Here are the brief results from the Wild Bunch ‘Spring Nationals’ at the VW Breakout on 28th – 30th May. This event was Wild Bunch Series Round 1, Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Round 2 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Round 1.
The Wild Bunch had a total of 15 teams participating in the event, and it was a great weekend! Friday was a test day and several drivers took the opportunity to run their cars. The weather was great! Warm and sunny during the day Saturday and Sunday with occasional cloud cover, and track conditions were very good! The Wild Bunch drivers mostly got 4 runs in on the Saturday, during the RWYB sessions. Also in the RWYB sessions on Sunday we had 4 great rounds of racing!! There were many PB’s this weekend! The track crews worked hard so huge thanks to all the marshals and officials and everyone at Santa Pod as it is very much appreciated! Huge thanks also to Keith Bartlett for keeping the faith and going above and beyond to ensure racing is taking place at Santa Pod! Massively appreciated by all the racers and spectators!! Everyone enjoyed the event immensely!!
Here are the results:
1st Place: Phil James in ‘Rampage’ .043 average (starting with winning ways again!)
2nd Place: Matt Hollins in ‘Cheap Thrills’ .072 average (brilliant result to be in the Top 4 in his first event!)
3rd Place: Graham Rawlings in ‘Little Digger’ .168 average (excellent show to make the Top 4, at a V-dub event too!) 4th Place: Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’ .177 average (great result after a lot of hard work by Steve, Dave & the team!)
Here are the Spot Prizes that were awarded:-
Closest to Dial-in: Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’ .0011 off!
Best Reaction: Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’ .005 !!
Fastest MPH: Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’ 161.38 mph
Best Burnout: Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’
Best Altered: Andy Stones in ‘Frantic’
Best Slingshot: Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’
Best Appearing Car: Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’
Best Appearing Team: Graham Rawlings and Team in ‘Little Digger’
The full line-up was:
- Phil James in ‘Rampage’ (Phil was once again really consistent and earned his first well-deserved event win of the season after overcoming some issues Saturday! Very ably crewed as always by Matt, wife Anna and sister Allison)
- Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ (the boys shared the driving and posted some strong 8-second runs, especially on Saturday with three 8.6’s; shame an issue curtailed their weekend, but sure they’ll be back stronger at Dragstalgia!)
- Pete & Rob Brown in ‘Wrathchild’ (the boys also shared this slingshot, now sporting a big tunnel ram; ran in the low 11’s and had a high 10 on Saturday; a battery problem caused them to miss a round, but they bounced back Round 4)
- Brian Watson in ‘Interest Free’ (Brian & team had a 9-hour journey from Scotland, and overcame several problems Friday and Saturday, persevering throughout, but very sad to hear of the engine damage on Sunday!)
- Andy Stones in ‘Frantic’ (great to see Andy & Cathrine running the beautiful historic Jag-powered methanol injected car well with fantastic matching trailer, awning & pit items courtesy of Cathrine’s excellent search and find skills!)
- Kev Whiting in ‘Tip Top’ (Kev & Judy were enjoying being back out and running well, looking good in teamwear and co-ordinated pit area. Judy’s sister Rosie joined in for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed her first drag race event!)
- Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’ (Callum ran super consistently Saturday within about 1 hundredth & in the 8.7’s, but unfortunately had a transbrake problem Sunday which cut short their weekend. They’re sure to be back stronger!)
- Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’ (sorted a problem with the oil pump and other issues and ran very well Sunday with strong burnouts too, and several runs in the 160mph range; quickest of the Bunch for the weekend with an 8.328!)
- Matt Hollins in ‘Cheap Thrills’ (Matt made a great debut WB drive in the Ratchet Strap team car with a string of PB’s getting more and more used to the slingshot, fantastic result in his first competitive outing! A big Welcome Matt!)
- Alan Skipp in ‘Chasin’ Time’ (Skippy was out in his first full event with his beautiful new slingshot, which is a credit to him. He was testing & refining new car issues and making progress; the car sounds real strong with great potential!)
- Graham Rawlings in ‘Little Digger’ (another 7-hour journey for this big family team, who thoroughly enjoy their racing in their V-dub powered car! So glad they stayed late and were rewarded with a Top 4 win & a Spot Prize! Well done!)
- Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’ (Jim made a few hairy passes, but was firmly back in the 9’s / 140’s, and then on the last run Sunday pulled out a PB ET, with his first ever 150mph+ pass! Great achievement! Many Congrats Jim!)
- Rob White in ‘Happy Daze’ (great to see the smiley crew back out enjoying their racing! A great team effort, after a newly built engine, which after a few runs produced a couple of PB’s in the 11.6’s! Well done Rob and team!)
- Danny Jones in ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ (great to see the Jones family back out running their lovely Bantam altered! Even better to see their first 9-second pass after many years of trying! Big Congrats to all the guys!)
- Steve Garlant in ‘Sonic Attack’ (a very warm welcome to driver Steve, crew Vinnie and Poppy, who took to their first competitive outing straight away, enjoyed their racing and made great progress to their first goals with the car, achieving a ton on Saturday, and fitting right in with the Bunch with their cool altered with a lot of history: built by Norm Wheeldon and run by him, John Guthrie & Lee Hartnell over the years. The car’s gone to a great home!)
The PB’s included:
Kev Whiting in ‘Tip Top’ 10.660 / 124.23
Steve Heaven in ‘Tight Fit’ 8.328 / 161.38
Matt Hollins in ‘Cheap Thrills’ 10.196 / 133.59
Skippy in ‘Chasin’ Time’ 11.886 / 114.36
Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’ 9.186 / 151.12 (first time in the 150’s!)
Rob White in ‘Happy Daze’ 11.681
Danny Jones in ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ 9.811 / 136.13 (first ever 9s!)
Steve Garlant in ‘Sonic Attack’ 13.1 / 101.91
(Please let me know if I have missed any!)
Big Congratulations to all these teams on their achievements!! A brilliant start to your season!!
Massive Commiserations to Brian, who had overcome several problems throughout the weekend, only then to have the engine throw a rod on the burnout in the second round Sunday! Such a huge shame! Brian was very philosophical about this, and hopefully has a plan to get back out with another engine real soon! Commiserations to Kev who had a suspected puncture after the first run Sunday, though that looks now to have been a valve problem, so hopefully easily fixed for next time. Rob & Pete had some issues with the ‘Rebel’ in the first couple of rounds on Sunday, and decided to sit out the rest of the day and do more investigations on the car after the event. Hope they can all be back out real soon!! Very Best of luck folks!!
Highlights of the weekend included the much improved weather, a great field of quality cars, some fun match racing, all the fantastic cars and people, a brilliant show from all of the Wild Bunch, the actual start of our 25th Anniversary Wild Bunch Series finally, and most of all being back out racing as group together and spending time with a great bunch of people!!
It was a great event, thoroughly enjoyed by all! Thanks again to the marshals and officials at Santa Pod for all their hard work as always. Thanks also to commentators Darryl and Luke for their enthusiastic commentary about the Bunch! Big Congratulations to all those who ran PB’s at the weekend and to all our prize winners! Well done to each and every one of the Wild Bunch teams who put on a great show this weekend. An excellent group of cars and people who it is great to be back out racing with!!
All the best
Claire
