Freddy's Revenge Drag Racing Team 2008 racing season write-up

Freddy's Revenge Drag Racing

2009 Freddy

Sponsorship deal for Team Freddy’s Revenge

We are thrilled to announce that Valley Carpets Ltd. is to sponsor the Freddy’s Revenge Drag Racing Team.

With the devastating loss of our Rodeck motor at the 2009 National Finals, it was looking like we were going to have to sit out the 2010 season, but thanks to this financial support, along with the continuing support of Huw and Mark, the Freddy’s Revenge blown alcohol altered will hopefully be able to contest the 2010 Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association national championship.

Dave would like to take this opportunity to thank the following :-

Gordon Northway, of Valley Carpets Ltd.
Leading Contract and Domestic Carpet Specialist
Telephone 01753 831310

As reported in the 23^rd October Eurodragster.com news item, Gordon’s own race car ‘The Edge’ will be representing the Multiple Sclerosis Trust and will be sporting their colors and logos.

The MS Trust is a UK charity, providing information for anyone affected by multiple sclerosis, education programmes for health professionals, funding for practical research and campaigning for specialist multiple sclerosis services.

The Freddy’s Revenge Nostalgia Fuel Altered will also carry MS Trust decals.

Cable-Tec
For all your Cables, Controls and Control Systems needs
Telephone 01623 440398
www.cable-tec.co.uk

Huw

Mark

The Freddy’s Revenge crew

Bob Glassop for his big-hearted gesture

All our fellow NFAA competitors who have offered sympathy, help and advice

Bill Todd at Gary Burgin’s

All the hard working Pod and Shakey track marshals and crew

All the photographers who have so generously provided images to us

Last but not least Lawrie Gatehouse, for being the driving force behind the NFAA.
Good luck in your retirement.

See you all at the track in 2010

Dinner Dance

Dave & Hils, Arthur & Alex, Mark, Chris, Rob & Tash, Joey & Mike ventured up to Solihull to celebrate the end of the 2009 season. A great time was had by all. It was a big shock to hear that Lawrie is stepping down, but I think everyone was reassured to know one of 'our own' was going to be stepping up to the mark to try and control us all - best of luck Bob! Huge thanks to Lawrie for everything he has done for the NFAA. It wouldn't exist let alone be what it is without your hard efforts.

We would also like to say a huge thanks to Bob - your donation to our winter fixing is greatly appreciated by all the team. We might not even have a chance of being out next year if it wasn't for you - thank you.

Enjoy your winter work everyone, best of luck for the 2010 season - we hope and look forward to seeing you all at Easter.

National Finals

We finally made it to our first National Finals in all the time we have been with the NFAA. Unfortunately it didn't work out as we hoped.

Points were really tight coming in to this meeting, we needed 5 points to take 3rd place from Venom (who weren't going to be out after their crash at Euro Finals) but Chaos and Xtreme weren't overly far behind us.

After the 2nd run, something didn't seem right with the car. There was some damage to the engine, and it would be impossible to tell in what order they occurred. From what we could work out though, points were still very tight and we were desperate to make 3rd place for the prize money - funds are fast running out at Team Freddy's Revenge. We didn't run the 3rd qualifier, watching as Chaos ran to see if they would get in to the finals and take 3rd place from us. We also saw Xtreme run a fantastic 6 - huge well done guys! Well deserved. We were qualified 4th and up against Frank Bennett for the 3rd/4th place run off. We started the car up and began to pull round, when Dave didn't feel the engine was right and went to shut her off - she shut herself off. We had no idea what had happened for a good 20-30 minutes, until we found a rod poking out the side of the sump.

The last meeting of the year ended like the first meeting - with bits and pieces poking out and making holes in the sump. The team went home knowing full well we may not be out for 2010 and with hugely dampened spirits.

Big Well Done to Bob Glassup and the team on coming from 6th place to take 3rd - great achievement! We really are happy for you, on that and finally getting that 6 - you really do deserve it.

European Finals 2009 (Non-championship meeting)

Pictures by Rob Cook & Alex

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY CHRIS!

Also, Team Freddy's Revenge wish to pay their respects to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. Our thoughts are with your families and friends on this anniversary weekend.

To the racing. Friday was scheduled for just the one afternoon run. After an eventful day of pro-mod crashes and many European Records being set, the NFAA joined the queue in the fire up lane. First teams out were Chaos an Venom, brilliantly Chaos ran a 6.48! Unfortunately Tony suffered substantial damage after a hard left in to the wall, long scrape and finishing the race upside down! Thankfully we have not long heard Tony is ok (5.45 Friday), but huge regards to the Venom team from all of our lot, and we really do hope to see you out there again next year! Dave was next due out, paired up with Bob Glassup. Freddy was straight to the centre line, taking out an approximately half track timing cone on the way. Dave lifted off at this point to run an 8.66 at 120mph. With 2 more qualifying runs on Saturday, 1 on Sunday plus the finals - there were plenty more chances to get that 6!

Big delays on Saturday put the morning race back further and further, and the NFAA pulled round at about 2pm. Up against Bob Glassup again, this race turned out to be one of the most amazing spectacles a man can see - side by side 7.1's! A 7.12 at 178mph had the crew jumping for joy as a new P.B!! With a nice glimpse of night racing at 7pm, again with Bob, Freddy ran all over the shop heading for the 330 reflector (2 in weekend? Luckily not.) causing Dave to sensibly lift off running an 8.41 at 161mph. This was enough to guarantee the team a place in the last 4.

Sunday was also delayed hugely, the first pair for the NFAA pulled round just after 1.30pm. Jon Best unfortunately couldn't make the call, so as first alternate Jim Usher pulled round. Coming from the outside number 5 qualifier, taking the win and going through to the final - nice one Jim! Unfortunately leaking oil down the track, hopefully no damage to the car. Dave and Bob pulled nice burnouts, both launched really well and decided to take the strip straight today - close at the top end, Bob took it with a 7.0 to Freddy's 7.3 at 174mph! Nice to see Freddy getting some traction and taking the straight route.

Great work by all the present team members this weekend, with all now looking forward to the National Finals in 2 weeks. Back to the pits to pack up for that long journey home, ready for that mad 2 week thrash!

Open Sports Nationals 2009

Over to you for the words Joey ..............

Weather was ok for the only meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway this year. With oil downs, crashes and de-icer-downs the Saturday run was delayed until half 3, which ended up being the only run for that day. Freddy launched really well, but headed for the centre line (as usual) which lead to a light lift off. Dave was back on it as soon as Freddy straightened up, and ran a 8.41 at 168mph which was appreciated by all the team!

On Sunday, the mornings qualifying run brought in a 7.58 at 170mph. Freddy was all over the place, heading for the guard rail and then the centre line. Dave did brilliantly to keep her under control and safely got the chutes out at the other end. After all was said and done, it was left for Frank Bennett and Dave to run the 1st/2nd place final. Dave pulled a good burn out, backed up, but unfortunately was shut down on the start line due to an oil leak. This oil leak has been causing us grief for some time now but is looking under control now!

As always, Freddy's Revenge Drag Racing Team would love to hear from any potential sponsors. We are coming up to the end of the 2009 season now, with a new shopping list at the ready but most importantly we need to raise the funds for a new tow-truck. The old faithful Freddy Truck is running round on his last legs now.

Well done to all the crew for another fantastic weekend! All are now looking forward to a demonstration weekend at the European Finals.

Pictures courtesy of Ivan & Rose

Picture courtesy of Jon Spoard

www.ukdrn.co.uk

Pictures courtesy of Alex

Summer Nationals 2009

We hadn't been out since Easter after the damage we had in the last run of the weekend, it had taken a long time to get all this fixed. We've missed a championship round and an invitation to demonstrate at Main Event, which were both very gutting. A lot of work had gone in to getting out for the Summer Nationals, with parts not coming from the U.S. until late and some parts not turning up at all, so a huge amount of the work (if not all of it) was done in the 5 days leading up to the weekend.

Overall though, a successful racing weekend! First run off the trailer was a 7.23 @ 186mph, which we were very happy with. When we got back to the pits to do the lash, we found a lot of oil in the engine so we pulled it all apart to find the source of this leak and give everything a clean up. In order to do this we had to miss the evening's run, so we took our time and cleaned everything thoroughly and fixed the leak. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and unexpected, so a trip to Tesco for more cold drink was called for as well!
As it was Hils' 40th birthday the following week, the team had clubbed together and organised a ride in the 2 seater dragster for her on the Saturday afternoon. Her first thoughts when she found out what she was in for were..."Oh sugar" (in a not so polite manner), however she went on to thoroughly enjoy the run and ran a 7.97 @ 176mph if I remember correctly.

Sunday came round with even more gorgeous weather, and the morning's run came to be side by side 7.2's with Joe Bond - completely reminding us why we love the sport and worked so hard to be here! After all 3 qualifying sessions the final 4 was to be Frank Bennett vs us and Joe Bond vs John Wright. Unfortunately John was not able to make the call, which left Joe with a bye. Frank and Dave then went on to run a 6.4 to a 7.17 - new pb's for all concerned! We were really happy with the new pb, even if it is only by 2 tenths of a second but as they say, every little helps.

A short review for this meeting due to attention being paid to the last Silverstone F1. We would like to finish with a big thank you to Ingrid Chesworth, for capturing the moment Hils' life flashed before her eyes when she found out what was in store for her. Also to Arthur and TC for all their hard work the weekend before Summer Nationals, to Dave for all his effort on Thursday with TC, and to the rest of the crew for their input - whether it be tea making, oil draining or gearbox checking - and positive ethos.

Pictures courtesy of Ivan & Rose

Link to Dominic Romney's picture

Pictures courtesy of Alex

Easter Thunderball 2009

Pictures courtesy of Ivan and Rose

April 15th 2009

Easter Thunderball 2009

For once the journey up to Santa Pod Raceway was smooth and found no problems. With an even larger crew than usual attending we had the pit set up and awning up in no time. The NFAA were due a practice qualifying run at 14.40, however due to a mix of light and heavy rain pretty much all morning as we hear, there was very little racing in the morning and none at all after we had arrived. We started the car up at about half 3, and everyone was happy with how the car sounded. It felt great to be back at the track and everyone was looking forward to running again.

Saturday’s first run was due to be at 11.00. Unfortunately at 3pm we were still seeing low clouds and damp air which was turning in to spells of rain every time the track was close to being dry. Track officials were going to use their extension of 2 hours to give us racing until 9pm but the rain didn’t allow any racing at all on Saturday. All that was left to do was look forward to a hopefully much drier and sunnier Sunday, again with our first run due to be at 11am.

Sunday started damp aired with wet ground from rain during the night, with the track crews trying their hardest to get things started for the day. Things finally got going at approximately 12.30 with the Pro Fuel classes and NFAA due out at 2.30. The NFAA started running at about 4pm, and the first race was Paul Wratten and Tony Betts. Unfortunately Paul shut off when reversing from the burnout but was waiting around to try again. We lined up next with Joe Bond, but were shut down for what turned out to be no reason at all. We sat back with the Wrattens hoping to go again. We were the first pair out after a clean up from Joe taking out timing cubes, but were again shut down, this time due to an oil leak. It turned out to be a good thing we were shut down as Paul crossed lanes on the cold and low traction track and finished the race in what should have been our lane. We towed back to tackle the leak and try again later on in the evening. Originally our runs were due to be at 2.30 and 5, but with us not returning until 5pm we were due out a little later, still not sure of what time at 6.40pm. During the first round no-one other than Bob Glassup really managed to take to the track, and with 3 cars (including us) not getting a time there was still chance for us to get to the finals on Monday.

We cut it extremely fine for the night run on Saturday, the others began towing down and we were still putting the car together after having the bottom end apart to check everything was ok down there. We managed to catch every one up literally at the final minute, and are so so glad we did. Venom went down the track first and run a 7.2 (I think) which gave the rest of us an idea of the track. Next up the Bennetts and Glassups paired up and took a nice even race. We were next up with the Wrattens, and went for a short burnout as the engine was still warm from our late warm up. We were really happy with running an 8.4 at 141mph, while the Wrattens were chuffed with a 6.7 at 182mph. Last up was Chaos. We got back to the pit at 9pm for a celebratory BBQ and the usual after run maintenance, much like a lot of the other teams. We were really looking forward to what Monday would bring at this point, with weather forecasts looking positive and 3 runs on the provisional running order.

Monday morning we woke up to sunshine and blue skies. The day was filled with sunny spells and the odd set of clouds, which set us up for a nice day of racing. We began preparing for the first run of the day, which was due to be at around 11am. After having a slightly high leakdown test on the Saturday evening we looked at this again, which came to no avail, so we were to start up and check it again and see how we get on. The morning came to some controversy over how the finals were to be worked out as different teams were under different impressions, however this was resolved and the final 4 cars were to be worked out from their best 2 times. When we towed down, everything went up in the air as the Wrattens and the Glassups didn’t make it down the track. Venom went on to run a fantastic 6.5@ 221mph, while we went on to run another 8.

With everything being so close we were then to wait and see if we were in the finals. We got on with usual after run maintenance anyway, and waited to find out. At 2.30pm we were told we had an hour until we were in the 3rd/4th place run off with Joe Bond, then at 3pm told we had 2 hours. We got as much packed up as we could then to allow us a quick get away after the race. We towed down not long before 5, but unfortunately the race was delayed due to a couple of different reasons/races, and we ran at 6pm. Freddy was going strong and looking straight in both the burnout and the first 1/8th of the race, then took a sudden right turn and a puff of smoke could be seen. Oil was found in our lane after the race. Joe must have seen Dave coming and backed off, which officially left us to take the race. Unfortunately at the top end things did not look good. Dave thought we had hurt the car, and with a quick feel and loosen of the diaper, car parts could be felt underneath and a hole could be seen in the sump. Back in the pits things got uglier, with the hole going right the way through the sump and a number of bits being found in the diaper.

Everyone worked their backsides off over the winter and this weekend, and if everything was done on effort there would be no way we deserved this. This is quite a set back for us, with the damage being rather expensive, it looks as if we are out for at least the rest of this season. We wish all the best to the rest of the NFAA and any other races for the rest of the 2009 season, we still hope to come and see you all race.

Lastly I would like to say thank you to all of Team Freddy’s Revenge and the boys who came with us for all their hard work and effort, and sorry that it didn’t work out like we’d quite hoped. We’ll be back.

April 4 2009

Arthur and Alex came down for the weekend, for a pre-season refresher and general socializing.

Saturday afternoon was spent giving Freddy's brakes a once-over; followed by a brief fire-up, before enjoying a Team Freddy barbeque with a little bench racing.

I'm sure Joey will upload the video, shortly

Our new steering box Alex polishing the wheels Arthur giving the brakes

and butterfly a once-over

A bigger audience than Shakey

on a good day !

March 9 2009

TC and I made the trek to The Pod, for the annual SFI inspection of our Crower clutch and Browell can.

The SFI team of US' Arnie Kuhns, Murf McKinney, Tim Hyatt and the UK's Andy Robinson have been to Finland, Holland and Sweden over the last five days, ending their tour in the Santa Pod Media Center.

Also on hand were the UK Tech Crew of Geoff Martin, Mark Norton and Graham Motler.

Look what we spotted in the Media Center !

March 6 2009

It's amazing what difference a new set of batteries makes and how one should never assume.

The black battery was the unknown quantity and therefore the one we suspected may not be holding its charge, but when we put Knibbo's meter (cheers for the loan, mate !) on the pair of them, it was the white one that was showing 0% condition, on a 100% charge.

We have learnt through experience that suspect batteries = unreliable starting = zero round points, so we took the decision to start the new season with a new pair. The old black one will prolly be o.k. for the trailer, tho.

The motor span easily on Friday afternoon, allowing us the opportunity of a brief fire-up, before pulling the trans and clutch out for our annual SFI inspection.

So with nothing more we can do to Freddy before we go to The Pod on Monday morning, we can start our annual service on the trailer brakes and wheel bearings.

February 26 2009 -

With the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod just 6 weeks away, this is the time where we really start to get ready for the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, this is so far not going well for us at Team Freddy camp.
The motor isn't playing game and isn't wanting to turn. In the process of trying to get it to turn over, one battery for the starter has exploded and another has caught fire. If this is a sign of what is to come for the rest of this season then I think we'll stay at home!
We are desperately seeking sponsors still, if anyone is interested please contact us on Dave@freddysrevenge.co.uk or saucyminx34@hotmail.com No need for a generous sponsorship deal, every little helps with our team. All sorts of options available, please email for more information.
On an off-track note; Hils has been busy with the first lambs of the year, Chris has been contemplating the option of working abroad for 6 months and TC and family have sadly lost their cat Oscar, to a hit and run driver.
The next 6 weeks are sure to fly by, and we look forward to seeing you all at the track then!

Unlucky for some - Friday February 13 2009

The new steering, Friday February 13 2009

A frightening experience, Saturday January 31 2009

Workshop Happenings, Saturday January 3 2009

Workshop Happenings, Friday January 2 2009