Jet Funny Car

*  Updated 24/06/2008

2007 News

2 December 2007

Wow, is it really over 3 months since the last news update - time is just flying by for us all!  We have been very busy since August 16th, we have had meetings at York, Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway, we have also been very busy with the 'day jobs' which hasn't left much time for all the other bits that we like to do, such as updating the website.  So, to try to catch up ....

We went to York Dragway for two meetings and on both occasions the weather gods were kind to us and we had fine days doing good flame shows and runs on each day - all of which were captured by Richard Smith of www.richardsmith.fotopic.net!  We attended the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, this was an exceptionally good weekend, the weather was great and despite it being a very busy meeting we got all the runs in that we were promised, once again doing PB's!  This was made all the better as it was Roger's birthday weekend - I'm sure there isn't a better way to spend your birthday than that!  We also went to Shakespeare County Raceway for the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, always a brilliant meeting. At this event we reached another target for the 2007 season when we recorded our first pass at over 260mph (261.37). The final meeting of the year was the Flame and Thunder meeting at Santa Pod Raceway, once again a really busy meeting, the weather was fantastic and as a bonus we got to run the jets at night which looks really cool, checkout the photographs taken by Ian Blackett of Blackett Photography (they're on the Photographs page and there is a link to Ian's website on the links page).

All told it has been a brilliant 2007 season for Firestorm, we are more than pleased with how it has gone, we have run consistently through out the year and to top it all have had personal bests on both ET & MPH throughout!  Our relationship with Al Hanna has also developed into quite a friendship considering the miles separating the two teams.  We are all excited about the up and coming 2008 season, where we again will be working closely with Al Hanna and his team .

Firestorm is currently in the workshop and the J85 motor is stripped for inspection. I'm pleased to report that only normal parts need replacing, and that work will be completed within the next two weeks. On the rebuild we will combine a couple more improvements which have been suggested by our friend Al Hanna. There have been times this season when we wanted to try some more modifications but we did not have the time or finances to fully test and develop the ideas. As I'm sure you are all aware by now, we will never attend an advertised event on an untried combination, because if things don't go to plan its not good for the promoter and it's not good for our team but more than that it's not good for all the loyal drag race fans who have supported us no matter what.

This year we have had some additional help from both Graham and Diane Sykes of Sykes Engineering and Derek and Fiona Flynn of Gold RV.  Thank you to everyone for their help it is really appreciated. 

We are already talking to promoters about the 2008 season and it's looking pretty exciting - stay tuned!!

16 August 2007

Had a phone call from good friend Steve Murty from York Dragway, inviting us to their August Bank Holiday event.  Steve was dumfounded to find out that Firestorm was going to be parked in the workshop over that important weekend, indeed we were going to Cadwell Park to watch the motorcycle racing.  So obviously Cadwell has been put on hold for now and we get to play jet cars for the weekend - even better!  So we will see you all at York Dragway on the 26th/27th August for a great weekend.

8 August 2007

Firestorm has been at York Dragway for the UK Northern Finals this weekend and it was an action packed weekend with PDRC classes,  NSCC, Wild Bunch & Super Charged Outlaws in attendance.  We had a particularly good time as we were trying out our motor home that we recently purchased with the help of Gold RV.  After the Main Event at Santa Pod and 4 days in a tent, in pouring rain for most of the time your's truly decided enough was enough!  We begged, borrowed and sold everything we could on E-bay to raise enough money and with the help of Derek Flynn and Fiona at Gold RV we took delivery of our first motor home a few weeks ago!  I have to say it has been worth every penny - I don't suppose it takes much to beat a 2 man tent does it but this has absolutely blitzed it and we are thrilled to bits.  Cooking a fry-up with the aircon on - doesn't get much better than that!  To top that the sun shone all weekend and the place was really busy with both racers and fans.  York Dragway has to be congratulated on all their efforts in promoting their meetings, there were many new comers and people who hadn't been for years who on hearing the radio adverts came along and had a great weekend.  We had a bumper weekend selling t-shirts, caps and posters - much of which has to be attributed to all the new drag racing fans who wanted a Firestorm memento from their visit to York Dragway. We did two flame and thunder shows on Saturday, followed by pretty strong 1/8 mile passes.  Sunday we had a bit of a disaster, we opened the second fuel drum to find we had contaminated fuel - it had got some water in it, luckily we had enough left from Saturday to enable us to do one run unfortunately we didn't have enough for the second run so the day was for us was cut a little short. 

Just a quick thank you to Richard Smith (www.richardsmith.fotopic.net), who has become a new contributor of photographs for Firestorm's website - thanks Richard they are really appreciated.

8 July 2007

We have recently been to both York Dragway and Shakespeare County Raceway.  The meeting at York Dragway went really well, it was a good, well attended meeting and we managed to get two runs in despite there being heavy rain clouds all around York Dragway!

We were looking forward to attending the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at SCR last weekend.  Not only was it to be the first of our two visits to SCR but the Nostalgia Nationals is a fantastic meeting which is generally very well attended by both competitors and fans.  The weather unfortunately had other ideas.  It rained so hard on Saturday that we didn't even get Firestorm out of the trailer.  Sunday started bright with the track crew working tirelessly to prepare the strip.  We prepared Firestorm in anticipation of the first run of the weekend but after two pairs of cars had raced down the strip it started raining again and it was on and off all day (more on than off) the crews did their best but it was not to be - a big disappointment for everyone.

It was good to see many Firestorm fans who braved the weather and stopped by to say Hello.  One of the things we learnt after talking to many SCR Firestorm fans is they have been told many stories as to why the Firestorm team are only attending 2 events at SCR this season, these include "Firestorm has other commitments", "Firestorm is at Santa Pod", "Firestorm is not available this year" and so on .....

Let me put the record straight.  In January 2007, Alan Martin the organiser of the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals and Hot Rod Drags confirmed that he would like us again to support his two meetings.  My pleasure said Roj.  The organisers of SCR said that Firestorm was being "considered" for 3 other meetings in 2007.  These were Springspeed National Drag Races 5th - 7th May, Mini Showdown 14th - 15th July and Open Sports Nationals 25th - 27th August 2007.  In due course we were informed by the organisers that "it will not be possible to have Firestorm at SCR this season" (2007).  So that my friends is the reason why Firestorm has only two events at SCR this year, our fingers are crossed for the 2008 season.  Our first event may have been rained off but we will be back, rock and rolling in September, weather permitting!

2 July 2007

We have had some very disappointing news recently - because of circumstances outside of the organisers control the Göteborg Motorfestival Drag Race in Sweden has been cancelled.  There has been some kind of problem with the new owners of the venue that has stopped its use in 2007, the club has tried relentlessly to resolve the problems but to no avail.  Everyone concerned, including ourselves, are bitterly disappointed but are looking forward to the 2008 event which is promised to be even bigger and better than before.

5 June 2007

Hello Firestormer's.  Sorry for the delay in this update, computer gremlins are to blame, but we're all sorted again now.

Going back to before Santa Pod's Main Event, we finally took delivery of our new hero cards and a new addition to the Firestorm Merchandise of a Firestorm poster. This is a good quality A2 size print for the princely sum of £3.00, which can be spoiled with Roger's autograph if required!  We have to thank Ivan Sansom for this stunning photograph.  Ivan and Rose are regular contributors to our website and we are extremely grateful to them for that. You can see a copy of our new poster on the Merchandise page.

We were all looking forward to the Main Event, it is some years since we were last at that event. Roger managed to get there on Wednesday with Colin, Firestorm was in need of a good clean and polish so this was the ideal time to get the body off to thoroughly clean the car.  In the midst of all the cleaning we got to meet the Rubber Chicken Man himself, Martin Stanberry who called by our pit to say Hello and to promise him a good show for the final appearance of the now famous rubber chicken, which had been brought out of retirement for the Barn's final event.  The barn is to be replaced with a wall in the name of Health and Safety.  We hadn't made any changes to Firestorm for the Main Event, even though we are keen to progress with our development we will not make any changes at an Event without them being fully tested first.  Friday was a lovely day and there was qualifying throughout the day.  We had one run at 2.00, Roj put on a great flame show for all the ardent (although some would say mad) race fans that stand in the Barn and followed this with a good strong run and an equal personal best ET with an early shut off (put down to pilot error).  Saturday was another good days qualifying, you can see all the race reports at www.eurodragster.com, we had one run at the end of the day, I (Helen) signalled to start Firestorm but the motor did not light up very well, Roj shut the motor off in the interest of safety and we pushed it back from the start line to carry out some checks.  When all checks were completed we signalled to the Race Director that we were good to go and received a huge cheer from all the folks in the Barn.  Everything went good, Firestorm started good, gave people in the barn something to remember and ran personal bests right down the line!  Our best now is 6.122 at 258.36 mph.  It was the quickest and fastest run to date, well done Roj.  The starting problem remains a mystery, "just having a funny car moment" as the saying goes!

This unfortunately turned out to be our final run of the weekend, the rain started on Saturday evening and did not let up until late on Monday night, without anyone managing to do a run. We all spent way too much time reading National Dragster's, eating our way through the entire contents of the fridge, drinking too much tea & coffee and talking complete and utter rubbish!

9 May 2007

We have just been to York for the first of our four visits this season.  The meeting was well attended by racers and drag racing fans and significantly we spoke to many people who had come through the gate at a drag race for the first time.  Everyone we spoke to was thrilled at the racing, thrilled at Firestorm and promised to return!  Well done to Steve and all the crew at York Dragway.  Long may it continue.

7 May 2007

The promised press release from the Firestorm team and Hanna Motorsports was issued recently to the drag racing world.  We are very excited about this project and are looking forward to the continuation of our development programme with the help of the Hanna family.  The really nice side of this partnership is that over the winter period we have all become firm friends and are looking forward to drinking wine and breaking bread together!  Whilst most Firestorm fans will have read our news on Eurodragster, here is a copy of the promised press release:

New 2007 Project For Hanna Motorsports and the UK’s ‘Firestorm’ Jet Funny Car

In late 2006, Al Hanna, President of Hanna Motorsports, contacted Roger Goring, owner of the ‘Firestorm’ jet funny car, based in the UK, to discuss the sharing of technology the US-based team had experienced with the center-drive concept ‘Eastern Raider’/’Top Secret’. The “Eastern Raider” was the first jet funny car to be built with the engine located behind the driver. Bob Jinkens Race Cars of New Egypt, NJ worked with the Hanna Motorsports team to build the original machine. Roger Goring observed the creation, and followed by ordering a similar machine, and taking it back to the UK, where he currently campaigns his ‘Firestorm’ version of this unusual concept of a jet funny car.

Since the original center-drive “Eastern Raider” appeared on the cover of ‘Super Stock’ magazine in March of 1994, the Hanna team has worked diligently to improve the design and keep the car competitive with others in the category. “We were told this car would never start and, for sure, would never run well or be competitive” stated Al Hanna. “The fact is that this car has run competitively with all the jet funny cars in the states and recently, we introduced our new ‘Top Secret’ center-drive version, and immediately ran in the 5.60 et range with speeds in excess of 280 MPH in testing. We believe this newest car will run 300 MPH in 2007.”

To this point, the Hanna and Goring teams are working closely to bring the ‘Firestorm’ team up to speed in terms of all the innovations and learning tips the Hanna’s have experienced throughout the period since the original car was created. “We are proud of the fact Roger chose to believe in our original center-drive concept, and we hope to reward his belief with support from all our learning processes”, said Rich Hanna. “Looking at the ‘Firestorm’ website is like looking into a mirror of our own team.”

Roger & Helen from Firestorm agree that these are very exciting times for the team and they are proud of the association and the friendship with Hanna Motorsports. Roger Goring commented “I had a plan for the 2007 season and then I got an e-mail from Al Hanna – boy how things change. Going forward we will be working closely with the Hanna family developing Firestorm, both teams agree that a sensible approach to an increase in performance should be in small increments as safety is of paramount importance”.

The specifics of what information is being shared is staying between the two teams. On-track results will be the measure of whether the innovations shared work across the huge Atlantic Ocean, but both teams believe jet funny car racing is the same worldwide, and what works in the US will surely work in the UK.

“The first event some of our shared information debuted was the ‘Easter Thunderball’ event at Santa Pod. We were at an event in Roxboro, NC, with our ‘First Strike’ Firebird, and went to the internet each night to see how Roger was running. When we saw a photo of Roger’s car with our Hanna Motorsports logo affixed, followed by his best ever ET and MPH, all we could do was smile”, said Al Hanna. “There’s more to come, for sure. We expect the ‘Firestorm’ of Roger and Helen will continue to be seen as one of the premier jet funny cars in the world.”

Hanna Motorsports is one of the most active and successful jet car teams in the world, and fields three jet car teams, the ‘Top Secret’ Firebird, the ‘First Strike’ Firebird, and the “Queen of Diamonds” 300 MPH jet dragster. Hanna Motorsports teams run more then 80 events per season in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
 

11 April 2007

We have had a very busy couple of weeks, as we confirmed in the report 25th March, we were heading to Santa Pod Raceway on the weekend of 31st March to test Firestorm before the Easter Thunderball.  We had hoped to be pulling into Santa Pod Raceway on Friday night but time was against us and we were still nowhere near ready at midnight on Friday and we were still in Rotherham!  We had an early start on Saturday and finally pulled into Santa Pod at lunchtime - a lot later that we would have liked!  We set about doing some final checks, get the car fueled and head for the startline for the first eagerly awaited 'fireup' of the year.  All did not go according to plan as despite checking everything we possibly could, we found we had one or two small fuel leaks which we needed to sort, there isn't an awful lot you can do down on the start line so we have to head back to the pits and do what needs to be done to cure the leaks.  Unfortunately pressurising the systems and checking for leaks in the pits only tells half a story because when the motor is running some of the systems are running at least 8 times greater pressure than you could put in when its stationary.  This was how it then continued for the rest of the weekend, we finally called it a day late on Sunday without us doing any passes down the drag strip, very disappointing.  Monday Roger ordered some more fittings, spent a couple more late nights in the workshop altering parts to accept 'O' ring seals, Roger & Colin then had another day working on Firestorm on Thursday, they fired up the car and systematically checked all the systems under full pressure and deemed Firestorm fit and ready for the Easter Thunderball! 

As we reported earlier we have had a very busy winter doing quite a lot of work on Firestorm, some of which may now be explained by Firestorm's smart new decals on the spill plates.  We have become firm friends with the Hanna family and we are working closely with Hanna Motorsports on a development programme for Firestorm which is going to be very exciting.  An official press release on this is to follow. 

Good Friday at Santa Pod was a little chilly but a lovely sunny day, this weather was to stay with us all weekend.  We had one run on Friday, as this was Roger's first run of the year, safety comes first and he did a short pass clicking it off just through the 1/8th mile.  Saturday's first run went well with Roj taking it right out the back door, second run of the day was even better with PB's on ET's on 60', 1/8th mile & 1/4 mile - end result 6.1573 @ 255.72 mph - fantastic.  We were all well pleased with this result and now we were really looking forward to the rest of the weekend!  Firestorm had two more runs on Sunday and two on Monday again culminating in PB's right down the line, just to back up what we'd done on Saturday - great stuff!  We even let Roj off with the offence of sliding through the lights - we were that pleased!!

The whole weekend was brilliant, weather was good, racing was fantastic - everyone involved with Santa Pod Raceway worked tremendously hard to keep everything running smoothly and we came away with personal bests!  It doesn't get much better than that!  You can read a full report on all the weekends racing at www.eurodragster.com.  

25 March 2007

Wow, time is really marching on - here we are its official, first day of summer - where did that come from?  During the 'off season' we are busy working on Firestorm, it has a strict maintenance schedule, but this winter it has been exceptionally busy with Roger putting in long hours in both the evening and at weekends on some further development of Firestorm.  We had continued throughout 2006 to develop the systems and have gathered a lot of data which we are putting to good use now to take it all forward into the 2007 season.  The motor has been stripped for inspection and has been given a 'thumbs up' by both Roger and Ken.  The motor is back in the frame and the car is well on its way to being in one piece for next weekends testing down at Santa Pod Raceway.  We will be there on Saturday and Sunday and we are being joined by good friend and fellow Jet Dragster pilot Colin Fallows who has volunteered to temporarily crew for us.

We are also able to confirm that good friend Steve Murty of York Dragway has confirmed 4 meetings for this season.  Firestorm has had a long relationship with York Dragway and are really pleased to be back again in 2007.  All the meetings have been updated onto the Calendar Page.

12 March 2007

Due to work commitments our crewman Juggy will not be able to join us for the 2007 season.  It is a huge undertaking to be a part of any busy team and also very time consuming.  This is very sad as Juggy fitted in immediately with the jet car, the team and the many Firestorm fans.  It seems that overnight he could do the job as though he'd been doing it forever.   Juggy is as disappointed as us and he knows that the door is always open for him to return should he wish!   

25 February 2007

Hi Firestormer's, welcome to the first News update of 2007!  The new season is fast approaching us, we have been very busy working on Firestorm since the season finished in 2006!  We are continuing with our development programme into the 2007 season, this winter has seen many changes on some of the systems on Firestorm which hopefully will show some performance increase as we progress through the season.  We are still working hard but looking forward to testing before the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod Raceway.

We had some really exciting news recently, we have been invited back to Sweden for the second year.  This was a brilliant meeting last year and we are really looking forward to doing it all again, we are proud of the second invitation as it takes a considerable amount of money, organisation and planning not only to get Firestorm to Sweden but also for the entire event.  It has to be said that last year the meeting in Sweden was flawless!

Back to Home Page