Rounds 6 & 7 of the Custom Car Street Eliminator |
Race Report |
What a month, I truly haven't seen such brilliant racing since the Pro Mod's at Santa Pod, Euro Finals 2002. Awesome, is possible the only way to describe what was happening. Drivers and teams, I salute you. Not only did we see a mass of personal records being broken, we saw wheelstands on the start line from a number of drivers, engine fireballs at the top end, back wheels off of the track at half track and I have no even mentioned just the brilliant atmosphere in the CCSE pits. For the first time ever, I witnessed what racing is, and it opened up a world which, as a spectator, I have ever seen before. Everyone who has been racing before will know the amount of hard work and effort these guys and their most excellent crew put in for us to enjoy ourselves. Obviously there are some fierce yet friendly rivalries on the track, but in the Pits, the warmth and good nature has to be seen to be believed. It was the Doorslammer Shootout and Round One saw Andy Frost being pushed back, as was Steve Pateman, being in Steve's pit, I could sense something wasn't right. Luckily it was only a push rod which bent, nothing which couldn't be fixed. Yet what happened next was truly brilliant. There was problem with getting the correct length and suddenly, everyone who was concerned was lending their knowledge, expertise and sweat to get the problem fixed, other racers, mechanics, and part sellers. It had to be seen to be believed, and from that moment, n, the weekend changed. As Mr Pateman, put it "this is drag racing..." What was to come next, I don't think anyone expected. A light inside all of the driver's heads screamed for some action! All of sudden, Personal bests were falling left right and centre. Steve Pateman 8.38 and an 8.31 and then decided to go to 8.22! Ian hook breaking his bad luck at Shakey with his first 8 second pass, not only breaking into the eights, but absolutely smashing his way in with an 8.79. Andy Frost also was creeping lower and lower into the eights with an 8.77. Jeff Meads obliterated any bugs in the Pop with an 8.67, whilst John Hales ran comfortable 8.8's and lower. Then, from nowhere, Mr Consistent, Alan Simms decided to take the Cresta and the little Rover engine to new levels with an amazing 9.1 second run! I said about the community spirit in CCSE, well I have never seen so many people smile so much when those numbers came up on the board! It was truly amazing and just shows the quality of the class. Colin Lazenby nearly broke his official CCSE 8 second duck, when he ran 9.0 at a massive 162 mph. plenty more to come from that when the traction sorts itself out. All other competitors didn't seem to make best use of the brilliant track, although the times were getting better all weekend. Ron Haslett seemed to find some more power in the now blown Chevy. Phil Toppin debuted his new Yellow Pop, but seemed to have Moose Hollingworth seemed to have a few bugs in the Cortina, whereas Ian Jackson seemed to put the power in the Small Block Chevy to use and resulted in some mixed times, all hovering around the 8-9 second mark. Although in the final, the car seemed to not perform quite as well and could only manage a 9.2 second run, although still good, it wasn't good enough. Steve Pateman's took the win with an 8.24and also took the championship initiative by only needing to turn up at the Pod to win. All in all a brilliant meet. A week later, we were at it again, this time the venue was Santa Pod in the quiet Northamptonshire countryside. Well, almost quiet! The final round, the end of season 2003, the pinnacle of a quite brilliant season. The drivers now had their Champion, the third time in succession for Mr Pateman. Did this matter, hell no! The meet started with no less than 5, yes five, 8 second runs. Andy Frost led off with a new personal best of 8.66 at 162. Ian Jackson and Ian Hook followed suite with an 8.9 each, not their best, but still showing that there is plenty of power left in the cars. Ian Jackson showing that Small Blocks have just as much power as Big Blocks with a massive 170 mph top end speed. Next up was the Number 1 and Number 2 in the championship. Steve Pateman finished first with a new CCSE record with an 8.15 at 170 which was followed by another new CCSE record when Jon Webster in the Team Powerpour Chevy ran 8.4 at 175 mph! The ET Record now stood at 8.15 seconds (Steve Pateman) And the Speed Record would now stand at 175 mph if backed up within 10% (Team Powerpour) Steve Pateman also proved that you don't need slicks to be able to lift the front wheels. The calibra was carrying the front left wheel to half track! Qualifying round two started with Steve Pateman now in 7's mode and he tried his best but at around 100ft, the tyres lit up and Steve pedalled his way through to an 8.2. Jeff Meads showed that he was not prepared to let everyone have the fun; everyone stared at the boards in awe when 8.3 seconds appeared at the top end. Quite amazing run. Tony Hill this time in a normally aspirated Astra ran 15 seconds. Not as fast you may say, but this is a 2 litre engine, no nitrous, if racing against an inexperienced Ferrari driver, it would be a very close race. Sounds uninteresting, but a Ferrari engine is roughly twice as big and built for performance, something an Astra wasn't. Shows the engineering qualities of the CCSE don't ya think!! Alan Simms joined the party once again so close to the elusive 8 seconds with another 9.1. Qualifying round three started with Jerry Charles I his daily driven Capri break into the 9 second bracket with a 9.9, Nice One guys!! Then, once again, another consistent driver stepped it up, when out of no-where Allen Curtis in the beautiful Van ran a storming 9.1 second run too. Previous personal best was 9.9, so quite a jump! Team Powerpour then took the speed record to a definite new record with a huge 177 mph. Street Cars now running 180 mph! That's quite something isn't it? Then Alan Simms once again joined in with a 9.0. So close to an eight that everyone who stayed behind to watch Alan run cringed and held their head in their hands. Everyone around the start line was willing it to run the eight, but it jut couldn't do it. 1. Steve Pateman 2. Team Powerpour 3. Jeff Meads 4. Andy Frost 5. Ian Hook Trevor Jones faced Jeff Meads in round 1 of eliminations, Jeff taking the win with an 8.4, Trevor Jones running into the mid to late tens. What happened next stunned everyone down at the start line. Jon Webster showed what years of driving stand for in today's racing. The car looked strong at towards half track, when all of a sudden it veered right, Jon overcompensated and turned sharply left, the car turned viciously and everyone at the start line gasped as we got to see the whole of the left hand side of the Chevy. Jon had managed to lift the back right hand wheel in doing so, the got the car back in shape and took off again to record a 9.4 at 160. The zigzag tyre marks which were left up the middle of the right hand lane were quite extraordinary, and a ripple of applause soon broke out. The crowd loved it, although I'm sure everyone's heart was in their mouths. Andy Frost decided that he was going to step it up again, Andy recording a brilliant 8.5 seconds. Round Two: Well what followed has actually changed the way people will look at the CCSE. Ian Hook was in the left hand lane, Steve Pateman in the right and also going for a seven second run. We had seen Steve up the tempo with 1.3 second 60fts. Ian Hook red lit and handed Steve the win, Steve lifted the front wheels and this time quite visibly, well, they just kept lifting! Steve went past the 60ft mark on the back wheels alone and still recorded a 1.28 60ft time. The back wheels pilled on the power and only stopped when Steve was facing the sky! At least two feet under the wheels and a near 40 degree angle on the car, only narrowly not scrapping the bumper on the track. CCSE Super Stock!! Steve still managing to record an 8.4, still was after coming off power, pedalling to get back on and then taking off again. Jeff Meads vs. Alan Simms, Jeff winning with an 8.7, then finally and quite brilliantly, Alan Simms getting the 8.9. A massive roar went up at the start line. Well done to them. Ian Jackson showed that even running a mid 8 second run, you can get knocked out in round three, when Team Powerpour took the win with an 8.2/177 compared to Ian Jackson's 8.5/170. It was Jeff Meads vs. Steve Pateman in the first of the Semi Finals. Steve gave it all away when he red lit and cruised to an 8.1, Jeff went through to the final with an 8.4, but threw oil all over the shutdown area. Team Powerpour then knocked out another mid 8 second running this time in the form of Andy Frost. 8.1 to an 8.6 this time around. The final was brilliant. Jeff had shown that he was pushing the Pop to its best and running low 8 second runs easily. One slip up by Jon Webster in the Chevy and Jeff would take it. They were together from the start line and all the way to just after half track when the oil problems were too much for Jeff, whose oil ignited and flames were visible under the car, the fire swarmed the engine leaving scorch marks n the body and it melted the wiring in the engine. Team Powerpour took the win with another 8.1 second run. Jeff despite the problems still managed an 8.4 What a meet what a season. Check out the very selective pictures below. I have to confess that I have damaged my other memory card, so this is it. Thanks for reading. |