2003 FIA European Finals
Professional Test, Saturday 30th August
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18:00
Today's pictures have now been posted; you can access them via the Event Index page.
That's all for today, we will be back here at Santa Pod tomorrow for the Run What You Brung. See you in the morning!
17:15
We're done for the day here at Santa Pod. Dave Wilson was the last racer to put in a pass, a burnout as far as the Tree and then drove through shake, off the throttle just on the eighth and 6.008/170.17 at the finish line.
Pat Talbot's final pass was a 7.596/137.58. The car was making violent moves left and right at high speed, Pat is one of the bravest people out there but that sort of bravery includes knowing when to get off it and she was out of it at about a thousand feet.
Malcolm Francis' last pass was again in Super Gas trim, a 9.884/143.49. Malcolm said that he had a few things to try out today and they would appear to have worked. He also mentioned that he pulled a 0.405 reaction earlier on today.
Ian Brown's last two passes of the day were 10.644/127.81 and 10.771. The team looked happy enough with that so we figure that they were looking for a particular tune-up and found it.
We're now about to upload today's pictures, stay tuned.
16:40
The first of our Scandinavian friends has made it to the track and announced his presence pretty quickly. Anders Envall, who is running in Pro ET next weekend, clocked 10.887/124.44 in his Impala and it looked as if there was plenty more to come.
Ian Brown has been testing a new Nitrous system on his Thatadoo Camaro which explains the rapidly-quickening ETs. A 10.780/122.97 was followed by a 10.581/126.35 and then on his last pass 10.370/128.12. Nice one Ian!
Pat Talbot's latest run was a 7.243/188.48, Pat taking out her personal best speed again. The car shook a little between about sixty and a hundred feet which hurt the ET.
Malcolm Francis has made a couple more passes in Super Gas trim, a 9.895/143.48 followed by a 9.991/143.20 with the best reaction we have seen today, 0.419.
Steven Wright has lowered his personal best still more in the Santa Pod JD, his last pass a 14.900/38.94. As I type he is pulling forward to the start line...16.192/37.88.
We have twenty minutes or so left, stay tuned and we'll bring you details of the last few runs.
15:10
Dave Wilson has made his second pass of the day in the American Car Imports TMD. A great burnout, no problems off the line this time but some shake just past the Tree, Dave pedalled and then kept his boot firmly planted as the car drifted towards the centre line, 5.796/231.94.
Pat Talbot followed Dave up in her Super Pro ET dragster, the car pulled a great wheelie off the line and clocked 0.956 to sixty feet, then the dragster wandered about the lane a little and Pat got off the throttle, 7.900/118.27.
Malcolm Francis' next pass was in Super Gas mode, a 9.958/142.38, and Ian Brown is on track as I type...10.848/120.85 for the Thatadoo Camaro. Steven Wright's next two passes in the Santa Pod Junior Dragster were a 16.543/38.32 and 15.220/37.86, taking just under a second off his PB.
We'll be back soon with more news from testing.
14:30
When we left you, Malcolm Francis had just arrived in the start area. He was allowed to put in his first pass before the lunch break started and he clocked 8.983/148.76 with the Camaro in Super Comp trim. His second pass was not long after the lunch break and it was a far from straight pass in Super Gas mode, the car wandering all over the lane but Malcolm still recorded 9.993, the terminal speed of 107.78 betrayed an early shut-off.
Santa Pod's Junior Dragster is being driven today by Steven Wright, who has so far put in passes of 16.356/37.93, 16.779/34.68, 16.197/35.93 and 16.507/37.16. Steve is under the tutlage of Junior Modified/Advanced racer Ricky Emms and his dad Chris.
Trackside conditions right now are 19.1 C, 33% humidity and 30.00 air pressure - the air pressure has been up as high as 30.03 about an hour ago but dropped again.
The latest on the Top Fueller which Jon Webster is to drive is that it is expected here this afternoon, although time would seem to be running short to get here, get everything out of the trailer and run before we finish. We hear that whatever happens this afternoon, Jon will be running here tomorrow.
Pat Talbot and Malcolm Francis are on their way down to the pairing lanes again and we heard the American Car Imports rail warming up a short while back. Stay tuned and we'll let you know how they get on.
13:00
Pat Talbot broke a gearbox support bracket as a result of the tyre shake on her first pass today, one quick trip to Webster Race Engineering later a replacement is in place and Pat is just turning onto the track as I type...nice straight burnout...off with the nitrous blanket and on with the bottle...very slight turn of the tyres off the line and a 7.201 at a huge 186.64.
Dave Wilson's first pass of the day in the American Car Imports Top Methanol Dragster was aborted as the tyres went straight up in smoke on the hit.
Malcolm Francis is in the collection area with his Super Comp/Gas Camaro but we have stopped for lunch so I guess he'll be first up when we restart at 13:30. Stay tuned and we'll be back after the lunch break.
11:15
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway on a bright and sunny morning. The FIA European Finals start here with the first day of testing and we're here to bring you the action in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a start line picture every two minutes.
It's currently 16.7 C, 46% humidity and 29.68 inches of air pressure on the start line, a little cooler than recently, but the track is in very fine fettle and we've already had out first couple of runs by racers.
Pro ET and Super Street racer Ian Brown has run twice so far, with passes of 10.916/120.36 and 10.823/120.89. Super Pro ET racer Pat Talbot became possibly the first Super Pro racer in history to go up in smoke off the line, in fact she had the lot - tyre shake and smoke, and stopped at about half-track with we would imagine the mother of all headaches.
The American Car Imports Top Methanol dragster is here, but no sign of the Top Fuel Dragster which is to be driven by Jon Webster. No official word on why but we understand that the car isn't quite ready.
Stay tuned and we will be back soon with more news of the racers' performances.