Hi folks

Here is the brief (well, not so brief!) news from the incredible 32^nd ‘Hot Rod Drags’ on 18^th – 20^th September, at Santa Pod. (I will update more tomorrow, as there was just so much happening!!!). It was a brilliant event where we had great weather, great air, great track, great organisation and great racing!! A fantastic field of 28 Wild Bunch cars were in attendance! And what a show the whole Bunch put on!! I will say it again later in this report, but a total of 19 teams (and 20 drivers) ran PB’s!!!!! Just amazing!!! Some incredible stories throughout the whole field, including emotional debuts and many very happy teams!! J An absolutely brilliant show from the whole Bunch!! J

The amazing Top 4 trophies with Mr Bolt men and Christmas trees and 8 spot prizes with timing chains and Christmas trees were fabricated excellently by Elaine Southworth of coolengineeredart from Team ‘Daddy Cool’.  Thanks very much Elaine! They are awesome!! There were some very lucky and well deserved recipients for these!

The weather was absolutely brilliant throughout: dry, not too warm and with a consistent tailwind for much of the weekend. The air was superb too, so conditions were just perfect for drag racing!!!

The Wild Bunch had a brilliant total of 28 teams at the event (though a couple were not able to run):

 

• Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’
• Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’
• Lee Hartnell in ‘Metal Mistress’
• ‘Crazy’ Chris & ‘Mad’ Mark Hartnell in ‘Backdraft’
• Antony Colliver in ‘From Hell’
• Wayne Colliver in ‘Misfit’
• Pete & Rob Brown in ‘Wrathchild’
• Bradley Cooper in ‘Back from the Past’
• Mick Hillier in ‘Texas Ranger’
• Brian Watson in ‘Interest Free’
• Gary Atkinson in ‘Time Lock’
• Craig Greenfield in ‘Grumpy Monkey’
• Bobby Wright in the ‘Alturd’
• Andy Stones in ‘Frantic’ (debut)
• Kev Whiting in ‘Tip Top’
• Jeff Morris in ‘Malibu Express III’ (debut)
• Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’ altered
• Chris Manning in ‘The Villain’
• Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’
• Alan ‘Skippy’ Skipp in ‘Chasin’ Time’ (debut)
• JJ Johnston in ‘Cheap Thrills’
• Mick Gleadow in ‘Jurassic Parts 2’
• Graham Rawlings in ‘Little Digger’
• Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’
• Ollie H-Smith in ‘Couped Up’
• Tim Roy in ‘Boston Straggler 2’
• Dan Boone in ‘American Pie’
• Danny & Elliott Jones in ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ 

Excellent to see such a big field of brilliant cars at the Hot Rod Drags, given all the circumstances!

Friday was a Run-What-You-Brung day and just a few teams took advantage of the track time that day. On Saturday and Sunday we were one of the scheduled race classes and had 5 sessions on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.  There were some incredible fireworks on Saturday night, probably the best ever!

Here are the Top 4 winners:

1^st Place: Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’ .033 average (another consistent performance, and quicker!)

2^nd Place: Ollie H-Smith in ‘Couped Up’ .040 average (first time in the Top 4! Way to go Ollie!)

3^rd Place: Bobby Wright in ‘Alturd’ .063 average (first time in the Top 4! Well done Bobby!)

4^th Place: Mick Hillier in ‘Texas Ranger’ .071 average (a great event for the team! Well done!)

Here are the Spot Prizes that were awarded:-

Closest to Dial-in (Race-day): Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’ .002 off

Best Reaction (Race-day): Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’ .081

Best Burnout: Ollie H-Smith in ‘Couped Up’

Best Altered:  Bobby Wright in ‘Alturd’

Best Slingshot:  Graham Rawlings in ‘Little Digger’  

Best Appearing Team: Team Limited Funz with ‘Ballbreaker’

Best Appearing Car: Andy Stones in ‘Frantic’

Outstanding Performance: Brian Watson in ‘Interest Free’

 

Plus these trophies were awarded courtesy of the NSRA:

NSRA Special award:  Bradley Cooper in ‘Back from the Past’

NSRA Quickest WILD BUNCH: Chris Manning in ‘The Villain’ with his 7.017

 

PBs (and there were a lot of them including some very special firsts!!):

 

• Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’ 161.38 mph (first times over 160mph!)
• Lee Hartnell in ‘Dazed and Confused’ 10.425 (4 tenths improvement!)
• ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell in ‘Backdraft’ 8.629 / 153.57 (incredible run! More awesome wheelies too!)
• ‘Mad’ Mark Hartnell in ‘Backdraft’  8.756 / 153.64 (into the 8/150’s on his 1^st run for years!!)
• Antony Colliver in ‘From Hell’ 10.916 / 128.45 (5½ seconds off checkout pass at Nostalgias!)
• Wayne Colliver in ‘Misfit’ 9.436 / 141.59 (first 140’s! the car sounds awesome too!)
• Bradley Cooper in ‘Back from the Past’ 11.216 (1^st PB for some time, with Dad Ken there tuning!)
• Mick Hillier in ‘Texas Ranger’ 8.812 / 146.69 (nearly a tenth improvement!)
• Brian Watson in ‘Interest Free’ 9.867 / 129.51 (first 9’s! nearly 4 tenths improvement!)
• Craig Greenfield in ‘Grumpy Monkey’ 9.536 / 144.41 (first 9’s/140’s, 7 tenths improvement!)
• Bobby Wright in the ‘Alturd’ 9.885 / 138.62 (first 9’s / 130’s, a 1.2 second improvement!)
• Andy Stones in ‘Frantic’ 10.807 / 120.76 (an incredible debut for Andy in this awesome car!)
• Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’ altered 8.742 / 148.17 (nearly a tenth and a half improvement!)
• Chris Manning in ‘The Villain’  7.017 / 203.38 (Wow!!! Backing up the 200mph from the Nostalgias!)
• Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’  160.19mph (his first 160mph pass!)
• Graham Rawlings in ‘Little Digger’ 9.673 / 136.86 (2 tenths improvement deep into the 9’s!)
• Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’  149.90mph (oh so close!!)
• Ollie H-Smith in ‘Couped Up’  10.788 / 123.39 (nearly 3 tenths improvement!)
• Tim Roy in ‘Boston Straggler 2’ 12.292 / 110.03 (half a second improvement!)
• Elliott Jones in ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ 10.198 / 133.76 (great to see the team running so well!)

[Please do let me know if I have missed any!]

Many Congratulations to all those who ran PB’s at the weekend, especially those who ran their first 10’s, 9’s and 8’s, and 120’s, 130’s, 140’s, 150’s and 160’s!! Just brilliant! 

Highlights of the weekend include the large and fantastic field of Wild Bunch, the perfect weather, completing 4 rounds of great competition, and of course the amazing group of cars and people, who all put on an amazing show and did themselves so proud!! Loads of great comments from spectators and the commentators! What a great way for so many to finish this very short season, on the 25^th Anniversary of the start of the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Club!! Excellent!! That will keep us all going until next year when we really can celebrate the 25^th Anniversary Wild Bunch Series!!

Huge thanks to all the Santa Pod marshals and officials, track and safety and medical crews, security and organisers and Alan Martin and all at the NSRA for all their hard work. Many thanks to Keith Bartlett for his tireless efforts to keep racing going in the current difficult circumstances, and keeping the faith! The hard work from all sure paid off in an absolutely cracking event all round!! Fair play to you all! Thanks to Simon and all at eurodragster team this weekend for the great coverage! Well done! Thanks to each and everyone who worked so hard to make the event a great success! Thanks to Colin Theobold for great commentary and continuing brilliant support of the Wild Bunch, including his attendance at our prize presentation and his lovely words! Many thanks again to Elaine Southworth for the amazing handmade trophies, much appreciated!

Once again, a huge well done to all of the Wild Bunch for an incredible show!! Phenomenal!! J  Again, I need more exclamation marks for this one!!

 

More updates tomorrow!! 

All the best

Claire