Santa Pod Season Review 2004

We have reached the end of another fabulous season of drag racing and car shows here at Santa Pod Raceway, and what a packed season it was! This was the busiest calendar we have had, with something going on almost every weekend of the summer, starting with the brand-new season opener, The Fast Show (www.thefastshow.com).

This was a new Run What Ya Brung event for performance and modified cars, and saw the most varied selection of cars ever seen on the track, and huge club displays off the track along with a massive trade village dominated by Motech. Everything from 1920's Bugattis through to the latest Porsches and Japanese cars got out on the famous ¼ mile and smoked their tyres.

Next up was the first drag racing event on the calendar, the Easter Thunderball. With loads of superb sportsman drag racing including the VWDRC, and exhibition vehicles that packed the show to the brim, no-one could have asked for a better start to the season. However, the highlight was surely the thrilling final of the pro-fuel shootout between Andy Carter and Lex Joon that went down to a few thousandths of a second, when both drivers ran very low-5-second passes at over 280mph, with Andy snatching the win by a hair's width!

Big Bang (www.big-bang.co.uk) was the first VW show of the year, and was well attended by VW clubs from around the country. The VWDRC kept things wild on the track, and awesome bands and DJs kept things wild off-track! The Sunday was slightly weather-affected, but camping isn't the same unless you wake up in a puddle is it?

The Speedfreaks Ball (www.speedfreaksball.co.uk) is a unique event run by jet-car pilot Martin Hill exclusively for bikes. This was the third time the show had graced the Santa Pod tarmac, and once again it was a riot of motorcycle and trike Run What Ya Brung, with loads of great demos by drag and jet vehicles.

The annual Redline Rumble (www.redlinerumble.co.uk) event was the first scorching hot event of the year, in more ways than one. Loads of fun was had both on and off-track, with Run What Ya Brung, music, wet t-shirt competitions and a whole bunch of awesome modified race cars competing in the God of the Pod competition. This is where things got really exciting: Dee Ireland with his Calder Race Development 1,000bhp Toyota Supra became the first "sports-compact" driver to get into the 9's in the UK with a genuine modified car. Everyone who witnessed the run was gobsmacked, and a real modified car milestone was passed.

The Main Event is the first round of the FIA and UEM European Drag Racing Championships, and also the first round of the NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod Championships. As a result of the thrilling action that took place at the Easter Thunderball, everyone was desperate to see what the new season had in store. They weren't disappointed- the Main Event was an awesome four days of professional and sportsman drag racing, with thrills, spills, excitement and action in huge doses. See www.Eurodragster.com for a full event report.

Throughout the 2004 season, specialist magazine and club events appealed to the niche markets that enjoy the facilities of Santa Pod, including: The Central RS Owners Club Day, The Performance Vauxhall Show, The Classic Ford Show, The Retro Cars Show, The GTi Festival, The Mopar Euro Nationals and The Renault Turbo Owners Club Day. It has been a pleasure supporting the publications and clubs involved with these events, and we look forward to next year's shows.

June welcomed a new two-day event: The JapShow (www.JapShow.com). This event was conceived as a result of the success of October 2003's Japanese Performance Show, and was in association with Banzai magazine. Despite sporadic showers, the show was a massive hit with Japanese car clubs and incorporated Run What Ya Brung track action, evening entertainment, and on-track demos from Fireforce 2 and some of the fastest Japanese cars in Europe. The fastest Japanese road car of the day was RC Development's Mitsubishi Evo, driven by Clive Seddon.

Despite changeable track and weather conditions, the Summer Nationals was a glorious celebration of sportsman drag racing, with 14 car classes that included the VWDRC and favourite classes such as CCSE and Top Methanol, and 4 busy bike classes. Beautifully prepared race vehicles and close racing were the order of the day and a real treat for every spectator. Please visit www.Eurodragster.com for a full report and pictures from this event.

It wasn't long before the VWDRC were back at the Pod for Bug Jam 18 (www.bugjam.co.uk). This was Bug Jam's 18 th birthday party, and this baby hasn't stopped growing yet. With excellent race, demo and Run What Ya Brung cars on the track, and an unrivalled selection of entertainment off-track, Bug Jam has stood head and shoulders above all other "car shows" for yet another year. Who'd have thought an air-cooled flat-four engine designed out of necessity and a bit of cute bodywork could have caused all this? Santa Pod, Bug Jam's eternal home was starting to look "a bit small" as the camping fields filled up with thousands of classic VWs that represented pretty much everything ever to trundle out of the Wolfsburg factory.

Another festival on the Santa Pod menu is USC (www.ultimatestreetcar.co.uk), and for the second year running, this show was scorching hot in more ways than one! Modified cars filled up the camping fields and dragstrip, and the site was looking just as jam-packed as it was at Bug Jam. Not only was the dragstrip hot and sticky, but so was the evening entertainment- two whole nights of it. Clive Seddon once again destroyed the competition on the track with his Mitsubishi Evo, but was up against some fast and varied competition. USC has gathered unstoppable momentum in 2004, and things can only get faster in 2005.

On2Wheels was a new addition to the Santa Pod calendar for 2004, and uniquely featured both Run What Ya Brung and a national drag bike round all in one day. The event attracted a huge variety of bikes including the latest superbikes, classic sprint bikes from the '60's, and of course the familiar bikes and riders from the national race series. A great relaxed day was had by all with loads of track time, but also plenty of drag-bike action.

The first few days of September go very slowly for drag racing fans, because the FIA European Finals cannot come around soon enough. The European Finals is biggest, busiest and fastest event on the Santa Pod calendar, and the final round of the FIA and UEM drag racing championships. Now spread over four days to accommodate the huge race entry from European and National racers alike, this event did not disappoint, with fantastically close racing in many classes, and a Top Fuel championship that was decided by fractions of a second, when Andy Carter pipped charging newbie Thomas Nataas to the finish line in the final round of eliminations. Other championships were just as hard-fought, with superb performances and edge-of-seat moments in every class. Visit www.Eurodragster.com for a comprehensive race report and dozens of great photos from the event.

October started off with the National Finals, which was a damp end to a great season of sportsman drag racing. Sadly the event was affected by the weather, and the finals were never reached. Please visit www.Eurodragster.com for more news and pictures from this event.

The first ever Japanese Performance Show was a massive hit in 2003, and the success of the one-day event continued in 2004 with a huge representation of Japanese Car clubs, and an enviable gathering of mega-horsepower modified Japanese cars battled it out on the track. The first-ever Jap-Drag demo took place, which provided bucket-loads of exciting pairings, but was dominated by Andy Barnes who produced a stunning string of 9-second passes in his Nissan Skyline to take a well-earned win.  Visit www.JapShow.com for a full report.

The Flame & Thunder Show was the final event on Santa Pod's 2004 calendar, and was all set to be an awe-inspiring gathering of jet vehicles and race-vehicles, but the weather was not playing ball, and a fine mist meant that track activity had to be restricted, but a whole series of awesome vehicles did make their way onto the track, and the action went on well into the dark-hours, with an atmospheric back-drop of fireworks and flames. See the report here: http://www.santapod.com/flame.htm

Season Reviews
2010 Season Review here
2009 Season Review here
2008 Season Review here
2007 Season Review here
2006 Season Review here
2005 Season Review here
2004 Season Review here