Latest News
Making Progress - May 2023
Finally we have some updates to be able to share with you. The fuel bike is coming along very well. We have been working very hard on it, and it is now beginning to look like a race bike.Kev decided to try to make the body work himself, after all how hard can it be (!?) He soon found out. He made a wood and car filler plug, waxed and polished and polished some more, and made a fibre glass a mould off it and left it to cure for a few days. Then came the butt clenching moment of removing the body from the mould. The cracking noises that this made was concerning, but happily we had a mould, and it was in one piece!! Duly waxed and polished some more, and going back to the fibre glassing and stinking of resin, the body shell was made. There are probably easier ways to do this, but for a first attempt, Kev was rather pleased about the way it turned out. We have the engine build up, dismantled and rebuilt again, and in the bike. The gearbox is completed and also in. All the plumbing and wiring (not a lot!)...
A Small Set Back
Sitting here at home, due to Covid-19 and being on lockdown, we sadly (but sensibly) made the decision to put the fuel bike on hold.The last bits on the list to do will have to stay that way for a while and the toys will have to be put on hold. This period of uncertainty has put us into responsible adult mode, and monies are best left in the bank for mortgage and bills.Because we have no idea how long this is actually going to go on for, we have brought the bike home, as we are able to continue to do our bit, and work on it here, which we can do shut in the garage, at no risk to anyone else. It was also a good opportunity to see if it would fit logically in the race truck! This it does!It’s disappointing, but rest assured once this all blows over, the bike will have the last bits done and we will be back on course again.We will continue to update from home for now.
10,000 Horses Take Some Looking After
Having headed to the Main Event for an easy weekend we bumped into Tethys on Thursday night who was short of crew and unable to run for the weekend. He offered me the opportunity to come and meet with him and the crew the next morning to learn the routine and see if I felt able to help out for the weekend as Top Fuel were not running until Saturday.I soon realised that the amount of work that goes into running these cars is on a completely different level. The engine is completely stripped down to a bare crankshaft and block at the end of every run and to add to this the rules only allow 90 minutes turn around time. With a lot of guidance from the team I ran through the routine once on Friday and discussed some ways to speed up for the real thing. Including gathering a selection of 5 torque wrenches for my tool tray alone! I was also nominated to drive the tow car which leads to a very strange view in the mirror. Thanks to a lot of help from the whole team I managed to just about keep up with the speed...
Kev’s role reversal race weekend – Dragstalgia 2018
Ok here goes…… Usually, it’s my job to ride the bike and leave Lizzy to the PR and write the race reports, but I thought I would give it a go.Due to real life and having to go to work, I couldn’t make it to the Track until Thursday evening. By the time I got to Santa Pod, the pit was set up. The girls had done a great job setting up the pit space and the caravans! (Thanks Nipper for the tow) Just a small hiccup with fuel in the generator (yes as it’s not an ACU race meeting, there was no electricity supplied by Santa Pod 🙁 )This was soon sorted out, and I made up for being late, by buying the Team a Chinese takeaway, we know how to live it up!Friday morning we had a look over the bike and fitted the wheelie bars, we then gave the bike a warm-up, and did a leak down test to get a starting point to work from while monitoring the engine condition, after the valve issues at the last test day.Down to the start line and the bike did not want to start, so back to the pits...
Nitrous Junkie Season Review 2017
How we are able to write a season review when none of us have been racing is amusing. It’s been as much of a busy season as ever. Just like it would have been if there were the three of us racing competitively! How does this happen??I will try to make this as interesting as I can. We are asked what is happening with various developments – so here goes. Jake got an unconditional offer to study Computer Networking at Sheffield University, and is going to be concentrating on this, so won’t be racing for a while. No doubt at some stage will be doing some run wots, on Kev’s old Bandit which is being rebuilt and redeveloped at present. He passed his driving test the week before he left, so was able to drive himself up there. Very proud of this chap! Jake and the team also crewed for Pete le Gros and his beautiful top fuel twin a few times, which was always such a pleasure. Kev is still working on the build of the Top Fuel Bike, as I’m sure you can all appreciate it comes at a price, and a lot of the components are bespoke....
Tynwald Drags 2017
Just got back from a cracking weekend on the Isle of Man. The ferry journey over on the Thursday night was rather rough, and not very pleasant, but once there, and we had driven to Paul and Maria’s in a torrential rain storm, we finally got to bed after midnight.In the morning it was still raining, but by late morning the rain had almost gone, and we set off to the track at Jurby. Set up, bike out, and had a look about. Julie Moxley, by this time was on her way, I hadn’t heard from her for a couple of weeks, apart from a text to say she was on her way. Imagine my total surprise when not only Jules got out of the car, but Minx (Sarah Chapman) too! Lost for words I’m not, very often, but I was …… Brilliant that I had both of them here. Very happy !We had a little walk up the track later on in the evening, and it is not like anything I was expecting. Having been spoilt by the Santa Pod track and Shakey, this track had no rubber, no stick, a strong headwind, and I have to say I...
Latest News March 2017
The season sadly none of us are contesting the ACU Championship, Kevin is still building the top fuel bike, but other commitments have taken precedence, so the bike is on the back burner for now.Lizz has (supposedly) retired from competitive racing, but will be out testing, and will be racing at the Bulldog Bash on Dutchman’s Erik Feijt’s bike, who he has very generously agreed for it to be brought over to the UK for this. There are also rumours that Kev may have a go on Rockets funny bike too!Jake has out grown Junior Drag Bike in more ways than one. Jake is nearly 18 now, and over six foot, the Junior bike is far too small for him. The plans are for him to be out on Kev’s old Bandit in due course.Talking to Funny Bike Racer, Dave Peters (Rocket) who we are crewing for this season, we have offered the Junior Bike, as a sponsorship deal, to his Nephew Will Pickering, who has outgrown his first junior bike. We are delighted to be able to do this.We wish Will the best of luck, and will be there to give him all the guidance and support he needs....
The Bulldog Bash 2015
Yes I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. I am now officially retired from competitive drag racing. This doesn’t mean that if the opportunity arose, I wouldn’t be on the race track again; it just means that I will not be competing, or spending all my money on racing, instead supporting and crewing for Kev when the fuel bike comes out. Kev has given me more racing years than I ever expected, mentoring me and giving me great advice, which led us winning a Championship in 2013. He is one of the best nitrous tuners out there, we learnt from another good guy, Ken Cooper, and Kev and I testing and developing his own ideas, has been able to tune my bike with minimal spare parts with tired old stuff which I could never afford to replace. There are not enough words or hours in the day to really thank Kev so much for everything he has done for me. To have achieved what we did was pretty good, considering!I am (so far), in a relatively short career, the second woman, next to Helen, who has won the ACU Comp Bike Championship, won the APIRA Championship,...
So what has been going on in the Nitrous Junkie Camp?
Kevin, as you know bought the fuel bike, “The Purple Princess” from Steve Carey and after taking a good look at the chassis without the engine in, rather sensibly decided that a new chassis was definitely in order, due to a terrible crash that Steve had on it at Dragstalgia in 2013. As you can appreciate, these things cannot be bought off the shelf, and are not cheap. It is a work in progress, but things are moving in the right direction. Pulleys have been made by Portobello Precision, and he has had a meeting with Jon Webster at Webster Race Engineering (webster-race-engineering.co.uk) and Dejan Jankovic from Portobello Precision (Find him on Facebook) to talk about the next stage of the build. The engine has been rebuilt, and is sitting pretty waiting for the chassis and various other components to be made. To get the build right first time is what is imperative. Rushing to get this finished is not an option. However he hopes to be back on the track in 2017, and will be good to have Chris Pyke back as Crew Chief too.Jake stopped racing to concentrate on his Exams, and is now in his second year...
Drag is Back 2015
The first day in Drachten and the weather was very hot. The first two hours of racing were allocated for testing so we decided to get a couple of runs in early to see what the bike would do after tuning from Don Kennedy. Our first run was delayed a little by some issues setting up the tree, Dad, being a little rusty at this crewing game, forgot to pull the pin out of the air shifter. I noticed the flag flapping in the wind just after 60ft and tried to pull it out however the loop connecting the flag to the pin broke leaving the pin in place and meaning the run was completed in 1st gear with a final time of 17.46 seconds @ 44.36 km/h (27.56 mph). In our second test and tune run everything went well. I ran 10.86 @ 97.27 km/h (60.44 mph). We decided also during qualifications to switch from feathering the clutch back to our old method of dropping the clutch at high revs. This took a little perfecting as at first this caused big wheelspin but a burnout caused the engine to bog. After a few clutch adjustments changing spring pressure and...