Pro ET racer Mike Lacey is racing Karen's Lass Vega after engine problems at the Main Event. He said 'An exhaust valve broke which wrecked a piston and caused damage to a cylinder bore and heads. We are awaiting a new 598ci engine from Nyes Automotive which we hope to have in by the Mopar Euronats. So we repaired the 454cu in engine and it is running as good as ever. the Vega is a different car, more electronics with traansbrake and airshifter compared with footbrake launch and driver operated shift on the Camaro. It is also much noisier as the Vega is a tube car with a lot of fibreglass panels'.

Pro ET and Nostalgia Super Stock racer Guy King has taken his Chevelle to RWYBs and is now developing the car for championship racing. 'Last year I got my license and got the car tagged. I had the car for nine years from Steve Hendry. In that time I've had six engines and four transmissions and have been changing them to get the car more consistent and reliable. I now have a BBC of 572cu in with Brodix aluminium heads, single Holley carb, Edelbrock crank and no nitrous. It runs on unleaded with a 10.5:1 compression and the TH400 is from Hughes Racing Transmissions'.

Pro ET and Nostalgia Super Stock racer Colin Theobald, helped by crew chief Keith Williams (pictured left) is racing his first championship meeting. He said 'I'm well happy. I thought I would never get out of the commentary box but have managed to at this event. Dan and Nic Williams made a Lucas Oil change, and put a pair of slicks on the rear and two springs on the throttle return and now I'm ready to race. Thanks to Darryl and Tog for their kind comments and to Dan and Nic Williams for their help in preparing the car. I am doing footbrake launches and apologise to everyone I beat'.

Pro ET racer James Oliver, who is a crew member on Williams Bros. Racing is running his Firebird Formula but had a problem in testing yesterday when his transmission failed, the bellhousing disintegrating. 'I had hard tyre shake but don't know whether it was the tyre shake that caused the trans problem or the other way round. I went home and Nic had gone back and taken a trans out of another car. This is my second meeting. Nic and Dan helped me build the car, it was a road car that I had for ten years after saving it from scrap - only the roof was in good condition. Nic painted it in a stock GM colour'. James is planning to build a Stock/Super Stock legal engine and take the car to race in Sweden next year.

Junior Dragster racer Ruaridh Hart is now sponsored by Street & Strip Magazine, now published by Pro Stock racer Thomas Lindström. Dad Ian Hart said 'We are helping Thomas run a competition for Swedish Junior racers and the prize is coming to race at the Euro Finals. Dragster racers will be hosted by Ian and drag bike racers by Lizz Charman. We are delighted to be able to help Thomas'. Ian is also writing a piece on racing in Junior Dragster, which will be serialised in Street & Strip.

Junior Dragster racer Luke Mugridge has a fantastic wrap designed by Eurodragster.com sponson Peter Walters and applied by Paul Foote. Tim Mugridge said 'There has been a lot of interest in the design'. The car is pictured in front of a huge and fully kitted out race trailer which is for sale. 'It was built originally when we ran in Super Mod and then to have Nick's dragster as well. But it proved difficult to run all three cars and want to downsize to a box trailer'.

Sportsman ET racer David Smith has a beautiful Dodge Challenger. He said 'I used to race a slingshot in the Wild Bunch about 15-20 years ago, then a family arrived. I looked for a door car and always wanted a Challenger. I had it resprayed and Andy Robinson had the chassis tagged to 8.5s. The engine is a 383 with twin carbs and the gearbox a Torqueflite race transmission. The car is fully road legal and I ran fourteens in Outlaw Street but have recently got it down to 11.69 without using my NOS kit. David, who has a 543ci spare engine, runs Plum Crazy Performance which has a rolling road dyno and does tuning, suspension mods, remapping, repairs and MOTs.

Sportsman ET racers Gill, Alan and Richard Medley now have a three car team. Gill bought her Mustang in October last year and run it in place of the 'on-fire Jeep which we sadly miss.' Nephew Richard is in his Civic who is at his first event at SPR, having started at SCR at the Springspeed Nationals, both the Honda and Mustang being run stock. Meanwhile Alan's Olds Omega has a 383ci SBC, TH350 trans, 9" Ford rear with Caltrac traction bars and fibreglass front end. Sportsman ET will be sponsored by Eurodragster.com at Bug Jam with a special award to be announced nearer the time. A charity coffee morning with slot drags in support of a cancer fund is also planned.

VW Sportsman racer Jason Turnock runs this '69 Bay Window. He said 'I have a 2.2ltr engine with twin Weber carbs and a single stage of nitrous for 50hp. The transmission is out of a late model Bay Window with close ratio gears and a torque bias diff. It is road legal and I take it camping when it is not broken'. The roof paint has been sanded back and then waxed and original paint retained elsewhere with lettering applied by Jason himself.

VW Pro racer Sam Young has made changes to the rear of his electric powered Beetle. Crew chief Ollie said 'We have bigger wheels and tyres and a new back half by Andy Robinson with the axle and suspension moved around. There is also a new three speed B&J gearbox. It's created a learning curve and given us a headache. We have decided to run full power and try to adapt the chassis to that. It looks more dramatic but is running slower than the old setup so far, and not as straight. We have Race Technology data logging which records suspension travel, throttle and motor speed'.

Super Pro ET racer Dave Evans and team suffered the recent loss of team member Duncan Goodenough to cancer and our condolences to them and his family and friends. This event, the team are looking closely at fuel pressure and have installed a bigger pump between rounds. Dave said 'We want to make sure there is enough fuel pressure at the top end and run a seven, our last pass was in the 8.2s'. Pictured left to right are Andy, Barry, Chris, Aly and Dave.

Super Pro ET car owners Richard Walters and and Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn are planning on becoming a two car team next year when driver and Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters's own dragster returns to the track. Derek also went in the Gold RV car yesterday and ran 7.16 and 7.14. This morning Peter went 7.06. 'There was less headwind and the track was better than yesterday's tuning session', said Derek. Long time crewman Mick Slocombe is pictured on the left.

Super Pro ET racer Marc Henney went into no.1 position after the second session with a 0.0038 over 7.7539. He said 'We had damage at the Main Event and had to have a new crank, rods, pistons and bearings. Many thanks to Thomas at Engelange Racing for having the spares and putting the engine together in just a week'.

Super Pro ET racer Martyn 'Syd' Jones gave former Junior Dragster racer Harry Gibson the opportunity to drive the blown alky car in testing yesterday, doing a launch, an aborted planned half track pass and then a run with shake which enabled Ian Marshall to sign off the half pass. Harry said 'I finished in Junior dragster when I was 16 and have been crewing for Syd ever since. The launches in the car were quite a shock and with a footbrake launch they were still 1.01, 0.98 and 0.97. It went towards the wall on the third run but corrected'. In his first pass this morning, the crank suffered a hairline crack and damaged bearing which has put them out for the event. Crew chief Crunch said 'We dodged a bullet there as it could have been a lot more serious in eliminations. We had had the crank since 2009 and it had been used before so it was about time to be replaced. But it is custom built so we will be out until the Euro Finals at least'.

Top Fuel Bike racer Neil Midgley scored a best on his new ride of 7.02 in Q1. 'I'm the main problem', he said. 'I got off the throttle when I had enough but it was too early. I don't want to push it into an area where I'm not comfortable'. Despite being off the throttle before the eighth, Neil recorded the quickest incrementals to 330ft in 2017 for a European nitro burning twin, with a 1.0788 to 60ft and 2.74 to 330ft, comparable with times recorded in the NHRA.

Funny Bike racer Eric Richard said he had learned a lot about running his bike at higher boost settings at the Main Event in trying to make a six second pass to qualify. 'I can run at high boost with no damage and will go full throttle as well'. A 7.21 in session one was followed by a 7.14 in the second session. Meanwhile son Yannick ran a PB of 8.79 in 8.50 Bike which has nitrous, Motec ECU and datalogger.

9.50 Bike racer Dave Bowe, who is crew chief for dad and Super Street Bike racer Garry Bowe was away from his pit at Dave Peter's. Dave Bowe scored a 9.64 to qualify fifth, Garry a 7.53 at a whopping 204mph to go ninth in SSB.

Comp Bike racer Margot Schmidt ran 8.7668 to qualify eleventh. Margot and other Netherlands racers have encouraged a sizeable entry from their country, a total of nine attending.