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30/08/2002 BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP ENDS ON HIGH NOTE Back in the UK after our tour of Scandinavia, the team here at American Car Imports Racing serviced the dragster in preparation for the final round of the 2002 RAC MSA Top Methanol Championship. Mechanical gremlins at the previous two rounds meant our chances of taking the title were very slim so we decided to put the spare, spare engine in the car and leave the number one and spare engines back at the workshop. The final round of the FIA European championship (where we have a much better chance of taking the title) follows this race very shortly so we elected to keep the big guns in reserve for that race. Whilst travelling Europe we had started taking the clutch out of the car after every run and grinding the friction surfaces of the plates and floaters to improve the consistency of the clutch performance. Abroad we had been using grinders very kindly leant to us by our friends at both the Micke Kagered and Leanders Bros. funny car teams, but we knew we had to build our own. Around midnight on the night before the race we finally finished creating what is undoubtedly the heaviest clutch grinder anywhere on the face of the planet, loaded it into the truck, grabbed a few hours sleep and then headed to Shakespeare County Raceway in the early hours of Saturday morning. Once the pit was set up, the PlayStation backed dragster made fully race ready and scrutineered it was time for our first qualifying session. Regular readers will know that we were forced to shut the car off in the final in Norway due to a split oil line between the filter and the pump. Both filter to pump lines were replaced with new, up-rated ones for this race and we think they proved to be too stiff as on the burnout one of the new fittings shook loose, leaking oil on to the track and meaning we had to shut the car off again. This was not quite the start we'd hoped for and was a tough end to a tough day. We did enjoy watching our friend Malcolm Francis, Managing Director of our sponsor Air Sea Logistics putting in some strong passes in his new Super Gasser though (pictured).  Back on track on Sunday morning with a different set of oil lines fitted and despite tyre shake in first gear Dave squeezed a 5.723 at 251.40 mph out of the car. The speed smashed the existing track record and meant that our third motor must have been in good shape and pulling hard as it crossed the finish line. Sure enough back in the pits everything looked fine and it wasn't long before we were ready again and back in the staging lanes for the final qualifying session. Some tune up changes looked like they had helped ease the tyre shake and the incremental times showed the car to be on a quicker run when the blower belt flew up into the air around the 900 foot mark, resulting in a coasting 6.024 at a positively weedy 182.93 mph. That 5.72 put us into the second qualifying spot behind Rob Turner's very stout, personal best 5.61 and paired us against Doug Bond in the opening round on Monday morning. Unfortunately Doug had suffered a major engine explosion in qualifying and would not be able to compete against us. After a very long collective thinking session on Sunday night we came up with a Plan B tuning strategy for the bye run to try and eradicate the tyre shake. Whilst waiting in the staging lanes for the first round on an unseasonably cold Monday morning we were all horrified to see the very nasty top end crash between Gary Malin and our good friend John Parkinson, who crewed on our second car last season. Thankfully both drivers were OK, though both cars were destroyed. Whilst the racers in the pairing lanes wandered around during the clear up time, Super Mod racer Danny Cockerill spotted a nail stuck in one of our slicks that we must have run over on our way from the pits to the track. Luckily, and thanks to the superb support we receive from American Car Imports, we carry a second set of wheels and tyres that are ready to go. So after a quick run back to the pits for the other wheels and the trolley jack we changed wheels in the line up in front of bemused crowd, a few of whom thought we were putting the wet tyres on under the threatening sky! Plan B didn't seem to work too well with a 5.837 at 251.40 being the outcome but that did give us lane choice for our semi final against Lindsay Deuchar. The delay to the racing schedule after that crash meant that the turnaround time was short for the semi final but our super crew had the dragster ready in time to take a 5.676 at 252.81 mph win over Lindsay's troubled 9.97. That run was using the Plan C tune up which bettered our own track speed record and secured us lane choice in the final over Rob Turner's Netcall backed rail. By making it to the final, the Turner Racing team secured the championship title and our heartfelt congratulations go out to them. This meant that the final was just about trophies, chocolates and bragging rights and was set to be an absolute corker. Again it was a very tight turnround but both teams were ready in time to make the Top Methanol final the last run of the day. After strong burnouts and good leaves from both drivers and some deft driving out of tyre shake in both lanes the two cars were hooked up, dead even and hauling for the finish line. If ever we needed to pull a 250 mph run out of the bag this was the time and trusty old number three didn't let us down with a 251.40 mph charge coupled with a 5.688 second elapsed time to take the win over Rob's 5.756. After such a great race both teams were happy and everyone enjoyed the trophy presentation after the racing had finished.  After leaving the track the ACI Racing machine headed straight to Earl's Court to go on display at the PlayStation Experience exhibition. From there we will be heading to Santa Pod for the FIA European Finals and then on to the Ace Café in London the following weekend where will be doing a demonstration for our good friends there on their reunion weekend. As I said the turnround times were tough on race day and I'd like to thank my excellent crew of Dave, David, Linda, Ricki, Mike, Tony and Jon who all performed flawlessly and kept the American Car Imports Racing machine on the track and in the winners' circle. We all look forward to seeing you all at the races again before the off season is upon us.
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