Top Fuel Dragster racer Barry Sheavills agreed a drive at this event after doing well at the Flame & Thunder Show last October. "Rune told me to slim down, which I have, and also I asked for a new seat in the car and the pedals to be moved. There is still a problem depressing the throttle pedal however. The launch was very stout at 0.88 60ft and then it shook. The team are rebuilding the engine after a fuel system problem so I won't make the fourth session. But I have done a run each day as planned and will leave the meeting running as well as any other FIA car. I still get a tremendous thrill driving one of these cars'.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Duncan Micallef said 'It's great to be back, I'm driving the same car as last year but with a changed setup after resolving some technical problems. The launches were interesting and a 0.84 60ft time was my quickest and one of the best in Europe. The Maltese and British crew are working together well (this is their first time together in 2014) so I thank them and Rune, the car owner'. Duncan also thanks his sponsors DBR Investments, J Portelli Projects, ZT Developments and Totalnet.

Nostalgia FC racer Tim Garlick (pictured) is pleased with progress on test runs. Tuner Rob Loaring explained 'Tim has been getting further down the track on each run. We have a new fuel pump, the fuel system needs 18.5 gallons per minute, last year's pump only supplied 16 gpm and we now have one that gives 21 gpm. The half passes to date have been straight so Tim will next do a run to 1200ft. We're in decent shape'.

NFAA racer Robbie Grabham made a half pass on an observed run yesterday and the team were delighted. Dave Grabham said 'Our main objective is to run well at Dragstalgia in July. We have got some new engine parts including Dart heads to help'. The car has also been treated to a vinyl wrap by PRG.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Gareth Ellis ran 5.78/250 for a quickest-ever UK TMFC team performance. He said 'You couldn't get a better car, it is a turnkey Frank Manzo car. It feels completely different to the previous car. What we need is more tuning knowledge as we don't have computer data yet. The car went well from the start of testing and we have learned a lot this weekend, even though we have still to get it down the track properly'. The team's plans are to run the Main Event and then the FIA series in Europe.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Damien Halliwell first raced in 1979 at York Raceway with an Anglia and a Consul Mk2. In 1987 he went to the US and crewed with Jim Head for a year. After that he spent time off racing with his family until he ran a VX4/90 in 1999. His '63 Chevy Biscayne was imported in 2009 and he has run it at llifestyle events. It had been made street legal in the US and ran a blower. Damien has a Scott Shahiroff 540cu in engine with a single carb and no nitrous with a Coan TH400 trans. The car is running low 11s so far.

Wild Bunch racer Adam Price ran a best in 2013 of 9.16 and is 'desperate to run an eight'. So changes were made with the compression increased, carbs rejetted and torque convertor tightened up. Adam said 'The first run was 9.02 and we were over the moon and this morning we improved to a 9.01, so close. We increased the revs on the launch chip and gear change but slowed to a 9.05 so we are going back to the previous settings to see what the car will do'.

Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Nic Williams along with brother Dan worked on a Chevelle to create this beautiful machine for their dad Keith who is delighted with it. Nic said 'The car needed new rear wings and a new floor and then we fitted a 396cu in single carb engine so that it can run C/SA in Stock Super Stock'. Laurie Bamford helped with the suspension setup and new bushes and OCS paint did the immaculate blue paintwork. The car is launched from the footbrake with a two step device and the plan is to take it to Sweden later in the year.

Pro ET racer James Forster is Events Manager at Santa Pod Raceway, having worked at the track for seven years, and his role involves the lifestyle meetings such as Bug Jam, Ultimate Street Car and Fast Show. He said 'I have raced at RWYBs before and I can race at Championship events which are managed by others'. James runs a Mustang with a 302 engine stroked to 347cu in and a single stage nitrous kit giving 80hp on full throttle. With nitrous the car has run a 11.0 and James went through the first round of Pro ET yesterday.

Pro ET racer Bobby Wallace has imported a nitrous Pro Mod Willys from Jerry Bickel in the US and tested it. Unfortunately a rod broke and so Bobby has brought out his Anglia. A dash more nitrous produced some spectacular launches. He said 'Jerry Bickel was selling the car on behalf of another racer and we went to the US to look at it. When the rod broke it damaged the block slightly and the crank. So the engine is at Sonny's getting repaired and we hope we can have it back together and running on unleaded for Pro Mod at the Main Event and also the Willys Wars at Dragstalgia'.

VW Pro racer Paul Jordan's Scirocco ran a 9.19 in 2013 and he was looking to further improve, however the transfer box on his 4WD broke on his first run. Paul said 'I thought it was a drive shaft, however Jacob Bailey was able to supply a replacement transfer box and after half an hour removing it and an hour stripping it down it went in fine'. On the next run the car missed third and fourth gear but even with these problems Paul was able to get through round one albeit running a low ten on a 9.90 dial-in.

VW Pro racer Bruce Collins' Beetle was his first car and he ran it on the road for many years before starting racing it five years ago. He said 'We took the 2013 season out whilst I repainted it and cut a lot of weight out. The paint was done by WRP Paint and Restoration who sponsor the VWDRC'. The engine is 1914cc with turbo and fuel injection with an Omex 600 ECU. His PB is 11.85 and that was helped by losing 85kg in weight. Unfortunately a cracked barrel and fuel starvation was discovered so Bruce was a no-show in eliminations.

FWD Drag Series racer Richard Batty runs a Misubishi FTO of 2370cc to best times and speeds of 8.999 and 173mph with front wheel drive. He said 'I have been developing the car for ten years, first changing to a 2.5 litre V6 with twin turbos, then to an Evo four cylinder engine with single turbo that puts out 1050hp. The gearbox is a PPG one that I had converted from four wheel drive to front wheel drive with a strengthened drive shaft from The Driveshaft Shop. The quickest FWD cars in the US are running 7.9/200 using 1600hp. Front tyre pressure with the ten inch tyres is a critical factor, however the traction on a prepped surface is so good we have had to raise the pressure above the 6psi that we usually have at rwybs'. Main sponsor is NR Autosport who do the engineering work on the car. For more details on the car, see www.fwddragseries.co.uk.

Sportsman ET racer Craig Wright qualified no.1 after running new PB of 16.3s in testing. He said 'We lost the championship to a red light last year and changed the staging process at the Big Bang which helps the reaction times. The car is also a lot lighter and reacts better. That will help us regain and retain the championship'.

Super Pro ET racer Roy Wilding was running consistent 8.0s in the S&K Racing car. Crewman Kev Tearrell said 'The car has had new valve spprings, head gasket and a reconditioned fuel pump. It runs well but could get more revs at the top end'.

Super Pro racer Dave Ward won £100 and a trophy for being no.1 qualifier. The Super Pro ET special award for this event is for best reaction time. Dave said 'I'm pleased we went three thousandths off our dial in out of the box. We did some maintenance on the car over the winter but have concentrated on refurbishing the trailer to repair some leaks'.

Super Pro ET racer John Atkinson qualified no.20 with a 9.02 on an 8.92 dial-in. He said 'We have had minor issues with tuning this weekend and discovered the timing light we used was malfunctioning'. The team freshened the engine and gearbox over the winter, but the problems this weekend resulted in the lowly qualifying position. In a double breakout round one, an 8.81 on 8.85 dial-in was defeated by Laura Turburville's 8.07 on a 8.10 dial-in.

Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson suffered tyre shake in the first three passes then after his best launch the parachute release was activated from the steering wheel button. Crew member Stefani Robinson said 'We had made changes to get it further down the track and things are going in the right direction, but the main thing is that we're qualified'. On that run, Andy's 60ft time was a great 1.0099.

Pro Mod racer Robert Joosten was the quickest in qualifying running a 6.06/236 in Friday's second session. He said 'We were running really good towards the end of last year and were really pleased to run the first side by side at Tierp in August. The 6.0 wasn't quite straight so we made some changes but they slowed us down to a 6.18. So we will make some more changes to see if we can run a five'. The last pass on Saturday was a tyre shaker resulting in a shut-off before 330ft.

Pro Mod racer Roger Moore, with brother and crew chief Dave, has made significant changes to the Viper's engine for 2014. There is a new Pat Musi EFI system and a Fulton block from Henri Joosten's car. Roger said 'The block has cylinders with five inch spacing compared to our old engine with 4.84 inch spacing. It means that you can use a heavier liner and apply more pressure in the engine. We are getting a lot of help from Alex Olson from Roger Johansson's crew as Roger is using the same injection system. There is a lot to learn but it means we can bring the nitrous in later in the run. There is also a new clutch to help handle the additional power'.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Danny Bellio went into the field after his chutes failed to open. He said 'The car bounced in the shut down area causing the body to crack along the sides and then the front end dug in going into the field. It's a shame as we were moving in the right direction. But we have all night and tomorrow morning to repair'.

Rene van den Berg is pictured with one of the Black Seven crew before the fourth session. Rene didn't make it on to the track on Friday and today hit reflectors on both his runs, thus not qualifying the bike.