Pro Mod racer Bert-Ove Olofsson, pictured left, is supported this week by Jim Salemi of G-Force Racecars, who has built cars for at least three European teams as well as teams in the Middle East and Australia. He said "I specialise in building supercharged doorslammers, mainly for Outlaw series such as the PMRA in which around 10 of 16 cars were built by G-Force. Since the IHRA stopped running Pro Mod the scene has fragmented and includes cars with screw blowers as well as roots blowers with unlimited overdrive." Jim joins forces with brother John of Resolution Racing Services and Mike Stawicki of MSR Performance to run a Pro Mod car that went as quick as 5.73/256 with a screw blower. Bert-Ove was helped to run his best of 5.97 at Tierp recently and was on a good run yesterday when an airline came out of its fitting to second ger, resulting in the engine revving freely, but without damage.

Top Methanol Dragster racer Manty Baguela's car owner Joe Carabott was delighted with a 5.48/256 test pass. He said "We just planned a launch but it was so good I made a full pass", he said. "The car is the same basic setup as last year although we have had great help from Norm Grimes in tuning the car and advising us. The setup was soft and it was easy to handle going down the track. We are looking forward to running all the FIA races and our aim is the championship. We have a complete spare engine and feel ready." We expect Norm Grimes will be a factor in this as he helped NHRA racer Rick Santos to five consecutive TAD championships in 1997-2001 and is currently enjoying success with Jim Whiteley in the US.

Pro Mod racer Robert Joosten made a lot of changes over the winter to his G-Force Racecars-built Camaro and said "It is like a new car. I ran the Thursday Pro test but the two step did not work and the car moved forward and rolled through. In the Friday Pro Test session the car was not lined up, again it rolled the beams but it was my best leave ever and still a 1.03 to 60ft. It would have been under a second with a proper launch. Then the car got out of the groove and I couldn't get it back before I hit the reflector." Robert is advised this weekend by former IHRA Pro Stock team owner Charlie Taylor who supports Joshua Hernandezin ADRL racing, and asked us to pass on to Charlie's wife Jane the team's best wishes and a message that Charlie is keeping in the dry.

Pro Mod racer Marcus Hilt is hoping the changes made over the winter will prevent the loss of performance he suffered at all his events last year. "There was an oil flow problem and the engine spun the main bearing twice. We have a new crank, the block has been fixed and oil system changed and we now have K&N oil System One filters. In addition the car has been wrapped and pinstripe flames painted on. Marcus will be joined by US doorslammer legend Camp Stanley when his schedule allows. In the meantime the team are backing the car down to prevent the tyre spinning that plagued it down the track in eight out of ten runs last year. The programme comprises both events at SPR and Hockenheim and transportation is courtesy of Noah Stutz's team.

Pro Mod racer Roger Moore's crew chief and brother Dave Moore was disappointed with the car's launch. He said "The car is double launching with the revs plummeting to 1800 from 4800 on the chip. With all the nitrous we were lucky there hasn't been a nitrous burp. We discovered a voltage drop and replaced the battery but after a good run, the problem reappeared. We tested the first stage of nitrous as well and found no problem. So we have had to take clutch out which hurts the 60ft. We may try purging the nitrous later or twice to get more out. But we have so few runs available to us we can't afford to make one change at a time. We know the car is capable of consistent 6.5s."

Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson is another racer frustrated by weather conditions this year. He said "We know all the ingredients are there with the car's tuning, the crew's support and the track, but although we've got the power, getting track time is a problem. At this event last year we managed to qualify tenth ahead of teams with far bigger budgets than ours. We will be racing at Hockenheim this year to give us more runs and look forward to going quicker and quicker."

Pro Mod racer Marc Meihuizen's ARRC-built Firebird is showing MPM Oil colours this year. He said "We feel well prepared for the year. We have refreshed the engine and have made only small changes to develop it. The team has remained consistent and if it goes well it will go fast. In yesterday's test session there was a minor fuel leak from the breathing system on the tank and the vapour condensed on the bodyshell which created a leak so we were shut down. Then we had some start line co-ordination issues so we weren't able to record a time. We feel we can run a 6.0 here and the car launched well and just lost traction down the track. We have to run a five at Tierp. We don't buy lots of new stuff, we invest, for instance our Alan Johnson heads are five years old."

Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Rob Elsom is pleased with his new car but knows there is much to learn in moving up from Pro ET to quick doorslammers. "We still have to turn the single stage of nitrous on. The car handles really sweet and is a really good machine. Thanks to Abbey Motorsport for help with the data retrieval from our data recorder. We are here for testing and the biggest challenge is getting seat time and practising shifting the four speed Lenco."

Eurodragster.com sponsor MPM Oil has a large stand on the pit side next to where its four main sponsored cars of Gordon Smith, Jason Phelps, Marc Meihuizen and David Vegter are pitted. Stay tuned for a Eurodragster.com competition to win MPM-related and Marshall product kindly donated by Richard Stevens, MPM's UK MD.

Top Fuel racer Chris Andrews is planning to make a launch to get data to 60ft for tuning the car. He said "We had some issues with the fuel system but think we have these under control. We will try to get further down the track on each run as I still have to do a familiarisation pass." The sole UK team in the FIA Top Fuel championship this year, you can find out more about the background to the Lucas Oil-sponsored Forbes & Andrews team at Club Speedgroup.

Supertwin racer Chris "Cannon" Hannam had an impressive flame show out of his header yesterday evening - however this was due to engine damaage. He said "The front cylinder head cam bucket seized in the head resulting in excess fuel being pumped into the back cylinder which caused damage to the rear head and pistons. SO we stripped the engine down completely and worked until 3:30am rebuilding it. But when we started it this morning it still didn't sound right so we have stripped it again. It is easier fitting new parts than an entire new engine which could take all day."

Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Kalle Lyren ran an excellent 7.193 on the Veidec machine but was not as happy as he could have been as the run was made only with five gears. "I later ran but had the same problem and ran a 7.24. We looked at it overnight and hopefully have it sorted."

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop ran a 7.419/179.96 and was pleased. He said "This is my PB for Santa Pod and did it off the trailer. We have made engine mods in the valve train and internal parts which are lighter and well balanced. There is a lot of carbon fibre and titanium in the bike now. Even with soft settings and changing gear at 12000rpm it ran 1.16 to 60ft and was fast at the top. There is loads more to come. We will be running all the championship." Martin's team is crew chief Timon Marshall and new clutch man Cliff Gould who comes in for the now-retired Baz Rathbone.

Supertwin racer Nate Gagnon is over from Canada again this season but on his own superbly-engineered bike. He said "I built the bike over the winter of 2010-11. I really enjoyed racing in Europe with all the friendship and camaraderie, although there was some mechanical carnage and I was riding for someone else. Now I am riding in a two bike team with Samu Kemppainen who I sold my previous bike to and we are both running Nitro V60 engines supplied by 13-time championship winning Ron Houniet's Fastlane Racing. My best time is 6.40 and speed 238 so it was great to run a 6.57 yesterday with soft settings."

Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woollatt was happy with an early shut-off 6.78/155 checkout pass in the Pro Testing session. He said "We are in the lap of the weather. This is the first event this year that we have had the chance of making a full pass, with Easter being curtailed. We need more chances, so I am planning to run at Hockenheim again this year."

Super Street Bike racer Thomas Granica, pictured left with brother Peter, said "We are used to the weather being unpredictable at this event and it is the same for all. I was helping Peter sort his new bike on Thursday so my pass was the first on a prepped track with the new intercoolers. They help give more power at lower boost settings which should mean better reliability and consistency. But the old boost controller settings are no longer valid so we will have to build a new tuning curve. The goal was to de-stress the engine and expect the power output to be at least 400hp." Thomas is running the UEM Super Street Bike series with two rounds at SPR as well as Hockenheim and Kunmadaras.

Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables ran a remarkable string of 7.24, 7.22 and 7.34 in a fraction over two hours in the test session yesterday. He said "I'm pleased but the tyre was still spinning down the track. I think we've found a good setting. We have changed a few things including the way it shifts gear with the boost solenoid and they improved the peformance. The whole bike is now 2.5 inches further forward - the DME Racing.com chassis is the same but the swing arm, subframe and new forks place me further forward. Big CC have helped me with the engine and I have a special Owens Development turbo. I will be at the UEM round at Hockenheim but not Hungary as my contruction business is keeping me busy." You can follow Ven Racing on their Facebook page.

Super Pro ET racer Andy Raw is a welcome returnee after recovering from injuries sustained in an accident on the way to last August's NitrOlymp'x. The VW Funny Car is running mid-eights with the help of Karl Harrison. Karl said "I am involved closely with Andy as crew chief and we also store and prepare the car for him. Andy's engine was built by my friend Mark Pacey and Andy helps at the weekend." Karl is also working on Steve Taylor's dragster which will be returning to the track soon with new engine parts. Meanwhile Karl has a new Firebird body (ex-Shockwave) for his alky funny car which his girlfriend Natasha is planned to race when it is back at the track.

Already widely known as the Queen of Race Control, Assistant Race Director Carole Ismail now commands even more respect as she has gained her MSA National A licence and thus qualified as a Race Director. Carole is already qualified as a UEM International Race Director and should be an MSA/FIA International Race Director by the end of this season. Carole is currently the only female Race Director UK in drag racing.

Pro Stock racer Jimmy Alund has a new 2012 Camaro built by renowned uS Pro Stock constructor Jerry Haas with a Bob Ingles engine under the hood. Jimmy tested the car at the NHRA Summernationals at Heartland Park, Topeka where he ran a 6.757/204.32 in the new car which is sponsored by KW Parts.com. With a new combination, the car has struggled to launch so far. After packing up early and leaving Jimmy said "I have broken one engine and damaged another - I don't have the budget to afford any more damage." Jimmy cited issues with the track.