2004 FIA European Finals
Friday (qualifying)
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22:00
Today's pictures are now posted, you can access them via the Event Index page. Tune back in the morning and we'll bring you all the news from Pro qualifying and Sportsman eliminations.
21:40
Race Director Darren Prentice has told us that the remaining few Sportsman classes to have a seventh qualifying session will have them first thing in the morning, then we will be into Sportsman eliminations. On the Pro side, all Pro classes including NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified will have three qualifying sessions tomorrow with the exception of Top Fuel Dragster (two) and Fuel Funny Car (one). We are due to kick off at 9:00 am.
Darren has also confirmed that Smax Smith's Top Fuel qualifying run of this evening will not count as the qualifying session was cancelled.
Sharkman is about to upload today's pictures, which include some of the ever-popular parachute shots, so stay tuned.
21:00
FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Smax Smith 9.052/90.18 bye
Smax went first, a solid 0.888 sixty foot time and then hit shake about eighty feet out, pedalled and tried again, the car started to slide around the lane and Smax got off the throttle. After Smax's run Micke Kågered, who was lined up to go next, towed back to the pits.
Whilst Jöran Persåker was waiting to run the track crew were checking and re-checking the right lane. Chief Starter Ian Marshall then called a halt as the track is getting damp and not able to hold a Top Fuel car safely.
As we understand the rules, Smax's qualifying time will not stand as the session was stopped, as soon as we get official word we will let you know.
Martin Hill closed us for the day with a 6.215/198.22 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, blowing out a window behind your reporter but hold the flowers, I am OK.
Stay tuned, we are now working on today's pictures.
20:45
There were no changes to the top five after the seventh and, as it turns out, final qualifying session of Super Comp:
Zane Llewellyn pulled a tremendous 0.003 Reaction Time which is quite something for night racing!
Next up is Top Fuel.
19:00
Race Director Darren Prentice has just popped down to tell us that we will be finishing the remaining Sportsman classes this evening, and we will then have the second qualifying session of Top Fuel Dragster and that will be it for the day.
Tomorrow we will be running Sportsman eliminations and Pro qualifying.
Stay tuned.
18:50
The strip is dry, the guys are working hard to finish off the shutdown area - stay tuned.
17:20
Simon Groves stepped out into the pits after the Pro qualifying session and here's what he found out.
Steve Turner confirmed that with only 3 cars entered, second place in the Top Methanol Dragster championship will be unattainable, however on the brighter side he is pleased the car's performance is back to where it should be after the fire suffered at the Main Event. For 2005, Steve expects to have the same combination and would like to run a 5.4s time.
Pro Stock racer Jimmy Alund said that he has had to put a back-up engine in after a lifter broke in the first qualifying session. Jimmy said "We broke a lifter and will work overnight to repair the damage. We have new tyres and the run felt good although actually the 60 foot time was off. We would like to run a 7.0 next time".
Kenneth Soderstrom said there was too little power which resulted in a 7.27 only. "We need to put in more work on the engine," said Kenneth. Kenneth is planning on acquiring an Obelix (Barry Grant) engine from Magnus Hansen.
Ulf Jonsson's debut run at Santa Pod netted a 7.22 in the Dodge Avenger, which he was pleased with. "There was some tyre shake but the start line was good", said Ulf. "My crew chief Mikael Sjokvist owns the car, which he bought from Jari Konola. This is our first year in Pro Stock, having previously run in Comp Eliminator. We didn't attend the Main Event as we were building the bus in which the car is transported, but aim to run the series next year".
Tommy Leindahl, pass also resulted in a 7.22. "It was fine off the line and had just a little tyre shake in 3rd gear", said Tommy. "We plan to put more clutch in and for next year we are looking to buy a new Obelix engine".
In Top Fuel, Micke Kagered had problems when a part from Tommy Moller's engine hit him. Micke said "I guess I blacked out - I don't remember much". Micke's aim is to run into the 4.9s region and to win at least the one round of racing to gain him the championship.
Smax Smith was as ever in upbeat form. He said "We put in our biggest ever tuneup. We were pleased with the new start line but after the weather this morning the track won't hold big times at the moment. In the first 60 feet I had the worst tyre shake I can ever remember and pedalled once after which the tyres lit up. The blower belt snapped and unfortunately hit and damaged the injector, then the rpms hit 8500". Smax mentioned he has had tremendous response to the Promise sign-a-car appeal, which was the idea of his son.
Andy Carter said there would be no comment until Sunday morning. The track commentators had earlier speculated that his idling down the track was either a throttle linkage failure or a planned run with a damaged engine.
We're on another hold for rain, stay tuned.
17:00
Fuel Funny Car qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Gordon Smith 7.006/124.67, Leif Helander 7.436/128.16, John Spuffard 12.011/73.44 bye
The return of the Viking, Leif put in an out-of-shape burnout before his match-up with Gordon Smith. A strong launch from Gordon, somewhat languid for Leif, Gordon was off the throttle before half track as was Leif, and a big yellow nitro cloud issued from Leif's car. Spuff followed up with a strong burnout and a thundering launch, 0.912 sixty foot with shake and off the throttle at about 100 feet. Word came back from the top end that Spuff's fire extinguishers triggered at the finish line so we're on hold for a quick clean-up.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
Martin Hill followed up with a 6.108/234.39 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, and then Angelica Westholm and Thomas Pettersson paired up with their snowmobiles, Angelica clocking 10.036/127.45 to Thomas' 10.505/120.05.
16:55
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Bill Weston 9.662/134.41 bye, Patrik Pers 7.008/197.19, Arne Lindkvist broke, John Ellis 7.138/193.12, Bert Englefield 10.305/82.31, Christer Jacobs 7.473/142.82, Lars Inge Johansson 9.431/71.52, Robert Koper 9.735/104.63, Marc Meihuizen 6.908/193.20, Peter Wacker broke, Henri Joosten 6.867/177.66, Norbert Kuno 6.930/209.55, Andy Robinson 6.691/202.68, Håkan Fallström 6.663/191.44, Micke Gullquist 6.696/211.43, Micke Lindahl 6.632/206.10, Mats Eriksson 7.801/182.14, Patrick Wikström 6.454/220.73, Håkan Nilsson 6.721/205.70
A steady pass from Bill Weston, getting the feel for his car again after the long lay-off. Patrik Pers' run also looked (relatively) gentle, the car leaving a trauil of fuel off the start line. Arne Lindkvist broke in the collection area so didn't appear. John Ellis lost fire before his burnout, upon the restart he pulled an impressively out-of-shape burnout appearing to try to take off Ian Marshall's feet. On the green John went straight, must be close to a PB time and speed, whilst Bert's Coupe headed left and then shook violently, the car turning hard right and Bert pulled off an impressive steering job to sort it out. No obvious problems for Christer Jacobs, just shut off early, Lars Inge Johansson on his return to SPR a year after his terrible crash put in a half pass and had the chutes out before the finish line. Robert Koper pulled a 0.116 red light in his pairing with Marc Meihuizen, the MPM car going out of shape so Robert backed out of it, meanwhile Marc's Coupe made a move to the right, he pedalled briefly, pulled it straight and got back on it. Peter Wacker as ever has some pulchritudinous young ladies on his team this weekend, as well as the dynamic duo of Rob Loaring and Nick Davies of Eurodragster sponsor ICE Automotive. Peter's Chevy broke off the line whilst Henri took the long way round but took #1 spot at that point. Norbert left Andy standing at the start in their match-up, 0.317 to 1.104, Norbert put in a good-looking pass whilst Andy's Stude hit a little shake but then suddenly hooked up and shot down the track as if from a catapult, into #1 spot at that point. A great match-up between Håkan and Micke G, the cars side-by-side all the way down with Micke getting there first by 0.068. A dramatic match-up between Micke Lindahl and Mats, Micke headed left whilst Mats headed right, Micke however stayed on the throttle and pulled it straight just as we thought he would cross lanes, taking #1 spot for his bravery! Mats got off the throttle as his car headed for the centre line. Patrick pulled a 300 foot burnout before his match-up with Håkan, on the green the Veidec Camaro went as straight as I think I've ever seen it go but Patrick in the left lane just had too much for the NDRS Champion-elect.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
16:15
Simon has been out into the pits again and here's what he found out.
Mats Eriksson (Ford Crown Victoria "Green Goblin") is pleased with his third position in the NDRS Pro Mod championship in only his second year in the series. He said "The high points were my win at Mantorp and a personal best of 6.40 at Alastaro. We also became the first Pro Modified runner to exceed 225mph at Gardermoen". Mats also said that tyre shake had started becoming a problem, until the problem was traced to a cracked rear axle. He is planning to run the same combination next year. When asked about the blower overdrive percentage, Mats was hopeful that the current 25% would be retained (it has been reduced to 20% in IHRA).
Michael Lindahl has also run a best of 6.40 in Pro Mod, but will be hoping for better results than at the Main Event, where tyre spin led to a DNQ. The engine has ex-Leif Andreasson heads and new-for-2004 BAE bottom end, whereas the chassis, built by Stroupe and '57 Chevy Bel Air reproduction body, date from 2000. He plans to do the full NDRS tour in 2005, given sufficient sponsorship.
Peter Wacker is being aided by Nick Davies again this weekend. Nick told Eurodragster that Peter hopes to run the whole series next year, and new crew are being trained by Nick this weekend. Nick said "The car has the same setup that won at the Main Event and Hockenheim. Peter is looking to sell the 706cu in Donovan motor and upgrade for next year." Nick said Peter hopes to run his first 200mph run this weekend.
Although being extremely busy with his and Rob Loaring's ICE Automotive business, Nick hopes to debut his much anticipated '23 T blown methanol Altered next year. The plan is to start in Super Pro and join with a mooted series for blown cars that is at the planning stage.
Bert Englefield's plans for this weekend are simple: "To take the trophy and drink the champagne". This could be a tall order, as Bert has only run at the Main Event so far this year. Nevertheless, Bert has recorded the fastest speed by a UK Pro Mod car (216mph).
16:10
FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Rob Turner 5.698/225.08 bye, Peter Schöfer 5.696/249.28, Dave Wilson 5.730/241.98
Rob drove through tyre shake which made race control rattle, the car drifted left but Rob stayed with it to about twelve hundred feet and then got off the throttle. Both Peter and Dave pulled hundred-foot burnouts before their match-up, Dave got away first 0.080 to 0.152 and then drove through shake, the tyres visibly flapping, Peter in the other lane drove straight and true and took #1 spot by 0.002.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
16:00
Magnus Cato of the AC Delco Pro Stock team got in touch to let us know that Michael Malmgren was shut off because oil was leaking from the puke tank. "That's the first time we've ever aborted a run before the start line", said Magnus. "It's been one of those years."
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Arvid Grødem and Dan Larsen shut off for rain, Leif Andréasson 7.446/115.66, Niclas Andersson no time, Ulf Leanders 11.695/64.46, Urs Erbacher 5.917/243.65, Arvid Grødem 6.129/233.15, Dan Larsen 11.419/68.78
Arvid and Dan were pulling forward to stage when the word came from the top end that it was raining, so both were shut off. Some drama in the next pair, Niclas had problems staging, Leif was up on the revs as the Sandflex FC was still in pre-stage, Chief Starter Ian Marshall had to run the Tree for the sake of Leif's engine. Leif's FC got a bit of a bounce on at 300 feet, the car drifted towards the guardrail then there was a bang, the blower belt came off and a small piece of what looked like bodywork flew into the air, going quite high before coming down on the track. Ulf got away first in the pairing with Urs, Ulf hit shake at sixty feet and got off the throttle, meanwhile Urs' FC was visibly accelerating hard towards the finish line. Arvid put in a solid pass, quite straight although it sounded as if he pedalled briefly, meanwhile Dan tried to drive through shake, the rear tyres went up in smoke and the car turned hard left at three hundred feet. Dan kept it in his lane with a great driving job, the car was up on three wheels at one point!
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
15:35
FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Jon Webster 10.403/69.80, Lex Joon 5.193/260.03, Thomas Nataas 10.305/79.06, Smax Smith 10.900/78.41, Jöran Persåker 7.699/105.37, Andy Carter 21.030/62.41, Tommy Möller 5.024/261.67, Micke Kågered 6.021/128.24
Both Jon and Lex pulled 100-foot burnouts, Jon redlist by 0.042 seconds then hit shake at about sixty feet, the car made a hard move and Jon got off the throttle. Lex was on a good one, smoke started to appear from the headers towards the finish line. Some consternation around Thomas Nataas' car before staging, attention being drawn to something in the cockpit, on the green both cars hit shake after sixty feet times of 0.883 to 0.884, Smax's rear tyres went up in smoke at about two hundred feet and he pedalled once, Sharkman at the top end reported that Smax had lost his blower belt. Thomas Nataas was off the throttle by about a hundred feet. Next up were two of this weekend's Championship contenders, Andy Carter pulled quite a short burnout but we've seen him run fours before with no burnout at all. Jöran hit shake past the Tree after a 0.883 sixty foot, Andy Carter idled down the track, no obvious reason for the problem. Finally we had the numbers one and two in the Championship, very short burnouts from both Tommy Möller and Micke Kågered, on the green Tommy was away first by quite a margin, Micke in the Bahco Tools car started to weave left and right, blackstriping between 330 feet and half-track where he got off the throttle and pulled the chutes. There was a lot of smoke from Tommy's car at the finish line.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
15:15
FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Tommy Leindahl 7.220/191.53 bye, Ulf Jonsson 7.226/183.74, Kenneth Soderström 7.276/192.33, Magnus Hansson 7.467/153.16, Jackie Hansen 9.395/99.73, Michael Malmgren shut off, Jimmy Ålund 7.162/193.20
Tommy Leindahl opened his account with a solid pass, left of centre all the way down the lane, the track crew checked the lane after he ran but nothing was found. Kenneth Soderström staged pointing a little towards the middle of the track, the car made a move to the right at the hit. Jackie Hansen went seriously out of shape towards half track and got off the throttle, as he got straightened out Magnus Hansson's car started to make a move and he backed off at about a thousand feet. Michael Malmgren was shut off for a fluid leak as he pulled forward to stage, Jimmy Ålund appeared to have a little shake at about a hundred feet but drove through it and took #1 spot.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
15:00
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Chris Hannam 18.861/36.82 bye, Steve Carey 8.606/141.16, Tim Blakemore broke, Shaun Branch 7.467/177.67, TJ O'Brien 7.605/166.79, Sandra Chaplain 8.922/152.10, Enrico Mongardi 9.697/125.31, Dave Holland 7.971/128.18 bye, Steve Woollatt 6.732/213.54, Neil Midgley 7.078/187.46, Ian King 7.451/187.59, Viep Bloemen 12.199/108.12, Joey Bon 20.205/46.74 bye, Martyn de Haas 9.151/118.81, Eric Teboul 7.696/203.60, Antonio Ferretti 7.084/200.91, Roel Koedam 6.264/206.21
Cannon took a bye on his first competitive run since running into the sixes in the USA, the bike left the line well but at about a hundred feet the engine revs shot up and Cannon got off the throttle, there were then a couple of bangs from the engine. Tim Blakemore's engine shut off after his burnout and he pushed back. Steve Carey took the bye, the bike looked to be bouncing and the throttle was on and off, Steve feathered it as he got close to the guardrail. A very nice pairing from Shaun Branch and TJ O'Brien, Shaun will be happy with a solid pass after recent problems and TJ was on or close to his personal best. Dave Holland is off to the Brighton Time Trials tomorrow, this pass looked very good for the first 300 feet or so but then the bike banged up on the wheelie bars and we didn't hear any gear changes after that. Great passes from both Steve Woollatt and Neil Midgley, Steve taking the #1 spot at that point with a very straight and solid baseline. Ian King made his first competitive run in the UK since the start of the season, the bike left well but sounded a little laboured at about half track. Joey Bon cruised down the track, a checkout pass with the new TFB trying to go left off the line. Eric Teboul left very strongly but the revs shot up at about 200 feet, something appeared to come off the bike, Eric got off and on the throttle and more and more smoke started to appear from the exhaust. Antonio Ferretti and Roel Koedam had a great match-up, Roel went straight and hard and you could tell it was a good one.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
14:40
FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Hans Christian Nilsen 7.794/132.77 bye, Svein Olav Rolfstad no time, Joachim Riemer 7.173/184.38, Svein Gottenberg 7.083/171.86 bye, Hans Olav Olstad 7.507/194.19, Ronny Aasen 7.353/178.37, Anders Karling 6.776/208.29, Ton Pels 6.928/199.18
Hans Christian Nilsen took a wriggly bye, backing off at about a thousand feet. Some extraordinary presence of mind from Svein Olav Rolfstad, the bike headed to the right and he lifted his feet at just the right moment to avoid punting the eighth-mile timing reflectors as he crossed lanes. Joachim Riemer made a good-looking run to take the lead at that point. Svein Gottenberg followed up with a straight, hard pass, not far off a six and not far off his personal best. Hans Olav Olstad and Ronny Aasen had a good match-up, Ronny rode out a wiggle and pulled ahead towards the end - both runs looked quicker than they were. The Championship #1 and #2 then paired off, a tremendous run with Anders Karling riding on a cushion of nitro flames whilst Ton Pels got very close to the centre but wasn't getting off the throttle for anything.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
14:30
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 1 (left lane first): Len Paget 8.819/145.66, Richard Gipp 8.046/161.22, Michal Ponca 9.307/136.28, Paul Watson 7.637/171.87, Martin Bishop 7.645/172.48, Herman van Driel 8.011/166.15, Martin Newbury 8.584/152.38, Anders Abrahamsson 7.629/174.62, Remo Nasci broke, Anders Larsson 7.840/141.82, Chris Hope 7.553/174.54, Roger Pettersson 7.370/182.30
Richard Gipp's bike started to smoke towards the end of the track, a lot of consternation on the shutdown area but nothing untoward found. A nice run from Paul Watson took the lead at that point, although the run actually looked quicker than it was. Herman van Driel pulled a tremendous 0.048 reaction against Martin Bishop, one of Martin's quickest-ever passes. Martin Newbury's first-ever competitive outing on his very good-looking new bike, the bike hesitated a little off the start, whilst Anders Abrahamsson took over the lead at that point with a nice straight pass. Remo Nasci's bike broke off the start line, in the other lane Anders Larsson looked to be on a good pass but the engine started to misfire in the second half of the track and he backed off at about 1100 feet. Roger Pettersson lost fire just before staging, the crew rushed to his aid and Chris Hope waited patiently. Chris got a big jump on Roger off the line, 0.077 to 0.219, but Roger got past him and took first spot to Chris' second.
After this session, qualifying stands as follows:
12:50
Simon Groves has made his first pit walk of the day and brought back a lot of interesting information from the bike pits.
I spoke first to Vincent Pels, Ton's son. Their Supertwin Fuel bike runs under the Zodiac banner, as does Roel Koedam's Top Fuel Bike. Ton's bike, which is unblown, struggled with track conditions at Hockenheim, Ton eventually winning the event by de-tuning the bike. A few years ago, after he first switched to Harley powerplants from Triumph, Ton became friendly with Jim McClure who was a legend in U.S. Harley racing. The Zodiac firm was founded by Ton to import Harley racing parts into Europe and also set up a research and development facility. Svein Gottenberg is one of their customers who is present this weekend. Sadly, the link with Jim McClure ended earlier this year when Jim passed away.
Plans for development of Ton's bike for 2005 are mainly focused on the fuel system and clutch. The clutch which is based on a Crower Pro Stock unit, is currently 3 stage, but this is being developed to 4, 5 or 6 stages.
Joey Bon's beautiful Top Fuel bike is mainly new this year and has been going through the process of dialling in the combination. The self-built frame and body is new, and the blower and clutch are also new. Joey said "The bike took seven months to build. We only ran the events at Mantorp, Gardermoen and Hockenheim in 2004, but plan to run the whole tour next year. The bike runs very straight!" The blower is an Auto Rotor unit, which is used by several other top teams, with 85% nitro being used.
Chris Hannam's outing in Top Fuel is his sole competitive UK appearance this year, although he has done some demonstrations, including some burnouts at Donington Park in front of a large gathering of circuit racing enthusiasts. Chris said "I haven't raced since I ran a six at Gainesville due to family and work commitments which include moving my factory. I've been crewing for Neil Midgley this year." Chris said his objective is "To run a six in front of the UK crowd".
Chris is grateful for help from Frank Brachtvogel and also from Tony Lang, the 5-times U.S. Top Fuel Bike champion who ran a best of 6.08. Chris related one visit to Tony's where his wife, Gina Trett (Elmer's daughter) revealed her ear for the Fuel bike engine. "She said correctly, without being close to the engine or seeing any data, which cylinder was out!"
Chris said a lot of the running gear on Top Fuel bikes is similar, although the Puma engines commonly used have different heads based on competitors' preference for different patterns. "Mine is a stock modified Suzuki, whereas Raul Koedam's is a billet Yamaha and Steve Woollatt has a Kawasaki pattern billet head built by Phil Baimbridge." The blower is a Sprintex screw type, slightly smaller than the Auto Rotor type. The clutch is a 9 stage MTC type (Tony Lang's firm) and the transmission is a 2-speed chain driven item. Chris emphasised the importance of fuel and clutch tuning.
Stay tuned and as soon as things start to move again you'll be the first to know.
10:45
We're on a hold for rain here at Santa Pod. Stay tuned and we'll be back with an update as soon as there is any change.
Courtesy of Christer we have some good news, though: Norwegian Super Comp racer Linda Thun Tønseth gave birth to a baby boy yesterday. Congratulations Linda!
10:00
Paul Harvey went straight into the top five of Super Pro ET in session seven of qualifying, this was his first run of the event after spending yesterday at Hauser Race Cars mending his rear axle. Nice one Paul! The top five in Super Pro ET is now:
In this session we saw another personal best for John Sleath in his new street-legal Audi, 8.399. Fellow CCSE racer Jerry Charles also ran a new PB of 9.099/154.17. A superb run also from Ian Bishop in his Avenger, dialling in 7.20 and getting over his shake problems to clock 7.191/180.05. We guess that Ian won't be too unhappy about breaking out!
Shaun Spiers improved in the seventh 10.90 Bike qualifying session but it didn't change the top five:
We then went into the seventh session of 9.90 Bike qualifying, Geoff Connor went into the top five with his first run of the event:
9:25
A couple of Good Mornings, firstly to honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Spencer Tramm who is a little unwell and so is tuned in from home, get well soon buddy; hello also to Stephen Moon, thanks very much for the E-Mail Stephen.
Fellow honorary Eurodragster staff member Andy Marrs gave us some interesting stats about yesterday's first day of qualifying. The track was open for a total of seven hours and fifty one minutes, of which six hours and fifty eight were actual qualifying, and fifty three minutes was downtime (mainly pauses to allow classes to collect in the pairing lanes). Seven hundred and thirty vehicles in all went down the track. Thanks for that, Andy.
Into the racing and Keith Ridley moved into the top five in Pro ET after the seventh session of qualifying:
Anders Envall faces an eventful trip home to Sweden after breaking the crank of his ten-second Impala. Anders is currently looking at patching up the crank so that he can get home "on idle".
Next up was session seven of Super Gas, the top five didn't change after this session:
The seventh session of Super Street also saw no changes to the top five:
8:00
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway. We're into the second day of qualifying for the FIA European Finals and we are here to bring you all the news in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every two moments.
At this point you would normally expect the initial weather report, however our trackside weather station sensor was removed by persons unknown shortly after the track closed yesterday, so all we can give you is the air pressure which is 29.91 inches. Needless to say we would be very interested to hear from anyone who knows where the sensor went.
This morning's pit notes are a joint Eurodragster.com/Svensk Dragracing effort as both Tog and Christer took trips pitside yesterday. Here's what we found.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Lex Joon said that he is happy that this is the last race on the FIA calendar. "It's been a long season", he said. The MPM Oil team have Sebastian and Max from Lex's Top Methanol team working with them this weekend and are also hosting a number of sponsors' representatives. "We hope that we will run our first four and our first 300 this weekend", said Team Manager Gerda Dijkstra. Dave Bryant, the Shockwave Fuel FC Crew Chief who has also been working with Lex for the last few races, is pitted right next door. "Dave can keep an eye on us and make sure that we don't make any mistakes!", joked Lex.
Dave Bryant and the Shockwave team have been working until between 1:00 and 1:30 every night since the Allstar Nationals. "We kicked the rods out of two motors at Shakespeare County Raceway", said Dave. "We've bought a motor from Rune Fjeld and John at Armour Fabrications fixed one of the other engines in double quick time. We have changed everything, we're even thinking of putting an anti-static strip on the car so that Gordon doesn't get car sick!". The team have also had to effect repairs to the Firebird body after a couple of bangs last week caused some damage, and the front of the car is now in white. "It's our own 'one race only' paint job", joked Dave. On a more serious note Dave wanted to thank the crew for all of their hard work in the last week and a half. "The team put in a real effort to turn the car round", he said. "We've been working late every night and we're only sixty per cent there. I hope I'll get to see my wife some time after race!"
Regular readers of Eurodragster will know that Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered has been unwell recently, so our first question was how he is feeling on what could be his Championship weekend. "I feel a little better", he said. "I've been unwell since before Hockenheim, it went away but then it came back". Micke modestly brushed aside our concern for his well-being to show off the latest model of Carbon By Design injector on the Bahco Tools Top Fueller. The injector neck is very long, three inches higher than normal, leading to its nickname of the 'giraffe', the design I would guess is intended to lift the bug catcher above the line of the roll cage. "Everyone in the USA wants one", said Micke. Team Manager Åsa Kinnemar summed up the weekend's game plan for Kågered Racing's other car, the Sandflex-backed Top Methanol FC driven by Niclas Andersson. "Niclas can't win the Championship so he wants to win the event!", she said.
In the next pit along, Top Fuel Dragster racer Jöran Persåker is also aiming to win the event because he has a mathematical chance of winning the FIA Championship. "I need to win the event and Micke needs to go out early", he said. "We need to do our best". This weekend is the twentieth anniversary of Jöran's visit to a Run What You Brung at Santa Pod, and an unfortunate accident to his car in the car park of the Rilton Hotel in Rushden. "I had the bad luck then, so I'll have the good luck this weekend!", he said. Jöran said that he had not finalised next year's plans except that he wants to remain in Top Fuel and that wants to keep his crew from this season. This would imply that Jöran will remain with Knut Söderquist in 2005 and his thoughts on that were "Why not?". Jöran mentioned that the Team Nasty Toys Top Fueller will likely be sporting a one-piece carbon fibre body next season with his friend Kurt Ljungkvist, who painted this year's car, already lined up to paint the body.
Outgoing FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion Smax Smith said that this weekend's charity drive for sponsor Promise Dreams is already proving popular. "I wasn't going to start until tomorrow but I have already had so many people come and ask if they can sign their name on the car that we've started today", he said. "I thought that it would be a nice way to end my last race before I return to Canada, and I think it's nice for Promise Dreams to see how much support they have from the fans. And it's good for the fans because they've got their name on the car and it's guaranteed to get coverage on TV!". Turning to the weekend, Smax said that his team had been working flat out to get the car ready. "I want to finish with a European record", he said, "so the big tune-up is in the car for the big numbers and as ever I am upbeat about the whole thing!". We asked Smax whether he would be commuting back to Europe next season to race. "I'm optimistic", he said. "I've been working quietly on my partner Belinda and I guess I ought to start work on my Team Manager Paul!".
Smax is also upbeat about a six-page feature on his weekend at Alastaro which is included in the latest issue of Top Gear magazine, now available from good newsagents.
Should Smax run the numbers this weekend then your reporter is going to claim a world record for the fastest-ever doodle of a pet dog, since a picture of his notoriously supine Lurcher Syd adorns one of the Eurodragster stickers carried on Smax's car this weekend in return for a donation to Promise Dreams.
2004 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion Dave Wilson said that his run at Wednesday's Press Day was on a conservative tune-up which would normally be used for the first qualifying run of a weekend. "We took a lot of clutch out of it", he said. "I was almost at the top of first gear when it lit the tyres. We will be using a similar set-up on the first qualifier in the morning but the track will be better and should hold it". Dave said that one fact which a lot of people don't realise about Top Methanol Dragsters is that they are just like Top Fuellers in that it is possible to make enough power to overpower the track. "It's not just about power, though", said Grumpy. The American Car Imports team have no less than five journalists from national newspapers visiting today, with a couple scheduled to sit in the car during warm-ups.
In fellow TMD racer Peter Schöfer's pit we were introduced to Timo Habermann who was scheduled to contest his first FIA event in Top Methanol Dragster this weekend until he suffered engine damage at Werner das Rennen last week and had to withdraw. "We cracked a liner and damaged the crank", said Timo. "It would have been too risky to race here", said Timo's father Werner Habermann who raced in Top Alcohol FC here at Santa Pod starting in the late 1980s. "I feel very bad walking around the pits and looking at all the cars here, and mine is at home", said Timo. Timo is already set to contest TMD next season after what has already been a long and successful career, starting in Junior Dragster at the age of eight then moving to Super Comp and winning the German Championship at seventeen. Since the age of eighteen he has piloted an AA Dragster in Comp Eliminator, winning his first event and recently setting a new AAD record of 6.78.
Gittli Koller of Peter Schöfer Racing modestly pushed Timo into the limelight in her pit but she mentioned that the PSR team are expecting to run good numbers with their TMD this morning. "We have made some changes to the car since Hockenheim", she said.
We stopped by the Leanders Brothers Top Methanol FC pit where both Crew Chief Jörgen Leanders and driver Ulf Leanders were very busy working on the IronCAD-sponsored Mondeo. "We're going to start with a hard set-up and run even harder!", said Jörgen. "We have the same parts as on the 5.666 we ran here last year".
Ulf Leanders, who is in a seventeen-point Championship spat with last year's Champion Urs Erbacher, said that he hopes to meet Urs in the final round on Sunday. "The Championship will be in our own hands then", said Ulf. "That's a lot better than hoping that other people will put Urs out for us". Ulf said that his partner was looking forward to a trip to Monaco but that he was not taking anything for granted. "Monaco is a long way off", he said, "it's three days away!".
Fellow TMFC racer Dan Larsen has a new titanium clutch and a repaired B & J transmission in the Boxter Funny Car. We asked Dan whether a new clutch would need to be bedded in before he went for quick passes. "Yes", he said, "I'll try to start off with a 5.9!". After the problems which he has experienced this season Dan said that he is not viewing this weekend as the last race of the season but as the first race of next season.
Pro Stock racer Jackie Hansen is trying another gearbox with a slightly different gear ratio. "I have good power but I have not been satisfied with the way the car leaves the starting line" he explained. "But we are absolutely satisfied with this first season. We are probably going to end up third in the Championship and that's not bad for a team which has been away from the Pro Stock scene for ten years!"
Top Methanol FC racer Leif Andréasson is happy to have two complete engines going into the last event of the season. "It is the first time for a long time so that can't be a bad sign for the weekend", said Leif.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Tommy Möller has three goals for the weekend: low qualifier, the event win, and to have the most laughs in the Top Fuel pits. A few members of the Lorentzon and Möller 'Swedane' team inspected the track last night with an interesting-looking machine. Resembling a large skate, the machine reportedly analyses the coefficient of friction on the track although neither Kenneth Lorentzon nor Carsten Andersson would be drawn.
2004 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Champion Roger Pettersson ran in the 7.2s at Press Day on Wednesday, so the Veidec team is confident for the upcoming weekend. New carburettors, modified in Sweden, have been fitted to the bike. The team are hoping for the high air pressure to continue so that they can put down some good numbers.
Fellow PSB racer Martin Bishop has also fitted new carbs. "All of the Pro Stock bikers take a lot of interest in the carburettor side of the engine", Martin told us.
Supertwin racer Svein Gottenberg was proudly showing off his newly-repaired bike after his chain broke at Gardermoen, destroying both the frame and the body of his bike. "We have built a complete new rear half of the bike", said Svein. Christer says that the new body has a very nice paintjob and the thickest chain he has ever seen!
There was also a lot of safety discussion among the Super twin teams. Top Fuel Bike racer Jon Leret thinks that he has found the reason why the throttle stuck at Mantorp Park. "I was leaning over a lot to the left to compensate the bike drifting, and might have blocked the throttle linkage in the injector with my elbow", said Jon. Needless to say, all of the Norwegian Supertwin riders performed the "elbow test".
As it got ever later we found fewer pits open but we found signs of life in Pro Mod racer Bert Englefield's pit. Bert planned to run at the last Webster Race Engineering Test Day but was thwarted by the weather. "The only difference since then is that there are new rods in the engine", said Bert. Crew Chief Andy Wright said that he would be following the game plan for the WRE Test Day, namely to work on improving the ET over the first eighth.
Finally for last night we caught up with Supertwin Fuel racer Anders Karling who said that he had had a lot of work to do on his Uddeholm-sponsored bike after both Gardermoen and Hockenheim, where he set a new European ET record. "We need to do something good here to win the Championship", he said. "I have rebuilt both engines and we have prepared as much as we can. We even missed the Race Days at Mosten because we thought it was important to take the time to get it right at Santa Pod. There are a lot of good bikes now, many of them can run sixes, but we have been in the sixes on our last twelve runs with the exception of the final at Hockenheim where we broke the motor."
Qualifying is due to recommence at 9:00 this morning, with the first cycle of FIA, FIM/UEM, NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified and Fuel Funny Car starting at 11:00. Stay tuned and we will bring you all the news as soon as the track opens.