| 2007 - see below | 2006 | |
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2007: FLAME & THUNDER - (in his own words: Tog at the wheel) - November 07 Pro ET at the National Finals - October 07 INCURABLE WHEELIES - (Euro Finals) - September 07 Pro ET at the Eurofinals - September 07 APPALLING BEHAVIOUR IN THE SUPER GAS PITS - September 07 BRAINLESS RACEWAY PARK - (Summernationals) - July 07 CANNONBALL RUN - (Lacey on the Ball) - July 07 The Summer Nationals - (Singing in the rain) - June 07 Wheelie wheelie great - (The Thunderball) - April 07 |
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FLAME & THUNDER WITH RESERVE DRIVER TOG - in his own words (and I get to be editor!!!!) pics by Peter Donaldson |
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A couple of weeks before the
day I spent an enjoyable few hours in Carla and Rick's workshop being
fitted into the car and having a refresher course. I am glad I did this
because there is a lot to remember and there were bits of the routine I
had forgotten. Carla took me through it all very patiently and then at the
end I talked her through it and it all came out OK. We agreed on the hand
sign Come the day and after more sleep than I was expecting I drove up to the track with my close friend Julia who had come along to support me. Julia had said that she was interested to see what I got up to at drag races and to see what the fuss was about. Of course I don't drive race cars every time I go to the track but this would a great opportunity for Julia to find out why I do what I do, she'd have someone to cheer for, and (as I frequently told her in advance) she'd also get to meet the not-so-cocky version of me - the one who gets in race cars and goes all nervous and quiet.
Tog goes Superstock! Hitting the throttle on the third amber and watching the gantry disappear downwards is one of the greatest experiences I think I have ever had (one of the others being letting go of the transbrake button in Nev Mottershead's race car and having the scenery jump up and f*** off). From where I was sitting the front came up more or less in slow motion, or I think it would be more accurate to say that the track disappeared down out of shot more or less in slow motion. All I could see during a wheelie was bonnet and sky, although I was aware of the guardrail happily passing on the left of shot. The car went straight as you like, accelerated hard, and seemed to take forever to come down - I am not complaining, you understand - and it came down as gentle as a kiss, in fact I don't think I felt it touch down once. In the afternoon session I had two races...sorry, side-by-side time trials and in the first I didn't see the other car at all. That was a pity because it was Jerry Smith's Grim Beeper Roadrunner, one of the best-looking race cars out there and one which I'll always take the opportunity just to sit and look at. Well, I guess it's not quite true that I didn't see the Grim Beeper at all - I saw it in my rear view mirror in the shutdown area after I comprehensively kicked Jerry's butt (sorry) but it would have been a different story the next day after Jerry had found out that he'd had a carb problem all this time. It was a real privilege to run alongside him. The other run was against a white '66 Chevy Nova which I don't think I'd ever seen before and which had been running 9.7s. That guy I didn't see until he came past me right at the stripe, but it turned out that I had got there first by twenty eight inches by dint of a big holeshot. We managed to make five runs on the day. I think we were all surprised at that: I was expecting to make four. In fact we could have made six runs in all but we had to be sent back to the pits at the end of the day after two oildowns in close succession. One of the big pleasures of each run was seeing the team's reaction and the timing ticket afterwards. On my first run I set a new PB speed of 138.41 mph, and in fact every speed I ran on the day was above my previous PB. On the third run I set a new best ET of 9.798 seconds. Both of these are reasonably close to the car's bests which says far more about Carla and Rick's set-up and training than it does about my driving. (We remarked that it was a lot to do with his driving too and we stand by it! Ed) I made a few mistakes but Carla and Rick were very good about them. (We are normally very good about our own mistakes too!! Ed) On my first run I shifted gear before the shift light came on, but that turned out to be providential because the wheels were spinning a bit - not that I noticed that at the time. Whilst I was playing silly buggers short-shifting, the back end of the car stepped out to the right a little bit - but even now I couldn't tell you why I ignored it and kept my foot down. I don't think it really registered what had happened until after the car had straightened out - I just do not recall whether I steered out of it or whether the car settled down on its own. (You steered out of it, believe me. Ed)
My favourite/dumbest mistake
was keeping my foot on the brake after I'd put on the line lock, doing the
burnout, letting the line lock go and then wondering why the car wasn't
moving. On the video you can see me looking down and it dawning on me what
I'd done before I finally took my foot off the brake pedal. Rick was kind
enough to tell me that at some point in their career everyone's left their
foot on the brake after engaging the line lock. I followed up that one
immediately by only putting the car back into first rather than neutral
before I gave the throttle its couple of post-burnout blips. It didn't
take me long to realise though as the car strained against the brake. I felt terribly rude because I knew I'd been ignoring people from within the car. It's difficult to explain how focused you get when strapped into a race car but I think people understand. I only really noticed movement other than Carla and Rick a couple of times, but in any case your crew are all you need to be looking at until you get up to the start line. I think a bomb could go off outside and you'd probably not notice. On my second run, after the burnout, I noticed Ian Marshall look in through the windscreen and give me a smile; I didn't acknowledge Ian but he has since told me that he understood that I was concentrating. I sensed rather than saw the other start line crew looking in - I saw more of the top end crew who also gave me big smiles as they waved me off the track. On another run I noticed Carla and Rick appearing to have a domestic as I lined up to do the burnout - waved arms and stuff which in fact looked quite comical from where I was sitting. Now I must stress that's what it looked like, it probably wasn't a domestic or anything of the kind. (Just trying to communicate... Ed) Finally as I waited to run behind Mike Lacey I watched him get a little crossed up on the launch and Julia, having watched Mike wiggle away from the line, turned and gave me a quizzical look and then a smile. What was really great was all the goodwill I felt. Everyone wanted me to do well. I could more or less hear all my chums in Race Control and the gentlemen of Nitro FM cheering me on every time I ran. Nev and Libby Mottershead came along to support me, not the first time they had made the trip from Stockport for my benefit. It was nice to get a visit from Colin and Grace Roaf who are big fans of Heaven and Hell and, a little bird tells me, Eurodragster.com. Sean Bowe popped by the pit to say Hi too, like Grace Sean and I had corresponded but up to that point not actually met (my previous scheduled meeting with Sean was curtailed by my unscheduled visit to Bedford Hospital). Peter Donaldson, who was on photographic duties for Eurodragster.com on the day, also stopped by but I had warned him in advance that I was not likely to be very communicative and he didn't intrude. I didn't even see Peter in the pairing lanes but he must have been there because he got a couple of shots of me strapped in the car waiting to run. Although I didn't hear it at the time, track announcer Paul Venners did a great job of talking me up. I got to hear little snatches of it over the engine noise on the videos which Jemma and Nev made, and then when I went up to Race Control Botch said all sorts of nice things again, for which I (and my ego) were very grateful. What can I say but a huge Thank You to Carla and Rick for the offer to drive the car, (You're welcome, mate, you made us proud. Ed) for their advice, patience and encouragement, and for trusting me not to make a bog of it and put it in the guardrail (ask Stephen and Pat Talbot to explain that one) or to wreck their valve springs. That's true friendship. Thanks to good buddy and team member Jemma Harrison for the support, enthusiasm, and on-track videos, and also to Nev Mottershead not just for his own videos but for the little nuggets of advice from his own racing experience and for the endless encouragement. Thanks also Libby Mottershead for dinner that evening and, like Nev, just for being there. Finally a big thank you to Julia Cooper for giving up her day to come drag racing, for all the hugs and support throughout the day, and - together with everyone mentioned in this article - for being the best friend anyone could want.
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And here we are.. the season is over (sigh). Despite the rain offs it’s been an eventful season, with the Pro ET class going from strength to strength and gaining in diversity, popularity and entries, makes us proud to be part of it. The final round of the championship started with a fair forecast but with a very soggy track, which the SPRC crew managed to make good enough for us to launch well thanks to their relentless hard work. The crew was also kept very busy by an exceptional number of oil downs, which denied us the third qualifier. However the excellent organisation and the crew’s vigorous efforts still allowed two full sessions to complete, no mean feat in the circumstances, heartfelt thanks guys, for a job very well done! We were very pleased with the Heaven & Hell Camaro performance – she stuck to the track, raised the front wheels with enthusiasm and gave us consistently good 60 foot times as well as good ET throughout the meeting. We now believe (fingers crossed) that we have cured the valve train problem that caused 2 breakages in 2006 and one at the Thunderball, and with a small tweak of the cam phasing all seems to be working well. Unfortunately things were not going so well for others. Marius Blackburn in the Escape from Reality Altered struggled to run close to his dial-in in qualifying and was a no show in the first round against John Morris, more deplorable problems after a troubled season, we wish Marius and the team a much better 2008. A catalogue of disasters struck poor Billy Gane in the 460ci motivated Fat Pack Racing Vauxhall Victor, even before he got to the track. First his tow vehicle broke down whilst on route to the Pod and the team had to patch it up to enable it to limp home in the middle of the night, then they had to find a car transporter to load the car up again and restart the trip – with few tools and no provisions due to lack of space on the transporter. They arrived on Saturday morning having had no sleep at all, eager to race and making it to the first round of qualifications only to find that the transbrake button failed on the start line, so Billy launched before the tree came down and therefore no time or speed appeared on the ticket. Luckily he had another chance to qualify in the afternoon, but his hopes where quashed when the transbrake seemed to lock on before the run, and despite managing to unlock it during the session it was (wisely) deemed unsafe to make a pass with the danger of the transbrake locking on again during the run, and the chance to qualify was lost. Billy and his dad worked very hard this season (Billy’s first full season in Pro ET) and did well despite the problems. A sure candidate for the Pro ET “Hard Luck” Award, we salute their “never give up” attitude, offer our commiserations and again wish them a much better 2008 season. The battle for the championship top positions started during qualifying, with the ineffable Mr Herbert in the Furyous Plymouth doing all he could to preserve his lead and snatching number 1 qualifier in the first run (again proving to have no manners) with a 2 thou off his dial-in. Keith secured a bye run in the first round as well as bagging the generous contingency sponsorship money for his top qualifier but pulled a cherry against Brian Huxley’s black 32 in the second round, a very expensive cherry as this loss robbed him of the very lucrative SPRC championship win. Still, the sponsorship scheme has been quite profitable for Mr Fury this year, so he can’t complain! Charlie’s Taxi gained precious points with Mr Chivers getting past a breaking out Liz Malcolm in the first round. Liz had her share of trouble, having to get the pretty “Jus’4 Fun” 4 pot dragster pushed off the track at the top end twice due to coil failure. Super Pro racer Steve Johnson helped by supplying a replacement coil which enabled Liz to race, albeit with a problematic dial-in which led to a healthy but breaking out run. Charlie gained further in the second round against Tig Napier in the gorgeous big purple Challenger. Tig was doing really well after fixing a few problems with his new 572ci mill and happily running 9.7s for the first time, and clocking a 9.71 in a break-out pass against Charlie. Quite a few mods are on the cards this winter, which will further improve the (no, Cath, not a sleeper!) very heavy and very rapid street legal car. Watch out for the purple monster in 2008! Charlie’s march was stopped in the third round, when he red-lit against Johnny Morris in the “Animal Magic” Ford Probe on his way to the final. Our rookies had no luck this meeting, with Simon Rowland in the “E-Hell” Dragster having a few bottom end problems during qualifying (they described the 60 foot times as “positively pedestrian”!) and ending in a surprise backward launch in the first round of eliminations. Ian Brown in the other lane also seemed to have problems and both cars were allowed to re-stage, only for Simon to go briefly go backwards again whilst red-lighting for good measure. The gearbox will obviously receive some attention during the winter and the team are eager to do a full season next year. Mark Bishop in the colourful and well presented “Vegas Hustler” had more of the same launch troubles in qualifying and only hoped to get down the track properly in eliminations to give Tig Napier a decent race. Only he managed to do it too well, running a 10.58 on a 10.90 dial-in despite lifting before the gantry. We believe this is Mark’s current PB and not too bad for someone who got his licence two weeks before the Main Event! 2007 Champion Paul Baynton in the “Capricious” blue Capri had it all pretty stitched up before the event: he only needed one round to secure the win, and Steve Bolton obliged when the black Plymouth prematurely accelerated in the first round. So Paul wasn’t exactly distraught when he broke out against John Morris in the second round, knowing that the big crown was by then glued to his head. Well done Paul, the entire Pro ET class is now superstitious because of you (the cherry tomato instigated by Gino Bernadine really takes the biscuit now!) and everyone is now hunting for rabbit feet, horse shoes, four leaf clovers, plastic pigeons and all manners of lucky charms, see what you’ve done? The normally rational (er, well, sometimes) Carl Burton was seen lurking in the pits whilst cooing and stroking a plastic pigeon early on Saturday morning, although the pigeon cannot have been that helpful as it was later seen impaled on the team flag pole (ouch!). Carl beat a red lighting Mick Howling in the first round but was then defeated by Ian Brown in the second, after which we reckon the unfortunate pigeon received his comeuppance. Brian Huxley was on form and after wining a close race with Mike Lacey’s “Metamorphosis” Camaro, when Mike broke out by 5 thousandths (another candidate for the hard luck award) he proceeded to get past a red lighting Keith Herbert and put away Neil Hunter’s cheeky “7 Year Itch” red Capri in the third, only to slow down to a 10.57 on a 10.50 dial-in after a 0.004 light giving the win to John Morris in the semis. The cheeky Capri driver did not run a low nine at 155mph with a 1.02 60 foot and did not change his name to John Morris, did not buy a pigeon and did not sell his car after the event for £57,000. What he did do was run his track PB running against a red lighting Martin Green in the second round, which isn’t as good as doing all those other things but good enough for 2007 at least. Martin Green in the very pretty and aptly named “Rods & Rockers” Ford Consul also broke out for good measure in that run, after disposing of Jerry Smith in the big “Green Beeper” Road Runner in the first round. Jerry was plagued by misfire which kept him and son Mark busy trying to puzzle it out. John Atkinson in the rapid “Time is Money” blue Cortina wasn’t doing too bad and after qualifying 8th he proceeded to trailer a breaking out Paul Marston at the wheel of Gary Springford’s Shogun in the first round and Kim Bishop’s grey Willys in the second, only to be nailed to the tree by Ian Brown at the wheel of the yellow “Thatadoo” Camaro, who left with a perfect 0.0000 reaction time! Ian “improved” on that in the next round against the Heaven & Hell Camaro, and went red, wasting our 9.804 on a 9.80 dial-in which perhaps we should have used in the final instead. On our part, on his way to the final Rick got past Butch Wilkins’ flaming red “Ground Zero” Model A pick up in the first round, after which we had a well earned bye in the second (we used black magic and, yes, secret lucky charms). We then met Dave Cherrett ‘s well sorted “Dark Revenger” Model A in the third round, and managed to get the win light with side by side wheelies which looked very good and were immortalised by Ivan Samson and others (thanks Ivan for the pics which were, as always, much appreciated). The final round filled us with trepidation, as a win would have meant a runner up in the National Championship and I really feared we may go red as a result. Perhaps I pushed the concept a bit too far, and Rick had the slowest light of the weekend, a 0.13 which killed our chances by pushing us to a breakout run after a great wheelie and a good pass, which gave John Morris the win. John Morris did increase his chances by having a better light AND running within 1 thousandth of his dial-in though, so well done John, you made it pretty difficult to beat you. Congratulations to the Championship winners Paul and Charlie, we take consolation in not having to invest in another sticker for the car by keeping our number 3 for the third year running (it’s getting boring!) and by hanging on to the top 3 positions for the last 6 years, not too bad although not good enough! So the season is over for us although we’ll be back once more at the Flame & Thunder with our Reserve Driver (we have a few dangerous mods we would like him to test… OK, OK, I’ve done that one before, only kidding) and will try to double our chances next year with our new large lucky charm…. Many thanks to Santa Pod crew and officials for a splendid job throughout the season, to Eurodragster for putting British drag racing firmly on the map, to all Pro ET sponsors for their great support of the class (Inkwell Printers, Penn Autos, Sandy Scooters, A1 Motor Stores, W.A.S.P., Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Alley Jax, Motorshack, Hauser Race Cars, Real Steel) and to Carl Burton for organising it all. Finally, a thank you to our crew man Dave Bucklands for showing dedication to the team (see our ugly mugs here) and last but not least best wishes to Sharkman for a full recovery, we hope to be able to share a beer or 15 at the Easter Thunderball with you mate. |
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INCURABLE WHEELIES - pictures by Roger Gorringe click thumbnails to enlarge |
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What a truly fantastic week for the Heaven & Hell team – perfect weather, great track, faultless organisation and the Sportsman classes didn’t misbehave with oil downs either, so all of this contributed to achieve a first: nine qualification runs, of which seven in just one day, great fun!
The Heaven
& Hell Camaro started having fun at the Press Day, and despite the late
arrival caused by traffic jams, a bit of misfiring and even a puncture
still managed 3 passenger rides, one of which with drag racing fan Colin
Roaf who seemed to enjoy it in a fairly relaxed way, and another with
fellow Pro ET racer Neil Hunter who waited with increasing anxiety for
yours truly to hit the brake pedal at the top end, misinterpreting my
routine checking of the gauges as a “Oh dear, we have no brake fluid
pressure” and wondering about landing in the field. It is true that
drivers make for apprehensive passengers! It’s a shame that I didn’t know
at the time, or I would mischievously have feigned panic, waving my arms
about, shaking my head and pretending to grasp the roll cage to brace
myself!
The Camaro behaved herself during most passes and it was very pleasing to see that the little modification to the cam phasing seemed to work well, increasing bottom end performance as we had hoped and returning the car to the Superstock launches enjoyed at the Thunderball and at Shakey. Rick feared that my position further forward in the car may hurt the launch and may not give me the wheelie I craved, so we were both delighted when the car not only reacted perfectly and gave me a lovely view of the sky, but also carried the wheels for over 50’ achieving a 1.29 60’ again. Believe me, there is no better way to launch!
A number of
people believed we had “cured” the wheelies and were surprised that they
“came back”, so I feel I should explain how it works for us. Our car is most similar in construction to a Stocker – bar the fibreglass front and the engine which does not conform to NHRA Stock regulations. However the suspension and chassis are virtually stock, with very few modifications, we use 9” tyres, the car still weighs 3000lbs – and – most importantly – we leave on a footbrake, just like a Stocker. For this type of car to gain sufficient traction an efficient weight transfer is essential – and the most efficient way to ensure this is with a good wheelie. So not only a wheelie does not hurt ET, it actually positively improves the 60’ and the ET, and for this reason we would not dream of “curing” it and in fact we actively try to tune the suspension to achieve it. A tube chassis car leaving on a transbrake, however, reacts in an utterly dissimilar way as it is a totally different car – lightweight, wide tyres, transbrake, four link or ladder bars all contribute to the need for a tuning very much unlike the one needed by a substantially stock car. In addition, this type of car does not normally carry the front wheels to any considerable extent, and coming down quickly actually hurts ET and causes wheel spin by unloading the rear tyres on touch down.
So although
we were sad to see Steve Bolton’s lovely black Plymouth being tamed, we
fully understood the need to do that to actually improve performance. I
guess we are just lucky to need the wheelies as well as loving them! It was very pleasing to see great photos being taken of some of the launches, by the excellent Roger Gorringe (see above) and by Dick Bodily: (click on thumbnail to view picture) Another cause for satisfaction despite the early exit from eliminations was the recent addition to the Heaven & Hell team in the person of Dave Buckland. Dave has been with us for two meetings so far and has shown great dedication, keen interest and attention to detail, proving already extremely helpful to our effort. His initial duties were confined to filming the launch, to help us identify problems and find ways of improving the chassis tune up, but he quickly took over many other tasks, integrated very well in the team’s routine and worked very hard. So thanks Dave, your help was much appreciated. We managed to qualify no. 10 with five thousandths off our dial-in and had a first round bye due to Jon Hollingworth misfortune, which advanced us to the second round despite the snoozing reaction and the slight tyre spin. We weren’t to be that lucky in the second round, where Paul Baynton was set to kill mode and obliterated my second snooze with an 0.010 reaction. Must reset that alarm clock some time.. To make matters worse somehow I wasn’t expecting the track to be that good after the jet car, so the excellent traction took me by surprise and produced a high and prolonged wheelie, which would have worked well if I had managed to shift into second gear whilst in mid air or upon landing. Alas, I only shifted after hitting the rev limiter, and this was the final stroke, as I was then beaten on both ends of the track by the ineffable Paul Baynton in the blue “Capricious” Capri, who had time to tap the brakes at the top end and stroke his pigeon too, getting the win light. It is now up to Rick to rescue our tumble from number 2 at the National Finals. Can’t wait! |
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| Pro ET at the Eurofinals | |
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The Euro part of the Euro Finals was certainly emphasised in Pro ET: not only we welcomed back several of the Dutch teams who endured the rain with us at the Main Event, (Paul Vrind and Peter Stevens among others) but a couple more entered the race and enjoyed the good weather, the many qualifying rounds and the excellent atmosphere. The unstoppable Bostic (Anders Envall) also came back from Sweden to race with us and his crew chief Karl Ellwein came especially from the US to tune the big bad black Impala, making the field feel truly international. Now here’s a candidate for the Pro ET award of crew chief of the year, can you imagine more dedication than that? However the Pro ET field suffered early breakages which left it decimated, with only 34 cars making it as far as putting in any qualifying runs at all, down from 45 entrants, and further problems leaving 31 cars managing to get to the first round. Among the unfortunate were Vic Amato who left the track on Wednesday, Jon Hollingworth who broke at the first qualifier and Jon Turner who after extensive engine damage still managed to race his pick up in Sportsman but had to abandon the quest for Pro ET altogether. Bostic himself suffered transmission failure (there’s got to be a little drama or he would probably be bored) as soon as he engaged the transbrake, however the Blackout team quickly whipped up a spare transmission and Bostic could still race, albeit leaving on a footbrake. Going rounds or not many racers had a really good time anyway, including Mark Bishop in the Vegas Hustler Topolino, who despite going out in the first round against Carl Burton due to problems with carburation was happy with making his first 10 second run (10.9831 to be precise). Father and son were running in Pro ET and Kim Bishop in the grey Willys also had a good time, launching with wild wheelies and loving it but finding it a bit difficult to dial the car in. Other first round casualties included Liz Malcolm in the Jus’4 Fun pretty silver dragster, who despite inconsistent qualifying runs had her best 60’ and again dipped into the 10.80s. Liz lost to event winner Charlie Chivers in the unforgiving “Taxi Express” Capri with a breakout despite the better light. Visiting Wild Bunch racers Sarah and Darryl Howells were also out in the first round but both had reason to smile, with Darryl running his first 9 second run and Sarah setting best ET of the meeting. Dutch racer Peter “Sparky” Stevens (thanks for the tips on making billet aluminium brackets!), at the wheel of the Wishbone 68 Firebird went out to compatriot Ful Lievaart in the silver “Casanova” Chevrolet Nova, but still had a great time: he qualified 4th with 2 thousandths off his dial-in and enjoyed the 9 qualifiers and the good weather very much. The team kept chasing an elusive first 10 second run which unfortunately did not come, so he will be using nitrous next time and hopes this will throw in a few wheelies too! Mike Lacey in the Metamorphosis Camaro kept chasing problems with carburetion and chassis tune-up and went out in a breakout battle to an unforgiving Dan Page in the Panic Firebird, who didn’t panic and responded to Mike’s .033 reaction with a tree nailing .016 and managed to breakout the least. Mick Howling was forced to a change of ride due to Grumpy’s second engine failure and made it to the race as alternate, meeting the big black Impala in the first round. Bostic was quick to launch the beast with .014 RT to Mick’s.029 and emerged victorious after Mick’s Vega took too much stripe and broke out by a couple of hundredths. The Blackout Impala then suffered premature acceleration against Dave Cherret’s “Dark Revenger” Model A in the second round. Dave pulled a 0.01 out of the bag and topped it with a 10.01 on a 10.00 dial-in for good measure but shaved the tree a tad too close in the quarter finals where he lost to Santa Pod’s fastest taxi. SPRC championship leader Keith Herbert is throwing all his pillows and duvets out of the “Mr Furyous” Plymouth, as he was out in the second round after a self-confessed long snooze, apparently only getting on his way after Ian Marshall tapped his roof and woke him up with a start. His little nap cost him the race and Ian Brown went forward to the quarters in the Thatadoo Camaro. We personally know all about napping on the start line, as yours truly did the same in the second round against Paul Baynton’s Capricious Capri, causing a similar roof tapping. For good measure however the Heaven & Hell Camaro was also treated to a late 1-2 shift, waking up the rev-limiter and losing considerable ET as well, so that Paul’s .010 light wasn’t even needed to secure the win. Only consolation prize was going out with a bang by pulling a big wheelie, one of many but perhaps the highest and longest. Rookie Simon Rowland in the E-Hell dragster was doing rather well and was only stopped by his breakout against event winner Charlie Chivers despite pulling a good light. He looks extremely promising and very professional in the whole operation. No. 1 qualifier Carl Burton in the English Rose Sierra fell victim to Brian Huxley’s 32 roadster in the second round in a close race which saw Brian advance to the third round where he trailered Dan Page’s Firebird. Brian went out to Charlie Chivers in the semis despite his better light. Neil Hunter in the bright red “7 Year Itch” Capri was proving in top form despite early mechanical woes, and after qualifying no. 28 he still got to the semis. With a double snooze in the first round against Gino Bernadine where he was lucky to wake up first he proceeded to defeat Ful Lievaart with a fully awake 0.007 RT, then going on to deal with Chris Hodgkins with a 0.02 but being beaten by the pigeon master Mr Baynton in the semi finals. Neil ran his best 60’ and enjoyed taking the mickey out of everyone in his inimitable way. Chris’s small block Chevy motivated silver dragster got there by defeating Sarah Howells in the first round and a red lighting Nicky Frost in the second, making it to the final 8 cars after a very consistent string of runs which was stopped by a spluttering of the small block on the start line when he got on the transbrake in the quarter finals. The semis saw 3 Capris line up for battle: the yellow taxi, the red winder upper and the capricious blue pigeon trap, and they all suspiciously eyed the black 32. As it happened the winder upper got a light the same colour as the car, giving the pigeon trap the win, whilst the black 32 slowed to a 10.68 on a losing 10.55 despite the better RT, allowing the yellow taxi to go through to the finals. The two finalists qualified no. 2 and 3 and ran very consistently throughout the meeting, with Paul’s pigeon also ensuring mostly excellent lights. An all Capri final where the blue pigeon trap could have secured a back to back victory and got even further ahead of everyone in the points battle. Alas, it wasn’t to be, as here’s when Paul’s pigeon was seen packing his bags, a -0.015 light deciding the outcome on the start line, with Charlie’s taxi getting the Euro Finals Cup. So the fight is still on for the top 5 positions and the National Finals will decide all – although Paul seems to be rather well entrenched in number 1 position, so unless we manage to deliver a free complimentary meal (say a special recipe Heaven & Hell curry or something – or a pigeon pie) to the Capricious camp just before the race, he seems rather set to earn the triple crown in 2007. |
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SUPER GAS PITS UPSET |
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I have been asked by the RSPCZ (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Zeds) to forward an official complaint regarding a repugnant episode which took place at the Eurofinals in the Super Gas pits. “The RSPCZ would like to make it very clear that should this complaint not be upheld by the SGCUOCR (Super Gas Committee for the Upholding of Official Complaints by the RSPCZ) its members may well insist that legal action is seriously considered and a substantial redress will be demanded. The despicable occurrence arose in pits occupied by the Super Gas team Zed Case at dusk and persisted after nightfall and sadly involved their own defenceless Zed. It was alleged that the Zed Case Team allowed a husky type stuffed toy dog to perform unnatural acts of a sexual nature unto their Zed, which was restrained by means of lit up ropes and could not escape or react in any way.
We must protest further in view of the fact that several baby model Zeds
were allowed (allegedly We enclose photographic proof of the obscene, indecent, licentious and shocking occurrence, and warn that this may be used in evidence for any legal proceedings that may result.” click on the thumbnail to view incriminating evidence |
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CANNONBALL RUN EUROPE |
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Pro ET
racer and good mate Mike Lacey knew it wouldn’t be a lazy, relaxing 6 days
when he entered the Cannonball Run Europe, but his usual relentless,
aggressive enthusiasm was going to be needed at all stages of this
thrilling event. So he left at 9:00am on the first day and drove the trusty 2006 Metamorphosis Mustang the first stage to Sandown. After a quick shine up all cars were displayed at 12.30, and what a display of money and power, with Porsche being the most popular entry, but with several BMWs (M3, M5 and M6) followed by Audi, Ferrari, Maserati, and Jaguar, two Aston Martins, two Bentleys and Ford being represented by an F150 Lightning and a couple of Mustangs, one of them the yellow and purple Metamorphosis entry. And here the 57 entrants had a chance to meet and be briefed on the next stage, which was to start at 2:30pm towards Dover to catch the 4:00pm ferry to Calais. The next “mission” turned out to be an non-stop lap to Lake Garda in Northern Italy, 820 miles away. Mike thought that would be the end for the day, but he found out that the plan called for a 1 hour break immediately followed by the next stage, 500+ miles drive to Bratislava in Slovakia.
So the
total mileage for the 1st day was nearly 1500 miles! The pace didn’t slow much on the following days, with the trail taking the entrants to Budapest in Hungary, where they finally got to “relax” playing at the Hungaroring Formula 1 circuit, and where the drag racer got to show all the roundy roundy advocates how to throw a muscle car round bends at high speed, although a Ferrari 360 Modena tried to emulate and unfortunately ended spinning out of control and crashed. 70 laps later (and a full tank) they were all back to Budapest, leaving the following morning with destination Berlin, 595 miles away. The journey to Berlin and the exhilarating freedom to speed on the autobahn wasn’t to be relaxing either, starting with a brief meeting with the law when still in Hungary, when much to Mike’s immense relief the bike copper who stopped him turned out to be heavily into American Muscle cars and let him go with a very lenient fine after taking pictures of himself with the Mustang. Things got worse when towards the end of this stage a “bag of nails” was heard making a racket under the hood. This proved to be caused by a broken intake rocker. After a bit of head scratching the rocker was removed, and a call to Jon Webster confirmed that it was OK to push on with only 1 intake valve serving up the fuel to a hungry no. 8 cylinder, and the resulting leaner mixture would not end up in disaster. Mike’s new best friends Andy Paul and co-driver James, at the wheel of a Maserati, helped with the removal of the thousands of parts you have get out of the way to open up the rocker covers in a modern car, for which Mike was very grateful.
And, I kid you not – as a result there are now a Ferrari 360, a Ferrari 355 and a Maserati up for sale, and the owners are going to buy Mustangs! Mike would like to thank Jon Webster for the input and Andy Paul and co-driver James for their help during the trip. More information on the Cannonball Run can be found on the official website www.cannonballeurope.co.uk
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We couldn’t believe a third rainy meeting this year, what rotten luck, the second time I take the wheel too! So Saturday was quite miserable, although Pro ET was one of the lucky classes as at least we had one go on the track. The Santa Pod crew – if at all possible – worked even harder than usual, it seemed, and the weather cruelly laughed at their brave efforts to get the racing going and again and again it turned on the wet stuff as soon as the track was dry. What can I say guys, if not a big thank you for not giving up. So on the rainy day some impish genie was playing with Pro ET normally incredibly close qualifying, so the whole field seemed to run unpredictably and slower than usual, with numbers that would be better not to disclose! The only unlucky DNQ at the Summer Nationals was the unfortunate Phil Toppin with his new ride “Pony III” 460ci motivated Sierra, who was pushed back in the one shot qualifier and didn’t get another opportunity to make a run. Heaven & Hell was running slower at the weekend and meagre consolation was gained by seeing that most everyone else was also off-beat. We also added another – thankfully minor – problem to the list of “things to fix during the big gap in racing”: a baffling smoky cloud which emerged from the loud pipes when we started the engine after warming up, which was puzzled out only after consulting Kenny Coleman of EDA who gave us the simple answer on a plate: oil was being sucked down through the rocker stud threads. Phew, an easy one for a change, and one that I wouldn’t have thought of, thank you Kenny! So the lukewarm qualifying and the surprising first round results started to reshuffle the championship hopefuls, with Steve Bolton in the lovely wheelstanding black Scamp qualifying bottom and going out in the first round with a red light, closely followed by number 2 (yours truly) at the wheel of the Heaven & Hell Camaro, who snoozed on the line with a 0.09 reaction which Neil Hunter in the Mopar motivated Capri obliterated with a 0.01 footbrake launch. Hey, if most other racers were a bit off, Neil for sure wasn’t, my rotten luck to get the one who was fully awake and alert despite the night before! A good race to the top end which we unfortunately could not win, even avoiding a breakout by tapping the brakes and dumping him 20 foot before the line, quashed our hopes of getting to lead the points. Other first round upsets included Chris Hodgkins in the SBC powered silver dragster, who fell prey to Paul Baynton’s CAPRIcious blue ride, Paul as fully awake as Neil who prevailed with an 0.01 reaction. John Atkinson in the rapid blue Cortina pulled a cherry (an oh-so-close 7 thousandths one!) against Mike Lacey, Nicky Frost in the gorgeous bright orange 67 Camaro who pulled a red against Gary Springford’s returning Shogun which was running mid nines on half throttle and which Gary says he is still testing, the power potential being perhaps a tad greater than the car length can easily handle. Gary snoozed in the second round against Tig Napier. It was great to welcome Tig and Cath Napier with their lovely purple Challenger sporting a brand new 572ci engine. The Mopar mill has propelled the big street legal 3800lbs Dodge to 9.94 during testing at Shakey County, and Cath was disappointed that it would only run 10 zeros at Santa Pod. Tig had never raced at the Pod and the last time he was there was in 1994, but we hope he’ll be back to play with us some more. The 10.00, however, were seriously consistent , and Tig used Cath’s precise dial ins to go 4 rounds and to put away – no mean feat – 3 of the Paul Marston Racing entries in the process, being finally defeated by Neil Hunter ‘s “7 Year Itch” Capri in the semis. Gino Bernardine’s bright red Escort behaved herself for most of the meeting, the size of his engine surprising a few punters who couldn’t believe a 2 litre four pot could run mid to low nines. It was good to see him go a few rounds and to the semis too. Unfortunately he didn’t get as far as the finish line in his fourth round against Keith Herbert, the car capriciously refusing to play and denying him a chance to fight for a place in the final. Mike Lacey in the Metamorphosis Camaro did us all proud in Pro ET by organising a live band – “The Hoggz” – who lifted everyone’s spirits by braving the rain and playing some great music on the Saturday night. After such a miserable, wet day, the band managed to cheer us all up with their humour and their skill. "Drumming Man" Joe Kellett should also be commended for surprising us all with his drumming abilities, with "Mustang Sally" being much enjoyed by all. A considerable crowd, given the weather, gathered up around the band and everyone was bopping with their brollies despite the rain, and soon enough music and booze drowned our sorrows. Mike should seriously consider a career as event organiser, because if an evening where everything was against successful entertainment went as well as it did, well, I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to organise a piss-up at the International Convention of Teetotallers. A thank you to Carl Burton and Charlie Chivers too for helping to organise the financing by collecting donations and raffle tickets, there were a few cries of "RIGGED!!" when we collected our second prize (mind you, we bought a million tickets) but if it's any consolation drunken Rick grabbed the Sherry bottle thinking he got hold of the Jim Beam... well his mum will enjoy it! The raffle was a great success and together with the donations it covered the cost of the band with some surplus being set aside to go towards the Pro ET End of Season Bash. Mike didn’t just manage the Pro ET entertainment division though, he also found the time to go 2 rounds, putting away John Atkinson in the first and Liz Malcolm in the second, being stopped in the third by Neil Hunter in his march to the final. Ian Brown, busy as usual with his double entry also won two rounds, being stopped by his red light against the ineffable Keith Herbert also on his way to the final. And so we get to our two finalists, Neil Hunter used his good RTs against Heaven & Hell in the first round, then grabbed a bye in the second, put Mike Lacey away in the third and stopped Tig Napier in the semis. Alas, Neil used the RT he should have gallantly used against me only in the final against Keith… As far as Keith Herbert in the “Hillingdon Speed and Spares” Super Stock replica, he used the meeting to barge in – unannounced – straight into number 1 spot in the National Championship points, displacing Steve Bolton who dropped to number 4. Not content with upsetting everybody, without any concern for other racers’ hurt feelings, he decided to go for overkill, unashamedly qualifying number one with a staggering 5 hundredths off his dial-in (normally not even good enough to get you in the field) and then – not satisfied with snatching the generous prize money and vouchers offered by the Pro ET Sponsorship Scheme, he went for total overkill by also winning the meeting, defeating Neil in the final with a 0.11 reaction…………..!! I mean, the guy has no manners… !! JSo Keith now holds the pole position in the National and in the money championship (SPRC), whilst Heaven & Hell hang on by the skin of their teeth to second place in both, and Paul Baynton and Carl Burton hold third place respectively, but it’s real close and we’ll have to work hard to even stay there! Unofficial points standings have now been posted on the Heaven & Hell website and will soon be posted on the Pro ET site (see forum for top 10 positions) but as always please refer to the official points standings when they are published on Eurodragster. Finally, a big thank you to the crew at Santa Pod, you’re the best – to the Eurodragster crew, best place in cyberspace – to the Pro ET Sponsors Inkwell Printers, Penn Autos, Sandy Scooters, A1 Motor Stores, W.A.S.P., Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Alley Jax, Motorshack, Hauser Race Cars, Real Steel ; to Mike Lacey, Carl Burton, Charlie Chivers and all in Pro ET, for making the class so brilliant to race in.
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What a fantastic weekend at Santa Pod, team
Heaven & Hell enjoyed it immensely, despite the setback. The track seemed
to be stickier than it's ever been before, although we never smelled the
glue - they must be using something different and whatever it is the
Camaro loved it, and loved the new surface so much that she finally
produced wheelies to be proud of. Still on 9 inch slicks and leaf springs - together with John Calvert's unbeatable Caltracs - the Heaven & Hell Camaro produced proper Super Stock launches and a 1.29 sixty foot, as well as running the best time ever of 9.71. The first one took Rick by surprise and by the time he had steered straight he was late shifting, hence the 9.92 ET. By the third wheelie we had the Caltracs adjusted right, no steering was necessary on landing and he could hit the shift the instant the front came down. What a great feeling, Rick said afterwards, it's the only way to launch. We were on top of the world and having a whale of a time, this is what we love, this is where we really have fun, by launching with a perfect weight transfer, the momentum carrying the 3000 lbs. body in free fall, almost rendered weightless as it glides forward gently and comes down gradually and gracefully, at times adding a couple of bounces but generally looking like pure dynamic poetry. Happy times. Alas, she also had to live up to her name - she would be just called Heaven otherwise - and after 4 flawless runs she coughs and screams after the burnout. And yes, on our return to the pits and after whipping off the intake we saw that another rocker stud snapped off and another lifter stuck in the bore. The valvetrain obviously needs some careful looking at - and after towing back home (this is becoming something of a habit) and stripping the engine we decided that it was best to swap back to the trusty 383 once again, leaving the repairs to a more awake and less stressed moment. However the 383 didn't mind being awaken from its well earned hibernation and responded well, by letting us dial it in after just one breakout run. So we got past Gary Springford in the first round running a 10.267 on a 10.26 dial-in, helped along by Gary's unneeded but generous red-light. No wheelies but hey, if we can't wheelie we may as well try and go rounds. After the first round we were just happy we could race on race day - the downside of a class with 5 rounds being that if you don't survive the first round you are left with nothing to do far too early - and that's where the worst hangovers may well originate! The following day we managed to get past Marius Blackburn, Vic Amato and Jerry Smith to land in the final, something unexpected after the troubled interlude. And here unfortunately things didn't work out according to the script, and we are considering protesting the results. The reason is that everyone knows that in all movies when the underdog
blows up his engine and he's out of the race, when he goes home (or
wherever) he meets an old geezer (who used to be the god of engine
building before the Noah was born) with an ancient engine (which used to
be the best during the Pleistocene races) rusting in a shed. If any of you is interested in the girl we could agree a price for that (Rick need not apply). However should the MSA Officials not be impressed by my theory (S) the win will deservedly stay with Steve Bolton in the beautiful wheelstanding black Plymouth: he pulled a killer light, raced the top end with great skill and basically ran a better race than we did, the double break-out going his way mainly due to the difference on the tree. So well done Steve, only kidding about the protest! Shame we didn't have the 434 engine in the final, nothing looks better than two American muscle cars wheelstanding together on the startline, hopefully we'll fix soon and we'll ensure it's more reliable this time! We would like to pass heart-felt thanks to Santa Pod for the excellent surface we raced on, Pomona couldn't be any better, the whole Pro ET class for making racing so much fun, the Pro ET class sponsors (remember to support the companies who support your racing: Inkwell Printers, Penn Autos, Sandy Scooters, A1 Motor Stores, W.A.S.P., Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Alley Jax, Motorshack, Hauser Race Cars, Real Steel, Top End Tales) Carl Burton for being a diamond geezer and organising the Pro ET shirts, so that we could also be the best dressed class, and Eurodragster for uploading news so quickly that we received texts congratulating on the wheelies as we were walking back to the pits!Also well done to Team Metamorphosis for their splendid victory in Sportsman ET and watch out for Anna Metcalfe - she's not really a blonde!!! |
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2006: Start of the season - (first April Races) click on title to view article A little bit of hell - (Main Event Blues) click on title to view article Test Day smiles - (Santa Pod 14th July) click on title to view article Euro Finals - (Santa Pod September 06) click on title to view article End of Season - (It's over!!!) article below |
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Can't believe the season is over, it's gone so
fast but it's been so much fun. Congratulations to Top Banana Lee Huxley
in the very consistent 32 Ford for conquering the triple crown this year,
Pod, Shakey and National. Lee is a well respected, experienced racer and
an opponent never to be taken lightly, but always showing sportsmanship
and fairness. A well deserved win which I admit we would have preferred
taking away from him, alas the rain and engine gods weren't with us this
year, or that is our excuse and we are sticking to it. Dad Brian also
managed a runner up in Sportsman in his very pretty blue Mustang (can this
be considered his rookie year????) which will add to the weight of the
silverware being collected in February. Well done to Kevin Slyfield in the Yellow Belly Plymouth Belvedere too for taking away the runner up trophy from us (GRRR) and doing it with so much humour. Kevin qualified number one during the first session on Saturday, only to be ousted by John Atkinson (dangerously close behind in the race for number 2) in the second session. However as the second session was not completed, with the last 4 cars stopped by rain (including our own), John's second effort may well have been scrapped as a result. So Kevin rain danced with vigour (yes, you can all blame him), whilst during the night John Atkinson was out mopping up the track with his handkerchief and sending crew chief Tom out for more toilet paper. Kevin's prayers were not answered and the session was completed in the morning, but as the rain gods decided to finally quench his thirst we found ourselves cemented in the pre-race positions, so we stayed at number 3 (well at least we don't have to peel the number off the car) and John lost his shiny number 1 slipping to number 4. Not to be sneezed at in a competitive, tough class like Pro ET. Kevin also walked away with a considerable amount of money in his pocket, although this meant he had to part with the trusted Belvedere, having sold it to a German lady who will bring it back to race in Pro ET next year. So we all looked on whilst the old girl was loaded onto the new owner's trailer, and it was an emotional moment, for sure wife and crew chief Elaine was not happy to see it go, I understand the feeling completely. Kevin is now building something faster and hopefully we'll see it making its debut next year, which should be some consolation for the loss of the old friend. Looking at the big picture, Pro ET really has grown like a big family and it's always fun to be with our fellow racers, rain or shine. There were several emotional farewells in the pits and if Mike Lacey and Anna Metcalfe are really selfish and do not organise another Pro ET do soon (the last one being disguised as Anna's birthday party) we'll have to invent some other bench racing event - in the meantime we look forward to seeing you again at the Dinner Dance! We would like to pass heart-felt thanks to the Santa Pod crew for the excellent efforts in drying the track at the National Finals and their hard work during the whole season, the whole Pro ET class for making racing so much fun, Bob Regis for generously building and running the Pro ET site, Carl Burton for organising the sponsorship deal for all of us (remember to support the companies who support your racing: Inkwell Printers, Penn Autos, Psycle Workz, Sandy Scooters, A1 Motor Stores, W.A.S.P., Webster Race Engineering, Toxico Clothing, Black Bear Harley Davidson, Alley Jax) Tog, Sharkman and Simon for the great gift of Eurodragster to all of us - and Tog for test driving the Heaven & Hell Camaro when we thought it may be too dangerous for us J . |
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| Euro Finals | |
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Racing at the European Finals looked like
fantastic fun, I really looked forward to the passenger rides at the Press
Day and to a competitive field in qualifying. With 45 competitors shooting
for a 32 car field no-one can afford to rest on their laurels, least of
all Heaven & Hell, who due to engine damage did not even qualify at the
Main Event. The Press Day started well with Tog taking a passenger ride which I hope he enjoyed although he was by then a veteran driver of the Heaven & Hell Camaro; continued with a scream when I finally took best mate Tracy Doyle up the quarter mile, which was a great laugh; and ended with an "Ouch!!!" at the third ride, when Gino Bernadine's crew man Steve witnessed loss of power and ominous engine noises at the top end, not to speak of various F@C#!!X S&*~#!!! B@!!@CX from the driver who felt a deja-vu rapidly unfolding before her eyes. And so it was - after inspection a rocker stud was found to have snapped in half and a lifter was stuck in its bore, and although spares were at hand the stubbornness with which the lifter held on counselled caution with the efforts to remove it, suggesting damage to the bore would result. So Heaven & Hell decided to take the problem home and once more swap in the old faithful 383, albeit with some trepidation, keeping in mind the DNQ at the Main Event after a similar effort. Car loaded up we headed for London at about 8:00pm and sailed all the way to the A102 approach to the Blackwall Tunnel, where we came to an absolute stop. With horror we re-lived the jam we had the last time, only even worse, and further aggravated by finally discovering the reason for the jam: changing light bulbs in the tunnel.. Got home in the middle of the night and decided that going to sleep would improve our chances of doing things right, and of course were woken up by Pontiac the cat with his usual mouse offering (it's now a regular occurrence) although this time the mouse was dead by the time I tried to rescue it. After swapping in the engine the following day we had a brain fade and forgot to disconnect a wire which is only used with a crank trigger and which prevents ignition when using a distributor - having to puzzle out for a while why we had no spark. Before we could say "Doh!!" Mike Lacey rang, worried at not having yet seen us come back. When told of the problem and feeling obviously sorry for our misfortune he said "You must be close to giving up by now…!" to which the answer was "Mike, the time for us to give up will be when they are reading our will." Giving up is not in Rick's dictionary, anyway. Among other occasions when he moved heaven and earth (or is it heaven & hell?) to still go racing despite any misfortune or problems he once convinced me to go racing at Hockenheim, against the consultant's orders, when he had three fractures on his pelvis and one on his collar bone, and had to make his way to the startline, on crutches, 15 minutes before we ran to make sure he'd get there on time. His quiet, determined way always prevails over my sometimes less than balanced enthusiasm and despair cycles. We got back to the track on Friday morning, happy that it wasn't raining but worried at not having many shots left to try and qualify. It was wonderful to hear fellow Pro ET racers congratulate us for coming back and tell us they were happy we made it, the sportsmanship shown by all was heart warming. Ian and Ozzy Brown of Thatadoo fame turned up to help and crew for us which gave us an extra feel good factor (although I am not sure if I forgive Ian’s son Harrison for crewing for the guy who put us out!) However queuing up in the fire-up road I heard how tight the qualifying field was already: 3 hundredths of a second bump spot, Mike Lacey then at number 8 with a +.007… (which became no. 17!!!!) and said "I'll get me coat!" the qualifying was insane, I felt our chances dwindle by the second. We made a run hoping for the best, and on the way back to the pits I saw a couple of people give me the thumbs up and thought, "I must have made it", collected the ticket and YES! 15 thousandths off the dial in got us safely in the field, we were going to race, and I felt the relief you feel when falling from a plane and suddenly the parachute opens up and you float gently in the air, at peace with yourself and the universe. The second run, much to our delight, further improved our position, a +.003 putting us in the 7th spot. The third run on the Saturday morning was very consistent and we felt fairly confident of going a few rounds, providing I cut a light and the Camaro behaved herself and didn’t spin the tyres. We were also pleased that good mate Anders Envall at last made it into the racing, the chain of disasters and breakage that stopped him in the past finally coming to an end. Anders was unfortunately out in the first round against Dave Ward who outgunned him on the lights. This time, however, no tow truck for Bostic, he said he called them anyway out of habit and then hung up, (!!) happy to be at least able to drive his 9 second big Impala home without problems. The first round saw us paired with Gary Springford in the Whoopass! Monza who pulled a monster red light, his first one in competition, apparently due to a slipping transbrake button. I am normally unable to celebrate a victory by default, but I got some consolation from my 0.042 reaction, not too shabby and perhaps good enough for an outright win. 2005 champion John Atkinson in the rapid "Time is Money" Cortina was next, and as the light faded gently and the sun romantically sank behind the bank over the track, my preoccupation with a possible red light due to the increased contrast resulted in a slow 0.100, my worst light of the weekend and something which could have easily cost me the race – fortunately John must have had the same preoccupation with pulling a cherry and his light was even slower, allowing me to stay ahead and tap the brakes before the finish line to avoid a breakout. I was delighted with having qualified and having survived to race on race day, all the hard work was worth it this time, and Heaven & Hell would do it all again every time – if we can fix it , we will, and come back and race. On race day we got to the track in the morning mist, everything taking a kind of surreal, moody tint, and prepared to give battle. Kev Slyfield in the "Yellow Belly" Plymouth Belvedere was to meet us in the third round, "NOT like a bye run" I commented to Harrison Brown who announced that they (Ian Atkinson) were to have a solo run following Ron Bartlett’s engine damage. And here I find, much to my surprise, that Kevin’s wife Elaine doesn’t change her hair style four times a day… she has a twin sister!! I had vaguely noticed earlier this year that there were two of her (!!) and thought that Elaine’s sister had just started to come racing with the family. I discovered that Angie (the twin) has been racing with them for over 3 years… and obviously thought Elaine was changing her hair daily during this time!! Anyway much to my great relief we got by Kevin despite his better light by 2 hundredths, with the Camaro behaving herself, passing Kevin just before the line and allowing me to again tap the brakes. A close race and a satisfying result. So we got to the semi-finals in the toughest field ever, a big achievement which unfortunately wasn’t going to go one better and get us in the final, as the race with Ian Atkinson in the "Menace" big black Plymouth was to be our last. Ian nailed the tree with a 0.02 and ran one thousandth off his dial in - very difficult to beat with a 0.03 and a wheel-spinning 7 hundredths off - my foot trying to go through the floor at the top end still didn't let me pass him and he took the trophy away from my greedy fingers. Ian raced competently and had consistent good lights throughout the weekend, proving that although this is his first full season he is already a strong contender in the Pro ET tough field - to have taken the win in such competitive conditions is a credit to his consistence and his enthusiasm for the class. Well done to Ian and also to Paul Vrind, who made it all the way to the final round the very first time he raced in Pro ET at Santa Pod, not a mean feat. As for us, second time lucky-er, at least it was worth the time, the work and the hassle, and racing in Pro ET is its own reward: the biggest and most competitive class in Britain! (check out the qualifying ladder if you don't believe me!)
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| Test Day smiles | |
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A great day for Heaven & Hell, improved ET and
a sunny, friendly, clear day. In the words of the inimitable Tracy Doyle
"isn’t it great to be at the track and know it’s not going to
rain"! We tried a few different settings with the suspension, played with the timing and generally blasted down the track with a smile. The first baseline run off the trailer was a 9.75, pleasing and our best time then. This was probably mainly the effect of the new "magic oil" advised by good old Kenny Coleman, which seems to be working good for us, as well as good air density. We next played with the timing but some serious wheel spin off the line and further up the track (the wind was probably blowing dust on the track) gave us an inconclusive 9.94, so we made another run after it was nicely swept and scraped by the crew. The 41º advance resulted in a 9.72 – best time to date – although Tog, in charge of timing for the day, dialled us in at 9.74 making us break out. We next played with the suspension, although the Caltracs liked best the setting they were already on, so changing it slowed us down to a 9.92. Going the other way with the Caltracs didn’t seem to improve matters either, giving us a final 9.75 which backed up nicely the first run but proved that the Heaven & Hell Camaro is probably already set up using the best compromise. At this point I have to apologise to Tog as he was going to be driver for the day and therefore I stole "his" 9.72 – however he decided to be cautious and take it easy for a little while longer and let me take the wheel instead. What of course I think "taking it easy" means is laying on a hammock sipping margaritas and watching drag racing videos (or Bullit for the 15th time) while for Tog it obviously means working hard as usual but not wearing a firesuit…. Also very pleasing was seeing Mike Lacey finally getting his 9 second run (shame partner Anna Metcalfe was not there to witness it, unfortunately she couldn’t get the day off) after following Jon Webster’s priceless advice on radial tires set up. Jon was on hand giving valuable advice to all as usual, and proving once more (as if he needed to!) that he knows a thing or two about doorslammers like ours. So, Happy Nines Mike! I would also like to congratulate Ian and Angela Turnbull for the birth of their son Thomas William, who arrived on 10th July 2006 weighing 7lbs 3oz which we believe is legal for the class he currently races in. Best wishes to the Plough Garage Racing Team. Ian is an accomplished Sportsman ET racer as well as a sponsor of all sportsman classes through his company BigV8.com, a site dedicated to buying and selling American cars.
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| A little bit of hell... after a little bit of heaven... | |
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The season started with a 9.95 run straight off the trailer following the installation of our new 434ci small block. This obviously pleased us, but the best part was achieving the launch we wanted, wheeling off the line and carrying the wheels gently, in SuperStock style. Some people say that while you go up you aren't going forward. Well, it's like saying that people are fat. Or that people are thin. It really depends, doesn't it? Of course, if you have a very light car with wide slicks it will not react in the same way - or require the same equipment - as a heavy car with 9" slicks. So believe me, our 60' times went down considerably as the front wheels went up. Our best ET at time of updating this (not often enough!) is 9.86, best mph 134. We both enjoy driving the car with the new engine very much - it's a pleasure having to stabilise the steering wheel as the front wheels land after the launch whilst pulling second gear and going yeah! We feel very grateful to John Gianoli of Gianoli Motorsports in South San Francisco. He was our mentor in the building of the 383 small block Chevy we used for 4 seasons, achieving considerable success and helping us win two national championships and gain runner up in another 2, in the space of 4 years. John also helped us with our current new baby, the 434. Thanks also to Kenny Coleman of EDA who provided dyno services and endless help and advice. However, following a little bit of heaven at the beginning of the season, we experienced a little bit of hell... The Main Event started with great expectations - big meeting, 4 days racing, 47 entries - but the first qualifying run dampened our enthusiasm more than a bit, when after an incredibly flat launch the Camaro ran 11.36. The engine didn't rev up in the burnout, and back in the pits some head scratching led us to inspect the valve lash as a possible suspect, so the valve covers were removed to reveal a badly damaged rocker arm, with a trunnion needle bearing missing all of its roller pins, the lash cap missing from the tip of no. 2 intake valve, and the adjuster nut laying next to the spring.. uh ho.. was the comment. The damage was unlikely to be major, but obviously the engine needed a strip down and inspection, and all the broken fragments found and accounted for, and as this could not be done in the pits we loaded up and headed for home, with the intention of swapping engines (installing our trusty 383) and coming back in the morning for the first qualifying session. We left the track at 3 o'clock and drove straight into a 5 hour traffic jam, and by the time we got home it was time to go to bed.. so we went to the garage. We were then treated to generous helpings of sod's law, and most things that could go wrong did. So a stripped thread on the torque converter led to a warped flexplate, a missed internal shim on the starter motor meant a stripped thread on the starter housing - with no helicoil in the correct size - and lots more to last all night. We went to bed for an hour at 5:30, got up, filled up with fluids and fired up. All seemed well so we loaded up - and drove straight into a traffic jam. (of course) So we get back to the Pod at around 12:00, we miss the morning qualifying session and it rains the rest of the day (more sod's law). We got one single shot at qualifying for the 32 car field the following day, and unfortunately a slower run that anticipated confirms our DNQ status, the very first time ever.. We were still glad we at least tried, and would do it all over again, never give up if there is a chance to race! The 434 was back in for the Summer Nationals, and back to its usual performance (after finding all 32 roller pins, the last one fished out with a magnet from an oil gallery) running 9.89 best in 2400 feet of density altitude and launching wheels up to make us smile again. With only 3 qualification runs and breaking out in the first two we were starting to panic a bit, but fortunately got in at number 13 with 3 hundredths off the dial-in, and got to the semi finals where I red-lit against Clive Cox, would have loved to get to the final but enjoyed the meeting and driving the car immensely. We now look forward to the Eurofinals! Of dynos, good launches and 9 second runs, the start of the season for Heaven & Hell. We had a great time at the Thunderball despite the rain and the delays, which we were largely spared thanks to our red light in the second round. With a well prepped track the 9" Phoenix radial slicks really dug in on the launch and we achieved not only our best 60’ times ever (1.349) but with both wheels up, well on the way to our dream of a Superstock launch. Much to our delight the launch was immortalised by Gareth Evans (www.uk1320.com) and the ineffable Sharkman, (www.topendtales.com). Gareth takes excellent pictures despite "shooting from spectatorland" and we liked the Christmas tree view. We would like to thank the people who helped us achieve the best from this combination – first of all John Gianoli of Gianoli Motorsports in San Francisco who was our guru and mentor in the specification of our 383ci small block and our current 434ci small block. With a 3000lbs car with stock chassis apart from frame connectors, 9" slicks, monoleaf springs and Caltracks, (thank you John Calvert) TH350, GM 10 bolt rear and leaving the line on a footbrake, we can say that the combo is starting to work really well and the 434 is obviously just what the doctor (Gianoli) ordered. Kenny Coleman of EDA was also instrumental to our success, as we make a point of taking our engines to his dyno as soon as we build them. Many people react with "I don’t need to dyno my engine to know it works" and various other comments suggesting you are wasting time and money with a dyno session. Our opinion is completely the opposite, and for many good reasons. A dyno session will exclude all other variables and will tell you EXACTLY what the engine is doing. There will be no wheel spin, no tyre shake, no transmission woes during a dyno pull. The track is always perfect and the rear end always faultless… No head or side wind, no driver error… you get my drift. The information you obtain is purely to do with the engine – unadulterated, spotless, as pure as a mountain spring. And you get loads of it. Sheets and sheets which show exactly WHERE the engine is making the power – with clear graphs showing Torque and Horse Power curves that will help you to determine exactly what converter you should use, at what RPM you should launch, when you should shift… not forgetting that when you have your converter custom built (ours were built by Munsinger California and - don't ask why - Ray Raaymaker in Australia) the builder will ask you for dyno sheet information, as well as all other details of your car (ours wanted to know our shoe size too). The purpose of the dyno is only very marginally to tell you how much power your engine is making – that particular piece of information is almost irrelevant. Add to the mix a man like Kenny Coleman and you have a winning combination. Whether he has built your engine or not (we build our own) he takes extreme care in handling your baby, he nurses it through the first start up, listens attentively on the baby monitor (well, earphones) to make sure no nastiness is detected in any of the cylinders, and gives you his full attention all day, jetting up and down, trying different carburettors, different size headers, timing… how long would it take to test all of these combinations on the track? Even better, you don't even have to find/borrow/buy different size headers, or different carbs, until you know which work best. Of course you can do your homework beforehand and come well equipped with the parts you think will be perfect, and if you get it totally right you can play with your tuning settings for longer. Kenny's help went above and beyond the call of duty with us and we spent a very long day at his workshop in Castleford, and we finally called it a day before he did. It took us almost 4 hours to get to him from London, and 4 hours to get back - but we thought it was well worth the time and the money, we wouldn't consider any nearer alternatives and we would recommend the whole experience to anyone without hesitation. |
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