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18:45

We have now posted today's pictures. As has become usual recently the gallery is not formally captioned but a lot of the pictures have mouseover descriptions. If you don't see the updated thumbnails on the Gallery page then click on your Browser's Refresh button.

Tune back tomorrow and we will bring you all the news from the Peak Performance Day; tomorrow's entry list contains a lot more racers.

17:25

We're done for the day here at Santa Pod. Let's take you through this afternoon's runs in the order in which they happened.

A very nice first pass of the day for Hans Olav Olstad on his Supertwin. 1.2183 to sixty feet, 4.6136/163.65 at half track and this being a test day we kind of expected Hans Olav to get off the throttle in the second half but he stayed with it and clocked 7.0913/185.90. The stiff breeze pushed the bike to the right in the shutdown area but Hans Olav had it covered and pulled it back to his own lane.

Next racer to the track was Dan Larsen for his first outing with his new Dodge Stratus Top Methanol FC. At first glance the paint looks similar to the previous car but by happenstance the sun came out just at the right moment and revealed a subtle flame job. A nice 200 foot burnout, very nicely controlled, but then as Dan got off the throttle the front wheels got on a wobble and the car made a move to the left - almost as if the steering wheel had come off although I don't know that for a fact. Dan towed back to the pits whilst the track crew cleaned up a trail of white powder from the track, Dan's fire bottles were reportedly intact so a bit of a mystery unless Dan had a bottle of talcum powder in there with him.

Next up was Roger Goring in the Firestorm Jet FC. A planned half-pass, 4.246/183.42 at the eighth then off the throttle and the chute out before the stripe which in the stiff headwind must have felt to Roger as if the car had stopped dead, 7.012/136.53.

Rhiannon Bellenie was initially suffering problems with the Deadly Nightshade Junior Modified Dragster, the motor cutting out at the hit, but the problem sorted Rhiannon clocked a best RT of 0.1351 and best eighth of 11.322/58.93.

Hans Olav Olstad's second run was almost a copy of the first. 1.2405 to sixty feet, from here it looked as if the front wheel didn't come down to about half track, 4.6679/166.06 at the eighth and 7.0908/193.05 at the stripe. A very straight pass and also no sign of the drift in the shutdown area this time.

A good first pass from Fred Hanssen in his new Islanders Top Methanol Dragster. A very well-controlled burnout, a little trouble getting back into forward gear after reversing but US tuner Will Hanna and Islanders team member Konrad Ree took hold of the car and shook it back and forth until forward gear engaged. The dragster rolled the beams very slightly which will have affected the 1.233 sixty foot time, off the throttle at about 100 feet and then feathering it slightly to keep momentum and gain a feel for the car. Fred used to drive the Super Comp car with his right foot and brain and he's still got it - 8.946 at the stripe!

Roger Goring's second run of the day in the Firestorm Jet FC was another planned half pass. 1.144 to sixty feet and an absolutely storming 4.141/196.13 at the eighth, again off the throttle past the eighth and chutes out but still 6.654/151.16 at the stripe. So far as I know that was his best set of eighth-mile marks and may well have been a five-second pass had Roger gone all the way but I'll have a word with Roger later and see what he thinks. He was very happy with the first checkout pass so I'd imagine that he will have been ecstatic with this run.

After Roger ran, Dan Larsen was next up but then it started to rain, only briefly but heavily enough to have a visible effect upon the track. After a very brief delay - not only did the track crew do the usual bang-up job but the stiff breeze helped - Dan put in another nicely-controlled burnout and then 1.058 to sixty feet, shake started about 100 feet out but Dan stayed with as the car made a move to the right and then from here it looked as if the tyres started to blackstripe at about 300 feet. The FC turned hard left and Dan was off the throttle at about 400 feet. 4.470/138.14 at the eighth and 8.352/86.68 at the finish line.

The final runner today was Per Håkon Troa making his first pass in his ex-Fast Freddy Top Methanol FC. As with today's other Top Methanol rookie Fred Hanssen Per Håkon did not look as if he was making his first run in the car. A very well-controlled burnout with a little drift well-covered then 0.1285 reaction, 1.1233 to sixty feet and off the throttle at about 100 feet, 10.7295/74.78 at the stripe.

We're now going to put together today's pictures, tune back for those in about an hour.

13:30

Good afternoon from Santa Pod Raceway. We're here to bring you the news from today's Run What You Brung in association with American Car Imports.

The Webster Race Engineering/Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 webcam is on-line and posting a picture every sixty seconds.

We promised you a lunchtime report and given that no racers have yet made passes the only lunchtime report we can give you is that Kirstie had a chip butty with gravy and Tog had a twelve-inch hot dog. Spencer Tramm who is hanging out with us today had a beefburger with bacon and chips, and footed the bill to boot.

We have had a few stops for rain but there is a big clear patch of sky up there now and we are expecting passes this afternoon from Hans Olav Olstad (in the pairing lanes right now), Per Håkon Troa, Fred Hanssen and Roger Goring.

We'll be back later on with notes on today's runs and an end-day gallery.