PTM Show Report 2010

Pro Class

With John Bradshaw out due to mechanical problems discovered before the event, it was down to Leon Green and Chris Impey to put on a show and duke it out for the points.

In qualifying it was clear that Leon Green had lots of power on tap, but he never managed to achieve the perfect launch, twice spinning up and losing drive, but recording an amazing 177mph terminal speed, indicating at the car’s potential.

Chris Impey was launching hard and going back onto his wheelie bars hard, and finished qualifying just a few hundredths of a second behind Leon.

Pro Class Final

With just two cars in contention, it was straight to the finals, and on the face of it, things were all set to be very exciting, with both cars running almost identical times in qualifying. But all the tension and excitement drained away when Leon Green’s Supra was called back from the line due to leaking fluid and Chris Impey was able to make an uncontested run to take the win.

Winner: Chris Impey

Fac Mod Class

New faces joined the Fac Mod regulars and brought some interesting new machines to the party. Stewart Taylor’s Impreza was developing lots of power as shown by his terminal speeds, but a bumpy and unstable ride prevented him from running the numbers in qualifying. Keith Carr put in a solid run for third place in qualifying and Stuart Williams was on a steep learning curve with his Supra, running big terminal speeds even without a hard launch. But it was Mark Moseley who dominated, with a stunning 8-second run and devastatingly powerful launches that put him on the top-spot.

Fac Mod Class Semi Finals

Stewart’s car was clearly having some major teething problems in qualifying, as it failed to make it out for the first round of eliminations and Mark Moseley was able to concentrate on running yet another superb 8-second run.

Stuart Williams and Keith Carr should have had a good battle on their hands, but Keith broke on the line and Stuart Williams went into the finals. Keith later came back to the line for a practice run only for the Supra to burst into a huge fireball as a result of a nitrous “burp”. Keith and the racecar were quickly rescued from the flames.

Fac Mod Class Final

It was a David and Goliath final, or more accurately, a Mark and Stuart final, but it amounted to the same thing. Stewart was doing his first drag meeting in an unproven car, and Mark has stamped his authority all over this class since its inception.

As the lights dropped to green, Mark was off like a rocket, with a good reaction time and a 60ft that left Stuart standing. Stuart gathered momentum in his Supra rapidly, but there was no way he was catching Mark this time.

Winner: Mark Moseley

Street Class

Winner of round 1, James Willday took the top spot in qualifying with the only 10-second run. Malcolm Thomas put in a convincing 11 second run and John Stocker was doing well in his Nissan 200. John Morgan was returning to the Pod after a long absence, and his new car was showing enormous potential in testing but was less spectacular in qualifying. Jeff Ludgate was still waiting for his RIPS machine to be repaired, and so commandeered a spare car to try and make some kind of impact. Robert Shadwell’s proven 9-second car was having gearbox issues that put it out of the running. Mark Salem turned up with plenty of power but snapped a drive shaft on his first qualifying attempt and failed to make a valid qualifying run.

First Round

James Willday should have been paired with Robert Shadwell, but the continuing gearbox problems meant that he didn’t make it to the line.

Malcolm Thomas was dozing on the line as the lights went green, but luckily for him Jeff’s less powerful car was no match for his mega-quick Skyline and he was able to redress the balance at mid-track to go through to the next round.

John Stocker put in a great reaction time and subsequent run against John Morgan, but it was unnecessary as John Morgan’s Supra conked out and left Stocker’s Nissan to make a lonely pass into the next round.

Street Class Semi Finals

James Willday was gifted a bye-run into the finals – one of the many benefits of qualifying well, and so sailed into the final round, with a bit of reaction-time practice thrown in!

Malcolm Thomas and John Stocker had a good race on their hands, with cars both capable of similar performance. Both left the line at the same time too, and were almost side-by-side as they hurtled up the track. But the terminal speeds show that Malcolm Thomas was pulling out a significant advantage at the finish line, and he was whisked into the final round.

Street Class Finals

James Willday was in a proven 9-second car, and Malcolm was yet to see 10’s from his Skyline, but this was a serious race nonetheless, and as the lights dropped Green, James Willday was caught napping, leaving the line a significant 0.4 seconds behind Malcolm Thomas. As they both roared up the track, James was slowly but surely catching the blue Skyline with a 10mph speed advantage, but they ran out of road and Malc had got there first, taking his first competition win!

Winner:   Malcolm Thomas

FWD Class Qualifying

Adam Buckley rolled out with an extremely impressive new steed for the PTM Show, his fire-breathing Civic running some stunning times and topping the tables. Paul Cresswell was also running well and a low 11 secured him second place. Robert Carnson was the sole runner with the older shape EG Civic and running strongly also with a low-11. Kart Hart was playing catch-up with a mid-12, and championship leader Guy Chamberlain was all set to unleash the fury of his monster-power car when disaster struck! In the heat of his first qualifying run, Guy accidentally changed down a gear and engine braked hard, causing engine damage that meant he had no hope of rejoining the action.

Round 1 FWD

Adam Buckley earned himself a bye run as top-qualifier, and took a 10-second ride into the next round.

Robert Carnson defeated Karl Hart with an inexplicably lengthy reaction time from both drivers. If either had been a little more alert it could have been a far more decisive victory!

Paul Cresswell was up against Guy Chamberlain who was still out from his earlier mistake in qualifying.

FWD Class Semi Finals

Adam Buckley learnt a harsh lesson from the drag racing rulebook when he went up against Robert Carnson. One of Adam’s crew touched the car when it was fully staged, which is strictly forbidden, and even though Adam run a superb 10.3 and Robert broke, it was Robert that went through due to this infringement.

Paul Cresswell found himself with a lucky ride to the final against a broken competitor!

FWD Class Finals

It was a bit of an anticlimax for the final. It would have been great to see the charging Adam Buckley against Paul Cresswell, but it was not to be, and instead we had Paul paired against a still-broken Robert Carnson who did not make it to the line. Paul celebrated his win with a powerful 11.1 second pass.

Winner: Paul Cresswel

The round points and season standings table are on the main 2010 Points page.