Pro Mod racer Kev Slyfield suffered the sole mishap of today's racing after a swipe at both walls. He said "It went right and I corrected it twice then it went hard left at 1000ft and hit the wall. It was a side-on hit as I had full lock on to try to straighten it up. There was no fire and the safety crew did a great job getting me out of the car and taking me to the medical centre. I checked out fine, all I had was a headache. Sadly I am probably out for the rest of the year as we spent money over the winter on a new back axle."

Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson had a successful maiden pass of 7.7 in his swoopy Camaro. There is plenty of carbon fibre, magnesium and titanium in the construction of the car so it is under weight and ballast can be added as a tuning aid. The team estimate that the smaller frontal area and improved aerodynamics will be good for a tenth off the ETs which should equate to a five in better conditions when the car is dialled in. The car is titled 'Yenko/SC' after the cars modified by the dealership of that name in 1967-9.

Pro Mod racer Wayne Nicholson is treating the event almost as a test and tune - "Representative times can't be run here. We have freshened the motor and repaired the prop shaft which broke at the National Finals. We just need track times and are enjoying it." Wayne's best was 7.62 which was quickest in the class.

Top Fuel racer Duncan Micallef was pleased to be back in the driving seat after a successful licensing last year. He said "We have come with five Maltese crew, John, Frank, Raymond, Mark and Adrian who are being coached by Rune Fjeld's crew. I had a problem in the run when I put he visor down and it misted up. I couldn't see during the run and lifted after 400-500 foot. Nevertheless it was the best 60ft time of the day, a 0.93. The track is much smoother and especially at the top end when I braked the car didn't bounce." Duncan has additional sponsors DBR Investments, S&T Services, TotalNet and Cavalieri Hotel. Potential sponsors may like to view Duncan's web site at www.duncanmicallef.com.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders, aided by wife Babs and crew of son Tom and crew chief Peter was enthusiastic about the new SPR surface. He said "It is so smooth - the car usually moves about if the track is bumpy but this time went very straight. To run an 8.57 out of the box at 157mph was great, even if the snow seemed to be following us down the track. Thanks to the track crew who are excellent." Steve is contesting all rounds of the 2013 National Championship.

Super Pro ET racer Rick Cooke (pictured left) is back with a repainted and mechanically freshened dragster after a three year layoff. He said "Thanks to my crew Simon Mitchell for preparing the body panels, Peter Walters for the design and Richard Walters for the candy apple red and orange paint job. The design is based on a vehicle in the 1978 hot rod film "Corvette Summer" which is one of my favourite movies." The main mechanical change is a new carburretor from Bo Laws at BLP and Rick now runs methanol through it. Rick said "It was going to be a 1000ft test pass but when I hit second gear it was such a good feeling I kept with it to a 8.57/159. We want to run low eights or a high seven this season. The track is so much better and thanks to owner Keith Bartlett for getting it resurfaced - not having the bump at the top end makes it feel safer and there are no longer any handling issues. There are a lot of people to thank, but we are particularly grateful for Matt Seamarks and his tow car."

Super Pro ET racer Wouter van Leersum runs a '68 Camaro built to Pro Mod specs by Vanishing Point race cars. Wouter who will be racing in the UK and at Malmö in Sweden this year hopes the 541cu in supercharged engine will take him to 7.4-7.5s times this weekend. He said "The track is good" and was happy with the launch of the car.

Pro ET racer Glenn Pallant runs this immaculate Ford Consul Capri, a classic of which less than 20,000 were produced. Glenn said "This is my first ever drag racing experience after I have been spectating since the age of 17. During 2012 I met Billy Gane who lives half a mile from me and he sourced the car which had been built in 2000 and had never run. We had a modify the bulkhead and build a new pedalbox as I am a foot taller than the previous owner. Although built as a street car, it has a full tube chassis. The engine is a 502cu in BBC with a Dominator carb and TH400 trans. There is a nitrous setup on it but I won't be using it just yet. I am learning, got my license today and am launching with the footbrake rather than transbrake. Thanks to Vince Gibbs for helping with the harness and door netting."

Pro ET racer Nik Williams of Eurodragster.com points page sponsor OCS Paints is racing this '68 Camaro 396SS which he brought out at the Flame & Thunder Show last October. He said "The car had done 85,000 miles on its original 'matching numbers' engine which we still have. For this season I have replaced it with a 454cu in engine from our '32 hot rod and Dan freshened it. The plan for 2014 is to get a ZL1 427cu in all aluminium engine built by Tilburg (who builds 90% of NHRA Stock and Super Stock engines and race it in AA/S alongside Dan in Stock/Super Stock." Brother Dan will be going to Sweden again this summer to race the Chevy Nova in the Stock/Super Stock series amd there are further plans to race it in the US in 2014 when Dan celebrates his thirtieth birthday. Nik said "thanks to Dan who has been spending time preparing my Camaro when I have been so busy with the paint shop. Thanks also to JW transmissions and Earl's Performance Products for their sponsorship."

Photo journalist and former Sportsman ET racer Nigel Holland is thrilled that his book The 50 List, about his life targets before he reached 50 years of age, demonstrating that being in a wheelchair doesn't mean being disabled, is at number 9 in the Sunday Times Best Seller list. He said "My publisher Harper Collins encouraged me to put some emotion and humour into it and I found that writing it was a fulfilling experience in itself. And of course there is some pages on drag racing in it." You can order the 50 list from Amazon or your local bookshop and read more about Nigel at the book's web site.

Pro ET racer Neil Hunter is making a return to competing after suffering a split block when using nitrousat the 2011 Euro Finals. He sais "This block is solid and the nitrous is still on the car, but I won't use it here, I'm just glad of getting seat time. I have acquired another car, a '95 Firebird ran by Rickie Smith in NHRA Pro Stock. I will bring it out for a meeting in Pro ET later this year and then move up to Super Pro. I am enjoying being back, it's great running 9.7s and after a break it now seems a lot faster than before!"

Pro ET racer Steve Hudson has a new block on his '23 Altered, with internals and ancillaries unchanged. The 383cu in engine pushes the car to times of 9.2 and wheelspin on the line slowed him to a 9.64 for no.12 out of 16 cars that run in the first session.

Super Comp racer Paul Hudson has had a break of ten years since he ran in Super Gas with the same Camaro he is racing here. He said "During the last ten years the kids and kitchen got in the way but now I can return. I ran a rwyb but it was clear the engine was venerable, especially after I had it up on one wheel, and so I bought a Scott Shahiroff crate motor of 555cu in with a Dominator carb on methanol and TH400 trans. The car feels much stronger and is now running a second faster than it used to. The handling foibles seem larger when the car is quicker so I will be getting the chassis baselined at Jon Webster's.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Mats Andersson runs this Opel GT with a six cylinder Toyota engine, with a PB of 8.503. Before the year is out he hopes to sell the Opel and debut his new project, a Volvo P544 designed by Chris Isaacs and largely self-built with the help of a hot rodding friend. He said "The Opel is historic as it was raced in 1982 by the Clifton brothers and is the same as the original car apart from an extra bar in the roll cage - it is tagged to 8.50."

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Martin Smith made an impressive and confident debut this weekend in his Nissan GTR35. He said "I have been in the sport for four years after circuit racing and started by running a Nissan Skyline R33 which ran in the low tens in the Jap Series. But I found the reliability was suffering. I've always been into Japanese cars and have a stock GTR35 as a road car. So I bought one to have it converted for Street Eliminator - the engine is a 427cu in SBC with twin T76 turbos bought from Richard Billings and making 1800bhp. The car was built as a full tube chassis by Webster Race Engineering." Martin races as part of Team Extreme which he describes as "A close group of mates with a common interest." Martin's brother Matt will be bringing out his rear-halved Escort RS Cosworth V8 twin turbo later in the year. For more details see the Team Extreme Facebook page.

Super Pro ET racer Vince Gibbs said "The car is as last year and the gearbox has been retagged and engine freshened. We are aiming to run the car to speeds of below 200mph to avoid getting caught by some of the rules that come into force for cars in excess of that speed, but we will be planning to go quick." Vince mentioned he is looking for a new member of the Brackley, Northants-based team. Any enthusiastic applicants can call Vince on 07764 351277 or apply to [email protected]

Super Pro ET racer Rod Harrison enjoyed his first passes with the Team Blown Budget Firebird Funny Car. The car's body is a carbon fibre piece and mechanically it is the same as before. My first pass was last October and the run this morning gave me the immense pleasure of being the first to 200mph on the new track as well as running alongside my dragster. Thanks to my son Karl who is crew chief for both cars and crew memebers Andy Raw and Stuart Fagg."

Super Pro ET racer Mark Adams (pictured right) driving the Team Stardust dragster completed his licensing this morning after two runs in October. "It has been even more exciting than I expected and having a team like this has given me real confidence that the car will run strong and straight." Mark has been at SPR as a spectator for 20 years after first running a Capri in 1988 to times of 16.5s. Although in time Mark will be given some mechanical duties on the team, all he is concerned with at this event is packing the chute - and driving the dragster to seven second times.

Super Pro ET racer Billy Gane bought this Vauxhall Victor as his second drag racing car and ran it in Sportsman ET and then Pro ET in 2006-7 with a best of 10.8 before the standard chassis got in the way of planned modifications such as headers and brakes. After 2012 Billy decided to upgrade it to run in Super Pro and Zane Llewellyn was commissioned to build a full tube chassis into which Billy placed a 545 Big Block Ford engine with methanol injection. He said "We have run a couple of nines and found that oil had metal shards from the distributor gear. Once we have the chassis tagged officially we aim to run eights. The paint scheme is as the car originally had in 1989 and we have painted the bus to match. Meanwhile my old Cobra has gone back to its roots in York and is being raced by Dave Rudd."

An exhibition marquee has been laid on to see a display of drag racing machinery. Included is the new Fireforce 4 jet funny car which will be making appearances later in the season.