Top Methanol Funny Car racer Steph Milam said "Apart from a half pass at the Main Event we have not been able to run the car this year. We fitted a new PSI blower and a Davenport fuel system sponsored by Solar UK after the explosion and SPR Tuning mended and sprayed the body. If we can't get sufficient track time this weekend we will attend the National Finals. We have a new computer and have three runs worth of data. It is our dream to run a five." Steph's car is built by Eurodragster.com search sponsors Hauser Racing. The ultra-light body is carbon fibre which has caused concern - Steph said "You have to watch the wind speed as it can blow the body down the pits."

Gary Page's nitro funny car body is ex-Jim Dunn as the photo shows - you can also see the traditional Panic logo on the front valance. Gary said "We have the latest parts and were looking forward to racing John Spuffard as the man to beat in Fuel Funny Car. We have run a best of 5.4 but feel we can run 5.2s this weekend. The fuel system uses a slider valve, this is standard with nitro cars now and all cars now run a five plate clutch." Gary may run at the National Finals - see tomorrow's news for more details about this event.

Pro Modified championship leader Micke Lindahl said "We really want to run for the championship rather than get it standing in the pits. If there is qualifying anything could happen as it is so easy for these cars to shake. We need to qualify and go one round if Marc Meihuizen wins the event. So we have set the car up to run 6.3/6.4 with less clutch, even though we expect Urban, Micke Gullqvist and Danny to step up for this event. We are pleased with the season and the high point was winning the NitrolympX." Kendall Oils sponsor the Lindahl team.

A/Fuel driver Derek Flynn has had expert help from Jim Rizzoli (left) and former owner Larry Miersch (centre). He said "The car was ready to start almost straight away from the airport. We took it home and Jim showed us the cockpit procedures and we started it at our workshop in Alton which fogged up the workshop. We have all the run data from the last two years. When we got to the track on Wednesday Jim walked the track and then put a setup in it that wouldn't smoke the tyres so we got data. The first half pass was a 6.0 followed by a 5.8 lifting at 900ft and 5.6 and 5.58 full pass at which point I had to cut off my ponytail." The car needed minimal maintenance during this period, just spark plugs and a check of the bearings. "Larry runs on a budget and the main cost is the nitro, 6.5 gallons a run." The car has run 5.29 in the US and Derek is aiming for the 5.4s range next. "Thanks to my Go Gold crew for all their work and to Lucas and Ceratech for their support. Next year Derek's schedule depends on sponsorship deals.

Owner of the Jaguar-engined Paranoia altered Martin Holgate right is joined by Sid Slaterry (left(), Herb Andrews and Canadian Competition Eliminator competitor Ralph Hope this weekend. Martin bought Paranoia 15 years ago and obtained the help of Herb Andrews after placing an advert in Eurodragster.com. "Like myself, Ralph has only raced six cylinder engines over a forty year racing career and will be helping over the next two meetings. Herb has worked with Ralph over six years and at a recent event Ralph ran his first seven." Paranoia has some unique engineering features for instance using motorcycle technology of putting injection into the intake. This is controlled by six solenoids, three for nitrous and three for fuel. Martin said "Thanks to Andy Mapes of Huddersfield for machining work and producing billet conrods." Sid's new slingshot is featured in the next issue of Jaguar World magazine.

Danny Cockerill is joined by Carl Spiering (right) and his crew chief Terry Vince (left) from Canada. Terry explained that Danny's spec is closer to IHRA than NHRA rules. "IHRA weight is 2750lb, rear end ratio is 4.30, clutches are two disc and two steps are not allowed; NHRA is 2650lb, rear end ratio is 4.56, clutches are three disc and two steps are allowed. Both bodies allow maximum of 20% blower overdrive. These differences make it difficult for teams to race in both as they require so much testing to perfect two setups. A lot of cars have moved to ADRL where rules are freer and you can attend an event over two days rather than three or four." Carl runs in IHRA and Danny's car has a similar setup to his own. ADRL is starting to eat into IHRA territory by moving out of its Southern base into tracks such as Norwalk, Martin (Michigan) and Budd's Creek.

Pro Stock racer Kenneth Soderstrom was racing with Top Doorslammer series at Sundsvall. "Many of the field were Pro Mods, and I was pleased to qualify no.10 against the blower and nitrous cars. I needed to soften the car at the start line and feed in the power more down the track and ran a 7.01 at 200mph, but the 60ft was not so good." Kenneth's whole racing operation is for sale as his business involves installing fire safety systems around Sweden. He said "It's a great car that runs straight and is able to run a 6.8 but it's hard to find the time to do it the proper way."

Pro Mod racer Robert Koper has brought his newly built '68 Firebird with Vanishing Point chassis. "We ran initial passes at Hockenheim and the first full pass was a 6.62 with a soft setup. We also made some launches at Drachten with two 1.05 60ft time. The car handles much better and we already have a 0.06 reaction. The engine is from the old car and is capable of running 6.2 or 6.3 but we have the brackets for a blower motor and this may be an option for 2010." A refinement for this event is to move the fire bottles to the front as the car was wanting to wheelie off the line. Robert will be racing the whole FIA series in 2009 with the backing of MPM Oil and EWF (East West Forwarding).

Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woolatt ran a personal best of 228.74mph at Shakespeare County which ranks as no.15 on the all-time racers' top speed list. He said "We have a complete teardown of the bike after the meeting as we always do. The run felt good in the second half of the track where it picked up a lot of speed. It was quite hard to stop and you could smell the brake pads even with a 3/4 mile shutoff area. The bike was shaking the tyre at the start and on an earlier run it was bad enough to loosen some bolts. We lost the blower belt in the first round so the 228.74 was out of session and would not have been an official record even if we had backed it up. "

This is Roel Koedam's latest ride, constructed by the Zodiac Racing team of Ton and Vincent Pels with help from Roel. It's an immaculately engineered blown Super Twin which was only fired up the day before the team packed up to come to Santa Pod. Vincent said "We made it all ourselves, in fact it would be quicker to tell you what we haven't made which is the latest spec Autorotor RC2.1 blower, the wheels and Owens spragless two speed gearbox. We made the engine using our CNC mill at our home workshop. The stroke is shorter than the bore which means piston speed will be slower and we will be able to run it to 8,500rpm at the finish compared to 4,800rpm for the old bike. We designed the engine package with European traction conditions in mind. Cosmetically we have some more to do and we plan to have the same colours as Job's bike." There is two years' work on the bike, which is sponsored by Zodiac, Spectro Oils and Supertrapp. With the limited running at this event, entry into the National Finals for the 1683cc bike is being considered.