Andy Flavell has been in touch about a Street Weekend sweepstake, operating to raise funds to make Melbourne Raceway a 1/4 mile track, giving a generous prize for the lucky winners. The sweepstake operates for times recorded at Melbourne Raceway on 15th June.
We have some entries left for the sweep. Anyone and everyone can get involved for just £12 a go. £6 goes into the Melbourne Track fund to help make Melbourne a 1/4 mile. The rest to make up the prize draw. We have 4 prizes of £306 to win. Winners are the “Sweepees” that are drawn with the Street Weekend entrant who is:
- The quickest car on the day;
- The closest car to 8.00;
- The car that finishes 129th; and
- The quickest car on a hard tire.
The vast majority of cars should be a decent draw. Please Paypal Andrew by clicking here to [email protected] , marking as Friends and Family. Leave your name and a contact number.
Good luck to all who enter!
Job Heezen posted on Facebook his thanks to FIM-E Racers, Job says:
The 2024 Santa Pod Main-Event is behind the belt, a handicap race against the elements. You can’t fight the rain and even more if it comes at the most inconvenient moments. A number of times we have been forced to take some tuff decissions to make the best out of the circumstances. The actions during the weekend can be seen at Eurodragster so there is no need to copy this.
All I want to express is a big thank you to everybody who made it happen, the crew for their commitment and the racers for their patience and understanding. Together we made the best out of the situation and I guess this is one of those events that we will remember for a long time. Congratulations to all the winners, the runner-ups and the finalists.
Bishopscourt Airfield announced last Friday 24th May on Facebook that they are delighted to finally announce we WILL be holding our first ever Head to Head 1/4 Mile Street Race here at Bishopscourt Airfield on SATURDAY 8TH JUNE…
With a slight to change to what we previously had planned, this won’t be a timed race, just line up, flag drop and see who is fastest down the strip.
All need to know that no one else involved in the organisation of this event, only the team here at Bishopscourt Diff and Drift.
We need the support of our country and finally get drag racing back up and running.
So let’s all share this and make it a success.
Prepay system will be back up and running over the weekend to guarantee your spot and you can pay at the gate.
Happy Birthday for today to retired Super Pro ET racer Steve Johnson, Super Gas and Wild Bunch crew Ian Hart, longtime bike crew member and constructor Jan Smit, doorslammer racer Nathan Hulkes and Top Fuel Bike racer Dave Newbery. Have a great day all.
Many thanks to sponsor Peter Walters and points co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm for updating the points for the classes at the Main Event, which you can see on our points page by clicking here or on the Santa Pod Racers Club website.
Santa Pod Raceway announced yesterday on Facebook with this post: It is with deep regret that we have made the difficult decision to cancel The Retro Show on Sunday 9th June 2024.
Unfortunately very low ticket sales means holding the event just isn’t viable in these tough financial times.
We sincerely apologise to all loyal customers and Santa Pod Raceway will be in contact with all ticket holders in due course.
Nic Williams from William Bros Racing posted this report from the Main Event on Facebook Tuesday 28th May, Nic Says:
Having got the 69 Camaro back together with its fresh ZL1 427 Engine and new Pro-trans TH350, A1 converter and Mark Williams rear end components just in time for Doorslammers we knew there would be some time needed to set the car up again after a break from running this combo and with more power.
The Doorslammers was challenging and highlighted some areas that needed addressing and so we set our sights on the Main Event and the test day. We changed out the converter for another from A1 to give us a higher stall speed and less slip up top ( down to 1.03!) not bad for a slush box! Further areas were highlighted on the racepak data mainly down low. With a choice of carburettors we started to look closely at the AFR and tuning from there.
After some frustrating runs throughout the weekend with not seeing the results we were after time was spent analysing past and present data on Sunday evening. We made a decision on the set up for Monday eliminations.
R1 saw a massive improvement on the hit and 60ft, a little too aggressive meaning I had to pedal to to stop the wheel stand but a R1 win none the less. Though we were all pleased that finally the 60 was where we wanted it and the car was reacting better on launch the front had come up quite aggressively.
R2 after the wheel stand in R1 I tightened the front some, though being aware that too tight would result in limited weight transfer and spin the tire, a fine balance especially with a big block stock eliminator car.
The car left good and hard and still aggressive, I knew the car had come up high the increased headwind didn’t help! It turned to the right pretty hard so no us choice but to lift at which point I saw I was on the centre line. Aware that Terry Newton would be leaving second I just didn’t want to be in his lane. At this point the car was light on the rear and with slight steering movement the back end got lose and made a turn at which point I was along for the ride with limited time to make any further corrections!
The near head on impact into the wall has obviously beat the car up pretty bad, though at this early stage looks fully repairable.
Having never been in this situation before I wasn’t quite aware of just how good, and important our safety and track crew are. Bob you were at the car in second with only me on your mind to make sure I was out the car and safe, thank you so much. The medics on hand again your were so good I cannot thank you enough. Even though a small impact in comparison all of the track and safety team were incredible, thank you again.
The good news is that I am 100% ok if just a little sore. Sorry to Dan, Elaine N Dan Williams who had to watch this unfold while waiting to run next and sorry to Dad Keith Williams for you having to watch. Lorne Denny always there for me and all of us at every event “steering the ship” sorry buddy it won’t happen again. Sorry Missy Alix Williams for you having to receive that call and for being there always supporting me.
Finally thank you to every single person that reached out yesterday and throughout today and for all of your well wishes from here and to all of our friends in the US. Thank you VP Racing Fuels International for your continued support for Williams Bros. Racing. Brian Tilburg for another killer combo. Thank you also to our whole WBR team.
The car is now home, thank you Antony Etheridge AES rescue for collecting and delivering the car, the best service and still took all the care loading the car!
We will rebuild the faster and better
Thanks for Remco Scheelings for sending in this articles on the FIA/FIM-E Main Event from Autosport.nl. Please note the website will be in Dutch, you can translate the page by your browser settings.
Dragracing: Rain Breaker at The Main Event.
The Main Event on Santa Pod Raceway has unfortunately not become the opening of the season everyone had hoped for. The typical English weather was once again a game-breaker at the first round of the FIA European Championship Drag Racing. Still, the first official runs of the FIA season did give an indication of what can still be expected this year. And that is promising.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Dragracing: Between the raindrops of The Main Event.
With The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, the FIA European Championship Drag Racing was traditionally kicked off. As could already be read elsewhere on AUTOSPORT.nl, it was not the bank holiday race weekend that was hoped for. Still, there was still plenty to enjoy, both on and off the track. The course of the competition has been described earlier, here are some other things that attracted attention.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Thanks to Remco Scheeling for this article on the Main Event. You can read the full story by clicking here.
Rain brings early end to The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.
Rain brought an early end to the eliminations of The Main Event, round one of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship at Santa Pod Raceway. After a rain delay in the morning, the FIA classes Top Fuel, Top Methanol and Pro Stock had completed their first round of eliminations, and Pro Modified their second round, when the rain came back several times. Although the Santa Pod Raceway crew did their very best to dry the track, it was impossible to start racing again.
Happy Birthday for today to former Pro Mod and current Comp Bike racer Danny Cockerill, Outlaw Anglia crewman Aaron Springford, ET Bike crew and Podington Airfield historian Suze Morris, and former Street Eliminator racer Martin Smith. We hope you all have a fantastic day.
Sadly after full days' qualifying on Friday and Saturday, the FIA/FIM-E Main Event held at Santa Pod Raceway from 24th-27th May was marred by rain which severely affected the final two days of the event, and prevented completion of eliminations in all classes apart from those noted below.
Congratulations to the winners:
Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Eva Davies (7.90) 7.9015/79.51 def. Jacqueline Bartlett (7.99) 8.0481/79.51
FIM-E Super Twin Bike (1/8 mile): Marcus Christiansen 4.489/127.72 def. Chris van Nimmen, broke
FIM-E Pro Stock Bike (1/8 mile): Jorg Lymant 4.498/155.62 def. Bertrand Maurice 9.116/46.31
FIM-E Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike Cup: Hollie King (8.34) 8.3622/75.69 def. Leah Morrison (10.95) 11.1127 /56.11
As ever, the track crew did a stupendous job of getting the track back to raceworthy condition. However the Monday afternoon deluge made drying the shutdown area an impossible target, and when racing restarted, all classes elected to race to the eighth mile. Even so, most classes were only able to run one or two rounds of eliminations.
Well done to Funny Car racer Kevin Kent for resetting the Santa Pod Raceway track record at 296.80mph. The run stands as the new track record, although it was not backed up within the required 1% for a Motorsport UK record.
The only serious incident of the event was Nic Williams' Comp Eliminator Camaro making head on contact with the wall after a wheelie got sideways. Nic was unhurt and we will publish his words later this week.
Congratulations to Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Daniel Weir who won the Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award of £50 supported by Cath and Tig Napier, and to Mordurstang Pro ET racer Tom Watkins who won the Hayley Hadfield memorial Eurodragster.com Perfect ET award of £50 supported by Andy 'Fadster' Hadfield.
Congratulations also to Peter Nee Super Pro ET racers Callum Swinchatt and Mark Coulsell who won the Bob's Photo Finish Award of £50 each posted by sponsor and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Bob Roberts for the closest finish of a green light and non-break out race. Callum and Mark's finish line margin was 0.0013 seconds or 3.52 inches.
Thanks to the Santa Pod Timing Crew for sending us detailed timing data, including test day results, which we have posted to our timing data area which you can see by clicking on Data, then Timing Data at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. Official results can be seen at Santa Pod's Official Results Site.
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored FIA/FIM-E Main Event reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular we need the watermark retained.
Please join Chris in thanking Graham, Julian and Diana for their hard work over the race weekend over lengthy days in sometimes rainy conditions. We look forward to publishing racer comments on the event tomorrow.
Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET racer Kieran Astley, Outlaw Street racer Nina Coombes, and former Top Alcohol Dragster racer Tim Claxton. We hope you all have a fantastic day.
Happy Birthday for today to Mark Norton of the UK Drag Racing Tech Team, Heavy Chevy driver Dave Caruso, expat Swedish Pro Mod Racer Adam Flamholc, former Swedish dragster racer Allan Fromm, and ET Bike racer Jake Boden of Rock Bottom Racing. Have a great day guys.
Good Morning, We are ready to bring you live coverage here on the final day of the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Many thanks to Graham, Julian and Diana for covering day three at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing supporting racers since 1967.
Diana went out on the Street Eliminator cruise on Sunday and took extensive set of shots, check out the pit pictures by clicking here.
See our live race report for more information by clicking here.
Santa Pod Raceway's commentator and HoF and BenFund Honorary advisor Colin Theobald has announced on Facebook about his ongoing build up to taking part in Street Weekend 2024. Colin says:
Now it’s time to reveal why so much effort and planning has taken place. Bruce, or for those that don’t know his name….my Camaro has just been through the workshops at Williams Bros. Racing for a service and full check over. No issues whatsoever so on to the challenge of having a trailer for the event. I found a little 5’ x 3’ trailer for sale literally half a mile from my house which was perfect. Used it for a model car event but the thought was how can we get a tow bar onto the Camaro. The Williams Bros had a good look and realised it was a hell of a job, doable but very tricky. We discovered images on social media of Camaros with tow hitches on, very unusual design as on these cars the rear number plate hides the fuel filler flap!!!
This is where the unbelievable happened. Michael Smith or ‘Mick the Fish’ as most know him offered me an original 1st gen tow hitch that he had in his possession here in the U.K. Mick, I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and to be honest without your help this wouldn’t be happening.
Back to the Williams Bros workshops to install the tow hitch, couple of slight modifications and it’s on. Looks odd but whom cares, it’s ridiculously strong and will do the job perfectly. Next issue was the trailer itself as the towing angle was way out but again, the team at WBR welded a new front frame to the trailer to allow it to be towed and a sensible angle. Once again, cheers guys, simply the best team out there.
Whilst all this was going on the graphics for the car and trailer were measured up and thanks to Pete Franklin for suppling all of these in such a short space of time. Graphics all applied so onto the final issue to overcome which was the tow bar electrics. Usually this would be straight forward but with American cars and European trailer boards not so easy. Another big thank you to Mick Checkett for sorting the wiring, Pete Kellett for donating the connector and Paul Morton who came to the rescue with a new relay as the original 55 year old one in the car just couldn’t handle the indicators on the trailer.
So we are now ready, but how to launch the charity fund raiser for this year. Street Weekend is nearly upon us and a couple of months ago the easy decision was made to support the BDRHoF Benevolent Fund to raise awareness of this fabulous registered charity that really does look after the Drag Racing community. Follow the link to the page to find out more.
One of the items on my bucket list was to perform a trailer burnout and with the car and trailer all done the test day for the Main Event would be the perfect opportunity to carry this out, especially as the racers are not allowed to do these during Street Weekend. Signed on, into the lanes much to the bemusement of everyone and into the burnout box. The pictures and video tell the story.
Follow the link here to see the BDRHoF Benevolent Fund, the just giving page will be set up very soon but you can donate directly into the charities bank account, just message me for details as I don’t want to post the account number here.
Street Weekend is basically a 400 mile round trip, if anyone would like to sponsor me let me know either as pence per mile (maximum 400 miles) or an amount to complete the event message me directly and I’ll put you on the sponsors list.
Once again, huge thanks to everyone for their help along the way, it means a lot to me personally. Thanks to all of the great photographers here at Santa Pod for your images, Julian Hunt, Callum Pudge, Jon Spoard, Ian Blackett, Diana Macrae and more and for not posting images straight away.
Now let’s raise some funds for the charity that looks after the drag racing family, rember, its ‘From the Drag Racing Family, For the Drag Racing Family’.
The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Benevolent Fund is a registered charity, charity number 1167197.
Many thanks to Nitro Revival sponsor Geoff Stilwell for sending a vlog of his 7707 land speed B/Blown Fuel Rear Engine Modified Roadster at El Mirage over the weekend of 18th-19th May,
Geoff says "I send out special thanks to BAE - Brad Anderson, ARP bolts, Micks Paint, Pro Products, US Automotive, I.C.E. Automotive Silverstone for helping me make this happen.
"Also, Huge thanks to Tony Thacker and Nestor, our intrepid cameraman, for filming us and putting this together."
A Huge Happy Birthday to Eurodragster.com editor and Sportsman ET Chris Winn who is chilling out but at the same time ready like a coiled spring to post any news that comes his way. From Diana, Kirstie, Dave, Graham, Julian, Kieran and former editors Simon and Tog, have a great day mate!
Happy Birthday for today to Sharon Walters, crew chief on Allan Schofield's Scud Dragster who due to mechanical woes is enjoying a quieter weekend than planned, also to Supercharged Outlaws racer and Junior Dragster Dad Mick Checkett, Super Pro ET racer Clément Dubois and longtime fan and photographer Colin Donisthorpe. Have a great day guys.
Good Morning, We are ready to bring you live coverage from day 3 here at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Many thanks to Graham, Julian and Diana for covering day two at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing supporting racers since 1967.
It was a great day racing, see our live race report for more information by clicking here.
Happy Birthday for today to Colin Pudge and former Super Pro ET racer Johan Ooman. We hope you both have a great day.
Good Morning, We are ready to bring you live coverage from day 2 here at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Many thanks to Julian and Diana for covering day one at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing supporting racers since 1967. Also excellent work on the live reporting by Graham Watkinson.
After 4 qualifying sessions for the sportsman classes on day one, here is a short report:
- Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike Hollie King is in number one stop with 8.3509/79.80 mph.
- Track Worx Comp Eliminator Rouven Dawson takes number one with 8.9968/147.62 mph.
- W.A Watts Super Comp sees Andy Clifford in first place with 8.9001/146.23 mph.
- Top Speed Street Eliminator Andy Bond number one so far with 7.1246/208.86 mph,
- Tony Morris Carburetors Super Gas Tim Moore finiahes top with 9.009/143.39 mph.
- Peter Nee Super Pro ET Barry Giles takes the top spot with 7.4321/175.73 mph.
- Lucas Oil Junior Dragster Daniel Weir is first with reaction of 0.006 and his run 8.0938/78.28 mph.
- Mordurstang Pro ET Thomas Watkins top with 9.0806/148.59 mph.
It was a great day racing, see our live race report for more information by clicking here.
Picture courtesy of Bob Roberts.
Hanna Haapanen announced earlier this week on Facebook, Hanna says: We will be back racing in July with Tommy Haapanen behind the wheel! This summer it will be excactly 30 years since Tommy started driving a Top Fuel car. His second ever Top Fuel race was in Mantorp Park in 1994!.
Mantorp Park also announces 6 Top Fuel for Meguiars Drag Festival at Mantorp Park 25th-28th July - A festival with everything that drag racing has to offer. Starting field with 6 Top Fuel that will meet in a raffled Cannonball Race - one of the largest starting fields in Europe!
In the starting field:
Susanne Callin / Dennis Nilsson / 
Duncan Micallef
Tommy Haapanen / 
Stig Neergaard / Timo Lehtimäki
Make sure you book your ticket, Mantorp Park recommend you grab a stand seat. Read more and pre-buy your tickets by clicking here
Happy Birthday for today to VW Sportsman racer Rhys Finney, Malta-based racers Patrick Cassar and Mark Mallia, Supercharged Outlaws dad Tush Usher, 8.50 Bike racer Yannick Richard and now-retired Super Pro ET racer Laura Turburville-Wilson. We hope you all have a great day!
Good Morning, Eurodragster.com are ready today to bring you live coverage from the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Many thanks to Julian and Diana for covering the test day at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
It was a great day testing, see our live race report for more information!
Thanks to Santa Pod Raceways Race Control Neil Boulton for announcing the 2024 Doorslammers Final statistics on all classes:
OVERALL:
- Number of runs: 784
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 111.30mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 8.94 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.0004 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 0.9238 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 5.7451 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 259.67mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0041 seconds
CLASSES:
Wössner 4 Cylinder:
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 107.91mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 10.45secs
- Quickest reaction time: 0.1476secs
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.0581secs
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.099secs
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 192.99mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0198secs
Tom Wrigley Performance 6 Cylinder:
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 130.26mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 9.162 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.1762 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.1103 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.0088 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 200.53mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0167 seconds
Jeff Bull Race Engines 7.60 Heads Up:
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 162.91mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 7.764 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.0163 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.0918 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.4718 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 182.76 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0151 seconds
Williams Bros Big Bracket: (Combined Big Bracket 1(Sat) & 2 (Sun))
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 134.41mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 9.741 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.0004 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.0854 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.4457 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 184.96 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0041 seconds
Front Wheel Drive supported by Street Racers / SW Motorsport / European FWD
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 102.46mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 10.552 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.0635 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.3188 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 8.0788 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 180.69 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0167 seconds
VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 151.98mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 7.797 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.006 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 0.9238 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 5.7451 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 259.67 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0884 seconds
Turbosmart Pro Street
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 154.71mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 8.484 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.058 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.1369 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.1965 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 207.92 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0492 seconds
True Street
- Average MPH (@ 1/4): 116.69mph
- Average ET (@ 1/4): 10.024 seconds
- Quickest reaction time: 0.1383 seconds
- Fastest time to 60ft: 1.3028 seconds
- Fastest ET (1/4): 7.7549 seconds
- Fastest MPH (1/4): 192.99 mph
- Smallest margin of Win: 0.0387 seconds
Official Data is available at etslips.co.uk
Happy Birthday for today to semi-retired Pro Mod racer Kevin Slyfield, former Trakbak Racing employee Geoff Myers, Straightliners racer and photographer Becci Ellis and from Germany Super Pro ET racer Franz Aschenbrenner. We hope you all have a great day.
Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels have announced: Giveaway time!! Fancy winning some VP Racing Fuels goodies and a family ticket to The Main Event 2024?
Enter by clicking here there is still time!
Then comment on this post to let us know you've entered! The winner will be chosen at midday today, Thursday 23rd May. Please be aware that we will contact you via the email that you registered with. No one will be contacted via Facebook!
The FIA/FIM-E Main Event has begun today with testing, you can follow the Coverage from Santa Pod Raceway by clicking here, Eurodragster.com today will have Julian and Diana covering pictures, and live reporting by Graham will be from tomorrow.
We will update when the galleries are completed and post event report and times are posted at our Event Coverage by clicking here or go via Events in our main menu. Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Thanks to Lee Child for announcing after what could be said as a 13 year sabbatical, Lee is back in the game of drag race event timing. A fully portable two lane timing system is available with an experienced team to operate it for a smooth day of racing. The timing system provides reaction times, 60 foot times , ⅛ & ¼ miles times and speeds.
The system can provide a pro tree, sportsman tree, heads up racing and dial in racing with a staggered start. "We have had a great previous customer base such as charity MOD base events across the uk and Silverline power tools drag race event with the help of TMD ace Dave Wilson. Internationally events like European bugin- the biggest aircooled event in Europe ‘ Lee mentioned.
This service can be expanded to venue sourcing , providing event insurance , motorsports permit, Fire/rescue services, paramedic services and top speed timing for any event. For more info call 07771590176 or email by clicking this link.
Super Pro racer Andy Thetford announced on his Facebook with this quick update on The Black Pearl, Andy says:
After dropping a lifter and scoring the camshaft at The Festival of Power last month, Newman Camshafts in Orpington came to the rescue. They did their magic and the cam is like new. Unfortunately we missed the Doorslammers due to running out of time.So, everything back together and a little warm up on Friday.... then bang, bloody lifter stand had left the cylinder head! stripped the helicoil completely out.
Fortunately Steve Large was able to help out at short notice, and sleeved the head, and I now have a day to get the engine back together, then it's upto Santapod for The Main Event.
I would like to say thank you to Philip Toppin and Joshua Duncan who both offered spare cylinder heads. See you all soon.
Happy Birthday for today to Outlaw Street racer Arnie Pamment, Outlaw Anglia racer Wayne Power, Straightliners bike racer Maxine Taylor and drag racing photographer Kelvin Fagan. We hope you all have a great day.
Kieran has been busy editing his footage from Doorslammers and has posted videos of European FWD Front Wheel Drive action at his Mk1 Kieran Youtube channel, there are videos of 4 and 6 cylinder classes bith running for about 28 minutes and 37 minutes respectively, so definitely one to sit back and enjoy with a drink. You can watch these by clicking this link.
Santa Pod Raceway have announced the 2024 renewal of its enduring marketing partnership with Autoglym, the leading premium car care brand.
Santa Pod hosts Show & Shine competitions across 16 different lifestyle events throughout the season including the three big summer festivals – Dragstalgia, Bug Jam Festival and Ultimate Street Car. A flawless finish is a necessity for competitive success, and the premium car care and valeting products which Autoglym designs and manufactures in the UK serve as a vital ingredient in the competitors’ drive to perfection. Together, Santa Pod and Autoglym have forged the consummate partnership.
Autoglym’s Marketing Manager, Marloes Rots, said: “We are excited to maintain this strong partnership which has continued now for nearly two decades. Show & Shine sponsorship and the Autoglym brand are a great fit. Our products make cars look stunning. The sampling opportunities provided at Santa Pod’s events allow so many car enthusiasts to try these products.”
Caroline Holden, Santa Pod’s Commercial Manager, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Autoglym. Our Show & Shine participants who share Autoglym’s passion for the perfect finish will welcome the news. So will all those visiting fans who love to see the results.”
Thanks to The Maynard Family Racing for announcing that The JCM Racing team has announced that 2023 FIA Top Fuel champion Ida Zetterström will make her NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series debut at Brainerd International Raceway, Aug. 16 – 18, in Brainerd, Minnesota. Aboard the JCM/VP Racing/Edelbrock/CompCams Top Fuel dragster, Zetterström will stage a 12,000-horsepower machine in competition for the first time in the U.S. when qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals kicks off on Friday, Aug. 16.
“I’m so excited to share that I’ll finally be hitting the track at Brainerd and will be competing alongside my teammate, Tony Schumacher, in the final eight of 20 races on the schedule this year,” said the Swedish-born racer who relocated to the Indianapolis area in January to be near JCM Racing’s Brownsburg, Indiana headquarters. “I’ve been champing at the bit to share my first race date, but we wanted to wait until we had it completely buttoned up first.
“Fans have been asking what’s taking so long for me to get on the track, but the reality is, it takes a while to assemble a new operation. I didn’t move to the U.S. and hop into the driving role of a team and operation that already existed. Instead, we’re building this team from scratch and there’s a lot that goes into that. In addition to building a car and figuring out a crew, we have to stock our parts inventory, trucks and trailers need to be purchased and outfitted as fully stocked race rigs, wraps need to be designed, approved, and installed. The list goes on and on, but I’m so glad that we finally have that Brainerd date confirmed because now the countdown is on – 86 days!”
After the Brainerd event, Zetterström will join Schumacher on drag racing’s largest stage when the duo of JCM Racing Top Fuel pilots hits the track for the 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend. After closing out the Mission Foods Series ‘regular’ season at Brainerd and Indianapolis, Zetterström will run the full slate of NHRA Countdown to the Championship events as she pursues NHRA’s 2024 Rookie of the Year award.
“As many who follow me on social media know, I’ve been traveling to every race with the team this year,” added Zetterström, who has completed two test sessions so far, one in the car she will campaign in 2024, and the other in Schumacher’s car. “Jon [Schaffer, who currently serves as Schumacher’s co-crew chief alongside Mike Neff] and the team have been working tirelessly to get everything ready for my Brainerd debut. Jon will be moving over to my team full-time starting in Brainerd, so it’s been great that we’ve been able to spend this time really getting to know each other before just going full throttle with this whole operation. I’m right there with the team at the shop helping wherever I can, and at the track, I mix the fuel before every one of Tony’s runs and jump in as an extra set of hands whenever needed. Being able to travel with the team and work alongside them at the shop has been great because I have been able to develop such strong relationships with all of them and have felt extremely comfortable and trusting in them during those first few test days. I can’t wait to have that moment of getting suited up and strapped into my JCM/VP Racing/Edelbrock/CompCams dragster when we pull up for that first qualifying run in Brainerd.”
Supporting Zetterström’s efforts as she vies for her first drag racing trophy on U.S. soil is the Dodge brand. Zetterström has a previous relationship with the overseas operation of the iconic muscle car manufacturer, having served as a Dodge brand ambassador in Europe for the past year.
“I love being affiliated with Dodge and representing American muscle car culture in Europe. Last month, I flew to the Netherlands to take in the full FIM Superbike World Championship experience as a guest of Dodge. I made the first lap before Saturday’s Race 1 in my Challenger SRT Hellcat, and I also participated in the award ceremonies of the Superpole. Dodge’s cameras captured it all and my experience will be documented in the first episode of the latest season of IN//OUT, a Dodge Europe series that fans can catch on the Dodge Official YouTube page.”
Dodge will be providing Zetterström and the JCM/VP Racing/Edelbrock/CompCams Top Fuel team with off-track vehicle support and social media exposure throughout the remainder of the season. Dodge recently sent Zetterström and fellow Dodge ambassador Leah Pruett to Radford Racing School where the two straight-line speedsters put their skills to the test behind a pair of Hellcats on the Chandler, Arizona facility’s road course.
As a Dodge-affiliated driver, Zetterström will also participate in driver autograph sessions and Dodge-backed media events with Pruett, Matt Hagan, Tony Stewart, and Cruz Pedregon. When she hits the track in Brainerd, her race car, helmet, and firesuit will all carry the Dodge logo, demonstrating her ties with the brand that is so embedded into the drag racing culture.
Beyond her eight-race 2024 campaign piloting the JCM/VP Racing/Edelbrock/CompCams Top Fuel dragster, Zetterström is slated to run the full 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule. She has plans to test at least twice more before making her competition debut.
Image courtesy of Rick Belden Photography,
Eurodragster has received this spy picture, of a Simpson bag in its own airline seat, without comment.
If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at [email protected].
Happy Birthday for today to Super Twin Top Gas racer Markus Müller. We hope you have a great day.
Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor John Tebenham ran his quickest passes in two years at the Doorslammers, and his Corvette with an I.C.E. engine combination showed greater consistency than ever, running 6.39/228, 6.47/223, 6.07/237 and 6.04/237. However, engine problems meant that he was unable to make the call in round 1 of VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer.
He told us "The exhaust stud fell out and went straight through to the inside of the rocker area causing an oil leak. Not a good design of the part, but it was a great weekend.
"We're looking forward to running in Pro Mod at the Main Event from Saturday to Monday. We're after a small tow car as our golf buggy has a headache. The supplier of the tow car gets a free weekend ticket."
Good luck to JT for the Pro Mod, and to the newly recruited driver of the Crew Killer Pop, Paul Marston, who JT hopes will be taking the car further in eliminations than ever before.
The first round of the 2024 FIA/FIM-E drag racing championship, the Main Event takes place at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend from Friday, 24th May to Monday 27th May. The event brings you racers from all over Europe travelling to the UK. Here is a preview of the pro racing classes, also the weekend will see sportsman classes racing.
FIA Top Fuel Dragster has 3 entries with Susanne Callin (TF2) in the Slick Tricks Racing (RF Motorsports), Jndia Erbacher (TF11) in the Monster Energy aka Jasmine and Duncan Milcallef (TF111) in the DM Motorsports.
FIA Top Methanol with 5 entries brings you Sandro Bellio (TM1) in the Danny's Racing Team, Jonny Lagg (TM6) in NGK, Jurgen Nagel (TM8), Silvio Strauch (TM21) in the PSR Dragster and Tony Bryntesson (TM34) in the Bilsport.
FIA/Motorsport UK Pro Modified has a health 17 car entry sees last week’s Pro Doorslammers winner Bruno Bader in the Gotham City Corvette, Andres Arnover is the one to watch after getting the record in Doorslammers at the weekend with an outstanding run of 5.75 seconds new personal best and a string of 5.7-second runs at 259 mph! Eurodragster.com sponsors John Tebenham, Andy Robinson and Jon Webster also starting the championship. With many more this is the class to watch this weekend.
The Nitro Funny Car Cup has 5 car field, Kevin Kent (FC1) with his West Ten Motorsport Monte Carlo, Patrik Pers (FC7) in the Speed Ghost Charger, Jason Phelps (FC123) with the Hawk Racing Gladiator Camry, Kevin Chapman (FC1020) in the Thermoreg Mustang and Steve Ashdown (FC4250) with the Undertaker Dodge.
FIA Pro Stock Car The Pro Stockers skipped The Main Event last year, now they are back and they do it in the best possible way with a 7-car field. Michael Malmgren, Stefan Ernryd, Simon Ekengren, Robin Noren, Jimmy Alund, Lars Britsmar and Richard Sundblom from Finland.
Nostalgia Funny Car 4 car field sees Tony Betts in the Venom Camaro, Wendy Baker with the Time Warp Mustang, Andy Raw in the Nitro Bug and Tim Garlick with the Apache Firebird.
FIM-E Top Fuel Bike brings you 8 riders with Rikard Gustafsson (Sweden), Mark Smith (UK), Mike Olie (Netherlands), Phil Crossley (UK), Eric Richard (France), Rene van den Berg (Netherlands), Stuart Crane (UK) and Thomas Pettersson (Sweden).
FIM-E Super Twin Bike has a 5-bike field with riders Marcus Christiansen (Denmark), Marc Vanden Boer (Beligum), Roman Sixta make the journey from Czech Republic, Chris Van Nimmen (Beligum) and Marko Lantto from Finland.
FIM-E Pro Stock Bike see 6 riders with Aswin le Noble, Martin Bishop. Jorg Lymant from Germany, Jerome Rougemont from France and Bertrand Maurice also from France.
FIM-E Super Street Bike with 16 bike ladder. the class looks really good with riders Alan Morrison JNR, Mogen Lund, Chris Reed, Rudi Zorzi from CODROIPO Italy, Erich Gruber from Austria and many more making the journey from overseas to the UK.
Finally, FIM-E Cup Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike has 6 bike field keeping, our UK stars of the class are joined by Anouk Burgering from the Netherlands and we look forward to some great bracket racing from them.
Eurodragster.com's coverage page is at this link or go via Event Coverage in our main menu. We plan to post on-track and off-track photographs on each day and there will be also live reports. Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Thanks for Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for sending in this article on FIA/FIM-E Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend, 24th - 27th May and FIA European Drag Racing Championship.
After a far too long and also wet winter, the engines can finally be fired up again and the thousands of horsepower unleashed. It’s time for the traditional opener of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway! Ida Zetterström (Top Fuel), Linn Fløysvik (Top Methanol), Jan Ericsson (Pro Modified) and Michael Malmgren (Pro Stock) are the reigning champions, but one thing is sure, in at least three categories a new champion will be crowned at the end of the season. What to expect in England, who are the favourites and who might surprise? It will once again be a tough fight with a title race that could go down to the wire.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Nitro Revival sponsor Geoff Stilwell ran 219.669mph on Saturday and 222.575mph on Sunday over the flying mile at Lake El Mirage to achieve his "A" licence grade for the facility.
You can read all about Geoff's latest epic trip, accompanied by team members Nick Davies, Rob Loaring and Scotty Barnes at our feature which you can see by clicking here.
Happy Birthday for today to Williams Bros Racing and OCS Paint head Nic Williams, Super Twin racer Roman Sixta, UK Nostalgia Super Stock racer John Davison. VW Pro racer Adrian Solly, former Pro Mod team member Nick Garrett, Top Fuel mum/grandmother Mona Kristin Udtian and former Top Fuel racer Jari Halinen, have a great day to all of you!
Straightliners NI have announced the cancellation of the drag race planned to be held at Bishopscourt Airfield on Saturday 8th June. Director Ben Lawrence said "Due to circumstances completely beyond our control, we have no option but to cancel the first round in May and it is highly likely the other provisional dates will not go ahead this year. We can only apologise to the racers for the frustration this may cause."
£200 is up for grabs at this weekend's FIA/FIM-E Main Event courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors
This weekend's Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by VW Sportsman's Nigel Gregson at the Festival of Power Rescheduled. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available in all classes during both qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.
The Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award supported by Andy Hadfield has been reset to £50 after it was won by Warpspeed Racing ET Bike's Tim Moore at the Festival of Power Rescheduled. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to run +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award is available in Peter Nee Super Pro ET, Modurstang Pro ET, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, W.A. Watts Automotive Super Comp, Tony Morris Carburetors Super Gas, Pro Race Engineering VW Pro, Quantum Leap Racing VW Sportsman, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster, JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike, Atlantic Fluid Tech 9.50 Bike, Warpspeed Racing ET Bike and Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike. But will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy 'Fadster' Hadfield of the Twister Race Team in memory of his late wife Hayley.
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.
The Bob's Photo Finish Award, which is presented in association with Eurodragster.com sponsor Bob Roberts, will award £50 each to the racers involved in the closest finish of a green light and non-breakout race of eliminations at this weekend's event. At the Festival of Power Rescheduled the Award was won by Modurstang Pro ET racers Bob Molden and Dave Fulton with a finish line margin was 0.0201 or 46.71 inches.
The closest race will be decided upon distance rather than time since, for example, 0.001 seconds at 230 mph is further than 0.002seconds at 110 mph. For this reason the official timing data will need to be consulted so the winners will be announced here on Eurodragster.com as soon as possible after the event and the winners will then be contacted for their preferred method of payment. The award will be paid on green light drag races only, and not on bracket races where there is a breakout.
As the Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway approaches so does the start of the 2024 Funny Car Cup, writes Chris Hobson:
The First Round of the 2024 Funny Car Cup is just around the corner, with the first of a 3 race series ( scheduled to be a 4 races as but the first event was cancelled due to a waterlogged site) is taking place at next weekend's Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.
starting the season will be 5 teams looking to hit the ground running.
𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘁 is the Defending series winner and will be hoping for another dominating season, In 2023 Kevin and the West Ten Motorsport team won all the events including the European Finals in a back up car after breaking the rear axle and losing a wheel during a qualifying run. The team will also be looking to repeat and improve on a huge 4.18/291.25mph pass that set a huge benchmark for all other teams. John “Bodie”Smith will once again Helm The Tuning Duties.
2022 Cup Winner 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 and Undertaker Racing team will be looking for a return to form as last year started out with issues at the Main Event which set them back. Despite this the team still managed to end the year with 2 Finals and will be looking to return to Trophy winning ways with revamped computer systems and extra parts.
Both 𝗝𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 and the Hawk Racing Fuel FC and 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀 with The Speedghost Motorsport took to the track to make test runs in April at the rescheduled Festival Of Power, this was the first opportunity for teams to get data ahead of the Funny Car Cup Opener. Phelps is a previous winner of the series in 2013 and winner of 2 events in 2022 and will be looking to win the series in the Mark & Jackie Hawkins owned operation.
This will be the first Full assault on the Funny Car Cup for Patrik Pers who put in some impressive runs at the European Finals last year and has acquired the tuning duties of Former European Top Fuel Champion Peter Lantz.
2019 Season Winner 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗺𝗮𝗻 will be looking for a successful return this year, an accident at the Main Event in 2022 put an end of any hopes of defending the 2019 title. this year for Thermoreg International Ltd Crew Chief Duties will be in the capable Hands of Bob Jarrett.
2024 Funny Car Cup Events will be at Santa Pod Raceway at these events:
- FIA Main Event 24th- 27th May
- Bug Jam 26th- 28th July
- FIA European Finals 5th- 8th September
Thanks to Nikki Marshall from British Drag Racing Hall of Fame for sending in this announcement from the drag racing community - for the drag racing community, Nikki says:
The BDRHoF Benevolent Fund was created in March 2016 as registered charity, no 1167197 and is run as a separate entity from the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Ltd.
The Fund is one of very few the Charity Commission has allowed the use of the word British in the title.
The BDRHoF Benevolent Fund was established and registered with the Charities Commission to create a fund-raising platform to support those connected with drag racing who have fallen on hard times. It also makes awards to organisations who provide services to the Drag Racing Community.
As part of our drive to increase the profile of the charity - both for donations and to provide advice on how you can get support where needed - a face book page was set up earlier this year. We would like to invite racers, marshals and all those connected with Drag Racing in the Uk to visit, like and follow the page.
As part of our ongoing fundraising efforts, we will be releasing details shortly on how you can support this worthy cause.
To follow, please go to BDRHOF Facebook page by clicking here.
The BDRHOF Benevolent Fund is run for Drag Racers by trustees who have had many years’ experience in the sport. Trustees are: Nikki Marshall, Nigel Payne, Robin Jackson, Ian Messenger, Graham Beckwith, Ian Marshall and Phil Cottingham.
Thanks for Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for sending in these articles on the build up to FIA/FIM-E Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend, 24th - 27th May.
Morrison Racing updates and expands
The no-bar Super Street Bike class promises to be a barnstorming in 2024 with new and returning entries to the FIM-E championship series and the increasing agglomeration of ‘super’ teams very much in evidence. One of these includes current champion Alan Morrison Jnr aiming at a repeat this season.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Bertrand Maurice upgrades and targets PBs
The form runner in Pro Stock Bike after finishing in the runner-up spot in 2022 and taking his second championship last year, Bertrand Maurice enters this season hoping the Light Speed Suzuki will skip the breakages that caused a lot of work and headaches.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Next Generation Racing plans ahead for the Main Event
Having lost out on the FIM-E Junior Drag Bike Cup in 2023 in the trophy shootout at the Euro Finals last September, Hollie King will be looking to take back the trophy she won the previous year with the very stylish 400cc Suzuki she debuted last season. She’ll also have support from her younger brother Jaxon who has already drawn a fan club thanks to his crowd pleasing performances in Germany last year.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Congratulations to the winners at 2024 Doorslammers held at Santa Pod Raceway over the weekend:
- VP Racing Pro Doorslammers: Bruno Bader 5.9553/231.38 def. Andres Arnover which unfortunatey could not run due the parachutes deployed accidentally after the burnout.
- Turbosmart Pro Street: Andy Bond 7.2627/206.16 def. Rob Carter 8.7204/129.08
- True Street: Arnie Pamment 8.5090/160.19 def. Buzz Pattar 7.9838/189.72
- Wossner 4 Cylinder: Rob Laughton 16.9298/88.73 def. Kevin Jenkins(Broke)
- Tom Wrigley Performance 6 Cylinder: Markus Welte 7.2398/192.95 def. Konstantine Dinev 22.3346/32.49
- SW Motorsports Front Wheel Drive: David Lamik 8.2132/155.74 def. Ahmed Jamshaid 9.0733/122.53
- Jeff Bull Race Engines 7.60 Heads Up: Belinda Bull 7.6460/165.49 def. Rob Smallworth 7.6154/174.42
- Williams Bros Big Bracket #2: Frans Aschenbrenner (8.10) 8.0958/169.12 def. Simon Innes (10.58) 10.6628/121.39 red.
The event was held in sunny and very warm conditions making for many personal bests from competitors, which you can view the by clicking here.
Congratulations to Andres Arnover with a Santa Pod Raceway track record in Pro Doorslammers at 259.52mph run. Also to David Lamik second time champion in Front Wheel Drive.
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing sponsored Doorslammer reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular we need the watermark retained.
Please join Chris in thanking Graham for the live reporting, Julian and Diana for their hard work covering the pictures over the race weekend.
Happy Birthday for today to FIA Stewart and Speedgroup member Helene Rapp, Comp Eliminator racer Gideon Liljegren, former Comp Eliminator racer Paul Brooks and to crew chief and wife Kye Wakefield of Sportsman ET racer Adam. We hope you all have a great day!
Good Morning, Eurodragster.com will bring you live coverage from the Doorslammers day 3, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Good luck and stay safe to Nitro Revival sponsor Geoff Stilwell who will be running at El Mirage this weekend.
Geoff flew on Tuesday from Heathrow to Los Angeles and then to Pomona, where his 7707 LSR car has been worked on. Since then he has been busy supervising the final assembly of his new Brad Anderson engine in the car.
Then on Wednesday, Geoff and team mates Nick Davies, Rob Loaring and Scotty Barnes with friends Bob and Sharon Muravez, visited legendary drag racer TV Tommy Ivo. A visit by Irwindale and Famoso announcer Bob Beck on Thursday preceded the final loading of the car and the tow to El Mirage on Friday morning.
On arriving at El Mirage, the car went through tech inspection. Geoff received the Gary Brauer award for his land speed racing acheivements. Geoff said "Thanks to the LSR club President Charlie Davis for this amazing award."
You can watch this weekend's action from El Mirage by clicking on this link at lsrlive.com.
Geoff thanks team mates Scott Campbell, Pauly Rivera, Sebastian, Nick Davies, Rob Loaring, Scotty Barnes, mick Jenkins and Tony Thacker for all their work, also sponsors ARP Bolts and Pro Products.
Many thanks to Julian and Diana for covering day 2 at the Doorslammers, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Andres Arnover qualified in the top spot in VP Racing Pro Doorslammers with a Santa Pod Raceway track record in this class at 259.52mph, well done Andres.
The chips have been drawn and the pairings are set for race day today at Doorslammers, but who is going home with the money?
Happy Birthday for today to ET Bike racer Joe Elliott, Pro Modified racer Walle Strobel, Edge Performance Transmissions co-boss Nick Evans, VW Pro racer Ian Huggan, former Funny Car racer Charlie Draper and former Junior Dragster racer Luke Fulton. We hope you all have a great day.
Good Morning, Eurodragster.com are here in full force today to bring you live coverage from the Doorslammers, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Many thanks to Julian and Diana for covering day 1 at the Doorslammers, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster of Webster Race Engineering hits number 1 spot in VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammers with 6.27/232.84mph, also
It was a great day's racing, see our live race report for more information!
Happy Birthday to Funny Car legend Harlan Thompson, have a great day Harlan! We also wish Stones Drag Racing Team driver Gerry Andrews a very Happy Birthday, enjoy your day Gerry.
Today's Pioneer Story is the story of the 60th anniversary of the first full scale drag race meeting to be held in the UK organised by the British Hot Rod Association with help from the National Sprint Association and Allard Owners Club at Duxford Airfield. They called in the ‘Big Go’ and 57 competitors turned up running in class eliminations followed by Top, Middle and Little Eliminator where the whole entry was divided into three performance groups. You can see the full story at this link.
The Big Go went on to be an annual event returning to Duxford in 1965 then moving to Santa Pod from 1966 to 1987 and is now known as the Main Event.
There was even a Christmas Tree starting system constructed by BHRA treasurer Peter Bartlett with five amber lights giving a 2 ½ second count down in line with the NHRA complete with red foul light. If anyone has any information regarding the five amber Christmas Tree, please do not hesitate in contacting Chris Winn at this link.
The 60th Anniversary story was produced by Nick Pettitt, and published by Eurodragster.com editor Chris Winn. You can read many more stories of pioneers of UK drag racing at our Pioneer Stories page.
Doorslammers has begun today with testing, you can watch the Live Coverage from Santa Pod Raceway by clicking here, unfortunately eurodragster.com today will only have Julian and Diana covering pictures.
There will be open qualifing session tonight from 17:30 to 20:00hrs, as this is a late change by Santa Pod Raceway due to the large entry.
We will update when the galleries are completed and post event report and times are posted at our Event Coverage by clicking here or go via Events in our main menu. Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Many thanks to to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for sending us details of track opening and signing on at the FIA/FIM-E Main Event being held on 24th-27th May, including scrutineering times.
Ian says "Sportsman Car Racers, please note that you only need to attend Scrutineering if this is your first event in 2024 or you have had major changes to your vehicle requiring a Scrutineering inspection."
Please click here to see the FIA Pro Class Scrutineering Order.
The main gates to the track will open at 08.00 on Thursday, 23rd May.
THURSDAY 23rd May
- 10.00-20.00 Signing on open.
- 14.30-19.00 Scrutineering for cars at the Scrutineering building
FRIDAY 24th May
- 07.00 Signing on open.
- 10.00 Scrutineering for bikes at the Scrutineering building
- 09.30 Track open for Sportsman Qualifying
- 08.00-14.30 Sportsman Car Scrutineering at the Scrutineering building
- 13.00 Pro Class Scrutineering (at pit bay) see additional list for details
SATURDAY 25th May
- 07.00 Signing on open.
- 08.00 Scrutineering Sportsman Cars only
- 09.00 Scrutineering Top Fuel Dragster (at pit bay)
- 09.30 Track open for qualifying
- 09.00 Scrutineering for bikes
SUNDAY 26th May
- 08.00 Scrutineering
- 07.00 Signing on open.
- 09.30 Track open for qualifying/eliminations
MONDAY 27th May
- 07.00 Signing on open.
- 09.00 Scrutineering
- 09.30 Track open for Eliminations
You can check the provisional running by clicking here or go via Event Coverage in our main menu. Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Sportsman Nationals which is held at Santa Pod Raceway 8th-9th June, this is a reminder that racer entries closes today at the normal fee. *A surcharge will occur after this date.
The current entry list for the event is at this link. You can enter by clicking here. Late entry may cost extra, so competitors are urged to sign up today.
Sportsman Nationals entry
closes in 2 Days 11 Hours 14 Mins 58 Secs
Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET racer Tom Atkinson, Pro ET racer Nick Mugridge, Super Street Bike racer Mark Hope, FWD racer Darren Dewhurst, Swedish Pro Mod racer Håkan Persson and Swedish caravan drag racer and Fawlty Towers expert Anders Bostic Envall. We hope you all are having a fantastic day.
Congratulations to Matt and Rach Davison on your wonderful wedding yesterday at Santa Pod Raceway on the start line.
We here at Eurodragster were sad to hear of the loss of Roger Forsythe.
Ian King mentions on Facebook they are very sad to hear that former King Racing team member and Top Fuel Bike rider Roger Forsythe has passed away. Roger (far left) was a skilled engineer as well as a restorer, collector and manufacturer of parts for HRD Vincent Motorcycles and a keen member of the Vincent Owners Club and the Vintage Motor Cycle Club.
Our condolences to his wife Linda and family at this sad time.
Speedy Racing gets stronger and lighter.
Dominating the class and aiming for a fifth championship in a row, one of the prominent questions posed as we head into 2024 is can anyone stop the Danish team of Marcus Christiansen and his father Claus ‘Speedy’? Winter upgrades to the bike are, as one might expect as Marcus outlines below.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Vegter Pro Mod Racing are ready for the new season.
After months of preparation, the time has finally come. The Vegter Pro Mod Racing ’67 Camaro can leave the workshop for the first runs of the season. With several technical updates and a fresh look, David Vegter and his team travel to Santa Pod Raceway for The Main Event, May 25 to 27. In preparation for this first round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Vegter will first take part in next weekend’s The Doorslammers at the same English track.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Congratulations to the winners of the first round of the 2024 Straightliners Championship round 3 last weekend at Melbourne Raceway.
Complete lists of ETs and speeds recorded on Sunday, including RWYB bikes, are available by clicking on this link. Thanks to Martyn Greathead for supplying Straightliners Championship results and points, which are available by clicking here.
Saturday 11th May:
NSCC
In the semi’s there were 2 red lights giving automatic wins.
Mark Savage was against Ian Walley who made a rare mistake pulling a red and handing Mark a trip to the final.
Second semi had new to class, Shane Bird, against Phil Winstanley. This time it was Shane with the red so Phil went against Mark in the final, Phil taking the win.
QUICK 8
First semi saw Graham Crook, running a different car this weekend, against James Murray, now with turbo added, James making his way to the final. Second semi was Mark Savage up against Marc Betts who took the win. The final looked like being closely fought but on the greens James was gone while Marc’s car failed to move.
Sunday 12th May:
“FIRST 4 SECOND CAR RUNS FOR THE “FLAVS” “
With perfect track conditions it seemed inevitable we could see the first 4 sec runs for wheel driven cars.
First was Mark Flavell in the MUSTANG alcohol funny car with a stunning 4.84 sec at 155mph. Andy Flavell then took over driving duties and slapped in a 4.87sec at 151mph to the delight of the whole team, just 0.03sec between father Mark and Andy.
NSCC
Saw the Bird brothers, new to the class, reach the semi’s James Murray beating Shane and Ian Walley Aaron for an all-Cortina final. Ian took the win with a 6.31sec 117mph to James, now with turbo power, on 8.03sec at 91mph.
QUICK 8
With a good mix of cars semi’s saw Nik Wilson in the Dragster beat the Civic of Craig Brown and Pete Eborall, Golf take out Sam Agnew . Final and Pete on a 9sec dial in was first away Nik on a 6.8sec dial in but Nik crossed the line for win.
JUNIOR SPRINT CAR
Dexter Wilson made the final on a bye and Jack Taylor through beating Toby Jackson. Final was neck and neck all the way to the stripe, Dexter just edging the win.
JUNIOR BIKES
Through the eliminations there were a few breakouts along the way Jorja Cheal made it through to the final beating Arron Gregory and Alfie Barraclough beating an ever-improving Maisie Thornton. It was close all the way Alfie just taking the win in front of the cameras following his efforts through the year.
SCOOTER SHOOTOUT
Just to prove you don’t need the fastest scooter to win the class Amy Wolstenholme who honed her skills in the Junior ranks made the final, on a scooter borrowed from Gen, forced Jeffery Taylor into a breakout and Paul Gurney got a better start to beat Eric Cope. Amy made a perfect run with a fast-closing Paul at the finish line just beaten by Amy.
6 SECOND CLASS
Top qualifier Maxine Taylor couldn’t make the semi’s due to a holed radiator so Ashley Hodgson made the final on a bye and Peter Slater beat Mark Patman in a hard-fought run, Peter having to be careful not to breakout now he is a consistent 5 second runner.
Peter and Ashley charged hard from the green with Peter keeping an eye on Ashley with just enough advantage to ease off at the finish so as not to breakout and took a well-judged win.
BIKE SHOOTOUT
With a 16 bike field eliminations were hard fought. First semi saw Terry Mountford push Peter Slater to a breakout. Second semi saw birthday boy Mark Patman, all the way from the Isle Of Man, force a breakout from Ashley Hodgson. Mark cut a fractionally better green charging to the win just 2/100ths inside his dial in and Terry 8/100ths inside his. So a very popular win for Mark.
NORA BRITISH SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP
First semi and Eric Cope ran the better 60 foot against Peter McGuinness to move into the final with an 8.15sec run on an 8.10sec dial in to Peter’s 8.08sec on a 7.26sec dial in. Second semi and Kerry Phillips went through to the final after a no show from Gilbert Cook.
Final was close with just 0.01sec difference at the 60 foot Kerry taking the win just 0.03sec the right side of his dial in.
You can check out John Woolfe Racing long term sponsor of eurodragster.com event coverage. A full event gallery can be found by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page.
We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular we need the watermark retained.
Happy Birthday for today to former Pro Stock Bike racer Dave Beck, Wild Bunch racer Dan Boone and Nostalgia Funny Car crew member Krister Kirk, we hope you all have a great day.
We here at Eurodragster were sad to hear of the loss of Steve Dixon.
The Gasser Circus family are saddened to hear of the passing of Steve Dixon after a heroic battle with cancer.
A previous custodian of High Roller, our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.
Thanks for Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for sending in another great article on FIA and FIM championships racers.
Rapid Rikard Gustafsson seeks improvement.
Current FIM-E Top Fuel Bike champions, Rikard Gustafsson and the RG Engineering team haven’t been resting on their laurels during the ‘off’ season. The Swede started off 2023 running PBs of 5.742s and 260.65mph [FIM-E speed record] and are looking to push further this year.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Congratulations to Ronnie Mercer who took the win against G. HABERMANN in the finals for Pro ET, 44 competitors competed at 23rd European Dragster, France.
Ronnie is next out this weekend at the Doorslammers and then at The Main Event next weekend 24th-27th May.
You have visit Ronnie's Facebook page by clicking here.
Thanks for Pike Murray for allowing eurodragster.com to share this announcement for The 10th Annual Willy's Wars. Pike says:
"From a couple of suggestions from last year, we're going to try something a bit different this year! We'll dial our cars in for each round (can be changed each run).
For all rounds EXCEPT our final round, red lights and breakouts are not important. We will then submit a minimum of three timing tickets (over or under dial) to the Willy's Wars marquee this will then give us a ladder of closest to average dial in for our final round.
For the final round red lights and breakouts DO COUNT!! We'll pair the cars from the bottom of the ladder to the top, so the winner from the last pair to run will give us the Willy's Wars Winner for 2024.
Any cars not wanting to be laddered can run heads up as before.
To see more on the Willy Wars, visit their Facebook by clicking here
A reminder that the closing date for Sportsman Nationals is this Friday 17th May.
The current entry list for the event is at this link. You can enter by clicking here. Late entry may cost extra, so competitors are urged to sign up today.
Happy Birthday to hardworking photojournalist Remco Scheelings, retired Top Fuel racer Mikael Kågered, retired Outlaw Anglia racer Paul Hensher, Daimler dragster racer and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Robin Read, Top Methanol Dragster racer from Sweden Daniel Jedborn and ET Bike racer Liam Holgate, have a great day guys!
23rd European Dragster - May 2024 - Results are now available at this link.
Once again the Doorslammers is upon us, this weekend, 17th-19th May, and the entry list has 253 Entries. Doorslammers which ran in the 1970’s and 1980’s is back at Santa Pod in a bigger and better format, along with a huge prize fund. The Doorslammers has seven heads-up classes along with one huge Bracket class. The prize money up for grabs will be £100,000!
This is the richest drag race in Europe, but also the least predictable due to the draw, performance variations and sheer reliability of these powerful vehicles. Here is our preview of each class, and you can see a printable version of the entry list at this link:
VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer - Entries: 15 Prize Money: £20,000 - 2023 winner: Jan Ericsson
Pro Street - Entries: 18 Prize Money: £10,000 - 2023 Winner: Andy Bond
True Street - Entries: 14 Prize Money: £10,000 - 2023 Winner: Arnie Pamment
European FWD Front Wheel Drive - Entries: 77 Prize Money: £10,000 - 2023 Winner: Dawid Lamik
4 Cylinder - Entries: 43 Prize Money: £10,000 2023 Winner: Richie Webb
6 Cylinder - Entries: 29 Prize Money: £10,000 2023 Winner: Gary Camilleri
7.60 Heads Up - Entries: 11 Prize Money: £10,000
Williams Bros Big Bracket - Entries: 11 Prize Money: £10,000 2023 Winner: (Bracket #1 Saturday) Thomas Haas (Bracket #2) Dave Cherrett
The Doorslammers is part of a multi-event weekend also incorporating the VW Breakout festival, which has jet exhibitions, show & shine, seven live bands or DJs and funfair. You can see more detail about Doorslammers at this link, about VW Breakout at this link and get tickets at this link.
Eurodragster.com's coverage page is at this link or go via Event Coverage in our main menu. We plan to post on-track and off-track photographs on each day and there will be a summary of best times posted on Friday evening with a live report on Saturday and Sunday. Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Anyone who looks askance at unprepped tracks - conveniently forgetting that lot of the sport’s biggest names made those names big by breaking barriers in the days before prepped tracks – couldn’t do much better than to talk to UK Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell and son Andy who both blasted Melbourne Raceway’s previous track record for piston-engined cars at last weekend’s XHype Northern Nationals.
On Saturday Mark, driving the Steel River Hot Rod Mustang, broke his own previous track record of 5.06/145 with a best of 5.02/154 but it was a four which the team was chasing and Sunday morning history was made and the barrier broken with Mark’s 4.84/155. Mark then handed the keys to second driver and son Andy who after a ranging pass took the Mustang into the fours again with a 4.87/151.
Congratulations to Mark, Andy, Craig Owen and Steve Metcalfe on the new track record, on the fours, and on a fitting tribute to recently-departed team member Mali Rigg.
Photographer Ashley Booth-Dale maintains a list of best performances on the unprepped Melbourne Raceway eighth at this link.
Thanks to Graham Sykes for setting up the photo opportunity.
Tindra Christensen, 20, from Klagstorp outside Trelleborg, is now starting her venture towards drag racing in the Top Methanol class. Tindra most recently comes from the Super Pro ET class in the European Drag Racing Series, EDRS, where she finished fourth last year. With the help of Bryntesson Motorsport, this summer she will take her A2 license during the Meguiar's Drag Festival at Mantorp Park on July 25-28 to be able to drive Top Methanol in the future.
It has always been a dream of mine to drive Top Methanol, says Tindra. I have followed Tony and Jonny Lagg in A-Fuel Team Sweden for a long time. We talked to Tony and he offered to lend me his dragster so I could get my license. I am extremely grateful to have that opportunity.
Tindra has for several seasons competed against, among others, Isak Lagg, whose father Jonny also drives in Top Methanol.
We have gotten to know Tindra and have been able to follow her development, says Tony Bryntesson. Together with Jonny Lagg, we will support Tindra in her ambition to drive Top Methanol and the first step is to line up with a car and team when she gets her license.
Taking the step from Super Pro ET to Top Methanol means going from 800 to 5,000 nitro-fed horsepower and from eight seconds to just over five seconds on the 402 meter long drag – a huge difference!
It will be great fun and it will be something completely different, says Tindra.
Getting a license is the first step, the next is finding a car. Tindra and her team are looking at solutions for the future but this year she will continue to drive the Super Pro ET in selected EDRS events.
It costs a lot and we have to work with our sponsors before Top Methanol becomes a reality, but we have come a long way. This year I continue to focus on Super Pro ET.
This weekend Tindra and her team compete in Super Pro ET when the EDRS series has its season premiere at Vårgårda Raceway.
Read more about Tindra and her team at this link.
Read more about Meguiar's Drag Festival by clicking here.
Thanks for Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for sending in some more articles on FIA and FIM championships racers.
Team Brothers planning ahead.
A bit of a wet and interrupted start to the 2024 season hasn’t left the Team Brothers quartet downhearted, far from it. With testing opportunities presented by the UK National rounds at Santa Pod Raceway, the Hungaro-Franco-Dutch collective have managed to get some early season running in ahead of the FIM-E Main Event at the end of May.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Sandro Bellio and team want to be back at their former level.
After two consecutive FIA European Top Methanol Championship titles, Sandro Bellio lost the number one plate last year to Linn Fløysvik. Due to all sorts of mysterious problems, the for many years so dominant driver of the family run Danny’s Racing Team Chevy Monte Carlo didn’t even win a race. Now that the problem seems to be solved, the Bellios hope to be back at their former level, which means winning rounds and races, low ETs and high end speeds.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Many thanks to Kieran for sending us a gallery of photos from Sunday's Jap Show at Santa Pod Raceway which you can see at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Happy Birthday for today to Nostalgia Funny car crewman Gary Kay, Junior Dragster racer Dan Weir and Pro ET racer Josh Duncan. Have a great day guys.
Vårgårda Nationals EDRS race results. (1/8 mile) can be found at this link
Many thanks to Nick Brooke-Langham from The Gasser Circus for sending eurodragster.com this report of Round 1 of the Gasser Circus Showdown at the Nostalgia Nationals, Santa Pod Raceway on 4th-6th May.
On the run upto Round 1 of the Gasser Circus Showdown at the Nostalgia Nationals, the weather and previous race weekends at the Pod may have worried a few people, but not in the ranks of the Gasser Circus. The entry list bore testament to that with 20 Gassers entered.
Qualifying was going to be over two days, with Saturday and Sunday hosting these. But as it turned out Round 1 of Eliminations kicked off on Sunday evening due to the forecasts for the bank Holiday Monday.
Getting back to Saturday and the field was already down to 19 as Graham Barton had recently undergone surgery and was not able to race. But being a racer he had lined up a reserve driver in the form of John Hill. However, the seat fitting in his High Anxiety Devon had not gone well as John is a different size to Graham and with part of the roll cage preventing the seat being moved rearward, it was not safe for John to drive. The team still turned up to support the other racers and talked of their plans to redo their roll cage before Round 2.
The field soon dropped to 18 as on a qualifying run Christian Wilson driving Bad Blood for the first time, suffered a mechanical failure at the top end, resulting in the car being winched onto their trailer.
Ray Turner driving his Green Onions 55 Chevy reached a milestone in ownership, as he celebrated owning and driving the car for the past 40 years. Yes Ray is someone who likes to get his money worth and he is certainly achieving that, congratulations Ray on two counts the length of ownership and being the number 1 qualifier at the end of not only Saturday but also Sunday as the class went into eliminations. Ironically Ray running a 10.85 on his first run Saturday on a 10.85 dial in!
Sunday Night Showdown at Gasser Circus
Round 1 of Eliminations
On Sunday night within the Gasser Circus, instead of relaxing, it was time for Round 1 of Eliminations due to the weather forecast for Monday afternoon. Some exciting matchups took place, including battles between the 55’s and Falcons. Ray Turner drove his Green Onions 55 to victory over the Not So Mellow Yellow 55 Chevy of Adam Kruczynski with a time of 10.97 to 11.57. In the battle of the Falcons, Jason Hollamby defeated Pat Hobbs with both drivers just 2 hundredths off their dial-ins. Jason's 04 reaction time to Pat's 06 was the deciding factor.
Other cars that advanced included Chris Layram in his Pop ‘Outa Gas’ beating Andy Cobb in his wheelying Model A. Andy was just pleased to be in the show as he was first Alternate, and with Harvey Turner unable to make the call, Adam slotted in.
Billy Jones in his ‘Grumpy Grizz’ Willys defeated Brian Gibson racing his Identity Crisis Dodge Dart, and Nick Hewison in his ‘Short Fuse’ Fordson taking down John Gibson in his ‘High Roller’ Chevy. Despite this, it was a sense of achievement for John and the crew as they had spent a good part of Saturday seeking a cure to a fuelling issue. They found it, but it was not enough to beat the hard charging Billy.
Sam Glenn raced the families Glen & Glen Austin Pickup, which had a new orange paint scheme with battle scars from a previous test day. Despite both Sam and his opponent Steve Mathews in his Honky Tonkin 57 Chevy breaking out, Sam advanced by breaking out by the least amount.
The ‘Traitor’ Ford Pop of yours truly faced off against Simon Prest piloting his ‘Rocket’, with Simon running perfectly to his dial-in with an 11:00 to my losing 11:64 on an 11.60. The ‘Roarin Rat’ 57 Chevy made a comeback with Keith Bartlett behind the wheel, but Sean Milsom in ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ edged out the win with a 10:23 to a losing 10:62, the 0.08 reaction time from Sean sealing the win.
Quarter Finals
The battle of the Pops began the proceedings, and it was an exhilarating contest with side by side race, but Chris Layram came out on top against Nick Hewison by a very close margin of 3 hundredths of a second. Ray Turner's Green Onions' 55 Chevy was beaten by Jason Hollamby in the 'Jumpin Jalapeno' Falcon in a double breakout situation. Good friends came to the line next and Sean Milsom defeated Simon Prest with Simon breaking out. Sam Glenn took the win over Billy Jones Willys with a time of 10:51 to Billy's 10:57.
Semi-Finals
In the semi-finals, Sean Milsom in 'Aint Misbehavin' Morris van faced off against Chris Layram in his 'Outa Gas' Pop. Sean had dialled 10.07 and Chris 10.22, when the tree activated Sean reacted quicker which setup his holeshot win with a time of 10:13 at 124 mph.
On the other side of the semi-finals, Jason Hollamby in his Ford Falcon raced against Sam Glenn in the father and son Austin Pickup. The pickup looking resplendent in its new Hugger Orange paint scheme all topped off so brilliantly with Neil Melliard signwriting. Despite the glow coming from the other lane Jason was not going to be put off, and as the tree activated we had a race on our hands, but Sam stumbled off the line and Jason was off, and has he crossed the finish line, the win light went on in Sam’s lane as Jason broke out with a 10.74 on a 10.75 dial in! The Glen family breathed a sigh of relief.
Final
In the final round, Sam Glenn was set to meet Sean Milsom. However, as Sean pulled round and prepared to burnout there was frantic activity taking place in the pairing lanes as the pickup of Sam & Simon Glen refused to join in and would not start. Sean was left to race on his own and gave it his all in a solo run, showcasing the potential and performance of the diminutive van for the spectators and fellow racers.
All that was left to do then was for fellow racers and crew to push the Austin Pickup back to the Pits and hand out the awesome Neil Melliard trophy to the winner along with the winnings also awarded by Neil, the number 1 Qualifier winnings donated by Rocket Racing Team were given to Ray ’Anniversary’ Turner. The Quickest reaction time trophy from the NSRA going to Jason Hollamby with a 0.0091.
The Gasser Circus would like to also acknowledge and say thank you to Serck Services, Tom Margesson, Williams Brothers Racing and the crew at Santa Pod.
You can see all the event galleries by visiting our events coverage page by clicking here.
Thanks for Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for sending in these articles on FIA and FIM championships racers.
Jean Dulamon treats himself to a double championship tour.
Living in the very south of France, Jean Dulamon is probably the driver who has to travel the most miles of all competitors to attend races. This season the Frenchman might reset records as he will complete a double programme, the Motorsport UK Pro Modified Championship and, for the first time, the full FIA European Pro Modified Championship tour.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Brad Head slims down and steps up.
A new entrant for 2024 in the FIM-E Super Street Bike field is the UK’s Brad Head. The Basingstoke resident has previous at international meetings, having taken the NitrOlympX Super Comp Bike trophy in 2023, but will now be looking to step up as JKE Race Works team mate to Jake Mecheall.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Thomas Pettersson tweaks and seeks improvements.
After a frustrating 2023, Thomas Pettersson and the Swedish Team 817 are looking to regain some of the consistency with the Suzuki Funny Bike that went away early on last year.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
You can visit dragracingeurope.eu for more information on FIA and FIM championships.
Former editor Tog is situated at Melbourne Raceway for this weekend's Straightliners Round 3. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from day 2 of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Melbourne Sunday on-track galleries and best times (courtesy Martyn Greathead) now showing on Eurodragster.com.
We will publish the results soon here on eurodragster.com
Happy Birthday for today to expat Dutch Top Fuel Crew Chief Gerda Joon, MSD guru Dick Koster, Super Pro ET racer Alan Didwell, Comp Bike racers Jasmine Cordelle and Jacky Olie-Zijlstra and Norwegian Pro Mod racer Stian Rusånes. We hope you all have a great day.
Lee Huxley and Ronnie Mercer made the trip from the UK to attended the 23rd European Dragster at Clastres Dragway, France over the weekend, you can see more information on The Chronicles of Boost website by clicking here or by visiting the Drag Race Union at this link
Former editor Tog is situated at Melbourne Raceway for this weekend's Straightliners Round 3. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from day 1 of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Melbourne Saturday off- and on-track galleries and best times (courtesy Martyn Greathead) now showing on Eurodragster.com.
Mark Flavell in his 1979 Mustang II running the 1/8 mile with 5.02/154mph in Pro Comp.
Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe has sent eurodragster.com this article on Andres Arnover,
Without a doubt, Andres Arnover is the Pro Mod driver with the most runs to his credit so far this season when the FIA European Drag Racing Championship kicks off with The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. And next to the most runs, the driver from Estonia also recorded the fastest and quickest runs so far and was consistent as well. After two consecutive number three positions in the FIA European Pro Modified Championship, there is more to come.
After several seasons with great results and records with his blue Ford Mustang in Competition Eliminator, Andres Arnover made his Pro Modified debut in 2021 with his current Fast Ford Racing Team red Turbo ’67 Ford Mustang GT500. The car was built by Jerry Bickel in 2019 for Rickie Smith, but as the American Pro Mod legend was not a fan of a turbo set-up, it was sold to another driver before Arnover got the chance to purchase the red rocket.
Arnover impressed the last couple of seasons with great ETs and high speeds. His personal bests at the end of last season, 5.863 seconds and 251.34 mph, are a testimony of that. Lack of consistency was the only reason that the driver from Estonia was not able to go for a higher position in the championship.
This season, things might be completely different. After visiting Andreas Arthursson’s workshop in Sweden, the Fast Ford Racing Team travelled to England for a test weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Arnover immediately reset his personal best to 5.82 seconds at only 215 mph. One week later Arnover impressed once again with a string of low 5.8-second runs, proving to be fast and consistent as well. With 252.41 mph he also reset his personal speed record. If he can keep this momentum going, Arnover will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2024 FIA European Pro Modified Championship.
And once again, hard work and dedication are the main reasons for these improvements. “We have new rear shocks and that makes a huge difference in consistency”, Arnover started. “And we have a new converter set-up. The engine is the same as last year, but with many new parts inside. Last year we made good runs, but without knowing why, we also had all kinds of problems and no traction at the same day a few hours later.
For this season we were looking for a much wider tuning window so we could be far more consistent.
That’s why we have been testing at Santa Pod for two weekends and will also make runs at The Doorslammers and maybe the test day before The Main Event. And so far, I think we have been working in the right direction with so many 5.8-second runs and new personal bests. To prevent problems due to small issues, like we had last year at one race, we check every part of the car after a run and replace parts way before we think it might cause problems."
The tuning of the Turbo Mustang will once again be in the hands of Andreas Arthursson, but also his own team and team member Janis Piiritalo. “Consistency is the most important to win the championship. David Vegter is one of our main competitors, but there are several others who can suddenly be quicker and faster than before, like Stian Rusånes with his new engine combination.
Our goal is to do the whole championship, go faster and quicker and be consistent. We made big steps so far. On our last two runs at The Festival of Power we tried to run our first 5.7 seconds, but that was a bit too much, we suffered tyre shake and lost traction. But for sure, a 5.7 is one of our goals. When the driver doesn’t do stupid things, anything is possible with his car and combination.”
The Doorslammers is the next outing for Arnover before serious business starts one week later with round one of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway.
you can find our more stories like this on the Drag Racing Europe website by clicking here.
Text and photos: Remco Scheelings
Santa Pod Raceway has annouced this release from the 10th May, Doorslammers, Santa Pod Raceway which will take place 17th-19th May.
To those in the know, the penultimate weekend of May means one thing: high-powered saloon car drag racing for a record prize fund bringing racers from across the continent to Santa Pod.
£100,000 is the total bounty up for grabs at Doorslammers, the annual shoot-out exclusively for cars with doors.
The Doorslammers directive is simple: cars must be full-bodied with slammable doors. That’s about it for the rulebook, particularly in the VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer class. ‘Run what ya brung… and hope ya brung enough’ is the guiding principle. Current Pro Mod stars duel head-to-head with ‘outlaw’ exiles from the former no-holds-barred Nordic Top Doorslammer scene and indeed with anyone else figuring their motors pack enough muscle to challenge for the top prize. There is no qualifying ladder. Pairings are drawn randomly before each round, adding spice and unpredictability to the already fevered match-race atmosphere.
Besides the Pro heavy hitters, seven other vehicle classes include front-wheel drive, Wössner Pistons-backed four-cylinder machines, Tom Wrigley Performance six-cylinder machines, Turbosmart Pro Street cars, True Street cars, Jeff Bull Racing Engines 7.60 heads-up racers and Williams Brothers-sponsored daily bracket competitions. The ever-expanding entry list currently boasts 222 entries from 17 countries. Along with various northern Europeans, the huge prize pot always lures a strong contingent from Poland, joined by contestants from countries ranging from the Baltic states to Portugal, Malta and Bulgaria. There is even a South African entry.
Doorslammers details are available on the Santa Pod Raceway website or by clicking here. Tickets can be booked online by this link or by telephoning 01234 782828.
Pictures: Dave DJ Jones/Callum Pudge / Santa Pod
Happy Birthday for today to turbine jeep exponent Matt Wright, VW Pro racer Danny Pike, Belgian Super Twin racer Jimmy Vanden Boer, Swedish Pro Mod racer Micke Joneskog and retired Top Fuel Bike crewman Sören Svensson. We hope you all have a wonderful day.
DJ Carl Cox has entered Comp Eliminator with his Procharged 'Cuda' this year at the FIA The Main Event, which is 24th-27th May.
One of the most charming DJs in the business. A musical ambassador and a veteran of acid house, a champion of techno, a dance music pioneer, label owner, King of Ibiza – you name it, Carl’s been there and done it, never losing sight of his passions – playing music, breaking tunes and celebrating life.
Check out the entry list for the Main Event by clicking here.
Carl Fox's website, please following this link:
Linn Fløysvik from Karlsen Motorsport has announced that due to the significant costs involved in building a new engine and acquiring spares. As champion they will not be defeding the title unfortunately this.
Linn says: Thank you all for your inquiries we're disappointed not to be hitting the track with #1 on our car, but the team's spirit is strong. We hope we can come back stronger and faster.
However, despite the uncertainty surrounding our racing future this year, we're working on something exciting behind the scenes. Whether it becomes a reality remains to be seen.
You can see see at Karlsen Motorsport by clicking here.
Happy Birthday for today to Finnish Top Fuel racer and ski jump champion Janne Ahonen, former Gasser Circus racer Kevin Strevett, Pro Mod racer Ingo Eckert and Netherlands-based Funny Bike racer Kars van den Belt. We hope you all have a great day.<br><br>
Santa Pod Racers Club has sent a reminder that the closing date for Sportsman Nationals is Friday 17th May.
The current entry list for the event is at this link. You can enter by clicking here. Late entry may cost extra, so competitors are urged to sign up today.
Clifton Abdilla with the Anonymous Dragster 2JZ have announced that they got the record for the first 5 second Import Pass in europe at 5.99@225MPH. Congratulations to the whole team!
They will back later this year, mark your calendars, and witness it all Live at Hal-Far Raceway, Malta, Europe.
Visit Clifton's facebook page follow this link and to view the youtube video of the 5 second pass click here.
Clastres Dragway, France is holding the 23rd European Dragster event, which takes place this weekend 11-12th May. It see's UK racers Lee Huxley of Huxley Motorsport compete in the Super Pro ET and Mercer Ronnie in the Pro ET.
122 racers expected to attend this weekend in the following classes:
- Speed-Flex Junior Dragster
- Mtech Street Run
- Nitro Mag Pro
- Speed-Flex Super Pro ET
- Dulamon Auto Electric Sportsman ET
Follow this Facebook link for information.
The event is in part of the Association Trophee Dragster
Thanks to Lee Child, promoter for Northern Ireland's Bishopscourt Raceway has announced with just a month away the countdown is on for the return of drag racing at Bishopscourt on Saturday 8th June.
All vehicles are welcome with upto 10 hours of track action, come along and enter for the return of drag racing by the following:
Online bookings are now open, please select the amount of runs you requires:
To book 1 RUN @ £20, please click here, 3 RUNS @ £50, please click here, 6 RUNS @ £80, please click here and for UNLIMITED RUNS @ £120, please click here.
Admission £10 per person. Kids 8 years of age and under go free.
Drag strip starts at 9am until 7pm, crash helmet and full driving license required, motorcycle riders must have full protective clothing.
Car passenger only one permitted per car minimum age 18. 1 RUN @ £20, unlimited all day £40. Crash helmet required for all passengers.
The Malta Drag Racing Association organised the 2nd round of the Malta National Drag Racing Championship at their Drag Strip in Hal Far 3rd - 5th of May. This event known as FuelTech Malta Mayhem, had a record number of nearly 100 competitors, including ten foreign teams from Italy, Sicily, and France.
The winners of the various classes are:
- - Steve Bezzina won Bracket 12 to 12.49 seconds
- - Keith Pace won Bracket 11 to 11.49 seconds
- - Sean Cassar won Bracket 10.50 to 11.99
- - George Tickner won Bracket 9.50 to 9.99, and Mark Brincat won Bracket 9 to 9.49
- - Briegel Micallef won the SS1 Motorcycle class
- - Glenn Borg won the Top Fuel Motorcycle class
- - Leslie Said won the Motorcycle Index 8.5 class
- - Stephen Cauchi won the All Motor Motorcycle class
- - Shawn Buttigieg won the Motorcycle Open Class
- - Dunstan Mangion won the Front Wheel Drive 10 Class
- - Clayton Johnson won the Front Wheel Drive 9 Class
- - Miguel Montebello won the Front Wheel Outlaw Class
- - Paul Fenech won the Open 1 Class
- - Matthew Carabott won the Open 6 Class
- - Ludovic Ferte won the Diesel Class
- - Nathan Bartolo won the D4 Class
- - Clifton Abdilla won the D5 Class
- - Mario Borg won the D6 Class
- - Gary Camilleri won the Extreme 2 Class
- - Dennis Desira won the Wild Street Class
- - Martin Scerri won the Escort Class 2
- - Rosello Cassar won the Escort Class 3
- - Steve Xuereb won the SM4 Class
- - Luca Mangion won the Junior Dragster Class, with Steve Bezzina having the best reaction time on the starting lights.
Pictures are from DLP Automotive.
Happy Birthday for today to Super Street Bike racer Steve Wood, Wild Bunch racer Leo Knight and VW Pro racer Lee Cordery. We hope you all have a great day.
Japshow takes place this Sunday at Santa Pod Raceway, A car show where it doesn’t matter whether you drive a modified Nissan Micra or a performance race-spec Evo, ride a GSXR or a Yamaha R1, all Japanese cars and bikes are welcome at JapShow.
Whether you like the relaxed pace of the Show Paddock, car displays and trade area, or prefer the faster side of life with public Run What Ya Brung open to all Japanese cars and bikes. Whatever you like about the scene, there is something for everyone.
Click here to view this years timetable and to see full details of the event at Santa Pod Raceway by clicking here.
check out last year's youtube video to see what is included by clicking here.
Kieran will be taking photographs, which will be covering the event
Eurodragster.com will be covering pictures by Kieran. which you will be able to see via our coverage page supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Eurodragster.com sponsor John Tebenham has revealed his masterplan for the Doorslammers:
"I.CE. I.C.E., baby. The incredible Doorslammers - two cars, two I.C.E. Engines. I have the cars, I have the crew, all we need is a couple of trophies.
"Luke Robinson is on the tune-up with Mike Janis on hand if he needs any advice (probably not) . I have a change of crew as certain other people are not racing, which can only be good for us.
"Signseen are sponsoring me for the Doorslammers - I let the owner of the company fire the Pro Mod last year. He hasn’t got over it yet.
"Then we have the super smart Paul Marston driving my beautiful Pop. Let’s hope he wins as we are splitting the prize money. As Paul is an outstanding racer we want to know if the Pop can be improved.
"Wish us luck, come and say hello and a massive thanks to Keith, Darren, Dave etc."
Dennis Nilsson Top Fuel Racing have annouced on their Facebook page the release of the First Canopy Top Fuel Dragster in Europe! Dennis Nilsson and Teddy Larsson at Autoart Motorsport will be running the Top Fuel canopy car this season and onwards. It will be seen this year firstly at Malmö Summer Nationals, then Mantorp and then onto Hockenheim.
Teddy says: We have been upgrading the car since it last ran, both looks and performance upgrades. Sure it will look good down the tracks this summer!
You can view more by visiting the Dennis Nilsson Top Fuel Racing Facebook page by clicking here, check out Autoart Motorsport's instagram page by following this link.
Happy Birthday to Pro ET and Sportsman ET racer Dan Holloway and to Crew Chief Clive McCready, we hope you both have a great day!
Melbourne Raceway holds The XHYPE Spring Nationals! this weekend 11th-12th May. Last day to get your entries in.
Straightliners Championship rounds including the No Mercy Bracket Championships, the brilliant Jnr setup, new ‘Quick 8’ or just for fun RWYB! Get your machine on the strip for as little as £50 a day sign on.
Remember to enter competition you need a Nora Licence which is easy and inexpensive to obtain by this link.
Saturday night the bar will be open, the band will be playing. Come and enjoy the light warm evening night in sunny rural Yorkshire!
£15 per day admission. Free overnight camping. Free entry for kids making it a really affordable day out
A huge thank you to Melbourne Racewar sponsors that keep helping to make this all happen: Kingstown Shipping Ltd, Renegade Racing Fuels UK, Eurodragster.com and ofcourse XHYPE
To enter RYWB by clicking here.
For more details on the car rules, click on this link, bike rules, click on this link.
If you want to come and just have a taste of what Melbourne’s about come for RWYB available to all vehicles. No pre entry needed. Drag Racing just for fun.
We also welcome EVs and drag karts.
This event coming up will have the bar flowing in the clubhouse Saturday night with entertainment. Come and try 1/8th mile drag racing. All the fun.
Check more information by visiting Melbourne Raceway facebook page by following this link
Eurodragster.com will be covering post report and pictures by former editor Andy (Tog) Rogers. which you will be able to see via our coverage pagesupported by John Woolfe Racing.
𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗘𝗗𝗥𝗦 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 is finally underway with the first event this year are Vårgårda dragway on 10th-11th May organised by SHRA Borås.
Vårgårda welcomes racers to a wonderful weekend with lots of racing at this nice facility. Speedgroup staff will be attending at the races.
Car classes:
– Junior Dragster
– Stock Superstock
– Super Street
– Super Pro ET
– Pro Street
Motorcycle classes:
– Super Gas Bike
– Super Comp Bike
– Drag Bike
Plus many more.
Please contact VÅRGÅRDA DRAGWAY if you have any questions.
Stickers will be handed out and discounts from our partner Summit Racing Equipment
Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's NSRA Nostalgia Nationals held at Santa Pod Raceway:
- Outlaw Anglia: Colin Millar 7.8163/174.40 def. Ben Kennedy 8.7789.151.56
- Nostalgia Super Stock: John Sleath (9.73) 9.7833/139.03 def. Jack Bishop (9.89) 9.8232/130.14 breakout.
- Gasser Circus: Sean Millsom 10.1044/183.94 def. Sam Glenn failed to start.
- Wild Bunch: 1st place Dan Wilson, 2nd place Andy Roy, 3rd place James Auld and 4th place James Griffen.
- Supercharged Outlaws: Mike Checkett 7.6503/163.07 def. Luke Watts 8.4065/159.08.
- Best Reaction: James Auld (0.070)
- Fastest MPH: Bob Hawkins (206.81)
- Closest to dial in: Dan Wilson (0.0008)
- Best Burnout: Alan Skipp
- Best Appearing Car: James Griffen "KissMyGas"
- Best Appearing Team: Little Fauss
- Commentators Choice: Bob Hawkins "Time Traveller II"
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing sponsored NSRA Nostalgia Nationals reports and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link in the main menu above. A big Thank You from Chris Winn to Graham Watkinson for providing another great set of live reports over the weekend and to photographers Julian and Kirstie for their hard work.
Racer reports are welcome, please send them to eurodragster.com at this link.
Many thanks to sponsor Peter Walters and points co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm for updating the National and Club SPRC Championship points after the Festival of Power which you can see on our points page by clicking here or on the Santa Pod Racers Club website.
Happy Birthday to Brian Gleadow, one of the pioneering Gleadow Brothers celebrates his 80th birthday today. One of the builders of the first Motor Psycho, Brian drove Vintage Tin, and crewed for Ken Cooper and Bruce Brown, and now on with brother Mick's Jurassic Parts Wild Bunch slingshot. We hope you have a great day Brian.
Also Happy Birthday to Danish electric quarter mile world record holder Hans-Henrik Thomsen and rapid Subaru racer Stephen Guirey. We hope you both have a great day.
Happy Birthday for today to Wild Bunch crew member for Rebel and Wrathchild Hayley Fyfe, and to Super Twin 'Beast' team member and former Mantorp Park administrator L-o Jonsson. Have a great day
Eurodragster.com brings you live coverage from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Coverage team: Graham (reports), Julian (photography) Coverage ©Eurodragster.com.
Eurodragster.com long time supporter and sponsor Jon Webster reports: When the ‘Festival of Power ‘ was rescheduled it gave us a few extra weeks to finish up the winter refresh, having said that it still went down to the wire. The reschedule of the event also meant the team struggled to get together for the test day and Friday qualifying due to work commitments.
So the plan for Friday was to carry out final set up and commissioning and first fire up, unfortunately this extended into Saturday. No oil pressure due to a stuck regulator valve, and malfunctioning solid state relay took a while to figure out, but the big head ache was keeping the motor running for more than a few seconds.
The motor would fire and run fine then cut out, no diagnostic faults were apparent, outputs checked out and all were functional, injectors having been serviced were removed and checked.
Everything pointed to fuel, as we could keep it running artificially by feeding fuel in the throttle body or by running the primer pump.
You can see this video also on Facebook by clicking here.
Many thanks to Julian Hunt for covering day 2 at the NSRA Nostalgia National, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, race coverage supported by John Woolfe Racing and supporting racers since 1967.
Springbridge Direct Wild Bunch saw Bob Hawkins with a PB of 6.46 this weekend and a new Wild Bunch record, Tony Morris Carburetors Outlaw Anglia Andy Bloomfield took the win of the win/loose ruling. Gasser Circus Patrick Hobbs against Jason Hollamby, Jason took the win at the finish line with a 0.0235 win margin, Nostalgia Super Stock Jack Bishop takes the win over Spencer Tramm with a win margin of 0.0005.
Happy Birthday for today to former FIA Drag Racing Commission chair Lars Pettersson, former Gasser Circus racer John Gibson, Modified 100e racer Karl Reardon and blown slingshot racer Andy Hill. We hope you all have a great day.
Eurodragster.com brings you live coverage from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Coverage team: Graham (reports), Julian (photography) Coverage ©Eurodragster.com.
Many thanks to Julian Hunt and Kirstie Tramm for covering day 1 at the NSRA Nostalgia National, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, race coverage supported by John Woolfe Racing and supporting racers since 1967.
Nostalgia Super Stock qualification round 3 finished on Saturday with Roydon Mittchell in the number one spot, Gasser Circus's Ray Turner took the top spot. Eurodragster.com sponsor Colin Millar still in first place after the third round of Tony Morris Carburetors Outlaw Anglia, Supercharged Outlaws qualifications round 3 saw Rob Grabham hit the top spot.
William Bros. Racing have annouced the new look Williams Bros Speed Shop here at their Northamptonshire facility. With every part of the business seeing extended growth the decision to extend the Speedshop facility made perfect sense. There is still plenty to do especially with many new brands being added to our already impressive list of genuine USA based suppliers and look out for some big news in the next few months.
Our turn round times are now even quicker as we now have 2 air freight deliveries from the USA per week. This has been enabled by having a consolidation facility allowing freight goods to the U.K. by either air or by container load by sea.
The Williams Bros Speedshop will be open to anyone that wants to stop by, our opening hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, we will also be open on some Saturday's that don’t clash with the racing events at Santa Pod Raceway but best to contact first to check.
Talking of announcements, William Bros. Racing are delighted to let everyone know that Jamie Reeves has joined Williams Bros Racing. His wealth of experience in the American Car and Hot Rodding scene is exemplary and will certainly benefit every customer. Jamie will be overseeing many aspects of the business and will be a huge part of the current and future expansion.
Plans for the next few months are to continue to work with current and new suppliers to source genuine parts and to hold even more stock available ‘off the shelf’. Also starting to prepare for the second ‘Open Day’ event, cannot believe it was 6 years ago since the first one. Fair to say things have certainly changed a lot since then, more details in due course but it will be a day not to be missed.
You can reach William Bros. Racing by phone on 01327-220777 or 07572-096920, message us through our Facebook pages or email at [email protected]
Happy Birthday for today to first in the fives in Europe, former Top Fuel and Funny Car racer Pete Crane, former Super Pro ET racer Lee Cohen, Outlaw Anglia racer Richard Colby, forthcoming Porsche 944 racer Jacey Grant, VW Beetle racer Donald Harvey, from Sweden four time FIA Pro Stock champion Niclas Andersson and doorslammer racer Mats Stefansson. We hope you all have a great day.
Eurodragster.com brings you live coverage from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.
Coverage team: Graham (reports), Julian (photography) Coverage ©Eurodragster.com.
Happy Birthday for today to Comp Bike racer Adam Burns, French Pro Stock Bike racer Charly Abraham, Flying Iceberg Buick racer Anthony Mitchell, former Sportsman ET racer Neil L'Alouette and Finnish Stock eliminator racer Jarmo Markkanen. We hope you all have a great day.
MDRA Drag Racing Series Round 2 at Hal-Far Raceway with FuelTech Mayhem - Round 2 takes place this weekend, follow this link for updates, you can also wtach the live videos from Motorsmt by clicking here.
Happy Birthday to Outlaw Anglia racers Kim Harrison and Rob Nixon, Junior Drag Bike constructor Simon Holgate, and Trakbak Racing Business & Project Development Manager Richard Foster-Turner, we hope you all have a great day
Thanks to Nick Brooke Langham for sending a preview of Gasser Circus before the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals:
Roll Up, Roll Up, its the fast approaching Nostalgia Nationals and the Circus is in town, kicking off the 2024 Gasser Circus Showdown. The season already looks to be another that will see nose high racing fiercely contested; with 20 Gassers entered it will be a time of shaking off the dust of winter and, for many, seeing if the upgrades have been successful.
Current Gasser Circus Champion Chris Layram will be back with plans to defend his hard fought title in his 'Outa Gas' Pop.
The season will be contested over 6 Rounds of racing at
- Nostalgia Nationals 4th – 6th May
- Retro Show – 8th – 9th June
- Dragstalgia 5th – 7th July
- Mopar Euro Nationals 9th – 11th August
- VW Action 30th – 31st August
- Hot Rod Drags 13th – 15th September
Round 1 is an unusual 3 day weekend with the Gasser Circus running qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, with Eliminations on Bank Holiday Monday. This is a superb way to get the racing underway, and plenty of opportunity to get ourselves back in the groove. Make sure you drop by the Pits.
The Gasser Circus are delighted to continue their sponsorship with Neil Melliard of Melliards Modern Lettering, Serck Services and begin our sponsorship with Chris Goodale of Goodale American Speedshop.
European Top Fuel racer Jndia Erbacher has announced, with team owners Erbacher Top Fuel Racing, the launch of her 2024 season which will take place this Saturday, 4th May at Weidenstrasse 50, 4143 Dornach, Switzerland.
Starting at 1600, there will be a dragster fire-up at 19:00 followed by a barbecue and drinks for Club 111 members and the live band Rockin' Chair at 2100 with a collection for funding Jndia's season, yet to be announced.
Heaven of Colours tattooists have been announced as new sponsors for 2024 alongside principal sponor Monster Energy.
The Ant Hill Mob Dragracing Team with Top Fuel racer expat Brit Smx Smith have announced their return to competition at the NHRA New England Nationals to be held from 31st May to 2nd June at Epping, New Hampshire.
The team announced: It’s going down! It’s official! For the first time since 2019, Smax will be back behind the wheel of the Leverich Family family Top Fuel Dragster!
No better team to be with, as Smax enters his 50th drag racing season, his 70th year on this planet, and the Leverich family’s 75th racing season! With a Gary Leverich tune, fresh off a 3.87@298 shut off run, Smax is looking to break his final milestone, running 300mph to 1000ft, and, as always, looking to break personal bests as the weekend goes.
The team racing thank their sponsors CP Carrillo, Hussey Gaskets, Six B Apparel, Zinger Bill, Clear Shot Customs Inc, Vodka Friday Canada, Trevor Snyder Matco Tools, Link Street Sausage, Macdaddy 1323 and Hutchison Haulage Inc.
Happy Birthday for today to Top Fuel racer shortly about to start competition in the NHRA Ida Zetterström, Street Week Sweden organiser Mats Appelgren, and Ford Consul racer Steve Taylor. We hope you all have a fantastic day.
Kieran has posted video from the Friday of the Festival of Power Rescheduled on his Mk1Kieran YouTube channel. Classes that feature are Pro ET, Super Pro ET, Super Comp, Comp Eliminator, Pro Modified, Funny Car, Nostalgia Funny Car, Outlaw Flat Four, Outlaw Anglia, VWDRC Pro, Super Gas, Super Street Bike, Top Fuel Bike. You can see Kieran's video by clicking here.
Top Fuel Bike owner, crew chief and engineer Phil Baimbrige has posted a blog entry on his Festival of Power Rescheduled with new rider Jiri Lukes acclimatising himself well to the 3 cylinder Rocket. You can see Phil's blog entry on his Facebook page by clicking here.
Meanwhile new Top Fuel Bike owner and racer Phil Crossley has posted a blog entry about running the historic Imperial Wizard at the Phil writes: "Once again we went with 2 Top Fuel bikes - or maybe that should be 1.75 Top fuel bikes, as mines not fully fledged just yet. The plan was similar to the last event, but this time I would concentrate on racing Keith Edwards' Imperial Wizard, and use any free time between rounds to start the v4 and test some of the modifications I'd made and try the Maxxecu setups I'd been working on." You can read the full story on Phil's FB page by clicking here.
Nick Pettitt has started to add pictures to his website of Andrew Stawiarski first gallery covering 1976-1979, you can view all the photo's by clicking here. There's a lot of bikes in the gallery which have been captioned with help from the British Drag Bike History group on Facebook, you can view them by this link.
Max Frost from Santa Pod Raceway has announced this important information ahead of this weekend's Nostalgia Nationals
Racers and public are reminded of a road closure that may limit access to Santa Pod Raceway this week leading into Nostalgia Nationals. 𝟮𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 - 𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝘆
Hinwick Road will be fully closed on the above dates to fix the bad section of road by the bridge. The blue diversion route is out to Bozeat and along the A509, red line is the closure.
Although these works are due to finish on Friday 3rd May - Those planning to make use of the Friday Early Arrival may be affected and may need to find alternative routes via the diversions.
Round 2 of the Enemed Maltese Drag Racing Championship takes place on 3rd-5th May with Fueltech Malta Mayhem. Following test and tune on Friday 3rd at noon, round 1 of qualifying is at 16:00 until 19:00. Qualifying continues on Saturday 4th with four sessions from 11:00 to 19:00 with eliminations on Sunday 5th at 10:00am.
94 Entries are confirmed at the biggest May race in Maltese drag racing history. Included are a trio of V8 powered dragsters of Mario Borg, Matthew Carabott and Alan Muscat, the trio of 6 cylinder D5 dragsters of Clifton Abdilla, Alan Zammit and John Martin.
We will bring news from the event courtesy of Malta Drag Racing Association, and links to live video.
Thanks to MDRA committee member Konrad D'Anastasi for posting on his Youtube channel 89 videos of runs from the April RWYB held on Saturday 20th, which you can see by clicking here.
Our article on Jack Spider-man Taylor has drawn another racer who has constructed a Junior Slingshot dragster. Step forward Andy Gosling following an appeal by Dave Nelson who recalls such a car being around at the track a number of years before.
Andy said "I built it for my kids, and named it Ram Raider Jr., there was no way I could build one with the engine in the wrong end! At the time I never claimed it to be the first Jr slingshot but we never found another to race. My boys Ben and James Gosling both raced the car at Shakey for three or four years.
"It was outside the Junior Dragster rules, despite being built to all the regulations regarding tubing and safety stuff, but luckily Shakey agreed we could run it as long as I didn’t put a Hyabusa engine in it!
"We ran it for 3 years probably, until the kids grew out of it, first with a 125 two stroke that never really ran right then with a 250 four stroke."
Adam Harrison added "I own this now, was in the process of installing a Suzuki motorcycle engine into it but I don't have the time to finish it so I will be selling it as an unfinished project."
Photo of Andy Gosling's Junior Slingshot courtesy Wild Bunch website.
Thanks to Andrew Clifford for his notes on the Festival of Power, Andrew says:
Last Wednesday it looked like we would have to drop out of the FoP (at the last minute) for the third year in a row.
However, thanks to my son's boss we were able to borrow a trailer to get the car to the pod on Thursday morning. Turns out the car enjoyed getting off the borrowed trailer so much it went straight out and ran a PB 8.60 on Friday! We then had our most successful qualifying session ever finishing up in 3rd with our 8.94.
It was a great shame not to have the opportunity to try and make it through round one on Sunday but glad to finally get home and warm up. We still have things drying out today. Gutted for everyone affected by the weather but we are an amazing community and I know many of us will be back stronger at the Main Event next month.
Thanks to all at the Pod for never quitting and shout out to my amazing family/crew: Dad, James and my wife Rach. Thanks mum for supporting via the livestream!
Finally, a massive thank you to Kevin Parsons of Parsons Metal Recycling, Walton-on-Thames for the loan of the trailer (it's already reserved for Main Event). There are some genuinely nice people around and Kevin is one of them.
Joakim Tarnstrom Press Officer Bryntesson Motorsport has announced this latest news from Sweden: A-Fuel Team Sweden is aiming for a full European Championship season in Top Methanol!
Just like last year, Bryntesson Motorsport and Jonny Lagg Racing are competing under a common flag as A-Fuel Team Sweden in the European Dragracing Championship and the Top Methanol class. Both teams have their sights set high for this year's season, which begins at Santa Pod in England on May 24-27.
"We took big steps in our development last year and this year we are ready to take the next step to fight for the European Championship title”, says Tony Bryntesson. "It is a great advantage for us that we can do it in cooperation with Jonny Lagg and his team.
In drag racing, shared experiences are double experiences. With few racing opportunities, it is important to be able to share experiences with each other in order to get all the five thousand horses down the strip. Both teams have plenty of skills to bring to the table. Several of Tony's team members, such as Christer Runald, Bosse Davidsson and Lasse Theander, were already involved in the Top Fuel era in the 90s and helped Tony to great success. Jonny has drag racing legend Krister Johansson and Lars Lindkvist and others in the crew.
"There is plenty of expertise in both teams," says Jonny Lagg. “Dragracing is a team sport, more than any other branch of motorsport, and much of the result is already decided in the pit.
Jonny Lagg comes into this season after a long winter rebuilding his dragster after the engine explosion that occurred at Mantorp Park last year. Drag racing fans stepped up and helped getting Jonny Lagg on the track again with the help of a fundraiser - Powered by Fans.
"It's amazing how much support we've had from all the dragracing fans," says Jonny. "We will try to repay it with good results, and we have everything needed to do so.
The premiere will take place at Santa Pod in England where Bryntesson Motorsport ended the season with its best ever record of 5.29 seconds, the third fastest by a Swede of all time, and Tony is looking forward to coming back.
"It will be extra fun coming back to Santa Pod because we did so well there in the final last year. If we can repeat that and keep a consistent level throughout the season, we should be able to fight at the top of the championship.”
The first chance to see A-Fuel Team Sweden in action at home will be at Tierp Arena where the second European Championship event of the year is run on June 13-16.
Happy Birthday for today to Wild Bunch racer Bradley Cooper, Outlaw Flat Four racer Jack Marriage and Comp Bike racer Michael Gooding We hope you all have a great day!
