Halloween Bonfre Burn-Up Review (1st November 2009)
Traditionally the last event of the Outlaw Flat Four Season has been as much about having a get together with friends as it has been about the racing and this years Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up at Shakespeare County Raceway was no exception to this. By the time you get into October it's always going to be a little hit and miss with the weather, even more so at the November end of things but it's always worth a shot just in case there's a last PB to be had or maybe a chance for a little more set up information information or maybe just a chance to catch up with everyone over a few beers on the Saturday night before packing up for winter. As well as club members we also had a couple of guests join us for the weekend so everything was set for a good weekend out on track so long as the weather played ball.

Heavy rain on Friday night didn't bode well for the weekends racing but come Saturday morning it was dry so it looked like we were on for a good day's racing. Beacause it was relatively cool and due to the amount of rain overnight it took a little while to get the track dry and then prep it but the track opened early afternoon and everyone headed out to the pairing lanes. With just a few more passes to be had people were pretty much running all out but a stopage in the afternoon reduced track time a little so when it and came the last run of the day the track was past its best. Nethertheless people got a couple of passes in which is much better than it could have been all things considered. From an Outlaw Flat Four perspective run of the day probably went to Jim Smith who's final pass of the day saw the Bug pointed at the barrier not once but twice. In some ways it was a scary run but having emerged with the car unscathed Jim looked pretty pleased as it seems the car is now hooked up and ready to go. As is often the case sometimes it takes a while to put things together and get a car right but on the evidence of this pass it looks as if Jim's going to be running hard in 2010. By the time the track had closed it's probably fair to say that everyone had had a pretty good day and thanks go to the track staff for getting the track in order despite difficult conditions and a little anti-freeze!

Saturday evening was all about taking time out and chilling out over food courtesy of Carol Newbury and crew who as ever put on a top spread. After food it was time to watch this seasons DVD and everyone gatherered around a laptop (!) since the projector had been left 'at home'. It's not for us to comment on the content of the DVD but thanks go to Helen and David from Quartemilehigh as well as Paul Venners who between them have done an awesome job of the production. As well as the DVD we all got to say Happy Birthday to Mr Keene who despite being another year older isn't showing any signs of slowing down just yet.

Sunday morning sadly wasn't so good and high winds saw horizontal rain soaking through the site, and there wasn't anything to be done other than to call it. This of course meant that the CHP Ashes weren't run as planned which is a pity as we were looking forward to a little grudge racing with the cars of the Pro Street Drag Series but there's nothing you can do about the weather. Away from the MSA series we'd like to spend more time in 2010 racing other groups of like minded people so we're sure we'll get another shot at the Ashes sometime soon. So that was that, an excellent weekend despite the weather trying it's best to ruin it. Additional photos of the event can be found on Jeni Long's Yawning Cat Photography site, The Acceleration Archive and Eurodragster.

2009 Outlaw Flat Four Season DVD (28th October 2008)
A full run down of Outlaw Flat Four's fourth season has been captured on DVD and is now available to buy on-line from the 'Merchandise' page. As well as serving as a reminder of the season the DVD is a great opportunity for those that were unable to get trackside during 2009. Quoting the press realease:

Step inside the spectacular world of Outlaw Flat Four right through the exciting 2009 season. Wheels up, heads up drag racing action from the class that has taken the UK drag racing scene by storm. Running VW Flat Four engines these cars thrill the crowds wherever they go with their wild launching, highly tuned machines. Turbos, nitrous and a healthy dose of cool gives one of the most exciting drag racing classes out there. See them taking on and wiping the floor with monster engined muscle cars at chilled out lifestyle events like the Hot Rod Drags, and also running side by side in full on competition at MSA championship rounds at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway. This class is all about enjoying the racing and putting on a show for the fans, and it does this in bucket loads. Once you watch them you’ll be hooked!

As well as the Outlaw Flat Four DVD Quartermilehigh have also released a number of other DVDs from the 2009 season including event coverage of the Open Sports Nationals and the Hot Rod Drags. More details of all the titles available can be found on the Quartermilehigh webpage.

SPRC Summer Nationals Review (16th June 2009)
The SPRC Summer Nationals held at Santa Pod Raceway are a new addition to the Outlaw Flat Four calendar for 2009 and the event was the second round of this years Outlaw Flat Four Championship. Being just a couple of weeks after the Yanks Weekend & Gary's Picnic the timing made for a busy few weeks but when all was said and done it had definitely been worthwhile. As per usual for a race weekend people started arriving at the track early on Friday with a couple of people taking advantage of Friday's Peak Performance Test & Tune Session to check out their cars set up. Being a Championship round every run counts so the more information you can get ahead of the qualifiers the better. As with the other race weekends this year the weather was looking fine, so some good racing was anticipated. The remainder of the Friday was pretty chilled out and with everyone ready to run there wasn't so much to do other than sit around and relax ready for two days of racing.

Saturday morning was a scorcher and the track was open according to the schedule and soon everyone was headed down to the pairing lanes ready for the first qualifying sessions of the weekend. Making up the field were Dave Dinning, James Wotton, Andy Marriott, Phil West, Peter Englezos, Bernie Newbury, Paul Bate and Adele Woodbridge. The first run of any weekend is always one drivers are wanting to get out of the way and sometimes this can cause times to be a little off target and whilst nobody had any issues everyone was a little out of the groove except for Adele who having run on the Friday was able to go straight out and put in a Personal Best (PB) running a 12.18. The first runs confirmed everything was OK with the cars so all was set for the remainder of the qualifiers. Perhaps the most significant run of the first session was that between Dave Dinning and James Wotton who were the first Outlaw Flat Four members to run at Santa Pod at an Outlaw Flat Four Championship round, something of a milestone for the club.

Despite a packed event with a good number of entries throughout the classes the qualifying sessions progressed quickly and by the time the schedule got back round to us it was the best part of an hour ahead and a couple of people were caught out having been aiming to have cars ready according to the timetable. This is not usually an issue for drag racing in the UK but with great weather and only very minor interruptions the classes ran through much quicker than expected but after a bit of a last minute thrash all the cars were once again back in the pairing lanes. The second session saw both James Wotton and Paul Bate storm back into the tens, Paul ran a 10.98 whilst James took a new PB with a 10.87, also of note was Bernie Newbury's run which was a 10.71 and a sign that the car was working as it should. The third and final qualifying session of the day saw Adele net her second PB of the weekend and the cars first eleven second pass with an 11.93. All in all a pretty successful day but the final session left James, Bernie and Dave Dinning with some work to do on the Saturday night. The most spectacular parts failure of the day was Bernie's clutch with had all but exploded but with enough spares for the entire field it wasn't a major issue.

As with Saturday's qualifying sessions the eliminations got started pretty quickly on the Sunday morning and ran through pretty much without interruption. The day saw both Bernie and Paul running some good times Bernie tripping the beams with a 10.20 and a 10.16 and Paul getting another pair of tens with a 10.96 and a 10.95 a performance which saw them both making the final with Paul emerging the eventual winner somewhat unexpectedly Bernie having taken a detour off the line on his way to the other end of the track. It had been two long hot days but by the time everyone started packing up on the Sunday it was pretty clear that everyone one had had a great weekend and for various reasons there's a couple of people busting to get back out again as it looks as if a few more PBs are now on horizon. Thanks to the Santa Pod crew for a really great weekend's racing.

Friday was the usual chilled out affair with people arriving throughout the day and getting stuff set up though there was a downside to the day for those travelling up from Dover who suffered a delay of ten hours or so negotiating gridlock on the M25. By nine that evening most of the crew were at the track and with a warm Spring evening and a couple of Jupiler's the traffic chaos was soon forgotten.

With no worries about waiting for the track to dry out and with everyone having got through scrutineering with flying colours Saturday morning got off to a flying start with both the Outlaws and guests wanting to get going as soon as possible so no sooner was the track open everyone got their stuff together and headed off to the pairing lanes and it wasn't long before the VW powered cars were heading off up the track in the heat of the sun. The smell of race gas and burnt rubber and the sounds of angry flat 4 and V8 engines makes for a great start to a Saturday morning. With some good numbers first pass everyone came away from the first session pretty happy and a couple of the DAS cars came back down the return lane and straight back into the pairing lanes, something they would continue to do for most of the the rest of the weekend!

Not wishing to waste the opportunity things were mixed up throughout the day with there being both VW versus VW pairings as well as VW versus V8 pairings and with the latter I think it's fair to say that the flat 4 engined cars gave a good account of themselves with the win light showing on the VW side of the track more than a few times though it's fair to say there was some really quick V8 stuff there and they got there fair share of wins too. Whichever way it ended up I think both camps enjoyed themselves and it's great to see such different machines pairing up.

After the racing finished on the Saturday and following a quick (!?!) photo call it was time to chill out and thanks must go to Carol, Helen and everyone else who helped out putting an awesome spread together for everyone. The remainder of the evening provided an opportunity for people to catch up and in a couple of instances pick up some spares courtesy of Pete Englezos and make a few needed repairs.

For the Sunday we had decided to put together an informal ladder and ran some eliminations between ourselves, our UK guests and the DAS guys which resulted in Phil West winning through the weirdest set of circumstances we've seen to date. Phil was confused but happy to take a win on a bye run nonetheless! One thing's for sure with heads-up racing, you really never can tell how it's going to go! Outside of the ladder the DAS crew were once again making use of the track time and were running laps round the Warwickshire country side and putting in some good times. Like Saturday the Sunday saw another great day of action out on the track and it was over way to soon. Thanks to the SCR crew and the the National Association of Street Clubs (NASC) for inviting us and hosting such a great event and thanks too to Jeni Long for use of some of her pictures more of which can be found on her site; Yawning Cat Photography.

European Race Action 2009 (10th May 2009)
With the season now well underway a quick reminder about some of the cool events happening over on Continental Europe later this year. First up is the 3rd European Bug-In which this year takes place on the 3rd, 4th & 5th of July. Held in Chimay, Belgium the event became a legend in only its first year and continues to be the one by which all are measured, with visitors and cars from all over the world this year’s not going to be any different. Next up it’s off to the north of Europe and Norway, the land of side-by-side 9's on the 14th, 15th and 16th August for the 8th Scandinavian Cal-Look Classic where you’ll find many of Europe’s fastest VW’s. With beautiful surroundings, great Scandinavian hospitality and an abundance of formidable flat 4 power you’ll be wondering why you haven’t yet booked your ticket! New for this year is Bug Spain which is set to take place at the all new Motorland Aragón circuit in Alcañiz on the 4th, 5th & 6th September. With plenty of early interest throughout Europe, a great new motorsports facility and what will surely be the hottest drag VW drag racing ever held in Europe it’s set to be an event that’s well worth heading south for. Last but by no means least is the 7th running of the DAS Drag Day at Bitburg in Germany on the 19th & 20th September. Now established as a racers favorite and hosted by the famous Belgian DAS Club the weekend is all about putting flat 4 power down on a quarter mile track and offers little else other than a great atmosphere, it’s just about perfect. Sometimes less is more!

Springspeed Nationals Review (8th May 2009)
The Bank Holiday weekend Springspeed Nationals meet at Shakespeare County Raceway (SCR) has become our regular season opener and is always a good weekend this year’s event being no exception. This time round though the event served as the first event of the inaugural Outlaw Flat Four Championship so it was going to be a weekend worth winning. As is usual for the first event of the year there’s always a few people who get caught out either running out of time or discovering a last minute gremlin and as a result of this we were a couple of entries down but those in attendance weren’t going to have an easy time of it and some close racing was expected. Great weather on the Friday meant that getting everything set up in the pits was a fairly leisurely affair making for an easy going evening.

Peter Englezos and Joe Gallagher turned up with cars that were pretty much as they were at the end of last season whilst Dave Dinning, Andy Marriot and Bernard Newbury all came with new set ups. Andy spent some time earlier this year revising the front end of the Bug taking more weight out of it whilst Dave made a number of small changes throughout the car which is now pretty much how he wants it. The only missing part of the equation is his main engine which he’s currently waiting on parts for so the Springspeed Nats saw him running the spare which he and Ian from Wolfiburb Performance spent a few nights thrashing away on. At first glance Bernie’s Stitch-Up looks similar to the way it did before but closer examination reveals a car that has changed a lot and amongst other things features a new motor, an awesome custom paint job and as you might expect a new interior.

Following on from Friday more good weather on the Saturday morning meant that the qualifiers got off to a prompt start and thanks to the slick running on the part of the SCR track staff it wasn’t long before we were out running. The first run of the year is always the one you want to get out of the way but for Bernie this was the first weekend back racing since his engine fire last season so he was keener than most to get on with it. As such he took it easy on the first run just checking everything with the car felt right and afterwards was pleased to report back that it did and had managed a respectable 11.72 at 102mph. Caution is not a word that could be used to describe Dave Dinning’s first run which saw the car head skywards and crashing down on the track heavily due to second gear mysteriously having ‘gone missing’ over winter. Dave thinks he may have done the damage to the box in his garage as the gear was definitely there the last time the car was run! Andy Marriot got things rolling with a 12.82 at 104mph and Peter Englezos put in a strong first pass with a 10.73 tripping the beam at 131mph. Unfortunately a couple of issues with the motor meant that Joe Gallagher sat out the first few rounds.

As the weekend progressed there were some good runs with Dave Dinning getting an 11.25 at 126mph out of the three gears whilst Pete managed a 10.66 which having been at only 123mph gives a hint of the cars potential. Bernie ran a 10.79 without nitrous, the cars previous best without nitrous was a 10.81. It was Andy Marriot who had the best weekend though running a series of personal bests finishing in the eliminations on a 12.24 run at 109mph, the changes to the car obviously paid off. Looking at the way the qualifiers had gone it really could have been anyone's but on paper the fight for the win should have been between either Bernie or Pete with Pete holding the number one qualifier spot. In reality though the competition ended up being between Andy Marriot and Dave. In the qualifiers they'd met four times and it was two all by the time they went into eliminations. In order to win Dave had to make sure he didn't bog the engine going between 1st and 3rd or it'd be his third 13 second pass of the weekend, Andy had been running 12's every run but on this occasion was beaten by Dave who finished the first race weekend of 2009 with a win.

Some rain on the Monday made things difficult for the track staff but we were lucky enough to be able to run through to our final and would like the thank everyone at SCR for their efforts. All in all a great weekend and a good way to get the 2009 season started.

Outlaw Flat Four 2009 (4th April 2009)
It’s now less than a month until the start of the 4th Outlaw Flat Four 2009 season and despite a difficult economic climate we’re looking forward to another great year of racing. The 2009 calendar is busier than ever with eight official race weekends and the possibility of a further four feature fixtures so there should be plenty of opportunities for numbers to tumble throughout the year. In addition the our usual MSA rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway, the Springspeed Nationals and the Open Sports Nationals Outlaw Flat Four will also feature at the Summer Nationals, Bug Jam and the National Finals at Santa Pod. As well as the MSA rounds there are also a number of non MSA events to look forward to where we plan to unleash more Flat 4 versus V8 mayhem on an unsuspecting public. On top of the races here in the UK the 2009 calendar also features a number of events in Europe such as the European Bug-In in Belgium, the Scandinavian Cal-Look Classic in Norway and DAS Drag Day in Germany and as in previous years there should be a few club cars heading over to Europe during the course of the year.

Following on from the success of the 2008 season DVD filming has already started on the 2009 one and once finished it will feature more coverage from all the events trackside as well as offering some insight into what goes on behind the scenes. The Outlaw Flat Four race season gets started at Shakespeare County Raceway on May 2nd at the Springspeed Nationals, full event information can be found on the SCR website. We look forward to seeing you there.

Off Season Updates (4th April 2008)
As is usual with Outlaw Flat Four quite a few people have been quietly developing their cars over the winter and it once again looks as if ETs are set to fall further. Back in black is Bernie Newbury who retired from the 2008 season following a fire which left the stunning Stitch Up looking a little charred. Not to be deterred Bernie’s now running a bigger engine and has made a number of subtle changes including a new interior (of course!) and a new paint scheme which means the car not only looks better than ever but should run harder too; definitely one to take a closer look at in 2009. Another car which has seen a lot of development work over winter is Martin Taylor’s Bug which now features data logging for the front suspension, clutch, and turbo as well as revised rear suspension, a revised fuel system and changes to the inlet plenum to accommodate a larger turbo unit.

Due to a couple of smaller side projects Peter Shattock will wait until Bug Jam to return to the race track but has nevertheless been busy with the shopper. With a year between visits to the track Peter has opted to freshen up the gear box and is going to go over the heads and put a new set of valve springs in the existing engine but will wait until later in the year before deciding whether to run this or switch to a new motor which is currently in development by JPM in Sweden. Originally the plan was to switch to this for 2009 but the old engine is close to the 11s that Peter may yet wait prior to making the change which will include a new gearbox set up to suit the specific characteristics of the highly specialised mouse motor. As well as this Peter has freshened up the front end of the car and has made a few changes to it along the way. Perhaps the most noticeable alteration to the car is that it now sits a little closer to the ground, a step that’s aimed at improving the way the car behaves at higher speeds. As is always the case with the shopper it will return to the track with less weight and Peter says there are a number of other tricks on the car which he’s hoping no one else will pick up on! Our guess is more titanium.

There is a rumour that Johnny Grigg’s car is near completion and the word from somewhere near Stratford-Upon-Avon is that the 2442cc IDA/Nitrous motor is currently being built whilst the car is in for paint shortly after Easter. Once it’s back Johnny plans to plough into the rebuild and is aiming to be out ready for Bug Jam if not before. Its been a while since Johnny’s been on track but looking at the spec which includes a KCR transmission coupled to an MSE V gate shifter, a load of stuff from Bigwig racecars and a ‘chute it looks as if he means business.

Whereas most people have been working away on their cars over winter Andy Marriot is planning to work on his during a rare week off from work. That time should see the car fitted with an alloy beam, a different oil cooler arrangement, modified Autocraft rockers and if a new set of centerlines. Never one to stand still for too long Dave Dinning has also been hard at work on his car and is looking to up the naturally aspirated ante somewhat this year. Dave is currently putting a new engine through its paces on a the dyno and whilst not wanting to talk about specific times is cautiosly optimistic about the new season.