FIA Main Event
Friday (set-up day)

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18:30

Good afternoon from a very, very wet Santa Pod Raceway. The rain is falling down and the pitside drains are already starting to show the strain - the Shockwave Fuel FC team is pitted in the middle of a lake. There are a lot of miserable-looking racers sheltering in their pits, and a very damp and miserable reporter sitting in his Renault Clio typing up this report.

The majority of the FIA-class racers are in place, the latest arrivals being Anita Makela, Leena Nystrom and Rune Berg. There has been a fair bit of musical chairs going on the pits, with teams mistakenly parking in the wrong place and others trying to avoid parking in the pools.

We've had a word with a few of those racers who've stuck their heads out of their trailer. Michael Malmgren's Crew Chief Christer Gustafsson told us that the new Camaro Pro Stocker has paid a visit to Geof Hauser's workshop since Wednesday's Press Day. "It was only minor changes, some things which we discovered that we wanted changed when we ran in America", he said. When we arrived this afternoon, the team were putting the number one engine into the car. "We think we should be able to set some new records", said Christer. "We want to get out onto the track because it's a great surface. Now it is a question of who is going to be the first to run a six in Europe."

Regula Stucki of Top Fuel Team Switzerland said that the team had put their spare engine into Peter Beck's car after damage sustained at the Thunderball. "There was a lot to fix", she said, "so we put this engine in and then we will fix the other engine if we have to. We want to make a full pass tomorrow". She added that the only change which had been made was a new fuel pump. Peter is looking forward to the possibility of racing Al Jackson in Top Fuel Dragster this weekend. "We raced him once in Top Methanol, and he won", said Regula, "so we want to even it up!".

Regula also imparted the unbelievable information that Peter found his first Top Fuel run boring! "The launch is a lot harder in a Top Methanol car", she explained, "but the Fuel car keeps going. When we asked Peter about his first run, he said it was boring! But then when he did his next run, we asked him again and he said ah, that's different".

We understand that Tommy Moller has now actually entered this weekend's event, so that he can complete his licencing passes in the CBD Top Fuel Dragster. If this is the case then the CBD team are going to have a very busy weekend since Al Jackson is actually competing in the same car. At some point in the next day or so we hope to have a word with team owner Knut Soderquist, or with Al, to find out exactly how this is all going to work.

Swedish drag racing's answer to Eric Morecambe, TMFC racer Leif Helander, said that he has a small amount of sponsorship. "But I have spent twice as much as that on parts", he said.

Given that everyone knows what puddles look like, and that most of the vehicles in the pits are under cover, there's not a lot of pictures we can post right now, but stay tuned and if there's anything else to bring you, you can be sure that we will.