Ok here goes…… Usually, it’s my job to ride the bike and leave Lizzy to the PR and write the race reports, but I thought I would give it a go. Due to real life and having to go to work, I couldn’t make it to the Track until Thursday evening. By the time I got to Santa Pod, the pit was set up. The girls had done a great job setting up the pit space and the caravans! (Thanks Nipper for the tow) Just a small hiccup with fuel in the generator (yes as it’s not an ACU race meeting, there was no electricity supplied by Santa Pod 🙁 )This was soon sorted out, and I made up for being late, by buying the Team a Chinese takeaway, we know how to live it up! Friday morning we had a look over the bike and fitted the wheelie bars,… Read More »

How we are able to write a season review when none of us have been racing is amusing. It’s been as much of a busy season as ever. Just like it would have been if there were the three of us racing competitively! How does this happen?? I will try to make this as interesting as I can. We are asked what is happening with various developments – so here goes.  Jake got an unconditional offer to study Computer Networking at Sheffield University, and is going to be concentrating on this, so won’t be racing for a while. No doubt at some stage will be doing some run wots, on Kev’s old Bandit which is being rebuilt and redeveloped at present. He passed his driving test the week before he left, so was able to drive himself up there. Very proud of this chap! Jake and the team also crewed… Read More »

Just got back from a cracking weekend on the Isle of Man. The ferry journey over on the Thursday night was rather rough, and not very pleasant, but once there, and we had driven to Paul and Maria’s in a torrential rain storm, we finally got to bed after midnight. In the morning it was still raining, but by late morning the rain had almost gone, and we set off to the track at Jurby. Set up, bike out, and had a look about. Julie Moxley, by this time was on her way, I hadn’t heard from her for a couple of weeks, apart from a text to say she was on her way. Imagine my total surprise when not only Jules got out of the car, but Minx (Sarah Chapman) too! Lost for words I’m not, very often, but I was …… Brilliant that I had both of them… Read More »

The season sadly none of us are contesting the ACU Championship, Kevin is still building the top fuel bike, but other commitments have taken precedence, so the bike is on the back burner for now. Lizz has (supposedly) retired from competitive racing, but will be out testing, and will be racing at the Bulldog Bash on Dutchman’s Erik Feijt’s bike, who he has very generously agreed for it to be brought over to the UK for this. There are also rumours that Kev may have a go on Rockets funny bike too! Jake has out grown Junior Drag Bike in more ways than one. Jake is nearly 18 now, and over six foot, the Junior bike is far too small for him. The plans are for him to be out on Kev’s old Bandit in due course. Talking to Funny Bike Racer, Dave Peters (Rocket) who we are crewing for… Read More »

Yes I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. I am now officially retired from competitive drag racing. This doesn’t mean that if the opportunity arose, I wouldn’t be on the race track again; it just means that I will not be competing, or spending all my money on racing, instead supporting and crewing for Kev when the fuel bike comes out. Kev has given me more racing years than I ever expected, mentoring me and giving me great advice, which led us winning a Championship in 2013. He is one of the best nitrous tuners out there, we learnt from another good guy, Ken Cooper, and Kev and I testing and developing his own ideas, has been able to tune my bike with minimal spare parts with tired old stuff which I could never afford to replace.  There are not enough words or hours in the… Read More »

Kevin, as you know bought the fuel bike, “The Purple Princess” from Steve Carey and after taking a good look at the chassis without the engine in, rather sensibly decided that a new chassis was definitely in order, due to a terrible crash that Steve had on it at Dragstalgia in 2013.  As you can appreciate, these things cannot be bought off the shelf, and are not cheap.  It is a work in progress, but things are moving in the right direction. Pulleys have been made by Portobello Precision, and he has had a meeting  with Jon Webster  at Webster Race Engineering (webster-race-engineering.co.uk) and  Dejan Jankovic from Portobello Precision (Find him on Facebook) to talk about the next stage of the build. The engine has been rebuilt, and is sitting pretty waiting for the chassis and various other components to be made. To get the build right first time is what is imperative.… Read More »

Today saw more progress as I have collected the new pulley blanks from our friends at Portobello Precision CNC Milling and Turning these will be trial fitted before the gear is cut and they are anodised thanks very much for the excellent work and enthusiasm of Dejan and the team making these one off parts.

The first day in Drachten and the weather was very hot. The first two hours of racing were allocated for testing so we decided to get a couple of runs in early to see what the bike would do after tuning from Don Kennedy. Our first run was delayed a little by some issues setting up the tree, Dad, being a little rusty at this crewing game, forgot to pull the pin out of the air shifter. I noticed the flag flapping in the wind just after 60ft and tried to pull it out however the loop connecting the flag to the pin broke leaving the pin in place and meaning the run was completed in 1st gear with a final time of 17.46 seconds @ 44.36 km/h (27.56 mph). In our second test and tune run everything went well. I ran 10.86 @ 97.27 km/h (60.44 mph). We decided… Read More »

National Finals Jake After testing at The Bulldog Bash it was time for my first meeting on the new bike. To start with we decided to keep the bike as it was and went for a dial in of 10.2 just to get a number on the board. After running a 10.8 we decided to see what could be done with the clutch. We lightened the base springs to allow for more clutch slip off the line and added weight to the arms to compensate further up the track. This worked off the line with a falling 60 foot time but definitely felt sluggish. We also noticed the shift point was set far too low as I shifted gear just as the bike was about to take off. All together it equated to a time of 11.2. The night before eliminations we added even more weight to the arms and… Read More »