chrisbray.co.uk

This is what everyone loves about Drag Racing...

Thomas Nataas Top Fuel funny car in the Santa Pod Nitro Fuel shootout.
Picture by Chris Bray

Wow! What a weekend!

I spent this weekend racing at Shakespeare County Raceway, I also celebrated my 28th birthday.

Things couldn't have gone much better really, although I had a rough qualifying session I did manage to get on the ladder and that was good enough for me, this weekend was more about spending time with my mates and chilling out in a traditional 'shakey' fashion.

I was drawn against Shane Rae in the first round and after an extraordinarily long wait we took to the track, there wasn't a lot in it dial in wise, his bus is quick!! After a pair of 0.0 second reactions we were off! I caught Shane by the 1000ft mark and got off the gas to avoid a breakout, taking the heat win. Close one though!

Next up was Holly Baldwin, I had a head start this time with Holly's bug running quicker than me but after a storming 60ft and first 1/8th I knew I'd done well so I eased off the gas at the top to take another heat victory.

My opponent for the semi final was Martin Ayton, currently challenging for the Sportsman championship Martin is a seasoned Pro and I knew it wasn't going to be an easy race! We both got away well and it was neck and neck at the stripe, both of us on and off the gas as neither of us were sure who'd won, until the win light showed -> and I realised it was me!

Wow! Through to the final! No time to hang around as we were called down straight away. The final was against my good mate (and first time trophy winner) Polly Naylor and it was another close affair! 0.01 seconds separated us at the finish line with Polly running 0.03 over her dial in and me running 0.02 over! I'd won!

I was both happy and sad at the same time, I was over the moon that I'd just won my first event for a few years, but at the same time Polly is a really good mate and it seemed a shame to beat her!

All in all a fantastic weekend, I'm now 2nd in the VWDRC championship, and I've won the APIRA VW Sportsman championship! Sadly with no chance of catching Spencer for 1st in the National Championship and I'm only 10 points in front of Adrian Wigley, so no time to rest on my laurels, I've gotta pull one out of the bag at the National Finals and do my best to take second overall!

Wish me luck!

Well, it's started, I've just had my mate (and fellow racer) Rich come over and start taking the second car apart. We're trying to strip as much as we can as quickly as we can, I want to try and keep the engine, gearbox and front suspension together as one and move it all out in one piece, that way it should be relatively easy to move around on it's wheels!

Here's a picture as we'd just started... Rich managed to get the bonnet off quicker than my N95 managed to focus!

Before

And after some four hours of work we managed to get most of it un-bolted, almost ready to roll out from under the car.

After!

Now for the big-reveal!

As some of you know I've got a VW Fastback shell in storage waiting for build-up into a race car, but as yet I don't have an engine/gearbox etc. Well... Plans change and given I now have an engine/gearbox etc "spare" I'm thinking RNJ Motorsport will be getting a call to locate this 150bhp Golf GTi motor in the back of said Fastback shell! The aim is reliable, dependable power without costing the earth, and with the likes of James Hodson running serious power from the 20vT motors (which are physically very similar to the 16v you see here) the upgrade path is obvious.

This is how the project stands at the moment....

Looking sad in the lockup.

Here is my inspiration...

Doug Harvey's awesome car.

How close the final product is we will see!!

We're having a great day here at Shakey the sky is blue, the sun is shining and the track is great. We're all running PB's and it's oh so close! First run this morning didn't start so well as I broke my staging brake in the fire up road but managed to rig it enough to work. Things started well with a 0.002 reaction but the run finished poorly as I ran 16.01 on my 15.8 dial in, after having changed from 16.0 in the fire up road!

Second run started just as well with a 0.007 reaction, but ended up badly as the chase to catch Polly went right to the line with me finishing first in a double breakout! My time was 15.87, if I'd kept my 15.8 from the first run that would have been pretty good, except I'd raised it to 16.0, oh dear!

Third run hooked up nicely, sadly starting with a tiny 0.09 red but running through with a 15.83 on my 15.8 dial in :)

Number one qualifier at the end of day one and a 0.002 reaction... Happy :)

Unfortunately it's just started raining a bit so we're not sure what's going on yet, but it seems we're finished for the day.

More tomorrow :)

Well Day Four went reasonably well, a dry morning and a lot of hard work from the track staff meant racing was underway relatively quickly. It's been a busy day with a lot of classes to get through but the VWDRC did finally get their slot things didn't go so well for us here with Chris going out in the first round to new boy Russ Weir, well done Russ, right on the numbers.

After our defeat we decided to head down to the startline to see some of the pro fuel shootout. Wow! I think it's a unanimous 'we love top fuel' from everyone here!

It all seems so much more mental when you're on the side of the start line, the Nitro is burning your eyes and nose, the noise is pounding in your chest like a punch from a boxer and ringing in your ears like nothing you've ever felt before, then the tree drops and it just goes to another level! The ground is shaking, the air is literally on fire as the heat from the Nitro strips the Hydrogen from the air, you can't breathe, you can't see, you can't feel anything except the relentless pounding from the shockwaves coming from the car, then it all fades as the car disappears to half track, an eighth of a mile away, in three seconds, you wipe your tears away to see the time and speed on the finish line boards.

I don't know anyone who doesn't love top fuel...

We're on our way home now but we'll put some pictures from the weekend up shortly, needless to say a great time was had by all :)