Festival of Power
Santa Pod Raceway, 14th-16th April 2017

Sunday


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Latest update 15:15


VW Pro racer Simon Crowley, who is new to the class, runs his Mk 1 Golf 'Rusty Bullet' with a 1800cc engine. He built the car from mid 2015 to 2016 and fitted a Precision turbo with boost control, fuel injectors by Fuel Injector Developments, new cams, MFactory differential, and wider wheel arches to accommodate wider front wheels. He qualified sixth with a 12.87 on 12.50 dial in.


Super Comp racer Tyler Ashdown qualified fifth with 8.95 in the Thug Motorsport dragster. Having a wing, the car was moving around noticeably less than others in the crosswind.


ET Bike racer Joe Elliott runs an unusual BMW 1000RR. He qualified no.2 with a 9.059 on a 9.05 dial and went out to Alfie Udall in round one with a 9.04 on a 8.95 dial. Joe's other, somewhat slower, vehicle, see at rwybs, is a Piaggio Ape 3 wheeler pick-up.


ET Bike racer Jasmine Cordelle, who has moved up this year from Junior Dragbike, suffered breakage in round one after qualifying 12th with a 14.36 on a 12.60 dial.


VW Pro racer Natalie Wood runs this Seat Ibiza named 'Minion' with a turbo 1800cc engine and has moved up from VW Sportsman this year. She qualified third with a 12.68 on 12.55 dial and went one round in eliminations, this after a huge thrash to replace the car's transmission which blew on the startline on Saturday.


Sportsman ET racer and 2016 Champion Andy Dibley qualified 14th with a 13.99 on 13.82 dial in. In a round one double breakout, he (narrowly) defeated 50 Shades of Racing team mate and Eurodragster.com photographer Kirstie Tramm, who is in a Subaru Legacy borrowed from Andy Przbyl until her usual green Camaro is ready for the Summernationals.


Junior Dragster racer Freddie Taylor's car has distinctive body panels and a witty name. New to the class for this year, he qualified 22nd with a 0.139 RT and defeated a red-lighting Luke Mugridge in round one.


Super Street Bike racer Graham Balchin ran a 7.300 in his round one defeat of Peter Granica. Crewman Neil said 'The bike started by spinning the tyre for the first ten feet, so we softened it, then the track came in again, so we changed the settings back. The cross wind is a bit of an issue as the bike is susceptible'. Graham was defeated by Rick Stubbins' 7.07 in round two.


Super Street Bike racer Daniel Donat Lencses suffered problems with his fuel system and Dave Smith was on hand to advise. He said 'The fuel pressure is not even and there may be an air lock in the system'. After a bye in round one, he recovered his form and ran a 7.37 to defeat Steve Venables' 7.45/202.


Super Street Bike racer Steve Wood had a huge upset against Euro Champion Garry Bowe who suffered a big wheelie. Woody then had a bye in round two.


Comp Bike racer Sean Mills qualified no.1 with a 7.82/176. He said 'We have been working on the directional stability, all last year the bike wanted to turn left and we got it to go straight, then with the cross wind at the top it started pulling left again. Having slicks on both wheels makes it difficult to steer and most runs were aborted. But to 330ft the bike ran 3.3s times which is in SSB territory'.


Comp Bike racer Scott Collier had the crankcase out of the bike twice over the course of the weekend. 'We fixed the gear selector problem, but then had an electrical problem and our Snitz box went down and there was no nitrous'. Scott ran without gas in the first round and his 8.88s pass was defeated by Margot Schmidt's 8.48.


Pro Stock Bike racer Ian Burns has made a return to racing after last racing in Pro Stock in 2003. He said 'Work commitments abroad forced me to stop but I had built a new frame to accommodate a 9" wheel rim and kept all my other parts. It's the same setup as before when I ran a best of 7.92, but with a data logger added'. Ian who hopes to do all the UK championship rounds this year, is crewed by brother Mike.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Liam Jones made some promising looking test launches, yesterday's having a 60ft time of 0.85. He said 'We have a new fuel system on the car which gets more fuel in the engine and should make more power. We will be running the full season with Rune as well as Duncan and probably a third car. My team is the same as last year with the addition of Luke on the bottom end'.


Super Pro ET racer Brad Jackson was a finalist after qualifying 12th in the Lucas Oil sponsored Nick Good Motorsport dragster. In round one, team mate Chris Parker was expecting a bye run, then in the last session David Evans ran his sole qualifying pass, meaning that the team mates went against each other in round one. Brad said 'I approached the race the same way I do all races. A lot of the reactions had worsened with the new LED lights on the tree but ours held up well enough and I held on for the win'.


Super Pro ET racer John Gerritson has had an eventful weekend with his new car, powered by a Danny Bellio engine. In the fourth qualifying session the car sideswiped the wall and pulling the chut early probably saved the car. Then in round two of eliminations this morning, against Ron Bartlett, he pulled the chute early and it prevented the car breaking out, slowing it to a 7.05/146 on a 7.00 dial-in. He said 'The engine is fantastic and we think we can run a six'. Sure enough, he ran a 6.93 on a 6.95 dial in in round three and won by virtue of John Przbyl's red light.


Super Pro ET racer Ian Brown suffered transmission problems. He said 'We tested on Thursday and it went the long way round. The in Q1 we lost reverse and in Q2 when I shifted to second the revs went through the roof. When we emptied the trans oil, it smelt bad and so Tim Adam has taken the Powerglide away to fix it, hopefully in time for Shakey, otherwise we have a spare race car at home'.


Sportsman ET racer Billy Gane drove a Mercedes S500 Coupe as he is driving a shortened season in the Vauxhall Super Pro car. The plan is for him to visit Australia to race at Western Sydney International Dragway at the start of 2018.


VW Pro racer Adrian Solly started building his Audi A3, bought from Carl Goldsmith, in 2016. He said 'The engine is a 20v turbo Audi 1.8 and it has a Garrett GT28 turbo with MS3 Extra ECU and 75hp nitrous shot. I have stripped out the interior and put a switch plate on and installed a roll cage. My best ET is 11.81 on pump gas and the engine has been dynoed to 350hp and 400lb/ft of torque. I am looking at a new fuel pump to avoid fuel starvation.'


VW Pro racer James Gould is racing with Team Mulisha with Sam Chisholm-Brown and Daniel Piggott. James's Golf Mk3 VR6 has a 2.8 litre engine with a Stage 2 Vortech supercharger, limited slip differential and Emerald ECU. He qualified 2nd with a 12.54 on a 12.50 dial, and went two rounds before the rain came.



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