Summernationals February 16 & 17 2007
The Summernationals 21 Top Doorslammer entries and only eight qualify. This is my debut Championship event. This is just another test for us.
Friday qualifying and our first run was at 4.30pm. We made some suspension changes from last week. We had something that worked and didn’t want to change but we had some unusual wear and were forced to, (a repair was un feasible in the given week).
The first qualify run was good and the car went straightish it was only my second time in a pairing. I was beside Peter Lovering I left him on the line and ran through with a 6.81 losing a blower belt a 1000ft. I figured Lovering had problems on the start line, but when I pulled the chutes he wizzed passed at a million mph it scared the crap out of me, I wasn’t ready for that. He ran 6.80 it felt really good to be in front for an entire run. If we had been racing, I’d have won!!!
A quick turnaround for the second qualifier. The team worked quickly but when we went to start it there was a problem. A cylinder full of fuel was hydraulicing on the starter we rushed to get it started. Everything was fine, but on the start line how ever we experienced the same problem against the car wouldn’t start and we missed out on that run. That was really disappointing but we had to find the problem.
We did a leak down, nothing we decided that without pulling apart the engine (as we wouldn’t have time before the final qualifier) we would just make sure we back the engine off in the staging lanes before we start the car.
The final qualifier. The car started first go, 21 doorslammers ran single passes (top fuel wasn’t ready yet) my burnout was a bit better then recent and I quickly got into stage (I didn’t have to wait for any one). Trying to launch with as much heat as possible in the tyres it must have worked 1.03 60ft was the 2nd or 3rd best for the session (not my best 60 though) my best half track saw 170 something mph and 4.3 I also pedalled just after shifting to 2nd gear (it wriggled just a little) after about 15 or so runs/part runs I’m proud to say I saw the shift light come on for top gear for the first time ever. a fuel leak sprouted at around 1000ft just before I hit the chutes but I cruised through to a 6.57sec at 216mph. Finally a good run, I saw the shift light, it went straight. I actually felt pretty comfortable in this run. It is the fastest and quickest I have gone so far. The team were pumped with this result! Even one photographer said to Dad it was an awesome launch. Dad was chuffed.
Great to finally get the monkey off our back. the thing has potential. We are still 200lb over weight and with a one to two tenths pedal that’s almost a great run.
We didn’t end up making the top eight, we actually came 16th but we were really happy with result.
I want to thank my team for all there hard work and support (a special thanks to Gary & Peter), everything is starting to come together for us!!
I would also like to welcome our new sponsor TURN 4. And congratulations to our good friends Maz & Ben on their Wedding which I couldn’t make due to racing.