The 2006 Halloween Meeting from Shakey County

The 2006 Halloween Showdown Test 'N' Tune Meeting

from Shakespeare County Raceway, Saturday 28th October 2006

The weather was not looking promising for the weekend, especially Saturday, which was the only day I could get to Shakespeare County Raceway. In the end, the weather didn't turn out too badly. There had been showers early morning which meant that the track team had got a bit of work to do to bring the track around to race condition.

I sauntered off up into the pits and had a good look around at some of the hardware slated to run over the weekend. I am never failed to be impressed by the turnout from the Surrey Muscle Club and their collection of cars: An Oldsmobile 442, A Plymouth Roadrunner and a delicious-looking General Lee replica Dodge Charger. The only thing that would have made the line-up of cars more appealing would have been a 32 valve 426 Hemi motor in that Roadrunner... Yum, yum!

I had a good look at the racing vehicles and later had a chat with Jim Usher, driver of The Mob, who was returning to racing after some motor damage at the Open Sports Nationals meeting. The car was back together and really, the opportunity to run this weekend would be like a 'spring training' session for the team and would give them a head start on the rest of the NFAA runners, for next season. Later I was speaking with NFAA Co-ordinator Lawrie Gatehouse who informed me, with an air of excitement, that a whole bunch of glistening new billet parts were wending their way over from the USA for use in the Chaos Altered which Lawrie owns and John Wright drives. Next season, the NFAA Nostalgia Altered series will eagerly anticipated by everyone, myself included.

As the track dried, the organisers decided that initially, the only runners on track would be those with treaded street tyres as the track itself was largely unprepared. Later on, they brought out the glue machine and gave the track a lick or two and at that point, slick-tyred vehicles were allowed to run, which they did, without incident.

I certainly enjoyed the day and latterly, we were treated to a run by the hybrid rocket car, Laffin Gas, driven by the steely Carolynne Campbell. Rocket cars can be the most unpredictable of vehicles at the best of times; if they are powered by Hydrogen Peroxide and you have a fuel leak and it gets on you - it will dissolve you; if it's solid fuel and it sends you in the wrong direction and you want to turn it off. Tough! You can't! In all cases a malfunction can be calamitous at best and at worst, could possibly end up with an explosion of the proportions of the Krakatoa eruption. So it was with this in mind that everyone (including photographers) were ordered back. On the first attempt, Carolynne's Hi-tech battery (powering the electrical system) failed and nothing happened at 'the hit'. After going for a lower-tech battery from a nearby Honda Accord, the next attempt was set to be more adventurous. As rocket cars do not 'wind up', as Jet cars do, spectators and officials have no idea what is happening in the count down process or, when an ignition event is about to happen. To assist in this matter, Carolynne has a flashing blue light on the top of the roll cage (with an audible alarm) which stops as the action is about to start. On this occasion, not all of the 4 rocket systems lit. The pickup of the combustion process, I guess, was not what was wished for and progress away from the line was slow. In short, the launch was disappointing as much to car owners Carolynne and David as it was to the rest of us, who yearn for the project to be successful and to run mid 4.8 second runs at around 300mph - which the technology is eminently capable of achieving. Next year will surely bring some long-sought success to the project and give the team ample opportunities to carve it's name in racing history.

Many thanks to Shakespeare County Raceway for all their courtesies and to the APIRA for organising another excellent event. Finally, thank you for taking the time to visit www.topnitro.co.uk

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