We are sad to report Dave “Fuzzie” McKenzie, long serving Chair of the Supercharged Outlaws passed away on Saturday 5th October. Thanks to Andy Fadster for sending in this news to Eurodragster.com, Andy says:
The group have known Dave to be poorly for quite some time but nevertheless, the loss is a shock. As a founding member and such a huge supporter of S/O, Dave went out of his way to introduce people to the group and encourage them to join.
He was a key member of Team Thing, later to become Team Tiki, and piloted the car on several occasions.
His stoic manner was a thin veil over the gentle and caring man he was and he was adored by anyone who knew him. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to his son Will McKenzie and the whole of the McKenzie family.
Rest peacefully Dave, your legacy speaks for itself and you will be very much missed.
We here are eurodragster.com are sadden and send our condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.
Former Eurodragster.com editor Andy (Tog) Rogers is at Melbourne Raceway for this weekend's Straightliners Round 8. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from day 1 of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Melbourne Saturday off- and on-track galleries and best times (courtesy Martyn Greathead) now showing on Eurodragster.com.
The British Drag Racing Historians John Hunt and Nick Pettit explains how they got to do the exhibition at National Motor Musuem, Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival. John writes:
It all started the afternoon before the Surrey Pioneers Reunion at Blackbushe Airport, 28th July 2021. The BDRH had their first get together and what came out of our chat was the question 'what would happen to our collections after we pass away?’. Five or six members in the group have substantial amounts of memorabilia from the start of Drag Racing in England and from Sprinting before that. The National Motor Museum Trust at Beaulieu was suggested as a place that might be interested in receiving these collections.
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I knew Doug Hill, Museum Manager, and got in touch with him which led to my pre-visit with Simon Groves, meeting Doug and Patrick Collins, Curator of Vehicles & Research, together in September 2021 to discuss the possibilities of the Museum being bequeathed any or all of the collections for their archives. We both had a tour of their Collections Centre archive building which was very interesting and we discovered the museum had very little if any material covering the sport of Drag Racing.
This led to the BDRH group being invited to the Museum November 29th 2022 of which seven members attended and all were given a Collections Centre tour and afterwards discussed their individual collections with three Curators. Each Curator introduced themselves, talked about their roles and the Collections they cared for. The BDRH material could be bequeathed to their archives giving a one-off comprehensive collection to represent the Motor Sport of Drag Racing in England and Europe.
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Andrea Bishop, Director of Collections and Engagement, asked if there was an important event coming up in Drag Racing to celebrate. I very quickly said yes and passed her a folder and said the '60th Anniversary of the first British Drag Racing Festival' September 19th 2024. Andrea also said if the Exhibition can happen it would be a great platform to showcase the sport and also illustrate the excellence of the BDRH holdings, in support of the case for a comprehensive one-off collection to represent Drag Racing. We were then introduced to Carina Taylor, Curator of Library Collections, who closely worked with us in collating suitable and engaging content material for the exhibition.
After an exhaustive and frustrating process for Nick Pettitt and I supplying endless amounts of information and a large selection of photographs and original items available for display, there followed much toing and froing of emails and phone calls as the items and information were whittled down to a usable quantity with a large amount not being used. This is a necessary editing process when making a museum exhibition. The result is an exhibition called 'Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival' and is now open at the National Motor Museum’s In Focus temporary exhibition gallery.
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I believe I speak for all of the BDRH members in saying we are all very proud and grateful for this opportunity to have the 60th Anniversary of the 1964 Drag Festival celebrated at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu running for over five months. The Drag Festival was such an important occasion at the time for the growth of British Drag Racing. What this Exhibition means to the BDRH, is that it will be seen by many thousands of visitors and give them an understanding of how the Motor Sport of Drag Racing started in England and then in Europe.
Nick's video includes a quick look at the exhibition, then he films Dave Riswick talking to Derek Metcalf and the opening speeches, firing up the Allard Chrysler dragster, Chris Pattison taking a seat in the Allard Chrysler, Alan Allard talking to Rob Mackie and then Nick climbs into the Allard Chrysler dragster. You can view Nick's video by clicking here.
(Pictures are credited to National Motor Museum)
Thanks to Andrea Bishop, Director of Collections and Engagement at National Motor Musuem for letting BDRH and Eurodragster.com to publish this report: Andrea reports: Thursday 26th September 2024 was the Private viewing of The Exhibition called 'Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival'. It has opened at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu in the 'In Focus' temporary exhibition gallery situated in the museum's main building, and includes a wall display of photos and original material, cabinets with original items and TV screen constantly showing original footage from the festival. The Exhibition continues for over five months ending February 2nd 2025.
The event was attended by members of the British Drag Racing Historians who contributed much information for the exhibition and a host of different people from within Drag Racing. Alan Allard, (son of Sydney), Alan's wife and two son's Gavin and Lloyd. Alan drove the Allard Chrysler dragster and the Works Allard Dragon dragster at all six rounds of the 1964 Drag Festival. The Allard Chrysler is permanently on display at the museum and we were treated to the firing up of the dragster just outside the main museum building within view of the Exhibition.
Other invited guests included Derek and Pam Metcalf who built their own dragster 'Wombat' and raced it at the final round of the festival at Blackbushe. Ian Bartlett son of Peter and Erica. Peter won an award at the festival which is on display. Chris Pattison who won the Works Allard Dragon in a magazine competition and raced it in 1966, Bob Mackie and his son, Bob drove the Works Allard Dragon at the 1965 Drag Festival. Dave Riswick from John Woolfe Racing who supplied photos from his archives, Lesley and John Wright who represented the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame and Darren Prentice, Max Frost and Cullum Pudge from Santa Pod Raceway.
Anger Management Pro Modified team published this recap of the National Fianls on their Facebook page earlier this week:
National Finals 2024 Recap: A tough test from the weather...
After our final round finish at the Euro Finals, spirits were high leading up to the National Finals. Despite only 2 weeks between events, our usual schedule of maintenance was followed, this means blower, intake, cylinder heads removed, pistons and rods removed for measuring, transmission out, clutch out for flywheel and pressure plate resurfacing, gear ratios changed (more on that later), the list goes on. We were glad to see that we had no signs of detonation when measuring the rod bearings after the 4 runs we made on the Sunday, so our tuneup was relatively safe.
Leading up to the event we saw the barometric pressure was up over 30, this is extremely high for our UK racing season, to give you some context, in relation to the English system of measurement, one atmosphere (atm) equals 29.9213 inches of mercury (inHg), or 14.6959 psi. A swing of 1 inHg of mercury therefore is around 0.5 psi, combined with a lower ambient temperature can mean around 1 psi extra boost, doesn’t sound like much but we are only working with 37-38 psi overall. The reason for all this claptrap is we were gearing up for some potentially record setting weather.
Q1 we went with our usual (tall) 1st gear ratio, which in theory is the ideal setup for the prevailing conditions. The barometer had dropped quite significantly by Friday however, and with a constant threat of rain the humidity % was fairly high. We still expected a low 5.90 or even a very high 5.80. We were quite disappointed when a 5.96 showed on the boards, when you see us on the startline looking disappointed and kicking rocks it’s not always because the performance was bad, more so there is a feeling of missed opportunity.
The track conditions were absolutely stellar and we had clearly underestimated the grip levels available, that much was obvious once we saw the low wheelspeed numbers and high clutch slippage from the on board datalogger. We use laser ride height sensors on the front of the chassis, rear (next to the 4 link) and on the axle, we also use 4 travel sensors on each corner of the car. We could see the car porpoising on launch on the slow motion video, our data showed this wasn’t a function of suspension movement, it was all rear tyre compression, then rebound, compression and rebound. A sure sign of not enough wheelspeed, for a smooth launch we need to spin the tyres a certain amount to get them nice and round, otherwise we risk suffering tyre shake.
To combat this we installed a shorter 1st gear ratio, just like we did at the Euro Finals. A side note from Q1, we had increased our port nozzle sizes significantly to change the balance between fuel going through the blower and injector hat and the ports themselves in an effort to give us a bigger window on the tuneup (smaller nozzle sizes mean a small step in size is a larger % change in fuel flow when compared to larger nozzles, as the nozzles are measured in orifice size). Usual conduct would be to do a short run but with the constant threat of the weather we didn’t have that luxury, so some calculations were made and the tuneup was deemed to be ‘safe’ for a ¼ mile pull.
With that being said, some small cylinder to cylinder changes were made to even up the cylinders based on spark plug readings and to a lesser extent EGT values. We also made a minor change to the timing curve, and headed to the pairing lanes.
Unfortunately when we got there the motor would not fire. Thank you to the Wallace Motorsports team for waiting for us, they are true sportsmen, however no matter what we tried it was no bueno. We could see the problem lied within the circuit for the emergency shut off device, this piece of equipment has the ability to kill ignition, throw the parachutes and shut off the fuel depending on it’s input parameters. Perhaps we will go into more detail in another post. Either way, the system is a welcome lifeline when things go wrong. Sometimes it will cause you a problem, although 99% of the time it’s a user error rather than an inherent problem with the system. In our case once we got back to the pits, with the use of a torch we could see that the ‘burst plug’ that sits in front of the burst panel of the inlet manifold had come loose, which is an instant ignition cut. We use a burst panel ‘chinmey’ to direct the pressure out of the bodywork so it is not possible to access this plug without disassembly of the chimney. On the bright side it was a quick fix so we had a nice evening meal and an early night.
On Saturday morning a riders and drivers meeting was held, the SPRC, aware of the weather front that was due to hit us on Sunday elected to hold eliminations on the Saturday instead. This was absolutely the right decision, championships were yet to be decided and packing away in the rain sucks. E1 we kept the same tuneup in the car, running against an ever improving Mick Payne in the Plymouth Duster. Mick unfortunately left before the tree was activated, Andy streaked on to the win, but again only a 5.96. We had again underestimated the track, the grip levels causing a huge amount of clutch slippage. Despite no increase in performance we at least knew the short 1st gear worked okay, we had a bye run in the 2nd round so it was time to swing some counterweight at the clutch.
Sadly Mother Nature had other plans, a biblical storm ensued, haildrops the size of marbles fell from the sky and some parts of the pits were subject to flash flooding. This went on for nearly an hour, at that point we figured we were done for the day. However the Santa Pod team did not give up, in a monumental effort they cleared the standing water, dried the entire track and shutdown area, prepped the track and started running again! This kind of dedication is the norm at Santa Pod however we must not underestimate the amount of hard work the team there put in, they are true heroes of the sport and without each and every one of them we would not be able to compete at the level that we do safely or otherwise.
Well done guys! We were due to be called but we could see we were very close to dew point, this is not always an issue if the track has some heat in it, but unfortunately the temperature dropped and it was no longer viable to run cars down the track as the dew was coming in very fast. Again, thank you to the Santa Pod team for their hard work, and also for knowing exactly when to call it a day. These decisions are not easily made.
Sunday was a complete washout sadly, so with that was the conclusion to the 2024 season. We amassed enough points to win the MSUK Drag Racing Championship for the 9th time which we are ecstatic about! We also were greeted with the news that Wayne Nicholson and the Lucky Devil Drag Racing team are retiring from competition. A great shame, we will miss them at the track, not many teams have the tenacity those guys have, they proved themselves to be top
Thank you to Diana Macrae, Julian Hunt and Katie Higgs of the Eurodragster.com team for these pictures.
NGK Spark Plugs (UK), Torco USA, Mike Janis Racing, Starracerbelts.com, Noonan Race Engineering, PAC Racing Springs, EZ Motorsports, Precision Racing Suspension, Carbon Collective, Vivid Vinyl
Happy Birthday for today to turbocharged Rat Rod exponent Graham Butler. Have a great day Graham.
Thanks to Nigel Taylor for sending this to Eurodragster.com, Nigel would like to wish Kenzie Taylor a very Happy 20th Birthday. Nigel writes:
Kenzie has been bought up around drag racing and hot rods ever since being born and it staid in his blood , at the age of 16n and he obtained an MSA License and was driving his dads 100e up the famous Santa Pod Drag strip. As soon as he was 17, he purchased his rare 1959 Hillman Minx Wagon (that he wanted from the age of 13) and 3 months later he passed his test and the Hillman went absolutely everywhere.
You may of seen Kenzie at the track taking photos with good friend Callum Pudge (when these 2 are together beware of the banta and mis-behavior )
Kenzie has been lucky to do photos trackside For the NSRA, Feature & Drive.
Colin woods amazing Husky, as well as the Nostalgia Super Stock class, Willys Wars, Goodales private track days and the recent Street Weekend for Drag Seen Magazine along with thousands of more great photos.
Kenzie works at the excellent Old bones Fabrications workshops in Andover, Hampshire where the work quality speaks for itself (check out the recent Best in Britain competition 56 Chevy build).
The camera hobby hasn’t had so much of a look in this year due to crewing on his friend Dougie Hills 6 second slingshot dragster which has meant even more time at the track , so much that after wrecking so many tents has now treated himself to a Bedford Bambi Camper (luxury -compared to a tent).
This year has been a massive learning curve on the dragster & Kenzie hopes to spend more time getting to know more over the next year as well as an already planned trip to America. A diff repair on the Hillman teaching his girlfriend Erin how to drive the 100e and he hopes to drive the 600bhp MK2 Cortina for Julie Simmonds as she starts to learn the ropes of drag racing.
Thank you for all your enthusiasm, encouragement and support not only for myself and Unusual Car Sales U.K. and for every single drag racer, hot rodder etc. you have spoke too .
The fourth round of Santa Pod Raceway’s Sports Compact Shootouts for 2024 took place last Sunday 29th September. Congratulations to Lewis Simpson for winning the hard fought event.
The win came on a frenetic day with three rounds of qualifying taking place in the morning and then four rounds of racing in the afternoon.
Results, thanks to etslips.co.uk, were as follows:
Qualifying:
- Dave Henderson (Audi RS3 saloon) 8.9499/154.16
- Lewis Simpson (Civic EG 2000cc) 9.5738/159.68
- Dannie Highman (Golf 2000cc) 9.8592/118.27
- Ian Pepper (Nova 2000cc) 10.0170/148.12
- Ant Mincher (Mk1 Golf 2000cc) 10.0684/137.75
- Paul Jordan (Polo 1800cc) 10.1648/138.26
- Grant Moore (Corsa 2000cc) 10.3383/136.04
- Brian Askew (Corsa 2000cc) 10.5447/147.60
- Simon Fogg (Corsa 2300cc) 10.6960/133.62
- George Baker (Civic 2400cc) 10.7390/129.14
- Andrew Crank (Corsa 2300cc) 10.8172/137.38
- Darren Dewhurst (Corsa 2000cc) 10.9813/136.57
- Billy Bamber (Nissan Micra 1800cc) 11.2018/123.07
- Scott Linacre (Chevette 1809cc) 13.2148/81.38
- Peter Cole (Renault 5 2000cc) 16.6521/88.73
- Alan Kenyon (Focus 2000cc) 17.2146/73.21
Eliminations
Round 1
- Andrew Crank 11.5054 /137.37 def. Paul Jordan 13.1433/103.37
- Brian Askew 10.9525/112.1 def. Simon Fogg 10.5345/135.32
- Ian Pepper 10.5238/144.31def. Billy Bamber 11.2446/119.63
- Alan Kenyon 11.2952/129.91 def. Dave Henderson, broke
- Dannie Highman 10.8034/118.37 def. Scott Linacre , broke
- Ant Mincher 10.410/137.70 def. Darren Dewhurst, broke
- Lewis Simpson 11.8109/120.15 def. Peter Cole 14.7877/94.25
- Grant Moore 10.4149 137.41 def. George Baker 10.7147/137.28
Round 2
- Ian Pepper 9.9163/145.31 def. Ant Mincher 9.8427/141.58
- Alan Kenyon 15.474/107.31 def. Brian Askew broke
- Andrew Crank 10.0431/142.11 def. Dannie Highman broke
- Lewis Simpson 9.8118/151.57 def. Grant Moore 10.4048/138.21
Semi Finals
Ian Pepper 10.5259/126.66 def. Alan Kenyon 11.1428/130.16
Lewis Simpson 9.7309/153.64 def. Andrew Crank 10.1794/134.9
Final
Lewis Simpson 9.274/157.99 def. Ian Pepper 9.7413/148.09
Well done to Alan Kenyon on a new PB in the semi finals and winner Lewis Simpson’s new PB of [email protected]
You can see footage of the Sports Compact Shootout at das GTI Show on the Mk1 Youtube channel at this link or click on the image at the top of the article.
The final Sports Compact Shootout of the year takes place at the JapShow Finale at Santa Pod Raceway this Sunday 6th October with action starting from 9:30am. A 16 car ladder will be contested once again. Other attractions of the event including Show & Shine Competition, Japanese Run What Ya Brung public track time open to cars & bikes, Drift Rides, Club Stands, Stunt Shows, Jet Dragster, Trade area and more. A limited quantity of JapShow Finale day tickets are available by clicking here.
Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this news update about David Vegter:
David Vegter finished the 2024 season with a more than excellent second position in the FIA European Pro Modified Championship. With around twenty participants per race, participants from ten different countries and 36 drivers who scored points this year, Pro Modified is the most competitive and most international class of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. But still, there were mixed feelings for Vegter and his team Vegter Pro Mod Racing. In almost all races, the Dutchman was the quickest driver on the track, led the championship for a long time, but missed the title by a minimal margin because bad luck struck at the most decisive moment of the season.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Happy Birthday for today to Straightliners boss Trevor Duckworth, 9.50 Bike FB group administrator Debbie Sawatzki, photographer Kenzie Taylor, Dutch Pro ET racer Hans van der Spek and NHRA Top Fuel great and B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving School owner Doug Herbert. We hope you all are having a great day
Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Kieran Turner, expat racer and carburetor guru Tony Morris, Nostalgia Superstock racer Jason Dodd, and German Super Pro ET racer Oliver Petzold. We hope you all have a great day.
Robin Jackson updates eurodragster.com with this news: The August/September issue of Race Engine Technology magazine (issue 154) contains no fewer than 25 pages devoted to drag racing.
There is a detailed 15-page analysis of the engines used in Kalitta Motorsports' Top Fuelers and Funny Car ("9850 ft.lb. of torque... 12,800bhp" -- Alan Johnson, crew chief) and another 10 pages on the Texan racer Mark Griffin and the compressed air system he uses to supercharge his Top Sportsman Camaro.
Race Engine Technology can sometimes be found on newsagents' shelves. If not, it can be obtained from the publisher by contacting [email protected]
We are sad to hear and report that Liam Churchill, passed away on 30th September 2024.
All of his family, friends, neighbours and colleagues will find it hard to believe that such a huge hearted, extra-ordinary human being is no longer here.
Liam's family will post on Facebook soon regarding the funeral arrangements, but if you would like to contact them please send a message by clicking here or via Liam's Facebook page here.
We here are eurodragster.com are sadden and send our condolences to Liam’s daughters - Sarah, Vee, Carly and Laura at this very sad time.
The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present part three of the 1964 Drag Festival Reports:
This is the last part in a series of three race reports from the ‘1st British International Drag Festival’ which happened 60 years ago today. This part covers the third weekend which happened on the 3rd and 4th October 1964 visiting RAF Kemble on the Saturday and back to Blackbushe Airport on the Sunday.
The Drag Festival was probably the most reported event in drag racing history such was the importance of this historic venture, bringing the American sport to the UK and beyond. Reports appeared in countless magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Story produced by Nick Pettitt and published by editor of Eurodragster.com Chris Winn.
You can view this story by clicking here.
Andrew Willcox has posted on his Facebook page today with a quick update on his mum's (Julie Willcox) funeral, Andrew writes: For anyone who is unable to attend the service in person and would like to feel present, here is the link and login details for the livestream.
Streaming details for the service of Julie Willcox at 12:00 noon on Wednesday 9th October, at South Oxfordshire - Chapel, run by Edward Carter Funeral Directors are as below.
Watching Live & On Demand - https://watch.obitus.com
Username - dixi3803
Password - 875248
Family flowers only please, mum would rather you made a donation to one of the animal charities she supported (details will be on the service card) If people would like to raise a quick glass to mum after the service please feel free to join us at the Boundry House pub in Abingdon.
Stuart Doignie posted on his Facebook page a few days agao with this update on him competing at Bakersfield, Stuart writes: Really happy to be confirmed 2024 Super Gas Champions! It’s been a tough year on and off the track with the house fire and having to miss a round of racing but we did it recording just one round loss to Andy Dibley. Congrats to Collin Morrice and Stuart Morrice on second place and also Dave Fulton a very close third.
It was a big season for us as it now takes to the top of all time wins and championships in the class.
We start our next adventure where we fly out to the USA and compete in my new NHRA Stock Eliminator car. We are racing at the divisional event double header in Bakersfield California. This is a dream come true and special thanks to our good friend Mark Kirby for making it happen and sharing his valuable knowledge on the car and class. Can’t wait to meet you in person!
As always special thanks to my crew Dad, Tim, Dave and Tom as well as my understanding and supportive wife Jody Doignie. I couldn’t do it without you. I have attached some pictures of the new ride as well as a few of this seasons roadster
Blame goes to the Williams Bros. Racing crew for convincing me this is the way forward.
(Pictures taken from Stuarts Facebook post)
Happy Birthday today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and drag bike pioneer Alf Hagon 93 years young, 8.50 Bike racer Andy Haley and Super Pro ET racer Saskia Jell. We hope you all have a wonderful day.
Straightliners hosts its 2024 Championship Round 8 this weeked 5th-6th October at Melbourne Raceway.
Melbourne Raceway's E.T bracket classes this year will be racing, Sportsman ET (up to 7.90), (Pro ET (6.90-7.89) and Pro Extreme (5.90-6.89) with dial-ins used on the Sportsman tree. There's also the NSCC final round will take place. And for quicker cars that want to run a heads up pro tree, we have Pro Comp running a Cannonball style format with the two quickest running a shootout in the final.
Julian Webb with the Spiderman and Split Second Jet Dragsters and Lee Dennick with the Reign of Fire Jet Funny Car will both be there. Graham Sykes with The Force of Nature Rocket Bike too! Don’t forget the end of season fireworks display!
To celebrate Trevor’s 80th birthday we will be having his late son Andy Duckworth’s old band, Blood Sweat and Beers playing in the clubhouse to close the evening off.
If racers don't have a Motorsport UK or ACU licence for bike racers, a Nora licence is needed but can be purchased easily and cheaply at this link.
For more details on the car rules, click on this link. The No Mercy Bike series offers bracket racing opportunities to bikers, jnr bikes, scooters, Ultimate Street bikes for modified bikes, stock and 2 strokes, racing legends for the over 70s among others. For more details on the bike rules, click on this link..
Specatator entry, available on the gate, is £15 a day, or £27 per weekend with camping available free from 17:00 on Friday 12th July. Bar and catering facilities are open with Statis Quo are playing Saturday night.
Run what ya brung is now exclusively pay on the gate, so no pre booking is required for RWYB. Racer and spectator tickets can be purchased at straightliners.events.
Class racers should be quick to secure their place in the weekend's activities.
Eurodragster.com will be covering pictures by photographer and former editor Andy (Tog) Rogers. which you will be able to see via our coverage page supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Happy Birthday for today to Street Eliminator racer Mark Sheridan, former Nitro FM DJ Nigel Fitzmaurice, Billy Gane team member Jak Hylton, and former Junior Dragster racer Joe Holland-Villa. We hope you all had a great day.
Happy Birthday to Wild Bunch racer Dan Wilson, have a great day Dan!
