|
|
Allstar Nationals results.
31st August: Congratulations to the winners of this weekend's Allstar Nationals at
Shakespeare County Raceway:
Fuel Funny Car: Gordon Smith 13.287/64.73 def. John Spuffard 10.832/95.19 red light
Top Methanol: Lindsay Deuchar 6.389/196.82 def. Trev Capewell 15.558/51.74
Super Modified: Andy Kirk 8.032/169.70 def. Andy Hone 8.084/168.46
Super Pro ET: Paul Marston (8.47) 8.508/160.10 def. Steve Johnson (7.52) 7.705/152.68
Pro ET: Tig Napier (10.21) 10.242/128.76 def. Kev Slyfield (11.44) 11.416.118.16
Sportsman ET: Mark Anderson (12.78) 12.805/103.76 def. Linda Platt (12.71) 12.746/110.55
Super Comp: Shaun Lathan 9.100/151.76 def. Brian Pateman 10.334/93.63
Super Gas: Spencer Tramm 10.083/118.89 def. Peter Lane 9.956/143.49
Super Street: Dave Cherrett 10.987/101.30 def. Mike Bentley 11.009/131.79
Junior Dragster: Jay Hauser (10.24) 10.279/63.20 def. Tom Watts (10.97) 10.938/58.44 red light
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Nash 8.935/170.77 def. Colin Lazenby 8.525/178.47 red light
Wild Bunch: Joe Stevens (10.24) 10.244/132.37 def. Tony Smith (11.54) 11.637/112.16
Outlaw Anglia: Paul Hensher 14.816/71.31, Paul Wright no show
VW Pro: Russ Fellows (10.75) 11.083/119.43 def. Pete Englezos (10.99) 11.199/124.43
VW Sportsman: Mick Geraghty (15.50) 16.656/61.74 def. Richard Merriman (14.40) 17.535/91.12
VW Alternate Engine: Spencer Tramm (9.90) 10.083/110.06 def. Joe Williams (15.40) 15.662/81.22
©Eurodragster.com
All bike classes ran their finals over the eighth mile due to a crosswind:
Top Fuel Bike: Steve Woollatt 5.368/106.64 bye, Steve Carey broke
Funny Bike: Neil Midgley 4.414/162.45 def. Paul Knapp 4.666/153.58
Pro Stock Bike: Paul Watson 4.733/147.54 def. Tony Clark 5.052/140.52
Comp Bike: TJ O'Brien staged, Vaughan Foster no show
Super Street Bike: Graham Dance 5.495/144.23 def. Ivan Birch 6.877/104.41
9.90 Bike: Steve Coombs 7.015/97.19 def. Richard Sawatzki 6.779/89.82 red light
10.90 Bike: Dave Burfitt 7.086/100.45 def. John Hackney 6.850/96.98 breakout
Supertwin Gas: George Laycock 5.966/114.80 def. Andy Smith 6.109/112.22
Supertwin Modified: Simon Hodgson 6.405/118.19 def. Dave Bartz 6.988/103.93
Supertwin Street: Mark Earrey 6.498/110.29 def. Dave Jones 6.687/98.47
Junior Drag Bike: Andy Irvine (11.80) 11.913/55.76 def. Harry Stedman (9.40) 67.06
Monday's eliminations were marred by a top end crash involving Super Gas racer Steve Dunn, the
Tokyo Toy making a hard turn on the finish line then rolling out. Steve was taken to hospital to be
checked out and suffered nothing worse than a black eye. "Steve has a huge shiner, but only one", says Jon
Evans. "Steve asked us to thank Andy Robinson for building such a safe race car, the rescue services for
their rapid rescue, and our fellow racers for their support".
A couple of notables in the above results were that Spencer Tramm had a happy ending to his day by winning
both Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine after being in the other lane when Steve Dunn crashed - the
second time that this has happened to Spencer - and that Colin Lazenby set a new Custom Car Street Eliminator
speed record of 178.47 mph in the CCSE final.
You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored
Allstar Nationals coverage, including some great start line photographs kindly contributed
by Roger Gorringe, by clicking
here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
SFI belts update.
31st August: UK Tech Inspector Geoff Martin has asked us to inform racers that
SFI spec 16.1 seatbelts with the belts in Y configuration will no longer be accepted.
Any such belts already in use have a grace period of two years from date of fitting.
©Eurodragster.com
If you have any queries then please contact Geoff on 01608 674121 or E-Mail
geoffrey.martin4@btopenworld.com.
2004 NDRS Champions.
31st August: Many thanks to our good buddy Christer Abrahamson for confirming this year's
Nordic Drag Racing Series Champions. Congratulations to:
Comp Eliminator: Janne Ahonen
Stock/Superstock: Anders Pettersson
System Edstrm Super Comp: Jonas Staflund
Twinlab Super Gas: Hkan "Halmhatt" Mattsson
Super Street: Halvor verby
Funny Bike: Anders "Forra" Forsberg
Super Gas Bike: Ingvar Kllgren
Street Bike: Rehan Ahmad
Junior Dragster: Lina berg
The final round of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified takes place at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway next week.
You can see the full NDRS points standings on the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
31st August: Having tuned John Spuffard to runner-up spot at the Allstar Nationals,
Showtime Fuel FC Crew Chief Bob Jarrett is now headed for the US Nationals at Indy where
he will be working as Assistant Crew Chief on Terry Haddock's Fuel Funny Car. Terry's Crew Chief is
Terry Manzer who tuned Chuck Etchells to the first-ever four-second pass by a Fuel FC. Bob flies back to
the UK immediately after the US Nationals for next week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod.
©Eurodragster.com
Finals entry list updated.
31st August: We are as ever indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall
for forwarding us the latest update to the official entry list for the FIA European Finals, which take
place at Santa Pod Raceway next week.
©Eurodragster.com
You can see the current Finals entry by clicking
here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page
and selecting the FIA European Finals link.
Web site updates.
31st August: The official web site of the European Top Methanol Racers Association at
www.etmra.com has been updated with Top Methanol results and timing data
from the Allstar Nationals and the current points standings in the MSA British Drag Racing Championship.
©Eurodragster.com
Carl Wadkin-Snaith has prevailed upon his daughter Bryony to give some server space on her personal
web site to some of his photographs from Saturda's action at the Allstar Nationals. You can find Carl's
pictures in Gallery 3 at www.bryony.evemail.net.
Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site with his photographs from the weekend's NDRS Finals. You can check
out Patrik's excellent pictures at www.racebilder.nu.
Hot, but not, weekend.
30th August: UK Funny Bike and Super Street Bike racer Dave Bailey must
be wondering exactly what he did to upset whom after failing to qualify for this weekend's
Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Dave was originally going to contest Funny
Bike on his Scalded Cat Pro Mod Bike, but the bike could not be made ready in time so he
switched to his Brutefarce SSB which itself had to be repaired after problems at
On2Wheels last weekend. Dave takes up the story:
©Eurodragster.com
"It wasn't a good weekend for me", says Dave. "Firstly the van caught fire on
the M25 - luckily I have lots of fire extinguishers. Then the bike
wouldn't run right at all, so much that it caught fire at about three-quarter track on
Sunday - Shark caught it if you look at Sunday's pictures, you can see the flames
behind my leg!
"I found the problem, got it all sorted, and then it rained so I didn't even qualify. Oh
well, roll on the Europen Finals - it should all come together then...we hope.
"I will have the Funny Bike out for the National Finals if it's the last thing I do
(hopefully it won't be)!"
Perfect Awards won.
30th August: Both the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award and the
Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award were won on the first day of qualifying at
the Allstar Nationals.
Sportsman ET racer Mark Anderson took the 75 Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 in qualifying on
Saturday afternoon, whilst the 75 Perfect ET Award was won by Pro ET racer Malcolm Motler
with a 10.350 on a 10.35 dial-in in the fifth qualifying pairing of the first class to run this
weekend! Congratulations to Mark and Malcolm.
Both prize funds have now been rest to 50 for the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in
a couple of weekends' time.
Swift snippets.
30th August: Congratulations to Swedish NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified racer
Patrick Wikström who not only won the Swedish Pro Mod Championship at Mantorp Park
yesterday but also set new ET and speed records of 6.325 seconds and 364.45 kmh (226.46 mph). You can
read all about the NDRS Finals on the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se/short/finals/ndrsfinals04.html.
©Eurodragster.com
Smax crosses the Pond.
28th August: 2003 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion
Smax Smith has decided to return to Canada with his family in October this year,
says Team Manager Paul Townsend.
"Smax is basing himself in Canada to better serve his Fastco-UK customers and
is negotiating to sell Fastco-UK and subsequently supply from Canada and North America", says Paul.
"Smax is, as some of you may know, a Canadian citizen and his older children and family still live there. Smax and Belin have thought
long and hard with their children before taking this decision."
"It is an end to one chapter of our lives but I'm sure you will understand I still want to do my racing in the UK and the FIA" says Smax.
"I will be hoping to compete in the 2005 FIA European Championship subject to Sponsorship guru and Manager Paul Townsend but who
knows what 2006 will bring."
©Eurodragster.com
"Smax has had a fantastic career in drag racing in the UK", says Paul Townsend. "He has been involved in drag racing for thirty one
years now, the majority of which was in the UK -with only a small break the last time he went to Canada.
Smax will bow out at the FIA European Finals in September and would love to see all his friends and fans at the track . Fans
will be invited to sign their names on the body panels of his Top Fuel Dragster in exchange for a 5 contribution to his chosen charity for
2004, Promise Dreams which sends terminally ill children on a dream trip with their parents."
Paul told us to expect fireworks from Smax and the team at the European Finals, as they hope to have a 4.80 or less tune-up in the car for the weekend. "As
well as wanting to thank the crowd and fans - who can forget the winning at the Finals last year - Smax and I want to pay tribute to
Knut Söderquist, Alan Jackson and the crew for the last two years. Without them none of this would have been possible.
"Let's hope we have the weather at the Finals to allow the good times to roll.
As always the Mainline boys hope for fast racing, but with eveyone finishing the weekend without mishap."
Beck shines at Indy.
28th August: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Dave Beck delivered his best weekend this year in the
Prostar series at the Pingel Thunder Nationals in Indianapolis on 21st-22nd August, writes Stephen Moon.
Dave claimed fourth spot in the hotly-contested Pro Mod qualifying sessions, recording a 6.93 at 191 mph. An
attempt to improve upon this was foiled by a fuel pump failure, but despite melting some pistons, the 6.94
showed the tune-up in the MRE bike was working well.
As well as piloting the bike, Dave had to turn his hand to the rebuild, together with crew chief Royle Fears.
Team owner Jay Regan, accompanied by Charlotte Beck, was attending the charity auction for the late Brian
Schultz (rumour has it that a copious supply of alcohol resulted in Jay out-bidding himself on a number of items).
Meanwhile, engine builder and part-owner Roger Upperton was enjoying a holiday in Rome.
A late night thrash saw a new fuel pump installed, along with an almost complete rewire of the bike. Sunday
morning quickly came around and the team barely made the first round call, with Jay applying the final touches
to the wiring.
Jack Young, first round opponent, went up in smoke ensuring an easy passage into round two. Next, a 6.90
with a very strong 196 terminal ensured passage into the semis, with the team pleased with the consistency of the bike.
It was all over at this stage, as Dave faced the outstanding performer in the Pro Mod class this year, Charlie Farrar
on the Kawasaki. Charlie delivered a tremendous 6.76 at 202, although the MRE team werent disappointed with yet another 6.90.
Going into the Schnitz Memphis Blues Nationals in Tennessee on October 2-3, the team are feeling very confident.
Delivery of a long-awaited carbon and Kevlar TL1000 body has been taken, and this will bring the bike spot on the
weight limit. And with recent consistent 6.90s, hopes are high for improving on the weekends semi-final appearance.
©Eurodragster.com
Veidec Racing Championship report.
28th August: The Veidec Pro Stock Bike team came to Hockenheim with a strong bike,
but Crew Chief Roger Lyrén says that he knew that the track would be tricky. "After
the first qualifying session Roger Pettersson was #1 qualifier with a 7.79, with 150 metres smoking the tyre",
says Roger.
"We backed out more power and clutch for the second round of qualifying, but we could not leave the line;
with all the changes we made to the ignition the idle of the bike was way too low so we could not get it
runnning properly, or was something broken? I think our engine 'Predator' needed some care, this is why
it didn't work - engines are sometimes like babies.
"On Friday the organisers changed the running order so that all the FIA classes ran before us, and that
helped. We were first out and now Predator was more hungry than ever, 7.36/299.48 showed that there
was a chance of some good runs. Although the sixty foot was not so good, what was fun was that this
was a new track record for ET and Speed.
"For the final qualifier the track lost some start line traction, but 7.40/301.24 was an OK run
but we set another new European speed record, 301.24/187.18 mph!
"Remo Nasci qualified OK, he had big problems with spinning tires, but he managed to qualify sixth.
We also delivered an engine to Antonius Safiradis from Greece, and he qualified number seven! Impressive,
he ran a 7.76 and that is 0.5 seconds below his personal best. Well done Antonius, we are guaranteed
to see more of him in future.
"In eliminations Roger was as usual very hungry, taking wins over Martin Bishop, Anders Abrahamsson,
and Vesa Rautio in the final.
"I want to give special thanks to the Italian group Carlo Davide, Nickey, Martino, the Chef Papia
and all the others for the impressive hospitality, and the excellent Italian food which they made
for the team and our VIP guests. Of course the whole team did a wonderful job: Henke, Lasse Atle, Pl,
Roger, and all other team members, and all our families who take care of everything at home when we are
on tour, without them we could never do this.
"Thanks also to out sponsors, especially Veidec with Rickard Plsson and the all the Crew at Veidec.
Thanks to Suzuki, MotoSpeed, Vance and Hines Motosport, NGK, Arlen Ness, Shoei, RK Chains, Mickey Thompson Tires,
Cometic Gaskets, Papyrus, Wiklunds keri, JE Pistons.
"We have already won our eighth European Championship, but we will go to Santa Pod with the same goals as
always. We will also attend the Press Day on Wednesday o test some new things."
©Eurodragster.com
Jarrett's big step.
27th August: Showtime Fuel Funny Car
Crew Chief Bob Jarrett says that he has made his
biggest-ever step in the car's set-up before this weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County
Raceway. "Our goals are to get down the track and to improve reliability", he says.
©Eurodragster.com
Bob says that he has spent some time with NHRA racers and that this has put the team back in the
right direction. "I didn't realise how far behind we were until this season", says Bob. "You balance
your combination, and if you change one thing then you end up having to change four or five other
things. At the start of this year we put a John Force blower on the car and it completely changed
our combination: the clutch and fuel system stopped working in our best interests."
Bob has attended to the clutch and fuel problems with new parts already fitted to the Mustang-bodied
FC, and other parts have been freshened. "I had to pull strings in the USA to get things done!", he
says. "But we're ready to go and we're going to do the best we can this weekend."
Twins for Johansson?
27th August: 2003 NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Champion Roger Johansson is looking
to add a second car to his Mlndals Speedshop, Jotech Design, Allsugning AB, and Tafjords design och dekor-sponsored team
in 2005. "We plan to continue this year's development and make a really good start
next season", he says. "We are also planning a two-car team."
©Eurodragster.com
Roger says that his 2004 season has not gone very well so far, although he is looking for success
at this weekend's NDRS Finals and at the FIA European Finals in September. "We struggled with tyre shake
and after that I've made some driver errors", he says. "We have put in a new motor which is really making power. We have changed the
set-up of the car and made some major changes to the gearbox. But we are planning to finish the season as well as we did last year."
Editor's note: Thanks to Ulf Stadig of Nilsson Motorsports for help with the Pro Mod news items this week.
Swift snippets.
27th August: Drag Race klub Celje - SLOVENIA 29.8. dogodek kot ga e ni bilo...ne zamudite mednarodne
dirke...vse informacije dobite na nai spletni strani www.drcc-club.si.
©Eurodragster.com
Slovenia's DRCC Club is holding a Fast and Furious event at
Celje this Sunday (29th August). Qualifying takes place between 10:00 and 13:00 and eliminations
between 14:00 and 19:00. Amongst other attractions at the event are a Car Styling Show and a "Sexy Car Wash"
(So is the car or the wash sexy? - Ed). You can find full details on the DRCC Club web site
at www.drcc-club.si.
UK Funny Bike and Super Street Bike racer Dave Bailey has been in touch to let us know that he
has made a last-minute switch from FB to SSB this weekend after the Scalded Cat Pro Mod Bike couldn't
quite be prepared in time despite everyone's best efforts. "But thanks to Paul Wing working late into the night on various
damaged parts, the Super Street Bike will be ready!", says Dave. "So it's out with the big
nitrous jets again for a weekend of wheelies and mayhem."
Koedam's title weekend.
27th August: Marius ven der Zijden, Crew Chief of 2004 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Champion
Roel Koedam, has delivered the latest of his post-race reports, this from the weekend's Nitrolympics at
Hockenheim where Roel took the 2004 title.
While at this moment the XXVIII Olympic Games takes place in the southern part of Europe, we travelled to Hockenheim in Germany to
attend the fifth and penultimate round of the UEM/FIM Championship drag racing, aka The Nitrolympics.
Though the Hockenheim circuit offers by far the best facility on the tour, this cannot be said about the traction during ever since the renewal
of the track. This year unfortunately was no exception and the overnight rain showers (every night) didnt do any good either.
Theres nothing we can do about this, so we just have to deal with the situation. This doesnt mean that we do not feel sorry for it, as we
like to perform better and give the spectators low ETs on the scoreboards. The circumstances are the same for every competitor (though the
more power you have, the more difficult it is to adapt to such a situation) and we all knew that this event was going to be more like a survival test.
Once again, as always in Hockenheim, the media was present in large numbers and we got our fare share of attention.
The first qualifying day (Friday) was a real nice and sunny day.
To every ones surprise the Pro bike classes were scheduled as one of the first to go out on the track. When observing the riders ahead of us,
we came to the conclusion that it would make no sense to hit it hard right from the line as the track would by no means take it.
Therefore we decided to roll it off the line and open the throttle gradually during the run. In this way we would at least set a time to put us in a
qualified position. It was never under full power during that run and the best we could make of it at that moment was a 7.100/345 kmh. It
was the best ET of the first session. At least it looked we were qualified and we had gathered some data to work with.
Just before our second qualifying session of that day, the race director decided to change the running order and send some Sportsman car
classes over the track first hoping the track would improve a little. So back to pit area we went.
By the time it was our turn again, we rolled it off the line once more but opened the throttle a bit more. Our sixty foot time was a little better
but as soon as Roel opened the throttle, it instantly lost traction. Roel tried to feather the throttle twice but to no result. It even popped a burst
panel in the manifold as the fuel system of a Top Fuel motor is not set up to do this. The bike coasted across the line in 7.79/198.
Still we remained #1 at the end of the first day.
Saturday was a much cooler day and the sun stayed away all day. Nevertheless the temperatures were pleasant.
One of the most exciting things of the weekend was a photo shoot organised by our event sponsor, leisure clothing warehouse Dakota.
They came up with a real supermodel and during the shooting it was remarkably busy in our pit box.
Meanwhile the traction had improved a little bit because of track preparation, and more cars and bikes had gone over the track.
Our third qualifying run gave us a 6.49/348. Though still not under full power, this was more like we hoped to run.
This run came closer to our track record of 6.37 from last year, but more importantly it also gave us a comfortable #1 qualifier position.
When we checked over the engine afterwards, we found a substantial leak down over the #3 exhaust valve. With the emergency valve
seat repair job of the week before fresh in mind we decided to take no risk and dismantle the cylinder head for a closer look. This meant
that we had to skip the last session. Luckily for us, nobody was able to touch our 6.49 and we remained the #1 qualifier.
With the cylinder head off, we discovered a little melting damage between one of the two spark plug holes and the exhaust valve seat. This
was clearly the result of the necessary hasty repair job after Norway and was caused by some impurity during the aluminum welding process.
We decided to make a temporary repair to the head and take it a little cautiously during race day in order to try to survive. The leak down
tester would be our #1 tool during eliminations day. Because of this 'wound' we had no other choice than to review our racing strategy and
switch over to a 'limp home' mode and see what happened round by round.
Sunday started cloudy, but during the day the sun came out and stayed with us.
In the first round we met Luigi Ferretti (younger brother of Antonio) on his turbocharged Funny Bike. We won this round and even had
the possibility to click it off before the finish line in order to save the engine, 6.73/301. After this round we checked the repaired cylinder head as
well as we were able to from the outside. There was again a little leak down at that exhaust port, but nothing we could do about in time before
the next round. As it was not too bad we went to the semis. In the semi finals our opponent Ian King was an enforced no show as he had a crank
problem. This gave us the opportunity to nail it off the line and click it off a little early to save the engine. By opening the throttle right from the
line we would be able to see if the track already would hold the power. The result was instant loss of traction. It was no surprise, but at least we
learned something for the upcoming final round. On the other side of the ladder Italys Antonio Ferretti had worked its way to the finals. But he
also was struggling with technical (transmission related) problems. The final round of the weekend was not a real nice one as Antonio again suffered
a transmission problem and our bike dropped a cylinder right from the line. However it picked up during the run and we managed to cross the finish
line first and take the event victory.
As the icing on the cake our points lead is already big enough to take the Gold Medal in the UEM/FIM European Drag Bike Championship with
one more race to go. After winning it in 97, 99 and 03, Team Koedam took the European title for the fourth time!
A special thanks goes out to Zodiacs Ton Pels for opening his workshop on the Sunday before the Hockenheim event so that we could finish the
exhaust valve seat repair job from Norway, and also for his cylinder head repair suggestion in Hockenheim. This all played an important role to
get us through the hectic past two weeks. Also thanks to Dakota Industry for their extra support
during this event.
We have two more outings planned for this year. The first upcoming event is again in Germany but this time south-east of Berlin. The
weekend of 3-5 September is an all bike and music weekend at the Lauszitsring called Werner das Rennen.
Part of the festivities is a drag race scheduled on both Saturday and Sunday and we have been invited to make some demo runs.
The weekend after that is our last race of the year, which is the last European Championship round at Englands Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
Catching up with PMR.
27th August: Regular correspondent Paul Marston has been in touch after a
relatively long silence from the PMR pit.
Paul tells us that rather than his having nothing to say (Not gonna happen - Ed)
the long break in news has been because PMR have been so busy.
"Since our last National Event, the SPRC Summernationals at Santa Pod which saw Gary Springford and myself make it to the semi final
of Pro ET and the final of Super Street respectively, the Insanity Chevy Vega and Grumpy's Dodge have been very busy
the Drag Race Driving School at Webster Test Days and Peak Performance days, both at Santa Pod Raceway", says Paul. "Add to this our now-infamous
Passenger Rides which are proving more and more popular; the Mopar Euro Nationals was a particularly busy with passengers along with
other specially-arranged days.
"The mid-summer break in the National Championship trail may be a time for some well-earned rest for most teams, but for Paul Marston Racing
and the Drag Race Driving School its our busiest time. This year has seen a healthy increase in graduates from the School competing in events, with
two new drivers to make their competition débuts at the FIA European Finals and the National Finals respectively.
Also worth a mention is having had Top Gear presenter Tom Ford pass through the School, running a full pass at the Mopar Euro Nationals
having earlier attended a Peak Performance Test day where he completed a teaching course and graduated with flying colours.
Tom Ford is genuinely a really great guy, a real car nut. He has driven many, many different race and road cars during his career, but had always had
a burning ambition to drive the most daunting - a drag racer. Up to now this was not possible, but with the advent of Paul Marstons Drag Race
Driving School, the opportunity arose. I wont spoil the story as I too am awaiting the October edition of Top Gear magazine, which hits
the newsstands on 1st September.
"Talking of which, a letter was published in the September edition of Custom Car from School graduate Dave Catton. Our thanks both to
Dave for writing and to Custom Car for publishing. Dave will be joining us and competing in the Insanity Vega later this year. Everyone at
Paul Marston Racing wishes Dave the very best of luck and we look forward to welcoming him back."
Meanwhile Paul's PT Bruiser is back on the scene, making a public appearance at the recent
UK Cruisers' Picnic in the Park at Billing Aquadrome before its first competitive appearance in
quite a while at this weekend's Allstar Nationals.
©Eurodragster.com
"PMR has attended every single one of UK Cruisers' events and race dates permitting we always shall, they are such a great bunch of people", says Paul.
"The event was a huge success, the weather held off and attendance records were broken. The PMR crew were kept busy all weekend, answering
questions and talking to fans old and new of the fastest naturally-aspirated PT Cruiser in the world. We fired up the PT Bruiser twice on both
days to a thrilled audience, this part of the weekend got the team back in the routine for running a Pro Stock motor which is naturally quite
different to the other race cars we have in the PMR stable. Our sincerest thanks to the organisers of the UK Cruisers Club for inviting us and
we all look forward to the next one its just such a great weekend. It gives us a well-earned break from the strip to recharge our batteries and
do all the "to-do list" jobs on the PT Bruiser and motorhome, ready for the next event whilst enjoying a great weekend with friends.
"This was the second event this month which the PT Bruiser has attended, preparatory to rejoining National Event competition. The first was
the Mopar Euronationals at Santa Pod, which saw the first tentative passes down the hallowed quarter at Santa Pod with the PT Bruiser's latest
engine spec. Although the motor suffered a little engine damage, the UK Cruisers' Picnic in the Park gave us the opportunity to repair the initial
damage, as usual with compressed air and a Hoover, using most of the attachments! Then a thorough check-over and some more fettling saw
the motor back to 100%.
"With the kind permission of Wendy Talbot PMR's entry this weekend has been changed from Grumpy's Dodge in Super Street to the
PT Bruiser's début in Super Pro ET. This is the first outing in competition for the PT Bruiser after a near two-year sabbatical, to say
that everyone in Paul Marston Racing is excited at the prospect is an understatement. We still have unfinished business with the PT Bruiser, the
end of the 2002 season saw the car achieving as much as we could have asked for, reaching final rounds in both Super Comp and Super Pro, but
the between-round maintenance was just too time-consuming to take that next step up the ladder and become a real Championship contender.
To this aim the Pro Stock motor has been fitted with some new internal parts which we have developed in an effort to achieve the same reliability
and maintenance schedule enjoyed by most of our fellow competitors. This coming weekend sees the first phase of three in our development
programme to get where we need to be, ready for a full assault on a 2005 title.
"With maintenance minimized we are free to work on the chassis set-up. It is true to say that we have made some good progress here in
past seasons, but with a much more stable performance platform it leaves us able to experiment a little more and be more creative, try some new stuff!
Hence Super Pro ET is our class of choice, we intend to run the PT Bruiser flat-out and no holds barred, lets see what she can really do!
On its last competitive outing the PT Bruiser ran 8.06/167, we do not expect to be close to this kind of performance right away, but it does
give us something to aim at for the future. We will be looking for a good run of consistent times, and a motor still in one piece by the end of play
this weekend would also be nice!
"Our thanks go out to everyone at Paul Marston Racing, Drag Race Engineering, Chrysler UK, Top Gear Magazine, London Road Tyres, Black
Box London, Disco Equipment Hire and all our supporters and sponsors. A special thank you to Custom Car magazine and to Carla
Pittau and Rick McCann for their kind words in the Summernationals Pro ET report, last but not least thanks to Eurodragster for all your help, we
owe you guys (Thanks! - Ed)."
Allstars scrutineering.
26th August: Scrutineer Glenn Stockton has been in touch with an important notice for
racers attending this weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
"I will be scrutineering on Friday afternoon, it looks like we have a lot to do", says Glenn. "I have a
scrutineer who is new to drag racing coming along, so please go easy on him until he learns about the
atmosphere at a drag race - it will be a bit different to the roundy-roundy stuff he is used to."
Moore's goals.
26th August: Photo-journalist Mark Gredzinski has been in touch with an update from the
pit of The Mob Fuel Altered team, who will be taking on Wendy Baker in an AA/FA match race at this
weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
"The crew have recieved a brand new set of BRC Fuel con rods which crewchief Ollie Burn is installing in readiness for this weekend", says
Mark. "The nitro Donovan-powered Mob AA/FA should therefore be on song.
"Having run a seven in the slick conditions of the Bulldog Bash, the team are looking forward to getting back in the 7.20/190+ groove at the
very least. However, Mickey Moore's goals are still to run a six-second pass at 200 mph and this is what he'll be trying to accomplish with his hard-working
team this weekend. Mickey says that he is looking forward to match racing with Wendy Baker but ultimately he will be running his own race as
he tries to run the numbers that have eluded him thus far."
©Eurodragster.com
If you were tuned in last week you will have seen that Mark got a mention in Colin Lazenby's tale of his eventful journey after
the Webster Race Engineering Test Day; Mark asked us to thank Colin for letting him stay in his capacious trailer on occasion
this season. "However, now that Colin has had said trailer awash with spilt petrol in an 'accident', I suspect he is trying to get rid of me", says
Mark. "Unless I can afford an industrial chemical mask, he may well have succeeded!"
Flynn's SCR début.
26th August: UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn and the Gold RV
Racing team and can't wait for this weekend's Allstar Nationals, says Derek. "This is our début at Shakey", he says. "We would like to thank
Wendy Talbot for all her help, it is just amazing the amount of effort and commitment which so many people put in to our sport, just so us racers can
go racing. Thanks to you all, it is very much appreciated, and we hopt that in time we can contribute something back to the sport!
"We could not believe our eyes when the points table was published, we are currently fourth in the UK National Championship and we have
not competed at Shakey yet. We are still not quite sure how all the points get worked out (Pauline has tried her best to explain it to me) but
there it was in black and white, fourth. This is mainly thanks to a great team effort by the Go Gold Crew who have put many hours of hard work to
keep us competing, huge thanks also to Steve Johnson of the Motor Mouse team, who has lent us various bits and loads of advice all year, even
robbing bits from his own car whilst still competing to keep us running, top bloke (and Pat!).
©Eurodragster.com
We have had to complete a few minor repairs to the car and the preparation has gone fairly well. We seem to be overloading the carb at present, but I'm
sure that the team will have us ready to race come Saturday. Thanks to Andy Robinson for the excellent backup, he has been in a couple of times this
week to do some tweaking to our rear wing and generally offer his advice regarding our car. Thanks also to Andy Carter who has been on the phone after
his return from Germany to wish us all the best, and to give me a couple of hopefully-useful pointers...bad luck Andy, you just have to be #1 qualifier
and win the European Finals and who knows!
"We would also like to take this opportunity to wish Bob Glassup and the Xtreme Wheels Racing crew all the best for their competition début
in the Xtreme Wheels Topolino, the crowd will be in for a real treat if his last run is anything to go by! See ya at the line Bob!
"If anyone is looking for a new race car trailer, we now import and convert these as well as RVs, for more details check out our web
sites at www.goldrv.co.uk and www.goldrvracing.co.uk.
Lindahl wants to win.
26th August: Swedish NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified racer Micke Lindahl has a simple aim at this weekend's
NDRS Finals at Mantorp Park, which includes the Swedish Open Pro Mod Championship as well
a round of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified. "With the Swedish Championship and the
increased prize money in NDRS Pro Mod this really is a competition that we are aiming to win!", says Micke.
The Kendall Oil and APP-sponsored team are satisifed with their performances this year but Micke modestly says
that the driver needs more practice, adding that teething problems last year held back the beautiful Chevy.
©Eurodragster.com
"We had the opportunity last year to record the times we are running now, but we struggled with some teething troubles", says Micke.
"This year our stuff has stayed together all season, so we have focused on tuning our car and engine for the
performances we have been producing lately. We need it because this class is getting so tight that it almost
doesnt matter who you are racing."
The team are also looking forward to the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod and are already thinking about 2005.
"In the UK every team prepares for new personal records, so it will be an awesome event", says Micke. "Next year we will continue
with the same ideas which we are starting to learn now, and we will be looking to add more sponsors."
Wikström's rewarding season.
26th August: Fellow NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod racer
Patrick Wikström and
the OFAB Motorsport team have had a rewarding season despite bad results in competition, says team member Krister
Peterson.
©Eurodragster.com
"The new team is working together well and we are having fun at the races", says Krister.
"We havent stepped up the performance yet, but we hope that we have chased the gremlins out of the car so we can step up
now. We want our European records back for our sponsors OFAB, Sweden Cubic Oil, Dockhouse Film and
Television, Rogers Motorborrningar, Orust Fartygservice, MDS, and Prospons."
Krister says that there is more than one good thing about this weekend's NDRS Finals. "At Mantorp Park, the Swedish Championship
and the good prize money mean that all of the teams win, it will be exciting", he says. "Then we are looking forward to Santa Pod because
it is one of the best tracks in Europe and we expect quick times from many of the Pro Mod teams."
Editor's note: Thanks to Ulf Stadig for translating the above two news items.
Pels' narrow lead.
26th August: Holland's Zodiac Racing Supertwin team were struggling all weekend at Hockenheim
trying to find traction and a good set-up, writes Monique Pels. "After two days of qualifying, Ton Pels was qualified second. 'Pole
position' went to Sweden's Charley Karling who was showing very strong and consistent performances at Hockenheim.
"After a 6.96 bye run in the first round and an early-shut-off 7.04
defeating Joachim Riemer from Germany in the semi finals, Ton was to meet
Charley in the final once again. Although the odds were in Charley's favor
and Ton experienced some problems in the final - the engine dropped a
cylinder - Charley had even worse problems and Ton managed to finish first.
"This resulted in Ton improving his lead position in the European
Championship by a few points. So going to the European finals in a few
weeks we have a slight advantage, but still anything is possible, so
it's going to be very interesting...
"For the full story and some fun pictures, please visit the News page at
www.zodiacracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Hockenheim FIM/UEM report.
26th August: We are as ever indebted to FIM/UEM European Drag Bike Championship
Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for sending us a report on the weekend's events at Hockenheim. Lars has
confirmed our understanding of Sunday that Roel Koedam and Roger Pettersson had won the FIM/UEM European
Top Fuel Bike and Pro Stock Bike Championships respectively; congratulations to them.
All was the same as expected. The track was not to Championship standard on Friday
morning. It looked good but it was not safe to ride on. But later on the Friday
it was much better and for the rest of the weekend was it possible to ride on. As you saw Roger Pettersson
set a new speed record and Anders Karling a new ET record. Maybe this is more a matter of who is good
on their bikes than the performance of the track. The other problem is lining up. It takes too much time
causes gaps in the racing due to the fact that the line-up is too short between the checkpoints.
Anyway we finished the race and it looks very exciting before the final round in England.
In Supertwin is it absolutely impossible to say who will win. Ton Pels has a small advantage but it is
only fourteen points before Charley Karling and Ronny Aasen is not so far behind.
Ton, who won the final at Hockenheim against Charley is my favourite to win the Championship, but if
Charley sets a new record or if Ton has a problem in qualifying then anything can happen.
In the other classes it is already clear. Roel Koedam is the Champion in Top Fuel Bike and he
also won at Hockenheim against Antonio Ferretti. Roel had to work very hard after Norway but finished the
bike in time. We had good qualifying, riders from Greece and Italy as well as all the usual countries.
This looks good for the future. It was also very nice to see Martyn de Haas back after his accident in
Norway. He did not have any problems himself, just some continuing problems with the bike. It was also
good to see Ian King back but also had problems with the crank. Peter Bossert from Switzerland was
also in the pits this time. He qualified but also had problems.
In Pro Stock Bike Roger Pettersson is Champion but second place is open. Chris Hope, Vesa Rautio and
Anders Larsson can all take second place. Anders also ran fast at Hockenheim but had some
problems and was defeated by Vesa in the semi finals when he had some problems with the crank,
but hopefully can he fix that before the final in England. Vesa, who had problems at the beginning of
the year, has now got the bike working very well. I must mention that we were missing Helen
Curran this time, that for the first time a Greek qualified, and that we also had a lot of Italian
riders. So the Championship looks very international and is really getting stronger.
Hopefully can we have a race at Hockenheim next year and with some work can this be one of the best races.
If we just have a good track from the beginning and if the line-up can work a little bit better then
it should be the best.
You can find the latest FIM/UEM European Championship points standings on the King Racing web site at
www.kingracing.com and on the Svensk Dragracing web site
at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
One step from perfect.
26th August: Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team owner Knut Söderquist
says that all four of his cars also had problems with traction at the weekend. Knut says that Hockenheim has a
lot going for it and that when the last piece falls into place then the facility will be hard to beat.
"We love Hockenheim, and we always look forward to going there", says Knut. "The facility is excellent, the
people are great and the fans are very appreciative. But the track itself really needs improvement, it could
be an awesome track. The prep reminds me of Santa Pod twenty years ago, and the clean-up after Leanders'
oildown was the worst I've seen in thirty two years of racing. Something needs to be done about it.
Hockenheim has everything else, and I've said that everything else about the facility is great. But sorting
out the track would make it perfect.
"Maybe we should have gone for lane choice on the semi-final, but we didn't - we just wanted to get down
the track and after Leanders' oildown I wondered whether I should let Micke Kågered run in the
final. But Tommy Möller earned a good win - no excuses from us, congratulations to Tommy."
The Carbon By Design team are in Stockholm this weekend fielding two Top Fuel Dragsters at the
Bilsport Drag Nats at Tullinge. Jöran Persåker will be match racing Chris Andrews,
who will be driving the Promise Dreams dragster usually driven by Smax Smith. The CBD team will
then be concentrating on the FIA European Finals. "I keep telling you that the Carbon By Design team
are not garage racers", says Knut. "We'll be at Santa Pod and we'll be ready."
Swift snippets.
26th August: UK Pro ET racers Iain and Liz Malcolm will be sitting out this weekend's
Allstar Nationals as they are completing upgrades to the new Kinsler fuel injection
system on their Jus' 4 Fun dragster. "Whose great idea was it to go for a 2.0 Pinto
set-up!", say Iain and Liz. "We will be testing the dragster at Santa Pod's Test Day
on 4th September and if all goes well will be competing at the European Finals.
All the best to everyone racing this weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
26th August: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Smax Smith's web site has been
updated with a report and photographs from last weekend's Nitrolympics at Hockenheim. As ever the report
makes good reading and there are some excellent photographs. You can find the link to the Hockenheim
report immediately under the race results at www.smax.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The Racebilder web site at www.racebilder.nu
has been updated with a number of pictures from the Trollhättan Saabdraget.
Nilsson has fun.
25th August: NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified points leader
Håkan Nilsson says that it will be fun to
contest a second race in Sweden this year. This weekend's NDRS Finals give the Pro Mod racers a
second chance this year to run at Mantorp Park, where new European ET and speed records were
set at the Veidec Nitro Festival. "The Mantorp track picked up a lot over the Veidec Festival and we should be
able to take advantage of this in the coming weekend", says Håkan.
Although the Veidec-backed team are leading the NDRS Series, Håkan is not satisfied with the Camaro's performance.
"The pre-season testing gave us some real good eighth-mile ETs", he said. "If we could have repeated these numbers, then the
European record would be elsewhere! The red light in the first race made us more focused and sharp in the following races, and that
may in fact have helped us to perform well. Our learning curve has gone straight up this season and made the Pro Mod racing even more fun."
We asked Håkan whether being points leader affected the way he approached races.
"We have learned over the years that anything can happen", he said. "It ain't over 'til it's over.
A bunch of teams have stepped up in performance as well as consistency this season. Anyone in the top five in the points is a big threat,
Pro Mod has never been as competitive as it has been this year. There are no longer any 'easy' wins, you have to work hard for it.
We have seen the predicted winners break their starter motors in the first round and so on - we will celebrate once
we're there."
©Eurodragster.com
So who are the 'big threats'? "Fast Freddy can jump five tenths in ET without warning", said Håkan. "That makes him a wild card! He used
to be sharp on the Tree as well, but I think he's getting old! What Micke Lindahl has done this year has earned him our deepest respect. He is
quick, powerful and a tough racer. And Mats Eriksson seem to have done his homework. He's got the power, and seems to have a good handle
on things. His pit area is clean and tidy: that's always sign of good organisation which leads to consistency, and I'm sure he has a winning team."
Håkan said that making plans for the future makes racing more fun. "Firstly, going to the European Finals at Santa Pod is always a great
way to end the season. If things go well and we can claim another Championship, we are going to enjoy it even more. But we
know that next year is probably going to be even tougher
as far as competition is concerned, and that we will have to work harder. This means that the team will have to be even more motivated
and dedicated to their task. As far as performance, we always wish we had more power - this will need to be taken care of for next year.
"I would like to thank Rickard Plsson at Veidec, our long-time supporter and supplier of good material.
And thanks also to J Nilsson and the others for standing by us through our racing."
Far from Green.
25th August: Fellow Swedish Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson says that his season so far has gone
beyond expectation. Race car builder Mats has set new personal bests at just about every outing this year, and is the
current holder of the European Pro Mod speed record at 362.52 kmh or 225.26 mph, making him the first European
Pro Mod racer over 225 mph. The Valvoline and ME Race Service-sponsored Green Goblin team are now preparing for this weekend's NDRS Finals at Mantorp Park
which includes the Swedish Open Pro Mod Championship as well as the penultimate round of the NDRS Bilsport
Pro Modified Series.
"We are beginners in Pro Mod, but we are learning more and more", says Mats. "Our new BAE engine has helped us to pick up the performance
and there is more to come! Right now we are tuning and fixing the Green Goblin for the NDRS Finals and then the European Finals -
that's one of the highlights of the year and we won't miss it."
©Eurodragster.com
Mats tells us that plans are already afoot for next year. "We want to sort out our brand new clutch combination and gain more experience, and I also would like
to improve my driving skills", he says. "We are also looking forward to getting our new truck and trailer ready for 2005.".
You can find the NDRS Finals entry list on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se,
and if you are competing at Mantorp Park this weekend then it is not too late to send us a race preview at
news@eurodragster.com.
Editor's note: Thanks to Ulf Stadig of Nilsson Motorsports for translation.
Business to finish!
25th August: The UK's Shell Racing Top Methanol Dragster team are looking for a five-second
pass and the event win at this weekend's Allstar Nationals, as Crew Chief Martyn Hannis says that he and driver
Doug Bond have some unfinished business from last season.
"At last year's Allstar Nationals we dropped a valve in the burnout in the final round, handing the win to Steph Milam and the She Devil team",
says Martyn. "Doug is looking forward to this weekend, he loves racing at Shakespeare County Raceway as it has been our home track
for thirty years."
©Eurodragster.com
With the car up for sale, Martyn has gone easy on the changes, having made a couple of modifications in the valve train area.
"We have had one or two people interested in buying the car, but as yet it has not sold", says Martyn, "It needs to be seen to be sold, so we'll be
there."
Racers: Send your Allstar Nationals previews to us at news@eurodragster.com
and we'll publish them here.
Another 200 mph Grumpy.
25th August: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Paul 'Grumpy' Watson took some time out from preparing
for this weekend's Allstar Nationals to attend Judgement Day 4, which was put on by the
200mph.org Club. "This was my
first time competing in the top speed world of Flyers", says Paul. "It's over a two-mile
strip at RAF Woodbridge. There are various classes from Standard, Modified
but unopened engine (my class), opened engine, and anything goes class, although
mainly made up of Suzuki Hayabusas and Kawasaki ZX12s there was a vast
range of machinery there.
"Many people set new personal bests including me. I managed 199.52 mph on
my road 'Busa which took the win in Class 2, the record being 200.2 set last
year by Slugger I believe. I am also very happy as four of the top five bikes were
all tuned by me at Dynospeed Developments.
It was a very enjoyable day out and perhaps next year a few more racers
would like to come along a give it a go.
©Eurodragster.com
"This week we will be going over the DSD Pro Stocker to make that sure everything is still fine from the last event,
where we started to get a handle on the Upperton powerhouse combined with
the new clutch set-up, managing 1.10 sixty-foot times. We expect to be able to improve on
the 7.53 we ran at the Pod.
"My Pro Stock Bike is still for sale at the end of the season, all enquiries to
Dynospeed Developments on 0208 500 5770 (outside the UK +44 208 500 5770)."
Allstars entry updated.
25th August: Many thanks to APIRA Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot for sending us
an updated version of the entry list for this weekend's Allstar Nationals.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the
updated entry list.
Allstar Nationals Awards.
25th August: The prize funds for the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award
and the Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award have increased after neither were won at
last weekend's On2Wheels at Santa Pod Raceway. A total of 150 is up for grabs at this weekend's Allstar
Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway as follows:
The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award: 75 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.
If the Perfect Light Award is not won at Shakespeare County Raceway then it will be increased to 100 for the FIA European
Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then the FIA European Finals prize fund will be reset to 50.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award: 75 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
all Super classes, all ET classes, Junior Dragster, 9.90 Bike, 10.90 Bike, all VW classes, the Wild Bunch
and Junior Drag Bike and is jointly presented by
Eurodragster.com and UK automotive painter and finisher Curbishley Automotive, owned by Martin and Ruth Curbishley.
If the Perfect ET Award is not won at Shakespeare County Raceway then it will be increased to 100 for the FIA European
Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then the FIA European Finals prize fund will be reset to 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.
It changes your life...
25th August: UK Super Gas racer Rob Elsom is to sell his Badabing! Camaro. Rob
tells us that he never realised that the arrival of his daughter Chloe (right) would change the way he thought.
"I never planned to sell the race car until recently", says Rob, "but I find myself perhaps not enjoying it so much without Sharon
there with me".
©Eurodragster.com
Rob will not be staying away from the strip, though. "The plan at the moment is to buy an AK427 Cobra
and keep involved by running it at Street Racer Sunday meetings", says Rob. "I will still be visiting the track on a
regular basis, as I still have some good friends at the Pod and Shakey. It's not a part of my life I'm giving up on just yet!"
Rob's Camaro has run a best of 9.6/138 in his hands and the all-tube chassis is certified down to 7.50. If you would be interested in buying the car then you can
find more details in the Cars For Sale section of our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet.
Lazenby responds.
25th August: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby has been in touch to answer
fellow racer Ian Jackson's comments on Monday's news update.
"Boy were my attempts at some winding up/light-hearted fun taken out of all context, what a complete and utter sucker", says Colin.
"Predictably all Ian's ranting is about him, and the way he has tackled the very ethos of the CCSE, he fails to see that it's the wide and varied
combinations which make the class what it is - exciting. Hey, let's not turn the otherwise newsworthy pages of Eurodragster into a forum
(Frosty and Besty don't wind me up either).
©Eurodragster.com
"The fact is I don't disagree with all Ian says, but we all (not just Ian) work desperately hard to run, maintain and repair our cars, year in year out. Crikey, we
celebrate ten years of owning the '56 this September and I refuse to permit angry words spoil our enjoyment. I'll be at the track early Friday morning if anyone
wants to talk to me."
Both racers having had a say, this correspondence is now closed.
Swift snippets.
25th August: The deadline is fast approaching for bookings for the FIA European
Finals Banquet, which takes place after eliminations on Sunday 12th September. Santa Pod Raceway tell us that
the Banquet is always sold out and that tickets are going fast. You can find a booking form for the post-Finals
Banquet on the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at
www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
©Eurodragster.com
Ripley heads back to sixes.
24th August: UK Top Methanol Funny Car racer Doug Ripley and the CC Racing
team have a pretty definite plan for this weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, says
Crew Chief Cliff Gould. "The main plan for the weekend is to get back in the sixes and back on track",
he says.
"We hope that we have sorted out the ignition problems which we had in the final round at the
SPRC Summernationals", says Cliff. "We think that the crowd and racers thought that Doug had shut
off early in the final. This was not the case, the mag just lost fire - Doug's intention was to go
for it. We have made a lot of changes to combat the problem, and I have made quite a big change
with the fuel system because of the new cam and compression we are trying in the motor."
Racers: Send your Allstar Nationals previews to us at
news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.
Bailey's bikes all better.
24th August: UK Funny Bike and Super Street Bike racer Dave Bailey
has had the bodywork of his Scalded Cat Pro Mod bike repaired and repainted after his
crash at Shakespeare County Raceway earlier this year, and sent
us a preview (right, click on picture for large version). "Thanks to Dave Hersey of Townley
Panel and Paint Ltd for getting it done in time", says Dave.
"All I need now is the bike to go under it and the guts to sit on it...I'm very much hoping to be at
Shakey this weekend and wish to thank Ken Cooper and Dave Branch for their
efforts toward this goal."
Dave's Brutefarce Super Street Bike broke at On2Wheels at the weekend, but it turns
out that only a new set of piston rings was needed to fix it, so Dave will again be contesting
9.90 Bike at the FIA European Finals. "The bike will be up
for sale after that complete with datalogger, laptop, and settings to run
the numbers (8.3s all day, zzz...)", says Dave, "so come and have a look at the European
Finals if you're interested - 4500 ono with lots of spares. The end of the
Brutefarce era - 1996 to 2004 - 11.1 to 8.30."
Ultimate Power outcomes.
24th August: We are indebted to Ultimate Power Championship points co-ordinator
Simon Groves for sending us a summary of the possible outcomes in the Ultimate Power Championship, whose
final round is this weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
Championships are, as ever, up for grabs in most classes. In Fuel Funny Car, Gordon Smith is only 18 points ahead of John Spuffard and
these two will again be the protagonists next weekend. In Top Methanol, Championship leader Rob Turner will unfortunately not be
present due to FIA Tour commitments and the Championship could go to Lindsay Deuchar, who is only two points behind Rob, or Doug Ripley who
is twenty one points further back.
Kev Perkins leads the charge in Super Modified with Andrew Hone less than one round of racing behind. Third-placed Paul Brooks
will need both of them to lose in the first round and win the event to leapfrog them. Shaun Lathan leads Super Comp, with
Chris Johnson having a mathematical chance of winning the championship if Shaun goes out in the first round of racing. Super Gas has
a strong field of fifteen cars. Points leader Conrad Stanley will need to win at least two rounds of racing to assure himself of the Championship, and if he
qualifies poorly and goes out early, almost anyone could win! Mike Bentley has again been very strong in Super Street, but this year his lead
over second-placed Bristol Doorslammer John Grant is tiny. With thirteen cars competing, this will be tightly fought and Bob Lees or Ian Brown could snatch the title.
Barry Giles' only realistic threat in Super Pro ET is Ian Tubb (who is the National Championship leader), who is just over two rounds of racing behind him.
In Pro ET, Team Top Banana are at the top of the tree. Twenty five cars are entered and Ian Brown, Wayne Hiscock, Aidan Kenny and John Morris
are possible contenders if the Huxleys slip up. Team Rainy City Lighting's Linda Platt leads Sportsman ET with Nick South less than one round back
and Harrison Brown and Nick Gay a couple of rounds further behind.
©Eurodragster.com
In Junior Dragster, Nick Mugridge has a healthy lead over Collin Morrice, with Charlotte Watts and Ross Norris having only a mathematical chance
of taking the title. Custom Car Street Eliminator is between Steve Nash and Ian Hook who is just a whisker behind. Mark Coulsell is under a round
of racing ahead of Tony Smith in the Wild Bunch, these two having put a sizeable margin between themselves and others.
Outlaw Anglia has grown in numbers this year and Pete Ashworth has been the most consistent on race-day. His 420-point lead over last year's Champ
Paul Hensher is going to be difficult to overhaul. This year, VW classes are contested at the Power Nationals and the Allstar Nationals.
In VW Pro, Rob
Bowler and Russ Fellows are out in front, whilst in VW Sportsman, Graham Fairhead and Michael Geraghty are leading.
In VW Alternate Engine, Spencer Tramm is looking good to take the title.
Congratulations to Steve Woollatt who has become Top Fuel Bike Champion once again. Neil Midgley has clinched the Funny Bike
title and our congratulations to him. Pro Stock Bike is very tight with only 40 points (less than one round of racing) separating Richard Gipp, Tony
Clark and Dave Beck. Qualifying Positions and low ET/top speed bonus points could help decide the Championship.
Competition Bike is led by TJ O'Brien in his first year in this class. Philip Leamon however is less than two rounds of racing behind.
Steve Venables leads Super Street Bike, with Graham Dance the only realistic contender, also being less than two rounds of racing behind.
In 9.90 Bike, Richard Sawatzki has a big lead over David Warren and Fred Furlong, who realistically only have a mathematical chance.
10.90 Bike is a contest between Shaun Spiers and John Hackney.
In Junior Drag Bike, Harry Steadman has a two round lead over Dan Baldwin which will be difficult to overcome.
Ian Turburville has all but clinched the Supertwin Fuel Championship. Congratulations to Simon Hodgson who is
Supertwin Modified Champion. In Supertwin Gas, George Laycock faces tighter competition from Andy Smith,
who is less than one round behind. Finally in Supertwin Street, Mark Earrey is more than two rounds ahead of Chris Mott.
Simon tells us that he will be calculating the Ultimate Power Championship points in real time at
Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend, so stay tuned to Eurodragster's live Event Coverage
to stay abreast of developments.
Allstars snippets.
24th August: The entry in Custom Car Street Eliminator at this weekend's Allstar
Nationals has gone up by two with the addition of Jerry Charles and Tony Hill, says Lee Child
of LA Performance Services. Jerry will be making his first competitive appearance with
an ex-Pro Mod 706 ci engine in his Scandalous street-legal Capri.
©Eurodragster.com
The deadline for advance tickets for the Allstar Nationals is 22:00 tomorrow (Wednesday).
You can order tickets from LA Performance Services' Credit Card Hotline at 01803 554308; for a
full list of ticket prices check out our news item of 10th August.
UK National points update.
24th August: We are indebted to UK National Championship points co-ordinators
Simon Groves and Yvonne Tramm for forwarding us the points standings in the UK Championships after the
SPRC Summernationals. Simon tells us that the points will shortly be updated to include the Super Modified
round at the Bug Jam, and the 9.90 Bike and 10.90 Bike rounds at On2Wheels.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the UK National Championship points, or click on the
Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
Swift snippets.
24th August: Congratulations to Supertwin stalwart Ian 'Rush' Carruthers and his wife Kerry on last week's
arrival of their daughter, a sister for Junior Drag Bike racer Jake. Ian Turburville tells us that the young lady
weighed in at "A good Pro Stock 6.5 pounds wet, approx! We wish her every happiness and hope to see her crewing for her brother in years to come".
We're sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Ian and Kerry their heartiest congratulations on the new arrival.
Meanwhile Ian Turburville tells us that he has had to withdraw from this weekend's Allstar Nationals.
"Thanks to the usual ineptitude of various solicitors my house move is now taking place this Bank Holiday weekend", says Turbo. "This means no
racing for me and there goes my hopes for the Championship. My contact details will be the same apart from my home address which I will send
out later. My Supertwin Fuel Bike is now for sale, for collection at any meeting or from my home as a complete turn-key operation so that I can
concentrate on the new Pro-Fueller."
This weekend's Bilsport Drag Nats, which includes a Top
Fuel Dragster match race, is the Final Go for Stockholm's Tullinge Raceway, says Suzzi Heleander. "They
are supposed to build houses in the Tullinge Raceway area", says Suzzi. "It's really sad because Tullinge
Raceway is a four-second track. Hopefully there will be a last four-second run at Tullinge this weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
24th August: Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder
web site with some 150 photographs from the Scandinavian Dragracing Championship round in Malmö this
past weekend. You can find Patrik's pictures at www.racebilder.nu.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with
a set of photographs and six Windows wallpaper files from last weekend's On2Wheels event at
Santa Pod Raceway. Check it out at www.topendtales.com.
Carter looks to precedent.
23rd August: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter
expressed himself "Disappointed, but not disappointed" after his semi-final exit at the weekend's Nitrolympics.
"Eddie Corr (Crew Chief - Ed) did a great job, my crew did well, I think I drove well and I am happy that we gave it our best shot", explained Andy.
Andy qualified third in the GoTalk dragster then went out to Tommy Möller after his tyres went up in smoke, and he is now third in the FIA European points behind Micke Kågered
and Tommy. With one event left to contest the gap to first place is two and a half rounds of competition. "Things could be better but I still have a chance", said
Andy. "It's not over yet, Micke can be caught, but it will be difficult to say the least."
Andy said that the time is past for giving up. "The tyres smoked really badly in the semi final but the competition is getting so serious now that it's
going beyond just getting off it", he said. "In hindsight maybe I chose the wrong lane but I can't say that the tyres wouldn't have smoked in the other lane."
©Eurodragster.com
Andy is now turning his thoughts to the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod, and he is in a position which echoes his Championship victory in 2001.
"In 2001 I went to the Finals and everyone was watching the people above me in the points", said Andy. "I sneaked in and took it. Everyone will be watching
me this time. We know what we can do at Santa Pod. Eddie will get the car down that track, and my crew are fantastic,
so we will go fast. I want to qualify number one, set Low ET of the event, and win: let Micke do the worrying!"
Points, European bests updated.
23rd August: We are indebted to FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell
Pettersson for sending us the post-Nitrolympx standings in the FIA Championships.
You can view the latest 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
Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has
moved almost as quickly as the record-holders themselves to provide us with an updated list of European best
performances which now includes Anders Karling's ET and Roger Pettersson's speed records which were
set at the Nitrolympx.
Click here to view the updated list, or click on the European
Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
More SG Birthday money.
23rd August: UK Event Safety have been added
to the ever growing list of sponsors for the Super Gas Racers Association's 20th Anniversary of Super Gas at
the UK National Finals at Santa Pod in October.
UK Event Safety are the UK's Premier provider of Fire, Rescue and Medical
services to the entertainment and event industry and have been involved with
the implementation of the Health and Safety rules at Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
"The SGRA and the Super Gas racers would like to thank Glenn Ramsden as well
as each and every one of the sponsors who have committed to making this the
biggest race Super Gas has seen for many years", says Spencer Tramm. UK Event Safety join
Webster Race Engineering, Flavell
Welding Specialists, Gleeson Wright Security and Eurodragster.com in supporting the event.
Thunder in the East.
23rd August: After the success of Race Rock last year, UK Supertwin Gas racer
Les Harris is organising another show at the King Edward VII pub in Norwich.
Eastern Thunder, which takes place between 12:00 and 22:00 on Sunday 19th September, features
extreme vehicles and Les would be pleased to hear from any racer who would like to take their vehicle along.
"We've got all sorts", says Les. "Hot rods, an armoured car, representatives of the Goldwing Owners Club,
some crazy scooters, drag bikes from Top Fuel to Junior, Harley Davidsons and more. If you want to bring
your vehicle along - the more off-the-wall then better! - then please call 07733 461538."
Other attractions include the Barry Homan Band playing between 18:00 and 21:00, two barbecues, and a clown,
face painting, bouncy castle and soft drinks bar for kids.
Eastern Thunder takes place on Sunday 23rd March at the King Edward VII pub, which is just north of Norwich city
centre at 63 Aylsham Road (the A140,
click
here for a map). The show is open from 12:00 to 22:00. Entry is a mere £2 with all proceeds
going to the East Anglia Air Ambulance.
Meanwhile Les tells us that his beautiful new Tilly III Supertwin Gas bike is giving him some frutstrating
moments. "I want to run a nine, but she just won't do it", he says. "It's got all the same parts as George
Laycock's bike but it won't go as quickly! It even got to the point where I thought that I might have been
the problem so George rode it at the Bulldog Bash and ran the same times as I have been getting. I've
changed the engine, the exhausts, put it on the dyno - this week we'll be putting on a huge new air intake."
Swift snippets.
23rd August: The weekend's Norwegian Finals at Frøya, the penultimate round
of the 2004 Nordic Drag Racing Series, was rained out without a wheel turning all weekend. All of the NDRS
titles will be decided at this weekend's NDRS Finals at Mantorp Park which also features the Swedish Open
Pro Modified Championship.
©Eurodragster.com
Jackson: We've not won yet.
23rd August: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Ian
Jackson has reacted to fellow racer Colin Lazenby's comment yesterday that Ian has the Championship
in the bag. "It was very interesting to read Colin's view with regard to the WRE Test session and the day's proceedings", says Ian.
"Let me see if I understand the main points made, firstly Colin thinks that the Championship is over? It couldn't be further from the truth, Silver Fox Racing
are only one round win ahead of the current second place runner, and no more than three round wins away from the number three spot (neither of which are Colin).
We feel this year's racing is unprecedented in the entire history of the class, the racing is closer than it has ever been, and no one team has dominated (as
in past years) and most of the racers in our class have made huge improvements in their performance at no small cost.
©Eurodragster.com
"Secondly, he implies that it's an easy win, a done deal with two rounds to go. There are few harder-working teams in the CCSE pits than Silver Fox Racing,
anyone who has seen us change pistons at the track in order to make the Cruise would agree with that. To have our achievements this year tossed aside
with a trite "It's in the bag" comment undermines our effort let alone what we have achieved so far. Furthermore it undermines the ability of our fellow racers, who
can easily take the Championship lead away from us. We go to the line with 2450 lb, a pump gas single carb small block, and we race against big HP combinations
such as ex-Pro Mod engines with split Dominators, sheet metal and 706 cubes and sometimes we win. Who has achieved more? You decide. Maybe
the comments were made in good humour. Maybe. Thirdly Colin tells us that he had the fastest car at the Test session? That comment tells me everything that is
wrong with the class. "He who goes through the traps at the highest speed wins". CCSE is not a a speed shootout, it is about who gets to the finish line first! If he were to look
at the numbers we produce he would see we have gone three tenths faster with six MPH less with our latest tune, maybe sometimes less is more. Colin's comments
are at best the words of a very naive person or the promotion of a scary philosophy that speeds knocking on the door of 180 mph in street legal trim are without risk.
They are not.
"We have two rounds to go and we are being chased by the quickest street racers in the UK. It's an exciting finish to the season and not the dull picture painted
by Colin in his latest news item. We take nothing for granted and will carry on with the approach we always take, go to the track give it our all, if that's good enough
then we'll take the win. Good luck to all of the CCSE racers. We look forward to racing you next weekend."
Web site updates.
23rd August: LA Performance Services have launched a web site for their
Fordsport event, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 2nd-3rd October. Fordsport
features Run What You Brung, Show and Shine, Jet Car exhibitions, trade stands, entertainment, a licenced bar and more.
For details check out the web site at www.fordweekender.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Grumpy's huge relief.
22nd August: Nitrolympics Top Methanol Dragster runner-up Dave 'Grumpy' Wilson's
finish has secured him his second straight FIA European Championship, subject to official ratification.
Rob Turner took the final at the Nitrolympics with a 5.60/408.07 to Grumpy's 5.81/396.38, giving
Grumpy a 106-point lead over Peter Schöfer with a maximum of 103 points available at the
FIA European Finals. We ambushed Grumpy by mobile phone just as he got out of the
American Car Imports Racing dragster to get
his thoughts on a second number one plate.
"It's a great relief to have it over and done with!", said Grumpy. "I think it puts you under more pressure
when the title is that close but now we don't have to discuss it or think about it any more! We can go to
the European Finals and enjoy ourselves. And it's great to get two in a row. I'm very grateful to
American Car Imports, Playstation 2, Silverline Tools, Footman James and all of our sponsors for
their support this year."
Dave was very quick to congratulate Rob Turner on his win at Hockenheim, capping off a great weekend fot
the Netcall-backed team who qualified #1 and set both ends of the track record on their way to the
event title. "Rob has done a stirling job", said Grumpy. "He stepped up and we didn't give it enough, he got
a good light and I had an awful one! Peter Schöfer is also a great competitor, I hope that we'll
be seeing him again next year. I must say that I think that all of the alcohol cars have done a great
job this weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
"You can be sure that the Brits will be having a few drinks tonight!", said Team Principal Anthony Cohen,
who sponsors Eurodragster's Home and News pages and Event Coverage through
American Car Imports. "The team have done a fantastic
job this year, they have gelled very well. It's brilliant for American Car Imports, for Dave, for the
team, for UK drag racing, and for the class. Top Methanol Dragster is such a competitive class - the
teams here this weekend are on a par, and I have really enjoyed racing the Schöfers and the
Turners this season."
Anthony also congratulated Rob Turner and the Netcall team on their victory at Hockenheim. "I am so pleased
for them", he said. "They've got potential sponsors coming to the European Finals and their performance
this weekend, with the victory and the new track records, has set them up very well for that."
The ACI Racing team had a special visitor this weekend in the person of former Crew Chief Andy Bissett,
who left the team after their US tour earlier this year to pursue a career in the USA. "Andy has
been mainly a spectator this weekend", said Anthony. "When I heard he was coming I went into the
town and found a bakery, and got the biggest box of pastries and apple pie I could find!".
Subject to official ratification we understand that Jimmy Ålund (Pro Stock), Roel Koedam
(Top Fuel Bike) and Roger Pettersson (Pro Stock Bike) have also secured the European titles for
2004 - stay tuned for official word.
Nitrolympics notes.
22nd August: The weekend's first European record came yesterday as FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike racer Roger Pettersson clocked
301.24 kmh (187.18 mph), backed up with a 299.46, on his Veidec-backed Suzuki. Congratulations Roger!
Anders Karling has done the first part of a new European Supertwin record with a 6.463 in qualifying.
17:20 Many thanks to our good friend Gittli Koller for filling in the
last piece in this weekend's FIA and FIM/UEM puzzle, the Top Fuel Dragster result. "Tommy Möller ran
5.40 to defeat Micke Kågered whose tyres went up in smoke", says Gittli.
17:00 Christer Abrahamson has again been in touch with
more news from his post at the end of the shutdown area. "We are waiting for the Top Fuel final",
says Christer. "Ulf Leanders blew a valve cover gasket and almost hit the wall whilst Urs Erbacher
had a wild ride to the victory in Top Methanol FC. The clean up will take a while.
"Rob Turner took the win in Top Methanol Dragster. From my radio reports Dave Wilson was really slow on
the Tree. In Pro Stock Jimmy lund beat a quicker Michael Malmgren from the lane which everyone said was
almost impossible earlier during the day.
"Roger Pettersson took the Pro Stock Bike victory over Vesa Rautio, 7.37.
Roel Koedam dropped cylinders but stayed on it to beat Antonio Ferretti, who had
trouble with his gearbox, for the Top Fuel Bike win.
Ton Pels is winner of Supertwin. He told us that he dropped a
cylinder but stayed on the throttle since he didn't see Charley from half track. Charley
broke a camshaft and dropped all the pushrods."
15:00 Our good buddy and honorary Eurodragster staff member
Christer Abrahamson has been in touch with the latest from Hockenheim, where he has been working
on the TV coverage. "Tommy Mller and Micke Kgered are in the Top Fuel final", says Christer.
"Micke made one planned bye run and had the other when Lex couldn't make it in time.
It's Dave Wilson v Rob Turner in Top Methanol Dragster. Rob was really happy!
"Ulf Leanders had a good battle with Leif Andréasson for his place in the Top Methanol
FC final. Both drivers were struggling to keep control of wheelspin and tyre shake. Urs Erbacher
had a bye into the final. Since it seems like lane choice is really
important, Urs was very satisfied with 6.00 v Leanders' 6.01!
"Jimmy lund tried a new set up in his Pro Stock during his bye run, that didn't work out so he has lost
lane choice to Michael Malmgren who ran 7.31. "I may have lost the final already", said Jimmy during his
end of track interview.
"Roger Pettersson and Vesa Rautio are in the in Pro Stock Bike final. Both Roel Koedam and Antonio Ferretti
got byes into the Top Fuel Bike final since there were no-shows for their semi-final competitors.
Charley Karling, who has been in a class of his own during this event in Supertwin, used his
qualifying run to back up a new European record of 6.458. His final opponent will once again be Ton Pels who really struggled to
find traction."
11:00 Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon's
MPM Oil-backed team are changing an engine to make the semi final after taking their first round match-up
against Smax Smith.
"Lex ran 5.436 but there was a lot of flame and smoke at the finish line", Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra told us from
Hockenheim. "There is a lot of oil which is being cleaned up now. Smax went up in smoke and pedalled,
he got a 5.44 which I don't think is right. We have lane choice in the semi-final against Micke Kågered
because Micke went up in smoke on his bye run and ran an eleven."
©Eurodragster.com
8:50 UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter faces Championship rival
Jöran Persåker in this morning's first round and he is determined to put an end to his string of
first round exits. "Jöran is an unknown quantity because he hasn't done much this weekend", Andy
told us from Hockenheim. "My first round opponents have had a habit of jumping up and biting me, but you
know me - I'm not going to let it happen!"
Sweden's Kågered Racing are updating their web site at the end of each day with qualifying and
elimination details and notes, you can check out the word from the Bahco Tools and Sandflex pit at
www.kagered-racing.com. The guys at Dragsterworld are
again spending the weekend with UK Top Fuel racer Andy Carter and you can see their reports and
pictures at www.dragsterworld.com.
OK, other than that...
22nd August: If you were tuned in on Thursday you will have read about UK Custom Car
Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby's torrid trip home after Wednesday's Webster Race Engineering Test Day.
Colin has been in touch again to let us know that the Test Day itself was good for him.
"The disappointments of Tuesday/Wednesday were all contained within the arduous journey home", says Colin. "In short, we had a good WRE Test Day,
we were ready whenever the track looked like it was going to be, and we made a reasonable lap - crikey, who'd have thought a CCSE car would lay down
the fastest run on the day.
"I've got to pass on a huge thanks to my travelling companions, principal sponsor and Team Manager Garry Coull and new crew member Kevin Lumb.
Oh, and I really ought to thank the neighbouring Pro Mod team, after unwittingly keeping us up until 2:00 am on the morning of the Test Day. It seems
that they couldn't get to sleep, so they thought it'd be a good idea to keep us awake too...hey, it's not like we needed the sleep guys!
"Finally, a big thanks to Luke and Andy Robinson. With the added information provided by our sexy new Tracecraft data logger (recently fitted by
Robinson Race Cars) we found some pretty neat tuning information, hopefully we'll get the opportunity to mix this in with our attempts to upset the
points championship, because at this stage it looks like the old Silver Fox and Cooky have the 2004 Championship in the bag - we'll see. No
pressure Luke!"
On2Wheels results.
21st August: Congratulations to the winners of today's eliminations at On2Wheels
at Santa Pod Raceway:
SPRC Super Street Bike: Chris Reed 8.787/167.77 def. Steve Venables 8.773/174.48
9.90 Bike: Richard Sawatzki 9.994/105.04 def. Andy Burfitt 9.968/115.15
10.90 Bike: John Hackney 10.877/109.02 def. Phil Pratt 10.872/122.95
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view our
American Car Imports-sponsored event coverage, or click
on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
Allstar Nationals pit plan.
21st August: We are indebted to Lee Child of LA Performance Services for forwarding
us a copy of the pit plan for next weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to see next weekend's pit plan. Racers' attention is drawn to the
notes at the bottom of the pit plan.
Attention Pro ET racers!
21st August: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch
with some important news for racers intending to contest Pro ET at the FIA European Finals.
"Pro ET already has thirty three entries", says Paula. "At the moment we are accepting additional
entries for Pro ET - with a late-entry fee of course - but racers should please note that Pro ET will
be running a thirty two-car field at the European Finals so you will have to qualify! If any
other classes go above thirty two then they too will run fields of thirty two and you will need to
qualify."
©Eurodragster.com
You can see the current version of the FIA European Finals entry list by
clicking here. If you have any queries
about entering the FIA European Finals then please contact Paula Marshall at SPRC on 01933 313625
(outside the UK +44 1933 313625).
Drag Race Night success.
21st August: If you were tuned in on Tuesday you will have read that a drag racing
night had been organised at The Swan pub in Newton Bromswold on Thursday. Santa Pod Raceway's Race Director
Darren Prentice has been in touch to let us know how it went.
"It went very well at The Swan", says Darren. "About thirty people
turned out. I won't name names, as that is not what the night is about, but we
had everyone from Junior Dragster drivers and family right up to Top Fuel.
We watched the Main Event and it seemed to go down very well, a lot was said about the
new format of the video and everyone seemed to think it was a big
improvement - and it was great to see it on such a large screen. Oh, and the Playstation 2
went down just as well afterwards!
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like to say Thank You to L-O AND Max from Sweden, who were on business
but still found the time to pop across and join us. A big
Thank You as well to Andy of The Swan. Let's hope that we can get this going as
a monthly concern."
Carlsbad campaign grows.
21st August: If you were tuned in last week then you will recall that Shaun Saunders gave
us the sad news that the USA's historic Carlsbad Raceway is to be closed to make way for an industrial
estate. Rob Blackman has been in touch to tell us more, including what we can do to help.
"For those that may not know Carlsbad has been around for forty years and is
full of drag racing history!", says Rob. "I have never been over to the US but hoped to
visit some day and catch some races at Carlsbad. If you are like
me and hate to see drag racing facilities and history destroyed anywhere in
the world, then please visit the links below and E-Mail Save Carlsbad Raceway
committee to join the on-line petition.
"If the petition is successful there are plans to turn Carlsbad into a
quality off road raceway and give it the attention which it deserves and hasn't
seen from its current owners."
If you would like to help the Save Carlsbad campaign then check out the following two links:
www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=75731
www.savecarlsbadraceway.com.
Allstar Nationals entry list.
20th August: We are indebted to APIRA Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot for forwarding
us the entry list for next weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
The third of four rounds of the British Nitro Funny Car Championship is to be contested by
John Spuffard and Gordon Smith and the penultimate ACU UK Top Fuel Bike round by Steve Woollatt
and Steve Carey, whilst there is a neat 50/50 split between dragsters and Funny Cars
in the penultimate round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship (for Top Methanol).
As ever at Shakespeare County Raceway there is a very healthy entry in all UK National and
ACU UK Drag Bike classes, Custom Car Street Eliminator, Wild Bunch, Outlaw Anglia, NAST and Junior Drag Bike and the VW
Drag Racing Club again bring a sizeable contingent for their second visit of the year. In the ongoing
Pro ET v VW "Who can bring the most racers" contest, Pro ET takes the laurels with twenty five, whilst Super Gas is
particularly well-subscribed with fifteen entries.
©Eurodragster.com
You can check out the Allstar Nationals entry list by clicking here,
and for more details about the Allstar Nationals including ticket prices then check out our
news item of 10th August.
The return of the girlie.
20th August: If you were tuned in to Tuesday's news update you
will have read that a Fuel Altered match race has been added to the attractions at next week's Allstar Nationals
at Shakespeare County Raceway. Wendy Baker, one of the protagonists in the AAFA duel,
has been in touch to tell us how it is.
"Our car has yet to see the start line, let alone the end of the track, as it is a totally new set up", says Wendy. "We are happy with what we
have done so far - sorted out the teething problems in the pits, not half way down the track where it gets expensive!
©Eurodragster.com
"The plan for next weekend is a couple of checkout passes and then, after two years out of the driving seat, I'll Be Back! Although I
have absolute respect for The Mob (who else would have been insane enough to let me near their car), and although Mickey Moore is a very
experienced driver as well as a good friend, it is time to show them what a Fuel Altered can do in the hands of a girlie, as Jim Seward
learned to his cost!
"Hopefully our new car will live up to expectations, but whatever happens next weekend it will set the tone for next year when Jim will hopefully
be back with Harry the Spider, Mickey will give him a run for his money, and I'll be watching from the top end - 'cause obviously I'll be
the first one there.
"As yet our car has not been named, but that's something else we're hoping to put right by the Allstars. So if anyone has any suggestions bring them
on ('The Smuggler'? - Ed)!"
Carter's ring of confidence.
20th August: With the highs and the lows of the 'Scandinavian Swing' firmly behind them, British Top Fuel Dragster
racer Andy Carter and the GoTalk team are pumped-up and ready
to rumble at this weekend's Nitrolympics, writes PR John Andrews.
"Travelling by land, sea and air, Andy and the super-crew are already ensconced at the legendary Hockenheim Ring in Germany.
It's going to be a tough weekend for all the teams, and that's the way we like it. This year's Championship has proved to be the best
ever with the points shifting at every round. This is real, and this is racing just the way it should be! The records are tumbling, and
Carter Motorsport is responsible for most of them. We've got a handle on this track and plenty of new tricks in the bag, so watch
out...in the Carter camp, the 'C' word means confidence!
"We've got the best sponsors and the best fans in Europe, and we really appreciate every bit of support. We could not do it without you.
"Carter Motorsport now has a new, dedicated text-only number for this weekend. Anyone wishing to send Andy and the team a good luck
message or comment can contact him on 07800 655 132."
©Eurodragster.com
Lazenby's smelly trailer.
20th August: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby is always one of the candidates
for the Long Distance Award at any race, travelling from Scotland to compete and in the case of Wednesday's
WRE Test Day at Santa Pod covering no less than 800 miles for one pass after the weather intervened.
Colin went from Santa Pod to a drop-off at Shakespeare County Raceway before heading north, arriving home in the
very small hours of yesterday morning. It was not an uneventful trip, as Colin relates.
"I had to part with 280.00 for fuel (the round trip, Santa Pod/Shakey/home is over 800 miles), provisions 35.00, super unleaded, the 146 entry fee
and the precious three individual day's worth of holiday's (for Garry, Kev and myself)", says Colin. "All for one pass! One of the fuel jugs fell over on the
way to Shakey spilling over two gallons on the trailer floor, and the new, yet to be fitted Mickey Ts were also awash with fuel - it'll smell forever.
Mark Gredzinski's lodgings are ruined.
©Eurodragster.com
"Then - oh yes, I'm not nearly finished - I got camera-flashed just as I joined the M6, typically I did the first driving stint home, must have been around
sixty in the fifty roadworks - though no roadworks and no workers. I think that'll be 60, and three points.
"Of course I can't contemplate selling it all. If I did, and I posted it on Eurodragster, I'd get bombarded by European time wasters (lets call them hackers) who
sap your time with insincere enquiries before dropping you like a hot potato when it gets serious". You know the
answer, Colin - don't sell that lovely Chevy.
Editor's note: Apologies to Garry Coull for the typo in yesterday's news update.
We second that!
20th August: UK Pro ET racers Carla Pittau and Rick McCann have been in touch to echo Colin Lazenby's praise
of Santa Pod's track crew for their heroic efforts to dry the track at Wednesday's WRE Test Day.
©Eurodragster.com
"Every time we stuck our heads out of our vans and trucks to have a look at the
track whenever it changed from downpour to drizzle, we could see the crew relentlessly working up and down the quarter
mile", say Carla and Rick. "Malcolm Francis' 8.28 also proved that the track was sprayed properly, and had the drag racing gods not been angry for
whatever sin we collectively committed, everyone would have had a really good chance of putting a few good passes in.
It wasn't to be, but thanks all the same for the hard work."
Swift snippets.
20th August: Many thanks to Pat Ginn for dropping us a line to let us know
that UK 9.90 Bike racer Paul Coombes and his partner Sheena have become parents with the
birth of a son. "TJ O'Brien and I would like to congratulate Paul and Sheena" says Pat,
and we are sure that everyone will join them in wishing Paul, Sheena and the new arrival all
the very best.
©Eurodragster.com
Hall claims 7.4.
20th August: UK Funny Bike racer Chris Hall has been in touch with a correction to
the Bulldog Bash reports which we received earlier this week. "It was I, and not Steve French, who ran
7.45/178", says Chris.
"Steve was indeed running the French
Injection bike, which was indeed carrying the front wheel for quite a long
way on full-right-lock. He ran a couple of 7.8s with the motor held
together with little more than elastoplast. We could have squeezed more out
of it, but didn't know when it would go bang.
©Eurodragster.com
"My bike (the Wot, no Turbo 1600cc Suzuki) ran 7.67 after some overnight
gearbox surgery, leaving a very wiggly black line the full length of the
track. A change of tune-up produced the 7.45 in the bike's characteristic
lazy manner (you think the timing lights must be wrong 'cos the run looks so
ordinary).
"Vaughan Foster's bike (the old Wot, no Turbo chassis, in case nobody had
noticed) broke into the sevens with ease, and broke the gearbox with ease on
the final run. The sump is now full of gear teeth, but there is no sign of
second gear at all - it's just vanished."
Nitrolympics notes.
20th August: 23:45 Further to our 18:30 update, Gerda Dijkstra has been in touch
again to let us know that this afternoon's second qualifying session stands, and that Jöran Persåker
and Micke Kågered will make their second qualifying passes, which were curtailed by tonight's
curfew, at 9:00 tomorrow morning (Saturday).
Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing has also been in touch to tell us that after session two
of TMD qualifying Peter improved to a 5.95 but was pipped by Rob Turner at 5.91. Dave Wilson is
currently third at 6.01. "It is now raining very hard", said Gittli.
18:30 Gerda Dijkstra, Team Manager of Holland's Lex Joon Racing
Top Fuel Dragster team, says that the MPM Oil-sponsored team are awaiting a decision on their qualifying
placing after today's second TF qualifier was not finished due to curfew. Lex ran a 6.4-second pass
riding the clutch, brake and throttle "Like a street car" after clocking a pass in the thirteens this morning with the
throttle stop on. "We wanted to make sure that we got into the field in case the weather turned
so we decided to idle down the track this morning", Gerda told us from Hockenheim. "At the moment we do
not know if this afternoon's session is going to count - officially Micke, Smax and Lex are qualified
from this morning. Of course if everyone gets to run tomorrow then there is no problem, but we are
glad that we made the first session."
©Eurodragster.com
In the second qualifier Andy Carter ran 6.6, Lex a 6.4, Thomas Nataas and Smax Smith smoked their tyres,
and Tommy Möller ran into the fives but by all accounts comprehensively destroyed an engine at the
top end. The clean-up from Tommy's explosion went into the curfew, leaving Jöran Persåker
with no pass this afternoon after not reaching the finish line on his pass this morning.
Gerda asked us to say Hello to Gary Burgin, whom she knows is tuned in. Job done, Gerda!
12:00 Courtesy of Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing comes
the first news from Hockenheim. Peter Schöfer smoked the tyres for two hundred metres during
Top Methanol Dragster qualifying, clocking 6.11. Dave Wilson is second at 6.25 and Rob Turner
third with a pass in the thirteens.
Web site updates.
20th August: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with a
preview of this weekend's Norwegian Finals at Frøya, and two galleries of photographs from the NDRG
Drag Challenge at Gardermoen. "There is one 'normal' gallery with good pictures by Patrik Jacobsson (EPMA
webmaster), and another good gallery of pictures by FHRA's Riku, which are a bit different", says Christer
Abrahamson. Check it out at www.dragracing.se.
Alan Currans has updated his essential Acceleration Archive web site with the sixth Readers' Gallery which is devoted to
the all-too-small photograph collection of Pat Neal. "Pat was Steve Woollatt's partner in the early days of The Dealer Top Fuel Bike
but he started sprinting at a very early age", says Alan. "Pat's collection includes pictures from his sprinting days, the famous and revolutionary
DragWaye machine, the equally famous and revolutionary Jade Warrior, a positive who's who of Top Fuel riders (Elmer Trett, Marion
Owens, Brian Johnson, Rod Pallant, Henk Vink and of course Steve Woollatt), and some interesting pictures of Pat's own handiwork. The pictures
are really brought to life by Pat's recollections of the men and machines. This page should not be missed by any serious bike buff!". You can find
Pat Neal's gallery at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
The official web site of the UK's American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster team
has been further updated, courtesy of Gavin Evans of ExpertIT, with sponsor/media-level reports by
Darryl Bradford, photographs from Sweden and Norway, and the latest FIA points standings.
You can find the ACI Racing web site at
www.americancarimportsracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good friend, photographer Richard Heeps has updated his web site with a number of great photographs of the A-Bombers Old Style
Weekend 2004. "Every year the Swedish car club, the A-Bombers, hold a hillclimb - the same weekend as the 2004 Veidec
Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park", says Richard. "It's not quite drag racing, I know...but it is over a quarter mile, roughly!". You
can check out Richard's A-Bombers pictures and a lot of other great sets from his portfolio at
www.richardheeps.co.uk/browse/abombers/index.html.
Chris Dossett, webmaster of the excellent Trakbyte's UK Drag Racing History web site, is having
problems updating the site at present. He is however working on a re-launch. In the meantime you can
still find the bulk of the Trakbyte's web site at www.trakbytes.com.
Rain Tests the racers.
19th August: Yesterday's Webster Race
Engineering Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway was severely affected by rain which on the first two occasions fell as
track drying had completed, and which then fell again after only fifteen runs had been made. A halt was eventually
called just after 17:15.
During the rain delays we managed to speak to a number of the racers who had come along to test, and we asked
then what their goals were as soon as the rain stopped.
Peter Knight, Crew Chief of the Canto Consultancy Top Fuel Dragster which will again be driven
by Jon Webster at the European Finals, said that yesterday's aim was
to get the car running properly. "We want to get a decent launch and get the clutch management system running",
he said. "This clutch management system is the latest type and only a couple of teams are running it. We
had the blower set back but we've decided to conform now! It has cost an awful lot to find the problems, and
we've not solved everything yet". The team had ace tuner Alan Jackson working with them at Santa Pod yesterday.
Sponsor Martin Canto said that the team had found a few problems which were not helping the car to run.
"On the last run at the Main Event we drove through the clutch", he said. "The difference between a Fuel
car and my Top Methanol Dragster was that if the methanol car didn't sound right then you'd think "We won't
do that again", but if a Fuel car makes a strange noise then it's already breaking stuff!". Martin
explained that there was a bottleneck somewhere between the clutch management system and the clutch
itself.
Pro Mod racer Bert Englefield was aiming to run to the top of first gear. "Over the second eighth we
are up there with the fastest", said Crew Chief Andy Wright. We asked Andy what you do to a Pro Mod to make
it run the first eighth quicker and he replied "I'm not going to tell you!". "We just want to try a few
things ready for the European Finals", added Bert. Later on Andy took the seat of the Hot Rod From Hell
for a warm-up, and when he gave it some throttle one of the awning supports fell down.
Jet Dragster pilot Ian Caseley is beginning to convince himself that his Roadzombie II
dragster makes it rain, as the wet stuff has hardly failed to appear at any event which he has attended.
"I want to run 200 mph without the afterburner", said Ian, "and then I light the burner!"
Erstwhile bike racer Jon Morton was looking forward to his first outing in the ex-Malcolm Francis
Super Comp/Super Gas Camaro. "I couldn't carry on with the Fuel
bike, but I still wanted to race so I had to find something less demanding", said Mort. "I've been looking around for
a car since last year and I got this one turnkey from Malcolm Francis. The Camaro is a particular favourite
of mine, I've had a lot of Yank muscle in my time". Jon is now back on four wheels after starting racing
with Harold Bull in the 1960s and Rod Pallant in the 1970s, before campaigning his first Pro Stock Bike
between 1984 and 1990, and a Funny Bike with Mick Beaumont between 1990 and 1995. "It's a change of route
for me, but I am really looking forward to it", he said. Mort waited patiently in the collection area after
the last downpour but the event was called before he could put in a pass.
Super Gas and Outlaw Anglia racer Steve Wells had the choice of changing a pulley for more boost
or working on his double-adjustable shocks in the one run which the weather was likely to allow him.
"I am racing in Outlaw Anglia at Shakespeare County Raceway next weekend and I need to find a second!",
he said. Steve opted for the pulley and was waiting to drive into the bleach box when the rain started
to fall.
Steve Dunn and Jon Evans were testing a newly-fitted Pro Tree transbrake in their Tokyo Toy
Super Gasser. "It's supposed to give us quicker reactions", said Jon, who admitted to being nervous about
the upcoming test. "It's always worrying when you've taken it all to bits", he said. Steve Dunn clocked a
9.842/138.04 on his single test pass.
Pro ET racer Bob Doyle was making his first pass with nitrous, supplied by Active Nitrous who
are looking at bringing a filling station to the track to gauge the response. "I came here to try the
nitrous and to have some fun!", said Bob. It isn't quite so much fun for Bob's wife Tracey, whose 'seat'
in the Datsun is now taken by a large blue bottle so she has to walk to the pairing lanes. Bob's one
pass of the day was a 10.493/133.58.
©Eurodragster.com
Super Street racer Mark Pointer is now the proud owner of Steve Kellett's Fordson van which was
destined for CCSE. "I was just going to buy the engine but Steve did me such a good deal on the car that
I would have bought it even if I had not really wanted it!", said Mark. "It's got a Big Block Ford
running methanol, and I have a Pro Charger to fit. I don't know how many horsepower it's got but it's
reputed to be in the millions!"
Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby was one of those who managed to make a pass and
he took high speed of the day at 175.72 in the Pinnacle Autocentre-sponsored Chevy despite backing off
early on his 8.948 pass. "I've got a new datalogger, thanks to Garry Coull of Pinnacle, which has already
been hugely succesful", said Colin. "We wondered if we would find anything we didn't know about once
we put it on, and we learnt a lot on that one run. I blew the tyres off, short-shifted into second and
it shook, I pulled third and then clicked off at 8.5 seconds, and I still ran an eight and ran 175 on
one system!"
Sponsor and crew Garry Coull said that he had had a very interesting day with Colin. "I never just sponsor
anyone, I have to crew with them", he said. "I always have a good day and I've enjoyed looking at the
datalogger. I also look at the data from Chris Hope's Pro Stock Bike (also sponsored by Pinnacle - Ed)
and I must say that the data from the car is a lot easier!"
Fellow Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Ian Jackson said that he was testing because there had been such a
gap since the last event. "We're testing the whole package", he said, "we want to get some traces and see where
we can improve - I don't want to get complacent because we are leading the Championship". "This is the third
time we've been here to test and we're still trying to get on the track!", said crew Al Cook. "We've got a
Small Block on pump gas up against big engines and twin turbos", said Ian, "and on our day we can give
any of them a race!". Ian put in a pass of 9.446/117.50, backing off not long after half-track.
Paul Marston told us that his Drag Race Driving School is to the subject of a three-page feature in
the next issue of Top Gear magazine, which is due out on 1st September. Meanwhile the PT Bruiser
is headed for Billing this weekend where it will be on display at a PT Cruiser event.
Funny Bike racer Tim Blakemore had tested successfully at last weekend's Bulldog Bash. "Hopefully the
new bike is coming together now", he said. "We need to get rid of the Bulldog settings and put in proper race
settings". Tim was in pre-stage when the last, and terminal, rain started to fall.
Low ET of the day yesterday was by Malcolm Francis in his Air Sea Logistics Super Comp/Super Gas Grand Am,
an 8.280/164.81 which if not a personal best was pretty close. Reaction time of the day was recorded by
Carla Pittau in the Heaven and Hell Pro ET Camaro with a 0.008 on a pass of 10.656/127.54.
On two wheels, Sandra Chaplain took Low ET and high speed of the day at 9.712/128.56. Also managing to
take advantage of the weather window were Lee Darby (VW Alternate Engine) at 10.688/127.45,
Steve Knapp (9.90 Bike) with a best of 10.327/128.64, Ethan Lyle (Junior Dragster) with a best of
16.142/37.19, Frank Mason (Super Gas) 10.373/133.58, Paul Lyle (Super Gas) 10.339/107.15, Nev
Mottershead (Super Gas) and Wendy Clutterbuck (Supertwin Fuel). Craig Gibbs (Super Modified) and
Paul Knapp (Funny Bike) didn't make it before the rain came.
CCSE racer Colin Lazenby spoke for all of the racers present when he praised the track crew for their
ceaseless efforts on the track yesterday. "They have been just brilliant", he said. "They just keep going and
going and I don't think they actually stop working until someone tells them to!".
2.5 million watch Schöfer.
19th August: Gittli Koller of German Top Methanol Dragster team
Peter Schöfer Racing says that the team
are looking forward to this weekend's Nitrolympics at Hockenheim, but not
just because the only German round of the FIA Championships takes place at their
home track.
"Many of our friends and fans will be there, and there is always a great audience
when we run at this excellent venue", says Gittli. "Usually when we do a run, I don't see the
spectators, because I am concentrating on the car. But in Hockenheim it is
different - you can't ignore the sound of the crowd, because they are so loud.
It will also be a pleasure for us to welcome many of our sponsors to Hockenheim.
They have been supporting us for years and it is nice to see each other in the pits."
©Eurodragster.com
Peter Schöfer and the team will again be shadowed by film teams from
two German broadcasters. A team feature produced at the Main Event and
shown on N-TV was a huge success. "The feature was shown when we were at Mantorp Park, but we received
many E-Mails, text messages and phone calls", says Gittli. "I asked N-TV how many people watched the programme
and I was impressed when they told me 2.5 million! It was a twenty four minute show, first shown at
20:30 one evening, and it was then repeated five times.
So we are looking forward to the filming from Hockenheim.
"We hope it will be a successful weekend for us and for all of our fellow racers."
All that work for two minutes.
19th August: One of the highlights of last weekend's Bulldog Bash was the first full
pass by Dicko in his ex-Smax Smith Top Methanol Dragster. Dicko's brother and crew member Paul got
in touch to let us know how it went for Dicko, and to thank everyone who helped.
"Firstly, the car was almost as it was when we dropped a valve etc. last year, the head had been repaired but was not built up", says
Paul. "I travelled to Reading and after a lot of sorting out managed to get get a piston, liner and con rod from Paul Stubbs. The valves, springs etc.
came from a guy in Holland who ran three Keith Blacks on a tractor puller. We have never met him and our only contact was through E-Mails and
phone calls. He sorted all the parts and sent them by air freight and trusted us to pay him after. His name is Wijnand Koopman and helped us so
much that we can't thank him enough.
©Eurodragster.com
"The bottom end was put together in the pits and we built the heads with help from Gus, George and Al from Straight to the Point 2. A
Hells Angel from Prague named Max, who once again I have never met before, also helped and encouragement from endless people got the engine built.
Sir Smax turned up on the Friday afternoon and helped with the final set-up. Although the first run was not very good, what with a recently-repaired tyre
letting us down in the burnout etc and a electrical fault which was later sorted with help from Smax's friend Robin, we were a lot happier with the second
run although we did damage the motor pretty bad.
"If anybody out there thinks it is easy getting a car down the strip, just take note We worked from Wednesday night getting the car to the strip and non-stop
almost through the day on Thursday and Friday to actually run the car for probably no more than two minutes in total, only to blow it to bits and hopefully
put on a show for the crowd at the Bash.
"Thanks to all the people who showed their appreciation as we towed the car back to the pits and finally thanks to all the racers who put on a great
display."
Swift snippets.
19th August: Many thanks to Heather Bond for letting us know that in a change of plan
UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head is to be moved back to York Hospital today (Thursday) and not
tomorrow as originally scheduled, so will no longer be at the RNOH in Stanmore. H says that she shall let
us know the details of Scary's ward in York as soon as she can.
©Eurodragster.com
Dave and Debbie Harrison have been in touch to ask us to thank
everyone who got in touch after the death of Marion James, raced the Instigator alcohol rail in the 1970s. "Marion would have
been thrilled at the interest still shown", say Dave and Debbie. "The funeral was on Monday, and it went as well as could be expected. We
had some blow up photos of Marion in the dragster. Again, many thanks to you all."
On2Wheels Awards.
19th August: 100 is up for grabs at this weekend's On2Wheels bike event at
Santa Pod Raceway. Eurodragster.com and our partners Speedflow and Curbishley automotive will be
posting prize money in 9.90 Bike, 10.90 Bike and Super Street Bike as follows:
The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award: 50 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 9.90 Bike,
10.90 Bike and Super Street Bike
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.
If the Award is not won at Santa Pod then it will be increased to 75 for next week's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare
County Raceway; if it is won then the Allstar Nationals prize fund will be 50.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/Curbishley Automotive Perfect ET Award: 50 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
9.90 Bike and 10.90 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 Santa Pod then it will be increased to 75 for next week's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare
County Raceway; if it is won then the Allstar Nationals 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.
Joon approves AJ master plan.
18th August: Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex
Joon says that he is out of this year's FIA European Championship chase. However the MPM Oil-sponsored
racer says that he will try to contest as many of the remaining rounds of eliminations as possible, with
the ultimate goal to win the final two events at Hockenheim and Santa Pod Raceway.
"Looking at the top of the Championship, it is really exciting to see how many
teams are in reach of the Championship", says Lex. "The fact we are part of this and
can be a factor is fun too. We know that it will be a difficult task but with the help of Knut
Söderquist and Alan Jackson it must be possible to gain a better position in the Championship
than we are right now."
"AJ told us that he wants to have our car to perform as well as the other cars
he is tuning", says Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra. "Lex told him that he has no problem with
that and that he will be very pleased to be part of AJ's quest by driving the MPM TF Dragster to a good
position.
©Eurodragster.com
"After the events in Sweden and Norway, one thing is for sure: our crew
deserve a win this year. Although the results may say differently, these
guys go all the way. They are really a great bunch. It would also be great
for our sponsor MPM International Oil Company to go rounds. They are new to the
world of TF this year and it would be wonderful to give them round wins
in return for all their help and dedication."
Gerda says that Lex is looking forward to taking part in this Saturday's Night Show.
"We know that a lot of Dutch drag racing fans, including our sponsors, will be on the grandstands so it
feels good to give them what they came for", says Gerda. "Knowing Lex, he will give as good a
show as he did in Drachten during the MPM Internationals.
"So be ready Hockenheim, because Lex Joon Racing is on its way!"
Veidec Racing PSB report.
18th August: The Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike team went to Gardermoen more hungry
than ever, writes Chief Roger Lyrén. "Roger Pettersson had his first defeat since last year's Main Event", says
Roger. "The loss in Mantorp made him so hungry to win again, and he really showed it.
"The Gardemoen track didn't have the traction which we are normally used to, the reason was the new asphalt over the first
twenty metres. After qualifying the track was in pretty good condition, and we ended with a 7.37/ 298 which was a new European speed
record. We still struggled with the sixty foot times, 1.16-1.18 were not so good. In qualifying both Helen Curran and Remo Nasci did a good
job and ended up sixth and seventh, with only thousandths of second between them. Qualifying was one of the tightest ever in Pro Stock Bike,
number seven qualifier was 7.70.
"The last qualifying session became very dramatic when Remo Nasci faced Bo Thorselius. Bo's bike cought fire and at Bo jumped off the bike
at the finish line, and the bike went off the side of the track in a ball of fire. Luckily Bo did not hurt himself too much, he burnt his legs some, and
on Sunday he was back in the pits and in a good mood, hope to see him back soon.
"On raceday Roger faced Herman Van Driel in first round, Chris Hope in the semis, and Anders Larsson in the finals.
We started to get the set-up for the track, and in the finals we got the best ET and speed of the weekend, 7.33/299 and Roger
took another victory. Both Helen and Remo went out in first round.
"In general we were very happy with the weekend. All three bikes were qualified, and we won the race!
Now we are heading for Hockenheim and the fifth round of the FIA/UEM European Championship.
There will be about thirteen or fourteen bikes in Pro Stock Bike from many different countries.
There will be lots of racers from southern Europe and that is really cool, we need the sport to grow all over Europe."
©Eurodragster.com
On2Wheels update II.
18th August: This weekend's On2Wheels at Santa Pod Raceway is the second running of
the bike-only event, but Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing tells is that it is really looking up for 2004 with a slight change in focus and
some great new features.
"The most noticeable of the changes is the introduction of the Sportsman bike classes to the event", says Rick, "so not only is there the Run What You
Brung for all racers and members of the public, but there are also Championship points at stake for the Sportsman racers! The Sportsman rounds will be
fitted in between Run What You Brung sessions, but there will be plenty of track time for Run What You Brungers and racers alike.
"All types of motorcycle are welcome, from big-bore cruisers to super-sports bikes and everything in between. It will be great to see some of the latest
performance cruisers and one-litre mega-bikes out on the track, especially since Santa Pod is one of the few places where power to weight ratios of
1,000 bhp per ton can be exploited! All track users must remember to bring with them their full motorcycle licences, crash-helmets and suitable protective clothing.
"Off-track, there are traders, full catering and bar facilities, and a new addition is the Helmet and Leather Locker, where visitors can safely lock up their stuff
if they want to park the bike up and simply watch the action.
"Prices are 12 per adult on the gate, and 15 sign-on for unlimited runs on the track, but the track will be fully race-prepared and ready for whatever the bikes
can throw at it! Racers with Pro bikes (e.g. Funny Bikes, Top Fuel Bikes, bikes involved in circuit race series and Pro Stock Bikes) may be entitled to free entry
and testing as demo vehicles. Please call me on 0208 852 5005 if you are interested in testing at the event.
"Finally, don't forget that there is a normal RWYB day open to all vehicles on the Sunday. Two-day tickets, camping and bar facilities are available. For
more event information call 01234 782828."
Bulldog Bash report II.
18th August: We are again grateful to Shakespeare County Raceway Press Officer Jerry
Cookson for sending us his promised second report of the weekend's action at the Bulldog Bash.
With the sun beating down on the track, staging lanes
full of bikes and topless TV presenters
interviewing the riders, demo director Dicko was first
to make use of the track on Saturday with the Hells
Angels Top Methanol Dragster. With added assistance
from current European Top Fuel Champion Smax Smith
the 'Big Red Machine' pulled a hellish panel vibrating
burnout resulting in the mags going off line, killing
the engine at mid-track which was just as well really
as the car also cut a rear tyre when pushed back to
the start area.
With Dicko electing to stay strapped in the car and
with the crew jumping all over the engine Smax
disappeared behind the wall to find another wheel.
Thanks to Mark Needham, who was still rebuilding his
Fiat Topolino's transmission, Smax emerged with wheel
in tow and duly held it aloft in front of Dicko.
Quicker than an F1 pitstop, Dicko returned to the
start line and laid down a half track eleven second
checkout pass. Later in the day the 'Big Red Machine'
pounded the track again to the tune of 8.753/145.52
but at the expense of removing the guts from the holed
Donovan engine.
Taking over the mantle as the quickest Outlaw Anglia
from Al O'Connor was Paul Wright's shovel nose 'Alco
Pop' Anglia. Despite very nearly tipping the car on
its side in the burnout just past the lights, the
methanol injected 555ci Chevy barked its way down the
track to a new personal best of 8.627 at 168.39.
Mickey Moore and gang stepped up the horsepower with
their 'Mob' Fuel Altered. Following Friday's two
shakey passes, Mickey ran a straight, true but very
noisy 7.679/193.72. Also in attendance, Clive Mechaell
made his one and only run of the event in his 'Hot Rod
from Hell' Fuel Altered. Despite a small part giving
up the ghost in the fuel system on warm up, Clive
blitzed the loud pedal and put down an on and off the
pedal 8.488 at 159.25.
Against Andy Hone's Ford Granada Super Modified racer
Paul Brooks was on the receiving end of a very scary
moment when the engine bay caught fire on his 468ci
'Out-a-Time' Ford Sierra after the burnout. Quick
reactions by the starter and crew extinguisher the
small bonfire out which later was put down to a fuel
fitting. Hone, meanwhile ran a 7.994/171.40.
On the bike front, Bash regular Ken Cooper, subbing
for an injured Kev Charman, ran the 1340cc Suzuki
Bandit Super Streeter to four low nine second passes;
the best being a 9.003 at 167.75. Running alongside
was Hyena Team member Carl Grey. His 1300cc Hyabussa
notched up a best of 9.339/173.10. Taking part in the
RWYB as well as the demonstrations was 10.90 regular
Shaun Spiers. Out of the twenty runs made Shaun's Katana
ran a best run of 10.226 at 134.17. Also flying the
flag for the 9.90 class was Steve Ashby's 'Pyromania'
Suzuki resulting in a 9.867/136.42.
Vaughan Foster and Dave Peters made vast improvements
with their Suzuki Comp Bikes; 7.884/167.80 and
8.370.155.34 respectively, while in the Funny Bike
demos Kawasaki UK-backed rider Tim Blakemore ran 7.683
together with a whopping top end charge of 175.93.
Meanwhile Steve French on board the 'French Injection'
Kawasaki put down a 7.452/178.55 with hardly the front
wheel touching the deck. Dave Bartz ran the nuts off
the 1730cc RMD Harley (10.157/134.69), and George
Laycock's gas burning TL1000 ran a best of
9.568/140.64 against Les Harris (10.635). The British
Fuel burners in the form of Steve Woollatt and Ian
King ran 7.136/205.93 and 7.083/188.69 respectively.
Also making a name for himself was 'Brum' Riding the
world's fastest street legal and nitrous injected 595
Triumph Daytona, Brum ran the wheels of this machine
all event long to run a best of 9.6 as well as taking
both the British and European class wins.
Making a return to the Raceway with a brand new Top
Fuel Harley was Willem Been from Amsterdam. With over
166 cubic inches of Van Geffen power to back the
former champion up, Willem ran several low 8 second
passes before banging the motor late Saturday. Also
making the journey was Sefan riding Karl Theicke's
machine alongside Chris from Antwerp on board one of
Marc Klessen's Top Gas Harleys to make up part of the
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club Drag Racing Team.
The two Fireforce Funny Cars laid on another stunning
Jet show with Martin Hill running 6.056/270.63
against Tony Baker's 6.889/237.96 and Eric Teboul on
broad his Rocket Bike ran two mid track stormers to
the tune of 6.165/186.91 and 9.163 at 167.34 despite
covering the startline in rocket vapour.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
18th August: The UK's American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster team have
made good on Dave Wilson's promise on Monday's Eurodragster News by updating their official web site
with their race reports from Mantorp Park and Gardermoen. Team member Phil James' reports go from
strength to strength with several laugh-out-loud moments although readers of a squeamish disposition
should tread carefully (as indeed did the team) through the Mantorp Park report. You can check out Phil's
travelogues under Race Reports at
www.americancarimportsracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of 2003 FIA European Top Fuel Champion
Smax Smith has been updated as promised with a report of the Promise Dreams team's weekend at the
NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen. You can check out team member Tet's very interesting and well-illustrated
account by clicking on the Race Reports link at www.smax.co.uk;
the link to the full report is immediately below the results.
The official web site of Sweden's Svensson Brothers Top Fuel Bike team has had a facelift, and has been
updated with the latest news on the return to the track of the twice-Champion Billet Racing
bike. Check it out at hem.passagen.se/billet.
Scary down south.
17th August: We are indebted to Heather Bond for letting us know that UK Funny Bike racer
Sarah Jane Head, who is still recovering from a top end crash at the Easter Thunderball, is in
Stanmore Hospital for the next few days. H says that Scary would be very pleased to receive visitors.
"Scary is in Stanmore's rehabilitation ward for physio on her shoulder", says H. "She will be there
today (Tuesday), tomorrow and Thursday, and will then be going back to York Hospital on Friday. If anyone would
like to visit Scary to give her a little sparkle then please do, I know that she will be overjoyed to
see you."
©Eurodragster.com
Scary is in the Rehabiliation Ward of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Brockley Hill, Stanmore,
just off Junction 4 of the M1 and not far from Stanmore (Jubilee Line) or Edgware (Northern Line)
tube stations. You can find the hospital's web site at
www.rnoh-stanmore.org.uk, and
click here
for a map of the hospital's location.
Persåker having fun.
17th August: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Jöran Persåker says that he
is having a lot of fun in his first year in the class. With two Championship rounds left in 2004, Jöran
is second in the Championship, a mere twelve points behind Micke Kågered.
"I like to drive the Top Fueller", Jöran told Eurodragster yesterday. "It's a good deal for me. I am very close to the number one spot in my first year, with a lot still to learn, so
I am very happy. There are two races left, and I have a good crew, so I am hopeful that we can do it."
Jöran has been racing both the Top Fueller and his Pro Stock at the last few events, and we asked him
if it was difficult or confusing to do both. "Running both the Top Fueller and the Pro Stock is not that stressful", he said. "Sometimes
when they are scheduled close together it's a hurry, but there are often delays so we get the time. They told me that my Reaction Times would suffer from
driving both cars but they haven't. The two cars are very different, though. In the Top Fueller you pre-stage and drop the clutch and stage in idle. In the Pro
Stock you stage on full throttle. It feels a little crazy to get off the clutch in the Top Fueller, so I have to think about what I am doing, but the Pro Stock is
no problem."
Jöran said that he has now finished with the Pro Stock for 2004. "The logistics are difficult and it takes a lot of time to drive
from track to track. I will be running the Pro Stock again next year, maybe just the dates in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Jari Konola loves to build motors
and he will be my Crew Chief again."
©Eurodragster.com
With the Nitrolympics fast approaching, Jöran said that there is an element of luck involved in racing.
"I need to be lucky at Hockenheim", he said. "In Norway I would have won the final but my blower belt came off. But Smax had a blower belt come off
in the semi-final against me, or he would have won that race. The race to be in is the final because that means that you have been through every round. I just hope that I do everything right, and
I hope that I run my first four and my first 300 - I haven't done it yet! I've been to Hockenheim before, with my Trans Am and my Pro Mod. I like it there,
everything is very nice. I hope that the track is OK."
If you were tuned in to Eurodragster News last week you will have seen that Jöran's Crew Chief Gary Page said that the entire team had been promised
a trip to Monaco for the FIA Banquet if Jöran won the Championship. We asked Jöran about his crew. "My crew are great", he said. "They work very hard and
know what they are doing. So I am cool, I can just concentrate on the driving. In the old days I used to do everything myself but it's too much work - now I can
relax. And yes, I did tell my crew that if I won the Championship I would take them all to Monaco. I drive the car,
but they did all the hard work! At the beginning of the season I was wondering what sort of clothes you have to wear to Monaco but one of my friends
told me that I have to win the Championship first!"
Plans are already being drawn up for next year's assault on the FIA Top Fuel Championship. "I will be driving Top Fuel again next year", said
Jöran. "I want to do the full FIA tour and I want to keep my crew from England. I have already spoken to Knut Söderquist (Car owner - Ed)
and there are a lot of options. I could rent a car again, or I could buy a car and hire engines from Knut. Doing it the way I have this year means that Knut
runs the trailer, and as I have a very busy business it's something I don't have to do. But we'll talk about it more in October."
Jöran is sponsored by his own business, Persaker's Speed Shop, and also by BP who have been
with him for some years. "When I have decided about next year then I will work on sponsorship", he said. "It's long and hard work, it takes time, and I
have a business to run."
Jöran has promised to let us know his thoughts after the Nitrolympics, so stay tuned to Eurodragster News and we will bring you that next
week.
Leanders take the lead.
17th August: Sweden's Leanders Brothers Top
Methanol Funny Car team didn't have the most auspicious start to the season when an engine explosion at
the FIA Main Event split the block clean in two, and a loose fuel hose deprived him of vision
at the Nitro Nationals. The IronCAD-sponsored team are on a roll now, as Ulf Leanders took victory
in Sweden and Norway and is currently leading the FIA Championship. Ulf has been in touch with a
review of the team's season so far.
"The Main Event is something we want to forget", says Ulf. "In qualifying we split the engine block in two and
the car was a fireball for some seconds. This left us with a whole night of work on the car and it was
only with the help of Fast Freddy, who let us borrow his spare engine block and heads, that we were able to
make eliminations on Monday. During the semi-final we blew out the head gaskets and this gave us even more
damaged engine parts to repair.
"After a lot of work and money we got to Finland in what we thought was good shape and we were, up to the point when a fuel
hose shook loose in the quarter final against Urs Erbacher. I had no vision with methanol spraying over the windshield, which
forced me to get off the throttle before the finish line and Urs got by for the win. The only positive thing was that our
problems didn't cost anything this time, but in a way this makes it even worse.
"At the next event at Mantorp Park we seemed to have found all the bugs with the car and qualified second after Urs
with a 5.86, everything felt very good and under control. In fact it was so under control that we could take the opportunity
to test the 2002 Firebird body belonging to next year's team mate Martin Lundqvist, to get an idea of the differences in
aerodynamics of our 'Mondeo' and the Firebird. The test worked out very well and the first run with the body resulted in
a 5.89, only six hundredths from the first qualifying spot even with a low terminal speed, and we know how to fix that.
©Eurodragster.com
"For eliminations we put our body back on and ran a nice 5.80 against Arvid Grødem and an even nicer
5.77, which is now the track record, in the semi final against Niclas Andersson. After that run we discovered some
cuts in one of our slicks and both Urs Erbacher and Dan Larsen offered us the use of their wheels for the final,
but they did not fit our car. This forced us to change tyres to some old spares which we had with us, and we
had a lot of experienced helping hands from all over. Thank you very much to everyone who helped, you really
saved us. In the final we were up against Leif Andréasson and everything went well for us with another 5.80.
It was our first win in a long time, we almost couldn't believe that it was true.
"The trip to Norway felt very soon after the success at Mantorp, and our great performance continued on the Gardemoen
race track: number one qualifier with a 5.76 and a great speed of 402.4 kmh. This is the second Top Methanol Funny Car
in Europe over 250 mph. In the quarter final we took out Arvid again, and we almost felt bad doing this to this very
good, hard-working, professional, and for the last two races unlucky team on their home track. After a long wait
for oildowns the racing continued and after a solo semi final we faced Urs Erbcaher in the final. Urs was too late
to the finish line and even to late for the prizegiving! Urs, this is not like you, but I am not complaining.
One more victory and we are leader of the championship for the first time!
"We know that this is not luck and that it is the result of hard work by everyone in the team: our brilliant engine guru
Tomas Nygren, with a lot of help from Hans Kadi who is also our body's plastic surgeon. The clutch and transmission
is taken care of by Brje Mattsson and Stefan Lundaahl; Stefan is also the sheet metal and welding wizard of the team.
Lars Gllas is the team member who takes care of all the tanks with fuel, oil, catch cans, lug nuts, oil pan and diapers,
and make sure that the car is ready to hit the track once again. Jrgen Leanders is the Crew Chief with help from our
newest member Jonny Frnlund. Everyone is working their asses off to give me a great car to get from start to finish, and
when the car is performing as well as it is right now it makes my job a lot easier. We also have a lot of help from the team's
Junior Dragster driver Robin Kadi, and at some races the great chef Leif Wiklund. Our web site
at www.leandersbros.com is updated by computer addict and 3D
IronCAD user Urban Olars.
"We would like to take the opportunity to thank IronCAD, VMS, Driver and all our other sponsors and friends for
their support during the first part of the year."
An ashen Malmgren fan.
17th August: Sweden's AC Delco/Malmgren Racing Pro Stock team were on public display
again at the weekend, at the Vallkra meet. 2003 FIA European Champion Michael Malmgren managed to drain
the colour from one of his fan's faces at the weekend, as team member Magnus Cato writes.
"We parked our car at the Micro show stand on Saturday and began to work on the Pontiac in the heat of
the day", says Magnus. "We had a workshop where we retorqued our head gaskets and did a clutch
service. It was very popular with a large crowd watching and asking
questions.
©Eurodragster.com
"There was a draw on the entry tickets on Sunday, and the lucky
winner won a seat in the car as Michael did a burnout and launch. The guy
who won was a bit pale in the face as he realised what the prize was, but he
calmed down when Michael explained the procedure to him. After the show he was even
more pale then before! But he recovered and got a souvenir t-shirt and an
autograph.
"All in all it was a successful weekend, and we did our share to
explain drag racing to the crowd."
King Racing return.
17th August: After the enormous engine explosion suffered by the UK's
King Racing Top Fuel Bike team at Easter, they made a
welcome return to the track at the weekend's Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway making
demonstration passes for the event organisers Hells Angels England.
Using a borrowed short motor and a repaired skulled cylinder head the team made four full passes
under tricky weather and track conditions with a minimum of problems. A new combination of a
unique seven-stage clutch, fuel pump, drive and set-up held few problems for the team, although
they suffered a blower seizure due to some debris getting through the intake hat resulting in
some expensive rotor damage.
The first run saw rider Ian King using an 84% nitro loading and no clutch. After an overly rich
pass crew chief Mick Beaumont upped the percentage to 86 and added weight to all seven stages in
order to lean up the burn. This certainly did the trick as the tyre blew away mid track but inspection
of the engine after the run saw a problem with the blower that necessitated a strip down and dressing
process on the rotors. In addition, some issues with the new clutch cannon resulted in a tricky set-up
procedure prior to the run, so clutch was always likely to be marginal and the third pass saw another
tyre up in smoke at mid-track but no further blower seizure.
For the final pass the unfavoured right lane was chosen in an attempt to put down some power and the
team's best pass of the day was recorded, which would have been deep in the six second zone if it was
not for a dropped cylinder at just past half track slowing the Puma machine to a 7.08/184.
All in all a very encouraging return for the team, and they are looking forward to proving the
combination at their first European Championship outing of the season, this weekend's NitrOlympx
at Hockenheim, Germany.
Ian King has also been in touch to ask if any reader can help his crew with transport. "I have two crew members arriving at Frankfurt (Hahn)
airport with Ryanair from London Stansted on Thursday (19th August)", says Ian. "They fly out on flight
FR764 departing STN at 20:05 and arriving HHN at 22:20. They will then take a taxi to the track;
if anyone else is arriving on the same flight who wishes to share a ride for a share of the cost
please let me know by E-Mail at ian@kingracing.com or call
me on 07785 341099. Alternatively, if anyone on the flight has already arranged transport but has
room for the two in return for a contribution of cost then please contact me. Thanks!"
©Eurodragster.com
Fuelling around at the Allstars.
17th August: Courtesy of Lee Child of LA Performance Services comes the news that
a Fuel Altered match race and a second Jet Funny Car have been added to the exhibition action at next
week's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
Wendy Baker will be taking to the wheel of her and Paul Stubbings' new Bantam-bodied Fuel Altered
in a match race against Mickey Moore in The Mob. This match race will have a particular edge
as Wendy has in the recent past driven The Mob herself in match races against Jim Seward.
"Both Wendy and Mickey will have a point to make and it'll be classic no-holds-barred Fuel Altered action
all the way to the finish line!", says Lee, who jointly sponsors Eurodragster's Links pages
through LA Racing Parts. We understand that Wendy and Paul
have a little surprise lined up for us so stay tuned to Eurodragster News for details of that.
©Eurodragster.com
If you were tuned in yesterday then you will have read that Roger Goring's Firestorm Jet FC
is already booked-in for the Allstar Nationals, and Lee has today confirmed that Martin Hill
will also be attending with his Fireforce 2 Jet FC, fresh from running in the fives
at the Bulldog Bash.
For more information about the Allstar Nationals including ticket prices, check out our news item of
10th August.
Malin gets Serious.
17th August: UK Super Pro ET racer Gary Malin hopes to put Shakespeare County Raceway's
right hand lane jinx to bed once and for all at the Allstar Nationals, when he returns to the Warwickshire
track for the first time since being involved in a two-car crash with John Parkinson a couple of years ago,
only twelve weeks after crashing his shovel-nosed Pop from the same lane.
"I will make a point of running in the right-hand lane", says Gary. "I am also looking forward to seeing John Parkinson and his crew
with their new rail. I have spoken to John on the telephone on a fairly frequent basis, and we agreed a re-match (on friendly terms of course) and
that afterwards we would crack open a bottle and share it - no more racing for us that day, of course.
"This will be the first time that I and Serious Playtime have done even a shopping trip down the track since the crash. It's the spooky
lane but it's time for me to prove that my machine and I can conquer this bully - give me the right hand lane and I will give you a
personal best!
"What happened is irrelevant. The fact is that John and I are still here to tell the story, and we get to race again."
On2Wheels update.
17th August: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch
with an update for racers contesting this Saturday's
On2Wheels bike event at
Santa Pod.
"Please note that all racer tickets will be on the gate at Santa Pod on Saturday", said Paula.
"I will not be sending any tickets out by mail."
©Eurodragster.com
Paula has also kindly sent us the official entry list for this On2Wheels, which is a
round of the UK National 9.90 Bike and 10.90 Bike Championships, as well as a round of the
SPRC Super Street Bike Championship. You can view the On2Wheels entry list by
clicking here.
Eurodragster will be reporting live from On2Wheels in association with
American Car Imports, with updates on the action in
9.90 Bike, 10.90 Bike and Super Street Bike, and an end-day Photo Gallery. The
Webster Race Engineering/MPM
Oil webcam will also be broadcasting. Stay tuned to Eurodragster News for more details.
A night's bench racing.
17th August: If you fancy some bench racing this Thursday evening (19th August)
then Santa Pod Raceway's Race Director Darren Prentice tells us that a Drag Racing Night has been
organised in The Swan pub in Newton Bromswold.
"The landlord, Andy, is an avid drag racing fan and he is converting the Swan's games room into
a drag racing room for the evening", says Darren. "We have arranged for a TV with a five-foot screen
which will be showing a DVD of the Main Event courtesy of Santa Pod Raceway."
©Eurodragster.com
Darren tells us that if successful the Drag Racing Nights could become a monthly fixture in
the Swan.
The video screening will commence at 8:00 on Thursday. The Swan is in
Newton Bromswold, near Rushden, not far off the A6:
click here
for a map of the area. You can call The Swan on 01933 413506.
More power off the track.
17th August: Stephen Talbot of UK Super Pro ET team Talbot Racing
has been in touch to let us know that he is setting up a new business venture with Shaun Stoddard, one of the UK's leading Mercedes experts, which
may be of interest to drag racers in the UK. Stephen and Shaun have formed an engine repair and remanufacturing company, whose
speciality is non-race engines from cars and vans through to HGV and PSV. Whilst offering a full range of machining and standard engine
services they are now able to offer 'chipping' kits for diesel vehicles.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were approached by the UK distributor of a kit which allows the user to get between ten and thirty per cent more power from many modern
diesels without any warranty or fuel economy issues", says Stephen. "We were amazed at the effect they could give on a wide range of vehicles from
Ford, Mercedes and VAG vehicles to most modern vans. Obviously with our involvement with drag racing we thought we should let of friends know
as most people want more power from their daily drive and tow vehicles, and this lets us upgrade most diesel vehicles at a very reasonable cost."
For more details call Shaun at TEC on 01270 251152, or follow the Power Chipping links at
www.totalengine.co.uk.
Web site updates.
17th August: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with the
latest points standings in both the Nordic Drag Racing Series and the Swedish Dragracing League. Check it
out at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Grumpy on that 270.
16th August: FIA Top Methanol Dragster Championship leader Dave 'Grumpy' Wilson
says that his terminal speed of 435.10 kmh, 270.36 mph, in the
American Car Imports Racing dragster at
Gardermoen was "A bit like a hole in one at golf".
"It definitely went 270", says Grumpy. "It came about through a number of factors. I spent quite a lot of time on the ferry home looking at the trace from
the datalogger and something jumped out at me - something happened on that run which hasn't happened before.
I'm not going to tell you what it was, because I don't want the other racers knowing! We think we'll be able
to repeat, it's just a matter of when. But looking at the trace I think we'll find another way to do it next time."
©Eurodragster.com
Grumpy says that he had his hands full on the 270 mph pass. "It was a very wayward run", he says. "I got very close to
the barrier at the top end, we were all over the place but it was really moving fast at the finish."
The 2003 FIA European TMD Champion says that there has been an element of trickiness to all of the
tracks which the ACI Racing team have attended this year. "We've had a lot of curves thrown at us this
season", says Grumpy. "Mantorp was a lot better than it looked, although I messed up there in the final. I didn't stage
properly, and Peter Schöfer got out on me. I spent so much time going down the track thinking about
what I'd let Peter do to me that I messed up the shifting! Gardermoen usually produces very good traction
especially as the track comes around, but the new start line threw in an extra variable and so the track
didn't seem to come around as it usually does. We were trying to get our European record back, but we
couldn't. We're now looking forward to the challenge of Hockenheim next week!"
The ACI Racing web site will shortly be updated with the latest of team member Phil James'
inimitable event reports, this time from Mantorp Park and Gardermoen.
Racers: It's not too late to send us your Nitrolympics previews. Drop us a line at
news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them
here.
Karling going for gold.
16th August: With four rounds gone and only two left to go in the 2004 UEM European Drag Bike Championship,
one of a group of four racers will be UEM European Supertwin Champion, says a press release from Karling Racing.
Anders 'Charley' Karling is currently number two
just one round behind Ton Pels. Charley has 143 points and Ton 153. Number three is Ronny Aasen with 131 points and number four Hans Olav Olstad with 122.
Last weekend at Norway's Gardermoen Raceway, six of thirteen Supertwins qualified in the sixies. Charley was number one with a 6.74, Ton
number two at 6.83, and the bump was 7.22. Charley ran the weekend's best ET of 6.60 in the semis but redlit by with 0.028 sec. Ton also redlit, in the final against Norway's
Trond Alm who won the race.
At the previous race, at Mantorp Park in Sweden, Ton was number one qualifier and Charley number two. Charley won and ran a best of 6.71.
Next weekend is the fifth round at Hockenheim in Germany, with up to 100,000 in the grandstands over three days. The final round will take place at Santa Pod
on 9th-12th September.
Karling Racing are now going for gold.
©Eurodragster.com
Goring relishes SCR return.
16th August: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger
Goring says that he is looking forward to his next appearance, at next week's Allstar Nationals
at Shakespeare County Raceway, after the latest set-up change to Firestorm's J85 engine checked out
successfully at York last weekend. "The car's going ever so well now", he said, "after the success
at York we are desperate to get to Shakespeare County to run the full quarter mile because the proof
of the pudding is in the eating! It seems like an age since we were last there".
"We had a fantastic time at the thirtieth anniversary weekend at York", Roger told Eurodragster on Saturday.
"We gave the pressures a little tweak and it worked, the sixty foot times were quicker again, we made a lot
of noise and everyone thought it was great!
I had a crew of my partner Helen and Steve Murty's son Mike; with Mike and Steve there, and Glenn Ramsden
and his safety guys at the other end, I have so much less to worry about. When we weren't out on the track we
sold lots of T-shirts and handed out hundreds of hero cards. I recommend anyone who's not been to York to
pay a visit. There are some very fast cars there and everyone is so friendly."
©Eurodragster.com
Roger said that although he still has a lot of development work to do on Firestorm, he will not
be treating his Allstar Nationals appearance as a test session. "I put a new part on the engine at the
start of the season and it worked just fine", he said. "We tweak the pressures and it is marching on, a few
mph improvement here and there and all in the right direction. There is a lot else I need to do but
that really needs a tie-down test, and in any case I think it is very unfair on the promoter and the fans,
and unprofessional, to treat a booking as a test and tune so I'd never do it."
Roger also paid tribute to his partner Helen, who is now acting as Crew Chief for the Firestorm team.
"Helen is in charge of start-up and runs the start line show", he said. "I'm very pleased with how she is getting on.
A real iron lady!"
Racers: It's not too early to send us your Allstar Nationals previews. Drop us a line at
news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them
here.
Harvey's kick hunt successful.
16th August: UK Super Pro ET racer Paul Harvey tells us that Breathe, MHFtravel and
Mailkey have failed to keep their side of their sponsorship deals after he and his team had spent a
lot of hard work and money preparing their race car. However, things are looking up for the team with
a new engine in place and the discovery of the reason for their transmission problems.
"Not to worry", says Paul. "We are so pleased that the race car looked great this year, after the five months solid hard work which Brian, Phil, Mark
and I put into the preparation of the chassis and running gear, and the great effort that Geoff Annis and Colin Evans put into the welding and paintwork.
Great work for a thirty-year-old car. Any advertisers interested for 2005 please let us know.
"We were sorry to hear that Marion James had passed away. Marion raced the ex-Turbo Saxon which became the Instigator in the late
1970s/early 1980s. Although we knew of the Instigator, I had no idea that Marion James had raced her. Unfortunately we are unable to answer
the call for a car to go Marion's funeral in Poole.
"We took a trip out to York Dragway last weekend. The 385ci Cleveland, supplied by CHI/Porting Dynamics of the USA, is now installed and running. Things
were looking great for the car, there was so much power in the sunny weather that we could get no grip off the start line Saturday's checkout pass
to run in the engine, basically a Sunday drive down the strip and back up the return road. Then we ran a sideways and spinning 9.6 and then our fastest
run at York a 9.2 with a bad kick between second and third shifts. The new 385ci sounds great and the top end power really kicks in, I can't wait to try it at
Shakespeare County Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have been trying to trace a problem since the FIA Main Event. After succeeding in tuning ourselves back into a run of six high eight-second runs at
that race, the car seemed to lose power and develop a kick between second and third gears. Not having a full datalogger we were fishing in the dark for
the reason. Although we made regular checks of the trans, after that last run at York we found that the transmission oil had that horrible foul burnt smell.
On inspection we found that both primary clutch packs were burnt out, and that would seem to be the explanation all along for the timing data we have been
seeing since the Main Event. We found that we were getting excellent sixty-foot times, then the eighth would drop off - slower than we had ever run - then
by the quarter we were getting some of the times and mph back. I have got to say, though, that the guys at Transmission Specialties USA made this
for us four years ago and we have not touched it since then, money well spent we think.
"So Shakey here we come, 385ci running well and rebuilt transmission ready. Hopefully we will get our hands on the prize we wanted this year, which
was to run a sub 8.5 at over 150mph, just to beat Ray Hoare's fastest time with the car.
"On another note, Dave Storlien of Porting Dynamics and CHI Heads (3V Cleveland Heads) let us know that he is in the final draw for the Engine Masters
Challenge 2004 Dyno Pull Off at Bill Mitchell's place on Long Island, USA. The aluminium Cleveland block which we supplied to Dave is now a whopping
410ci, with some special porting work done to the alloy 3V heads which they manufacture. Our entire team of six are travelling to the finals of the Challenge in New
York in October. Who knows, maybe for all those Ford lovers out there we will see a SBF (albeit a Cleveland) win the Engine Masters Challenge."
Who'll be Swedish PM Champion?
16th August: It hardly seems possible but the 2004 Nordic Drag Racing Series is soon
to draw to a close, with this weekend's Norwegian Finals at Frøya followed by the
NDRS Finals at Mantorp Park on 27th-29th August. The NDRS Finals is shaping up into one of the biggest and
most exciting NDRS events of the year with very few of the Sportsman classes close to a conclusion, so a huge
entry and down-to-the-wire eliminations are expected. You can see the results of the latest NDRS round,
the weekend's Linde Open,
on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
The NDRS Finals is also the penultimate round of the 2004 NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Series and also
hosts the annual Swedish Open Pro Modified Championship, the annual one-off event which offers a
prestigious title to the winner regardless of their NDRS position. With all NDRS Series rounds counting,
and the Open Championship up for grabs, a large entry of Pro Mods is expected.
You can read a preview of the Swedish Open Pro Modified Championship on the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se.
UK closing date reminder.
16th August: Racers are reminded that the official closing dates for two UK events fall
during this week.
First up is next week's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, whose extended closing date is this
Wednesday, 18th August. For more details contact APIRA Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot on 01379 740100.
©Eurodragster.com
Secondly, Sportsman-class entry for the FIA European Finals closes this Thursday, 19th August. Professional-class
entry is already formally closed with a fee imposed on late entries. For more details contact SPRC Club
Secretary Paula Marshall on 01933 313625.
Bulldog Bash report I.
16th August: We are indebted to Shakespeare County Raceway Press Officer Jerry Cookson
for forwarding us an account of the action at the Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.
Jerry's first report, which thanks to the vagaries of 'instant communication' across the web took
more than twenty four hours to reach us, is on Friday's on-track action:
Eric Teboul made two passes on his Rocket Bike. The
first was a check out 9.163/183.57 and 6.331/174.41.
The Fireforce Jets ran together with Martin Hill running
5.982/267.76 and Tony Baker just behind at 7.029/233.99.
Quickest Outlaw Anglia was the Professor Al O'Connor
9.959/133.34. Vaughan Foster ran two a 7.961 and 7.847
at 172.99 on his Suzuki Comp Bike. Steve Woollatt spun
the tyre up on his first pass on the rebuilt engine of his Top Fuel Bike.
On his second pass a 7.020/203.49 was the result after
taking some of the power out. Ian King also ran twice on his TFB
at 8.521/126.62 and 7.987/179.61. Ian Turburville put
down a 9.377/112.10 on his Supertwin Fuel Bike.
Supercharged Outlaw racer Frank Griffin took an unexpected wild ride backwards
into the guardrail on Friday. Frank, whose career in UK drag
racing spans some twenty years, was matched in the left
hand lane against Mark Needham's Chain Reaction Fiat
Topolino. After his crowd-pleasing burnout Frank launched the
blown 474ci Donovan-powered Ford Pop hard until about the
330-foot mark when the car veered to the
left clipping the barrier. Still under power and with Frank trying
to drive out of it the Pop swapped ends crossing the centreline backwards. 'Fortunately' for
Mark Needham, he blew parts on the transmission straight off
the line.
Frank emerged from his hot seat (so to speak) to
the crowd's applause. Back in the pits the only apparent damage
to the car is a crumpled rear wing, an out of shape wheel rim, and possible rear
axle misalignment! Once checked out by the medics, Frank could be heard
to say "I should have got off the (expletive deleted) thing". Frank is now hoping to be back for the
Supercharged Outlaws next event at the NSRA Hot Rod
Drags at Shakespeare County in four weeks time.
1264 passes were made on Friday, and just in the first
few hours of Saturday the RWYB line was right round the corner of the stands.
©Eurodragster.com
Guess Who 2004-5 is go!
16th August: UK Wild Bunch racer Tony Smith has confirmed that he shall be running another
Guess Who contest on his web site during the off-season, with more
fantastic prizes on offer. Tony's Guess Who contest challenges entrants
to identify race cars and bikes from small excerpts of photographs.
©Eurodragster.com
"As I had such a response to the offer of a trip in Andy Frost's
CCSE Victor, I asked John Sleath if he would do the same for this year", says
Tony. "Now Andy can try to win! So this season's Guess Who prizes are
again a trophy from Paul Bland at Avondale Composites, and a trip in John
Sleath's new Audi CCSE car on one of the Cruises at Santa Pod".
The contest starts in November and will run to April, and Tony will be enrolling entrants
towards the end of October. In the meantime you can check out Tony's Cunning Plan web site
at www.cunningplan.net.
Web site updates.
16th August: Swedish Pro Modified racer Håkan Nilsson and his team are beginning
to think that there is some sort of magic between their six-second Camaro and Gardermoen Raceway after
taking their third NDRG Drag Challenge win in three years last week, Håkan's first victory of
2004. Team member Ulf Stadig says that it was by no means an easy victory, with damage to repair
before the final round involving the loan of parts from Christer Jacobs. You can read all about it on the
Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster Photo Editor Sharkman has caught up with the backlog of updates to his personal web site
Sharkman's Top End Tales. "I have posted some thirty Windows wallpaper files from Bug Jam, and just over a
hundred from the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park", says Sharkman. You can check out the latest Windows wallpaper on
Sharkman's web site at www.topendtales.com.
Kågered hails consistency.
14th August: Current FIA Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader
Micke Kågered says that he did not think that he
had much of a chance to catch up in the points after the first two events at Santa Pod and Alastaro
did not go well for the Bahco Tools-backed team. Victories at Mantorp Park and Gardermoen have
however catapulted Micke into the points lead with a twelve-point margin, which equates to
just over half a round of competition.
"The Top Fuel class is so competitive", says Micke. "You do not always need to be quickest, but it is necessary to be consistent -
to be able to repeat good performance run after run. This is what we failed to do initially this season, as we struggled to find a set-up for the
new car which I am driving. Neither I nor my crew members doubted that we would perform well sooner or later, so we are really pleased with the wins at
Mantorp and Gardermoen."
©Eurodragster.com
Micke says that his victory at the Veidec Nitro Festival was his best ever. "We performed in the fours and outran all of our competitors
throughout the event", he says.
The Bahco Tools team are however taking nothing for granted as they go into next weekend's Nitrolympics
at Hockenheim. "I know things can change very quickly", says Micke. "At this point it feels as good as it can; my team will
take that feeling with us to Hockenheim, continue to work hard, and see how far it can take us."
Nataas: 304 feels good!
14th August: Fellow Top Fuel Dragster racer Thomas Nataas says that it felt good to
go over 300 mph last weekend. Thomas set new personal bests of 4.880 and 489.33 kmh (304.06 mph) at
Gardermoen but couldn't make the call for the semi-finals after putting two rods out of his engine.
"Going over 300 mph felt good", Thomas told Eurodragster from Norway this morning. "I always want to go faster! I am
looking forward to coming to Santa Pod in September to go even faster".
©Eurodragster.com
Thomas' slightly lower terminal speed of 475.53 in the first round of eliminations last Sunday
betrays an engine which was eating itself up before the finish. "One of the pistons split in two", said
Thomas. "The run could have been even quicker than a 4.88. Everything was fine, if you look on the computer
you can see that it was a good run until just before the finiah line. But then the piston split and it kicked
two rods. It was not a happy weekend for Rune (Fjeld, car owner - Ed), because Andy Carter lost an engine
on that run as well."
Rune, Thomas and the team have worked every day this week to put the Batmobile Fueller
back together, as the rig will be leaving Norway for Hockenheim on Monday. "I've got a day off
today as I am going to a wedding but the rest of the guys are still working", said Thomas. "I
have never been to Hockenheim, but I hear that the facility is very good, so I am looking forward
to seeing it."
Web site updates.
14th August: The official web site of 2003 FIA European Top Fuel Champion
Smax Smith has been updated with a report of the Promise Dreams team's weekend at the Veidec Nitro
Festival at Mantorp Park. You can check out team member Tet's very interesting and well-illustrated
account by clicking on the Race Reports link at www.smax.co.uk;
the link to the full report is immediately below the results. Tet is currently hunting some spare
time (Welcome to our world - Ed) to put together the report from Gardermoen.
©Eurodragster.com
Peter Kruse.
13th August: From Benni Voss comes the shocking news that German
Top Methanol FC racer and, more recently, tuner Peter Kruse has died.
"One of our pioneer Pro drivers is no more", says Benni.
"Peter Kruse passed away in his sleep last night.
"Like so many German drivers, Peter started racing at
Erlensee and Giebelstadt with his Streetfighter Camaro.
Then he bought an American TA/FC at Hockenheim,
when Rick Henkelman and AJ Kuesel were on their European tour.
Peter was one of the first German drivers in a
Top Alcohol Funny Car, and the Valvoline Team was
always a crowd favourite.
"When Peter's years as an active driver were over, he stayed in the racing scene
and lent his experience to Jrgen Nagel, to make what is now Germany's only TMFC
faster. Peter could be seen in the TMFC pits and the collection area at Santa Pod
during the last few years.
"Peter was never was at home in the VIP area, he preferred a few with his crew when
the work was over.
"Peter Kruse will be missed by everybody who knew him,
and the German race community is shocked to hear about this tragic loss.
"I saw Peter at a big Opel race just last weekend,
when he was watching his son Pierre racing on the quarter mile.
"Right now there is a thunderstorm over Germany,
or is that you, Peter, firing it up in heaven?"
We are sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in sending our very
deepest sympathies to Peter's family and his many friends.
TF stars come out at Night.
13th August: The UK's Gary Page and Andy Carter will be taking time out from their
duties as Jöran Persåker's Crew Chief and driver of the GoTalk Top Fuel Dragster respectively
to take part in the Night Show at next week's Nitrolympics at
Hockenheim. Gary and Andy will be driving two of Rico Anthes' Top Fuel Dragsters under the lights in
the traditional Saturday night entertainment.
"Of course, I'll be working with Jöran all weekend but I'm sloping off to drive Rico's car on
Saturday night!", says Gary Page. "I'm going out to Hockenheim early to service the car.
I've got my name on Rico's latest car, which I drove at the pre-Grand Prix show - it is very nice!"
©Eurodragster.com
"I'm really looking forward to it", says Andy Carter. "I was very pleased to be asked to drive one of
Rico's cars. Driving on the Saturday night doesn't impact on my Championship challenge so I'm going for it!
I'm not familiar with Rico's car so when I get to Hockenheim I will spend some time with it."
Meanwhile Gary tells us that Jöran Persåker, currently second in the FIA Championship by just
over half a round of competition, is already looking to 2005. "Jöran is more than happy and wants to run
the FIA Tour again next season. He is already looking at his options. And he's told us that if he wins
this year's Championship then he will take all of us to Monaco!".
Smax courts Lady Luck.
13th August: We hear from the pit of 2003 FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion
Smax Smith that everything is looking good for the next round of the FIA Championships,
next week's Nitrolympics at Hockenheim.
"Every team needs lady luck on their side", says Team Manager Paul Townsend, "and up to now she has not been too kind to this year. Our
fantastic crew have worked themselves to a standstill some weekends and we now have a machine which will really run the numbers. The car
was on top form in Norway but we lost in the semi-finals when our blower belt let go.
©Eurodragster.com
"Sweden was fine, except for the 'throttle fairies' (according to Smax) hitting the throttle early, causing Smax to red light. Well it's the sort
of excuse only Smax could come up with!
"We are grateful for the incredible effort of Alan Jackson, and it's fun this year being part of the four-car Knut stable.
"Watch out Hockenheim - the Promise Dreams team are ready and raring to go. We support the comments of Andy Carter that this year is
very competitive indeed, and all the teams are showing the talent we have in Europe at the moment. We wish all teams involved in our sport a fantastic
remainder of the 2004 season - but more importantly that everyone has safe racing."
Larsen treats his bites.
13th August: Danish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dan Larsen
says that in three of this season's four FIA events he hasn't had to be beaten by his competitors as his car has
been bitten.
"It's been season with many problems", says Dan. "The FIA Main Event in England really went great for us, but we went up in smoke in the final
against Urs Erbacher. "From Finland everything went bad. We got bitten in first round as the parachute came out on the start line.
At Mantorp I pulled a red light in the first round.
"Then we felt that it had to get better at Gardermoen, but no way. After a whole weekend with clutch problems, we went up in smoke in the first
round against Niclas Andersson. At the same time the transmission couldn't stand the hard run and broke. Unfortunately we've had to cancel our entry
to Hockenheim due to our lack of spare parts.
"We also did think about canceling the Finals at Santa pod, as we needed too many new parts. We are also a long way down the European
Championship points and the Championship is lost for 2004. But luckily our sponsor Boxter has just ordered a new clutch and other parts
which will make it possible for us to contest the European Finals. This gives us the opportunity to get the clutch tuned in at the Finals, and to
be ready for the 2005 season. We will try to get the highest possible finish in the Championship, even though it looks tough to change the standings.
"We are now very optimistic again, and we are looking forward to entering the Finals. We are now busy getting the car fixed and rebuilt."
Malmgren has a ball at Meca.
13th August: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster News on Wednesday then
you will have read that 2003 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren and the AC Delco team were
headed for Malmö's eighth-mile Meca Raceway to test. Team member Magnus Cato has been in touch to tell us
about their successful evening at Meca.
"We live less than eighty kilometres from Meca Raceway, but this was the first time we have been there", says Magnus.
"The track was built last winter and arranges popular races on particular weekends, and a Wednesday 'Street Race' event. They
have between two and three thousand spectators each Wednesday, and a lot of different teams racing. Wednesday evening
amazed us as there were over two and a half thousand spectators and a lot of cars.
©Eurodragster.com
"Unfortunately there was a huge oildown so we only managed two runs, but we are very excited with the results, as we improved
on our Gardermoen setup. All the guys at Malmgren Racing are grateful for the opportunity to test as closely as we did, and we
wish SRIF all the best with their amazing track. We will be back!
"This weekend we are going to the Vallkra meet south of Helsingborg, to display the Pontiac at the Micro stand.
Micro are one of Sweden's largest OEM suppliers and are now opening a new type of store dedicated to today's 'Import' street cars.
On Sunday we'll have the passenger seat in the car, and some lucky people will get the chance to sit next to Michael when he performs burnouts!"
You can see some pictures from Wednesday's event at Meca at www.cruzing.just.nu.
UK barbecue update.
13th August: On 30th July we
heard from Glenn Ramsden of UK Event Safety that
Santa Pod Raceway, and all UK racing facilities could face a ban on barbecues. Glenn asked racers
for their suggestions and he has been in touch to let us know how things stand.
"I have received many E-Mails all of which give constructive ideas for the way ahead", says Glenn. "Sadly, very few of these are from the Pro racers.
I have had a wealth of suggestions which range from banning barbecues completely (applause from the caterers!) to a simple set of rules which, if not adhered to,
could result in Championship points being lost.
©Eurodragster.com
"Remember, these suggestions are all from the folk in the pits at Pod. Keep the ideas coming, and at the beginning of September - with the blessings
of the webmaster (Yes - Ed) - I will post a series of options on which to vote.
"Once again, thanks for your suggestions. Keep them coming to info@uk-event-safety.co.uk."
Still time to Cruise In.
13th August: Les Sanderson has been in touch to remind racers about next week's
Mid-West Cruise-In at Cheltenham Racecourse. Les tells us that there is still time to enter
your vehicle for display.
"A reminder and thank you to all those who said they would come, also to anyone I couldn't get to, the Mid-West Cruise-In is
over the weekend of 20th-22nd August", says Les. "The set-up is the same as last year. Any competition vehicle is granted
two passes free for the weekend, children also go free. There is a stack of live entertainment, Including some adult stuff !
©Eurodragster.com
"If everyone who told me they would be there turns up it will be a fantastic weekend. Don't forget this is an ideal oportunity to promote
drag racing in general and the Allstar Nationals in particular. You can also help your sponsors by giving out promotional flyers etc."
If you would like to display your race vehicle at the Mid-West Cruise-In, or if you would like more details about the event, then drop
Les a line at les.sanderson@blueyonder.co.uk.
Gottenberg pulled by chain.
12th August: Norwegian Supertwin racer Svein Gottenberg
had a lot of work to do after the Veidec Nitro Festival after he had a major engine problem and didn't make the field. Svein made it to Gardermoen
in time and set a new Personal Best, but now has to sit out the Nitrolympx at Hockenheim after a wayward chain destroyed a lot of the bike's rear bodywork
and damaged the chassis.
"We had to get everything ready for Gardermoen which is our home track", says Svein. "Friday ended OK with a 7.2, but we had some plans for
Saturday. The first qualifying round was a run I won't forget for a while, my first six! 6.92 side by side six second with Stefan Juneryd.
What a feeling, we had one more shot later and we thought that the most important thing was to repeat the run. In the next qualifier
we were again paired against Juneryd and we both run 6.85! We had a six in both lanes, so we were more than happy!
©Eurodragster.com
"In Sunday's first round we met Trond Alm, who surprised everybody this weekend: he also get his first six and won the race! We had him well
covered but the chain snapped and destroyed all the bodywork, the rear section of the frame is badly damaged. The intention was to go all FIM
races this year, but we have to sit out Hockenheim. See you all at the European Finals at Santa Pod!
"A special thanks to my crew Anne, Gunnar (who has had two stressed weekends now) and Kent, and of couse Zodiac and the Pels family
who made it possible for us to join the Injected Six Second Club. Special thanks also to Lazyboyz, Bilsport and Quaker State Oil."
Svein's web site at www.tfharley.com has been updated with some scary pictures of the
damage caused by the broken chain.
Larsson faces race to race.
12th August: Things are a bit crazy for Swedish Pro Stock Bike racer Anders Larsson after his tow car's
transmission broke down just outside Gardermoen Raceway at the weekend. "I'm working round the clock so that I can actually make it
to Hockenheim in time", says Anders. "It doesn't look good, we have to leave on Tuesday to make it in timeonly six days left.
The transmission came out of the truck yesterday and a friendly soul, Bengt Sderberg, has promised to do us
an Emergency Rescue on the damaged transmission.
"The bike also needs some nursing care, so we have to squeeze that in as well. We hurt something during the first round in eliminations
against Remo Nasci, we dropped five mph in the semis and the final compared to qualifying. It felt real slow in the last three gears.
It's probably either the valve springs which have worn out, or just that the camshafts have moved from the correct cam timing.
©Eurodragster.com
"We fitted some new exhaust camshafts for the second day of qualifying and the Colormailer Pro Stocker managed to pick up some more speed,
but we struggled in the first two gears. At Mantorp Park we had an average of 2.1G of acceleration but at Gardermoen
we only had 1.8G in average in the first two gears. We got it right on Sunday but then we had the lack of power instead.
"We are still not quick enough to be really competitive, but we're showing improvements from run to run and we have to keep on trying
to get the right settings. At least the bike is repeating and that's a relief, since it makes the tuning a bit easier. The only rider whose sixty
foot times beat mine was Helen Curran.
"We were expecting to get back into the 7.3s on Sunday but we failed. I don't think that it would have made any difference since
Roger Pettersson was on a mission and flying this weekend, and we are still a bit behind him."
Hansen's late nights.
12th August: Danish Pro Stock racer Jackie Hansen and his team have had their share of
long nights at races recently, says team member Henrik Lund. Jackie is third in the Championship in his
comeback season after spending ten years out, and he was delighted to make it into the final at
Gardermoen on Sunday.
"Leaking valves at Mantorp necessitated a complete teardown of both heads on Friday
night", says Henrik. "Then we burned a piston in the last qualifying round at Gardermoen,
causing a very long Saturday night whilst we got it ready for Sunday's elimination. But as
we now see, it all paid off with that runner-up spot.
©Eurodragster.com
"There is no doubt that the hot air at Gardermoen is the reason that we did
not run the sought-after six second run. As for a six-second run at Hockenheim, I don't think so, it
probably won't come until the European Finals at Santa Pod.
"Hopefully we will still be in the top three at the end of the season: we are very happy to
be in thirs spot, considering that it is our first season with the Pennzoil/Jerry's 2001 Chevrolet
Cavalier."
Krivan turns Golden Tonsils.
12th August: Although Swiss Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dezsoe
Krivan is on an enforced year out from racing, he will still be gainfully employed at next week's Nitrolympx at
Hockenheim, says team member Steve Wilson.
"Dezsoe will not be in his usual office but in the commentary box", says Steve. "Yes, this year Dez is bringing his wealth of experience
to be co-commentator on the alcohol races. Since Dez is multilingual it could be in any of his five languages, which will make it interesting
especially if he chooses Hungarian!
"The team will also be there, and Dez will be back in his usual Hockenheim seat, for the Night Show where we will perform a run
in the 1956 Ford Crown Victoria-bodied Funny Car (right), for the delight of the assembled masses."
Another SG Birthday sponsor.
12th August: The UK's Super Gas Racers Association are pleased to announce that
Gleeson Wright Security have been added to the ever-growing list of sponsors for the SGRA 20th Anniversary
of Super Gas which will be celebrated at the UK National Finals. Spencer Tramm tells us that Gleeson Wright
Security, who sponsor a number of race cars and also the Ultimate Power Championship at Shakespeare County
Raceway, signed up as a result of last Wednesday's announcement on Eurodragster News.
©Eurodragster.com
"Gleeson Wright Security join Webster Race Engineering, Flavell Welding Specialists
and Eurodragster.com in supporting the SGRA to make this the biggest race
which Super Gas has seen for many years", says Spencer.
Carter pumped up.
12th August: This season's battle for the FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship is the toughest
Championship in European Drag Racing history, says UK Top Fuel racer Andy Carter.
"I can tell you, you can feel the tension in the pits when the mechanics push the war machines out for Sunday morning's first rounds",
says Andy. "God (I don't believe in him by the way) knows what it's going to be like in three or four years' time when teams get more
money and the Championship prize money starts to rise with Championship sponsors coming on board.
"We went to Mantorp Park leading the points and on a big high. That high got even higher on Saturday after running the 4.760 at 308 mph! A
new track record and number one qualifier by a long way. It was also great to be part of, and head, the fastest field in European drag racing history, the
'slowest' qualifier was a 5.18. It just goes to show the quality performances teams are putting out this year, and goes some way to backing up my
words above. By 11:00 on the Sunday morning I was on a real low, lost to Micke Kågered (who ran a fantastic 4.84) in the first
round, I didn't get the chutes out in time and went in to the speed trap. I drove like a rank amateur, an idiot, I felt so embarrassed.
©Eurodragster.com
"It's amazing when a few things start to go wrong for you how quickly the knockers come out, and more amazing that they forget all the good
stuff you have done in an instant. Anyway let's move on from the lows, in case anyone (I'm sure there are plenty) is thinking "Good, Carter's
down and out". Dream on and remember the highs this season: Winner of the Pro Fuel Shootout and the first four-second run at Pro Fuel Shootout.
Number one qualifier and runner-up at the Main Event, European ET and Speed records set at Main Event. 2-0 match race winner
at Shakespeare County Raceway. Winner and Low ET at the Alastaro FIA race. Number one qualifier, new track record
and Low ET at the Mantorp Park FIA race. This is more than most achieve in a whole career in racing, yet it's still not enough to overcome
some of the opposition in this years Championship! You think your class is tough, compete in TF then you know tough!
"How many times have you heard so-called 'experts' chip in with - I'm sick of people saying this - Top Fuel cars are easy to drive.
I have competed and won since 1977 (I know I look good, it's hard to believe I'm that old) in so many different motorsports over the years
and I have been driving TF cars for nearly ten years now and still you learn stuff! Contrary to popular belief a car that goes 0-100 in a second,
0-250 in three seconds and 0-308 in four seconds is not easy to drive! If you've got the balls, these cars are easy to sit in and go down the track.
That's not driving it, that's the car driving you! You're driving it when you can do the burnout perfectly, stage it exactly where you want it, cut a
good light, pedal out of going up in smoke, know how to react in a millisecond to at least six different types of tyre shake, keep 7000 bhp in the
groove, know when to lift and when to hang with it. And of course the main thing, your mind is ahead of the car right from the hit of the throttle.
Plus so much more than there is room to put here. There are drivers and there are licence holders!
"Something else I have learnt this season, a car that has the power to run in the 4.7s is a completely different animal to a 4.90 or 5.0 car:
it's a different level again, easy to drive, yea sure! You win races with your head and since I've got a big head, I've won plenty!
"We go to Germany just one round, twenty points, behind Micke Kågered, so it's near enough a level playing field going in to the last
two races. It's not over yet, I can assure you, although of course I'd rather be sitting where Micke is! To all my knockers out there, I don't
give a monkey's, check out my achievements over the years and do better! To all the people and companies supporting me, thanks, it really
is appreciated.
"One last thing I must say is Well Done to every team in this year's Championship I'm proud to be part of it!"
Swift snippets.
12th August: This week's issue of UK motorsport newspaper Motorsport News, which is
now widely available, carries a feature on Doug Ripley's CC Racing Top Methanol Funny Car. The very interesting
article was put together by Tim Redmayne and includes photographs supplied by Eurodragster. Motorsport News is priced
at 1.90 and is available from WH Smiths and other good newsagents.
©Eurodragster.com
The second Birthday greeting of this week goes to Santa Pod Racers
Club Press Officer Jon Crawford whose birthday it is today. Tog and Sharkman and we're sure all
of our readers wish Jon a very Happy Birthday.
Web site updates.
12th August: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site at
www.dragracing.se with a brief preview and entry list for this
weekend's NDRS round, the Linde Open in Lindesberg.
©Eurodragster.com
Dragster sought for send-off.
11th August: Dave Harrison has been in touch with the very sad news of the death of Marion James,
one of the first women in the UK to drive an alcohol dragster. Marion, who died at the age of 63, drove the
Instigator rail in the 1970s.
©Eurodragster.com
Dave would like Marion to have a fitting send-off at her funeral next week and has asked if anyone local
to the Dorset area would be able to bring along a dragster, specifically a rail.
If you can help then please get in touch with Dave by phone on 01202 721608 or mobile
07790 720216, or E-Mail dave.harrison50@ntlworld.com.
We are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in sending our deepest sympathies
to Marion's family and friends.
Dahl finds his bearings.
11th August: The NDRG Drag Challenge was Norwegian Top Fuel Bike racer Sverre Dahl's
second event of the year, and it was a successful race for the Sunshine Express team with
the event victory and a solution to bearing problems which have plagued the team for years.
"The race at Mantorp give us a good platform to work from, but sadly we had to race
at Gardermoen without our Crew Chief Stefan Reisten", says Sverre. "Stefan was invited to Tomas
Klarkner's fiftieth birthday, they have been friends since starting with scooters, and also Stefan
is doing a lot of work on Thomas' new home.
"We started on Friday with the same set up which we used at Mantorp, but the track
was very slippery and we had to get on and off the throttle a few times. I
was surprised that the clock still showed 6.44/347 kmh (215 mph). Then we
decided to carry out a service on the bike, because we hadn't done anything to the
engine after Mantorp, and therefore we skipped the second qualifying
round. For Saturday's first qualifying attempt we had a new set-up and we also took
off some clutch, however they had been working hard on the track and in this round it was
too soft, but we still we ran 6.39/372 (231 mph). Then we stepped back to the clutch
set-up from first run and we had a great side by side run with Roel
Kodam, we ran 6.20 against Roel's 6.24. This was a hard one because the tyre
started spinning at three hundred and thirty feet and I really had to work.
©Eurodragster.com
"For the first round Sunday we took out some power, and it seemed to work because
it was a easier run but still we run 6.20. In the second round we meet Nils Ole Lund
who had some engine problems this weekend and had not been performing at his best. So
we decided to see if the track could take more and stepped up
the power by a small amount. It seemed to be too much, the tyre started spinning, I had to throttle
it but I didn't see Nils Ole so I took it little easy and ran a 6.40.
"Then it was time for the final round and I expected to meet Roel again, but sadly he was out with
some valve problems. Martyn De Haas was in the final against me, I ran a 6.22/367, but sadly Martyn
fell off the bike so I didn't feel like celebrating, but it helped to hear that Martyn was OK.
"I am very pleased with the weekend, and also that I was running quite consistently with
6.44, 6.39, 6.20, 6.20, 6.40, and 6.22. I must also give my crew a big Thank You
for the great job they did at Mantorp and Gardermoen."
Another interesting statistic from Sverre's weekend was that he came within 1.52 kmh of backing up his
372.71 kmh qualifying pass for a new European speed record. Less than 1 mph, how close can you
get...
Racers: Send your Mantorp and Gardermoen reviews, or your Hockenheim previews, to us
at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them
here.
Pro Stock title conceded.
11th August: 2003 FIA European Pro Stock Champions AC Delco/Malmgren
Racing have conceded the 2004 title to fellow Swede Jimmy Ålund. Although Michael
has a mathematical chance of catching Jimmy, the title is likely to go beyond the grasp of
Jimmy's competitors at some point during next week's Nitrolympx at Hockenheim.
"AC Delco Pro Stock Racing want to congratulate Jimmy
lund upon his impending Championship title", says team member Magnus Cato. "You have had
a fantastic season, Jimmy, and you made us work very hard."
©Eurodragster.com
Although a repeat title looks unlikely, Magnus tells us that Michael Malmgren and the team
have not given up on the season, and that they have a record to defend. "We are still fighting the gremlins, we have
lost a tenth in the car", he says. "We swapped engines on Monday night as we need to put new
pistons in Survivor.
"O'bej will do its duties today (Wednesday) as we are planning to go to Meca Raceway in
Malm to do some much-needed testing, so fans will have the chance to see us at Meca today.
We are still five-time Champions at Hockenheim and we don't want to give that away."
Footage sought for TV.
11th August: Jenni Day of Meridian Television has been in touch to ask us to thank
everyone who responded to her appeal last month for racers to appear in a TV programme about alternative motorsports. Jenni
would now like to hear from anyone with historical footage.
©Eurodragster.com
"I have had an overwhelming response from racers in the region willing to participate in the programme", says Jenni. "It goes to prove how much
of a community is involved in drag racing and the eagerness to promote the sport to new audiences. I am including a section in the programme on
the history of the sport, so if anyone has any classic archive video of bikes or cars then I would be grateful to hear from them."
If you can help with archive footage then please drop Jenni a line at jenni.day@granadamedia.com
or call her on 02380 712572.
European Bests updated.
11th August: We are as ever indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI
Timers Europe for forwarding us his list of European best performances updated with the Pro Mod and
Pro Stock Bike records set at the weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the list of European bests, or click on the
European Bests link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster page.
The latest FIM/UEM records are also available on the FIM Championships page of the King Racing
web site at www.kingracing.com.
Web site updates.
11th August: Many thanks to Peter Axeldal for letting us know that Swedish Pro Stock team
Samantha Racing have updated their web site with summaries of Ulf Jonsson's results at the Veidec
Nitro Festival and the NDRG Drag Challenge. You can check out the Swedish-language update at
www.samantharacing.se.
Iain Burns has updated his IMC Racing web site with the latest news in his project to return the
Mopar Menace Super Gasser to the track as a street-legal race car. Iain says that the
update features "A few bits of news on the car's...sorry, the engine's progress to date - Peter
Knight is a Chevy god". Check it out at www.imc-racing.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has spent the last week and a half burning the midnight oil and the
the results are now available with no less than 805 photographs from the Veidec Nitro Festival
posted in the latest update to his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales. The
pictures cover every class contested at the Festival and the update includes a large number of
the increasingly popular parachute shots. You can check out Sharkman's Veidec Nitro Festival pictures at
www.topendtales.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Also updating from the Veidec Nitro Festival is Markus Ek who has posted more than seven hundred
pictures from the event on his personal web site at www.mek.nu.
Feel-the-noise.com have completed the upload of photographs from the
recent Mopar Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway. Nearly three hundred new photos are included in this update and
they can be easily found by following the 'red dots' in the category listing, or by clicking on the Recent additions
link.
It's the Alan Jackson Show!
10th August: Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team owner Knut Söderquist
has hailed his tuner Alan Jackson after Micke Kågered and Jöran Persåker made
it to a Top Fuel Dragster final for the second time in two weekends.
AJ was again overseeing four
Top Fuel Dragsters at the weekend - the MPM Oil dragster driven by Lex Joon and the Promise dragster
driven by Smax Smith as well as Micke's and Jöran's rides - but as those who know Alan will testify,
he would be the last person to blow his own trumpet so Knut has done it for him.
"It was the Alan Jackson Show at the weekend!", Knut told Eurodragster from Sweden yesterday.
"I really can't find words good enough to describe Alan. Everything went so smoothly, I am over
the moon!".
©Eurodragster.com
As well as two cars in the final at Gardermoen, the Carbon By Design team had three of the four cars in
the semis and four of seven cars in the first round. "Micke's and Jöran's cars are flawless", said
Knut. "Smax Smith was very unlucky in the semis - he was on a low 4.8 when the blower belt broke.
We've been struggling a bit with Lex Joon's car but we found that there was a leak in the blower gasket,
it should have been spotted in between races. Lex's test run on Sunday afternoon looked very promising,
although I think that we may take off the slider valve and return to a traditional deal before
Hockenheim. I've been disappointed for Lex but we're on top of it now. You have good weekends and
bad weekends and you have to be able to take the bad weekends."
Knut said that the very hot conditions at Gardermoen and blowers which needed sealing affected
his cars' performance in the final on Sunday. "It was very difficult because of the heat and the lack
of oxygen", he said. "We were also running low on teflon for the blowers, and right now I am on the
way to a workshop in Gothenburg to prepare all of my blowers for Hockenheim. It could be even hotter there
and I hope that the track is there."
Sleath pleased with début.
10th August: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer John
Sleath tells us that his immaculate new Audi Coupe race car is better than he could have hoped for. John had a successful début
at the Bug Jam and was a winner at the UK Northern Nationals at York Raceway at the weekend.
"The car ran 9.4 on its first pass, 8.6 on its third, and 172.50 mph on its fourth", says John. "We won the proper UK Street Race Championship at the
weekend, five full passes without stopping the engine and every run in the nines. On Sunday we ran three 9.1s at 169 mph on the so-called poor York track,
but we did come away a little disappointed that the car did not run an eight.
©Eurodragster.com
"I must thank Steve Murty for sweeping the shutoff area at 6:00 am on Sunday. All of the crew at York did a world-class job, I won't name them all but they
know who they are. Next we are off to Santa Pod to run in Super Pro ET at the European Finals, then I will put the N2O back on the car and it's Custom
Car Street Eliminator at the UK National Finals."
John's web site at www.john-sleath.com contains a lot of detail about the new Audi plus
information about the race car services which John can provide.
Stars all at the Allstars.
10th August: Advance tickets are now on sale for the Allstar Nationals which take place
at Shakespeare County Raceway on 28th-30th August.
The Allstar Nationals is headlined by round three of the MSA British Nitro Funny Car Championship, with
John Spuffard in Showtime and Gordon Smith in Shockwave already lined up to duke it out; the
fourth round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship (for Top Methanol) with Doug Ripley hoping to maintain
his Championship lead against stiff competition from Rob Turner and Lindsay Deuchar; and Steve Woollatt and Steve
Carey battling it out in the fourth round of the ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship.
The Allstar Nationals is a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships, ACU UK Drag Bike
Championships, Custom Car Street Eliminator Championship, Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships, Wild Bunch
and Real Steel Series, Outlaw Anglia Championship, and the National Association of Supertwins Championships;
the event is also the final round of the this season's Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championships.
Roger Goring will be putting in demonstration passes in his Firestorm
Jet Funny Car, in which he has set a personal best at just about every outing this season,
and we understand that Gordon Appleton is hoping to appear in the Wheelgame
Racing Pro Mod if he can fix engine damage suffered at the Veidec Nitro Festival.
Ticket prices are as follow:
©Eurodragster.com
| | Advance | Gate |
|---|
| Saturday | N/A | 15 |
| Sunday | 15 | 20 |
| Monday | 15 | 20 |
| Saturday-Sunday | 25 | 30 |
| Sunday-Monday | 25 | 30 |
| Saturday-Monday | 33 | 40 |
Advance tickets are available until 10:00 pm on Wednesday 25th August and can be ordered from LA Performance
Services' Credit Card Hotline on 01803 554308 (outside the UK +44 1803 554308).
Pels takes the lead.
10th August: Dutch Supertwin racer Ton Pels struggled all weekend at Gardermoen
to find a good set-up for the fuel system, says Monique Pels.
"Ton managed to qualify second with 6.82/323 kmh (220.7 mph)", says Monique. "In the
first elimination on Sunday Ton defeated the then-Championship leader, Ronny Aasen from
Norway. Ton's bike ran way too rich (7.47) and Ronny smoked the tyre (7.91).
"For the semi-final Ton and Vincent (Son and Crew Chief - Ed) found a better set-up and in a bye run Ton
made his way to the final in 6.94 sec. He had to take on Trond Alm from
Norway in the final, who had been running 6.8's all weekend, so Ton wanted
to be sharp on the start lights. This, together with the late-afternoon nsun
on the Tree, resulted in Ton pulling a red light, making Trond Alm the
winner of the event.
"Starting from fourth place in the Championship at the Main Event, we have managed
to climb a place at each race and we're now in the lead. Currently the top
five is:
- Ton Pels (NL) : 153 points
- Charley Karling (SE) : 143
- Ronny Aasen (NO) : 131
- Hans Olav Olstad (NO) : 122
- Svein Gottenberg (NO) : 82
"For the complete story visit the News page at www.zodiacracing.com."
©Eurodragster.com
Koedam Racing report.
10th August: We are as ever grateful to Marius van der Zijden, Crew Chief for 2003
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Champion Roel Koedam, for sending us
a report on the team's weekend at Gardermoen.
Situated right next to Oslo's international airport, Gardermoen is one of Europe's best drag strips. The strip itself is as smooth as it can be.
The pit area however is one of the smallest on the tour. But with everybody tucking in a bit it is at the same time a very cosy place.
In the days ahead of this event it rained heavily in the southern Scandinavia area. The weather took a drastic change just before the start of
this Championship round as the sun came out in force, with baking hot summer conditions all weekend long.
The track's launch pad was relaid earlier this year, so on Friday we all had our first chance to see what the resurfaced track had in mind for us.
Though not bad at all, it showed that the track was not up to its usual standard yet and needed more runs to get back in its superb shape.
Observing the first qualifying attempts we decided at the very last moment to roll it off the line instead of nailing it in order to set at least a
decent time rather then taking the risk of smoking the tire right from the line. A 6.55/350 kmh was the result and that was good enough to be well qualified.
We decided to go for another shot later that day and then hit it hard from the line. However once under power the engine sounded a little rough
and Roel wisely clicked it off. Back in the pits the checkout revealed a faulty ignition coil lead.
On Saturday we had two more chances to improve our ET. The result of our third pass was a 6.24/356. This was more like we hoped/expected
to run in Gardermoen. For our fourth and last qualifying attempt we were lined up against arch rival Sverre Dahl who was running low numbers
all weekend at his home track. The stage looked to be set for a very quick side by side run. Though it's only qualifying, the pairing went down to
the wire. While we recorded a splendid 6.24/355, Sverre did even better and ran a 6.20/361. This is (if I'm correct) the quickest and fastest side
by side Top Fuel Bike run anywhere outside the USA (Doubtless Andy Marrs is on the case - Ed). Afterwards both riders agreed that this
was about the limit of what the track could handle at this time. Sverre Dahl took the #1 qualifying spot, while we had to settle for the #2 position.
Sunday, eliminations day, was again a really hot summer's day. Due to all kinds of mishaps, by the time it was our turn for the first round the
schedule was running almost three hours late and the track crew really worked overtime. For this round we had stepped up the clutch a bit
and even mounted a fresh tyre. On paper our first round opponent, Norwegian Frode Engelund on his turbocharged Kawasaki, looked like
an easy victim. But we're still talking drag racing and things can change in a split second. After our bike left with a good 1.07 sixty foot
time it suddenly hit a severe tyre shake causing the primary drive belt to give up and leaving us without a drive. The only thing Roel could do
was to freewheel towards the finish line waiting for Frode to rush by. Almost unbelievable, but Frode had even more problems with his bike
and we coasted across the finish line first.
This is where our luck stopped. For the semi finals we ended up against fellow countryman Martijn de Haas who was running personal bests
each time out on his nitrous injected Funny Bike. All sounded nice after the burnout, but then some foreign debris was spotted by
Martyn halfway down the track in his lane. He alerted the track crew (who were unaware of this) and we were both forced to shut our bikes down in
order to clean up the track. For a fuel bike this is a very uncommon situation (because of the heat build-up).
So far nothing seemed to be wrong, just take the plugs out, dry-start it and refuel it.
However when we fired it again, it suddenly ran on three cylinders. At first we thought a plug was fouled, so we were given time to change
the plugs. To no result however, the engine remained very sour. We couldn't fix the problem and had no other choice than to hand over a free
ride to the finals for Martyn.
Here is were our Norwegian adventure stopped. Back in the pit area we started an investigation. We found out that (due to the unusual heat?)
we'd lost the #3 exhaust valve seat. We disassembled the engine at the track to oversee the damage. With just over a week left before we have
to travel to the next championship round (Hockenheim's Nitrolympics) there is the minimum time left to fix it, but we will certainly do our best
to make it in time.
On the positive side, we still lead the Championship points, as we qualified one position better than Italy's Antonio Ferretti and made it one round
further.
©Eurodragster.com
Drag Challenge FIM/UEM report.
10th August: FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has kindly sent us
his regular post-event race report, this time of the weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.
Sun, more sun and hot. Hot in many ways. The weather at Gardermoen was simple. Sun and hot. A lot of things were
hot. Sometimes to hot. Ask Bo Thorselius whose bike caught fire in the last qualifying round on Saturday. Luckily
Bo wasn't seriously hurt but everything on the bike which could butn has been burnt.
Qualifying in Pro Stock Bike was very exciting, the track was good. But the heat took away the really good traction
and the air was not the best for racing with a Pro Stock Bike.
Eliminations were very exciting, and almost as usual Roger Pettersson ended up the winner with a new speed record
of 299 kmh. Anders Larsson, who was the runner-up, proved that he can do things but he still has to learn a little
more about the bike. Vesa Rautio and Chris Hope were left in the semi-finals. It looks on paper as if Roger will
win the Championship but we will see. Helen Curan and Remo Nasci now share fifth place with the same points.
We had a lot of action in Super Twin. Svein Gottenberg firstly made all of us happy in qualifying
when ran the first six-second run and did it again in qualifying. Svein, who has been working very hard,
really needed this. But in eliminations he made all of us very scared. The chain broke and the back of the
bike's body was badly damaged. The air and the strip were firstly full of some white stuff and we all
thought that we had a major accident. But luckily was it only fibreglass which covered the strip. Svein
was not hurt but the already affected time schedule was further delayed. Ronny Aasen, who was leading the Championship,
was up against Ton Pels who was number two in the championship. After Ronny went up in smoke Ton is now leading
the Championship, but not by much. Because Ton had a red light in the final against Trond Alm from Norway,
who was in the final after running sixes in the qualifying and beating a red-lighting Anders Karling
in the semi. So once again we had a new winner from Norway in the Championship.
In Top Fuel Bike it looked as we would have a race between Roel Koedam and Sverre Dahl.
In qualifying they had a side by side 6.2 run, Sverre was the quickest and that got him first place
and a bye run because Shaun Branch and Viep Blomen had serious problems and did not get any qualifying
times. The other Norwegian hope, Jon Leret, was back in the pits but without the bike after his accident
at Mantorp Park. The good thing was that Jon had some burns but he was not seriously hurt but it was not
so good for the bike. In the first round Roel was up against first Frode Englund, Frode made a long burnout
with his turbo bike. Then the race began, Frode's bike didn't work so good and Roel had some problems and
was going down the strip slowly but Frode could not catch him up. In the semi Roel was up against
Martyn De Haas. They had to shut down because there were some parts on the track and when
they went to fire up again Roel's bike didn't start. So suddenly Martin was in the final against Sverre. In
the final Martin spilt some oil and crashed and fell onto the track. All the safety crews went out with the
doctor at the front. Then the doctor scared us all because he did not expect that it was so slippery on the
track. So we almost had an accident with the doctor but nothing happened.
What more to say. Too many incidents both with cars and bikes, but we finished a little bit after 6:00.
A good track that was maybe was a little bit too hot to be the fastest track in Europe. Thor G Larsen
and his boys did a very good job, and a new record crowd filled the grand stand.
But the problem is the sanitary things, we need more toilets and showers at the track. More space in the pits
to make it safer. The road from the track must be better and a lot of other small things. But the track is one
of the best in Europe.
Let us now hope that the next race in Germany will have a good track, The facilities as we all know are the
best. If we have a good track then the fantastic races this year can continue and we will have an exciting Championship.
You can view the latest FIM/UEM European Championship points on the King Racing web site at
www.kingracing.com or the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Still time to hit your Peak...
10th August: Santa Pod Raceway hosts the third of its Peak Performance Days this Friday
(13th August). SPR's Peak Performance Days are specifically aimed at car and bike clubs and feature a fully-prepped
track as well as full timing, marshalling, catering and other facilities, and participants will also be able to use
the Thor Engineering mobile dynamometer which measures power and torque at the wheel hub.
"Peak Performance Days have very limited sign-ons, but make sure you
bring your driving licence as usual", says Rick Cuthbert of Santa Pod Raceway. "Gates open at 8:00 am and the
track will stay open until 5:00 pm, weather permitting.
©Eurodragster.com
"Entry is 12 per person on the gate, or 10 in advance, and sign-on is 60 per person on the day or 50 in
advance. Book early to avoid disapointment!"
For more information check out Santa Pod's RWYB web site at www.rwyb.com.
...or test with WRE...
10th August: Entry is also still open for the next
Webster Race Engineering Test Day,
which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway next Wednesday (18th August). Entry closes on Saturday after which a late entry fee will be levied
if entry is accepted. WRE Test Days are open to both cars and bikes and feature a fully-prepped track along with full marshal and paramedic
cover. Gates will open at 9:00 am and the will be track open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a half hour break for lunch. Mobile catering will also
be on-site at each event.
"If you are intending to take advantage of your 50% discount from March's rainout, or your free entry, on 18th
August or on any of our other Test Days then please note you should still send an entry form", says Ian Marshall
of Webster Race Engineering, who jointly sponsor Eurodragster's webcam. "We recommend that you
get your entries in soon."
©Eurodragster.com
Entry to WRE Test Days is 125 plus VAT. 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.
...or test before the Finals.
10th August: The closing date is also fast approaching for the Pre-FIA European Finals
Professional Test, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 4th September. Racers in all classes are invited.
This day will also be a Street Machine Street Racer Saturday Special. Only racers who have pre-booked, and Street Machine Saturday Special
drivers who have pre-registered, will be allowed to sign on and use the track. More details on the Street Machine part of the event are available
from the magazine.
©Eurodragster.com
Entry for the Test Day will be 129.25 per vehicle and driver/rider including VAT. This includes six admission tickets. Extra admission tickets can
be ordered on the booking form at 10 per person, or 12 at the gate. The track will be open between 10:00 and 17:00.
Racers must show signing-on personnel a valid national driver's licence and a valid competition licence showing the grading for the type of vehicle
they will be testing. It is the responsibility of the racer to ensure that their vehicle meets the safety regulations for their competition class. In addition, there
will be no permit from the MSA, FIA, ACU or FIM so it is the responsibility of the racer to provide their own insurance. Santa Pod Raceway will provide
third party insurance.
Bookings should be made by next Monday, 16th August, after which entry will be accepted at Santa Pod's discretion.
Full details, conditions, and an entry form can be found by clicking
here (PDF file for Acrobat Reader). If you have any enquiries then call Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside
the UK +44 1234 782828).
Swift snippets.
10th August: Shaun Saunders, who formerly raced in Super Gas in the UK in his
much-missed Datsun, has been in touch from San Diego with some sad news. "Carlsbad Raceway closed its gates on Sunday,
another victim fallen to the developers", says Shaun. "It's a great shame as Carlsbad has been open since 1964 and is quite historic being the track
on which the first 200 mph and first five-second Funny Car passes were run. I enjoyed racing there for many years, before running at the Pod".
It seems to us, then, that you need to come back to race in the UK, Shaun.
©Eurodragster.com
Many thanks to FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for forwarding us the
post-NDRG Drag Challenge points standings in the FIA European Championships. You can view the latest FIA
Championship standings (PDF format) by clicking here, or
by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
APIRA date for your diary.
10th August: Shakespeare County Raceway and APIRA have announced that their 2004 season Championship
Dinner Dance and prize presentation will take place on Saturday 22nd January 2005 at the Corus Hotel in Bristol.
©Eurodragster.com
Dinner Dance tickets are priced at 26 per person, and bed and breakfast accommodation is available in the hotel from 60 for a double room or 45 for a single room.
Rooms can be booked by calling the hotel on 0870 609 6144 and quoting Shakespeare County Raceway.
A ticket application form can be downloaded from the APIRA web site at
www.apira.org.uk/assets/Dinner.doc.
Web site updates.
10th August: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site
at www.dragracing.se with
the latest standings in the Nordic Drag Racing Series and the FIM/UEM European Championships,
updated Comp Eliminator indices, an updated list of official Swedish records, and a special note
from the Veidec Nitro Festival organisers about a bad batch of event T-Shirts.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Pro ET racer and racer sponsor Derek Flynn has launched a web site at
www.goldrvracing.co.uk featuring his Gold RV dragster.
Derek's very nicely-designed web site features news, a run-down on the car, a team rollcall,
sponsor page and more. "We will be making our first visit to Shakespeare County Raceway for
the Allstar Nationals", says Derek. "I would also like to mention that we sell race car and
camping trailers through Gold RV Racing". For more information check out the Gold RV Racing
web site.
Our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson has updated the Racebilder web site at
www.racebilder.nu with a large number of pictures from
Gardermoen, and he has also updated the official web site of the European Pro Mod Racers Association
at www.promod.nu with more than 250 Pro Mod pictures from the NDRG
Drag Challenge.
Norfolkline repeat discount.
9th August: Ferry company Norfolkline are again offering discounts to
racers travelling from the UK to Europe for the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim, or from Europe to the UK for the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod.
"Subsidised fares are available between Dover and Dunkerque for racers, crew, race vehicle and rig", says photo-journalist Andy Wilsheer who organised
the repeat deal. "The tariff offers considerable savings. Race vehicles will be required to display Norfolk Line decals, one each side, and pictures
will be taken to ensure compliance."
©Eurodragster.com
To take advantage of the subsidised fares, contact Norfolkline's General Manager Wayne Bullen by E-Mail at
wbullen@norfolkline.com, mentioning Andy Wilsheer and specifying
dates and sailing times of outward and return journeys; total number of travellers and their names; and make, overall length and
registration number of rig or car/van and trailer.
You can find details of Norfolkline's schedules and services at www.norfolkline.com.
Scary flying the flag.
9th August: UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head is still doing her bit to promote drag
racing as she recovers from her crash at the Easter Thunderball. Julia Osborne, who was recently in York Hospital
with Scary, got in touch to tell us that nothing can keep Scary down.
©Eurodragster.com
"I had the pleasure of sharing a ward in York Hospital recently with this incredible lady", says Julia. "I have no doubt that Sarah will be back and faster than
ever, she has enough guts and determination to do so. She loves her sport and explained to me about the racing whilst watching a late night show from
Santa Pod, so now I'm hooked! Very best wishes for a speedier recovery."
NDRG Drag Challenge snippets.
9th August: The story of NDRG Drag Challenge Top Fuel Dragster winner Micke Kågered's
weekend, and that of the team's Top Methanol FC driven by Niclas Andersson, can be found on the Kågered
Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com.
System Edström Super Comp #1 qualifier Zane Llewellyn has
also updated his web site with a report and pictures of his weekend at Gardermoen. You can check out
Zane's account on the Bootsoop Racing web site at
www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk.
Gary Page, Crew Chief for Drag Challenge Top Fuel runner-up Jöran Persåker, told us last
night that although Jöran was robbed of a chance of victory by a broken blower belt, he is very
happy with the team's record so far. "Three finals in four events", said Gary", "I'll take that, thank
you!". We will be speaking to Gary in more depth later this week.
©Eurodragster.com
With the race finished, Gary Page and defending FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion Smax Smith
planned to "Have a beer or two" to celebrate their birthdays, which both fall today (Monday). We are
sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in wishing Gary and Smax the very happiest of birthdays.
UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter seemed to have put the weekend's disappointment behind him in
short order. "I'm already looking forward to Hockenheim!", he told us last night. The GoTalk-sponsored racer is now
third in the FIA Championship behind Micke Kågered and Jöran Persåker with points equivalent to
one round of competition separating the top three.
Swift snippets.
9th August: The Bilsport Drag Nats at Stockholm's Tullinge Raceway on
27th-29th August is to feature a Top Fuel Dragster match race between two members of the Carbon By
Design Top Fuel team. The dragsters campaigned by Jöran Persåker and Smax Smith this season
will be appearing at Tullinge although their drivers have yet to be confirmed. You can read more about
the Bilsport Drag Nats on Tullinge's web site at
www.nitroz.se/motor/sdc-2004.htm.
Ian Huggan has been in touch with the very sad news that UK VW Alternate Engine racer
Ian Sewell's Beetle went up in flames last Wednesday night. "Ian's car, workshop, tools, welder etc. have all gone leaving him
with nothing with which he can start again", says Ian. "The VW Alternate Engine racers will do what we can to help Ian out but if anyone would like to
help with any donations then please get in touch with me at ianhuggan@aol.com". You know
what to do, folks.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Wild Bunch racer Gareth Kent has sold his Hot Dog altered to
Luke Bennett, son of Frank of blown-alcohol altered renown. "I hope that Luke has the same fun and success as I did, all the best for the future", says Gareth.
"So now on with Hot Dog II, I guess!"
Timing factoids.
9th August: Have you ever wondered which was the closest-ever race in FIA Top Fuel Dragster?
Thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe, we now know that
it was this race (right) between Barry Sheavills and Rico Anthes in 1997. Andy has been looking
back through his historical records and has produced an Excel spreadsheet listing the closest finishes
he can find in FIA and FIM/UEM. You can view the close-finish spreadsheet by
clicking here.
©Eurodragster.com
Andy also spotted an interesting Super Street Bike fact whilst working on his European Bests table,
which will shortly be updated with the weekend's records from Gardermoen. "I noticed that
Steve Venables' run of 188.77 mph at Shakespeare County Raceway in June was the first Super
Street Bike pass over 300 kmh", he says. "Steve clocked 303.80."
Web site updates.
9th August: Stan Weiss has been in touch from the USA with a web site update which
will be of great use to racers. Stan's excellent web site contains tables with cylinder head and fuel injector
flow data, as well as a large number of free calculators including such items as 'Change in fuel injector flow from change in fuel pressure',
'Calculate size of carburettor needed in CFM', 'Estimate horsepower from intake airflow' and a lot more as well as performance calculators such as 'Estimate
ET from terminal speed' and 'Calculate speed (mph/kmh) from RPM, rear gear ratio and trans gear ratio'. Stan's site is well-laid-out and the calculators are very
easy indeed to use. You can check out Stan's site at users.erols.com/srweiss/index.html.
©Eurodragster.com
NDRG Drag Challenge results.
8th August: Congratulations to the FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified
winners of this weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen:
FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Micke Kågered
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dave Wilson
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders
FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Håkan Nilsson
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Sverre Dahl
FIM/UEM Supertwin: Trond Alm
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Roger Pettersson
Congratulations also to our good buddies Hannele Höydén of the Finnish
Hot Rod Association, Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing and Riku of FHRA who have been reporting live from
Gardermoen all weekend. You can find full details of FIA, FIM/UEM, NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified and
NDRS classes at www.dragracing.se.
The Kågered Racing Top Fuel and Top Methanol FC team and the Nilsson Motorsports Pro Mod team were
also updating live from Gardermoen at www.kagered-racing.com
and www.nilssonmotorsports.com respectively. The
European Pro Mod Racers Association web site at
www.promod.nu has also been kept up-to-date with all the
action in Pro Mod.
©Eurodragster.com
Many thanks to Gittli Koller, Gerda Dijkstra, Andy Carter and Gary Page who have been keeping us in touch
throughout this weekend.
17:15 Congratulations to Roger Pettersson on another FIM/UEM Pro Stock
Bike record, subject to official ratification, with his 299.30 kmh (185.98 mph) in the final against
Anders Larsson. Best wishes
to FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike racer Martyn de Haas who parted company with his bike in the
final against Sverre Dahl, Martin is A-OK but is going to hospital for a precautionary.
We were pleased to read that FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike racer Bo Thorselius is up and about
after a bad fire on his PSB in qualifying. Stay tuned to the Svensk Dragracing site at
www.dragracing.se for the latest news from Gardermoen.
15:45 Further to this morning's update, Lex Joon made his demonstration
pass this afternoon and it resulted in a much-improved 5.559 for the MPM Oil dragster. "We ran a 0.91 sixty foot against a 1.02 this morning",
Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra. "Lex was doing 380 kmh at half track where he was doing 314 this morning, and
he was over half a second quicker at a thousand feet. In fact his incrementals were better than Jöran
Persåker had in the semi-finals! Alan Jackson wants to put a new fuel management system on the car
before Hockenheim. We'll go to Hockenheim and win, then we'll go to the European Finals and win, and everyone
will be happy!".
11:20 Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon will be making a demonstration
pass at the end of today after going out to Micke Kågered in round one of eliminations. "We've got a
baseline now and we want to make some adjustments", MPM Oil Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra told us from
Gardermoen. "Alan Jackson has been working very hard for us and the car is starting to run, but I would like
to make a run before we get to Hockenheim", Lex Joon added. "This morning the car left the line quite slowly,
a 1.026 sixty foot where we ran a 0.85 at Mantorp. It nosed over again at the eighth and Micke Kågered
passed me. I kept my foot in just in case but there was no power". Lex has a number of the UK's Shockwave Fuel
FC team working with him this weekend. "They are really great guys, they are working very hard", he said.
Meanwhile Micke Kågered could be on a bye to the final as we understand that Thomas Nataas comprehensively
destroyed his engine in the first round.
9:45 Congratulations to Mats Eriksson who got there first to back
up his 362.52 kmh with a speed of 360.02 for a new Pro Mod speed record.
Wilson blasts through 270.
7th August: Hot news from qualifying for this weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen
is that Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson recorded an astounding 435.10 kmh in the
American Car Imports Racing dragster in today's
first qualifying session. Grumpy's speed equates to 270.36 mph; this is the first time that a Top Methanol
car has ever been over 270 mph outside the USA, and is almost ten miles per hour faster than the
current European record of 260.99 mph or 420.02 kmh. The speed is also on a par with blown-alcohol dragsters
in the USA.
©Eurodragster.com
"Dave was travelling at 210 mph at half track", said Team Principal Anthony Cohen, who sponsors
Eurodragster's Home and News pages and Event Coverage through
American Car Imports. "This time it just kept on going!".
Anthony said that there were two factors in the huge speeed. "We put new rear tyres on the car", he said.
"The previous set had done seventeen runs and I suggested to Dave that we put on a new set. And our
new rear wing is good for at least five miles per hour - it's been tested in a wind tunnel. We've been
the first car today to put in a strong pass in the right hand lane. I just couldn't believe it!"
Grumpy needs to record a speed of 430.75 kmh or better to back up this pass, but any speed between
420.03 and 430.74 will be a record as it will be backed up by the faster run.
You can stay in touch with developments at Gardermoen on the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se.
NDRG Drag Challenge notes.
7th August:
16:00 Top Fuel Dragster #7 qualifier Andy Carter said that he
is really experiencing the highs and lows of drag racing after the GoTalk dragster's tyres went up in
smoke at the hit in today's second qualifying session. "Number one qualifier last week, number seven this week, that's the sort of
luck I have", he said. "It just goes to show how things can change. But believe me we're not finished yet, we'll
be there tomorrow and the number eight qualifier took the the win at Mantorp last week so we'll see if that
luck is still about!". In tomorrow's first round of eliminations Andy faces Thomas Nataas who qualified
#2 with a personal best 4.955 at his home track, also his first pass over 300 mph - congratulations to Thomas.
Also up in smoke in the second session was Jöran Persåker, whilst Lex Joon and Micke Kågered
could not get reverse and Tommy Möller's engine cut out.
©Eurodragster.com
11:45 Top Fuel Dragster #6 qualifier Lex Joon is already
preparing for today's second qualifying session after the engine nosed over on this morning's
5.542 run. "Alan Jackson took a good look over the car last night and found a couple of
things", MPM Oil Team Manager Gerda Dijsktra told us from Gardermoen. "He wants Lex to make
the second qualifier to get a better baseline". Gerda said that Lex felt the engine nose over
towards the top end and watched Smax Smith come past him on a personal best 4.880. "We need
a bit more power", she said.
You can read live qualifying and elimination reports and results on the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se, and you can read more about the event
on the NDRG web site at www.norskdragracing.com. We
will continue to bring you any news we receive from racers during the course of the weekend.
Editor's note: Many thanks to Gerda Dijkstra, Gittli Koller and Andy Carter for
long-distance reporting.
Llewellyn live from Norway.
7th August: UK Super Comp racer Zane Llewellyn, currently third in System Edtsröm
Super Comp at the NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen, has been in touch from Norway to tell us how
his first day of qualifying went.
©Eurodragster.com
"We've just finished our third qualifying session after a long wait when the
Fuel session was plagued by timing equipment faults", says Zane. "I think they they shook
the ground too hard for the start line beams!
We're having a bit of trouble dialling in the dragster. After two runs on a
bit of a slick track and the air in the 2300 ft range, we thought we had a
set-up. Then on the third run the car hooked up, ran 8.873 and messed up all
our data! We're qualified with an 8.920 so it's not all bad.
"The weather has been great so far, with our weather station recording a max
of 87.5 F in the shade, but it does start off a bit damp in the mornings. I
think tomorrow's qualifying round will be a bit of a lucky dip for us!
Zane plans to update the Bootsoop Racing web site from Gardemoen, you will be able
to read his updates at www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk.
NDRG Drag Challenge notes.
6th August: 18:15 Today's Top Fuel Dragster qualifying has been declared null
and void after problems with the timing system meant that some racers received no times or speeds.
"I was ready to go alongside Jöran Persåker in the last pair", UK Top Fuel racer Andy
Carter told us from Gardermoen. "There was some sort of problem so I sent one of my crew to find out
because I had been strapped in a long time and I was getting hot. When he came back he said that the
session had been cancelled".
We understand that Smax Smith, Micke Kågered and Lex Joon were affected
by the problem whilst Tommy Möller recorded a time in the 5.2s and Thomas Nataas took an up-in-smoke
twelve-second bye.
"Lex's run looked good but Smax drove by him", Gerda Dijkstra of MPM Racing told us.
"Lex doesn't like that!". Andy Carter told us that the GoTalk dragster was set for a 4.8.
Top Fuel qualifying will have a second session one tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile Gittli Koller kindly got in touch to let us know that Peter Schöfer has retained his
lead in Top Methanol Dragster whilst Dave Wilson threw the blower belt. Rob Turner at 5.7 and
Krister Johansson at 6.5 are now also in the field.
You can keep up with the very latest at www.dragracing.se.
15:45 Congratulations to NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified racer Mats Eriksson
and FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike racer Roger Pettersson on doing the first half of European speed records at
362.52 kmh (225.26 mph) and 297.43 kmh (184.81 mph) respectively. Mats is the first European Pro Mod racer
over 225 mph. Congratulations also to FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike racer Antonio Ferretti on his first six-second passes.
13:20 Our good buddies Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing and
Hannele Höydén and Riku of the Finnish Hot Rod Association are now on-line and updating from
Gardermoen. Full details of FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified as each session completes
together with Sportsman summaries.
12:05 Thanks to our good friend Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing for
getting in touch to let us know that Peter Schöfer leads Top Methanol Dragster qualifying after session one.
Peter recorded a 5.554 whilst Dave Wilson smoked the tyres and Rob Turner was shut off for a fluid leak.
Krister Johansson did not appear in the first session.
Allstars entry extended.
6th August: Avon Park International Racers Association
Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot has been in touch to let us know that the official entry date
has been extended for the Allstar Nationals, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway on 28th-30th August.
Wendy has recently been in hospital, but is now at home and "Trying to do a bit to keep me out of mischief".
Daughter Annette very competently stepped into the breach during Wendy's hospital stay
but the closing date for the Allstar Nationals has been extended to Wednesday 18th August to
make up for Wendy's absence. "I will send all paperwork and tickets to everyone on time", says
Wendy.
©Eurodragster.com
If you have any queries about Allstar Nationals entry then please call Wendy on 01379 740100.
"I am working between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm at the moment", says Wendy, "so if I am not there to answer when you call then
please leave a message with your name and number and I will call you back."
Allstar Nationals entry forms are available on the Downloads page of the APIRA web site at www.apira.org.uk
or on the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.
Goring joins birthday party.
6th August: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring
will be attending this weekend's UK Northern Nationals at York
Dragway and is looking forward to joining in the thirtieth birthday of the Pennine Drag Racing
Club.
"I'm delighted to be participating at York this weekend, it's my home track", says Roger. "I will be
taking the opportunity to wind up Firestorm's wick a bit and I can't wait to have a blast down
the track! Then we'll be partying with everyone! It's a no-pressure weekend and it's going to be cool."
©Eurodragster.com
Roger recently got back from the Isle of Man where he made exhibition passes at the the Jurby Sprint.
"We made two runs a day", he says. "They treated us like royalty, we had a ball. We spoke to everyone
and they made us very welcome, we sold a good few T-shirts and gave out a lot of hero cards.
Because of safety we could only give it two flames, two bangs and a two-second blast per run
but everyone thought it was wonderful! It was a real pleasure to be back on the Isle
of Man and to meet all the people there again."
Swift snippets.
6th August: UK Pro ET racer Trevor Kitney is offering a last-minute flight/accommodation
deal to anyone interested in going to this year's World Street Finals in Orlando. Two places
are available at 125 per person for accommodation and 446 per person for flights. Time is of the essence
as the reservation changes must be sorted out this weekend. If you are interested then drop Trevor a line
at trevor@racecarbon.fsnet.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
King offers weather stations.
6th August: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King is offering racers an advanced weather
station at a reasonable price and wrote with details:
"Need to up your performance? Fed up of walking round the pits asking other pro racers what the air is like? Embarrassed by those WW2 ex-aircraft
altimeters, or worse still those Argos-sourced Oregon Scientific toys? Then look at the latest bargain offered by the King Racing shop. These items
retail at 300 (430) in normal outlets, but we can offer them at a bargain price of only 208.90 (295) including postage in Europe. Hurry,
because stocks are limited and when the other retailers find out we are undercutting, then we are in trouble! Visit
www.kingracing.com/Kestrel%204000/ad.htm for details."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
6th August: Alan Currans has updated his excellent Acceleration Archive web site
with the second page of the Steve Woollatt Collection. "This is an all-cars deal featuring such notables as the Page Brothers, Dave Wilson,
Dennis Priddle and Trevor Young", says Alan. "For good measure there are also four shots of the Long Marston strip under construction by forced labour
recruited from the National Drag Racing Club". You can check out the latest update at
www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Birthday money for Super Gas.
5th August: 2004 is the twentieth year of Super Gas racing in the UK and
the Super Gas Racers Association are celebrating the landmark by posting a large prize fund for the
class at the UK National Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 2nd-3rd October.
"Super Gas began in the UK at the Easter meeting back in 1984 when four
competitors - Sylvia Hauser, John Mullan, Tom Laffey and Clive Mechaell -
contested the first round", says Super Gas racer Spencer Tramm. "Sylvia Hauser
won that day over Clive Mechaell's breakout. Twenty years on we thought that
something should be done to commemorate this landmark."
©Eurodragster.com
The first phone call was to SGRA Chairman and racer Peter Lane, who has put
the whole deal together. The winner will receive 1000. Non-SGRA members
are also eligible for a 25 entry which will go directly into the prize fund.
"The more racers we get the bigger the payout, and the more
people we can pay!", says Spencer. "We have already signed Webster Race Engineering, Flavell
Welding Specialists and Eurodragster.com as sponsors for this event and
we expect more to follow.
"We hope that this will entice not only all of the current Super
Gas competitors from the UK but also some of our Dutch, German and
Scandinavian friends who are all very welcome. Also we hope that
some Super Comp, Pro ET and Super Street racers may take this opportunity
to try out Super Gas as have Team Tokyo Toy, Steve Wells, Stuart Doignie and
Mark O'Halloran this season."
If you are interested in sponsoring the Super Gas anniversary event, or
if you have any queries, then please contact Spencer by E-Mail at
spencer.tramm@transactgroup.net.
Malmgren fights the gremlins.
5th August: 2003 FIA European Pro Stock Champion Michael Malmgren and the AC Delco Racing
team had a frustrating weekend at the Veidec Nitro Festival, overcoming an apparent suspension problem in
qualifying only to be hit by the gremlins again in the final against Jimmy Ålund.
"In the final the car hit shake, and I mean mad shake, in first and second gear", says Magnus. "The computer said that
our start rpm was a thousand too high. Christer (Crew Chief - Ed) knew that it was OK when the car
left the staging lane because he checked it before Michael started the car. We looked at everything and
then we discovered that the rev limiter had been dislodged by shake during the burnout and the thousand dial
had moved."
©Eurodragster.com
The problem with the rev limiter was the last in a weekend's worth of problems for the AC Delco team.
"We had tyre trouble at the start of the weekend", says Magnus. "We had been trying different four-link
set-ups so it took a while for us to notice what was wrong. We tried our US and Main Event set-ups but
nothing was changing. We kept making changes with no difference, so we looked at the tyres and they
were dead. We put on some new tyres and there was the problem. It takes two to three runs to run in a set
of tyres but Michael went out and did a huge burnout (Upon which we commented in the race report - Ed)
which upset Fast Freddy!"
Having found the source of the car's woes, Michael qualified second and worked his way through to the
final where the launch rpm problem put paid to his chances against Jimmy Ålund. "We would have
won that race", says Magnus. "The clutch was perfect. But what can you do? We just had a laugh about it,
it's not worth crying about."
A first-round exit at Alastaro didn't help Michael's chances of retaining his FIA title but the team
haven't heard a fat lady singing as they go into this weekend's NDRG Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.
"Going out in Finland hurt", says Magnus, "and we expected Jimmy to be as quick as he is - just
not so early in the season! For the rest of the season we want to qualify number one, win the events
and set Low ETs, and set ET records if possible because we get extra points. We've had the engine apart
and checked everything, we've had a lot of discussions and we've decided that we've got nothing to lose, so
in goes the kitchen sink this weekend. It will shake, or it will go."
Page pleased so far.
5th August: Jöran Persåker's Top Fuel Dragster Crew Chief Gary Page says that
he is more than happy with the team's runner-up spot at the Veidec Nitro Festival, and also with Jöran's
season so far.
"If someone had told me at the start of the year that we'd be in two of the first three finals I'd have taken
that!", says Gary. "Jöran is doing very well indeed and he is enjoying himself, and the points are
very close which is good for the class."
It was a clean sweep for the Carbon By Design Top Fuel team with all four of the team cars in the semi-finals,
and Micke Kågered taking the event win. "I would like to congratulate Micke on his win, and Alan Jackson on
tuning four cars, and I must thank my crew for all of their hard work at the weekend", says Gary.
Gary also asked us to congratulate points leader Andy Carter on his 4.760 qualifying pass. "Obviously we're
rival teams but when someone lays down a pass like that then you congratulate them", says Gary. "I went down
to Andy's pit and shook his hand."
Whatever the result at Gardermoen this weekend, Gary knows that he will end up having a good time. "It's
Smax's birthday and my birthday on Monday, so we might have a drink after the race on Sunday!", he says.
No shame in runner-up.
5th August: The real festival didn't really happen for Sweden's Nilsson
Motorsports Pro Mod team with Håkan Nilsson's Veidec Racing Camaro at Mantorp Park, writes team member Ulf Stadig. However Ulf says
that taking runner-up spot in a very hard-fought NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Series is nothing to be ashamed of.
"The competition is starting to be 'bad to the bone' with five awesome Pro Mod cars within 0.1 seconds", says Ulf. "The rest of the field also
have the right equipment so you can't count anyone out on race day. Once again at Mantorp Park we were struggling to get the Veidec Rocket
fly over the Swedish ground, but as long as we could keep our runs very consistent we knew that we had a pretty good package for the eliminations.
"In qualifying our four runs were between 6.452 and 6.507, not the numbers we were looking for but as we qualified third and had solid runs without
any problems we knew that the other guys had to work hard to beat us. The eliminations started with a scary run against Urban Johansson, as both
skated around and they almost met each other on the centre line, but Hkan pulled the win light with a 6.76. In the quarter final we faced a hungry
and dangerous Fast Freddy Fagerström in the other lane, we adjusted the car well and Hkan took an early lead off the start line outrunning
Freddy with a 6.512.
©Eurodragster.com
"In the semis we had last year's Champ Roger Johansson, who just had ran an tremendous 6.36 seconds. You should know that the Nilsson Motorsports
crew now were now putting their heads together to figure out a way to close up the gap which Roger had.
I must say that we all made a good work here, the team put up a pretty good and fast hot rod and Hkan just cut Roger down on a big holeshot
winning with a 6.45 against Roger's 6.40. I am sure that there was more than one person out there who was surprised!
Finally we were back in a final, our first since Gardermoen in 2003 and it was such a nice feeling. We were to face Mats Eriksson but in the semi
he went out in the gravel trap and no one expected him to be ready in time for the finals. But rain and a long dry up gave the team time and they
worked their buts off to have the mean Green Goblin ready to race. We lost the battle but are happy for Mats and the team as they are one of the
most determined out there right now, they are smart racers and are a real threat in the hunt for the Championship trophy.
"Our runner-up position stretched our points lead in the Championship, it feels just awesome and we are very proud for our sponsors and fans that
we are in a position where the other guys have to try and chase us down. In just a couple of days we are heading to our 'lucky' track at Gardermoen,
we have been low qualifier and taken home the winner's trophy there for the last two years but we are not taking anything for granted. We are going
to get together and work hard and try to earn some nice points there too."
The Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com
contains a report and photographs from Mantorp Park, and a Swedish-language report can be found on the
Veidec Racing web site at www.veidecracing.com.
Veidec Racing PSB report.
5th August: The Veidec Racing Pro Stock Bike
team went to Mantorp Park with three bikes, and the goal was to get all three into the field writes
Crew Chief Roger Lyrén.
"Roger Pettersson made a very good start with a 7.346/297.4 kmh and was on top of qualifying with that", says Roger.
"This was also a new European speed record and a track ET record. That was a good start, but still we struggled a lot with the sixty feet times
this weekend, the track was hard to tune with lots of power. After struggling at the first two races we decided that Helen Curran and
Remo Nasci should change bikes, and that helped. Helen ended up #5 in the field, and she was very happy with that, running 1.11 at
sixty feet shows that we can start to give it more power.
Remo had some problems with his bike in the beginning, and ended up #7 but after a few runs we started to get some base settings for him.
Remo improved the sixty foot a lot, down to 1.15.
"Helen and Roger went through to the semi-finals, both left with almost identical reaction times, but at mid-track Roger ran away.
In the final Roger faced Vesa Rautio, and Vesa took the holeshot and at the finish line difference was 0.007 seconds (59 centimetres - Ed)!
It was an extremely good race. Well done Vesa and congratulations on the win from all of the Veidec PSB team!
©Eurodragster.com
"The media cover was extremely good on TV, magazines, and internet sites. We got Swedish national TV to do a interview and four-minute
programme which you can see at www.veidecracing.com. Our VIP was good last year, but
this year it was extremely good, our guests loved it. My wife Malin and her sisters Maria and Lena together with their husbands Mirco
and Eric did an extremely good job, I can't thank them enough. We had special gests like Loris Capirossi's mother and lots of other companies
and fans (Thanks for tea on Wednesday - Ed). We served about 150 breakfasts, 350 lunches and 120 dinners over the weekend, that
is impressive.
"I really want to thank all of Mantorp's Veidec Festival crew and all involved for an extremely good weekend, also Eurodragster and Svensk Dragracing
(Tog, Sharkman, Christer Abrahamson and Erik Zettervall) for their coverage which is always very good (Thanks! - Ed).
"Now we are heading for Norway, and I guarantee that the whole team is hungry for new victories, and I know that the Gardemoen track is
always good, so there is the chance for new records."
Beck Bolts to sign sponsor.
5th August: 2003 ACU UK Pro Stock Bike Champion Dave Beck is pleased to confirm that Pro Bolt
have come on board his team as a sponsor. Pro Bolt will be supplying product from their range of titanium and aluminium fasteners. For a full list
of Pro Bolt's products visit www.tastynuts.com or call 01684 851940.
©Eurodragster.com
"The deal was set up by Steve Conway from Bikes of Brighton and will certainly help team continue with the performance they are used to achieving",
says Dave. "We are still hoping to raise enough funding to race at the European Finals at Santa Pod, but we will certainly be racing
at the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of this month with the latest motor fresh from the Upperton stable."
Swift snippets.
5th August: Racers enjoying the traditional break between the Veidec Nitro Festival and
the NDRG Drag Challenge at Karlstad in Sweden had to leave the lakeside camping ground yesterday after
it flooded. We understand that one racer needed the assistance of ten of their colleagues to push their
trailer out of trouble.
©Eurodragster.com
Timing updates.
5th August: We are indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers
Europe for sending us an updated version of his table of European best performances, which now includes
the records set at Mantorp Park at the weekend. You can view the European Bests by
clicking here, or by clicking on the European Bests
link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
©Eurodragster.com
Andy has also forwarded us the timing data for last week's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway. The timing data comes
in Excel format and can be viewed by clicking here, or by clicking
on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
Web site updates.
5th August: The story of Veidec Nitro Festival Top Fuel Dragster winner Micke Kågered's weekend, and that of the team's Top Methanol FC
driven by Niclas Andersson, can be found on the Kågered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Volkswagen Drag Racing Club video supremo Kevo Metcalfe has posted a
low-resolution compilation of several in-car video clips made at last week's Bug Jam. If the preview
compilation is anything to go by then the full-on versions are going to be quite something. You can check
out Kevo's compilation at kevo.thedesignroom.net/noise%20web.wmv.
Our good friend Patrik Jacobssen has added some 450 Veidec Nitro Festival pictures to the Racebilder
web site at www.racebilder.nu.
Jon Best has updated the Racecarbon Racing pages of his fan site at www.nitrohemi.co.uk
with a report from the recent Victory Wheelers Show at Thorney Island where the Racecarbon team suffered bad luck, breakages, and a bit
more bad luck. "All is explained by the man who killed the transmission, Trevor", says Besty. Besty adds that he is selling a blown-alcohol
motor for 5500 will get you mine. "It's all good stuff and will scare you silly when it's put in a car", he says. "I wish I could budge on price, but as
many people know the last project failed and left me skint. That's racing! Details are available on Eurodragster's Swap Meet or in the Parts Bin
page on my site."
Payne into the eights.
4th August: UK Super Comp racer
Mick Payne saw the weekend's Mopar Nationals
at Santa Pod Raceway as the chance to lay down some real numbers with his blown Dodge Coronet and also to meet
up and enjoy the laid-back atmosphere of this long established meeting, writes Andy Thetford.
"After arriving on Friday and setting the car up, everything was going to plan (famous last words)", says Andy. "Saturday morning was a different
matter altogether. Firstly the reverser broke! This was duly changed, and then the 'mags' started playing about again, so after a lot of head
scratching and a few choice words we eventually reverted to just one 'mag' - the USA drag circuit is also having the same problem we understand.
©Eurodragster.com
"After what seemed like an eternity in the pits replacing things, we set off down the fire-up road, resplendent in our new team shirts (thanks to Ian
Turburville for pulling all the stops out). The burnout was a bit lacklustre, and Mick said later "That was the worst burnout I have ever done!".
Crew Chief Dave Fuller brought him up to the timing beam, and we all waited...Mick launched the car hard and stormed up the track and
for the first time ever broke into the eights, 8.80 to be exact. Unfortunately he also broke the converter, bonnet, blower belt, RCD and a spark plug!
"Mick said afterwards that the car was "just flying" until two thirds of the way down the track when he had to shut it down. So really 8.80 was not
a bad time to run with only seven cylinders, one mag, no converter, and a busted blower belt! What could it have been if everything went well?
"Once again thanks to everyone who lent a hand, especially Dave Milam. We will be back, hopefully harder and faster, see you all in September."
Pels beaten by a cam.
4th August: After having two good qualifying days and taking number one qualifier,
Dutch Supertwin racer Ton Pels
defeated Greger Johansson in Sunday's first round of eliminations
Sunday but soon noticed he had no rear brakes and found himself crashing in
the gravel trap at the end of the run-off area at about 60 mph, writes Monique Pels.
"Ton 'jumped' off the bike before it fell over, so he was A-OK, but the bike was
seriously damaged", says Monique. "In a race against time and with help of two other
teams the Zodiac team managed to take apart and clean most engine parts, finished the bike, and
ran to the startline where there they were told to fire up the bike immediately for the
semi-final against Ronny Aasen. Ton kept his cool and won the round in 6.80/305
but the bike sounded strange at the top end and there was a bent push rod.
"It turned out that in the rush to get the bike ready for the semis, no-one
had re-filled the fuel tank, so the engine had been running running 'dry'
and had backfired, breaking the cam shaft. This was too much work to fix
before the finals, so Charley Karling had a solo run and won the race.
©Eurodragster.com
The Zodiac team were still quite content with the results, because at
Mantorp Ton was once again the fastest (329 kmh) and quickest (6.712) rider
in Supertwin and also climbed in the Championship ranking and significantly
reduced the points difference to the top place. Currently the top five are:
- Ronny Aasen (NO): 109 points
- Ton Pels (NL): 106 points
- Charley Karling (SE): 105 points
- Hans Olav Olstad (NO): 101 points
- Svein Gottenberg (NO): 58 points"
For the complete story, check out the News page of the Zodiac Racing web site
at www.zodiacracing.com.
Racers: Send your Veidec Nitro Festival reviews to us at
news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish
them here.
Koedam Racing report.
4th August: We are as ever grateful to Marius van der Zijden, Crew Chief for 2003
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Champion Roel Koedam, for sending us
a report on the team's successful weekend at Mantorp Park.
As always there was a large crowd and a custom car show with lots of high quality hot rods.
The weather during this event is often a mix of high temperatures, combined with the occasional rain shower. Unfortunately this year would be no exception.
Although the track is improving little by little each year, it remains a tricky track to 'read' as it is part of a road racing circuit.
The saddest thing however is that the run-off area remains very short, due to the adjacent farmer who doesn't want to sell part of his property!
The faster cars and bikes always have problems to get it stopped safely within the short available distance and some of them even never
run 'out the back door' for this reason. As Team Koedam values life more that being a 'hero of the past' we always shut it off before the
finish line. This year the data recorder showed that the longest time under power was 5.4 seconds before Roel clicked it off. It proved to be
enough as you can read in this team report.
All classes had plenty of entries and our TopFuel Bike class was no exception with no less than seven fuellers.
On Friday morning we made our first qualifying attempt. To our surprise the bike again suffered from a little misfire (see our Alastaro report) during
the first 2.5 seconds. Eventually we blamed it to an unusually low nitro percentage combined with not-so-good air in Finland. Obviously this was
not the case! So we started looking deeper into this problem. We figured it must be an ignition-related problem and so it turned out to be.
We found that one of two the mags was not working due to a breaker points failure. Luckily Zodiac Racing's Ton Pels supplied us the necessary parts.
As the weather expectations for Saturday were a bit uncertain, we decided to go for another qualifying shot on Friday afternoon. This proved that
the bike was in its usual shape again, a 6.37/316 kmh was the result. This put us in the provisional #1 spot at that moment. Bearing in mind that it
was clicked off 5.3 seconds into the run we were happy with this result.
Saturday was indeed much different in respect to the weather. Although the temperatures were very pleasant, it was cloudy all day and the track
was much cooler. On the first pass of that day we lost the drive practically right off the line. Once again this was caused by a sprag
failure. Though we have had this problem before, this time it was not caused by fatigue but was most likely our own fault: we probable made the
new sprag races too tight. So in went the old trusty sprag set again. We didn't take part in the last qualifying session as we were still working on
the transmission and felt quite confident. At the end of the day we remained the #1 qualifier followed by Sverre Dahl, who was improving step
by step with his 6.53.
Sunday was expected to be a very hot summers day. How wrong could one be as this day had everything from warm sunshine to dark clouds
and rain. Overall it stayed cloudy all day. Just before the first rounds it started to drizzle a bit, however it didn't affect the track too much, only the time schedule.
In the first round we met Funny Bike rider Robert Karlsson. He unfortunately pulled a red light eliminating himself and automatically giving us the win light.
We wanted to make a good run anyway, for the spectators and to gather data, and Roel hit it as usual. It left the line decently but when the clutch timer
came in it smoked the tire instantly. Obviously the rain from the night before didn't do any good to the track. Nevertheless we proceeded to the next round.
On the other side of the ladder Peter Andersson Ström had worked its way to the semi-finals. We still had to settle a matter from last year where
we were faced off for the finals, which had to be cancelled due to rain. We were very sorry for Peter that he had to withdraw his immaculately-prepared
bike as he had a valve problem which he wasn't able to fix in time. The no show from Peter gave us a bye in the semi-finals. We produced a 6.59 on
this run. Our Zodiac Puma, in the meantime, was running like clockwork again and the only concerns we faced were the track conditions.
As eliminations had started quite early that day, we were about ready for our final round by 15.00.
Mother Nature had other plans and dropped down a few small clouds of rain. Though not very bad in itself, it was bad enough to keep the track
crew busy till 18.30! Their persistence made the track ready for most final rounds. As said before Norwegian Sverre Dahl found better settings
each round and improved during the event. He made its way to the finals just like us. Two of the world's most powerful Top Fuel bikes would meet again.
After a long and exciting staging battle the two bikes left the line. It seemed that we got our clutch better dialed in than Sverre as he went up in smoke right
from the line while our bike ran away from him to the victory.
Just as has happened many times before over here, heavy rainfall set in just after most classes had run their finals.
At the conclusion of this third Championship round we left Sweden with 148 points over Italy's Antonio Ferretti with 79 points.
©Eurodragster.com
Nitro Festival FIM/UEM report.
4th August: FIM/UEM European Championship co-ordinator Lars Andersson has as ever been
in touch with a report on the weekend's FIM/UEM action at the Veidec Nitro Festival.
A big thank you to Kjell Pettersson and all the other people involved in everything at Mantorp Park.
We managed to finish the race even if it looked dark for a time. But due to a bit of sunshine and luck
and a lot of hard work, and the decision from the track manager Fredrik Bernshed we finished all the Bike
classes at Mantorp.
It was very nice arriving on Thursday with sunshine and a well-prepared track. You could immediately
in the paddock that something special was going on. All of the teams arriving had that special look and
were expecting something. One of the biggest field ever was waiting to race. Qualifying started on Friday.
Almost immediately you realised that this was going to be exciting. In Superwwin there were nineteen riders
for an eight-bike field. You had to run very good times to qualify. Before the last qualifying round
it was not as normal, many of the top name had not qualified. But in the last run Stefan Juneryd for example
managed to get into the ladder, but Ronny Aasen not in the field.
Ton Pels and Greger Johansson went out first and Ton took this. Ton didn't manage to stop and due to the
short braking area went into the gravel bed. In the next run was it Hans Olaf Olstad against Per Bengtsson
had problem with his crank so he decided not to race. That meant that first alternate Ronny had a bit of
luck. He did got into the ladder and made a 6.7 run. Anders "Charley" Karling was then up against Stefan
Juneryd, Charley took that one. In the last pair was it all Norwegians again, Rolfstad against Solheim.
Fredrik Solheim took the win. Thor G Larsen had told me that it should only be Norwegians in the ladder.
But we finished with four Swedes and three Norwegians and one Dutch. In the pit Ton Pels and his
crew together with a lot of other people cleaned up his bike. Svein Gottenberg and many more had
been working very hard. With a small rain shower delaying the race Ton managed to make the next round.
Ton also beat Ronny Aasen who went up in smoke. Charley was very late on the start and had to chase
Fredrik managed to take him at the very last moment. In the delayed final was it a solo run from
Charley because Ton broke the camshaft in the semi. But the end of this is that the four first riders
in the Championship are very close, the difference is eight points or less then one round in the Championship.
In Top Fuel Bike Roel Koedam went all the way (almost as usual). But Sverre Dahl who made his debut
for this year showed that he will also be in the race. We also saw Peter Andersson Strm out for the
first time with his new bike which looks very good, I hope that he will come to some more
races. The saddest thing was that Jon Leret had some kind of problem and left his bike at 300kmh.
The doctor said that there was no big problem with Jon, nothing was broken and he was talking and
was worried about the bike. The bike ended up in the field beyond the gravel trap. I hope that Jon
can come out again.
In Pro Stock Bike Roger Pettersson again showed his potential. A new speed record and 7.3-second runs
almost all the weekend, but a late reaction in the final meant that Vesa Rautio took the win. Vesa, who
has been working hard and had a lot of problems at the first races, now has his bike running and showed
that he can do something. Then both Anders also showed that Roger should not be too sure. Anders Larsson
was down in the 7.3s and Anders Abrahamsson made a 7.6. Pro Stock is getting tighter but Roger has a big
lead in the Championship.
Once again a big thank you to everyone at Mantorp Park who ran this race. When a rain shower came at 3:00
many thought that that was the end of it. But Fredrik and Kjell said that we should finish the race. They
were even thinking of the solution to continue on Monday. But with some small help from the sun and much
work we finished the race. Now are we all waiting for Friday and the first qualifying session at Gardemoen in Norway.
Will we have records broken next weekend? Thor G Larsen and all the people in Norway have promised the best
track ever.
The latest FIM/UEM points standings and records are now showing on the King Racing web site at
www.kingracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Nitro Festival records.
4th August: In response to requests from a number of readers we are pleased to
bring together in one place all of the records set at the weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival at
Mantorp Park:
FIA Pro Stock European and Track ET: 6.899, Jimmy Ålund
FIA Pro Stock European and Track speed: 322.21 kmh (200.21 mph), Jimmy Ålund
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike European and Track speed: 297.40 kmh (184.80 mph), Roger Pettersson
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified ET and Track ET: 6.362, Roger Johansson
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified speed and Track speed: 359.09 kmh (223.13 mph), Mats Eriksson
©Eurodragster.com
FIA Top Fuel Dragster Track ET: 4.760, Andy Carter
FIA Top Fuel Dragster Track speed: 497.07 kmh (308.86 mph), Andy Carter
FIA Top Methanol Dragster Track ET: 5.463, Dave Wilson
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car Track ET: 5.779, Ulf Leanders
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car Track speed: 401.74 kmh (243.63 mph), Urs Erbacher
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Track speed: 361.04 kmh (224.34 mph), Sverre Dahl
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Track ET: 7.342, Roger Pettersson
Our joint
Event Coverage with Svensk Dragracing set a record of its own with no less than
19,454 words typed by hand and a thousand or so photographs taken during seventy one and a
half hours of a ninety six hour event. The balance of the photographs will appear on Photo Editor
Sharkman's personal web site shortly.
Swift snippets.
4th August: The UK's Jade Racing Comp Bike and Supertwin Gas team will be displaying
their RD and H2 bikes at the new Sheffield branch of CMC Motorcycles this weekend (7th-8th August).
"It is an open weekend, and we are there along with the Yamaha team and various attractions", says Sharron Collier. "Next weekend we will be taking the
H2 to the Bulldog Bash to make demonstration runs. This will be its first time out with a different ignition system, tons of new machining by Chris Hall,
and a new paintjob by Paul Newman (the H2 has 'Bean painted' !). It's a bit lary, but you can tell it's Jade!"
©Eurodragster.com
Nitro Festival updates.
4th August: UK Super Comp racer Zane Llewellyn has updated his Bootsoop Racing
web site with a report of his weekend at the Veidec Nitro Festival, where he made it to the final
of System Edström Super Comp. Check it out at
www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The official web site of the European Pro Mod Racers Association web site at
www.promod.nu has been updated with over one hundred and fifty great
pictures from the Veidec Nitro Festival.
The latest FIA European Championship standings are now available by
clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings
link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
Our good buddies at the Svensk Dragracing web site
have also updated their FIA points standings page as well as the post-Veidec Nitro Festival standings in
the Nordic Drag Racing Series. You can check out the FIA and NDRS points at
www.dragracing.se.
Men, Motors and drag racing.
4th August: We are indebted to Santa Pod Raceway PR
Caroline Day for forwarding us a schedule for TV broadcasts of the FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified
Championships on UK's Men and Motors satellite channel.
The broadcasts start this week with FIA Top Fuel Dragster.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the Men and Motors drag racing schedule. TV channels and
particularly satellite channels can be subject to last-minute schedule changes so be sure to keep an
eye on your electronic programme guide, teletext or the Men and Motors web site.
PDRC looking good for 30!
4th August: The Pennine Drag Racing Club is celebrating its thirtieth
birthday at this weekend's Northern Nationals at York Raceway
which includes the twenty seventh annual Street Racer Championship. York PR Howard Holmes dropped us a line
to tell us what PDRC have planned at the Yorkshire venue this weekend.
The event includes rounds 5 and 6 of the Hot Rod Challenge and round 4 of the
Northern Drag Racing Championship. There are rounds 4 and 5 of York's great
American Super Stock series and York is again pleased to be hosting rounds 5
and 6 of the National Street Car Challenge. The weekend also features
this year's Super Pro Shootout, plus the Wild Bunch Series as well as Run
Wot You've Brung (mainly for Saturday). And as if that weren't enough, we
also got a Junior Dragster Shootout.
And Mr. Roaring Goring too. Roger Goring didn't want to miss the Pennine
Drag Racing Club's 30th birthday and will be blasting the Firestorm jet car
down York's strip.
American Super Stock brings you the wild and the powerful from the muscle
car era. Some fantastic cars run in this exciting Pro Tree bracket series,
and this weekend should also see the return of Scott and Dave Billedeau in
big quick Mopars, Dave just running a 10.5 at the Mopar Nationals in his
Plymouth GTX, now with 743 horses of Hemi power. Thank you to Engine Data
Analysis (aka EDA) for putting up 50 for the winners of these two American
Super Stock rounds.
Rodley Motors have kindly put up 50 for the winners of the Northern Drag
Racing Championship's Sportsman and Pro ET series, the bracket series with
Sportsman ET for 12.90 and slower, Pro ET for quicker.
The Hot Rod Challenge series features heads-up racing for the hottest rods
around, diverse street machines running anything that lets you go faster and
quicker. Thanks to PDRC for putting prize money up 50 for the winners of
the two rounds on the weekend.
Then there is the colourful spectacle of the Wild Bunch, running its fifth
round, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 3 and Real Steel Series
Round 8. The PDRC is also putting up 100 in prize money for the Wild Bunch.
Saturday evening includes the 27th Annual Street Racer Championship, the
quest to find the quickest street-legal road car on the day. We reckon Russ
Pursley will be out to defend his title, but there are rumours Russ will
have to contend with a very quick Cortina, not to mention a man with a shiny
new Audi who's looking to run an 8 at York. But the door is wide open as
to who can pull it off and take the victory on the day, who will be the
Street Racer Champion for 2004? Could it be John Sleath again? The
Championship runs from around 6:00-8:00 pm - we don't have curfews at York Raceway,
in fact the track opens at 10:00 and we just keep going, we don't stop for
lunch. A big thanks to our old friends at B&H Autocraft in Doncaster for
putting up 100 prize money for the Street Racer Championship.
There will be bracket racing for the good handful of Junior Dragsters which
are promising to attend, including some hi-tech alcohol burners. This
inaugural round of Junior Dragster at York Raceway has trophies kindly
donated by Andrew Watson and Christine Heeley.
In the Super Pro Shootout, there will be something of a re-match between
Chris Round, Clayton Round, to-be-confirmed rumours that Steve Saunders will
be racing his beautifully flamed and chequered Zephyr and Ian Tubb will be
staring menacingly at the new paint on Kenny Colman's car, in an effort to
make it dry quicker, in time for a race at York! We're hoping Julian Webb's
latest altered will be out and Clayton will have his T-altered back
together.
Pennine promotions will also be awarding trophies to winners of Hot Rod
Challenge, Northern Drag Racing Championship, American Super Stock, Wild
Bunch, Super-Pro and the Street Racer Championship.
With Saturday night party and camping, the UK Northern Nationals is the
'must do' event at York Raceway this weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
Veidec Nitro Festival results.
2nd August: Congratulations to the winners at this weekend's Veidec Nitro Festival
at Mantorp Park:
FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Micke Kgered 4.978/421.44 def. Jran Persker 5.074/468.87
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Peter Schfer 5.518/410.18 def. Dave Wilson 5.554/412.10
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders 5.805/393.99 def. Leif Andréasson 6.388/280.89
FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy lund 7.017/317.59 def. Michael Malmgren 7.168/317.59
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Mats Eriksson 6.557/350.72 def. Hkan Nilsson 6.630/343.68
Competition Eliminator: Lars-ke Karlsson (7.95) 7.505/299.67 def. Christian Sagelv (9.46) 9.102/239.46
System Edstrm Super Comp: Jonas Staflund 8.954/236.15 def. Zane Llewellyn 11.210/175.83
Twinlab Super Gas: Pelle Noren 9.942/216.55 def. Jonny Jorgensen 9.849/209.47
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Roel Koedam 6.530/306.35 def. Sverre Dahl 13.431/103.11
FIM/UEM Supertwin: Anders Karling 6.714/282.27, Ton Pels no show
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Vesa Rautio 7.523/286.09 def. Roger Pettersson 7.359/292.57
Super Gas Bike: Micke Berglund 9.779/189.39 def. Peter Bjurstrm 10.030/234.16
Street Bike: Rehan Ahmad 10.833/108.47 def. Thomas Nilsson 11.578/204.18
©Eurodragster.com
Three finals were not contested due to a late rain shower, they were:
Super Street: Fredrik Sandberg v Jenny Janse
Stock/Superstock: Anders Pettersson v Matti Luoso
Junior Dragster: Lina berg v Linda Eriksson
Continuing the record-breaking theme of the Veidec Nitro Festival, Mats Eriksson backed up Saturday's
pass of 359.09 kmh (223.13 mph) for a new Pro Mod speed record, whilst 2003 NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified
Champion Roger Johansson set a new ET record of 6.362. In all, seventeen European and track records were
set over the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the joint Svensk Dragracing/Eurodragster.com reports and pictures by
clicking here, or by
clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.
We would like to say a huge Thank You to Christer Abrahamson and Erik Zettervall of Svensk Dragracing
for organising our trip to Mantorp Park, and to all of the officials of Svensk Dragracing and
Mantorp Park's owner Fredrik Bernshed for
their help and hospitality during the Veidec Nitro Festival.
Too much thinking!
2nd August: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter
said that his first round defeat in yesterday's Top Fuel eliminations at Mantorp Park was down to too much thinking. Andy
lost the chance to back up Saturday's spectacular 4.760/497.07 kmh in the GoTalk
dragster when he was beaten by Micke Kgered, and to add insult to injury he ended up in the
gravel trap at the end of the track.
"The car shook and I didn't pedal it as well as I could have done", Andy told Eurodragster at Mantorp Park
yesterday. "After the second pedal I saw Micke pulling away and I thought "Get off it", but then I thought
"Don't get off it because he might have problems". So I stayed on it and when Micke went through the finish
line in front of me I thought "Crap, he's won". I know this sounds like a lot of thinking to do at that
speed but your thoughts accelerate too, this all happened in fractions of a second.
©Eurodragster.com
"So I'm going down the shutdown area thinking about losing and then I realised how fast I was
going and I thought "The chutes!". I pulled the chutes but I was going way too fast, I started to
try to get round the turn at the end of the track but the car went up on two wheels so I decided
that it would be safer to go into the gravel - the car would have rolled over if I had tried to take
the turn."
Andy told us that the car was slightly damaged but that it can easily be fixed in time for next week's NDRG
Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.
Our trip to Malta.
2nd August: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster News last week you will recall that
Malta Drag Racing Association President Anthony Borda kindly sent us a report on the recent night
event at Hal Far Raceway which included an appearance by two Greek racers. Elias Vathias of the
Dragster.gr web site has been in touch to tell us how it
went from the Greek visitors' point of view.
The track was great and well prepared, and our champions improved their personal bests by almost a whole second! Filippos Papafilippou
with his Pontiac Firebird, prepared by the Drag Warriors Team, ran 7.48/182.45 (294 kmh) with a 1.097 for sixty feet. His personal best with the
same car in slippery Greek conditions was 8.44 at 276.54 kmh with a 1.4-second sixty foot. Makis Nefraim with his Ford Sierra ran 8.6/159 (258 kmh),
his personal best in Greece was a 9.4 at 249 kmh.
We want to thank Anthony Borda, president of the MDRA, his wife and all the members of the Malta Drag Racing Association, as well as the drivers
and mechanics of other teams who embraced us from the first moment and moved us with their spontaneity and their hospitable character. We also
want to thank all the drag fans there for their spontaneous applause whenever Makis Nefraim and
Filippos Papafilippou made a pass! Hal Far Raceway is a great track, well prepared, safe, supported by experienced personnel and well-equipped
for day and night events. The buildings are brand new and there is plenty of space for racers to park their vehicles. Moreover in Malta it rarely rains
so there are interruptions because of the weather! MDRA are doing a great job continuously improving the track, and we are more than sure that
Hal Far Raceway will be a hot spot for the European Drag Racing in the near future! Another great advantage for racing in Malta is that their exquisite
beaches are just five minutes from the track so you can combine the race with a few days vacation!
The Greek Drag Racers plan to visit Malta again during October's day event. We hope that in the near future Greece is going to have a raceway too!
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like first of all to thank Anthony Borda and his MDRA team for all the assistance and guidance provided to us before, during and after the three-day
evening race", says Filippos Papafilippou. "I would like to thank all the people in Maltese drag racing and especially the spectators for making us feel that
we were in our country, in our territory, in our own home. I would like also to thank 'Zoqdi Racing Team' and 'Chris Polidano Team' for helping us
on the track and in the pits plenty of times to solve minor problems and keep Maki's Ford Sierra and my Firebird ready for the next run.
"I have been to European drag strips plenty of time as a spectator or as a competitor and although all of the events have been spectacular for me
and other Greek guys, I must admit that this time it has been the best drag race experience ever, because we have found, close to our country, a very
nice, professionally-prepared and safe drag strip. The great difference for us is that we also found the same Mediterranean mentality, enthusiasm and
attitude which we have in Greece plus the very nice hot weather. Malta's race event was the greatest surprise for about twenty Greeks who travelled
with our teams and one thing I can say for sure is that our hearts and minds are still there. Anthony, we will come again very soon and hopefully there
will be more of us!
"As for our situation in our great country Greece of the 2004 Olympic Games, in Greece of the football EURO's 2004 1st place, I
would like to inform you that we are sinking into a swamp due to the fact that incapable people are ruining, day by day drag
racing and almost any kind of motor sport in our country"
You can find photos and videos of the Hal Far Night Event at the following addresses:
Videos: www.dragster.gr/videos/races/040724Malta/index.htm
Photos:www.dragster.gr/images/Shows_Races/040724MaltasEvent/index.htm
Elias adds that Antonis Zafeiriadis will attend the Nitrolympix at Hockenheim in August. "This is the second time that Antonis will race at Hockenheim",
says Elias. "Last year he ran 8.168/231.12 kmh in Pro Stock Bike. This year he aims to go quicker as he is more experienced and he has a better motor
which has run 7.3 seconds."
Carter, lund blast records.
1st August: Yesterday was another historic and record-setting day at the Veidec Nitro
Festival at Mantorp Park.
UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter smashed the Mantorp Park track records and did the first half
of the job of European ET and speed records with a qualifying pass of 4.760/497.07 kmh (308.86 mph)
in the GoTalk dragster. "It was absolutely awesome!", Andy told Eurodragster yesterday. "As soon as
the front wheels came down I knew it was on a good one, it just kept on going".
Andy will be aiming to back up these passes during today's eliminations. As if Andy's record wasn't
enough, this weekend's eight-car Top Fuel Dragster field is the quickest-ever in the history of European
drag racing, with a #8 of 5.183.
©Eurodragster.com
Sweden's Jimmy lund set new European records of 6.899 and 322.21 kmh (200.21 mph) during yesterday's
qualifying. Jimmy is the first Pro Stock racer to run into the 6.8s and over 200 mph on European soil.
The Pro Stock field this weekend is also the quickest eight-car field in European history with a bump
spot of 7.174.
Another prospective European record is in NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified, in which Mats Eriksson
ran 359.09 kmh (223.13 mph) in yesterday's qualifying. Mats has today to back up his record.
Finally, Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson and Pro Mod racer Micke Lindahl set new track
ET records of 5.463 and 6.404 to take the #1 qualifying spots in their respective classes.
Earlier news
All news, photographic and other material submitted to Eurodragster.com is accepted and published in good
faith. Although we make every effort to ascertain the accuracy of published material, Eurodragster.com and its staff are not
responsible for any errors in submitted news and photographs. Inaccuracies or other issues in published news items or
photographs should be taken up with the named contributors, or with the Eurodragster.com staff only if the item is not
credited to any individual. This page ©Eurodragster.com. News articles may not be copied or published elsewhere
without the written permission of Eurodragster.com.
Eurodragster.com aims to bring you links to all the best European Drag Racing web sites. To add your site to Eurodragster's listings, simply email links@eurodragster.com with your URL and a little information about your site and we'll do the rest. When you update your site, drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll feature your site in our "What's New" section.
Eurodragster.com is a non-profit-making organisation run by a small group of Drag Racing enthusiasts for the sole purpose of promoting European Drag Racing. If you can help us to meet the modest cost of hosting this web site by advertising here, please email webmaster@eurodragster.com. We're sure you'll find our rates extremely competitive.
|
