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Jet car racer Lee Dennick has been driving three jet Funny Cars this weekend. After a trial run in Fireforce 3 on Friday, he has been piloting his own Reign of Fire and Fireforce 2 yesterday and today. He said 'Martin Hill has been a great help in acclimatising me to Fireforce 2. The controls are the same as Reign of Fire and Martin actually helped me in building my car. Fireforce 2 pulls a lot more right along the track, and Fireforce 3 is unreal!'.	Motorsport UK Pro Modified racer Marck Harteveld's team had made many changes to the chassis to correct the car moving to the left - and they worked. In round one, Marck went 6.052/235 to defeat Chris Isaac's improved 6.447/225. Marck also had a great RT of 0.057, quickest winning reaction of the round.
Phoenix Personnel Super Comp racer Leah Kellett explained that the throttle stop she uses is now triggered by air rather than electronically. 'It results in the throttle coming in gradually and less aggresively. We made the change as our new Jeff Bull engine is bigger (598ci compared with 540ci last year) and has more power. We are working on setting the delay as the car is now about a tenth off the index, running 9.0s. Leah had a solo in round one when Paul Hudson was a no-show.	Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racers Brad Jackson (pictured left) and Dave Catton are running once again under the Nick Good Motorsport banner. Brad said 'We had a full engine rebuild by Jeff Bull over the winter including a rebore and new pistons. Nick and Christiann work in-house on the dragster's mechanics. The conditions are consistent day to day with the adjusted altitude 950ft today'. Dave said 'My main problem was the helmet misting up when I breathed with the visor down. By the finish line I could hardly see. This is a one-off event to remind myself what being a racing driver is like, I do footbrake launches and they are as quick as transbrake ones'.
Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racer Phil Toppin is now driving this Corvette Stingray with a supercharged engine. Initial passes produced smoke from the right bank of cylinders and he is likely faced with engine repairs before the next event.	Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racer Dave Evans has made efforts to lighten the car over winter with a fibreglass rear bumper and the electrics converted to using a single battery, with hideaway headlamp covers to aid the aero. 'Over 70lbs weight has been lost and for the first time the car ran four consecutive sevens with new PBs of 7.91 and 171mph. I was also number one qualifier off the trailer and won one round of racing, coming close in round two - and no red lights'. Next outing for the team is the Main Event.
Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones had a thrash on overnight as shake broke a rear axle bracket. Crew chief Crunch said 'It's a Strange bracket which holds the wing strut and wheelie bar and we noticed the wing leaning after the run against Laura Turburville. Geof Hauser found a spare bracket and the team worked until 2am installing it. The car is ten years old and the bracket was actually on the previous car which crashed here in 2009'. In round two, Martyn (aka Sid) broke out against John Atkinson with a 5.95. He added 'My eighth mile numbers on that pass were 3.85/193 which are PBs, I should have pulled the chute before the finish line'.	Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racer Scott Hauser is shaking down a new carburretor supplied by Lightning Race Carbs. 'It's been tested in the States on another engine but we found it was leaning out heavily, so we are changing the jets. At the eighth the engine is slowing down so we are putting in smaller air jets and bigger fuel jets. The last qualifying run went better but in round one it slowed down and spun the tyres on the launch'. Scott has been working full time for Hauser Race Cars for the last 4-5 years now on a variety of projects for both track and road.
Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racers (from left) Ashley Symons, Peter Clayton and Gary Lake are all in the first championship race, having competed in the successful Dial-In Day. Only Ashley has had previous RWYB experience, in a white Skyline. Gary, who was winner at the Dial-In Day, said 'It is an excellent event for getting to know the inside of the sport and you hear years of accumulated knowledge in one day. Ian Marshall is a great teacher and we learned all about finish line tactics'. Gary in his Pontiac Firebird got several round wins at this event. 'A championship race is a big step up from a RWYB and my RTs have gone from 1.5 to 0.2', added Ashley. Gary and Ashley got to the final of the class, demonstrating further the value of the Dial-In Day.	VW Pro Racer Paul Bargate who won the 2018 Championship, has had to overcome mechanical problems with his Scirocco. 'I took 2016 and 2017 off and 2018 went well. However my usual 24 1/2 inch slick had to be changed, and the 23 inch one I am using means the car runs out of revs about 40-50 yards before the finish line. Normally the car runs 12.0s, but I have been dialling in 12.99. The engine has a rebuilt bore and produces 235hp normally aspirated, but not mapped yet. It is a 16v Scirocco engine. There are only about 10 early Scirocco's in the country and has run a best of 11.95.
VW Pro Racer John Mills has a good-looking 1956 small rear window Beetle imported in 2008 from Texas. He said 'I missed session 1 and ran a new best 60ft of 1.59 in session 2. The track is sticky and the turbo engine struggled to spool up so it only ran a 13.5. The engine was a 2180cc and I ran it naturally aspirated with 45 Weber DCOEs at Shakey and York. After competing at Bug Jam in 2011 and 2012 I joined the VWDRC in 2015, but the engine went in 2016 and it was rebuilt with 2332cc capacity and turbo injection by Dave Wheatley, the original engine builder Andy Pierce from Manchester having retired. The engine will need repairing but we hope to be back at Bug Jam.	VW Pro racers Team Mulisha comprise the entries of Daniel Pigott, James Gould, Jake Belton and Joshua Simpson. They are all members of the Army and there have been lots of new PBs this weekend. Daniel runs a naturally aspirated Golf R32 which ran a best a 11.78 without gas and 11.58 with. James has a supercharged VR6 which ran a 11.25 with a 100hp nitrous shot, but the run killed the engine which had zero compression on the number 1 cylinder. 'So we found a new engine in Walsall, brought it back, fitted it and went to bed at 5am. Apart from a stuck thermostat it worked fine'. In the VW Sportsman ranks, Jake has a 1.9 TDI Bora wchich ran a PB of 13.7, and Joshua (VWDRC Rookie of the Year 2018) has a Mark 2 VR6 which ran a PB of 14.69.
Motorsport UK Pro Modified racer Nick Davies stepped up in the Firebird big time this weekend with the car working more as intended. A 6.43 in Q4 was followed by a 6.258/242 in round one defeating Bert Englefield. However the car went off the end of the track after the chutes failed to deploy. The team went to work immediately and cleaned it up and applied racer tape on the front for it to run in round two. Against Kev Slyfield, Nick ran another best of 6.239/233 but Kev's 6.136/230 got across the line first.	Comp Bike racer John McLean Jnr bought his new bike last year from Rob Wilkinson. Since then the whole bike has been totally rebuilt. John said 'I did all the work myself bar the paint, which was done by Cross Customs. The bike is nitrous boosted, it ran 8.77 yesterday without gas but with gas it got caught by a small bump at 60ft in the right hand lane and the bike went right. Nevertheless it got up to 160mph and it was my best ever 60ft. I had never ridden a bike with slicks and wheelie bars before and it's quite a learning curve.
Comp Bike racer Thurtny Martina from the Netherlands has been racing for six years and plans to compete at all rounds of the ACU championship, work schedule permitting. The bike has run a best of 7.45 with its turbo Hayabusa setup. Thurtny is helped by Charly Anasagasti on the engine building and Rudolfo Maduro on tuning work.	Comp Bike racer Den Antonia who pits alongside Thurtny is at his first meeting for a long time and has successfully dipped into the sevens with his 1300 Hayaabusa turbo engine. He said 'The only problem I've had this event is having to change the shock absorber. The track is ultra smooth.'
Funny Bike racer Phil Crossley is now rider of the Yellow Metal Racing Funny Bike built by team owner Bob Brooks. He said 'Bob asked me if I wanted to ride it as it was sitting in his workshop unsold after Bob had retired from riding. It's completely different to ride from my old funny bike, the position is different as you lie down over the frame rather than being upright. The engine pulls all the way up the track whereas the nitrous bike runs out of puff early on in comparison'. Phil's team is also working on the YMR bike, which is still for sale. The plan is to do the ACU championship and possibly the Euro Finals.	Bloodwise/Another Small f Super Pro ET racer Nick Mugridge and Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Luke Mugridge have had a meeting of mixed fortunes. On the positive side, Luke became number one qualifier having tested a new muffler which was found to improve the consistency through better handling of back pressure. Luke had a bye run and run close to his dial in with a 8.957, however he had the sun in his eyes this morning and lost in a close race to Kai Cooper. Nick, in his new dragster, detected an odd noise in driving down to the pairing lanes, didn't think it was serious but then things went wrong. 'The engine initially died on the burnout and couldn't get up on the tyre. When I refired it got up on the tyre but the car shook and I knew it was engine damage. It looks as if it spun a bearing, and it threw two rods through the oil pan. The bottom of the bore on two cylinders was damaged as well. A valve was kissed and we will get a new short block which is bigger displacement with a new crank and rods and pistons. Despite the damage it has been a lovely weekend. Thanks to John Tebenham for sponsoring us and we are looking forward to helping him with his Pop during the season.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Liam Jones has had a great event. After a shakedown pass on Friday, Liam ran three passes in the 3.9s zone at over 300mph. He said 'After a triumph at the NitrOlympX things went wrong and we went 10 passes blowing the tyres off. We came into this meeting dubious, but we ended up with shots fired. Two cylinder heads were torched yesterday and we put others on today. These runs will give us a great baseline for the Main Event. But it's going to be very competitive this year with experienced racers and raw talent'.	Top Fuel Dragster racer Maja Udtian said 'It is an amazing car and team, I have been doing half track passes this event to get used to driving the car again. I am looking forward to making full passes at the Main Event. As well as the full FIA series, Liam and I will be match racing at the Drag Challenge at Gardemoen Raceway'. In her final pass, Maja's throttle stop got dislodged during the burnout and after the engine revs went sky-high, Maja was given the shut-off signal.
Nitro Funny Car racer Kevin Kent was the quickest car in the class and set a new European record in eliminations of 4.236/286. In the final, though, it was Kevin Chapman who left the start line first and drove to a holeshot win at 4.451/282 as Kevin Kent struggled to catch up with the engine on fire. Earlier he said 'Thanks to Nick and John for their tuning help, we want to run low 20s or teens this year and were pleased with our reaction time in round one'.	Albert Carter, multiple short circuit racing champion and son of four time FIA Top Fuel Champion Andy, has changed his focus to drag racing and attended Frank Hawley's Super Comp course at Gainesville and also crewed with Terry Haddock's Top Fuel and Funny Car teams at the Gatornationals. He said 'I would like to race nitro cars and like Funny Cars particularly, but I will start with a Super Comp car and are looking to hire one. I wanted to try something different and liked watching the NHRA racing'.