135, Dragstalgia 10

Friday...

I can honestly say I really don't know where to start with this blog update. drag racing is always full of ups and downs but the ups and downs always tend to be extreme, this Friday the team suffered both on one day and then it rained!! As already mentioned in my previous update the team have been very busy collecting new parts and sorting the car out ready for this weekends 10th Anniversary of Dragstalgia. Steve went to the car Thursday to fit the new parts then met up with Dave and hooked up the trailer and made their way to the pod and set up camp...so  far so good.

With new parts fitted there is a fair bit of fettling to be done so with a safe tune in place the car was started up and it sounded different, now with the Dizzy locked out and different injector nozzles and the correct coil in place it sounded angry as hell.

So everything was looking good for a first checkout pass but then....the car wouldn't start, the problem being a broken coil HT lead a big thanks to Darryl at DASH Racing for sorting out another lead for the team. Steve was looking for a soft 8.8 checkout pass but it turned out to be an 8.4 pass with a 159mph far better than expected.

Video courtesy of SantaPodTV full video click here

With the car back in the pits small adjustments were made to timing and fuel settings also the new catch cans were leaking so they had to be re-sealed as well. Steve was not happy with the way the starter motor was behaving but they towed down for their second run which was a belter a new PB for Steve at 8.25 @ 161.3mph.

Video courtesy of SantaPodTV full video click here

With the car back in the pits the starter was removed and it had basically disintegrated and therefore of no further use, so now the panic starts, the first qualifying run was later this evening and we had no way of starting the car. Enter Roy Wilding who helped us no end this weekend. Roy sourced a new starter at Hauser race cars for us so off Steve went to collect it on the way back he phoned me at the entrance to the Pod to tell me it had started raining and boy did it rain, it finished all further action on the track for the rest of the day which was rather fortunate as the new starter was just a little different and was damaged while trying to start the car hmmm so another call to Mike Oates and another starter was found, nothing more was done that evening apart from sheltering from the rain.

Saturday....

Saturday morning needed a phone call to Moses as the place was flooded we needed floats for the car not slicks, somehow in this mess Steve managed to persuade enough bits and pieces of starter to come together in the right order well enough to use on the car and hey presto it all worked...phew!!

Steve and Dave had to move the car away from the water to fit the starter and thank god it worked or that would have been it for the meeting.

So with the car looking like it would survive another day of racing they towed down for the their first run of the day, with so much rain  and with the heat there was a lot of moisture in the air which takes power away form an engine especially a normally aspirated motor, adjustments were made but it was a suck it and see situation which continued for the rest of the meeting.

A strange thing happened on this run, the car is always checked over before each meeting and during this check up all nuts and bolts are checked however!! the front steering arms were not checked and they had come loose as you can probably see in the above video somehow Steve still managed a decent run of 8.43 @ 159.0mph

After much nut and bolt tightening and some more adjustments to try and make up for all the air moisture the team took the car down for it's last run for Saturday this netted a slightly quicker run of 8.32 @ 158.3mph with a brilliant 0.03 reaction time.

But of course that was not it for the day as the team had entered the car for the fire burnout show later that evening. little did Steve know that he was going to be the only car in the show but what a show he put on for the spectators.

Photo by Nikki Marshall

Clip courtesy of Santa Pod Raceway

Sunday....

First job of the day was to replace the parachute pack, the seat padding and the wheelie bar which was found to be a little bent!! it looks like the "hit" is getting stronger and stronger. A quick look over showed no apparent damage from the previous nights fiery show which is good news. So after a quick service the team towed the car down for it's first run of the day still struggling with the bad air but managed  8.46 @ 157.9mph.

             Video courtesy of SantaPodTV full video click here

Not too bad but getting the tune right with all that moisture in the air was not an easy task, so instead of hunting for quick times it was decided to just go for the points however! on the next run there was a wee bit of driver error as Steve launched in second gear with a stutter which slowed the car up a bit to  8.88 @ 157.9mph.

            Video courtesy of SantaPodTV full video click here

Shame about that run as we would probably have finished in the top 3, never mind. What the team didn't expect was another run which meant a very quick turn around so quick that some of the rest of the Wild Bunch teams didn't have enough time to cool their engines down so had to give it a miss. So on this last run of the meeting Steve ran 8.47 @ 158.5mph.

            Video courtesy of SantaPodTV full video click here

All in all not a bad meeting for the team Steve managed another two trophies one for 6th place and one for best burnout.

Unfortunately it was not such a good meeting for two other Wild Bunch teams who suffered major damage, Andy Stones and Frantic and Chris Manning and The Villain  both drivers are Ok I hope they manage to repair or replace their vehicles and get back on track soon.

Our team didn't leave undamaged either the slightly damaged flex plate and bodged up starter motor both have to be replaced and we are going to try some bigger injector nozzles ready for the Mopars.

134. Dragstalgia preview

The curse of covid is still with us so I will be missing this years 10th edition of Dragstalgia, but the team of Steve, Dave and Diana will be there along with some family members for support. bearing in mind we have no overseas competitors this year there is certainly a strong field in all classes so it looks like there will be lot of fun to be had. At the VW breakout meeting Steve and the team got the car running consistent in the lower half of the 8's, but that is still not where we want to be so the development continues.

First small change is the catch cans, Steve was told by Graham Rawlings (little digger) at the last meeting that the breathers were far too small for our engine and the resulting back pressure under the pistons could reduce the free revving of the motor. So new catch cans ordered and already delivered along with a few other bits and pieces thanks to Good Vibrations.

Every little helps as they say, a bracket has been made so that the new coil can be fitted this one is the correct one for our ignition system as the one we are using is 40% down on power. Another problem that we have had in trying to get the tune right is the fact that the ignition timing is advancing so much on the run, this has now been solved by locking the distributer down.

While Steve was ordering a couple of spare injectors he came across a small bit of information that he and others including myself didn't know. Some injectors are more suited to blown motors and some for injected motors something to do with the way the nozzles atomise the fuel and of course we have been running the ones more suited to?.....yep blown motors. So another call to the guys at Good Vibration and a new set of injectors are on the way.

A spare flex plate has been ordered as on  the last run the car made at VW Breakout Steve heard a knocking noise and fearing the worse checked out all the bearings, only to find the starter motor  had come loose and had damaged our flex plate...not too bad but! better safe than sorry. Also a packet of new body retaining pins has been ordered as cable ties don't look too good do they?

So fingers crossed with the updates we have made we will make improvements in time and speed,  but that's not the be all and end all we are hoping to have some fun and entertain as well and as such Steve has entered Tight Fit into the annual flame show on Saturday night when he tries his first ever Fire burnout so give him a big cheer when it's his turn. Here's hoping the event is as good as ever and everyone has a fast and safe and fun meeting.