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Summer Nationals June 17 - 18
Summer Nationals17th June - 18th JunePoints awarded for the Real Steel Series Round 5
This event was the second event of the year at Santa Pod Raceway, the Summer Nationals. There was a field of 6 Wild Bunch cars competing: 3 Altereds and 3 Slingshots.
| Event Participants | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 44 | Sarah Howells | Destinys Angel | 9 |
| 2 | 3 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | 7 |
| 3 | 100 | Roy Wilding | Chariot of Fire | 5 |
| 4 | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 3 |
| 5 | 9 | Ray Ford | RamRaider | 2 |
| - | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Antisocial | 2 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| #1 Qualifier | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | .018 Off |
| Best Reaction | 3 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | .086 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 44 | Sarah Howells | Destiny's Angel | .031 Off |
| Quickest E.T. | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 9.006 |
| Best Performance | 44 | Destiny's Angel Team | Destiny's Angel | |
| Best Appearing Car & Team | 3 | Team Twisted | Hell's Belle | |
| Saturday. This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds. The day started off sunny and warm and became very hot! In the first round of qualifying, 5 drivers took part, with all 6 taking part in the second and third qualifiers. | |
| WB 3 | was Team Twisted's Helen Smythe in the Hell's Belle altered. She Dialled in at 9.60 for her first round and ran a very good 9.669 @ 137.59 mph, just .069 off, and her best run for a few events. She lowered the Dial-in to 9.58 for the second round and ran a 9.819 also at 137 mph, and kept this Dial for the third round, running a 9.863. Helen qualified in 3rd place overall, and had a good performance which was good to see as they had introduced yet another work colleague to the joys of Drag Racing! |
| WB 4 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was raring to go after finding the source of the variable oil pressure at the last event it was a detached and mangled oil pickup! He had replaced this and the oil pump and the pressure was back to normal. He Dialled in at 8.90 for the first round and ran a 9.194 @ 139.34 mph. He then did some tuning before the next round, kept the Dial-in the same, and ran a 9.006 @ 145.28 mph, which proved to be the “Quickest E.T.” of the weekend for the Wild Bunch. In between qualifying rounds, the car sustained a puncture in a rear slick and Chris went out to a nearby village and got this repaired, making it back in time for the third round where the team raised the Dial to 8.99. Chris recorded a consistent 9.008 @ 144.65 mph, and took the Number 1 qualifying spot!! Fair play! |
| WB 9 | saw Ed Yates back in the hotseat of the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's, after Ray had shoed it for the last two events. Ed was keen to improve on Ray's recent performance and the team are still developing the potential of the car. The team had made some adjustments since the last event, and on firing up Saturday morning, they realised they had to make another change, so had to miss the first round of qualifying. Undaunted, they dialled in at 9.00 even and Ed went straight out and ran a Personal and Team Best E.T. and Speed of 9.453 @ 143.74 mph!! They raised the Dial-in accordingly to 9.40 and Ed surpassed this with a breakout 9.392 @ 143.25 mph, for yet another PB, just 8 thousandths under the Dial! He qualified in 5th place overall. |
| WB 44 | Sarah Howells was back in the hotseat of the Destiny's Angel altered of Bernie's team Evolution Racing. She Dialled in at 9.62 for the first qualifier, and posted a run of 9.774 @ 139.02 mph. For the second round, they kept the same Dial-in and ran 9.711 @ 140.67 mph. They raised the Dial to 9.68 and amazingly Sarah ran the same difference to Dial as on the second round, a .091 off, which put her in 4th place overall for qualifying. |
| WB 54 | Phil Sweeney had worked really hard to get the Antisocial slingshot to the track after having some work done to a cylinder head, doing some grinding work on valves and pistons and re-assembling the engine, including a new cam, just in time for the event!! He started off with a Dial of 12.35 in the first round and posted a 16.411 with some problems on the run. He kept the same Dial-in and made some adjustments, running a better 14.106 in the second round. He improved again with a 13.521 @ 99.10 mph in the third round, to qualify in 6th place and make the show. Well done, Phil, and well done Abby on an excellent job of single-handed crewing! |
| WB 100 | Roy Wilding was running his Chariot of Fire altered. He had been doing some tuning at the last event and running very consistently. He dialled in at 11.39 for the first round and recorded a great 11.415 @ 116.50 mph, just .025 off his Dial, which held the top spot for the first two rounds. He then raised the Dial to 11.41 for the second and third rounds and posted an 11.502 and an 11.669, and finished in second place overall for qualifying. |
| As a bit of fun, we had arranged a challenge between the Wild Bunch and Paul Marston Racing, as there were 6 racers entered for each! The challenge was based on the qualifying results and points were scored for each racer on their positions relative to their classes and the 12 racers involved. The result was that the PMR team won by 51 to 36 points! It was a bit of a laugh, and we hope to repeat the challenge again at the next MSA event!
Sunday (Race Day) Sunday started off sunny and warm and became a bit overcast as the day went on, and thankfully cooler than the Saturday. All 6 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for the race and there were due to be 3 good races and a Bye in the first round, the quarter-finals. Quarter-Finals The first pairing saw Roy facing Ed. Roy dialled in at his familiar 11.41, whilst Ed chose a 9.30 to really go for it! Roy took the win with an 11.543 to Ed's 9.877, with Ed using up a bit more of the quarter-mile than Roy! The next race saw Helen taking on Phil, who opted for a 13.50 Dial to Helen's 9.62. They both had good reactions with Phil posting an .087 and Helen an .092. Phil recorded a 13.800 pass, and Helen took the win with a strong 9.683, to progress to the Semis. In the third pairing, Sarah Howells and ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell matched up. Chris kept his 8.99 Dial-in whilst Sarah and team chose a 9.65. Although Chris ran closer to Dial-in with another good 9.069 @ 143.25 mph, he had a much slower reaction, and Sarah advanced to the Semi-finals with a 9.817. Chris finished in 4th place overall by virtue of being the closest to Dial of the quarter-finals runners-up. Semi-finals The only race of the Semis pitted Helen against Roy. Helen kept the Dial of 9.62 and ran another strong 9.660, with the Best Reaction of the Bunch for race-day, with an .086, to take the win over Roy, who ran a creditable 11.483 on an 11.41, also less than a tenth off his Dial. The other half of the ladder saw Sarah with a Bye run, and she really honed her consistency, running a 9.731 on a 9.70, just .031 off, which earnt her the Closest to Dial-in Spot Prize for the Bunch. Final This fittingly proved to be the closest race of the day, with a rematch of the ‘Shakespeare Nationals’ final. Sarah posted a good 9.738 on a 9.70, whilst Helen ran a 9.639 on a 9.60! Just one thousandth in it on difference to Dial, but Sarah took the victory with a better reaction! Sarah, and Bernie's Destiny's Angel were awarded the Best Performance Mr Bolt Spot Prize by the commentary team for the great performance of the car, driver and crew. Helen and Dean won the Best Appearing Car and Team Mr Bolt award for their always smart appearance and well-turned out altered. Congratulations to all the Wild Bunch racers who put on an excellent show with some good close racing! It had been a good well-run event, enjoyed by all the Bunch. Thanks again to all the hard working marshals and officials and crews for their stirling efforts in the hot weather. Much appreciated! We are now looking forward to the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakey on the 1st & 2nd July! | |