2003 FIA European Finals
Press Day
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18:00
Martin Boye and Ian Marshall rounded the day off with passes of 9.967/135.47 and a passenger ride of 8.864/156.64 respectively.
We have posted today's pictures, which are available from the Event Index page.
That's the end of our coverage of Press Day, we will be back on-line first thing on Friday morning for the start of qualifying for the FIA European Finals.
See you then!
17:00
When we left you last, your reporter had an appointment with Gordon Appleton in the Wheelgame Racing Pro Mod. The appointment was duly kept and 6.901 seconds and 201.65 miles per hour later Tog had a huge smile on his face. Apologies to our good buddy Erik for taking his record, and Gordon asked us to apologise to his daughter Sabra for breaking her 7.001 record. Tog would like to say Thank You to Gordon and his team, and to Paul Marston and Will Furniss for the loan of safety equipment. More anon on Eurodragster News.
Thanks to Sharkman and honorary Eurodragster staff member Spencer Tramm for keeping an eye on proceedings whilst I was otherwise engaged, let's take you through what I missed.
Jon Webster has put in his first run of the day and his second licencing pass overall. A great burnout, very strong launch, 0.964 sixty foot and then on it to half track, 5.845/173.83. Congratulations to Jon, Peter Knight and the team.
Dave Wilson's second pass of the day was a very solid 5.556/245.91 in the American Car Imports TMD. Dave had the chutes out and was off it before the traps. Peter Schöfer and his crew, who arrived earlier, were interested onlookers when Dave ran.
Ian King's second pass of the day was a much improved 6.774/172.84. One of the pipes was out off the line and then off and on during the run but there was a very healthy nitro flame and Ian shut it off at about 1200 feet.
The Veidec Pro Stock Bike team are very happy indeed after Roger Pettersson clocked 7.320/182.60 and Helen Curran clocked 7.576/174.50 on their latest outings. Also in PSB Richard Gipp has put in a pass of 7.663/173.86 and Martin Bishop a 7.795/174.60 and 7.954/164.65. Still on two wheels Shaun Braunch was looking good until a huge cloud of smoke appeared from his engine at a thousand feet. The fire crew chased Shaun down the track and the report came back that he and the bike were covered in oil.
Roger Johansson hit shake again on his most recent pass. Peter Kunc clocked 7.059/185.01, his car appearing to hesitate a couple of times.
Brian Griffin of MG Sport and Racing took a ride with Al Golding, a 9.045/148.71 made his day I would imagine! Other passenger rides have been a 10.682/126.32, 10.516/127.63 and 10.584/127.24 for Paul Marston, and an 8.820/155.53 for Ian Marshall.
Here's a run-down of all of the other passes we have had since the last update. Ricky Emms 7.963/78.75, 7.949/79.06; Ian Brown 10.982/120.00, 10.967/120.02; Steve Ingham 10.640/135.81; Phil Pratt 10.800/128.07, 10.385/129.64; Anders Envall 10.802/125.42 and 10.857/126.15; Martin Boye 9.838/137.68; Stuart Doignie 10.898/119.74; George Chiarella 8.871/148.83; Paul Letchford 8.938/150.96; Malcolm Motler 10.907/119.82; Fred Furlong 9.973/135.61; Ken Cooper 9.992/140.82; Kev Charman 11.088/118.46; Stuart Doignie 11.103/132.33; Jean Dulamon 7.732/141.85; Will Furniss 9.853/140.68, 9.289/143.28; Nick Gay 15.772/75.23.
Anders Envall broke his personal best again whilst shedding another belt on his 10.802 pass, and his second pass of the day was also a belt terminator.
Stay tuned and we'll bring you details of today's last passes.
15:00
Anita Mäkelä has put in her pass, a strong burnout and then the car was glued to the track on the launch. Anita was really charging before there was a flash of flame at half track and a cloud of smoke or unburnt fuel, and Anita was off the throttle. 4.976/202.83 came up on the top end display but a look at Anita's sixty foot time of 0.669 would tend to indicate that the ET wasn't correct. Anita's half-track speed of 251.64 was considered correct though. The consensus of opinion up here was that the ET was a 5.35 or so, and that it was only a blower belt which caused the half-track problem.
Roger Johansson's third pass of the day was shut off very early as he hit bad shake off the line.
Antonio Ferretti was next up after Roger Johansson, a good burnout although it sounded as it the bike was misfiring, some shake at about sixty feet which Antonio rode through, far from straight and 7.317/180.51 at the stripe.
Your reporter is now off for his appointment with Gordon Appleton, stay tuned and we'll be back later with more news from the Press Day.
14:15
Ian King appeared to have a problem on his pass, a bang at about 120 feet and Ian was off the throttle. The run was preceded by a great burnout and the bike sounded very strong before Ian was off it. Bernie Hepworth's first run of the day was a 10.344/90.32 checkout, everything looked and sounded just fine, Bernie was off the throttle at about 500 feet.
Malcolm Motler has been practicing his dial-ins today and has been very close indeed to 10.92 on all of his passes, the last was a 10.919/119.78. Phil Bennett and Will Furniss matched up, Will was in Super Gas trim and clocked 9.840/139.91 whilst Phil recorded 9.091/136.40. Paul Marston took a journalist on a 10.662/126.81 passenger ride, followed by Nick Gay who clocked 16.015/84.23. Will Furniss was back again pretty quickly, matching up with Pete Creswell who clocked 9.857/144.38 to Will's 9.871/141.18. Ian Brown was next round with the Thatadoo Camaro and recorded 11.007/119.98. Paul Letchford was the next into the right hand lane, following up his earlier 8.5 with a far from straight 8.924/151.37. It looks pretty much like Super Gas for Stuart Doignie, clocking 9.957/131.66 on his last pass.
Stay tuned.
14:00
Just as we went to post this update, Richard Gipp and Roger Pettersson matched up on their Pro Stock Bikes, and it was a great race, Roger got there first by 0.014 with a 7.728/179.17 to Richard's 7.638/173.95. Helen Curran followed up with a 7.782/176.03, the bike appeared to slip out of gear for a brief moment off the start line. Just previously, Anders Larsson ran a fine 7.465/178.05 on his Pro Stock Bike.
Thomas Nataas and Roger Johansson have been out again with their Pro Mods, another pair of half passes - the Pro Mod guys are playing their cards pretty close to their chests today. Thomas did one of those running-at-it burnouts before pulling the wheels up in the air on the launch and getting off it at half track, 7.512/126.38. Roger was really on one before he got off it, there appeared to be a backfire as he lifted the throttle, but he recorded 7.014/148.38.
Gordon Appleton took Jodie Marsh for her ride-along, a 6.863/202.90 which probably got her attention. Your reporter is apparently next up for a trip in the Wheelgame Camaro.
Chris Johnson's latest pass in his MG Rover was an arrow-straight 9.243/146.24. Chris has Brian Griffin of MG Sport and Racing with him today. Brian has given a lot of support to Chris and the team including a set of ZS body panels which were supplied before the ZS was released, a BTCC rear wing, and the MG stickers.
Stuart Doignie followed Chris Johnson with a 9.775/132.92 in his Super Street BMW...or should that be Super Gas? Martin Boye was next on the track with a 9.777/138.38 in his Impala, and Al Golding followed Martin with an 8.942/150.19 in his Firenza.
The other runs we have had since the last update were: Ian Brown 10.692/119.84; Paul Letchford 8.593/153.97; Pete Creswell 9.760/145.59; Phil Pratt 10.203/129.85; and Ricky Emms 7.998/78.36.
Lined up behind us now is Ian King with his Top Fuel Bike, stay tuned for news.
12:45
Dave Wilson clocked 6.768/141.78 on his planned half-pass. The tyres smoked a little off the line and shook slightly, but then the dragster picked up and disappeared off into the distance - maybe where Dave shifted. The car went the long way round, too.
Antonio Ferretti shook the rear tyre on his Top Fuel Bike. He was off the throttle a couple of times but wasn't giving up, recording 7.719/177.36. Martin Bishop's first pass of the day was a 7.764/174.73 on his Pro Stock Bike.
The other runs we have had in this session were: Fred Furlong 9.885/139.56, 9.895/137.85, 10.028/137.02; Ken Cooper 10.090/140.49; Ricky Emms 7.939/78.86; Nick Gay 15.952/79.62; Paul Duxbury 13.125/103.11; Malcolm Motler 10.921/119.16; Stuart Doignie 9.864/132.59; Phil Pratt 10.097/129.63; Jean Dulamon 9.325/143.27.
Stay tuned.
12:15
We have already had a huge number of runs here at Santa Pod so let's take you through what we've seen.
Helen Curran has been one of the hits of the day so far with a new personal best on her first pass for today on the Veidec PSB. Helen clocked 7.669/172.63 which brought a huge smile to Roger Lyrén's face!
There have been so many passes that to catch up we will just give you the list:
Ricky Emms 7.990/78.84 with a 0.505 light; Fred Furlong 9.809/141.31, 9.936, 9.916/138.91, 9.876/137.25; Martin Boye 10.170/135.02, 9.729/135.52; Malcolm Motler 10.920/120.17, 10.920/120.17 with a 0.506 light; Ian Brown 10.814/121.92; Ken Cooper 9.945/142.25, 9.864/141.66; Pete Creswell 9.865/142.83; Will Furniss 9.845/139.98, 9.815/140.50; Anders Larsson 8.327/130.14 three-quarter pass; Peter Kunc 7.584/133.63 half-pass; Gordon Appleton 6.953/165.84 1000-foot pass; Chris Johnson 9.328/145.23; Ian Marshall 8.816/144.74 passenger ride; Steve Ingham 13.713/62.21; Al Golding 9.125/150.28; Phil Pratt 10.907, 10.35, 10.438/128.77; Phil Bennett 9.149/137.45; Kev Charman 9.088/164.48.
Kev Charman had a fire at the top end, the bike dropped its exhaust on the track but no word on whether this was the cause or whether it was in reaction to something else. Kev was "a bit hot" but is A-OK.
Dave Wilson is in the collection area with the American Car Imports TMD, and Antonio Ferretti is lined up with his Top Fuel Bike; come back soon and we'll let you know how he gets on with his planned half-pass.
11:00
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway. It's overcast but very mild, Roger Johansson tells us that the air is 400 feet, the pits are very busy indeed, and we're here to bring you the Press Day action in association with American Car Imports.
I don't think I have ever seen so many racers attending a Press Day. A number of our European friends are here and are taking the chance to get in some test runs whilst wowing the media. Just look at the list of racers who are here and planning to put in passes:
Roger Johansson (Pro Mod), Thomas Nataas (Pro Mod), Peter Kunc (Pro Mod), Jon Webster (Top Fuel Dragster), Anita Mäkelä (Top Fuel Dragster), Antonio Ferretti (Top Fuel Bike), Ian Brown (Pro ET), Paul Marston (Super Gas), Ricky Emms (Junior Dragster), Dave Wilson (Top Methanol Dragster), Gordon Appleton (Pro Mod), Pete Creswell (Super Gas), Will Furniss (Super Comp/Gas), Phil Bennett (Super Comp), Chris Johnson (Pro ET), Nick Gay (Sportsman ET), Anders Envall (Pro ET), Martin Boye (Pro ET), Helen Curran (Pro Stock Bike), Malcolm Motler (Pro ET), Anders Larsson (Pro Stock Bike), Paul Letchford (Super Pro ET), Ian Marshall (Super Modified), Stuart Doignie (Super Street), Martin Bishop (Pro Stock Bike), George Chiarella (Super Comp), Al Golding (Super Pro ET), Jean Dulamon (Comp Eliminator) and Bernie Hepworth (Supertwin). And that's just that we know about from a brief turn around the pits!
We had a few brief words with racers on our turn round the pits, the first we encountered was Anita Mäkelä who told us that she is planning a full pass at about 1:30 pm. Anita and her team have been working on the rear wing since the front of the car was getting very light on her last couple of outings, enough to get her attention. The car now has less rear wing, and Anita tells us that Tommi has also been working on the fuel system. We were pleased to hear that Tommi's legs have healed after suffering burns at Mantorp Park. "Tommi isn't going to win Mr. Finland but his legs are OK now", said Anita. "He was on sticks at Gardermoen but as soon as the car went out to run he threw them away!".
Roger Johansson said that he is planning to put in some half passes today. "I have a few things to try to beat Håkan Nilsson!", he said. Roger's first run just took place and he clocked 7.864/123.70. Out of respect for those racers who are testing today we will not be publishing incrementals in some cases, just ET and terminal speed, and Roger is one of those cases.
Jon Webster is planning a pass in the Martin Canto Racing Top Fueller at midday, the plan is to go to just past half-track which all things being equal should result in a five-second pass.
On two wheels, Antonio Ferretti has a new set-up to test on his Top Fuel Bike after having a problem with a valve at Hockenheim. Antonio has been very close to the sixes already this season and he says that the new set-up will either catapult him into the sixes or go much slower! Pro Stock Bike racer Anders Larsson is not at all happy with the way things have been going recently. After running in the 7.3s last year he made some changes to the set-up of the bike and it has slowed down. "We put the engine on the dyno a few weeks ago and found another seventeen horsepower", h he said. "So we have gone back to our known baseline and started all over again."
Helen Curran is looking forward to running here on the #2 Veidec Pro Stock Bike today. "It's a lovely bike", she said. Crew Chief Roger Lyrén said that the Veidec team were looking to put a reliable 7.4-second set-up in the bike for this weekend. Roger also mentioned, so casually that we almost missed it, that Roger Pettersson is hoping to contest the last two NHRA dates this season, in Las Vegas and Pomona. "We are already running 7.3s and so I think we will qualify in America", said Roger.
In other news, Gordon Appleton has been making noises about taking your reporter for a ride-along in his Pro Mod later on today. Our good friend Erik Zettervall's "quickest web reporter in Europe" title could be on the line. Gordon firstly has to take Jodie Marsh for a ride-along, your old-fart reporter had not actually heard of her, to be honest, which those who know him may find surprising.
Stay tuned and we will let you know about the runs which have already taken place this morning.