Our good friend Gareth Evans is planning to update his UK1320 web site with end-day galleries on both
days of the event. You will able to find Gareth's pictures at
www.uk1320.com.
"TJ O'Brien works for us and so we wanted to do something for Pat", said Charles Partos of 51st State Autos. "It
seemed more fun to to do this than just to write a cheque."
Charles tells us that the Ranger has 65,000 miles on the clock and is a very clean piece of kit. It
is white with blue Shelby stripes and has colour-coded bumpers. The pick-up is two-wheel drive and totes a two
and a half litre petrol engine with manual transmission. An aluminium tool box is
built into the pick-up bed which
to us makes it sound the ideal racer's tow vehicle. The interior is cloth. The Ranger comes with a year's MoT and
a year's warranty from WMS.
"I would like to thank Charles for his generous donation for the fund", says Pat Ginn. "People are being so generous, it's very overwhelming.
Charles and Michelle, you have been so good to both TJ and myself, thank you. Also thankyou to Ron Haslett for the Coffee Morning in his pit at Santa
Pod tomorrow. Please go along and help by buying your coffee from these lovely people, it's for good causes.
"I should have a new web site up and running soon so I can contact and answer people daily with all the updates and progress during this awful situation
which I refuse to give in to - even though I wasn't saying that last Saturday when I wasn't very well and didn't feel that I wanted this for the rest of my treatment.
Anybody who ever had radiotherapy and Chemo will know exactly what I'm talking about.
"There was some good news in Wednesday's Sun newspaper, about a woman who has the same tumour as me and was told two years ago that she
had six months and, god bless her, she has been cleared of this by the same treatment that I am on, but she had it in a different part of her brain.
So straight away my sister got onto the doctor at the Cromwell Hospital and hopefully we can get a private appointment to meet this doctor and find out details.
Meanwhile I have sent a letter to the Sun and asked it to be sent to the lady concerned to find out anything I can about the alternative medicine she was
taking, hopefully we shall get a reply.
"Good luck with the auction for the truck, have a good weekend's racing, and I hope to see you all there. I will put my web site address up as soon as I have
details. I will need to keep my mind active for the winter plus keep up with all the new racers, bikes and cars coming out for next season."
If you are coming along to the UK National Finals and like the sound of the Ford Ranger then start thinking about
your bid. If you can't make it to Santa Pod this weekend then E-Mail a bid and your contact details to
eurodragster.com@btinternet.com
and we will print it and pass it on to Appeal Co-ordonator Matthew Wright.
Coffee Morning raffle update. 29th September: As mentioned above by Pat, Ron Haslett will be holding a charity Coffee Morning
in his pit at Santa Pod tomorrow (Saturday) in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Fund and the Pat Ginn Appeal. Ron has
been in touch with the final list of raffle prizes. The most recently-pledged items are at the top of the list:
Five American Car Imports Racing T-shirts (one of each size), courtesy Dave Wilson and the ACI Racing team
A family day out at Shakespeare County Raceway at either the 2007 May Bank Holiday or August Bank Holiday events,
courtesy Shakespeare County Raceway
A couple of items to be confirmed, courtesy Roger Goring and the Firestorm Jet FC team
Mechanic's apron and gloves, courtesy Speedflow
An item to be confirmed, courtesy Comet Clothing
An item to be confirmed, courtesy Chris Johnson and Woftam Racing
A book and bottle gauge, courtesy Wizards of Nos
A painting of the car of the winner's choice, courtesy Brian Anker
A year's subscription to American Car World magazine, an ACW T-Shirt, and a copy of the recently-published John Force biography, courtesy
American Car World
Two tickets to the Flame and Thunder Show, courtesy Oaktree Property Management
Autographed photo-montage of John Walden's Street Eliminator Cortina, courtesy John Walden
A weekend crewing at an event of the winner's choice, courtesy Ron Haslett
A selection of DVDs, courtesy Powerpoint Communications
A prize to be confirmed, courtesy Santa Pod Raceway
A Wild Bunch Tenth Anniversary T-Shirt, a couple of A3 posters of the WB cars, and a small WB pin badge, courtesy the Wild Bunch
An item to be confirmed, courtesy Paul Marston Racing
A framed print of Smax Smith's FIA European Finals clutch explosion, and a framed print of the head-on Firestorm Jet FC flame show shot, courtesy Eurodragster.com
"I would like to thank all of these people for helping Insane Creations on this little mission", says Ron.
Our good buddy Fahad Taqi, President of the Bahrain Drag Racing Club, tells us that the BDRC has a new look for their new season
including the very tidy new logo at right.
Shakespeare County Raceway Race Director Richard Warburton says that Top Gear fans wishing to show their support for the
popular TV programme in the face of criticism prompted by Richard Hammond's accident can sign a petition for its retention at
www.petitiononline.com/tg100/petition.html.
"The new car is basically a bigger version of what we have, although hopefully a little quicker and faster", says Derek. "As it has a blown Chevy we will
for the time being still be Hemi hunting, but watch this space: the three-speed Bruno Lenco should be able to cope with the extra horsepower that we are
going to need if we are to achieve low sixes!
Derek adds that he feels a twinge of sadness that this weekend's UK National Finals could be the
Gold RV team's last outing with the current car.
I just love this car, and I have so many great memories", he says. "Our first seven, our first six, our first 200 mph pass, the track record at Drachten,
#1 qualifier at the European Finals. The new car has a lot to live up to. We have several interested parties but we shall still be there this weekend giving
it everything we have and hopefully we will be as fast and as consistent as we were at the European Finals. If we could only slow down the driver by
just 0.009, we might go a round or two!"
100% scared punters. 28th September: Panagiotis Zarifopoulos and Yla Galani of Greece's Paranoid Racing presented their complete racing/promotion
operation to the Hellenic fans during the second Athens International Tuning Show, which took place at the former Hellinikon Airport last weekend, says Zman:
White Line Cycles, our Athens-based motorcycle shop, had an impressive display of vehicles during the show laid upon more than three thousand square
feet including a '66 Lincoln, a '78 Stingray, both the Renault/Oakley rig and the twenty eight foot Haulmark race trailer with its F250 hauler, an array of race
quads and of course the newly-acquired ex-Hepworth/Been Top Fueller. As scheduled, we fired up the bike twice or even three times a day during the show
attracting (and scaring) a lot of people including some of the wannabe crew who will probably never go near a fuel bike again.
The bike sounded really strong and healthy despite having not been fired up for more than a year. The idle was a little high, it is not very easy to adjust due
to the dual throttle bodies but we got through it and after a check of both engines' conditions we will be ready for a burnout and quick launch in order to get
used to it. The fire-up was on 100% nitro as there was no racing grade methanol available at the time, and we had to jump the starter from two car batteries
as the new starter cart was not ready in time for the show.
The highlight of the final day was when Naomi from the infamous Fuel Girls, who had been hired to perform at the show, came and sat on the bike while we
fired it up without being warned about exactly what was going to happen. Although a little scared at first she took the punishment from the noise, vibration
and nitro fumes very bravely. Fuel Girl on a Fuel bike, good combo, and the fans loved it. The video clip including a short interview will be featured on the
upcoming Fuel Girls DVD.
More news included a sponsorship agreement between the team and Uddeholm Greece. We are delighted to be backed by a company which makes so much
contribution to the sport. Michael Stassinopoulos, the sole importer of Uddeholm products in Greece, is a good friend of the team and was delighted that the
bike uses Uddeholm steel in both engines' cranks, made by "Charley" Karling of Sweden who is also backed by the company. Michael is heavily involved himself
in Quad racing and a self-taught Yamaha Banshee specialist.
We are now getting ready for the final two test ride events for Triumph Greece with the Oakley rig, as our contract is coming to an end. After that we will concentrate
on preparing for the 2007 UEM/FIM Championship which means a refit for both trailers and some off season testing, weather allowing.
We are indebted to Yvonne Tramm for sending us the post-FIA European
Finals (cars) and post-Extreme Performance Bike Weekend (bikes) standings in the 2006 Santa Pod Racers
Club Championships. You can check out the SPRC points by
clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings
link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
TJ O'Brien tells us that he was unable to make Ken Cooper's birthday party last week so he cannot
provide any incriminating pictures, but he said that whilst having a root around he found this picture
of Ken with Funny Bike racer Dave Holland. "I am going to get some T-Shirts printed with this picture,
but what is the caption?", says TJ. "Thanks to Ken for running the auction for Pat."
Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett will be holding a party in his pit at Santa Pod
on Saturday evening. "We will have two gazebos up for the Coffee Morning", says Ron, "so together with
Hairy John we will be having drinks and a little music after the Cruise. Everyone is welcome."
More backing from Flint Insurance. 28th September: We are very pleased to announce that David Taylor, Director of the UK's
Flint Group Insurance, has again kindly provided
insurance for Eurodragster.com, this time travel insurance for News Editor Tog's trip to Bahrain for the Top Fuel
Exhibition later this month. Flint Insurance can provide for all the usual personal and commercial lines such as
building, motor, breakdown, and travel insurance, as well as insurance for race vehicles.
We would like to thank David Taylor and Flint Group Insurance for their continued support of
Eurodragster.com.
UK National Finals coverage. 28th September: Eurodragster.com will be reporting live from this weekend's UK National
Finals in association with American Car Imports.
Our good friend Gareth Evans is planning to update his UK1320 web site with end-day galleries on both
Saturday and Sunday. You will able to find Gareth's pictures at
www.uk1320.com.
If you want to attend the UK National Finals yourself then you can find full details including ticket
prices on Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com
or call 01234 782828. Advance ticket bookings are now closed but tickets are of course available on the
gate.
SCR kicks off Test and Tune schedule. 28th September: Shakespeare County Raceway kicks off its Autumn
schedule this weekend with the first of three Public Track Day Test and Tune
weekends, writes Jerry Cookcon. Street cars, sports bikes, Jap imports, hot hatches and
race machinery of any description are invited to take advantage of SCR's track facilities
(normal RWYB/Test and Tune rules apply).
Already lined up is the Old Skool
Ford Drag Challenge whose members SCR will be welcoming for the first time together
with cars from the Ultimate Ford Club on Sunday. Carolynne Campbell will also be continuing
the development of her Laffin Gas Rocket Dragster.
The event ran smoothly and with so many new records set, it is a real credit to everyone who works at Santa Pod.
The success of the European Finals only comes with a huge effort and massive preparation, credit in particular to
the track staff whose stellar work on the oildowns kept the downtime to a minimum. We noticed the parity in track
performance over the weekend and that can only be attributed again to the hard work that the track prep crew were
putting in. The event was marred only by the tragic incident on Sunday, on behalf of everyone in Paul Marston Racing
we would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the family involved.
It was great to have so many fans visit us over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by, it kept all of the drivers busy.
The new Paul Marston Racing Drag Race Driving School flyers went down well too, with the planned expansion of Paul
Marston's Drag Race Driving School in 2007 it's all about spreading the word. With five drivers in competition:
Gary Springford, Mick Howling, Dave 'Racing Snake' Catton, Steve Bolton and myself we had a great event with varying
results.
Dave 'Racing Snake' Catton shared driving duties competing in Super Gas, qualifying tenth and going out
first round in a valiant effort against the master himself, Tim Adam, in his Brogie Roadster. We must also thank
Tim and his team for refilling the air bottle on the Whoopass Monza, very sporting. Mick Howling, competing in Super
Street driving the mighty Grumpy's Dodge had a great event running some really close-to-the-index numbers
but all just on the wrong side. Mick qualified eighth and his day was done, losing a close one in round one.
Mick was also hosting two of his biggest sponsors, who unfortunately had to leave before Mick ran. They were truly
two of the biggest men Santa Pod has ever seen - both American football Front Linemen, you could see why!
They both enjoyed their first visit to Santa Pod and were very impressed with what they saw and will be back for the
UK National Finals.
Steve Bolton rounded out the PMR squad, driving his mean-looking Plymouth Scamp in Pro ET. Steve was hampered with
inconsistency over the weekend which was eventually diagnosed as debris from the fuel hose. This was probably caused
when the Plymouth was run on alcohol in the States and a line was now showing signs of rubber erosion. With this inconsistency
it would have been pure luck if Steve had managed to qualify and luck was not with him so Steve along with many others
went DNQ. But with a simple fix and no harm done, the mighty Plymouth will be ready for next time.
The Whoopass Monza was returned to the Drag Race Engineering (020 8597 4575) workshops after the European
Finals for some servicing. Whilst there Gary Springford and I discovered something which will probably unlock a
lot more horsepower in the Monza next weekend. I have always believed that the Monza was playing a game with us: it
was far too weather sensitive, the larger camshaft and BLP Alcohol system fitted just prior to the European Finals
had little or no effect performance-wise. This convinced me that there was a Gremlin in there somewhere.
We believe we have found the problem once and for all, this weekend will tell. Considering what Gary and I
found it's quite staggering that we had such stunning performances out of the Whoopass Monza so far, so
watch out!
Big Thank Yous must go out to all the crew at Paul Marston Racing, the Crew Chief, Liz and Sefton, Mad Mick, Mark
from DRE, Robin, Ferret and of course our stats man Anthony Middleton. Big-ups to the drivers as well, helping out
crewing their team mates on Thursday Sportsman qualifying when crew was a little thin. With only minor servicing to
be done to the race cars and a high speed lean out system to be fitted to the Bruiser, everyone at Paul Marston Racing
is looking forward to the UK National Finals. See you all there.
German Super Street Bike racer Clemens Walleit would be pleased to hear from any reader with photographs of the German
SSB racers at last week's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod. "One guy took some brilliant photos and said that he would
E-Mail them to me but they have not arrived", says Clemens. If that's you, or if you have any pictures of Clemens and his colleagues in
action then please drop him a line at cleber@dragbike.de.
Ian Turburville asks that anybody wanting Simpsons pit shoes for this weekend's UK National Finals lets him know
as he has run out of space in his trailer and cannot fit his entire stock in. "I will bring whatever anybody orders if I have the sizes in stock", says Turbo.
"The same applies to helmets etc. See you there, pray for sun!". You can contact Turbo through his web site at
www.turboville.com.
ACU UK Championship outcomes. 26th September: The ACU UK bike classes have produced some close and competitive racing this year with more races and
an increased number of competitors entering the Championship. After six rounds of racing (five for Top Fuel), Simon has looked over the Championship prospects in the four
ACU UK Drag Bike Championship classes:
Top Fuel Bike has seen an increased number of entrants due to FIM/UEM Top Fuel and Supertwin riders and competitors from the Netherlands entering, not least of
all Roel Koedam, running Ton Pels' Godfather Supertwin for the very first time this weekend. Whilst ten-time champion Steve Woollatt has had a wretched season with
cylinder head woes, Ian Turburville's debut in the class has been impressive and he has improved in performance on every outing. Steve Carey has had a strong season too
running as quick as 6.88. The Championship, you ask? It's a three-way tussle between Steve Carey, Roel Koedam and Ian Turburville, with less than 100 points in it, and Ian
King present to potentially spoil someone's party. Should be fascinating.
Congratulations to Kevin Charman who clinched his Comp Bike Championship in emphatic style at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend, running in the mid-sevens
and dominating as he has at each race he has entered this year. Runner-up Phil Leamon competed at all the events too but the Suzuki 1428cc motor of Kev has been strong all
year.
Super Street Bike has been a tale of seven-second runners and increasing budgets in order to remain top of the standings. Once Jamie Sneddon dialled in the Honda
Blackbird in 2005, he became the performance leader and that story has continued in 2006, the 'Bird running as quick as 7.564 but failing to back this up to rewrite the 7.720
currently in the record books. Being 320 points behind Jamie is a lot to ask for Steve Venables to catch up, but Ven will do his best to bid farewell to Kawasaki power in
style.
Wild Bunch Championships outcomes. 26th September:Wild Bunch Race
Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows has sent an update of the points standings going into this weekend's UK National Finals, which is the final round of the
Wild Bunch Series, the Real Steel Series and the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series:
At the trio of events in August, Andy Murphy won the UK Northern Nationals event at York with the B'Sting altered, Roy Wilding won the UK
Truck event at Santa Pod and also finished first in the Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County with his Chariot of Fire altered (see the
Wild Bunch web site for full write-ups of these events).
The Roy Wilding Series is currently led by Tony Smith, followed closely by Team B'Sting, with a three-way tie for third place between Mark Hartnell, Joe
Stevens and Roy Wilding, so there could be big changes there, as Roy is the only one of the top five entered.
The Wild Bunch are very much looking forward to the National Finals, and to their Prize Presentation and Dinner Dance on 25th November, when all the
winners will be celebrated!
American Super Stock - I could be seriously tempted - and Pro ET proved wicked watching with Dave McCallum yarding those front wheels for Wheelie of the Rear
award. A great day for northern drag racing and congratulations to all the winners. See you next year!
When reading web sites pays off. 26th September: UK Sportsman ET racer Paul Webster took his 1320autos Mini to the inaugural Ultimate BMW
Show at Santa Pod Raceway last Saturday and promptly took two class wins. Paul says that the first class win was down to his reading a web site properly.
"Luckily, we had re-visited the event web site a couple of hours before we loaded up, and we realised that Class A was for four-cylinder cars with street tyres", says
Paul. "So with last year’s BFG drag radials on we went out and ran a 12.625/110.26, 0.34 seconds quicker than we achieved last year with the only change being the
NX nitrous controller from last year. This was enough to win us the class but not enough!
"I wish all the Sportsman ET guys an enjoyable yet competitive last round, and of course all the guys in Street Eliminator. Hope they get some great
new Personal Bests."
And would you believe another news item about the Marshalls as Street Eliminator racer Colin
Lazenby asked us to thank Ian Marshall for going home during the lunch break at Saturday's BMW Show
at Santa Pod to pull the crank trigger from the Highlander Camaro after Colin's trigger failed during
testing of his rebuilt engine. "Thanks also to Clive Bond, Luke Robinson, and our kid", says Colin. "We
did a launch, half pass and full pass and I was happy to get all of the fuel leaks and such out of the way
before this weekend."
Last Perfect Awards of 2006. 26th September: The UK National Finals is the final event in the 2006 Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards
scheme. A total prize fund of £150 is available, plus two donations of £25 to the Macmillan Cancer Fund.
In addition, the Perfect Light and Perfect ET winners will each be given a cheque for £25 made payable to the Macmillan Cancer
Fund to present to Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett, who is fundraising for that Charity this weekend.
UK Dinner Dance hotel update. 26th September: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch regarding
hotel arrangements for the joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation which takes place at the Northampton
Park Inn Hotel on Saturday 3rd February 2007.
"The hotel have said that they already have only twin rooms remaining", says Paula. "If you are contacting the Park Inn to try and book rooms,
and the hotel do not have the room you require, then as with last year you can book rooms at the Ibis Hotel", says Paula. "This hotel is literally across the road from the
Park Inn.
You can find the booking form and information on the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site
at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries then please contact Paula
Marshall at SPRC on 01933 313625 or E-Mail
paula.marshall@btconnect.com.
UK National Championship outcomes. 25th September: This weekend's UK National Finals is the last round of the UK National Drag Racing Championships for all classes.
Simon, who co-ordinates the UK National Championship with Yvonne Tramm, has written this report of the possible outcomes:
With such a large number of classes involved, there will be many Championships decided this weekend. One thing is certain: every Championship will be toughly fought
for not just the winning position but also the trophy-earning runner up position too. There was good weather from early June to late August, but only one round of the
Championships was held in this period and three meetings so far have been weather affected this year.
The MSA British Drag Racing Championship for Top Methanol has been won by Rob Turner who was victor at the two earlier rounds over Dave Wilson
(driving Nemesis at the Thunderball) and John Parkinson (at the SPRC Summernationals). Fourth-placed Steph Milam will be making a welcome return to racing
this weekend after suffering major engine and transmission damage at the Thunderball. Our congratulations to Rob whose ninth British Championship this is.
In Super Mod, the Championship could go to either 2005 Champions Team Ellis (car owner Graham Ellis driving the Olds Cutlass this weekend) or Rob Smallworth
(Chevrolet Bel Air). There are 740 points up for grabs and Ellis are 410 points ahead, so a good qualifying position and a couple of round wins should clinch the Championship
for Graham and team.
Super Comp sees Paul Knight (Pontiac Firebird) currently on top and 2005 Champion Chris Johnson (MG ZS) is only 30 points behind in his wake– but Paul did not
attend the Thunderball and therefore will forgo the 200 points bonus awarded after attending all rounds. There are three other Championship contenders with 850 points on
offer, Shaun Lathan (Vauxhall Calibra), Andy Williams (Dragster) and Tim Adam (Brogie Roadster).
With an entry of nineteen cars, Super Gas has 980 points available. Three-time Champion Tim Adam is looking good as he has a lead of 850 points over the current
second place Team T3's Camaro (Steve Dunn and Jon Evans, with Steve in the hot seat this weekend). Both have won a single event. T3 are only 50 points ahead of third-placed
Matt Gatland (Vauxhall Firenza).
In Super Street, Bob Lees (Mustang) is 230 points ahead of 2005 Champion John Grant, with 820 points available. Third place Leigh Morris is another 270 points back
and will need to have a great race to catch up.
In Sportsman ET, Geoff Cowley is potentially on for a Championship in his rookie year, the Camaro driver showing great consistency with a road-going car. In spite
of not attending three events, Geoff has a points lead of 220 before attendance bonuses over second-placed Nick Gay (Metro Pickup). Geoff has achieved this by virtue of
winning three of the four events he entered this year, a remarkable feat. Geoff will however also have to fend off third-paced Brian Huxley (Ford Mustang, who has won
Champions with Team Top Banana in the past) and fourth-placed Ian Petrie. With up to 750 points available, this one could go down to the wire.
If 2004 Champ Nick Mugridge wins the Junior Dragster Championship, it will be the first time in the history of the class that anyone has won it more than once.
However Nick will need to overtake current points leader Scott Hauser who leads by 180 points. Third and fourth placed Lottie Watts and Anna Stanley are 530 and 550
points behind Scott and yet with up to 950 points to play for, either of them have a mathematical chance at the title.
In 9.50 Bike, congratulations to Andy Bird of Team Breakout riding a Suzuki GSXR who clinched the Championship at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend.
Andy had wins at the Shakespeare Nationals and European Finals and strong showings in most of the other rounds to cement his first Championship. 2004 Champion
Richard Sawatzki (Suzuki Hayabusa) looks good for the runner-up position, third placed Julian Harris aka Fast Harry only having a mathematical chance of catching him.
The post-European Finals and Extreme Performance Bike Weekend points are undergoing final ratification and will
be posted very shortly and well in time for this weekend's race.
A night to remember. 25th September: UK Sportsman ET racer Anna Metcalfe would like to thank fiancé Mike Lacey for
organising such a fantastic party for her fortieth birthday, writes Carla Pittau (Carla blew Anna's age, not us - Ed).
"The Metamorphosis team would also like to thank Carl Burton for the loan of the big party tent and the weather gods for keeping the party
dry and bopping at all times."
Bennetts' double-header. 24th September: Luke Bennett has been in touch to bring us up to date with the latest from
the Bennett Racing NFAA Altered pit.
"Next run we had Clayton Round and ran the fastest time of any car at the weekend, 7.28/191.22 which was a personal best speed and more importantly
we got the win. For the last run the car was set up as before, more for consistency, and ran a 7.46/186 but the burst panel had gone hence the slower time.
"Again a big thank you to Roy Wilding who saved the day yet again, and to all of the crew for the work that they did. Also an apologly to anyone who
spoke to me at the Hot Rod Drags: I had gastroenteritis and felt like total crap, so might have seemed ignorant (Hope you are OK now Luke - Ed).
Junior Olley tells us that more objective discussion of Richard Hammond's accident than that available in
the media can be found on the JetWebb forum at
www.jetwebb.com.
"I must firstly thank my crew", Grumpy told Eurodragster.com. "It doesn't matter how much money you've got,
without the crew you can't do it. It's an achievement to do it four times, but it's down to the people involved
and they are the best: Harry and Suzie, Ricky and Catherine, Phil who has now left to pursue his business interests,
and last but definitely not least my son David and wife Linda.
"Finally there is of course the ever-present American Car Imports and the main man Tony Cohen.
"I must also mention Santa Pod's track crew and team who ran the FIA European Finals. That was probably
the most consistent track throughout a meeting I have known in some time. I couldn't tell any difference
between lanes, day, or time of day. There was equal competition and a level playing field over the whole
event. Darren Prentice and the team do a tremendous job of looking after the track and I take my hat off
to them."
Grumpy will not be racing at next weekend's UK National Finals, which is the final round of the 2006
MSA British Drag Racing Championship, but he will be at Santa Pod working with fellow TMD racer
John Parkinson. "John has an old engine of mine, the first Fathead engine I had and our first serious
engine", said Grumpy.
The Nemesis dragster, which Grumpy brought out of storage to drive into the 5.5s and take runner-up spot
at the Easter Thunderball, is still for sale. "You can buy the car with or without engine", said Grumpy. "There
has been a lot of interest but no-one has bought it yet!"
Swift snippets. 23rd September: Good luck to ex-pat UK Fuel racer Smax Smith who is racing in Fuel Funny Car at this
weekend's IHRA Canadian Nationals in Toronto. You can stay in touch with Sir Smax's progress at
www.dragracecentral.com.
2005 FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion Lex Joon has announced that his end-season racing trip to participate at
two NHRA National events has been postponed. You can read more in the latest instalment of Lex's exclusive Racer Blog which you can
read by clicking here or by clicking on the
Racer Blog link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
A number of readers have asked us to publish the link to the web page set up by the Pistonheads forum accepting
donations for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which came to the aid of Richard Hammond after his accident in
Vampire at Elvington. You can donate at
www.justgiving.com/phrichardhammond.
A prize to be confirmed, courtesy Chris Johnson and Woftam Racing
A book and bottle gauge, courtesy Wizards of Nos
A painting of the car of the winner's choice, courtesy Brian Anker
A year's subscription to American Car World magazine, an ACW T-Shirt, and a copy of the recently-published John Force biography, courtesy
American Car World
Two tickets to the Flame and Thunder Show, courtesy Oaktree Property Management
Autographed photo-montage of John Walden's Street Eliminator Cortina, courtesy John Walden
A weekend crewing at an event of the winner's choice, courtesy Ron Haslett
A selection of DVDs, courtesy Powerpoint Communications
A prize to be confirmed, courtesy Santa Pod Raceway
A Wild Bunch Tenth Anniversary T-Shirt, a couple of A3 posters of the WB cars, and a small WB pin badge, courtesy the Wild Bunch
A prize to be confirmed, Paul Marston Racing
Two framed photographs, courtesy Eurodragster.com
If you would like to pledge a raffle prize then you can contact Ron at
ron_haslett@hotmail.com.
Magazine update. 23rd September: If you are a John Force fan then you need to grab hold of the latest issue of
Drag Racing Action available now from Graham Rennie's
American Auto Mags, writes Jerry Cookson:
The November issue carries features about John and his Force-Fed Family life with references to the A & E Network
TV show, daughter Ashley's move into nitro Funny Car, and Brittany and Courtney's rise to stardom in the Super Comp
ranks. There are also features about the Angelle and Antron Show in Pro Stock Bike, a Toyota racer with a difference,
a report from the National Hot Rod Reunion, talkin' live with Brad Anderson and tech stuff about oil pumps, curing
transmission heat and ten tools you should own!
Jon Best has updated his Best Intentions web site with pictures of the construction of his nostalgia slingshot as well as some words about
what he's been up to recently. You can find Jon's site at www.bestintentions.co.uk.
Bob Hancox has been in touch on behalf of Carole, Fiona, Simon and himself to thank everyone
for their help, support and kind words, and also to thank those who attended Debbie's funeral and helped them get through the day.
"Donations so far stand at £915 which will go to the John Radcliffe Hospital", says Bob.
With the 2006 Nordic Drag Racing Series settled, thoughts turn to the NDRS Banquet and prizegiving which takes place at the
Scandic Infra City in Stockholm on Saturday 28th October. Festivities commence at 6:00 pm. For full details including the menu and
bookings, check out the Svensk Dragracing web site at
www.dragracing.se/nerladdningar/Inbjudan_2006_engelsk.pdf.
We have the second of this week's three birthdays on Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew today: a big Happy Birthday to Sharon Norris and we hope
that you have a great day Sharon.
Bike Weekend 9.50 Bike review. 22nd September: Less than fresh from the previous weekend's FIA European Finals, the 9.50 Bike racers turned out for
the next-to-last round for the year, last weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Chris Jones reports that the sun continued
to shine and made for a classic weekend:
Qualifying saw Richard Sawatzki with gritted teeth tenaciously chase Andy Bird in the qualifiers, resulting in Rich being #2 with a 9.541/142 closely followed
by Andy in #3 spot with a 9.546/133. The #1 spot went to Julian Harris aka Fast Harry with a 9.53/142 for - according to Harry- the first time ever
and big grins all round). Although the carb juggling had stopped for Harry, Phil Pratt did have his on and off a few times, just for good measure and
I guess just for the feel of it. The #4 spot was filled by a seldom-seen John Kirby and completing the top five was Ed Smiley with a 9.59/137. My
old R1 didn't drop under a ten this weekend and following a new engine, along with good numbers at the European Finals it's not beyond possibility
that once again the exotic really isn't meant for this type of treatment as further damage may have been sustained.
John Kirby then scythed on into the finals after dealing with the Team Breakout's old gun Andy Bird to meet up with a now wide awake
(as if he'd drunk fifty coffees laced with Red Bull) Richard Hann who modestly commented that any trophy with 2006 on it would do. Of
course we all know he didn't mean that!).
So the scene is set. Both riders edging into pre-stage, John holds Boss out for a few seconds and then into full stage. The lights drop and both
are out to win with a 0.37 reaction from Boss, John slips out first with a 0.23. Both guys off in a blaze up the strip with Boss trying to ride round
John. The timing lights drop and John's overcooked it, breaks out on a 9.47/132 with Boss taking the win on a 9.7/141. Well done Boss!
Commiserations to John.
In the Championships, failing any disasters it looks like Andy Bird is set to take the title with Richard Sawatzki following up behind. With the now
absent Team Hyenas from the last two rounds there is a battle for glory for the next three places but you never know; anything can happen in this game.
So it's onto the National Finals for the last of the year's racing. See you all there.
Taylor's voice of reason. 22nd September: It's not often that we do comment on Eurodragster.com but in the face of
the frequently-uninformed and hysterical media reaction to Richard Hammond's accident in the Vampire Jet
Dragster we were relieved to receive the thoughts of former Santa Pod Raceway commentator Brian Taylor.
On the subject of interviews, Smax Smith and Steve Woollatt have both told us that they were approached by radio stations to talk about Richard Hammond's
accident, and your News Editor was lined up do a radio interview about events at the FIA European Finals before BBC Three Counties Radio decided to cancel
literally at the last minute for reasons which we could not describe without appearing cynical.
If you're a Nostalgia fan then there is a great web site tracing the history of drag racing in Germany. The
site is presented in German but if, like us, you can't read German then there are some great photo galleries.
Check it out at www.dragracinghistory.de.
GlueHarbor make their move. 21st September: Adam Flamholc and Sweden's MMR/GlueHarbor drag racing team will be stepping up to Pro Stock in 2007,
a move which Adam says the team (right, click on picture for large version) have planned for many years.
"We are enjoying the support of Malmö Motorrenovering, Amalie Motor Oil, Holmeja Raceshop and Karlstad Bilförsäljning", says Adam.
"The car, which was the European Championship winner for the last three years, is already in our possession and a Ron Krisher-built engine from Jackie Hansen
has been placed under the hood after modifications to suit unleaded fuel. Another engine is now being built by Malmö Motorrenovering and that will make
us competitive during the next season.
"Initial test runs were made during the Winternationals in Malmö with very good results. Our ambition is of course to be able to fight for the Championship
during the 2007 season.
"We would like to thank of all the companies above for their support which makes all this possible. We are also in search for additional partners who want to join us
on this exciting trip into the world of Pro Stock racing."
Breaking the 5.4s. 21st September: After a season of chasing different problems around the car, UK Top
Methanol Dragster team Turnermotorsport were ecstatic to step up in to the 5.4s for the
first time, with a final qualifying ET of 5.494 at the FIA European Finals at
Santa Pod Raceway.
"It's just a shame that the car got out of the groove against Krister Johansson in round one of
eliminations, meaning an early exit in round one", says Steve Turner. "Rob and Carmel and myself
would like to thank all of our crew for the hard work and dedication they have
put into the car this year, and also to pass on our thanks to all the fans,
who as always gave our team great support at our home track.
Finally everyone at Turnermotorsports was shocked and saddened to hear of
the freak accident which occurred at the end of the European Finals ."We would
like to take this opportunity to pass our thoughts and condolences to the
family and friends of Roger George", says Steve.
The good, the bad and the ugly. 21st September: Not a description of the Eurodragster.com triumvirate but Andy Bennett's summation
of Never Again Racing's weekend at the NSRA
Hot Rod Drags where Dave Evans clocked a Personal Best in the historic
Coco Connection but where one or two other things went wrong. Readers of a nervous disposition might like
to avoid the Ugly part of Andy's report:
The Good: Dave, Vicky and Prince loaded up Coco on Friday and set off to Shakespeare County Raceway with high hopes
of pulling some good numbers over this weekend. The Andy Frost Master Class rebuild of the transmission had not yet heralded any improvement
in time, but had helped to make Coco extremely predictable. Saturday saw a large variety of oil downs which kept Coco in the fire up road for
forty five minutes before the track closed at 4.45. Dave had been pulling 9.5s on nearly every pass prior, and ran a 9.500 in the only pass on
Saturday. That night it was back to Mama Smith's caravan kitchen for some real home cooking.
As this would probably be the last outing of the season for team Never Again, as a treat on Sunday morning Dave flexed his Jamie Oliver muscles and cooked bacon sandwiches on stale baps.
Undeterred by Dave's culinary skills it came together on Sunday after some tweaking of plugs and wires. The first pass of the day gave Dave and Coco
a new personal best for both ET and speed with a 9.380/142.44, on the Jeff Bull 489 ci methanol motor, no gas, in a full-bodied car with stock running gear.
(OK, you've been warned, here we go - Ed) Prince disappeared to go and fetch the van to retrieve the stricken Coco. Off he drives over all the bumps to the start line. Little did he know that
Dave had been using an old jug as a toilet and had left a glorious jug of yellow body juice in the back of the van. It splished and sloshed over everything in the
van, clothes, bedding, tools, towels, etc. Nobody really noticed until later in the day when everyone started to smell like a gents' urinal. Vicky had put her
jumper on which strangely had started to become a bit whiffy. Prince smelt like an old tomcat, but if he had started to spray to mark his territory then he
would have been walking home.
Thanks to Vicky and Prince, and hello to Crossfire Rob and Andy Frost.
Street-legal and in the nines. 21st September: The Orange Pop drag racing team had a superb weekend at the NSRA Hot
Rod Drags as Simon Barlow recorded his first nine in the street-legal Pop, writes team member Jason Yates:
On Saturday we went out on a test pass for the first qualifier, this was with no gas and we ran an 11.6. For
the second run we switched on the nitrous and ran a 10.1. After that pass we made a few changes for the final
qualifier, but as we got to the staging lanes we were turned back round and we were sent back to the pits: a
car oiled the track and racing was called off for Saturday as the clean up was to big to meet the curfew. We
took the car back to our pit and left it there until the morning without making any changes to it.
On the last run of the weekend we were up against Paul Wright, both of us just having one last blast down the
track. After another big burnout, Simon pulled to the lights. The car launched hard and it looked a superb run, the
board lit up at the top end it was a 9.81/136. We went crazy again. We were celebrating so much that we didn't
realise Paul Wright had run a 7.4 in the other lane. Well done Paul. That was just a perfect end to the weekend.
We now have a nine-second street-legal car!
We would like to say a big thanks to Andy Frost for the fantastic help he gave us over both days of the meet, to
all the track crew, marshals and last of all to the NSRA for putting on a fantastic meeting.
A safety first. 21st September: Shakespeare County Raceway safety crews
PB Fire and
CMAPS took delivery of a modified dragster training chassis
at the weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags. The training aid was donated by several members of the Wild Bunch, writes
SCR's Marketing and Promotions Manager Jerry Cookson:
Formerly campaigned in the early days of Wild Bunch by Trev 'The Rev' Merritt as Adrenalin Overload, then
as Ram Raider 1 by Team Dog's B's, and most recently as Chemical Reaction by Darryl and Sarah Howells,
the slingshot dragster safety cell has been extensively modified with a removable roll cage and fitted safety harness
and seat by Wild Bunch Chairman Crazy Chris Hartnell.
"With the ongoing changes in today's new car technology the fire/rescue team and the medical crew
at Shakespeare County Raceway are continuously training together" says Paul Bell, Director of PB
Fire Ltd. "But whilst it is easy to practice on scrap cars it has always been a concern that the emergency services
need the flexibility to train on some of the more powerful cars that we see at the Raceway. This
training module has now enhanced our rescue training to such a degree that we can act out almost any
scenario in the unforeseen event of an incident and practise with live drivers to enable the emergency
crews to work in confined spaces."
Thanks to those readers who sent messages of condolence for the family of spectator Roger George in response
to yesterday's news item. We will set up a page for these messages within the next twenty four hours; in the meantime
if you would like to add your own message then please E-Mail
eurodragster.com@btinternet.com.
The Allard family is still heavily involved in motorsport and tuning and their web site at
www.atmr.co.uk will give you an idea of what they can do.
Let's hope we can get them back on the strip on a more frequent basis.
From the Finals to Christmas! 21st September: Ian Turburville says that his Top Fuel Bike team has been re-named
White Punks on Nitro thanks to new sponsor and business partner Pro-Drag of Tuscon, Arizona.
"Pro-Drag join SIMPSON on our elite team of sponsors who are along for the ride at the National Finals and throughout 2007", says Turbo. "Simpson
racewear is the best safety equipment you can get and they have supplied us with their ultimate drag racing item, the fabulous Diamondback carbon race helmet.
Back in the pits the coolest attire to be seen in is of course the Pro-Drag range of Nitro-inspired T-Shirts. Both ranges are now available
at www.turboville.com and at the track. Tell it like it is with their range of Nitro decals which are also
on our web site.
"Another goodie for your Christmas stocking is the long-awaited DVD version of the fantastic 2000 ADBA World Championship Top Fuel Challenge, held in Australia.
Definitely the best drag racing tape made into a DVD and packed with extras not on the VHS tape. It will be available exclusively from me and will be NTSC Region 2
so fine in all modern players here. It was done at my request as a tribute to Jim McClure who is one of the featured racers so watch this web site for news of its
limited release.
Swift snippets. 20th September: The final standings in the 2006 Nordic Dragracing Series
and Swedish Dragracing League have now been calculated and are available on the Svensk Dragracing
web site at www.dragracing.se. Congratulations
to all of this year's NDRS and SDL Champions and a big Well Done to everyone who took part and/or organised.
Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to add to
yesterday's details of February's joint APIRA/SPRC Dinner Dance that tickets for under-thirteens are
£12.50. If booking tickets for under-thirteens then please make this clear on the booking form.
Paula has also asked us to stress that bookings will not be confirmed until she is in receipt of a
completed form. For full information about the Dinner Dance check out
yesterday's news item.
Pat Ginn herself says that it was another great weekend at Santa Pod. "Well done to all the racers there was some great racing", she says.
"The event went very well I thought and the auction was run very well by Ken Cooper and Co, that poor guy having his hair shaved, I hope
he forgives me. Thankyou to Gee Bee and family for all your hard work we really appreciate it, thank you to all the people who donated prizes, money
winnings, etc. You are fantastic and I must say we had a ball, you are such nice people. We will have to try and get to a Straightliners meeting at some
stage and I hope you have more of these events, they are great."
Editor's note: Only a brief news update today because of pressure of work in your News Editor's day job.
Stay tuned and normal service will be resumed tomorrow with pieces from the Orange Pop and
Never Again Racing teams already lined up.
2007 UK Championships Dinner Dance. 19th September: Bookings are now being taken for the second joint Avon Park International
Racers Association/Santa Pod Racers Club Dinner Dance and Trophy Evening, which takes place at 6:30 pm
in the Buckingham Suite of the Park Inn Hotel in Northampton on Saturday 3rd February 2007. Pre-dinner
drinks will be available in the Buckingham Suite foyer from 6:00 pm.
SPRC Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to stress the following:
Proceedings will start prompt at 6:30 pm with the trophy presentations to both the
Santa Pod Racers Club and APIRA Champions and runners-up. For this reason it is important that
everyone is in their seats in the Buckingham Suite at 6:30 pm as the presentation will not be held up for
latecomers. If you miss your presentation then we will not be going back!
After dinner, the 2007 UK National Champions and runners-up will be presented with their trophies,
followed by the APIRA and SPRC Perpetual Award winners and the 2007 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame
inductees.
Bike racers please note that both Clubs run Bike Championships, so bike racers are encouraged to attend to
collect their Championship and runner-up trophies.
Tickets to the Dinner Dance cost £27 per person and £12.50 for under-thirteens which includes
three-course meal plus coffee and mints. Please make it clear on the form if booking tickets for under-thirteens. An
additional £1 per ticket should be added if paying by credit card. Booking will be closed on 26th January 2007
or when the function room is full, whichever is the earlier. Bookings will not be confirmed until a completed
form is received by SPRC.
The Clubs have negotiated a preferential rate for hotel rooms in the Park Inn Hotel. These are priced at
£30 per person for double or twin rooms, or £55 per person for single rooms, both including breakfast on Sunday morning.
To book your room, please call the Park Inn Hotel on 01604 739988 (Reservations is button 1) and quote booking code
SAN020207. If you do not pay a deposit at time of booking then your room could be released after 2:00 pm on the day.
You can find the booking form and information on the Entry Forms page of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site
at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, or you can download the forms below (Word
format):
If you have any queries then please contact Paula Marshall at SPRC on 01933 313625 or E-Mail
paula.marshall@btconnect.com.
Bike Weekend Straightliners results. 19th September: Many thanks to Martyn Greathead for sending us the Straightliners
results from the weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. The results are in
Word format:
"We will be back next year for definite, after all it's only a hour and a half on the plane, and half hour to the facility from the airport, so there is no excuse
for UK drag racing fans not to go to spectate."
Thanks, Santa Pod! 19th September: Also in grateful mood is UK Pro ET racer Antony Wilkins who asked for the help
of Santa Pod Raceway with a motor show, and got it.
"I have been a full-time Bedforshire firefighter for seventeen years", says Butch. "This year we decided to hold a motor show at the fire station to highlight new
vehicle safety devices from all of the major manufactorers. I chipped in that Run What You Brungs are a great way to enjoy driving fast while keeping death and
destruction off of the street -I've seen enough of it.
"To this end I contacted Jo at Santa pod Raceway and she agreed to let us have the Top Fuel Dragster in the appliance bays for the day of the show. True to
Jo's word they turned up with the dragster and it was a true crowd pleaser, being the topic of conversation for hours afterwards. Off her own back Jo turned
up and stayed for a couple of hours talking about the Pod to the public and the firefighters. Can I say a big Thank You to Santa Pod Raceway for their time
and effort.
"If you're wondering what happened to me at the European Finals, I was number one qualifier and then promptly blew the gearbox to bits. Still, thanks
to the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme I received a cheque for £100 and a £60 voucher from Hauser Race Cars, which should be useful.
Finally if Mr Page can't make it I've got a big right foot and a lot of bottle!"
"The new Board's sole mission will be to provide a spectacular drag racing Championship season and also to educate, the drivers about drag racing and safety.
The Bahrain International Circuit has been the main driving force behind the success of the sport of drag racing and has shown that they will support the new
board and the new season."
We will bring you any UK records from the weekend as soon as we receive the timing data.
Bike Weekend final qualifying. 16th September: We are indebted to David Anniwell of Santa Pod Raceway's timing crew
for sending us the final top fives in qualifying at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway
(Name, reaction, ET/speed):
Pro Stock Bike
1. Dave Beck +.201 7.397/176.43
2. Len Paget +.060 7.747/159.46
Funny Bike
1. Neil Midgley +.264 7.061/186.81
2. Chris Hall +.357 7.130/182.03
3. Dave Bailey +.306 7.172/184.43
4. Richard Gipp +.252 7.386/175.66
5. Shaun Branch +.316 7.425/178.59
Super Street Bike
1. Jamie Sneddon +.270 7.564/189.85
2. Steve Venables +.219 7.868/185.81
3. Nigel Barker +.212 7.869/186.05
4. Mark Fisher +.159 7.964/181.54
5. Graham Dance +.208 8.088/173.09
Comp Bike
1. Kevin Charman +.162 7.582/169.88
2. Conrad Skett +.199 8.371/164.80
3. Philip Leamon +.044 8.505/156.75
4. Sandra Chaplain +.283 8.601/153.58
- DNQ -
5. Dave Peters +.827 8.603/154.51
NAST Super Twin Modified
1. Tim Boutle +.613 11.691/123.73
2. Barrie Gregory +.484 11.944/124.94
NAST Super Twin Top Gas
1. John Floyd +.302 8.960/144.67
2. Jerry Collier +.164 9.458/136.39
3. Chris Mott +.529 9.762/137.67
4. Chris Stebbings +.107 9.906/133.99
5. Les Harris +.254 9.932/134.27
NAST Super Twin Top Fuel
1. Wendy Clutterbuck +.187 8.852/140.69
2. Ian Carruthers +.136 9.071/151.08
3. Duncan Hocking +.261 9.901/140.67
Koedam's mixed emotions. 17th September: Last weekend's FIA European Finals was the last weekend as a team for
The Netherlands' Koedam Racing Top Fuel Bike team, because of the sale of the 6.0-second bike and Roel Koedam's
decision to accept Ton Pels' offer to ride his Zodiac-backed Supertwin in 2007. It was an emotional weekend, as
Marius Van Der Zijden writes:
Because we had skipped two of five Championship rounds there was no real chance of winning the European Championship
for a fifth time. Our initial goal would be to run the best we could and, conditions permitting, trying to run as
close as possible to that elusive five.
New bike owner Leonard Azzopardi came over from Sydney to meet his recent purchase for the very first time.
We feel very much that, after getting used to the bike, Leonard will be able to make a lot of noise in the
Top Bike class Down Under.
The weather conditions were absolutely gorgeous all weekend long, with lots of sun and real summer temperatures.
In fact I cannot remember these conditions during any Finals in September. It was however one of the reasons why
it took some time to find the right tune-up for the bike.
Maybe it was because of the weather forecast, but there was a record crowd present all weekend. Never in the
history of Santa Pod Raceway there were so many spectators at the venue. The track was absolutely packed on
both sides. On Sunday they even had to turn the entry road into the track into a one-way road, as traffic was
stuck for over six miles with people trying to get in.
On our first outing on Friday morning we broke the primary drive belt after only 0.6 seconds in the run because
the engine dropped two cylinders right off the line. It was simply too rich and there was not enough heat in the
engine. For our second qualifying pass late that afternoon we left the tune up unchanged.
The conditions looked better and we warmed up the engine longer. The set-up was very similar to what we had at
Hockenheim. However with the front wheel in the air, we smoked the tyre big time no less then three times in that
run. Roel rolled the throttle three times. The result was a 6.8/201. Not a real shocker but we were told it was
at least spectacular. Either we were too greedy or we overpowered the track.
There was a birthday party for Monique in Hockenheim, this time it was Roel's turn. On Friday night we had a delayed
celebration of Roel's fiftieth birthday, which was the Wednesday before the event. A lot of teams showed up and it
was a real nice party.
For the next day we realised that our present set-up was too much for the conditions, so we made a step back on
the clutch and the fuel system. The result was a 'soft' 6.27/212. This qualified us on the #1 spot at that moment.
We had to change a rear tire before the last qualifying pass as we discovered a suspicious crack in the sidewall.
Possibly a manufacturing problem and not caused by its punishment, but we didn't want to take any unnecessary risk.
We stepped up both the fuel system and the clutch again a bit in our last attempt to see if the track would take
it this time. We soon found out that it didn't, as it smoked the tyre right from the line. Roel coasted across the
finish line in 9.3/103. Still we remained the top qualifier.
From that moment on we knew a Five was not in the bag and we changed our strategy for eliminations day on Sunday.
We started concentrating on trying to win the event.
After the #1 qualifiers presentation on Sunday a lot of teams got together at the start line for a moment of silence
to remember our dear friend Svein Gottenberg who passed away so tragically in a race-related accident in the week before.
'Gotten' you will be missed by the entire drag race family!
For our first round who else could we meet than Funny Bike rider Neil Midgley? Our 'pour' 6.7/210 was enough to take
the round win. Neil: at least you're now relieved from meeting your nemesis Roel in each first round of eliminations.
For the semi-finals we were matched up against our pal Ian King. We had leaned out the fuel system to match the warm
weather conditions. It was a nice even battle in the first half of the track, but then our bike took an advantage over
Ian's 6.5. Our numbers were 6.3/210.
We made it again to the final round. This time however it would be our very last run with our baby.
Our opponent, Funny Bike rider Dave Bailey, had made it to the finals with a little luck.
At least on paper he looked no real match, but you never know!
We felt that there was room for some experiment and decided to step up the fuel system (more of everything).
As Roel started his final burnout he thought "Hold on, it's is my very last one on this bike, I've got to do
something special for the fans". While he was in the burnout he raised his left hand and waved thumbs up to the
crowd while controlling 1200+ horses with just his right had on the bar! Once again he proved his nickname 'Cool Roel'.
I think nobody in the world has ever seen this much bike control. The spectators gave him a standing ovation.
When Roel pulled up to the staging beams, the whole team lined up behind the bike for this special occasion.
To everyone's expectations Roel took his final event win not only because of our power advantage but also
because our opponent redlit.
Our run numbers were not as we hoped. After a 'slow' 1.07 sixty foot time, the eighth mile was reached in a good 4.0
but it was already overpowering the track. It hazed the tyre for the rest of the run when finally (at 5.6 seconds)
another primary belt gave away. Breaking this belt didn't come as a real surprise after the punishments of the
tyre-shaking previous rounds, but we were simply out of new belts and couldn't replace it as a precaution.
Still it was a 6.3/195 run.
While I rode in front of the stands towards the end of the track to pick Roel up, the spectators on both sides along
the full length of the track were clapping and cheering as a Thank You for what we've given them over the years. This
was very emotional for me and I took the honours for the whole team.
Later that day during the trophy presentation the entire team had to step up to the winners rostrum while we received
once again big honours and seemingly never-ending applause. This is exactly why our last race simply had to be in front
of the fans at Santa Pod Raceway, the place where we felt at home the most! You will probably understand that it was
again not without tears of emotion.
In the three FIM/UEM Championship rounds that we attended this year we set the quickest ET and top speed, were # 1
qualifier and took the event win in all of them. Championship series winner this year is Rikard Gustavsson from
Sweden (congratulations), we finished as runner-up.
Despite our somewhat 'below average' performances we had an unforgettable weekend and could not wish for a
better last ride with our bike. Here our race track appearances with this bike have come to an end. What's left is
taking the bike apart and rebuilding it before it is shipped to Australia.
Yvon Bakker has updated her web site with pictures from the FIA European Finals to add to those from the
rest of this year's European Championship Tour as well as events at Drachten. You can check out Yvon's
shots at www.yfje.nl.
Farewell to Svein. 15th September: The church of Lillestrom had seats for six hundred people and was more than packed for Svein
Gottenberg's funeral yesterday with many having to stand, writes Stefan Boman:
The preacher Jahn Aas told us some nice Gottenberg stories from the past and even made people laugh once
when quoting Svein about his friendship with Gunnar. Solo artist Tarjei van Ravens sang Eric Clapton's ballad Tears in Heaven in a way that
touched us all.
Among the hundreds of participants were of course many from our sport. It was impossible to note everybody there and
this was not my intention ether. Among those I met were Ronny Aasen, Sverre Dahl, Svein Olav Rolvstad, Hans Olav Olstad, Ton Pels,
Roel Koedam, Gerhard Wilemse, Ulf Nylen, Per Bengtsson, Thomas Nataas, Peter Lantz, Morgan Svensson, Christian and Viktoria Karling
and many more.
It was hard for all of us to see the family who gave drag racing one of the nicest persons in the sport in such pain.
I can only say thank you for the memories and our thoughts are with you all.
Swift snippets. 15th September: Don't forget that our good friends at Svensk Dragracing are posting live
Event Coverage, with reports and galleries, from this weekend's Winternationals at Meca Raceway. You can find
Tezzii and the guys' coverage at www.dragracing.se.
Santa Pod Raceway are looking for race cars to make exhibition passes at the their BMW Day on Saturday
of next week (23rd). "We are looking for cars which can run below ten seconds to show spectators what drag
racing is all about", says Darren Prentice. If you would like to volunteer then please drop Darren an E-Mail
at darren@santapod.com or call him on
01234 782828.
UK Junior Dragster racer Scott Hauser is the subject of an interesting interview on the Raise Your Game
section of the BBC web site at www.bbc.co.uk/wales/raiseyourgame.
"It helps to get our sport on the mainstream map", says Geof Hauser.
Pat Ginn and TJ O'Brien have asked us to say a big Good Luck to Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Matthew Wright and
his team at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. "We hope you have a good weekend", they say. "We
can't be there as we will be at Santa Pod but we will see you at the National Finals in a couple of weeks."
Scott's #1 plate. 15th September: Sharron Collier of UK Supertwin Gas and Junior Drag Bike team Jade Racing
has been in touch to say a big Congratulations to Scott Collier on his APIRA Junior Drag Bike Championship, and
to say Thank You to Anthony, Julie, Jerry and everyone at Shakespeare County Raceway for putting on a great event at the Open Sports Nationals.
"Scott fell off his pushbike again on Monday night (Been on the wine gums again? - Ed) damaging his left elbow, wrist, hip and ankle so was a complete limping grazed
mess by the time we got home, but he didn't care! Well done Scotty, you're a true Champ."
Web site updates. 15th September: Nick Pettitt has updated his Time Travel DVDs web site with more
drag racing and hot rodding pictures from the 1970s, which you can find at
www.timetraveldvds.co.uk. Nick also
asks that if any reader has old cine film of drag racing hidden away anywhere then they contact him so
that he can put together more of his superb historic DVDs. You can contact Nick through the web site.
Brian Nixon tells us that the Outlaw Anglia racers together with Alan Martin and Shakespeare County Raceway have decided to
hold the minute's silence for Debbie at 10:30 am this Saturday, before the first round of Outlaw Anglia at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags.
"Bob and Carol are keen to meet all the Anglia racers and friends at this time, although they feel they cannot stay", says Brian.
"Together with Paul Wright I have proposed to Bob and Carol the setting up of a tribute to Debbie's memory. The Debbie Hancox Memorial
Trophy will be awarded to the Anglia team which best illustrates the spirit of Outlaw Anglia racing, voted by the racers and awarded anually.
Bob And Carol are delighted at this idea, as Debbie loved the Anglias and "spirited" is something which sums Debbie up. Also a fund is to be set up in
Debbie's name to run alongside the trophy. Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can do so at the track in the Outlaw Anglia pits."
Statement from Santa Pod Raceway. 14th September: Following the death of a spectator during the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday
10th September, the event organisers would like to express their sincere condolences. He has been named as Roger George, aged 64 from Norwich.
A spokesperson for the race track has said "Whilst a full police investigation is currently taking place we are unable to comment on the cause of this
tragic incident. We are, of course, deeply upset by it and our thoughts are with all of his family and friends at this very sad time."
That 300 out of Smax's clutch... 14th September: One of the highlights for UK fans at the FIA European Finals was
Smax Smith's off-the-trailer
four-second pass in the McDonald brothers' Top Fuel Dragster. Smax says that he was was
going for another team best last weekend when a clutch explosion stopped their race in its
tracks:
The team took the dragster to the track last Sunday, and when I arrived
on Thursday engineer Steve was machining a leading edge into the oil pump
fitting. No-one rests on our team!
We went into the fours straight out of the trailer with a 4.97/296, this
is the quickest and fastest this car has ever run and a best for the
team. The run put us #1 until Urs went quicker. We both sat out the second
session to watch the rest of the field struggle to get down the track yet
again.
For the third session we had tweaked slightly to get our first 300 mph run
and all the incrementals were there until half track but then disaster - our
clutch exploded into a ball of molten metal! I was racing Håkan Nilsson
and drilled him on the Tree, I never saw him until clutch went, and then I watched
him run 4.800 in other lane setting a new record. If anyone has any video or pictures
of the clutch explosion then please send them to me so that we can try and learn from
them!
In amongst all this, Sky Sports filmed me for an Idiots' Guide to drag racing which will be shown
on the Allsports programme which is aired every Friday evening. It should be shown
in the next couple of weeks, hopefully someone will tape it for me.
A big Thanx to all the fans who supported the team and I by buying
various parts, I also hope that all the kids love the little mementos the team made to give
away...maybe you know someone at work who will help the team with leads for
sponsors.
We will update the web site soon as I am testing the Nitro Funny Car this weekend.
Koedam's achievements. 14th September: Andy Marrs of TSI Timers
Europe has marked the end of Roel Koedam's Top Fuel Bike career by compiling a list of Roel's achievements at
Santa Pod Raceway:
Roel made 84 runs between 1995 and 2006, two of which over the eighth in 1998 due to high winds.
Roel has amassed 2205 Top Fuel Bike European Championship, 481 higher than nearest rival Eric Teboul and second in all time points scored to Roger Pettersson.
Average: 158 per year
High: 313 (2003)
Low: 48 (1992)
Having said that Roel's Top Fuel Bike career has ended, he told us on Monday that the new owner of his Top Fuel Bike has asked him to
ride it in Australia (I hope this isn't the first Monique hears of this - Ed). Will Roel be tempted?
Legends set for legendary event. 14th September: One of the oldest established hot rodding events, the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, gets another airing this weekend at
Shakespeare County Raceway in an event which caters for quality street rods, V8 muscle machines and wild-looking race cars, writes SCR's Promotions Manager
Jerry Cookson.
Organised by the oldest sanctioning hot rod club in the UK, the NSRA Hot Rod Drags features a two-day retro-style drag racing event for pre '72 machines.
Where else will you expect to find period side-valve flathead roadsters, classic V8 coupes, chopped and channelled Topolinos and full-on nostalgia
dragsters - the Hot Rod Drags of course.
Keeping the retro scene buzzing will be a mix of Flathead Roadsters contesting the timed Custom Car Meltdown Challenge, wheelstanding antics from the
Outlaw Anglias, the ringmasters that are the Gasser Circus, sizzling slingshot dragster action from the guys and gals who started it all off over ten years
ago, the Wild Bunch, and the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association boasting a strong nine car field of fuel and methanol burners headlined by the new Mr
Six Jim Usher in The Mob Model T.
It is also expected that former seventies C/Modified standout Sam 'The Red Devil' Connell will be taking several turns behind the wheel of Mick Smith's
legendary Money Hungry Pro Stock Camaro.
Evening entertainment will be provided by The Gods (Not literally? - Ed) who will have in tow a fly-on-the-wall film crew from MTV
who will also be looking for some track action to film too. The usual bar and disco is all lined up together with a fair, kids' entertainment and stalls making
the NSRA Trader Alley the best yet!
Eurodragster.com cannot cover this event live (I've been away so much recently that I need to be re-educated where I
live and which one is my wife - Ed) but we have arranged for qualifying and elimination results to be sent to us for
posting here, and we will also be putting up both of our Perfect Awards, about which more tomorrow.
It doesn't move, how can it fail? 13th September: Bob Roberts of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Andy Robinson Race Cars
says that it is difficult to put into words how Andy and his team felt on Sunday morning when their
Studebaker Pro Mod would not start in the second round of eliminations after producing a
6.195 in qualifying.
The ARRC web site at www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk
has been updated with pictures and video from the FIA European Finals as well as a gallery of Stefani Robinson's
excellent pictures from the team's European Tour.
Hard work rewarded. 13th September: FIA European Finals Pro Mod winner Danny Cockerill says that his victory
was the result of hard work by his team.
"Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to all of my crew: Dave, Mikey, Steve Mac, Gareth, and Andy Kirk, for taking us to and winning the final round
of the biggest event of Santa Pod's calendar", says Danny. "This is our first event win and although we had a bit of luck in the semis with Urban Johansson
having to be shut down with an oil leak, but the guys all worked bloody hard all weekend long.
"At 1:00 pm on Thursday DHL turned up with the parts and we left for the track, where we set up and started pulling the head off. We put in a new liner,
piston and rod, put the head back on and had it fired up that night. Good work lads. Come Friday morning it was time to go out for our first qualifier, first
pass off the trailer and it went 6.38/215, our quickest ever ET. From that moment on the weekend just got better, running 221 mph as our best speed and
finally winning the meeting.
"I would like to thank Andy Robinson for helping us out with supplying and fitting a new set of gears in our rear end as we hurt a set with violent tyre shake,
as if he didn't have enough to do with his own car. Again I would like to thank all of my crew for the hard work they have done over the last couple of weeks,
my wife Dee for not seeing me for about two weeks (I was in the garage), and to anyone else I have missed from my list."
Swift snippets. 13th September: Jerry Cookson tells us that there will be a one-minute silence at
10:30 am this Saturday (16th) at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway in memory of Debbie Hancox,
hot rodder James Dawson who also died recently, and spectator Roger George who lost his life at Santa Pod
Raceway on Sunday.
A look at our stats server reveals that Eurodragster.com's FIA European Finals coverage generated 69,587 unique visits, 628,255 page views, and 2,968,647 hits.
Many thanks to everyone who tuned in, to the racers for giving us so much to report; to Santa Pod Raceway, Santa Pod Racers Club and Trakbak Racing for giving us the
facilities to do it; and of course to American Car
Imports for their sponsorship.
FIA European Finals 9.50 Bike review. 13th September: If you were tuned in to our FIA European Finals coverage you will have read
9.50 Bike racer Chris Jones' entertaining notes from the 9.50 Bike pit. Chris has now kindly sent us a report to
bring us up-to-date on the rest of the weekend:
The rest of the event saw lots of 9.50 Bike action in and out of the pits, and with the big yellow thing in the sky out to watch, you couldn't ask
for better, brilliant! Friday saw Richard 'Boss' Hann snip into the #5 spot after plenty of messing around with clutches etc (seems to be a
theme developing here in the 9.50 camp) with the gas well and truly turned on this time. Phil Surridge chasing the perfect index and of course the
Terminator-like times of Andy Haley qualified #2 with a 9.504. It's amazing to see the top fifteen qualifiers out of a twenty nine bike field dropping
in a 9.5 in one guise or another and a testament to the cracking track conditions.
The first round of eliminations matched my R1 up with Graham Dance's Super Street 'Busa, promising to take it easy on him as I then watched him
disappear into the distance on an eight second run, competing in the naughtiness, and me through to the next round. Fred Furlong on his return took
out Team Breakout's Shaun Spiers who is now getting to grips with the 'Busa after putting in a 9.3 personal best this weekend.
Fast Harry later returned from his elims advising Steve Venables (also running the naughtiness) of his 7.6 run, as he was able to read it as he went
through the timing lights at the end. Andy Bird continued his rampage with a confident 9.54 in this round, though Richard Sawatzki went through on a
9.8, he needs to up the ante if he's to mount any last-bid challenge for the #1 spot in the Championship.
A terrible disaster for Ed Smiley who following his burnout dropped the clutch at the turn of the lights and sat on the line hitting the rev limiter, he
unfortunately hadn't found first gear properly and was in fact sat in neutral, not to worry as he still has the measure of the bike and whilst not in
contention for the #1 spot, wild-card like he continues to threaten qualifying points in the Andy Bird/Richard Sawatzki battle.
Sunday, and now we're getting down to it. Phil Pratt is through, after taking out Christer Holmberg of the Swedish contingent, as is a storming
Andy Haley. Andy Bird, now very aware that Richard Sawatzki has been knocked out and the widening gap for the Championship, has a bit of a nail-biter
in front of him when matched up with Andy Haley. In the next round, Andy Bird's GSXR is sat in stage with Andy Haley's 'Busa sat opposite! This is an
obstacle that Andy Bird needs to overcome if he's to see a trophy this weekend. The lights drop and Andy Bird screams out of the blocks. Andy
Haley not to be outdone Rockets the 'Busa into the first sixty feet as they joust up the strip, neck and neck, this is a blistering race with neither racer
giving an inch. So the battle continues to the quarter mile and when the time lights pop up, Old Gun Andy Bird is through, victorious on a 9.55 by
the skin of his teeth, but through nonetheless. Meanwhile Phil Pratt stages up against Dave Burfitt. Another extremely close race all the way up to the
quarter mile sees Phil go through on a 9.6. So that's the final sorted with two good friends set to fight it out for the bigger of the two trophies up for grabs.
Finals time and Andy Bird is fully aware that Phil has run slower ETs over the weekend, but is also mindful that Phil has a history of cracking reactions, following
his shooting 0.05s, on the other hand Andy has consistently hit the 9.5 index, this race could go either way! Andy Bird burns out with a slight misfire from the
Strongbow Suzuki (something and nothing) but too late to sort now, this is it! Pre-stage, stage and the lights drop. Both racers let rip with Andy Bird
digging in slightly on the sixty foot and Phil doing the same. This could be an upset for Andy! The guys are again neck and neck up the strip, it's close!
The lights come up with a 9.64/136 for Andy, followed extremely closely by Phil with a 9.72/140 from Phil. Andy gets it, but well-ridden to all.
An extremely good event for the Sportsman classes was had by all. May it long continue.
Seven up for Frosty. 13th September: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost made it into the
sevens at the weekend's FIA European Finals, running in Comp Eliminator in his Red Victor 1
Vauxhall. Andy says that achieving this goal required a massive effort from a lot of people.
"We didn't fire the car until Wednesday morning after Nigel had spent all night finishing off the oil tank for the dry sump system", says Andy. "Unfortunately
because of that we never had a chance to test the motor at any revs, if we had done maybe we would have noticed the oil leak from the back of the engine.
Maybe it was fortunate that Chief Starter Ian Marshall noticed, twice,although I wasn't too happy at getting all the way up there to be turned back. But hey,
he was only looking after my interests after all.
"Without exception every team from Top Fuel to Junior Dragster needs good crew. I like to think I have that, so take a bow Tony Grayston, Deb and Gary,
and new addition Rob Cairns. Lastly a big thanks to every one who texted, E-Mailed and spoke to me in person to congratulate the team. It is appreciated
more than you will ever know.
"So now back to Street Eliminator to try to start where we left off. Don't miss it..."
Second is promising youngster Jamie Dyks who has posted a number of great spectator-side pictures on
his Life's A Drag web site at at
www.freewebs.com/topnitro.
Pat Ginn Appeal auction update. 12th September: Ken Cooper has been in touch with the latest news about the auction to benefit
the Pat Ginn Appeal. The auction will be held after Saturday's racing at this weekend's Extreme Performance Bike
Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway.
"What a response I have had", says Ken. "The list so far:
King Racing Jacket and tee shirts.
Woollatt Racing caps and a day crewing with their Top Fuel Bike Team.
An early-style Santa pod jacket.
A signed Roel Koedam cap.
A Foggy Petronas Team polo shirt.
A new Shinko tyre.
A new Pirelli tyre.
Two pairs of leathers, one medium and one large.
A day crewing with the Paul Marston Racing Team.
A $100 MRE voucher.
Streetfighters magazine goody bag, tee shirts, jackets, sweat shirts and a years subscription.
A pair of nitrous solenoids.
"And more still coming in. So bring some cash boys and girls, there's some nice stuff up for grabs and all for a worthy cause."
Chevy comes to Orthodoxou's rescue. 12th September: UK Super Pro ET racer Chris Orthodoxou says that he had a fantastic weekend
at the FIA European Finals and that it was great to be back with his Dodge Viper after being away for so long:
Firstly, enormous thanks to Wayne Nicholson for letting me have a valve lash adjuster from the engine of his brand new car. I damaged one on my Hemi
during the fourth qualifying run. I was on the verge of packing up to go home, when after a tannoy appeal on my behalf by Joe Pasquale impersonator John
Price, Wayne immediately offered me one from his engine which had unfortunately been damaged earlier. So nice one mate, I owe you big-time for getting
me back on the track. Wayne's new 'Vette is a serious bit of kit. Although a Chevy, I hate to admit that it's an awesome machine. I know I used the words
"Chevy" and "awesome" in the same sentence, but this time it wasn't by accident.
On arrival in the control tower to ask Pricey to put out the tannoy appeal, I endured several minutes of severe verbal abuse from both John and the very slim and
sexy Graham Beckwith, including a comment live on the PA that I hadn't had a haircut since the year John and I were both born, 1923. Well, I would like to make
it clear that John Price was born a long long time before 1923, and I was born a long long time after. But he's right about the haircut!
I hadn't been in competition since 1998, and found out the hard way how far the standard of bracket racing had progressed since then.
For example, in early qualifying, I dialled 7.98 and ran 8.02, 0.04 over and that only gave me #18 spot on the ladder! Back in 1998 that would
have been good enough for a top five spot. As the Viper is still new, it will take a little time to get consistent, so hopefully I'll have her running right
on the money fairly quickly.
And what about that formation fly-by with the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane? What a show-stopper. How many times in your life will you ever get
to see that? A wonderful sight that actually brought a lump to your throat.
Thanks again to Wayne Nicholson, Team Administrator (wife) Angella, Crew Chief Tony Tomline and his wife Lindsey, Mark (Nipper) Stevens for the use
of his truck as a tow vehicle, and his mate Jason for help in the pits. Thanks also to Mick Payne and his crew for their assistance and beers.
Editor's note: We have a number of FIA European Finals reviews from other racers but your News Editor simply ran out of lunch break
today. Tune in to tomorrow's news update for reports from Andy Robinson, Danny Cockerill, Andy Frost and Chris Jones on 9.50 Bike, and racers please
keep sending those FIA European Finals reviews, season reviews and news to us at
news@eurodragster.com and we'll
publish them here.
Swift snippets. 12th September: At Sunday's post-FIA European Finals Banquet, FIA Drag Racing Commission
Chair Carl Olson announced that he will be standing down from the Commission later this year. Carl told
Eurodragster.com that he wishes to concentrate on his work with the SFI Foundation. Carl added that his replacement
will be decided by the FIA World Council in due course.
Many thanks to FIA European Championship Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending us the final points standings in
the 2006 FIA European Championships. You can see the final points (PDF format) by
clicking here
or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page
Dutch Pro Mod racer Henri Joosten says that it was difficult to go faster with his new engine at the FIA European Finals.
"The engine is so powerful that we need more test runs to find the balance with the chassis, clutch and engine", says Henri.
"The big wheelie in the first run on Friday was our first with this new engine on a good track and it surprised the team - we don't normally wheelie, we
want to go fast". Henri would be pleased to hear from any reader with video footage of his wheelie in Friday's first qualifying session, if you have any
video then please contact him at marfinfo@quicknet.nl.
Peter Knight tells us that the Top Fuel blowers, injector assembly, and blower manifold which were stolen from his trailer on 9th May
have turned up. "The parts were returned to Webster Race Engineering", says Peter. "I would like to thank the person who recovered the items, he knows who
he is. I would also like to thank all those people who have kept an eye out for them. It was someone's vigilance which led to their return. They have now been
reunited with the car, as Jöran Persåker has benefitted from a very good deal in purchasing them. I hope he keeps them safe!"
Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has written in appreciation of Santa Pod Raceway's track crew
for their hard work at the weekend. "The track was live for a total of 37 hours 45 minutes, during which time the crew dealt with fifty eight separate incidents
(oildowns, vehicles stopped on track, etc.) totalling 12 hours and 15 minutes", says Andy. "Of these, fifteen were oildowns dealt with in an average of slightly over
thirty one minutes each for a total of 7 hours 50 minutes. Bearing in mind that a number of oildowns approached half a mile in length I think it's nothing
short of a Herculean effort to complete this event as smoothly and timely as it was."
Andy has also provided us with an updated table of European Bests now including the records set at the
FIA European Finals. You can view the table by clicking
here or by clicking on the European Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith has been in touch to tell us that Barry Paton has put his Top Fuel operation up for rent.
"The car is latest spec, ready to race in NHRA or IHRA National events", says Smax. "It comes complete with transporter, crew, spares, everything provided.
Serious enquiries only to +1 423 967 6817 or E-Mail barrypaton@rogers.com
or smax@smax.co.uk.
Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our very own Simon for passing on the post-Open Sports Nationals standings in the
UK National Championships. You can see the UK points by
clicking here or by clicking on the Points Standings
page on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Photographer Nigel Holland asked us to say a big Thank You to Vic Amato and Nev Mottershead for giving him
passenger rides at last week's FIA European Finals Press Day. "Vic and Nev were patient, explained the ins
and outs of what was going to happen, made sure that I was tucked in nice and tight and gave
me the ride of my life!", says Nigel. "Thank you guys for a great experience. Being on the back
end of the camera most of the time, it give me a slight insight to the fun you racers
have."
FIA European Finals FIM/UEM review. 12th September: FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has been in touch
with his regular post-event review, this time from the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway:
This was almost one of the best races in Europe that I have ever attended. Almost everything went right.
The track was in splendid condition and the people working on the track did an excellent job and didn't create any problems at all. A promoter
doing all that he could to make a great race and very nice weather. All of these positive things made this a wonderful weekend. Also thank you for
all the support that I had from riders, mechanicals and officials regarding my work. Such support makes it easier to continue.
First a little about Top Fuel Bike. The Championship was almost already won by Rickard Gustavsson so it was not as interesting as in Supertwin.
It is a long times since a Funny Bike won the Championship and I do feel that the mix between Fast Funny Bikes and Top Fuellers is not bad.
What we all were waiting on was whether Roel Koedam would be able to do a five-second run or not. We all know that the bike can do it, we
know that the team can do it, and we know that the track could do it. But theory and practice are not the same. This was going to be the last event
for Roel on this bike since it has been sold to an Australian racer. We will all miss the bike and the team next year.
Supertwin turned out to be a thriller. Ronny Aasen was leading the Championship from Lorenz Stäuble and Charley Karling. Lorenz was the number
one qualifier and was racing against Per Bengtsson. Lorenz' bike stopped and an alternate was called in but the win went to Per Bengtsson.
But Per was not satisfied because the bike did not run as it should. Something was wrong but what? In the next pair it was Ronny Aasen against his
fellow Norwegian Hans Olav Olstad. Olstad ran on Friday and qualified but also badly damaged his engine. But with some help from his friends he repaired
the bike and the bike ready to run twenty minutes before the start. But Ronny was too strong. On the other side of the ladder was it Jaska Salakari who
once again had problems and in the very last round of qualifying got the bike to run well. Jaska will be very strong next year, but Charley took the win
and met Gunther Sohn in the semi final which he also won. The final was Charley against Ronny Aasen, Charley pulling a red light which was a very red light
and Ronny stopping just metres out with a broken belt. But according to the regulations Ronny was the winner.
This was the last race for the season. It must have been one of the beast seasons ever here in Europe. Only one Friday rained off.
Everything worked out very well in the last race, an incident involving cars did create some problems, but that is an other story.
I am hoping that more riders from different countries will do more events next year. We have strong bikes in Greece and Italy. If we can get more riders
to go up to Scandinavia it would be very good. I am also hoping that we can include Norway in the Championsahip again next year.
Maybe we also need a track in the southern part of Europe to get the Championship goiing strong
Thank you very much to all the officials for their work during the year. I cannot name them all but they have done a very good job.
Taking care of the track before and during an event is hard work, and with all the clean ups this weekend there was not so much delay.
Thank you to all people working with this. Also thanks to Santa Pod who have all the equipment which makes this possible.
Thank you also to Keith Bartlett and Kjell Pettersson who have made good progress this year. I do know that the television which has been
done this year is of a very high quality. People who have seen it says that it is the best ever (it is - Ed). I hope that their plans work out for
the promoters, tracks and racers. If so then will we have a really nice season next year. I am already waiting for it.
You can see the final FIM/UEM Championship points (Excel format) by clicking here
or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Beck takes out the Spiderman. 12th September: UK Pro Stock Bike racer Dave Beck pulled off one of the upsets of
the year, writes Stephen Moon. Dave sent a large Atco crowd wild as he took out the undisputed
fastest Top Fuel Bike racer in the world, Larry McBride, in the first round of Top Fuel Bike:
The MRE team worked hard on Friday getting the bike into shape for the
qualifying rounds on Saturday. Disaster struck in the warm-up on Saturday
morning however, as a cam chain tensioner broke as the bike was started. A
quick top end rebuild had the MRE bike ready for a final shot at the eight
bike field, although it looked a tall order with fifteen assorted Top Fuel and
Funny Bikes in the fireup road. A 6.97 saw Beck make the field at #8,
with a Sunday noon appointment due with Larry McBride.
Sunday saw the team in the burnout box listening to the commentator asking
the large crowd to raise their hand if they had travelled from England for
the race. Two people on the track raised their hands, a great moment.
McBride ripped of a literally earth-shaking burnout as Dave waited for the
order to start the bike. Then it was all action - wicked burnout and into
stage next to the world's fastest guy. On the green, dave left with and 0.04
light and McBride followed at 0.250 but smoked the tyre immediately. Larry
rolled it off, hit it again and smoked, and refusing to give up gave it a
third shot. Too late, as the MRE Pro Mod took the win in seven flat !
Team owner Jay Regan remained calm in the ensuing excitement, later cracking
a smile. A magnanimous Larry McBride came over to the MRE pit to
congratulate Dave, admitting to having "Pushed the bike two blocks back to
calm down". An equally sporting Steve McBride and Roland Stuart offered
their congratulations, with Kathy McBride offering a much more practical
banana pie!
Sadly, another warm-up disaster saw the crank break, bringing the weekend to
a close. All that remained was to pull the motor, rebuild two bottom ends in
readiness for Gainesville, and load the whole operation into the trailer,
all of this in the absence of Big Jay who mysteriously reappeared as the
trailer door closed.
First up is Graham Rice who says that amongst other pictures he was "simply in the right place at the right time" to
get this shot of Håkan Fällström's dragster lifting its blower. You can find Graham's European
Finals pictures at www.gjrphotography.fotopic.net.
UK NFAA racer Joe Bond has updated his Nuthin' Fancy web site with a report of his outing at the Open Sports Nationals at
Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out Joe's report at
www.nuthinfancy.150m.com. Joe tells us that he can't wait for his next outing
at this weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway.
You can view our American Car Imports-sponsored
FIA European Finals coverage by clicking
here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page and selecting the FIA European Finals.
Our good buddy Gareth Evans has been updating his UK1320 web site with end-day galleries, which you can
view at www.uk1320.com.
John Seymour has updated his Bald Photographer web site with pictures from Wednesday's FIA European Finals Press Day at Santa
Pod Raceway. You can check out John's pictures at
www.thebaldphotographer.com.
"After a rough start to the season with the Top Fuel Dragster, things started to get better in Finland", says Andrea. "In your first year of Top Fuel you have to work
hard and sometimes it is painful, but if you don't go out there and run you will never learn how to do it right. At Mantorp and Gardermoen we ran good numbers
and repeated it at Hockenheim. The crew is getting used to the laws of Top Fuel: if you do something wrong, everything will go wrong.
"Lorenz Stäuble has had a great season on the Supertwin despite the Finland race. He has won his first Championship event and runs consistently fast.
In his second year he has made a big step forward and after being the rookie he is now one of the bigger guys. Lorenz' best part of the season was the victory
at Mantorp Park. Finally he was standing up there at the top. He was smiling the whole evening and it was a big relief for the whole team.
"When Urs thinks of his best moment so far this season he just sees the 4.74 seconds and 514 kmh on the scoreboard at Gardermoen and the engine
looking brand new. On that day he knew that his dragster runs fast and that it is possible to run it safe. He believed in it again and knew that he had taken
the right decision after the Finals last year."
Andrea says that the team have had the luxury of not having to make changes to the Supertwin this season after changing the ignition and clutch set-up
in the off-season but that there is development to come on the other team vehicle. "On the Top Fuel Dragster we are still running the same combination
but finally found our basic set-up", she says. "So now it is all about improvement, consistency and bringing back all the parts in one piece."
The team are very grateful for the support of their sponsors Midland Oil of Switzerland, Techno AG, SCS IT Procurement, Unifit Katalysatoren, Rick's
Motorcycles and RCM CNC Machining who have supported them during the whole season. "We have run the best numbers with their products and we
are proud to represent them on the track", says Andrea.
Breaking the piston diet. 7th September: UK Super Modified racer Tim Garlick says that after a terrific start to the season, culminating
in a 7.68 at 176 mph, his unique Rover engine has continued with its healthy appetite for pistons. Engine builders ICE Automotive have however come to the
rescue and Tim's Cortina will be ready to mix it in Super Modified at the final UK National Championship round at the end of September.
"At this point I cannot emphasise enough the support which my crew and I have received from ICE. Without their ongoing support and commitment I would have
quit years ago. We look forward to rucking with the other Sumo racers at the National Finals, where there should be eleven of us!"
This year's UK Super Modified Annual General Meeting takes place at the Tewin Memorial Hall on 12th November.
"All interested parties are welcome and positively encouraged to attend", says Lee Kirk. "Want your say? Now's your chance!
Any team or racer wishing to attend should feel free to contact us through the web site at
www.supermodified.co.uk.
Appleton returns in 2007. 6th September: UK Pro Mod racer Gordon Appleton will be back on the track in 2007, says
Crew Chief Adrian Spencer. The Wheelgame Racing Camaro hit the guardrail at Sunday's Run What You Brung
at Santa Pod Raceway after a rear wheel failed.
"In Gordon's own words: we will be coming back bigger and stronger next year", said Adrian.
Malmgren: It's all about seconds. 6th September: Swedish Pro Stock racer
Michael Malmgren and the Lahega Racing team are
going into this weekend's FIA European Finals with a mathematical chance of the FIA European Championship,
but Michael says that Jimmy Ålund's performances so far make the battle more realistically for the
runner-up place.
"As everyone knows we had a very bad crash in the first qualifying run at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod", says Michael. "As we never completed the run,
the rules said that we got no points, so that ended our chances to go for the title this year and our season kind of ended before it started. But we had great
support from our new main sponsor Lahega and Mats Eriksson, who promised to fix the car so we could run next round in Finland, and from team
members who supported me all the way and worked their asses off to be able to have car ready for Alastaro. It came down to hours in the end, but we made
it, I guess many teams didn't think we could do it.
"Coming to the Finals there are three or four teams who could clinch the #2 spot in the Championship, so the team which does best will be #2.
We will do our best to make sure it will be Lahega Racing. With one race less than the others to gain points on, I feel very proud of my team's
achievements this year. Let's hope for good weather and we will put some numbers on scoreboard that you've never seen before!"
Team member Magnus Cato adds that 2007 will be a special year for the team. "We can't say too much yet, but as two team members
are celebrating their fiftieth birthdays next year, and have been in the Pro Stock ranks for fifteen years
next year, something special is bound to happen", says Magnus. "Maybe this will include a trip over to some
other continent? Keep your eyes on Eurodragster.com, as well as our own site, for information."
More black for White. 6th September: UK Pro Mod racer Ray White says that his blown-alcohol Zephyr
has had a facelift since its last outing.
"The front, bonnet and doors are now in matching Dartford Racing Black and not gell coat", says
Ray. "The grille and headlights have been airbrushed in by Faye Bishop of Riart, and
Fay also applied the monochrome graphics on the sides. My old mate Nigel of ProSign has done
some striping on the front."
"I have got a new combination for next year so I have just got to wait. It costs so much money
to run these cars, I could have had my Diablo in the garage!
"Everyone in Eurodragster land please come over to the pits, have a look around, and have a chat.
Good luck to all the racers at the Finals."
Blower guys beware! 6th September: Norwegian Pro Mod racer Jan
Arve Nygård is testing at today's FIA European Finals Press Day at Santa Pod preparatory to stepping up and
"Breathing down the blower guys' necks" this weekend.
Jan Arve is also grateful to Wally Stroupe Race Cars for building superb chassis, and to
Gene Fulton for "Delivering power to the people - if it was not for him there wouldn't be any
nitrous entries."
Red Victor 1 will go to the ball... 6th September: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost and the
Red Victor 1 team, entered in Comp Eliminator
at this weekend's FIA European Finals, have been extremely busy in the last few weeks modifying the oiling system of Andy's
eight-second street-legal Victor after an oil surge damaged the engine. Andy says that space restrictions under the bonnet have made the installation of a dry
sump system a tedious task.
"An Aviaid reverse driven pump was chosen so we could drive it off the camshaft, again due to space restrictions, but because there was no drive system
for the Jesel belt drive, Nigel at Altiss Engineeering has had to custom fabricate one...again!
It's the same story with the oil tank,which Nigel is still working on as I write this. A huge thanks to his dedication on this project. Many people would
have given up by now, but Nigel has worked non-stop to get us out for this event and for Gary's Picnic.
"The plumbing for the pump, tank and oil pan was also a challenge. Luckily Ian Goldie from CamAuto
stepped up to supply us with all the hose and ends we needed, which was a lot. A big thanks must go to Knight Racing Services who got us the oil pump and pan,
Andy who saved the block for us, Paul Webster who lent me the block and crank in the first place, Rob who fetched parts for me whenever I needed them,
Steve at Nimbus Motorsport who has kept us supplied with his product range whenever
we have needed it, Steve Sczepanski from Mechanical Power Systems in Canada who is once again
jetting his way over to finish the EFI mapping, and lastly to my family who have had the utmost patience over the last couple of months.
Hopefully all the R & D we have done this year will mean an easier (and cheaper) 2007 for all the people involved with the team."
Andy adds that he will be selling copies of the official World Street Race DVD from his pit this weekend. The two-disc set sells at £20.
FIA European Finals Perfect Awards. 6th September: A total of £125 is on offer to racers for perfect performance this weekend,
as well as £50 in donations to the Pat Ginn Appeal in the names of the winners.
In addition, the winners of the Perfect Light and Perfect ET Awards will each be given a cheque
for £25 payable to the Pat Ginn Appeal which they can then present to Pat.
Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and let's go out there and do it for Pat.
Team spirit at PMR. 6th September: Over the past eight weeks there have been plenty of developments at the UK's Paul Marston Racing,
says Paul Marston.
The team spent a most enjoyable weekend at the UK PT Cruiser Convention at Billing Aquadrome in August a where they were made to feel
very welcome. "It's a weekend that all the crew look forward to", says Paul. "We missed last year's event as it clashed with the European Finals.
Lizz, Sefton and I really got a ton of stuff done on the Bruiser, the new injectors and the new tune from Rons Fuel Injection USA were both installed
very successfully. The Cruiser owners' enthusiasm for us to run the Bruiser again, and the many enquiries we get at the drag strip, made my mind up
that the PT Bruiser belonged back on the track in National competition. I just could not see when."
Gary's predicament gave Paul the chance to return to the hot seat of the PT Bruiser at the Open Sports Nationals, again after a sabbatical as
in the Bruiser's first outing in 2004, and Paul says that much progress was made and the bugs ironed out of the Rons alcohol fuel system.
The Bruiser will also appear in Super Pro ET at this weekend's FIA European Finals and at the UK National Finals at the end of the month.
Please note that these running orders are provisional and subject to change due to weather or track conditions
or for any other reason deemed necessary by Race Officials.
Gustafsson beats targets. 5th September: FIM/UEM European Top Fuel Bike Championship leader Rikard Gustafsson
says that 2006 has gone better than he could have expected. Rickard is approaching a mid-six and has
exceeded 200 mph on his ex-Korry Hogan Mac Tools-backed Funny Bike, and is strongly placed for the 2006 title.
Rickard and mechanic Kim Friberg have already decided their 2007 plans. "We are going after the world record for Funny Bikes", he says.
An end to the Havoc. 5th September: This weekend's FIA European Finals is likely to herald the end to the brief career
of AA/A 1932, the Havoc blown-alcohol Bantam-bodied altered campaigned by Eurodragster.com main sponsor
ICE Automotive Racing Engines. Driver Nick Davies says that
the project has gone a little too well a little too early.
"We would like to thank everyone who has supported us, particularly those who have bought T-Shirts without
whom the coffers would have been even lower than they already are, and our sponsors Allstar Performance and
G-Max Fuels whose support has been greatly appreciated.
"I think we now own the European mph record at just over 205 mph. If anyone wants us to bring the ET record of 6.745
back to the UK from its current temporary residence in Scandinavia, then give us a shout during one of our
runs this weekend - or better still buy a T-Shirt!
"Many thanks again to all of you and remember, in the words of the Goodguys, Vintage Drag Racing - It's Real Racin'!"
I'm warning you, if you don't start... 5th September: Already well on his way to Santa Pod is Sweden's Anders Envall who is again
driving his street-legal Blackout Fullsize Racing Impala SS to the FIA European Finals, where he will run
in Pro ET. This will be Anders' first race of 2006 after his efforts to race in Florida were thwarted by a
hurricane which sent the ship carrying the ten-second car to Panama. Anders' previous outing on a drag strip was
in 2005 when he set a new world record for towing a caravan at Mantorp Park and since then he has done a lot more work on
the car.
"I spanked it with a tree branch - and it helped!", says Anders (We should just explain that Bostic is a devotee of Fawlty Towers - Ed).
"The name of the tree is Jonas Alholt who has had fifteen years of success drag racing with turbos. We got the new intercooler running and also a complete
new tailor-made roll cage. Jonas is also a great welder. When he walked into The Best Damn Garage In Town in Gothenburg it changed a lot for us."
If you've never checked out Anders' web site at www.blackout.nu then we can
highly recommend it as one of the most humorous drag racing sites on the web.
Plenty going on... 5th September: Jo Reed of Santa Pod Raceway says that Santa Pod Raceway are gearing up for an amazing four
days of racing and a lot of off-track interest.
"On Friday we will have a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which consists of the Spitfire, Hurricaine, Lancaster and Dakota planes, taking to the skies to give
you an amazing display of these truly awesome machines", says Jo. "Another treat on Saturday and Sunday will be a display by a P51 Mustang plane, another of the WWII
planes which will be here to give you an idea of the types of planes that took to the skies during the war.
"Be prepared for an action-packed four days when the 2006 European Champions will be crowned!
More details at www.santapod.com or call 01234 782828. Tickets can be purchased
on the gate on the day."
Swift snippets. 5th September: Race teams who would like to enter the Winter Nationals at Malmö's
Meca Raceway on 13th-17th September should enter on-line at
www.srif.se/Anmalan.htm by 13th September. The event kicks off with a
Test and Tune on 13th. "Will the three-second barrier be broken over the eighth mile?", says Martin Olsson. "Who will win the NDRS classes? Lots of
teams are aiming high for this event". For more information visit www.srif.se.
Racers are also invited to this weekend's Association Trophée Dragster round at Vichy in France on Saturday and Sunday (9th-10th),
says Denis Chavey of sponsor DCR Engineering. "We would be very happy if a lot of racers came to France to run in the French Championship",
says Denis. More information at www.francedrag.com.
Haslett's nine-second weekend. 5th September: UK Real Steel Street Eliminator racer Ron Haslett blasted his personal best
at last week's Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway with a 9.927/137.59 during Sunday's qualifying.
Ron got in touch to let us know how his weekend went:
The trip up didn't go smoothly. We were late in leaving - we need to buy a certain member of the crew a bigger alarm. The motorhome decided it was
going to make us even later when it lost power a couple of times which we found to be a blocked fuel filter. We got there in the end.
On Saturday we were expecting good things from the new Wizards of Nos nitrous system, and we had Trevor Langfield with us at the weekend.
The first run was with no gas to qualify, it wasn't good as I did the burnout in neutral - sat around at 7000 rpm for a while then put it into gear. Oops!
The film crew put a camera in the car for the second run, and I put on the nitrous. This time I got the burnout right, left the line really hard but had a
misfire most of the way down. After turning the nitrous off I realised that the misfire was the rev limiter - I had just done the quarter in first gear.
I'd like to say a big thanks to my crew for being up the workshop until 2:00 am most of the week fitting the new nitrous system, the Lazenbys,
my sponsors FG Wilsons, Express Gearboxes and Trev the Wizard of Nos who bent over backwards to get us the kit in the first place and then
spent the weekend setting it up for us. Thanks also to Chris Johnson and to Andy Robinson for helping me to set up the car.
"I would like to say a big Thank You to an unsung hero who helps many people in the bike classes such as Mark Watkins, Jones and Friend, Brad O'Connor
and many others: Mr John Carpenter of Mistral Engineering, a true legend to those who know him. Thanks for all you do."
FIA European Finals snippets. 4th September:John Spuffard set the Fastest Time of Day at yesterday's Run What You
Brung at Santa Pod with a 5.392/260.06 in the Showtime Fuel Funny Car. The quickest Fuel FC run in Europe for some
years was actually an early shut off pass, as the stiff headwind moved the Mustang around at the
top end and Spuff got off the throttle at 1200 feet to gather the car in as it headed for the finish line
reflectors. "It was a perfect run apart from the wind", Spuff told us. "It was still on the soft set-up
from Hockenheim."
Jet FC pilot Roger Goring expressed his gratitude to David Lloyd-Jones and all of the
Santa Pod Raceway staff for allowing him to bring Firestorm to test at the last minute before
his appearance this weekend. "The car is proving difficult to stage with the current set-up but Bob Day
sprayed the start line with trackbite and that was a real help", said Roger. "We did what we came to do
and we are now really looking forward to this weekend."
Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered goes into this weekend's race outside the Championship
top three for the first time since he started in Top Fuel in 2001. "It is in a way frustrating as our results this season have
not been what we hoped for", says Micke. "There are several reasons to it, some of which we can change for the future. We want to take the last
opportunity we have this season to test a few things on the great track Santa Pod is. If it works out, it may be of help to us in our strategy planning
for next season - I plan to stay in Top Fuel Dragster. Our goals for the FIA European Finals are firstly to be among the top eight cars which
go into the elimination ladder, and after that to win as many elimination rounds as possible."
Italian Pro Stock Bike racer Luigi Chinarello has exceeded his goal of running 7.8 seconds with his unique 1400 cc aftermarket ignition-equipped
Hayabusa engine. "I have run 7.750 seconds", says Luigi. "My goal for next year is to get to about 7.6 seconds and run that time at every race.
I would like to thank Paul Watson and Roger Lyrén for their help in the set-up of my bike."
Kenneth Lorentzon says that the two-car Lorentzon and Möller team's plan for this weekend is to go for the
European record with Tommy Möller's dragster. "The season had a good start, a crap middle, but will have a good
weekend if the weather is with us", says Kenneth. "We've been chasing gremlins but they've been locked up and
we've thrown away the key. If we can't take the title with Håkan Fällström's
car then I hope Thomas Nataas wins it as he has been chasing it for some time and had a bad year last year.
After the race Håkan's car will be for sale and we will concentrate on one car. We had some ideas about
a Fuel Funny Car, we'll see where that will take us or whether it stays in my mind. Thanks to Pennzoil, MAN Trucks, Sunoco
Race Fuel, Snap On Tools and all of the sponsors who made this possible, and to the whole crew who have believed in us."
His first season in Top Fuel Dragster has gone very well for Sweden's Håkan Fällström. "We are ready
for the race", says Håkan. "I did a record licence pass at the Easter Thunderball with a 5.08 second pass, and I won my first ever competion in
Top Fuel at the Main Event! I was the European leader until the Veidec Festival and now I am #4 in the Championship and I still have a
small chance to win it but we are going for the top three. I have a great team who have made this possible. My favourite moment this season
was of course the victory in my first Top Fuel event - awesome!"
Dutch Top Fuel Bike racer Roel Koedam and his team will do their best to bring up some good numbers, and weather permitting expect to do so,
says Crew Chief Marius Van Der Zijden. "That elusive five...well, you never know", says Marius. "Well you never know. It's our last chance but I feel it's more
up to the track & weather conditions than to our bike. New owner Leonard Azzopardi will be at the Pod to meet the team and to see his recent purchase for
the first time. Roel will be fifty this weekend so there's room for happiness, but the main thing will be that it is our last race with this bike before it is shipped
Down Under. Therefore expect the team to shed a tear now and then."
UK Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme Co-ordinator Carl Burton tells us that £100 cash, £160 vouchers
and a trophy are available to this weekend's #1 qualifier in Pro ET courtesy of sponsors
Sandy Scooters, Psycleworkz, Real Steel, Penn Autos, A1 Motor Stores, Toxico Clothing, Inkwell Printing,
Alleyjax, WASP, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Hauser Race Cars and Webster Race Engineering. "You have
to be in it to win it", says Carl. "You can find more details on the Pro ET web site at
www.pro-et.co.uk."
Ex-pat Swedish former Top Fuel racer Viveca Averstedt says that she is going to miss the European Finals.
"Did I ever tell you how much I miss Santa Pod and all the great English people involved in drag racing - fans, media, racers, promoters - you are the best!",
says Viveca. "We are now involved in Harley Davidsons. We have three bikes. It all started when Håkan bought a Buell as a donor bike. He is now building
the bike to fit me. The bike will be ready for the Bike week in October. We found the second bike in Key West, so we had four days' vacation to pick it up. That was
something! We just bought the third bike, another Buell (donor bike). We will keep it as my learner's bike for a while. I need practice as I have never ever been on
a bike or moped."
In addition to their prize money, this weekend's two Eurodragster.com Perfect Award winners will also be
given a cheque for £25 made payable to the Pat Ginn Appeal which they can then present to Pat. So
all racers reading this are especially urged to go for that 0.000 Reaction Time and/or perfect run to index
or dial-in. We will be doing the same in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Fund at the UK National Finals to tie in with
Ron Haslett's Coffee Morning to benefit that charity.
Santa Pod Raceway are printing their most comprehensive and certainly their biggest-ever event programme for the FIA European
Finals. "The programme celebrates SPR's fortieth anniversary of world-class drag racing and is packed with features, competitions,
photographs and both car and bike racer details" says Roger Gorringe, who compiles and edits the programmes. With his team of
expert writers including Christina Bodén, Kate Robinson, Micke Gullqvist, Steve Moxley, Ian Turboville, Dave Alexander and Tog,
and photo-journalists including Sharkman, Ivan Sansom, Rose Hughes, Gwynn Clark, Andy Willsheer and Roger himself, you can be
sure of its pedigree. The programme is well worth its £5 cover price as a collectable souvenir and informative magazine.
Jo Reed of Santa Pod Raceway has asked us to thank all of the racers who took part in Friday evening's Parade of Power
in Wellingborough Town Centre. "Without the racers, the Parade would not have been the big success it was", says Jo.
Freeman clocks up the laps. 4th September: One of the participants in Friday night's Parade of Power in Wellingborough
was UK Super Pro ET racer Sam Freeman who drove his Double Density altered around the Town Centre.
Sam says that he had a great time.
"We had always planned to drive the first lap and then tow the car round whilst running the electric pump and fan to see if we could cool it off again to
allow another drive around the last lap", says Sam. "Not knowing what to expect I was a bit surprised to find we were the only open wheel competition
car there, I think some of the door cars were also a bit surprised when they found out we intended to get round under our own power.
"We towed to the start to allow the maximum time of running and duly set off. The onlookers were most enthusiastic waving and cheering the whole
way round, by the time we had completed the first lap the engine was just below fully hot. We then hooked it up to our van and towed round for two
laps, there were a lot of disappointed onlookers - I don't think they understood that the car is designed to only run a quarter mile!
"I decided to restart the car at the start of the fourth lap, the cheers from the crowds nearly drowned out the sound of my engine. I pulled off
three quarters of the way round and parked up in the Market Square where we kept the car on display until about 9:00 pm answering questions,
signing posters and having our photos taken. I didn't get the picture I wanted driving past Woolworths, but I've already seen quite a few on the net
and Nigel Holland was kind enough to send me a couple from his web site. I'd be grateful if anyone else who has pictures from the event which they
wouldn't mind sharing could send them to me at sam@doubledensity.co.uk.
"All in all a very good event, Santa Pod, the Local Authority and Northamptonshire Police are to be congratulated as everything went off very smoothly.
I must really say thanks to fourteen year old Ben, my partner Lindsey's son, who is really becoming a big asset to our team", says Sam.
over the last few outings he has got to grips with the running of the car and is nearly always one step ahead of the game."
Mark Bishop has been in touch to let us know that there is to be a drag racing night at the Oakley
Arms in Wellingborough Road, Rushden (just up the road from Webster Race Engineering) at 8:30 tomorrow
evening, Tuesday. All are welcome.
Thirty seconds of babysitting. 4th September: What's it like to give somebody a drive in your baby, your pride and joy? It depends on who that somebody
is, say UK Pro ET racers Carla Pittau and Rick McCann, and on Saturday that very lucky somebody was Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog.
"The day started in an unpromising way, a grey sky with heavy rain clouds looking determined to rob us of our fun as we prepared for our runs
with our surprise driver for the Heaven and Hell Camaro, a far too modest Tog", says Carla. "It was raining enthusiastically as we arrived
at the track, so we went for second best and settled in the Santa Pod Café for some artery clogging fuel, which filled the hole but only
left eating our way through all of the food stalls or staring at the rain as a possible alternative to making a few passes down the track. At this
stage it looked like it was not going to be.
"But the drag racing gods decided on mercy on our waist lines and the sky finally ceased its weeping and settled on blowing even more
enthusiastically towards the start line, giving us a determined, fierce head wind. The track crew worked indefatigably as ever and delivered
a viable track in no time at all, although a few of us with slicks looked suspiciously at the start line and waited to see something 'serious'
going down the track before risking a launch ourselves (chickens!).
"Before the run I commented that it wouldn't be a nine-second run in that wind, at best a 9.99 or a 10.0 – and I still didn't know if Tog would
make a full pass or would prefer to get himself comfortable in the car first with perhaps half a pass, but when he asked me if he should, I
said “Use your own judgement, see how it feels”, and he agreed that if it felt good he would keep his foot down.
"Shall I confess to some trepidation as I helped Tog with his harness and window net and whispered a few final instructions...did I remember
to tell him this or that, did we discuss the tach recorder? No, I won't confess any of that. Everything was perfect and I knew that Tog would
make a competent and efficient pass, so there. The Heaven and Hell Camaro is an easy car to drive. It normally runs straight as a
dart and very rarely bites - we keep a very close eye on how the suspension behaves and try and stay on top of possible mechanical failure
as much as we can, so I had good hopes, although the high wind, admittedly, was reason for some concern, although the car's weight, 3000
lbs, would certainly help with stability at the top end, despite being considerably higher up on the ground due to its stock chassis.
"Tog came to see us at the Open Sports Nationals to familiarise himself with the car and take notes, and by the time he sat in the driver's seat
he pretty much knew exactly what to do. And boy did he do it well.
"Nev Mottershead - being experienced in this type of operation! - was there to offer help and support and film the runs, which was much
appreciated, and he also offered valuable advice, so the three of us finally stood at the start line watching Tog carefully stage the Camaro.
"Top bulb...bring the rpm up slightly...bump the car into stage on the brake...bottom bulb...the amber lights start to come down...bang! Tog
has pulled his wheelie and he's away, and we hear the sound of the engine as it climbs in rpm and it works its way through the power range.
The shifts come, right on time, perfect, and at the top end we see the brake lights come on, the timing board lights up, he's run a 10.017, brilliant!
He launched on a foot-brake, rowed his own gears with the Qwiksilver shifter and generally drove the car as if he'd done it a million times before,
and it was the very first time. We jump up and down on the start line and hug each other, great success.
"The car was a joy to drive. It behaved magnificently, didn't give me any scares, and didn't bite me back on the couple of occasions when I didn't do things
quite right. The biggest shock I got was when I got off the throttle at the finish line and what I assumed was the engine's own braking effect stopped the
car almost dead! Carla has subsequently told me that the engine doesn't brake the car and that it would have been the headwind,
in fact she said that with a tailwind the car is not so easy to stop!
"Carla and Rick were just brilliant. Although both drive the car, I think they had agreed that for consistency of approach Carla should train me to drive and
Rick would add advice and look after the set-up. They were both very patient and encouraging and even when I made mistakes they managed to make it
sound as if what I had done was perfectly natural and understandable. I was also very pleased to have Nev there, he was as ever upbeat and encouraging
and added little bits of advice and reminders from my drives in his own race car. I think Carla and Rick also found it useful to have Nev there; because he
has stood there and watched me drive his car on a couple of occasions he was able to advise them on coping strategies.
"I am pleased to say that I didn't have any health issues. After events earlier this season some of my family and friends were concerned about my driving
a race car again and I won't lie and say that I hadn't thought about it myself. I got quite nervous at times and my heart was up in my throat, as you'd expect,
when I was waiting to run. But that was normal behaviour - the ticker didn't behave erratically or otherwise bother me all day.
"What can I say but a huge Thank You to Carla and Rick for the offer to drive their car and for their
patience and encouragement. What a great day we had. Thanks also to Nev for coming all the way from Stockport
to support me, it meant a lot to me that he was there. I'm sure that everyone who ran on Saturday will join me
in thanking the track crew for never giving up and for all their work once we got going, and on a personal note
it was of great comfort to a nervous Tog to glimpse all those familiar faces looking through the windscreen and
smiling or giving me a thumbs up. Finally thanks to Fay Fischer and Paul Marston for the loan of safety equipment,
and to Sharkman and Roger Gorringe for taking pictures which my niece will be looking at whether she wants to
see them or not!"
Click here to view the
Event Index page, which contains a link to the webcam, or
click on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and select
the Pre-FIA European Finals Peak Performance Day or Run What You Brung.
Also on the subject of pre-FIA European Finals events, Graham Rice has updated his photographic web site with
pictures from Friday evening's Parade of Power in Wellingborough Town Centre. You can check out Graham's
pictures at www.gjrphotography.fotopic.net.
Nigel Holland has updated his photographic web site with pictures from Friday's Parade of Power and yesterday's Peak Performance
Day at Santa Pod Raceway. Nigel's site can be found at
www.nigelholland.co.uk.
UK National Finals closing date. 3rd September: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Paula Marshall has asked us to remind racers
that next Friday (8th September) is the official closing date for the UK National Finals, which takes place
at Santa Pod Raceway on 30th September-1st October.
UK Pro Mod racer Gordon Appleton is OK after the Wheelgame Racing Camaro hit the guardrail at today's
Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. The car hit severe shake off the line, the passenger side door came
off and then the left rear wheel appears to have failed. The wheel having departed the car, Gordon was largely a passenger
as the car spun round and hit the barrier. From Race Control it appeared that the damage was limited to the front of
the chassis so hopefully we will see Gordon back next weekend at the FIA European Finals.
Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Monica Öberg has sold her
Top Fuel Dragster to Finland's Teri Kalliokoski. You can read all about it on yesterday's
FHRA Defa Finals report at
www.fhra.fi/fin/index.php?page_id=213.
The fourth round of the 2006 Greek Championship is taking place this weekend at Serres.
"Among the eighty nine racers, fans are watching the five drag racers who participated in the Nitrolympx", says our good friend
Elias Vathias. "They are Stavros Svrahnos, Antonis Zafeiriadis, Kostas Premetis, Charlambos Bousinis and Ioannis Manettas. You
can see the entry list at
www.greekdragster.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=41&t=6708.
Mathias Wienand and Markus Munch of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Dragracer magazine
have asked if any Eurodragster.com reader can help them with a lift or car share from Stansted Airport. "We will arrive on Wednesday evening",
says Mathias. "We will of course share the costs". If you can help then please E-Mail Mathias at
m.wienand@t-online.de.
Cliff Gould of UK NFAA team Bennett Racing has been in touch to thank Roy Wilding for his help at last week's Open Sports
Nationals. "Without the use of Roy's workshop, I very much doubt we could have run on Sunday or Monday,
no matter how much effort we had put into it", says Cliff. "I felt like I was working on Tommy Möller's
Top Fueller, we were that busy. It's a joy to go racing when there are people like Roy there."
Not a Pro Stock! 1st September: UK Super Gas racer Conrad Stanley returned to the Super Gas ranks at the Open
Sports Nationals driving an imported 2000 Firebird jointly owned with Trevor Graves. We are very pleased to put it on the
record here on Eurodragster.com that this beautiful car is not an ex-Pro Stock, as just about all of us assumed, but is in fact a purpose-built
Super Gasser from the USA.
The car was purchased from Jonathan Johnson of Beaumont in Texas, who also races in Top Alcohol FC. The Firebird, which totes a 547 ci Chevy and
two-speed 'Glide, has been runner-up at an NHRA National Event and has won Divisional events. The car will be remaining in Super Gas.
"It is nice to be back behind the wheel", said Conrad after cutting a 0.005 light on his second run in qualifying at Shakespeare County Raceway.
"It was just like old times. It was a perfect weekend ruined only by the weather."
Conrad and Trevor would like to thank the team of Lynda, Wayne, Emma and Anna who are all looking forward to the European Finals.
Trevor wonders whether this is the first time that a turn-key Sportsman racer has been imported into England from the USA.
We think that it certainly is the first in recent times, but we're sure that somewhere amongst our daily readership of six or seven thousand
is someone who will know. Drop us a line at eurodragster.com@btinternet.com
if you know the answer.
Taking the last chance... 1st September: Gordon Smith, Dave Bryant and the Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team will
be testing at the Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway tomorrow (Saturday). Gordon says that the team want
to continue their progress at the SPRC Summernationals and get set to put in four fast runs at the FIA European
Finals.
"We have found some of the problem with the car not launching, i.e. spinning the tyres off the line, however we ran out of time at that meeting", says
Gordon. "We would have liked to have made one more pass just to be sure, so this weekend we will make as many passes on the car as is necessary
to get the combination right for the European Finals.
"We hope we will be able to make at least four passes over the three days of the Finals, as there is no Championship this year all we are looking for is
to run fast and hopefully set some records. But we will be putting on a show and once again prove that we have the number one Nitro Funny Car in
Europe.
Roger told Eurodragster.com that he was a little frustrated not to get the chance to run at SCR on Monday.
"There were a lot of new visitors there and just about all of them asked when we would be running because they
wanted to see us. I explained to everyone about the Championships taking priority over demonstrations and they
were very understanding but I hoped that we could have been slotted in even once."
Still on the testing front both Gordon Appleton and Bill Weston are set to test their Pro Mods
at Santa Pod this weekend, and there are a number of Sportsman entries on tomorrow's Peak Performance Day
list including Gino Bernadine, Dave Day, Bob Doyle, Nick Griffin, Stuart Morrice, Wayne Nicholson in his
first outing with his new Super Pro ET 'Vette, Lance Richards, Spencer Tramm, Dave Warren, Paul Webster, Jason
Weir, Paul Wing, and your News Editor finally returning to the track in Carla Pittau and Rick McCann's Heaven
and Hell Pro ET Camaro.
Spectator entry to tomorrow's Peak Performance Day and Sunday's Run What You Brung is £10 per person.
If you're in or around the Wellingborough area this evening then don't forget that Santa Pod Raceway are
holding their Parade of Power to promote next week's FIA European Finals. The Parade takes place
in Wellingborough Town Centre.
The UK's first 200 mph Funny Bike racer Tim Blakemore would be grateful to hear from any Eurodragster.com
readers with photographs or video footage, particularly of Tim on the Kawasaki ZZR1400 at the Bulldog Bash and his
200 mph pass at Shakespeare County Raceway on Monday. If you can help then please drop Tim a line at
tim@timblakemoreracing.co.uk with details of credits etc.
Open Sports Nationals update. 1st September: Congratulations to the following who set track records at last weekend's
Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway:
Supertwin Gas
145.55 mph: John Floyd, Yamaha RD350LC 530 cc
Custom Car magazine very kindly sponsored two Best Of
trophies to be presented before the finals of the Open Sports Nationals at Shakespeare County
Raceway. Due to the weather and associated disruption the trophies were not presented although
the winners were chosen:
Best Appearing Crew: Flavell Racing (Super Pro ET) Best Appearing Car: Rebecca Evans (Junior Dragster)
SCR's Marketing Manager Jerry Cookson tells us that these trophies will be presented to the winners
in their pits at the FIA European Finals. "Well done, and see you next week", says Jerry.
Lewis shafted again. 1st September: The UK August Bank Holiday race seems to have a habit of shafting Martin Lewis' Nova Blaze
Sportsman ET Nova, says Jeff Rainbird.
Koedam Racing Nitrolympx report. 1st September: Marius Van Der Zijden, Crew Chief of The Netherlands'
Koedam Racing Top Fuel Bike team, has been in touch with
his latest post-event report, this time from the weekend's Nitrolympx at Hockenheim:
It was the penultimate Championship round. While we had skipped the Finnish and Swedish rounds (see our previous Team Reports),
our chances of another Championship are only theoretical and we went to Germany hoping to gather some points and trying to win the event.
Friday was the first day of qualifying, unfortunately it rained all day long and at the end of the day no qualifying at all took place! Luckily
once again our sponsor Zodiac arranged one of the pit boxes so we did not have the discomfort of being out in the rain.
As it was also Monique's birthday, we were celebrating this during the Friday night (right) and a lot of teams came along for a visit.
It rained almost through the night and with the reputation of the past about the (lack of) grip at the Hockenheim circuit we feared the worst.
Saturday was a dry day with even a bit of sunshine and it looked that we were finally going to see some racing action.
While observing other classes ahead of us, traction really didn't look that bad at all.
Surprisingly our first pass turned out a 6.49/348 kmh! This was much better then we expected in the first place.
Our second and last qualifying pass was late in the afternoon after a short and light drizzle and we had left the bike pretty much the same.
An even bigger surprise as 6.22/350 came up the timing board, while "The team did it again" sounded over the PA system.
Who ever thought this would be possible at Hockenheim? The credit has to go to the track crew, whatever they did this time, it worked!
Even with the torrential rain from the day and night before. This concluded our qualifying. We took the #1 spot.
The weather expectations for Sunday were not good at all and indeed it rained again big time almost all night long.
However against all odds Sunday was a nice day. In fact it stayed dry all day till just after the very last final round of that day and
then, out of the dark, the rain came pouring down again. How lucky can you be?
Our first round of eliminations was around 11.00 in the morning. Though our opponent looked (at least on paper) an easy target, we didn't
want to take it easy and we had the tune up stepped up just a little bit. As hoped we won this first round but the numbers were even more encouraging.
A 6.19/356! After 'lending' the track record to Ian King for a year, a strong new ET track record was back in our hands.
We were still quite conservative with the nitro percentage. Therefore the bike was running rich, dropping a cylinder near the end of the track,
hence the relatively low top end speeds.
For the semi finals our opponent was Italy's Luigi Ferretti. Something very strange happened. After both riders did their burnouts and staged normally, it
took unusually long before the lights turned to green. Luigi took off first before the green light came on, however we didn't see a red light come up on his
side of the Tree! Roel didn't understand this either and after more than a second waiting he took of as well. Only then we saw both the red lights on the
tree coming on. It looked to us as an error in the timing system or from the Chief Starter. Luckily bike rep Ian King and UEM coordinator Lars Andersson
were on hand and they were told by the chief of the timing system that it must have been an error by the starter (forgetting to activate the tree?) and we
would have a re-run. As there were no time tickets available, we only could guess at the run results.
Comparing the data with our 6.19 run before, we estimated that it was a either a high 6.1 or a low 6.2.
Both teams rushed to get the bikes back, trying them to turn around in a record time. In about forty five minutes we reported back to the start line.
While working on our bikes, little did we know what was going on behind the scenes as the organiser had a different opinion about the re-run. A big
thank you goes out to Ian King who pursued as he had the word from the chief of the timing equipment and a signed approval from all the
remaining riders for a re-run. On the bright side the audience was the winner of it all as they got an extra round of Top Fuel Bike action.
We came away as the winner from this round with a 6.28/351. Again we had to rush to get the bike back in time for the finals, but we managed it again.
This time we were facing championship points leader Rikard Gustavsson from Sweden on his quick (ex-Korry Hogan) Funny Bike.
While Rikard run a new personal best of 6.63, we came storming by somewhere halfway into the run with a 6.24/361 (the speed is also new track record).
The event victory was ours!
We were very happy, not only with another win but also with numbers we ran all weekend. As our sixty foot times were not really impressive and the bike
was rather loose over the last half of the track, we felt it was the maximum the track could take at that moment. Still we recorded several 4.0s at the
eighth mile marker and were also running close to our speed records at the eighth mile. It all seemed effortless (at least for the bike, not for the crew on
Sunday) as we were not putting in high percentage of nitro. Nevertheless hats off for the guys from the track preparation who did a wonderful job!
The event culminated in ACU Top Fuel Bike being one of only two finals run and what a final it was. Our bike left Steve for dead at
the tree and leapt from the line, front wheel picking up nicely. Steve powered past us as expected by half track but had to feather it
as he got a little out of shape which gave us the chance to cross the line alongside him. Steve won but only by 0.286 seconds and
we set a new personal best of 7.781 at 179.45 mph. This was achieved despite having run out of flat clutch plates so there is a lot
more to come from Mr. Spokehead yet. We desperately need a sponsor to help us with a Bentec clutch grinding machine
for next season so any help would be appreciated.
Thanks to the APIRA and all the track staff at SCR for doing the best under trying weather conditions and some big oil downs.
No thanks whatsoever go to the prats with model aircraft who decided to retrieve one of their planes with a Transit and drove
straight across the track just as Steve and I were crossing the finish line at 170+ mph, not clever! Special thanks to Brum, Carl, Rush
and Sam for all the support, to Steve Carey for a great season of crowd-pleasing match races and to Chris Stebbings for fetching
me back from the far end.
It seems my lovely monkey bike is just not powerful enough to tow such a heavy bike so it is for sale, brand new, unregistered, with
all paperwork, in perfect condition, should anyone want it! Will part-exchange for something more powerful but equally as small
physically, not a scooter.
The runner-up position from this event gave us enough points to become APIRA Top Fuel Bike
Champions for 2006! It also places us near the top of the ACU Top Fuel Bike championship and we are second in the Santa Pod Racers Club
Championship. Both are winnable at the National Finals at Santa Pod on 30th September-1st October unless Roel Koedam turns up to test on Ton Pels'
Supertwin which is capable of low six second runs and so can gain extra points for speed and time at the event. We will try our level best to beat all comers
but will always be at a disadvantage against the four cylinder bikes in the premier class of drag racing. We are however extremely satisfied with our performance
so far in this, our first year in ACU Top Fuel Bike, with a new bike and a whole mountain to climb learning-wise. The main thing is we are having lots of fun and
that is our whole reason for doing this.
Since Rico responded to Lars' report, Lars has in turn replied to Rico, so with Lars' permission we have
included his responses, and Lars has made it clear to us that these are his last words on the subject.
We have made very tiny changes to the English for clarity but other than that the below is verbatim:
Rico Anthes: Mr. Andersson has made some statements which are not quite correct. In the following I will outline his
statements and comment to it:
Report:I arrived on Thursday and was making the inspection of the track… a little bit afraid because the track did not
look so very good. But the American people from NHRA sad that the track would be good.
Rico Anthes: Let me tell you what Mr. Andersson wrote in his inspection report from Hockenheim in the year 2004:
"The track is in good condition and ready for race". Everybody still remembers that the track was slippery and had no good
traction in the year 2004. We have managed to cure the problem in 2005 and ever since the track is excellent. This was
proved by excellent times in all classes this year. What makes him comment every time contrary to the real existing conditions?
Is it Mr. Andersson's eyesight or is he unable to judge a track condition?
Lars Andersson: Looking on the track there was more rubber last year but as admitted the track worked good.
Report:On the first Jury meeting did we also decide … that we should use the 16 bike ladder…
Rico Anthes: The proposal to run a 16 bike field was made from our Organsiation, because we had 17 PSB entries and
many of them from Greece and Italy.
Lars Andersson: Yes Mr Anthes asked me when I arrived on Thursday. But as everyone knows the only way to change the official invitation is at the first jury meeting.
The promotor cannot change this it must be done by the jury
Report:On Saturday morning was it still water in the air, but the sun come and the track started to dry.
So 12.52 did we start the first qualification for the UEM bikes... So in 36 minutes did we manage to do all bikes. … with a little bit of
luck and some good work from the staff did we manage to make a second qualification round.
Rico Anthes: It was not the sun that did dry the track, it was the result of two and half hours work of my track crew that
made the track dry. It was also our proposal to run a second qualifying round only for the bikes, leaving all car classes with one
qualifying. It was not Luck, it was our Organisation giving the UEM Championship full priority.
According to Mr. Andersson, our staff was doing good, but now he changes his mind.
Lars Andersson: I think and said that your staff do good work. But even in the best work sometimes things go wrong.
Report:But here comes some small mistakes that almost destroyed the whole race. The people in the burn out area calls
Anders Jacobsson in the solo run and the next bike Len Paget that was in the other lane but in next pair in to the burn out area.
The timing people put both this riders in the computer. But only Anders Jacobsson forward an on the sign of the starter goes
Anders in stage. At this point do the timing crew understand that it was a solo run. So they reset the pairing and put the starting
tree on red. Of course does Anders start and run.
Rico Anthes: First of all this little moment of "confusion" did NOT almost destroy the whole race, because the mistake
was noticed and the timing staff set the tree on RED, which every racers understands as a sign to STOP. The tree was reset for
a bye run, bike P29 just needed to stage proper and wait for the green. But he left before the yellow and that is why he did get a
red light and no time. The COMPULINK System was set on Autostart, which is run at every race in America and it seems to me that
some riders had problems to wait for the automatic green, given by the computer. On the next pairing incidently a wrong number (P9) was entered
in the computer for P8 and the lanes where mixed, so again the crew sets the tree RED to change it. Why does bike P6 revs up to high engine rpm
when the tree shows a red signal? P8 leaves early and gets a red light, P6 shuts off, this puts P8 in the next round.
Lars Andersson: To use the red light to abort a start when a rider is in stage is as my personal feeling not the right way. Remember also that I did not take the decision to
put P29 forwards on the ladder this was correctly done bye the timing and Clerk of the course. In this round Len did not receive a red light. Both Örjan and Len went on the starters
order in stage then the tree still was on red . The reason that he revs up the engine is that the starter points him in.
Report:One more pair and the fourth pair that I personally think not should have run because the track started to be wet.
Then was the race stop. …Here is also a little bit of confusion between the people working on the track, Who do take this decision.
Rico Anthes: The Clerk of the Course does make the decision to stop the race and he did it, Mr. Andersson, after he received
the message from the top end that it was raining heavy at the shut down area. No confusion whatsoever!
Lars Andersson: Yes but many people asked me why I let them run. And I told them that I am just an observer and not make the decisions.
Report:After this started a lot of talking. Was Anders Jacobsson through since he had a red light, was the second pair okay. In the
computer was nothing on the first run and in the second run was it the number of Örjan in the line of Len and P9 that was not any rider at all in the
other line. But the crew made the decision that Anders was okay and that Len was okay.
Rico Anthes: Reading the above sentence gives me the impression only Mr. Andersson had not understood and needed a "lot of talking".
Our timing crew and Bob Brockmeyer had noticed the mistakes and corrected the ladder accordingly.
Lars Andersson: Yes but since the ladder was not completed there was a lot of talking in the pits.
Report:On Sunday morning after the delay for drying the track did we continue the racing. Ther was some problems with the track
and I made personal inspection just before the race started, maybe did I delay the race one or two minutes, but the track needed this…
Rico Anthes: The decision that the track was dry and safe to race was made by the Clerk of the Course and confirmed by our American
specialists from NHRA. Who does Mr. Andersson think he is, that he can delay a race and overrule decisions of the race officials. The nonsense
of his provocation, which was accompanied by a whistling audience, was obvious. He walked down the track for five minutes, holding off the first
Pro Stock pairing to run. Does anybody believe that the track got dryer because Mr. Andersson was walking on it?
The organizing Club will make an official protest to the UEM about the behaviour of Mr. Andersson misusing his position as UEM Steward.
Lars Andersson: Yes I did walk but ten minutes earlier the track was not ready. Also did I not hold up the events more than one minute and after the bikes had run nothing was
waiting in the up line area so the race in total was not delayed.
Report:Then did we start the second elimination for the Pro Stock bikes. Again some small problems in the timing so nothing is in
the computer. Anders Jacobsson and Len Paget goes in to stage. Len gets a red light and Anders bikes stops and just jumps out some meters.…
So I go and have some lunch. Coming back later can I see that on the paper is now Len the winner.
Rico Anthes: No Problems with the computer! Bike P29 rolled out of stage and P8 did not wait for the tree to come down, got a red light
and no time. So we had no times in both lanes. According to our German Regulations and NHRA, "first is worse", we gave the win to P8 because
he has made the later foul. That is why we did let Len Paget P8 continue the race. In the final meeting of the Stewards, it was recognized that
UEM rules say that there must be prove that the rider has made his run over the finish line. We had no time, therefore no prove and the Stewards
decided to take his run out of the competition.
Lars Andersson: Not correct. P29 did receive a green light but stopped after he launched. As everyone knows only one can get a red light in elimination sand if P29 had
backed out Len would automatically get a green light The rules say that a bike must cross the finish line under its own momentum.
Then I was talking to the people in the timing they had put P29 forwards on the hand written note. So I told them to take both away.
I have respect for the timing people they worked very hard and well.
Report:In the other classes was it much easier. In Top Fuel Bike is it easy to just say Roel Koedam rules. Running only low 6 seconds times...
Rico Anthes: Mr. Andersson has forgot that we had another pairing in the semi final, TF2 against TF19, both not waiting for the green light,
therefore not receiving any time and not giving a winner of this run. This would have left the final as a bye run. In this case Ian King approached the
race director asking to do a re-run, which we agreed to, after we got a written statement that all riders being in favour for this decision. We made
the re-run and that is why you see Roel Koedam as winner of this pairing, advancing into the final and later winning the Top Fuel Bike category.
So I am wondering why Mr. Andersson has not made this proposal for a re-run? The UEM Steward has to take care of the interests of ALL bike riders,
right? Was it just because the riders came from Italy and Holland, and not from any Scandinavian country? Just a question…
Lars Andersson: Of course I work for all classes. But I can only be at one place at one time. So Ian did take this problem. I hope that all understand that I think that Roel
Koedam is one of the best riders and a very good sportsman. I do hope that nobody thinks that the wording I used meant some thing different.
Report:This is almost the story from Hockenheim. The facilities are the best of all tracks. The public is the biggest and makes most noise.
The track was good this time. Hopefully will it also be a Championship race next year. We need a track in the central Europe just to make it easier for
riders from southern Europe to race in the Championship.
Rico Anthes: The track was good "this time", how grateful of you Mr. Andersson, giving us your blessing. All riders and drivers who I have
spoken to, have said the track was excellent, even though it had rained on it the entire Friday, twice on Saturday continuing all night until
Sunday morning. Has anybody thought about giving the Organisation Team a compliment for finishing a race under these conditions?
There might be a Round of the UEM Championship next year in Hockenheim, but I do not see Mr. Andersson as UEM Steward at this event.
Lars Andersson: No problems for me that I not will go to Germany and to Hockenheim again. To be yelled at in front of drivers and public instead of to move away is not so nice
as I said. I also tried to say that many of the officials did a very good job. At the jury meeting I said this several times and also had very good discussions with them.
Many of the officials are very nice. Yes I agree with Mr Anthes that it was good to manage to finish the race in time.
Magazine update. 1st September: With the NSRA Hot Rod Drags just around the corner,
Graham Rennie's American Auto
Mags emporium has just taken delivery of the latest Gasser Wars magazine from the
States, and it's packed with photos and reports from the recent Gasser Nationals at Beaver
Springs Raceway, writes Jerry Cookson.
In addition to the race coverage, the magazine
features a report from the Hot Rod Reunion, NSRA
Knoxville Nationals South, Hot Rodder Chronicles, Noel
Brown's Ground Shaking '48 Austin, tributes to 'Big
John' Mazmanian, Sush Matsubara and Jim Lutz, and some
recent pictures of the gone, but not forgotten,
Puyallup Dragstrip and more.
29th September: American car dealer 
Our good buddy Fahad Taqi, President of the Bahrain Drag Racing Club, tells us that the BDRC has a new look for their new season
including the very tidy new logo at right.
28th September: Panagiotis Zarifopoulos and Yla Galani of Greece's Paranoid Racing presented their complete racing/promotion
operation to the Hellenic fans during the second Athens International Tuning Show, which took place at the former Hellinikon Airport last weekend, says Zman:
The highlight of the final day was when Naomi from the infamous Fuel Girls, who had been hired to perform at the show, came and sat on the bike while we
fired it up without being warned about exactly what was going to happen. Although a little scared at first she took the punishment from the noise, vibration
and nitro fumes very bravely. Fuel Girl on a Fuel bike, good combo, and the fans loved it. The video clip including a short interview will be featured on the
upcoming Fuel Girls DVD.
TJ O'Brien tells us that he was unable to make Ken Cooper's birthday party last week so he cannot
provide any incriminating pictures, but he said that whilst having a root around he found this picture
of Ken with Funny Bike racer Dave Holland. "I am going to get some T-Shirts printed with this picture,
but what is the caption?", says TJ. "Thanks to Ken for running the auction for Pat."
The Bahrain Drag Racing Club recently visited the Bahrain International Circuit to make presentations
in gratitude for a successful season. "We presented General Manager Martin Whitaker with a small replica of a Ford
dragster engine which he loved and couldn't stop admiring (
26th September: Whilst most of the country suffered a bleak wet weekend, Steve Murty had booked the sunshine to
come out around lunch time and sure enough York Raceway enjoyed a sunny and warm Northern Finals. UK Super Pro ET Team Mark Flavell Racing
returned to their home track to run the 
25th September: If you are a regular viewer of Eurodragster.com's
Jeff Bull Race Engines and Performance Parts-sponsored Swap Meet then you can't have failed to notice
Steve Venables' 7.6-second, 2005 Championship- and national speed record-holding Kawasaki ZX12 on the
Bikes For Sale section. Steve told us that after several years' loyalty to Kawasaki he
is changing manufacurers: next year he will be contesting Super Street Bike on a Suzuki Hayabusa having
acquired Barry Henson's Pro Street Bike, which is currently leading the AMA Prostar Championship in the
hands of Mike Slowe.
25th September: UK Sportsman ET racer Anna Metcalfe would like to thank fiancé Mike Lacey for
organising such a fantastic party for her fortieth birthday, writes Carla Pittau (Carla blew Anna's age, not us - Ed).
24th September: Darren West of Eurodragster.com Home and News sponsor Power Race Graphics says that
he is sure that he is not the only one excited by the prospect of Nostalgia Funny Cars thumping down the quarter mile once again. "I've updated
my web site with new illustrations of cars suitable for the class, and can create and supply paint schemes, T-Shirt designs and Nostalgia FC project
illustrations for anyone hoping to enter the class and looking to visualise their project before construction starts", says Darren. "The update also includes
T-Shirt designs for the Super Mod Racers Association, Belinda Bull, Obsession Racing and Matt Wright". Check it out at
22nd September: Last weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway
was an event of mixed fortunes for the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, writes promoter Lawrie Gatehouse:
21st September: Shakespeare County Raceway safety crews
21st September: One of the First Families of UK drag racing made a surprise welcome return
to the sport on Tuesday as Lloyd Allard, son of Alan and grandson of Sydney, tested at Shakespeare County Raceway
writes SCR's Richard Warburton:
21st September: Ian Turburville says that his Top Fuel Bike team has been re-named
White Punks on Nitro thanks to new sponsor and business partner Pro-Drag of Tuscon, Arizona.
19th September: Our good friend Fahad Taqi tells us that the Bahrain Drag Racing Club
elected a new Board last Friday.
Our good friend Peter Donaldson has updated his photographic web site with pictures from the weekend's
NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway. "The collection starts with another sequence, a street rod
lost it just after the start line and hit the Armco", says Peter. "The driver was OK, but I wouldn't be surprised
to hear he has a stiff neck!". You can check out Peter's pictures at
New bike owner Leonard Azzopardi came over from Sydney to meet his recent purchase for the very first time.
We feel very much that, after getting used to the bike, Leonard will be able to make a lot of noise in the
Top Bike class Down Under.
As Roel started his final burnout he thought "Hold on, it's is my very last one on this bike, I've got to do
something special for the fans". While he was in the burnout he raised his left hand and waved thumbs up to the
crowd while controlling 1200+ horses with just his right had on the bar! Once again he proved his nickname 'Cool Roel'.
I think nobody in the world has ever seen this much bike control. The spectators gave him a standing ovation.
While I rode in front of the stands towards the end of the track to pick Roel up, the spectators on both sides along
the full length of the track were clapping and cheering as a Thank You for what we've given them over the years. This
was very emotional for me and I took the honours for the whole team.
15th September: The church of Lillestrom had seats for six hundred people and was more than packed for Svein
Gottenberg's funeral yesterday with many having to stand, writes Stefan Boman:
The Netherlands' Paul Vrind says that spectators probably heard him uttering a choice four-letter word
when he redlit against Ian Atkinson the Pro ET final at Santa Pod last weekend. "Pro ET was completely new for
our team so we certainly didn't expect to end up in the final", says Paul. "But Ian Atkinson made a very good run so even without the red light it
would have been difficult for me. I talked to Ian afterwards and I never saw a racer more happy with a win. He is probably still cheering right now."
12th September: FIM/UEM European Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson has been in touch
with his regular post-event review, this time from the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway:
12th September: Not even a couple of days since the FIA European Finals finished and
excellent photographs are available on a number of web sites.
5th September: Peter Donaldson has updated his photographic site with pictures from
Sunday's Peak Performance Day at Santa Pod Raceway. The update includes a sequence of Gordon Appleton's
crash (right), which Peter like the rest of us is grateful happened at the start line and not at
220+ mph if it had to happen at all. You can check out Peter's pictures at
Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered goes into this weekend's race outside the Championship
top three for the first time since he started in Top Fuel in 2001. "It is in a way frustrating as our results this season have
not been what we hoped for", says Micke. "There are several reasons to it, some of which we can change for the future. We want to take the last
opportunity we have this season to test a few things on the great track Santa Pod is. If it works out, it may be of help to us in our strategy planning
for next season - I plan to stay in Top Fuel Dragster. Our goals for the FIA European Finals are firstly to be among the top eight cars which
go into the elimination ladder, and after that to win as many elimination rounds as possible."
Ex-pat Swedish former Top Fuel racer Viveca Averstedt says that she is going to miss the European Finals.
"Did I ever tell you how much I miss Santa Pod and all the great English people involved in drag racing - fans, media, racers, promoters - you are the best!",
says Viveca. "We are now involved in Harley Davidsons. We have three bikes. It all started when Håkan bought a Buell as a donor bike. He is now building
the bike to fit me. The bike will be ready for the Bike week in October. We found the second bike in Key West, so we had four days' vacation to pick it up. That was
something! We just bought the third bike, another Buell (donor bike). We will keep it as my learner's bike for a while. I need practice as I have never ever been on
a bike or moped."
People took their lives into their own hands in the Worcestershire area yesterday as Mandy from
4th September: What's it like to give somebody a drive in your baby, your pride and joy? It depends on who that somebody
is, say UK Pro ET racers Carla Pittau and Rick McCann, and on Saturday that very lucky somebody was Eurodragster.com News Editor Tog.
"Top bulb...bring the rpm up slightly...bump the car into stage on the brake...bottom bulb...the amber lights start to come down...bang! Tog
has pulled his wheelie and he's away, and we hear the sound of the engine as it climbs in rpm and it works its way through the power range.
The shifts come, right on time, perfect, and at the top end we see the brake lights come on, the timing board lights up, he's run a 10.017, brilliant!
He launched on a foot-brake, rowed his own gears with the Qwiksilver shifter and generally drove the car as if he'd done it a million times before,
and it was the very first time. We jump up and down on the start line and hug each other, great success.
"Carla and Rick were just brilliant. Although both drive the car, I think they had agreed that for consistency of approach Carla should train me to drive and
Rick would add advice and look after the set-up. They were both very patient and encouraging and even when I made mistakes they managed to make it
sound as if what I had done was perfectly natural and understandable. I was also very pleased to have Nev there, he was as ever upbeat and encouraging
and added little bits of advice and reminders from my drives in his own race car. I think Carla and Rick also found it useful to have Nev there; because he
has stood there and watched me drive his car on a couple of occasions he was able to advise them on coping strategies.
1st September: UK Super Gas racer Conrad Stanley returned to the Super Gas ranks at the Open
Sports Nationals driving an imported 2000 Firebird jointly owned with Trevor Graves. We are very pleased to put it on the
record here on Eurodragster.com that this beautiful car is not an ex-Pro Stock, as just about all of us assumed, but is in fact a purpose-built
Super Gasser from the USA.
1st September: Marius Van Der Zijden, Crew Chief of The Netherlands'
