What the hell happened to 2009!

I realise its been a while since I last updated the blog, but there hasn't been a lot going on this year at Team Rampage.
The main reason for this is that at the Main Event @ Santa Pod we started to suffer a few problems with the transmission. The car was loosing speed and time over the quarter mile so we decided it was time to drop the oil and inspect the gearbox. The colour and smell of the oil said that things weren't good straight away, and that open heart surgery was going to be the only answer!!!

So over the last few months the transmission has been removed and sent to Andy Frost at Penn Autos. Andy completely stripped the box and updated the components with much stronger ones to stop the slippage suffered by using Nitrous Oxide. A turbo action valve body was also added along with a shiftnoid and playback tachometer, all in hope to achieve a more consistent and reliable race car for the 2010 season!

With all of the work going on we decided to sit the rest of the 2009 season out and concentrate all our efforts and funds on a successful 2010 season.

I'll try to keep you updated as things develop and we get closer to the new season.

Thanks for reading,

Dave Ward

New Youtube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/RampageFunnyCar

Slow Motion Videos on YouTube

Thanks to Blackett Photography for supplying these 300fps videos.

http://www.blackettphotography.com/

A Great End to 2008, and now the start of the Off Season

Welcome to not only the new website, but also my first ever blog.

On the blog site I will try to keep everyone up to speed as to what’s going on with the car and race team both at the track and behind the scenes.

After finishing a well deserved 2nd place in the APIRA Championship and joint 2nd in the National Championship, we decided that a few changes were needed to be made during the off season, ready to compete again for 2009.

Firstly, as im sure you’ll be able to notice, we have lowered the front of the Monza body to improve the stance and aerodynamics of the car. We managed to lower the front end by a total of 50mm which has in turn meant the car requiring a new bulkhead and tree. We also had to remove part of the lower body to allow for clearance on the headers. All turning out to be a time consuming process, but we think it was well worth it!

Next up was to fit a Kevlar transmission and flex-plate cover in order for the car to meet strict safety regulations. Not an easy task in the tight confines of a funny car cockpit!

Whilst ordering parts from the USA, I decided it was time to add a funny car seat pad, which im sure will prove to be money well spent waiting for the rain to stop!

On a personal note, both the team and myself shall be attended the Dinner Dance in Northampton this weekend to accept our trophy for Runner Up in 2008.

Thanks for reading and please come by to say hello during the 2009 season.

Dave Ward