2005 APIRA Test and Tune
Saturday


Reports and pictures for Eurodragster.com by Gareth Evans of UK1320

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18:40

Todays photos are now available from the event index page..

18:30

The racing is now finished, and although there was not a huge number of vehicles in attendence, the action was non stop, with most racers making the most of the available time. There is now a sizeable contingent of Super Street cars here, and hopefully they'll be putting in plenty of runs tomorrow.

Super Twins rider Simon Hodgson said he was going to take it easy, but a series of low ten second runs proved otherwise. There's more performance to come from his Suzuki TL1000, as he is still having gearbox problems. There is a very smart Holden pickup truck here, and seems to be running well, but I don't have the times. He was paired up against a smart Pontiac Firebird several times, and they had a few close passes. There are three Junior Drag Bikes here, and they put in a lot of runs between them, with the "Junior Jade" bike putting a huge amount of runs, getting down into the thirteens at well over 40 mph. Another man making good use of the time was John Atkinson in his Cortina Estate. Again, I don't have times, but they all looked strong straight passes.

12:30

The fog has finally lifted and the track is dry, and racing has just commenced.

The weather induced break gave me an opportunity to talk to a few people in the pits. Chris Hodgkins, an ex Sportsman ET racer, is moving up to Pro ET this year, with a rear engined dragster. The car is based on an old chassis, but has been extensively modified and rebuilt by the team themselves. They proudly say that none of the work was farmed out, with all the fabrication done by themselves. They hope to run consistent tens once they get used to the car.

Simon Hodgson, Super Twins Modified Bike racer says he plans to take it easy on the first few runs, but hopes to get down into the nines this weekend. He says he has done some gearbox work over the winter, and hopes to have a working fifth gear this year!

I spoke to Dave Baldwin, of 40 Below Pro ET fame, and this weekend his daughter will be behind the wheel of a VW, which they plan to run in Sportsman ET.

09:40

Good morning, and welcome to the eurodragster.com coverage of this weekends Test and Tune here at Shakespeare County Raceway. It's currently very foggy here, which of course means that as well as visibilty problems, the track is very damp. It'll probably be a couple of hours before any track action is possible. Once the fog clears, it should brighten up, and should dry out quickly.

I've had a brief wander around the pits, and although it's a bit sparse, there are a number of Wild Bunch cars here already, with more cars arriving all the time.