Stacey Reed, tutu wearing, hardcore 8.50 bike racer and goddess of two wheel speed writes;

Hayden Mechaell joins us for a catch-up after his rookie season:

I couldn’t wait to get back out. Summer Nationals 2024, what a weekend, one I will never forget! My first ever competition pass I had everyone on the start line who had watched me grow up at the track and I think it’s safe to say I proved that racing is in my blood by running a perfect ET on my first ever competition pass, which is quite possibly a first in Europe. I was the most amazing feeling riding back through the pits having everybody clapping and cheering for me. The 16 years of waiting to race finally all worth it and a weekend I will cherish for the rest of my life. Summer Nationals was done and dusted before you knew it and I qualified 1st but got knocked out in eliminations by my good friend Josh McLean. My second event (green light nationals) was coming up, and I had managed to pick up my first sponsor which was Turbosmart, truly grateful for the support and social media advice they’ve given me. I did the test day to get some more seat time and now feeling comfortable on the bike we decided to turn it up to try and get a personal best. I rode the best I could and managed to achieved 9.12 @ 150mph by the end of the day. Saturday I headed down for qualifying and ran a 9.52 which got me into 2nd position. Going into eliminations, I had Dave Hall in round 1. Dave has watched me grow up at the track into the racer I am today. With a 48- year age gap in between Dave and I, I knew he has the most experience in the class, so I had to make sure my riding was at the best of my ability. I took Dave out in round 1 running a 9.504 which gave me lane choice in the final against Rob Stanley. In the final, I knew I had to react as well as possible on the tree because that is one of Rob’s strong points on the track. Rob still got me on the tree, but my 9.53 at the top end against Rob’s 9.63 got me the event win, which meant so much as my dad took the event win in Super Street Bike. The next event on my calendar was one which didn’t last long as it got rained off and there were no eliminations, but I took the top spot in qualifying with another 9.53. It was that time of year, flame and thunder!

Happy belated Birthday to Gasser Circus racer Tom Margesson and Pro ET and NSS racer and class supporter James Oliver, we hope you had a fab day.

Happy birthday for today to BDRHoF Adviser & Selector Philip Evans, have a great day Phil! Also a Happy Birthday to Mad Welshman contributing photographer Paul Evans and to our Swedish friends former Svensk Dragracing webmaster Erik Zettervall and former Pro Modified racer Lars-Inge Johansson, we hope you all have a great day!

Thanks to Paul "No Prep" Marston for sending this press release into Eurodragster.com regarding the new beginnings at Manston Raceway Park, Paul writes:

To make this become a reality, we need help from our great drag racing community.  The part of Manston Airport we intend to use, has no infrastructure whatsoever.  Just like in the old days before we had permanent dragstrips like Santa Pod.  We need to bring everything, just like North Weald used to be.

This is an opportunity for us all to have a dragstrip in the South, Manston, located on the Kent coast near Broadstairs, is an ex WW2 base is so close to the sea, the air quality will be outstanding. The main runway is 1.75 miles long, it has been well maintained and offers a wonderful opportunity.

We need everything to keep people safe and the venue run as professionally and safely as we possibly can.  Will mistakes happen? Will lessons need to be learnt? Of course they will, but we will always be trying our best, in the end, it’s up to everyone who becomes involved and attends to shape this into a great, friendly and enjoyable place to spend time at.  I will also state right from the get-go, we do not know how long we will be able to host events at Manston Airport.  We do know that 2025 is secure, from there it will be a year-to-year deal, so let’s get as much racing in as we can, while we can.

Our small team simply cannot do this without a lot of help, there is too much to do. 

Lastly I would again like to thank Santa Pod CEO Keith Bartlett for his support and advise.  I would also like to profess our immense gratitude to Manston Airport management for their faith in us and giving us the opportunity to host events at their facility.

Congratulations to the official winners of the final round of the 2024 Malta National Drag Racing Championship, which was organised at the Hal Far track by the Malta Drag Racing Association from weekend.

The above pictures takem from MK1Kieran Facebook. More media can be seen at the following links:

• Konrad D'Anastasi - Youtube videos.
• Alex Buttigieg - Facebook album.
• Samuels's Photography - Facebook post by Samuel Mifsud.
• DLP automotive - Facebook post by Dylan Darmanin.
• Pudgey's Pictures - Facebook post by Callum Pudge.

Marc Huxley gives us the updates from last season and the idea of what might happen next:

Hey all… So a few little changes happening with the car and just some small upgrades. First of all the Corolla engine has gone to ASD engines to Steve and Trevor to me refreshed and ready for another full season and we also plan to do some port matching to gain a little more out the motor to try and gain a new PB (9.69) Other thing is I’m making my own bead lock rear wheels to tidy them up and getting rear wheels anodised to match my fronts .. Other than that no more serious work Dad has recently bought his Mercury comet back and we are doing some small upgrades to maybe do a full season in Nostalgia Super Stock as well as tidying up the car. Hoping to get it to run low 14s maybe 13s.

Time will tell.

Ellie Brown joins the group with her feelings for the 2024 season:

The 2024 season was not what we planned for in all honesty. We expected to start the season in Super Pro, but as the start of the season arrived we came to the conclusion that the car was no where near read. With that in  mind we decided to do the first event still in my Junior Dragster. We managed to get the car sorted in time for Summer Nationals, but as I was just getting my license I was just tagging along. We then realised because of my age I was only allowed to go 150mph, so we decided to join super comp.

As the next event was right round the corner we had to clean the new trailer, it was a lot harder than the old one we had. The size of the new one is double than our last one. We set everything up for The Euro Finals not expecting anything spectacular, but ended up loving the class that we picked and I don’t think we’ll be leaving anytime soon. We were excited for National finals, but we only got 1 qualifier then the event was rained off, what a way to end the year. We are so grateful to everyone in Super Comp, the way they welcomed us, they have been nothing but nice and helpful as we’re still learning how to slow the car down.

Let’s bring on 2025!!

Happy belated Birthday for to Pro Modified racer Annie Wallace, and Maltese Escort Mk1 racer Paul Fenech. hope you had a great day Annie and Paul.

Happy Birthday today to Santa Pod Raceway startline marshal Bob Day, to Pro ET racers Geoff Cowley and Tim Stanbury, to Gasser Circus racer and Junior Dragster grandad Tony Pearson, and to FWD racers Simon Crowley and Haider Jalal. We hope you had a fantastic day.

Happy Birthday to Old School Stockers racer Tyne Blight, Pro ET racer Dan Fulton and VW Sportsman racer Ben Mace. We hope you had a fab day.

Bob Hawkins shares his thoughts after the 2024 season:

When the fans have all gone home.   Bob Hawkins, a workshop insight…..

Drag  racing is often defined by the few exhilarating seconds where raw power and precision come together in a heart-pounding spectacle of noise, smells and sheer sensory overload!
However, as many fans and racers well know there are many countless hours spent in workshops up and down the country, where teams work relentlessly in order to push to the very limits of their machines, sometimes beyond.  Here’s a brief look into my own workshop as we prepare Time Traveller II for the 2025 season:

So, it’s last things first!

We always strip and check every component on the chassis which always starts at the very rear of the car and then we work our way forward in an orderly fashion from there. Once the chutes and lines have been thoroughly inspected along with the safety cage and all its many components such as the wheelie bars etc,  it’s then time to move on to the rear axle, a Strange 9” ,bolt though unit with a ‘spool’ and 40 splined, gun drilled axles. That process is currently being carried out as I write.

This year I cheated a little and removed the transmission beforehand as I was extremely keen to see how the clutches had stood up to a tough season of tyre shake, .9sec 60’s, a new WB et record (6.43) and several other forms of abuse we though at it. Our transmission is a two speed Powerglide with top gear being a direct drive. The unit has been modified to withstand Promod levels of torque and horsepower. I think this is a fairly unique setup for a nitro burning FED but then we do love to be different in breaking the mould sometimes.Anyhow, I’m delighted to report that everything in the case looks like new which was very much to my surprise but excellent news! The unit has now been fully rebuilt with new 10pack clutches and bushings etc, it’s all ready to refit once the rear end inspection is complete.

The next extremely important job is of cause the engine,  while I’ve made a start on this, there is a massive amount of work still to be done here. Firstly our ‘cobbled together’ 496ci ( A Chevy Big Block with an OEM iron truck block) is to be removed and then the 427ci  block is to be rebuilt with a new spec, that spec is a secret for now!  This is the engine to be fitted in the chassis for the start of next year. This then leaves a lovely fresh 454ci iron block on the stand, I bought this last year as a replacement spare. I’ll build this up into a short block along with rebuilding our good old faithful 496 yet again, so everything’s ready for some fresh action. It  may seem a lot of engines for just the one car but remember these are nitro builds running anywhere up to 75%. Engine parts take time to arrive from the USA so in order not to miss any rounds next year, all the engines may well get used at some point during the course of the season!  I could go on but for now that’s a small insight into what we do along with one or two other projects during and between seasons.  I do post workshop updates on my FB page fairly regularly if anyone is interested in following our progress over the winter and into next year.

So remember:

 “If anyone ever thought the thrill of drag racing ends when the engine shuts off, think again, see you at the track!…..Bob

Thomas Cook-Abbott joins us too in the drivers diaries, with an insight to the coming season(and past one):

So the bike thing - pretty sudden wasn’t it. I’d like to say it’d been planned for months that I was going get a bike, it wasn’t. Start of the season I didn’t want a bike. In fact I’ve never wanted a bike. Then I started crewing for Brad Head in 8.50 bike and I saw a new side to racing, got introduced to new people. I learnt a lot about the bikes. Thats the first time I was open-minded to bikes, seeing how the logistics of it all works, and how it would all work out better for me. I then continued crewing for Brad and building my car, with the cost of everything going up and up and still not having a car to race; I thought I’ll start looking around for bikes, but if I’m going to get one it’ll be a V-Twin with a slick and bars.

Thats the only bike I’ll own. All this was at the further most rear part of my brain, I haven’t even told anyone yet! Then I started crewing for Scotty Crookston on his bike. And that’s when I got a bit more open-minded to the bikes, accidentally asking Jake Mechaell how much a 9.50 bike would cost to build, and hanging out with Hayden who had just started riding his 9.50. Fast forward to the season end and I continue buying bits for the car with Charlotte (gearbox etc), when I get something sent to me by Scotty and tagged in something by Jake - it’s a bike for sale, not too expensive nice looking, and it’s raced before. Issue’s being I can’t store it anywhere, and I can’t get it to the racetrack.

All pretty big issues when owning a race vehicle. Then Scotty messaged saying, ‘I can help you store it, and I’ll bring it to the track for you’. Well problem solved, just the small issue of getting the blessing from my family. So I ring my mum, she says go for it.  Not the answer I wanted so I call my dad, ‘he says I think you’re an idiot, but it’s your money’. Damn it. Third time lucky, I’ll call Charlotte and say I’m going to buy it, she’ll obviously say no as it’ll mean pausing the dragster build. She says ‘yeah good idea, do it’.

So next thing I’m on the phone and putting a deposit down on the bike. Issue now is it’s in Yeovil and I’m in Tamworth, and the bike needs to get to Scotland. So I message Brad Head and ask if he can lend a hand. He said no. So I asked him again but really nicely, and he said, ok but there is a straightliners event at Pod next weekend I’ll take it to that! Ok cool, so it goes to Pod. I’m still thinking if I don’t like it I’ll just sell it. Easy peasy. Well if you don’t know how I felt about it, watch the vlog! I loved it! Fingers crossed I’ll be out next year doing a full season in 9.50 or Et Bike. Haven’t decided yet! So from not wanting a bike, to wanting a slick and bars twin, to getting a street-tired GSXR.

All within a year!

Bring on 2025!

Thank you to everyone who forced me to do this, and thank you to all the kind words from everyone after the reveal!

Thank you to Martin Hallett for the lovely bike!  Byee

Gary added adjustable skid plates to help maintain more consistent launches and then it was time to head to Maple Grove in Pennsylvania for the 1st NHRA meets. All the heavy hitters there and 19 entries. Aidan, Jacob, Claudio, Dan and I manged to get super cheap flights, while Gary and his brother Dan did the long haul driving to the track. Once arrived we set up and got ready for qualifying!

Qualifying came and we did the warm-up for round one, but we only started on one mag?  We switched the harness, but same thing happened it went to straight into mag and then both fired, we then knew it was ok to switch the coils wires and point the boxes the same. Now we investigated the MSD grid and managed to get one of Todd Paton's guy over from PDS, who added his spare grid on, and it started on that mag. He left and we thought it was fixed, so we put everything back together. Annoyingly it did the same thing again!

After further investigations we realised it was defaulted to only one mag, we checked the command module to discover the voltage was set high at 19 volts. The team and I decided to contact Leahy who said that’s normal, we decided to miss qualifying session one to get the batteries fully charged. After charging we tried it again and it worked!! How bizarre that letting the batteries get low it causes one of mags not start.

Qualifying 2 came and we were up against Scott Farley who failed to fire up, so I nailed the tree with a 0.045 light, but then dropped a cylinder and the crew shut me off beforehand, good job as the fuel pump clamp shook loose, we dodged a bullet to what could have been a disaster.

Qualifying 3 and the conditions were great for our big run against Doug Foley, managed to get him on the tree and rocketed away with .066 light my best so far .851 60ft what an amazing job to Aidan, but again we dropped a cylinder and was shut off.

Qualifying 4 was again against Farley who again had issues, but we were only 18th still as we were not qualified. We launched on all 8 cylinders with .853 60ft kudos to Aidan once again and then 2.16 to 330 and we went 277 mph to the eighth in very impressive 3.06 seconds only for it go lean and slow to a best 3.89!. Data was right there for the 3.79, but the data showed my foot had lifted 3/8 of an inch to cause it to go lean causing it to torch a piston and push out the valve cover gasket. This resulted in a massive oil fire, but relatively no damage.

So, it was decided that we couldn't afford to do elimination round 1 flat out and we watched rest of the qualifying session. Sat on the bump at 3.89 expecting not to qualify, but Shaun Reed only ran 4.11 and Scott Farley and Rit Pustari ran even slower making us to move up and qualify for the elimination rounds.

Only problem now was the money due the burnt blower strips, and the boost was down, but having no more funds for fresh blower it was decided and the risk of dropping a cylinder. We super prepared the car for first round against Justin Ashley the super kid who is currently leading the points, we worked more on that cursed throttle pedal. After driver introduction for the fans, we finally got ready for the run.

Perfect burnout, staged the car and launched .088 light, but the blower was off, and we dropped a cylinder and pitched the belt, Justin was long gone on a 3.75. At least my foot didn't move.

What a great weekend and six personal best, incremental in my 50th year, so enough to keep me fired up for next season. Watch this space. 

Happy Birthday to BDRHoF General Secretary & Treasurer Bev Bradbury and James Charman, driver of the Wheeldon and Charman Gotavit dragster and member of the Two Much dragster crew. Have a great day from all of us at Eurodragster.com.

Happy Birthday to Barney Campbell, head of Box Lane Video Productions who produces streaming video for Santa Pod Raceway, also to former Pro Modified racer Johan Samuelsson. We hope you had a great day.

Kieran along with in excess of Brits, will be at the MDRA Haltech Finals from Thursday to Sunday 14th-17th November at Hal Far Raceway. We have updated our Event Coverage index links to information on the event and video with the support of John Woolfe Racing. See our coverage at this link

Thanks to Martyn Greathead from Straightliners for sending in this report from Monday 11th November as history was made when The “Force of Nature” Steam Rocket bike ran at Elvington.

The Force of Nature team planned to run twice during the day, with the aim of testing and collating data on the performance of the new nozzle configuration. To ensure this could be achieved during the daylight hours available, it meant starting the heating process early, at 5.00 am to run at 10.30 am. All went to plan, and the sun was soon up turning the early morning gloom into a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and no wind. - Perfect conditions.

With Phil Wood riding as Graham had damaged his shoulder previously, the bike was taken up to the start line and removed from the mother ship transportation trolley. With Phil on the bike and the front wheel positioned up against the timing jig, Graham armed the bike and removed the safety pins. Phil gave Graham a nod followed by a short count down from 5 to 1. The button was pressed!

We have been told that the design and building of a new larger pressure vessel and valve assembly has started, which will increase the duration by around 1 second.

Lets wish Graham and the team well for 2025.

Pictures taken from Straightliners website and credited to David Taylor

Thanks to Lee Child, promoter for the Spitfire raceway at Parrenporth, Cornwall who has It’s the final drag and drift event in the whole of the uk for 2024 right here in Perranporth. Spitfire raceway is also currently the only 1/4 mile drag strip venue in the whole of the south west. We can’t wait to see you this Saturday 16th November.

Happy birthday to Wild Bunch racer and Junior Dragster dad Mark Coulsell, Street Eliminator racer Elliot Day, Top Methanol Funny Car racer Sandro Bellio and former Top Fuel Dragster tuner Per Andersen. We hope you all had a great day.

We were sad to hear of the death of Production and Modified racer from the 1970s and 1980s Sam Connell, aged 69.

Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this news update about Rikard Gustafsson from Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes:

Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Raceway timekeeper and etslips.co.uk webmaster Adam Bentley, Top Doorslammer racer Stefan Jansson and Renault 5 FWD racer Peter Cole. We hope you all have a great day.

Happy Birthday for today to Santa Pod Raceway marshal Nigel Anniwell, Old Skool Ford racer Steve Dowling and drag bike racer and 2XS Drag Racing Team member Tanya Hardy, we hope you all have a great day.

Belated Happy Birthday greetings to former Pro Modified and Top Fuel racer Linda Thun Tønseth, Pro ET crew member and longtime fan Dave Buckland, Pro Doorslammer Cortina Mk3 racer Darren Peart and Maltese Bike racer Leslie Said. We hope you all had a fantastic day.

A triple Wedding Anniversary today. Happy Anniversary to Ian and Nikki Marshall, also to Kev Charman and Lizz McCarthy-Charman and to Carla Pittau and Rick McCann. Have a great day!

Eurodragster.com is again running its traditional Christmas Gift Mart. If you have any products you would like to sell to Eurodragster.com readers, please forward details to [email protected]. Previous gift marts have included t-shirts, calendars, mugs, prints, DVDs and even parts for race cars. The publication date for the Christmas Gift Mart will be Monday 25th November.

Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this news update about Jonny Lagg:

The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present the Drag Festival Witness Accounts story as part of the 60th Anniversary:

"The new oil pan will enable heaters to blow hot air into the the area of the pan. Nick, Rob and Scott will fit it on Wednesday, and we will load on Thursday and drive out early Friday."

"After the event, Rob will be staying to remove the rear axle, trans and clutch for them and the trans blanket to be recertified over the winter. In the US you have to be early in the queue for recertification or you could face a long wait. Fortunately B&J who certify trans parts, and Brad Anderson Engineering who will service the cylinder heads provide excellent help to us.

"If you're lucky enough to come and join us you will be able to see us and a couple of legends, Arley Langlo who has run 300mph at El Mirage, and Danny Thompson who will be taking the wheel of the Ferguson Streamliner with its Ardun-Flathead combination which has been at 241mph."

If you can't make it to El Mirage, watch the live stream on Youtube at the Gearhead Garage channel. 

Thanks to Nikki Marshall from BRITISH DRAG RACING HALL OF FAME has sent in this update:  The BDRHoF Benevolent Fund will be carrying out a raffle as part of the BDRHoF Gala Dinner this year on November 23^rd at Oatlands Park, Weybridge.

Happy Birthday greetings to retired Super Gas wife and former SCR clerk of the course Tina Moore, Pro ET and Super Gas racer Bob Molden, Junior Dragster racer Kai Cooper and National Street Car Challenge and Outlaw Street racer Ian Walley. We hope that you all have had a wonderful day.

We were sorry to hear of the passing of UK drag racer and fibreglass specialist Pat Cuss on 10th October at Bath Hospital.

Pat debuted a rear engined car in 1977 with the blown hemi combination that had become dominant in the Pro Comp. Pat constructed the car with team partner Bob Ashley from the then-latest US thoughts on dragster construction and included aluminium body panels painted by Pat. The open cockpit was supplanted by the streamliner for 1978, his Bel Ray Streamliner described by many as one of the most beautiful dragsters constructed. 

After 1978, Pat decided to quit racing and the Bel Ray Streamliner minus the streamliner panels went to John Dowse who raced it in Pro Comp in 1988 for a couple of years. The whereabouts of it since are a mystery.

He produced many altered and funny car bodies over the years as well as constructing his cars and cars for others (the 1978 Datsun West End car which came back out 10 years later as Mo Blackburn's Jigsaw II car).

In later years he became a stalwart of the model flying fraternity. Pat's funeral was held on 28th October. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Photos courtesy Andy Brough, Dave Gibbons and Keith Lee

Happy Birthday to former Top Fuel Dragster racer Liz Rowland and to Dan Collis, crew chief for Mace Racing's 7 second Vauxhall Cresta 'Nuthin But Trouble'. We hope you both had a great day.