15th December 2009

Hardcore Street 2009 trailer added....Click here to watch it.

Available from www.quartermilehigh.com

12th December 2009

A huge thanks to all the Street Eliminator sponsors for 2009 -

To our joint title sponsors Trevor and John at B&H Automotive

To Lee Child at LA Racing Parts

To all at Quartermilehigh/Zeon TV

To all the staff at Eurodragster.com

To Chris &Trish Biro and all the staff at RPM magazine

To Mathew Wright at Wright Guards Security

To Lisa and Paddy at the new Embroidery Solutions -

Without you all the class would definitely have had less of a profile in 2009 -

Heres to a successful 2010.

12th December 2009

Videos page updated....Click here!

4th December 2009

More photos of the 2009 Awards Evening available here....

4th December 2009

The B&H/LA Racing SE Awards party was a resounding success with almost 100 racers, members, crew and families in attendance.

Madcap Paul Venners, and glamorous guest, played host for the evening and following a sumptuous 3 course meal the presentations themselves began. First up was the Mark O’Hanlon ‘spirit of the SE award, this is a members only vote and votes are adjudicated by MSA tech inspector Mark Norton. Jeff Meads was the very deserving recipient – well done Jeff.

This year’s ‘hardest launching award went to Ian ‘fatty’ Hook with his FB Racing ‘34’ F*rd having found very quick form with his new all aluminium 598ci motor recording a staggering 1.24 60 ft. A themed ‘Christmas tree’ staging light trophy (sponsored by the SE) will take up pride of place in his trophy cabinet.

For the top 5 Championship finishers, number 5, and taking a share in the B&H/LA Racing prize money was Scotland’s Davie Murdoch, Davie also won the most improved award having run through the season with continuing NPB’s, culminating with an astounding 8.89. Davie also won himself the most improved award, an SE sponsored staging light trophy and 4 embroidered crew shirts, courtesy of Embroidery Solutions, many thanks to Lisa and Paddy for all their hard work...

In 4^th place was Alex McIntosh, Alex finally returned to his previous 8 second form late on in the year with his always beautifully turned out Pro-Chargered Mustang. He too took a share in the B&H/LA Racing funds.

In 3^rd place was Mats Andersson with his pretty little Opal GT, Mats took home a Wright Guard Security Trophy (courtesy of Mathew Wright) and a share of the B&H Automotive/LA Racing cash. Mats also took home a framed picture courtesy of Eurodragster.com

Runner up was Jeff Meads, a very worthy opponent to this year’s champion. Jeff ran a NPB of 8.25 with his wheelstanding F*rd Pop and for his 2^nd place position he took home a trophy, courtesy of Wright Guard Security, the spirit of award and his return (following big valve train damage at the Euro Finals) took tremendous dedication to come back from and this what makes for worthy, future champions. He also took home a great framed picture from Eurodragster, and a share in the B&H Automotive/LA Racing prize fund – well done to Jeff Meads and team.

And the winner in the B&H Automotive/LA Racing Championship was Colin ‘Cj’ Lazenby. The team had had their troubles, missing out on at least two cruises but obviously not enough trouble to deter them from their focussed efforts on this year’s Championship. He’s now a 3 time SE champion and he parks his big ‘56’ having secured a long time coming NPB of 7.708. He won himself a fantastic trophy courtesy of Wright Guard Security, Colin tells us this WILL take pride of place in his by now cluttered trophy cabinet. Colin also won himself the perfect light award, sponsored by the SE for his average 0.042 lights, a picture courtesy of part time Eurodragster staff member ‘Ed’ and, a share in the B&H Automotive/LA Racing prize fund.

All SE members took home copies of the ‘Hardcore Street’ DVD, produced by www.quartermilehigh.com. Ann-Marie Lazenby has asked that we personally thank both them for all their support and for hard work throughout the season.  

The SE would like to thank all sponsors for this year, what they provide in support (and prizes) is part of what makes the SE class so great. For the racers, and their supporters in the stands, and with another load of new cars for 2010 already rumoured, roll on SE 2010.

19th October 2009

Race Report, Round 8 - The National  Finals. Click Here.

15th October 2009

Supporters of B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator will know that 2009 Champion Colin Lazenby's first ever seven-second pass came at the sixth round at Shakespeare County Raceway’s Open Sport Nationals. Colin has been in touch with a report on his season since then:

At the Open Sport Nationals the team was greeted with almost perfect conditions for us to chip away at the tunes, and we got there largely the result of Crew Chief Garry Coull’s ability to make the tiniest of changes deliver us some outstanding performances working with the ignition retards, and a certain amount of restraint over the nitrous controllers. A combination of the two netted us our first ever seven, a 7.95.

At the FIA European Finals, we missed the first three qualifying sessions when upon changing the intake springs on Wednesday we came across a broken retainer lock/keeper. We thought we had spares and we did, but not the ten degree beadlock design which are used only with titanium valves. In fact the only guy at the track who seemed to have the same keepers was Pro Mod's Roger Johansson and he was in a pretty laid-back set-up mode because the Pros weren’t racing until the Friday, though by now of course it was Thursday lunchtime and we were rapidly running out of time. In the end we warmed up our Sonny’s behemoth semi-hemi with the broken keeper with a view to fitting the new keepers when Roger came over, which he did at around one o'clock. This allowed us to make the fourth qualifying session by the skin of our teeth. We ran with exactly the same tune as we did at Shakespeare County so on our first qualifying run we carded a new Personal Best 7.855.

For session five we stepped it up. Garry didn’t specifically tell me what he’d changed, and I didn’t ask, but he did ask me to short shift - I did, though it felt a bit flat in the middle and it went an unsurprising 7.908. We stepped up again for session six, don’t forget here that we had already stepped up from the 7.85 but ultimately it had gone slower because of the short shift and the lower revs. Session six therefore delivered us another PB of our 7.708. In the only session we ran on Friday we went 7.834, in the dusk and with the dew point well and truly in, but with pretty much the same tune with which we ran the 7.70. In these conditions, we turned the tyres with each gear change but the old girl still went as straight as an arrow. Given the cold conditions I believe this run was actually more astounding than the 7.70: the track temp was sixty degrees give or take. By now the Sportsman Pros were beginning to wear. Still legal, but worn nonetheless. We discussed at what point we would undertake our tactical tyre change in full recognition that changing to new tyres on race day could have been catastrophic to us going rounds. Lee Child of LA Racing Parts had kindly organised delivery of replacement tyres both for us and for Davie Murdoch, and they turned up when Lee said they would. We had two more qualifying sessions on the Saturday during which we went 7.814 and 7.832. The 7.83 run was against John Sleath’s 7.87 and this race goes down in the SE history books as the quickest and fastest ever side by side run in the class.

We changed the tyres immediately after the Cruise with a view to bedding them in on our bye run the next morning. The rest really is immaterial. In the first round of eliminations a nipped wire on the trans brake feed meant that once I was fully staged and went on the chip the motor died on me. The earthing effect had killed a feeding the ignition switch, which in turned killed the MSD. Luckily I had fully staged under power and I took the win light. R2 was against Alex McIntosh and aside from one previous burnout we were essentially on new tyres. I ended up having to drive for a change, pedalling the car at least three times before I could get it to hook. In the semi-final against Fatty I had an absolutely fantastic 0.023 light for a 0.400 Tree, the problem is that we run a 0.500 tree and red light effectively put a halt to progressing any further.

Congratulations are in order here to John Sleath with his twin T*rbo Audi for his European Finals event win, and his astounding 7.68 timing ticket, set on the popular Drag Radials. I have been in contact with Mickey Thompson USA to lay claim on the quickest and fastest run in the world on the full block tread Sportsman Pro after my own 7.708/189.63 at the race. I don't anticipate recognition from any other quarter.

Onto round eight, the UK National Finals. Self and our Bri set up camp - well I was quite butch, our Bri was camp - then changed the exhaust springs on the Friday, and on Saturday morning we damaged a lifter wheel during the warm-up which also bruised a cam lobe. We replaced the lifter and limped to a 9.1 during session two, which pretty much placed us in the middle of the field. We kept a close eye on the damaged lobe and the new lifter wheel just in case we incurred greater irreparable damage. The Cruise came and went without drama, but when we checked the lash upon our return we found another damaged lifter. We changed this for our last remaining spare just so that we could meet Alex McIntosh for the first round of eliminations. We treated the new lifter wheels to a liberal soaking of Torco MPZ Engine Assembly lube, courtesy of Steve Clark at Nimbus Motorsport. The team debated up hill and down dale whether or not we should race Alex, but ultimately the choice was mine. I did my normal short burn-out (yeah right - Ed) albeit at slightly lower revs. I then pre-staged, purged the nitrous and went into full stage. On the green I left, then backed off just prior to the sixty foot clocks. For us our weekend was over and besides I owed Alex big time for helping us out with heat shrink at the previous event and I wasn’t about to wreck our Sonny’s *** ci bullet.

Team ‘56’ will live to race another day.

Thanks also to Super Modified racer Tim Mugridge for the loan of his nitrous jets: come and get 'em any time Tim, it’s M1, M6, M74 pretty much all the way up through Scotland. If you get to Iceland (not the frozen food shop) you’ve gone too far. Congratulations to SE Championship runner-up Jeff Meads and also to third place finisher Mats Andersson. It’s been a hard slog for all SE competitors this year but especially for you guys who have been able to commit to attending all the SE rounds in 2009. To all other SE competitors, we all appreciate your support of the hardest core of street-legal doorslammer cars in Europe. We’ll see you guys at the SE Dinner Dance on 28th November.

18th September 2009

Race Report, Round 7 - The FIA Euro Finals.  Click Here.

18th September 2009

Race Report from Team Willys, The FIA Euro Finals.

Just wanted to drop a few lines to say how chuffed we are at running our first 8 sec pass without gas last weekend at FIA Euro Finals which, in all honesty wasn't expected. I always said I wanted to run a 9 second car and when we got down to the 9's at the Summer Nationals we couldn't believe it so you can imagine how we felt last weekend.

I would just like to thank all my crew that were out with us for the event and for all the hard work they put in when we ran into problems on Friday when we found the distributor gear had failed (thanks to well timed (get it) advice from big Ron Haslett - cheers big man. Then we found that the oil pump drive shaft was also knackered (thanks to Jason Weir for the offer of his dizzy). It was a mad race for myself and Keith Hunt to get to Real Steel first thing on Saturday morning to pick up the parts we needed and get back to the track in time (which I have to say wasn’t easy with the crowds that fell upon Santa Pod last weekend).

But we made it and I have to say it was well worth it. With a new MSD ignition tune courtesy of Garry Coull, when we next went out we ran an astounding 8.91, and then topped that with the 8.89 in the first eliminations on Sunday. Unfortunately we suffered a major oil leak and just weren't willing to take the risk. Along with the fact that our parachute had decided to part company with the car. Sad because we think we could've gave John Sleath a run for his money - NOT.

Anyway, again, a big thanks to all for a successful weekend. See you all at the National Finals.

David Murdoch

Team Willys

18th September 2009

Race Report from FB Racing, The FIA Euro Finals.

Last weekend was one of the most enjoyable ever for B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator UK team FB Racing.

(Click for bigger picture)

With only 2 full no-gas passes (and no dyno time) on the new 598 we used the first three qualifiers to extract a little all-motor performance from the ’34 and improved from our round 6 best of 8.95 to a NPB 8.66. Then it was time to open the bottle and on our third gas run with the new engine gave us an overall NPB of 8.16. What’s more my .0000 reaction time was also a PB and won me the Eurodragster.com/Speedflow Perfect Light award (thanks guys, the £100 will pay for the National Finals gas!!). We couldn’t get any more out of the car through the rest of qualifying but were happy to be consistently running low eights. The cruise was very enjoyable and I must say a big thanks to the crowd for the fantastic send off they gave the SE racers as we made our way up the strip and out of the track and also for the welcome we had on our safe return.

Due to some on-track delays it was well into the afternoon of Sunday before we had our first round race against our fellow Cheltenham-based racer Mats Andersson. After a hard burnout the car launched really well but at about mid track started to pull to the right and wasn’t keen to straighten up – so much so that I almost came off it. At about 1,000 feet the car sorted itself out and felt great across the line. Driving back to our pit I hoped but didn’t dare believe. As I got out of the car two of my crew were there and just hearing the magic word “seven” was enough for me to start celebrating. 7.97 @ 173 mph. NPBs both and the first European street rod to run the quarter in under eight seconds! Anything after that was a bonus. And what a bonus it was! We made it right through to the final where John Sleath (always a pleasure to race with) used his awesome Audi to take the win.

(Click for bigger picture)

Whilst I hate to come over all Hollywood I’d really like to pass on some thanks. Firstly my crew, especially Brain, Brief and Nubi who spent many evenings in my garage fabricating parts and nailing together our awesome 598 Ford and not forgetting of course Spud, Wires, Kitchen Matt, Squeak and new-boy Dave. A big thank you to my sponsors, the FB Associates, A&E Fire Equipment, RS Autos, hotrodtees.co.uk, Power Pour (it works just fine Jon), The Everest Balti Restaurant and Messier-Dowty. Thanks to Clive Bond for his help, support & patience and to Trev Langfield for his support and the supply not only of our superb WoN nitrous system and controller but also of a lot of advice.

I must also express my thanks to Santa Pod Raceway both for the hard working crew and for inviting the B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator class to take part in the European Finals event and to the Eurodragster crew for providing such excellent coverage. Appreciation too is deserved of Colin & Ann-Marie Lazenby who both work tirelessly in support of our class and a big “well done” to all the SE racers who put on such a fantastic show last weekend.

To finish, having received many congratulations ourselves, I’d like to pass on our own to John Sleath for having produced the quickest and fastest runs ever seen in Street Eliminator and to Jon Webster for his victory in Top Fuel. Well done both.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the National Finals.

18th September 2009

Race Report from Insane Racing’s Ron Haslett, The FIA Euro Finals

Firstly I'd like to start with last weekend and my test session at VW Action.

We arrived about 4pm to find that the power parade was on in Wellingbough. Having never done this before we were amazed at the turn out and how well the cars were receive.

On Saturday, my first and only run saw a 12.4 ET on 5 cylinders; we picked up 2 broken rocker studs and a broken plug. My neighbour who came with me for the first time the drove back to Portsmouth to get a new set.

On Sunday, run 1, we ran a new personal best (NPB) without the gas, a 10.1.  On run 2 we broke another rocker stud and ran a 10.3 on gas, 7 cylinders and another broken stud!

On run 3 we had massive wheel spin and the car was trying its best to kiss the barrier – oh, and another broken stud....

Euro finals:-

After talking to Dave Powell and Pete Knight I changed the studs again. I moved the stud girdle and rechecked the geometry, everything looking good. We missed the first 3 sessions but when we did get out we made a mild check-out pass. No broken studs this time. Thanks to Pete for bringing me a new set of rocker nuts to the track on the Friday.

The gas was now turned on and we were rewarded with a 9.5 @147mph - another NPB.

I'm not going to list every run we did but we did 8 runs over the weekend and managed 8 NPBs in either ET’s or MPH. Our best run was saved until last, a 9.0 @ 153 mph. And hey, we even managed to get the front wheels off the ground for the first time.

I can't thank enough all the people that have helped me over this year as although we haven't raced that much, but we haven't been idle either.

So it’s thanks to the lads that helped me in the workshop and at the track, that’s Graham, Russ, Andy, Nick, Mark and Darren.

Thanks also to Colin Lazenby’s crew chief Garry Coull for the timing advice – much appreciated.

Big Ron Haslett.

7th September 2009

Video summary, Round 6 - The Open Sport Nationals, now available.  Click Here.

31st August 2009

Race Report, Round 6 - The Open Sport Nationals. Click Here.

25th August 2009

B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator racer Colin Lazenby would like to thank pretty much everyone for his own milestone achievement at this weekend’s event at Shakespeare County Raceway.

‘Self, our kid and Clive Bond had arranged to meet as the gates opened 11:00 hrs on Thursday, we had stuff to do - I put the rockers back on and Clive had the transmission cooler to finish, so that just left the re-mounting, plumbing and wiring all to do, so not much. Oh, don’t forget to throw in one rather frustrating journey to home and back before we were done. Late on Thursday we warmed it, primed and fired it and with all OK Clive joined us for a spot of well earned dinner and a very small beer really officer before leaving for FRANCE.

Garry joined us bright and early Friday morning, having left somewhere around the south lakes at 04:00 hrs the same morning.

With the oil warmed and primed we fired it up when we were called and though we never discussed the first of the weekend’s tunes we’d gone to the line with a lazy ‘soft’ starting point and we rewarded ourselves with a not to be sniffed at 8.60 @ 177.4 mph.

Onto the second session, and having had chance to digest the good and bad points of the previous run we made our changes but created a marginal ‘rattling’ of the tyres (for the first time in 15 runs) which caught me by surprise but nonetheless found an improving 8.47 @ 178.1 mph.

Run 3 on the Friday we made the tiniest of changes to step up to our best run of the day to an 8.20 and 181.4 – man those 180 mph + runs feel good.

Saturday brought about many challenges for the Shakespeare track crew, hey John Cross, thanks buddy, but they stuck with it and in our only session of the day we went quicker still with an 8.12 @ 184.3 mph.

The cruise was hot, no, I mean really hot, and aside from the odd mishap it proved to be uneventful for us. Clive’s new trans cooler installation had knocked 35 degrees off the transmission temp so the URC upgrade was hugely successful. I gave a ride to ace photographer Matthew Woods on the last leg of the cruise and I publicly apologise for scaring the living daylights out of him – at least he didn’t scream (he said).

Sunday we were all greeted by glorious sunshine, we had an earned bye and we used it to our advantage by tuning for something special, we found it too with a beautiful arrow straight 8.09 @ 185.4 mph, incidentally our best ever speed was 185.6 mph. And we realised that we were oh so close to that sweet spot.

We had new boy Paul Houston with his Sleath Race cars twin turbo big block in the semi’s, Garry was happy to step up the tune but knew he had to stay well away from an aborted run, he provided me with an 8.03 and 186.3 mph (NPB) dam those pesky turbo motor’s...

And onto the Finals, Jeff and us again. Now Jeff likes to race, hell, we love to race. Garry and I debated the tune beforehand, Garry got his way and I accepted defeat, at least in the debate. Onto the race itself, no messing about, pre-stage and stage, Jeff gave us a sporting head start and we were off onto another arrow straight run, I knew it was fast, and quick just before I exited the car I received a text off Tog that simply said congrats. I packed the chute and headed back. On the return road Ann-Marie flagged me down (I thought I was in trouble) she lent through the car and whispered those sweet numbers 7.95 and 187 mph.

For us, the team, crew chief Garry Coull, our Bri my rock, Ann-Marie & Jacquie and for this weekend Richard/Claire, and Leo many thanks.

For the words of congratulatory support from every corner of drag racing I have to say we've been pretty overwhelmed. From Andy/Kate and of course Luke of ARRC my chassis builder and some, many thanks.

For Steve Clark at Nimbus Motorsports, again a big thank-you. TORCO octane booster testing is now complete Steve...

To Marge and Carl Rossler, for providing me with the best transmission in the world, I thank-you.

And for Sonny’s and Clive Bond, for giving us a motor that’s capable of delivering any tunes we care to throw at it, I thank-you.

And finally for the guys and gals of the B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator you’re all completely insane, I love you, weeps uncontrollably....’

25th August 2009

The FBs are pleased as punch with our first full weekend competing in the B&H Automtotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator series with the new motor in the '34.

‘We ran our first ever all motor 9 and then proceeded to run an eight without gas as well! We went on to an 8.52 on only our third ever full pass on the 598 before being knocked out by Jeff Meads an absolute thriller of a semi final when the lead changed an incredible four times (almost like something from the movies!). But best of all was that both engine & car have come home in one piece!

We'd like to pass on our congratulations to Colin and the rest of Team '56 on winning the event and breaking into the sevens - it must have seemed an awfully long time after getting so close with the 8.01! Thanks also to Colin and Anne-Marie for the organising the barby and to Mick "the Fish" for his hard work feeding us all on Saturday night. A great time was had by all.

We are really looking forward to the Euro Finals and will be trying very hard to better our overall PB of 8.17. And after that?? Who knows!

Updated points tables will be posted before the end of the week.’

27th July 2009

Shakespeare County’s Open Sport Nationals takes place August 21^st/22^nd/23^rd (Fri/Sat/Sun). As does the annual SE BBQ – more on that in a minute....

The closing date for entry to this event is theoretically a week tomorrow – Friday, July 31^st. On saying that Julie is usually very understanding of the racers plight. If you are unsure about your ability to attend you need to call her, she’ll be happy to reserve your entry subject to final confirmation and I say that given the recent attrition that some motors have suffered.

Julie can be contacted on 07792919508, or e-mail julesw@tesco.net

Or you can find your car entry forms yourselves at http://www.shakespearecountyraceway.com

The 4^th SE BBQ, is likely to be Saturday evening (after the early cruise).

Now, you guys know this is one annual event not to be missed even if you’re unable to race. We normally ask who would like to contribute, and with what and this year is no different. It’s a foregone conclusion that Splinter will be providing the made by his fair hands ‘coleslaw’... and anything from bags of kettle chips (at least the flavours I like) along with cheesecakes, buns (rolls for the southerners) etc, etc.

 I am sure a Lazenby chilli will be there also. The class will fund the main items of meats and we live in hope that ‘Mick the Fish’ will once again take up the role of honorary cook, failing which it’ll be big Ron Haslett – but I have to say I think the last time Ron handled the cooking he actually ate more than he cooked. Now this year we have a theme, we’re celebrating Mexican night, anything from Mexican moustaches right through to sombreros and the blanket style ponchos, cowboy boots will do too – Garry wears these anyway should anyone struggle to come up with the correct attire. Now this is no more that a bit of fun and hey, if we can’t laugh at each other we can always take the mick out of Pat*man. We expect everyone to put on a show, the dafter, the better. Please enter into the spirit of the event.

Oh, and who hasn’t done a piece for Eurodragster yet?

27th July 2009

Ian Hook’s reflections on his debut event of 2009....

‘Having dried off after last weekend's Bug Jam deluge I felt I had to put pen to paper (or rather fingers (just the two!) to keyboard) to pass on a few thanks. Whilst I'd rather be writing to tell everyone how successful our first foray with the new engine was (it wasn't!), I have to say that we wouldn't have been there at all were it not for some superhuman efforts from the FBs. I must single out Martin "Brain" Kerr for his extraordinary efforts in getting the new motor built, wired, plumbed and installed within a very short space of time. And for those not aware, this task included a lot of fabrication as we are running with an electric water pump and a dry sump system for the first time - it took a lot of clever work to get the various lines, tanks and hoses into the narrow confines of the '34s engine bay. Another to be 'mentioned in despatches' is new team member Matt Long. Matt had the misfortune to do some work on my extension at home and before he knew what was what found himself spending hours of his free time helping me with work on the FB bus. Although not 100% completed it was definitely useable and a lot better than the previous incarnation. A big thank you also goes out to Lee Sharples who did an awful lot of wiring and lighting work for us and to Clive Bond for dealing with some of the worst trans-Atlantic customer service ever seen and sourcing our parts against all odds!

And what happened? Well, we took the '34 to the track without even having the chance to fire the new 598. Unfortunately when we filled it with water it proceeded to fill up the cylinders and sump as well! The cure was to completely strip the top end and sump. dry everything out and then silicone all the waterways before putting it all back together. All this was achieved with a 2" deep river flowing through our pit most of the day - Martin now has webbed feet. By the time it was back together and we'd sorted an ignition issue the required temperature cycle meant that we weren't able to run on Saturday. Although we got close to getting out on Sunday (that Pod crew just don't know how to give up!) all we could manage was to load the engine against the converter.

At least we got car (and coach!) home in one piece and we're all looking forward to Shakey on August 21st-23rd. And not just for SE Barbecue IV either!’

21st July 2009

Visitors to last weekend's rain sodden Bug Jam thought that they had strayed onto the set of Eastenders when they saw these two characters.

Gossip that the Mitchell brothers had given up their bad ways and had forsaken the Queen Vic to take up residence in the Fueler's Bar were proved to be untrue when it was revealed that the supposed dastardly duo were in fact none other than B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator drivers Jeff Meads and Colin Lazenby. Although it has been rumoured that both racers are happy to do stunt double work to help the team budgets!

17th July 2009

Joanne Hollingworth of the Sport newspaper, and wife of Street Eliminator racer Jon ‘Moose’ Hollingworth e-mailed us to say that the Sport Babes will be at the USC at Santa Pod at the start of August, www.ultimatestreetcar.co.uk

The Sport will be offering a £5.00 money off voucher for the event.

7th July 2009

B & H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator UK 2009 Round 4 race report

June 13^th-14^th Santa Pod Raceway

The Summer Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire played host for Round 4 of this year’s B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator UK Championship. Round 3 was finalised with Lazenby taking the win over meads and leapfrogging the Pop driver into first place in the championship but by the closest of margins 2110 to 2100 points!

The meeting saw the return of Alex McIntosh in his blown Stang and Davie Murdoch in the gorgeous ’33 Willys. Joining them were Lazenby, Meads, Andersson and Todd. Qualifying was topped (again) by Lazenby in the ’56 but he relinquished that position to Meads when the Chevy’s engine destroyed a lifter forcing Team ’56 to retire before the cruise.

Race day saw a huge upset in the first round when a lazy light and a wheelie from Meads allowed Andersson to prevail in a thrilling race. With the RT factored in the Swedes 9.88 and Meads 8.95 (and, yes, those numbers are the right way round!) translated into less than 3/100ths (or 7.1 inches) between the two cars at the stripe. Andersson was joined in the semi finals by McIntosh and Murdoch. Murdoch progressed with his second bye of the day (thanks to the absence of Lazenby) whilst McIntosh saw red and lost out to Andersson missing out on his 9.49 to 9.53 advantage.

Andersson was in his second final of the year and with a bit more of a chance of victory (last time he faced Frost!). But Murdoch (making up the first ever SE UK final with no English presence!) was determined to make him work for it and despite the Swede’s third holeshot of the day pushed him all the way. Despite losing out the Scot was well pleased as he ran his first 9 in the ’33 in this, his first SEUK final.

Andersson now tops the B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts championship table, the third racer to hold that position this season. But with just a few hundred points separating the top three it’s still anyone’s title. Bug Jam at Santa Pod in a week’s time may see another change in leadership as the event hosts round 5 of this year’s 8-round series.

2nd July 2009

B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator competitor Colin Lazenby has been in touch to provide us with an update following his early exit from the Summer Nats.

‘At some point during the 3^rd qualifying pass on the Saturday the engine tone in our 811-932 ci Sonny’s billet motor noticeably changed. We were up against Jeff Meads at the time, effectively running what would have been our finals from the previous event. I have to tell you that the thought of ‘coming off it’ against Jeff never entered my head – besides, give him an inch and he’ll take a mile... In the race itself we ran a slowing 8.53 to Jeff’s improving 8.83 (times courtesy of Andy Mars).

Back in the pits we began the ritual of setting the lash, clearly all was not well with #5 exhaust and with less than an hour before the cruise we pretty much knew we were never going to make it, certainly not without risking greater damage. By the time the other SE competitors were leaving for the cruise the intake was already off, and having borrowed a couple of specialist tools from Tim Mugeridge (surely he’s realised by now) and Graham Ellis’s crew we managed to pull out the main body of the damaged lifter. By now of course Clive Bond was an hour and a half later than he’d planned to get away and having committed to being elsewhere by this point I am grateful for his ever watchful eye and the fact he stayed. At this point we wrapped up for evening, partook in our planned BBQ, and, one or two beers.

Tomorrow was always going to be a tough day.

On the Sunday I was up and about by 06:45 hrs and our Bri and Garry weren’t far behind. The plan was to get packed up and away by 09:30, we pulled out of the Pod at 09.25 (dammit).

Now I must apologise here to the lady in the gas station that our kid fell out with, something to do with access to the pumps? Anyhow lady, if your reading this on Eurodragster, or the SE site our Brian is very sorry in the way he spoke to you and I for one do not condone his disgraceful language, or indeed his un-gentlemanly conduct... I do hope you weren’t too traumatised by the abuse you received. I suspect our Brian (just like Ronnie Biggs) remains unrepentant on the matter. Anyhow, we’d planned to get to Clive’s by 12:00 and we were there pretty much bang on schedule having already agreed with Clive that we would deliver the motor to his ample shop even though he couldn’t join us (do try to keep up) given his previous commitment.

We rolled the ‘56’ off into Clive’s shop, popped it up onto the Pro-jacks where me and our kid pulled out the motor, cleaning everything up as we dismantled - Clive’s place is as clean as a hospital operating theatre (without the added risk of picking up an infection). The girls put on a spot of lunch and then sunbathed – what? They did...

The image shows the old girl, once again without a motor between the rails, and once it was placed safely onto an old engine stand (we found lying around) we simply tidied up and left. But not before raping and pillaging Clive’s snap on tool stash – when on earth will he learn?

Clive’s since inspected the motor and predictably when the lifter bearing failed, the axle collapsed and the offending item continued to bash the corresponding lobe on the cam until that too was trashed – let’s just say it could have been worse - much worse. And yes of course we’ll check the other lifters. Sonny Leonard is now not talking to me.

The cam and lifters are now ordered and we’ll just have to see how we get on. Don’t write us off just yet, you ought to know by now that here at team ‘56’ don’t give up that easily...’

1st July 2009

Just like Ian Hook and the FB Racing team, Jason Weir and the Pro-Suburban team have entered the Bug Jam, their first race meeting of 2009.

‘Over the last year we have had timing and ignition issues with the old engine, due to some inadequate engine work and being fairly inpatient people we just couldn’t go on like this so the decision was taken to source a new motor.

After a few options were explored, we knew we wanted to continue with ProCharger as our power adder but as always we were looking for more horsepower even though the Dollar exchange rate was far from being in our favour we chose a complete engine package from Steve Morris of NewEra Racecraft in Michigan www.neweraracecraft.com/about.html

The all ally motor is a 540ci BBC with a new gear driven F3R Procharger, this thing will produce over 60% more horsepower than the old motor did and the modifications needed to accept the new motor are being carried out by Webster Race Engineering just prior to the Bug Jam.

Big thanks to Steve Morris (New era Racecraft), Webster Race Engineering, Paul Dickens and Clive Bond of Ultimate Race Cars for all his help and advice.

See you at the Bug Jam

Jason.’

26th June 2009

Round 4 Race Video now uploaded. Click here to watch it!

25th June 2009

Ian Hook and the Cheltenham Fat Boys have entered their first event of the year – the Bug Jam although Ian himself says that there is no more than a fifty-fifty chance of the team actually getting to the event.

Problems with the build of the teams new all-ali 598 cubic inch big block continue to plague the FBs efforts to get back on the track, the latest being a crank that refused to balance. The offending article had to be returned to Cheltenham (thanks are due to Clive Bond for the running around) to check for clearance in the block before undergoing welding work to facilitate adding the required weight. Of course there’s still a lot of other work to do and with just a bare block still sat Ian’s caution can be understood.

‘The Bug Jam may be a bit more than even we can achieve although if we think there’s any chance that the car will run we will be there as insurance, MoT test and tax are all in place ensuring the car’s legality to run. Even if we don’t make round five I am supremely confident that we will at least make the final three SE events of the year and probably a couple of others if possible.

We’d also like to add the congratulations from all the FBs to Matts Anderson for his first win in SE and for flying the flag for Cheltenham (oh, and Sweden too I guess....).’

20th June 2009

Dear All,

As previously posted on Eurodragster, this Friday provides Street Eliminator competitors with the last opportunity to enter Bug Jam 23 – with late entries (if accepted at all) will come at a premium price at double the normal entry fee.

Now for those who have attended previous Jug Jams they are indeed a most unusual but exciting event. For the spectators it’s almost none stop partying and you can never tell when visitors call by your pit space whether they are still up from the night before or just early morning risers – most must surely suffer from self imposed sleep deprivation over the whole 3 day affair.

If you are intending to enter, speak to Paula Marshal now – at least drop her an e-mail at or call her direct on 01933 313625

For details of all the goings on planned for this year’s event visit the event organiser’s site at www.bugjam.co.uk

For the Santa Pod link to the event it’s www.santapod.co.uk/e_bugjam.php

For the downloadable entry forms (downloadable is a word) it’s www.eurodragster.com/sprc/forms.htm just scroll down the page to the Bug Jam and click on Sportsman Car Classes Entry Form.

While we understand that racers wanting to ‘test’ they are free to do so IF they bring with them their regular DVLA licences. The racing permit kick’s in at 14.00hrs on the Saturday & again at 09.00hrs on the Sunday track conditions permitting. For everyone who’s hell bent on attending the Bug Jam I’m sure you’ll enjoy the party.

Standard entry is £145, which includes electricity.

Rgds, Cj & AM Lazenby

16th June 2009

Street Eliminator back at the FIA European Finals....

‘The B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts Street Eliminator are very pleased to announce that they will be racing at the upcoming FIA European Finals in September.  This will be a full points round in the championship, and is something the class have been lobbying for for many years.  Earlier this year there were plans to run at the FIA rounds as a demo class, but to be included in full is great for the class, teams, sponsors and fans alike.

You will often see a number of SE cars competing in either Pro ET, Super Pro ET or Comp Eliminator at the FIA rounds just so that they can add valuable seat time or try out their killer tunes on what are regarded as the best two tracks of the racing calendar. To come out together as a class and put on the sort of show we know we can is a great opportunity.

Street Eliminator looks forward to supporting the FIA European Finals and you can be rest assured that we will put on a show worthy of our inclusion at this high profile event. We also know that we'll find ourselves in some of the best company that Europe has to offer amongst a full complement of FIA classes. So, to all race fans intending to come along to the European Finals please come over and introduce yourselves to some the Street Eliminator teams’.

Santa Pod Raceway’s spokesman said "Santa Pod Raceway is pleased to invite back Street Eliminator as an added bonus to the FIA European Finals. Street Eliminator is a street-legal class, which all drag racing fans can relate to. See them reach high sevens to low nines on the track and then take to the road for their all-important street cruise."

29th May 2009

Press Release from Street Eliminator racer Wilf Stacey -

‘Just a quick note to anyone who may be attending the Classic Ford Show this Sunday at Santa Pod. We have been asked to run at the event as a demo car with our ‘Street Eliminator’ Gone Krazy Ford Zephyr during this rather excellent event. Although unable to compete in the Street Eliminator Series due to our imminent relocation, we are delighted to have been asked to attend this event and we wanted to represent the class in this way.

I have also been asked to display my almost concours Anglia van as a static only display on the classic stand for the Ford Anglia 50^th anniversary - oh how I wish we had a stacker trailer.

If you are intending to go to this event please come over to the race car demo pit area and say hi

Regards

Wilf Stacey’

29th May 2009

Co-title Sponsor LA Racing Parts have been in touch with the prices for Mickey Thompson tyres  for Street Eliminator racers. Click Here to download the price list.

28th May 2009

The Street Eliminator UK welcomes on board our new trophy sponsor, Matthew Wright of Wright Guards Security.

Take a look at the range of security services available through Wright Guard by contacting Matt at www.wrightguardssecurity.co.uk/contactus.html

Matt is a long time supporter of the Street Eliminator and hopes to be out in his newly acquired and seriously upgraded ‘74’ Chevy C10 pick-up truck from the Summer Nations onwards.

A previous Eurodragster interview with Matt, and his truck, can be viewed at www.eurodragster.com/news/features/matthew_wright_pickup/default.asp

22nd May 2009

Guys, I can’t tell you how excited I am about my phone call with Matthew Wright last Wednesday. Some of you may already know that Matt’s ‘74’ Chevy C10 pick-up truck was sold some time ago and he’s only just recently managed to buy it back (or take it back). By now of course the old motor’s long since gone and it’s now sporting a big inch, Pro-Chargered and fuel injected monster and Matt is understandably itching to get back out - he’s also looking forward to drawing his first blood, more on this point shortly.

What I wasn’t expecting to take place during our conversation was how we seemed to stray towards sponsor interest in the class. We somehow got around to talking about trophies and somehow got around to talking about the quality of our previous trophies (from WRE). The long and short it is that Matt, via his newly formed security firm ‘Wright Guards Security’ www.wrightguardssecurity.co.uk has offered to cover the cost of our 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd place trophies for 2009. And I am more than satisfied that we’ll be able to provide AT LEAST a similar quality to last year’s trophies and there’s every chance they’ll be even better. A big thanks to Matt for his generosity and a worthy note to any of you guys who run your own businesses – let’s see if Matt’s gesture encourages anyone other owner/managers into doing a similar thing?

Some of you might remember Matt’s truck, and his Eurodragster interview back in January 2006 www.eurodragster.com/news/features/matthew_wright_pickup/default.asp hopefully we’ll see Matt and the truck out at the Summer Nationals. You won’t be able to miss his truck – it’s the big one. Even so, Matt looks like he’s holding on to a shirt button for a steering wheel when he’s in there driving it.

And if anyone could do with any form of ‘security’ and by ‘security’ I mean anything between a full range of proper security services right through to leg breaking then maybe you should get in touch with Matt to explore the services available. You can get in touch with him via his web site... No really, you better get in touch with him soon...

Bagsie we have use of his services first – he can ‘look after’ all our gear at the Bug Jam.

18th May 2009

After his early exit from the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, Mark Todd has been in touch with what happened, and what he found out....

‘Engine damage - or lack of it....Well the good news is there's none, but we have found and rectified a problem.

Having struggled with interference problems at rounds 1 and 2, I was really looking forward to this meet. I had re-mounted and fully re-wired the boost controller so was fairly confident that the problem was solved.

Arriving early Friday we fully checked the car resetting all valve lash, new fluids, etc.

Saturday morning was an early start as street eliminator was 1st out. I was up against an ever improving Mats Andersson.

As soon as I let go of the transbrake I knew the car didn't feel quite right but temps and pressures were good so I kept my foot down. It pulled a relatively sluggish 1.7 60ft but seemed to hold boost for the entire length of the track which was a massive relief. At the back of my mind I knew that it hadn't pulled as hard as it had done at previous meets before the controller had failed.

On the return road I realised there was a problem as tick over was down by 200rpm the ecu was struggling to maintain idle.

I was surprised by a 9.26 second time slip however the slip showed poor top end gain.

Plugs were pulled and it was immediately apparent that a problem had occurred as drivers bank front 2 cylinders. The cylinders contained antifreeze and electrodes were green and melted.

The run had been fully data logged so all eyes switched to the log. This is when the problem became more of a mystery as the data log showed a very safe 10.5 af ratio throughout the run.

The decision was made to regrettably withdraw from the round.

We decided to stay Saturday night which was a great decision as a good time was had by all. (Street eliminator drag racing on the dodgems)

Sunday Paul Houston who had driven all the way from Bathgate Scotland to help crew offered to hitch up the car and drop it at John Sleaths on his way home "Big Thanks".

This week the engine was pulled and the heads removed. At first the mystery continued as there was NO apparent engine damage however further investigation revealed the problem. combustion marks on the head gasket told the story. under boost the heads had lifted very slightly between cylinders This is a common phenomena and had occurred in previous years without a problem, the difference this year was the heads.

The new heads have water jackets very close to the between cylinder region. As soon as the head lifted in-stead of harmless combustion gasses passing between cylinders, not so harmless coolant filled the cylinders taking out the spark plugs.

All in all a great result as

a) It was not a tune issue.

b) No major parts need replacing.

c) A definitive cause was determined.

b) The solution is simple: the problem water ways stop at the head gasket anyway so weld them up and quick skim.

Looking forward to round 4.

Please say a massive thanks to Jonny 'two tins' Sleath for support on the day and the quick repair, Paul Houston and Mike Lacey for a great crewing job sorry it was cut so short.

Mark Todd’

18th May 2009

Click here for the Round 2 Race Report....

Click here for the Round 3 Race Report....

18th May 2009

Long time Street Eliminator racer Ian ’Fatty’ Hook’s 7th Annual Curry Night report....

‘Hot Stuff in Cheltenham

Although he’s still waiting for parts for FB Racings new big block Ford, driver Ian Hook has kept himself busy recently by organising the annual Rodders ‘n’ Racers Curry Night which was held on Tuesday night in Cheltenham. The Everest Balti Restaurant played host to the event now in its seventh year and staff were kept busy feeding and watering over 70 hungry hot rodders, drag racers and various other petrol heads.

The free raffle featured over £600-worth of goodies and Ian is grateful to The Everest, quartermilehigh.com Widdows Motors, Halfords, A&E Fire Equipment, American Car World, Santa Pod, Shakespeare County, Cheltenham Motor Club, hotrodtees.co.uk as well as fellow team members and friends for the generous donation of a multitude of prizes. He would also like to sincerely thank all those who attended on the evening as they are what make the work required more than worthwhile. “I hope to see you all again next year”.

Unfortunately the pistons needed to continue the build of the 8-second street legal ’34 Ford’s new engine continue to be elusive (I reckon they’re made of ‘unobtanium’ – Ian Hook) and attendance at this year’s Summer Nats is now highly unlikely. However the team do promise to be out this year (hopefully for the party that is Bug Jam) and to continue to provide high speed entertainment Street Eliminator style.

For Ian and the rest of the FBs the return to the track just can’t come soon enough!’

22nd April 2009

Danny Cockerill's been around for some time, his Ford Pop was built way back in 1992 by JMW, this was when they were effectively next door to ICE Automotive in Southend. I remember the feature in the magazine (sad, I know). The Pop first ran in Super Gas, then in the Bob Nixon founded Outlaw Anglia class (unless I’m mistaken) where he won the Championship in 2003, that was way before the calling of Pro Mod where ultimately it went 7.68 @ 180 mph. This insane ride could often be seen carrying the front left wheel up to at least the eighth and usually way beyond....I remember asking Dan about selling it, he vowed he would have to sell the car and the engine seperately recognising that he'd evolved with the car and anyone else who tried to tame it may well find themselves wrong way up. The Pop was eventually sold on in 1998.

The Rover 200 was out the year after. This car was upgraded by ARRC to the current chassis spec's at the time. It was painted in a similar colour scheme to the Pop and with this car he won the SUMO Championship in 2003. Ultimately he went 7.26 @ 191 mph with this car but for Dan this still wasn't quick enough and Pro Mod was once again calling.

Following discussions with Andy Robinson the idea for a McAmis bodied 57 was formed and once the body arrived it was first modified before the the work in earest could commence. The 57 was to be a complete ‘turn-key’ car. And when it did come out in 2005, with the paint almost still wet, I recall it immediately went on to winning best engineered car, competitors choice and runner-up to the best of show at Terry Gibb’s (God bless him) Extreme Wheels show at Alexander Palace. Running in Pro Mod the same year it went as quick as 6.17 @ 230mph.

An astounding acomplishment to both the builder and the driver. Dan also took this ride to the British Pro Mod championship of the same year. Yes, 2005 truly was an astounding year for such a new car. But the story didn't end there.

Fast forward to Danny's present ride - Andy Kirks old championship winning SUMO Camaro. 

This car was also originally built by Jon Webster though by now he was working at Hauser Race Cars All the current upgrades to the Camaro have again been handled by Jon at WRE. The chassis has since been fully upgraded (and powder coated) to SFI spec 25.2. All the tin work has been re-anodised and even though I’m not being told as such, there'll be lots of other WRE trickery in there too - Dan's a guy who doesn’t undertake any tasks by half...and this evidenced with every inch of the newly formed Camaro. Now's there's just as much money changing hands on Dan's eventual choice of tyre as there is on Colin Lazenby's engine size. Will he go for the M/T Sportsman Pro or the M/T DR. I say keep everyone guessing... just for the hell of it.

Jeff Taylor Performance Engines built the Pro-Charger motor and this motor was last run in Bo Butners Comp Eliminator car in the NHRA where it ran mid 7's. It's since been modified to run on the class fuel choice Shell ‘V’ Power’.

Expect to see this team competing at the very top end of the B&H Automotive/LA Racing Parts SE class from around the Summer Nat’s onwards. And with Dan’s driving ability one’s got to wonder what he’ll be able to achieve with this combination – though f'sure he’ll be looking to run mid to low 8’s and who knows we might even see other Pro Mod drivers fancying their chances with some of the SE former hero’s with the likes of Pat*man/Splinter/Frost & of course the FB's. Guys, are you listening to this...?

22nd April 2009

Click here for the Round 1 Race Report....

9th April 2009

Prompted into action following on from Davie Murdoch’s short story, SE Press Officer Ian (fatty) Hook has managed to drag himself away from an over sized plate of Chicken Vindaloo to provide us with an FB Racing update -

‘Fatty and the boys are ‘gutted’ (apologies boys) for missing out on the opportunity to attend the first SE event for a long, long time – Actually I can’t remember when they’ve EVER missed an event (nor can I, Ed). And had it not been for Tim Jackson’s support over the past season and a half they’d have missed out on a load more.

NB - Click the pictures for a bigger version.

One thing’s for sure, the SE pits at next week’s Easter Thunderball will have an almost eerie atmosphere to it without the presence of the FBs – and I mean all of em.

The FBs cite their biggest problem with major engine components ‘missing in action’, more the result of mismanagement by overseas whorehousing (again my apologies) warehousing, rather than anything else. And if it wasn’t at first the block, it was the pistons - man those boys have more of a run of bad luck that the devil himself old 666 Colin Lazenby.

Still, with a full complement of parts to hand and a great deal of hard work by many, they will, eventually, get there - and when they do, look out, their new motor is a killer.

I think the FBs were initially worried that Davie Murdoch’s pretty little ‘33’ will claim the title of Europe’s quickest Hot Rod and the FBs are looking to thwart Davie’s plans with their own mad cap motor. The spec? Try an all aluminium tall deck, 600 cube, dry sump’d block with at least one stage of N20... One stage? The writer breaks into fits of giggles... That ought to do the trick thinks fatty.

 Beware though they’ll have to face similar challenges to Murdoch’s ‘33, especially with the FB motor being taller (and wider) than Davie’s 540 piece, that coupled with the 34’s puny engine bay that was originally designed to take a 4 cylinder flat head or side valve motor or similar and not at 10 ltrs either... 10 ltrs? The writer starts giggling again.

Anyhow, for the FB Racing Team, KOE champions 2005, SE champions 2006, AND, their rightful claim to Europe’s quickest Hot Rod with an 8.17 ET and 171 mph. One wonders if this will end in tears, either for the fat boys if Davie Murdoch can take the title for himself, or for Davie if he can’t – this is gonna be the WWF smack down with more sincerity and we Scots do like giving the English a spanking....’

6th April 2009

****PRESS RELEASE****

Europe’s hard core Race Series for street legal cars, the Street Eliminator UK, are delighted to announce their class Sponsors for 2009.

The class welcomes back B&H Automotive www.bh-automotive.co.uk for their second year, and for this year we see B&H back as ‘joint’ title sponsors with LA Racing Parts – many thanks to Trevor & John at B&H for their continued interest in the class and also to Lee Child of LA Racing www.laracingparts.com.  Lee was last involved in the class some years ago and given the general economic climate it’s great to have LA Racing back on board.

RPM magazine, available direct on subscription www.rpm-mag.com/subscribe.html or through Graham Rennie at American Auto Mags www.americanautomags.com

Producers of the Street Eliminator’s very own DVD Hardcore Street www.quartermilehigh.com

All the staff at www.eurodragster.com THE BEST source of drag racing news IN THE WORLD, not to be taken for granted.

And a big thanks to Martin at Embroidery Solutions, back for their third year stint with the class with embroidered crew shirts.

And let’s not forget that there’s one remaining 7 second gold ring up for the taking, for any driver who can run (and back up) a 7 second pass, courtesy of Jon Webster at WRE www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk one wonders who will put their claim on this much sought after prize in 2009. Previous winners are Steve ‘splinter’ Nash, Andy Frost & Steve Pat*man.

Race dates for the 7 round Street Eliminator series are:-

April 10^th -13^th (Fri-Mon) ‘Easter Thunderball’ SPR

April 24^th - 26^th (Fri-Sun) ‘Big Bang’ SPR – Fri is set up day.

May 2^nd - 4^th (Sat-Mon) ‘Springspeed Nationals’ SCR

June 13^th/14^th (Sat/Sun) ‘Summer Nationals’ SPR

July 17^th - 19^th (Fri-Sun) ‘BUG JAM’ SPR

August 21^st - 23^rd (Fri-Sun) Open Sport Nationals SCR

Sept 26^th/27^th (Sat/Sun) ‘National Finals’ SPR

SPR = Santa Pod Raceway, SCR = Shakespeare County Raceway

5th April 2009

With so many new Street Eliminator cars due to debut at the Easter Thunderball, Class Chairman Colin Lazenby has been in touch with his take on Dave Murdoch’s long awaited ‘33 Coupe....

‘Davie Murdoch’s pretty little ‘33’ Willy’s Coupe, started, more years ago than he’d care to remember, at Reality Hot Rods, up here in Edinburgh. I’d seen it in there some years ago when Ian Jackson and I called in to see Trevor unannounced. I recall we came away with free T shirts too.

The next time I saw the ‘33’, it was sat on the ARRC chassis jig. We were down there with the ‘56’ and once it was in there it was pretty much taken apart and started all over again along with the instruction for a full tube chassis, drivers safety hoop, the works. The bulk of the work was carried out during this first visit, though the car’s been in and out a couple of times since for the various upgrades, with each taking the car closer and closer to completion.

Davie’s first choice of engine was something not dissimilar to what I once had in a model airplane, it was certainly smaller than the one in Wilf Stacey’s tot rod – you know the one, the one that Bradley piloted at Shakey last year. Thankfully this initial logic was scrapped and Davie started looking for something much more serious, he always fancied forced induction (with nitrous) which left him searching for a suitable blower motor. He found one too via Jeff Bull Racing Engines, a 540 ci piece. Originally built by Jim Oddy and topped off, rather handsomely, with a BDS supercharger – it almost wouldn’t fit between the frame rails too, it really was bigger than intended, but what the hell, ARRC got out the shoehorn and the motor was teased into place. It’s in there now and it ain’t coming out for a while.

Now this puppy makes about the same horsepower, without juice, as the Tucker boys new ‘breathed on’ motor – learnt nothing there? Good.

The motor is backed up by a race spec’d 2 speed glide (not enough gears for my liking) and a huge fueller style rear wing designed by Don Garlits and ably fabricated by ARRC, my guess is Mike – Hi Mike !!

The Willy’s is now taxed, tested and almost ready for its first run down the hallowed black top. Davie will be sensible I’m sure, he’ll be surrounded by lots of good people, overseen by Robinson Race Cars, and former Super Gas hero Luke Ramage. He’ll also have access to pretty much any other SE competitor who happens to be at the track at the time.

Hold on to the seat of your pants big man, it’s almost time...’

2nd April 2009

****PRESS RELEASE****

This coming Easter weekend sees the return to Santa Pod Raceway of Europe’s quickest and fastest road legal cars with round 1 of the Street Eliminator UK championship hosted by the Autotrader Motorsport Extravaganza Thunderball event.

Street Eliminator is a drag racing class for road legal cars only. Vehicles competing must do so in full road trim with silencers, treaded tyres, tax, MOT and insurance and must use regular pump petrol. Furthermore to prove their road-going credentials all competing vehicles are required to complete a 20-30 mile cruise after the on-track qualifying in order to retain race eligibility.

Two machines of note this year are the 1972 Vauxhall Victor of Andy Frost and the 1956 Chevrolet of Colin Lazenby. Frosts Victor is powered by a 9.3 litre Chevrolet V8 boosted by two turbochargers, pumps out over 2,000 hp and is claimed to be the world’s quickest and fastest pump gas car.

Lazenby’s ‘56 uses nitrous oxide injection to augment the power levels of his huge Sonny Leonard V8 (the displacement of which is a closely guarded team secret). 2009 will be his first full season with this engine which the two-time champion claims to be the most powerful ever seen in a European road legal car.

Both racers will be looking to run mile times below eight seconds and reach terminal speeds of 190mph+. The big challenge facing all SE competitors is to put the huge power available down through the compulsory treaded tyres.

Its a tricky balancing act says former champion Ian Hook, whose 9-litre 1934 Ford is the quickest street rod in Europe. Imagine trying to accelerate flat-out in a Bugatti Veyron fitted with cross plies and you’ll get the idea!

If you’d like to see these road-going monsters in the flesh then Santa Pod on April 10th-13th is the place to be. Tickets are available at www.santapod.com

Ian Hook

26th March 2009

Dear SE enthusiast,

With the entry list for the Easter Thunderball effectively closed (late entries now would mean double the entry fee), it’s great to see that we’re at 12 cars with a last minute entry by Lenny Henry’s stunt double Jerry Charles, who’s just managed to sneak in under the cover of darkness on Friday. Notable absences thus far are Hook, Nash, Haslett, Stacey, Weir and Pat*man – all of whom appear to be suffering with one last minute problem or another.

It’s fair to say as far as the Easter Thunderball is concerned these guys will be missed, both by fellow racers and spectators alike.

For the new boys, staunch supporters of the SE can now look forward to finally witnessing shakedown runs by Davie Murdoch in his ‘lighter than a rizzler paper’ supercharged ‘33’ Willy’s, and, Mark Todd - Mark is running a John Sleath Race Cars twin turbo thingamajig in his ‘69’ Firebird. Both cars are more than capable of running 9’s and both will undoubtedly be looking to run 8’s before the season’s over.

Returning former heroes are Jon ‘Moose’ Hollingworth – Moose also runs a John Sleath inspired twin turbo motor, having switched from pro-charger power last year. Moose found, or tuned, for some great performances with each subsequent run bringing him a NPB at the season close in 2008.

Also returning is Alex McIntosh, Alex was likewise out ‘testing’ his new pro-charger motor at the National Finals having surprised himself by getting his car ready earlier than anticipated (that’s a first for most racers). And what about the ‘Tucker boys, they’re back in 2009 with lots more power, I’ve seen the figures from the early dyno pulls and I just guessed the rest, anyhow, watch out for this team as the boys attempt to rotate the earth on their early shakedown runs.

Welcome back too to Bill MacDermid – Bill was the first ever 8 second runner in the old SE ‘Pro’ class 10 years ago with his 8.99 and he’ll be looking forward to relive his 8 second performance with his now pro-chargered ride, best of luck for this year Bill. And what about lovable (soon to be a dad) Martin & Julie Taylor with their insanely overpowered single turbo ‘52’ Beetle. Take a look at this thing in the pits, the quality of engineering around the whole car is truly outstanding and he’s just moved up to an even BIGGER turbo for 2009. He’s nuts, but you’ve just got to love him for it. I do envy Julie – I wish I was having Martin’s baby.

Takes deep breath....we’re also about to see the return of the self professed world’s fastest street car driver Andy Frost, Andy having taken a sabbatical year out racing in ‘other classes’ and once he was out in the wilderness it must have seemed like rather a lonely place (when comparing it to the class camaraderie of the SE). I for one look forward to kicking his ass at the very first opportunity I get – I’m only kidding... What? I am kidding, no, really I am.

We’ve yet to see the WRE prepped (ex Rat Fink) Camaro now in the hands of the very capable Danny Cockerill – as I understand it from Danny, Pro Mod just lost its fun factor, that coupled with a great deal of bad luck over the last couple of years whereas in the SE he hopes to find more of a challenge, and to put a little fun back into the sport. With Danny’s new ‘built to the hilt’ pro-charger motor he’ll be looking to bag himself a couple of trophies and ruffle a few feathers - one thing’s for sure Danny can certainly drive a race car.

I myself am looking forward to seeing Paul Houston’s ‘67’ Firebird, here lies another John Sleath inspired Race Car. Paul’s twin turbo upgrade was work in progress (WIP) when I called in to John’s shop a few weeks ago, it’s already run 9.1s and it’s oh so close to being finished - maybe we’ll see Paul out at event number 2 the ‘Big Bang’, fingers crossed eh Paul? Ditto Alan Simms, Alan Curtis too with his pretty little F*rd Squire.

That’s it for now guys, come over and say hi when you get a minute at the Easter Thunderball.

Rgds, Cj.

20th March 2009

Returning to the Street Eliminator fold for the 2009 season is Bill MacDermid of ‘Billy The Kid Racing’

‘We were back to S/E in 2007 after a 10 year lay off from the class, but with only managing to compete in 3 rounds, all of which were hit by rain, and having a persistent misfire, I decided to pull the ‘69 apart for a winter rebuild. As in most cases the winter rebuild carried through the Summer and back into Winter 08. 

In that time though I have had the engine, gearbox and convertor freshened, I returned the Supercharger back to Pro-charger for a total rebuild and some new modifications.  I had a gear change and new bearings done, and as I write, the ‘69 is at WRE having the distributor & amp rear end updated. I have also had the car totally re-wired with new MSD digital and every thing connected to the electrical side replaced. If I get a misfire now then its time to go train spotting !!

I have also sent the fuel pump back to Magna Fuel to be rebuilt and have put a complete new fuel system on the car. Have also spent a small fortune on returning the interior back to standard with stock dash, door panels, center console, dome light, cigarette lighter etc, to try and complement the stock looking exterior.

I’ve had the ‘69 for 4 years now and have only had it at the track 4 times and haven’t made a full pass, so I really want to get some decent numbers on the boards this season. So really the ‘69 should be a completely different beast when we get back to the track. I am not going to predict any times as this always comes back to bite you, but if we can get an all steel, 3500 lbs plus street legal door slammer on treads anywhere in the high 8s then I know we will be making some power!

Regards, Bill’

www.billythekidracing.co.uk

9th March 2009

Dear Members,

Both myself and fellow Scot Gerry Treit have just had our headers treated with Camcoat’s Cermakrome (aluminiumised) finish and rather splendid they look out too. This is the very same product that is used around Europe for anything between Pro Mod headers right through to headers for show winning Hot Rods.

If you would care to navigate your way through their web site you can find out for yourselves what other services Camcoat can offer.

Old site/new site, so either www.camcoat.com or http://www.camcoat.u-net.com

For exhaust coatings only go straight to -

www.camcoat.com/1.Thermal%20Barriers/cermakrome.html or www.camcoat.u-net.com/Exhausts.htm

The Cermakrome finish is rated at a maximum temp of 760 degrees but we record in excess of a 1000 degrees on a full nitrous pass - without any signs of premature failure.

Service turnaround is, give or take two weeks, and depending on the bore size and the finish required a set of headers for a V8 will cost somewhere between £250 and £275 + VAT. Headers for Martin Taylors Beetle would be around half that price, though I personally wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less than 6 (large) cylinders... In short Camcoat can offer you a great service for a fair price.

Proprietor Peter Carter can be contacted on e-mail. sales@camcoat.com or phone should you prefer is 01925-445003.

If you do get in touch with Peter then please quote the ‘Street Eliminator’ and see what deal Peter is prepared to offer.

Rgds, Cj.

9th March 2009

It’s been a busy off season for the Tucker boys, getting their beautiful Corvette back to race condition.  Here’s an update from Ray Tucker.

‘Just a few words about what we have been getting up to.

As most people might know we suffered some Engine damage at the Big Bang on the 26th April, nothing as spectacular as Colin’s effort but still a pain in the arse for us.

On getting the car home we took stock of the damage. I contacted Scott Duggan at PAR. www.parraceengines.com/index.html. He is the guy who put the original engine together and had proved to be a great help to us during the previous two seasons whenever we needed parts or advice.

Because of all his help previously we decided that when we had the funds we would send the Engine back to him as he promised that he would give us a great deal.

I contacted Malcolm Francis at www.airsealogistics.com and he arranged for the Packing and Shipping.

When the Engine arrived at PAR, Scott called me and various options were discussed, the only criteria I had was for more power.

Because I had missed the majority of the season I thought it could work in the team’s favour to have a bit of R & R and then see the the engine dynoed.

So 4 of us made the trip to Florida to enjoy the Street Nationals at Orlando.

We arrived on the Thursday just in time to make it to Hooters for the pre race party get together.

It was terrific to see everybody involved, including the Police who just seemed to want everybody to have a good time

We even got into the photo shoots

www.raceworksgallery.com/2008/orlando/wsn/hooters/rwk_9634.htm 

www.raceworksgallery.com/2008/orlando/wsn/hooters/rwk_9643.htm

 And we all enjoyed the scenery.

www.raceworksgallery.com/2008/orlando/wsn/hooters/rwk_9654.htm

The next 3 days were spent watching some great racing and for anyone who has not been, it is a must see event. They even arranged for some rain to make us feel at home!

www.raceworksgallery.com/2008/orlando/wsn/c1/

On the Monday we drove up to Spartanburg, a journey of over 500 miles before meeting up with Scott and all his guys at the shop.

On the Tuesday, Darryl hooked up the engine on the Dyno and straight off from the first hit we were all amazed at the increase in power and torque right across the rev range.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELLsEe_krSQ

We returned to Orlando on Tuesday night. and spent the next couple of days relaxing and also enjoyed an Air boat trip on Lake Tohopekaliga. Before getting our flight back to the UK on the Thursday.

Two weeks later the Engine arrived back in the UK.

I could not have done any of this without the help of Scott Duggan at PAR and Malcolm Francis at Air Sea Logistics.

With very special thanks to my brother, Bob, and my son Lee.

Speak soon

Ray’

29th January 2009

Two of the new cars to look out for In Street Eliminator in 2009 -

Paul Houston’s beautiful 1967 Firebird....

In Paul’s own words, ‘Here's a little info on car,

Drag raced a lot between 1997 and 2002 running best of 10.1.

In 2002 car was crashed and lay up in garage till winter 2006.

Winter 2006/2007 Complete overhaul in garage including new Chris Alston front end, full new wiring harness all from the States and an upgrade to 555 big block Chevy and twin dominators from ICE Automotive. The car also went on a diet to loose some weight.

2007 only saw 2 meets in the car.

Winter 2007 saw the car back halved down at John Sleaths with new Ford 9'' back end and 4 link set up.

2008 Compteted in the NSCC and had a good year, car running 9.1 at 155mph.

Now the car is back at John Sleath Race Cars for complete engine overhaul, twin turbo's and an upgrade to fuel injection.

Paul’

Also joining the ranks of Street Eliminator in 2009 is Mark Todd and his stunning 1969 Firebird

‘I have owned the 1969 firebird for 5 years. When i first got the car it was running a 355 ci SBC with nitrous leaf springs, slapper bars etc.. In my 1st year I ran the car, as bought, in the Street Racer series. The car ran a 11.54 seconds @ 120mph and I was hooked.

When watching a program called the 0-60 challenge it mentioned John Sleath, wanting to go quicker, so I contacted John and in 2005 the car was stripped and rebuilt with a ford 9" and all new twin turbo small block.

In 2007 the car posted a best of 9.5 @ 140mph. Over the winter 2007 the car was again at Johns for further upgrades including a Chris Alston front clip. In 2008 I ran a best of 9.15@ 152mph also winning the 2008 Street Racer championship.

During this period I have closely followed Street Eliminator with an aim to run in the series. It is only now that I feel I have the car and the experience to enter. This winter I have manufactured new 321 stainless headers to suit larger turbo's. The engine is currently at Johns for upgrades and dyno session.

My aim is to keep progressing with the car year on year. This car is different to most as it retains its full interior including back seats. For me this just adds to the challenge of making the car go fast (and I can take the kids for a ride.).

For 2009 I hope to be a consistent competitor with some close racing in the lower end of the table

I look forward to meeting everybody. Mark’.
 

Please Note - More information and pictures will be available soon on these cars, as well as other new cars for 2009 in a soon to be added section on the Website. Check back soon!

29th January 2009

With the 2009 season fast approaching, Ron Haslett got in touch with a quick update....

‘Hello all

Just a quick up date to let you all know that were still here, alive and kicking.

I've had confirmation from MacMillan that the last of the 4 collection pots we managed to fill in 2008 had £145 in. That with other monies raised this year from shows and all our other donations takes the total collected to just under £1000 the year. I'd personally like to say a big thank you to everyone who made donations for what is a very worthy cause.

On the racing front things are looking good for further improvements in both times and speeds having changed the gearbox setup at the midway point in 2008. We were generally delighted with the results (even without a matched converter) and the new transmission took all the extra power we chucked at it and we still moved forward. Having now sorted the convertor I would expect we can put the box back in the car and leave it there for the whole 2009 season.

With not much more to do with the car this year (other than wash it, Ed) we can now spend some time on improving the conditions in the motor home. For all those that have had the pleasure of even a short stay, I'm sorry. And I promise it will be so much better in 2009 – hell we might even run the vac over the pieces of roll end carpet remnants...

That’s all for now, best wishes (big) Ron Haslett.’