Nick and Luke Mudgridge give us the the low down on their recent trip to Germany:
These past two weeks we have been visiting Germany to attend two Championship Gala’s. Firstly in Frankfurt for the HARA, where Luke has become this year’s Jr Dragster Champion.
I also collected the 3rd place trophy in their Pro ET class as well.
Then last weekend we travelled to Suhl for the DMV Gala, where Luke also collected the MSJ Championship winning trophy and a Runner-Up in the DMSJ. Again I also collected the 3rd place trophy in Pro ET for the DMV championship.
Both the HARA & DMV collect points based on your best 5 attended races across Europe. Finishing strong in both these championships for Luke was possible thanks to his Event Win at the Summer Nationals, qualifying No.1 and reaching the Semis at the final race in Clastres, before winning the 37th Annual NitrOlympX in his first and only attempt in Hockenheim as he will be too old to enter next years event.
Along with finishing no worse than the Semi’s at every event that was completed this season to take both German titles.
The highlight for our mini European tour during the Summer break of the U.K. season was definitely experiencing 2 new tracks and getting to know the local racers. Seeing the other Juniors fist bumping Luke before he got in the car when he reached the later rounds showing their support despite the language barriers.
learning the two different tracks was also an interesting challenge, as Clastres required a different setup to get the max consistency throughout the day compared to Pod or Hockenheim where the evolution was more similar. In fact it wasn’t until round 1 in Clastres after 5 qualifiers before I had it figured out and then the dragster started printing tickets like it normally did.
While the other big highlight for both myself and Luke was the experience of towing our dragsters around the Hockenheim circuit as the return road. We were thrilled about hitting apex’s and taking racing lines making our way back to the Pits.
In Pro ET I even coasted to the end of the shut down just to hit the apex of the Hairpin only to understeer terribly on the exit. Turns out dragsters aren’t the best F1 cars !!
We can’t thank our good friend Andrea Morris Kloss enough for the help and support with joining both championships and the encouragement to start our Euro trip early in France.
Budget permitting in 2025 , Luke’s last season in Juniors, we hope to be able to compete the full French ATD Championship alongside the U.K. season.
Big thank you also to Nic Woods at Nic Woods Racing for our awesome Motor and Clutch package. Since bolting it on and tuning it to the conditions it’s been a huge factor in helping Luke get the most out of the car.
Thanks to Mick Taylor for the words about Frankie`s rookie season in the "Banshee" Topolino:
We finished Frankie’s new Topolino in time for Hot Rod Drags 2023, and a good chance for me to test it out and make sure all is good before letting Frankie off in it. We entered in Wild Brunch and all seemed fine after a few passes, apart from the gearing was miles too high 4:68’s as we’d gone smaller slicks. Flame n Thunder was a good event to get Frankie in the seat for the first time, apart from driving the car on to the stand at Silverstone few weeks earlier. first run up the track, i tried to make it with little to do, off in second gear, off on the pedal, and switch off at the end, like she was used to in the junior, just drive it up the track and get the feel of the car, it had been over two years since she finished in the juniors, she done well and run a 19 sec! Next run bit more off the line, spinning the wheels and she ran a 14sec. Sunday weather wasn’t to clever so we called it a day.
Over the off season we changed the gears to 4:11’s and fitted the air shifter off my van. 2024 season was all about her and us getting used to the new car! First event was Festival of Power, where she would do her licensing passes, I informed Ian Marshall, and i booked into the test day on the Thursday to make sure the changes worked, but it rained, so on to Friday and running on the back of Pro Et, she done a very short burn-out in the box, up to the line, off in second and on the pedal, she ran a 11 @127mph. Back in the pit we got called up to see Darren Prentice in the tower,"you know Frankie should be doing licencing passes?", "I did email Ian," i said? "well i can see she can handle the car,"was Darrens reply. N stage was to run a 1/2 pass and pull the chute, then a run with a full pass and dial in. Frankie did with flying colours got her license and even qualified for the event.
Next event for us was Main Event, first run we kept it the same, and she run a 11 sec pass. Time to use first gear and the air shifter on the next run, she ran 10.79, next run 9.99, next a 9.63 @ 139mph and our dial in way out! She’s getting used to the car alright! We missed the next event as couldn’t get the car there, but entered Dragstalgia, as Frankie couldn’t make it through work, but gave me a chance to check out the gearing, all seemed good apart from a lag/ flat spot between first and second, so i bought the air shift on the where the power comes in on the cam. Next we did three weekends in a row, all good seat time for Frankie, first the Euro’s where a nut came loose on the brake pedal linkage making the brake a bit spongy after a 9:6 pass.
Frankie panicking forgot to pull the chute and went off the end of the track about 10’ into the field, all was good though, she came round after blaming me and laughing!
Next was Hot Rod Drags, unfortunately first run around the 60ft she was sideways with one wheel up, but held it well and straighten up, heart attack time for me! Back in the pit we checked every nut n bolt, and then realised what it was, the change from first to second made the wheels spin with the power causing it to slide sideways, also being a RWYB track prep. We backed the air shift to a lower rpm and took 1/2 out of the slicks and worked a treat, Frankie being a bit worried it happen again, plus after the field trip got her confidence back after the next run. National Finals see Frankie doing some of her best racing, good lights too and finishing on a high! Cannot wait for 2025 season.
We had our motorhome stolen before the last three events with all our race gear in it, would like to thank all that helped us with lending stuff so Frankie could race, the race family are one of a kind, the best, specially Matt Wight who stepped crewing for a few events, also lending and trusting Frankie his helmet and hans.
Roll on 2025!
Simon Innes of the "Plum Crazy Racing Team", shares with us a breakdown of the 2024 season:
Easter Nationals 2024
A good start qualifying 5th out of 33. This was the start we wanted for the 2024 race season. Festival of Power 2024, after qualifying was finished as a team we was slightly disappointed with qualifying 16th out of 32. This is really not what we wanted with a good start to qualifying at Easter. We went through round 1 and then the weather came and we were done.
Doorslammers 2024
Our favourite meeting of the year is Doorslammers – Unbelievable meeting – we managed to get to the final through a competitive Big bracket field – we sadly came 2nd by a red light but took home a fantastic £2000 so wasn’t too bad.
Main Event 2024
WHAT A MEETING! Friday- Sportsman day - 4 runs on the Friday - OH MY, The car was on form for sure. Simon continued from where he left off at Doorslammers. 3 runs out of the 4 we HIT our dial in, 1. 0.004, 2. 0.008, 3. 0.006. The other run was only off the dial by 0.01. We was delighted with qualifying and we stayed 5th out 43 cars. In elimination we went through 2 rounds of racing and didn’t quite get in the 1/8 mile Q/F race but we certainly enjoyed the main event for sure.
Summer Nationals 2024
This was the nightmare meeting, we had a water leak from the Motor Plate and we couldn’t get it fixed on site. We was done for the meeting – Walked away with only 10 points and didn’t qualify. A very unhappy camp for sure and the mood was low but that’s racing, things happen but we all came together over dinner and said “We will get it fixed and will back for European finals”.
European Finals 2024
Sportsman Qualifying day - 3rd run of that day - 2nd time we hit the dial - 10.62 dial and ran 10.6222 ... Pretty awesome to have 3 runs in the same day and hit it twice. 0.001 AND 0.002 – Plum Crazy Racing Team had a handle on the race car for sure. Pro ET scheme were doing number 1 off the trailer and we wanted that money so we took some cash home. We qualified 5th out of 51 race cars – Super happy with that! We went through round 1 and then went into our first night race and I wasn’t happy that I left early but so different when racing at night and I certainly learnt my lesson and shall take that forward to 2025.
Nationals Finals 2024
Was one meeting at the end of the year that everyone would like to forget. I have never ever seen weather like that at Santa pod in my lifetime. Hail stones, thunder and lightning and flooding, ruthless winds that were howling across site, taking race team’s awnings off the ground. We managed to get 2 qualifying rounds in and we ended up 12th out of 30 race cars. We went out in round 1 and ended the season all wet and miserable and headed home early. Racing was called on Sunday which we all knew as the whole of England was a wash out. Not the way we wanted 2024 to finished but Mother Nature had played its part.
2025 Season I have already completed an oil change with new oil filter, new plugs. We are planning on refreshing the rear axle and aiming to get a new pair of rear slicks. This up and coming season the Plum Crazy Racing Team will be ready to compete for the 2025 season and go for the championship.
See you all at Santa Pod in 2025
Simon Innes
