a very close double break-out and Andy taking the win meaning the final was against Paul Hudson in Money Pit. Andy took the win in the final, Paul had a big sideways moment and had to get off the power and coast through. After the celebrations we pulled off the rocker covers to inspect the Wild Child's top end and, like a magpie to foil, we saw a flake of coppery metal, dipped the oil it had changed to brown and glittery! That set the next job, a full inspection which Andy and I got round to on Saturday. After pulling the sump and finding a blue rod cap we cracked on, pulling the motor out of the car and stripping it fully. We found that there had been a bit more a problem than first thought. It had picked up on majority of the big ends and actually spun a main as well. It's pretty bad timing with the next event at Santa Pod nearing but that's racing as all of you know. Engine builder Mark O'Halloran will be visiting soon to give us his knowledge on the rebuild and hopfully we will be back out soon joining in the fun in Super Comp! Swift snippets. 12th May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Ready for Main Event début". 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. Racers have two last chances to test at Santa Pod Raceway before next week's FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1. This coming weekend Santa Pod hosts a Run What You Brung on Saturday (17th) and a Peak Performance Day on Sunday, and then a Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day next Thursday (22nd). Pre-booking is recommended for both the Peak Performance Day and the Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day. More details including entry fees at www.rwyb.com. Although we can't re-institute the link for automatic posting of advertisements to our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet for global use, we are happy to give the auto-posting link to individual readers. If you would like to be able to post your own advertisements directly to the Swap Meet then send an E-Mail to tog@eurodragster.com. First round at Kunmadaras. 12th May: On 1st May more than one hundred racers contested this year's first race at Kunmadaras in Hungary. Alexandra Tóth writes: The headline class was Super Street Bike running the new European Drag Challenge with entries from Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. Fourteen racers took part in the hard-fought Challenge and Hungary's Dániel Donát Lencsés took first place with Peter Granica from Germany second and Erich Gruber from Austria third. The track was prepared by the Hungarian crew who had learned a lot from their English friends. Times in the sevens at almost 300 kmh was the result. The fastest racer at the event was David Pertué, whose Jet Dragster reached 420 kmh in six seconds. The Kunmadaras Motorsport team are looking forward to meeting racers at the second round of the European Drag Challenge which takes place on 19th-20th August. Euro Top Gas Round 1 report. 12th May: The first round of the 2014 Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas took place last week at Hoskovice in the Czech Republic. Herman Jolink writes: It is a fine concrete track. Yvona Kneblova and her team do a great job every time. The quarter mile track is very smooth and with some sunshine it has very good grip. It started to rain at about 16:00 on Friday, but on Saturday it was dry with a strong wind from the left, some cloud but luckily no rain fell out of the clouds. I got my new trailer on 26th April, built by my sponsor Jan de Jong. Without this trailer we wouldn't be racing this year. The trailer was not quite ready so we worked on it until 03:00 and then got out of bed again at 06:00. My Mechanic Marcel Evers and I left at 20:30 on Thursday and after 920 kilometres we arrived in Hoskovice. At the track we had some help from Mike Wunderlich, his wife Gabriele and daughter Emeli, but they had to leave at 15:00 on Sunday. Top Gas qualifying took place until 18:30 on Saturday and then we had the fifth session on Sunday morning. Final qualifying: Herman Jolink NL on 1198 RS (1266) Ducati  8.496-246 kmh. This is my thirty ninth year of drag racing, always on a Ducati. Two 8.8s, a nineteen with no traction at the hit, then with no crosswind and a little sun I ran 8.551. On Sunday after some night frost the sun put some temperature into the track and I ran 8.496. Frank Heitmann D on 2622 V-Twin 8.602-238 kmh. Crew Chief with Heitmann was Cord Albers, his 2622 V-Twin is not ready waiting on some back wheel parts. Heitmann ran 8.8, a 9.00, and an 8.7 with problems with the strong crosswind. Frederick Schack DK on 2750 V-Twin 9.609-198 kmh. Problems shifting gears, Rene Kirkhoff put in the speare gearbox but it didn't help, this is the third time that Shack has had problems shifting gears at Hoskovice. Mia Maria Vespalainen FI on 1966 V-Twin 9.707-192 kmh.  Mia Maria is not so big and had a lot of problems with the strong crosswind, Crew were her father and her partner, ice speedway rider Asko. Some problems with the lock up clutch which was badly damaged, but was repaired. Peter Niklas D on Ducati 999  10.191-212 kmh. Niklas' 1098 S Ducati was not ready so he was riding the Ducati 999 belonging to Christian Bruhn, Niklas made one run and burned the clutch. Christian Bruhn D on 1000 SP Blower Honda 12.747. Problems with the exhaust valves which were forced open by the blower pressure, last year Niklas was riding a Turbo Honda. Lars Soren Andersen DK on V-Twin 13.535-140 kmh. His first ride. Not qualified was Olaf Menzi CH on 2622 Pro Stock G 12 Buell (ex-Ulf Ögge). Menzi  went to a drag race school in the USA and made four good passes. At Hoskovice he launched but crossed lanes and shut off, the gearbox seized. His mechanic was not at Hoskovice, some other Top Gas members offered to help him with the gearbox but Menzi said no, he would check the gearbox at home with his mechanic. Chris van Nimmen B was not ready, he has a new frame from the USA. Marc v d Boer  B  2200 Blower Methanol V-Twin build his own frames and would have liked to have built one for van Nimmen. Peter Maerz D was not at Hoskovice last year, a lot of people were helping Maerz to get his bike ready. It runs and he has built a nice trailer but it was not at Hoskovice. Milan Kolacny CZ was with his team at Hoskovice but his 1000 Blower Honda was not ready, also Kolacny didn't want to ride at Hoskovice because of some issues, it's a pity that Kolacny doesn't like to ride at Hoskovice. Mats Larsson S Turbo V-Twin, broken gearbox from last year not repaired. On Sunday morning the car mirrors were full of ice as it had frozen over during the night. At 10:30 Top Gas had their fifth qualifier in ncie sunshine and with some temperatire in the track. We had the riders' presentation and started eliminations at 14:30 with high cloud but low temperatures. Round 1: Jolink 8.502-245 kmh bye run, Niklas 10.254-213 winning over Mia Maria 11.314-146 kmh, reaction Mia Maria 0.024 sec and Niklas 0.065, Heitmann 8.528-242 kmh winning over Anderssen 12.591-182 kmh, Schack 10.009-195 bye run, Bruhn broke. Semi final: Jolink 8.684-244 kmh winning over Niklas 18.71, reactions Jolink 0.195 and Niklas 0.212. Schack 9.056-237 kmh Heitmann broke in the water box Final: Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266) 8.492-246 kmh beat Fredrick Schack DK on 2622 V-Twin 15.339-72.81 kmh, reactions Jolink 0.191 and Schack 0.412. Top Gas Championship: Herman Jolink NL 705 points Frederick Schack DK 560 Frank Heitmann D 470 Peter Niklas D 440 Christian Bruhn D 330 Lars Anderssen DK 320 Peter Maerz D 200 Milan Kolacny CZ 200 Anders Jensen S 200 Matts Larsson S 200 Cord Albers D 200 Mia Maria Vespalainen FI 150 Olaf Menzi CH 100 Street Eliminator Round 2 report. 12th May: Round 2 of Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator at Shakespeare County Raceway was scheduled for an eight-car field but only six cars made the call. Street Eliminator Chair Matthew Atkinson says that it was nevertheless a good weekend at the Springspeed Nationals: Alan Williamson in the Howling Hauler Procharged truck had unfortunately encountered problems in the lead up to the event. The car was tested on the rolling road and produced some strong figures. However after discussions with Lamude Race Engines it was decided that changes needed to be made before the truck could be run in anger so we can expect Al to hit the ground running at Santa Pod in a couple of weekends. Sadly we were also unable to accommodate Gary Gooding and the 3.4 litre turbocharged Supra from Team Extreme. Gary did however compete in Super Pro ET and really started to get a handle on the car running into the 8.6s in excess of 160 mph, just a sign of what is to come for the remainder of the year. We woke to perfect conditions on a nice sunny Saturday. In the first qualifying session Stu Williams and Damian Halliwell were the first pair with Stu in the Carmasupra picking up exactly where he had left off at Easter with a 7.898/181 to take number one spot to Damian's 10.967 much to the delight of Damian's crew. Martin Smith in the Team Extreme GTR up next paired with Andy Bond in the Mustang, Andy still struggling to get away from the line whilst Martin was looking to repeat some of the ETs from Easter. Martin straight in at number two with a 7.910/185 to Andy's 10.659/155 again hazing the tyres off the line. Our last pair was class sponsor Jon Webster of Webster Race Engineering in the Comet up against Matt Smith with the Team Extreme Escort. Jon had managed to fix the engine following problems at Easter. Jon managed an 8.234/170 straight off the trailer to Matt's 9.098/158 into number three and four respectively. Onto the second round and with everybody looking to step it up there were some wild rides as Stu Williams, Jon Webster and Martin Smith all lit the tyres at the hit of the throttle so no improvements there. Andy Bond in the Mustang was the only one to benefit with an improved 9.880/156 all be it no improvement in position and still struggling to get the power down off the line. Onto the last qualifying run of the day and Jon Webster in the Comet was the only one to benefit with an improved 8.140/170 cementing his number three position. Damian Halliwell in the beautiful 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne also improved and ran a Personal Best 10.878 as the team continued to chip away at the ET. We were greeted by very welcome bright skies on Sunday morning as we entered day two of qualifying. Drama in the second pair as one of the start line marshals spotted what appeared to be oil in Jon Webster's lane as he and Martin Smith pulled into stage, unfortunately the oil had been from Damian's '63 Biscayne from his run prior. As Martin had been sitting in stage for what seemed an eternity he had to leave before the tree was engaged so unfortunately no time whilst Jon went back to the pits. Matt Smith in the Escort, who continues to push the boundaries with his twin turbo set-up, ran through with an 8.868/162 new Personal Best speed, well done Matt! Onto round two and Team Bond finally seemed to get a handle on the Mustang as it flew off the line recording its quickest ever sixty foot time at Shakespeare County Raceway resulting in a 9.071/158 but still only good for number five. With no improvements for the likes of Martin, Stu and Jon it was left to Damian who duly obliged again smashing his previous PB with a 10.713. In the last qualifying round everything was still to play for with just two hundredths between Stu Williams in the Supra and Martin Smith's GTR for the number one spot. Unfortunately in the first pair Jon's Comet encountered problems as a fitting on the transcooler failed leaving a pool of transmission fluid on the startline and the whole length of the track, sincere apologies from Jon and all in Street Eliminator for the hold-up but a great effort from not only the guys at the track but all of the teams in the pairing lanes who helped with the clean-up. Following the clean-up it was onto single lane qualifying as the left lane wasn't quite ready to use. Andy Bond and Damian Halliwell used the run as another test but unfortunately no improvement for either. Luckily the downtime allowed Jon enough time to get the Comet fixed and ready for the Cruise as we all set off in convoy for twenty six miles; this time thankfully we followed the correct route much to the delight of all of the teams! No dramas on the Cruise despite Stu Williams having to rush to the gate in the Supra as the team found a slow puncture to one of the front tyres, but it was quickly seen to. Come eliminations we had exactly the same pairings as we had at Easter with Stu Williams number one qualifier matching up with Damian in the '63 Biscayne and the winner would benefit from a bye into the final. Both cars into stage and with Damian knowing he had to leave first he was away well and waiting to see the Orange Supra spring past but an alternator problem for Stu meant the car was in limp mode so Damian took the win with a 10.820/125 and booking a ticket to the final in only his second meeting in competition a great achievement and well deserved by the whole team. Commiserations for Stu and Team Carmasupra but that will only make the team stronger and more determined for Round 1 of the FIA championship. Next pair up was Andy Bond in the Mustang and Martin Smith in the GTR and despite Martin's blistering run on Saturday morning the team had struggled to get the car down the track since, Andy suffering similar problems. No repeat of Easter in this one as Martin left on Andy and didn't look back running through with an 8.325/179 progressing into the semi finals. The winner of Jon Webster and Matt Smith would face Martin and with Jon having a slight performance advantage over Matt, and Matt's engine starting to show signs of a problem, Jon took the win with an 8.444/165. Damian duly booked his place in the final with another PB 10.696/126 and left it to Martin and Jon to battle it out with Martin in the GTR looking to reach yet another final. Both cars into stage and Jon was away first but Martin was ahead by sixty feet and on a charge taking the win with a 7.909/184 much to the delight of the Team Extreme crew on the start line! Onto the next meeting though for Jon and the possibility of a different set-up so watch this space. Martin and Damian in the final and we were sure to have a new winner as neither had one an event despite Martin reaching the last four finals in 2013. Damian was well aware of Martin's performance advantage but was overwhelmed in the first instance to reach the final so both cars pulled round in what was a superb advert for the class in one lane a modern Nissan GTR with twin turbo set up and in the other a 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne, any colour you want as long as its black! Martin was away first and despite struggling for traction took the win with a 9.070/158 to Damian's 11.018/125, Martin taking his first ever event win huge congratulations to all of Team Extreme. Damian was runner up and set PBs all the way through the event. A massive Thank You to all at Shakespeare County Raceway for their efforts over the weekend and for putting on a great event. We are looking forward to Round 1 of the FIA Championship in a couple of weeks and the return of Steve Pateman in the Calibra and Steve Neimantas' début in the much anticipated Webster Race Engineering-built Bentley! As always a big Thank You to our class sponsors to whom we are very grateful: Topspeed Automotive sponsoring the class for their fifth consecutive year, Custom Car magazine, RPM magazine, Webster Race Engineering, Serck Motorsport, Insane Creations, AW Upholstery, Quartermile High / Zeon TV, Matt Woods Photography and Eurodragster.com, all of whom can be found on our web site at www.streeteliminator.com. Springspeed Nationals JDB report. 12th May: Many thanks to Lizz McCarthy for forwarding us the Junior Drag Bike racers' accounts of their weekends at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Jasmine Cordelle JBP2: The Springspeed Nationals was an up and down meeting! On Saturday I was not very confident on the new bike and going down the track was the aim and also just to get a good launch and my licence signed off! It took a few times, but Tony Smith had faith and I finally got a good launch and ran 11.4. I was now able to qualify we dialled in 9.5 and ran 10.1. I was so chuffed just to get down the track. On Sunday morning I was feeling more confident and ready for some more qualifiers. In the first session I dialled in 10.2 not really knowing what the bike would do and ran a 9.9. In the next I dialled in 9.9 and ran 9.5 then in the last qualifier I was ready to go quicker, dialled in 9.45 and ran 9.2. I was expecting to lose on Monday morning but just wanted to race down the track! I had Liam Holgate first round I dialled in 9.14 and had to wait on the line for about four seconds. Luckily Liam was a bit eager and red lit. I ran a 9.9 - well done to Liam for a great race. Second round I met Mr Louis Davis as I always seem to! We had close dial-ins I dialled in 9.45 and Louis dialled in a 9.1. Louis had me at the lights and the chase was on, Louis was the first one there so I lost in semi-finals well done to Louis! When I got home I was still chuffed that I raced. A big thank you to Tim Beckwith for the trophies as I got presented the Outstanding Sportsmanship of that meeting! I would like to thank Hysteria Drag Race Team for awesome crew, Shakespeare County Raceway for an awesome meeting, all the Junior Drag bike Racers for awesome races, and a big well done for Blade Dummer for his first event win at his second meeting. Louis Davies JBM3: Q1 I woke up to sunny weather on Saturday morning and thought the bike was going to be quick first run as I had been getting faster at Santa Pod so we dialled in a 9.15 and ran a slower than expected 9.28 at 69.66 mph which meant I had qualified in third place. Q2 After the first run we left the dial-in the same as we thought we might go a bit faster then ran a slower 9.32 at 69.88 mph, we think we went slower because the temperature was getting warmer. Q3 the temperature was getting so much warmer, so we upped the dial in to a 9.20, after sitting with the engine running for a long time we went on to run a 9.55 at 67.57, we think that this is down to warming up too early and the temperature was high but it still left us in third. Q4 and we put the dial in up to a 9.30 but due to air shifter problems I was on the limiter for a second in third gear and went on to run a 9.82 at 67.57 mph. After I got back to the pits we could not find any problems. Q5 Sunday morning woke to a cool breeze but there was bright sunshine, on the first run we dialled in a 9.20 and then I broke out with a 9.192 at a fast 71.77 mph and that put me into fourth. Q6 we lowered the dial-in to a 9.18 to try to get closer but went quicker and broke out again with a 9.15 at a fast 71.77 mph and that put me down into fifth. That meant that I was racing Siobhan Moor in the morning. E1 Monday, first run of the day I was against Siobhan Moor. I dialled in a 9.10 just to be safe, I also shut off just before the eighth so I did not break out as I was in front. I got through to the second round with a 9.24 at 71.09 mph. E2 I was against Jasmine Cordelle so I dialled in a 9.10 again to be on the safe side and again shut off before the eighth and ran a quicker 9.17 at 70.83 mph so I was through to the final. Well done Jasmine on getting got grips with your new bike. Time for the final, I dialled in a 9.10 again and I was against Blade Dummer so I had a four-seconds wait on the line before I had to catch up with him. I lost by 0.02475 of a second with a 9.21 at 71.77 mph. Well done Blade on your first win. I had an awesome weekend. I would like to thank Lightning Automotive and Beckwith Motorsport for sponsoring the Junior Drag Bike Championship this year and also Rene van den Berg for sponsoring me this year. Also thank you to all my friends and family and track crew for such a good weekend and making sure everybody is safe. See you all at the Summernationals if not before. Jordan Kenway JBP4: Overall an alright weekend. Friday and Saturday weren't too good due to weather conditions - not enough air to the carb - and bike issues - air leak in the carb - but on the Sunday we got a solid run in, a 9.64 on a 9.60 dial-in putting me second. Monday meant eliminations and I had my good friend Alfie Udall, was a good race but I went through. Next round I had Blade Dummer, nerves got the better of me and I stalled on the line. There was a little confusion s in the semis my win light came on so we thought we were in the final, unfortunately I didn't complete the run and my dad and starter touched me meaning I got disqualified so I wasn't in the final. Well done Blade on winning the event I'll have you next time! See you all for Round 3! Thank you to Tog at Eurodragster.com for sending me the photo and to Grace Roaf for taking it! Liam Holgate JB5: Saturday started where I left off at the Festival of Power. Set my ET at 13.30 first run a 13.38/48.52 good enough for number one qualifier. I was very happy with that. In the second run I improved on my first run 13.34/48.65 - this was a PB for me. We managed to squeeze in two more runs but didn't manage to improve on my earlier times. Sunday first run set my ET to 13.30 again but ran a 13.18 and broke out, next run I set my ET to 13.12 and ran a 13.54 - not good so set it back to 13.30 and ran a 13.52. I was still happy as I was still number one qualifier. Monday first round of eliminations I was up against Jasmine. I set my ET at 13.30 so Jasmine had a long time to wait until she was to go, I staged but was too eager and redlit. Oh well I was still happy number one qualifier and a PB. I will try again next round. Alfie Udall JBP7: This weekend was a tough one for us. I had a couple of problems with my bike again. On the first day we were close to racing I was pushing my bike down the fire up road and I found that it was really hard to push. My Dad came and checked it out and saw that there was a tight spot in the chain meaning it was too dangerous for me to race. The second race was an OK race for me but I could still feel that the bike wasn't 100% perfect. On the third and fourth runs I dialled in 8.90 and ran a ten and a 9.6. On the second day I ran another 9.6 then in the second run of the day I had problems again. My bike's air shifter pipe came out of the shifter meaning I couldn't change gear, I went down the strip in first gear running a twenty seven-second run. On the final day I had Jordan in the first run of eliminations. It was a close race, my bike still wasn't 100% after a good start, it was close at the other end but then my bike starting losing power and Jordan took the win, well done to him. Overall this weekend wasn't the best for me but it was still good experience for me on the bike. I look forward to the next meeting hopefully my bike will be up to the challenge! Stacey Reed JBM9: Well, that was consistently all over the place. Unfortunately the bike hadn't fixed itself because on the first run I got an eleven (I think). Dad then fiddled with the clutch and made a lot of mess but eventually we got it running in the nines and only a hundredth off my PB time (9.34! Woohoo). I won't go through every time and every speed because all thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway, we got a zillion passes in! But overall, my times ranged from my PB, 9.34 to a 16.8 second run. What is that about? Over the weekend we also managed to sort out my launch and my gear changes which is a result! A quick side note - sorry to the poor man at top end who had to run to come and get me when I was stuck in a millionth gear, and then just rode off because I sorted the issue! Sorry! Also, a massive well done to our finalists, Louis and Blade. I think my throat is still recovering from the screaming when Blade won! Haha. See ya next meeting. Siobhan Moor JBM10: The Springspeed Nationals I felt was a good meeting, the sun was shining and the bike was running pretty consistently. On Saturday I held the number two spot with my best run of the day of a 10.19 on a 10.0 dial in with plenty of wheelspin, however on Sunday I dropped down into fourth due to running a 10.5 on a 10.15 dial in due to problems changing gear making it too late. I also experienced something new that day on my way back to the pits turning the last corner, I hit some loose gravel while I was.going round the corner causing my bike to slip and slide with me going along with it, only a few minor dents and scratches to the bike and a bent foot peg, but other than that was scary but fun. Monday first round I was up against Louis, enjoyable race however I knew I had lost it due to not letting go of the clutch fully on my launch and running a 10.6 on a 10.2 dial in. Overall a really fun weekend and already looking forward to August (which will be the next time I'm out!). Blade Dummer JB12: Well what a great weekend. It was my second round of Junior Drag Bike and I was a little less nervous this time as we left for Shakey. On Saturday the bike was running not quite right and was running low thirteens but we managed to play around with it Saturday night and it ran a whole lot better on Sunday. We qualified third which I was really pleased with, then Monday was eliminations and I was nervous as it was rained off at Santa Pod and not done it before. So first I was against Stacey it was a great race and I won as Stacey broke out. In the semis I raced Jordan and there was some confusion as I broke out and Jordan stalled on the line. I would really like to have my first run with Jordan next event as we never got to run together. As we thought I was eliminated we packed up all the kit, loaded the bike and went to watch the finals so I could cheer on Jordan and Louis. Then it turned out that I was meant to be racing in the finals against Louis so had to rush back to the van unload and get ready to race. I was so nervous when we got to the line but Dad got me ready and I was practicing in my head what I needed to do. It was so close at the line that I didn't know until I got to the pits and everyone come to see me. I would like to thank everyone for a great weekend, Louis for a great race in the finals and Jordan. Well done also to Liam and Jordan for first and second qualifier and Jasmine for the Beckwith Motorsports trophy for Outstanding Sportsmanship. Well done everyone. I would also like to thank our sponsors Beckwith Motorsports and Magic Bullet Fuel Treatments. Thanks as always go to Eurodragster.com for the incredible race coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed), Shakespeare County Raceway for their hard work over the Bank Holiday, and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Beckwith Motorsports (USA), and Lightning Automotive for their support this season. North Weald opens for 2014. 10th May: North Weald Drag Strip's first event of 2014 takes place tomorrow (Sunday), a Test and Tune over the quarter mile. Damian Burke writes: Following the popularity of last year the proceedings will once again feature a Fast Eight eliminator for both cars and bikes. Paul Marston pretty much had it all his own way in 2013 showing real skill in getting the power down on the unprepped surface, but all the cars put on a good show. On the bike side of things Mark Patman was dominant on his Kawasaki only losing out in the last events final. In addition to these two eliminations a third, Sportsman Eliminator, has been added for normally-aspirated cars on regular street tyres, to hopefully introduce new blood into the sport. We are also playing host to the Head Gasgits club who will be holding a Street Outlaws style race over the eighth mile based on the TV show of the same name. They are a very welcome addition. North Weald has a truly eclectic mix of rods, muscle, hot hatches, modified and all out race cars and bikes in a relaxed environment. There is also a mix of trade and food stands and a bar to cater for everyone. North Weald Drag Strip is just off Junction 7 of the M11, follow the signs from there along the A414, CM16 6HR for the SatNav. Entry is £10, under-14s free, and for £25 we will endeavour to give you as many runs as you can fit in. Just bring your licence and if possible a helmet although we have some available for free loan. For more details please visit www.maitlandracing.com. We look forward to welcoming both new and our regular racers and spectators. Hawkins Travels to WB best. 10th May: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows has been in touch to let us know that the Wild Bunch Class ET Record was reset at last weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The new record stands at 7.492 seconds and was set by Bob Hawkins in the Time Traveller II slingshot, bettering the more than a decade old record of Derek Annable who ran 7.548 in the Brenda's Life Force Top Methanol Dragster. "Many congratulations to Bob and team on this achievement!", says Claire. Bob himself says that he regrets that he will not be attending FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway in a couple of weeks' time, but that he will instead be at Shakespeare County Raceway with the Wild Bunch. "Having had a brilliant start to the series we now want to try and keep the momentum going", he says. "We are back at the Pod for Dragstalgia which will hopefully be our first fire burnout of the year with the new car before heading off to the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim to help warm things up in the Night Show! Then, if all goes to plan, it will be back to our Wild Bunch Series chase for the rest of the season." Angie sorry for break. 10th May: Shakespeare County Raceway's Angie Woods has been in touch to say sorry for holding up proceedings late on Saturday at the Springspeed Nationals after her unfortunate tumble in the staging lanes. After undergoing several operations this week on her legs and ankle to repair torn ligaments and fractured bones Angie is now on the mend in Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital. "Sorry for all the problems I caused on Saturday" says Angie. "The things I do to get a free helicopter tour of the airfield with some hunky Air Ambulance guys! "I would like to say a big thank you to Ian and Chris and the staff from our wonderful CC Medical crew, sorry for emptying your Entonox bottle guys, all the marshals and racers for the get well messages and sorry to Dave, my now long suffering partner who is going to have to wheel me about all over the place. Also to Scott and Geof Hauser for upsetting your day." Unfortunately, Angie will be in hospital for some time for plastic surgery before being transferred to Rugby for a further operation on her knee. "I promise that I will be back on my feet real soon and at the track for Yanks in a couple of weeks time but certainly fit for Ladies That Launch!", she says. From everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway get well soon Angie and the Eurodragster.com staff second that. Swift snippets. 10th May: Good luck and stay safe to Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc who is contesting this weekend's PDRA event at Valdosta. At time of writing Adam is qualified eighth at 3.93/191. You can stay in touch with Adam's progress on the Flamcolc / MMR Racing Facebook page. Web site updates. 10th May: Staying with the Springspeed Nationals theme Jeni Long has posted a number of excellent shots from last weekend's race on her web site at www.yawningcatphotography.com. Also updating from last weekend, but in this case from York Raceway's Super Street Shootout and UK Open Nationals, is Richard Smith whose superb pictures are also well worth a look at rdsmith.zenfolio.com. Editor's note: We currently have a backlog of news with which we will catch up on the next update. Tune back for the latest from Hawgs Racing Toten, reports from Euro Series Top Gas Round 1 and Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Round 2, a great use for a contingent of drum majorettes and more, and please keep the news coming to news@eurodragster.com. Malmgren: Just enjoy it. 8th May: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren has a new ride for 2014. The latest hot rod is a GXP built by Jerry Haas, and Michael got in touch to let us know all about it: At the end of last year I got a call from Bengt Ljungdahl. He wanted to buy my car, and that opened the door for me to step up and get a new ride. After looking at some used cars, as usual mostly having too many runs and in bad shape, we found this beauty through Jerry Haas Race Cars. I have been using cars from Jerry Bickel all these years, and I called Bickel but he had nothing which fit my requirements. He said to check with Jerry Haas, so we did! A new car was not an option as the budget didn't allow it, but this car was as new - it had only eight runs on it and had been parked since 2012 due to lack of sponsorship. We made an offer and we got it. Big thanks to all at Jerry Haas Race Cars who were most helpful during our stay at the shop making car ready to be shipped to Sweden. We have updated the car with all the latest shocks etc so we shall be in good shape. We made our first shakedown runs at Meca Raceway last weekend, with a couple 1.01 sixty foot times which of course need to be improved. But at least it's a start. We are planning to keep on testing at Meca Raceway before we go to Santa Pod and we are also signed up for the Peak Performance Day on 22nd May. We will run the same Bob Ingles-built DRCE 2 engine which we had last year as it has plenty of power so that we can run with the fastest cars. We don't expect to match Jimmy Ålund's numbers, nobody can as he has more power than anybody can get right now. He is ahead of the game for sure. A lot of racers say that it is it no use running as Jimmy is too fast and you can't beat him. I say why focus on that? Go out there and do your best and enjoy it, then anything can happen. Our main goal is to stay in the top three; my prediction is that Jimmy will take the title again in a good fight with Thomas Lindström, but you never know. Several guys have invested in new engines etc this year, so we just have to wait and see when the show starts. I would like to say a special Thank You for making my racing possible to Oakley, Europa Flyer International Transport, Strange Engineering, Victory Performance, Federal Mogul, MSD, Dynotech Driveshafts, Trend Performance, Diamond Pistons, Braswell Carburettors, Richmond Gears, PAC Valve Springs, Auto-Verdi Oil Pumps,Champion Spark Plugs, MBE Cylinder Heads and VP Racing Fuels. Special thanks also to my hard working team of Erland Cox, Bjarne Cox, Tomas Jonsson and Kent Eriksson. See you all at Santa Pod! Pro Stock seeks similar. 8th May: Swedish Pro Stock racer Thomas Lindström and Team RT are looking to add a second car to the Ernryd Cars-sponsored operation. To bring the plan to fruition, the current car is under offer turn-key. The purchaser will remain part of a two-car Team RT, and Thomas says that for interested parties the car's recent testing numbers speak for themselves: We went testing at Malmoö on Saturday and we nailed everything. Track record and quickest Pro Stock is promising for the season. 4.24/266.96 kmh over the eighth mile are good numbers to start with. And this was all with the spare engine! We want to sell the car complete, and we want to do it with style. Like John Force trying to get new sponsors - he doesn't complain about not having sponsors, he is telling the world that he is available on the market and you'd better hurry if you want to be a part of it. We don't want just anyone to come and buy the car or the seat, we want the best to come and buy the car and seat. We don't want to sell it for the money, we want to sell it to put two Mopars on top in Pro Stock. The problem is that there are so few people out there who have the guts, money and skill to take advantage of this opportunity. But we want to try. If you think you've got the 'nads to become part of Team RT then you can find out more by clicking on the image at left, by E-Mailing Thomas at thomas@teamrt.se, or by calling +46 707 406238. The ME Racing pow-wow. 8th May: Lena Perés writes that it is a busy time for herself, Mats and L-G Eriksson and the ME Racing team with work not just on Mats' Pro Mod but on other racers' cars as well: Mats and the team are working on the Green Goblin to get it race ready for Santa Pod. The plan is to contest the FIA rounds and if time allows some of the Swedish Championship races. This year we are pleased to have Adam Flamholc with us at the FIA rounds. Together with LG and Mats Adam has suggested some changes to the car. The rear-end is new for this season and some other areas have been changed. The guys will be testing at Malmö Raceway on 17th-18th and then they're off to Santa Pod for the first race of the season. There has been a bit of a gathering at the shop lately as Jonnie Lindberg has spent a few weeks here to rebuild Johan's car. It is now back in his own shop for the remaining work. So everyone is eager to get race ready, and we're looking forward to seeing you all again. On the avoidance of bananas. 8th May: An early candidate for Best Appearing Car is the Mark Flavell Racing Super Pro ET Funny Car which is sporting a new body this season. Andy Flavell writes: Iron out the creases and step on all the banana skins before competing with forty six other cars for a thirty two car field in a fortnight's time! That was the aim of the game on Bank Holiday Monday, that and débuting the new body at our local strip, York International Raceway! As will be standard for many a racer, Team MFR haven't stopped all winter. Hours in the garage on week nights then Saturday after Saturday, you guys know the score. Putting the new tinwork in the body and painting her up among many of the hurdles stopping Easter participation. The Festival of Power was too much to ask, sadly. We did make it out last weekend though, and many thanks to the Murty family for their co-operation. We débuted the car hopefully pleasing the York faithful with some healthy burnouts and strong launches, steadily building confidence in the new valvetrain. The body has had a lot of work but looks great and the car sounded even better. York Raceway were, as always, fantastic hosts, well-organised, well-run, decent track, warm and friendly, what more do you need? A whole host of people have contributed enormously to getting it here though. Got to give the main credit to Steve and Mally, two men who ooze commitment, competence and enthusiasm. This car simply wouldn't be here without them. Thanks also to Craig and of course all the patient wives (or drag racing widows) for all their support, and to Ian Kerr and Ronnie Giles, two men whose artistic genius ensured that the Prestone Gold RV Firebird really did have the wow factor when it rolled off the trailer. Thanks of course also need to go to  Prestone  and Gold RV for coming on board with us this year, two fantastic partners, companies whom you really do feel the difference dealing with: easy to use, easy to choose. Thanks also to Julian  and Kirstie, both of whom I have bugged for photos on a number of occasions, thanks for your help. I invite you to Like us on Facebook, search for Team MFR. The web site is in the making. We have eventually climbed on the Social Media bandwagon. See you at the track, where I guess we'll iron out a whole new set of creases! Eight Anglias, Anglia eight. 8th May: UK Outlaw Anglia racers Cooper brothers attended the 2012 Springspeed Nationals with high hopes for their fresh blown-alcohol Small Block. Unfortunately the first run of that weekend ended in disaster with head and block damage. Eighteen months later, with the motor back together, the plan for a return to Shakespeare County Raceway started to come together again. Matt Cooper writes: We rebuilt the engine with some modifications and headed up north to EDA to put the motor on Kenny Coleman's dyno. After a few small problems we made the first pull and it was apparent that there was a problem with the ignition system. Kenny and his team kindly let us use a standard MSD 7, which he had knocking around, in place of the magneto. With time knocking on a final pull was made and the team was very happy with the result! Last weekend was our first competitive outing in Outlaw Anglia and with a strong field of eight cars we were really looking forward to being back out there and having some fun. Our first shakedown run was a not-so-straight but Personal Best of 9.1 at only 111 mph coming off it very early. We decided to back the tune right off to try to get down the track. After a couple of more runs it was apparent that the car required some chassis tuning, either that or she liked the look of the centre line! Raceday soon came around and we had Cliff Griffin in his awesome blown-alcohol Big Block Pop. Our car launched well but again I had to come off it before mid-track and drive with caution towards the finish line. But little did I know that we had dipped into the eights for the first time, 8.75/140. To say that the team was happy is an understatement, and the fact that we were knocked out in the first round didn't seem to matter - we finally got into the eights after a lot of hard work! I would like to personally thank my crew Adam Cooper, Graham Knock and my dad Robert Cooper for the continuous encouragement, all the Outlaw Anglia teams for help and advice over the three days, and not forgetting the track crew who gave us a brilliant track to play on. We plan to be back at the Nostalgia Nationals to try to improve on the 8.75. Web site updates. 8th May: Thanks to Didier Dutartre for letting us know that a great on-board video is now available of Eric Teboul's World Record 5.191-second pass on his Rocket Bike. The video features rear and front views and can be checked out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNRUfUhLy8. SCR Media Marshal Dave Derry's trophy presentation shots from the weekend's Springspeed Nationals are now showing on the Shakespeare County Raceway Facebook page. Over seven hundred Springspeed Nationals pictures with not a motordrive sequence amongst them have been posted on Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog's personal site at eurodragster.smugmug.com. Take a tall coffee with you. Colin Donisthorpe has updated his Flickr gallery with pictures of Gabrielle McDonald's Top Fuel Dragster licencing at Santa Pod Raceway this past weekend. You can check out Colin's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe. Swift snippets. 7th May: Thanks to Kristian Nyström for sending us this picture of work underway on resurfacing the strip at Alastaro in Finland. "The asphalt is the latest drag racing mix", says Kristian. Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 11 of the official entry list for FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-26th May. which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about entry to FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 then call Ian Marshall on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail ir.marshall@btconnect.com. Santa Pod Raceway are seeking a race car for display to represent SPR at the Players Classic show at Goodwood on Saturday 7th June. If you would like to volunteer then please contact James Forster at Santa Pod on james@santapod.com or call him on 01234 782828. Phil Bennett of Santa Pod Raceway writes that Round 2 of the FWD Drag Series, which took place at the Festival of Power, featured a different line-up of racers to Round 1. "Andy Nicholls and Chris Sutton both got qualifying runs under their belts but Peter Cole was twice turned back from the line", says Phil. "Unfortunately no eliminations were possible due to rain on the Sunday. The WebTV Show of Round 2 is now available on-line; make sure you take a look at www.youtu.be/XjKjomd6st8". Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the post-Festival of Power points standings in the 2014 Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding new tables of European and UK Bests now including those Super Street Bike records set at the Festival of Power by Graham Balchin and Steve Venables. To check out the new records sheets click here or click on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Through the good offices of APIRA's race officials Tog and Grace spent a few hours at the top end at Shakespeare County Raceway on Sunday and managed to get a number of parachute shots. We know that chute shots are very popular with racers and as a Thank You to those who dropped the laundry we have made all of Sunday's pictures available for free download to those racers featured. Racers wanting copies of their chute shots just need to drop a line to tog@eurodragster.com and we'll send you the link. Editor's note: Due to conflicting pressures today's news update has had to be kept brief. Tune back tomorrow for the next update which will include the latest from Pro Stock racers Michael Malmgren and Thomas Lindström, Pro Modified racer Mats Eriksson, Super Pro ET team Mark Flavell Racing and more, and please keep the news coming to news@eurodragster.com. Springspeed Nationals results. 6th May: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Super Pro ET: Scott Hauser (7.59) 7.594/175.32 def. Brad Jackson (7.86) 7.837/149.91 Pro ET: Leigh Morris (10.90) 10.892/120.55 def. Rick McCann (9.63) 9.611/136.77 Sportsman ET: Ricky Hale (14.70) 14.931/95.42 def. Craig Wright (16.30) 16.590/82.23 Super Comp: Andy Williams 9.396/113.72 def. Paul Hudson 9.781/103.78 Super Gas: Stuart Doignie 10.069/127.32 def. Ian Jackson 10.013/145.36 Super Street: Leigh Morris 11.001/111.33 def. Mark White 11.660/127.27 DQ red Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Billy Everitt (7.97) 7.976/81.52 def. Morgan Wilson (7.95) 7.958/82.27 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Martin Smith 9.070/157.28 def. Damien Halliwell 11.018/125.23 VW Pro: Paul Jordan (8.90) 9.090/147.15 def. Jacob Bailey (12.50) 13.164/8.629 VW Sportsman: Ed Keech (14.49) 14.495/91.98 def. Adrian London (17.75) 17.993/76.34 Wild Bunch: Keith Crampton (10.98) 10.989/117.73 def. Adam Price (9.01) no time DQ Outlaw Anglia: Colin Millar 7.685/178.04 def. Cliff Griffin 7.781/179.40 Funny Bike: Eric Richard 7.562/185.95 def. Gary Jones 26.505/22.79 Comp Bike: Allan Davies 7.625/175.27 def. Phil Crossley 7.760/166.35 Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 7.610/193.74 def. Chris Reed 7.759/184.08 8.50 Bike: Eddie Smiley 8.545/144.95 def. Mick Winyard 8.467/171.42 b/o 9.50 Bike: Phil Pratt 9.581/136.31 def. Alex Hope 9.604/121.35 DQ red Supertwin Gas: Joe Elliott 18.052/59.60 bye Supertwin ET: Kieran Govender (13.15) 13.446 def. Giselle Moor (15.15) 15.049/84.13 b/o Junior Dragbike: Blade Drummer (13.12) 13.378/50.11 def. Louis Davies (9.10) 9.214/71.77 Best wishes to APIRA marshal Angie Woods and Super Street Bike racer Dave Thomas who were injured in pairing lane and start line incidents respectively. Neither the Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award nor the Eurodragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award were claimed therefore they will be increased to £75 and £100 respectively for FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway and the 8.50 Bike and 9.50 Bike round at Yanks Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway on the same weekend at the end of May. You can check out our Alamo Rent A Car-sponsored Springspeed Nationals reports and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please join Tog in a big Thank You to Simon for taking on the unaccustomed task of Race Reporter and photographer Grace Roaf who was ever-present trackside for a tiring three days without a whimper. Swift snippets. 6th May: Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 10 of the official entry list for FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-26th May. which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about entry to FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 then call Ian Marshall on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail ir.marshall@btconnect.com. BDRHoF Gala update. 6th May: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Management Group met at the Savill Court Hotel in Windsor Great Park, the venue for the Annual BDRHoF Gala Dinner to be held on 22nd November. Chairman Stu Bradbury was joined by Robin Jackson (Press and Public Relations) and Brian Taylor (Commerce and Marketing). They were joined by Geoff Stilwell and Kaz Aston, both of whom have with extensive experience in organising prestigious events and promoting them via social media. On the agenda were several areas of checking progress that has been encouraging on all fronts. Already one third of available tickets have been reserved. The awards to be presented on 22nd November are: British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Membership sponsored by the Santa Pod Racers Club (winners to be announced in July 2014) Sydney Allard Trophy for Drag Racing Photographer of the Year in association with the Allard Motor Company and Octane magazine Sydney Allard Trophy for Drag Racing Writer of the Year in association with the Allard Motor Company and the Guild of Motoring Writers For advance booking of tickets contact britishDRHOF@aol.com or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102. No deposits will be required until the summer but we can promise you this will be an early sell-out event so get in now. The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is sponsored by many businesses and associations without whose support it could not exist. They are Beech Underwriting; US Automotive; Power Race Graphics; Santa Pod Racers Club; Pennine Drag Racing Club; Eurodragster.com; Avon Park International Racing Association; Shakespeare County Raceway; Santa Pod Raceway; York Raceway; Allard Motor Company and Flint Insurance. Tierp 1 cancelled. 5th May: Thanks to Micke Gullqvist for letting us know that the first of this year's two planned FIA European Championship rounds at Tierp Arena, scheduled for 12th-15th June, has been cancelled: A lot of people have worked hard on getting it going, not least the new owner, but in the end the they felt that the quality of the event was at risk due to the limited time available. Everything looked very positive until recently, but there were issues which could not be resolved in time to support a great event. The race organisation was ready to run so that part was never a problem, but the logistics around the event were harder to sort out. It's been important for the new owner that the essential pieces are well under control before conducting an event of this kind. We just have to accept the fact that they are very concerned about quality and we understand that we cannot push anything which includes a risk of not coming out in a good way. We are looking forward to the coming events at Tierp this year, including the events in July and August which according to the owner will be held as planned. Bengtsson stays home. 3rd May: Swedish Supertwin racer Per Bengtsson will be racing a limited schedule on home soil in 2014. Per and the Beast team were among the European contenders at the Haltech World Finals at Bradenton Raceway in November, making the semi-finals. After contesting the Manufacturers Cup Finals two years in a row the Beast team had been talking about going back to the USA in the future for more than one race a season. But to be competitive in doing so you need to improve your performance even more, and Per and the team have decided to attend both EDRS Pro Bike Nordic Championship rounds at Tierp Arena, one in June and one in August, as well as the Nordic Championship round at Gardermoen Raceway the first weekend of August. "I think the EDRS Pro Bike Nordic Championship presented by Speedgroup will be very important for the growth of the bike classes", says Per. "We definitely need more racers at the events and hopefully we will see more teams going for the whole European tour in the future. To support the Nordic Championship we should of course go to every event this season, but the team decided early on that for once we will try to have some kind of normal summer, therefore we will stick to our original plans. "The whole team are very interested in a return to the United States in the future (read 2015) and we are looking at different solutions to be able to carry such a plan through. There will be an announcement when we see in which direction this project is going." If you would like more information about Per Bengtsson and the famous Beast bike please visit their web site at www.bentec.net. Old Skool Ford Round 2. 3rd May: Last Sunday the Old Skool Ford Drag Challenge had their second round of 2014. Jo Peters writes: With a massive twenty entrants and a virtually empty track, the entrants were able to get so many runs in that a few had to make a trip to the local garage to re-fuel! Joss Waller, winner of Round 1, and Nikki Gunner double-driving their Mk1 Fiesta continued with their friendly rivalry and their perserverance paid off with first and second places respectively at this round. Mark Dodson from nearby Milton Keynes was back in his stunning Anglia Estate (below left) after breaking his rear window during the week, and took sixth place with a 15.26. Ex-Rover Challenge racer Kev Jenkins was back at this round with newly-fitted wheelie bars following his wheelie action at the last round (above right) and he put down a tidy 9.3 while still running on low boost and no gas! Joe Ashton was with us for the first time this year and with his freshly-built 2.1 Pinto-powered Mk1 Escort recorded a respectable 12.51 to finish eighth overall. Our next round will be back at Santa Pod on Sunday 1st June. For more information, or to take part, visit www.oldskoolford.co.uk. King of Valdosta. 3rd May: In what was a truly transatlantic team effort, the Gulf Oil Dragracing Top Fuel team in conjunction with John and Dea Morgan Racing and BlackCat Motorsports made history at the opening round of the 2014 Manufacturers Cup event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia, USA. The seven time European Top Fuel Bike Champions travelled to the event with one goal in mind, to secure the eighth and final spot in the exclusive MTC Engineering 5 Second Top Fuel Club after becoming the world's sixth team to run a five second pass ever during European competition in 2013. It was quite a task with two other proven five second machines entered in the event in the hands of talented US riders Sam Wills and David Vantine and with the team shipping their operation almost half way across the world to compete in foreign and unknown conditions on an unfamiliar track. After a check out half pass by team rider Ian King during Thursday's test session the focus was on round one of qualifying on Friday evening. After Sam Wills and team owner Mike Dryden declared they were not in the race for the 5 Second Club spot, Pollard Nitrosports rider Vantine and King agreed to ride side by side to ensure both had an equal chance. However, with King drawn in what appeared to be the better performing left lane for round one Vantine elected to change lane but run behind him with the agreement that the order would be reversed in the next round should neither run a five. King ran a stout and easy 6.129/221.16, not quite enough to secure the desired spot in the club (to the huge disappointment of King) but enough to put him straight into the number two qualifying position behind multiple USA Champion Larry McBride who ran a superb 5.799/225.52. Dave Vantine was hot on Ian's heels with a 6.159/219.08 with Sam Wills just a tad slower with a 6.311/187.89. Q2 on Saturday afternoon had hot and sticky track conditions that proved difficult for all riders to improve on their numbers from the cooler conditions from the previous evening. Vantine went first and ran a 6.259/229.24 and King ran a quicker 6.230/232.83 in the unfavoured right lane that remained high speed of the race at the close of the event. Sam Wills meanwhile had some start line problems and left before the tree was activated. So, the Friday evening (and final qualifying) session was widely anticipated by all with their eyes on the 5 Second Club and with the cooler conditions it seemed that maybe the time was right for history to be made. However, the question of who was to run first between Vantine and King was up in the air but the timely appearance of race Pastor Don Dowling in the staging lanes was to be the answer when he tossed a coin and King won the right to run first. The run was superb, wheel in the air from the hit and a plume of clean header flames all the way past the finish line. Was this the run to secure the last spot in the club? The crowd and massed teams at the start line were bemused, no times nor speeds were showing on the scoreboards and they awaited information from track announcer Bill Hahn Jr. At the other end of the track King waited patiently for Crew Chief Michael Beaumont to collect him with what he believed would be good news. However, when Beaumont appeared the look of thunder on his face said it all, the timing system had failed and no data had been recorded! The run was therefore void and now Vantine and Wills had the opportunity to benefit from King's misfortune. But it was not to be for both US riders as they both suffered a fuel leak and shut down before running. When King arrived back to his pit area the words of sorrow and sympathy from the race fans and team members at his misfortune and who had witnessed the phantom run were overwhelming. During a quick visit to the timing tower the timing crew confirmed that indeed there was no time recorded and that they could not explain the malfunction. And to add add insult to injury King's position in the timing tower was perfect for him to watch veteran racer Chris Hand run a great 6.039/210.11 that bumped Kings recorded best into third position and giving him the most difficult route possible to reach the final and the cooler conditions that would be optimal for running a five-second pass. See video of the Phantom Pass by clicking here. By the time the hardworking Gulf Oil Dragracing team turned the bike around for its next run the track had closed and so round one of eliminations would be their next outing on track. This gave the team the evening to consider race strategy and bike configuration changes to give them the best chance of success in eliminations. Morning of race day saw Crew Chief Michael Beaumont and Team Engineer Marius van der Zijden duly make the changes for an increase in power and commensurate clutch and ignition alterations that had been carefully decided. Sunday dawned bright and warm, and King was to face Vantine in the first round. With the benefit of lane choice King opted left and his oh so close 6.044/224.96 was more than enough to dispatch Vantine's game but tyre spinning effort. On the other side of the ladder Chris Hand overcome Sam Wills to leave King as the only rider left in competition who could take the last spot in the Club. However, there was a small matter of King's semi final opponent, none other than multiple US Champion and number one qualifier Larry McBride who never takes prisoners on track. Despite the fact that their one and only former match-up fourteen years ago ended with King the winner, it was a huge hurdle for King to overcome with McBride running so strong in Q1. However, by virtue of previous round ETs King once again had lane choice and put the US icon in the more difficult right lane. The lane choice proved to be decisive with King winning the semi-final with a 6.335/191.48 against McBride's tyre blazing 8.448/109.51, the victor's relatively low speed reflecting an early shut off in an attempt to evade contact with the wall at the top end. So despite the trials of the previous evening the team had made the final and would run against London born but US citizen Chris Hand on his Redneck Express machine. The RNE team had suffered some engine damage in their bye run semi final, but the Gulf team said they would wait as long as it took for their opponents to swap out engines. Once again King had lane choice and opted for the left. Hand had a slight start line advantage but then King powered by the troubled Redneck Express to take a comfortable win. King knew it was a good pass, once again wheel in the air all the way, driven out the back door with all cylinders belching fire. But was it enough to achieve the ultimate aim of taking the last spot in the club. It took the arrival of Hand and a congratulatory thumbs-up to confirm that indeed it was. Not only that but King had run a new personal best ET of 5.878/225.07, quick enough to make King the fifth fastest drag bike racer of all time! The celebrations started with the arrival of an emotional Mike and Sandy Marsh at the top end, and continued for hours after around the team pit area (including a surprise bath in a tub of freezing cold water courtesy of semifinal opponents Team McBride). In summary, a fairytale end to the team's latest foreign adventure, and one that secured their spot in dragracing history for evermore. The most consistent Top Fuel team of the weekend, high speed of the event, a new Personal Best time, fifth quickest rider in the world, an event win and the closing position in the MTC Engineering 5 Second Club. You can view an onboard video of the historic run by clicking here. You can view an external video of the run by clicking here. You can view an external video of the run and immediate trackside celebrations by clicking here. Ian would like to thank his hardworking crew of Michael Beaumont, Marius van der Zijden, Martin Brookman, Nick Pepper, his wife Debbie and children Georgina and Alexandra for their support and sacrifice over many years, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes for their unyielding support and photojournalistic talents, the fans and supporters around the globe, especially Jody and John Gregory of Hogslayer fame, Ton and Vincent Pels and Sue and Dan Leeds who made a special trip to the race in support them, the great products and support of Gulf Oil International, Grand Prix Originals and all the team blue chip associate sponsors. But this momentous result was the culmination of a huge deal of effort and support by many people on both side of the Atlantic who must be recognized for going that extra mile to make this endeavour happen: John and Dea Morgan and their team of John Edwards and Mike Woods who provided the main thrust of the effort to bring the operation to the US, Mike and Sandy Marsh of BlackCat Motorsports and a number of the team's loyal group of blue chip sponsors went above and beyond their usual fantastic product support to ensure that the project could be concluded: Laurie Dunlap of Web Camshafts, Jay and Dianne Eshbach of American Performance Engineering, Jerry Francis and Thomas Kundrik of Mickey Thompson Tires, Dave Schnitz of Schnitz Racing, Jay Regan of Murdoch Racing Enterprises and Brad Anassis of Portable Shade. The team would also like to thank Tim Fleming and his great track crew at SGMP for their sterling work in providing the best track surface they have ever raced upon and Ian would particularly like to say to the other teams in the class that it was an honor to race with them and to thank them for their grace and support for his visit and race efforts. For more information on Gulf Oil Dragracing go to www.gulfoildragracing.com. The Gulf Oil – GPO Dragracing team uses and endorses exclusively Gulf Oil greases and lubricants in their history making machine. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in their chosen markets in winning the 2013 European Championship and in their 2014 endeavours: APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Action Cameras - Europe's leading source for action sports cameras Blackcat Motorsports - The leading V Rod Harley race team Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Graphite Additive Manufacturing - A leader in 3D printed technologies and rapid prototyping Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hotrod Hangar– Home of the world renowned custom artist Knud Tiroch Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons John and Dea Morgan Racing - The creators of the world's most advanced New Age Funny Bike Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems MTC Engineering - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport NGK Spark Plugs UK - The world's number one spark plug manufacturer Pär Willen - Master webmeister and proprietor of HarleyDrags.com Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Supertough - Custom cases and covers for the Film, TV, Music and Motorsports Industries Spies Hecker - The world's leading supplier of paint for car, commercial and industrial finishing Van Es mobility - The leading manufacturer of telematic products for management of moving objects Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Web Camshafts Inc - Simply the company for Top Fuel Bike camshafts Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts Swift snippets. 3rd May: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (right) came with the words "Fast hitch-hiking". 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. Web site updates. 3rd May: Martin Drake, aka Drakie, has updated his Drakies Americans web site with this year's first report from York Raceway. You can check it out at www.drakies-americans.co.uk. Not such good news is that Martin's health has necessitated a long hard look at things and he has decided that 2014 will be his last season trackside. "It's one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make", says Drakie, "and I will miss it deeply. Here's to a rocking 2014. I will still be covering shows and other such like events but because of my healthm drag racing events will be covered from the stands from 2015." Event entry update. 2nd May: Entry closes today (Friday) for FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 23rd-26th May and which is a round of FIA and FIM European Championships and some UK National Drag Racing Championship classes. Entry from tomorrow, if accepted, will be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download entry forms for FIA, FIM and UK classes from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 8 of the official entry list which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about entry to FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 then call Ian Marshall on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail ir.marshall@btconnect.com. Swift snippets. 2nd May: The 2014 FIA European Top Fuel Championship debate between Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher and Finland's Anita Mäkelä has been joined by Andersen Racing co-owner and co-tuner Karsten Andersen of Eurodragster.com sponsor Landmeco. "It seems like Urs forgot that one guy was way ahead of him in 2011", says Karsten. To be continued... We didn't think that anyone was that impressed but in response to a number queries received in the last few days yes, we plan to include the Towercam as part of this weekend's Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcast from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The Towercam will show Track Announcer Barry Bohannon and Shakeysounds' Paul Wright doing their thing and and will most likely be operating before the track opens in the morning or in the event of downtime on track... so hopefully only before the track opens. Editor's note: Due to various conflicting pressures we have a small backlog of news which we will clear on the next update, due to be posted this evening. Please keep the news coming to news@eurodragster.com. Tierp FIM dates to be removed. 1st May: Keith Bartlett, Commercial Rights holder of the FIM European Drag Racing Championships, has sent us the following release: Palle Lind and Wolfgang Glas have made great efforts in attempting to obtain from SVEMO an answer or confirmation whether or not the organising club at Tierp Arena will be holding the FIM rounds placed upon the 2014 calendar by SVEMO. It is very sad that despite our best efforts to keep the dates open and allow race teams time to make their travel arrangements SVEMO has seen fit to ignore the FIM European Championships and to leave the race teams in the dark as to what is happening. Sadly, to date, the Championship Promoter has had no confirmation and is now left with no choice but to enforce its 28th February deadline and formally request that the dates now be officially removed from the FIM calendar for 2014. Bartlett on Festival of Power. 1st May: We have received the following open letter to racers from Santa Pod Raceway and Trakbak Racing CEO Keith Bartlett. The letter concerns the Festival of Power and is presented verbatim and in its entirety: There have been several postings on our Facebook page regarding the Festival of Power held over the Easter holiday weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Most of the postings have come from or arisen from racers' comments and feelings on the way this event was run, organised and scheduled, especially in relation to the various Sportsman classes. I would like to start by perhaps covering a little of the background to the whole Easter event held each year at Santa Pod Raceway. For the past 5 years this event has been in decline year on year. Some of the reason for this has of course been as a result of the extremely bad weather that we have had, particularly over the past 3 years at the Easter event. The main concern that we had at Santa Pod Raceway was that we were seeing continually falling spectator attendance figures for the Easter event. The Easter event, by 2012, was heading towards becoming a liability event at Santa Pod Raceway. I therefore as the CEO and owner of the company needed to look to reverse that decline. The first change was to bring about a new event that would have a much wider appeal to the general paying public. This meant introducing a new format and content to make the event appealing to families and a broader audience. Easter is still a major family holiday period. The next area I looked at was that for the past 5-8 years Easter Monday has delivered a very low spectator attendance. This does not surprise me as the school holidays are at this time and families have much to do, especially if Easter falls at the end of the school holiday (as in 2014). So I finally implemented what I have wanted to do for many years and removed the Easter Monday from the weekend because unfortunately it was no longer financially viable. As per 2013, this meant that the event was a 3-day event and cut the cost significantly, which in itself made a large inroad into the event's viability. This did of course have an impact on the actual racing schedule, especially for the Sportsman racers and Championships. We did think this through and took that factor into consideration. We planned and introduced a more family oriented event with a wider appeal in the action both on the track plus around other areas of the facility. Then we promoted and marketed that heavily. The main theme was the Jet Cars including side by side Jet Car racing, which is always a real crowd and family favourite at Santa Pod Raceway. Added to this were Hovercraft rides, Live Action Arena shows (stunt shows, monster trucks, human cannonball) a circus, all of which operated several times a day come rain or shine. We also had the Top Fuel Dragsters (4) and Fuel Funny cars (2) plus a good entry of Pro Modified and all the other Sportsman classes. In addition we had various static displays such as tanks and the Bloodhound SSC world speed record car along with various air displays on different days. All in all a good representative selection of vehicles and entertainment that would support a Festival of Power... which is what the whole event is designed and structured to be. The new format, started in 2013 and developed a little more for 2014, under the event title the Festival of Power was a huge success and the spectator numbers were the best we have seen for over 5 years, despite the rained out Sunday. Overall, the new 3-day event schedule was the success we all thought it would be. Now I will turn to the downside of this new format as far the racers are concerned; the lack of running time and scheduled runs, plus the actual running schedules and timings. We must start by making sure that everyone fully understands what this event is about. It is a motorsport / lifestyle event, for all the family. This event is not structured for just the die-hard drag racing fans and or petrolheads alone. Of course with that said we must look after all our racing classes and Championships as that is what you pay your entry fees to run in. Let me say now that no drag racing promoter supports pure drag racing more than me... in the ideal world, if I had my way, I would run just drag racing only and go home very happy every Sunday night at the end of the weekend. But the real world is not like that. Without making the facility pay for itself and make a profit we would not have any drag racing happening at Santa Pod because with just pure drag racing, and putting that first every time, it would not take long before the whole facility went into decline or worse still followed other drag racing tracks in both Scandinavia and the UK who believed that pure drag racing only could be sustainable. Those tracks are now either bankrupt or broken. This means that, on occasions, we have to make the drag racing take second place to the show. The Festival of Power is pretty much the only event where we have such a large combination of Championship drag racing and show vehicles all running together. On the other hand there are several events which are regarded more as pure drag racing events where all or certainly most show cars take second priority to the drag racing. These include the two FIA Championship events, especially with the pro classes, and pure Sportsman events like the Summernationals and the National Finals. So in reality, Easter is quite a one-off situation arising for the racers in terms of schedules/numbers of runs as a result of show cars making their runs. Accepting that the show cars must be the main attraction, we must also understand that the public who come to see these show cars are not necessarily drag racing fans and expect to see the show and the show cars run as and when stated on the programme. Most families on a day out (which is what the Festival of Power event mostly attracts) want to see the show and be on their way home by 4:00 pm... they are not the die-hard drag racing fans who will stay on the bank and wait 2 hours just to see their favourite drag car go down the track... we have to make the schedules for the show cars and other activities fit the family's schedules. That is how we make our money. With respect, everyone does need to understand that Sportsman drag racing does not put people on the bank and in the grandstands, as much as many racers believe and convince each other of the opposite. With that said, I do sympathise with those racers who entered the Festival of Power two weeks ago and sat and saw show cars prioritised on Saturday and then experienced minimal racing on Sunday as a result of rain. But as I have already made clear, this is only likely to happen at Easter as a result of the large contingent of show cars which incidentally also pay an entry fee. I should also add that many of the major delays on both Friday and Saturday were as a result of incidents caused by the Sportsman classes. Of course that happens, especially at the first big drag racing event of the year. But that was still the reason for almost all the delays and changes I made to the running orders. With all this said and in an effort to increase track time for those racing at the Festival of Power, we will be reviewing the number of Sportsman classes that are invited to race at the event for 2015. One point I would like to make however is to clear up the myth that after a Jet Car runs the track, it is not up to standard. That is not correct. We prepare the track after any Jet Car run and nine times out of ten it is up to the required standard for any of the following classes. Over the past 17 years I have invested huge sums into Santa Pod Raceway to not only keep it going as a drag racing facility, but at the same time to enable us to improve and continue to make improvements to the overall facility. We have totally resurfaced the whole pits, built new buildings, safety catch fences, built new roads and improved services and other items such as showers and toilets. In 2013 we laid a new track surface and new catch fencing. Already this year we are committed to buying new equipment like the new tractor and I am planning to change the whole PA system and electrical supplies to the pits and overall facility. Last year alone we spent over £350k on improvements and in 2014 it will be close to £250k. Overall since I purchased Santa Pod Raceway in 1996, we have invested around £5m. It may not show or one may not really be able to see at first where all that money has gone, but for those of you who remember what Santa Pod looked like in 1995 and more to the point what you raced on and what the facility had to offer, the improvements are clear for all to see. Also let me remind everybody that when I purchased Santa Pod Raceway in 1996, it was bankrupt, as a result of being very poorly run and managed. Here we are some 17 years later and the future is secure and looking good for drag racing at Santa Pod Raceway. That is because I run it as a business not as a drag racing hobby racer or obsession. The good news is like most of you I am a drag racing fan, totally committed to the sport in the same way as most of you. The racers have a responsibility to make their cars perform as well as they can... I have a responsibility to make the track perform as well as it can and give the racers somewhere good to race... show events like the Festival of Power help keep drag racing alive at Santa Pod Raceway. See you all at the track. Springspeed racer update. 1st May: Thanks to Jerry Cookson for sending us the final version of the official entry list for this weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out the list by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Thanks also to Jerry for passing us this weekend's provisional running orders which you can again check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that as ever these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. If you have any queries about the Springspeed Nationals or any other event at Shakespeare County Raceway then please E-Mail enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or call 01789 720180. Earlier news