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!