Bob Shayler. 30th June: We were sorry to hear from John Parkinson of the death of Bob Shayler who passed away late Monday night: It's with a heavy heart that I have to say I lost a lifelong friend and Crew Chief. Bob Shayler suffered what is believed to be a heart attack at home and never recovered. A larger than life character, he lived life to the full and reportedly had a glass of wine in his hand when he was called. Bob crewed for me on two cars, a Lancia powered slingshot that was sponsored by Chrome and Flames back in the early Eighties, and, more recently, he was Crew Chief on the Every Penny Top Methanol Dragster. The picture of him (right) as we talked to Chris Hartnell beside his car at Extreme Wheels a couple of weeks ago will be a favouite for years to come. We are sure that all of our readers will join John in sending their deepest sympathies to Bob's family and friends. Nitro Nationals coverage update. 30th June: Two thirds of this weekend's Eurodragster.com coverage team are in place at Alastaro in Finland and in association with American Car Imports we are pleased to annouce that our coverage has started a day early with an additional gallery of photographs taken around the pits today. We are also pleased to announce that by kind permission of the Finnish Hot Rod Association the static version of the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line this weekend and will broadcast a shot of the start line and first hundred and fifty feet or so of the track every sixty seconds. The webcam is on-line now. You can check out our FHRA Nitro Nationals Event Index, which also includes a link to the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Gullan's reinforcements. 30th June: Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist and team have been working hard with upgrades to his '57 Chevy: We have not changed much on the 57 for the last few years and I thought that it was time for some improvements. As I have been very busy this year with a heavy workload and also racing in the US, I just didn't have the energy needed to do it over the winter. I think we have been very consistent over the last few years, but did not really increase our performance much. I see some of the new guys running really good and the old ones are very fast too, so it's high time to step it up a notch. At the moment it's uncertain if I will have my '57 ready, so I feel very fortunate to have a plan B. I will do the tuning calls in Finland, but will have a couple of US mechanics over from the R2B2 team, together with my great Swedish guys Anders Holm, Rille, Johnny and FC veteran Leif Helander. We won the Alastaro event last year and we'll give it a serious shot again. Big changes for Team Nosferatu. 30th June: After some months and serious discussion between the Mysterious Count (aka Ray Eldred) and the Fearless Count (aka Vince Gibbs) Team Nosferatu are sad to announce that Ray has decided to step down as co-owner and Crew Chief of the quickest sportsman doorslammer in the UK. Long time buddy and partner Vince has taken on full ownership of the car as from today. “It was a really difficult decision to come to”, explains Ray, “but I am so happy that Vince has been able to maintain ownership and will keep Nosferatu blasting down the strip, hopefully long into the future”. Vince added “I completely understand Ray’s decision; he will remain my best buddy and will always be welcome in the Nosferatu pit. No doubt we will still need his expert advice and Ray has volunteered to continue to help with any future re-builds and upgrades”. Although Vince has secured ownership of Nosferatu, this has been through the help of family members who will need to have this returned at some point. “After the discussion between the pair of us, we saw three possible options” explains Vince. “The first option was to break up the car and sell it, splitting the proceeds between us, the second was for me to try and find the funds to take on the full ownership and the third was to find a new partner/sponsor.” Team Nosferatu did get very close to an agreement with a major sponsor but, due to the change in strategy, we were not able to close the deal. “My family could see that my passion and determination to continue running Nosferatu was strong,” said Vince, “and although Ray was in no rush they stepped in to give me some time to plan our future”. Team Nosferatu have had some expensive challenges this year with a freshly built motor destroying itself on the first qualifying run at the Easter Thunderball, due to a dropped valve. The re-build took some time, keeping the team out of the Main Event and Summernationals. Then, during an exhibition burnout at the Xtreme Wheels show, Nosferatu became a drift car and made contact with the banking, damaging the carbon fibre bodywork (the complete storyis in detail on the team’s website found at www.nosferatu-racing.co.uk). It was after this accident that the team really found out how many people cared about Nosferatu, as offers of help came flooding in from many people. “I was really blown away by the offers of support and condolences from many people I have never met” explains Vince. “Even before the accident so many of the visitors to the show seemed to know so much about our car and team, it was actually a little spooky. The donations from the fans and offers of help from several businesses made me more determined to want to carry on”. The repair to the body is in the planning stage and Vince has sourced a supplier for a new carbon fibre front from Canada and will be ordering this soon. Although the immediate future of Nosferatu is secure, Vince is looking to obtain significant sponsorship to return the “help” from the family and a contribution towards the running costs of the six second Nosferatu Pontiac Firebird. “We believe we can offer great value for money for sponsors, due to the popularity of Nosferatu and the thousands of visitors to our website” says Vince. “We will promote brands in any way we can even visiting company headquarters to put Nosferatu on show”. If you would like any further information, concerning sponsorship packages, then please contact Vince directly at vincentgibbs@aol.com where he will be pleased to send a sponsor pack or arrange a meeting to discuss details and answer any questions. Team Nosferatu would also like to thank their current sponsors for their continuing help, support and patience. You can visit their websites by following the links below: www.nickboltonpaint.co.uk for the repairs to our body and re-painting. www.the-gothic-shop.co.uk for covering a race entry fee. darkcult.com for our tee shirts. www.nimbusmotorsport.com for supplying our race oil. www.hauserracing.com for loads of help with workshop, parts and advice. USC, Modifying Gone Mental. 30th June: For the three days between the 6th and 8th of August Santa Pod hosts the Ultimate Street Car. There are reckoned to be 35,000 modifying fans attending the event along with some of the UK's top show cars. Music will be provided by the best bands, DJs and tuners. USC has achieved a big status on the show calendar. No other show has as much action with heads-up quarter mile action. Ticket prices have been frozen from last year's rates. Euro Sports Compact drivers will battle it out on the quarter while there will be action in the drifting area too. The line-up includes stunt performers, Monster Trucks, Jet cars and show cars. Bands include acts like Slinky, DJ Luck and MC Neat and the Artful Dodger. Show action includes Lowriders display, Burnout and Flameout comps and the Autoglym showcar paddock. SPR have put on the Dotz Mod Pod live build area where a carefully assembled team of top modified mechanics and engineers will rip apart and rebuild a stock hot hatch into a modified thing of beauty over the show weekend, including chassis, interior, induction, exhaust, tints, wrap, lighting, audio and a stunning set of Dotz rims. The entire show is being shot for Eurosport and Motors TV. For more details check out www.ultimatestreetcar.co.uk or www.santapod.com. An awesome weekend. 30th June: Super Comp racer Paul Woodhead of Eurodragster.com sponsor Direct Plastics, who has acquired Ian and Paula Marshall's Camaro, has been in touch after his licensing passes last weekend: I would like to thank a few people for their huge help over the weekend at Truck Fest, they really did an amazing job to make things possible over the weekend. The car ran in the eights after only its third pass so its safe to say we had a awesome weekend. I Would like to thank and acknowledge some truly incredible people for making an awesome weekend, without all their outstanding help, it just wouldn’t have been possible: Martin Curbishley of Curbishley Automotive, who not only did an awesome paint job but after my tow car broke down outside his house, took the day off work on Friday to drive all the way down to Essex to pick the car up and then deliver it to the track. He then stayed there and spent every minute of the next two days working flat out on the car to help iron all the bugs and also taught me how to drive the car. Jeff Bull, who built an awesome motor and then spent hours and hours over the weekend not just setting up the motor and ironing the bugs but also with never ending help, advice, encouragement and generosity. Belinda Bull, for her constant encouragement and generosity. Spencer Tramm, as this car was all his idea and for all his advice and help not just over the last few months but at the track over the weekend. Chris Isaacs Racecars for a fantastic job getting the car ready, setting it up spot-on and the huge help on Sunday. Ian Marshall for not only selling me the car but his tireless and ongoing generosity over the months, he even drove all the way up north and dropped me the car back home on Monday evening. Last but not least, Andy and Tom Scott of Custom Painthouse for a great airbrush job. Swift snippets. 30th June: The keener eyed amongst our readers will have noticed five time FIA Pro Stock champion Jimmy Ålund on the FHRA Nitro Nationals entry list, but we are guessing it won't be in his own car which is in the US. We are also aware of an unpublished late Top Methanol Funny Car entry marking a return to the class for one of its most successful competitors... Following the SPRC Summernationals, 9.50 Bike racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong says "Once again (roll eyes) congratulations to Steve Venables on winning £100 cash in the Super Street Bike Final using the Michelin Power One tyre and also to Rick Stubbins £50 cash in the runner up spot using a Mickey Thompson MCR2. Web site updates. 30th June: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén says what his objectives are for the forthcoming FHRA Nitro Nationals and gives thanks for the help he is receiving in finishing the team bus. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Colin Donisthorpe's Fotopic site has been updated with action pictures from Saturday at the Summernationals at Santa Pod. You can check out Colin's pictures at colindonisthorpe.fotopic.net. Jones and Friend go heavy duty. 29th June: Going into the SPRC Summernationals, the Funny Bike team of rider Gary Jones and co-owner and mechanic Dave Friend decided to step up their engine and drivetrain strength after a history of breakage, writes Dave: Well, after two years of eating clutch plates, five sets of crankcases, one complete clutch assembly, a three speed auto box, oil pump and various other parts turned to scrap, we decided to fit our new heavy duty crankcases that Dave bought in from James Daughtery at www.racecase.us in Florida, into the bike for the Summernationals event. We were only able to run the bike up in Gary's back garden before heading to the track for Friday's test day. So, with no small amount of trepidation, we do all our checks on the bike before heading to the start line for our first pass. We decide that Gary will get the bike into 3rd gear on the pass and then click it off. A good burnout done, Gary stages the bike; as the lights drop, the bike bogs for a micro second at the hit, then gets up on the bars and starts to pull hard, the bike starting to drift left towards the wall, Gary feathers the throttle then gets back on it, 7.60 at 190mph; so much for clicking it off in third then! I then realised we hadn't discussed whereabouts on the track Gary would click it off once he was into 3rd gear. In his defence, he did click the bike off about 25yds from the finish line; oh well once a racer eh? Well, that was our only pass of the test day as rain stopped play. Back in the pits we check out the all new motor and all is good, so we wait for Saturday qualifying. Saturday, well what can you say... Summernationals, yeah, right... no sun, just a strong side wind, that was to cause all racers problems. The first qualifier was a lazy 8.2 at 146mph with Gary getting out of it as he got caught by the wind. The second qualifier sees a 7.42 at 169mph again clicking it off; back in the pits we check out the motor and again all is ok. Next time we try a different tune up for the last qualifier, this was an interesting one as the bike just stalled at the hit of the throttle. This was not what was expected, but we learnt a lot from what happened; again back in the pits, another motor check and, as expected, all is good so fresh oil in and we are race ready. So we are no.2 qualifier and are drawn against our good friend Kev Charman, who is now riding a turbo bike and having his own fair share of problems with it. A good burnout and then stage. Gary nails Kev on the tree, the bike leaves really hard but starts to turn left, Gary realises he is going to take out the light blocks or go into Kev's lane; decision made. Gary shuts the throttle to be safe and Kev takes the win. Well done mate, its getting straighter. Not quite what we wanted, but it's better to be safe than end up getting into a dangerous situation. Well, we are very pleased with the new cases and we will be testing real soon and are looking forward to the next meeting. Gary and Dave would like to say a big, big thank you to Kev Slyfield, Pro Mod car racer and owner of M&D Tooling in Ringwood Hants, for all his help in machining up various components for our race bike. Without Kev's skills and help, we would not be racing this year and a Big Congratulations to you sir amd all of your crew on your Summernationals event win with consistant and reliable passes all the way to victory. If you need quality machining work done, I am sure Kev would be able to help you. A big Thank You also to Dave Conforti, owner of Worldwide Bearings, for our new crewshirts and hats. As always, big thanks to all our sponsors, Saunders Specialised Services, Worldwide Bearings, Premier Motorhomes, Lavat Consulting, Frozen Solid, Mistral Engineering, M & D Tooling, and FAB-Racing. Swift snippets. 29th June: Team owner Roger Lyrén of Veidec-sponsored Lyren Motorsport Pro Stock Bike team has announced that Anders Abrahamsson has been released and will not be running under the Veidec Banner any more. Roger said "Anders will be running his own operation. We wish Anders good luck for the remaining races of the season. The team will continue with three riders as for now, but there will be more to come, we will see. We are heading for Alastaro, Finland for round 3 in the UEM Championship series." Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon has plans to contest at the highest level in the US, once appropriate funding is in place. In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Lex has announced that he has engaged sports marketing company Seasick Marketing to help find sponsorship for his currently US-based team 334 Racing. You can read more in Lex's Blog which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Bennetts head for TMFC. 28th June: UK blown-alcohol altered team and Eurodragster.com Bloggers Bennett Racing are very pleased to announce that they plan to step up to FIA Top Methanol Funny Car in 2011. "Obviously this is a big jump from the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association but once we achieved what we always set out to do, which was to win the Championship (which wasn't easy) we felt it was time to move on to a new challenge", says Luke Bennett. "In 2006 we came a close second, in 2007 we came in third, then due to ill health we didn't race a full season in 2008, but we came back fighting in 2009 with three out of four event wins and became the class Champions. We also ran the car soft, did little damage, and easily ran a 6.42 best at only 191 mph, which makes ours the second quickest methanol altered in Europe, but this was only a tame tune and was clicked off at a thousand feet, so there is much more to come from this engine. "Talking of engines, we will be keeping the current Big Block Chevy motor and see how far we can go with it. It's no old junk, everything is good kit due to our past sponsors, a huge thank you to them. We will run the Chevy to its max and see what it will do, then we will look to make the switch to a hemi motor, but for now we want to just get the car back out. "The body is a beauty, a carbon fibre 2003 Pontiac Firebird bought from the Mongoose team. We must say a big thanks to Sue and Mark for great help with the body. We had a long journey picking it up from Cheshire but got there and back safely in a day. Thanks to Dave for the loan of a trailer. "Our aim is not to just make up the numbers but to do our best. Yes, we will be underpowered compared to the hemi/screw blower guys but we're no pushover and we hope to do some great racing in this class. "Finally, racers, fans and sponsors will have noticed that Bennett Racing have a good number of sponsors and as ever with this step up in competition we are hungrier than ever to attract new backing. FIA Top Methanol Funny Car gets worldwide exposure and is a great way to get your company seen by thousands of people. Just one example of this is the vast amount of people who stared at the Funny Car body on its way back to Essex. It's a great moving billboard, imagine it once we get it on the track in front of thousands of spectators. Anyone wanting to know a little bit more can check out our team's web site at www.bennettracing.co.uk, which has had over 205,000 visits to date, get in touch via E-Mail at info@bennettracing.co.uk, or call 07843 619724." Grumpy gets his Seven. 28th June: Having been invited to the UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend, UK Super Street Bike racer Paul Watson found the weather awesome and a great track promising a good weekend: The first run on Saturday produced a baseline 8.1 (funnily enough "baseline" was the word the track announcer used - Ed) but rider error was the first thing to correct. The secons run showed that I still had a small problem with the clutch, so after a little adjustment the next run produced our first seven-second run; not just a seven but a 7.78/185. This was with only 20 psi boost so we know we have more potential. I was due to return home but with thanks to Wayne Saunders kindly doctoring my van I was persuaded to stay. The track was scraped on Saturday evening so we knew it would be good on Sunday and boy it didn’t disappoint - good job guys. I wheelied out the gate and struggled all the way up the track trying to keep the front down. Fourth and fifth seemed manageable but when I shifted to sixth it went skybound. I'm sure the other SSB riders would have been proud of me as I'm not known for my wheelie expertise. Again I decided to change nothing to find some consistency with the ride of my life carrying the front wheel through third to sixth we had our back-up time 7.85/184 and a great race with Graham Balchin to boot. We waited for the afternoon session in the glorious heat, all quite chilled out. Unfortunately it seemed either the track was too hot or had just gone off as both Graham and I spun badly through first and second causing my bike to wheelie badly in third. Wayne also suffered the same. A big well done to Steve Mead for winning the Cannonball and being so consistent, and to Wayne for finding a good baseline again. So a fantastic result for us. Thank you to all the people who came to congratulate me and for the kind words everyone has sent. We know we have a baseline now and we will alter the chassis to help keep the front wheel on the floor so that so we may start to add the power in. Thank you to Andy Haley who came to crew again on Saturday and once again to my friend Brad from BTC as without his help and guidance this would not have been possible. The Wars return to York. 28th June: Sunday Street Wars returns to York Raceway on Sunday (4th July) for its third round as part of an action-packed weekend at the Yorkshire drag strip. Promoter Lee Child tells us that this will be a gerat weekend for street-legal drag racing: Saturday will feature the Ultimate Road Car Challenge followed by the awesome atmosphere of the 33rd Annual Street Racer Championship on Saturday night. If that's not enough to prove you are the big dog of street racing, the Sunday Street Wars format is another one to gun for the next day. Categories are Front Wheel Drive, All Wheel Drive, Rear Wheel Drive, Pre '79, and Best of Show. Back by popular demand for the next four rounds of the Sunday Street Wars series are the bike categories. Quick Four will feature the four quickest street-legal bikes of the day which will race in an elimination-style competition,with the final two racing for the title and points. Trophies will be given for the quickest run made in the following street legal bikes: Quickest Japanese Bike, Quickest Italian Bike, Quickest German Bike, Quickest American Bike and Quickest British Bike. Continuing on the theme of bikes, in association with LA Performance Services three classes will make their débuts at York Raceway during this weekend's event: Outlaw Bike: slicks and wheelie bars over the eighth mile Outlaw Street: treaded tyre, no wheelie bars run over the eighth mile True Street Bike: street-legal bikes, 10.00 heads-up breakout class run over the quarter mile Interested riders can get more details from Lee at lee@laracingparts.com, and for more details about this weekend's events at York Raceway visit www.york-raceway.co.uk and www.streetnights.com. Sunday Street Wars would like to thank the Murty family, York Raceway, Pennine Drag Racing Club, Santa Pod Raceway and Copyprint Depot for their continued support. Swift snippets. 28th June: The first live stream of our Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam at the weekend's UK Truck Show attracted no less than 3,096 visitors. Thanks to everyone who tuned in and also for the feedback which continues to come in and which has proven most useful (and gratifying after the crash course and hard work it needed - Ed). Former NAST Supertwin Gas racer Don Irvine took the Long Distance award having tuned in from New Zealand. We have two birthdays today. First up, a very Happy Birthday and lots of love to Babs Saunders from the UK's Hi-Speed-Gas Super Pro ET team namely Hubby Steve, Crew Chief Pete, Tech Bloke Tom, and family Charly and Jonny Boy. Laura Turburville has also asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to her dad Ian Turburville. Best wishes to Ian and thanks for a great weekend also from his crew Ingrid and Martin Chesworth. Have a great day both of you. Commuter could be yours. 28th June: Brian Taylor tells us that the painting of Commuter which Paul Whitehouse donated to the Allard Chrysler Dragster restoration fund is still available: The painting was up for auction at the FIA Main Event but it got mixed up with the MS raffle over the same weekend and didn't make its reserve. The ACAG will not be making prints of this painting so it is a one-off original. The 21.5" x 10" gouache is mounted and Paul does not want it to go for less than £150.00, all of which will go to the fund. Surely something very special for nostalgia nuts or those who remember the car running in the late 1960s and early 1970s. If you would like to make an offer please contact Brian on 01395 579733 (outside the UK +1395 579733) or E-Mail brian@allardchrysler.org. For Japs on two wheels... 28th June: Are you into bikes, and making them go very fast on a drag strip? Do you like your bikes made by Messrs Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki or Yamaha? If so, then you'll be delighted to hear that this Sunday's (4th) JapShow at Santa Pod Raceway is no longer the preserve of four-wheeled Jap machines. Due to popular demand Santa Pod is opening the doors to Japanese motorcycles too, and a hot and sticky drag strip beckons. Not only does a great day of Run What You Brung lie ahead, there is also loads to see and do around site including racing from the HKS Drag Series, show cars, traders, stunt shows, drifting...you get the idea. It'll be a packed day, and tickets are just £15 on the gate, with a £20 fee for four runs on track. The Saturday test day operates as a normal Run What You Brung Day and costs £10 for entry and £25 for unlimited runs. For more information on tickets and what's on at the show check out www.japshow.com. Web site updates. 28th June: The latest issue of the Speedgroup Club Europe newsletter is available and includes previews of this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals in Finland as well as a Tech Spotlight, a feature on this year's TV coverage which has already drawn plaudits, and a sponsor feature. You can find the free stuff at www.club.speedgroup.eu and you can read everything if you join the Club. Eurodragster.com and Speedgroup will be working together on this weekend's Event Coverage of the FHRA Nitro Nationals and there will be more details about that later this week. UK Truck Show results. 27th June: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway: Super Modified: Andy Hone 7.5937/180.59 def. Belinda Bull 9.7396/104.56 Supertwin Gas: Ric Naylor 9.5849/139.05 def. Joe Elliott 9.7242/138.13 Supertwin ET: Pete Harrison (11.60) 11.7720/112.75 def. Tim Boutle (12.50) 12.3162/106.00 breakout BTRA Sprint Cup: Dave Jenkins 14.8349/99.17 def. Ricky Collett 14.7740/99.90 Super Street Bike Cannonball (sponsored by Eurodragster.com): Steve Mead 7.8275/170.44 def. Wayne Saunders 9.0860/122.76 Neither the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award nor the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award were won so they will be increased to £75 for Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway in July. However we must mention Junior Dragster racer Laura Turburville who pulled a 0.000 RT off the trailer on Saturday, unfortunately not in competition so not eligible for the Perfect Award. The first live stream of the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam with PA feed was a great success with a lot of positive feedback including some useful suggestions. We are very grateful to all those who got in touch over the weekend. Stay tuned for developments although we can confirm that the live stream will in future be a standard feature of our coverage at least at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored UK Truck Show reports and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the UK Truck Show. A big Thank You to photographer Julian Hunt who willingly stood in, as neither Roger nor Kirstie were available this weekend, and who effortlessly adapted to the uncompromising Eurodragster.com Event Coverage routine. Lotsadamage. 26th June: UK Fuel Altered racer Jon Best's Felstead, Best and Lotsabeera altered was last seen disappearing into a cloud of smoke at last weekend's SPRC Summernationals. Bill Felstead has been in touch to explain what happened: After losing a £20,000 investment in our Chevy engine at Easter, courtesy of a bad blower, Jon invested another ten large in an engine which we hoped would last a bit longer. We changed over to a late Hemi, which was a nice piece with Veney heads and new rods. However after a promising run on Sunday - 5.50/198.7 to the thousand foot mark - a blocked jet melted a slug and in the shutdown area the slug spread in the bore and snapped a rod like a carrot. The resulting damage is terminal. The timing ticket showed that the run could have been a 6.10ish, so at least we are close to a five which is what we want. We have already had a brilliant offer of a cash donation towards a billet block, but at the moment there is no other money so the car will have to be parked. We will be fitting the Corvette body and seeking financial backing so that we can come back next Easter. Now the list of thanks: Paul Stubbings and Wendy Baker for pistons and push rods, the Turners for a clutch disc, and to the track guys who cleared up after us (sorry guys). If anyone wants to help with finances on this give us a ring on 01708 701693. Swift snippets. 26th June: Santa Pod Raceway track announcer Colin Theobald has set himself a daunting challenge to lose two and a half stone in weight by September's FIA European Finals. If Colin fails then he has pledged, in front of witnesses, to don the Nitro the Dragon costume and walk the quarter mile. "I'm doing this for charity as well as myself, and would really appreciate £2 from as many people as possible, but only if I succeed", says Colin. All the money will be donated to the MS Trust and you can pledge support to Colin at podcommentator@aol.com or through the pages of Facebook. Colin's start weight is already a matter of record, no pressure then... Jemma Harrison asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Friday) to John Byrne. No sooner said than done, hope you had a good day John. Dance happy at Halfway House. 25th June: UK Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance says that after three test sessions and two races he feels that he is firmly in the middle of the pack. G says that he would have been happy with that position at the end of this season: The progress has been rapid now that we have dealt with all the issues and got the the bike running right. We have knocked off tenths almost every other pass. At the Summernationals we qualified seventh with a 7.71 although several teams were experiencing mechanical and set-up difficulties. A close first round win over Mickey Templeton (sic) netted another personal best of 7.64 with a poor sixty foot time, which was a rider error! That run was not without cost. A crack in the crankcases where we had helicoiled a cylinder stud at the Main Event meant that we were out. A fresh set of cases is now being prepped in readiness for Hockenheim where we would love to run a 7.5! As always there are alot of people to thank for getting me this far. John and Sharon Hogarth of SID who built me a fabulous chassis a few years ago which is now realising its huge potential; Len Paget for nagging me into going turbo and then building the whole lot free of charge; Chris Sadd of CS Engineering for repairing and machining the never-ending list of stuff this bike needs; Sam, Andre and Dave Hall who crew for me and without whom I couldn't actually race; Brad of BTC Moto who has dealt with all my bike's electrics for more years than I can remember - told you we didn't need a Busa! - Dave Smith for locating parts and posting them to me in double quick time. Last but not least, all the other SSB riders and crew who make going racing so enjoyable, without them I don't think I'd still be racing! See you all in Germany! Can two bikes work out? 25th June: The SPRC Summernationals was a big and bittersweet learning curve for the UK's Nitrous Junkie Funny Bike and Comp Bike team, writes Kev Charman: We had myself in Funny bike and Lizzy in Comp bike, having had huge pressure the weekend before to get her observed rounds out of the way, and licence signed off and returned for this weekend. Now we had to see if we not only could cope with two bikes in two classes, but if we could cope if things went wrong with one or other of the bikes. I set up on the Friday, and then Lizzy turned up in second van with her bike, unloaded, wheelie bars on, and the pair of us went off to scrutineering. Her boots failed so had her running around trying to find another pair (thanks to Sarah) then I dashed off to go and fetch my son Jake, while Lizzy carried on with setting up. On Saturday it was very very cold. All crew present and correct: Chris, Dave Branch, and Nigel, donated kindly by Richard Gipp, and Sarah Chapman (Mama Minx), Jemma Cooper and Lisa Ambler, who were crewing for Lizzy. Both bikes set to go, warmed them up in the morning, fuelled up and down to the line. I was interested to see if the modifications we had made to the turbo bike would work. Fired up, and wouldn't rev, tried to start it again, and still no, called it quits and went to see how Lizzy was doing. Bike fired up, new tyre, big smoky burnout, and up to the line. She put it on the two step, upped the revs, and that died too! The air was very cold, and she should have upped the throttle a bit slower than she did plus rookie nerves. Both back to the pits a bit despondent. Upped the revs on Liz's bike and checked the clutch, all checks done ready for the next one. On my bike we checked the fuel system, as that is what we all thought it may be. Started it up and nothing, same problem. Checked the electrics to find that there was only six volts in the battery - we had a good look in the belly pan, and they'd not fallen out! A new new battery was kindly “sponsored” by that nice Pro Stock Yamaha bloke Paul King, who said it was OK to use as it was only running a light in his caravan! All good until one of the crew noticed a nail hanging out of the slick. On removing it, we discovered it had gone completely through the tyre. Thank goodness for Dave Beck who had one in stock at the track. Just as we started changing the tyre, Comp Bike and Funny Bike were called. We were not going to make the second round. Then it all went quiet: some poor bloke had oiled the track from bottom to top, giving us time to finish and get down to the fire up road with time to spare. My bike launched a lot straighter than it had been, although the jockey is still struggling with the gear system! 8.03/129, one whole second better than its previous PB! Suitably happy with than one. Meanwhile poor Lizzy was shut off after her burnout, due to the bike running on three cylinders, so back to the pits for her again, and see if we could find out what was wrong. Thanks to Ken Cooper for looking out for her on that one. With time constraints and still lapping valves into the early hours and missing the last qualifier, Lizzy and her team decided to stop and finish off the rebuild the following morning. The turbo bike was having a great time, however. For the last run of Saturday we went out with no changes, and ran a 7.82 to Dave Bailey's 7.83. Number three qualifier, and first round Sunday against Gary Jones who we always seem to meet in the semis. Gary cut a better light than me, so I was chasing. This was not only a race but data gathering! At half track, my bike was picking up speed and again heading left, yet Gary was slowing down. All I had to do was keep it off the wall for the win. By no means a tidy run but a win is a win, and the times were 7.64/174 to Gary's 8.82/151. Through another round…. My Crew Chief Chris had to leave and it was then that the girls decided to throw in the towel, pack up the bike, and finish the rebuild at home so that they could help me. About the same time, Steve French who I was against in the final (and who was running consistent 7.0s all weekend!) came into the awning, not to borrow tools but to show us the broken third gear from his Kawasaki with a “Congratulations, go take the win!”. Definitely not the best way to take a win on a solo, but with all the downs and problems we have had with this bike it was a slower, but well deserved, 7.83/139. Three sevens in a row, after all the grief, is very pleasing. Thanks as always from us both go to our crews, Chris, Dave Branch, Nigel, my new clutch people, Gippy and Jake (!). You were the super crew this weekend and thanks too for helping Lizzy and the girls when they needed it. Hope you are all available for the next meeting. Big thanks from Lizzy go to her team Sarah, Jemma and Lisa, who were happy to work on the bike until silly o'clock and who tirelessly kept going against all odds to get her back onto the track. You girls are stars, and you all worked so well together. Sponsors always deserve a mention too - Rich at Stovepuppet, John Hall of Stamford Speed Shop, and Si at Michelleville Hot Rods, sorry the bike never got up the track, but there is always the next time! Swift snippets. 25th June: Thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official SPRC Summernationals timing data. You can check out the timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Andy has also sent an updated table of UK bests now including Andy Hone's new Super Modified ET record. You can take a look at the UK Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We must make it clear that despite appearances to the contrary UK Super Street racer The Very Rev'd Sir Neville Mottershead ODE is neither ordained nor a born-again Christian but merely the recipient of a very long nickname which your News Editor and occasional track announcer never ceases to find amusing. Please do not approach Nev nor any member of his team to perform weddings, baptisms or funerals, certainly not exorcisms, and definitely not circumcisions. Rocket team seeks crew. 25th June: UK Rocket Dragster pilot Carolynne Campbell tells us that she needs a couple of reliable people to join her team of rocketeers: Our excellent team has diminished as people have moved on with their lives and can no longer make the commitment to be there when they're needed. The Laffin-Gas rocket dragster is very, very different to any other car out there, so there's a lot to learn. Safety is always paramount and the fuelling and preparation of the car really has=ve to be learned from scratch. At present, Carolynne is driving the transporter, acting as Crew Chief and Chief Engineer, doing the fuelling and then getting in the car. This must change. For the right person, there is the opportunity to become a driver, as well as learning about some of the most advanced hybrid rockets around. There are those who don't take us seriously, but people in the real world of rockets from NASA, Roxel, United Launch Alliance and others do take us and our progress very seriously indeed. Volunteering for any race crew is always a big commitment, with satisfaction and fun being the only rewards. If you think you'd like to check out the possibilities, please contact us at carolynnecampbell@gmail.com. What's on this weekend. 25th June: The UK's National Street Rod Association are in town at Shakespeare County Raceway tomorrow and Sunday when the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals offers pre-1973 Run What You Brung, blown outlaw shootout, Outlaw Anglias, Gasser Circus, Flathead Meltdown and the Wild Bunch. More information at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or www.nsra.org.uk. The UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway tomorrow and Sunday is headlined by the British Truck Racing Association Sprint Cup featuring the thirteen-second, 100 mph BRTA racing trucks on the drag strip as well as Championship rounds for Super Modified, the National Association of Supertwins, the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association and the Supercharged Outlaws and a Super Street Bike Cannonball as well as demonstration runs by other racers including the first outing of Lindsay Deuchar's injected-nitro Top Methanol Dragster and a last pre-Alastaro test outing for the Turner Motorsport Top Methanol FC. You can find out more at www.uktruckshow.co.uk. The third round of the Czech National Championship takes place at Tchorovice on Sunday, organised by the guys at Dragster.cz. Also on Saturday at Airport Pieštany, Slovakia the Carat Tuning Party takes place. This event is organised by www.zrychlenie.sk. At Kakolewo airport, close to Grodzisk Wielkopolski, the third round of the Gecko Cup, the Polish National Drag Racing Championship, will be taking place on Sunday. Testing will be from 07:00 to 10:00 and qualifying from 08:00 to 13:00. Final eliminations will be from 13:00 to 18:00 with prizegiving at 19:00. RaceAmerica ship DTSS Trees. 25th June: Eurodragster.com sponsor RaceAmerica began shipping the first DTSS drag race trees this month. The revolutionary DTSS drag race tree sets the benchmark for the industry and solves problems associated with the phasing out of the traditional incandescent bulb. The DTSS is the first drag race tree incorporating LEDs that was designed specifically around the intended use of LEDs. The new product also is the only drag tree to provide the flexibility of a traditional lighting pattern and one based on the natural rapid illumination of LEDs. Following in the footsteps of the manufacture end of 230v AC incandescent bulbs, the standard 110v AC incandescent floodlight will soon disappear from the market. Replacement LED floodlights, which work fine in households, present problems for the time precision sport of drag racing. The change in speed of the light response, high cost of LED floodlights and shortened lifespan of LED replacement lights poses problems for drag race operators and racers. Details regarding the problems and solutions of LED drag tree lighting and the DTSS can be found in our technical documents at www.raceamerica.com/dtss.html and on video at www.raceamerica.com/treemp4.html. RaceAmerica shipped numerous trees to early adopters including established race operators in the United States, Mexico and Russia as well as event marketing specialists Jackson-Dawson. The new tree is compatible with all RaceAmerica drag timing systems and can be programmed to operate with most other brands' systems. "We are working to ensure the compatibility with other timing systems as we know it is the perfect solution for the industry" said Dennis Laczny, President of RaceAmerica. "The industry needs to ensure that innovative new products are available to all industry operators. We are therefore open to working with other timing suppliers." The first DTSS prototype was well received at the PRI show in Orlando Florida late last year. Since then RaceAmerica worked diligently to complete final touches to meet its June shipping schedule. For more information visit www.raceamerica.com or call (+1) 408-988-6188. Web site updates. 25th June: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team recounts a dream trip to America. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Bad start, wonderful finish. 24th June: After Dick Sharp's incident in the legendary Dorset Horn A35 altered in Santa Pod Raceway's shutdown area at Easter the determined team set about repairs in earnest, writes Darren West of Eurodragster.com sponsor Power Race Graphics: With the wing totalled, the windows smashed to pieces, the body broken in places and cracked and badly scuffed down the left side, the team needed to rally to meet the commitment of displaying The Horn at the Xtreme Wheels show at the fabulous Haynes Motor Museum. The team took on the challenge of the show deadline with a view to returning to the track at the upcoming Nostalgia Nationals. An epic couple of months ensued with Dick, Dan, Terry and Scott all burning the midnight oil to repair the unique body. The team were also looking for a work window to take a mould once repaired, as although the team have standard A35 mold sections that's just the start of creating the finished modified body, and a major reason why the rebuild from the 2003 accident took so long. With work progressing at a pace with the fibreglass repairs, the opportunity was there and a swift mold taken. Things were running on track and on time to call on the skills of local paint wizard Scotty Aldom of Specialist Paintworks in Bridport to return the car to the famous yellow and flamed livery for which it is known. Scotty laid down a beautiful base and flame job, incredibly his first ever attempt at flames, and it's a stunning piece of work! He then covered it in a mile-deep clear coat - "It's just like glass". The team are really pleased with Scotty's work and the finish was the subject of many compliments over the Xtreme Wheels weekend.  Local signwriter Jemma Thompson ran her striping brush around the new flame job then re-applied the Old English Dorset Horn script with traditional sign writing techniques, finishing the lettering only the Friday before the show. The workshop was hive of activity right up to leaving with the screen still being cut Friday evening!  To finish the job Power Race Graphics supplied and fitted the new race numbers and vinyls around the car and the team were ready to go. A monster effort but well worth it. Dick and crew are now looking forward to getting the Horn back on the blacktop and chasing the numbers they know are in the car. The team would like to extend there thanks to Scotty of Specialist Paintworks for the fabulous paint job. Scotty's in Bridport and can be contacted on 07880 888435 for the perfect paint finish for race, custom and classics. Heart surgery for Lightning. 24th June: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad says that his bike Lightning has been very sick indeed: After the great performance in Hungary we expected to run good times at Santa Pod, but a rainy Saturday and a windy Sunday prevented that story. At that moment we didn't know that Lightning's heart was beating at its last UEM event ever. Something was causing a dropping cylinder at a certain rpm, preventing the bike from running well after about 200 metres. We just crawled in to seventh spot on the ladder. But nice work from Jan Sturla Hegre on his début and fifth place. And not to forget Vidar's fourth place. After everything there were four Norwegians on the ladder. The short story, Jan Sturla damaged his engine, so first alternate and fifth Norwegian Trond Høiberget stepped in to race against Vidar. Vidar had a problem on the start line, and Trond got a free ride to the semi-final. Here he was taken out by Lorenz Stäuble who won the race against Job Heezen. I was taken out by Koedam in the first round, but still ran 7.16 with only one cylinder working. The weekend after Santa Pod we were looking forward to testing Lightning in the Norwegian Championship at Gardermoen. Nice weather and lots of runs, but Lightning was still dropping cylinders, and now the oil pressure also started to act strangely. Whilst servicing the connecting rods, we found a major crack in the crank. I think that was the only part we couldn't replace. After more investigation we also found a warning message in the ignition header box. There was something wrong with the trigger. Svein Olav Rolfstad made a call to the USA and Bill Furr had a crank for sale on the shelf, and this crank is now giving Lightning a new life, together with a new trigger plate. Very many thanks to my sponsors Jessheim Bilskade who stepped in together with Lena Annlegsservice and made this heart transplantat possible. Big thanks also and congratulations to Svein Olav who won the Norwegian Championship for the first time. There has been a lot of mechanical work in recent days together with my regular work, but yesterday we started up Lightning, and it sounded very well again. We now hope to perform well in the UEM event at Alastaro in Finland on 2nd-4th July. Apologies for absence... 24th June: UK Funny Bike racer Steve French has been in touch to apologise to fellow finalist Kev Charman for not appearing at the end of the SPRC Summernationals on Sunday. "The gearbox repaired repair", says Steve. "Yes, it's been done a few times, but had finally had enough. The semi against Dave Bailey would not have happened either if not for the help of Martin Hill of Fireforce. A few hours before being called for the first round I noticed that the wheelie bars had cracked through. Martin said he could weld the once he had had breakfast. Then panic ensued with the running order bringing Funny Bike qualifying forward to almost one hour earlier than scheduled.  A rush round to Martin and he handed me the hot freshly-welded bars. These were duly fitted without burns to any of the crew and the 7.0 against Dave cooled them down.  "A thank you also goes to the race officials for swapping Comp Bike and Funny Bike around, which gave me the extra few minutes to clear my head. We had hoped for a six-second pass but the tyre shake, caught by Blackett Photography in this video, robbed me of the vital hundredths. Maybe August?" Jolink takes Top Gas win. 24th June: The second round of this year's Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship took place this past weekend over the quarter mile at the Drachten. Herman Jolink on his Ducati 1198 RS (1266) again took first place and set new PBs of 8.275 seconds over the quarter and 5.217 seconds over the eighth. Herman writes: Qualifying was not easy on Friday and Saturday because of rain. It was better on Sunday with just a little rain. Qualifying ended as follows: Harry van Schie NL on 1966 Blower V-twin 8.464/213 kmh Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266) 8.469/246 kmh Frank Heitmann D on 2622 V-Twin 8.527/245 Marc v d Boer B on 2600 V-Twin 8.839/230 John Geytenbeek NL on 2800 V-Twin Ludo Scheepers B on 2600 V-Twin 12.887/175 Peter Niklas (D) on his 1000 SP Turbo Honda did not qualify because of mechanical problems. Eliminations round 1: Harry van Schie 8.417 bye run (Scheepers broke); Jolink 8.371/255 beat Geytenbeek 9.009/225; Heitmann 8.418 beat v d Boer 8.846. Semi finals: van Schie 8.167 bye run, Jolink 8.275/255 beating Heitmann 8.379/245. Reaction Times Jolink 0.086 seconds and Heitmann 0.344 Final: Winner Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266) 8.289/246 kmh, runner-up Harry van Schie NL on 1966 Blower V-Twin 22.393/85, clutch problems. Reaction Times Jolink 0.177 and van Schie 0.267. Dragracing Team Herman Jolink are very happy with the first place and the new Personal Bests from the Ducati 1198 RS (1266). Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas Championship Herman Jolink NL 1200 Harry van Schie NL 850 Marc v d Boer B 700 Frank Heitmann D 620 Peter Niklas D 430 Bernd Niessen D 340 Cord Albers D 200 Peter Marz D 200 Uwe Kahmann D 200 Ludo Scheepers B 130 The next events for Dragracing Team Herman Jolink are: 25th-27th June: Festival Italia display and show run with the Ducati 1198 RS, Oschersleben D 4th July: Blik op Heelweg display and fire up the Ducati 1198 RS, Varsseveld NL 9th-11th July: Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas, Drachten NL 16th-18th July: Czech Open, Bechyne CZ 13th-15th August: NitrOlympX Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas, Hockenheim D 20th-22nd August: Euro Serie Super Twin Top Gas, Drachten NL 28th August: Drag Day Finals, Hoskovice CZ 2nd-5th September: Mosten Race Days Top Gas Finals, Mosten DK 5th-10th October: INTERMOT Hall 8 F-018, display and show runs with the Ducati 1198 RS (1266), Köln D SCR for your Nostalgia requirements. 24th June: Nostalgia fans will be spoilt for choice this weekend's 17th annual NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Top of the bill will be a Blown Outlaw Shootout between Neil Townson's Northern Spirit 1932 Ford-bodied altered and Trace Froome's Dodge Avenger Funny Car from Ultra Racing. There's a good entry from the Outlaw Anglias headed up by last weekend's Summernationals winner Cliff Griffin. Fresh from a PB of 8.27 in the final against Simon Barlow, Cliff says there's still more to come this weekend. Also expect to see new cars debuting from Spencer Tidswell and Barn Levy. The high rollers of the Gasser Circus have fourteen cars entered including the famous Roaring Rat of ringmaster Ken Brookes, Lee Painter's '56 Chevy A/FX replica, Trey Flemank's 36 Ford Goldrush and Brian Whitfield's iconic Ford MK 2 Consul Henry Hi-rise. Kenny reckons that this is the biggest ever field of gassers assembled in the UK since the start of the Gasser Circus. The Custom Car backed Flathead Meltdown for side valve-engined hot rods and thirties doorslammers has attracted the same numbers with the world renowned 'Odgie' leading the way with his four-banger The Shedster. The Wild Bunch slingshot dragsters and altereds will be on hand to entertain the fans with their own brand of rip roaring wheels up racing for the Real Steel Series. The track will be open from 10.00 am Saturday for RWYB for pre'73 vehicles only. At the end of the weekend the NSRA will be awarding their traditional Quick 6 awards along with a host of others. For further information check out www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or www.nsra.org.uk. UK Truck Show Perfect Awards. 24th June: This weekend's SPRC Summernationals is the latest event in the 2010 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Street racer John Grant at the SPRC Summernationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available this weekend during qualifying and eliminations to NFAA, Super Modified, Supertwin Fuel, Supertwin Gas and Supertwin ET, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for Bug Jam; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for Bug Jam. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was also won by Super Street racer John Grant at the SPRC Summernationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Supertwin ET, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for Bug Jam; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for Bug Jam. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. UK Truck Show coverage. 24th June: Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from this weekend's UK Truck Show in association with American Car Imports. Our coverage will consist of regularly-updated reports on the on-track action throughout both dayd of the event together with end-day galleries each day courtesy of Julian Hunt who has kindly stepped in as neither Roger nor Kirstie can attend. There will be no pit notes this weekend as Simon is also unable to make it. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line and is planned to broadcast live video with commentary feed rather than the usual static picture every sixty seconds. See below for more details. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences, but in the meantime you can check out our UK Truck Show Event Index, which includes a link to the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the UK Truck Show. Web site updates. 24th June: Our good buddy Markus Münch tells us that the guys of the Beschleuniger web site were busy at the Drachten Nationals and that there is already plenty to check out on the excellent German-language site with no less than four features to check out. First up is the event report which you can find at www.derbeschleuniger.de/rennberichte/183-drachten-review-der-klassen.html. The Super Pro ET Challenge report is at www.derbeschleuniger.de/rennberichte/180-super-pro-et-challenge-runde-2.html, and Markus' own galleries can be found at www.derbeschleuniger.de/galerien.html?func=viewcategory&catid=13 and www.derbeschleuniger.de/galerien.html?func=viewcategory&catid=12. UK drag racing historian Nick Pettitt, who is writing a book about drag racing in the 1960s, has posted an update to his author's blog on the Acceleration Archive web site at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has updated his personal Nitro Exposure web site with a gallery of photos from the SPRC Summernationals as well as new images on the Home and News pages. As ever most of the pictures on this update were not used in Eurodragster.com's live Event Coverage during the weekend, and you can check them out at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Weekend webcam trial. 24th June: Eurodragster.com's Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be streaming live video with commentary feed for the first time from this weekend's UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Rather than promise the Earth we would prefer to be honest and warn viewers that although testing has taken place away from the track during this week there are still several unknowns and problems may well arise, so we are viewing this weekend's broadcast as a trial. Amongst the unknowns are that we will need to ascertain the amount of data which Santa Pod's broadband can stream without degrading the service for other users, and that going in to this weekend we have not attempted an audio feed so we will have to set that up and work out the settings. In addition the server which will be hosting this weekend's video stream is in the USA which will add some delay and possibly cause the occasional freeze. We are also aware that in some circumstances the streaming host's own web site causes browser crashes but we think that we have got round that by embedding the video stream in a page of our own. We have chosen an image size and video, audio and bandwidth settings which we think will provide a smooth picture and acceptable broadcast quality. All we can do now is to get to the track and start broadcasting and see how it turns out. If there are problems which prove insurmountable then we will revert to the sixty-second static picture and have another go as soon as we are able. During this weekend we will welcome feedback, experiences and constructive comment to webcam@eurodragster.com. As we have provided a direct channel for feedback it should be assumed that comments posted on discussion forums will neither be read nor acted upon. A tale of two ratios. 23rd June: Gary Kay of UK Super Pro ET Pink Lady Racing says that he and daughter and driver Jayne had a difficult weekend with their blown-alcohol Avenger Funny Car: I wanted to work out the gear ratios. I turned the engine over and checked with the Lenco output shaft only to find that whatever we did it still came out as 1:1 in both gears. So on Saturday evening the Lenco came out. We stripped and checked it and had no visible faults. On Sunday morning Jayne and I went back in the garage to try again. No luck, still 1:1 in both gears. We were a little fed-up so we shut the garage and listened to Nitro FM. A hour later I told Jayne to get suited and booted and we would get the car out of the garage and put it on stands to try it under load. Jayne was very happy and could not stop smiling. Nothing was wrong in the first place, just me - under load we do have two speeds so we are all happy now. Later on we fitted the body and took a few new snaps for the web site at www.pinkladyracing.moonfruit.com. We are at last ready, so I suppose this is where the real hard work starts. We are now on the lookout for some transportation for the car. If anyone knows of anything suitable then please E-Mail us through the web site. See you all very soon! Thank you! And sorry! 23rd June: UK Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson has been in touch as he feels that it is only fair that he should say "Thank You" and "Sorry": We had a great weekend, setting new Personal Bests of 6.69/210. The power has always been there, it has just been a matter of unleashing it and putting it to the ground. I think it's fair to say the lack of track time the last couple of years (mainly due to bad weather) hasn't helped us; you can't just turn up at a Run What You Brung with one of these cars hoping to test. We did our best in round one, but Graham Ellis did just that little bit better. Well done mate, a definite pedalfest all the way for us both, great fun. The good thing is that we didnt hurt a thing all weekend , so we are very pleased. Sorry to all concerned over that burnout, only myself to blame for that, way too much enthusiasm and throttle methinks. Humble apologies. Congatulations to Kev Slyfield on his win. I'm very pleased for you mate, lesser men would have given up before now, it's a tough class and you deserve it. Thank you to Dennis, Luke, my youngest son Joe and my long-suffering wife Belinda for all your help and support. Gareth my eldest son couldn't make it this weekend, but was on the other end of the phone before I knew it. If it's a truck, it must drink... 23rd June: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Alan Williamson says that the SPRC Summernationals, his first outing in the class with his Chevy Pick-up, turned out to be a great weekend: After a nightmare twelve months of expensive breakages with a new engine/Procharger combo I finally got to the track for my début in Street Eliminator. Each run of qualifying was a Personal Best ending with a 10.41 and we now have some data to work on to get quicker. I just need to say a big thanks to a few people, because without them I was very close to giving it all up. They are Dave, Barry, Iain, John Sleath, Mick Wilkes, and special thanks to wife June and the family and also to all the Street Eliminator drivers I met who gave me a good welcome. Sorry if I missed anyone. I am now looking forward to the next Street Eliminator round. Oh, and I have also found out that it doesn't run very well on diesel! Swift snippets. 23rd June: Thanks to Neil at Event Developments for letting us know that the following members of the British Truck Racing Association will be taking part in the BTRA Sprint Cup on the drag strip at the UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend: Dave Jenkins, Elton Boocock, Andy Lovenberry, Craig Evans, Oscar Clarke, Dave Smith, Jim Benett, Brian Burt and Matt Summerfield. There is more information on the BTRA web site at www.britishtruckracing.co.uk and you can find the UK Truck Show web site at www.uktruckshow.co.uk. The UK's newest Super Modified racer Pete Thompson has asked us to pass on his thanks for the encouragement and patience shown whilst completing his observed runs at the SPRC Summernationals. "Special thanks go to the Tech Crew, the start line crew, the other Super Modified drivers and crew, Steve Rawlings, Mick Slocombe, David James, Fred Hone and Paul Brooks", says Pete. We achieved all that we set out to do, and more, with a 9.6 non-gas run with no transbrake in a 3003 lb car. The learning curve is about to kick in at the Truck Show." We have had a number of queries about this recently although it has been on our Event Coverage schedule for some months, but we can confirm that Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from next week's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. We will bring you details of the level of coverage etc as soon as everything is finalised. A big Thank You to Speedgroup, especially Åsa Kinnemar, for their help in making this happen and a big Thank You in advance to FHRA President Tapio Väljäa who probably doesn't yet know what is going to hit him. Mike Chadwick of Eurodragster.com sponsor Custom Cruisers UK has sent a couple of pictures showing the contents of the latest container on its way to the Derbyshire-based company. "We collect and ship in one job lot", says Mike. You can find out what Custom Cruisers can offer at www.simpson-helmets.eu. Web site updates. 23rd June: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, multiple ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion Dave Beck reports upon his weekends at the FIA Main Event and SPRC Summernationals. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted a report and pictures of the weekend's Drachten Nationals on The Netherlands' Autosport web site at www.autosport.nl. "Although the report is in Dutch there are many pictures in the article", says Remco who obviously understands us perfectly. We've taken a look and Remco's pictures are superb, and although we couldn't understand a word of it we're sure that the report is up to Remco's usual excellent standard. Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Alan's pictures via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Further to the heads-up last week, Bob Roberts tells us that if you missed the episode of The Grid which featured a piece on Top Fuel Dragster then you can catch up with it at www.grid1.tv. Frans Souverein. 22nd June: We were sorry to hear of the death of Frans Souverein who died in his sleep yesterday. "Frans was a driver in the 1970s and 1980s and in recent years he helped several teams", says Jeroen Dondorp. "With his expertise, several bike racers were helped to compete in higher classes such as Funny Bike and Top Fuel Bike. "Dragrace Club eXplosion wishes all the best to Frans' family and friends." We are sure that all of our readers will join Jeroen in sending their deepest sympathies to Frans' family and friends. You can leave condolences on the eXplosion web site by clicking here. The ups and downs of SSB. 22nd June: UK Super Street Bike racer Paul Watson of Dynospeed Developments had high hopes of his bike at the SPRC Summernationals as it ran into the 8.1s at the FIA Main Event. The event didn't quite turn out as Paul had hoped: I just did routine maintenance after the Main Event, no changes were made. Andy Haley gave up his weekend away with the family to come and crew, so thanks to him and also to Mick Franklin for getting Pixie to the track on Saturday morning. On Friday we had a late start as I was concentrating on the bike of a customer, Luca Carbonera from Italy. He had a new motor and bigger turbo so nice soft settings were in order. Luca made his first pass with a Personal Best of 8.8, then we had a small problem which we overcame and finally with hardly any power ran he again ran a new PB of 8.6. Well done Luca. He will be back soon to test again and hopefully get nearer the sevens before taking the bike back to Italy and then on to Hockenhiem. Our own first run on Friday was a surprise when we spun all the way through first and second but wheelied in third ending our day with a smashed radiator. This was fixed overnight and then ran 8.2 so qualifying should have been better. However this was not the case, the first two qualifiers were the same deal, so Andy and I went through the bike. We changed a tyre from the Power 1 back to the MCR2 but that made no difference; this is the trouble when you have a new build, you don't have any data to go on. It all changed in the last session of qualifying. We found grip but due to rider error, launching at 10,000 rpm and 10 lbs boost, it went straight in the air and headed for the wall. This was a hard weekend. The bike has gone from being a pussycat to ride and to riding a wild bull by the horns. Still, as every team knows you have ups and you have downs so my first seven will have to wait for now. As always thank to all the people who have helped me. Andy Hayley for giving up his weekend away, Pixie No. 1 crew, Brad at BTC Motronics - as I've said before without his help and advice a lot of SSB racers wouldn't be where they are today - Dancey for my stickers c/o G SIGN, and Rob at Mistral for a great engine. Also a big Well Done to Steve Mead aka Copperhead, almost as quick as Walter Sprout, awesome. Hope you're not going to quit now (You say that but don't I remember posting a news item about your retiring from racing? - Ed). Well done to Dancey on his 7.6, you worked hard for that mate, to Nigel Barker on a great performance and awesome riding with a big speed, and to Rick Stubbins who was on fire with some great 7.4s. Well done also to Guy Chamberlain, into the nines, what a record breaker. Hopefully we can iron out the couple of bugs at the Truck Show. In the meantime I would like to think about putting some paint on the bike so if anyone has any ideas on colour or design we would love to hear from you at paul@dynospeed.co.uk. Swift snippets. 22nd June: Courtesy of Paula Marshall the post-SPRC Summernationals points standings in the MSA British Drag Racing Championship are now available on the Pro Mod series' official web site at www.msadragracing.co.uk. Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering are holding a Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Friday 2nd July. WRE Test Days feature a track prepped to National Event standard, full safety cover, and WRE staff on hand for help and advice. Entry is limited to guarantee maximum track time. For more details or to book your place, download the entry form (Word format) from www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk or download the form directly at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk/test_day.doc. Mike Lacey of Eurodragster.com sponsor ModUrStang writes with a big Thank You to everyone who helped with or attended Saturday evening's party in the Pro ET pits, and particularly the bands Krissy Matthews and The Hoggz who played there. "You all made it a great Party In The Pits 3", says Mike. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Jeff Thurston's new ride". Let's face it, when Jeff's companion goes into a cocktail bar the highballs are on him. Jeff's next date with his Pro Street Mustang is this weekend's UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Further to the passing comment over the weekend the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be streaming live, rather than posting a picture every sixty seconds, at this weekend's UK Truck Show at Santa Pod Raceway. The plan is for the PA audio to be injected into the stream so that picture and words are synchronised. As this is an initial trial we are expecting to find out the problems rather than to show how good it is, but if we don't do it bugs and all then we won't know where those bugs are hiding. Staying on the subject of this weekend's UK Truck Show, the official entry list has been updated with the full list of exhibition runners courtesy of Darren Prentice of Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the UK Truck Show entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the UK Truck Show. Still on the UK Truck Show theme, FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Andy Carter and the Lucas Oil show dragster will be at the UK Truck Show. "This is one of our favourite shows, it's always a good one", says crew member Phil Cottingham. "As well as flyers, we will have a full range of Lucas Oil products with us for racers attending the event." Web site updates. 22nd June: The Robinson Race Reports web site at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk has been updated with a report of UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's weekend at the SPRC Summernationals. Santa Pod Raceway webmaster DJ has posted an SPRC Sommernationals photo gallery including trophy presentation shots at www.santapod.co.uk/e_summer_nat.php. Also updating from the SPRC Summernationals is Santa Pod's resident RWYB photographer Ian Blackett whose race pictures you can find at www.blackettphotography.com. Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with pictures from the weekend's Hall & Kapell Nationals at Sundsvall Raceway. "It was so cold that I expected to meet a polar bear", says Patrik. "But the race got done after a day and a half of rain". You can take a look at Patrik's pictures at www.racebilder.nu. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his personal web site with the complete set of pictures from last Friday's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. You will already have seen some of the shots if you checked out our SPRC Summernationals Event Coverage, but for the rest of Tog's pictures visit either eurodragster.fotopic.net or www.togsdragracing.com. Editor's note: We have a backlog of news since we just ran out of lunch hour today. We will catch up on tomorrow's update and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. SPRC Summernationals results. 21st June: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway: MSA Pro Modified: Kev Slyfield 6.5494/212.07 def. Graham Ellis 7.5350/142.56 Super Modified: Belinda Bull 7.4907/177.83 bye, Andy Hone did not start Super Pro ET: Steve Taylor (7.14) 7.1959/185.09 def. John Atkinson (8.60) 8.7071/146.71 Pro ET: Paul Baynton (10.48) 10.5615/120.74 def. Paul Brown (9.05) 9.0255/144.84 red Sportsman ET: Geoff Cowley (14.80) 14.8856/88.37 def. Steve Unsworth (13.30) 13.3349/100.94 Super Comp: Collin Morrice 8.8845/142.11 b/o def. Jon Morton 8.8832/148.08 b/o Super Gas: Dan Page 9.9232/126.16 def. Dave Day 9.8886/137.79 b/o Super Street: Dave Cherrett 10.9101/92.75 def. Martyn Sanger 10.9453/114.20 Junior Dragster: Anna Stanley (7.94) 7.9843/79.93 def. Zak Johnson (7.90) 7.9916/81.08 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Ian Hook 8.7245/157.98 def. Brian Payne 9.0198/169.17 Outlaw Flat Four: James Wootton 9.9163/139.90 def. Bernard Newbury 10.4753/107.27 red VW Pro: James Hodson (10.75) 10.8690/131.27 def. Ian Huggan (12.00) 12.2569/111.08 red VW Sportsman: Abi Tether (15.90) 16.2982/78.95 def. Bruce Collins (13.62) 14.1666/99.61 Wild Bunch: Pete Yates (9.28) 9.2001/143.01 def. Darren Law (8.95) 9.7855/108.82 red Outlaw Anglia: Cliff Griffin 8.2727/156.38 def. Simon Barlow 9.2866/143.43 Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck 7.3119/163.09 def. Len Paget 7.5186/173.09 Funny Bike: Kev Charman 7.830/139.44 bye, Steve French no show Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 7.4341/188.15 def. Rick Stubbins 7.4733/190.59 Comp Bike: Ivan Birch 7.5518/175.74 def. Stu Crane staged 9.50 Bike: Jake Mechaell 9.5395/129.18 def. Richard Beck 9.3941/138.54 breakout Supertwin Gas: Chris Mott 9.1789/142.11 def. Les Harris 9.4586/135.26 Supertwin ET: John Hackney (10.20) 10.7331/101.49 def. Pete Harrison (11.60) 11.7396/104.67 red Congratulations also to Andy Hone who, subject to official confirmation, set a new Super Modified ET record of 7.426, and to John Grant who won both the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award with a perfect run of 0.000 and 10.900 in Super Street qualifying. You can check out our American Car Imports-sponsored SPRC Summernationals coverage by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals. Editor's note: Tog would like to say a big Thank You to all those who have sent nice comments about the commentary over the weekend. Weekend event coverage. 19th June: We are in place in Race Control ready to being you all the action from this weekend's SPRC Summernationals in association with American Car Imports. We have posted a gallery from yesterday's Peak Performance Day, which was curtailed by rain. Our Summernationals coverage will consist of frequently-updated live reports, frequently-updated pit notes, and end-day galleries on both days of the race. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam is online and is scheduled to post a picture every sixty seconds throughout each day until the track closes tomorrow. Our buddies at Nitro FM will of course be broadcasting on the web this weekend, starting with a show between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm this evening, and then between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm on Saturday and between 7:00 am and close of play on Sunday. You can find a direct link to the Nitro FM broadcast on our SPRC Summernationals Event Index (see below). You can check out our SPRC Summernationals Event Index, which also includes the official entry list, provisional running orders, and a direct link to the Nitro FM broadcast, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals. Courtesy of Maikel Gloudemans and Me(n)tal Enterprizes no-nonsense ICT an audio and video feed of this weekend's Drachten Nationals is available at www.doyousee.me/explosion. On the subject of webcams, Santa Pod Raceway have invited us to stream the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam live in future. We were not able to get this organised for this weekend but hopefully we will be able to run a trial at next weekend's UK Truck Show. European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's IHRA Nitro Jam in Salt Lake City as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting Pro Fuel and hoping to repeat his double victory and class record last time out. The race runs today and tomorrow and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. Swift snippets. 19th June: We have a couple of birthdays today. First up is a bug Happy 14th Birthday to Abi Unsworth, daughter of Sportsman ET racers Steve and Sara. Abi had a surprise outing in one of Santa Pod Raceway's Junior Dragsters yesterday and looked to be enjoying herself very much. Sarah, Zak, Chevy and Louie Johnson have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday, no number for this one, to Rick Johnson. No sooner said than done, have a great day Rick. Swift snippets. 18th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "I said that we would return". 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. Shakespeare County Raceway track announcer Barry Bohannon has been in touch to ask us to say a big Well Done to his wife Alison Bohannon on achieving a 2:1 BA in Business Studies. "All self-funded and part time", says Barry, "the smiles are really making her face hurt now!". Nice work Alli. Further to yesterday's snippet about VP Racing Fuels, Chris Dredge of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to advise racers that fuel can also be bought over the counter in the Pod Shop this weekend. PMR head for Summernationals. 18th June: After the success enjoyed by the Paul Marston Racing drivers at the FIA Main Event, it will be hard to better the result, says Paul Marston: All of drivers went rounds and qualified well. Dave Catton qualified very nicely in the top ten in Super Pro ET and went a couple of rounds to tally up quite a nice pile of points which keeps Dave well in the top five in the National Championship. Dave, UK National Super Comp Champion in 2008, is very much looking forward to a good result at the SPRC Summernationals which incidentally marks the halfway point in the UK National Championship Series. Martin Curbishley was the star of the show in Super Comp at the FIA Main Event driving the PiranaZ backed dragster, with an undeniable pole of 8.901. Killer lights sealed most opponents' fates come eliminations, with 0.02 being his worst. Martin had a cool and steady journey to the final round where he dispatched a very fierce competitor in Paul Letchford with a 0.01 light. Unfortunately due to prior holiday commitments, Martin will not be racing at the Summernationals, so driving duties fall to Paul Marston. Speaking of which, Paul had a great outing in the Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School teaching car, the Insanity Vega, in Pro ET. "The Vega was deadly last year when Mick Howling drove it at the Summernationals and lost the final by an astounding 2.3 inches, that's close!", he says. "So I had plenty to live up to. At PMR we try to run the Vega in competition at least once a year just to show what a capable race car it is. At the Main Event it was just so consistent. It's been a long time since I faced a Sportsman Tree, around two years in fact, so I was the weak link - or so I figured. I really felt I had a winning race car, it was very consistent and the changing track conditions had minimal effect on the Vega's performance. I qualified well inside the top ten and went through three rounds to race Carla Pittau. It was in fact the first time that I have run Carla, that's how big Pro ET is numbers-wise. Carla took two thousandths off me on the line, I took the stripe by 0.02 which meant I lost in a double breakout. Nevertheless it was a great race, one you did not mind losing, well not too much anyway!" This brings us to this coming weekend with a driver line-up of Dave Catton in Super Pro ET and Paul Marston back in the hot seat for Super Comp, both in the PiranaZ-backed four-link Dragster. Just to remind the race teams out there that Paul Marston Racing will be carrying all their usual race car essential spare parts, mainly BBC and SBC but spark plugs, oil filters, gaskets, starter motors, transmissions, full stock of ACL bearings at the racer special price of 50% discount! Plus the usual Dial-in, Wheels-up, Burnout Gard etc and not forgetting Pro ET Contingency sponsor American Racing Premium Racing Gasoline by pre-order, delivered to the track. See you all there. Web site updates. 18th June: Our good buddy Markus Münch has put together a video clip compiled of Benni Voss' still pictures of Graham Ellis' pirouetting Pro Mod at Kunmadaras. You can check out the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Cr7s4bjCk. Also posting on YouTube is Hans Karlsson aka Hasse who has posted three clips from last weekend's Test and Tune at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö. You can find Hasse's clips at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OcU67H9d1o, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUJuNArbk2E and www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zfa6ujtX5I. Rounding out a trio of YouTube updates is Richard Stirling who has posted no less than twenty five videos from the FIA Main Event. You can check out Richard's videos by searching for topnitro or Main Event 2010 Topnitro. Open Sport Nationals update. 17th June: The official entry forms for the Open Sport Nationals, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 28th-30th August, are now available from the Downloads page of the SCR web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. If you have any queries then please contact SCR on 01789 720180 or E-Mail enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. Shakespeare County Raceway are once again offering their popular Trophy Sponsorship Scheme for the Open Sport Nationals. All classes from the UK National, ACU UK Drag Bike, and Club Championships are included in the scheme. If anyone would like to become involved and gain a little extra publicity in a cost-effective manner, then a mere £40 per class will buy you two class trophies with winner and runner-up plaques engraved with your company's name, together with three days' worth of PA coverage when your chosen class appears on track (We have done this in the past and are doing so again and you certainly get plenty of air time - Ed). Everyone from corporate companies, race shops, media and web sites are welcome to participate. Trackside banners for the event may also be considered at additional cost. The Open Sport Nationals will also be hosting awards for the Best Appearing Car and Bike, Best Appearing Team and Best Engineered Car and Bike, to be judged by the event commentators and scrutineers. For more details, or to get involved, call Shakespeare County Raceway 01789 720180 or E-Mail enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. Woodbridges get tooled up. 17th June: UK Outlaw Flat Four racers Adele and Steve Woodbridge are pleased to announce a new sponsorship/partnership deal with Damar International Limited, one of the UK's leading tool distributors who import from over thirty countries and exporti to over fifty and who are the UK distributor for Hazet and Vigor automotive tools. The Hazet brand of specialist tools is known throughout the world for its superb quality which is why the leading automotive manufacturers themselves use and approve Hazet in their dealer networks. See www.hazet.de for more information. Vigor Equipment is a relatively new range of tools engineered to DIN standards by a major German manfacturer of premium quality tools specifically to address the needs of the hobbyist mechanic and professional alike. The Vigor automotive tools range has been assembled with typical German obession to detail. There are tools for virtually every task, including sockets, wrenches, spanners, combination ratchets, adapters and screwdrivers. The range also extends to more specialised but extremely useful tools such as pullers for trim and cap removal, oil filter wrench sets and LED lights for awkward places. Along with the fantastic tool range there is, of course, a great range of tool cases and trolleys available with or without tools in capacities of 74 to 204 pieces. See www.vigor-equipment.com for more information. Through their business Vintage Air, Adele and Steve will be able to supply every tool from both ranges with special deals on the Vigor range and will be carrying brochures and information at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals event. You will be able to find Adele and Steve in the Outlaw Flat Four pit. "We would like to thank Brian and David Martin of Damar Int for their support of our racing program and the opportunity for us to supply these fantastic tools", say Adele and Steve. "We look forward to a successful partnership. We would also like to thank our existing sponsors Opie Oils, NGK Spark Plugs and Direct Plastics." Why Ven's getting excited. 17th June: UK Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables says that he has reason to be excited about this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. "I seem to have tamed the new bike with some major changes after testing and the Friday qualifier at the FIA Main Event, after which I stood in seventh place", says Ven. "Saturday's rain gave me time to spend on the bike with the help of Jake Mechaell, who was crewing for me, and we made some major changes. Normally I wouldn't make so many changes in one go but drastic measures were needed and I had a gut feeling what was wrong with the bike. "To say the changes worked is an understatement as on the Sunday, when we went out for our last qualifier, the changes put us straight up to number one qualifier and we took Low ET and high speed of the meeting as well as the event win with a string of consistent 7.3s. We are so pleased with this new bike as all the incrementals to the eighth mile have all been Personal Bests. We strongly feel that there's a 7.20 in there! "For this weekend we have put a fresh motor in the bike, which has been built by Ray of Debben Performance, and a big Thank You to Ray for turning my spare engine around so quickly. Good luck to all the Super Street Bike guys for this weekend and let's put on a show to match the Main Event." Swift snippets. 17th June: Wolfgang Schick, who co-ordinates Junior Dragster at the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim, has been in touch to ask for Junior Dragster racers' suggestions on anything which could be done better this year. JD looked very well-run to us at Hockenheim last season and Wolfgang is a great guy that's for sure, but if any Juniors have any suggestions about the running of their class at the NitrOlympX then please drop Wolfgang a line at Nitro_JD@wschick.de. Regular readers will recall that VP Racing Fuels is now Santa Pod Raceway's official fuel supplier. This now means that it's easier than ever to get quality bespoke race fuels at the track, which will make life a whole lot easier for racers. A whole range of fuels is available to order by visiting Santa Pod's web site at www.santapod.com. Orders will be available for collection at the Pod Shop or, if specified, can be delivered directly to racers' pits. The next episode of Mobil 1 The Grid, which is due to be broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 at 7:55 am this coming Sunday, includes a feature on Top Fuel Dragster. The Grid is also shown on Motors TV and Speed Channel so check your electronic programme guides for the next broadcast. It was a touch late to go into yesterday's news, but the whole Carter Motorsport crew asked us to wish a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Wednesday) to team member Ian Jones. Our pleasure guys, and we hope you had a great day Ian. For those arriving at Santa Pod Raceway tomorrow (Friday), James Forster tells us that England's World Cup match against Algeria tomorrow evening will be screened in Fuelers (sic) bar. Kick-off is at 7:30 pm, and you will be able to find the Eurodragster.com staff in the Curry Garden. What's on this weekend. 17th June: European fans will have someone to cheer on at this weekend's IHRA Nitro Jam in Salt Lake City as ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting Pro Fuel and hoping to repeat his double victory and class record last time out. The race starts tomorrow (Friday) and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. The first race of the eXplosion Drag Racing Series, the Drachten Nationals, takes place at Drachten Airfield between tomorrow and Sunday. A healthy entry of Dutch, German and Belgian Sportsman racers are competing including the European Top Gas Series. Pro racers making demo runs include Danny Bellio (Top Methanol Funny Car) and Jean Dulamon (Pro Mod). Racing is from 10:00 to 22:00 tomorrow, 09:00 to 22:00 on Saturday, and 10:00 to 18:00 on Sunday. Entrance on Friday is €10 and on Saturday and Sunday €15. Tickets, hotel and camp site information can be found on the eXplosion web site at www.explosiondragracing.com. Maikel Gloudemans says that as well as audio and video feed of the Drachten Nationals, live timing data will also be available which can be SMSed to racers for a small fee. "We have exchanged some ideas with ADRL webcaster J-Angel productions and we will be featured on his site as well, which will promote European drag racing in the States", says Maikel. "But the weather looks great this weekend so everybody should just get to Drachten Raceway for the live action! But if you can't be there then Me(n)tal Enterprizes no-nonsense ICT will present a live webcast at www.doyousee.me/explosion ." Also taking place between tomorrow and Sunday is a round of the Toyo Scandinavian Dragracing Championship at Sweden's Sundsvall Raceway. The tenth Hall & Kapell Nationals will feature a round of the Sportsman High Five Points Championship and Top Doorslammer action with twenty one cars entered. Entrance is SEK 150 on Friday and Sunday and SEK 200 on Saturday. Gates open from 11:00 on Friday, 08:30 on Saturday and 09:00 on Sunday. More details at www.shrasundsvall.se which also includes entry list, five-minute webcam and live results. THE SPRC Summernationals takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday and Sunday. The event is a round of the UK National Drag Racing and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, MSA British Drag Racing Championship (for Pro Modified), the various Wild Bunch series, Outlaw Flat Four, Volkswagen Drag Racing Club, National Association of Supertwins, Outlaw Anglia and Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association. You can find out more from Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com. On Saturday a round of the Biltema Cup takes place at Thisten in Denmark organised by the National Dragracing Club Denmark. Doorslammer classes include Bracket, Real Street, True Street, and Pro Street. More information can be found at the NDCD web site at www.ndcd.dk. Kjula Dragway at Eskilstuna Airport in Sweden hosts the Blacksmith Nats which is for pre-1973 vehicles. This event is combined with the Mälardalen Open on 20 June. Racing will take place from 10:00 to 17:00 on both days. Admission is SEK 150 for adults and SEK 50 for kids. Thanks to our colleagues at CeDrag.com for bringing to our attention these races in Central Europe: Streets of Lódz takes place on Saturday in Lódz, Poland. This is a full street legal event plus the second round of the Polish Open Cup over the eighth mile. Racing is from 10:00 to 18:30 and there will be a show. Special prize money is available for the quickest three reaction times. You can find the organisers' web site at www.wst.org.pl. On Saturday and Sunday rounds of the Hungarian National Championship and Meidl Drag Race Cup take place at Fertoszentmiklós at Meidl Airport in Hungary. The event is organised by Hungarian National Championship racing + Round 2 of Meidl Drag Race Cup. The event is organised by the guys at www.dragrace.atw.hu. SPRC Summernationals coverage. 17th June: Eurodragster.com will be at Santa Pod Raceway for the next three days to bring you all the action from tomorrow's (Friday's) Peak Performance Day and the weekend's SPRC Summernationals in association with American Car Imports. Our coverage will consist of an end-day gallery tomorrow and then the full service of frequently-updated live reports, frequently-updated pit notes, and end-day galleries on both Saturday and Sunday. The Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line from approximately 8:00 tomorrow morning and will then post a picture every sixty seconds throughout each day until the track closes on Sunday. Our buddies at Nitro FM will of course be broadcasting on the web this weekend, starting with a show between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm tomorrow evening, and then between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm on Saturday and between 7:00 am and close of play on Sunday. You can find a direct link to the Nitro FM broadcast on our SPRC Summernationals Event Index (see below). We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as the webcam starts to broadcast tomorrow but in the meantime you can check out our SPRC Summernationals Event Index, which includes the official entry list, provisional running orders, and a direct link to the Nitro FM broadcast, by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals. Web site updates. 17th June: In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Swedish Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén reports on the Team VEIDEC PSB team's test at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö last weekend. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: We have a small backlog of news since we just ran out of lunch hour today. We will catch up on tomorrow's update and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Separating the men from the boys... 16th June: York Raceway's 33rd Annual Street Racer Championship on Saturday 3rd July is the hardest Championship known to street-legal racers. Not only are the racers' wits up against it but so are their car designs and set-ups: Held after a long day's racing, the Street Racer Championship has one round of qualifying. The only rest these cars are going to have is whilst the ladder is prepared and pairing-up takes place. Once everything is ready the cars race. It's heads up! Once a car wins it's straight round and into the fire up lane ready to go up against the next car in the next race immediately. No cool-down time, and the engines don't even get turned off. This continues until there is only one car left and that racer is crowned the winner. This is pushing the cars to the limit with the drivers having to use their best drag racing brains to ensure that their car reaches the final without overheating or breaking, which regularly happens. You can find out more at www.yorkraceway.org.uk. Xtreme Wheels award winners. 16th June: Thanks to Xtreme Wheels Motor Show organiser and Eurodragster.com sponsor Dan Welberry for sending us a list of the Show award winners: Best Hot Rod (Gold RV): Nitro Express, Ken Mee Best Modern (Power Race Graphics): Black Beetle Cup, Vicky Ellison Best Custom (Andy Robinson Race Cars): Nash Cabriolet, Mark Hanley Best Engineering (Webster Race Engineering): Two Much twin-engine dragster, Norm Wheeldon Best Paint (J&W Automotive): Black R/T Charger, Lee Wells Best Drag (Pete Walters Race Design): Willys Sedan Pro Mod, Kev Slyfield Best American (American Car World): 1959 Impala, Beavis Allen Best Euro (Alamo Rent A Car): Fiat 500 Abarth, Carlos Best Interior (Auto-Reminder.co.uk): Nash Cabriolet, Mark Hanley Best Engine (Comet Clothing): Blown 1965 Chevy Pick-up, Chris Venn Xtreme Organisers' Choice, in memory of Terry Gibbs: Blown 1965 Chevy Pick-up, Chris Venn Zubedo.com Sponsors' Choice: The Fire and Medical team for their superb effort and hard work over the weekend. Smith's appreciation. 16th June: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Mark Smith and the Stunt Monkey crew say that they are very grateful indeed to Draper Tools Ltd for their continuing support for the 2010-11 race seasons: Draper Tools currently sponsor a variety of different motor sports, including Joe Osborne's 2009 European Championship GT4 car and Poole Pirates Speedway, and have been suppliers of quality hand and power tools since 1919. For more information and details of their products please visit www.drapertools.com. Mark would also like to thank his other sponsors Greens Plumbing, Shoot Me Photography and Windwhistle Web Sites. On a personal note Mark would like to thank his crew Kerry Smith (Crew Chief), Mark Green (mechanic and start line), Georgina Green (photographer and PA) and also Ray Debben, Richard Gipp and Stuart Crane for all their help and support. "Without you amazing people racing would not be possible", says Mark. Swift snippets. 16th June: Dave Derry tells us that the UK's The Mob Fuel Altered team have a new driver. The as-yet unnamed birthday girl put in the first of her observed runs at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend and Dave tells us that she did well for her first time in the car. Many thanks to FIA European Drag Racing Championships Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for forwarding us the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the FIA European Championships. You can check out the FIA points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UK Super Street Bike racer Paul Watson has been in touch to ask if anyone can give his partner Kim a lift to Santa Pod from their south Essex base this Friday evening or Saturday morning. If you can help then please drop Paul a line at paul@dynospeed.co.uk. The latest spy pictures to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below) came from a sender who asked to remain "anonomus" (sic). If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. UK Pro ET racer Vic Amato has asked us to say a big Thank You to Paul Marston who has very kindly loaned his transporter to get Vic's Mustang to Santa Pod for Friday's Peak Performance Day and the weekend's SPRC Summernationals. "Thank you Paul you're a star", says Vic. "Thanks also to Nick George who offered to tow me there and pick me on up Sunday night if all else failed. What mates I have got - shame they are both Chevy boys!" Web site updates. 16th June: Our good buddy Jon Spoard has updated his excellent UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with a video clip of a late-1970s TV interview featuring Sylvia Hauser and Roz Prior. The interview also includes footage of Sylvia in the Paul Rossi Dodge and Roz in the Hellbender Jet Dragster. You can check the video out at www.ukdrn.co.uk and whilst there take the time to have a look around the extensive photo galleries and historic entry lists and results, and discuss old times on what is easily the best-run drag racing forum out there. Paul Lister has updated his Drag Car Anon web site with pictures from Monday's eliminations at the FIA Main Event. You can find Paul's pictures at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. SPRC Summernationals racer update. 15th June: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for sending us details of the arrangements for this weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Santa Pod Raceway's gates will open at 12:00 noon on Friday (18th). Those entered for Friday's Peak Performance Day will of course be allowed in earlier. Signing on will be open between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm on Friday, and will then reopen at 7:00 am on Saturday. Scrutineering starts at 2:30 pm on Friday for cars, and at 5:00 pm on Friday for bikes. Thanks also to Paula and to Race Director Robin Shone for passing on the provisional running orders for the weekend, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the SPRC Summernationals. Please note that these running orders are provisional and are subject to change due to weather or track conditions, or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Team Erbacher doubles up. 15th June: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader and Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher has been in touch with a report of his own weekend at the FIA Main Event as well as that of team-mate and Supertwin racer Lorenz Stäuble: The FIA Main Event in England was the first European Drag Racing Championship race for the dragsters, so Urs had the chance to put the pedal to the metal this weekend. For Lorenz Stäuble and his Supertwin team it was already race number two for the season. Both teams had one clear goal: get as many points as possible and bring two trophies home. The first qualifying day was rained out, so everybody focused on the second qualifying day. Both teams quickly found their way round. With only two runs left to get into the ladders of eight there was no room for mistakes. Lo took the lead after the first season and Urs used his second run to score the maximum qualifying points in this class. The experience of previous years was the baseline for top qualifying positions after only two qualifying rounds and a strong demonstration of what these two teams are capable of. The first milestone was reached. Lo had a comfortable lead with his 6.656/215.84 run as did Urs with his 4.754/319.31 run (the second fastest speed ever for an FIA Top Fuel run). Our competitors had been warned. Based on their positions after qualifying both teams started as odds-on favourites in eliminations. Lo won his first round without any problems with a good time of 6.78 and was in the semi final. For Urs it was even easier as he had a bye run in the first round and could save parts. In the semi final the Urs' and Lo's opponents had no chance. The Top Fuel Dragster and the Supertwin Bike ran like precision clockwork and both racers showed that they were fit for the race with great reaction times. On Monday evening both teams were in the finals and very close to their goal. Would they bring home the Main Event trophies to Switzerland? Lorenz had a head to head race with Dutchman Job Heezen. After half track Lo headed towards the finish line, leaving Job no chance to follow. With the best run of the weekend 6.608 he took the win in the second UEM Championship race of 2010. The first part of the mission of the Erbacher Team was fulfilled. Would Urs turn the weekend in the perfect race for the Erbacher Top Fuel racing team? Urs did it with a holeshot win over Riso Poutiainen. The Finn had no chance against the old hand from Switzerland. With a spectacular run of 4.785 seconds and a new European speed record of 314.87 mph Urs took the win in the first FIA Championship race of 2010. Both teams delivered a perfect job during the whole weekend under difficult circumstances. In two weeks both teams line up in Finland. The target: get as many championship points as possible on their mission to the championship title. Many thanks to everybody involved - our sponsors, families, friends and fans - for their support in the 2010 Championship season. Swift snippets. 15th June: Despite not winning at the NHRA Divisional in Houston, ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences and team were happy with their weekend. "The changes we made gave us three good passes, #1 qualifier and low ET of the meet", says Mike. "We regained some of our confidence in tuning the car a little more aggressively. Unfortunately we blew the tires off in round two but this appears to be a clutch issue rather than a tuning issue. This week we head to Salt Lake City where we have no choice but to try and run 100% nitro due to the altitude. The track is at 4400 feet and may be adjusted to as high as 11000 feet. We hope we can repeat our wins in Rockingham but maybe simply not dying from asphyxiation will be a good result." Finally available in Europe from Germany's Peter Schöfer Racing is Prism blower lubricating gel which is recommended by PSI. One 368g aerosol can costs €20 and can be ordered from PSR at info@p-s-r.com. "If you give us your details we can bring the gel to Finland or any other FIA race", says Wolfgang Schöfer. A number of UK Super Gas teams are travelling to Hockenheim for the NitrOlympX in August and there is still time to join them. "We have space left to fulfil the ten places we have been offered", says Trevor Graves. "This will be a maximum thirty two-car class fighting for a sixteen-car field.  If there is another Super Gas driver who would like to join the other nine competitors from the UK, then please contact  me at trevgraves@aol.com. This place will be first come first served."  Eurodragster.com sponsor Furlong Tyres will again be sponsoring Super Street Bike at this weekend's SPRC Summernationals. £100 cash will be awarded to the winner and £50 to the runner-up so long as the rear tyre is a Michelin Power One, Mickey Thompson MCR2 or Shinko R003 Ultra Soft. "Fantastic show at the Main Event guys, and good luck to everyone this weekend" says Fred Furlong. More at www.furlongtyres.com. If you fancy one last test before this weekend's SPRC Summernationals then entry is still open, just, for the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway this coming Friday, 18th June. Booking closes at 5:00 pm this afternoon (Tuesday). For more details check out www.rwyb.com or to make your booking visit www.santapodshop.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). Phil Steele tells us that Europe's first eight-second drag bike racer Keith Parnell's anniversary week was wrapped up with the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NSA meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend (below left). Further to last week's sponsorship announcement, UK Super Comp racer Paul Spiers sends the above picture (above right) showing how Penn Autos have brought a touch of colour to the class. Santa Pod Raceway are seeking a couple of cars to perform burnouts along the Brands Hatch straight at a round of the Time Attack series on 27th June. Darren Prentice of Santa Pod adds that there will also be static display room for a couple of good-looking cars. If you are interested then drop Darren a line at darren@santapod.com and for more details about the event check out the Time Attack web site at www.timeattack.co.uk. UK Super Comp racer Brian Pateman tells us of a good piece of news for anyone towing an American race trailer, namely that following consultation the UK's Department for Transport have announced the removal of the 2.3 metre width limit for light trailers towed behind a vehicle with Maximum Authorised Mass less than 3500 kg, i.e. most cars and 4x4s. The width limit for light trailers (i.e. categories O1 and O2) up to 3500 kg MAM is now 2.55 metres irrespective of the towing vehicle, be it car, 4x4 or qualifying commercial vehicle. This brings the UK into line with the rest of Europe. In the past the limit was 2.3 metres unless the towing vehicle was a qualifying commercial vehicle with MAM over 3500 kg. Mike Lacey of Eurodragster.com sponsor ModUrStang writes to remind those attending this weekend's SPRC Summernationals that there will be live music in the Pro ET pits this Saturday evening, after qualifying finishes. Krissy Matthews and his band will be showing off amazing guitar skills, and by popular demand The Hoggz are back to play until midnight.  "All are welcome to come and party with us, but please be considerate and remember that we are in the pits and that will have race cars moving around at 8.30 in the morning", says Mike. "Absolutely no bottles allowed and please put all your rubbish and empty cans in the bins to make it easier for us on Sunday morning. We have to clean our mess up! The noise curfew applies in the pits so proceedings will finish promptly at midnight, then please make your way back to your residences in a happy but quiet way. Thank you!" Staying with the SPRC Summernationals, Sandie Gibb says that she will be collecting sponsorship money for the Race for Life at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Finally on the subject of the SPRC Summernationals, Darryl Bradford will this weekend be joined in the commentary booth by Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog. If any racer would like to send commentators' notes for use this weekend then that would be much appreciated; please drop a line to tog@eurodragster.com. From the transplant recipient. 15th June: UK Fuel Altered racer Jon Best writes from the Planet Lotsabeera that the Felstead, Best and Lotsabeera altered has undergone an engine transplant following the carnage at the Easter Thunderball: The engine switch of course means that we can't go for the iron block Chevy Fuel Altered ET record, still held by Pure Heaven circa 1977, but we're currently second in the all time ET list for that particular combination, which I hope is still respectable. The plan for the remainder of the year is to be mundane and get down the track with a bit more consistency. I've not had a chance to thank the people who have made this possible, so in no particular order, thank you to the following guys and girls for helping us get back on track: Tony Betts and everyone from the Venom team, Kenny Gomez of Superpower Unlimited, Jason Phelps at FGR and the Shockwave Funny Car guys, The Wratten Boys, Brendan Murry, Uncle Steve at Motorshack, Jon Spoard, Adam Gleadow, Joe Bond, Dom Romney, Simon Mitchell, David Malyon, Team Turburville and co, Lizz McCarthy and Kev Charman, Paul and Sam Marston, Kaz Aston, Nigel and Julian at Nitro FM, Gordon Northway, Paul Stubbings, Rich and Pete Walters and the Walters family, Tony Deluca and Ashley Bell, John and Tom Atkinson (and Liz for the amazing cups of tea), John Wright, Lawrie Gatehouse and the Chaos guys, Clive and Jake Mechaell, Bob and Matt Glassup, Chris and Bex Parker, Panda and everyone in the SPR crew, and anybody else whom I have forgotten to mention - you guys in one form or another have helped us to carry on burning the nitro, whilst keeping my sanity in check, so thank you. Another important thank you goes to Eurodragster.com; put simply, it would be impossible for any of us to obtain sponsorship and the publicity needed to find backing, without the superb event coverage and photography, which gets better and better, every single event (Thank you kindly - Ed). At the Summernationals we'll have the last of the Chevy on Fuel T-Shirts on sale. For a last opportunity to buy what is now a museum piece of a garment, come and see us in our pit. Priced at £10 and available in M, L or XL, they're ideal for any Chevy nuts. Thank you again to everyone who has helped us out since Easter and with messages of support in recent weeks and months, it's much appreciated. SPRC Summernationals Perfect Awards. 15th June: This weekend's SPRC Summernationals is the latest event in the 2010 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Anthony Wilkins at the FIA Main Event. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available all to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first perfect light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the UK Truck Show; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the UK Truck Show. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk. The Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Mike Lacey at the FIA Main Event. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their dial-in or index during qualifying or eliminations. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend in Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster (eliminations only), 9.50 Bike, the Wild Bunch, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, and Supertwin ET, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £75 for the UK Truck Show; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the UK Truck Show. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. The Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award is £50. The money will be awarded to the first Super Comp or Super Gas racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their index, 8.900 or 9.900 as appropriate, during qualifying or eliminations. The winner's cheque, courtesy of AFP Services owner and managing director Richard Peel, can be collected from Ian Hart in the Fairhurst Racing Super Comp pit. The Eurodragster.com/AFP Services Perfect Numbers Award does not roll over; if not won then the £50 will next be available at the FIA European FInals at Santa Pod Raceway. The Perfect Numbers Award is presented in association with financial bureau AFP Services whose web site you can find at www.afpservices.co.uk. Web site updates. 15th June: Following on from his recent gallery of Peak Performance Day shots, Jamie Dyks has now updated his Fotopic site with pictures from the FIA Main Event. You can check out Jamie's pictures at topnitro.fotopic.net. Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his Acceleration Archive with a second page of pictures by Peter Quinn aka Powerful Pierre, this time sixty one images from 1971. If you like your nostalgia then you can take a look at Peter's shots via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has updated his personal web site with the complete set of pictures from the weekend's Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes Motor Museum. You will already have seen some of the shots if you checked out our Xtreme Wheels Event Coverage, but for the rest of Tog's pictures then visit either eurodragster.fotopic.net or www.togsdragracing.com. Xtreme Wheels Day 2 gallery. 13th June: In association with American Car Imports we have posted a gallery of the second day of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum. You can check out our Xtreme Wheels Motor Show galley by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Xtreme Wheels Day 1 gallery. 12th June: In association with American Car Imports we have posted a gallery of the first day of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum. It was an eventful day with two highlights a welcome return for Nobby Hills' restored Houndog 1 slingshot and the Dorset Horn altered rapidly but immaculately repaired after its mishap at Easter, but on a less happy note Dave Grabham's Freddy's Revenge blown-alcohol altered was severely, possibly irreperably for the chassis, damaged after missing the bend at the end of the exhibition straght, crashing through a barrier and impacting an earth bank, and the Nosferatu blown-alcohol Super Pro ET doorslammer getting out of shape and similarly impacting an earth bank, in this case suffering damage only to the front nose. Both Dave and Nosferatu driver Vince Gibbs were uninjured. You can check out our Xtreme Wheels Motor Show galley by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Work begins on Tierp Motorpark. 12th June: The citizens of Tierp and people with an interest in motorsport gathered in the Town Square in Tierp today to see a display of cars and bikes from the European motorsports élite, writes Anders Magnusson. Well-known names including Leif Andréasson, Mats Eriksson, Johan Lindberg, Micael Callin and Anders 'Charley' Carling were on site with their racing vehicles and trailers. Other activities planned for the Tierp Arena were represented by the local karting club and Yrkesakademin drivers training. Later on in the afternoon the old airfield was formally taken in possession with a sod-turning ceremony, with Tierp Arena represented by project initiatir Leif Andreasson and building chief Lars Erik Lindberg, father of the Lindberg brothers. Yrkesakademin had Lars Göran Hagström and Jan Peleback wielding their spades and Tierp Kommun was represented by Bengt-Olov Eriksson. It was a very cheerful group of people officially starting the building of the Tierp Arena. A large number of guests disregarded the foul weather of wind, rain and cold temperatures to witness this historic moment and to offer a toast in champagne. Pictures courtesy and ©Stefan Boman One to remember. 12th June: UK HKS Pro racer John Bradshaw says that the 2010 FIA Main Event will stay long in the memory banks of the Abbey Motorsport team after John's Nissan Skyline set a new world best whilst running in Super Pro ET: Five years' hard work with an ambition and a goal in mind finally realised, and it was just an amazing moment for all of us concerned. It was a real roller coaster event for us and a great return following the accident last time out with the car. On the Friday we were full of high hopes and put a gentle half pass in to make sure all OK. Then we put in a steady full pass at low boost and an OK 7.8. Time to turn the boost up a notch, we thought, and went back out again but the water pump let go just as I changed into fourth gear. The back end came around and I thought "No way are you going into that wall again!". We quickly got the car back to the pits and it was heart in the mouth time as we looked for the problem, water pump broken and taken off and then compression tests and in went the boroscope. It was a long, long hour but all looked OK, and the datalogging all looked fine apart from high water pressure. So off came the head and we saw an issue with the head gasket. Thankfully we had gaskets with us, and a spare water pump, so they were replaced. We stripped the bottom end and replaced all of the bearings, checked the crank just in case, and fired the car up and all OK. We were done by ten in the evening. Huge thanks to the crew who were just fantastic. Saturday was a hard day for all of the teams as the weather gods decided that they didn't want to play, and we started to wonder if the record was ever going to happen. Renewed optimism on Sunday when we woke up to see the rain had stopped but we had a very busy day ahead with all classes needing to be crammed in somehow. Huge congratulations to everyone at the Pod who worked wonders. We knew we were likely to only get in one run so we wanted to make it count. The first eighth was great but the car got a little out of shape in the final eighth and I had to pedal briefly to a 7.78. Getting closer... Monday arrived and the weather looked hit and miss. If I had been a betting man then at 9:00 am my money would have been on rain and mayhem but the weather gods obviously felt guilty about Saturday and behaved for a change. We all went to watch the Pro Mod qualifying which was breathtaking and we decided to turn the boost up a notch more as despite being cold the track looked great. We waited praying for the weather to hold out and then we noticed people starting to get busy in the Super Pro ET Pits and we were on. Hopes were high again, but no-one in the crew said a word. The white marker pen came out and positive thinking encouraged me to put on a 7.55 dial-in (the previous record was 7.57). The crew all looked on and again no-one said a word - it was tense! Down to the start line against Dave Catton knowing that Dave is incredibly consistent and would be 99% certain to run an 8.4-something so to get past him would mean we would be close to the record. The lights seemed to take an eternity due to me being really keen and I got off to a great start, our best ever eighth of 4.8/148 and Dave was in view, in fourth I pulled level, and then into fifth and the car was pulling like a train and we were in front. The run felt great and no way was I slowing down, if we broke out we broke out. Then the shift light came on in fifth about fifty yards short of the gantry and it threw me completely, as it has never come on before the gantry before and i backed off not wanting to hurt the engine. It turned out not to be an issue - note to self, never back off again! The run had felt fantastic and I asked the guys over the radio "What time was that, what time was that fellas?". No answer! I asked again and again - no answer. The buggers were too busy jumping up and down on the start line hugging each other and wanted to keep me waiting! When it came over the radio it was an incredible feeling and quite an emotional one for us all: so much hard work over the years, a lot of heartache and grief at times and five years work shown in 7.451 seconds. The crew were beside themselves and I felt so happy for them, their hard work, their sacrifices - well done fellas. It was brilliant to go back out and back the run up with a 7.49 to make it official, and we know the car probably still has a couple of tenths left yet. I and everyone at Abbey Motorsport would like to thank everyone for their kind words following the Main Event - it's really appreciated. A huge thank you to Santa Pod for giving us a great track for the event, for their help and support over the years, and for really pushing and growing the Jap Scene in the UK. Thanks to my fellow racers for their help over the last few years whilst we have learnt the ropes. Huge thanks to Andy Robinson for his help over the years with the chassis and advice, and also to Jon Webster for the rebuild and advice. We now plan to focus all of our efforts on Project Zed, our Nissan 350Z running the Nissan 350Z VQ35 engine. We have spent the last few weeks really stretching and pushing the engine on the engine dyno and initial results have been fantastic with over 1100 lb/ft torque. Exciting times, can we get the car to be Europe's first ever six-second Import - who knows but we will certainly be trying. We plan to continue running the 350Z on the Nissan V6 engine and really push hard to see what it can do. Swift snippets. 12th June: European fans will again have some of their own to cheer on this weekend. Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund will be contesting the last race of his US mini-tour, the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown. Qualifying continues today. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Divisional in Houston, with both qualifying and the first round of eliminations taking place today. In both cases you will be able to stay in touch courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Read will be taking part in the ANDRA Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. Eliminations take place later today our time and you will be able to stay in touch with Steve's progress at www.willowbankraceway.com.au. Good luck all and stay safe. A very appropriate day for this one; Steve Dudley tells us that the Haynes International Motor Museum will be hosting the first UK Slot Drag Racing Summer Nationals on Saturday 10th July, with public Run What You Brung day on Sunday 11th July. "It should be a fantastic weekend with lots of other events and attractions as well", says Steve. Wife Sara and daughter Abi have asked us to wish a big Happy Birthday to UK Sportsman ET racer Steve Unsworth. No sooner said than done, have a great day Steve. Web site updates. 12th June: Tim Lockyer has updated his web site with pictures from the FIA Main Event. You can check out Tim's shots at www.dragster-photography.com. Editor's note: We're on duty at Xtreme Wheels this weekend. Tune back later today for the first day's coverage and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. Colin's Main Event moments. 11th June: Santa Pod Raceway track announcer Colin Theobald writes with the promised report on the winners and close calls for the Moment of the Day awards at the FIA Main Event: We had various rather feeble attempt by various no-hopers trying to blag a bottle of Champagne; just turning up the event doesn't count unless you are Kristen Kreuk - search on Google if you don't know who she is (Are you Willsheer in disguise - Ed) - and your sister's birthday may be your moment, but not ours. Friday's contenders included Dave Bailey with the huge wheelie in the Plymouth Valiant, Amanda Cox setting new PBs with a 10.09 best (and more to come) but the rather surprised winner was John Sleath for what could only be described as Save of the Year in the Audi Coupe which decided to try and exit stage left at 330 feet, that certainly got his attention. No racing on Saturday so we awarded two bottles on Sunday. Tough choice here. Andy Raw was a strong contender for a very wild ride in the Super Pro Beetle, nearly going on his side but driving skill, luck and the headers saved the day, but he wussed out on a later run by pulling the 'chutes early and that ruled him out (only joking Andy, a beer on me awaits). Urs Erbacher's 319 mph, and Rolf Ammann's lumberjack impression were also in the frame but after a lot of input from various sources we decided that Graham Ellis with his 6.07 in Pro Mod deserved a bottle for number one qualifier, only to be taken away in the final pairing by Johan Lindberg with a storming 6.01 dropping Graham to number two. Graham was presented with his bottle on Sunday evening and Johan received his during the number one qualifier presentations on Monday morning. Monday had another basketful of possible winners. Eric Teboul with the incredible rocket bike setting a new world's best time of 5.2321, Derek Flynn was up there with his storming 270mph+ run then going all agricultural on us, Risto Poutiainen storming to 319 mph in round one of Top Fuel, Melanie Troxel's exhibition pass in the R2B2 Pro Mod recording a European best of 5.9370, Steve Venables in the Super Street Bike class came close with some cracking runs. The award went to John Bradshaw with his incredible 7.4513/187.41mph in the Skyline, a new world's best and backed up with a 7.4941. Well done John, who looked very surprised when presented with his bottle at the trophy presentations. A special mention to John Everitt who suffered a bird strike in the shutdown area, if we had seen that he would have been a contender...John that is, not the bird. We hope to be doing this again for the FIA European Finals as this was a lot of fun and well received by everyone. Swift snippets. 11th June: European fans will again have some of their own to cheer on this weekend. Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund will be contesting the last race of his US mini-tour, the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown. Qualifying commences today. Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mike Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences will be contesting Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Divisional in Houston, with qualifying also commencing today. In both cases you will be able to stay in touch courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Read will be taking part in the ANDRA Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. Qualifying commences today and you will be able to stay in touch with Steve's progress at www.willowbankraceway.com.au. Good luck all and stay safe. The latest spy picture (below left) to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "We can't wait for doomsday". 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. Europe's newest drag strip, the under-construction Tierp Motorpark (above right), is to hold a promotional Arena Day tomorrow starting with an exhibition by Professional racers in front of the Town Hall between 10:00 and 14:00 before attention moves to the former airfield for a sod-turning ceremony. You can find out more about the Motorpark at www.tierpmotorpark.com. The Beaulieu Motor Museum is holding a Hot Rod and Custom Drive-In Day on Sunday 20th June. All hot rods, customs, classic Americans, chops and bobbers (Whatever they are - Ed) are welcome. Rockabilly, swing and jive will be on tap from The Ace Trio and 40s and 50s swing jump jive from Big Al and the Fireflys (sic). More information at www.beaulieu.co.uk. 2009 Pro Mod DVD review. 11th June: Powerpoint Communications have done the usual great job in the production of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship 2009. This DVD includes all the action from the five rounds of the Pro Modified Championship at Santa Pod Raceway: the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball, FIA Main Event, SPRC Summernationals, FIA European Finals and the UK National Finals, with a full twenty two minutes on each round making up a whopping one hour and fifty two minutes of action. The DVD is introduced by regular presenter Abi Griffiths. There are plenty of interviews with racers and pit shots. Commentary is by John Price who shows his usual enthusiasm and comprehensive knowledge of the sport. There is extensive footage of qualifying. This includes the Eurodragster.com sponsor Exhaust-Coating.de Pro Mod Challenge for both 2008 (rain-delayed) and 2009. The first rounds of eliminations at the FIA Main Event and FIA European Finals, not included in the 2009 FIA Championships DVD, are included here. Multi-angled shots show how wild these cars are. Another highlight is a detailed description from Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson on what a driver has to do from the point when son Luke starts the engine to turning off the track at the top end. This feast of Pro Mod racing is available for £14.95 including VAT plus £1.50 UK/European shipping from www.quartermilehigh.com. Feature: Parnell's first Eight. 10th June: In the latest in our occasional series of Features presented in association with Lucas Oil Products and Carter Motorsport, Eurodragster.com spoke to bike racer Keith Parnell about his eight-second pass on 8th June 1975, the first ever eight-second run by a drag bike in Europe. You can check out our 35th Anniversary interview with Keith Parnell by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. King of Germany 2010. 10th June: Last weekend King of Germany 2010 International took place at the Speeddays in Alkersleben, writes our good friend Gittli Koller: King of Germany is a race for street legal cars, mainly organised by Thorsten 'Skorpion' Appel. The vehicles have to have valid registration documents, a valid license card and valid insurance. Four different classes are run: Stock Street (slower than 12.0 seconds), Front Wheel Drive, All Wheel Drive and Rear Wheel Drive. King of Germany 2009 was the first year with international participation. In 2009 the Polish colleagues of VTG dominated the 4WD class. The Dunlop Thyphon driven by Marcin Blauth is one of the fastest 4WD car street legal in Europe (Winner King of Europe 2008) and always good for an eight-second pass. Here is a short summary from the King of Germany organisation crew about the weekend: First of all a big thank you and respect to all the participants in the King of Germany. The cars were all in top condition and all had their cars in the rules and well prepared. And there was not a single incident to give the fire or safety crew any reason to make an effort and go out. You did a great job guys. There were seventy participants in the four classes. The racers came mainly from Germany but also from England, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Belarus and Sweden. The variety of the cars could not have been wider and there were cars for each and every fan who running great numbers, from Golfs up to big US Cars. Here are the results, courtesy of the MSTO to whom thanks for a great job and the information: Stock Street (28 Participants) Winner #34 - Andre Weickardt - 12.579 seconds - 161.47 km/h Runner-up #68 - Harald Hempel - 12.749 seconds - 195.24 km/h 3rd place #121 - Jürgen Cabanas Münch - 12.875 seconds - 186.20 km/h #1 Qualifier #118 - Alexej Moser - 12.104 seconds -174.00 km/h Top Speed # 68 - Harald Hempel - 202.70 km/h Front wheel drive (4 Participants) Winner #55 - Malte Ulrich - 11.931 seconds - 223.43 km/h Runner-up #57 - Timo Heintorf - 11.959 seconds - 210.03 km/h 3rd place #28 - Gianni Santi - 17.096 seconds -107.22 km/h #1 Qualifier #55 - Malte Ulrich - 11.105 seconds - 217.29 km/h Top Speed #55 - Malte Ulrich - 229.13 km/h All wheel drive (18 Participants) Winner #31 - Grzegorz Staszewski - 9.179 seconds - 217.84 km/h Runner-up #5 - Andreas Biehr - 11.091 seconds - 197.16 km/h 3rd place # 32 - Rene Kühnel - 9.860 seconds - 244.12 km/h #1 Qualifier #31 - Grzegorz Staszewski - 8.798 seconds -257.56 km/h Top Speed #35 - Robert Pothorcki - 259.45 km/h Rear wheel drive (20 Participants) Winner #13 - Micha Vogt - 8.776 seconds - 261.17 km/h Runner-up #120 - Gerd Habermann - 9.719 seconds - 231.90 km/h (red light) 3rd place #30 - Frank Wambach - 10.313 seconds - 202.96 km/h #1 Qualifier # 13 - Micha Vogt - 8.708 seconds - 255.64 km/h Top Speed #13 - Micha Vogt - 264.10 km/h The semi-finalists of the four classes were put together again to run the King of Germany final in 4 rounds to find the King of Germany 2010. King of Germany international Winner #31 - Grzegorz Staszewski - 8.669 seconds - 276.41 km/h Runner-up #13 - Micha Vogt - 8.740 seconds - 261.86 km/h 3rd place #5 - Andreas Biehr - 9.994 seconds - 230.45 km/h Top Speed #31 - Grzegorz Staszewski - 273.41 km/h (track record for street legal cars) Congratulations and well done to the King of Germany Grzegorz Staszewski of Poland, with a beautiful Corvette Turbo 4 Wheel Drive, and his crew as well as the runner-up Micha Vogt with his awesome charged BelAir. Robert Pothorcki who travelled all the way from Sweden had a lot of work to do to get his pick-up ready for the King of Germany and unfortunately had bad luck this weekend again with technical problems. But we really hope that Robert will be back next year. He told us that he will bring several more fast Swedish racers with great cars with him...we cannot wait to see an even bigger field for the King of Germany 2011. A perfect weekend... 10th June: After a good start to the season when Dennis Habermann won at the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway, the entire Werner-Habermann-Racing Team is very pleased with the outcome of the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod, where both Dennis and brother and FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion Timo both made the final round: With Saturday spoiled by the weather, we only had two shots at qualifying on Sunday, and we ended up with Dennis seventh with a 5.50 and Timo in fifth with a 5.43. With one of the lowest ever bump spots of 5.52 we knew that we had to step things up for eliminations. In round one Timo faced Dave Wilson in his A-Fueller and Timo was able to put down a storming 5.32 to Dave's 5.56 so Timo got through to the next round. Dennis was up against Peter Schöfer and decided the race on the tree with a holeshot which took him into second round of eliminations. After a quick check of both cars by the Santa Pod Tech Crew we went back to our pit to service the cars and found a broken valve retainer on Dennis' car. The cylinder head was pulled off and the retainer was changed so both cars were ready for the next round. In the semi-finals Dennis showed his opponent how to decide a race on the tree, he took his win into the finals with a perfect light of 0.0001 seconds against Derek Flynn and Timo won his semi against top qualifier Fred Hanssen with a 5.33 to Fred's 5.37. So there we were, the dream came true, Dennis and Timo in the final of the FIA Main Event in Santa Pod, an all Habermann final! What can we say? The Werner-Habermann Racing Team is already the winner but who will take the event win? Timo was aiming for a low 5.3 or even a high 5.2 and Dennis knew he had to be quick on the tree against his brother, as we hadn't found the perfect set-up for his chassis this weekend. Dennis took the win with another perfect holeshot of 0.006 to Timo's 0.168 (Timo's worst RT for a long time), although Timo ran a 5.37 the track was not long enough to catch Dennis who took the event win with a 5.48. As we mentioned on Eurodragster.com on 1st April Dennis proved that he is the man to watch in 2010. His car gets more competitive every run and after winning the Easter Thunderball and the Main Event in a row, he gets more confident with every run (as you can see on his RT). The Werner-Habermann-Racing Team is all set to go to Finland to extend their points lead in the FIA Top Methanol Dragster Championship. We want to thank our Sponsors UNI-FIT, Böhm Solartechnik, Exide Batteries, Autokrandienst Habermann and my-shirt-shop.com for their support and we would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the track crew for an outstanding job in giving us a safe track to race on. WHR's comment on Derek Flynn's latest Blog entry: There are always two sides to every story and not everything written on the World Wide Web is true. We have raced many times against A-Fuel Cars and up to today we haven't had any complaints about our starting procedures. We guess it is easy to blame the opponent if something doesn't go according to plan. Pictures courtesy and ©Andy Willsheer and courtesy and ©Martin Große Geldermann ...and a far from perfect weekend. 10th June: Ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences says that it was a disappointing weekend at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. "We qualified second after our first hit and dropped to third after our second hit", says Mike. "We had tyre shake on our second hit and in the first round. Once again we allowed the track to overpower the car and were not aggressive enough with our tune-up. We have let this happen too much, our team and car are much better than our results. "We hope to be racing at the Houston NHRA Divisional this weekend. The schedule is a little different because we are hoping for a big crowd on Saturday night and want to put on a show for them. Qualifiers are on Friday at 4.30 pm and Saturday 2.00 pm, the first round of eliminations is at 8:00 pm Saturday and the second round at 11:00 am on Sunday." Thanks to Bruce Biegler of Drag Race Canada for the shot of Mike in Chicago - Ed). Baynton: I wasn't expecting this! 10th June: UK Pro ET racer Paul Baynton finally took his first event title at the FIA Main Event after taking runner-up spot in his three previous finals. Paul says that he was not expecting much from eliminations but that he just kept going rounds: We qualified poorly in twenty ninth spot, mainly due to running quicker than expected and having to miss the last two runs on Friday due to the recurrence of the brake problem we experienced at Shakespeare County Raceway a few weeks ago. With that sorted, the crosswind caught me out Sunday and there was no improvement. In the semi final I got the chance to run it flat out and we ran our quickest yet of 10.383/126.23. For the final we dialled-in 10.38 and ran 10.387 with a reasonable 0.05 light. I had hoped the new engine would get us in the low tens, so now I can concentrate on consistency as the car reacts totally differently. Thanks for all the help and encouragement we received during the final rounds of eliminations, thanks again to all the Santa Pod crew for all their hard work and for producing a great track, and thanks to all the Pro ET sponsors for their continued support. We are now looking forward to the Summernationals. Read gets more aggressive. 10th June: Multiple Australian Top Fuel drag race Champion Steve Read's preparation for this weekend's Castrol Edge Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway will be a lot different to the last time he raced at Willowbank. At that event in April Read, affectionately known as The Pom, married long-time partner Heather at Willowbank Raceway on the Saturday morning prior to qualifying for the Top Fuel Championship series round five. At the Winternationals, the popular Brisbane-based English couple will not be preoccupied organising their wedding and can concentrate on preparing the Read Speed Racing (RSR) Dragster for Australia's biggest drag race event. With five different winners from five Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Pro Series Top Fuel Championship events so far this season, Read is looking to finish in the same fashion he started the season - a winner. Read, who won Top Fuel at the 2001 Winternationals, is looking to be the first multiple Top Fuel Championship series event winner after winning the season-opening Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway last September. "I have never had an event like we had that weekend (in April) in my forty years of drag racing. It was so frustrating, the wedding was brilliant, but the event was a disaster. I think we took our eye off the ball, which resulted in a lack of attention to detail", Read said. "We wanted to do so well for the many fans who came to the event to wish us well and for our hard-working crew. It was just little things that put us behind the eight-ball all weekend. The clutch malfunctioned in the first qualifier that was easily fixed. The weather caught everybody out in the second qualifier. We dropped a valve in the third qualifier and the engine was down on horsepower, which resulted in the clutch locking up in the first round of racing. We also had an electrical wiring problem, which short-circuited two spark boxes, a coil and magneto. All we needed was another hour before the start of racing on the Sunday and we would have found all the problems." Read said that despite the problems at the last event, he believes RSR will perform much better at the Winternationals. "We have struggled at Willowbank over the years and we have to change our tune-up pretty dramatically", he said. "At Willowbank we have to be more aggressive with our tune-up because the traction is first class and while we can get away with a certain level of horsepower at Sydney, which suits our car, we just have to be more aggressive at Willowbank. "We tested at Willowbank in January, which taught us a lot and was the best we have ever run there and despite what happened in April, we learnt a lot and I think that will stand us in real good stead for the Winternationals". Swift snippets. 10th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Destined for Outlaw Street? You may have to ask the new owner!". 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. Thanks to ACU UK Drag Bike Championship Co-ordinator Ian King for letting us know that the latest points standings in the 2010 ACU Championships are now available on the King Racing web site by clicking here or by clicking on the ACU Championship link on the bottom right of any page at www.kingracing.com. Thanks also to Mike Kraaij for forwarding us the FIA Main Event report produced by The Netherlands' eXplosion Drag Racing Club. The report which comes in PDF format is well-presented with excellent photography and is well worth a look. Click here to check out the eXplosion FIA Main Event report. Reigning FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Andy Carter and the Lucas Oil Top Fuel team continue their promotional tour this weekend with a trip to the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes Museum in Simerset. Andy and the team will have their show car on display alongside a full range of Lucas Oil products. Seven year old Zip Young Guns kart racer Albert Carter, Andy and Sarah's son, will also be in attendance to show the crowd why he is definitely a name to watch for the future. For more information see www.xtremewheelsshow.com and www.albertcarter.com. Colin Sawyer, a race fan since 1970, was lucky enough to be taken for a ride in Santa Pod Raceway's Two Seat Dragster at the FIA Main Event with Steve Warner at the wheel. "It was a present from my family for my sixtieth birthday", says Colin. "When we were ready to go the staff told us we were going to be running side-by-side with the other Two Seater piloted by Shelley Pearson. It was absolutely amazing and I will never forget the experience. I would like to thank Steve, John Hackney and all the staff at the Pod for making it a very special day." A big Happy 3rd Birthday to one of our youngest fans, Luke Bovingdon. Of course he could be one of our youngest readers, which would make us feel pretty dumb in comparison, but either way have a lovely birthday Luke and don't forget our slices of cake (Including the piece for Ed - Ed). Watson's Twin wins. 10th June: UK Supertwin Gas racer Andy Watson of the Second To None Drag Racing Team has started his second season on a high by winning the first two rounds of seven in the National Association of Supertwins Championship: 2009 was Andy's rookie year and he ended in fourth place in the Championships, also winning Best Overall Improver from NAST and nominated for Most Promising Newcomer by Santa Pod Racers Club. Over the winter Andy decided to have some work done on the engine, which left him with a troubling clutch problem. After frying two clutches at a couple of weekend test runs, we finally found the problem and managed to sort it with the help from the guys at the track and at home. We had to run the bike untested on the first round but neither Andy nor the bike let the team or our supporters down. In the first round, Andy achieved three personal bests and after eight runs he ran a best time of 9.50 seconds, and in the final he reached a speed of 137.69 mph defeating Les Harris (also from Norwich). In the second round of the Championships Andy qualified first with a Personal Best of 9.39 giving him an edge, and a bye in the first round of eliminations. In this first elimination Andy achieved another two PBs, 9.35 seconds and 140.77 mph getting him through to the semi finals where he defeated Joe Elliott. He then went onto the finals defeating Chris Mott leaving him on top of the Championship leaderboard with another five rounds to go. We went to the Main Event and what a weekend that turned out to be for us. Melanie Troxel agreed to do a photo shoot with her car and our bike as she also drives a car in the States sporting the same POW/MIA logo as our bike. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors Acesports, Airlivery, Norfolk Car and Superbikes and our supporters for their kind words and congratulations. We would also like to thank IMPhotography for all the photographs and portfolio, and MissB Fotos. We look forward to the next round at the Summernationals. Allard Chrysler prints on the cards. 10th June: Brian Taylor tells us that two A4 sized, un-mounted mini-prints have joined the Allard Chrysler Action Group range of merchandise. Printed on 250 gsm matt card, protected by a clear cellophane envelope, the first print is of the original Paul Whitehouse painting of the Allard Chrysler dragster up against the Mooneyes dragster in 1963. The second is another Paul Whitehouse painting, this one of the 1965 Allard Chrysler which was eventually sold to Clive Skilton in 1968. These prints are available at £5 each plus £1 postage and packing. The set of two prints can be ordered for £9 plus £1.50 postage and packing. All proceeds go towards the Allard Chrysler Dragster restoration fund. For more information contact Brian at brian@allardchrysler.org. Pre-ride passenger frights. 10th June: UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett says that he had a "Very very good" weekend at the Classic Ford Show at Santa Pod Raceway: The old bus get back to 9.2 seconds at 150 mph. On the Sunday I got a little greedy with the settings and lit the tyres, then the car started to go a little close to the wall - I think another layer of paint would have done it. I'm not sure what was going through my passengers' minds as they watched me "Set the car up". I was asked by Ian Marshall to make sure I didn't break 130 mph as it's a new ruling and part of their insurance. So to the first run with a passenger, we got Graham into the car. A good burnout and launch, I think a new best sixty foot time of 1.54, then just past half track I hit the brakes hard ending up 9.7/96. Next up was Tom, who had won the Classic Ford quiz night. We went through what was going to happen and he watched the first passenger ride. As we went to go for the run the skies opened and the meeting was called. We have agreed with Tom that we will honour his rideat a future date. A big thank you to Classic Ford for raising £95 for our chosen charity Macmillan, and thank you also to my sponsor Southern Tyre and Battery Service of Emsworth (01243 376411) for coming up with the fuel money for our trip to the event. What's on this weekend. 10th June: European fans will again have some of their own to cheer on this weekend. Multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund will be contesting the last race of his US mini-tour, the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown. Qualifying commences on Friday. As mentioned above, Mike Manners will be contesting Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Divisional in Houston, with qualifying also commencing on Friday. In both cases you will be able to stay in touch courtesy of our colleagues at Drag Race Central at www.dragracecentral.com. As also mentioned above, ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Read will be taking part in the ANDRA Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. Qualifying commences on Friday - although remember we are talking Australia here - and you will be able to stay in touch with Steve's progress at www.willowbankraceway.com.au. Good luck all and stay safe (Thanks to Bruce Biegler of Drag Race Canada for the shot of Jimmy in Chicago - Ed). On Saturday and Sunday there will be a Pro test weekend at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö. Vehicles are expected from Top Doorslammer, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, Pro Street, Competition, Pro Street Bike and Pro Twin Bike. The track will be open both days from 10:00 to 18:00. Racer entry is SEK 2500 including electricity supply. Spectator entry is SEK 50 per day. For more information visit www.srif.se. SHRA Karlstad is organising the Däckbolaget Open at Karlstad Airport, Sweden on Saturday. Racing starts at 10:00 on the Saturday with entrance SEK 50. More details at www.shrakarlstad.se. The third round of the Hellenic Dragster Championship will be taking place at Polykastro in Greece on Saturday and Sunday. You can find out more in Greek at www.greekdragster.com. Thanks to our friends at CeDrag.com for letting us know about the following dates: Round 1 of the Central Europe Championship and a Hungarian Drag Racing event organised by Dragracing.hu takes place at Kiskunlacháza in Hungary on Saturday. An eighth-mile night race, the fourth round of the HHRA Championship, takes place on Saturday at Tököl Airport in Hungary. Hoškovice in the Czech Republic hosts Drag Day - Europe, Round 2 of the Czech National Championship, on Saturday and Sunday. The event organised by Dragster.cz includes European Top Gas. On Sunday a 400-metre race takes place at Stockerau Airfield in Austria. The party starts at 21:00 on Saturday evening and racing takes place on Sunday between 10:00 and 21:00. Shakespeare County Raceway hosts another of its popular Public Track Weekends where you can take your own car down the historic quarter mile drag strip. The event already has an established American flavour about it as the All Chevy Weekend rolls into town with various race series taking place on the drag strip from early Saturday morning to late Sunday afternoon. Featured series this month include the National Sprint Association, 2010 Twins Cup, and round three of the Pro Street Drag Series for Japanese and European street cars. There will also be a specially invited six car shootout featuring the wild world of the Outlaw Anglias. Following the success of the inaugural race, Shakespeare County will also be running another Bracket Race for street cars, the Super Pull ET Gamblers Race. Big league Tractor Pulling is all also set to make a comeback at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. In a joint effort between the recently reformed Midlands Tractor Pulling Club and Shakespeare County Raceway a fully blown British Tractor Pulling Association points event will be contested in six classes on Saturday commencing at 4.00 pm. Dave Jones, the man behind the Shakey Super Pull, is no stranger to today's Pulling scene having come from a proud family background involved in the running of the early BTPA events of the seventies and eighties. Dave will also be working on the race track with Outlaw Anglia racer Cliff Griffin whom he sponsors. More information at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Not a stranger to these pages, the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show takes place at the Haynes Museum near Yeovil on Saturday and Sunday. There is a large drag racing element to this show including burnouts, cacklefests and static displays as well as hot rods and customs. You can find out more at www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. Web site updates. 10th June: Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu with pictures from the FIA Main Event including a sequence illustrating how to cut down a Christmas Tree. Also updating from the FIA Main Event is Paul Lister, whose Sunday photographs you can find on the Dragcaranon web site at www.dragcaranon.co.uk. Photo-journalist Dick Parnham has also been hard at work posting FIA Main Event shots and you can check those out on Dick's Fotopic gallery at dickparnham.fotopic.net. Veidec Festival entry forms. 9th June: Many thanks to Emelie Carlswärd of Mantorp Park for forwarding us the Pro class entry forms for the Veidec Festival, which takes place at Mantorp Park on 29th July to 1st August: FIA classes (PDF format) UEM classes (PDF format) Racers please note that Top Fuel Dragster is to be contested over 1000 feet and Top Fuel Bike and Supertwin over the eighth mile. Don't forget that on-line entry for the Veidec Festival is available on Mantorp Park's own web site at www.mantorppark.com and that if you prefer paper entry forms but do not wish to sully your computer with a download from Eurodragster.com then the forms are also available from the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. History in the making? 9th June: Swedish Nostalgia Fuel FC racer Erik Wallinder tells us that history could be made at the SDS Hall & Kapell Nationals at Sundsvall Raceway on 18th-20th June. "Sweden's two Nostalgia nitro Funny Cars will meet for some match racing", says Erik. "The Tre Kronor Arrow will be driven by none other than Leif Helander, and the Rimfrost Corvette by Erik Wallinder. "It's a little less horsepower than Leif is used to! Both cars were built to VRA rules which limits blower to a 6/71, 18.99% overdrive, 21 gallon fuel pump, two-speed Lenco and 3:90 rear gear. But no limits on the nitro percentage! "Could this be the first time in Europe that two Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars meet?". Pictures courtesy and ©Markus Ek, www.mek.nu Xtreme nostalgia cornucopia. 9th June: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum this weekend, are delighted to announce the list of nostalgia racer cars which will be on display this weekend. The static display will include: Houndog 1 The Allard Chrysler Dragster Stripteaser The Allard Dragon Hemi Hunter Also appearing at the Show is an iconic symbol of British drag racing, Dorset Horn, which has seen track action for thirty seven years, in the hands of West Country racer Dick Sharp. Those lucky enough to see the car in the flesh at the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway would no doubt agree that the latest incarnation is simply stunning! Following a pretty hefty top-end crash at Shakespeare County Raceway in 2003, the car has undergone a major rebuild but it still remains very much true to its origins. Darren West of Power Race Graphics has done a sterling job of creating graphics which bring the car bang up-to-date, yet still true to the 1973 look. Following another flirt with the top end wall, this time at Santa Pod at Easter, it looked as if the car's appearance at Xtreme Wheels was not going to happen. However, Dick and his crew were determined to use the show as a deadline to have the car back to its full glory. We can't wait to see Dorset Horn taking pride of place in our nostalgia collection. Dan and Bob of Xtreme Wheels would like to thank the Dorset Horn team for their efforts in making the event a priority. Dick will also be using the show to promote the busy Shakespeare County Raceway programme. Another of the nostalgia collection will be no stranger to many, as it is still campaigned today by Chris Hartnell. Hailing from the 60s, being originally built in 1969 as Malibu Express, Backdraft as it is now known, is still Chevy powered just as it was back then. Malibu Express was inspired by the first Drag Fest in 1964 at Woodvale. The car was originally built in 1969 by four friends - Kevin Burrows, Bob Spence, Jeff Morris and Geoff Fardell - and named after the source of its Chevy powerplant. It took the guys fourteen months to build and took everybody by storm, in those days sporting purple metalflake paintwork and an enclosed streamlined cockpit. When the team brought the slingshot to the drags for the first time, they ran an impressive E.T. of 11.3/130. The car would go on to be campaigned at tracks from Woodvale to Santa Pod. The partners later sold the dragster to Malcolm Olley in 1973/74 and he renamed it Pink Panther, repainting it pink of course. The car eventually ran a Best ET of 10.22 in this guise. The car then disappeared until it was bought by Chris in 1992. Parts of the car are still original including some of the bodywork, upholstery, some of the steering and the back half of the chassis. Modern safety specs have been implemented, and an SFI Sportsman 8.50 tag has been applied to the chassis. Chris believes it is one of the oldest cars still running in the UK, and certainly the most regular nostalgic runner! Also featured will be more modern builds with a nostalgia flavour, including Norm Wheeldon's Two Much double engined slingshot. Nostalgia Fuel Altered members will also be on display, both statically and in the Live Action Arena. These include Bob Glassup - Xtreme Racing, Dave Grabham - Freddy's Revenge and Adam Gleadow - Motor Psycho. Nostalgia Funny Car will be represented by Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings' Time Warp. Xtreme Wheels are also delighted to announce the ACG/British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Legends list in association with USAutomotive. Barring unforeseen circumstances the show will be graced by the following stars of British drag racing: Nobby Hills Andy Carter Mike Kason Russ Carpenter Dennis Priddle Norm Wheeldon Liz Burn Gerry Belton Mike Hutcherson Roy Phelps Ken Cooper Roz Prior Gerry Andrews These legends, plus others, will be signing autographs on both Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 am. David Hooper, who designed the Allard Chrysler Dragster, will also be at the event on the ACAG stand. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. Swift snippets. 9th June: The National Sprint Association (Southern section) return to Shakespeare County Raceway this coming weekend for the fifth round of their 2010 Championship. Phil Steele tells us that in addition to the racing there will be a celebration of an historic moment in straight line history. "It was June 8th 1975 that long time sprinter and drag racer Keith Parnell became the first European to run under nine seconds", says Paso. "The weekend will be dedicated to Keith to mark his retirement from riding, although Keith will of course be in attendance crewing for me on the Parny Express Kawasaki ZX12R Hopefully a few surprises are in store for the weekend". Stay tuned as tomorrow's Eurodragster.com news update will feature Keith's memories of his historic pass. Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall says that she, husband Ian and daughter Holley visited UK Street Eliminator racer and Chair Steve Nash at Bedford Hospital on Monday and that he was in high spirits. "Rob Loaring was just leaving as we arrived and while we were there Jon Webster turned up, so there was plenty of drag racing chat!", says Paula. "Splinter left Bedford Hospital yesterday to go to Papworth Hospital for more tests and will then find out when he is allowed home. I am sure that everyone from Santa Pod Racers Club would like to wish him good luck and a speedy recovery". We're sure that all of our readers will add their own best wishes. Editor's note: It's had to be an abbreviated news update today as your News Editor is working at a remote site back-up site and access and time are limited. Tune back tomorrow for Keith Parnell's memories of the first eight-second pass by a European drag bike racer, an FIA Main Event review from Werner Habermann Racing, what Melanie Troxel has in common with a UK Supertwin Gas team, Paul Baynton's first Pro ET event win, the latest news from Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett and more, and please keep the news coming to news@eurodragster.com. NitrOlympX entry open. 8th June: Thanks to Jerry Lackey for letting us know that information, invitations and entry forms are now on-line for the NitrOlympX which takes place at Hockenheim in Germany on 13th-15th August. You can find the forms and associated information under the Teilnehmer link at www.nitrolympx.com. "As entry to many Sportsman classes and some bike classes is to be limited we would suggest downloading and getting entry forms in the mail soon", says Jerry. "Remember that this is Silver 25 and you will want to take part in this one." In your face, Eyjafjallajokull! 8th June: Swedish Pro Stock Bike racer Gabriella Nikolovska and her team have finally had the chance to test their new motor, which arrived late due to disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano. Team member Henrik tells us that the volcano-imposed wait was worth it, as testing was very promising. "The new motor is 1640 cc two-valve with Vortex head and six-speed Liberty gearbox", says Henrik. "As it arrived late we skipped the Main Event at Santa Pod and focused on testing at VEIDEC Raceway in Malmö. The track was as usual very good and Gabbi had no problems adapting to the six-speed and power. "After five runs we managed an eighth mile of 4.74/236 kmh with a 1.14 sixty foot time. This was without the computer, which was malfunctioning. This was a Personal Best for Gabbi and the team are now working hard on the bike and the rig to be prepared for Finland. If things go our way we are also planning to run at Mantorp Park and Gardermoen. "Thanks to our partners Nexans, Milwaukee, Red Line Oil, Keynet, 360 GFX and Carl Erik Bil AB." Exit the toys. 8th June: UK Pro Modified racer Ray White knew that he was on for a weekend to remember at the FIA Main Event when his trailer blew out a tyre on the way to Santa Pod Raceway. Having sorted that problem Dr Evil and the Lethal Z team dug in at the track, and then the fun really started: We started the car up on Friday morning, no reverse. Out came the Lenco, stripped it down and a C clip popped out from the reverser. Set it up on the bench, all OK, back in the car - no reverse again. Fourth time out we finally find out that we had the wrong thickness C clip. After rain all day Saturday we warmed it up on Sunday and it sounded great. Got the call down to the line, all strapped in and there was a power cut at the track. Strapped in again and fell asleep, I seem to spend more time asleep in the car at the last couple of meets - I could have gone to Argos, bought myself a sleeping bag and saved two hundred grand. By the end of the day I wish I had! At last the car fired up, good burnout, car felt good, into stage first bulb on hanging on to the hand brake 6000 rpm, second bulb on then sat there looking over to other lane with arm shaking and clutch trying to push my foot off. The car crept forward then I deep staged then I fell to pieces - revs dropped at the same time as the lights, let the clutch up, forgot to press the throttle. Hit the throttle, off we went. Total clutch failure - one of the plates broke in half, the engine drove through clutch and hit the limiter, a lifter broke. Intake push rod popped out, not exhaust, that would have been a good night! Wiped out the cam, now had all that fuel for eight cylinders with one missing, number seven cylinder seems to have taken most of the fuel and bent the rod. Broken bits of lifter, four more rods and pictins damaged. Back in pits we found the front of clutch had been wiped off with bits of clutch plate flying round like they were in a washing machine. I had a spare clutch, rods and pistons in the motorhome but after all the work I just decided to call it a day. The crew worked their hearts out, never moaning and just laughting as I threw all my toys out of the pram at various times over the weekend. I must thank Danny Cockerill who is supplying the fuel and also putting some cash in the pot, Adrian Spencer who also happily put his hand in his pocket to help with the weekend, young Danny the same. Thanks to Big Chris, Steve Mac and nice to have Big Steve back even though he's not so big. Thanks to Graham Ellis for the clutch I have smashed and the offer of the parts to fix it. A special thanks to Charlie Draper for the missing Lenco part and for lending me a camshaft to get out for the Summernationals. Just as a finishing touch the last three tyres on the trailer let go just as I got to the farm. That's a weekend I won't forget. That's all folks! 8th June: UK Supertwin racer Ian Turburville says that the FIA Main Event was the longest race week he can remember and that it was to be bittersweet for the team, which comprises his Supertwin and daughter Laura's Junior Dragster: This was to be the last race for the Nitro Supertwin and the first big race for Laura in her Junior Dragster so I knew it would be stressful. I had hastily made some calls to get some help for the weekend after Steve Leedell incurred a nasty industrial injury at work the week previous to the event. Chris from Northants Nitro and John Hunt from Rene ven den Berg's team stepped up to the plate and turned out to be a dream team, absolutely perfect! They fit straight in and knew exactly what to do within a couple of hours which took the pressure off me, thanks guys! Ingrid and Martin Chesworth were there as always to look after us all and keep a photo diary of the event. In fact I wouldn't have been there at all if it were not for them and Tim Fountain, as they sponsored our entries which totalled nearly £500 with no chance of any prize money at all! Everyone just wanted to see Mr Spokehead in action one last time so what the hell, once more with feeling. Friday was Sportsman day and the weather was perfect, so perfect that the Juniors got six qualifiers in! Laura did really well and all seventeen Juniors fought hard for good spots on the ladder, I love this class! Unfortunately the motor in Laura's car let go on her fourth run and we thought that was it for us, but the hero of Junior Drag Racing, Graham McDonald, as always came to the rescue by loaning us his daughter Gabby's old motor which John duly fitted. We were back in the game! Saturday was the traditional Main Event wet day (Don't encourage Christer - Ed), but this worked well for us as it gave John a chance to finish Laura's car and Chris and I the chance to go over the bike and get it running nicely after the long winter lay-off. Sunday dawned dry and bright but with a strong crosswind which was affecting everyone. With Saturday rained off it meant we would only get two chances to qualify, not enough to set up the clutch and fuel on a nitro bike. My two runs were fine, motor sounded good and I enjoyed the blast and won both races. The problem with my bike is that because it has no transmission it covers the quarter in a different fashion to the other bikes. The two speed bikes leave the line hard wheels-up, then change gear and put the wheel down at half track or so and drive on through. My bike leaves softly, slipping the clutch until half track, then picks the front wheel up and carries it over the finish line. This made my bike very unstable in the crosswind at the end of the banking and both times it pushed me hard to the left so I clicked it off. At the end of qualifying I was second alternate and a lot of the big guns were out as they never got a chance to dial their bikes in. Jan Sturla, the new kid, was doing great in qualifying but broke his cams and was out so Trond took his spot. This meant I was first alternate again, in a nightmare re-creation of the European Finals last year but, as always, we were ready. We nervously watched each pair go up the track and the rule says that if the bike in front breaks after the burnout then you cannot go in as alternate. Vidar broke after his burnout, so no chance there, it was down to the last pair. I warned the crew to be ready, last chance. Ismo pulled into the water, cracked open the throttle, the wheel turned once, and the motor died! I looked to the ACU steward but he shook his head, technically that counted and we were denied our last ever run. A shame, we were all dressed up with nowhere to go, race ready and sitting there. Colin Theobald had already announced to the big crowd that it was the last race for the bike and I asked the Race Director if we could tag on the end of the session as a demo pass to say goodbye but he said it was just not possible so I walked out to the line and thanked the track crew for looking after me so well though my ten years in nitro bikes. An hour later Melanie Troxel, who was out of competition, did a demo pass at the end of the Pro Mod session, right! The good news was that the bike is now 100% fresh, good to go and tested, so ready for a new buyer! Most people seemed shocked that I had painted over the famous flames but agreed it looked awesome in hot rod red to match Laura's car. Laura had a big job to do as the Help 4 Heroes car now had an unknown motor in it. All our qualifying runs meant nothing as we had no idea what the car would run with Gabby's motor. We had a team talk and decided to throw caution to the wind, dial in 8.00 and nail it. The girl did great and went two rounds of eliminations but at the end of her last run the clutch exploded so she quickly pulled to the side of the track, good racecraft! As Laura was being towed off by Angie, Colin was shouting over the PA "If you can hear me Laura, you won" and with that I rushed up to get her. It was a mad day as after bumping the Juniors again and again for the Pros, they ran the eliminations one after the other from four o'clock on. This meant that the kids had to go straight back to the line after each run, only stopping to re-fuel. No chance to change oil, check motors or clutches, nothing. It came down to a semi against Josh Saunders and they waited patiently in the lanes while I went into overdrive trying to bodge the clutch for one last run. The pit runners were great and it was like that scene with Connie Kalitta in 'Heart Like a Wheel' as they counted down the minutes. Scott Hauser grabbed the starter, Laura was still strapped in the car so I pushed her as fast as I could, running down the pairing lanes, and gave Wayne Saunders the thumbs up. We both fired our cars but Laura's clutch instantly broke loose...game over. We did our best. Congratulations to Gabby for a great win in Juniors and to all the kids for being so professional. Congratulations to Lorenz Stäuble for another well deserved win in Supertwin and to his boss for the Top Fuel win. Urs had a great party and he got Laura to sit in his car with a grin from ear to ear, which has me slightly worried, I can see what is coming next! That's it for Mr. Spokehead, the coolest bike in the country, get it while it's fresh! Details on my web site at www.turboville.com, priced to sell. That might be it for Laura for the season as we cannot afford a new motor for her car and I don't want to damage Gabby's, although Graham says we can use it at the Summernationals, thanks mate. Big thanks to Pete and Kim Kellett for looking after us all season, to Scott Hauser for helping everyone, Wayne and Brad for the clutch parts, Bruce and Jacob for cam parts, everyone for the support, top people. Thanks again to all the Santa Pod staff for looking after me whilst bike racing, now they have to start all over as I switch to car racing! Hopefully I will get more chances to race in Sportsman racing than we did in the Pro class and it should be a lot cheaper! I know, famous last words, but I look forward to the new challenge. Last chance to say goodbye to the bike will be demo runs at the fabulous Silverstone Classis, held on July 23rd-25th, when I will smoke the Wellington straight like Joe Smith! Swift snippets. 8th June: 21:00 In the latest press release from Team PR Rob Geiger, US Pro Mod racer Melanie Troxel says that Roger Burgess' R2B2 team are considering contesting the whole FIA European Championship after their experiences at the FIA Main Event. Obviously there is more to come on this one, and as soon as we know you'll know. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Scandinavian team soon to be making licence passes". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 6 of the entry lists for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th June, and the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-27th June. You can check out both entry lists by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page, and you can download the official entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong, who sponsored Super Street Bike at the FIA Main Event, writes to congratulate Steve Venables on winning £100 cash in the SSB final using a Michelin Power One, and Rick Stubbins on winning £50 for runner-up spot using a Mickey Thompson MCR2. "Thanks also to all the guys in Super Street Bike, you put on an excellent show", says Fred (Hear, hear - Ed). You can find out more at www.furlongtyres.com. York Powderpuff Derby returns. 8th June: Chris Murty tells us that there are plenty of reasons for attending the Northern Sportsman Nationals at the UK's York Dragway on 3rd-4th July: Not only do we have the UK's largest racing field of all American cars - pushing for over 35 cars - along with Air-cooled HRSC Challenge and Pro ET and Sportsman ET, but on Saturday we also have Round 6 of the American Power Tour. We also have our second annual Ladies' Race. Putting on a Ladies-only race is in no way intended to put regular female racers in their own class, but much more to encourage and give a little feel of competitive racing to the long and suffering girlfriends, wives and even daughters who have been dragged to the drag strip over the years. We want them to have a go in their husbands', boyfriends' or dads' race cars or even their daily driver in this once a year race class. To ensure it can be as safe a possible the race will be run as a bracket, three rounds of qualifying which will also be observed bye runs, then they will be paired up against each other in the knockout stages. This event last year had many WAGs compete and has since brought more ladies in to regular competition. Then on Sunday we have American Super Stock Round 4, Northern Drag Racing Round 3, HRSC Challenge Round 3, Air-Cooled Round 4, and Sunday Street Wars. We also have the Drag Bike Reunion. This is an open invitation for anybody with a motorbike who would like to return to York Raceway for this annual meeting with 50% off admission and Run What You Brung to any body who brings a motorbike. You can find out more at www.yorkraceway.org.uk. Web site updates. 8th June: The official web site of the UK's Sportsman ET racers has been updated with Dave Rushforth's report from the UK Spring Nationals at York Raceway, with pictures by Richard Smith to whom webmaster Nigel Holland adds his best wishes for recovery from his knee injury. You can check out the UK Spring Nationals report at www.sportsman-et.co.uk. Drag racing stars on TV. 7th June: Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpsonshop.se has been in touch with details of a new Swedish television series about the world's fastest motorsport, to be broadcast on TV4: Racers is a drama-documentary which follows three teams from different parts of Sweden. The teams are run by entrepreneurs or enthusiasts who all have a very interesting story to tell. The participants are Anders Holmberg of Umeå, Erik Andersson of Gällivare and Johan Lindberg of Upplands-Väsby. Behind the production are two people with a genuine interest in motor sport: Michael Liljeholm from Umeå who is a journalist for TV4, and January Phersson from Umeå who works with personal safety in motorsport. "Mike has been working with the Motor-blog on TV4 for almost a year and it has become hugely popular", says Jan. "That in combination with my teaching about personal safety in racing is probably the reason why we decided to do a TV series about this fantastic sport. The people in Racers live enormously exciting and challenging lives - it's a lifestyle which many wish to live but most don't. We let viewers peek behind the scenes and take part in each racer's life. Production on the programmes commenced in the spring and continues into the summer. The provisional TV4 broadcast schedule is: Episode 1: July 21 Episode 2: July 28 Episode 3: August 4 Episode 4: August 11 Episode 5: August 18 Not strictly TV but Web TV so it counts; Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell tells us that fifty minutes of action from last week's FIA Main Event is available on the unfortunately-titled Rally-Action web site. The picture quality is excellent and bears blowing up to full screen mode, and you can check it out at www.rally-action.com/index.aspx?c=4. 11:30 Thanks to Andy Marrs and also to Santa Pod Raceway for letting us know that the FIA Main Event is also to be broadcast on Motors TV UK (Sky 413) at 19:05 UK/19:55 European this evening (Monday), with several repeats. You can check out the full schedule (PDF format) by clicking here. Please note that the schedule lists all of the variants of Motors TV so you will need to scroll down for Motors TV UK, and also that the times on the schedule are European time not UK. FIA Main Event UEM review. 7th June: Many thanks to UEM European Drag Bike Championship co-ordinator Palle Lind for sending us a review of last week's action at the FIA Main Event: It was nice to see two young riders aged only 22. For Lyrén in Pro Stock Bike it was his second race this year, and it was the first race for Hegre in Supertwin. The weekend started with rain all of Saturday, but Sunday was nice and sunny, the Santa Pod crew tried their best to get three qualifying rounds on Sunday. But as we all know Sunday was just one of these days when if something could go wrong it did wrong. Lot of oildowns, the Tree was run run over by a car and there were some electrical failures. It ended up with two qualifying rounds after a lot of waiting time in the line-up area. Five riders were entered in Top Fuel Bike, fifteen in Supertwin, fifteen in Pro Stock Bike and seven in Funny Bike. In the first round of Top Fuel Bike Woollatt had a solo run in 6.60 seconds. Carey's 6.94 beat Van Den Berg, and since Teboul hit the wall Sunday, and did not get his bike ready for Monday's eliminations, Selkämaa had a solo run. Same in the second round for Selkämaa, Woollatt did 6.65 and beat Carey's 6.99. In the final it was Woollatt who was the fastest with 6.68 and ended as number one, leaving Selkämaa with 6.89 as runner-up. Fastest time 6.603 and fastest speed 192.13, both Woollatt. In Supertwin there were fifteen riders entered for an eight-bike field, it again looks like an exciting and tough class to qualify for eliminations. Hegre was rookie and number four qualifier, but since his bike broke Sunday Hoiberget was in the ladder as number one alternate. In Round 1 Stäuble beat Rolfstad, Ravnsborg had his engine failed on starting line and it was easy for Hoiberget to win, Koedam's 6.77 beat Olstad's 7.16. Heezen had a solo run in 6.74 sec. when Mäenpää broke in the water box. In the second round Stäuble's was faster than Hoiberget with a run of 7.37. Koedam broke his chain and Heezen won easily with 7.25. In the final Stäuble was fastest with 6.60 and was the winner, runner up was Heezen with 6.81. Quickest time was 6.6082 and fastest speed 215.84, both Stöuble. Pro Stock Bike had a sixteen-bike ladder again as in Hungary. Abrahamsson had a solo run as number one qualifier with a nice 7.19 run, Svrachnos 7.47 beat Weikum's 7.64, Laseur's 7.38 beat Gipp's 7.71, Vik won with a nice 7.25 when Paget redlit. Ögge won against Toth's 7.98, Fredlund's 7.38 beat Bishop's 7.64, Beck was fastest with 7.42 against Newbury's 7.82. Young rider Lyrén's 7.67 lost to Thiel's 7.38. In the second round Svrachnos won against Abrahamsson, but had a blue line violation and so Abrahamsson was in the third round, Laseur beat Vik with faster reaction time, Ögge won since Fredlund broke right off the start line, Thiel won with 7.21 against Beck who redlit. In the third round Laseur had a nice reaction time of 0.042 and a 7.25 run, and won against Abrahamsson's 7.29. Ögge's 7.14 beat Thiel's 7.19. In the final it was Ögge who won with 7.16 and the runner-up was Laseur with a 7.28. Quickest time was 7.145 by Ögge, and fastest speed was Laseur with 185.14. In the Funny Bike Cup French had a solo run in the first round, Charman beat Blakemore, Jäger's 7.57 beat Olie's 9.03, Gustafsson ran a 6.46 and won against Brooks 7.47. In the second round French won with a 7.21 against Charman who hit the reflectors on the centre line, Jäger's 7.34 was first over the finish line against Gustafsson's 7.37. In the final Jäger ran 7.31 and won against runner-up French's 10.79. Quickest time was 6.469 and fastest speed was 201.66 both Gustafsson. I won't forget Teboul with his Rocket Bike, he put on an amazing show that will stay in my mind for a long time in the future. Thank you to all of you for a nice weekend, and I do look forward to seeing all of you in Finland for the third round of the Championship. Pelle has also kindly sent the post-FIA Main Event UEM Championships and Funny Bike Cup points which you can check out on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Charman: Let's get this straight. 7th June: Staying on two wheels, the above-mentioned Kev Charman has been in touch with a report of his weekend at the FIA Main Event where he was racing one of Davide Ricci's bikes in the UEM Funny Bike Cup: Having decided to test at the Pro Peak Performance to get some base settings after Hungary, Luca and I set off. Lizzy, Jake and Chris were arriving on the Friday evening. Before the first run, I had decided to lower the boost and reset the control. First run I rode it off the line, and crossed lanes. This is something I have never done in twelve years of racing, but I had been fighting the bike to stay straight, saw a gap between the timing blocks, and knew there was no one in the other lane so went for it rather than cause myself or the track any possible damage. The second run was better: I left the settings as is, but used the two-step off the line, and pinged the clutch. Not brilliant, 9.0, but still fighting it to stop it going left. The thing is that once I have to start thinking about steering, I forget how to change gear. This gear change system is not as straightforward as a button, it is switches which you have to use in sequence. This may well be changed soon! Friday had me moving the battery to the other side of the bike, trying to get the bike to balance as at the moment the weight is biased to the left, and on Saturday it rained! On Sunday obviously I still had not qualified, so the first run was important to us. Burnout felt OK, up to the line, and I couldn't get the bike back into first gear. The bike runs very rich on tickover, and it all got a bit too much for it, so I was shut off due to some drips, which turned out to be from the breather. Back in the pits, we needed to find out why it wouldn't change gear, and we found a selector pin for first and third had broken. While we were in there, to be on the safe side, we changed the second gear pin too. Many thanks to Dave Branch for helping with this for and supplying the correct material for the pins. At 18.40 we were on the line again, wondering what the bike would do next. This time it launched, and immediately dropped cylinders! My one remaining task now was just to get it up to the other end for a qualifying pass. A 10.48/119 kept me racing! In Sunday's eliminations, we had Tim Blakemore in the first round. It was all a bit messy. Tim kept me waiting on the noise a while, the bike hesitated off the line, then I had another fight keeping it straight. Lots of smoke at the top end, which I can only presume was oil getting through the turbo seals – this happens with some of the Super Street Bikes too, but no oil down, and all OK. Tim was having dramas too, he had headed straight for the centre line, so with a 10.4/136 I got through a round! Next round we had Steve French. Well done to him and his new bike, both doing real good having set a European Record previously. Although I know I was no way competitive, It's always good to know what you are up against. Steve has a good reaction time, mine launched a lot better, then decided that it was bored with launching left and at about sixty feet decided that right was the right way to go, and I knocked out the eighth-mile reflectors. I apologise for the downtime - this bike really is going to have to learn some manners. Talking to Ken Cooper and looking at the data later on, we have decided to go right back to basics. The bike is awesome to look at, but is producing far too much power early in the run. We need to address the directional issues before we even attempt to run numbers. The next meeting is the Summernationals, where Lizzy is also entered in Comp Bike so long as she gets her observed runs under her belt. Good luck to her – it's been a long time coming! The big thanks paragraph to Chris, Donna and Corey, Lizzy, Jake, and Luca, also Ric Naylor for his assistance when I was testing on Thursday, Dave Branch and Ken Cooper, plus Eurodragster.com for the live report and giving Lizzy a heart attack when she read what was going on with me and the bike whilst she was at work! Penn Autos/Frost back Spiers. 7th June: UK super Comp racer Paul Spiers is to race under the banner of Penn Autos/Andy Frost Race Transmissions for the rest of this season. "Following a discussion with Andy, who recently undertook a total rebuild of my two-speed Denenbear powerglide and supplied a Neil Chance bolt-together torque converter which performed superbly at the Main Event", says Paul. "Andy has offered to sponsor my '69 Camaro which will now be raced under his company name. I was very happy to accept this offer from Andy at the Main Event. I have received a fantastic service from Penn Autos over the past couple of years; Andy is always willing to accept phone calls any time and is happy to give advice. This has given me great confidence in Penn Autos Ltd not only in their ability and build quality of gearboxes, but more importantly once Andy has provided a service or supplied goods he stands by the quality of his product and does not walk away. Andy will go the extra mile to help you out, and in racing that counts for a lot especially in self-funded Sportsman classes. I am looking forward to many years of a good customer-supplier relationship." "Paul is a very good customer and I thought it would be only fair to put something into his racing programme", says Andy Frost. "He is already competitive after one outing with his new car and I feel his team are perfect to show that our transmissions and converters work perfectly in bracket classes as well as in heads-up racing. We wish him good luck for the rest of the season." Andy Frost and Penn Autos can be contacted by telephone on 01902 344004, E-Mail redvictor1@hotmail.com, or via his web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk. More Luck for the Devil. 7th June: UK Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson is very pleased to welcome two new sponsors to the Lucky Devil blown-alcohol team. "Opie Oils are well-known in the market for oils and lubricants, consumables and specialist components for both cars and motorcycles", says Wayne. "You can contact them on 01209 215164 or at www.opieoils.co.uk. "Allyfab are specialists in the fabrication of bespoke aluminium components primarily for motorsport such as oil tanks, fuel tanks, header tanks, louvred panels etc. You can contact them on 01246 855185 or at www.allyfab.co.uk. "Both companies are great to deal with and represent great value. I would also like to thank Kerry at Originals Hot Rod Supply Co (01757 618907) for his continued support. "We would still like to hear from any potential sponsors. I am sure that we can represent your company at a high level and give you great exposure. If you would like to further the awareness of your business and services please feel free to contact me at waynenicholson@btinternet.com, and please visit our web site at www.luckydevil777dragracing.com to see more of what we can do." What a team! 7th June: UK Pro ET racers Brian and Lee Huxley have been in touch to thank everybody who helped to get their new Dark Horse 1967 Fastback Mustang up and running in time for last weekend's FIA Main Event: Thanks to Tim Hines for building us a wicked engine, John Mulligun (of Quarter Pounder fame) for doing all the wiring, Neil Bell for all his help even with a bad back, Marc Huxley of Huxley Motorsport for making the chassis modifications so that the car fits all 6' 2" of us, all our mates (they know who they are) - we couldn't have done it without them, Ian Hook coming up with cylinder head studs at the last minute, and a big thank you to Jon Webster and team for fitting us in to baseline the car on Thursday morning. Not forgetting the wives who have to put up with us and the kids for supplying us with tea. You are all apprepriated. What a team, it doesn't get any better than this. Thanks to our sponsors Spider's Disco, Bradford's, Blackpole Recycling and CARS all of Worcester. we all went home happy people having got into the thirty two car Pro ET field and having gone a round. The best yet. 7th June: UK Pro ET racer Mike Lacey of Eurodragster.com sponsor ModUrStang says that Team Metamorphosis Racing has had a fun couple of weekends. "It started with the Rushden Powerfest two weeks ago, and then the Main Event where we had our best weekend's racing since starting in 2004", says Mike. "The '67 Camaro has taken a whole lot of fettling and parts to finally get it running straight and reliable. Turning a street car into a fast race car isn't that easy when you are trying to keep it as stock as possible. Running over 900 hp on 10.5" tyres and not tubbed with leaf springs is hard work. "All of this resulted in a 9.233 on a 9.23 dial-in, qualifying third, then the semi-final where I pulled a red light. Oops! We did get the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award in the quarters though, running a 9.3001 which the team and I were over the moon about. Thanks guys. "The next event to look forward to is the Summernationals. This is Pro ET's fun party which we are trying to turn into a recognised annual event. This year we have two live bands playing from my trailer on Saturday night (19th). Kick off will be directly after racing has finished, approximately 8.30 pm I would think. The Hoggz are back by popular demand and Krissy Matthews, an amazing young guitarist, and his band will blow your minds with his amazing talent. This is a free event paid for by the Pro ET sponsorship scheme, but a bucket will be there for donations to help pay for the bands. If you like what you hear, and you will, please drop a pound or two in the bucket - it will be much appreciated. All are welcome, racers and fans, the more the merrier." Swift snippets. 7th June: Niklas Klaesson of Skåne Racers Ideella Förening has been in touch to invite racers to a Pro Test and Tune at Malmö's VEIDEC Raceway this Saturday and Sunday. "For 2500 SEK you will get two days of testing on a fully-prepared track with world-class traction", says Niklas. "The track will be open from 10:00 to 18:00 each day. To enter the event please send an E-Mail to info@srif.se. On-line entry is now available for FIA and NDRS classes for the Veidec Festival which takes place at Mantorp Park in Sweden on 29th July-1st August. For more information check out www.mantorppark.com or if you prefer to do things on paper then entry forms are available on the Mantorp Park web site or on the Speedgroup web site at www.speedgroup.eu. Sharron Collier writes that the subject of Saturday's spy picture is Scott Collier's new Junior Drag Bike underconstruction at dad Jerry's Projoint Fabrications. "Scott's bike has been in the queue for months so he's relieved it's finally on the jig", says Sharron. "It should be testing at the next JDB next Championship round which is at Shakespeare County Raceway on 10th-11th July although Scott will be riding his old bike in the Championship round. In the next week or so the bike will be heading north to GLS Engineering in Malton who are going to do all the machining on it for us, thanks to George and Lorraine Laycock for that. Its engine will be a 125 cc Cagiva Mito and we are developing a new bodyshape for it so that it will hopefully look like Jerry's Pro Stock Bike. Jerry has entered the Summernationals on his Pro Stock Bike whose head is currently at Dave Beck's workshop for final assembly. Both bikes will be out at the Open Sports Nationals at Shakey in August." Helen Rusling says that the UK's Firestorm Jet FC team had an exceptional weekend at Santa Pod and that they would like to thank everyone for all their help in their fundraising efforts to get the car back on the track following the crash at Easter. "It was a very sad weekend without the car and I think both Roger and Graham found it very difficult not having a spanner in their hands all weekend", says Helen. "That said, it has certainly been very heart-warming the amount of support and kind words that we have received from fellow racers, race fans and also all the crew at Santa Pod Raceway. This all goes a very long way in spurring us on to be back at the track with what I am sure will be an updated Firestorm - it'll be very exciting! Thank you one and all". You can keep in touch with the team via their official web site at www.firestorm-jfc.co.uk. Our best wishes to the Chair of the UK's Street Eliminator racers' association Steve Nash, who is in hospital having been taken ill at Santa Pod Raceway over the weekend. Get well soon Splinter, and take it from one who knows that you'll be well looked after where you are now. Legends join the legends. 7th June: The Nostalgia tent containing Sydney Allard's 1961 Allard Chrysler dragster and the 1967 Commuter dragster (so accurately restored by Antony Billinton) created a lot of interest at the FIA Main Event and the post-event feedback has been very positive, writes Brian Taylor: At an event organised by the Allard Chrysler Action Group and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame those present included Alan Allard, Peter Billinton, Mike Hutcherson, Dennis Priddle, Ken Cooper, Roger Phillips, Stuart Bradbury, Brian Taylor and Syd McDonald. Paul Whitehouse was also there showing his nostalgia drag racing paintings and many other faces from the past dropped by to say hello. Good to see Mike Lintern after all these years. Brian Taylor would like to thank all who helped out along with all those visitors who gave donations to the Allard Chrysler restoration fund or bought ACAG items. It was great to catch up with old friends again and update them with the project's progress. A big thanks to Santa Pod for providing the marquee and the space enabling the display to take place. See you at Xtreme Wheels. Xtreme Wheels trophies. 7th June: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum this weekend, are delighted to announce the full list of trophies to be awarded at the Show. Categories to be awarded and their sponsors are: Best Hot Rod - Gold RV Best Modern - Power Race Graphics Best Custom - Andy Robinson Race Cars Best Engineering - Webster Race Engineering Best Paint - J & W Automotive Best Drag - Pete Walters Race Design Best American - American Car World Best Euro - Alamo Rent A Car Best Interior - Auto-Reminder.co.uk Best Engine - Comet Clothing "We'd like to thank all our trophy sponsors for their support and encourage you all to support these fantastic companies", says organiser Dan Welberry. "An extra note of thanks must be added to new publishers of American Car World - Shut Up & Drive. Andy Craig, Editor of ACW, has also offered a free year's subscription to the winner of Best American and has provided some very cool T-Shirts as give-aways for the event." Please note that to be eligible for any of these awards, exhibitors must be attending the show on both Saturday and Sunday. Show'n'Shine entries are subject to their own awards sponsored by Autoglym and are therefore not eligible for these trophies. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming week. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. Web site updates. 7th June: Our good friend Jon Spoard has updated his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with a gallery of no less than 479 pictures taken by Nick J Worsell. "Nick's drag racing and rod pictures start in the early 1970s and run through to the 1990s and cover many meetings at Santa Pod, Blackbushe and Avon Park", says Jon. "Nick played a huge part in the development of UKDRN in its very early days and I want to thank Nick publicly for his support and help". You can find the update at www.ukdrn.co.uk. The official blog of the UK's Xtreme Racing blown-alcohol altered team has been updated with the latest news from the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association as well as updates on the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show. You can check out the blog at www.xtremewheelsracing.com. In the latest instalment in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, UK Top Methanol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn tells the story of his weekend at the FIA Main Event which had everything from gardening to controvery via a thrash. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. As you would expect we have had a number of FIA Main Event web site updates. In the interests of fairness we will post them strictly in the order in which they arrived. Camp Stanley, who was tuning Marcus Hilt's Pro Mod at Santa Pod last weekend, has posted a report of his experiences at www.stanleyandweissracing.com. Dave Jones and Robin Jackson tell us that there is a report of last weekend's MSA British Pro Mod Championship round at www.msadragracing.co.uk. A report of the FIA Main Event can be found at www.santapod.co.uk/e_main.php and don't miss DJ's daily photo galleries from the event (with due apology to DJ for not plugging them at the time - Ed) are on show at www.santapod.co.uk/e_main2010daily.php. The Robinson Race Reports web site at www.robinson-race-reports.co.uk has been updated with a report of UK Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson's successful but frustrating FIA Main Event. "We'd like to say sorry to racers, spectators and track crew for the considerable downtime due to our oil clean-up and also a big thank you to everyone who helped us over the weekend especially Sean Brown of Acceleration Enterprises and Jeff Burnett from JBR", says Stefani Robinson. Colin Donisthorpe's Fotopic site is now showing pictures of Sunday's and Monday's action at Santa Pod. You can check out Colin's pictures at colindonisthorpe.fotopic.net or click below left. Dominic Romney has updated his Modern Pics web site with FIA Main Event pictures which you can find at www.modernpics.co.uk or click above right. Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe has updated his personal Nitro Exposure web site with a gallery of photos from the FIA Main Event. Most of the pictures on this update were not used in Eurodragster.com's live Event Coverage last weekend nor elsewhere, and you can check them out at www.nitroexposure.co.uk. Roger has also had illustrated reports published on the Competition Plus web site at www.competitionplus.com and on the Drag Race Canada web site at www.dragracecanada.com. Our good buddy Pete Roberts has posted a number of his unique panoramas on his web site The Pod - A Look Around at www.podlook.co.uk. If you've not checked out Pete's panoramas then the site is well worth a visit and don't miss the Daily Podshot, History of USAF Podington, and other pages. Eurodragster.com US Correspondent Ed O'Connell's work will be familiar to anyone tuned in to our FIA event coverage in the last year or so, but Ed has been hard at work since his return to New Hampshire and has posted a gallery of more than a hundred pictures from the FIA Main Event on his SmugMug site at www.surfphotonh.com. Our good friend Markus Münch has updated the German-language Der Beschleuniger web site with Pro class reviews from last weekend's race. You can check out Markus' reviews as well as additional photo galleries at www.derbeschleuniger.de. Markus has also posted a victory interview with Top Methanol Dragster winner and runner-up Dennis and Timo Habermann on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/derbeschleunigerde. Steve Caton's FIA Main Event pictures can be found on his Flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/43019611@N07. Another new name to us, photography-wise at least, is John Przybyl whose FIA Main Event pictures are now showing at multicapturephotography.zenfolio.com. Rob Gallagher's excellently-named Flaming Headers web site is now showing his FIA Main Event shots and you can take a look at those at www.flamingheaders.co.uk. UK Sportsman ET racer and photographer Nigel Holland has posted the fruits of last weekend's labours on his personal web site at www.nigelholland.co.uk. Jamie Dyks attended the Pro Peak Performance Day which took place on the day before the FIA Main Event and his pictures can be found on his Fotopic site at topnitro.fotopic.net. Eurodragster.com Reserve Photographer Peter Donaldson attended the recent Yanks Weekend/Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway and his shots are available at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. The Yanks Weekend and Gary's Picnic is also the subject of the latest update on the Shakespeare County Racers web site at www.shakespearecountyracers.com. Despite suffering a knee injury Richard Smith managed to take a number of pictures of the recent UK Spring Nationals at York Raceway. Richard's shots can be found on his Fotopic site at richardsmith.fotopic.net. Hope your knee recovers soon Richard. Attention UEM Championship racers. 5th June: Geoff Myers of Trakbak Racing tells us that the producer of the TV coverage of the UEM European Drag Bike Championships has been having some difficulty in identifying some teams and their respective classes as they are not displaying correct racing numbers: The Championship promoters wish to make it clear that they expect all teams to display the correct UEM race number for the class in which they are competing before they start qualifying for round three at Alastaro, Finland, on 2nd-4th July. Only the following official UEM prefixes are acceptable: Pro Stock Bike: PSB followed by your race number Top Fuel Bike: TF followed by your race number Supertwin: ST followed by your race number A fruitful weekend. 5th June: Islanders Black and White Crew Chief and Eurodragster.com Blogger Will Hanna says that Fred Hanssen and the Frøya-based Top Methanol Dragster team are pleased with their outing at the FIA Main Event despite not taking home the event win. "Running a 5.30 in the first round really helped take the sting off our semi-final loss to Timo Habermann", says Will. "We also congratulate the Habermanns for their 'all in the family' final round affair and to Dennis for his first FIA win. "I really have to tip my cowboy hat to the Santa Pod Raceway crew as the track was phenomenal. Not to mention they worked their asses off against events that were out of their control." Will adds that the pre-race testing definitely helped the team. "We were able to do a few things differently than our normal tune-up and the results showed", says Will. "Other than the broken valve in Q2, we didn't so much as hurt a bearing all weekend. We are taking steps to prevent the valve problem from happening again. A valve with only eight runs on it shouldn't break like that, and the rpm wasn't that extreme. "We're really looking forward to Finland. The nine-man brawl that is FIA Top Methanol Dragster will continue." Alamo JD Challenge standings. 5th June: Thanks to Andy Wheeler for passing us the post-FIA Main Event standings in the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, which will award the best combined RT/against-index packages at the end of the season: For more information about the 2010 Alamo Rent a Car Junior Dragster Challenge, check out our news item Alamo backs Junior Dragster Challenge of 1st April. ©Eurodragster.com Don't forget that Alamo Rent A Car are offering 10% off car hire plus an additional 5% discount on pre-pay. By using a special web link, cars can be hired at a preferential rate from any one of 8,800 worldwide locations. So whether you are a racer needing a hire car for the FIA Main Event, an official headed for Mantorp Park, or a fan going racing in the USA then this deal is for you. As if that wasn't enough Alamo Gold, available on all rentals in the USA and Canada, includes everything you need for a stress-free rental and only costs from £30 per week on top of the fully inclusive rates. Alamo Gold includes unlimited mileage, Collision Damage Waiver, Liability Protection ($1 million liability coverage), airport fees, state/local taxes and surcharges, a tank of fuel, and additional drivers. For more details, check out the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 22nd February, or to book your discounted hire car check out www.alamo.co.uk/dragster. Swift snippets. 5th June: European fans have a couple of their own to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago as multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund and ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences are contesting the event. Qualifying continues today; as usual you will be able to stay up to date with Jimmy's and Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. Thanks to Lars Pettersson for forwarding us the picture below left of Jimmy's first qualifying shot last night. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (above right) came with the promise of more information very shortly. 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. Thank you to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for forwarding the post-FIA Main Event points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and Santa Pod Racers Club Championships. You can check out the UK points on our Speedflow-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the Speedflow Points Standings link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 of the entry lists for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th June, and the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-27th June. You can check out both entry lists by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page, and you can download the official entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the official FIA Main Event timing data. You can check out the timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Andy has also sent an updated table of European Bests now including the records set last weekend by Urs Erbacher and Steve French. You can take a look at the European Bests table by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UEM Funny Bike Cup record holder Steve French has been in touch to thank SPRC's pit runners for their work last weekend. "The call outs we received were the best we have ever had", says Steve. "We were kept informed of when we were required and they returned at regular intervals with further calls and updates. We never had to rush, we knew if we had sufficient time to change something or not or if there was a delay on the track. Well done. Please let it continue." Also grateful is UK Pro ET racer Anthony Wilkins who asked us to thank David Wilkinson of Park Road Garage of Ulverston in Cumbria for donating a further £50 for the first perfect Reaction Time at the FIA Main Event. "I won £50 from Eurodragster.com and Speedflow as well so I was made up", says Butch. "I won the money with a 0.0002 light (more luck than judgement) and will be spending it on cold beer in Spain this weekend. Cheers! As for the rest of the racing I was knocked out in the second round by Gino Bernadine in his rapid Mk1 Escort, a really close race which I lost by 0.004 of a second. If only I'd hit the brakes harder! Anyway big thanks to you both, it makes all the difference." Lee Kirk of Graham Ellis' Pro Mod team has been in touch to ask if anyone has any photographs of Graham's 6.07-second run on Sunday, particularly pictures of the team celebrating on the track immediately afterwards. "I am building up a portfolio of pics of my own but was too busy bouncing around at the time and missed some great shots", says Lee, "so if anyone has any such pictures I would be really grateful. Obviously if they are professional shots and are good enough, i.e. they capture the euphoria of the moment for the crew, I will be willing to buy them". If you can help then please drop Lee a line at kirk.family@btconnect.com. Famous faces at Xtreme Wheels. 5th June: The organisers of the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show, which takes place at the Haynes International Motor Museum on 12th-13th June, are delighted to announce that Motion Picture Motors will be attending the Show on Sunday 13th and that they will be bringing the following famous vehicles: Starsky and Hutch Ford Gran Torino Knightrider Pontiac Firebird (as seen on the recent Kwik Fit advert) Only Fools and Horses Reliant Regal Scooby Doo Ford Econoline van 1968 Bullitt Ford Mustang Flamed 1971 Chevrolet Camaro NYPD police car You can have your picture taken with any of these fantastic vehicles or even buy a ride round the Live Action Arena in the Motion Picture Motor of your choice! Passenger rides will be available on a first-come, first-served basis so make sure you book your ride on the day. You can find out more about this fantastic collection of movie cars at www.motionpicturemotors.co.uk. Xtreme Wheels will be announcing many more major exhibits over the coming week. The Xtreme Wheels Motor Show is proudly sponsored by Zubedo social media networking and Lucas Oil. For all the latest Show news and exhibits visit www.xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Editor's note: As you will have noticed we were unable to post a news update yesterday. We have a small backlog including two sponsorship announcements and a number of FIA Main Event web site updates which we shall organise and post on the next update, and please keep those news items coming to news@eurodragster.com. What's on this weekend. 3rd June: European fans have a couple of their own to cheer on at this weekend's NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago as multiple FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund and ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences are contesting the event. Qualifying commences tomorrow; as usual you will be able to stay up to date with Jimmy's and Mike's progress courtesy of our Drag Race Central colleagues at www.dragracecentral.com. The H-D Family Drag Race takes place at Lanas in France on Saturday and Sunday. This is a round of the French Association Trophée Dragster Championship and features Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Street and bikes. More details at www.promotop.org/francedrag. The NDRG Summer Nats takes place at Gardermoen in Norway between tomorrow and Sunday. This is a TSDS High Five Points Championship round and there will be two Top Doorslammers and six Supertwins in attendance as well as a big Sportsman field. Racing starts at noon tomorroe, at 10:00 on Friday, and eliminations from 09:00 on Sunday. Details including entry list and then results can be found at www.ndrg.no. DHB 2010 (Denmark's Fastest Car) takes place at Vandel Airfield, Denmark, between tomorrow and Sunday. This is a festival weekend including drag racing in street classes based on power adders and front wheel / rear wheel/ four wheel drive with 8.50 index or unlimited. The four featured classes have DKK10,000 prize money per class. In addition to the racing there will be live bands, shows, burnouts, and drifting and camping facilities are available on-site. Racing takes place between noon and 17:00 tomorrow, 08:00 to 22:00 Saturday, and 08:00 to 20:00 on Sunday. on 5-6 June The Feringe Hot Rod Association will be holding a bracket race at Hultsfreds Airport, Sweden on Saturday and Sunday with five car classes as well as Junior Dragster, Junior Bike, and Super Gas Bike. Racing is from 10:00 to 17:00 and gates open for racers at 18:00 tomorrow. More details at www.feringe.com. Also in Sweden the Spring Championship takes place at Pite Dragway on Saturday and Sunday. Organised by SHRA Luleå, the event is for the Toyo Scandinavian Drag Racing Series High Five Points Championship. Qualifying starts at 18:00 on Saturday and at 10:00 on Sunday with eliminations at 13:00 on Sunday. Admission is SEK160 on Saturday (free for kids under 12 and after 17:00) and SEK100 on Sunday (free for kids under 15). More information at www.shralulea.se and www.tsds.se. The FHRA Kamasa Tools Nationals will be taking place at Alastaro in Finland on Saturday and Sunday. Organised by the Finnish Hot Rod Association, the race includes NDRS Sportsman classes as well as Jari Parén testing his Pro Mod Corvette and Timo Lahti in his Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stocker. Racing on Saturday is from 10:00 to 18:00 and on Sunday from 11:00 to 17:00. Entrance is €20 for the weekend or €15 for one day. More details including an entry list at www.fhra.fi. A Test and Tune takes place at Serres in Greece on Saturday and Sunday. For details check out www.greekdragster.com. As mentioned on yesterday's update an international drag race takes place in Osijek on Saturday and Sunday. This event includes an exhibition by the Big Dogs as well as "The Romanian invasion" organised by Auto Klub Slavonija of Croatia in association with the Roadrunners Club of Romania. West Drag Race are organising an event at Rabaring in Hungary on Sunday. As ever you can find out more about Central European drag racing courtesy of our buddies at CeDrag.com. Swift snippets. 3rd June: After a late withdrawal the organisers of next week's Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes Museum have put out an urgent call for a Top Fuel or Top Methanol Dragster, Fuel or Top Methanol FC, or Fuel Altered to appear in the show field. If you can help then please contact Dan Welberry at dan@xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. Dan adds that it is not too late to bring other vehicles down to take part in the Show and Shine either day. On a similar subject Santa Pod Raceway are seeking classic and retro race cars to make demonstration runs at the Retro Show at Santa Pod on Sunday 18th July. If you would be interested in appearing at the Retro Show then please contact Chris Dredge at chris@santapod.com or call him on 01234 782828. Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us Version 3 of the entry lists for the SPRC Summernationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th June, and the UK Truck Show, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-27th June. Entry to to both is still open although entry to the Summernationals is now subject to a late entry fee. You can check out both entry lists by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page, and you can download the official entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Web site updates. 3rd June: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Pro Stock Bike racer Karl Lyrén reports on his weekend at the FIA Main Event where he left no-one in any doubt that he is no longer a rookie with a stunning qualifying performance wiping out his PB by a long way. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: Today's news update is somewhat abbreviated as an E-Mail from your News Editor's home to his day job containing all of today's news did not arrive. We will of course post all of the outstanding news items on the next update and please keep that news coming to news@eurodragster.com as we have plenty of room for more. Osijek's big weekend. 2nd June: The eastern Croatian town of Osijek, capital of the Slavonia region is normally a peaceful place where not too much goes on to make the national news. However, this coming weekend (5th-6th June) the town will host the biggest drag racing event seen in the Adria countries for a number of years writes Paul Fischer of CeDrag.com. Presented by the Auto Klub of Slavonija, the two days of racing will feature the normal Adria regional index racing - like Super Gas, but slower. Teams from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Serbia will gather to take advantage of a rare opportunity to compete in a big international race with full fields in all the classes. Adding to the attraction will be a large contingent of "invading" Romanian racers from the Roadrunners Club who will make the trip south from Timisoara to try their hand at break-out racing for the first time. It is likely the break-out rule will come into play much more often than usual! The hot news is that six cars from the Big Dogs class are also booked in to make a lot of noise and smoke. This is probably the first time that blown V8s in tube-framed race cars will make an appearance in this part of the world so Mike "Doc Stinger" Mugrauer's '66 Dodge Coronet and Heinz Schenk's '68 Camaro are going to open some eyes and drop a lot of jaws. Most of the others cars are twin-turbo Small Block Chevy-powered rockets except Croatian hero Edvard Galić whose 632 ci Chevy Malibu will have the fans yelling for him to win the special Big Dogs eliminator on Sunday. CeDrag.com is proud to be the class sponsor for this event. There are plenty of other hot cars turning up, not least the twin-engine BiMoto Opel Cadette of stand-out racer Siniša Basta from BiH. His V6 x 2 AWD racer is about perfect for untreated tracks, and he is accustomed to out-running all comers. The folks at Power Tuning magazine will also be there with the staff cars - two Nissan Skylines! That's what I call a company car. As far as the southern area of the central European region is concerned, this is the big one for 2010 and not to be missed. Grumpy's Main Event. 2nd June: Paul Watson of Dynospeed Developments has been in touch with a review of his weekend at the FIA Main Event, where he contested Super Street Bike: We recently bought a customer's Hayabusa which we entered for the Big Bang at Santa Pod. We got to the finalround of 8.50 Bike so we decided to enter the Main Event in Super Street Bike. However, due to work being so busy I didn't get a chance to start the transformation until seven days before the race. A big thank you to Terry and Robbyn at Mcintosh for getting the triple yokes over so quickly and to Brad at BTC for getting the AMS1000 boost controller so quick. We worked non stop with a big help from Rob at Mistral, Brad at BTC, Andy Haley, and TL Kev. To make it even harder we were working on a customer's SSB which of course comes first, but both Brad and I worked until midnight on a couple of nights to get it all done. I got to the track Thursday night with just the body to be fitted which was done thanks to Thomas Granica as I was feeling a bit brain dead by then. Qualifying started on Friday but on the first three runs we had shifting problems (well, it is a new build) then on the fourth run we spun hard in the left lane. Strange as my sixty foot times had been 1.38 in the right lane and we hadn't changed anything. On the fifth pass we managed a good run, although the bike turned the tyre a bit we still ran 8.1. We were over the moon, fitst full pass and more than I hoped for. I decided to call it a day then I was tired and wanted to check the bike over. On Saturday it rained but I kept busy with my friend Thomas Granica who had a problem with his bike. I was also helping Stavros Svrachnos in the Veidec Pro Stock Bike team. We changed a few things after his first run of 7.7 and netted a 7.47, nearly a PB (7.46), with only small changes we managed a new PB of 7.45 against Anders Abrahamsson. Unfortunately Stavros' regular crew touched the bike whilst in pre-stage and we had a blue line violation so Stavros was disqualified. But he has a good baseline now for the rest of the season and I wish him luck. On Sunday we had one qualifier and wheelied off the line. We think we reached sixty feet on the back wheel, 1.34, shame as I think this would have been a 7.9. On Monday we were faced with Dave Holland in the first rounf, a big challenge but to be honest all I wanted was my first seven-second run. Unfortunatley I rolled through the beams and redlit (thought it was strange with a 1.81 sixty foot time) ran an 8.2 but we think this would have been a 7.7 or 7.8 as the bike launched hard. Still, a good weekend. Thanks as always to the wonderful Santa Pod crew. My thanks go to Matthew Seamarks my stand-in crew on Friday, and a huge thank you to Brad at BTC without whose help none of this would be possible. A big well done to Santa Pod for a great event and battling all weekend with the weather and the down time. I'm sure I speak on behalf of all of the Super Street Bike racers when I say thank you for having us there and we would love to come again. Swift snippets. 2nd June: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for letting us know that the official points standings in the MSA British Drag Racing Championship (for Pro Modified) are now available and can be found on the Championship's official web site at www.msadragracing.co.uk. Gary Kay tells us that his daughter Jayne Kay's Super Pro ET début has been delayed by exams, a wedding and holidays. "Everything looks good to do some testing at the Mini Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway", says Gary. "This will include the logistics of getting there, and setting up a big tent for the car. We are also looking out for some help for the remainder of the season so please get in touch if you can help in any way towing, starting, setting up, pushing or pulling - any offers of help would be appreciated thank you". You can contact the team via their web site at www.pinkladyracing.moonfruit.com. Our good buddy Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe tells us that David Anniwell of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew worked until midnight on Sunday and then got out of bed again at 06:00 on Monday to work on the replacement Christmas Tree after the first choice Tree was pretty much destroyed by Rolf Ammann's Pro Mod on Sunday. "Had we lost another Tree on Monday then the Tree which David built was very nearly ready to go by the time we started on Monday", says Andy. A big thumbs up to David, and indeed to all of the timing, track and safety crews and Race Officials who had to deal with just about everything at the weekend. As you will have worked out we had a day off yesterday after rather a busy weekend, but that unfortunately meant that we were unable to say a big Happy Birthday to our good friend Andrea Kloss whose birthday it was. We hope you had a good day Andrea and we'll see you in August. A big Happy Birthday for today (Wednesday) to our good buddy Kjell Pettersson. You have a good day Kjell and we'll see you in a few weeks. A new record was set on Monday for the number of unique visitors to Eurodragster.com in a single day. No less than 18,835 unique visitors logged in to check out our FIA Main Event coverage and between them generated 2,498,141 hits. Some of this is pretty obviously down to additional US visitors wanting to find out how Melanie Troxel fared but from Simon, Roger, Kirstie, Ed and Tog a heartfelt Thank You to all of our readers, to the racers without whom we'd have nothing to report upon, to the Clubs, officials and promoters who give us the facilities to do it, and to our sponsors who pay for it all. We're not sure how much more clear we could make it but after yet another set of unpleasant experiences over the weekend we must repeat that copying anything from Eurodragster.com without permission and posting it on other web sites, forums, Facebook etc. whether it be news items, race results, pit notes or photographs is theft and we view it as such. We copy-protect our work for a reason and seeing as that is obviously not enough we have now introduced other measures to prove beyond doubt that our work has been copied (although we have all those who stole our work this weekend banged to rights). Those who have existing arrangements with us may of course continue to use our work, and all anyone else has to do is to have the courtesy to ask - we are not necessarily going to refuse. Editor's note: Having had our day off we're up and running again today so don't hesitate to send your FIA Main Event reviews, SPRC Summernationals or other race previews, or other news to news@eurodragster.com. Xtreme Wheels help sought. 2nd June: Mike Kason is seeking help to get his vehicles to next week's Xtreme Wheels Motor Show at the Haynes Museum near Yeovil. Mike is seeking help with transport from Ruislip to the Museum in any combination of the below: Transporter for either Mike's Ferrari van and/or race car Towing Mike's own trailer with the race car Supply and tow a trailer to take either Mike's Ferrari van or his race car Driving Mike's Ferrari van If you can help then please contact the Xtreme Wheels Motor Show organisers at dan@xtremewheelsshow.co.uk. Web site updates. 2nd June: In the final instalment in our exclusive FIA Main Event Super Street Bike Racer Blog presented in association with Alamo Rent A Car, Stephen Moon reflects on the race itself. As ever you can stay in touch with the latest Blog updates by clicking here or by clicking on the Alamo Blogs link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. First with the FIA Main Event photo updates is Dick Bodily whose shots of Sunday's action you can check out at dicksphotos.fotopic.net. Our good buddy Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive with pictures from the Yanks Weekend/Gary's Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can take a look at Alan's work via the What's New link at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk. Earlier news