European Finals at Santa Pod Words and photos by Ivan Sansom Crash sequence by Rose Hughes 9/16/04

It used to be said that European drag racing was the best kept secret in the sport, but with the continuing development of the FIA/UEM European Drag Racing Championship over the past five years the cat is now very much out of the bag! The six race series, taking place in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and bookended by two rounds at Santa Pod Raceway in England, is looking to expand rapidly in the next couple of years with purpose-built venues coming onboard in Bahrain, France and Italy. As an official FIA Championship the four-wheeled winners receive their awards at the main FIA bash in Monaco alongside the likes of Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt.

The final event for 2004, held 9th-12th September, featured four (yes four!) nitro fueled categories, Top Fuel Dragster, Top Fuel Bike, Super Twin Bike augmented by the British Nitro Funny Car Championship, together with Pro Stock Car and Bike fields. The event also featured the Nordic Pro Mod Series, a jet funny car and huge sportsman fields. The curtain came down on the European Tour in regal fashion - despite a howling gale (the last gasps of Hurricane Frances made an unwelcome appearance over the final two days of the event) keeping performances below the usual record-setting levels on the fastest all-asphalt track in the world.

TOP FUEL DRAGSTER

The Kings of the Sport were out in force, with an eight-car field and the top four of the points chase all in with a shout of the title.

Outgoing champion Smax Smith lit up the night's sky with a launch attempt in qualifying. The British dew-laden twilight mitigates against the sensation of nitro at night, but Northern England's favourite nitro pilot gave it a good shot before heading off for life in Toronto in a month's time. A redlight on a belt-chucking 4.996/227 mph when acting as a blocker for teammate Micke Kagered hopefully will not mark the end of the European career of the live wire veteran.

The high winds blew a storm directly down the track, producing weird header flame vortices from the Norwegian Batmobile entry of Top Fuel rookie, Thomas Nataas. Nataas, tuned by Norwegian fuel guru Rune Fjeld, was one of three cars in the four-second bracket over the weekend. Despite the comparatively low ETs and the highest terminal speeds in the 290 range, tire chunking was a notable issue, with Nataas shredding the shoulders of two in his first round effort.