2004 FIA European Finals
Press Day, Wednesday 8th September
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19:55
Today's pictures are now posted, you can view them via the Event Index page. That's all for today, be sure to tune back in the morning when we will bring you all the news from the first day of qualifying for the FIA European Finals.
17:35
We're done for the day here at Santa Pod. The big news of this last session, and indeed the day, was a superb 7.272/185.07 by Roger Pettersson, putting down a marker to his Pro Stock Bike competitors for this weekend. Chris Hope replied with a much-improved 7.498/177.83 and Martin Bishop 7.732/168.55.
Tim Adam didn't take many runs to get on the numbers with his new Ford Falcon Super Gasser, with a 9.942/128.94 and a 9.965/132.36. Mark Pointer is also getting seriously to grips with his 'bread van', clocking 9.354/138.91 and 9.497/135.61. Anders Envall threw his first blower belt of the day on his last pass, which was looking good until that point.
Gary Malin made one run in his Super Pro ET dragster, a very hard launch and then the car went a little out of shape at half track so Gary pedalled for a short while then got back on it to clock 8.518/114.77.
On two wheels, Fred Furlong's last couple of passes on his 9.90 Bike were a 9.949/136.40 and 9.880/139.35 whilst Richard Beck ran a 9.94/140.22. John Hackney and Phil Pratt matched up a number of times on their 10.90 Bikes, both dumping the index with Phil's 10.256/132.68 the naughtiest to John's 10.623/124.88.
Paul Marston has spent the day teaching ex-Gladiator 'Rio't o drive the Insanity Vega in front of the TV cameras, culminating in a 13.75/99. The intrepid TV presenter then mounted Len Paget's Pro Stock Bike and clocked a 16.746 at a very creditable 106.18 which is one hell of a lot better than your reporter would do first time on a PSB.
The track crew are now working some more on the new start line to ensure that it is at its very best for the weekend.
We are now working on today's pictures, so stay tuned and we'll let you know as soon as they are done.
15:45
It's getting fast and frantic here at Santa Pod, as well as the booked-in racers a unmber of the early arrivals have taken the opportunity to take advantage of the track. Let's take you through as much as we could keep up with!
Jon Webster has made a pass in the Canto Recruitment Top Fuel Dragster, a long and very nice burnout followed by a 0.89 sixty foot then shake and the tyres up in smoke, Jon was quickly off the throttle and clocked 11.095/65.85.
Dave Wilson has also made his demo pass in the American Car Imports dragster, Grumpy drove through shake but then the tyres went up in smoke and he got off the throttle - or it was released for him as the throttle spring was found on the track. Grumpy clocked 8.678/90.19. Team Principal and Eurodragster sponsor Anthony Cohen took a very nice-looking Dodge Ram SRT10 for a test drive on the track and clocked a best of 14.067/99.57.
Italian Top Fuel Bike racer Antonio Ferretti ran his first six at Santa Pod, a fine 6.874/193.19 which in these hot conditions bodes very well for the weekend, nice one Antonio!
Also on two wheels, Roger Pettersson celebrated his FIM/UEM European Pro Stock Bike Championship with a huge burnout, Crew Chief Roger Lyrén tells us that that Roger was breaking in a new slick. Roger then put in a 7.528/180.55. Anders Larsson's second run of the day was far more successful than his first, Low ET of the day for a PSB at 7.507/176.61.
Ronny Aasen's problem earlier on was luckily not as bad as we feared, as we went to post this update Ronnie appeared again although his rear tyre went up in smoke at the hit and he got off the throttle.
Earlier on we mentioned that VWDRC VW Alternate Engine Champion Spencer Tramm would be taking his sister Kirstie for a ride-along, Spencer took Kirsty for a 9.247/144.67 ride. Kirstie told us that she screamed all the way down the track but that she wants another go! "It was unreal", said Kirstie. "It was nothing like you'd imagine. Now I understand why Spencer does it!". Also fulfilling a promise of a passenger ride was Super Pro ET racer Al Golding, who took Steve Woollatt's partner Jackie to a fine 8.886/150.77. Jackie and her daughter Sarah asked us to say a big Thank You to Al and his wife Raine.
We are getting a bit behind with our stats because this afternoon is turning into a big test session, so let's take you through a list of who else did what:
Nick Curtis (Super Street) 10.757/111.61, Rick McCann (Pro ET) 10.407/129.02, Stuart Doignie (Super Gas) 9.875/138.11, Carl Burton (Pro ET) 11.248/118.99, Keith Ridley (10.695/123.21), Brian Pateman (Super Comp) 9.974/140.67 (spot who wants a go at the Super Gas money in October!), Fred Furlong (9.90 Bike) 9.843 and 9/881/139.66, Steve Johnson (Super Pro ET) 7.521/177.98 on a 7.62 dial-in, Anna Stanley (Junior Dragster) 13.683/46.24 which is a new PB and 13.985/44.20, Conrad Stanley (Super Gas) 9.797/130.38, Pete Creswell (Super Gas) 8.844/151.96 and 8.897/151.04, Frank Mason (Super Gas) 9.985/137.30, Mark Bracking (Pro ET) 11.647 and 11.511/116.88, Tim Adam (Super Gas) 10.158/138.88, Anders Envall (Pro ET) 11.559/115.66, Mark Pointer (hasn't decided yet) 9.424/137.19, and Mark Ramplee (Super Pro ET) 9.613/148.42.
We'll be back soon with the next batch of runs.
14:05
We're now stopped for lunch. The last run before the break was Martin Hill in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, a great smoke and flame show and some very percussive throttle slams preceding a fine 5.936/260.38. Nice one Martin...but next time can we leave the webcam where it is (smile)?
Ronny Aasen broke off the line on his Supertwin Bike, his crew immediately said "That's not good" but hopefully it's nothing major. Let's take you through who has done what since the last update.
Stuart Doignie clocked 9.940 in his Super Gasser, and followed it up with a fine 9.904/138.16. Anders Envall put in another pass, 11.551/115.07 whilst Nick Curtis put in a great twisty launch and backed off early but still ran 10.570/109.52 in the Team Lawbreakers Chevy.
Pete Creswell ran flat out in his Camaro, a fine 8.898/151.56 whilst Holly Mitchell put in a pass of 9.401/70.19 in her Junior Dragster.
On two wheels, Chris Hope's second run of the day on his Pro Stock Bike was an 8.202/156.26 whilst fellow PSB racer Anders Larsson rolled off the line, hit it, then backed off early to clock 10.297/123.29. Martin Bishop followed on his PSB and took what was at that point Low ET and High Speed of the day at 7.706/167.29.
Malcolm Motler's next pass was a 10.254/129.61 on a 10.12 dial-in, whilst Jack Brewster clocked 9.822/138.35 on a 9.80 dial-in. Nick Griffin ran without a passenger and clocked 11.890/111.38 followed by Chris Emms who ran 17.149/75.86 in his Sportsman ET pick-up.
Chris Johnson and Mark Ramplee went next, Chris first with an 8.739/154.49 in the Super Comp MG whilst Mark clocked 9.312/149.54 in the Electromec Sierra. Rick McCann went 10.264/131.50 in the Heaven and Hell Pro ET Camaro, we think a personal best or pretty close. Stuart Peck went flat-out in the Rat Rage Camaro, clocking 9.312/149.54.
We will be seeing Dave Wilson on the American Car Imports TMD after the break, stay tuned.
12:30
Anders Envall blackstriped more or less the entire lane on his second pass of the day, 11.691/113.30. Malcolm Motler clocked 10.235/130.06 against a 10.12 dial-in whilst Jack Brewster was in the nines again at 9.709/134.29.
We only just got finished saying that Stuart Peck has not lost his touch for Super Gas and he proved it again with a 9.901/144.30 on his latest pass! Chris Johnson followed on with an 8.757/153.55 in his Super Comp MG.
On two wheels Len Paget has put in one pass on his Pro Stick Bike, an 8.481/154.62 which looked quicker.
Nick Griffin, Ian Brown and Spencer Tramm are now gainfully employed scaring the daylights out of unsuspecting media with passenger rides. Spencer is scheduled to take his sister Kirstie for a ride-along later on today, it'll be interesting to hear what Kirstie thinks of that!
Stay tuned.
11:45
Stuart Doignie and Mike Bentley squared off in their Super Gas and Super Street cars respectively. We hear that Mike is running flat out with a view to taking part in Super Gas at the UK National Finals. Mike clocked 10.966/132.39 on this run, and Stuart 9.829/137.61. Next up was Stuart Peck in the Rat Rage Super Gasser, 10.012/137.20.
Nick Griffin pulled a tremendous 0.009 reaction time on his second run of the day, 11.949/111.39 whilst Nick Curtis' first run of the day in the Team Lawbreakers Chevy was a 10.726/125.73 folowed by a 10.317/129.58 just as we went to post this update.
Spencer Tramm has taken Low ET and high speed of the day so far with a 9.327/144.21 in his Quantum Leap Corrado, Spencer then gave his first-ever passenger ride in the car and was only fractionally slower at 9.391/143.28.
Jack Brewster was also into the nines in the Just Mustard Firebird, a 9.937/132.29 on his second run of the day followed up by Mike Bentley's next run, a 10.928/132.77.
Stuart Peck and Stuart Doignie then matched up for a Super Gas race, Stuart D getting there first but breaking out 9.861/138.12 to Stuart P's 9.940/138.42 showing that he's not lost any of his touch. Stuart Doignie then took on Frank Mason and took the win the right side of the index, 9.933/137.08 to Frank's 10.094/138.88.
Chris Hope has made his first pass on his Pinnacle-sponsored Pro Stock Bike, 8.157/170.50 with the engine sounding a little rough in the first half of the track. Also on two wheels, Dave Warren's first pass of the day on his 9.90 Bike was a 10.783/120.94.
We'll be back soon with the next set of runs.
10:45
We're underway here at Santa Pod and we had a good start to the day with Pro ET racer Malcolm Motler dialling in a 10.25 and running 10.126/130.92, a best for Spellbound normally aspirated and not far off his best time with gas. Your reporter lined Malcolm up for his burnout, any conection between this and Malcolm's great time is purely coincidental. Malcolm followed it up with a run of 10.145/129.67 on a 10.12 dial-in.
Fellow Pro ET racer Nick Griffin opened his account with a 12.101/110.28 in the Precious Metal car, whilst Jack Brewster's first pass of the day in the Just Mustard Firebird was a 10.418/133.47.
Sportsman ET racer Chris Emms has made a couple of passes in a red Dodge pick-up in which we haven't seen him before, Chris' first couplfe of runs have been a 17.815/74.39 and a 17.181/75.48.
Anders Envall is on the facility with his ten-second Impala, which as ever was driven here from his home in Sweden. Anders fogged the start line with a hundred-foot burnout and then put in a gentle-sounding 11.887/112.30.
Stay tuned.
7:30
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway on a pleasant late summer's morning. It's Press Day today, the last day of the FIA European Finals build-up before the serious action starts tomorrow, and we're here to bring you all the action in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line an broadcasting a picture every two minutes.
We have no less than thirty racers lined up today to make demonstration passes and take unsuspecting journalists for passenger rides. Leading the charge are Jon Webster in the Canto Recruitment Top Fuel Dragster, 2004 FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Champion Dave Wilson in the American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster, and Martin Hill in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC (it'll be interesting to see how the media react to the latter!), representing the Sportsman classes are Ian Bishop, Al Golding, Brian Pateman, Paul Marston, Pete Creswell, Ian Brown, Mike Bentley, Spencer Tramm, Gary Malin, Malcolm Francis, Malcolm Motler, Chris Johnson, Nick Griffin, Nick Curtis, Tim Adam, Stuart Doignie, Stuart Peck, Jack Brewster, Conrad Stanley, Mark Ramplee, Mark Pointer, Chris Emms and Holly Mitchell, and on two wheels TJ O'Brien (we can think of one story he won't be telling the press), Sandra Chaplain, Fred Furlong and Dave Holland.
The weather station is currently in Race Control and it's reading 15.8 C, 78% humidity, and 30.53 inches of air pressure. Stay tuned and we will be back as soon as the on-track action commences.