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SpringSpeed Nationals May 2 - 4
Wild Bunch ResultsSpringspeed Nationals2nd - 4th May
Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 2.
SCR/APIRA Series Round 1.
MSA Points Challenge 2.
The 'Springspeed Nationals' was the second event of the WB season. It was Spirit of Nostalgia Series Round 2 and APIRA Series Round 1 as well as the 2nd round of the Springbridge MSA Challenge. There was a good field of 7 Wild Bunch cars competing. There were: 2 Altereds, 4 Slingshots and a Funny Car
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 9 |
| 2 | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 7 |
| 3 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 5 |
| 4 | 35 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | 4 |
| 5 | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 2 |
| - | 101 | Steve East | Ellies in Trouble Now | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller II | 1 |
| MSA Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 540 |
| 2 | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 410 |
| 3 | 35 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | 230 |
| 4 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 220 |
| 5 | 101 | Steve East | Ellies in Trouble Now | 150 |
| 6 | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 110 |
| 7 | 2 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller II | 60 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 0.003 off |
| Best Reaction | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 0.147 |
| Best Appearing Team | 67 | Dash Racing | Chemical Reaction | |
| #1 Qualifier | 45 | Phil James | Rampage | 0.022 off |
| Fastest m.p.h. | 2 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller II | 203.42 mph |
| The Wild Bunch welcomed back 3 of the teams from the 'Festival of Power' plus 4 more teams beginning their 2015 season. Two teams ran Personal Best ET's this weekend and three PB Speeds.
Qualifying Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 rounds. The weather forecast was fairly good and we only lost around 20 minutes due to rain, and some more time due to a couple of incidents. It was fairly windy and cold for most of the day. The Wild Bunch were 20th class out on the running order and the first round was just before 2pm, with the second at around 5:45pm. By the end of the day, all 7 teams had safely qualified. Qualifying Sunday There were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers on this day. It had rained early in the morning, and the track crew soon got to work. They even had the jet track dryer running – hooray! They also scraped the start line and re-laid some rubber. The track opened around 1:10pm. We had our 3rd qualifier at about 3:30pm. The running order went through quickly and we also got a 4th qualifier, at around 5:30pm. Many thanks to all at Shakey for getting all these qualifiers in! | |
| WB 2 | Bob Hawkins was eager to be back in his 'Time Traveller II' slingshot after changing some settings after the Festival of Power. He began with a Dial-in of 7.00, and the car launched like a rocket. Bob was a bit squirrely, and drifted over the centre line, taking out the timing sponge! He backed off to an 8.882 at 110.52mph, though the run was disqualified. It left son Tom quite stunned with the power of the launch! So the team had definitely gone the right way with the tuning!! They raised the Dial to 7.30 for the next round, and made some tuning adjustments. Bob launched softer on this run, and although he pedalled it, the car had a massive top end charge, and Bob recorded a strong 7.857, but at an amazing speed of 203.42mph!!! This run was both Bob's and the Wild Bunch's first ever 200mph run!!! Many Congratulations to Bob and the whole team on this fantastic achievement!! Needless to say, this was a new Wild Bunch Speed Record! And also earned him 'Fastest MPH of the event' in Wild Bunch. On asking around, it was also found to be Top Speed of the whole event! Well done Bob! On Sunday, the team had tuned the car again, to try to achieve a quicker ET and a straighter run! Tom dialled the car in at 7.20, and they were all chuffed when Bob ran a new Personal Best ET of 7.224 at 166.19mph! Another new Wild Bunch ET Record, shaving a hundredth off his previous best, even though he backed off in the last part of the run! This put him in temporary #1 Qualifier Spot as well! Back in the pits, the team started preparing for the next run, but unfortunately, they discovered quite a bit of damage, to a couple of pistons and one head, where a push rod had jumped off its seat and some valves had hit the pistons and head! What a shame!! Sadly this put the team out for the rest of the weekend. We wish Bob and team all the best with rebuilding the engine for the next race, or going with 'Plan B'! Bob qualified in 2nd place overall. |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford and team hoped to have cured the problem experienced on the last run at the 'Festival of Power' in the 'Ratcatcher Resurrection' slingshot. They were down to a team of 2 for a couple of days, with just Terry and Ruth in attendance. (We wish son Andrew a very Happy 30th Birthday, celebrating back home!). The couple had trouble getting the car to fire up on the Saturday morning, and took a breather from their efforts to watch the first round of WB qualifying. They managed to solve the problem and come out for the second round, where they dialled in at 9.20. Terry ran an off pace 11.128 at 81.02mph, but had safely qualified. The team did some more tuning and kept the Dial-in for Sunday morning, where Terry posted a hugely improved 9.154 at 149.87mph! That was more like it! Fair play! They lowered the Dial to 9.10 for the next qualifier and Terry recorded a solid 9.304 at 150.02mph. Always nice to get that 150! He qualified in 6th place overall. |
| WB 35 | Dick Sharp and team were out for their first event of the year in the 'Dorset Horn' altered. Dick began his 2015 campaign with a 9.20 Dial–in. The whole team were over the moon when Dick went straight into the #1 spot with a 9.272 at 145.15mph! They kept the Dial for the second round and Dick posted an off-pace 10.432 at 129.27mph. Re-tuning of the timing was required and he then ran a 9.902 at 135.89mph on Sunday. He then went heads-up with Darryl Howells on an 8.88 Dial-in and ran a very strong 9.094 at 151.26mph, one of his best ever speeds! Dick qualified in 5th place. |
| WB 45 | Phil James was looking forward to his second event of the season with the 'Rampage' funny car. He had been busy between events, installing a new flexplate, which had entailed getting the gearbox out, and had only just made it in time to enter this event. Again he was ably crewed by son Carl and friend Matt. The team started off with a Dial-in of 9.40, and Phil posted a solid 9.530 at 134.87mph to open his account. They changed the Dial slightly to 9.42 for the second round, and Phil ran a slightly quicker 9.517 at 137.66mph. They revised the Dial-in to 9.40 again for Sunday morning and Phil posted a 9.604 at 141.17mph. The team made one more change to the Dial, to a 9.48, and this proved to do the trick when Phil recorded a 9.502 at 138.14mph which earned him #1 Qualifier for the second event in a row! Well done Phil! |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells and the DASH Racing team were back with their 'Chemical Reaction' slingshot after a year off. This year had seen the build of a new engine, and a stunning new paint job on the car, by painter extraordinaire Lee. The main colour is still a deep purple, but there is now a central panel down the cowling and nose cone with the most fabulous array of dozens of swirled colours! An amazing effect and a work of art! Lee had also hand-painted around 5 'stickers' on either side of the car in intricate detail, and also painted Darryl's helmet to match the car, complete with Union Flag on the back. All in all, a showtopping package! The team had been out testing a fortnight before this event, but had not made a pass, so all still an unknown quantity. They dialled in at 9.75 for starters. The car ran well straight out of the trailer and Darryl posted a breakout 9.736 at a new Personal Best Speed of 144.63mph for starters! So the team were chuffed with this! They lowered the Dial to 9.25 for the next round, and Darryl ran a new Personal Best ET and Speed of 9.291 at 147.13mph! He then went into #1 Spot for just one pair! On the 3rd round on Sunday, they lowered the Dial to 9.10, and were all absolutely thrilled when Darryl recorded his first ever 8-second pass, and 8.964 at 128.07mph!!! Many Congratulations Darryl!!! A long time coming and very well-deserved! The team then lowered the Dial to 8.88 for the last qualifier! And again, they were all chuffed to bits when Darryl actually broke out again, with an 8.827 at 129.37mph! Another PB ET! (Though there was a bit of doubt on the speed, there was no doubt on the ET!). He qualified in 4th place. Welcome back, Darryl! |
| WB 69 | Alan Loten was running his first event of the season with the 'Paranoia' altered. He and Steve had spent the off-season 'becoming intimately acquainted with every nut and bolt, fuel line and in fact every mechanical part of the car'!! They had rebuilt the engine and gone through the whole fuel system, as well as the gearbox! And they had only just got the car ready during the week before the event. They had some last minute niggles with a fuel leak, which they managed to cure in time for the second qualifier where they dialled in at 9.50. There were some problems with the nitrous feed on the run and Alan recorded a 13.004 at 52.29mph. They made some adjustments and hoped to have cured the problem. Alan kept the Dial-in for the 3rd and 4th qualifiers and posted runs of 10.904 at 125.92mph and 10.781 at 125.86mph, still with some figuring out to do. Alan and Steve have asked us to thank Bob Hawkins who kindly loaned them a NOS solenoid which enabled them to race, and thanks to the rest of the Bunch who also helped out with advice, tools or spares, as did Rich Walters and the other Super Pro racers. Alan qualified in 7th place. |
| WB 101 | Steven East was in his first event of the season with his 'Ellie's in Trouble Now' slingshot. He was joined by son Joshua who was his only crewman, and again using the monkey bike to tow the car. Steven began with a Dial-in of 10.20, and posted a good, though breakout, run of 10.153 at 124.57mph for starters. He then lowered the Dial-in to 10.00 even, and recorded a 10.024 at 136.89mph, to go into temporary #1 Spot, immediately after Darryl had set this. For the third round, the team raised the Dial very slightly to 10.01, and again Steven broke out, but by only 3 thousandths, recording a 10.007 at 140.01mph, his first recorded 140mph run in Wild Bunch competition! He then lowered the Dial again slightly to a 9.99 and ran a slower 10.542 at 136.26mph with a minor problem on the run. He qualified in 3rd place overall for the weekend. |
| Race Day Monday (Eliminations) Monday dawned sunny and the forecast was promising, so we were hopeful of getting a completed event. There had been due to be 3 races and a Bye in the first round, but unfortunately Bob's engine damage had put him out for the weekend, so only 2 races in this round. Quarter-Finals Our First Round, the Quarter Finals was held around noon. One of the races of the round saw Terry Clifford matched up with Steven East. Terry dialled in at 9.15, and now had Andrew, Rachael and James joining Ruth in the crew. Steven opted for a 9.99. Terry had a very slightly better reaction and posted a 9.396 at 137.20mph to advanced to the next round over Steven's 10.316 at 139.80mph. Dick Sharp ended up with a solo pass, as he had been due to face Bob Hawkins. Dick dialled in at 8.88 and had a slightly wayward run, recording a 9.938 at 145.88mph.The other race of the round saw Darryl Howells facing Alan Loten. Darryl chose an 8.80 Dial and Alan kept his 9.50. They were both somewhat off their pace, as Darryl ran a 9.331 at 134.59mph, which was good enough to take the win over Alan's 10.432 at 121.14mph. Then Phil James had his Bye run earned by virtue of being Number 1 Qualifier. He dialled in at 9.48 and ran a great 9.483 at 140.43mph! Just .003 off Dial, earning him the 'Closest to Dial-in' Spot Prize. Semi-Finals The Semis were run at about 1:45pm, so not long to wait at all. The first race saw Dick against Darryl. They again decided to go heads up on a pair of 8.88 Dials, so this promised to be a good one! Darryl had a two tenths reaction time advantage over Dick which proved to be essential, as his parachute deployed at about quarter track!! Darryl dragged the chute to a 9.491 at 112.35mph pass and just held on for the win over Dick's 9.351 at 151.93mph, again one of his best ever speeds! A bizarre race! In the other pairing of the round, Terry faced Phil. Terry went for a 9.15 Dial again, and Phil modified his slightly to 9.47. There was a bit of drama in the pairings lanes when Phil could not fire the car. Son and crew Carl and Matt ran to the the tow car to get the booster battery, and just managed to get the car fired in time. He and Terry drove round to the burnout box and both were shut down due to a small amount of fluid on the track. They took a breather and Carl had to hook up the boost battery again, but got Phil re-fired, and calmly went through the backup procedure after Phil's burnout. Great crewing, lads! In the race, Phil posted the 'Best Reaction' of the Bunch with a .147, and won the race on the holeshot with a 9.547 at 123.93mph over Terry's close 9.200 at 148.03mph. Terry finished in 3rd place overall ahead of Dick in 4th place by virtue of being closer to Dial. Final This took place at about 3:30pm, and was expected to be an exciting race! Phil had been consistent throughout the event, and Darryl had been running so strongly! Phil opted for a 9.45 Dial, and Darryl an 8.90. Well Phil went up on the revs, and ultimately could not hold the car, as it slightly moved forward in stage, causing him to red light! Such a shame as it would have been a great race. Phil posted a slowing 12.106 at 73.00mph, whilst Darryl ran a fantastic 9.026 at his first ever 150mph pass! A 151.31mph terminal speed! Congratulations Darryl! And many Congratulations on the win!! The team were also awarded the 'Best Appearing Team' by the commentators, for their well turned out beautifully painted racecar and nice teamwear, as well as great teamwork, so the icing on the cake for them all. The re-debut weekend could not have gone any better, so well done to all at DASH!! And well done to all the Wild Bunch teams, who put on a brilliant show, with some good qualifying, great entertaining runs and some excellent PB's, which were the highlights of the weekend! Many Congratulations again to Bob and team on the outstanding achievement of that brilliant 203mph run!! Overall it was a really good event, where we were lucky with the weather. It was good to have 4 qualifiers and a completed event. Huge thanks to the track crew, marshalls and officials who worked really hard to prepare the track, and run a smooth, successful event. And huge thanks also go to Mark Coulsell who worked tirelessly as pit runner all weekend and Linda Williams who kept us all well-informed in the pits, despite a heavy cold. Fair play to them! We are now really looking forward to the first Wild Bunch Series round, of this our 20th Anniversary season, which will be the Spring Nationals, also at Shakey on May 23rd – 25th, the Yanks American Gary's Picnic weekend. This will also be the 3rd Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series round of 2015. It should be another great event! We're expecting to see loads of the Bunch out for that one! | |