"After an intense, and very typical last-minute thrash to get the car ready for the event, I'm surprised Dad (Andy) even had the strength to push down the clutch pedal come raceday! As you will no doubt be aware, I moved to Bahrain at the end of last season to persue a new career, which ultimately led to a less-than-ideal pre-season scenario for the team. Over the winter months, the car had to be upgraded to meet the new standards and allow us to continue to compete. As ever, what started off as a simple funny car cage installation, turned in to a full scale body-off rebuild, with further chassis, body, tinwork, engine and suspension alterations being performed. With me overseas this left Dad to strip down and rebuild the car in it's entirety almost single-handedly and as per usual, there were plenty of stumbling blocks along the way, such as repainting the roof and rear wings!! I arrived back in the UK just in time for a few finishing touches, and then it was a case of loading her up and heading to the track!

And so to the event itself, and on the drive there we found ourselves to be under quite a high-pressure situation! With news flooding in over the internet thick and fast about various different teams and their testing endevours, we knew we were going to have to get back on the pace as soon as possible. However, with untried engine, clutch, suspension and nitrous system combinations, this was going to be a lot easier said than done!!

After breezing through scrutineering, the first hurdle to be jumped was the scales! With all manner of chassis and body changes undertaken over the Winter, we had no idea what affect this would have on the weight. Luckily for us, (and spot-on with Andy Robinson's "guess!") we were some 30-odd pounds under weight, which meant we could hang some more lead off the back! With that sorted, and the extra good news of discovering that the engine actually fired-up, we were good to go!

With so many new things on the car, we decided to put everything back to how it was last year and see what she did. While we were overjoyed with a 7.81 fresh from the trailer, the way the car left the line left a lot to be desired!! We'd added an anti-roll bar for this year to try and stop the severe torque roll she was suffering from when we started adding more power. Problem was that the added traction from a flat launch, coupled with the effect it had on the un-touched-from-last-year pre-load setting caused us a very un-tidy start with a big swing towards the left-hand guard wall for good measure!! After removing the pre-load, re-setting the roll bar at neutral and adjusting the shocks slightly, we were rewarded with a 7.67 second time out, which was much more like it! We then spent the next few runs chasing our tales a little as we tried, seemingly in vain at times, to perfect the clutch settings. In an added twist, during our 4th pass of 7.91, the 159mph speed indicated that something wasn't right.....something that was confirmed over the radio by "I'm on fire"!. It appears that we spat a lash cap on the burnout which allowed the pushrod to jump around and ultimately bend, the net result being that we ignited the fuel in the carbs at 1000ft! No harm done though, and she was fighting fit again for the next pass. Fortunately for us, our 7.67 kept us in the number 2 spot behind Mr Smallworth's awesome 7.61 (well done Rob, Barry, Bryan and Jim!), and we at least knew there was a decent number in there somewhere!

For the first round of eliminations, we had Paul Mander, and having been alongside his very rapid 8.04 the previous night, we knew that a slip-up could cost us big! Despite this, we knew action had to be taken if we were to keep up with the frontrunners, as well as keep the rapidly improving Hone's, Gibbs', Garlick's, and Payne's of this world at bay! A brainstorming session ensued and we decided to try something different, and after our 7.66 first-round-victory, things were starting to come around. For round 2 we faced the leader of the normally aspirated brigade, Nigel Payne, and we again knew that he was capable of pulling something out of the bag. True enough, he lowered his personal best to a very stout 7.88, although another clutch change gave us a new best of our own, 7.630! For the final we were up against Tim Garlick, and I think it's safe to say that nobody pitside expected his 7.67 knockout blow to Rob the round before. Once again, a few adjustments were made, this time to the engine, and we headed down to the line. Owing to various factors such as Ashley Bell's unfortunate mis-hap, we were sat in the staging lanes for an age, and by the time we got out on track, the surface was getting cooler by the second and we weren't sure what it'd hold. After expecting the Mother of all burn-downs, I was quite surprised to see them both head straight in to stage (read Tim's story for an explanation!). Unfortunately for Tim he red-lit, although neither he nor Dad realised it until they'd crossed the line (the beauty of radios!) and steering wheel-bashing disappointment, turned rapidly in to jubilation!! Once again we'd ran a 7.63 to Tim's 7.67, but with a big increase in speed, showing that the potential is definately there!

A lot of wheelspin away from the line in the final has told us that there are still a few things to find under the back end, but the nice black spark plugs also showed us that when we do, she'll fly!!! Looks like the race to the 50's is well under way, and nobody's going down without a fight!!

I'd like to say a massive thanks to Danny Cockerill and Dave Read, who did a faultless job of coming to our aid to provide us with crew.....Cheers guys, you were great! I'd also like to thank Pirtek, DJN Signs, and all of the class sponsors for their greatly valued and appreciated support. Not forgetting Mum for all her sterling efforts as caterer, track-rep, parachute packer and chief morale-boosting officer, and to Charlotte for doing her very important kit job!

Sadly, I'll be absent from the next 2 meetings. As anyone who has known me for more than 5 seconds will tell you, it'll break my heart, but the commute is just a tad too far and expensive, especially on consecutive weekends!! Using the marvels of modern technology though, I shall be on hand one way or another!

Congratulations to Tim Garlick, Rob Smallworth, Craig Gibbs, Nigel Payne, Paul Mander and all the crew for their personal bests, to Andy Hone and the F&M gang for getting to grips with their new transmission so quickly, and to Andy Chilton and the AC Racing team for their outstanding effort and determination over the weekend......it's going to be one hell of a season!

See you all at the Summer Nats!