FIA/UEM European Championship opening round, The Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England

Words and pictures Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes
Thanks to TSI Timers (Europe) for access to the timing data

After a 2008 season greatly disrupted by the weather, the 2009 FIA European championships roared back into life at Santa Pod Raceway’s Main Event. Three days of hot sunny weather brought the very best from the European championship chasing teams. Although the track was a bit slick for the nitro burners in FIA Top Fuel Dragster and UEM Top Fuel Bike to be on barrier busting pace, records were broken, nay, smashed, in four of the eight pro classes, and a simply stunning FIA Top Methanol Dragster field that will stick in the minds of all that saw it for a long, long time.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster

The heat had a lot of the crew chiefs scratching their heads about how to get their driver down track during qualifying sessions, as was evident from only half of the eight car field clocking four second runs. The reigning champion team of Andy Carter and Per and Karsten Andersen were taking power out of their Lucas Oil backed car to try and work out the optimal setting for the much stiffer chassis after it was front and back-halved by Mats Eriksson over the winter, and they weren’t that happy with a 4.915/255 for 4th spot on the ladder. Come raceday and with cloud covering the racing surface for the first round of eliminations, Carter knocked out Linda Thun Tonseth with a smoking 5.016/ 248.15, and then ripped off a 4.802/307 for Low ET of the meeting in a grudge match with last season’s runner up Lex Joon in the semi-finals to book a slot in the final where he would face Denmark’s Stig Neergaard. Despite a soft launch from Carter, his early shutoff 4.908/293.12 was enough to beat the up in smoke Neergaard to the finishline and secure a very solid start to his championship defence. “That was a difficult meeting for us as a team, but we dug deep like champions do and got the job done” commented Carter afterwards, and then went off in search of his ermine robe, crown and sceptre for the trophy presentation.

To say Stig Neergaard had a mixed weekend would be something of an understatement. First up, the Danish team entered last year’s car for cylinder head technician and Super Comp driver Tommy Rostgaard to shoe, but delays in getting his fuel car license led to a last ditch attempt on the Friday of the meeting. The result saw the rookie on his head in the field at the end of the shutdown area after a stuck throttle and motor explosion burnt off the chutes. Then Neergaard struggled through qualifying despite the best efforts of a visiting John Smith and chewed up a fair number of parts in doing so. Fortunes changed in eliminations with a surprise defeat of a flaming Micke Kagered and then a smoking Risto Poutiainen in the semifinals, before running into the AngloSweDane juggernaut in the final.