York Dragway Report

Inter Club series Round 2- June 17th 2001

Round 2 of the Inter club challenge took place on Sunday 17th June, at York Dragway. A low turnout meant that only 3 cars were entered in the 2wd class, and 10 cars ran in the 4wd class.

Morning qualifying saw many people struggling to find grip as the previous day's rain had made the surface very tricky.

By mid afternoon the times had improved, with Danny Fennell once again running very quick times in his Nissan Pulsar GTI-R. Danny set a time of 12.569s @ 116.39mph, which proved to be the fastest qualifying time. New club member Paul Birdi also did well, in his GTI-R, on his first ever attempt on the drag strip! He recorded a time of 13.249 @ 107.13mph. All of the GTI-R owners enjoyed some head to head races, and many quick times were recorded considering the poor surface conditions. Paul Waite was also struggling to control the clutch and grip in his Mitsubishi Evo 6, running a 14s time. He eventually had to retire after only 3 runs in the morning, despite qualifying, as his clutch got the better of his left leg, still not fully functioning after a bad bike smash.

Qualifying times 4wd

Danny Fennell GTI-R 12.569s @116.39mph

Jason Gant GTI-R 13.113s @ 108mph

Paul Birdi GTI-R 13.249 @ 107.13mph

Mark Evans GTI-R 13.48s @ 103.12mph

Simon Skidmore GTI-R 13.92s @ 96.49mph

Paul Waite Mitsubishi Evo 6 14.09s @ 104.12mph

In the 2wd class, Andy Nicholls once again led the way with his 300bhp Rover T16 engined Maestro. After last weeks win at Santa pod, Andy opted to run less boost due to the slippery conditions. He still managed an impressive 13.04s @ 110.3mph!

Damian Ward managed to get his 300bhp Sierra Cosworth to launch albeit with lots of wheelspin, and enjoyed a few close races with new member Paul Wolsey in his BMW Cabriolet, with M3 engine! Damian managed a best of 14.2s @ 103.35mph, while Paul managed a very respectable 14.26s @ 97mph, including a 0.479 reaction time!

The afternoon eliminators are head-to head, with first across the line to win, rather than best time! This meant that unfortunately Danny was eliminated after a slight problem on the line, against the twin turbo Cortina. Mark Evans won through to the 4wd final, but was unfortunately just beaten by the same Cortina, by virtue of a better start. Mark managed 13.87s @ 102.8mph, and a fine 2nd place.

In the 2wd class, Andy managed another fine 13.3s @ 111mph run, before winning the final against Damian, this time with a slower 13.83s against Damian's 14.9s run!