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01:00

The Peak Performance Day was much busier than the Run What You Brung although there were still relatively few racers running who are entered for the FIA European Finals.

Anita Mäkelä made one run and it was more or less a carbon copy of yesterday's first run, the tyres of the R20+ Energy Drink Top Fueller up in smoke within a fraction of a second of the hit, 13.026/92.39. With a plane to catch at 17:55 Anita's time ran out to make another pass.

Wayne Nicholson's first run of the day in his Pro Mod was a 7.481/147.20 driving through shake then shut off and chutes out at 1000 feet. The next pass was an improved 7.327/192.94. The Lucky Devil 'Vette then appeared again but Wayne was outside the car. Kirstie initially observed that maybe the car was being driven by remote control but it transpired that Super Pro ET racer Steve Neimantas was in the hot seat. Problems getting the car out of reverse after the burnout curtailed the first run but Steve came back a while later and gave a good account of himself until there was a puff of smoke from one bank of headers which got worse, I am guessing a holed piston. Steve shut off quickly and clocked 9.946/95.42. Oil was found on the track and on the car at the top end; we are hoping that this is not terminal to Wayne's FIA European Finals hopes.

Rene van den Berg made three passes on his Top Fuel Bike, in each case the bike just appeared to run out of puff in the second half. Rene clocked 7.497/192.22, 7.101/201.58 and 7.353/195.56. Also on two wheels, Dave Beck made a single pass on his Pro Stock Bike and recorded 7.481/152.65. The team seemed happy enough with the run so I am guessing that they just wanted a baseline for the Finals and that's one extra qualifying run they haven't used up for settings.

Making a very welcome return to the track were Phil and Frank Brachtvogel with a beautiful blown Supertwin which was originally built for Adam Hewitt but which was never raced in anger. No less a person than the legendary Pete Davis, who originally built the bike and the motor, was in attendance with Phil and Frank and told us that the bike when new featured some revolutionary ideas which would probably still hold it in good stead now. We had a quick chat with Pete before Phil's first run and we will post that on the next Eurodragster.com News update. Phil's first run was a very easy 9.114/114.50 and his second pass an equally easy-sounding 9.258/126.29 shut off very early.

For the Sportsman racers contesting the Finals, Steve Saunders made a number of passes in the Hi Speed Gas Super Pro ET Zephyr which looks just superb in its new paint. Steve clocked 9.236/141.56, 9.090/145.23, 9.083/148.56, 8.887/143.36, 9.148/133.69 and 8.735/155.20. Also in Super Pro ET Brendan Clancy clocked 7.783/173.01 then 7.799 again at 173.01 which suggests he has found the top of the last gear. Fellow Super Pro ET racer Nick Good rolled the beams on his first pass but clocked 7.115/184.18. Ron Haslett and George Scanlon were here testing before appearing in B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator, Ron made three passes of 10.119/132.84, 10.343/131.29 and 10.352/133.63 whilst George had a repetition of the black smoke and bag-of-bolts sound on his first run which was a 12.061/103.14 but as he did yesterday he came back with much improved runs of 9.744/144.31 and 9.551/145.22.

Pro ET racer Dan Williams clocked 9.771/138.17, 9.769/139.08 and 9.738/139.54 in his Nova which is not entered for the Finals. Laurie Bamford's Nova is similarly not running at the race but he made runs of 10.081/132.12, 10.070/132.19, 10.115/131.68, 10.061/131.81 and 10.079/132.17.

Also not entered for the Finals but testing most successfully was Craig Gibbs whose Super Modified clocked 7.711/171.08, 7.647/169.83 which we believe was a Personal Best ET, 7.685/170.43, and 7.665/169.82. Fellow Super Mod racer Rob Smallworth suffered two nitrous burps, the first big enough to crack the hood scoop which was not on the car next time it appeared, but exactly the same happened again. Tog and Kirstie got pictures of Rob's second nitrous burp from different angles, check out Kirstie's shot which was taken from behind and which shows not only the ball of flame but also the inside of the car lit up by the flame.

There were PBs aplenty in the Supercharged Outlaws. This morning's session was contested by Trace Froome 10.445/122.51, Rich Davis 10.162/132.44, Roy Wilding 8.297/161.36, Steve Good 8.013/139.40, Paul Watts 20.786/28.51 and Lee Gallimore 7.720/174.10. The first afternoon session generated some good numbers from Steve Good 7.838/148.10, Trace Froome 9.252/138.61, Rich Davis 10.022/133.73, Ian Hanson 7.737/177.06 and Paul Watts 9.525/141.70. Later on Rich Davis clocked 9.992/134.43, Steve Good 9.382/115.52, Lee Gallimore 8.271 and Ian Hanson 7.632/177.08.

A great pass for VW Pro racer Russ Fellows won him the title of the UK's quickest Beetle with a 9.365/149.56. Martin Hill went deep into the fives with the Fireforce 3 Jet FC, 5.895/273.02. Roger was in Race Control for Martin's run and said that the ride during the flame show and throttle slams was quite violent.

We got our first look at Dave Holland's Super Street Bike, still in primer but the motor was pretty obviously finished. Dave's checkout of 14.825/46.61 was followed by runs of 8.084/181.40, 8.090/156.84, 8.002/173.71, and 7.793/182.11. Fellow Super Street Bike racer Brad O'Connor told us that Dutch was working on a set-up for the Brighton Speed Trials and another interested onlooker was 9.50 Bike racer Wayne Saunders who we don't think even convinced himself, let alone us, that he wasn't looking at SSB. Also in Super Street Bike Malta's Simon Giordmaina just got better and better clocking 8.250/179.25, 8.121, 8.168/177.83 and 8.281/180.69. A number of Personal Bests in amongst those numbers. Fellow SSB racer Steve Venables had a 7.6 set-up in his bike with, we quote, "Loads of things to test" and sure enough ran a best of 7.618/185.92. Also in SSB Dave Smith ran 7.707/189.79, 7.654/177.13 and 7.810/183.63.

A number of other racers not entered for the Finals were testing but these were the main highlights and to list every other run made during the day would turn this report into a sheet of timing data. You can however see a picture of just about everyone who ran on the photo gallery.

We are not expecting any private testing before the race proper starts on Thursday but Eurodragster.com will be at the track from Wednesday morning so stay tuned for any additional news as we build up to the FIA European Finals.

18:55

We have posted today's pictures, which you can view via the Event Index page. There are 125 pictures in all so if you don't see all 125 thumbnails when you load the gallery page then click on your Browser's Refresh button.

There is going to be a report of today's events but we are going to close up Race Control now and we will post the report later this evening. Tune back in a few hours and we'll have all the numbers for you.

9:30

Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway for our coverage of the pre-FIA European Finals test weekend brought to you in association with American Car Imports.

The Webster Race Engineering/Lex Joon Racing USA Tour 2009 webcam is on-line and will be posting a picture every sixty seconds until the track closes this afternoon.

The entry list for today's Peak Performance Day is quite light but we will keep an eye on what happens on-track and if there is enough to merit a report we will be back in the lunch break.