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Season Opener Test & Tune April 3 - 4
2004 Season Opener3 April - 4 AprilNo Points were awarded for this event
This weekend was a Test & Tune weekend after the long off-season! There were Spot Prizes on offer and we had a field of 13 Wild Bunch cars, including 6 Slingshots, 5 Altereds, 1 Rear-engine dragster and 1 Radicals:-
| Event Participants | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| - | 3 | Joe Stevens | Back in Black | - |
| - | 4 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | - |
| - | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | - |
| - | 28 | Pete & Gavyn Loveridge | Herr X | - |
| - | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider 2 | - |
| - | 38 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | - |
| - | 42 | Colin Stevens | Golddigger | - |
| - | 60 | Andrew Gibb | Witchcraft | - |
| - | 71 | Andy Solley | Repeat Offender | - |
| - | 76 | Steven Field | The Black Pig | - |
| - | 101 | Matt Lee | Worth the Wait | - |
| - | 131 | Paul Harvey | Mailkey Dragster | - |
| - | 147 | Sid Slattery | Destiny | - |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Best Reaction* | 3 | Joe Stevens | Back In Black | .640 |
| Quickest E.T.* | 131 | Paul Harvey | Mailkey Dragster | 10.198 |
| Fastest M.P.H.* | 131 | Paul Harvey | Mailkey Dragster | 132.35 Mph |
| Best Altered | 76 | Steve Field | The Black Pig | |
| Best Slingshot | 42 | Colin Stevens | Golddigger | |
| Best Dragster/Radical | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | |
| Best Engineered | 131 | Paul Harvey | Mailkey Dragster | |
| Best Appearing Team | 101 | Matt Lee & The Worth The Wait Team | Worth The Wait | |
| Prizes marked * are based on Sundays runs | ||||
| Saturday was a practice day and the weather was very mixed! We had a few hours of racing before rain stopped play early afternoon. The track dried after about an hour and a half, but there was only another half an hour before the heavens opened again about 4:00 o’clock, and that was it for the day. Sunday was similar, with a few minor stoppages, followed by a huge downpour early afternoon, which put paid to racing til about 3:30, and again the weather finished the day with another shower before curfew. In between all this, the track crew worked very hard to get the track ready, and the surface was well-prepped, allowing some good testing conditions, although quite cool and windy. Nevertheless, some racers managed to get in a couple of runs each day, with some luck, and learned some vital tuning information during this Test n’ Tune weekend! We welcomed back many racers in this early start to the season, as well as welcoming 2 new teams into the Wild Bunch, WB 38, Helen & Dean Smythe with the purple altered “Hell's Belle”, and Steven Field, WB 76, with the Plymouth-bodied black altered “The Black Pig”. This weekend no less than 4 racers ran their Personal Best E.T.'s! | |
| WB 3 | Joe Stevens was running in his smart Back in Black altered. He put in passes of 11.961 and 12.148 on Saturday, followed by an improving 11.597 at 113.35 mph on Sunday with a Best Reaction of .640. Joe may have continued to make progress if it had not been for the weather, but will be sure to get back to his usual mid-10 second form during the next event or two. |
| WB 4 | Tony Smith was raring to go in The Cunning Plan altered, and in fact had the honour of being first vehicle down the Shakespeare County track for 2004!! He started well, running a Personal Best E.T. of 11.621 right off the bat on the Saturday! He followed this with another strong 11.687, then took the body off, to record his Personal Best E.T. without the body, an impressive 11.330! He followed this with another good run of 11.407, having a very successful day. On Sunday, he made bodied passes of 11.998 and 11.747, and made the most runs that weekend of any Wild Buncher (6!). When asked what he’d done over the winter to create this improvement in performance, Tony revealed it was due to the installation of a new torque converter; a change which has already paid dividends. Fair play Tony!! |
| WB 6 | Wild Bunch Chairman Crazy Chris Hartnell was celebrating the start of his 10th season in the Backdraft slingshot! Over the winter he had rebuilt the gearbox and had the torque converter reconditioned, as well as rebuilding the engine (after it sustained a bent conrod at the Santa Pod Sportsman finals last September). But the biggest change to the car was the stunning new nostalgic red metalflake paint job, which had the team themselves mesmerised walking round the car in the pits! Chris ran a steady pass of 9.625 @ 138.46 mph on the Saturday, and was happy with the promise this showed. On the Sunday morning, Chris went down the pairing lanes for the run, and could not fire the car, due to a breakage with the starter motor, which sidelined the car for the rest of the day. Hopefully this will all be sorted for the next event! |
| WB 28 | Pete and Gavyn Loveridge were keen to start their season early, and were once again having fun in the Herr X fluorescent-flamed slingshot. The car sounded strong in the pits after some tuning work, but unfortunately Pete & Gavyn did not get to make a run on the Saturday, due to the weather. On Sunday Pete took the car for its first pass of the year, recording a good 10.742 @ 124.31 mph, and looking good for the season ahead. |
| WB 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones was running in his Corvette roadster-style Welsh Raider 2 Radical, and made passes of 12.558 and 12.343 @ 114.80 mph on Saturday, followed by a 12.738 on Sunday. Tony's car was, as always, well-presented, and he won the Best Radical/Dragster Spot Prize, which could be the first of many this year! |
| WB 38 | was the Hell's Belle altered of newcomers Helen Smythe and husband and crew-chief Dean (who are still newlyweds after their marriage last summer!). Helen and Dean had made some checkout passes at RWYB events at Santa Pod, and they made an impressive debut this weekend. Helen did the driving and ran checkout passes of 14.892 and 14.435 on Saturday, then followed this by ever-improving passes of 13.601 and 13.280 @ 102.27 mph (first over the ton), finishing with a great Personal Best E.T., breaking into the 12's with a 12.753 @ 104.41 mph. Welcome to the Wild Bunch Helen & Dean! |
| WB 42 | Colin Stevens was back in his gold-painted slingshot Golddigger, and doing double-duty selling his model cars and Nitro UK T-shirts. On Saturday, Colin started off by taking more than a second off his previous Personal Best E.T., running a 12.083 @ 108.17 mph! The team were really chuffed with this, but even more excited on Sunday, when Colin broke into the 11's for the first time, running another PB of 11.837!! The team were jubilant, and finished the event on a high, also winning the Best Slingshot Spot Prize for their efforts, and their well turned-out car! Congratulations to Colin, Bruce and Jennie on this great start to the season! |
| WB 60 | Andrew Gibb and the team were having the first family outing of the year in the beautiful ABS Slingshot, now named Witchcraft. He ran a pass of 12.9 on Saturday, and followed this with another 12.929 @ 109.49 mph on Sunday, with some more fine-tuning still to do. |
| WB 71 | saw an early-season outing for Nostalgia event specialist Andy Solley in his Repeat Offender altered. Andy ran a checkout pass of 11.528 on Saturday, followed by an 11.493 @ 115.98 mph on Sunday, very near his Personal Best without the Nitrous on. Hope to see Andy and the team out more often this year! |
| WB 76 | was another newcomer, Steven Field, in his great-looking black 5-window Plymouth-bodied coupe altered, named The Black Pig. Steven had done some previous checkout passes in the 13's with the car and put in another checkout pass Saturday, before recording his WB Debut Personal Best E.T. of 13.091. Sadly on this run, he experienced a problem with the gearbox, which can hopefully be fixed by the next event or two. The car is still due to get some graphics, but already impressed, winning the Best Altered Spot Prize on his first showing. Welcome to the Wild Bunch Steven and the team! |
| WB 101 | Matt Lee was keen to start the season early in his Worth the Wait slingshot. He ran an 11.625 and an 11.736 @ 117.80 mph on Saturday, and a 12.709 at a Personal Best Speed of 118.11 mph on the Sunday. Matt and the team were well-turned out as always, and were awarded the Best Appearing Team for their efforts, and show great promise for the season. |
| WB 131 | saw the return of Paul Harvey in the rear-engined, re-chassised, renamed Mailkey Dragster. Paul put in a half pass on the Saturday, checking out the car, and then made a full checkout pass of 10.198 @ 132.35 mph on Sunday. This run earned Paul both Quickest E.T. and Fastest MPH for the Bunch for the day, and he was also very chuffed to win the Best Engineered Spot Prize for his well-presented racecar. |
| WB 147 | Best Newcomer of 2003 Sid Slattery had brought his Destiny slingshot for some early tuning. He spent the day in the pits Saturday, adjusting the steering and brakes, and generally getting the car ready, but sadly missed the opportunity for a run on Sunday due to the intermittent showers. |
| It's really great to be back Drag Racing again and the year ahead looks like being yet another exciting one for the 9th full year of Wild Bunch! Next event is the Test n’ Tune Club Weekend on April 17th&18th! Should be fun!! Have a great season everybody! | |