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20 May 2020, 17:40 (Ref:3977379) | #1 | |
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Santa Pod
Sadly, like many venues Santa Pod is facing difficulties that may threaten its future..A unique venue that needs to survive the current crisis.
santapod.co.uk/coronavirus.php |
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21 May 2020, 06:57 (Ref:3977458) | #2 | ||
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God yes - I am always surprised by motorsport folk who sneer at drag racing as the machinery is extraordinary , the access superb , the atmosphere brilliant and the spectacle unrivalled . I do hope they continue - I've been making the (long ) trip there nearly every every year since 1973
My local York Raceway became defunct a year or so ago but thankfully there are signs of a renaissance but it's the equivalent of Mallory Park to the Pod's Silverstone and can't cope with huge crowds . Or Top Fuellers ... |
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21 May 2020, 10:23 (Ref:3977485) | #3 | ||
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Join Date: Feb 2005
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Is Santa Pod the only drag strip in the UK? If so that would be really sad. You don’t have to be into motorsport to have all five senses shaken by a top fuel car.
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Somebody asked if the McLaren F1 was going to be like the Ferrari F40, Gordon Murray replied, "I don't think so, there's no one at McLaren who can weld that badly." |
21 May 2020, 11:57 (Ref:3977503) | #4 | ||
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York Raceway near Melbourne had 1 meeting last year, I think, with more planned for this year. Also, pre lockdown, the rallyschool operates on the airfield and single stage rally events. It's all just half a mile away beyond my back fence.
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21 May 2020, 14:05 (Ref:3977532) | #5 | ||
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Join Date: Feb 2003
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We had drag racing at Snetterton for a while in the 1970's, running in reverse direction down Revett Straight. It seemed to attract good crowds etc but didn't last long for some reason.
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21 May 2020, 20:47 (Ref:3977613) | #6 | ||
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Great place. Had fun there, watching or having a go (not in anything appropriate!).
I hope people are sympathetic to this request and don’t chase refunds. A few quid from each person (not even lost, just deferred) for the greater good of drag racing in the UK. |
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Seriously not taking motorsport too seriously. |
21 May 2020, 21:51 (Ref:3977622) | #7 | |
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Probably my first (and one of the most memorable) events in which I was ignominiously deprived of my hugely deserved win by an outrageously illegal entry from the local USAF airbase. But I did get 150 quid start money. Me on the left, USAF International Harvester on methanol not pictured. Mrs M only remembers the toilet facilities, a plank with holes in, poised over a ditch
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Semper ubi sub ubi |
22 May 2020, 08:42 (Ref:3977661) | #8 | |
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Join Date: Nov 2019
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There are quite a number of drag events held out with Motorsport UK regulations. Crail raceway in Fire and the various run by Straightliners at assorted venues.
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23 May 2020, 20:16 (Ref:3977940) | #9 | ||
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Only been there a few times, most memorable was seeing Sammy Miller in 2002 in Vanishing Point. He came to grief after the finish and did a bit of damage but was back out the next day showing how ridiculously fast it was.
My wife had a good long talk with him and remarked what an unassuming man he was (he was probably chatting her up) Hopefully it will continue. Last edited by GORDON STREETER; 23 May 2020 at 20:29. |
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Balls of steel (knob of butter) They're Asking For Larkins. ( Proper beer) not you're Eurofizz crap. Hace más calor en España. Me han conocido a hablar un montón cojones! Send any cheques and cash to PO box 1 Lagos Nigeria Africa ! |
23 May 2020, 21:25 (Ref:3977947) | #10 | ||
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Join Date: May 2018
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Drag Racing is great fun and Santa Pod is a really enjoyable place to visit, Very friendly, very open, very welcoming.
Nothing, nothing at all, compares to the eruption of a pair of Top Fuel dragsters off the line. Seeing this at Santa Pod a couple of times a year is a highlight of my motorsport calendar. |
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I like taking pictures of cars going round tracks, through forests and up hills. |
23 May 2020, 21:29 (Ref:3977949) | #11 | ||
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I loved the run what ya brung. Great fun. Took the race car (totally unsuitable) to practice starts (just before we went rolling starts all the time!), but also road cars just for fun.
I remember someone turning up in a Cavalier, or was it an Astra, with a massive turbine in the back. The guys looked at it, I heard someone say "well it's probably safe" and they let it go down the track. Albeit on it's own! Made a great noise. Slow as buggery, but wonderful. A great place for people to have relaxed fun. |
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Seriously not taking motorsport too seriously. |
24 May 2020, 07:09 (Ref:3978005) | #12 | ||
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Run What Yer Brung can be humbling...after beating various old Mustangs and the like in my 220bhp Seven at York drag strip a few years ago I lined up next against a Skoda Fabia . A DIESEL Fabia . Obviously , it was humiliation time - and it was, but for me . God knows what boost the Skoda was running but it was ballistic, doing a quarter in 12 point something...
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24 May 2020, 13:09 (Ref:3978067) | #13 | ||
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I was once trounced by a Yeti on a track day. Turns out it had something like TTRS running gear under the fairly stock body! Brilliant Q car.
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Seriously not taking motorsport too seriously. |
24 May 2020, 13:19 (Ref:3978069) | #14 | ||
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I do notice that his time is still a world record ! wow!
Santa Pod is the venue in which the current world drag racing record, a time of 3.58 seconds at 386.26 mph (621.61 km/h) was set by Sammy Miller in his Vanishing Point rocket-propelled funny car in July 1984. When I saw him it was just like a bullet being fired from a gun, and the noise blimey ! |
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Balls of steel (knob of butter) They're Asking For Larkins. ( Proper beer) not you're Eurofizz crap. Hace más calor en España. Me han conocido a hablar un montón cojones! Send any cheques and cash to PO box 1 Lagos Nigeria Africa ! |
24 May 2020, 17:10 (Ref:3978096) | #15 | |
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At the meeting in my pic I climbed upstairs to speak to one of the timing guys, just as I opened the door someone yelled at me " hold onto something!" just as one of the jet cars took off. The whole gantry leaned back several degrees! I may have some pics of these, I'll have a look in the attic later.
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Semper ubi sub ubi |
24 May 2020, 17:25 (Ref:3978101) | #16 | |||
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Quote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzplPkzApw |
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25 May 2020, 06:46 (Ref:3978178) | #17 | ||
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No - but well spotted anyway. My nemesis was in full stealth mode - looked like any other Fabia except for drainpipe exhaust and fatter wheels . It was a daily driver, even more humiliatingly !
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25 May 2020, 14:25 (Ref:3978220) | #18 | |
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Aforementioned jet cars, May '82.
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