Drag Racing in England

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Spent last week in various European countries on a business trip, with my last stop in England. I was able to stay an extra day, and found my way about 2 hours North of London to Santa Pod Raceway outside Wellingborough. Stayed local to the track on Friday night, and a short taxi ride at 7am Saturday morning had me feeling about as close to the United States as possible - even though I was ~4,000 miles away!

Gates opened at 8am, racing started very promptly at 9am, but then the drizzle began around 10:30 or so and I had to leave no later than 2pm to catch my flight out of Heathrow. So, I didn't get to see any of the Jr's run - quite a bummer, but what a great experience. These guys are fast!!

Took some pics that I thought you might like to see. First batch of pics are Jr Dragster based, later pics are big cars. There was a horrific crash later Saturday afternoon, driver lived:

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/gr...deo-67478.html



I got a little history lesson: the track is based on a US military base from WWII. They have a very nice memorial just outside the entrance to the track with the Stars & Stripes waving, I was quite impressed:





Since I was very likely the first spectator there, I wandered down to the starting line and talked to the track workers. They prep the line very similar, except for some type of powder they had just at the launch area.

The burnout box is actually just before the tunnel arches, not sure we'd have that configuration in the States since some Friday-nighter would likely put a fender into it! It works for them though:



Control tower is directly above and behind the cars, hence why some cars have their dial boards facing backwards.



The tan colored areas are the powder (dry traction compound??) that was on the track.... but, look at the uphill run!! Reportedly, the elevation change from start to finish is ~6 feet!



Christmas Tree was not in place yet.

Most race Teams were fully set up by Saturday morning, but some were still arriving like this Team of 2 Jr's. The incredibly narrow roads over there, not to mention the many 'roundabouts', make towing with an American style rig quite difficult. So, they resourcefully design with function over form, there were 4 people in the car as well!



By 8'ish, some Jr's were starting to emerge. The first 2 I saw was this pair of Half Scale cars, very nice cars.



Unsure of this chassis type, but it was a shock car extraordinaire:



Then the drizzle started, smiley-oops So, everybody went to the Midway to pass the time:



The kids do the same thing as in the States, they hang out and socialize!







Spent a fair amount of time with Andy Wheeler and the Alamo Team. These girls have raced at the ECF's the past 3 years, and we got to know them through Randy, Jaime and Erik at Half Scale Inc. Although Andy knew somebody from the US was in the area, his wife and daughters were stunned when we walked into the race trailer. Poor Paige's mouth dropped open for at least 5-6 seconds! smiley-mrgreen

It's one of the great things about the sport, getting to know different people - even those who are 4,000 miles away!



I have some pics of some big cars too, will post if anyone is interested.

Here's an example, a Nostalgic FC that was originally from New Jersey - a crew member gave me a lift from the gate all the way to the pits - about 3/4 of a mile. Big thanks!!



I will say that the big cars were just as fast as the US counterparts, although I did notice that their reaction times were a bit off. I surmise that is because they probably don't get to do this every weekend!

They are well equipped for the rain, that is true - but they were drying the track for at least 2 hours!! Should have let the Jr's run a time shot or two!

It was very interesting. I met some guys who were running Pro ET class in their '69 Camaro. He mentions that he has a damaged ZL1 engine headed to the States for an overhaul, where? "Pennsylvania", where? "about a 1/2 from Maple Grove Raceway", who? "Tilburg Racing Engines"! They fly over just to watch races here in the US at MGR, Cecil County, etc... What a very small world!

He stands this car on the bumper! smiley-cool



A few more big cars:






Brand new Camaro, quite impressive - didn't get to see it run though: