33. Back to the grind

Well Dragstalgia is now a distant memory, a good one but distant, so what next? well first we all took a well earned rest we had all worked very hard to make it to Dragstalgia, the next thing was, I looked at all the data from the runs and the video clips and I noticed that the car is not launching as hard as it used to, Crew Chief Steve reckon sit is because we have a couple of tight valves which also explained the smoke through the breather on the last run...I hope So with a bit of tweaking we are still hopeful that we can run the big "8" at the next RWYB on the 9th August..fingers crossed.

So what else? well first I would like t thanks Julina Hunt for this brilliant photo he took of me and the car going through the lights with the laundry out, makes me look like a real drag racer.

While we were putting the car away after Dragstalgia we managed to rip off one of the brackets that held the wheelie bar up out of the way while manoeuvring the car so I took the truck and dragster to Luton to where my brother works to get the bracket welded back on,

While we were at it we welded up a side bracket and fixed the rear door latch, I have also received a new piece of lexan of the right grade to replace the windscreen which I broke while getting out of the car, also got a new remove before flight pennant for the chute,

I did notice however that there was a puddle of oil under the truck when I drive off so must have a look at it that before it gets too bad.

Also this week so the début of Blood Lines new car built by Ian Turberville..."Beach Bomb" as reported on Eurodragster.com

and very nice it is too, I wouldn't mind that engine myself, will have to make do with out Small block for now, and I say for now as we do have plans for the season after next...watch this space.

32. Dragstalgia 2014

When I was a young lad of 12 in 1971 my father took me to Santa Pod for the first time, my brother and I have been going back ever since come rain, snow, floods etc. we both love this sport and late last year I thought to myself " I can still go to the toilet unaided I can walk without a frame I can still hear and see..just!, so maybe it's about time I had a go at this before its' too late!" So I did a deal with Turbo to purchase Laura's rail from Bloodlines racing, I could just about fit in it hence the name "Tight Fit" The idea was to get the family involved have some fun and try and get everything together ready for Dragstalgia 2014.

Our first RWYB was a bit of a disaster as the on-board battery failed so we didn't get to run, the next RWB I managed an 18 sec run followed by 14 then an 11 then a 10.9 and I was doing burnouts of sorts,,I am now addicted roll on Dragstalgia but! the gearbox destroyed itself and then the truck gave up the ghost so my very understanding wife gave up the hope of a new kitchen and bathroom and we went racing!!!.

The drive to the Pod early Friday morning was awful, the rain was so bad I had to slow right down to see where I was going, this was not a good start, I met up with the super crew in Bedford loaded the truck up and got to the Pod around 8am and set up camp and parked in a puddle..

But the sun came out the incredible track crew dried the place out and we were on with racing,so over the three days I was sent back once for not having my arm restraint done up properly..I have no problem with that, safety must come first at all times, we missed one run as we were having trouble with the  timing on the car, I would like to say a big thanks to Mo Blackburn who helped us out over the weekend ....

I managed to get one good run in on Saturday against the one of our overseas visitors and ran a 9.27 at 136mph I was well chuffed 

The rain came back with a vengeance Saturday night Sunday morning and I learned a very important lesson...always shut the roof vents when going to bed as a soggy sleeping bag is not a comfortable place to be.

 While we were at the event Pete "Eddie" Yates turned up with a set of car name stickers for us, so a big thanks to him for that, so we stripped the last stickers that placed the car in the previous owners name and suddenly we had our own car.

We  managed to card a 10.8 and a 10.0 on Sunday which was a long way off from the 9.2 which we had set as our dial in, we managed to get another run in at the end of the meeting but when I went to tell the crew I found Steve with the rocker boxes off as we had a couple of tight valves and we had managed to split the rocker box gasket on the previous run and no more spares, so I ran round the pits very quickly and managed to get a second hand gasket...well it had been used on one run so a big thank you to Mark Coulsell and the Ball Breaker team for helping us out in out hour of need. We pulled the car round while Steve was still putting the rocker boxes on, so no warm up we got past a couple of Outlaw Anglia's and made it in line in time and we then went on to run another PB 9.203 at nearly 145mph..brilliant.

So what a belter of a weekend the weather was on our side for a change. well most of  the time,  we managed 4 PB's learnt a lot  about the car made some great new friends including the now adopted Ove Kroeger and family.

Here is a video clip of me against one of our German visitors thanks to Nick Pettitt I managed a PB of 9.27 on this run I was a bit more than happy. little did I know I would run even quicker a day later.

We got help and advice from so many people I can't even begin to thank you all, Sarah was brilliant as usual and nearly as excited as me to run 9's

Claire never stopped going back and forth keeping everyone updated I would also like to thank the start line crew and marshals for putting up with the car stalling on  nearly every burnout, we are looking into this problem and hope to cure it soon, we started packing away a bit late and by the time we were ready to winch the car up the ramps nearly every team that was leaving that night had gone then disaster I had forgotten to turn the battery isolator off, the batteries were dead flat.ooops!

So had the race car half in the truck and no power, thankfully Alan and Margaret Smith were staying another night and he had a 24v starter pack, there is a god after all, so many thanks Alan you are a gentleman and a rock star, and on top of everything else I won a trophy for being closest to a Dial in,

 a perfect end to a perfect meeting. and what can I say about my crew. they have learned so much so fast, Steve you a diamond, Dave kept our spirits up when things were looking a lot less bright.so once again thank you everyone who made this possible it was a true high- light in my life...awesome weekend

I must also thank John O'Sullivan, Ian "Turbo" Turberville and Laura for all their help and encouragement over the last few months and especially my incredible wife Lorni for putting up with all this and never complaining, Thanks!

31. Dragstalgia here we come!!!

So after all the setbacks it looks like we are now on track again, Steve and John have sorted out the problems with the gearbox and the car is now ready to race..

The only problem now is with the old truck bless her, the tail lift has stopped working which is a big problem,

the power steering pump is not working and not long after we got her we found a crack running all the way round the exhaust manifold which we tried to weld up but it is in a fiddly place and the welds have cracked again, there are teeth missing on the flywheel which means starting the dam thing is really hit or miss,mostly miss, and the box leaks like a sieve so everything was getting damp when it rained, and the cab leaked, we also found the whole rear end electrics are dodgy the lights keep going on and off all the time sooo I decided that we can wait for a new kitchen and bathroom and bought a newer truck

Say hello to Boris a converted extended ex council mobile library, converted at a cost of 30K a few years ago by well known drag racer Tim Adam, it is long enough maybe not as wide but I am hoping he will be so much more reliable, and no tail lift, so with a bit of luck I shall be sorting Boris out over the next couple of days ready for Friday when we will be heading for Dragstalgia, making sure the ramps are tracked for our slingshot etc.....Oh and my race/fire suit has arrived at last..

I so hate pictures of myself god I look old..anyway I have also sorted out some stickers for the cars,vinyl for the car name, numbers etc,

The orange will be gold when they are ready which I hope will be in time for next weekend. along with some polo shirts I can't afford proper team shirts but what I found on the net were some polo shirts that are in the team colours so we might look a little professional on the start line...

So now join with me in a prayer to the weather gods and BRING IT ON!!!!!!!