TURNER MOTORSPORT
TOP METHANOL DRAGSTER AND TOP METHANOL FUNNY CAR
Main Event 2010
Firstly i would like to welcome our new sponsors for this season Lucas Oil Slick Mist, Durafix Powertools, Craybell Engine Management Gmax Race Fuels and Titan. Everone is very excited about the new funny car. We gradually worked later and later each night before the arrival of the new car. We spend many hours fitting the tail lift to the trailer so we could collect the car from the docks. On the Thursday night we worked until 2:30am and were back again at 7:00am to finsh it off. Well we were on our way to the docks by 10:30am very tired but with the excitement of seeing the car again making it all worth while.
We got to the car aroung 2:00pm and it was fine apart from some samll amounts of chassis rust from being at sea for 5 weeks. We loaded the funny car on to the tail lift. When it was lifted we realised it was 6 inches from the second deck. we had only tested the tail lift with Rick, Steve and a mig welder not a 2000lbs funny car. After some filing and leavering we got the lift up to the correct level and we got the car loaded along with the spares.
Once back at the work shop we stripped the car down to check everything. We fitted some new G.R.P Conrods our tried and trusted make of rods with nothing wrong with the old rods in the motor it was just to be sure.
Its now Tuesday I popped down to Heathrow airport and picked up Jeff and Anne Carroll who had a safe and stress free flight. After some rest Wednesday moring came and we had the pit set up and went through the settings on the car with Jeff overseeing. Jeff also went through the new Titan Clutch with Rick who was very impressed with the adjustability and how user friendly it was.
Thursday comes which was our first test day. After overcoming some starter problems and the first warm up there was only 10 mins left of testing so we did not want to rush, we decided it would be best to leave it and go straight in the qualifying on the saturday which unfortunately was rained out. Sunday then arrived and with the weather holding out we were out for the first session. I struggled to drive the car. It felt ok in the pits but was completly different once the Hans device and all the other safety gear was on. In short my new helmet was not suitable for the car, the steering was too close and the clutch pedal postion was no where near comfortable. I managed to make a 9 second pass, with no time for address these problems we serviced the car and went out for the next and final qualifier. This run i went for a stronger burnout to which the car immidiately jumped over. Too strong i thought. so somewhere in between these two would be about right. So i go in to stage to sudden and light both stage and pre stage, my crew guy flicked the computer on but the officials disallowed the run. a 7.4 second run. So over night we altered the clutch pedal, shortened the steering and will use my old helmet.
Now its the first round against Dan Larsen, i felt alot more comfortable in the car. We fired up and the body went down. Everything instantly felt better. Now the burnout felt just right. Before i knew it i was back up in stage with the revs up. I was first in to stage and was waiting and waiting trying to concentrate. I saw a flicker of light and left. I saw the red. Disqualified twice in one weekend. Idling down the track i saw dan come past on fire, braking hard!. I knew he was in trouble He bought it to a safe stop and is ok!. The safety crew were on it straight away. A big thank you to these guys looking after us. Well that was our weekend over. I just have to say a big thanks you to Jeff and Anne Carroll. Jeff was such a big help and a great influence to have on the team. I look forward to his involvment in the future.
Thanks also to Bob Jarrett for all his help getting the car shipped. Thanks to Carmel, Steve and the Crew it has been a learning curve for all of us. What a great car it is and we are all looking forward to the next race.
Rob Turner
With the winter now behind us Turner Motorsport is looking forward to getting out for the first time at the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway on the 10th to the 13th of April. The whole crew are excited to keep the car running quick and consistant. Knowing the FIA European title was again so close throughout the 2008 season we look forward to the Main Event creeping up on us, Turner Motorsport are confident that we can repeat our victory in Sweden at Mantorp Park and be at the top of the table at all the European and British events for the 2009 season!! In the 2008 season we ran a 5.45 in Sweden and then went on to run a 5.46 backing it up with a 5.47 to become the British record holders. More to come!!!!!
Lucas Oil with Turner Motorsport for 2009 season
With the 2009 season just around the corner we are extremely pleased to announce a new sponsership deal with Lucas Oil. We have used their products before with fantastic results and with top methanol dragster being such a tight class we know Lucas products are going to give us an instant edge over our competition. We would all like to say a big thank you to Les Downey of Lucas Oil Uk and the whole Lucas Oil family for their support. more to come..........
Turner motorsport are pleased to announce that they will be appearing at the Nitro olympix at Hockenheim, Germany for the Top Methanol cannonball shootout on the 17/18/19 of August.
Steve said "This will be the first time since 2004 that we have been back to Germany, and we hope to return home as champions, as we did the last time we raced there, its a fantastic venue and its great to be going back ."
After a mixed season to date, the team are hoping for better luck than at Mantorp park, Sweden, where on the first round run against Arto Hoyla, we spun a bearing and broke a rod, and missed the semi-final as we ran out of time turning the car around, wheres ten minutes rain or an oil down when you need it !! But thats racing, you move on and learn from it. Thanks also to John and Sarah for your help in trying to make the call, were just sorry we couldnt make it for everyone.
In Finland we were beaten by the weather, we had a real good feeling in the camp, as we did in Sweden about our chances of progressing rounds, but we now move on to Germany, as a replacement round for Norway, and a chance to get a few more runs on this years set up on the car.
Thanks to our sponsors for there continued support over this season.
Steve Turner
BE BETTER CONNECTED
We are pleased to announce the continued support from our sponsors GRP for the 2007 season.
GRP connecting rods, a world leader in manufacturing billet aluminum and billet titanium connecting rods, is celebrating its 7th year in Denver, Colorado. Our climate controlled shop employs 13 people in both product development and manufacturing. GRP connecting rods continues to supply high quality billet aluminum connecting rods for some of the fastest race engines in the world.
Steve said ,
"Brian and the team at GRP, have the knowlage and skill to work with, and help racers determine exactly what they require, and deliver the goods on time every time."
STUNNING STICKERS
Thanks to everyone who commented on the new colour and graphics scheme on the car at the Easter Thunderball ( photo supplied by Blazing Wheels )
The design was by Carmel Turner team manager and was applied by our sponsor
who can be contacted via clicking on the above link .
We reproduce lost/old decals as new. We design and manufacture decals to order, fitting up most things including boats, jetskis, cars and vans, motorbikes of all kinds, including other sports equipment of various types.
Our most prominent work recently being the 2007 Turner Motorsport Dragster, which is entirely vinyl.
We use a thermal resin imaging technique which allows us to print true chrome and silver and renders the printed detail highly resistant to volatile fluids as well as the weather.
We are also registered number plate manufacturers, also producing 'showplates' for private and commercial use.
We are based at 25 Alfred Street, Rushden, just 4 miles from Santa Pod.
Contact Julia, Steve or Richard on
Tel: 01933 418419 or Fax 01933 317790
A JOB WELL DONE
As you may be aware Steve has taken over the driving duty at the British rounds for 2007, and it was an interesting season opener as we had a new crew, new driver and crew chief to put the routine out to start.
The whole deal went very well, and with very few if any problems, Steve set a new PB running 5.90 @ 218mph which is fantastic bearing in mind he had never driven this car, and I think everyone involved was impressed and proud to have helped him to realise a dream, and to be fair I think even he would have taken that time and speed if you,d said it to him before the meeting.
The new crew all seemed to fit in well and Rob did a good job as crew chief in this roll swap, I think they both learned that the other perhaps does more than they thought and thats a good thing for them to understand each others perspective on what they do.
A full report of the meeting will follow shortly, but for now it its left for me to say on behalf of the team, Well done Steve, you done a great job and were all proud of you.
The Crew
ROB COLLECTS MSA TROPHY FOR A RECORD NINTH TIME
Rob attended a star studded awards ceremony at the exclusive Royal Automobile Club on London,s Pall Mall to receive the 2006 MSA British drag racing champions trophy from Damon Hill.
The night of champions event was attended by every championship winner from 2006.
This is the record ninth time that Rob has picked up the championship and a record that now seems will never be bettered.
Rob said " The thrill of accelerating to 100 mph in under a second and running up to 260 mph inside a quarter of a mile is just as exciting as it ever was."
" A lot of my success is down to the team of mechanics who work on the dragster, and again in 2006 it was among the quickest out there, but was by far the most reliable and that was crucial in helping score the big points and to extend the record we hold for championship wins."
A RACING NEW YEAR
Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone involved in Drag Racing! I really hope this is going to be a safe and competitive year for all racers.
I can’t believe there are only 12 weeks to Easter, I’m sure most of the racers out there, like us, need this time to finish any new improvements to their vehicles. We’ve got new parts on order for the dragster this year; a new paint scheme, together with some new crew!
Over the closed Season we have interviewed numerous potential crew members, and thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in wanting to be part of Turner Motorsport. I’m sorry we couldn’t accommodate all the applicants, but as we are only supplied with 10 crew tickets, we have found it very difficult to only include 4 new members to our Top Methanol team. We really would have loved to have been able to ask everyone who applied to join us this year, and I am sorry if you haven’t been included in the following list:-
We would like to welcome; Paul Brown, Michael Fordham, Steve Nelmes and Mark Churchman to the team. Over the past couple of months they have all shown immense interest in seeing how we run our racing operation. They now join the rest of our superb crew who are listed on our Team page.
At the moment we are continually seeking and in negotiation with new sponsors, and we hope to announce very shortly some further names that have joined us in 2007.
We hope to have some very special anouncements to release soon, so keep an eye here for more details.
Thanks
Carmel
FLAME AND THUNDER SHOW
A Crisp, cold day it turned out to be, just as the weathermen forcast ( for a change ) But a good meeting, with lots of new faces being introduced to Drag Racing , which can only be a good thing.
I think the term Mineshaft conditions, would have been apt for what we saw on the weather station first thing saturday morning, but we had clear blue skys and no chance for rain.
Our first run was over in 2.8 seconds, as thats when the blower belt broke ( splitting down the middle into two halfs lenghways ) with the detached half cutting the mag wires and killing the engine instantly, the other half of the belt stayed on the engine, hence the timeslip of 7.95 @ 101.
With the car turned around, we towed down in the dark for the second run, the track temp was now 5 degrees, which by all accounts doesnt make for the best traction, Rob left the line at very low launch rpms, to get the car moving and had to pedal at about the 330 to get it back in the groove, a 6.37 @ 194 being a very respectable result in those conditions.
It was also good to hear that after his nasty fire, Tony Baker only required a cigarette and not medical treatment.
We hope everyone enjoyed the racing and fireworks, and had a good day,
Thanks for your support, and that of our sponsors over the season.
Steve Turner
FLAME AND THUNDER
Turner motorsport are very pleased to announce that they will be running the Top Methanol Dragster at the Flame and Thunder show at Santa Pod on November 4th.
We hope to do two exhibition runs on Saturday, giving people the chance to see what Methanol dragsters can do.
After the dissapointment of the National finals being rained off, and having very unusual issues on the one run we did do ( second gear launch ) This was due to racers tape getting stuck to the front tyre, while Rob was reversing back from the burnout, This in turn threw Steve and Robs startline routine, due to Steve having to remove the tape and so on, then Rob followed the normal routine, said he was in first gear, staged, and left in second !!. The clutch didnt like it too much and Rob clicked it off by half track, hence the 7.2 timeslip.
So were now all looking forward to running the dragster,at one more meeting this season.
I know this has been said hundreds of times before on here, but id like to add our thanks to all the track crews this year, your hard work is very much appreciated, even if we racers dont always show it !!
Thanks also to all our sponsors for there ongoing support.
Hope to see you all at the Flame and Thunder show.
Rob, Steve and Carmel
NINE TIME CHAMPIONS
As reported on Eurodragster today (25/09/2006)
Going into the final round at Santa Pod next weekend, Turnermotorsport have retained the MSA British Top Methanol Championship for 2006. Making a RECORD 9 TIMES that the team has won the Championship.
Steve said " Obviously were all delighted to win and retain the MSA Championship again , and also to extend our record of Championship Titles to nine, But, this by no way means were going to be taking it easy at the National Finals, as we want to try and replicate our step into the 5.40s, from the European finals earlier this month."
Good Luck everyone attending the National Finals, and heres hoping for more good weather over the weekend.
Steve Turner
A message from Steve Turner
After a season of chasing different problems around the car, The whole Turnermotorsports team were ecstatic to step up in to the 5.40s for the first time, with a final qualifying run E.T of 5.494 at the European finals at Santa pod.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors - G MAXfuels, GRP rods, Fuchs oils, NGK, NFAA, R V Gold, Rushden graphics and CT autoparts, without you, this just would not be possible.
Its just a shame the car got out of the grove in round one against Krister, meaning an early exit in round one, Myself, Rob and Carmel would like to thank all our crew, for the hard work and dedication they have put into the car this year.
We would like to pass on our thanks, to YOU the fans, who as always, gave our team great support at our home track. , You made a great atmosphere and we really do appreciate your support.
We are now looking forward to the National finals at the end of September to try and retain the MSA championship, and end the year on a high.
Finally, Everyone at Turnermotorsports was shocked and saddened ,to hear of the freak accident that occoured at the end of the Euro finals, and would
like to take this opportunity to pass our thoughts and condolences to the family and friends of Roger George.
Steve Turner.
