I have just got back from our first meeting of the year and it was great to be back at the track. I was not in the driving seat this weekend; instead I was back helping out my Dad with the Pro Modified Studebaker.

The weekend started well and the weather was absolutely amazing! Usually the Easter Thunderball is cold, and often wet. In previous years we’ve even had snow!! So for sun to be beaming and no rain all weekend that was a welcome change. 

Our racing however had many highs and lows. On the Friday we had one pass scheduled, and after launching Dad hit immediate tireshake. This is not unusual and to be honest when you’re tuning for a track that you haven’t raced on for 6 months, there is an element of educated guessing.

Our second session on the track came on the Saturday morning; this was to be a shake down pass an 1/8^th mile to ensure the engine was running well before we ran a full pass. The problem with drag racing cars is that you are putting the engine under so much pressure and if there is a problem (even the smallest of problems) it can cause massive damage to the engine, so when we have runs at our disposal its great to use these for a bit of testing – especially if we have changed something recently.

Our 1/8^th mile pass went well and we gained our usual number 1 spot with a 6.41 second ET. On the next pass we went for the full run and clocked a great 6.15 second ET. We were all so pleased as we knew the tune was safe and there is a lot more left in the engine, however once we started to do our regular maintenance we realised there was a problem.

Low oil pressure had caused issues with our bearings and consequently bent our crank. This put us in a really difficult situation, we had some spares but we did not have a spare crank as we didn’t have the funds before the season started. The issue was that we were due to go to Hungary and run exhibition passes the following weekend and with this new engine damage it was looking unlikely.

After long discussions the crew agreed that they weren’t 100% sure what was causing the low oil pressure, and therefore the first time we run the car with our spare engine could potentially do the same thing and then we would then be out for the season, this as you can imagine is not good news.

So when the very kind offer from fellow racer Graham Ellis came in, for us to buy his spare crank we knew the best option was to rebuild the engine with our spares and try to figure out the problem.

So on Saturday night myself, Luke and Ryan drove to Essex to pick up the new crank. At the same time my Mum and Dad drove back to our home in Basingstoke to pick up our spares needed for the rebuild. We got back around 1am in the morning, while we were taking a road trip the rest of the crew started to take the engine apart so we were ready for the following day.

On Sunday we were due to have two more qualifying runs both of which we missed while rebuilding the engine. Despite having two less runs than everyone else we still managed to keep our number 1 qualifying position and maintained a lead of nearly three tenths faster than our nearest competitor.

On Sunday evening we finished putting the spare motor together and started the car up, but the same low oil pressure problem occurred – the crew were really stumped as to why this was happening.

We were out of ideas and the solutions we were coming up with were not doing enough, We needed to test the car or we would never know whether the problem was still there but running the car could potentially cause major engine damage to our spare.

Luckily for us our number 1 qualifying position resulted in us having a bye run in the first round so the decision was made to test with a burnout, launch and half pass to minimise any potential damage.

With a plan in action the following morning we took to the racetrack, last in the pack on our single pass. To get through to the following round all that was needed was to stage the car and take the green light – but we were shut down after the burnout with an oil leak and consequently we knocked ourselves out of competition.

This was disappointing however that’s racing and sometimes things like this happen – what was more important was testing the car to see if we had solved the problem.

The track officials kindly let us run again after the clean up. Although it did not count for eliminations we were able to see if our oil pressure gremlin was still there and the answer was yes, the problem was not solved. 

After speaking to some other teams and some very helpful advise we decided to make a few changes and take one last stab at it. If the problem was still there we would not be able to go to Hungary, as it is a very long drive for us to potentially ruin a motor in the first pass!!!

The track officials kindly let us tag along onto the back of the sportsman finals and we were the last car on the track to close the day’s racing.

Again the team agreed with Dad, that this was a test to ensure the engine was happy. Therefore we would do a burnout, launch and half-track pass, if the oil pressure was good Dad could stay in it for the full ¼ mile and that’s what he did! As soon as we saw him continue on past half-track we knew the car was in good condition. Dad is very good at spotting things and he would not risk it if he wasn’t sure.

When we saw the ET of 6.10 seconds come up on the board we were all so pleased, and although it didn’t happen in eliminations this gives us a great base for our first FIA meeting which takes place at the end of May.

When the car was pulled back to the pits, the crew quickly looked at the components which had previously been suffering from damage and they were beautiful! What’s more is that Dad actually lifted at 5.9 seconds into the run so it’s likely the run would have been a 6.0 second ET.

This weekend has been so challenging! We have had so many ups and downs but throughout it all the crew remained calm, positive and worked hard to find a solution. I am extremely proud of our crew this weekend as this is what team work is all about. With that in mind we are able to confidently go to Hungary for our exhibition passes this coming weekend. My Dad will drive out with Luke and a guest crew man Andrew immediately, then on Friday myself, my Mum and Ryan will fly out to help out over the weekend. The crowd were great last year so I’m really looking forward to it.

I would like to thank everyone who helped us over the weekend on behalf of the team:

Graham Ellis, Danny Cockerill and his Father, John Spuffard, Dave Wilson, Dave and Steph Milam, Steve at Torco, Clive Bond and anyone else who gave us advise or helped out with parts so we could continue to race.

I would also like to say thank you to anyone who congratulated me on my license. I really appreciate all the support I’ve had, and in related news there are some conversations happening and hopefully some possibilities in the pipeline for the future. In preparation for this I have applied for my competition license and have brought my new helmet over the weekend. I hope to order the rest of my safety gear this week, which is very exciting! I will of course update you all as soon as there is anymore progression.

Thanks for reading!