12.10.04 - Derek Flynn & Gold RV Racing end of season report

It was this time last year that Gold RV agreed to help invest into a drag race team, after sponsoring Darryl Bradford and the Wildside Team at last years Euro Finals (my first outing to Santapod), we decided that we just could not watch it, we had to take part. So we bought a rail car that was capable of getting down the track in less than 9 seconds and in excess of 150MPH. With much help from Terry & Tina Gibbs, who explained the different classes and some of the rules within them, track etiquette etc. helping us with suits helmets gloves etc.. We decided to go straight into Super Pro as we wanted to go as fast as we could in the car and did not want to slow it down.

We continued our Top Fuel sponsorship, this time with Andy Carter, and we all know how it went with him, well done Andy, the final was just magic, and you could not have written it better ! You and your team have performed superbly all season and we are all proud to be associated with the European Champions. I told you those Gold RV logo’s were lucky !! It all started back in February at the www.xwishow.com , where we signed the sponsorship agreement with Andy. It has been very good talking with Andy and his team all year and to have an insight on how a top team goes about there work, thanks mate and well done.

Now for our first outing, the Easter Thunder ball. Having never been on a drag strip before let alone drive one of these things I must admit to being a little apprehensive (well to be honest I was Sh!*ing myself) but we got the observation runs done (with one rather hairy moment on a cold track) and I was already smitten, grinning from ear to ear after each run, so much so it hurt, I just love this sport!!! To top it all on our last qualifier we nailed number 1 spot and made it all the way through to the finals thanks to loads of luck and the stewardship of Bob Glassup of xtreme wheels. Although now I have seen him run in his topolino this season, I think he must have a screw loose and should I really be learning from this man? Congratulations Bob and the xtreme wheels crew, what a car, and I am sure the 7’s waiting for you next year will be some of the most exciting 7’s to watch!

AC won the top fuel shoot out and to top it all Bobs son Mathew Glassup won his event.

I must admit to being rather embarrassed at our achievements in our first event but the whole weekend was just awesome, I even thought about, ‘quit now whilst you are ahead’ and if we had won it, I may have.

Next up the main event we qualified a respectable mid table 11th and made it through to the second round only to get blown away by a blown Aston on street tyres, it just flew past me at the line!

Summer Nationals, due to problems with the car we only had one trouble free qualifier and we nailed it splitting Barry Giles & Steve Johnson for number 2 qualifier, (with a fuel fitting borrowed from Steve’s car, thanks mate). We made it through to the third round where I pulled my 1st Cherry with a bye waiting to get us to our second final,

… right just get comfortable, build the revs, ah shit, my thumb slipped off the button, errr right I’m off then.

Then to our 3 second Shaky debut at the All Star Nationals, and my now infamous ‘little tinkle’, where we holed one of the pistons on our first burnout and were out without a run, after a quick head job by J&W Automotive (err you know what I mean) and some parts rushed in from the states and a bit of a dent in the old wallet we managed to get the car ready for the finals (just).

The euro finals we qualified with a mid table 11th again, and were knocked out in the second round in a great race with Paul and his Mailkey.com dragster.

The National finals, we only managed a couple of qualifiers, our first a dismal 9+ seconds due to a spark plug out, the second was much better and I believe moved us up to 5th qualifier before the oil down and the heavens opened.

At the time of writing this we are not sure where we ended up in the Championships but believe we could be as high as 4th in the Santapod Championship and 5th/6th in the Nationals, which when you consider we did not enter all the events is pretty good going for our rookie year, even if we do say so ourselves, and it is going to be tough to better this next year but we are definitely going to try.

We have all learned so much and the more we learn the more we realise how little we know. Thanks to Andy Robinson (& Kate) and everyone who has helped us.

Thanks to all my team mates you have been great all season !

Thanks to our sponsors Gold RV www.goldrv.co.uk Triple e, Roadtrek, Pleasureway and the Triple fff Brewing Company.

Thanks to all the people who supported our NSPCC fund raising campaign this year.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the other super pro’ers out there who have made us feel most welcome at all the events, safe racing and hope to see you all next year.

Thanks to all the people that are involved in promoting and organising drag racing here in the UK, and thanks to all the drag race fans for making this most excellent sport happen.

High of the season: Lifting the Thunder ball runners up trophy !
Low of the season: NONE
Regrets: Should have started this much earlier in life !
Plan for next year: Go faster !

Marks out of 10 ? (I will leave that to others)

So I guess this is where it resembles my school report, could do better !

Regards

Derek Flynn
Super Pro 798

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