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18:30

After the Super Mod session, Kev Perkins, crew chief for Graham Ellis's Pro Modified Old Cutlass, said "The car did not break traction in the burnout and was popping in high gear and pickup was loose. So our qualifier was off the pace. We took a look at the SPRC points and to our horror, Rob Smallworth is currently leading that championship and we will need to have a better qualifying position and win the event to have a chance at that championship".

Andy Kirk (Super Modified) said "This is our first meeting since the SPRC Summernationals as I have had a bad back. We had a good qulifying pass and I'm pleased with the car. We are going to do some chassis modifications over the winter. The main change to the team is that our crew chief my son Lee, will be emigrating to Bahrain in early November to work in the motor trade there. He will fly in for each meeting that we do next year and I will work on the car in the week. We are keen to find some sponsors over the winter period.

Rob Smallworth (Super Modified) said after a NPB 7.68, "It felt alright inside the car. It was only marginally quicker than our 7.71 last time, but the changes we made have now come together", he said. "If things stay as they are I will meet Graham in the first round which should help determine which way the championships go. It's been a good season. We got a great new motor from I.C.E. over the winter but as our old slicks wore it affected our performance and we lost out at SCR in the first round as a result. Our new Toyo slicks have helped turn it around. We have to change a couple of chassis tubes for the new 7.50 chassis regs, but we are excited about 2007".

John Parkinson did not make the call for TMD qualifying and said "Our preparation was slow. We were hoping to get out for the first qualifier but little things went wrong and by the time we sorted them we had missed the call, although only by a few minutes. We hope there will be another qualifier as we are ready to go. Before the meeting, we cured an oil leak from the front crank seal which had been ripped by the shredded blower belt, but was not visible and only showed up at the end of the burnout. We are pleased with the car's new motor, which is from the old Krypton car. In fact after the SCR crash a few years ago we bought more and more pieces from Krypton and now have the clutch, gearbox, axle, wheels and tyres as well as the motor. So now the drivetrain is reunited. We have refreshed the engine and it sounds good. Our plans are to look at the fuel system to make it more efficient, with a bigger 14:71 blower, better fuel pump and mag to match. We still run a traditional blower and we have a weight break advantage compared with running a high helix or screw blower. The next step will be to get a data logger. Over the winter we will work on sponsorship and also plan to repaint the car the red it used to be".

That's all for today, but tune back tomorrow regardless of the weather, because we've got news and views from Steph Milam, the Nostalgia Fuel Altereds, Ian "Rush" Carruthers and 9.50 Bike Champion Andy Bird.

14:45

Welcome to Saturday's pit notes at the National Finals. This morning we took a stroll around the busy pits and here is what we found.

Paul Watson of Eurodragster.com sponsors DSD Engineering said that he has had some interest in the Pro Stock bike that is for sale with spares. "We are busy on customer bikes, mainly for the street but also have been working on a new nitrous system for Pete Bellenie producing up to 826hp. This weekend on the bike we are running a slightly different combination with the four-valve Suzuki motor "which should help us keep up with the rest".

Neil Midgley said that the Funny Bike field has been reduced by Chris Hall dropping out after damage at the Euro Finals, Richard Gipp moving to Pro Stock Bike for this meeting and one of the overseas visitors missing. Neil is looking good for the championship with the eliminations ladder potentially now a four-bike one. If he does win, this will be his fourth championship in the last five years. "We were really pleased with our 6.7s performance at the Euro Finals", he said. "We have a new turbo in our van and whilst we sill start with the old one that we used at the Euro Finals, we could fit the new one which we will run next year if we still have the bike then."

www.Lesharrisracing.co.uk is the web address you need to go to if you want a copy of the beautifully-produced calendar that could be described as Super Twin Drag Racing meets Pirelli. As well as racing and pit babes, there are some excellent effects shots of the bearded man himself and the calendar is only £5. Lyn Harris wanted us to say a special thanks to Scott Price at www.adecsweb.com for his help with the calendar and Les's web site.

Steve Nash is running his last race with the Cougar's present chassis but construction is under way of a new chassis to which the familiar body panels will be bolted. "Thanks go to Chris Isaacs who is not only building our new chassis but also worked late on Thursday welding one of the four-link brackets which had bent last time out. The new chassis will enable the car to lose some weight and all the running gear will be the same. It's hard to keep up with the block treads runners", said the M/T-shod Street Eliminator racer.

Alex Mackintosh (Street Eliminator) said "We've run three rounds this year and each time have had a personal best ET. I was also leading the reaction time championship until the last meeting". The car, a Mustang has got a Jon Webster chassis, a Peter Knight-built motor. Alex said "It hasn't missed a beat, and we've got a few new things to try for this time out. Over the winter we only want do some work to the suspension as we can lose some weight at the front end by installing some aftermarket components and then take the weights out that we have had to put at the back too." Consistent 9.4s have netted a sixth place so far in this year's championship. "My thanks go to crewman Johnny Mac".

Ron Haslett's MacMillan Cancer Relief coffee morning was doing great business in raising funds for the charity. He said "The idea was that 29th September was a national coffee morning and the event is being extended over the next week". The event was from 10am to 2pm today. "We've had a good season, running all rounds with NPBs at every round, the car now running down to 9.90. Street Eliminator has a big entry this weekend, with 13 cars present, only Jon Webster having to miss with engine damage and Jason Weir too".

In the Super Gas ranks, Ritchi Smith has returned after a three year break from competition with a black Vauxhall Ventora. He said "We ran a Mark 2 Zephyr and then sold that to Neil Grant. We bought the Ventora to use as a stop gap while we built a brand-new car. However we crashed this one and decided to rebuild it instead". The car was originally built by Dave Grady, one of the instigators of Super Gas in the UK under the B&H Autograft banner, and was called G Force. It was then run by Kurt Hinchcliffe as Northern Hustler and ran it mainly at York Raceway. Chassis modifications have been necessary to include new horizontal bars. Running gear is a small block Chevy with Powerglide trans. "Thanks go to Johnny "Braces" for use of his workshop."

Jerry Charles has had a year of consolidation with the Street Eliminator Capri which sports a 706ci motor. "I had to shut off against Ron Haslett in Super Pro at the last event as I heard something odd in the burnout". That turned out to be a broken pushrod which would have resulted in a blown motor and I was glad that I spotted it", he said. "We have raced at all the rounds of the championship except for the first and have been trying to push for better times. We have run as fast as an 8.4 but the 60' times are nothing, 1.5 or 1.6. Once we sort the launch out the car should easily run 8.0 or 8.1, especially when you bear in mind we have had no full runs with gas so far. Lots of thanks to my crewmen Roger Cassidy and Dave Pollen and John Hoffman who unfortunately can't be here this weekend. Thanks also to Tom from Steve Pateman's team who is helping out this time. We will be joined by Ben Constantinou later in the event". Jerry has had success in gaining sponsorship and T&S Tyres and Brakes, Visions Night Club, Royal Oak Joinery, Speedline Graphics, Millwall FC, The Black Stock, TCR MOT and Service and Brantwood AUto Breakers adorn the blue Capri. One other sponsor is Radio 1 DJ and newphew or Jerry, Spoony. Jerry said "I would really like to have Spoony and my old chum Ian Wright from my Arsenal youth team days up to Santa Pod next year to have some passenger rides and some fun".

Matt "Bubba" Finney is VW Alternate Engine champion with his Porsche 3 litre engined road-going VW Bay Camper. "I work for Prodrive on World Rally cars and have been to 16 countries with the Subaru Rally Team so far this year", he said, "So naturally I get asked a lot of questions by the VW Alternate Engine runners that use Subaru power. I've been lucky that the drag racing rounds haven't co-incided with rally events this year. I run this Camper myself this year, but I'm building a full-on race car for next year. It'll be based on a VW Bay Window Pickup and have a Big Block Chevy motor in the pickup bed. It will have to have big wheelie bars". It looks as if there will be some wild machinery in the VW Alternate Engine ranks next year with Wayne Allman's blown methanol pickup and two Beetle-based funny cars.

Bob Lees is leading Super Street Car and is in the points lead, having had a pretty good year so far. "We've had a couple of podiums, a runner up and a win but have lost points due to rain-offs. We have run the car in competition since 1992 and got it down to run low tens to give us a cushion for Super Street. We run a throttle stop, a transbrake on the C6 trans and a 466ci engine with a Holley carb pushing out about 550-600hp. I'm a mechanic by trade so I do most of the work myself, helped by my girlfriend Wendy".

Sportsman ET points leader Geoff Cowley said after an outstanding rookie season, "I've been spectating since 1978 and decided to start racing this year and won three of the races I've entered for. I went to Brian Huxley and there was this 1978 Camaro sitting there, it was poetic justice really. The car had been raced but had only been changed aesthetically. It has a small block motor and is completely streetable. The only modification we have done is to remove the General Electric fridge that is disguised as air conditioning. My wife Candy drives to the track and I follow with the motor home. We chased the dial-in at SCR which is our home track as we live at Evesham. That session really helped get us dialled in to running the car. I've also talked to a lot of Sportsman ET - they are all so willing to help". Geoff has also helped promote the sport by displaying the car at the Long Marston fete, an event that is an important for reaching out to the local community. Geoff said "I wanted to own a muscle car that I could race and enter for shows and drive to the track, I didn't intend to race it when I first saw it". Geoff, who is a building surveyor by profession, has been promoting championship drag racing to his friends. "When it comes down to it it's a really quick and easy entry into championship motorsport, the rules are really straightforward and all you have to do is send the license application in which takes three weeks to process".

Gary Kaye who is pitted alongside friend Peter Kellett of new Eurodragster.com sponsor B&B Motors said, "Our target for Jayne this weekend is to take second place in the SPRC Junior Dragster championship, which we are 40 points away from. We are pleased with being in the top 5 in the National Championship too. Gary is the new owner of the B&J nitro slingshot previously driven by Johnny "Mental" Hall. "We have got a JP-1 motor for it and hope to run it for the first time at a nostalgia meeting next year". Gary has been in touch with UK drag racing legend Dennis Priddle who has given advice, and many others have offered their help. Plans are are also afoot for a Dave Tuttle chassis as used by nostalgia racers in the u.S.

Andy Frost is up for the weekend after a highly successful Euro Finals, running as fast as 7.80/183 in Super Pro ET with the twin-turboed Red Victor 2 Street Eliminator entry. "It's our second outing with the twin turbos", said Andy. "We are still running Mickey Thompson radials and pump gas. My thanks go to Nigel at Altis Engineering, Nimbus Motorsports, Webster Race Engineering, Street Rodding in Motion and Electromotive, as well as my crew and family." Those of you who remember the dyno sequence in the Street Eliminator DVD last year will be in for a treat as we understand that a similar sequence has been filmed with the twin turbos. "We got the dyno up to well over 2000hp" Andy said. "We have the quickest Street Eliminator car and now want to run those numbers with the class. We've had to make very few changes to the chassis, and have made mare changes to the suspension. We want to run reliably and we have cured the oil ring failure problem that we were experiencing. Next year's game plan is to run for the Street Eliminator championship. I'm not going to make any predctions but we'll give it a go".