Santa Pod Raceway, 23rd-26th May 2014
Saturday
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The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news. Click here to go back to the event index 21:45 Today's pictures have now been posted and can be viewed via the Event Index page. There are 110 pictures in all; if you do not see all 110 updated thumbnails when you load the gallery page then click on your Browser's Refresh button. 20:30 Simon has posted another set of pit notes which you can check out via the Event Index page. Thanks to Deputy Race Director Carole Ismail for letting us know that FIA Pro Modified Q1 has been annulled. We will start tomorrow with the remainder of Sportsman Q3, then go into the rest of Pro Q1. There is a provisional plan for three Pro qualifying sessions tomorrow; if so then Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol FC, having completed Q1, will not contest the last round so that all Pro classes will have had the same number of qualifiers. Super Pro ET and Pro ET qualifying is finished and their eliminations will commence after the first Pro qualifying session. We will have tomorrow's provisional running order either late tonight or first thing in the morning. 20:05 As Mats Eriksson's car was retrieved from the track it started to rain. With three quarters of a mile of track to dry the Race Director has called a halt for today. Stay tuned as Simon has more pit notes for you and we have today's gallery to compile. 19:35 FIA Pro Modified qualifying session 1 (left lane first) Please note that this session was subsequently annulled but we will leave it in the report for the record. Chris Isaacs 8.1921/138.59 bye; Roger Moore 7.1243/189.00, Andy Robinson 8.0173/202.41; Tero Laukkanen 6.3105/221.45, Rick Garrett 6.9582/163.07; Andy Wright 8.1845/202.57, Jean Dulamon 7.4700/204.16; Mats Wicktor 9.5087/181.41, Roger Johansson 7.3389/134.56 Mats Eriksson no time DQ, Bruno Bader 6.5554/221.10... 7.40 or better to complete licencing for Eurodragster.com sponsor Chris. Tyres squealing at the launch, 1.2962 blackstriping to sixty and tyres still squealing at the eighth, off the gas to a 5.0999/138.97 and pulling the car away from the centre line. A little tyre spin for Roger at the hit, 1.1113 to sixty, instant shake for Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy 1.3667. Andy pedalled again and again to beat the shake, 5.3713/142.60 to the eighth whilst Roger had pedalled and picked up 4.6129/156.76. Rick had the better sixty 0.9132 to 1.0340 but then Tero was off and running, pulling away by the eighth 4.2175/182.74 to Rick's 4.3172/158.53, Smoke from the right side of Tero's motor in the second eighth and a big puff of smoke as he shut it off. Track checked and found to be OK. Instant shake for Andy 1.6630 to sixty, 1.1786 for Jean. Looked like a conservative tune-up for Jean 4.9908/151.62 at the eighth to Andy's 5.6041/142.08. Sounded like a misfire at launch for Mats, Roger stormed to sixty in 0.9627 to Mats' 1.8589. Roger drove through shake and the car wrote a big S on the track, to the eighth in 4.1409/148.94 to Mats' rough-sounding 6.8099/138.97. Drama in the next pair, Mats away first 0.1381 to 0.2386, the better sixty foot time 0.9732 to Bruno's 0.9887. Both hit shake past the Tree, Mats' Crown Victoria got into a pendulum effect swinging left and right and up on two wheels about 500 feet out. Bruno to the eighth in 4.3440/174.77 to Mats' sideways 4.6263/107.23, the Green Goblin did a hard left and when Mats pulled it back it headed right and crossed lanes behind Bruno. You could see that Mats was hard on the brakes and pulling it straight but not quite enough as the car hit the guardrail front right-first, the throttle looked to stick open propelling it back across the track and hitting the left guardrail. Mats got it stopped not far past the stripe as the safety crews sped to his aid very rapidly. He was out of the car under his own steam and is OK. We're on hold for retrieval of Mats' car. Qualifying after this session:
19:15 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 1 (left lane first) Jurgen Nagel 5.8900/204.28 bye; Steph Milam 6.6179/221.44, Gareth Ellis 5.9925/243.87; Johan Lindberg shut off (bye) Danny Bellio 6.3864/185.88, Johan Lindberg 5.8556/246.38 0.9966 to sixty for Jurgen, going great guns to the eighth 3.7950/201.48 but then his blower panel popped, deploying the chutes at about 1100 feet. 0.9716 to sixty for Gareth, shake past the Tree but he stayed with it. Languid 1.2719 to sixty for Steph with tyres spinning but then the car picked up. Gareth to the eighth in 3.9770/189.37 to Steph's 4.5128/183.61, Gareth close to the guardrail by the stripe. Steph's FC visibly accelerating hard in the second eighth. Johan pulling forward to stage and shut off for rain at the top end. Great job by our tireless track crew. On the restart Danny and Johan ran together rather than the originally-scheduled byes. Danny rolled the beams slightly which will have affected his times, 1.2323 to sixty to Johan's 1.0107, Johan was visibly in front by 330 feet 2.6550 to 2.8455 and had the better eighth 3.9027/199.37 to Danny's 4.1048/197.89 very close to the centre line. Past the eighth it looked as if Danny was going to take out the next set of reflectors and he shut it off before 1000 feet. Johan's FC was moving left and right but he stayed with it and went into #1 spot. Qualifying after this session:
16:15 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 1 (left lane first) Manty Bugeja 5.6047/255.24, Dennis Habermann 5.5032/262.19; Timo Habermann 5.3138/267.18, Chris Polidano no time DQ; Dave Wilson 5.8610/249.61, Johnny Lagg 5.8748/212.78 Huge screaming burnout from Manty to announce his return. Dennis with the benefit of a strong half pass in Thurday's testing. 0.9756 to sixty for Manty, 0.9050 for Dennis. Dennis drove through shake from about 50 feet to 150 feet and the dragster took the long way round to the eighth 3.6379/208.58 to Manty's 3.7065/206.12. Dennis' car was moving left and right all the way down, close to the wall at the stripe. Stunning new colours on Chris' dragster. Jarry Darien overseeing the Kalanc operation. Chris left before the lights ran, wasted what looked like a fantastic run. What a stormer for Timo! 0.9033 to sixty, 3.4943 at a huge 215.05 at the eighth, no shake to speak of and sraight down the middle of his lane. 1.0763 to sixty for Grumpy with a cylinder out soon after launch, 0.9680 for Johnny, 3.9558/206.11 to the eighth for Grumpy and looked like more than one cylinder out in the second half. 3.7277/196.76 to the eighth for Johnny with cylinders going out by that point and shut it off before the stripe. Qualifying after this session:
15:50 Simon popped out between showers and picked up a quick set of pit notes, including Jari Halinen's response to his phone ringing late at night, which you can check out via the Event Index page. Super Pro ET qualifying session 3 Super Pro Q3 restarted from scratch after the early curtailment yesterday afternoon. Reinier van Schelt up from #40 to #17 and Eurodragster.com Brother-in-Law Tom Atkinson up from #21 to #14 in the first pair. New PB of 8.1496 for Gary Gooding, on an 8.50 dial-in but I doubt Gary and his team are that bothered, well done Gary! Frank Eijskoot in the other lane had wheelspin at the hit, the Fiero turned hard right and he had to back off to get it straight. Three for three DNS for Dave Nelson, shut off on the way back from the burnout. Mark Adams and Barry Giles ready to stage then shut off for spots of rain which became heavier in short order. On the restart Mark and Barry were ready to stage again and would you believe the same thing happened again! On the re-re-start Brian Pateman moved up from #10 to #4. Barry Giles for the third time of asking up against Marc Henney this time, Barry up from #23 to #9, 0.002 breakout for Marc. Superb pair of burnouts by Liam Jones and Phil Toppin, both past 100 feet and a hard right turn from Phil's altered as he stepped off the gas. 0.0078 RT for Phil and Liam in at #19 +0.066 on dial-in. 8.096 for Marck Harteveld on an 8.90 dial-in, plenty more left in there as Marck was on and off the gas and shut it off way early. Superb 0.0014 RT for Laura Turburville and up from #29 to #10. Brad Jackson shut off and pushed back for a fluid leak. Big move for Dave Ward, up from #15 to #4. Judging by the reaction of his crew a breakout 7.6540 PB for Dave Catton, if so then well done Dave! Eurodragster.com sponsor Pete Walters up from #37 to the #32 bump spot.
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F.I.A. Round 1. 2014. Santa Pod Raceway. England.
TSI RACENET SYSTEM
QUALIFYING BY: ET
14:00 The big announcement we promised is that Big Daddy Don Garlits is to be the Guest of Honour at the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Night in November. More on Eurodragster.com News. 12:30 We have had it confirmed by a member of Rune Fjeld Motorsport that Jari Halinen is inded standing in for Chris Andrews in Top Fuel Dragster this weekend. Driver change formalities are being undertaken at the moment. 08:45 Good morning and welcome to our coverage of FIA / FIM European Championships Round 1 brought to you in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. Not a very good start to the day as after a beautiful clear night with stars and spy satellites shining bright the rain came in at about 05:00. It is still raining right now but the radar shows it stopping later on and a clear area behind. This weekend's webcast is provided by Santa Pod Raceway, and continues to be free. There is a link on the Event Index page or go to www.santapod.co.uk/webtv.php. If you should have any queries or comments regarding the webcam then please address them to Santa Pod. At time of writing the webcam is not running but you can tune in to Nitro FM at www.eurodragster.com/nitrofm. Further to Simon's pit note yesterday word was, late last night, that Jari Halinen is on his way to deputise for the injured Chris Andrews. We were not able to confirm last night so this piece of information comes with a health warning, but Simon is on the case. Either way repeated best wishes to Chris for a rapid recovery. We will keep you posted of any change here. In the meantime make a note to tune in to Eurodragster.com News at 14:00 as we have a huge announcement which will be posted then. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |