2013 National Finals Race Report and Season Review

After what was a hectic European Finals in Super Pro (in a good way mind!) it was time for the last event of the year and it soon sunk in that another race season had passed already; the years seem to go by quicker and quicker as we get older (and I'm only 18!). For Team Rampage it has been a fairly decent season overall, winning both the closest to dial in and random qualifier award in the Super Pro sponsorship scheme, which has been a fantastic addition to the class this year, combined with having a consistent race car has meant that the year has been another good'n for us. Indeed we have had a few howlers along the way, normally due to the odd dodgy prediction and not the car, but at the end of the day, we still love racing and are already looking ahead to 2014!

Right then, the National Finals...

It was absolutely beautiful weather on the Friday which set up the weekend perfectly. Saturday morning was again a gorgeous day and the air was near perfect, so being that we only had 3 qualifying sessions scheduled, we knew we had to make every run count. An 8.00 was the dial in for the first run and having looked over the history of all our runs, we had never run quicker than an 8.04 off of the trailer so we felt that number would be a good starting point, not wanting to breakout either. After a fairly average 60ft time, the dragster soon 'gobbled' in the good air and went on to an 8.018 straight into number 1. Not bad at all! However this was Super Pro, one of the most competitive classes ever, so once the session had finished we were 2nd. Being a couple of tenths down in the 60ft and still running an 8.01 was a good indicator that the air was as good as expected so it was good to know that we were right in that department. It wasn't until late afternoon that the 2nd round was upon us, due to the rather horrific crash Graham suffered, and according to said data, conditions were as near as makes no difference the same as they were in the morning... or so we were led to believe! We decided to leave the number were it was and see what would happen. Running through with an 8.04 wasn't too bad in the grand scale of things, even though it meant no improvement in our position; it would still be a reasonably difficult time to beat in racing. We would end the day in 4th position.

Eliminations weren't as good as we were hoping for on the Sunday. The car was performing consistently up to Round 1, so it would be a no brainer to go for the same 8.00. Up against Thomas Haas who had travelled a real long way from Switzerland with Natalie, meant Dave would be playing catch up to Thomas's 8.18 dial in. For reasons unknown, the transbrake wouldn't hold the dragster dead still on the line and was rolling slightly. At this time, Dave had noticed this but the lights were already half way down and all of a sudden the light was green and the race had already started! This meant a .115 reaction time to Thomas's .05 which in turn decided the outcome of the race as we went through with an 8.08 to Thomas's 8.29, so we were closer to our dial in but lost a tenth at the start. Being that our 60ft time was 7 hundredths off of what we normally run was a clear indicator that the car wasn’t quite right! Nevermind! After our mandatory fried breakfast, we packed up, watched another round of Super Pro and called it a day, which was also the end of the meeting, which was also the end of the season!

A big well done to Scott and Geoff on winning the double championship this year and Barry Giles on the SPRC championship. Thanks to the Walters family for organising the sponsorship scheme and Giles&Hartley Racing for providing the trophies. 

And last but most certainly not least a massive thanks to our sponsors:

• Mini Gears/Components Worldwide - www.minigears.co.uk - the complete supply package for all your metal components, whether it be gears, racks or machined parts at very competitive prices. They have been with us for 3 years now so an extra thanks to them.
• All Aces Couriers - 01295 275049 - delivering your reputation at incredible prices!
• Payday UK - www.paydayuk.co.uk - offering quick and super easy loans at the most competitive prices.

Winter is going to be, as always, a long one!

2013 FIA European Finals Race Report

Now, The Euro Finals has always been a personal favourite for both racers and fans alike, and this was no different for Team Rampage. Mixed weather reports for the 4 day drag racing extravaganza meant that we were feeling fairly optimistic, considering how well the Summer Nationals had went for us.

It was Thursday morning, and a rather pleasant one at that. It was the main day for Sportsman qualifying and knowing full well that Friday's forecast was not a good one, we knew we had to hit the nail on the head today. It was a unanimous decision that we would go for an 8.05 dial in for the first run, based on the fact that it was the first run off the trailer, however the air was fairly good. It was quite annoying when an 8.044 appeared on the board though, damn! Never mind, we weren't too far off of our prediction so that was the positive that could be taken from it.
We looked to give the Rampage dragster an oil change after we had got back from our run and had breakfast as it was long overdue one, but just as we had finished topping up the 540ci motor we were called, so it was into a small panic mode at this time as the car was still in pieces! Luckily, it was the biggest ever field entry for Super Pro so we had more than enough time to get it all back together. The conditions hadn't changed too much compared to when we had our first run, albeit a lot warmer and so with the breakout in mind and the fact that we had to get a number on the board, we went for an 8.02 dial in. Only a couple of pairs before we were due to run, and straight after our routine fire up in the pairing lanes, my leg decided that it would come into contact with the scorching hot headers and boy did I feel it! This meant a trip to the medical centre for me and missing out on our run, to which I was told when I got back that we had run another 8.04, this time an 8.045. At least the car was consistent and we had improved on our position, just not our predictions!
3rd round proved to be an additional improvement, going for the obvious 8.04 dial in subject to our two previous runs and running through with an 8.051 meant that we would finish the day in 9th place out of some 50 odd cars, not bad! A transbrake issue meant that our 4th run was wasted and so we looked onto next day, praying that the weather Gods would be on our side!

Fair to say they were with us! The majority of forecasts the evening before had stated that it would be a wash out for Friday, but what did they know? This was the Pod after all! We knew that any window of opportunity for the track to be in action today would be for the Pro classes so we had our fingers crossed that the weather would remain overcast, at least so we could have another shot at nailing our dial in before the first round of eliminations the next day. After the odd shower or two throughout the day, we had our wishes granted with one more round and so going into the early evening we felt that an 8.03 dial in would suffice. Hoping the transbrake issue was resolved, Dave came to the line, the lights went down and off he went, onto an 8.039, which got us back up the field to only the number 10 spot; goes to show just how good all these other guys in our class are! This meant that we were paired to race Alan Didwell in the 1st round Saturday morning.

We were only half way through the meeting and it was already time for eliminations, due to the huge amount of Super Pro cars that had managed to qualify. Commiserations to those who had breakages and couldn't fix in time, hopefully see you at the National Finals!
Seeing that the conditions were very similar to the 1st round of qualifying on the Thursday morning, we decided to stick an 8.03 on the board despite the number of breakouts before us. Well it was to our dismay when Dave went through running a 7.98 AND coming off of the loud pedal way before the gantry. Going over the data after the run, we were 8 hundredths quicker at 1000ft compared to what we normally run and so after a few calculations we would have run a 7.8 second pass, which would have been the quickest we had ever run in the car by quite a chunk. What was different about that run in relation to Q1 we had no idea, and it seemed that quite a few others didn't either! The dragster just picked up a big amount of speed and time after 60ft that came out of nowhere, which no-one could have predicted!

Sadly that was our weekend done and dusted already, and it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet of the 3rd day! After entertaining our brilliant sponsors from All Aces Couriers, who after coming drag racing for the first time now want to come again, we packed up, watched our guys in Super Pro run and made off for home, after we had gone to the pub of course!
Thanks again to this years fantastic sponsors, whose support is always very much appreciated:

• Mini Gears/Components Worldwide - www.minigears.co.uk - the complete supply package for all your metal components, whether it be gears, racks or machined parts at very competitive prices.
• All Aces Couriers - 01295 275049 - delivering your reputation at incredible prices!
• Payday UK - www.paydayuk.co.uk - offering quick and super easy loans at the most competitive prices.

See you at all The National Finals!

2013 Main Event Race Report

Let's be honest, Easter was bloody freezing and we couldn't wait to see a warmer Santa Pod for this years Main Event. In some ways we got what we wished for and in some ways we didn't!

It all started with taking the dragster over on Thursday afternoon, where the weather (as usual) was all over the place, one minute the Sun was shining and the next there were hail stones. Unfortunately due to lack of availability in Team Rampage that day, it was just the case of leaving the truck and trailer where it was and having to set up and take the car to scrutineering the following day.

Friday morning was upon us and we got to the track as early as we could knowing that we would (potentially) be starting just after Pro ET at 9am. The forecast looked dreadful for the day but at around 8am the Sun was just peeping through the clouds, which was a bit of a tease and gave us false hope really! It wasn't long after we had got the car back from scrutineering that it started to drizzle, which then turned to rain, which then turned to heavy rain before eventually becoming stormy weather. Cold. Wet. Windy. It was on and off all day before it got to around 3pm when the Race Director decided to call it and so we looked to Saturday with more promise.

Saturday was a vast improvement. It was almost like being in a different country with how the weather had changed. For the first run, we had all mutually decided to wack a number on the board and go from there, so an 8.00 dial in was the target. Running an 8.06 left us in 3rd place after the first session, knowing full well that that number wasn't going to keep us there long! After the two scheduled Pro sessions, it was already quite late in the day but either way we thought leaving the dial in where it was, was a good move. We ran an 8.02, narrowing down the gap however we weren't the only ones nailing our dial ins, pair after pair and numbers were flying left right and centre eventually leaving us in the number 4 position. Not too shabby.

It was already Sunday and it had  been rumoured the night before that we would have just one more qualifier in the morning before going into eliminations. This proved to be the case and so with that in mind we went for the same 8.00 dial in hoping to narrow it down just a little more. Unfortunately, we ended up waiting on the line for longer than usual and the car had got hot enough that the temperature had gone off of the gauge. In the past the car had shown to run quicker when hot and this wasn't about to change, running through with a 7.97 breakout. Not improving on our time meant that we were going into eliminations in 9th place, which out of 40 odd cars could still be seen as fairly decent!

We were paired to race Noah Stutz from Switzerland in his gorgeous looking dragster. He had dialed in a 7.84 and we an 8.00 so we would marginally be leaving first. As all racers will know, they say if you never red light, you're not trying hard enough and on this occasion Dave tried a bit too hard, cutting a -0.007 red to Noah's -0.003 red which was a little aggravating considering we ran through with another 8.02, proving the car was running consistently. Never mind! This meant that our weekend had come to a premature end but it did mean that we could return Monday to watch all the brilliant racing from the Pro classes which ended up being worth it.

Despite going out early, Team Rampage can look forward to the Summer Nationals, especially with the dragster running its numbers. Congratulations to eventual winner Barry Giles and Vince Gibbs for running the perfect number, top stuff guys!

As always massive thanks to our sponsors for this year: Mini Gears UK who  provide a wide range of CNC machining and CNC gear grinding services, Payday Loans UK who can offer quick and hassle-free loans and All Aces Couriers who can provide super-quick and efficient delivering services at a fair price.

2013 Festival of Power Race Report

So the new season is upon us and we've got a feeling that it's going to be a good'n! A brand new race surface had been laid and, with that in mind, a massive well done to Santa Pod's fantastic track crew for battling the rough conditions leading up to the event and prepping the track to a more than adequate standard, hat's off to you guys!

Forecasts for the first ever Festival of Power were not looking too bad at all which meant that Team Rampage were excited to get underway for the new season, albeit the temperatures were on set to be the coldest that we had ever raced in.

Saturday morning certainly proved that the temperatures were going to be difficult for some of the race cars to get down the track and so we acted upon this by tweaking the chassis a little to make sure that the rear got all the traction it needed. Being that Super Pro were to be the second class on following Pro ET, it was important that we knew what the Pro ET guys were doing in terms of their dial ins. After watching a number of runs, we decided that the track would just about hold up and made the decision to dial in an 8.05. Just as we started to pull round to begin the burnout, the heavens opened and sent us some snow. D'oh! There were a number of flurries on and off for about an hour, but once they had stopped, it was just the case of re-sledding the startline with rubber for the track crew, so it didn't take long to get going again. Well when the time came to run, we had slightly over anticipated the track resulting in a small amount of tyre spin off of the line and when combined with the car being all over the last 3/4 of the track, we ended up with a sluggish 8.25 at 166mph. Definitely room for improvement!

Photo courtesy of Kirstie Tramm at Eurodragster.com - All throughout the day, there were multiple snow flurries resulting in qualifying being very much a stop start situation for every class. However, the second run came in the late afternoon and was both good and bad in certain aspects. Knowing full well that the weather was all over the place, we decided to knock the dial in down a little bit and go for a 8.15. Well the car hooked up this time sending the dragster through the the 1/4 running an 8.07 breakout. Didn't really see that coming, considering so many of the other cars were still spinning the tyres off of the line! This ended up being the last run of the day and so we would have to wait till next morning to give it our next shot.

Sunday morning brought a bitter wind worse than Saturdays but the sun was out a little so not all bad! Following on from the previous run, we thought it would be a good idea to bring the dial back up to an 8.05. It was just our luck when the car really grabbed the track on the launch resulting in our one of our better 60ft times of 1.13. This quick burst resulted in all the time traps being a little quicker throughout the entire run which resulted in an 8.02 breakout. These few breakouts meant that we were slowly sliding down the qualification ladder and after the run we were in an uncharacteristic 16th place. With just one round of qualifying left, we really had to do something to get higher up the table.

The 4th round came at just past midday and Crew Chief Ian made the final decision to dial in 8.02 against the opinion of crew member Dan who was sure that it would run faster as it had been every single run up to then; his predication being an 8 flat. It was a solid burnout from Dave, he brought the car to the line, launched brilliantly, recording our quickest 60ft time ever of 1.11 and carried on right the way through, straight as an arrow...to an 8.001 breakout. What did Dan say beforehand?! Ian you're fired! This consequently resulted Team Rampage in being in a disappointing 18th overall place with the very first run of the weekend being the only run that would count. Therefore in the late afternoon we were to be up against Rick Cooke who had qualified a solid 7th.

Photo courtesy of Colin Donisthorpe at www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe - It was time to race and it was fair to say that we were a little more nervous than usual. Looking over the data from the previous runs, combining it with the weather conditions at those times and then monitoring what the weather was doing just before the first round resulted in an agreed 7.98 dial in. Being that Rick had dialed in an 8.44, it would mean that he would get near enough half a second head start. Tension was fairly high at the time and we were hoping that we had predicted right. Rick left the line with a 0.15 reaction time and Dave quickly after with a fairly brisk 0.009 light. The quicker reaction from Dave meant that he had caught Rick earlier than the finish so he lifted off of the loud peddle rolling through with an 8.02 at 159mph, 0.04 from dial in. It would have been interesting to see what the time would have been if he had kept going, or maybe not! We would have to wait until Monday morning to race again.

Having got through the first round, we had to face an on form Scott Hauser in the second round in the newly built Hauser Race Cars 4-link dragster. There has been some close racing from Scott and Dave in the past, so this one would prove to be a good one, whoever would win. Come race time, we decided to lower our dial in a tad to a 7.99 knowing full well that we didn't want to give too much away. Scott had dialled in a faster 7.61 giving Dave nearly 4 tenths of a second head start. What a race it turned out to be! Near identical reaction times meant that it would be all down to who ran closer to their dial in. Side by side all the way up the track was a great sight to see but at the very last split second Scott just crept ahead, taking the stripe by just three hundredths of a second. We had ran an 8.03 and Scott a 7.62 which was were the race was marginally lost for us. Both Dave himself and Scott thought that Dave had won, which went to show how close it was. Just how racing should be! Scott progressed all the way to the final, so at least we could say we lost to a bloody good racer!

Even though that was the end of the meeting for us, we felt that the car had performed brilliantly in terms of consistency and we were already well up for The Main Event!

The Festival of Power was all in all a fairly decent weekend for Team Rampage despite qualifying not as well as we would have liked and going out early, but it was the first event in the new season and we weren't too sure how the car would cope with the cold conditions and new track surface so positives could be taken.

A massive thanks to this years sponsors: Mini Gears, All Aces Couriers and Payday Loans all to which your contributions are very much appreciated and we are happy to have you onboard. Hope to see some of you at the track soon!

Video Footage from the 2013 Festival of Power at Santa Pod

On board footage of the dragster in action at the 2013 Festival of Power held at Santa Pod Raceway.

Click here to watch the fantastic video!

Additional track side footage again of the dragster taking part in the first round of qualifying at the 2013 Festival of Power. Take a look here!

Work over Winter 2012-2013

 Even though the new race season always seems such a long time away during winter, it doesn't mean that nothing happens for the entire duration until the first meeting back; far from it! Any team will tell you that winter is an important and fairly busy time to get ready for the up and coming season.

That certainly has proved to be the case for Team Rampage, for the reason that the dragster required a new ring gear as the current one had a couple of teeth missing and was no longer certified. Alongside that, the gearbox also needed to be re-certified so that was sent off.

At the same time, the decision was made that it was probably a good idea to oil the entire chassis as the trailer had suffered a small leak in the roof during bad weather conditions causing some surface rust to appear in some places. Certainly looked a damn sight better afterwards and last time we oiled the chassis before a run we ran our personal best 7.96, so every little helps!

Once the gearbox and ring gear had arrived, it was time to get it all back together. Boy was that a job! We were plagued with a few problems along the way such as trying to re align the axel that we had to unbolt and move back so that the propshaft would clear the gearbox when getting it out initially. After some small adjustments that issue was solved.

Next up was lowering the box into position - using a pole and some belts, as you do! Trying to get the box to slip itself into position proved a pain, however after some 'gentle' persuasion it slotted itself into place. Lovely jubbly! After all the brake lines and pipes were re-attached and the brakes were bled, it was time to go outside and fire her up for the first time. There was a major improvement already in terms of how quickly the engine fired after cranking it over, whereas with the old ring gear it would take a few attempts because the starter motor wasn't making adequate contact to the ring gear.

A little something to replace the current rev counter already on the car is pictured; so that we can playback what the revs done on the run. That'll prove to be a neat little gadget to mess around with! Along with the new rev counter, we also have a carbon fibre dash going in that is currently being constructed by our good friend Dave King over at Carbody, Banbury.

Obviously, Easter comes early this year so once this short February month is out of the way, the Festival of Power will soon be on the horizon and we at Team Rampage cannot wait to get started! See you there.