FIA European Finals 2009 Page 3 of 4
	Nosferatu slammed into the wall giving me a hard jolt and slamming my helmet into the roll cage
That left only one thing to do, fix the beast. Friday morning I drove to Real Steel and picked up a new 4 1/5 inch stroke big block Chevy crank whilst the team stripped the motor to a bare block in the chassis. Engine was fully re-built by midnight on Friday, the team had worked non stop and did a cracking job. First qualifier on Saturday I shut down the motor after the burnout as I was not happy with the oil pressure and some tweaking in the pits sorted the problem out. It was now time for our last qualifier at the end of the day in diminishing light. We paired up with Nick Good to attempt side by side six second passes (possibly a first for Super Pro) with one extra unknown element. The broken crank had damaged our blower pulley and we didn't have a same size replacement, so what do you do in those circumstances? Put a bigger one on, oh yes, even more blower boost! We dialled in a 6.88 and lined up next to Nick in the left hand lane and mashed the throttle when the lights went down. The wheelie was massive and I was heading for the wall, the only option was to lift slightly to regain control. Once straight, but close to the wall, I mashed the throttle a second time and Nosferatu picked up the front wheels again and headed for the wall one more time. Too late, Nosferatu slammed into the wall giving me a hard jolt and slamming my helmet into the roll cage (hooray for roll cage padding. Safety rules definitely rule). I coasted down the strip not realising that the motor was still running and fumes from the damaged headers were filling the car. I shut the motor off and took the first exit. The safety team were straight at my door but it wouldn't open. They took a good look at me and saw that I was fine, so I crawled out of the passenger door. The safety crew then explained that as I was okay they had decided not to rip the door off. That is level headed thinking showing that they have priority concern for the drivers condition but also consider our pride and joys and don't inflict unnecessary damage. Previous Page Next Page