Eagle Eyed Readers Will Have Notice That,

yesterdays post was posted at 06.00AM

because at 06.30 Bob and myself were on our way to a race meeting, 

with more than a few other attractions, 

we were early so the funfair had not yet opened 

that is the grandstand where we will be sitting, 

at the Santa Pod Raceway, 

before the racing started, 

time for a burger and a coffee, 

and a walk around the stands selling all manner of race related bits & pieces,

hats for the baldies like myself, nothing worse than having the top of your head sunburnt due to lack of hair!

and ear defenders for the noise that some of the cars make, 

we continued walking,

through the stalls until,

we made our way to the pits and started looking at some of the cars, 

great to see our national flag being shown, with so many UK councils pulling them down it was nice to see the flag here and even better the playing of our National anthem before the afternoon race session, 

I am not au fait with modern turbo technology, 

so I had no idea what all of these turbo bits are for, 

but I do know what this is, 

one of the three jet cars that we will be seeing later, 

the bit that spins the gases around, 

and the bit they come out of forcing the car forward, 

the pointy bit that crosses the finish line first, just a small bit about the speed of these things, FireForce 3 which is often here, is the world's fastest jet car over the 1/4 mile, running a 5.79-second pass at 336 mph, yes from a complete stand still, in less than 6 seconds it was travelling at over 300mph!

and the driver sits here, 

another of the jet cars, 

guess who?

yes Spiderman! (if you watch the video turn the volume up to 11), to give you a idea of what it is like to see one of these race),

a great way into dragster racing, a junior dragster, 

the paint was amazing, just a shame it did not photograph well,

we continued our walk,

and passed Snake Eyes, who we watched last year, 

as with most dragsters a V8 engine is de riquer, 

many with recognizable brands,

 Magic Rat,

using a 567 cubic inch (9.3 litre) Big Block Chevy, with a Dart "M" Block, Eagle Crank, H Beam Rods, Dart 320 Heads, 

if you meet this van on the road, watch out! it is very fast, 

its bonnet hide a huge engine, 

with 2 of the biggest turbo chargers I have ever seen,

the racing started with a few familiar car, a Ford 'Pop',

a Cobra,

a E type Jaguar,

and lots more, 

keeping those wheels down at the start always a problem,

next a dragster, 

or two, 

or three, 

before each race there is a 'burn out', 

the drivers select top gear and spin the tires to heat them up, 

this makes them nice and sticky, 

to give maximum grip for a fast getaway, 

of course use too much power and the car becomes rear heavy,

 

and front light!

on to the jet car, flames shooting out from the rear of the car, 

makes it a spectacular sight, and the noise as it rockets down the track is amazing, 

another burn out, 

after which they reverse back to the start line,

as the crew ready the car for its run,

then something you never want to see at a drag race, the Christmas tree all lit up, it means there is a fault in the lights or the timing system,

it was decided it was the lights themselves, 

so out with one of the spare sets, 

and racing back to normal, 

with more burn outs, 

and we must not forget the dragster bikes, 

who also sometimes have a problem of the front wheel leaving the ground,

another of the jet cars takes to the track,

to put on another awe-inspiring dash to the finish line,

a few more cars leaving the ground, 

and how can anyone not like a VW bug?

in the afternoon we made a move for home,

past the stalls,

and the fun fair,

now open but not many customers, 

all the fun of the fair! nearing home Bob kindly dropped me off,

by the cricket club,

so nice to hear the thwack of leather against willow, 

this ball almost looking like a LBW, (leg before wicket), arriving home I had beaten Diana back home who was at work, after a coffee and chat we watched a couple of Columbo's that were showing in the evening, before as we were both a tad tired, we were off to bed.