Super Pro ET racer Rod Harrison was wondering why the car wouldn't launch in session 2 as the car stopped dead 100 feet out. He said "We went to the van to check the tyre guage against another and found it had been giving a false reading and the tyre pressure was only 2 psi." After the pressure had been corrected, Rod ran a 7.34 to go from 34th to 4th in the qualifying in session three.

We saw Super Pro ET racer Thomas Stiefel's Hawaiian Tropic sponsored '55 Chevy at Hockenheim and the car's performance started well with a 7.100/197. But traction problems off the line meant no improvement in the remaining three sessions. Thomas said "We want to go as quick as possible and the car is running straight with no mechanical issues."

Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Nigel Payne is running the Nimbus Motorsport Corvette in Super Mod trim but wondered why only a 7.59 was possible early on. His times improved to 7.50 during the day. Nigel's son Jordan is racing a rented Santa Pod Junior Dragster and really enjoying it. Additional support for the team is from data logging company Stack Data Acquisition & Logging, which is represented by Andrew English.

Super Pro ET racer Ashley Bell was delighted to be no.1 qualifier for the day. "It is probably more luck than judgment," he said modestly. The team has a new tow limousine owned by team member Tony de Luca. Vividly painted by Martin Ball of Anglesea, you may arrange for hire of this genuine '77 Cadillac converted hearse by going to www.gothiclimousines.co.uk.

Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables was running consistent 7.3s, picking up where he left off at the Main Event which was the previous round in the three round Euro SSB series. He said "I ran a 7.41 yesterday which helped us with the setup. We are not looking at the Euro Series because I missed Hungary and no eliminations took place at the Main Event." A 7.361 was more than a tenth quicker than the remainder of the field.

Super Pro ET racer Matt Glassup had a disappointing day with tyres spinning in most sessions apart from no.2 when he suffered a broken fuel pump. He said "It has thrown our tuning out of the window because we were tuning our BBC on a faulty fuel pump." The original aim was to improve on the car's best of 7.04, recorded using a safe tuneup, but Matt's best ET so far here is an 8.077.

Super Pro ET racer Bob Doyle suffered traction issues in the first session and a misfire in the second. Crewman Peter Lane said "We changed the plugs and it should be fine next run." Today's final result was 8.89 on 8.85 dial-in for 11th. The team were delighted to have won the recent Open Sports Nationals.

Super Pro ET racer Ron Bartlett suffered bad luck in the engine department when in the third session, the engine came to a sudden and ominous stop during the burnout and wouldn't turn over back in the pits. At the previous meeting he had suffered water getting into the cylinder head which was fixed with the help of Peter and Richard Walters and Frank and Cliff Griffin also got Ron's thanks for help in preparing the car. In the early sessions today Ron ran two high eight second passes and is still qualified, in 28th place.

Super Pro ET racer Robin Orthodoxou has been entertaining the crowd wih wild runs in his altered, all four wheels coming off the ground at one point. Sons Darren and Lee are recording the runs in and out of the car and posting them on Youtube. Robin said "The car is fine but we can't get the performance out of it that we want. We do aim to please the crowd with our burnouts." Best runs today were a 7.81 on a 7.40 dial-in.

Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones suffered convertor and trans problems on Wednesday which meant that he was unable to get any sort of pass in. Today was another repeat of the problems. He said in the pairing lanes "It would be nice to get past the finish line."

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Brian Payne ran after an early checkout, passes of 8.76, 8.62 and 8.54 to end in position no.3 at the end of the day. He said "We have a nice cushion in the Championship but there are still two rounds to go. The car is running well with no major problems."

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer, owner and Eurodragster.com sponsor Bill MacDermid said that the car is running much better after cleaning out pieces of header wrap which had been chewed up by the Procharger and ended up in the intercooler. "We had a checkout pass to check the tune. We will step up a little depending on what the track can hold." Bill has been busy driving the Camaro to the Krispy Kreme show, Hi Tension event and Buster Lang's American Custom and Hot Rod Show as well as racing in four rounds of the champsionship and running the Topspeed shop.

Super Comp racer Paul Spiers suffered a crash on the test day yesterday and was in the pits working out the repairs necessary. He said "The launch was like a rolling burnout. I corrected and it went straight but should have lifted. Instead of staying straight it went the other way and slammed straight into the wall. I really ache today but fortunately I was wearing a Hans device (which isn't mandatory for Super Comp) and my neck doesn't hurt at all." Paul said that the car does not look to have a lot of damage at a casual glance and although the chassis has a couple of tweaks, the main problem is the body alignment as it was pushed back which has also damaged the tinwork. Repairs are going to be carried out on the chassis by Andy Robinson and on the body by Drag Race Engineering.

Super Comp racer Malcolm Motler is racing for the second event this year with his Morris Minor truck. Steve Wells, who Malcolm usually crews for, undertook role reversal at this event. Malcolm said "I ran a best of 9.39 in the second session. On the third pass it launched ok but then went towards the wall. The car's best is a 9.1 at the Main Event but on that run the axle split with a four inch crack. So after repairs we put a brace on it to make sure it would go straight." Steve is awaiting a new blower snout after it snapped at the last event to enable him to run at the Hot Rod Drags and National Finals. The fibreglass front of the car is now modelled by Malcolm from a 1948-53 series MM car.

Super Comp racer Eric Roerade has this early Nova which he built himself over a period of three years. He said "We started in Super Gas and have now been running Super Comp for the last three years. We have been to SPR three times over the last couple of years." The car is powered by a 555cu in BBC with Powerglide and Ford 9 inch rear axle. Best time to date is 8.643.

Super Pro ET racer Roy Wilding was pleased with the first session's 8.10 on an 8.03 dial-in but then suffered issues in the remaining passes. "In session two we got out of the groove and nearly clipped the wall. Roger said it if happened next time he would make me paint the wall. In the third session there was a gear selection issue, it went from first to second with the transbrake engaged and the car went forward and I had to abort the run."

Super Pro ET racer Guido Uhlir has impressed us with quick runs in his relatively stock appearing Opel Manta. Crew member Skorpion said "The car was built entirely by Guido in a barn at his home and now has a full tube chassis tagged to 7.5s. But he has owned the car for twenty years and it has developed from a 3.4 litre to 4 litre street car then with a Chevy small block and then backhalved. When it ran a 383cu in Chevy Guido won the German Street Eliminator three years in a row." The car now runs a 377 small block with Procharger F2 and is still theoretically street legal if a second seat, wipers and street tyres were installed. But Skorpion remarked "The MOTs in Germany are very strict." The car's best today is a 8.51 on 8.40 dial in the final session. Thanks go to Jon Webster for installing a rear wing that keeps it stable at speed.

Super Pro ET racer Dave Evans suffered contact with the wall when a fixing at the rack end of the steering that holds the spline on the shaft came loose. "As the car launched I pulled the steering wheel back and the steering column came off. When I tried to correct it nothing happened and I got off the throttle immediately and the car just glanced the wall and kept straight, rolling to a stop. There is panel damage which I will mend over the winter. The steering is already repaired." Dave came out again after the incident and ran an eight to show the car is still able to race.

Super Comp racer Phillip Bennett has painted his dragster in an impressive scheme. He said "I am in charge of the paint shop at Red Bull F1 and the car uses the same shade of yellow that our F1 cars use." Phillip had electrical problems in the second session when a new two-step installed last winter failed. "I went home and got the old one and will install it. It's been three years since I last raced here. I have spectated but work has a habit of getting in the way of running the car."

Several teams at this event have black and lilac ribbons as a tribute to the late Kasey Dixon-Grainger and Pel Norman's Capri has this tribute. Cath Napier told us that there were 400 at Kasey's funeral and his send-off included a memorial cruise as well as a parade of honour, both of which can be seen on Youtube. Kasey's father Paul will be attending the Hot Rod Drags.

Pro ET racer Al Platt has made his 2011 return at this event. He said "We make one race a year and have gone up a class. We have stripped the car out and put on a fibreglass front end which has saved 400lb in weight. We also have a nitrous system supplied by Zex which we won't use on our first run and a new Strange rear axle to take the extra power." The car still has its stock block and pistons and has run a best of 11.5.

Pro ET racer Mike Lacey is displaying the full panoply of stickers from 20 Pro ET sponsors from the class sponsorship scheme. A lot of racers will be competing for it with 44 cars entered. Mike said "People who join the class can participate in the sponsorship scheme as long as they run the stickers. The prize fund is for top qualifier and is worth several hundred pounds in cash or products." The scheme is open to UK and overseas competitors. Mike paid a visit to the Xplosion Drag Racing event at Drachten in July and had a great welcome. Three Dutch Pro ET racers are entered this weekend.

Pro ET racer Paul Brown had a good if busy weekend at the Open Sport Nationals at the end of August. "The track crew worked really hard to dry the track each time it was rained and did a fantastic job to get the race completed. It was tough doing so many runs and the little niggles with the car they brought." Paul won two rounds in Pro ET and one in Super Comp.

Pro ET racer Sarah Howells shares the ownership of the Ramraider slingshot dragster with husband Darren and Eurodragster.com sponsor Pete Yates. After an outing at Dragstalgia, this is her second meeting driving this season and she ran 9.34 in testing yesterday. Today she went straight to the no.1 spot for the first session with a 9.3721 on 9.36.

Pro ET racer Amanda Cox has had a busy but happy season and she will have run the Yenko Nova in ten events by the close of the season. She said "I was back in the nines at the Mopar Euro Nationals and it was a great race and I made twelve runs. Many thanks to Paul Marston and Gary Springford who have helped me so much.

Pro ET racer Carla Pittau marked her new wheelie bar with an Illumigraph board to mark its use on the track, as does husband Rick McCann. "The wheelie bar is a disaster prevention device rather than a tuning device. We are running it at the same height as Rick's. The bars were bought from Jeg's as a double and we modified them to be bolted to the axle cover rather than welded to the axle tube. They are adjustable up and down, but we only expect to adjust it if it hits too quickly and unsettles the car. Heavy cars like ours need wheelies to aid weight transfer so we have set them relatively high. They work equally well with Rick's four link and my stock leaf spring suspension."

Pro ET racer Stuart Doignie is at his first meeting this year but hopes to do a full season next year depending partly on selling the car. He said "We sold the engine and trans last year but there was not a lot of interest in the rolling chassis so we decided to put together another reliable big block engine with single carb. Nic Williams suggested running in Pro ET for the first time. We have never had a white marker on the rear screen before, being in Super Gas. We are guessing the dial in and have put 7.61 on to see what it will do."

Super Pro ET and Super Comp racer Reinier van Scheldt suffered three rain-outs at meetings in Drachten after debuting his '37 Pickup truck at the Easter Thunderball. The performance of the car is running consistent eights with a best of 8.59 and a chance to get some decent data. Reinier said "We would like to run the car in the 8.2 zone. The car has been reliable and have only had a small problem with the fuel system. Unfortunately we had to get a complete new trans when on a transbrake launch the button was punched in reverse."

Super Pro ET racer Marck Harteveld has run at the Xplosion series at Drachten but this is his first appearance at SPR this year. The car is a 1970 Roadrunner copy over the chassis built by Chassis Engineering and tagged to 6.0 with an aluminium 636cu in . The car has run a best of 8.09 before the event and Marck said "We want to run a seven and get some good track time this weekend." The team also includes Fred Barendse's Pro ET Dodge Charger also running this weekend.

Super Pro ET racer Norbert Schneider is racing a Nissan Skyline acquired from Rick Garrett and running an upgraded setup similar to his previous Corrado but now producing 950hp. He said "We are happy as we have won the Super Pro ET championship in Germany and have run a best of 8.15 in Germany. We would like to run a seven this weekend."

Super Pro ET racer Dave Catton is racing the Beovax 2 dragster which has an identical paint scheme to team owner Nick Good's blown car. Dave's car has identical sized tyres which will help with management of spares. Dave said "Nick has done a great job in preparing the car after it was shipped over turn-key from the States. He put a new wing and radiator on. The transbrake is not operational yet but there is a strong footbrake to hold it on the line and I am expecting it to run easy eights and potentially a high seven.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Ian Hook has conceded the championship to Brian Payne but says he needs to defend his current second place against Alex McIntosh. Alex supplies some spare tickets for the Fat Boys crew and in return Ian feeds Alex and his team. Ian said "If he catches us we will still feed them." Ian's intention after some two extremely close races at SCR last even is to start with a soft tune to run 8.2/8.3 and then go for a seven. "It's been well over two years since we ran a seven."