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18/09/2002 FOUR ENGINES AND A WEDDING Immediately after crossing the finish line first in the final round of the British championship, the American Car Imports Racing dragster was thoroughly cleaned and polished then transported down to Earls Court exhibition centre in London. For the next week the car would have pride of place in the foyer there in support of the PlayStation Experience. The show was a new venture by our sponsors at PlayStation to give gamers the chance to test new games before they are released and also to pick up stacks of free goodies.  Members of the team were on hand at all times to answer the show-goers' questions and of course to snaffle some goodies for themselves. The whole event was a huge success and having the dragster on display generated a lot of interest in the sport of drag racing as well as the big race the following weekend. Once the show was over and the car had been extracted from the Earls Court foyer down a flight of stairs (no mean feat with a 25 foot wheel base!) and taken back to our workshops in Farnborough we could get on with the job of preparing for the European Finals.  At the previous race we'd run on our number three engine so we pulled that one out and put the number one back in. Then we loaded up numbers two and three along with all our kit (including our earthquake proof clutch grinder) and headed to Santa Pod on Thursday night. Qualifying would start on the Friday morning but we would not be taking part that day as our driver's daughter, Anne, was getting married! Despite various hair-brained schemes involving helicopters, mirrors and smoke the only option was to sit out Friday's qualifying and hope that the remainder of qualifying on Saturday wouldn't be washed out. Whilst the Wilson family were at the wedding the rest of the crew set up the pit and finished off getting the car race ready in peace… Luckily for us the weather on Saturday was fine and we would get the opportunity to make three qualifying runs. Our first was a strong and smooth track record 5.556 at 249.39 mph. This was our second quickest pass ever and put us straight in to the top slot. After a routine turnround we headed back on to the track to try to back up the 5.55 for a new European record. Sadly it was not to be. The next run started well but the car didn't seem to pulling as hard as normal on the top end and the scoreboards confirmed our thoughts with a 5.843 at 237.85 mph. Back in the pits we found a push rod that had had enough, which in turn had damaged the lifter underneath it and that in turn had damaged that lobe on the camshaft. The quickest solution to get back on the track was to change to the number two motor so the crew sprang into action and by the time the final qualifying session rolled around we ready to rumble once more. However in the previous session, championship rival Peter Schofer had taken our number one spot with a 5.54 and due to the peculiarities of the five car ladder we would be contesting the following day the existing qualifying order actually suited us better. Once we knew that none of the other teams would be running in the last session we elected not to run either, stay second and maximise our slim chances of taking the European title on the Sunday. With qualifying complete we set about ensuring we also had a spare engine ready for race day which should have involved the simple task of servicing the number three engine. However whilst we were checking that engine over we spotted a cracked main cap (which we would later discover was caused by a cracked crankshaft). This meant that the number three block was unusable and as number two was already in the car ready to go we had to fix the damage to number one with some new parts and some parts taken from number three. So engine number four was made by combining one and three (confused yet?)! By the early hours of Sunday morning we were finally ready for eliminations. In the opening round we were paired against the last qualifier; Doug Bond but whilst Dave was backing up from the burnout an oil leak was spotted from the filter and we had no choice but to pull the car over to the side of the track, shut it off and then watch Doug's car and our championship hopes disappear. This also meant we were out of racing for the day but thanks to PlayStation we were able to keep the crowd entertained in other ways as our lovely PR girls threw PS2 T-shirts into the crowd during breaks in the racing action. Whilst this wasn't the end to the season that we'd been hoping for everyone on the team agreed that this has still been our best season by far and an amazing experience for all concerned. The string of records, firsts and wins we have put together this year have made it a memorable season for all of us and we'd like to thank you all for sharing it with us. Congratulations to Peter Schofer on taking the European title. Be sure though that we have a few tricks up our sleeves to improve our performance in 2003 and make it very difficult for you to repeat! Our superb season would not have been possible without the invaluable support of everyone at American Car Imports, PlayStation and Air Sea Logistics. Throughout the year we have received many compliments about the livery on our car which was very kindly created by Total Design, Euro American and Custom Graphics. 76 Racing Fuels kept us supplied with methanol, OCW with spark plugs and US Automotive with oil, whilst 1st Line Motorcycles provided us with a swish pit scooter that has proved invaluable throughout the season. Finally thanks to all of our fellow racers and fans for making going racing so much fun throughout 2002. See you all next season! 
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