RACE REPORTS AND VIDEOS

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

2nd December 2008

Press Release - B & H Automotive Street Eliminator 2008 AGM

The Street Eliminator UK AGM was held the same day as the class awards evening.  The big news from this was the re-introduction of the controversial Mickey Thompson Drag Radial tyre for a one season trial. The expanded use of this type of rubber in other street related classes as well as on many RWYB cars coupled with the many internet comments that there were a lot of potential racers being kept out of the class because of the current tyre regulations persuaded the existing class members to vote the MT DR back in. It must be stressed that this is a one year experiment and that a review will take place at next year’s AGM. If you are one of the racers who have wanted to race in the Street Eliminator on this tyre now is your chance to show that the right decision has been made. Contact information is available on the class website – www.streeteliminator.com . It is hoped that this change will encourage more and a greater variety of racers and vehicles to take part in the SE adventure.

Minor changes were made to the regulations concerning the amount of fuel taken on board during the cruise ensuring that, in these days of fluctuating petrol costs, the volume required remains consistent. Changes were also made to the points system rewarding racers with additional points for every qualifying pass thus encouraging a more complete show throughout the whole of future events.

For those unaware the full class rules are readily available in the MSA ‘White Book ‘. However, should anybody have a specific question on class rules and regulations or be in need of any advice on preparing a car to compete in the quickest and fastest street legal class this side of the Pond just click here to get in touch with long-time SE racer Ian Hook. “Be it technical or paperwork related I look forward to talking to potential new racers and helping get you on the track!”

2nd December 2008

B & H Automotive Street Eliminator 2008 Awards Evening

The 2008 B & H Automotive Street Eliminator awards evening was held at the Brandon Hall hotel in Warwickshire on November 22^nd. An excellent three-course meal was followed by the awards ceremony itself which was MCed as last year by the ever-enthusiastic Paul Venners.

Once again the fantastic support of the class sponsors made it possible to reward many of the Street Eliminator racers for their endeavours through this exciting 2008 season and huge thanks go out to one and all for their backing in these difficult times.

The top five finishers in the championship comprising winner (for an unprecedented fifth time) champion Steve Pateman, runner-up Steve Nash, Jeff Meads, Jon Webster and Ian Hook all took home a share of the cash awards from title sponsors B & H Automotive and Roadcool, along with and associate sponsors American Car World and RPM magazines.

The podium placed racers were presented with framed photographs of their rides in action courtesy of Eurodragster.com whilst the quickest three to the eighth over the season were rewarded with cash prizes courtesy of Steve Kellet’s company, Roadcool Refrigeration.

Individual round winners were presented with vouchers from Robinson Race Cars/Stroud Safety and Colin Lazenby was again honoured with the Spirit of Street Eliminator trophy and cash award from photographer Mark O’Hanlon.

Ian Hook took home the Perfect Light trophy and cash award from Webster Race Engineering/Powerpour for an incredible seventh consecutive year with a .037 average light. Jon Webster himself was runner-up with a .092 average. Jon Holingworth made a welcome return to the class at the National Finals and posted a near one second improvement on his previous best garnering in the process a set of custom crew shirts and trophy courtesy of Embroidery Solutions as the Most Improved SE racer.

Once again the championship trophies were supplied by Webster Race Engineering whilst continued support from Quarter Mile High meant that each and every driver received a DVD of the 2008 season hot off the press. The DVD is now available to the public at £14.95 (an ideal Christmas present! Click here

For pictures from the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator Awards Evening....Click Here!

30th November 2008

Pictures from the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator Awards Evening now uploaded....Click Here!

20th November 2008

Ron Haslett, driver of the ‘Insane Creations’ Team’s Cortina Estate has had a ‘character building’ season, here are his thoughts on 2008 - 

‘What a season

Firstly I’d like to thank every one that’s helped me over the season.

Crew:

Nick, Graham, Andy, Steve, Mark, Russ, Big Mike and Dave newest member of the madness that is Insane Creations.

Companies:

Express Gearboxes

Wizard of Nos

Ice Automotive

Propshaft Services

Who said Drag racing was easy? We’ve definitely had what can only be termed as an up down season so to end where we did was testament to the hard work that goes into a team. We’ve had nearly everything thrown at us this year, from having to repair 7 yes 7 gearboxes 3 converters and collapsed wheel bearing on the motor home as well as a small electrical fire and electronics fail.

After sitting out most of the last season we upped the capacity of the motor from 460 to 545 ci.,, which I can’t thank ICE for enough. We had no problem with clearances when it all went together and it fired at first time of asking. With no time for testing the latest incarnation, it was drive to the MOT station, again no problem other than I forgot to plug the lights in.

Our season started like a lot of other people at a very cold and snowy Santa pod. Our first run on the new engine to a very comfy 11.1 and qualified. We had bettered our previous non gas best. Then backed it up that’s were it started to go wrong. We lost any spark after spending Saturday and Sunday looking and getting my old MSD up from Portsmouth. We finally fired back up Sunday night about 9ish and getting told off because of the curfew. We had drawn Webster in Ian Jackson’s Vette. I was sitting in a cloud of smoke as he did his burnout the Mark and the start line crew shutting me down (all I could think was what have I done). The smoke cleared and I was looking at the front of the Vette. Next our first bye then our first semi with loss. But a very happy camp with a long trip home made slightly longer buy the fact that we lost 2^nd and 3^rd in the camper.

Next up the Big Bang the camper pulled like a train gearbox fixed. First run launch was good but then it went flat. Second run the same and Steve Pateman came over and said it sounded as it the box was slipping. Run 3 with a lot of gas with no effect something wrong with the trans. Colin was a no show due to engine damage another bye. Next Webster again this time it was my turn to get shut off. Again the trip home and a double blow out on the trailer at Newbury leaving us no choice but to drive the car home 60ish miles.

So new tyres on the trailer and a fresh box in the car it was off to Shaky. After qualifying and again slipping trans. We decided to bypass the nitrous controller as I wanted to give the car a kick up the arse to see if I could find the problem and I did.

So another gearbox was needed and converter as the C6 couldn’t handle the extra power with the gas.

With our on going gearbox issues it was decided to not use any gas and do our best for the next round and it went without a hitch at last.

I had decided to switch to a Glide. I had sold the C6 so I had to freshen it again. On Wednesday before the Bug Jam I got my prop back from Propshaft Services only to find that some numpty can’t read a tape measure (me). We got in and decided to do some check out passes and what a difference. NPB without gas and an all time dream a 10 second car N/A. Qualifying proper and a small shot of gas 9.4 NPB by a long way. We drew Ray Comer and out Qualified him another first. This time I got greedy and put too much in off the line giving Ray the win. On the way home the front wheel bearing on the camper gave up.

Back to Shaky and back to our trans woes. We drew Jeff Meads who was having his own problems. We got the better launch with a chasing Jeff catching us as we crossed the line together Jeff just getting it.

We went to the Hot Rod Drags to try and get some testing in BIG mistake, one seriously massed converter. With just over a week to fix it I spoke to Paula at the Pod and it turns out that they didn’t have my entry anyway.

So   there we were a couple of days to go No converter No entry No camper and due to the circumstances, no crew having all made plans. Up step the rest of the class and Paul Marston. The Lazenby’s got me entered and the Fat boys offered shelter and crew if needed. This is extra special as if I out qualified them we had 5^th and not them. It was not to be as some how they matched us so the ended 5^th with us 6^th. With all said very happy with the out come. Last but not least I have to say a big thank you to the fat boys for there hospitality, even if they did seriously warp my new guy Dave with their entertainment.’

IMPORTANT MESSAGE - PLEASE READ

29th October 2008

Dear member, so far Mark Norton has received around half of the membership votes for the Mark O’Hanlon ‘Spirit of the Street Eliminator’ award.

Please put your virtual pen to virtual paper as soon as you can make the time – closing date for votes is November 7^th, this should give us plenty of time to get both the 12 month loan trophy engraved, and purchase and engrave the smaller keeper trophy with the winners name and season won.

This one’s a most deserving award having almost nothing to do with the performance of the car, more to do with the spiritual performance of the person. Don’t forget you can vote for a driver or crew member.

Mark Norton can be contacted by clicking here all you need to do is quote the ‘spirit of’ award and your choice of name.

Mark will summarise in due course.

29th October 2008

Well, the end of another exciting season brings around both the AGM and accompanying Awards Evening and we have now secured centrally placed Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa just outside Coventry. For the AGM the conference room has been booked between the hours of 13:00 through to 15:00 from which point onwards hotel guests will be able to take in the facilities, or prop up the bar until the evening session begins - we'll use this time to organise the awards room layout, finalise table seating plans and set up the SE Sponsors display board.

For the AGM I need confirmed participating numbers and AGM points no later than November 7^th - for both racers (and crew). Crew are of course encouraged but as the available places are limited to around 30, racers will be given priority. I can't emphasise enough the importance of sending in your agenda points, and confirming your numbers by Nov 7th. I ask this every year for good cause, and every year someone fails to confirm. I need to make sure that sufficient seats are available and that the agenda contains all your points requiring discussion, it's equally as important that we prepare the correct number of AGM packs. Again please BY NOVEMBER 7th.

Those of you that are planning to stay over after the awards presentations please reserve your rooms DIRECT with BRANDON HALL, making sure that you quote 'Street Eliminator'. The special B&B room rate is £79.00. Phone number for room reservations is 02476 546000.

For the awards evening itself we aim to meet in the function room 19:00 hrs and be sat down for 19:30 hrs. For a 3 course meal (and disco) we have negotiated a price pp of £32.50, a discounted meal price for children is available for £8.00. For your numbers for the evening meal please confirm this with me direct, e-mail or through the ‘contact’ section on the SE site. Cheques should be made payable to the Street Eliminator, click here to be sent the address to post them to.

All our class sponsors will of course be invited though attendance is usually subject to their availability

The hotel insist on charging for 80 persons minimum, last year we managed 105 - let's see if we can better that figure this year.

If anyone needs any more information on either the AGM or the Awards Evening - please ask.

Kind Regards
Colin & Ann-Marie Lazenby

21st October 2008

B & H Automotive Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby of Team 56 has certainly had a season to remember, here are his thoughts on the season....

Well what a madcap 3/4 weeks we’ve had having been in and out of Clive Bond’s Ultimate Race Cars and latterly Andy Robinson Race Cars several times - the multiple visits required to complete the various engine/chassis modifications to fit our new behemoth Sonny’s Semi-Hemi motor. All of which had to be completed by the weekend - we made it, but only just and we actually only started the motor for the 1^st time Thurs evening around 10.30pm. At which point self and our kid then loaded up the ‘56’ and left for Santa Pod - arriving sometime after 01:30... Friday was a bit of a haze as we recovered from the many late nights and setting up our pit space for the National Finals. We signed on and passed scrutineering all of which was pretty much straight forward. Crew chief Luke (and dad) Andy Robinson turned up at 11.00pm and we set about making a number of final connections for the data logging etc. Bed at 01:30.. Again. Garry arrived in the wee small hours of Sat morning.

Now it’s fair to say we’ve not had the best 12-15 months. Most know of our ‘glance’ with the wall at last year’s Bug Jam. Then we sheared the rear pinion, damaging the prop/output shaft and safety hoop at the 1^st event of 2008, followed by grenading the motor at the 2^nd... As I say it’s not been a good 12-15 months. This all changed however as we were called for our first test/qualifying session on the Sat afternoon. We discussed the tune and opted for a no nitrous pass. Anything better than 9 seconds would have been hugely rewarding. Naturally I was anxious as this motor has some 300+ Hp more than our previous lump, that and the fact that we’ve made no more than 5 passes this year (2 of which have resulted in near disastrous consequences).

Bearing in mind ‘seat time’ can mean the difference between winning and losing and we’ve not had much seat time at all this year whereas the top teams will make around 50 laps in a season. And, races are often won and lost on good reaction times - for the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator class we run a ‘Pro’ .500 tree and recording a .0000 light would be perfect.

Just before the 1^st qualifying session Martin Taylor gave me a hug, feeling better already I strapped myself in. Luke put me in the burnout box - a big burnout (necessary for the brand new tyres) stopping almost all the way to the eighth mile markers. Back up, pre stage, into full stage then GO, a 0.0178 second reaction against my opponents 0.1854. Then 1.531 seconds to the 60ft (and around 60 mph). 5.549 to the eighth (131 mph) and 8.885 to the quarter @ 166 mph. Phew, and with the 1^st run out of the way I could now begin to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

2^nd session – again no nitrous. Another big burnout, back up, pre stage and stage - a 0.0934 reaction, 1.419 to the 60ft, 5.585 to the eighth (132.8 mph) and an improved 8.567 to the quarter, 164.8 mph. Excellent stuff. The planned 3^rd session was cancelled.

All teams met at the gate for the 25 mile qualifying drive around the Northamptonshire countryside which I have to say was surprisingly uneventful and Luke and I made it back in the ‘56’ without any dramas at all... Yeah it surprised us a little too.

Sunday then and straight into eliminations. We’d drawn against good friends the Stacey’s with Wilf driving the family high riding Zephyr saloon. We had elected to turn on the gas but 1 system only, just a short squirt. A big burnout, back up and pre stage, nitrous purge (which didn’t work) this phased me slightly but undeterred I eased into full stage (no nonsense with Wilf). My light was 0.0324, Wilf’s was 0.1273. Then a 1.44 to the 60ft, 5.63 to the eighth (@ 139.39 mph) and an 8.406 at the quarter mile stripe. It felt great to be back, especially with the juice.

Next was John Hollingworth (Moose) – I don’t know if the unassuming name came from the fact that John is hung like a Moose, or just because he’s as big as a Moose. No matter, John’s a big fella. My reaction was 0.0072 (almost red) against John’s 0.2672. An improved 1.38 to the 60ft, 5.42 at the eighth (141.54 mph) and 8.18 at the stripe, and 177.78 mph. Back in the pits the computer trace showed that I had knocked off the nitrous at 6.97 seconds and I did this before pulling the chute (normally I do this the other way round) and no, I don’t know why I did it either.

Back in the pits the team pondered over what could have been while I physiologically beat myself up over the error. Former 4 time champ Steve Pat*man then appeared having also won his race – ‘we’ would now meet in the semi finals where this year’s Championship title would be decided. In essence if I beat Pat*man, the Wildcat ‘twin turbo’ Cougar boys would win. If Pat*man beats me then he would win the Championship. The points really were that close. We of course had nothing to gain or lose but everything to unintentionally mess up for one or the other of the top two contenders.

Luke, Clive and Garry elected to step up the tune and by virtue of his quicker (previous) run - Pat*man had lane choice – he took the favoured left lane. We both entered the burnout box I did my (by now) characteristic long burnout. Pat*man waited to start his burnout as I commenced backing up. As I began to ease forward I momentarily considered a Mexican standoff (a ‘burn down’) but didn’t. Racing against Pat*man deserved respect, he got it. We both went in to full stage, the lights went down and GO, my 0.0230 light against his ‘sleepy’ 0.1564. A further improvement to the 60ft, a 1.36 against Pat*mans 1.32. At the 330 ft he had sneaked ahead by 0.0945. At the eighth the difference was 0.1334 though my speed was up by almost 4 mph and I was beginning to reel him in. By the 1000 ft clocks the difference was a marginal 0.0504 and by now the second kit was in and at a 170 mph+ the tyres started to turn (spin) at this point the back end of the ‘56’ could be felt gently drifting towards the wall, I stayed with it until the point I believed it was not going to recover and sensibly, but reluctantly, I lifted.

Old rival Steve Pat*man had deservedly beaten us with an astounding 7.9848 pass, our run netted us a losing 8.2157 (at a slowing 160.68 mph) the margin at the stripe was 0.0975, that’s nine hundredths of a second. We were left to contemplate what could have been, again. We began to pack up, DELIGHTED with our weekends performance, and our potential for running with the tops teams in 2009. For Pat*man Motorsports this win means a tally of 5 Championships over the last 10 years, 3 of which were back-to-back seasons - a truly staggering achievement. And hey, there’s no shame in being beaten by one of the best.

Naturally I am grateful for the encouragement and support the team received in 2008... Roll on 2009

Rgds, Colin.

11th October 2008

B & H Automotive Street Eliminator UK 2008 Round 7 Race Report

The National Finals, September 27^th/28^th, Santa Pod Raceway

The B & H Automotive Street Eliminator convoy rolled into Santa Pod Raceway for the last time in 2008 on the weekend of September 27^th/28^th and the UK National Finals. With good weather forecast for both days (a first in 2008!) the racers and crowd alike were looking forward to an exciting weekend.

In the championship Steve Nash was sitting where he’d been all season long – at the top. With a 700+ points lead he looked pretty secure, however his round 6 win had only been the result of a very fortunate (for Nash!) set of circumstances with the Cougar simply not performing on track and, despite the new Motec unit, the car was still an unknown quantity.

The only racer who could catch him, Steve Pateman, knew that he had to see Nash go out early and that he had to go all the way. The return of Colin Lazenby with a rumoured mega displacement (the exact size is a team secret) motor in the ’56 would certainly mix things up. Also making a welcome return was Jon ‘Moose’ Hollingworth in his twin-turbo BBF Mk V Cortina. This car was to have a serious impact on the 2008 championship

In Q1 Lazenby was immediately into the eights with an 8.85 and provisional pole.

Pateman had his eyes on taking out Nash early running a 12.50 and expecting a 12 car field. But it didn’t look like Nash would be in the number one spot anyway as he could only muster a 9.50 from the Cougar – the problem from round 6 was still there.

Due to weather (fog) delays Q2 was the last chance to post a qualifying time. Martin Taylor had failed to run quickly enough in Q1 and the ’52 Beetle again bogged on the start line the resulting 15.6 above the 13.50 SE cut off.

This had the effect of reducing the class to an 11-car field and seriously messing with Pateman’s plans to qualify low and take out Nash early. This combined with Nash’s below par performance left the Calibra driver little choice but to go for it.

And he did, a stunning 8.008 ET putting him on pole.

Nash had hung back until last and improved to an early shut off and misfiring 8.70.

The cruise didn’t pose any problems for either cars or drivers, the only person to lose out was Jon Webster whose MG had blown a head gasket on the track and was unable to even go out.

A pre-eliminations look at the points and pairings revealed that despite Pateman’s number one qualifying position the championship still looked to be very much in Nash’s hands. Progress through two rounds was all that was needed to retain the title and, even were the current champion to go out in the first round, Pateman would still have to stage for the final to become the 2008 B & H Automotive Street Eliminator champion.

The first pair of to race were Ian Hook and Mark Perkins.

The FB Racing ’34 had been fitted with nitrous for this meeting as Hook was having his own private battle with Ron Haslett for fifth place, keeping the pressure on by putting nearly a tenth holeshot on Perkins and taking the win over the silver Mustang a 9.20 to 9.32.

The second pair to the line was Meads and McIntosh.

The two cars left almost together, the Anglia lifting both front wheels on the launch and storming down the track to a winning 8.64 ET. McIntosh ran a weekend’s best of 9.76 in the freshly blown pony car. Next to up were Lazenby and Stacey.

Lazenby wasn’t taking it easy on the new motor using an 8.40 to put Stacey back on the trailer. Haslett then soloed (due to Webster’s exit) to progress on a 9.75. The next race was a big one. Champion elect Nash against the returning Jon ‘Moose’ Holingworth – a turbo Ford vs. turbo Ford match. Nash appeared to be in the driving seat having qualified with an 8.70 to Holingworth’s 9.78 and remember that he needed to win this and the next round to guarantee the title. But when he tried to burnout the car again failed to light the tyres forcing him to stage without a proper burnout. There was tension in the air as both cars lit the second bulb and on the green it was Holingworth out first.

The Cougar just wouldn’t cooperate and the Cortina streaked away to an incredible 8.70 PB in the process blowing the 2008 championship wide open. Pateman was sat behind this pair waiting to run his bye and you could see his smile from the stands! Once his crew had got his mind back on the job in hand he gratefully took the solo running 8.2. Phew! What a round.

The quarter-finals kicked off with Haslett and Meads. Despite Haslett’s .17 holeshot it was Meads who took the win in a very close race 9.33 to 9.65.

The second elimination featured the surprise package of the weekend, Holingworth, and the ’56 Chevy of Lazenby. The Chevy was out first and stayed there with an 8.18 over Holingworth’s stout 8.77.

The final pair was championship seeking Pateman and Ian Hook. Hook had seen Haslett depart in the first race so knew his fifth place was secure but still pulled a stunning .005 reaction time but a 9.6 was no match for Pateman’s 7.94. Hook’s reaction won him the Powerpour best RT award for the fourth time this year.

Semi final time and Pateman had to get through this round and stage for the final to win the championship. In his way was Lazenby whose four passes so far had garnered an 8.85, 8.56, 8.40 and 8.18. With a 2/10ths improvement on each pass a seven was a distinct possibility. He performed his usual extravagant rolling burnout as Pateman waited patiently before warming his own Mickey Thompsons. The first stage bulbs were lit and both cars vented nitrous before going all the way in. Both pit and spectator side fences were lined with fans and racers alike, tension in the air as the tree ran down. Lazenby pulled a .023 light for a tenth holeshot but Pateman pulled that back and gained a tenth himself by the 330 foot mark, the Calibra proving to have far more traction. Then the power of the ’56 started to tell and the tenth gap at the 330 mark was halved by the time the cars crossed the 990’ line. But the big Chevy couldn’t maintain grip and the car started to move around forcing Lazenby to lift and allowing Pateman to take the victory on a 7.98 that was accompanied by cheers and applause from all corners of the facility.

The championship was now in his grasp as he needed only to stage for the final to take the 2008 title – an unprecedented fifth for the Hitchin driver. In the other semi Jeff Meads, on a bye, ran his quickest ET of the weekend, an 8.53.

The final saw Pateman with his red Calibra taking on his long time rival Jeff Meads in the screaming yellow Anglia. Tyre smoke from the burnouts filled the air as the hot rod and hatchback pulled into stage. Meads was out too quickly and left a glowing red light behind him as he double wheelied up the track for another 9.33.

Meanwhile Pateman simply sat on the start line to take the victory and the 2008 B & H Automotive Street Eliminator championship. The car had been making some strange noises after the burnout so Pateman had sensibly decided not to race.

Steve Pateman is the 2008 B & H Automotive Street Eliminator Champion,

his victory meaning that series had seen four different winners in as many years and one of the most exciting finishes ever with the title having been decided in the final round of the final meeting. 2007 champion Steve Nash had led this year’s championship from the first qualifying session to the final race of the year but technical issues with the car left him as runner up. Round seven’s losing finalist Jeff Meads was in third place with Jon Webster, who’d driven both the Jackson Vette and his own MG during the year, in fourth and 2006 champion Ian Hook, who had raced all year long on a borrowed motor, in fifth. These five will take a share of the prize fund from B & H Automotive topped up with associate sponsorship from American Car World and RPM magazines whilst the top three receive framed photos of their rides courtesy of Eurodragster.com. A new award for 2008, the Roadcool Quickest Eighth, was taken by Nash with a 5.12 1/8 ET, Pateman took second on 5.18 whilst Colin Lazenby’s new motor producing a 5.42 to nick third place at the last meeting. Ian Hook took the Webster Race Engineering/Powerpour reaction time award, a .037 average putting him at the top for the seventh consecutive year. Jon Webster himself was runner up with a .092 average. His astounding 8.70 at the Finals gave Jon Holingworth a massive .995 reduction in his PB ET winning him the Embroidery Solutions trophy and team crew shirts for Most Improved award.

So that’s it for 2008. Check out the next issue of RPM magazine for news of new cars and possible new contenders for 2009.

Note - Race Report pictures taken from the 2008 Street Eliminator DVD ‘Hardcore Street’ (available early November 2008) from www.quartermilehigh.com

8th October 2008

Click here for the final points standings of 2008....

29th September 2008

Congratulations to the 2008 B&H Automotive Street Eliminator champion Steve Pateman.

The full race report will follow shortly, along with post-race video, and also a word from the champion himself.  Check back soon....!

29th September 2008

Wilf Stacey dropped us a line about his first time out in Street Eliminator in the 2008 season.  (Shakespeare County Raceway, the Open Sport Nationals....)

‘On arriving at the track early Friday morning, myself, Diane Ryan & Siobhan (Shivvy), started to set out our pit with instructions to leave enough room for the rest of my crew, also Julie from SCR kindly asked if I would do the pitting duties for the class. Later on during the day the rest of our class arrived & set up with no problems, (thanks guys).

I was fortunate enough to have Colin, Brian, Ann-Marie & Jackie from Team 56 as my crew for the weekend who were also showing both Ryan & Shivvy the ropes.  Well our first call Saturday morning & Colin & Brian fitted the bottle, adjusted tyres then down for our first pass. 

I pedaled hit shake to the eighth then coasted through.

Run 2 more pedaling, light shake but a 9.9, motor sounded ok & everyone was happy with the first day.  Sunday & Brian was explaining to Shivvy startline procedure, & helped her put me in to burn out & on the startline.  First pass was 9.3 (better) but still loose with a fair bit of wheelspin to the eighth, this was to be our best qualifying time, & after an uneventful cruise (apart from us all carefully overtaking a very drunk motorcyclist) arrived back at the track ok.

Monday morning we had a bye (we should have had Jerry) so used it to check the track with a small tune, Shivvy & Ryan had to put into practice all they had learned & assisted by Munch from Splinters team we ran an easy 9.3 with some wheelspin. 

Round 2 & we were up against Splinter.

Diane Ryan & Shivvy all helped re-prep the car & after a great job from the track after a couple of unfourtunate accidents were ready to race Splinter.  Shivvy put me into the water for the burnout & Munch was on startline duty. Splinter was having problems with his car, but I waited until Shivvy gave me the signal to start the burnout, we both staged I went and turned left into a huge slide, steared the car straight but Splinter was too far ahead & took the win.

All in all a great weekend this being the first time I had driven the car since October last year (National Finals). I am very greatful for all the help I had from Colin, Brian, Ann-Marie, Jackie & Munch. By far the best part was having my family Diane, Ryan & Shivvy all crewing for me, thanks guys.’

4th September

Round 6, The Open Sport Nationals

August 23^rd – 25^th, Shakespeare County Raceway

An 11-car field presented itself for this, the penultimate round of the 2008 Championship. As well as being important for the overall B & H Automotive title race this event would decide the outcome of the APIRA championship withal three contenders, Steve Nash, Jon Webster and Jason Weir in attendance.

Jerry Charles, Jason Weir and Wilf Stacey had made welcome returns and it was good to see Martin Taylor back in his stunning Beetle having repaired the transmission after damage at the Bug Jam. Also involved in repairs were the two racers fighting it out for the B & H title, Steve Nash & Steve Pateman. The former had been forced to fly in new rear gears for the twin turbo Cougar whilst Pateman had suffered damage to both himself and car during a trailer loading incident. The bruising on Pateman’s arm would heal itself in time but his crew had to work hard at the track to fix damage to the Calibra’s door.

Qualifying was held over the Saturday and Sunday but a huge amount of downtime meant that just 4 sessions were completed. At the top of the pile was, again, Steve Nash back in the sevens with a 7.97. Just over a tenth behind him was Steve Pateman on 8.09. In third spot was Jon Webster back in the Jackson Corvette for this meeting and posting a stout 8.49 and a new personal best of 8.86 put Jason Weir in fourth.

Martin Taylor (driveshaft) and Jerry Charles (engine) were out of competition leaving two holes in the ladder.

The cruise had presented no problems so nine cars lined up for Monday’s eliminations. The first round saw Pateman, Nash and Stacey progress with byes,

Hook made an unusual foray into round two when Weir lost oil pressure, Webster ran a huge 175 mph on an 8.4 to despatch Andersson and Meads and Haslett battled tyre spin and a big wheelie in a thrilling race that went to the Pop 10.22 to 10.16, Meads using a quicker reaction time to overcome the better ET from the Cortina driver.

Round two saw another surprise progression from Hook who progressed courtesy of a 5/1000^th red light from Webster.

Fortune smiled on Nash when the Cougar failed to perform but he won through with a 10.09 after Stacey had to come off it when the Zephyr got out of shape big style. The last race was an all 8 second affair as Pateman used a superb 8.03 to put Meads back on the trailer despite his quickest of the weekend 8.71.

The first of the semi-finals featured Hook and Nash in an all Ford match up. This would normally be a forgone conclusion but Nash had problems with the big Cougar being way down on power. However, having used his lucky rabbit’s foot in the previous round the Essex driver used a four leaf clover resulting in a red light for Cheltenham’s Hook and yet another final round berth. Pateman, on a bye, ran an 8.50. The 156 mph terminal showing he’d lifted.

With Pateman a strong favourite in the final Nash was really up against it. But he’ll have to rename the Wild Cat car as the Black Cat as fortune smiled on him again when Pateman’s motor backfired on the way into stage and was extinguished by an enthusiastic marshal leaving the championship leader to cruise up the track and take the win giving him an almost unassailable lead in the championship.

Pateman still has an outside chance of taking the title so don’t expect the action to be any less at the National Finals and the final round of the B & H Automotive 2008 Championship at Santa Pod Raceway on the 27^th and 28^th September.

29th July 2008

Martin Taylor, driver of the spectacular 1952, turbo VW Beetle has been in touch with his thoughts of his first outing with the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator series....

‘First meeting – WOW!

As you know I have entered all the rounds this year but not made it for one reason or another, either reliability problems or just getting some stuff wrong! The Thursday before bug Jam we were not going, I had had enough of it and was getting tired, but my good friend Russ Fellows gave me a talking to and told me to pull my finger out!  He booked the rolling road for Friday and told me to get the MOT sorted. So Thursday night I finished proper work at 10.30pm then got the car ready for the MOT.

Friday morning, I load the car into the trailer to go to the MOT booked for 10.45am on the way my tow car broke down, so a quick fix at the side of the road followed by some kicking and choice words and we were off again. The car passed the MOT just fine, by 1.00pm it was Taxed. The car was legal for the first time in 11 years! By 3.30pm we were on the rollers and for the next few hours the car got a proper thrashing! All was looking good, plenty of power and not getting hot. By 6.30pm the car now drove into the trailer and we were on our way home, to get ready for bug jam!!!

We arrived at the track about noon on the Saturday, it was just sinking in that I'm going to have to drive the thing now lol. Once we had got all the paperwork sorted it seamed to take ages to be called up for a run, but when it came I was a little nervous to say the least. The runs went like this.

Run 1) Observed run, burn out and drove off the start line put the car through the gears on light throttle got to the end, happy

Run 2) thought I'd try the chute, so launched a bit harder, messed it up but we were off, up the 3^rd gear on and off the throttle, all nice and stable, got to the finish like pulled the chute, that woke me up! It lifted at the rear and then started to wave about the track, I steered with it and got it under control. Thought that was odd, I'm sure I was only doing 80-90 ish. I read the ticked and I was doing 124mph.

Run 3) tried a bit harder and the car jumped out of 3^rd, but all was good.

Run 4) harder still, got all the gears but very slowly, resulted in 10.39 @ 139.4 MPH, How happy was I! over the chuffin moon I was and still am!

Run 5) proper competition against splinter, never one to be put off, I gave it a big un, chuff me were off, as I shift into 3^rd and nail it the car launched real hard then crunch! Bust 3^rd gear, Bugger

So to sum up the meeting, WOW! I'd like to thank everyone who made us feel welcome, people came over and introduced themselves and had a good look round the car. I just had the best weekend and look forwards to racing you all in the future, and don't worry I'll get a handle on the chassis and the gears.

Martin Taylor’

29th July 2008

Race Report, Round 5, The Bug Jam

July 19^th/20^th Santa Pod Raceway

The Bug Jam is an unusual meeting being part drag race meeting, part musical event and part VW show. Some racers enjoy the atmosphere and big crowd whilst others dislike the restricted qualifying time and the inability to cruise.

For this event Street Eliminator welcomed newcomer Martin Taylor with the class’s first VW. The ’52 bug is immaculate and sports a very powerful and very special turbocharged flat four, making an interesting and exciting addition to the Street Eliminator line up.

In qualifying Steve Pateman set the bar high in the first round with an 8.12 that nobody (not even Pateman himself) could better. Steve Nash and his crew were working hard on the Cougar and started to close the gap, improving from a wheelstanding and wheel spinning 8.75 to a more controlled 8.59. But there was a shock in store when Jeff Meads pipped him at the post with a final session 8.50 on Sunday morning to grab second spot on the ladder

The first round saw a baptism of fire for Martin Taylor who faced Nash after qualifying his VW in eighth with an impressive 10.39.

Things got worse for the rookie as he lost third gear and slowed to a 13 second pass whilst Nash was obviously making a lot of power as he again fought wheelstands and wheelspin to garner a winning 8.79. But Taylor went home with a big smile on his face having enjoyed both the weekend and the welcome he’d received from the SE racers. It was coupes old vs new next as Ian Hook and his ’34 Ford hot rod faced Jon Webster in the turbocharged MG. Having been unable to repair the intercooler damage Webster struggled to a 13.08 pass allowing Hook to use a 10.23 to take a rare win. Another hot rod was up next as Jeff Meads took on Mats Andersson in the little Opel. The cars left together and the race followed the script as Meads’ Anglia progressed with a 9.53. Following them was Pateman who ran 8.26 @ 173 mph on a bye. Ron Haslett was keen to improve his earlier NPB and had upped the tune in the Cortina. But it was obvious he’d gone to far for, as opponent Ray Comer disappeared up the track for the win, Haslett had a driving job on his hands as the Cortina whipped first one way then the other as the combo completely overpowered the Ford estate’s chassis. Despite getting almost completely sideways the car was undamaged with Haslett’s pride being the only victim.

Meads was the recipient of a bye in round two running a 9.81 to face the winner of Pateman and Comer who were up next.

Pateman was still trying to find his earlier seven-second pace but could only manage a 8.28. Comer was well beaten on a 9.92 but it looked like more bad news for him as the black Camaro started smoking before crossing the line suggesting engine damage for the second meeting in a row. The final pair for round 2 was Ian Hook and Steve Nash. 2006 champion Hook is still running with the borrowed N/A motor in is hot rod Ford so it was no surprise when he was taken out by Nash.

But come semi-final time there was a realisation that all was not well with the Wild Cat Racing Cougar as, having pushed the vehicle to the fire up road, Nash simply broke the beams to progress to the final on the bye.

The other side of the ladder saw long-term rivals Pateman and Meads squaring up to one another. The cars left the line almost together but Meads tyres started to smoke and Pateman pulled ahead. Then Pateman suffered wheelspin and pedalled the Calibra towards the finish line. What he didn’t realise was that Meads had gathered up the Anglia and was screaming up the strip after him. Unfortunately for the Anglia driver he ran out of road and Pateman took the win with a tighter than needed margin of just 2/10 9.03 to 9.24.

Come the final the news was out that Nash had stripped gears in the backend and that he was simply staging for points. This didn’t slow down Pateman who wanted to show what he could do on what had been a difficult track.

As Nash broke the beams for the points the red Calibra blasted down the track for an event best 8.08. The win has closed the gap between Nash and Pateman to only 475 points and certainly keeps the nitrous racer in the title fight. Just like last year it looks like this one is going down to the wire!

 23rd July 2008

The points after round 5 have now been updated.  At present they are provisional until the final data comes through, to take a look at them click on the Standings button at the side any page.

14th July 2008

Custom Car magazine is currently running features on various classes of drag racing and this month it’s the Street Eliminator. The Editors selection of 8 cars provides a snapshot of the various body styles and motor/transmission combinations used and their various achievements to date. I have to say it's turned out to be a really nice piece - well done to Editor Dave Biggadyke.

Custom Car magazine is available at the news stands now.

This forthcoming weekend sees the SE tour visiting Santa Pod Raceway for Championship event number 5, and at the slightly madcap Bug Jam http://www.bugjam.co.uk/

Darren Prentice has confirmed that the SE class (and at least SUMO) will be pitted adjacent to the fire up road and almost up to where the main hospitality area is usually positioned. The VeeDubs will be pitted up by the shower blocks as per usual. Entry to the Pod (for vendors and racers) will be available from Thursday and the gates will be open between 10:00 and 21:00 hrs. Then from no later than 09:00 hrs on the Friday, from which point on the gates WILL NOT CLOSE.

Should racers want to ‘test’ the RWYB track will be available from the Friday, and this will be the case through to Sat mid afternoon. At which point the track will be fully prepped and the Race Permit will kick in. Racers are reminded that should they wish to use the RWYB facility they will be required to sign on using their regular DVLA licence. And if I'm not mistaken scruitenering will take place from Fri night, failing that, first thing Saturday morning.

And that's it, you'd all better get as much sleep as you can before the 72 hrs of incessant partying begins.

The very best of luck to everyone.

24th June 2008

Race Report, Round 4 Summer Nationals, Santa Pod Raceway

Round 4 at Santa Pod Raceway and the Summer Nationals marked the midway point in this year’s B & H Automotive Street Eliminator championship. A smaller than usual entry of 9 cars was reduced by the early withdrawal of Mark Perkins with mechanical damage.

Qualifying was an exciting affair with championship leader Steve Nash pipping Steve Pateman to the top spot by just 1/1000^t of a second (8.290 vs. 8.291). Jeff Meads grabbed a deserved third on 8.85 with Jon Webster back in the MG in fourth with 8.93. Another racer was lost from the SE pits when Ray Comer lost a cylinder after a stout 9.1 second qualifying pass.

After cancellations and route changes at the first three meetings this event saw the cruise run to its full length for the first time this year.

Everybody made it round OK although Jerry Charles’ Capri was smoking from one bank when he returned to the track.

The seven remaining cars were reduced to six on Sunday morning when Charles withdrew, unwilling to risk the Capri’s smoking engine. This gave Jeff Meads a bye, which he used to produce an excellent 8.52, a full 3/10 improvement on his qualifying ET. Also on a bye was Jon Webster who ran a 9.01 to progress. This left a numbers one and two vs. numbers 7 and 8. Both races went with the script, Steve Nash taking out Ron Haslett 8.67 to 11.26 whilst Steve Pateman produced his quickest of the year using a 7.98 to put Ian Hook back on the trailer. Some consolation for Hook was that his .022 light garnered him the Power Pour reaction time of the meet award.

The semi-finals saw turbo vs. turbo as Jon Webster took on Steve Nash. A superb 2/10 hole shot from Webster in the MG wasn’t enough to defeat the power and lightweight of the Cougar and the little coupe went down with an 8.91 to the Nash 8.51. The other semi was an all-nitrous affair with Pateman facing off against the improving Meads. This race also went to the script with Pateman taking the win light 7.99 to 8.56, his second seven of the meeting garnering the third of four commemorative 7-second gold rings from Webster Race Engineering.

The final was an exciting affair with, for once, a nitrous car in the ascendancy. Unusually Nash was first into stage and it paid off with a hole shot for the turbo Cougar but, despite some tyre slippage, Pateman came back strongly to take the lead at one third distance. The huge top end power of the turbo power in Nash’s ride was pulling him back into contention at the 990’ point but he ran out of track.

Pateman took the win 8.10 to 8.22. Incredibly this was the first time an all-nitrous car had been in the SE winners circle since July 2006 when Ian Hook took the honours.

11th June 2008

To all B&H Automotive SE competitors:-

This weekend’s SPRC SUMMER NATIONALS sees us exactly at the half way point in the season and we just wanted to write you all a short note to wish everyone entered the very best of luck.

We've made an entry field of 12, and it's nice to see Billy 'the kid' Macdermid on the list with his pro-chargered Camaro. New for this event should also be Martin Taylor with his insane single turbo'd '52' beetle. For the latter, and if he does manage to shake it down at this event he'll be looking forward to capitalising on the VW brand at the next event - and make a laughing stock of the American tin at the same time. Either way he's surely gonna to have the most popular car in the class by the time the B&H Street Eliminator show reaches the Bug Jam (July 18^th – 20^th).

And we’re still dearly missing ‘wax on wax off’ Wilf Stacey, the 2 Corvettes of Pete Smith and the Tucker boys, Alan Simms with his blown PC Cresta, Alex McIntosh and his currently being revamped pro-charged Mustang. Big Davie Murdoch and his sweet BDS blown ‘33’ hot rod. New (ish) dad John Sleath and his championship winning twin turbo Audi. John ‘Moose’ Hollingworth and his ‘Sleath Race Cars’ twin turbo’d Cortina. And dare I say it Steve Kellett’s B&H backed killer 2003 Mustang. Happy George Scanlon, where the hell is George, anyone?.. And finally what about us, where the hell is us?

Tell you what guys, we're missing you all... we've never done as much gardening in our lives. Man I hate gardening.

Good luck, Colin & Ann-Marie Lazenby

5th June 2008

Current points leader and reigning champion Steve ‘Splinter’ Nash took part in the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of May, and Crew Chief/co-owner of the Wildcat Cougar, Mick Franklin, has been in touch with how they got on....

‘Wildcat Racing at the Main Event

First I would like to thank Darren Prentice for inviting a small number of B & H Automotive Street Eliminator teams to the Main Event.  Although just as an exhibition class, it was still great to be able to help represent Street Eliminator along with Jeff Meads, Steve Pateman and Mark Perkins

I had to work until 4.30pm on Saturday so Splinter was on his own when he arrived Friday evening. He had to do all the setting up on his own which is a pain and Mr P gave him a push in with the car.

We had spent every evening that week prepping the car so we could put on a good show for the public.  The only concern were the tyres we had recently bought - they weren’t working. The compound seems to get too hard as they age and are harder to get the traction that our particular car needs so we needed to change our suspension settings to try and get more of the car’s weight on them.  This didn’t work so I brought some more tyres with me on Saturday.

When I arrived at 6.45pm Splinter had already run his last pass of the day so I decided to check the car. This took longer than I thought as the public gathered and showed their enthusiasm and respect for Street Eliminator and asked why we were left out of the big meets. It’s so encouraging when so many people say they love the class.

It shows that what we give them is what they want to see. It’s not just the times we have run at Wildcat but the commitment given by the whole Street Eliminator field and as a class what we do is give value for money.  Anyway, I finally decided to replace the valve springs which I finally finished on a very wet Sunday, then changed the tyres ready for a good show on Monday.

Well as you know it didn’t happen. So my opinion - yes it rained but what our representatives did in the time they had was great with such good feed back from the public. Big thanks go to Splinter, Mark, Steve and Jeff for their professional turn out and performances. That goes to all the crews as well. What we need now is the Euro Finals and better weather.

Mark and Jeff did well showing their potential, Mr P showed that he loved gardening by ploughing the field at the top end of the track and Splinter, although off par, did his usual Freddy + + burn outs. As for me I drove a total of 245 miles to change 2 tyres and a set of valve springs!

I would like to thank all the class sponsors and especially Helen and Dave of www.quartermilehigh.com for their usual happy faces on such a grey, windy and wet day (Sunday).

I would also like to send my best wishes to Colin and Ann-Marie and the Chevy who sustained massive engine failure this year and could do with your help as they are greatly missed from the class. Good luck guys.

Mick’

5th June 2008

Another racer flying the flag for the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator at the FIA Main Event was Mark Perkins with his Mustang, here are his thoughts of the weekend....

‘Our peaceful evening at home soon disappeared when we received an “Out of The Blue” call from Santa Pod Race Director Darren Prentice asking us to run some Demonstration passes with three other B & H Automotive Street Eliminator cars at the Main Event. As you can imagine this put us into a state of extreme excitement at having been given this privileged opportunity. The main crew guy, Dave Dunmore, was on holiday with his wife Jeanette in Greece and following some frantic texting everything was in place.

As the class wasn’t originally scheduled to run at The Main Event the car was at Webster Race Engineering having a fogger kit fitted. The timescale was very tight but as usual the WRE guys had the car completed, ready and waiting for us to collect on the Thursday prior to the event.

Darren kindly allowed us to run on Friday but the pass was unfortunately interrupted by a very small electrical problem, which I had overlooked. Saturday’s great weather meant we managed two passes and with a little nitrous tuning by Jon Webster we were creeping towards the 8’s again with a 9.0 ET at 159 mph.

Sunday and Monday were “Rain Affected” to put it mildly, and even with their heroic efforts the Santa Pod track crew couldn’t bring the track round and we weren’t to venture out again during the meeting.

We would like to send a big thank you to Santa Pod for giving us this opportunity and hope that the few passes the B & H Automotive Street Eliminator cars ran gave the public an idea of what the street legal class is all about.

The rain will never put us off and we’ll be back running at The Summer Nationals in June.

Mark’

30th May 2008

Race Report, Round 3, Springspeed Nationals, Shakespeare County Raceway

The Springspeed Nationals is the first of two events at the Warwickshire facility hosting rounds of the B & H Automotive Street Eliminator championship in 2008. With this round taking place just a week after the Big Bang Colin Lazenby, Pete Smith and Ray Tucker were unable to make repairs in time and Jerry Charles’ Capri hurt at Round 1 was also still in the workshop. The number of damaged cars meant that this round saw a rather depleted field of just nine cars. However the class did welcome back the 8-second Camaro of Ray Comer.

Saturday qualifying saw Steve Nash again setting the pace (and a track record) running a 7.77

and Jon Webster (again at the wheel of Ian Jackson’s Vette) behind him with an 8.45.

The rest of the field was some way behind led by Ray Comer on 9.74. The surprise occupant of the penultimate slot was Steve Pateman whose fuelling problems limited the Calibra to an 11.09 ET.

Everyone was hoping to step up their game on Sunday but the weather gods had other ideas and rain stopped play. It didn’t however stop the Cruise although that also sprung a surprise when a fatal accident on the road to the petrol station forced an about turn through the narrow streets of Chipping Norton and an early return to the track. Fortunately everyone made it back despite some cars being very low on fuel and all passed the hot start test held at the track entrance.

Sunday started as Saturday had ended – wet! The rain continued until early afternoon when racing finally got under way. The surprise in round 1 was the elimination of title-chasing Steve Pateman by Ray Comer. Steve Nash was well off Saturday’s pace with an 8.57 whilst the other pairings followed the script Weir, Meads and Webster progressing, the latter with an 8.52.

Round 2 and again Nash was off the pace with an 8.65 but it was enough to defeat Meads. Weir despatched Comer and Webster, on a bye, ran his quickest pass of the weekend with an 8.40 from the Vette.

Sadly the late start and the Avon Park curfew combined to halt proceedings at that point. It was all the more galling as the performances of Nash and Webster had strongly hinted at an exciting final and perhaps even a break of the Nash stranglehold on the 2008 winners circle.

So far this year we’ve had snow, wind and rain – surely round 4 will provide good weather????? Fingers crossed everybody!!!

20th May 2008

Four B&H Automotive Street Eliminator racers will be proudly putting on demonstration passes at this weekend’s FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. The drivers flying the flag for the Street Eliminator in front of the tens of thousands of drag racing fans who will attend are Steve Nash, Steve Patemam, Jeff Meads and Mark Perkins.

The Main Event is Europe’s premier drag racing event and takes place on the 23rd - 26th May, as usual, full details are available on the Santa Pod Website www.santapod.com as well as www.eurodragster.com

14th May 2008

Ron Haslett has had an interesting start to the 2008 season, here are his thoughts thus far....

‘What a start to the season....

Event #1, the Easter Thunderball

Me and Nick arrived at Santa Pod around midnight by the time we were set up it was 2am then to bed only to get straight back up as the wind had picked up and was lifting the gazebo up and hitting the car and motor home. With that sorted it was back to bed for a couple of hours.

Run 1 - No gas pass as I've not run the new engine for long, an easy 11.

Run 2 - Again a no gas pass and we matched our old PB without gas without too much effort.

Run 3 - We lost our spark from the new MSD unit so we pulled the car apart trying to find the fault with no joy.

With Steve and Graham coming up from Portsmouth a quick call and they brought up my old MSD.

With that fitted still no spark. After a lot of asking questions and advice from the fat boys we bypassed the main fuse and hey presto spark.

We woke on Sunday to a good covering of snow. After a snow ball fight with the kids and a couple of the other teams it time to relax as the racing had been called for the day. About 5ish we decided to fire the car but it would fire again after hours of work buy us and with help from the wild bunch and John Everet and team it fired again at 9pm. This time we think it was the cold and too much fuel.

Round 1 Jon Webster - After talking to John he was going to do a long burn out so I waited for him. He started then the start line crew rushed to me and shut me down. My first thought was I've dropped some oil, WRONG as the smoke cleared I was looking at the front of the Vette. Our first ever bye.

Round 2 Bye

Round 3 Splinter - As it was so cold and we had been kept waiting before I decided to heat the bottle to 1200psi - bad move as we went straight round, with too much pressure we shut off the gas.

The trip home was a nightmare as the gear box on the motor home decided it didn't want to engage 3^rd, so our 4 hour trip home became 9 – almost as long as Team 56’s normal journey.

EVENT # 2, the Big bang

With the gearbox in the motor home fixed we had a good drive up

As Saturday was mainly a RWYB we used the opportunity to get used to the trans break - 4 runs later I was happy

Run 1 - Launch was strong but then the car went flat

Run 2 - The same as run 1

A members vote was taken and it was decided that the cruise was not to be done due to the state of the exit route (and the slightly inebriated/happy campers).

Run 3 - We decided on kill or cure and went for 400bhp of gas it moved us up the ladder but not as much we hoped as it put us with Colin.

Steve Pateman came over and said that he thought that it sounded as though the gearbox was slipping.

Round 1 Colin - After a slight miss hap with his engine Colin was a no show – not sure that’s how Colin would sum it up (ed)

Round 2 Jon - This time I was shut down for an oil leak coming from the vent on the trans.

Off we set for home and what a surprise we had in store - a double blow out on the trailer and with only 1 spare I had no choice but to drive the car home luckily we were only 60 miles from home. To date I had only driven it to the MOT station (5miles). It was a disappointing drive home as I was waiting for something to go wrong, get stopped or anything else that could have been equally sh*tty. In the end it was a flawless run, apart from one of the road repair workers falling over as we went passed him.

I saw the Standings and nearly had a nosebleed as I've never been that high before 3rd yes read it again were 3rd.

Event # 3, the Spring Speed Nats

Run 1 - The same as round 2 gearbox was slipping so the damage was done.

The cruise went without any drama apart from an accident (which effectively closed the road) so we had a shortened cruise but included the much feared hot start.

Round 1 Jon again - Because of our gearbox issues we decided to use the gas on a button and not through the controller. With some interesting fabrication by the lads we had a button on the wheel. I wanted to hit the button about 60 foot into the run to see what effect it would have. It worked but as soon as the gas came in the box started to slip.

This time no dramas on the way home. I dropped off the box at Express Gearboxes and ordered a new converter from Sussex Autos. So fingers crossed for the next round.’

14th May 2008

Team 56 driver Colin Lazenby has been in touch about his huge engine explosion at Round 2, Big Bang....

‘Event # 2 – the BIG BANG, quite literally.

Ok, so following our rear gear pinion breakage at the EASTER THUNDERBALL we had lots to do. And we simply had to find out the root cause of our tyre shake problems. One element at least was certainly the prop shaft assembly, this was supposedly balanced but the car vibrated something terribly at anything above 4k revs. Also was the rear wheel wobble, which was probably the result of last year’s smack with the concrete wall – bearing in mind we’d already replaced the front wheel but maybe the back wheel had been overlooked simply because of its size and apparent structure (and at 15” wide) it was never really suspect.

Ultimately we made the Big Bang by the skin of our teeth and set about tackling the last remaining job which was to replace the loan tail piece (off team Wildcat Racing) of the transmission, and to replace at the same time the rear transmission ‘sprag’. Both items arriving from Rosslers in record time but not in time enough to tackle the jobs before we left for the track, my fault, not theirs. Either way all the tasks had been completed before qualifying proper commenced.

In the first session we ran a misfiring (one system of N2o) 8.90 ET followed by a soft (two system of N2o) 8.30 ET. This put us pretty much where we expected to be. With no more ‘in session’ runs scheduled until the Sunday morning and with only one small change planned we were happy to call it a day.

On Sunday morning and with some time before our final qualifying runs Luke did a valve spring pull – everything was normal. The boys decided on their tune and we readied ourselves for qualifying run #3. It spun the tyres, almost immediately, I peddled it, it recovered, and I gave chase. About a 1000 foot there was a distinct and momentary ‘flat spot’ before it banged big time.

The rest, as they say, is history... Which is probably where it should stay. As I exited the car and removed the hood I could actually see the window in the block, oil was everywhere. At that point I knew that our race weekend was over.

We elected to pull the motor out there and then and inevitably our pit space was soon full of those who were genuinely concerned about the ‘bang’ (and probable damage) to the nosey b*st*rds who just wanted to take a peek. Some 2 hours later and after the assistance of specialist equipment from Jet Car pilot Martin Hill, and surprisingly, 4 time SE champ Steve Pat*man, we were done. Danny Bates of Adrenalin Race & Performance had kindly permitted us the space to stow the motor until later that week. We packed up and left sometime after the finals, arriving home at 02.20 am the following morning – never has there been so little conversation on the journey home.

Tuesday at work was little more than a blur. Though I did make the necessary arrangements to get my own engine stand sent by carrier to Danny’s place, ahead of our Kelvin collection vehicle on the Wednesday, it did, just. And the motor was delivered back at Kelvin KBB headquarters by the Friday morning. I have to say it looked just as sorry for itself as I remembered it when I last saw it.

The following weekend Ann-Marie, Bradley and I decided to kill 3 birds with one stone. This meant that straight after Bradley’s rugby training on the Saturday we’d head south of the border for Clive Bond’s place. Ultimate Race Cars base being just outside Cheltenham. We arrived at 8:30 pm and had left by 10:00 for our overnight stay in Bromsgrove. In the morning we would travel on to Shakespeare County Raceways Spring Speed National event. We pretty much saw all the SE guys and it was good to catch up with the ones who had made this event their first of 2008. Class Title Sponsor decals needed to be dropped off to Ian Hook at FB Racing (the new title sponsors decals look splendid BTW) and we had paint to drop off ultimately for Wilf Stacey to effect repairs to the hood and scoop. Either the Wildcat boys, or, the diminutive Jeff Meads (with arms like Popeye) had offered to take this back to Southend-on-Sea when they left.

As it began to rain for the second time that morning we bid our goodbyes and left ourselves.

Having spoken to Clive pretty much every day since we are finally coming to terms with the damage. The bottom line analysis seems to suggest that cylinder # 4 has around a third of the piston mass missing. As the flame burnt its way through the piston, it also burnt the wall of the liner - at which point the explosion could be seen from outer space (image attached). With the piston strength undermined the little end then failed, though the wrist pin is intact/undamaged. At that point the big failure’s came into play, the block was ‘windowed’ by the flailing connecting rod, this also scrapped the split pan as it tried to exit through the bottom. The crank is bent, and almost unheard of is that all 18 of the titanium valves are bent too. The nitrous ‘burst’ plate did its job (bursting) though sadly the explosion ruined the beautifully crafted aluminium intake manifold as well as ‘rattling’ the various bits and pieces out of the carbs.

The good news is that the expensive ‘skeletal’ Jessel lifters are undamaged, though that’s largely because the cam and push rods took the brunt of the upper end of the explosion – it’s little consolation sure, but good news nonetheless. We may never know for sure the root cause of the failure, though one of the 2 fuel pumps is now high on our suspects list.

In conclusion (and I’m almost saddened by not using this for the Quartermile High 2008 DVD). “I didn’t know what went wrong, it made a lot of noise and it sounded expensive”.

Thanks to all Team ‘56’ Sponsors for their support this year, and unless you want, or are able, to help out in any way shape or form I dare say we’ll be back at some point in the future – hell, we’d be lost without it.

Now, where’s that spare 12.0 litre engine I had at the back of my garage...?’

14th May 2008

Round 2 Race Report of the B & H Automotive Street Eliminator 2008 Championship

Big Bang, April 26^th/27^th Santa Pod Raceway

Round 2 of this year’s championship was held at Santa Pod raceway over April 26^th/27^th and featured 12 of Europe’s quickest and fastest street cars. The blown Corvette’s of Pete Smith and Ray Tucker made a welcome return

but there was still no sign of the new cars of Steve Kellett, Martin Taylor or Davie Murdoch all of whom are eagerly awaited and promise to be in competition this year.

Qualifying was a hard fought affair, straddling Saturday night and Sunday morning. Topping the ladder after the four sessions was, once again, the turbo Cougar of Steve Nash but Steve Pateman was trying hard and pushed the nitroused 706 Calibra to an 8.10 ET for second spot.

But qualifying wasn’t without drama. A new design of blower belt on Jason Weir’s Plymouth was causing the team problems as two breakages slowed the stunning station wagon to a best of 10.84.

Mechanical failure on the blower drive put out returning Vette driver Pete Smith. Suffering greater woes was the red Vette of Ray Tucker who ran a storming 9.3 only to torch 5 pistons in the big-block Chevy mill. But the biggest bang at the Big Bang was from Colin Lazenby’s immaculate ’56 Chevy.

Lazenby was trying to improve on his earlier 8.3 on Sunday morning but at around 1,000 feet a rod in the 706 let go. The resulting pressure wave was HUGE sending the car’s hood scoop some fifty feet in the air and riddling the oil pan with shrapnel. Smith and Tucker will certainly miss the next round. For most people the damage suffered by the Lazenby’s Chevy would mean an end to the season but knowing Colin and Ann-Marie’s determination the car WILL be back on track before the end of the year.

With only a few classes in attendance eliminations were squeezed into Sunday afternoon, the carnage in qualifying leading to byes for Ian Hook, Ron Haslett and Steve Nash in the first round. The stand out race was Mark Perkins vs Jeff Meads.

 Perkins was first out of the traps pulling a massive holeshot on Meads who ran a quicker 9.33 to Perkins 9.60 but the win went the way of the Mustang driver thanks to his brilliant reaction time.

In round 2 Perkins pulled another great light but his opponent was Steve Nash and this was as far as he progressed.

Hook was also sent home as Pateman moved into the semis whilst Haslett got pushed back due to a minor leak from the Cortina’s transmission vent pipe allowing Webster to continue.

In the semis Pateman had earned a bye thanks to his number 2 qualifying position and laid down a strong 8.4. But Nash was really getting the bit between his teeth and despatching Webster in the turbo Vette with a potential record setting 7.81.

In the final it was Nash all the way as Pateman suffered with poor traction. Another stunning run from the Cougar which stopped the ET clocks at 7.80 to reset the class record and win round 2, further extending his championship lead.

14th May 2008

Recorded at Santa Pod’s Easter Thunderball in March 2008 and broadcast on Nitro FM 96.2, here’s a racer’s eye view of the Street Eliminator from 2 of the top drivers - Steve ‘Splinter’ Nash and Steve Pateman (interview by Nigel from Nitro FM 96.2).  Click here to hear the interview....

29th April 2008

Click here for the exclusive video review of Round 2 of the 2008 B&H Automotive Street Eliminator Championship.

Full race report coming soon...

22nd April 2008

The next Championship round for the Street Eliminator is this weekend at Santa Pod Raceway’s Big Bang.  The class will be putting in some demo runs on Saturday, with qualifying proper and eliminations taking place on Sunday.

For all the event details visit www.big-bang.co.uk

For the live race report, webcam, photos and full entry list, as always visit

www.eurodragster.com/santapod/live/2008bigbang/default.htm

19th April 2008

Here’s a word from soon to be Street Eliminator racer Spencer Reynolds....

Hi to all in the Street Eliminator class!

Please let me introduce myself. My name is Spencer Reynolds and I will join you all this year racing in the best door slammer class for street legal, pump gas cars in the world!

I am based in south east London very close to some other S.E. racers; Pete Smith and Ray Tucker who you and I know so well. Pro Mod racer Ray White lives a few miles away also.

This will be my first pro class racing, in the past I’ve driven at RWYB events so I will be on a very large learning curve, but I intend to be professional and give it my full attention.

But it’s the car that you all want to know about -

It’s a 1959 Ford MK2 Zephyr, well I have owned the old girl for twenty eight years now, it’s always had a V8, a proper custom car.

An ex-Harris brothers car from all those years ago, and typical of all Harris cars it went straight ok, around corners it was fair, but it had a lack of brakes.

Like all custom cars over the years it’s been modified and worked on aplenty - you know the sort of thing continual new interiors, upgrades of brakes, paint and re-paint, and many engine and gearbox upgrades.  One particular year having broken two gearboxes I then parked the car up, and as is often the case other things took over my life. That was until one day when my good friend Winston Sewell asked if his brother could have a look at the car.

I was reluctant at first as she had been covered over with a old tarpaulin, and when this was removed I was shocked to see the deterioration that had taken place. At first I thought I should sell it on to someone who could nurse it back to life, then, and having beat myself up over the sight that greeted me, I knew it should be me who did it.

The car was brought back to life in quick time and good enough to be used for my friend’s wedding car, which was just great. A year or two later I had been following the Street Eliminator series, with some envy I may add, so I decided to revamp the old girl for a much bigger stage. This took the shape of having work done by Paul Burnham of Burnham Autos. This was fine, but a bigger deciding factor was that the workshop was only feet away from Paul’s place, the old workshop of C&C Racing’s, Doug Ripley of Top Alcohol Funny Car fame.

Upon seeing Doug’s workmanship and the ideas that we might be able to use in my car the plan was hatched to completely change course and start over again. I was first shown how to use a plasma cutter so I started cutting, and cutting, and just when the car was about to fall on top of me in pieces I was asked to stop. Doug took the car to an almost completed stage after that.

The car has the following:-
Doug Ripley rolling chassis and paint
I.C.E. stroked small block Ford engine 408 cu.in. – the details of which are top secret.
Alders modified gearbox - trans brake, reverse pattern shift etc.
Chris Isaacs - A arms, front hubs.
9in. Ford axle - spool, Strange shafts, disc brakes
All the Old Ford GRP panels that I could buy
Wired by myself, as was most of the plumbing - brakes & fuel lines too.

The rest I guess you will all see at the track - soon. It seems like a million things still to do, working on the transporter, stocking up on sundries (tools, oils etc), but at least it’s now getting real close to the end.

Racing will bring its own demands and more work I’m sure (improvements are to go faster, in the safest possible manner).

All racers have been there and could write a book on the subject.

Thank you Colin Lazenby for the advise he gave me a while ago, which was to tackle one task at a time, so that the jobs can be ticked off the list, trust me it works.

That’s all, see you at the track.

Spencer

15th April 2008

Round 1 Race Report, The Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod Raceway, England....

For 2008 the Street Eliminator has a new title sponsor in the shape of B & H Automotive. SE UK also has two new associate sponsors in the shape of RPM magazine and Roadcool Refrigeration. The class welcomes back and thanks Webster Race Engineering, Eurodragster.com, American Car World, Quartermilehigh.com, Embroidery Solutions and Robinson Race Cars/Stroud Safety for their continued support of the quickest street cars in Europe.

With the weather set cold, and snow on the horizon for this Easter weekend, Round 1 of the B&H Automotive Street Eliminator Championship was always going to be interesting for drivers and teams alike...

The first SE qualifier kicked off at 11.40 by which time the temperature had increased to a balmy(!) 8.4 degrees C. The cold track obviously impacted on the ETs and it was his wealth of chassis tuning knowledge that showed when Jon Webster finished at the top of the pile with an impressive 8.64 from the Vette (the only 8 in the class). This session saw the weekend’s first victim in the shape of Colin Lazenby whose ’56 Chevy ground to a halt after just a few feet when his pinion let go (taking the car’s TH400 tail shaft with it!).

Two hours later the cars were around again and it was time for Nash to stamp his authority on proceedings. Despite the cold track he piloted his Cougar to an 8.18 to bump Webster off the top spot. Pateman joined the 8-second runners (just!) with an 8.99 for third spot. Jerry Charles had grabbed fourth but that was the last we saw of him this weekend. A nitrous explosion literally blew his intake apart on restart at the end of the track and it was trailer time for the Enfield racer.

Jason Weir became the third casualty of the day when a bearing failure in the Suburban’s Procharger proved to be unrepairable at the track.

With Hook’s FB Racing team still working on the ’34 in the pits and three other SE cars damaged the last session was low on numbers. There was no change to the top three (Nash, Webster, Pateman) although Webster improved to an 8.52 and Perkins moved into fourth spot with a 9.19 from the Stang.

Saturday dawned to a wet track, a temperature of 2.5 C and snow blowing horizontally across the facility. The track crew worked tirelessly and three times had been ready to call racers down but on all three occasions snow, hail or freezing rain blew in again and at 2:30 the race director called it a day.

Sunday, unbelievably, was even worse. Temperatures had dropped to zero and the whole of Santa Pod was covered in a carpet of snow. With such low temperatures racing would have been far too dangerous so proceedings were cancelled meaning an end to qualifying opportunities for this meeting. This news was a blow the teams of Hook and Lazenby, both of whom had managed to get their cars back into a race worthy state but were now unable to qualify. Due to the unprecedented weather conditions the Cruise was also cancelled. The only bright spot of the day was the brilliant snow man track crew member built on the start line!

As forecasted Monday’s weather was a lot better although it was still only around 8 degrees and we’d seen a couple of snow flurries by the time the B & H Automotive Street Eliminator racers were called to the startline for round one of eliminations. First up was Jeff Meads who’d earned a bye thanks to Charles’ misfortune.

A jink to the left off the startline slowed Meads to a 9.7 but there was drama to come in the second pairing. Jon Webster seemed to be on a sure thing with a 2.5 second advantage over Ron Haslett. But Webster’s Vette didn’t even get into stage. As the car burned out across the startline it got out of shape spinning through 180 degrees and giving a glancing blow to the guard rail. Fortunately Webster was OK and the damage to the car is reported as minor. For his part Haslett cruised up the strip in 21 seconds to proceed to round 2. The next pairing saw rookie Mats Andersson in the diminutive Opel taking on 4-time champion Steve Pateman. The race followed the script, Pateman running his quickest so far to produce an 8.74 easily covering Andersson’s 10.92.

Like Meads, Mark Perkins was able to take advantage of a hole in the ladder progressing with a solo 10.99 as opponent Weir had DNQ’d.

Rounding off proceedings was the reigning champion Steve Nash on another solo. His trademark rolling burnout putting enough heat into the big block tread tyres to provide the traction for an 8.38 and a ticket into round 2.

Having got past Webster in round one Ron Haslett was as pleased as punch when he realised he’d earned a bye in round 2 and used an 11.59 ET to progress to the semis.

There was an extra reward on offer for the next pairing as the thin field and breakages now offered up a bye into the final for the winner. Pateman and Perkins burned out, staged and then left almost together with just over 1/100^th of a second between them at the start.

Perkins pulled off one of the quickest 60-foot times of the weekend and was ahead at 330 feet, Pateman struggling to contain the 1,000+ horsepower of a 706 on sniff on treaded tyres on a cold track. But normal service was resumed by the 1/8 mile mark as the Vauxhall hatchback pulled ahead, finishing with an 8.89 ET to cover Perkin’s valiant 10.13. The final pair was the nitrous hot rod of Jeff Meads and Nash’s turbo terror Cougar.

Despite pulling a three tenths holeshot Meads struggled for grip and was behind by the 60-foot mark as Nash again stamped his authority over the competition. He put the Pop back on the trailer with an 8.38 over Meads’10.37.

Into the semis and Pateman took his well-earned bye with his quickest pass of the weekend, an 8.56.

The second pair saw the Ford powered cars of Haslett and Nash on the startline. They left together but from that point all eyes were on the turbo Mercury as Nash left Haslett for dust laying down an 8.18 on a very cold track. The run was all the more impressive when the high 60-foot time of 1.55 seconds is taken into account – can this car haul or what!!

Snow flurries and showers along with an oil down had caused proceedings to halt several times during the day and it was 8:15 in the evening by the time Nash and Pateman squared up for the final in a repeat of the last race of 2007.

But there were to be no side by side sevens this time. Pateman had squeezed a bit more power into his combo following Nash’s 8.1 in the semis but couldn’t find the traction to use it and despite a 2/10 holeshot was soon overhauled by the turbo Cougar. With the race lost Pateman backed off to a 12 whilst Nash ran a solid 8.46 to take his first victory of 2008. Ironically, if Pateman had reproduced his semi-final performance he’d have taken the win light courtesy of his quick RT.

It was gone ten o’clock by the time the cold and tired finalists left the track, no doubt looking forward with hope for much better weather. The B & H Automotive Street Eliminator circus returns to Santa Pod for the Big Bang and round 2 of the championship. We hope you’ll join us for that.

7th April 2008

Santa Pod Raceway’s Race Director, Darren Prentice, called this morning to ask the class a favour. It seems that David-Lloyd, and Darren have been talking about promoting the Main Event. The result of their discussions is that they want to take a number of high profile news reporters across town in SE cars – 5 of to be specific. Each car will take the reporter, as a passenger on the short, but tough journey from London Bridge to Leicester square. The date is May 8^th (a Thursday) this is immediately prior to the Main Event. He was quite specific about the type of cars they wanted, no Street Rods, just SE cars.

Ok, so the venue may make the event a little tough for some, and with it being a work day n’all even tougher still for some, but for those who can support the idea untold riches will be bestowed upon them.. Well, maybe not untold riches... Well actually it won’t be much at all, but it will do us the class no end of good by promoting the SE class with the head honcho’s at the UK’s premier facility.

The pick-up will take place around London Bridge and the drop-off will be Leicester Square – as we understand a jaunt of just under 3 miles, oh, and it’s only a one way trip too. Pdf attached.

Obviously 3 miles in the heart of London could be very testing conditions. But hey, they’ll all street cars right?

The remainder of the details are still a little sketchy but if we can make up the minimum number we’ll finalise these forthwith.

Please come back to either Ann-Marie or self as soon as humanly possible.

We must confirm if we can achieve the minimum number of 5 cars, fast, or is that quick....?

Best rgds, Cj.

2nd April 2008

Click here to see the new ‘Video Review’ of the season opener at the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway!

27th March 2008

Check out this week’s MotorSport News for a top interview with Team 56 driver Colin Lazenby...

25th March 2008

Coming soon - the low down on the first event of the season - The Easter Thunderball.

Race Reports and an exclusive Video Review (hosted by Paul Venners)

18th March 2008

Colin Lazenby and ‘Team 56’s’ final preparations for the new season....

Now as you guys know I don’t do late nights as a rule but on occasions needs must and our advanced plans to coordinate the delivery of our Ultimate Race Cars freshened 707ci motor, along with taking our 2008 upgrades at the very accommodating Andy Robinson Race Cars shop was just too good an opportunity to miss.

Garry and I left Stirling at around 4.30 pm on the Tuesday. We stopped twice for fuel, one of which included a sustenance stop of a gourmet Indian meal – hell, and I didn’t even know that Garry could cook. Once watered and fed we continued our onward way south, completing our 440 mile jaunt to ARRC and arriving under the cover of darkness at 1.30 am. This was pretty much as we had planned.

Clive Bond of URC arrived on the Wednesday, even before we were up – and naturally we had the pis* taken out of us for getting up so late. Time was 8.30.

During the off season Clive had been charged with the complete renewal of our nitrous systems, fuel and nitrous solenoids, hard lines and nozzles. I have to say that the workmanship was just superb and knowing how Clive works it’s fair to say we expected nothing less. DVD Dave and Helen of Quartermilehigh arrived just in time to gather a little film footage for this year’s B & H Street Eliminator DVD even though Garry claimed to be a little camera shy.

We unloaded the motor from Clive’s truck and Garry, Luke and I, worked on refitting the same.

In the meantime Clive kept himself busy planning all the nitrous connections (both plumbing and electrical) and whatever we were short of would come from ARRC’s ample stocks. We finally called it a day at around 10pm and tucked into a rather sumptuous take-away supper.

Thursday we were in the shop at 0800 and we set about finishing all those little tasks. Luke started to fit and wire the additional data logging equipment while ARRC’s ‘junior’ technician, Wayne, started to make up the replacement fuel and oil lines. Later in the day and having escaped from Andy Kirk (again) Clive returned to finish of his part of the installation. And having replaced all the engine oils and coolants we fired up the motor for the first time at around 6pm. We continued to finish off the installation, again working on to 10pm, before tucking into another hearty meal - man do those ARRC boys eat well.

Friday morning we started to pack up, Andy Robinson kindly turned the trailer round in the yard (with the ARRC tow ball equipped fork-truck) while ARRC’s ‘Pete’ repaired a couple of dzus fasteners. We then loaded the car, bid our goodbyes and headed north for the Pod around 1.30pm The M4 was slow, the M25 was slower still and the bottom half of the M1 was gridlocked - after all, it was Friday afternoon. We arrived at the Pod at around 4.30 and began setting up. About the same time Ann-Marie and Bradley had left Stirling - they arriving at the track at around 00:15hrs, having had a “sh*t of a journey”.

Our Peak Performance day testing went Ok, that was until the rains came at which point we packed up and left for home at around, time was around 5.30pm. The M6 was shut at junction 32 just north of Preston, and during the detour we had a puncture – so that was fun. We arrived home at around 1.30am. And on Sunday and just like in biblical times we rested. The last 5 nights in a row we’d not managed to get to bed much before 12.30. Thankfully I did manage to rest at work yesterday (just please don’t mention this to the boss).

Once again I need to thank Clive Bond, Andy and Luke Robinson and all the boys at ARRC – it’s always a blast guys. And of course a big thanks to my travelling companion for the 5 day tour, Garry Coull. Here’s to an exciting 2008, commencing with this weekend’s Easter Thunderball.

Pictures courtesy of Helen Todd, Quartermilehigh.com

11th March 2008

We are indebted to Trevor and John at B & H Automotive who have agreed to pick up Title Sponsorship for the Street Eliminator class in 2008. B&H have a combined 30 year association with Drag Racing, and for supplying hardcore race equipment. To find out about their range of services visit www.bh-automotive.co.uk

Returning to the SE following a four year absence is associate sponsor Roadcool Refrigeration, thanks to Steve for his renewed interest www.roadcoolrefrigeration.co.uk

We also retain, from the 2007 season Webster Race Engineering, www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk with contingency sponsor ‘Powerpour’ www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk/powerpour.htm

We likewise retain Andy Robinson Race Cars with STROUD as a contingency sponsor, visit www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk or www.stroudsafety.com

Eurodragster – thanks to Tog, for providing us with access to the best Drag Racing web site in the World, visit www.eurodragster.com

Quartermile High – UK drag racing DVDs including the Street Eliminator’s own ‘Hardcore Street’, thanks to ‘DVD Dave’ & Helen at www.quartermilehigh.com

RPM magazine - thanks to Chris and Trish Biro, and to Ian Hook, visit www.rpm-mag.com

ACW magazine – thanks to Rich Nicholls, and Ian Hook, visit www.americancarworld.com

Embroidery Solutions – thanks to Martin Richardson for his continued support. Martin can be contacted on embroidery@btinternet.com

To all of our sponsors and our loyal followers of the class, here’s to an exciting 2008 - let the battle commence....

5th March 2008

New Street Eliminator racer Martin Taylor has been in touch with info on himself, and his awesome turbo Beetle....

‘For the people who don't know me but, may have seen me poking around the Pits, Im Martin. (hello)

My Current race cars are Lil Woper, a natty little fiat 500 built in 1974, and my current long term project is my 1952 Beetle that's just about finished, its taken almost 10 years to get to this point!

After trying to get out last year with the Beetle, we were let down waiting for parts and the odd item being supplied wrong, but we finally got onto the rollers! As you can imagine my arse was nipping a bit, you spend so long building, re building measuring, machining, re-building just to watch it run for the first time and get a good old spanking! I have tried a few new ideas (to the VW world anyway) and I was very happy to see that they worked; the motor was as dry as a bone, great oil pressure and didn't get too hot. The only problem I have had was breaking rockers. They were the only bit I wasn't too happy about. So after more thought phone calls to the US I installed a set from a Chevy, produced by Crower. I pulled the motor and stripped it down to give it the once over, every thing was great. I had to machine the heads to accept the new rockers, but this didn't take too long for me to do.

Just come in from the garage as im getting ready to get the car back together, the motor is all ready to go back in, I'm just working through the snagging jobs, you know the ones! That bit a wiring, may be a bit of paint on that bit of chassis,

To give you the low down on the motor, The motor is the same total of parts that powers Paradise Express in the USA, its fastest time so far is 6.60 @ 203 MPH, all be it running on methanol and a bit of Gas.

I have included some pictures for you to look at so you can see what ive been up too.

Im really looking forward the Easter meeting as this is going to be the first proper outing for the car, and my first time competing in Street Eliminator, a series I’ve been an Fan of since its conception!

Looking forward to seeing you all in the pits, come and say hello, I'll be the daft one in a Beetle!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Webster Race Engineering, as they (all of them) have done the tricky jobs I couldn't face and for all there support and help over the years! Thanks a million!!

2853cc paradise turbo motor

During Fitting it all up

The car

18 February 2008

This e-mail will serve as a vital reminder to any SE racer wishing to participate in the Easter Thunderball - without incurring the 100% uplift in the entry fee which becomes due on all entries that arrive after THIS FRIDAY, FEB 21^st. Use the link http://www.eurodragster.com/sprc to access the Santa Pod site, then the entry forms.

This will also serve as a further and final reminder to all SE members, old and new, who have not yet sent in their £75.00 membership fee for 2008.

Many thanks to all those who sent in their membership fees without the need for a prompt.

Cheques should be made payable to the 'Street Eliminator UK' and addressed to the usual address (members will all have this).

Hopefully we'll see a number of you at either the Peak Performance day Saturday, March 15^th http://www.rwyb.co.uk/performance.php or failing that, the Easter Thunderball March 21-24^th http://www.santapod.co.uk/e_easter.php

kind regards

Ann-Marie Lazenby

SE secretary

03 February 2008

Big Ron Haslett has been in touch with news of his off season -

“Sorry for the lack of updates, but we haven't been idle.

First off I'd like to welcome back Alan and his team at Express Gearboxes for their support again this year.

As some of you are aware, I've done a deal on my old short motor, which means that I'm now building a 545 stroker motor. I went up to ICE Automotive this morning to pick up everything. (lots of shiny new parts). Whilst there I also picked up a new MSD 7 digital programmer. I've done a trial fit today and I have none of the clearance issues that I thought I might have i.e crank to block or crank to pick up pipe. I'm hoping to start the build later this week. I have the nitrous system back from Trev from Wizard of Nos along with a pumping station so were are going to be pumping our own gas at the tracks.

                                                   Picture 1       Picture 2

We've also made a new bonnet and front end out of fibre glass. There are several reasons for this -
1 the bonnet was so heavy and because the scoop was fitted later it kept on cracking
2 the front panel was made of steel and was damaged at the Bug Jam

The new panels are made and fitted so they should be painted in the next couple of weeks

                       Picture 3       Picture 4       Picture 5       Picture 6       Picture 7

As for the team we have new crew shirts and we are hoping to add new T shirts and trousers.

I think that’s it for now”

02 January 2008 - The new year, the new season.... Welcome to 2008 to all the Street Eliminator sponsors, fans and racers out there and a happy New year to you all. Now that the turkey has finally been thrown into the bin and the hangovers have (hopefully) receded we can all start thinking about what will 2008 bring for Street Eliminator? Will 2007 champion Steve Nash be able to hold onto his title? Will Steve Pateman be able to keep it together to perhaps put a Chevy back on top of the pile this season?. Will Colin Lazenby finally break into those elusive 7's? Will Frosty be concentrating on the WSR 2 or will he be looking to take his first SE crown since the Pro days after being so close last season? 2007 is going to be a hard season to follow as it featured some of the closest racing ever seen in SE history plus there were a rash of new records set but you can be sure the boys will have finished unwrapping all the small shiny bits that they ordered from Santa and will even now be already figuring out how to bolt them on to go that little bit faster. Keep logging in to see more up to date reports from the racers themselves as we get ready for the new season - its only 11 weeks away to the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod but I'm sure there will be a lot of serious track testing done before that!! Check the calendar for all the relevant dates for 2008.