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News Article
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European Finals 10th- 13th September
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Created On: 2009-10-07 at 10:37:24
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We had decided to enter this event mainly for testing and sponsor coverage and as Super Modified did not have a round at this meeting we had entered into Super Pro Et.
Team numbers were down as this event started on a Thursday and with children back at school and work commitments Graham and myself were absent. However, Nigel had Steve, Dale and Kyle to ably assist him.
The weather forecast was unbelievably good for one of these major events and cars had been arriving at the pod over many days from many different European countries. The pits were heaving with cars, transporters and trailers and several different languages floated through the air.
First round was early, no professional classes were running on Thursday and the sportsman had the track all too themselves with the promise of at least five runs. The air was good and most cars were breaking out, going to fast for the dialed in times to the back of the car. Ever optimistic Nigel had dialled in his fastest ever, a 7.42 and hoped he could again achieve this awesome time.
What an amazing run, a unbelievable 60ft time and a ET of just 7.36 @ 183.50 mph. Wow. I saw this flash up on Eurodragster a was sure it had been typed in wrongly, but a quick call to Kyle confirmed it was true. The team were all elated. A fantastic start to the weekend.
The next run was not so impressive with Nigel lifting as he thought he had missed a gear, but the 60ft time had stayed the same showing that if he had kept his foot in there was a good chance of repeating that amazing time.
The next run was marred by disaster, burnout and launch were good and 60ft time again repeated itself. As he hit 155mph something was terribly wrong and Nigel new in an instant the motor was seriously damaged. He pulled of the tack expecting to see a trail of oil behind him but the diaper had managed to hold it all in. A previously elated team were now very deflated and as the engine was dismantled it was evident that this beast was not salvageable. A con rod had let go and taken out the block and had ripped through the sump too.
After much talking and gloomy discussions thoughts turned back to the championships. We had already secured the National, Avon Park and the Super Modified but the Santa Pod one was still at threat from Belinda who was only 212 points behind us going into the last round, The National Finals. She had more than a good chance of catching us!
We decided to go for it and after phone calls and discussions we acquired an engine on loan.
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