2003 Index
Select another 2003 event
Spring Shootout May 25 - 26
2003 Spring Shootout25 May - 26 MayPoints awarded for The Wild Bunch, Real Steel and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Racecars Championships
This weekend was Wild Bunch Series Round 3 and Real Steel Series Round 4 as well as Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 2. We had a field of 16 Wild Bunch cars taking part, including 6 Slingshots, 5 Altereds, 4 Rear-engine dragsters and 1 Radical:-
| Event Results | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 33 | Tom Coe | Psycho | 10 |
| 2 | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Torque | 8 |
| 3 | 61 | Ron Roper | High Fever | 7 |
| 4 | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 6 |
| 5 | 2 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 5 |
| - | 21 | Gareth Kent | Hot Dog | 5 |
| - | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | 5 |
| - | 82 | Gary Kay | Dream Machine | 5 |
| - | 265 | Paul Martin | Red & Yellow Flamed Topo | 5 |
| 10 | 1 | Floyd Codpiece Racing | Back in Black | 4 |
| - | 50 | Clayton Round | ex-Dire Straits | 4 |
| - | 56 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 4 |
| - | 72 | Dave Southworth | Daddy Cool | 4 |
| 14 | 146 | NRS Racing | Yellow Dragster | 2 |
| 15 | 48 | Chris Round | Rebellious | 1 |
| - | 147 | Sid Slattery | Destiny | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Best Reaction | 82 | Gary Kay | Dream Machine | .526 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Torque | .009 Off |
| Fastest M.P.H. | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 135.26 Mph |
| Quickest E.T. | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 9.739 |
| Best Altered | 1 | Joe Stevens | Back In Black | |
| Best Dragster/Radical | 48 | Chris Round | Rebellious | |
| Best Slingshot | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | |
| Best Appearing Team | 3 | C&C Drag Racing Team | Backdraft | |
| Sunday was a practice day and the weather was okay - it rained once and clouds threatened, but most drivers got in FOUR testing and tuning runs! We welcomed back Dave ‘Sag’ Southworth in only his second appearance with Wild Bunch for a few years. We also welcomed 1 new team into the Wild Bunch, WB 147, Sid Slattery with the old “Pubcrawler” Jag-powered slingshot, now named “Destiny”. Monday was Series Points Day, and the weather turned out pretty good, and there was no rain all day! The track crew worked very hard all day to keep the track in a ‘go’ condition. We were able to run 4 rounds of Wild Bunch format with many drivers having good runs; in fact 6 racers ran their Personal Best E.T.'s, and 6 drivers achieved their Best ¼ MPH! | |
| WB 1 | Joe Stevens, the reigning champion, was out in his Back in Black altered. He started off with an 11.587 and ran a best for the day of 11.141 @ 121.72 mph. He also managed to put in 3 extra runs during RWYB rounds, making 7 for the day! He Dialled-in at 11.40 for Monday. He ran an 11.622 in the first round, but unfortunately red-lit, throwing away his chances of a Top 4 placing. In the third round, he posted his best time for a while, close to a personal best, with a great 10.988 @ 121.37 mph. In the last round, he broke on the burnout, and closer inspection revealed that the prop shalf had completely twisted like a corkscrew!! There's some torque in that engine!! Joe won the Best Altered Spot Prize for his nicely turned out smart black vehicle. |
| WB 2 | Tony Smith was raring to go in The Cunning Plan altered, having travelled 285 miles from Wales for his third trip to York. He ran a 12.397 for starters on the Sunday, followed by ever improving runs of 11.840, 11.684 and his Personal Best with the Minivan body off, an 11.527! He Dialled-in at 11.65 Monday and ran a 12.035 in the first round, and a sideways 13.809 in the second. He was right back on form for the third and fourth rounds though, carding an 11.558 and an 11.567 @ 116.77 mph, which was his second fastest speed ever! He also ran his best 1/8th mile E.T. and speed at the event. Tony finished 7th overall, and had a great weekend! |
| WB 3 | Crazy Chris Hartnell was on his third 235-mile trip to York in the Backdraft slingshot. He had been having a few problems starting in recent events, and put this down to ignition or timing problems. Once started, he ran well, posting 9.820, 9.831 and 9.657 @ 137.09 mph, his fastest speed ever at York! He Dialled in 9.70 on the Monday, but trying to fire up in the pits, the starter completely packed up! He tried a few others to no avail, but then Tony Smith came along and performed a temporary fix on the old one spraying the clutch with WD40. This did the trick, and Chris was able to make the first round with time to spare!! (They did get the new red overalls dirty on that thrash though!!). Chris would like to thank Tony Smith very much for all his assistance!! In the first round Chris then ran a great 9.739, just .039 off his Dial, and Quickest E.T. of the day - a great start, also with the Fastest MPH of the day of 135.26 mph. He then slowed to a 10.088, losing some traction off the line, but still wheelying away on the launch! He ran a 9.988 in the third round, and a 10.090 in the fourth, and finished in 4th place overall, which he was very pleased with!! He was also chuffed to be awarded the Best Slingshot Spot Prize by Steve Murty and the commentary tower team, and even more thrilled to win Best Appearing Team, with the crew of Lee, Mark and Claire all sporting the new red and flamed team shirts. |
| WB 21 | was Gareth Kent's first 220-mile plus trip to York with the Hot Dog altered. He put in a 14.071 checkout pass for his first run Sunday, followed by a much better 12.603 on the second run. He then ran a 13.964 and a 19.055, with problems, and Dialled in at 12.20 for Monday. He put in consistent 12.626 and 12.628 passes for the first and second rounds, with his best ever terminal speed of 107.57 mph on the second. He followed this with a good 12.563 in the third round, with a great reaction of .529 (on a .500 tree) and a 13.200 in the third round, finishing in 6th place overall, and thoroughly enjoying the weekend! Gareth would also like to proudly announce that he is going to be a Dad this December, so congratulations to him and Lou! |
| WB 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones had brought his beautiful Corvette radical to the track, and ran a 13.228 to start, with a better 13.167 in the third round Sunday. He dialled in at 13.00 for Monday and ran a 13.789 in the first round, but a squirrely 14.432 in the second, which actually netted his fastest speed ever with a 106.15 mph terminal. On the third round he unfortunately red-lit and posted a 13.570, but improved vastly on the fourth, posting a strong 12.825, which he was very pleased with. |
| WB 33 | was Tom Coe's Psycho slingshot, in its 2nd trip to York, and he’d travelled some 312 miles [Yes, a 624 mile round trip!!]. He ran an 11.530 and an 11.512 early on Sunday, followed by even better 11.437 and 11.487, showing some very good consistency on the first day. He dialled-in at 11.50 for Monday and ran an 11.456 in the first round, and an 11.410 in the second, with yet another 11.4 (11.471) in the third. For the fourth round, he just dipped into the 11.5's with an 11.522, repeating his consistency from the previous day, and winning the event!! This reflected the fact that he was the most consistent driver of the weekend, with all 8 runs being nearly within a tenth of a second! Fair play Tommy Gun! |
| WB 34 | was Dad Alec Coe's first trip from Ramsgate to York with the Shy Torque slingshot and he was hoping for some more good performance out of the car, after his recent win at the Excitement Nationals. He started off with a 13.306 checkout pass on Sunday, quickly getting the measure of the track by the second run, with a 10.671. He improved this further with a 10.578 and a 10.556 at the end of the day, and dialled in at a precise 10.57 for Monday. He ran a strong 10.520 @ 115.16 mph in the first round, followed by a slightly wandering 11.047 in the second. He pulled this back with a good 10.501 in the third and a 10.579 in the fourth, earning himself Closest to Dial-in on that run, just 9 thousandths off, and finishing in 2nd place overall. This made it a Coe family 1-2 and they earnt enough in prize money (including Real Steel contingency money!) for both their race entries and some petrol, so they were both very pleased about that!! |
| WB 48 | Chris Round was back in the hotseat of the Rebellious Rear-engine dragster and was looking to beat brother Clayton's previous best E.T. of 8.82 with the car. He did say in the pits that he would be happy with an 8.6, but imagine his excitement when he posted a fantastic 8.511 @ 160.25 mph on his first run off the trailer Sunday!! On the second run, he unfortunately broke the bottom pulley, and the car was sidelined for the rest of the event, but the team were still happy with their success, and were the quickest car at ‘Pennine’ that weekend! |
| WB 50 | brother Clayton Round had brought his Buick-powered slingshot to the track for some double duty, running in Wild Bunch and Pro ET. He made several good passes in the 10's on Sunday, getting a handle on the car, and Dialled in at 10.40 for Monday. In the first round he ran a strong 10.280 @ 126.20 mph, followed by a close 10.228 Personal Best E.T. in the second round. He finished with a 10.430 in the third round, making three Wild Bunch rounds and progressing through the Pro ET rounds. He had to skip the 4th WB round, however, as he made it to the final of Pro ET, which he won, repeating his recent victory at York in that class. Congratulations on the Pro ET win, Clayton! |
| WB 56 | Darryl Howells was having his first turn in the Team Dog's Bollockss Ram Raider slingshot, with Sarah as crew. He put in a checkout passes of 13 seconds on Sunday, followed by an 11.476 and an 11.730, finishing the day with an 11.152 @ 130.51 mph, quickly getting a handle on the car and the track. He Dialled in at 10.70 on Monday. Unfortunately in the first round, a transmission pipe blew off after the burnout, depositing a lot of trans fluid on the start line and sidelining the car for that round. The track crew worked hard to clear it up, and kept Wild Bunch running in the other lane, so fair play to them! Darryl soon fixed the problem, and came back out in the second round with an 11.810. He got things just right in the third round, and ran a fantastic 10.379, his first ever 10-second pass in any car, so he was thrilled with that!! He followed this with an 11.578 (with a wildish ride!) and thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend! |
| WB 61 | was Ron Roper's altered, High Fever sporting the old steel Topo body. This was Ron's first trip to York with the Wild Bunch and he started off with a 12.192 on Sunday morning. He then ran into the 13's, and posted another low 12 of 12.204 in the fourth round of testing. He Dialled in at 12.00 even on Monday, and never went slower than that all day!! He put in an 11.979 in the first round, his first ever 11-second pass, and bettered this with an 11.676 in the second round. Having ‘slightly’ blown the Dial-in, he proceeded to run another Personal Best E.T. of 11.394 at his best speed yet of 111.60 mph in the third round. He posted an 11.916 in the fourth and was thrilled to finish 3rd overall on the day! He even remarked that it was the first time he’d won anything since school!! At the end of the weekend, he was also heard to comment that the racetrack that weekend reminded him of the good old days of drag racing in the 60's!! That must be good!! He was another racer who thoroughly enjoyed his weekend! |
| WB 72 | Dave Sag Southworth in the Daddy Cool Rear-engine dragster was making another welcome return to the Wild Bunch, after his one run with us at York last August (where his engine suffered severe cracks in the block!). He arrived late on Sunday afternoon, so didn’t get to make a pass that day. However, he dialled in at 10.20 as a baseline, and managed one tuning run in the RWYB session before rounds started. In the first round, he experienced some problems and could not make the run. But he was well and truly back with a strong 10.325 @ 110.73 mph in the second round. He posted an 11.299 in the third and a red-lighting 11.184 in the third, still trying to get back into the groove. He did pick up 4 points this event, and had fun, so welcome back Daddy Cool!! |
| WB 82 | Gary Kay had brought his Dream Machine Rear-engine dragster to York for the first time with Wild Bunch. He arrived mid Sunday and managed to put in a run in the third testing round of 13.162 @ 107.61 mph. He was experiencing fuel pump problems and had to shut down before the fourth round. [All those that ran in that round got soaked by a massive downpour waiting at the top end of the track!] Gary managed to sort the fuel pump out by Monday, where he dialled in at 12.90. In the first round, he ran a 13.520 and had more problems in the second where he carded a 15-second pass. But by the third round, he was really in business and posted a massive Personal Best E.T. of 11.903 @ 113.74, his first time in the 11's, and nearly a second under his Dial-in. Congratulations on that one Gary!! He followed this with a 12.610 in the fourth round, where he posted the Best Reaction of .526, just 3 thousandths quicker than the light Gareth had cut earlier in the day! He finished 5th overall for the weekend and made a good showing in his first full event in Wild Bunch format. [Gary would also like to say a big thanks to Matt Lee of the Worth the Wait slingshot for all his help at the recent Excitement Nationals at Shakey!] |
| WB 146 | Ian Roddy was another racer doing double duty with Wild Bunch and Pro ET, in his Yellow Rear-engine dragster. He made several passes on the Sunday in qualifying and went through a few rounds with Pro ET Monday before being eliminated. He had dialled in at 10.20 with Wild Bunch and joined in the fourth round, running a great 10.135 @ 128.39 mph, only 9 thousandths off his best ever E.T.! |
| WB 147 | was Sid Slattery who had bought the ex-Pubcrawler Jag-powered slingshot, which he renamed Destiny. He planned to debut the car at this event and arrived late on Sunday, spending the afternoon putting finishing touches to the car. Unfortunately, he could not take part in the rounds Monday as the magneto had broken and he could not source a replacement in time. He did, however, get the car to the startline to take pictures of his beautiful nostalgic slingshot. Hope he can get it fixed soon, and be out running with ‘the Bunch’ in time for the Nostalgia Nationals!! |
| WB 265 | Paul Martin was at York with Wild Bunch for the first time in his yellow and red-flamed Topolino altered. He put in 4 runs on the Sunday, ranging from 13.500 to 16.131, trying to get a handle on his still relatively new car. He dialled in at 13.70 on Monday, and ran a 14.174 in the first round, a 14.470 in the second, and 15.067 in the third, before experiencing a really hairy run in the fourth round when his car, which had thankfully slowed, spun sideways at half track. Fortunately Paul was okay, and the damage was minimal, and he should be back out soon, chasing that 12-second pass again, just for starters! |
| In all, it was a really great weekend of racing, and the Wild Bunch were treated to some good old Northern hospitality at the track and made to feel very welcome. Everyone enjoyed the event, and we would all like to give a huge thanks to the PDRC, Steve Murty (for his hospitality and for doing all his many jobs!!), Cath Napier, the starter and all the marshals and officials who worked so hard to keep the event running smoothly! Also thanks to Roy Wilding, Rebel Racing and the PDRC again, for putting up prize monies for the event! We had a great time and are really looking forward to going back up North again in August! Thanks a bunch again to everyone at York Dragway!!
The next event is Ultimate Power Series Round 2, the Power Nationals on 14th & 15th June! So that will be more close racing!! | |