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Here with the Street Eliminator UK, you'll find the quickest and fastest 'street legal', pump gas cars on the planet. But how on earth will the teams repeat the excitement that 2007 delivered.
At the National Finals we saw the et record laurels and the series Championship going to Steve 'Splinter' Nash and his Wildcat team partner Mick Franklin. Steve had nothing like a Sunday drive on the day of the finals by taking his twin turbo Mercury Cougar on a number of wild wheelstanding runs, the best of which was a 7.8408 (this backed up his final round run against Steve Pat*man when he ran an 7.8489). Pat*man was defeated in the Final even though he ran his quickest 'in session' run ever with a 7.9510 - Who'd have thought it... And hats off to likeable Andy Frost and his twin turbo Red Victor II, he ended the season with a firm grip on the speed record with a 'backed up' 188.53 mph pass.
It' s hard to believe that for the top cars the improvements in et's are now only coming down by around tenth of a second per year and one wonders if we'll see more teams upping their game in 2008. Or, will the top teams be able to progress even deeper into the 7's. The original 7 second hero and also a former SE champ himself was John Sleath. John now has a twin turbo power for his Sleath Race Cars backed Audi and was the first competitor EVER to run a 7 (though it was with a Keith Black motor and Pro-charger back then). What about Andy Frost, he's run more 7's than any other SE competitor. Or Steve Pat*man, another former (4 time) SE Champ. Splinter will naturally be looking to repeat his performances of 2007. How about Colin Lazenby and his 'team 56' Chevy, maybe they'll be looking to spoil all of this - they started the 2007 season with an 8.01, and they then set about wrecking their normally bullet proof transmission. They followed this up by smacking the wall 2 events later so you can bet they'll be looking for a better, quicker (and cheaper) year than they had in 2007.
Certainly 2007 saw more of our SE competitors running NPB's and 8's than any other previous year. One half of (but twice the size of) the dynamic duo and brotherly partnership of old 'Vette's' racing Ray and Rob Tucker, he saw 8's in 2007 as did rookie driver Mark Perkins. Ex SRS racer Ray Comer found 8's too. So did long time SE racer and usually clean enough for a Persil advert Wilf Stacey, he also found his 8 second form. So did top all round driver, associate Sponsor and proprietor of WRE, Jon Webster, driving his unique MGSV. So did Alex McIntosh, along with crew chief 'Johnny Mac' (another WRE employee) who if rumours are to be believed is about to abandon the sinking nitrous ship to switch over to Pro-Charger power for 2008 - shame on you Alex. If he does make the change, he's following the lead of Jason Weir and his Plymouth Suburban - Jason also saw 8's for the first time 2007 and he's just picked up his recently upgraded car straight from the B&H Automotive shop.
Top bloke Ron Haslett has upped his game for 2008 having stroking his motor (amongst other things) to 545 cube. Will we see 8's from Ron in 2008... How about Jeff Meads, he's also upped the displacement and power of his already 'lively' Ford Pop - and he's already gone 8.30's. Famed SE news writer and 2006 Champ Ian Hook and the rest of the 'sizable' FB racing team are upping the size of their engine to something much (much) bigger - Hell it's over 600 cube, and he'd already gone 8.17. Tell me, is there anyone who doesn't love to race fatty... Watch out for this team in 2008, no seriously.
New to the SE (but not to drag racing) is Martin Taylor with his impeccably prepared '52' beetle. This thing has an insanely oversized single turbo (and rear end weight bias) and I can't wait to see this thing reaching for the sky - this very same motor on methanol, in a rail, has gone 6's in the States - God help the poor unsuspecting boy.
How about Davie Murdoch and his beautiful BDS blown, ARRC built '33' Willy's coupe, which will, ultimately, go 8's. This thing's been on Kenny Coleman's dyno at EDA and I know what it made. The wiring is just about finished and it'll be ready to take a test drive anytime soon. He's better come to my school of peddling before he unleashes any real power.
And who's gona take on Steve Kellett in his Pro-charger'd Mustang... anyone? Tell me there's not a low 8 in that thing right from the start. Either way you can be sure that Steve, and the boys at B&H Automotive are more than capable of delivering what's required to run with the best of the teams in the UK's Street Eliminator series in 2008.
One thing's for sure, none of these guys will rest until they find the limits of their combinations, track conditions, or their treaded tires.
Best of luck to everyone.
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