FIA Main Event
Pre-Main Event test session

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19:30

Today's pictures are now available from the raceday update index.

That's the end of today's coverage, brought to you in association with e-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven. Thanks for staying with us, we hope you enjoyed it. Your reporter was Tog of eurodragster.com, all pictures by Sharkman of eurodragster.com.

We will be reporting from tomorrow's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod. See you then!

17:25

Oh dear. With Micke Kågered and Manty Bugeja in the collection area, it has started to rain, quite hard too. The emergency crews are coming in and the cars are going back to their pits - that's going to be it for today we think.

Today's pictures will be posted soon, stay tuned.

17:00

Jacob Ferrer has just given us a spectacular star turn. He got way out of shape in the burnout, the car almost head-on to the guardrail, then had problems staging and left before the lights ran. Immediately off the line he went into bad tyre shake, ending up heading for the guardrail again.

Tim Adam's next run was an 8.909/147.98, followed by Dave Townsend who ran 9.59/142.72. Paula Marshall put in a 9.96/139.45, the car sounding very strong indeed when the throttle stop came out.

Paul Willis spun the rear tyre of his Pro Stock Bike again, clocking 7.66/170.68.

Jon Webster has damaged the engine of his roadster - we don't know how badly though.

Some of the racers are packing up now but we're still expecting passes from Micke Kågered, Manty Bugeja and maybe Jari Konola.

16:30

It just gets better and better for Pat Talbot, obviously she thought she'd run enough 7.6s today so she has just blasted into the 7.5s with a run of 7.57/171.84. Paula Atkin followed Pat, a clean pass of 8.83/144.86. No prizes for guessing which orange roadster is currently in the collection area...

16:05

Tim Adam is certainly getting his money's worth today, another Super Comp run, and a great Super Comp time, 8.93/147.82. And as I type, here he is again...another 8.93 at 148.01. Perry Antoniou is also getting his money's worth, another run, 11.71/114.22.

15:50

Jacob Ferrer's next run was preceded by a wild burnout, the car starting to get sideways but Jacob stayed with it. A great launch and another run in the 7.0s, the quickest Pro Stock pass so far today, at 194 mph.

Paul Willis on his Pro Stock Bike followed Jacob Ferrer, spinning the tyre away from the line but still recording a 7.69/169.61.

Tim Adam put in another pass in Super Comp trim, clocking 9.03/147.95. Paula Atkin was in the collection area but then the car was towed back to the pits. Dave Townsend put in another nice pass in his Super Gasser, recording 9.84/141.74.

Jon Webster made his first pass of the day, the roadster in Super Comp trim, recording 8.96/143.88

Come back soon for the next set of runs!

15:30

Jari Konola has made his third pass of the day and very nice it was too. Another long burnout and then the car shot off the line on the green, hooking up very well indeed, recording a time in the 7.1s at 192.

Tim Adam was next up, carding 9.902/144.55 in Super Gas trim - absolutely superb, straight pass.

Manty Bugeja then put in a run in his TMD. The car sounded just great, a good strong burnout followed by a sixty-foot squirt - the car just creeping off the line a touch before Manty hit the throttle.

Pat Talbot ran still quicker on her next pass, 7.60/169.76, Steve and Matthew high-fiving when the time came up on the gantry. Perry Antoniou followed Pat with an 11.39/115.95, then Paula Marshall put in another pass with the throttle stop on, 9.92/138.74.

Micke Kågered fired up just as I finished the above paragraph, let's see what happens. The car sounds fine...very nice long burnout, didn't seem so shaky this time. Launches nicely but again seems to have a cylinder out. Stays in it until the first eighth-mile marker and then gets off the throttle.

Jacob Ferrer is pushing to the collection area, tune back soon to see how he gets on.

14:00

Micke Kågered has put in his first pass. A tyre-shaky burnout and a squirt to sixty feet with what looked like a cylinder or two out.

Jari Konola has put in another pass, this time just a short squirt. Jari told us that he is running his number two engine today, he has another engine in his trailer which has more horsepower and which he will be running in the car at Wednesday's Press Day. He said he would decide after Press Day which engine he will be using next weekend.

Pat Talbot stepped it up even further to a 7.61/169.44. Paula Marshall put in a pass of 9.67/141.03 and then put the Super Gas throttle stop on, running 9.98/139.67. Also in Super Gas trim again was Tim Adam who ran 9.94/144.90.

Paul Willis recorded 7.77/1772 on his second pass. Perry Antoniou clocked 11.61/116.99 in his Super Street car.

We're now on lunch break, tune back later on for this afternoon's action.

13:00

A much better run from Paula Atkin on her second pass of the day, veering slightly left off the start line but straightening it out and recording 8.96/136.49.

Tim Adam switched the car to Super Gas trim and ran 9.86/145.65. Next up was fellow Super Gas racer Dave Townsend who clocked a nice 9.91/137.60.

Stay tuned.

12:50

Barry George has arrived with his Custom Car Street Eliminator pickup. No sign of his putting a pass in yet but he has plenty of time left.

Paula Atkin's first pass was troubled, way out of shape off the start line, Paula eventually giving in at 330 feet after almost punting the timing reflector across the track.

Tim Adam has put in another couple of passes, a troubled and out of shape eleven-second pass followed by an 8.76/148.56 Perry Antoniou got closer to the Super Street index with an 11.47/117.65.

Pat Talbot is pulling to the line as I type...very nice run, seemed like a harder launch this time, even quicker, 7.67/166.77. Just before her pass, Pat told us that the car was accelerating harder at the top end. So far today she has run her quickest ever 60 foot, eighth, and quarter, that just leaves the speed. Pat was pleased to hear that fellow Super Pro racer Fay Fischer was entered for next weekend's race. "We'll be able to have girlie races", she said.

Micke Kågered is having problems with the transmission in his TMFC. They are currently having a close look to see if it should be changed.

Paul Willis was relatively pleased with his pass, but is confident of doing better. "We've just lost the combination a bit", he said. He has bigger carbs on the engine, and his Crew Chief mentioned that they are planning on building another engine. "I'll be happy if we run a 7.5 today", he added.

More soon!

11:50

Next after Jacob Ferrer was an absolute stormer from Pat Talbot in her Super Pro ET dragster, her best-ever ET of 7.69 and a hair's breadth below her best-ever speed, at 167.53.

Paul Willis followed Pat Talbot with a great 7.66/172.04 on his Pro Stock Bike.

We've now got a lull, no-one in the collection area at present. We'll be back later on with news from the next set of runs.

11:45

Malta's Manty Bugeja has now arrived with his ex-Peter Beck TMD, the car is still in Beck's colours but featuring sponsorship from Mister Whippy (yes, that Mister Whippy!).

We've had our first few runs of the day, Perry Antoniou putting in a couple of passes in his Super Street Escort, 12.94/105.14 and 13.00/104.01. Dave Townsend clocked a fine 9.44/142.73 in his Mustang Super Gasser, and Tim Adam put in a nice run of 8.83/147.92, the roadster in Super Comp trim. Tim has Pro Mod racer Nick Davies crewing with him today.

Because this is a private test, we have agreed with some of the Pro racers that we should not publish detailed timing information, so what we've decided to do is not to publish any incrementals and to stop at the tenths with the elapsed times. Hopefully this will keep both racers and fans happy.

Jari Konola has made his first run, a huge burnout in the Dodge Pro Stock to about 80 feet followed by a thundering launch and a full pass in the high 7.0s at 193 mph.

Jacob Ferrer was next up in his Pro Stock. A nice burnout and a solid, straight pass in the 7.0s at 194. So two impressive off-the-trailer runs by our two Pro Stock participants.

Paul Willis and Pat Talbot are waiting to run, check back soon for details of their passes.

09:45

Good morning from Santa Pod Raceway. It's a beautiful morning, sunny and warm with a gentle breeze. The track is being prepped - the surface looks absolutely perfect - and our good buddy Andy is finishing the set-up of the timing system.

In the pits we have Micke Kågered, Jacob Ferrer, Jari Konola, Pat Talbot, Paula Atkin, Jon Webster, Paula Marshall, Dave Towsend, Tim Adam, Perry Antoniou and Paul Willis. A few others are expected yet.

Micke Kågered told us that he is expecting to make two or three passes today, none further than half-track. He also said that depending upon how today went, he may run tomorrow at the Run What You Brung.

Stay tuned and we'll be back later on with news of the on-track action.