NFAA Championship Event Results

Some words about the event from Chaos team owner Lawrie Gatehouse:

There were only 2 NFAA cars for the event, ours and Motor Psycho. The economy and other factors have sidelined too many, but 2012 should be much better, based on the information and promises that I have......we shall see.

We prepped well for the Finals and did most of the maintenance work in the FGR workshop prior to the event.

The track conditions on Saturday did not particularly suit our car, the track temp was around 64-66F and we
really need it to be in the 70’s to get the best from the power output.

Our first run was a bye as Adam Gleadow had a few transmission issues with the Ford. We carded a mid seven which gave us a feel for the traction at the start and mid track. The second qualifier was at nearly 6.0 PM by which time the track was 63F. At the hit the car stood up on its tyres as the wheels spun, by which time Adam was way out front, so Gary had to hit it again with a little pedal to get some forward traction.

Then it was a frantic chase with one cylinder out, to catch the Ford and we only just pipped him at the stripe...... but a 10s run was not our finest hour....

On Saturday evening the crew did a complete strip down to check everything out. The crew worked until 11.0PM, a tremendous effort by all. All the bearings were unmarked, we had two scuffed pistons so we changed those. Everything else was OK, no damages, so we were going to be in good shape for the final day.

Sunday dawned but continuing trans troubles sidelined Motor Psycho for the rest on the event, such a shame for the whole team. On our first run we got a 1.09 60’ time and carded a 6.5 @ 210, someway off our best, but the low 60’s track temp and a 10-15 MPH headwind had some affect.

For the Final we ran another 6.5 @ 222 MPH, so we were getting the power down from mid track, but a 1.2s 60’ took the edge off the potential. Still we won the event and ended up second in the NFAA Championship, the highest that a nitro car has reached so far.

All in all, a good and enjoyable weekend, thanks to the track, the support staff and Eurodragster, we will be back next year with more cars, demonstrating how wild the altereds are.

As the sole attendee for this meeting Joe managed to put in a qualifying pass on Sunday, and an impressive run on Monday to scoop the Final points aswell. This means that at the forthcoming National Finals, the Chaos team can only tie the championship at best, with maximum points of 160 if they get a new personal best MPH and ET.

Adam Gleadow will play the role of spoiler at the forthcoming National Finals as Joe is not attending. Could Adam be the man to stop Gary Page taking victory at the National Finals? Or can Chaos surpass it’s previous bests and tie the championship?

An impressive return to the track for chaos after the recent accident at Shakey saw the team just get the no.1 qualifying spot. After the rain came in we didnt have the opportunity to run the finals at dragstalgia, and Bob Glassup was running the one meeting only so was happy to race for fun only and not championship points.

As I was unable to attend I must say thanks to Eurodragster for the report text taken from www.eurodragster.com:

Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association session 1 (left lane first)

Joe Bond 6.485/198.19, Gary Page no time

Some consternation getting Chaos’ body down and latched, Joe on his way back from his burnout before Gary pulled his. 1.019 to sixty feet for Joe, 1.031 for Gary, Chaos hit shake and moved to the right and then uncorked, spinning through 180 degrees with one rear tyre smoking and hitting the left guardrail then flipping over and slipping backwards across the track with the front of the car on fire, sliding to a stop on its side at the finish line. The safety crews were moving before Gary stopped and were there as soon as Joe was out of the way. Word quickly came back that Gary is A-OK.

Almost unnoticed in the other lane a huge Personal Best for Joe, 4.171/170.65 at the eighth, shut off at the top of second gear and chute out at about 1100 feet so plenty left in the Nuthin’ Fancy altered. Well done Joe!

Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association final

Joe Bond 6.478/214.29 bye

Shut off almost immediately upon starting and quick work on the motor but whatever the problem was, it was obscured from where I was sitting. Re-started within a minute in any case. 1.001 to sixty feet, a quick pedal about 300 feet out, 4.178/168.75 at the eighth, fishtailing but staying with it. Joe resets the Track ET record he blew away yesterday and has done the Track Speed record today. Nice one Joe!

It was a scorching Easter meeting for the first round of the NFAA championship, with a red-hot track which is normally unheard of at the Thunderball, and some exciting antics from all of the NFAA entrants over the long bank holiday weekend. Congratulations must go to Gary Page & Lawrie Gatehouse for their first NFAA round win. A well deserved trophy after a weekend of consistently running the numbers and recording a personal best terminal speed in the process.

With Friday reserved for test passes the first qualifying session to count, took place on Saturday early afternoon. After a whole heap of work and tonnes of effort over the last 9 months, the Freddy’s Revenge team were back and ready to put in their first pass of 2011 and shake off the demons and bad luck that has plagued the team of late. It was said at the weekend that if they didn’t have bad luck, they wouldn’t have any at all - and that rung true as car appeared to literally hook up so hard that it buckled its wheelie bars and launched sky wards. The inevitable slam back to earth shattered one of the front suspension components instantly releasing one of the front wheels causing the car to veer across the track and come to rest against the concrete wall. It was a sad sight for anyone to see a scarily similar repeat of previous events that has seen the topolino spend more time in the workshop of late than anywhere else. Best wishes to the whole team in getting the car back together as soon as possible. From this first qualifying round on Saturday, the man on top was Joe Bond with a 6.9109 straight from the trailer clocking 195.54mph. Lawrie Gatehouse opted to take Chaos back to the pits and sit the first round out to ensure they could turn the car around and make it out for the afternoon session which would have cooler air. The afternoon session saw Chaos storm through with an early shut off and a 6.8135.

Sunday brought some impressive times and wild passes with a 6.782 from Joe Bond who probably covered an additional 1/8th mile he was fighting the car so much. Gary Page recorded his fastest qualifying time of 6.3116 @ 221.10mph making him no.1 qualifier by round 3. In the afternoon session which was the fourth round of qualifying, Terri-Anne White completed her full pass gaining her license and recording a 7.533 @ 166.68mph in the process - well done Terri-Anne! Chaos snapped a rod when firing up in the pairing lanes and Motor Psycho was unable to get out on track once again. Nuthin Fancy stormed up the track taking Joe to the provisional number 1 qualifying spot (based on average) with a 6.542 @ 208.96mph - A new PB for Joe!

Monday AM soon rolled round and with it the final chance for qualifying. Joe opted to sit this one out as he had secured the necessary times to be safe in the final and it left the remaining three cars to tow down. Adam’s troubles continued on track and with a lot of revs the car seemed like the clutch wasn’t engaged correctly and recorded an 11.761. Terri-Anne cut a fantastic light but the car seemed lacking in power and ran through to a 8.340. The Chaos team knew what they had to do, and Gary managed a 6.461 @ 191.32mph securing the number 1 qualifying spot and their first place in the final. With concerns over parts, Joe decided to stand down from the final, and Ollie Burns informed us that the mob were all out of nitro. This left Adam Gleadow with the chance to step into the other lane and race Gary for the final and a chance to score some prize money even though he wasn’t eligible for points (due to being an alternate). The final saw Chaos storm away from the line and record its quickest run of the weekend and take the win simultaneously. Gary Page 6.2678 @ 223.30mph def Adam Gleadow 9.9154 @ 152.07mph.