Category Archives: 2014

Now, who drives in 2015?

29th September: After a successful first outing in the Freddy’s Revenge altered at the Festival of Power, Robbie Grabham and team went to Dragstalgia to continue his licencing in the blown-alcohol machine:

Dragstalgia was a very testing meeting for us as we had had gearbox issues which meant we missed a run. After help from various different people we managed to source new parts and fix the gearbox ready for Sunday. With one full pass under my belt I needed to make one more run to gain my licence. We towed down Sunday morning only for the starter batteries to let us down. So back to the pits to charge up the batteries ready for the afternoon run. After waiting all day the time finally came, on the penultimate run of the day I ran an 8.1/175 which was enough to gain my licence. I was over the moon! To top it off I was presented with the runner-up trophy for the event.

Next up was the UK National Finals. We had high hopes and I was excited to race someone for the first time. Saturday morning came round and I was paired against Nick Davies in the Chaos Fuel Altered. This would be the first time I would launch in first gear, and it resulted in a 7.88/174. I was so happy with my first seven-second pass and judging by the pictures so were all the crew. I thought this was a good baseline to work from and was looking forward to the next run. Unfortunately this wasn’t to be: the motor felt tight when trying to turn it over in the pits and we instantly knew the cause as we had massaged the pistons back to life for this event. We thought the repair would last the weekend but unfortunately it only lasted the one run. Still we hadn’t lost anything we just needed a new set of rods and pistons over the winter.

Our trip home was just as eventful as one of the stub axles snapped on the trailer on the A34. Luckily the wheel stayed in place and we managed to pull over with no disasters. The plan was made to unload Freddy on the side of the road and wait for another trailer. As usual with drag racing, offers of help flooded in. Big thanks to anyone who stopped to see if we were OK or offered us help in any way.

With our season over until next Easter the winter freshen up starts. Now the big debate starts of who will be driving next year; with the old man chomping at the bit to get back in the hot seat I feel I will have to give it up for next year.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us out over the season, but the biggest thanks go to the team for providing me with a great race car, and credit to my dad and to Crew Chief TC for building a fantastic car. See you all in 2015!