Latest News
The Main Event 2012
Two vans locked and loaded for nearly a week at Santa Pod, travelling from different sides of the country!Both Richard Gipp, myself with Lizzy arrived Thursday, set up ready for Friday evening, where we hoped to test at the Pro Test session, I needed more seat time, and this was the perfect opportunity. We fitted a new exhaust and did a few other little jobs, warmed the bike up and found we had a small leak on the head gasket. That scuppered our plans to test, as we had to fit a new head gasket - but hey, better now that on race day! Saturday due to the on and off weather, our first session got called down at 4 o'clock. I was in the right hand lane, on a bye run. Gipp Chris and crew did a sterling job of getting me settled, and lining me up. Got a good 0.09 reaction - ran 7.87 secs @ 167 mph. We were not too sure if this was going to be enough to qualify. Racing against Europe's best Pro Stock Bike riders, and again another rookie season, I was very happy to have qualified 6th in the first session. Second...
Springspeed Nationals 2012
Pro Stock Bike is a very different animal to anything I have ridden before. It is seriously not as easy as they would have you believe. Obviously it is one heck of a lot lighter than the Top Fuel Bike from last year, it also does exactly what you ask it, in terms of steering, much much quicker !! You only have to glance anywhere but straight, and the bike will act accordingly! Because of this, I was doing more than a quarter mile on my runs, as I was going the long way round!.Friday evening, I had to drop Lizzy and the caravan up to the track, as she unfortunately was involved in a head on collision the day before, breaking her wrists, spraining her back and unable to race and drive. To say she was disappointed is possibly an understatement, as she has not been given answers as to the extent of the damage to her, or how long she will be out of action. We all wish her speedy recovery, and hope that she gets fit enough to get back out there before the end of the season, even if only testing.Richard Gipp and His crew Nigel...
The Easter Thunderball 2012
Kev and Jake Charman were both racing at the Easter Thunderball. Kev debuting in Pro Stock Bike, and Jake in Junior Drag Bike. We arrived Thursday night, set up and check both bikes out and did some jobs we didn't have time to finish, on The Pro Stock bike, especially, as to ride it was a bit of a late decision ! Thanks to Richard Gipp for being able to rebuild a motor and get the whole bike sorted in a fortnight !1st run - The track was still very cold, and I was trying hard to remember how to ride a bike with 5 gears. I short shifted the whole run, and shut off before the finish line, and cruised through. This was the run run of the season, the last run of last season was 171mph on my arse, so still to be on the bike was very pleasing. 8.52 @ 139mph. Sadly with Mark Smith with mechanical problems, and Ray Debben having problems too, there was only myself and Len Paget in. The first run gave me number 2 qualifier!My second qualifier was on Sunday, and late due to the weather. The carbs were hanging open a...
Latest News March 2012
Sometimes you are really better off quitting the Top Fuel Bike game when you are ahead and still have money in the bank.Having won the ACU Championship in a Rookie Year, was more than we could possibly have expected. The Shark Attack Bike, owned by Rene Van Den Berg, for the second year had retained the Number 1 plate with 2 different riders, and both the Nitrous Junkie team, and Rene were very happy with that.Without the crew, Chris Pyke, Kev's Crew Chief, Jake, Lizzy, and Bryony, plus Rene's Crew, Craig Boulton, and Binz, thank you all, we really couldn't have done this without you.Testing , and crashing, with Kev on board, at the Extreme performance, however, kicked us all back into touch. The damage, although luckily minimal, still needed to be paid for, and that is when we got to thinking.The Top Fuel Experience has been something that we have only dreamed of. We will always be grateful to Rene for the opportunity, but there comes a time, especially when the work is quiet, and not as much money is coming in, where Kev decided to call, it a day, and one very hard call to Rene later, said...
News for January 2012
At last we have some news. I am to run the Fuel Bike for a second season. I said to Rene at the end of last year, that I would be happy to ride it again, and I wasn’t too happy about leaving my Top Fuel Bike Career, with the number one plate, and a crash. We have been speaking to Rene over the winter, and another deal has been done. The bike is being repaired, and we fired her up last weekend, and she sounds good. Chris (my crew chief) and I are going over to The Netherlands in the next few weeks, to help Rene refresh the engine, and learn a bit more.I will be doing the 2 European Meetings here, and all the ACU rounds at Santa Pod. Hopefully Lizz and I will be racing at Drachten in July.Over the closed season, I have been working on getting Lizzy’s Cylinder head repaired, and another one to work on, to give her a fighting chance of running the 7 she so desperately wants. It’s not been an easy 2 seasons for her. We have talked through who is doing what this year, and she is happy to run...
National Finals 2011
Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that we would come away with the number 1 plate!! What an incredibly, unpredictable, and amazing sport this is!The first run of the day we were not too sure what to expect. Craig had changed the ratio the week before, and we went to Santa Pod to test the bike last weekend. Unfortunatley the weather was not on our side, so never got out to test.Kev had Steve Woolatt in the first round of qualifying, Steve had gone into pre stage before he had been pushed back from his burnout, but unfazed Kev launched and the bike just flew, 6.71 @ 202 mph, taking him to the only Fuel bike that ran a six in the first round, and gave him the Number 1 qualifying position. Needless to say we were very happy with that. Steve unfortunately had problems, running a 12.79.(Photo thanks to Rob Cox) As drag racing goes, the highs and lows always come with it, and the second run, against Chris Hannam. Kev launched, the bike charged off again, sounding strong (1.08 60 foot) and the primary drive belt was destroyed again, thus running a 11.22 at...
Extreme Performance Bike Weekend 2011
We entered Comp bike at the Extreme performance as we wanted to test a few things that time had stopped us from doing during the season. The weather was not really with us, the track was cold and fairly loose at the top end.The first run the bike launched well (1.10 60 foot) and a 6.9 on the quarter with a slowing 150 mph. Around the 1000 foot mark the front end of the bike felt like it was trying to wash away, my feet came off the foot pegs, but managed to keep my balance, and control to to the finish line.Took the bike back, checked it over and ready to go out for the second one.Set off for a bye run in the left hand lane, again the bike launched very well, this time a 1.08 60 foot and 169mph through the eight. Again at the same point in the other lane, the front wheel touched down, and again it washed out. This time I was unable to control it, the bike slid violently to the left hand wall, and had me off. I chased the bike across the line on my bum and went through at 7.2...
FIA European Finals 2011
We arrived at the track on Wednesday to set up our side of things before Rene and the crew arrived on Thursday, so we were ready for what we hoped was going to be a very good meeting.All arrived, the bike unloaded, and we went about checking it all over, and discussing what the game plan was. We were concerned that after the issues we had with the chains snapping, and wanted to try to re tune the bike, as it is tailing off after the 1000foot mark, and we really need more track time to get it back into the 6s again. We had 2 qualifying rounds on Friday and Saturday, so any changes we made had to be important ones, to make this worthwhile.Friday dawned, final checks, and started the bike up. It sounded strong and good, so now ready for the first run.Good straight burnout, and as I was being pushed back, (I am told) The Battle of Britain memorial flight spitfire flew over the track. Mentioned on Eurodragster as being “a great sight”! Launch was also good, and a 1.12 60 foot, which was better than it had been for a while, then the motor revved,...
Open Sports Nationals 2011
Jake, the third, and youngest racing member of the Nitrous Junkie Team, was competing in Junior Drag bike at the weekend.Jake takes up the story:From the minute we left home it was bucketing it down with rain, but Me, Dad and Lizzy were all still being optimistic and packed our sunglasses! Unfortunately though the rain was a sign of things to come and in turn we only got three runs of the whole weekend! The track crew tried very hard, but it was not to be, and the curfew didn't help either.All weekend was spent trying to get the back wheel to spin which just didn’t seem to be happening with the setup the bike had (sprockets F15-R40). After trying to make the current setup work and not getting much in return we decided to change the rear sprocket to a 45 and use a new spark plug for the first round of eliminations. And believe it or not we actually managed to spin the wheel too much! Despite this though I broke out by .2 0f a second running a 10.2 pass on a 10.5 dial in.As always thanks go to Dad, Lizzy and Bryony for their help and...
The 25th Bulldog Bash 2011
This year, not only was it the 25th Anniversary of the Bulldog bash, but all three of us had been invited to do demonstration runs, which Lizz and Jake thought was pretty cool!!Jake and myself went up on Wednesday, the two bikes already polished and checked over, whilst the Fuel bike was arriving with Rene on the Thursday. Once he arrived we set up, wheelie bars on, and just waited for the arrival of various crew and rider, Binzi, Bryony, Chris, Klaus and Lizzy on Thursday evening.Friday came, the weather was on side, and the RWYB started, and we started up all bikes, checked for leaks, and waited until demo time. I had really wanted Lizzy to do a test run, to iron out any gremlins before the demos, as we had had issues again with the nitrous not working, but this was not to be. The stunt riders started their routine, which was our cue to get lined up in front of the wall, and ready for racing.Jake was racing against Scott Collier, Lizzy against Ken Cooper, which she found too funny for words (Something to do with him being a bit of a hero!!) and I would be...