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17:45

If you were tuned in to our live report earlier then you will have read that Dutch Pro Mod racer Marc Meihuizen has an American team member this weekend although we didn't know who it was. That piece of ignorance on our part was remedied when Marc brought Chris Russo up to meet us. Chris races a '63 split window Corvette Pro Mod in the USA and has run 6.06 at 238 mph with the same Quest Racing engine set-up which Marc has, so the two have been sharing data. Mike Faucher of Quest Racing was due here this weekend but will now be joining the team next week.

"Chris is my American soulmate!", said Marc. "We try to share information. Chris has helped to get everything ready."

"I've already made thirty passes already this year, so I'm here to help", said Chris. "We think that we can get Marc to run quick with this combination and the track is very good - we've walked it to eighty feet. We need to get it going straight so it won't eat up the ET so we're making some chassis adjustments as the car wants to go left.

"I like it here because everyone is real friendly and the Dutch coffee is good stuff! I'm off visiting relatives in Scotland this week and then I'll be back here next weekend."

11:40

Good morning and welcome to this weekend's pit notes. As you can probably tell the photographs I took yesterday are now in the gallery due to a lack of on track action because of the weather. The plan today for your Pit Reporter is to take some more shots in the pits which will be posted later.

Firstly I caught up with Allan Sives with his beautiful red Firebird in the pits. Allan, from Edinburgh, imported the car from America three years ago and has planted a 588 big block blown chevy engine into it. "Hopefully it wont blow up" Allan said. Steve Turner of Turner Motorsport is Allan's crew chief and looks after the car while it is not in use. This is Allan's first trip up the quarter mile here at Santa Pod as the weather called an early end to the Peak Performance day he attended last year. Asked if he will be seen in competition anytime soon Allan said, "I hope to compete in Super Pro next year"

Dave Day has several new items to play with on his roadster. With new Borla mufflers on the exhausts, Sarah Day has informed me the team are thinking about going to Sweden this year to compete. "The car is so quiet, it's amazing how much they have reduced the noise". A new shiny Bo Laws Carb sits upon the engine and new tyres complete the makeover. After a wild launch to the left earlier in the day Dave would like to mention blamespencer.com for all mishaps occuring. Spencer Tramm is assisting this weekend alngside Dave's usual crew which he would like to thank. "I have a fab crew so a big thank you to Steve, Sarah and Matthew of the Seamarks family". Dave has asked me to say team razors will be issued with this being aimed at Matthew's new beard growing. "Shame about the facial hair Matthew!" Dave quips.

Mark Flavell and team had a successful day with the Steel River Hot rod completing another licencing run, this time to a thousand feet and a chute deployment. Mark said "It did everything it shoud have" and added "It was as straight as a die" The team were inspecting the bottom end before the next run to make sure everything is as it should be.

Tim Garlick or should I say Farmer Garlick has been cleaning the mud off the underside of the car after his plough into the field earlier in the day. After initially not realising Tim had made a trip into the field he explianed what happened. "The chute came out but a lever snapped forward as a rod failed" and Tim found himself heading towards the mud "I went left on purpose as I could see rocks" hense why we could not see Tim and his extra few yards into the top end field. There's no damage to the car at all except a very small chip on the paint work on the front of the car. "I was more interested in looking at the data from that run than the car" Tim added "We have to catch that Mr Hone - either that or kill him!"

Super Street biker Garry Bowe is here to test today before heading off for a Straightliners event. After wheel spin off the line Garry was hoping the weather would relent so he could cure the issue. At Easter Garry ran his personal best of 7.91 and reached the Semi's before being knocked out. The bike was built by himself in his shed over the past seasons and he is here to get some settings so he can go quicker and become competitive. Garry will attend all rounds this year of the ACU Championship after coming eighth last year and will attend the peak performace day in June. Garry is contemplating staying on for this weekends RWYB rather than head off for the Straightliners event at Shakespeare County Raceway to get some extra track time in.

Fellow SSB rider Michael Templeman has been testing today after the addition of a new fueling computer. "I'm ironing out a fuel issue to see how much is going into the engine as there is possibly too much" Once Michael gets the settings right he hopes to tune the clutch. "I misfired on my first run and bogged it off the line" Michael hopes to stay on tomorrow rather than attend the Straightliners event to acccumulate some track time.

I wonder if any of our more observant readers spotted something different on Jon Giles' superb looking Willys on yesterday's gallery? Jon tells me the wing has been chopped on advice from Santa Pod scrutineer Amos Meekins. "The old wing was chopped down by Andy Robinson last week" Jon also adds it will be a much smoother operation to get the car in and out of the trailer. "We are here today to start using the trans brake on the launch for the first time" Jon continues "We will add the air shifter and trans brake and go as fast as we can, then bring in the throttle stop" Jon has a message for good friend and fellow Super gas racer Tim Adam "We ran a perfect 9.90" That's nine minutes and ninety seconds to get back to the pit after it rained on the team in the pairing lanes.

Michael Malmgren in the Lahega backed GTO gave Eurodragster.com staff the chance to view his newly purchased rig as you may have seen in yesterday's gallery. Fitted with all mod cons such as air conditioning (When would we need such a thing in drag racing) a flat screen TV and sound system the team are looking very professional indeed. Michael tells us the team have been working hard to get ready for the forthcoming season with many new parts including a brand new engine. "The engine was on the dyno Wednesday and it's now on its way here" Michael described endless hours and flights in preperation for this new addition. They took the new engine for testing in America earlier this year rather than compete at four NHRA races. The main bearings and some valve springs expired therefore creating much more work for the team before the start of the 2008 season.

Henri Joosten, thats Henri with an I not a Y, has brought his beautiful new 55 Chevy Belair over from Holland to test before next weekend. Eagle eyed spotters will notice on the car that Henri has been signwrited with a Y instead of an I on the windows by the signwriter. Henri is of course keen to have this removed and is not a permanent change of spelling! Henri bought the car as part of a very good deal from Charles carpenter in America. Henri adds "Charles was very helpful with the shipment of the car over to Holland" Charles Carpenter is actually racing the this weekend with an exact copy of Henri's new car. Henri is not going to go blown anytime soon prefering to stay nitrous powered for the forseeable future. This new car is much much lighter and the team are eager to get some track time to find some settings "Maybe we will make a 60ft pass".

Top Fuel driver Micke Kagered has a completely new set up bought from Lance Larsen whom is hopefully going to be here with the team next week. "It's a totally new clean sheet" Engine Tuner Alan Jackson said. Micke added "We want some good weather so we can test now - we will see. Half track will be good and maybe we will put in two or three passes" Mats Eriksson is to build a new rail for the team later this year.

Celebrations were in place for the Islanders team as it was the national day of Norway yesterday. The team have had to make a trip to B&Q this weekend to try and source a voltage converter for their Race Pak computer. A new name for us this season in the yellow super comp dragster (As Paul has stepped up to TMD is Fred Hanssen. He has been putting in some very competent passes in the yellow Super Comp dragster so far this weekend. The team not only have a stunning new paint scheme on their TMD but the Junior Dragster, driven by pauls daughter Maja, has the same design to match which you can see by viewing yesterday's gallery.