Hi everyone! 

Here are the results from the NSRA ‘Nostalgia Nationals’ at Santa Pod on 2^nd - 4^th May. This event was Wild Bunch Series Round 1, Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Round 1 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Round 1. The weather was mostly good all weekend, though cooler on Saturday and Sunday.

The Wild Bunch welcomed back a great field of 20 teams. There was one driver and car making a stunning debut in the Wild Bunch - Loz Butcher’s awesome period correct slingshot ‘Mean Streak’. Simply amazing!

A format change saw Friday become a general RWYB day again, with the added bonus of one run for all Race classes on the evening session. So the Bunch had a round at about 6pm. 12 drivers took part in this.

On Saturday, we had three practice rounds, beginning at 11:15am, 3pm and 6pm, and the majority of the teams took part in these. 

On Sunday we were again very pleased to have a dry start to the day, so were hopeful of completing our three scheduled rounds. There was some downtime in the day when there was an incident. We were all really sorry to hear about the bad crash involving 2 Supercharged Outlaws drivers, Mick Hannah and Jack Williams. We understand Jack is okay and was back in the pits, and Mick was undergoing tests in hospital, but on the mend. Wishing Mick a big Get Well Soon, and thanks to the amazing track crew for looking after them both so well as always.

We only ended up getting 2 full rounds of racing in, and although some teams went out for a third run late in the day, this did not count as a round. (Due to the ‘earlier than anticipated’ call for the second round, when some teams had only just returned to the pits from the first round and their cars were too hot, a couple of drivers were not able to go out for the round. As I had not been able to ask for a time extension at the time of the call, and we only anticipated 2 rounds due to track time, the two drivers that had been unable to go out during our second round were allowed to record their runs during the last session, in the interests of fairness.) Overall, we were happy to have had 4 practice sessions and 2 full rounds of racing over the weekend!!

Here are the Top 4 at the event after the 2 rounds of competition, with the average difference to Dial-in shown. Many Congratulations to all!

1^st Place:  James Auld in ‘Little Fauss’  .0693 average  (picking up right where he left off!)

2^nd Place: Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’  .0844 average (a strong result to start the season!)

3^rd Place:  Joey Childs in ‘Boxo Bomb’ .1571 (2024 Best Newcomers starting well with their 1^st Top 4!)

4^th Place:  Andy Roy in ‘Shawcrank Redemption’  .1664  (great to see Andy with a Top 4 in the first event)

Plus the other finishers to complete both rounds without redlights were the following:

5^th - Gavin & Pete Team 'Charles Bang Special' .1875

6^th - James Griffen in 'Kiss My Gas' .3047

7^th - Ian Wild in 'Wilds'Cat' .3435 

8^th - Terry Robbins in 'Soultown Shaker' .3499

9^th - Philippa Turton in 'Bitchcraft' 1.2060

 

Here are the Spot Prizes that were won. Many Congratulations to all!:

Closest to Dial-In (Series Rounds):  Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’  .0069 off

Best Reaction (Series Rounds):  James Auld   “Little Fauss”     .102       

Fastest MPH:    Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ with   157.82  mph  

Best Burnout:     Philippa Turton in ‘Bitchcraft’  (a big warm welcome back Philippa, Mark and team!)

Best Appearing Car:   Loz Butcher in ‘Mean Streak’

Best Appearing Team: James Griffen and Team   “Kiss My Gas”     

Commentator’s Choice:  Ruaridh Hart in ‘BraveHart’ making several repairs and recording great PB’s 

NSRA award for “Quickest Wild Bunch”:  Pete & Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’ with 8.402

Commiserations to all those who had breakages or issues: especially to ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell who blew his engine on the first run on Sunday, but thankfully got the car stopped quickly. Due to always running a diaper, at least 95% of the oil was contained in this, and did not get on the slicks and hardly any on the track at all, so it proved its worth as a safety device.  If you saw Backdraft’s sump after this, you will appreciate why we have now made it mandatory in our class to run a diaper or oil containment device under the engine!! Commiserations also to Bob Hawkins who suffered some vicious tyre shake damage again! He was able to fix much of this, but could not take part in the rounds. Commiserations to Wayne Colliver who had some head issues on the newly rebuilt engine, and to Dan Wilson who also had issues; neither could take part in the rounds. Well done to Ruaridh Hart and team, who worked hard into the night Friday to fix the body mounts when the body came off in the return road, and also managed to fix a problem with the parachute. Hope everyone with damage can get the cars fixed real soon and be back out for Dragstalgia!!

I would like to thank everyone who popped by to my 60^th Birthday party in the pits, and special thanks to everyone who contributed to a collection for a card, lovely flowers, chocolates and a gift card!! You are all so kind! It was all very much appreciated!!

Every team put on a great show and it was fantastic to watch as always! Well done everyone!! Here is the full field of great Wild Bunch participants!!!! There were several PB’s this weekend, shown in this table. Many Congratulations  folks!! 

 

	WB 1	JAMES AULD	LITTLE FAUSS
	WB 2	ROB &PETE BROWN	REBEL
	WB 4	DAN WILSON	ANTIQUE TOY
	WB 6	CHRIS HARTNELL	BACKDRAFT
	WB 12	PHILIPPA TURTON	BITCHCRAFT	11.420 / 115.37
	WB 19	WAYNE COLLIVER	FUNKY DIGIT
	WB 20	PETE & ROB BROWN	WRATHCHILD	P: 9.931 / 131.68 R: 9.944 / 133.28
	WB 23	LOZ BUTCHER	MEAN STREAK	9.853/144.82
	WB 50	JAMES GRIFFEN	KISS MY GAS
	WB 53	GAVIN M & PETE A	CHARLES BANG SPECIAL	11.666 / 116.86
	WB 78	TERRY ROBBINS	SOULTOWN SHAKER	10.056 / 136.95
	WB 89	ANDY ROY	SHAWCRANK REDEMPTION	9.600 / 139.95
	WB 91	BOB HAWKINS	TIME TRAVELLER II
	WB 113	PAUL TARRY	TRIGGER’S BROOM
	WB 116	IAN WILD	WILDS’CAT
	WB 130	JOEY CHILDS	BOXO BOMB	10.885 / 125.11
	WB 245	JOHN SHAROD	NEVER SAY NEVER
	WB 358	PETE WHITFIELD	ROWELL RAIL	10.780 / 137.39
	WB 383	IAN ARMITAGE	OLD GUYS RAIL	8.933 / 135.34
	WB 1969	RUARIDH HART	BRAVEHART	9.447 / 139.84

(There were so many!! So please let me know if I have missed any PBs!)

 

Highlights include a great field to start the season, Loz’s incredible new slingshot, 10 teams running PB’s including Philippa’s first 11, Wrathchild’s first 9’s and 130+mph with both Pete & Rob driving, Loz’s first 9’s and 140mph+, Pete W’s first 10’s and 130’s, Ian A’s first 8’s and 130+, Ruaridh’s first 9’s and 130’s!!!!! Plus, of course, good weather and two rounds completed!!

Thanks again to the NSRA and all the marshals and officials at Santa Pod for all their exceptional hard work as always and for looking after everybody. Well done to all those who put on a great show this weekend! Looking forward to Dragstalgia now!!

All the best
Claire

 :-) :-) 

PS. Sorry about the delay to the writeup folks, as I was very short of time after the event before I went away for a week!