Friday at The Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park

Sportsman Qualifying at The European Finals - Two or three hours is better than none!

Thursday 7th September 2006

Work meant that I was unable to get to Santa Pod until this afternoon and I did not see any track action until just before 3 O'Clock. Never mind! At least I did get to Santa Pod today and what a glorious day it was! The Sportsman action on track seemed to live up to expectations and mention must be made of some new performance bars that have been breached:

Mark Pointer in the 'Hooligan' Outlaw Anglia, got right down into the 7.5 second zone as he gets his head around the new chuffer which sits comfortably atop his new motor. Pat Talbot got over her early dose of bad tyre shake to shake her stick at the six second zone again! A 6.96 second pass was just reward for her team's efforts lead by husband Stephen.

Jöran Persåker was having great fun with his turbocharged firebird - a car that seems to shake, rattle and generally head wherever it wants! The car seems to have ample power from the new motor and Jöran seemed to be enjoying himself thoroughly. His second pass was no less exciting and doubtless he was having his usual hysterics as he kept his boot planted. If the chassis was tweaked a smidgeon - this car will run deep into the six second zone.

Andy Frost was out with his Red Victor 2. He's had a nightmare with the car following it's conversion to turbo power. Earlier in the year when mapping out the configuration, unexpected engine damage occured and this has not only been expensive to rectify, it has created an engineering nightmare to do so, with the fabrication of a dry-sump system and installation in less than no space. Oil leaks earlier in the day caused his first attempts at a pass to be aborted. Once cured, Andy came round with a single objective: make a full pass. I saw him launch really hard away from the line and at around the christmas tree, he blew his tyres off. Andy calmly slapped it and planted it back on the boards - and what a pass! It really moved in the middle section, appearing to lift the front wheels momentarily as each shift came in. 8.743 seconds at 162 mph tells me that when he gets it mapped and settled down in the first 60 feet, Andy has got himself a 7 second ride! I bet he was chuffed to bits with that run; he and the team deserve this new injection of luck.

I have prepared a gallery with 145 pictures in for you to enjoy by clicking on the link above.

It it highly unusual for me to fully process my pictures, write a bit of scribble and post it all on the same day! That is because a) I was 'only' there for two or three hours and b) When I drove back to home in Derby (where I was expecting to take out Mrs. Topnitro), I discovered that she had taken herself out with her cackling buddies on a hen night! So, being the diligent sort of chappie I am - I thought, rather than sit in front of the telly, I would completely finish off Thursday's tasks! As I am not coming back from Santa Pod until Monday, work means that I won't be making the next update or report for the next week or so. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

Thanks for taking the time to visit www.topnitro.co.uk

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