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Unlike yesterday's second Trade and Press Day, which seemed relatively quiet, today's first public day was the usual crowded affair with most aisles shoulder-to-shoulder. Drag racing was well-represented at the public show with Santa Pod's usual sizeable display with the usual roster of vehicles on display, plus one of Rune Fjeld's Top Fuel Dragsters which was stripped of its body panels allowing visitors to take a look inside - an inspired idea which drew large numbers.

Elsewhere in the Show Sportsman ET racer, photographer and web site designer Nigel Holland's Mustang is on the Motorsport Endeavour stand. This organisation encourages individuals with all types of disabilities to take part in a wide variety of motorsports events and experiences. The founder Graham Raphael saw the potential and a members are from a broad range of backgrounds. Events that are organised are not just for competition and include the chance to visit top motorsport locations including team operations, technical centres and race tracks. Nigel, who is about to upgrade his Mustang with a larger engine that will put it in the low twelves, said "The organisation involves people as riders, navigators, marshals, timekeepers, administrators and spectators as well as drivers." Nigel produces the web site at www.motorsportendeavour.com where you can find all the necessary contacts.

Any current or potential Sportsman ET racers should contact Nigel who is keen to get information for the Sportsman ET web site at www.sportsman-et.co.uk.

Go Motorsport is the organisation that encourages young competitors to start in motorsport and drag racing is one of the disciplines displayed at their stand. The Santa Pod Junior Dragster is on display and a page on the Go Motorsport web site at www.go-motorsport.net tells how to get started in Junior Dragster. From a quick comparison of disciplines it is clear that drag racing appeals to a much younger age and at considerably less capital and expenditure per season than other motorsports.

Jon Webster and Ian Marshall of Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering were manning a stand in the Pistonheads part of the Show, promoting their Power Pour performance additive for unleaded fuel. "The product was designed for Street Eliminator", said Jon Webster, "but now it is creeping into other disciplines. So we thought we had better become a bit more commercial. We're here to set up dealerships because for us it is easier logistically to send amounts to dealers rather than to sell the tins individually. We already have dealers in Greece, Israel, Luxembourg and Dubai. This weekend we have spoken to Nimbus Motorsport who want to be dealers and Bill McDermid is also a dealer at Topspeed Automotive. We are also looking at a contingency programme for Pro ET because they would not have to use race fuel if they used Power Pour and that would save sixty per cent in fuel costs."

Jon added that Webster Race Engineering ha a healthy order book and that at the moment WRE are in the middle of the construction of a big-inch Chevy with twin turbos, a '69 Mutang Pro Tourer, and some Time Attack vehicles.

The Santa Pod Raceway staff were all working very hard to promote the sport but we managed to drag David Lloyd Jones and Darren Prentice away for a few moments and they brought us up to date with the latest SPR news:

• Ticket prices have been kept at 2009 levels.
  
  
• The track has not suffered any significant damage in the recent cold weather.
  
  
• Hard core roads have been installed in the camp sites. Additional barriers have been placed around the car parks to ensure that exit at the end of events is controlled by marshals and not by drivers removing fences on their own initiative and messing up the system.
  
  
• SPR have bought another sweeper, a Big Red, bringing the facility total to four.
  
  
• A Pro Peak Performance Day has been added to the calendar, on the day before the FIA European Finals.
  
  
• A new event, the All American Show, has been added to the calendar on 1st-3rd May. As the name suggests the event is aimed at American cars and the aim is to turn it into a Nostalgia event. Nostalgia race cars which cannot run at Permit events are welcome as are hot rods and American muscle.
  
  
• The announcement of the inclusion of Super Street Bike at the 2010 FIA Main Event has generated a huge amount of interest. Racers from Europe have enquired and there has been interest from racers in the USA. SPR are also pleased to welcome B&H Automotive/LA Racing Street Eliminator back to this year's FIA European Finals. The class put on a good show at the 2009 Finals and the parade up the track when participants went on the Cruise was particularly popular with spectators.
  
  
• Bookings for Hospitality and the Two Seat Dragster are going well.
  
  
• Peter Andre is to make a personal appearance on the Monday of the Autotrader Easter Thunderball.

We also spoke to the Turner Motorsport Top Methanol Dragster team, Pro Mod racer Ray White and Crunch, Crew Chief for Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones; you will be able to see what they had to say on the Eurodragster.com News update of Monday 18th January.