FIA / FIM European Finals
Santa Pod Raceway, 5th-8th September 2019

Friday



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Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster suffered a fire at the Mopar Euronationals and the team had a thrash on to get the car ready for this event seven weeks later. Jon said 'As well as the cosmetic repairs, all the hoses and fittings needed replacing, the loom was replaced and there was damage to the diaper, 8 coils, master cylinder and all the front chassis and engine sensors'. Jon thanks OCS Paint, Topspeed Automotive, EPS Motorsport, Racinglines, ICE Automotive, and Mark Todd, Chris Perkins, Jack and Alex for their work and family members Jeanette and Shelby for their support. His time today was 6.713/216 which placed him twelfth.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders has his eight second Zodiac for sale with its Ford running gear and ran a 8.7098/157 on a 8.62 to go 30th of 35 qualifiers.


Super Pro ET racer Glenn Pallant was running PBs and qualified 15th with a 8.6433/157 on a 8.63 dial in. Track time in Europe has kept the number of runs up, and they've had a good summer. A late appeal for a welder for his exhaust system was the only repair needed.

Super Pro ET racer Laura Turburville had a couple of spun main bearings to replace but the crank cleaned up well and the team headed out for qualifying session 7. Laura's qualifying time was a 7.8003/168 on a 7.76 dial-in to go 24th. 31 cars are less than 0.1s above their dial in.


Super Pro ET racer Robert Gassner from Germany is at Santa Pod Raceway for the first time in his 632ci Camaro and enjoying the racing. His qualifying time is 8.3225/161 on a 8.32 dial-in.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Tethys suffered instant tyre shake on both of his passes. He said 'When you get shake you try to stick with it but this afternoon it got worse, my vision didn't go as it can, but I had quite a few bruises and a headache. There was some minor damage to the engine but we got it repaired for the second session'. Tethys is waiting on finances before he announces his racing plans for next season.


Pro Modified racer Mick Payne ran a PB ET on his first run which was a 6.776/208. The chutes came out very late after the pass but Mick got the car stopped in time. The launch was more aggressive than before with a 1.13 60ft time; the team are joined this weekend by former Pro Mod racer Danny Cockerill.

Comp Eliminator racer Andy 'Fred' Hone had problems on track and his best ET was 10.472, which has placed him ninth in the qualifying standings.


Comp Eliminator racer Dirk Peiler ran a great 7.382/186, 0.04s away from his personal best and again hitting the 300kph speed he achieved in Hockenheim, however his index is 7.13 for AB/A class, so he is in seventh place.

Comp Eliminator racer Robin Sattler's F/Dragster with its Ford Cosworth four cylinder engine is in number two place in qualifying and ran a best of 8.836/144 for a new PB by three thousandths, well done to Robin and team!


Comp Eliminator racer Rene Ehrismann ran a 7.2646/187 to go sixth in qualifying, a few hundredths slower than his best time in the SPRC Summer Nationals of 7.224.

Comp Eliminator racer Robin Orthodoxou ran a 6.9654/191 which placed him fifth and was only a small amount off his best of 6.951 recorded in 2014.


Pro Modified racer Nick Davies suffered breakage before the event when it was discovered that the reverser drive shaft in their CS2 Lenco gearbox had broken, and, thanks to other teams, was able to locate a spare part. The team also suffered a puncture on the tow vehicle which they were able to repair. Nick said before his run that he hoped to be able to drive through shake, however after a strong 1.0052 60ft time, tyre shake occured sufficiently badly to send the car out of the groove towards the centre line and he was forced to lift.

Pro Modified racer Kev Slyfield had previously run his first five second pass at the Summer Nationals, although he had failed to qualify at the Main Event. His first attempt here unfortunately stopped after the burnout when the blower belt was found to have been broken into three pieces, leaving the team to start again to gather data in session two.


Hauser Racing/CG Composites Super Pro ET racer David Russell finished Thursday in second place with a 8.6511 on a 8.65 dial in. The team are celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Van With No Name and have made available a limited run of t-shirts to mark the occasion; they also visited Clastres in France to race in the European Super Pro ET Challenge race there at the end of July.

Phoenix Personnel Super Comp racer Terry Clifford ran a new PB in his Ratcatcher Resurrection of 8.705/151, a breakout for the 8.90 index but one that Terry and his team were happy with.


Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Lottie Bradford ran a perfect RT of 0.0006 to qualify number one out of 24 qualified cars. There are three sportsman qualifying sessions planned for today, with the final one finishing just prior to the evening session scheduled for 6:30pm.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Nigel Hale ran a new personal best of 10.396/132 in the Redneck Racing Chevy C30 pick-up. He said 'We're pretty pleased with that and have some plans to install fuel injection to make it go quicker still next year'. The truck's weight is somewhere north of three tons...


Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Anthony Higgs has his Capri running in the eight second area after a 21 day rebuild earlier in the year following a major fire. He said 'I thank John Hendy of Brantwood Autos for his help on the car'. The Capri is running with a 540ci big block Chevy with twin turbos and a TH400 gearbox.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Jason Weir was back with the rebuilt Plymouth Suburban and suffered problems with the engine misfiring up the track and rolling the beams, Jason working the bugs out of the car.


Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Mark Todd returned to the class after taking 2018 off. His new ride is the ex Steve Neimantas Aston, converted to twin turbos. He said on Facebook 'My first pass netted a 7.65 followed by a 7.70 but something didn’t seem quite right as the terminal speed was down. We sat out session three to diagnose issue and narrowed it down to a faulty spark plug. The plug was replaced and we came back Out for Session four; the car was a different animal. A hard launch netted a 1.15 60ft (possibly the best 60ft In SE history) and, hey presto, the lost 10mph was back with a 7.24@201mph. This equals the GTO but is on the much smaller 295 SS tyre'.

Secret Worx Comp Eliminator racer Kev Perkins was in third position at the end of day one, with a 7.459 on his SM/A dial in of 7.99. In the five sessions he ran three times and his other two passes were both consistent 7.50s.


Hauser Racing/CG Composites Super Pro ET racer Schuby Schubert in his 632ci Nova ran a 7.487 on a 7.48. He said 'The stall speed was not perfect and I had to change the main jets on the carburettors as it was running too rich. The track is great and the car running straight, it's been a busy summer for me as we went to Mantorp and Malmö to race in Pro Street this summer'.

Hauser Racing/CG Composites Super Pro ET racer Austin Jaques started with two runs in the 8.4s, below his dial in of 8.50. But in session four it came right and moving the dial in to 8.48 resulted in him going into first place with a 8.4821 and he finished the day in third place. He said 'I had a couple of minor niggles, the MSD shift light stopped working and the engine went to the limiter and I had to react in a half second. Overall the car has gone quicker and we've figured it out. We missed one round due to damage at the first meeting, but we'll be back next year with a refreshed engine and paint'.


Modurstang Pro ET racer Dave Crowhurst has bought the Camaro built and raced by former VW racer Paul Jackson. Dave said 'I had seven years of racing Beetles and it ended with my crash in the Black Wanger after the wind caught it. I wanted to get back to the track and Paul had had his Camaro in storage for five years. Thanks to him for getting me aquainted with it, today was my first time driving it! I drove it round the car park to get used to it and then it was put in the same left lane that I had the accident in. I had never driven anything so loud, and it was different from the VW, the wrong side of the cockpit, using a transbrake, and a TH400 gearbox you don't know whether it's in second or third gear'. Nevertheless Dave's first pass was a 10.957 on a 9.79 dial in, and in the final session he improved to a 9.812 also on a 9.79 which placed him 13th at the end of the day.

Modurstang Pro ET racer Mason Griffiths ran well in a car which appears infrequently and is currently powered by a LS1 engine of 346ci to times of 9.310/138.61 on a 9.30 dial in.


Modurstang Pro ET racer Gino Bernadine was number one qualifier at the end of Thursday with a perfect ET of 9.1000. He said 'Actually the perfect ET was a piece of luck. We had been having transmission problems over the last two years and suffered gearbox damage with an 8" torque converter, so changed to a 7" converter and tested at VW Action. We had had to rebuild the gearbox numerous times but it all went right at VW Action on the three test passes, and it was fine on four passes today. The gearbox was rebuilt by Allders Transmissions and so that is strong now. The car was getting loose down the track and despite adjusting the four link, I had to lift twice on the Perfect ET run'.

Modurstang Pro ET racer Andy Thetford ran a best of 9.31/148 and then qualified 24th with a 9.427/149 on a 9.32 dial in. But he ended the day with a suspected broken head gasket and the likelihood of a late night thrash on the engine.


Modurstang Pro ET and Jon Morton Super Gas Shootout racer Jon Turner celebrated his first eight second pass, a 8.9515/150, but then suffered an issue with the 'Cuda's water pump. He said 'We got a spare and fitted it, but a bolt sheared off into the block. We got it out of the block and my team are currently in Wellingborough buying a new one. To get to the water pump we have had to take off the procharger, radiator and engine plate. But I've got the A Team and won't let them have any beer until they have completed the work'.

Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer MacKenzie Love suffered problems at the start in the sixth qualifying session and was pushed back by the team. MacKenzie is qualified in 12th place as of the end of Thursday with a 0.0365 RT. The top 18 racers in the class were all under 0.05s RT.

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