Questions to the sporting media
How many international sporting events will take place in eastern England on Spring Bank Holiday weekend involving more than 250 competitors from 17 countries and drawing 20,000 spectators? And how will the media cover them?
There’s one, at least.
The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway kicks off 2024’s FIA/FIM European Drag Racing Championships. Luckily, most of the overseas entrants speak excellent English, which helps with interviews.
There are cars that shake the ground and race at 300mph. There are children racing too, kids as young as eight in cars and on motorcycles, and nearly as many girls as boys – women drivers and riders as well, in the adult ranks. While the motorsport world frets on over the knotty shortage of women gracing its racetracks, drag racing has embraced gender-blind competition for decades.
Sweden’s Susanne Callin and Switzerland’s Jndia Erbacher head the 300mph Top Fuel Dragster show and there’ll be fuel Funny Cars shaking the ground too. Nineteen wild Pro Mods will fight to qualify for bank holiday Monday’s 16-car eliminations field, joined by Top Methanol cars and Scandinavian Pro Stockers vying to launch their FIA championship seasons with victory on the Santa Pod quarter-mile. It’s the same story on two wheels, with Top Fuel Bikes and thumping Nitro Super-Twins bidding for early glory in their FIM-Europe title chases along with Super Street and Pro Stock Bikes. Beneath that European championship level, a full programme of UK championship Sportsman classes keeps the on-track action at boiling point. And when not on the track, racers will be in the pits working on their machinery. Free unrestricted paddock access allows spectators a close-up view of all the action there too.
Away from the track, stunt driving and riding displays are just part of a rich array of diversions and activities fit for all the family. There’s even a circus.
STOP PRESS: A late entry in the Sportsman class Competition Eliminator reveals the European racing debut of Carl Cox. The superstar DJ and electronic music pioneer is no celebrity dabbler. His Carl Cox Motorsport organisation numbers Isle of Man TT motorcycle hero Michael Dunlop among its roster of luminaries on two and four wheels, and Cox himself is an established drag racer in Australia.
Comp Eliminator is an umbrella class covering a diverse assortment of fast cars. Cox’s Plymouth Barracuda-bodied machine is a full-blown, 5-second Pro Mod equipped with a ProCharger, a blower device Pro Mod-legal in America but not yet in Europe, hence Cox’s presence in Comp. It’s like bringing a howitzer to a rifle-shooting contest. In theory, the Barracuda should outpace its rivals by some margin, though Comp’s complicated handicap start system is designed to even out the class’s power disparities. As quickest in the field, Cox will have to watch all his opponents set off for the finish before his own green light flashes, and hope not to trigger a red light in his eagerness to pursue. The Barracuda is already well tested and Cox’s Australian/American crew will be primed for action. Competition Eliminator is sponsored by Track Worx.
The Main Event 2024 takes place over Spring Bank Holiday weekend from Friday 24th to Monday 27th May at Santa Pod Raceway, near Wellingborough NN29 7XA. Full event information is available at https://santapod.co.uk/main-event.php and tickets may be booked online there or by telephoning 01234 782828 – advance booking only, no tickets available on the gate.
Photos attached:
Top Fuel Dragsters – Susanne Callin, Jndia Erbacher.
Pro Modified – 2023 Motorsport UK British champion Bobby Wallace.
Junior Dragbike – 2023 UK champion Leah Morrison.
Carl Cox.
[ Pictures: Dave DJ Jones/Callum Pudge / Santa Pod ]
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