Woollatt ready to light up.
31st July: UK Top Fuel bike racer Steve Woollatt is ready to return to the track after suffering major engine damage at the FIA Main Event in May. Steve and his team have been hard at work on the rebuild and will be running the bike for the first time at next weekend's Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway.

"It's been a real thrash", says Steve. "We lost a rod at the Main Event. The crank was starved of oil because a pipe had collapsed internally, the flow was reduced by fifty per cent. It was showing pressure but it wasn't flowing. I don't think it could have happened all on one pass, it must have started to go throughout the weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
Steve says that things were in a bit of a state. "You would not believe what the old cases look like", he says. "If you took a new crank case and a sledgehammer and hit it continually for eight hours you couldn't damage them that much! And I found shrapnel in places you wouldn't have thought possible, that so much went around is testament to the Pace fuel pump."

Pete Davies of Puma Engineering straightened the crankshaft, so that can be used again, but Steve says that an entire catalogue of other parts had to be found. Phil Baimbridge came to the rescue by coming on board as a sponsor and giving Steve a lot of parts to put everything back together. "I am very grateful to Phil both for sponsoring me and for his help with the rebuild", says Steve. "Phil and I had to redesign all of the drives because the new cases are three millimetres wider. You wouldn't have thought that it would have made such a difference, but believe me it does! It has been an arduous task."

Steve's old cases can't be raced again, but he believes that they could be of use. "If anyone wants to use my old cases as a dummy for building a bike then they are very welcome", he says.

Steve and his team are now headed for the Bulldog Bash where the bike will be fired up for the first time and will then be run on the track if everything works. Steve will then be back at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of August for the next round of the ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship, which he currently leads, and then plans to take on the FIM's finest at the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September.

"I would like to thank my sponsors Bikes Of Brighton, Born To Be Wild, Polygram Engineering, Fearnley Engineering, G-Max Racing Fuels, Motorcycles Unlimited of London, NGK Europe Limited, Richa Leathers, Uvex Helmets and Phil Baimbridge", says Steve, "and I would also like to say a big Thank You to my team of of Chris Powell, Phil Baimbridge, Pete Janko, Phil Reynolds, Jackie Jones and Steve Conway. Without their I would not be back doing this."

A Free ride.
31st July: Ex-pat UK Supertwin Fuel racer Ben Beneke had to stand and watch his partner Free have all the fun last week, as she licenced on a Pro Stock Bike at their local track in Australia.

"Free licenced at a country eighth-mile track, but a more friendly facility would be hard to find", says Ben. "When they found out it was Free's first ever time up a drag strip, and on a slick as well, they held up all the cars and bikes in the staging lanes to give her first go on the freshly sprayed tracked! How nice was that?

"After the first two passes, where Free was just trying to remember all the things that she had to do, the next three passes where progressively better and better. On the last pass the tyre started spinning after sixty feet and the bike snaked the back end a few times. Free calmly feathered the throttle very slightly to get it lined up again and powered on through. I don't know if I can cope with the way my heart was pounding though.

"So, it looks like we have another new member of the racing fraternity well and truly hooked - God help our bank accounts!"
©Eurodragster.com
Santa Pod keeping busy.
31st July: Ian Edgecombe of Santa Pod Raceway writes to remind readers that although the track has only just hosted the Mopar European Nationals, it will be teeming with activity again this weekend with another Run What You Brung this Sunday, 3rd August. "Admission on the day is still only 10 per person plus an additional 15 if people want to sign-on their car for unlimited runs up the track", says Iain. "Those who wish to travel on Saturday and camp over on Saturday night are welcome to do so. The cost to do this will be 15, which includes admission and camping. For more information regarding signing-on to participate in the Run What You Brung, please visit our official web site at www.santapod.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Bike photo-journalist and Supertwin Fuel racer Ian Turburville is also in reminding mien, having been in touch to remind racers that Santa Pod have dedicated a prime weekend to bike racers. "Perfectly placed between the Bulldog and the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County, On 2 Wheels is a bike-only RWYB on Saturday 16th August", says Turbo. "The track will be fully prepped and admission is 10 per person with unlimited runs for 15 per sign-on. You can come for the whole weekend as Santa Pod also have a RWYB on Sunday 17th August: admission for the whole weekend is 15 per person. The bar will be open on Saturday afternoon, and the usual good food will be available from the Café and vendors, so it sounds like a brilliant weekend for racers and anyone who wants to try their bike down the famous strip."

You'll like this...
31st July: UK Wild Bunch racer Tom Coe is set to show his fellow racers and fans yet another of his talents as he will be holding a magic show at York Raceway during its UK Northern Nationals on 9th-10th August.
©Eurodragster.com
"I'll be starting at about 7:00 pm on Saturday night if all goes to plan", says Tom. "All but one of the tricks have arrived, but it should be here in time. I've been practising a lot, and a magician friend and I are working on a big finale which should be a real knockout. If it's not too cold, look out for my gorgeous assistant on the night - all will be revealed then. It should be a good laugh and I'm really looking forward to it. Hope to see you all there!"

If you wish to have anyone vanished then please contact Tom direct.

VW points updated.
31st July: We are very grateful to Spencer Tramm for sending us the post-Bug Jam standings in the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships. You can view the points standings by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
31st July: Nostalgia fans will know that we are very well-served by some excellent web sites and the latest update to Alan Curran's Acceleration Archive will bring back some very fond memories. "You have heard of Bridget Jones' Diary - how about the Peter Jones Galleries?", says Alan. "Peter is a keen drag racing fan and photographer from way back. He co-wrote a book called Drive It - The Complete Book of British Drag Racing some years back with David Hardcastle. As a result he was able to get himself a great deal nearer the action than most of us. His first page of pictures on the Acceleration Archive features candid shots of Slammin' Sammy Miller, Roy Phelps, Russ Carpenter, Peter Crane and Dennis Priddle, plus some great action shots including a wheelie from John Clift on his Co-Respondent motorcycle". Don't miss this latest update at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Patrik Jacobsson of the superb Racebilder.nu web site got a pleasant surprise when he attended this week's meeting of the 'Old Car Club' in his native Trollhttan. "Most of the cars are from the 1940s and 1950s, both European and US cars", says Patrik. Tonight, visitors got a real nice surprise when they walked around Opels, Jaguars, Volvos etc. Fredde Fagerström's Pro Mod Pick-up was there!". You can find pictures at www.racebilder.nu/bilder/utstallningar/2003/slussarna.

Channel 4 seek Monster mechanics.
31st July: UK TV station Channel 4 is on the lookout for Britain's top mechanics and skilled car enthusiasts to take part in a brand new series called Monster Garage.

Each week a team of expert mechanics will transform an ordinary street car into a utility vehicle with a specific function. It could be a Porsche converted to a lawnmower, a Cadillac to a fire engine, or a hearse to a car crusher - but they must beat the original utility vehicle in competition. And they will be working against the clock and on a limited budget.

Series producer Dan Barraclough said: "This is a great opportunity for the best in their business to show their skills on national television. We'll have a new team each week so there is plenty of opportunity to get involved." The programme makers want people with a range of skills - so whether you're a Formula 3000 mechanic, a welder, a body work fiend, a hydraulics specialist or a stock car builder they'd like to hear from you.

Producer Andy Mullins said: "What matters is that we use people who really are at the top of their game, people who can go that extra mile to make a machine that works, still looks like stock but can be transformed at the push of a button."

If you're interested in finding out more call Andy on 020 7737 8908 or E-Mail andrew.mullins@granadamedia.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Curran joins Veidec PSB team.
30th July: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Helen Curran is to join the Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team to race alongside Sweden's Roger Pettersson. Helen, who impressed on Paul Rose's Pro Stock Bike last season, will be racing the team's second bike starting at the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim after Norway's Øivind von Essen quit at the weekend. The Veidec team were feeling the pressure at Mantorp Park as their main sponsor was also the event sponsor, writes Crew Chief Roger Lyrén
©Eurodragster.com
"That pressure also pushes you to give the best performance on the track", says Roger. "Roger Pettersson rode the bike extremely consistently, and Henke did a great job on the bike. It worked really well: number one qualifier at 7.37/181.69, very close to an other European record, we set the track records for both ET and speed. We were so impressed with the track, impressive work by Kjell Pettersson, Ian Marshall and all the staff.

"Øivind von Essen didn't have the best weekend. He broke his crank in the second qualifying session and then quit, so he won't be racing again this season. But the other Veidec bike will be on the track again at Hockenheim with Helen Curran from England in the seat.

"We are very pleased to have Helen on board in the Veidec team. She is a very good rider and has the right racing spirit for us, and it is always fun to get another bike on the track. So far the deal is that Helen will ride Øivind von Essen's Bike with our 2-v engine (best of 7.39/181) so she will get a good bike. Atle Pedersen will remain as Crew Chief, and Paul and Jörgen will be assisting the team, and of course Helen will be under the wing of Veidec Racing with their full support. Helen will race at Hockenheim and the European Finals; that is what has been decided so far. We need to get some sponsors in for this so if anyone is interested please contact me by E-Mail at roger@motospeed.se or proracer@telia.com.

"The Veidec team came to Mantorp with high goals, but the preceding weeks have been extremely busy making all the arrangements for sponsors and other VIP guests, of whom we had more than three hundred over the weekend. We served them with breakfast and lunch, and on Saturday night we held a barbecue with grilled pig for all of the Veidec sales organisation - more than fifty people! I would like to thank everyone who worked for us this weekend, especially my wife Malin Lyrén and her sisters Maria and Eva who took care of the VIPs with very good food and a big smile! Big thanks also to all the others who made this possible: Henke, Lasse, Lotta, Sussie, Jorgen, Sven, Bengt, Sara, Karl, Orjan - they did great job.

"We are now heading for Norway and we are hoping to set some low 7.3-second runs. If we compare our runs from Santa Pod we did went nine hundredths faster over the eighth mile at Santa Pod than we did on the 7.37 run at Mantorp. So if we improve the sixty and three hundred and thirty feet times and if the has a good back half then we can go into the 7.2 zone.

"I would like to thank our sponsors VEIDEC, Suzuki, MotoSpeed, Vance and Hines Motorsport, Valvoline, Wiklunds, Arlen Ness, RK, NGK, Shoei, Papyrus, Mickey Thompson, VP Race Fuels, Cometic Gaskets, and JE Pistons."

You can find the Veidec Racing web site at www.veidecracing.com.

Nilsson's puzzling weekend.
30th July: Also on the subject of the Veidec race team, NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Champion Håkan Nilsson and his team were in a good mood going into the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park, writes team member Ulf Stadig.

"We had our victory from the last event at Alastaro fresh in our memories and the plan was to bring that momentum with us through the whole weekend", says Ulf. "We got a lovely pit placing due to the fact that our main sponsor Veidec was also the main sponsor for this classic event. The event was also hosting the Swedish Pro Mod Championship so it felt really awesome to bring our Veidec Rocket.

"On our first run we underestimated the awesome traction at Mantorp Park, we 'only' recorded 6.63 but that at least took us to second qualifying spot. On Saturday we made some small adjustments to try to get back to our normal place in the 'forty zone', the last session was a pretty good looking run as the Veidec Rocket picked up the pace to a 6.51 and made us low qualifiers for a moment, unfortunately we were moved back one spot in the end.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were scheduled to run one round of eliminations on Saturday evening to bring our sixteen-car field down to eight but the rain took out those plans. Our first elimination run was rescheduled to the Sunday morning, and we took out Norbert Kuno with a not so good 6.76. The track was so good this morning that we fell short in our clutch set-up. In the quarter final we had to face Henri Joosten, we had now figured out the track conditions and outran him with 6.46 which was very satisfying for us. We were now were we wanted to be when the weekend started but sometimes things just dont go the way you want to, and that was just what happened in the semi-final against Roger Johansson. We managed to put in 6.46 run again and that made our Veidec Rocket the fastest Pro Mod car of the event but that didnt help us much as Roger took the lead at the start and managed to hold off our quicker run.

"Then the rain started to fall again, so our race against Thomas Nataas for third place in the Swedish Championship against Tomas Nataas has been rescheduled to Gardermoen this upcoming weekend. It was a pretty strange weekend, some small pieces of our puzzle didnt really fall in the right places. We are right now looking forward to storming down the lovely Norwegian race track as the Drag Challenge has always been a good event for us. We have been low qualifier and have ended up in the winners' circle two years in a row, and we are more than ready to make it a third year!

"Big thanks to Rickard Plsson and Veidec for their support of our team. It was great to be able to show the whole company what we do at the Veidec Nitro Festival!"

You can find a much more detailed report and pictures on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at Champion www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

AC Delco team face thrash.
30th July: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster News last week, you will recall that reigning FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren and the AC Delco team were hoping to contest the Veidec Nitro Festival with just one engine, after having to swap engines at the event in 2002. Team member Magnus Cato tells us that it didn't work out.

"At first the track looked bad to us, but we were proven wrong in the first run as we slipped the clutch badly", says Magnus. "On the next run we finally set a new track record, with the first six-second run at Mantorp. We went over the top with joy. Corrected for weather this was a very good run, among the top five I guess, and we saw the possibility to go even faster on the next run. We adjusted the Camaro and were ready to read the scoreboard when we saw a puff of smoke coming out of the car, and then Michael lifted. The first thought was 'that looked expensive'! And it was, we more or less totalled the engine.
©Eurodragster.com
"Our spare engine had to replace O'bej, but we've never had it in the car, so we didn't know what to expect. O'bejb - our number two engine - has a different torque curve to O'bej, and we didn't find the right clutch combination so we lost in second round. Now it's a hectic week in our shop to dismantle O'bej to see whats happened, and assembling another engine as a spare for the Norwegian round. If things work out right for us, we may get O'bej back on track at Hockenheim, otherwise we could be in trouble as Jan Murén looks very powerful, Jimmy Ålund has a strong combination, so does Eero Knihtilä and so on. This season has the best Pro Stock field I've ever seen in Europe."

Smax has nightmares of red...
30th July: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster News on Monday you will have heard Carbon By Design Top Fuel team owner Knut Söderquist's view on his team's weekend, which included a shock first-round exit for #2 qualifier and FIA European Championship leader Smax Smith. Smax, who still leads the FIA Championship (see below) in the Purple Loans-sponsored fueller, has been in touch with his take on the weekend.

"The track was prepared to a fantastic standard by the crew including guys from the Pod - they are an excellent crew and deserve their reputation", says Smax. "The Swedish fans were out for a good time and, notwithstanding the weather, they had a good show. The interaction of the custom and hot rod scene with drag racing is great to see, and the standard of the Scandinavian customs was first class. The racing was superb - I loved standing on my barrel of nitro in the pits watching over the barrier as the heavy machinery squatted at the start and hurtled down the track. Truly awesome!

"Friday was fantastic, getting #2 qualifier in the purple dream machine, despite lifting off just before the finish line as I tried the chutes on the notoriously short Mantorp shut off area. Al Jackson had dialled in another 4.89 so a 4.95 was awesome, but I was disappointed that I missed number one qualifier by two thousandths of a second! I could have had #1 qualifier points and an extra twenty points for a bye into the semis. I decided to sit out the Saturday qualifying - no loss as the rain hammered down.
©Eurodragster.com
"Then it went a little wrong. I knew Tommy Möller would have dialled in a good time when I met him in the first round, and we were kept in the cars for thirty minutes due to an oil down. When called into stage I staged light and last and went on the amber - but jumped the lights pulling a big fat cherry! I was happy for Tommy getting into the fours again, he had struggled last couple of meets so he was buzzing! I had to spend the rest of the day watching the racing from the pits. I did feel bad but these things happen in racing. I started doing a rain dance to keep the finals from happening to preserve the points lead! Congrats to Kim and Andy for getting to the final, and to Kim for low ET - you're scaring me!

"We had a great crew this weekend running Susanne Callin and myself from the one trailer. Spikey Sparky was pleased with himself sorting the four-second clutch along with Uncle Dave, as were Terry and Animal Mark on heads, Gary Page did the bottom end with Mack as well as seeing over Susanne's car with 'Daddy's girl and money' Gordon Callin. Dave Bryant and Nicky from the Shockwave team pitched in along with the Belfast Brothers Ray and Brian, whilst Knut and Alan ran around sorting out the requirements of Knut's three cars and Leif Helander's nitro Funny Car (my old Mainline Menace, now looking sexy and sounding awesome). I was also glad that Carlo Gandolfi and family got busy helping as I blew the injector off the car when the clutch welded up after one run and bump started the engine!

"Scares for the weekend were Susanne Callin's fireball in the semis - but thankfully she was OK - and Ian King's awful nitro fire on his fuel bike when a line broke. Thankfully the burns to his legs were not as bad as they could have been and he was at the track the following day. I wish him a speedy recovery and return to the track. Lastly poor Tommi Haapanen was very sore when Anita Mäkelä ran over him burning his leg with the header flames despite not checking her husband's insurance policy!

"I awoke this morning after having nightmares of red - the bad bulb and Andy Carter's red car in the final! Andy looking good and what did I spy - feeding sandwiches to the crew whilst waiting on the start line - is this a new form of bribery to get the best out of the guys. Great idea, but white bread - not good for you! We're off to Norway on Thursday, a fast track and we're looking forward to this event."

...and Bashes SCR again.
30th July: Shortly before we went to post this news update, we heard from Smax that he will be making his traditional appearance at the Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway on 8th-10th August, but in neither the Purple Loans-backed Top Fueller nor his Top Methanol Funny Car.
©Eurodragster.com: credit this or die
"I will be driving John and Lesley Wright's beautiful Top Fuel Dragster", says Smax. "It's a one-off deal to entertain the huge crowd and hopefully to beat Andy Carter's 5.19/288 track record. The Shakespeare crew are promising to prep the track to the max, and after Darryl Bradford ran an awesome 5.4 on a thousand-foot pass we're going after it!"

The Bulldog Bash is one of the UK's biggest bike events with a huge Run What You Brung, show and shine, custom show, live bands, trade stands, exhibition vehicles and a lot more. "It's a truly fantastic event headlined by Fun Lovin' Criminals and a massive line up of support bands and shows as well as drag racing both days - add this one to your calendar!", says Smax. You can find the Bulldog Bash web site at www.bulldogbash.co.uk.

King's thanks.
30th July: As Smax mentioned above, UK Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King had a scary ride in qualifying on Saturday when a fuel line broke just after half-track and he and the bike disappeared in a huge fireball. The safety teams were there as Ian got the bike stopped and his injuries, although bad enough, were nowhere as bad as we feared. Ian has been in touch to thank everyone who has helped him.

"I'd personally like to thank everyone who has contacted me regarding my injuries after the fireball incident at the weekend", says Ian.

"I'd also like to particularly thank the track crew, the medical personnel, the Gibbs and Glassup families, Andy Carter, the Koedam, Pels, Van Geffen, Hope and Gipp teams, and last but not least my team of Michael Beaumont, Marc Fossey and Nick Pepper for the fantastic amount of work put in to return the bike to almost good condition after the incident.

"I will post a full report after my release from hospital where I am due skin graft procedures, but just to say that if we can raise the necessary finance to repair the bike, and my legs heal well enough, I plan to race at Hockenheim in three weeks' time."

Ian has updated his web site at www.kingracing.com with the FIM/UEM Championship standings after the Veidec Nitro Festival.
©Eurodragster.com
FIM/UEM Championship review.
30th July: FIM/UEM European Championship co-ordinator Lars Andersson kindly sent a review of the weekend's two-wheeled action at Mantorp Park.

"As you probably all know the race was disturbed by rain", says Lars. "But we did have three good qualifying sessions and a good race except for the finals. On Friday we started at 3:00 and on Saturday we had to finish at 16.40 and lost the last round of qualifying. And on Sunday the rain arrived just as we were going to start the finals in all Championship classes.

"In Pro Stock Bike Roger Pettersson qualified number one and he was also in the finals against Vesa Rautio. Anders Larsson was back and we also saw some other new Swedish bikes. Helle Hanssen from Denmark was first alternate and joined the ladder because Øivind von Essen from Norway had some problems. He broke the engine qualifying on Friday and that was it for the weekend.

"In Top Fuel Bike the normally-strong Norwegians had no luck. Jon Leret broke and didn't qualify. Sverre Dahl broke a camshaft and Nils Ole Lund's bike refused to start in eliminations. England's Ian King had a very spectacular qualifier which ended in a big fireball. One of the fuel lines broke and pumped fuel on the engine. This resulted in a fire which looked from very bad from behind. Ian was burnt as was the bike but things were not so bad. There were eight blown Fuel bikes in the ladder and Roel Koedam and Peter Andersson Ström were in the final. Koedam ran a 6.29, much better than we all thought possible at Mantorp. Peter Andersson Ström is also very good at the moment, he ran a 6.4 pass. We are hoping that Peter will come to more races because the bike looks very good now.

"Supertwin was very exciting. Four bikes in the sixes, as usual Ton Pels and Per Bengtsson led. But in eliminations they both went out in the first round. That threw it open for Ronny Assen, who also qualified in the sixes, to go to the final and he now has a small lead in the Championship. In the quarter finals there were three bikes from Norway and one from Sweden, Sweden's Greger Johansson couldn't do any thing against Ronny. but his bike is now working very well."

The next round of the FIM/UEM Championships takes place at this weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen. "With Roger Petersson, Roel Koedam and Ronny Assen in the lead it will be a very interesting race in Norway", says Lars. "Most of the teams are waiting for that excellent track. My personal feeling is that we are going to ses some new records and a nice race."
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Championship points.
30th July: We are indebted to FIA European Championship co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending the latest Championship standings. The top three in each class are:

Top Fuel Dragster
  1. Smax Smith 206
  2. Andy Carter 174
  3. Kim Reymond 173
Top Methanol Dragster
  1. Peter Schöfer 233
  2. Dave Wilson 225
  3. Krister Johansson 109
Top Methanol Funny Car
  1. Urs Erbacher 289
  2. Leif Andréasson 171
  3. Ulf Leanders 162
Pro Stock
  1. Michael Malmgren 244
  2. Jan Murén 196
  3. Rune Berg 185
You can view the FIA Championship points by clicking here, or on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Record set at Mantorp.
30th July: Thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers for sending updated versions of his European Bests tables after the Veidec Nitro Festival. "The only change is Dave Wilson's Top Methanol Dragster speed record, which he reset to 260.99 mph", says Andy. "Worthy of note are that Urs Erbacher missed the Top Methanol FC speed record by 0.27 with his 249.40, and that Roger Pettersson missed the Pro Stock Bike speed record by just .08."
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the updated European Bests by clicking here, or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Bad Nova's summer tour.
30th July: Dutch Super Gas racer Robert Joosten is back at home with his Bad Nova after a journey of almost three thousand kilometres, which started at the MPM Internationals at Drachten and ended at Mantorp Park.

"After Drachten we originally planned to take a holiday in Denmark before heading to Mantorp", says Robert. "But after a few days on the beach, that racing feeling starts again! So when we were invited to go and race in irshals in the north of Denmark we packed things up and took third place in an Outlaw Street Race, heads-up to 150 metres. Then we headed to Sweden to run at Mantorp.

"We had some trouble finding the right set-up. The track is uphill, and the air was different to the Netherlands. We managed to take fourteenth place in a very tough twenty eight car field. The first round was lucky, the other car had broken its engine. The second round was a very nice race against our good Danish friends from the Mom's Toy team. She redlit Bad rumbled to a very nice 9.93 sec. In the third round we were against Pelle, a very good racer and one of few cars which can chase me! We ran the same ET to 0.001 of a second, but Pelle beat me with a 0.029 light, against my 0.039. So it was time to go home after spending almost three weeks on the road.

"A few funny things:
  • A guy sitting to do his thing, in a Dixy toilet when they had already picked it up on put it on a truck!
  • Tim Adam (always fun with this guy)
  • When I took Jerry, my one year old son, on a ride on the quad through the pit area, he managed to fall asleep in my arms. So all racers are looking and laughing at him. No other kid will ever fall asleep on a quad!
  • Levi, Jan Selles' six-year-old kid, fell asleep watching Top Fuel!
"A few nice things:
  • Kim Reymond running a personal best in Top Fuel
  • Henry Joosten running in the 6.7s
  • The beautiful landscape in Sweden
  • Harry Sturhan qualifying number one at Mantorp
  • Talking to Lenny, the former owner of my race car
"A few no-so-nice things:
  • Henri Joosten going in the end trap when only one parachute came out, and damaging the front of his car.
  • Super Gas racer David Vegter damaged his engine after only two runs at Mantorp
  • The small roads and big hills in Sweden
  • Seeing Ian King blow up his fuel bike at full speed, and burning his legs
  • The rain at Mantorp.
"I would like to thank the following people who made this journey possible. My sponsors Leon, Jaap and Marcel, the Moms Toy racing team, Jan and Jaap Selles and family who came and helped at Mantorp, and all the other racers. And, of course, my lovely wife Patricia."
©Eurodragster.com
Fred Furlong team report.
30th July: With a new bike for this year and a move up to 9.90 Bike, UK racer Fred Furlong was not sure how things would pan out this season, he writes.

"Crescent Suzuki of British Superbike fame were persuaded to help us with the purchase of a GSXR1000", says Fred. "We figured that power to weight ratio along with detailed chassis changes would make this little 988cc Suzuki more than a match for the Busa's and nitrous bikes in the 9.90 bracket class. Early season testing showed promise but a further two tenths were needed to be competitive. A change of oil to Silkolene and an MT on the rear showed that breaking out was possible and therefore we had a competitive bike. After five rounds of the eight round series things have gone well so far. Three number one qualifiers, one of which was a perfect 9.900, and reaching the final four times means we lead the national series by a small margin. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Crescent Suzuki, Dunlop Tyres, Silkolene Oils, Talon Sprockets, Earl's hoses, Falcon Shocks and Furlong tyres, trackside distributor for Mickey Thompson."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
30th July: The official web site of Sweden's Micke Kågered Racing has been updated with a report and pictures from the Bahco Tools- and Quaker State-sponsored Top Fuel Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car team's weekend at the Veidec Nitro Festival. Check it out at www.kagered-racing.com.

Markus Ek has updated his fan site at www.mek.nu with over two hundred pictures from the Veidec Nitro Festival.

The UK's Team Orange Pro ET team web site has been updated with the latest news on Steve Wells' fan-favourite wheelstanding Ford Pop pick-up. "You may have noticed that I have not been launching the pop as hard as usual for the last couple of meetings", says Steve. "This is because we kept losing the pre-load which I put in the suspension to stop it turning right off the start line. This has now been traced to the rear axle bending. It has now been sraightened and suitably braced by Webster Race Engineering, ready for some more abuse". You can find out more at www.teamorange.org.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Veidec Nitro Festival curtailed.
28th July: FIA, FIM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified remained undecided at the end of this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park, after it rained as the finalists were collecting in the pairing lanes.

The uncompleted finals were:

Top Fuel Dragster: Kim Reymond v Andy Carter
Top Methanol Dragster: Peter Schfer v Krister Johansson
Top Methanol Funny Car: Urs Erbacher v Jrgen Johnsson
Pro Stock: Jimmy lund v Eero Knihtil
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Christer Jacobs v Roger Johansson
Top Fuel Bike: Roel Koedam v Peter Andersson Strm
Supertwin: Ronny Aasen v Hans-Olav Olstad
Pro Stock Bike: Roger Pettersson v Vesa Rautio
©Eurodragster.com
The Nordic Drag Racing Series Sportsman classes were completed and the winners and runners-up were:

Comp Eliminator: Lars-ke Karlsson (7.91) 7.393/292.22 def. Micke Callin (8.27) 8.004/225.87
Super Comp: Pekka Kiviniemi 8.971/235.41 def. Sami Saapola 8.997/250.31 red light
Twinlab Super Gas: Mats Lindkvist 9.934/212.05 def. Bosse Hall 9.921/209.19
Super Street: Janne Carlsson 10.869/198.87 def. Lase Koskinen 10.920/192.28 red light
Stock/Superstock: Erik Wallin (10.97) 10.998/187.41 def. Jimmy Arvidsson (11.15) 11.212/187.01
Junior Dragster: Christoffer Jadersten (8.97) 9.045/118.13 def. Erik Johansson (9.10) 9.130/114.63 red light

Weather interruptions aside it was an excellent weekend at Mantorp Park which saw European records broken, track records smashed out of sight and a lot of close-fought racing. Eurodragster and Svensk Dragracing collaborated on the Event Coverage, which you can find on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.

One piece of unfinished business from the Veidec Nitro Festival is to be completed at next weekend's Drag Challenge at Gardermoen. The Swedish Pro Modified Championship, which is an annual event contained within NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod eliminations at the Festival, will have its first/second and third/fourth races run on the Saturday of next week's race. Christer Jacobs and Roger Johansson will compete for the title of Swedish Pro Mod Champion, and Hkan Nilsson and Thomas Nataas will contest the third/fourth place run-off.

Missed breakfast? Then red light!
28th July: One of the shocks of the weekend at the Veidec Nitro Festival was the first-round exit of FIA Top Fuel Championship leader Smax Smith. Smax was delayed on his way to the track and rounded off a miserable morning by pulling a -0.250 red light in the Purple Loans-sponsored dragster. Car owner Knut Sderquist was able to see the funny side.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were on the verge of putting a blonde wig on Gary Page when Smax turned up!", said Knut. "Smax was delayed getting to the track and didn't get breakfast, so we think that he redlit so that he could get back to the the trailer to have something to eat!"

It wasn't the best event for the three Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragsters as apart from Smax's red light, Susanne Callin's dragster put out a rod and Micke Kgered's Bahco Tools-sponsored dragster lost a blower belt. Knut however was pretty upbeat. "It wasn't a bad weekend", he said. "To run three dragsters and only lose one engine isn't a big problem!"

The CBD team are now headed for next weekend's Drag Challenge at Gardermoen where as things stand they will be fielding two cars, the Purple Loans and Bahco Tools dragsters. "We were looking at running the red dragster, but although we have a block back in the car it's all the other little things which take time we don't have", said Gary Page who was mooted as driver at Gardermoen. "It's difficult to work on a car and drive it anyway".

Smith OK after freak crash.
28th July: Whilst we were at Mantorp Park we were shocked to hear that UK Super Gas racer Ritchi Smith had suffered a top end collision at the Mopar Nats at Santa Pod Raceway, badly damaging his just-débuted Vauxhall Ventura. We were pleased to hear that Ritchi is OK, but the bad news is that his racing career is on hold.

"Following a freak collision with a Plymouth Roadrunner driven by a Belgian racer in the shutdown area, my Vauxhall Ventura Super Gasser is no more!", says Ritchi. "The chassis and drivetrain are OK, but the body is wrecked after rolling over the armco.
©Eurodragster.com
"I now have to sit back and take stock. Sadly, putting another Ventura body on the chassis is not an option as shells and new panels are very scarce. I think I must have had the last pair of new rear wings in the country on the car. To be honest, even if I could find a breaker I don't think I would be able to go through all the work that comes with restoring one - ask Andy Frost!

"After seven great years racing and many more years spectating, drag racing is in my blood, so I will be back, but as I had just finished the car and pumped thousands into it, it could be quite a while. Panel beaters are not wealthy! Many thanks to everyone who has helped and supported me with racing the Zephyr and Ventura over the years. I'm down but I ain't out!"

Ritchi would also like to hear from any of fellow Super Gas racer Will Furniss' crew on 01279 304710 or 07980 898952.

Sleath starts on return.
28th July: Another racer who suffered a crash this season was Custom Car Street Eliminator racer John Sleath, who lost an oil line in his eight-second street-legal Audi and hit the guardrail at Santa Pod's Easter Thunderball. John has been in touch to say that he has decided upon his new race car, and you will not be surprised to hear that it is another Audi, in this case a 1990 S2 Coupe. "It should be finished in time for closed-season testing and ready for racing next year", says John.
©Eurodragster.com
You can find pictures of the work in progress at www.audiracing.co.uk or on John's web site at www.john-sleath.com.

Beck back.
27th July: Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer Peter Beck is to make a return to the track at the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim in August and the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. Peter will be driving Rune Fjeld's Top Fueller which has been driven by Øyvor Jacobsen so far this season.
©Eurodragster.com
"This car is nearly new, and for me its a great challenge to go full throttle in a modern and fast car!", says a very happy Peter Beck. "With Runes experience and knowledge I will be in good hands, even though I have been absent for two years."

"Peter and I, and our crew Martin, Beat, Christian and Roland are looking forward to working with Rune and his crew", adds Team Manager and Peter's partner Regula.

You can find the Top Fuel Team Switzerland web site at www.topfuel.ch.

Motler enjoys island weekend.
26th July: The UK's Spellbound Pro ET team was one of several to make the trip to the recent Victory Wheelers show at Thorney Island, an event held on an army base which has an old runway ideal for Run What You Brung action. Malcolm and Marcie Motler kindly sent us a report of their weekend.

The weekend was a great success with over nine cars and people pre-booked for the weekend as opposed to five hundred last year - and that doesn't include the people who came on a daily basis. The weather was fantastic and the crowds loved the side by side drag racing which was on offer this year. In the interest of safety the decision was taken that the race cars would do solo runs, and the street and custom cars could go side by side. Here's a run-down of the runs that we know of (unfortunately we couldn't get everybody):

Fastest run of the weekend was 10.16/140 by Steve Good in his Pulse Rate Pro ET Cavalier, Simon Farmer ran a 10.72/150 in his Super comp Nova, Rob Faulkner ran a 10.79/146.8 in his Crossfire Super Comp Camaro, and Malcolm ran 11.27/120 in his Spellbound Pro ET Morris Minor pick-up.
©Eurodragster.com
Steve Good was thrilled with his run showing that 'them there Rovers can go' . The time was just over two tenths off what the car runs on a fully prepared track, so not bad for an old runway. Steve also had the opportunity to use his parachute for the first time, and what a buzz that was. Rob and Simon's Super Comp cars both struggled to put the power onto the track with some wiggly runs which the crowd enjoyed with ohhs and ahs! Malcolm made an improvement of four tenths on last year's time, all down to a very soft launch - as opposed to the tyre spinning launches of last year - and then gunned it all the way. Malcolm was also only two tenths off the average performance on a fully prepped track.

Everyone seemed to enjoy all the entertainment provided over the weekend, including the displays and stalls run by the Army, the hundreds of beautiful hot rods and custom cars, the fun fair (including the legendary bumper cars), the beer tents and excellent evening discos. We would like to thank the Victory Wheelers and everyone involved in organising this superb weekend, and we will all be back next year for another great time!

Norfolkline offer ferry discount.
25th July: Ferry company Norfolkline are offering discounts to racers travelling from the UK to Europe for the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim, or from Europe to the UK for the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod.

"Subsidised fares are available between Dover and Dunkerque for racers, crew, race car and rig", says photo-journalist Andy Wilsheer who organised the deal. "The tariff offers considerable savings. Race cars will be required to display Norfolk Line decals, one each side of the car, and pictures will be taken to ensure compliance."

To take advantage of the subsidised fares, contact Norfolkline's General Manager Wayne Bullen by E-Mail at wbullen@norfolkline.com, mentioning Andy Wilsheer and specifying dates and sailing times of outward and return journeys; total number of travellers and their names; and make, overall length and registration number of rig or car/van and trailer.

You can find details of Norfolkline's schedules and services at www.norfolkline.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Shockwave already ready.
25th July: The UK's Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team have been working hard on their Firebird since the last round of the British Nitro FC Championship, which took place at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, and are ready for August's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway with several weeks to spare.

"The car is prepped and ready for the Allstar Nationals", says driver and co-owner Gordon Smith. "Dave Bryant (Crew Chief and co-owner - Ed) has spent a lot of time going right over the car in the last few months, as we were very disappointed with our performance at the Main Event. Dave found that we had some problems with the fuel system. It seems that some of the fuel timers were not working as they should, and this was starving the fuel system from around three hundred feet, causing severe tyre shake as I can testify as I had a headache for a week after the race! Some small work has also been done to tidy up the body, mostly stress cracks from day to day racing."
©Eurodragster.com
The long break between the Main Event and the Allstar Nationals is only serving to make the Shockwave team all the more keen to get back to the track. "With the news that there will be at least four Fuel FCs at Shakespeare County Raceway (with the planned first appearance in 2003 of Mark and Jackie Hawkins' FC with Gary Page at the wheel - Ed) the competition is likely to be hot", says Gordon. "We are looking forward to seeing all of the nitro fans again so pay us a visit in the pits, we will be pleased to talk to all of you".

Gordon promises more news of some special features at the Allstar Nationals, so stay tuned.

Mtt, live from hospital (again).
25th July: We were shocked to hear from our good friend Hanski of the Finnish Hot Rod Association that regular Eurodragster contributor, Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Mtt had crashed at last weekend's Summernats at Alastaro. No sooner had we heard from Hanski than Asko himself wrote to us from his hospital room, not for the first time as longtime Eurodragster readers will recall. Luckily the good news is that Asko was due to leave hospital yesterday (Thursday).

"Our qualifying efforts didn't go so well during the two sessions which we raced on Saturday", says Asko. "On the first I broke the shift lever when shifting to second before the burnout, I warmed then the tyre and decided to leave in second so that I could get a qualifying time anyway. The bike left very lazy as I expected but then I had no traction from third gear on.

"On the second attempt, we changed the power curve a little bit to get a better hold on the track. I pulled more than a fifty metre burnout as I promised the fans - poor Ilkka was very tired and sweaty after pushing me back to the starting line. Again we overpowered the track, the tyre spun on the first, got some grip on the second and smoked badly on the third, so I decided to abort the run.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were promised one or two qualifying rounds on Sunday morning and we were second in qualifying, so the team sat down to sort the things out. After our discussions, it occurred to me what to do on the Sunday morning dirt bike ride which I have every race-morning: we would take all of the turbo power off in the beginning, and let the turbo work with a little bit softer clutch later on the trip. The changes made were exactly the right ones. The bike left very well, went on all the gears with a soft spin sound from the rear tyre but not spinning. In the last fifty metres or so it was a little loose, not so badly to lift (was only slightly wild as I'd say). The time was my best ever 8.33 at the speed of nearly 170 mph, which still left me second in Funny Bike qualifying after Juha Hillman's 8.0 on the ex-Terry Kizer/Orient Express, ex-world record holding Suzuki.

"Just as I started to brake, the bike headed strongly to the right (and I was on the right lane); so strongly that I couldn't get it straightened in time. I went on the sand, where I could straighten the bike a little bit and then hit a very soft dune and that was it! I rolled over the bike, and then two or three more times, not on the sand but on small rocks.

"I broke two bones in my left arm but nothing more serious. Of course every part of my body is now very painful and bruised, but I am getting better all the time and making plans to get poor Baldie's Gun IV repaired for the last Finnish Championship race - I must pass on the next round.

"I am very thankful to all my friends, and to the whole Finnish drag racing community, for the support they have given me. I also want to thank FHRA's Rescue Team, Kokkola's Hospital for their initial work on my examination and first aid, and finally the whole stuff of Jyvaskyla Hospital for the skilful surgery and all of the operations done for my health and speedy recovery!"

Man's Ruin: Heeps responsible.
25th July: One of the UK's best drag racing photographers, Richard Heeps (and a very nice guy, to boot - Ed), is holding an exhibition of his work in London in mid-August and Eurodragster readers are invited to the opening night. Richard has been photographing hot rods and customs in England and the USA for over five years and he is a familiar face to regulars at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
"The show is called Man's Ruin", says Richard. "Hot rods, dragsters and custom cars feature, with portraits and retro interiors in the show, dedicated to the 50s lifestyle and fast cars. Recently, I have added images of burlesque performers to the collection to complete a vision for the exhibition which captures the spirit and vibrancy of the scene. The subject matter is stylish, glamorous and hedonistic. I have not produced a nostalgic piece, although the rockabilly pictures do capture the mood and spirit of the mid-50s."

Richard's show is to be held at the Spitz Gallery, one of London's most prestigious photography galleries, in Old Spitalfields Market, London E1. The opening night, to which all are invited, takes place on Thursday 14th August and starts at 7:00 pm. You can get a sneak preview on Richard's web site at www.richardheeps.co.uk - click on Browse then Rock and Roll.

Attention doesn't bother Callin.
23rd July: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Susanne Callin's third race of 2003 is her first FIA event, this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park. "I am really looking forward to it", says Susanne, "and the fact that it happens to be at my home track makes it even better!"

Susanne started her season with a match race against Darryl Bradford at Shakespeare County Raceway in June, and then competed in the Swedish Top Fuel Tour at Piteå two weekends back, both events in one of Knut Söderquist's Carbon By Design dragsters which she will also be driving this weekend. "These two events were good preparation", says Susanne. "We had some problems at Piteå but we have sorted them out and we're ready to go for it!
©Eurodragster.com
As regular readers will be aware, Susanne is very popular in the media in her home country and she is in the spotlight again this week. "I am to feature in a kids' TV programme", says Susanne. "They will be at the track on Friday to do a piece on time and people in a hurry. Then on Sunday TV3's motorsport program Prestanda be following me around all day."

Such close scrutiny when trying to concentrate on controlling a six thousand horsepower, three hundred mile per hour projectile would be off-putting for some, but Susanne tells us that all of the attention doesn't bother her. "It doesnt distract me at all", she says. "As long as they are not trying to do an interview when I'm getting ready to get into the car, because that is my personal time that I want to myself. But it hasn't been a problem so far because the media crews are very careful not to get in the way (it's certainly one of Eurodragster's ground rules - Ed) and to interfere with the race. Media is one of the things that goes with the job!"

Event Coverage a joint effort.
23rd July: Svensk Dragracing and Eurodragster will be working together on the event coverage of this weekend's Veidec Drag Festival. Our good buddy Erik Zettervall of Svensk Dragracing, who is one of the web site's regular live reporters, is not able to work on the coverage this weekend so fellow buddy Christer Abrahamson will be joined by Tog and Sharkman.

All of this weekend's Event Coverage from Mantorp Park, starting with the first day of qualifying tomorrow (Thursday), will be posted on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
The daily reports from Mantorp Park will follow the usual Eurodragster model with frequent English-language updates of the on-track action. At the end of each day a summary report will be posted in Swedish together with a results page giving full qualifying or elimination stats for all classes. A photo gallery will also be posted at the end of each day.

"I think that two very experienced Englishmen can almost replace Erik!", says Christer Abrahamson. "And I think that ninety eight per cent of our readers understand English so that won't be a problem. We will of course do the short version in Swedish in the evenings and pictures and results will be posted as normal! I am really looking forward to working with our Eurodragster friends again!"

The feeling is entirely mutual, Christer.

Editor's note: Although we are at Mantorp Park this weekend we will do our best to keep abreast of the news as it comes in. So please keep sending your news to us at news@eurodragster.com and we will post it as we are able.

Flint Insures a good weekend.
23rd July: The Eurodragster staff are covered in Sweden this weekend by travel insurance donated by David Taylor, Director of Flint Group Insurance.
©Eurodragster.com
David Taylor and Flint Group Insurance have a long history of support for drag racing, and we are very grateful indeed to David for the continuation of this support for the sport and his backing of Eurodragster.

If you are looking for insurance and want to repay a longtime supporter of drag racing then Flint Group can provide all types of cover from race car and race bike insurance through home insurance; car, bike, truck and van insurance; breakdown cover; travel insurance; business insurance and more.

You can find the Flint Group Insurance web site at www.flintinsurance.co.uk, or for a quote call 0500 555230.

Bug Jam pictures, timing data.
23rd July: We are indebted to Julian Robinson and Kevo Metcalfe for very kindly providing us with a number of photographs from the weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway. Thanks also to Spencer Tramm for passing the pictures to us. You can view the photographs by clicking here.

We are also very grateful to Andy Marrs for sending us the timing data from the Bug Jam, which you can view by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

One lump or two?
22nd July: Although 2002 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren was victorious at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, the AC Delco-sponsored team were struggling with the six-second Camaro all weekend. The team have traced the problem and are confident going into this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park, says team member Magnus Cato.

"As we looked at the computer graphs in Finland we felt that something was wrong", says Magnus. "Our best run was the first, and it just went slower all through the weekend, but as you know we still managed to win. We think that we have found out what was wrong - we found a blown head gasket - so the performance will be there for Mantorp Park this weekend.

"As you might remember we broke our number one engine on race day last year but won with the spare. We would love to race with the number one engine throughout the whole event this year!"

You can find the AC Delco/Malmgren Racing web site at www.acdracing.net.

Smax living the dream.
22nd July: FIA Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader, the UK's Smax Smith is well into planning for his trip to the Veidec Nitro Festival. Smax lost his unbeaten-in-2003 record to a reverser failure in the Purple Loans-sponsored dragster at Alastaro, which left Micke Kågered on a bye to win the event, and he is intent on putting that disappointment behind him.

"As many of you know, this is my first year on the Tour and the realisation of a long-held dream", says Smax. "We're having fun meeting all of the European fans with whom we would not normally come into contact, as well as experiencing new tracks and track/weather conditions. The racing at this level is tight - very tight! - and we are hopeful of continuing our winning ways. I'm delighted to report that my car is on top form. We've addressed the reverser problems which we had in Finland, and both Alan Jackson (tuner - Ed) and Knut Söderquist (car owner - Ed) know the Mantorp track so we are one hundred per cent certain that we can dial even more from our Purple dream machine!
©Eurodragster.com
"It is a real team effort though and I do pay tribute to all the team - in many ways I have the easy job!"

Smax tells us that he and fellow UK Top Fuel racer Andy Carter are hoping to have a joint Meet The Fans, autograph-signing and Q and A after qualifying this weekend. "Any fans making the trip are very welcome to pop over to say hello", says Smax.

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

Hal Far Night Event report.
22nd July: The Malta Drag Racing Association organised its fourth National Night Event of 2003 at Hal Far Raceway last weekend, writes MDRA President Anthony Borda.

The Event was held over three days, since there were quite a few extra competitors this time. Everything went as planned, with all finals finishing a bit later than usual and all spectators loving the big screen which we had installed for them. Thanks to the hard work of the Committee, we had a well-prepared track for everyone. Its a shame for the small powered cars, since they break a lot, because the track is prepared to take on the big horsepower vehicles. Thank God this event was held at night since here in Malta we had a heat wave, with the temperature going over 42 degrees, but still there were a few records broken.
©Eurodragster.com
As usual, the main attraction was the Top Methanol Class. Nothing went well for John Ellul of Elbros with the Fontana Dragster, registering a 6.3 final run. The happiest competitor during the event was Carmel Polidano, with his son Chris on the driving seat, who drove a Cosworth-powered Pro Stock Escort and registered a best ET of 8.5 seconds and won four first places in different Classes. Charles Abela in his Cosworth-powered Pitbull dragster won the DTA 4 Class in 7.8 seconds. A new young competitor named Clive Butler had everything going well for him. His driving ability was excellent and he won the Open Class 1 in style, in a Cosworth-powered Street Escort and clocking a great 9.6 second final run.

The Sierra V8 Small Block Engine of Alan Camilleri ran its best-ever ET during this event, clocking an 8.4-second run. This car can certainly go faster, because it has lots of potential under the hood. The Maksar Racing Team were over the moon again, breaking their own records with the Volvo twelve-litre Diesel Truck. Tommy Agius had a great event and clocked an impressive 11.2, with a terminal speed of over 120mph, in the Open class. I think that this Elapsed Time will stay there for a while if Paul, Tommys brother, doesnt devise something more on this impeccable truck.

There were lots of other drivers who achieved personal bests, its impossible to mention them all, but you can view all of the results on the Malta Drag Racing Association web site at www.maltadragracing.com.

The Committee would like to thank everybody for another great event. The next race will be another Night Event, which will be held on 28th-30th August.

Web site updates.
22nd July: Thanks to team member Frank Eijkhout for letting us know that the official web site of Dutch Pro Mod racer Henri Joosten has been updated with a report and pictures of the team's weekend at the MPM Internationals at Drachten, where Henri ran a new personal best over the eighth-mile and also suffered a spectacular but thankfully harmless nitrous burp. You can see the burp for yourself at www.joostenracing.nl.
©Eurodragster.com
Further to yesterday's news item about the Nitrolympics Liability Waiver our good friend Peter Calwer, who is webmaster of the event's official web site, has kindly sent us an English version, which you can download by clicking here. "You can also download the forms from the Nitrolympics web site at www.nitrolympx.de", says Peter.

Can't see the join!
21st July: Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen and his team have completed an excellent repair job on the body of their race car after it was damaged in an off-track excursion at Alastaro.

If you were tuned in last week you will have read that Dan and his team worked overnight together with the Leanders Brothers team to patch up the body in time for eliminations at Alastaro, a tremendous (but typical - Ed) sporting gesture on the part of their first round opponents who are lucky enough to have bodywork supremo Hans Kadi on their team.

When Dan and the guys got back to base in Denmark they set about making more permanent repairs with the result you can see at right.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have been working full time repairing the body and other parts of the Funny Car damaged in Finland" says Joan Larsen. "Time is short to complete all that work and we may have to do some of it at Mantorp Park on Thursday. Right now the news is that the car is being repainted in blue again."

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

Shop for a TMFC.
21st July: No sooner do we mention Sweden's Leanders Brothers Top Methanol Funny Car team than we hear from driver Ulf Leanders, who tells us that the IronCad-backed Ford Mondeo is currently on promotional duties before the Veidec Nitro Festival.
©Eurodragster.com
"Our Funny Car is currently displayed in the big Gallerian mall in central Stockholm", says Ulf. "Gallerian is one of the most famous malls in Stockholm and has an average of thirty thousand visitors every day. The car will be there until Wednesday night, and then we will go from there directly to Mantorp Park for the Veidec Nitro Festival."

The TMFC, which started the season with a new Pleuger chassis, repaired body and new engine set-up, made the final round in Finland where Ulf was runner-up to Urs Erbacher. This time Ulf, Jörgen and the team are planning to go one better. "We feel really good about going to Mantorp", says Ulf, "and we are confident that the IronCAD Ford will be running good and fast really soon."

To stay in touch with all the latest from the Leanders Brothers pit, check out their web site at www.leandersbros.com.

Racers: It's not too late to send your Veidec Nitro Festival previews. Drop an E-Mail to us at news@eurodragster.com and we will post your news here.

650 SEK for Perfect Light.
21st July: As Eurodragster will be attending the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park this week, the event qualifies for the Eurodragster Perfect Light Award. The Perfect Light fund has been reset to £50 after Pro ET racer Gino Bernadine took £75 at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod with a 0.500 in eliminations. After checking out the exchange rate we have decided to round the award up to a nice round number, so 650 Swedish Kronor will be up for grabs at Mantorp Park this weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
All racers in all classes are eligible for the Perfect Light Award: it will be awarded to the first racer at this weekend's event to record a perfect Reaction Time, 0.400 or 0.500 as appropriate. The money can be won in either qualifying or eliminations.

Junior Dragster racer Emil Leijer took the Perfect Light Award at Mantorp Park last year with an off-the-trailer 0.500 in qualifying.

If no-one records a perfect RT at the Veidec Nitro Festival then the prize fund will be increased to £75 for the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of August. If the money is won then the prize fund will be recharged to £50 for the Allstar Nationals.

We will be assisting with the live Event Coverage from Mantorp Park this weekend; stay tuned and we will bring you more news about that soon.

Ripley chops one body, seeks more.
21st July: In the third of today's hat-trick of Top Methanol Funny Car stories, UK TMFC racer Doug Ripley and the CC Racing team have been hard at work fitting their recently-acquired Whipple blower on the swoopy Ford Probe.

"The Whipple is on the car, just waiting on some small parts", says Crew Chief Cliff Gould. "We had to cut a fair amount of body work out to make it fit - it's huge! We should be ready for the first fire-up next week."

The CC Racing team get their first chance to try out the new blower in anger at the next round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship, the Allstar Nationals which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of August. "We will be treating that race as a test", says Cliff, "so that we can get a good baseline on the new combination. Then hopefully we can do well at the FIA European Finals."
©Eurodragster.com
Doug has also welcomed two new crew members, Jay and Karen, to the team and Cliff tells us that there is room for more. "If you have ever thought that you would fancy working on a Top Methanol Funny Car then we are looking for more crew", he says. "A little mechanical knowledge would be an advantage, an eager attitude and a little common sense are also important. As well as race events you should also be able to work on the car away from the track."

If this sounds like you then drop Cliff a line at blownalky526@hotmail.com and he will tell you more.

Bug Jam results.
21st July: We are indebted to Spencer Tramm for sending us the final results from the weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway.

VW Pro: Paul Bate (12.15) 12.23/106.09 def. Justin Aldred (12.65) 12.77/104.08
VW Sportsman: Neil Davies (16.00) 16.38/66.99 def. Natasha Garcia (19.00) 19.43/64.21
VW Alternate Engine: Wayne Allman (12.40) 12.58/99.83 def. Ian Sewell (15.60) 15.86/83.61

Super Modified: Danny Cockerill 7.65/182.91 def. Graham Ellis 8.04/150.71
©Eurodragster.com
Jim Smith won the HSL Racing perfect light award with a .500 during qualifying in Sportsman VW. The big news of the weekend was that Paul Jackson in the Proteus III dragster broke into the sevens with a 7.975/158.16 blast during qualifying for VW Pro.

Wildside want Goodwood earthquake.
21st July: Following a highly-successful and much-publicised outing at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, Darryl Bradford and the rest of the Wildside Inc Top Fuel Dragster team would really like Goodwood to smell the nitro again, writes owner Lesley Wright.

"We fired the car up at Press Day in March", said Darryl, "but two appearances at the Festival have only resulted in a formidable but quiet static display. So many people at the Festival were disappointed at not being able to hear the car and perhaps with the help of our Eurodragster friends we can really shake the place in 2004!

"To make the earth move at Goodwood again, the Wildside car really needs to be pitted with all the F1 (stop swearing - Ed) teams. If, as drag racing fans, you would like to make Jenson Button, Montoya and the others 'jump when we rump', then either go to www.wildsideinc.co.uk/Ontheside or E-Mail fos@goodwood.co.uk direct and tell them what its like to feel the noise. Thank you in advance and we hope youll be there next year to share the experience!"
©Eurodragster.com
Important Nitrolympics form.
21st July: Thanks to Gittli Koller and Kjell Pettersson for passing on an important Liability Waiver form which need to be signed by all competitors at the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim in mid-August. The form is mainly German-language, is in PDF format, and can be downloaded by clicking here.
©Eurodragster.com
Prostar video III available.
21st July: UK Top Fuel Bike legend Brian Johnson has released the third in his series of videos of last year's AMA Prostar series in the USA. This video covers the Spring Nationals race from Richmond and in addition to the regular classes of Top Fuel, Funny Bike, Pro Modified Bike and Pro Stock Bike it also includes footage of the Hot Rod Cruiser, 600 Supersport, Formula Superbike and the wild Street Bike Shootout classes.

Brian sent us a copy for review. The video is a great production and most enjoyable viewing for anyone who enjoys drag racing on two wheels. Brian's knowledge of and love for the sport leads to some superb coverage, Brian using his experience to capture all the action from the start line and picking up on some of the subtleties on which a normal camera man would miss out, such as the crew man swaying in time with the Funny Bike as it burns out and the celebrations of Larry McBride's crew after Larry ripped off a 5.92/243 pass, in the dark!
©Eurodragster.com
The footage of the race itself is shot from a camera high up and at around half track, and the cameraman does a good job of keeping the action in the frame and capturing the important moments, not least that 5.92 of Larry McBride: the front wheel of the bike not touching the track and header flames high in the air behind the rider. Add in an informed and entertaining commentary from Brian and plenty of strong performances (like a 7.02 in Pro Stock Bike) and good racing (a 6.8 losing out to a 7.0 on a holeshot!) and you have a great hour and sixteen minutes of two-wheeled racing entertainment.

The video retails for £12.95 plus postage and packing, and can be purchased direct from Wizzerama Productions on 01344 625182 (outside the UK +44 1344 625182) or by E-Mail at video@dragpix.com.

Veidec PSBs ready for Festival.
20th July: The Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team had a weekend of mixed fortunes at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, but are more than ready for this week's Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park - also sponsored by Veidec - writes Crew Chief Roger Lyrén.

"After winning at Alastaro the trip home was very easy for Roger Pettersson", says Roger, "there was a nice party on the ferry to celebrate the victory and the new European records. Sadly it was a totally different story for Øivind von Essen. His weekend could not have been worse. That's racing, sometimes it is up and sometimes down.
©Eurodragster.com
"On the day after the race all of the plans for Mantorp were in full swing. The Veidec Nitro Festival is going to be one of the best races of the year, I guarantee. We will have in all about three hundred VIP guests over the weekend so we will be very busy! But it is a lot of fun and taking care of sponsors and fans is the most important thing since we can't race without them.

"It will be interesting to run at Mantorp. We know that Kjell Pettersson will do all he can to get the best traction possible. It will be the same for all of us; just find the best set-up for the weekend, that is what it's all about."

You can find the Veidec Racing web site at www.veidecracing.com.

Street Racers invited to York.
20th July: York Dragway's UK Northern Nationals on 9th-10th August will include the Annual Street Racer Championship, an event with some pedigree in British drag racing, writes York's PR Howard Holmes.

Howard says that it all started many years back when Dave Grady thumped the table at a Pennine Drag Racing Club meeting and proclaimed "Street legal road car racing is the way to go. Let's create an annual event to find the quickest taxed and tested car in the country, Porsches against hot rods, kit cars against Jaguars, and throw in a few competition cars hurriedly re-equipped with wipers, washers and dubious documents to provide a little more controversy!".
©Eurodragster.com
Now in its twenty sixth year, the event has attracted many respected racers and well known cars from Stu Valance driving Henry Highrise twenty five years ago, through to John Sleath driving a well-known Audi a lot more recently as well as Bill and Will Sherratt, Des Taylor, Smax Smith, Moose Hollingworth and many others between.

"The door is wide open - who will take the award of Street Racer Champion 2003?", says Howard. "It takes place early on Saturday evening, followed by the (optional) convoy to the Leeds Cruise and the party at York on your return. Be there and be part of it!"

For further information about the event call Steve on 01422 843651 or Howard on 01422 844010. You can find the York Dragway web site at yorkdragway.intrica.co.uk.

Howard tells us that his PR company can provide promotional services to interested racers. "The Company Called Beyond Limited has people who've put together comprehensive promotional and sponsorship packages which put a Formula 1 team on the track", says Howard. "And we've designed some nice logos and we walk the walk - we drive and race some bitchin' cars!", he says. For more information call Howard on the above number.

NDRS Event Coverage.
20th July: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing are posting results and reports from this weekend's Gold Town Summer Drag Race at Skellefteå on their web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
There are two Nordic Drag Racing Series events this weekend, the other being the FHRA Summernats at Kalajoki, which is being covered on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi.

Support fund for PM webmaster.
20th July: A support fund has been set up for the webmaster of one of the most popular drag racing web sites on the Net and his family after they suffered a bad car accident last week. Gary Stroud, who runs the US Promodifieds.com web site, is in a coma in hospital although we were pleased to hear from UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Bond that Gary's condition is improving and that his wife Stacey and her sister, also in the car, escaped serious injury in the accident.

Medical fees being what they are in the USA, Gary's attorney Joe Buckley has set up a support fund to which donations can be sent:

Atty Joseph E Buckley
100 Main Street
Brookeville, PA 15825
United States of America

"All donations will be forwarded to the Stroud family on a regular basis", says our good friend Roger Richards of the Competition Plus and Pro Modifieds web sites.
©Eurodragster.com
You can stay in touch with Gary's condition on the Message Board of the Pro Modifieds web site at www.promodifieds.com. We are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Gary a very rapid and full recovery.

Web site updates.
20th July: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä's web site at www.anitamakela.com has been updated with a small number of photographs from the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.
©Eurodragster.com
FIA European Finals entry forms.
19th July: A big thank you goes out to Paula Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club for sending us all the entry forms for this years FIA European Finals. The forms are all in the Word document format and are now available from the Forms page of the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
©Eurodragster.com
The closing date for entries is 8th August for the FIA classes, NDRS Pro Modified, Fuel Funny Car and UEM bike classes, and 20th August for all Sportsman classes. Paula has asked us to advise all sportsman racers that the club may have to limit entry for the sportsman classes even before the official closing date if the entry levels are very high, so all racers are urged to enter as early as possible.

Footman recruited by ACI.
19th July: Anthony Cohen of our sponsor American Car Imports has been in touch to let us know about a new sponsor for the American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol dragster team. Footman James provide ACI with their Public and Private liability insurance and have recently extended their motor cover to include the Dragster, its transportation and its equipment. Whilst insured with Footman James ACI can be assured that their vehicles are covered whilst on premises or out on the road, in the UK or abroad. "I am delighted to welcome Footman James to our team" says Anthony. "We hope this is the start of a long relationship that will benefit both ACI Racing and Footman James."
©Eurodragster.com
Footman James and Co Ltd have been the preferred insurers of American Car Imports for over 12 years. Priding themselves as the 'The Market Leader' they provide a professional insurance broking operation covering the full range of personal & commercial lines insurance, with particular emphasis on developing exclusive schemes for niche markets.

The company has been responsible for many firsts and has pioneered the provision of product liability for kit car manufacturers, road rage (personal accident), 'car jacking' cover and many other features such as limited mileage, multi vehicle polices and agreed value, which are now taken for granted with specialist vehicle insurance. They have access to major insurers and cover car, motorcycle, home, travel, pet, caravan, motor trade risks, commercial vehicles and other commercial insurances.

For further information on Footman James and their varied insurance products contact them on 0845 330 1662 or e-mail on enquiries@footmanjames.co.uk. Website address www.footmanjames.co.uk

Web site updates.
19th July: Thanks to Dan Welberry from Carter Motorsport for letting us know that the team's web site has been updated with Andy Carter and crew chief Eddie Corr's race reports from round 2 of the FIA Championship at Alastaro. It was a difficult weekend for the team with a short handed crew and fluctuating track conditions making tuning the car very tricky. To see how Andy and Eddie saw the weekend head over to www.andycarter.net
©Eurodragster.com
Zane Llewellyn tells us that he has taken a bit of time out from preparing for his trip to Mantorp Park for the Veidec Nitro Festival to update his website. Teh update covers both the Drag racing and the hot rodding sode of his site, which can be found at http://www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk/.

New look for SMRA.
18th July: The Super Mod Racers Association would like to say a huge Thank You to Darren West of Power Race Graphics for designing a striking logo for Super Mod and for creating a strong image for the Super Mod Racers Association as part of a Sponsored commitment to the Class.
©Eurodragster.com
"Having a powerful and professional identity will assist the SMRA in seeking sponsors for next season, producing decals, membership packs, stationary, newsletters, t-shirts even hero cards etc etc." says SMRA secretary Sharon Hogarth.

The Racers and members of the SMRA are delighted with Darren's work and the level of customer service that was second to none, and can thoroughly recommend Power Race Graphics for any Class or Team wanting a new identity or a fresh and dynamic paint scheme design. Darren has been a Drag Racing fan for over 25 years and loves the sport. He has been working as a graphic designer for thirteen years and has wanted to get involved with race car design for around ten of those years. Power Race Graphics was launched earlier in the year with the design for the Shockwave Car and since then Darren has been working with a number of Race Teams both Pro and Sportsman to provide their new image. Power Race Graphics have a range of services for racers and they can be contacted via email at powergrfx@dw1320.fsnet.co.uk or by calling 01305 766732.

Racers or fans wishing to become members of the SMRA should contact Sharon Hogarth or download a membership form from the Super Mod web site at www.eurodragster.com/supermod.

VIP Hospitality at Gardemoen.
18th July: Many thanks to Kjell Pettersson for letting us know that Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen and Gardermoen Raceway have made available VIP Hospitality pack for the Norwegian round of the 2003 European Drag Racing Championships held at Gardermoen Raceway on August 1st - 3rd 2003.
©Eurodragster.com
You can down load the hospitality pack (in the form of PDF file) by clicking here. You will need Adobe acrobat reader to open the files. (Acrobat reader can be downloaded for free at: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)

If you can not open the document or have a problem with down loading you should contact Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen direct at
Gardermoen Raceway
PoBox 118
N-2051 Jessheim
Norway

Tel: +47 95 05 79 00
Fax: +47 63 87 87 63
E-mail: erijacob@online.no
Web: www.norskdragracing.com

Methanol for Mantorp.
18th July: Racers, if you are travelling to Mantorp Park and / or Gardermoen but don't want the hassle of transporting methanol with you, Jorgen Leanders from the Leanders Brothers Top Methanol team has contacted us to suggest a solution. "Swed handling will sell methanol and deliver it to the track, phone Swed handling on +46 70 9784600 and speak to Tommy Andersson" suggests Jorgen.

Baldie looking for title.
18th July: Next weekend's FHRA Finnish Champioship race at Kalajoki is the second round of FHRA Funny Bike Championships and after the Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, its a race that Asko Maatta is looking forward to. "I feel we can challenge the riders." says Asko. "Our toughest competitors will be a Nitro Harley, an ex-Orient Express FB Suzuki and Pasi Alakunnas with his six second Pro Mod Suzuki (if Pasi is able to race after damaging his gearbox earlier in the season). All are easily capable of sevens.
©Eurodragster.com
"We've got our gearbox sorted out and I believe my experience of slippery tracks at the wheel of Funny Car will help too, so out goal for this season is Finnish Championship in Funny Bike." Asko promises to let us know how things go for the team early next week.

Web site updates.
18th July: Rob Cook has updated his web site with pictures from the Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. Rob has also asked us to let race teams know that they may use the images from his site on their own web sites, free of charge. You can find Rob's site at www.picturesbyrob.co.uk and the pictures themselves under the motorsports link.

NDRS Points.
17th July: The latest NDRS series points are now available from our good friends over at Svensk Dragracing. The points have now been updated to take into account the Midnight Sun Internationals held last weekend at Pitea. As a result of that race there has been a change to the C/Altered comp eliminator index, again full details are available from the Svensk web site.
©Eurodragster.com
On the subject of Svensk, Sharkman and Tog are sure all of Eurodragster's readers will join them in saying congratulations to long time Svensk member Christina Lidstrm and Lasse Boden, who got married on the beach in Pitea on Monday evening.

Testing The Fang.
17th July: Many thanks to Carl from Team Fang for an update on their progress. "2 weeks ago The Fang in it's new supercharged form, underwent it's first track tests. Many thanks to fellow racers Rachel Pattison, who helped us out with fuel, and Dave Glover who helped with something equally important.
©Eurodragster.com
"With so many new Turnertech crafted parts to test and little time to prepare we weren't hoping for too much. In the event all the new bits were fine, and only the next part to be replaced (ignition) prevented a perfect debut."

A full report into the day's events which included 'hot swapping' of crash helmets among other things, along with photos and news of more developments in the pipeline are available on the teams web site at www.thefang.co.uk. As an added bonus, you can listen to a small MP3 clip of the bike running. For those who fancy something a little more sedate, check out the restoration project for sale.

Euro junior dragster.
17th July: David Wepinski from Germany has been in touch to let us know about his new website and club aimed at Junior Dragsters. The website at www.junior-dragster.de features junior dragster news, a list of all the current and previous junior dragster drivers in Europe and a guestbook.

Web site updates.
17th July: Fresh from their latest exhibition at the Goodwood Festival of Speed; the Wildside Inc Racing team have just updated their website with an event update and event pictures taken throughout the weekend. With a theme of "Top Fuel Past and Present" and a record attendance of 158 000 people, Lesley Wright commented "Thousands of people came by and were amazed to be able to simply touch the car and learn more about what it takes to run 300mph." Log on to www.wildsideinc.co.uk and check out the Events page and Visuals page for the latest update.

Crew Chief tells tales.
16th July: "There seems to be a pattern emerging here; me writing reports in exotic locations around the world about how we just won ourselves a drag race" is how Andy Bissett, Crew Chief of the American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol dragster starts his race report on the Summer Nationals at Santa Pod. The other pattern that is emerging is the quality of Andy's reports, each one seeming to improve on the one before.
©Eurodragster.com
The situation the teamed faced going into round three of the MSA British Top Methanol championship at Santa Pod was racing finished on the Sunday afternoon. On the following Friday morning qualifying began for round two of the FIA Top Methanol Dragster championship in Alastaro, Finland, which is well over 1,000 miles and an awful lot of water away from Santa Pod. Andy's report takes you through not only how the team dealt with that logistical nightmare, but how they went on to win the event as well!

Fans of the ACI team and of Andy's humorous yet informative style of writing are in for a real treat this time as the site at www.americancarimportsracing.com has been updated with not only the Summer Nationals report, but with the report on the 2nd round of the FIA championship at Alastaro in Finland as well. Once you have read about what the team went through to get there you can then move on to tales of bad cabaret, giant steaks, broken wings and European records on the way to a runner up finish.

Kelsey Cup.
16th July: James Draper from Custom Car publishers Kelsey Publishing Group has been in touch to let us know that, association with Club 100, Kelsey Publishing Group are planning a Cruise/Racing/BBQ day for May 2004. Custom Car editor Kev Elliott will be organising the early morning 'Cruise to the Circuit' (most probably to the prestigious Buckmore Park circuit in Kent). Participants in the event are encouraged to bring their Rods along, as the 'Kelsey Cup' is in 2 sections - Trophies will be awarded for the racing and also for the 'Car of the Day'. We want the Car Park to be a show in itself!
©Eurodragster.com
Karting Championship Organisers Club 100 will lay on the days adrenaline-fuelled racing events - 2 Stoke Karts and race suits are laid on, so just arrive 'n' drive! The timetable for the day is provisionally as follows;
  • 09:00 Greet drivers at meeting point
  • 09:30 Caf breakfast
  • 10:30 Start of cruise to circuit via pre-planned route
  • 12:00 Arrive for Tea & Coffee at circuit
  • 13:00 Driver Registration / allocation of Race Suits
  • 13:35 Driver Briefing / Flag Briefing / Equipment Briefing
  • 14:00 Practice
  • 14:45 Timed Qualifying
  • 15:00 Track Walk with Race Director (Racing Line, Acceleration, Braking & Overtaking Points)
  • 15:20 Grid Allocation
  • 15:30 2 Hour endurance race start
  • 17:30 2 Hour endurance race finish
  • 17:45 Champagne Presentation & Official Results
  • 18:00 Start of BBQ and Kelsey Cup for the Car Of The Day
"We are looking for 23 teams made up of Custom Car readers, Eurodragster readers, Rodders, Drag Racers, our advertisers - the lot! Teams are encouraged to bring support with them - to create an electric atmosphere both trackside and in the evening" says James. "Final details are yet to be finalised but we would like to get general reaction to the event, so please e-mail us at cup@kelsey.co.uk as spaces will be limited"

The cost per team is 350 for a maximum of 6 people, this includes the cruise, racing and BBQ for all 6 drivers and if you needed any more incentive, there will also be a party at the circuit in the evening and there will be a bar.

Wildbunch magic at York.
16th July: Tom Coe, who races with the Wildbunch, has contacted us with what must rank as one of the stranger news items we have had. Tom tells us that "at the next Wild Bunch round at York Raceway on August 9th-10th, I will be doing a small magic show at the Mad R's pit area. It won't go on for long but it will be my first show on my own so if any one is going to York, come and have a look. It will probably be earlyish evening on Saturday and I've got some great tricks that should be arriving in the next week or two. Also, bring lots of drink because I'll be having a late 21st birthday celebration after the show."

Web site updates.
16th July: Patrick Kuyper has updated his website with the photos from Sunday (raceday) at the Drachten meeting held last weekend. You can find Patrick's site at www.imaginary.nl and the pictures themselves can be found by clicking events, then racing.

Another site updated to include action from last weekend is the www.racebilder.nu site. The race meeting in question this time it is the Midnight Sun Internationals held at Pitea, of which over 300 pictures are now available.

Mantorp - Important Info.
15th July: Our good buddies over at Svensk Drag Racing have received a letter from the organisers of the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park, which contains very important information for racers in the NDRS classes. Due to a healthy entry list for the event and local time restrictions it will be essential for all NDRS sportsman class drivers and riders to obtain a qualifying time during the Thursday (24th July) qualifying to be sure that they will be in eliminations. Please head over to the Svensk site at www.dragracing.se for the full story and to read a copy of the letter.
©Eurodragster.com
Anita assembles her dream team.
15th July: After a difficult start to the 2003 season which has seen them make some excellent runs but also suffer a lot of problems, the Top Fuel team of Anita Makela and Tommi Haapanen have decided to make some additions to their crew to try and get their season back on track.
©Eurodragster.com
"Tommi and I felt we needed more know-how and experience into our team" says Anita. "We are very proud to announce that we are adding that experience with Peter Lantz together Morgan Svensson, Johan and Olle all joining my crew at Mantorp and for the rest races after that.

"Our Top Fuel dragster is different these guys have worked with before, but after looking at different options it was obvious that Peter, as a long time friend, was the best option. We really appreciate Peter and Morgans work and skills with Top Fuel engines and look forward them giving us some different thoughts and ideas about how to progress with our set up and combination. Our whole team welcomes Peter, Morgan, Johan and Olle back to the racing world."

You can stay in touch with all the latest from the Anita Makela / Tommi Haapanen team at their web site at www.anitamakela.com/

Home track demos from Koedam.
14th July: Last week we brought you, courtesy of Marius van der Zijden, Koedam Racing's report from the Alastaro UEM round. At the end of that report Marius mentioned that the team were off to Drachten this past weekend to try and improve on their own Dutch record. Once again Marius has kindly written to let us know how the weekend went.
©Eurodragster.com
"Back home again from another race meeting, this time it was the "Drachten Internationals" in Drachten (Holland). Though originally not in our race schedule, because the bike survived the Finnish trip quite well, we agreed to do a few demo runs (Top fuel Bike was not an official competition class) on Sunday at our nation's biggest drag race event.

"If the first Drachten meeting a month ago was a big hit, this time it was even better! Due to good advertising there was a huge (for Dutch standards) turn out of spectators. Hat's off to the organisers! The event also attracted lots of entries from all over Europe and course the fact that the event was again blessed with beautiful weather helped as well.

"Based on our experience from last time at Drachten we hoped to be able to beat our own national record, so we went there with the same (record setting) set up as we finished there with last time. Unfortunately we couldn't manage to beat our record this time. We made a total of three passes. Our opening run on Sunday was a 4.23sec @ 291km/h (eighth mile track). This remained our quickest & fastest run of the weekend. It also remained quickest run overall, though a Swedish Pro-Mod car came pretty close. We also found out that the traction was (only slightly) less then the previous race there. For our second pass we stepped it up just a little bit. However we lost time because of a little misfiring at the beginning of the run. Obviously we hurt a plug in the burn out. Once the engine started to develop some heat it ran fine for the remainder of that run, but that was too late to improve our time. This time the result was in a 4.41sec @ 286km/h.

"For our last pass we stepped up the clutch a bit. Though it looked like a very good run, the improvement was only marginal (4.38sec @ 278km/h). Looking at the data it showed that the clutch had slipped way too long. I think our clutch plates finally deserve a place in the retirement home after the severe beating we gave them. All our runs were straight and spectacular as ever and the spectators loved it very much, judging their reactions. The engine itself ran without any troubles once again.

"Midway through next week we will leave for another two rounds of the FIM/UEM championship. First we have Mantorp park in Sweden and a weekend later we travel to Gardermoen in Norway (one of the best tracks in Europe). With only a week to go we have not too much time to prepare the bike for the upcoming "Scandinavian swing", so a very busy week is ahead of us. The next Race Report will be issued after Norway."

Funny Bike racer gets serious.
15th July: Racers are always looking for ways to fill in the gap between UK race meetings in the summer, but Funny Bike racer Stu Chamberlin is putting the time to very good use as he is getting married this weekend! All the gang at Predator Racing want to wish Stu and his fiancé Lisa the very best wishes for the big day on Saturday 19th July. If anyone else who would like to pass on their congratulations you can do so by emailing the team at all@predatorracing.co.uk and they will be sure that Stu and Lisa get them on Saturday.
©Eurodragster.com
A chance to test.
14th July: The next Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway takes place this coming Wednesday (16th July). The WRE Test Days offer a superb opportunity to test in race conditions from and the track time to experiment with set-ups. The track, which will be open from 10:00 - 17:00 (with a break for lunch), will be fully-prepped and full marshal and paramedic cover will be in place. Catering is also on-site. A trackside assistance service will also be available, offering expert set-up advice specifically tailored to individual race vehicles.
©Eurodragster.com
The test day is open to both car and bike racers, entry to the track day is 120 per driver or rider. In the event of a rain off, 75% of the entry fee can be carried forward to another Test Day. A full DVLA driving licence must be produced to sign on, with the obvious exception of Junior Dragsters.

Pete Bellenie is one of several Super street Bike racers that have attended previous test days and been very impressed. "Well all of you guys and gals that are bored with nowhere to race for the next two months should get yourselves along to Jon Webster's test day on Wed 16th, the track will be awesome and as long as the weather is good there will be plenty of excellent runs." says Pete, who has already booked his spot for Wednesday. If you are interested in taking the opportunity for some top quality track time you can speak to Webster Race Engineering on 01933 315236 or you can complete and return an entry form which you can get by Clicking here.

Web site updates.
14th July: Our good friend Gittli Koller brings us the news that Peter Schöfer's web site has been updated with the teams race report from the 2nd round of the FIA championship which took place at Alastaro in Finland. It was a good weekend for the PSR team as they took the event win and moved to within 9 points of championship leader Dave Wilson. You can find Peter's web site at www.p-s-r.com/.
©Eurodragster.com
Another web site which has been updated is that of the Flying Dutchman Comp Bike team. The site at www.flyingdutchmandragbikes.co.uk has now been updated with a race report from the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.

Xtreme Wheels 2004.
12th July: Many thanks to Dan Welberry for the news about Obsession Motorsport's latest venture, Xtreme Wheels 2004. Taking place at Alexandra Palace from the 13th - 15th February next year (with the 13th as a Press only day) Xtreme Wheels 2004 aims to bring the ultimate collection of Drag Racing, Hot Hatch, Imports, Custom Cars and Street Rods together, all in one place and in the UK's capital city.
©Eurodragster.com
"There will be a considerable number of exhibitors and live demonstrations, plus a huge selection of traders offering the very best in parts, tools and accessories. The main stage will provide entertainment and promotions of the highest quality that all the family can enjoy. So whether it's the stars, the awesome cars or the experts you want to talk to then this is the show for you" says Dan.

"A number of Trader, Sponsorship and Exhibitor opportunities are available subject to availability so for your chance to be involved in this unique and ground-breaking event please contact Obsession via info@xtremewheels2004.com. We would recommend a quick response, we know this is gonna be BIG!"

Bugjam info.
12th July: Many thanks to Paula Marshall of SPRC for sending us the entry list for next weekends Bugjam event. The entry list shows a healthy entry in all the VW classes and we understand there are a few more names to be added yet. You can view the entry list by clicking here
©Eurodragster.com
Paula also adds that gates will be open from 10am - 9pm on Thursday 17th July and will reopen at 9am on Friday 18th July. For more information check out www.bugjam.co.uk.

Mantorp entry list.
12th July: Following on nicely from the news about the Bugjam entry list comes the news that the entry list for the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park is now available to view online at www.mantorppark.com.

Web site updates.
12th July: Our good buddy Turbo has finished the revamping of his www.turboville.co.uk web site, which now features "a whole new range of products and services for racers and there will be more products to follow so visit regularly!" We also understand that the re launch of www.turboville.com will take place in a couple of days and once that happens all existing email inks will be restored to working order

Page Pite bound
11th July: This weekend sees the annual Midnight Sun Internationals at Pite Dragway in Northern Sweden, the event as has become traditional, playing host to what is this year the only round of the Swedish Top Fuel Tour. This year sees Top Fuel Tour veteran Monica Oberg taking on Tommy Moller, Susanne Callin and Gary Page, Susanne driving Knut Söderquist's red car whilst Gary Page is strapping in to the driving seat of Knut's Purple Loans car which of course Smax Smith drives in FIA competition.
©Eurodragster.com
We managed to grab a few words with Gary just before he set off for Sweden (he was actually waiting in the departure lounge at the airport when we called!) "I'm looking forward to driving again" he said. "Its a proven four second car and Pite is a fast track so if it all comes together we hope to run really fast. The team are on a high after getting both cars to the final at Alastaro last weekend and we hope to keep that momentum going this weekend ready for Mantorp."

The Midnight Sun Internationals starts today, with the top fuel cars running tomorrow and Sunday. For more information check out www.shra-lulea.bd.se/, www.nitroz.se/sdc/, the Top Fuel Tour site at www.topfueltour.com/ and of course our good friends at Svensk Drag Racing at www.dragracing.se

Stuntwoman Mäkelä's disaster.
11th July: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä views her weekend at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro as "A disaster!". Anita has been plagued by breakages this year, and although the weekend at her home track started well it quickly went downhill.

"On Friday we started with Finland's first-ever four-second run", says Anita. "The launch was very good, but after about three hundred metres the car got loose, in fact it was so loose that I couldn't control it. I had no traction at all so I shut off but still ran a good time of 4.96 which is a new track record at Alastaro."

The team sat out Friday's second qualifying session to check over the engine before venturing out onto the track on Saturday morning. "The car didn't launch as hard as usual", says Anita, "and I hadn't gone very far when the traction suddenly disappeared. I didn't have any time at all to react and the engine was gone. There was a big bang, a lot of flame, and then an expensive silence. That was the end of that engine - we lost the blower, the heads and the crank"
©Eurodragster.com
The rest of Saturday was spent installing another engine ready for the first round of eliminations on Sunday against Anita's long-standing friendly rival Micke Kågered. "Against Micke I hit the throttle and nothing happened", says Anita. "After maybe two tenths it left but not very hard. I was trying to beat Micke so I stayed on the throttle, it got loose and then - another bang, another engine."

Anita, Tommi Haapanen and the team are now back at base in Vilppula investigating the cause of the explosions. "We lost so much that we're going to sit down and have a long think", says Anita. "We have to work out why this is happening and solve the problem. If this keeps happening then there are going to be safety issues for the driver."

Anita remains optimistic, though. "It can't get any worse", she says. "I know that the clouds will lift and the sun will come out! Of course if it was easy then everyone would be doing it. We are not happy with our weekend but we are at least pleased to have run the first four in Finland."

On a happier note, Anita is about to appear on MTV across Europe although you have to know it is her. "A group called Beats and Styles, two guys called Toni Wirtanen and Raymond Ebanks, are releasing a single called 'Dynamite' - that's very appropriate this year! The music video includes the dragster. You are meant to think that one of the guys is driving it, of course it is me, but I am just a stuntwoman."

You can find Anita's official web site at www.anitamakela.com.

Baldies good weekend.
11th July: After kindly giving us an update of the UEM bike qualifying from Alastaro, Asko Maatta has been in touch again, this time with a report on how his own team got on racing their Pro Mod bike in the Top Fuel bike class at Alastaro.
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"We are very happy with our testing weekend at the Alastaro UEM meet. We had three passes, these being the first ones for this bike and rider combination. On our first run we had a very soft tune-up, but even then it was obvious to me that the chassis, engine and rider were all working very well. Unfortunately we broke the needle bearing of the first gear output shaft sprocket of my Orient Express PMB gearbox.

" This meant we had to change the gearbox to my spare one (an old Orient PSB box) over night and we went down for the Saturday's second qualifying round with the rev limiter set to just 11,000 rpm to avoid damaging the box. On the run it left the line well, went nicely through all gears to a 5.1/220 kph eighth mile and 8.5/230 kph over the quarter. The bike was on the rev limiter last 170 meters as I had forgotten the PSB box has much tighter ratios than PMB one. For Sunday eliminations we changed the overall ratio and set the limiter at 12.500 rpm.

"At the start of Sunday's first elimination round I bent the wheelie bars on the launch and the bike (that had previously gone straight as an arrow) went hard to the left. At the same time my opponent, Jon Leret, went to the right so we both got close to the centerline and had to lift. We both got back after it but he beat by more than a second. My time was again 8.5 but this time with a better top speed of 268 kph (166 mph) and the bike was still on the limiter at the end.

"But as I said at the start, our testing went well. The engine worked fine and didn't break anything, I felt very comfortable riding the bike, all the turbo systems (blow through) worked as planned and the chassis worked well. I'd also like to say a great thanks to all the Top Fuel Bike racers for giving Finnish fans the best bike show ever seen in Finland!

"As things stand at the moment unfortunately I can't make the UEM rounds in Sweden and Norway so our next race is Finnish Championship race week after next weekend at Kalajoki. "

CCSE invited to Mopars.
11th July: From Custom Car Street Eliminator Championship co-ordinator Lee Child comes news that CCSE racers have been invited to the Tenth Mopar Euronats at Santa Pod Raceway on 25th-27th July.

"Martin Bennett of Fastalk has invited CCSE racers along to make demonstration passes", says Lee. "This will be a fantastic showcase for the class since the Mopar Euronats is always very well-attended."
©Eurodragster.com
The Mopar Euronats is organised by the Mopar Muscle Association UK and is one of Europe's biggest Muscle Car shows, inviting all American, Hot Road and classic street cars. As well as Run What You Brung and on-track exhibition action the event features a Show and Shine, burnout contest, trade stands, swap meet, live bands and much more.

CCSE racers who are interested in attending the Mopar Euronats are asked to contact Martin Bennett by E-Mail at sue@fastalk.freeserve.co.uk.

You can find the official Mopar Euronats web site at www.moparnats.co.uk.

Busy time for Santa Pod.
11th July: With the Mopar Nats just over two weeks away and Bugjam starting a week today its a busy time for Santa Pod and there is no respite for them this weekend as David Lloyd Jones explains;
©Eurodragster.com
"Santa Pod Raceway will be attending Goodwood this weekend. We are taking the merchandise trailer full of goodies to sell, especially for these people from down south who cannot make the trip north to the Pod. Our simulators will also be on our stand for people to test their reactions times and our staff will be on hand to chat and discuss drag racing.

"While some of us are at Goodwood, it doesn't mean there is nothing going on at the track itself! On Saturday we have a French Car Club RWYB incorporating the Renault Turbo Owners Club national day. Entry is 15 per adult which includes admission on Saturday, camping on Sat pm with a disco in the bar, and your admission for the Run What ya Brung on Sunday. All French cars are welcome to the use the strip 12 for three runs. Your Driving licence is required to sign on.

"On Sunday we have a RWYB, our first one for over a month! Entry is 10 per adult and 15 for unlimited runs. Once again your driving license will be required for you to sign on. The shop will be open on Sunday for all Santa Pod merchandise and provisions. Those who wish to travel on Sat and camp over on Saturday night can do so, at this RWYB only. The gates are open till midnight and cost would be 15 per person which includes admission and camping.

Les looking for cars.
11th July: Back on the 24th April we brought you the news that "long standing supporter of drag racing, marshal, crew and frustrated racer" Les Sanderson and his wife Jill had been hurt in a motorcycle accident. We are delighted to be able to bring you the good news that both are recovering well after the accident. Les has been in touch to pass on his sincere thanks to every one who "phoned, called round or found time to send a card, we had over 70!"
©Eurodragster.com
Les goes on to add that "Someone up there much think I was worth saving because, Get this, The first car behind us was a doctor, the second was an orthopaedic surgeon, and the third a nurse! The midwife in the forth car wasn't needed...."

And is if to prove that he mending nicely Les tells us that he is once again trying to organise a drag race display at Cheltenham Racecourse the weekend before the Allstar Nationals and is looking for people to bring their race cars along. "I can promise you a good weekend as, apart from the Mid-West American auto club Cruise-In, The second Leather & Lace Rally organised by the Severn Shires Harley Riders is also taking place on the same site. Check out www.severnshires.com for details of entertainment over the weekend.There are trophies for Competition Cars, Bikes and Junior/Tot Rod, Drag Car / Bikes. In the past Terry Gibbs has said our efforts have made a difference, so lets help Lee Child get a good weekend going. "

You can contact Les on 01242 576082 or 0779 9081989, or you can email him at Les.sanderson@blueyonder.co.uk

Web site updates.
11th July: Our good friends over at Hakan Nilsson's Pro Mod team have updated their web site with a report and pictures from the FHRA nitro nats. You can check it out at http://www.nilssonmotorsports.com/ (And if you have broadband access be sure to check out the latest video as well - Stand in Ed).
©Eurodragster.com
Also busy updating his site is Dan Buzzo from Team Akciddento. Fresh off a runner up finish in VW Sportsman at the SPRC Summer Nats the team have added new movies (from the eliminations and final of VW Sportsman) and image galleries, as well as a regularly updated diary/weblog on the trials and triumphs of running a 37 year old campervan as a competitive racecar!

Team Akciddento also have new team shirts available to buy direct from the website at www.akciddento.com/ and you can also get free Akciddento stickers by sending an SAE to Akciddento, PO Box 2222, Bristol, BS99 7HE.

Koedam Racing Alastaro report.
10th July:"Mootoriurheilukeskus.... This is the Finnish name for the race facility near the village of Alastaro in the southeastern part of the country. Just to write down this 20 letter word takes almost more time than to cover the quarter mile dragstrip located there! " is how Marius van der Zijden of Koedam Racing begins his race report on the FHRA Nitro Nationals, held last weekend in Alastaro.
©Eurodragster.com
The team's journey saw them crossing five countries and using three different ferries to get to an Alastaro race track which includes a road race circuit, a skid pad track, a motocross circuit and a dedicated dragstrip. "As it was our first time at Alastaro we gave the track a close inspection and at the first look it seemed fine to us. We had excellent sunny weather all weekend and because of its location in the northern hemisphere it never gets really dark during the 'midsummer nights'. It seems like noon lasts from 5 in the morning till 10 in the evening! " continues Marius.

"During Friday's qualifying we took one shot to see what the track was like. This run was a 6.43sec @ 358km/h. At the end of day one we held the provisional number 1 qualifier position with this run. Though it was only a little "loose" during this run we discovered that the rear tire was severely blistered and it was only good for scrap. So we replaced it (thanks to Ian King, who gave us his spare tire)

"Saturday qualifying was reduced to only 2 sessions because of a (very) small rain shower, but mainly due to a lot of oil downs. For our second qualifying shot we had stepped up the clutch a bit, only to find out that it proved to be too much for the track conditions as it smoked the tire instantly from the moment that the second stage of the clutch came in. We couldn't improve our time as the track was simply not as good as we expected in the first place. Despite the fact that we stepped down on the clutch at every run, we simply kept overpowering the track each time we were out. The team of Norwegian rider Jon Leret seemed to be able to adapt his bike better to the track conditions as he managed to improved it little by little and came close to our number 1 spot. At the end of the qualifying sessions however we remained the top qualifier.

"Eliminations day was again a beautiful summers day with a lot of spectators showing up. I was informed that it was the best spectator turn-out for many years not only because of the weather but also partly for the record number of top fuel bikes present. Usually not so many fuel bike teams show up in Finland due to the extreme travel time/costs.

"In the first round the bike went up in smoke again, this time however a little further down the track at hit of 3rd stage of the clutch. Nevertheless we won this round and earned our spot for the semi finals. The semi final round would be a very tricky one. At first our opponents bike (Italy's Antonio Ferretti) lost fire early in his burn out due to a fuel pump that came unattached. Seconds later we broke the primary drive belt during our burn out. However our engine was still running and Roel was still on the bike. Aware from this fact and with the knowledge that the rulebook says in such a situation that we just had to activate the lights, Roel did so by moving the bike only inches forward with his feet when the light turned to green. To best of our knowledge we had earned a spot to the final round. However checking out the details in the rulebook for this strange situation we were told that in such a case 'the bike has to leave the line under its own power' and so we were not allowed into the final.

"As mentioned before the Finnish people get very few changes to see Top Fuel Bikes in their country. Because we really wanted to give the crowd their monies worth (instead of a single bike making a solo run in the finals) we asked all involved parties if we could join the only other finalist (Jon Leret) in his final round appearance (of course or run would be outside of the competition, but the crowd would get to see a pair of bikes). Everyone agreed instantly to the idea. As well as giving the crowd a show this gave us an extra chance to see if we could adjust the clutch to better suit the track conditions. Despite the engine running flawlessly again (as it did all weekend), we only managed to squeeze out a 6.51 @ 346km/h out of this "test" run. The data showed that this time we took out too much clutch.

"For the race weekend we were runner up and in the Championship points table we remain the points leader. After two championship rounds we have 96 points over Jon Leret with 67 points. The next FIM/UEM championship rounds are again in Scandinavia (first Sweden and one weekend later Norway) at the end of this month and the beginning of August. Before that though Roedam Racing will return to Drachten in Holland, where this coming weekend is our nations biggest yearly event. We will be doing some demo runs on Sunday and hopefully we will be able to beat our own national record."

Editor's note: On the subject of the FHRA Nitro Nationals, we understand that at least one racer was approached at Alastaro by someone claiming to be working for Eurodragster. This was the second such occurrence in a few months and was as untrue in Finland as it was the first time. As regular readers will be aware, Eurodragster work closely with other web sites and so we only occasionally employ guest reporters none of whom were in Finland at the weekend.

NDRS Points.
10th July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with the latest points standings in the NDRS Championships following the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. You can find the latest points at www.dragracing.se.

Wildbunch at Thorney.
10th July: Also prompted by a recent news item, this one alst Tuesday from the Spellbound team, Scotty Durrant has written to let us know that several of the wildbunch will also be attending the Victory Wheelers event at Thorney Island this coming weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"As we as myself with the 'in the DOG HOUSE again' alky altered, Nick (penfold) Connor with the Barking Mad model B altered, Mark Cousell with the Limited Fundz slingshot and Ed Yates / Ray Ford with the Ramraider slingshot are all going along. Hope to see ya there." says Scotty

EHRA seeking racers.
10th July: Following on from Tueday's announcement of a RWYB at the Powerfest event, Michael Garfinkel has informed us that the EHRA have announced a call for entries for racers. The Powerfest event takes takes place from the 1st to the 3rd of August at the Tokoli airfield in Hungary.
©Eurodragster.com
Drivers in 13 categories are invited to participate. Those classes are; Jet Cars, Super Twin Top Gas, Funny Bikes, Top Methanol Dragsters, Top Methanol Funny Cars, Modified Harleys, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Pro Modified, Super Street Bikes, Competition Eliminator, and Junior Dragster. Interested parties must contact Jerry Lackey in Germany via email at jlackey@powerfest.com or via telephone evenings at 0049-6181-21150.

Hillingdon Speed And Spares.
10th July: Coming off the back of Carla Pittau's Pro Et Race report which we ran on the 7th July, Keith Herbert has wirtten to thank Carla for the plug for his new buiness (01895 237222) and to give us some more details.
©Eurodragster.com
"After 17 years running my removal business I have decided to give my back and knees a well earned rest,and have opened a shop selling mainstream car and van parts, hot hatch stuff.(I know, but there are an awful lot of them round here), and of course American car parts" says Keith. "Everyone is always welcome to drop by, we're at 12 Sutton Court road, Hillingdon. The kettle is always on and don't be put off by the Alsatian in the window! As we as all the car stuff we also do a nifty line of electric scooters and bikes." (Sounds like ideal pit transport to me - Stand in Ed)

Keith adds the he would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has made him and his team so welcome in Pro ET, "Life just doesnt get any better than a days racing and a beer and a chat. See you in the pits, I'll be the one standing upright with the rapidly straightening legs..........for once!"

Wheelie footage sought.
10th July: RDF Media, the producers of UK TV series Scrapheap Challenge, are asking the help of Eurodragster readers with some urgently-needed video. One of the new series, to commence screening in September, features a wheelie vehicle as the object to be manufactured by the two teams, and RDF need video footage of race cars pulling wheelies to complete the programme.
©Eurodragster.com
If you have video of race cars pulling wheelies which you would be willing to allow RDF to use then please call Jon on 0207 013 4537. The footage is needed by the end of this week.

Motorgraphic get moving.
10th July: UK based sponsorship and graphics company Motorgraphic are expanding their range of operations and re-locating to a new studio complex on the Isle of Wight as part of the Temp-us Group. In addition to their well established work within the European motorsports industry, the company are employing their expertise in a number of new market sectors including education and live music events under the Temp-us Group banner.
©Eurodragster.com
Included in their expansion programme, Motorgraphic have recruited new team member Philip Davies to head their research and rights division. Philip, who holds an M.A. in alternative technology economics brings with him many years of experience in sports sponsorship and has been a key player in the success of such company's as Sportcal.com and Worldsport.com.

"I am really excited about the move" Says Motorgraphic boss John Andrews. "Our investment in the new studios, new hardware and staff, and our commitment to using sustainable resources feels very good indeed. The sub-Mediterranean climate on the island is an amazing bonus."

Motorgraphic can be contacted via their website at www.motorgraphic.uk.com

Web site updates.
10th July: Alan Currans has updated the excellent Acceleration Archive site with a completely new section of picture galleries; 'The Long Lost John Woolfe Racing Archives'.
©Eurodragster.com
"To any, shall we say, mature drag racing fans, the name of John Woolfe Racing is synonymous with UK drag racing due in large part to the enthusiasm of David Riswick, the co-owner of the company." says Alan. "Over the years JWR and David Riswick were involved with a series of state of the art cars most of which were driven by drag racing legend Dennis Priddle. David has recently re-discovered his huge collection of historic pictures and, I am proud to say, has made them available to me for publication on The Acceleration Archive. Stand by for an insiders' view of one of the most successful UK teams of all time. "

The first page has just been added to the site which features the competition altered Hustler, Hustler II (a twin engined dragster and world record holder), Whistler (the UK's first funny car), and Quartermaster (the first of a series of top fuel dragsters). You can find the excellent Acceleration Archive site at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/

Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his Top End Tales web site with 3 pages of pictures and 24 wallpaper files from the recent SPRC Summer Nationals at Santa Pod.

Smax loses record.
9th July: A recalcitrant reverser robbed UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith of his unbeaten-in-2003 record, but the Purple Loans-sponsored racer is still leading the Championship after what was an enjoyable weekend up to that point. Smax reported in with the first of his European diaries:

"The journey to the track via Copenhagen (to save on the travel costs and not to visit the local attractions!) went well and we arrived at Alastaro. Of course I have seen the track in videos but it was exciting to see in real life. It is totally different to Santa Pod insomuch as the track is a lot trickier to get down with a bump in both lanes and an uphill runoff area, but a nice set up. We were made very welcome and it was nice to see Anita's home fans.

"The event was a four-car competition on Sunday with qualifying on Friday and Saturday. Qualifying went well for us with a second round 5.19 on a track which was very difficult to dial in, it was sufficient to give us number three qualifier drawing Andy Carter in the semi finals.

"The Purple Loans dream machine was still performing well after the Main Event and proved reliable all weekend with only minor damage. I was sorry for Tommy Möller and Kim Reymond who did not make it through, but turned all my focus to the race with Andy. We're hot off the first round win against him at the Pod and I'm delighted to say that we won with an extremely close 5.16 to his 5.18 with me getting the better light this time. Sorry Andy, but well done - the Finnish crowd went mad cheering us!
©Eurodragster.com
"The pit action was a little frantic, as we were on a reduced crew. Here I have to thank Mark Turner - clutch, Animal Mark - heads, Gary Page - bottom end, Gordon Callin - loads of everything, and race fan Belfast Ray who came to watch but ended up doing loads on the car all weekend! And of course King Knut (Söderquist, car owner - Ed) and top tuner Alan Jackson, thanks for a fantastic weekend. The position was that little bit more fraught because our stablemate Micke Kågered beat Anita Mäkelä to join us in the final. It was hard work for both teams then.

"I'd had a little trouble with the clutch engaging reverse and the gremlins hit me after a strong burnout in the final. No matter how I tried, I could not engage reverse to get back to the start line so had to forfeit the final to Micke. We could easily have finished in the number one slot again. Such is racing. Congratulations to Micke though - he deserved the win after the technical problems he has had recently. We're still at the top of the tree in FIA points and we look forward to meeting all the Swedes in three weeks time at Mantorp Park. Any Brits making the trip please pop over and say hello."

The Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team are now headed for Pite Dragway where Susanne Callin and Gary Page will be taking part in this weekend's Swedish Top Fuel Tour action at the Midnight Sun Internationals, against Monica Öberg and Tommy Möller. You can find out more about the Midnight Sun Internationals on the SHR Luleå web site at www.shra-lulea.bd.se.

Some AC Delco dreams come true.
9th July: 2002 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren took the win at Alastaro at the weekend in his AC Delco-sponsored Camaro, but crew member Magnus Cato's other dreams - about which he told Eurodragster last week - didn't come true.
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"The most important dream came true", says Magnus, "but the most important did - we qualified number one and won the event. Now we have a small lead in points, but rest assured, everybody is chasing us. We saw amazing performance from Jan Murén, rookie Jimmy Ålund, Rune Berg and Magnus Hansson. Pro Stock promises to be as interesting as ever. As for the new European Record and the girls, we'll just have to wait for Mantorp, Gardermoen or Santa Pod."

The AC Delco/Malmgren Racing web site at www.acdracing.net has been updated with Michael Malmgren's impressions of the weekend at Alastaro.

FIA Championship standings.
9th July: We are indebted to FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending us the standings in the FIA Championships after the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the full points standings by clicking here (PDF format), or by visiting the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se. The top three in each class after the Nitro Nationals are:

Top Fuel Dragster
  1. Smax Smith 169
  2. Micke Kågered 129
  3. = Andy Carter, Anita Mäkelä 100
Top Methanol Dragster
  1. Dave Wilson 164
  2. Peter Schöfer 155
  3. Jari Halinen 56
Top Methanol Funny Car
  1. Urs Erbacher 206
  2. Leif Andréasson 134
  3. Ulf Leanders 107
Pro Stock
  1. Michael Malmgren 186
  2. Rune Berg 150
  3. Jan Muren 134
FIM/UEM weekend report.
9th July: We are also indebted to FIM/UEM Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for sending us a report on the weekend's action at the FHRA Nitro Nationals.

This year everything worked very well. Not like last year with big weather problems, this time the sun shone most of the time. We had one half-hour delay due to some rain drops, but that was nothing. The only problem with the race was oil from broken engines. This still takes a long time to clean and we had to cancel one round on Saturday because of this.

In Pro Stock Bike Roger Pettersson showed that he is very strong. He took everything. Number one qualifier, won the race and also set a new record both in terminal speed and in elapsed time. Vesa Rautio was also back after his engine exploded in England. Not having been able to come on Friday he had a very strong Saturday and was number two qualifier. He took the speed record from Roger with a 294 kmh but was not able to back it up. Richard Gipp and Chris Hope qualified in the worst way. After going to Finland in rain and fog together they qualified numbers three and four and met each other in the first round. Chris took that race was up against Vesa in the semi finals. 2002 Champion Øivind von Essen had a lot of problems this time. Qualifying last and meeting Roger in the first round was not what he had been waiting for. When they checked the bike after the race they found some small problems with the gearbox, maybe was that the reason for the big problems they had. Roger Pettersson now has a small lead in the Championship over Chris Hope but this can easily change in the race at Mantorp Park.

In Super Twin everybody was very glad to see Anders 'Charley' Karling back for his first and only race in Europe this year. But what a problem he had, the bike was not going straight. So he qualified last at number eight. Per Bengtsson was the number one qualifier with a 6.9 and was looking very strong. Ronny Aasen who ran a six back in Norway was second in the qualifying with a 7.01. Ton Pels was number three, this time without his son Vincent who was back in Holland taking care of his new-born baby. But Ton had some help from one of Roel Koedam's mechanics so it worked fine. Stefan Junerud was also there with his bike. Stefan is running without a gearbox and just uses the clutch to make the bike go fast. He told me that the bike goes like a rocket, just accelerating. In eliminations it was Charley against Per in the first pair. Now everything waa working for Charley but it was very close. 6.81 for Charley and 6.67 for Per. But Charley took the win and did so in every race. After changing the tyres did the bike behaved like last year. So in the final it was Charley against Ton. But Charley was the fast one. This makes the Championship very even. Per has 79 points Ton Pels and Ronny Aassen 72. We are now waiting for Mantorp.

Everyone was a little worried at the start of the year about the number of Top Fuel Bikes in Finland but the class was very strong. Of the eight bikes there were six blown-nitro bikes, that is very good. Roel Koedam was number one qualifier with a 6.4. Roel looks very strong this year, but in the semi final against Antonio Ferretti he broke his drive belt and that was it. Ferretti beat Nils Ole Lund and has got his bike working. The bike looks good and with a little bit more practice will we soon see six-second times. I think that he will come to Norway. But his bike also stopped in the semi finals so we didn't have a winner in that round. Jon Leret was number two in qualifying. He made some realy good passes this time and the bike worked very well. He had an easy run but I think he had it made anyway. In the final he ran a 6.41 personal best and looks very strong. Ian King from England was number three in qualifying but the blower belt broke in the first round against Finn Aserbo from Denmark. Finn also had some problems so we did not have a winner in that run. Roel Koedam still has the first place in the Championship with 96 points, but Jon is not far behind. Jon has 67 and Nils Ole has 49 just before Ian with 48 points. It will be very interesting at Mantorp Park. Will Roel get a bigger lead or will the other guys catch him up?
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the full FIM/UEM points standings by visiting the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.

Mixed fortunes for Veidec Racing.
9th July: Sweden's Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team came away from Alastaro with new European ET and speed records and an event win for Roger Pettersson. 2002 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Champion Øivind von Essen didn't have quite such a good weekend, says Crew Chief Roger Lyrén.

"We came to Alastaro with some new stuff to test", says Roger. "After the Main Event we knew that we could improve the time and speed for both Roger Pettersson and Øivind von Essen. On Roger's first pass the bike just misfired so he had to shut off. What was happening? Electrical problems are always the worst to find, we went all through the bike and found the problem. A conection was a little bad.

"We made a new clutch for Øivind for Finland but he had trouble getting used to the set-up. He bogged the engine in the first qualifier, and the problems went on for him in every qualifying session. For the second round of qualifying we found a good base setting on Roger's bike, and we went 7.41/291.76 Kmh, a new European speed record! On that run we saw that we could improve the ET below the 7.396 we set at Main Event. The third qualifier was on Saturday. The air was OK so we knew that this was our chance. Roger went a 7.360/292.48, a new European record for both ET and speed! Yes! This was what we needed, now we were on the right track. The times for 60 and 330 feet were not as good as at Santa Pod so there was more to come.
©Eurodragster.com
"We tried to improve both bikes but ran no better ETs. Roger ended up number one and Øivind had the last place. So in eliminations Roger had to face his team-mate in the first round, but this is racing, anything can happen. Roger took the win, so we went through with a bye run in the semi, and had to face Vesa Rautio in the final. Roger took the win with another 7.3, a 7.39.

"The whole Team did a great job, sadly Øivind could not get his bike to work well, but we found the problem on his bike so he will be very hungry for Mantorp Park, I guarantee! Roger is now the points leader, but the Championship is very tight so it could all change at Mantorp. I guarantee we will see lots of good racing."

You can find the Veidec Racing web site at www.veidecracing.com.

Racers: It's not too late to send us your Nitro Nationals reviews. Drop us an E-Mail at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish it here.

Holland's biggest-ever race.
8th July: This weekend's MPM Internationals at Drachten looks set to be Holland's biggest-ever drag race with a huge entry list and a large number of spectators expected, says Gerda Dijkstra of Lex Joon Racing, who promote the event and whose MPM International Oil Company-sponsored Fuel FC will be appearing at the weekend.

"We start on Friday evening with a test session for street cars and street bikes, and we invite street racers to try out their car or bike on a real drag strip", says Gerda. "At 22.00 on Friday the weekend will be officially opened when all racers and crew are invited to come to the hospitality unit for a drink.

"This is the first time that Drachten has been this big, with national radio and television attending the whole weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"We are very happy and impressed with the number of entries we have had, especially when we see that they have come from all over Europe. For the car lovers, Lex will be making a couple of his famous burnouts on Saturday and Sunday. Drachten will not know what is going on! There has never in the history of drag racing in Holland been a Fuel car at Drachten. We are very pleased that John Spuffard, Bill Sherratt, Paul and Lee from the Showtime team are coming to learn how to do long burnouts from Lex. Bill is also bringing his jet bicycle so we can see how quick it is on the quarter mile. We are also expecting some Swedish entries in Pro Mod.

"For the bike lovers we also have a scoop - Willem Been will be running his new Top Fuel Bike - and we just got an E-Mail from Monique Koedam to confirm that that Roel Koedam and Ton Pels will be coming as well, they have just got back from Finland. We have also got a stunt team of five people and three bikes coming along."

You can see the official entry list for the MPM Internationals by clicking here.

Qualifying at Drachten starts at 10:00 this Saturday morning, and eliminations take place between 10:00 and 18:00 on Sunday. For more information check out the Explosion Club's web site at www.explosion.nl and the Lex Joon Racing web site at www.lexjoonracing.nl.

Records set at Alastaro.
8th July: Many thanks to timing supremo and honourary Eurodragster staff member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for dropping us a line to list the FIA and FIM/UEM records which were set at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at the weekend.

"Dave Wilson set a Top Methanol Dragster speed record of 259.82 mph, backed up by a 258.11", says Andy. "Dave seems to like Alastaro, as he set a new MPH record there last year. Urs Erbacher set a Top Methanol FC speed record of 249.67 mph, backed up by a 248.28.
©Eurodragster.com
"Subject to ratification, Roger Pettersson set both ET and speed records. The ET record is 7.360 seconds, backed up by a 7.397, and the speed record is 181.74 mph, backed up by a 179.93."

You can check ou Andy's list of European bests by clicking here, or by clickin on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

New Fuel Bike class.
8th July: We are not sure whether FIM/UEM Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson knows about this, but Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Määtä has written to tell us about a new class for nitro bikes. We weren't at Alastaro so we can only go with what Asko says:
©Eurodragster.com
"Petri 'Kalix' Kalttonen (who rode the ex-Raikkonen TF Harley last autumn and next year will be racing a sixty-degree TF Harley similar to Jaska Salakari) has put together a new Fuel bike class", he says. "The only limitation is that the rider must be less than 160 cm tall (I'm in - 150 cm Ed) so besides Kalix himself, the "Primary Belts broker" and Finnish National Karaoke Champion Ian King, and FHRA Nitro Nationals winner Jon Leret, there will be no other challengers from the Top Fuel Bike and Supertwin classes.

"Jon Leret was the only racer in Top Fuel Bike to make clean and strong passes all through the weekend so he deserved his win, running a personal best of 6.41 in the final."

Motler in court.
8th July: The UK's Spellbound Pro ET team have been on the road to promote the sport and made quite an impression, write Marcie and Malcolm Motler.

"On Saturday we attended the Westmoors Middle School Summer Fete at the request of our nephews Thomas and James" say Marcie and Malcolm. "The event was a great success and we had a steady flow of people of all ages looking and asking about the car and drag racing. Quite a few Santa Pod Calendars and Shakespeare County Raceway flyers were taken off our display. We were visited by the local plod after we first start Spellbound up (they were at the fete with their police dogs), to which Malk asked if they were going to nick him for rather bald rear tyres and no exhausts.

"At the end of the day Malk was asked to close the fete by doing a display of rolling burnouts on the tarmac tennis courts. Once the car was started the children and adults flocked to the chain fencing to see what all the noise was, they then cheered and clapped as Malk did several rolling burnouts and two hard hitting launches - just about stopping before hitting the other side of the court. Malk left two thick black tyre marks to our nephews' delight, although we are not sure what the caretaker will make of them...oops.
©Eurodragster.com
"This coming weekend we are going to the Victory Wheelers Show at Thorney Island, where we have entered the car in the Custom Show and will be doing a bit of side-by-side racing with fellow Pro ET Racers Steve Good, Jack Brewster, ex-Pro ET Star Rob Faulkner and Sportsman ET racer from the CRAP stable Mark Anderson. We hope to put a good show and tell as many people as possible how great drag racing is."

You can find the Spellbound web site at www.spellbounddragraceteam.co.uk.

Powerfest adds RWYB.
8th July: The European Hot Rod Association announced yesterday that it will present a Run What You Brung event on Friday 1st August during the first day of Powerfest, a weekend-long celebration of speed and sound. The announcement was made today by EHRA Co-Founder Aric Gastwirth and MotorSport Timing and Organisations Sport and Race Director, Jerry 'Big Daddy' Lackey.

"Participants will not be racing to win, but simply to test their car/bike over the quarter mile", stated Jerry Lackey. "Each participant will get a time slip listing their reaction time, their sixty-foot time, eighth-mile time, and their quarter mile time and speed."
©Eurodragster.com
Bikers must have a helmet to participate, and full-bodied cars which are heavily modified will also require the driver to wear a helmet. Anyone who registers must have a valid drivers license and sign a waiver of rights before being allowed on the track.

To participate, please contact jlackey@powerfest.com or visit www.powerfest.com or www.powerfest.hu.

Showdown invites doorslammers.
8th July: Dave Hollis, organiser of this coming weekend's British Mini Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway, has placed an open invitation to all 'doorslammer' racers, writes APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson. The invitation is open to any Modified, Sportsman, Street Eliminator and Outlaw Anglia teams who want to take the opportunity to test or just to get some much needed seat time. Normal Run What You Brung rules will apply. Interested parties can either contact Dave on 01384 897779 or E-Mail quartermilenewsmakers@yahoo.co.uk or jerry@apira.org.uk, but you must pre-register before coming to the Raceway.

"This year's Showdown is celebrating its tenth anniversary and organisers, the British Mini Club, want to make the event something special," says Dave. "If last years Showdown is anything to go by then records will be broken. Last years quickest 'A' series flew down the quarter mile in 12.79 seconds, but the quickest overall time for a Mini was 11.58 seconds, and that's quick."

Of course the weekend is not just about breaking records. Whatever type of Mini you own, whether it's a full blown concours winner or the very latest Mini Cooper S works, just bring it along and give it a blast on one of Europe's fastest quarter mile strips, but remember to bring a current driving licence, crash helmet, and suitable clothing (T shirts and shorts are not allowed while on track).

The weekend will also mark the return of the Fireforce Jet Funny Car team led by Martin Hill and Tony Baker. Last month at the Power Nationals Martin re-established his own SCR track record with impressive 5.885 seconds at 272.73 mph in the Chevy Lumina bodied Fireforce 2.

There's also a Trade and Mini Jumble, Show & Shine competition, Saturday night entertainment plus free camping, showers and grandstand seating.

Admission to the Showdown is 15.00 per day or 25.00 for a weekend pass. Track fee is also 15.00 and 25.00 for as many passes as you can make in a weekend! For more information about Shakespeare County visit www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. Just imagine - no speed restrictions, no speed cameras. Just floor the loud pedal and go, go, go!

Web site updates.
8th July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with an excellent set of photographs from the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. If you were tuned in to Eurodragster at the weekend you will have read about Dan Larsen's off-track excursion in qualifying; one of the photographs shows just what the team were up against to repair the damage. You can find the photographs at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Ten years of LA Performance.
7th July: LA Performance Services, who promote the Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship, Doorslammer Internationals and other events at Shakespeare County Raceway, have announced the extension of the current deal with track owner Anthony Hodges. The deal, signed early last week, extends LA Performance Services' involvement in the Warwickshire venue to ten years.

"I want to be involved for a long time and ten years seems a sensible timeframe" says Lee Child of LA Performance Services, who sponsors Eurodragster's Links pages through his company LA Racing Parts. "A tremendous amount of work has gone into our two events at Shakespeare County Raceway so far, and we want to build on that. We will be improving the venue which will hopefully strengthen fields, which will increase the number of spectators, which will strengthen the sport."
©Eurodragster.com
Improvements under discussion for Shakespeare County Raceway include concrete guardrails, extended pit space, and resurfaced service roads. Work has started on the construction of a new return road, together with a new turnoff to enable Junior Dragsters, Junior Drag Bikes and broken vehicles to leave the track more quickly. Work is also in hand to extend the banking on both sides of the track.

One upgrade which will be in place for the Allstar Nationals in August is a Berryman Green Stuff absorbent spreader, one of the latest generation of track preparation equipment used by the NHRA to clear oildowns. "The new machine has been found to use less materials, and can reduce downtime by up to fifty per cent", says Lee. The Berryman spreader will be imported by LA Racing Parts. "If anyone would like more details then please call me on 01803 554308", says Lee.

Three sweepers will now be available at the venue on race weekends; two for use on the track and one elsewhere around the facility such as the pits and the approach road. "Advertising space is available on the sweepers, so if you are interested then please call", says Lee.

"Not everything is going to happen overnight", says Lee. "But the beginning of work on the new return road, limp road and banks, and the new track prep equipment which will be in place for the next event, are all evidence of the investment which LA Performance Services and Anthony Hodges have already started to make in Shakespeare County Raceway. I would like to thank all of the racers and club and track officials for their support, Anthony Hodges for his solid backing and confidence in LA Performance Services, and all of our series sponsors for their support."

FHRA Nitro Nationals results.
7th July: The second round of the FIA / UEM championships took place at Alastaro this weekend just gone and here are the results from the FIA / UEM and NDRS Pro Modified classes;
  • Top Fuel - Micke Kågered (8.215) defeated Smax Smith (shut off after burnout)
  • Top Methnaol Dragster - Peter Schöfer (5.543) defeated Dave Wilson (5.585)
  • Top Methanol Funny Car - Urs Erbacher (5.837) defeated Ulf Leanders (6.474)
  • Pro Stock - Michael Malmgren (7.064) defeated Jan Muren (7.107)
  • Pro Modified - Hakan Hilsson (6.703) defeated Roger Johanson (6.567 - red light)
  • Top Fuel Bike - Jon Leret was unopposed
  • Supertwin - Anders Karling (6.654) defeated Ton Pels (10.648)
  • Pro Stock Bike - Roger Pettersson (7.397) defeated Vesa Rautio (broke)
Full results are available on the Finnish Hot Rod Association web site at www.fhra.fi and on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.

Team Kågered Alastaro report.
7th July: Barely had the nitro fumes cleared the air from the Top Fuel final at Alastaro when the first race report from the event dropped into our inbox. Fittingly it was from Asa Kinnemar of Micke Kågered Racing, winners of the Top Fuel eliminator.
©Eurodragster.com
"With only a 4-car elimination ladder run at the FIA event it meant two cars would be out of competition after qualifications. All the teams struggled with setups and tended to overpower the tricky track conditions but it was still a surprise when last years FIA champion Kim Reymond did not make it to the eliminations. During the semi-finals we could tell that Micke Kgered is back for sure after the accident last year. The car dropped a few cylinders in the second half of the track which meant that the E.T. was the quickest in the field. However losing power may have helped to prevent tyreshake as Micke had no problems at all with the traction. Micke was facing Anita Makela in the first round and left first and never saw Anita again as he lead from start to finish. The other semi-final between Smax Smith and Andy Carter was closer, Carter lost the blower belt and narrowly lost to Smith.

In the final between Smith and Kagered, Smax could not get the car into reverse gear after the burnout and that left Micke with a solo run. All in all a good event for Micke Kagered, who will be someone to take into account at coming events, thats for sure.

Niclas Andersson has adapted very well to his new roll as driver of Micke Kågereds Top Methanol funny car. Now it is basically a matter of Niclas getting used to the shifting rpm, so that it matches the clutch and fuel setup. No major changes needed, just some more runs at this point.

In the first round Niclas was up against Freddy Fagerstrom. It was a tough race, Andersson had problems with tireshake and in the end Fagerstrom was the one first over the finish line. Urs Erbacher went on to win the Top Methanol Funny Car class again and so far has been outstanding this season."

You can find more details of the team's weekend on their web site at www.kagered-racing.com

Summer Nats Pro ET report.
7th July: Once again our good friend Carla Pittau from Team Heaven and Hell has been busy putting together a report on the Pro ET action at the most recent round of the UK National Championships, the Summer Nationals held two weekends ago at Santa Pod.

Great to see Keith Herbert back in the Pro ET wars, with son Luke happy to be racing again after a bit of a gap. Keith now runs a Speed and Spares shop stocking many of the consumables you need, support your fellow racers and buy your oil filters, gaskets etc, from Keith - and don't forget to ask him for a price on performance parts too. Keith achieved 4/100 off his time on the first run off the trailer, not too bad for a car that's not been out for a year, and I'm sure many people will agree with me (I certainly will - Stand in Ed) on how great his car looks, a Plymouth Sport Fury being a faithful replica of a proper '60s Super Stocker.

Jack and Jackie Brewster were at the track, but without the Mustard Camaro, unfortunately his parts didn't clear Customs in time. It seems somebody was trying to save him money on shipping and didn't use UPS.

In the first qualifying session Malcolm Motler in the lovely Spellbound Pro Mog made the first run down the track and clocked a nice 11.039 on an 11.02 dial in, 19 thou off isn't too bad a start and this left Malk with a no. 1 qualifier for a while, although not too long as John Everitt in Ray Eldred's wheel standing Celica had other plans for the end of the first session and clocked a 9.376 on a 9.37 dial in, a 6 thou off stealing no. 1 from Malk.

The Celica is very impressive on the launch (Rick says it's a launch to die for) and as power is supplied by a small block Chevy and it runs low 9s it gets full thumbs up from us. Unfortunately as Ray keeps making the car go quicker we may soon lose him to Super Pro - don't leave us please!

Team Heaven & Hell were ecstatic with their new Torque Converter on the first runs, when the Camaro found the old 60' times again. This caused a 12 hundredths breakout but also a lot of joy. In the meantime Bob Doyle, having fitted bigger front tyres on his too eager Datsun in an attempt to find slower launches, was smiling after pulling a 0.55, back to his usual good quality greens!

The second qualifying session came along, with Dave Ward bettering John Everitt's time by 1 thou and taking away no. 1, but no further upsets happened in the 3rd qualifier, at least for the top 2 positions as no one crept up to dislodge Dave and John, while Malcolm, who had by now slipped to no. 3 had to give way to Marius Blackburn who managed a closer run with a 9.605 on a 9.59 dial in the nick of time. In the first round Gino Bernardine took home the Eurodragster perfect light award - well done chaps, another feather in the Pro ET cap. He also won the race against Aidan Kenny and faced Rick McCann in the second round, when luckily for us he didn't repeat...

Other impressive lights were dished out by Kev Taylor defeating John Atkinson's closer time with his holeshot 0.519 - and by Steve Good who chopped down the tree with a 0.509 and defeated Ian Brown who nearly doubled up on his last outing but had no luck this time as his brakes failed.

Quite a few breakouts in the first round - unfortunate Wayne Hiscock obviously gave up trying to get the Chevelle to run 10.87 and dialled a 10.92, only to have the car suddenly cooperate and run 10.888, which threw away his advantage on the tree and let John Everitt use his close dial in to advance to the next round. Marius Blackburn also broke out against Lee Huxley who ran a close 10.915 on a 10.90 dial in, and so did Terry Wareham who obviously wasn't prepared to use his holeshot to hit the brakes at the top end and let Alan Didwell's Capri take the win. A double breakout between Keith Herbert and Dave Ward went Dave's way and the Super Stocker headed for the trailer while Dave's Funny Car headed for a bye into the quarter finals when he showed that no. 1 qualifier was no fluke by running a 10.453 on a 10.45 dial in.

Steve Good chopped the tree a bit too far (0.478) against his good mate Malcolm Motler, who also received a cherry in the first round compliments of Bob Doyle (don't ask) but topped his second win with an excellent 11.026 on an 11.02 dial in. However Kev Taylor and Lee Huxley must both have felt pretty tired as they had a snooze on the line, with Lee taking the win with a shorter snooze and a closer time. Alan Didwell in the meantime was busy throwing away a close run with a red light against Steve Wells who got through despite breaking out by 28 thou. Rick McCann got by Gino Bernadine by pulling a 0.513 and braking just enough to get within 19 thou of the 10.70 dial in, pleased to manage despite a non-cooperating Torque Converter that was making dialling the car very difficult, while Gino (with an identical 19 thou off his 9.62 dial in) was obviously worried about "bettering" his .0500 and played it a bit too safe with a 0.592 reaction.

Meanwhile the battle of John Everitt's and Tokyo Toy Celicas was going in favour of Jon Evans, with a closer time taking care of his opponent's slight holeshot. Malcolm also decided to snooze on the line this time, letting Dave Ward continue his march to the semis, while Lee Huxley was collecting one of the obligatory red lights against him compliments of Steve Wells, who did not even seem to move when he pulled it, it must be black magic (a trophy for the team who collected the most red lights against them should be one of the awards for this season). Rick McCann also collected a red light from good mate Jon Evans - we really hoped that this race, whoever won, would be won or lost at the top end, but no luck, as it was Rick's turn to snooze with a 0.612 while Jon pulled a oh so close but losing 0.498. Rick recovered during his bye and pulled a "practice" 0.515 - and yes, Lee collected another red light in the semis - of course, I think at every race there is a minimum quota that must be offered to the black Ford to placate the Black Magic Spirits (by the way, a Voodoo doll complete with pins - perching on a model black '32 Ford - is currently on sale in the Pro ET pits, but remember, you didn't hear it from me).

Having decided that he would not be Lee's next red light victim, it was Rick's turn to play it far too safe (or snooze, one of the two) and found that a 0.607 is no match for a 0.526 and with both racers breaking out Lee was able to use his advantage on the tree to collect another 790 points and run away with everyone's chances of National Championship crown for this year.

A wonderful weekend with everyone having a good time and close, exciting racing. With Sunday inconsistent stall speeds and slower 60' times destroying their faith in the new converter, the Heaven & Hell team were really happy to get as far as they did and would like to give special thanks to their new crew member Mike Lacey, for his dedication, good humour and efficiency, and his mate Jeff for the absolutely excellent steaks.

P.S. Once again, we may well have omitted facts or misinterpreted others. Those racers who would like to put the record straight or report pit news etc. please write to us (links on www.pro-et.co.uk or www.heavenhell.org) or talk to us in the pits. We will try to write a report for each event and help and snippets from all racers are very welcome. P.S. 2: Marcia stop running about in your new Mini and help write the reports!

Supercharged points.
7th July: Thanks to Roy and Angi Wilding we have now been able to add the Supercharged Outlaws points to our points standings page. You can access the Supercharged Outlaw points via the points standings link on the left hand menu or you can go directly to them by Clicking Here.

Wildside at Goodwood.
7th July: Thanks to Lesley Wright for letting us know that next weekend the Wildside Top Fuel car will be on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and it will be joined by the famous Commuter Top Fuel dragster, which held the world standing start quarter mile record in 1967. Further Drag Racing interest is represented by Bob Riggle's Hurst Hemi Under Glass which is cited by Goodwood as arguably the single most memorable vehicle ever to have taken to the Goodwood hill climb. The wheel standing Plymouth Barracuda last visited the Festival in 2001 and is sure to receive a hero's welcome.
©Eurodragster.com
"We are delighted to have been invited back" said Lesley Wright "as it is the Festival's 10th anniversary they are under pressure for space so unfortunately couldn't accommodate us to fire the car up but nevertheless the Wildside Top Fuel car with Commuter alongside will make a stunning display."

The 427 c.i. Ford powered Commuter took the FIA Standing Start quarter mile record in the International B category at 8.91 second at RAF Elvington in October 1967 and went on to hold the flying kilometre record at 207 mph in 1970. As Ford are celebrating 100 years at the Festival it will be a fitting Drag Racing tribute to the marque.

Racing Champions are hosting Wildside's appearance at the event and look forward to welcoming their guests along with associate sponsors, Royal Purple, Thinktank and Datron Technology - (check out the Datron Technology web site at www.datrontechnology.co.uk and go to Vehicle Testing for a full report on the application of their data logging system on the Wildside Top Fuel car at Shakespeare County Raceway recently)

FHRA Nitro Nationals coverage.
6th July: The second round of the FIA / UEM championships is taking place at Alastaro this weekend and fans are able to get the news from Alastaro on two web sites with which Eurodragster works closely.

A newly-enlarged Finnish Hot Rod Association reporting team led by our good friend Hanski will be posting reports on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi.
©Eurodragster.com
Another of our good buddies, Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing, will be working on TV coverage but also plans to find time to post updates on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.

You can find Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC results on the Kagered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com, and Pro Mod results on Hakan Nilsson's site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

ACI report in.
6th July: Many thanks to Anthony Cohen of our sponsor American Car Imports for the latest news of Dave Wilson and the team from Top Methanol Dragster qualifying at Alastaro. The team are now running with a new rear wing in place thanks to Kari Eskelinen, Anthony tells us that the new wing was shipped down from Helsinki and fits perfectly.
©Eurodragster.com
It certainly seems to have done the job as Dave stamped his authority on the qualifying in the third session (the first session held yesterday) as he ran a 5.51 at a huge 259.82mph to claim the number one spot. Dave's closest challenger after the 3rd session was no surprise as reigning Champion Peter Schöfer was five hundredths behind with a 5.56. We hope to bring you more news from the ACI camp during eliminations today so stay tuned.

12:00 Anthony has very kindly called us after round one of Top Methanol Dragster to keep fans up to date with the ACI teams progress. The team had a bye run in the first round thanks to their number one qualifying effort. The team made maximum use of the bye run as Dave Wilson took the ACI dragster to a 5.59 / 258mph pass, the speed enough to back up the 259mph pass from qualifying for a new European speed record, the new record more than 3mph faster than the previous one. "We are delighted with how our new chassis is performing" said Anthony, "At the Main Event we reset the European ET record and now we have reset the mph record as well."

The rest of round one saw Peter Schöfer make a half pass on a bye run when Lassi Luoma could not make the call after hurting the car in qualifying and Jari Halinen advance with a 5.92 win over Krister Johansson. Anthony tells us that Peter has a bye run in the semi finals while they will take on Jari. The next round is expected to take place in about an hour and a half's time and Anthony has promised another update following that round.

The first round of Top Fuel eliminations took place while Anthony was on the phone and he kindly dashed across to the track so that your UK based reporter could listen to the 2nd race live over the phone. That race saw Micke Kagered run a 5.39 / 418kph (259mph) to defeat Anita Makela's engine exploding 6.20 / 244kph (151mph). Anthony didn't see the first pair, but reports that the track PA system announced Smax Smith as victorious over Andy Carter.

14:30 Our man on the spot Anthony Cohen has called in again with news of the Top Methanol Dragster semi finals. The first semi was the race between Dave Wilson in the ACI car and Jari Halinen driving Simo Patoharju's car. Jari and the team had a thrash to make the call for the semi final and only just made it, only to have the car shut off after the burnout to leave Dave on a solo run. Dave used the solo to run a 5.55 at 256mph. Peter Schöfer ran a 5.56 on his semi final bye, but Anthony suspects that lane choice will not be that important as ACI have favoured the left lane while Peter and the team seem to favour the right. "The final should be an awesome race, there is so little between the two teams on semi final performance."said Anthony, "We are just working on the routine between rounds maintenance at the moment. The whole crew is working superbly together, there is a great atmosphere in the pit and everyone is looking forward to the final."

19:00 Well the finals of the FIA classes have been completed and thanks to Anthony Cohen we can tell you that the winners of the FIA classes are Micke Kagered Top Fuel), Urs Erbacher (Top Methnaol Funny Car), Michael Malmgren (Pro Stock) and in the Top Methanol Dragster final Dave Wilson and the ACI team lost out to Peter Schöfer, Dave suffering mid track tyreshake on the way to a 5.58 and despite chasing hard Dave could not catch Peter's 5.54. "We would have liked to win 2 in a row, but it was not to be" said Anthony. "We are pleased to have run the low ET, qualified number 1 and reset the European mph record and our initial calculations suggest we will still be number one in the points going into Mantorp Park."

I am sure all our readers will join us in saying a big thank you to Anthony Cohen for enabling us to bring you these updates from Alastaro over the course of the weekend.

Carter Confident.
6th July: We also managed to speak to UK Top Fuel driver Andy Carter after qualifying had finished yesterday and Andy was in a confident mood. Instead of the scheduled 3 qualifiers today it was reduced to two because of downtime, but it didn't matter to Andy and the team as in the first session held yesterday Andy got the car hooked up and ran a 5.14 / 287mph pass to take the 2nd qualifying spot. The final run of the day saw an aborted run of 11.86 after the car suffered bad tyre shake.
©Eurodragster.com
"Its been a hectic weekend for us so far" said Andy. "We only have 6 crew instead of the usual 10, but as usual my 'Super Crew' have pulled through for me, everyone working even harder than normal."

After qualifying the standings are
  1. Anita Makela 4.96
  2. Andy Carter 5.14
  3. Smax Smith 5.19
  4. Micke Kagered 5.35
  5. Kim Reymond 5.81
  6. Tommy Moller 6.32
The first round of eliminations (scheduled for 11.30) will see Anita take on Micke and Andy face off against Smax while Kim and Tommy have not qualified for the 4 car field.

When asked about facing Smax in the first round Andy said "Its good to have Smax in round one as he is two rounds ahead of us in the points so if we can win that one we will get some of those points back. Smax is on a roll at the moment, no doubt about that, but I am confident going into eliminations tomorrow."

We hope to speak to Andy again after the first round has been run, watch this space for more details.

12:30 We managed to catch up with Andy again after round one, a round, which as mentioned in the piece from Anthony Cohen, Andy lost to Smax Smith. " It was a carbon copy of the first round at Santa Pod" said Andy "I had really bad tyre shake off the line but kept my foot in it, I was determined I wasn't going to lose. The shake lasted for about 700 feet before it started to smooth out but then at about 1200 feet the car pitched the blower belt off and there was nothing I could do as Smax came past to take the win. What can you do? Its one of those things, no blower belt = no power! We think maybe the bad tyre shake affected the belt but there is no way to be sure. The team are stripping the car now to make sure there is no other damage and then we we load up and get the rig on the boat tomorrow to start the journey to Mantorp. I would like to say a big thank you to all my crew who have worked like hero's all weekend and to First National Telecom for their support."

I am sure all our readers will join us in saying a big thank you to Andy for making time to speak to us over a very hectic weekend and giving us regular updates direct from the man in the hot seat.

Long night for Larsen.
6th July: Joining the ranks of teams letting us know how their weekend has gone so is Dan Larsen's Top Methanol Funny Car team, Joan Larsen emailing us with the news that all was going well for the team until the 4th and final qualifying session. Going into the 4th session Dan was qualified 3rd with a 5.99 pass and he would finish the qualifying in that position, but not without some major drama's as Joan explains;
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"Dan was really trying hard to get a better qualifying place on his last qualifying run. The start was very good, but then he got very bad tireshake half way down the track. The car went out in the grass along the side of the track but Dan managed to get the car back to the track just before the finish line and recorded a time of 6.03 seconds, but then he hid a plastic marker on the centerline which has destroyed the front left corner of the body. We are very grateful to Leanders Brothers from whom we are getting a lot of help to get the body ready for tomorrows elimination runs, even though we will meet them in round one! What more can you say about a team that will do that? Thank you again Ulf and team. "

Despite thrashing to get the body fixed the team have managed to update their web site at www.funnycar.dk with a report and some pictures of the extensive damage to the body. I'm sure all our readers will join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Dan and the team good luck with the repairs and in applauding the sportsmanship of the Leanders Brothers team.

12:15 Many thanks to Joan for another update on Dan's progress. "After working through the night with help from the Leanders team we made it out for round 1, to race Ulf Leanders. It was a very close race with Dan running a 5.99 but losing out right at the finish line to Ulf's 5.98. We will now take the car home to check everything out and get the body painted up again ready for Mantorp. I would like to say a big thank you to both our crew and the Leanders guys for all the work on the body and getting it fixed in time for us to race today."

Alastaro bike action.
6th July: Those of you wondering what was happening on two wheels in Alastaro need wonder no longer thanks to Asko Maatta. Asko is racing his Pro Mod bike in the Top Fuel class and has very kindly taken time out to give us the qualifying in all three of the UEM bike classes. Asko said that "The weather has so far been quite warm and mostly sunny so numerous racers from all over the Europe have seen the beautiful Finnish summer at its best! In Top Fuel Bike Roel Koedam qualified first. Marious of Roel's team told that they overpowered the track, as did most of fuel cars, but they are finding the right clutch setup and will be tough tomorrow at eliminations. The 8 qualifiers in Top Fuel bike are:
1. R Koedam 6.439/358 kph (222 mph)
2. Jon Leret 6.467/341 kph (211 mph
3. Ian King 6.946/321 kph (199 mph)
followed by Nils Ole Lund, Antonio Ferretti, Finn Asserbo, Asko Mtt and Jo Saetre.

Ian King also had some problems but the team are confident they have them sorted. Both Ian and Marius said that the track is very good and the atmosphere in Finland is very nice.
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Yesterday I broke the Orien Pro Mod gearbox on my bike but with the spare one fitted I managed to make very good half pass (5.1 / 220 kph at the eighth), so everything looks good for tomorrow."

We understand from Asko that the qualifying in the other UEM classes is as follows; PSB
1. Roger Petterson 7.360
2. Vesa Rautio 7.459
3. Richard Gipp 7.643
with Chris Hope, Kenneth Stromberg and then Oivind von Essen on the bump spot with a 7.85

STTF
1. Per Begtsson 6.900
2. Ronny Aasen 7.019
3. Ton Pels 7.061
with Svein Gottenberg, Stefan Junerud, Kari Parikka, Erik Nielsen and finally Charley Karling.
Charley apparently having some handling problems which prevented any full passes.

Kirk looking for a quick return.
6th July: Many thanks to Sharon Hogarth, secretary of the Super Mod Racers Association for passing on the latest news on the Kirk Motorsport team.

Super Mod Racers and Fans alike will be pleased to learn that Kirk Motorsport are hard at it in the race for a swift return to the track and Super Mod Racing. Andy Kirk has been in touch to provide an update on the teams plans and activities and he is looking forward to firing the superbly turned out 'Ratfink' Camaro up again in the very near future albeit maybe not in exactly the same guise as the team debuted earlier this season.

"We're currently trying to source a sponsorship deal that will allow us to step up on our engine program and make it a more optimal size to get the car right on the money weight-wise." reports Andy, "Funds allowing, we are also considering our options with different transmissions to enable us to compete on a level playing field with the class' 'hitters'.
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"Chances are we'll return with the 'glide but it's looking more and more likely that we'll be needing a clutch if we're gonna get anywhere close to the amazing performances being showcased at the moment."

The team's plans for this year, other than getting back out there, are to continue with the original idea of treating this year as one big test session so they can hopefully contend for the title in 2004. Andy explains "The situation being as it is currently we can't say when we'll be back out there, but we haven't ruled out the sevens for 2003 just yet. We are in discussions with a couple of companies and should hear a result, good or bad in the very near future so watch this space"

You can stay in touch with Kirk Motorsport at www.kirkmotorsport.com and of course for all things Super Mod there is the Super Modified website at www.eurodragster.com/supermod

Web site updates.
6th July: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost has updated his Red Victor Racing web site with a report from the SPRC Summernationals. Check it out at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk/.
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Another man who has been busy updating his site is Alan Currans. Alan tells us that he has now added the 4th page of Timo Aartomaa's pictures. These feature some great action shots of top fuel dragsters and funny cars, candid pictures of the teams, a very badly damaged block in the Stardust funny car. You can find the excellent Acceleration Archive site at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/

Top Fuel and Rocket Bike rider Eric Teboul has now launched his own web site at www.teboulracing.com.

We do race in Switzerland!
5th July: Swiss Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dezsoe Krivan has a home fixture at the end of this month, says team member Steve Wilson. Flying the face of the common belief that there is no motorsport in Switzerland is the third Swiss Drag Race Challenge, to be held at Turtmann on 26th-27th July.
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"The event is more of a show than a race", says Steve. "It is held on an old Swiss Air Force base, so we have a three-kilometre runway to play on. They hold an American car show at the same time, and organise a few drag racers to come down to show the crowd what we do. Last year Dez took the car down with our other body (right).

"It is an excellent weekend. The Swiss teams support the event and we are able to generate more interest in our sport, also we can use it as a test weekend. Even more so this year as we go to Hungary for the Powerfest on the following weekend."

If you are interested in visiting the event Geneva is the nearest airport, then head for Sion on the E2 and Turtmann is between Sierre and Visp, not far from the Matterhorn. You can find out more on the Swiss Drag Race Challenge web site at www.swissrdagster.ch.

Jade in the USA?
5th July: The Summer Nationals at Santa Pod was hard work for the Jade Racing team of Jerry and Sharron Collier, but despite the problems the team are still upbeat and focusing their energy on not just sorting out their Kawaski H2 comp bike, but on raising the funds to take both the H2 and the RD400 Top Gas Bike (which carried Jerry to numerous championships) over to the USA to take on the Americans. Here's Sharron's report on the Summer Nationals and the plans for the US trip;
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"Well it was another hard work weekend in the Jade camp, since we ran the 8.05 we have upped the ante and increased the tune up, which in turn has been causing us teething problems. Friday night saw us fitting a new ignition plate which Bob Brookes had made for us, as the ignition pickups had fallen off at Shakey the round before. Come the first qualifier on Saturday and once again the ignition was all over the place, so Jerry shut off. We missed the second session as we found the pickups had managed to move again, so Bob set to work making a 'pickup sandwich' by making a second pickup plate to bolt on top of the pickups to secure them. The third session rolled round and once again the ignition was all over the place!! We saw a puff of smoke from the H2 just after the eighth and feared the worst....

On inspection, the number two pick up had gone down, and it resulted in severe damage to number two barrel, piston, and head. We set to work at 6pm with a total engine strip. The piston was completely scrap and had left half of itself thickly spread all over the barrel and head. Bob and I took it in turns with some acid and a paintbrush, painstakingly removing the ally from the bore, while Jerry stripped the motor. We washed out everything and began building the bottom end and Jerry and myself got to work on the head with a hammer and chisel (ouch! - yes the ali was that thick) and eventually wet and dry. The funny part was Tim Blakemore and crew were also doing an engine strip, and we were doing a 'scrapheap challenge', checking in each others pits to see who was winning!

We were supposed to be at Scott Talbots wedding that night and so had not brought any food with us. Just when it looked like hunger would slow us down, Bob came out of his camper with ciabbatta rolls of bacon and sausage to keep us going, what a star! We carried on with the surgery for a couple more hours before we were interrupted by Steve French. Steve announced that his team had put all their food together and cooked a huge meal for all of us and we were ordered to 'wash your hands and sit down!'. After a great meal we got back after the bike. Eventually we got the bottom end in the chassis, the two good cylinders back on and we finished working on the bad one around midnight.

First round of eliminations we had Paul Newman. The bike seemed to run well,beating Paul with an 8.44, but I saw a puff of smoke at the top end so I didn't do any jumping around on the start line as I didn't know how bad the motor was. Back in the pits and yep the ignition problem had struck again, number one had gone down this time taking the piston, barrel and head with it! Obviously there was no time for complete engine strip between rounds so we took the top end off, poured petrol down number one and physically turned H2 upside down to get it back out again, hopefully with lots of bits of crap in it! Bob once again set to work on the barrel with the acid, but this time the head was beyond even the chisel so we had to use a very tired looking spare, plus a piston dating back to Martin Bishops days!(Martin campaigned the bike several years ago - Ed). We put it all back together and went down for round 2. It left the line like a bullet and Jerry was in front of Phil Leamon until he felt something not right, and shut off. When we got back to the pit, all the pistons were fine, but obviously something is not happy somewhere. A full strip and check of every possible wire is our next move.

We are determined to get it sorted out as we are trying to raise the funds to take the H2 and the RD Top Gas bike to the States in October, where for the first time in years a two stroke class is included in the Prostar meeting. Only one American guy has run a 7 on a triple, at 7.97. We are desperate to go and be the second H2 in the world into the 7's as up to now Jerry has run 8.05. At the first US event at the end of May the quickest H2 there ran 8.6 and the second quickest H2 ran 9.20! The plan also sees our championship winning RD making the trip with Steve French as rider. The quickest non-gas RD there was something like 10.5 while their quickest nitrous RD has ran 9.4. Ours has run down to 9.52 and that is without nitrous. We are in contact with a couple of guys over there, who I think take our results with a pinch of salt, so we are determined to prove it to them by going out there and doing it under their noses. Anyone who knows us well knows we are not rich, just determined and driven. Our first priority is naturally our son Scott who gets everything he needs, but after that the bike comes before us, we will go without things in order to keep the bike running. If any company is reading this and would like to be part of our endeavor to race the Americans on their own ground and at the same time try to claim the Nitrous H2 world record by offering some financial support, we would gladly advertise them to the best of our abilities and generate as much publicity as possible for their company.

We do have a few loyal product sponsors (Thank you Red Line Oil, Activ8 and Shakespeare County Raceway) who are extremely happy with the response they get from our racing and have stuck with us for years so we must do something right! I know the combination of Jerry and the H2 has the 7 in it, as he IS the two stroke king, I just want the rest of the world to know it too.

Finally a HUGE thanks to Steve French, Chris Hall, Bob Brookes, Gordon, Andy, Sean McDade and finally Scott Lloyd Collier (for putting up with us)."

If you or your company is interested in getting involved in Jade Racing's mission to tackle the Americans on their own soil you can contact Jade via sharron@jaderacing.fsnet.co.uk

I'm getting married in a Mopar.
5th July: Chris Orthodoxou, self-styled PR guru and Chief Executive of the Reservoir Dodge Racing Team is to be married today (Saturday) at St. Mary's church in Send, Surrey. Chris' bride to-be is the long suffering Angella.

"Wedding cars include Jim Wilson's purple 1970 Hemi 'Cuda, a Hennessey Viper Venom, 1971 Hemi Challenger, and a couple of AMG Mercs, to name but a few", says Chris. The popular racer informs us that the honeymoon, on a remote Indian Ocean island, will last for "only" fifteen days as he needs to return to prepare his 1967 Dodge Dart for the Mopar Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of July. "Well, you've got to get your priorities right!", he says.
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Chris tells us that he fully expects to take home the Fastest Mopar trophy, as "There is just no competition at the moment!". Chris' band Executive Relief will also be playing on the Saturday night of the event.

"I would like to thank my sponsors Barclays Bank, IBM, Microsoft, Exxon/Mobil Petroleum and Marathon Oil for their continued support", says Chris.

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

Veidec Festival hospitality form.
5th July: We are indebted to Fredrik Ström and the Veidec Nitro Festival team for sending us the official booking form for Hospitality packages at the event at Mantorp Park on 24th-27th July.

"The packages include admission to the track, seating in the VIP Grandstand, and buffet lunch in the exclusive Hospitality marquee", says Fredrik.
©Eurodragster.com
You can download the Hospitality booking form (PDF format) by clicking here. Don't forget that you can find the very latest versions of all of the Veidec Nitro Festival forms, including an order form for pit electricity and tickets, as well as forms for all other NDRS events on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se/nerladdning.html.

ACI on a wing and a prayer.
4th July: Courtesy of Anthony Cohen of our sponsor American Car Imports comes the news that Dave Wilson leads Top Methanol Dragster qualifying at Alastaro with a 5.68/255, a run which could have been far more dramatic but, fortunately for Dave, wasn't.
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"The rear wing broke one hundred feet into the run, but Dave still went over 255 miles per hour - which is American Car Imports Racing's twenty fifth pass over 250", said Anthony, speaking on his mobile phone from Alastaro. "We are very grateful to Simo Patoharju for the loan of another rear wing, which is a great sporting gesture (Hear, hear - Ed)."

Anthony tells us that European TMD Champion Peter Schöfer is one hundredth behind Dave Wilson, with Jari Halinen and Krister Johansson both in the low sixes and Lassi Luoma not far behind.

Carter's shaky start.
4th July: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter also kindly filled us in on his first round of qualifying at Alastaro. "I hit instant tyre shake", said Andy. "Eddie (Corr, Crew Chief) is already making some changes in time for the next session later on today."
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Anita Mäkelä leads Top Fuel after session one with a 4.96, the only full pass of the session. "That will all change by tonight!", said Andy.

We spoke to Andy Carter again after his second qualifying pass and he didn't have a lot more luck although he is currently in the field. "I was up against Kim Reymond", he said. "We did our burnouts and were pulling forward to stage when we were shut off because there were some cars still on the shutdown area. We were to run last after the other Top Fuellers but I elected to wait until after Pro Mod because it is very hot and humid here and my engine was steaming. When I ran I had shake to about two hundred feet, but I drove through it, and it was going well until the blower belt came off". Andy recorded 8.73/142 Kmh and he is sitting on the bump, with Tommy Moller and Kim Reymond currently on the outside looking in.

Don't forget that you can find Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC results on the Kagered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com, and Pro Mod results on Hakan Nilsson's site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

Kim Reymond: flag inspector.
4th July: Reigning FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Kim Reymond and the USA Autodele team are due to arrive at Alastaro this morning, but in plenty of time for the first round of qualifying for the FHRA Nitro Nationals. The team had a small amount of work to do on the dragster after the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, where they ran a 4.93, including the trimming of the front wind shield to ensure that the air flow doe not pass over the injector.

"We broke an axle at the Main Event, and we had to send two melted heads to Alan Johnson in the USA, but everything else was OK", says Kim. "We took the rear end apart and it is OK - which is just as well because nobody has the right ratio gears for it!"
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Kim says that the 4.93 pass at Santa Pod, in the first round of eliminations, could have been quicker. "We had a problem with the fuel system on that run, a slider failed and so the engine didn't get all of the fuel that it should". Kim may have been busy out on the track but it appears that he had time to check out the scenery. "I noticed that there was no Danish flag!", he says. "I bent Kjell's ear about it."

There is a four-car Top Fuel field in Finland this weekend, promising hard qualifying, but Kim wishes it were different. "It should be an eight-car field", he says. "It's a lot more fun when all the cars are racing on Sunday!"

Smax's first trip in Europe.
4th July: Fellow Top Fuel Dragster racer, FIA European Championship leader and still undefeated in 2003, Smax Smith and his team have packed their tooth brushes and arrived in Finland yesterday ready for the FHRA Nitro Nationals.

Team Manager Paul Townsend writes that all is reported well in the Purple Loans camp. Car owner Knut Söderquist is one hundred per cent happy that the car is ready to play, and tuner Alan Jackson is planning a strong tune-up in the motor with a view to setting strong times in both qualifying and competition.
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"The four car field in Finland is really going to make for exciting qualifying rounds", says Smax. "We are looking forward to Gary Page joining us later on the tour. In the mean time this is - apart from my time in Canada - my first time racing outside the UK. I need to thank Purple Loans for the opportunity to race but also the team and our fans for the fantastic support I have had. We are not resting on our laurels after the FIA Main Event, and I know that know Andy Carter will be keen to push hard after his disappointment at the Pod. I wish him and all of the teams the success they deserve, and I know that we will lay on a good spectacle for all the fans in Finland."

Smax hopes to build on his points lead in this, his first year on the FIA tour, with a view to taking a healthy lead to Sweden later in the month. "Three out of three wins is fantastic, but let's remember that there are five other top quality teams competing - any one of them capable of winning."

Rumour has it that Smax has offered to knock £1000 off the engine rebuild cost for Paul's Big Block Chevy if he wins in Finland, but we figure that it's likely to be Paul spreading the rumour.

Turbo's Number Nine Dream.
4th July: UK Supertwin Fuel racer Ian 'Turbo' Turburville got his birthday wish at the SPRC Summernationals last weekend when he recorded a nine-second pass on his new, very nice-looking bike. Ian wrote to let us know how his weekend went, and you won't be suprised to hear that the bad luck hasn't yet departed the Turbo pit.

"I thought I had everything covered with the bike serviced and prepared for the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway, I even sent my entry in on time to avoid the penalty. Oh well, you know how it goes, couldn't be that simple could it? The Wednesday before the race the rear wheel bearing on my 4x4 went so I tried to get a new one, ha! No one had one so I phoned everyone in the county and eventually one company phoned back and said they had one so I booked it in with fellow drag racer Shaun Lathan to get it replaced. Turns out the dipsticks had a front wheel bearing which left us high and dry on a ramp with no back end in the car and no bearing. That's when we noticed the cracked leaf springs...oh crap!

"I frantically phoned all my so-called mates but no one was willing to lend me a tow car for the weekend, great. Stress levels were beginning to max out around now. Shaun eventually sourced a bearing and fitted it in the nick of time and another local company slotted me in to fix the springs. This was all last thing on Friday afternoon and I paid the price, around £500 in all, my will was being sapped at an expedential rate, as we say around these parts. The car was back for 3:30 pm and then I had to load everything by myself and get to the Pod. Guess what, yup, it peed it down all the time I was loading. Finally made the track at 11.30 pm to find Rush had saved me a pit space, my hero! I parked up and collapsed in a heap wondering what I was going to do for crew the next day, things didn't look good.

"Saturday dawned bright and sunny and I remembered it was my birthday, twenty one again, hooray! A couple of mates turned up to give general support and then Chris Powell from Steve Woollatt's team pitched in to help the much-harassed Rush, who was crewing for three teams again, bloody star that man. All I wanted to do was a nine for my birthday and blow me that's just what I did! Try as we may though we couldn't get the bike to launch off the line. I decided it was not down to the tune but the clutch so we worked on that. I ended up second qualifier and got to the line on a scorching hot Sunday morning to face Dave Witts in the first round, the air was bad but the track was fantastic. We fired the bike and it didn't sound right, as soon as I touched the throttle it died so I motioned to the starter that I was out, stagefright syndrome again? Nah, turns out it was just a duff battery, killed by the old Harley vibes! We replaced it and were told that we could put in a quick pass as a birthday present so we did, thanks Darren. All went well and the weekend was deemed a success after all that aggravation.

"The Saturday night celebrations were very civilised and we all had fun without getting too trashed for the eliminations, so thanks to everyone that turned up for a glass of bubbly and a slice of cake, supplied by Barrie Gregory's team, and to the girls for that special card. I was amazed when I stopped for a second during the Sunday panic to realise just who was in my pit and had to sit and take it all in. Chris Powell had departed Saturday evening only to be replaced by Barry Sheavills and Rune Fjelds top mechanic, Ben Allum! Ben was a great help and keen to learn more about bikes. He has a nitrous GSXR1100 for the road and spent a lot of time crewing for Top Fuel drag boats in the USA so knows his stuff. It was Ben and Terry that showed me the ropes whilst helping Rune out last year. Barry was doing a great job all weekend lending moral support (drinking my beer so I wasn't tempted) and it was nice to see my old crew chief Terry Dutton for a brief moment.

"Fellow NAST racer Chris Stebbing is improving by leaps and bounds but Dave and John had terrible luck so things are still open in the NAST championship. Overall I get a good feeling about the whole race scene so far this year and hope it gets even healthier. One thing is for sure, it ain't getting any cheaper!

"The S & S Sure-Shot is sponsored by S&S, Red Line Oil, Rivera/Primo, Custom Chrome Europe, Zodiac, JIMS, OffMyHead.com, Sure-Shot sprayers, King Racing and Sprint Dampers."

You can find Ian's web site at www.turboville.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Manor Racing do Beaulieu.
4th July: Also on two wheels, the UK's Manor Racing 10.90 Bike team decided to sit out the SPRC Summernationals in favour of the Motorcycle World show which is held at Beaulieu each year. Ian, Angie, David and Stephen Warren dropped us a line to tell us just how well the Q8-sponsored team's appearance went.

"Motorcycle World gets better each year and is one of the major shows on the calendar attracting huge crowds and all the major motorcycle manufactures and suppliers. On hand throughout the weekend were Giocomo Agostini, Phil Read, Sammy Miller, Ralph Bryans, Tommy Robb, Trevor Nation etc. riding the bikes which made them famous, such as the MV Agusta, Honda Four, Norton, BSA, and Yamaha, plus on-track displays of vintage and classic racing bikes from the 1930s up to the modern era.

"We were asked to display both our race bikes once again on the Q8 Oils stand, which is part of the Suzuki village tour. On the Saturday morning we rode our race bikes in the main arena with the Suzuki Owners Club with both the drag bikes powering down the straights and braking like mad for the corners. As arranged with Martin Bennett - who did a lot of PR work for drag racing and our sponsors over the weekend - David was asked to give a short interview and afterwards do a burnout for the crowd, who cheered loudly and loved every moment. Martin Bennett however was chocking from all the tyre smoke which filled the arena. Then it was back to the Q8 Oils stand.
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"Once out of our leathers, Gary the Suzuki commentator - who also did a lot of work in publicising Motorcycle drag racing - called David over to the Suzuki stand and asked him to hand out and sign his hero cards. "I could not believe how many people I spoke to and signed cards for", said David. "At one point there was a queue of more than thirty people, which can only be great for drag racing."

"Sunday was pretty much the same, with a display in the morning with the Suzuki Owners Club, but because of the number of people on the track it mainly consisted of Ian and David riding around the track and doing burnouts - even being stopped by the marshals and told to do another burnout for them. Both Ian and David did massive burnouts which smoked out Martin and his co-commentator in the main arena, and we managed to put a hole in the concrete arena surface. This once again pleased the large crowd enormously and once back on the Q8 stand and out of our leathers the rest of Davids day consisted of signing hero cards and publicising the European Finals and drag racing in general.

"We would like to thank the organisers; Martin Bennett; Trevor Rolph from Q8 Oils; and Gary and the staff from Suzuki for the hospitality and for all the hard work that they put in on our behalf over the weekend."

Web site updates.
4th July: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook has updated his FB Racing web site with a report from the SPRC Summernationals, and the provisional CCSE points standings. Ian's report is as unfortunately brief as his race weekend but as ever it makes an interesting read. Check it out at www.fbracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Happy 4th July!
4th July: Sharkman and Tog would like to wish our thousands of readers in the United States of America a very Happy 4th July. Have a great day guys!
©Eurodragster.com
Lorentzon makes with the glue.
3rd July:Sweden's Lorentzon and Möller Top Fuel Dragster team have a busy couple of weeks as they head for Alastaro this weekend for the FHRA Nitro Nationals and then back to Sweden for next week's Midnight Sun Internationals at Piteå.

"Everything is now glued together and hopefully all the parts will stay where I put them", says Crew Chief Kenneth Lorentzon. "We still have some work to do when we arrive at Alastaro: the number two motor needs to be assembled and so do the new heads which have been fixed. Unfortunately we short on crew members but will hopefully manage it anyway. The Alastaro race is going to be intresting, six cars for a four car field - it is going to be a great race!"
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Kenneth is also proud to announce a new sponsorship deal and the retention of an existing sponsor. "We have a great new sponsor Man-last who have been building a fully-loaded state of the art Man Tractor/Truck, a Man TG-A 18-410 so that we can travel to all of our races", says Kenneth. "It will fit me like a glove. And one of the greatest car magazines, Power Magazine, has decided to stay on board for 2003."

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

Nilsson makes with the Night Nurse.
3rd July: NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Champion, Sweden's Håkan Nilsson, is battling flu in the run-up to this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals.

"Håkan picked up the flu on holiday last week, but he is getting better every day so it shouldnt be a problem when the race starts on Friday", says team member Ulf Stadig.

"If we look back to last year's performance at Alastaro, it loks like this weekend could be very good. We managed to get our newly-built Tommy Mauney 'Veidec Rocket' down to 6.43 on its second run. After that, the rain ended the weekend so we couldnt show what we had up our sleeve.

"If the weather is good to us then I am sure that we can dip in to the 6.3s. With the performance last yeat and the changes we have made over the winter I think it wont be a problem. Since the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod our engine Henry has a new crank, so we can use the engine's full capacity again. The 6.39 run at Santa Pod was far from what we expect to run on good tracks like the Pod and Alastaro."

The Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com has been updated with a tremendous video from the FIA Main Event. Whilst there Ulf would like fans to visit the Sponsor page. "Be sure to take a look at our sponsors because on that page you can see what you need to run a first-class Pro Mod team, and I can promise you that we would be nothing without their products."

Ulf will be updating the web site from Alastaro over the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
Nitro Nationals snippets.
3rd July: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä has just taken delivery of a shipment of new parts from the USA. "Small parts like a rear end, heads etc.", said Anita. "Now that the shipment has arrived in Finland we can see what Jarmo has sent us."
©Eurodragster.com
Swedish Top Methanol FC racer Leif Andréasson and his team have been hard at work since the FIA Main Event. "There were a couple of crankshafts and piston rods to be repaired or replaced", says Anders Magnusson. "We also needed a massive effort to prepare clutch parts with a pile of discs and steel floaters to be resurfaced". Anders tells us that Leif's new motto is "I'll be back".

Reasons to be cheerful.
3rd July: UK Super Modified racer Steve Rawlings had plenty of reasons for his trademark smile after the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod, where he ran his first seven-second pass and made it into his second final in a row.

"After a real good weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway with the super crew (Rob Loaring and Nick Davies of ICE Automotive - Ed), we went to the Summernationals with high hopes, although it was at this event last year that I spread my engine's internals all over the start line (sorry about the mess guys). Everything seemed fine as we went out for the first qualifiying session on Saturday, hoping to repeat the 8.241 and 8.255 we had run at Shakey, and we did it 8.249 - it's a bracket car!
©Eurodragster.com
"In the second session we made a change to the nitrous system and were rewarded with an 8.138. This was getting good. In the third session we made no changes and went quicker, 8.108, this was getting really good! Two out of the three passes I had made were personal bests. We were told that there woul be time for a fourth qualifier on Sunday morning, this was good news as it gave us the chance to try another small change before eliminations. It worked: 7.960/169.50. I was stunned then a smile appeared from ear to ear which hasn't left my face since. And more good news, we had taken number two qualifiying spot from Fred and the gang.

"In the first round we raced Paul Brooks who had the previous day and half the night thrashing to make the Sunday morning qualifier (keep at it mate, it'll come). We won with an 8.012/168.58 and then had an 8.091/167.43 bye in the second round. And so to the final, knowing that Danny Cockerill and Graham Ellis had been at each other all weekend (you were right about needing those shovels and brooms, Tog, who let that pair pit next to each other!) I knew Danny was going to be on one. But 7.552/184.62, jeez, to my 8.075/167.78.

"Big Thank Yous to Mick Slocombe and Paul Mander for all their help over the weekend. And watch out Fred, next round I'm bringing one of Mick's rods, 'cos I'm going fishing!"

Flavell doubles up.
3rd July: UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell recorded his first-ever Super Pro event win at the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in mid-June and thought that that was pretty good. But that turns out to have been preparation for the weekend of a lifetime.

"What can you say when you are number one qualifier, run your fastest ever speed of 173.90mph, run your quickest ET to date with this set-up of 7.816 and win", says Mark. "The only thing I didn't do was to win the lottery, but on Sunday night it sure felt like I had. The car ran like a dream, due in no small part to Crew Chief Craig Owen and our new team member Steve Metcalfe. We worked and ran like a well-oiled machine. Des Taylor came down for the weekend and pitched in with his wealth of experience, Dave Powell from Performance Unlimited cast a careful eye over things, so the arsenal was full and loaded. Consistency is the key and with all the brains checking and re-checking everything we never ran slower than 7.86 all weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
"Thanks must also be extended to the SPRC crew who provided an excellent racing surface throughout the weekend. Both Kenny Coleman from Engine Data Anaylsis, the drag racers' Dyno facility, and Andy Robinson from Andy Robinson Race Cars, our contingency sponsers, both dropped by to congratulate us. Thanks guys for your support and cash!

"These are my first back-to-back wins in twenty six years of competition. Are we going for three in a row? You'd better believe it! Look out Mr Ian Bishop, we want that number one spot."

Watson's interesting year.
3rd July: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Paul Watson has had an interesting rookie season so far, he says.

"We went from learning to ride at Easter, to winning the next event at Shakespeare County Raceway with a 7.6/175. Then came the big learning curve at the Main Event. We had handling problems which ended up with the guardrail and I getting very personal - too much clutch and wheelie bars seems to be the cause.
©Eurodragster.com
"We then returned to SCR but again we had problems, this time with the MSD ignition which we cured on the Saturday night, but the bike cut out whilst in stage in the semis against Dave Beck. So we came home a bit disheartened and went right through the bike checking everything. We were up for the Summernationals only to be plagued by a mystery bog on the launch. My thanks to everyone who tried to help - Ken Cooper, Shaun and Dave Branch, Chris Hope and not forgetting Boycie.

"I am confident that when we sort out these gremlins we should be giving the others a run for their money. We are also looking for a sponsor as I am looking to go to Frank Hawley's drag school so that I can be the best I can be for the next season. My thanks go to my crew Pixie and Kev and to my girlfriend Karen for all of their help."

Powerfest announce entry list.
3rd July: The European Hot Rod Association (EHRA) has announced its racing classes and drivers for its inaugural event in Budapest, Hungary at the Tokoli Airfield on 1st-3rd August, which will be held as part of Powerfest, a weekend-long celebration of speed and sound. The announcement was made by EHRA Co-Founder Aric Gastwirth and MotorSport Timing and Organisations (MSTO) Sport and Race Director, Jerry 'Big Daddy' Lackey.

The August event will feature Jet Cars, Super Twin Top Gas, Funny Bikes, Top Methanol Dragsters, Top Methanol Funny Cars, Modified Harleys, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Pro Modified, Super Street Bikes, Competition Eliminator, and Junior Dragster. The event will also include a world-class stunt bike show featuring Team Rainer Schwarz and 2002 European Stunt Bike Champion, Csaba Erdus from Hungary.

Racers include Dezsoe Krivan, Riccardo Giliberto, Tom Nixon, Walli Strobel, Vaclav Hutla, Gerd Habermann, and Roger Kirchner among many many others. A preliminary list of racers in all classes can be found on the Powerfest web site at at www.powerfest.com.

Jerry Lackey, who is one of the founders of the sport of Drag Racing in Germany in 1969, a member of the Drag Racing Board with the DMSB - the German Governing Body of Motorsport - and a licensed Race Director, Sport Commissioner, Safety Officer and organisational Director with the DMSB, commented "We are very excited to be working with the Powerfest management team to offer drag racing to fans throughout Hungary and Europe."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
3rd July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with a preview of the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro and the latest points standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series. Check it out at www.dragracing.se.

The official web site of the UK's Fireforce Jet Funny Car team has has a complete makeover. Amongst the new features are a dynamic calendar automatically showing each FC's next appearance on the home page, new galleries, a Question and Answer page, videos and a lot more. You can find the Fireforce site at www.fireforce.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The Feel The Noise web site at www.feel-the-noise.com has been updated with 125 photographs from last weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.

Supertwin Fuel racer and drag bike photo-journalist Ian Turburville tells us that he is having ISP problems at present and asks that everyone use his www.turoboville.co.uk address rather than the .com version. "Please also use turboville@ntlworld.com for E-Mail", says Turbo.

Getting better for Team Kågered.
2nd July: Sweden's Team Kågered struggled with their Bahco Tools/Sandflex-sponsored Top Methanol Funny Car at the FIA Main Event, but expect to perform well at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, says Crew Chief Göran Edman.

"We had a couple of different technical problems which led to crankshaft damage in both of our engines", says Göran. "We know the reasons and it has all been sorted out. Corrections have been made in our workshop over the last weeks and final adjustments will be made to the set-up at the track this weekend depending upon the weather conditions etc."

Driver Niclas Andersson is focusing on perfecting his driving skills in his new ride. The procedure in both pre-stage and stage is very different from the Pro Stock which he previously raced, and we hear that Niclas does not feel a hundred per cent natural with that part of the FC yet. "Niclas' overall driving already looks good, as we could see at the Main Event which was his first race in a Funny Car", says Team Manager Åsa Kinnemar. "He handles the car in a very safe manner and we can be sure that Göran will set the car up in Finland in the same way as he would had it been Micke Kågered who was behind the wheel."
©Eurodragster.com
"In Top Fuel it will be a tough race for every competitor, as not all of the cars entered will go into eliminations (Top Fuel runs a four-car field at Alastaro - Ed)", says Åsa. "We trust Crew Chief Alan Jackson to find the right combination for the Alastaro track quickly as soon as qualifying starts."

Micke Kågered is confident of his chances in the Bahco Tools-sponsored Top Fuel Dragster. "We didn't have the best of luck at our first events with the car", he says. "We know that it has a lot of potential and we hope that we can show some of that this coming weekend."

The Kågered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com will be updated over this weekend after each run by the Top Fueller and Top Methanol FC.

Ready to take on the Fuellers.
2nd July: Finnish Pro Mod Bike racer Asko Määttä gave his Baldie's Gun IV ride (right, with team members Timi Kuivakangas and Ilkka Kuronen) its first outing last weekend, just in time for this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals where he will be racing in FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike.
©Eurodragster.com
"We weren't at the track, but the tests we could manage on the street showed that we are ready to challenge five to seven 'real' Top Fuel Bikes at Alastaro", says Asko. "Anything can happen, but remember that the first American turbo Pro Mod Bike (all the others have been racing nitrous for years) had its first outing a couple of weeks ago, ran 6.8 and qualified second in AMA/Prostar.

"Anyway, I'm realistic. I haven't actually ridden below eight seconds on the bike, so we will be happy if the rider of Baldie's Gun IV works as well as the bike. No more targets, they'll come and I have time..."

Larsen after 5.7s.
2nd July: Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen's season started better than he expected when he recorded a new best of 5.85.

"The new Norwegian mechanics borrowed from Arvid Grødem quickly found the rhythm, and everything went without stress or problems because of their big experience", says Dan.

"The new set-up, on the other hand, gave us problems with tyre shake on every single pass, even in the semi-final against Urs Erbacher where we ran 5.85 and Urs ran 5.75 sec. I had to quick shift to second gear because of the tyre shake."

Crew Chief Torsten Dahl has a handle on the engine and the team feel that they are ready to take the next step, with our without tyre shake. Torsten spent last weekend at Dan's workshop in Denmark making final adjustments to the fuel system and fitting new parts which have recently arrived from the USA, before the team go to Alastaro. "We hope that this will be enough to get us into the 5.7s", says Dan.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have also had to put more weight on the car", adds Dan. "We had it on the scales at Santa Pod and found that the car was only one kilogramme over minimum. It is one the the lightest cars Frank Manzo ever made and even with a lot of extra weight it is very light. We bought it from Frank in the winter 1999-2000 after we sold the old Firebird to Norwegian Lars Engen. Frank Manzo ran 5.64 in this car in 1997 and it was last updated this year."

The team are happy to welcome new sponsor DFDS Seaways, one of the largest ferry companis in Scandinavia.

Dan tells us that he plans to update the team's official web site at www.funnycar.dk from Alastaro over the weekend if the GPRS net works well.

ACI sponsor TV coverage.
2nd July: American Car Imports have announced that they are to sponsor this season's television coverage of all four FIA classes. ACI sponsored the Top Methanol Dragster and Funny Car TV programmes in 2002 but have expanded this to include Top Fuel Dragster and Pro Stock in 2003.

"Following our sponsorship of the Top Methanol TV coverage last year, we decided to increase our involvement in 2003", says Anthony Cohen, joint Managing Director of American Car Imports, who sponsors the ACI Racing Top Methanol Dragster team as well as Eurodragster's Home and News pages and Event Coverage. "We believe that the link between American cars and drag racing is a strong one, and we will be promoting our business to our ideal target audience."
©Eurodragster.com
American Car Imports will be featured in the opening and closing titles of each FIA-class programme, as well as in the ad-break lead-outs and lead-ins, and the ACI Racing dragster and the team's Dodge Ram tow car will also appear. In addition the ACI logo will appear on the ladders and Championship standings and racers will be interviewed in front of a backdrop featuring the ACI and FIA logos.

"We are delighted to become further involved, and we feel that with Keith Bartlett, Russ Malkin and his team, and John Price all involved, this year's programmes are going to be the best yet", says Anthony.

Anthony has kindly provided us with the first TV broadcast schedules for the 2003 FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified coverage, which you can view by clicking here, or by clicking on the 2003 TV Schedules link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. These first schedules are for the UK's Sky satellite channels but we will advise of other channels' schedules as we are informed.

Ellis up against it.
2nd July: UK Super Modified racer Graham Ellis again ran the quickest and fastest Super Mod passes under any set of rules at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. It didn't start so well for Graham, though, and even when things started to go right it wasn't perfect, as Graham explains.

"Everything was wrong on Saturday", says Graham. "We had tried a change to the four-link to get the car to launch. When the car twice broke on the line I had an electrical terminal break which was cutting the ignition dead, which we only found as we were changing the ignition box. Then the four-link setings really upset the car, so all Saturday night we really had to start from scratch with everything. I had had a problem with the clutch at the previous race, we were not able to get it to slip so on Saturday night we fitted some used discs and set it all up correctly, but for a reason I can't fathom those disks slipped a lot so in the qualifier it just blew right through the clutch. But at last we had a clutch trace down to a new sensor we fitted when the can was off, so we knew what to do.
©Eurodragster.com
"To be honest my back was against the wall, it was do or die so I threw in some more jets and the 7.55 was the result. In the second round I had a burndown with Danny Cockerill. I had decided to play Danny's game, then whilst I was sitting there I realised that the motor was over two hundred degrees so I thought 'enough', went into full stage, waited for his light, hit the pedal - and the motor died as I'd hit it too hard from too low an rpm as I was trying to keep the motor from cooking. Usually when that happens I have time to recover but the starter ran the Tree so fast that Dan was gone before I got the revs back up. I chased but Dan was gone, then in the lights the top hose blew off the motor, throwing all the water from the engine onto my windscreen. Interesting at 180+ mph...well, that's my excuse.

"I would like to congratulate Danny on his win, and of cource Steve Rawlings on his first seven and again a runner-up. I'm annoyed that Danny got the speed record back by four tenths, but I still have the ET record and I'm keeping it. I feel a hole where that record was and I'm having it back...thanks guys."

Mental's fab weekend.
2nd July: If you were tuned in yesterday, you will have read that UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Roy Wilding continued his friendly rivalry with fellow slingshot racer Johnny 'Mental' Hall at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. We've heard the story from the Hemi Hunter pit, and now Johnny Hall of the Windridge Hall McKenzie team has been in touch for his right of reply.

"With Southern California weather, the atmosphere was electric", says Johnny. "The first showdown for us was against 'Little Daddy' Wilding. Roy chose the left hand lane as we were being towed round into our start-up positions. Half way up the fire-up road there was an oil down in that lane, and I offered Roy the chance to change lanes, but he stuck to his guns and told me that I was going to get beat whatever lane I was in. Little did Roy know, but we had fitted a new pulley to the blower which was driving it at 114% over, but we didn't know how good it would perform. We both did stronger than normal burnouts and went into stage. On the green I pulled a holeshot, and at the eighth I was still a car length in front. But as we darted across the last part of the track, we felt the cars sliding around on the track and at a thousand feet I had to lift as I was heading for Roy's lane, and he came storming past. Personal bests in both lanes, Roy 8.42/167.29 to my 8.68/141.96. I have to say that I don't mind getting beaten when racing is as exciting as that and, more importantly, when the crew got to the top end to tow me back they said that the punters loved it.
©Eurodragster.com
"Next up weere Pete and Fay Radcliffe, but they couldn't fire the killer motor they now have in the car, so I soloed to an 8.69/151.52 on a slippery track. Others worth mentioning are Neil 'The Kid' Townson and Frank Griffin who clicked their motors off at the eigth after storming burnouts. On day two Mark 'Big' Purslow turned up with the awesome Donovan-powered slingshot, and when he was warming it up in the pits, it sounded very strong. We were first out again against Frank Griffin and we beat him to the top end with a 8.909/148.51, but we couldn't figure out the drop in times as it felt exactly as before.

"Next was the race everyone was waiting for - two Hemi-powered slingshots, just like the old days with all the dramas attached. Mark cut a .893 light to Roy's .992 but from then on it was neck and neck. At 1100 feet Roy was charging ahead with loads more ignition dialled-in, and then the blower belt pitched off through the lights taking the throttle cable and part of the fuel system with it. Mark took the win light, and we had two more personal bests, Mark recorded 8.394/161.87 and Roy 8.326/158.45 along with a methanol shower.

"Roy was now out and it was decided that Mark and I would pair up for the last round. I was thrilled with the opportunity to race the Donovan-powered car and was going to give it my best shot. We both burned out and I got into pre stage early and stopped there waiting for Mark. I knew my only chance was to nail Big Mark to the Tree. Mark rolled into stage, and I followed and put the top bulb out when setting the transbrake. On the green I put a full car length by the 330 ft clocks on the killer slingshot with a reasonable .429 reaction to Marks .636, but it was just a matter of time and he came flying past at a thousand feet, 8.53 to 9.04.

"All in all, a fab weekend for all involved with personal bests in abundance. We actually won the event due to other people's misfortunes, so it doesn't feel like we kicked ass - but we put on one hell of a show."

Out of the Dog House.
2nd July: UK Wild Bunch racer Scottie Durant got his new altered In The Dog House Again down the track in style at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.

"We sorted out the problems of the last two meetings", says Scotty. "On Saturday morning I wanted to shake the altered down with a gentle 16.3 pass, then we took it for a second run, a 13.7 which would have been quicker if I had shifted properly. The my old sidekick Nick 'Penfold' Connor paired up with me in his Barking Mad altered. I only just beating Nick with a 10.8 - watch out for the Dog Wars for the rest of the season! On Sunday we ran an 11.1 and an 11.2.

"Now it is time for a tune up. We are off to Thorney Island for a play next weekend, then off to York in August with the Wild Bunch. Big thanks this weekend to the Kennel Crew: Mark Turton, Elliot and Glyn Jones, Brucey Bonus (Manchester welder), Nick Connor, and Karen and Philippa. Thanks also to my sponsors Every Bottom Drawer (not for kids - Ed), Demonscream Web Design and Hosting Services and Nite Vibes Discos (01494 758263).
©Eurodragster.com
If you were tuned in last week you will recall that fellow Wild Bunch racer Martin Holgate was returning to the track in his Paranoia altered last weekend and hoping to break into the eights. Martin dropped us a line to tell us how he fared at the weekend.

"The weekend didn't go as planned", says Martin. "Everything sounded OK in the pits, and the burnout was a stormer, but we torched a piston at half track coasting to a 10.2-second run which we hope will qualify us for a Hot Rod Drags invite! The meeting was attended by some quality machinery and the new rules appear to be working well. We will be back with the new top end produced by Andy at A R E research which promises lots more power."

Summernats ladders, NAST points.
2nd July: We are further indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us qualifying standings and elimination ladders from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Click here to view the ladders, or click on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Thanks also to National Association of Supertwins Championship Co-ordinator Sue Beneke for sending us the post-Summernationals standings in the NAST Championships. Sue has confirmed that Dave Bartz set a new Supertwin Modified ET record of 9.762 at Santa Pod on Saturday, and she also explained why the race between Richard Cawthorn and Chris Mott was re-run. "Chris Mott was beaten by a spider which broke the beam in Richard's lane", she says. You can view the NAST points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Web site updates.
2nd July: The official UK Super Modified web site at www.eurodragster.com/supermod has been updated with news of the weekend's eliminations at Santa Pod, other news from the Super Mod pits, and the welcome addition of Cheerful Chappie Steve Rawlings to the Seven Second Club.
©Eurodragster.com
Non-stop Veidec Racing.
1st July: The Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team have been very busy with promotional work since the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, but have also found time to prepare Norway's FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Champion Øivind von Essen and Sweden's Roger Pettersson's bikes for this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.

"The first stop was immediately after the Main Event, at the 'High Chapparal' Swedish Bike Meet", says Crew Chief Roger Lyrén. "We had bike service in our tent and Avon Tyres were doing tyre service. It was a good chance to meet all of our sponsors and to spend some more time with them. Roger did a good burnout show (Mickey Thompson loved that), which you can see at www.veidecracing.com - go to Pro Stock Bike - or at www.motospeed.se.

"Next was the Bike Weekend at Västerås. Sadly Roger could not race there because he had a infection in his right arm, so his doctor recommended that he rest if he wanted to race in Finland. But we supported VMS Västerås Motor Association with our VIP area, which they used for all of their event sponsors. The team has done a great job with the event and their promotion. Big thanks to Lasse, Henke, Lotta and Jorgen - without them we couldn't do this.
©Eurodragster.com
"The engine has been to MotoSpeed for service, also we have the new pipe mounted. After we got the new intake cam for Roger's bike from Byron Hines (Vance and Hines Motorsport) the engine works totally differently. It's a lot softer, but has a lot better power band. We have lowered shift RPM down by about nine hundred since last year. This engine set-up needs a different clutch setting, but I think that we are going in the right direction. I hope that we get a good track as we usually do at Alastaro, if so then then I think that we will get another record by some of the riders. I just hope that the weather stays good.

"We have been busy getting our new web site ready at www.veidecracing.com. This is a site for all of Veidec's motorsport. In future there will be a separate English site but right now the articles are mixed.

"A big big Thank You to all of our sponsors: Veidec, Suzuki, Arlen Ness, MotoSpeeed, Valvoline, NGK, Cometics Gaskets, Dynatek, RK Chains, Shoei, Wiklunds Akeri, Papyrus and GE Capital."

Nitro Nationals snippets.
1st July: 2002 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion Peter Schöfer have done more work on their trailer than has been necessary on their 5.4-second dragster. "We installed an air conditioner so that we can stand the heat in the summer", says team member Gittli Koller. Gittli tells us that the team of Peter, Wolfgang and Rudi Schöfer, herself, Holger Werling and Clem Sayers received their FIA Trophy a short while ago and that a picture is available on the Peter Schöfer Racing web site at www.p-s-r.com.
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader Smax Smith asks who would have thought that he would be off to Finland with maximum points. "I am totally upbeat about this weekend and I am thoroughly enjoying it to boot!", he says. "After getting to grips with the awesome power of our new Purple Loans car I will be working on improving my reaction times so as not to underestimate the opposition! Meanwhile Knut Söderquist and top tuner Al Jackson have been feverishly working and improving the Purple dream machine, and given a good track should pull out some surprises. We will all be busy with less crew but with Al, Mark Turner, Animal, Gary Page, Knut and Debby we are more than happy and looking forward to meeting the Finnish fans. A big Thank You to all the fans who sent messages, pictures, videos and good vibed - I'll kick ass for you!"

Hemi Hunter heads for the sevens.
1st July: UK Supercharged Outlaw racer Roy Wilding had an excellent weekend at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, recording personal bests and heading for the sevens in his historic Hemi Hunter slingshot. Crew Chief Paul Bland kindly wrote to give us the inside view from the Wilding pit.

"The weekends Nostalgia Nationals saw yet more improved performance from the Hemi Hunter team", says Paul, "in glorious weather and at the best organised Nostalgias Ive been to - Ive been to seven out of the ten. The first round of Supercharged Outlaw action was on Saturday morning, Roy Wilding was up against the old foe Johnny Hall. Roy took the win with a strong 8.43/171. The second round took place in the afternoon, and Roy ran against Neil Townsons Northern Spirit KB-powered altered. The Hemi Hunter ran a slower 8.6 but still took the round. Back in the pits some serious checking (for which read head scratching!) took place to find the lost performance.
©Eurodragster.com
"On Sunday morning and MMM (Mysterious Magneto Moving) syndrome was diagnosed. With the timing re-set it was off to the fire-up road for round three, in which Roy was paired with Mark Purslow in his Donovan-powered slingshot. Both cars put in strong burnouts, Mark left first with the front wheels in the air with Roy playing catch-up. Hemi Hunter ran to a thousand feet before pitching the blower belt but still ran a storming 8.32. Mark took the win with an 8.34, after a two-year layoff, due to Roys reaction time which we measured on a sundial at .99. Sorry Roy I couldnt keep that one quiet! Roys ET would have been an 8.1 or 8.2 had he made it to the lights under power. This was surely the race of the weekend, with people in the stands and on the banking on their feet cheering and clapping - it was so good, I almost smiled.

"The bad news is that the departing blower belt, caused we think by a broken pop-off valve, took out the barrel valve, the blowers front casing, throttle cable, cable bracket, starter cage and two fuel lines, giving Roy a quick bath in methanol. It also damaged some body work and the bird catcher.

"Not to worry, we will be back for the Hot Rod Drags re-built and ready to run the 8.50 index with ease! Weve got a whole box of tricks up our collective sleeves. Performance-wise, the car isnt even trying yet. Were running very little boost, hardly any RPM and not a great deal in the mag, so a few tweaks and the sevens beckon.

"As for Johnny Mental's team, well lads we may only have come second but we didn't get beat (and yes News Editor, you do surmise a rivalry here!). On a personal note, could trusty crew person Brian Gandy explain that message on the inside of one of the toilet doors?"

Frost's rollercoaster.
1st July: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator Andy Frost had a mixed weekend at the SPRC Summernationals. His popular Vauxhall Victor returned to the eights but there were some downs as well as ups, he says.

"Saturday was not the best day as we struggled to get to grips with the new Nitrous kit, although I was happy that we still qualified third", says Andy. "Also the Cruise had its dramas as crewman Steve (Grandad) Potter had his turn at the wheel and found out that somebody had left the water pump unplugged. Luckily he had a cool head - unlike me when the cars came rumbling past and my car wasn't amongst them! - and got the bonnet off, water pump plugged in and the bonnet back on in about two minutes, and all this with Gary from Dragsterworld as a passenger (see below - Ed)...really we left the pump unplugged so that he had something to photograph. Not!
©Eurodragster.com
"Sunday was a lot better. A nitrous jet change suddenly turned the car around and we ran 8.92, 8.88 and 8.94 back to back, and in the hot weather for the first time too! Unfortunately a faux pas on the timing side (my fault) did some damage at a thousand feet on the 8.8 run which meant that I couldn't step it up for the semi-final against Steve Pateman.

"Many thanks go to my crew Tony Grayston, Steve Potter (Is that the guy who just became a grandfather? - Ed), Deb and Gary, Phil and Gary from Dragsterworld, Robert Lane from Fastlane Nitrous Systems. Also thanks to Kevin Scott, an old sponsor who has made a welcome (and timely!) return. Congrats also go to Al Simms and Mark Bracking on blitzing their personal bests with a 9.4 and 10.4 respectively. Just shows you it isn't all about the heavy hitters! Also welcome to new competitor Jerry Charles with the Ford Capri who didn't disgrace himself at all running a 10.4, with ex-street racing king Dave Pollen as Crew Chief! Finally commiserations to Colin Lazenby who failed the Cruise once again (what does the guy have to do?), Tony Hill, and the FBs who must be the unluckiest team on the planet. At least they had the consolation of making the F**d v Chevy battle 3-2 in favour of the Blue Oval."

Andy will be posting a full race report shortly on his web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.

Summernats Timing Data, VW points.
1st July: We are indebted to newly-elected Honorary Eurodragster Staff Member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers for sending us the timing data from the weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Click here to view the Summernationals timing data, or click on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

We are also indebted to Spencer Tramm for forwarding us the post-Summernationals points standings in the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships. Click here to see the points standings, or click on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
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Web site updates.
1st July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with some excellent photographs from the weekend's Aros Nats at Västerås. You can check out the pictures at www.dragracing.se.

The Racebilder site at www.racebilder.nu has been updated with a large number of pictures from the Scandinavian Dragracing Championship round in Gothenburg. www.streetdrivers.com, the web site for the Swedish 10.5-inch tyre class, has been updated with results and pictures from the same event.

As mentioned in Andy Frost's news item above, the guys from Dragsterworld spent the SPRC Summernationals loitering with intent in the CCSE pits checking out at first hand the rivalry between the Red Victor and FB Racing teams. You can find their report and pictures at www.dragsterworld.com.

Erwin Raets' European Drag Racing Database at www.eurodrag.com has been updated with timing data from the SPRC Summernationals. The European Drag Racing Database is a real treasure trove for the fan featuring personal bests, records, historical Championship standings and a lot more.

Not a web site update but Avon Park International Racers Association Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot kindly sent this photograph from the wedding of her son, APIRA's Chief Starter Scott Talbot, which took place on Saturday. Scott and Michelle had a very happy day, as did Wendy and husband Dick. "It went like a dream - even the sun shone", says Wendy.
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Earlier news


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