2008 Big Bang
Saturday (qualifying and time trials)


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Nigel Holland is hoping to put in a few runs today to dial in the Mustang ready for qualification tonight. The car dipped into the 14's for the first time with his stock 4.6 v8 engined Mustang at Easter and a repeat performance is on the cards. The number one qualifier at Easter explains: "I had a bye run in the first round, then in the second round I lost on reaction time. I actually got the perfect dial in on that run!"

Harry Elliott, son of Dave Elliott has been practising today ready for qualification this afternoon. Dave being the crew chief for Super Gas racer Jon Giles. Harry has been making passes in his modified junior dragster all day. He tells me "I'm a bit nervous but it's really good". After his first run I caught up with the budding professional, he said "I lifted a bit as I felt it drift." Harry is not a stranger to Junior Dragster having earned his licence last year in the SPRC junior stock dragster at RWYB events. His new junior modified dragster has only just been imported from South Carolina and arrived three weeks ago. The team would like Harry to get as much track time as possible this weekend in preparation for the Main Event at the end of May.

Colin Lazenby has had a very long couple of weeks and has burnt the midnight oil just to make it here this weekend. At Easter the car suffered a very big vibration and Colin was not 100% happy to continue racing. After a closer inspection Colin found that there was a slight wobble in the wheel and he would need a new back half. "It looked like the back of the trans had smashed too. We took the transmission apart and the required part arrived on Tuesday" Then Colin found himself on the hunt for new wheels. After ringing around he was offered a pair from fellow Street Eliminator racer Steve Nash aka Splinter. Colin would of course like to thank Splinter for all his help to get the car ready for this weekend showing the real drag racing community spirit.

VW Alternate Engine racer Matt Attwood is on a borrowed engine this weekend. "I entered Sportsman ET at the the European Finals last year and fried two cylinders and two pistons!" The engine he has borrowed is actually his brothers engine but Matt says it will only be until his new engine is finished. "Hopefully the new engine will produce 11's" Matt will be testing during today's RWYB: "This weekend I will roughly be running mid 13's". At Easter Matt went out in the first round of VW Alternate Engine against current champion, Mark Skeen.

Glynn Morgan makes a return to VW Pro for the first time this year in his turbo powered VW Beetle. The three times in a row Pro VW champion has just switched back to a turbo set up since running a normally aspirated engine for two years. Daz Chandler from Air Cooled Performance is responsible for the new set up. "It's our first meeting with the new engine as it was only put on the dyno Wednesday just gone"

I caught up with Outlaw Anglia racer Lee Cohen after his wild ride in "The Devil" earlier today. Lee took the long way round while taking a test ride in his Prolong sponsored Anglia. "It felt different. Like a rollercoaster ride!" At one point Lee looked as if he was on one wheel at eighth mile but a with a superb driving job he pulled it back. "I got it back on line then pedalled it". Lee's daughter Kayleigh (Pictured with Lee) said to her father when he got back "Dad, how did you do that?!" The Prolong sponsored Anglia was looked over by Chris Isaacs in the pits where no damage was found. "Chris is looking at putting more pre load into it" continues Lee. "I'm going to touch the throttle more this time as i've not even hit full throttle yet!" "We also hit the wheelie bars so that's good!"

Street Eliminator racer Pete Smith who was alongside but unaware of Lee's wild ride, tells me the blower gasket blew in third gear hense why he came to a halt on the track. "It's all fixed and we've put another one in and our next run will be during qualifying tonight". This is Pete's third year in Street Eliminator since he had the beautiful yellow Vette built turn key by Jon Webster. "Eventually i'd like to run a nine" Pete continues. The trip to Santa Pod was an eventful one as his tow vehicle's radiator blew big time. "It was a bit of a nightmare in the end but i'd like to thank Ian Marshall and Jon Webster for all their help. Without them I would not be here this weekend"

Super Modified racer Tim Mugridge has put in a successful half pass in his beautiful Camaro this afternoon. It was a planned half pass to continue his scheduled licencing passes. "The engine's still in one piece and the parachutes worked! It felt nice and straight, quite smooth actually" says a pleased Tim. "The next run will be a full pass". Tim continues; "The crew chief is not here to look at the data logger, and we think the clutch has slipped so we will be taking the cover off to check"

Over in the Havoc pits and I had a chat with driver Nick Davies. After two attempts at burning out Nick decided to shut down. "The fuel pump has broken but we will pack up, go home and will be ready for the Spring Speed next week" The team will also be attending the Main Event at the end of May.

A familar and welcome face today in the pits is Barry Giles not only with his son and daughter in Junior Dragster, but with his very own Super Pro rail. With new heads fitted during the winter they are here to test the tune up before they tackle the rest of the Super Pro calendar. The team missed Easter but say they will be attending all the rest of the remaining rounds this year. "One year we will run all the rounds!" Says Barry. "Next year we would like to fit a blower. The car is already set up to take one"


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