I finally feel a lot more confident & comfortable running this car than I have ever been. The 2 seater is keeping me sharp on the lights. Hopefully I will get to make a few more outings in 2025 with a new scoop incoming. The highlight of the season was able to take my dad for a 7-second passenger ride for his 70th birthday in September. 

Massive shout to Andy Harrison for all the time put in to help make the changes, hard work and the tow to the track. It couldn’t be done without you. 

Thanks to little Thomas who blogged the day.

I then had to restart my 6-month treatment plan all over again, because of my age and diagnosis (a rare and aggressive form) but because of this, I put having that stronger chemo on hold (until now) which meant I actually could complete the race season, as I managed the first load of weekly chemo treatments!

I definitely would not have managed it though, having being swapped now the week after race season finished, onto the harsher one, so the silver lining there was the reaction, as it gave me the chance to complete the season and not feel so floored! Which brings me to mention I have actually now finished all chemo treatments two weeks ago! 9 months and 22 hits of chemo, finally done, and I move onto radiotherapy next week!

This brought me to announce my diagnosis around the Main Event, as not only was I beginning to look and do things slightly different (hide from the sun, wear a bandana on my head to protect my hair from my helmet/cap etc) and of course also I figured I wanted to give back and help raise a little money and came up with the idea of the Charity Dolly Tops, to help also raise awareness, and boy did we!

The incredible amount of support through that has been something beyond what I ever imagined, and I thank you all so, so much for all the donations, purchase of dolly tops etc. I'm thrilled to announce we raised a total of £6000 which I split between my charities Macmillan & Breast Cancer Now, which are helping support and save not just my life but those of others affected too. So thank you ever so much it's such a huge help and the charities are so grateful and want to thank you all too!

I want to say a HUGE well done to all the class. You're all amazing, but a special well done to Warren, who not just totally smashed super comp, ending up runner-up! But for all he has done for the class as well, becoming our class sponsor and all the incentives has been just what we needed! Thank you so, so much! And of course, a massive well done to Paul who has had endless car troubles, I'm so thrilled for you doing so well this year and finishing a tight third! It's been great having Steve Hudson back with us this year and (thank you, Steve, for always helping with the car too!) newbie Ellie Brown who has stepped up from juniors and smashed her first year in comp! Well done, Ellie, and loved having Ronnie Mercer join us! Along with Andy Bond, who was SO much fun to race with! And of course, original Super Comper Brian Pateman back with us too! Love having all of you with us that join comp, as at one time sadly it was a dying class and we so want to keep it alive, and this year felt it was coming back to life again so please let's keep it this way!

I think I've waffled enough, but I have to end this with a HUGE Thank you to all at SPRC, from ALL the incredible track crew, Ian, Dave, top and bottom end guys! The pairing girlies, Paul and the ‘pull us round’ guys, The sign in office girlies, ALL the marshals, all the commentators providing us with all the race info! All the awesome photographers that capture all the moments! And of course to Keith for providing us with this fabulous place!!

Finally, thank you to obviously the chief who is dad, we couldn't do any of this without you, and I genuinely don't know what I would have done this year without racing, It has been the focus that has got me through most of my journey that is for sure!!

Thank you to all of you, who ever help and have helped, supported, just everything, we always appreciate everything so thank you ever so much and obviously especially with the fundraiser, that has absolutely blown my mind at the kindness and generosity from each and every one of you. So thank you once again and cannot wait to do it in a few months time! 

Have a great christmas everyone! See you in the new year.

Much love to you all - Leah and all of us at Team Dolly Daydream xxx

At Festival of Power 2023, the motor grenaded in Rattler, not much was salvageable. It was gutting at the time, but I managed to save the car from hitting anything (bearing in mind slicks on hot oil with only rear brakes isn’t synonymous with being able to stop!). It meant having to put the racing on hold for a bit and sort my wedding car out for May 2024, my Foxbody Mustang, which needed some work.

A new Blueprint 408w crate engine was ordered through Topspeed Automotive, an uprated C4 gearbox sourced, and legalities sorted to put an MOT back on the car for the first time in about twenty years. It took until one week before the wedding for it to be ready and to pass, phew! A big burnout on our day was a success!

The plan was to let better half Holley compete in Sportsman ET with the car for the rest of 2024, a decent step up from her stock SN95. Holley took to it and all the new procedures that came with really quickly which was a proud moment; burnouts, using the line lock, manually shifting, keeping an eye on the gauges etc.

Of course, even a street spec 408w in a Foxbody is still a recipe for a quick street car, and trying to keep it under the 12-second cut-off for Sportsman turned out to be quite difficult. At one point with the weather good, the timing at a measly 22 degrees total, short shifting at 4800rpm and running the throttle stop just over halfway under the pedal, it was still trying to creep into the 11s. Eventually it caught us out in racing where, without a minimum 10.0 roll-cage, we were disqualified in competition for going under 12.0 despite a red light in the other lane: first or worst rule. So, this winter sees a 10.0 chromoly cage going in, something I was keen to avoid given it's a full interior road car, but ultimately, it’s too fast to not have the basics, and we won’t be disqualified by that way again, so there you go! 

I did dabble in Street Weekend 2024 myself with Holley’s expert navigating, this time with the car let loose. Despite fighting a misfire all weekend, we still managed to turn in an 11.60 at 116 on my final run (still with the odd misfire), enough to put me 44th out of ~170 and crucially gain automatic entry for SW ‘25 which was the goal. I feel the goalposts will be moved next year, so will have to try harder!

On our return from our honeymoon in August, we were ecstatic to discover Holley was pregnant with our first, due Easter Sunday ‘25: the new Messiah?! Either way, hopefully another new generation of racer along with the other newborns the track has seen recently!

Meanwhile, I’ve been piecing together replacement parts for Rattler over this year, and am just about to take delivery of a new 1500hp capable Edge Performance built power-glide, which, including the parts sourcing from the states, Nick turned around for me in under 2 weeks. Great job! 

Of course, I spend a lot of time with the in laws trackside at Walters Motorsport and their blown methanol Super Pro dragster, which naturally gets one learning about the setup and having a thing. You can probably guess where my mind was going at this point; Rattler was going to be stepped up into a blown methanol, albeit small BBC, altered. Young Dan, as a child looking forward, could never have imagined being fortunate enough to be able to do this, having watched the adults do it at the time. With the knowledge and experience of father-in-law Richard to help guide the changes and tuning directions, I felt confident we could do it; the combination should safely run in the mid to late 7s on minimal boost and timing. The goal will be consistency, or as much as you can get with a blown methanol altered, to compete in Super Pro; it’ll be tough but hopefully great fun.