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Peugeot Weekend June 2 - 3
Peugeot Test & Tune2nd & 3rd June 2001Points awarded for Wild Bunch Championship and Rear Engine Dragsters Series
This event was Wild Bunch Series Round 1 and there was a field of 23 Wild Bunch cars taking part.
There were 9 Slingshots, 8 Altereds, 4 Rear-engine dragsters, and 2 Radicals.
| Event Results | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 56 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | Ramraider | 10 |
| 2 | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 8 |
| 3 | 58 | Tony Froome | Sundance III | 7 |
| 4 | 91 | Ian Hanson | Red Blown Altered | 6 |
| 5 | 3 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 5 |
| - | 11 | Clive Bush | Good Fun Dragster | 5 |
| - | 28 | Pete Loveridge | Herr X | 5 |
| - | 67 | Darryl Howells | Jolly Boys Outing | 5 |
| - | 109 | Paul Croston | B-Sting | 5 |
| - | 122 | John Munday | Meteor | 5 |
| - | 124 | Mark Turton | ItsNott | 5 |
| - | 131 | Paul Harvey | ex-Locomotion | 5 |
| - | 637 | Gerald Cookson | Super Joker | 5 |
| 14 | 17 | Chris Bennett | Cheeky Monkey | 4 |
| - | 243 | Derek Annable | Thunder & Lightening 3 | 4 |
| 16 | 7 | Roy Wilding | Hemi Hunter | 3 |
| - | 63 | Joe Stevens | Red Topolino Altered | 3 |
| - | 121 | Andrew Willcox | Just Another Toy | 3 |
| - | 134 | Matt/Dave | Thing 3 | 3 |
| 20 | 15 | Keith Charman | Alkymist | 2 |
| - | 44 | Chev Charman-Osbourne | Odditee | 2 |
| - | 111 | Tony Smith | Faster Pussycat | 2 |
| 23 | 1 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | Nutcracker | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | |||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | ||
| Closest to Dial-in | 67 | Darryl Howells | Jolly Boys Outing | .006 off | |
| Best Burnout | 58 | Tony Froome | Sundance III | 133.93mph | |
| Quickest E.T. | 243 | Derek Annable | Thunder & Lightening III | .003 off | |
| Best Altered | 91 | Ian Hanson | Red Blown Altered | .233 off | |
| Best Dragster/Radical | 131 | Paul Harvey | ex-Locomotion | ||
| Best Slingshot | 56 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | Backdraft | ||
| Dennis Hawkins (WB 40), Ian Ryans (WB 74), Steve Goode (WB 102) and Pete Radcliffe (WB 112) were also at the track, but did not
race with the Wild Bunch, as they were just Testing and Tuning! Saturday Practice day, started off rainy, and nobody got any runs until about 2:30 in the afternoon, but most drivers got a couple of practice runs in. We welcomed a new team into the Wild Bunch, Matt and Dave with the "Thing 3" Rear-engine dragster. We also welcomed Derek Annable back (after several year's absence). He is now driving the red Shell Top Methanol Dragster (bit of a change since the "Thunder and Lightning" Altered he used to have!). Sunday Sunday was 'Series Points day' and the Wild Bunch had 4 rounds of time-trial racing. There were some good times set and some very close, consistent performances put in by many cars, in fact 13 of the 23 drivers ran their personal best times! | |
| WB 1 | Sarah Howells was taking her turn in the "Nutcracker" slingshot, and the car ran alright on Saturday. But when the team came to start it on Sunday, it would not fire-up. After some time, the team diagnosed that the big end had actually gone altogether, so that was the end of the weekend for the little slingshot (the team will be back in time for Super Series 3, as they already have plans for a new engine!). |
| WB 3 | Tony Smith had rebuilt the engine of "The Cunning Plan", but was not able to refit the body due to where the car was being kept, so the altered appeared in its 'bodyless' guise and Tony made some checkout passes to run the engine in. We also suspect he was after the "Best Burnout" Spot Prize as he was putting in some good old line-lock static burnouts, really smoking the tyres on Sunday. The new engine seems to have helped as Tony kept running better and better during the rounds, first running his personal best with the body off, an 11.867 (still not beating crewman Dave's 11.839), but, being determined, he then went quicker on his next 2 runs, ending with a respectable 11.783. |
| WB 4 | Chris Hartnell laid down 2 steady 9.4's on Saturday, with a best of 9.409, still pulling wheelies on every run. He Dialled-in a conservative 9.44 for Sunday, and ranged from a weekend best of 9.339 on the second round to a wheelie-delayed 9.506 @ 134.33 mph on the fourth round. This consistency resulted in the eventual 2nd place overall. |
| WB 7 | Roy Wilding was back in the "Hemi Hunter" slingshot, hoping for more steady improvements. He was not disappointed as the car ran a great 9.2 second pass on Saturday. Roy is really smoking the tyres now on the burnouts and the car is running better and better, resulting in his first 8-second run of an 8.963 in the first round Sunday! Roy did have a few teething troubles and had made a trip to Birmingham overnight to fix a couple of things, but look out for some more great runs next time. |
| WB 11 | Clive Bush was out enjoying his "Good Fun Dragster" and really getting a handle on it. He was performing strong burnouts and ran his first 10-second run on Sunday, followed by an even better 10.899 in the third round, and he just missed out on the Top four, finishing in 5th place. |
| WB 15 | Keith Charman had sorted out the manifold on "Alkymist" and was back out making really strong burnouts. Unfortunately, something broke in the diff on Saturday, but a trip back to Wales overnight sorted this out, only for Keith to break a half-shaft on Round 1. That car sure is putting down some power! |
| WB 17 | Chris Bennett had started getting his injection system sorted, so came back out with a temporary carb set-up. He had done some runs in a previous event and put in some good steady passes, trying to set the carb up. On Sunday, he ran his first 10-second run, putting in a Personal Best E.T. of 10.588 in the second round. |
| WB 28 | Pete Loveridge was making steady runs in the "Herr X" slingshot and was running very consistently to his Dial-in on Sunday, until a gearbox glitch caused a 20-second run. He finished with his second best run ever of 11.286 in Round 4. |
| WB 44 | Chevone Osborne-Charman was back in the "Odditee" altered after Bernie Nicholas had checked/rebuilt the gearbox on the car. She was putting in some checkout passes on Saturday, getting used to the car again, but unfortunately the cam let go, just after launch on the first round, and ended up going through the sump! (Good luck with the rebuild to the whole team!). |
| WB 56 | Ray Ford was having his first turn in "Ram Raider" for over 9 months! Ed had just set the Team DB Best E.T. last event at 10.254 and Ray went out to better it, straight away running a 10.2 second E.T., eventually lowering the mark to a 10.129 in Round 2 on the Sunday. The car is really running well now, and Ray took the "Best Slingshot" Spot Prize for his efforts. Ray also emerged the winner of the event, just a few days short of his 30th Birthday. He had been running better and better, and was only .001 off a perfect total after 2 rounds, carrying the consistency all the way through the 4 rounds. |
| WB 58 | Tony Froome was out with a new bright pink paint job on his "Sundance III" altered. The lacquer had reacted somewhat so the team will have to go back to scratch with the paint, but not with the car itself, as Tony ended up running a Personal Best E.T. of 8.572 in Round 3 and three more strong 8-second passes near his Dial-in saw Tony taking 3rd place overall for the weekend. |
| WB 63 | Joe Stevens was out with his red Topolino altered and put in a good 11.523 pass (under his 11.60 Dial-in) in Round 1, before sadly experiencing some gearbox problems. |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells was running well in the "Jolly Boys Outing" Slingshot and set his Personal Best E.T. in Round 4 of 12.420. [On the day, Darryl had been announced as the 2nd place winner, but lost out when it was later discovered that he had in fact redlit on the last round, therefore making him ineligible for top four placings.] Good consistency though, Darryl, and he did get the "Closest to the Dial-in" Spot Prize for his 12.595 on a 12.60 Dial-in! |
| WB 91 | Ian Hanson was putting in some very consistent 9.4 and 9.3 passes all day Sunday in his gleaming red altered, with a best of 9.324. He eventually took 4th place overall and "Best Altered" to boot, with his beautiful supercharged machine. |
| WB 109 | "Wild" Barry Bohannon was taking his first turn in the "B-Sting" Altered this season, having a bit of a break from commentating (although he was heard up the tower once or twice!). Early Sunday the car experienced starting problems, but eventually caught up in time to join in with the rounds, with Barry putting in the car's best performance ever with a stunning 12.440 in Round 2 (Paul's best is 12.580 and Barry had only run in the Mid 13's before this! So, it's back to you, Paul!). |
| WB 111 | Tony Smith was back from oop North in the beautiful Jag-powered "Faster Pussycat" altered. Sadly the first round on Sunday saw him cracking the block in a big way and sidelining the car. Hope to see him back out soon! |
| WB 121 | Andrew Willcox was the man seen beaming like a Cheshire cat on Saturday, after a 12 second pass saw him obtain his MSA license. He was back out on Sunday with a 13-second run, followed by a much slower pass which saw loads of damage to the engine on Vince Andrews' "Just Another Toy" funny car. Good luck with fixing that to the team! |
| WB 122 | John Munday was back out after a year's gap, debuting a new car, the "Meteor" slingshot, putting in some checkout passes on Saturday and running a best of a 13.406 in Round 4 on Sunday. |
| WB 124 | Mark Turton was back at the track with his racing green altered, putting in his first runs with the car, after problems in the pits on its last outing. He started off with some checkout passes on Saturday and by the fourth round on Sunday, was down to a very encouraging 12.913, enjoying his debut to the sport, after being involved as crew and tow car driver last season. |
| WB 131 | Paul Harvey was out in the Ex-"Locomotion" Rear-engine dragster and putting in some good high 9-second passes. Unfortunately in the second round, his parachute deployed mid-track, slowing him drastically to an 11-second pass. He made up for this with a Personal Best E.T. of 9.670 in Round 4, and took the "Best Radical/Dragster" Spot Prize, so went home happy! |
| WB 134 | Matt and Dave were new members with their fluorescent multi-coloured Rear-engine dragster. They put in a couple of low 12-second passes on Sunday, before having some tyre/wheel trouble and leaving early to fix the problem. |
| WB 243 | We welcomed back Derek 'Grandad'Annable after several years absence. This time he was driving a Top Methanol Dragster, a big step up from the old altered! Derek is still getting to grips with the car and learning the clutch. The weekend saw him doing stronger burnouts and quicker runs, doing a brilliant 8.214 and taking "Quickest E.T." of Wild Bunch. His third round run on Sunday looked even better, but unfortunately he red-lit and didn't register a time. Sure he'll be down in the 7's next time! |
| WB 637 | Don Garlits Spirit of Drag Racing Shield holder, Gerald Cookson was back in the "Super Joker" midget and having some 'teething' troubles after the off season. He ran three 13-second passes with some problems, but followed these with a great 12.277 in the fourth round. |
| A really good start to the Wild Bunch Series 2001 with a big field of cars and lots of good consistent performances. The next round is at the Nostalgia Nationals, so this should also be a big, exciting field of Wild Bunch! | |