Wittstock back on the calendar. 30th November: Torsten Kath of Kath Brothers Racing has been in touch to announce that the drag strip at Wittstock in Germany is back in action for 2007. ©Eurodragster.com "We will be having our first race, the Drag Racing Internationals, at Wittstock on 13th-15th July 2007 and we hope to do a lot more in subsequent years", says Torsten. "The track is concrete, 2400 metres long and 60 metres wide and in perfect condition. Our races there in 2000 showed that it was really easy to prepare the track, but we are still looking for the perfect crew to do it for us. Also FIA races could be possible in the future but we want to start in an easy manner in 2007 and see whether everything works perfectly." More information and flyers are available at www.dragracing.de and Torsten tells us that the event will have its own web site within the next week or two. An even noisier Hog. 30th November: Germany's DHL Gerb Habermann Racing Team has added another vehicle to its already-impressive stable. Joining the Patriot Jet Dragster driven by Ulrike 'Jetgirl' Golde and the Dragon Hunter Jet Funny Car driven by 'King of Fire' Gerd Habermann is a Harley Davidson Jet Bike. "It's the only Harley Davidson Jet Bike in the world", says Gerd Habermann. "It was built by Tim Arfons in the USA. We tested the bike in Indianapolis two weeks ago and it was quite good, so we decided to take it over to Germany. The bike is powered by a General Electric T-58 turbine which produces about 3500 horsepower with two afterburners. It will be available for shows and exhibitions." ©Eurodragster.com You can see more at www.gerd-habermann-racing.de or at www.jetdragster.de. Enter the Arena! 30th November: Paul Marston Racing have once again been asked to arrange the drag racing contingent at the Oval Racing Expo at Arena Essex on 20th-21st January and are inviting racers to attend. "Arena Essex is one of the country's most well known and respected Short Oval and Speedway racing circuits, and is also known to most as the venue for the NSRA Swap meet in March", says Paul. "The Oval Racing Expo features some live action on the track and there is some limited space for drag racing demos, burnouts and launches. The show then goes on to a full night's practice and racing for a huge variety of Oval Formulas, starting at 5.30 pm and on to around 11.00pm. "Sunday will be a daylight hours only affair and will again have space for some demos and some static drag racing sisplays. As usual there will be plenty of race cars to look at, parts to buy from the many vendors and a small amount of racing junk to browse. "If anyone is interested in displaying or performing burnouts and short launches at the show then please contact me on 07831 650230 or E-Mail office@pmracing.fsnet.co.uk." Swift snippets. 30th November: Jim Kelly of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor VP Racing Fuels says that European racers need have no fears about supplies of nitro. "Angus stopped selling their racing nitro in Europe a long time ago and consequently their customers easily found VP Nitro through our overseas distribution network", says Jim. "In North America we continue to be the official fuel supplier to the NHRA. If any European teams are concerned about nitro supply then please contact me at vpatlantic@aol.com or stop by the VP Racing Fuels booth at Autosport in Birmingham on 11th-14th January." ©Eurodragster.com Glenn Walker, Crew Chief for UK Super Mod racer Paul Brooks, would be pleased to hear from any Eurodragster.com reader who can help with information, photos and history of the Out Of Time Sierra in its incarnations as Dave Warne's Mean as Hell and Sylvia Hauser's Think Independent. If you can help then please drop Glenn a line at piercingextreme@hotmail.com. UK Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association racer Joe Bond is also seeking the assistance of Eurodragster.com readers to find video clips of his lane-crossing run in the Nuthin' Fancy altered at the Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. "Watching the clip on the Nitro Warriors DVD has got me curious and I'd like to see it from different angles". if you have any video then please contact Joe at jb_razor@hotmail.com. In the presence of His Majesty... 30th November: The Real Steel Street Eliminator UK awards evening was held at the Cheltenham Park Hotel last Saturday evening. 2006 Champion Ian Hook tells us that 108 racers, sponsors, crew, family and supporters filled the Royal Suite to capacity: The award ceremony itself was MC'd by Paul Venners who strengthened his links with the class this year by being both interviewer and commentator for the 2006 season Hardcore Street DVD (available from Powerpoint Communications in time for Christmas). 'Hairy' John Walden has garnered a reputation for wearing some pretty load clothes over the season and continued to build on that when he turned up in full Tudor garb! Most of you will have followed the season and be aware of who won what but here's a quick refresher: 2006 Real Steel Street Eliminator Championship Winner: Ian Hook Runner-up: John Walden Third place: Alan Simms Street Eliminator/Powerpour Perfect Light Winner: Ian Hook Runner-up: Alex McIntosh Comet Clothing Most Improved Racer Winner: John Walden Runner-up: Ron Haslett Street Eliminator Hardest Launching Street Car Winner: Ian Hook Runner-up: John Sleath ©Eurodragster.com The only trophy not decided at the track was a new one for 2006. SEUK sponsors Finch's Fleet Services this year introduced the Spirit of Street Eliminator award to recognise the racer seen to have best portrayed the sportsmanship, effort and determination. With the voters being restricted to 2006 points scorers anybody winning this award could be sure that they had the respect of their peers. With his never-say die-attitude, 100% round attendance and his work for the Macmillan Trust Ron Haslett was a truly worthy winner. In closing, the class organisers would like to thank all those who have supported Street Eliminator UK this year with a particular mention for Real Steel, Finch's Fleet Services, Webster Race Engineering, Comet Clothing, American Car World, Eurodragster.com, Santa Pod Racers Club, APIRA, Powerpour, Phil Evans, and Mark Norton. In tribute. 30th November: As Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam's 6.0-second bike makes its way to its new home in Australia, Crew Chief Marius Van Der Zijden writes in tribute to the bike which gave not just the tean but also their fans so many memorable moments many memorable moments: In 1992 we decided to build our own bike. At the same time it was also the first time ever we built a bike from scratch. It had to be state of the art with the best parts available at that time. We were in the unique situation of being able to use the best computer technology available to design and build the bike. In those days, designing and fabricating a Top Fuel Bike with the aid of computer technology was still pretty unique. Two things were sure: it had to have a strong bottom end, one by Pete Davies from Puma Engineering, and a chassis built by John Clift. We designed the chassis ourselves and it was one of the last masterpieces that John made. While just using CAD/CAM techniques during construction, it was fun how all the pieces fell together like they had always has been there. Today after all these years of torturing it, it's remarkable how every part still fits like new. A true tribute to our team members Peter and Bauke who designed and made all the parts. We’ll never forget the day we plugged in the starter motor for the very first time. We spun it first with the starter motor to build up oil pressure, but from the moment we put the fuel tab on, it fired right away and idled like it has been running for years. The first time we took it to the track was 26th June 1994 at England's Shakespeare County Raceway, then still known as Avon Park. I still remember the faces and the comments when we unloaded it for the first time. Some comments have become true, some of them have been proved that they completely missed the picture. Another unforgettable moment was our first six second pass. That happened in just its first year during the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway On 18th September 1994. We ran a 6.95/192 mph. This was the first landmark we set, proving that we were on the right path. It was only the start of many more spectacular moments to come. Many times we were one of the, if not the, first to show new technology on a Top Fuel drag bike. Let me take you through the most memorable moments and important upgrades that we've made which marked the evolution of the bike over the years. For the 1995 season we added a Dynatek datalogger system. We realized that in order to take the guesswork out, we needed a datalogger system. This system was one of the major upgrades. At that time, the use of a datalogger was not yet a common thing on Top Fuel Bikes. It guided us to where we are today. That year was also the first year in which our oil sponsor Torco International Corporation stepped in. A long and strong relationship that we have to this very day. In 1996 the Magnuson 110 Roots-style blower had to make way for a Sprintex screw-type supercharger. This boosted the performance quite a lot. It was also the first time we went over to The United States to compete at Prostar World Finals in Gainesville Florida. Ton Pels' company Zodiac International, organized the trip and we shipped in a forty foot sea container with no less than eight drag bikes. Among these bikes were the legendary 480 cc supercharged nitro burning single cylinder Jawa from Jan Honée and the all billet 880 cc parallel Triumph twin from Gerard Willemse. We will never forget the faces of the Americans at their first sight of them. The lucky ones who witnessed the arrival still talk about these bikes! The trip was successful and most enjoyable for everyone. The Zodiac Transatlantic Dragrace Tour was repeated in '97 and '98. The 1997 season also brought us our first European Championship title. It was another highlight of the potential still to be unleashed from the bike. This feat was repeated three more times in 1999, 2003 and 2004. In 1999 we started the development of our own billet cylinder head. The standard (Yamaha XS 1100 based) head wasn't able to resist the tremendous forces anymore. We had to replace cracked cast heads frequently and certainly were responsible for making these heads an obsolete part at the junkyards in Holland. After long discussions we decided to go for a three-valve set-up. That was never seen before and still is unique on a Top Fuel Bike. We designed the head in co-operation with Jan Roelofs Race Service. At the same time the Sprintex supercharger was replaced by a more state of the art Opcon/Autorotor example. The set up was introduced at Hockenheim August 2000. Though it was designed for a twin spark plug set up, we initially operated it with just one magneto. The second magneto was added before the last race of that year, the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. It was the all new MSD Pro-Mag. I think we were again the first Top Fuel Bike team in the world to adopt this ignition system, or was it Larry McBride? This set-up proved to be one of the biggest performance steps forward. At the beginning of the 2000 season we inked a multi year deal with Dakota Industry. They supported us for many years during their home town event The Nitrolympics at Hockenheim. Their photo shoots at the track each year were a real pleasure. Judging by the large crowd around our pit box it was not only our highlight. During the 2002 season we introduced two new upgrades. Previously we were running an old style small type B& J transmission. Together with Goedhals Machinefabriek we redesigned the inner parts to a taller low gear ratio and straight cut gears. The only thing we left alone was the big sprag. The new gears and clutch package proved to be extremely reliable, but the expensive sprag remained a part that needed much attention when running 6.0s. A month later, at Norway's Gardermoen Raceway, we introduced our own billet side drive rear wheel. We wanted to make a lighter and yet stronger rear wheel but were not happy with those on the market. Every wheel we looked at had some kind of disadvantage, so in the Team Koedam tradition we designed and made our own. Both side parts were made out of a big chunk of aluminum that started as some forty kilos each. The result, after a serious diet, was two kilos on each part. The 2003 season was probably our best season ever, with lots of highlights and an unexpected surprise at the end. The base for our results was a year that was blessed with a very good summer. At nearly every race that we entered we were the #1 qualifier and took the event win. On top of that we reset almost every track record and recorded our first 6.0 pass. Those records made us officially (and we still are) the quickest and fastest drag bike in Europe and outside the USA. On the downside we had to carry out a lot more between-race maintenance than usual. At the end we even kicked a rod in a big ball of fire. Luckily we learned in the meantime what had gone wrong - our lubrication system was being diluted by very large amounts of nitromethane. 2003 brought us also our third European Championship title. Because of our domination, the points lead was probably more then ever registered before in any other class. At the conclusion of that season, Zodiac stepped up their budget and became our primary sponsor. Without them we most likely would have had to throw in the towel years ago. 2004 was business as usual, no real highlights, we just took our fourth European Championship title. The year 2005 saw two major upgrades. The sprag construction of our redesigned transmission remained an expensive maintenance part. Rather than trying to redesign it, we choose to go for the much beefier Scott Owens spragless transmission. Though it was a really tight fit, we managed to squeeze it in our chassis. This transmission has proven to be absolutely trouble free. We also changed the combustion chambers in the cylinder head to bronze inserts. The result was a virtually bullet proof exhaust side (valves and seats). At the beginning of the 2005 season, we more than once decided to withdraw from eliminations after qualifying, most the time in the # 1 or #2 spot, because we were suffering extreme high crankcase pressures and felt it was not safe to run the bike under these conditions. We had a lot of sleepless nights and even more testing. In the end it took us three events before we finally found the reason. On the bright side, we ended up with an engine combination in better condition then ever before! Unfortunately wet weather conditions prevented us almost the rest of the season from showing the bike's real potential. It was a bit of an unusual year. Because of our withdrawal in the first races we gave away a lot of Championship points. By the time we solved the problems, persistent rain showers took away our chance to pick up enough points. Nevertheless, we ended up in the runner up spot in the European Championship in 2005. For our Final Strike tour in 2006 we had upgraded our clutch with a trick titanium pressure plate. This would have to contribute to more consistency in the clutch. It has proven its value. Despite only entering three out of the five Championship races, we finished runner up at the end. In all those events we qualified #1, won the event and were the quickest and the fastest. All the upgrades through the years contributed to the reliability the bike has at this moment despite the occasional mishap. If the mechanical condition in which an engine is after a weekend of racing low sixes shows the potential of a bike, one cannot draw any other conclusion then that we just have scratched the surface and that there's a lot more potential left in the bike. As we have mentioned in previous Team Reports, we came to the conclusion more and more that it was not the bike, but the track and weather conditions that were the limiting factors for the numbers it could put on the timing boards. There will be a last reunion with Roel and the bike as new owner Leonard Azzopardi has asked Roel to perform some demo passes during the Second Annual USA Boxing Day Nitro Thunder Top Fuel event at Western Sydney International Dragway on 26th-27th December. In the meantime we wish Leonard at least as many good times as we had. ©Eurodragster.com Fingers to the keyboard! 30th November: UK Pro ET racer Marius Blackburn has a suggestion for his fellow racers who might be watching the pound beating the dollar to a pulp and wondering if it's yet time to mail that order through. "You could take the time to do a season review and send it to Bob Regis for the Pro ET web site", says Marius. "It's there for you to use, so why not take this opportunity to do so. Also, is there anybody out there prepared to give the Pro ET guys some help with the web site? We are looking for someone to cover qualifying and racing so we can have more up-to-date info on the site. We could do with some photos too. If you are up for the challenge you'll get to meet all the stars in the class - that's everyone - and you can party with us too! On the downside, the pay isn't good, in fact there is none! If you are interested drop Bob an E-Mail at admin@pro-et.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com "One other thing, how many of you guys out there have taken the time to thank the sponsors of the Pro ET #1 Qualifying Bonus...Not too many of you I think. Show them your appreciation 'cos we want them to stay with us. Don't take them for granted. My thanks also go to the staff at Eurodragster for the coverage you have given us (Thank you, you're welcome - Ed), Roger Gorringe for getting us some excellent coverage in the event programmes this season, and to Carl Burton, Co-ordinator of the Sponsorship Scheme. Season's greetings to you all." Web site updates. 30th November: Jon Spoard has added another photo gallery to his excellent UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site at www.ukdrn.co.uk. The new gallery features pictures of bikes belonging to Norman Hyde, Brian Chapman and Ian Messenger. Jon adds that he would like to thank everyone who has joined the UKDRN forum so far. "There has been some very interesting information posted as well as some great pictures", says Jon. We second that; if Nostalgia is your thing then head for Jon's site, check out the pictures and video clips, and sign up to the Forum and spend the winter talking about something other than how many Top Fuellers are likely to be racing next year. ©Eurodragster.com Return of the Dog Squad. 29th November: We are indebted to Scotty Durrant for warning us that the Dog Squad Wild Bunch team is due to make a comeback in 2007 with an altered named Tiki Munki. "After selling my last altered In The Dog House Again and having various street cars including a 1955 two-door Chevy , 37 Willys Sedan and 1960 Chevy Impala, I wanted to get involved on the track again", says Scotty. "I wanted an altered for my other half Gina to race with all our good buddies in the Wild Bunch. We got hold of the old Dorset Horn chassis and after lots of work by Gareth Kent we ended up with a Ford Pinto, manual trans, Sherpa axle and T body to have some fun with. I've been working on it on and off over this last season collecting bits and now it's very close to being finished. "But in the last few week's it's had a bit of a change. It's been Gassered with Pop beam and spring, new classic four banger motor, and will hopefully br finished ready for Gina to make her first pass early in 2007. We have a classic 60's tow car, a Cortina Mk 1 Estate powered by a two-litre Pinto. Big thanks to all the guys and girls who have helped along the way! ©Eurodragster.com "You never know, next season we may even see fellow Dog Squad buddy Nick Conner take the wheel of his Barking Mad which is collecting cobwebs." Scotty tells us that he has made changes away from the track. "I had some classic needlework done of a Nostalgia Fuel driver which was taken from a Hot Rod Reunion pass which I got from Chris Hartnell. The tattoo was done by fellow hot rodder Klunky of Tat2-U in Reading." Andréasson almost last. 29th November: Anders Magnusson of Swedish Top Methanol Funny Car team Andréasson Motorsports tells us that the popular Mechanic Challenge was reprised at the Bilsportmässan in Stockholm last weekend. "Team Andréasson and Team Leanders competed to change a piston and start the engine up indoors!", says Anders. "It was performed once on Saturday and once on Sunday, the aggregate best to win. Team Andréasson won with quite a margin, scoring 7' 20" and 6' 18" compared to Team Leanders 12' 40" and 9' 0". Jörgen Leanders claimed they scored a good sporting second place whilst Team Andréasson was almost last. It depends upon your point of view I suppose..." ©Eurodragster.com You can find out more on the Andréasson Motorsports web site at www.andreassonmotorsports.com. NFAA Awards Evening. 29th November: The UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association are holding their Awards Evening on Saturday 17th February 2007 to present the trophies for their best-ever season and to anticipate the 2007 season, which promoter Lawrie Gatehouse promises to be even better. "The event is being held at the Menzies Stourport Manor Hotel at Stourport-on Severn, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire", says Lawrie. "A three or four course dinner will be followed by the trophy presentations and the disco. It is expected that this will be a pleasant, low-key evening for all, giving us all the chance to catch up, reflect on the best season so far and look forward to the 2007 events, with more teams participating. As racers, this is also a chance to thank the efforts of all team members, especially the ladies who work tirelessly behind the scenes to allow us a few seconds of elation. "For those that haven't already actioned a previous e-mail, I need to know how many places each team require for the dinner. Tickets are £30 and cheques should be made payable to the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association please. "If anyone has any special dietary or vegetarian requirements, please advise at the time of booking your dinner tickets and I will get these accommodated. ©Eurodragster.com "A special deal has been negotiated with the hotel for overnight accommodation at £75.00 per room, including breakfast on Sunday morning. You will need to reserve rooms direct with the hotel, not via the web site, and quote the reference "NFAA Award Event" to secure this rate. You will all be responsible for settling your own bills on departure. The hotel contact details are: Telephone: 01299 289955 Fax: 01299 878520 Web site: www.bookmenzies.com E-Mail: stourport@menzies-hotel.co.uk "To view the hotel facilities please go to the web site and click on Stourport Manor. "The hotel is a modernised Victorian building with sixty eight double and twin rooms, set in twenty three acres of grounds close to the M5 and M42. It incorporates a health and leisure complex with indoor pool, sauna, steam room, solarium, gym, tennis and squash courts and a pitch and putt course. All facilities are available free of charge for guests." To book your tickets, or for more information, please contact Lawrie by E-Mail at info@psilpump.com or call him on 01604 786828. Championships DVDs on the spread. 28th November: Nu finns DVDn från årets EM-serie i dragracing att köpa från Mantorp Park. Den actionspäckade dubbel-DVDn bjuder på nära 5 timmar dragracing på allra högsta nivå och naturligtvis finns den svenska EM-deltävlingen VEIDEC Festival med. Läs mer på Mantorp Parks hemsida. ...and for those of us who can't read Swedish, this year's European Championships review DVD double pack is now available around Europe, including Mantorp Park (above), as well as from Santa Pod Raceway. This year you can buy your copy from: Santa Pod Raceway Airfield Road Podington Northamptonshire NN29 7XA Tel. 01234 782828 Web site: www.santapod.com Finnish Hot Rod Association Tel: +358 (0) 9-2515 250 Fax: +358 (0) 9-2515 2515 Web site: www.fhra.fi E-Mail: fhra@fhra.fi Motor Events Sweden AB Mantorp Park 590 17 Mantorp Sweden ©Eurodragster.com Tel: +46 (0)142 298856 Fax: +46 (0)142 298869 Web site: www.motorevents.com E-Mail: anders@motorevents.com ICEMAN Sports Extreme AB Tel: +46 (0)36-40300 Web site: www.iceman.se E-Mail: info@iceman.se A network of traders can be found on the Iceman web site. Löven Racing AB Runebergsgatan 44 611 37 Nyköping Sweden Tel: +46 (0)155 287878 Fax: +46 (0)155 28 18 50 Web site: www.lovenracing.com E-Mail: info@lovenracing.com Micke Kågered Racing Web site: www.kagered-racing.com E-Mail: asa@kagered-racing.com We will post our review of the European Championships DVDs very soon. Swift snippets. 28th November: Mark Flavell and Chris Orthodoxou got in touch to send their best wishes to Frank and Maureen Mason who were wed on the qt yesterday after being together for twenty nine years. "Everybody knows what a great team Frank and Maureen are, and they are probably the winningest team not just in Super Gas but in drag racing - it seems like an endless list of National and Club Championships", says Mark. "According to his mum Frank also turned sixty yesterday and turned from 'Young Frank' to, let's say, ‘Experienced Frank’ . Congratulations to the pair and hope that you had a wonderful day". Chrissy O adds "It's about time Frank made an honest woman out of Maureen, please pass on our best wishes." ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 28th November: The Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se has been updated with a great video clip from the weekend's Bilsportmässan in Stockholm. ©Eurodragster.com SPRC Perpetual Awards week 1. 27th November: Once again Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster.com are teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the SPRC Perpetual Awards, which will be presented at the joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy presentation on Saturday 3rd February 2007. For each of the 2006 season awards, the SPRC Committee has decided upon a shortlist for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. There are eight awards in all: voting commences this week with the award for Best-Appearing Car and will continue over the next six weeks as each category is announced. Voting for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy and the new Sportsman of the Year Trophy, in memory of Terry Gibbs, will also be open for the whole of this period (see below). The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon the winners. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates or forum members to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. The SPRC Committee's shortlist for Best-Appearing Car is as follows, in alphabetical order. It speaks volumes for the quality of cars this season that the Committee could only get this shortlist down seven and not the usual five. Every single racer out there should take a big pat on the back for making the Committee's job so difficult this year and long may that continue. ©Eurodragster.com Nick Davies, Rob Loaring, Nigel King Havoc NFAA Bantam Altered Go to vote Matthew Eley Risky Trip Pro ET Ford Pop Go to vote Ian Hanson Hanson Racing Super Pro ET Chevrolet Corvette Go to vote Jayne Kay Hyperactive Junior Dragster Go to vote Jon Morton Super Comp/Super Gas Chevrolet Camaro Go to vote Wayne Nicholson Lucky Devil Super Pro ET Chevrolet Corvette Go to vote Chris Orthodoxou Apocalypse Super Pro ET Dodge Viper Go to vote For a look at larger pictures, and to place your vote, go to the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the SPRC Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Votes can be submitted by all readers of Eurodragster.com, not just those in the UK. The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which votes are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Raceway's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited form Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to photo-journalist and now Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Roger Gorringe. Again see the official web page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to sprc.awards.2006@btinternet.com specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Trophy as the subject and your nomination in the body of the mail. Next week's category will be Best-Appearing Bike. Obsession post new Perpetual Award. 27th November: A new perpetual trophy has been posted by Obsession Motorsports in memory of the late Terry Gibbs, a fervent supporter of Sportsman racing who himself raced before becoming a race and show promoter. The Sportsman of the Year trophy will be presented at the annual joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and trophy presentation and will be awarded to the UK National Championship racer who best typifies the spirit of Sportsman drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Sportsman of the Year trophy. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers in UK National Championship classes: Super Modified, Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Sportsman ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Junior Dragster and 9.50 Bike. ©Eurodragster.com For more details, check out the official SPRC Perpetual Awards page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the SPRC Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Alternately E-Mail your nomination to sprc.awards.2006@btinternet.com specifying Sportsman of the Year Trophy as the subject and in the body of the mail your nomination and a few words about why you think they should receive the trophy. Swift snippets. 27th November: Our very best wishes to UK Super Gas racer Frank Mason and his partner Maureen McKeown who are getting married today. We understand from our good friend Libby Mottershead that Frank and Maureen wanted a quiet wedding, which they would not have got if they had invited their fellow drag racers along. We're sure that everyone will join us in wishing Frank and Maureen every happiness and a long life together. ©Eurodragster.com Bilsportmässan report. 27th November: This weekend's Bilsportmässan exhibition at Stockholmsmässan got a lot of attention, says our good friend Theresé Hällsten, who sent us this report. Click on any link for a picture. Walking around the hall was quite a challenge when there were a lot, and I do mean a lot, of visitors all eager to be where it all happens. Everybody wanted to get at least a glimpse of everything and I don't think anyone went home dissatisfied. There were tons of fabulous cars...oh, and did I mention that the Swedish Championship of "Who's built the baddest, loudest, and probably the coolest car stereo" (my choice of words since I really don't know the official name of the competition) took place here during the weekend? In the jungle of all the salesmen, cars, products and billboards there were some drag racers, if not on display then at least visiting. The exhibition is a great chance to get new people intrested in drag racing. Some visitors got to try the feeling of sitting behind the wheel of a Junior Dragster, and some settled for asking questions and just looking. Micke Kågered's Top Methanol Funny Car was there complete with its trailer which proves just how big the hall is. The team are still building their new workshop at home in Linköping which will house their entire operation. The attentive visitor noticed that Mikael Malmgren's Grand Am was placed in the Lahega display, but the wheel has been handed over to Jonas Dantanus, the proud new owner of the car (right). Malmgren says that we'll still recognize him next season even though he's got a new car. The pattern of the old car will be used again on the new one but with some new features. Jonas can look forward to a busy winter fixing up the car, chasing sponsors and maybe getting a new design for the car and the team. Jonas is hoping for a full European Championship tour and hopefully get a few practice runs at events where there aren't any official Pro Stock cars. You can see Jonas in his new car at Santa Pod's Easter Thunderball early next year. Other then the European Tour, the team will probably be seen at all the NDRS events since Jennifer has taken over the Challenger and Jonas' son drives the team's Junior Dragster. When discussing methods for winning Jonas says he's going to try some mental training before each run. He thinks it's a good start; if not, it's always a good excuse to get some rest between runs. Besides the mental training, the winning concept is getting as much time on the strip as possible, and to observe the other drivers as they handle their cars. Summary: To win, practice in your mind as well as on the track When about fifty car stereos are pumping all that heavy bass it can be at least as loud as a Top Fueller! The Wild Bunch do the honours. 27th November: The UK's Wild Bunch held their annual Prize Presentation on Saturday at Drayton Manor Park, and a great evening was had by all, writes Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows: All of the Series winners were presented with their awards, and topping the list were the team of Tony Smith and Dave Williams, drivers of the Cunning Plan Minivan altered, who won the Wild Bunch Series and earned the WB 1 plate for the 2007 season. Many congratulations to them! It is Tony's third WB title with Dave as Crew Chief, and Dave's second time sharing the driving honours in addition to crewing. A real team effort! They would also like to thank their respective partners, Tony's wife Linda and Dave's fiancée Linda for all their support. The Wild Bunch also have a Series for their main contingency sponsor Real Steel, and this was won by Roy Wilding with his Chariot of Fire altered. Roy also finished second in the hotly-contested WB Series. Runner-up in the Real Steel Series was Team Twisted, driver Helen Smythe and Crew Chief hubby Dean, with the Hell's Belle altered. Roy in turn has his own Series, the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, which was won by Tony Smith and Dave Williams. There were various presentations during the evening, thanking Wild Bunch Chairman Chris Hartnell, Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows, Newsletter Secretary Sarah Howells and website author Ed Yates for all their hard work, as well as gifts for the lovely ladies of the Bunch who support their teams so well! Special presentations were also announced in recognition of the exceptional services to track preparation made by the crews of Santa Pod Raceway and Shakespeare County Raceway. The Wild Bunch would like to thank them all for their hard work above and beyond the call of duty. It is hugely appreciated by all! ©Eurodragster.com In addition, the winners of all the WB Merit awards were announced, and a full list can be found on the WB web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk. The main accolade of the evening was as always, the Don Garlits ‘Spirit of Drag Racing' Shield, the most prestigious award in the Wild Bunch, which represents sportsmanship, achievement, commitment, presentation and a host of other attributes. This was awarded to an emotional Roy Wilding. It was the first time Roy had won the Shield, and it was a well-deserved and fitting tribute to the man who was the founder of the club back in 1995, and who continues to be an integral member. Big congratulations to Roy! The party continued on into the night celebrating the winners, and we now all look forward to racing again in 2007. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all racers, media, marshals and officials, track crew, promoters, managers and track owners who work so hard for the sport of drag racing we all love so much. See you all next season! Kitney seeking backers. 27th November: UK Pro ET racer Trevor Kitney tells us that the Kiss My RS team have a couple of projects lined up and would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in sponsorship. "First is a trip with the car to the Orlando Street Nationals which will take place either 2007 or 2008 depending on the help we get", says Trevor. "Quotes to ship the car are very reasonable, but we will need some financial input to make it happen. ©Eurodragster.com "The second reason we are looking for a good sponsor is a second 'team' car which is on the go at the moment. I can't say what it is or in what series we'll race it at present, but it should be a real crowd-pleaser! We'd like to début it alongside the RS at the 2007 Easter Thunderball, but it really does depend on finances. The more money and interest we can get, the sooner it will be finished. "More info on the above and current photos of the RS can be found on our web site at www.kissmyrs.co.uk. The car's looking better than ever now, and judging by the reaction we get every time we take it anywhere it would be a great billboard for prospective sponsors." Truly the Trip of a lifetime. 27th November: UK Pro ET racer Neil Hunter was one of those who took advantage of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Blueprints For Travel's Trip to America and wrote to tell us what a great job organiser Robin Jackson and travel company Trailfinders did: We met up with the party halfway through the three-week deal in Los Angeles. The first weekend was a trip to the Goodguys meet at Bakersfield. What a show these nostalgia racers put on. I can't wait for Nostalgia Funny Car over here now. Monday and Tuesday were free days, this involved a trip to Disneyland just a walk away from the hotel and an organised trip booked through the hotel to Beverley Hills, Hollywood and Universal Studios. Wednesday and back to what we were there for, a trip to John Force's shop and the guided tour of the "nerve centre of John Force Racing", then moving on to So-Cal speed shop to meet up with Tony Thacker and Jimmy Shine etc. A tour of the premises, the obligatory t-shirt shop and then off again. ©Eurodragster.com The next trip was done off our own backs, but with addresses provided by Robin Jackson. Off to Boyd Coddingtons Hot Rod shop. Once again a look around the cars on display and the T-shirt and hat shop, then much to our suprise a chance to meet the guys off the TV show. Boyd had just left half an hour before, but Duane and the rest of the guys made us really welcome and give us a look behind the scenes of the American Hot Rod set. Last but not least of the Wednesday trips was the visit to the NHRA museum for the American Racing Wheels dinner. What a great place that is and to meet people such as the legendary TV Tommy Ivo is something I'll never forget. Thursday and it's race time. Four Days of fantastic qualifying and racing under cloudless skies made for a great end to the NHRA season. Monday involved a trip out to see Chip Foose's shop etc and then the "Bring us something back Dad" shopping. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Trailfinders and Robin Jackson (this guy really does have some contacts), for a truly fantastic trip. Some other racers said to me that it was cheaper to go to the USA booking your own tickets etc. It was the first time in the USA for myself and others and we had great value for money: some of the trips we did, Joe Bloggs wouldn't be allowed to do. So on that note if the trip is available in 2007 and you fancy a trip to see the finest racing in the USA, go with these people for the trip of a lifetime. Double feature! 26th November: Regular readers of Eurodragster.com News will recall that UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV planned to import a blown-alcohol dragster to break out of the 6.30 Super Pro ET lower limit and to contest FIA Top Methanol Dragster. ©Eurodragster.com Derek's dragster arrived at Gold RV's workshop in mid-October and he kept his promise to give Eurodragster.com readers the first look at his new car by inviting us down to Gold RV yesterday. When we arrived at Gold RV we were delighted to find not just Derek's new dragster but now team-mate Bob Glassup's Xtreme altered in its new colours ready for its appearance at the Essen Motor Show. Naturally we took the chance to have a good look over Bob's altered as well as Derek's dragster as well as to chat to both racers about their plans. You can check out our double feature on Derek and Bob's cars by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on th eleft-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Web site updates. 26th November: We were very sorry indeed to hear from Gareth Evans that he is to close his UK1320 web site after eleven years. "I started the site in the spring of 1995 under the guise of Gareth's Drag Racing Page and then it became the familiar uk1320.com in July 1998", says Gareth. "This decision has not been taken lightly, and has been brought about for several reasons, some of which I would rather not discuss in public. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the numerous people that have helped me over the years, with particular mention going to my friends at Eurodragster.com, and Jerry Cookson and Tracy Cowen at Shakespeare County Raceway - diamonds, one and all". UK1320 pre-dated Eurodragster.com and Gareth has always been a good friend to us, helping out on a number of occasions. Hopefully we will still see Gareth at the track. ©Eurodragster.com Design a decal! 25th November: Eurodragster.com News sponsor Adoorablehandles.com is giving Junior Dragster racers the chance to design a new decal, with prizes on offer for the winner. ©Eurodragster.com "The winning design will be seen on all Junior Dragsters entering the Adoorablehandles.com Championship at all five sponsored meetings at Santa Pod in 2007, and on the Adoorablehandles.com website", says Andy of Adoorable handles. "All entrants will receive a special prize and the winner, who will be announced on 5th January 2007, will receive a goodie bag of fantastic items and £50 cash." For instructions on picture sizes, basic requirement and other rules follow the link to the competition from the Home Page at www.adoorablehandles.com. Swift snippets. 25th November: The season of spy pictures is upon us and this picture dropped into our mailbox this afternoon. At time of posting all we have been able to ascertain about this spectacular-looking Jet Bike (click on picture for large version) is that although the picture was pretty obviously taken at Santa Pod Raceway the bike is already on its way out of the country. Stay tuned and as soon as we find out more we'll let you know. ©Eurodragster.com We have already had some offerings for the Christmas Gift Mart which we will be posting here on Eurodragster.com News item on Friday of next week. Companies or individuals offering ideal Christmas presents for racers or race fans please send details to us at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Include a picture if you like and please be sure to get it to us in plenty of time for next Friday. Web site updates. 25th November: UK Junior Dragster racer Matthew Seamarks has launched a Blog at www.gingermanracing.blogspot.com. Matthew tells us that he plans to update the Blog every fortnight. ©Eurodragster.com More than money's worth. 24th November: Robin Jackson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Blueprints For Travel says that guests of Drag Racing USA -The Trip To America enjoyed endless sunshine and racing that was spectacular even by NHRA standards as they witnessed the climax of the NHRA Powerade Championship: The Trip's guests came from various walks of life. A couple were from the racing fraternity, others were spectators. Some were regular followers, others more occasional visitors. One guest recalled seeing Tony Nancy and EJ Potter, the 'Michigan Madman', at the last drag race he had attended. Suffice to say he was impressed by the sport's growth in the intervening years. Only one guest had attended NHRA events before. Most were making first visits to America. Arriving guests were met at the airports by The Trip's host and shepherded in their rental cars to the hotels - helpful enough at Las Vegas, where the journey between airport and Excalibur Hotel was short and straightforward, but a genuine boon to guests flying into Los Angeles and facing a thirty five-mile freeway drive through late rush-hour traffic to the Hilton Anaheim Hotel. Away from the race track, guests had time for sightseeing and shopping in and around both locations, both rather bulging with opportunities. Several guests also chose to visit Bakersfield on the middle weekend to see the Goodguys Vintage Racing Association meet. Guests enjoyed several scheduled events aside from the racing such as dinner in a private suite above Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and a gala at NHRA's Wally Parks Motorsports Museum in the company of such legends as TV Tommy Ivo. At Las Vegas, guests attended the colossal SEMA Show by special arrangement since only two were "automotive business professionals", the official requirement for admission to this immense but strictly administered trade show. At Pomona, the NHRA Museum's Executive Director, Tony Thacker, personally conducted a tour of the famous SO-CAL Speed Shop, for sixty years a fixture at the heart of Californian racing and rodding. ©Eurodragster.com Guests were also invited to enjoy some outstanding unscheduled extras. At both races they were given private tours of the entire Don Schumacher Racing encampment - in and out of the transporters, watching and meeting crewmembers while they worked - including all nine Pro teams currently residing under the Schumacher umbrella. At Las Vegas, guests finished up posing for photos astride Antron Brown's and Angelle Sampey's Pro Stock Bikes. At Pomona, the tour extended beyond Schumacher boundaries and into the pit areas of Erica Enders and Ashley Force. Both young drivers were delighted meet their British visitors. NHRA's leading commentator, Bob Frey, gave tours of the Vegas and Pomona control towers, explaining how the races were conducted and introducing the staff who conduct them. At Las Vegas, guests were invited on to the startline before Sunday's eliminations for a photo session with Chief Starter Rick Stewart and Top Fuel star Doug Herbert, who happened to be passing. The Trip's guests were not one of several groups receiving this special treatment, they were the only group. The Trip's benefits did not just go one way, however. With winning guests from The Trip's Special Prize Draw weekending in his Matco Tools Funny Car pit area, 'Fast Jack' Beckman won his first Pro race at Las Vegas, then clocked the quickest and fastest passes in Funny Car history as runner-up at Pomona. Guests also toured John Force's team headquarters the day before the Pomona Finals began. Force went on to win the race and secure his fourteenth NHRA championship in the process. Just coincidence? Well, some might think so... The Trip To America was presented by Trailfinders, the UK's leading independent travel company, and specialist organiser Blueprints For Travel. Watch Eurodragster.com for more news about a repeat in 2007. Web site updates. 24th November: This week's edition of Drag, Rod and Classic Review magazine at www.drcreview.com contains an interview with John Grubb, owner of Rodline International. Rodline is well known for its GRP early Ford bodies used by rodders and racers, but is perhaps less well known for its ability to turn out turn-key hot rods. The DRC Review team took a trip down to Gloucestershire to find out more and you can read their report in Top Stories. ©Eurodragster.com Jennifer makes Bilsport vote. 23rd November: Christer Gustavsson tells us that his daughter, repeat NDRS Junior Dragster Champion Jennifer, has won another accolade. "Jennifer has been elected Junior Drag Racer of the Year by Bilsport magazine for the second year in a row", says Christer. "This means that she is in the vote for Bilsport's Junior Motor Racer of the Year. "You can vote at www.bilsport.se/bilsportAward.php and on the same page you can also vote for Håkan Nilsson for Motor Racer of the Year". Voting closes on Saturday (25th), we've put in our votes. ©Eurodragster.com Jennifer has now retired from Junior Dragster (To give everyone else a chance? - Ed) and will be racing in Jonas Dantanus' Super Street Challenger in 2007. "The car is being updated for Jennifer right now and she plans to contest as many races as possible next season", says Christer. Swift snippets. 23rd November: Congratulations to UK NFAA racer Paul Wratten and partner Sonya on the birth of their daughter Isabel. Charlie Draper tells us that Isabel arrived at lunchtime on Monday and came in at 8 lb 3oz. Sonya came home with Isabel yesterday and doubtless Paul has already found another use for Berryman's Green Stuff. ©Eurodragster.com Voting for this year's Santa Pod Racers Club Perpetual Awards will commence here on Eurodragster.com next Monday (27th November). The first category will be Best Appearing Car. Auto Club NHRA Finals and Banquet report. 23rd November: The last of Roger's reports from his racing trip to the USA covers the Auto Club NHRA Finals, which took place at Pomona last week, and the subsequent Banquet and presentation to the NHRA Powerade Champions. As you can see at right, Roger also found that as soon as he joined the Eurodragster.com staff the trophies started arriving. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to view Roger's report and pictures, or click on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Magazine update. 23rd November: Issue 46 of American Gasser Wars has just hit the magazine shelves at Graham Rennie's American Auto Mags, writes Jerry Cookson. AGW is packed with a huge selection of photo reports with all the action from the 2006 Willys Home Run and Mission Raceways Old Time Drags, features about the James Boys '33 Willys four-door sedan, Spanky Goodin's Little Rascal Thames, Tom McHenry's Blast from the Past '56 Chevy, a further instalment in the Hot Rodder Chronicles and more. To order your copy, E-Mail graham@americanautomags.com. ©Eurodragster.com Round 6 of the Real Steel Street Eliminator series at Shakespeare County Raceway's Open Sports Nationals gets the centre page treatment in the December issue of American Car World together with a feature on Alan Simms' '66 Vauxhall Cresta. Photo reports include Americana 26, NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals plus features about Chris York's Saleen S281 and Tony Pitt's Corvette Sting Ray Racer. The December issue is available at all leading high street news outlets priced at £3.60. Goodguys Fuel and Gas Finals report. 22nd November: Next up in Roger's accounts from his recent racing trip to the USA are his report and pictures from the Goodguys Fuel and Gas Finals which took place at Bakersfield's Auto Club Famoso Raceway at the start of this month. ©Eurodragster.com Click here to view Roger's report and pictures, or click on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Coming soon will be Roger's report and pictures from the NHRA Finals at Pomona and the subsequent NHRA Banquet and presentation of the 2006 Powerade Champions. Swift snippets. 22nd November: If you were tuned in on 17th November you will recall that Luke Bennett wondered what dad Frank's 7.11 would have been if his NFAA altered had been running in better air. "I have had a few E-Mails from very reliable people in the know and they reckon the run was about a 6.74 at 1500 feet", says Luke. "I can't wait till next year - if we don't run a six I'm going to eat the car." ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 22nd November: The web site of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Power Race Graphics has been treated to a mini update. "I have posted a new business logo and more of PRG‘s own design examples to wrap up the year", says Darren West. "New paint scheme designs for customers from Nostalgia Funny Car, Super Modified, Junior Dragster and Super Pro ET will be revealed early in 2007!". Check it out at www.powerracegraphics.com. ©Eurodragster.com Dates and DVDs. 21st November: Santa Pod Raceway's Marketing Executive Joanna Harris tells us that SPR's 2007 calendar is taking shape. "More amazing events are being added to ensure another jam-packed season of exhilarating motorsport at Santa Pod Raceway", says Jo. "Here are the dates for some of our events to make sure that you've all got them in your diaries in plenty of time (Time off work already booked - Ed): Easter Thunderball: 6th - 9th April FIA Main Event: 25th - 28th May SPRC Summernationals: 16th - 17th June JapShow: 23rd - 24th June BugJam 21: 20th - 22nd July Ultimate Street Car: 3rd - 5th August FIA European Finals: 6th - 9th September UK National Finals: 29th - 30th September JapShow Finale: 6th - 7th October Flame and Thunder Show: Saturday 3rd November "A full list of all calendar dates for Santa Pod Raceways 2007 season will be coming shortly. But for now just make sure you've got all of the above events marked in your diary!" ©Eurodragster.com Jo also tells us that Santa Pod are now shipping the official 2006 FIA and FIM/UEM European Championship review DVDs. This year the two DVDs come in the one package. The FIA DVD, featuring Top Fuel Dragster, Top Methanol Dragster, Top Methanol Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Modified, comes in at no less than 200 minutes and the FIM/UEM DVD, featuring Top Fuel Bike, Supertwin and Pro Stock Bike, at 90 minutes. Also featured are out-takes not shown in the broadcast versions. As a bonus the first five hundred orders will be shipped with a free copy of SPR's 2006 Fan Guide which includes information about the drag strip, class-by-class information about racers and records held and much more The two-disc set of European Championship DVDs costs £24.99 plus postage and packing and can be ordered by calling Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 or by printing off an order form from Santa Pod's web site at www.santapod.com and mailing it to the office. If you need anything, just ask... 21st November: Carmel Turner of UK Top Methanol dragster team Turner Motorsport has been in touch touch to ask us to say thank you to everyone who responded to their recent appeal for extra crew for 2007. ©Eurodragster.com "We are in the process of interviewing as we speak, and have been impressed by the people we have seen so far, though we do still have more to see yet", says Carmel. "We hope to have the new crew positions sorted out as soon as possible so that we can get everyone up to speed for the Easter Thunderball, which sounds a long way away but tends to creep up very quickly. "Thanks again to Eurodragster for making the job of finding people so much easier, the response has been fantastic". We would like to add a big Thank You to our readers for coming up trumps yet again. Swift snippets. 21st November: Our good friend John Hackney got in touch to ask if we had seen what was formerly John Whitmore's Daimler-powered dragster on sale on E-Bay. We hadn't, but we have now. You can check out the successor to Drag'n'Fly and maybe even purchase it at a very reasonable £1000 by clicking here. Childish and inappropriate chopper jokes sprang immediately to your News Editor's mind when former Top Fuel Dragster racer Viveca Averstedt got in touch from Florida to show us her bike, which husband Håkan has just finished. The beautiful bike (right) includes anodised fittings from Viveca's Fuel car. "Honey, it's not a Top Fueller, but..." Viveca quoted Håkan as saying. Håkan is now working on a new project which Viveca says will be "Different from the average bike". ©Eurodragster.com UK Supertwin Fuel racer Ian Turburville has managed to run a six-second pass on Mister Spokehead courtesy of a typo in the ACU's magazine Sport Moto. "I thought it would be harder than that to run a six", quipped Ian, "but it seems that all it takes is a typo from the sport's governing body! There is a great report on Junior Drag Bike, with a nice picture of Scott Collier and Jake Carruthers, followed by a brief round-up of the 2006 season which clearly states that I went 6.737/195.66! Better watch out Roel! I am hoping for a five in 2007 and will be plying Dick Parnham with Jack Daniels to ensure this achievement!" Following its success last year, we will again be running a Christmas Gift Mart on Eurodragster.com News this year. We plan to post this news item on Friday of next week, 1st December. Companies or individuals offering ideal Christmas presents for racers or race fans please send details to us at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Include a picture if you like and please be sure to get it to us in plenty of time for next Friday. Pat Ginn has asked us to say a big Thank You to Les and Lin Harris and all of the NAST members who donated to the Pat Ginn Appeal via the raffle at their AGM. "Thanks for making a cake Lin, if it is anything like you it will be lovely" says Pat. "Just to keep everyone informed, we should have had the results back from the hospital yesterday but now we have been told it will be Thursday. It seems like a lifetime away, all I want to do is get on with things." Hardcore Street DVD review. 21st November: Colin Lazenby said that any one of six to eight cars could win the 2006 Real Steel Street Eliminator Championship, and while the Championship was not quite that tight, there was plenty of action and new contestants to make this year a vintage one for the class. The story of the Championship is admirably told in the Hardcore Street DVD from Power Point Communications. The year starts at Xtreme Wheels where Ian Jackson's Corvette with twin turbo power was one of the highlights of the show. Sadly, Ian did not make it to the track during 2006 and interviews with other twin turbo runners Andy Frost and Steve ‘Splinter' Nash made it clear that the effort and problems with running such a combination are tremendous. At a windy Shakespeare County there were débuts from Roy Tucker in his beautiful blown red Corvette and eventual Championship runner-up John Walden in his Mk 3 Cortina. Roy acquired his rolling chassis from the Racing Junk web site whereas in contrast James Walden, Hairy John's son and Crew Chief explained that the car had been owned by his grandfather. The Fat Boys were looking strong with a billet crank, four bolt mains and a new cam oiling system. Unfortunately for them, the crank was of slightly different dimensions to their previous one, which resulted in a number of bent valves. Colin Lazenby came away last man standing with a new mph record at 185.60. A segment before the Thunderball shows Andy Frost at Altiss Engineering with Red Victor 1 undergoing its turbo conversion, more of a complete drivetrain rebuild as only the rear axle remained unchanged at the end of the work. Particularly difficult was the welding of the headers which alone took three weeks' solid and careful work, as it was necessary to avoid fouling other components. This section and a later dyno section from Peter Knight's workshop show vividly the risks in developing this combination. The rewards were to come with a superlative 7.8 at the Euro Finals - not running in the class, but included on the DVD nevertheless. At the Easter Thunderball Bob Doignie débuted his Celica and John Sleath appeared and ran strongly to run the class's first seven second time. Jerry Charles talked about overcoming his transmission problems in 2005 due to a missing component and experienced a wild ride away from the start line. ©Eurodragster.com The season was definitely a controversial one and Colin Lazenby expressed his views forthrightly on Drag Radial tyres. These were allowed in on a provisional basis for 2006 and have now been excluded for 2007 in favour of the block treaded tyres that the class has run since its inception. Back at SCR, Al Simms returned with Big Block Chevy power in place of the previous Rover motor. Highlights of the cruise are shown as well as the exciting final between Colin Lazenby and Ian Hook. Then on to the SPRC Summer Nationals, which saw the competition début of Jason Weir's beautiful Plymouth Suburban and the return of Alex McIntosh. The final was a classic between Splinter and the Fat Boys. Footage is shown on the road with Hairy John, at Leuchars RAF base for the race between Colin Lazenby's Chevy 210 and a No. 56 Squadron Tornado Jet. At Bug Jam, Wilf Stacey joins the fray. The last two rounds of the Championship were rained out but at the Open Sport Nationals not even emergency root canal surgery and a blown motor could prevent Ian Hook looking like 2006's champion. And then at the National Finals, Steve Pateman, George Scanlon and Matt Wright appear as a bonus, bringing the overall car count up to almost twenty as Ron Haslett ran his first nine. All in all this is a hugely enjoyable account of one of the UK's most popular and competitive drag racing classes. Paul Venners is really in his element with the interviews and commentary, and the impeccable standard of production is maintained. Hardcore Street is available from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus £1.50 postage and packing. Web site updates. 21st November: Carl Burton has been in touch to let us know that Pro ET class sponsor Inkwell Printing has now posted the promised page of information about their Hero Card services. Check it out at www.inkwellprinting.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Were you drooling outside London? 20th November: Brian Taylor has been in touch with another appeal for help as he continues work on his forthcoming book Crazy Horses, which will chart the history of drag racing in the UK. "It is generally accepted that in the late 1950s and early 1960s it was the clubs based in the London suburbs that provided the roots of hot-rodding and drag racing in the UK", says Brian. "I can't believe that other cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle etc did not have similar groups of budding hot-rodders drooling over copies of Hot Rod magazine, listening to American country and pop songs featuring hot-rodding or watching TV and films of the West Coast culture. What I need is details." If that was you doing the drooling, or if you have any information about Clubs outside London in those days, then please drop Brian a line at brian@petrolhead.vianw.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Brian tells us that he had no less than thirty offers of help after last week's appeal for a reference book. Thanks to everyone who responded, we knew you wouldn't let us down. Las Vegas NHRA Nationals report. 20th November: Roger recently returned from the USA where he attended the SEMA Show, the Goodguys Fuel and Gas Finals, and two last two events on the NHRA Powerade Tour. When he got home he found to his chagrin (and ours - Ed) that the several reports and pictures which he had taken a lot of time and effort to send us from the USA never found their way to the Eurodragster.com mailbox. ©Eurodragster.com Despite the gremlins' best attempts to prevent it we are now able to bring you the first of Roger's reports, from the AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA National which took place at The Strip at Las Vegas at the end of October. Click here to view Roger's report and pictures, or click on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Roger's other reports will follow in due course. Cooke's Tour. 19th November: Rick Cooke has been reflecting on the highs and lows of running a low eight second Super Pro dragster this year, and what might have been if he ran all championship rounds. What a fantastic attempt at running my first almost full season. We ended up 8th in the national championship, 8th in the SPRC championship and 4th in the Ultimate Power Championship and we missed the first round. Who knows what the outcome would have been if we had attended it? Unfortunately our performance did come at a cost; we chewed two lots of engine bearings, which I traced to an oil filter flow problem. I also had problems with a fuel pump and regulator - thank you to Pat and Steve Talbot and Dave Cherrett for lending me their spares. We also broke the water pump and damaged the tail end of the transmission, still as we all know if you don't break it you're not trying hard enough. I would have liked to end the season with my first 7, but I was happy with a new PB of 8.13. I am not going to accept all the credit for this season's hard work; I am just the driver and the cheque writer. Most of it is down to my good friend and crew chief Spencer Tramm. What can I say - this guy deserves a medal. He has cancelled racing his own car to help me out, supplied a tow vehicle and crew, and worked at the same time for Santa Pod pairing the Pro Mods in the fire up road! Top bloke, thanks mate. Also I would like to say a big thank you to Kirstie, Ady, Adel & Steve, Andy, Barney, Hauser racing, WRE, ICE, Kev at RCCS, speed flow, Lee at L A Racing & Gloucestershire MG Centre. Also I would like to thank all the marshals and track crew at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway for keeping me safe during 2006 and Eurodragster.com for your hard work and dedication to drag racing (Thank you kindly! - stand-in News Ed). Have a great Christmas; if anyone has got any unwanted presents they want to give away to a good home, a top fueler would be nice or a blower will do for now - see you all in 2007. Web Site Updates. 19th November: In the latest entry in his exclusive Racer Blog, Dutch Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon describes some of the extraordinary events that he witnessed at last weekend's Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. You can read Lex's Blog by clicking here or by clicking on the Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Swift Snippets. 19th November: The December issue of Custom Car Magazine includes a three page report on Santa Pod's FIA European Finals by Mark Gredzinski and two page summaries of events at Shakespeare County's Hot Rod Drags and the California Hot Rod Reunion. As well as the usual hot rod and custom features, editor Dave Biggadyke says intriguingly that, as of the February 2007 issue, "plans have been formulated to ensure that CC will be bringing you the best drag racing coverage ever. Not just event coverage but so much more besides". Custom Car is available from all good newsagents, priced at £3.30. More noise from Beardy Bloke. 18th November: Congratulations to Supertwin Gas racer Les Harris who was elected Chair of the UK's National Association of Supertwins at their AGM last week, and to Barrie Gregory who was voted Vice Chair. The NAST AGM also hosted a raffle for the Pat Ginn Appeal. "Viv Gregory's boss donated a Teng toolbox", says Beardy Bloke. "Stadium brought along goodie bags with toy Harleys and T-Shirts, Lin made a cake, and we sold bumper car tokens - you know Supertwin racers and their bumper cars. We raised £162 for Pat's Appeal." ©Eurodragster.com Meanwhile Les is set to return an old favourite to the track and is putting together a unique new machine as well as changing the look of his nine-second Supertwin Gas Bike. "I'm bringing the Black Racer back out", says Les. "I have the ninety cubic inch engine on my bench at the moment. I will bring it out and have a play occasionally. My Top Gas bike will look totally different next year, it will have new carbon fibre streamlining. No-one else has done it so I thought I'd try it. "I've also made a start on a bike powered by a Polaris snowmobile engine sourced for us by Max Croot. It's a 900 cc two-stroke twin which makes 160 horsepower from stock or up to 300 horsepower with a turbo kit. I've started work on a Top Gas frame for it. The engine accelerates very quickly and should make a lot of noise, and we think it should run eights." Swift snippets. 18th November: Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV has had the Drachten Super Pro ET Tour T-Shirts reprinted and is offering them to racers, crew and other interested parties. "The quality 100% cotton Ts are black and come in L, XL and XXL", says Derek. "The first twenty are available for £15 each plus postage, with 50% of proceeds going to the NSPCC. We can get others if these all sell and I shall advise of costs and availability once I know numbers". If you are interested then please E-Mail your name, size and address to derek@goldrv.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Andy of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Adoorablehandles.com has been in touch to explain that the promised Junior Dragster contest on the web site has been postponed until Tuesday due to flooding in his shop. Stay tuned and when the contest launches it'll be right here. Ian Turburville is now taking orders for the latest batch of Crew Chief fold-down workbenches. "The Crew Chief work bench is a one-off design, made from 3mm polished aircraft quality aluminium", says Turbo. "When being used is very robust and strong but folds away for easy transportation. The surface area is 180 cm x 44 cm, height 90 cm, and when folded is 60 cm wide. Weight is 15 Kg. The price is £259.00 including VAT. More details at www.turboville.com. Web site updates. 18th November: The European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu has been updated with gossip from the Finnish Pro Mod scene and a shot of a new car to be driven by Sofia Sonesson. ©Eurodragster.com Sharkman has unloaded the memory card of the compact camera which he kept slung on his belt all season and has posted the results on his web site at www.topendtales.com. Grab shots, candid shots, pictures of friends and pictures of various skies all feature this year. Whilst there don't miss Sharkman's other recent gallery You don't just shoot drag racing?. All change! 17th November: Luke Bennett tells us that we will be looking at a different Bennett Racing team in 2007 as the team's blown-alcohol altered will be given a makeover and their Wild Bunch altered replaced. "The old man (Frank, driver - Ed) and I had a long, long chat the other night and a lot of things are going to be changing for next year", says Luke. "We will have a new body, new paint, repainted chassis, new fuel tank, maybe a new front wing, a freshened engine with real pistons in rather than the paperweights in there at the moment with 90% leakdown because of the valve trouble earlier this year. ©Eurodragster.com "I will hopefully have sold my 23T and I am currently sorting out the purchase of an NHRA chromoly chassis in the USA. So we have a lot on to say the least." The Bennett Racing web site at www.bennettracing.co.uk has been updated with a video clip of Frank Bennett's quickest pass this season. "The 7.11 was at 3959 feet corrected altitude and 34 degrees!", says Luke. "Does anyone know what that would have been at 1500 feet?" Swift snippets. 17th November: Readers who keep abreast with US drag racing can't have failed to notice the storm brewing over nitro supply as Angus Chemical have announced that they will no longer distribute nitro for racing. Antony Billinton of G-Max tells us that European racers will be fine. "G-Max will continue to supply the drag racing market with no problem as it has done for the past forty years", says Antony. "There has been worse turbulence than this before and we have never let any racer go short. No Fear, G-Max is here!". We have asked our Home and News sponsor VP Racing Fuels for their thoughts, stay tuned. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 17th November: Our good friend Alan Currans of the excellent Acceleration Archive has been in touch with a little something to cheer up readers in these dismal days with no racing to look forward to for months. "The Paranoia Competition Altered was, and still is, one of the great cars in UK drag racing", says Alan. "Powered by that stalwart of 1970s Comp Altered racing the straight six Jaguar engine, it was developed over a number of years to become the pre-eminent car in its class in terms of appearance and, of course, performance. I am pleased to announce that the first part of the story of this famous car can now be told. It has been written by Steve Williams who crewed on the car between 1975 and 1984, and Alan Loten who co-owned and drove Paranoia between 1974 and 1984. You can access this fascinating article under Feature Articles from the Site Map at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk." ©Eurodragster.com If you want further proof that Ford is building some exciting cars at the moment, you should read the road test of the Shelby Mustang GT500 this week on the Drag, Rod and Classic Review at www.drcreview.com says Editor Andrew Kirk. "It costs the equivalent of £23,000 in the US, and yet will out-accelerate a £164,000 Aston Martin Vanquish to 60 mph. How daft is that? The Mustang is a whole lot more practical, too. It's not often that you see the name Volvo mentioned on the DRCreview web site, but if Leif Tufvesson, a former employee of the Swedish car manufacturer, keeps cranking out hot rods like his new Caresto V8 Speedster, then we may have to revise our views. Feast your eyes on this beauty in the Headlines news section and decide for yourself. Finally this week, Top Gear presenter James May has just released a new car quiz DVD, and you can win a copy in our competition detailed in New to You." Turners down the mine shaft. 16th November: We are indebted to Darren Gould of UK Top Methanol Dragster team Turner Motorsport for forwarding us Crew Chief Steve Turner's account of the team's day at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway: It turned out to be a crisp, cold day just as the weathermen forecast (for a change). But it was a good meeting, with lots of new faces being introduced to drag racing, which can only be a good thing. I think the term "mine shaft conditions" would have been apt for what we saw on the weather station first thing Saturday morning, we had clear blue skys and no chance for rain. Our first run was over in 2.8 seconds, as that's when the blower belt broke, splitting into two halfs lenghways with the detached half cutting the mag wires and killing the engine instantly. The other half of the belt stayed on the engine. Hence the timeslip of 7.95/101. With the car turned around, we towed down in the dark for the second run, the track temperature was now five degrees, which by all accounts doesn't make for the best traction. Rob left the line at very low launch rpms to get the car moving and had to pedal at about 330 feet to get it back in the groove, a 6.37/194 being a very respectable result in those conditions. It was good to hear that Tony Baker required no treatment after his nasty fire, other than being checked over by the medical crew. We hope everyone enjoyed the racing and fireworks, and had a good day, Thanks for your support, and also that of our sponsors over the season. ©Eurodragster.com Nitro Warriors 2006 DVD review. 16th November: Fronted up by a sequence of wild burnouts, Nitro Warriors shows the second year of running of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association in an action-packed one hour and forty five minutes. Produced and filmed by David Coleman and Helen Todd of Power Point Communications, it is a memorable account of some of the wildest-looking - and handling - cars around drag racing in the UK. The class grew dramatically during the 2005-6 layoff and with seven rounds of racing this year, it has quickly became a mainstay of the domestic calendar. A visit to Frank Griffin's workshop and interviews with Ollie Burns and Dave May reveal the effort in fabricating and painting the new Chaos Topolino from scratch in a very short time. The whole crew, including driver John Wright, are in silent awe as the unpainted body is carefully lowered on the new chassis. At the Easter Thunderball we see the beautiful Havoc altered making its début with Nick Davies at the wheel with its distinctive shotgun injector, which we learn had to be fitted instead of the Enderle barndoor type which obscured Nick's visibility. Jim Usher's licensing passes are shown; how incredible for him these were, his very first experience on a drag strip. Bob Glassup then reveals plans for daughter Holley to eventually drive the Xtreme Racing Topolino. The twelve runners are all shown including Tony Betts' debut in Venom and a welcome return for Dave Grabham in Freddy's Revenge. At the SPRC Summernationals we see the motor-destroying burnout of Wendy Baker's Time Warp and Tony Betts' 6.702/204.74, which was the NFAA record at the end of the year. There were débuts as well from the Wratten brothers and Joe Bond. ©Eurodragster.com When the sun was shining, its glinting off the curves of these cars makes for spectacular shots. Racing was also very close as pairings were based on parity, and Championship points for burnouts makes for some glorious tyre-frying action. On-board shots and remote Christmas tree and finish line cameras give plenty of perspective too. A novel aspect is the video diary of Jim Usher and Fay Radcliffe's trip to Gainesville to take a Super Comp course at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School. Action from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals includes Johnny 'Mental' Hall's fiery run in his nitro slingshot alongside Alec Coe's blown front-motored digger. Another bonus is some Gasser Circus action from the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County in September. The NFAA is a class that has been specially designed for British economic and track conditions, with the accent on spectacle and show rather than ultimate cost. Congratulations go to repeat champion Clayton Round and to class organiser and sponsor Lawrie Gatehouse. The quality of the DVD production is up to the usual high standards of Power Point with enthusiastic commentary from Martin Bennett. The must-see latest instalment of British drag racing's latest success story, Nitro Warriors 2006, is available from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus £1.50 postage and packing. Street Eliminator tyre issue settled. 15th November: Colin Lazenby tells us that there was a good turnout of Real Steel Street Eliminator racers at their Annual General Meeting in Stafford on Sunday. Amongst other issues, the racers agreed on the choice of tyres which was a contentious subject during the 2006 season. "Whilst a number of smaller rule changes were evident, the hot topic was always going to be the class choice of tyre", says Colin. "This was debated to a satisfactory conclusion with the much-appreciated input of Phil Evans, the MSA's head honcho for drag racing who chairs meeting of the UK Drag Racing Technical Committee meetings several times a year and who holds a tremendous position of respect with all racers. In effect, the class will now revert to the 2005 rule book which was written prior to the Mickey Thompson Drag Radial tyre being permitted. This particular tyre was always under review for this year and given the perceived performance increases available, it was widely believed it should be outlawed for 2007. The spirit of the class rules remains intact, and together we can now continue to gain recognition for what we achieve with fully street-legal cars on pump gas, treaded tyres, tax, MOT, Insurance and that damned twenty five mile qualifying Cruise. ©Eurodragster.com "Expect to see a number of new cars in 2007, with a whole load of differing power plants. More turbo cars, more Procharger cars and, not to be outdone, more nitrous-assisted cars - the rumours are that at least two old favourites are also due to return in 2007. Hell, maybe they've been teased back given the outrageous performances laid down by one Andy Frost and his twin turbo Vauxhall Victor. Better look over your shoulder now Frosty, there is at least a handful of cars just queuing up to kick your butt in 2007. Dave and Helen of Power Point Communications have once again produced the season DVD, which is now available, and much better than the DVD which covers the Super Mods (Eurodragster.com review forthcoming - Ed). This year the front cover features the Championship-winning '34 Ford hot rod. Ian Hook and the FB Racing team have been in the class almost since inception, theirs is a truly deserving win for 2006. Well done boys. The 2007 Championship dates have been confirmed and mirror those of our Super Mod cousins: 6th-9th April: Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway 28th-29th April: Big Bang, Santa Pod Raceway 5th-7th May: Shakespeare County Raceway 16th-17th June: SPRC Summernationals, Santa Pod Raceway 20th-22nd July: Bug Jam, Santa Pod Raceway 25th-27th August: Shakespeare County Raceway 29th-30th September: UK National Finals, Santa Pod Raceway Taylor seeks reference. 15th November: Brian Taylor has been in touch with an appeal for help as he continues work on his forthcoming book Crazy Horses, which will chart the history of drag racing in the UK. "I'm trying to locate a copy of Steven Myatt's book Quarter Mile - the drag racing book for spectators and competitors which was published many years ago", says Brian. "It was published by Motor Racing Publications Ltd and went out of print many years ago. Its ISBN number was 0 900549 65 3. I would like to add it to my references. Maybe someone out in Eurodragsterland has a copy?". Our readers usually come up trumps; if you can assist Brian then please drop him a line at brian@petrolhead.vianw.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Brian also says that he has tracked down Gerry Belton, one of the real pioneers of drag racing. "Gerry worked for Sidney Allard and was PRO and commentator for both the 1964 and 1965 Dragfests. Dennis Priddle will tell you that it was Gerry's voice announcing Buddy Cortines' 200 mph run at Woodvale in 1965 that was the deciding factor in Dennis wanting to become a fuel dragster pilot. Gerry has some great stories to tell and lots of information about those early days that he's going to release for the book - much of it never previously published. "I feel very privileged and a little humbled to be in the position of accessing these people and logging their stories. This is already becoming one of the most satisfying and enjoyable tasks I've ever undertaken. I'll let you know who else I've found shortly." Swift snippets. 15th November: UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman has shared with us this picture, sent to him by Nitro Addict Adonis, of his Double Density altered on final approach at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. "I've been told by a pilot friend that he would not have signed my licence as I should be landing closer to the centre of the runway", says Sam. "I told him it was the crowd's fault as they all sighed with relief at the same time and that's what blew me off course." ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars has opened a shop on E-Bay. "We're selling brackets and other small chassis parts that we buy in bulk for the workshop, other commonly-used parts and of course the ever popular Ringers Gloves", says Bob Roberts. "We will be adding more items to the shop over the coming months. By the way, Ringers Gloves make great presents for gardeners: my wife has destruction-tested a pair this year and she reports that they are excellent". You can access the shop from the ARRC web site at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk. Top Fuel Dragster racers and crew who took part in the Top Fuel Exhibition in Bahrain can now apply for their promised copies of Tog's Photo CD from the event. The CD, which is free to anyone who was with the Top Fuel teams in Bahrain, features photographs in both publication and quick-view quality. For your copy, please E-Mail your name and postal address and identify the car on which you were working to eurodragster.com@btinternet.com. Copies of the Photo CD are also available at a small fee to those who were not in Bahrain; please E-Mail the above address for details. Web site updates. 15th November: The News page of the very tidy official web site of the UK's Junior Drag Bike racers at www.juniordragbike.co.uk has been updated with a 2006 Season Review and action photos of the contenders in their closely-fought Championship. Nostalgia fans will be pleased to read that our good friend Jon Spoard has added a discussion forum to his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site at www.ukdrn.co.uk. "There is now a chance for people to chat about the old days", says Jon. "There is also a category for people to try to find lost contacts, as well as a Drag Racing Classifieds category. I also have the UK's drag racing guru Nick Pettitt on board, Nick will try to help people with the history of their cars. There is also a chance to discuss the sport as it is today. I hope people will find this an interesting and helpful addition to the UKDRN web site." ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog has finally found the time to finish the outstanding piece of Event Coverage from the recent Bahrain Drag Racing Festival, namely the photo gallery of the local racing scene in Bahrain. You can check out the Local scene gallery by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting Top Fuel Exhibition, Bahrain International Circuit for 2006. Amato has fun. 13th November: UK Pro ET racer Vic Amato says that he has had a lot of fun this season with his Inabit Mustang. "We've had no breakages", says Vic. "In our first full year in Pro ET the hope was to finish in the top ten. With help from my Crew Chief Dave 'Huff' Barlow - the 'huff' is what he gets with me when I cherry-pick, he has had the huff with me a lot this year - we managed #13 in the National Championship and #9 in the Santa Pod Racers Club Championship. Dave and I were delighted. ©Eurodragster.com "A big Thank You to all the guys and girls who make up the Santa Pod team, from the tower to fire crew and start line. I don't take for granted their efforts to help me have fun. To all my new friends in the pits, it has been great to meet such a nice bunch of racers and I look forward to seeing them all next year. Thanks to all at Eurodragster for their great work on reporting on our fun sport with such spirit and dedication (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Happy Christmas to you all and a safe new year. "Remember fast is fun and you can't have too much fun." Super Modified update. 13th November: The UK's Super Modified Racers association held their Annual General Meeting at Tewin Memorial Hall yesterday (Sunday), writes Andy Kirk: All teams currently running in Super Modified were represented and it was agreed unanimously that the rules would remain unchanged for the 2007 season. The 2007 Super Modified Championship will be contested at the following meetings: 6th-9th April: Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway 28th-29th April: Big Bang, Santa Pod Raceway 5th-7th May: Shakespeare County Raceway Subject to confirmation 16th-17th June: SPRC Summernationals, Santa Pod Raceway 20th-22nd July: Bug Jam, Santa Pod Raceway 25th-27th August: Shakespeare County Raceway Subject to confirmation 29th-30th September: UK National Finals, Santa Pod Raceway ©Eurodragster.com SMRA officials voted in by the membership were: Secretary (returning): Tina Gibbs Treasurer (returning): Nick Davies Chairman (succeeding Tim Garlick): Andy Kirk All SMRA members would like to thank Tim Garlick for his hard work and dedication at the helm of Super Modified since its inception. Finally all Super Modified racers would like to thank Andy Robinson Race Cars and Centerline Wheels for their much-valued support during the 2006 season as well as Powerpoint Communications for the excellent coverage. We would also like to welcome Obsession Motorsports and Heliarc Technology on board for 2007. More information on Super Modified and our sponsors will be available shortly at www.supermodified.co.uk. Swift snippets. 13th November: Real Steel Street Eliminator Secretary Ann-Marie Lazenby has been in touch with a reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday 14th) is the final deadline to advise final numbers for the RSSE Awards Evening in Cheltenham on 25th November. Ann-Marie has asked all attendees who have not yet purchased tickets to contact her at lazenbyam@btinternet.com before tomorrow afternoon to enable her to advise final numbers to the hotel by their deadline later in the day. ©Eurodragster.com Super Mod Wars 2006 DVD review. 13th November: The DVD Super Mod Wars 2006 is dedicated to the memory of Terry Gibbs, whose love and dedication to British drag racing helped to make it what it is today. The concept of Super Mod as the fastest doorslammer racing in the UK has come of age. As many know, the concept of the class is heads-up nitrous doorslammers, with greater limitations on specifications than Pro Mod to keep costs in check; it's proved a highly-successful formula and has really matured in its fourth year, with larger fields as more drivers get attracted. The 2006 DVD is 1 hour 35 minutes giving the sort of insight into running in this class that you can only usually get from being a team member. After a brief preview at Xtreme Wheels Internationals, Rob Smallworth is interviewed at ICE Automotive's dyno facility at their Silverstone base. At the beginning of the season, Rob saw himself as playing catch-up (which belies his eventual runner-up position in the Championship) and makes use of the ICE dyno to help give him confidence that any potential engine issues, for instance crankcase pressure, are identified and dealt with before reaching the track. Ian Marshall speaks about his upgrades to the Highlander Camaro at Webster Race Engineering. Machine shop footage taken at WRE shows the engineering expertise applied by Jon Webster in fabricating new headers. Andy Kirk of the Rat Fink Camaro team explains the changes consequent on a new hood scoop and freshening the motor. Kev Perkins of eventual Championship winners Ellis Racing also describes the strange incident at Shakespeare County Raceway when the door blew off after the burnout. There are equally insightful interviews with every class member. ©Eurodragster.com The DVD has plenty of action. Every run is included, even Paul Mander's observed runs at the Easter Thunderball. Graphics are extremely clear and accurate, although the viewer interested in seeing the Championship points will need to look to Eurodragster.com. The footage includes some excellent shots from the Santa Pod control tower and the VIP areas of both tracks. In car-shots from Tim Garlick and Rob Smallworth show how busy the driver is during a run, not just shifting but also pulling the 'chute, and shutting off the electrics and fuel after the finish line. Paul Venners is the commentator and does most of the interviews as well giving nice continuity to the coverage. There is bonus coverage of the MSA Top Methanol Championship round at the Easter Thunderball including interviews with Steph Milam which give a driver's view into a run in a TMFC and the bitter-sweet feeling of breaking parts on a personal best run. Some footage from the Nitro Warriors DVD showing Nostalgia Fuel Altereds is included too. In summary, Super Mod Wars is an excellent view of a class that is close and friendly, yet hard-fought. Produced by Power Point Communications (UK) Ltd, it's available from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus £1.50 postage and packing. Web site updates. 13th November: Zane Llewellyn has updated the Bristol Doorslammers page of the ZaNNetec Motorsports web site with a short review of the Bristol racers' 2006 season and a few snippets of info about their winter updates. Check it out at www.zannetec.com. ©Eurodragster.com Here comes the second generation... 12th November: It was a dream come true for Bradley Lazenby at last Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway as he spent the day in Santa Pod Racers Club's Junior Stock Dragster. If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News on 3rd November you will remember that UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby and wife Ann-Marie had no intention of telling Bradley about his drive until the last moment, and Colin says that they did indeed keep it a secret that long. "We told Bradley as we left the Ibis Hotel in Wellingborough on Saturday morning", says Colin. "The minute we told him, he started with Twenty Questions but his mischievous little face was a picture. When we arrived at the track we had to find Ian Marshall, who was on double duty teaching Bradley and testing his Super Modified Camaro. Bradley's excitment soon changed when the realisation of his first-ever ride eventually sunk in. Bradley's godparent and fellow Super Modified hero Timmy Garlick helped to allay the remainder of Brad's fears, at which point we sensibly backed off. ©Eurodragster.com "Seeing Bradley race for the first time was a moving experience. Ian was just brilliant, giving Bradley plenty of time to get used to the car before letting him loose on the track. Thank goodness Bradley didn't notice the size of the crowd, which was at least as big as it was at the FIA European Finals, otherwise it may have fazed him. Thankfully he didn't. "Bradley made four solo runs on Saturday, and another two at the Run What You Brung on Sunday. When he made his seventh and penultimate run he was paired up with older boy who had hired Santa Pod Raceway's Junior Dragster. Bradley only just made it the stripe first. On his eighth and final Ian Marshall had clearly put a meltdown tune-up in Bradley's car and he made his quickest lap of the weekend at 15.7. His delighted Mum said afterwards "I swear I could see daylight under the front wheels on that run". We made our long journey home fully satisfied with the weekend's results." Bradley's racing career seems to be coming together as we understand that Colin's fellow Street Eliminator racer Ray Comer has privately offered Bradley garage space for his Junior Dragster should he have one. Colin was heard to say "I'll get you Comer"... Car-swapping with the Juniors. 12th November: Andy of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Adoorablehandles.com tells us that UK Junior Dragster racer Michael Herron finally had his leg operation on Tuesday and that he is doing well. "Michael had his op in the morning and was sitting up in bed by 1:00 pm", says Andy. "He has a cast on his left leeg from the foot to below the knee which he will be wearing for eight weeks. So no driving for him, just as well the season has finished! Michael was born with an in-turned foot and has had operations to bring his foot round and up to a normal position. This op was to develop a heel and lengthen his foot, the doctors say everything went well and that this should be the last one. Michael is now up and around on crutches and should be back at school next week. You can E-Mail him at mickey@adoorablehandles.com." The delay in Michael's operation meant that he could run at the Run What You Brung at Santa Pod last week with brother Andrew and five other Junior Dragster racers. Andy tells us that the traditional end-season car-swapping went on. "Michael was in Andrew's car and ran 13.9/45 with a 0.026 light", says Andy. "Andrew was in Charlotte Watts' car and did his first burnout up to the lights, spun off the line and ran a 10.9/57 with a 0.045 light. This car is up for sale, see the Swap Meet. Then Charlotte got in her brother Tom's car and ran a 8.7/75 with a 0.047 light. After all this there were three happy and beaming young people! Everyone had a great time, thanks to the Watts family for the use of their car." ©Eurodragster.com As previously reported here on Eurodragster.com News the Watts family have acquired the Apple County Cannon altered. Tom is retiring from Junior Dragster at the age of eighteen and he will be spending 2007 helping dad Martin to put the car together. "The car needs major upgrade work so that is next year's project", says Andy. "Tom is of course lucky enough to work for his dad Martin who runs the Stoney Stratford Auto Centre so between the two of them and with the fruits of the money tree they hope to be running in 2008. Tom will still be seen in the pits as he will be crewing for Bob Glassup's NFAA altered to gain some experience in another class. Good luck for the future Tom!" Andy says that Junior Dragster racers should keep an eye out next Friday (17th) for a new competition from www.adoorablehandles.com. Web site updates. 12th November: Ben Sharich has posted a number of Flame and Thunder Show and other video clips on his YouTube area at www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Speedblood. Ben tells us that he is in the process of adding more clips. ©Eurodragster.com Swift snippets. 11th November: Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV has announced a sponsorship deal with the Netherlands' Selles family. Driver Jessica Selles and Crew Chief and sister Lisa Selles' Junior Dragster will be carrying the Gold RV logo in 2007 and 2008. "I know that Jessica has eyes on becoming one of the fastest Dutch women in drag racing and Lisa will be with her all the way!", says Derek Flynn. "Good luck girls from all of us here at Gold RV." ©Eurodragster.com Fay Fischer of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Speedflow has asked us to thank everyone who took part in the on-line survey on the Speedflow web site. The winner of the £50 cash prize will be posted on 1st December. Lennart Bergqvist. 10th November: "I am very sorry to announce that my long time good friend, master engine builder Lennart 'Baker' Bergqvist, 56, passed away at home on Tuesday after a short but courageous battle with cancer", writes Anders Envall. "Originally from Umeå in Sweden, Lennart, together with his wife Birgitta and daughter Lisamari, moved to Orlando, Florida in 1985", says Bostic. "Their son Austin was born in Orlando. "Lennart was the owner and chief engineer of Autoshop Racing Engines where he built and designed custom racing engines for Championship cars all over the world. In 2005 he won the prestigious JEGS Engine Masters Challenge, crowning him the King of Engine Builders. Popular Hot Rodding magazine baptised him and his wife and partner Birgitta "The King and Queen of Orlando". Many thousands of Americans then got to know what hundreds of European racers already knew. "Birgitta will continue her large and popular operation at Autoshop exporting quality high performance parts and master machinist Ed Gordon will continue working with his winning machine works. The King is Dead - Long live the Queen!" You can leave tributes to Bagarn and find funeral details on the Baldwin Fairchild Funeral Homes web site by clicking here. We are sure that everyone will join us in sending their deepest sympathies to Birgitta, Lisamari, Austin and to all of Lennart's family and friends. Second-footing with Gleadow. 10th November: Last weekend's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway was the second run out for UK Super Pro ET débutant Adam Gleadow in the Motor Psycho altered. Adam dropped us a line to let us know how he got on with his licencing. "We woke up to sun, albeit cold, on Saturday morning with the car ready to go after Darren re-did the plug leads on Friday night", says Adam. "Mine was the first car down the track. I pulled a nice strong burnout but at the hit it smoked the tyres and the back end stepped out, so I gave it a quick pedal and pulled second which straightened it out nicely. I ran through to the eighth and clicked off. ©Eurodragster.com "The second pass was much more successful. The car hooked up hard, running 1.36 to sixty feet and 6.13/108 at half track, but as I didn't feel it go into third I shut off, coasting through with a 10.83. Upon inspection in the pits we found a trans leak, fortunately the trans blanket held most of it from going on the track. The leak sorted, I went round to do my final licencing pass but transpired that we had broken a pushrod, we think on the burnout, and the run was only on seven cylinders. The car felt very loose so I lifted a few times around half track and ran through with an eleven at 120 mph, not quick enough for my Super Pro license but that will come next year. "The car is now at Doug Ripley's for a winter diet and a few bits of work. We've got a few cosmetic changes planned for the off-season too, including the full paint. Thanks again to the crew for their help, and to everyone who stopped by to say hello and wished us well. Thanks again also to Peter Donaldson for the excellent photos. Roll on 2007!" Haslett looks to 2007. 10th November: Now on the road to recovery, UK Real Steel Street Eliminator Ron Haslett has welcomed two new members to the Insane Creations team. "My new team members are Darren Flint and Dave Cartland", says Ron. "I've known Darren a while now through our days going to the Chelsea Cruise and the usual boys stuff, but then we lost touch. We've spoken a couple of time at the tracks and it turns out that he lives about two minutes from me. Dave has been in the hot rod scene for a few years and seems to like what we do. ©Eurodragster.com "We are busy doing all the usual post-season things to the car. Because my wife wants to buy a house we have to try to raise racing funds by other means. I have to say a big thank you to two local clubs, Solent Renegades and Southern Gassers, who have both pitched in to try to get us racing again. I also have to thank our sponsors in the last year: FG Wilsons, Express Gearboxes, Performance Unlimited, and Trev the Wizard of Nos. We are also redoing the website. "I'd also like to wish all the best to Pat Ginn and TJ O'Brien. If you need anything just ask and we'll be there. The same goes to Matt Wright with his fundraising." Swift snippets. 10th November: Congratulations to FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Håkan Nilsson who has been voted Drag Racing Driver of the Year for the second time by Sweden's Bilsport magazine. Håkan is also on the shortlist for the Bilsport Senior Award and you can vote for him at www.bilsport.se or at the Bilsportmässan which takes place in Stockholm later this month. More details at www.nilssonmotorsports.com. ©Eurodragster.com On a similar subject, voting for this year's Santa Pod Racers Club Perpetual Awards will commence here on Eurodragster.com on Monday 27th November. The first category will be Best Appearing Car. Drag racing from South Africa's Wesbank Raceway is currently being screened on UK satellite channel Sky Sports on the Race World programme. Check your TV listings or Electronic Programme Guide for schedules. Situations vacant. 10th November: Hauser Racing has a vacancy for an experienced fabricator/welder. "The ideal candidate would be someone who has experience in sheet metal work, tube bending, TIG and MIG welding to a high standard in steel and aluminium, familiar with the principles of race car construction, has general race car experience and is passionate about racing cars", says Ray Eldred. "If you feel that you are capable of meeting out needs please contact myself or Geof Hauser as soon as you can on 01933 312735, or E-Mail me your CV to mail@hauserracing.com. ©Eurodragster.com Would you like to be part of a multi-Championship winning team, working on a 3500 BHP Top Methanol Dragster? Can you work to deadlines and handle the pressure when the heat is on? If the answer is Yes then UK Top Methanol Dragster team Turner Motorsport has an opening. "Your mechanical/technical knowledge is not as important as your eye for detail and a willingness to learn", says Carmel Turner. "We compete in the MSA (British) and the FIA (European) Championships. What we require from you is that you are a competent, enthusiastic, committed and hard working person, who is willing to learn and is able to travel abroad for the FIA Championship meetings (Finland/Sweden/Norway) and to Santa Pod for the MSA rounds. You would also be required to work on the car between rounds, at our workshop adjacent to Santa Pod. We will supply your entry to all meetings, food and a place to sleep. "If this sounds like you and you would like to know more, then please contact me (Carmel) on 07974 397146 or E-Mail robertturner7@aol.com or via the Contact us page on the Turnermotorsport web site at www.turnermotorsport.co.uk." Web site updates. 10th November: UK Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association racer Joe Bond has updated his Nuthin' Fancy web site with personal write-ups of his crew. "I will be updating the web site regularly throughout the off-season", says Joe. Check it out at www.nuthinfancy.150m.com. ©Eurodragster.com The return of Jones and Friend. 8th November: One vehicle which jumped out at us when looking at photographs from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway was the new Jones and Friend Racing Comp Bike, which was taking its first run out in the hands of Gary Jones. Dave Friend told us how the team's day went: I fabricated the rear bodywork and seat just to get us out there, to make sure the bike ran straight which it did. The first pass was just ride it off the line, no launch, but we had too much rear tyre pressure so although the bike left straight it spun causing it to drift and also it took out the clutch. We had a low launch rpm and a lower tyre pressure on the second pass. It left straight, spun, a slight drift to the right and killed the clutch again. That was it as we ran out of time. Gary ran 5.5/136 at the eighth so we are just going to have to sort out a few issues. ©Eurodragster.com The seat is not finished, it and the rear bodywork will be made in fibreglass and painted ready for next year. Hopefully we will be out for the Run What You Brung on 21st January 2007, weather permitting of course. We will try to do as much testing as possible before our competition début with a bike that is ready to perform. We would like to say a big thanks to everyone at Eurodragster.com for all the race reports, gossip etc in what has been a long year out of competition, especially after such an incredible 2005 season (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). Maybe the last time, maybe not... 8th November: UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV took one last run out in his "old" blown-alcohol dragster at Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. However Derek tells us that this might not be the last we see of the six-second dragster in Gold RV Racing colours. "We decided that after the rain out at the National Finals and because our car was ready to run we should go to the Flame and Thunder Show, and what a great weekend we had", says Derek. "When we checked the weather station on Saturday morning we thought we must have entered something wrong as it was telling us that we needed a 59 pill in the main, so good was the air! We normally run between 96 and 120. The engine was going to love it but would we be able to apply the power to the track, because it was a very chilly six degrees? We should not have worried as the Santa Pod crew did their normal excellent job of preparing the track. We managed a 6.68/202 straight off the trailer and my team informed me that it was appreciated by the massive crowd. It proved to be amongst the fastest and quickest runs of the day, we were very happy with that and it was a nice way for me to finish with the old car ! "On Sunday my business partner and Crew Chief Gary Jenkins was going for his licence runs. Gary has never driven a dragster before and I must admit to being a little apprehensive, as well as admiring his bottle for jumping straight into the quickest dragster in Super Pro ET. He impressed me even further by performing a good burnout and then nailing it on his first launch and lifting as instructed. On his first attempt at a half pass, the car got a little out of shape after some terrible tyre shake, that broke the wheelie bar and a rose joint on the gearbox stay and Gary had to lift before it shifted, so he had to do the half pass again. ©Eurodragster.com The third burnout was awesome. It was really neat for me to see and hear our car from the outside so to speak. Again Gary nailed it, it still shook but not as bad and again it got a little out of shape but he handled it well, lifting till he got it straight and nailed it again, well done mate! We would like to thank all the Santa Pod crew who prepped the track before each of Gary's runs to try to give him a reasonable chance of getting away from the line. Now all he has to do is a full pass and he has his licence, so if we don't sell the car over the winter you might see us enter two cars next year, as Gary loved it!" The Gold RV Racing team also had some fun with their Junior Dragsters at the Run What You Brung on Sunday. "Pete Walters raced his dad Richard of J & W Automotive, who won!", says Derek. "Then to rub it in further Richard managed a perfect Reaction Time on his second run against Tom! It just goes es to show us oldies can still have good reactions. We then put my wife Fiona in our Junior to race Pete and despite a little trouble staging she won too due to the fact Pete redlit - probably trying to match Dad's perfect RT to shut him up. After the run Fiona said that she could hardly see due to the vibration and appreciated a lot more what the Juniors do, but she still really enjoyed it." Swift snippets. 8th November: Carl Burton tells us that UK Pro ET class sponsor Inkwell Printing are already receiving enquiries from racers about hero cards for next season. "Inkwell Printing now have a web site at www.inkwellprinting.co.uk", says Carl. "They will soon have a page of examples of work for racers. I can deliver to racers at the track at Easter if they wish." ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 8th November: Our good friend Peter Donaldson has updated his web site with pictures from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Regular readers will know that Peter signed on as a member of the Eurodragster.com staff for the day on Saturday and was perforce accredited as media, but you might find it very difficult to believe that this was Peter's first ever time trackside when you check out his excellent pictures at peterdonaldson5305.fotopic.net. Next up with a Flame and Thunder Show update is Nigel Holland whose web site at www.nigelholland.co.uk now contains some excellent shots of Saturday's action. "It was a great report from Peter Donaldson and I look forward to seeing the images on his site", says Nigel (see above - Ed). "And Tony Baker, you gave us all a fright on Saturday but I along with so many others was glad to see that you were OK". We were interested to see in the background of one of Nigel's shots that other photographers are now braving the business end of the Jet Funny Cars: where Eurodragster.com leads, others eventually follow. ©Eurodragster.com Finally for the Flame and Thunder Show updates: if you were tuned in on Monday then you probably checked out John Seymours off-track shots from Santa Pod. John has been in touch again to let us know that his nine-year-old son Alexander also has some Flame and Thunder Show pictures showing on his own web site at alexander.photos.me.uk. We've had a look at Alexander's pictures and we think they're just great. Sweden's Anders Envall has completed his epic report of his escapades at the FIA European Finals, which involved driving his nine-second street-legal Impala SS from The Best Damn Garage In Town to Santa Pod and back and punting his Personal Bests out of sight in between. You can check out Bostic's hugely entertaining report by clicking on News at www.blackout.nu. To see the level of detail to which Bostic has gone, be sure to click on the aerial photograph of Santa Pod Raceway in his report. The Netherlands' Shark Attack Dragracing Team have launched a new web site at www.sharkattack-dragracing.com. This very professional-looking web site is presented in Dutch and features run-downs on the team's several cars and bikes, team biographies, calendar, photo galleries, sponsor links and a lot more. Also launching a new web site is the UK's Trevor Kitney whose street-legal Escort RS2000 runs in Pro ET. The Kiss My RS web site at www.kissmyrs.co.uk includes information about the wild Escort, an introduction to team members, links and more. Fronting up with Chrissy O. 7th November: UK Super Pro ET racer Chris Orthodoxou was one of several making demonstration passes at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Chris planned to check out a launch problem with his beautiful Dodge Viper but found himself with bigger troubles after his second pass. "My prime reason for running the car was to get some video footage of launches in the hope of sorting out the 'hook-spin-hook' characteristics which the car seems to be suffering", says Chris. "A terrible bog messed up the first launch which gave us no useful info at all. The second launch was cleaner and we obtained a good short video clip of the car leaving which we can now study in slow motion to aid in our quest for traction. Even at full speed you can see the slick hook, then spin, then hook again. ©Eurodragster.com "However, towing the car back after the second pass there was a nasty squeaking noise coming somewhere from the front. On inspection in the pits, the front off-side outer wheel bearing had collapsed and chewed itself to bits, the outer holding washer had disintegrated, the castle nut had pulled itself down the spindle thread and the wheel was literally hanging on! The inside of the hub was full of crushed bits of metal. Looking back, the car did handle rather strangely in the shutdown area after the run and I had to steer more then usual during the pass. At the time I thought it was just the very cold track, but the bearing must have given up at the start of the second pass. A bit worrying as I was doing over 165 mph with the car in that state! What's more worrying is that the front struts are brand new, top-of-the-range Strange units and the car has only done about twenty passes. The only thing I can think is that the bearing must have been nipped up a little too tight when first assembled. It now needs a new spindle fitted as the thread is knackered, the mess inside the hub sorted out and new bearings pressed on. That'll be cheap no doubt! "Anyway, the car will be featured shortly in American Car World magazine and the German Chrome und Flammes magazine and also exhibited at a couple of prestigious motorshows next year. You can also check out Dave McBride's MoparUK site at www.moparuk.co.uk/feature%20cars/viperweb/index.html or the series of pics he recently took of the car (Definitely worth a look, some excellent shots there - Ed)." The 20p piece... 7th November: Luke Bennett says that the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team had a good time at the Flame and Thunder Show even though everything didn't go as smoothly as it could have. "We were down four crew so I had to sort out the car on my own for most of the morning, but were ready and fired by half past eleven", says Luke. "On our first run we did a short burnout but we were then shut down on the line. That turned out to be a poxy twenty pence O-ring in the fuel system, so I was a tad pee'd off. I thought it was a repeat of the luck we had last year, but we found the O ring, changed it and checked the rest, problem sorted. ©Eurodragster.com "When the motor had cooled and we had refuelled we had another try. A short burnout, very nice launch and straight but the blower belt broke at about a thousand feet and still ran a 7.4/160, so it was definitely on one. When we got back to the pits, there was damage to the body but the belt guard had done its job excellently and the fuel lines had not been touched, the belt guard on the other hand was really battered up. "As soon as the body was off I checked the blower. The rotors were fine but the front bearing in the snout was not right and I didn't want to risk running it again, we did have a few spares but if we had fitted we would not have been able to fit starter and I didn't fancy trying to bump it. We asked about and Steve Turner and Dave Byrant came to the rescue with the loan of snout, thanks very much guys. We fitted it all, started it and was sweet. "We had towed down and we were waiting to run and then the incident with Tony Baker occurred. We waited on the line for news that he was out and OK, then towed back to the pits. We were really glad to see Tony was OK. To all the sick freaks who my little sister saw were cheering, don't bother turning up to the track like that, we don't need spectators like you (Hear, hear - Ed). Top Fuel! Top Fuel! 7th November: Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster team owner Knut Söderquist still has a ringing in his ears from the recent Top Fuel Exhibition at the Bahrain Drag Racing Festival. "The whole main grandstand was on its feet shouting "Top Fuel!" over and over again", says Knut. "It was a hell of a feeling, as we all know that the line between success and failure is very fine. ©Eurodragster.com "I am now pleased to say that there is no-one in the East who thinks that the European racers don't know what they are doing. I have had a lot of calls about the condition of the track and hwy it was so good this year, and it's exactly the same as running a race car: as we all know we don't get it perfect every time even if we try. Kjell has taken a lot of crap for the track last year which is not fair. He did what he thought was best and that time unfortunately it was on the wrong side of the line. It's exactly like when racers say "I am changing the clutch setting for the next run and we will be just fine", as we all know it's not that easy to change a race track." Knut tells us that he is already talking to the Bahrain Drag Racing Club about a return fixture in 2007 and doubtless we will bring you news about that nearer to the time. Good Morning World! 7th November: Our good friend, UK track announcer and TV presenter John Price is well-known throughout European drag racing as a Jaguar addict, and he tells us that thanks to the good offices of Carter Motorsport PR Derek Todd and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust he had the chance to indulge his passion for the marque in Sunday's London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally. "Among the many high profile jobs he undertakes, Derek is a trustee of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust", says John. "As I don't tend to keep too quiet about my love of Jaguars, we had a natural common bond right from our first meeting. 2006 is Derek's last year as trustee at JDHT and he invited me to accompany him, along with motoring journalist and book writer Michael Scarlett on his third and final attempt at reaching the seaside on the legendary Rally. ©Eurodragster.com "Sunday saw us up at sparrow's fart and off to Hyde Park in the JDHT's 1901 Lanchester. Lanchester is a company associated with Daimler and therefore with Jaguar, with this particular car being the third produced. Just thinking about the responsibility that was heaped on our shoulders makes me tremble - this car was built two years before the Wright Brothers first achieved powered flight at Kittyhawk and the same year that good ol' Queen Victoria died. However, Derek has really mastered the art of driving this strange four-litre, two-cylinder (maybe a Supertwins contender?), belt-driven, tiller-steered machine and we made the front at Brighton at 14:00, having left London at 07:30, much to the rejoicing of the array of Jaguar and Gaydon Museum mechanics and technical experts who were on call to look after/rescue us if needed, all day. "We had to jump out of the car on a couple of occasions so that Derek could coax it up hills that today's vehicles take in their stride, and also of course going along the road so slowly you were able to say "Good Morning" to, as well as wave at, the thousands of people who lined the route. The weather was so kind that three of us ended up with a sun tan and extremely full of food in Brighton. "The hospitality shown to us by JDHT and the Gaydon Museum was beyond compare. So thanks to Derek and all the team, and good luck in his new full time occupation as Bursar of a Public School." Swift snippets. 7th November: We were very pleased to hear from UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett that he has had a benign diagnosis after his recent exploratory surgery. "I sort of have the all clear for the moment, but I still have to keep checking myself", says Ron. "I had the stitches out on Saturday so hopefully to look at me I just look younger. Thanks to everyone for their support." ©Eurodragster.com Pat Ginn says that she and TJ O'Brien enjoyed their first Flame and Thunder Show in four years. "I love racing in the dark, it's fascinating", says Pat. "It was nice to see so many spectators there. I hope that everyone who was celebrating a birthday like Sharkman had a good time and that Bradley Lazenby enjoyed his surprise. Glad to hear that Tony Baker was OK, how lucky was he? There was a good turnout for the RWYB on Sunday, some lovely cars there. Our next racing event is the Dinner Dance in February, see you there." Those of you with better memories than your pit reporter will realise that it's Eurodragster.com's news editor Tog's birthday today. I'm sure everyone will join us in wishing him a very happy birthday - have a great day. Mopar Euronats DVD review. 7th November: Power Point Communications' DVD of the Mopar Euronats and The Priory Cruise, dedicated to the late Ronnie Sox, is a superb memento of the July weekend and (as Simon writes on a chilly November night) also a reminder of what a great summer it was. There were three days of glorious sunshine at the event, which is the biggest gathering of muscle cars at Santa Pod and one of the biggest in the UK. As well as many Mopars, other makes of car were represented and well-known RWYB teams Taz Racing and Surrey Muscle were there in force as well as several Outlaw Anglias and visitors from Sweden, France and Germany. The event organisers Richard Berry, Jim Wilson, Tony Oksien and Tim Holmes added a third day's running on Friday and this contributed to the event being larger even than previous years. The atmosphere of the weekend comes over strongly on this DVD. In RWYB action, many standout runs are shown, including Duncan 'Cannonball' Watts' Challenger running a 9.045/145.52, Chris Orthodoxou's 7.977 and, fastest of all Mopars for the fifth time, Ian Bishop's Pro Mod Avenger, which ran a 7.27 best. As a bonus, there are a number of runs from Steph Milam in the She Devil Dodge Avenger Top Methanol FC with several mid-to-high sixes, bedding in a new engine. Competition saw the Nostalgia Super Stock Shootout, sponsored by Quartermilehigh and Anderson Green Haulage, between the fastest Mopar doorslammers. Dave Bailey was outstanding in his Barracuda running 9.4s to beat brother Mark in the final. ©Eurodragster.com Features include interviews at home and on local roads with Guy showing how much fun it is to run a Yellow 340 'Cuda on a day-to-day basis. A controversial feature of the DVD is inclusion of the ad-hoc burnouts performed on public roads outside The Priory during the cruise, and the producers have wisely added a message at the start of the segment that the activities were in no way linked to or endorsed by the Mopar Euronats committee, the MMA, Santa Pod Raceway or Power Point Communications. Camera work and editing on the DVD are top-notch. The angles used for the racing are nicely varied and there is great use of split screen in interviews in the show n' shine area. There is also some revealing in-car footage including a wild run of Mick Payne's Artful Dodger Coronet. There are several interviews with exhibitors and racers including the inimitable Chris Orthodoxou, Steph and Dave Milam and Tanya Partridge. Expert commentary and interviews are provided by Martin Bennett who is an integral part of the proceedings. Helen Todd and David Coleman of Power Point Communications are to be congratulated on one of the best-ever DVDs of a lifestyle event and a must for lovers of Mopars and muscle cars in general. It is available from www.quartermilehigh.com for £15.95 plus postage and packing. CG Composites press release. 7th November: Carlo Gandolfi, owner of CG Composites in Northamptonshire, England, is pleased to announce a new marketing and distributorship with Darren Mayer Performance Engineering Inc of Stevensville, Michigan. CG Composites is eager to have a reputable US-based company sell and stock the first and highest quality carbon fiber injector hats in the high performance racing market. "In previous years Carbon By Design, also known as Knut, sold my product", states Carlo Gandolfi. "Times changed and we parted ways and I wish them well. With ninety per cent of my customers based in the US, this partnership with DMPE Inc is a natural progression." "The CG Composites product is second to none" exclaims Darren Mayer. "Carlo is a true carbon fibre craftsman. This is a perfect compliment to my supercharger business. We are very anxious to start our marketing campaign together." Gandolfi's product, which was the first of its kind, has graced more Championship cars than any other brand since 1998. The signature three-blade carbon hat is used on roots style, supercharged cars in Top Fuel, Nitro Funny Car, and Pro Mod. There are also injector hats for screw compressor cars in NHRA alcohol classes and Outlaw Pro Mod. We ask that you accept no imitation of the original high quality CG Composites product. It is often confused with other brands on the market emulating the original, by using lower quality materials and improper manufacturing techniques. For a complete guide to the CG Composites injector hat line please visit www.dmpeinc.com. ©Eurodragster.com USAutomotive press release. 7th November: American Racing Equipment Inc has recently announced its acquisition of Weld Wheel Industries Inc, a market leader in forged wheel technologies and a familiar name in both the street rodding and drag racing arenas. Weld is highly regarded for its expertise in the manufacture of high-performance forgings. This technology results in wheels that are significantly lighter and stronger than equivalent cast versions. The family of brands under the ARE banner now includes Motegi Racing, Boyd Coddington, TIS, Dropstars, RO_JA and Weld, the latest acquisition providing further depth to ARE's already impressive range of products for both road and track. All wheels are available in the UK through ARE's appointed distributor, USAutomotive Ltd. Further ARE news includes a joint venture with JR Motorsports of North Carolina, to design, develop and market a Dale Earnhardt Jr line of upscale, aftermarket performance automotive wheels. Scheduled for release in early 2007, the new range will feature performance wheels for trucks, sport utility vehicles, late-model muscle cars and performance passenger cars.  "This new wheel line will be cool", says Dale Earnhardt Jr, "and we'll be following up the initial product release with some three-piece designs, as well as some billet offerings that I'm sure will appeal to the hot rod guys."   For full details of the ARE range, contact USAutomotive Ltd on 01234 273155. Alternatively, visit the USAutomotive web site at www.usautomotive.co.uk or E-Mail sales@usautomotive.co.uk. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 7th November: Santa Pod Raceway's webmaster DJ has been in touch to let us know that a Flame and Thunder Show report and Photo Gallery are now showing on SPR's web site at www.santapod.co.uk/e_flame.php. ©Eurodragster.com The view from the guardrail (almost). 6th November: UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman gained many plaudits for a superb driving job at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod on Saturday when his Double Density altered tried to get intimate with the guardrail and to achieve Earth orbit at the same time. Sam got in touch to let us know what it was like from the inside: We missed the first run as a fuse had gone missing for the electric fuel pump, and by the time we sorted it out the session was over. We decided that we would try to get two runs in the second session. The first was OK-ish: I had to lift a bit after the launch which took away the ET but we went 161 mph which is our fastest speed in the UK. On the second run the car launched hard and was pulling toward the centre line. I lifted a little and steered it back as I could see that I might take out the reflectors. To be honest I can't remember clearly what happened directly after this, this is more to do with the fight I had with the car than advancing years. I do remember the car snapping sideways, possibly a combination of the bump and shifting gear at the same time. I also remember the wall getting very close a couple of times - close but I didn't hit it. I don't know how many times it got up on two wheels but I need to check my helmet as it banged on the roll cage a couple of times. I would describe the distance from my front wheel to the wall as millimetres. The car and I had got it sorted out I let it roll through and took the first exit, to be surrounded by the top end crew closely followed by the paramedics. My thanks to all of them for their concern, its really assuring to know that should anything go wrong then assistance is at hand within seconds. Mind you, I did deliver birthday cake up there earlier and they may have thought seconds were coming! No real damage was evident on the car. We have some slight body damage and have to check the rear end out carefully as there was some contact between the wheels and my rear brake assemblies. I personally got away very lightly with nothing more than a bit of a stiff neck the following day. ©Eurodragster.com If anyone has any photos or video from Saturday then please contact me at mastsaf@aol.com. A few thanks are in order as it is the end of another season, in no particular order as they are all worthy of a mention: Peter Donaldson for his efforts especially this weekend with the Eurodragster.com coverage; All the crew at Eurodragster.com, you guys do a tremendous job for all us racers and supporters (Thanks - Ed); all the track staff, fire marshals, security, organisers, gate staff, etc etc, you all do a great job for us all; the other Super Pro ET racers, for being a great crowd; all the other racers who have helped us out this year; the Photographers, too many to mention. Finally thanks to my crew: Lindsey, Chris and Ben, and John E, Chris, Captain Valet (Tony) and Tony from the Alien mob for putting up with me for yet another year. My apologies to anyone who did not get a piece of my birthday cake. I tried to get some to everyone, we must have given out the best part of a hundred slices! Swift snippets. 6th November: Danish Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard has bought himself a new car. "I have spent two weeks in Las Vegas and at Donnie Holbrook's shop, where I bought Ronda Hartman's 2006 Top Fuel car", says Stig. "The car (right) has made only nineteen runs and the best was 4.523/324.92. The car will come to Denmark in late December". You can find Stig's web site at www.topfuel.dk. ©Eurodragster.com The UK's National Association of Supertwins will be holding their Annual General Meeting at 3:00 pm on 11th November at The Navigation pub in Bulkington Road, Bedworth, near Nuneaton. "The official proceedings should last until about 6:00, and the party will start at about 7:30" says Chair Don Irvine. "We have a band arranged by Beardy Bloke, so it should be pretty good. All Supertwins members are requested to attend the meeting, and members of APIRA and SPRC are invited to attend the party". More details at www.supertwins.co.uk. We are as ever indebted to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending us the official timing data from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. You can view Saturday's timing data (Excel format) by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Frosty's thanks. 6th November: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost says that he has a number of people to thank for his 2006 season. "I must thank Castrol and Santa Pod Raceway for the hospitality and trophy I received for winning the 2006 Castrol Challenge", says Frosty. "Castrol deserve a pat on the back for supporting the Run What You Brung scene, as we all know that from RWYBs usually come the racers of the future. I am one. "Also I must say a big thanks to my 2006 sponsors and crew for sticking with me through some pretty rough times this year, namely Altiss Engineering, Nimbus Motorsports, Webster Race Engineering, Knight Racing Services and Cam Auto Developments. Crew as always are Tony Grayston, Deb and Gary with new members Nigel Colwell and Rob Kearns. ©Eurodragster.com "The amount of publicity generated around the team at the moment can only bode well for 2007, and of course we are talking to a number of potential sponsors to add to our existing ones, so watch out for announcments in due course, either here or on my own web site. Watch out also for TV appearances and radio interviews this week (Midlands), which should include footage shot at the Flame and Thunder Show by Dave and Helen of P ower Point Communications. "Hopefully we're making the mainstream aware that we not only exist, but that we are interesting as well." UK Event Safety reflect on 2006. 6th November: Glenn Ramsden of UK Event Safety has been in touch with some thoughts at the end of the 2006 season: Firstly, may we take the opportunity to send our condolences to the family and friends of Roger George who sadly lost his life in a tragic accident at the European Finals. 2006 has been a bittersweet season for all involved in the safety aspects of the sport. As you are all aware, our commitment is to making our contracted venues as safe as possible for the public to enjoy our sport at. Sadly the events of September focused everyone's minds and made us suddenly remember that all motorsports are dangerous. ©Eurodragster.com Whilst we have all mourned our friends and racers who from time to time didn't make it, the outcome of the Pro Mod final was not predictable and shocked even the most hardened racers. This was heartbreaking and has made us even more determined to make UK drag racing safer for the public. Until that very sorry day I honestly thought that we had all made impressive in-roads into public safety at our events, our record was impeccable, we had won the support of the local councils and everyone was becoming aware of the need for health and safety. Our goal is to carry on with our work and strive to keep motorsport as safe as possible in the UK. We cannot do this without your help and we would like to put on record our thanks for everyone's co-operation throughout 2006. To everyone at Santa Pod, crews, track staff, spectators and all, a big thank you for your help through 2006. We must also thank all that offered support and understanding following the above incident, it is very difficult at times like these we are sure that you all understand this, thanks. When it comes, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Web site updates. 6th November: We've often said here at Eurodragster.com that the first web site to make a serious go of publishing pitside and other off-track pictures from race events would be onto a winner. John Seymour has stepped up to the plate on his Bald Photographer web site with a number of off-track pictures from Saturday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out John's pictures at www.thebaldphotographer.com. The Blazing Wheels web site at www.blazingwheels.co.uk has also been updated with some great pictures from the Flame and Thunder Show. The European Pro Mod Association web site at www.promod.nu has its forum back after a hacking attack earlier on this year. Webmaster Patrik Jacobsson tells us that Users will need to re-register to use the forum which includes Tech Talk, Media and Racing Classifieds. Flame and Thunder Show report. 5th November: With all three of the Eurodragster.com staff unable to make yesterday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway, our good friend Peter Donaldson signed on as a staff member for the day and sent us a report of yesterday's on-track activities. Click on any picture for a large version. Santa Pod's Flame and Thunder Show was blessed with a sunny and dry day, no doubt encouraging a huge crowd to turn up for the season end spectacular. With a variety of on and off track activities, there was something for all the family. Three Fuel cars, three Jet FCs and a good selection from the Sportsman ranks were there to put on demo runs for the enthusiastic crowd. John Spuffard in Showtime was the first of the Fuel cars with an early shut off 12.2/74 bye run. Next up was Gordon Smith in the Shockwave Funny Car taking on Tommy Möller's Top Fuel Dragster. With the Shockwave team having some problems this year getting the car to launch, a cool track in November didn't bode well and a 19.173/57.84 was testament to this. What could his opponent Tommy Möller do? A superb 5.066/290.32mph was the answer! Roger Goring put down a 6.215/254.30, which must be close to a Personal Best (Three thousandths off - Ed) whilst Tony Baker in Fireforce 1 ran a 7.767/232.01. Martin Hill and team of late have been unable to regain their previous high five second performance, but a 6.103/274.74 pass suggested a return to form. More of the jet cars later. Rob Turner ran an early shut off 7.954/101.35 in his Top Methanol Dragster, he would later on put down a creditable 6.372/194.82 pass in the dark. Frank Bennett represented the NFAA with his Topolino Altered. His first run was aborted when the start line marshal saw something amiss under the car, but later on he ran 7.489/160.20. Derek Flynn's Super Pro ET dragster laid down a superb 6.683/202.64. Birthday Boy Sam Freeman gave himself two presents: the first a flying lesson when all four wheels were off the track.The second? not crashing into the wall on landing! Other notable performances were Nigel Barker and Jamie Sneddon both running sevens on their Super Street Bikes. Street Eliminator driver Colin Lazenby was on hand to oversee son Bradley's surprise début in Junior Dragster. Hopefully the long trip was worthwhile for the whole family. ©Eurodragster.com With the setting of the sun, traction soon becomes marginal for the Fuel cars. With Tommy Möller having mechanical woes, it was left for the two Funny Cars to race, however it was decided too run two bye runs instead of a side-by-side race. Both cars launched hard but shut off early. Gordon Smith ran a fifteen at 81 mph, whilst John Spuffard ran a seventeen-second pass at 74 mph. Nice header flames though! Jet Funny Cars are impressive enough in the daytime, at night they are spectacular! Tony Baker came out again in Fireforce 1. The excellent multi coloured lighting scheme on the start line highlighted the smoke and flame show. Leaving the line the car didn't look or sound right and almost immediately erupted in flames. The chutes came out as the car was engulfed in fire and veered over the track. The Top End safety crew were on the scene in seconds and it was a heart in mouth time for all near the start line. The tension was relieved by the sound of cheering and applause from the crowd at the top end of the track. It was soon announced over the PA that Tony was thankfully OK. The resulting debris and damage to the track surface ended the on-track activities. Many thanks to Eurodragster.com for giving me the opportunity to get trackside (You're welcome - Ed), an experience I won't forget in a hurry! Thanks also to Santa Pod Raceway for their courtesy and help, to the several other photographers for their help and encouragement, to the racers for putting on a good show, and to the 'Pod crew for their tireless work. A great crowd for a great event: I didn't get home until one in the morning! Peter will shortly update his web site with yesterday's pictures: stay tuned for news of that. Pictures courtesy and ©Peter Donaldson Hill: Tony's still smoking. 5th November: As mentioned in Peter Donaldson's report, the Fireforce 1 Jet Funny Car was severely damaged in a fire at the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday evening (right, picture courtesy and ©Paul Bryan). We were very pleased to hear from the car's owner Martin Hill that driver Tony Baker was just fine after getting himself out of the car. The same can't be said for Fireforce 1 which is to be retired. "Tony is OK", Martin told Eurodragster.com. "The firesuit did its job and he got out of the car at the earliest opportunity. He went to the medical centre for a check-up but the only thing he wanted was to have a cigarette. So this hasn't stopped him smoking!" ©Eurodragster.com Martin says that the fire was not down to a problem with the jet engine. "There are already rumours that the jet blew up or that blades came out", he said. "We have already been over the engine and it is totally intact. All of the safety shut-offs worked, and the fire bottles did their job. It was a classic Funny Car fire, and what made it worse was that the fire was on-track and so further from the firefighters. The car is looking a bit sorry for itself this morning and we will probably close the book on Fireforce 1 now. We're looking into the problem and anything we find will be incorporated into the rule book." The Way It Really Was DVD review. 5th November: The DVD The Way It Really Was - The Greatest Hits from the team producing the Dreams of Legends web site headed by S. Charles Hamilton is a great way to travel, so to speak, to California in the period between the late 1940s to the early 1960s for a couple of hours. The movie footage, shot at trackside, is all historic and ultra-rare, and, like the web site, the DVD includes both speed and drag events. After a ten minute montage there is fifty minutes of action from the Dry Lakes and Bonneville and then an hour of the most fascinating drag racing footage. Long-lost, and much-missed, strips such as Riverside Lions and Santa Ana are featured, as well as Pomona in a distinctly bare state, but still easily recognisable by the trees at the far end of the track, and Famoso, Bakersfield. The names included in the footage are a Who's Who of early hot rodding: Tony Waters, Joaquin Arnett, Gene Whitfield, Al Teague, Jack Chrisman, Hayden Proffit, Don Garlits, Pete Millar (whose ultimately UK-bound Chicken Coupe is seen in close-up about seven minutes in), Gene Mooneyham, Chris Karamasines, Mickey Thompson (both in early slingshots and his Challenger 1 wheel-driven LSR car), Lobello, Brisette, Higbee, Markley Bros, Bob Herda, Vic Colvin, Summers Bros, Larsen & Cummings, Bert Munro and Mooneyes. Some of the earliest incarnations of their cars are shown in action. The coverage, of which a high proportion is in colour and of good quality for the era, shows that the roadsters and altereds from the speed scene and drag racing were much closer in look and feel in those days compared with today. Dragster designs were much more varied than today, and some outrageous, such as the Sidewinder. Features that are almost extinct nowadays such as twin engines and front-mounted blowers were common. Safety features were at a premium, with several drivers' heads protruding above the roll bar and one bike rider wearing a short-sleeved shirt. The editing cuts from one event to another instantaneously so there is never a loss of momentum. ©Eurodragster.com The soundtrack to the DVD is from hod rod music, recorded track sounds and announcements and adds considerably to the atmosphere. Music is supplied by more contemporary Californian bands such as The Chop Tops, Keen Kousins, Juke Joint Gamblers and Red Cavalier and is wholly appropriate to the material and timeframe. One of my favourite parts of the soundtrack is the typically upbeat extract from a public information film about the dangers of speeding on the highways: "Trophies now instead of traffic tickets! He'll never speed on the highway again, nor will any of these others. Through this safe and constructive outlet these boys satisfy their craving for knowledge and speed. Out of their ranks come the engineers who develop improvements for your car and mine, who create new designs and effect economies. These boys of today are the men of tomorrow." The Way It Really Was - The Greatest Hits is a taster for a promised four-DVD set, including many interviews with luminaries of the sport, but is highly recommended on its own terms and can be obtained now from American Auto Mags for £21.95 including UK postage and packing, and £23.95 including European Airmail. Swift snippets. 5th November: Holger Camilleri has been in touch to ask us to wish a big Happy Birthday to Filippos Papafilippou. "Fil is one of our great family at greekdragster.com", says Holger, "and as his friends we would like to wish him a very very happy birthday, good health, and to celebrate it in style! Apart from the birthday wishes, I would like to wish him a very nice future in drag racing. Fil is a very promising upcoming young driver, seeing that he is now racing very fast Pro Mods in Greece and also in the US with the help of his team, the Drag Warriors. Good luck Fast Fil!" ©Eurodragster.com Best wishes also to our good buddy Sharkman who is celebrating his birthday today. Hope that you are having a great day, Shark. Media update. 5th November: The new year issue of Drag Racing Action magazine is now available from Graham Rennie's American Auto Mags writes Jerry Cookson. Featured in this edition is a pictorial history of the Moroso Five-Day Bracket race, reports from the Jegs Northern Sportsmanationals and Atco Raceway's Superbucks Bracket weekend. Catch up on John Force's association with TASCA Ford, Tom Martino's attack on the NHRA Pro Stock circuit and a great feature detailing radiator truths and myths for bracket cars. The January 2007 issue is available now from American Auto Mags priced £4.95. ©Eurodragster.com The UK's newest TV channel five US (Freeview 35, Sky 207, 185 TeleWest/NTL) screens an hour's edited highlights from the AC Delco Gatornationals, Round 3 of the 2006 NHRA Powerade series, at 7:30 pm tomorrow (Monday). Web site updates. 5th November: Jamie Dyks has updated his Life's A Drag web site with some great trackside pictures from yesterday's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Jamie's pictures at www.freewebs.com/topnitro. ©Eurodragster.com Firefly to be restored. 4th November: Antony Billinton has confirmed that the legendary Firefly Pro Fuel slingshot is to be restored to its original condition (right, click on picture for large version) after he answered Tony Adamson's news item here on Thursday evening offering Firefly to a good home. Antony gave us some history on the car and also the plans for its restoration which has reunited the original team: Firefly was commissioned to be built in about the spring/summer of 1970 by the Densham-Billinton-Phelps team. Its purpose was to replace the existing and very successful Commuter dragster as this was now seeing its age and was due to be retired. Work started shortly after and the finished car appeared at the Custom Car show in the winter of 1970 and proved to be a real big hit. It had a beautifully hand crafted state of the art fibreglass body designed by Bob Phelps, and a chassis designed by engineer Mike Coburn, an associate of Tony Densham. The 392 ci motor was purchased from Don Garlits and had all the latest tricks. Tony Densham moved from his driving duties in the Commuter to the Firefly in the early part of the 1971 season and ran the car for about two years before he retired from the sport. After that period the car underwent various changes and had several different drivers over the next few years. ©Eurodragster.com From then on the car was stored in various places in varying degrees of disrepair and ended up sadly with most of the 'useful' items being used for other cars at the time. It ended up being barely a chassis and was moved on to another location in about 1990. Fifteen years or so on what's left of it has reappeared and we have been very fortunate to be able to have it back into the original stable again. Tony Densham, Peter Billinton and Roy Phelps are all delighted that they now have the opportunity to reinstate the car back to its very original condition and specifications again. They all agree it will be like turning back the clock thirty six years and starting again, but at least this time around they know exactly what it's going to look like when it's finished! It will be an enormous task to get all the details correct but being in possession of some original body moulds, some very original parts for the car and the original chassis blueprints really helps on a job like this, but having the original owners doing the job is the cherry on the cake! The reconstruction will be under my direction: I had a similar job when the Commuter dragster was rebuilt back to its original form about ten years ago. We even have all the original build photos in various stages of the cars construction and tons of photos of when the car first rolled out of Fibreglass Repairs. This will be a labour of love and it will be done precisely and correctly. Dez the builder. 4th November: After the troubles of the last few years, Swiss Top Methanol Funny Car racer Dezsoe Krivan is getting his racing operation back on track, says team member Steve Wilson: The new Toyota funny car is coming along nicely, the next problem on the list was a workshop to work in. The team is currently based next to the reception area in Dez's firm 3D-Tech, which is not the ideal place but gives his customers something to look at while they are waiting in reception. Much better than a tropical fish tank eh? ©Eurodragster.com As we all know it's "Location location location", however there is a distinct lack of suitable buildings in the Basel area in which to house a drag racing team and parking for a truck. Earlier this year, Dez was sitting in his garden practicing his yodelling (it's a Swiss thing!) and "Hmm...if I chop down a few trees, there should be space for a workshop and parking for the truck". So plans were drawn up, the necessary permission granted and Dez lost half his garden! As we told him, "You don't have time to work in the garden and a huge lump of concrete will keep the weeds down. Check out our web site at www.dragracing.ch and click on the New Base button to see photos of the ongoing building programme. Also check out the photo and movie gallery for the latest photos of the Toyota in action in Hockenheim, and how we checked if the paint is skin friendly at the AutoEmotion Show in Bern (Switzerland). All of this happens without major sponsors, so if anyone out there would like to offer a sponsorship deal on Europe's only Toyota Funny Car, please get in contact. Contact details are all listed on our web site. Swift snippets. 4th November: A very Happy Birthday to UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman. Sam is spending the day at Santa Pod Raceway making demonstration passes at the Flame and Thunder Show and maybe shooting for a seven-second pass in his Double Density altered; here's hoping that you get that special present Sam. ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 4th November: The Shakespeare County Racers web site at www.shakespearecountyracers.com has been updated with racing and party pictures from last weekend's Bonfire Burn-Up at Shakespeare County Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com Söderquist, Pers to campaign Fuel FC. 3rd November: As was proven with yesterday evening's news item about Firefly, things in drag racing can move very fast off-track as well as on-track. If you were tuned in to our pit notes from Bahrain last week then you will have read that Swedish Top Fuel Dragster and Pro Mod racer Patrik Pers was considering running a Fuel Funny Car but maybe not until 2008. A few days later and we have received news from Knut Söderquist of Carbon By Design Racing that his new Fuel FC, which will be racing in 2007, is to be driven by Patrik. ©Eurodragster.com "Why Patrik?", says Knut. "I saw him drive his Pro Mod several times and even before he drove my Top Fuel car in Bahrain I knew that he knows how to control a car. What impressed me even more is that he listens to what you want him to do. I am looking forward to getting the Funny Car done and am hoping for some fun. "This will be a new car with a similar set up as we ran on my new Top Fuel car which Harlan Thompson drove in Bahrain. I have made a deal with Del Worsham on a late style Camaro body which is already on its way to Sweden. Patrik is working on some existing sponsorship deals. He also has a double-deck Wilson trailer to transport the car - knowing Patrik it will look good." Goring: Stand by for action. 3rd November: UK Jet Funny Car pilot Roger Goring is looking forward to his appearance in the Firestorm Jet FC at tomorrow's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. "I have not run at this event for several years and I am very grateful to be invited", says Roger. Roger spent last weekend testing at Shakespeare County Raceway and says that it was a strange, interesting and informative experience. "We made five runs with new parts on the car", says Roger. "Each run felt fantastic but the timing slip said otherwise. Our best ET last weekend was not as good as with our baseline set-up. It was disappointing but at least we know that that idea doesn't work and we can shelve it. I was really gutted because she gave me a fantastic ride but the clocks said no! ©Eurodragster.com "We had a few long faces last weekend because we didn't do the smoke and flame show, but just like everyone else we have to test sometimes and that's what we were there for on that occasion. But don't worry, we've put everything back as it was and I can promise you the full show at Santa Pod!" It's a surprise...we hope. 3rd November: Bradley Lazenby, the youngest crew member on 2005 Real Steel Street Eliminator Champion Colin Lazenby's team, has a huge surprise lined up at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend. Bradley doesn't know it, but he has secured a ride in Santa Pod Racers Club's rental Junior Stock Dragster. Mum and Street Eliminator Secretary Ann-Marie Lazenby has been working with SPRC Chief Starter Ian Marshall, SPRC secretary Paula Marshall, and SPRC Race Director Darren Prentice to make Bradley's dream reality. ©Eurodragster.com "We dare not mention a word to Bradley at least not until tomorrow morning, otherwise he'll drive us nuts", says Ann-Marie Lazenby. "Bradley usually starts his "Are we there yet" game as soon as we're south of Glasgow. I suppose one more eight-hundred-mile round trip this year won't hurt us. Colin and I will only be worried if we have to start saving for yet another Street Eliminator car. If we do, it definitely will not have turbos." Colin assures us that Bradley is not currently a regular Eurodragster.com reader. We're not sure we like the sound of that but it does at least mean that there is no chance of the secret being blown. Unless one of his friends reads this... Swift snippets. 3rd November: Further to yesterday's news item, Geof Hauser tells us that Toyo Tyres have decided to extend their already-impressive contingency awards programme for 2007. "Watch out for a detailed press release in January when all will be revealed", says Geof. "Expect it to be a new payout record though! New tyre sizes will also be introduced to cater for a wider range of drag racing vehicles." ©Eurodragster.com Sit on the wrong side and... 3rd November: UK Sportsman ET racer Paul Webster fulfilled his promise to return to the USA to join the Fireballed Racing team who were racing their Mini at the Xplod NHRA Sport Compact Finals at Pomona. Paul very quickly found himself out on the track as well: When I arrived at Fireballed Racing HQ in Los Angeles I was told by the team that we had to rebuild the racecar engine with the repaired CNC head that was damaged at Englishtown. To complicate matters they had pooled Hubie's, Brian's and Tuls' components to build another engine, which would be twin charged (turbo and supercharger) that was to go into Hubie's streetcar, the Mega Mini, which I would have the pleasure of driving. This was at 15:00 Wednesday: just to add a little more pressure, the dyno was booked for 12.00 Friday, so we had forty five hours if we didn't sleep or eat then! We had the race car finished by close of play on Thursday night, and finished the Mega Mini by 12.30 on Friday. A quick drive across LA to the dyno shop where we dyno'd a customer's car to 40 whp increase with its FTR head and cam upgrade. Then down to ‘real' business: the Mega Mini could only manage 308 whp, they had seen a lot more than this before but put it down to the fuel going off as the Mega Mini hadn't been run for about six months. Then there was the drive back to HQ in rush hour LA traffic, an experience in itself - never will I moan about the M25 again! We arrived at Pomona at 7:00 am on Saturday, and we were about sixtieth in line! As I wanted to get the most out of the experience, and knowing that I would probably not qualify for the Quick 16, I entered Bracket 1 as well. ©Eurodragster.com I left the eighteen-inch street tyres on for two qualifying passes and ran 13.62/111, wheel-spinning in first, second and third. The second run was slower and I realised that we were not going to break the twelves with the street tyres, so on went the slicks on for the Q16. We paired up with Hubie, and what a race; for the first eighty feet anyway. I went with a 0.105 and Hubie had 0.155, my sixty foot was 1.81 and Hubie's was 1.79. Then I did the worst thing possible: I had been worried about missing the second to third shift so much, being in a left hand drive manual car for the first time in twenty years, that I missed the first to second shift! By the end of the 1320 Hubie had run a 10.86/128 and I ran a 12.96/108. Unfortunately by the time we got back we'd been called again had no time to check anything so did not get the opportunity to see that the 3 mph deficiency was because I had lost a cylinder. Unfortunately so did Hubie on the Sunday and the Minis were put to rest for this season. The stock stuff has been tested to the limits, as requested by sponsors Mini USA, and we have learned that at this level of performance certain components need upgrading to match the horsepower which these engines are now creating. At Fireballed Racing HQ on Monday evening a plan was hatched for next year. 1320autos now have a Fireballed CNC head to go in the red Mini One we have campaigned this year. Also there is a magnificent turbo exhaust manifold which powered the Mini USA car to its ten-second passes this year. This manifold is a work of art in itself and will also be gracing the Mini One or… What ends up on what car who knows, but it's our aim to be out testing the head at the first Run What You Brung in January and shooting for some Pro ET times. We will finally have the two-step on the car so I can concentrate on the lights, a necessity as we join one of the hardest classes in UK drag racing in 2007. Many thanks to the Fireballed team – it was an awesome experience. Flame and Thunder Show racer roster. 3rd November: Many thanks to Darren Prentice of Santa Pod Raceway for sending us a list of the racers who will be making demonstration passes at tomorrow's Flame and Thunder Show: Tommy Möller (Top Fuel Dragster) John Spuffard (Fuel FC) Gordon Smith (Fuel FC) Martin Hill (Jet FC) Roger Goring (Jet FC) Rob Turner (Top Methanol Dragster) Frank Bennett (NFAA) Ian Marshall (Super Modified) John Everitt (Super Pro ET) Derek Flynn (Super Pro ET) Sam Freeman (Super Pro ET and birthday boy) Steve Green (Super Pro ET) Chris Orthodoxou (Super Pro ET) Wayne Nicholson (Super Pro ET) Paul Marston Racing (Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Gas) Vic Amato (Pro ET) John Atkinson (Pro ET) Matt Eley (Pro ET) Sandie Gibb (Sportsman ET) Peter Jepson (Sportsman ET) Tanya Partridge (Sportsman ET) Jon Turner (Sportsman ET) Steve Wills (Sportsman ET) Dave Cherrett (Super Street) Pete Thompson (Super Street) Andy Frost (Street Eliminator) Jon Webster (Street Eliminator) Matthew Wright (Street Eliminator) Annalieze Gibb (Junior Dragster) Kirstie Gibb (Junior Dragster) Rosie Hunt (Junior Dragster) Zak Johnson (Junior Dragster) Matthew Seamarks (Junior Dragster) Martin Watts (Junior Dragster) Gold RV Racing (Junior Dragsters) Hauser Race Cars (Junior Dragsters) Pete Ashworth (Outlaw Anglia) Mark Coulsell (Wild Bunch) Steve Field (Wild Bunch) Chris Hartnell (Wild Bunch) Martin Holgate (Wild Bunch) Tony Smith (Wild Bunch) Joe Stevens (Wild Bunch) Phil Sweeney (Wild Bunch) Pete Yates (Wild Bunch) Pete Englezos (VW Pro) Richie Webb (VW Pro) Luke Stevenson (VW Sportsman) Abi Tether (VW Sportsman) Martin Greaves (VW) Mark Skinner (Taz Racing) Lee Denham (Taz Racing) ©Eurodragster.com Gary Jones (Comp Bike) Nigel Barker (Super Street Bike) Gary Drury (Super Street Bike) Mark Fisher (Super Street Bike) Ade Lockley (Super Street Bike) Steve Meads (Super Street Bike) Jamie Sneddon (Super Street Bike) Dave Burfitt (9.50 Bike) John Hackney (9.50 Bike) Phil Pratt (9.50 Bike) You can find full details about the Flame and Thunder Show including ticket prices on Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com. By a peculiar set of circumstances neither Tog, Simon nor Roger can make it to Santa Pod tomorrow, but our good friend Peter Donaldson has kindly agreed to sign on as a member of the Eurodragster.com staff for the day. You will be able to read Peter's Flame and Thunder Show report here on Sunday. Web site updates. 3rd November: This week's edition of Drag, Rod and Classic Review at www.drcreview.com includes a report from last weekend's Classic Car Show, plus a review of a great new quarter-scale Hemi engine kit which whirrs into life at the touch of a button. Additionally, for those who missed last week's update, there is an interview with Rat Trap Fuel Altered driver Ron Hope. ©Eurodragster.com Firefly finds a new home. 2nd November: Antony Billinton of G Max Racing Fuels is the new owner of the classic UK Pro Fuel slingshot Firefly after Tony Adamson put out a call here on Eurodragster.com. "The original chassis together with, I believe, two original panels are currently residing in a garage in Leeds", Tony told Eurodragster.com early this evening. "The garage belonged to my recently-deceased grandmother and so its contents will need to be removed as soon as possible. The chassis itself was, sadly, broken up into two parts when it was initially moved from its previous owners (no idea why), so whether this is fixable I don't know." ©Eurodragster.com Almost as soon as we posted Tony's news item this evening, he heard from Antony. "Antony has the blueprints along with the rear body panels, moulds for the remaining panels, wheels and axle", said Tony. If you have seen the immaculate condition of the Commuter dragster then you will know that Firefly is in the safest of hands. Reasons to be cheerful I and II. 2nd November: Carbon By Design Top Fuel team owner Knut Söderquist has a number of reasons to be happy about last week's Top Fuel Exhibition at the Bahrain International Circuit. Two of these reasons centre on CBD's new Top Fuel Dragster, constructed by Mats Eriksson, which made its début in Bahrain in the hands of Harlan Thompson. "My new chassis was delivered from Mats Eriksson's chassis shop at the end of the season", says Knut. "This is the second Top Fuel car which Mats has built for me and what can I say - the car not only looks good but it performed Bahrain to mine and Alan Jackson's delight. The car has all the latest US parts on it which are needed to perform today with the best in Europe. The car has the latest Brad Hadman design with a few nice safety features added by Mats, and it has the new style of tubing in the back half which is now mandatory for Top Fuel Cars. I said before that I only want new Top Fuel chassis now. That's what I have done and Mats' workmanship is second to none. ©Eurodragster.com "Nothing has changed since Harlan Thompson last drove for me nine years ago. He proved again that he's got what it takes to drive a Nitro car, this time a Top Fuel car which was the first time for him. For me and many others Harlan was the best driver ever to race a Nitro Funny Car in Europe. I think this is the last time he will ever drive a Top Fuel car, but you never know what will happen with the new Funny Car which I am planning to build and have ready at the end of February. "We have already got some deals lined up for next year's Bahrain Drag Racing Festival." APIRA officials update. 2nd November: Shakespeare County Raceway's organising club, the Avon Park International Racing Association have appointed Janet Schreier and Julie Willcox as joint Association membership administrators, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson. ©Eurodragster.com "Please let the girls know if your membership has lapsed or needs renewing by contacting them either by E-Mail or telephone at janet.schreier@blueyonder.co.uk or 0121 745 6990 for Janet, or at julesw@tesco.net or 0121 355 8011 for Julie", says Jerry. "Renewal notices will be sent out once records have been updated, but if there are any problems then please let Janet or Julie know. The APIRA Club and Race Secretary position will remain with Glenn Stockton." Swift snippets. 2nd November: The UK's Real Steel Street Eliminator and Super Mod Racer Associations are holding their Annual General Meetings almost simultaneously on Sunday November 12th. SE Chair Colin Lazenby has confirmed the venue of the SE AGM as the Travel Inn, Stafford at 12:30 whilst Super Modified Chair Tim Garlick has likewise confirmed the venue of the SuMo AGM as Tewin Memorial Hall, Tewin (near Welwyn Garden City) at 10:00. Racers with an interest in either class should contact their regular liaison for further details. Those currently outside the classes can contact Colin (for SE) at c.lazenby@kelvinkbb.com or Tim (for SuMo) via www.supermodified.co.uk/contacts.htm. ©Eurodragster.com Real Steel Street Eliminator racers are also reminded of the vote for Most Sportsmanlike SE racer of 2006, which has been sponsored by the Finch brothers of long-standing class sponsor Finch's Fleet Maintenance. UK Tech Inspector Mark Norton has kindly agreed to run the ballot box. SE Racers can place their vote by E-Mailing Mark at fuzzynod77@aol.com. The winner will be awarded with a cash prize at the RSSE end of season party, which is to be held in Cheltenham at the end of November. Santa Pod Racers Club Championship Co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm has asked us to apologise to UK Top Fuel Bike racer and 2006 SPRC Champion Ian Turburville for a calculation error which originally made him runner-up. This error has now been corrected and the updated SPRC Top Fuel Bike points are available by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Further to Tuesday's news item, Stephen Talbot got in touch from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas with a picture of Robin and Lisa Shone after their marriage on Tuesday. Stephen also sent us a rogue's gallery of UK Super Pro ET racers toasting the happy couple. What we want to know is, shouldn't you be toasting the happy couple after their marriage and not for several days beforehand... UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost is the subject of a news item on page 37 of today's issue of The Sun. What fellow RSSE racer Colin Lazenby said upon seeing Andy's Victor dubbed "The UK's fastest street car" is not currently on record. Could UK Supertwin Fuel racer Duncan Hocking please get in touch with photographer Sharkman at sharkman@eurodragster.com. Jap Racer title settled. 2nd November: Jap Racer Day, drag racing's alternative Import competition series, reached its conclusion last weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway's Bonfire Burn-Up with the series titles going to Guy Chamberlain and Mark Biggers, writes SCR's Jerry Cookson: With over sixty import racers ready to do battle against the clock on Sunday, Guy Chamberlain's CPL Racing Honda Civic Type-R, Europe's fastest and also the quickest EP3 in the world, ran a number of consistent 11.1s with a best of 11.140/137.26 to take the Front Wheel Drive title from team mate Peter Catell driving another CPL Racing converted Civic, the fastest supercharged Type-R in Europe. Placed third was Richard Batty's Mitsubishi FTO above another Honda Civic, this time a VTi example driven by Liza Wood. In the Unlimited division, there was no stopping the Helena Wines/MGT Racing-supported road trim 2.6 litre Skyline R32 GTR. Again, consistent times in all three rounds handed Mark the Unlimited title with the best of the day resulting in a 10.202/140.50. However, the day belonged to Ross Juniper and the Dragon Performance Mazda RX-7, reputed to be the UK's quickest and fastest RX-7. Ross used the track's near-perfect conditions to his advantage by not only equalling his previous 9.3 best but lowering it even further to 9.172/160.82 beating Keith Cowie's track speed record for imports set fourteen days ago. Taking the runner-up title to Brett Mann's Mitsubishi VR-4 was the team effort put in by Alistair Tomlinson and Karl Farrer. All season long, their 2.6 Skyline GTR has been running a consistent pace resulting in a day's best time of 10.985/127.48. Although recently taking this series over, Shakespeare County Raceway would like to thank all the drivers who turned out for Sunday's season-ending Jap Racer Day and for supporting the series as a whole. Hopefully this will continue into 2007 as the series expands! Picture courtesy and ©Dave Derry ©Eurodragster.com Toyo Tyres press release. 2nd November: Tyre giant Toyo Tyres were sitting pretty on top of the podium at the recent 2006 Southern California Drag Racing Association Finals, thanks to a blistering performance from the Thomas Bayer Racing Super Comp dragsters on their Toyo Proxes DRR1 drag slicks. In a fitting season finale, last year's Rookie of the Year Lee Priest powered to the 2006 top-spot having scored consistently through to the finals on both days of racing. Despite being only his second year of competitive driving, Priest appears to have found form almost instantly, already finishing an impressive third in last years championship. Thomas Bayer Racing have now won back-to-back SCEDA championship titles over the last two years in addition to their 2004 Super Comp Association of Southern California Championship glory. Next to Priest on the podium was team-mate Todd Henry. Another hot talent hitting instant form in his first year, gathering up the 2006 Rookie of the Year title along the way. So what's the secret of this all-conquering team - apart from some pretty fair driving of course. Team owner/manager Thomas Bayer was quick to praise the team, the talent and the tyres! "In this class you need consistency. I think Toyo's speaks for itself with a 1-2 Championship finish!", he beamed. "Both Todd and Lee run completely different chassis set-ups and have their own unique driving style, but our Proxes DRR1 slicks allow us to tune the car for each driver - and win!" Like all good American success stories, this one's available over here in the UK. A wide range of sizes are available from Toyo UK drag tyres stockists, Hauser Race Cars and Wheelgame - and are already proving to be ultra-competitive in UK Championships. So if you want to emulate Priest and Henry's success on the quarter mile, you'd better get yourself on the same rubber! ©Eurodragster.com Web site updates. 2nd November: The Kågered Racing web site at www.kagered-racing.com has been updated with a photo gallery of the Swedish Top Fuel Dragster team's appearance in last week's Top Fuel Exhibition at the Bahrain International Circuit. ©Eurodragster.com UK Rocket Dragster pilot Carolynne Cambpell has updated her web site with a report on the Laffin Gas dragster's last outing of the year at the Bonfire Burn-Up at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend. Check it out under Diary and Events at www.laffin-gas.com. Swift snippets. 1st November: Johan Hässler tells us that the Rod'n'Race Speed Shop is reopening in its new location with a special event between 17:00 and 21:00 this evening (Wednesday). "We have only moved fifteen metres but it's bigger and better", says Johan. "We are also celebrating our second anniversary. Micke Gullquist is bringing his Chevy Pro Mod and Lars-Inge Johansson is bringing his Chevelle Pro Mod. Rod'n' Race can be found at Arenavågen 65, 121 77 Johanneshov. Swedish Pro Mod racer Ulf Rapp has asked us to say a big Thank You to his team for the time and dedication they have put in to his exciting season. "I am hoping for an even more exciting season in 2007", says Ulf. "I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all MSS Motorsport, Roger Johansson and Jörgen Karlsson for this season. Without your help and support this season would not have been possible." Congratulations to Jo Carruthers who won our Flame and Thunder Show Contest and who will be enjoying the VIP treatment with a friend at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday. Jo correctly answered that Tommy Möller's race number this year was 2, that Allan Herridge was number 0001 in the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame, and that Carla Pittau and Rick McCann usually drive the race car recently driven by a member of the Eurodragster.com staff. Many thanks to Jo Reed and Kelly Dormer of Santa Pod Raceway for putting up the great prize. ©Eurodragster.com Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Webster Race Engineering has a new member of the family as of 9.17 pm last night (Tuesday). "Graham and Haley have a little boy, Ayrton Rice, who arrived at Kettering Hospital weighing 6 lb 12 oz", says Ian Marshall. "We would like to send them all our best wishes, and good luck getting some sleep!" Pat Ginn has asked us to thank Pete from Eurorep, former rider of TJ O'Brien's Comp Bike, for a lovely day behind the scenes at London Zoo. "We fed the tigers and monkeys, played with the penguins, and met some amazing animals", says Pat. "A big thank you to Mike who took us on the tour. We have some lovely photos and it was a fantastic day. Hopefully we will see you at Flame and Thunder. Although I am feeling very drained at present I've been told this should pass within the next few days - hopefully just my body refuelling." Web site updates. 1st November: Ian King has updated the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com with the final standing in this year's ACU UK Drag Bike Championships. ©Eurodragster.com Our good friend Jon Spoard has updated his UK Drag Racing Nostalgia web site with an excellent video clip of Allan Herridge and Dennis Priddle racing Firefly and Mister Six at Santa Pod in 1972, originally filmed by a young Ian Turburville. The UKDRN site is well worth a look in as it features not just video clips but a large number of historic photographs and more for the Nostalgia fan. Check it out at www.ukdrn.co.uk. Earlier news