2003 Easter Thunderball
Sunday (qualifying)
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21:15
Today's pictures are now available, you can get to them from the Event Index page. That's all from us tonight, check back tomorrow and we'll bring you all the news from eliminations.
18:45
A big Hello to Alex Leighton and his son Connor who are tuned in. Alex and all VW fans you will be pleased to hear that Botch has promised us all the gossip from the VW pits, it will be in tomorrow morning's pit notes.
Tony Baker has had another good day with the Fireforce 1 Jet FC, no pieces of Race Control blown out this time but 6.918/234.26 and 7.470/217.65 kept us all warm and highly entertained. Also on the subject of thrust-powered vehicles we understand from Lisa Billinton that Sammy Miller's son Sam was listening in on his mobile phone as Eric Teboul ran, Eric's run was a fitting tribute to our fallen hero.
We're all done for the day now, qualifying is finished and what a frenetic day it has been. The weather ended the day at 58.5 F, 48% humidity and 29.74 air pressure.
Here are the top qualifiers in all classes at the end of qualifying.
MSA Top Methanol:
1. Dave Wilson 5.665/253.63
2. Rob Turner 5.688/247.32
3. Steph Milam 6.673/213.45
4. Doug Ripley 11.113/115.58
Super Modified: 1. Andy Hone 8.348/157.28, 2. Kev Perkins 9.413/108.87
Super Pro ET: 1. Mark Flavell +0.008 7.918/173.78, 2. Ian Bishop +0.021 7.941/169.63
Pro ET: 1. Jon Evans +0.001 10.001/134.46, 2. Terry Wareham +0.011 11.511/119.45
Sportsman ET: 1. George Greves +0.010 12.610/107.86, 2. Paul Voyce +0.011 13.861/98.66
Super Comp: 1. Tim Adam 8.914/151.26, 2. Mark Fairhurst 8.919/152.40
Super Gas: 1. Martin Curbishley 9.904/147.15, 2. Tim Adam 9.912/147.45
Super Street: 1. Anne Peck 10.902/135.44, 2. Bob Lees 10.905/131.09
Junior Dragster: 1. Johnny Walker 0.502, 2. Tom Watts 0.536
Custom Car Street Eliminator (pre-Cruise): 1. Steve Pateman 8.600/171.86, 2. Jon Webster 8.734/166.73
VW Pro: 1. Scotty Evison +0.067 12.057/111.00, 2. Paul Woodhead +0.189 11.179/no time recorded
VW Sportsman: 1. Graham Fairhead +0.006 15.856/84.13, 2. James Lake +0.032 17.632/72.38
Top Fuel Bike: 1. Steve Woollatt 6.973/194.09, 2. Antonio Ferretti 8.685/102.99
Funny Bike: 1. Neil Midgley 7.291/182.95, 2. Tim Blakemore 7.406/170.61
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Dave Beck 7.295/183.08, 2. Chris Hope 7.790/162.03
Super Street Bike: 1. Karl Larcombe 8.231/173.59, 2. Graham Dance 8.345/164.73
Comp Bike: 1. Jerry Collier 8.058/165.08, 2. Klaus Sarembe 8.111/145.68
9.90 Bike: 1. TJ O'Brien 9.922/138.74, 2. Martin Walker 9.930/143.89
10.90 Bike: 1. Phil Pratt 10.902/126.33, 2. John Hackney 10.906/130.31
We are now working on today's pictures - stay tuned.
17:45
Pro Fuel Shootout round 2
Gordon Smith 5.78/190.94 v Andy Carter 6.19/230.04
Gordon recorded a 0.94 sixty foot time and 219 mph at half track, the car was really moving. Gordon hit the chutes early which brought the speed down. Andy with the 0.35-second extra wait tried valiantly to catch Gordon but he was off the throttle early. Andy says that the new car is a tight fit but he is getting used to it.
Smax Smith 5.47/185.77
Another licencing pass for Smax, off the throttle at 900 feet and the chutes out well before the finish line.
Øyvor Jacobsen 10.29/84.29
The engine leaned out and almost stopped on the start line but Rune Fjeld leaned in the cockpit and did his magic and the car burst back into life. The car was very low on revs on this run, almost as if the stop was still on.
Micke Kågered 12.32/79.70
The tyres didn't light in the burnout, and on the hit the tyres went straight up in smoke. Micke was off the throttle instantly to save the engine.
Bill Sherratt didn't show in this round, photo-journalist Andy Willsheer tells us that the engine hit 9000 revs at the hit on the last pass, hence the boomer. The Showtime team are working hard to put everything back together for tomorrow.
Top Fuel Bike qualifying round 4
Antonio Ferretti 8.97/93.03
Almost a carbon copy of Antonio's pass yesterday as a cylinder went out at half track and Antonio got off the throttle.
Steve Woollatt 6.97/194.09
A nice straight pass from Steve, off the throttle a little early but all the changes appear to be bedding in nicely as Steve improves his #1 spot.
MSA Top Methanol qualifying round 4
Steph Milam 9.68/85.45 v Doug Ripley 12.29/83.11
Doug got the car sideways during the burnout but wrenched it straight again. Both cars shook off the line and both drivers saved their engines.
Rob Turner 5.71/243.29
A solid pass from Rob but a huge cloud of smoke at the finish line obscured the dragster. Championship co-ordinator Dave Alexander tells us that this was not as bad as it looked for the Netcall team, a couple of screws walking around in one cylinder.
Dave Beck is really showing his competitors what Pro Stock Bike is all about, clocking 7.297/181.77 on his last qualifier. The 181.77 is backed up by the 180.09 earlier so that's a new speed record subject to ratification.
Steve Pateman recorded a huge 174.30 in his Calibra earlier on, backing up his 171.86 earlier. Wild ride of the day goes to Super Pro ET racer Trev Capewell who was all over his lane in the last session of qualifying, that guy really ought to be driving a Fuel Altered. I don't think Trev took his foot off it at all and he was very close indeed to his dial-in...are the Southern Rebel team adding in half a second for wandering? Also taking a couple of wild rides was Kev Perkins in Danny Cockerill's Super Mod, on both occasions Kev didn't try any clever tricks but got off the throttle to save any damage.
Qualifying will soon be done so tune back soon and we'll bring you all the final standings.
14:30
Congratulations to Dave Beck who subject to official ratification has set a new ACU Pro Stock Bike record with a stunning pass of 7.295/183.08 in the fifth qualifying cycle. The time was backed up by Dave's earlier 7.33 and this speed backs up the 180.09 from this morning. Nice one Dave!
14:30
We've had our first pass from Eric Teboul on his rocket bike. Eric dedicated his pass to the late Sammy Miller before he ran. Lots of throttle slams and huge clouds of steam before Eric went into stage, a count from five to zero and Eric was gone, 6.39/181.85. Awesome!
13:45 Qualifying leaders after cycle 4
Pro Fuel Shootout: Smax Smith 5.750/175.99
MSA Top Methanol: Dave Wilson 5.665/253.63
Super Modified: Kev Perkins 9.413/108.87
Super Pro ET: Mark Flavell +0.008 7.918/173.78
Pro ET (after cycle 5): Jon Evans +0.001 10.001/134.46
Sportsman ET: George Greves +0.010 12.610/107.86
Super Comp: Tim Adam 8.914/151.26
Super Gas: Martin Curbishley 9.904/147.15
Super Street: Bob Lees 10.905/131.09
Junior Dragster: Johnny Walker 0.502
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman 8.600/171.86
VW Pro: Scotty Evison +0.067 12.057/111.00
VW Sportsman: Graham Fairhead +0.006 15.856/84.13
Top Fuel Bike: Steve Woollatt 7.245/180.57
Funny Bike: Neil Midgley 7.296/181.85
Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck 7.338/180.09
Super Street Bike: Karl Larcombe 8.231/173.59
Comp Bike: Klaus Sarembe 8.111/145.68
9.90 Bike: Martin Walker 9.930/143.89
10.90 Bike: Phil Pratt 10.902/126.33
The weather stands at 55.9 F, 50% humidity, and 29.77 inches air pressure.
13:10
Pro Fuel Shootout Round 1
Øyvor Jacobsen 10.30/85.19
A half-pass for licencing purposes, an impressive 0.88 to sixty feet with shake.
Smax Smith 5.75/175.99
Another licencing half-pass and an awesome run from Smax, he came past your reporter at 100 foot like a steam locomotive.
Andy Carter 6.35/144.66
Andy pedalled once and then got out at half-track, a familiarisation pass in the new car.
Gordon Smith 8.89/102.09 v Bill Sherratt no time recorded
Gordon and the Shockwave team had a lot of new parts to try out. The car launched very strongly but got out of the groove by eighty feet and got close to the guardrail before Gordon got off the throttle. Meanwhile Bill Sherratt got to about fifty feet when there was a big BOOM, a flash of flame, the front of the body came up and the blower belt landed on the track.
Bill is quite OK, no news yet on the state of the FC. We have an awesome picture of Bill's boomer so tune back later on for our photo update.
MSA Top Methanol qualifying session 3
Rob Turner 5.68/247.32, Doug Ripley 11.11/115.58
No sign of shake from Rob this time as Steve turns up the wick. A straight hard pass and now only two hundredths behind Dave Wilson. Doug redlit and shook, and got off the throttle early.
Steph Milam 11.94/56.85
Steph hit shake off the line and was quickly off it.
Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 3
Steve Woollatt 7.24/180.57
Steve had two shots at this, shutting off after the burnout on his first pass and then coming back on what we think will have been a checkout pass. Steve feathered the throttle after half-track and then backed off before the finish line.
Junior Dragster racer Ricky Emms ran a 7.9-second pass in qualifying, of course JD qualifying is on Reaction Times but an impressive feat nonetheless.
Stay tuned and we will bring you the top qualifiers in all classes after cycle 4.
11:10
Dave Beck is looking at both ends of an ACU Pro Stock Bike record if he can back up this morning's pass of 7.338/180.09. That was Dave's first full run of the weekend and that's given everyone plenty to think about I'd say!
Neil Midgley has taken over the lead in Funny Bike qualifying with a fine 7.296/181.85 in the first session today. Also improving big time were Steve French at 7.675/170.98 and Stu Chamberlain at 7.643/170.29 respectively.
Martin Curbishley has taken over the Super Gas lead with a 9.904, Malcolm Francis is now #2 at 9.936.
The lead hasn't changed hands in CCSE, but Jon Webster turned the wick up in John Hales' Chevy at 8.734, and Andy Frost has confirmed his ICE eight-second jacket with another eight second pass this morning.
Stay tuned as we have the rest of the fourth qualifying cycle to go, plus Top Methanol, round one of Pro Fuel, Top Fuel Bike - and the first pass by Eric Teboul on his rocket bike.
10:00
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway for day two of the Easter Thunderball. It's a much nicer day today, the sun is out, and even at this early juncture it is warmer than it ever was yesterday - our weather station is giving us 53.2 F, 68% humidity and 29.80 inches air pressure on the start line. We're here to bring you all the news in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/Dragrace Drachten webcam is of course on-line, you can access it via the Event Index.
This morning's Hellos are from Antonio Ferretti to all of his friends in Italy, a Hello to Katy from Rob of the Carbon By Design Top Fuel team, and a Hello to Pelle Lindelöw from Andy Carter who said to tell Pelle "We are looking after your baby!". Also a big Hello to Steve and Jacky Young who for a change are not globetrotting, and to Fred Wilbanks who is tuned in from the USA, and to Ian Barker.
We hit the pits after we signed off last night, most racers had buttoned up and gone somewhere warm, but we managed to gatecrash a few awnings; we also had a walk around this morning. Here's what we found out.
Top Fuel Bike racer Antonio Ferretti told us that a manifold burst panel popped on his second pass yesterday. "It didn't do any damage and I am ready to run again", he said last night. Antonio said that he was looking at testing his new bike on Malta, but that it actually worked out cheaper to come to the UK from Italy. "I have run the bike once in Italy but this is my first race", he said. Antonio is also getting used to his new computer, and said that he was using this year to run in his new bike before contesting the European Championship in 2004. He also asked us to say "Hello" to all of his friends in Italy.
Top Methanol FC racer Doug Ripley and his Crew Chief Cliff Gould were very happy with their day yesterday. It was an eventful day which included a trip to Coventry to have the FC's fire bottles refilled, before the top end clocks tripped awarding him a 5.56 in the second qualifying session. "It was nice to get back out there", said Doug. "It was a bit fat but we have a baseline, and we haven't hurt anything - it is ready to go now", added Cliff. Doug told us that they had cannibalised Andy Oliver's CCSE Camaro for nozzles for the fire extinguisher system, since Steve Nash is not using the nitrous on the street car.
Steve himself was very happy with his ten-second pass in the Andy's Rat Camaro. He ran the car's first nitrous-free ten-second pass and promptly put owner Andy Oliver straight about something. "I told Andy there are people who hold licences and there are drivers!", he said. "Andy's happy because the car has run a ten without gas. I am very grateful to Andy for loaning me his car which has allowed my new Crew Chief Mick and I to gel whilst we are waiting to finish my own car."
Also 'borrowing' a car is Danny Cockerill's Crew Chief Kev Perkins who had his first couple of outings in the Steelcraft Super Mod yesterday. "We didn't have the best start to the day", he said. The generator packed up, and there were some leaks on the car, and the engine was misfiring. I was a bit rusty too. But we have gone through the car and we think we have found the misfire". Kev said that it has been a while since he raced competitively, and even then it was not in a doorslammer. "Having said that, I have been around Pro Mods and Super Mods for several years now and you gain the wherewithal to drive them. I've got three more runs to get competitive!". Kev expressed his appreciation to Danny for the chance to drive. "To be honest I think he would rather let me ride his wife than ride his car!", he said. "It's a major thing for a guy to do to let someone else drive his race car."
Fellow Super Modified racer Andy Hone was another racer pleased with his day yesterday. "It's all measured up very well", he said. "Over the winter we freshened it - rods, rings, springs, replaced a piston, sorted out the floor because it was acting as an air brake, and put in a new camshaft in line with the rule changes. Hats off to my crew for all of their work and I am also very grateful to Rob Loaring for all of his help". Andy said that one of the ways of compensating for the reduced valve action with the new cam was to add more gas. "We are limited to one five-pound bottle per run, so that isn't the only solution", he said.
Fellow Super Mod racer Andy Kirk's car was uncovered in the pits this morning and it is a very nice piece of work indeed. We have pictures so tune back later on when we post the photo update and doubtless there will be on-track shots by then.
Rookie Super Street racer Peter Thompson was grinning from ear to ear after his first competitive day yesterday. "The last time I was on the strip, it was a Run What You Brung and I ran a sixteen", he said. "First time out today I ran an 11.9 - I had no idea how quick it was until I got the ticket after the run". Pete added that the car launches very well indeed and that it would only take a small amount of nitrous to tun 10.9s. "Everyone has been very helpful", he said, "and I am very grateful to Matthew Wright for the use of his trailer". Pete has already entered the next UK Championship event, the Excitement Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
This morning we were very grateful for a cup of coffee from Top Methanol FC racer Steph Milam, who ran a new PB of 6.67 yesterday. "We thought there was a fifty in it but the 67 was good in those conditions", said Crew Chief Dave Milam. "We just need a Whipple and then we will run 6.0s!". The She Devil team learnt a lot at last year's European Finals and used that experience to good effect yesterday. "We've got the blower where it should be, and worked on the clutch", said Dave. "We've got rid of the hop, skip and jump off the start line. Now we just need a Whipple blower and we'll run 6.0s!".
Super Street Bike racer Karl Larcombe and his team are over the moon after their 8.2 yesterday. Despite your reporter's ravings yesterday, one of his crew told us that the run was in fact made without nitrous, so there is plenty left in the bike. "We'll step it up a bit for the next run", he said. "We are determined to run a seven", he said. "We'll do a bit more work on the dyno and of course we'll put the gas on."
Sportsman ET racer Rick Denny is fifty pounds better off, and Eurodragster fifty pounds down, after he pulled a perfect 0.500 reaction in qualifying yesterday. "The last time I did it, Jack Brewster beat me to it!", he said. Rick certainly made sure of it on that pass yesterday. "It was my quickest run, my fastest run, and I was a hundredth off my dial-in", he said.
Fuel FC racer Gordon Smith was in confident mood this morning. "Everything is in good nick", he said. "I'm really looking forward to it. We are taking some power and clutch out of it to get it down the track". The first round of the Pro Fuel Shootout is at lunchtime.
Knut Soderquist, Carbon By Design team owner, told us that he is putting up trophies this season. "I will be putting up Oscars at every FIA event to the best Crew Chief who has a CBD injector on the car", he said. "The trophies will be made from solid aliminium. I will also award trophies to the best team at the end of the season although I have not yet decided on the points system for that". Knut was overjoyed to hear that we had quoted his sponsorship gag yesterday.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Andy Carter said that the First National Telecom team had everything ready to make a pass yesterday, but that they decided against it because of the weather. "It was so cold that it would probably have been a waste of time and we would not have learnt anything", he said. Today will see Andy's first pass down the track in the ex-Lindelöw Top Fueller. "Eddie has put what we know into the clutch and the timers so we'll be in the ball park", he said. "It's going to be a war - pedalling and going up in smoke - so this will be a smart race rather than a horsepower race and Eddie is the smartest."
We were plied with more hot drinks by Linda Wilson at the American Car Imports TMD pit, a very welcome cup of tea which finished the thawing-out job. "We had an oiling problem yesterday", said Crew Chief Andy Bissett. "It hasn't done any damage, but we have decided to take the engine apart to find the problem so we probably won't be running today". Andy said that the new chassis is already repaying the dollars which car owner Anthony Cohen paid out. "We can concentrate on getting the power down and not on stopping it shaking to pieces", he said. "The car behaves differently because it is more flexible. We have it tuned very soft at the moment, it can launch more aggressively and there is a ton left in it!".
Qualifying is now well underway so stay tuned and we will bring you the highlights.