Rob Carter is first out the gates in this issue:
Must apologise in advance writing is not my strong point. 2024 had its ups and downs. The ups were completing all 6 rounds in Street Eliminator and VWPro, wining Street Weekendand runner up in Doorslamers. The best result by far and most fun was finishing Swedish Drag Week, what a country and people and also great company from the English contingency that I went out with. Downs, struggled all year with my new LS long block, kept having to swap my old engine in for various reasons. Also a niggly electrical problem that kept cutting the engine out randomly.
Plans for the winter, Full engine re-wire and more diagnostic on the motor, new heads for the motor to hopefully release its full potential. 2025 will compete full season SE, rounds of VW Pro only when not on the same bill. Swedish Streetweek definitely. Try different tracks in the UK and Europe, really enjoying no prep on the slicks over 1/8 mile, so definitely more of these events.
On top of that I’ve just built another engine for my daughters 75 Passat, making some big changes over winter so she can run in VW Pro next year. Also got an 83 Passat Wagon project on the go that my wife will compete in VW Sportsman next year. Hope you can pick the bones out of this? Let me know if you need anything else.
Thanks Rob
Next off the startlne is Motorsport UK Pro Mod Champion for 2024, and veteran of the lanes, Andy Robinson, the teams thoughts are shared by Stefani Kate Fisher:
The 2024 season for the Anger Management Pro Modified Team was full of highs but not without its struggles.
It started with Andy and the team being very unsure we’d even make the first meeting. Over the winter months the team made the decision to change the location of the motor and drivetrain in an effort to improve static weight distribution. Our team was noticeably missing from the original entry list because there just simply was not enough time to complete the chassis modifications, however with the weather being so unkind again and the date of the Festival of Power moving by 6 weeks, there was a bit of hope so the work pressed on and we were able to get 1 run in which we were pleased with. To put this into perspective the car was still on the jig on Thursday afternoon while qualifying started Friday morning.
The Doorslammers and Main Event were both fairly successful with some solid 5 second passes, a new speed PB, and qualifying in the top 3 at both meetings, however we exited in round 2 at both events and suffered from a bit of engine damage which was frustrating.
At The Summer Nationals our season really came together, a new ET PB with a 5.82 and a win was a great achievement. This started a 4-event final round appearance streak, only stopped by the unfortunate rain off at the National Finals.
We took the win at The Bug Jam and The Greenlight Nationals (in Greenlight Pro). Despite positive outcomes, at both events we were unsure whether we would even make eliminations due to engine damage caused by valve springs breaking – the engine damage was minor, but the knock on effect caused a huge amount of work for the team and it really was only down to the determination of the entire crew that got us to the start line ready to race.
At the European Finals, we qualified 6th with a respectful 5.92. We battled through the fierce competition on race day knocking out 2 of the potential 4 teams that could have taken the FIA Championship, only to fall short due to a broken air fitting on the transmission in the final. Still, a great meeting for us and a result that we are extremely proud of.
After this success the MSUK Championship was tied up as soon as we signed on at the National Finals – This made us officially 9 x MSUK British Champions.
So what about the 2025 season?
We aim to defend our MSUK Championship, but also we are pleased to confirm our plans to add the Greenlight Nationals to our 2025 schedule. We’re excited about how the Greenlight Pro class can expand in the future and want to be part of building this into something spectacular. If you have a fast car (especially one that runs on Nitro) then we want to race you! Dragsters, Funny Cars, Altereds, Import cars, whatever you’ve got, lets get involved and make this something special!
Of course we must finish by saying thank you to our partners and sponsors:
- NGK Spark Plugs (UK)
- Torco USA
- Mike Janis Racing
- Starracerbelts.com
- Noonan Race Engineering
- PAC Racing Springs
- EZ Motorsports
- Manton Pushrods
- Precision Racing Suspension
- Carbon Collective
- Vivid Vinyl
Photo Credits: Jon Spoard, Personal Collection and Eurodragster/Julian Hunt
Superbird Racing’s Don Scott and Grace Roaf write:
We had a great first full season in Pro ET attending all rounds with the new 493 (small) Big Block from Dave Billadeau as a trial to see if we can get more reliability and consistency than the 572 Keith Black Hemi we’d been running for many years previously and what can we say…
For an engine that was originally destined for low 10’s, maybe a 9 if we’re lucky, we’ve run a PB of 9.70! (Twice as a perfect ET that still wasn’t good enough for #1 qualifier in both cases, always the bridesmaid… but congratulations to Rouven and Marc who pipped us at Euro Finals and National Finals!)
Our self-imposed goal was to finish top 10 in Pro ET but after a tricky Main Event with alternator issues resulting in us not making the cut for the 32 car field and dragging our average points per meeting down, we finished 14th in the points overall which is still respectable and we are happy!
Also had a play out in Super Gas this year, which was great to try an index class, race against different cars and give Don a go at a Pro tree in competition to see what lights he can cut! We hope whoever has the red marquee puts it up in the same place next year so Don can judge lifting off to that 9.90 now the engine has settled in and got a couple of tenths faster.
A full permit season in NSS as well, ending up 3rd in the Championship, many congratulations to Adrian for the win (very well deserved) and Mick for runner up! Always amazing to see the turnout for NSS at the lifestyle events too – Don even got the perfect reaction time at Dragstalgia too! Don made the decision to step down from the NSS committee from 2025 to focus on his own racing and enjoy these busy meetings more.
We’ve had some close races across all the classes we’ve entered this year,
the pair of us work well as a team, have a great laugh along the way, and have achieved some great results together, but it has also been really nice to have Colin, Grace’s dad, helping out a bit this year as well – the big blue thing with a wing is heavy to push sometimes and an extra pair of eyes (and hands) is always helpful, so thank you!
Don has already started a full check over on the Superbird working from front to back and preparations have begun for 2025 with new front tyres, slicks and a new fuel pump system.
With Don driving great with the new engine, enjoying racing and Grace now having more data and timing tickets to nerd out on, our goals for 2025 are to try again for a Top 10 finish in Pro ET and get that illusive number #1 qualifier, hopefully with another perfect ET thrown in somewhere over the year as well – ultimate crew chief badge of honour!
As always, a big thank you to everyone who supports our racing campaign – not limited to sponsors, friends and family!
A very special mention to Dave Billadeau for building a kick-ass engine, Chris Goodale for any parts you could want (also big thanks for organising the inaugural GAS Bash after Mopars – so much fun!) plus anyone who offered help of parts, tools, hands over the season as we sorted out issues with alternators, carburettors, fuel pumps, punctures… but what’s racing without problem solving? See you at the track in 2025!
