As told exclusively to

Thanks to our major sponsor Gold RV whose web site you can find at www.goldrv.co.uk. If you have a question for Derek or the team or if you would like to send a message of support then please E-Mail us at derekflynn@eurodragster.com.

Tuesday 29th April 2008: Done before we started.

Well I thought the first entry of my Blog was the hardest one I had to write, but this one is now proving to be. As you have probably already read on Eurodragster.com News, Knut and the Gold RV team have parted company. The team and I are absolutely gutted and despite taking a couple of days out, I am still very angry at the way we have been treated, so much so I need to reflect a little longer on what has happened and decide what we are going to do about it and where we go from here. I will tell the whole story over a couple of Blogs if you don't mind, but I needed to start with some apologies and some Thank Yous:

I would like to apologise to Brian Burrows for not running at the Big Bang, also to Darren Prentice and the fire and safety crews that were brought in especially to allow us to run, sorry guys but the situation we were confronted with was just untenable.

I am also sorry we disappointed the fans that were looking forward to seeing us run and thank you for all the support we have received.

Thanks to the Go Gold Crew for all the hard work you put in to get the car virtually ready, I would estimate as a team we put well over three hundred man hours in getting the car ready to run and able to pass tech, something we had not planned on as it was supposed to be a turnkey car capable of competing at this high level and should have met FIA and SFI regulations. Anyway thanks guys and girls and sorry you did all that for nothing.

Thanks also to Andy Robinson who at the eleventh hour managed to squeeze the work that was required into his already busy schedule and for burning the midnight oil at our workshop on a couple of occasions to ensure the car was brought up to spec after the Tech guys visit.

As you can see thanks to the boys at J&W and Peter Walters, the car was looking good and we were really looking forward to flying the flag for Britain.

I will tell the full story after I have calmed down a little and not smarting quite so much over the £20,000 plus we had invested into this season so far as well as selling a perfectly good race car to help fund this year's proposed adventures.

Wednesday 23rd April 2008: Big Bang preparation.

We are getting very excited now, and hopefully in my next Blog I will be telling you about what it felt like to unleash over 6,000 horses, as well explain what the team had to do to get me down the track and between runs.

We still have a few things to do before we can load up and head up to Santa Pod, Andy Robinson is busy modifying the shroud and few other bits and pieces. The Go Gold Crew were at our workshop all day on Saturday but we were still waiting for some parts to arrive from the US that Knut had ordered and they duly arrived yesterday from Gary Burgin’s, what helpful guys they are and they seem to know everything about drag racing, they have helped us in the past with Chevy Parts as well as parts for our Hemi in the TMD and now with Fuel parts.

Alan Jackson (our Tuner), has been busy too, getting our Racepack computer running as well as building a new fuel slide valve that Knut has had manufactured. Once we get to the Pod Alan then has to programme all the ignition timing curves, fuel and clutch timers, then hopefully some time on Saturday we will be able to do the first launch and after that the required half pass. All going well and I get signed off on the launch and half pass, we are planning to change motors Saturday night and with the new bullet installed we shall be going for an all out assault on the two full passes, which have to be 5.4 seconds or quicker and one run in excess of 260 mph. Whilst these numbers are well within the cars capabilities, obviously track and weather conditions will also have to be with us (as well as yours truly getting everything right) and when you consider in Vegas last week after three rounds of qualifying some of the guys were struggling to get 5.40 and this was their fourth round of the championship plus all the testing they have done, so it is not going to be easy.

If you are coming to the Big Bang this weekend then please come and say hi and keep your fingers crossed for us, that we can get the licence runs out the way, at least then we will know we can attend the Main Event and the next goal will be to try and make the show, last year at Mantorp qualifying in TF was just awesome and you basically had to run a 4 to make it in. Hopefully if it all goes well this weekend, we can collate some useful data to help us for qualifying next month. If you can not make it to the Big Bang in person keep an eye out on the excellent Eurodragster coverage and keep those positive vibes coming we really appreciate all the support we have been getting.

Sunday 13th April 2008: Top Fuel Racer In Waiting.

I am starting to really dislike that title, but again I am blogging you before driving our Top Fuel Dragster and watching the other guys at the Easter Snowball get three rounds in on the Monday albeit over the eighth was just so frustrating for me and the team, as we wanted to be out there too.

My Team Manager Gary Jenkins managed to get his licence at Easter though, not for driving a car but driving the monster of a tailgate that we now have, and just to prove his proficiency he managed to lower it to within a centimetre of an egg without breaking it, things you do when you are bored! Pictures courtesy of Richard Stirling of Top Nitro, just in case you have visited his excellent web site and wondered what that was all about.

Now we have had the car at our workshop for a while, we may not have been able to run at Easter anyway as we have found a few things that needed to be rectified, so perhaps the bad weather was a blessing in disguise for us.

With the car only arriving just before Snowball, this was my first chance to check out the modified seating position Knut had done and with all my race gear on, one time I did not mind getting suited and booted as at least it kept me warm during the sub zero conditions and gave us the opportunity to check out the new seven point harness that we now have to use.

Andy Robinson of Andy Robinson Race Cars as well as Mark and Tim of the Tech Crew are booked to come to our place this week to ensure the car is all up to date and is well and truly race ready. We have used Andy many times before on our own race cars and can not speak highly enough of the help and support he has given us in the past, we are very fortunate to have Andy almost on our doorstep and as an excellent chassis builder and racer himself he has a vast amount of experience to help any racer in any class and I was really pleased when Knut said he had spoken to Andy and he was to do what ever needed doing. Also all the Gold RV crew will be at Gold RV next weekend to button everything up and get all the equipment and tools ready for the following week's assault, thanks guys.

There have been quite a few rule changes from when our car was built in 2006 and whilst most of the equipment we have is pretty much state of the art and the same as they use in the US - things like seat belts, HANS devices and shrouds - the rules have changed back and forth so much so that even the FIA have struggled to keep up with them. We normally run a year behind the US with regards to rule changes but if it is a safety issue then we tend to adopt the changes as soon as possible.

We have now sent our dragster body etc. away to get Gold RV'd. I am really pleased with the results and I would really like to thank Peter Walters of Peter Walters Race Design for coming up with the designs and Richard and Lee of J&W Automotive for applying the paint in the very tight time frame we had. In fact they could paint it quicker than my graphic guys could sticker it and at a price that was comparable too, thanks guys. So if you want a quick spray job rather than a sticky job look no further than the J&W boys, as you can see we have modified the scheme slightly as I liked the red so much, especially as it matches our team mate Bob Glassup's Altered, that I decided to dispense with the fade.

The Big Bang is fast approaching and we just cannot wait to unleash the monster and see what it can do. If you are at a bit of a loose end on the weekend of the 26th-27th April why not come along, the Big Bang and Bug Jam are quite different to your normal drag race meeting especially if you like VWs and the racing and evening entertainment is like no other meeting you would have seen before. So why not come along and please come and say Hi as your support is very much appreciated.

Thursday 27th March 2008: Close, but no cigar.

Unfortunately, I am writing this Blog still with no experience of driving a Top Fueller. As most of you probably already know the weather gods were against us at the renamed Easter Snowball. I remember my first time at Santa Pod with our first car, where it ended up with me in the cockpit with a lapful of hailstones and eventually the test day being called off and no racing. Snow drifts outside our RV definitely topped that one, drag racing can be a frustrating sport at times, especially here in England with our climate but I have learned not to get too down about the weather as that is one thing as a team we cannot do anything about.

Knut Söderquist (car owner) and Alan Jackson (Tuner) decided on Sunday evening that although the car was now virtually ready (still missing a few parts but that could have been overcome) and whilst there was a possibility of a weather window on the Monday, the temperatures could still have been a bit of a problem for a rookie's first launch and we should regroup and try again another time. Whilst the team and I were obviously disappointed not to get out on the track, we did understand their concerns, as with no experience it could have been easy to smoke the tyres and, being the rookie that I am, I may not have reacted in time to save the motor.

All was not lost though, as once the 50 mph winds finally dropped we got our excellent Leanders Brothers awning up on Saturday night, just in time to catch all the snow. On Sunday morning we were finally able to get our monster out of the trailer and in sub-zero conditions the team were able to do some much-needed work on it. We rebuilt the engine, found a couple of pistons that needed replacing, the cam end float also needed adjusting, set up the clutch and cannon as well as built a spare short motor etc. Special thanks to Alan Jackson without whom this would have been impossible, what a knowledgeable and great guy to work with and we are so pleased he is helping our team.

Going through the trailer was an experience too. The amount of spares Knut has is phenomenal. Open one draw, two draws, full of a multitude of MSD parts, another full of piston rings, open a box and it is full of rods, another box full of pistons, another pile of boxes full of complete fully-built cylinder heads, spare injectors etc. etc. It was like an Aladdin's cave for the team and I, it also helped to reinforce Knut's commitment to us as a team that he really wants us to go as many rounds as we can and that parts or lack of them should not be an issue.

The team really achieved so much on the Sunday despite the weather and we did manage to fire up the beast in the evening, just on a bit of petrol/methanol mix poured in through the injectors but I finally got to sit in the office with the engine running and the wheels going round and I felt right at home, although as I say it was not running on nitro yet! Despite all the smoke and fumes I was not moving for a while, I just sat there taking it all in and visualising what I will have to do on a run.

It was great to be back at the Pod and to see so many of our friends again, although at times it was hard to leave the warmth of the RV. Also it was quite difficult to go visiting as we had so many visitors ourselves wishing us well, and we were a very popular place to visit what with our central heating and underfloor heating going flat out along with our kettle that never seemed to stop. Sorry, got to plug the benefits of having an RV and you have to plug your sponsors you know, also as a few of our friends/customers who came by also kept commenting to us they were so pleased they bought an RV from Gold and all with rather smug looks on there faces. I would like to thank my wife Fiona who was probably one of the busiest members of the crew this weekend, the army still needs feeding even when you are not racing, as well as supplying endless cups of tea and coffee to all and sundry, so much so we both forgot our twenty fourth wedding anniversary, so a belated Happy Anniversary darling. I got told off for the come on no gagging bit last time so I won't mention that again, oops.

Also, even though we did not get out on the track ourselves, a huge thanks and total respect to all the Santa Pod crew, Fire and Safety crews, scrutineers, tech guys, sign on office, and everyone else who worked so hard at, on, in or around the event to ensure the meeting was completed for the racers and crowd who bravely stuck it out and I do hope you have all thawed out. Thanks also to the Go Gold Crew for sticking it out too!

We have now arranged to try and get our licence runs at the Big Bang on the26th-27th April. I just hope the weather will be better, surely it could not be any...no, don't tempt fate Derek. I would really like to thank Brian Burrows and Darren Prentice for allowing us the opportunity to do this. This is not Gold RV Racing's first adventure at the Big Bang as we entered the ET Challenge a couple of years back with our six second Super Pro ET car and had a great time, so we are all really looking forward to it, again thanks Brian much appreciated. So why not come along and give us some support it will be very much appreciated and going on past experiences it is a really fun event.

Blog ya later and thanks again for stopping by.

Thursday 20th March 2008: White rabbits.

I'm late I'm late for a very important date, no time to say hello good bye I'm late I'm late I'm late. I feel just like that rabbit at the moment. Well, the car finally arrived and, for various reasons, about four weeks later than planned, and unfortunately as you may have read on Eurodragster.com News the truck broke down at the docks.

With all the delays, we have not had time to even get the car out of the trailer, so sorry no pictures this time either. This also means we will have to run in Knut's Tre Kronor colours and not the new Gold RV scheme for this event, which is disappointing, but hey at least it is here.

We had so much we planned to do to the dragster, truck and trailer before Easter but our first job was to find a replacement truck to take it to the meeting and I would like to say a special thanks to Animal for coming to the rescue with his truck and agreeing to pick it up and bring it back to us. Next we had to fit a new awning to the side of the trailer or we would have no where to work, which my guys did in the freezing cold, thanks guys. Then sort out the wheelie bar that was not quite finished, but are now mandatory for Fuel cars and we would not be able to run without it. But that is all we had time for before it had to leave for the track.

Once we get to the track we still have so much to do, Alan Jackson has to rebuild the clutch cannon and slide valve, the rest of the team have to tear down the engines and rebuild them as they have not turned a piston for nearly a year. Overhaul the fuel pump and fuel systems, a new set of HT leads to make, get the Racepak systems talking to the computer as well as a multitude of other things that I don't even know yet, good job we have got an army of crew with us.

It has been a really unusual off-season for us as a team this year, as this is the first time we have not owned our own car and usually we are busy all winter rebuilding and tinkering with it, organising spares, getting things checked and tagged for the up and coming season. Since we did the deal with Knut we have just had to wait for the car to be updated and tagged in Sweden and the first my team will get to work on it will be at the track, obviously we are not in competition this weekend and the aim is to familiarise ourselves with the car and for me to get some seat time and hopefully my licence runs. This requires that I do an observed launch, then a half pass with chute deployment and then hopefully two runs of 5.4 seconds or quicker, which is nearly a second quicker than I have ever been, also one run has to be in excess of 260 mph, let's hope the weather is kind and the car runs well.

I just can't wait to mash a loud pedal again it seems like an eternity since I did it last, but this time I am going to have over three times the horsepower than I have had before as well as a clutch pedal and a hand brake to get used to. Oh crap, I have so much to learn, so little time to do it, so many horses and I am so so looking forward to achieving my dream of driving a Top Fuel Dragster, I just hope it does not turn in to a nightmare.

Thanks for all the supportive E-Mails and telephone calls we received wishing me and the team all the best, it is really appreciated and rest assured we shall be giving it our all!

If you get a chance please come say hi to us in the pits, we shall all be flat out putting this monster together and your support will help to spur on the team.

Hopefully the next time I write I might be able to tell you what it felt like to unleash over 6000 hp and give you a bit of an insight of what the team had to do to get us there.

Thursday 6th March 2008: Blog of a rookie.

Well if you are reading this then I guess the blog has started! Thanks Tog and all at Eurodragster (I think). Welcome to you and thanks for stopping by! Let's call this the "Getting to know each other" phase of the blog and I will try not to go on quite so much next time.

Never having done a blog before I am not really too sure where to begin, a couple of people said I should start one especially as "This is your rookie year in Top Fuel". I was assured people would be interested, I guess we shall see... When blogging was first suggested I was worried people might think I was a bit up myself, after all who is this bloke? Some rookie that has been in the sport five minutes, but again they said the fact you have a blog won't be the problem, but what you write in it might be true!

I intended to start this blog on our own racing site, a little more private than here on Eurodragster.com, but I was both honoured and a little nervous when Tog advised me that Eurodragster would be interested in hosting it, also the fact that I have not driven a Top Fueller yet is also a bit of a worry as this could be the shortest running blog ever, as I might totally crap myself after the first run and vow never to do it again! Which will be a little embarrassing in such a public domain, we shall see. I can't wait to see what it is like having over 6000 hp under the control of my right foot and then trying to explain that feeling to you will also be interesting, at the moment I can only imagine!

So for those that don't know me, and why should you, my name is Derek Flynn, I am forty six years old, married to the light of my life Fiona for twenty four wonderful years, come on no gagging, we have no kids but have a real cute thirteen year old three-legged terrier that we spoil rotten and we all live in our RV and work at Gold RV in Alton, Hampshire.

My life changed when at the age of forty one I made my first visit to Santa Pod to watch some racing, well actually I got badgered by Darryl Bradford for eighteen months to sponsor him and the Wildside team, after that one visit that did it for me, thanks Darryl, Lesley and John. "Let's get a car and go racing" I said. So here I am, lucky enough to be the driver for the Gold RV Racing team as well as being the team owner. I drove my first dragster in 2004 and just loved it, oh how I wish I had started this earlier. The Top Fueller will be our fourth car in nearly as many years, I like to keep the team on their toes. We have steadily worked our way up the speed charts mainly in Super Pro, what a great bunch of folks and I am forever indebted to them. Then a year in TMD, again great people and special thanks to the Turners and Dave Wilson for all their help, and now Top Fuel, I can hardly believe it myself. I do hope the need for speed will be satisfied here, but if not I guess I will have to have a go in that Virgin Galactic thing (busy saving my air miles just in case), although apparently the launch Gs of the Space Shuttle are less than a Top Fueller, oh crap what have I done?

So in drag race terms I am a rookie especially when you think there are Junior Drag Racers that have been racing longer than I. The journey so far has been great fun, hard work, full of highs mixed with a few lows and I feel very privileged to be part of this excellent sport and a part of the global drag racing family, because that is what it is like a family. Rather than bore some of you too much (too late you say) who already know me or the team, if you are interested in a more in-depth history of Gold RV Racing, then please see some of our earlier reports on our racing site at www.goldrvracing.co.uk. A good place to start is my review of our first year's racing at www.goldrvracing.co.uk/news/news_121004.htm. Or use the excellent search facility now on Eurodragster.com.

This is hard work this blogging thing, you try it, but I think it is coming along now, don't you?

At this point I must say a huge thanks to all the Go Gold Crew, past and present, you guys and girls, yes girls too, we are an equal opportunity team, you have all been brilliant. Also very special thanks to my Gold RV business partner Gary Jenkins who has been my Crew Chief to date and is now the Team Manager and always straps me in, a man I literally trust with my life, and of course my wife Fiona who has always been very supportive and is the Team Secretary and also looks after the crew whilst at the track. Fiona is a little worried about this years exploits, she's worried, I have to try and drive the thing! Without the support of these people none of this would have been possible, so thanks to you all.

Anyway you will be pleased to hear this blog is not going to be all about me but the team, the car and our exploits, and sometimes if I say I, I really mean we. As we are a team, we compete as a team, win as a team and we lose as a team, apart from when I redlight, but even then the team are pretty good to me saying stuff like "If you don't redlight occasionally then you are not really trying". It doesn't help though, I still feel gutted, as I know I have let them down and they have all done so much work to get me to the line. We also have great fun as a team too, which is just as well as they all volunteer their time and I really appreciate that they also use most of their annual leave from their day jobs to help make us go faster.

I would just like share a couple of little stories that have made me so proud of my team and at one point even brought a bit of a tear to the eye, I know, big softie. One of my proudest moments was our first all-night thrash, that's right the whole night, we were competing in Super Pro ET when on the last run of the day the blower literally exploded about three quarter track and the car caught fire. Anyway rather telling the whole story, suffice to say the excellent Santa Pod crew ensured the fire was quickly out and I was safe, although a little wet. Once we got our rather sorry looking car back to the pits the team soon decided if I could get another blower, they would rebuild the engine as bits had gone through everything, overhaul the injector and gearbox, re-wire the melted wires, we would try and make it for eliminations in the morning. With literally minutes to spare after working all night we pushed our way through the fire up road and made it to the Super Pro pairings that were already running. I was just so proud of the team and the looks from some of our peers, who had seen the carnage the night before, were priceless and the comments of "Didn't think you would be out again", or "We would have put on the trailer" also made us feel good. Well I think this was the start of the Go Gold Crew never-give-up attitude that I know is required as a norm at this level.

The tear in the eye moment was the day after running my first 200 mph run, which I had been trying to achieve for quite a while and after four 199 mph runs in a row at a previous meeting, we finally nailed it. Now I wrongly thought that this was my goal as it meant so much to me, but as I say the day after, I was watching the video of the run that the crew do so we can see what the car does, anyway when the 205 mph came up on the board they forgot to switch off the camera and they went mental all hooping and hollering and a few other choice words that I can not repeat here. Obviously the team's reaction at the line is something I don't normally see or hear, but that was the moment I realised the goals that I thought I set for myself, meant as much or even more to the team too.

I also need to thank all those people who have and are helping us to achieve our goals, sorry there are just far too many to list here, it's a big family spread far and wide, but I am sure their names will pop up from time to time in this blog, providing I am not shut down.

So to the point in hand, the new car. Hoorah, at last you say! It is a virtually brand new Top Fuel chassis built by Mats Eriksson in Sweden and it will be the first European chassis that I have driven, having sourced all my previous cars from the States. I believe the car has only done a handful of runs in the more than capable hands of Harlan Thompson in Bahrain and it has got most of the latest bits available. I will go into specifics another time, yeah, once I have learned what they all are, I hear you say. Cruel but partly true and I am told it should be more than capable of competing at this top level, let's just hope the team and I are.

When Gary and I went to Sweden to see the car and do the deal with Knut Söderquist of Carbon By Design, Knut was explaining some of the major differences between our Top Methanol Dragster and the Top Fueller. From a driver's perspective, apart from the obvious that it will be faster and quicker, his exact words were "It would be a right animal and when the clutch locks up it may lift the front wheels again and it will just keep pulling all the way to the line". I am not sure if he was trying to scare or warn me, anyway the infamous Flynn Grin appeared as soon as he said "right animal", then got wider as he said "just keeps pulling all the way to the line". I guess he was satisfied that I thought I was up for the challenge.

From a team perspective, Knut also asked were we as a team ready for all the extra work? He said you don't just check the engine to see if you are going to pull it apart as we have been doing with the TMD, you just pull it apart after every run and between every meeting! OK, more team members required then, and preferably with Fuel experience!

I am very pleased that we have managed to secure the services of Ian Pellant, Laurie Bamford and Rob Inglis, all of whom have been involved with some top teams for a number of years and their experience will be invaluable. In fact after numerous telephone conversations and E-Mails as well as some recommendations, we decided to offer the Crew Chief's job to Ian, who is keen to progress his own Top Fuel career further by leading a team for the first time. We are also really looking forward to working with Alan Jackson who will be tuning the car for us, and of course with King Knut who is a fuel legend.

So here we are then a new car on the way, another rookie year for Yours Truly, a new Crew Chief and some new team members, I do hope it all comes together OK! We are all very excited about the challenges that we know we shall have to face and I hope to share these with you through this blog. So the talking will soon be over and the doing about to commence.

All going well, I will try and update the blog as much as I can or people say they want, my intention is to include some pictures and regular updates of how our adventure is going as well as try and get some input from some of the other team members of the Go Gold Crew, so they can give you an idea of what it is they do for the team and their take on life in Top Fuel.

We would be pleased to answer any questions you may have, if we can. We would appreciate some suggestions of what you would like me or the team to discuss in this blog. Or if you just wish to send us a message of support that will be very much appreciated too. You can write to us at derekflynn@eurodragster.com. I am really proud to be flying the flag for Britain in the FIA European Top Fuel Championship, but please be patient: we have so much to learn, but rest assured we shall as usual be giving it our all, at every meeting we attend!

The blog will not be so long next time ("Half a denarii for me bleedin' life story?" as the ex-leper said in the Life of Brian), but I had to get you up to date and tell you a bit about who we are, after all it is not as if we are Top Fuel Champions writing a blog and I promise it will be a bit more interesting with some pics of the car, engine etc.etc. Stats and reports of our exploits, he says trying to keep you interested and wanting you to come back.

Beat you to the book AC, might be the only time I beat Andy this year, but it won't be for the lack of trying. The banter has already started between us and he says he is looking forward to kicking my proverbial, although I must say he has also been very supportive. I wonder what he will feel like if he is beaten by a previous sponsor in the other lane, that he has helped, remember what I told you about those Gold RV logos, Andy.

The car should be arriving any day soon; I am just so excited, like a big kid, how many days till Santa comes Mum?

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to blogging to you again soon!

By the way please come and say Hi to the team or I at any of the race meetings, your support is very much appreciated!

All the best,

Derek
Britain's TF Rookie TF4055