European Drag Racing News

Street Eliminator: it ain't over.
30th September: The final round of the UK's Real Steel Street Eliminator Championship takes place at this weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, and although the Championship is now safely in the hands of Colin Lazenby there is still plenty to play for, writes Ian Hook of FB Racing:

Andy Frost’s second place looks pretty safe but is certainly not impregnable. To be 100% certain of it Frosty will have to go at least two rounds but one will do it if he qualifies in the top four. However, in the worst-case scenario, a DNQ, even John Sleath down in sixth place could catch him. But Frosty is a hard man to beat (just ask Colin!) and if he maintains his 100% winning record in SE he’ll have a double celebration. Below Andy the next six racers could all swap places and, if some of the big guns go out early or there are a couple of DNQs then Wilf Stacy and Ray Comer, in seventh and eighth respectively, could be fighting it out for third spot.
©Eurodragster.com
Apart from the Championship standings there are a few racers looking to lay down low ETs. Colin laid down the gauntlet with his record-breaking 8.12 at the Allstar Nationals. John Sleath promptly picked it up and threw it straight back with an out-of-class but still stunning 8.06 at the FIA European Finals a couple of weeks later. Steve ‘Splinter’ Nash is back after suffering engine damage at the Bug Jam, now armed with very high end con rods and running a ‘gentle’ 8.30 he’ll be looking to return to the 8.1s which he ran earlier in the season.

Mr 100%, Andy Frost, found an 8.2 habit at the Allstars and is sure to be looking for a bit more at his last meeting on nitrous. As reported at the European Finals he’ll be fitting a pair of hairdryers for 2006. Ian ‘Fatty’ Hook who Andy defeated in the quickest Street Eliminator race in history at the Allstars (and there’s a very good chance that record will go this weekend) knocked over three tenths off his previous best in that race and has been working on the ’34 Ford since then to make the home-built hot rod hotter yet! Finally, three others in an ET chase will be Wilf Stacey, Ray Comer and Jon Webster. Wilf and Ray have gone 9.0 and 9.1 respectively so look out for eights from these two. And don’t forget Jon Webster’s MG - with a re-worked converter the new machine could really fly!

So, the Championship may be over but the excitement certainly isn’t. Saturday’s qualifying will be worth the entry price on its own - don’t miss it.

Bonhams Bike Shop.
30th September: Ben Walker of Bonhams Auctioneers has been in touch to let us know that the company will be holding an auction of motorcycles and parts at the Staffordshire County Showground on Sunday 16th October, and that the auction includes a number of bikes from the collection of legendary UK drag bike racer and tuner Pip Higham.

"The collection includes the 1978 Kosman Suzuki 1260cc Competition Bike (estimate: Ł6,000 - Ł9,000), 1979 Suzuki GSX1100 'The Deuce' Pro Stock Bike (estimate: Ł2,000 - Ł3,000) and the 1982 Suzuki GS1600EZS 'The Six' (estimate: Ł5,000 - Ł8,000)", says Ben.

You can view the auction catalogue on-line at www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=Catalogue&iSaleNo=12186, and if you have any queries then you can contact Ben at Bonhams by E-Mail at ben.walker@bonhams.com or on 08700 273616.

Joe joins the Junior Bikers.

30th September: Steve Davies has been in touch from Germany to tell us that he is able to offer Junior Drag Bike frames at a reasonable price, and that his son Joe (right) will be riding the first example in the UK next season.

"I had been looking for a Junior Dragster when I came across Ian 'Rush' Carruthers' Junior Drag Bike site and it just blew us away", says Steve. We tried to buy a bike, which was not easy as we are in Germany, so we purchased plans from the USA and went looking for a chassis builder, also not easy in Germany. Last September we found a small motorcycle customizing company who just loved the idea. We now manufacture chassis for Junior Drag Bikes - yes, it's become a business! - and our first five chassis have all gone to Scandinavia. We are ready to take orders from England, pricing starts at under Ł500".
©Eurodragster.com
Joe's bike is a Suzuki V twin 125 , with Aprilia upside down forks, Brembo brakes front and back, and 225 Low Profile car tire on a Suzuki seventeen-inch rear wheel.

Click here for a picture of the chassis which Steve can supply, and for more details check out his web site at www.juniordragbike.com.

Swift snippets.
30th September: Yvonne Tramm and the Quantum Leap Racing team have asked us to say a very happry Fortieth Birthday to UK race car builder, Super Comp racer, Sportsman Racing authority, Tech Comittee member, former Eurodragster.com sponsor and all-round good guy Chris Isaacs. Have a great day, Chris.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
30th September: Thanks to Claire Meaddows for letting us know that the official web site of the UK's Wild Bunch is now back on-line as the result of a lot of hard work by webmaster Ed Yates. You can find the Wild Bunch web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Street racer Pete Thompson had updated his Size Does Matter web site with details of his beautiful blown Chevelle as well as an unfortunate picture of its Ford Escoprt predecessor. Check it out at www.freewebs.com/dingdongchevelle. "We are all looking forward to 2006 as our track time was very limited this year due to change of plans and our house move", says Pete.

UK National Finals coverage.
30th September: We will be covering this weekend's UK National Finals live from Santa Pod in association with American Car Imports.

Our coverage will consist of frequently-updated reports on the on-track action on both days and a Photo Gallery at the end of each day. Simon is planning to be with us on Sunday and will be keeping us bang up-to-date with the unfolding Championship scenarios.

The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will be on-line and will be scheduled to broadcast a picture every two minutes.
©Eurodragster.com
We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences; in the meantime you can access our Event Coverage Index, which includes the official entry list and tomorrow's provisional running order, by clicking here, by clicking on the laptop logo at left, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the UK National Finals.

UK National Finals running order.
29th September: We are as ever indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall and Santa Pod's Race Director Darren Prentice for forwarding us the provisional running order for Saturday's qualifying for the UK National Finals.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view Saturday's running order, click on the laptop logo at left, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select the UK National Finals.

Please note that this running order is provisional and is subject to alteration due to weather, track conditions, or for any other reason deemed neecssary by race officials.

Paula has also told us that Santa Pod Raceway's gates will open at 15:00 tomorrow (Friday).

ACU UK Championship outcomes.
29th September: We are again indebted to Simon Groves who has given us a run-down of the outcomes in the 2005 ACU UK Drag Bike Championships, which conclude at this weekend's UK National Finals:

The ACU British Drag Bike Championship reaches its conclusion at Santa Pod with strong fields in all classes and a number of Championship positions unresolved, even though the provisional Champions are fairly clear.

In Top Fuel Bike congratulations go to Steve Woollatt on his umpteenth Championship; on the way to it he ran personal best numbers of 6.42 and 219.17 mph. With Steve taking a well-deserved rest from racing this weekend to work on his bike for 2006, some of Europe's big hitters are stepping into the breach. Double European Champion Ian King (2001 and 2005) and four time Champion Roel Koedam (1997, 1999, 2003 and 2004) will both be trying to run record-breaking numbers. Second-placed man in the Championship Steve Carey could just be overtaken by Ian King for runner-up spot, but only if Ian qualifies #1, wins the event, and scores best time and speed and Steve qualifies last and goes out in the first round.

In Funny Bike congratulations to Chris Hall, who has an almost unassailable lead over Neil Midgley, from whom we have seen record-breaking runs this year. Chris, who was 2000 champion, won at the Easter Thunderball and Shakespeare Nationals, whereas Neil (2002-4 Champion) was the victor at the Summernationals. Neil's second place could be under threat from Stu Chamberlain if he qualifies #1 and wins the event with low ET and High Speed and Neil has problems.

Dave Beck has had a great year in Pro Stock Bike, winning every completed event in the ACU Championship so far and running the class' quickest and fastest ever times and speeds (7.168/184.27). In true awards ceremony style, though, Dave won't be able to be present at SPR as he will be racing Pro Mod Bike at the AMA Prostar Schnitz Memphis Blues Nationals this weekend. Other riders have stepped up in a big way with Len Paget running a number of personal bests with new equipment. Len and Ray Debben will be fighting over second place, Ray being a couple of rounds behind Len but with some potential stoppers in the field.
©Eurodragster.com
Congratulations also go to provisional Comp Bike Champion Gary Jones who with Crew Chief Dave Friend won the Easter Thunderball, Shakespeare Nationals and Allstar Nationals with their EFI turbo Suzuki. Second placed TJ O'Brien could still be overhauled by Sandra Chaplain or Philip Leamon should either of these qualify better and go two rounds or more further.

Fact: the Super Street Bike ACU records which stood at 8.108/185.97 have been well and truly blown away this year to 7.720/195.24. Second fact: seven bikes have run under the eight-second barrier so far and all will be present at the weekend. So it's fitting that seven-second pioneer and current speed record holder and Steve Venables (Kawasaki) already has a huge lead in this year's Championship. Second-placed Jamie Sneddon (Honda Blackbird - who has run as quick as 7.66) has a big lead in turn over third placed Mark Fisher (Suzuki Hayabusa).

For the latest points in the ACU Championship, visit www.kingracing.com/pdf/ACU-BritishDragbikeChampionship-PointsTable2005.pdf.

Swift snippets.
29th September: Luke Bennet tells us that the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered will not be attending the UK National Finals. "I was stripping the heads down, noticed that number two seat wasn't nice, and on further inspection found that it had actually moved", says Luke. "We could probably run on it but it's not worth the risk because if it was to drop out the damage would be massive. This is all down to the mag, where it was retarding itself to nine degrees the heat generated must have been warm and with the steel seats, in alloy heads, it has moved". Luke says that the engine will be taken out of the altered over the off-season to be checked front to back.
©Eurodragster.com
Lee, Barbara and Charlotte Kirk have asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to UK Super Modified racer Andy Kirk, which we are very happy to do. Have a great day, Andy.

Close finish for the Wild Bunch.
29th September: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows has been in touch with news from the nostalgia racers' latest appearance at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, and a preview of the UK National Finals where the 2005 Champion will be decided:

The Wild Bunch fielded seventten cars at the Hot Rod Drags, and amongst the highlights of the weekend were some Personal Best ETs and speeds. Tony Wynne-Jones has now started to get more performance out of his new engine in the Welsh Raider II Radical and ran a promising 11.214 with more still to come from the machine, which won the Best Radical trophy. Father and son Pete and Gavyn Loveridge coaxed their fluorescently-flamed slingshot Herr X to a new best speed of 126.06 mph. Taking only his third-ever run in the Coe and Mortimer Shy Talker blown-alky slingshot was recently-married Tom Coe. His Dad Alec had run the car to a pair of 8.6s on the Saturday, but when Tom stepped in he recorded the car's best time and speed yet, a stunning 8.441/166.62! Tom also won the Best Slingshot and Most Improved ET trophies for his efforts.

Darryl Howells has been steadily lowering the ET with the newly-rebuilt engine in the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot, and put in a number of PBs with the best a strong 10.028. Chemical Reaction was also voted the Drivers' Choice by all the teams participating at the weekend. Roy Wilding continued to make progress with his new Chariot of Fire altered, raising his best speed to 118.49 mph, and winning the Best Altered spot prize. Sid Slattery started the weekend well with a great 10.604 PB in his beautiful silver Jag-powered Destiny slingshot, and the whole team showed their professionalism and smart appearance, winning the Best Appearing Team spot prize.
©Eurodragster.com
The winner this weekend was Smokin’ Joe Stevens in the Back in Black altered, and he also took away the Best Burnout prize for his powerful smoky burnouts! Sarah Howells was second in Bernie Nicholas’ Destiny’s Angel altered, Roy Wilding was third and Darryl Howells fourth.

Joe has also wrapped up the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, winning this for the fourth year in a row! Crazy Chris Hartnell was in second place, Psycho Mikey Cresswell with the Living the Dream slingshot was third and Steve Field with The Black Pig altered was fourth so congratulations to all of them!

Another highlight of the weekend was the group photo-shoot at the top end of the track after racing on Saturday, organised as part of the celebrations for the Tenth Anniversary of the Wild Bunch. The group featured fifteen Wild Bunch cars, including five from the first full season of the Wild Bunch back in 1996, and the drivers included three pairs of father and son teams! Some of these pictures can be seen on Sharkman’s web site at www.topendtales.com.

The whole Bunch are now looking forward to the UK National Finals at Santa Pod which will be the deciding round of the Wild Bunch Series and the penultimate round of the Series of our main sponsor, Real Steel. We have twelve cars entered and the Top Three is too close to call. Tony Smith is still leading in The Cunning Plan altered, with 40 points as soon as he signs on. He is followed by Mike Cresswell who will collect attendance bonus points to boost his total to 37 when he arrives at the track. Chris Hartnell is currently third on 30 points but has unfortunately had to withdraw as Backdraft sustained some block damage at the Hot Rod Drags. This means that Helen Smythe, currently fourth with the Team Twisted Hell’s Belle altered, will take over third place when she signs on, reaching 32 points. There will then be a total of nine points available, so there is all to play for amongst the Top Three!

Will we see a new Wild Bunch Champion? Or will Tony Smith take a back-to-back win? All will be revealed on Sunday Sunday Sunday! Can’t wait!

Sunday Saturdays and Jap Racers.
29th September: It’s the final shootout in the six-race points battle for the Saturday Street Racers at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. However, the event will be run as a Sunday supplement for the American Car World magazine-backed series running in conjunction with the final instalment for the Jap Racer Days series, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson.

Counting five of the best points haul in the V8 class has already secured Andy Bond yet another ACW SSR title. Having dominated four of the five rounds encountered so far in his ex Billy ‘The Kid’ Macdermid Super Gas Camaro at Shakespeare County and Santa Pod, Andy’s determination for a third title next year is going to be put to the test with the likes of Street Eliminator racer Ray Cormer (who came out on top of the penultimate rounds time trial at Santa Pod) with his 9.1-second Small Block Chevy Camaro Z28, number two man in points Stuart Ramsey with his Big Block ’67 Camaro and Ian ‘Monkey Boy’ Mather who is said to be sidelining his blown ’74 Opel Manta in favour of a new ride for 2006! Fourth in points going into Sunday’s event is Chris Goodale’s wheelstanding ’69 Chevelle followed by Mark Bracking’s tubed out Small Block Ford Pop.

In the Four/Six Cylinder class, it’s going to be a straightforward dogfight to the bitter end between the Blue Oval racers of Terry Davies and Mick Rogers, although the stealth looking two-litre Vauxhall of Mick Wilkes has a slim outside chance of stealing the Ford boys' thunder. During the last round at Santa Pod, the Cosworth powered Ford Cortina of Mick Rogers was in fine form for the forty points to credit his 10.8s followed by Davies’ ’72 Escort and Ben Tompkins' Dutton Pheaton kit car, both carding mid eleven second quarters.

Split into two classes - Front Wheel Drive and Four Wheel/Rear Wheel Drive combined - the first Jap Racer Dayevent in April attracted over sixty rice rockets and even more in May as the continued war now presses on to find the quickest and fastest street sleeper in the land, where the winner has a chance at scooping the Ł1000 prize fund on offer in this inaugural series.

Going into Sunday’s event decider, round one winner Steve Brookes has a commanding lead with his 2.8 litre Nissan Skyline R33 and is the current track record holder for the Front Wheel Drive class with an 11.9 at at 124 mph. Hoping to stop him at any cost will be Garth Wong’s R32-GT-R. Garth will be using every inch of power available to him in the GT-R, put together by his own tuning company MGT Racing Ltd, to stop Steve in his tracks. Third is another GT-R in the capable hands of Kev Carrington. Turning up to the first round in April for a bit of fun turned into a more serious affair as by the end of the day his 12.7s were rapidly turning into 12.1s with an eleven just around the corner.

Leading the Four Wheel/Rear Wheel Drive category is the very rapid Honda Civic Type-R driven by Paul Jones. Competing in his own company racer (System-R) it took a couple of goes to perfect his start line techniques which eventually led to track record times of 13.7 for the Honda’s normally aspirated engine. Nicky Haddon is second followed by Julian Hammond’s 16v Honda Accord.

So whatever the outcome, it’s the finals and this time its all-out war to find the quickest and fastest street legal racer from the land of the rising sun.

Time trials begin at 11.00 am Sunday and it's an all day Run What Ya Brung/ Public Track Day on a fully-prepared track. General admission to the Raceway is just Ł12.00 and for Ł15.00 will buy you unlimited runs on one of Europe’s quickest and fastest surfaces. For further information, check out SCR's web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
29th September: Santa Pod Raceway's official web site has been updated with pictures from the weekend's On2Wheels bike event. You can get directly to the On2Wheels pictures at www.santapod.co.uk/e_2wheels.php.
©Eurodragster.com
UK National Championship outcomes.
28th September: We are indebted to UK National Drag Racing Championship Co-ordinator Simon Groves who has given us a run-down of the outcomes in the 2005 UK National Championships, which conclude at this weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway:

The 2005 UK Drag Racing Championships have seen increased numbers of competitors in each class and fierce competition at all eight events held at both Santa Pod Raceway and Shakespeare County Raceway. The National Finals promises to be a hard-fought conclusion to the Championships, and of the ten classes involved only three are completely sewn up. To be sure of seeing the Championships resolved as they happen, you will need to be at Santa Pod this weekend.

Congratulations to Danny Cockerill ('57 Chevy Bel Air) who is provisionally UK Pro Modified Champion by virtue of being runner-up at the Easter Thunderball, a semi-final finish at the Main Event and qualifying at the European Finals. In Super Modified, Graham Ellis (Oldsmobile Cutlass) only needs to sign on to win the Championship for Ellis Racing from second-placed Andy Kirk (Rat Fink '68 Camaro). Andy is a long way ahead of the rest of the field.

Paul Knight (Pontiac Trans Am) is less than one round win ahead of Chris Johnson (MG ZS) in Super Comp. In turn Chris is less than one round win ahead of Brian Pateman ('68 Firebird). However Brian will miss out on the 200 points bonus for attending all rounds, making his task more difficult. In Super Gas there are potentially 800 points available and this makes the Championship a three-way battle between the Frank Mason ('54 Corvette), Spencer Tramm (Corrado) and Conrad Stanley (Chevy Vega). Frank (2002) and Conrad (2004) have both won Championships in previous years, but will Spencer be able to come through for his first? In Super Street, congratulations to John Grant from Planet Bristol (Ford 100E) who is provisional 2005 Champion. Runner-up is a tight battle between class stalwarts Dave Cherrett, Bob Lees, Paul Spiers and Leigh Morris (2002 champion).
©Eurodragster.com
Super Pro ET is a close fight between leader and 2004 Champion Ian Tubb, who won the Easter Thunderball, Barry Giles, who won the Shakespeare Nationals and Summer Nationals, with Steve Johnson, John Everitt and Martyn Jones (2002 Champion) also in the running for the runner-up placing. Pro ET has a full field with up to 1040 points available. John Atkinson (Cortina Mk1 Estate), who has had consistent performance but has not won since the Power Nationals in April, has a relatively safe cushion of 690 points ahead of previous double Champions (2002 and 2004) Team Heaven and Hell (Carla Pittau and Rick McGann's Camaro). Runner-up honours could also be won by Team Top Banana, Carl Burton (Sierra) and Joe Stevens ('23 T) , with Ron Bartlett (Ford 105E) and Aiden Kenny (Ford E93A) mathematically in with a shout. In Sportsman ET, Rick Denny (who has won each meeting completed at SPR but has not attended SCR) is 190 points ahead of Tanya Partridge (Camaro), after taking attendance bonuses into account. Tanya will need to qualify better and go two rounds further than Rick to take her first Championship. In turn, Tanya's second position in the Championship could be under threat from Ian Petrie, Nick Gay (Metro Pickup) or Keith Crampton (Camaro) should she go out early.

Another strong field in Junior Dragster means that up to 920 points are available. Jay Hauser is just over one round ahead of Collin Morrice who is in turn two rounds ahead of Nick Mugridge. Qualifying could make the difference with up to 220 points available for number one qualifier.

Fred Furlong (2003 Champion) is over three rounds ahead of Steve Coombs in 9.50 Bike. Realistically, the battle is between these two as Andy Bird is a further 280 points back.

You can view the post-FIA European Finals UK National Championship standings by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Tramm back in action.
28th September: UK Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine racer Spencer Tramm tells us that, thanks to the amazing efforts of engine builder Jeff Bull, his Quantum Leap Corrado is ready to fight for three titles at this weekend's UK National Finals. Spencer is currently second in the UK National Super Gas Championship and AMR Motors VW Alternate Engine Championship, and is leading the Santa Pod Racers Club Super Gas Championship.
©Eurodragster.com
"When Jeff stripped the engine he found a broken lifter so it was lucky that we spotted it quickly and decided to park the car at the European Finals or the consequences could have been much worse", says Spencer. "The engine went back in the car last Saturday, and it sounds awesome, so we are fit and raring to go.

"A big thanks to Jeff Bull Race Engines, Chris Isaacs, Nick Kemp (who got coerced into helping us to take the engine out), my fantastic crew George and Rachel Georgiou (A nicer couple you couldn't hope to meet - Ed), Phil Barker and Ady Goodier and finally my sponsors Big Boys Toys, Stanley Parr Limited and The Great Big British Quiz as whatever the outcome this weekend it's been a great year made better by the support from you guys!"

Spencer adds that guest crewmembers Steve Woodbridge and Adele Atherton will be collecting for Macmillan Cancer Research at Santa Pod this weekend. Steve's grandfather is currently undergoing chemotherapy, so Steve and Adele will be bringing a bucket for everyone's spare change this weekend.

Swift snippets.
28th September: We would like to wish a very Happy Fortieth Birthday to our good friend, UK Outlaw Anglia racer, Super Pro ET racer, and renowned Big Chief Hooligan Mark Pointer. Hope that you have a great day, Hooligan.
©Eurodragster.com
Nigel Taylor tells us that US auto supply and service business Carolina Classics is expanding to take over a local garage premises. "We are growing rapidly with more and more parts going out the door every day", says Nigel. "The little village garage we are taking over is a very 1950s-60s 'We serve you petrol' and MoT service centre. We will have the pleasure of displaying a few Yank cars at roadside. Carolina Classics would like to thank all of our customers for their support over the last three years, even we didn't expect it to take off as it has". The Carolina Classics web site at www.carolinaclassics.co.uk has been updated with more information and pictures on cars and services.

PMR's magnificent seven.
28th September: In the beginning no-one would have believed that Paul Marston Racing’s Drag Race Driving School would, within three years, be able to field seven competitive drivers in three classes. This weekend’s UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway is a historic occasion with seven competitors from Paul Marston Racing making up twenty five per cent of the Super Street entry, ten per cent of the Pro ET entry, and John Everitt in Super Pro ET. Paul Marston says that this is the biggest single team entry at a National Event in UK drag racing history.

“We do not come to make up the numbers, every single driver at Paul Marston Racing comes with just one objective - to win”, says Paul. “There are no team orders; it’s every man for himself on the start line but every one has the full tactical and analytical resources of Paul Marston Racing behind them. This many drivers present unique logistical challenges for the PMR Super Crew. But taking into consideration that at the FIA European Finals the four entered drivers made every single round of Thursday’s qualifying marathon, they should take the extra race car entry and drivers in their stride.

“This is a proud moment for everyone at Paul Marston Racing, Crew Chief Sam Marston, Gary Springford at Drag Race Engineering, Logistics and Statistician Anthony, Super Crew Michael Pusey, Sefton Whitlock, Lizz McCarthy, Darren Barthell, Dean Dogberry, Massive Mileage Mark and all the rest. Sponsors who have believed in us and helped us through the tough times are Chrysler UK, 76 Racing Fuels and Oils, ChryslerCard, Mac Tools, Black Box Sound and Light (07831 650230), Disco Equipment Hire (0208 597 4575), Drag Race Engineering (0208 597 9484), London Road Tyres (01708 735355), Mopar Muscle Association, PT Cruisers UK, Gary Jones Snap-On, Cooke’s Tools (0208 590 3279), Buzbys Garage, all the rest of our associate sponsors and supporters, and last but by no means least the fans.
©Eurodragster.com
“If you think this is the pinnacle just wait for 2006, this is just the beginning. Now is also the time to contact us if you wish to book one of our infamous Drag Race Passenger Rides or if you are thinking of enquiring, expressing an interest or enrolling on the Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School or have an interest in joining us at a National Event and competing with us. You can do it via the internet at www.paulmarstonracing.com, call the office on 0208 597 4575 or mobile 07831 650230, or come and see us in the pits at Santa Pod this weekend.

“Finally all of the PMR crew would like to thank all of our fellow competitors and crew for the co-operation and understanding they have shown with our new drivers. They understand and appreciate that what Paul Marston Racing and the Drag Race School have done over the past three years has directly resulted in more professionally-trained sportsman racers entering National Events in good competitive Drag Racecars. More competitors means more rounds of competition, great for racing and hopefully helping to secure a healthy future for our great sport. Drag racing is blessed with having so many forward-thinking Sportsman racers, genuine people enjoying this great sport with an eye on the future, long may it remain so.”

Psycho II.
27th September: The UK's legendary 'Psycho' Phil Drewitt is to return to what he correctly describes as "The best motorsport in the world" after racing stock cars on short tarmac ovals for several years. Phil, remembered for his wild wheels-up launches and Super Gas prowess, is planning to run in Street Eliminator.

"I paid visits to Shakespeare County Raceway and Santa Pod and it was good to see so many friends and receive such a warm welcome", says Phil. "I guess after fifteen years of drag racing I should know where I belong by now (You came back, that's the important thing - Ed) so I have just purchased a 514 ci Ford Pop - yes, I'm still going to stay Ford-powered. I will be keeping the car street-legal with the hope of a little Street Eliminator action, nothing to worry the big boys but just for fun.
©Eurodragster.com
"Top Bristol racer Zane Llewellyn will be sorting out a glide with brake to help get things sorted in the gearbox department. I may also have a little bit of nitrous from my very good friend Trev Langfield whose kit helped us win the Super Gas title in 1990. I think he may have a few good ideas on how to get the Pop into the mid-nines. It's good to be back, see you soon."

Packed everything but the dyke...

27th September: Dutch Super Comp racer Robert Joosten says that he and his team have had a lot of fun this season which even the rain couldn't spoil, even though they forgot to bring a dyke to the FIA European Finals (right).

"We broke the converter at the European Finals and as always we were pleasantly surprised with the help of our UK racing friends", says Robert. "After we borrowed a converter from Ian Marshall the Pro Truck made a perfect run, showing that the old converter had been giving us trouble for a long time. It was too bad that the rain started to fall again, and on Sunday morning we had no good weather forecast so we decided to give Ian his converter back and head for home.
©Eurodragster.com
"Of course, the weather gods then decided to stop the rain and to give the race fans, who had been waiting patiently for two days, a race they wouldn’t forget. To bad we were on the ferry at the time...

"The racing is over for this year, but we can’t wait for next year!"

Swift snippets.
27th September: Many thanks to National Association of Supertwins Championship Co-ordinator Lorraine Laycock for sending us the 2005 NAST Championship standings after the weekend's On2Wheels at Santa Pod. "What a superb meeting we had", says Lorraine. "Four qualifiers in the morning and eliminations in the afternoon. A big Thank You to all at Santa Pod for making the day A-OK for the Twins - everyone had a great day!". You can view the NAST points by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The NAST racers have one round left, this weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod, after which the Championship standings will be finalised on the racers' best five of six events.
©Eurodragster.com
2005 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon has been in touch to let us know that he will not be attending this weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway for financial reasons. Lex appeared on the entry list as the paperwork requirements make it easier for a racer to be removed from an entry than to be added at the last minute. Lex tells us that he wanted to see if he could run some records with the MPM Top Fuel Dragster at the end of the season, having been prevented by the weather this year. "It looks like we and the fans will have to wait until 2006", says Lex, "but at least we have something to look forward to during the winter."

Thanks as ever to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the final version of the UK National Finals entry list. Although, as mentioned above, Lex Joon has gone from the list, the Exhibition contingent has now been joined by Gordon Appleton's blown-alcohol Pro Mod. Click here to view the UK National Finals entry list, click on the laptop logo at left, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select the UK National Finals.

Smoothly into the eights.
27th September: UK Funny Bike and 9.50 Bike racer Dave Bailey completed the tests of the Wizards of Nos smooth progressive nitrous system on his street 'Busa at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. The system did its job, catapulting Dave into the 8.8s, and Dave told us all about it.

"In the first attempt at a Run What You Brung I discovered the Busa’s clutch had died but still managed to run a load of 9.1s and a couple of 9.0s", said Dave. "The European Finals was the second attempt, I borrowed Pete Bellinie’s lockup clutch and spent the meeting trying to set it up correctly but failed. Ran more 9.1s and another couple of 9.0s.

"The third attempt was at On2Wheels this weekend. I gave up trying to set the lockup; I put in some strong clutch springs and just used it as a normal clutch. I suffered a minor electrical problem which required a bit of a re-wire in the morning then ran the first real pass on the smoooth system. It was set to activate as soon as I hit full throttle in first gear. It was then set to build from 0 to 35% in a tenth of a second, i.e. quickly, then from 35% to 100% over three seconds. This was stupidly smooth and only gave me a 9.022/163.
©Eurodragster.com
"For the second pass I reduced the 35% to 100% build time to 2.5 seconds leaving the rest of the settings the same — and I tried to launch a bit better too! Again it was stupidly smooth: it was nothing like my previous best run of 8.95 seconds on the old nitrous system. There was no huge surge building to a wheelie requiring a short shift to second gear, it just kept accelerating. Then it nosed over at the end - I should have re-filled the nitrous bottle.

"I rode back thinking it was a 9.2 or 9.3 second pass only to find Grumpy of DynoSpeed Developments congratulating me. It was an 8.844/162! So there’s still a lot more to come, but the prototype is now going back to Highpower Systems now for continued development, and the Busa with its BTC pulsed system - newly updated and capable of raising the power to 300 bhp - is up for sale as I’m broke!"

Successful 2005 for Meca.
27th September: Martin Olsson tells us that the Winternats at Malmö's Meca Raceway was very successful, with a number of new track records and personal bests set during the course of the weekend before rain washed out eliminations.

The records included:

Track record ET of 4.084 over the eighth mile, the quickest eighth mile by a European doorslammer, Micke Nord
Track record sixty foot of 0.981, Micke Nord
Harley Drags record of 5.872/201.38 kmh, Magnus Rĺström
Record for naturally-aspirated two-stroke bikes below 1000cc, 5.191/207.53, Ebbe Parnstĺl
Track record for Supertwin of 4.465, Jaska Salakari
Swedish record for Stock/Super Stock HS/A of 7.52, Janne Kretz

Because there were no eliminations, results were determined by qualifying placings:

Junior Dragster 1: Martin Kretz, 2: Rasmus Möller, 3: Jon Erlandsson

Gatbilar 8.90 BreakOut 1: Staffan Hansson, 2: Christer Johansson, 3: Sören Wegge

Gatbilar Pro 7.90 BreakOut 1: Lars Bengtsson, 2: Peter Jonasson, 3: Tommy Andersson
©Eurodragster.com
Bracket 1: Johan Johansson, 2: Ĺse Simonsson, 3: Richard Thomasson

Hot Street (Street) 1: Erik Andersson, 2: Peter Harritz, 3: Allan Andersson

Stock/Super Stock 1: Marc Kelty, 2: Micke Wollmér, 3: Peter Lindberg

Competition 1: Adam Flamholc, 2: Mats Brag, 3: Frank Gudmundsson

Extreme Street (Pro Street) 1: Christer Hĺĺrd, 2: Micke Hansson, 3: Peter Rosenqvist

Extreme Outlaw (Top Doorslammer) 1: Micke Nord, 2: Kent Trenneman, 3: Christer Jacobs

Street Bike 1: Fredrik Andersson, 2: Micke Nilsson, 3: Tage Olsson

Pro Street Bike 1: Nisse Lagerlööf, 2: Mattias Bohun, 3: Gabriella Nicolouska

Super Gas Bike 1: Henrik Andersson, 2: Anders Grönwall, 3: Joakim Segerberg

Harley Drags 1: Magnus Rĺström, 2: Ulf Ögge, 3: Ole Jensen

Harley Break Out 1: Hans Isaksson, 2: Hans-Christian Pedersson, 3: Sören Karlsson

MC Outlaw 1: Micke Andersson, 2: Tommy Jonsson, 3: Ebbe Parnestĺl

Super Twin Top Gas Bike 1: Jan Malmberg, 2: Christer Hansson, 3: Erik Frank

"We had 844 runs on the Friday and Saturday", says Martin. "We have been running the Toyo Street Xtreme Shootout every Wednesday all summer and we have the last one tomorrow. On average we have had 2300 spectators and eighty five teams and street racers every week. So far this year we have had 9248 individual runs at Meca Raceway.

"We at Meca Raceway would like to thank all of the drivers, teams, spectators and sponsors for a great year. We hope to see you next year with even faster times and closer racing. We will welcome you back on 3rd May 2006."

For more information check out Meca Raceway's web site at www.srif.se.

Watson returns in 2006.
26th September: Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor DynoSpeed Developments says that he will be racing his Pro Stock Bike again in 2006. The 7.4-second bike will be joining Jamie Sneddon's Super Street Bike and a number of 9.50 Bikes in carrying the DSD banner.

"We will be running the Blackbird in SSB as well, as we seem to have a good handle on it now", says Paul. "We both went testing at the On2Wheels at Santa Pod this weekend. We firstly went to bed-in the #1 engine on the Blackbird with a couple of gentle passes. Jamie ran a 7.9/180 and on the last run dropped the sixty foot time down to 1.32, which brings me on to the track.

"This year Santa Pod have excelled themselves. The track has been awesome all year even at RWYBs so to Kjell and all the crew - Ian, Bob, Steve, Richard, Darren and John - thank you for all the help. Great prep, great job.
©Eurodragster.com
"It's been a while since the DSD Pro Stock Bike was out, so a 7.8 off the trailer was OK but I seem to be a bit rusty. We then began to run consistent 7.6s with 1.14 sixty foot, and ran a new PB speed of 175 mph. Although this motor has run 7.4s we will be running a different package next year and hopefully can be more competitive both here and in Europe.

"We are therefore seeking sponsors for 2006. Finances permitting we are hoping to do both the ACU and UEM Championships. Anyone can be a sponsor and be a part of the 2006 package. Just call me on 0208 500 5770 or E-Mail paul@dynospeed.co.uk. We have proven in the past that we have what it takes to win."

Joe enjoys first win.
26th September: UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett had a successful first visit to York Raceway, says dad Pete.
©Eurodragster.com
"Three Juniors turned up for the Run What You Bring and we ended up having a little race", says Pete. "We were a bit puzzled at running heads-up since as you know Juniors usually dial in. Joe took the round against Vicky Molden and then went up against Ethan in the Dukesville dragster. Joe won the final and his first trophy, and he has a huge smile on his face.

"We would like to thank the White Noise crew for their support, a great bunch of people. Congratulations to Bob and the crew for their win. We will be going to York again next year and we hope that we can get a few more Juniors there."

Swift snippets.
26th September: UK Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Carey says that he and the Purple Princess team are aiming to enjoy themselves at this weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod. "We have had a good season and we know the bike can go straight, although it still likes to have a little wander now and then!", says Steve. "We have enjoyed the racing and are looking forward to next year."
©Eurodragster.com
UK Top Methanol Funny Car racer Trev Capewell says that he and wife Esta have had a huge response to the birth of their daughter Anastasia. "Thank you to all of you who have E-Mailed and given us gifts", says Trev. Trev says that he is still trying to run a five-second pass this season. "I am struggling to prep the car in time for the weekend, but we will be at the track on time ready to go", he says.

Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall and daughter Holley have been in touch to ask us to wish a very Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Raceway's Chief Starter Ian Marshall. No sooner said than done, Paula, and we're sure that all of our readers will join us in wishing Ian the very Happiest of Birthdays.

Nicholson and the Lucky Devil.
25th September: UK Super Pro ET racer Wayne Nicholson is set for a 2006 return as work has started on his new race car. Wayne was injured and his racing operation destroyed in a motorway crash on the way to the 2003 FIA European Finals and he has asked for readers' help in tracking down the person responsible for the accident.

"After several court dates and arguing the toss about ifs and buts, the guy that caused the accident has gone missing!", says Wayne. "He is now actually in contempt of Crown Court and has a warrant out for his arrest. His name is Gary Dermondy, last known to be living with his son Richard somewhere in Middlesex. So if you know of him please do the honourable thing". If you can help then drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com and we'll let Wayne know.

Onto the new race car and as previously revealed here on Eurodragster.com Wayne's car is to be a blown-alcohol '63 'Vette. "The body is from Hairy Glass, the chassis is chromoly to the best spec available, Lenco/Brono trans, and the engine is a blown-methanol Big Block Chevy", says Wayne. "The work has been entrusted to Webster Race Engineering and the motor is being built by Kenny Coleman and boys at EDA. In my opinion two of the best companies in the business.
©Eurodragster.com
"The last two years have been used to collect parts when they came up at the right price, and to decide exactly what we wanted to do. So we haven't really been away from racing, just the wrong side of the barriers.We will still compete in Super Pro - too many of those pesky dragsters at the minute - using the same race number as before, 777, and the car will have a name: Lucky Devil."

Wayne says that all being well he should be ready in early 2006 although he adds "How many times have we all said that before? Thanks to everyone who has asked about my health and when we will be back racing; its nice to be part of the scene once again."

More PBs for Barlow.
25th September: UK Outlaw Anglia racer Simon Barlow carried on his reecnt form of setting new PBs on every outing when he ran into the 10.3s at last weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway. Team member Jason Yates says that the PBs almost came at the price of a heart stoppage.

"We had a very scary first run when Simon nearly lost the car but he did a great driving job to save it", says Jay. "The tyres spun off the line, when the tyres stopped spinning and hooked up it sent the car all over the car all over the place, from right to left and back again, both rear tyres off the track. My heart just stopped for a minute. It was very very close to the guardrail but a fantastic drive by Simon.

"On the second run everything came together, a nice wheelie and a straight run clocking 10.31 which is a new Personal Best which was great. For the rest of Saturday we were running consistent 10.3s but couldn't get a 10.2. On Sunday it was eliminations and we had a bye into the semis, where we had new boy Dean White and we beat him as he broke out. We dialled in 10.25 but ran 10.33. In the final we had Justin Krekelaar and Simon did the biggest burnout ever, it was huge. He melted all the tread of the tyres and now we have homemade slicks, yeah! We had to hold the doors open for about a minute to get rid of all the smoke in the car. You can see pictures of the burnout on the Topnitro site.
©Eurodragster.com
"Simon left the line very hard and the front wheels went straight in the air, it wouldn't come down until he came off the throttle as it was heading for the guardrail and ran 11.5 . we ran 1 11.5 because simon come of it. So that was the weekend over and we were pleased with it. We are very pleased to say we finished sixth out of seventeen in the Outlaw Anglia Championship. We have enjoyed our first competitive year and hopefully we will step up for 2006."

On Saturday Simon gave two passengers the ride of their lives - his mum Sheila and SCR marshal Bev. "We had to run with no nitrous because the bottle's location wasn't safe for a pasneger. Simon's mum has always wanted to go down the strip so Simon gave her the chance, an 11.7a which is a new PB for a non-nitrous pass. Bev was also very excited and her run was another 11.71. Both said that they wanted to do it again as as soon as they got out of the car! We would like to say Thanks to the SCR officials for letting us make those passes."

Simon has one more outing this season, to make demonstration runs at the Halloween Showdown at Shakespeare County Raceway at the end of October. "We need new tyres first though!", says Jay. "We would like to say a big big thank you to Andy Frost for all his help last weekend and for the whole year, it has been much appreciated."

Alleyjax raffle winners.
25th September: UK Pro ET racer Mike Lacey, who sponsors UK Sportsman racing though his company Alleyjax, has been in touch with the winners of the raffle which he held at the FIA European Finals.
©Eurodragster.com
"Twenty per cent of the profits were donated to the Pro ET sponsorship scheme", says Mike. "Ł90 was given to Carl Burton of English Rose Racing on Sunday afternoon. A big thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets. The three lucky winners were:

Shane Leetham, ticket 432
Richard North, ticket 19
Paul Slater, ticket 113

Mike says that the 2005 season has been a lot of fun for himself and partner Anna. "A big thank you to everyone who has helped us overcome the standard drag racing trials and tribulations of a new team!", he says. "A special thanks to teams Heaven and Hell and English Rose Racing.

"Well done to all the staff at Santa Pod for all their hard work throughout the season, especially at the European Finals! We are already looking forward to the 2006 season and we are going to be very bored, over the winter! Anna will hopefully compete in Sportsman ET next year, with a new car to the team."

Last chance to be Perfect.
25th September: Next weekend's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway is the last eligible event in the 2005 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme. A total of Ł125 is on offer for the two Awards.

The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to Ł50 after it was won by Bob Lees at the FIA European Finals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Award is open to all classes and is available during qualifying or eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the weekend. The Perfect Light Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow, whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award has been increeased to Ł75 after it went unclaimed at the FIA European Finals. The money will be awarded to the first racer to run to the thousandth on their index or dial-in during qualifying or eliminations. The Award is open to all ET classes, all Super classes, Junior Dragster, 9.50 Bike, all VW classes and the Wild Bunch, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and performance supplier LA Racing Parts, whose web site you can find at www.laracingparts.com.

We're sure that everyone will join us in thanking Fay Fischer of Speedflow and Lee Child of LA Racing Parts for their support of the Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme in 2005.

Carter looks back, and forward.
24th September: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter has been in touch with his thoughts on the 2005 season:

Five races in the FIA calendar this year and only three completed due to rain, not great for the sport but what can you do against the weather. Hopefully next season we will see seven races in the series with Germany coming back as an FIA round and Bahrain also coming on board.

In the discussions Ben (Allum, Crew Chief - Ed) and and I have had about this season, we have both expressed big disappointment. I think this just proves how high we set our standards at Carter Motorsport, because when you go in to detail, we were second in the points going into Sunday morning's eliminations with a very good chance of winning the Championship for a third time. This proves that we were a team to be reckoned with yet again.

Other achievements through 2005 were:

Runner-up in the Pro Fuel Shootout at Santa Pod, and on the way to the final ran a four-sec pass, which is great performance at that time of the year.
Won a match race against Darryl Bradford 2-0 at Shakespeare County Raceway
Number one qualifier (5.07) at FIA round 2, Finland
Low ET (5.07) at FIA round 2, Finland
Set High Speed (291 mph) at FIA round 2, Finland
Won FIA round 2, Finland
High speed (301 mph) at FIA round 3, Sweden
Involved in quickest side by side race in European drag racing history at FIA round 3, Sweden
Finished fourth in FIA European Top Fuel Championship

I was so down in the days after the European Finals and I really felt for the rest of the team after my red light, all that effort they put in wasted. I went into that last round the only way you should go racing, really believing we could win it. When you have that attitude and things don’t go right it’s a real kick in the nuts, but you have to pick your self up, get your head down and get on! I’m already into a new training program and I’m determined that the team will come back bigger and stronger next season.
©Eurodragster.com
The crew has worked tirelessly all year, often doing fifteen-hour days. There is so much work that goes on away from the track that the sunglasses and glory of the startline is just a tiny reward, and not all of them even get to go to the startline. I know I have said it before, but would like to say it again, thanks very much for all the effort that you all put in, in so many ways, at the track and away from the track. John Andrews, Dan Welberry, Kim Hessey, Sarah Carter. Paul Williams, Simon Williams, Steve Porter. Roger Neill, John Ogden, Jim Tucker, Neill Collins and the unseen hero, Paul Wright, not been at the track at all this season (he was missed I can tell you), but does so much in the office and workshop for me. Thanks team!

Now on to the head of the team, Ben Allum. In his first year as a Top Fuel Crew Chief he has performed fantastic under very difficult conditions which I won’t go in to here. I’m very pleased, I knew he would step up when he got this position and he has, big time! His time management, dedication, paperwork, people skills and most of all making sure that I had a good race car when we went to the startline were spot on. I know he will be the first to agree that we need to get more horsepower to the track and that there is always room for improvement in the team, but you can bet that Ben is already working on this and I’m sure you will see this from the Carter Motorsport / B & Q team in 2006. Well done Ben!

I will be making some changes in the structure of the team for 2006 and new people will be joining Carter Motorsport in various capacities to help keep pushing the team up and forward. Two new members to the team that I can announce now are, Phil and Gary Cottingham of Dragsterworld.com fame. Phil will be helping Dan, John and Sarah with setting up, taking down and general running of the hospitality. This side of the team is getting busier and busier and look out for a press release coming soon on a real exciting opportunity for spectators in 2006, Inside Top Fuel...as close as you can get without putting on a firesuit! Gary will be the official team photographer, taking photographs of all aspects of the team during the season, this will help with our budget search, as well as allowing partners already on board to have photographs instantly at their disposal if need be.

On the equipment front we have purchased a newer tractor unit, still keeping with the Renault Magnum as I think this is just a great-looking truck. This is away at the moment having the chassis sandblasted, then it’s off to be painted and once finished it will go over to Sigma Signs to be vinylled. It seemed that every time we moved the old one something didn’t work or went wrong and we are doing so many more miles now with the B & Q commitments we just can’t afford to be late or not get somewhere due to a breakdown. As usual there is also plenty to do on the trailer and general equipment over the winter, so that will keep the Tuesday night club busy.

Sarah, Albert and I are off to Florida in early October to spend a week together as a ‘normal’ family. I will be doing my best to switch off and to try not to think about the team. I’m looking forward to going on all those rides, especially the kids' ones with little AC - I don’t know who gets more excited, Albert or me! One thing that is confirmed that involves drag racing in some way is that we will be calling in on Viveca and Håkan Averstedt. Viveca has promised to cook us a meal and it will be great to catch up with them, I really hope that this team can do something and get back on the FIA tour and I’m sure that will be a hot topic over dinner.

Before I finish I must say thanks to our partners, B & Q, Lucas Oils (UK) Ltd, Wynns, NGK, Binamic, Pioneer Print, Shipleys, K & N, Motorgraphic, 3t Creative, Rainbow Conference Sets, Mike Shorer Fine Jewellery, BMRS Hoses, Crane Cams, Gold RV, Yuasa batteries and Norfolkline. If you’re a supporter of the team, please try and use our sponsors whenever possible, it does make a difference, here’s to a bigger and better season in 2006!

Thanks for all the E-Mails and texts, keep 'em coming! I look forward to seeing you at a B & Q store soon or maybe the Autosport Show in January.
©Eurodragster.com
Racers: Send your season reviews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.

Swift snippets.
24th September: The traditional Top Fuel Dragster match race at this year's Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 5th November will be between Jon Webster in the Canto Consultancy Top Fuel Dragster and Chris Andrews in the Persåker Speed Shop dragster. We understand that Jon and Chris will race twice on the day.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good buddy and erstwhile birthday boy, Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe, has kindly supplied us with the all-time points standings in the FIM/UEM European Championships. Roger Pettersson is still the highest points earner whilst Roel Koedam and Ton Pels have moved above Anders Karling into second and third places. You can check out the all-time FIM/UEM points standings and detailed breakdowns by clicking here, or by clicking on the Champions' Champions link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Web site updates.
24th September: The official web site of the UK's Street Eliminator class has been updated with a preview of next week's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out the Finals preview under News at www.streeteliminatoruk.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with pictures from last weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway. Don't miss the photo sequence of Richie Webb's wheelie with self-retracting soft-top. You can find Sharkman's web site at www.topendtales.com.

UK National Finals prize money.
23rd September: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with an important announcement for racers contesting next week's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
"SPRC will be paying double prize money for Sportsman classes contested at the FIA European Finals and the Bug Jam", says Paula. "That is:

Super Modified
Super Comp
Super Gas
Super Street
Super Pro ET
Pro ET
Sportsman ET
Junior Dragster
9.50 Bike
VW Pro
VW Sportsman
VW Alternate Engine

Version 3 of the UK National Finals entry list includes the return of Mark Watkins to Super Street Bike, and a couple of additional cars running in exhibition: 2005 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon in the MPM Oil Top Fueller, and Gordon Smith in the Shockwave Fuel Funny Car.

"We didn't make all the runs we wanted to at the European Finals", Gordon Smith told Eurodragster.com this morning. "We have plenty of parts left and the event gives us two days to test. Dave (Bryant, Crew Chief and co-owner - Ed) has found some problems since the last race, so we want to go out there and put down a banger and finish the season on a high."

Swift snippets.
23rd September: UK Pro ET racer and class sponsorship co-ordinator Carl Burton has been on touch to tell us that, if they are in the Pro ET Sponsorship scheme and displaying decals, the #1 qualifier at the UK National Finals will recieve Ł60, a WASP voucher, Hauser Race Cars voucher, Allyjax voucher, and a trophy. "Thanks also to the rest of our sponsors Black Bear Harley Davidson, A1 Motor Stores, Webster Race Engineering, Toxico and Real Steel", says Carl. "Thanks also to Roger Gorringe and Mo Blackburn for the piece in the European Finals programme, and a big thank you to all the track personel at Shakespeare County and Santa Pod. I have written to Northampton Council and asked for fine weather next weekend."
©Eurodragster.com
A very Happy Birthday to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe - timing data supremo, Santa Pod Raceway timekeeper, and honorary Eurodragster.com staff member. Hope you have a great day, Andy.

Now for 200 mph...
23rd September: From a Sportsman racer's perspective the FIA European Finals was "A bit of a bummer" due to the inclement weather conditions, says UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn, but he still has some good memories of his weekend.

"I would like to say a huge thank you to all the Santa Pod crew who worked their socks off to dry the track and clear up oildowns as quickly as they could", says Derek. "We finally got a call late Sunday evening to run our first round of eliminations. Unfortunately my opponent had already packed up and gone so we were on a bye run, but wow what a run! I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it was a little eerie -my first run in the dark!

"I can remember doing the burnout and all I could see was cameras flashing everywhere, and then one of the best runs I have done, whilst not quite the quickest or the fastest but most definitely the most enjoyable, 194 mph into the gloom, it felt like 250! It was also a little slippy at the top end due to the cold damp air, but wow when can I do it again!

"I would like to say a huge thanks to the Go Gold Crew who also hung around patiently and gave me a tune-up for the final run which got us the Low ET and High Speed in Super Pro ET for the weekend. We would also like to pass on our belated congratulations to Rob Turner and the Turner Motorsport team, who also sport the Gold RV logo, on winning Top Methanol Dragster at the Finals. I know they would have preferred to win it in better circumstances but you can only play the hand you are dealt and they played the tricky conditions perfectly. Also I know they would have preferred to have put in a full-on pass in the final round but the curfew was on us and it was agreed with the track officials that to save time they would just break the beams.

"Also total respect must go to Andy Robinson and his team. What a weekend they had and well done! Also I must say a big thanks to Andy for the assistance he gave us during the weekend in getting us back on the track.

"We are looking forward to the UK National Finals next week, and we are really hoping that the weather is kinder so that we have a good shot at achieving our goal of 200 mph."

Six seconds on a budget!

22nd September: If you were tuned in to Eurodragster.com News over last weekend you will have read that Johnny 'Mental' Hall shoed the B + J Nostalgia Top Fuel slingshot to its first-ever six-second pass at Shakespeare County Raceway. Johnny got in touch to tell us the story of the historic pass.

"Bill Felstead and I and all the rest of the B+J Top Fuel Nostalgia team have been struggling for twelve months to get a proper time on the boards at Shakespeare County Raceway", says Johnny. "We débuted the car at the 2004 Hot Rod Drags with some shakedown passes and were looking forward to the chance to do some full passes in the following meetings. It took until the 2005 Nostalgia Nationals before we felt we would be capable of running to the car's potential, and on the last run of the day on Sunday we blew the rear end to smithereens.

"In between outings of the car the B+J Race Cars business was going from strength to strength with our first doorslammer on the jig. The car in question belongs to Matthew Wright, partner of Gleeson Wright security, and on a visit to our workshop to check on the progress of his truck he asked us when the Nostalgia Fuel car was coming out next as he would like to tag along to see what it was all about. We told him that we had run out of funds and that we needed a set of gears for the rearend and also most importantly a tow truck to get there so we wouldn't be going. A week later Matt phoned us and told me to go up to Peter Knight's workshop as he had got Peter to ship over a set of gears special delivery. He also told us that we could borrow his own truck to tow our open flatbed trailer. We were awe-struck! That was last Thursday, two days before the Hot Rod Drags.

"Matt told us to take a couple of days off to get the car ready, which we did. Bill and I finished prepping the car at midnight on Friday and set off at 5.45 on Saturday morning. When we arrived at the track the security guard on the pit entrance said that it was full and the only space available was next to the bar, on the gravel opposite the Fuel Altered pits. Undeterred we met all the guys and proceeded to put up our second-hand awning with no sides, got the car off the trailer and started to ready the beast for action. Because Bill and I had done most of the work at our shop all that was needed was to set the valve lash, go over every nut and bolt on the car, and fuel the sucker up. While the guys did this I went and asked if we could follow the Fuel Altered guys down, which the organisers agreed to. We banged the motor off in the pits to warm her up, changed the oil, relashed her and then went down to Sid Slattery to borrow some racer tape to hold on our overflow beer can which was probably the best overflow can in the world! We tagged along behind all the Fuel Altered guys and then it was our turn.

"We were paired up with Mark Needham for a match race. Bill went through the start-up procedure and we both rolled forwards and did our burnouts and as I was backing up I saw Mark had broken and the starter gestured me on a single. At this point my goggles started to mist up and that's why it took me ages to get into stage. When the light went green I stood on the throttle on what seemed like a soft launch, as we had decided to do a high gear pass just to get a decent number on the board. The run had no real dramas apart from the motor starting to go away at a thousand feet. It ran as straight as a string. Pulled the chutes and got out at the other end with a buzz in my veins slightly disappointed that the motor had gone off. When I was rolling the chutes up Angela Wilding came running over and said " Do you know what time you've just run?". I told her I thought it felt like an eight zero and with that she told me we had run our first six. When the guys came and picked me up Dave looked at the engine and told me there were no teeth left on the blower belt and that explained why the engine had gone off and dropped the speed.
©Eurodragster.com
"Back in the pits everyone was buzzing, with dozens and dozens of people coming to congratulate us including the Drapers who said it was a crisp packet (only the oldies will understand that one). For those with a timing ticket fetish we did 1.13 to sixty feet, 4.48/169 at the eighth and 5.73 at 990 feet, and 6.92/182.99 at the quarter mile. Back in our gravel pit Bill immediately started to tear the engine down to the crank to check for any damage (right) and found only a couple of bruised bearings which he changed and we started to button her up. Nigel from UK Blowers saw me making up a gasket for our front discharge 6/71 and said "What are you using?". I told him it was cardboard from a box of photos we had. Five minutes later he brought over a 14/71 gasket which needed ten seconds of mods and it went straight on...thanks Nigel. The next thing on the agenda was trying to find a blower belt and then our lucky mascot Matt Wright turned up with a high-quality item in his hands. He started talking about déjà vu and stuff and we could just not figure it out how it was the exact same length. Scary...no, really scary!

"On Sunday we elected to do two passes and set out at lunchtime to back up our time. Through the same procedure and into stage for another high gear pass. This time everything was fine until four hundred feet, it stepped out so I straightened her up and nailed it again to record an 8.42/171. Back into the pits to tear it down again, another of our guests Gary Gleeson with his son Billy sat and watched Bill and the crew tear the engine down to the crank and back up again in about two hours and he couldn't believe it when we fired it up again to warm her up. Down into the staging lanes again, and on this run I got badly out of shape a couple of times and really thought I was going over so I decided to roll through the traps to record a 9.53/93.

"We think that ours was the first six second run by a nitro slingshot in Europe for over twenty five years (Nearer thirty I'd say - Ed), if anyone could let us know we would be grateful. We would like to thank Prolong Oil for supplying us with an excellent product, Nigel at UK Blowers, Peter Knight Engine Services, Jeff and Bonnie Bennett, Chris and Sarah Bennett, Lee Child, my wife Joan and our children for putting up with my hobby, Bill Felstead for keeping our Budget Special alive time after time, all the crew including Dave, Mark, Nathan and Eddie, but most of all our lucky mascot Matt Wright ...thanks Matt, we couldn't have done it without you."

Smax congratulates Feldthusen.
22nd September: Smax Smith has been in touch from Canada to pass on his heartfelt congratulations to Sweden's Kenneth Feldthusen on his 6.782 pass at last weekend's Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway.

"Kenneth's time easily eclipses my 6.921 in my '35 Chevy, which has stood as Europe's fastest alky altered since 1999", says Smax (Video of Smax's run on topendtales.com - Ed). I have been watching what Ken is up to and expected my record to fall. Trust me, these guys are having fun - 200 mph in an altered is a handful and took me twelve years to take the record! However Ken needs to beat my speed record of 203.62 mph and the Mainline Menace 3 will always be the first altered to break 200 mph! Will Ken be the second?
©Eurodragster.com
"I believe we have some class acts out there. Frank Bennett, Neil Townson and Rad are all possible contenders with Clayton Round, Bob Glassup and the gang all improving.

"Keep us thrilled gang - I remember drag racing being this much fun!"

Freeman clocks PBs.
22nd September: Also on the Altered front, UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman had a successful weekend at the Hot Rod Drags clocking Personal Bests of 8.450/154.48.

"We were slightly down on the sixty foot times (we have run several 1.13s) but the first two runs were very close to where we want to be, and overall we made some progress", says Sam. "I pulled one red light which was caused by a broken wire which stopped the transbrake working and which was easily fixed. We made seven runs, all over 150 mph and apart from the red light all were between 8.45 and 8.57. We're getting there and we still have a couple of things we want to try, possibly at the Pod this weekend.

"Young Matthew Seamarks of the Gingerman Junior Dragster came by and introduced himself as he is local to me (well the car) and informed us that the crowd seemed to be enjoying watching the car launch wheels up every run. Also Thanks to Sharkman who is becoming my marker for the end of the burnout, he always waves back when I stop and wave. Thanks to all the Press who were lined up down the armco snapping away on every run, I'm looking forward to seeing all the pics. Thanks also to Bev who always waves and smiles while sorting us out ready for the start of another run.

"All in all a good friendly event, and although I'm told that the track was not as sticky as it could I have been I managed to find plenty of traction."

Swift snippets.
22nd September: An updated UK National Finals entry list courtesy of Paula Marshall now includes Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam. Crew Chief Marius Van Der Zijden says that the 6.0-second bike is in better-than-ever shape and that Roel hopes to show off its potential at next week's event.
©Eurodragster.com
Dave Coleman of Powerpoint Communications tells us that TV coverage of the Shakespeare Nationals filmed by Quarter Mile High was screened by Sky Sports earlier this week, but that Sky omitted to tell anyone. "The coverage featured Top Fuel, Street Eliminator, Super Modified, Outlaw Anglia and driver interviews with John Price", says Dave. "We're sorry that we couldn't tell you in advance, but happy to say that footage will also make up part of this year's Ultimate Power Series, Hardcore Street and Super Modified DVDs."

Last Saturday finally saw the wedding day of Fansfueler promoters Chris and Rebecca Parker, writes Jim Broome. "Besides friends from the music industry they had invited along a few of their racing acquaintances including potential initial beneficiary of the project, Barry Sheavills", says Jim. "Fortunately the photographer of this picture only managed to get the bride and groom in shot (right) as they scrubbed up better than most. A honeymoon in the US beckons including the prospect of at least one NHRA National event, providing Hurricane Rita doesn't thwart plans (Oh dear - Ed)."

King Racing Press Release.
22nd September: British Top Fuel Bike rider Ian King secured the second European Championship title of his career in front of his home supporters at the final round of the FIA/UEM Drag Racing Championships at Santa Pod Raceway, England.

However, the final round of the European tour was also marred by the same type of weather that resulted in early termination of the previous three events. The hard-working track staff and officials spent many hours attempting to dry the track and it seemed that this round was also one that would fail to see the event through to a conclusion. But their hard work paid off and the Professional classes would see finals run just before the 9.00 pm curfew on Sunday.

For King, the event started well enough with a 6.39 second pass good enough for number two qualifying position despite the run being his only full pass of qualifying in the wet conditions. Points accrued from attempting a qualifying pass were enough to ensure the title was his, and King could look forward to the finals with comfort and the chance to test new performance upgrades without the fear of lost points.

However, it was not to be as the first round saw King throw a supercharger drive belt after a tricky cool track and aggressive clutch settings saw King on and off the throttle in an attempt to keep the slick tyre hooked up to the track. His opponent, fellow countryman Gary Jones, took full advantage of King slowing to a stop ahead of him and drove past to take the round win. Jones' success continued throughout the event and he deservedly took the event title.

"I'm overwhelmed at winning our second European Title, especially in front of my home supporters and in a truly International series that boasts the strongest field of Top Fuel Bikes in the world", said King. "It's been a long and difficult season, not least of which was due to the unbelievable weather that we've all had to suffer for the last four events. I must pay tribute to the SPRC and Track officials who put in so much effort this weekend to see the event through to a conclusion. It shows what can be done with hard work and perseverance, against all the odds.

"For our team, this is the culmination of a tremendous effort by my close knit team of crew and sponsors who, despite the lows of the last three years, had faith in our abilities to return to the top again. I can't thank any of them enough: Mick Beaumont, Chris Powell, Martin Brookman, Nick Pepper, Debbie King and Marc Fossey - they all contributed above and beyond the call of duty. And as for our sponsors and associates, words fail me. The best products on the market, the greatest help afforded to us and the results speak for themselves. New track records, more events won than anyone else in the class, numerous number one and two qualifying positions, frequent new personal bests. Thanks to all of you - this title was won by you too. It'll be great to run with all of you and the Number One plate again in 2006."

With the 2005 European Top Fuel Bike Championship won King plans to attend the ACU/UK National Finals where tests with the all new Puma billet cylinder head are planned, followed by a long trip to Bahrain as an invitee of the Bahrain International Circuit for an FIA/UEM Invitational event in November, a precursor to a first ever round of the European Drag Racing Championship to be held at the prestigious Middle East facility next March.

King Racing's next event is the UK National Finals at Santa Pod, England on the 1st and 2nd October.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
22nd September: Eurodragster.com's Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a large number of photographs from the FIA European Finals. You can check out Sharkman's European Finals pictures at www.topendtales.com.
©Eurodragster.com
UK National Finals entry list.
21st September: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall for forwarding us the official entry list for the UK National Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-2nd October.

As ever for a UK Championship event the list is showing a very healthy entry in all classes with the final round of the 2005 MSA British Drag Racing Championship attracting seven Top Methanol racers including Rob Turner who is also down to drive The Mob Fuel Altered in the seven-car NFAA field after a very successful début at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend. Darryl Bradford is entered in the Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster; we understand that the team will be using this event to test.
©Eurodragster.com
One interesting factoid to come out of the UK National Finals entry list is that Pro ET have now completed the full set of having the largest entry at every single UK Championship event in 2005, including one shared with 9.50 Bike when both classes were limited to thirty two at this year's FIA Main Event. Congratulations to the Pro ET racers on that feat. Most other Sportsman classes are into double figures including newly-licenced Stuart Morrice's first outing in Super Gas, whilst Street Eliminator sees the competitive débuts of joint Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Jon Webster's MG and George Scanlon's Chevy pick-up.

Sizeable fields in all the ACU classes are as ever led by Super Street Bike with sixteen entries, which includes the SSB débuts of Ade Lockley and Gary Drury, whilst in Pro Stock Bike we welcome Philippe Runget and Eric Demengel on their first visits from France. 9.50 Bike is also contested by a field of sixteen and there are respectable entries in all of the National Association of Supertwins classes.

You can view the official UK National Finals entry list by clicking here, by clicking on the laptop logo at left, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting the UK National Finals.

For ticket prices and other information about the UK National Finals check out Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com.

All hands on (pick-up) deck!
21st September: UK Super Pro ET racer Matthew Wright says that it is all hands to the pump to get his rebuilt Chevy pick-up ready for next week's UK National Finals, but that he found time to renew his acquaintance with an old and much-loved race car at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.

"The chassis is going to be painted tomorrow, and then it's all hands to try to get it plumbed, wired and assembled in time", says Matt, who sponsors Eurodragster.com's Home and News pages through Gleeson Wright Security. "No one wants it to be there more than me. I recently bought my Mk 1 Escort back from Shane Knight, who had changed the colour from the Gleeson Wright livery to orange. I've now put the Escort back on the street and I was well pleased to run a 10.92/126 at the Hot Rod Drags on treads and full exhaust system. There's an easy 10.40 in it with a little more tuning."
©Eurodragster.com
Matt has also been involved with the B + J Nostalgia Top Fuel slingshot, helping Johnny Hall and Bill Felstead to get hold of a new set of gears. "I got a real buzz from being invited down to start line by Bill and John when they ran their awesome nitro machine, even more so when John ran a 6.90 - I hope it wasnt a crisp packet John...only kidding!", says Matt "No-one can take that away from John and the team, very well-deserved. If it had not been for Peter Knight at Knight Racing for supplying us with the gears within a week it may never have happened. I called Pete on a Thursday and asked if he could get the gears and they were there on the Tuesday and at a very good price! Cheers Pete."

Swift snippets.
21st September: A very Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Raceway's Chief Marshal and Chief Timekeeper, and honorary Eurodragster.com staff member, Steve Horn. Steve tells us that he may be persuaded to have a beer or three this evening to celebrate. We're sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in wishing Steve the very happiest of birthdays.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good buddy Ian Turburville tells us that next weekend's UK National Finals will be the last chance to find those hard-to-find drag race parts you only get at the track. "I will have my remaining stocks of Simpson pit shoes, Simpson and Mechanix work gloves, Simpson helmet bags, ACF 50 chassis spray, DVDs, ACU-approved carbon helmets and those great Flip-A-Dial boards for all ET racers and Juniors which are selling fast!", says Turbo. "If anyone is interested I will bring all my very special die-casts with me to clear at below cost prices!". For more information check out Turbo's web site at www.turboville.com.

Web site updates.
21st September: The Racebilder web site at www.racebilder.nu has been updated with a large number of pictures from the weekend's Winternats at Meca Raceway. "We would like to thank SRIF for a really nice weekend", says our good buddy Patrik Jacobsson. "No-one could do anything about the weather but Saturday gave us a lot of exciting races. Michel Nord's 4.08 impressed us very much, we salute the Outlaw Racing team!"
©Eurodragster.com
Dave McBride has updated his Dodge Charger web site with a large number of pictures of Sunday's action at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway, with pictures of Saturday to follow. If you like your Mopars then Dave's web site at www.dodge-charger.co.uk is well worth a good long look around.

Hot Rod Drags one for the books.
20th September: This year's running of the Original Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway will be remembered for many things: Kenneth Feldthusen's track busting run for an ET record in Methanol Altered, Johnny Hall's first ever six second flyer in his nostalgia Top Fueller, and a surprise appearance by Top Methanol Dragster racer Rob Turner taking a turn behind the tiller of The Mob Fuel Altered, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson.

Even before the event there had been an air of anticipation about what to expect from visiting Swedish altered racer Kenneth Feldthusen and the Northrace Team. Right from early Friday evening Kenneth and his gang were already creating new friendships, and by Saturday evening was already considered to be an honorary Brit flying the flag for Sweden.

With the tour bus parked, Kenneth had a minor scare in morning warm-up which interrupted taking part in the first session. But once the track had bedded in, the shiny red '34 Chevy Roadster backed by Champion Plugs made its presence known on the start line as it thundered its way to the eighth mile in a white wall of tyre smoke, and that was just the burnout.

With all eight cackling to one another, Kenneth launched the altered hard never for one second taking his foot off the loud pedal. The result was a stunning 6.782 second lap at 198.37 mph, but it all came at the expense of some sacrificial parts to the engine gods. So rather than strip and repair those cylinders which had gone down, a fresh KB bullet was wheeled from the back of the tour bus and duly installed over night for the Swede's second attack at the SCR mph track record which stood at 203 mph.

After fresh track prep by Darren and the boys Sunday, unfortunately, only netted a 7.029 at 190.31 mph, and again at the expense of several dropped cylinders. Good effort though, and one which Kenneth hopes he can overcome when he returns in 2006!

After finally tracking down another supposedly bulletproof crown wheel and pinion in the B & J Nostalgia camp thanks to Sportsman racer Matt Wright, it was a case of will it work or won't it! Knowing that the only rear end available contained taller gears than they would have liked the first run of the weekend was to be a high gear run only.

With the black fueller all fired up and sounding fat and lumpy on tick over Johnny Hall mashed the loud pedal as far it could travel and ripped off a surprising 6.924 at 182.99 mph. Crew chief's Bill Felstead and Dave 'Fuzzie' McKenzie were beside themselves. They simply couldn't take it all in.

Having had no seat time in an altered for some fifteen years (since the days of Straight Shooter), Rob Turner was drafted in to fill the vacant Mob seat left by Mickey Moore. After some quick pedal and seat modifications inside the tight-fitting cockpit, Rob gave quite a good account of himself showing that he had lost none of his skills in driving a short wheel based race car with a couple of short strong bunrouts, launches and three quarter track passes resulting in a 7.659.

Rebel T racer Clayton Round kept his lead in the NFAA series going into the finals at Santa Pod in October with a couple of high sevens along with Bob Glassup's Extreme Racing Fiat Topolino who encountered several wild excursions along the way which more than made for an exciting fourth round encounter.

From the sixteen Outlaw Anglias present Paul Wright looks to have sewn up another series career win (subject to confirmation) having overhauled points leader Mark Pointer at the start of the weekend. With Mark absent due to a broken motor sustained at the previous weekends Euro Finals, this left the way open for Paul Hensher to take the number two spot in points. In the timed runs Wright was the quickest of the lot with an 8.200/175.58 to Hensher's 8.705/163.61.

Particular mention must go to Simon Barlow with the Orange Pop who not only was pulling some hellish burnouts but also, with mentor Andy Frost watching, ran a couple of new PBs in the 10.3s.

Street Eliminator racer Wilf Stacey upped the Gasser Circus pace by running his Gone Crazy Zodiac as low as 9.082 at 149.49 early Sunday morning. This left Lee Pike and Jerry Denning scrapping in the high nines with the '57 Chevy Honky Tonkin and Circus ringmaster Terry Howarth lowering his PBs into the elevens as predicted with a fully-sorted nitrous kit on the '49 Ford Goldrush.

The quickest Flathead in the Custom Car Meltdown was Jim Turnbull's '32 Roadster with a couple of high fourteen second passes over Chris Hosegood's low fifteen second 1920's T Speedster, a rare antique racer if ever there was one.
©Eurodragster.com
Best yet for NFAA.
20th September: The dry weather at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend was a welcome bonus for all racers, especially the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, writes series co-ordinator Lawrie Gatehouse.

"We were able to field six teams and the event was the best yet with some highlights and not too much damage", says Lawrie. "More importantly, all the teams enjoyed themselves hugely and gained significant track experience with new combinations.

"The first visit to an NFAA event was made by Kenneth Feldthusen and the Northrace Team, now our first overseas member. On his first run on an unknown track, Kenneth laid down a strong burnout to half track. On the green, paired with Frank Bennett's Topolino, Frank pulled a three-car holeshot with a sixty foot time of 1.019. Unfortunately the Bennett Racing car suffered a dramatic power loss, subsequently discovered as the timing retarding (See below - Ed) and the Northrace car stormed by to post a new ET record for the Class of 6.782/198.37 with the 'chutes out before the finish line.

"Bob Glassup gets the accolades for the most improved car with shotgun launches, wheels up, anyway- but-straight and posted Personal Best runs of 7.745/182.14 and 7.839/180.09. However, a broken drive shaft in the trans threatened to sideline him, until Andy Frost came up with the much needed parts, for which Bob is very grateful. The Extreme Racing crew then worked their socks off to enable the campaign to continue, thanks guys.

The Mob had problems with a burst fuel line and Wendy Baker was getting to grips with handling problems, having fitted a new front axle. Points leader Clayton Round had traction problems at first, but soon got back to high seven runs, though some way off the low sevens that they are used to.

The Northrace Team found a broken main bearing journal after their record run, fitted the spare engine, ran 7.029/198.31, only to find the same thing to happen again, sidelining them for the rest of the meeting. An out-of-balance new clutch assembly is though to be the cause of the problems.

On Sunday, Rob Turner piloted The Mob, due to Mickey Moore's indisposition and soon got used to the Altered, even though it is probably fifteen years since he last drove one. Rob laid down half passes of 9.0 and 7.65 in a car which was not exactly comfortable for his longer legs. Appreciation is due to Rob and the crew for stepping into the breach. On the last run, the numbers five and six rods let go, taking out some pistons & valves and cracking the block. Now The Mob have to thrash to rebuild the engine using their newly purchased billet block, in order to be ready for the National Finals at the 'Pod.

In all, it was the best NFAA event so far, which is just one year old since its inception. It shows considerable potential for the 2006 season, already in the planning stage, with a significantly increased number of teams participating.
©Eurodragster.com
Header flames from an alky burner!
20th September: Luke Bennett of the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered team dropped us a line to let us know how Frank bennett and the team fared at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend.

"It started off so well", says Luke. "We got there Friday night, found our pit bay and started to set up, got the car out and covered the engine for the night. In the morning I did the lash and everyone else got on with their jobs. The car was then ready to fire, so put starter on first got the oil up, then abit of petrol on the hat and we were ready to fire up, turned the starter over again and fired the car, then while running there was no oil pressure so we shut the car down and the problem was traced to the oil pump drive. That was the weirdest thing, it turned out to be a collet inside and it was not engaging with the drive. With that out of the way we fired up again and everything was fine, this now meant that we had missed the first run of the day so had a few hours to kill as car was ready.
©Eurodragster.com
"Then it was time for the first run which was against Kenneth Feldthusen, towed the car down to the line, fired up and set off for the burnout, which didn't happen...those who have done it before will know what we forgot! Backed the car up, we were last into stage and the reaction from the old man was spot on, 0.19, and we were several car lengths in front, then the car nosedived big time and he got off it and cruised through to a twelve.

"In the pits we checked the usual, found two broken lash caps, which found to have been caused by dead valve springs. All the inlet valves were changed, then as I was fitting up I noticed a problem with a lifter on number four. So with about forty minutes before we were due to run we had to have the blower and inlet off and replace the inlet, but we all worked excellently as a team and the job was done.

"The second run was against Clayton, this time a better burnout but not brilliant by any means. Staged and again a superb reaction of 0.16 but again the motor wasn't right so Frank was off the throttle.

"On Sunday's first run we had three-foot flames from the headers backing up from the burnout and we ain't no nitro burner! The timing was badly retarded. We shut the car down and towed back to the pits we found that the mag drive was allowing the mag to retard itself under load, that's why in the pits it was sweet, but as soon as it was under a bit of load on the burnout it would retard itself hence the poor display on the track. We found that it had nine degrees in it. Still we did have a lot of other good points, we ran a 1.10 sixty foot with the motor at half its best so lots more to come.

"Thanks again to anyone who loaned tools, and to whoever gave us the roll cage padding (I didn't see you)! Also thanks to Cliff Gould for all his help, it's well appreciated mate, and well done to Johnny and Bill on the six-second pass. Our next race is the UK National Finals at the Pod, we hope to have all the bugs out then."

Freddy just misses out.
20th September: Non-arrival of parts was the only thing which kept the Freddy's Revenge blown-alcohol altered away from the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, says Dave Grabham.

"Having taken Thursday and Friday off work, to spend time at the workshops of Andy Robinson Race Cars, Dopey brought the rolling chassis home on Friday night and the team had the motor in, wired, plumbed and fired-up by Saturday evening", says Dave. "Dopey and the team would like to thank all the guys at Andy Robinson Race Cars for the long hours and hard work they all put in, grafting a new front end onto the severely damaged chassis of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association car."
©Eurodragster.com
You can find a brief photo history of the Summernationals crash and subsequent rebuild in the 2005 Freddy section of the team's web site at www.freddysrevenge.co.uk, as well as pictures of Sunday's action at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags.

PMR FIA European Finals review.
20th September: It was as ever a busy weekend for the UK's Paul Marston Racing at the FIA European Finals, fielding three cars with four drivers, and that's after a storming appearance in the streets of Wellingborough as part of Santa Pod's Parade of Power in the preceding week. Paul Marston takes up the story.

"Before I start I must pay tribute to the bravery and dignity shown by John and Lynn Everitt during Finals weekend. As most of you will know, sixteen-year-old Oliver Everitt was involved in a fatal collision on his motorcycle. John did not return to the track on Saturday but did return with Lynn, Billy and Ruby on Sunday to contest the first round of eliminations in memory of Oliver Everitt in the dark late that evening running 8.28/158. On behalf of the Everitt family and Paul Marston Racing we would like to thank the crowd at Santa Pod that night for the round of applause after John's solo pass. The Everitt family had to dig deep that night; it takes a brave man to drive an altered during the day and someone special at night. But John was in safe hands, Oliver was with him every step of the way. On behalf of Paul Marston Racing I must thank all the fellow competitors and crew who have called to express their sympathies and condolences, rest assured they are being passed on the Everitt family.

"Gary Springford made a welcome return to Grumpy's Dodge in Pro ET, making every round of qualifying; the boys and girls missed their Crew Chief but managed to keep it together, although the Crew Chief was making the dial-in shots via telephone watching on the internet! Gary was relishing eliminations but as we all know the weather had other ideas. But to Gary's credit and the rest of the Paul Marston Racing crew, Grumpy ran faultlessly with both Gary Springford and his partner in crime Mick Howling. Mick, yet another Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School graduate, was making a return having driven at the FIA Main Event earlier during the year. Mick was getting to grips with Grumpy with a throttlestop slowing her down to the Super Street 10.90 index. By the end of qualifying Michael was completely at ease, focused and ready for first round. He is now more than ready for the return leg, next week's UK National Finals.

"I returned in the Insanity Chevy Vega pick-up again in Super Street, having been working solidly on the little Vega for the best part of the past two weeks and determined to get the infamous Vega honed into the competitive threat that it always had the potential to be. During the Peak Performance Day prior to the European Finals, whilst Gary Springford was frightening passengers, I tested the Vega. It seemed the handling issues were pretty much put to bed with some suspension tweaks and larger fresher rubber on the back. I performed a series of scripted runs with some success but not a huge amount. After discussing the results with Gary Springford of Drag Race Engineering we decided to replace the rear shocks and change the cam timing. This bright idea of Gary's and mine saw me back at the track on Tuesday to effect the upgrades in pouring rain. Was I talking to the Vega while I was working on it, you better believe it!

"In the end it was all worth it as the Vega sat top of the pile running 10.909, 10.908, then 10.902 proving that not just was it now handling well but it was utterly consistent. All this obviously bodes well for the National Finals.

"A massive thank you goes out to all the tireless Paul Marston Racing crew who worked so very hard over the weekend. We really would be nowhere without you. Thank you to all of our sponsors who still believe in what we are doing, Santa Pod Raceway and all the crew who did a simply astonishing job over the weekend - there were some tough choices that had to be made and a lot of sacrifices but they made nothing but the right choices, the only choices, and got all the Pro classes finished, well done and congratulations to everyone. Last but by no means least thanks to all the guys at Eurodragster.com, Nitro FM, commentators extraordinaire John Price and Graham Beckwith, and of course all our fans who came to see us - and yes, the PT Bruiser will be out next year for a full season, for sure. See you all at the National Finals."

Web site updates.
20th September: Jon Best has updated his Best Intentions web site with an account of his weekend wielding a spanner for the B & J Nostalgia Top Fuel slingshot team. You can find Besty's report at www.bestintentions.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Raisvuo set to choose driver.
19th September: Finland's Esko Raisvuo is set to choose a driver for his Top Methanol Dragster operation for 2006 after trying unsuccessfully to sell the ex-Eero Kilpelainen car.

"I have talked through it with everyone who has shown an interest", Esko told Eurodragster.com "Most of the candidates have not come up with the funds, and there aren't many left who have the funds and are sick enough in the head.
©Eurodragster.com
"Interested teams or individuals now have six days to come here and buy the car, or I will give someone a free ride next year. I will consider current stars, good and available drivers, or choose a star of the future (I've got a race licence - Ed). I will make my decision next Saturday accompanied by my buddies and a caseful of beer. The best decisions are never made without falling over and shouting out from under the table.

"I am bit sad, since we have some personal dreams left and staying in TMD will put off the realisation of those dreams to the future. We just will not let our dragster sit unused in the garage any more. The dragster isn't getting any newer and its tech is not getting renewed either.

"So Esko Raisvuo Motorsport will soon announce what will will do in 2006, who drives what and why, and what our goals are."

If you are interested in acquiring Esko's former European Championship- and record-holding dragster then as he says you have six days left to contact him at tmd.racing@pp.inet.fi or check out his web site at www.ee-speed.com.

Swift snippets.
19th September: UK Super Pro ET racer Paul Harvey has received his 410 ci Ford engine back from the USA although not without incident. "UPS dropped the pallet (Micke Gullqvist could have warned you about UPS - Ed), nothing serious but the brand new alloy front motor plate - specially made on a CNC machine in the USA - was bent and damaged, luckily nothing else broken", says Paul. "We are looking at different options, whether to keep the 410 ci and run it in the dragster, or sell and use the finance to keep the car running with a blown Cleveland using our two other spare engines."
©Eurodragster.com
Sweden's Micke Kågered has remained at the top of the all-time FIA European Championship points standings at the end of the 2005 season, which have been calculated by our good buddy Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe. Changes in the Top Ten since 2004 see Dave Wilson and Niclas Andersson swap fourth and fifth places, Rob Turner enter at eighth, and Ulf Leanders come in at tenth leaving Jari Konola the only remaining non-active driver in the top ten. You can check out the all-time FIA points standings by clicking here, or by clicking on the Champions' Champions link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Jessica loves Santa Pod.

18th September: Dutch Junior Dragster racer Jessica Selles says that she and the Speedfreaks Junior team very much enjoyed their first-ever competitive visit to Santa Pod for last week's FIA European Finals.

"As far as we know, Speedfreaks Junior is the very first all-kids team to get on the track, and I am the first Dutch girl to race a Junior Dragster", says Jessica. "The crew is my sister Lisa, 9, who puts me on the start line (One of the undoubted stars of last weekend's event - Ed), my two cousins Levi, 9, and Benjamin, 7, are my mechanics and my dad (or my mum) is my Crew Chief. This is my rookie year in Junior Dragster and I was excited to race at Santa Pod. Unfortunately the rain kept us from running eliminations, but the night run was very exciting! I pulled a two-thousandth red light in the dark.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were very happy with tenth qualifying position in a twenty-three car field, but we had hoped to race because all of the European races we have attended have been interrupted by rainfall, except the races in Holland!

"Everybody we met was very friendly and we like to thank everyone who helped us. We are all looking forward to visiting again next year and hopefully to welcoming some of the English Juniors to Holland!"

If you are interested in racing in Holland then check out the eXplosion Club web site at www.explosion.nl.

Final countdown at York.
18th September: The action-packing finals at York Raceway next Sunday (25th September) will be creaming off the winners in the American Super Stock, Sportsman ET, Pro ET, Super Hot Rod, Hot Rod Challenge, and Air Cooled Eliminators Championships, writes York PR Howard Holmes.

"Once again, the Finals at York will provide a few cliffhangers for those who didn't score enough points at the beginning of the season!", says Howard. "There are also the seventh rounds for York Raceway's Modifiers Shootout and the NSCC makes also a welcome return to York for its seventh round. It's all wide open, mathematically, there are a lot of winning opportunities which can happen; only Al Perkins in 10.50 Bike and Bob Molden in Super Hot Rod look to have their Championships stitched up.

"But who's going to do it on the day? Will Russ Pursley retain his dominance and take the final victory on Sunday, or will Bob have more polishing to do for the trophy cabinet? In Sportsman ET, will Lee Chiles stay King of the Hill, with Des Taylor and Dave Rushforth snapping so close at his heels? Air Cooled Eliminators Glynn Morgan, Daz Chandler, Steven Roberts, Marcus Atkinson, Paul Hamilton and Dave Emerton could all get a top three placing.
©Eurodragster.com
"In Hot Rod Challenge, the title could go any way between Nigel Parkin in his ballistic big block Chevy Jaguar XJS, Russ Pursley with his Chevy Dutton and John Sleath with his Chevy Audi. Bob Molden may have the title sorted out for Super Hot Rod, but Darren Peart ,Chris Newsam, Chris Round, Neil Hunter and Andy Leigh could all be in contention for second place.

"As there is Chevy domination in Hot Rod Challenge, so there is considerable Mopar presence (and domination) in American Super Stock. Statistically, Dave 'Tig' Napier, Dave Billadeau, George Chiles, Howard Holmes, Dave Rushforth and Simon Boot all have a chance of winning the championships but there will only be one winner!

"And as if all this weren't enough, we've the very welcome return of Roger 'Roaring' Goring in the phenomenal Firestorm jet-powered Funny Car. There will also be Run What You've Brung sessions for cars and bikes too."

The Final anorak stats.
18th September: Our good buddy Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has been in touch with his ever-popular 'Anorak Stats', this time from last weekend's FIA European Finals:

Blue lights (Track clear/Tower ready): 704
Pairs: 626
Single runs: 76
Byes: 2
Total vehicles entered in System: 1330
Made it to the finish line: 1234 (including 107 Junior Dragsters)
Made it to the Quarter: 1127
©Eurodragster.com
Average ET (not including JDs): 9.920, same as 2005 FIA Main Event
Average speed (not including JDs): 142.28
Low ET: 4.933, Lex Joon
High speed: 304.19, Lex Joon

Closest Races (Eliminations):
Pro ET Round 1, Clive Cox (winner) v Lance Richards, 0.005 (12.12 inches)

Closest to dial in:
Mark O'Halloran (Super Gas) +0.001
Vincent Gibbs (Super Pro ET) +0.001
Best reaction time: Bob Lees (Super Street) 0.000
NB Bob also clocked RTs of 0.001, 0.004, 0.017 and 0.044 and -0.005

Track Live (not in official downtime): 17 hours 20 minutes
Total run time (all cars to reach finish line including JDs): 3 hours 27 minutes 8.762 seconds

Runs under 5.00 seconds: 5 (Lex Joon x 2, Micke Kågered, Andy Carter, Susanne Callin)
Runs under 5.50 seconds: 15
Runs Under 6.00 seconds: 43
Runs Over 300 mph: 2 (Lex Joon, Susanne Callin)
Runs Over 250 mph: 22
Runs over 200 mph: 117

Swift snippets.
18th September: Fuel Altered pilot Wendy Baker and Top Methanol Dragster racer Rob Turner both took the wheel of The Mob Fuel Altered, usually driven by Mickey Moore, at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. Steve and Rob Turner were at SCR crewing on Wendy's and Paul Stubbings' Time Warp Fuel Altered.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
18th September: The official web site of Sweden's Nilsson Motorsports Pro Mod team has been updated with a report and pictures of Håkan Nilsson's weekend at the FIA European Finals. Check it out at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.
©Eurodragster.com
James Hands has updated his fan site with some great photographs from the FIA European Finals. Don't miss the picture of Krister Johansson at speed with his front wheels off the deck. You can see James' pictures at jameshands.smugmug.com/gallery/612742.

Bon starts off-season work.

17th September: Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Joey Bon is optimistic about 2006 after his 2005 season didn't go quite as planned.

"The only thing holding us back was our cylinder head", says Joey. "The current cylinder head, which had a couple of weak points, finally came to its early end at the European Finals (right). "The modification of the outlet ports, which took a lot of time for Machinefabriek Goedhals - thanks for the quick help, Gerard - and Jan Roelofs, couldn't help us any more. A leak in the head gasket resulted in an explosion from which we suffered severe damage to the cylinder head and cylinders. Luckily there was no personal injury - time to get me a pair of those inflammable undies! - but it was a mental injury for the team after all the hard work we had done before the race. However we decided to fix the broken cylinder head and cylinders. With a welding machine from Team Zodiac (thanks Ton) we fixed the holes. Most of the eight hours' work was flattening the cylinder head, but we finally we managed to get everything fixed after working day and night. Saturday morning we started up the MPM bike again, and it sounded fine.

"Since we missed the second qualifying session, we only had two more sessions left. In the third qualifier, Sverre Dahl made his run and we would be next. By the time we were ready to start the bike, it had started raining again and it would keep raining for the rest of the day. So the third and fourth qualifying sessions were cancelled and we were not qualified."

Joey says that the development work will continue through the closed season. "We are currently busy with Machinefabriek Goedhals in Amersfoort and Jan Roelofs Racing in Valkenswaard to finish the design of our own cylinder head and start production", says Joey. "We also plan to make a couple of adjustments to the bike and some other parts. We will keep you informed, and be sure to check our web site regularly at www.joeybonracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like to thank my team: my good friend Paul Cocx - we will get there, Paul, Gerbelien Wilschut, my buddy Alex Buys, Viep Bloemen (thanks Viep), Lennart Broersma - thanks for your work on the site and success in the USA. Because of personal circumstances, my brother Danny wasn't able to be there and we hope he will be able to join us at the races again next year - we missed you Danny.

"I also want to thank my sponsors, for without them racing would not be possible: MPM International Oil Company (thanks a lot Michiel and Peter), Schijf Groep, Hatek Welding Techniques, Hyperpro Suspension, Tsubaki, A. Balm, Gerritsen coatings, Shoei and R.a.P. Detachering.

"Finally we would also like to congratulate Ian King on his European Championship. Well done Ian, we will make it a lot harder for you next year!"

BDRC in the tens.
17th September: Germany's Bavarian Drag Racing Club is today celebrating its tenth anniversary at its annual Sommerfest Party.

"The Club was founded in 1995 by racers and fans", says our good friend Gittli Koller. "The idea was to make drag racing more popular in Bavaria and Germany. It didn't take long and the Club was grown to be the biggest in Germany with 170 members. Serveral racers from Germany and Switzerland are members, and a lot of fans also. The Club informs the racers regulary - which was important before everybody had internet access - and we also had a magazine called Prestage which came out three or four times a year containing race reports and news.
©Eurodragster.com
"The Club doesn't have the typical structure of President, Chairman etc. We just have a cashier, a PR officer, and one who speaks at meetings. It is just a company of drag racing-crazy people. The youngest member is about six years old and the oldest seventy nine. We meet on the first Friday of every month and we have three big parties a year: the Sommerfest, a Christmas Party and an annual meeting where we discuss what the Club's plans for the coming season. We have supported smaller tracks in the past by supplying a race office, pit marshals and so on and we have also supported them with VHT and other equipment.

"We also have our own Junior Dragster which we lend ot young racers as a scheme to encourage youth. This year eight-year-old Sally Eckerst has the car for which she signed the contract when she was five. As soon as she has knew that she would get the car this year everything revolved around drag racing and it is hard to get her out of her driving suit! She has already been a runner-up at Turtmann."

We're sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in congratulating the BDRC on their tenth year and in wishing them many more years to come.

Callin working on 2006.
17th September: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Susanne Callin had a great weekend at the FIA European Finals, says dad Gordon.

"Susanne qualified number three and ran a Personal Best ET and speed", says Gordon. "Bear in mind that we only made one qualifying run due to circumstances beyond our control (The Animal and the rain). Unfortunately we suffered an air leak in the second round handing the win to Tommy Möller. We would like to take the opportunity to thank our crew who worked their asses off to make the car run as well as possible, Alan Jackson for tuning the car, and of course car owner King Knut. We also like to congratulate Tommy Möller on his win at the European Finals and to Lex Joon on winning the Championship.
©Eurodragster.com
"I wish we could say that Susanne is running the 2006 season, but right now we are doing our best to get sponsorship deals together so stay tuned."

Swift snippets.
17th September: Congratulations to UK Nostalgia Top Fuel slingshot racer Johnny Hall who blew away his personal best with a 6.9 at over 180 mph at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway this afternoon (Saturday). Johnny got into the sixes with a high gear only pass. Sweden's Kenneth Feldthusen opened his account by setting a track record 6.78 at 198 mph in his blown-alcohol altered, running with the NFAA.

The UK's Tony Betts, last seen in the Jungle.com Fuel Funny Car, has announced that with a massive effort by his old team he has managed to secure the funds to buy Jim Seward's Harry The Spider Fuel Altered operation. "We will be running the car at all NFAA meetings next year", says Tony. "I'm looking forward to racing old friends Mickey Moore and Frank Bennett who have both invested a lot of sponsors' money in their cars since I last raced. I believe that this is going to be a growing class with many new cars and drivers waiting to announce their inclusion next year."
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Comp racer Zane Llewellyn will be sitting out October's UK National Finals as, Anne Peck tells us, his dragster needs some TLC. "I'm sure everyone will be relieved to hear that we won't be bringing our pet thunderstorm to the National Finals!", says Anne. "We'd like to add our thanks and praise to the Santa Pod crew whose sterling efforts went beyond the call of duty last weekend, they were brilliant". The Bootsoop International Drag Racing Team web site at www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk has been updated with the story of Zane and Anne's European Finals weekend.

Eurodragster.com's live Event Coverage of FIA European Finals week attracted no less than 60,714 visitors who between them made 2,416,676 hits on the server and requested 665,146 page views. To put that into perspective, in one week we had half as many visitors as in the whole of August, more hits than in the whole of August, and getting on for twice as many page views as in the whole of August. Many thanks to our Event Coverage sponsors American Car Imports, our webcam sponsors Webster Race Engineering and MPM Oil, and of course to all of you for tuning in in such large numbers.

Web site updates.
17th September: The Shop page of UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith's web site has been updated with details of how to get hold of Smax's two official T-Shirts. Check it out at www.smax.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good buddy Gareth Evans is planning to update his UK1320 web site with pictures of today's action at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway. You will be able to see Gareth's pictures at www.uk1320.com.

Hersland gets his licence.
16th September: While we all were singing in the rain (His words - Ed) at Santa Pod at the weekend, Danish Top Fuel Dragster racer Rene Hersland was at the Vandel Motor Festival in Denmark in the most beautiful sunshine.

"I had to have my licence done", says Rene. "We went to Hockenheim to do the first passes, and this event gave us three full days to finish them. The track was fairly prepared, not slippery but still far away from the Pod. We had a couple of up in smoke runs and decided to start from the other end. We took all the ignition, fuel and clutch out of it. We still didn't take enough, so I had to pedal three times, but I managed to drive it all the way and had the run approved for my licence.
©Eurodragster.com
"Now that we had a tiny baseline, we put our heads together and pulled even more out of the clutch. Eureka! It worked and my licence was done. For the next run we stepped everything up a little and did a 1.03 at the sixty feet and 3.74/225 at the eighth. Unfortunately I had tyre shake at about 1000 feet, and pulled the chute. Now we have all winter to think what it would have been if it had been a full pass.

"In summary, at the weekend we made six runs, consumed three hundred litres of nitro, didn't break any parts, got a fresh licence and a fantastic crew who give me all the confidence and trust to race one of these crazy cars.

"Thanks to Palle (left head and head maintenance), Ole Black Jack (computer, fuel and chutes), Michael Mopar (right head and pistons), Ole J (blower and support), Big Michael (cook/truck driver and everywhere), medium Michael (diver and everywhere), and of course my wonderful wife (absolutely everywhere). You all believed in me, and I believe in you. See you all next year on the Tour!"

You can view some excellent pictures of the Vandel Motor Festival, including shots of Rene's Nuclear Banana in action, at www.chevy.dk/foto.

Kuno robbed by a switch.
16th September: German Pro Mod racer Norbert Kuno achieved his aim of staying in the Top Ten of this year's NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Series, and says that he had a nice weekend at the FIA European Finals despite the rain.

"After a good start with a 6.71 in the first qualifying session the rain started and we were in one of the three pairs who had to run on a tricky track on Saturday morning", says Norbert. "We couldn't go quicker because we were the first pair and we had to many problems going straight down the track. We ran 6.89/209 and were fourteenth - I wish we we had been able to run on Friday afternoon but the rain killed us.

"The rain started again on Saturday and went on until 3:00 pm on Sunday. But it was incredible how the Santa Pod Crew fought against the rain, this was the best track work I have ever seen. But it was good that they did fight because we started eliminations on Sunday afternoon.

"We had Fast Freddy but with our soft set-up and not too much power we gave Freddy a bad surprise and we kicked him out with a 6.65/215. The track started to improve and we gave the car a 6.4 set-up against Roger Johansson. But after a hard burnout we came back to the start line and I couldn't get the car into stage because the main power switch fell off from the hard bumpy burnout. I wasn't playing on the lights with Roger, I had to abort the run.

"It was a wet but nice weekend and we are still in the Top Ten. I have to say thank you to my crew, and to my sponsors Lucas Oil, Bellersheim, SSI Superchargers and Sachs."

Racers: Keep those FIA European Finals or 2005 season reviews coming to news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.

Corr's take on the Championship.
16th September: As promised in yesterday's news update Eddie Corr, Crew Chief for 2005 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon, has given us his view on last weekend's FIA European Finals and the Championship as a whole:

Crew briefing: Winning in Top Fuel is never easy. I told the crew in the Joon camp this in the team briefing at the finals on Friday morning and I'm sure I could hear them think "What is he talking about? We're here to kick ass, nothing is going to go wrong". Make no mistake, we were there to do the business, we all were, but I have been to the European Finals a few times before and won it twice tuning (both of Andy Carter's Championships), won it once on a crew (Robin Read), lost it once as a tuner (Andy, 2002), and struggled through a few more first round defeats in 1996, 1997 and 2000 which I've sort of forgotten so they must have been bad!

I said the Finals has inconsistent traction, inconsistent weather, and it just has a propensity for throwing something at you that you would never predict. And boy did it do that.

Qualifying runs: The first qualifier was easy strategy wise. We went for it, not a crazy run but it was intended to be a high 70 or low 80, trying to do it smart. But the mid track just wasn't there and the car started to lose traction about two seconds out. It ran 6.18 at 138, with the belt coming off as it lost traction. So another easy strategy decision, back it down for session two, the weather was fine and we had nothing to fear, right? Well, the second run was intended to be a high 80, but it was too soft, it dropped a cylinder and went flat in the mid track, but it did still run a 4.99 at 274. Day two dawned with all that rain, and that look that it ain't gonna go away in a hurry and you just know you are in for a lot of hanging around and wondering whether to re-tune the car for good weather like Friday, or for bad conditions, or what? Poor Thomas Nataas must really have felt the wait more than anybody, it's a shame for him because I regarded him and Tommy Möller as the biggest threat to our Championship performance wise on a good track, with Andy as the biggest threat on a bad track.

There was an attempt to run a qualifying session on Saturday morning, I saw a few Pro Mod cars and Top Fuel bikes run, crazy! That Sverre Dahl, what's he on? I wouldn't mind being able to ride like him, but how many scrapes do you have to go through to learn to ride like that? There was a rooster tail of tyre smoke coming off the back tyre in the second eighth! Anyway in Top Fuel all we got to do was sit and think all day, warm up twice and tow down once. Bas and myself reset the clutch timers about five times through Saturday and Sunday, checking them and changing them as the weather changed.

Planning: Observing the runs on Saturday morning for Pro Mod and Top Fuel bike reminded me of a team meeting in a rally once where the team's lack of a wet weather plan was exposed, and later in that event the poor planning for wet weather would come back and hit us. I knew anything could happen, and anything was already happening, running that qualifying session in very poor conditions, and I knew it could happen again on Sunday. Even when it is dry and warm, if there are spits of drizzle detectable in the air that is enough for a Top Fuel car to lose traction. When all the answers lie on a knife edge you need to do a lot of thinking before you make your tuning decisions. I decided to plan a tune-up for a cold track with drizzle in the air.

One of my oldest and simplest modelling tools was called into action for the first time this year, and it produced six tune-ups for Sunday morning. I then picked two based on a ‘drizzled' track: there were two because there were two sources of data which didn't match, basically the clutch was acting faster at the Finals than before and for no reason. Everyone thought I hadn't set the car set aggressive enough, and there was me taking everything out of it! I was thinking on Saturday if they really want to squeeze the Pro sessions in between the rain to conclude the Championships then they'll have to rush us, and we'll have to hustle. That's exactly what happened. We got the call, towed down in quite a rush, it was still drizzling but you hope they'll get the track dry at the exact moment the drizzle stops, and anyway you have to run if you're told to run. Watched the Pro Mods, made some more changes to the engine power and the clutch in the fire up road. Got the call to start, and it was still drizzling, you're thinking "It isn't possible to run", we're the first Top Fuel pair as well, you remember all those stories of cars going into the wall etc, but if Lex and I had said this session is too dangerous to run in this weather it would have looked like we were stalling for a rain out. Well, you step up to bat don't you? So we did, against all my own judgement we started the car, and Lex made an excellent long burn out as planned. I could still feel drizzle on my face after the burn out, so adjusted the clutch management again, and let it go.

And it went! 4.933 at 304 mph! Lex said he never made a run in a Top Fuel car that felt so smooth, but it did shake at the start, and we paid a price for that later. I'm telling you right now, in all the years you ever see drag racing, if you ever see Top Fuel cars running in drizzle again, you will never see a run like that in the first pair, never. I was elated on the startline because I knew no one would go quicker than that again, the track was too difficult, it wouldn't be possible to go faster. And no one did go faster, Lex went through to round two and for only the third time this year the head gaskets stayed in on a full pass and everything looked rosy.

Well that tyre shake would come back! It shook a bolt loose in the front cover of the engine. And of course it didn't leak any oil during the warm up for round two, or on the start line when we fired it for round two, but one of the start line crew noticed a fine most of oil coming from the front cover as Lex backed up from the burn out, and pointed it out to me. I knew I couldn't even attempt to work behind the blower belt with the engine running, and the mist was minimal so I thought the car should run. However we were given the signal to shut down a few seconds later, and then confusingly a signal to keep running and get the car off the track. The shock of seeing the end to the year's focus being a shut down (my first in nine years) and the confusion over keeping the car running to move it (dangerous) just pissed me off. Well, I know the start line crew were right, you'll just never see a racer take a decision to shut down lightly, and I apologise to Bob for my attitude because his decision was right. I had believed there was no oil in front of the tyres until I saw the car being pushed away from where it was sat in pre stage, and then I saw more, so I was wrong.
©Eurodragster.com
I did worry later when the weather dried up properly and the track got warmer, surely someone would take low ET from us? It was a strong possibility that Tommy would win the final, even though I truly hoped Susanne would be his strongest opponent and genuinely able to ruin his day, the low ET provided the critical points that we had to hang onto. I sweated those last two rounds that no-one would take it, but the track was obviously still tricky even though it was warmer and drier than in round one. I knew our 4.933 was a good run, for a bad track, but I didn't know it was good enough to stand up all day!

So we were out of the race but still in the points lead, with two elimination rounds left. Well we had to watch and wait, Tommy did win the race but no one took low ET, any one of the five individual runs by a Top Fueller after our shutdown could've ruined our day but no one could get down that track fast enough. We held onto our points lead like we had all year, and became TF 1 when Tommy won the race but slower than 4.933. Victory, as ever, was sweeeeet!

The crew at the Pod did some job too, working from 4.30 am Saturday to get that place ready for us. That must have felt like a pointless task but thank goodness they did, the European Finals was in my opinion a fantastic race, especially running in the dusk and in the dark for the last two Pro rounds. So a real thank you to everyone who worked on that track for us.

Crew: My crew this year are an excellent bunch, all Dutch of course, and one Englander! They worked tirelessly, never complained and always wanted to know about the car, and understand more about it. This is what you need, this is how you get the job done. They are not only 100% into their race car but they are 100% behind their driver, and that is very important, that is a team, they are very much Lex's army!

Drivers: I've worked with a lot of them, and Lex is one smart guy. It's like working with someone from NHRA, you don't need to tell him everything 'cos he just does it. He knew to pedal the car in the second qualifier without us discussing it, and pedalling is not our normal qualifying strategy. He knew not to pedal it in the first round without me telling him, all we discussed the whole weekend was what to do in the case of two pedals being needed. It's basically like working with a professional driver. I knew very early in the year that Lex had the stuff, we were breaking gaskets at the Main Event, and that means breaking heads, and that means fire. Would you want make three runs in the fours at over 280 mph, knowing that the car will be on fire by the end of the run? That was our start to this Championship, that's how focused we were right from the start.

Personal motivation: For those of you who know me, you will also know that I lost my dear Mum Lilian in June this year. For those of you fortunate enough to have had a mother who dedicates so much of herself and her life to you, but who have been through the loss of them you'll know nothing ever prepares you for it. Well she never saw any drag racing before, but she did see me in my motocross days, she knew I had racing in my blood, and I wanted to win this Championship for her. She made me capable of doing it, by giving me the brains and whatever attributes that make me suited to it, and I am dedicating this win to her memory.

Smax damp whilst Canada blazes.
16th September: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith made the long trip from Canada to compete in last weekend's FIA European Finals. Smax ended up not qualifying but he says that owners Stuart and Rich McDonald gave him a great race car and that he had an enjoyable weekend with the fans.

"We arrived on Thursday afternoon to meet the crew and found a completely prepared race car ready for fire up - the crew had done a stunning job", says Smax. "We fired up and all sounded fine, hot to trot. We got the decals from 1st Stop Body Shop onto the car and anxiosly awaited for Friday morning's first qualifier. Did the warm up, again all happy, and went to the start line with great enthusiasm. After staging with Micke we rocketed away with a 0.89 sixty foot and a great 330ft then we blew through the clutch. I shut off and saved the motor, back in the pits we discovered that the timers hadn't triggered to allow the clutch cannon to move back. We also quickly discovered that I had bent the throttle pedal on the hit and the button under the pedal wasn't pressed. Two minutes to fix it and we were ready for the second go. Incidentally with similar reaction times to Micke we were a full tenth quicker at 330 feet and he ran 5.05 on 1000 foot pass!

"Second time out we were on a bye as Jon Webster had problems. We waited as long as possible then I burned out, staged and focused on what i thought was going to be a 4.89 #1 qualifying shot. However the front wheels came up higher than the other five cars i've driven. The choices were to pedal it, brake, or get off the throttle so I decided in a millisecond that pedalling it was best. It touched down OK but wandered so I had to pedal again but realised I wasn't going to improve so shut off. We still ran a 0.89 sixty foot. In the pits we discovered the cannon hadn't moved again and found a faulty valve on the timers so even without the wheelie would have blown through the clutch again. Bloody ten dollar part failure again, we had tested it in the pits before and it worked OK.

"Never mind, there were still two sessions left - not! The bloody rain came down all day Saturday and left us #9 and not qualified - bummer! We had a great race car, excited crew, and crap english weather - a long way to come from Canada for a weekend whilst my good lady was swimming and sunbathing! Still I had a great weekend ,all the fans were brilliant and bought our new T-shirts with a unique dragster cartoon on the front by Noel Ford, famous tabloid cartoonist. We had special visitors from Australia, Canada and Norway as well as Europe's diehards - a big thanks to all of you for still supporting us.

"Congratulations go to Lex and MPM on a fine victory, and well done to Tommy Möller's gang for a valiant effort. The last big Thanks goes to Stu and Rich McDonald (car owners and tuners) who still have faith in me and gave me a stunning, well-prepared race car backed by our great team. Watch out for us in 2006 and enjoy the closed season."

'Zombie asleep for the winter.
16th September: UK Jet Dragster pilot Ian Caseley has announced that he will not be running his Roadzombie II dragster for the foreseeable future.

"My endeavours in other areas mean that I simply do not have the time to prepare and maintain the dragster, let alone have a spare weekend on which to drive it", says Ian. "I would like to publicly thank the team, especially Chris and Kate George and of course our switch man Huw Philips, without whom we would never get off the line.
©Eurodragster.com
"I anticipate decommissioning and warehousing the car over the winter. I hope to run the dragster next year: I'll have it re-tagged and get myself a new firesuit (never buy a pink firesuit – they fade and look untidy!). We need to attend to the afterburner tuning and we are still investigating the best way to control fuel flow into the afterburner - so far we haven't quite got it right. This isn't the end of the road for the Jet Dragster project, and we hope to return to the track with the benefit of further development work.

"Finally I'd like to add my sincere thanks to the drag racing community, from the track support staff to the good people we have had the pleasure of meeting and of course the common thread holding it all together - the Eurodragster team (Thanks - Ed)."

Swift snippets.
16th September: The organisers of June's King of Europe event at Chimay in Belgium have announced that there is to be a second event, again at Chimay, on 23rd-25th June 2006. In the meantime a DVD is being prepared of the 2005 King of Europe, which was won by the UK's Ian Hook. You can find more details at www.streetracingmania.com/english/dvd.html.
©Eurodragster.com
Liz Cosgrove, Events and Community fundraiser at Enham, has been in touch to thank UK Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay and Super Comp racer Chris Johnson for appearing at the Enham/Carolina Classics charity event at Thruxton on 4th September. "We are definitely doing it again next year and will be in touch", says Liz. "Who knows – maybe we can expand our show of drag racers. The event was a great success and we raised over Ł3000 for our charity. Look under Fundraising at www.enham.org.uk for a report and some pictures."

A belated Happy birthday for yesterday to 2005 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike Champion Ian King. Monique Koedam was kind enough to tell us Ian's age but to spare embarrassment and possible legal action we'll keep that one to ourselves. Hope you had a good day Ian.

Bennetts set for Hot Rod Drags.

16th September: Luke Bennett has been in touch to tell us that the Bennett Racing blown-alcohol altered is on its trailer and ready to go for this weekend's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association round at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway.

"Everything was spot on with the engine when we checked it after the Peak Performance Day, so with all the testing now done we are ready to run it properly!", says Luke.
©Eurodragster.com
Luke has also sent us a picture (right) of his 23T with the 4.6 litre Rover installed, courtesy of sponsor RPI Engineering. "I hope to get the car finished by the end of the year", says Luke. "I will also be getting a new chassis built later this year tagged to 7.50, and will build a new car next year, so there are busy times ahead."

You can find out more on the Bennett Racing web site at www.bennettracing.moonfruit.com.

Bangers and Gassers at SCR.
16th September: In addition to the traditional Custom Car Flathead Meltdown Challenge held at this weekend's (17th-18th) NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway, the event will also host a shootout to find the fastest four-banger in the land, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson.

Open to all street-legal sidevalve four cylinder powered rods and customs, the Four-Banger Challenge, with a trophy sponsored by Saturn Industries, follows the same laid-back rules as the Flathead Meltdown where competitors time trial on Saturday, cruise on the evening and compete on the Sunday.

In the Meltdown proper, the spirit for sidevalve racing is as strong as ever and has now evolved into a tight knit community of racers who, wherever they go, are actively encouraging newcomers to join their merry band of flatheads. At the side valves ball encounter at the Nostalgia Nationals in July, ten cars of various vintages took part. These included twenties inspired roadsters, steel bodied Model As and Bs, a '59 Ford Popular, and a 1920 T Speedster powered by an old twenty one stud engine put together by Executioners club member Chris Hosegood. In the final run-off, Tony Cardy saved his best run of the meet from his T-Modified roadster till last with a 13.04 at 106 mph to beat Al Boxall's ‘23T. Tony also collected a trophy as the NSRA's fastest Flathead.

So what will happen this weekend at Shakey? Come and have a look, and if you're the proud owner of any side valve motivated rod or racer then come and have a go!

In addition, Nostalgia drag racing's Gasser Circus will be taking to the squared circle for one more time this year as eight high-riding stockers will be facing the ringmaster for this weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags, continue Jerry Cookson and and race commentator Keith Harman.

Needing no taming whatsoever is Honky Tonkin'. A nine second '57 Chevy motivated by a Kenny Coleman dyno'd blown 454 which on present form will surely keep those southern tearaways Jerry Denning and Lee Pike amused for hours. Chasing the twosome all the way, and back from static display at the Allstars is Ken Brookes and the equally famous Roaring Rat hoping to turn the tables from their defeat at the Nostalgia Nationals. Also looking for nines is Daz Selwyn and the Pandemonium ‘65 Dodge Coronet. Daz and the rest of the Gator County boys report that the 493 ci engine has only been working at seventy per cent of its max range, so the potential for a high nine is definitely on the blocks this weekend.

Series organiser Terry Howarth and the Golden Boys ran their best ever 12.2 at the Nationals in July, and with the early season nitrous blues now behind, expect the Gold Rush '40 Ford to fly into the mid elevens.

Pat 'The Rat' Healey and the desert storm '37 Chevy Coupe will be looking to step up. Last time out at Thorney Island the South African deuce was banging out fourteens but on a treated track, high twelves should be nearer the mark. With a van overloaded with high octane racing fuel, Jan Somerville will be looking for some low level passes in his tricked out Red Barron Ford Pop. At the last round, Jan ran out of the precious commodity and could only complete a handful of laps.

Fresh from personal bests at the Allstars, Street Eliminator racer Wilf Stacey will be joining the gang with his nine second Gone Crazy SB Ford powered Zodiac, but also look out for Neil 'The Hippy' Harris from Cheltenham with a grey primered tunnel rammed Chevy powered '38 Willys pick-up. Although this will be Hippy Neil's first time on the quarter the Willys did make some laps in the eighth mile drags at the Allstars.

So that's it. The Gasser Circus is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Not only are they quick but also you'd be hard pressed to tame the terrible eight on the quarter mile this weekend!
©Eurodragster.com
Nicky broke but grateful.
16th September: UK Pro ET racer Nicky Frost has been in touch to thank all of her fellow Pro ET racers who offered help after her transmission failed during the second qualifying session pass at the European Finals.

"Thanks also go to Carl Burton and Podge for making us laugh at the meetings and all the work they put into the class", says Nicky. "We even had offers of help from Splinter and Mick who had worked tirelessly to get to the track, not arriving until Thursday night, both looking the worse for wear. Thanks guys. Although it's disappointing to have any component fail, it makes it far more bearable when you get this kind of support from other drivers. Special thanks must go to John Atkinson (Jumping Black Flash) for his tireless work through out the last two seasons and Matthew, Kim and Gemma for all their help and support.
©Eurodragster.com
"Santa Pod must now have the best facility outside of the USA and probably the friendliest and hardest-working crew in the world. Thanks to everyone for all your efforts. Unfortunately we will not make the UK National Finals as competitors but we will definitely be watching, so good luck to everyone taking part."

Web site updates.
16th September: Thanks to our good buddy Patrik Jacobssen for alerting us to the new web site of Sweden's Johan 'Lillis' Samuelsson, who runs a twin-turbo Viper which has already run into the 8.0s in testing with a soft-set-up. Johan's excellent web site includes facts on the beautiful stealth Viper, an inside and outside slideshow of the car, race calendar, and much more. Check it out at www.viper-racing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Richard Stirling has updated his Topnitro fan site at www.topnitro.co.uk with reports and extensive photo galleries from last weekend's FIA European Finals.

Joon: It feels funny.
15th September: 2005 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon says that his Championship is only just starting to sink in. "We were working and working to get everything organised", says Lex. "We didn't think about the Championship, just about going rounds. On Sunday evening when they told me I was Champion it felt a bit funny."

The MPM Oil-sponsored dragster set Low ET and high speed of the FIA European Finals, giving Lex an extra five points which proved crucial when he was shut off for an oil leak in the semi-final, which he only had to win to take the title. "In the semi-final we did a long burnout to put rubber on the track and a bolt came loose", says Lex. "When I was in pre-stage Bob told me to shut off and I thought it must be rain at the end of the track. Then I saw Micke go into stage and I thought "Oh dear, we are in deep crap now".

"Almost giving it away really gave me the creeps after we'd led for the whole season. I've never been shut off in one of my own cars before, but the end of the day one drop of oil is too much. I was not angry, just disappointed and it almost lost us the Championship. We wanted to win the title, win the event, and set new records. We had the car tuned for a 4.8 on that run. We knew that the car was OK, we knew who we were facing, and we had found a way to negotiate the track conditions. The downside was that we couldn't show the crew what their hard work could do."

Lex thinks that the MPM Top Fuel Team has the complete package. "To win the title you need a good car, a good Crew Chief, a good crew and a good driver and we have all of that", he says. "We ran the quickest ET of the year and the weekend's highest speed. Eddie (Corr, Crew Chief - Ed) never stopped working on the car, and he was even changing settings before the run. In the first round he told me to wait after the burnout and he changed the clutch timers on the back of the car even though he couldn't see what he was doing because of the nitro fumes. I asked him how he had done it and he said "By touch". On that run it shook a little to the eighth and then it really took off, it planted me back into the seat - his strategy worked."

Lex was not nervous about the weekend, but he was worried about something happening which could stop him racing. And believe it or not, it almost happened. "I hurt my back in the pits on Friday night", he says. "It took me hours to get out of bed on Saturday morning. In one way it was lucky that I got the day off on Saturday because of the rain, I was able to rest. On Sunday morning I took aspirins and Eddie wouldn't let me take anything else in case it affected my reactions. I almost couldn't push the clutch pedal, and the crew couldn't strap me in as hard as usual. But the adrenaline helps you through the pain, when I got to the other end of the track I jumped out of the car! Then when I got back to the pits the pain came back and I thought "This could stop me becoming Champion" but I drove the car no matter what.
©Eurodragster.com
The MPM team have had a fantastic response to their Championship from all over the planet. "Everyone tells us we deserved it. Andy Carter is a true sportsman, he called me and said "You are the true winner". I said "It's a pity about your red light or you could have had a chance" and he replied "But I wouldn't have got Low ET". The Baca guys in the USA are very proud of us too.

"I also found out that I am the first Dutchman to win an FIA title in any class, I didn't know that until today! People have been following our progress from day one and reading the off-season feature on Eurodragster. I've done a lot of interviews already and there are more coming up. Hopefully I can use this to take Dutch drag racing up a level."

Having led the Championship from day one, Lex is now looking to be the first to win back-to-back titles. "We have only run the car on 85% this year and sometimes it's been difficult, for example the air was very poor at the weekend", says Lex. "Next year the rest of the teams are going to think we're running a very fast bracket car."

Lex paid tribute to Santa Pod's track crew, and he has also dedicated his Championship to two very special people. "I take my hat off to the way the SPR guys handled the situation especially on Sunday", he says. "Racers were running decent numbers in every class. And this Championship is for Dennis Stone and for Bernie Hepworth - at the end of the day Bernie gave me the chance to run my first Alcohol Funny Car."

Tune back to Eurodragster.com News tomorrow to read Crew Chief Eddie Corr's take on Lex's Championship.

Bader loves Pro Mod.
15th September: Bruno Bader and Switzerland's Golden Vette Team Pro Mod team were very content with their three passes at the FIA European Finals. "Except for the rain, it was a great race!", says Ute Friesch.

"When we started qualifying on Friday, the sun was shining and everybody was in a good mood", says Ute. "We saw the car drifting towards the wall and nobody breathed until Bruno managed to get the car away. But then once again, Bruno couldn't put in the second gear and our first qualifying time was a 6.724, a little bit below our expectations. Anyway, we decided to make a second qualifying without stripping the transmission down into its component parts. As we saw during the run, that really wasn't a good idea! Bruno had to shut off almost immediately to avoid damage to the transmission. So we had to do a long night shift. We would like to say a big Thank You to all our fellow racers who helped us during this night shift, expecially Kent Trennemann and his guys who didn't give up until every part was tested! Thank you, guys!
©Eurodragster.com
"After our night shift we were nearly sure that everything was in good condition for the race on Saturday. We waited eagerly for the Pit Marshal to call the Pro Mods. But then the weather thwarted our plan to repeat our 6.6 run and the rain stopped everything. What started now was drag racer's nemesis: Rain, rain, rain. Dry periods when all the racers came out, you could hear the staff trying to dry the strip, some guys even started warm-up sessions. Then again: rain. In the evening part of the pits was flooded by heavy rain and that was it for Saturday.

"Same procedure again on Sunday: rain, dry periods, warm-ups, rain again. Some of us even started to collect their things and thought about leaving Santa Pod earlier, as nobody expected the race continue. But then: dry weather for an hour and it stayed dry! Now things went very quickly. The Pro Mods were called first and as at Mantorp our competitor in the first round was Patrick Wikström. Bruno got away a little late and so he tried to catch Patrick on the track. Again the car headed for the wall but Bruno hung on. In the end it was a 6.602 against Patrick's 6.576. A new personal best for Bruno and great enthusiasm in the team! We were out of the race but very happy! Watch out Patrick, maybe next time this will be not enough!

"Now everybody is home again. We were very pleased about how well all our fellow racers welcomed us into the Pro Mod family. It was a great experience being with you during this season.

"Due to the very bad weather in what they called summer in Europe this year we didn't have too many full passes. Therefore we are still rookies in Pro Mod. But we will be back next season, hopefully with the same performance and faster than ever!"

Motler takes the goodies.
15th September: UK Pro ET racer Malcolm Motler and the Spellbound team took #1 qualifying spot at the FIA European Finals and came away a trophy, Ł100 and several vouchers richer due to the Pro ET sponsorship scheme. Malcolm went out in the first and only round of eliminations on Sunday but was very pleased with the qualifying spot.

"Firstly I would like thank and congratulate Santa Pod and all the crew for the improvements to the pits, it's great to be on the hard stuff!", says Malcolm. "Thanks also for their relentless efforts to get the track dry and ready to race, well done all.

"As for Pro ET, as if it isn't tough enough already, going to this meeting forty one of us had to qualify for a thirty two-car field. The pressure was on! We got off to a bit of a shaky start but by the fourth session Marcia ,my walking weather station, had picked the right number 10.31 on which we ran 10.312 - still two thousands off, shame on Marcia and no alcohol for a month, that'll teach her - which was good enough to nick number one qualifier and we managed to hold on to it, chuffed to bits methinks! For number one spot we were rewarded with a great trophy, Ł100 cheque and some vouchers from the sponsors of the Pro ET sponsorship scheme, thanks to them all and a special thanks to Carl Burton for thinking of the scheme and all the hard work he has put in to get these people on board, nice one mate.
©Eurodragster.com
"On Sunday I didn't think it was going to stop raining, but it did and we managed to get a run in at about seven o'clock in the evening. I knew that we wouldn't get to finish our eliminations, just not enough time, so because of the tailwind we opted to go for a new Personal Best, upping the shift light from 6600 to 7000 rpm and dialling in 10.03 which is fastest the car has ever gone, and that was back in 1994 when I was using nitrous on the old engine. It was a bit of wild ride, moving about a bit in the first half of the track where I did consider lifting off for the very first time in my short racing career...nah, can't do that! Then it went straight and ran 10.31/130, so not to be and back to the normal set-up for the National Finals.

"All in all a great weekend. Well done to Andy Robinson for another fast run and the win - top man - and finally thank you Eurodragster.com for your excellent coverage all week (Thanks! - Ed)."

Two hairdryers and a wet track.
15th September: Dave Friend of FIA European Finals Top Fuel Bike winner Jones and Friend Racing says that it was a little unreal to have two hairdryer-equipped bikes in the final round.

"Firstly a real big thank you to all the Santa Pod track crew, for such commitment and dedication to get the track into a go situation on Saturday only the rain was just too persistent. Then to have to start all over again on Sunday, but you won the day and we were race ready, all these people really are the unsung heroes of our sport once again thank you.

"On Thursday night we had a little play around to see if we could make some boost to help us get a better launch, but it was to no avail and we know what is causing it so it will be sorted in the winter rebuild. So to Friday qualifiers, first round and the clutch pulls Gary (Jones, rider - Ed) through the lights so we get no time, oops, back in the pits for a quick rpm adjustment. Off for the last qualifier of the day, unknown to everyone it would be the last of the event, a smooth 7.55/174 this sits us at #7 in qualifying. A check of the timing tickets from our last meeting at Shakey shows that there was less than a tenth of a second variation in the increments with this pass at a different track, so we have very good consistancy with this EFI set-up.

"A storming 7.66 pass from Jamie Sneddon on the DSD turbo Blackbird Super Street Bike, Paul and the girls are grinning big time they are in at #8, unfortunately for some of the Fuel bikes they were not going to qualify after all the effort to get here from Europe. Big thanks to our primary sponsor and crewman Eric Humphrey of Extreme Electrical Ltd who could only make it for one day due work commitments in preparation for the Goodwood Revival meeting, little did we know what we would achieve this weekend.

"Saturday and the start of the monsoon, it's in for the whole day and night, no matter how hard the track crew worked it was game over so was qualifying, we were in as was Jamie - surprise surprise eh? Was that a rain dance you were doing in the awning Jamie or were you just keeping warm?

Sunday arrives and the rain is still with us, but the track crew are on a mission and their perserverence pays off - we are in a go situation. With a stand-in crew for the day of Funny Bike rider Steve French and his Crew Chief Gordon Smith our first round opponent is the new Top Fuel Bike champion Ian King, well done mate. Gary stages the bike but the clutch is trying to pull him through the lights, so a half throttle lanch and Ian is gone but he starts to spin the tyre, feathers it but breaks a belt and Gary is past taking the win with a new PB ET 7.49/179. But whats happened to Jamie? Well, Roel takes out the blocks at the top end and the DSD team are through so we are not the only ones grinning.

"Into the semis and up against the last remaining Fuel bike in the meeting, Steve Carey, Gary leaves first but Steve passes at around the 330 mark but drifts right and is off the throttle, Gary passes and takes the win with a 7.51/177. We are in the finals, unreal, but wait Jamie downs a struggling Neil Midgley and is in to meet us. An EFI development Comp Bike against a Super Street Bike in the final of the most prestigious meeting of the year and not a Fueller in sight. Quite outrageously bizzare and we are both running hair dryers - quite appropriate with all the rain we have had don't you think.

"In the final the track is very cool and getting loose, the boys stage and Jamie is away first but suffers some spin, that's it Garys gone into the dark and takes the win, unreal! A 7.464, another PB ET but Gary shut off at a thousand feet. The crew can't stop grinning and leaping around, our year has just got better and better. There is so much more to come out of the Jones and Friend Racing EFI alky turbo system, as in every pass this year we have been spinning the rear tyre, even having taken power out. So with a new chassis and big tyre we know we can run some good times, big thanks to Steve and Gordon for all their help on a bike that was new to them, the beers are on us boys.

"A real big thanks to all our sponsors who continue to support us, they are Extreme Electrical Ltd, Universal Turbos, Worldwide Bearings USA, Mistral Engineering, BEK Wholesale, and Ian Carver."

Swift snippets.
15th September: Santa Pod Raceway's Track Manager Kjell Pettersson has asked us to pass on his sincere thanks to all of the race officials and staff at Santa Pod Raceway for their efforts at the FIA European Finals. "I am very proud of everyone", said Kjell. "The event simply would not have happened without the hard work of everyone whether on the track, in Race Control, or in the office - everyone gave it everything they could. As usual we had marshals from across Europe and everyone worked together. I have the best team anyone could hope for."

UK Pro ET racer Marius Blackburn says that the class thoroughly appreciated being pitted on hard standing at Santa Pod Raceway at the weekend. "Had it not been for the efforts of Keith Bartlett and staff, we would probably still have been trying to extricate our race cars and campers from what would have been Europe's biggest swamp!", says Marius. "Thanks from all of us. Thanks also go ot the track crew whose tireless efforts got things moving against all the odds! Finally big thanks to Roger Gorringe for his help in getting Pro ET their own spot in the Event Programme. Cheers to you all and see you in the dry season."
©Eurodragster.com
Lizz McCarthy of Paul Marston Racing agrees. "I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who think "Why bother, it's raining, it's wet, and it won't dry" but still the Act of God intervenes as well as the persistence of the Santa Pod crew", says Lizz. "I am possibly one of thousands who will applaud the crew for their "If at once you don't succeed dry, dry again" attitude, and they did and they did and they did...sorry it got dark!"

Many thanks to UK National Championship Co-ordinators Simon Groves and Yvonne Tramm for sending us the post-Allstar Nationals standings in the UK National Championships. You can view the standings by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Simon tells us that the post-FIA European Finals points are about a week off.

Many congratulations to UK Street Eliminator racers Sue and Ian Jackson on the birth of their son Matthew James, who arrived on Monday and weighed in at 7 lb 1 oz. Anne-Marie Lazenby tells us that mother and baby are doing fine.

Apologies for the non-appearance of yesterday's news update, which was due to extreme pressure of work in Tog's day job (Yes folks, I do have a day job - Ed). We would also like to thank everyone who has been in touch with compliments on our FIA European Finals event coverage.

Orange PBs all round.
15th September: UK Outlaw Anglia and Pro ET racer Simon Barlow and the Orange Pop team had another fantastic race weekend at Santa Pod Raceway despite the rain, says crew member Jason Yates.

"We had another personal best this time, 10.403/125", says Jay. "We qualified third out of forty one with which we were delighted. We were running consistent mid-tens on a 10.50 dial-in until we ran a 10.47. On the final qualifying run on Thursday we changed the dial-in to 10.40 and ran a 10.403, which was fantastic. Unfortuantly we broke the light beams in the Friday session so we didn't get a time.
©Eurodragster.com
"We were ready for eliminations on Saturday and looking forward to racing Aiden Kenny who also races with us in Outlaw Anglia. We waited around all day on Saturday and there was no improvement in the weather. Sunday morning came and it was raining when we got up, so we packed all the stuff away and waited around to see if the rain stopped. By 1:00 we had had enough and put the car on the trailer, but we found out later in the day that they did run the first round of Pro ET. But never mind, that's racing for you.

"Thanks to Andy Frost, to Jon Webster for the work he did on the car during the week before the race, and to Mark Pointer for lending us his nitrous bottles. We are running in Outlaw Anglia at the Hot Rod Drags this weekend, and we will be looking for that 10.3 - which we should get as we were so close at the Pod."

Pels takes third.
15th September: After a rain-dominated season, Dutch Supertwin racer Ton Pels lost his European title to Norway's Ronny Aasen and ended up third in the 2005 Championship. Monique Pels has been in touch with a summary of Ton's weekend at Santa Pod.

"Going to the European Finals we were second in the Championship, eighteen points behind Ronny", says Monique. "After two days of qualifying we were in number two spot with a 6.786/202.8 right behind Svein-Olaf Rolfstad of Norway (6.675), but in the first elimination round against Hans Olav Olstad the bike started to drift towards the center line, which resulted in Ton hitting the quarter mile reflectors, so he was out.
©Eurodragster.com
"Hans Olav Olstad managed to win the final from Ronny Aasen and with that win he passed us by a few points in the Championship standings.

"The 2005 season was a very strange one with three out of six races ending in a rain-out. We would like to congratulate Ronny Aasen with his first Championship title. He deserves it because he showed good performance and consistency all year. Also congratulations to Hans Olav Olstad on a good season and a good result.

"We would like to express our thanks to our main sponsor Zodiac Performance Parts for Harley Davidson for their continuing support as well as to our other sponsors Supertrapp, Accel and Spectro Oils. Furthermore we would like to thank our part and product sponsors Goodridge, Performance Machine, Midwest Acorn and Vanson Leathers.

"For updates during the off season please check the News page at www.zodiacracing.com."

Koedam Racing Finals review.
15th September: We are indebted to Marius Van Der Zijden, Crew Chief for Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam, for sending us his usual post-event review, in this case of last weekend's FIA European Finals:

We entered the event in second spot in the Championship. Due to our own decision to withdraw from eliminations for safety reasons during the first two European Championship rounds, our chances of winning the European title for the fifth time, as well as dropping to the third spot, were purely theoretical. Therefore our plan of attack for this last race was to go for it and try to run the best possible numbers in order to make up for a poor season overshadowed by lots of rain. As we have learned oh so well this season, the most critical factor would be the weather conditions. In the days ahead of the event we kept a close (and anxious) eye on the weather channel. The outlook for the weekend changed by the day, ranging from real good to rain on all days. Anyway we came prepared with more then usual spare parts like pistons, valves, lots of clutch parts and a new rear sprocket (made at the very last moment with the assistance of Goedhals Machinefabriek).

The first qualifying day on Friday was real warm and sunny for a change. For our first attempt we had made some changes to the fuel system to step up the performance. It resulted in a decent 6.30/209. The relatively low mph already indicates that it was not a real good one. The bike left in a moderate sixty foot time of 1.09 but as soon as it approached top rpm in low gear it started to drop a cylinder (too rich in the fuel system) and so it did again in high gear. Hence the time and speed.

For our second pass of day one we gave the clutch a little tweak and also made a change to the fuel system. Just before our qualifying session there was a huge oildown along the full quarter mile. That not only delayed the programme for nearly two hours but also called into question the state of the track after the clean-up as the hard-working crew at Santa Pod Raceway had unusual problems getting the track back in shape again. When it was finally our turn we recorded an improved sixty foot time of 1.06, which was pretty good. But some 1.5 seconds into the run the rear tyre went up in smoke. Either our clutch setting must have been too aggressive or the track condition was not as good as during the first round. Roel feathered the throttle twice and the bike was jumping up and down a couple of times performing a perfect imitation of Bronco Billy. Despite this it was still a 6.50/208. That ended the first day of qualifying.

Our wake-up call on Saturday was the sound of raindrops on the roof of our camper. Looking outside there was nothing but grey skies all around, but as the day went on it became dry. It looked like there would be qualifying going on that day after all. The track at SPR usually doesn't suffer too much from rain and the good part of it is that the air quality was much better then on the day before. When waiting in the staging lanes we got the idea that the track didn't suffer from the rain of that morning as both the car- and the bike classes in front of us were running very good ETs. However the sky got darker and darker and just three pairings before it was our turn it started to rain. At first it looked like we would escape with a little drizzle but then it started really pouring down and everybody was pulled back to their pits. Though the dark clouds stayed with us during the rest of the day, it became dry again and they started to work real hard on the track. By 17:00 when the job was almost done the skies turned dark again and (you already guessed it) the rain came down once more and this time it was raining cats and dogs, as they say in England. We almost became used to it and looking back at this season it was more a question 'when' the rain would come down, rather than 'if'. So much for qualifying of that day. While some got three passes under their belt, everybody had two chances to qualify.

Despite that, something rare happened, Norwegian Sverre Dahl did not qualify. We however remained the #1 qualifier with our 6.30 pass in the first session. On the brighter side the weather predictions were right so far and according to the information Sunday promised to be a good day. Well we just had to wait and see.

Come Sunday morning, much to everyone's surprise the sky was still very grey and it was drizzling. On top of that the outside temperatures had dropped a bit as well. It didn't look too good and we feared that it could be a rain-off again, which then would be the fourth in a row. Finally after nearly a day of waiting and insecurity the eliminations could start after all. Just before five o'clock in the afternoon (!) we made our first round appearance. The bike was set up for a real good pass as we realised that this could possibly be one of our last chances of this season to set a good ET. When we fired the bike she sounded real happy. As the lights on the Christmas Tree went green it left pretty good and looked to be a hell of a pass. However just after the eighth mile marker the bike suddenly hit severe tyre shake. Though we've had tyre shake before, we never experienced it so far down the track. As a result of this, the bike made a sudden move towards the centreline. Roel backed it off at 4.3 seconds, but it was already too late. We ran over both the top end the timing light mirrors for the first, and hopefully the last, time in our racing history eliminating ourselves and handing over the round win to our opponent.

Ironically our friend Ton Pels did the same in his first round just before us and Roel promptly joked that Ton had to take care of the drinks tonight. Now they both have to take care of that! On the bright side the timing ticket and the data recorder showed that it was on a real good run. Though our sixty foot time was a reasonable 1.07, it was really hauling ass from there on. Our eighth mile time was a 4.006 which almost duplicates our previous best of 3.963 set in our 6.04 pass during the 2003 Finals. This run would definitely have been a very, very low 6.0 pass. But as we all know ifs and would be's don't count.

One thing is for sure, that after the mechanical problems we faced at the start of this season, the bike now performs very well and stays in better shape then ever before. This leaves a whole lot of extra room for improvement without giving away any reliability. As expected we finished second in the European Championship behind our pal Ian King whom we like to congratulate with the title after his troublesome last couple of years.

Needless to say that on the Monday after the event, when we travelled home, it was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine! If only we could influence the weather.
©Eurodragster.com
FIM/UEM European Finals review.
15th September: We are also indebted to FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for sending us his post-FIA European Finals review:

We managed to finish all the classes at this event, even if it was dark at the end. Maybe too dark but we finished the race. The track was in excellent condition and all people working on the track should have big applause for all the work they did during the weekend.

First a little about Top Fuel Bike. The Championship was already won by Ian King so it was not as interesting as the other classes. But we were waiting for some good times and a lot of Fuel bikes in the ladder. Qualifying on Friday showed that we could have some nice things. Roel Koedam and Ian King were fast. Sverre Dahl and Nils Ole Lund were just outside the ladder on Friday evening. Sverre had the same problems as many times before, too much power and no working gearbox. Joey Bon from the Netherlands had some problems with his cylinder head and was also not qualified on Friday evening. So we were waiting for Saturday. In the morning on Saturday it was dark and not such nice weather. But the forecast was that it was going to get better. We started qualifying and ran Pro Stock Bike and the Supertwins. Then was it time for Top Fuel and Sverre went out first with a spinning tyre once again. Then it started to rain, some small stupid rain, so we were waiting. Around half past five it really started to rain. In some minutes it changed Santa Pod from a track to an ocean. So all qualifying was over, for all classes. On Sunday morning it was still coming down but the track crew were working from 4.30 in the morning trying to clean and dry the track. Sometimes the rain would start and sometimes just mist but finally at 14.30 we were able to start the racing.

Due to the missed qualifying on Saturday the ladder was a little bit unusual. In the first pair Roel Koedam was against Jamie Sneddon on a Super Street Bike. Koedam left the line and started to drift to the middle, hit the timing equipment and crossed the line so he was disqualified. So a Super Street Bike took. Then it was an expected win for Neil Midgley. In the next pair it was Ian King against Gary Jones. An easy win for Ian on the paper, but racing is different. A broken blower belt ended this run. In the last pair it was Steve Woollatt against Steve Carey. Woollat had some problems and had to shut down. In the semi final Sneddon did it again, Midgley had some problems, so a Super Street Bike won. In the final in the dark, Sneddon's lamp didn't help against Gary Jones. This win was unexpected.

In Pro Stock there were good times and hard qualifying. After qualifying on Friday I was worried. Five of the eight bikes had to do major work on the engine. The fastest in the qualifying was Anders Abrahamsson and Roger Pettersson was number two. Anders Larsson continues to have bad luck. A broken car on the way to Santa Pod and a broken bike in the second qualifying which resulted in one camshaft becoming four. So in the semi final it was Abrahamsson against Chris Hope. Chris Hope has finally got every thing to work and was running 7.4. But that did not help against Abrahamsson. Roger Pettersson defeated Martin Bishop in the other semi final. Roger and Anders made it to the final in the dark and Anders was the winner this time. But he had to borrow Anders Larsson's helmet with a clear visor, so the bad luck suffered by Larsson is not in the helmet.

Supertwin turned out to be a thriller. Ronny Aasen was leading the Championship with eighteen points over Ton Pels before this race so it could go up to the very last run. After the qualifying Rolfstad was top ahead of Ton Pels and Ronny was number four. So Ton managed to take in two points against him. But race day is something different. In the first round it was Rolfstad against HC Nielsen, so it was all Norwegians. Rolfstad had a large bang close to the finish line but was the winner with a broken bike. In the next round it was Ronny Aasen against Joachim Reimer and Aasen did take that win with a good 6.7 run. So now had Ronny the gold close and even closer in the next round then Ton Pels also hit the timing equipment in the run against Hans Olav Olstad and was disqualified. So Olstad was the winner in that round. In the last run was it Svein Gottenberg against Lorenz Stauble. We where all waiting for a close race and good times but after 100 metres Gotten a large bang also and the front cylinder broke. The next semi final was a solo run for Aasen and in the other pair it was Olstad against Stauble. Now it started to get exciting. Olstad took that win and suddenly was he on the way to take the silver medal if he could beat Aasen in the final. In the dark Olstad managed a superb 6.9 run and Aasen went up in smoke. So the event win went to Olstad and the runner up was Aasen.

A little bit strange, in both Pro Stock and Supertwin the number one and two in the Championship were in the final but in both runner-up won the event.

This was the last race for this season. Everything worked out very well in the last race. I only hope hat we will not have so many problems with rain next year. We also saw riders from some new countries, especially a lot of Greek riders. I hope that more riders from different countries will do more events next year. The new system with travel money looks as if it is working well.

Thank you also very much to all the officials who have been working during the year. I cannot name them all but they have done very good work. All this drying of wet tracks from early morning to late evening, taking care of the track before and during en event is hard work. We have also seen that a good starter (Ian Marshal) and the others around him now have more power and can make the right decisions in a stressful situation. Thank you also to Keith Bartlett and Kjell Pettersson who made it work as well. I hope that some of your plans will work out and that we will have a really nice 2006. The Bahrain project was looking very good after the Mantorp event but some clouds turned up. Hopefully the problems will be solved and we will have an Invitational race in November and a Championship round in Bahrain at the beginning of 2006.
©Eurodragster.com
North heads south to race.
15th September: Sweden's Kenneth Feldthusen and the Northrace team will be looking to break both ends of Shakespeare County Raceway's blown-methanol altered track record at this weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags, writes SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson.

Competing against the likes of NFAA series leader Clayton Round in Rebel T together with the Fiat Topolino's of Frank Bennett and Bob Glassup, Kenneth knows that it's going to be tough going at a track he has never seen before, but just heard about through reading race reports on the internet.

"We want to have some fun, meet many new drag racing friends and perhaps to beat your track record," says Kenneth.

The track record, which has stood since October 1999, and is the second quickest to Kenneth's 6.7 in Europe, stands at 6.921/203.62 mph with Smax Smith's legendary '35 Chevy altered Mainline Menace.

With enough racing experience amounting to nearly 100 years, all five team members are focused in making the Brad Anderson-headed 463 ci Keith Black V8-powered '34 Chevy roadster go as fast as possible. "Our car was built in 1997 by six guys from Gothenburg," says Kenneth. "All of them had many years of experience of drag racing, and when they built the car they knew that it was capable of running 6.5 second runs."

Since, the Northrace Team were crowned Swedish Champions in 1999, record holders for AA/Altered (7.00/314 kph), and again Swedish champions in 2001 and 2002. "Some of the original team members have left and have been replaced with younger guys, but the feelings to have fun is still the same," says Kenneth.

Kenneth and the boys finished the 2005 season at Tullinge Raceway, Stockholm, the last national race on the calendar. However it was an ending to the season they were least expecting with the Northrace Team being classified third in both the Swedish and SDC series championships.

"The race in Stockholm was the final leg of the Swedish Championship and we were hopeful of a win but in the quarter final we experienced an oil leak, our first ever and we got disqualified."

This will be the team's third away visit to England having raced at Santa Pod's European Finals in 2001 and 2003. "If we get a good track and good weather we will give you a new track record, and it will be good to compete against altereds like ours instead of reading about them on the internet," concluded Kenneth.

You can read more about Kenneth and the team at www.northrace.com and for more on the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association check out www.nfaa.co.uk.

Shakespeare County Raceway will be open on Friday afternoon and the drag strip will be open between 10.00 am and 6.00 pm on Saturday and 11.00 am and 5.00 pm on Sunday. Admission to the Hot Rod Drags is Ł15.00 both Saturday and Sunday or Ł22 gets you a weekend pass. Under-sixteen's go free. The raceway can be found on the B4632 six miles south of Stratford town centre. For more details about Shakespeare County Raceway and how to get there visit the track's official web site at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com or www.nsra.org.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
15th September: Thanks to our good friend Anders Magnusson for letting us know that the Andréasson Motorsports web site at www.andreassonmotorsports.com has been updated with comments, results and pictures from the FIA European Finals.

Also reporting in from the FIA European Finals is Sweden's Velocity Performance Group Top Methanol Funny Car team, whose web site has been updated with news and photographs of Ulf Leanders' and Martin Lundqvist's weekend at Santa Pod. Check it out at www.vpgroup.se.

Our good buddy Alan Currans has added a thirteenth Readers' Gallery to his excellent Acceleration Archive web site. "This page is entirely devoted to the pictures of ex-pat Brit Alan Peck whose adopted country have just lost the Ashes", says Alan. "There are plenty of Fuel pictures featuring dragsters, Funny Cars and altereds together with the Blonde Bombshell rocket dragster and much more". Check it out at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.

Andrew Bamford has updated his Racing Green fan site with some great spectator-side pix from the FIA European Finals. "What an excellent job Santa Pod did to get any racing on at all", says Andrew. You can find Andrew's pictures at www.racing-green.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
Pete Roberts' excellent web site The Pod - A Look Around has been updated with some of the best half-track shots your News Editor has ever seen, as well as a page devoted to the rain which visited Santa Pod once or twice at the weekend. You can find Pete's latest pictures, as well as some unmissable panoramas, at myweb.tiscali.co.uk/lithopa/SPpanos.html.

Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith's web site has been updated with photographs from the weekend's FIA European Finals as well as a Windows wallpaper file of Noel Ford's cartoon of Smax driving the McDonald brothers' dragster. Check it out at www.smax.co.uk.

Interview: Steve Read.

13th September: In addition to his hard work collecting pit notes for Eurodragster.com's coverage of the weekend's FIA European Finals, Simon Groves found time to interview Steve Read, the UK's first five-second Top Methanol racer, who now lives and races Top Fuel Dragster in Australia.

Steve told Simon about racing in Australia, how he sees Top Fuel racing in Europe, and his plans for the future which might well include FIA Top Fuel Dragster in 2006.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to read our interview with Steve Read, or click on the Interviews link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

A Champion crew.
13th September: 2005 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion Dave Wilson agrees that everyone thinks that they have the best crew, but he says that they would have to go some to beat the performance of the American Car Imports team on Sunday evening. Dave didn't quite make the Top Methanol Dragster final, but he says that it was not for the want of effort.

"In one way it was a bittersweet weekend", says Grumpy. "We were over the moon to win another Championship, and we had long had a plan that if we could get a big enough points lead then we would try to lean on the car. The first chance we got was in the semi-final on Sunday. There were no doubts about the Championship (Which Dave clinched at the end of qualifying - Ed), and it was a bye so we had the race won. We started changing things and finally got to go."

The attempt at a really special run started well. "It was a good run for two seconds!", says Grumpy ."The first incrementals were quicker than our 5.3 at Pomona. But then one of the clutch bolts broke. There was a lot of vibration and with the bolt flying around inside the bellhousing the clutch acted like a mixer. The vibration broke the blower restraint bolts and took the blower clean off the engine but of course the restraints did their job. I got stopped and when I got out and looked around the car I noticed a fire in the diaper. My crew got the panels off and the fire crew did their job."
©Eurodragster.com
At this point the ACI Racing crew really came into their own. "The timing ticket for my run read 20:10 and we got back into the pit at 20:25", says Grumpy. "The crew did a complete turn-round, got all the gearbox and clutch trash out, David replaced it all and had some fun mating a cold flywheel to a hot crankshaft! The guys replaced the trans, blower studs and o-rings, put the blower back on and put on a new blower belt, and we fired it up at 21:20. Now that's a crew! I had told Steve Turner (Crew Chief for fellow TMD finalist Rob Turner - Ed) that there was no way that we would make it but we were ready at 21:20 and had there not been a curfew we'd have been there. We missed the race but it was a reward to hear that engine start.

"Had it not been for our sponsors there would have been nothing to replace, and my crew were just brilliant. OK so it killed our winning streak, we lost our speed record to Krister Johansson, and we didn't win the event. But we got the Championship!"

Lights on under the lights.
13th September: UK Super Street Bike racer Jamie Sneddon entered Top Fuel Bike at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, got into the eight-bike field, made the final, and set a new Personal Best. Jamie's Crew Chief and Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Paul Watson says that it turned out to be a wild weekend.

"This was going to be the first time this year we would start to turn it up, so an off-the-trailer 7.660/188, the quickest Super Street Bike outside the USA, showed good promise with a 1.30 sixty foot and 5.0 eighth", says Paul. "The track was great as usual and we saw what we needed to do with some slight problems on the launch pulling the motor down slightly. We got to work trying to solve it and stepped back a little, ran 7.76 with a 1.39 sixty foot but were safe in the knowledge that we could go forward with the information we gained. Due to the weather things were not looking good for some of the Top Fuel bikes and soon we had secured eighth qualifier.

"That was the good news. The bad news was we had Roel in the first round. The scene was set. We turned it up a bit more and crossed our fingers, unbelievably Jamie had Roel off the lights and to no-one's surprise Roel was soon past, but then towards the top end Roel crossed lanes and smashed the top lights. Jamie was reported to say "It was like a meteor attack, bits flying everywhere". We just could not believe it we won, a 1.28 sixty foot and an SSB in the semi finals. This was alas against good friend Neil Midgley on Europe's quickest Funny Bike but he had just hurt a motor and was quickly changing it. The air was damp, rain threatening all the time, so we turned the bike down a little as the track was also cooling down too. Once again Jamie took no prisoners, first out the hole again, Midgo soon getting ahead but then smoked the tyre again and had to come out of it. Jamie had a wild ride too, but a cracking 1.26 sixty foot almost equalled Kent Stotz - when he ran the record-breaking 7.25 he ran a 1.25 sixty. Jamie was first across the line, not pretty but a win nethertheless.
©Eurodragster.com
"Now on the other side of the ladder the Jones and Friend team were doing their own bit of giant-killing, taking out Ian King, Steve Carey - what was going on? The giant killers were in town. The final was set, a homebuilt FI funny bike and an SSB in the UEM Top Fuel Bike final, how bizarre. It was almost 8.45 at night, the dark had set in and game on. Top Fuel Bike with lights on, now there's a first. I have to say I was a little apprehensive, the track was getting a little unpredictable and as I thought Jamie spun as he launched, but still a well-deserved win to Gary Jones and Dave Friend they have worked so hard all year stepping up bit by bit and finally ran their PB a 7.46, fantastic, well done.

"I would also like to take this oppertunity to congratulate Ian King, Top Fuel Bike Champion, well done to all of the team, great effort, and Roger Petterson once again Pro Stock Bike Champion. But a special congatulations to Anders Abrahamson who has been awesome this year in PSB, 7.29 - fantastic mate. To all the DSD crew Pixie, Jules and Rubarb - well done, you all work so hard it makes it a pleasure."

The year it all went right.
13th September: Bob Roberts says that the weekend's FIA European Finals was the most successful event for some time for Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson. Andy was #1 qualifier, set a new European speed record, and won the event.

"Firstly when Andy ran a 6.29 straight off the trailer we were happy, then when he ran 227 we were excited, so you can imagine that by the time he won the event we were over the moon!", says Bob. "After a couple of frustrating years with the nitrous engine the move to a blown engine has been all good for us. A great team effort from Andy, Kate, Jerry, Bowser, Luke, Stefani and new boy Tom. It's been a learning year so hopefully we can be quicker still next year as we get closer to the edge.
©Eurodragster.com
"Finally all credit to the team at Santa Pod, in spite of appalling weather conditions they gave us a track which was good enough to allow us to run our best numbers of the year."

Bob has posted pictures and videos in the Racing - Current section of the Andy Robinson Race Cars web site at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk.

The smooth weekend which wasn't.
13th September: UK Funny Bike and 9.50 Bike racer Dave Bailey says that the Wizards of Nos smooth progressive nitrous system worked well on his street 'Busa, but that he didn't.

"During my first outing with the smooth progressive system installed on my Hayabusa street bike, I discovered my clutch had finally had enough and passed away", says Dave. "As a result my launches were terrible. Pete Bellenie kindly lent me his spare clutch for my second outing at the European Finals and I was looking forward to running some good times as the bike has shown the potential to run mid eights.

"Unfortunately I completely failed to dial in the new clutch and my launches remained terrible. Despite my clutch setting incompetence I still managed to reel off a number of nine-zeros and nine-ones at well over 160 mph. This was mainly due to getting all of the bike's 250 bhp on the track before the 330 feet. In fact for the last few passes I had the nitrous coming in before I reached the Christmas tree!

"It was a shame I was unable to realise the full potential of the nitrous system, as one of the main benefits of its smooth power delivery is controllable power at the launch. All I can say is that it does deliver the power smoothly. In fact the only wheelie I pulled all weekend was when I launched with 50% of the nitrous and the clutch locked up - fond memories of my early Super Street days came flooding back...

"I think another point needs to be made in the system's favour, and that is that I've now made fifteen nitrous passes, all but one over 160 mph - I ran out of nitrous - and they've all been made using Tesco 99 Unleaded! Now that's smooth!"

In appreciation of SPR's staff.
13th September: Phil Evans, who heads up the UK Tech Committee and also sponsors UK drag racing through Oil Control, has been in touch to congratulate everyone who contributed to the racing at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday.

"I was only a spectator in the crowd but I was fully aware of the Herculean efforts of the Santa Pod crew, first to get the track ready for action in the face of Mother Nature's evil intent and then the heroic efforts to clean up oil down after oil down and to repair the efforts of racers who couldn't help running over the lights", says Phil. "Plaudits are due to Darren, Ian, Steve, Paula, Kath, Carol, Yvonne and everybody who worked behind the scenes to rescue the meeting from being literally a damp squib to a fitting finale to the European Drag Racing season.

"Then there were the incredible performances of the racers, both those who drove brilliantly on a tricky track and those other competitors who were actually not able to race at all because of the rain; their patience and understanding was outstanding.
©Eurodragster.com
"Congratulations to Keith, Kjell, David, Kelly, Jo and their staff for organising a superb meeting and also for their excellent stewardship of our dear old Pod. So once again well done everybody and it makes me proud to be a small part of the great family that is British Drag Racing."

Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell has also been in touch with his appreciation. "I don't know how much these guys were getting paid, but whatever it was they're all worth double", says Mark. "The amount of effort the Pod crew put in was phenomenal. We at Mark Flavell Racing would like to say thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks... (Cont'd p. 94 - Ed)".

Rain-out values for Finals tickets.
13th September: Sarah of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to tell us that tickets for the weekend's FIA European Finals have been given rain-out values as follow:

Saturday day Ł27
Sunday day Ł20
Saturday/Sunday Ł25
Complete event Ł25

"Your ticket will be valid for twelve months including next year's European Finals", says Sarah. "You can either hand in your ticket at the gate when you attend an event, or send it to Santa Pod with your name and address when you want your ticket for the replacement event."
©Eurodragster.com
Swift snippets.
13th September: Beth Satchell has been in touch with the worrying news that UK race official Paul Satchell is back in hospital. "Paul came home from hospital on 4th September and seemed to be doing well but unfortunately on Sunday morning he woke up with chest pains once more and I had to have him rushed back into our local hospital", says Beth. "Yesterday the hospital confirmed that Paul has had another small heart attack so he is being kept in hospital again until they can move him back to St George's for another angiogram to find out why this has happened again. Obviously this is a very trying and worrying time for us both but all the get well wishes and messages are lovely and help to keep our spirits up so once again thanks to everyone who has been in touch". We're sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in wishing Paul a very rapid recovery.
©Eurodragster.com
UK Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine racer Spencer Tramm has written to thank everyone who helped to try to fix his car at the European Finals. "Thanks firstly Paul Marston, Gary Springford and the rest of the PMR team who wouldn't take no for an answer!", says Spencer. "They even had parts brought up especially from their workshop. Thanks to Lee Darby who had a spare box of valve springs and to Marc Meihuizen who allowed us to work on the car under his awning during the downpour. We will be back for the UK National Finals (fingers crossed)."

Patrik Jacobsson would be pleased to hear from Pro Mod racers of new personal best ETs, speeds and sixty foot times for inclusion on the European Pro Mod Association web site. You can contact Patrik at webmaster@promod.nu.

Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing tells us that the Jap Show Finale event at Santa Pod Raceway on 9th October has an entry list which already boasts six proven nine-second street cars and at least two which have run 10.0s. "All cars are under 3000cc and all have full factory chassis", says Rick. "Bearing in mind that at this point last year there wasn't a single car that had cracked the nine-second barrier in this class it really shows how things are progressing", says Rick. "We will undoubtedly be running a sixteen-car eliminator at this event once all entries have been received". For more details check out www.japshow.co.uk.

Points, timing data, records, stats.
13th September: We are indebted to FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending us the final 2005 points standings in the FIA European Championships. You can view the final FIA points (PDF format) by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Our good buddy Andy Marrs, from whom more in a moment, points out that in the end FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon won the Championship from Tommy Möller with his Low ET of the weekend's event. Lex's 4.993, which was Low ET by one thousandth of a second, gave him the crucial extra five points after his semi-final exit: Lex won the Championship by four points.

Thanks also to FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson who has sent the final 2005 points standings in the FIM/UEM European Drag Bike Championships. You can view the final FIM/UEM points (Excel format) by clicking here, or on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Andy Marrs of TSI Timers has kindly sent us the timing data from the weekend's FIA European Finals. You can view the weekend's timing data by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Andy has also sent us an updated sheet of European Bests which includes the speed records set at the weekend by Krister Johansson and Andy Robinson. Click here to see the updated records sheet, or click on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Finally, Andy has also sent an updated summary sheet of FIA Championship statistics, which you can view by clicking here.

Who winged it with the wing?
13th September: One year after its launch, the Fansfueler project team were continuing their campaign to raise funding at the weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway and as part of their display were able to exhibit the Santa Pod Top Fuel show car, which was again loaned by Santa Pod. Project co-ordinator Chris Parker says that despite the wet weather on Saturday, the event was well attended by existing members and that the team reported many further enquiries both from fans wanting to join the project and from potential corporate partners.

The team were however disappointed to find that after their departure from the track at 22:00 on Sunday the Top Fuel Dragster had been moved from its position in the pits and that the rear wing had been removed and is now missing. "Somebody has seemingly stolen the rear wing from the show car", says Chris. "This vehicle not only allows fans to take a closer look at how a Top Fuel Dragster is put together, but has helped us towards our goal of running a Top Fuel Dragster with the fans, by drawing attention to our stand both at Santa Pod and at various shows throughout the season. Whilst we have not been asked by Santa Pod Raceway to pay for the missing wing, the fansfueler team do feel a certain level of responsiblility for the show car as it was in our care for the weekend, and we can ill afford to incur the sort of costs which will be involved in replacing the wing when we are trying our hardest to raise funds to allow us to run in the FIA Top Fuel Championship.

"Should anyone have any information regarding this issue, or know the whereabouts of the missing wing, please contact either myself or Barry Sheavills as soon as possible at info@fansfueler.co.uk. All information will be treated as strictly confidential."
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
13th September: Our good buddy Gwynn has updated his Slimboyfat web site with pictures from the weekend's FIA European Finals. "Not a VW in sight!", says Gwynn. "I was only up for Friday and Saturday and missed Pro ET so I never got to see any run. Oh well, I had to slum it and take a few pics of Top Fuel etc!". You can check out Gwynn's pics at www.pbase.com/slimboyfat/euro_finals_05.

Santa Pod Raceway's web site has been updated with initial details of November's Flame and Thunder Show, which you can find at www.santapod.co.uk/e_flame.php, and an FIA European Finals report including unique pictures which you can find at www.santapod.co.uk/e_europe_finals.php.
©Eurodragster.com
Dave Grabham has updated the Freddy's Revenge web site at www.freddysrevenge.co.uk with a number of spectator-side shots from the FIA European Finals.

2005 European Champions.
12th September: Congratulations to the 2005 European Champions who were all decided at this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway (subject to official ratification):

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Lex Joon
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Dave Wilson
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Urs Erbacher
FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund
©Eurodragster.com
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Ian King
FIM/UEM Supertwin: Ronny Aasen
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Roger Pettersson

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Patrick Wikström

You can find the NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified points standings on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.

FIA European Finals results.
12th September: Congratulations to the winners of this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Tommy Möller 7.009/131.99 def. Micke Kågered 10.453/67.25
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Rob Turner staged, Dave Wilson no show
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders 7.018/136.38 def. Arvid Grødem 5.964/218.48 red light
FIA Pro Stock: Magnus Hansson 7.012/197.64 def. Jimmy Ålund 7.917/128.23 DQ

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike: Gary Jones 7.464/170.50 def. Jamie Sneddon 8.433/164.18
FIM/UEM Supertwin: Hans Olav Olstad 6.955/207.31 def. Ronny Aasen 7.601/133.51
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike: Anders Abrahamsson 7.394/176.61 def. Roger Pettersson 12.034/66.07

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified: Andy Robinson 6.283/226.26 def. Patrick Wikström 8.087/115.95
©Eurodragster.com
Saturday and Sunday were very severely affected by rain which meant that those Sportsmen classes which ran were only able to contest their first rounds, however only a very early start and unceasing work by a track crew who refused to give up allowed eliminations to take place at all.

Subject to official ratification two new European records were set at the weekend despite the unfavourable conditions:

Top Methanol Dragster speed: 262.79 mph, Krister Johansson
Pro Modified speed: 227.19 mph, Andy Robinson.

Bob Lees won the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award with a 0.000 reaction time during Super Street qualifying. The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award was not won and so the prize fund will be increased to Ł75 for October's UK National Finals.

Top Methanol FC Champion Urs Erbacher confirmed at last night's presentation that he will be contesting Top Fuel Dragster next season.

Click here to view our American Car Imports-sponsored FIA European Finals coverage, click on the laptop logo at left, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select FIA European Finals.

All of our FIA European Finals coverage was dedicated to the memory of Dennis Stone, who died in July, and to Oliver Everitt, sixteen-year-old son of Super Pro ET racer John Everitt, who died on Friday. We're sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in sending their deepest sympathy to John and Lyn Everitt and to all of Oliver's family and friends.

Our good buddy Gareth Evans has posted excellent end-day galleries on the UK1320 web site at www.uk1320.com.

Scary reaches target.

11th September: UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head presented the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance with more than Ł3000 during this morning's pre-event presentations at Santa Pod Raceway. Scary, who was very badly injured in an accident at last year's Easter Thunderball, has spent much of the time since her recovery raising funds for the ambulance which came to her aid and helped to save her life.
©Eurodragster.com
Scary presented the cheque and a framed photograph with a thank-you inscription to Ron Murphy of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. "The helicopter will have been in service for two years on 1st October", Ron told Eurodragster.com. "So far it has attended more than two and a half thousand callouts."

"I wanted to collect Ł3000 and we have done that", said Scary. "I would like to thank all of the racers and spectators, Santa Pod Racers Club, and Santa Pod Raceway for contributing". The total will rise more yet since Scary went straight from the presentation back to the pits to continue collecting.

Records fall at Athens RWYB.

10th September: Records dropped further at the latest Run What You Brung in Greece last weekend, says our good friend Elias Vathias of the Greek Dragster web site. "The RWYB again took place in the heart of Athens, at the old huge Helliniko International airport", says Elias. "It was an exciting test and tune meeting which had everything: about 170 competitors, national records, nice wheelies, nitrous explosions, backfires and so many spectators that the three stands weren't enough to accommodate the crowd.

"The Drag Warriors team did it again on Saturday (right), two breathtaking runs and a new national record of 7.721/298.30 kmh with lots of tyre shake and wheel spinning through the gear changes. It seemed like a rolling burnout when Fil's Lethal Calibra Pro Mod shifted from second to third and from third to fourth. His sixty foot was 1.198. Fil told us that the car was tyre shaking in almost all gears. "We have to improve the grip", he said. "We put in some more nitrous power using only the first stage, as you can clearly see from the terminal speed, but without traction what can we do. The good thing is that we get more and more experience running in such conditions and always managing to go below the eight-second barrier."
©Eurodragster.com
"Takis Bournas did an 8.6, matching his own personal record, with just a small amount of nitrous and just 1.4 for the first sixty feet. Gasparatos ran a new unofficial record in the T2 class (1800cc turbo) with a 10.8 second pass. Takis Vouros also ran an unofficial national record in the T1 class (1400cc turbo) with an 11.5/195. Lots of Mitsubishi Evos from all over Greece including Rhodes clocked eleven seconds.

"Our next Championship drag race is this weekend at Serres and then come the two last races in the centre of Athens at the end of September and October."

Swift snippets.
10th September: Simon Taylor tells us that he is looking for drag race vehicles to attend a Charity Road Safety Day organised by Cumbria Police on 30th July 2006, at Carlisle Racecourse. If you would be interested in attending then please drop Simon a line at simon.taylor100@tesco.net or call 07967 572192.
©Eurodragster.com
Wrights out.
8th September: The Wright Racing Top Fuel Dragster will not be appearing at this weekend's FIA European Finals. Driver Darryl Bradford tells us that this is due to various issues.

"After a very trying weekend at the Custom Car Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, where the gorgeous blue Fueller refused to behave and had clutch gremlins a-plenty, the decision not to run the car was taken after a lot of soul searching", says Darryl. "With no usable data from our outings so far this season, the task of making a good showing at the biggest ever gathering of Top Fuel cars on European soil seemed distant.

"We'd like to thank the crew and spectators at Shakespeare County Raceway for welcoming us this year and giving us their support. We're not quite ready to park it this season and already have been searching for the parts and pieces to cure the problems, so watch this space…

"Finally, to everyone at the biggest European Finals ever, we wish you a fantastic, fast and safe weekend and we'll be with you all again soon!"

TMFC v Constellation: no contest.
8th September: Two weeks ago Urs Erbacher and Switzerland's Fat Attack Top Methanol Funny Car and Supertwin team joined the aircraft and concert event at the airport of Altenrhein in the eastern part of Switzerland, says team member Andrea Wucher, and now they are headed to England for the FIA European Finals.

"It was a great weekend at Altenrhein", says Andrea. "A combination of air show, live concerts and motorsport exhibitions so there was something for everyone. On Saturday and Sunday evening Urs did a burnout and simulated run on the taxiway of the airfield, just in front of the crowds. That was fun. Nobody expected a Funny Car to be that loud! We saw people running away covering their ears. We warned them several times over the PA "If you don't listen, feel it!".

"Question: What do a beautiful Super Constellation and a Top Methanol Funny Car have in common? Answer: The engine of the Conny produces the same amount of power as the Funny Car: about 3200 hp from eighteen cylinders. OK so the Super Conny's engine runs for fourteen hours non-stop, but just imagine changing pistons rings four times on eighteen cylinders.
©Eurodragster.com
"Our trailer is filled up to the roof and ready to go. Wini and Wolf will drive to Santa Pod with the rig and the other fifteen team members and guests will fly in on Thursday. As you can see it's quite a big family who will celebrate the last race of the season. It probably sounds strange but we hope that we can enjoy another dry weekend in England, so we can have at least three out of five races completed to define the 2005 Champion. It is close and everything is possible both for Dan Larsen and for the Fat Attack Team. We really have to do our best from the first qualifying session to the last round, but that's how we like it and is what racing is all about. We will have a great season end party at our pit in the evening with our friends from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and all over Europe.

"Lo Stäuble set a new personal best in Hockenheim with a 6.79 second run on the Supertwin. The whole team is so proud of the bike crew. They do a great job fighting the piston problems which more or less everybody has, but the boys and girls know only one direction: go faster. It will be the first serious race at Santa Pod for Lo, the Main Event was his first event and he had enough to do to keep his bike straight and get it running. Now the fuel system is okay, the bike handling is beyond question and there is a brilliant shiny black drag strip waiting for some big wheels to dig into it..."

Bader aims for Mantorp repeat.
8th September: Bruno Bader and Switzerland's Golden Vette Pro Modified team are very enthusiastic about the performance of their new engine at the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park, and hope to be able to repeat their achievements at this weekend's FIA European Finals.
©Eurodragster.com
"Our fantastic qualifying time of 6.641 was a great surprise even to the team", says Ute Friesch. "We are proud to be able to keep up with the very fast Pro Mod field. We are also happy that our team gave a professional impression at its first appearance. Our new Crew Chief Andy Bühler and driver Bruno Bader solved all the little problems we had at the beginning of our Pro Mod career.

"Now everybody is very much looking forward to the European Finals. The Golden Vette team hope to be able to keep up in Pro Modified. We are not really content with our transmission at the moment, but we are sure to solve this technical problem and we will start at Santa Pod with all the power we have! We are looking forward to meeting all our fellow racers at Santa Pod Raceway and we will try to put on a great performance."

The Blog continues...
8th September: Germany's Werner Habermann Racing Team are on their way to Santa Pod for the last stop of Timo Habermann's rookie season in FIA Top Methanol Dragster.

"This will be fun!", says Timo Habermann. "We had a good time three weeks ago at Hockenheim, and we learned a lot so we hope to able to find our real position in the TMD field this weekend."

All of the team members are eager for three days' racing with their UniFit Top Methanol Dragster, since the last events were a rather wet business - and unfortunately not due to winners' champagne. "Actually the only race we have been at this year where rain was no issue was the Main Event in May, so there is hope!" says Chief Mechanic Drago Jovanovic. "We have made some improvements during the last weeks which should give us a good position to start from", adds team owner Werner Habermann.

Whilst rumours abound about a possible Top Fuel ride for Timo, Werner Habermann clearly states the route for the team: "First of all we have this race - and this is what we are concentrating on. We have not entered TMD just to leave it after our rookie season. I will not rule out a class change in the future, but it has to be thought over carefully."

After the massive success of the Hockenheim Top Methanol Blog on their homepage at www.werner-habermann-racing.com, the idea will be continued for the European Finals. "We hope to give those fans who can't make it to Santa Pod a good insight into what is happening at Werner Habermann Racing during the race weekend", says Team PR Oliver Kläffling. "It may be good additional reading to the professional Eurodragster.com race coverage (Thanks! - Ed)."
©Eurodragster.com
Bailey adds more nitrous...smoothly.
8th September: UK Funny Bike and 9.50 Bike racer Dave Bailey will be débuting Wizards of Nos revolutionary smooth nitrous oxide system at this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.

"Unlike the 'run of the mill method of pulsing nitrous solenoids to create an illusion of a progressive increase in power, this system uses a revolutionary totally smooth solenoid which will begin at 0% and build to 100% without having to pulse it on and off many times a second", says Dave. "The system on my bike is a prototype, but the full commercial system will be available in the near future. This weekend marks the biggest step forward in nitrous oxide technology for a very long time."
©Eurodragster.com
Dave will be riding his nitrous oxide-equipped Hayabusa street bike in 9.50 Bike this weekend, and plans to run a number of eight-second passes to show the smoothness and controllability of this system.

Gay keeps busy.

8th September: Since we last heard from him, UK Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay has tested at Thorny Island, the Mini Drags, Ultimate Street Car and a Run What You Brung, competed at the Custom Car Allstar Nationals, and has attended a charity Americam, Classic, Custom and Bike show at Thruxton (right, the car with Dan Potter, Mark Renolds and Phil Howard from the Southampton Special Purpose Workshop).

"At Thruxton we did our best to promote the European Finals with the help of some fliers from Santa Pod", says Nick. "As for all that testing, it was a bit of one step forward one step back. My first priority was to get a better handle on the tricky launch RPM, track condition and sixty foot equation. My early season traction problems have decreased as my new Dunlop slicks have bedded in, but at the same time the gearbox was letting me get fewer gears on more runs, as the bearings slowly turned to metalflake! So another box was fitted and I haven't missed a gear since (famous last words!).
©Eurodragster.com
"On the power front I have tried a lumpier cam but suffered piston damage due to not being able to adjust the timing on my stock ECU. So for the European Finals I have fitted a distributor-based ignition and if there are no problems then I can refit the cam and run it suitably retarded to turn the extra charge into forward motion and not piston knock!

"Well done Petch on winning the Ultimate Power Sportsman ET Championship. Can anyone catch Rick Denny in the National Championship? And it's good to see Jon Cohen's ACI Mustang entered again - why not do the whole season next year Jon? Good luck to all the racers and let's hope the weather is good and the racing is close!"

PMR celebrate first Championship.
8th September: Last weekend Paul Marston, Gary Springford and the Paul Marston Racing crew in were in Wellingborough for the Parade of Power. "Thanks once again to Santa Pod for inviting us", says Paul Marston. "It was a real eye-opener for the residents and a fantastic success, count us all in for next year.

"Saturday was another great day of passenger rides and testing. Gary Springford was driving Grumpy's Dodge, keeping the infamous passenger ride reputation very much alive with every run in the nines: look out Super Gas in 2006! I concentrated on the delicate task of taming the Insanity Vega, it is now running mid tens, following a successful test session at Santa Pod where for the first time this year the Vega didn't try to put me in the wall all day! After that test session I collected enough data to take Grumpy back to the Drag Race Engineering workshop and with the help of Gary Springford start work on the areas that needed help. Last weekend I was able to perform some scripted runs to test the changes I wanted to try.

"Gary took good care of the passengers and sharpened up his racing skills in Grumpy and then each of us drove Insanity whilst the other observed. I think it is fair to say that with the new parts I will be fitting prior to first round of qualifying this weekend, along with the changes we have already made, this should be the beginning of a competitive race car which behaves itself, no more pepperami!
©Eurodragster.com
"Our warmest and most heartfelt congratulations go to Allstar Nationals Super Pro ET winner John Everitt, driving PMR's Alien altered, who won not only his first National event at Shakespeare County Raceway, but in winning the event clinched the Ultimate Power Championship to boot, again John's first. Considering how tough the quality of opposition is in the premier bracket class, and that the Alien one of the most challenging race cars there is, it really is an achievement second to none for both driver and crew. For Paul Marston Racing it is the first National event crown for one of our hired drives, a testament and endorsement of all the crew at Paul Marston Racing who richly deserve to share in the glory and success. At PMR we do not go to just make up numbers: it is maximum effort by everyone, we go drag racing to win.

"The PMR Drag Race Driving School has moved on considerably this year, with more and more pupils entering competition in either one of the School's racecars or entering their own race car. The European Finals at Santa Pod sees the return of Gary Springford driving Grumpy in Pro ET, Mick Howling also returns to the fray in Super Street again in Grumpy. John Everett in our all-conquering Alien will be once again bringing his tomahawk to see how many scalps he can gather this coming weekend. Lastly I will be driving Insanity in Super Street, hoping for a competitive ride and some consistency.

"I would like to recognise all of my hard-working and tireless crew. You are the best, it is all down to you guys. Thanks to Eurodragster.com for all your support, and to everyone we have not mentioned in this release. Come and see us all at the European Finals this weekend and see history in the making, it's gonna be awesome!"

Wild Bunch update.
8th September: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows has been in touch to update us on the Wild Bunch's weekend at the Allstar Nationals and the new points standings:

At the Allstar Nationals, there were three Series being contested: the Ultimate Power Championship, the Wild Bunch Series, and the Real Steel Series and with fifteen cars entered there was sure to be hot competition! The event was the Final Round of the Ultimate Power Championshop which Sarah Howells had been leading by a quite a big margin in Bernie Nicholas' Destiny's Angel altered. Sarah ended up taking the #1 qualifying spot with a great 9.610 on a 9.60 dial-in, so this also boosted her hopes of the Championship win. Also giving a good account of himself in his first ever MSA event was 'Sizzlin' Sid Slattery in the Destiny slingshot, who qualified second with a difference of +0.021. In fact all of our Top five qualifiers were within 0.045 of their dials, so the five rounds of qualifying were very keenly contested.

Although our first round field was troubled by a few breakages and other circumstances, the Bunch went on to have some great races, with some being as close as half a tenth difference. Making it through to the semi-finals were Helen Smythe, Chris Hartnell, Phil Sweeney and Roy Wilding, who reached the semis at his first competitive event in several years. Helen unfortunately could not fire the car and Chris advanced to his first final for over a year, whereas Roy broke out handing the other final place to Phil. The final was a really exciting match-up, which saw Phil take the start line advantage with a 0.101 reaction to Chris' 0.205. Chris had dialled in at 8.95, but broke out with an 8.916 trying to catch Phil, who proved unbeatable as he ran a 13.180 on his 13.18 dial-in, taking the Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award money in the process (many thanks to Eurodragster and LA Racing Parts!). All the Bunch would like to congratulate Phil on a great win in his first ever MSA competition event - fair play!

Personal Bests during the weekend were Alec Coe in the Coe and Mortimer Shy Talker blown slingshot, running a great 8.528/165.11, Crazy Chris improving his speed to 151.49 mph in the Backdraft slingshot, Phil Sweeney cracking the ton for the first time with a 13.059/100.38 in his Antisocial slingshot, Neil Ward turning the NOS on in his Andromeda slingshot and recording four PBs in a row with a best of 9.057/146.24, Darryl Howells running a great 10.187/136.60 and shaving eight tenths off his previous PB in the Chemical Reaction slingshot in his first MSA event this year, and Steve Field improving to a 9.698/141.42 in The Black Pig altered.

And here are a few Wild Bunch statistics from the Allstars weekend: out of seventy three timed runs, we had eighteen runs in the elevens, eleven in the tens, seventeen in the nines, and nine in the eights. We had nine runs in the 130s mph, eighteen in the 140s, three in the 150s range and three in the 160s! So there were some really strong performances over the weekend.
©Eurodragster.com
At the end of the event we were all thrilled to learn that Sarah Howells had retained her lead and won the 2005 Ultimate Power Championship, with Tony Smith in second place. Many congratulations to Sarah and car owner/tuner Bernie on a great achievement.

This event had also been round six of seven in the Wild Bunch Series, and Tony Smith has slightly extended his lead over Mike Cresswell. 'Crazy' Chris has moved up into third place, just one point behind Mike. Helen Smythe is now in a solid fourth place. So there will be hot competition at the next and final round of the Series, the National Finals at Santa Pod on 1st-2nd October.

After round eight of ten in the Real Steel Series, the Top Four remain the same. Again, Tony Smith is leading and has consolidated his lead over Mike Cresswell. The gap to third placed Sarah Howells remains the same, but she now has a reduced margin over Chris Hartnell who is in a solid fourth place.

We would like to thank all the hard-working marshals, officials, fire crews, track prep crew, promoters and organisers for a great event - it was nice to see the stands so packed on the Sunday.

Our next two events are the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway on 17th-18th September (the final round of the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series) and the UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on 1st-2nd which will see the tenth Wild Bunch Champion crowned, so we are all really looking forward to those!

Claire has asked us to apologise to readers for the down-time on the Wild Bunch and Backdraft web sites. These sites are now in the middle of a change of ISP and should be available again shortly.

King Racing press release.
8th September: British Top Fuel Bike rider Ian King took time out from his Championship schedule last weekend to compete at the annual Mosten Raceday in Denmark. Mosten Raceday is a combination of a motorcycle rally, custom car show, rock concert, comic revue and eighth mile sprint race and attracts nearly 10,000 people to a farmer's field in the north of Denmark. The sprint is headlined by the Top Fuel Bike and Supertwin Classes, with a few exhibition cars (including Kim Reymond's Top Fuel Dragster) making passes down the narrow strip of tarmac.

Once again, the event was expertly planned and run, with the narrow farmer's track benefiting from amazing track preparation that saw new personal bests for some of the Nitro fuelled competitors, including Ian King.

Crew Chief for the event Chris Powell opted to run the first pass of the three qualifiers with the same settings as their previous 6.319 pass at Hockenheim, Germany. And King did not disappoint the crowd with a tyre spinning new track record time and speed of 4.24 seconds at 320 kmh. A 1.06 sixty foot time was testament to the exceptional track preparation by the hard-working track crew.

King's new record marks made the Danish national press too with the leading newspaper BT running a report and colour picture in the Saturday edition of the Puma machine in action to the delight of the event organisers.

However, this would prove to be King's one and only full pass down the Danish track as the tyre shaking run damaged the gearbox sprag, an incident only discovered after the next two aborted starts. King's failure to step up his time was to the advantage of Norwegian rider Sverre Dahl who eclipsed the earlier elapsed time record with a stunning 4.02 second pass to take the event win, and pushing King into second place.
©Eurodragster.com
Web site updates.
8th September: The latest, post-Allstar Nationals, points standings in the UK ACU Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Gullqvist's spares still missing.
7th September: Swedish NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified racer Micke Gullqvist faces an anxious wait before this weekend's FIA European Finals. A connecting rod broke when Micke was testing recently and the parts to repair the major damage have not yet arrived.

"The parts we needed quickly were sent via UPS Express, who lost the package for a couple of weeks and are currently trying to forward it again", says Micke. "If UPS don't lose it again, we will get the parts including pistons at the track and assemble them on Thursday. If we don't get the parts then we will have to run with some junk in the engine, and we don't feel very confident about that. We have been working on our new very special number one engine since the beginning of the year, but the project has been delayed because a lot of parts including the block had to be custom designed."

Micke says that he has had a decent season. "We won the Swedish Dragracing League, qualified #1 or# 2 at the most events and we are in third spot in the NDRS Bilsport points", says Micke. "I want to thank our partners NordicLAN, Twinlab, IVT and Lucas Oil for helping us out this season."
©Eurodragster.com
In his capacity as Chairman of the European Pro Mod Association, Micke says that this weekend's European Finals promises to be a great event and that it will put the Swedish Open Pro Mod Championship to bed as well as the NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Series. "There are a couple of teams who will not be able to run after problems testing last weekend, but otherwise I feel we will be able to challenge the record bump spot again", says Micke. "The current fastest bump ET was set at Mantorp with a 6.68. If the conditions are good we might see some runs in the 6.2s this weekend.

The open Swedish Championship was run at Mantorp, but with the time and rain problems there were no winners decided. The Swedish Championship will continue during qualifying at the European Finals, and we have to run the semi-finals to be run next. Wikström v Meihuizen and Gullqvist v Nilsson will decide the the gold and silver contestants, and the semi-final losers will also meet to decide who will carry home the bronze medal."

A new arrival at Jones and Friend.
7th September: The UK's Jones and Friend Comp Bike team will be building a new Funny Bike for the 2006 season as soon as the FIA European Finals are over. Crew Chief Dave Friend says that the bike will have more of a Top Fuel style.

"The chassis will have an eighty two-inch wheelbase and will be built in 4130 Chromoly", says Dave. "We will be sending you pictures during the build-up (Thanks! - Ed). "The bike will be more of a laid-down Top Fuel style with a nose fairing and possibly a three piece body which will make it easier to service the bike and also take up less room in the pits. If funds allow we will also be building a spare race engine and there is the possibility that more sponsors will be coming on board."

Dave says that Gary Jones has recovered from his injury and is riding the bike very well indeed after his enforced year-long break, and that the team have now found the limitations of their current chassis. "We knew we could always make the power to run fast - we are spinning the wheel in top gear on every run now", he says. "We knew this would happen and, as you are aware, it has always been the test-bed to prove our EFI alky turbo engine combination."

Gary made the semi-finals of Top Fuel Bike at the FIA Main Event and Dave makes the point that the bike is much quicker now. "Our chances are as good as anyone else's", he says. "Everyone will be trying real hard. We haven't tested but we will be making alterations to improve our sixty foot times, which have always left a lot to be desired. If we are successful we will be hoping to run 7.3s."

No identity crisis here...
7th September: UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell says that he has not staged the same car twice since the start of the 2005 season. "Every run has seen a change, be it chassis or tune up, and with the equipment we've got we're about there", says Mark.

"We ran a string of 7.0s, with a best of 7.06, at the Custom Car Magazine Allstar Nationals, only the weather was keeping us out of the sixes. The event and the track were the best I've raced on at Shakespeare County Raceway. A big thanks to Lee Child and the APIRA crew, and to track prep man Darren Prentice, for a job well done.

"Crew Chief Craig ‘Coil' Owen, who drove the car at the FIA Main Event, is calling the shots and is hitting the dial-in when we need it. Steve, Mally and ‘Sam the Buggy Man' are all pulling together after a brilliant season of working together and developing the car, but this weekend we'll leave things alone and focus on setting the car for consistency, not pure ET.
©Eurodragster.com
"You can't run one of these cars without a lot of support from a lot of people. Kenny Coleman from Engine Data Analysis and Dave Powell from Performance Unlimited are two guys who tell it like it is and I'm always grateful for the time they give me on the phone or at the track to steer us in the right direction, not to mention the great deals we've had in buying engine components and machine work etc.

"It's all change this winter in other areas, as the MFR Truck is sold to Pro ET racer Nick Good who should be out testing in my old car ready to take on the 2006 season. The existing ‘Corporate Hospitality Suite' (read Party Tent awning) is to go as its two metres short for our existing steed, so if anybody's looking for an awning drop by and make us an offer, it's in great shape.

"We had a great weekend outside of the Championship running demos at York and I think we might venture future afield in 2006 - maybe take in Drachten. If we can find events which suit a Super Pro Dragster in continental Europe we're keen to make it a racing holiday, fancy coming along? If so then give me a shout and we'll see what develops."

European Finals snippets.

7th September: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Jöran Persåker's car has spent the last three weeks at Collins Performance Engineering (right) where the team have gone over it from top to bottom trying to iron out the bugs which have plagued Jöran all season long. "I haven't pulled my 'chutes in five events", says Jöran ruefully. "We have added a new computer which will give will give us much more information", says clutch technician Mark Turner. "We will be there ready to go this weekend and we will be giving it our best shot. A big thank you to Sue Collins for all her help."

German Top Methanol Dragster racer Peter Schöfer and his team tracked down the problem which caused their slow start to the season, but have not been able to test their findings properly due to this year's excess of water, says team member Gittli Koller. "We were happy to run 5.54 at Gardermoen, so we are looking for good numbers at the European Finals", says Gittli. "Dave Wilson has gone ahead of everyone but the rest of the field is very close together. Alfred Sieben can't attend this weekend but our friend Stefan Disselborg is able to join us". Gittli has been deeply involved in the ultimately-successful campaign to keep TMD inside the FIA Championship and says that the addition of four new teams was good for the class. "Maybe there will be more teams in 2006 and hopefully the teams from Malta will join us again", she says.

UK Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Carey has achieved his season aims of running a six-second pass and keeping the Purple Princess straight. "I think that's down to looking where I am going!", says Steve. "If we can get a 200+ mph as well that will be the icing on the cake for us. After the last race we have some new parts in the gearbox which has worked well and has probably been a bit abused as I have learnt to ride the bike, so it was not really unexpected that it would a us problem at some time. We are all looking forward to the European Finals and to being part of the UK contingent in Sunday's eliminations. I'd like to say a big thanks to Paul and Ken for all their help this year. I am hoping that Roald Dogge will be able to make it over for the Finals and see the bike run again. Good luck to everyone else taking part at the Finals."

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified Series leader, Sweden's Patrick Wikström and the OFAB Motorsport team have spent a long time in their garage repairing and putting together their two engines and checking everything on the 6.2-second Camaro. "We are so impressed by Freddy Fagerström's runs at Santa Pod last weekend that we have done some voodoo tricks on the car to step up its performance", says team member Krister Peterson. "With only twenty four points in our favour we must respect every one of Pro Mod teams at the Finals, but it feels good to come back to Santa Pod and we know that that they always deliver a very good race track."

German Pro Mod racer Norbert Kuno is planning to run in the 6.4s at this weekend's FIA European Finals. "This is the last race with our old good engine, and we are dreaming of a 6.49", says Norbert. "The 20% blower overdrive will not help but we have found a pretty good set-up so we can hope. My team and my sponsors are staying behind me for this race and for next year, when we will be running the new BAE engine with the new developed SSI Blower, and we hope for 6.30s."
©Eurodragster.com
Swedish Pro Mod racer Håkan Nilsson will again be accompanied by Jari Konola at this weekend's FIA European Finals. "Last year it worked out well getting advice from Jari and he will join us this time also", says team member Ulf Stadig. "We are very happy to have Jari as a friend and adviser, and his knowledge of doorslammers is second to none. We have had many positive runs from the incredible Meca Raceway down in Malmö and we hope that we can adapt those sixty foot and eighth mile times to some serious quarter mile numbers on the legendary Santa Pod track". You can read more on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

Santa Pod Raceway's PR and Marketing Executive Jo Reed has been in touch to thank all of the racers who gave up their time to take part in last Friday's Parade of Power through Wellingborough. "The event exceeded all of our expectations and was a huge success, with the streets of Wellingborough Town Centre lined with people an hour prior to the parade starting!", says Jo. "Here's to next year when we hope to put on a bigger show!"

Rick Cuthbert of Trakbak Racing tells us that the Fuellers Bar at Santa Pod Raceway will be screening the England v Northern Ireland football match. "There's no need to delay your trip to the Pod if you want to catch the game", says Rick.

Swift snippets.
7th September: Pete Kellett, father of UK Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett, has been in touch to thank Morrice Boys Racing and Gary Kay for their help with rebuilding Joe's engine at the Allstar Nationals. "If it wasn't for their help we would not have been able to run", says Pete. "I would also like to congratulate Suart Morrice on gaining his licence". Joe and Anna Stanley were tracked by a Children's BBC TV crew at the race and the programme was broadcast this week; we understand that Joe and Anna did a great job in front of the cameras promoting drag racing.
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Sharron Collier tells us that Jade Racing's H2 Comp Bike and Junior Drag Bike are on show this weekend. "Jerry and Scott have been photographed for a calendar to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation Marfan Society", says Sharron. "Roger Goring and the Firestorm Jet Car are also on the calendar. The calendar's launch is this Saturday (10th) at the Parish Oven pub in Thorpe Salvin, a small village outside Worksop. If anyone fancies a pint and some bench racing we would love to see familiar faces! The local press are covering the event, and it should be a good night."

Bonus European Finals photo gallery.
7th September: Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog went up to Santa Pod Raceway yesterday (Tuesday) to set up Eurodragster.com's Mission Control before today's Press Day, and once he had completed setting up he wandered Santa Pod with a camera catching scenes of the preparation for this week's event.
©Eurodragster.com
Click here to view the Tuesday gallery, click on the laptop logo at left, or click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select FIA European Finals.

Web site updates.
7th September: The Racebilder web site at www.racebilder.nu has been updated with pictures from Sunday's Toyo Tires Dragracing Series South Division Finals at Rinkaby Raceway. "We want to thank Hässleholms Dragracing Klubb for the invitation to the race and for a lovely raceday!", says Patrik Jacobsson.
©Eurodragster.com
The Topnitro fan site at www.topnitro.co.uk has been updated with a brief report and Sunday and Monday photo galleries from the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway as well as a separate report with pictures detailing Dan Page's promising Sportsman ET début in Jon Morton's Mitsubishi 3000 GT.

FIA European Finals running orders.
6th September: We are indebted to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall and Santa Pod's International Race Director Darren Prentice for forwarding us the latest provisional running orders for this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.
©Eurodragster.com
You can view the running orders by clicking here, by clicking on the laptop logo at left, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting FIA European Finals.

Please note that these running orders are provisional and are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

Friends reunited.
6th September: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Gary Page is to be reunited with old acquaintances at the FIA European Finals. Mark and Jackie Hawkins, for whom Gary drove a Fuel Funny Car, have hired Knut Soderquist's 'black' Top Fuel Dragster for the weekend's race and have again engaged Gary to drive for them.

"The idea is to get a Fuel Funny car eventually, but right now Top Fuel is where it's at", Gary told Eurodragster.com. "You can't spend a hundred thousand dollars for two races. We are trying to get funding to do the whole FIA Top Fuel tour in 2006."

"We are looking forward to racing again this weekend", said Jackie Hawkins. "Our ideal return would have been in a Fuel Funny Car but it was not to be at the present time. That doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. We would like to wish everyone good luck for a good weekend's racing."

Mark and Jackie will be bringing their Fuel FC crew of Terry, Brett, Vince and Keith as well as Jamie Willis, son of late UK Pro Stock Bike legend Paul Willis. "Jamie did a great job under pressure in Sweden, but we need to wean him off two wheels!", said Gary.
©Eurodragster.com
The FIA European Finals will seem relatively leisurely for Gary who so far this season has been working on Joran Persaker's Top Fuel Dragster team as well as working on and driving the black Carbon By Design dragster. "I was only ever going to work with Joran for some of this season's races", said Gary, "because this deal for the Finals has been planned for a long time. This weekend I will be concentrating just on driving the race car and I will be fully focused."

Gary said that he was impressed by the performance of Timo Habermann, who drove one of Rico Anthes' Top Fuellers at Hockenheim under Gary's supervision before Gary got into the car himself for the Night Show. "Timo did very well, he listened very carefully and did as he was told", said Gary. "I don't know who was more nervous - Timo or his mum...probably his mum! he's another young gun who's after a Top Fuel seat."

Gary also asked us to add a big Well Done to his nephew Dan who made it to the final of Sportsman ET at last week's Allstar Nationals, his first competitive outing in drag racing after racing karts. "Thanks to Jon Morton for letting Dan drive the car", said Gary. "I am sure that Dan's mum and dad are very proud of him, and I am immensely proud of him. But he can't have my job - yet!"

Canto team set to go rounds.
6th September: Peter Knight, Crew Chief of the Canto Consultancy Top Fuel Dragster team, says that preparations are going well for the FIA European Finals. Jon Webster made it to the final of Top Fuel Dragster at the Main Event and Peter says that the car is the same as at that race.

"After the main event, Jon spotted a couple of small cracks on the front end of the chassis, and being Jon did no more than mount the car on the jig and cut the front off, so the car has a complete new front half for this meeting", says Peter. "The car is basically the same as last time, with some clutch and fuel pump changes to bring the performance round a bit towards what we were expecting at the Main Event: the car was consistent, but not particuarly quick.
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"Laurie Bamford has freshened the short block, which was brand new in May, and that all looks good. Back at my base, Tim and I have been putting together sets of heads, and Alan Jackson has freshened the number one blower. Alex and Johnny Mac have been putting together ten clutch packs for the weekend, so we will be prepared to go all the rounds if necessary."

Peter says that as well as the FIA European Finals the car may be appearing at Santa Pod's Flame and Thunder Show in November. "It will be our busiest year so far", he says. "Although we don't race the car a lot due to work commitments, it soon comes round. So although it'll be hectic, we'll be there this weekend and we'll be giving it our best shot to upset the favourites again!"

Joosten for fun.

6th September: Dutch Pro Mod racer Henri Joosten (right) and his team have been working hard on Henri's Chevy to make this weekend's FIA European Finals after suffering engine damage at the Notrolympx.

"We had a hole in the cylinder head and burned a piston at Hockenheim", says Henri. "JBR in Ter Aar fixed the cylinder head for us, and we put in a new piston. Everything else is OK". Henri says that the team have also been working on the four link after suffering tyre shake at Santa Pod earlier this year. "We hope that the shake will be gone now", he says.

For the first time in twenty years, from Street to Pro Mod, Henri will this weekend be without Crew Chief Hans Brings who recently left the team. "I would like to thank Hans for our twenty years together", he says. "The most important thing is that we have stayed friends. We are now missing some know-how and it will be more work."
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Henri originally planned to sell the car but has contested a couple of events this year just for fun. He says that the way he sees it, he has twenty rivals this weekend. "They are all quicker than me", he says.

As for 2006, Henri has a familiar-sounding plan. "We'll tell everyone that we are stopping racing and then we'll turn up with the race car at the Main Event", he says.

Bon's emergency head operation.
6th September: Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Joey Bon is working hard to solve continuing problems with his cylinder head, which he says has been the main reason for his exit from races. "We are always running after problems both during and after races", says Joey.

"We already knew that the cylinder head was the weakest link in the bike. Therefore we had already made a plan to build our own cylinder head and decided to miss a couple of races this year to direct our attention to the cylinder head and the tuning of the bike. It was planned to have the new cylinder head ready for the FIA European Finals, but because certain circumstances, the design has been delayed therefore the new cylinder head will not be ready until next season.

"After Hockenheim, an emergency plan has been developed to improve our existing cylinder head. In co-operation with Machinefabriek Goedhals we are currently replacing parts of the combustion chamber with beryllium copper. This should help us to drive the times that this bike should be capable of at the European Finals.

"We would like to thank Machinefabriek Goedhals, and especially Gerard Willemse, for their support to realise everything in such a short time frame. We would also like to thank our other sponsors: MPM International Oil Company, Schijf Groep, Hatek, Hyperpro, Tsubaki, Gerritsen Coatings, A. Balm, Shoei and R.a.P. Detachering who have supported us this year and helped us to a higher level."
©Eurodragster.com
Reasons to be cheerful...
6th September: When you look at what you have done throughout the year you always think you have not done very well, says UK Pro ET racer Terri Lee. "Always been knocked out, never got near the dial-in - and then you look at the data and see that you have run a personal best at every event, and you have kept everything together in one piece, it then doesn't seem so bad", says Terri. "After our years of engine blow ups I still have to remind myself that we aren't doing that bad. At the end of the day I am still here, I'm with my friends, I am fortunate enough to be able to do something like this and I hope that we all have a great time doing it for many years to come.

"I do however hate this summer break that we have with no racing. So we took the ideal opportunity to go to the Webster Race Engineering Test Day on 20th August and thankfully the rain stayed away. We got in a good eight runs to get the feel back for the van. Although we didn't get any stunning numbers up, the van seemed to be getting into the groove with consistency.

"We then descended on the Crowland Motor Show on the August Bank Holiday Monday and scared a lot of locals with the van, as well as upsetting Mr Classic Rover Man who moved his vehicle, which was parked next to ours, as soon as we fired her up…oops! We plugged the forthcoming European Finals as much as we could and hopefully with the amount of youngsters that spoke to us have broadened their understanding of drag racing just a little. Although if I have to say that the fuel lines are not NOS once more, I will have to be committed, bless their little cotton socks.
©Eurodragster.com
"We have had one disappointment this year which is the transbrake. For neither love nor money can we get this thing to work and we have been E-Mailing back and forth with the suppliers in the States to find out what the problem might be and to get this thing working. So I am still pootling off the line as I can't hold the van on the brakes, and we have got to get this sorted for 2006.

"Winter projects are definitely a new paint job, as the poor old girl looks like she has been through the wars. We have some grand ideas for some art work but we just need to get someone who can transfer what we have in our heads onto the van. Ian is also looking at a new camshaft as we have been running with just a mild hydraulic one since we started. There are a couple of other things in the pipeline but like most things they never get out of the pipe for one reason or another so you will just have to wait and see.

"We wish everyone in Pro ET and every other class the best of luck at the European Finals and let's hope for some good and safe drag racing."

Swift snippets.
6th September: Norwegian Supertwin racer Hans Olav Olstad is heading to the FIA European Finals on the back of a 6.86 Personal Best at Hockenheim, despite shutting off fifty metres before the finish line. "We haven't done anything to the bike since the Nitrolympx", says Hans Olav. "We have struggled through the season with damaged pistons. Lot of Supertwin racers have this problems these days, and so far there doesn't seem to be a solution to the problem."

Norway's Thomas Nataas, one of five racers with a chance of the FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship, says that Rune Fjeld and the team have been putting together more engines for this weekend's FIA European Finals. "Rune has some new Go Faster parts ready to go on the car - look out!", says Thomas. "I'm really looking forward to going home to Santa Pod, it's a proper track. The only good race this year was the Main Event, I have never seen anything like this season for rain!". Thomas says that he really wants the title. "The first five have a chance", he says, "every car is fast and with no bad luck any one of us can win."
©Eurodragster.com
Sweden's Krister Johansson says that he has his injected-nitro Top Methanol Dragster ready for the European Finals. "We have a lot more spares than at the first round, so we really looking forward to this race", says Krister. "We are looking for 5.3s and over 260 mph, and if that can't keep Dave Wilson behind us I don't know what can! The other key factor is of course the weather - I don't think I can take three races in a row destroyed because of bad weather."

UK Super Pro ET racer Matthew Wright has had to withdraw from the weekend's race as the ground-up rebuild of his blown Chevy pick-up is not quite complete. "Bill and Johnny at B+J Nostalgia have done a great job, they have not stopped working" says Matt, who sponsors Eurodragster.com's Home and News pages through Gleeson Wright Security. "The truck looks fantastic, when people come into the 'shop their jaws drop. South Coast Creations have supplied some beautiful body parts too. We hope to be out at the Hot Rod Drags to test before the National Finals. Thanks to Peter Thompson and Andy Hone who offered their race cars for this weekend. But mine will be worth the wait!"

Martin Olsson tells us that the entry for the Meca Winternationals, which takes place at the eighth-mile Malmö track on 16th-18th September, has already reached one hundred but that there is room for more. "We will provide world-class traction", says Martin. You can find the English-language invitation (PDF format) by clicking here, and you can enter on-line at www.srif.se/Anmalan%20formular%201.htm. "Meca Raceway only accepts racers who pre-enter", says Martin.

We are indebted to Ultimate Power Championship Co-ordinator Simon Groves for sending us the final 2005 standings in the Ultimate Power Championship which was contested across three events at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can view the Ultimate Power Championship points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Thanks also to Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championship Co-ordinator Spencer Tramm who has forwarded us the post-Allstar Nationals standings in the 2005 VWDRC Championships, which you can see by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

We have posted a quick link to our FIA European Finals Event Coverage on Eurodragster.com's Home and News pages. Just click on the laptop logo at left to go direct to the coverage.

The view from the passenger seat.
6th September: If you were tuned in yesterday you will have read about Paul Watson's return to the seat of Paul Marston Racing's Grumpy's Dodge Super Gasser. Paul gave his Crew Chief Pixie a passenger ride as a surprise birthday treat, and Pixie dropped us a line to tell us what it was like for her.

"I just want to say a big Thank You to everyone at Paul Marston Racing for looking after me so well on Sunday, especially Sam for her warmth and encouragement in preparing me for my surprise, and what a surprise it was you all kept that very quiet!", says Pixie.

"The sort of emotions you go through are quite extreme from nerves and anticipation to excitement and exhilaration, now I know why you boys do it! The thrill off the line, like a cannonball hitting you in the stomach, and then the sheer acceleration straight down the track and beyond the gantry is amazing.

"The best part was having Grumpy drive me in his baby. I've been part of Grumpy's team for nearly five years now and I think I can say I know him better than most. He's not an easy taskmaster, he runs a very tight ship and quite often lives up to his name! But there's no one else I'd rather crew for. His professionalism at the track never falters, and so to my best friend Thank You for my birthday gift, I will never forget it."

Ł100 makes a Perfect weekend.
6th September: This weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway is the eighth event in this year's Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards scheme, with a total of Ł100 up for grabs.

The Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light Award has been reset to Ł50 after it was won by Paul Day at the Allstar Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer this weekend to record a perfect Reaction Time of 0.000. The Award is open to all classes and is available during qualifying or eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the weekend. If the Award is not won this weekend then the prize fund will increase to Ł75 at next month's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if the Award is won then the prize fund will be reset to Ł50 at the UK National Finals. The Perfect Light Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and high-performance hose and fitting manufacturer Speedflow, whose web site you can find at www.speedflow.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The Eurodragster.com/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET Award has been reset to Ł50 after it was won by Phil Sweeney at the Allstar Nationals. The money will be awarded to the first racer to run to the thousandth on their index or dial-in during qualifying or eliminations. The Award is open to all ET classes, all Super classes, Junior Dragster, and 9.50 Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. If the Award is not won this weekend then the prize fund will increase to Ł75 at next month's UK National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway; if the Award is won then the prize fund will be reset to Ł50 at the UK National Finals. The Perfect ET Award is jointly presented by Eurodragster.com and performance supplier LA Racing Parts, whose web site you can find at www.laracingparts.com.

Good luck!

Jörgen Karlsson update.
5th September: Andreas of Swedish Pro Mod team MSS motorsport has been in touch with an update on Jörgen Karlsson, who suffered a serious fire in his Mustang Pro Mod at the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday.

"Jörgen has some burn injuries but is OK", says Andreas. "He is on his way to a Swedish hospital.

"Jörgen is looking forward to the next season, a new body has already been ordered and it's going to be a Ford.

"Jörgen wants to say thanks to the crew at Santa Pod."

Smax at the eleventh hour!
5th September: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith has announced that he has, at the eleventh hour, found the funding to contest this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.

"My good friend and new Fastco-UK owner Ben Heward has saved the day", says Smax. "We literally had no funding for this weekend and we were having to rely on a one-shot qualifying deal, although we did have oil thanx to the good guys at MPM Oil. Now we can become one of the key players in the Championship decider - we know we can run four seconds and the main event boded well for set-ups on the car. Team owners Stuart and Rich McDonald have added many new goodies to the car and ain't stopped working! The team are focused, poised for action and excited - I'm so proud of these guys.
©Eurodragster.com
"Ben will be advertising his business on the side of our Top Fuel monster sporting the logo 1st Stop Body Shop. Ben runs this successful operation from Norwich and is a keen American car enthusiast. If anyone is looking for a professional job on their dream car give Ben a call on 01603 665000. Or if anyone needs parts, stock or hi-performance, direct - Ben's your man, support people who support drag racing!

"See you at the Finals. Have a safe fun-filled weekend - we are ready!"

Joon gets three wishes.
5th September: Current FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship leader, Holland's Lex Joon, felt prompted by Kenneth Lorenzton's news item of 29th August to tell us about the MPM Top Fuel team's three wishes for this weekend's FIA European Finals.

"The first target is to become the 2005 FIA European Champion", says Lex. "The Championship will go down to the wire this weekend. Some people say that one of the reason for our Championship lead is the weather. Eddie Corr (Crew Chief - Ed) said to me "Ask them if they ever have won a Top Fuel Championship, if not they can come back when they have".

"We had to win the first round at Mantorp Park. The winner of this round would have the lead in the Championship. We know how things progressed: we stretched our lead and Andy Carter was lucky that the rest of the race was cancelled. In Norway we were in #1 qualifying spot after the first qualifying session. Skipping the second round put us back into the number two, and after that it was rained out. We knew our performance was there but we had no chance to display it because of the weather. The good thing for all of Eurodragster's readers is that the Finals will be really exciting.

"The second target is to win the event. After winning the Main Event we felt that things had gone by in a rush and my guys were too exhausted to enjoy the victory. Winning that one with our slowest ET of the weekend did not give us the satisfaction we wanted. We want to win the Finals in big fashion with strong numbers on the scoreboard.
©Eurodragster.com
"The third target is to set the European records. I know we have the equipment to do it. Mantorp kept us away from that, the 4.78 would have been backed up by a 4.83 to make it an official European record. We never ran over 300 mph until now, so this is on my to-do list as well. In the end we want to have the record as being the fastest outside the USA.

"As you can see I have a full agenda for the European Finals, and you can bet that we want to go home with the knowledge that we have attained all our goals. We are looking forward to seeing all of our fans, and we received a lot of kind wishes from all over the world in our quest to take the Championship home."

We asked Lex how he felt to be named, albeit light-heartedly, as one of Kenneth Lorentzon's "enemies" together with the weather and blower belts. "I can promise Kenneth that we will leave our guns at home, we will go for the battle on the track", said Lex. "Joining our forces against the multi-car teams is a better option than to fight each other. Raising the bar and taking European Top Fuel racing to the next level in Europe is what we will do."

You can stay in touch with all the news from the MPM Top Fuel team on Lex's official web site at www.lexjoonracing.nl.

More bests for Dahl.
5th September: Norwegian Top Fuel Bike racer Sverre Dahl had a successful weekend at the Mosten Race Day in Denmark, clocking new personal bests over the eighth mile to add to his 237.91 blast at the Drag Challenge at Gardermoen.

"We were using this race as a test before the European Finals", says Sverre. "Now we are really looking forward to the Finals because we set a personal best of 4.02 over the eighth mile at the small and short track in Mosten. We only made one run because we had problems stopping and ended up an eighth of a mile into the field, but I was sitting on the bike and the bike is fine, so we just had a cleaning job to do.
©Eurodragster.com
"The weekend had a lot of good racing. As I remember the results were Top Fuel Bike myself on 4.02, Ian King on 4.24 and Peter Andersson Ström on 4.28. In Supertwin it was Svein Olav Rolfstad on 4.48, Ronny Aasen on 4.52 and Svein Gottenberg on 4.72.

"The season has been short because the bad weather, but we are very happy with the bike. We have had a special gearbox made for the Finals, because if we put in the power we want the sprag breaks. We have no chance in the Championship but we will go for the race and maybe the European records - both I think! The bike is in new colours for this race and is almost ready. Per Rune Hammer of Jon Leret's team is kindly bringing the bike over to Santa Pod."

Pels weighs up chances.

5th September: 2004 FIM/UEM European Supertwin Ton Pels and his Zodiac team are very much looking forward to the FIA European Finals, says Monique Pels.

"We are currently second in the Championship, eighteen points behind Norway's Ronny Aasen who by the way is visiting our home base tonight", says Monique. "When we broke the crankshaft at round two of the Championship in Finland, Ronny built up a lead of eighteen points on us. Since then, all three Championship races ended in a rain-off, so we were never able to try to catch him up.
©Eurodragster.com
"At the moment there are four riders that could clinch the title: Ronny Aasen, Ton Pels, Joachim Riemer and Hans-Olav Olstad. Given his points lead and strong performance this year, Ronny has the best chance. However, Ton's chances are also a realistic possibilty, hopefully the Finals will be rain-free so we can give Ronny a run for his money.

"We have designed new Compliment Cards (right) which, if everything goes according to plan, will be ready before the Finals."

You can find out more on the Zodiac Racing web site at www.zodiacracing.com.

Malmgren tests to the end.
5th September: Swedish Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren and his team had their final pre-FIA European Finals test session at Meca Raceway last Wednesday evening before setting off for this weekend's race at Santa Pod.

"We intend to have a good baseline for the great track at Santa Pod, which is simular to Meca", says team member Magnus Cato. "The season this far has been nothing to brag about, but the rainout at both Mantorp and Gardermoen has cast its shadow over the racing. With only three races in a season you can't afford to miss like we did at the Main Event.
©Eurodragster.com
"The focus now is to get a strong set-up in the car and do whatever we can to win the Finals. There are a couple of other Pro Stock teams trying the same, as the Championship still is open, but we feel we can make our marks.

"After the Finals we will be going to Bahrain and the team is anxious to put on a good show there."

Racers: It's not too late to send your FIA European Finals previews. Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish it here.

NDRS Champions decided.
5th September: The weekend's DEFA Finals at Alastaro and Junior Finals at Västerås decided the Champions in year's Nordic Drag Racing Series, with the exception of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified which will be decided at this weekend's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.

You can check out the list of the 2005 NDRS Champions on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se.
©Eurodragster.com
Our good buddies Hannele Höyden and Jouni Vesterlund spent the weekend reporting live from the DEFA Finals at Alastaro and you can check out their excellent coverage at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=137 and www.dragbike.fi.

Swift snippets.
5th September: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch to let us know that the first-ever joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Championship Trophy Evening is to take place on Saturday 4th February 2006 at the Northampton Moat House. UK National, SPRC and Ultimate Power Champions will be presented. "The proceedings will begin earlier than in previous years, but more details will follow later", says Paula. "Once a couple of items have been clarified the invitation to will be available with details of menu selections, timings and the reference number to quote for hotel bookings."
©Eurodragster.com
Thanks to Peter Calwer for letting us know that the official web site of the National Hot Rod Association is currently featuring an article on US Top Fuel Dragster racer Brady Kalidova's winning exploits at the Nitrolympx at Hockenheim. You can find the NHRA feature at www.nhra.com/apcm/templates/news_template.asp?articleid=7535&zoneid=8.

Grumpy rides again.
5th September: If you were tuned in to our Event Coverage from the weekend's pre-FIA European Finals testing at Santa Pod, you will have read that Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor DynoSpeed Developments got back into the seat of Paul Marston Racing's Grumpy's Dodge Super Gasser. Paul used to own the Dodge Dart and looked right at home back in the hot seat, and the reason for his drive became clear when he appeared with Crew Chief Pixie strapped into the passenger seat.

"I had arranged with Paul to do a passenger ride in my old Gasser for Kim, aka Pixie, whose birthday it was last week (21 again)", says Paul. "This was suppossed to be a total surprise for Pixie so I told her that I had convinced Paul Marston to let me have a go in my old car, all was going to plan until sign-on when Pixie was asked to sign on as well...I think I just got away with that one.
©Eurodragster.com
"Paul and I had agreed it would be extra special if I could do the passenger ride, so after some reminders of the bells and whistles and differences with the car we joined the queue. I have to say it was a bit ironic, it has been eight years since I was the one teaching Paul when he bought the car and now it was the other way round. Paul asked me what was it like being back in the old office and I said "Great, but someone's changed all my furniture". The car is a bit different from when I had it - now it runs a 454 Chevy Big Block running on methanol. We opted for a shakedown pass first before I took my unsuspecting passenger so I could familiarise myself with the Gasser, Paul took me through the burnout and led me to the line, a strange moment of déjà vu. We opted for a foot launch to ease me in. The lights came down and WOW it all came back to me. I even short shifted, the car felt so good I ran it out the back door. I can't say it felt quick compared to my Pro Stock Bike but I kinda thought a mid ten-second pass, to my amazement it was a 9.7. Blimey! Everyone was grinning.

"So we prepped the car again and now was the time for Pixie to find out. I went off in the car to join the queue and Sam took Kim in the truck and then said "Right, put these on". To say that Kim was overwhelmed would be an understatement. She was duly led to the car and talked through the procedures by the lovely Sam where she was strapped in tight and kept calm (-ish). Now, this bit was very strange - I have never had someone in when I was going up the track so I have to say I was a bit nervous too.

"This time we opted for a transbrake launch so once again Paul brought me to the line. I took my time getting into stage but I didn't have my foot on the gas enough and with the violent nature of the transbrake it slipped off. I got straight back on and managed a 10.4, still it was great to see Pixie grinning from ear to ear and something I think she will never forget.

"My Thanks to the whole of the Paul Marston Racing Team: Paul, Sam, Gary, Lizz, Steph - thank you all for a wonderful day, for looking after Pixie so well, for the attention to detail. A birthday she will never forget! Thanks also to Tog and Sharkman for keeping the secret."

Greek success at Hockenheim.
5th September: Our good friend Elias Vathias of the Greek Dragster web site has been in touch to tell us about the successful weekend which four Greek racers had at Nitrolympics at Hockenheim.

"It was the third time that Antonis Zafeiriadis of the Gabriel Team has attended Hockenheim. He took the sixth place in Pro Stock Bike qualifying with a 7.592/280.33, a new personal best! Stavros Svrahnos of the Svrahnos Racing Team attended Hockenheim for the first time amd clocked a 7.460/290.06 and took third place in Pro Stock Bike. This exceptional time is of course Stavros' personal best!

"The third Greek racer in Pro Stock Bike was Charalambos Bousinis who clocked 8.141 since he faced many problems with his bike. The fourth Greek racer was Theodoros Michailidis of Kontos Racing Team who raced for the second time at Hockenheim and clocked 9.157. Michailidis raced against the legends of the Top Fuel Bike class, but his chassis could not handle his very powerful motor. His bike was turning to the right on every pass so he took eleventh place. The four Greek racers are very proud of their appearence and will try hard to improve in the future.
©Eurodragster.com
"We talked with Mr Gabriel about the race. He told us that he expected an even better time than the 7.592 but he is satisfied with his appearance. "Next year we will probably race at Santa Pod because we want to try another track too", he said. "And of course we will try to achieve a better time also! Four or five years ago we would not even dream about running in a European race like the Nitrolympx, and now we have taken third and sixth places. We are very proud!"."

You can find pictures on the Greek Dragster web site at www.greekdragster.com.

Web site updates.
5th September: The official web site of the UK's Street Eliminator class has been updated with a video clip of the quickest-ever side-by-side SE race, the semi-final between Andy Frost and Ian Hook at last weekend's Custom Car Magazine Allstar Nationals. Check it out under Latest News at www.streeteliminatoruk.com.
©Eurodragster.com
Eurodragster.com Photo Editor Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a large number of pictures from the Allstar Nationals. You can see Sharkman's pictures at www.topendtales.com.

The weekend's pre-FIA European Finals Peak Performance Day and Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway ranged from Freddy Fagerström's spectacular 6.286-second Pro Mod pass to Jörgen Karlsson's frightening Pro Mod fire. Eurodragster.com reported live from Santa Pod all weekend in association with American Car Imports and you can check out our reports and pictures by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

The changes worked, then...
4th September: Swedish Pro Mod racer Freddy Fagerström turned the heat up on his NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified competitors ahead of next week's FIA European Finals with a storming 6.286/221.71 in his blown-alcohol pick-up. Running without a datalogger and testing chassis changes, Freddy opened his account with a 6.346 before clocking Europe's second quickest-ever Pro Mod ET. Team member Björn Anderberg told us before the weekend that Freddy and the team were hoping for 6.3s.

"We are not so happy with our season because we had a lot of engine trouble, but we think we have found it all now", said Björn. "We have updated a lot of small things with the chassis before the Finals. We are fourth in the Championship and hope to be third."
©Eurodragster.com
Björn added that Freddy is considering racing a limited schedule in 2006.

Joe Bond has been in touch to let us know that Freddy's is now the quickest Pro Mod pick-up in the world. "The previous record was held by Glen May with a 6.37", says Joe. "Glen still holds the speed record at 223 mph."

Scary still wants your money!
4th September: UK Funny Bike racer Sarah Jane Head will again be holding a collection at next week's FIA European Finals for the Air Ambulance which came to her aid after her accident last year.

Next weekend's will be the last event at which Scary will be collecting as the plan is to present the Air Ambulance staff with a cheque before eliminations start on Sunday.
©Eurodragster.com
Not only will Scary be out with her bucket again but she also has 250 posters which will be available at a minimum donation of Ł2 apiece. Scary will be available in the Pro Stock Bike pits to sign the posters at set times which will be announced over the PA at the race.

Parade of Power report.
4th September: Our good friend Jemma Harrison attended Santa Pod Raceway's Parade of Power in Wellingborough on Friday evening, even managing to secure a seat in one of the participating vehicles. Jemma sent us a report of what was obviously a highly-successful event.

"ITV were filming from 5.30, interviewing Barry Sheavills whilst Paul Marston's partner Sam fired up the Insanity Vega and David Warren, Phil Pratt, Sefton Whitlock and Jon Hackney did burnouts! A drivers' briefing took place at 6.15 for the twenty cars and four bikes, then the drive around started. I managed to blag a passenger ride in Grumpy's Dodge with Gary Springford. My advice is never use slicks on corners Gary!

"The heaving crowd was really good, the staff were efficient as as always, and the cars mostly well behaved! We then parked up in the Market Square with Jon Webster attracting the biggest crowd with his Steet Eliminator MG. Speaking to Paul Marston and Sam, Gary Springford and Jeff Thurston, they commented on how great the idea was, and that having an event like this so close to the track was amazing publicity for the sport.
©Eurodragster.com
"Fireforce 2 was as always a favourite on display, one comment I heard from a passing child was 'Mummy do you think it gets hot in that exhaust?'.

"I took my tribe of siblings to the event, they have never been drag racing before and they were amazed at the power and the noise of the vehicles. It really is surprising, the amount of local people that have never been to the track and I ask myself why?"

The guys from Dragsterworld have also posted a brief report and pictures from the Parade of Power which you can find at forum.dragsterworld.co.uk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1707.

Web site updates.
4th September: Having returned from their European tour, the UK's Bootsoop International Racing Team have updated their web site with reports from Hockenheim and Drachten where they towed their pet thunderstorm which latched on to them at Mantorp Park. Check it out at www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk.
©Eurodragster.com
The English Nostalgia section of the Freddy's Revenge web site at www.freddysrevenge.co.uk has been updated with a number of 1980s photographs.

Parkinson hopes for end to saga.
3rd September: UK Top Methanol racer John Parkinson is at Santa Pod Raceway today to make his last licencing pass. The weather and the niggles which come with all new cars have prevented John from licencing so far this season despite several attempts.

"The last outing was the Bug Jam, and despite putting in three passes we still didn't get it all done", says John. "The first pass was adjudged to be below what was expected by my crew chief for the day Dave Wilson. He was of course right, you don't get to be as succesful as Dave without knowing when something is not good enough. The burnout was good, but the launch was pathetic: it bunny-hopped and the front lifted when I shifted into second, and as it was only a launch I coasted the rest of the track. Dave told me exactly whatIi had done wrong, and he was absolutely right. In my defence it was the first time I had launched a car in almost three years and the changes that have taken place in the cockpit have been dramatic to say the least.

"The second time out was to be another launch, you can bet your life I got it right that time, wouldn't you? The car dug in hard and pulled hard through first, no lift on the shift into second, then the coast to the end. We turned the car around and set off for the staging lanes, as we stopped at the bottom a problem was noticed with one of the spill plates on the wing and the desicion was made to run without spill plates as it was to be a half pass: it was felt the top end speed would be low and it would not affect the car's handling. It launched even harder this time - I was getting back into it I think - and pulled well all the way through second. A Maltese half-pass, I coasted into third and popped the chutes in the lights. As I got out of the I could hear air escaping from the shift buttons and an inspection in the pits revealled a split o-ring, we replaced it and Dave set too repairing the rear wing. He did a superb job on it labouring into the evening ,and made it safe to run the next day.

"As you might know ,it rained almost from the word go the next day and no-one got out on the track. We packed up and went home knowing that the car ran straight and true, and it had at last got down the track. We have not made many changes to the car since then, only some refinements suggested by Dave, and we still don't have the money to paint it, so it will be out in shiny ally again.

"Next year we will be out early and starting to tune it to make it run a lot quicker and maybe give the rest of the class a run for the money. I'd like to say on that note that all the people in the class have been very supportive to us this year, I know it happens in every class - that's the way drag racers are - but we do appreciate their help and suggestions and I thank them all. Dave Wilson gets a mention on his own, as without his help and encouragement we would never have stepped up to the class. It's where we have wanted to be since the Pro Comp days.

"We have a sponsor for the remainder of this year and next year, Busy Bee Embroidery. Look out for the crew shirts next time you see us, we have an actual picture of the car embroidered on the back . It's done by taking a photo on a digital camera then downloading it into the machine, which then works out how to stitch it onto virtually any medium. The image can be altered (you'll see our car is in paint on the shirts) and colours can be swapped, the combinations are endless."

Tramm gets Quizzical.

3rd September: After a successful weekend at the Allstar Nationals, nearly completing the double a year after being the first to achieve the feat with his Quantum Leap Corrado, UK Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine racer Spencer Tramm has announced a sponsorship deal with TV channel The Great Big British Quiz.

GBBQ broadcasts on Channel 166 on the Sky Satellite platform every day from 10:00 am till 2:00 am and since its inception has given away over Ł250,000 in prize money and has a top prize of Ł50,000. "It's a great match for us as both the race team and the station are looking to expand across Europe soon!", says Spencer.

"GBBQ joins Big Boys Toys and Stanley Parr Ltd in helping us to continue the hunt for both the 2005 Super Gas and VW Alternate Engine Championships."

eXplosion's explosion.
3rd September: Holland's eXplosion Club had a great weekend at last weekend's Dutch Finals at Drachten, and it was the end to a great season, says Jaap Selles. "The weather was great, although we started with a very wet track and had one little drizzle on Saturday, which was no problem to the track crew.

"The Dutch Championships are decided; and eXplosion would like to congratulate all winners! The final results can be found at www.explosiondragracing.com/PNT2005.htm.
©Eurodragster.com
"Looking back on the Dutch races this year we can only conclude that eXplosion is still growing and lifting the sport of drag racing an a higher level in the Netherlands. Every year the events are bigger, better, and safer. The 'temporary' track has proven to be very good. Some names well-known to the readers of Eurodragster have improved their personal bests this year! To name a few: in Danny Bellio's first year in the TMFC he has improved his personal best to 4.08, with a sixty foot of 0.98 at the Finals. We have welcomed Kent Trennemann, and he ran his best run ever at the 1/8 mile, a 4.20 Also during the Finals Marc Meihuizen from K&H Racing set his personal track record a bit quicker a very nice 4.21. Even a Top Fuel record was set this year; and that was a historical fact: the first Top Fuel run ever in Holland was made by Lex Joon and he has set a new Dutch record with a stunning 3.64 at the eighth mile with a sixty foot of 0.88. Another very well-known name is Ton Pels who set the quickest ET and highest top speed ever run in the Netherlands by a Supertwin: 4.44/271 kmh.

"So it's safe to say eXplosion can really look back at a great year! For more Dutch records visit www.explosiondragracing.com/records.htm and for pictures visit www.explosiondragracing.com/pictures.htm."

Swift snippets.
2nd September: UK Pro ET racer and class sponsorship co-ordinator Carl Burton has been on touch to tell us that, if they are in the Pro ET Sponsorship scheme and displaying decals, the #1 qualifier at the FIA European Finals will recieve Ł100, a WASP voucher, Hauser Race Cars voucher, Allyjax voucher, and a trophy. "Thanks also to the rest of our sponsors Black Bear Harley Davidson, A1 Motor Stores, Webster Race Engineering, Toxico and Real Steel", says Carl.
©Eurodragster.com

Congratulations to UK Top Methanol Funny Car racer Trevor Capewell and his wife Esta on the birth of their daughter Anastasia who arrived at 22:59 on 27th August and weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz. "Daddy Trevor (right) is busy getting the race car ready for the European Finals and fitting in quality time with his little daughter", says Esta. "See you all at the track". We're sure that everyone will join Tog and Sharkman in congratulating Trevor and Esta on Anastasia's arrival.

Many thanks to Jon Crawford who has sent us some photographs from last night's Parade of Power in Wellingborough Town Centre. Jon has sent pictures of Jon Webster's Street Eliminator MG, Jon's MG on the street, hot rods and customs, Paul Marston's Insanity Vega on the street, Santa Pod Raceway's exhibition Top Fuel Dragster and Martin Hill's Fireforce 2 Jet FC. We will bring you Jemma Harrison's report on the Parade of Power very soon.

Exit Shockwave?
2nd September: The UK's Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team are headed for next week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway with two new engines. The engines represent a considerable personal investment for joint owners Gordon Smith (driver) and Dave Bryant (Crew Chief) after a sponsorship deal, reported here on Eurodragster.com on 12th August, failed to materialise. Gordon says that the sponsorship situation may mean that next week is the Shockwave team's final appearance.

"We are very disappointed to say that the announced sponsorship deal has not come to fruition for this year", says Gordon Smith. "Once again we have been let down at the eleventh hour, and although we are still in discussions with several prospective sponsors the European Finals may be our last event unless we can get funding for 2006. We will be working very hard over the winter to secure funding for the future, but if past experience is anything to go by it will be a miracle if we are able to continue in 2006. Even Fuel have let us down this year, to date we have had no funds from them despite an agreement made in February of this year."
©Eurodragster.com
The team have gained some sponsorship from The Taxi Shop for next weekend's race but Gordon and Dave have had to put their hands deeper into their own pockets. "We have purchased two new engines for the Finals, along with all the other necessary parts to put on a good show for all the fans who have supported us over the years", says Gordon. "The car will be plain black for the European FInals unless something dramatic happens in the next few days.

"Thanks again to the fans and racers who have supported us over the last seven years."

Swift snippets.
2nd September: LA Racing Parts and Mickey Thompson Tires will have a stand selling Mickey Thompson tyres in the trading area at Santa Pod Raceway next week, starting on Wednesday and continuing through to the end of the FIA European Finals. If you would like to pre-order your Mickey Thompson tyres for collection at the track then call LA Racing Parts on 01803 554308 (outside the UK +44 1803 554308). Fred Furlong will have a supply of MCR² tyres for bike racers.
©Eurodragster.com
Lee Child of LA Performance Services has asked us to pass on his thanks to the race officials, marshals, Custom Car Magazine, Kev Elliott, the racers, everyone involved in the Show and Shine, flag starter Stuart Bradbury and all who made the weekend's Allstar Nationals such a success. "Thanks also to Eurodragster.com for the great coverage and for launching the careers of the Allstars Mule Stunt Performance Team!" says Lee, who jointly sponsors Eurodragster.com's Links pages through LA Racing Parts.

UK Super Pro ET racers Roger and Dave Moore have announced that their seven-second Triumph Herald will not be racing again this season. "After building a new bottom end for the Pontiac engine last winter, we then proceeded to destroy the crank and block at the Main Event", says Roger. "Keeping the car running in the sevens involves a great deal of work, as all racers will know. At the present time other commitments have made repairing and racing the car not possible. I hope to be able to race again as soon as possible - I am missing it already."

Mott cracks the nines.
2nd September: UK Supertwin Modified racer Chris Mott was delighted with his weekend at the Allstar Nationals, getting into the nines on his beautifully-turned-out V-Rod. Chris dropped us a line to express his appreciation to all those who helped.
©Eurodragster.com
"I would like to thank all the crew at Shakespeare County Raceway for putting on a great weekend's racing", said Chris. "The Supertwins managed five qualifing runs, which was much appreciated. The final qualifying run on Sunday being the run I've been waiting for all year, 9.96 and a 142 mph, my first nine second run at last! As well as being my first nine, it is the quickest run yet for a V-Rod in the UK and who knows maybe even Europe.

"It's taken a lot of time and effort, but thanks for the support this year to DHL, Klotz Race Fuel and Thames Valley Harley-Davidson. August 28th was one of my best days racing. A final Thank You to Yvonne for putting up with all the ups and downs, Gavin Cupit for all his technical help and late nights working on the bike, and to Paul Diener at Eagle Harley-Davidson for his knowledge and support over the last two years."

Luck seized from Flynn.
2nd September: UK Super Pro ET racer Derek Flynn and the Gold RV Racing team arrived at Shakespeare County Raceway in great shape for last weekend's Allstar Nationals and with a shot at the Ultimate Power Championship, but form that point on Derek says that they had too much luck and most of it bad.

"After the first burnout - which was mild - we cracked the input shaft of the gearbox", says Derek. "No reverse, over the wall and then a push back, thanks guys. Shame really as I was up against Nigel Turner in my old car for the first time, I'll catch you next time Nigel! Back to the pits for a major rebuild of the gearbox, thanks to Martyn Jones (input shaft), Barry Giles (clutch pack), Mark Flavell (brake band and various clutch bits and tech support) and a special thanks to my crew who thrashed the rebuild and got the car ready in time for the last qualifier of the day. We towed down just in time to join the end of our class, phew that was lucky!

"We had a great run 7.08/195 and one of our fastest eighth-mile speeds, well done to the team who prepped the track. It felt like we were finally going to get our 200 mph, but when I pulled the chutes at the end of the run it was like hitting a wall - I had not even touched the brakes but was pulling up far quicker than ever before, the engine started to die so I knocked it into neutral but the car just stopped dead before the end of the shutdown area. A very special thanks to Stephen Talbot who rushed to his pits and back with a jack and then assisted with rescuing me from the shutdown area, dodging the cars and bikes which were still running. The rear axle had seized solid, once back at the pits we tried to remove one of the half shafts but it was not going to budge, at one point we even got stuck in the axle the five-foot bar which we were using to try to knock out the half shaft. This became a great source of amusement for many and became a bit like the Sword In The Stone with everyone having a go at removing it, eventually Steve Turner got it out.
©Eurodragster.com
"Andy Robinson kindly agreed to help us out, so we took the axle back to his workshop the next morning where with twenty tons of pressure in his press and a bit of heat from an acetylene torch it came out with a big bang. This is where the good luck became apparent: the halfshaft had snapped and then rewelded itself back together and seized, if this had happened earlier in the run or just snapped or seized solid, I would have been in for a twister and who knows what, so I would say that was more than lucky!

"Unfortunately bad luck was not far away as we were unable to replace the forty spline shaft in time for eliminations, but we do now have them on order along with the various bits we owe people and with a bit of luck we should be OK for the European Finals. Thanks to my crew for their massive efforts and also to the Turner Racing crew who also helped out, and thanks to Andy Robinson for the sterling effort to try and get us back out racing. We have taken Andy's advice and upgraded the halfshafts and the input shaft because Steve Turner is going to be servicing our blower to try to get a few extra pounds of boost to get us to that 200 mph.

"I would like to congratulate Arlo Reddick who had a better weekend for our team with PBs for both ET and speed and is now knocking on the door of eighty miles per hour in under 8.2 seconds. Arlo did a good job of qualifying, probably as a result of our Scandinavian tour where the qualifying was amazing with the top twenty under .019. Congratulations also to John Everitt for winning and becoming the Ultimate Power Super Pro Champion."

A weekend of nibbles.
2nd September: The UK's Jones and Friend Comp Bike team was another to have a great weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway with Personal Bests for Gary Jones on several passes and a record-exceeding 184.80 mph blast in qualifying. Dave Friend gave us a run-down on the team's weekend which saw them clinch the 2005 Ultimate Power Championship.

"What a weekend's racing was had by all with excellent weather and track surface", says Dave. "Big Thank Yous to all the Shakey staff for all the hard work in making it a smooth event.

"We sorted out the gear shift fork shaft problem which was the cause of the false neutral in the final at the last event. So with a new tyre fitted we were looking forward to continuing the development of our EFI alky turbo system and also consolidating our points lead in the Championships. A 7.677/178 straight out the van with a 7.677/178 with the tyre spinning as soon as Gary hit second gear all the way through the top end, straight to #1 qualifier. The second qualifying oass was a 7.674/166 - as John Price commented, a bracket racer, again we had tyre spin & also clutch slip at the top end of the pass. This prompted a clutch adjustment and a small nibble in the mapping but in the third qualifier the clutch pulled Gary through the lights so no time or speed, but we could see from the data that it was faster than the previous pass.

"Sunday was nice and sunny and with another small adjustment to the clutch and a small nibble in the mapping we were ready for the next qualifying pass. And what a run, a nice straight 7.53/176.9 and a PB. With the bike turned around by the super crew, hte final qualifying pass saw Gary run another new PB with a 7.52 at a stunning 184.80 mph. We were later told was a new track apeed record - grin, John Price? It looked like I had a coat hanger in my mouth for the rest of the day!
©Eurodragster.com
"On race day the 7.60/177 first round by advanced us to the semi-finals against Vaughan Foster, who was having a hard weekend with an ill-handling bike but Vaughan and Tim got a straighter run on this pass, well done guys, keep going. With a 7.50 second pass we were into the finals. Roland Chaplain put over a big holeshot win over TJ O'Brien who was not having the best of weekends so we meet Roland in the final. Roland tried too hard to make up our advantage and pulled a red, we took the win with our slowest ET of the meeting with a 7.69 but at 180 mph.

"This meant we were Ultimate Power Champions for 2005 and also increased our ACU Championship points. Big well done to Tim Blakemore and team whose persistence has finally paid off with his two six-second passes, also to Dave Beck on his 7.16 Pro Stock Bike pass, and to that old flat-lander Graham Dance on his seven-second passes on his new nitrous super street bike.

"Big thanks to super crew Eric, Aaron, Rosie and William. To our sponsors Extreme Electrical Ltd, Universal Turbos, Mistral Engineering, Bek Wholesale, Worldwide Bearings USA and Ian Carver, thanks for all the support you have given us during the last ten years of racing."

Mystic Ric!
2nd September: The plaudits for great weekends at Shakespeare County Raceway just keep on coming as Supertwin Gas racer Ric Naylor set new PBs at the Allstar Nationals. Ric took us through his weekend at SCR.

"The track prep at SCR this weekend was the best it's been all year (although the right lane now seems to be getting very bumpy), the weather was with us and there was not too much track down time, apart from one huge oil down just as we were queuing up for our second qualifier!", says Ric.

"In our last report you may remember we matched our best time on Scooby of 10.43 at the SPRC Summernationals. For those unaware, Scooby is a little 380cc Yamaha RD350LC built and owned by Nick Daniels aka Shaggy, and battling it out against the mighty TL1000's in Supertwins Top Gas. Knowing we'd got the bike set up well at Santa Pod, I left everything alone although I was wary as during the previous two outings at Shakey this year we were suffering with traction. OK, that's not quite true. I did fiddle a bit, I fixed the Fluffy Box (the two-step limiter made by Dave "Fluffy" Hurst) and reinstated the Happy Dial which allows us to easily adjust the launch RPM. I opted for a soft launch to start with and the whole run went really smoothly. When Dave came to tow me back I asked what I'd run, but he said he didn't know as the boards weren't working. When I got back the pits, I could see my fiancée Caz bouncing about with a huge grin. "10.33!" Wow! That run matched the best the bike ran when Shaggy was riding it and he soon appeared to congratulate me.
©Eurodragster.com
"For round two I left everything such as the clutch or tyre alone again and just dialled in a few more hundred rpm on the launch as I now knew the track was good. As we waited for the oildown to be cleared before the second round, I popped up to Race Control to see Tog and let him know the news. My parting shot, slightly tongue in cheek, was "I'll go for a 10.2 next". Little did I know that next run was going to be a 10.266! It's been a long slog, but at last we had Scooby back on form and running some good numbers. Another few hundred rpm were dialled in again for the last run of the day as the sixty foot time on the 10.26 was still a poor 1.48. However, a very slight startline bog, later tracked down to a sticking clutch mechanism, dropped our time to 10.5.

"Come Sunday, we went out again with the clutch fixed and everything else left alone again. We laid down our third-best run of 10.34 and were in a jubilant mood until being towed back. I noticed the back end seemed odd, and whilst checking it all out noticed the rear wheel wasn't turning properly, so we dropped it out. The inner bearing races were binding and really hard to turn, so that 10.34 could have been much better if it hadn't been like I'd been riding with the back brake on! We stripped the bearings out to clean them and reseat them, but as the wheel was laying in bits, round five was called and we had to sit it out whilst getting the wheel back in shape for eliminations on Monday.

"Once again I was against Les Harris in the first round of eliminations. He had run several 9.8s in qualifying so I was up against it and knew a holeshot along with some sort of glitch for Les was my only hope. I managed a 0.1 reaction against Les' 0.2 but that small lead was lost by the eighth-mile markers as Les came thundering past. However, despite losing, we were still in jubilant mood as I ran a 10.30! Out of the five runs we had over the weekend, four were faster than our previous best on Scooby. Superb! Although not up with the top runners in Top Gas, we have at last found some good consistency and good times which will hopefully stand us in good stead for the future.

"I'd like to thank all at Shakespeare County Raceway for an excellent weekend, Shaggy for the loan of the bike, and Caz and Fluffy for helping with crew duties whilst usual crewman Paul Bartliff was unavailable. It was a shame that Paul couldn't make it as his assistance throughout this year helped make this weekend what it was."

Scott takes over.
2nd September: UK Junior Drag Bike racer Scott Collier is no stranger to the news archives of Eurodragster.com but we are pleased to bring you Scott's first-ever self-penned news item, about his weekend at the Allstar Nationals.

"I was number one qualifier and made my best-ever run of 13.18 at 44.42 mph", says Scott. "On Monday morning I had Tyler Clutterbuck in the first round. My bike was misfiring but Tyler's bike wouldn't shift gear so I beat him. In the second round I had a bye run and we tried to fix the misfire but we didn't do it and I broke down at the top of the track. My dad came walking up the return road to get me. He started my bike and I gave him a lift back down the return road. In the final I either had Harry Steadman or Andrew Irvine, and I got Harry Steadman. In the final I still had a misfire and the bike wouldn't move off the start line so I had to push it with my feet to go. I lost to Harry but I didn't care because I still got a trophy and Ł15 and a T-shirt from Turbo. I had great fun at the race and I think my sister Skye enjoyed it too.
©Eurodragster.com
"Thank you Harry for the inflatable Nos bottle but Dad says that's what caused my misfire. I can't wait for the next meeting because I've got more chance to win - Harry Steadman and Andrew Irvine won't be in Junior Drag Bike then, they will be too old."

"Brilliantly put Scotty, last word from mum and dad", says Sharron Collier. "Thanks to all for a fab weekend, five qualifiers plus a practice pass! Great stuff. We think an eight-year-old qualifying first and getting to the final is incredible. In answer to your question Scott, yes you are a ‘real racer' and not just ‘real' but ‘awesome'!"

Gustavsson's two-centre weekend.
1st September: Sweden's Christer Gustavsson is facing a busy weekend with family ties to races in two different locations. Christer's daughter Jennifer, who is leading NDRS Junior Dragster, is racing at the NDRS Junior Finals at Västerås and his son-in-law Jonas Datanus, who is third in Super Street, is racing at the DEFA Finals at Alastaro.
©Eurodragster.com
"As I have cars in both classes I am in trouble!", says Christer. "My plan is to visit Västerås with the Junior on a trailer and do the Junior final on Saturday, and then to take a car and go to the ferry in Stockholm, go to Finland overnight, and be in Alastaro on Sunday."

Christer, who memorably almost removed your News Editor's head in a Pro Stock burnout contest some years ago, has been behind the wheel of a race car again recently. "I enjoy driving race cars as I know Tog does", says Christer. "Last weekend I borrowed Jonas' Challenger and Jennifer and I went to the Mari Memorial Race in Dala-Jarna" ,says Christer. "I ended up runner-up in Bracket and Jennifer was runner-up in Junior Dragster."

Parade of Power details.

1st September: Santa Pod Raceway's Marketing and PR executive Jo Reed has been in touch with more details of tomorrow evening's (Friday's) Parade of Power in Wellingborough town centre. The event combines a parade by race vehicles around Wellingborough's streets and a static display in the Market Square to promote next week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.

"Ronnie Picardo will be bringing his Wheelie Truck and GMC, Paul Marston is bringing three cars, we have a couple of bikes from Dave Warren, and Bushey is bringing his '55 Chevy", says Jo. "We also have some Street Eliminator cars and hot rods along with a 9.50 Bike and a Super Street Bike.
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"For the display in the Market Square we have one of Martin Hill's Jet Funny Cars and the Santa Pod Funny Car and Top Fuel Dragster. After the Parade the rest of the cars will assemble near the Market Square to create a larger display.

"Barry Sheavills will be there to talk to people about his racing experience over the years and will be on hand to answer any questions.

"The event is being covered by local radio, and Anglia TV are also coming down to report on the event, along with local press."

The Parade of Power commences at 19:00 tomorrow.

Venables' surprise win.
1st September: Allstar Nationals Super Street Bike winner and 2005 ACU UK Super Street Bike Champion-elect Steve Venables says that his victorious weekend, which included a new National Speed record of 195.24 mph, was achieved despite problems with his seven-second bike.

"I did a head gasket on my number one motor so I had to put the number two motor in for the weekend", Steve told Eurodragster.com. "On the first run on Saturday the cam chain tensioner fell out. I thought it was broken but we managed to put it back together again and it fired up OK.
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"To add to that I couldn't get sixth gear so we geared it for five. We put in more power but the engine wouldn't make any more power until the revs went high. I was launching at ten thousand to give it some oomph!

"We were giving it all we could and I was surprised and chuffed to win."

Steve is entered in 9.50 Bike at the FIA European Finals, and says that he should make the race if he changes motors back in time.

Today is Steve's fortieth birthday, we are sure that everyone will join Sharkman and Tog in wishing Steve the very happiest of birthdays.

Sneddon's tough seven.
1st September: UK Super Street Bike racer Jamie Sneddon had a tough weekend at the Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway but he did manage to get into the sevens at SCR. Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor DynoSpeed Developments told us how the team's weekend went.

"After an initial couple of gentle 8.0 passes, the Blackbird was set for more power", says Paul. "However another 8.0 was netted and the speed was down. We knew we had a problem, upon inspection we found we had a problem with two rods which also marked the crank. On Sunday morning Jamie went home to see what spares he had and luckily we had two rods and a crank, so on Sunday we basically rebuilt a new engine from the ground up with the help from Mark Fisher of Greenhill Racing without his help we would have struggled - thanks Mark.
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"We fired up late that night and all seemed well except that we had a communication problem with the autronics but a I must say a big Thank You Graham Balchin (Ven's crew) who helped with the problem. So by hook and crook we were ready for the eliminations. In the frst round we faced Ivan Birch but a retard problem on his bike saved our day - Jamie just using his 9.90 Bike skills and looking back to make sure we were covered, trying to save the motor.

"Then we had Graham Dance, now in the sevens a tough one, so we loaded the Bird up. Unfortunately Graham's Pro Stock gearbox failed, just as well as we totally overpowered the track in third, fourth, fifth and sixth - luck was on our side. On to the semi finals against our nemesis Steve Venables on the ZX12. This time we turned the power back down but to no avail, Ven holeshot Jamie both running 7.9s but at least we finally managed a seven at SCR.

"We look forward to the European Finals with the Bird in Top Fuel Bike and the return of the DSD Pro Stock Bike."

Swift snippets.
1st September: This weekend's DEFA Finals at Alastaro includes a special Finland v Sweden Super Stock team contest, says our good buddy Hannele Höydén. "There are some extra prizes and of course so much glory", says Hanski. "The Team Leaders are Martti Luoso for Finland and Anders Pettersson for Sweden". You can read more about the DEFA Finals including the entry list and running order on the Finnish Hot Rod Association web site at www.fhra.fi.

Further to our news item of 22nd August, Dave Jones of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to confirm the completion of the laying of more hard standing in the pits at Santa Pod. The 9.50 Bike pits (right) and more of the area beyond the finish line are the latest areas to be paved.
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Jo Reed of Santa Pod Raceway has asked us to inform racers that there is no post-race Banquet after next week's FIA European Finals, but that there will be a post-race event. "We will have a bar open with a disco for racers only on the Sunday night", says Jo. "We intend to put on a cold buffet, but there will also be catering units where racers can purchase hot food if they want to. The intention is for things to kick off at about 6:00 pm, once the racing has finished, in the bar area, and the disco will continue until late."

Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars has been in touch to ask the help of Eurodragster.com readers with a web site update. "I'm preparing to update the Racing History section of Gus' web site, but I find that I've stored all my old pictures in such a safe place that I can't find them", says Bob. "I would be very grateful for the loan of any action pictures of Andy's Zephyr or Monza so that I can include them in the update". If you can help then please contact Bob at roberrl-1@robinson-race-cars.co.uk.

National Association of Supertwins Championship Co-ordinator Lorraine Laycock has kindly provided the latest points standings in the 2005 NAST Championships. You can view the latest Supertwins points by clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Weekend event coverage.
1st September: Live coverage will be available on-line from two of this weekend's events.

First up is the DEFA Finals at Finland's Alastaro, which is the final round of the 2005 Nordic Drag Racing Series. Our good buddies Hannele Höydén (cars) and Jouni Vesterlund (bikes) will be reporting live from Alastaro and you will be able to find their coverage at www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=137 and www.dragbike.fi respectively although each will contain a link to the other.
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Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from this weekend's Peak Performance Day and Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway in association with American Car Imports. We will be posting regular reports of the on-track action on both days, as well as an end-day Photo Gallery each day. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam will also be on-line and will be scheduled to broadcast a picture every two minutes. We will post a direct Home Page link to our coverage as soon as it commences. The coverage from this weekend's testing at Santa Pod is the start of our build-up to the FIA European Finals, and all of our Finals coverage is dedicated to the memory of the legendary Dennis Stone, who died in July.

Web site updates.
1st September: The official web site of the UK's Street Eliminator class has been updated with a report from last weekend's Allstar Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway together with post-event points standings. Check it out at www.streeteliminatoruk.com.
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Our good friend Alan Currans has been in touch with news of the latest update to his excellent Acceleration Archive. "A fourth page of the Steve Woollatt Collection has been added to the site", says Alan. "It contains some great pictures including a wheels-up launch by Svante Ericsson in his incredible Hemi-powered Jeep, the Mr Big and Tee-Rat altereds, some storming burnouts from Dennis Priddle and the late Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, and much, much more". You can find the latest update at www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.

Earlier news

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