Chris Hope, team owner for Pro Stock Bike and 9.50 Bike racer Alex Hope and 8.50 Bike racer Mark Hope, has the no.2 on his tea mug and he said 'It's for being second quickest in my family'. Alex ran a PB of 7.33 on his PSB after the bugs in a new ignition unit and coil were ironed out. He said 'We can now start tuning it and get down the track, but Alex has the 9.50 Bike championship to focus on as well'. Next year's plans are for Alex to compete in all rounds of the FIM Championship. Chris continued 'We have a bigger engine on the workbench at home. Alex loves riding it and loves the competition'. Mark has made his debut in 8.50 Bike this weekend on a turbo Hayabusa and tested to 8.50/165 yesterday. Chris admitted 'My role has returned to making the coffee.'

8.50 Bike racer John McLean Jnr and 9.50 Bike racer John McLean Snr are pictured with crewman Adrian Cattell. They both have Suzuki GSXR engines with nitrous and same carbs, electronics and frame. The difference is that the 8.50 bike has a slider clutch which is tuned to make for quicker ETs. John McLean Jnr ran a 8.44 in the second session after being pushed back with an oil leak. John McLean Snr ran a 9.79 to go ninth.

Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables, pictured with daughter Jemma and wife Jo, tested to a 7.32, 7.23 and 7.18/202 yesterday and then ran a 7.19 backed up by a 7.22 for a new ACU record. He said 'The bike is going straight and I'm really happy with it. Winning the FIM Super Street Bike championship was a high point of this year. Obviously I thank my crew. We will carry on developing Jemma's bike and mine during the winter and await the FIM decision on fuel for next year'. Steve's own bike runs on E85 and a switch of Jemma's to that is possible. The use of C16 racing gas for FIM racing is under threat.

Funny Bike racer Jiri Lukes (pictured right) and Sportsman ET racer Jan Lukes both experienced problems. Jan's car broke at the recent Open Sports Nationals and he has had to borrow Jiri's Honda Accord. Then after a bang in session one, Jiri's clutch became suspect. Without sufficient time to strip it down, the second run was a bit of a gamble and Jiri went tenth of thirteen with an 8.58/162 on the nitrous machine.

Funny Bike racer Lizz McCarthy had run bike owner Richard Gipp's machine at the Bulldog Bash to a 7.6 in August. She admitted 'My best of 7.43 is on a comp bike with a narrower tyre so we should go faster. But I was nervous, didn't use full throttle and didn't wait for the shift light'. But a 7.62 was good for no.2 qualifier. Lizz thanks Richard and partner Kev Charman for their support - 'The crew know what they're doing.'

Comp Bike racer Tony Clark said 'It's been an up and down year, gremlin after gremlin. I had a big fuel problem this morning, thought I had it fixed but it wasn't. The stall speed pulled the motor down on the line so I will up the stall speed. I am never going to give up. The bike can run well but not as good as I would like'. Tony qualified fifth with 8.13/164.

Funny Bike racer Dave Peters, pictured with crewmen Tom (left) and clutch guy Terry (right) ran a near PB with a 7.297. He said 'I ran a 7.25 at Avon Park however I broke my engine and the crankcase split. I am running an old engine with a rebuilt gearbox and the head bolts stripped preventing testing so we are struggling. There is more in it but we have turned the turbo boost down and are tuning the clutch.

Funny Bike racer Gary Jones said he had a great response to an appeal for a new fuel pump. 'A Dutch guy was prepared to take his pump off his car and courier it to us and we also had offers from Junior Dragster racers and other FB racers. In the end the parts arrived from Hilborn in time. We've been up against it as the bike snapped the crank at the Open Sports Nationals and we've had to rebuild the pistons and head'.

Dutch race organisers ESLA, headed by Emrys Blomont and Margot Schmidt, are working to rebuild the sport in the Netherlands. Emrys said 'We have been discussing dates with other European organisers including Keith Bartlett and Jerry Lackey and will be announcing a calendar for 2015 and details by the end of November'. ESLA is also promoting a street legal series which initially will include rounds in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Czech Republic. Emrys said 'We have good foundations and have a three year plan for the series, with branding and promotion included as well as adaptation to different locations'. Emrys can be contacted here.

Nostalgia Fuel Altered racer Robbie Grabham ran his first seven in the morning session, a 7.88. He said 'It's my first time launching in first gear and my first run against another car. There's a lot more to come and a lot of the credit goes to Dave and TC. Unfortunately piston damage means we won't be making any more runs this weekend but will do the whole series next year'.

Nostalgia Funny Car racers Tim Garlick (left) and Perry Antoniou ran a very early shutoff 6.56 this morning. Perry said 'We have a few things to change and Rob and Jason are looking at the data. We changed the magneto before the event. Our plans for next year are very similar and we are looking to race rather than demo passes, so will hold off overseas dates until 2016'.

Wild Bunch racer Mick Gleadow, who raced from the mid 60s, is still active almost 50 years after running, together with brother Bob, his Flathead and, then, Oldsmobile-engined Pop that was one of the earliest UK built altereds . He said 'After we had a family I ran a flathead dragster, a nitrous Rover V8 engined dragster and then T buckets. Later it was the Time Machine Funny Car (the body now on Wendy Baker's Time Warp) and a Top Methanol Dragster. I then had a break doing Formula 750 circuit racing and karting and now I've come back to drag racing which I plan to continue after retiring from my day job'. Mick's car is a Roy Wilding chassis from 2008 and runs low tens. The car is named 'Jurassic Parts' a reference to the front wheels and steering column and butterfly which are from Allan Herridge's pioneering 1960's rail Pulsation. Plans are to make it a Junior Fueler spec machine with stack injection on methanol for 2015.

Comp Eliminator racer Robin Orthodoxou has been posting consistent low seven times with his altered and ran his first six at the Euro Finals. He said 'We had fuel problems in the last year but we cured them and got some new Fab Shop headers. Before, there was not enough power to get the clutch to slip'. Robin is leading the Comp Eliminator standings and remarked 'When I saw my name at the top I thought 'This can't be me, this is serious stuff!'

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster said 'The engine broke in the final at the Euros when a harmonic damper broker which caused the cam drive to fail and pistons taking out eight exahust valves and two intake valves and stripping rocker studs. Fortunately we had most spares and I am very grateful to Rob and Nick at I.C.E. who have been instrumental in the repairs. I ran quick in the first session although there was a misfire at the top end. The chassis worked well on the launch'. Jon is in a points chase with Stuart Williams although he needs to qualify no.1 and win the event to pass his total.

Pro ET racer and, as OCS Paint, Eurodragster.com sponsor Nic Williams ran some thrilling wheelies at the Euro Finals however the final one caused damage and almost result in a coming together with Rick McCann in the other lane. 'The car bent the left wheelie bar which caused it to go right and the headers were also bent, the axle was pushed forward and engine mounts broke. So over the winter we will reinforce and strengthen the wheelie bars and will change the rear end gearing which will mean we can drive into the wheelie. We plan to run both the Camaro and Nova in the Swedish EDRS rounds next year.

Pro ET racers Carla Pittau and Rick Mccann are planning to relocate to Sweden to live close to Tierp from the start of next season. They will still visit SPR but 2014 is probably their final opportunity for Rick to win a UK championship. Carla's attendance at this event came under threat as the fuel pump in her tow vehicle failed last Friday, a replacement was not available in the UK and no hire tow vehicles were available. 'When we got a replacement from the US on Thursday we were faced with a tricky in-tank installation and then found the replacement didn't work. We are incredibly grateful to Simon Gough for dropping everything, missing five hours of testing and taking us back home after the event'.

Ian Turburville has built a new car that is a nod to the 1960s Surfers team. Ian said 'Bloodlines Racing commissioned me to build the car for selling on. The rolling chassis is by Roy Wilding and body panels and interior are by Sid Slattery'. Ian has fitted a 510cu in high compression BBC with race internals and a fuel injection system with Edelbrock tunnel ram and Hilborn nozzles and pump with an output of 800hp. Paint is by Martin Curbishley and an aluminium copy of the orginal wooden front wing has a hydrographic print to make it look authentic. Ian reported he has shown pictures of the car to the surviving members of the Surfers to their approval. If you are interested in buying the car contact Ian here.

Super Pro ET racer Amanda Cox had a drama yesterday when her legal-for-Pro Mod Nova went on its roof on a test run yesterday. She said 'We progressed well at the Euro Finals and our game plan was to lean on the engine with an increase in boost. The run started as normal with our usual staging sequence. After a 1.15 60 ft time it went hard left. There was tyre shake on the left side only and when it made a moved I lifted and corrected and tried to brake. But it was already fishtailing and I could do nothing to avoid going over. While I was on the roof I kept calm and switched everything off as I was worried about the car barrel rolling. The safety crew were there straight away and the paramedic appeared and helped me out quickly as I was only being held in by the strap. The crew turned the car over very carefully and it was able to be wheeled into the pits. Although we later found a stress fracture on the rear axle there was no other component damage and Jon Webster was happy the chassis is intact. We will need a new body and will decide our plan for 2015 over the winter. We want to go Pro Mod but I will need to get comfortable back in the car before then'.

Super Pro racer from Germany Frank Wambach tested yesterday and the torque convertor broke. He said 'The transbrake wouldn't work and when we tested we found the convertor had broken. We installed a used convertor lent by Liam Jones who we helped last year and worked on the car to 1am. The replacement is a little too big and we will try to get it to work'.

Super Pro ET racer Rod Harrison has acquired a replacement Brad Anderson engine with new crank, rod and pistons from Holland and is building the new combination up for next year. He said 'We are very provisionally looking at getting finances to enable us to enter Top Methanol rounds in the UK next year. We will have all the parts and the team is ready to step up and love taking the engine apart and rebuilding it. We are trying hard to get sponsors and Mark Adams will also be racing in our Super Pro dragster next year'.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders, pictured with wife Babs, son Tom and crew chief Peter said 'We suffered tyre spin on our first run and didn't get to the testing yesterday. We are past the fuel pump problems of 2013 as we got rid of the last Chevy part on the car and installed a Ford pump'. The team are planning on attending the NitrOlympX next year and contesting the SPRC championship. Babs said 'Thanks to all the track staff, startline, fire crew and marshals at the Euro Finals, the organisation was brilliant'.

Comp Eliminator racer Rob Smallworth last ran at the Mopar Euronats in Top Sportsman. He said 'We put a Bruno convertor in the car at the start of the year and still have a few issues and are running slower than when we had the clutch'. Rob explained the theory behind puttinga convertor on the car. 'We were having nitrous burps which blew the hood scoop off and with a convertor the rpm builds gradually wheras it drops with a clutch if the engine bogs which can lead to a nitrous burp. There was very little adjustment available on the clutch'. The rest of the combination is unchanged and Rob is currently considering his options as his chassis is CDS (Cold Drawn Seamless), which is heavier than chrome moly. Rob is pictured with crew Bryan (left) and Barry (centre).

Super Pro ET racer Tom van den Wijden impressed with a 6.07 at the Euro Finals and increased the launch rpm to 4200 in testing yesterday. The result was a new PB and first run into the fives, a 5.99. Tom said 'When we started with the funny car our objective was to run 6.5 but achieved 6.4 and 6.3 at the Mopar Euronats. We have changed the ignition curve to give more launch power, however this morning went out of the groove and ran into tyre shake after a best 60ft of 0.95. When I exited the car I had some back pain and so will rest and come out for another run this afternoon'.

Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woollatt overcame adversity after the incident with Filippos Papafilippou at the Euro Finals (which went viral on Youtube). He said 'We ran a winning ET of 6.268 within three hundredths of our PB in winning the final round. It was an unfortunate racing incident with Fil and it is good news that he is ok'. Steve is provisional ACU Top Fuel Bike champion by virtue of his points at Easter, Rene van den Berg having withdrawn following rod failure at the Euros and Nick Milburn still undergoing licensing procedures. Steve says plans for next season are in hand with some winter updates and parts replacements on the cards.