FIA Main Event Press Day
Santa Pod Raceway, Wednesday 29th May 2002

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19:30

Today's pictures are now posted, you can get to them from the event update index.

That's the end of our coverage of the FIA Main Event Press Day, thank you for tuning in. Thanks for their help today to Steve Horn, Trevor Barker and the start line crew, Bob Day and the safety crew, Steve Wells, Kjell Pettersson, Caroline Day, Roger Gorringe and Bill Sly. Personal thanks from Sharkman to Trevor Barker and Robin Shone for the loan of the safety kit.

We'll be back on Saturday morning with our coverage of the FIA Main Event proper, so we'll see you then.

This report was brought to you in association with American Car Imports.

17:00

John Hales had his inaugural dodgy moment on his last pass of today as the Chevy drifted left and then turned hard right about eighty feet out. John did an excellent driving job to keep the car off the guardrail.

Anders Larsson closed the day with a 7.88/138.55 to the top of fourth gear on his Pro Stock Bike.

What we are going to do now is to get our pictures together and post them from home in next couple of hours, so stay tuned.

16:30

The rain eventually went away and we got some more action in. Foremost amongst this latest session was Jari Konola who put in a 7.14/192.38 into a stiff headwind, a very straight pass after tyre shake earlier on. Michael Malmgren ran a 1.06 to sixty foot on his first pass (preceded by two burnouts) and then hit shake on his second pass.

Anders Karling also hit wicked shake off the line on his latest pass on the Uddeholm-sponsored Supertwin. Our other Anders, PSB racer Larsson, put in a 7.76/156.04, backing out at the top end as the bike pulled to the left. Anders has just been to race control and says that the bike suddenly went down on its right side. "It was very scary", he said, "you don't know what to do when it happens". Contradicting himself, Anders kept the bike upright and got it back straight.

John Hales has been taking it very sensibly on his checkout passes, netting a best so far of 10.45/137.47 in the new CCSE Chevy. Pete Creswell put the throttle stop back on his Super Gasser and clocked a 9.97/142.19.

Rachel Pattison was having a torrid time of it with her Super Street Bike, running a bunch of tens, but a best of 9.39/157.11 against Ian Warren would tend to indicate that she's back on course. Ian has run a best of 9.94/136.71, that in a pass against Rachel in which she got there first by 0.004 seconds.

Eurodragster staffer Sharkman took a passenger ride in Steve Wells' Pop pick-up, a 10.68/119.02. Shark took his video camera with him so stay tuned to his web site...we have seen the video and it's superb! Steve's other pass this session was a 10.38/121.23.

Jim Draper put in passes of 9.35/135.78 and an early-shut-off 9.74/101.18 in the Super Pro altered.

It's now raining again so I would not be surprised if that was all for today. We're now putting together today's pictures so stay tuned for news of those.

13:30

We're currently on hold after a heavy rain shower but the sun is now out and the track is drying quickly.

Darryl Bradford and the Wildside Inc team have their Top Fuel Dragster on display here today but unfortunately not running because they are awaiting a new part for the rear end. "Strange in the USA said that they could get the part to us for Friday but that's cutting it a bit close", said Darryl. "Cambridge Motorsport very kindly stepped in and are fabricating the part for us". Darryl has enjoyed his experience of Top Fuel so far. "I've had great fun driving it", he said. "It really hooks up and goes! I'm looking forward to going as fast as it looks."

The passes we've had since the last update are as follows:

Rachel Pattison 10.64/140.70
Steve Wells 10.43/121.08
Pete Creswell 0.41 RT, 9.28/143.61
Susanne Callin 8.42/127.97
Colin Aldred (Super Comp) 9.79/131.33
Anders Larsson 7.98/132.21 (off the throttle at 1000 feet)
Andy Oliver (CCSE) 11.62/120.53

Anders Larsson tells us that his next run is to be a full pass...and that he doesn't want us to publish the time. "It's set for record pace", he said with a smile.

We'll be back with more news once the track has dried.

12:00

Good afternoon and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway. Today sees the FIA Main Event Press Day and we're here to bring you the action in association with our friends at American Car Imports. We have a number of racers here to impress the media, we've had a word with them and here is what we've found out.

Pro Stock Bike racer Anders Larsson told us that he wasn't very happy with his weekend's testing. "But I took it slowly because everything is brand new", he said. "I plan to make three or four passes, two to sixty feet and then some full passes, see what we get". Anders' first run this morning was to just before half-track, a 1.19 sixty-foot and 8.41/116.27 at the quarter mile.

Super Gas racer Pete Creswell is here primarily to get back on the horse after taggign the guardrail at the Springnationals a few weeks back. "It shook me up a bit", he said. "It looks scary on the video! I've been racing since 1996 and the car has never done anything like it before, it just turned left on me. Luckily I found the chute handle!". The car has new bodywork at the back and new front and rear tyres. "It cost £100 for the parts and trim to fix the body", said Pete. "Miles Mustang in Norwich came up with the parts". Pete's first pass netted him a 0.400 reaction time and an 11.93/71.07, shut off at half track.

Michael Malmgren's Crew Chief Heikki Parviaien says that the plan today is for sixty-foot passes. "The headwind is too strong", he said. The AC Delco team already have quite a database of runs this season, having put in thirty or so passes in the USA.

John Hales is already drawing admirers to his new '56 Chevy which is to run in Custom Car Street Eliminator. "I used to be involved in 1979 but this is the first timem since", said John. "I'm a bit nervous so I'll be taking it softly-softly because it's a new car and an unknown quantity". The car was built by Hauser Race Cars and has an ICE 698 ci engine. "It's the sister engine to Steve Pateman's", said John. "I'll have no problem running straight because Jon Webster built it and he is the best!". The car was painted by Wilf Stacey and looks like the original item. "I'm amazed at the job which Wilf has done", said John. "He suggested that we chose an original Chevy colour scheme so my wife and I went through the book and my wife chose the colours". Don't miss it at the weekend.

In the next pit, Andy Oliver has his CCSE Camaro here. "I'm mainly here for moral support to John", said Andy. "Allglass, which is one of CCSE's class sponsors, put the windscreen in his car this morning". Andy's Camaro has been to Hauser Race Cars to have some work done to enable it to pass tech.

Super Pro ET racer Jim Draper is here to test and hopefully to get the altered into the eights. "We found the problem from the last race. If it gets into the eights we won't be too unhappy!" said brother Charlie.

The other runs we have had so far today have been as follows:

Rachel Pattison (Super Street Bike) 10.09/155.85
Pete Creswell 9.84/106.07 (three-quarter pass)
Jim Smith (VW Pro) 10.59/120.74
Susanne Callin (two-seater dragster) 8.29/137, 8.46/125.97
Anders Karling (Supertwin Top Fuel) 1.15 60-foot, 11.851/62.00 (off at 250 feet)
Steve Wells (Pro ET) 0.501 RT, 10.31/121.93

Stay tuned and we'll be back with more soon.