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NSRA
Hot Rod Drags Review (24th September 2008)
The weather preceding the NSRAs Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare
County Raceway wasn’t exactly great and during
the week leading up to the event you could have been
forgiven for thinking that it was going to be a pretty
quiet weekend at SCR but as it happened nothing could
have been further from the truth. Things were pretty
overcast on arrival at the track on Friday afternoon
and an early evening monsoon didn’t bode well
but for whatever reason no one seemed to be paying the
weather too much attention and slowly the pits filled
up with cars as well as water. Setting up in the rain
isn’t a whole bunch of fun but once the pits were
in place it wasn’t so bad. Late into the evening
the site was buzzing with all sorts of cool Americana
but it was still looking pretty wet and we weren’t
thinking there’d be any hurry to get up in the
morning for racing. The next day however bought totally
different weather with it and clear skies meant an typically
early start trackside. Looking across the site on Saturday
morning a lot more cars had arrived and it was promising
to be yet another classic Hot Rod Drags. Though it was
apparent that there had been quite a bit of rain the
tarmac was already well on the way to being dry so everyone’s
attention was on getting the cars ready to roll.
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The rain meant that there was a little more work in
getting the track ready than is usual and this delayed
the start a little but in the end it wasn’t long
things before got going. If there was a downside to
the popularity of the event then it was the number of
cars looking for track time; the volume of cars wanting
to get out on track straight off meant that the route
down to the pairing lanes was all but gridlocked so
it took a while to get down there but it was a good
looking queue so there’s no complaints here. The
first runs of the weekend revealed that the weather
had taken its toll on the track and unfortunately it
was a little more slick than is ideal but such is the
nature of racing in the UK. A lot can change in a couple
of weeks and ultimately the weekend didn’t turn
out to be quite as quick as the Open Sports Nationals
had been. That said though we had a good two days worth
of track time and still managed to get a few good numbers.
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Frank Hoffman was out for what will probably be the
last time with the current set up in the ’67 and
ran pretty much exactly where he left off from the Open
Sports Nationals. A little more track would have certainly
have netted a new PB but Frank is happy that the car
is pretty close to going as quick as it will and is
now looking towards revisions over winter which will
see the car running quicker in 2009. Match race of the
weekend was probably a run between him and Jo Gallagher
which saw Jo take the win. As well as the win against
Frank, Jo also managed a new PB with a 12.26, again
a little more track may have seen this drop further
still. Dave Dinning came very close to getting himself
a PB but had to abort a pass and ended up crossing the
line coasting, looking at the ticket though everything
up to the point where he shut the car down he was on
target for both the MPH and the ET. Also running hard
was Peter Englezos who managed good 10 second passes
all weekend but none were quite good enough to get him
back into the 10.4s. Similarly both James Wotton and
Paul Bate were there or thereabouts and had a strong
showing throughout the weekend, indeed with both chasing
similar targets seeing James and Paul up alongside each
other on track grabbed the attention of some of the
onlookers. Paul got James that time but we’re
sure they’ll race again sometime soon and both
will once again be equally as keen to cross that line
first.
The
NSRA’s Hot Rod Drags has always been a great meet
but this years was the best we can remember, thanks
go to the NSRA and all at SCR for having us back. We
look forward to being back there next year for another
Saturday night Cacklefest and maybe a field of Nostalgia
Funny Cars.
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Open
Sports Nationals Review (9th September 2008)
The Bank Holiday Weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway
has traditionally been one of those events where numbers
seem to tumble and this years Open Sports Nationals
Outlaw Flat Four MSA Round was no exception. With a
15 car entry it promised to be another good weekend
for the club and as per usual the pits were a hive of
activity come Friday evening. In fact taking a look
around SCR the whole place was rammed with cars and
all but a couple of classes were well represented so
it was going to be busy out on track.
Recently
married and just back from honeymoon Jason Rew was out
with his Oval and looking to extract a little more from
the existing set up prior to possibly making some changes
this winter. In a similar vein Peter Shattock was hoping
to wring a little bit more out of the 1776 'Happy Shopper'
mill before retiring it favour of a slightly grumpier
shopper for 2009, whilst Frank Hoffman was looking for
deeper 12s with the White Trash '67. Dave Dinning made
a welcome return to the numbers chase with his recently
completed high calorie all motor Cash & Cakes set
up and was looking to pick up where he left off last
year having spent the early part of this year with his
son Daniel at the wheel of the car with a loan motor.
Having more than got to grips with The Sting during
the course of this season, the Open Sports Nationals
would be Jo Gallagher's first MSA meeting whilst James
Wotton had turned up with some coolers full of ice and
a modified turbo set up having found the limit of his
previous intercooler at the Mopar Euro Nats. Having
been racing at Gardermoen in Norway at the awesome Scandinavian
Cal-Look Classic the previous weekend Richie Webb rolled
into SCR on Friday pretty much straight off the ferry
following an epic journey down through Northern Europe.
Fortunately the car had survived the previous weekend’s
campaign and was ready to roll, though Richie and American
guests Russ and Dave Rhoads were probably in need of
some rest! It seems that there's no stopping the clubs
newest member, Anton Murrells and only a few races in
he was looking forward to his first MSA round with the
Ghia whilst Martin Taylor had his split Bug entered
in both its Outlaw Flat Four debut and Street Eliminator.
Peter Englezos had spent the time since his last outing
helping Dave Dinning with his new motor so the 600 arrived
at the track pretty much as it left it last time round
whilst Phil West returned to racing for the first time
in 2008 with an even lighter version of the Natural
High Bug and was obviously looking to shave some time
off his ET accordingly. Another MSA first timer was
Greg Bishop who has been enjoying a promising year with
the Triple Six Bug which was putting in increasingly
strong runs. Jim Smith and Joe Gallagher had a challenge
ahead of them having to get to grips with various set
up considerations both cars showing tremendous potential
but at the same time a degree of sensitivity to small
adjustments. To complete the line up, having had a busy
year away from the track Paul Bate returned to racing
hoping to be able to just jump in and go with his orange
Bug.
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Since the entry numbers were pretty high the SCR track crew
had scheduled an early start for activities and things
got moving pretty quickly come Saturday morning. Conditions
looked to be ideal with a predominantly bright sky delivering
dry weather and accompanying cooler temperatures making
for good air.
The
early promise of the track proved to bear fruit and
the second qualifying session of the weekend saw Dave
Dinning getting a PB with a 10.39 which was enough to
claim the Outlaw naturally aspirated crown by a considerable
margin. Indeed with the weekend really being little
more than a shakedown effort on Dave’s part we’re
looking forward to seeing what the set up can really
do. As we move towards the end of the 2008 Outlaw Flat
Four season and into 2009 it looks as if there’s
going to be a close fought two-way battle for the aspirated
title between Dave’s car and Joe Gallagher’s
Velocirazor both of which can be expected to shake things
up considerably. Unfortunately the Open Sports Nationals
wasn’t a great weekend for the Velocirazor and
it was prematurely sidelined with clutch failure but
given the leap Joe has made with the car he seemed pretty
happy overall and was quietly confident that they’re
getting close to being where they want to be with the
set up of the car. Like Joe, Jim Smith also ended up
having a tricky time with the car and didn’t end
up with as much track time as he’d have liked
as he was having problems with fuelling. Greg Bishop
was over the moon on Saturday when he not only got a
personal best with a nice square 12.12 run at 112mph
and is now contemplating the possibility of an 11 which
not necessarily something he’d have thought at
the beginning of the year. The car was hooking up really
well and few more passes will see this time drop further,
the only question is how far? Also getting in a quick
run early on was Martin Taylor who got an Outlaw PB
with a 10.82 with a 141mph terminal speed though progress
was bought to a halt prematurely with both axles failing
on the line. Saturday also saw what was probably the
biggest surprise of the weekend when Peter Shattock
ran a 12.20 with his Bug. Peter thought he’d pretty
much got to the limit of the ‘Happy Shopper’
set up and was planning to switch the engine out and
replace it with something pretty special for 2009 but
the 12.20 completely blitzed all expectations and now
Peter is considering keeping the car as it is to see
just how much more can be squeezed out of it. The pass
didn’t tick all the boxes increment wise and in
places Peter has been quicker so there’s certainly
more to be had out of it. He’s continuing with
the new motor program but is now thinking that it will
go straight into a different car instead of the Bug.
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Straight out of the traps there were a number of other
personal bests but these fell later in the weekend.
One example of this was an early 12.74 for Anton Murrells
but this was later beaten by a 12.56 at 107mph and then
again during the eliminations on Monday when he got
a 12.46 now terminating at 108mph, all this is still
without having switched on the nitrous system! Frank
Hoffman and Anton were running pretty close all weekend
and Frank got a PB with a 12.65 at 106mph which he then
went on to beat again in the eliminations alongside
Anton with a 12.47 this time at 107mph, not quite enough
to see him through to the final again this year. The
worst thing being that he missed a gear so he’ll
have to wait until next time to see what he could have
run. Later in the weekend Jason Rew got a PB in the
Oval with a 12.18 at 109mph and is now looking forward
to the possibility of an 11 with the car sometime soon.
Paul Bate’s return to the track proved to be a
success and Paul got an Outlaw PB of 11.02 with an all
time terminal speed PB passing through the traps at
122mph. The 11.02 takes Paul close to his all time PB
of 10.91 and a couple more trips to the track should
hopefully see this fall. Richie Webb had a strong showing
running a number of 9s during the course of the weekend
as has become the norm but a new PB of 9.67 at 141mph
in the second round of eliminations on the Monday confirmed
that the set up is where it needs to be for a forthcoming
adventure over seas. Whilst a 9.67 is cool the run that
most people will remember was a 9.88 most of which was
run on two wheels. Having lifted off the line the car
just hung there scraping its valance down the track,
when Richie hit second gear the car was still in the
air and stayed there quite a while longer. Well, relatively
speaking, nothing lasts too long on a 9 second run!
It’s got to be one the longest wheelies any VW
has ever done in competition spec and it certainly made
an impression with people at the track. If Richie’s
two wheeled antics impressed then Phil West’s
are best described as scary, whilst we’re now
used to seeing him on two wheels generally these are
the rears but one run saw the car get sideways and get
up on its two left wheels, though a close shave the
car fortunately settled back down on all four pointing
at the grandstands and having turned the car back towards
the finish line Phil was able to carry on up the track
with one of his slower ETs!
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Sunday
night provided the opportunity to get some useful information
on the cars when the Mark Norton and Graham Stockton
of the MSA came by the pits with a set of scales offering
the opportunity to get a few of the cars weighed in
return for a charity donation. Since power and weight
are key factors in the fight for 10ths there were plenty
of takers and some interesting results. Perhaps the
keenest of the lot was Phil West who estimated he’d
lost something between 15 and 19lbs of weight since
the last weigh-in and was keep to see exactly how much
lightness he’d managed to find. To this end he
looked pretty stumped when the car actually turned out
to be something in the order of 60lbs heavier. Further
investigation revealed that the front was disproportionately
heavy for a Bug and it was discovered that a spare steel
wheel and a container holding something in the order
of 35 litres of water had somehow found its way under
the bonnet. Thanks to Mark and Graham for providing
the scales.
When
it came to the eliminations on Monday the first round
saw Richie Webb as number one qualifier through with
a bye run whilst second placed qualifier Dave Dinning
took on third placed Jim Smith. Martin Taylor and Joe
Gallagher were paired up but Martin didn’t make
the start due to the axle breakage whilst Paul Bate
was paired up with James Wotton. Peter Englezos lined
up alongside Phil West whilst Greg Bishop and Jason
Rew got to race their Ovals. Peter Shattock faced Anton
Murrells and Jo Gallagher got to race Frank Hoffman.
In the second round Richie Webb took the win against
Dave Dinning whilst Paul Bate went through against Joe
Gallagher. Meanwhile Peter Englezos’ Fiat got
the better of Jason Rew and rookie Anton Murrells beat
Frank Hoffman in what turned out to be a super close
pairing. The semi finals pitched Paul Bate against Richie
Webb who took the win whilst Peter Englezos lost out
to Anton Murrells. For the second year a rookie had
reached the final but this time out lost out and Richie
Webb took the win over Anton Murrels. All in all another
pretty good weekends racing.
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Mopar
Euro Nationals Review (2nd August 2008)
Whilst at Gary's Picnic earlier in the year we met with
the organizers of the Mopar
Euro Nationals and were asked if we'd want to run
a couple of cars at the event and the offer of another
weekend out racing with the Americans was too good to
pass up! Running since 1994 the Mopar Nats as it was
originally known is now the biggest event of its type
outside of the USA and attracts American car fans from
across Europe.
The focus of the event is very clearly all things Mopar
but besides the obvious from names like Chrysler, Dodge
and Plymouth the event also attracts a whole lot of
metal from other manufacturers and most of these are
muscle cars. Indeed by the time we rolled in the place
was already heaving with them and Santa Pod looked very
much like any US strip must have looked sometime circa
the early 70's. The muscle car of course comes from
an era when the American manufacturers were using straight
line speed to sell their cars so the vast majority of
the shows visitors had come well equipped for quarter
mile action by default and the result of this was a
fire up lane full of cars and the track pretty much
running at capacity with some pretty cool looking cars
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With
three days track time available and some good weather
forecast it was looking like it was going to be a good
weekend and once out on track all the cars seemed to
be running pretty well. The temperatures which were
edging into the 90s at times were probably a little
too high for racing but the track was in good shape
so any impact the air available had was largely made
up for with grip.
As it turned out the weekend turned out to be fairly
productive for us with some great passes and a number
of Personal Bests. Jo Gallagher had been spending some
time getting used to The Sting and was putting in a
number of ever quicker passes but hadn't quite managed
to edge into the 12s and then on a run with a 1000ft
time equivalent of a 12.80 of some description there
was no quarter mile time data on the ticket, typical!
On the next pass though Jo got a 12.89 with a 1000ft
time marginally down on the previous pass so as it was
it didn't work out so bad. In fact having run the 12
and getting ever more comfortable with the car everything
started to come together and by the time the weekend
was out she had managed to net a 12.60 at 107mph.
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Anton
Murrells was also in the process of trying to get to
grips with a car and had a productive weekend in the
Ghia managing a PB of 12.86 with a trap speed of 105mph.
There's no stopping Andy Marriot now that the car is
back together and despite being off on holiday he decided
to pop in on the Saturday and run the car which turned
out to be well worth the trip as he left for his holiday
with a new PB of 12.64 at 104mph. Yet another of the
runners taking a PB home was Joe Gallagher who ran an
effortless 10.89 at 125mph in Velocirazor which hints
at the cars potential, a few teething problems had slowed
progress at the beginning of the year but it now looks
as if the gremlins are a thing of the past. Having taken
the car on a bit of European trip following the European
Bug-In Frank Hoffman was back out on track in the '67
and managed to knock his PB down to 12.72 at 105mph.
James Wotton managed a number of solid passes but was
unable to better his 10 from earlier in the season whilst
Richie Webb banged out a series of 9s all of which were
preceded by some fairly epic start line wheelies. Not
the best thing for ETs but certainly popular with the
stands!
From our perspective our first trip to the Mopar Euro
Nationals was a resounding success and as anyone that
has followed our class for the last couple of seasons
will probably have guessed we love mixing it up with
the American stuff. Like the other events we do on that
front the event had a great atmosphere and a big thanks
goes to the organisers for inviting us along to experience
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Second
European Bug-In Review (23rd July 2008)
As Volkswagen events go they don’t get much better
than the European Bug-In, so for us the normally sleepy
town of Chimay in Belgium was the only place to be for
the weekend of the 4th, 5th and 6th of July. The 2007
event blew us away and it’s probably fair to say
it was much the same for everyone else that was in attendance
so the only problem for the Second European Bug-In,
if there was one, was how to follow the first! With
the first visitors arriving at Chimay early in the week
the site was already starting to fill up on the Thursday
and by the time the Outlaw Flat Four pits were set up
later that afternoon there was already a real buzz about
the place. It looked like the Second European Bug-In
was set to be a good one.
On arrival at the track it was clear that the show's
organisers had put a lot of effort into the planning
of the event and the improvements they had made to the
facilities in order to overcome some of the issues discovered
during the course of the first Bug-In were immediately
noticeable. Aside from the Outlaw Flat Four cars there
was a good presence from the UK generally and the VW
Gasser Garage crew had once again come through bringing
with them no fewer than seven cars including the freshly
finished Underdog replica. Also of note parked up amongst
the line-up was a perfect replica of Deano’s VW,
the purple Dyno Soar car which normally resides in Japan
along with the rest of the Flat 4 collection and a welcome
addition to the show. The Bug-In vibe is unique and
part of the reason for this is the type of enthusiasts
it attracts, where as many shows these days lack a credible
attendance of vintage VWs, a glance around the scenery
revealed thousands of VWs from throughout Europe amongst
which were many of the best you’d find anywhere.
Even before the show got started it was easy to see
why the European Bug-In attracts visitors from across
the planet and one way or another it was pretty clear
that a lot of people had put in a lot of effort to make
the show! |
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Whilst
the show's visitors went about getting settled in Lee
Child and his crew spent Thursday preparing the track
and turning what is normally a public road into a credible
track. Fortunately the crews' experience of track prep
not only includes many years at dedicated facilities
such as our home track Shakespeare County Raceway but
they also have experience of working with temporary
tracks and pretty much had everything prepped early
Thursday evening ready for the fun to begin on Friday
morning.
With everything set up the remainder of Thursday evening
was a fairly laid back affair and provided an opportunity
to take a look around at the cars, catch up with friends
and generally chill out enjoying one of the local Chimay
beers. Even though there was a little rain every now
and then this didn’t seem to be enough to dampen
anyone’s spirits in the slightest. Europe’s
premiere VW show was underway.
Despite the late rain on Thursday come Friday morning
it was both sunny and hot and the fire up lane quickly
filled with cars waiting to get out on track and it
wasn’t long before the sounds of wound up flat
four motors filled the air along with the commentary
of none other than "Dyno" Don Chamberlain,
the voice of the Bug-In on both sides of the Atlantic.
It now seems to be something of a tradition to get things
kicked off with a ‘match’ race and the Second
European Bug-In got rolling with Ron Fleming in the
Underdog taking on none other than Paul Schley in the
mighty Dyno Soar. The two cars sat there side by side
on the start line was one hell of a sight and not something
you’d be likely to see at any other show. It simply
does not get any better than that and that was just
the start of it, there was a full three days of action
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Once the drags got started a constant stream of VWs
passed through the start line and off up the quarter
mile track, with just over 200 entrants there was no
shortage of quality quick VWs and everyone settled in
to a full program of racing. By the time the Outlaw
crew got down to the start line everyone was ready to
make it count and flew out of the box guns blazing,
none more so than Chris Emmens who got things started
by monstering the Hembug into a massive burn out across
the line, on a fresh track any rubber you can get is
a good thing and James Wotton followed suit making good
use of the power available to him in his turbo Bug.
Andy Marriot made a welcome return in his Bug and judging
by his first pass all that careful attention paid to
the ‘avionics upgrade’ had obviously paid
off. Also out in their race cars were the Gallaghers,
Jason Rew, Peter Shattock, Travis Rider, Greg Bishop
and Frank Hoffmann. Because of the way the track is
arranged at Chimay racers wait at the top after their
run and then return back to the pits as a group as the
track doesn’t have a return road. At first this
may seem inconvenient but the reality is that it works
pretty well providing an opportunity for some good conversations
with other racers. With the likes of Larry McKenzie,
Roger Crawford, Ron Flemming, Paul & Mark Schley,
and Don Chamberlain hanging out up there (were it not
for a few gray hairs) there were times when it could
well have been the staging lanes at Orange County two
or three decades back!
The Friday continued in much the same way as it started
with the racing lasting late into the evening, as the
sun set over the track you could still hear the sounds
of highly strung flat four motors disappearing into
the distance and shutting down a quarter of a mile away,
a perfect sound track to bring a summer day to a close.
With the onset of evening there was a relaxed party
atmosphere which carried many show goers through to
the early hours of Saturday morning ready for the shows
second day. As with Friday Saturday got off to a sunny
start and straight away the race cars were out on track.
With traction improving all the time people were putting
in ever quicker times thrilling the specators lining
both sides of the track. Unfortunately lunch time saw
the onset of some rain which of course put a stop to
the racing but it did provide the opportunity to take
a look around elsewhere some of the events other attractions.
Aside from drag racing the Bug-In also boasts an extensive
trade area, a swap meet, an off road course, a slalom
and an enormous Show & Shine so there was plenty
of other stuff to take a look at and for those without
a car to race there was also the bar so one way or another
the rain did its thing whilst the show carried on regardless.
Come the early evening though and things were looking
very different with the rain giving way to more sun
and the racing at Chimay once again resumed. Despite
a late start quite a few cars made it out onto the track
and raced late into the evening seeing out Saturday
in much the same way as Friday. At the Bug-In there
was racing until it was dark and no one could see anything
resulting in some of the most awesome evenings entertainment
you're likely to see at a VW show.
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Waking
up on Sunday morning it was hard to work out how it
had got to being the third day of the show so soon;
the time had absolutely flown by. Fortunately the sun
was out and there was no sign of anything other than
blue skies which meant the racing could start straight
away and as had been the case throughout the weekend
the fire up lanes quickly filled with cars and drivers
wanting to take a short Sunday drive in the Belgian
country side. Despite Saturday’s rain the track
was still pretty good and throughout the field a few
people got Personal Bests including both Frank Hoffman
and Greg Bishop. With only a few hours remaining everyone
out on track was hammering it trying to get that best
run in before time was called. As well as people hunting
times several battles were being fought amongst various
parties; amongst these was a fight for ET supremacy
between the Yanks and the Brits in the Gasser Garage
pits whilst Chris Emmens took to the track against Ole
Endler for a rematch of their side-by-side run at Gary’s
Picnic, (Ole took the win at the Bug-In equalising with
Chris’ SCR win). In addition to this the first
ever running of the Powderpuff Class in Europe was drawing
to its conclusion so every run there counted whilst
both Rudy Olivença and Joe Gallagher had started
trying to push their Ghias to the limits of adhesion
and beyond. One way or another wherever you looked it
was getting pretty frantic out on track and there was
some hard ass driving going on! Too bad then that like
all good things it eventually had to come to an end
but sometime just after 4pm on the Sunday the last pairing
of the 2008 European Bug-In set off up the track.
Proceedings
for the Second European Bug-In were bought to a close
with the prize giving and a couple of photo calls including
a line up of all the gassers that were in attendance.
As Chimay slowly started to return to its normal quiet
self there was definitely a sense that the event had
been something special and looking around at the smiles
and through talking to various people it was apparent
that pretty much everyone could have quite happily have
stayed there for a few more days but it was time to
start thinking about heading back home again. Just prior
to the prize giving the club was notified that we'd
won the Best Club Display award which was an
unexpected but welcome finish to an already perfect
weekend. Given that Enzo Englezos was celebrating his
18th Birthday that day it seemed appropriate that he
should pick up the award on behalf of the club, all
we can say is thanks for considering us in the running!
It was very much appreciated by the club
Looking
back at the weekend it would be great to be able to
provide a blow-by-blow account of it all but the simple
truth is that it’s a total blur just like last
years was. There was quite simply too much going on
to remember any of the details and highlights, quite
simply it was all good. As far as we are concerned the
format is superb and will clearly continue to attract
the best VWs Europe has to offer. This is a VW show
for VW enthusiasts and in only its second year the show
is already a legend. Our thanks go to the shows organisers
who made it all possible, thanks to the visitors that
made the atmosphere what it was and last but by no means
least thanks to the people of Chimay for hosting the
event. We look forward to seeing you all again same
time, same place next year. Roll on 2009!
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Forthcoming
Events
(14th June 2008)
It's a busy summer ahead so a quick reminder about what's
coming up. Following on from a great weekend at Shakespeare
County Raceway (SCR) for the Yanks American Weekend
& Gary's Picnic it's back over to SCR to race yet
more American iron for the NSRA
Nostalgia Nationals on June 28th & 29th. Always
a good weekend with plenty to see we'll once again have
a few cars there mixing it up with the V8's. Less than
a week later (July 4th, 5th & 6th) we're off to
Belgium for an event that needs no introduction; the
second European
Bug-In (EBI II), more of that on here in the next
few days. Moving on from there it looks as if a couple
of club members are off to Norway’s Gardermoen
track for the Scandinavian
Cal-Look Classic on the 15th, 16th & 17th of
August after which is another MSA Round, the Open
Sports National Drag Races (23rd, 24th & 25th)
at SCR. Looking further ahead the Autumn will see the
NSRA
Hot Rod Drags (September 13th & 14th 2008),
DAS Drag
Day 6 (September 20th & 21st) and of course
Flame
& Thunder on November 1st. Also yet to be confirmed
is an additional date in July and another in October,
keep an eye on our Calendar
page for details of those.
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Yanks
American Weekend & Gary's Picnic Review
(2nd June 2008)
May seems to have passed very quickly and no sooner
were we packing up from the Spring Speed Nationals at
the beginning of the month it seemed we were straight
back to Shakespeare County Raceway (SCR)
to see the month out over the weekend of the 31st May
and 1st June. The 30th Gary’s Picnic organised
by the National Association of Street Clubs (NASC)
is held in conjunction with the SCR’s Yanks American
Weekend and this was our second visit to the event as
a club. With plenty of variety and a strong nostalgia
vibe it’s an event we really enjoy being a part
of.
For the second event of our season we had a field of
eleven cars lined up. As well as Bernie Newbury, Chris
Emmens, Daniel Dinning, Jason Rew, James Wotton, Jim
Smith, Joe Gallagher, Peter Englezos and Richie Webb
we were also joined by Udo Becker (and Crew Chief Jörg
Wortmann) with his chop top and Ole Endlander with the
Pink Panther Gasser. Whilst various Outlaw Flat Four
members had raced with both Udo and Ole before both
in Germany and Belgium it was the first time we have
been joined by visitors over here and we’d been
looking forward to it since they confirmed they were
planning on making the trip over.
The weekend started out pretty much as usual with the
pits slowly filling up and taking shape during the course
of Friday with pretty much everyone set up and ready
to go by Friday evening though there were a couple of
people who were busy into the night with a few last
minute jobs. Due to a delay getting a couple of parts
together Richie was putting the finishing touches on
a refreshed turbo system whilst Bernard Newbury, Joe
Gallagher and the Velocirazor crew were busy finishing
building the car! A new engine is now in the car but
Joe was still short of a vital part of the gear linkage
assembly as he pulled up at the track. Meanwhile Mrs
Gallagher was at the UPS depot in Tamworth waiting for
them to unload a truck, four hours later work could
finally start on getting the car finished.
By the time the track opened on Saturday morning there
was still work to be done on the Velocirazor and Jim
Smith still experiencing issues with his motor elected
to call it a day but everyone else was ready to roll
as soon as the track opened. A number of quick passes
showed that the track was good and of note was Ole’s
pass which was a solid 11.8 and the first time he’d
run on a dedicated track whilst Daniel Dinning having
taken over the wheel of his Dad, Dave’s car for
the weekend got a 12.2 out of his first ever pass equalling
Dave’s best time with that set up. As the day
progressed it was pretty much business as usual with
wheels up action and times dropping run on run.
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Unfortunately
not everything went to plan though. First to experience
an issue was Udo who had a material failure with one
of his cylinder heads and was sidelined early on. It
was an issue Udo was well aware of and his plan was
to race over here in the UK and make the necessary changes
to the set up once back in Germany, unfortunately the
problem got there first. It’s unfortunate that
it had to happen over here as it’s a long way
to drive and it would have been good to have seen Udo
take on Pete again for one of their now traditional
match races however there will hopefully be another
opportunity for this later in the year. Later in the
day Bernard Newbury’s ‘Stitch Up’
was damaged by a fire. Towards the top end some sort
of engine failure resulted in a fire taking hold at
the rear of the car and for a little while those of
us on the line weren’t sure how bad it was but
luckily the rescue crews got there quickly and got the
fire knocked down pretty much instantaneously.Fortunately
Bernie was absolutely fine and the car though damaged
is in good shape considering what could have happened
and it wasn’t long before Bernie was talking through
possible plans for the car. Also experiencing problems
were Richie Webb who suffered a small oil fire at the
top end off of the back of another 9 due to an issue
with the oil breather whilst Joe Gallagher was eventually
beaten by clutch gremlins. Whilst the problem is not
especially difficult to fix it was not something that
could be done trackside even by someone as determined
as Joe! It was a wild thrash getting the car there and
though it didn’t work as well as it might Joe
now knows the engine is running fine and that there
is one fix between him and some serious numbers.
Though Saturday turned out to be a long tough day at
the track Saturday evening provided an opportunity for
the club to get together to celebrate Mrs Gallagher’s
40th Birthday and everyone was very much in the party
mood. As well as Udo, Jörg and Ole we were also
joined by Julien, Nicolas and Clement who had travelled
up from France for the weekend. It’s good being
able to spend time away from racing as during the day
it’s too hectic to spend any time with anyone
and catch up with what they are up to so there was a
lot for people to talk about, all in all it was an excellent
evening. Thanks go to Carol, Jo, Helen and Pete (on
the barbeque) for an excellent spread and Happy Birthday
Mrs G!
Sunday started with light rain and though it wasn’t
settling on the track the light dusting persisted for
much of the morning and delayed the start of things
on track but fortunately it didn’t last into the
afternoon and the familiar sounds of the track were
soon back. The first run of the day saw Richie Webb
run a 10.02 alongside Peter Englezos who didn’t
finish, James Wotton ran a solo pass whilst Chris Emmens
ran an 11.51 just ahead of Ole Endlander’s 11.70.
The final pairing was Jason Rew who ran a 14.30 with
Daniel Dinning taking the light with a 12.51. The next
time out Richie Webb faced James Wotton but suffered
an engine issue leaving James with a clear track and
a 12.18 whilst Chris Emmens ran 12.03 with Daniel Dinning
running a 15.17. The days final run saw James Wotton
run an 11.10 with Chris Emmens just behind him with
an 11.38.
When time was called on the Sunday there had been four
new Personal Bests, Chris Emmens had a great weekends
driving and ended up with an 11.38 beating his previous
11.51, Daniel Dinning’s first ever weekend behind
the wheel left him with an amazing 11.98 and Ole Endlander
got an 11.57. Meanwhile James Wotton netted his first
ever ‘ten’ running a 10.90 and Richie Webb
once again ran a nine only this time it was a 9.95 so
not quick enough for a Personal Best but all the same
not a bad start for the Cabrio’s first outing
this year.
As well as the Outlaw cars we also had a couple of guests
in our camp who’d bought cars with them and both
had a pretty good time out on track. Anton Murrells
bought his recently imported Ghia along and having made
a couple of soft ‘exploratory’ passes got
it into the low 12’s right out of the box whilst
Chris Lambourne ran his fully fitted Bus and achieved
a 14.4, not bad considering he was living in it during
the course of the weekend and had a slipping clutch!
That’s about all, yet another great weekend at
Shakespeare County Raceway albeit with some ups and
downs but that’s racing and if it wasn’t
for the bad stuff the good stuff wouldn’t mean
anything! Thanks to the SCR crew and also the NASC for
a great event and one we look forward to returning to
in 2009.
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Springspeed
Nationals Review (6th May 2008)
The Outlaw Flat Four season kicked off over the Bank
Holiday weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway and after
a fairly mixed three days concluded with a degree of
success. A couple of gremlins had meant that the entry
list was a couple of cars down and a couple of further
issues subsequently kept two other cars from the track.
Whilst it always seems that the winter break drags on
conversely the first round of the season always seems
to come round too fast for those working through changes
to their cars. Of the entries most of the cars arrived
early on the Friday except for Peter Shattock who spent
the day swapping out the motor on his car for a loaner
from Ian Clark. There were a couple of questions over
Pete’s 1776cc mill and Ian offered him the use
of his 1850cc which is currently waiting for a new home
in his next car. An early season last minute thrash
has now become a tradition for Peter and as such he
didn’t make the track until late Friday evening.
Apart from Peter most of the rest of the guys were pretty
much race ready though Dave Dinning was using a smaller
motor than he is used to as his race engine is still
undergoing a rebuild. A couple of the specialist parts
he is using come with a lead time and made it just too
late for him to turn around the engine and in the end
he used an engine he found in a cupboard at Pete Englezos’
place. It is believed to be one of Pete’s 12 second
Ace Café spec units and as such wasn’t
a especially well suited to the 10 second gearing in
Dave’s car but getting some seat time was a better
option than sitting it out as it would provide an opportunity
to try out a couple of the winter upgrades. By the time
Friday drew to a close we had seven cars waiting in
the pits ready to race. In no particular order Bernard
Newbury, James Wotton, Jason Rew, Peter Englezos, Dave
Dinning, Peter Shattock and Jim Smith made up the first
field of the year.
A bright start to the weekend meant the Springspeed
Nationals got underway early on Saturday morning and
as ever everyone was pretty pleased to get the first
run of the year out of the way. As it was the pass was
fairly uneventful for the majority of the field though
Jim Smith experienced an issue with his newly repainted
racecar and had to wait until the second round of qualifying
to finally blast the cobwebs off. Meanwhile Peter Shattock's
engine swap immediately netted a personal best, a 12.3
which equalled the time the motor had run previously
in Ian Clarks now retired ’52 split. Also of note
was Bernard Newbury’s first pass which was a lazy
10.2. Out of the box it was instantly clear that Bernie’s
current personal best is unlikely to be the same by
the end of the season and it’s probably not worth
betting against there being a few tenths difference.
Other than Dave Dinning who was a little way South of
his usual 10 second form everyone else was pretty much
on the money.
The second qualifying session came round mid afternoon
and it was pretty much business as usual with the exception
of Peter Englezos who ended up stuck on the line with
a broken axle. Despite kicking the hell out of the little
Fiat year in year out we were unable to remember the
last time Pete got pushed back off the line despite
regularly launching the car clean into the sky with
all four wheels off the ground! Ten minutes in the pits
saw the car ready to roll again but there was obviously
a little short lived frustration with missing out on
a pass. Elsewhere on track Jim Smiths car hooked up
nicely and put in a clean pass providing a clue as to
its potential whilst there were strong passes throughout
the field including a second personal best of 12.13
at 107.5mph for Peter Shattock. It is of note that whilst
happy with the personal bests Pete will not be counting
them as such since they have been recorded with a loaned
motor which is outside of the goals he’s set for
himself. Pete is solely concerned with the challenge
of seeing how far he can get with his own 1776cc ‘Happy
Shopper’ power plant.
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It
looked like a third qualifying session would conclude
Saturday however an incident on the track late in the
proceedings just as we were about to run saw the Christmas
tree comprehensively destroyed and bought the day to
a close. As frustrating as missing the run may be there
are far worse ways to end the day and we retired to
the pits contemplating the ups and downs of racing.
Fortunately the driver involved was OK and the car didn’t
appear too badly damaged. More information can be found
on the Eurodragster
Event Report. All that remained for Saturday was
the usual club barbeque.
Sunday turned out to be the low point of the weekend.
Early rain lasted into the afternoon and no sooner had
the SCR crew cleared the track it started to rain again.
Late in the afternoon it finally seemed that we had
a break and as such we headed down to the fireup lane
looking forward to the third qualifying session only
to find a freshly cleared track getting rained on once
again at which point the racing was called for the day.
It was a huge frustration for all but thanks to the
track crew for their continued attempts to beat the
weather. With nothing happening on track there was time
for the Quartermilehigh
team to visit the pits and interview various teams and
classes. When they visited our pits Paul Venners talked
with Peter Shattock and Bernard Newbury about various
members personal goals for going faster and the challenges
associated with this.
Though most of the UK apparently woke up with Sunshine
on Monday Stratford-Upon-Avon was as dark and grey as
it gets and early on looked to be worse than even Sunday
but the forecasts predicted it clearing at lunchtime
so it was a case of hanging on and waiting. Being something
of a leap of faith it’s of no surprise that several
teams packed up in the morning though the majority opted
to hang fire just in case the forecast was actually
right. Having considered the forecast and being happy
with the car as far as it had got Bernie decided to
drop out. Lunch time did see the weather clearing up
and the crew once again got the track ready finally
allowing eliminations to get going. Whilst waiting to
get out Simon Groves of Eurodragster dropped into the
pits and had a chat with a couple of club members for
his Pit
Notes section of the site, more of that can be found
here. On track It was a bit hit and miss with only two
previous passes and a days gap in between but the track
time was welcome so we had six cars head into the first
eliminations from which James Wotton, Dave Dinning and
Jim Smith emerged as winners. Pete Shattock lost out
having lost a lot of time to a monster wheelie but is
now thinking of retaining the 1850cc engine for at least
another round on the basis that it should be on course
for an 11 with the right launch whilst Jason Rew and
Peter Englezos both broke axles. Jason launched so hard
the car ended up with three wheels airborne which it
obviously didn’t like whilst Pete suffered with
the legacy of Saturdays problem. That said he was happy
to go home with an early season 10.7 which puts him
well on course for getting the Fiat where he wants it
in 2008. With the late start it wasn’t going to
be possible to get to the finals but Jim Smith and James
Wotton were the eventual finalists.
Overall it was a good weekend despite the weather limiting
the number of passes.
Thanks to the track staff for their repeated efforts
to make the best of the circumstances and we look forward
to returning to SCR in a few weeks time for Gary’s
Picnic.
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2008
Season Opener (Springspeed Nationals) (27th
Apri 2008)
A reminder that the May Bank Holiday Weekend (May
3rd, 4th & 5th) sees the Outlaw Flat Four season
start up once again at Shakespeare County Raceway
(SCR) at the Springspeed Nationals. As ever a few
changes have been made over the winter to various
cars and the event should provide some insight into
what to expect from the rest of the season. Now in
our third year we are looking forward to an even more
remarkable season than in 2007 so spectacular track
action is guaranteed. Besides Outlaw Flat Four the
Springspeed Nationals plays host to a varied range
of national classes and provides a good opportunity
to see a cross section of British drag racing. Full
details of the event can be found on the SCR
Website whilst a full entry list is available
on Eurodragster.
We look forward to seeing you at SCR.
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Additional
Event Confirmed (Flame & Thunder) (16th
February 2008)
Outlaw Flat Four are now confirmed for Flame & Thunder
at Santa Pod Raceway on Saturday 1st November, this
latest addition to our 2008 Calendar reflects the success
of our final appearance of 2007 at the event. This year
we expect to field a similar selection of cars and will
be looking to finish the year in style once again with
yet more headline making runs. With the majority of
our calendar focussed on events at our "home"
track Shakespeare County Raceway (SCR) it's good to
pop out every once in a while and show people elsewhere
VW power at its best. Santa Pod regulars looking for
some real VW action should put this date in their diaries.
If you can't wait that long then head over to SCR for
our season opener on May 3rd, 4th and 5th and Gary's
Picnic on May 31st and June 1st, see you there! |

Outlaw
Flat Four On Sky Sports (World Motorsports)
(30th January 2008)
We recently got word that Outlaw Flat Four will once
again be featuring on Sky Sports 'World Motorsports'
program along with several other classes from the Ultimate
Power Drag Racing Championship which could be seen at
Shakespeare County Raceway last August at the Open Sports
Nationals. Britain's best VW class features on the first
of two programs which will also show action from Top
Fuel Bike and Street Eliminator. The second program
features racing from Outlaw Anglia, Super Street Bike
and selected finals from a number of other classes.
The schedule for the programs which are both aired several
times is as follows:
| World
Motorsports Program 1 |
Mon
11th February |
19:30 |
Sky
Sports 3 |
| Tues
12th February |
01:00 |
Sky
Sports Xtra |
| Tues
12th February |
10:00 |
Sky
Sports 2 |
| Wed
13th February |
23:00 |
Sky
Sports 1 |
| World
Motorsports Program 2 |
Mon
18th February |
19:30 |
Sky
Sports 2 |
| Mon
18th February |
23:30 |
Sky
Sports 2 |
| Tues
19th February |
10:30 |
Sky
Sports 2 |
| Tues
19th February |
14:00 |
Sky
Sports 3 |
For
anyone that can't wait that long a reminder that Outlaw
Flat Four action from both the Springspeed National
Drag Races and the Open Sports Nationals is available
on DVD from Quartermilehigh,
for more information on these see our 2007
'News' section where we have full details of both
DVDs. With the new season still some time off catching
some racing on the TV has to be the next best thing
to being trackside again. Sky Sports have confirmed
that coverage from this years Ultimate Power Drag Racing
Series (Springspeed National Drag Races in May and the
Open Sport Nationals in August), is being scheduled,
and will be filmed courtesy of Powerpoint Communications
& Quartermilehigh. |
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Bug
Jam 2008
(6th January 2008)
Following a really successful race at Flame and Thunder
to bring Outlaw Flat Four's second season to an end
we are pleased to confirm we are talking with Santa
Pod about the possibility of racing at Bug Jam in 2008. |
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Outlaw
Flat Four 2008 (6th January 2008)
After the success of the 2007 season it's time to look
ahead to 2008 and the third season of Outlaw Flat Four
racing action. Building on what we have achieved during
the first two seasons we are looking to step up a gear
this year and continue pushing boundaries with the VW
flat four. Though 2007 delivered a lot one thing that's
clear is that there is a lot more to come and we're
looking forward to getting back out on track.
The
first confirmed date of the year is the Springspeed
National Drag Races in May, the first of two MSA rounds
the second of which is the Open Sports National Drag
Races in August. In addition to these we will be in
attendance at the NSRA's Nostalgia Nationals and Nostalgia
Hot Rod Drags, both firm club favourites. Having had
a great time there last year we will also be returning
to the Yanks Weekend celebrating the 30th Gary's Picnic
with the NASC and of course we will return to Chimay
for Europe's favourite VW show the Bug-In. It is likely
that club members will once again venture to other European
meets including both the Scandinavian Cal-Look Classic
and DAS Drag Day. Full details of dates can be found
on our 'Calendar' page and links to the associated web
pages can be found on our 'Links' page. We
are also currently looking at the possibility of other
events to attend. Should there be any additions to the
calendar well add that information here as soon as we
have it.
In
the meantime thanks to our supporters for 2007 and we
look forward to seeing you all again in 2008.
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