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Drachten Internationals 2011
From the time we left the ferry at Calais to head onto Drachten, it was raining. By the time we got to Drachten, it was still raining , 5 hours on. We fleetingly had one of those awful "We could have stayed home for this weather, moments" But this soon passed when we got settled, met all the gang, The Family Van den Berg - "Shark Attack Drag Race Team", and from the English contingent, Binzi, Les Harris and Tara Reeve!After setting up, and chewing the cud, we did some routine maintenance on the fuel bike, ready to fire up the following day.Friday the weather still overcast, and intermittent showers, but the bike had also decided to develop a leak from the head gasket over night, so the head had to come off. Myself and Binz, under the close supervision of Rene, set about repairing this. It was a very frustrating day, and thanks to Binz for his relentless "sigh, lets get the head off" lament, as another problem reared its ugly head, once we warmed it up. The rest of the spent was spent repairing this, so didn't get out all all. We used the time wisely, and went...
The Main Event 2011
My thanks go to Craig and Binzi, again for working late on the bike to get it up and running for this event. They had a lot to deal with as well as try to get the bike ready . Trying to juggle a personal life as well as working on bikes, keeping the loved ones indoors happy and going to work, late nights in the workshop are just a part of life for Lizzy, Jake and I, so much appreciated fellas !! Also Dan (the man) for the late night welding, thanks mate.What we were not expecting over the Main Event was "Hurricaine Pod" cloudy and rainy, but the Santa Pod track crew as always, unrelenting, kept up the fight and beat the weather, and kept the track good. Although the bigger Fuel bikes were not suffering as much as the Super Street bikes (Wayne Saunders, who had an off at the top end, hope you are healing, and not feeling too sore now), it was still a bit of a thing to put into the equation.First run - technically a shake down pass to make sure the new gearbox was a good 8.004 @ 139mph but 155mph at...
The Easter Thunderball 2011
"Where do we start with this report? With all the work that has been going on in the background, it would be only right to thank Craig and Binzi for all their hard work over the past few days, to get us out on the track this weekend. Thanks seem inadequate, but thanks!We got to the track on Thursday night to get set up early, and go over the bike thoroughly, and gave us all a chance to chill a bit, before Saturday. The weather was very kind to us compared to last year, Lizzy got to see a lot of racing before the stress of me going out (she is not too fond of top fuel at the moment, but I’m sure this will pass!)Bike all ok, and rest for the first outing on Saturday – where the bike spun off the line, and headed for the wall, so I shifted gear and rolled off the throttle, great start! (It transpires that after speaking with Ivan Sansom about the first run, I had done the right thing, as through his lens, I was heading right for him!) So a 16 second first qualifying run it was.Second run was so...