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19:30

Tommy Moller was delighted with team-mate Hakan Fallstrom's 150mtr observed run and the team are looking forward to doing a 300mtr pass this evening. "If this evening's run is good, we will go for a full pass tomorrow with the intention of being in the Pro Fuel Shootout." Hakan is in turn pleased with the team and is full of confidence for his debut on fuel." Tommy also said his own car is fully prepared for running a four this weekend.

Thomas Nataas has had to withdraw his entry from the Pro Fuel shootout as the car is currently in transit from Bahrain where he was recently making exhibition passes at the F1 race.

As well as in Pro Fuel and Pro Modified, there are visiting teams in Super Gas from Norway. Olav Skiervoe from Trondheim has run his 514ci '68 Mustang for four years in the NDRS. His friend Christer Uhlin runs a Ford Fairlane with a similar Ford motor. Christer said "my Fairlane was built by Hamrin in Stockholm as a street car in the early 80s but was converted to drag use after a couple of years." Neither car runs using throttle stops. They are having a great time here, and point out that the season in Scandinavia is yet to get under way.

Stuart Morrice said "we have been running too fast and We have had to dial in loads of delay to get close to 9.90. I feel comfortable with the car and have put around thirty passes on it now. We imported it from the US and put in new valve springs and freshened the motor over the winter; I worked with Jeff Bull in the evenings on this. The car broke the Powerglide trans at Shakey and installed a new box from Jeff Bull in between meetings. I would like to say hello and get well soon to Malcolm Francis, who is suffering from flu - it must be pretty bad for him to miss a meeting!" Stuart said thanks to Malcolm and Emily who share the crew duties with Stuart, Collin, Sandy and Christine Morrice.

Craig Gibbs is looking forward to a seven second pass after running an 8.1 on his second qualifier in the Super Mod Camaro. "Due to a problem with the air shifter, I didn't get second gear on the first run, and the motor was running too rich on the second one." The Gibbs team installed a new motor of 489ci supplied by ICE over the winter break. Craig said "I would like to thank everyone for their support after my Dad's death. Racers, our friends, the crews at the track, all have been fantastic".

Jay Yates and Phil Pitt of Orange Pop crew said of Simon Barlow's incident, "The car left the line perfectly, as straight as an arrow. Then a half shaft broke and the car instantly spun round and hit the wall on the left hand side, ending up facing the wrong way. There has only been small amount of damage at the back. The impact damaged the front passenger side wheel and bent some front suspension components a little but nothing is broken." The plan is to take the car to Webster race engineering, place it on the jig and straighten it up where necessary. "The impact did not damage our new motor and we look to be back before the end of the year. Our thanks go to the fire crew and start line officials for being so quick to deal with the incident."

18:00

Chris "Cannon" Hannam was pleased with his first-ever pass on his new bike, an 8.682. He said "it's an ex-Tom Perry bike, in fact it's the next bike Tom had after the one he sold to Neil (Midgley, who is crewing for Cannon this weekend). It's got a methanol-fuelled injected turbo Suzuki motor with a Bill Hann fuel system and a PMFR frame. It has run a 6.60/212 in the US." One advanced feature is the Dave Branch air slider clutch. "Once I let go of the button, it acts like a Top Fuel clutch, coming in progressively. We also have progressive boost on the turbo. The art is to find the right setup. We've a Racepak data recorder to help. We intend to run Funny Bike but are just learning the setup in Comp Bike and it helps us to get more track time in that class. We hope to run a sub 7.5 this weekend, but had bad tyreshake on the first pass and had to roll the throttle, but the motor is so powerful, we couldn't get back on full throttle. We were told the motor is putting out about an estimated 700hp. My business Cannon Engineering is doing well in the new factory and whilst we don't have the finances at the moment to build another fuel bike the plan is to do so eventually. I would like to thank Neil Midgley and Paul Hanson Jr for their help.

Paul King on his Pro Stock Yamaha said that he has changed the ignition graph and installed more clutch management over the winter. "At this stage we just want to get down the track and run a seven", Paul said. The bike is a Vance & Hines one, formerly ridden by NHRA Pro STock racer Byron Hines. The motor is a Yamaha 1800cc, built by Paul, brother Steve King and Roger Upperton, who also crew.

John Atkinson, who was pushed back, was reported to have transmission problems, in spite of a winter rebuild. We'll find out more later.

Dave Smith, no.1 qualifier in the first Super Street Bike session, ran a 8.03, still a couple of tenths off his PB of 7.82. "We didn't use full throttle until half-track", said Dave. "We only made small modifications over the winter. The bike is self-built with the help of crewman James Atkins. The motor is a turbo injected Suzuki with stock frame and trans. Dave hopes to go to Hockenheim for the Nitrolympix in August.

Gary Drury said "we have made loads of changes to our Suzuki Super Street. We've a 16" front wheel, the yokes set back and offset, longer swinging arm. Unfortunately, we have yet to run the numbers and only did a 9.0 in the first session." With the power being put out by the Suzuki motor, we warped the clutch and should be running in the low 8s or high 7s. My sponsors are Big CC who helped me with the motor build, Jay Drury Coachworks and Klotz fuel. Thanks also to my crew 'Elbow' and 'Womble'.

Bob Brooks is back in Comp Bike after two years off. "We had gearbox problems but have built a new one and spares. The whole bike is self-built, including the frame, bodywork and paint. The only thing we didn't do is the chroming of the exhaust." The bike is powered by a 1100 GSX motor punched out to 1568. There is a Sprintex blower, which helps produce the distinctive exhaust note through the headers. The fuel system also includes Hilborn fuel injection and the motor runs on alcohol. "The new gearbox is totally homebuilt and thanks go to ANdy Newcombe for cutting the gears. Being homebuilt is the only way we can afford to run the bike, but it does take up a lot of time. Since 2003, we've put a bigger tyre on the rear to raise the frame and a single tube modification to the frame to aid removal of the cylinder head."

Nigel Turner (Super Pro ET dragster) said "We had smoke at the end of the run due to methanol getting in the oil as a result of putting more fuel into the motor." Crew Chief Dave Taylor added "We are zeroing in on the dial but the data logger only working for 10 seconds after it is switched on manually is frustrating." The car is ex-Derek Flynn with a 465ci motor, with a single carb and Powerglide. Dave said "we are working on sponsorship and have hired an advertising agency to help, as we need sponsorship to attend the big Super Pro event at Drachten in Holland."

Rick Cooke (Super Pro ET dragster) said "It's the first time we've raced in a championship meeting at Santa Pod and we're enjoying it." Rick runs the car himself with Spencer Tramm as his crewman. The car is ex-Pat Talbot with a motor from Hauser racing with a Koffel carb. Rick said "We're planning to go faster with different throttle stop settings and hope to run a 7.7 flat out. Again, Rick is looking for sponsors.

Pat Talbot said "we suffered bad tyre shake on our run and lifted because we didn't want to damage anything. We were very happy with our three runs at Shakey a fortnight ago but have changed the gearbox since then, so we are keen to get it down the track next time."

Ian Tubb, who very uncharacteristically was pushed back, said "We blew a gear set apart. Another racer, who I will name later, is doing an emergency mercy run to Suffolk tonight to get a spare set. Ours must be about the most reliable car in the class", said the twice UK Champion (2004 and 2005), "and we're going for three in a row, although our competitors must have been a bit relieved to see us with problems." The frame is ex-Monica Oberg and had also been run by Barry Sheavills as a Top Methanol car, updated considerably since its earlier lives. The 502ci motor was built by sponsors EDA and crew chief Ken Coleman. There is a 6-71 blower and the motor runs on C12 petrol. Gearbox is by JW, based on a two-speed Powerglide. Other sponsors are RGS Asbestos Disposal. Crew includes Ray Gomersall and Ken and Bev Coleman.

John Sleath who ran a record 8.073 (yet to be backed up), said "The only change to the car are that we are running the M/T Radial Tyres. To be honest I voted against them but as I was outvoted, I thought I had to go with them to keep up." The tyres are road legal but their characteristics in extreme conditions are still to be tested by the class. John's main sponsors are Gedore Tools For Life.

Paul Mander is running his SUper Mod Plymouth Arrow for the first time and lifted off a tad early on his eighth run. Paul has been racing since 1984, starting by crewing for Al Packman and Nigel Payne in the Chevelle and Corvette, and most recently with Steve Rawlins. Paul said the car is mostly self-built. "I bought an Art Morrison Performance Supercar chassis and have been upgrading the car to current class specs for some time." The motor is a big block Chrysler with single 4 barrel carb and nitrous (probably not to be used this meeting). Paul said "Thanks to Clive Bond, who built the motor and a big thankyou to Cliff Bagg for helping out generally."

13:00

Good Morning and welcome to the pit notes from Good Friday at the Easter Thunderball.

Unusually for Good Friday, we have fairly full pits first thing in the morning. We had a text from Lex Joon who is travelling on the A45 towards us to arrive shortly.

Nick Good is competing for the first time in Pro ET, but his car has some form in the sport. "It's Mark Flavell's old Super Comp dragster", said Nick, "but some parts of the car, notably the panelling, date back to Hemi-Hunter II". Nick is to complete his licensing, having done the 60ft and eighth mile passes at the Peak Performance test and tune last Saturday. Nick's racing background is confined to having run a street bike some while ago, "and a transbrake launch is something else." The dragster has a 434 Big Block Chevy with iron heads and a Holley 1050 Dominator run on Avgas. The car ran a 1.267 60ft which was as fast as Mark Flavell ran during Super Comp days, his best ET being a 9.2, so Nick will need to calm it down. As we type, Nick has run a 9.3 on a 9.00 dial-in, and looks good for completing his licensing. Nick wanted to thanks Brian Goodall of BGC Motorsports for components including fuel and oil lines, and Carl Burton for the Pro ET sponsorship scheme, and crewman Andy Richardson. Thanks also go to Mo, Chris and Bob after successful licensing and a 0.009 reaction time to boot.

We next visited Carl Burton, who told us how he developed the Pro ET sponsorship scheme."It started off by people talking in the pits. We wanted to give recognition to the no. 1 qualifier which is a big achievement in our class. I just about talked myself into it and it gives me something to do over the winter." The no.1 qualifying award is £100 cash and £150 in vouchers and a trophy. Thanks go to sponsors Jon Webster Race Engineering, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Inkwell Printers (printers of hero cards), Hauser Racer Cars, Penn Autos (Andy Frost's transmission business), Toxico Clothing, A1 Motor Stores, Alleyjax, Cycle Works (Martin Newbury), and Real Steel. On Carl's own "A Whole Lotta Rosie" Sierra, he has changed the carburettor, freshened the trans and carried out some porting work. He said "We had a bad start at SCR as the motor got a little too hot. As a result we missed the test day so we are still jetting up the combo."

John Morris, who ran a Scimitar in Pro ET over the last few years (sold last May) has a new Ford Probe but has suffered problems and withdrawn. "We broke a head gaskets and studs firing it up on Thursday, and unfortunately the damage was too bad to repair. This is our first full meeting with the car following an eighth mile squirt at the test day. The car is self-built with a chassis supplied by Johnny Mac and the paint job applied by crewman Craig Stedman in a colour described as "Chesterfield Leather Settee Pattern". The car runs a Big Block Chevy with a Dominator carb and Powerglide. Craig himself will bring his 1962 Australian Ford Falcon out later in the year - Craig said "it's the only one in the country and will be street legal."

Liz Malcolm completed licensing at the test day with an 11.77. Husband Ian, who runs Apsley Transmissions in Hemel Hempstead explained that they took a year out in 2005 after experiencing cam and torque converter trouble. Ian said "The cam was custom built but was too wild and the car would bog off the line as he motor had not reached the stall speed. David Newman made us a new cam which works fine and we have installed a TCI converter with a 4500 stall speed which works perfectly." The chassis was built by Norm Wheeldon (a Pro Comp racer from the 1970s and 1980s), who has only just retired from working in F1 as a fabricator with March and Renault. "The exhaust is based on a Renault F1 design and is made out of Inconel, a very light alloy, which has also been used in construction of the booster tubes of an Ariane spacecraft. The windscreen is the actual part from a 1987 Mario Andretti Indycar!" The trans is a C4 with a short housing made by Flat-O-Products in the US. "Apsley Transmissions builds motors and gearboxes for kit cars and so the dragster will be a great advertising board for our business."

Mark Watts is back in Pro ET action with his blue '57 Chevy after the motor blew 2 years ago. The new motor is a 454ci Big Block with an 8-71 blower and twin 850 double pumpers on C14 avgas. "Our new motor was built by Peter Knight of Knight Racing Services." Mark said "My job is a London cab driver. Dave Hughes, who runs the ex-Peter Wacker Chevy, is also one and I still see him at the Heathrow cab queue where we chat about racing and the other drivers struggle to understand what we are talking about!" This weekend fellow Pro ET racer Andrew Chilton is helping as crew chief.

Lawrie Gatehouse is pleased with the turnout for the NFAA. "It's been quite a slog", he admitted, "but we've now achieved formal recognition by being in the White Book. We managed to finish Chaos, which is here, although we haven't fired the motor yet. There are nine competitors in all this weekend, with most teams either having new combinations or drivers running observed runs. We are not expecting fireworks in terms of performance but are aiming to put on a successful show and see how the new cars react for more competitive running in the following six races."