The Summer Nationals were the first meeting at Santa Pod this year for the Wild Bunch. Team Twisted had spent the last 6 weeks or so building a new engine for Hell's Belle. Since last racing in May we had finished and installed the new engine, but a few teething troubles stopped us getting to the Shakespeare Nationals the previous weekend, so we were raring to go. The Friday night arrival saw us pitted next to the track near the finish line, same as last year, which affords a great place to view the racing. Once the Belle was scrutineered we settled down for a beer or two...

Guess where?

As it was the first time out with the new engine the plan was to make a couple of gentle passes, with Helen squeezing on more power as she headed up the track. The first pass gave us 12.79 at 87mph but an 1/8th mile speed of 96mph was way above our previous best and showed that there was more to come. Unfortunately the Belle lost fire after this run and refused to restart. Some serious fault tracing and head scratching pointed to the new ignition system, so this was removed and the old HEI re-installed.

3 hours later at 7:15 in the evening we headed out for he second qualifier, again Helen recorded a high 12 second run but with a top end speed of 112mph; a new personal best.

Warming up the new motor.

Saturday morning started with rain and continued with drizzle for quite a few hours, the track crew kept on top of the water level and once the weather brightened, prepared the track for racing.

Not the best weather for drag racers..

Team Twisted, looking good!!

Oh poor Penny!! The Jack is sure to bring her round...

At one point in the preceding thrash, the tools had been thrown back in the van in a rush to get to the staging lanes. When we returned to the van we found Penny trapped under a tool box!! Luckily we had a bottle of Jack Daniels on hand to revive her, but it was touch and go for a while... phew!!

Racing at the MSA events gives The Wild Bunch a chance to get seen together, as an entire class, in the staging lanes. It was here that the teams really stood out and did themselves proud. The variety of cars and attitude of the teams makes The Wild Bunch a force to be reckoned with.

The Wild Bunch looking fantastic in the fire up lanes at The Pod.

Read what happened on race day..