Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andréasson was working on the motor as we passed. He said "We had a new body shipped in from the US and due an unavoidable delay it had to be shipped by rail to Houston. It only arrived in the UK on Wednesday evening, so there has not been enough time to put wrap on. The old body had been too damaged by the tyre explosion at the European Finals. The car performed well on the run we made in the afternoon although it was jumping around a bit as the clutch locked up."

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Rob Turner was happy with the single pass in sesson no.2 which was a checkout. Crew chief Steve said "We put in a tune-up to get down the track and although it went to the right on gear shifts, it was going well."

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jürgen Nagel had a problem with the distributor turning in session one altering the timing. Crew chief Frank Schlemmer said "It sounded bad and we thought there was a big problem. But we fixed the distributor and the second run was much better, a 5,94. The computer showed that Jürgen had to lift twice so it was a big improvement. The tyres were a problem, it felt like an earthquake but it is due to the car."

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Adam Flamholc is busy as he is running a Pro Mod car in the ADRL series, where he is no.1 in the points, and in Europe a TMFC. He said "The racing in ADRL is incredibly tight, the range between no.1 and no.8 qualifier is 3.91 to 3.95. The Funny Car is different but this is a good car and runs well - today was only the second and third runs down the track. A lot of the Pro Mod driving techniques can be transferred - the burnout, the motor sound and the transmission. But the funny car is more violent as there is more power and no suspension and it lets you drive it. With a Pro Mod you have to be more gentle because of the suspension reacting. It may be better to go from Pro Mod to Funny Car rather than the other way round."

Top Methanol Funny Car racers Jonnie and Johan Lindberg have identically liveried cars. Only Jonnie ran today, two excellent passes in the ex-Frank Manzo car, 5.89 and 5.60. We anticipate the team will concentrate on preparing Johan's car for tomorrow.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Gareth Ellis ran a beam-breaking 7.47 and a 6.02 in the ex-Dan Larsen Stratus. He said "It felt straight and strong. We went back to the same clutch settings as for the licensing pass to get in a banker. The rev limits and shift points are set a bit lower than I now want, so we will move them up for tomorrow. Thanks to Bengt Johansson and Per Egil Nordby of Dan's team for their help in looking after the car."

Pro ET and Super Gas racer Jon Turner was pleased to be running without smoke from the engine in his 'Cuda. He said "We fitted new head studs and pressure tested them and all's good."

Super Comp racer Mark Ramplee is returning to competition driving after a break of six years. He said "We tested a couple of times and Stefani Robinson drove it. There is a bigger 545cu in engine with injected methanol and we are using the computer to help tune it. We have new tyres and they spun on the launch. In some ways, though, this meeting is make or break. The car was in our garage for years and my wife said 'You have to either sell it or race it.'"

Super Pro ET racer Tom van der Wijden from Holland is running 8.9s. He said "We have fitted nitrous this season and want to run 8.5 when we use it later on. This is our fourth year with the car, it went 10.50 at the start and we got it quicker each year. The engine is now 555cu in Reher Morrison with a Dominator carb.

Super Comp racer Malcolm Motler had an off-the-pace run. He said "I was caught out by the car wheelying. I got off it thought 'What am I doing, I've got wheelie bars' and got back on it quick. The track is beautifully smooth."

Topspeed Street Eliminator racer Alan Williamson has had a complete rebuild of his Chevy 3100 pickup. He said "Chris Isaacs built the chassis and the engine now has a F3 reverse Procharger. Only the body is unchanged. I'm really pleased to have run a PB for ET already and as the rebuilt truck is 500lb lighter there is more to come. It's only my third run but it feels so much more responsive and comfortable to drive. The only thing is without a servo, I need to stand on the brakes. Eventually it will run mid to low eights."

Topspeed Street Eliminator racer Stuart Williams suffered a shredded tyre on a dyno test with sponsor 2 Bar Tuning at Surrey Rolling Road at 2am last Friday. Stuart said "I thought the problem was only the tyre and then the same happened this morning and I had to abort the run. I found that pipes had been rubbing against the tyre. We moved the charge cooler to the rear for better weight distribution and the pipes were rubbing against the tyre." The car has had various changes to make it lighter, a new body and wing and lexan windows. The Toyota six cylinder engine now has a billet bottom end. Stuart continued "There is too much power on the launch and we are logging suspension using Motec sensors and Sytecs Power Train Control software including a nitrous ECU. It is very advanced and we are only using 17 out of 67 channels of data." With 1500hp on tap, the car is now down into the sevens and Stuart is confident of further improvements.

Super Gas racers Stevan Reffeltrath and Cas van der Mosselaar are racing with Arnold Hol as Team Orange Country. Stevan's '62 Nova has a 461cu in engine with 8/71 blower and Powerglide, whereas Cas's '70 Nova has a 571cu in engine and TH400 gearbox. Main sponsor is www.usa-cars.nl.

Super Pro ET racer Johan Oomen had the car come round on him in the burnout but missed hitting any solid objects. He said "It was a normal burnout and the spin only happened after I lifted. We have inspected everything and nothing is broken so will be out later." The nitrous-assisted 598cu in Dart engined Viper is being raced without any major changes from last year.

Super Pro ET racer Shari Oomen has moved up after three years of Junior Dragster racing. The car is imported from the US and has a CPE chassis, 489cu in with Rons Toilet injection on E85 fuel, and Powerglide gearbox. Johan said "We bought it unused and were getting the bugs out of it on Thursday but it is running better now and should run low eights with the current setup but the chassis is tagged to 7.5."

Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders suffered a repeat of the fuel pump related problem on the practice day. Crew man Peter said "The shaft to the fuel pump drive from the crank was too small so we have gone back to the old unit. The car responded well as it ran a new PB of 8.508, albeit on a 8.60 dial-in."

Super Pro ET racer Andy Chilton is back after five years with the ex-Andy Robinson Studebaker. He said "The 706cu in engine is ex-Peter Wacker and we won't be using the nitrous until the next meeting. The car has been stripped back to the bare chassis, replumbed and rewired. There is a new radiator, tank and breathers. The only part out of my old Super Mod Rover is the Lenco."

Andy Chilton thanks brother Rob Chilton (Crew Chief), Paul and Steven Morton, Susan Emery, sponsors TT Teamwear and Andy Robinson Racecars and all others who have supported the build. He said that after a year in Super Pro, a move to Pro Mod is being seriously considered.

Super Pro ET racer Dave Evans said "At Easter 2012 the engine was wrecked on my first burnout and it is now rebuilt by Jeff Bull to a larger 496cu in size. We ran with the same settings as before but the gearbox jammed in second with a shifter problem. Even after aborting the run for that we were still happy. We replaced the solenoid on the shifter as it was not letting the air out. If that doesn't work I will shift manually." Dave is joined by (from left) Chris Rushton, Andy Bennett and Duncan Goodenough.

We were sorry to hear that Super Pro ET racer Dave Gibbons had an injured foot in the staging lanes resulting in the need to be checked out at the local hospital and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Fuel Funny Car racer Henrik Christensen is licensing in a car formerly owned by the late Knut Soderqvist and driven by Patrik Pers. New owner and crew chief Soren Madsen said "The car has been updated to current specs and there is a new Alan Johnson engine. The team is Danish Viking and you can find our Facebook page as Nitro Funny Car." Henrik has Pro Mod experience driving and the team is sharing tuning data with Stig Neergaard through US tuner John Smith.

Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance is looking to run quick with a new fuel system including replacement injectors, fuel pump and lines. The bike was remapped on the dyno. Graham said "The revised fuel system showed a bit more horsepower and when we put a few things right there will be even more. In testing we never expected to be that quick." In the first qualifying round, Graham stopped off the line so we still have to see the revised combination's potential.

Super Twin racer Al Smith is running a Van Geffen engine which is similar to crewman Chris 'Cannon' Hannam's but injected rather than blown. Cannon is taking a year out to help iron out teething issues on two new UK bikes and build a new engine for his Super Twin bike from scratch. Al ran a three quarters pass of 8.81.

Top Fuel Bike racer Michael Vickers is also being helped by Cannon and Michael's brother Mark (pictured). Mark said "The bike has been ten years in the building and has a turbo and three stage nitrous of a similar set-up to the funny bikes previously run by Cannon and Neil Midgley. Al Smith built the frame. We tested the bike two weeks ago and one previous time. There is a lot of power but the bike was pulling to the right which was down to the wheelie bars."

Pro ET racer Sarah Styles is in her first year in the class in her Camaro bought from Tanya Partridge. She said "We have had the car for three years and ran in Sportsman ET in 2010 when we were runner-up at the Open Sports Nationals. We have rebuilt the engine and bored and stroked it and look to run in the low 11s." Sarah improved on her prediction resulting in a break-out 10.88 on 11.20 dial-in.

Pro ET racer Ian Brown is one of three racers in his family with wife Ozzie in Sportsman ET and son Harrison in Super Street. He said "We had good meetings at Easter and Shakey so Harrision is leading the points in Super Street. Ozzie is driving the new car and Andy Robinson will be doing work on it as well."

Pro ET racer Steve Hudson was camera shy despite losing a few pounds over the last months. So wife Angie stepped in for us. There was a problem with the system so Steve's time in the first session did not appear in the field of 32 qualifiers.

Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Tig Napier made a return to action at this event and recorded an initial 9.92 on a 10.90 index to go no.32. Tig sponsors the Perfect Light award as Bad Habit Racing/Chrysler and the award stands at �75 after it went unclaimed at the Springspeed Nationals.

Pro ET racer Nigel Green, pictured centre, is joined by wife Lisa and VW Pro racer Ken Blomer. Nigel said "We had some electrical gremlins at Shakey caused by Nitrous blowing fuses which resulted in lost relays. We also changed clutch. But we can't fire it up between meetings as we store the car at our house in a cul de sac. We have run the car since 1995 and in Pro ET since 2007." Ken mentioned he will be bringing his Karmann Ghia out later in the season and also now owns the Outrage VW Funny car which holds the world record for VW powered machines at 7.70 and he will use VW power in.

Pro ET racer Mike Lacey enjoyed a PB of 9.20 on the new SPR surface at Easter. Here he has a new set of tyres on the car resulted in a 9.31 on 9.26 dial to go no.9. Mike said "I am happy keeping the car as all steel with stock interior and windows so will not be aiming to go quicker." Mike runs the Pro ET sponsorship scheme with help from others.

Pro ET racer Brian Huxley (still racing aged 71) and son Lee in Super Gas are Team Dark Horse. They said "We missed Easter due to waiting for a new camshaft. But now we have fitted it we are pleased because it has a milder profile and uses hydraulic lifters which makes for smoother running. It may be a tenth slower but it's all about consistency." Brian went 9.81 on a 9.70 dial to go 13th.

Pro ET racer Ibo van der Haven is running his "Cheap Thrills" Malibu for the first time here and he described himself as a "motorsport virgin". Ibo ran his third licensing pass of 12.11 with a BBC of 460cu in with a single carb. Ibo is a member of the Dutch Step A Side team and ran his first two passes on Thursday.

Pro ET racer Arnold Hol is also licensing and ran a 9.98 on his third pass. The Plymouth Road Runner has a 500cu in Mopar engine and before Arnold bought it it was run by Sven Hanausch from Hamburg. Arnold said "I have only ran it two times before in two and a half years so this is special." The car was originally built by Peter Schöfer.

Super Pro ET racer Tom Atkinson is driving the Team Time is Money Cortina this weekend. He said "It's my turn to run on the new surface although my Dad John has injured his finger this weekend after it was shut in a door. We have not touched the car since Shakey and hope to run well first time out." Tom ran 8.88 on 8.80 to go fifth.