Records fall at Mantorp.
31st July: As well as a number of track records, two European records were broken during the first day of FIA and FIM/UEM qualifying at this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park.

Swedish Pro Stock racer Jimmy lund reset his own European speed record with a run of 321.07 kmh (199.50 mph) in the first session of qualifying yesterday, backing it up with a 320.05 in the second session.
©Eurodragster.com
The second of yesterday's records was in Pro Stock Bike where Sweden's Roger Pettersson ran 297.40 kmh (184.80 mph) in session one, backed up with a 296.11 in the second session.

 How we lost 1400 SEK in a day.
30th July: The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and the Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award were both won during yesterday's first day of qualifying at the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park.

Swiss Comp Eliminator racer Bruno Bader took the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 during the fourth round of qualifying yesterday afternoon. This was the first-ever perfect reaction which Bruno, the 2003 NDRS Comp Eliminator Champion, had ever recorded.
©Eurodragster.com
Finnish System Edstrm Super Comp racer Markko Lahonitty took the Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award, and an unassailable #1 in Super Comp qualifying, with an 8.900 during yesterday's third qualifying session.

Congratulations to Bruno and Markko on their achievements.

UK barbecue ban?
30th July: Glenn Ramsden of UK Event Safety, who handles Health and Safety issues for Santa Pod Raceway, has been in touch about the use of barbecues at Santa Pod. We are presenting Glenn's words verbatim; as Glenn notes please send opinions and ideas to him.

"Whilst we fully understand the drag racing culture there are those who have a job to do. I have recently received a letter from the local authority Health and Safety Inspector which effectively bans barbecues from the pits at Santa Pod Raceway.

"In all fairness to the officer involved, he had no option (it was handed to him on a plate) having seen some of the photographs that were produced. One example showed a BBQ at full tilt and a crew member not six feet away refuelling the race car.

"The knock-on effect of this could be that the same ban comes into effect throughout the UK. Following discussions with the Enforcing Officer, I have been given the opportunity to conjure up a compromise.

"Between us we have got to come up with a set of rules which everyone will adhere to, which you will police yourselves, which make it safe to barbecues in the pits. If this happens then we have a part of our culture back - half-cooked sausages in the pouring rain.

"What we don't need is your opinions about the state of health and safety in drag racing, comments about the enforcing officer, the fact that when you're at home you balance your barbecue on full fuel drums etc.

"We do want a solution from you, policed by you and then we're all happy.

"Your ideas please to info@uk-event-safety.co.uk."
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
30th July: German TV channel N-TV have shown some excellent timing by screening a documentary about German Top Methanol Dragster racer Peter Schfer as he prepares to compete in this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park. "The report was filmed at Santa Pod this year and it really showed drag racing in an excellent light", writes Steve Wilson of Dezsoe Krivan's Top Methanol FC team. "Peter and team really explained what it is all about very well. There was some excellent footage of all the classes that were racing and some 'guest appearances': step forward Martin Hill, Rob Turner, Anthony Cohen and Keith Bartlett, all speaking German (or was it dubbed?) and I am sure I spotted a black shirt with a well-known web site address on the back. We need more programmes like this to spread the word showing the sport in a positive light."
©Eurodragster.com
Lee Kirk of the UK's Rat Fink Super Modified team tells us that Andy Kirk and the team are unsure how with a bigger tune-up their Camaro slowed from an 8.01 to an 8.06 at last week's Bug Jam. "But hey, that's racing!", says Lee. "We're determined to get that seven at the Allstar Nationals! Congratulations to Simon Farmer and crew for their excellent win at the Bug Jam". Lee has updated the Rat Fink web site at www.kirkmotorsport.com with a report of the team's weekend at the Bug Jam.

Santa Pod latest.
30th July: Rick Cuthbert of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch with the latest on what SPR are up to at the moment.

"This weekend the Mopar Euro Nats kicks off at Santa Pod, with two whole days of car-only RWYB with an emphasis on Mopar performance", says Rick. "Run What Ya Brung is 15 for unlimited runs. See www.moparnats.co.uk for more information.
©Eurodragster.com
"The official Bug Jam report is now on-line at www.bugjam.co.uk . The report has all the news from the event, and a whole host of on- and off-track photos.

"Racers: fancy getting in a bit of free track-time and amazing an unsuspecting audience at the same time? If you do, then please contact Santa Pod as soon as possible. We are currently looking for fast, full-bodied cars to run at Ultimate Street Car on the weekend of 6th-8th August. We are particularly looking for cars which run seven- or eight-second passes: Super Mod or CCSE cars are ideal! Please call me, Rick Cuthbert, on 0208 852 5005 during office hours."

Web site updates.
30th July: Germany's Krenz Drag Race Team have launched an updated web site at www.dragraceteamkrenz.de. The very professionally-turned-out web site contains news, features on the team vehicles, multimedia, race calendar and a lot more.
©Eurodragster.com
Carter enjoying himself.
28th July: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader Andy Carter says that he is enjoying this year's racing much more than he did in 2003. Andy feels that the GoTalk team are gelling really well and that this is reflecting itself in his results.

"I have noticed that the team are working together well, they're happy and joking with one another", says Andy. "That's a good sign and it's rubbing off on me, I really had fun in Finland and when I came home from that race I felt fresh where in the past I have felt almost jet-lagged after an event."
©Eurodragster.com
Andy was very pleased to read on Eurodragster that Tommy Möller and Kenneth Lorenzton have recruited five members of Kim Reymond's team. "I take it as a great compliment to me and to my team that they have brought in the Danes!", he says. "It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to scare me! They're hungry, though, and I love to race Tommy anyway, he's a nice guy and a great competitor. I was also surprised but very pleased to see that Monica Öberg has made a late entry for this weekend. Of course with seven I would have got the first round bye but it is great to see Monica where she belongs and the more cars the better. And Mantorp Park is a lovely facility and we always look forward to racing there."

With the GoTalk car running so reliably, Andy says that his main concern is avoiding complacency. "It's part of our team briefing not to take anything for granted", he says. "It is very easy to start to think that the car goes down the track itself. But I know that I can rely on my team and we have every chance of getting to the final like we did last year."

Lyrén's hands full.
28th July: With this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival fast approaching, Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team Crew Chief Roger Lyrén has been in touch to bring us up to date with the latest news from the Veidec pit.

"At Santa Pod we could already see some inprovments with our changes to Roger Pettersson's bike, especially the new body and Roger's new riding style", says Roger. "In Finland we knew that we had the potential to go in to the 7.2 zone, but in racing there are not only some small nuts to tighten up, there are lots of them and you need to tighten the right ones. We found some of them in Finland, an off-the-trailer 7.38, almost identical with the 7.37 in the final at Santa Pod. So it repeated perfectly and the track conditions were OK.

"For the second run we gave it little more power, and there it was, 7.29! We broke into the 7.2 zone! With the data download in our hand we saw that we could improve more, the sixty-foot was only 1.13, but the bike left the line very nicely. In the semi-finals we set the new ET record of 7.266 and ran 300.49 Kmh (186.72) mph! The first Pro Stocker outside the USA to run more than 300 kmh, sadly the 295.83 kmh in the run before did not back it up, but we set the record 7.266/295.83 (183.76 mph).
©Eurodragster.com
"When we got the extra ten pounds weight for this year we didn't know where we should put it on the bike, but what we found out is that the extra ten pounds' weight helped us to improve the performance! The bike is better balanced now and it leaves the line better.

"Helen Curran had another bad weekend with a DNQ. Remo Nassi is riding better and better and set another personal best, and will soon be in the 7.6 zone. This bike is a test bike for Carlo Molinari of VM Dragracing in Italy, so this is in its first stages of development. I was extremely busy after the FIA Main Event, both at work and in racing, and I also had my 40th birthday party on 10th July with about eighty five people.

"After that my hands have been full preparing for the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp, where we always have lots of VIP guests. So for Mantorp all of the team are in top gear. We will have a press day at Mantorp Park on Wednesday to meet the press and TV, and hopefully we will get lots of visitors this weekend at the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park."

Nitro Festival shorts.
28th July: Ulf Stadig of the fellow Veidec-sponsored Nilsson Motorsports Pro Mod team says that it will be awesome to attend their sponsor's event at Mantorp Park this weekend. "The competition is going to be the sweetest ever in Pro Mod", says Ulf. "Twenty eight cars competing for a sixteen-car field, and this must be biggest Pro Mod field outside the United States". Håkan Nilsson and the team have improved their performance over the first eighth and are now looking to put power back in to return to their record-holding form. "It has been a long break since Alastaro and it feels good to be thrown back in to the heat again", says Ulf. "We are looking forward to meeting our sponsors, fans and fellow competitors again". You can read more on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com, and in Swedish on the Veidec Racing web site at www.veidecracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Magnus Cato of the AC Delco/Malmgren Racing Pro Stock team says that rumours that 2003 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren has withdrawn from the Veidec Nitro Festival are untrue. "We have had our ups and downs the last couple of weeks, but after a lot hard work from Christer Gustafsson and Hekki Parviainen, the car and engines are back to normal standard", says Magnus. "We have to say Thanks to all of our suppliers, giving us the very best parts in the shortest of time. Bob Ingles hasn't hestitated to help us with quick delivery of parts, and with the result in mind we feel we are ready to meet our competitors at the start line at Mantorp Park."

Editor's note: Although we are on our way to Mantorp Park 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.

Coming together for Baldie.
28th July: Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko 'Baldie' Määttä's mini tour of four FIM/UEM and NDRS events on consecutive weekends taught him a lot, he says. "The results were not so good, but that's what drag racing is like sometimes", says Asko.
Baldie's Gun III and a 3200 km journey across Finland and to Pite. Between building up a separate lubrication system for the turbo at ProTurbo Systems' shop I visited at Turku to install a Racepak data recorder in Japa Kuutniemi's TMFC.

"At Pite Dragway I found out after just three attempts that the turbo's new oiling system didn't work properly and I had to switch the old one knowing that after one or five runs the turbo would be destroyed. The track had a bump just before 660 feet and after adjusting the front for damping, the wheelie bar height and rear tyre pressure I managed to get a full run over the bumps without too many handling problems. That happened just in time for the semi-finals. On that run I destroyed the turbo and recorded the second red light of my career, so that was it.
©Eurodragster.com
"Before the race at Kalajoki I got a new electric pump to feed the oil to the turbo and it solved that problem. At the sunny Kalajoki track we made five qualifying rounds on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. The first three first runs were spent trying to get the clutch tuned, and after totally burning a clutch I went back to the roots (the Bike Weekend set-up) on the engine and clutch tune-up. Now the problem seemed to get the turbo pressure up at the start line, but didn't manage well enough after that. So after first round loss to the NDRS Funny Bike 2004 Champion-elect Anders Forsberg we headed to Jyvaskyla.

"Last weekend at Aros Nats in Sweden the sun started to shine on me a little. I qualified third after Jens Gran (4.87) and Per Wrn (5.16) with a 5.17 at only 128 mph. The run felt very good, for the first 550 feet the Baldie's Gun III carried the front wheel all the way up to the shift to fourth when the clutch melted and slowed the bike during the last sixty to ninety feet. In the semi-finals I was against Per and didn't manage to get the boost pressure up as well as on previous runs so he won that round. But I was happy with the knowledge the race gave to me.

"Now after four races and several discussions all over the world I have found out how to raise the boost enough at the start. The engine department of Baldie's Gun III has not showed any kind of problem, the crank is OK, the five-speed Orient Express Pro Mod gearbox seems to last whatever you do, the leakdown has been under 1% all the time on all cylinders, etc. So the long hours at the shop with the engine have been worth it. The chassis works fine, it's easy to ride and adjust, goes straight and handles logically and calmly on slippery runs too.

"During the next weeks I'm installing a datalogger and doing some checking on the bike for the two remaining races this season. Thanks to my partners for the great support: ProTurbo Systems, Kopparin Kukka, NeoBest and Baldie Racing and Media Relationships. Special thanks to Skip at Orient Express for engine, transmission and electronic parts on which I can rely in the engine, transmission and electronics."

Greek racers impress at Hal Far.
28th July: The Malta Drag Racing Association organised the second of this year's three Night Drag Race Events at Hal Far Raceway last weekend, 22nd-24th July. MDRA President Anthony Borda says that the artificial lighting turned night into day at the track and that the event was well-organised in every respect. "Everyone who came complimented us on the track, the organisation and the races in general", says Anthony.

"Every spectator who came to Hal Far Raceway saw a couple of very good Greek racers competing with our local racers. Filippos Papafilippou and Eythimios Nefrem, decided to come to Malta to try out our track for the first time, and it won't be the last, since they were very happy with everything. These two drivers left Malta having made a good impression with us Maltese, since they ended up winning and taking first and second places in CA6 and Open 4 Classes respectively. Filippos Papafilippou (right), who drove a Slick Pontiac Firebird Door Slammer 509ci, ran an incredible Elapsed Time of 7.4 seconds, with a Terminal Speed of over 180 mph. Even Fil himself wasnt expecting this kind of Elapsed Time, since his previous best Elapsed Time for this car was 8.4 seconds. This proves that we have one of the best tracks in Europe here on Malta. His Pontiac performed to the utmost. Fil bettered his sixty foot time by over half a second, 1.0 over here to the 1.6 in Greece. The sixty foot times which Fil recorded are the same as Pro Stocks. He never expected to improve this much over here but oh boy, did he ever. He left everyone amazed over here with all his runs. He started with a 7.8 and was improving with every run. Fil's Pontiac Firebird is the fastest doorslammer in Malta and now he can say, and hes proud to say too, that he holds our National Records for the CA6 and Open 4 Classes respectively.

"You can say all the same things about the other Greek competitor, Eythimios Nefrem, who was driving a Ford Sierra 454ci. He ended up runner-up to Filippos Papafilippou and achieved a Personal Best Elapsed Time of 8.6 seconds, which is a second better than his Personal Best in Greece. These two drivers should be very proud of what they achieved here in Malta. We Maltese are very happy for them because they are very very nice people to have here with us and we are pleased for what they achieved during this event. Anyone who wants to know more about Greek Drag Racing can view the Greek racers web site at www.dragster.gr .
©Eurodragster.com
"Apart from these racers we saw over 160 local competitors who raced their vehicles with no limits at all. National Records were broken again and lots of Personal Best times achieved. This means that the track was well-prepared once again for all the competitors, and the competitors themselves are still doing their utmost to run better at every event organised. We should be very proud of what Chris Polidano, Alan Camilleri and Emanuel Muscat achieved during this Event, but things went a bit bad for them this time. Chris, who drives his dads Modified Ford Escort fitted with a homologated four-cylinder Turbo Cosworth engine assisted with Nitrous Oxide, had to stop racing due a little bit of damage to the engine during a bye run. The same goes to Alan Camilleri, who drives a Ford Sierra with a 350ci engine with Nos, had his car door blown away during one of the races and couldnt continue racing. Same again goes to Emanuel Muscat who was driving the Slick Cortina powered by a Cosworth Engine, who had problems with his nitrous system and couldnt continue. It was a shame we couldnt see all these guys continue racing, especially Chris Polidano who was running 8.0 and would have raced against Filippos Papafilippou in the Finals. Everyone was expecting these two to battle it out together, but it was a bit of a disappointment at the end not seeing the best Greek Driver and our local driver racing against each other. But these two will meet again in the future.

"We at MDRA are very proud of everything which is happening here, since it will all go to promote Drag Racing in Malta. I could keep going mentioning names of other drivers who did well during this event, but if you would like to check out all the results of this event, you can visit www.maltadragracing.com.

"We would like to thank all the foreign and local competitors, sponsors and everyone who gave us help in any way to make it possible to have another successful event. The next, and final, Night Event of 2004 will be held on 2nd-4th September. See you at the track!"

Want to be a TV star?
28th July: Jenni Day of Meridan TV has been in touch with a few more details to add to the recent Swift Snippet sent in by UK Super Comp racer Chris Johnson. "I am working on the new motorsports series at Meridian Television", says Jenny. "We are looking for competitors, either cars or bikes, taking part in events at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway. The Meridian region is well-spread, covering Berkshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire. I would be grateful for any help, either people who are interested in taking part or sending the word around for competitors to contact us".
©Eurodragster.com
If you are interested then drop Jenni a line at jenni.day@granadamedia.com or call her on 02380 712572.

Web site updates.
28th July: Swiss Pro Mod racer Peter Wacker has updated his web site at www.roofers-toy.ch with an account and photographs of his appearance in Sunday's pre-Grand Prix demonstration at Hockenheim.
©Eurodragster.com
Joon looks for success.
27th July: With two FIA events behind them, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster team Lex Joon Racing say that they have had their share of bad luck and bad calls. "Losing both events to the eventual winners says something", says Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra. "When we step up we can be in the winners' circle. Knut Söderquist (car owner - Ed) says that he has made some important changes so we can be sure we will have a bad hot rod when we attend the 'Scandinavian swing'."

Gerda says that there are changes in the crew and set-up. "A crew change is one thing which must lead to victory", says Gerda. "Dave Bryant is a new member of the MPM Oil Top Fuel Dragster team. Lex is looking forward to working with Dave, not least because they share a passion for Fuel Funny Cars. Other parts will be fitted on the car and with the right touch from Alan Jackson it must be possible to go rounds and make it to the finals. Points standings can be really different after the two forthcoming events.

"With Tommy Möller having the Danish crew helping him with the car and tune-up there will be at least two teams to beat, given that Andy Carter already has his car running like a bracket car. Perhaps the CBD cars look like underdogs right now, but as Knut always says, we will be there when it counts."
©Eurodragster.com
The MPM Internationals at Drachten, which Lex and Gerda promoted and which were backed by their primary sponsor, were a big success and Gerda says that they plan to continue that success. "The great people from MPM will be our guests at Mantorp", she says. "This will be an extra drive for us to go for victory. And Gardermoen gives us a special feeling: the last time we attended the NDRG Drag Challenge we won our first FIA Championship race. It will be good to be back at that track, and you can be sure we still have the same drive to win the event as we had the last time we attended in 2002."

Racers: It's not too late to send your Veidec Nitro Festival previews. Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.

Erbacher shows them how.
27th July: 2003 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Urs Erbacher had a lot of fun at the Hockenheimring on Sunday, says team member Andrea Wucher. "It was stressing because you have dozens of officials running around with their walkie-talkies and mobile phones", says Andrea, "at least the communication industries earns a lot of money with them!

"When we arrived on Saturday evening we parked our trailer next to the track - and when I say 'next to' I mean about three metres from the Formula One track - and enjoyed dinner at the top end of the Hockenheim drag strip and the Mobil 1 turn.

"Some of the Formula One crews made their track inspection and where hypnotically attracted to the Funny Car. They wanted to know everything about it, so we were showed them around. Later in the evening we went on a track inspection tour to prepare for the next day and ended up in the Formula One pit lane.

"At six o'clock on Sunday morning Jürgen Schomann, Rico Anthes, Rune Fjeld, Gary Page, Jerry Lackey and Roger Kirchner arrived, rearranging the whole temporary pit area. At 12:15 all six cars drove into the Hockenheim Arena via the drag strip. The crowd went nuts!
©Eurodragster.com
"Urs, Gary and Jerry were performing in the drag strip start area. We fired up the Funny Car and there went Urs with a huge, fantastic John Force-style burn-out. There was only one problem, which Urs had not thought about before the show: he could not see anything at the top end as the car was filled with tyre smoke and he knew about the stacks of tyres for the Formula 1 cars. He had to get through the gap in the tyre stacks to clear the top end for Gary. Somehow he got through it and rolled to the nearest exit.

"We hooked him up and towed the car back to the pits as quickly as possible. Gary did his bonus burn out, and at the other end of the start/finish straight Peter Wacker, Jrgen Schomann and Jerry Lackey entertained the crowd with their burnouts and afterburner pops.

"That was the job for today, and all done in seven minutes pit space to pit space. The crowd loved it! The FIA officials looked happy and relaxed again, the Hockenheimring security crew cooled down, and Rico was happy as the drag racing contingent showed everyone at the track that we know what we are doing and that when we say we can do it, you can fully trust us.

"We prepared the Funny Car for loading and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon watching the Formula One race. You have to see it once (No - Ed) but after about thirty minutes you lose the order, who is leading and who has already been in the pits. It starts to get a little bit boring then ("Then"? - Ed).

"Drag racing is a great sport for the public and we love to do it. During the race the tension rises every two to three minutes, maximum, and you know in less than six seconds who has won and who is packing up. So now we are looking forward to Mantorp Park."

Drapers, Wrattens hit North Weald.
27th July: Charlie and Jim Draper attended the Damn Yankees event at North Weald on Sunday where they planned to campaign Jim's Super Pro ET altered as well as working with the Wratten Brothers' Top Methanol Funny Car. It didn't turn out too well for the altered, but the TMFC put on a good show, as Charlie writes.

"We had a new lifter break on the Big Block, which sidelined us from taking part on the strip, but we still had a good day and were made very welcome by Gary Hall and the rest of the Damn Yankees team", says Charlie. "What made it more enjoyable was seeing Paul and Terry's TMFC back out and looking and sounding very nice. They made two outings and judging by the crowd's response pleased them with a burnout and then on the run a bigger burnout, clicking it off about two-thirds of the way down the track when Paul's vision was obscured by tyre smoke. As soon as I get some pictures I will forward them to Eurodragster (Look forward to seeing those - Ed).
©Eurodragster.com
"It was also good to see the '38 Opel which our brother Dave ran at the Main Event, with its new owners Sandie and Andrew Gibbs making five rund. This was Sandie's first drive of the car and she took to it like a duck to water running a best of 12.4 seconds, which on the North Weald surface is good in anyone's eyes.

"All of the teams are making plans for their next outings. It is still to be decided which events we can make, but for the altered it will probably be the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway."

Tramm's Jam.
27th July: The weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway marked the start of the second half of Volkswagen Drag Racing Club season. With six of the eight rounds counting towards the final points tally, Bug Jam VW Alternate Engine winner and Championship leader Spencer Tramm says that everything is still up for grabs.

"We arrived at the Pod on Thursday, mainly to not get caught in the arrival of the 30,000-plus crowd", says Spencer. "We left it to Friday night to get the car out of the trailer and ready for the VWDRC sessions in Saturday's Run What You Brung. My first run was an on-off 9.6, giving me no indication of a dial-in for the Alternate Engine v Sportsman shootout. In the draw I was paired with Glynn Morgan who was running at his first meeting. Thankfully Glynn redlit, as in the hurry to get ready the engine wasn't hot enough and it cut out when I hit the transbrake. Luckily I moved far enough to secure the win! The rest of the AE team did their job too and for the third year in a row we had beaten the Sportsman team.

"We had only two qualifying sessions on Sunday, and we took number two spot with a 9.25 on a 9.20 dial, Wayne Allman's 12.29 on a 12.28 stopping me getting a fifth number one in a row. In round one I was paired with Ian Huggan in his pick-up truck and had a nine-second wait for my green, a shut-off 9.36 got me through to second round bye of 9.27. Wayne Allman was waiting for me in the semis and wanted revenge for the final at the Power Nationals, luckily a .010 light enabled me to drive around Wayne to meet Ian Sewell in the final.

"Thankfully a small shower passed over after the semi as we needed time to cool down the transmission, a big thanks to Rob Bowler for lending me his fan. In the final Ian cut a good light but wheelspin with his road tyres meant that I caught him right in the lights to take a 9.32 win.

"A big Thank You to my crew Martin & Ruth Curbishley, George and Rachel Georgiou, Ady Goodier and all of my family. Thanks also to my sponsors Big Boys Toys and new sponsor Stanley Parr Painting Contractors, as well as series sponsor AMR Motors and all of the VWDRCers who helped me out over the Bug Jam weekend.

"Our next race is the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in August."

Swift snippets.
27th July: Congratulations to Micke Kågered Racing whose Sandflex-sponsored Top Methanol Funny Car team won the weekend's Kamasa Tools Mechanic Challenge in Stockholm, beating the Andréasson Motorsports team in a close-fought final at the end of a well-attended, busy but enjoyable day. You can read all about it on the Micke Kågered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com and on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Although we are on the verge of the third FIA and FIM/UEM European Championship event, we have been asked to remind racers that FIA European Finals entry forms are available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se/nerladdning.html.

The first version of the official Nitrolympx entry list is available on one of the Hockenheim event's official web sites at www.nitrolympics.de.

Veidec Nitro Festival Awards.
27th July: 1400 Swedish Kroner are up for grabs at the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park this weekend as Eurodragster.com's Perfect Award scheme goes international. Eurodragster.com and our partners Speedflow and Curbishley automotive will be posting prize money as follows:

The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award: 700 SEK will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award is open to all classes and is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting supplier Speedflow. Speedflow have recently relocated to Bristol and can be contacted on 0870 225 0097, or visit their web site at www.speedflow.co.uk for full contact details and product range. "Good luck to all racers competing at Mantorp Park this weekend - please take Eurodragster's money!" says Fay Fischer of Speedflow. If the Award is not won at Mantorp Park then it will be increased to 75 for On2Wheels at Santa Pod Raceway in August; if it is won then the On2Wheels prize fund will be 50.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award: 700 SEK will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to run to the thousandth on their class index or dial-in. The Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Award is open to System Edström Super Comp, Twinlab Super Gas, Super Street, Stock/Superstock (eliminations), Junior Dragster, Super Gas Bike and Street bike, and is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and UK automotive painter and finisher Curbishley Automotive, owned by Martin and Ruth Curbishley. If the Award is not won at Mantorp Park then it will be increased to 75 for On2Wheels at Santa Pod Raceway in August; if it is won then the On2Wheels prize fund will be 50. If you would like your race vehicle painted by Curbishley Automotive then contact Martin Curbishley by E-Mail at mcbrogieroadster@aol.com or call him on 07812 942097.

Veidec Nitro Festival coverage.
27th July: Live on-line Event Coverage of this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park will again be a joint effort between Svensk Dragracing and Eurodragster after last year's highly-successful collaboration. Honorary Eurodragster staff members Christer and Erik have track-announcing and timekeeping duties respectively so Tog and Sharkman will also be pitching in to bring you all the action as it happens.

The daily reports from Mantorp Park will follow the usual Eurodragster model of frequent English-language updates of the on-track action, keeping track of the top five qualifiers per session in all NDRS Sportsman classes and full qualifying details with commentary in FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod. When eliminations commence we will post round winners in all NDRS Sportsman classes and full elimination details with commentary in FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod. At the end of each day a summary report will be posted in Swedish together with a results page giving complete qualifying and eliminations stats for NDRS classes. A photo gallery will also be posted at the end of each of the four days of the event. If that doesn't quite fill your plate, we plan to post pit notes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings if time permits.

We are very much looking forward to teaming up again with Christer and Erik. We always have a great time in their company, and we always have a great time in Sweden, so the weekend will be doubly enjoyable and we are sure that this will reflect itself in the event coverage which always steps up a gear when Svensk Dragracing and Eurodragster work together. We aim to make this the best-ever web coverage from an FIA event!

All of this weekend's Event Coverage from Mantorp Park, starting with the first day of qualifying on Thursday, will be posted on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se; we will of course post a direct link to the coverage on our own Home Page as soon as it commences and you can also reach the event Home Page by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Points updates.
27th July: Many thanks to Spencer Tramm for forwarding us the post-Bug Jam points standings in the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships. You can view the VW points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
27th July: The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with a preview of the weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival including a preliminary event running order.
©Eurodragster.com
Hope for an improvement...
26th July: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Chris Hope is headed for Mantorp Park for the latest stop in the FIM/UEM European Championship tour, this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival. Chris says that his season didn't get off to the best of starts but that things are now starting to work out.

"At the FIA Main Event we had a problem with the number one engine drawing oil through the epoxy into the inlet tracts of the cylinder head", says Chris. "After trying a few attempts to cure it short-term we decided just to run it and have it fully refurbished at the first opportunity. In the semi-final against Paul Watson the bike wouldn't shift out of third gear. It took three attempts before fourth gear finally engaged. By then of course it was far too late and we were relegated to the back of the van. The computer trace showed that when the third to fourth gear shift was attempted it merely tore the clutch apart instead of shifting. 'Oh bugger', I seem to recall saying to myself.
©Eurodragster.com
"At Alastaro we had a problem with a new piston ring/cylinder combination - "Dad got it wrong again", or words to that effect, were heard to be said by Alex and Mark! The number two motor was fitted after the first pass. After a review of the clutch setting the ET came down by 0.16 seconds and more advances could now be seen. Then rain stopped play (fortunately for Roger Pettersson).

"The number one cylinder head is now away for a complete refurbishment and will be delivered to Mantorp Park. The piston ring/cylinder problem has now hopefully been resolved and we are now ready to race, albeit a touch later than expected.

"I would like to say congratulations to Roger Pettersson on running the numbers at Alastaro, and to all the track crew for their hard work."

...Larsson not so sure.
26th July: Fellow Pro Stock Bike racer, Sweden's Anders Larsson tells us that his Colormailer-sponsored bike is far from set up for this weekend.

"We hurt the oil pump in Finland and we all know what it means when vital parts don't receive much-needed lubricant", says Anders. "But with help from both Chris Tombleson at Straightline Racing and Roger Lyrén at Motospeed the Colormailer Prostock received some replacement parts and some new bits and bobs.
©Eurodragster.com
"We are still on the learning curve with the new engine package, named Coyote, so we don't expect any real good numbers yet. It produced a 7.42/180 in Finland but that's not good enough these days..."

Giving your crew the willies.
26th July: Gary Page tells us that he pleased the crowd but shocked his crew when he pulled a couple of burnouts at Hockenheim yesterday. Gary was appearing in one of Rico Anthes' Top Fuel Dragsters as part of a pre-Grand Prix demonstration to promote August's Nitrolympx.
©Eurodragster.com
"Urs Erbacher went first, and then I did two burnouts", Gary told Eurodragster from the airport. "I was only meant to do one but from where I was sitting I wasn't sure that it had worked properly, although they told me afterwards that it was fine. So I backed up to do another burnout and scared my crew because they were getting in the truck ready to come and get me!"

Gary said that the demonstration, timed to the minute, went like clockwork and that promoter Rico Anthes was pleased with the outcome. "The crowd really liked it, and Rico thinks that it will bring even more people to the Nitrolympx, so it is good for the sport and he is very happy."

Bug Jam results.
26th July: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway:

VW Pro
Russ Fellows (10.53) 10.564/116 def. Neil Davies (12.50) 12.53/105
#1 qualifier Martin Charles (12.50) 12.643

Neil Davies made it to the final after pretty much destroying his engine in qualifying.

VW Sportsman
Adele Atherton (16.20) 17.432/77 def. Ian Dale (16.45) 16.086/77 breakout
#1 qualifier Mason Griffiths 13.903 (13.90)

VW Alternate Engine
Spencer Tramm (9.25) 9.326/135 def. Ian Sewell (14.20) 14.554/94
#1 qualifier Wayne Allman (12.28) 12.293
©Eurodragster.com
John Sleath made several passes in his new CCSE Audi, which he ran in VW Alternate Engine, and immediately became a crowd favourite, rounding things off by dialing in 9.20 and breaking out with an 8.61 in his final qualifier. However John didn't appear for eliminations.

Super Modified
Simon Farmer 8.435/158 def. Kev Perkins 10.617/122
#1 qualifier Kev Perkins 7.636/168

Kev Perkins ran a number of 7.6s so we believe that he has set a new class record.

Gordon Appleton made several shakedown passes with the new Eagle engine in the Wheelgame Racing Pro Mod Camaro. He made a couple of mid-eight half-passes before laying down a 6.702/210 shot to round off his weekend. The crew were happy with that and when our photographer/reporter Sharkman left the track they were busy loading the car into the rig, as Gordon is driving straight to the docks in order to get on the ferry for Sweden and the Veidec Nitro Festival.

You can view Saturday's Bug Jam pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

We love the LCA Drags.
26th July: A couple of racers have been in touch to tell us how much they enjoyed Saturday's London City Airport Bike Drags.

"What a great event it was", says Pro Stock Bike racer Paul Watson. "A big thank you to all who organised it. It was good to see so many racers there too. Dancey, Dave Smith, the Hyenas, Big CC, TES, Bernie Hepworth, and Steve Woollatt - what a performance, a great spectacle for the crowd. I went with the 200 mph Club, made up mainly of Hayabusas and ZX12s. I took my road 'Busa for a bit of fun, I managed to run 9.75/149 and won the champers for fastest true street bike. Drag racing certainly needs the promotion and events like this do us a lot of good. We should do more."
©Eurodragster.com
Supertwin racer Bernie Hepworth didn't have such a good time with his own bike but was still full of praise for the event. "Unfortunately our rare Southern visit to London City Airport with our ARE Nitro Twin was unsuccessful due to the failure of the new US-made clutch which we were trying for the first time", says Bernie. "The 250 Velocette MOV we took with us ran well though. Congratulations to the organisers on a superb event."

You can view Eurodragster's Event Coverage of the LCA Drags by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Another good weekend Insured.
26th July: The Eurodragster staff will once again be 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 continued 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.

Web site updates.
26th July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with full qualifying and elimination results of this week's Aros Nats at Västerås. Pictures are promised shortly. You can find the Aros Nats results at www.dragracing.se. Stay tuned for full details of the live web coverage of this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival, which will again be a joint effort between Svensk Dragracing and Eurodragster.

The official web site of UK nostalgia race car builder B+J Nostalgia has been updated with the latest news and a number of photographs of Johnny Hall and Bill Felsted's nitro slingshot, which is not far off its first on-track appearance. You can check out the beautiful-looking slingshot at www.bjnostalgia.com.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the UK's Nobby Hills Racing Fuel Funny Car team has been updated with news of another public appearance for the new Houndog Fuel FC, and advance notice of a magazine feature for the new car. You can find the Nobby Hills Racing web site at www.nhracing.com.

Carl Wadkin Snaith has sent another update to the web site of his Team Fang Supertwin Modified team. "A photo of the race engine with some of the major new parts fitted can now be seen at www.thefang.co.uk/news2004.htm", says Carl. "With major surgery to the crank under consideration, I'd be interested to hear from anyone with suggestions regarding possible configurations for a blown twin". If you have any ideas then you can contact Carl via his web site.

Eurodragster staffer Tog has updated his personal web site Tog's Drag Racing Page with more than seventy photographs from Saturday's Bike Drags at London City Airport. The update consists of an extended set of the pictures used in Saturday's Event Coverage, mainly taken with a point-and-shoot compact camera after Tog's main camera crapped out shortly after his arrival at LCA, and can be viewed at www.togsdragracing.com/2004londoncityairportdrags.

Hooker picked up.
 25th July: If you were tuned in to Thursday's Eurodragster News you will have read that legendary UK drag bike racer Rod Pallant was taking his new LA Hooker Top Fuel Bike (right, click on picture for large version) to yesterday's London City Airport Bike Drags to advertise it for sale. When we arrived at LCA yesterday we found that Rod had already completed a deal to sell the LA Hooker to Super Street Bike racer Dave Newbery.

"The new bike is based on the look of my old LA Hooker", Rod Pallant told Eurodragster. "We were going to go streamlined, but in the time it took me to build it two or three other bikes came out with streamlining and I won't do what other people have already done! This bike is longer and lower, and is is up-to-date: it has everything you'll find on a current Top Fuel Bike with the exception of a computer but you don't need one of those to begin with."

Dave Newbery has been racing since 1993 and has contested 9.90 Bike and Super Street Bike before deciding to step up. "Top Fuel Bikes don't come up for sale very often", Dave told us at London City Airport yesterday. "If you're going to build one from scratch then it costs a hell of a lot. I won't disclose how much I've paid Rod for his bike! We need to get as many Top Fuel Bikes out there as possible, and we certainly don't want this one sitting in a workshop. I was building a Super Street Bike, and I am about halfway through it, but now that will be up for sale very shortly."
©Eurodragster.com
"The bike has a Puma Yamaha, the same as Roel Koedam runs", said Rod. "It's a good motor, I think it's gone quite well for Roel! It has a Trett clutch, B and J two-speed, twin Scintilla Vertex magnetos, Eaton supercharger modified by RPM, Hilborn fuel pumps, a Hilborn/Kinsler injection system and a lot more. The bodywork was painted by Marc Fossey to match the old LA Hooker when it was in Penthouse colours."

Rod put the bike together as a goal after injuring his leg in an accident in 1998. "I smashed up one of my legs", said Rod. "They told me I would never walk again but racers never give in! I thought 'I am going to get better, I am going to do it'. And here I am walking! I was fully planning to ride the bike myself but then reality set in, the leg hasn't recovered well enough to ride a Top Fuel Bike. I toyed with the idea of putting someone on it, but then I decided to put it up for sale."

Dave said that he will not be campaigning the bike this year, and that he may not actually ride it himself. "I want to get it home, look it over and see who else wants to get involved", he said. "There is a lot of room for development with this bike. If anyone wants to get involved then I am open to offers, if you want to ride it and split the costs or whatever. Just get in touch with your suggestions."

If you would be interested in getting involved with the new LA Hooker then drop Dave Newbery an E-Mail at dave_newbery@hotmail.com or call him on 02392 614616 (telephone and fax).

Erbacher joins GP show.
25th July: 2003 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Urs Erbacher is at the Hockenheimring to take part in today's pre-Grand Prix display of drag racing promoting August's Nitrolympx.

"Yes, we are also invited to show the crowd and Formula One what drag racing is about and how 3200 hp sounds", says Andrea Wucher of Fat Attack Racing. "Urs will do a burnout on the drag strip before the race. We are very happy to take this opportunity to promote the Nitrolympx and drag racing, and we will do our best to make the show impressive and unforgettable for everybody. For our sponsors it is a great opportunity for exposure in front of a crowd of more than 100,000.
©Eurodragster.com
"It will be interesting to see behind the scenes of Formula One. As you can imagine it is all organised down to the minute to make it work. We are curious how it will be. After the show Albi will leave Hockenheim in the direction of Mantorp Park and the team will follow by plane on Thursday."

As well as Gary Page, Peter Wacker and Urs Erbacher we also understand that another Pro Mod and two jets are scheduled to take part in today's drag racing promotion at Hockenheim. Andrea has promised to let us know how it goes.

LCA Bike Drags report.
25th July: We have now posted our American Car Imports-sponsored report of yesterday's London City Airport Bike Drags. It was an excellent day with some great performances from racers, led by Steve Woollatt with a 7.31/186 on his Top Fuel Bike on what, let's not forget, is a civil airport runway in daily use, whilst Graham Dance took FTD in the competitive classes with an 8.78.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view our report of the London City Airport Drags by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Bug Jam and LCA Drags pictures.
24th July: In association with American Car Imports we have now posted pictures from today's action at the Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway and the Bike Drags at London City Airport.

You can view today's Bug Jam pictures by clicking here.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view today's LCA Bike Drags pictures by clicking here.

The report from the LCA Bike Drags will be posted in the morning.

Wacker joins the show.
24th July: Swiss Pro Modified racer Peter Wacker will be taking part in tomorrow's pre-race festivities at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. As we revealed here last Saturday, the UK's Gary Page will be pulling burnouts in front of the Hockenheim crowd to promote August's Nitrolympx and Peter tells us that he will be doing his bit to further the cause.

"I will be doing burnouts at one end of the start/finish straight", says Peter. "I've got to make lots of noise! It is a huge honour for me and all of my friends are jealous. I am very grateful to Rico Anthes (Nitrolympx promoter - Ed) for inviting me and I will certainly be doing my best to put on a good show. It's amazing what this could do for the sport. I'll be very interested to see if any of the Formula One drivers come to say hello, I would like to show Michael Schumacher around my car!"
©Eurodragster.com
Peter's season started in dream fashion with a win at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway after identifying the clutch problem which has plagued him for a number of seasons and put paid to three expensive engines. "I have raced a lot of cars but this one is a killer", says Peter. "It hooks up and it doesn't matter what changes we make to the set-up, it just goes straight. That's down to Andy Robinson Race Cars, since Andy started to do my work I've never had to touch my cars, except to clean them! And I am grateful to Nick Davies and Rob Loaring of ICE Automotive for their work - now that I've found the clutch problem I can get a lot more power out of their engine, and there is a lot more in there. My crew have also been working very hard."

Peter's web site at www.roofers-toy.ch has been updated with details of the make-up of this year's team, as well as Svensk Dragracing's tremendous video of the Main Event Pro Mod final against Patrick Wikströ which includes what must be one of the longest Pro Mod burndowns on record.

Greek racers love Hal Far.
24th July: Malta Drag Racing Association President Anthony Borda has been on touch to give us an update on the first evening of this weekend's Night Event at Hal Far Raceway. A couple of Greek racers have made the trip to Hal Far and Anthony says that both have found the track to their liking.

"We started on Thursday evening and it looks like it's going to be another great event", says Anthony. "Hal Far Raceway was the centre of attraction here in Malta since lots of people came to see the two Greek competitors race against the Maltese. As you know we have two Greek competitors at the event, Fillippos Papafilippou and Eythimios Nefrem. On Thursday we started our event with a Test Day for all competitors and we saw some great elapsed times achieved, especially from the Greek guy Fil, who with his 509ci Pontiac Firebird ran a new personal best. His best-ever ET before was 8.4 in Greece, but here with a better track and traction he performed miracles with this impeccable-looking car.
©Eurodragster.com
"I had a talk with Fil and he told me that he is running the same power as he did in Greece. So, with the same power he had in Greece, he came out for a test and tried the car for the first time. The car did very well on the first pass and as soon he passed the finish line the commentator surprised everyone and amazed everyone, when he said that the run was 7.7 seconds with a terminal speed of 175 mph. All of the Greeks and us Maltese were over the moon when we heard the time. This proves that we have a good track for anyone who wants to come. Fil will be trying to lower his Personal Best during qualifying.

"Apart from Fil the other Greek competitor, Eythimios Nefrem, is doing his best to do what Fil did, lower his personal best Elapsed Time. His cool-looking 454ci Ford Sierra seems to have lots of power under the hood, but he told me that he needs to do some work on the car itself, since he needs to play with suspension adjustments. By the end of this event, he will have a Personal Best Elapsed Time, he said that that's a fact and if Fil did it I have to do it too! I wish both of these Greek drag racers, and now friends of ours, the very best for this event."

Hot Dog blows it.
24th July: UK Wild Bunch racer Gareth Kent tells us that his Hot Dog altered got his attention at last weekend's Mini Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway. Gareth suffered a puncture during a run on Sunday, and he got in touch to tell us how if felt from the hot seat.

"The weekend started well, I arrived early and started to set up then the first bad luck: halfway through screwing down the gazebo down the generator ran out of fuel so I popped round the corner to top it up, and on returning found that the wind had blown the gazebo away bending the two legs that were screwed down! So I must thank the DASH team for the loan of a tarp for the weekend. Saturday came, we did our usual checks and warm-up, got to the line and whilst in full stage waiting for starter Richard Warburton to start the lights something told me to go, so I did pulling my first red light, oops! The car ran a bit off-pace for that run so I went straight back round for another go and redeemed myself pulling a 0.009 reaction, but again off pace. Back in the pits we pulled the carb apart and found bits of 'stuff' so we cleaned it out, I adjusted the timing and proceeded to run a double PB of 12.04/110! I got my PB back of Mr. Munday! We then played a lot more, getting in five more runs, I drove six passes and my ever hard-working crewman Les had his first two runs in anything, a sixteen followed by a fifteen, missing third gear about three times but ddid bloody well, well done mate! So we got in eight runs, all in one day at a RWYB!

"On Sunday the car ran 12.7 followed by a wheel-spinning 12.5. On the last run, the track crew cleaned a bit of fluid up on the line just before I staged, lights ran and I nailed it. It spun big time, hit second gear, spun a little then gripped, hit third, at about eight hundred feet when I shifted into top I heard a pop and the car started to squirm around. I realised I had just picked up a puncture on the rear left slick, not good at 100-ish, with the swaying and bouncing I couldn't slow it down very well. Not wanting to take on the bump after the first turn off I decided a slightly faster exit was needed. I turned, the back end came round so to stop it digging in I floored it, powersliding into the turn off towards the fire engines and the Cunning Plan, B'Sting and the Chemical Reaction car as well as drivers. About fove metres from the now-fleeing drivers that I somehow managed to swing the car the other way and jam on the brakes, eventually coming to a stop. Even though it then poured down and the meeting was called off my racing weekend had finished. Consolation, though, was winning Best Appearing Team with our new crew shirts of which even my son Marcus has one, that was a nice finish.
©Eurodragster.com
"But with this it has sadly brought me to realise that I can't afford to damage the car before someone buys it, so it's with great sadness that I tell you that Hot Dog has been retired until a new owner re-christens it under new colours. I shall miss driving Hot Dog, it's been very kind s howing me the ropes and making me look as good as I did last year. So if anyone is interested in buying this wonderful car for only 3000 please get in touch with me at gareth@dazegonebyracing.fsnet.co.uk asap as the car is built to be on the track not to be sat quietly in a trailer!

"Finally, Thank You to the fellow racers and crew for their concern after what could have been a very nasty incident. Hope to be back beating you all again in the near future with a faster Hot Dog II."

If you are interested in acquiring an altered then you can read all about Hot Dog on Gareth's web site at www.dgbracing.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk.

Guess The Bump Spot still open.
24th July: The European Pro Mod Association's Guess The Bump Spot contest is still running on their official web site. The prize is an NDRS T-Shirt and all you have to do is to guess what the bump spot will be in NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified at the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park next weekend. Twenty seven Pro Mods are entered, for a sixteen-car field. For more details and to enter the contest visit the EPMA web site at www.promod.nu.
©Eurodragster.com
Weekend event coverage.
24th July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing will be reporting on this weekend's Aros Nats at Västerås, which starts today. You will be able to stay in touch with events at Västerås at www.dragracing.se, and for more information about the event check out the SMF Västerås web site at www.smf-vasteras.se.

Enter the Swedanes.
23rd July: Major changes are afoot in the pit of Sweden's Lorentzon and Möller Top Fuel Dragster team with new parts arriving in an endless stream and the recruitment of five members of Kim Reymond's team from Denmark. Crew Chief Kenneth Lorentzon brought us up to date with the team's last couple of outings before giving us the lowdown on the team changes.

"Finland has never been good to us, not even when we ran the '37 Pro Mod Coupe", says Kenneth. "Last year we didn't qualify, this year we smoked the crap out of it. Too low on power, giant wheelstand and when it decided to come down it went up in smoke. To much power, up in smoke. The only ride down the track was when we forgot to open the air bottle, which gave us number two qualifying spot with a 5.60 time, that tells the whole story. Ours is quite a tricky car to tune on bad tracks with its 38-inch engine set-back. But some of the guys did really well, Andy Carter had his stuff together and ran well.

"If Finland was bad, Piteå was worse. Same story: tyre-smoking wheelstand - good for the spectators. But at least we weren't hurting parts, a couple of blower belts took a hike as they were not invited to the pedalfest. But Chris Andrews did well for the CBD team and laid down a 5.0. End of story."
©Eurodragster.com
Kenneth says that the fun starts with next week's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park. "Since the FIA Main Event we have been discussing merging Kim Reymond's crew with our own. They are really anxious to come out and kick some butt and so are we, and we are running about the same stuff which they were, hopefully our car will be a better hot rod.

"I'm really eager to see what this constellation can achieve. It has been raining parts for some time now: blowers, clutches, fuel parts and a lot of other stuff which will make a car do 320 mph. The team will be five Danes and five Swedes. The Danish half will be Per (tuner), Carsten (engine tech), Morten (clutch), Ole (engine) and Michael (blower), and the Swedish half will be Tommy (driver), Kenneth (Crew Chief), Håkan (computer), Åke (bottom end), Ulf (engine), Peter (crew), Billy (crew). And the most important crew members, the chefs: King of Meatballs Kent and Per.

"Andy Carter, may your knees shake and rattle."

Kamasa Challengers line up.
23rd July: Anders Magnusson of Sweden's Andréasson Motorsports Top Methanol Funny Car team has been in touch with the latest news on tomorrow's Kamasa Tools Mechanic Challenge, which takes place in Stockholm's Kungstrdgrden. The Challenge pits seven Funny Car teams against the clock and each other with the first to complete a set task going through to the next round.
©Eurodragster.com
The seven teams taking part in tomorrow's Challenge are Andréasson Motorsports (Sweden), Leanders Brothers Racing (Sweden), Micke Kågered Racing (Sweden), Martin Lundqvist Racing (Sweden), Over The Hill Racing (Sweden), Jurgen Nagel Racing (Germany), and Starkotter Racing (Sweden, running on methanol). The first round takes place at 13:00, the semi-final at 15:00 and the final at 17:00.

Anders says that Kamasa's sponsorship of Andréasson Motorsports will not put the team at an advantage. "We know that the tasks should take less than thirty minutes and should be a part of normal maintainance and service", he says. "Kamasa are actually keeping the tasks a secret, even to us. But that will not stop us!"

Driver Leif Andréasson will be interviewed on two radio stations today (Friday). Leif's first interview is on Rock Klassiker 106.7 FM at 7:00 am, and the second is on Radio Stockholm at 10.30 am.

Aasen out to retain lead.
23rd July: FIM/UEM Supertwin Championship leader, Norway's Ronny Aasen says that he and Crew Chief Roy are looking forward to next weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival.
©Eurodragster.com
"After the rain in Finland we have made some small changes", says Ronny. "A brand new fuel pump, which is a little bit bigger, has been mounted, we have prepared some new clutch set-ups, and we have also built a new wheelie bar.

"Rumour has it that the track will be better than ever, we hope so! Hopefully we're going to run some good numbers and keep the #1 position in the series."

From The Fang to their fan.
23rd July: Carl Wadkin Snaith of the UK's The Fang Supertwin Modified team has been in touch with an update from the team's workshop.

"Apologies to our fan (Carl's words - Ed), but things have been progressing on the bike and latest photos of the supercharger installation can be seen on our web site at www.thefang.co.uk/news2004.htm. Work has now begun on assembling the big bore engine, although it is looking increasingly unlikely that we will be testing this season. Looking on the positive side, a whole winter of tinkering and polishing, at least it should look good next season!"
©Eurodragster.com
Carl is also responsible for the very tidy UK Junior Drag Bike web site at www.juniordragbike.co.uk and has asked that a representative of Rebecca Puddle's JDB team contact him with some background information for Rebecca's profile page. "I can be contacted at carl@turnertech.co.uk or call 01225 810187", he says.

NDRG Drag Challenge entry list.
23rd July: Thanks to our good buddy Christer Abrahamson for letting us know that the Svensk Dragracing web site is now hosting the latest version of the official entry list for the NDRG Drag Challenge, the fourth round of the FIA and FIM/UEM European Championships as well as rounds of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified, NDRS and the Norwegian Championships, which takes place at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway on 6th-8th August.
©Eurodragster.com
You can find the NDRG Drag Challenge entry list at www.dragracing.se/short/challengeentrys04.html.

Hansen hopes for sixes.
22nd July: Denmark's returning Pro Stock racer Jackie Hansen is very pleased with his 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier, says team member Henrik Lund. "A lot has happened in Pro Stock since Jackie last raced in the class some ten years ago, so coming back is almost like starting all over again", says Henrik.
©Eurodragster.com
Jackie and his team of Erik Nielsen, Stig Pedersen, Per Bergstrm and Henrik Lund have so far contested only three events - a test at Gardermoen and the FIA rounds at Santa Pod and Alastaro - feel that they have a good handle on tuning the car and that some engine problems aside everything is working well. "We haven't run a six-second ET yet, but hopefully it will come at Mantorp Park or Gardermoen", says Erik. "The sixty foot times are there, but tyre shake is a problem. We are looking forward to racing the rest of the season, hopefully without any more engine trouble.

"With help from our sponsors Jerry's and Pennzoil it will be a great season."

More trophies for Erbacher...
22nd July: 2003 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Urs Erbacher had a home fixture last weekend when he made demonstration passes at Switzerland's Turtmann Airfield (right). Urs went home with two trophies, as team member Andrea Wucher reports.

"The scenery: fantastic; the weather: from sunny to thunderstorms; the track conditions: very poor; the fun factor: great; the souvenirs: two nice trophies", says Andrea. "There is one drag race in Switzerland, in the Valais on the ex-military airfield of Turtmann. There was no question that Urs wanted to race in front of the Swiss folks. As there are no Pro classes scheduled, we were ask to make some show runs with other great racers from Switzerland as Rolf Amman, Urs Embacher, Markus Hilt, Dezsoe Krivan (see below - Ed) and Peter Wacker.

"The first show run was scheduled for 15:00 on Saturday, the rain was quicker and flooded the track and pits at 14:55. As the German drivers were contesting a Championship round this weekend they got priority as soon as the track was dry again, so no run for us today. The day was memorable for one of our crew members, anyway: Horst Pauli our tuning and set-up specialist was firing up the car for the warm-up and got into a close relationship with the ignition. He got an electric shock from our MSD Ignition and broke his right shoulder-blade (which we only found out in the hospital on Monday). We finished the day with a nice meal with our friends from the Valais and fellow racers.
©Eurodragster.com
"On Sunday, beautiful sunshine. The first run was scheduled between 10:00 and 11:00. As we had never run at Turtmann before we needed this run to find the right set-up for the second run. Urs did two fantastic burnouts, one was supposed to be a normal run but he smoked the tyres the whole way down. As Urs wanted to get the trophy for the best speed and the lowest ET of the event we had to beat a 7.1 from the Habermann car. Quite a big impovement on an 8.3 in the first run! Horst had a look at the data, decided upon a new set-up, and at two o'clock we were ready at the starting line again.

"The other Swiss Pro drivers all stepped up, and Markus Hilt and Peter Wacker run into the low sevens, so we had to put a six on the scoreboard. No smoke from the tyres this time, Urs had to work hard in the car but he managed to get below seven seconds: with a 6.995 and 347 km/h the two trophies were in reach and we set a new track speed record.

"At the prize-giving ceremony Urs cheered when he picked up his trophies and showed that he is the fastest man in Europe in TMFC and also now in Switzerland.

"We had a lot of fun this weekend, and it was great to race with all the Swiss Pro racers again. Turtmann is a great location for a drag race, and I'm sure that next year the organisation will be even better and everything will go even more smoothly."

...Krivan wows the crowd, too.
22nd July: Fellow Swiss Top Methanol FC racer Dezsoe Krivan also made the trip to Turtmann to put in passes in his 3D-Tech-sponsored show car. Team member Steve Wilson kindly sent us a report on Krivan Dragracing's weekend.

"Once we had unloaded and prepared the car, we were able to relax and have a walk around and look at the varied collection of American machinery on display", says Steve. "As well as drag racing there was also a show'n'shine, displays and shops all with an American flavour. Saturday dawned bright and sunny and the teams lined up to run, the first run taking place at 09:00. The airfield was filling up with visitors, some who knew what drag racing is all about and some who were just curious to see what was going on. It is very interesting living in a multi-language country and quite embarrassing when people just change between French, German, Italian and English and I am stood there with a smattering of German and schoolboy French - nobody wanted a train ticket to Paris - and being a Geordie I struggle with English!

"This year the organisers had brought down the Dutch guys for start line crew and had prepped the track, however there was still not enough traction for our car. By the time came around for us to do our bit, the heavens opened and ended the day's proceedings. During Saturday when I was having a walk around, I spotted English number plates! Yes some stalwart Brits had made the journey all the way from the oop t'north west, Super Street driver Mike Bentley and Steve Paley plus crew, if you are reading this guys then get in touch with me at steve@dragracing.ch and I will send some photos as part way to saying thanks for supplying me with some Boddingtons on Saturday night. And when on the start line and staged you must remember to put it in gear and secondly stop when you have staged, OK lads?
©Eurodragster.com
"On Sunday the crowds were coming through the gates at 06:30! Our display was brought forward to 9:30 instead of the afternoon. Racing started at 8:30, which must really have impressed the locals as mountains surround the track and the sounds were reverberating around the valley. So by the time of our run, the stands were full and they were a really enthusiastic crowd, Dez performed a stunning half-track burnout then completed a charging run. Two hours later and we are at it again, by now the track was in fine condition and the car was hooking up better to enable Dez to really give it merd this time.

"The whole weekend was an excellent opportunity to show people drag racing from the RWYB through most classes to TMFC, the event was well-attended all three days and TV and press coverage was fully catered for. And how is this for location (right)? So this weekend could be the birth of Turtmann Raceway!

"Krivan Drag racing would like to thank, Midland Oil, Energy Release for their support and 3D-Tech for supplying the chef who kept the team and guests fed and watered all weekend, also thanks to everyone who stopped by for a drink and chat in our VIP enclosure.

"Check out www.dragracing.ch for more photos from the weekend."

Swift snippets.
22nd July: UK Supertwin racer Bernie Hepworth tells us that after much investigation he has found the easiest ways of getting to Malta. "If any racer is serious about going to Malta then I will point them at the various transport alternatives", says Bernie who can be contacted by E-Mail at berni@hepframe.fsnet.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Legendary UK drag bike racer Rod Pallant has confirmed that he and his LA Hooker bike will be attending Saturday's drag race at London City Airport. However, contrary to what we had understood, the LA Hooker in question is not a restored bike but in fact a new Top Fuel Bike, built by Rod, which is for sale. Stay tuned for more details about that, and if you are interested in attending London City Airport this weekend then see our news item London City Drags update II of 16th July or check out Motorsports Promotions' web site at www.motorsportspromotions.co.uk.

Adam set for new Blitz.
21st July: 2003 UK National Super Comp and Super Gas Champion Tim Adam will shortly début his much-anticipated Blitzkrieg Ford Falcon, with which he is again set to contest the two Super classes. The ex-Mark Anderson car has been two years in the reconstruction and is to be baselined at Andy Robinson Race Cars this weekend before its first outing, which will either be next week's Mopar Nationals or the mid-August Webster Race Engineering Test Day both of which take place at Santa Pod Raceway.

"I bought the car from Mark Anderson complete with a Ford 460 engine", says Tim. "I then more or less stripped it to the frame rails and sold the engine and most of the parts. Andy Robinson then built a chassis around what little was left whilst I got hold of replacement body parts in glass - the whole body was steel when I bought the car."
©Eurodragster.com
The Falcon is to be powered by a 400 ci small block with Buick heads, Neal Chance Converter, Dedenbear gearbox, and and what Tim describes as "The most wonderful set of stainless steel headers", custom-built by Andy Robinson. Andy Robinson Race Cars also affixed wing, wheelie bars and parachute mount and fitted out the interior. "I am very happy indeed with the job Andy has done", says Tim. The "orangey" paintscheme features an Iron Cross emblem as well as signwriting "All over it" by Neil at Pro Sign.

The Falcon's first competitive outing after testing is planned to be the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. The new car doesn't spell curtains for Tim's Championship-winning roadster, though. "I will be racing the roadster out in Europe next year and leaving out out there between races", says Tim.

Burrows lines up the rides.
21st July: Volkswagen Drag Racing Club President and veteran racer Brian Burrows will be racing in VW Sportsman this weekend's Bug Jam after selling his thirteen-second Karmann Ghia Lo-light. "I'll be in a 'borrowed' Golf Rallye G60", says Brian. "VWDRC racing history will be made this weekend with the largest VWDRC field ever! I just wanted to be part of it all."
©Eurodragster.com
Fellow VWDRC racer Adele Atherton has also offered Brian a couple of shakedown passes in her newly-completed Ghia to check that everything behaves as it should. Brian will also have his fresh-out-of-the-box twenty one-window Samba Van at Bug Jam and will be looking to see what the new 2007 cc engine will do on the strip during Saturday's RWYB sessions. "I'm going to be one busy man!", he says.

Backing the Challenge.
21st July: Hot on the heels of UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost's announcement last Saturday of a UK v North America street car challenge, which takes place in the USA next March, comes news of the first sponsors to sign up to back the event.

"First to come on board were Matthew Wright and Gary Gleeson of Gleeson Wright Security, within ten minutes of the story breaking!", says Andy. "Along with them came Tony from the Corporate Signs Company. I would like to say a huge Thank You to these guys for getting the ball rolling for us.

"Remember,this will be the biggest street racing event in the world, ever...I know that the whole of the UK street racing scene want to us bring back the trophy for having the world's quickest street cars. These two companies want to help us to, do you? If so then the address for enquiries is andy@redvictor1racing.co.uk.

The Chemistry works.
21st July: If you were tuned in last Friday you will recall that UK Wild Bunch racer Darryl 'Shag' Howells was due to make his debut this weekend in the newly refurbished Chemical Reaction slingshot. Sarah Howells got in touch to let us know that things went pretty much to plan.

"Shag was looking for an eventual run in the high tens, which he didn't get...but he did come close!", says Sarah. "With a début run of 13.126/124, the car seemed happy to be home! One area we need to make some adjustment in is the apparent reluctance of the car to leave the line very quickly. She did bog down quite a bit over the weekend but with a couple of changes - to the car and the driver! - we did see an improvement on the second day of racing!
©Eurodragster.com
"We made seven runs over the weekend, ending with a best ET of 11.173 and a best MPH of 127.97...and a smile that spanned a thousand miles! At the Wild Bunch presentation Chemical Reaction was awarded the 'Best Slingshot' spot prize to a huge cheer from crew and fellow racers alike!

"As always there are lots of people to thank so, in no particular order: Crazy Chris, Claire, Mark, Lee and Sarah - people already think we're all nuts so what the hell - fair shout, fair play, fair chicken, fair cushtie! The support we've had from you guys has been unreal and we're honoured to be adopted Hartnell kids! The Dogs B******ks team (Ray, Edd, Goz, Em, Ben and Jamie) - this was our 'Castle in the sky', eh Em! It wouldn't be as much fun without you guys! Demon Scream Graphics, cheers Edd, it looks wicked mate. Mickey Colley - axle builder supremo! Cath and Tig - purple people supporters and suppliers of brilliant roll cage padding! Hauser Race Cars - Sarah's endless "I'm not quite sure" phone calls must have driven you mad but we got there! The Wild Bunch - what a great 'bunch' of people we race with, and long may it continue!"

Swift snippets.
21st July: Swedish Fuel Funny Car racer Leif Helander's Starkotter FC is currently sporting the logo of the Swedish group Europe, best-known for their hit 'The Final Countdown'. You can see a picture of Leif's FC in Europe's colours, and read about his appearances at the American Car Show in Norrtalje and the Midnight Sun Internationals at Piteå, on his web site at www.starkotter.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Whilst the Nordic Drag Racing Series heads for Västerås this weekend, work is already well-advanced on preparing Mantorp Park's strip for next week's Veidec Nitro Festival. Honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Christer Abrahamson kindly forwarded us this picture of Mantorp's track crew hard at work on the strip, and another picture of the Glue Crew in the other lane, on their mobiles and doubtless saying "They're in a train!" (English in-joke - Ed).

UK Super Comp racer Chris Johnson has been in touch to ask if any of his fellow racers fancy appearing on Meridian TV. "I've been contacted by a programme chaser from Meridian about a possible TV programme about alternative motorsport", says Chris. "They are after teams from the Meridian area - about 150 miles' radius around Southampton - who will be racing in the next couple of months. The guy's name is Martyn Blundel and he can be reached at runner.prog@granadamedia.com."

Points update.
21st July: The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with the Nordic Drag Racing Series points standings after the FHRA Summer Nats. "We have had one lead change as Jonas Staflund took command in System Edstrm Super Comp", says honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Erik Zettervall. "But I guess Paul Ingar Udtian will not just sit there and watch that happen. Both of these guys are going to the Aros Nats this coming weekend and we can look forward to a battle for the lead!"
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
21st July: Alan Currans' latest update to his excellent Acceleration Archive web site with a set of pictures which will quicken the heart of any 1970s Funny Car fan. "I have been delving back through my own collection of photographs, and it struck me that there were lots of passable shots which could go on the site except that I had nothing much to say about the cars which I hadn't already said before on previous pages", says Alan. "The solution came to me in flash - I could have a go at a gallery like those tecchies at Eurodragster do with their race reports. So, sparing no expense, I downloaded some shareware and after about twenty attempts concocted a seventh page of Funny Cars. This contains no less than three galleries featuring the Hillbillies (13 pictures), Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge (29 pictures) and Dennis Priddle (25 pictures)". You can view Alan's pictures by selecting page seven of Plastic Fantastics at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Lockyer bounces back.
20th July: UK VW Pro racer Ant Lockyer, who won the first round of this year's VWDRC Championship, will be returning to the track for this weekend's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway. A series of unfortunate accidents, including the breaking of team manager Mick Lockyer's fingers, have prevented Ant from repeating his first round win.
©Eurodragster.com
"At the beginning of the year I was all fired up to have a decent crack at the Championship", says Ant. "But things have gone against us, and not on the drag strip. I am hoping that the car will perform with its usual rock-solid consistency this weekend and I look forward to having the chance to prove myself in what is the biggest field I have ever seen for a VW event."

Ridley loves Shack.
20th July: UK Pro ET racer Keith Ridley was one of a number of racers to attend the opening of Conor LaGrue and Simon Holland's Race Shack on Saturday. The QLM Performance Oils-sponsored racer tested his Escort on Race Shack's Mustang dynamometer and found it a very useful exercise.
©Eurodragster.com
"It was a seven o'clock start but what a good day", says Keith. "We put the car on the dynamometer, four feet in the air! The dyno lets you find out so much about the car, I just wish that we had more time and the parts to change on the car. I had about an hour and a half before the car got hot and we had an oil leak - luckily it didn't go under the rear wheel like at the Fast Ford Show at Santa Pod!

"I will be back at Race Shack for more testing: the time we had on Saturday was like a weekend testing at the track. I would like to say Thank You to Race Shack, HSL Racing and all the staff for a great day."

Julian Robinson is hosting a great video clip of a number of race cars, including Keith's Escort, on the Race Shack Mustang Dynamometer. You can view the video by clicking here, and for more information about Race Shack check out the company's web site at www.raceshack.co.uk.

Swift snippets.
20th July: Swedish Pro Stock racer Magnus Hansson will be testing the six-second Eye of the Tiger Firebird at this weekend's Aros Nats at Västerås. Magnus and the team plan to make some last-minute checks before next week's Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park. You can read more on the team's web site at www.mhansson-racing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
20th July: The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with a Photo Gallery from the Deep Forest Nats at Sundsvall.
©Eurodragster.com
The Racebilder site at www.racebilder.nu has been updated with a large number of pictures from the weekend's Scandinavian Dragracing Championship round at the new eighth-mile Meca Raceway in Malmö.

Ålund: first beats seventh.
19th July: FIA European Pro Stock Championship leader, Sweden's Jimmy Ålund says that his season has been great so far. Jimmy set a new European speed record of 199.19 mph at the FIA Main Event, and things have got better and better since then.

"Starting with that 6.93/199.19 right off the trailer at the Main Event was just awesome", says Jimmy. "On the Sunday we struggled a little trying some new set-ups, so unfortunately we hurt the clutch pretty bad. I was really happy to reach the final, but not with the outcome! To be number one qualifier at Alastaro with a 6.96 was a nice new experience for the whole team. Winning the race and taking the lead in the Championship is definitely a lot better than this point last year when we were seventh.
©Eurodragster.com
"Now we are looking forward to the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park, our 'home track'. Hopefully we can extend the lead, but there are so many good race teams in Pro Stock so it's not going to be easy.

"I would like to thank my sponsors for all their support, engine builder Bob Ingles for the powerful new engine, and my crew who always give me 'the best' race car to drive."

Capewell finally gets the nod.
19th July: Europe's newest-licenced Top Methanol Funny Car racer, the UK's Trevor Capewell (right) was beginning to wonder whether he would ever get the magic signature on his licence until it all came right at the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway.

"We had some very bad luck, not having our fire bottles delivered on time and therefore we missed the Easter Thunderball", says Trev. "What with the persistent bad weather since, we wondered whether we would ever licence this year. Again we couldn't run on the Saturday of the Summernationals as it was rained off. The team was naturally very disappointed since we only had Sunday to do our stuff, weather permitting. We had a chat with Race Director Darren Prentice and he gave the team the opportunity to licence on Sunday.
©Eurodragster.com
"The first pass was to be a good 300 feet and pull the parachutes, which started off well but got very close to the wall, 7.13/139, demonstrating how hard Funny Cars are to drive. When Darren was happy with the first pass, the second was to be a full pass. Well, the team did a fantastic job preparing the car in time and we were ready! The car left the line hard, 1.01 at sixty feet, and went reasonably straight until half track. After that it moved around quite a bit and the motor dropped a cylinder, so I lifted. I had no idea what time I had run until a very happy crew showed up. I couldn't believe it, 6.58 and the car was slowing down at three quarter track.

"We as a team are very happy to have the opportunity to compete in TMFC. If you know me, it's a long-awaited ten-year dream. We are a very new team and the car is a well-known piece. We have stripped the car down to its bare chassis and rebuilt it to our meticulous specifications. Now I need more opportunities in the driver's seat to get more experience."

Trevor tells us that the major difference from his previous car, the awesome Southern Rebel 2 Super Pro ET altered, is the cost of the set-up at the track and the amount of spares needed at Top Methanol level. "It's a major financial drain", he says. "We as a team intend pushing for more sponsors, learning as much as we can and like any other competitive racer running as fast as we can", he says.

"I would like to say Thank You and Welcome to our first sponsor Prolong Lubricants who have supplied us with oil and lubricants. A big thank you also to my wife Esta and the team: my brother Bob (Crew Chief), Len, Matt, Dean, Uncle Tony, Will and all the girls Jo, Jenny and Sally who look after us. Thank you to Leif Helander for accepting my late telephone calls regularly and being more than happy to give me advice and support. Thank you to Johnny and Matz for giving up their time to come from Sweden and help us for the first few meetings. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes who has done excellent work on the car: Timothy Honess of Brise Fabrications, Darren West of Power Race Graphics, Dave Hersey of Townley Panel and Paint Ltd. Thank you to John Andrews of Motorgraphic for doing a great job on our proposal. A very big thank you to Doug Ripley and to all our friends, and friends of our friends who have come to the track to help and support in any way they can.

"See you all at Shakespeare County Raceway at the August Bank Holiday weekend. Let's go racing!"

Super Mods welcome at Bulldog.
19th July: Paul Dickinson has been in touch to reassure UK Super Modified racers that they are welcome at the Bulldog Bash which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway in August.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have been led to believe that someone has told you that Super Mod has been cancelled", says Paul. "This is not at all true, you are more than welcome. Any Super Mod racer considering coming to the Bulldog Bash should know that they will take part in the drag race shows, and will also as a group be able to do even more runs during the day as they are to be allowed to run as part of the Run What You Brung."

Any Super Mod racer with queries can contact Paul on 07768 266346.

Thorney Drags day two.
19th July: Tony Byng has been in touch once more to give us an account of yesterday's second day of drag race action at the Victory Wheelers Show at Thorney Island.

"The day started much as Saturday, but rain had stopped before racing and the track was 90% dry for the first cars out", says Tony. "The field was as diverse as on Saturday including a 29-second pass from a muralled Kenilworth truck, a touch of class added by a brand spanking new six-litre Bentley netting a 14.65/95. A gaggle of bike engined Westfields, a multitude of bikes, hot hatches and of course hot rods!

"Fastest car of the day was Lee Pike in the Honky Tonkin' 57 Chevy Gasser with a tyre-smoking 10.79/137, very credible considering he didn't hook up until the eighth! As promised SCR commentator Jerry Cookson turned up and gave us wonderful coverage of the meeting. He was made up, and would definitely return!

"The astounding thing was when Martin Greathead,Straightliners timekeeper, informed me that we had put 1012 pairs down the track, and that did not include red light runs - a record for them! Fastest cars of the day, courtesy of Straightliners:
©Eurodragster.com
Fastest cars
Lee Pike, Honky Tonkin' 57 Chevy 10.79/137
Susan Waskett, 00 Camaro 10.98/130
Anthony Higg, 5.7 litre Capri 11.25/129
Ken Brook, 402 ci 57 Chevy

Fastest bikes
Tony Legg, Cagiva Raptor 1000cc 9.92/147
Mark Hammond, Suzuki GSXR 1408cc 9.95/146
Richard Traynor, Suzuki Hayabusa turbo 10.19/150
John Hancock, Suzuki GSXR 1408cc 10.23/143

"Thanks to Martin for all the info and printouts!"

Swift snippets.
19th July: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring is headed for the Isle of Man where he will be putting in demonstration passes in the Firestorm Jet FC at this weekend's Jurby Sprint. "We had a ball at Jurby last year and I can't wait to go there again", says Roger. "I would also like to say how grateful I am to Colin Fallows for stepping into the breach at the last moment again to crew for me alongside Helen."
©Eurodragster.com
Get it on your chest.
19th July: Ian King, principal of the UK's King Racing Top Fuel Bike team announced today that his team is to offer a top of the line range of heavy duty Stainless Steel toolchest combinations. Designed for the professional engineer and mechanic, these exceptional quality products exceed the quality of the more famous brands and at a price of less than one third of equivalent items. Completely manufactured in 18 gauge, grade 304 stainless steel for many lifetimes of work, they feature heavy duty ball bearing drawer slides with 160 lb (73Kg) capability on the normal drawer and double slides for the deep drawers with 320 lb (146Kg) capability.

These stunning pieces of equipment can be viewed by visiting www.kingracing.com/cspsmetal.htm. To launch this line of products, King Racing are to offer a limited number of the 41 19 drawer version featured above for a remarkable price of 800 (€1150) - less than half the recommended price. Delivery in the UK can be arranged for 50 extra, and credit cards will be accepted using the PayPal system at an additional charge of 4%. Hurry, these limited stocks are going fast!

Contact sales@kingracing.com, telephone 07785 341099 or fax 01763 852707.
©Eurodragster.com
Back for Revenge.
18th July: Dave Cherrett and Tim Poultney have confirmed that they will be returning to the track with the Dark Revenger Super Street Model A van in a couple of weeks' time after installing a new engine. The Dark Revenger suffered extensive engine damage at the FIA Main Event and driver Dave and Crew Chief Tim have had a frustrating two months since then. However all the work has paid off as the new motor is in place in time for their annual trip to Sweden and Norway where the van is very popular with fans.

"We ran the motor in and tested for the first time at the Webster Race Engineering Test Day on Wednesday", says Tim. "Dave made three very conservative runs with a best of 11.131, coasting through at 90.35 mph, but he was very pleased with how the car felt and with its performance potential.

"We are now concentrating on the preparations for the European Tour of Mantorp Park and Gardermoen, and we are looking forward to racing our European friends.

"Dave would like to thank Geof Hauser and all of our fellow racers, friends and fans for all their support."

Rain? What rain?
18th July: Tony Byng has kindly been in touch again to let us know how yesterday's first day of drag racing went at the Victory Wheelers Show on Thorney Island. Tony is running the start line and tells us that he had a new experience yesterday.

"Racing started at 10:30 but was interrupted after half an hour by ten minutes of monsoon-like rain", says Tony. Undaunted, the eager racers elected to carry on racing on a wet track, which is something I had never before experienced as starter. The rain soon stopped and the sun came out, and I was treated to the sight of rooster tails of spray creating mini-rainbows down the strip!

"The track soon dried and an increasing field of cars and bikes arrived. We were sending vehicles as diverse as Pro ET cars and Winnebago campers down the strip. In all, we sent 752 pairs down during the day including the gasser circus, who provided both maximum entertainment on the unprepared track and the fastest runs of the day. I believe that they used the venue to run off the finals of their series which were cut short by weather at SCR but I cannot confirm that.
©Eurodragster.com
"Courtesy of Straightliners, the fastest runs of the day were as follows:

Cars
Jimmy Hibberd, Boston Brawler Willys 10.79/124
Lee Pike, Honky Tonkin' 57 Chevy 10.82/124
Brian Waskett, Chevy Camaro 496 ci 11.16/129
Malcolm Motler, Spellbound Morris Pickup 11.22/124

Bikes
Tony Legg, Cagiva Raptor 1000cc 9.90/142
Jeff Dowsett, Suzuki GSX 1428 cc 9.96/145
Lee Young, Kawasaki GPZ 1172 cc 10.07/143
Mark Hammond, Suzuki GSXR 1408 cc 10.16/143

"With new vehicles arriving by the moment, and rubber having been laid at the startline, we are hoping for bigger and better things today (weather permitting)!"

Web site updates.
18th July: Dave Alexander of the European Top Methanol Racers Association has come with something a little different for everyone on the ETMRA web site. "It's a picture of the American Car Imports Racing's illustrious team principal Anthony Cohen who is...well, you'll just have to see for yourselves", says Dave. "Gill and I have already laughed ourselves silly with our own ideas, let's see what you lot can come up with". You can check out the picture and submit a caption on the ETMRA web site at www.etmra.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Aldert Tjoelker has updated his Fast Frisian web site with a large number of great photographs and video clips from the recent MPM Internationals at Drachten. Check it out at www.fastfrisian.nl.

Let's show F1 (again).
17th July: After his weekend driving one of Knut Söderquist's Top Fuellers to victory at Pite Dragway, the UK's Gary Page was all set to get out from behind the wheel and return to his Crew Chief duties for Jöran Persåker at Mantorp Park in a couple of weekends' time. This morning, however, Gary got a phone call from Nitrolympx promoter and Top Fuel Dragster racer Rico Anthes with an offer for next weekend which he couldn't possibly turn down.

"Rico called and asked me what I was doing next weekend", says Gary. "I told him that I was planning to have a weekend off before Mantorp. Rico asked me if I fancied coming to Hockenheim to pull some burnouts in his Top Fueller next Sunday lunchtime before the German Grand Prix. I said 'Ooh...OK then, twist my arm up my back'!"

Gary will be pulling burnouts in front of a crowd of between 150,000 and 200,000 as part of the pre-Grand Prix festivities. "It will be a great chance to promote the Nitrolympx, and it will be good for drag racing as a whole", says Gary.

Street car challenge unveiled.
17th July: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost has been in touch with details of an exciting-sounding challenge to decide the World's Quickest Real Street Car.

"The plan is for four UK street-legal cars to race against four US and four Canadian racers for the title of "World's quickest real street car", says Andy. "The place will be No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana, USA which is an NHRA divisional track. The date will be March 2005. The opposition has still to be decided but it will be heads-up racing at its very best.
©Eurodragster.com
"The four UK racers upholding the honour of the country will be Steve Neimantas, John Sleath, Steve Pateman and myself. At the moment we are liaising with the NSCA (the biggest and best street racing organisation in the USA) and talking to a number of companies in the USA about sponsorship, prize funds etc.

"We would also like to get UK companies involved in this venture, so if companies out there want to get involved in the biggest street racing event the world has ever seen, just E-Mail me at andy@redvictor1racing.co.uk. We want to show the USA and Canada that they haven't got the fastest real street cars.Want to help us?"

You can view the official flyer for the event by clicking here.

Thorney drags open to all.
17th July: Tony Byng has been in touch again to bring us the very latest news on the drag racing part of this weekend's Victory Wheelers Show at Thorney Island. Tony tells us that if you fancy a spot of Run What You Bring action then it's not too late to head south.

"Although entry to the Victory Wheelers Show itself is strictly pre-entry, anybody wishing to take advantage of the drag strip facility only (cars or bikes) can do so either today (Saturday) or tomorrow", says Tony. "Fees are 5.00 at the gate and a 20.00 payment to Straightliners for race fees. Full timing equipment is set up, and timing tickets will be issued.
©Eurodragster.com
"I have just returned from a quick visit from the Show and it is filling up rapidly. There are a number of race cars already on site with the promise of more to follow, including the Gasser Circus. Shakespeare County Raceway commentator Jerry Cookson is down for the weekend and will put in an appearance as guest commentator. The weather is holding and looks like it's going to be a great weekend!"

FHRA Summer Nats coverage.
17th July: This weekend's latest round of the Nordic Drag Racing Series is the Finnish Hot Rod Association's Summer Nats at Kalajoki. You will be able to stay in touch with events at Kalajoki on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi and on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
17th July: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with a date for racers' diaries: the fourteenth annual SPRC Dinner Dance is to be held at the Moat House Hotel in Bedford on Saturday 5th February 2005. "Menu selections are being finalised at the moment, when they have been sorted out then the booking form will be posted on the SPRC web site", says Paula.
©Eurodragster.com
Auction site launches.
17th July: The UK's first motorsport auction site has been launched at www.motorsportauction.co.uk, writes Robert Daines. "The comprehensive site is a one-stop shop for anyone looking to bid on any motor racing items from a set of overalls to a full race car.

"Motorsportauction covers every aspect of motorised racing ranging from circuit and oval racing, karting, drag racing, grass track, rally motorcycling, hillclimbing and radio control racing, through to powerboats. Buying and selling on Motorsportauction is straightforward, thanks to its quick loading and easy to navigate site and plain language instructions. After a straightforward registration and login, sellers simply choose a suitable category and sub category for the items to be sold, fill in the details and lowest acceptable bid price, add images and press confirm. Sellers pay a small fee, and not the usual commission charged by auction sites. They can then sit back and wait for an automatic E-Mail confirming the item has been sold.

"Buyers have a similarly easy job when bidding for an item that catches their eye. Once logged in they can use the search box for times they are looking for, or simply browse the site. Sub-categories are available to help narrow down the search. One click on the desired item takes the buyer to the auction site where they may enter their bid or simply press the Buy it now button to purchase without bidding. The bidding is free to buyers.

If it is motorised and you can race it, we're happy to sell it, state Motorsportauction. With items up for bids as diverse as a Prodrive-built Mondeo Supertouring car at 55000 to brand new kids overalls at 25, and just about every item related to motorsport in between, the site is living up to that statement. To buy or sell motorsport items, or simply to learn more about the UK's only motorsport auction site, visit www.motorsportauction.co.uk."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
17th July: Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a number of photographs from Wednesday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway, and some Windows wallpaper files from the same event. You can check out Sharkman's WRE Test Day pictures at www.topendtales.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Starting the Reaction.
16th July: This weekend's Mini Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway finally sees the long-awaited arrival of the UK Wild Bunch Team DASH Racing's Chemical Reaction slingshot, writes Sarah Howells.

"The car was formerly known as Ramraider (for very good reasons!) and driven by the four members of the Dogs B******s team - one of whom is myself", says Sarah. "We sold the car to my husband Darryl, who will be taking the honours of the first outing down the track this weekend.

"It's been a long hard slog over the past few months, but the car is finally ready despite a couple of minor hiccups! We've had plenty of support, encouragement and help from our Wild Bunch buddies: a special mention should go to Crazy Chris Hartnell and Claire Meaddows who have been a tower of strength and a supply of coffee and inspiring shouts of 'Fair Play, Fair Shout, Fair Cushtie'! Without their support we would really have struggled as about a month into the project we realised that we clearly didn't know what we'd taken on! We're fast learners though and there was no way it was going to beat us!
©Eurodragster.com
"We've had to let some good friends down this weekend as we had planned to go to Thorney Island for the Victory Wheelers event...but the urge to get the car on the track under the guidance of Crazy Chris is too strong! So it's to the Mini Showdown we go, but we wish all those going to Thorney a fantastic time, and we know the Dog Squad will miss us on the dodgems this year but we'll be back so don't get too used to having it all your own way, boys!"

London City Drags update II.
16th July: Terry Homan of Motorsport Promotions has kindly given us some more information about next Saturday's (24th July) bike-only drag race at London City Airport, this time the details for spectators.

"Admission is 5.00 for adults 1.00 for kids up to 16", says Terry. "We hope to open the gates at 12.30 pm but we are in the lap of the gods with the flights so might be a little later. If we're on schedule then racing will start at 1:00 pm and run through to 7:00 pm with a break at 4:00 pm.

"There will be two demo sessions of the Top Fuel Bikes, the Mailkey dragster and Bernie Hepworth's Supertwin Harley. These should be at 3:00 pm and 5.30 pm.
©Eurodragster.com
"All car and bike parking is free, and there are no parking restrictions as the area is private property. The nearest railway stations are Prince Regent on the Docklands Light Railway and Silvertown/London City Airport on the Richmond-North Woolwich line. Spectator access is via the far end of the terminal building next to the dock."

Courtesy of Steve Woollatt comes the information that Rod Pallant will have his newly-restored LA Hooker on display at LCA, and we understand that John Hobbs will also be in attendance.

London City Airport is on the A112 in the Royal Docks to the east of London. You can find a map of London City Airport's location by clicking here.

Swift snippets.
16th July: UK Supertwin racer Bernie Hepworth tells us that he has decided his schedule for the rest of this season. Bernie will be making demonstration passes at next Saturday's drag race at London City Airport, and at the Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway in August. After that the bike will be going to Malta for the September, October and December events at Hal Far Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
Bug Jam entry list, gates.
15th July: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Paula Marshall for sending us the official entry list for next week's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway. The VWDRC entry is massive with no less than forty three in VW Sportsman, thirty two in VW Pro, and eleven in VW Alternate Engine. Eight Super Mods make the trip for their Championship round and Tony Baker (Jet FC) and Gordon Appleton (Pro Mod) provide the exhibition action. You can check out the official Bug Jam entry list by clicking here.
©Eurodragster.com
Paula also tells us that Santa Pod's gates will be open between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm on Thursday, 22nd July. "The main gates will be closing at 10:00 pm on Thursday", says Paula, "then they will re-open at 9:00 am on Friday, 23rd July."

London City Drags update.
15th July: Terry Homan of Motorsports Promotions tells us that entry for next Saturday's (24th July) bike drag race at London City Airport has been closed. "I have had to turn away a good number of riders who all thought that they could enter at the last minute as usual!", says Terry. "But it's full, so no complaints there. We hope to kick off runs at 1:00 pm but we are in the lap of the gods when it comes to the flights, if they are delayed then so are we!
©Eurodragster.com
"We have 150 runners ranging from 50cc two-strokes, 1950s and 1960s classics, Super Street nitrous and turbos, with Top Fuel Bike demos from Steve Woollatt and Steve Carey and Paul Harvey in the the Mailkey Dragster. There are also trade stands for both new and second-hand goods."

For more information check out Motorsports Promotions' web site at www.motorsportspromotions.co.uk.

Manor Racing update.
15th July: UK 9.90 Bike racer David Warren has been in touch to bring us up-to-date with events at Manor Racing.

The first round of qualifying for the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway got us the number one spot with a 9.961, which was a great run out of the trailer. After we had the commotions of have you seen a doctor, drinking tea and walking around we got the call to run again. We had to run the eighth-mile due to the wind which was plaguing the shutdown area, on this qualifying attempt I managed to get a 6.5 after missing a shift and not getting the world's best start. At the end of the day I was in third position. Sunday came round and I had Richard Hann, a 10.103 was good enough to beat Richard who was having problems with his clutch slipping. In the next round I had Martin Walker and was told by Team Hyena that If you lose you will have the piss taken out of you big time, and if you win you will get beaten up in their normal nice and joking way, so the pressure was right on. I got the holeshot on the lights and managed to keep the lead with a 9.966 to martins 9.871. In the next round I had Richard Sawatzki and with similar reaction times the race was on. Today was not my day with Richard taking the win as I broke out. Richard went on to take the event win, well done to him. I would like to thank my team sponsors as without you guys it would not be possible to run: Straightline Racing, Q8 Oils, SFB 965 engineering (thank you very much for taking the bike and all your help the weekend), Comupay and Dream Glass. I would also like to thank Kev Charman and team and Chris Hall for all the help they gave us whilst we were having trouble with the starter clutch.

Manor Racing went onto the next stop of the tour, the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway, with high hopes of good weather and even better racing. Unfortunately the weather was not so kind to us and with the track crew working very hard to get racing under way between the intermittent showers, we waited to get a run in on Saturday after half of our class had ran. We waited and waited until we finally got a run in, to be met by the stickiest track that I had ever encountered, and being second out we got the full force of it. When I went to launch the bike the revs dropped and the bike didn't seem to go anywhere, the time was a miserable 10.3 which left us in tenth spot. When Darren Prentice said that there was going to be another qualifying run on Sunday I can't tell you how happy I was. The qualifying run was a lot better which netted me a 9.96, and third position.

In the first round of eliminations I was up against Ilse Lambert, Ilse and I normally have really good races but today was not to be. Ilse had problems on the line and I cruised though for an easy win at 10.011. In the next round I had the ever-consistent Richard Sawatzki who is doing really well this year. We both launched with some level of bogging off the line but when I shifted in to second gear the bike really pulled hard all the way down the track. I thought I was on for a breakout and sat up at the same time as Richard who was just ahead of me, but how wrong was I to be when I picked up the timing ticket and saw a 10.3 - and yes, I was cursing myself all the way home.

On the Monday we got the motor out of the bike and up to Straightline Racing for a freshen up. This motor hasn't been touched since it was built in 1999 and has not given us any trouble which just shows what great engine builders Straightline Racing are. We are picking the motor up on Saturday ready for London City Airport meeting where we will bed-in the motor for the next round of the National Championship. Again I would like to thank my sponsors Straight Line Racing, Q8 oils, SFB 965 Engineering, Comupay and Dream Glass.
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
15th July: David Warren's report leads neatly into a reminder that the next round of the UK National 9.90 Bike and 10.90 Bike Championships is the On2Wheels event which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 21st August. On2Wheels is also a round of the Santa Pod Racers Club Super Street Bike Championship. Entry closes on Friday 30th July and the entry form can be downloaded from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
15th July: Gittli Koller has been in touch to let us know that the official web site of Germany's Peter Schöfer Racing Top Methanol Dragster team has been updated with a race report from the FHRA Nitro Nationals, as well as details of the team's appearance on N-TV. Check it out at www.p-s-r.com.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of fellow Top Methanol Dragster team American Car Imports Racing has been updated with a race report and photographs of the team's successful weekend at the FHRA Nitro Nationals. Something different for this report, though, as 'Team Mum' Linda Wilson recounts the long trip from the UK to Alastaro before team member Phil James takes over with an account of the race. The reports make highly entertaining reading and are well worth a look at www.americancarimportsracing.com.

Holland's Confederates MC Dragracing web site at home.planet.nl/~harlan94 has been updated with two video clips from last weekend's MPM Internationals at Drachten. The clips show a burnout and launch (0.93 sixty foot) by Lex Joon in the MPM Oil Top Fuel Dragster (Lex's trailer in its new colours, right, courtesy Gerda Dijkstra), and an unfortunate incident involving Supertwin racer Willem Been's motor.

Lee Kirk of the UK's Rat Fink Super Modified team tells us that after problems with their internet company he has now taken over the running of the team's web site, and that it has now been updated. "Race reports and updates should be a lot more regular", says Lee. You can find the Rat Fink web site at www.kirkmotorsport.com.

Page switches roles.
14th July: Midnight Sun Internationals Top Fuel winner Gary Page is ready to revert to his role of Crew Chief for Jöran Persåker after a successful weekend at Piteå. "I am already looking forward to the Veidec Nitro Festival although I really need to get over last weekend first", he says. "I had forgotten how much Top Fuel hurts your shoulders!"

Gary says that he had a good weekend despite missing his target of a four-second run for the Piteå fans. "We were trying our best for a four", he says. "The first run had all the right ingredients. Then we tried to calm it down but it went away. But I was very pleased with the win, and I know I said that the hat I got was silly but seriously I will always treasure it and it is already sitting on top of last year's trophy from Piteå."
©Eurodragster.com
Gary is full of praise for fellow finallist Chris Andrews, who ran Low ET and high speed of the weekend and was all set to make a close thing of the final before he lost forward gear after the burnout. "I would like to congratulate Chris", says Gary. "He did real good. He was a bit nervous beforehand but I told him that anyone who says they're not nervous about driving one of these cars is a bloody liar!".

Gary is similarly impressed with his crew. "Everyone worked really hard", he says. "Some of them were working until five o'clock in the morning. I said last week that I had the best crew there is - I told you so!".

The weekend at Piteå was useful for the Carbon By Design TF team as they were able to try set-up changes which the pressure of the FIA events wouldn't allow. "It was all useful information for Alan Jackson (CBD tuner - Ed)", says Gary. "We've got some more good data which we can use on Jöran's car at Mantorp."

Tramm keeps on winning.
14th July: UK Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine racer Spencer Tramm had another successful weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Spencer's nine-second Quantum Leap VW Corrado was a popular attraction on the Corrado Club of Great Britain stand, but he also had a good time on the track.

"This was the first time that my car and Ken Lark's Corrado circuit car had appeared together at a show (right), and it produced quite a crowd", says Spencer. "We ran the car just before lunch and it got a little loose when shifting from first to second gear making me lift, pull the car straight and boot it again netting a 9.7/137. We showed the car until we were presented with the class H trophy for Modified VAG cars (excluding Golfs), we then ran again and, short-shifting into second, ran a 9.35/143mph.
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like to say a big Thanks to Brian Burrows and Brett Hawksbee of NAS Events for organising us to run, John Munyard and the rest of the CCGB, Matt Attwood, Steve Rosier, Ken Blomer and James Lake from the VWDRC, and my crew Martin Curbishley and my Mum and Dad. The next event for the Big Boys Toys/Quantum Leap car is the Bug Jam at Santa Pod in a couple of weeks' time."

Ready to light up Hal Far.
14th July: The Malta Drag Racing Association will next week be organising its fourth event of the year, a three-day race starting next Thursday (22nd July). "This event will be the second of our three Night Events", says MDRA President Anthony Borda. "Newly-bought artificial lighting will be used again to light up the entire three quarter-mile length of Hal-Far Raceway as if it were day time. These Night Events are very spectacular to watch and very popular with spectators.

"Something different this time is that will have some Greek competitors who have decided to come to Malta and race against us. The Greek competitors seem to have some powerful cars, especially Filippos Papafilippou, who owns a Pontiac Firebird souped up with a 507 big block engine. It will be very interesting to see the Maltese battling it out with the Greeks on home soil. There will be some great racing going on during this event.
©Eurodragster.com
"Since we joined the European Union it is much easier for anyone to come over to Malta. No more customs hassle! That might be why the Greeks decided to come over here, or maybe they know that we now have one of the best tracks in Europe. As well as all of this, we expect to see some dragsters taking part at the coming event, as well as thse nice Classified Altered Cars, the mighty Diesel Trucks and lots of motorbikes.

"We are expecting that National Records will be broken again during this event. We must mention that the 7.8-second Modified Escort (right), powered by a Cosworth Engine with Nitrous, is expected to do even better this time. Chris Polidano, the driver, told me that he wants to be the fastest four-cylinder car in Europe. He is aiming for a 7.4 second run during this coming event. We'll have to wait and see what the outcome of this will be!

"The Association would like to thank all of our sponsors and all of the competitors competing next week, for their support of their beloved sport of drag racing. See you at the Track!"

Swift snippets.
14th July: Randy Bradford has been in touch on behalf of the five US Fuel Altered teams who attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed, to thank US Automotive for their help in getting the Altereds to the Fetival. "US Automotive were a great help, we owe them lots", says Randy. "We made lots of new friends, and thanks to Eurodragster for the coverage". You are very welcome, Randy.
©Eurodragster.com
Congratulations to Monique Pels and her partner Bert Kors on the birth of their daughter Indy, who arrived at 12:27 last Friday, 9th July. Indy is a sister to Nikita and of course a granddaughter to Ton and Marianne Pels. We are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in congratulating Monique and Bert and wishing Indy all the very best.

The European Pro Mod Association are holding a contest on their official web site. The prize is an NDRS T-Shirt and all you have to do is to guess what the bump spot will be in NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified at the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park in a couple of weeks' time. Twenty seven Pro Mods are entered, for a sixteen-car field. For more details and to enter the contest visit the EPMA web site at www.promod.nu.

Points, Entry Forms update.
14th July: The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with the standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series after the weekend's Midnight Sun Internationals at Piteå.
©Eurodragster.com
The Svensk Dragracing web site has also been updated with the entry forms for the NDRS Finals, which takes place at Mantorp Park on 27th-29th August. There is an entry form for NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified, and a form for all other NDRS classes.

The NDRS Finals Pro Mod entry form is also available on the European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu, and Mantorp Park's web site at www.mantorppark.com has both forms available for download.

Web site updates.
14th July: The official web site of the UK's Houndog Fuel Funny Car team has been updated with a report and pictures of the car's recent appearance at the Americana International Festival. Check it out at www.nhracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Dealer on a diet.
13th July: 2003 ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt's next outing, at London City Airport on Saturday 24th July, will be with a lighter bike as the six-second Dealer is currently on a weight-loss régime. Foremost amongst the weight-saving measures is a new titanium exhaust system.

"We've been shaving weight off the bike and the exhaust was an obvious candidate", said Steve. "We have been talking about a new exhaust system for some time, and now we have to do it because we want to go to a bigger bore". Steve acquired some titanium tubing from Titanium International Limited, who are already well-known to European racers and fans as sponsor of Dave Holland's Funny Bike and also for their support of other racers. "Nigel Hoskison of Titanium International gave me a very reasonable price on the tubing", said Steve, "and TIL were very helpful in suggesting a company to bend the tubing as it requires some very trick machinery."

TIL suggested Thame-based Primary Designs and the Dealer is currently at the company's premises having the new exhaust system fitted. Primary Designs' Managing Director Pat Barrett gave us some background on the company. "We are a small company, there are ten of us", said Pat. "We primarily manufacture exhaust systems but we also work on items such as intercoolers and suspension wishbones. We have been in business for six years although I have been involved in motorsport for over twenty five years. We do work for Formula One, Formula Three, and World Rally Championship, and also suspension for race quads. We are interested in any form of motorsport; this is the first drag racing work we have done, I have never been drag racing but I find it interesting and Steve's bike is certainly impressive."
©Eurodragster.com
"Pat helped us out at the last minute and I'm very grateful to him for that", said Steve. "Primary Designs have a very clued-up workforce and it's a very impressive facility. They are copying our existing exhaust design, bending the tubing and manufacturing the fittings and then attaching it to the bike. This new exhaust should give us a performance advantage and it will make a much bigger din!"

Other changes to the Dealer include a new, lighter Performance Machine front wheel which Steve hopes to have on the bike in time for the London City Airport event, and alterations to the transmission ratios and overall gearing. "We are still developing our new clutch management system and clutch and they are holding up very well", said Steve. "I have also got some new experimental spark plugs from my sponsor NGK."

If you are interested in titanium tubing for exhausts or any other titanium application then visit Titanium International's web site at www.titanium-international.com or call them on 0121 789 8030, and if you need titanium tubing bending then you can find Primary Designs' web site at www.primarydesigns.co.uk or call Pat Barrett or Paul Bayliss to discuss your requirements on 01844 216057.

Getting it straight on Thorney.
13th July: Shakespeare County Raceway starter Tony Byng has been in touch to let us know that this weekend's (16th-19th) Victory Wheelers Show at Thorney Island is definitely on.

"I would like to quote from their web site", says Tony. "This year's show is definitely on despite any rumours you may have heard! There has been a slight hold-up in sending out pre-entry acknowledgements due to overwhelming demand and a computer glitch."
©Eurodragster.com
"The two-lane drag strip timing will be in the capable hands of Trevor Duckworth and his Straightliners team, and I have been invited again as guest starter", adds Tony. "Along with a massive display of hot rods, a good weather forecast and lots to see and do, I'm hoping for the best meeting yet!"

We had not heard any rumours about the Victory Wheelers Show but we are very pleased to give Tony the opportunity to straighten things out, and we hope that the Victory Wheelers' Show is the massive success which they deserve.

A welcome début.
13th July: UK Wild Bunch racer Andrew Gibbs has been in touch to let us know about the first outing of his newly-acquired altered. Andy is now the proud owner of the '38 Opel seen earlier this season in the hands of Dave Draper, and he made his first passes in the car at the weekend's MPM Internationals at Drachten where he and his team had a great reception.

"First off I would like to thank Lex Joon, Gerda Dijkstra and all the crew from the Explosion drag race club for the warm welcome we received", says Andrew. "We have recently purchased the 1938 Opel from the Draper brothers' race car emporium to race alongside our Witchcraft slingshot. We were unable to make the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway but wanted to test the Opel and get a handle on the car's performance, so a last minute decision was made to go to Holland. After a few phone calls to Lex and Gerda and Eurotunnel we were off to Drachten! We travelled through France,Belgium and into Holland, maybe not the quickest route but certainly more cost-effective! A long drive of four hundred miles but boy it was worth it.
©Eurodragster.com
"Although not officially entered to race we were welcomed with open arms. Somebody came over and thanked us for bringing the Opel to Holland and then said how good it was to see a traditional altered, just like those he had seen at Santa Pod in the late seventies.

"Our first run was at 2:00 pm but we then went on to make three further runs that day! The track was extremely well-prepped and everybody on the start line worked so well together. If anybody in the UK has toyed with the idea of visiting Dratchen then do it! Sandie, Kirsty, Annalieze, Thaliah and myself are glad we did. We plan to go back again next year and hopefully get other British racers to come along too. Nearer the time we will start negotiations to get a package together for racers and spectators to enable an affordable and more direct means of travel.

"It just leaves me now to thank Lex, Gerda, MPM and of course everyone at Explosion for their tireless efforts. You are each a star, many many thanks."

Drag racing on display.
13th July: If you were tuned in last Tuesday you will recall that Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings mentioned that they would be taking their Fuel Altered to the Airbus Families Open Day at the weekend. UK Wild Bunch racer 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell, who works at Filton and who organised the drag racing display at the Open Day, wrote to tell us about a very successful day last Saturday.

"Just in case Wendy and Paul got the 'sunny Bristol' part wrong (they did!), I had arranged to have all eight vehicles prominently on display inside a hangar", says Chris. "We got there early and arranged all the cars and bikes in rows, complete with information signs, and everyone set about polishing and making everything shine! During the day there must have been a few thousand people wandering round the hangar, and it was great to talk to them and explain what drag racing was all about! We handed out loads of flyers and answered lots of questions, and there was a great deal of interest, especially from those who had never seen drag racing before. We all had a great time!
©Eurodragster.com
"I would just like to say a huge thanks to all of those who took the time and effort to bring their vehicles to the show. In no particular order: Paul and Wendy with their great-looking AA/FA, Ian Caseley with his amazing Roadzombie II Jet Dragster (a jet in a hangar, like it - Ed), Bob Lees with his Mustang Grandee (sounded great in the hangar when he fired up at the end of the day to load it!), Darryl and Sarah Howells with the long-awaited début of their beautifully-painted Chemical Reaction slingshot (Fair play! Fair shout!), my son Lee Hartnell with his smart-looking Dazed & Confused altered, Claire for talking to anyone and everyone about our beloved Backdraft slingshot, Steve and Wendy Clutterbuck with the awesome Supertwin Fuel Harley, Tim Blakemore with his Kawasaki Funny bike (soon to run in the sixes we hope!), and last but not least, there was the bonus of having the mock-up of Tyler's Junior Drag Bike between the other two bikes! They all looked great together and it was nice to have a good variety of different types of drag vehicles to represent the sport!

"The feedback and comments I had from people at work on Monday were all very positive. They all said what a fantastic display of drag racing machinery it was, that all the vehicles looked great, and that we did ourselves proud, which was nice to hear! Thanks again to everyone, as we really did drag racing proud!"

Swift snippets.
13th July: This Saturday (17th July) UK Volkswagen racers Conor LaGrue and Simon Holland are holding an opening party at Race Shack, their motorsports performance company based in Tewkesbury which offers the first Mustang Dynamometer test equipment in Europe, a fully-equipped CNC workshop and clean room Performance VW air-cooled engine assembly facility in association with HSL Racing, chill-out Dyno viewing area and coffee bar. The opening party will include special offers in the HSL Racing Shop and on the Dynamometer together with demonstration runs from celebrity vehicles. For more information call Conor on 07786 336327.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
13th July: The official web site of the UK's Shakespeare County Raceway has been given a makeover by APIRA race official Ozzy Ewing. The SCR web site features a calendar, map of the track's location, a history of SCR, contact details and more, and can be found at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.
©Eurodragster.com
A big thank you to Matze for getting in touch to let us know that the official web site of Germany's Kath Brothers Pro Mod and Comp Eliminator team has been updated with pictures from Vandel and Drachten. Check it out at www.kathbros.de.

Won the race? Have a cuppa.
12th July: Gary Page was "Celebrating with a cup of tea" last night after taking his second Top Fuel Tour victory in two years at the Midnight Sun Internationals at Piteå. It was an all-UK, all-Carbon By Design team final which Gary took on a bye after Chris Andrews could not get out of reverse after his burnout.

"It was the usual type of weekend, we were running around like loonies!", said Gary who has this season been working as Jöran Persåker's Crew Chief and who was driving Jöran's Persåker's Speed Shop car this weekend. "But we got there in the end and I've got another silly hat to add to last year's! On my first qualifier we rattled the tyres and so I got off the throttle early for a 5.70, it would have been a 4.9. We made some changes to the tune-up and it went the other way, I ran an 11.48 in the first round against Monica Öberg. In the final I clicked it off early to a 5.66 as I was on my own."

Chris Andrews was delighted with his first drive in a Top Fuel Dragster since making licencing passes in October 2002. Chris qualified #1 with a 5.084/467 kmh in the Promise Top Fueller usually driven by Smax Smith, and clocked a 5.152/456 in the first round against Tommy Möller. "It was a good weekend", Chris told Eurodragster. "Nothing really serious happened". By all accounts Chris did a great driving job in the first round of eliminations when he had no brakes on the start line and staged by balancing the clutch. "That's right, I eased myself in with the clutch pedal", he said. "But then I put the chutes out a bit early. The problem in the final was no-one's fault, we'd had to change an engine beforehand because the crank was blackened in the first round."
©Eurodragster.com
We asked Chris how his drive came about, as he has spent this season crewing for Jöran Persåker. "Knut mentioned this race at the Main Event", he said. "I said "I'll do it if you can't find anyone!". We got near to the race and Knut needed a driver so he asked me". So will Chris be appearing behind the wheel regularly? "I will be crewing for Jöran for the rest of the season", he said. "I've got no more drives lined up, I've got no sponsors but you never know what's going to happen. But I think it was good that there was another young European driver out there this weekend."

Knut Söderquist, who owns both of the Top Fuellers which appeared in the final, was full of praise for Chris Andrews. "If Chris had the money for a drive then I would say that he would be the best Top Fuel driver in Europe", he said. "He did a superb job on that run when he had no brakes and had to stage on the clutch. We had to change Chris' motor before the final because in the first round he hit the right hand lane bump and the engine over-revved - that wasn't his fault. In the final we couldn't get oil pressure and so the clutch couldn't bed properly. That's one of those things. Gary also did an excellent job, on his first qualifier his incrementals were the same as Micke Kågered's 4.93/305 at Piteå in 2002 until the tyres smoked. I am very pleased for him and we are all very happy about our weekend."

"I was lost for words when Knut praised my driving", said Chris. "I am not usually at a loss for words but I was this afternoon!"

"I would like to thank everyone who helped us at the weekend", added Knut. "I would like to thank Alan Jackson and the crew who all worked very hard on the two cars as we were short-handed this weekend, Ian Marshall for the helpful advice, and Dave Bryant and Nicky of the Shockwave team who handled two Top Fuel clutches with distinction this weekend - they worked so hard that they only managed to get through half a carton of cigarettes in three days". Mark Turner, who usually works on clutches for the Carbon By Design team, asked us to pass on his apologies to the team for not being able to make Piteå this weekend. "It looks as if I won't be needed any more, anyway!", said Sparky.

Monica Öberg took the third-fourth place run-off from Tommy Möller with a 5.379/387 to Tommy's 7.729/164. You can find full qualifying and elimination details from the Midnight Sun Internationals on the SHRA Luleå web site at www.shra-lulea.bd.se and a report on the Top Fuel action on the Top Nitro web site at www.topnitro.co.uk.

Web site updates.
12th July: Crew Chief Ulf Stadig has updated the official web site of Sweden's Nilsson Motorsports Pro Mod team with a report and pictures from last week's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, whose NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified eliminations were curtailed by rain. You can find out how Håkan Nilsson got on whilst the track was dry at Alastaro at www.nilssonmotorsports.com. Rapport på Svenska hos www.veidecracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Event updates.
11th July: This weekend's Midnight Sun Internationals at Pite Dragway is the thirtieth anniversary event of SHRA Luleå. The legendary race features the 2004 Swedish Top Fuel Tour and is a round of the 2004 Nordic Drag Racing Series and Swedish Dragracing Championship. You can find out the latest from Piteå on the SHRA Luleå web site at www.shra-lulea.bd.se. We are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in wishing SHRA Luleå our very best for their 30th Anniversary.
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
11th July: Ben Rushforth has been in touch to ask if any Eurodragster readers have any pictures of the Fatal Attraction Pop (right) which was campaigned by Mark and Allen Flavell, and which Ben now owns. "The car is now to be run in Pro ET", says Ben. "I would love to see some pics of the car's evoltion from Pop Dragin' in the 1970s until it was garaged in 1994". If you have any pictures of the Pop in either incarnation then please drop Ben a line at hot_wheels_king@yahoo.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Further to our news item of 2nd July we understand that Custom Car Street Eliminator racer John Sleath will now be débuting his new Audi race car at the Bug Jam in a couple of weeks' time. John will be running in VW Alternate Engine, for which Audi-bodied cars are eligible.

UK National Championship Co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm has been in touch to ask us to wish a very Happy Birthday to her daughter Kirstie Tramm who is 25 today. "Love and best wishes from the family and crew", says Yvonne. Tog and Sharkman add their own best wishes, have a great day Kirstie!

Web site updates.
11th July: 2003 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Champion Roel Koedam has launched a web site at www.koedamracing.nl. Roel's web site features news, race reports, race calendar, an introduction to the team, history, photo gallery and more and is well worth a look in.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good friend 'Big Stan' Mellström has updated his personal web site with pictures from last weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. You can find Stan's web site at www.bigstan.se.

Graham 'Gadget' Motler has launched a web site featuring his very interesting special-effect pictures. "I hope it will be an enjoyable change from conventional photos", he says. Graham says that he will be updating his Gadget's Glossies web site on a regular basis; you can see the first set of pictures at gadgetsglossies04.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk.

Motler out to impress.
10th July: The UK's Spellbound Pro ET team are on the road again this weekend and next to promote the sport. Malcolm Motler brought the house down when he pulled a burnout in his Morris Minor pick-up on a tennis court at a school fete last year; this weekend the Spellbound team are out to impress real Minors.
©Eurodragster.com
"Tomorrow (Sunday) we are taking Spellbound to the Morris Minor Owners Club's Dorset Branch Rally", says Marcie Motler. "This is the first time we have taken it to a Morris Minor Owners Club show...hmm, wonder what the die-hards will make of it? Hopefully we will be able to start it up and scare the life out of them! We have been promising my Dad for a few years now that we would take the race car, as this is his local branch of the Club and he will be taking his Morris 1000 Traveller which Malk has restored over the years (and is how I met Malk). The venue is Avon Heath Country Park, just off the A31 near Ringwood. Gates open at 8:30 am.

"Next weekend we are taking Spellbound to the Victory Wheelers Rod and Custom Show at Thorney Island for another chilled out weekend. This is a great weekend for all the family with lots to see and do for all ages, including side-by-side drag racing."

Marcie has promised to let us know how both events go.

Event updates.
10th July: The official entry list for the Veidec Nitro Festival, which takes place at Sweden's Mantorp Park on 29th July-1st Augst, is now available in PDF format on the Festival's official web site at www.nitrofestival.com and in ordinary web format on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se. As well as very healthy entries in FIA and FIM/UEM classes, the Festival also features what must either the largest-ever, or close to the largest-ever, field of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified at twenty seven, and what must be amongst the biggest-ever fields of Twinlab Super Gas and Junior Dragster. Stay tuned to the Svensk Dragracing web site, the Veidec Nitro Festival web site, and Eurodragster for news in the run-up to the event.
©Eurodragster.com
The Summernats for anoraks.
10th July: We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us the 'anorak stats' from the recent SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Track clear and Tower ready: 509
Pairs: 445
Single runs: 64 (including 29 byes)
Total vehicles entered in Timing System: 954
Made it to the finish line: 900 (including 55 Junior Dragsters)
Made it to quarter mile: 845

Average ET (not including JDs): 11.111
Average MPH (not including JDs): 126.34
Low ET: 6.170, Martin Hill
Racer Low ET: 6.582, Trev Capewell
Highest MPH: 239.33, Martin Hill
Racer highest MPH: 202.83, Andy Robinson

Closest elimination: Super Gas Round 1, Mark O'Halloran v Steve Wells (Win) 0.001 seconds/0.379 feet/4.55 inches
Closest to dial-in: Richard Hillier (Sportsman ET) +0.000, 13.150
Best Reaction Time: Milly Bond (Junior Dragster) 0.000
©Eurodragster.com
Total run time (all cars that reached finish line including JDs): 2 hours 47 minutes 46.724 seconds

ClassAverage ETAverage MPH
Top Methanol7.440144.82
Super Modified8.078163.22
Super Pro ET8.378156.56
Pro ET10.934121.22
Sportsman ET14.82891.74
Super Comp9.180144.95
Super Gas10.017134.30
Super Street11.038102.64
Junior Dragster12.43752.337
Custom Car Street Eliminator10.271147.01
VW Pro12.930105.44
VW Sportsman17.05176.81
VW Alternate Engine14.63593.88
Wild Bunch11.868115.43
Pro Stock Bike8.646150.44
Funny Bike9.949126.28
Super Street Bike9.177161.76
Comp Bike9.961130.67
9.90 Bike10.345129.41
10.90 Bike11.242116.44
Supertwin Fuel9.258128.74
Supertwin Gas11.313120.10
Supertwin Modified11.226122.92
Supertwin Street11.488120.72

Andy would be pleased to receive feedback on his Anorak Stats, if you have any comments then please drop him a line at andy@tsitimers.co.uk.

ACI Racing keep 100% record.
9th July: The UK's American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster team are pleased with their 100% points tally in this year's FIA European Championship, says Team Principal Anthony Cohen. 2003 FIA European Champion Dave Wilson has been #1 qualifier, event winner and has set Low ET at both of this season's FIA rounds so far, most recently at Alastaro last weekend when he took a bye after Peter Schöfer shut off with an oil leak.

"Obviously we don't like to win when other teams have bad luck" says Anthony, who sponsors Eurodragster's Home and News pages and Event Coverage through American Car Imports. "But we are pleased to have maxiumum points from the first two races as it gives us a solid basis to defend our Championship. Dave and the team made a stirling effort in the pits to make the car run as it did in difficult conditions all weekend, we couldn't unleash all our horsepower but we dialled ourselves into the track better than anyone else. We even recorded a very high half-track speed of 205 mph against Arto Höylä during eliminations, the blower belt broke shortly afterwards but Dave had the momentum to get there first. In the final Dave clicked off at half track, where it was starting to get loose, because we didn't have to race."

Anthony said that he has been impressed with the team's performance since Crew Chief Andy Bissett left to pursue a career in the USA. "We have a new, meticulous turn-round procedure", he says. "Phil, Harry, Ricky, David and Linda have really risen to the challenge of Andy's loss under Dave's guidance. They are a superb crew and I am very proud of them."
©Eurodragster.com
The ACI Racing team are not taking anything for granted, says Anthony. "We are very sorry that Peter Schöfer had trouble in the final at Alastaro", he says. "Peter and his team are tough, professional competition and we always look forward to meeting them. Krister Johansson has a new fuel system and a new set-up and his past record proves what a great competitor he is. Arto Höylä has a new PSI blower, he is very determined and he and his team know what they're doing. And the Turners will be back at Mantorp Park and everyone is well aware of their capabilities."

The team had a very special guest in Finland in the person of Ray McGuire, Senior Vice President of sponsor Playstation Europe. "Ray McGuire used to crew with Dave and Rod George twenty years ago", says Anthony. "Ray spent two days with us and we were very pleased to have him there. We also had Rhonda, our resident sports psychiatrist, with us. She is still working on her PhD on the psychology of drag racing. She has another four and a half years left to figure out that we're all mad! Harry's partner Susie was also with us at the weekend, she was a lot of help and a good laugh. We would also like to thank Matti and the rest of the FHRA officials for looking after us all weekend. Oh, and the food in the Paddock restaurant was as good as ever!"

Whilst we were talking to Anthony about Alastaro he revealed that American Car Imports recently finalised a deal with Power Racing Promotions to sponsor this season's TV coverage of Top Fuel Dragster, Top Methanol Dragster and FC, and Pro Stock. "This is our seceond year sponsoring the TV coverage", says Anthony. "We have been working closely with the staff of Sunspot Productions and are very pleased to give our brand and European Drag Racing more exposure."

A full race report will shortly be available on the American Car Imports Racing web site.

Time Machine paused.
9th July: Martin Gleadow of the UK's Time Machine Racing has been in touch to let us know that the team will be sitting out 2004.

"You may have noticed that Time Machine Racing have not been very active recently, with our last public appearance being at the Xtreme Wheels 2004 show and our last race meeting being the 2003 Halloween Showdown", says Martin. "After spending last season learning and possibly attempting to go too far too fast, we decided to sit back and examine our plans for the future. We decided that 2004 would be a slower year for us, and we would spend the beginning of the year rebuilding the car, ready to take to the track properly.

"As some of you may have heard, we had plans to acquire a new body for the car, and I am pleased to say that it is coming along nicely, currently sitting in Crew Chief Darren Galloway's back garden (image available here). However, due to some family matters and a career change for team owner Bob Gleadow, we have decided to sit the year out before coming back ready to race in 2005. Rest assured we have not been sitting back and twiddling our thumbs though, we have been spending the time stripping the car down and going through it thoroughly to ensure that when we do return to the track we are ready to race. We have also found the time to kit ourselves out with a purpose built transporter featuring luxury accomodation and kitchen (always important!), and are currently working on our new body to get it just the way we want it.

Although we are huge fans of Supercharged engines, we have decided that we simply do not have the time necessary to maintain one between rounds and so have decided to put our supercharged Small Block Chevrolet up for sale (see advert on our website or in Eurodragster's Swap Meet for details) and will be racing with an engine requiring less maintenance next season - if you have a normally-aspirated Big Block Chevy for sale then please get in touch via our web site.

We'd like to thank Les Downey of Lucas Oil Products (UK), Bob Glassup and Doug Ripley for their continuing help, and look forward to returning to the track next year."
©Eurodragster.com
Fast Fords sought.
9th July: Over its eighteen years, York Raceway's Annual Ford Shootout has been won by some pretty quick cars, writes PR Howard Holmes. "Competing cars need to be street-legal, but can run open headers, nitrous, slicks and whatever else they like on the day. And this year's date is Sunday 25th July. Gates open at 8:00 am, scrutineering at 9:00 am, and the track opens at 10:00 am.
©Eurodragster.com
"The competition is open to any Ford-bodied and/or Ford-motored car, if you are a contender running tens or quicker, please E-Mail york-raceway@thebeyond.co.uk.

Web site updates.
9th July: Christoph Lange has been in touch to remind us that Germany's excellent HARA Dragracing web site at www.hara-dragracing.de is being frequently updated with news, pictures and video of events in Germany and the Netherlands. "We have just updated the site with 210 pictures and two videos from last weekend's race at MZA-Luckau (near Berlin)", says Christoph. "Although the page is in German, just click on News and the button for an event and the pictures will be self-explanatory."
©Eurodragster.com
The Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc now has a complete set of entry forms for the FIA European Finals. All race entry forms are in Word format, and the post-race Banquet form is in PDF format. The closing date for Pro-class entries is 12th August, and the closing date for Sportsman entries is 19th August.

Comfortable Andersson hails team.
8th July: FHRA Nitro Nationals Top Methanol Funny Car winner Niclas Andersson says that he is feeling comfortable in the Sandflex TMFC which he drives for Micke Kågered Racing. Former multiple FIA Pro Stock Champion Micke took his first TMFC career win at Alastaro after qualifying #1 with a personal best 5.830, and he says that his team should take their share of the credit.

"Driving the Funny Car has felt awfully good all along this year", says Niclas. "Last year I was still learning, and had to think about all the details of my driving. This season it comes naturally - I shift at the right rpm, I know the sounds of the engine better, and I feel comfortable overall in the cockpit."

At Alastaro Niclas' Crew Chief Emil wanted to give Niclas a set-up which he could drive all the way through without shake or wheelspin, and Niclas says that Emil achieved his aim. "The track in Finland has been known to be a bit tricky, so the impressive thing is that Emil managed to do just what he set out to", says Niclas. "Micke had a say in it too, and the set-up they chose worked out more than fine."
©Eurodragster.com
The victory didn't come without its problems, but a mammoth effort by the team ensured that Niclas came through. "We damaged the crankshaft in the quarter final", says Niclas. "We fixed it temporarily for the semi-final, but we then had to change the engine for the final. Both our Top Methanol and Top Fuel methanol mechanics worked really hard on the car, and even though the two engines we have are similar they are not identical and it can make a difference in performance. I am very impressed with the work they put in, and they are just as much a part of this win as I am.

"Now I am just looking forward to going to Mantorp Park to prove we can continue to run well, that it was not just a stroke of luck that hit us in Finland."

Micke Kågered Racing have announced the winners of their first monthly contest in which fans can win prizes from the team's sponsors; congratulations to Kenneth Magnusson, Donna Robson and Maritha Hellqvist who have won products from Meguiar's. This month's contest is supported by Milwaukee Electric Tools and offers a first prize of a radio as well as some great runner-up prizes. Check it out at www.kagered-racing.com.

Happiness isn't always winning.
8th July: Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team owner Knut Söderquist is happy with the team's weekend at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. CBD fielded four cars which were all in the top five qualifying spots; Jöran Persåker qualified #1 and made it to the final round where he was runner-up to Andy Carter. "The cars are running well", said Knut, "I am very happy with them. It was not bad at Alastaro - it is possible to be pleased even if you don't win everything!"

Knut gave us a brief run-down on how his four drivers fared. "Jöran is doing very well. There is plenty to learn in Top Fuel and I am happy with his progress, although he went from sleeping on the line to redlighting in the final! We have been struggling a little with Micke Kågered's car. Every time we solved one problem something else arose. Alan Jackson has worked very hard and solved so much, and we think we're there now.
©Eurodragster.com
"On Lex Joon's car the blower was perfect for the track conditions on Friday but was too weak on Sunday, it really needed more boost as the track was taking much more power on Sunday. You have to make the choice whether to get down the track or to jump up on the tyres, and maybe we were too conservative. And Smax Smith is, as I have always said, a very good Top Fuel driver, we are teaching him to give the car a slap now and then."

Knut said that he is still investigating ways to cut the load on tuner Alan Jackson, who has four cars to oversee. "We are still working to get Bill Schultz over, but it takes dollars and he is not always available", said Knut. In Finland it rained all day on Saturday and Alan had plenty of time to give the cars equal time. But you have to remember, with four cars you're going to have two smiling faces and two sad faces!"

Half of the Carbon By Design team are now headed to Piteå where they will be contesting this weekend's Midnight Sun Internationals together with Monica Öberg and Tommy Möller. Gary Page will be driving the car campaigned so far this season by Jöran Persåker (see below) whilst the driver of Smax Smith's dragster has yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned for more.

Page ready for seat swap.
8th July: Gary Page, who this season is Crew Chief for Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Jöran Persåker, says that his crew excelled themselves at Alastaro.

"It's always a lot of work but we did one of the turn-rounds in an hour", he says. "They may well get forty five minutes in the 'States to do the same thing but you have to remember that they're all on fifty grand a year and they've got ten of everything. I have to say a big thank you to Chris, Dave, Nicky, Terry, Mark and Alan, to Erik's girlfriend for feeding us all weekend, to Knut, and of course to Jöran and Carina. Everyone says that they have the best crew in the world. They haven't - I have! Congratulations to Andy Carter on his win, but now that he's said we'll all have to fight him for the title he should know that we've got our boxing gloves ready for Mantorp Park!"
©Eurodragster.com
Gary is taking his first turn in the driving seat for a year at this weekend's Midnight Sun Internationals at Piteå, driving the car which Jöran has been campaigning so far in 2004. "The pedals are in the same place they always are so it shouldn't be a problem", says Gary. "Jöran's a bit worried about the car but I told him I wouldn't bend it!"

Gary tells us that we should see him back behind the wheel on a more permanent basis in 2005. "Mark and Jackie Hawkins will be getting a new Fuel Funny Car", he says. "They are already investigating chassis and we'll be getting down to it at the end of the year."

Smax does Alastaro.
8th July: Continuing the CBD team talk, the FHRA Nitro Nationals marked the first foray out of the UK for 2003 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Smax Smith's defence of his title, writes team member Tet.

"The car was almost ready for the first qualifying session, on Friday. However, the track officials promised us a second session, so rather than rush it, we decided to spend the extra time getting the car right, and run it in the second session. We lost a blower belt just before half track, though, which went under the rear wheels and caused the car to jump alarmingly to the side. But we made it to the line with a 6.331, which was enough to take fifth place in qualifying. On returning to the pits, the car looked fine, but only after the heads were back on did we spot that it had spun the centre main bearing, and so a long night followed, swapping out the block for a replacement.

"Saturday was sadly rained off completely, so there was no opportunity to improve on our qualifying position. That meant that our first round of eliminations would be against team-mate Micke Kågered. Micke had been struggling with problems on his car, which he believed he'd fixed by the time he was due to race, but hadn't had time to test.

"In the race, Smax got the better reaction, a stronger launch, and when Micke overpowered the track and spun his tyres, it left Smax clear to win with a fine 5.03/287, which was the fastest and quickest run of the weekend to date. Even better, the post-run inspection showed the engine to be intact.
©Eurodragster.com
"The first round of eliminations had been scheduled for 11:00. However, interruptions from the weather and a couple of oil downs had delayed the run until 14:00. That left a mere two hours to get the car turned around for the semi final against Jöran Persåker. Officials granted a couple of extensions to give the teams a bit more time to get ready, but there still wasn't time for a warmup before the run, so we just had to pray it was all set up correctly. As the car was fired up on the start line, though, the HT leads caught fire, and it looked like our weekend was over. However, with perfect timing, the heavens opened at that moment, and the officials told both cars to shut down. That gave us time for a quick sprint back to the pits to pick up a replacement lead and to refuel the car before the restart.

"Fortunately, the rain was only brief, and the semi final run was restarted shortly afterwards. Smax left Jöran standing on the line, with a huge 0.3s advantage in reaction times, and increased that lead as the car went down the track. But it wasn't to last, and just before half track, the wheels spun, the engine over-revved and threw a couple of rods through the side of the block, so we finished the race with a V6, a hole in the block and a ballistic jacket full of souvenirs! The lack of power allowed Jöran to overtake Smax and take the win, but the difference at the line was an agonisingly close 0.06s.

"A disappointing end to the weekend, then, but we can take some consolation in the fact that we were the second quickest and the second fastest car of the weekend behind Andy Carter, and we will aim to do better in Sweden."

Racers: Send your FHRA Nitro Nationals reviews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.

The hills are alive, again...
8th July: Drag racing is once again coming to the land of cheese and chocolate, which according to Steve Wilson of Switzerland's Krivan Drag Racing Top Methanol FC team "Just means that there is a lot of spare milk.

"The location is Turtmann, Southern Switzerland, on an ex-military airfield (now there's a thing) positioned in an Alpine valley so the sound really bounces off the mountains. This is a well-supported event with the standard of the cars being very high, as you would expect if the police do the MoT as they do in Switzerland, with some really excellent heads-up racing. The location means that people also come from France, Germany, Italy and Newcastle (that's me, but I live here!) for the event.
©Eurodragster.com
"The event, over the weekend 16th-18th July, includes burnout displays performed over the weekend by Krivan Drag Racing in our '56 Ford Crown Victoria-bodied funny car (right). The meeting is an official race and counts up to the Competition class for the German and French Championship, but is also a Run What You Brung for modified/street legal cars and a Show and Shine for US cars.

"For more information you can visit our web page at www.dragracing.ch for the link to the event, and you will also find videos of the last few years at Turtmann, taken by the team and the Swiss TV Channel TSR1 - yes, we were on telly!

"If anybody fancies a trip over for the weekend there is plenty of camping space on-site and local hotels in the area. The nearest airport is Geneva (Easyjet) then take the E4 motorway towards Lausanne, then the E2 towards Sion: Turtmann is between Sierre and Visp. If you do come, drop by and say hello and have a drink!"

Swift snippets.
8th July: UK VW Alternate Engine and Super Gas racer Spencer Tramm's Volkswagen Corrado race car will be on display at the GTI Festival at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. The Big Boys Toys-sponsored car will be found on the Corrado Club of Great Britain stand.
©Eurodragster.com
UK VW Pro racer Andrew Kelly has followed his story of 16th June with some photos of the work in progress to upgrade his Speedster (right) at class sponsor Jon Rathbone Race Cars. Andy took the picture at right as well as shots of the cockpit/roll bar, engine bay and ladder bars whilst getting measured up for the pedals and steering wheel. Andrew aims to return to the track at Bug Jam in a couple of weeks' time.

Web site updates.
8th July: First the CBD team, and now it's turning into a VW takeover on Eurodragster News today as the official web site of the UK's Volkswagen Drag Racing Club has been given a complete makeover. The VWDRC site, which you can find at www.vwdrc.com is nicely-designed and features news, results, a race calendar, guide to drag racing, photo gallery, contact details and much more.
©Eurodragster.com
Jon Best has been in touch again with an appeal for Supercharged Outlaws photographs for his fan site at www.nitrohemi.co.uk. ""If anyone has any digital photos of the Supercharged Outlaws and is feeling generous, can they please E-Mail them to me at nitrohemi69@hotmail.com", says Jon. "I was a bit busy at the weekend so the digicam stayed in its case. There were plenty of snappers around the pits (some who no doubt caught Rad and I fine-tuning the steering with a mallet). Any pictures will be fully accredited to the author once they're put on the site."

My terrible weekend.
7th July: 2003 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren says that he had a "terrible" weekend at Alastaro. Michael qualified second with a 6.992 before going out to Magnus Hansson on a holeshot in the first round of eliminations.

"The rain killed us", says Michael. "We tuned car for almost the same conditions as Friday, but it was much better then that. That also helped Magnus Hansson to make a good run as he couldn't get down track on Friday. To meet Magnus in the first round was kind of tough as he normally qualifies at the top. I made a mistake by staging very shallow for a better ET. I guess I was not focused enough, I lost four thousandths there. Then I over-revved the engine in low gear causing bad wheelspin in second gear - here I probably gave away one or two hundredths. Of course with a normal light I would still have fixed it."
©Eurodragster.com
Michael and his team are now hard at work preparing the AC Delco team's two motors for the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park. "We are just freshening one engine, but we broke a piston on the other and that damaged some valves, luckily only on one cylinder but it's still a lot of work", he says.

Jimmy Ålund has a forty-point lead in the FIA Championship but Michael has every intention of taking the lead. "Everything is going very well for Jimmy right now", says Michael, "he has his car figured out very well. The Bob Ingles power helps. But we will be back - don't worry, it ain't over yet!"

Web site updates.
7th July: Race vehicle builder, performance supplier and joint Eurodragster webcam sponsor Webster Race Engineering have launched a web site at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk. The web site is, unsurprisingly, very professionally-presented and features a run-down on the products and services which WRE offer, information about Nitrous, a price list, details about the WRE Test Days at Santa Pod, a Meet The Staff page, and a customer cars gallery.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the European Pro Mod Association at www.promod.nu has been updated with the latest points standings in the NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Series.

The joys of a new car.
6th July: If you were tuned in last Friday you will recall that Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings had changed their plans to campaign their police-themed Funny Car and had instead decided to campaign the car as a Bantam-bodied Fuel Altered. Paul has been in touch to let us know how he and Wendy got on with the car at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.

"As predicted the car arrived as a 'work in progress' and we spent all Friday evening and all day Saturday working from the front of the car backwards - seemed logical and it was the only plan we had - completing the jobs one by one", says Paul. "Saturday evening saw us with a fully built-motor and a clutch fitted, time to see which of the three input shafts we had was the right length. You guessed it - none of them! After looking for a spare dog to kick (and finding none) we hatched Plan B: remove clutch, fit clutch can and run the motor up. Sunday dawned, clutch removed, can fitted, valve lash set, timing timed, fuel tank fuelled with a 75% mix (Phil Cornish's conservative setting!), starter fitted and away we go.
©Eurodragster.com
"After a few turns, mag kill off and it's running on the alky bottle. It dies. Try again - fires again still 'on the bottle' but a small coughback and it dies again. On inspection the kick back has cracked the front blower cover, bent the idler plate on the belt tensioner and put the starter stand out of line. The joys of building a new car! Still the chassis tagged OK (surprising, considering I built it), the engine made noise, and we ain't downhearted. Time to phone Gary Burgin and break out the credit cards.

"The car is going to sunny Bristol on Saturday to stand in the sun at British Aerospace's Open Day (courtesy of Chris Hartnell) then it's time to tear down the motor, re-check, re-measure, fit new parts and give it another go. Next target dates are firstly the Bulldog Bash and secondly the Allstar Nationals, both at Shakespeare County Raceway when we hope we can line up against Ollie, Mickey and The Mob.

"If anyone has a coarse spline Lenco shaft or a front cover for a 14/71 - get in touch quick at paulmstubb@aol.com."

Goring suffers from wind.
6th July: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring felt short-changed by the elements after making three demonstration passes in Firestorm at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.

"We were really hampered by the wind", says Roger. "It caused the car to get a bit frisky so I was having to shut off. I am ever so pleased with the way that the car has been performing so far this year, it's really nice to drive - apart from when I rolled through stage on one run! - and I have been running PBs more or less every time I go out. So when we got home from this weekend we felt a bit short-changed because of the wind!"
©Eurodragster.com
Due to circumstances beyond Roger's control he was without crew at the weekend, but veteran jet pilot and longtime friend Colin Fallows stepped in to help. "Colin put off all sorts of things, including some important stuff, to help out at the weekend", says Roger. "Just as he has always done in the past Colin stepped into the breach. He walked in to our pit and it was like he'd never been away, he saved the weekend right at the last moment and I am etrenally grateful."

Roger's next outing is at the Jurby Sprint on the Isle of Man on 24th-25h July. "I'm really looking forward to going back to Jurby and then to the Allstar Nationals in August so we can cut loose again!", he says.

Koedam Racing race review.
6th July: Marius van der Zijden, Crew Chief for 2003 FIM/UEM European Top Fuel Bike Champion Roel Koedam, has forwarded his usual post-race report, this time of the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.

Finland...the land of thousand lakes (and occasionally lots of rain). Let me take you through an unusual weekend. First of all we were very fortunate that the transport of the bike and its equipment was taken care of in co-operation with the Zodiac company. Our supercharged four cylinder spent the journey in a trailer together with the nitro-injected Harley of Ton Pels. Despite the rumor that Japanese bikes don't like American bikes it seemed that they didn't do any harm to each other during the long trip as they were still cuddling when we opened up the trailer in Finland.

On Friday we made only one qualifying pass. By our own mistake we fouled one of the two plugs of the #1 cylinder causing it not to work very well during the run once the bike was under power. Therefore after 3.5 seconds Roel decided to abort the run. A poor 8.3/185 km/h was the result. Not many bikes made the long travel to Finland: only four fuel bikes and two funny bikes entered our class, in such a case the rules state that only a four-bike field would qualify for the eliminations. Because of this our 8.3-second pass put us on the provisional #3 spot.

The track looked in better condition than last year. However it started raining Friday night. Saturday wasn't good either as it continued raining all day. Not much more we could do than spending all day bench racing and drinking coffee or tea. By 16.30 it stopped raining and the crew started to work on the track in a attempt to bring it in race condition again, hoping the weather would hold on. Because of the midsummer in Finland it never gets dark during this time of the year and qualifying could go on all night, weather and curfew permitting. However just as at looked that they would finish the job, by 18.30 it started to rain again and that was it, so much for qualifying. We remained #3 qualifier with only one (half) pass.

Sunday was supposed to be the best day of the weekend according to the weather channel. Indeed it started dry and though the temperatures stayed around 16 C it improved a little during the day. Just before it was our turn to hit the first round of eliminations, racing activities stopped because of a big oil down (the first of many during the day) which held racing for over an hour, and away went the concentration at the same time. When Roel finally rolled to the staging beams after his burnout, he didn't have a clear view of the staging beams and accidentally pre-staged and staged at the same time. On top of this in the other lane our opponent, Italy's Antonio Ferretti, braked a little too late and rolled also directly into stage, therefore activating the Christmas Tree. In the meantime Roel thought he was still in pre-stage. When Roel realised the situation, at the very last moment, the lights on the tree already had turned to green and Antonio was gone.

Roel first switched on the datalogger and clutch management system and left 0.4 seconds later whilst shaking his head to close his helmet visor, which was also still open. It looked like a lost race for us, but we don't give up so easily and the chase down the track began. To make it even worse the engine somewhat misfired for the first part of the run. As we were very worried about the track conditions after a day and night of rain, we played it safe on the nitro percentage. Probably we were too cautious as it was obviously way too rich and it only started running properly after the 300-foot mark. How lucky can one be, as with a time difference of only 0.027 of a second we only just caught Antonio and took the win light. As mentioned before, it was only a four bike field so we moved directly into the final round.

For the final round we left the clutch setting alone and gave it a few percentage more nitro. That definitely made the engine feel happier and in its turn also would have its effect on the clutch. However things didn't come easy for both the finalists and the Finnish organisation as the rain came down again at the end of the day just before the final rounds. Towards 18.30 the track crew started its sweeping business again, hoping they could fix the job before the 20.00 curfew. Strangely enough the sun came finally out and looked here to stay. As one can imagine with the ever-changing weather conditions the track condition for the final rounds would be anybody's wild guess.

The curfew however was eight o'clock sharp. Why we don't know, as the race track is the middle of nowhere. Although they managed to get the track in good shape again, this could not be said for the entire shut-off area. Some critical spots remained very damp. In the opinion of the finalists in all Pro bike categories it was not safe enough to race. If only the Finnish organisation was allowed to continue the event for half an hour longer A winner was not decided in any of the bike classes. Needless to say, bright yellow sunshine stayed for the rest of the day till late that night. Despite all the misery, we stayed on top of the points table for the European Championship.

FIM/UEM race review.
6th July: FIM/UEM Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has also kindly forwarded his usual post-race review of the FIM/UEM classes.

I am now back from Finland and the race in Alastaro, with very mixed feelings. On arrival on Thursday was I firstly very happy. The track looked better then ever. New guardrail from 200 metres up to the finish line. The old one had new paint and most importantly the support poles were cut to the same level as the concrete. I always walk the track and in Alastaro is it normal to move some smaller stones that come onto the track during the winter. Not this time. Even the bushes were cut down and the braking area was very good.

Qualifying on Friday went without any bigger problem. Charley Karling crossed the centre line so his time was not valid, and on the same run he had a problem with the engine so he had to change it and missed the second run. Vesa Rautio had a gearbox problem and stopped both times. Roger Pettersson did a very good 7.29/2965 kmh run and so that proved that the track was good. That was Friday and we were all waiting for Saturday. But that was only a long wait. It rained from the morning until very late in the day. Sometimes a little bit less but more often a little bit more. A lot of coffee (thank you to the teams) was the only thing which made the day.

Late on Saturday we realised that we had four riders in Top Fuel Bike and five in Pro Stock and Supertwin. This made it all four-bike ladders. Charley not qualified, Helen Curran had been waiting all Friday for a cylinder head which was lost on the flight from Paris to Helsinki. So Helen didn't have a time and the same with Vesa Rautio. Since we had valid qualifying on Friday there was nothing we could do.

Sunday started and we had the first round of eliminations. First out was Roger Pettersson against Remo Nassi. Remo's bike did not start and Anders Abrahamson, who was the alternate, was not in the start area. Roger made a solo run and then the track announcer was happy to announce the time of 7.266, a new record. Later on came the other news that Roger ran 300 kmh. This is very good. After this it was Anders Larsson against Chris Hope. Anders had been waiting too long, he had a faster time but a slower reaction time so Chris took the race.

Then was it Supertwin. Svein Gottenberg against Ton Pels, which Ton took, and in the semi-final Ronny Aasen took the win over Hans Olav Olstad. In Top Fuel Bike it was firstly Nils Ole Lund against Jon Leret. Jon who now had a better set-up in the clutch took that easily when Nissen's bike broke and left out a trail of oil on the track. Later was it time for the other semi final, Roel Koedam against Ferretti. Maybe was it because they had been waiting so long, or who knows? Roel went straight into stage and Antonio Ferretti went into stage a little bit later. Roel had a very bad start. The reaction time was 0.95. He had to close his visor and put on the computer. So Ferretti was a very long way out before Roel left, but Roel managed to take it.

Then started the big wait. Some more oildowns and some small showers. At six o'clock there was a huge shower which did really make every thing wet. The braking area was not drying so it was impossible to race a motorcycle. So at eight o'clock the permissions from the local authorities ended, it was over and the race was on to the 9.15 ferry. This was Alastaro 2004.
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
6th July: Monique Pels has been in touch to announce that following successful negotiations at Alastaro at the weekend, Dutch Supertwin racer Ton Pels is to be sponsored by Spectro Oils of America. You can read more, and read a report from Alastaro, on the Zodiac Racing web site at www.zodiacracing.com.

UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost, who spent his birthday on Sunday putting in demonstration passes at Santa Pod's Retro Cars Show, tells us that it was good giving the uninitiated a taste of CCSE. "It blew them away", he says. "If only I'd have been going really fast...I only managed 8.88 and 167mph with a 1.75 sixty foot!"
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Gas racer Ritchi Smith has been in touch to ask if anyone knows what became of Shaun Saunders' Super Gas Datsun 240Z. "It was awesome and is sorely missed in the UK", says Ritchi. If you have any information then please drop Ritchi a line at minx162@ntlworld.com.

Svensk Dragracing and Eurodragster.com will be working together again this season on the live Event Coverage of the Veidec Nitro Festival which takes place at Mantorp Park on 29th July-1st August. Tog will be posting the live running reports during each day and Sharkman will be supplying on-track photography, together with our good buddies Christer Abrahamson and Erik Zettervall who as well as working on the Event Coverage also have track announcing, TV and timing crew duties. The Veidec Nitro Festival coverage will of course be posted on the Svensk Dragracing web site.

Points updates.
6th July: FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson has kindly forwarded us the post-FHRA Nitro Nationals standings in the FIA European Championships. You can view the FIA points (PDF format) by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has calculated the post-FHRA Nitro Nationals standings in the FIM/UEM European Championships, and these can be found by clicking on the FIM Championships link on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.

The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with the post-FHRA Nitro Nationals standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series and the FIA Championship points, as well as two great galleries of photographs from the Nitro Nationals.

Web site updates.
6th July: UK Wild Bunch racer John Munday has launched a new web site at johnmundayracing.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk prompted by enquiries after his very competent outing in Gareth Jones' Hot Dog altered at the Power Nationals. "Many of my friends at the strip keep asking how much progress I have made with the new car, so I have set up a web site", says John. "I was encouraged by Gareth Kent whom I must thank for giving me the drive in Hot Dog at the Power Nationals which has made me decide to get a move on with the construction of my own altered."
©Eurodragster.com
Jon Best has updated his fan site with an update on the Supercharged Outlaw action at the weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can find Jon's site at www.nitrohemi.co.uk.

European bests updated.
5th July: Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has updated his table of European Best performances with Roger Pettersson's ET and speed marks at the weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals (formal ratification to follow - Ed). "In addition to Roger Pettersson's performances I noticed some near-misses from the weekend's data", says Andy. In Pro Stock, Eero Knihtilä ran 321.29 kmh/199.64 mph; Roger Johansson ran 357.54/222.17 in his Pro Mod; but I'm guessing that Niclas Andersson's 439.04/272.81 in his Top Methanol FC was a crisp bag job!"
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the updated European Bests table by clicking here, or by clicking on the Euroepan Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Swift snippets.
5th July: Our good friend Heather Bond has been in touch to let us know that she visited UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head in York Hospital yesterday. "Sarah is looking well but getting very frustrated looking at four walls", says H. "She will probably be at York for a little while yet but she's on the mend."
©Eurodragster.com
Happy Birthdays to APIRA official Annette Talbot whose birthday it is today, we hope that you're having a good day Annette! Happy Birthday also, for yesterday, to UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost who spent his birthday making demo passes at the Retro Cars Show at Santa Pod so doubtless had a big grin on his face all day. Tog and Sharkman wish both Annette and Andy all the very best.

Web site updates.
5th July: The official web site of Sweden's Team Kågered Top Fuel Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car team has been updated with statistics, round-by-round reports and some pictures from the weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at which Niclas Andersson won Top Methanol FC. Check it out at www.kagered-racing.com.

Dutch Pro Mod racer Henri Joosten has given his web site a complete makeover. "At the start of this year the car was painted in new colours", says Eric van Beelen. "Because of that, it became necessary to restyle the web site to fit the new colours. Not only has the design changed, also many pictures of the new car are available at www.joostenracing.nl. The web site is now updated almost daily, so visit regularly to keep informed."
©Eurodragster.com
UK Wild Bunch Gareth Kent has finished bashing his ISP over the head for changing his web site address without informing him; you can now find the Daze Gone By Racing web site at www.dgbracing.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk. The Daze Gone By web site features news, race car details, photographs, biography of Gareth, and more.

UK Supertwin Fuel racer Ian Turburville tells us that some great movie clips have been added to his Race page at www.turboville.com/turbo-7/team.htm. "They are quite good quality so may take a couple of minutes to download but they are worth it", says Turbo. "It would be a good idea to right-click and Save target as to your computer, then you can play them at leisure without the wait! Turn up your sound, get a cup of coffee, sit back and smell the nitro!

Pete Roberts has added five more panoramas of Santa Pod Raceway to his web site at myweb.tiscali.co.uk/lithopa/SPpanos.html. The panoramas were taken at last week's SPRC Summernationals and make great viewing.

FHRA Nitro Nationals results.
4th July: Our good friends Hannele and Marko at the Finnish Hot Rod Association have been hard at work since the FHRA Nitro Nationals ended earlier today, and have now posted the official results of eliminations in all classes as far as they went. You can view the official qualifying and eliminations results of the FHRA Nitro Nationals at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=60.
©Eurodragster.com
A look at the Pro Stock Bike stats confirms that, subject to official ratification, Roger Pettersson set new FIM/UEM European records of 7.266 seconds (backed up by 7.294) and 295.83 Kmh/183.82 mph (backed up by a too-fast 300.49/186.72). Congratulations to Roger and the Veidec team.

Alastaro FIA winners.
4th July: Andy Carter (def. Jöran Persåker red light), Dave Wilson (def. Peter Schöfer shut off for oil leak), Niclas Andersson (def. Leif Andréasson) and Jimmy Ålund (def. Eero Knihtilä) were the FIA-class winners at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro this evening.

Racing was stopped after the Top Fuel Dragster final which was right on the 20:00 curfew. Monique Pels kindly got in touch to tell us that the FIM/UEM finalists had agreed that their finals should not be run as the shutdown area was damp, and Patrik Jacobsson tells us that there was no time for the NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified semi-finals to be run, which was bad news for Roger Johansson who was aiming to back up a new European speed record of 357 kmh. None of the Sportsman classes was completed.
©Eurodragster.com
You can read the results on the Finnish Hot Rod Association web site in both Finnish and English. Congratulations to our good friends Hannele Höydén and Marko Yli-Pietil of FHRA who have done great job of keeping us informed this weekend with reports in two languages and a photo gallery updated on the fly. Whilst we're congratulating people a big Well Done to the track crew for their efforts over the weekend.

We would like to thank Andy Carter, Gittli Koller, Gerda Dijkstra, Christer Abrahamson, Monique Pels, Patrik Jacobsson and John Andrews for spending their phone and internet bills on us this weekend.

Carter's dramatic win.
4th July: FHRA Nitro Nationals Top Fuel victor Andy Carter contacted us again after the final and told us that the GoTalk team's win had its dramatic moments.

"We really were on one", he said. "We were back in the pits from the semi-final at 6:15 and they told us be at the start line for 7:55. We made it down there first and then Jöran came down with his crew running alongside the car. The start line marshals were being very strict about the eight o'clock finish, they were counting down and giving us signals how many minutes we had left. When the crew went to start the engine, the clutch was dragging and was pulling the car forward. My clutch guy Neil was on his hands and knees at the side of the car sorting it out, as soon as it freed up and I felt the starter turning over I hit the switch and it fired. Then it stalled!
©Eurodragster.com
"The guys kept calm and re-fired the engine, then I had a small fuel leak after the burnout. That got sorted out, then Jöran red-lit. My reaction time was 0.049 which was pretty good, and I ran a 5.03/466. It was getting loose again at the top end but I stayed with it. So now I have the points lead, and no way is anyone getting it off me now - they'll have to fight me for it!"

Andy said that he owed his victory to his team. "Rune Fjeld pulled that tune-up out of nowhere", he said. "A 4.9 and two 5.0s, Rune is just magic. And my whole crew have been just brilliant, they didn't panic when things weren't going right and they delivered yet again. I am so lucky to have Rune and such a great crew."

Race against time.
4th July: The organisers of the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro are facing a race against time to dry the track and get eliminations finished before the 20:00 curfew. A heavy downpour drenched the track immediately after the semi-finals of Top Fuel Dragster in which GoTalk-sponsored Andy Carter and Jöran Persåker booked their places in the final.

For Andy Carter it was a crucial victory as he has now edged ahead of Tommy Möller in the FIA Championship. "My mission this weekend was to come away with the points lead", Andy told us from Alastaro. "I ran a 5.03/429, Tommy ran 8.04. I was pleased with my reaction time of 0.103 and my sixty foot of 0.878. I felt the car slow down a bit at half-track, but we have checked the engine and it is all OK again, just a bearing and a valve to change. The blower belt looks very slightly damaged but Rune says that it is OK so we're leaving it on for the final."
©Eurodragster.com
Jöran Persåker took the win over Smax Smith with a 5.1-second pass but that race needed two attempts as a light rain started to fall as the cars fired up. Andy told us that Smax suffered a minor fire on one of his plug leads as his engine started, but the rain delay gave the Promise-backed team time to run back to the pits to replace it before the re-start. Andy has promised to get in touch at the end of the day to let us know how things ended up.

Christer Abrahamson got in touch to let us know that the Top Methanol FC final is scheduled to be Niclas Andersson versus Leif Andréasson, and the Pro Stock final Jimmy Ålund v Eero Knihtila; all other FIA and FIM/UEM finals were already booked as reported earlier.

You can read more on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi where our good friends Hannele Höydén and Marko Yli-Pietil are doing a great job of posting reports in both Finnish and English as well as updating the photo gallery.

Carter into fours at Alastaro.
4th July: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter ran Alastaro's second-ever four-second pass in today's first round of eliminations at the FHRA Nitro Nationals. Andy clocked 4.979 in the GoTalk dragster to Lex Joon's 5.66.

"We got a bit loose in the last four or five hundred feet of the track", Andy told Eurodragster on the phone from Alastaro. "I stayed with it and we went through to the next round". Andy said that the engine was just fine afterwards, as it has been after all of his passes this weekend. "There's been no damage at all, as usual", he said. "That is down to my crew, they have been brilliant all weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
In the rest of TF round one Jöran Persåker took a 10.70 bye, Smax Smith beat Micke Kågered 5.03 to 7.35, and Tommy Möller beat Thomas Nataas in a 'who has the most momentum' match, 8.12 to 8.42.

"We really needed Thomas to beat Tommy because he is ahead of us in the Championship", said Andy. "I suppose I'll have to do it in the next round!".

Update 14:30: Our good buddy and honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Christer Abrahamson kindly contacted us from Alastaro to let us know that the other FIA, FIM/UEM and Pro Mod first round winners were as follow:
  • Top Methanol Dragster: Dave Wilson (6.0, blower belt), Peter Schöfer (5.71)
  • Top Methanol Funny Car: Niclas Andersson (second round bye), Leif Andréasson, Urs Erbacher
  • Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund, Jackie Hansen, Magnus Hansson, Eero Knihtila
  • NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Håkan Nilsson (6.42), Roger Johansson (6.45), Matts Eriksson (6.40), Micke Lindahl (6.50)
  • Top Fuel Bike: Jon Leret, Roel Koedam
  • Supertwin: Ton Pels, Ronny Aasen
  • Pro Stock Bike: Roger Pettersson, Chris Hope
Thanks to Gittli Koller for the TMD ETs and to Patrik Jacobsson for the Pro Mod ETs.

FHRA Media Co-ordinator Marko Yli-Pietil has been in touch again to let us know that results can be found on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=60.

Nitro Nationals update.
4th July: The FIM/UEM classes made the overnight headlines at Alastaro as all three classes are running four-bike fields. With a minimum of six qualified bikes required for an eight-bike field and qualifying affected by the weather, there have been some shocks. Monique Pels of Zodiac Racing got in touch to let us know about one of the weekend's big bike stories.

"Helen Curran of the Veidec Pro Stock Bike team was very disappointed", said Monique. "Someone was to bring some parts to Finland for her on Friday, but that person's luggage got lost (Eurodragster's favourite airline strikes again? - Ed). It turned up on Friday evening, and the parts were installed during the night, but yesterday it rained all day..."
©Eurodragster.com
There was better news for fellow Veidec team member and FIM/UEM European PSB Champion Roger Pettersson who this morning more than backed up his prospective European record of Friday, setting a new mark of 7.266 seconds. A look at Friday's qualifying standings on the Svensk Dragracing web site shows that Roger was also up for a new European speed record with his 295.83 exceeding the existing record of 294.69. Stay tuned for confirmation of this weekend's records.

Our good friend Hannele Höydén is posting live updates from Alastaro on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi, and FHRA Media Co-ordinator Marko Yli-Pietil tells us that the weekend photo gallery has been updated at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=59 or click on Kuvagalleria. The Alastaro webcam is on-line and broadcasting a pair of pictures every ten minutes at www.alastaro.fi/circuit/webcam.html.

Micke Kågered's web site at www.kagered-racing.com is being updated after every session with Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC statistics, and Håkan Nilsson's web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com is being updated with Pro Mod reports. We will also continue to post here on Eurodragster any updates which we receive from Alastaro.

Five days and counting...
4th July: The MPM Internationals are only five days away from transforming the airstrip in Drachten into an event that will be bigger and better then ever seen before in Holland, writes Henrietta Selles of the eXplosion drag racing club. "Unique about Drachten is that is not a full-time dragstrip, at each event eXplosion turns the airstrip into a drag strip which can compare with the best tracks in Europe. From 9th-11th July the MPM Internationals will shake Holland up with three days of the sound of thunder and the smell of burning rubber!

"Even more unique is that Joey Bon will make an appearance with his MPM Top Fuel Bike, which he developed over the winter. Lex Joon will set up his MPM Top Fuel Dragster to make some bunny-ears in Holland for the very first time as the very first Dutch Top Fuel Dragster driver. Spectators at Drachten are getting their money's worth! Last but certainly not least Robert Koper will try and defend his title with the Pro Modified Monte Carlo in the MPM colors.

"The running field is a stunning European get-together, from Street Machines to Pro Mods; from Street Bikes to Top Fuel Bikes, contestants from Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark will be attending the MPM Internationals. To view the complete entrylist visit www.explosiondragracing.com/entrylistD2-2004.htm.

"For those of you who don't want to miss the MPM Internationals tickets are on pre-sale at a €5 discount at www.lexjoonracing.nl/kk_300000.html. For all the latest updates on the MPM Internationals visit www.explosion.nl.
©Eurodragster.com
No more hide and seek.
4th July: UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell is facing a twenty seventh Winter in the garage after acquiring the ex-Vance and Lovett Top Fuel Dragster chassis to campaign in Super Pro next season. Mark's current chassis is only good for 7.5 seconds, and after a 7.3-second pass at the SPRC Summernationals and more than one 7.4 he tells us that he is getting tired of hiding from the UK Tech Inspection team.

"I've been trying to buy this chassis for a number of years", says Mark. "Jonathan and I are good mates and we go back years. When I told him of our plight he relented and let the chassis go! Jonathan is still very much a drag racing fan but has resisted the urge to race again whilst he's been focused on his business. I keep trying to coax him back to the track and now with a competing interest look out for him popping up at the track, and who knows an alky blown Chevrolet isn't quite a Fuel McGhee but it is still an awful lot of fun.
©Eurodragster.com
"We hope to début the new MFR Super Pro 551car in the Spring, but there are of course a fair amount of updates to carry out. There is a lot of engineering in the changes to run a BBC and a 'Glide, which all take time but my super crew Craig and Steve are as keen as ever. Also we reckon that if we take the passanger seat and front screen out of the truck the dragster will only stick out the front by some two feet! So it's looking like another Winter locked in the garage - a lot like the last twenty six actually!"

The current dragster has two more appointments before being handed over to its new owner. "We'll run the existing car at the Allstar Nationals and the FIA European finals, and then we'll strip out the drivetrain", says Mark. "I spoke to a guy about selling the car to make room for a new project at the Summernationals last Saturday night, and at 8:00 the following morning he came back and bought it!"

Mark would like to hear from anyone who has pictures of the car when it was in Vance and Lovett TF trim, or even when it was campaigned in the USA by Frank Hawley. "I like to keep a diary of all my projects", he says. If you can help with pictures of the car in its previous lives then please drop Mark an E-Mail at mark.flavel@ntlworld.com.

Summernationals Pro ET report.
4th July: We are as ever indebted to UK Pro ET racer Carla Pittau for sending us a Pro ET report for the latest event, this time last weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Carla's partner Rick McCann won the event in their ten-second Heaven and Hell Camaro so she had plenty to be happy about.

Will I ever tire of praising Pro ET? Sorry, not yet. Walking to the first round with Rick at the wheel of the Camaro, I was surrounded by all these lovely race cars, V8s everywhere singing their songs, and I felt really proud to be part of it. If I ever learned anything it is that no race can ever be taken for granted, the class is getting ever tougher and every driver is a challenge.

It was very nice to welcome Jack and Jackie Brewster back to the class with their brand new beautifully detailed self-built yellow Firebird, looking 'Just Mustard' indeed. For anyone who did a double take seeing the old 'Just Mustard' Camaro, this was driven by Jack's neighbour John Spiers, at his very first meeting, his very first run down the track in the Camaro...no, hold on, his very first run down the track in anything! Congratulations on his valour and a warm welcome to the class. John was later let down by his brand new 540ci Chevy crate motor bought from Summit, when it developed an oil leak on its maiden voyage, preventing John from turning up for his first round of eliminations and giving an automatic win to Wayne Hiscock (yes, some more of the luck Wayne and Pam didn't want). Congratulations also to Carl Burton for qualifying number one and finally reaping some of the rewards he worked so hard for, getting sponsors for the whole class. Carl unfortunately broke a rocker shaft and was unable to fix it in time for his third round, giving the race away to Gary Springford. Gary, a graduate of Paul Marston's Drag Race Driving School, isn't doing too bad at all in his rookie year and is proving to be an excellent advertisement for Paul. Gary got rid of Jon Hollingworth in the first round, then he pulled a dead-on run against Bob Doyle and his march towards the final was only stopped in the semis by his greater breakout against Rick McCann.

Jon Hollingworth has the only street-legal sleeper in the class, a beige Cortina with a big block Ford and an amazing blower arrangement. Jon runs very low tens and is an ex-Custom Car Street Eliminator contender, a heads-up racer who is now enjoying the more level playing field of Pro ET. Darren Hulkes in the Close Call Camaro managed to get through two rounds despite being unable to run within the class index, and only managing low twelves despite spending lots of money on a new engine combination. Darren, who was on the receiving end of John Atkinson's and Ian Brown's red lights, will be looking very closely at all components before the next meeting and if it's there, he'll find it! Aiden Kenny unfortunately did not make the first round due to a slick puncture we all scratched our heads and talked of amazing instant repair kits you can use in the pairing lanes which they have in the States, but nobody had one miracle kit here and Aiden was on the trailer. Marius Blackburn had an even worse weekend. After the shift solenoid gave up the ghost in the first qualifying session he had to revert back to manual shifting, then had a real driving job to do at the top end when the rear axle broke and locked up just after the finish line. It must be quite scary after running a 9.67 when you are still doing 136 mph. Fortunately Marius kept a handle on it and got the Escape from Reality altered back to the pits in one piece.

Clive Cox in the other lane had already won with a killer reaction of .009, but was later stopped by Wayne Hiscock in the second round, when he had a bit of a snooze, perhaps worried that his next light might be a red. A similar situation was experienced by Rick McCann, as after pulling a .007 against a red-lighting Jack Brewster he slowed right down against Malcolm Motler (or was he looking at Malk's wheelstand again?), and was saved only by Malk's even longer snooze. Rick recovered his reactions against Darren Hulkes, whose luck ended when once again he could not run inside the class index. On the other side of the ladder Wayne Hiscock was initially a bit concerned about his qualifying position after breaking out on Saturday, says crew chief Pam, and extremely grateful to Darren Prentice and the rest of the track crew for a well-organised Sunday morning resulting in getting another shot and qualifying eleventh. John Spiers' oil leak gave him a bye and a good chance to sound out the strong wind and dial the car in for round two where Wayne had a good RT and took the win against Clive Cox and again in round three against John Morris. Then came the oil-down and the awful long wait of course - knowing that they had a bye into the Final but uncertain whether we'd be able to get on the track caused a very stressful time in Wayne and Pam's Iveco!

But again, says Pam with gratitude, the track crew worked wonders, the threatening clouds dispersed, only a small amount of rain, and eliminations recommenced... So the very orange Chevelle and the red Heaven and Hell Camaro met in the final and with two respectable reactions (a 0.03 for Rick and a 0.07 for Wayne) it was an excellent close race where neither driver gave it away. I have to admit I screamed so much on seeing Rick's win light I partially lost my voice what a wonderful weekend, thanks to everyone involved for their hard work.

Thanks to the class sponsors Andy Robinson Race Cars, Real Steel, Jeff Hauser, Harley Davidson, Hoosier, and now Jon Webster Race Engineering, thanks to Carl Burton for organising it all, thanks to Tog and Sharkman for incomparable photography and all their hard work in also managing to do real-time reporting, to Anni for her wonderful pictures (have you had a look at Bob and Anni's Feel The Noise site recently? Do it now!) and to the drag racing gods for Heaven and Hell currently being in heaven!

Unofficial points update for National, SPRC and Power Nationals championships have been posted on the Pro ET and Heaven and Hell sites, including corrections of earlier errors. We know of a few discrepancies with the official points we and are contacting the clubs to clarify these.
©Eurodragster.com
To our friends in the USA.
4th July: We would like to wish a very happy Independence Day to all of our friends in the USA. Ain't it a bummer when a Public Holiday falls on a weekend? Have a great day, guys.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
4th July: Feel-the-noise.com have completed the upload of photographs from the recent SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Webmaster Bob Valder tells us that over four hundred new photos have been added this time, and that as usual they can easily be found by following the 'red dots' in the category listing or by clicking on the Recent additions link.
©Eurodragster.com
Nitro Nationals update.
3rd July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site at www.dragracing.se with FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS qualifying standings after the first day of this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.

Our good friend Hannele Höydén is posting live updates from Alastaro on the FHRA web site at www.fhra.fi although at time of writing (lunchtime Saturday) she is having to write a rain commentary. The Alastaro webcam is on-line and broadcasting a pair of pictures every ten minutes at www.alastaro.fi/circuit/webcam.html.
©Eurodragster.com
When action gets underway, Micke Kågered's web site at www.kagered-racing.com is being updated after every session with Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC statistics, and Håkan Nilsson's web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com is being updated with Pro Mod reports. We will also continue to post here on Eurodragster any updates which we receive from Alastaro.

Update 16:40: Qualifying has now officially been called for the day. The rain briefly stopped this afternoon but not before FIA and FIM/UEM qualifying had been cancelled. The rain then returned forcing the Race Director to call a halt to Sportsman qualifying as well. Racing is scheduled to commence at 10:00 tomorrow (Sunday). Many thanks to Gittli Koller, Gerda Dijkstra and Andy Carter for keeping us up-to-date from Alastaro.

Greek Championship, Round 2.
3rd July: The second race of the Greek Championship recently took place in North Greece at Serres racing circuit, writes Elias Vathias of the Dragster.gr web site. The weather was sunny and warm most of the weekend and racers and many spectators enjoyed themselves.

Filippos Papafilippou won the fastest Open class, setting again a new national record with his Fil's Lethal Weapon Pontiac Firebird (right) on a slippery tarmac. With a modest 1.39 sixty foot launch - compared with 1.28, 1.31 and 1.32 during the weekend - the Pontiac, which was once more prepared by the Drag Warriors Team, recorded 5.517 at 221.36 kmh for the eighth mile and 8.444/276.54 for the quarter mile.
©Eurodragster.com
This was the quickest ET of the weekend, even quicker than the motorbikes 8.493/268.19 recorded by Antonis Zafiriadis with his Suzuki Pro Stock Motul-Wiseco-Gabriel Bike. Michailidis Theodoros with his FJ 1200 Turbo Nitro won the Moto Open class. Agapidis Christos won the Moto 5 Class setting a new record of 8.988/247.96 with his Suzuki 1300 motorbike (click here for a bike photograph).

Elias has posted a number of photographs and video clips from this event which you can find at:

Photos: www.dragster.gr/images/Shows_Races/040620Serres/index.htm
Videos: www.dragster.gr/videos/races/040620Serres/index.htm

You can also find the Greek National records at www.dragster.gr/records/records.htm.

Some Greek teams are planning to enter an event on a proper drag strip during the summer, so they are making preparations either for the July or September events at Hal Far Raceway on Malta, or the Nitrolympx at Hockenheim in August.

Malin makes history.
3rd July: UK Super Pro ET racer Gary Malin made history on the Isle of Man recently when his Serious Playtime rail became the first dragster to make a quarter mile run on the island.

"We were invited to the Isle of Man to make demo passes with the dragster at Jurby", says Gary. "Our very good friend Roger Goring of the Firestorm Jet Funny Car - who will be running at Jurby himself later this month - recommended us, and he and his partner Helen put themselves out to get us on our way to Jurby. We finally landed at Douglas to meet the owner and founder of Straightliners, Trevor Duckworth. Trevor along with his very impressive team and back-up crew are responsible for the quarter mile set-up, which includes a full computerised Tree and timing system and all the right people to run an event be it drag racing or Run What You Brung. Trevor also holds no less than seventeen world records with his bike and self-built machines.
©Eurodragster.com
"Jurby is not for the faint-hearted, although it was more forgiving than I first expected. I pedalled the dragster all the way to the top, launching in top gear on the throttle pedal (Cheers Smax!) and not the transbrake. We managed a 9.2/141, and we were airborne!

"We are grateful to Roger Goring, Helen Rusling and Trevor Duckworth and his team for giving us the opportunity to go down in the history books forever, I am grateful to my team for putting themselves out, and to Smax Smith for good advice about car and track conditions."

Gary was very pleased to read Thursday's news item about TSI and Jeff Bull posting contingency money for the rest of this season. "We run a TSI transmission and converter supplied by Jeff Bull, and the after-sales service from Jeff and TSI USA have been second to none!", says Gary. "I can recommend them both, their service is appreciated along with the new contingency deal."

Toy turnaround.
3rd July: Until last weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway the 2004 season had been one of great disappointment for Jon Evans and Steve Dunn of the UK's Tokyo Toy Super Gas team. The team recovered their accustomed form last weekend, making it all the way to the final of Super Gas.

"We managed to wipe out a cam and all sixteen lifters whilst 'running in a new cam pre-season", say Steve and Jon. "The knock-on effect was to seize the oil pump and the wrist pins in the pistons. Not wanting to duplicate the experience, a roller cam was installed and the new combination tested at the American Car World Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in mid-May. An off-the-trailer 9.82 boded well, but a misfire off the start line for the rest of the weekend was not what we had hoped for. A big thank you to Tig and Cath Napier for the loan of some jets, which unfortunately didn't resolve the fault. The problem persisted for most of the runs at the Main Event and we were fortunate to benefit from a red light in the first round from Pete Cresswell. Frank Mason took us out in the second round where the stumble was worse than ever and Jon backed out of the run. During the weekend, many racers offered both advice and the loan of parts for which we are extremely grateful. Massive thanks to Zane Llewellyn for his time and advice, and also to Ian Brown, Rick McCann and Carla Pitau, and Bob and Tracy Doyle for loan of parts and emotional support.
©Eurodragster.com
"One phone call to Jegs, and a whole bunch of parts made their way across the Atlantic. They arrived too late to allow us to make it to the Power Nationals, so we arrived at the Pod with numerous new parts fitted to both the fuel and ignition systems. Not getting to run on Saturday of the Summernationals was a bummer so the two qualifiers with the throttle stop on, which were misfire-free, meant we went into eliminations with little throttle stop data and no idea if our problem was cured. Taking out last years numbers one and two, and this year's Championship leader, on the way to the final at least proved that throwing new parts at the Toy had worked.

"Congratulations to Pete Lane for his win - better reaction time giving him the edge - we are chucking out our Sportsman transbrake in favour of a Pro brake in the summer recess - and a big-up to the track crew and marshals for getting the race to its conclusion. We haven't done seven passes in one day for many a year - well done guys. Roll on the Allstar Nationals."

Swift snippets.
3rd July: UK Sportsman ET racer Rick Denny took his first win in two years at last weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod, and has been in touch with some thanks. "I would like to say Thank You to Chris at WASP (01945 588091) for his sponsorship, to Linda and Al Platt for feeding me, and to Maz and Neil for their help", he says.
©Eurodragster.com
Another good weekend.
3rd July: If you were tuned in to last weekend's event coverage from the SPRC Summernationals then you will have read that Iain Burns spent the weekend with UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby after successfully bidding for the privilege in the auction for Sarah Jane Head. Iain has been in touch to let us know how it went, and how his own race car is coming along.

"My thanks to Colin and Anne-Marie Lazenby for their very kind hospitality and for allowing a newbie anywhere near their 706 engine", says Iain. "To say that a weekend crewing for them was an eye opener is a slight understatement, and progressing from Rover V8s via four-pot screamers to an engine like this is like all your Christmasses coming at once!

"An absolutely brilliant weekend, bar the rain and slight lack of sleep on Saturday night - note to self: when offered the use of an air bed, take it with open arms, trailers have hard floors! Congratulations to Colin on running an 8.32/176.41, which for a road car is slightly mind-blowing to say the least, and quite something to watch from the start line. My thanks also to Luke Robinson and Gary for putting up with my questions; at least I now know my way around Colin's tool box now.

"To top it off I have been invited back for the next event, which is rather close to my wife's due date so I may have to commandeer someone's car to get me to the hospital on time. For those who are still thinking about bidding, it's all for a good cause, hope you continue to get better Sarah.

"Which leads me onto my own car. I'm sure that those who were around in the late 1980s and early 1990s will have heard of the Mopar Menace. In a moment of wanton spending (OK, my other car was slightly rotten) I spotted it for sale on the Eurodragster's Swap Meet. The car has taken up residence with Kev Taylor of Crap Conversions where it is slowly being brought up to date, as rules have ever so slightly progressed over the last twelve years! All being well I should be out in 2005 running in the Street Machine Street Racer Sunday, Custom Car Street Eliminator (I will be the slow one at the back) and quite possibly a bit of bracket racing. I would just like to thank Kevin for his help and advice, even when I have steadfastly wanted to go down the wrong road, and without him I think the car would be in the same state as when I originally purchased it. Cheers mate your help is much appreciated. For those who want to follow my trials and tribulations I have been making semi-regular updates to my web site at www.imc-racing.co.uk.

""I also have to apologise to the Mopar guys as I am using a Big Block Chevy engine and box for motivation, back end is still Mopar though. I wonder if I can get a 706 to fit..."

Web site updates.
3rd July: Dutch Supertwin racer Ton Pels' web site at www.zodiacracing.nl has been updated with a number of on- and off-track pictures from Ton's previous visits to Alastaro. You can find the pictures on the News page.
©Eurodragster.com
Richard Stilrling has updated his Top Nitro fan site with a report, photographs and sound clips from last weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can find Richard's sote at www.topnitro.co.uk.

Alastaro update II.
2nd July: Gerda Dijkstra, Andy Carter and Gittli Koller have kindly been in touch again with news of qualifying at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro.

Gerda Dijkstra of Lex Joon Racing was happy with Lex's 5.642/272 in the MPM Oil Top Fueller. "Lex clicked off at a thousand feet because he felt something was not right with the car", she said. "Alan Jackson looked at the datalogger and he thinks that the tyres were starting to haze. It was a very good-looking run, dead straight and bunny ears all over the place!".
©Eurodragster.com
Andy Carter improved to a 6.632/219 kmh in the GoTalk Top Fueller but of course he was far from happy with the car's performance which has him in sixth place at the end of the first day's qualifying. "The tyres smoked again, at half-track" he said. "I haven't looked at the incrementals, I don't want to see them! I have left that to John and the guys. We've got two passes scheduled tomorrow and we'll get a handle on the track - no-one has been on the throttle all the way yet". At the end of today's qualifying, Top Fuel Dragster stands as follows:
  1. Jöran Persåker 5.331/366
  2. Tommy Möller 5.614/328
  3. Lex Joon 5.642/272
  4. Micke Kågered 6.253/256
  5. Smax Smith 6.331/220
  6. Andy Carter 6.632/219
  7. Thomas Nataas 9.449/130
In Top Methanol Dragster, Gittli tells us that Dave Wilson still leads with another 5.63 at 253 mph, whilst Peter Schöfer improved to a 5.71 at 251. Krister Johansson's earlier 6.0 is still good for third, and Arto Höylä is fourth after losing cylinders on his qualifying pass.

Congratulations to 2003 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Champion Roger Pettersson who has done the first half of the job of setting a new European record with a 7.294 in qualifying this afternon.

Micke Kågered's web site at www.kagered-racing.com is being updated after every session with Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC statistics, Håkan Nilsson's web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com is being updated with Pro Mod reports, and as mentioned below the FHRA web site is being updated with frequent brief reports and a number of photographs have already been posted.

Stay tuned and we will bring you more news as we receive it.

Carter's smokin' start.
2nd July: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter tells us that he didn't make the start he would have wanted in qualifying for the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro today. The GoTalk-sponsored racer is currently fifth in Top Fuel qualifying with an 11.03 after losing traction.

"We shook off the line and then the tyres went up in smoke", said Andy. "This is always a tricky track to tune for. But the car is just fine, nothing is damaged, and I will be out for the second session in about an hour and a half (from 14:00 UK - Ed)."
©Eurodragster.com
Jöran Persåker currently leads Top Fuel qualifying at 5.33 from Tommy Möller 5.61, Micke Kågered 6.25, Thomas Nataas 9.49 and Andy's 11.03. Smax Smith and Lex Joon did not run in the first session although Lex's Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra tells us that they are all set to make the next session. Gittli Koller kindly got in touch to tell us that Dave Wilson leads Top Methanol Dragster after session one at 5.63 from Peter Schöfer 5.77 and Krister Johansson at 6.0.

Baker and Stubbings' Altered plan.
2nd July: Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings have revealed to Eurodragster that after a change of plan they will be fielding a Bantam Altered rather than bringing back their famous police-themed Mustang Funny Car as reported earlier this year. The altered, to be driven by Wendy, is being put together at this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Wendy and Paul had another little surprise for us, too, and this time it wasn't that they wanted unsuspecting colleagues to join an international dairy product smuggling ring (Ask Paul, don't ask me - Ed).

"The Funny Car body needed a lot of work to put it back into its original condition, so we decided that we would get an altered body", says Paul Stubbings. "One phone call to Pat Cuss later and we were the proud owners of an Austin Bantam! The body has now been sprayed although I don't think the guys at Springfields in Kingston Bagpuize ever want to see metalflake again as they were there until 9.30 on Wednesday night throwing laquer over it!
©Eurodragster.com
"We decided that as the body is such an old shape that we would try to make the car look as old as possible (not hard with all the junk we use) so it is fitted with torsion bar front suspension, drop tube axle, radius rods etc. It will be chromed later, we ran out of time. It has a 496 ci Keith Black and 14/71 blower with an Enderle Birdcatcher, behind it is a new clutch can, Crowerglide clutch, two-speed Lenco and a nine-inch axle with Strange bits attached. The chassis is new and is all chromoly, wheelbase is 117" (so it will fit the Funny Car later), and if I built it right it should get a tag this weekend.

"The more observant amongst you will wonder why we are using a Crowerglide and a two-speed; well, they work quite well with nitro in the tank. Yes, we gave into the temptation (and not a little persuasion from Ollie Burn and Phil Cornish) and should now be considered totally insane, as we have built a Fuel Altered!

"The car still needs a lot of work to complete. It is going to Shakespeare County Raceway on Friday, mostly in boxes but we hope to get it finished some time Saturday - or Sunday."

Anglias ready to mix it.
2nd July: No less than fourteen Pop, Anglia and Fordson drivers are ready for some heads-up Outlaw Anglia action at this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, says Paul Wright. "The closest thing to the March Meet outside the USA is taking place this weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway", he says.
©Eurodragster.com
"Pete Ashworth is currently streaking ahead in this season's Real Steel-backed Championship, but Paul Hensher and Paul Wright won't let up without a fight. Super Gas racers Steve Wells and the legend that is Al O'Connor will also be mixing it up, with reaction times and consistency that often win through. The battle of the Fordsons will take place between Pete Moore and Gary McCormack in his first outing this season. But the biggest Grudge Match of the weekend will be contested between the street-legal pairing of event organiser Martyn Payne and burnout king Mike Callan, if he gets let in! Ian Norman should be stepping it up a notch with a beefed-up rear end in the Popeye Anglia, and no event is complete without a visit from Planet Bristol, this time in the shape of Pro ET's Aidan Kenny and newcomer Jusin Krekelaar. For more information about the event please visit www.nsra.org.uk.

"On a more personal note I would like to wish ex-Outlaw Anglia driver Andy Carter and his crew good luck in Finland this weekend."

Swift snippets.
2nd July: Custom Car Street Eliminator racer John Sleath has finished his new Audi race car and tells us that it is ready for testing. The car should make its first appearance at the Mopar Nats at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of this month. You can see pictures of the beautifully-finished new car on John's web site at www.audiracing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Ryan Wright of Lace Rescue has written to thank Eurodragster for finding a drag race team to attend the Thrapston Charter Fair, which took place last weekend. Wild Bunch racers Helen and Dean Smythe took up the call and Ryan says that they did drag racing proud. "Helen and Dean were fantastic, chatting away to all the public and starting the engine of their car making drag racing come alive to those who had only watched on TV before", he says. A big pat on the back to the Twisted Racing team.

In speed we trust.
2nd July: Everything is now set for Denmark's biggest motorcycle drag race, the Mosten Race Day, which takes place on 3rd-5th September, writes Hans Jrgen Hitz. For the eleventh year in a row Mosten MC is holding its famous Race Day, where some of the best motorcycle dragsters in Europe will be represented at the Mosten Dragway near Allingbro in Denmark.

Former European Supertwin Champion Anders Karling on his two-cylinder 2800 ccm Harley-based motorcycle will be ready to enter a fierce battle with up to six rivals from the European élite. Former UK and European Champion Ian King will also be present on Race Day with his unique Top Fuel bike, challenged by Eric Teboul from Cannes, France, as well as five other competitors from this division. Eric Teboul will also be bringing along his hydrogen-powered rocket bike which can reach a top speed of more than 400 kmh, although we definitely won't be seeing that speed here at the narrow Mosten track.

This year we have also added the new Top Gas division, similar to the Top Fuel division but with just a little less power. We'll also have the English division, the Harley division, the Harley Drag, the open division and an open drag all of which are generally well represented at Mosten Race Day. There are eight motorcycle divisions in all featuring riders from all over Scandinavia, Germany and Holland, so speed and excitement are guaranteed all day Saturday at Mosten race track. Once again there will be large prizes in both of the two big divisions: DKK 25,000 as first prize, DKK 15,000 as second prize and DKK 10,000 as third prize, so the winners ought to have more than enough cash to buy gas on the way home. All other divisions offer DKK 8,500 prizes.
©Eurodragster.com
We can also expect speed from Top Fuel Dragster racer Rene Hersland, now Denmark's fastest man on four wheels. Rene follows drag racer Kim Reymond who has recorded stellar performances at Mosten in previous years. Rene has promised a similar show this year where he will rev up his 9000 horsepower dragster to delight our audience's eardrums.

As always, Mosten Race Day means much more than drag racing. It's also about hearing great music in the form of bands The Snotlers, Die Herren, Rock Nalle, Den Danske Mafia and the Delta Blues Band. And what would Mosten Race Day be without girls? Hot new strippers will be performing both Friday and Saturday nights on a new stage built just above the bar.

For more information about Mosten Race Day visit our homepage at www.mosten-mc.dk or get in touch with Hans Jrgen Hitz on +45 23729703 or +45 8648 1933.

The rules and supplementary regulations for racers contesting the Mosten Race Day can be viewed by clicking here.

Nostalgia meets Exotica.
2nd July: More than two hundres quality street rods, muscle cars and exotic super cars are expected to head for Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend for the track's annual date with nostalgia, and Pistonfest, home to some of the world's quickest and fastest sports cars, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson. The event, co-ordinated by the National Street Rod Association and Pistonheads.com features two action packed days of street-legal drag racing for pre '69 high-dollar street rods and dedicated sports racers.

"Every year they turn up in their hundreds to further the cause of hot rodding in England," said an NSRA spokesperson. "Some of the cars that appear look as if they have just jumped straight off a fifties movie set. The reception that we got from last year's tenth anniversary meet was simply tremendous. It only goes to show what the owners of these irresistible cars would rather do - shaking them down on a drag strip than parked up at a show site for a couple of days". The 1950s were the cornerstone of drag racing, and events like the Nostalgia Nationals and the NSRA's original event the Hot Rod Drags help to recreate the golden days of the sport. Where else can you expect to find period sidevalve flathead roadsters, GM powered Deuce Coupes, Chevy powered Fiats, classic Supercharged Willys Coupes and ground thumping dragsters with unbridled horsepower and gleaming chrome.

And Pistonfest just gets bigger and better, especially with the event carrying the support from TVR Power who will be bringing along the Tuscan 2 Convertible, Sagaris, Taraka Griffith and a nitrous injected Cerbera! There will be an auction to soar over the show site in an ex-RAF jet, Scrapheap Challenge to find the quickest car dismantler of the show, bands, and if you're lucky enough to live close to the race track you'll be able to stay in touch and listen live to PistonHeads FM on Torque Radio 106.9.

The finale on Sunday will be a special first time dual on the drag strip featuring the NSRA's top five going head-to-head with the Pistonfest's top five as nostalgia meets exotica!

Admission to both events is 15.00 per person per day or 22.00 per person for a weekend pass; Under 16's free. RWYB Track Signing-On fee is 15.00 per day or 25.00 for the weekend for unlimited runs. For more information log on to www.nsra.org.uk and www.pistonheads.com. Shakespeare County Raceway is located at Long Marston Airfield, five miles south of Stratford-Upon-Avon on the B4632. For more information about Shakespeare County Raceway visit the track's official web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
2nd July: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with the Super-class results from last weekend's SPRC Summernationals, and the latest points standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series of which the SPRC Summernationals was a round. The latest update also includes details on the proposed introduction of Compact racing. Check it out at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
TSI/Bull announce contingency.
1st July: UK engine builder Jeff Bull, who sponsors Eurodragster's Swap Meet classified ads service, has announced a contingency sponsorship programme with Transmission Specialities offering cash to racers at the remaining three UK National Championship events.

On a recent trip to the USA Jeff visited Transmission Specialities and was given a tour of the shop to meet all the staff. "It was very interesting to find that TSI make a lot of high performance transmission parts for other well-know transmission builders", says Jeff. "We were shown all the stages of performance transmission building and torque converter mods by TSI tech man Paul. Peter who owns TSI offered a contingency deal for UK racers who purchase Converters/Transmissions through Jeff Bull Race Engines. We are therefore pleased to be able to announce that contingency money will be up for grabs for the remaining drag racing events this year, as follows:
  • If you use a TSI Converter and Transmission at the FIA European Finals: winner of any class 100, runner-up of any class 75

  • If you use a TSI Converter or Transmission at the FIA European Finals: winner of any class 50, runner-up of any class 30.00

  • If you use a TSI Transmission and Converter at the Allstar Nationals and UK National Finals: winner of any class 75, runner-up of any class 45
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  • If you use a TSI Converter or Transmission at the Allstar Nationals and UK National Finals: winner of any class 35, runner-up of any class 20
Conditions:
  • Purchases must be made through Jeff Bull Race Engines
  • Proof of event win
  • Photo of TSI decal on winning car
"We would like to thank Peter and Paul at TSI for all their cooperation with the contingency package and look forward to working with them in the future. We have a contingency package set for 2005, so consider TSI if you are looking to purchase a Converter or Transmission in the future. For competitive prices on any TSI product call me on 07834 381804."

Jeff is amongst many readers who have expressed their shock at the death of Darrell Russell in the USA at the weekend. "What a huge loss to drag racing", he says. "We saw Darrell when we were over at Englishtown with Doug Herbert two weeks ago."

Prolong back Smax bid.
1st July: 2003 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Smax Smith has received backing for his European tour from lubricant, performance and car care product manufacturer Prolong. Prolong have a long history of supporting drag racing both in the USA and Europe, memorably backing Gordie Bonin in his 1999 Championship season and most recently supporting the UK's Shockwave Fuel Funny Car. The deal was arranged by Mick Wilcox of Eclipse Lubricants who sponsor UK Pro ET racer Dave Ward.

"Smax's Top Fuel Dragster will be carrying the Prolong logo at all remaining events in 2004, and he will be using Prolong's range of products as well as the KB oil already in use by the Shockwave team", says Mick. "Upon Smax's return to the UK Prolong will be helping raise money for the two charities involved with his team, Promise and Starchild UK. Our aim is to see Smax keep his title and to help the charities."
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Mick tells us that Smax will have special chrome logos on his car which will be for sale to fans at UK events, with every every logo sold benefitting the charities.

For more information about Prolong products, check out their web site at www.prolong.uk.com or E-Mail sales@prolong.uk.com.

Schöfer back for more luck.
1st July: German Top Methanol Dragster team Peter Schöfer Racing are pleased to be returning to Alastaro for this weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals as the Finnish track has been lucky for them in the past.

"Since the FIA Main Event we have spent most of out time analysing our run data from the race" said team member Gittli Koller, speaking to Eurodragster from the ferry between Sweden and Finland. "We are now very much looking forward to racing at Alastaro. We have had luck there in the past, number one qualifier before the rainout in 2002, and we won the event last year."
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PSR have what Gittli described as "Just a small crew" at Alastaro this weekend. "The team is Peter, Wolfi, Rudi, Alfred, Björn and myself", she said (Blimey, how many is the 'big' crew? - Ed). "We are hoping that the luck will be with us again in Finland."

More support for Nilsson.
1st July: Also looking to repeat past success at Alastaro is Swedish Pro Modified racer Håkan Nilsson, who qualified #1 and took home the winner's trophy last year with his Veidec-backed Camaro.

Team member Ulf Stadig says that the team will be hoping to capitalise on the improvements made in the first half of the track during pre-season testing and at the FIA Main Event. "We are not taking anything for granted, but the game plan for this weekend is to run in the high 6.3 zone and to do it consistently if the track is with us", he says. Ulf also tells us that the Camaro's Fulton Racing engine has repaired heads, and the team have had a break to recharge their batteries and are focused and determined.

Håkan himself has a new piece of kit this weekend in the form of a HANS device, which will support his head and neck. As far as we are aware Håkan will be only the second European racer to try out the HANS device which is used by a large number of racers in the USA. "We spoke with Charlene Faucher, wife of American Pro Mod pilot Mike Faucher, when they were assisting Marc Meihuizen at the Pod", says Ulf, "and we decided to spend some money on safety stuff. The normal thing is to spend money on horsepower but Charlene woke us up."

You can read more about the Nilsson Motorsports team's preparations for Alalstaro, and check out the updated team page, on their web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com. Ulf tells us that he plans to update the web site this weekend with the latest from Alastaro.
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Hakuna Määttä.
1st July: The Finnish phrases "No ht" or "eeps htkyill valammiissa mualimassa" should be learnt by every racer coming overseas to this weekend's Nitro Nationals at Alastaro, says Finnish Funny Bike racer Asko Määttä. "The phrases mean "Don't worry" or "Take it easy" and you'll be able to guess the rest", he says.
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"We are ready to welcome every Top Fuel Bike racer coming to race here in currently-rainy Finland. The Nitro Nationals is a test weekend and it couldn't go worse than to be ruined by the rain. Otherwise I'll be happy 'cause I know it will be great to race at UEM level again. The Baldie's Gun III is now set for a four-weekend race tour during July. After Alastaro we'll be racing three NDRS Funny Bike races at Pite Dragway, Kalajoki and Västerås.

"A special thanks to all of you who made this possible: ProTurbo Systems, Kopparin Kukka, NeoBest, Orient and especially Baldie Racing and Media Relationships. We'll have fun this weekend!"

Three Jags.
1st July: UK Nostalgia fans will be pleased to hear that there will be at least three Jaguar-powered dragsters competing at this weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, writes Wild Bunch racer Sid Slattery.

"Match races are planned between my Destiny slingshot and Martin Holgate's Paranoia altered", says Sid. "Also in attendance will be Steve Goode's Wobble. I have also managed to get Richard Dawson along to the track to help out with a few teething problems. Richard ran the car for thirteen years up to around 1987.
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"I would be pleased to meet anyone this weekend who can give me any information about the late Jim Tester, engine wizard, or if you would simply like to chat about Jaguar engined cars, as I am gathering information for a future feature."

Gardermoen hotel discount.
1st July: Many thanks to Øyvor Jacobsen for letting us know that racers and spectators attending the NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen on 6th-8th August can take advantage of discounted rates at a local hotel.
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The Quality Hotel Gardermoen, located close to the E6 motorway five kilometres (or seven minutes) from Gardermoen Raceway, is offering single rooms for 600 NOK and double rooms at 700 NOK. To book rooms, call +47 63 92 61 57 quoting the reference POW.

You can find the Quality Hotel Gardermoen web site at www.choicehotels.no/hotels/no014, or click on the logo at right.

WRE Test Day reminder.
1st July: Ian Marshall of joint Eurodragster webcam sponsor Webster Race Engineering has been in touch to remind those racers who attended the rained-out Test Day in March, or who are entitled to a free WRE Test Day by dint of their 2003 UK Championship position, that there are three Test Days left to take advantage. The remaining WRE Test Days are Wednesday 14th July, Wednesday 18th August and Wednesday 22nd September, and Ian tells us that 14th July is filling up quickly.

"If you are intending to take advantage of your 50% discount from March, or your free entry, on 14th July or on any of our other Test Days then please note you should still send an entry form", says Ian. "Whether or not you are getting concessionary rates, the 14th July test is starting to fill up so we recommend that you get your entries in soon."
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The deadline for entry to WRE Test Days is four days before the event, after which a late entry fee will be levied if entry is accepted.

You can download a WRE Test Day entry form (Word format) by clicking here, or from the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries then please call Webster Race Engineeering on 01933 315236.

Early bath for Jones & Friend.
1st July: The UK's Jones and Friend Comp Bike team reaped the benefits of a lengthening job on their bike at the SPRC Summernationals before being forced to take an early bath. "It was a rainy start to the Summernationals", says Dave Friend. "The Santa Pod track crew deserve a big thank you for all the efforts to get us all racing, only to be thwarted by the rain.

"Since the Main Event we have lengthened our EFI blowthrough alcohol turbo bike to stop it being so lively, with some longer axle blocks made in quick time by Dave Branch Engineering - thanks Dave. I lengthened our old wheelie bars and we also fitted a new Mickey T rear tyre.

"On Sunday we qualify #1 with a 7.88/160, and in the first of round eliminations we run another 7.84/163. Gary tells me that the bike is so smooth to ride now that it is longer, but back in the pits we find we have chunked the tyre on its third pass, so unfortunately we are out of competition, off home and not happy bunnies at all, but we have more data to look at in the development of our EFI alcohol injection system. It would appear that we were not the only racers suffering this problem as several Pro Stockers had it as well. The Mickey Thompson tech support personnel were at this meeting, and I know that other racers had spoken to them about this tyre problem. I asked them to come to look at our tyre which one of them did, he told us that he had walked the length of the track and that the track, was too sticky at the top end and not sticky enough at the start.

"On Monday I made some phone calls to the US, a reliable source confirmed that bike racers including Larry McBride have suffered the same problems with chunking of MTs and Goodyears. The answer, but not the cure, seems to be to run a slightly lower tyre pressure than you normally would to allow the centre of the tyre to concave slightly and this has stopped the the chunking. I spoke to Ian Marshall of the track prep crew at Santa Pod, who also is fully aware of the chunking problem, he has spoken to several sources in the US including Larry Mcbride, who confirmed that he run a lower tyre pressure and it stopped the chunking. Ian is also in discussion with the NHRA Virginia track prep crew, who are also having this problem at their track so hopefully we will have a solution to this problem of chunking tyres soon."
©Eurodragster.com
One of the Mickey Thompson representatives who was at Santa Pod at the weekend told Eurodragster: "We walked the track on Friday and it was very sticky at the top end but not at the start line. However this was before the track crew had started to prep the track for the race, and the previous weekend's event had been an event for Japanese cars which were either front wheel drive or rear wheel drive with hard radial tyres. After the track prep had been carried out the surface at the start was of a very high standard."

An inside view.
1st July: Eurodragster reader Mike Haynes spent the SPRC Summernationals working with Pro Stock Bike racer Richard Gipp after successfully bidding for the privilege in the auction for Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head.

"I have been following the Auction for Scary, and I bid for several items", says Mike. "Little did I realise that I would end up winning three items, all of which entail spending time with various race teams. I would like to say a big Thank You to Pro Stock bike racer Richard Gipp for the time I spent with him at the Summernationals. Despite the weather it was a great weekend, and I got to see a side of things that you just don't get to see from the grandstand."
©Eurodragster.com
A big Thank You to Mike and to everyone else who has bid for items in the auction for Sarah Jane Head. Some items are still available including days with race teams; to see what it available or to make a bid then click on the Auction for Scary link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

AAFA merchandise on offer.
1st July: If you missed the Goodwood Festival of Speed, or couldn't find the USAutomotive marquee containing all of the Fuel Altered merchandise, then Andrew Kirk tells us that USAutomotive still has available a small stock of items from the event including T-shirts, videos and model cars.
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"A real bargain is the 1/18 scale metal model of Pure Hell from Precision Miniatures(right, click on picture for large version), which is so detailed it's unbelievable", says Andrew. "This is available from USAutomotive for just 70 plus postage - $164 retail plus shipping/taxes from the US. There are only four left! Other items include Pure Heaven and Rat Trap T-Shirts at 20, Rat Trap hats at 10, Hot Wheels miniatures of Rat Trap for 2 and a special edition, highly detailed version for 10. Finally there is a nostalgic video of all five fuel altereds in action for just 15 plus postage - only five are left.

"For further information or to place orders call Lynn Stafford at USAutomotive on 01234 273155. Lynn says that she'll be taking a few Rat Trap and Pure Heaven T-shirts to the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend."

Swift snippets.
1st July: Thanks to our good buddy Christer Abrahamson for tipping us the nod that today is the birthday of Svein Gottenberg's partner Anne Hågensen. Gentlemen do not give the age of ladies so let's just say that in the days before 0.000 RTs Anne would have pulled a perfect light on a Pro tree. Gratulerer med dagen, Anne!
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Summernationals timing data.
1st July: We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for forwarding us the timing data from the SPRC Summernationals. You can view the timing data by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
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Andy tells us that he will no longer be publishing some of his statistical analyses (although the Anorak Stats are safe - Ed). "It has become apparent that this information is being used without appropriate credit being given, which is simply not acceptable given the time and effort which goes into producing it", he says. "If anyone does want such information then please E-Mail me directly at andy@tsitimers.co.uk."

Points update.
1st July: We are indebted to UK National Championship Co-ordinators Simon Groves and Yvonne Tramm for sending us the UK National Championship standings after the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, which you can view by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Simon tells us that the post-SPRC Summernationals points are currently awaiting paperwork and that racers should stay tuned.
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Web site updates.
1st July: The official web site of Switzerland's Roofer's Toy Pro Mod team has been updated with a feature about Turtman ex-military air base, where the annual drag race is to be held on 16th-18th July. Peter Wacker's update includes a cool video clip of the air force leaving Turtman for the last time. Check it out at www.roofers-toy.ch.

UK Top Methanol Funny Car racer Steph Milam's She Devil Racing web site has been updated with the latest news from the team including photographs of the FC with its new body and blower. You can find Steph's web site at www.shedevilracing.co.uk.
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UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost has updated his web site with race reports for rounds three, four and five of the CCSE Championship. Andy's report of his victorious weekend at the Summernationals makes particularly interesting reading. Check it out at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.

Eurodragster Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a very large number of trackside photographs from last weekend's SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can view Sharkman's pictures at www.topendtales.com.


Earlier news


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