Santa Pod Summer Nationals

Santa Pod played host to The Summer Nationals last weekend, a chance for the best drag racers in the UK to get together once again at famous strip and push the limits of speed…

All classes of UK drag racing competitor were represented, with the MSA Pro Modified class headlining the show. At the other end of the on-track action, the VW Pro and Sportsman classes entertained with the likes of vintage Beetles and Bugs hitting the drag strip. For a majority of the classes, bracket racing was the order of the day – that is, calling a time and aiming to be no faster than that in your run. Whilst it sounds counter-intuitive – shouldn’t they be going as quick as possible? Basically it means more exciting racing, and seeing a Chevy Camaro SS wheelie out the start block and go on to be within 0.005 of his called time is incredible to see.

A number of other classes were filled with vintage cars, all in preparation for Dragstalgia later in the year. A personal favourite was a turquoise Mercedes 280CE that raced as well as it looked sat in the June sunshine. Vintage Funny Cars also hit the strip, as well as junior dragsters, featuring some incredibly young and daring drivers in their mini drag-racers these are the boys and girls of the future.

The bikes also got in on the action, with a full field of Funny Bikes, Superstreet and Comp Bikes hitting some dazzling speeds on two wheels – mega stretched rear swing arms ensuring the power hit the black stuff.

On Sunday rain showers and untimely crashes conspired to end the meeting before all classes could complete their elimination runs and establish clear winners. However many of the faces in this incredible paddock will be back at Santa Pod soon for Dragstalgia and the next round of the MSA Drag Racing Championship.