Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Springspeed Nationals held at Santa Pod Raceway:

• ASD FuelTech Comp Eliminator: Rouven Dawson(9.02) 8.9746/98.33 def. David Barton(9.63) 9.8818/97.97
• 772 Coatings Super Comp: Warren Watts 8.9535/149.55 def. Leah Kellett 8.9306/173.70
• Tony Morris Carburetors Super Gas: Stuart Doignie(9.90) 9.9105/152.65 def. David Fulton(9.90) 9.8941/145.79 Breakout
• Peter Nee Super Pro ET: Alan Didwell(7.61) 7.6292/170.43 def. Mark Bailey(8.80) 8.8757/137.38 Breakout
• Maverick Diagnostics Pro ET: Bob Molden(9.21) 9.2409/132.82 def. Collin Morrice(8.57) 8.5669/156.84 Breakout
• Hutchinson and Dibley Sportsman ET: Gary Lake (13.83) 13.8344/91.24 def. Troy Attree (12.24)12.1853/113.31 Breakout
• VP Racing Junior Dragster: Kai Cooper(7.94) 7.9547/79.79 def. Luke Mugridge(7.99) 8.0150/80.07
• Goodale American Speed Shop Nostalgia Super Stock: Spencer Tramm(11.20) 11.2485/115.19 def. Dave Billadeau(9.85) 9.8675/137.77
• Pro Race Engineering VW Pro: Luke Stevenson(11.76) 11.7585/109.47 def. Jake Fronda(12.30) 12.2656/1118.80 Double Breakout
• Quantum Leap Racing / The Tramm Family VW Sportsman: Lily Stevenson(14.53) 14.8884/88.73 def. Dominic Crawford(15.45) 16.2083/88.35
• Tony Morris Carburetors Outlaw Anglia: Ben Kennedy def. Lee Taylor
• Outlaw Flat Four: Jonny Marriage 10.9543/125.27 def. Mark Eltringham 13.2618/68.24
• Ashdown Bulk Haulage Top Fuel Bike: Neil Midgley.
• Taylor's Trophy Super Street Bike: Chris Reed 7.9980/199.71 def. Martin Hallett 8.0994/143.85
• Leeks Landscapes Funny Bike: Maarten Zijstra 9.1376/94.69 def Shaun Branch Broke
• Suzukiperformancespares.co.uk Comp Bike: Len Paget 7.6408/169.81 def. Jasmine Cordelle 7.90303/129.82
• JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike: Carl Thomas 8.5830/139.87 def. Pete Slater 9.0865/147.72
• The Evans Family 9.50 Bike: Hayden Mechaell 9.4892/113.89 def. Dave Hall 9.3976/147.17
• S Johnson Transport ET Bike: Phil Pratt(9.10) 9.3344/141.62 def. Scott Colllier(9.70) 9.6285/121.39 Breakout
• Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike: Leah Morrison (8.00) 8.0257/83.34 def. Declan Butt(9.10) 8.9006/74.54

The meeting was held in Sunny, windy conditions, the track superbly prepared by the SPRC marshals.

Congratulations to Lee Huxley won the Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award of £50 supported by Andy 'Fadster' Hadfield  by dialing in 8.62 and ran 8.6206 and to 772 Coatings Super Comp racers Steven Hudson and Warren Watts who won the Eurodragster.com Finish Award of £50 each for the closest finish of a green light and non-break out race. Steven and Warren's finish line margin was 0.0017 seconds or 4.25 inches. 

Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award of £50 supported by Cath and Tig Napier was unfortunatley not won, therefore the award at the Festival of Power with set at £75.

Thanks to David Anniwell of the Santa Pod Timing Crew for sending us detailed timing data, including test day results, which when received we will post to our timing data area which you can see by clicking on Data, then Timing Data at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. Official results can be seen at Santa Pod's Official Results Site.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Festival of Power reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular, we need the watermark retained. 

Please join us in thanking Julian Hunt and Graham Watkinson for their hard work over the race weekend providing amazing pictures and live reporting. We experienced some technical issues with the site being slow to open, this was soon solved with our hosting server and gained normal use again.

Many thanks to Julian Hunt for covering day two from the Springspeed Nationals, you can see all the pictures at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing

Eurodragster.com brings you live coverage from the Springspeed Nationals, supported by John Woolfe Racing.

To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.

Many thanks to Julian Hunt for covering day one here at the Springspeed Nationals, you can see all the pictures at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.

A very Happy Birthday for today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and pioneer of the sport in the UK Clive Skilton, and to team boss Graham McDonald, we hope you both have a great birthday!

Eurodragster.com brings you live coverage from the Springspeed Nationals, supported by John Woolfe Racing.

To follow our coverage, go to our event index by clicking here or to follow the live reporting click here.

Many thanks to Julian Hunt for covering the test day here at the Springspeed Nationals, you can see all the pictures at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.

A Happy Birthday for today to No Prep organiser Paul Marston, crew chief Dave Crunkhorn aka Crunch, German Super Gas racer Rene Kloss and Norwegian Top Methanol Dragster racer Fred Hanssen, have a great day all!

Happy Birthday for Yesterday to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and engine building guru Rob Loaring, FIA Top Methanol Dragster racer Jonny Lagg, Nostalgia Superstock racer Jack Bishop, VWDRC racer Jay Folley, and Super Pro ET racer Jan Scheppers. Have a great day all!

Thanks to Ian Marshall, secretary of Santa Pod Racers Club for sending in this important information for raceers. This weekend (29th-30th March) the Springspeed Nationals takes place at Santa Pod Raceway as the season opener, here's a preview of the line-up of racing which you can see at our event index.

ASD FuelTech Comp Eliminator – 14 car field with Spencer Tramm with his Camaro, Rouven Dawson, Scott Libersher, David Barton and Nic Williams competing with their COPO Camaro’s. Kevin Perkins with his Oldsmobile Cutlass, Ben Mace in his Austin Bantam plus many racers.

772 Coatings Super Comp – 9 car field with Dave Fulton double classing with his Ford 27T, 2024 Champion Leah Kellett with the HRC Dragster, Nathan Hulkes returns with his Ford Mustang Foxbody, Warren Watts with the 69 Camaro and more racers.

Tony Morris Carburetors Super Gas – 11 cars with the return of Sara Unsworth with the Lemon Dizzle Ford Mustang, 2024 Champion Stuart Doignie with his 23 Ford Roadster, Andy Harrison in the Ford Sierra, Dave Cherrett with the Ford Model A Van and many more.

Peter Nee Super Pro ET – 20 car field with 2024 Champion Scott Hauser with his HRC 4-Link Dragster, Lee Huxley with the Ford Mustang, Peter Walters with RW Dragster, Mark Coulsell with his Slingshot Dragster, Tom Atkinson with the Cortina Estate plus many more great cars.

Maverick Diagnostics Pro ET – 36 strong field see 2024 Champion Brett Featherstone with his Nova II, Geoff Cowley and his Pontiac Firebird, Ian Dance moves from Sportsman ET with his completed VW Beetle Cabriolet, Bob Molden with his “White Noise” Peugeot 205, Simon Innes with the Barracuda and many more.

Hutchinson and Dibley Sportsman ET – 32 massive field for the opening round see three times Champion Gary Lake with his Pontiac, 2^nd place Kirstie Tramm with her 50 Shades of Green Camaro, returning ex Junior Dragster Harry Redshaw with the Mini, Georgina Smith with her Ford Mustang, The class welcomes new racers Michael Lindsey, Roman Giles, Lorna Collins and Craig Flinders plus many more.

VP Racing Junior Dragster – 23 dragsters with 2024 Champion Luke Mugridge in his half scale dragsters, Ted Sullivan also with the half scale dragster, Grace Smith with her Swing Arm, Candra Redshaw with the Odyssey Motivational dragster, Lola-Belle Kent with her Motivational dragster plus many more juniors.

Goodale American Speed Shop Nostalgia Super Stock – 11 cars entered with Don Scott in the Superbird, Chris Goodale with Russo’s Rat” Chevelle, Spencer Tramm double classing with his Camaro, Dave Billadeau with his Dodge Challenger, Steve Lloyd with the Impala and many more.

Pro Race Engineering VW Pro – 22 cars with 2024 Champion James Hodson with the MK2 Golf, Luke Stevenson with his Golf, Thomas Herbert with the Carrado, Abu Tether with her Golf R, Morgan Wilson and the Beetle Funny Car, James Gould in his VR6 Altered, plus many more.

Quantum Leap Racing / The Tramm Family VW Sportsman – 24 cars with the return on 2024 Champion Jordon Clark in the Beetle, George Millar with the Audi TT, Rhys Finney and the VW Lupo, Steve Metcalf in the Baja, Jon Gallant in the TT, plus many more.

Tony Morris Carburetors Outlaw Anglia – 3 car line up with Wayne Power with the Anglia Pop, Ben Kennedy in the Pop and Lee Taylor with is Anglia Pop.

Outlaw Flat Four – 4 car entry see Vito Versluys from Belgium with the Beetle, Mark Eltringham with the Karmann Ghia, Jonny Marriage and Jack Marriage with their Beetle.

Ashdown Bulk Haulage Top Fuel Bike – 3 bikes with Jiri Lukes from Prague with the PBR Rocket 3, 2024 Champion Steve Woollatt with his PBR Top Fuel and Neil Midgley and the Puma FJ1100.

Taylor's Trophy Super Street Bike – 9 bikes with 2024 Champion Jake Mechaell on his JKE Hayabusa, Rudolfo Maduro from Spijkenisse with the GSXR 1000, Kamiel De Brue from Oudsbergen with “Lucky 3” Hayabusa, Trevis Merite from Zwolle and “Blackout” plus many more.

Leeks Landscapes Funny Bike – 5 bike field with Maarten Zijlstra from Amsterdam on the GSX, Lionel Lalague from Bordeaux with the Hayabusa, Paul Adams with his KZ1000, Shaun Branch with his GSX2000 and Locan Parnell with the FJ1000 Yamaha.

Suzukiperformancespares.co.uk Comp Bike – 11 bikes with Thurtny Martina from Pijnacker, Danny Cockerill, Michael Piggott, Len Paget, Pete Salter any many more.

JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike – 15 bike field with Ralvin Petronilia from the Netherlands with the GSX-R 1340 Hayabusa, Jaynet Banwari from Zevenhuizen with “Venom” GSXR 1000, Patrick Merite from the Netherlands with his Hayabusa, Joe Elliot and 1000RR plus many bikes.

The Evans Family 9.50 Bike – 4 bikes for this season opener with 2024 Champion Dave Hall with his GSXR 1100L, Hayden Machaell on the GSXR, Joshua Mclean and Rob Stanley with their Hayabusa’s.

S Johnson Transport ET Bike – 17 bike field with 2024 Champion Scott Collier with this TL1000R, Phil Pratt with “Satan Lady”, Andy Frankland with the GSXR, Gary Hester with his Katana, Chris Venn with the Harley Supertwin and many more.

Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike – 17 bikes see’s 2024 Champion Hollie King with her GSX, Declan Butt on his CBR400, Alia Lester with the Ninja, George Parfitt with the Yamaha, Harry Isaac on his 250SL, Rico Patterson on this Kimco, Maggie Smallman with the Honda and many more.

Happy Birthday for today to Supercharged Outlaws racer Jim Usher, 8.50 Bike racer and member of the JKE Race Works team Kostas Giannopoulos. Have a great day to you both.

Congratulations to the winners of the first round of the 2025 Straightliners Six Sixty championship last Sunday, 23rd March, at Santa Pod Raceway:

Due to heavy fog first thing and a damp braking area competitors ran to the eighth but as the championship is based on the eighth this proved the concept nicely. There was a late start to proceedings due to the fog but everyone managed at least 3 runs of qualifying.

Thanks to Martyn Greathead for supplying Straightliners Championship results and points, which are available by clicking here.

You can check out John Woolfe Racing long term sponsor of eurodragster.com event coverage. A full event gallery can be found by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular we need the watermark retained.

Happy Birthday greetings to Dale Leeks and Street Eliminator burnout king Nick Hale, also to German Mopar Comp Eliminator racer Dirk Peiler and former Super Street Bike champion Graham Balchin, hope you guys have a great day!

Happy Birthday for today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and five time FIA Top Methanol Dragster champion Dave Wilson, have a great day Dave! Happy Birthday also to 2013 FIA Top Fuel Champion Thomas Nataas, to 2022 FIA Top Fuel champion Antti Horto, to Santa Pod Raceway Commercial Manager Caroline Holden and drag racing historian Nick Pettitt. We hope you all have a wonderful day.

Nick Pettitt published on this YouTube channel his vidoe from Dakota Raceway 22nd March 2025, you view his video by clicking here.

£200 is up for grabs at this weekend's Springspeed Nationals courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

The closest race will be decided upon distance rather than time since, for example, 0.001 seconds at 230 mph is further than 0.002 seconds at 110 mph. For this reason the official timing data will need to be consulted so the winners will be announced here on Eurodragster.com as soon as possible after the event and the winners will then be contacted for their preferred method of payment. The award will be paid on green light drag races only, and not on bracket races where there is a breakout.

Eurodragster.com Photo Finish Award is open to all classes during eliminations only and although Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory we would appreciate if it they are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On.

Happy Birthday for today to Funny Bike crew and engineer Lucy Moore, to Tierp chief starter Nettan Heleander, long time scrutineer Glenn Stockton and to former Pro Stock racer and Super Gas champion Conrad Stanley, have a great day all.

Many thanks to Eurodragster's Editorial team member Graham Watkinson for uploading the gallery of photos from today's action at Santa Pod Raceway for the Straightliners Round One, you can see all the pictures at this link. supported by John Woolfe Racing.

We will be publishing the results from today's action as soon as they come available in a few days time.

Thanks to Tony Thacker for sending in this press release on 7707 Land Speed Racing: Red Line Oil To Support - Geoff Stilwell’s 7707 Land Speed Racer  

Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this report on Vegter Pro Mod Racing and Race Winning Brands Europe

You can follow more at their Facebook  facebook.com/sjodinmotorsport //  Instagram  instagram.com/sjodinmotorsport //  Youtube  youtube.com/SjodinMotorsport pages.

Happy Birthday for today to Power Race Graphics and RAD Design Lines proprietor Darren West, Nitro Funny Car co-owner Jackie Hawkins, former Shakespeare County Raceway announcer and Wild Bunch crew Barry Bohannon and Pro ET racer Rhiannon Bellenie, have a great day from all of us at Eurodragster.com.

The facility is always laid out beautifully and we managed to find some real good old CD’s playing media on the big screen and recreating memories that feel like yesterday as well as some cracking streaming from YouTube from 2024, it all makes the night come together.

The trophy presentations kicked of around 7.30 with the first two trophies being provided by the class sponsor from 2024, TMC, Tony Morris Carburettors with RDR Performance Carburettors in conjunction with Dave Gibbons, there were two categories, the first was “Rising Star” and the second was “Personal Achievement” these “Awards” are now traditional, manifesting themselves as “Graham Durbridge” CARtoons, personalised Tee-Shirts and some cash, the artwork delivered with these Special awards are by far outstanding and very special.

Both the recipients had very little idea that these awards were heading their way, the first award of Rising Start was presented to a very surprised Ben Montgomery and as you can see in the pictures a very happy young man, he has had a steady path of improvement throughout the time spent in the class and supported entirely by his close family and his lovely lady Kyra, we wish him the very best for 2025, secondly the award for Personal Achievement went to Martyn Payne a long time member of Outlaw Anglia and proving to himself (with a Roar)  the whole team including Ma Julie he is the man for the job with some storming runs in 2024, well done to both.

We welcome TMC and RDR as again this year’s class sponsors for 2025, I for one would like to thank them for all they do for the class, please remember if you need any help with anything carburettor wise these are the chaps to reach out to.  The next stage was to present by Martyn Payne the Outlaw Anglia Championship Awards, in the end a close race for the top 6 positions.

In 3^rd place just pipping Rob Stone into 4^th pace was a worthy winner Wayne Power, well done Wayne, as most of you know Wayne has purchased a new car for this coming season and will be getting to grips with the car in the coming months, we wish him all the very best

In 2^nd place was Ben Kennedy who had pushed so hard all season with his fantastic Lexus powered V8 Anglia, ending up with a new PB for both speed and ET at Hot Rod Drags last year, he is continuing his development of this engine of choice and fully intends to find out the limitations of this combination, again we wish Ben and his team and family all the very best.

In 1^st place was Colin Millar (myself) as always, I just love being in the mix and for sure 2025 will be a very different experience for me and the team with fingers crossed we get to explore a few new tracks and make some new acquaintances and friendships along the way.

The penultimate award of the evening is the “Reaction Time Trophy”, provided by Racheal and Mark Bracking (thanks again folks) and this is based on the three best reaction times for the non-MSA events during the first round of eliminations, it was very close between the top four teams with only thousands of a second separating them but the outright winner was Rob Brindle, very well done Rob and we wish you and the team all the very best for 2025.

The final award of the evening is kind off special for two reasons, it’s in fond memory of Scott who was a real-life size character and was a big part of the crewing team for Ginner and is sorely missed and secondly this award is voted for purely by the Outlaw Anglia drivers and crew, so it’s very personal to all the winners since 2018 after Scott’s passing.

This year by a unanimous vote the award was presented to Ben Montgomery, Ben was taken by surprise but for me it couldn’t go to a better recipient, well done again Ben.

With that we signed off the microphone and filled our bellies with a sit-down meal which I must say was fabulous food combined with good service.

Once the plates were cleared the Outlaw Anglia family do what they do best, PARTY, maybe I’m biased but I have to say I didn’t see anyone that didn’t have a big smile on their face and was able just to let go and make the night what it should be, FUN fun fun.

Pretty sure there were some sore heads in the morning at breakfast, but we all put on a brave face and pretended we were in perfect condition lol.

Hopefully we will catch up with a few like-minded folks at Springspeed Nationals, so with that good luck to all the teams racing and see you at the track xx

Thanks to former Eurodragster.com editor Andy (Tog) Rogers for this news update on his visit to Melbourne Raceway at the weekend. Tog writes:

Melbourne Raceway’s new PortaTree timing system was unboxed and had its first exposure to the bracing Yorkshire air this weekend. The Christmas Tree, timing module, sensors, control boxes and cables made daunting viewing to begin with but as parts emerged from their boxes they were found to be clearly and logically labelled and on Sunday morning the Straightliners crew of Trevor Duckworth, Martyn Greathead and Paul Cumpstone were able to lay out a simple mock-up in front of race control.

There is a lot of work yet to do; a protective cover for the start line beams and brackets for the emitter/receiver units at 60, 330, 594 and 660 feet are being fabricated and the race computer is being populated with classes and racers. The plan is for the system to be fully set up and tested when windows are available on the facility in the week leading up to the  Spring Nats on 12^th-13^th April.

Meet the Eurodragster.com's staff.   The editorial team (Chris, Graham and Dave) will be joined by our old and new staff members, first is our pit photographer, Diana Macrae, who will be joined by Katie Higgs with the her pit notes.

The roster of photographers will remain the same, with Julian Hunt as lead photographer and Kirstie Tramm joining us when her racing commitments allow. Kieran Jenkins and Andy (Tog) Rogers will also contribute to our galleries, and we look forward to other contributing photographers supplying images as before.

Our current list of planned event coverage has been posted. As before, this is provisional and may be added to as the season develops.

Please send your news items to [email protected] if you have large image file sizes.

Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this report on fuelled By Bro Joe reveals design for 2025:

Fuelled By Bro Joe, the team of Liam Jones and Alex Hope, are happy to reveal the livery of the Top Fuel Dragster and Pro Stock Motorcycle the two Brits will field in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship and FIM Europe European Drag Bike Championship respectively. The design is from PWRD, Peter Walters Race Design.

You can read on this article by clicking here.

Happy Birthday for today to Santa Pod Raceway fire crew member Angie Daly, to Super Pro ET racer Mark Turner, and to VW Pro racer Bruce Kopasz. We hope you all have a fantastic day.

Happy Birthday for today to Wild Bunch co-ordinator Claire Meaddows and Pro ET racer AC Bell, have a great day both!

Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway Neale Saunders and The Showtime Racing team media Séan Kevin Bowe for this announcement on Showtime Racing returns. Séan writes: The Showtime Racing Fuel Funny Car makes its return to the European Drag Racing scene, with Bob Jarrett as team owner and NHRA veteran Terry Haddock as driver!

Last week it was Bradenton for the insane Pro Mod event, a few days being tourists then our final destination of our trip, the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, their season opener. Over the years I have been extremely fortunate to be friends with many of the team within the NHRA which lead me to visits to join the announcing teams at the Texas Motorplex, U.S. Nationals and the Gators back in 2019. The invitation to join them again in the future was always available to me but after a six-year gap, it was finally time to see if the invite was still open, so one email sent in December was replied to with what basically read as ‘Get your butt over here, we’ll sort the rest’. It won’t surprise you that Ian also has previous trips stateside to be part of the track crew so no surprises when he was asked to join the Gatornationals team for what he thought would be a couple of days….oh no, a full on 4 days on the Start line and that also includes being on the starter button.

Back in 2022 Brian Lohnes was instrumental in setting up D.R.A.G. the Drag Racing Announcers Group. This was a mechanism to not only connect fellow announcers from around the world with regular Zoom meetings to discuss ideas and share experiences, but to also find new talent and future-proof the commentary teams everywhere. This has been a great initiative and has led to the NHRA changing things around a bit. Brian along with Joe Castillo head up the team with Jason Galvin. Jason started is announcing career in 2019 and is a great asset to the team. A name known to many, David Frieburger (Roadkill) starts his NHRA journey this weekend both in the booth and conducting top end interviews. A total natural, and to be back working with Brian is a perfect match. Got a feeling David will be here for many years, I certainly hope so.

Thanks to Benny Voss and Tog for these words. As this story is almost a fairy tale, it has to begin with:  Once upon a time, there was a young valiant from Frisia in north Germany. He was the proud owner and tuner of a VW Polo 86C, the first to turbo his steed more than 30 years ago. When duelling tournaments on public pathways got too dangerous, he went for thrills, quick times and high speeds on airfields, and was very fond of the famous Jerry Lackey Raceway at MZA Luckau, which was prepared by Frans Steilberg from the MSTO crew.

But the pathway toward the east of Germania was a long and hard one, and with an almost unused airfield close to his home, he approached the (land)lords of Mariensiel near Wilhelmshaven, only a few feet away from the Jade Bay of North Sea and thus, Jade Race was born in 2008 and, over more than a decade of successful events, grew from humble “Public Race” and, “Run what you brung“ into a full-blown Drag Race, sanctioned by German motorsports authorities. When the cars & bikes that went up north got more and more powerful, the traction limits of an un-prepped track threw a spanner into the works, but Micha Behrens, the driving force behind Jade Race, faced that challenge and built his own track-prep equipment : a rubber sled with glue spray bar and Europe's first counter rotator for applying loads of rubber in a short prep time. With these tools and the know-how of  “black track magic“, he made the Jade track quicker and safer than before, attracting more & more racers & riders from Germany and other European countries. When in 2019 the track was relaid with fresh, straight and smooth asphalt, a dream came true for the organizer crew and the racing community, and they lived happily ever after................well, not quite.

Evil forces raised their heads and for fear of devastating "their precious," ground, the racers were banned from the site by the ruling landlords, followed by the COVID plague and all the taboos and forbiddances that were applied. Jade Race seemed to be just another legend and gone forever. The Jade Race Crew roamed the land, searched near and far, in all directions, but their grail quest in search of the praised lands of a flat and long track was without avail. The track prep crew morphed into "soldiers of fortune" providing their services and consultations to other tracks, making them quicker and safer, keeping contact with the racing tribe, but every time they were asked about "Jade Race reloaded"  it was like a dagger to the heart, as this was just a memory now, gone forever. Being stubborn frisians, they also kept contact with their old Jade track, still hoping to return to their spiritual home to worship the gods of speed, power and thrills, but it seemed the situation was set in concrete, like the walls they used to erect for racing.

But this fairy tale has a happy ending, in a miraculous turn of the tide the ruling lords of the country and airport thought better and better about Jade Race. Maybe they realized that these feasts of flames, speed and power did positive for the whole province, rising the numbers in hotel nights and on the till receipts of many a local company and business. Some of the Jade Race pilgrims had made it a rule to spend a few days of peaceful rest in the green pastures around Jade Bay after the tournament.

So, on a dark winter night in 2024, a new contract was signed, and the Jade Race Crew is proud to shout out into the world : Jade Race is back on track, on the usual date of "third weekend of July!" Carve the date of 18th,19th and 20th day of the seventh month in your calendar, sharpen your blades, saddle the horses or hitch them up to your transport chariot and set the compass to Frisia for "Jade Race 202,", hooray !!!

This fairy tale was written and brought to you by Jade Race chronicler Benni Voss

More info can be found HERE

Melbourne Raceway Spring Natonals in just over a month away, Melbourne's opening event, the Spring Nationals is fast approaching. 12th-13th April at Melbourne Raceway, York Y042 4SS.

No Mercy and the ever growing Junior series return to so exciting times ahead.

The bar will be open Saturday night and 'Garageland" the are playing. Check their Facebook page out by clicking here.

More details are ofcourse on the Straightliners website at this link. Remember there are advanced booking discounts up to 10pm on the Wednesday before the event.

Supercharged Outlaws UK treasurer Mark Windridge has announced the continued sponsorship of the class from Good Vibrations Motorsport. Also announced is a change in the class's racing format this year, competing for the Good Vibrations Motorsport Cannonball championship.

"It will be great to see these different classes go head-to-head over the 1/8 at Melbourne Raceway, which should make for close racing."

Private testing organiser and FWD racer Scott Lewry has published on Facebook that the first Yam Yam Racing Drag Club Private test day at Santa Pod Raceway of 2025, Scott writes:

If you are interested, please do so ASAP. You can sign up by messaging Scott on Facebook or join the Yam Yam Racing Drag Club on Facebook by clicking here.

Please see terms and conditions below:

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

*Gate Entry*

No tickets - there will be a list of entrants on the gate. When arriving at the security gate please give the booked on drivers full name and then they will tick you off for any crew as they come in they will be ticked off as crew 1 2 3 4 etc. If your name isn’t on the list you won’t be allowed in, the gate staff have my number and will call me if there is any issues. Its open pitting for racers but most usually pit behind the grandstand or on the opposite area of the pairing lanes.

Sunday Camping Arrivals – Racers/Crews who have paid for camping can enter from approx 6pm onwards however as there is a large event on the racing needs to finish and the site needs to be cleared before we are allowed in. However Santa Pod are organised with this but it may mean a wait outside the gates.

Monday Racer/Crew & Spectator Arrivals - Gates open at 8am.

*Sign on procedure & Race Numbers*

Track sign on is done via the signing on office where you will need to present your license and signing on form. The sign on forms will be in the sign on office. I do have a email version of you want to print before you come. You will need driver license.

Please let me know if you need me to email the form and I will do. I do carry some spares if anyone needs one and there is some worst case in the sign on office but please print at home if you can.

*Racing*

The day runs on RWYB ruling so please familiarise yourself with the rules so that you can meet any requirements.

See RWYB Rules- https://rwyb.co.uk/rules.php

RACE NUMBERS - A lot of the racers have there own race numbers on their vehicle so please use this for the day. If you don't have a number and want to create your own I would advise using your initials and then a number just so it is unique to you and the tower staff don't have any issues on the day. I will provide a pen on the day so we can write names on the back of your car if not they will use your reg numbers.

The track will be prepped and run as best as seen fit by the Santa Pod track crew. To meet everyone's testing needs we will run 1 Lane for treaded tyres and 1 Lane for slick tyres and then towards the end of the day open up both lanes for some grudge racing, this way gives everyone a fair crack to the best track for their application. Only cars that are paid onto the event will be permitted on track. Anyone caught trying to race who isn’t part of the event won't be coming back and will be told to leave immediately. Please don’t abuse our trust. The track usually opens around 9.30 and closes at around 5pm with a half hour lunch break for the staff.

Passengers Runs

I have no issue with anyone having a passenger ride in any of the racers cars. You will need to sign on as a passenger in the sign on office and meet Santa Pods criteria.

*Rain/Dryer situation*

If we have a rain off situation on the day no refunds or credits are given and no date change etc as the track is a one off private booking unfortunately. The track crew will do their best to get us racing however we have to be patient as we all know safety is 100% priority. Their is the possibility of using the jet dryer worst case but that would be an external cost which would be separate to Racer entry and would need to be decided on the day if we called a drivers meeting.

*Behaviour*

Please behave as adults and no foolishness its simple. If anything gets reported to me or the Santa Pod staff then I give my full backing if required to have anyone removed from the site or any racing will stop until the situation has been sorted. Please when camping have a few beers and enjoy the evening calmly security will be on site so don't want phone calls saying people are messing about revving engines and generally being idiots towards the Santa Pod staff.

Hospitality

The Santa Pod shop will be open for Nitrous and Fuel and merchandise snack etc, they do ask that you ring ahead if any fuel/Nitrous is wanted to make sure they have stock. The burger van by the grandstand will also be open. Toilets blocks will be open.

A very Happy Birthday to honorary Eurodragster.com member, SPRC official and Competition Eliminator racer Spencer Tramm, have a great day Spencer. Happy 81st Birthday to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and drag bike engineer Pete Davies, Happy Birthday also to tuner and crew chief extraordinaire Karl Harrison, Danish Super Street Bike racer Mogens Lund, Supercharged Outlaws racer Nigel Rigden and Supercharged Outlaws racer in waiting Lee Merryweather. Have a great day all.

Santa Pod Raceway's Funny Car Cup Social Media Chris Hobson announces 2025 Funny Car Cup dates: The Nitro Funny Cars are back! This season, the ever-popular fire breathing monsters return to the track for four rounds of nitro competition at Santa Pod Raceway. The 2025 Funny Car Cup promises fierce battles, with Kevin Kent of Westten Motorsports, Steve Ashdown in The Undertaker, and John Hale piloting One Bad Texan. Dale Leeks takes the wheel of the former Gladiator—now racing under Hawk Racing—and you can bet there will be plenty more surprises along the way!

Thank to Paul Marston for sending in this update on Manston Raceway Park, Paul writes:

Lastly we will have another work party weekend at Manston Raceway Park in March Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th. Bring paint brushes!! If you can make it please let us know via the Manston Raceway Park's Facebook Page at this email at this link or call Paul on 07831 650230.

Happy Birthday for today to Super Gas racer Andy Harrison and former Wild Bunch racer Nigel Lane, have a great day guys.

Thanks to Colin Theobald, colour commentator and Santa Pod stalwart for his words as he heads across the pond for a pre-season visit to the World Series of Pro Mod in Bradenton:

As the U.K. National Championship drag racing season doesn’t get under way until the Springspeed Nationals at Santa Pod many Brits and quite a few European racers and fans could be found in Florida attending the season opening N.H.R.A. Gatornationals this week or last weekend at Bradenton for the climax of the Winter Series with the World Series of Pro Mod to get their racing fix in before the fun starts at home. 82….yes, 82 Outlaw Pro Mod teams on site to try and make the top 32 to qualify for eliminations to be in with a chance to win the staggering $150,000 outright event winner prize.

Onto day one at Bradenton and wow…..through the gates, and we were greeted with the Pro Mods in the lanes for Q1, a sight to behold. There are seriously awesome race cars, don’t forget this event is over the 1/8th mile, so absolutely no room for error here, especially with a field that would be so closely matched. The numbers were insane. Yes, these cars are outlaw so around 200lb lighter than a FIA legal car and have all the gizmos and sensors to keep this thing planted to the racetrack, but to see a Pro Mod go 3.644 at 205 over the 1/8th was completely nuts for the provisional no.1. Bump sport was 3.684, yep, just 4/100 covering the top 32. Scary moment in Q2 with the very popular Scott Palmer having a major incident in the shutdown area, thankfully the safety cell did its job and Scott managed to walk away from a totally destroyed racecar.

After Q2 it was one of the favourites, Ken Quartuccio with his blown 69 Camaro on top with a stunning 3.596, the only car in the 3.5’s. Bump now 3.667. Friday and 3 more qualifiers. No change in the top 4 but a good move up the order by Mark Micke into the no.5 spot. Q4 and Mark goes to No.1 with a jaw dropping 3.575 at get this, 223.65mph….to the 1/8th!!! Bump down to 3.649, all to play for on the dark late on Friday in Q5. Every car was now well into the 3’s and some big names were not qualified. There are the fan favourites though, Pro Stock racer Erica Enders made the show in 14th, Stevie ‘Fast’ Jackson in at 10, Alex Laughlin in at 7. The quickest Outlaw Pro Mod field ever, bump ended up at 3.637, what was incredible however was that the top 78 cars all ran 3.69 or quicker. Just bonkers.

Happy belated Birthday to Swedish Funny Car legend Leif Helander of Starkotter Racing, thanks to Magnus Larsson for notifying us! We wish a Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Racers Club official and awards evening organiser extraordinaire Yvonne Tramm, also to former Funny Bike rider and drag bike engineer Bob Brooks. We hope you all had a great day.

Happy Birthday for today to Competition Eliminator racer Kevin Jenkins, Gasser Circus racer Lee Pike, German Super Pro ET racer Jens Könnecke and German Super Twin Top Fuel Racer Christian Jäger. We hope you all have a great day.

Thanks to former Nitro FM presenter Nigel Fitzmaurice for sending in this latest Podcast on the interview with: Chris Milsy / Muscle Workshop which can be view by clicking here.

Happy Birthday for today to Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator competitor and Santa Pod Raceway marshal Antony Wilkins and superfan Kerry McCartney Jeyes, we hope you have a wonderful day.