Santa Pod Season Review 2008

The first big event of the year was the Auto Trader Easter Thunderball but instead of extreme motorsport it was extreme weather that made the headlines as snow stopped track action for two of the days.

The first VW show of the year was expanded in 2008 to become the Big Bang inc Camper & Bus Show sponsored by Volks World Camper & Bus magazine and one of the best Big Bangs ever was the result.

May's Main Event unfortunatley saw Easter's snow turn to two days of rain, when the track did open Andy Carter took number 1 qualifier in the Top Fuel class.

As summer got into full swing proffesional drifting came to Santa Pod for the first time with a round of the European Drift Championship at Street Nationals, the sun came out for a great Bug Jam with awesome displays of VW’s both on and off the track and some superb evening entertainment. Then in August Marangoni USC saw the best of the Modified scene taking over from the VWs. August also saw Steve Whittaker take the world of Japanese Drag Racing by storm at Rotorstock 5 when he produced the first ever 7 second run in Europe by a Japanese car.

In September the European Finals were deluged with rain, but one days racing was salvaged and Britain's Andy Carter secured the European FIA Top Fuel Championship from Lex Joon by just 1 point. Britain gained it's second European champion in a month when Drew Thornton and Podzilla clinched the European Monster Truck Championship at the final round.

As so much racing had been lost this year a special Fuel shootout was added to the line up of sportsman classes at the National Finals as a thank you to the loyal Drag Racing fans who have endured 2008. Both top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars featured, producing one of the highlights of the year when Thomas Nataas and John Spuffard produced the fastest side by side Funny Car race ever seen outside the USA. John (5.0913/301.99), Thomas Nataas (5.2801/171.04).

In November Santa Pod’s season ended as it had started… cold and a bit wet! However, the somewhat inclement conditions didn’t stop a couple of great shows from taking place. Flame and Thunder saw plenty of thrills and spills on track and more in the Live Action Arena! New for 2009 was Fireworks Frenzy which proved to be a great success, with jets, stunts, monster trucks and a massive fireworks display.

We hope to see you back at the Pod in 2009 and fingers crossed for better weather.

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