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Dragstalgia July 11 - 12
Wild Bunch ResultsDragstalgia11th - 12th July
Wild Bunch Series Round 3.
Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 6.
Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 2.
The 5th Annual Dragstalgia was the sixth event of the WB season. It was the 3rd round of the Wild Bunch Series, and Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 6 as well as Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 2 (great to have Roy participating again!). The event was sponsored by Ian Blackett of Blackett Photography who put up prize money for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places and had a special offer for Wild Bunch teams; and also Steven East of Team East who put up prize money for 1st & 2nd place and sponsored half the Spot Prizes, and also Scot Durrant of Scottie's Moving Vehicles who put up prize money for 1st place. Many thanks to them! There was an incredible field of 38 Wild Bunch cars participating, our biggest ever, topping the 33 from last year's event. This again included 2 who were guests, from Germany and Switzerland. There were: 11 Altereds, 21 Slingshots, 4 Rear-engine dragsters and 2 Funny Cars.
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 35 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | 8 |
| 2 | 72 | Dave Southworth | Daddy Cool | 6 |
| 3 | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 5 |
| 4 | 4 | Keith Crampton | Soultown Shaker | 4 |
| 5 | 3 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 3 |
| - | 17 | Team GAS Racing | Tiki Munki | 3 |
| - | 20 | Rob & Pete Brown | Wrathchild | 3 |
| - | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 3 |
| - | 39 | Jason Cull and Martin White | Perfect Pete | 3 |
| - | 41 | Tom Larman | The Ferret | 3 |
| - | 56 | Maurice Takoor | Spirit | 3 |
| - | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 3 |
| - | 73 | Mike Couch | Chequered Past | 3 |
| - | 76 | Team Black Pig | The Black Pig Too | 3 |
| - | 77 | Andy Stones | Yellow Slingshot | 3 |
| - | 83 | Graham Rawlings | Rawspeed | 3 |
| - | 86 | Jim Tanner | Shindigger | 3 |
| - | 101 | Steve East | Ellies in Trouble Now | 3 |
| - | 112 | Matt Fuller | Oblivion | 3 |
| - | 316 | James Auld | ThreeSixteen | 3 |
| - | 496 | Sam Freeman | Double Density | 3 |
| - | 626 | Liz Malcolm | Jus' 4 Fun | 3 |
| 23 | 2 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller II | 2 |
| - | 8 | Mark Coulsell | Ballbreaker | 2 |
| - | 30 | Mick Hillier | Texas Ranger | 2 |
| - | 62 | Harry Preston | Valkyrie | 2 |
| - | 64 | Russ Heaven | Tight Fit | 2 |
| - | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 2 |
| 29 | 19 | Wayne Colliver | Spud | 1 |
| - | 22 | Bradley Cooper | Back from the Past | 1 |
| - | 96 | Dave Nelson | Dorris Dormouse | 1 |
| - | 111 | Dan Sharp | Little Big Horn | 1 |
| - | 132 | Danny Jones | Ragin Cajun | 1 |
| - | 154 | Lesley Prior & Roy | S&K Racing | 1 |
| - | 271 | Steph Milam | She Devil | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 3 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 0.002 |
| Best Reaction | 3 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 0.027 |
| Best Appearing Team | 76 | Team Black Pig | The Black Pig Too | |
| Best Appearing Car | 111 | Dan Sharp & Scott | Little Big Horn | |
| Event Quickest ET | 271 | Steph Milam | She Devil | 6.333 |
| Best Burnout | 8 | Mark Coulsell | Ballbreaker | |
| Spirit of Nostalgia | 69 | Alan Loten & Steve Williams | Paranoia | |
| Best Wheelie | 35 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | |
| The weather was fantastic on Friday (where several teams took advantage of the RWYB session to test). Saturday was equally brilliant, sunny and warm, and we got two practice rounds and then Round 1 of competition (we brought this forward due to the forecast for Sunday being poor). Sunday was slightly better than expected, and though it was wet first thing the track crew worked hard and there were about 3 hours of racing, including our Round 2, before the huge deluge put a stop to the event just before 2pm. The sun did come out for our prize presentation though! This event was sponsored by Blackett Photography, Scottie's Moving Vehicles, and Team East. Many thanks to all!!!
Of the 38 participants, 35 made runs, 28 made the first round, with 21 of these making both rounds. The event also included the Cacklefest where 2 Wild Bunch teams push started to join in: the 'Ballbreaker' Limited Funz team and the 'Tiki Munki' team, and a further 5 Wild Bunch cars took part: Team Ratcatcher, Team Ferret, Team Rampage, Team Wrathchild and Team Soul Town Shaker. Amazing fire burnouts were performed by just two cars and both were from the Wild Bunch: our resident experts, Bob Hawkins and Dave Nelson, who both put on a spectacular show! There were over a dozen backup girls throughout the weekend, as well as a push car in the pairings lanes (Scottie and Gina's Chevy) and great team uniforms and pit displays and it was an absolutely fantastic show from the whole of the Bunch! Over the weekend 13 drivers ran Personal Best ET's or Speeds. It was an amazing event again!! Another big highlight of the weekend was the Induction into the 'British Drag Racing Hall of Fame' of Ken 'Mr Flathead' Cooper, currently crew chief of the 'Back from the Past' slingshot driven by son Bradley! Huge Congratulations to Ken on this very well-deserved accolade! We are very proud to have him as a member of the Wild Bunch! Yet another highlight was the return to the dragstrip after 24 years of Lesley Prior, making her rear-engined dragster debut in the S&K Racing dragster, sharing the driving with Roy Wilding! | |
| WB 2 | Bob Hawkins was in his sixth event of the season with his 'Time Traveller II' slingshot. He was ably crewed again by son Tom, and Dave and Linda Williams. Bob started the weekend very well with another 6, a 6.987 at 190.61mph! He dialled in at 6.98 for the rounds. There was mix up on the startline with pairings so he didn't have the revs up and slowed to a 7.583 at 182.88mph. He later took part in another spectacular fire burnout after the Cacklefest on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning he found that he had some lifter and collet damage, so unfortunately he could not take part in the second round of racing. He's sure to have that sorted for the next event again! Good luck Bob! |
| WB 3 | saw Andrew Murphy taking a turn in the 'B-Sting' altered. He made two good passes on Saturday, including a 10.412 at 127.00mph and another mid 10-second pass. The team dialled in at 10.40 for the rounds. Andrew began really well, with a Wild Bunch 'Best Reaction' of .027, as well as the 'Closest to Dial-in', at two thousandths off, with a 10.398 at 126.26 mph. The team changed the Dial to 10.30 for Round 2. However in that round Andrew redlit, recording a 10.530 at 124.90mph. |
| WB 4 | Keith Crampton was raring to go with his 'Soul Town Shaker' slingshot. Hayley and Kimberley were again helping with backup duties. Keith started Saturday with a pass of 11.109 at 115.37mph and followed this with a slower 11-second pass. He dialled in at 11.11 and posted an 11.066 at 115.37mph in the first round. On the evening, Keith took part in the Cacklefest and really enjoyed it! On Sunday, in the second round, he recorded an 11.336 at 113.06mph on an amended 11.07 Dial-in. Keith finished in 5th place overall for the event. He still leads the Wild Bunch Series. |
| WB 8 | Mark Coulsell and team were out for their second event of the season in the 'Ballbreaker' slingshot. One bonus was that wife Lynne was wearing a gorgeous orange and black dress with 8-ball motif, orange thigh boots, with an orange and black scarf in her hair and 60's-style sunnies, and looked amazing backing Mark up! So much attention to detail, as always!! Anna also looked fabulous in her orange and black camos, team shirt and a lovely 50's hairdo complete with flower. They also had lovely orange parasols to keep cool in the nice warm weather (as well as a paddling pool!). Mark's first pass of the weekend was his quickest ever at Santa Pod, an 8.792 at 152.59mph! His next run Saturday was even quicker, an 8.723 at 152.18mph. He dialled in at 8.70 for the rounds. But the team discovered some flexplate problems and worked all afternoon on this, and although they missed the first round, Mark and the team did take part in the push start for the Cacklefest on the evening with his Dad's 40's truck doing pushing duties. On Sunday Mark made the second round and ran an 8.862 at 144.44mph. So another great weekend for the team overall with 3 strong runs. |
| WB 17 | Gina Durrant was in the hotseat of the 'Tiki Munki' slingshot coupe for her third event this season. Scottie was one of our event sponsors this weekend and his company 'Scottie's Moving Vehicles' had put up prize money for first place. Many thanks to him! The team had brought up their '53 Chevy to use as push and tow car all weekend, driven by Mark Hartnell. Niece Nicole had a wicked leopard print and red-highlighted playsuit and red heels, and red flower in her hair, and 50's sunnies, for her role as staging girl, and she looked absolutely gorgeous!! The team had decided to test on Friday, and unfortunately had a problem with the brakes. Spare parts were acquired thanks to Andy Gosling and delivered from Bristol by Mark Galpin. The team then worked past midnight to fix the brakes and Gina made it out for the first practice run Saturday, recording a 14.040 at 93.33mph checkout pass. She made another slightly slower pass in the afternoon and dialled in at 13.00 for the rounds. Her first round run was a 14.337 at 90.88mph. The team later took part in a push start down the old fireup road for the Cacklefest on the Saturday evening, and thoroughly enjoyed it again! Gina changed the Dial-in to 13.90 on Sunday morning, and posted a much closer 14.021 at 92.37mph. She finished in 15th place overall. Nicole was awarded the 'Best Backup Girl' trophy out of all of the classes that were participating at the whole event! Congratulations, Nicole! |
| WB 19 | saw the first event this season for Wayne Colliver in his 'Spud' slingshot. The team spent Saturday morning in the pits sorting out various things on the car, but unfortunately they found that they had broken the fuel pump drive. They tried really hard to fix this and dialled in at 13.50 for the rounds. Though they had missed both the first and second rounds, they had been ready to run when rain stopped play. Such a shame! We hope to see them out more regularly next year! Good luck! |
| WB 20 | Rob and Pete Brown were in their first Wild Bunch event at Santa Pod in their 'Wrathchild' slingshot. As usual both Hayley and Kimberley were helping with backup girl duties and had some great new flared black 50's style dresses to wear and flowers in their hair, and looked gorgeous!! The boys' first run Saturday was a troubled 13.381 at 101.90mph. They fixed the problem and bounced right back with an 11.790 at 109.88mph in the next practice round. They then dialled in at 11.65 for the rounds. Their first round run netted a 12.464 at 109.91mph. On the evening they took part in the Cacklefest and really enjoyed it!! On Sunday, they changed the Dial-in to 11.95. They recorded a 12.486 at 106.68mph in the second round. They finished in 14th place overall. |
| WB 22 | Bradley Cooper was running his second Wild Bunch event of the season in the team's 'Back from the Past' flathead slingshot. The really exciting news of the weekend was that over Friday night the announcement came that crew chief and Dad, Ken 'Mr Flathead' Cooper had been inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame!!! Wow!! Fantastic news, and very richly deserved!! It is a great honour to have Ken in the Wild Bunch with us!! Many Congratulations, sir!! The team just made one run Saturday, a test of 13.119/114.95, as they knew they had a problem developing. Unfortunately this was a cracked block and they could not take any further part in racing, as Ken wanted to preserve it before it worsened, as he knew he could repair it at home. He did get to take part in proceedings in the marquee to celebrate his BDRHoF Induction. A wonderful achievement!! |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford was back in the 'Ratcatcher Resurrection' slingshot for his fifth event of the season, fresh from his fantastic win at the Summer Nationals. This weekend, wife Ruth was on backup girl duty and had a special dress in gold, red, black and white Mondrian style and lovely gold thigh boots and a white baker boy hat and sunnies. She looked fantastic!!! Daughter-in-law Rachael also looked gorgeous in a flowered-print flared skirt dress with a 50's style hairdo. For the first practice round, they arranged to match up with Steph Milam in the 'She Devil' altered. The significance of this is that it was the newest She Devil against one of the oldest, as the Clifford's slingshot had belonged to the Milams years ago as one of their line of She Devils! This hadn't quite worked last year, and they didn't get side-by-side passes, but they did this time and it was loads of fun for both teams!! Terry ran a 9.512 at 139.87mph on this pass. He later ran a much quicker 9.011 at 147.19mph. He dialled in at 8.92 for the first round and recorded a 9.026 at 146.72mph. Terry and team took part in the Cacklefest on the evening and thoroughly enjoyed it! The team changed the Dial on Sunday to 9.00, and Terry had a problem on the run, slowing to a 15.015 at 38.73mph, such a shame! He finished in 21st place overall for the weekend. |
| WB 30 | Mick Hillier was in his third event of the season with the Wild Bunch with his 'Texas Ranger' altered. He was crewed by partner Lorraine as backup girl (who had a fantastic vest with some artwork of the car which she had designed herself and looked brilliant!) and crew Paul Williams who donned white overalls and a flat cap, and really looked the part. Mick's first run Saturday was a 10.135 at 130.54mph. He made another slightly slower pass later on. The team dialled in at 10.25 for the rounds, and Mick began with a 10.583 at 122.39mph. The car had been running slower than usual and after this run the team diagnosed converter problems, which was a great shame! Hope they can fix this and be back out soon. Have since heard that although they had acquired a new torque converter thanks to Lorraine, they also have to check out the gearbox. Good luck to them! |
| WB 35 | Dick Sharp was back in the 'Dorset Horn' altered for his third event of the season. He began Saturday with a good 9.119 at 150.64mph pass. He then went slightly quicker with a 9.107 at 149.61mph in the second practice round. Dick and team decided to Dial in at 9.08. His first round run was a 9.113 at 150.12mph, so solidly in those 150's. He slightly changed the Dial to 9.10 for Sunday's round, and recorded a quicker 9.057 at 147.69mph. Dick won the event!! This was his first event win since the Nostalgia Nationals back in 2002!! Fantastic result!! Congratulations Dick and all the team! He was also awarded the 'Best Wheelie' Spot Prize by the commentators for his strong launches. A great weekend for the whole team! Fair play! |
| WB 39 | saw Jason Cull and Martin White sharing the driving again in the 'Perfect Pete' slingshot. They had parked over in the family camping field with their slingshot and had to bring it round to the pits each time, and wait around, so fair play to them all. Their first run Saturday was a 10.439 113.76mph, which was a Personal Best Speed for the team. They had another mid 10-second run later that afternoon. The team dialled in at 10.43 for the rounds and Martin had the first round run. This proved to be a new Personal Best ET of 10.296 at 113.51mph! Well done Martin! Jason then took the next turn and recorded a 10.792 at 105.54mph. They finished in 10th place overall. |
| WB 41 | saw Tom Larman in his third Wild Bunch event this year with 'The Ferret' altered. He was again doing some testing on the Friday. His first practice round run Saturday was an 11.534 at 119.48mph. He later recorded a much better 10.585 at 119.82mph. He and Craig dialled in at 10.50 for the rounds. Tom's first round run was a 10.56 at 120.12mph. Son Craig later took part in the Cacklefest on the Saturday evening and really enjoyed the experience. On Sunday, on Tom's second round run, he went into stage but left before the tree ran and did not record a time. Such a shame! The team still had a great weekend and thoroughly enjoyed their racing! |
| WB 45 | Phil James was back out in the 'Rampage' funny car for his fifth event of the year. He began Saturday with a pass of 9.569 at 138.99mph. He later recorded a much better 9.374 at 138.65mph. The team dialled in at 9.36 for the rounds. Phil began well with a 9.345 at 140.27mph in the first round. On the evening, Phil took part in the Cacklefest and enjoyed the experience. On Sunday, after deliberation, the team decided to keep the same Dial-in for the day, and Phil posted a 9.445 at 138.17mph. He finished in 4th place overall for the event. Another consistent weekend for Phil! He is still leading the Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series after this event. Fair play! |
| WB 56 | saw the Wild Bunch debut of Maurice Takoor in the 'Spirit' slingshot. This car hails back to 1973 and had been run in the Wild Bunch some years back with Mike Tomlinson and later Simon Williams. It was great to see it back out, and fantastic to see Maurice's drag racing debut, after first being involved in drag racing some 50 years ago, beginning in 1965! He was part of the tech crew at Santa Pod until 1978! He was ably crewed by fellow Wild Bunch member Dave Gibbons and wife Alli and friend Dick. He did not run in the first practice round, but put in a run of 14.697 at 86.18mph in the second. He dialled in at 13.50 for the rounds. His first round pass resulted in a Personal Best ET of 13.776 at 80.81mph. He then recorded a 16.009 at a new best speed of 95.64mph in the second round. He finished in 20th place overall and enjoyed the weekend! Welcome Maurice and team! |
| WB 62 | Kev and Harriet Preston were in their first event with the Wild Bunch this season. They began Saturday well with 9.807 at a new Personal Best Speed of 136.44mph, though a somewhat hairy burnout and run! Their next run was an 8.795 at 104.23mph.They dialled in at 9.75 for the rounds and Harriet recorded a 10.292 at 131.05mph. They did not run in the second round. |
| WB 64 | saw Russ Heaven in his third event this season with the Wild Bunch in the 'Tight Fit' slingshot. Russ' first pass of the weekend was a troubled 16.859 at 76.68mph, so the crew had more work to do! Russ dialled in at 9.20 for the rounds, and unfortunately did not make a pass in the first round. He put in a run of 11.118 at 121.41mph for the second round run, so hopefully the team will get a handle on the tuneup soon, and be back running in those 9's and even better! |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells was back with his 'Chemical Reaction' slingshot for his fifth event of the year. Wife Sarah looked fabulous in a new outfit of a psychedelic 60's dress and hairdo with white thigh boots. She also changed to a lovely purple and white dress for another run. Darryl's first run Saturday was a 10.236 at 138.16mph. His next run was a fair bit quicker with a 10.071 at 135.26mph. Darryl dialled in at 9.40 for the rounds. His first round run was a similar 10.063 at 133.22mph. But the car had developed some problems which have yet to be diagnosed so Darryl could not run again. |
| WB 69 | saw Alan Loten out with the Wild Bunch for his fifth event of the season with his 'Paranoia' altered, very ably crewed by Steve Williams as always. Alan's first run of the weekend was a promising new Personal Best ET of 9.321 at 140.73mph. He followed this with another PB ET of 9.280 at 134.18mph. The team dialled in at 9.30 for the rounds. Alan's first round pass was a 10.884 at 116.13mph with a slight problem with a wire. The team soon fixed this and Alan posted a 9.381 at 132.58mph in the second round. He finished in 17th place overall. Alan and Steve were awarded the 'Spirit of Nostalgia' Spot Prize, chosen by the commentators. Very well deserved!! |
| WB 72 | Dave 'Sag' Southworth was in his second event of the year with the Bunch with the team's 'Daddy Cool' rear-engined dragster, and it was his third trip to Santa Pod after his inaugural outing at Dragstalgia 2013 where he ran his first 8-second pass and 2014 where he finished 3rd overall. Sag began Saturday with a 9.410 at 140.38mph. He then ran quicker with a 9.288 at 139.53mph in the second practice round. The team dialled in at 9.20 for the rounds. Sag began very well with a 9.215 at 140.41mph which put him then in 3rd place. The team slightly changed the Dial-in Sunday to 9.15 and Sag recorded a 9.224 at 140.77mph pass. With this great performance he earned 3rd place for the event for the second year in a row! Many congratulations to Sag and the whole team on this achievement! Well made up for them all! This is turning out to be their lucky event! |
| WB 73 | was the third Wild Bunch event of the year for Mike Couch with his 'Chequered Past' slingshot. Mike began the weekend with a 9.463 at 137.39mph. He followed this with a new Personal Best ET of 9.304 at 137.42mph in the second practice round. Mike dialled in at 9.35 for the rounds. His first round pass was another big PB ET of 9.247 at 137.37mph. Well done, Mike! He changed the Dial to 9.30 and ran 9.513 at 136.94mph. He finished in 7th place. A great weekend for the team! |
| WB 76 | Steve and Lesley Field were hopeful of a good event with their 'Black Pig Too' slingshot in their fourth event of the year, and third with Steve driving. This weekend Lesley had a fabulous new minidress in a blue, yellow, red, white and black Mondrian style, with trainers painted to match, both exactly like the car's bodywork! She also had a lovely upswept hairdo and looked amazing. More great attention to detail! Steve began Saturday well with a 9.187 at 149.14mph a new Personal Best Speed. His next round run netted the one he was after, his first 150mph plus run, with a 9.172 at 151.06mph! Congratulations Steve!! The team then dialled in at 9.15 for the rounds. Steve's first round run was a 9.182 at another PB speed of 152.07mph! He then recorded a 9.810 at 142.03mph in the second round. Steve finished in 11th place. The team were awarded the 'Best Appearing Team' Spot Prize for their great overall appearance and presentation, good performance and co-ordination of racecar and crew wear, as well as the gorgeous backup girl and her matching outfit! |
| WB 77 | Andy Stones was back in his little yellow slingshot for his third Wild Bunch event of the season. He started Saturday with a run of 17.472 at 101.05mph with a problem with the fuel or nitrous feed. He then improved to a 12.251 at 112.62mph in the second practice run. The team dialled in at 11.50 for the rounds. Andy posted a 12.695 at 100.38mph on his first round run. The team worked on the car overnight and sure did sort the problems, as Andy ran a spectacular new Personal Best ET of 10.785 at 117.64mph! His first time in the 10's and well deep into them! Well done Andy! He finished in 18th place overall and the whole team had a great weekend! |
| WB 83 | was newcomer Graham Rawlings on his Wild Bunch debut with his VW-powered 'Rawspeed' slingshot. He began well Saturday, with a new Personal Best ET of 11.933 at 108.30mph. He made another run later, and then dialled in at 11.90 for the rounds. His first round pass netted a 12.311 at 107.98mph. He then changed the Dial to 12.00 and recorded a 12.333 at 98.84mph in Round 2. He finished 12th. The team really enjoyed the event! Welcome to the Wild Bunch Graham and team! |
| WB 86 | was the third Wild Bunch event for Jim Tanner and his 'Shindigger' slingshot. The team were sporting some new orange T-shirts with the car's logo on them and they looked great! Jim's first pass Saturday was an 11.864 at 112.06mph. He followed this with an 11.295 at 114.21mph. Jim dialled in at 11.00 even for the rounds. On his first round run he posted a 10.851 at 124.21mph. He then recorded an 11.413 at 119.00mph in the second round on a 10.80 Dial-in. He finished in 13th place. |
| WB 96 | Dave Nelson was on his second Wild Bunch round of the year with his 'Dorris Dormouse' slingshot. He had rebuilt the motor in the car after extensive damage at the 'Festival of Power'. The team spent Saturday chasing some problems and were not able to make a run. But Dave did make it out for a fantastic flame burnout on the Saturday evening after the Cacklefest. The team had dialled in at 8.00 even for the rounds, but were unable to make it, as there was still something not quite right with the engine, so quite rightly, they did not want to risk making a run. Best of luck to them! |
| WB 101 | Steven East was in his third Wild Bunch event of the year with his 'Ellie's in Trouble Now' slingshot, and daughter Ellie was there to help brother Joshua with the crewing duties. Steven began Saturday with a great 9.989 at 136.11mph. He made another pass that afternoon of 9.923 at 136.99mph. Steven dialled in at 9.85 for the rounds, hoping to go quicker. That he did, posting a 9.829 at 129.83mph, to go into temporary 4th place! In the second round on Sunday Steven went even quicker and recorded a new Personal Best ET of 9.557 at 137.40mph, taking two tenths off his previous best! Congratulations! Steven finished in 6th place overall and the whole team thoroughly enjoyed the event. Steven and team had sponsored some of the prize money and Spot Prizes for this event, so many thanks to them! |
| WB 111 | saw Dan Sharp in his second Wild Bunch event of the season with the team's 'Little Big Horn' altered. Fiancée Sammy looked gorgeous again in her blue and orange minidress with white thigh boots and a stylish hairdo, performing backup duties. The family team actually had 3 cars at the track this weekend, with Dad's 'Dorset Horn' and son Blaize's orange tot rod which he was really enjoying! Dan only made one practice run on Saturday, but it was a great one, as he ran a new Personal Best ET of 9.383 at 134.02mph, taking over fourth tenths off his previous best time!! Well done, Dan!! The team had dialled in at 9.40 for the rounds. Unfortunately though, there had been a bit of smoke on the practice run, and on investigation they found that they had broken a body mount on the last run, and were unable to repair it at the track. What a shame! There was some consolation though, as Dan and Scott were awarded the 'Best Appearing Car' Spot Prize by the commentators for their beautifully turned out and very photogenic altered. |
| WB 112 | was Matt Fuller in his third event of the season in his 'Oblivion' funny car. He began Saturday with a 10.331 at 125.25mph. He made another pass that afternoon. The team dialled in at 10.30 for the rounds. Unfortunately on the first round, he could not hold it on the line and ended up redlighting and not recording a time. On Sunday, he launched on the second round run, but the timing equipment picked up something else and showed him as having run a 4.5 second elapsed time! He did take a re-run later on in a RWYB session, recording a 10-second pass. |
| WB 132 | saw Dan & Elliott Jones with the Bantam-bodied 'Ragin' Cajun' attending their second Wild Bunch event of the year. They were hoping to make more progress after their re-debut at the Nostalgia Nationals. Unfortunately they developed problems with a breakage on the torque converter and could not make any runs at the weekend. Hope they can get this fixed and be back out soon. |
| WB 154 | saw Lesley Prior and Roy Wilding sharing the driving of the 'S&K Racing' rear-engined dragster!! This was very exciting for Lesley as it was the first time she had driven in 24 years! And she had never driven a rear-engined dragster before! Well, the smile on her face as she climbed into the cockpit said it all! And her driving did the talking too, as on her first ever run in the car she recorded an 8.999 at 149.63mph! Pretty good for an R.E.D. rookie! On her second pass, she went even quicker and ran an 8.849 at 134.16mph. Welcome back Lesley!! It was great to have you running with us! It was then Roy's turn and the team dialled in at 7.85 for the rounds as they were testing a new setup with nitrous. This Dial-in would have been Roy's best time. However, after the burnout in the first round there were problems and Roy could not make the run. The team later diagnosed electrical or battery problems. Such a shame as it was great to have them racing with us! |
| WB 271 | We welcomed back Steph and Dave Milam who had run with us at last year's Dragstalgia with their surprise new altered body installed on the funny car chassis in the 'She Devil'. Steph had run a 7.8 then but only made one pass. Steph had recently run her second ever 5-second pass in the 'She Devil' in its Top Methanol Funny Car configuration! In the first practice round she matched up with Terry in 'Ratcatcher Resurrection' (the car had formerly been owned by them as one of their previous 'She Devil' cars). Steph had an absolutely fantastic run!! She ran a 6.333 at 234.97mph!! The quickest and fastest time ever recorded in Wild Bunch racing!!! A brilliant run!! This was also only 4mph off her best ever speed in the funny car! Congrats to the whole team! However, back in the pits during strip down, the team found some damage – they had lost a piston and ALL 8 liners! Such a shame as she was sure to be running well this weekend and was enjoying a different kind of competition than the team usually run at! It was great having them join in with the Bunch again this weekend! They have also recently bought a newer spec TMFC and we wish them all the very best of luck when they run that in FIA competition! (Maybe they can keep this one as an altered!!) |
| WB 316 | was the Wild Bunch debut of James Auld in his 'ThreeSixteen' rear-engined dragster. James had bought the car as Jacko's former 'Claustrophobic' only a matter of weeks previously and had worked really hard with his team to get the car back into a race ready state. They had made various improvements and additions, painted it bright yellow and taken it to a RWYB to test the previous weekend where it ran solid 14.1's. James had been involved in various different types of motor racing before and wanted to get in to drag racing, so had bought the car, thoroughly committed to it and worked hard to get it ready for the event and applied to join the Wild Bunch. James' first run Saturday was a 14.685 at 96.25mph pass. He made another run that afternoon. He then dialled in at 14.10 for his first ever drag race competition. His first pass was a slower 15.612 at 90.70mph but on Sunday he improved by nearly a second, recording a 14.800 at 94.85mph on a 13.80 Dial. He finished in 19th place. Welcome to the Wild Bunch James and team!! |
| WB 496 | saw the welcome return of Sam Freeman and team with his 'Double Density' altered. Sam had run with us at Dragstalgia two years previously and ran a 7.9 PB. This was his first event of the season. His first run Saturday was an 8.580 at 159.08mph. He made another run that afternoon. The team dialled in at 8.50 for the rounds and Sam recorded an 8.797 at 156.33mph in Round 1. On Sunday, he posted an 8.560 at 159.05mph pass in the second round. He finished in 9th place. |
| WB 621 | Mo Blackburn had re-joined the Wild Bunch with his 'Escape from Reality' altered, after having run with us last year for the first time in years and finishing in 4th place! His first run Saturday was an 8.909 at 148.21mph. He followed this with another high 8-second run. He dialled in at 8.90 for the rounds and recorded an 8.826 at 147.67mph in the first round. On Sunday's round, he changed the Dial-in to 8.85 and posted an 8.837. He finished in 2nd place overall. Well done, Mo! |
| WB 626 | Liz Malcolm was returning to the Wild Bunch after really enjoying racing with us at last year's Dragstalgia with hers and Iain's 'Jus' 4 Fun' Pinto-powered rear-engined dragster. Liz began Saturday with a pass of 11.119 at 117.31mph. She later ran another low 11-second pass. The team dialled in at 11.12 for the rounds. In her first round run, Liz posted an 11.304 at 114.34mph. She then ran an 11.282 at 114.13mph in the second round. Liz finished in 8th place overall for the event, two places up from last year. The team thoroughly enjoyed the event!! |
| Guest 471 | saw us welcome back a racer from Germany, Rainer Ziegler, as a guest participant, with his slingshot 'The Dude'. Rainer had first run with us at Dragstalgia in 2013 and was our first European guest for some time. He ran his PB of 8.50 then. He began Saturday with an 8.934 at 146.16mph run. He later improved to an 8.712 at 150.56mph. He dialled in at 8.65 for the rounds. In Round 1 he recorded a good 8.704 at 149.16mph. Unfortunately, with the weather not looking good on Sunday, and with a ferry to catch, Rainer and team had to leave early so did not take part in the second round. Great to have him and the team running with us again! Hope to see them again at next year's Dragstalgia! (He has already been in touch to say he hopes to stay longer next time!). |
| Guest 973 | saw us welcome a new team from Switzerland, Christian Frei and The Ballistics as guest participants, with his great 1969 Woody Gilmore chassised injected slingshot 'Linac #2'. They had travelled 1000 miles to get to Santa Pod for their first time racing in England!! Fair play to them!! The girls in the team, Lisa and Annina were acting as backup girls and had great mini dresses and thigh boots on and looked fabulous!! The team had some fuel and leak problems on the Saturday and were trying to sort this out in the pits all morning. Thankfully they managed to do so and made the second practice run, posting a 9.443 at 144.31mph. Christian dialled in at 9.00 even for the rounds and recorded a 9.511 at 157.93mph in the first round. On the second round Sunday, the team really had things sorted, as Christian ran a fantastic new Personal Best ET of 8.020 at 159.61mph!! Brilliant! He finished 16th. It was great to have the team run with us I the Wild Bunch! The girls were awarded the 'Best Backup Girls' trophy by the commentators. We also awarded them a Spot Prize for 'Furthest Travelled'! What a journey! Welcome and we hope they all come back again next year! |
| It was a brilliant event, despite being cut short by the weather! Huge thanks to all the marshals and officials and the fire safety and track crews at Santa Pod for all their hard work! Much appreciated as always! And big thanks to the organisers for a fantastic event! And a special well done and thank you to marshal Phil for his idea of moving all the tow cars into the side lanes and race cars into the middle lanes in the fireup road. It really helped with the smooth running of the racing and made it easier for the teams to crew! It also made for a great spectacle in the staging lanes!
Many congratulations to Dick and the whole team, and welcome back to the winners circle!! And congratulations to Mo, Sag and Phil for their Top 4 placings. Big congratulations to all the Wild Bunch teams on putting on an amazing show! Walking up and down the fireup road it was just fantastic and spectacular to see all the wonderful race cars, people in team wear and all those gorgeous backup girls!!!! We heard a lot of great comments from people throughout the weekend about the Wild Bunch, especially the huge and varied field of excellent quality cars! Just brilliant!!!!! We are now looking forward to the 4th Wild Bunch Series round and the 7th Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series round of 2015 at the 'July Shootout' at Shakey next weekend, the 18th & 19th July! | |