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Wild Bunch June Shootout at The Retro Show June 16 - 17
Wild Bunch ResultsJune Shootout16th - 17th June
Wild Bunch Series Round 2.
Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 3.
The 'June Shootout' was the third event of the WB season. It was the second round of the Wild Bunch Series, and Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 3. The event was dedicated to our great friend Scottie who sadly passed 2 years ago on the Saturday. Very much on our thoughts and in our hearts as the Wild Bunch raced. We love ya Scottie. We had a field of 19 Wild Bunch cars participating: 3 Altereds, 15 Slingshots and a Rear-engined dragster.
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 78 | Keith Crampton | Soultown Shaker | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | Pete & Rob Brown | Wrathchild | 8 |
| 3 | 1 | Team B-Sting | B-Sting | 7 |
| 4 | 8 | Mark Coulsell&Steve Cassisi | Ballbreaker | 6 |
| 5 | 93 | Peter Huckle | The Jagster | 5 |
| - | 2 | Jim Tanner | Shindigger | 5 |
| - | 77 | Andy Stones | Stoned | 5 |
| - | 316 | James Auld | Little Fauss | 5 |
| - | 76 | Steve Field | Black Pig Too | 5 |
| 10 | 61 | Chris Manning | The Villain | 3 |
| 11 | 66 | Team Ratchet Strap | Cheap Thrills | 2 |
| 12 | 30 | Mick Hillier | Texas Ranger | 4 |
| 13 | 64 | Russ Heaven | Tight Fit | 1 |
| 14 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 4 |
| - | 98 | Robert White | Happy Daze | 4 |
| 16 | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Time Traveller II | 2 |
| 17 | 12 | Mark & Philippa Turton | Legion / Bitchcraft | 1 |
| - | 115 | Paul Bambrick | American Pie | 1 |
| - | 678 | Paul Watson | Grumpy's T | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 3 | Pete & Rob Brown | Wrathchild | 0.004 off |
| Best Reaction | 316 | James Auld | Little Fauss | 0.01 |
| Best Altered | 30 | Mick Hillier | Texas Ranger | |
| Best Slingshot | 61 | Chris Manning | The Villain | |
| Quickest ET | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Time Traveller II | 6.929 |
| Best Appearing Car | 8 | Mark Coulsell&Steve Cassisi | Ballbreaker | |
| Best Burnout | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Time Traveller II | |
| The weather forecast was mixed for Saturday and good for Sunday. Saturday was a RWYB day, and the Wild Bunch queued up to run whenever they could. Many drivers had a couple of runs, though some made four. Sunday dawned dry but there was a little drizzle, though the track opened on time. There were a couple very short drizzle stoppages but it was mostly dry and we completed all 4 rounds! | |
| WB 1 | Bob Morgan was on his second event of the year with the team's 'B-Sting' altered. This weekend the crew included Andrew, Barry Bohannon and Craig Larman. Bob made a few passes on Saturday, though they were off the car's usual pace. The team dialled in at 13.00 seconds even for Sunday. Bob posted a 12.552 at 85.54mph pass in the first round. He improved to a 12.499 at 90.87 in the second round. He recorded his closest to dial on the third round, running a 12.863 at 72.20mph. His fourth round run was again further off the pace with a 14.178 at 63.23mph. Even with this errant run, he finished in 3rd place overall out of the 7 teams who completed all rounds with green lights. |
| WB 2 | Local boy Jim Tanner had brought his 'Shindigger' slingshot to the track all ready to roll, but had to work Saturday morning, so he didn't run that day, but just set up in the pits. Jim had just replaced some head gaskets on the car and was hoping to run well. He dialled in blind at 9.99 (contrary to the much joked about 8.88 that was suggested the night before! One day, Jim!). Jim's first round pass was a 10.977 at 139.82mph. He then had a squirrely run which he had to back off from, to a 13.012 at 82.88mph. His best pass of the weekend came in the third round when he posted a 10.362 at 139.87mph run. However, this had been with a red light! He then had quite a bouncy ride on the last round, recording a 12.525 at 104.56mph. |
| WB 3 | Pete & Rob Brown were keen to get going in their 'Wrathchild' slingshot after a great 3rd place at the Nostalgia Nationals. The boys had two runs each on the Saturday. Rob posted 10.991/121.10 and 11.096/121.73 whilst Pete ran 10.902.123.07 and 11.345/119.31. The drop in performance towards the end of the day signalled some problems, which were valve or spring related. After having help and advice from several other teams, the boys managed to fix this Saturday night. They then dialled in at 10.99 for Sunday's rounds. Rob was first to run and recorded the Wild Bunch ‘Closest to Dial-in' with a 10.9853 at 121.11mph, just .0047 off the Dial. What a way to bounce back from the problems! Pete then ran their best pass of the day with a 10.917 at 122.76mph. Rob took the helm again for Round 3 and posted an 11.088 at 108.97mph run. Pete rounded out the day with an 11.216 at 122.06mph in the 4th. This set of times earned them 2nd place overall! Another great Top 4 result! |
| WB 8 | Mark Coulsell & Steve Cassisi had just done some work with the fuel lines on the 'Ballbreaker' slingshot between rounds, and were hoping to pick up with the excellent low 8-second form they showed at the Nostalgia Nationals. Mark made 3 passes Saturday, beginning with a 9.603/146.70. The team had experienced problems with their new fuel pump and had swapped to Russ Heaven's spare pump. Mark then posted an 8.659/144.77 and an 8.92/152.08. It was Steve ‘Marra Chief's' birthday on the Saturday, and we guess he hadn't planned on so much work that day! He did enjoy working on the car though! The team dialled in at 8.60 for Sunday. There were some problems first thing, but Mark and Steve worked them out, and got fired up and ready just in time for the rounds! Mark then put in a wayward 10.276 at 77.37mph pass in the first round. He improved hugely in the second round and recorded a great 8.468 at 153.63mph run! His third round run was even better, with an 8.426 at 154.67mph, the second fastest he has run! On the fourth round, he had to back off briefly when landing from the wheelie and slowed a bit to a 9.033 at 147.65mph. The cumulative total of the runs was just good enough by 5 hundredths to get him in to the Top 4 and he finished in 4th place overall! So really heading back in the right direction! To top it all, the team were awarded the ‘Best Appearing Car' Spot Prize by the commentators, so had a really good weekend. |
| WB 12 | Philippa & Mark Turton had just had the errant gearbox rebuilt in their gorgeous 'Bitchcraft' slingshot coupe, and had arrived early and set up and were raring to go! Unfortunately, on testing the car in their pit, and driving around the pits, they realised there was still a problem with the box, or shifter or something related. Philippa had a checkout pass to see if the gears would change, but to no avail, and just made a slow run. This was such a huge shame, as Philippa was due to do her MSA licensing runs this weekend, but could not take any further part in the racing. Hope Mark and Philippa can get this fixed and be back real soon! Very best of luck to them!! Before the event, Philippa had made a display board, entitled ‘Wild Bunch Street' with all the numbers and names of the cars and drivers, attachable by Velcro to add themselves on when they are at the track. It was a good bit of fun ïŠ Thanks also to daughter Kassey for her help and interest and support at the weekend! She's a star! |
| WB 30 | Mick Hillier was in his 2nd event of the season with his 'Texas Ranger' altered, after starter and battery problems caused him to miss a couple of runs at the last event. His crew consisted of wife Lorraine and friend Paul Williams. They were hopeful of improved performance from the car. The team dialled in at 9.35 for Sunday's rounds. Mick began with a pass of 10.513 at 120.76mph in the first round. In the second round there was some issue and the stage beam was jumped so the car left before the tree ran and Mick did not record a time. The third round run started better with the car running well, but Mick slowed to a 12.439 at 118.57mph. Though there was some progress on the third run, there were still some things to iron out, so the team decided not to run in the fourth round. Hopefully they can easily sort this and run really well at the next event, as the car looks ready to fly! |
| WB 61 | Chris Manning was fresh from another 7-second run at over 170mph at the Nostalgia Nationals and the team were raring to go as usual! The team dialled in at 7.99 for the rounds on Sunday. Though they went down for the first round and Chris did a stonking burnout, the car was shut down on the line for what looked like a small fuel leak. Back in the pits this was easily cured and Chris bounced back for the second round and had a cracking run with a new Personal Best ET of 7.894 at 171.75mph!! Many Congrats Chris and team!! Chris had also driven well after a small wander towards the top end! The next round saw this solid performance backed up with a great 7.910 at 170.46mph pass. The team decided to sit out the last round, after these two great back-to-back runs. There was another bonus as well, as the car was awarded the ‘Best Slingshot' Spot Prize by the commentators. |
| WB 64 | saw the second event of the season for Russ Heaven and team with the 'Tight Fit' slingshot. On Saturday, it was Russ's son Steven taking his first ever turn in the car! He had a great launch, and on his debut run actually beat Russ's best ever 60ft time in the 1.3's! It was all going well til the second half of the run, when some neat fuel seemed to spray out of one bank. Back in the pits, and on strip down the team found that the head gasket had gone and they had torched a head again! Such a huge shame as Steve's run had shown so much promise and he was just starting to enjoy it! Hope they can get this sorted for the next event, and cure the cause of the problem. Best of luck! |
| WB 66 | Team Ratchet Strap were the first arrivals of the weekend with their ‘Cheap Thrills' slingshot, and really excited for the event, after the car's great mid 9-second performance at the Nostalgias. Skippy made a few runs on Saturday, in the 10's. The team dialled in at 9.99 for Sunday's rounds. Skippy's first round pass was a slightly off-pace 10.415 at 122.17mph run. On the second round, he performed the burnout but on backing up had to shut off, with some metal on the track and oil leaking. The metal turned out to be a chunk of a main cap still bolted to part of a conrod! Sadly the trusty box of bits had expired! The team were really philosophical about this and kept cheerful with the fact that they had other fine Fords that they could install in the car! Back in the garage, one photo they took showed one piston completely sideways in the bore! Very best of luck to the team to be back out soon! |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells was on his third Wild Bunch outing of the year with the 'Chemical Reaction' slingshot, fresh from enjoying his 60th birthday present from wife Sarah – a fantastic flight in a 2-seater Spitfire!! Wow!! Darryl was still grinning all weekend! He didn't make a run on Saturday, and dialled in at 8.90. The team had some problem with a fuel line and Darryl could not make the first round. They soon fixed this and he ran in the second round, posting a solid 9.101 at 142.93mph pass. His third round netted a 9.297 at 143.38mph, followed by a 9.269 at 143.02mph pass in the fourth. Still smiling! |
| WB 76 | Steve Field was back with his and Lesley's 'Black Pig Too' slingshot. Steve had run some storming PB's at the recent Main Event, including an excellent 8.576 at 159.71mph!! Great to see the team achieving this performance! Steve did not make a run on Saturday, and Lesley dialled him in at 8.75 for Sunday's rounds. His first round run was a 9.493 at 149.17mph. His next run was a little out of shape, with a 9.913 at 109.09mph. He then ran his best pass of the day, recording a 9.152 at 145.74mph in the third round. Steve ended the day with a 9.678 at 131.82mph run in the fourth round. He finished in 6th place overall for the event. |
| WB 77 | we welcomed Andy Stones and his wife Cathrine with their 'Stoned' slingshot for their second event of the season. Andy made a few runs Saturday, beginning with an 11.5. The team dialled in at 11.30 for Sunday. In the first round, Andy posted an 11.884 at 108.56mph run for starters. He followed this with a 12.112 at 105.77mph. In the third round he recorded an 11.923 at 104.47mph run and in the fourth he posted his best of the day, with an 11.741 at 110.31mph. He finished in 5th place overall and the team thoroughly enjoyed the event. |
| WB 78 | Keith Crampton was running his 'Soul Town Shaker' slingshot for the second event this year. Keith kindly sponsored the trophies for the event from his company ‘Wiz Training', so many thanks to him! Keith had a few runs on the Saturday, just checking things out. He dialled in at 11.08 for the rounds. His first round pass was a strong 11.041 at 115.97mph. He then posted an 11.244 at 112.94mph run in the second round. His third round run was another improvement, to an 11.050 at 115.36mph. He rounded off the day with an 11.162 at 114.68mph run in the last round. This consistency earned him the win for the event! Great stuff!! Keith is now leading the Wild Bunch Series! |
| WB 91 | Bob Hawkins had rebuilt after the valve and other damage sustained at the Nostalgia Nationals on that incredible 211mph pass at the event! Bob's first on Nitro in his 'Time Traveller II' slingshot! The team spent some of Saturday checking everything out and had a great fireup. Bob went out for a run and performed an awesome burnout! The car sounded real strong. Bob recorded a very promising 6.929 at 201.68mph checkout pass! This proved to be the Wild Bunch ‘Quickest ET' for the weekend. The team spent the rest of the day checking things over and also installed another fuel pump. They did lots more checks and tests and Bob had a conservative tuneup in the engine. For the rounds on Sunday, Bob dialled in at his old trusty 6.66. In the first round, he pulled another excellent burnout. He was awarded the ‘Best Burnout' Spot Prize by the commentators for these fantastic strong smoky burnouts. The car launched hard and Bob was on a charge, but was off it towards the end of the run, posting a 7.639 at 140.27mph pass. Back in the pits, on removing the rocker boxes, the team first found some pretty big spark plug damage. Later in the day, inspection with a scope revealed a hole in a piston which the team could see down to the gudgeon pin. Really bad news! Such a huge shame, as Bob had high hopes for the setup and was looking forward to running some quick numbers! Back at home, Bob got on with the stripdown pretty quickly, and unfortunately both heads are damaged, as well as most pistons. He is already on the case trying to source parts and has quickly acquired some new heads. Hope he can get the rest of the parts and be back out real soon chasing those really quick times! Very best of luck Bob!! |
| WB 93 | saw Pete Huckle in his second ever event with the Wild Bunch, after a very successful debut, finishing 4th at the Nostalgia Nationals and running several PB's. He had a few runs on Saturday. The team dialled in at 10.30 for Sunday's rounds, and were again sporting their flat caps and warehouse coats. They looked really cool! Pete's first round run was an off pace 11.971 at 117.34mph. He bounced back from this in the second round, recording a much better 10.784 at 120.44mph. His third and fourth round runs were thereabouts, with a 10.808 at 120.89mph and a 10.21 at 119.00mph. Pete finished in 7th place overall and once again enjoyed the weekend. |
| WB 115 | Paul Bambrick was in his second event of the year with his gorgeous stars and stripes 'American Pie' slingshot, a fantastic looking car! The team arrived Saturday morning and got set up and started checking the car over. Paul's first pass Saturday saw him turning right a couple of times after launch and he had to back off and make a slow run. The next pass saw a bigger burnout and a slight improvement. Paul's third run of the day was the best, with a great burnout and launch and a good strong run of 9.404 at 135.74mph. The team were pleased with this run, but had also learned during the day, that they really need a bigger fuel pump to make the most of the power from the Hemi. They decided they would call it a day and locate a bigger pump and carry on improvements with that. Best of luck to them on chasing the quicker numbers next time! |
| WB 316 | saw James Auld in his second event of the year with Wild Bunch in his 'Little Fauss' historic rear-engined dragster. (That's the first time we can say that, as previously James has only been able to do one event per year due to location, but now can do more!). James had finished 5th at the Nostalgia Nationals so was looking forward to improving on that place. He had a few promising runs on the Saturday. He dialled in at 12.90 for the rounds on Sunday. His first round run scored him the ‘Best Reaction' of the day for the Bunch with a great .010. This pass was a solid 12.916 at 105.68mph, so near his Dial-in too, and second overall at that point. He followed this with a good 12.885 at 104.80mph in the second round, to move into first position. His third round run was also close, with a 12.967 at 104.45mph. He was again very consistent to ET in the fourth round, posting a 12.972 at 104.80mph. This would have won him the event, but he had unfortunately redlit, by a small margin of -.020!! So very close!!! Hard luck James, and better luck next time!! |
| WB 678 | saw the Wild Bunch welcoming Paul Watson and wife Kim and team on their club debut with their quick 'Grumpy's T' altered. Paul had just had to do a lot of work after a major problem with his blower at a RWYB event earlier in the season. In fact he had a lot to do overall with the engine and other details to get the car back on track. The team spent Saturday in the pits, doing various checks, and though they had a promising sounding fireup, had a few electrical gremlins. They hoped they had cured these, and on Sunday morning dialled in at 8.99 and prepared to run. Some other problems materialised and unfortunately they were not able to run that day. A real shame as we were all looking forward to seeing the car on track, and hoping that Paul made good progress. Very best of luck to the team ironing out the issues, and hope we see them back out real soon! Welcome, folks! |
| In all it was a really good event. And a very big well done to all of the Wild Bunch teams who put on a great show throughout the weekend! Real shame to see several teams with major engine damage and really hope they can bounce back and be out racing again soon. Best of luck to them all! Many thanks to all the marshals and officials and fire and track crews at Santa Pod for their hard work all weekend as always. Thanks also to the commentator, who just covers a few events like this and wasn't that familiar with our cars. He was very enthusiastic about the whole Bunch!! All very much appreciated!
We are now really looking forward to the fourth Spirit of Nostalgia Series round, and second Springbridge MSA Challenge Round on June 30th and July 1st at the MSA 'Summer Nationals', the first time we have been able to race at that event for a few years! | |