Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European Drag racing proved yet again to be the venue of choice for discerning race fans and petrol heads, as no less than 3 records were smashed during last weekend’s ‘Main Event’ – including 2 World Records!
Anticipation was high prior to the event, thanks a simply eclectic list of talent and machinery that promised great things from the outset. With last year’s event seeing records broken and then re-broken before the ink had chance to dry on the timing slips, the capacity crowd were looking to the ‘Who’s Who’ entry list, including top US ¼ mile star Melanie Troxel, to provide them with similar thrills this year.
Despite the weather being less than helpful on the Saturday, they didn’t go home disappointed, with John Bradshaw kicking things off by setting a new world record for the quickest Skyline in the World!! His hugely impressive slip 7.4513/187.41 with a textbook reaction time of just 0.0022 seconds will be very hard for anyone to beat. Jap fans will be delighted to know that John and his charging Nissan will be wowing the crowds, along with hundreds of other Eastern gems at the Japshow, at Santa Pod on the 4th of July. ‘Well, that was five years of hard work condensed into a little over 7 seconds of glory!’ laughed John. ‘We owe it all to our sponsors, Abbey Motorsport, Nissan UK, Motul oil, Gizzmo and AET Turbos. The strip was superb and really helped us to get a fantastic launch. We’re delighted, as you can imagine!’
Two wheel aficionados got their ticket money’s worth thanks to a storming World record run from Frenchman Eric Teboul’s Rocket Bike. Setting the World’s best ET for a bike – at a mind numbing 5.2321/249.02, it was as scary to watch as it was impressive!
Melanie Troxel’s competitive day at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway was short, but she put on a superb show for the fans.
After losing in the first round of eliminations, Troxel returned for an exhibition run where her R2B2 Racing Camaro ran the fastest Pro Mod pass in European drag racing history — a stunning 5.937 at 242.42 mph. Aside from the historic speed, her elapsed time was just the second five-second run on European soil.
Finally, to top it all off, Urs Erbacher kept Top Fuel honours high, with a new European speed record of 314.87 mph!
Commenting on the weekend, Santa Pod General Manager, David Lloyd-Jones said ‘We’re delighted that it’s been yet another weekend of superb racing. It’s good news for the sport and even better news for the fans when history gets re-written like this. The Main Event is getting quite a reputation as a record-breaking round, so here’s hoping that the drivers and riders can keep pushing the envelope throughout the season and into next year. It’s testament to our superb Marshalls and track crew that our strip surface allows this kind of action with such regularity.’
For more details on Japshow, or any Santa Pod event, please click to www.santapod.com or call the team on 01234 782828