Top Fuel Dragster racer Tommi Haapanen had a checkout half pass in John Spuffard's Funny car. "It was a very different experience. I didn't know what to expect but the burnout felt great. The launch was also good, I got a feel for the steering, and then I had tyre shake so got off the throttle. It felt really nice and I would love to do more. There are a lot of fuel Funny Cars for sale in the US right now..."

Super Pro ET racer Leo van der Kuijl who runs the Awesome 50 Mercury Coupe had problems with the gear shift after a few sessions. "The oil was boiling which was not good and then it would not shift even after we put in new oil", he said. The team run a limited programme including the last two Drachten events and a few car shows where the car makes a big impression.

Super Pro ET racer Vince Gibbs had an up and down day, running his first six in the Nosferatu Firebird and then suffering a broken blower belt that damaged the belt guard and the hood. "Both are repairable", he said. "We are over the moon at the 6.91 - we ran a 7.002 at SCR and the only change is new tyres. Hurrah for Hoosiers! The motor is fine and the car has started to pick the front wheels up for the first time. We ran a PB to 60ft of 1.035 (our previous best was 1.07) and the car is going straight. We are thinking about Pro Mod but that would require a change in engine capacity and a manual gearbox. Thanks to Geof Hauser for helping repair the belt guard."

Super Pro ET racer Roy Wilding's co-owner Roger Sinclair was caught asleep after the car proved more reliable than earlier. Roy said "The car is repeating and staying close to the dial in without dramas and running well."

Competition Eliminator racer John Bradshaw ran an 8.0 in the Project Zed Nissan 350Z. "I was off the throttle at half track in the first pass for an 8.4 and missed a gear change on the 8.0 so there is more there - the shock in 2nd gear is more than the Skyline was in first." The car, built by Vanishing Point Race Cars, has a six cylinder twin turbo engine producing 1800hp compared with 1150hp for the Skyline. "I will run the car at the Jap Show Finale and keep the Skyline for the Jap Series next year." Nissan are supporting the car and will be attending over the weekend.

Super Pro ET racers Team Stardust with drivers Rod and Karl Harrison had a mixed day. Rod (pictured warming up the dragster) had trouble free runs but Karl had problems with the funny car. "We went for shake down passes as we had refreshed the engine, clucth and gearbox, rebuilt the blower and put in a different ring and pinion ratio. However the car snapped the front A-arm and broke the wheels on the wheelie bar. Fortunately there is no mechanical damage.

Super Pro ET racer Mark Bishop has made a return after a near-vertical wheelie at Easter caused damage. "I now have a wheelie bar and on the second pass the car sat on them so I know they work. Thanks to my Nan for lending me some of the money for repairs and to all the fans who donated money towards the cost."

Super Pro ET racer John Everitt is again helped by Nigel Turner who mentioned that problems were arising from the new tyres now being used on the car. "The engine was not firing on no.1 cylinder which we traced to a blocked injector pipe. So we put on a new pipe, cleaned out the nozzle and are changing the valve lash."

Super Pro ET racer Bob Doyle's wife and crew chief Tracy is pleased to be back after engine problems. "The block cracked at the Springspeed Nationals and we have now installed a new one and are straight back into the eights," she said.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders is making his first trip to Santa Pod this year. "We have a new engine and paint by Dave McCallum who did the original paint job", he said. "I went off the end of the track after the chute came out late and it was scary because it was at a speed that it could have dug in and flipped. The engine is burning plugs so we are sorting that out before we go out again." Steve is shown with wife Babs and Mal Rigg from Mark Flavell's team. Mal said Mark hopes to be back at the National Finals or Fireworks meetings for some passes and the plan is for Steve to drive the Funny Car next year.

Street Eliminator racer Jerry Charles ran a single pass at 9.6 before discovering a rocker bolt had stripped itself. Team members Dave Pollen and Roger Cassidy will be at the meeting on Saturday and Friday respectively. "It's my first time out this year after a full engine rebuild so I hope we can run well here", said Jerry.

Pro ET racer David Nelson, pictured with father John, had a personal best followed by a torrid pass that saw the car nearly at a 45 degree angle after some top end drama. "We ran a 9.2 PB earlier and 9.25 on the pass we had handling problems. This is our first full year with the car - we had a lot of problems shaking it down last year. The chassis is self-built and Roy Wilding gave us some really useful advice." The engine is a big block Ford of 528cu in with nitrous and the team hope to run an eight at this event before a planned move to Super Comp next year. "The car cost only �9000 all in which shows you can go quick on a budget.".

Pro ET racer Mark Richardson has a new tow car this weekend which is driven by friends Alison Sargent and Steve Millward. Alison said "Steve has spectated for many years and I started coming to the track four years ago. We have a customised '58 GMC100 pickup built in South Africa with right hand drive and Mercedes 388 SEL engine and it's our first time towing." Congratulations to Alison and Steve who are getting married next weekend.

Pro ET racer Rick McCann was pulling high wheelies early in the day but found that the rear end had broken teeth on the last launch. Carla Pittau said "The half shafts look ok but we will have to install a new ring and pinion over the weekend and Jon Webster is trying to find one for us. We are running Street gear set which needs replacing less often than the Pro gear set but is more likely to snap as the metal is harder and more brittle. The car sure launches really hard without a transbrake."

Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby was delighted to run a new speed record of 189.63 and first half of an ET record with a 7.7083. He is pictured with car builder and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson. "I feel for John Sleath as he cannot set records with the drag radials that were allowed back for this year", he said. "It hasn't been easy and we have have had broken fogger nozzles and valve lock and have had to borrow parts from Pro Mod cars, an interesting fact when you consider we are street legal."

Street Eliminator racer David Murdoch has had a good rookie year. "We ran a PB of 9.26/141 off the trailer, which was only our 22nd pass. The only problem this year is a wrecked blower at SCR which Kenny Gomez of Superpower Unlimited replaced for us. Congratulations to Colin Lazenby who has helped me no end and deserves to run records after a lot of problems."

Super Street racer Paul Webster placed his PBs on nitrous and aspirated on the window of his Mini. And them promptly broke them. For the record the current PBs are 11.22/122.40 on gas and 13.66/104.80 without nitrous. "The engine's bottom end has done 70,000 miles and the head was supplied by Thumper Performance of Florida. We also had a custom built blower pulley from Slovenia which makes it spin faster and a Clutchmaster twin plate clutch. The car is 2600lb, about the same as '69 Camaro Super Gas.

Ace photog and former Eurodragster.com photo editor Sharkman has decided it is time to step back from trackside photography and hang up his Canons. He has brought with him the Shark hat that many will remember him for. He will stay in touch with the sport as a team member with Pat and Steven Talbot and we wish him all the best in his new role.

Super Street and Pro ET racer Dave Cherrett, centre, with team mates Dave Shacklock (left) and Steve Cherrett (right) are wearing Jeg's crew shirts this year. Dave said "With six rounds of racing planned we expect to run down the track up to twelve times". In his first run in Super Street a 10.92 put him in no.2 position and the second run in Pro ET was good for first place, 0.0011 over his 9.90 dial in.

Super Gas racer Jon Giles is running a new Dedenbear throttle stop which is a disc type as opposed to the usual blade type. In spite of the device the good air we are having today means he broke out in the first session. "I guess it's the Pro Mod racer in me coming out", he said. Changes to the carb means a clean sheet with data from the car. Jon sends best wishes to wife Donna who is poorly at home and nevertheless encouraged Jon to run this weekend.

Super Gas racer Werner Zudrell came all the way from the Austrian-Swiss border but suffered a broken prop shaft on his first run. The team hope to repair and run again later in the meeting and race car builder and Eurodragster.com sponsor Geof Hauser was spotted in Werner's pits later. Werner is teamed with Jessica Gantenbein who runs a similarly-liveried Junior Dragster.

Super Pro racer Dave Catton is back in the Paul Marston school after a near miss in the Hulk Shogun earlier in the year. "The car didn't have enough downforce at the top end and when the rev limited came on I didn't realise it was because the rear wheels had left the ground. It then turned so quick I thought it would crash but it stayed the right way up." Dave agreed a deal to share the PMR dragster for the Open Sports Nationals and this event with Paul in Super Comp. Between these events, a huge effort had to be made to repair the engine which suffered a damaged crank which you can read about on today's news update. "I have got more used to the Sportsman tree this time", he added "but the other car coming past at almost 200mph was a new sensation."

B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Jason Weir has a new engine and Procharger in the Plymouth Surburban wagon. "The engine is from Steve Morris of New Era Racecraft and I first run it at the Open Sports Nationals. I am just getting used to the extra power and trying to overcome the traction issues with careful use of the throttle pedal. The engine makes 2200hp but is no more difficult to drive on the cruise as the power mainly comes in at higher revs and we are careful to keep it down to 2-3000rpm."

Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook ran a PB without nitrous of 8.77 on his first pass and is looking to turn on the gas later in the meeting to improve on his 8.17 overall PB. "The new engine has performed beyond our expectations and we are chuffed with it." The engine, like everything else on the team, is built by the team: Martin ('Brain'), Paul ('Brief') and new crew member 'Newbi' put the 598cu in together in their garage. Ian said "We have started to use a data logger and it told us it was running lean so we fitted bigger jets and if that works, on will come the nitrous. It's a great opportunity for Street Eliminator to run as a class here and having 13 cars on site plus another five either building or returning shows the class is in great shape."

Street Eliminator racer John Sleath is making his return to SPR for the first time since running the class's first seven second pass at Easter 2006. "I have been really busy building race cars and helping customers run them", he said. "The engine hasn't been out since 2006 although I came out a couple of times last year. The 189.8 mph on the first run is a PB speed and if I can get the 60ft times quicker than 1.25 I should be running sevens again here." A class record speed of 190mph was run later in the day. John's race car business is at www.john-sleath.com.

One of the cars John Sleath has built is the Pontiac Firebird of Street Eliminator racer Paul Houston. Paul's crew chief and father Ian bought the car thirty years ago and started racing it at Crail in 1994. It ran in the Northern Street Car championship in 1999-2001 and 2008. The car is stock bodied with a genuine street look to it: turbos nicely hidden and flattish hood. "I drive around Edinburgh in it, about 40-50 mile trips", Paul said. "This is only our second meeting with the new turbo setup and it was great to get into the eights. Now we want to go lower still." Paul is bringing the car to the 'Race the Runway' day at Edinburgh Airport on 24th September in support of Edinburgh-based St Columba's Hospice where a runway is being closed to allow for a 0.9 mile speed challenge.

Pro ET racer Pel Norman has a racing history with team mates Stretch Harrison and Michael 'Frank' Francis that goes back to 1984 when the Capri he is running here also had the name Shogun. He said "Stretch and Frank shared the driving of the car and I was on the crew. It ran a best of 12.98 in Modified Eliminator. We then went circuit racing and ran a pickup and Legends at Rockingham from 1999 to 2005. But we always kept in touch with the car in Yorkshire. We bought it again in 2004 - it was in one piece but rotten. What we thought would be a �3000 rebuild to have a bit of fun turned out to be �35,000 with a full chassis and new front end." The chassis is from Dean Forward of P9 raceshop in Barnsley and in it sits a 355cu in SBC and Powerglide trans. The car won the Pro ET championship at York Dragway in 2008. Team DM racing is named after Danger Mouse who is resplendent on the car's hind flank.

Pro ET racer Joe Williams says that the Van With No Name will be running a tad slower following engine damage at the Open Sports Nationals. He said "We are running John Atkinson's old 496cu in engine which is no slouch and is in fact for sale. However the blower doesn't fit and the convertor is not right for the engine so we are running 10.8 rather than low nines", he said.

Pro ET racer Joe Stevens is racing a Sunbeam Stiletto in place of his Model T altered. "It's all self-built", he said. "The Sunbeam body came for �60 out of a local ad mag and the engine is a new 540cu in big block with 8-71 blower and twin carbs. The trans is a TH400." Best to date for the rapid 60s machine is 9.36. "An eight at this meeting would be nice. The car is fully street legal and taxed and MOT'd." Suppport comes from Joe's place of work www.lasercuttingsheetmetal.co.uk.

Pro ET racer Lee Huxley is back with the Sierra which is still for sale, after a brush with the SCR guardrail at the Open Sports Nationals when father Brian was driving and a rod let go, splitting the sump. All is repaired and the car is running mid tens.