Last race meeting of the year and my second with the car, after the rain at the National Finals we woke up to the Sun (all be it cold!) on Saturday morning with the car ready to go after Darren re-did the plug leads Friday night.

Now with full throttle I was the first car down the track, pulled a nice strong burnout but at the hit it smoked the tyres and the back end stepped out so I gave it a quick pedal and pulled second which straightened it out nice, I ran through to the 1/8th and clicked off.

The second pass was much more successful, the car hooked up hard running a 1.36 60ft and 6.13@108mph at the half track mark but as I didn’t feel it go into third I shutoff coasting through with a 10.83. Upon inspection in the pits we had a trans leak (fortunately the trans blanket held most of it from going on the track).

The leak sorted I went round to do my final licensing pass but as it transpired we broke a pushrod (on the burnout we think) and the run was only on seven cylinders, the car felt very loose so I lifted a few times around half track and ran through with an 11@120mph, not quick enough for my Super Pro license but that will come next year.

The car is now at Doug Ripley’s for a winter diet and a few bits of work. We’ve got a few cosmetic changes planned for the off-season too including the full paint.

Quick thanks to the crew for their help again and to everyone who stopped by to say hello and wished us well.

Roll on 2007!

Saturday morning came round and after scrutineering and firing the car in the pits the moment I’ve been looking forward to for so long came; we towed down with Super Pro to tag on to the end of their first qualifying round for my first observed run, and my first pass in anything since junior dragster nearly four years ago.

Everything went perfectly and I pulled a 0.022 light to boot. As the tree came flashing past in the side window I clicked it off, recording 1.458 to 60ft with half throttle which looks promising for the future. Apart from the rain which unfortunately halted any further licensing passes (not without trying on the part of the track crew who must be thanked for their dedication and effort) we are all very happy with the weekend and I’m itching to go again!

Thanks must go to Doug Ripley, Bob Glassup & Xtreme Racing and the Bond family & Nuthin’ Fancy crew, also a quick thank you to Peter Donaldson who kindly brought round a print out of a photo he took on Saturday. Finally to the crew for their work, especially Darren; without him we wouldn’t have been there.

Finally, a quick note in case people have not noticed - we are still running under the name Time Machine Racing, but we have decided to bring back the ‘Motor Psycho’ name for this car as a tribute to Bob, Mick and Brian Gleadow’s gasser Pop of the same name from the late ’60s - check out the history and gallery pages for more details of the original Motor Psycho.

We were all deeply shocked here at Time Machine Racing when we heard about Richard Hammond’s accident whilst driving the Vampire jet dragster at Elvington, and wish him the speediest of recoveries. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time for them.

As you may have heard in the media, over on the PistonHeads forum there was some discussion about what could be done to show support for him - initial conversations were about delivering flowers and messages to the hospital when someone hit upon the fantastic idea of raising money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which airlifted him to hospital. Since each mission costs £340 on average, this was set as the target. When I last checked the total was at nearly £50,000.

Air Ambulance services within the UK receive no public funding and rely on charitable donations - if you would like to donate to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance visit the Richard Hammond / Yorkshire Air Ambulance appeal page.

Our thoughts are also with the family and friends of Roger George following the tragic accident at the Euro Finals.

After minor teething troubles at the Open Sports Nationals (which were to be expected for the first time with the car) we ended up with only one that was insurmountable - we weren’t making enough compression. After looking at our options with the current motor we decided that the small block isn’t suiting our needs, and so went off in search of a new engine.

The small block is now for sale and we have a new fuel injected 517ci big block Chevrolet. We do not currently have any plans to stick a blower on it and so will be running in Super Pro ET, although who is to say what may happen in a few years time - it’d be ideal for NFAA if supercharged! We plan to debut the new combination at the National Finals at the end of September, where Adam will complete his licensing runs. Martin plans to license at a later point once Adam is comfortable in the car, possibly at the RWYB after the Fireworks Meet.

One positive note did come out the Open Sports Nationals though - both Adam and Martin passed their blindfold cockpit orientation and escape tests. Photo from this can be seen in the gallery.

2007 should see us with a full calendar of competitive and demonstration events - dates will be added just as soon as they are confirmed.

In one weeks time we will have debuted the new Motor Psycho at Shakespeare County Raceway’s Open Sports Nationals, and by this time next week we should know whether it has all worked or not. In preparation for this, we have relaunched our website to reflect the style of our new car, and at the same time improved the functionality and build quality of the website.

If you are going along to the Open Sports Nationals please feel free to drop by and talk to us - if we aren’t too busy we will be happy to answer your questions and bench race with the best of them.

See you next week!