Hi folks,

Here is the news from the Wild Bunch ‘Summer Showdown’ at the ‘Mopar Nationals’ on 29^th – 31^st July. Many thanks to the Mopar organisers for agreeing to include us at this event again! The Wild Bunch had 15 great teams participating at the weekend. It was a really good event even though there were a few stoppages for rain on Sunday. Around half a dozen teams made use of the RWYB test day on Friday, and some put in 4 to 7 runs! Saturday went well and around 10 teams got 4 or more runs in! Although Sunday’s forecast had previously been good, it had rained overnight and first thing in the morning.  The track opened just after 10:30am and we headed to the queue not long after that. We had our first round at about 11am, and shortly after there was a period of drizzle, which came and went during the morning. Due to this there was a fair bit of down time, but we then headed back to the queue after the extended lunch break and had our second round about 3pm. Our third was not too long after, due to dwindling numbers on site, and we ran at about 4:15pm.  Massive thanks to all the Santa Pod track crew, who once again worked tirelessly all day!  

Our winners were:

1^st  Place: Phil James in ‘Rampage’ .0356 average (back on winning form!)

2^nd  Place: Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’ .0409 average (another great Top 4 finish)

3^rd  Place: Gary Atkinson in ‘Timelock II’ .0509 average (fantastic to see Gary in the Top 4!)

4^th  Place: James Auld in ‘Little Fauss’ .0552 average (moved up every round!)

Spot Prize winners were:

Closest to Dial-in: Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’.010 off! (great start in the first round!)

Best Reaction: Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ .041

Fastest MPH: Tee Roy in ‘Boston Straggler II’ 158.97 mph (also quickest ET of the weekend with 8.409)

Best Burnout: Gary Atkinson in ‘Timelock II’ (stonking burnouts throughout)

Best Appearing Car: Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’

Best Appearing Team: Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’ (great teamwear and well turned out slingshot!)

Commentator’s Choice (because they always try so blooming hard!!): Steve Garlant in ‘Sonic Attack II’

Driver's Choice: Rob White in ‘Happy Daze’ (a very popular vote!)

And well done to all those who set PB’s. They were:

Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’  121.55 mph

Gary Atkinson in ‘Time Lock II’ 9.622 / 140.35  (stepson Greg ran on Friday with a 9.481 @ 139.91!)

Paul Tarry in ‘Trigger’s Broom’  122.73 mph

Ian Wild in ‘WildScat’  107.04 mph

Steve Garlant in ‘Sonic Attack II’  10.902

[Please let me know if I have missed any, as I have not yet seen the full data for the whole weekend!]

The full field was:

• Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ (the lads, as always took turns in the slingshot, and had 5 great runs Saturday, and weekend bests of 8.518 / 154.23; a couple of runs were a little squirrely, though all were solid mid 8’s; they finished in 6^th place)
• Phil James in ‘Rampage’ (Phil ran 4 good mid 9-second passes on Saturday and had weekend bests of 9.502 / 136.90; great to see him back on the top spot for the first time this year!)
• Pete & Rob Brown in ‘Wrathchild’ (the boys made 5 runs Saturday, pairing up with each other in ‘Rebel’; there were a few wayward burnouts which were very entertaining! Their weekend best was 11.393 / 124.79; they finished in 7^th place overall)
• Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’ (Dan made 4 passes in the low 10’s on Saturday; he started Sunday well with the Closest to Dial .010 off to go straight to the top spot;  his weekend’s best were 10.230 and 121.55mph; another impressive performance to finish 2^nd!)
• Gary Atkinson in ‘Time Lock II’ (Gary’s stepson Greg had half a dozen runs on Friday and really enjoyed running the car, especially the PB of 9.481! Gary made 3 passes Saturday with weekend best numbers of 9.622/ 140.35, both ends of his PB with the car, and very consistent too)
• Bobby Wright in ‘Alturd’ (Bobby made a great total of 7 runs on Friday, experimenting with different things, the best being a solid 9.837; he made 2 runs Saturday but the team had to leave that day; his weekend’s bests were 9.796 / 138.96, both near his PB)
• Jim Tanner in ‘Shindigger’ (Jim made 4 passes on Saturday; some of his runs were very out of shape after the launch and he had to back off a few times; he got a great photo of one heading straight toward’s Ian Blackett’s lens!; his weekend bests were 9.497 and 142.58)
• Tim Roy in ‘Boston Straggler II’  (Tee had a new fuel tank in the car this weekend and that gave the team some teething troubles!  They persevered and had 2 runs Saturday and one Sunday with a best of 8.409 / 158.97 which were the Wild Bunch quickest and fastest of the event!)
• Rob White in ‘Happy Daze’ (very well done to Rob and team as they had installed a 305 motor between events, just to make sure they made it to the track! It was well worth the trip, as Rob made some good checkout passes and then all 3 rounds on Sunday! Weekend bests were 12.809 / 94.86)
• Bob Morgan  in ‘B-Sting’ (Bob made 3 consistent passes in the 10.3s on Saturday; he was doing well after the second round Sunday, then had a great run with his quickest of the weekend 10.171 / 130, too quick on Dial!; he finished in 5^th place overall)
• Paul Tarry in ‘Trigger’s Broom’ (Paul made 5 good runs on Saturday, mostly in the high 10’s with the quickest being 10.831 at a new PB speed of 122.73; he just made the 2 runs Sunday ans was pretty happy with his weekend overall)
• Ian Wild had renamed his altered ‘WildScat’, a double play on words, and very appropriate! It was good to see him back out for his first WB round of the year; he made 4 runs Saturday including a solid 12.808; his weekend bests were 12.606 / 107.04; he finished in 8^th place overall)
• James Auld in ‘Little Fauss’ (the team looked great in their matching red shirts! James made the most of testing with 5 runs Friday and 4 on Saturday, mostly in the high 12’s; he started Sunday in 6^th place and worked his way up to the Top 4; his weekend bests were 12.781 / 104.95)
• Rich Butcher in ‘Forth Dimension’ (Rich was once again thoroughly enjoying racing his slingshot with his family! He made 3 runs Friday and 4 on Saturday and all the rounds Sunday; his weekend bests were 12.240 / 115.81)
• Steve Garlant in ‘Sonic Attack II’ (Steve made 4 runs Friday including the PB 10.902 and 3 runs Saturday; he just made the one run Sunday, as the car had an issue which potentially may be the coil; sure they will have that sorted in plenty of time for the next event! His best speed of the weekend was 119.00, just below his PB speed; the team were recognised by the Commentator’s choice for always trying so hard and having a great attitude to their racing!!)

Well done to all those who took part, and congratulations to the winners! Commiserations to all those with issues which we hope can be fixed soon!! Highlights of the weekend were the great field of Wild Bunch cars and teams, some great track time Saturday and 3 good rounds Sunday!  Well done to all!! Huge thanks to everyone at Santa Pod & the Mopar guys and gals for all their hard work during the weekend! Another great effort!! It was a really good event overall, even with the little bit of weather!!

All the best,

Claire