Saturday morning everyone was so excited to get started with qualifying and see how many more PB's or even records the day would bring. It certainly did not disappoint as straight off the trailer Mick Taylor came out and didn't just edge into the 7s but jumped straight in with a 7.74! Ginner's first run saw him get a new PB of 8.28. And Kim Harrison finally got into the 9s with a 9.81. It didn't stop there however as the last session of the evening saw Colin Millar run a new speed PB of 194.72 mph but unfortunately was half a MPH off of backing it up as a new record.

Sunday morning hit the same again for Colin running an astonishing 7.04 (pictured below, right) but unfortunately he suffered camshaft damage on what he hoped would have been a six second pass and leaving him 0.0122 off from backing up a new ET record! Although gutted to have not got the six, Jedd Guy who has been tuning Colin's car was pleased to have found a sweet spot! Fingers crossed for next year! By the end of the weekend the class in total had 13 PBs plus three new cars setting times in the class! Sure that'll keep me busy with Outlaw Anglia website updates!


The rest of Sunday made for an interesting day with the bracket races starting and everyone wondering whether Simon Barlow or Jon Webster (pictured above, left) would be able to get the 6 second pass. Jon Webster set a PB of 7.62 and got a 60ft of 1.03 just beating Colins 1.06 and Simon Barlow was unfortunately having a few issues after upgrades over winter.

Mick continued his 7 second passes throughout the day landing him in the final against Ginner who unfortunately had engine issues as he got to the pairing lanes giving Mick a bye in the final for his second ever final and first ever win! (pictured below, right)


The bracket also proved interesting with new OA member Peter Butler (pictured above, left) winning the final against returning racer Spencer Tidswell.

Outlaw Anglia would like to thank everyone at Santa Pod and all the track crew for an awesome weekend and we can't wait to all be back on track next year with hopefully a bit more normality!

Today is the funeral of Lawrie Gatehouse, drag racing photographer from the sport's halcyon days, supporter of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association and owner of its quickest and most entertaining car, Chaos. Former Santa Pod Raceway owner and promoter Roy Phelps, who worked with Lawrie on the Chaos team, writes:

Goodbye Lawrie, old friend.

Your passing on as a very good friend and many memories of last 40-plus years leaves me sad and indebted. Indeed, the heart of the British drag racing world is deeply saddened because it owes you so much. From the days as a track side photographer and building up a class in a racing format.

In my case, you were always there on the other end of the phone when needed, through my highs and lows.

And you proved to be a man of your word. It should be acknowledged that the generosity of your commitment to help others fulfil their dreams in the sport may have gone unnoticed by many who should have taken your commitment more seriously.

You did not suffer fools gladly, but I know the cost you freely suffered for the benefit of others.

Until we meet again...

Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway events manager James Forster for getting in touch to invite racers to Flame & Thunder LITE, the final drag racing event of the year on Saturday 31st October: Santa Pod Raceway are now taking applications for the upcoming Flame & Thunder LITE show on Saturday 31st October. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, we’re pleased to report that the on track activities will be going ahead as usual so it’s one last chance to get out on track in what’s been a pretty unusual year. We’re looking for race cars that are proven to run the ¼ mile in 11.99 seconds and quicker and bikes that run quicker than 10 seconds. As usual, spaces available for vehicles from each race class will be limited. We’re also looking for anything weird and wonderful so if you have something that fits the bill, please do get in touch – the quirkier the better!

To apply, please contact james@santapod.com with details on your vehicle and the times that it runs.

To see the full event lineup and get tickets please click on this link.

24th September: Nic Williams of Eurodragster.com sponsors OCS Group has announced a new appointment for the group:

"We are delighted to announce that Holley Marshall has joined the Williams Bros Racing and OCS Paint companies in an office based role. Holley will initially be working alongside Nic in the office learning how the businesses work behind the scenes.

Holley is also tasked with developing our online social media presence with both racing news and of course updating more frequently on the activities in each of the three shops (WBR Race Engines, Williams Bros Speed Shop and OCS Paint). Her first major task is working with our newly appointed web team "you and me collective" to finalise our new websites.

"We are extremely happy to have Holley join the team and are looking forward to being able to develop the businesses further. Holley's experience and enthusiasm for our industry is something very rare, it made the decision to offer her a position very easy. Though Holley will primarily be based in the office taking enquiries, maintaining the new webshop, parts ordering from the states and learning project management, we are also hoping to use her previously developed skills in the workshops. Welcome to the team Holley!"

23rd September: We are grateful to racers who have been in touch, or have made public postings on social media, to describe their news from last weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags:

The Supercharged Outlaws had new PBs by Joe Bond (6.2933/226.67), Dave Grabham (7.1239/192.25), which we mentioned in Monday's news update. Also, Mick Checkett (below, left) ran his slingshot, the ex-Alec Coe Shy Talker, and after a checkout pass gave it welly to go 8.04 in only his second pass in a competition car, his previous excursion up the track being in a Nova, Vauxhall Nova, mind. Mick had made few changes to the well sorted car, the main one being taller tyres, and recorded bests of 7.5707 and 182.10 during the event.

Simon Boot's Bootlegger Camaro (below, right), running on methanol for the first time, suffered bottom blower pulley bolts shearing from the harmonic damper on the startline, was able to repair and return, however he was chasing a misfire all weekend with a suspect faulty magneto.


Slingshot racer Jeff Hawksworth suffered a water filler cap lifting and spraying Jeff with boiling water at 137 mph but the crew sorted the problem and he came back to go as quick as 9.22/151.

Supercharged Outlaws 105e Anglia race Paul Dale had repaired heads from a previous meeting, however after a quickest ever 1.1 60ft the torque converter broke and the car lost drive, but the team are positive with the engine proved to be in great running order.

In Outlaw Anglia, the winner of the main elimination was Mick Taylor in the Banshee Fordson (below, left), who ran a best of 7.7290/176.46 after breaking into the sevens for the first time with a fantastic 7.74 early on Saturday. The final was to have been an all Fordson (both steel) final with Mick facing Phil 'Ginner' Middleton (below, right), however Ginner's engine broke a valve as he drove into the staging lanes and he had to be towed down the fire-up road to his huge disappointment.


We mentioned yesterday the record runs of Colin Millar who ran 7.0453 and 192.23, but ultimately was unable to improve on them or back them up due to a broken camshaft. In his summary of the event, Colin thanks, as well as partner Lynn Purvis, his team Aaron Springford, Cassy Aitken, Jedd Guy and Jemma Guy who is class organiser. " A huge well done to Ronnie Mercer in his 8 second pass and Kim Harrison on her 9 second pass. Loved the fact Peter Butler went through to the final and won the bracket class in his first ever event, lots of PB’s and Jon Webster's car is gonna be a real weapon as it makes progress. Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway and all the marshals who gave us the very best track to race on and thanks for that as well as keeping us safe.

"We found the sweet spot in The Flyin Fyfer and as the weekend went on we kept tweaking and tweaking and we had a very good idea after out last Run on Saturday night, the car was on fire, Sunday morning was the time to reach out and “live the dream”, we certainly did that, fingers crossed engine damage isn’t too bad but we will be back faster and stronger than ever".

In the Wild Bunch, there was a long list of new PBs: Antony Colliver (10.9163/128.45), Wayne Colliver (9.4360/141.59), Bradley Cooper (11.2168), Mark Coulsell (161.38), Craig Greenfield (9.5368/144.41) Chris Hartnell (8.6204 and 153.64), Lee Hartnell (10.4254), Mark Hartnell (8.756/153.64) Steve Heaven (8.4142 and 160.19), Mick Hillier (8.8127 and 146.69), Ollie H-Smith (10.7880/123.39), Dan and Elliot Jones (10.1983 and 133.74), Chris Manning (203.38) Graham Rawlings (9.6733/136.86), Tim Roy (12.2923 and 110.03), Callum Swinchatt (8.7509 and 148.17), Andy Stones (10.807/120.76), Brian Watson (9.8670/129.51), Jim Tanner (149.90), Bobby Wright (9.8853 and 138.62). You can see co-ordinator Claire Meaddow's full race report on the class by going to the Wild Bunch web site.


Wild Bunch average-close-to-dial competition results, which we were unable to post on Sunday, were as follows:

1. Callum Swinchatt, 0.033
2. Ollie H-Smith, 0.040
3. Bobby Wright, 0.063
4. Mick Hillier, 0.071

We also saw the debut of Andy Stones' Frantic (above, left), the Jaguar V12-powered altered having been rebuilt by Andy with a new chassis front end fabricated by John Hall at Stamford Speed Shop, and new gearbox, after having been in storage since 1985. Andy won the Wild Bunch trophy for best appearing car. The car made its debut in 1979 and original constructor John Foden, who built it with Ken Hessey, was present at the track for its second debut. Andy made best times with the show quality machine of 10.8079/120.76. Also making its debut was the Malibu Express 3 (above, right) of Jeff Morris, the constructor with Kevin Burrows, Bob Spence, and Geoff Fardell of Malibu Express 1 in 1969, Malibu Express 2 in 1975 and the Oblivion Avenger Funny Car.


In Gasser Circus, Jason Hollamby (above, left) made his racing debut as a class entrant in his Jumpin Jalopeno Falcon gasser and took the win. He said "A massive thank you to everyone who helped get me to the track to race, you know who you are and there’s too many to list; a big thanks to the guys and girls in the Gasser Circus". The Gasser Circus also had the competition debut of Simon Glenn (above, right) in his Straight Shooter Austin Devon pickup.

23rd September: £200 is up for grabs at this weekend's STP UK National Finals courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 per day after there it was won by Junior Dragster racer Jacqueline Bartlett at Not The European Finals. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors Cath and Tig, the Perfect Light Award will be doubled up to £50 for the first Perfect Light on each day. But if it isn't won on the Saturday, the award increases to £100 on Sunday. The Perfect Light Award is available in all classes during both qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by Andy Hadfield and the Twister Race Team has been reset at £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Tom Watkins at Not The European Finals The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to run +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available in Another Small F Super Pro ET, Modurstang Pro ET, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, B Fast R Super Comp, Dave Grady Super Gas Shootout, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, NEM Plant Nostalgia Superstock, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), NMCN 8.50 Bike, Atlantic Fluid Tech 9.50 Bike, Junior Drag Bike, and Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike. but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield aka Fadster of the Twister Race Team.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

Bob's Photo Finish Award, which is presented in association with Eurodragster.com sponsor Bob Roberts, will award £50 each to the racers involved in the closest race of eliminations at this weekend's event. At Not The European Finals the award went to Junior Drag Bike racers Liam Holgate and Blade Dummer.

The closest race will be decided upon distance rather than time since, for example, 0.001 seconds at 230 mph is further than 0.002 seconds at 110 mph. For this reason the official timing data will need to be consulted so the winners will be announced here on Eurodragster.com as soon as possible after the event and the winners will then be contacted for their preferred method of payment.

Bob's Photo Finish Award is open to all classes during eliminations only and although Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory we would appreciate if it they are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On.

23rd September: You’ve seen the writing on the rear window, now it's true, Super Pro ET racers Steve and Babs Saunders have put their beloved Hi=Speed-Gas Zephyr Mk3 up for sale as a roller, and if the right deal can be struck, as a turnkey race car. It has a unique chopped and channelled two door fibreglass body, and the sale includes all moulds and a spare front end. The team recently had the full tube chassis re-certified to 7.50 spec and it includes Strange Engineering adjustable front struts/brakes, spindle mount Weld wheels, and new Hoosier front runner tyres.

The rear axle is a Chris Alston Fab 9 fabricated one with Eliminator four link, wishbone and pro aluminium anti roll bar, Strange Engineering 40 spline half shafts, Strange Engineering discs with Willwood four pot brake calipers and Strange Engineering double adjustable shock absorbers. Rear wheels are Weld Beadlock with new Hoosier slicks.

Full ancilliaries are included, a front mounted Jazz fuel cell, ally radiator and TCI Roll Stop Linelock.New twin batteries. MSD 7AL ignition system, Edelbrock QwikData data recorder, spare thermocouples. Andy Robinsons 6 point driver restraint belts, Kirkly aluminium fabricated seat and Stroud Safety Parachute finish the package.

The Zephyr has all required certifications in date, and Steve and Babs can deliver to anywhere in UK Mainland at fuel cost. The price for the car is £12000.00 as a roller. Please call 07803 892821 to discuss.The car which has run a best of 8.49 at 159mph is available for viewing this weekend at the STP National Finals.

You can see Babs n Steve's Hi-Speed-Gas Zephyr and many other cars and parts for sale on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet pages.

23rd September: Super Pro ET racer Billy Gane writes that his team have just returned home after racing at the Association Trophée Dragster (ATD) '13eme Speed Final' at Clastres Dragway on 19th-20th September:

After a broken camshaft pin stopped play at the Greenlight Nationals, it was all hands on deck to try to get the car back up and running in time to make the race at Clastres last weekend, but with a lot of help from our friends we managed to get the car fired up for the first time at midnight on Thursday evening (apologies to the neighbours!) and get it loaded ready to set off towards Dover at 5am Friday. A 2 hour delay at the port gave us a perfect opportunity to repair an oil leak from the sump gasket; it turned out the ramps in the back of the coach are a perfect working height!

After all of the time and hard work it finally started to pay off when we got to the track, 15 cars made up the field in Super pro and we managed to qualify 2nd with a 8.488 on an 8.48 dial, the top 3 qualifiers being Fabien Dubois, myself and Elodie Dubois. The car ran great all weekend and on race day we made it through to the final losing to Fabien Dubois in the Milwaukee dragster. If any of you haven't taken the trip over to Clastres yet we would thoroughly recommend it, a great track and a great atmosphere.

I would like to finish by saying a massive thankyou to a few people for making this happen and helping us end 2020 on a much better note! Lance Godden of Godden engineering services for pulling out all the stops to get the machine work done in time, Paul and Terry Wratten for the aluminium welding and work on the lifters, Glenn Pallant for the last-minute lathe work and finally all of the crew for taking the time to be there when we need them.

Our good friend and sometime pit note author Mike Kraaij attended the '13eme Speed Final' at Clastres Dragway and you can read his Facebook report by clicking here.

17th September: Thanks to OA racer Colin Millar for providing a preview of Outlaw Anglia at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags:

We have 25 confirmed teams racing, so book in advance to come to Santa Pod Raceway and watch, you will not be disappointed, we will be putting on a show for you all as only Outlaw Anglia can do, we have even got two brand new Outlaw Anglias being unveiled.

One (pictured above, left) has been a long standing race car from the paddock of Ben Rushforth and what a beautiful looking car this is. The other is from the stable of Eurodragster.com sponsor Webster Race Engineering and has been built by Jon Webster from start to finish in a very short space of time and is has only recently been in the paint shop, I'm sure he will go flat out to get it all race ready. Jon's car is being built with the intention of selling once complete so if you have an interest please contact him.

Simon Barlow has a new combination from the safe hands of Karl Harrison and he tells me its fighting him all the way but knowing him the car will be race ready in time. Chris Kenney is back out, it's great to see an avid member of OA coming back out to play and maybe another car might return next year if he gets his way. We also have new blood coming out in OA for the first time in the form of John Turner and Peter Butler so a big shout out to these two guys, I'm sure they will have a ball.

Ben Kennedy is back out in only his second ever OA event as he will be looking to again win the event as he did at Nostalgia Drags, well done to that man. Martyn John Payne will also be out for his second ever OA event and will run the car down the track for the very first time after Chris Swinchatt drives it on Friday, he says he's excited but also a wee bit nervous, good luck Martyn.

On the downside due to damage Pro Mod racer John Tebenham won't be able to join us with the Crew Killer Pop, and our good buddy and OA racer Barnaby Levy will be absent for travel restrictions reasons. we will make sure to put a show on for you when you watch us on the live feed.

17th September: Many thanks to Wild Bunch co-ordinator Claire Meaddows for sending us a list of teams planning to race at this weekend's NSRA Hot Rod Drags. Claire says 'Not only do we have a glorious total of 28 entrants, which is excellent, three of the cars will have two family drivers too".

The cars with two family drivers are the Rebel (pictured below, left) and Wrathchild slingshots each driven in turns by brothers Rob and Pete Brown, with very similar personal bests, Pete four hundredths quicker than Rob in both cars. 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell (pictured below, right) will share the cockpit of his Backdraft slingshot for the first time with son Mark so we'll see how Mark manages to wheelie off the line.


There are two car debuts this event, Alan 'Skippy' Skipp of Ratchet Strap Racing has entered in his new-build 'Chasin' Time' slingshot, the car coming together at the last moment with recent social media posts showing exhaust headers and body panels being fabricated only this week. Also Jeff Morris is bringing out Malibu Express III, an interesting story as he was involved in previous builds of Malibu Express and the Oblivion Avenger FC in the late '60s and early '70s. Claire says "Jeff and his wife Sharon will be debuting their new slingshot this weekend, with Roy Wilding chassis and blown alky engine. It will be a historic occasion to have 51 years between debuts of the first and most recent slingshots in the class!

Cars looking to work bugs out include Antony Colliver in the beautiful altered From Hell and Tim Roy in the Jaguar V12 engined Boston Straggler 2.

After running a great 7.070 / 201.68 at the Nostalgia Drags in August, Chris Manning in The Villain slingshot will undoubtedly trying his hardest for that first six second time ticket.

You can see all the action, or join in Friday's RWYB, by booking to attend at Santa Pod Raceway's tickets site or watch the live streams on Youtube or Facebook. You can see news about the Wild Bunch by going to their great web site at www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk.

17th September: Our Kieran has updated his Youtube channel with a number of videos from recent events.

From VW Breakout he has posted a drag racing compilation from the scaled-down event, usually run as VW Action. "We were treated to some funny car hits from Andy Raw and the Nitro Bug as well as jet car passes…Outlaw Street and Supercharged Outlaws were also invited guests for this event, running alongside the VWs".

There is also a compilation from the Private Test Day held on 14 September and organised by Scott Lewry of Yam Yam Racing. Kieran says "The track was at its best as it took place after Not The Euro Finals. 80 racers were in attendance and were eager to hit the track on the scorching hot Monday. We lost a few early on due to breakages, but there was a good mix of cars and bikes from all different ends of the spectrum".

There are also three new videos posted of individual cars. First is the strange 'Death Kart' of Sam Swain (below, left), which he built on furlough. Kieran says "Powered by a stock 2004 Mk4 R32 Golf engine gearbox with a panel filter and hard cut limiter, the chassis was self-built with full front suspension from the Golf and rear suspension from a '99 Mazda MX5. The build started in May 2020, the car was finished on the Friday night before VW Breakout and the first run was Saturday morning! Sam has a Mk3 Polo Coupe body to go over the top of this but ran out of time so ran it as a 'Death Kart'". Unfortunately the Kart decided it didn't want to go in a straight line and impacted the left hand wall. "Everything on the corner that took the impact is damaged so Sam needs to rebuild it and get the car dialled in to go straight, he then has a choice of three engines to run in it with one of the options being a 650hp R32 Turbo...Could this be the UK's Answer to the infamous Leroy?"


Next is Craig Searle's Polo (above, centre) which runs a stock Honda K20A2 with a Borg Warner K27.2 Turbo on K-Pro V4 Management, 750cc Injectors and Type-R Driveshafts & Hubs. Kieran says " on every run it struggled to hook up on the Nankang street tyres, Craig plans to run it on slicks next time out which should bring the times down a fair bit".

Kieran also captured footage of Rob Carter running in VW Pro with his very clean Mk1 Passat powered by a Cosworth YB showing some of his runs over the weekend of VW Breakout. Finally there is Charlie Roberts' VW Up! (above, right) That started by him purchasing a 2.3L V5 engine & gearbox on Ebay. Kieran says "the engine remains stock but has been remapped by EST Performance in East Sussex to 198.9hp with a 75 shot of nitrous to get it into the 12s".

You can keep up to date with Kieran's videos by subscribing at his Youtube channel and clicking on 'notifications'.

17th September: The 2020 Malmö Raceway Winter Nats took place on 4th-6th September in Sweden. Classes entered for the race on the eighth mile track comprised Pro Extreme, Competition Eliminator, Pro Street, Super Pro ET, Pro ET, X Street 5.5 and 6.5 index, Junior Dragster, Super Street Bike, Super Gas Bike, and Junior Drag Bike.

Pro Extreme (alternatively known as Top Doorslammer) was the best attended class with twelve entries. #1 qualifier was Mattias Wulcan in his Wilcano Firebird at 3,8445/304,70. He was followed by Mats Stefansson in his blown Mustang at 4,0684, 249,57 and Rimbert Whalström at 4,1387/254,87. FIA Pro Mod competitors using this event to keep their cars race-ready included Håkan Persson (4th), Roger Johansson (9th) and Jimmy Ålund (12th).



Photos all by Anne Mandahl Jørgensen (clockwise): Rene Holst Laustson, Jonas Kant, Mats Stefansson (all Pro Extreme), Mattias Nilsson (TMFC), Pro Street Capri, Lars Bengtsson (X Street 6.5)

In eliminations on 6th in which sadly finals were not able to be run because of weather conditions, Mattias Wulcan was due to face Mats Stefansson. Mattias had defeated Jimmy Ålund in round one, Rene Holst Lautsson in round two and had a bye into the final. Mats had defeated Magnus Frost in round one, Jonas Kant in round two (closest race of eliminations, 3.852/321.3 to Jonas's 4.123/271.50) and Johan Gustavsson in the semi final. Mattias and Mats were well matched, Mattias having run 3.791/317.70 in his semi final bye to Mats' 3.797/321.60 against Johan Gustavsson.

Also seen testing at this event was the Top Methanol Funny Car of Bertil and Mattias Nilsson, driven by Mattias (pictured above), which comprises an ex-Leanders Bros chassis and ex-Jonas Staflund body. The repaired Mustang of Mikael Lindahl was also testing.

You can see the results for the whole race by clicking here (select Winter Nats 2020 in left hand menu) and photos by Anne Mandahl Jørgensen. Other photos are at the Malmö Raceway Foto group on FB.

17th September: Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters has launched a new venture under the name of POWERED Co. - The Automotive Lifestyle Brand.

POWERED Co. Is the new clothing division of Peter Walters Race Design. POWERED Co. aims to be the number one leader in quality Automotive Lifestyle apparel and accessories. Specialising in the Drag Racing industry.

Peter says "We currently have the already popular Kenny’s Bar t-shirt online, plus a 2020 ‘Socially Gapped’ T-shirt. All our of T-shirts are made in the USA and printed in the UK. They are high quality and completely POWERED Branded inside and out. All Kenny’s Bar t-shirt purchases come with a sticker too! Limited stock, so be quick.

In addition to the T-shirts we have decals and wall prints! There are lot more products in the pipeline including additional t-shirts, a ‘Magic Tree' air freshener and more!.

Please visit our shop at powered.shop to browse the products and purchase, and visit our social media channels (Instagram and Facebook) to keep up to date with new product drops!

15th September: Motorcycle racer Hans Henrik Thomsen from Denmark developed his 'Silver Lightning' electric drag bike with the sole aim of taking the World Record for electric vehicles from US legend Larry “Spiderman” McBride, and he achieved just that at Santa Pod Raceway on Sunday 13th September at Not The European Finals when he ran 6.8697/195.47 backed up by an earlier 6.8784/191.40.

Before his record-setting run, the record was 6.94 achieved at Virginia Motorsports Park in 2012. However well before this, Hans Henrik and cousin Glenn. E. Nielsen (hence the team name True Cousins) focused on building electric drag bikes, also a seven second electric drag car 'TC-X', to race against internal combustion engined vehicles and to take records. Hans Henrik's 'Silver Lightning' succeeded his 'Silver Giant' and 'Silver Bullitt' drag bikes which set motorcycle electric records for various voltage levels with the National Electric Drag Racing Association.

Previously Hens Herik and Glenn competed locally in Denmark at the DHB Show in Padborg Park and at Mosten Raceday and also ran at Malmo Raceway. However after 2017 electric bikes were excluded from traditional classes, which the team regretted as a battle between electric and internal combustion was something they relished. Nevertheless after campaign for re-inclusion in the regulations they were allowed to carry out demo runs at the Mantorp Park Drag Revival in 2018, which went well apart from running off the end of Mantorp's short 250m shut down area. The team returned to Mantorp in July 2020 and ran 7.08, indicating that something special was in the offing.

'Silver Lightning' was built in 2019 based on a Top Fuel Bike with the sole intention of taking down McBride's record. The frame was designed and built by the cousins, made from Docol R8 tubing with aluminium body panels with a single wheel wheelie bar. The front fork, rim and brakes were taken from a 1999 Yamaha R1 with a 31-14-15" Mickey Thompson rear tyre.

The drivetrain consists of two heavily modified 8.5" electric motors, originally designed for a hydraulic pump and rebuilt to produce 350 volts from the original 48 volts. There are two Zilla K2 motor controllers that can deliver 2000 amps each. Electricity is taken from two battery packs each of 672 100C Li-Po cells (lithium cobalt) with a battery management system designed by the cousins. Taking into account the engine voltage reducing to 300 volts under load, the peak power during the run is 1.2 megawatts (300 volts x 2000 amps x 2). This is equivalent to 1100 hp. This power goes through a chain drive with no gears.

Cost-wise, the battery pack life is 150 runs over the quarter and the team has calculated that each full run costs £80, the bike weighing a mere 386 kg. The bike's initial runs were to set the bike up and being on SPR's surface for the first time, a few issues were discovered. However the team had a track expert on hand, multi-time FIM Top Fuel Bike Champion Ian King who showed the team slo-motion videos and analysed run data from which the optimal staging position was determined.

The extent of Hans Henrik Thomsen's achievement becomes clear when you realise that two previous record holders were Larry McBride and Don Garlits. 201.07mph was achieved this year by Steve Huff in Current Technology at Tucson Dragway, but the ET was 7.5 due to the type of motor used. So we hope we can see Hans Henrik back at Santa Pod Raceway to break 200mph and lower the record further.

You can read more on True Cousins web site , and see some videos of Hans Henrik's record by going to their Youtube channel.

15th September: Not The Euro Finals was a great race for many teams with a long list of personal bests and records, as our round-up below shows:

Kev Slyfield's Blown Bird racing came away with two winner trophies for the held over Greenlight Nationals Comp Eliminator win and the Not The Euro Finals Pro Modified win. The team said "It was an amazing weekend running three passes in the fives and a new PB of 5.92/238mph. On the first run big shake from the hit slowed the ET to 6.38/234. We won Comp Eliminator race despite a snapped blower belt. The new PB came in the third qualifier on Saturday afternoon, and the team also ran a five in the final of 5.98/238".



The other double winners at the weekend were Steve Hudson (Super Comp, above left) and Liam Holgate (Junior Drag Bike, above right). Paul Hudson was a major competitor to unrelated Steve, running 8.906 on the Pension Pot dragster's first run and running well with "only a few niggles" thereafter, as reported by crewman Jordan Wilson. Steve and Paul were the beneficiary of mechanical problems by fellow competitors Leah Kellett and John Tebenham. Leah suffered electrical issues although her only clean run was without a throttle stop. JT suffered engine breakage and has appealed for a SBC engine for sale 650-700 hp. JT said "It must be good and ready to race as my con rods didn’t want to be together anymore". If you can help JT, his e-mail is jteb@hotmail.co.uk.

In Top Fuel Bike, Neil Midgley won despite tough competition and another broken belt in his quickest qualifier, 6.5467/177.03. The best race of the class was in the semi final when we had side-by side 6.3s from Neil and Al Smith. Team principal Chris 'Cannon' Hannam said "The bike's consistently performed better than ever with 6.5, 6.3, and 6.4 in the final with between round servicing, my thanks go to Lucas oils for a great product and the hardworking team for a great job".


Another especially impressive performance came from Al Smith on the PBR Top Fuel who lost out to Neil Midgley in the semi final, but produced four great passes, one 6.4s and no less than three 6.3s. Crew chief and constructor Phil Baimbridge said in his account on the team's Facebook page that the tuning adjustments mainly involved fuel and clutch settings. "It's hard to be too disappointed: Al mastered piloting the Rocket, we got up the track five times without any drama, we came home with all the same major engine components that the racebike was built with still fitted and we had a bit of fun". Once home Phil found the fuel pump wasn't delivering at the spec flow rate, and a much larger capacity pump is ready to be shipped from the US for 2021.

Street Eliminator saw its second competitor into the sixes when Mark Todd ran 6.9777/207.22 and an earlier 6.9798/207.06. However Mark was unable to compete in eliminations when a radiator cap failed on the cruise at the gate.

Funny Bike saw Louis Davies run a new PB of 7.2681 winning the final against Mark Smith, who had recorded a PB of 7.1306 in qualifying. Louis had given a pledge he would shave his beard off again if he ran a 7.2. In Super Street Bike competition, there were new personal bests from Mark Dainty (7.233/200.62), Dave Smith (7.250/198.14, also Greenlight Nationals final winner) and Mark Hope (7.267/198.01). The race winner was Steve Venables who ran a 6.9746/211.09 to defeat Steve Mead in the final (pictured, below left).

The nitro cars were the focus of many and we wish Jason Phelps and Tony Betts good luck in getting back on track after their incidents and congratulations to Undertaker driver Steve Ashdown (pictured, below centre) on his win in the Funny Car Cannonball. Steve's car, owned by Shockwave Racing's Gordon Smith and Dave Bryant, ran more reliably than any with 60ft times around 0.96-1.00 and eighths in 4.1s. A new addition to the team is clutch girl Grace Roaf who is doing her bit in promoting the sport, as a future news article will reveal.


Finally Top Fuel brought the magic back and the final with Antti Horto and Susanne Callin running side by side for much of the race was worthy of any FIA event, Antti scoring a new personal best ET of 3.875.

We also wish well to racers who suffered breakage, Joe Kellett (pictured above right) was a relatively late victim when the engine in his new dragster He said: "I have had one of the best weekends at racing in a long time with the new two car operation. The weekend did end on a low after a big bang in the semi-final solo run though, after inspection we concluded that it may be the Cam, further inspections have yet to be looked at, depending how serious the damage is that will be us out until the 2021 season, thanks to Przybyl family, my Dad and everybody else for all they have done".

18th August: Another Santa Pod Raceway Private Test Day organised by Scott Lewry of Yam Yam Racing (pictured right) took place yesterday in hot, sunny conditions. There was an entry of around 80 vehicles that paid a share of the track rental in order to make unlimited passes on the prepped track, extra sticky after Not The Euro Finals.

Thanks to Adam Bentley and David Anniwell of Santa Pod Raceway's timing team who thanks to Adam's ETSlips.co.uk site has given us information to enable us to establish who were the Top 20 racers of the day by best ET:



Many thanks to our Kieran who braved the hot sun at the Private Test Day, and we have posted galleries of his photos at our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored event coverage page which you can reach by clicking this link or going via the John Woolfe Racing event coverage link in the main menu.

Kieran says "Dave Edmunds (pictured left) brought his Sylva Phoenix kit car with a 600hp Cosworth YB engine, and ran a 8.7433/161.32 which is believed to be the quickest and fastest quarter-mile times in the world for a kit car".

Also there, after competing in Secret Worx Comp Eliminator at the weekend, was the Straight To The Point 2 '37 Ford of George Chiarella, driven by son Benito to a best-ever 8.3597/153.18. George said "We had a throttle pedal issue throughout the weekend that we've now sorted and the slicks are old, but its heading in the right direction now".

14th September: Fuel Altered and Pro Mod racer Nick Davies writes: I am very sad to have to report that Lawrie Gatehouse passed away last night, September 13th, after a brief illness.

Lawrie became one of British drag racing’s foremost photographers after attending the Blackbushe Dragfest meeting in 1964, witnessing the travelling American circus and falling in love with the sport. He travelled to the US on numerous occasions, taking pictures at many of the famous and now closed tracks from the halcyon days of racing.

After a hiatus from the sport during which time he started and grew a successful engineering business, Lawrie then returned to drag racing and was the driving force behind the newly-formed Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association, supporting his passion for, perhaps, the sport's once most-entertaining class. He was also instrumental in the re-introduction of nitromethane to classes outside of the pro ranks.

Never afraid to invest in what he believed in, Lawrie took on the responsibilities of race car ownership, with the building of the mighty ‘Chaos’ AA/FA which, prior to its retirement in 2015, dominated the class for several years. As well as his own car, a number of teams benefitted from his support and generosity in times of need.

His wide and varied contributions to the sport were recognised by his induction into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.

Lawrie is survived by his much-loved wife Judith whose privacy is requested at this difficult time. Funeral arrangements will be communicated in due course.

Our deepest condolences go to Judith, and to all Lawrie's family and friends.

11th September: With renewed energy and a brand new design, Vegter Pro Mod Racing were ready to face any competitor and to go for the 2020 FIA European Pro Modified Championship title, writes Remco Scheelings. But COVID-19 was an invisible enemy nobody was able to beat this year. The FIA European Drag Racing Championship was cancelled and the Vegter Pro Mod Racing ’67 Chevrolet Camaro stayed in the workshop. “We were more than ready for it. During the first couple of months we updated the car and we had high expectations for the new season. But unfortunately, there wasn’t a new season. Because we can’t do it at the race track and we still want to show the fans at least something this year, we are revealing the new design and new colours of our team in this way,” said David Vegter, driver of the Vegter Pro Mod Racing Camaro.


As the driver of the Vegter Pro Mod Racing ’67 Chevrolet Camaro, David Vegter has made an impressive list of honours in the FIA European Pro Modified Championship in recent years. Vegter claimed the third position in the 2017 championship, his best result so far, and finished in fourth position in 2019. With his personal bests of 5.804 seconds at 398.8 km/h, Vegter is one of the quickest and fastest Pro Modified drivers in Europe. Vegter is also the track record holder at Alastaro and Kauhava, the two Finnish FIA European Drag Racing Championship tracks.

Last winter and spring the team stripped and updated the ’67 Camaro to go for their first FIA European Pro Modified title and number 1 plate in 2020. But COVID-19 spoiled everything and after the first couple of races of the championship had to be cancelled. It didn’t take long before the whole 2020 FIA European Drag Racing Championship was cancelled as well.


“We were more than ready for it. In cooperation with Post & Dros and CP Carillo we updated the engine. We also made some major changes to the converter. There is also a new Hammer injector on top of the blower that we renewed last year. Apart from that, we made numerous other changes and updates. We had high expectations for the new season. The Camaro was race ready, but unfortunately the season wasn’t. Although the championship was cancelled, we wanted to travel to Santa Pod Raceway in September to make some test runs with the updated combination. But the current travel restrictions make it impossible to go to England. We will now have to wait until 2021. But that does not reduce our motivation, - in fact, we will be sharper than ever before,” said Vegter about the current situation.


After many seasons in their familiar black colour, Vegter Pro Mod Racing wanted to surprise this season with a fresh new design and new colours, gun metal grey and orange. Because the team didn’t want to let the curious fans wait any longer, they decided to reveal the design right now. For the low elapsed times and high speeds, the fans will have to wait until next season.

Vegter Pro Mod Racing are supported by HKR Techniek, De Vries Classic Cars, Gentlemen’s Place, Post & Dros and Ribbelink & Dumay Installatietechniek. Are you interested in becoming a partner of Vegter Pro Mod Racing, or do you want to support the team in another way? If so, please contact David Vegter at vegter3@hotmail.com.

Vegter Pro Mod Racing are also on Instagram, @Vegter.promod.racing and Facebook, Vegter Pro Mod Racing.

8th September: Many thanks to Mike Collins for providing an exclusive Still Ramblin' photo mix for Eurodragster.com readers which covers from 2014 the NHRA Brainerd Lucas Oil Nationals and the FIA Euro Finals from Santa Pod Raceway. Mike says 'Due to circumstances beyond my control - and hi-tech gremlins, this edition of Still Ramblin’ was w-a-y late and truncated; now in September 2020 it’s been sanitised for your protection! However, we’re sure you will still enjoy this PC redacted, Eurodragster.com edition from my Still Ramblin’ series first published at American Autoparts back in 2014'. We emphasise Mike's views are his own!

You can see Mike's work which totals a massive 36 pages, by clicking on any of the images below (pdf format, 22MB):

9th September: Something we could all do with a good dose of, having been pretty much starved of the wonderful senses it brings for far too long. Former Eurodragster.com’s photo editor Roger Gorringe recently sent in a small selection of British, European and American photos of nitro action to illustrate what we have been missing. The NHRA in the US has been running Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events now, when possible, for a couple of months. Now it’s Santa Pod Raceway in England’s turn as we hungrily await for final confirmation from local authorities for the go-ahead of the Not The Euro Finals event just before an unfortunate new lockdown set of sanctions starts directly after the event on Monday. This is the first Big Show meeting of the year with Top Fuel, Funny Car and Nostalgia Funny Car all performing alongside the large collection of Sportsman categories. Just can’t wait for all of Santa Pod’s hard work to come with lots of nitro.



Photo captions:

• England’s Liam Jones in FIA Top Fuel from the 2018 The Main Event
• Kevin Chapman’s Funny Car takes on Kevin Kent at the 2018 Euro Finals
• Norway’s Ronny Aasen lights up the Super Twin Bike at the 2018 NitrOlympX, Hockenheim, Germany
• America’s Antron Brown gives a spectacular Top Fuel header flame display at the NHRA 2011 NHRA Big O Tires Nationals, Las Vegas, Nevada event
• America’s Tommy Johnson Jr. driving the Make A Wish Funny Car at the 2015 NHRA Auto Club Finals, Pomona
• Doug Kalitta in the Mac Tools Top Fueller at the 2018 NHRA Auto Club Finals, Pomona, California.

9th September: The Finnish Hot Rod Association held their final race of the year last weekend 5th-6th September at Kauhava Airport. The year was described as 'exceptional, organizing the competition this year has been more challenging than ever. Situations have changed and have had to be reacted to over a very rapid period of time', something that race organisers all round the world will undoubtedly agree with.

With a cold track and heavy rain, Friday's test & tune did not yield any exceptional times. The FHRA marshals spent some of Saturday's qualifying time drying the track from intermittent rain, however times improved and by Sunday all classes were run to their conclusion thanks to the jet track dryer which was needed after am heavy downpour. During Saturday, tribute was paid to Sami Mannermaa, a local entrepreneur who helped a lot in the establishment of the track at Kauhava and sadly passed away recently in an accident.



Photos (clockwise), all courtesy and © TMu Photography: Jere Rantaniemi (Top Doorslammer), Pekka Junninen (Super Pro ET), Jyri Kangasvieri (Top Street), Aku Lantto (Super Twin), Juha Ollikainen (Funny Bike), Vesa Ruhanen (Super Street Bike); large copies at Teemu's web site.

You can see the results of the FHRA Finals by clicking here. A live stream of the event can be seen by clicking here.

Among the quickest classes Jere Rantaniemi was winner in Top Doorslammer after qualifying no.1 in a seven car field with a 4.057/305.18kph in his Camaro and he defeated no.2 qualifier (4.070/290.10) Jaakko Lauhasmaa ('70 Cuda) in the final with a 4.042/313.10 to Jaakko's 4.263/287.45kph.

Super Street Bike was a face-off between Ida Zetterstrom and Vesa Ruhanen. Following qualifying #1 and #2 respectively with times in the 7.0s, they really turned the power on in eliminations. Vesa was the victor having run best times of 6.811/356.22kph (220mph, fastest SSB terminal speed recorded in Europe) to Ida's 6.945/342.79kph.

The final of Funny Bike had Juha Ollikainen with a 6.833/320.11 defeating Kari Rautanen's 6.958/335.02. In qualifying Juha had carded a 6.813 with a top speed of 337.83kph (209mph).

8th September: Many thanks to Alan Martin of the National Street Rod Association who tells us about the upcoming NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Santa Pod Raceway:

Well, the countdown has begun and it's a real pleasure to be able to say we are looking forward to seeing you all at Santa Pod Raceway from the 18th-20th September for the thirty second annual Hot Rod Drags. We've got three packed days of track action for you all to enjoy, featuring the massed ranks of the Outlaw Anglia, Gasser Circus, Supercharged Outlaw and Wild Bunch contingents, along with a very healthy dose of pre '73 RWYB.

We are also expecting to see Robin Read make an appearance with the new 'Spirit of Le Patron' Daimler powered dragster and John Webster is planning to debut his brand new Outlaw Anglia. If you've been missing the smell of nitro, Kevin Chapman is planning to put his 'Thermoreg Racing' Mustang fuel funny car through its paces too.

There will be the usual Show'n'Shine area for power parking, along with a whole load of NSRA trophies up for grabs.

Camping is available for those with weekend tickets and the showers are now operational. Sadly, due to the ongoing restrictions on large gatherings, we have had to give the live entertainment a miss for this year, although there will be a firework display on Saturday evening. We are sure you'll all be able to find something to pass the time in the evenings though and check on the website for details of the 'pub garden', which will be open for business.

For a full breakdown on what's happening and an update on the current Covid precautions at the track, visit www.hotroddrags.com. Please take the time to read all the guidance; events like this can only take place if we all play by the rules. These guidelines must be adhered to and are in fact 'The New Normal'. Use that link to book your tickets and remember there will be no facility to purchase tickets on the gate, you MUST pre book. If you are planning to put the pedal to the metal and take part in the RWYB sessions, you MUST pre book those through the website too and you will need to show your Driving Licence at the track too.

Stop Press: additional rwyb slots are now available. These can be obtained by going to the SPR race ticket page.

We will have a limited number of event T shirts for sale at the track, the 'shop' will be opening at 12 noon on Friday, please make sure you know the size you require, there will be no facility to try them on and there can be no exchanges or refunds (except for faulty items).

These are strange and trying times for sure, but we hope you can join us, just don't forget to order your tickets while they are still available. Take care all.

We'll see you at the track. Martyn, Steve and Alan, The Hot Rod Drags Team.

8th September: £200 is up for grabs at this weekend's STP Green Light Nationals courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after there it was won by 9.50 Bike racer Alan Morrison at the STP Green Light Nationals. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available in all classes during both qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by Andy Hadfield and the Twister Race Team has been reset at £50 after it was won by 9.50 Bike racer Craig Wright at the STP Green Light Nationals (amazingly, in the same pairing that won the Perfect Light Award) The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to run +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available in Another Small F Super Pro ET, Modurstang Pro ET, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, B Fast R Super Comp, Dave Grady Super Gas Shootout, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), Wild Bunch, NMCN 8.50 Bike, Atlantic Fluid Tech 9.50 Bike, Junior Drag Bike, Scorpion Motors Supertwin Top Gas, and Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield aka Fadster of the Twister Race Team.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

Bob's Photo Finish Award, which is presented in association with Eurodragster.com sponsor Bob Roberts, will award £50 each to the racers involved in the closest race of eliminations at this weekend's event.

The closest race will be decided upon distance rather than time since, for example, 0.001 seconds at 230 mph is further than 0.002 seconds at 110 mph. For this reason the official timing data will need to be consulted so the winners will be announced here on Eurodragster.com as soon as possible after the event and the winners will then be contacted for their preferred method of payment.

Bob's Photo Finish Award is open to all classes during eliminations only and although Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory we would appreciate if it they are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On.

7th September: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's VW Breakout event held at Santa Pod Raceway:

VW Pro: Carl Goldsmith (9.90) 10.7898/139.88 def. Graeme Freeman (12.70) 12.637/105.75 breakout
VW Sportsman: Morgan Wilson (17.65) 17.7376/73.12 def. Rob Creswell (13.80) 13.9378/103.36
Outlaw Flat Four: Stuart Hodgson 10.213/134.82 def. Simon Knief, no-show
Supercharged Outlaws (subject to ratification): Gary Parkes 8.2421/165.45 def. Andy Hadfield 12.2252/57.53

In winning VW Sportsman on Sunday and the held-over VW Sportsman final from the STP Greenlight Nationals held on Saturday, Morgan Wilson pocketed a total of £750 in prize money. In turn, James Hodson (pictured) took the STP Greenlight Nationals VW Pro title and £250 when he defeated Luke Stevenson in another held-over final. The VWDRC have announced a £750 cash prize will be up for grabs for both VW Pro and VW Sportsman at the STP UK National Finals, providing a 32 car field is achieved (£500 if there is a 16 car ladder, and £250 for an eight car ladder).

Other highlights of VW Breakout were the successful licensing pass of 6.59/198 by Nitro Bug driver Andy Raw, a fantastic show put on by the jet cars of Roger Goring and Martin Hill, and many personal bests by VW racers. We sadly witnessed an unfortunate incident involving Joel Kerr's Stiff Shifter Pontiac Supercharged Outlaw which left the car with a broken engine and significant front quarter damage.

Thanks to Adam Bentley and David Anniwell of Santa Pod Raceway's timing team for forwarding us the official VW Breakout timing data which you can check out by clicking here or clicking on the Timing Data link in the main menu.

You can check out our coverage of VW Breakout by clicking here or clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link in the main menu of any Eurodragster.com page

Not The Euro Finals preview.
7th September: The crackle and bark of blown fuel drag racing ricochets once more around Santa Pod Raceway next weekend. Fans starved of nitro’s sensory spectator experience will have their patience rewarded as Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars return to action for the first time in a year.

The weekend was scheduled to host the European Finals, the biggest drag race on the calendar, when racers would pour in from across the continent to decide the season’s FIA/FIM European championships. Covid-19 put an end to that, forcing the cancellation of all national and international competitions and series.

In its place, Santa Pod unveils Not The European Finals presented by STP, a socially-distanced version of the big race in miniature – yet not so miniature: the current entry list stands at a respectable 181 cars and motorcycles, with entrants from no fewer than six continental countries (down from the usual 16 or 17) praying that quarantine regulations will work in their favour.

Making the big noise at the head of the programme are a pair of nitro-burning Top Fuel Dragsters, three nitro Funny Cars and a trio of historic-style Nostalgia Funnies. It will be exactly a year since fuel cars last pounded the Santa Pod track. Starring in match-race action, the weekend’s Top Fuel stars are Susanne Callin, representing the UK, and Finland’s Antti Horto. Callin, who holds the unique distinction of the first 300mph teenager outside the US, returned to the track last year after a 14-year family-life break. Like her, Horto cut his racing teeth in the Junior Dragster class and makes his first Santa Pod appearance since finishing second in 2018’s European Top Fuel championship.

Friday’s traditional evening twilight session, which sees fuel cars visually and audibly at their most spectacular, will feature a novel match-race pitting the Nostalgia Funny Cars against their modern-day counterparts, an old-versus-new contest with David-and-Goliath overtones.


Andy Raw’s VW Beetle-bodied Nitro Bug will combat Jason Phelps and the mighty Gladiator, while Tony Betts’ Venom will try to mortify Steve Ashdown and The Undertaker and a legend of America’s Funny Car past, the Chi-Town Hustler handled by Paul Harris, will seek to hustle a thermostatic valve job on the Thermoreg Mustang of reigning Euro Series champion Kevin Chapman.


So what’s at stake? In a word, pride, by the fuel-drum-load. The modern Funny Car stars will be desperate to dominate, to rule the roost over the old-school upstarts. Sure, the heavyweights may hold the whip hand in power and performance, but there are no shoo-ins here. Formula One this ain’t! On paper, the current cars hold all the cards, but that’s no guarantee of success on Santa Pod’s viscid concrete. Funny Cars aren’t noted for their ease of handling. An instant shake or an errant swerve could deliver big-boy humiliation in the matter of seconds it takes a historic opponent to hit the finish line. Throw the form-book out the window – it’s all up for grabs.


The supporting programme includes a full range of Sportsman classes on two and four wheels, including Top Fuel Bikes, plus exhibition Jet Cars, a Monster Truck and stunt driving and riding displays. For a few quiet – but no less quick – seconds, Denmark’s Hans-Henrik Thomsen will attempt a quarter-mile world record on an electric drag bike.

Not The European Finals takes place at Santa Pod Raceway from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th September. Full event information is available online at santapod.com. Sunday’s fuel car runs will finish by 4pm, allowing families to head home in time for a school start next day.

For Eurodragster.com's John Woolfe Racing-sponsored coverage, see our dedicated page by clicking here.

7th September: The Glassdrive EDRA Finals were held last weekend. 29th-20th August at Haapsalu, Kiltsi Airfield, Estonia, and was a Summit Racing EDRS Series Points round.

Kiltsi is a disused airfield located about 2 ½ miles from the small seaside resort town of Haapsalu located on the west coast of Estonia The event was organised by Estonia Dragracing Association.

Lena Peres writes: "118 entries showed up and most popular classes were Street A and B, according to race director Kristjan Weedler. A new Estonian record was made in Pro Bike class by David Urbus at 8,642/268 km/h Some showers interrupted on Sunday but the race could be finished and all in all everyone was happy over a great racing weekend.

The organizer invited 16 classes to the event, of which 6 classes Super Gas, Super Street, Pro ET, Junior Dragster, Junior Bike were included in Summit Racing EDRS Series. Four of them had participants, where Christer Uhlin from Norway our 2020 'globetrotter' (pictured left below), raced Super Gas and took the class win".


Pictures courtesy and © Tõnis Uustalu

You can see Lena's report and photos at EDRS web site and a gallery of photos posted on FB by Tõnis Uustalu.

VW Breakout will be taking place at Santa Pod Raceway this coming weekend with gates open from noon today 3rd September to 6th September. Full camping instructions including special Covid-19 safeguards are available on the event's Facebook page.

www.vdubradio.com will be the event radio station for the weekend as there will be no Nitro FM under current restrictions.

On track action will commence on Saturday with qualifying for invited race classes (VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four and Supercharged Outlaws) from 09:30, 11:30. 13:30, 15:30 and 17:00. On Sunday action again starts at 09:30, with eliminations at 11pm quarter finals at 13:30, semi finals at 15:00 and finals at 16:30. RWYB will take place between these times and there will be a show and shine pitside.

Eurodragster.com will be reporting live on the event and there will be trackside photo galleries courtesy of Julian and Kieran. You can follow Santa Pod Raceway's free video streams by going to this link.

Picture: David Swift at STP Greenlight Nationals by Julian Hunt.

3rd September: Graham Smith has announced that Serck Motorsport has been appointed the Official Nitrous Distributor for the UK: "We are now supplying nitrous mother bottles to businesses and race teams all over the UK. We are also setting up multiple filling stations across the country to make it easier to get your bottles re-filled. Watch this space as we will launch a map shortly for these key locations so customers can find out where they can get their bottles filled.

"You can also get your bottles filled at Santa Pod Raceway and our Serck site in Hayes with further locations to be announced shortly. If you are interested in becoming a filling station please feel free to get in touch with us on telephone 020 8813 7470 or email ss.hayes.m@unipart.com".

You can check out the shortly-to-be-updated Serck Motorsports web site by going to serckmotorsport.co.uk.

Picture of Colin Millar's nitrous purge © Callum Pudge.

3rd September: The first 2020 French Association Trophée Dragster race at Clastres took place on 29th-30th August and a field of around 60 cars signed on with competition in four classes. The original entry of 80 vehicles was reduced as a result of Covid-19 quarantine measures forcing a number of mainly UK teams to withdraw. However there was a strong international flavour still, including teams from Belgium, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.

Only one round of racing was possible before rain stopped play, so our report includes the top qualifiers after four sessions.

In Super Pro ET, there were 16 qualifiers, with Fabien Dubois and his Milwaukee dragster qualifying first with 7.264/420kph on a 7.25 dial in. He was followed by the Procharged Firebird of Harry Kempanaar (from the Netherlands) who ran 8.275/263.98 on a 8.25 dial-in. Christian Zulauf (from Switzerland) came third in his radical '31 Ford running 8.202/266.41 on a 8.12 dial-in and fourth was Elodie Dubois in her dragster with 7.733/274.01 on 7.65 dial in. Class sponsor was Dulamon Auto.



Pictures (clockwise): Clement Dubois, Kirsten van Croonenborgh, Jean Dulamon (courtesy and © Clarissa Czekalla), Raphael Caruso, Frederic Dussart, Peter Wacker (courtesy and © Harald Czekalla).

Pro ET had 18 qualifiers. Top qualifier was Cedric Limasset (Mustang) with 11.217/192.14kph on a 11.20 dial-in. second place was Maurice Heller (Germany, Mustang) with a 12.323/177.24 on a 12.30 dial-in. Third spot was occupied by Jim Kemp (Germany, Beetle) with a 10.979/194.07 on a 10.93 dial in and fourth Nick de Kruif (Netherlands, Firebird) with 11.376/194.09 on a 11.30. The class was sponsored by La Bonne Bouffe Friterie.

The Street Run class, ATD's version of Street Eliminator, was headed up in qualifying by Amandine Arnaud (Camaro Z28) with 12.836/167.88 on a 12.82 dial-in. Jean-Luc Jacot (Trans Am) was in second with 14.015/153.28 on a 13.99 dial in, Derk Burema (Gen 3 Camaro) was third with 12.735/170.89 on 12.70 dial in and Maximilien Loubert (Seat Leon FR) fourth with 14.862/143 on a dial in of 14.80. The class sponsor was Nitro magazine.

Finally Junior Dragster had as #1 qualifier Sam Timmers with a RT of 0.051 Cheyenne Visser was second with 0.069 and Hugo Lajoux third with 0.073. Junior Dragster was sponsored by Maisons Pierre.

UK racers that had entered but sadly not able to attend due to the restrictions were Billy Gane (Super Pro ET), Will Clark, Ronnie Mercer, Lee Huxley and Keith Herbert (Pro ET), Harry and Damian Redshaw and Caitlin Wilson (Junior Dragster). In RWYB a Taz Racing contingent of Darren Scannell, Paul Margetts, Kevin Preston, Adam Skinner and Chris Skinner had planned to attend.

The final event of the abbreviated ATD season will be at Clastres on 19th-20th September and the event will welcome bikes as well as cars. Full details can be found by clicking here. Facebook photo albums have been posted by Clarissa Czekalla, Harald Czekalla and Pat Weidman. You can also see a great Youtube film of the weekend's events by Luc Vanmeerbeck by clicking here and an onboard video of Björn Szczendzina by clicking here.

Orah Mae Millar.
1st September: We were very sorry to hear of the passing of Orah Mae Millar, widow of Drag Cartoonist Pete Millar.

Born in Nielsville, Minnesota of Swedish descent, Orah Mae moved to California in the 1950s and met Pete where they both worked, at local aircraft manufacturer Convair. They were married in 1954. Pete soon gave up his job as a technical illustrator as he wanted a career as a cartoonist. He became famous for producing cartoon magazines, firstly for Petersen Publishing and later independently as Drag Cartoons. He was also a keen drag racer throughout the 1960s, mainly racing in California.

The family, including daughters Robin, Debra and April decided in 1969 they wanted to tour Europe – and they brought their dragster, Chicken Coupe, over which was displayed in Sweden. The family's connection with British drag racing began then as Dennis Priddle heard the car was in Sweden, and went over in 1970 to do a deal to buy the car with its 354cu in Hemi engine destined for his Quartermaster AA/FD. The chassis came to the UK as well and was sold by Dave Riswick of Eurodragster.com sponsor John Woolfe Racing to Cliff Jones who ran the car with Mike Treutlin, later partnered by Keith Dancey.

On returning to the US in 1971 Orah Mae, Pete and their family settled back in the Los Angeles suburbs, Pete continuing to draw cartoons but increasingly being involved in technical drawings and models for court cases. The start of the California Hot Rod Reunions in 1992 was the spur that got the family back to the drag racing track. They displayed at Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, from 1993, also visiting Pomona and other tracks and car shows. After Pete's death in 2003 Orah Mae and Robin kept his legend alive by continuing to have a marquee selling memorabilia at many of the same events. Orah Mae with Robin were great hosts to a large number of visitors to Famoso, particularly from Europe, giving your editor an

1st September: Two well known cars in British drag racing have just appeared on our Jeff Bull Race Engines & Performance Parts-sponsored Swap Meet pages.

The first is Rod Harrison's Top Methanol Dragster which has a Mike Bos 2011 chassis. Rod says The chassis is current and the newest TMD chassis in Europe, with less than 80 runs from new. A driver up to 6ft 4in can sit comfortably in it. The rear end is a Mark Williams 11” complete with new carbon brakes which would normally cost $17000 on its own. It has Weld liner wheels and tyres, the tyres having only done 3 runs. The Car has carbon front and rear wings, fully working Leahly shutoff system, all levers and cables for chutes and shutoff, all air lines from steering column for gear change and complete air system including bottle and gauges. Just add your own motor and trans and go racing!

Also included in the price is a 40ft tandem axle artic trailer, legal for travel throughout Europe, with heavy duty tail lift, full kitchen and toilet facilities, large fresh and foul water tanks, 12 volt led lighting, 240v hook up, plumbed in on board air compressor and spare tyres. Also included is a full 10 x 5 metre professional awning. The complete rolling chassis and trailer are going for £18,000.

The second dragster is Conrad Stanley's Super Pro ET/Super Comp/Pro ET car, for sale turnkey. Conrad says 'The chassis is 240" and the car will run in the mid to high 8’s. It's super reliable, consistent and low maintenance.

The engine is a 454 BBC with ally heads and new bearings, a freshly overhauled Powerglide gearbox, with a 9” rear end. The car can be yours for £12,500 or with a 24ft American trailer for an additional £5,500. Conrad can deliver at buyer's cost.

You can see details of these cars, contact information and other vehicles and parts at our Jeff Bull sponsored Swap Meet pages.

Photo of Conrad's dragster courtesy of and © Patrik Jacobsson.