FIA Main Event 2007
Santa Pod 25th – 28th May
The Main Event was to be the eagerly awaited debut of the latest Showtime Fuel FC. You may have seen an article on www.eurodragster.com from crew chief Bob explaining that a team tradition is that all the Showtime cars have been “named”. So in keeping with the tradition, the new car will be referred to as “The Eric Car” in memory of the late Eric Medlen.
The car, less the body, was in the transporter and on site in the pits on Thursday. Friday was spent checking over the whole car in minute detail and running checks on all the systems and data channels. There were also a few minor modifications required to some of the ancillary equipment. Once satisfied everything was A OK, the car was fired up for the first time and apart from a “dead” cable, which was easily replaced, the car was perfect.
 Whilst all this was going on in the pits, the body was back in the workshop having the finishing touches applied to the graphics. Once completed, with the help of the loan of a trailer from Santa Pod (thank you), the body was brought round to the pits and mounted on the car. The next step was to “level up” the body and check all the clearances. The best place to do this was on a flat an area as possible. With racing finished for the day, the car was pushed round to the start-line with John “driving” it for the first time. Once there it was a question of measure/adjust/measure adjust until the body position and clearances were correct. The car was then put away for the night ready for the first outing on Saturday.
The weather forecast for the weekend had not been promising all week,
Saturday was thought to have the best chance of being fine. We were scheduled for 1 run in the early afternoon, however, if the forecast for Sunday was rain we would try and get in 2 runs. As with the Autotrader Easter Thunderball there were again 4 Fuel FC’s entered for this event.
 The debut of any car is always an event, but when the car came round behind the start it seemed as if every photographer in Santa Pod was behind the wall in the left lane. The track announcer called out to Bob to see if it would be a check out pass, launch or whatever. Bob’s response was “ If it stays OK we are going all the way! “. The car was fired up and the “Brad” motor sounded on song. Tog of Eurodragster commented – “ The car sounded very different to me, something has changed in that set up I think”
0.9331 to 60 feet then John hit shake around 100 feet and came out of it. That settled it, we would go for another run later in the day.
Back in the pits, the routine service revealed a rod journal bearing was starting to break up, and had marked the journal on the crank. So everybody into action to change the motor. The crew did their usual efficient job and we were back out on schedule. There was a short delay at the start, then the car was fired. As John rolled through the water box and did his burn out there was a trail of oil behind him. He was told to shut off, and get out the car and clear the track for Leif to run. After Leif had run the car was pushed back to be inspected by an anxious crew. Showtime does not oil the track!
Close inspection in the pit revealed a small split in the oil tank around half way up – this has never happened before. The problem was traced to the check valve in the oil tank breather line. It had closed off, not allowing the tank to breath. So the pressure in the tank ballooned until the tank ruptured .This was replaced and everything thoroughly cleaned before putting the car away ready for Sunday – weather permitting.
Well here endeth this report as it rained solid for the next 2 days, not a wheel was turned by anyone! There were many of our sponsors and their guests due to attend and I know they were as disappointed as we were that no racing was possible. We hope to get some track time before our next event. Thank you to our sponsors and fans for your continued support. Be sure to keep checking out the website www.showtimeracinguk.com for all the latest news.
All the photos are courtesy of, and copyright, Nigel Holland www.nigelholland.co.uk
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