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2015 APIRA Champions. 31st August: Many congratulations to this year's Avon Park International Racing Association Champions, who were decided at this weekend's Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Super Pro ET: Brad Jackson Super Comp: Andrew Williams Super Gas: Stuart Doignie Pro ET: Tim Stanbury Sportsman ET: Craig Wright Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Paige Wheeler Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Mark Todd Outlaw Anglia: Cliff Griffin Wild Bunch: Darryl Howells VW Pro: Phil Norman VW Sportsman: Paul Herbert Funny Bike: Dave Peters Competition Bike: Mick Winyard Super Street Bike: Alex Hope Junior Drag Bike: Jack Shook The APIRA 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Supertwin Gas and Supertwin ET Champions will be decided at their final Club round which takes place at the Public Test Weekend on 26th-27th September. Thanks to APIRA Championship Co-ordinator, our very own Simon, for processing the points so quickly after today's race was called. Open Sport Nationals rained out. 31st August: Today's eliminations were rained out at the Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The rain came in overnight forcing race officials to call a halt late morning without a wheel turning. Congratulations to VW Sportsman racer Dean Clatworthy who won the £75 Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 Reaction Time in qualifying; unfortunately Dean's clutch broke on that run and he tells us that that is the end of his racing career, which we are very sorry to hear. The Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 for this weekend's FIA / FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Pro ET racer Liz Malcolm pulled a Perfect ET in qualifying, for which congratulations, but was not carrying the requisite decals on her dragster. There being no other Perfect ETs during the event the Eurodragster.com / Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £100 for the FIA / FIM European Finals. You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored reports and pictures of Saturday's full day and yesterday morning's action by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Jayne takes the leash. 
31st August: Regular Eurodragster.com readers will know that UK Super Pro ET racer Jayne Kay announced on these
pages that she was to make licencing passes in the Shockwave Fuel Funny Car. The first passes duly took place on Mini In The
Park weekend at Santa Pod Raceway, an event which Jayne says came round very fast:
I started to get nervous on the Friday when Dad and I drove down to Santa Pod. When we arrived we helped set up the pit with the rest of the Shockwave team. On Saturday morning I did my timed escape test then about twenty minutes after Ian Marshall had left everyone was ready and we went to make the first run. I sat in the van and said to Dave "I can't believe I'm doing this" to which he replied "You asked me ten years ago to drive this, now it's happening!". I don't think that at that point it had yet sunk in that I was going to make my first pass in a Fuel Funny Car! I was strapped in ready to go and brought round to the start line ready to fire. I sat waiting for the track to be prepped looking down to the finish line, nervous because I had a lot to prove on that first run - not only to my observers but to the Shockwave team, other racers and myself. A few minutes later they gave me the nod to fire up. It felt so powerful having the car in my control, especially when the engine was sat roaring away in front of my legs! When the body came down my nerves disappeared. Once I had done the burnout, reversed and staged I was happy, the team around me were calm and professional which kept me calm in the driver seat. On the first stage I took a moment (milliseconds) before I pulled up the fuel and went into stage. When I launched it felt like an explosion, so much noise, vibration and power, it was a massive hit, 0.91 to sixty feet. After the run I was buzzing to have another go, my legs were like jelly and I couldn't stop laughing. The team came and met me at the top end, everyone was cheering and hugging, my dad even had a tear in his eye! It was a great feeling. I could then look forward to the next run, confident with staging the car, only this time I could keep my foot down longer! The second run was a smooth eighth mile 4.17/157 after lifting, clocked 6.13/112 at a thousand feet. 
We had a total of five runs over the weekend and the fourth pass was the most fun for all of us! I ran the straightest half pass, it was so smooth but pulling so hard, I clipped off just pass the
eighth and popped a 4.60/206 to a thousand feet, the eighth was a speedy 3.54/223. You can see at video at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcgJib9kB20.
On my final pass I lost traction on the line and launched a bit sideways but no sweat, that's what we love about Funny Cars! Some fuel also came into the cockpit so I got off the gas and brought it back to the pits in once piece. It was a shame we couldn't get in a full pull to end the weekend, however we all left on a high. It was a great weekend and everyone worked so hard, especially to get three runs in on Sunday, it was a tall order but the team managed to do it with ease. Shockwave Racing are an awesome team and I'm excited to go out and play again. We haven't got a solid date in plan for finishing the license but it will hopefully be at the end of the season, after Gordon Smith has raced the European Finals. We will also be at there with the Altered running with the Super Pro ET family again, I am really looking forward to it. A big thank you to the Shockwave Racing team for an awesome weekend, they didn't stop grafting all weekend. To the Santa Pod crew for prepping a great track and making sure everything ran smoothy. To Dom Romney for coming down to get some wicked shots of the team at work and to my sponsors Wheel-Whores.com, Peter Walters Race Design, SimpsonLids, RW Custom Services, Trophy Queen, Custom Coach Trimming and WrapKings. You can stay up to date with the latest from Jayne's pit on her web site at www.jaynekay.com or on her Facebook page. 2015 Finnish Bike Champions. 
31st August: Many thanks to Pasi Uponen for passing on the names of this year's Finnish Champions in the motorbike
classes. Congratulations to:
Junior Bike: Valtteri Kaisla Street Bike: Kimmo Rantala Super Gas Bike: Manu Alarto Funny Bike: Sami Kallio Pro Harley Drags: Kalle Myllylä (right) Super Twin Top Fuel: Samu Kemppainen Pasi has posted a gallery from the weekend's Finnish Finals which you can check out at www.pasiu.kuvat.fi/kuvat. Web site updates. 31st August: Chris Eyre has updated his Nostalgia Funny Car site with some great videos of Dragstalgia submitted by Neil Dilkes. "Thank you very much Neil!", says Chris. "Also there is some fantastic footage of Ramon van der Weurf running against Lee Gallimore in the nightshow at the Thirtieth Nitrolympx". You can view all the videos at euronostalgiafunnycar.jimdo.com/news. The latest update on The Mad Welshman's Flickr site features galleries from the Mopar EuroNats at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. Weekend of Champions, all invited. 30th August: All racers are invited to the Quartermile Weekend of Champions at The Netherlands' Drachten Airfield on 2nd-4th October. The event features Pro Race, Street Legal Race and American Sunday. Entry fee for Pros is €150 (special 2015 price) which includes registration, five crew passes, parking, showers, toilets, electricity and camp site on location. Entry for Juniors is free and includes registration, one crew pass, parking, showers, toilets, electricity and campsite on location. You can download the Pro entry form by clicking here and the Street Legal entry form by clicking here. You can find more information about the event at www.quartermileshow.com. Swift snippets. 30th August: We have no less than four spy pictures for you today. The first three (below) came with the words "Getting ready for 2016!"... 
...whilst the fourth spy picture (below left) came with the words "When I said your new Junior Dragster had arrived, I meant the thirty metres of tubing, new bending dies and parts to build it". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. 
Sebastian Lindau's Sand Drags bike is on its way from Germany to Iceland (above right) for the last two races of the Icelandic Championships which start in Akureyri on 12th September. Sebastian says that he will be posting live updates on his web site at www.sanddragracing.de so if you are interested then follow the News link. "I would like to say a big Thank You to my girlfriend, who is my only teammember and my biggest supporter", says Sebastian. I would also like to thank my main sponsor I want to thank my main sponsor Eimskip who make it possible to carry our equipment over to Iceland." Thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for passing us an updated sheet of European Bests including all of the records set last week's Scandinavian Internationals. You can check out the new records by clicking here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. UK 9.50 Bike racer Fred Furlong of Eurodragster.com sponsor Furlong Tyres says that the complete range of Shinko motorcycle drag tyres have arrived in the UK and are available for delivery now. Sizes available are 120/60ZR17, 180/55ZR17, 190/50ZR17 and 200/50ZR17 Hook-up plus the Reactor Drag Slicks size 26.0/7.0-17 Mk 1 or Mk 2. For pricing visit www.furlongtyres.com. Ålund's valiant effort. 
30th August: The fourth race of the FIA European Pro Stock Championship was set to be a superb race weekend with perfect conditions for Championship drag racing,
but not so perfect for multiple European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund.
Jimmy had trouble with tyre shake in the first round of qualifying but hit the tune up for Q2 when an elapsed time of 6.55 at 343.07 kmh (213.17 mph) took the Summit Racing / Enskede Bilexpress Camaro to the number one qualifying position after the first day of racing. The racing was tight as usual, as only 0.023 seconds separated the top three cars going into Saturday's qualifying rounds. In Q3 on Saturday morning, Jimmy improved both his time and speed with an ET of 6.54 and a massive speed of 344.83 kmh (214.26 mph). "Apart from the first round of qualifying, we felt we had a good handle on the tune up", said Jimmy. Unfortunately there was trouble in the last round of qualifying. A minor engine problem lead to a shut off at 330 feet and Jimmy coasted across the finish line. With no resources to get the problem fixed before Sunday morning's eliminations, Jimmy put a loaned engine in the car. "Bad news", said Jimmy, "this is not a KB Racing engine. We have to run the first round of eliminations with a motor that has never been in that car before. We have no data for the combination of that engine together with our clutch, transmission and rear end gearing". In a valiant effort, Jimmy went up against Jan Ericsson who had reset his own Personal Bests a few times this weekend. Jimmy had a slightly better reaction time and was first to sixty feet but Jan was ahead at half track and across the finish line, putting Jimmy on the trailer. "Definitely a tough situation going into the final race at Santa Pod in less than two weeks, but we will be there with fresh KB Racing power under the hood", said Jimmy. The Jimmy Ålund Pro Stock Racing Team would like to express their gratitude to Summit Racing, Viking Industrimålning and Exclusive Cars for their support throughout the season and to Enskede Bilexpress as sponsor for this race. The final race in the 2015 FIA Pro Stock Drag Racing Championship series is next weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. School's in at PMR. 30th August: Paul Marston's Drag Race School were in attendance at Mini In The Park at Santa Pod Raceway with their Super Pro ET / Super Comp dragster, their pupil being none other than UK Top Sportsman's 2015 sponsor Steve Ashdown, father of Junior Dragster racer Tyler. Paul writes: Steve Ashdown is one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet and when he came to us with this idea of licensing and then competing at the European Finals, instructor Mick Howling and I had to come up with a gameplan that would give Steve a realistic chance of qualifying. The European Finals is a unique race for Sportsman teams because with five qualifying runs on the Thursday you really need to be on your A-Game right from the very first run. Because of the size of the Super Pro ET field you have to qualify so your car has to be as perfect as it can be and your driver must be up to speed. If you're not in by last qualifier Thursday, you only have two Hail Mary chances on Friday. So to take a complete rookie driver and get him up to speed for the biggest race of the year and his very first competitive event is a very tall order indeed! What Mick and I decided was to extend the course to three days instead of the usual two. We had never attempted this before but figured it was achieveable. The first day was as usual, seat fitting and pedal and harness adjustment. Surprisingly Steve fitted very well with little or no adjustment needed, we quite often have to pour a seat in fire retardant foam which will set around the driver to keep him snug. With dragsters, seat fitting is a lot more important than in doorslammers. The driver's position has to support well enough to withstand the force of the hit on the startline without causing spinal or internal organ damage. Once we were all happy, it was on to the operating systems of the dragster, starting and gear change. Then to teach Steve to drive it: remember these cars are twenty four feet long with a huge turning circle and you are sitting very low, so it all needs to be learnt. The weather was not too kind to us Friday and we completed the driving side in the rain; as we were only driving around the pits it was no problem, just cold and uncomfortable! Saturday was warm, sunny and dry, which mean it was time to start the on-track side. With dragsters there is a lot more explaining and teaching involved before you start on track because the burnout is critical. Everything depends on getting it right, as without temperature in the tyres nothing works. Add to this the fact that the driver has to do a rolling burnout and must be on the power for long enough to get wheel speed, but not too much gas that the motor over-revs as getting off the throttle chatters the tyres which can break the transmission, the rear axle or the crank. It's a fine line which has to be learnt, a feel thing, some get it and some learn it and some never get it at all. A driver who burns out correctly can over time save you a lot of heartache and time and money. Steve got the complicated burnout procedure right first time, which is a real credit to him. He listened and did exactly what we asked and had good feel for the car. The rest of the day was spent getting Steve more used to the dragster. We were only doing eighth mile passes and Steve was getting accustomed to the brutal nature of what a dragster does to you. You simply have to get comfortable - if that's the right word! With the forces to which your body is subjected whilst you still have to maintain focus on driving, anyone who tells you that they just got in and drove one of these things at full speed is simply lying, or stupid, or both! Steve has been around drag racing for about twenty years and fully understands the magnitude of the which he was undertaking and that's why he came to the Drag Race School. Saturday afternoon was spent introducing Steve to the next point up on his rather steep learning curve – the transbrake launch. Just getting the motor skills to be able to do this takes time - it really is an unnatural thing to launch a dragster by letting go of a button whilst the motor is screaming in your ears and yet you are going nowhere. Not just time but a fair amount of bravery, but again once Steve got familiar and learned to train his brain not to think but to do he was fine. Sunday dawned and with the venue now heaving with Minis it was time for some full passes. Steve approached this with a healthy dose of respect for what he was about to do and a good understanding of what lay ahead. Up to this point Steve has also been pulling some quite reasonable lights on a Sportsman tree which he would need for Super Pro ET. By the end of the day Steve had run a very respectable 8.65/158 which was with a pedal and steering correction due to a loose track courtesy of all the Minis with street tyres. But with eleven passes under his belt Steve was now comfortable enough to go red on the tree whilst using the transbrake. I would say that Steve, now fully licenced, has as much chance as anyone to qualify at the FIA European Finals. Special thanks go out to Junior Dragster national event winner Tyler Ashdown who enjoyed the role reversal of Dad being in the car and him being Crew Chief! As always a big thank you to all the management and to Ian Marshall and the track crew at Santa Pod Raceway for all their hard work and patience. Special thanks to fellow instructor Mick Howling, who will also be competing in Super Pro ET at the FIA European Finals driving the Whoopass Monza whilst I will be taking care of crewing duties with the rest of the PMR super crew. If anyone whould like to know more about the courses offered by Paul Marstons Drag Race Driving School then please pass by our pit area at the FIA European Finals, contact us via our web site at www.paulmarstondragracing.com, E-Mail pmracing@fsmail.net or call me on 07831 650230. UK Top Sportsman review. 30th August: History was made at the Comanche Race Cars/ J S Secure Security Solutions UK Top Sportsman round at the Mopar Euronats at Santa Pod Raceway as records tumbled both classes before the weather prevented neither the Fast nor Head-Up Brackets running to conclusion. Paul Marston writes: The weather did nothing to stop the cream of Sportsman doorslammer teams from attending and breaking the car count record with thirty six teams on the property. The Fast Bracket Race had, for the first time in its history, a potential seven round elimination. The Heads Up number one qualifier record was blown away alongside the speed record by returning UK Top Sportsman competitor Rick Garrett with his mighty Nitrous-assisted Willys packing a 740ci motor. But that was just the records. There were only ten regular National Event doorslammer teams in attendance - this outlaw event is attracting more and more race teams from all over the country and with more new teams from Europe is was simply going from strength to strength. With so many really fast doorslammers on the property a record bump spot for the Heads Up one shot qualifier was on the cards. The 8.83 record was without doubt under serious threat but the one-shot deal caught a few teams out whom you would normally say were a shoe in and the 8.83 stands until next year. In the Fast Bracket the action was brutal. Three rounds completed and some very big scalps were had, just to prove that the skill of the driver plays such an important role. Nick Curtis, who was UK Top Sportsman Fast Bracket Champions from 2013, hired Grumpys Dodge to compete in 2015. Nick's first time behind the wheel of Grumpy was in the time trial on Saturday morning. Not only was Nick still in competition but on the strength of his first round win was number one qualifier just 0.001 off perfect in just his second run in the mighty Dodge! Although the weather restricted the track action to a day, nonetheless what action there was took the UK Top Sportsman competition to a new level. If you were not there to witness it then you can see the TV shows which will be on Motors TV which is now on Freeview so everyone can see it, not just cable viewers. Thank Yous go to all our sponsors Comanche Race Cars, Tasty Puffs, J and S Secure Security Solutions, Steve Ashdown for being a man of his word, our mate John Tebenham for the extra cash bonus, Drag Race Engineering and Gary Springford, Wemoveyourcar.com and Matt Wright, EDA Engine Data Analysis and Kenny Coleman, Direct Plastics and Paul Woodhead, of course the fantastic and tireless Paul Marston Racing crew - The Crew Chief, Funsize, Mad Mick Howling and his very quiet startline shirts, Mick ‘The Pieman' Pusey for his equally non formal attire, Sefton Whitlock and Lisa Farmer who ran the pit marshalling and Grumpys Dodge at event and deserve all the credit - Phil and Avril who also do a wonderful job as SPRC marshals, Steve Strong from Steve Strong Engines VW Specialist, again for crewing, the whole Eurodragster.com team for your wonderful coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed), Santa Pod management, James Forster, and all the SPRC track crew who did an amazing job in differcult circumstances. All those wonderful people make this possible, plus of course the racers and race teams, you guys are always our best ambassadors and we thank you all for having such fun with us, after all that's what racing should be – fun. It's a team effort every single time and I am proud of you all for making the events happen. Stay tuned to Eurodragster.com and as soon as we have next year's dates you will see them here first. Web site updates. 30th August: If you were tuned in to our coverage of last week's Scandinavian Internationals then you will have read that Robert Karlsson, Samu Kemppainen and Björn Friström took the the 2015 EDRS Pro Nordic titles in Pro Stock Bike, Supertwin and Super Street Bike respectively. You can read a race report in Remco Scheelings' latest update on the NDRS Pro web site at www.edrspro.com. Get Lucky at the Finals. 
29th August: UK Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson and the
Lucky Devil team will be collecting for Air Ambulances at next weekend's FIA / FIM European
Finals as a Thank You for their help after Wayne was the victim in a bad crash on the way to the track twelve years ago. Gareth Nicholson writes:
As some of you know, Lucky Devil Drag Racing was born from a serious accident whilst travelling on the way to the European Finals in 2003. Unfortunately the car and the team in the camper didn't make it to the track that day as the accident, caused by an articulated lorry, wiped out the box trailer carrying the race car and the camper carrying the crew, pushing it in to the back of a military low loader carrying a tank. In the camper were Wayne (driving), Dave Billadeau and Joe Nicholson (Wayne's youngest son). Fortunately Joe and Dave were able to walk away from the accident with a few cuts and bruises, but Wayne was stuck in the camper's driveing seat and the force of the accident broke bones in his right leg hip and right hand. As a result of all this the motorway was closed both ways for over seven hours (sorry to anyone stuck behind it all) as they cut Wayne out and cleared up the debris. Wayne was airlifted to hospital and operated on that night to piece back together the jigsaw of bones left in his right leg and hip. This brings us round to the main topic of this post. We would like to extend our thanks to the guys and girls who run the Air Ambulances up and down the country, but in particular we would like to thank those who have really impacted our lives in a big way as without them we wouldn't be where we are today. Over the course of the European Finals we will be trying to raise as much money as we can for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance and Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. So if you are around the pits over the weekend call by the Lucky Devil pits and say hi, have a quick chat and look around the car, and donate to a good cause. All the money we raise will be split between the two. If you can't make it to the track but would like to donate to the cause and help out those who one day could be helping you (we hope it never happens) then we have a Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/luckydevildragracing. Thank you for your support and hope to see you all at the track for the European Finals. More sponsors for BDRHoF Gala. 29th August: MQQNEYES, the International Organisation of Professional Drivers and Lucas Oil have already announced their sponsorship of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Awards Dinner being held at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on 21st November. Two further 2014 sponsors have recently announced that they want to be involved again in 2015 – California-born drag racer Julie Braskett and Britain's premier supplier of parts for American vehicles US Automotive. Now Phil Evans has announced that his company Atlantic Fluid Tech will be co-sponsoring a special event, details of which will follow. Along with his roles on the FIA Drag Racing Commission, the MSA, the BDRHoF and the Santa Pod Racers Club, Phil Evans is MD of Atlantic Fluid Tech Ltd, the Sales and Technical Support Centre in the UK and Ireland for Atlantic Fluid Tech products. The parent company, Atlantic Fluid Tech Srl, was created in Modena, Italy, in 2008 to design, manufacture and market a complete range of high quality hydraulic valves. As well as the standard product range, Atlantic creates valves which are seen on leading brands of mobile equipment from construction equipment to utility vehicles, access platforms to farm machinery. Atlantic has ninety one employees in four sites - UK, Holland, France and Korea - plus dealers worldwide. They sell to over three hundred customers in thirty countries, and annual worldwide sales now stand at over €10M. Atlantic Fluid Tech Ltd has recently moved into a new 4000 sq ft office and warehouse building at Henley Park Industrial Estate, Coventry. Julie Braskett and US Automotive will be jointly sponsoring the evening Grand Autograph session to be held after the dinner where all of our American guest stars will join the new BDRHoF Inductees to sign the Souvenir Programme. Julie will act as host. She knows many of the guests personally and some of them raced with her late father Dave in the Braskett and Burgin Funny Car and other team machines. Julie said "I really enjoyed hosting the Tea with Garlits event at Santa Pod last year and was thrilled to be offered hosting the Grand Autograph session this year alongside US Automotive. I was brought up with many of these people being part of my drag racing family and to find myself hosting them at an autograph session in the UK is very special. I love what the BDRHoF is doing and I'm glad I can help support the Gala Awards Dinner. Thank you for inviting me back to do this again guys." As well as co-sponsoring the autograph session, US Automotive and Julie Braskett will be co-sponsoring a special Press Reception. This will enable invited members of the press to have face-to-face sessions with our star guests. Also thanks to this sponsorship it is also hoped that a special Legends Bench Racing Session can be arranged as additional entertainment for hotel guests attending the Gala Awards Dinner. The plan is to film this to form part of the Quarter Mile Foundation's Project 1320 - a series of TV programmes covering the history of American drag racing and the Performance Parts Aftermarket. Some European racers and businesses may well be included. It depends upon room availability but fingers crossed that we can make it happen and watch this space for final details. U S Automotive is also sponsoring the twenty four page Souvenir Programme this year. The company is a Primary Sponsor of the BDRHoF having supported its growth over the ten years the BDRHoF has been in existence. CEO Stewart Bassett said "It has been a great privilege to support the BDRHoF over its first ten years. It must be said that its growth over the last two to three years has been nothing less than phenomenal. Despite its early doubters, the success of last year's Gala Awards Dinner put down a remarkable quality mark for drag racing social occasions; one that many believed too difficult to improve upon. But this year's event looks like surpassing that and we are proud to be part of it again." BDRHoF Chairman Stu Bradbury said, "I must thank all of our sponsors for helping us make this event so special. We could not produce such an occasion and show without them. It looks like the hotel rooms are getting very limited so if you haven't booked please do so quickly. There are other good hotels in the area if availability has gone." Ticket prices for the Gala Dinner will remain as last year at £60 per person. Corporate tables of ten are available at £580. Room prices also remain as last year, £99 for double and £79 for single including breakfast. Complimentary use of swimming pool, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, and free car parking are also part of the package. For advance booking of Gala Dinner tickets contact britishdrhof@aol.com or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102. No deposits will be required until the summer but when other plans come together this will again be an early sell-out event. For room bookings call the Savill Court Hotel on 01784 472000 quoting Hall of Fame dinner 21st November. Laukkanen, Fagerström join Pers. 28th August: With less than a week to go before the FIA / FIM European Finals takes centre stage at Santa Pod Raceway three Pro teams from Europe have swollen the entry list still further. The entire Santa Pod team are readying the site for what looks set to be a gladiatorial finish to all of the classes and Championships: As mentioned on Eurodragster.com on Wednesday the first of the late entries is Sweden's Patrik Pers with his awesome Top Fuel Dragster, increasing the class to a nine-car field. It will be clear in the Friday night time qualifying session why these cars really are the Kings of Drag Racing! Another last minute-entry comes from all-time favourite Fast Freddy Fagerström who makes a welcome return to the Home of European Drag Racing. Swede Freddy's eighth-mile burnouts are legendary and his Pro Modified truck now sports a new turbo engine and set-up. The icing on the cake comes in the form of Finnish Pro Modified racer Tero Laukkanen who enters the fray fresh from setting a European speed record of 260.11 mph, the first European doorslammer to top 260 mph. The wild doorslammers will set the track alight with twenty one cars fighting for sixteen places in Sunday's eliminations. Advance ticket bookings at reduced price close at the end of office hours today (Friday). To order your tickets visit www.santapod.com or call 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828). European Finals racer update. 28th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding details of the arrangements for next week's FIA / FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway: Tuesday 1st September 12:00 Gates open for racers only 19:00 Gates close Wednesday 2nd September 08:00 Gates open for the duration of the event 11:00 Signing On office opens (earlier for racers entered in the Pro Peak Performance Day) 11:00 Car scrutineering commences, no set order - if possible please get scrutineered on Wednesday 20:00 Signing On office closes Thursday 3rd September 07:00 Signing On office opens 07:00 Car scrutineering commences Pro car scrutineering order Sportsman car scrutineering order 09:00 Bike scrutineering commences Pro bike scrutineering order 09:30 Track opens for qualifying Friday 4th September 07:30 Signing On office opens 07:30 Scrutineering commences 09:30 Track opens for qualifying Saturday 5th September 08:00 Signing On office opens 08:00 Scrutineering commences 09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations Sunday 6th September 09:30 Track opens for eliminations Provisional running orders are now available for all four days of the event and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that as ever these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Please remember the curfew: no race vehicle motors are to be started before 09:00 or after 21:00 on any day. Breach of curfew can result (has resulted) in exclusion from the meeting. If going to Scrutineering before 09:00 then please push or tow race vehicles, do not drive. SPRC would appreciate it if UK Sportsman racers have their bank sort code and account number with them so that winnings can be paid directly into their accounts by Bacs the day after the event. Cheques will still be available to those who would prefer them, however SPRC would prefer to use Bacs as bank charges are lower and racers will receive their money sooner. Event entry update. 28th August: Today (Friday) is the official closing date for entry to the UK National Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th September and which is the final round of the 2015 UK National Drag Racing Championships, the penultimate round of the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, and a Championship round for a number of other series. Ian Marshall of SPRC however tells us that he will be accepting entry forms at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian for forwarding us Version 3 of the official UK National Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. If you have any queries about UK National Finals entry then please contact Ian on ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Gordon Smith. 
27th August: UK Funny Bike racer Steve French writes with sadness to announce the death from cancer of his longtime friend and crew Gordon Smith.
"Without Gordon the team would not have been able to do what it did", says Steve. "Every trophy, award and record we set and Championship won were as a result of his input and diligence. A better crewman you could not have wished for. God Speed in the next life Gordon, you will be missed." Our deepest sympathies to Steve and to all of Gordon's family and friends. Open Sport Nationals racer update. 27th August: Many thanks to Tony Smith for passing us Saturday's provisional running order for the Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note that as ever this running order is provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials. Swift snippets. 27th August: Dick Koster of Eurodragster.com sponsor Post & Dros has been in touch to remind racers of the special Sportsman datalogger deal which will be closing on Mnday of next week (31st). The datalogger is on sale at a special price of €699 (normal retail price €800). The part number is 610-KT-SPRTMN; for more information or to place an order check out our news item of 24th July. Dick adds that if racers need Racepak, MSD or Clevite Bearings parts before next week's European Finals then now would be a good time to order at webshop@post-en-dros.nl. We have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com team today. Please join Kirstie, Simon and Tog in a big Happy Birthday to Photographer Julian. Have a great day buddy. Web site updates. 27th August: Our friends at Bangshift.com are webcasting the Street Car Super Nationals from St Louis starting today (Thursday). The free broadcast commences at 23:00 UK / 00:00 European tonight, tomorrow and Saturday and you will be able to tune in by clicking here. Our good buddy Steve Moxley has had his SPRC Summernationals bike report posted on the Eay My Ink web site at www.eatmyink.com. The latest update on The Mad Welshman's Flickr site features galleries from all three days of Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman. 
26th August: Eurodragster.com is in place at Santa Pod Raceway to bring you all the action from the Junior Drag Racing Fun Day coverage in association with John Woolfe Racing. Our coverage will consist of pit notes updated throughout the day and a photo gallery at the end of the day. There is no webcam as News Editor Tog is at his day job today. You can check out our Junior Drag Racing Fun Day Event Index by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Event entry update. 26th August: This Friday (28th) is the official closing date for entry to the UK National Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th September and which is the final round of the 2015 UK National Drag Racing Championships, the penultimate round of the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, and a Championship round for a number of other series. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official UK National Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. If you have any queries about UK National Finals entry then please contact Ian on ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Queen for a day. 
26th August: Scandinavian Internationals Top Fuel Dragster winner Anita Mäkelä stamped her name all over the
scoresheets with a new European ET record of 3.878 seconds and six three-second runs in a row. Anita got in touch to tell us how it was for
her but started with a special message:
Thank you dear Eurodragster.com readers for the congratulations and compliments which I have had from you after Tierp. Thank you for joining in our huge joy. The Scandinavian Internationals was our race and we all know how rare that kind of race is. We started Q1 with a 13.06 with a broken valve spring. Q1 made me a little bit worried, especially because I was so low after Hockenheim. But then the Happy Engine started to sing: Q2 3.9978 / 417 kmh, Q3 3.9057 / 487 kmh and Q4 3.8785 / 504 kmh. WOW! And a new European Record was on the board. 
In the first round we won against Stefan Gunnarsson with a 3.945 to his 4.284, in the second round we ran 3.915 to Liam Jones' 4.207 and in the final round we won with a 3.985 to Duncan Micallef's
4.011. We had made six three-second runs in a row and, simply put, we were smiling!
It is going to be interesting race at Santa Pod next week. Micke Kågered is still eighteen points ahead of us in the European Championship. If we don't let Micke's points increase in the qualifying sessions it means we can still win the Championship by racing well. You get twenty points for winning a round, and we need to beat Micke by one round. If we are good enough, it will be possible. The practice tree will have heavy use and I'll add some more 70 km bike rides before leaving for Santa Pod. And in the workshop you can hear tools doing long hours freshening up the Happy Engine. Actually, it is no longer just one engine which runs fast: we have a Happy Engine family. To Micke and team: let's race! Malmgren joins the 6.5 Club. 
26th August: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren says that he is very happy and proud of his weekend at the Scandinavian
Internationals where he set new Personal Bests of 6.592 seconds and 338 kmh over the quarter and a new best eighth mile speed of 270 kmh:
Looking at what Thomas Lindström and Nixxon Sundblom are running we are right there. I think that both have PB half track speeds around 271 kmh which we feel is in reach as our 6.59 run was very soft on clutch and low start revs to be safe. Our downfall at this race was that we shook in the second round with same tuning and set-up we had in the first round when we beat Magnus Pettersson with a 6.59, so it should not have done what it did. This was our chance to catch up at the top as Jimmy Ålund lost in first round, and we could have been in the title battle at Santa Pod. Now it's impossible and we have to try to protect our third spot. I am very proud of my team who work very well together, with new engine tuner this year Kent Jonsson - former Crew Chief for Michael Callin and Tommy Leindahl for many years - together with Bjarne Cox, Tomas Jonsson, Micke Börjesson, Kent Eriksson, Michael Malmgren and Monica Bengtsson. We are also very proud of our engine builder Bob Ingles who has proven that he can still build top-notch power so we can run up there with Thomas and Nixxon. Jimmy Ålund is still running in a class of his own with his KB Racing power. He has same power as the KN boys and that is impossible to match, simple as that, and he is getting everything out of it and doing a very good job, that we must say. But hey, if I had not redlit in Finland I might have been in the points lead right now: on race day anything can happen, as we experienced in the second round this weekend when we felt we had a safe win against Janne Ericsson as he was 0.1 seconds slower then us, but we shook and he beat us. It was his first final round so we are all happy for him. Finally a big ThankYou for all my USA erformance parts sponsors Victory Valves, Trend Performance, Diamond Pistons, Champion, Fel Pro, Speed Pro, Dynotech Driveshafts, Motive gears, Strange Engineering, MSD, PAC Springs, Calico Coatings, Braswell Carburation, and Auto-Verdi Oil Pumps. We would not be a top dog fighter without their support. Special thanks also to MBE Cylinder Heads and Bob Benton for fantastic work on our DRCE 3 heads. Dragracing-Bodensee: Under index. 26th August: Michael Utz and Manuel Kreiter have been in touch from Germany with a review of their season in Comp Eliminator: 
We finished 2014 with an 8.39 best but major engine trouble with our Bel Air. The huge amount of E85 which we ran through our Nitrous Fogger system could not be burned any more:
two destroyed pistons with upwardly bent heads confirmed that fact for us. As we are racer we did not give up immediately. We wanted to try again in Competition Eliminator in 2015
with our Small Block and Nitrous Oxide. Our index is a very sporty 7.86 so we decided to upgrade the Nitrous Oxide system and to change the fuel from E85 to C23.
At the end of 2014 season we discussed our plans with Thomas Engelage at Hockenheim and told him about the upcoming workload he would be facing. We ended up in a very long parts list: pistons, cylinder heads, valve train, manifold, two carburettors, new rear end ratio, torque converter etc. Due to our budget all of the parts except pistons and carbs were used parts sourced by Thomas Engelage which again proves the outstanding service of his company. Whilst the engone was being assembled by the Engelage Brothers we started to search for a new Nitrous Oxide system. The Fogger system has been available from countless suppliers for thirty years without any major improvements. While searching the internet we found Wizards of Nos in in the UK. The idea of the REVO system from WON was exactly our thing: all about doing things differently from others. It looks complicated, ambitious, and different. We had a lot of conversations with Trevor Langfield of WON, Roger Johannson (Pro Modified) and Mats Wicktor (Pro Modified) and we finally nailed the concept. It would be the REVO System from WON combined with small modifications from us. 
When all the parts arrived in our workshop it was already April and the first race was due to take place in May at Rivanazzano in Italy. When all the parts where assembled we had to carry out
some flow tests with the Nitrous system. We had some minor problems so for safety reasons we decided not to use Nitrous at the race in Italy. The goal for the race in Rivanazzano would be to
find a set-up for the carburettors. This was not successful because of the new type of race fuel. To be prepared we hired a small airport a few weeks later to finish the job.
Meanwhile the REVO system was finished and ready for the flow tests. In the end we made about sixty flow tests on the fuel side and the same amount on the Nitrous side. Afterwards we made some simulations of an entire run. Charts and calculations were made which is important because the REVO Nitrous System does not work in stages like the Fogger systems; it will release the power continuously depending on a preconfigured curve. We arrived at the NitrOlympX in Hockenheim well prepared, so we thought... After some problems in the first three qualifiers we were able to qualify as seventh with an 8.064 in the last session. In E1 we had to race against Rene Maierhofer, we didn't expect to defeat him and we lost with a Personal Best of 7.805 on a perfectly prepared track, our first run below index. Our expectations have been more than achieved and the concept and preparation have been proven. With just two runs on the REVO system we were able to achieve the time and the speed we hoped according to the calculations we did beforehand. There is still some left in the REVO system for next season - this year we deliberately limited the Nitrous to 400 hp. Next year there will be more to come. I would like to thank my team, Rene Maierhofer's team and everyone involved for an outstanding season. See you in 2016. Pictures by Schenker and Team Bodensee Swift snippets. 26th August: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with one word: "Exclusive". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. 
After selling their Super Comp Bike and scoring a nice Funny Bike chassis from Sweden, Germany's Thorsten Appel and the Bad City Crew team have finally started to build what is planned to become the quickest and fastest Funny Bike in the country. "We mocked up the engine in the chassis and to our surprise it lined up quite well at the first try", says Thorsten. "We aligned everything and fabricated new brackets to weld to the chassis to hold the engine in the frame. All of this went really smoothly as the chassis proved to be straight and true". For more information on the bike's build up, check out the team's Facebook page. Wayne Jackson tells us that son and Super Pro ET racer Brad Jackson will not be driving a Jet Dragster in Las Vegas in the autumn as originally planned. The sticking point is acquiring insurance for someone of Brad's age but the team are working on sorting it out for next season. Wayne says that he and Brad will still be going to the USA to crew on Tom Bognor's Jet Dragster. Drag Week UK commences with this weekend's Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceways then continues with racers planning to drive in convoy to Santa Pod Raceway for next week's FIA / FIM European Finals. If you are planning to stay at SCR on Monday evening to take part in the convoy on Tuesday then Steve Hudson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Hillingdon Speed and Spares tells us that a party is planned in the pits on Monday evening. Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us the latest amendments to the official entry list for next week's FIA / FIM European Finals which adds Patrik Pers in Top Fuel Dragsters but unfortunately loses Marcus Hilt and Mick Payne (Pro Modified). You can check out the Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Open Sport Nationals Perfect Awards. 26th August: This weekend's Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals is the latest event in this season's Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £150 is on offer for perfect performance. 
This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed
at the Mopar EuroNats. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect
Light Award is available to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be
awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA / FIM European
Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then it will be reset to £50 for the FIA / FIM European Finals. The Perfect Light Award is presented
in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET).
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals will be available in the Signing On office or from the Eurodragster.com office in Race Control (entry via Spectator Bank side stairs only). 
This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Bug Jam.
The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to run an ET to the
thousandth of a second on dial-in or index. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend during qualifying or eliminations in
Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), VW Pro, VW Sportsman,
the Wild Bunch, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Supertwin ET and Junior Drag Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Run of the event.
If not won this weekend then the Award will be increased to £100 for the FIA / FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if it is won then it will
be reset to £50 for the FIA / FIM European Finals. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with RV sales and service specialists Gold RV. For
more details about the services which Gold RV can provide see Derek Flynn or visit www.goldrv.co.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry decals, one on each side of the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals then there will be no discussion; we will not pay out and the next person to pull a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. Decals will be available in the Signing On office from Friday evening. Open Sport Nationals coverage. 26th August: Eurodragster.com will be at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to bring you all the action from the Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals in association with John Woolfe Racing. Our coverage will consist of frequently updated reports and stats on the on-track action throughout each day and a photo gallery at the end of each day. There will be no pit notes this weekend as usual Pit Reporter Simon is writing the race reports and usual Race Reporter Tog will be photographing. The Webster Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line broadcasting live video and commentary / Shakeysounds audio so long as the track is open each day. We have a plan to broadcast live interviews should there be any downtime so if any racers are interested in being interviewed on camera then please keep an ear on the PA and details will be announced during the race. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences but in the meantime you can check out our Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Springspeed Nationals Event Index, which includes a link to the official entry list, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Web site updates. 26th August: Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted his usual post-race reports on Netherlands' Autosport web site, in this case from the weekend's Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena. As ever the on- and off-track reports are worth a look even if your Dutch is lacking as Remco's pictures are also excellent. You can check out the on-track report by clicking here and the off-track report by clicking here. Also updating from Tierp Arena is another good friend, Pasi Uponen, whose superb photo gallery can be found at pasiu.kuvat.fi/kuvat. Open Sport Nationals racer update. 25th August: Many thanks to Jerry Cookson for passing us details of the arrangements for this weekend's Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway: Version 2 of the official entry list is now available and can be checked out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The final version will be posted later this week. Racer tickets along with final instructions, vehicle passes and scrutineering slips have now been posted to every racer who submitted their entries before close of play last Friday. Anyone who has posted their entry since Friday will be able to collect their tickets on arrival at the main gate. If any crew member arrives before their racer then they must notify the track beforehand, or wait to gain entry until their driver / rider arrives at the track. A maximum of three half price racer tickets will be available per team. These can only be purchased on arrival at the main gate on Friday and Saturday, or in advance by calling Rachel on 01789 414119 (outside the UK +44 1789 414119). Entry to the pits will commence at 12:00 on Friday. If racers wish to arrive on Friday morning, before the pit gate opens, then they are more than welcome to park up and wait. Please note that pit marshals will escort all racers to their designated pit, so please be patient if a queue develops on the entrance road into the pits. Anyone who pits incorrectly will be politely asked to move to their allocated pit space. Scrutineering will commence for both cars and bikes at approximately 17:00 on Friday. Scrutineering will resume at 08:00 on Saturday. Signing On will also open at these times. Saturday's running order will be posted here on Eurodragster.com later this week. Copies will be available in the Signing On office which will be open between 18:00 and 20:00-21:00 on Friday. Shakespeare County Raceway would also like to remind everyone of safety requirements in the staging and fire up lanes. No crew members under the age of seventeen may enter these areas. Under-age Junior crew members can still watch their respective teams race from the grandstands. The grandstands can be accessed from the top of the lanes by the Signing On Office. We understand that this may upset some of the Junior crews, however your safety is paramount and must be considered at all times. These rules obviously do not apply to under-17s who are riding or driving a race vehicle which is in the pairing lanes (for which you must be a holder of an MSA/ACU licence or you are participating in observed runs). All children remain the responsibility of the parent/ guardian at all times. Thank you for your co-operation. If you have any queries about entry to the Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals, then please contact the Raceway office at enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or call 01789 720180 or call 01789 720180 / 414119 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180 / 414119). SPR stock up on VP. 25th August: Santa Pod Raceway tell us that despite issues with the supply of VP Racing Fuels they have now a shipment confirmed to be in the UK and on its way to the track, scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Wednesday 26th). The most popular lines such as C12, C14, C16, C23 and N02 will all be replenished to add to their current stock of E85R, MS109, MS100, SV05, VP Import, C85, X16 and Q16. Purchases can be made by phone on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828), or via Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com and your fuel will be reserved for collection at the track. SPR say that they will be working with manufacturers and distributors both in the UK and America to secure a more predictable supply in 2016. Scandinavian Internationals results. 24th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Anita Mäkelä 3.9859/482.57 def. Duncan Micallef 4.0118/483.87 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dennis Habermann 5.2875/437.60 def. Timo Habermann 10.7808/172.91 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Johan Lindberg 6.2230/413.48 def. Leif Andréasson 18.3801/57.47 FIA Pro Modified: Micke Gullqvist 5.8822/401.19 def. Roger Johansson 6.0671/379.48 FIA Pro Stock: Thomas Lindström 6.5747/340.26 bye, Jan Ericsson did not start NMC Supertwin Motorcycle: Samu Kemppainen 6.6138/339.20 def. Vidar Ravnsborg 7.3413/248.73 NMC Pro Stock Motorcycle: Fredrik Fredlund 6.9959/309.46 def. Robert Karlsson 7.0516/307.34 NMC Super Street Bike: Rick Stubbins 7.2083/318.96 (198.19 mph) def. Alex Hope 7.2628/327.47 (203.48 mph) Comp Eliminator: Jens Eklund (8.12) 7.5685/261.63 def. PerErik Lindgren (9.05) 8.5976/238.62 Pro Street: Tero Vainio 7.6162/290.32 def. Roffe Plahn 7.6989/254.48 Super Comp: Anders Brändström 9.0065/250.81 def. Leif Nyström no time DQ deep stage Super Gas: Christer Uhlin 9.9414/191.63 def. Håkan Mattsson 10.0444/228.43 Super Street: Daniel Aggelid 10.9469/160.43 def. Tomas Hägg 10.9413/213.27 Stock/Super Stock: Anders Lindh (10.39) 10.4152/202.02 def. Tarmo Mikkola (9.95) 9.9691/206.82 Junior Dragster: Pontus Garefelt (7.94) 8.0446/127.51 def. Tobias Björnsson (8.12) 8.1626/127.30 Super Comp Bike: Thomas Nilsson 8.7308/268.79 def. Nichlas Sverin 8.6301/258.25 DQ red light Super Gas Bike: Thomas Nordin 10.0873/171.43 def. Marcus Forsberg no time DQ deep stage Subject to official ratification the following records were set: Top Fuel Dragster ET: 3.878 seconds, Anita Mäkelä Top Methanol Dragster ET: 5.209 seconds, Timo Habermann Pro Modified speed: 418.60 kmh / 260.11 mph, Tero Laukkanen (first European 260 mph doorslammer pass) NMC Pro Stock Motorcycle ET: 6.977 seconds, Fredrik Fredlund NMC Pro Stock Motorcycle speed: 312.68 kmh / 194.29 mph, Fredrik Fredlund (fastest ever European PSM speed) The event also featured a new European record Pro Stock bump spot of 6.758 seconds, the quickest ever European Pro Stock Bike pass of 6.959 seconds by Ellsa Karlsson, the first ever side-by-side six-second Pro Stock Bike passes by Fredrik Fredlund (6.998) and Robert Karlsson (6.982), and the fastest ever side-by-side Pro Stock Bike passes in Europe by Fredrik Fredlund 311.06 kmh (193.28 mph) and Robert Karlsson 312.14 kmh (193.95 mph). You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Scandinavian Internationals reports and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. 2015 EDRS NMC Champions. 24th August: Many thanks to Åsa Kinnemar of Speedgroup for passing on this year's EDRS Nordic Motorcycle Championship winners. Congratulations to: Top Fuel Bike: Jan Sturla Hegre Supertwin Motorcycle: Samu Kemppainen Pro Stock Motorcycle: Robert Karlsson Super Street Bike: Björn Friström You can read more at www.edrspro.com. Bad Blood breaks cover. 
22nd August: Laura Turburville writes that after Bloodlines Racing decided to purchase the former Oomen Racing car at the FIA Main Event,
they set to overhauling the car and making it their own in time for the FIA / FIM European Finals:
Many changes have been made including a new interior, patina paint and pinstriping work by Nefarious, a new mono wing, wheels and lots of shiny bits! We are testing for the first time this weekend at VW Action as well as showing the car on the Kleen Freaks stand while it is not on track. This will be in preparation for the European Finals, where we are looking forward to another great weekend of racing with our twinned Swiss team Trouble Racing. Massive thanks have to go to everyone who helped make this car possible including Bloodlines Racing, team chief Ian Turboville, Kleen Freaks, Nefarious, Central College Nottingham, USAutomotive, Pete Whitmore, Matt 'The Stitch', AC Custom Coatings and ChromeWorx. Event entry update. 20th August: Entry is still open for the Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals, a round of the UK National and ACU UK Drag Bike Championships as well as a round for a number of other series, which takes place at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of next week (29th-31st August). Racers competing in ET and Super classes and Lucas Oil Junior Dragster are reminded to pay particular attention to revisions in the Supplementary Regulations and Indemnity notices. You can download entry forms from the Shakespeare County Raceway web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk. Please note that camera-phone pictures of entry forms will not be accepted; entries should either be posted or scanned and E-Mailed. Thanks to Jerry Cookson for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the Open Sport Nationals which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about Open Sport Nationals entry then please contact Shakespeare County Raceway at enquiries@shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk or call 01789 720180 (outside the UK +44 1789 720180). Friday of next week, 28th August, is the official closing date for entry to the UK National Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 19th-20th September and which is the final round of the 2015 UK National Drag Racing Championships, the penultimate round of the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, and a Championship round for a number of other series. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official UK National Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. If you have any queries about UK National Finals entry then please contact Ian Marshall on ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625). Heading to Santa Pod from SCR? 20th August: Staying with next week's Hillingdon Speed and Spares APIRA Open Sport Nationals, the event forms the front end of the UK's very own Drag Week and Darren Prentice writes that if racers wish to go straight from Shakespeare County Raceway to Santa Pod Raceway to pit up for the FIA European Finals then Santa Pod's gates will be open for race teams only between 12:00 midday and 19:00 on Tuesday 1st September. SPR's gates will then reopen at 08:00 on Wednesday 2nd September for the Pro Peak Performance Test and Tune Day. A pit marshal will be on hand to direct you to your pit space on both days. Please note that the shower block will be open on the Tuesday and Wednesday but that pitside power will not be available until 12:00 midday on the Wednesday. Swift snippets. 
20th August: If you are wracking your brains for an idea for birthday or Christmas presents for your News Editor,
any of the Eurodragster.com team, any drag racing fan or indeed yourself then you could do a lot worse than purchase this Nostalgia
Funny Car which Horst Schön tells us is available as a rolling chassis for €7500. More information from Horst at
blackjackracing@gmx.de.
When Don Garlits visited England for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala last November, he was interviewed for Motor Sport magazine by the distinguished motoring writer Rob Widdows. Robin Jackson tells us that following publication in the magazine, the article has now been made available on Motor Sport's on-line archive at www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-2015/98/straight-talkin. Robin says that knowledgeable readers may spot a couple of factual errors, but that this was the writer's first encounter with drag racing and that Don can be a veritable fount of information when he gets going. Rob Widdows reckoned it was the most fascinating interview he had done in years. Bengtsson promises good show. 
19th August: This weekend's Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena is the final race in the 2015 EDRS Nordic Pro Motorcycle Championship
and there will be a very tough battle in the Super Twin Bike class. L-O Jonsson of Per Bengtsson's Beast Supertwin team says that with sixteen bikes entered for the event
and just eight spots available in the ladder qualifying will be a show of its own:
After two victories in a row, at Alastaro and Gardermoen, Samu Kemppainen is number one in the Championship with a 94 point advantage over Hans-Olav Olstad but Per is just one point behind Hans Olav. The Championship title is realistically decided but runner-up will be a battle between the two Parallel Twin-powered bikes in the class. Thunderstruck against the Beast! "We had some issues during earlier races, and the Drag Challenge at Gardermoen was the first race at which we could use the power on a good track in decent conditions", says Per. "We produced good times in qualifying with a best of 6.41 seconds but went out in a disappointing first round loss. After a lot of hours in the workshop since Norway we seem to have found a few gremlins which have been haunting us and with a quality track at the Tierp Arena facility we hope to lower our Personal Best in qualifying. Elimination day is another thing, as you know, but we hope to beat Hans-Olav in the final. "On Saturday we will have a lot of invited guests and sponsors in our pit and we will do our very best to put on a show to be remembered for some time." A big thank you to the following partners for their support: Red Line Oil Scandinavia, Autoexperten Växjö, Bilservice i Ålseda AB, Rävemåla Bilservice AB, Liqui Moly, Persåkers Speedshop, Fanhultstvätten Älmhult, Ulvsgården AB, Gates/Lönne, Swedcut, Per Andersens Restauranger, Flexoart and Bentec Engineering. For more information about the Beast team please visit our web site at www.bentec.net. You can also follow the Beast on Facebook at The Beast Dragbike. Remco Scheelings writes that as well as Samu Kemppainen in Supertwin, Elvira Karlsson (Pro Stock Motorcycle), Björn Friström (Super Street Bike) and Jan Sturla Hegre (Top Fuel Motorcycle) enter this weekend's final round as leaders in their respective categories. But for at least two of these it is far from sure they will be the Champion after Sunday's eliminations. You can find out more on the Series' web site at www.edrspro.com. A minnow amongst sharks. 19th August: Drag racing may be the loudest sport on Earth but one extraordinary car definitely won't be shaking the ground when the FIA European Finals bellows into life at Santa Pod Raceway over the first weekend of September: motoring journalist and TV presenter Jonny Smith has entered his Enfield-8000 in the Street Eliminator class. ...Entered his what? 
His Enfield-8000. One has to be of a certain age to remember these cars on the road first time around. Years before anyone dreamt of a Smart, the British-built Enfield-8000
was the putative eco-conveyance of the oil-crisis 1970s, a tiny, two-seat city-runaround driven by electricity. Only 120 were built before cost, chiefly, killed off production and
the miniature battery-powered innovation faded from memory... until Jonny Smith came along to resurrect it.
Smith's Enfield, dubbed the Flux Capacitor, will undoubtedly be the oddest machine entered at the European Finals. We have seen motorised garden sheds, dinner tables, bar stools and suchlike take to the track for purposes of adventure, but the Flux Capacitor is a serious racing machine entered in a serious international motor race. The original template from 1974 has been recalibrated into a twenty first century charger by Webster Race Engineering, with motive forces delivered by Current Racing and Hyperdrive Innovations. The car's diminutive size will likely be its most distinctive feature – electric racers are rare but not unknown in drag racing, though their silence, except for the squeal of tyres, is always arresting against the usual wall of noise. Street Eliminator entries are an eclectic bunch, coming in myriad shapes and sizes, but none remotely so small as this. David and Goliath, minnow versus sharks... for once, the clichés will seem forgivable when the Enfield edges to the start line. Minuscule it may be, but performance-wise the Flux Capacitor is no slouch. Previous visits to Santa Pod this summer have elicited sub twelve-second quarter-mile passes at over 100 mph, figures that would surprise many a self-respecting road-going supercar. Those marks were achieved in the entry-level Sportsman ET class. Street Eliminator is a different matter. Street Eliminator cars must be road-legal, though you wouldn't want to try pulling away from one at the traffic lights – Steve Neimantas' phenomenal Bentley Continental and Mark Todd's mighty Pontiac GTO can both push 200 mph over the standing quarter-mile. However, for a drag racing class Street Eliminator has an unusually wide performance disparity. Among its seventeen opponents, Smith's Enfield may not be the slowest in the show. Street Eliminator presents an added complication: once on-track qualifying against the clock is done, entries undertake a twenty five-mile evening cruise on public roads, with a mandatory filling station stop for pump petrol and a timed hot-start test. Failure to complete any element of the course merits disqualification from the following day's elimination rounds. At least the hot-start won't trouble the Enfield, though Smith will be praying there is enough charge left in the battery to get back to the track. To emphasise its legality, the Flux Capacitor recently received its exemption notice from London's Congestion Charge. Could it be the fleetest exempt vehicle on the capital's city-centre roads? The FIA European Finals attracts more than 250 entries from fourteen countries ranging from 300 mph Top Fuel Dragsters to 40 mph Junior Dragsters driven by children... plus one tiny, battery-powered Enfield-8000. European Top Gas Round 5 review. 
19th August: Herman Jolink writes that the fifth round of the European
Top Gas Series took place at the 30th NitrOlympX at Hockenheim in front of 75,000 spectators in good weather and on a very well prepared track.
We had one qualifier on Friday and one on Saturday. Final qualifying:
Round 1: Albers 7.801/242 beat van Nimmen 14.727/112, Della Vecchia 9.226/226 beat Foit 10.691/224, Menzi 8.480/255 beat Buehler 9.917/224 (PB for Buehler), Andersen 9.753/155 beat Kolacny 10.204/166 Andersen broke his crankshaft in this run, Schack 7.999/213 beat Larsson, van Schie 8.718/234 bye, Pinet 30.393/54 beat Abraham gearbox problems, at the start Pinet's right hand came off the bars, Ivana van den Berg 10.035/187 beating Jolink engine out at the start. Round 2: Albers 7.880/271 beat Dalla Vecchia 9.245/223, Menzi 10.032/175 bye run Andersen broke, Schack 7.721/255 beat van Schie 11.536/133 van Schie had a 0.184 red light, Ivana van den Berg 9.843/211(PB for Ivana) beat Pinet 34.01/75, again Pinet's left hand came off the steering at the start, got a very heavy speeb wobble and lost almost his control of his bike. Semi finals: Albers 7.648/260 beat Menzi left before the Tree ran, Schack 7.501/275 beat Ivana van den Berg 10.301/210 Final: Frederik Schack DK 0.067 RT 7.654/260 beat Cord Albers 0.116 RT D 7.738/275 kmh Top Gas Championship after five rounds:
A satisfied customer writes... 19th August: Trevor Langfield of Eurodragster.com sponsor Wizards of NOS passed on a testimony about his products from Germany's Michael Utz who campaigns a '55 Chevy Bel Air fitted with a 434 ci Small Block Chevy: I have been using US brand nitrous kits for four years and last year I was using 400 HP jets. My best results using the US kits were best normally aspirated ET of 9.1 seconds and best nitrous ET of 8.36 seconds, an improvement of approximately 0.75 seconds but the motor suffered damage as the result of bad nitrous and fuel distribution. To try to avoid further damage this year, I decided to speak with Trevor Langfield at Wizards of NOS and after learning about all the advantages it offered, I decided to buy his incredible Revo system. Due to the changes I intended to make to the induction system which included changing from single carburettor to double carburettor with tunnel ram manifold, Trevor had to design me a special system as the manifold wouldn't accept his normal components. On Trevor's advice I also exchanged the standard pistons to custom-made nitrous pistons. With Trevor's outstanding E-Mail and phone support I was able to set up the Revo system so that I was confident in adding 400 hp on the first run without any fear of damage. The system can deliver approximately 700 HP but for direct comparison with the US kit results we had it set to deliver just 400 HP. 
Last weekend we raced with the system and car fully functional for the first time at the NitrOlympX and we had the following results. The best normally aspirated ET was 9.4 seconds and the best Revo assisted ET was 7.805 seconds - an improvement of over a second and a half which is double the improvement we got from the same amount of nitrous using the US kit. Trevor has also told me that the motor would not have been making much more than 300 HP, as we were running more retarded than we needed to. I am absolutely happy with the Wizards of NOS Revo System. I am now able to adjust the power level and delivery rate within minutes to suit track conditions. Also the alarm monitoring system within the Max Extreme prevented our system from working when the nitrous pressure was way too high and prevent engine failure. On the first run with the new system I was confident that the Revo system would work properly so I went directly for 400 HP. With all other systems the manufacturers tell you to start with small amounts of nitrous and go up from run to run. I do not race a lot so I do not have the time for playing around. Every nitrous run at the NitrOlympX resulted in a Personal Best and there is still many improvements we can make to the Max Extreme settings as well as improvements from reducing the timing retard. I have no doubt that the Revo system is much better than any other nitrous kit and I believe my results prove it. FIM Europe update. 17th August: Congratulations to Mogens Lund who won the FIM European Super Street Bike Cup round at Kunmadaras in Hungary this weekend. Mogens was #1 qualifier at 7.603/285.32 kmh and took the final with an easy eight-second pass after Thomas Granica redlit. You can check out full FIM European Super Street Bike Cup qualifying and elimination stats on the Kunmadaras Motorsport web site at www.kunmadarasmotorsport.hu/web/en/results.html. Many thanks to Palle Lind for passing us the official post-NitrOlympX (Top Fuel Bike, Supertwin, Pro Stock Bike) and Adrenalin Extreme Festival (Super Street Bike) points standings in the 2015 FIM European Drag Bike Championships. You can check out the FIM points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Editor's note: We have a small backlog of news on which we are working. Stay tuned and please keep the news coming to news@eurodragster.com. European Finals Web TV. 17th August: Trakbak Racing Ltd and Track Group Europe are pleased to announce that there will be a free to watch Live Web Broadcast from the FIA / FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, featuring multi-camera coverage from the Friday evening Nitro Session through to the eliminations and finals on Sunday. You will be able to watch live at www.santapod.co.uk/webtv once the broadcast begins. Swift snippets. 16th August: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 (the first final version) of the official entry list for the FIA / FIM European Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 3rd-6th September. You can check out the Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Similarly thanks to Camilla Zörner for forwarding us the final official entry list for this week's Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena, which starts on Thursday. You can check out the Scandinavian Internationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Congratulations to ex-pat UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences who won Top Alcohol Dragster at this weekend's NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series round at Heartland Park, Topeka. Mike tells us that although it was a fun weekend he didn't have it easy as, amongst other things, his chutes deployed at 1000 feet twice. Sweden's Jonnie Lindberg was runner-up in Top Methanol FC. You can check out full results on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) came with the words "The new target". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. 
Benoit Pigeon writes that he and a buddy have been mulling over the identitity of a dragster in the 1967 French film Les Aventuriers, thinking that it is maybe an Allard Dragster (above right). You can check it out at 10:34 and in action at 23:01 and 32:30 in the film which is available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFSeHp19YsA. If you have any thoughts on the car's identity then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com. Back to this week's Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena and Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the race will be available on Web TV courtesy of Smart TV for a one-off payment of €15. You can sign up at ppv.smarttv.se. Editor's note: The Eurodragster.com team will shortly be Tierp-bound and this event is another very busy one for us so news updates may be sporadic from midweek. Postings to our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet will be suspended from this Wednesday until Tuesday of next week. Please keep the news items coming to news@eurodragster.com, though, and we will post what we can when we can although priority will be given to our Scandinavian Internationals coverage. Swift snippets. 14th August: Today (Friday) is the official closing date for entry to the FIA / FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 3rd-6th September. Entry after today, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Donna Finnegan writes that entry is now closed for Santa Pod Raceway's Junior Drag Racing Fun Day on Wednesday 26th August 2015. Due to overwhelming demand, admission tickets for the event have sold out. Only those who pre-booked tickets will be guaranteed entry. Each Junior entrant will get an allocation of four tickets and can gain access from 12:00 midday to 17:00 on Tuesday 25th or from 07:00 on Wednesday 26th. Web site updates. 
14th August: Our good buddy Chris Eyre has updated his European Nostalgia Funny Car
web site with pictures and videos of the action from Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway, including the début of the new car from Bob
Glassup. "This was my first Dragstalgia as a spectator and what an amazing event it is!", says Chris. "That said I am still looking forward
to getting back to crew duties. Not only this but we have news and an artist's impression of Jon Best's nw Funny Car, what a beauty it will be for
sure. Also check out the updated team pages to see all the cars on the track or about to hit it soon!". You can check it all out at
euronostalgiafunnycar.jimdo.com/news.Chaos at the finish line. 
13th August: Lawrie Gatehouse has announced that both he and his record-holding Chaos Fuel Altered will be retiring from
racing at the end of this season. Lawrie writes:
Some of you may know that I have been involved, in one way or another and a fan of drag racing, for fifty one years. Ten years ago I started to campaign Chaos and the first few years were challenging to say the least. However, the last four years have seen unprecedented levels of performance increases, beyond my expectations. With a best ET of 6.081 seconds and a terminal speed of 232.76 mph, this was way beyond what I had expected at the start of 2005. Having said that, for a number of reasons, including health issues and lower energy levels, the time has come to retire the car and myself, after the UK National Finals in September. I have enjoyed the journey and I have no doubt that I will miss the buzz. The journey has, largely, been fulfilling, helped in no small part by the support of the fans, the tracks, clubs, media, friends and last but not least, the superb crew and drivers of Chaos on the voyage. So to you all I say, enjoy your passion and stay safe and well as I fade quietly into the background – thanks for the memories. VW Action offers test opportunity. 13th August: Brian Burrows has been in touch to remind all those planning to race at September's FIA / FIM European Finals that a prepped track will be available at VW Action at Santa Pod Raceway on 21st-23rd August: 
This includes both the Saturday and the Sunday and a really cool night session on the Saturday. Classes and cars booked in so far include VWDRC, Outlaw Flat Fours, Old Skool Fords, Supercharged
Outlaws and Outlaw Street, along with a whole host of very quick European VWs including twelve-second camper vans and eight-second VW Golfs!
VW Action is a really great family event in its own right (We can vouch for this - Ed). It is the longest running VW Show in the world and has in one form or another been the true Jewel in the Crown of UK VW events - embraced by all who have attended previous events. 2015's event is set to be better than ever with its Swinging 60s Mods and Rockers theme, RWYB / Test and Tune including night racing on the famous Santa Pod drag strip, massive Show and Shine events on both Saturday and Sunday with over seventy trophies and £1500 prize money, free stuff for the kids including face painter, bouncy castle and circus skills which will cost parents nothing, free autojumble plots, traders, charity auction, top DJs and live bands, free camping with weekend tickets and loads, loads, loads more. VW Action really is the best place for a true VW enthusiast on the weekend of 21st-23rd August. Discounted advance tickets and full details of this comprehensive event can be found at www.vwaction.com/vwaction/index.php. Swift snippets. 13th August: A reminder that tomorrow (Friday) is the official closing date for entry to the FIA / FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 3rd-6th September. Entry after tomorrow, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official European Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. Good luck and stay safe to ex-pat-UK Top Alcohol Dragster racer Michael Manners of Eurodragster.com sponsor Cosmo Residences and Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jonnie Lindberg who are competing at this weekend's NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series round at Heartland Park, Topeka. Qualifying commences today and you will be able to stay in touch with Mike's and Jonnie's progress on the Drag Race Central web site at www.dragracecentral.com. Travelling in time at Hockenheim. 13th August: Bob Hawkins writes that Team Time Traveller had an amazing time at the 30th NitrOlympX where he and Sarah Howells flew the flag for the Wild Bunch: 
Unfortunately one of the lanes got melted by one of the jet cars in the Saturday Night Show which meant that only I was able to do a fire burnout due
to time constraints. However it turned out to be one of our most spectacular to date as a strong tailwind caused the flames to engulf the entire bodywork,
cockpit and engine in flames, setting fire to the blower bag and also causing a fair old stumble due to the oxygen starvation! It did cross my mind at one
point "What the hell am I doing sitting here in the middle of a huge bonfire in front of thousands of people!". However, with a little light pedalling came
a huge rev from our blown 434 ci small block and we were out and smoking away up the track.
Then after few dry hops and a strong launch TT2 disappeared into the darkness at the top end with an eighth mile time consistent with a high six-second
quarter mile pass, which was just fantastic! Back home we were all agreed it was fabulous and we can't wait to do it all over again.
We ran an exhibition match race with our two cars on Sunday afternoon and Sarah got a great holeshot on me (sleeping on the tree after the celebrations of the night before) and went on to record a new 8.4-second PB in the process! I believe this was also Sarah's first experience driving a nitrous engined car, it was very a swift and impressive run! Very many thanks to Jerry Lackey and to all the organisers and track crew for inviting us, for the superb track, and for an incredible event which will stay in our memories for many years to come. Thirty NitrOlympX years on film. 13th August: Mathias Schneider writes that the 30 Years of the NitrOlympX documentary was premiered last week at a cinema in Mannheim, minutes from the Hockenheimring: Host and Track Announcer Benni Voss talked to Hockenheimring CEO Georg Seiler, Race Director Jerry Lackey, President of the local Motorsports Club Jörg Bensemann and Head of Marketing Jorn Teske who took care of the production of the documentary. Georg Seiler gave a little history of drag racing at Hockenheim and made it very clear that the event had been a huge success from day one. He called the NitrOlympX "Our baby which is here to stay". In 2009 the Hockenheimring took over the event from promoter Rico Anthes who started drag racing at the Ring in 1986. The team were expecting a record crowd at the coming event which was almost sold out beforehand. Jerry Lackey promised that this year's event would feature the best track ever offered to the three hundred competing teams having spent €65,000 in materials. Later Benni Voss explained that Jerry and his crew had found a new, much more gentle method to remove the rubber from the track after the event which provided a much better base to prepare the track for this year and for the future allowing quicker and easier prep if there is a shorter amount of time available. There was also a look into Jerry's history, Jerry being responsible for bringing drag racing to Germany when he ran small local events almost fifty years ago. Members of the press plus some lucky fans who won tickets through the Hockenheimring Facebook page then had the chance to see the premier of the documentary, a nice hour-long movie which shows the history of drag racing at Hockenheim and which is loosely based around characters like Urs Erbacher, Rico Anthes, Eric Teboul and other fan favorites. The DVD also features tons of bonus material such as all of the event programmes from past events. The DVD can be ordered on-line through the NitrOlympX web site. My Shoebox is my Bond. 12th August: After five years racing his Webster Race Engineering-built Mustang in Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, the UK's Andy Bond and team have decided to move with the times and make the switch to turbo power for 2016. Andy's Mustang is tagged to 8.50 but the class front-runners are now surging through the 7.50s so the idea of upgrading the Mustang was fairly quickly discounted and other avenues pursued. Andy has always been a fan of the tri-Chevy body styles, already owning a very nice '55, and so he has acquired the UK-registered, 25.1E-tagged ex-Paul Warne and -Lazenby family '56. Andy says that his plans for the car will follow the well-trodden ground taken by his Street Eliminator colleagues including a 700-ish cubic inch spread-bore Chevrolet motor from the shop which built the speed-record holding engine in Richard Billings' Mustang: ICE Automotive of Silverstone. Target horsepower is comfortably less than 2,500 which all parties involved consider will be sufficient to put the car where they want to be. Where is that, and how long will it take? Roll on 2016. Andy's Mustang can be found for sale on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet. Hot, hotter, hottest. 
12th August: Finnish Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä found that the heat came in three grades at the
weekend's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim:
Hot: It was hot at Hockenheim. I have always thought that racing over 30C wouldn't be possible. But I survived 40 C with helmet and firesuit, so no heat can ever beat me! Hotter: The qualifying sessions didn't go as planned. We had small problems finding the way in such heat. Number four spot in the field made my race day even hotter. Hottest: It was fun to run together with Urs Erbacher in the Night Show. A 4.17 told us that we were on the right track. After the Night Show we put in a fresh engine for Sunday's raceday. But in the first round of eliminations, #3 rod broke at the hit and turned me into a fireball and I had my hottest moment of the race. The engine damage was due to an oil pressure problem. All I could say was congratulations to Duncan Micallef and his team. It took a while to get over it. I came to win and to run three-second passes, but I ended up with nothing. There is always the next race. I heard the guys talking about putting the "Happy Engine" back in with fresh parts. So let's see what happens at Tierp. The track crew did an amazing job with the track. With decent temperatures you would have seen several three-second runs, but the heat was something new to us European racers. Thank you to Jerry and the whole Hockenheim crew, it was a pleasure to race on your track. Goughs' nightmare. 12th August: UK Super Pro ET racer Simon Gough probably has a good claim on runner-up for Worst NitrOlympX Weekend, with wife Sharron the winner: 
Everything went well to begin with. We met up with the others en route to Dover but ten miles down the M20 the Motorhome just cut out.
I called Jon at our sponsor LAS Motorhomes and described what happened, whilst on the phone we tried several things so that we could eliminate reasons but with no success.
We called the breakdown company to see what they could do, but they couldn't do anything. They ordered a lorry to pick up the motorhome and take it to a repair place in Kent.
This is when things went bad to worse! The lorry which picked up the Motorhome scratched it all down one side. We then waited until eighth at night for the auto electrician to come
out to tell us what he thought it was. Two hours later we were still in the same place without an idea. That night we slept in the motorhome including Dan on the sofa and Jim in the
hey shed.
The next morning I said that I was going to try to get us a minibus just to get us and our equipment there. After spending three hours trying I said to Dan to ring a taxi and go to my house to pick up the Land Rover. Three hours later Dan returned, and we spent twenty minutes cramming everything we could into the Land Rover. I made another quick call to get the motorhome away from these people and get her up to Jon at LAS Motorhomes to deal with. £980 later and the motorhome is to be picked up and taken to John. Thirty five hours later than planned, off we went to Hockenheim and we got there forty four hours after we left home, at four in the morning on Thursday. All four of us were on the pissed off side to be honest. We were happy to be there but too tired to be happy about it. I signed on and got the car ready for scrutineering, all done after four hours in unbearable heat. Sharron wasn't feeling to good but we said we would give it a few hours and see what she was like. A few hours went past and she wasn't getting any better so we went to see the doctor in the Medical Centre. Nobody was there at that moment so we went into town to find another Medical Centre but no one was there either. We went to a pharmacy for medication to see if it would work. The next morning Sharron woke me up and she was in a very bad way. I said "Right that's it, I'm taking you home" and two hours later we started a slow drive to Dunkerque. Sharron is my world and her welfare comes before anyone or anything. When we got to the port Sharron said that she had texted Nic Williams at OCS Paint asking if he wanted to drive me back to Hockenheim after we got home. I new full well that I would only have one more qualifyng session to get into the thirty two car field. At 20:30 I met up with Nic in his Audi RS4, which was needed as we had twelve hours to get there before we were called. So we needed to get the ten o'clock ferry and we made it with five minutes to spare. After a two-hour crossing we managed to get back to Hockenheim at a quarter to four in the morning after three fuel stops. You can do the maths yourselves. We got our heads down for a few hours before we our one shot, got up about 07:30 to get the car ready and an hour later were called. I made a call to Sharron to see how she was and I could not hear her too well so I knew she wasn't in a good place. She was very sick. That was playing on my mind; nothing felt right, something was missing. It's the first time and the last time. I was missing Sharron. The dial in wasn't right, nothing was right. That was it, game over. I waited the rest of the day to watch the Night Show, and yet again with ninety thousand people there it still seemed empty to me. Sharron is such a big part part of my life, and if she's not there it seems like nothing I do matters. I stayed overnight to try to catch up with some sleep and left Hockenheim at 13:30 on Sunday. There are so many people to whom I want to say thank you: Dan Devlin, Jim Massey, Jon Giles, Donna Giles, Nic Williams and many more. The biggest thank you is to my wife Sharron. It just goes to prove that you only need one change in your life and with that one change everything can go wrong. See you all at the European Finals. Orange Pop on tour. 
12th August: Simon Barlow and the UK's Orange Pop Drag Race Team were invited to attend the NSRA Summer Nationals at the weekend and team member
Martin writes that it was a truly fantastic weekend:
The weather was amazing, as was the turnout from vehicle owners and public alike, who seemed to have arrived en mass by the thousands on Sunday, filling the Old Warden Park venue to capacity. The turnout on both Friday and Saturday was also very respectable indeed and the assembled rods, customs and yanks seemed to wind endlessly around the grassed areas surrounding the country house and college, making it an almost impossible task to view every vehicle on site. The relaxed atmosphere was magical and pervaded the whole site for the duration of the show. The public were well catered for with, amongst other facilities, a fair, trade area, competitions and the all-important ice cream van which seemed to be constantly serving ices to the assembled masses. 
The Orange Pop Drag Team arrived on the Thursday after a hectic thrash to get both cars ready and loaded, a logistical exercise even the army would have been proud of. With both the trailer and the
transporter emptied of their precious cargoes upon arrival, the display was arranged in a prime location in the trade area, opposite the Wall of Death and under the welcome shade of a huge oak tree!
The team spent the weekend speaking with countless members of the public who were eager to have their questions about the cars answered. People were pleased to be given the opportunity for
photographs with the cars and eagerly clambered in over the roll cages, with sheer delight etched upon their faces. One young visitor could not disguise his delight and was heard to repeat himself over
and over "Amazing, amazing!".
The team further treated the public with two ear splitting fire-ups of the Fordson van each day. The fire-ups drew a huge crowd around the car on each occasion, giving those drag racing virgins an experience of true noise nirvana. The team also gave away a large number of gift bags containing amongst other things a poster, hero card, sweets and stickers, before stocks ran out. The only issue the team had was a comical one, in that our exuberance took hold at one point and it seemed a really good idea to jump in the Pop and cruise the site looking uber-cool, only to discover that we did not have enough fuel. Lesson learned! Thanks to Wobbly Bob and his Scottish mate (sorry did not get the name) who came to our embarrassed aid with a can of Go Juice. The Orange Pop Drag Team would like to extend their thanks to the NSRA staff both for the invitation to the event and for the hospitality afforded us. Web site updates. 12th August: Our good buddy Remco Scheelings is as ever hard at work, posting his NitrOlympX coverage on the Netherlands' Autosport web site. You can check out the on-track report by clicking here and the off-track report by clicking here. The official web site of the UK's Paul Marston Racing has had a makeover and a new address courtesy of team member Jordan Brasted. You can find out about the multi-car and multi-faceted team at www.paulmarstondragracing.com. NitrOlympX results. 10th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's 30th NitrOlympX at Hockenheim: FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Micke Kågered 4.178/456.33 def. Urs Erbacher 4.508/312.42 FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dennis Habermann 5.438/421.78 def. Timo Habermann 5.440/419.99 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Leif Andréasson 5.892/392.09 def. Jürgen Nagel 7.681/245.38 FIA Pro Modified: Micke Gullqvist 6.033/385.48 def. Mats Eriksson 6.139/372.27 FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike: Ian King 6.372/327.00 def. Rikard Gustafsson 6.700/303.26 FIM Europe Supertwin: Martijn de Haas 6.756/327.05 def. Job Heezen no time FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike: Gert-Jan Laseur 7.148/294.79 def. Fredrik Fredlund 7.193/298.23 FIM European Super Street Bike Cup: Rick Stubbins 7.164/322.29 def. Garry Bowe 7.409/303.43 Comp Eliminator: Robin Sattler (9.65) 9.297/189.94 def. Stefan Winter (8.32) 8.449/222.03 Super Pro ET: Eric Angeloni (7.50) 7.526/238.67 def. Barry Giles (7.48) 7.507/286.05 Pro ET: Philipp Daud (10.25) 10.282/205.72 def. Gerd Habermann (9.78) 9.840/206.79 DQ red Super Comp: Andre Müller 8.908/251.37 def. Erich Mathis 8.758/257.35 DQ b/o Super Gas: Jon Giles 10.433/188.48 def. Andrea Villi 14.720/87.01 DQ red light Junior Dragster: Lucas Dubourget (8.60) 8.573/124.18 def. Simon Andersson (8.00) 8.060/128.82 DQ red Supercharged Outlaws: Andy Hadfield +0.004 Funny Bike: Stefan Hagenstein 7.545/281.46 def. Kars van den Belt 7.704/287.23 Supertwin Top Gas: Fredrik Schack 7.654/260.44 def. Cord Albers 7.738/275.67 You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored reports, pit notes and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. European Finals entry extended. 10th August: Thanks to Ian Marshall for letting us know that the official closing date for entry to the FIA / FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 3rd-6th September, has been extended to Friday of this week (14th). Entry after this Friday, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. The next update of the official European Finals entry list will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday) earliest. You can check out the current version by clicking here. European Finals Prizegiving update. 5th August: Trakbak Racing Ltd have forwarded us an important notice about the Championship Prizegiving which will take place at Santa Pod Raceway on the Sunday evening of the FIA / FIM European Finals, 6th September: Trakbak Racing Ltd are pleased to announce that, for the first time, the FIA / FIM European Finals Championship Prize Giving will be free of charge for Championship teams to attend and collect their trophies. Each team finishing in the top three Championship positions of the following classes will each be given ten free tickets to attend the event:
All trophies are provided by Trakbak Racing Ltd. A self-service buffet meal and musical entertainment are included in your ticket. Admittance is strictly by ticket only and due to space and safety restrictions we are sadly unable to accommodate more people than those listed above. Teams who cannot attend or do not wish to attend may donate their tickets to other FIA / FIM Championship teams who wish to do so. Further details on ticket distribution will be made nearer the time. We wish all riders and drivers good luck in the coming rounds of your respective Championships. Swift snippets. 5th August: Further to yesterday's Snippet, many thanks to Peter Calwer for letting us know that not only will this weekend's free NitrOlympX Web TV be available on the event's Home Page at www.nitrolympx.de but that, as it was last year, it will also be accessible on the web sites of Santa Pod TV and Track Group Europe. We will of course include links to all three locations on the Event Index of our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored NitrOlympX coverage. The Web TV broadcast commences on Saturday morning but you will be able to rely on our real-time race reports to stay in touch on Friday. Here at Eurodragster.com we love to play "Did you notice" with entry lists and, on the subject of the NitrOlympX, Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpson Europe got in touch to point out the attendance at Hockenheim of Jens Eklund in his ultra-rapid Comp Eliminator Audi. "The car is a crowd pleaser and I'm sure that German Audi fans would like to know that Jens will be there", says Jan. Having seen Jens in action and more than once been on our feet applauding him we can only agree. You can get a taster of what is to come with a video clip from Mantorp Park this past weekend; check it out at youtu.be/e6uvd0BzPuc. 
UK Pro ET racer James Forster has revealed that yesterday's spy picture revealed a small part of the new livery of his Mustang, and
has now given us a look at the whole car. James will now be racing under the name of 4Star Racing and has set up a
Facebook page which he encourages readers to Like.
We would like to say a big Happy Birthday with added hugs to Libby Mottershead. Have a lovely day Lady Lib. It came too late for yesterday's news update so a belated Happy 17th Birthday for yesterday (Tuesday) to UK Junior Dragster racer Paige Wheeler. Hope you had a great day Paige. Editor's note: The Eurodragster.com team is Hockenheim-bound and this event is one of our busiest so news updates may be sporadic over the next few days. Postings to our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet will be suspended until next Tuesday. Please keep the news items coming to news@eurodragster.com, though, and we will post what we can when we can although priority will be given to our NitrOlympX coverage. Web site updates. 5th August: Ellsa Karlsson was the surprising winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle at Gardermoen Raceway. In an all-female final the seventeen-year-old rookie defeated her nineteen-year-old sister Elvira to take her first victory of her still young PSM career. Another major surprise was in Super Street Bike, where the top three qualifiers failed and Nils-Ola Andersson took a well-deserved win in the third round of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship. No upsets in Super Twin Motorcycle, as Samu Kemppainen won his second consecutive race of the 2015 EDRS Pro Nordic MC season. Jan Sturla Hegre gave the Norwegian home crowd something to cheer about with a win in Top Fuel Motorcycle. You can read more in Remco Scheelings' latest report on the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship web site at www.edrspro.com. European Finals entry. 4th August: Friday of this week (7th) is the closing date for entry to the FIA / FIM European Finals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 3rd-6th September and which is the final round of the 2015 FIA European Drag Racing and FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships as well as a round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships. Entry after Friday, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Many thanks to Ian Marshall for sending us Version 2 of the official European Finals entry list which you can check out by clicking here. Swift snippets. 4th August: 18:00 Further to our Snippet at the weekend it has been confirmed that, in association with Trakbak Racing and Track Group Europe, Saturday and Sunday of this weekend's NitrOlympX will be broadcast live and free on Web TV. Production will be by the same team who brought you the excellent broadcasts of last year's NitrOlympX and European Finals and this year's FIA / FIM Main Event. As well as qualifying and eliminations on Saturday and Sunday, the broadcast will include the famous Night Show on Saturday evening. The Web TV will be available on the NitrOlympX web site at www.nitrolympx.de. 
The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com
came with the words "New livery hitting the race track soon". If you know more, or if you would like to send
your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
eurodragster.com@btinternet.com.
Des Taylor has asked us to thank the hundreds of people who have messaged, texted and E-Mailed Karen and himself with best wishes since they were injured in an overnight incident in the pits at the Mopar EuroNationals. "We are both deeply touched and very grateful for everyone's support", says Des. "We may be out of action for a while but we will be starting the rebuilding process soon. If anyone has a N/S 1970 Chevy Nova SS front wing, grill, headlight bezel and bumper in either fibreglass or steel then I would be most grateful if they could contact me at destaylor1954@gmail.com." Public Race Days mark track success. 3rd August: The Public Race Days, Hockenheim's curtain-raising Run What You Brung for the following weekend's NitrOlympX, has always been a good indicator of what the track has in store for the Big One. Matze Schneider writes that the Public Race Days have also become an important date calendar of Import / Tuning racers, with pictures by Markus Münch: This weekend a Who's Who of the Import and Tuning scene gathered at Hockenheim along with a nice field of racers to test and tune before next weekend. There had been lots of talk, rumour and speculation prior to this year's 30th Anniversary NitrolympX. After the track had a difficult surface for the last two years, everybody was curious to see if Race Director Jerry Lackey and his team could pull it off in 2015. The circumstances were much better this year as there was no Formula One event in Hockenheim weeks before the PRDs and NitrolympX, so the track prep started six weeks ago and the weather allowed almost constant work. 
On Saturday Werner Habermann Racing visited the track during the Public Race Days and brought their Grip-o-Meter. A Facebook post showed that even before the first cars ran down the track the traction gauge showed that the track already matched the Habermanns' last such test at Santa Pod Raceway. "The first two hundred metres of the track are already like this" added Markus Münch who kept very close eye on the track all weekend. 
So the major part of the work is done, and this was easy to see as the Sports Compact racers seemed to have a lot of fun at the weekend. There were new Personal Bests on almost every run, countless eight-second passes with a total of nine cars in the eights and a lot more in the low nines. Alexander Keresztesi from Austria in his Nissan Skyline GT-R clocked the quickest ET for Sports Compacts of the weekend at 8.34. Records were reset in many other categories as well and a lot of driveshaft, gearbox and other carnage tells the story of a sticky track surface as well. 
More than five hundred racers and full grandstands on Saturday and Sunday prove the status of the Public Race Days. Overall the first weekend of quater mile racing at Hockenheim in 2015 was a huge success, and the stage is set for another great weekend of racing, the 30th NitrOlympX with packed pits and stands. You can see more of Markus Münch's excellent pictures at www.dragmag.de/prd-hockenheim-2015. The entire Eurodragster.com team of Kirstie, Simon, Julian and Tog will be at Hockenheim to bring you all the news from the NitrOlympX in association with John Woolfe Racing. Our service of real-time reports, pit notes and galleries commences on Friday morning but you can check out our NitrOlympX Event Index, which includes links to the official entry list and provisional running orders, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We will also bring you news of the planned webcast as soon as we receive it. Drag Challenge at Gardermoen Raceway. 
1st August: The Drag Challenge at Gardermoen Raceway organised by Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen and Speedgroup got under way yesterday.
There is no webcam for this event but you will be able to see results here. The event is a round of the Top Doorslammer Championship and all classes in the EDRS Pro Bike Championship. A report by Remco Scheelings on day one of the EDRS Pro Bike qualifying is here. Top Fuel Dragster racer Birgitte Bremnes plans to make three passes during the weekend in her RFM car. Norwegian TV showed an interview with Birgitte with plenty of onboard footage here. Ultimate Street Car at Santa Pod. 1st August: This weekend at Santa Pod features Ultimate Street Car modified car festival, which includes rounds of the FWD and JDS Championships. Full details can be seen at the dedicated web site for Ultimate Street Car and the Facebook page. Bug Jam Sportsman ET report. 1st August: Many thanks to Conor Holt for sending us a review of Sportsman ET at Bug Jam: The biggest field of the year and joint highest ever was entered into Sportsman ET for Bug Jam this year with an impressive 23 cars entered, matching the entry for the Fall Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in 2002 for the largest field ever seen in the class. 
The weekend started with an unplanned trip for Matthew Moxon as there was an unfortunate incident where his keys got locked inside the car meaning he had to go back to Hull to get the spare set so he could race on the Saturday. The event also had some newcomers to the class such as Fifth Gear's Jonny Smith in his fully electric Enfield 8000 and Paige Reeves who only got her Competition licence on the Friday before the event.In the first session Natalie Laugher went very close to taking the Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light award with a 0.001 red. Felicity Gibbs took the early lead, running a 17.368 on a 17.36 dial in. 
On to session two, and Jon Crawford also came close to taking the Perfect Light award, pulling a 0.008 light. However the £100 Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light award was finally taken in the very next run by John Przybyl with a 0.0004 RT in his Vauxhall Omega which gained him £100. In the final session of the day, Holly Sanders made a big move from number 22 all the way to the top with a 15.107 on a 15.10 dial-in.Sunday had three more sessions of qualifying. Jonny Smith moved from number 23 to 16 with a 12.462 on a 12.34 dial-in in his Flux-Capacitor Enfield 8000. Tony Underhill moved up into the number 3 spot from number 12 running a 14.163 on a 14.15 dial-in. Alan Medley moved up into the number 5 spot as well, with a 13.615 on a 13.60 Dial-in. There was a near perfect match up between Paige Reeves and Spencer Tramm in the first pair in Q5, with Spencer pulling a 0.000 RT (the money having already gone to John Przybyl in Q2) and Paige going to number 1 with a near perfect 15.552 on a 15.55 dial-in, just 0.002 off the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET award which had previously been won by Craig Wright in the final at the Summer Nationals. Not long afterwards Ricky Hale made his latest attempt to go perfect running a 19.004 on a 19.00 dial-in. There was no movement in the final session, but a few questions were raised when Jonny Smith dialled-in a 11.99 even though the fastest you can run in Sportsman ET is a 12.00. 4 drivers ended qualifying with a 0.00 run and 16 running 0.09 or better on their dial-in. 
The first round started off with a bit of a shock as Andy Dibley beat reigning Champion and currently second in the Championship Ricky Hale, with Ricky breaking out by 0.06 seconds. Confusion struck again when Alan Medley was given a red light in a match up against Stephen Cherrett even though he did not move however they were told to bring the cars around again to do a re-run because of Alan's red light. On the re-run both drivers broke out Stephen doing it by the least (0.11 to a 0.12) giving him the win second time round.Natalie Laugher red lit by 0.17 seconds in her match up with Craig giving him yet another round win. Next there was a close race between number four qualifier Felicity Gibb and Ethan Lisle, with Ethan winning by 0.021 seconds or two feet three inches. Double breakout in the race between Spencer Tramm and Sam Innes, 0.09 for Spencer and 0.06 for Sam giving the win to Sam. Jane McCready was up against the latest Hale to race in the class, Jack Hale. Jack broke out by 0.17 seconds giving Jane and the Clueless racing crew their season aim of one round win, well done to them! Jonny Smith was a no-show in his 1st round match-up against Paul Pryzybl giving him a bye to the 2nd round. 
Matthew Moxon pulled a 0.02 red light in his match up against Abi Tether giving Abi the win in the Sambasaurus. Gillian Medley carried on her great streak this season beating Luke Stevenson by 0.03 seconds or four feet despite breaking out by .08 seconds.Holly Sanders got her first round win against John Pryzybl this was also very close, five feet four inches between them at the stripe with Holly running a 15.19 (15.05) and John running a 17.52 (14.48) in the Omega. In the final pair Jon Crawford lined up against Tony Underhill; Tony red lit by 0.188 seconds giving the win to Jon Crawford in the Sharan. On to round two and the first pair out was Number One qualifier and newly licenced Paige Reeves against the run-away Championship leader that is Craig Wright. Craig had a slight advantage off the line (0.14 to a 0.21) and carried that advantage all the way down the track winning by 0.08 seconds with a 16.473 on a 16.47 dial-in (0.003 off a perfect ET). Next pair down was Jane McCready vs Holly Sanders. Holly had a 0.14 second better RT than Jane but Jane broke out by 0.8 seconds handing the win to Holly who broke out by 0.06 seconds. Samuel Innes, Ethan Lisle and Jon Crawford all broke out handing the wins to Stephen Cherrett, Abi Tether and Gillian Medley. Craig Wright once again proved why he has been so successful over the past years in Sportsman ET by going even closer to perfect in his Quarter Final match up against Abi Tether running a 16.432 on a 16.43 dial-in. Gillian Medley and Andy Dibley were up next with the winner getting a bye into the final. Andy had a 0.19 second better RT and extended the lead to 0.23 seconds by the finish line running a 16.30 (16.28) against Gillian's 15.53 (15.47). In the last pair Stephen had a better RT but Holly made up the deficit and went into the lead but broke out by 0.13 seconds giving the win to Stephen. 
Craig Wright had a great 0.01 RT in his semi-final against Stephen Cherrett who had a 0.11 second RT. Stephen ran a 19.71 on a 19.65 dial-in which was no match for Craig who ran 16.43 on a 16.37 dial-in in the Damn Good Racing Civic. Andy Dibley took his bye and ran a 16.01 on a 16.28 dial-in.So it was Craig Wright in the Damn Good Racing Honda Civic against Andy Dibley in the 50 Shades Of Green Racing Camaro. Craig dialled in a 16.37 and Andy dialled in a 16.20. Craig got a big lead of the line with a 0.06 RT compared to Andy's 0.20 and carried the advantage all the way down the track running a 16.56 @ 78.55mph, winning the event by 0.23 seconds or 28 feet. With that win Craig has wrapped up the SPRC Championship and all-but won the Nationals Championship with a 1,220 point lead at the top. Next round is the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Bonner and Taylor renew. 
1st August: Nostalgia racer Nigel Taylor has been in touch to say the two cars he is involved with (Arthur Bonner's Detroit Spinner and Nigel's own Acute Anglia) have recently needed drastic engine surgery:At the Nostalgia Nationals, the cam lifters in the Pontiac 400 engine in The Detroit Spinner decided to exit through the gallery, breaking the block, losing pushrods, bending valves and damaging lots in its path. Arthur Bonner at the age of 74 still wants to race his home built car after 40+ years in the hot seat, so a decision was made to fit a 555ci Dart M block (Big block Chevy) 9.1 litre motor in the Pontiac's place. This will take a bit of altering in many places but will make all parts a bit more accessible if they do go wrong, and will liven the Prefect up a lot. Sharing driving duties in the Detroit Spinner with Arthur will be myself (at last); the grudge race between my brother (Paul Dale) in the Acute Angle 105e Anglia is shaping up to be good. 
The Acute Anglia 105e also had engine failure at Dragstalgia and after Paul stripped it down it became a bit obvious why! The Anglia is now being fitted with a 355 cu in small block Chevy and 6/71 supercharger and nitrous (if needed); producing 600+ hp this should make the lightweight Anglia fly. Paul hopes to have the car back out for the 2015 Hot Rod Drags but the match race between the 600+ bhp lightweight space framed Anglia and the 800+ Bhp nostalgic half box, half tubed heavy Prefect will have to wait till early 2016.Both teams would like to thank their families for playing such a big part in this addiction and the Detroit Spinner Racing team would like to thank all their sponsors for making this happen. Follow us on both Facebook pages : Detroit Spinner Racing and Acute Angle Racing Team. Swift snippets. 1st August: Thanks to NitrOlympX PR Christine Calwer for letting us know that there will be a free webcast from Hockenheim next weekend. We will bring you full details including broadcast times as soon as we receive them. Earlier news |
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