Mopar EuroNationals
Santa Pod Raceway, 24th-26th July 2015

Saturday


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Latest update 19:40


Super Stock racer Brian Wood has a great paint scheme on his Roadrunner.


Similarly inspired is the 'Rodzilla' Chevelle. Both Woody's Wedge and Rodzilla are maintained by Billadeau Speed Shop.


In the huge display of Show & Shine, Matthew Hollingsworth's Dodge Challenger stood out. The original car was built for SCCA competition in 1970 and still racers in Historic Trans Am in the US and Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1997. Matthew was inspired by seeing it at Goodwood to build a tribute car. He abought a '73 Challenger and entered the 2014 Le Mans Classic, driving it 800 miles to attend.


This Roadrunner is 572cu in and rated at 1101hp according to the impressively understated lettering on it.


Mark Sheridan has owned this '71 'Cuda for 30 years. It was one of two that Dave Rose imported, the other one becoming 'Cracklin' Rose' (Mark has put an identical number plate on in a subtle nod to the car's heritage). The car gas a full tube chassis by Andy Robinson, with KB Hemi of 572cu in and twin 88mm turbos. This setup produces an estimated 1800-2000hp through a PG trans to a Ford 9" rear. Mark said 'It's only my sixth run on the car in this form, and the best is 9.1/150 but it is capable of much quicker. How often I run it depends on work.'


Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson suffered a broken crank on his 6.21 pass which has put him out for the remainder of the event. He said 'The crank split into three places at the no.5 and no.6 journals. It broke two rods and damaged the block. My spare block is in California and my spare crank in Colorado being repaired. Hopefully we can be back for the Euro Finals'.


Pro Modified racer Andy Wright said after his 7.04/175 first run 'The car is running routinely but it was a wild run as it was set too close to the edge. I thought those settings were fine after the last meeting but the track conditions are different now and it black lined the track.'


In the Gasser Circus the Crazy Horse '41 Willys is owned and built by Louise and Mike Noble.


Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten was weighed at seven pounds under the minimum after a 6.36 and then went to the top with a 6.20 after adding a little weight. He said 'The first run was a good start but it fishtailed a little mid-track. We have compensated in the setup.' The compensation clearly worked, Robert running his best pass to date in the car. Robert says Hi to team members Michelle, Jaap and Leon who can't be here this weekend.


Pro Modified racer Chris Isaacs ran a 6.75/211 in the first session and lifted in session two when the car went sideways. He said 'The numbers don't reflect the progress we have made in tuning, wheelspeed and timing. We set it up to avoid early tyre shake however for some reason in session one it had tyre shake three seconds into the run and I had to pedal'. Chris tried stepping it up for the second session but then handling problems set in.


Pro Modified racer Roger Moore ran a 6.61/210 in session one and an improved 6.43/214 in session two. He said 'The first run would have been quicker except for a gear selection problem - the crew are telling me the shift light is only advisory! The car is running clean though which is good'.


Pro Modified racer Kev Slyfield said after a 6.73/216 'It shook at 60ft but we can adjust for that. I am feeling confident having won two races but you start to think about different things and there is more pressure to put a good run in. But it's been a good year so far'.


Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson was still battling an ignition problem after the engine cut out on the launch in session one. He came back out and ran 7.83/184 so hopefully the problems are receding.


Pro Modified racer Bobby Wallace is out for the rest of the season after a broken rod. He said 'The rod went through the sump. Fortunately there is no bad damage to the block, but one of the heads is hurt badly. We have reached the stage that we want to weigh up whether to repair what we've got or to go a different route.'


Pro Modified racer Jean Dulamon also suffered mechanical damage but it is repairable. 'The top of a valve broke off and it damaged the valve train. Fortuntely I lifted which avoided more damage, it just felt wrong. The pistons are undamaged.' Because of the early shut-off, Jean's time was 6.93/164, which put him in sixth place.


Pro Modified racer Paula Atkin is in the class for the first time and made some successful test passes. Crew chief Stan said 'We broke twice on the dyno so don't want to go the whole hog'. The car is running Fuse Peformance Fuel supplied by Eurodragster.com sponsor Nimbus Motorsport. The fuel is unleaded and suitable for nitrous cars and has an octane rating of 125. Paula and Stan have got the help of Jamie Mason, Steve Green and Dave Read on the crew. We also met Connie, the stand made out of conrods used for holding hero cards and sponsor leaflets.


Top Sportsman racer Al Golding suffered a broken rod in his first round race. He said 'We had a diaper so fortunately the car didn't oil the track and no oil got under the wheels which could have resulted in me losing the car. I have been racing it since 1992 and this is my first race since the 2007 Euro Finals. I had used aluminium rods and they were fine but this was only my fourth run on a new set of steel rods. So maybe the bearings are at fault, I'll find out when I strip the engine down'.


Top Sportsman racer Deborah Laugher has a Ron's Flying Toilet fuel injection system on her 572cu in blown BBC engine. The car is resplendent in gold.


Top Sportsman racer Lee Huxley was giving passenger rides. One of those was for the daughter of team sponsor Clive 'Spider' Mills who passed away last year. Jordan Mills went on a ride in the Dark Horse Mustang and then spread Clive's ashes at the top end of the track, a fitting tribute to a keen supported of the team.


RWYB racer Renaud Launay from Brittany, France is at his third Mopar Euronats. His Dodge Charger has a 588 cu in naturally aspirated Dodge engine running on alcohol with automatic transmission.


Top Sportsman racer Rene Ehrismann has travelled from Switzerland with his '55 Bel Air, powered by a 615cu in BBC. There are 38 cars registered in the class which is running on dial-in Saturday and a quick 16 format on Sunday.


Top Sportsman racer Steve Kellett has a beautiful new Mustang, destined for Super Pro ET. Crew chief and co-builder Trevor Hirst said 'The chassis was built by Skinny Kid Race Cars in Michigan and the body is a 2007 Hairy Glass in carbon fibre. It is tagged to 6.0. The engine is 557cu in big block Ford with two F2 Prochargers running on methanol. The dyno reading is 1800hp'. The power goes through a Bruno Lenco three speed and the immaculate paintwork is by Craftsy's Paint Shop in Barnsley South Yorkshire near where the team is based. Amongst others, Trevor and Steve have been involved in the builds of several cars including Dave Cherrett's Dark Revenger, Mark Pointer's Hooligan, Dave Warne's Trans Am and Trevor's own Rover 800.


Top Sportsman racer Dave Russell's Van With No Name is 'running perfectly' according to team member Richard York. 'We keep the heads on until the end of the season and strip the engine down during the winter which works fine for us'. The van is 100% steel, originally being used as a plumber's van by Dave's dad. It still has working wipers and lights, but the exhaust silencer was removed some time ago. The engine is a blown 540cu in BBC.


Top Sportsman racer Julian Davison has owned his 100E called 'Half Pint' since 1984 and he has raced it on and off for 20 years. Chris Isaacs did the work on the chassis and interior panelling, whilst the engine is a 300cu in Rover V8 with Doug Nash manual five speed gearbox and Ford 9" gearbox. Best times are 9.0/150.


Top Sportsman racer Al Golding is back with his 500cu in Mopar engined Firenza after a long break from racing. The car, originally called 'Grounds for Divorce' has moved on and is now 'Decree Absolute'. Battery problems were plaguing it during the morning session.


Top Sportsman racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Matthew Wright has a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with a 582cu in twin turbo engine. It runs sevens, yet is still street legal.


Top Sportsman racer Winston Sewell, who formerly ran a Rover P5 Coupe now has this Cortina Mark 4 with neat air intakes on the twin carbs atop his 351cu in big block Ford engine.


Supercharged Outlaw racer John Reeve came to test his Topolino altered before the class's next appearance at the Bulldog Bash at SCR. He was rewarded with a PB ET of 6.92/193mph.


Top Sportsman racer John Sleath has a unique diesel combination in his Chevy Duramax truck. He said 'We have been having problems breaking input shafts two meetings in a row so we are on the back foot. We have achieved an 8.47 on diesel with turbos but have a two stage 400hp nitrous kit as well and want to run 8.3s'. The engine is a 4L ATS Diesel Performance from Colorado. It is V8 with aftermarket rods, pistons and cams. His time this morning was 8.52/164.


Jeremy Kanapaux from South Carolina is living and working in the UK as a helicopter engineer. This is his first experience of racing, with his late model Mustang, which has a 4.6ltr DOHC engine with supercharger by Ford SVT and aftermarket pistons. The car has been dynoed at 650hp on the rear wheels.


Pro Modified racer Robert Joosten is happy with the performance of his Tim McAmis 'Cuda. He said 'We qualified at Tierp with a 6.4 and ran 6.3 before the rain-out. At Alastaro we qualified with a 6.3 and went 6.2 in eliminations, losing by 0.03s on a marginal track. As it's made six runs only we are really pleased. We have made progress and the car is responding to the fine tuning for different track conditions'.


Pro Modified racer Mick Payne made his first passes for a couple of years after work commitments kept him away from racing. 'The engine and gearbox are new, it is a latest model Brad Anderson with Series V heads and dry sump. The trans is a Lenco CS2 with Bruno convertor. I used convertors with a blown hemi on my old car and knew it was a good combination when it ran a 1.0 60ft without using the transbrake'. Mick now plans to race for the remainder of the MSA Pro Mod championship.


The Rock n' Roller Prefect is painted in two tone colours which look great in today's sunny conditions. A dream matchup for it would be with Detroit Spinner...


Simon Fulton is now driver of Blitzkrieg, previously raced by multiple Super Gas champion Tim Adam. They share the ownership and Tim helps with the tuning.


Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster has a wheelie bar fitted to his new slingshot which has been repaired after the massive wheelie at Dragstalgia.


Des Taylor, a regular racer at York Raceway for 35 years, is making a visit to this event with several others from the North. He said 'We like the Mopar Euronats because of the format, and nostalgia and lifestyle meetings have a great range of cars and are affordable'. Des's Motown Gold Nova was first built with Mark Flavell in 2009 and it won the York Pro ET championship in 2010. He continued 'After that engine damage was discovered and a rebuild couldn't be afforded. stood in a lockup garage for almost five years. A plan with my crew chief to run a Willys this year fell through so we decided to get it out and aim to run consistent high tens'. Des is pictured with wife Karen and crew chief Russ Marsden and his wife Margaret.



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