2006 Easter Thunderball
Peak Performance Day, Saturday 8th April


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19:00

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We'll be back tomorrow morning with all the news from the Run What You Brung.

17:40

We're all done for the day. Joe Kellett was the last racer out on track, a 0.039 reaction time and 11.876/50.11 in the Drummin' Man Junior Dragster after his 11.901/49.66 and 11.995/49.61 earlier on this afternoon.

Pro ET racer Marius Blackburn closed out today's account with a 9.847/129.97 in his Pro ET altered whilst Martyn Sanger finished his day with a 10.906/111.97 in his Super Street Mustang - it's looking good for Martyn's first race in Super Street next weekend.

Liz Malcolm had her licence signed after her 11.770/107.09 in the Jus' 4 Fun Pro ET dragster, and Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh rounded off with a 9.640/139.69.

17:00

Roger Goring's second run of the day in the Firestorm Jet FC was a 6.787/163.04, shut off just past half track and with the chute out before the finish line. Roger's half-track speed was 187 mph which is up on last year's best and not far below last week's best-ever.

Another best for Nigel Barker on his Super Street Bike, 8.351/175.68, well done Nigel! Nigel's next run after that was 8.747/174.53.

Belinda Bull put in her second pass in the Super Comp pick-up, 9.969/137.08, on nothing like full throttle and feathering it at the top end. Super Street racer Martyn Sanger's latest two passes were 10.885/120.64 and 11.456/120.38, the latter with a big pause off the start line.

Nick Davies' third run in the blown-alcohol Havoc altered was a 9.915/94.60. The altered pulls storming burnouts and is very loud and the pulse out of the headers at trackside is like a gust of wind! The car pulled up its wheels and turned right off the line, Nick pedalled and then got back on the throttle, feeding in some more power as he went down the track and getting a feel for the handling.

Making his first run of the day this afternoon was Dave Evans in Coco Connection Super Gas Camaro, a cracking 9.527/138.46. Dave was pushed back after the burnout on his second outing, no news yet on what the problem was.

Neil Lalouette has made two more passes this afternoon, 12.452/101.61 and 12.588/101.12 - just as I typed this sentence he appeared round the corner again...12.622/102.02 and later a 12.570/101.81.

Alex McIntosh put in another nice pass in his Street Eliminator Mustang, 9.625/141.04, fellow SE racer Ray Comer clocked 10.131/136.83 in his Camaro. Pro ET racer David James ran 10.689/125.67, 10.336/126.40, and 10.236/127.14 whilst Jeff Thurston clocked 10.259/134.00 in his Mustang, his best for today. On his next pass Jef's Mustang turned hard right and he immediately pulled over to the guardrail. Whatever it was, it was not bad enough to stop him reversing under his own power.

Stuart Morrice has put in three runs this afternoon in the Morrice Boys Super Gasser, 10.039/143.86, 9.883/144.21 and 9.780/139.69. Martin Curbishley's two passes so far this afternoon were 7.834/171.21 and 7.850/170.52 with a 0.002 reaction. Next up was Nick Good on a licencing pass in his Super Pro ET dragster, a very competent run, 10.252/90.02 and looking good to get that licence today.

Pro ET racer Marius Blackburn has made two passes this afternoon, 9.794/130.00 and 9.81/130.83. Also in the nines again was Dee Ireland with a 9.474/147.98

Stay tuned and we will bring you news of the last few runs very shortly. Trackside conditions are 10.8C, 32% humidity, and 29.65 inches of air.

15:20

First up after the break was Bob Wood on his Comp Bike, 10.819/128.99 again with a misfire. He was followed by SSB racer Nigel Barker with an 8.517/172.91 and then an 8.504/175.68. John Hackney clocked 10.231 and then 10.236/134.61 - during the lunch break John wondered aloud whether it was too late to introduce Bike ET next weekend! The Banjax bike, 200mph member Geri thinks it is Martin from Banjax, clocked a great 9.951/120.30. All of these ETs are particularly impressive given that we have a very strong side wind.

Martin Curbishley has punted his personal best out of sight with a 7.860/169.85, Super Pro this year then Martin! In the other lane Stuart Morrice clocked 9.151/145.18 in the Morrice Boys Camaro. Belinda Bull took a gentle twelve-second checkout in her ex-Robert Joosten Super Comp pick-up whilst Pro ET racer Liz Malcolm was also in checkout mode with a 19.026/47.71 from the Jus' 4 Fun dragster.

Nick Davies put in another burnout and launch in the Havoc altered, wheels up off the line and a bit crossed up on touchdown, cruising through to an eighteen-second time. Roger Goring in the Firestorm Jet FC has put in his first pass of the day, and his first run here at the Pod for a very long time. The afterburner sounded very strong before staging, Roger just slid through stage then shut off very early, an eight-second pass although the car was really accelerating hard as it came past me at about 200 feet.

Dave James has made another couple of passes in his Chevelle, 10.797/124.68 and 10.412/126.79. Stuart Peck's second run of the day was 9.894/139.33, another nice wheelie off the start line. Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh was firmly into the nines again at 9.709/139.80, whilst fellow SE racer Ray Comer has clocked 11.009/126.78 and 10.156/17.25 on his two passes so far today.

Vic Amato pulled a storming burnout in his Pro ET Mustang before recording 10.059/133.07, and fellow Pro ET racer Nick Griffin's latest pass was a 10.682/121.99. Paul Webster in his Sportsman ET Mini ran 12.985/107.61 and Jeff Thurston clocked 10.336/133.48 in his Mustang. Finally Dee Ireland was into the nines again in his Toyota, 9.562/145.18.

Trackside conditions are 11.5 C, 33% humidity and 29.65 inches of air, track temperature on the start line is 19.9 C.

13:20

Nick Davies has made his first pass in the Havoc altered. A great burnout, that car really does boil the hides like a good'un, then on the launch the little altered banged up on the wheelie bars. Nick pedalled and then was on the throttle to about 200 feet and idled through, 15.041/45.58.

We've had a couple of PBs since the last update, Super Street Bike racer Nigel Barker clocked a very nice 8.437/175.71 and Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh ran 9.666/141.14 which judging by the crew's reaction was a PB or very close to it. Junior Dragster racer Joe Kellett pulled his best ever RT of 0.004 on his way to an 11.897/49.78. Dee Ireland has gone still quicker in the Toyota, 9.439/154.14, which is a PB.

Super Street new boy Martyn Sanger has been pretty much on the numbers all day, 10.922/120.97 and 10.962/120.65. Another new name to us is David James in a very nicely-turned-out Chevelle, David has clocked 10.810/125.48 and 10.697/126.40.

Stuart Peck's first run of the year in the Rat Rage Super Gas Camaro was a 9.872/139.67, carrying the front wheels for a fair way off the line before the throttle stop kicked in. Pro ET Champion John Atkinson ran 9.805/138.44, son Tom told us that they are now to change the coil as they are losing ET and speed, the coil borrowed from the Talbots.

Martin Curbishley has Gary Malin's old engine in his dragster, Martin's first run with the new engine a very strong 8.461/115.67 shut off very early indeed - we guess that Martin will be taking a trip into the sevens very shortly. Making his first pass in Mark Flavell's old dragster was Nick Good, Nick launching and then idling through.

Also making their first runs of the day were Pro ET racer Marius Blackburn with a 9.840/129.38, fellow Pro ET racer Vic Amato at 10.001/133.97, and yet another Pro ET racer Nicky Frost with a 10.073/134.40.

Also in Pro ET, Matt Eley has clocked 12.156/115.98 and 11.515/116.60 in his beautiful Pop, and Nick Griffin 11.107/121.63. With a huge Pro ET field next week, forty five going after thirty two places, you can see where all these Pro ET racers are coming from getting in as much testing as they can. Neil Lalouette clocked 12.597/102.50 on his latest run whilst Paul Webster's second run of the day was a 14.628/92.99.

Regular RWYBer Jeff Thurston clocked 10.584/132.79 on the latest run in his Mustang.

Trackside conditions at the lunch break were 9.6 C, 37% humidity, 29.68 inches of air, and a track temperature of 20.4 C.

11:50

Low ET and high speed of the day so far are held by import racer Dee Ireland who just clocked 9.881/142.48 in his Toyota, nice one Dee!

Pro ET racer Nick Griffin has clocked 10.946/122.27 and 10.916/121.99 on his two passes so far whilst Sportsman ET racer Neil Lalouette ran 12.679/101.64 in his pick-up. Street Eliminator racer Alex McIntosh opened his account with a 10.075/135.56, he was followed by Sportsman ET racer Paul Webster at 14.575/93.59.

Nick Mugridge pulled a nice 0.010 reaction time in his Junior Dragster, 8.157/80.95 at the stripe.

On two wheels, Super Street Bike racer Nigel Barker clocked 13.026/108.42, off the throttle by half track, and then 9.357 at a big 172.36. John Hackney's two runs so far have been 10.290/132.36 and 10.245/133.99. Bob Wood has made one pass so far on his Comp Bike, 10.841/96.54 with a persistent misfire. For our friends on 200mph we have a bike carrying the name Banjax which we guess is the forum member of that name, he has run 10.181/136.73.

Trackside conditions right now are 9.3 C, 38% humidity, 29.68 inches of air. Track temperature is 16.9 C.

The Havoc blown-alcohol altered is the next race car up by the look of things, stay tuned.

10:45

Good morning and welcome from a bright, sunny and breezy Santa Pod. It's the first day of pre-Easter Thunderball testing and we're here to bring you all the news in association with American Car Imports.

The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every two minutes.

Trackside conditions are 8.1 C, 42% humidity and 29.65 inches of air. The track temperature on the start line is 14.8 C.

The track crew have just finished with prepping and we're just about ready to go. Stay tuned and we'll be back with the first update very soon.


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