3rd January 2012

An update from title sponsors Topspeed Automotive about their work over the off-season on the ‘69 Camaro -

‘After running a couple of back to back PB 8.83 @ 158s at the National Finals at the Pod this year, no sooner had the engine cooled down than I had talked with Jon Webster to update ‘69.

I stripped the car out & took it to WRE to install a new charge cooler, water tank, new air intake and various other jobs, and 2 weeks later the car was done.

When you see the Camaro, you will see what a superb install it was! Thanks To Jon @ WRE. So with this I have also added a new Steve Morris Pro Carb Hat, a new C&S Aerosol Billet dual needle & seat blow thru 2000hp carb (Which we are now agents for).

We are also going to have to modify the Chance convertor as we have a 1700 rpm rev drop between gear changes.  We were only going over the line at a poorly 6200 rpm but still made 158mph in the ole heavy weight. We will also be fitting our new ‘sticky’ compound Hoosiers to vastly improve our currently ‘lazy’ 60ft times.

We have got a few more updates in the pipeline but will tell all later. We are really looking forward to the 2012 season and hoping the Topspeed all steal ‘69 Camaro can pick up some more power & go further into the 8s.

We @ Topspeed Automotive wish all our customers, racers & fans a safe and successful 2012 racing season.’

10th November 2011

2011 Street Eliminator championship DVD ‘Hardcore Street’ is NOW AVAILABLE.  Visit www.quartermilehigh.com for secure online ordering, and to view a trailer.

8th November 2011

Street Eliminator Title Sponsors Topspeed Automotive have just launched a great-look new Website.  Check it out at

www.topspeedparts.co.uk

12th October 2011

After completing his rookie year in the class, Gerry Treit dropped us a line with his thoughts and reflections.... -

‘An awesome year in Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, and a brave challenge considering not one of us had done anything drag racing previously, bar years of spectating - blind leading the blind you could say. The learning curve is a steep climb, but we are getting there......or at least somewhere. Trying to make sense of the data logger's squiggley lines was a particular joy!

After nearly a full season of just trying to dial in the car - our last event was the Euro's, our very last run was also a pb and only our second ever run on the gas. A 9.56@143 was netted with only a small sniff , and it certainly woke up the beastie - we were delighted, and now looking promising for much more to come.

I would just like to say a huge thanks to my Tartan Drag'in Racing Team crew in what was a very rookie season for us all in the ups and downs of trials and tribulations, but all in good jest while doing so.
You learn pretty quickly that it's not really about hauling yourself down the 1320 in that lump of metal, plastic and rubber, it's all about the people that rally round you to help make it happen, the gems of people you meet, and all together enjoying the common goal. What better place could you gather such fond memories, funny stories and genuine camaraderie.
How could I ever forget the sight of Steve (Wilson) rugby tackling the detached trailer wheel as it careered down the M6 hard shoulder on it's own. The same dear fellow who's Dad sadly died on the way down to the Euro's, albeit not unexpectedly, but Steve continued his support regardlessly.
What about a huffing and puffing Mark the spark Diamond doing the 100m sprint back to pit camp from the pairing lanes to get my race jacket, and narrowly avoiding a cardiac arrest. :-)
Or the legend that is Gus, panic stricken and crashing through pit camp fire extinguisher in hand to tackle a firey carb burp while I sat in the car looking on.

Hayfever laden Steve2 (Swinton) crying buckets all the way through the SummerNats, but struggled on regardless.
Retired Drag Racer Ken Bowe (now farmer) and gem of a man, coming to our rescue with a barrel of water on a country road on the SE cruise, when I forgot to switch the water pump on and over-heated.

Stories to name but a few, and it's only the first season.

I would also like to say a big thanks to the fellow SE racers/crew and Splinter for their care, support and welcome into the class.
Of course another BIG thanks to our sponsors Ingenico, Randolph Tyres & Exhausts and I only hope it will continue into next year.

Other names along the way I offer thanks for their knowledge, help and support:

Colin Lazenby (truly, size doesn't matter)

Colin Millar (long time good friend and raging lunatic)

Andy Park ( small things go fast too)

Barry A. Lee (Canadian Mopar legend)

Andy Dean (pc whizz kid)

Last, but not least my wife Dina for her continual support over the years with her tolerance of me constantly in the garage, and now still supporting me even in the agony of the 400 mile long journeys down the road to the Pod, along with her 'favourite' part....the camping!

Without you all I could never have fulfilled the dream.

As for now - the beastie returns to the cave.
Till next year.....

Gerry Treit’

11^th October, 2011

Following the successful visit to Prescott Hill Climb’s October Classic the FB Racing post-season “tour” continued last weekend with a visit to the Brewery Centre in Cheltenham. The ’34 was there as the representative of the drag racing section of Cheltenham Motor Club for the club’s annual display. The change of location (previous events had been held in the town’s Promenade) causing a change of name, previously known as “Pistons in the Prom” it’s now “Pistons in the Brewery”. And, yes, the new name opened a lot of innuendo doors!

“The event was a great success and following along from the previous weekend at Prescott allowed me to spread the word about drag racing in general and Street Eliminator in particular. It was great to be able to chat to members of the public and remind them that there is a drag strip just 25 miles up the road! (Shakey). With Cheltenham’s only cinema being part of the complex we had a lot of public walking through and every time I fired the car up I managed to draw a sizeable crowd!”

That’s the last of our outings for this year and, after a short break (we all need a holiday at some point!) the car will be stripped and freshened ready for 2012. Hopefully we’ll also be adding some upgrades as next year’s competition looks like being even tougher – but then I guess that’s always the case with SE!

Ian Hook

FB Racing

CONGRATULATIONS TO 2011 TOPSPEED AUTOMOTIVE STREET ELIMINATOR CHAMPION BRIAN PAYNE

2nd October 2011

Check out RPM magazine’s FB page to keep up to date with news snippets, gossip and forthcoming race events.

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www.facebook.com/pages/RPM-Magazine/90169978165

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1st October 2011

Round 4 and Round 5 race reports now posted, along with points for Round 7.

28th September 2011

More news from Ian Hook at ‘FB Towers’ -

Despite the small field for the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator championships final round, last weekend’s National Finals at Santa Pod was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding SE meets we have taken part in. We arrived at the track with a very small lead over Alex McIntosh with whom we have been battling for the championship runner up spot, Brian Payne having secured the title at the European Finals.

Any hopes we had that the new track surface may have “bedded in” were dashed when we smoked the tyres to a 9.46 in the first of our three qualifying sessions. To make matters worse, Alex stormed to an 8.31 for provisional pole – damn those big sticky Hoosiers!! However, our 164mph terminal showed that the extra 100 or so horsepower Brain (Martin Kerr) had squeezed from our single shot system was paying dividends.

With Alex not able to better his Q1 time we took power out(!) and got closer in the second session with an 8.69 and then removed even more to get very close (but no cigar!) with our final run of 8.40. Alex had taken pole and closed the points gap to zero! All to play for on race day.

Sadly we lost Alan Williamson and his heavy Ch*vy on Saturday (broken third member) so just four SE cars lined up for the first round of eliminations with only Brian Payne (in his substitute car – a really cool 10-second Zephyr sleeper) and ourselves having to race. With a semi-final bye our reward for getting through round one we made only a minor tweak and progressed with an 8.36.

For the semi-final we took note of the golden rule to make only “one change at a time”. We took note of it then tore the note up and burnt it!! Changes were made to the 4-link, shock settings, timing curve, nitrous delay and nitrous delivery curve. And just to cap it off we bolted on a rear anti-roll bar! The last time we’d tried an ARB the car had made a bee line for the rear of the signing on office but we believed the new chassis would allow us to make much better use of it now. And we were right. The launch was almost text book, the ’34 coming off the line much flatter, driving straight and hooking well. The only fly in the ointment was a loss of power right at the top end when all the N2O system solenoids shut down. Despite this we ran a stout 8.23 to give us lane choice against Alex who had got past Bill MacDermid with an 8.69.

So to the final – runner up and third place in the 2011 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator championship were to be decided by the last race of the last meeting of the season and I decided we’d taken enough chances so made no further changes! After the burnout we both pulled up to the line, Alex going in first followed by myself after a quick purge. I was surprised how calm I felt at this point as the nerves had been jangling all day but I was out first, my cautious .05 light enough to get me half a tenth ahead from the off. I knew I had the lead but suddenly the engine started to falter, power seeming to rise and fall. I looked to my left expecting Alex to flash past but he was still out of sight (the ’34 having a major rear ¾ blind spot!). The problem got worse, yet I continued to build a lead to the 1000 foot mark where Alex reeled me in a little but not enough to prevent me crossing the line first, my 8.82 to his 8.90 giving me a win margin of 0.13 seconds. As I hit the brakes Alex passed me with worrying smoke streaming from under the Mustang. Back in the pits he was there to shake my hand as I got out of the car. He explained that he’d been fighting a trans problem all weekend and that the final had been the last straw. I was relieved for him that it was nothing more serious whilst my problem seems to be no more than a recalcitrant N2O solenoid that decided to have a hissy fit at exactly the wrong time!

But I was as pleased as punch for myself and the team that, despite missing round 1, we’d netted the runner up spot – something we’d never done before in SE – after an exciting race. Five consecutive final appearances with two of those converted to event wins made 2011 our best ever season in terms of results.

As in most cases, there is always so much more that goes into getting a car like the ’34 down the track than can be seen on the surface - good people being the major ingredient. The first of these are my crew, the stalwarts of Brain, Oily Poily, Fester, Squeak and Spud along with Flash, Wires, Dole Monkey, Josh and Stinkin’ Student have shown great generosity with time, spirit, cash and, most importantly, humour which often keeps me going when it gets a bit tough!

Also, of course, a huge thanks as always to our sponsors. Rob Hands & Roy Palmer of RS Auto Services have backed us for a long time and, despite the current economic climate, have increased that support in recent years – on top of that they usually win the award for the loudest table at our annual curry night!!

I first made contact with Graham Smith of Serck Services Motorsport when the company supplied our aluminium radiator back in 2002 - it’s still doing sterling service on board the ’34! We welcomed the company as joint principal sponsors in 2010, were delighted that they continued their support in 2011, and are very pleased that Graham, always one of our most enthusiastic fans has pledged to continue our association in 2012.

Thanks go to Jon Webster for his support, not just in terms of the supply of PowerPour (which I’m convinced saved our engine when our fuel pump failed) but also for the generous way he has shared knowledge, both with set up tips at the track and help with the design of our re-born chassis. Definitely one of the good guys!

A key tool to our performance on the less grippy tracks we seem to have encountered this year has been our Max Extreme controller coupled with Pulsoids from Trevor Langfield’s Wizards of Nos. Trevor is another enthusiastic fan and a keen watcher of Eurodragter’s live coverage, often texting his comments on the previous run before I’ve even picked up the timing ticket!

Keeping it local are The Everest Balti Restaurant and my employers, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty. The Everest ensure that the Fat Boys remain well fed even between meetings and also play hosts to our annual Curry Night (10^th Anniversary in 2012 – don’t miss it!). A huge thanks to Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, as well as making the world’s best landing gear they also ensure my mortgage gets paid!

And last but not least are the FB Associates. My faithful band of “mini” sponsors who share in our trials and tribulations both on and off track. Thanks to you all, I hope we made you proud!

More news very soon from FB Towers.

18th September 2011

Winner of the prestigious FIA Euro Finals, Alex McIntosh -

‘Team Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour arrived at the Euro Finals with a plan. We decided to use the tune that worked so well at Bug Jam as our starting point.

Day 1 was Sportsman day and 4 qualifiers. The Bug Jam tune worked straight of the trailer, the tyres turning slightly off the line but not enough to have to pedal. Shelby Webster was in charge of videoing the runs, the information gained from the video and the data logger allowed her father Jon to tune the car between runs. We ended the day number one qualifier.

Day 2 and Jon Webster was crewing for Andy Frost in Pro Mod so James Jarvis stepped up to crew chief. James has helped all season, he obviously knows his stuff as after Q5 he made a rear shock damping change and the cars 60’ improved. We ended day 2 number 2 qualifier behind Brian Payne.

Day 3’s qualifiers were canceled leaving just the cruise which all the cars completed with out any problems.

Day 4, Eliminations. With the Pro classes finished Jon Webster was back as crew chief and Gerry Trait was our 1^st round opponent. Gerry has been trying to run a 9 on the motor all season and being his last meeting of the year he had decided to turn the nitrous system on. This resulted in a 9.5 NPB for Gerry but we went quicker again with a an 8.2, this gave us lane choice against Richard Billings and the 180mph twin turbo Mustang. My reaction times had been good all weekend which may have Richard try a bit too hard resulting in him red lighting. We were rewarded with a bye in the semi. Sitting behind Ian Hook and Brian Payne I had the best seat in the house to watch a real close race. Ian beating Brian on reaction time, Ian’s 8.28 beating Brian’s quicker 8.27. We went for lane choice and matched Brian’s 8.27.

By this point there was no pressure, we had achieved far more than I could of dreamt of. With Ian Hook and I sitting in the pairing lanes waiting to run the Final Jon went to look at the track and chose a lane. Jon came back telling me “right lane and I might need you to do a rolling burnout”. As I entered the water box time seamed to slow down. Ian Marshal waved us forward and Jon signaled he wanted a rolling burnout. The burnout went perfect, I backed up, James pulled the chute pin and Jon lined me up in my own tyre tracks. With it getting dark I knew I had to be careful on the lights. For once I beat Ian on reaction, a bit to good for my liking with a .005. The rest of the run was text book resulting in my best ET and MPH of the weekend.

Team Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour had one the Final.

Thanks to my crew, the Websters and James for all their help this season. I’d also like to thank all the Santa Pod staff for a great weekend.

National Finals next, can’t wait.

Alex’

16th September 2011

Points from Round 6, the FIA Euro Finals now posted. Click here to view them.

1st September 2011

Dear All

I hope you all enjoyed the annual Street Eliminator BBQ last weekend and the racing was not hampered too much by the weather.

Our next annual function is creeping up fast so as I am busy trying to organise I do need quick replies from you guys out there so that I can be confident we will obtain the numbers we need to make the function worthwhile.

Brandon Hall which is situated just outside Coventry.
Brandon Hall Hotel can be found by visiting http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-6625-mercure-brandon-hall-hotel-and-spa-coventry/index.shtml

Now this year we've sensibly committed to a slightly smaller function for the awards evening - this will possibly prove to be a master stroke given the state of the economy/recession. Nonetheless we still need the members, and their family's support to help the class to fill the function room to capacity - numbers between 70-100 persons should just about do it. We managed 111 in 2007 and 102 in 2008 and 94 in 2009  and 84 in 2010 so let's see if we can get over 100 for this year.

We've negotiated a concessionary room rate for anyone wishing to stay.
When booking rooms just be sure to quote 'Street Eliminator' in the conversation.
The rate should be £69.00 per room B&B, The same as the last two year.

I will be sending you an email regarding the menu, this week.

The meal price has also been honoured at £32.00pp (£8.00 for children)

If you can get your numbers and cheques off to me that would be great as I must pay in FULL BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER.

Please can you circulate to all crew and interested parties

If you would like to pay direct into the SE account please drop me an email and I will provide account details

Full contact details for the hotel are immediately below. IF you do get into any difficulties, ask for Natasha at Conference and Events.

Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel & Spa
Meetings & Events Sales Office
Main Street
Brandon
Warwickshire
CV8 3FW

Tel: +442476546000
Fax: +442476546058
Email: h6625-sb1@accor.com

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Kind Regards

Ann-Marie

1st September 2011

Points after Round 5 now posted

15th August 2011

Message from FB Racing -

‘It’s been all go in the FB Racing camp since we issued an appeal for help with the loan of a fuel pump. Firstly I must say a massive thank you to all those in Eurodragsterland who offered us the loan of a fuel pump so we could safely run at Shakespeare County’s Open Sport Nationals over the August Bank Holiday. We had so many offers I won’t list them (as I’m bound to miss someone out) but I must single out Neville Mottershead who contacted me soon after the appeal went out and was even happy to get the pump delivered to us! It just goes to show that whilst some communities are tearing themselves apart the camaraderie and generosity amongst drag racers remains second to none.

As it turned out we didn’t have to take up any of the offers as our new pump turned up in plenty of time thanks to some superb service from Jegs, Surprisingly this is the first time I have used the company and I must say it has been a very pleasant experience (apart from paying the bill of course!!). They kept me informed of the status of my order every step of the way including updates on postage costs and delivery and the parts arrived very quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

As soon as the pump was here FB crew men Martin (Brain) and Paul set to and the ’34 now has a new pump and regulator fitted, wired and plumbed. Now we have no excuse not to go quick and are looking forward to trying out our new-found horsepower at Shakey in two weeks time.

Once again, thanks to all those who offered pumps and to Eurodragster & Street Eliminator for publishing our appeal.

Ian Hook’

1st August 2011

Round 3 Race Report now posted

29th July, 2011

Last year’s champion Ian Hook has been in touch with a summary of his, and the rest of the ‘Fat Boys’ at FB Racing’s season thus far....

‘My apologies for not keeping everyone posted about the goings on at FB Towers this year but a whole bunch of off-track stuff has caused me to take my eye off the ball. However, I’m now back on the case and here is our mid term report – perhaps “tries hard but could do better” sums it up!!

Despite missing round one of the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship 2011 is proving to be another good year for FB Racing. Even before the season kicked off we had the great news that both of our prime sponsors were renewing their support for this year and I’d like to say a huge thank you to Rob and Roy of RS Auto Services and to Graham Smith of Serck Services Motorsport. I’m not overstating the situation when I say that without the help of these guys we would not have been competing this year. And they are not alone, completing the roster of support for the 2011 series are associate sponsors the famous Everest Balti Restaurant, Webster Race Engineering via Power Pour, our wonderful FB Associates and Messier-Bugatti-Dowty,  We also have help on the nitrous front from Trevor Langfield at Wizards of NOS and with the transmission from Andy Frost at Penn Autos. Sadly the financial situation has meant that we say good bye to Sanco Badsey Spar and, our longest serving sponsor, A&E Fire Equipment. We’d like to especially thank the latter (in particular Roy Amphlett) for their fantastic support over the years and hope that we may be able to renew our association at some time in the future.

Those that have followed our season to date will be aware that the extensive winter chassis rebuild that caused us to miss round one of the SE Championship was worthwhile as the car now runs very straight and is far more predictable. And, whilst performance has not been stunning, we bagged our first number one qualifier slot in over four years and took the win at the Summer Nationals. However, we have been unable to get anywhere near the 7.80 we ran back in 2009 with a quickest pass to date of 8.08.

We arrived at Bug Jam knowing we had to strip the trans out to replace gaskets in the ‘Glide and the stator support in the converter. However, once the converter was pulled apart it was obvious it needed some expert attention so crew members Spud and Brain made the trip to Wolverhampton on Friday for Andy Frost to take a look. Some new parts, some fettling & modding all topped off with a re-shim and the converter was once again ready for action. We have to say a big thanks to Frosty for his work and technical expertise, plus dropping everything on a Friday morning to work his magic for us. With the converter back in one piece the lads returned to the Pod and by Friday night it was all back together.

We didn’t want to run on the RWYB track as results can be misleading so waited until the race meeting proper began before making our first pass. An 8.49 put us in P2 but we were surprised when analysis of the data from our first qualifying pass revealed that we were suffering from very low fuel pressure – how we hadn’t melted anything was a mystery although it probably helped that we always run with Power Pour in the tank! It all pointed to pump issues. We had already been looking to upgrade the fuel system and in preparation had moved the battery and installed a pump for the nitrous system (up till now we had used just one pump). Martin (Brain) checked through what fittings we had and that, plus the generous offers of parts from other SE racers, was enough for him to decide to try and commission it at the track. A long job was made tougher as he and the crew had to wait whilst the car featured in an SE photoshoot on the track! But they worked through the night and at 2am Sunday morning we had a working dual pump system. The carb pump was still iffy but we reckoned it would hold up for a while at least.

Now with a richer mixture the car performed a lot better and Sunday morning’s Q4 pass produced an 8.13 and improved to an 8.09 in Q5 which got us back from P4 to secure P2 on the ladder. But the ETs still weren’t what we hoped for so investigations continued along with some experimentation. A popped connector that switched off the nitrous system but left in all the ignition retards almost cost us dear in round 2 where we narrowly got past Bill MacDermid 9.4 to 9.6. Further adjustments and disconnection of some electronics Brain deemed as “dodgy” finally got us where we hoped to be as in R2 (a bye for us) the ’34 climbed skywards with power aplenty. I had to come out of it to get the front back down yet we still went 8.60. The next round, the semi-final against Davey Murdoch, was a thriller. On a rapidly overheating and deteriorating track I won through with a tyre-spinning 8.44 against the Willys’ arrow-straight 8.43 thanks only to a quicker RT. In the final we took a chance and chose the LH lane putting championship leader Brian Payne in the right. It didn’t work as the ’34 spun the tyres and had a bit of a tank slapper moment causing me to back off mid-track although none of that mattered as I’d gone 4/1000 early anyway! Jeanette Webster didn’t have any cherry bakewells for me on this occasion but has promised me the recipe!!

We were very please with the result of the weekend as runner up at any SE meet these days is a real achievement and we had two very exciting and close races. PLUS, we have sorted several issues with the car and strongly believe we can go on from here with a view to getting back in the sevens at the Euros. A new pump is on order but we are concerned that it won’t be here in time for the August Bank Holiday meeting at Shakey. Therefore I’d like to ask if there is anybody out there in Eurodragster land who could lend us, for that meeting only, a BG400 or A2000 fuel pump. I would be very, very grateful if you can help us. We’ll run at the meeting anyway (in the hope that our current pump keeps going!) but I’d feel a lot more relaxed if we had something in the boot we could rely on a little more! If you feel you could help out please drop me a mail by clicking here.

Ian Hook

FB Racing’

5th July

MESSAGE FOR ALL TOPSPEED AUTOMOTIVE TEAMS

The date for this year’s Awards Evening is the 26th November, at the Brandon Hall in Warwickshire

4th July 2011

‘Car & Crew 10, Driver 0

After a successful days testing at the last WRE test day, where track time is plentiful allowing us to gain valuable launch and 60’ data, we took the Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour Mustang to the Summer Nationals with high hopes of getting back to our pre season testing form.

With every qualifying run the car went quicker and responded to the crews tuning. In the first round of eliminations we were paired against Stuart Williams, we had both qualified with near identical E.T with us getting lane choice thanks to the slightly better time. We decided to step up the tune again and were rewarded with the win and a near 5 tenths improvement.

The second round was against Brian Payne, who hadn’t run to his normal form during qualifying. Brian can normally run deep into the sevens, so I knew I had to cut a good light to progress. This is where it all went wrong, I left so early no time or speed was given. Driving back to the pits I thought of excuses or places to hide but the truth is I messed up. On my return I was greeted to a much better reception than expected. The crew down loaded the data logger and informed me it was another improved run, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

Roll on Bug Jam and the next Street Eliminator round.

Thanks to the Websters for all their help and support this season, Dave Rowe from www.epsmotorsport.com, all the Santa Pod staff, Ian Hook and the FB racing team and Splinter for keeping the class organised.

And yes Jeanette, I do like cherry bakewells....

Alex McIntosh’

3rd July 2011

‘HEAVY CHEVY DRAG RACE TEAM 54 PICKUP

Click picture for larger image

Well where do I start, there has been so many highs and even higher lows than you could imagine, since the national finals where the truck melted pistons yet again it has been up for sale, scrapped, parked up, ETC ETC, but finally rebuilt and modified, with a 80% new engine built by Marc Lamude Race Engines, a new race gearbox by Andy Frost @ Penn Autos and a lot of modifications including charge cooler and FAST XFI 2.0. We finally got to the track ready to run at the peak performance day and the Summer National. After running and tuning the truck on the Wednesday before, we spent Friday morning checking all the bolts setting a few things up that we hadn’t had chance to finish and changing oil’s etc, all done with the help of Steve Splinter Nash who with Marc, I just can not thank these 2 guys enough has they have gone far and  beyond the call of duty to help me and the team getting back to the track, especially Splinter, has he was the one responsible for sending me down this route in the first place and introducing me to some great guys, and the after sales support you get from Marc Lamude Race Engines is 1st class, the same also applies to Andy at Penn Autos who also took time out to make sure the gearbox and converter was all fitted as should be.

Well with everything checked and checked again our 1st run was always going to be a launch and 60ft, 2nd run was to half track and back to the pits to check things over, all was good with a very safe tune, with an oil down which resulted in a 1-1/2hr delay time had run out for further runs, so to Saturday and our 1^st qualifier,  the plan was to leave the tune alone and just keep our eye on it, the important thing was to get data, with a previous best of 10.4@133mph with the old set up we ran a very encouraging 10.7@127, 2ndQ was a 10.4@135 just a fraction from a PB but beating our previous best terminal, 3rd Q was a PB 10.07@136, 4th Q the truck bogged badly on launch and ended up being a 11.16@136, with the racing over for the day and with us qualifying in a very respectable 7th position on the track our attention was now concentrating on completing the cruise and to qualify for the racing on Sunday, with no dramas the cruise was completed and a good night had by the crew .

On Sunday we were always going to be paired against one of the real quick guys and you don’t get much quicker than Brian Payne in his immaculate Mustang, with us here to be just testing it didn’t really matter who we were up against, again just concentrating on our own performance, the run against Brian felt good and another PB 10.01@138.

So with our weekend over it turned out to be better than I could have imagined, with our only plan to get from A to B with out any issues but to then achieve a couple of PB,s was something we had not even considered, the best way for me to sum all this up is every meeting we got to last year we broke, and getting back on Sunday night I actually drove the truck back in to the workshop, its been a long time since I have done that RESULT

I have to give massive thanks to Wife June, Iain, Todd, Kristian, Splinter, Marc, Terry, John(porky), Andy, Dave, Baz, Wacky, Billy & Vinnie of class sponsor Topspeed Automotive, and all involved in Street Eliminator, without all these family and friends I would probably be fishing now.

Alan Williamson

Dr Flock - Class Sponsor’

27th June 2011

Round 3 Points now posted....Click here to see them.

21st June 2011

Round 2 Race Report now posted.  Click here to read.

8th June 2011

Rubbing shoulders with the stars at the FIA Main Event....

‘Being pitted at the end of the track has its advantages, you’re near scruteneering and the timing ticket booth for example. But the best thing is seeing all the racers return happy after a good run.

Whilst waiting to be called for my next qualifier Tommy Johnson jr and his crew towed passed returning from their first half of a European ET and MPH record lap. I gave them the thumbs up sign of approval and was surprised when Tommy pointed to the Webster Race Engineering / Power Pour Mustang and asked if it was my car. “Nice car, I’ll be back later” he commented from inside the Top fuel dragster.

Thinking he was just being friendly and making small talk I sat back down waiting for my turn to run. Less than an hour later, camera in hand, Tommy returned. He took a few photos and chatted to us for a while. It was really motivating that a Racer of his high level had the time to stop by my pit and show such interest in my racing. Looking forward to the next Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator round at the Summer Nationals.

Alex Mcintosh’

7th June 2011

Round 1 Race Report now posted.  Click here to read.

2nd June 2011

Message from the Chairman -

‘Round 2 of the 2011 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator was held in front of the usual huge crowds at the FIA Main Event over the holiday weekend at Santa Pod. After 2 days of qualifying, packed full of personal bests, day three saw the first round of eliminations in the cool evening air. The scene was set for some real exciting eliminations, but after avoiding the rain all weekend, rain settled in on race day itself meaning that the event was called.

I am looking forward to the next round, which is the SPRC Summer Nationals at Santa Pod in just a few short weeks time.

Splinter’

1st June 2011

Click Here for points after Round 2, the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway

23rd May 2011

Topspeed Street Eliminator is very pleased to welcome DOCTOR FLOCK to its list of Sponsors.  Here’s a little more info on them -

DOCTOR FLOCK

AUTOMOTIVE FLOCKING SPECIALIST

Automobiles and other Vehicles

Flock is used extensively in car other vehicle interiors. It is used to provide decorative finishes in new cars on glove and coin  boxes, head linings, door trim and various other parts. It is also used on the window rubbers to provide a non-abrasive running surface that does not freeze to the windows in the winter. Rally cars, Race cars and Custom cars frequently have dashboards, door cards and other parts flocked. If you think it can be flocked it probably can....

Click here to Email

Or speak to Alan aka Dr Flock on

Mobile: - 07860370171

18th May 2011

** TOPSPEED AUTOMOTIVE PRESS RELEASE  **

Topspeed Automotive Ltd are pleased to announce their appointment as an approved Hoosier Tire agent

We have an exclusive batch of ‘Hoosier Quick Time DOT’ tyres (Street Eliminator approved!) which are compliant with the new European legislation regarding tyre production methods.

These tyres have been specifically manufactured by Hoosier for the UK market to counter new European laws regarding tyres made with ‘dirty oil’.

Immediately available are the common sizes 31x18.5x15 @ £233.00 ea and 33x22.5x15 @ £285.00 each. All plus VAT & delivery. Pre orders of these tyres can be fulfilled at the Main Event.

Other tyre sizes will be available over the coming months alongside Hoosier slicks, front tyres & front runners etc.

Topspeed are excited at this new opportunity and are looking forward to successful relationship with Hoosier and all of the race teams through this and the coming seasons.

All enquires to Bill or Vinnie on 01932 341700 or email info@topspeedparts.co.uk

18th May 2011

We heard from Street Eliminator racer Mark Todd some time ago about the build of his exciting new GTO. Here’s the latest....

‘Project GTO, Where’s it up to and when is it out?

(Click on the pictures for a larger version)

Tempted fate comes to mind when I think of our last update. Having moulded the body from its original steel shell you'd think it'd be plain sailing. Think again!

But what could possibly go wrong...?

How about an ill fitting boot lid, bumpers, front end, rear lights and cill trims.

How come?

We're guessing that when the original body had its floor pan removed in the early 90's the body effectively sprang.

A fully welded car body has inherent stresses, by cutting a floor out these stresses are released in the form of physical movement In our case the cills had sprung inwards by about 1"

This caused the rear panel (forms the bottom edge of the rear screen) to bow upwards slightly hence: the boot lid literally rocked on the body and the front end towed out.

It might only be 1/2" here and there but for myself and Webster Race Engineering it is all about maintaining high standards throughout.

Solution?

A lot of time and effort to cut adjust and re-bond all effected items.

Was it worth it?

I think so but we'll have to wait for paint to know for sure.

So where are we at?

Well engine, gearbox and dash are in. Rear spoiler, original chrome bumpers and parachutes are fitted. Rear centre section, trans cooler, wipers and exhaust outlets all fitted

Moving on to the really tricky stuff - original lights, bezels and opening quarter windows along with hard coat lexan main windows are fitted. Doors are hung.

What next?

I shall be powder coating the chassis and tinwork myself, whilst the body and dash shall be flocked by Al Williamson. Paint will be handled by Andy Przyby, colour T.B.C.

The engine will be dyno tested in naturally aspirated form by Kenny Coleman of EDA to check for oil pressure and fluid leaks.

The overall build has been fantastic.  Jon has delivered with every detail, either living up to or exceeding my expectation. Overall the car has in no way deviated from the original plan, with good communication throughout Jon and team have interpreted my requirements exactly and I look forward to testing.

When?

I’m not tempting fate again so watch this space :)

I must thank my wife and family for there continual support, Jon and team at Webster Race Engineering for there outstanding work, Dale at DRE racecar composites, Andy Frost of Penn Autos, Kenny at EDA, Andy Mapes and anyone else who has helped thus far including friends whether it be helpful support or just plain banter.

Regards,

Mark Todd’

5th May 2011

New team for the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator for 2011 is the Tartan Dragin Team. Here’s how driver Gerry Treit found his first competitive event -

I would just like to say a huge thanks from the Tartan Dragin team for the warm support and friendliness experienced from the SE camp in what was our first time out.

I also have to say a huge thanks to Colin Millar for not only the help of his good self and his crew chief Andy Park, but the use of his rig/camp/trailer which he uses for his own Outlaw Anglia car - he lives only about 4 miles away from me up in bonny Fife.

Myself - a new driver, my green crew chief Steve Wilson and a new out car, certainly made for interesting times and like the prior test day - the TBall served us plenty lessons to point us in the true direction i.e. the traps!

(Click on the picture for a larger version)

Everyone was kept busy with blown header gaskets, a mysterious water and fuel leak which they only liked leaking on the start line - this earned me a new nick name of 'the catch can kid', but we got there, and a little bit of trouble keeps you on your toes and makes the final results feel all the better. I was first round elimination fodder to Alex's rocket ship, but it was a pleasure just being there, participating, and doing my last run on a pb after we all came together well on the startline and best of all I came home with a fully functioning car.

Till the next time!!! :-)

27th April 2011

Round 1 of the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship took place in front of huge crowds, baking under 80 degree heat for 4 full days of action. Click here to see the points standings after this, the season opener, the Easter Thunderball

14th March 2011

NEW STREET ELIMINATOR FORUM....Click the forum button next to the banner at the top of the page to have a look....

ALSO, STREET ELIMINATOR JOINS FACEBOOK....Click the Facebook button next to the banner at the top of the page to join....

4th March 2011

Topspeed Automotive Ltd are delighted to have signed as main title sponsors of the ‘World’s fastest real street cars’ namely the 2011 Street Eliminator Series.

This year may well see the 1st street legal cars reach the magic 200mph pass and should this happen Topspeed are offering 200mph limited edition 200mph jackets to the 1^st 3 drivers.

We look forward to working more closely with the drivers & teams to push our class to the next level.

Bill, Vin & Scott wish everyone a safe & successful 2011.

3rd February 2011

Goings on at Insane Towers -

‘For those of you that follow us and the class, you can’t help but notice that our season wasn’t exactly straight forward. We had a major rebuild throughout the winter to have the chassis tagged to 7.5 seconds. While we were doing this, a beautiful paint job was carried out by VRC (07737 391106). It’s Candy Brandy Wine over heavy Silver with real fire flames.

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

What fallowed you just couldn’t script. We had a complete season of destruction. We ended with 4 broken gearboxes, 1 damaged diff and 2 engines.  A massive plus must be running 2, 8 second quarters on consecutive runs.

August Bank Holiday saw a major engine failure (melted pistons and damaged block) and the end of our season.

After many phone call and emails to Dave Powell at Performance Unlimited. The long process was started on the rebuild. I have taken the route of going for Ford A460 motorsport block. I opted for 4.5” bore which meant boring a brand new block 8 times then we had the block decked by 60 thou.

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

The heads were also damaged so had to be welded and the seats re-cut on 2 cylinders. The engine finally went together 2nd week in January, and on the dyno 28 January at Pete Knight’s (Knight Racing Services). I came away a very happy man with an engine producing 843 BHP @ 6600 RPM and 729 lb torque @ 5800 without nitrous or any additives.

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

A whole 5 months later the engine is back in and ready to go. At the moment we are still waiting for our new nitrous system.

A big thank you must go to my crew and sponsors -

Graham and Max Powell (Southern Tyres and Batteries)

Trevor Langfield (Wizard of Nos, nitrous systems)

Phill Stokes (VRC, Vehicle Repair Centre)

Big Ron Haslett, Insane Creations’

 www.insanecreations.net

2nd February 2011

With the start of the 2011 season fast approaching, Mark Todd brings us up-to-date with his exciting new project....

‘Goodbye Firebird  :(     hello GTO   :)

The story so far...

As many of you are aware I achieved my goal of running 8 seconds in my 3800lb full steel 1969 Firebird at the euro finals.   What people probably weren't aware of is that this was also my last chance to achieve this personal goal as I had decided that this would be my final outing in the firebird.  

For me it was closure.  The firebird had been a great platform each year steadily improving from 12.8 seconds in 2004 to the 8.81 seconds in 2010. The decision to build a new car was taken back in 2009 and as the firebird is a genuine muscle car and rare at that, there was no way I was cutting it up.

So what car?  For me it had to be an A body and there was only one....A 1965 Pontiac GTO.

This all new car is currently being built at Jon Websters, It features a composite body and chromoly 25.2 chassis. Up front is a FAST XFI fuel injected twin turbo dry sump all aluminium big block Chevy, fuel is handled via twin injectors per cylinder and fed via a Waterman mechanical pump, exhaust gases exit the rear quarters via a twin 6.5" x 3.5" oval system.   Ignition is FAST XIM coil on plug.  

The car is supported on all 4 corners by strange with modified GT struts up front and double adjustable rears. Wheels are American racing torque thrust pro billet and power is handled by a Andy Frost Reid cased powerglide, Neil Chance bolt together converter and Strange aluminium 9" rear end.  The rear tubs can accommodate any tyre choice, oh and it has a tow bar!

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

As for the engine build, well that’s down to me. My theory is that if you've built it you can fix it. As can be seen from the pictures, component assembly is well under way and the new block should be here soon.

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

Where’s it up to and when is it out?

Well all the parts are in, the engine will be assembled over the next 2 weeks and the car should be ready for paint by March so Easter Thunderball? Probably NOT but you never know!   

So where is the Firebird and what has the future got to hold for it?

Well it’s good news.  It was purchased in December by Eric Humphreys, Eric has been around drag racing for many years previously owning and driving the Rampage funny car.  In recent years Eric has been crewing on a methanol burning turbo bike.   Eric's attention returned to 4 wheels and the Firebird fitted the bill.   With his knowledge of turbos and the tuning expertise to run on methanol this should be one to look out for.   For Eric the plan doesn't stop there, not only did he buy the Firebird but he also bought a 2nd full tube chassis 1965 GTO, this GTO is a sister car to my GTO featuring the same body but with a 25.4 chassis, watch out super pro et as this car will be receiving a certain 1500hp transplant from the firebird.  

What’s that, 2 twin turbo GTOs I'm certainly looking forward to this race!

Look forward to seeing you all at the start of the new season.

Mark Todd’

30th January 2011

Click Here for 2011 Race Calendar

4th January 2011

Click Here for 2010 Awards Evening photos

30th December 2010

Click Here for 2010 Hardcore Street DVD trailer

22nd November 2010

** TOPSPEED AUTOMOTIVE STREET ELIMINATOR 2010 DVD NOW AVAILABLE   **

**   ‘HARDCORE STREET’ 2010 on DVD    **

FROM CLASS SPONSOR ZEON TV AT WWW.QUARTERMILEHIGH.COM

Click on the picture above for secure online ordering, and to watch the DVD trailer....

1st October 2010

The final championship points are now posted after Round 8, the National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.  Click here to view them.

Congratulations to the 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator champion Ian Hook and FB Racing.

1st October 2010

After a weekend to remember for all the right reasons at the FIA Euro Finals, Colin Lazenby got in touch with an account of Team 56’s weekend -

‘With the team able to attend only 2 (of 8) events this year you can well imagine our elation at having achieved so much without really having the means to do so.

An internal electronic fault with the nitrous controller came back to haunt us at this weekend’s European Finals, meaning that we were forced to run with only 1 nitrous system (instead of 2) and in truth we shouldn’t have being able to manage anything quicker than a low 8/high 7 second run - having said that in drag racing terms the form book can often count for little, and often it can count for nothing.

Take a look at the two images attached. The first is from the first 7 of the weekend, immediately before lighting up the full stage bulb. The second displays the record setting number (the previous claim to the world’s quickest street legal car running on regular super unleaded has been beaten by 2 hundredths of a second and backed up by the 1% margin for a faster, or slower time, at that event). Anyhow, enough of that. Records are surprisingly difficult to secure achieve and it’s fair to say that the window of opportunity for any success on any record setting runs, be that speed or ET is miniscule and consistency with the numbers, on the day, is everything.

Thursday:-

Qualifying run number one, 8.5035 sec’s @ 176.43 mph

Q2, 8.3720 @ 173.74 mph.

Friday:-

No runs.

Saturday:-

Q3, 8.2671 @ 182.16 mph

Q4, 7.8486 @ 183.62 mph – this run was made at quart past eight in the dark.

Sunday, Race day:-

1^st round, 7.720 @ 183.56 mph

Quarter Finals, 7.6627 @ 185.08 mph – the previous 7.72 would have backed this number up as a new world record for a street legal ‘pump gas’ car.

Semi Finals, 7.6522 @ 184.32 mph – the previous 7.76 backs up this run - this is the new world record

Finals, 7.9465 @ 182.81 mph.

For the increments; the best 60ft time of the weekend was 1.26 sec’s (the previous best ever was a 1.28). The best eighth mile time was 4.99 seconds (at a whopping 147.72 mile per hour). And don’t forget, we always run the Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pro’s, and we’d already claimed the world record run on these tyres when we ran our 7.708 at last year’s Euro Finals. Mickey Thompson (USA) Copper/Avon (in the UK) and Lee Child at LA Racing Parts will be delighted - I guess.

Our achievement can easily be attributed to a combination of great things; our Andy Robinson Race Cars built 1956 Chevrolet 210 Sedan.

Our 1565 hp Sonny’s ‘big block’ motor – thanks to Sonny & Francis Leonard, David, Tom & Kelly for assembling the most powerful pump gas motor they’ve ever dyno’d.

Our bullet proof Rossler 210, 3 speed transmission, and it’s thanks to Carl & Marge Rossler for ALL the support they’ve afforded us over the 6 years (with only 1 freshen). This truly is the best engineered transmission available anywhere on the PLANET, I would recommend a Rossler trans, 2 or 3 speed, to anyone looking to upgrade.

To Clive Bond of Ultimate Race Cars, one of the most knowledgeable guys there is in drag racing today, and we’ve been fortunate enough to work with Clive over our last two power-plants.

Thanks also must go out to TORCO (Oils and Lubricants) and especially to all round great guy Steve Clark for supporting the team’s efforts with the full range of Nimbus Motorsport products, especially TORCO’s octane booster and of course our all new, all billet System 1 oil filter.

And of course to our hard working crew (and extended family). Ace Crew Chief Garry Coull, ‘our kid’ Brian Lazenby, team boss Ann-Marie Lazenby, newly promoted Jacquie Burbidge, Richard Lazenby & Claire. And for that special Euro’s weekend the other attending Lazenby’s (and there are many) recently hitched Joe & Becky. Mick (Becky’s dad). To radiant daughter Charlotte (and kids). To my biggest supporter (and often my greatest critic) youngest son Bradley. And as always, our team thanks go out to world class photographer Matt Woods along with honorary team member Kathy Taylor.

Guys, last weekend has just got to rank as one of the most successful weekend’s we’ve EVER HAD with the ‘56’. Matched only with Goodwood FOS in 2002 and our drag race with RAF’s finest, the F3 Tornado. Our general performance over the weekend of the Euro’s, up to and including the result of the final round just about managed to keep me smiling on the inside right up until the point we arrived home at 04:45 hrs last Monday morning, which was just nicely in time for me to get up and go to work some 3 hrs later. I would also like to congratulate to John Sleath with his killer twin turbo Audi for finishing runner up at the Euro Finals, respect.

Rgds, and thanks, Cj

The Iceman did eventually cometh.’

14th September 2010

The points are now posted after Round 7, the FIA Euro Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Click here to view them.

6th September 2010

The points are now posted after Round 6, the Open Sport Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Click here to view them.

NOTE - Points for each individual round are posted below the top table.

5th September 2010

‘I would like to say a big thank you to the drivers and their crews from Street Eliminator for the presents and card (all signed) that you gave June and myself has we celebrated our wedding anniversary during the Open Sport Nationals at Shaky.

Alan & June Williamson

SE333’

2nd August 2010

Race Report and Video now posted for Round 5, Click Here to view.

28th July 2010

Points for Round 5 are now posted, Click Here, or the Points button on the left hand menu bar to view them.

19th July 2010

Hi Guys. It's your Chairman here.

Sorry it's been so long before I replied and given you an update.  I have been overwhelmed by everyone's good wishes, thoughts and phone calls.  Saying thank you to you all just doesn't seem enough - but here goes.... 

I am now convalescing and have had time to read all the messages left for me over the internet.  Reading all your get well wishes has helped me gain a speedy recovery.   Thank you Guys.

On a real serious note - take it from me guys - don't ignore any signs that something is wrong no matter how small.  Let a GP tell you it's indigestion!  Don't self diagnose.

Fortunate for me my attack happened with first class Paramedics on hand. If it were not for them I may not be here guys...They were fantastic!  Big thanks to them and again to you all in Street Eliminator.

Cheers Guys

See you all soon

Steve ‘Splinter’ Nash

15th July 2010

After our successful destruction of transmission number 3 this year I decided that a full on aftermarket one was needed and after a few calls I was put into contact with Steve Kellet (thanks to John Sleath) who it just so happened had a JW all singing all dancing trannie with the right bell housing for sale, and at the right price.
 

While we were looking at the box on the bench we decided to double check on the diff, it looks like our prop-shaft problems at Easter had risen its ugly head again - the crush washer in the diff had been squashed a little more than it was designed for allowing the diff the opportunity to beat itself to death. As we didn't have too much to do and a long lay off I decided to do some upgrades to the nitrous as well.

A trial fit of the gearbox told us that we also needed a new flex-plate. With the new flex-plate fitted we realised that the converter would also need machining, to give us enough clearance for the end float. With the gearbox fitted (after about the 8th attempt) we were beginning to get very bored of fitting and re-fitting.

We also decided it was time to go for a crank trigger, again it wasn’t a straight forward fit (are they ever) so a good friend of mine took it to work and made it fit.

All done, all good and even with a couple of days to spare:-

Summer Nationals

Run 1 - We left the settings where they were and while it left OK the mid track power was a bit too aggressive on what was a very cold June day and the car drifted towards the wall forcing me to lift, it settled down and ran a 9.6 at 143mph.

Run 2 - The only change I made was to up the initial hit of the line from 20% to 25% and that gave us a 60ft of 1.54 and 1/4 mile time of 9.03 at 151. A NPB but still not that illusive 8

Run 3 - Again upped the launch to 30% off the line, this time a 60ft time of 1.46 and, wait for it, an 8.9 at 153mph. We had done it at last and new bests on the 60 ft, the 1/8 mile, and 1/4 mile.

Into Eliminations - We had Alex Mac, this is a man who’s very good on the tree and he had run faster than us with an 8.7. So we went up a size on the nitrous jets. Back down to a 20% hit on the line. I was a little eager a left a nice big RED on the tree, but I'd done it again we broke all our bests from the previous run ending with an ET of 8.88 and a speed of 154mph.

Back in the pits we found a damaged plug upon further investigation we found a damaged piston. We left with mixed moods, elated at our performance but anxious about the damage. Back at home and with the engine stripped our repair bill is not looking too good. We need the block bored 10 thou, 8 new pistons, a full bearing set, lifters, 2 valves, both heads need welding and possibly a cam

We found the damage to be a blocked fuel leg on the Wizard of NOS Spider system - steps have been taken to make sure it doesn't happen again and as a precaution all the pulsoids have been sent back to Trevor for service (and to make sure they are debris free) before going back on. We are now relying on our brothers across the pond for the parts and fingers crossed we will be back out again soon, looking to pick up on even better performances from the Insane team.

Ron, Insane Creations – and now in the eights.

15^th July, 2010

The FB Racing Street Eliminator ’34 Ford will be helping on display at the Badsey, Evesham Spar tomorrow to celebrate the stores post-refurbishment reopening. The Badsey Spar is one of a group of convenience stores owned by George Sangha who has recently joined the FB Racing roster of associate sponsors.

George was introduced to the world of Street Eliminator and FB Racing in particular by FB crew member Darren “Squeak” Herbert-White and was instantly taken by the performance achieved by the street-legal hot rod. George said “I decided to back Ian and the FB Racing team as I could see that they weren’t afraid of the odds. Despite being a relatively low-buck operation they have made some remarkable achievements over the years in a car that’s completely home-built. Even their superb performance this year (the team have won 3 of the 4 SE meetings in 2010) has been against the odds as their highest qualifying position so far has been 3^rd. And many have seen the way Ian has had to fight the car down the strip at some meetings”.

“We are very pleased to have George on board for 2010 – despite having been unable to attend a meeting yet he follows the racing very closely and I know the Updates we produce help him feel part of the team. We’d like to say a big thank you to him and to all the sponsors who have stuck with us in these difficult times – you make such a difference to what we can achieve – thanks!”

The car will be on display tomorrow (16^th July) from 11 am until 6 in the evening before being whisked back to Cheltenham where the team will continue to prep for round five of this year’s Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator championship at next week’s Bug Jam event.

Ian Hook

FB Racing

6th July 2010

Round 4 Race Report now posted....Click here to view it.

21st June 2010

Points after Round 4, the Summer Nats now posted.  Click here to view.

18th June 2010

2010 Topspeed Automotive SE show rumbles its way back into Northamptonshire and Santa Pod Raceway for round 4 of the 8 event series. With a solid field of 12 entries, a good track and even better weather this event the Summer Nationals, has long since been Santa Pod's best kept secret in the racing calendar. 

FB Racing's Ian Hook maintains a slim lead over Steve Pat*man, and we have Jerry Charles (aka 50 cent) back with his nitrous assisted 706ci F*rd Capri - Jason Weir is also back with his much anticipated 2300 hp Pro Chargered Plymouth Suburban and we also have two newcomers, Alan Williamson, Chevy pick-up truck, and Stuart Williams with his rice burning Toyota Supra, these and all the usual suspects will be looking to repeat or maintain their past performances at round 3, so it's best of luck to Brian Payne and Richard Billings, both of who found form real quick, and for Davie Murdoch, please try to look after that new paint...

Seriously though, the very best of luck to everyone this weekend

Regards,

Ann-Marie & Splinter

7th June 2010

Some of you may already be aware that Street Eliminator Chairman Steve Nash (Splinter) had been attending the Ford weekend at the Pod along with co-Wildcat Cougar owner Mick Franklin and one or two other SE competitors.

Unfortunately Steve was taken ill between rounds and such was his condition that he'll be resident of Bedford Hospital, and then Cambridge Hospital at least for the next several days. 

Steve's as strong as an Rhino, with skin to match, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

If you want to send him a get well message, please send it to us here and we’ll post it -

‘Jo & I have sent a ‘get well’ text to Splinter, just in case he doesn't get it can you pass on our best wishes again.

Oh yes how was the Cougar running?

Jon Hollingworth’

-

‘As you probably know we were there doing the passenger runs. I only spoke to him a hour before hand. Please send him and Elona all our best from me, Sandra and the lads that crew.

Ron Haslett’

-

‘As soon as I heard the news from Big Tom who was at the Pod with Wilf Stacey I called Steve, who by now was resting in a Bedfordshire Hospital, Steve actually sounded fine, he was bored. I then phoned Mick who's warming to fitting a Chevy in place of the F*rd lump and I’m hoping that Mick will warm to nitrous too in place of those silly hairdryers, Steve won't recognise the old girl when he gets out.

Seriously Steve, get well and come out fighting, we'll be waiting...

Cj’

-

‘All the best mate

Steve Pateman, Claudette, Snannon and Big Tom’

-

‘Get well soon Splinter, all thinking of you, see you soon

From Siobhan xx’

-

‘Get well soon mate, & take it easy

Wilf and Dianne Stacey’

-

‘Best wishes for a speedy recovery

Mark Todd, Natalie, Nathan and Jacob’

-

Ann-Marie and Bradley wish Steve a speedy recovery. (Come on Steve your not getting out of SE work that easy!)

-

‘All the best to Splinter and Elona, get well soon geezer

Dave and Helen’ (Hardcore Street)

-

‘Wishing you a speedy recovery

Richard and Claire x’ (Team 56)

-

‘Get well soon Splinter, we need all the Fords we can get in Street Eliminator

Steve Kellett’

-

‘Come on Splinter, Barry George it half spreading rumors that you'll do anything to get out of doing his garage!

No really get well soon matey.

Mickthefish’

-

‘All the best Splinter

Martin Taylor’

-

‘Come on Splinter get well soon. We are all thinking of you. Mind you, the way you were running about between teams at the Thunderball this year Jacquie was calling you Sprinter! Seriously look after yourself and lets race at the Euros? Love to Elona and Mick as well.

Brian & Jacquie Lazenby at Team 56’

-

‘Team Topspeed’ hope that Splinter has a really speedy recovery, we look forward to seeing him at the track as soon as possible.

All the best,

Bill, Vinnie & Scott at Topspeed’

-

‘Sorry to hear the news mate, Chin up and hope you have a speedy recovery. Looking forward to seeing the Cougar out again in SE.

Paul Houston’

-

‘Hi Mate

You get yourself better real soon and don’t spend to much time taking it easy.

I will need all the advice you can give me when we eventually get the Vette back running.

Us old farts only have short memories and its been so long since we were last out it will be like starting all over again.

Best wishes and hope your back to good health very quick.

Ray & Bob Tucker

-

‘Get well soon Mr Splinter....and haste ye back.

Gerry and Dina Treit

-

‘Get well soon mate; in the meantime how about heads up wheelchair racing down the ward?

Regards

Ray & Denise Comer’

24th May 2010

We (Topspeed) were invited by McLaren to put a few cars together for their first employee’s only car show on Saturday.

As I have got the engine out of my 69 Camaro at present I had to act quickly and get my thinking cap on.

So at about 8am on sat morning we had so much street legal horse power outside, I thought the shop windows were going to implode !

After tea and doughnuts we left the shop and cruised on up to McLarens in Woking where We were met at the gate by Clive the show organiser and led in by a black SLR, awesome! What a great show with a huge variety of cars and a look inside the McLaren show room.

We all had a great day and I would like to thank Clive McGibbon & Mike Jones for inviting us and also to Barry George, Marc Lamude, Mark Sheridan, Paul Carson and Splinter for bringing their cars.

Check out our Topspeed Facebook link for more pictures

Kind regards,

Bill Macdermid

Topspeed Automotive

6th May 2010

Ron Haslett of the Insane Creations team’’s report of the Springspeed Nationals -

‘Firstly I'd like to welcome back to the team after a long stay of absence, Steve Kenny and his wife Emma, and also Jim.

After a really good showing from the new set up at The Big Bang I decided to turn up the nitrous and play with a few settings.

On a very tricky track we ran 9.7 seconds @ 151 mph off the trailer, but blew the tyres away.  So I turned down the nitrous on the Max Extreme.

Softer launch and longer duration - 9.5 @ 151. Run 3 no nitrous off the line and a 3 second build time. 9.2 @ 151, I did notice that I was almost on the limiter when I crossed the line. 

Sunday I decided to leave the delay off the line but bring the nitrous in faster. OOOPS as you can see from the pick that was not what we wanted.

I think that the damage was done at Easter. With the tyres breaking free I short shifted into second at the same time as the nitrous kicked in. As they say the rest is history. but I had my best ever reaction 0.009.

At the moment I'm looking at my options but I think that I'm looking at a bespoke Transmission such is the torque that were getting from the nitrous.

Ron’

4th May 2010

Ian Hook of FB Racing’s report of Big Bang -

The Big Bang was another challenging but ultimately rewarding event for the FB Racing team. Suspension issues continue to plague us but at least the monster wheelie from the ’34 on Saturday provided some excitement (and this time I was on the correct two wheels for a drag car!).

But we saw our provisional pole reduced to second by Steve Pateman, then third after a superb 8.66 from rookie Brian Payne.

Most cars were performing to a similar level so there were to be no easy races. The first round of eliminations saw the ’34 frying the tyres and we were fortunate to get by Alex McIntosh when his Mustang went into spectacular wheelie overload, front end damage finally forcing him to back off. Happily we hear that the damage is minor and that Alex will be back out for round 3.

Despite having Ford and the colour black in common there cannot be two more different cars than our hot rod and the sleek Mustang of Brian Payne but they made a handsome pair as we squared up for the semi final. And again I thought we were going home as my initial holeshot disappeared in tyre smoke. But fortune smiled on us again as the Mustang then dished out the same treatment to Brian allowing me to pass him in the back half.

In the final I faced Steve Pateman. I first raced in Street Eliminator back in 1996 and, since then, I have never beaten Steve in eliminations. We both had problems – Steve was misfiring (a lot!) in the back half whilst I simply couldn’t find any grip away from the line. The race didn’t start well for us with Steve getting the drop on me by 2/100ths (how dare he!) and then start to pull away.  The tyres found some grip and I was able to hang on to the tail of the Calibra. But then Steve’s misfire returned (just as the ‘34’s nitrous system hit max) and I passed him at about 900 feet to take the win with an 8.60 @ 169mph – our quickest and fastest pass of the day. As a well-known drag racing correspondent said to me “it might not have been pretty but a win’s a win”. And I couldn’t have been more pleased – beating Steve and equalling our most event wins in a season after just two meetings (yep, we’ve only ever won twice in SE in any single year).

However, myself and the FBs are aware that we still face an uphill task to get the ’34 performing again. With racers all around us stepping up their game we are desperate to find our seven second form again (if you’ve seen it anywhere please let us know!). Hopefully we will make progress at round 3 this coming weekend. Don’t miss it!’

28th April 2010

Exciting news of another team soon to be joining the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator -

‘Hi all, my name is Gerry Treit – most will know my face from hanging about the SE camps for the last few years asking all the awkward questions, gawping at the cars, and as if that wasn’t enough – following the various SE teams out across the pond to the last two World Series events.

Well anyway – my dream from becoming keen spectator to pedal thrasher is finally…..finally coming to fruition, albeit slow as you self builders out there will know. I do hope to be tearing down the strip at some point this year, just don’t ask me when, as my date projections are always wrong.

Tartan Dragin’ Racing is the team, and you can check out the up-dates on Facebook if you search on the name.

The car is a ‘40 Willys Coupe, and the motor a 605 Indy headed World (Mopar based) block on gas. Although the car is glass, it has an original Willys frame out of Doc Claydon’s famous car, though now with full CDS funny car cage added to it.

So, now just got wiring to complete, and a few other bits n pieces…….that word –‘just’, so easy said isn’t it!!

Coming to a race track near you – soon…..ish.’

26th April 2010

Ron Haslett of the Insane Creations team’s reflections of their Big Bang weekend -

‘I decided to make the most of the track time we had at the big bang. We arrived at 3am Friday morning and got our heads down outside the main gates. (Which muppet left there alarm set for 6) We were in setup and ready to play by 11. We had the company of team member, good friend and neighbour Russ Walker running his VW scirroco in VW sportsman.

First pass a gentle 11.0 no gas but a complete gearbox.

Turned the gas on as this was a rwyb track I turned everything down but as the nitrous was coming up to full power (300 jets) we lost all power so I shut everything off and cruised back. Next run same again. But this time I watched the max and it was shutting the system down due to only getting 6 volts. (Safety feature)

Checked everything only found a loose batt term on the alternator.( fitted a new one)still the same.

So I bypassed the extreme and blew a fuse. Now we’re getting somewhere. fuse changed and a new relay fitted off we go. But after speaking to Trev we turned down to 80% It worked. Next step a full pass. 20% on the hit with 3.5 build time both wheels off the ground but as it came down it unloaded the rear wheels big tyre shake(3 chipped teeth)a couple of big peddles 9.7 @ 149 well happy. Backed up with 9.66 @ 146 now we have another problem how to stop the rear unloading. We'd now run out of time we drew Steve Pateman. When I got into stage a bit to deep and activated the trans break the car rocked and broke the beams. (ARSE) but still ran a 9.8 @ 146.

The car never missed a beat all weekend

I hope my passenger on the cruise Mark Skinner enjoyed himself, going by all the picks I think he did.

Now for you number crunchers out there.

Car weighs 3285lb

We ran 149 mph

We used 1020 bhp @ 963 lb TQ to do it

We crossed the line @ 5565 RPM

That’s a gain of 250bhp with 1 second delay and a build time of 3 seconds.

Pistons were travelling at 4173 feet/min’

20th April 2010

Easter Thunderball 2010 Race Report -

Round one of the 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator championship saw a superb turnout of no less than 16 entries including 3 new cars and four new drivers braving the wind, rain and bitter cold that marked this year’s Thunderball.

Due to weather and on-track incidents qualifying was limited to three sessions. Top was multi-championship winning Steve Pateman on 7.97 followed by Jeff Meads with a close to PB, 8.33. Third was 2009 champion Colin Lazenby followed by Jon “Moose” Hollingworth and Ian Hook in fifth. Hook had been plagued with handling problems, the ’34 being up on two wheels more than once (the wrong two wheels). Unfortunately rookie Kaz Aston hadn’t been able to breach the 13.50 cut-off in her turbocharged F150 whilst fellow newbie Richard Billings, campaigning the newly-acquired ex-Jackson twin-turbo Vette, had tapped the wall in the final session and was also out (although he had qualified). Kaz is using her racing exploits to raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis – take a look at her website www.kazaston.com

The cruise saw the elimination of the third newbie, Brian Payne. Payne’s 2000 Ford Mustang is a thing of beauty. Its twin-turbo small block Ford power coupled with light weight and very slippery aerodynamics promise great things to come but the heat generated on the road test led to a vapour lock sidelining this beautiful car for this round. There were no other cruise victims so 13 cars would battle it out in eliminations.

Monday morning’s first round saw Pateman, Meads and Lazenby on byes. The hot rods of Dave Murdoch and the remaining rookie, Andy Hadfield, provided a close race, the blown SBC in Hadfields Fad T producing a 9.04 winning time. It was Cortina vs Cortina as Jon Hollingworth  (9.04) took out the freshly painted Ford of Ron Haslett who ran a trans-busting 11.09. Classic Chevy vs Ford action followed as Alex McIntosh (Mustang) produced a PB 8.83 to overcome the holeshot strapped on him by Ray Comer (Camaro). The battle of the Pontiacs was won by Paul Houston putting Mark Todd back on the trailer to Manchester. The final pair was Ian Hook and title-sponsor Topspeed Automotive proprietor Bill MacDermid, Hook taking the win with a very loose 8.54.

Round two provided a couple of upsets as both number 1 and 2 qualifiers were knocked out. Meads lazy .3 light allowed McIntosh to get a holeshot of his own and win with a 9.24 over Meads’ 9.16 – a very close race. Number one qualifier Pateman suffered a nitrous “burp” off the line putting Hadfield through to the semis at his first meeting! Lazenby and Hook progressed at the cost of Houston and Hollingworth respectively.

In the semis Hook faced Hadfield and both hot rods lit up the tyres on the start, Hook winning the pedal fest to progress to the final. McIntosh, who’d won the 2009 Finals, met reigning champ Lazenby. McIntosh’s Mustang had traction issues as it gripped and spun its way down the track alternately hiking the nose then spinning the tyres. Lazenby had got out first and took the win with an 8.65 (and 176 mph!) from the big Chevy.

It was 7:30 by the time Hook and Lazenby faced off for the final. With tyres warmed and nitrous purged the black Ford and two-tone Chevy pulled into stage. Lazenby was first to move but went too soon leaving a cherry on the tree whilst Hook pulled an .03 light then ran straight and true to record an 8.26, his quickest ET of the weekend, to take the win in style.

Video review of round 1 coming soon....

12th April 2010

A familiar car and driver to many, but new to the ranks of the Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator is Andy Hadfield and his ever entertaining Twister. First outing with the class was at the hugely popular Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway. With the biggest field of cars in recent Street Eliminator memory, and banks packed with spectators, here’s how he got on....

‘Coming from plenty of RWYB experience still left me with some worries about the "Street Eliminator" series. Lots of people had told me how difficult it is to get past scrutineering and being cannon fodder in the first round is to be expected.

How wrong they were !! Having spent lots of time reading the rule books and chatting with other SE members, gaining lots of useful advice, I rolled "Twister" into the scrutineering bay at Santa Pod on the Friday morning for the Easter Thunderball. 5 minutes of a good look over by the scrutineer and we were ready to begin our observed runs !!  

With grandstands full and the opposite bank awash with spectators, we did our burn out and 1/8th mile run, a fairly uneventful affair aside from making the Chief Starter jump out of the way with our traditional rolling sideways burnout.

The next run was a observed full run but counted as a qualifier so we couldn't daudle...result? A  9.6 @ 145. Not too bad for us with no nitrous.

With inclement weather followed by blasts of blue sky, we continued with qualifying and improved to a 9.2 ET pitching us in the middle of the 16 car field...exactly where we had hoped to be.

The cruise followed on the Sunday evening and the honour of being allowed to drive up the track to the cheers of spectators was incredible. A gentle trundle to the petrol station saw me try to fill the T up on diesel......muppet !! Back to the local Tesco car park and hot start the cars before a nice meander back to the pits for some well earned Beer and Barbeque.

Monday promised good conditions with the track being "gripped" at 7.00am. With plenty of action on the track from Top Fuellers, Funny Cars, Rocket Bikes and Jet Cars, track time was limited, as it had been all weekend but we still were able to get out for all our rounds without it getting too late.

First round for me against Davie Murdoch in his awesome Willys was no easy thing with Davie chasing all the way up the track following an unexpectedly good reaction time from me...more usual for me to be caught napping.

Second round and the prospect of racing the great Mr Pateman in his 5 times SE winning Calibra had more than butterflies in my stomach. A good launch and wheelie saw us powering up the track and I fully expected Steve to come walzing by at any moment but mechanical issues for Steve meant we were into the Semi Finals !!

Good fortune ended with a thorough pasting by Ian Hook in the beautiful black 34 although both of us had a bad launch, Ian romped home with more than 1 seconds advantage.

A truly eye opening experience and having such a great time and making new friends into the bargain means we shall be competing with SE at the Summer Nationals in June. I would be there for all the meetings but family holidays interrupt my new found addiction.

Thanks again to all the SE competitors for the very warm welcome and for anyone out there giving really competitive racing some thought ? Do it....you definitely won't regret it.

Andy’.

10th April 2010

After an winter of work on the car, Ron Haslett had a ‘character building’ Easter Thunderball -

‘What a weekend for me and the other Insane boys. we started the weekend on a high with the reception the car got, soon to be overshadowed by the obvious damage that the gearbox had suffered.

After pulling the box from the car we found that the high gear clutch drum (second gear) was eating the pump. The prop was now too long. So a quick trip back to the workshop (over 300 mile round trip), and some 8 hours, the gear box was back in the car.

With no time to test we were out on another qualifier and ran a 10.8 second without nitrous and a very soft launch, And a complete gearbox. The cruise went without a hitch.

Eliminations. We were up against the Cortina of Moose. I put a bit more nitrous in the car than we had previously run and took a little more timing out which resulted in a cough on the line giving the win to Moose.

When I restarted the car, Ian on the start line said to go I got to about 60ft then activated the nitrous and ended with a speed of 148mph. But all was not good as something let go in the transmission and the motor lost fire so I coasted to stop by the fire marshal.

After checking it tonight we found the coil wire off and the oil cooler line broken where it bolts to the block. Thank god for that.

Ron.’

10th April 2010

With some of the wildest launches we have ever seen from the ‘34, Ian Hook’s FB Racing Team certainly caught the attention of the huge Easter Thunderball crowd -

‘Our start to the 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator championship was a real challenge but ended on a super high for FB Racing.

After the usual thrash that I think many drag racers go through before the season starts, a last minute MoT and the loss of an alternator belt on our way to the track I thought we’d had our quota of drama for The Thunderball. But the ’34 had other plans!

Friday saw us pulling the Powerglide transmission so that we could cure an oil leak and fit our newly-arrived flexplate. Thanks are due to Andy Frost for his invaluable advice over the phone.

Our first pass was a relatively undramatic no-gas 8.98. Although this was off last year’s pace we were not overly concerned as the low temperature, damp air and lack of recent use meant that the track was challenging to say the least. The tyres could be heard squealing past the 1/8. We were pleased to be in provisional second place.

We put the gas on for quali 2 and the ‘34 was wheels up off the line but pulled to the right. As the front came down the car suddenly turned left. I managed to correct it and wrestle it down the track but not until I’d had it alternately on its two left wheels and then the two rights. Quite a wild ride!

Before session 3 we found what we thought was the problem and corrected it but on track the car behaved in much the same way. Back in the pit Jeff Meads told me the ’34 looked “scary”. If Jeff tells you your car is scary you know it’s REALLY scary!! We came up with a second theory as to the problem and the anti-roll bar we’d hooked up over the winter was removed. Unfortunately we had run out of qualifiers and our failure to improve on the 8.98 had now dropped us to fifth.

In round one of eliminations on Monday morning we faced Bill MacDermid, co-proprietor of class sponsors Topspeed Automotive, in the first round. The ’34 pulled to the right off the start line but at least went straight (well, more or less straight) after that. An 8.54, our best of the weekend, plus an  .05 light saw us progress at Bill’s cost.

Round two wasn’t held until some five hours later. I’d staved the boredom off enough to clock another zero light but the ’34 still wasn’t handling well and I fought it to an 8.69 ET. Fortunately for us our opponent, Jon “Moose” Holingworth, had issues of his own in the twin-turbo Cortina and a second gear launch left him trailing with an off-pace 10.44.

It was after this pass that Jon Webster suggested there was something broken or loose on our car so back in the pit it went up in the air again and Martin took a long hard look at the back end. Initially he could find nothing amiss until he put his hand on the LH rear spring platform. Despite the fact that the lock ring appeared properly snugged up the platform could be turned by hand. It had obviously been de-adjusting itself since last week! Without time to properly re-baseline the settings we quickly put the spring height to where we thought it should be and made our way down for the semi-final where we would be up against rookie Andy Hadfield in his wild and wacky Fad T. After another .05 light there was at least some variety with the launch as I immediately lit up the rear tyres. Andy had done the same but I won the battle of the “pedals” and took the win 9.0 to 10.2. And a real bonus for us was that despite spinning the wheels the car had gone straight for the first time that weekend. Martin was confident that some minor tweaking would get the car back into the correct launch mode!

We were into the final and faced the huge power of 2009 SE Champion Colin Lazenby’s 800+ inch ’56 Ch*vy. We debated putting some of the power we’d taken out back in but by now it was 7:30 in the evening and track conditions were only getting worse. Martin made his suspension adjustments, we were called, then followed the big Ch*vy down to the start line. I pulled my best light of the day, an .03 and the ’34 launched hard AND in a straight line!

As I raced up the strip I kept looking over my right shoulder, expecting the’56 to overtake with its massive top end charge. But it didn’t happen and I crossed the line to take our first event win since 2006. We’d saved the best ‘til last with an 8.26 ET but what I hadn’t realised was that I’d won on the start as Colin had left early.

So we went home as very happy bunnies. Not only did we have the event win but we’d finished with a straight and fast pass that bodes well for the rest of the season. My crew did a fantastic job both before and during the event - I’d be nothing without them. A big thanks too for our sponsors – The FB Associates, Serck Services Motorsport, hotrodtees, RS Autos, Power Pour, Messier-Dowty, The Everest Balti Restaurant and A&E Fire Equipment. We will have news soon on another sponsor joining us for the rest of the 2010 season.

Additionally I have to mention the track crew who always give of their best. Last weekend must have been particularly tough dealing as they did with cold, wind, rain and plenty of incidents. The instant information supplied by Eurodragster was superb and a well done to all the other SE drivers who provided an impressive turn out with a record first meeting entry of 16 cars. Finally, a big thank you to Steve “Splinter” Nash who did a great job in organising the class (both trackside and on the cruise) and provided some excellent colour commentary. See you all at the Big Bang.

Ian.’

19th March 2010

‘Big’ Ron Haslett had a dream end to 2009’s racing, he has been in touch with his plans for 2010.

‘Who says the winter is easy....?

After what has to be said one of my best ever weekends at the Euro Finals 2009.

Doing 8 passes and getting 8 PB’s. Ending with 9.08 seconds and 157 mph. We couldn’t have asked for more (well 3” shorter track maybe).

The problem that we did have was traction off the line and all the way down. This was due to the 4 link being incorrectly installed at the time of the car build. OOPS………….. It was picked up in 2006 When Andy Robinson did a baseline check for me.

After Taking advice from Andy and Mark Norton I embarked on the crazy idea of re-doing the 4 link  and at the same time changing my chassis spec from 8.5 to 7.5. Whilst doing this minor task I also decided to change the colour after a bit of damage was done to the rear quarter.  As the car has been completely stripped of every nut and bolt I took this opportunity to rewire the car.

I know this doesn’t sound like much but I’ve also been working 7 nights a week so it has meant that nearly all the work has had to be done by me as the lads that crew for me are working normal hours and getting on with their own projects.

It’s funny when you look back whilst having a hotrod moment (drinking tea and looking at the car in the sun). I was talking to Nick and Graham (crew) about the latest version of the estate and remembered that originally I only wanted to build the car to 10 second spec but decided to go for the 8.5 spec “JUST IN CASE.”

So here we are up to date

2010 and what does it mean for team Insane Creations

We are going to run the whole season and dare I say it. We are hoping to get into the 8’s and hopefully be competitive. We are also planning some upgrades throughout the season but I will bring you more on that as and if it happens.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors and crew’.

Muscle Fury    www.musclefury.com

Express Gearboxes    www.expressgearbox.co.uk

Wizard Of Nos    www.noswizard.com

Macmillan Cancer Support   www.macmillan.org.uk

VRC    www.vehiclerepaircentre.kneeslider.net

8th February 2010

Ian Hook’s FB Racing Team are very pleased to have added Serck Services Motorsport to the companies and individuals supporting the teams seven-second street legal 1934 Ford in their 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator campaign.

Graham Smith, manager, had this to say “Serck Services Motorsport are delighted to announce that we will be sponsoring the Street Eliminator team of FB Racing! We will be backing the FB Racing 34 coupe during 2010, a car that already runs one of our fully custom-built aluminium lightweight radiators on both track and road. This car provides a tremendous test for our products and services as the Street Eliminator class maximises performance at every level with its continued development.

We have been providing equipment to the drag racing industry for over ten years and are looking forward to supporting Ian Hook and the team throughout 2010. Their 34 Ford Coupe has produced some astonishing quarter mile statistics down not to mention this is a fully street legal car. We wish Ian and his fantastic team every success for the season ahead”

Ian stated “I am really pleased that Serck Service Motorsport have given us their backing for 2010. Our Street Eliminator ’34 has relied on Serck products to cool both the engine and transmission for the past 8 years and they have never let us down. The radiator in particular is superb, it is very efficient meaning it can remain relatively small which both reduces weight and allows us to squeeze it into the narrow confines at the front of our engine bay. Furthermore the continuous development we do on the car has called for a few mods and redesigns over the years and the company have always been keen to help, providing an excellent after sales service.”

Although most well know for their custom built radiators (available in both aluminium and brass) Serck Services Motorsport are custom fabricators who can supply intercoolers, oil coolers, fuel and header tanks as well as all the hardware and plumbing needed for installation for both cars motorcycles. They also supply a range of electric fans, air tools, braided brake hosing and much, much more. Check out their website for full details.

31st January 2010

** NEW TITLE SPONSOR ANNOUNCED FOR 2010 **

Topspeed Automotive Ltd are delighted to be main sponsors of the 2010 Street Eliminator Series.

Trading for over 40 years, and managed by an experienced team of professionals, TOPSPEED is Surrey's premier retailer of Motoring Accessories and Performance Parts.  As well as parts and accessories for the traditional family saloon, we specialise in performance parts and accessories for American V8 and Classic machines in our 1200sq ft retail outlet.

We are just minutes from the M25, so if you prefer to do you purchasing in person, please call in and discuss your needs with one of the team... there's usually a pot of coffee on the go !

We are agents for and deal with companies such as Wynns, Millers Oils, K&N, Kenlowe, NGK Plugs, Silicone Hoses, Draper, TCI, Felpro, Aeromotive, Taylors, Autoglym, Smart Wax, Meguiars, Mr Gasket, Power Pour, Fram Filters, Holley pumps, some MSD, Autometer, dress up kits, line-locks, trans coolers, Lucas Oils and unbeatable Yuasa car batteries to name but a few of our 200 plus suppliers we deal with. We also have a large stock of Jada muscle and VW car models and service parts for your everyday car.

The latest CTEK Smart Battery Chargers are now in stock at great prices. These are the only chargers which will fully charge Optima Batteries, and were actually designed for that task! With Pit and Paddock equipment and weekend racing consumables in stock, we're well placed to provide a complete service for race teams in the coming seasons, even bringing pre-orders to the track.

We are main agents for Valvoline Oil and to celebrate the launch of our new web site at      www.topspeedparts.co.uk we can offer any drag racer fantastic deals on Valvoline Racing VR 1 20/50, from one litre of oil up to a 205-litre drum and we can deliver the drums carriage-free anywhere in mainland UK. Please call the shop on 01932 341700 / 344453  or visit us at 17-19 The Broadway, New Haw, Surrey. KT15 3EU

Bill, Scott and crew chief Vinnie are really excited about the 2010 season, good luck to all racers and see you all at the track.

Regards,

Bill

Topspeed Automotive

15th January 2010

Dear 2009 Member

This is the first class news item of 2010 and more of a general, polite, reminder.

Your MSA licence renewal IS now due however and you might as well get onto this as soon as you can. MSA membership runs Jan 1^st through December 31^st in any case, so it serves no real purpose putting this off for much longer and then panicking about it much nearer the time. The address is www.msauk.org

Better also check your renewal dates for membership to APIRA www.shakespearecountyraceway.com or SPRC, www.eurodragster.com that’s either or, not both...

And finally while the current issue of Retro Cars Magazine (out today) features the Team ‘56’ 210 Sedan, this is a 9 page feature with ample references to the SE class and great quality images of all the other SE cars, courtesy of new best friend Mat Woods, and it’s well worth a read (on these long dark nights). Retro Car Magazine should be available at branches of Martin (formally RS) McColl’s, WH Smith and all well stock petrol stations. The link is www.retrocarsmag.com

Racers needing tech information, SFI dating or tech inspections will need to speak with MSA scrutineers, Geoff Martin or Glenn Stockton.

Oh, and the Easter Thunderball www.santapod.co.uk/e_easter.php takes place on the 2^nd to 5^th of April – that’s right, exactly 11 weeks tomorrow. Terrifying isn’t it?!

2009

2008

2007