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Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson tested yesterday and ran his best ever 330ft and eighth mile times, the eighth being a 3.84/196, which indicates the potential of a 5.8s quarter. In session one Andy went 5.958/243 to go no.1. He said 'We want to go quicker and hope to do that in the final sesson when the track should be cooler. So far we've adhered to the script, but anything can happen. Nevertheless we are pleased with the 5.95 even if it went the long way round'. In the final session Andy ran a new PB and track record 5.867/246, the first half of a MSA Pro Mod ET record too!	VW Pro racer Daniel Pigott is one of three Team Mulisha cars entered for the event, which brings five serving soldiers together in the VWDRC. Daniel runs a R32 engine with VR6 gearbox and qualified third with a 12.28 on a 12.2 dial in. The car has been drastically lightened with fibreglass panels and custom rear end.
VW Pro racer Abi Tether has this smart VW Golf R which ran a 12.95 on a 12.90 dial in to go second.	Pro Modified racer Michel Tooren has completed the rebuild following the car contacting the wall at the Doorslammers. He said 'Many thanks go to Andy Robinson for the chassis and body work and Marck Harteveld for the hood and respray job. It was all done in two and a half weeks. We did some testing yesterday and started with a first gear launch and then a half pass to third gear and off the throttle after four seconds - that produced a little shake and 6.5s ET which was great'. In session two, he ran to the left side of his lane, out of the groove but completely straight, to a 6.147/236. His third pass was a 6.080/235, a superb performance after the car's recent rebuild.
Super Pro ET racer Billy Everitt ran a 8.08 on a 8.04 dial in and then a to go eighth after session two. The team seem to be reaching the consistency needed to be competitive in the bracket class, however we suspect that Billy is yearning for a seven second time slip.	Pro ET racer and Perfect ET award sponsor Al Platt is the first sponsor in the history of Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards to win his own award. In session one, Al went 11.5000 on a 11.5 dial in. He said 'The car's running well, we wanted to use the nitrous but the tune-up was not quite right so we have richened it up'. Al uses a lambda sensor to measure the air/fuel ratio, and it also logs the shift points and speed so that the car's performance can be compared between passes. Fine tuning is made possible by the car having EFI enabling Al to programme the air/fuel mixture above a certain level of engine revs.
Pro ET racer Andy Thetford tested in his '67 Camaro yesterday. He said 'The car got massively out of shape. I was in the right lane and the next thing I was looking at the left hand wall, I didn't know what had happened. The car also had a carburetion problem but that is now sorted'. In Q2, he broke out with a 9.79 on a 10.10 to go 29th. Andy is racing his 2nd generation yellow Camaro at Dragstalgia and is also in the middle of a Super Pro ET build. Thanks go to sponsors Thompson Elphick Accountants who will be attending the Euro Finals to support Andy.	Pro ET racer Rhiannon Bellenie ran a slightly unexpected PB in the Hayabusa engined dragster. Crew and dad Pete said 'We haven't changed much, got the tyres to work at a higher pressure to stop the car running on the tyre edge and playing with the boost as well as applying a tyre treatment. We had only dialled in a 9.9 and the dragster went 9.202/149. The engine is currently making 230hp, can go to 500hp but we wouldn't want to run it that hard. We have calmed down the launch and are feeding power in down the track using the AMS1000 boost control and Motec ECU'. The car which runs a slider clutch qualified fourth with a 9.212 on a 9.20 dial.
Pro ET racer Ethan Lisle had a new 572cu in Keith Black engine installed and his PB dropped drastically to 9.49/143 in yesterday's testing. In qualifying he went 11th with a 9.513/143.	Pro ET racer and Perfect Light Award sponsor Tig Napier has been tuning his Caltracs traction bar system and steering on his Dodge Challenger. He said 'We weren't happy with it at the Main Event. It kept pulling to the left so we put in a bias to the right but now we took out the bias which has helped. We checked the steering box and found the linkage was the wrong year with a different height to it which affected the toe in. After changing to the right pieces we look to have gone in the correct direction. We also raised the tyre pressures. We have left the car alone mechanically, it's better to do one change at a time'. The picture shows team members Roo and Foxy who were debating with Tig about polishing the car rather than working on its mechanicals.
Pro ET racer Stuart Hodgson has brought along his Outlaw Flat Four VW Beetle along. The car has a 2387cc turbo engine and has run a best of 10.54/131, but he struggled in qualifying to a 15.69 on 10.99 making him 28th.	Pro ET racer Neill Watkins went second in session one and kept that position through session two. He said 'I ran two PBs this weekend as well at 11.297/115. Amy, Tom and I are all running in Pro ET and Nostalgia Super Stock, we're trying to cool the cars down quickly but it's difficult with the current weather, we also need to get the cars' batteries charged quickly to double class. Apart from that it's just a mechanical check every pass'.
Nostalgia Super Stock racer Simon Rickwood's Bossa Nova has been extensively reworked by Williams Brothers Racing and OCS Paint and looks resplendent. The naturally aspirated 434ci SBC engined car went 10.902/126 on a 10.4 dial in to go ninth on his first race with the car in some time.	Super Street racer Karen Stevens, pictured with crew Grace Roaf, had a scary crash at the Main Event when the car barrel rolled after the finish line. She said "The Santa Pod track and medical team were fantastic getting me out of the wreckage and transferring me to Bedford hospital. I later had a CT scan which indicated I had suffered concussion and a fractured clavicle, but both healed soon afterwards. I'm sorry for Alan Medley who I collided with and glad to hear he has found another Omega in the US. I would eventually like to come back to racing but will be crewing for a year or two".
Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Dan Williams' crew member Lorne Denny is modelling the t-shirt you can buy from the team's pit area to help the team fund its US race tour. Nic Williams of Eurodragster.com sponsor OCS Paint drove the team's Camaro at the NHRA Division 1 Numidia race in AA/SA in a 91 car field. Dan said 'The race was awesome and thanks go to Tilburg Engines who introduced us to PC Richard.com who took us under their wing and advised us on setup. Nic went three rounds going 0.001 red in round three and did a best time of 0.795 under the index'. The team's future dates are Atco at the end of July, the US Nationals, NHRA National event and Dutch Classic at Maple Grove and, after storing the Camaro over winter, the 50th Anniversary Gatornationals next March. Plans are afoot to transport Dan's Nova next year as well.	SPR Commentator, Street Eliminator and Pro ET racer Colin Theobald had a lot of work on the engine carried out and dyno testing had revealed figures of 615hp and 518lb/ft of torque. 'Sadly we ran out of time and although we were 150% happy with the engine readings there were some other non-engine related problems. So I will be bringing Bruce out at Dragstalgia on Friday only for some test and tune runs and then his next race outing will be next year's Summernationals. Many thanks to Dan, Nic and Keith for all their work on the car - they are equipped to do any type of work on race cars'.
Junior Dragster racer Frankie Fordham has a great new wrap for 2018 on his car which went no.1 in session one, and was in no.2 at the end of qualifying. The wrap highlights sponsors Zero Limits Carbon Fibre. Frankie was one of several UK Junior racers who attended Clastres in France for the ATD race there last weekend.	Junior Dragster racer Jordan Payne and dad Nigel were joined by Steve Clark of Eurodragster.com sponsor Nimbus Motorsport and his son Daniel. Jordan is spending time away from the track preparing his Corvette getting the chassis recertified to 6.0 and fettling it to get a new seat fitted, the car ready for a track appearance later in the year or at the start of 2019. Jordan thanks Racetech for the safety harness.
Nostalgia Super Stock racer Adrian Portelli was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, and has been in the UK for 15 years. He said 'I was living over here and wanted to buy a first generation Charger. Amazingly I found this one in Melbourne and the exchange rate of the pound to Australian dollar was good, so my car has literally been all round the world!' Adrian has been racing for three years, starting with the Charger as a daily driver and then entering it into NSS. 'I looked at the rules and thought 'That works'. Andy Robinson Race Cars did the cage and I first raced it at Dragstalgia in 2016. I then got a new engine, a 493ci based on Chrysler 440ci with Indy heads and upgraded the transmission and rear end. I am hoping for low elevens and will be running it at Dragstalgia, the Mopars, Hot Rod Drags and National Finals'.	Super Gas racer Brett Featherstone's new Nova was imported from the US after the 2017 season and engine work has been done by Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff Bull Racing. Problems prevented a run in qualifying. Older readers may remember Brett in Wild Bunch action with the Honest Charley slingshot back in the early 1990s.
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Andy Bond is glad to be back in the Ugly Sister Chevy 210 after an enforced year off following a crash at this event last year. 'We're having to start from the beginning and take small steps'. The car has a Tubeworks chassis, I.C.E. prepared engine and gearbox, OCS bare metal paint and ProSign airbrushing. By the end of qualifying he had run 9.378/148 to go third, with seven second potential.	Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Sean Armstrong is in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo with 355ci engine. His sole run was a 14.50, short of the class cutoff, so we hope to see him at a future event.
Outlaw Anglia racer Scott Crookston made the long trip to Clastres in France, raced there last weekend, stayed in France for the week and then drove up to Santa Pod yesterday. On his first qualifying pass he ran a nitrous-assisted 7.934/167 to go no.1. He said 'We ran sevens earlier but this is my first time as no.1 qualifier. We had six Outlaw Anglias at Clastres. I have a 150hp nitrous shot and can push it further as Jed and Colin have both run 7.6s with more nitrous. We'll see'.	Super Pro ET racer Nick Good won the Main Event, effectively the first race in the 2018 championship after racing was cancelled at the Festival of Power. He said 'Although I'm leading the championship, which is why I'm here, I will miss the bonus points and hope to make it up in round wins'. The six second dragster shows incredible consistency.