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15:35

Final of No Mercy Bike Shootout: Phil Tomlinson, Suzuki GSXR1000 6.56/116 (6.51) def. Carl Mountford, Kawasaki ZX10R 7.23/127 (7.38), broke out.

15 bikes in the No Mercy Shootout, a separate Shootout was held for scooters and we will publish the results as received.

The result of the No Prep race was as follows:

Final: Pel Norman 5.56/128 def. Mark Flavell, broke (Mark suffered a broken blower belt drive pulley)

3rd/4th place run-off: Pete Youhill 5.78/120 def. Russ Pursley 6.43/116

A great effort to get Russ back on track after differential damage yesterday. He staged first but Pete was first off the line by quite a margin.

Simon Havercraft runs in the NSA and is riding his Suzuki GSXR1000 for its second year. He said "It has a stretched swing arm, Dymag wheels, and Translogic gearbox with a nitrous boosted shifter. The engine is stock, but at home I am building another race engine with new rods, pistons, head and bottom end with 60hp nitrous." Simon was NSA 1000cc champion in 2021 and plans to run up to 12 NSA events in 2022 (11 of 15 are allowed towards the championship). "My favourite events are Brighton and the Ramsay sprint where I was second in the 750cc class in 2018 and 2019." It's his first time at Melbourne, being a five hour drive from his home at Burnham on Sea, and he admits preferring the no prep style of track. "My bests here are 6.1/132 and on the quarter I'm in the low nines at over 150mph, I like to be able to feel the track and control my wheelspin myself."	Pete Youhill counts Melbourne Raceway as his home track. He said "I've had my Firebird for five years and it's my second engine in it, a 584ci Steve Schmidt crate engine which was rebuilt at EDA. The engine runs on methanol using a Ron's Terminator injection system. The gearbox is a Powerglide and the rear is a Ford 9". Best times are 5.71/132mph at Melbourne Raceway and 8.25/165 at SPR. Crewman Marcin Szwed from Poland (who has experience racing in AWD all terrain competition) added "For no prep surfaces we have to get the suspension settings and tyre pressure right, on a no prep surface, even with grip juice, we spin the tyre all the way down the track. The advantage here is that racers get a lot of track time, and from our position in the pits you can easily see what's going on all the way down the track."
Pel Norman with the Shogun Capri was in the car warming the engine as we passed. Crewman 'Stretch' Harrison said "We had the usual engine rebuild over the winter, taking the rocker gear off to avoid keeping the valve springs under tension. We will run at Easter, and then put a nitrous kit on the engine to get the car into the mid sevens for the Doorslammers and also to enter the new 7.60 index class being promoted by Jeff and Belinda Bull." Stretch said that the car will also get a new torque convertor, as the current Neal Chance unit is designed for no-prep and a different one would be required for using nitrous on a prepped track. The nitrous system will be a single shot, with exhaust gas temperature probe also installed to detect where things are getting too hot in the combustion process which could lead to damage.	NSCC racer Jamie Hughes is the owner of the Land Rover which has been admired around the sport for quite a few years. "The current engine is a Cummins 6 cylinder model BT diesel engine, displacing 5.9ltr and running with three turbos utilising water/methanol injection and nitrous oxide (which we have not yet switched on). It ran a 11s quarter mile with the standard engine but this setup produces 900+hp which on paper should put it into the eights. It leaves the line at 45psi and the waste gate operates at 75psi. My son Ford Hughes drove it last year but it broke on the start so I am back driving it now. The fuel pump was built for tractor pulling so the fuel flow is not quite right for drag racing. The other problem is the torque convertor is slipping and whilst we have changed the gearing to make it lower, but without any improvement. The underlying chassis we've had for years it used to be under a Ford Consul, when the Land Rover body came up we thought it would be suitable as it is so nostalgic." Jamie's crew is Chris Pomfret.
NSCC racer Stephen Gilmour has a neat 100e which he has owned for 30 years. "I last raced it in August 2020 however the engine was damaged. When I first had the car it was powered by a Pinto engine, however the current unit is from a Nissan 200SX turbo. After the damage I stripped the engine down, it now has stock internals but a bigger turbo and injectors; highly tuned versions have run 6s in the US. The transmission is stock Nissan. The chassis was done by Dave McCallan, it was one of his first big jobs." Stephen plans to enter The Doorslammers as "It's an exciting event event if we don't have much chance of winning".	Ian Noble has bought the Rat Rod built and campaigned at RWYB and lifestyle events by Sussex Speed Shop owner Graham Butler who was the car's builder. Ian said "I bought it last August, have entered it at shows like the Petrolheadonism events at Knebworth at SPR British Rallycross at Silverstone. Richard Rawlins from Gas Monkey Garage came and sat in the car at Knebworth which created a lot of interest." Ian ran the rod yesterday but at the top end experienced low oil pressure and a loud ticking noise. "Originally I thought it had spun a bearing but after nursing it back to the pits and cooling the engine, the noise seemed to be coming from the TH400 transmission which is strange." Ian plans to effect repairs but also has in mind a new engine for 2023 with more power.
Yesterday a line up of Junior Drag Bikes with builder Dave Taylor took place after racing concluded.	Bob Molden was delighted to win Best Appearing Car almost 30 years after being on the front cover of Custom Car magazine.

10:05

Good morning and welcome to our coverage from Melbourne Raceway. The sky has high cloud, there is minimal wind and the temperature is higher at 5C forecast to a maximum of 11C. Yesterday was a clear day allowing for more or less continuous running in qualifying mode. Today will consist of more qualifying and then eliminations in the afternoon, together with another session of Duck All Prep eliminations. A dial-in bracket for bikes will be operating as well, so riders will need to display their dial ins clearly.

A big Hello to all Eurodragsterholics who are tuned in. Thanks to Kieran who supplied a gallery from yesterday's Saturday Night Special at Santa Pod Raceway, we are looking forward to another gallery from The Fast Show. You can see Kieran's photos from the event coverage page.

Thanks also go to Pete Youhill who was runner up in Duck All Prep yesterday, Pete as Pacemaker Racing has posted awards for those being the first to run a four second pass at Melbourne Raceway, £100 for competition car, £100 for doorslammer and £100 for motorcycle.

You can see all the times recorded yesterday at this link and Duck All Prep times at this link.

Come back later and see our pit notes from today.