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2004 News
5th
November 2004
We went to Shakespeare County
Raceway last weekend for the final event of 2004, the Halloween Showdown.
Saturday dawned a very foggy and damp day which was a great shame as the track
desperately needed some sunshine on it to dry it out. There was some
racing through out the day but in the interest of safety it was vehicles on
treaded tyres only. Firestorm had one run at the end of the day which we
limited to a 1/2 pass but put on a huge flame and thunder show to compensate.
It was important to us to try and put on a good show for the many drag racing
fans who had ventured out on what was a fairly damp day.
We had a treat on Saturday night
and went in a local Bed & Breakfast with an outing to a village pub which
served fine wines and excellent food. We had a fantastic evening and the
bed was a great change from the tent that is usually our home.
Sunday was a much brighter day and
saw good racing from all the classes. We had two runs in the day, after
some initial problems with the tune up, Roger put in a stormin' final run for
the 2004 season at 6.29 252.89 mph which is within 100ths of a second and 1
mph of our personal best, consistency is what we have been looking for this
year and that is just what we got.
It was a great weekend thanks to
the organisers and staff at Shakespeare County Raceway who work very hard to
make it so. A huge thank you also goes out to both Colin Fallows and
Shez who also worked hard all weekend in the Firestorm camp.
We are already talking to various
promoters and planning the 2005 calendar which is shaping up nicely.
Both myself and Roger have plenty of projects to keep us busy through the
winter and Roger has already started the winter maintenance programme on
Firestorm. Rogers promised to take some pictures for the website as the
engine is stripped, which may be of interest to the many fans who have never
seen inside a jet engine. We will keep you informed of all developments
throughout on the Firestorm News Page and if all goes according to plan I'm
hoping to give the website a bit of a facelift too!
16th
October 2004
In preparation for a chilly
Halloween Showdown meeting and by popular demand we will have warm Firestorm
Team Hats for sale embroidered with the Firestorm Logo. I (Helen)
have been wearing a winter fleece ski hat for most of this year and have been
asked by many people if they can buy one, so I have ordered fleece hats,
beanies and knitted hats. There are limited numbers so it will be first
come first served at £10.00 a hat.
9th
October 2004
Our party tent is for sale. We are finalising a deal for a new larger
trailer with awning so the party tent will be surplus to requirements.
The tent is the one that everyone is using (view at
www.partytent.co.uk and see a
photograph of the one for sale in the
photo gallery).
The tent is 10 mtr x 4 mtr and has only been used twice. It comes
complete with ground bar set and ratchet straps to secure it. We will be
sorry to see this big comfortable tent go, but we can't use both! The
tent cost £425.00 and the ground bar set £90.00, we will take £395.00 for it
complete and can deliver to Shakespeare County Raceway, Halloween Showdown
meeting 30th/31st October.
Also for sale is my (Helen's)
beloved Suzuki SV650S motorcycle which I have had since new. It is
2002/51 and has done 4700 miles, it is in excellent condition, in blue with hugger and lower fairing, a
lowering kit will also be included if required. The Suzuki is for sale
at £3300.00.
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Click on thumbnail for full size image. |
E-mail us for further
details on either the party tent or the Suzuki.
5th
October 2004
Firestorm was at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend for the Ford Sportday.
As you folks from the UK will know it was a wet and windy weekend, so despite
a good turnout from the drag racers and the show and shine boys there wasn't a
lot happening on the track. There was plenty of entertainment on site
though and there is always the Sunday Market and Car Boot Sale!
28th
September 2004
Since our last update Firestorm has been to Shakespeare County Raceway
for the NSRA Hot Rod Drags and to York Dragway for the UK Northern Finals.
Shakespeare County Raceway once again welcomed Firestorm for the NSRA Hot Rod Drags
two weeks ago. We set off after work on Friday, arriving at SCR at 10.00, giving us the
last couple of hours in the pit bar. We were down to do two runs on Saturday, unfortunately
rain and a number of oil downs meant that they ran out of time to run
everything ourselves included, so we just hoped for a better day on
Sunday. Sunday dawned a bright and breezy day and we looked set for a
fantastic days racing and the two runs promised for today. This meeting
is always well attended by the massive following of the American muscle car
scene, there was a full field of cars entered for the run wot ya brung as well
as the Outlawed Anglias which are always entertaining to watch and put on a
good show. We did the first run of the day at 2.00pm, flame & thunder
show was both hot & loud and the afterburner pops ferocious. This was
followed by a stunning run which came within 200ths of a second of Roger
beating his personal best ET which was set last year. Firestorm then
closed the show just after 5.00 with a shorter but none the less impressive
flame and thunder show because of the evening curfew. This ended another brilliant weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway.
Thanks go out once again to Colin Fallows and to Shez for all their help in
getting the show on the road. Cheers everyone!
This last weekend saw Firestorm at
York Dragway on Sunday for the Northern Finals event. Although the event
was Sunday we couldn't keep away and went up on Saturday evening to chill out,
a welcome break from what is always a busy schedule. Sunday was really
well attended by all the car classes which meant that there was only time to
squeeze Firestorm in for just one run. All in all a good day was had by
all, the weather was fine, the racing was good and close - what more do you
want!
31st
August 2004
We have
been to the Allstar Nationals held at Shakespeare County Raceway for this bank
holiday and it has been an absolutely brilliant weekend. We have
had three days of top class qualifying and racing with both cars and bikes, you
can get full reports and photographs by visiting
www.eurodragster.com. We are
once again indebted to Colin Fallows, yours truly (Helen) has now taken
over as Crew Chief and Colin came over to crew for us as Ian has now finished
with the Firestorm team. We thank him for his support and wish him well.
This
weekend the Firestorm camp was sporting a new 'Party Tent' for our pit area, I
think we were all a bit daunted about the task of putting it up as it is 32 foot
long by 12 foot wide and there are only 3 of us. I think we managed to
avoid being a spectator sport, word of warning though - if you are walking past
whilst its going up or down you may find yourself volunteered - it is a massive
tent. This said it may have taken a little while to put up and take down
but by the end of the weekend we already knew it had been well worth the effort
- how popular were we when the rain came down on Sunday!
Saturday
was a bright day without any rain and Firestorm did one flame and thunder show,
we were testing a new parachute configuration so Roger had an early shut off at
around 1/2 track. Firestorm was a little bit lively on the line and pushed
right through stage, eventually staging on the rear wheels. Tog reported
that he thought I was going to push him back - this is what it must have looked
like, as Roj passed me I put both hands out to tell him to slow it down when it
was already a lost cause - I'm sure it caused a few people to chuckle, I
certainly laughed about it afterwards thinking what it must have looked like!
Sunday
started overcast and quite breezy and a few more ratchet straps were hastily
added to the party tent - you wouldn't want that to take off I can tell you!
We were down to do 2 runs today, but unfortunately rain stopped play about 3.00,
we had had a good run earlier in the day with a speed of 251.55 in 6.37 seconds.
Monday
there was quite a strong side wind which was affecting a lot of the cars and
bikes, so much so that a lot of classes ran over the 1/8 mile rather than the
1/4. We had two runs, Firestorm put on fearsome flame and thunder shows,
complete with our recently absent after burner pops, yes they're back!
Both runs had an early shut off because of the strong side wind.
We had a
fantastic time over the whole weekend and thank everyone for all their efforts
in organising another great meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway.
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Allstar Nationals, Shakespeare
County Raceway
28th, 29th & 30th August 2004 |
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Photograph by Roger Gorringe |
Firestorm's new 'Party Tent' |
Photograph by Sharkman |
28th July
2004
York
Dragway News Update - Firestorm has been invited to appear at York Dragway for
the UK Northern Nationals which takes place on Saturday and Sunday 7th & 8th
August. 2004 is a milestone for York Dragway as it is celebrating 30 years
of Drag Racing and Firestorm feels proud and privileged to be a part of its
history. York Dragway is our local track and we fully support and thank
Steve Murty and all the crew for all their help and support over the years.
The UK
Northern Nationals is a big weekend at York and includes the 27th Annual Street
Racer Championship plus Hot Rod Challenge, Northern Drag Racing Championship,
National Street Car Challenge, American Super Stock and 'Run Wot You've Brung'.
For the first time at York there will also be a Junior Dragster class for the
rising stars of Dragracing. Plus the Wild Bunch nostalgia drag racing
series and a Super-Pro Shootout with 7 second dragsters wowing the crowd over
the 1/4 mile at York Raceway! With Saturday night party and camping this
is an all round entertaining good weekend away.
Firestorm
will be on display and performing flame and thunder shows on both days.
27th July
2004
We set off
to the Isle of Man last Thursday with our good friend Colin Fallows, (driver of
both Vampire and Split Second jet dragsters and European Land Speed Record
Holder), Colin was helping out as crew for the weekend. After a good smooth
ferry crossing we landed in Douglas just in time to go out for something to eat
and sample a few beverages in the local pubs. We have been invited back to the
Island after Firestorm's successful visit in 2003 by Trevor and Howard of
Straightliners. Emma from the Isle of Man Tourist Board has already been in
touch, gathering information on Firestorm to do a press release to generate some
local interest for the annual Jurby Drag Race. We were also invited to put
Firestorm on display down on Douglas Promenade on Friday which drew quite a lot
of attention.
Saturday
we were up early and set off to the North of the Island to Jurby, there was an
excellent days qualifying and racing finished off with Firestorm putting on a
spectacular flame and thunder show, followed by a short run as the track is not
quite long enough to leave it in through the 1/4 mile.
Once
again, we have to thank Manx Petroleums for their continued support as they
sponsored the Jet A1 fuel for the weekend.
Sunday
started very wet but fortunately the rain stopped about 11.00 and with the
breeze blowing down the track it was dry enough for racing to start about
12.00. Firestorm had generated a huge amount of interest whilst on display in
Douglas on Friday and lots of people made the effort to come up to Jurby for the
drag racing. They were treated to some pretty serious motorcycles doing the 1/4
mile, many running 8 and 9 second runs at more than 180 mph and Firestorm
performed two flame & thunder shows followed by two runs during the course of
the day. Once again we were made very welcome and people took the time to come
over and say how much they had enjoyed seeing Firestorm put through its paces,
many local people also thanked us for bringing Firestorm to the Isle of Man.
That always makes everything worthwhile.
Once
again, we had a fantastic weekend in the Isle of Man, thanks to everyone for
their efforts in making it all happen, we look forward to seeing you all again.
At this stage I do not have any photographs from the Island, but I am promised
some over the next few weeks - as soon as I get them I will put them in the
photo gallery.
5th
July 2004
Since
our last update we have been up to York Dragway for the Motor Mayhem meeting, it
was a well attended meeting with many different classes of cars and quite a few
run what ya brung entries. Firestorm was scheduled for two runs but as it
threatened rain for the best part of the day, we were expecting it to be cut
down to one at any time, thankfully the rain held off and Firestorm did two
stunning flame and thunder shows followed by strong 1/8 mile passes.
This
weekend is the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, this is
always a busy weekend with loads to see and do. There are a lot of
American muscle cars, run what ya brung cars merchandise stalls,
beer tent and bands and a walk through the campsite is also well worthwhile as there are some
serious hot rods,
American cars and pickups parked around there. If you've not been to this
meeting we can highly recommend it!
Due to circumstances beyond our control, Firestorm
was without crew for the weekend so good friend and European
Land Speed Record holder Colin Fallows stepped in to the breech and yours truly (Helen)
had the job of starting Firestorm and getting Roger to the line - quite nerve
racking for the first time I can tell you. All that aside everything went
well, Roger put Firestorm through its paces on the startline with good long
flame shows but sadly none of the now famous ferocious afterburner pops, as they
have been annoying people in the neighbouring villages and we have been asked by
the promoter not to do them. This is obviously disappointing for us
personally and for Firestorm fans but if its good for the sport and for the
track then that is what we have to do. On Saturday there were quite strong
winds so in the interest of safety Roger did not do full 1/4 mile passes and on
Sunday we only had one run as rain stopped play about 4.00 - a disappointing end
to what had been a fantastic weekends racing.
13th June
2004
This
weekend was the Power Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway, for once we were
packed and ready to set off at 7.00 on Friday night, quite an early start for
us! You may have seen that we have a new race support vehicle, we have
imported a Chevy Silverado, this has meant some changes in the packing routine
which is extensive and usually starts around Wednesday and culminates in us
setting off to Shakey about 9.00 on Friday night and getting there after
midnight. Anyway, following the changes we arrived at Shakey about 10.00 and even managed a couple of beers in the bar before retiring for the
evening. Saturday was a bright but breezy day, with quite a stiff
crosswind which was a bit of a problem to some of the racers at the top end,
hence in the interest of safety some motorcycle classes were asked by the Race
Director to run over the 1/8 mile only.
Following an oil down in the middle of the day quite a lot of time was lost and a lot of racers hadn't done their qualifying runs so the meeting ran quite a way
over curfew and we could not run - a bitter disappointment for the whole team
and loads of Firestorm fans!
Sunday
was a beautiful day which went without too many problems and not a lot of
downtime, there were many fast runners including top fuel bikes and
dragsters. Firestorm put on two flame & thunder shows followed by two strong
passes, the last of which was quite a wild ride - Roj got out of the groove and
onto Shakeys famous shut down area bumps, with Firestorm going from being
airborne to having two wheels on the grass! Roj got it all under control but we
need to do a body repair before this next weekend up at York Dragway.
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Power Nationals, Shakespeare
County Raceway
12th & 13th June 2004 |
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Photographs by Ivan Sansom |
1st June
2004
We have had two meetings since the last update, the first was the American Car
World Nationals two weeks
ago followed by the
Modified Nitrous Festival on Saturday and Sunday and MRC Rotorstock 'Japanese
Performance' Showdown
on the Bank Holiday Monday. After a slow start this year to the
development of
Firestorm we are now seeing some results from all the hard work! Roger has
had some strong consistent runs over the two meetings, with the last run of the
day yesterday culminating in a new best speed of 253.09 mph in 6.314.
Fantastic, well done Roj!
12th
May 2004
The 0-60 Challenge at York Dragway was well attended on Sunday, we had one Flame
and Thunder show in the afternoon followed by an attempt at the 0-60 challenge.
This was a first for Firestorm and it took a lot of effort to set up the radar
gun and lights to ensure that we didn't blow them away on the launch. The
attempt gave us a 0-60 time of 1.3 seconds which we are sure could have been
bettered quite easily but as we finished our one run it started to rain and
rained so hard that the meeting was abandoned. A disappointing end to what
had so far been a really good day!
6th
May 2004
We have added further dates to the
2004 Calendar.
Firestorm will be at York Dragway on Sunday for the 0-60 Challenge and we have
also been invited by
Lee Child of LA Performance Services to attend the Fordsport Club Day on 2nd
and 3rd October.
I am also pleased to say that we now have some t-shirts for little people -
they now range from age 5/6 up to age 11/12 - hopefully there won't be any
disappointed faces now! Please see the
Firestorm Shop for full details.
4th May 2004
We have been to Shakespeare County Raceway for our first meeting of their 2004
season. For Firestorm it was the first full 1/4 mile passes this year and as it
was the bank holiday weekend we were hoping to have five or six passes,
unfortunately the rain stopped play on Saturday and also for some of Monday.
Sunday was a fantastic day, both weatherwise and for the racing with Firestorm
doing two runs during the course of the day, we had one run to close the show on
Monday after a late start for the racing, with Roger doing a blinding run at
250.08 mph in 6.344 seconds.
SCR has undergone some work over the winter months, we all had a bit of scare as
we drove in on Friday night and noticed that the Track Bar was no more, but it
all ended well when we realised they'd just relocated it - straight opposite our
pit area - how handy!
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Excitement Nationals 2004
Shakespeare County Raceway
Photograph by Sharkman of
Eurodragster.com |
16th April 2004
Firestorm has had a very last
minute invitation to appear at the Doncaster Custom Car Show this weekend on
the Shakespeare County Raceway stand by promoter Lee Child. Roger will
be there with Firestorm all weekend so if you are passing by call in and say
hello, we are there to help promote Shakespeare County Raceway and Roger will
also have the Firestorm t-shirts and caps available. Lee also has last
years Ultimate Power Drag Racing Championship DVD's and Video's for sale which
includes some exciting footage of the Firestorm Jet Funny Car.
We are also very pleased to have
secured another date for the Firestorm calendar - Lee Child has invited the
Firestorm team to the all new event The American Car World Nationals
(incorporating Doorslammer Internationals and Gary's Picnic) on the 15th and
16th May 2004. Fantastic news, thanks Lee!
14th April 2004
Easter Weekend saw Firestorm at
York Dragway for the first meeting of the 2004 season. The weather was
brilliant for an Easter Weekend, remaining dry and reasonably warm all
weekend! We tested the new burner setup on Saturday which went very well, but
we decided to run the 2003 setup as Roger needs to alterations done to one of
the pressure regulators (safety first). This was followed by 1 run at
the Straightliners Streetfighter Spectacular meeting on Sunday and 2 runs on
Monday at the Super Street & VW/Mini Shootout before a record attendance
crowd! Firestorm blew the cobwebs away (literally) with its Flame 'n Thunder
Show and ran a strong 186 in the 1/8th mile, Roger was reasonably pleased with
this as it was the first of the year!
One part of the show had changed
for this weekend, Ian couldn't make the meeting and I (Helen) got the
opportunity to start Firestorm's turbine and attempt to bring Roger into stage
for the first time (I can say one thing - it is not as easy as it looks).
Hence it is yours truly up front on the photograph taken by good friend and
number one Firestorm supporter Shez. Thanks to Colin Fallows and our
good friend Mark for their help in making it all happen this weekend - all in
all a job well done and a good time had by all.
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Street Fighter Spectacular and
Super Street Shootout, York Dragway
11th & 12th April 2004 |
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Photographs by Shez of
Doncaster! |
8th April 2004
Firestorm was
given a very warm welcome at the Sheffield Arena this weekend. The weather
was a little bit chilly with some rain showers so I think everyone was glad of
the heat from Firestorm’s spectacular flame n thunder show! There was a good
attendance on both days with plenty to see both inside the arena and outside
for the regular stunt shows which were held on both days.
We have added
some more t-shirts to the Firestorm range of clothing as well, check out the
Firestorm Shop for the latest addition. These are ladies fitted t-shirts
embroidered with the new Firestorm Logo, available in two colours (light blue
and black) priced at £20.00 each.
We are now
looking forward to Easter Weekend, everything is crossed that we are blessed
with some good weather for the start of the 2004 development on the
afterburner system on Firestorm!
28th March 2004
The Firestorm camp had some
fantastic news this week, it has been confirmed that Firestorm is set to make
a second appearance in the Isle of Man this year at the prestigious Isle of
Man TT Races! We have to thank Trevor and Howard from Straightliners who
have worked hard alongside the Isle of Man Tourist Board in making this
happen. We will be tethering Firestorm down on Douglas Promenade and
doing the now famous flame & thunder show to entertain some 20,000 TT race
fans. As motorcyclists ourselves this is obviously close to our hearts
and is something that we are very excited about, not only do we get to run
Firestorm but we also get to watch some of the best racing in the world, it
doesn't get much better than this!
We have fired up Firestorm this
weekend for the first time this year, everything went well with the test run,
which we were all pleased with. We will be running last years setting
for the up and coming flame and thunder show at the Performance Bike Show at
the Sheffield Arena, then we will be upgrading the J85 jet engine and using
the all new 2004 settings when we appear at York Dragway on Easter Weekend.
This is exciting and is something we are really looking forward to, however,
we will start testing on soft settings and will be taking it one step at a
time to make sure we don't damage the engine in the process.
25th March 2004
We are very pleased with the
response to the new T-shirts and Firestorm Caps (see news item below and the
new Firestorm Shop). We have been asked about payment over the web, we
are looking at this option but at this stage it is a case of sending us a good
old fashioned cheque and we will forward the items to you. We have to
thank Darren West of Power Race Graphics, for the design work on both the caps
and the t-shirts.
Power Race Graphics are creators of
award winning paint scheme design for Wheelgame Racing, Obsession Motorsport,
Southern Rebel Racing, Shockwave Racing, Nobby Hills Racing, and more to debut
early in the 2004 season!
PRG also design and supply - Logo's
for racers and suppliers, T-shirts and Caps, Decals, and offer a full Vinyl
graphics service.
To find out more contact - Darren
West, Tel: 01305 766732 or email:
powergrfx@supanet.com.
14th March 2004
Hi, I hope you are all looking
forward to this coming season as much as we are. Just to keep you up to
date with what is happening in the Firestorm camp, Roger is busy working in
the garage on Firestorm doing all the winter jobs and some new developments
for 2004 as well! He has also been working on the Ford Cargo which we
are making into living quarters for the team. I am desperately hoping
this will be ready for Easter! For my part (Helen) I have been
busy organising some new team clothing and some additional t-shirts in black
which are now available, I am sure you will agree these look stunning!
We have had a new Firestorm Logo designed which you will see appearing on caps
and clothing for this year, the design has been created for us by Darren West
of Power Race Graphics. Darren also designed the artwork for the
Firestorm t-shirts last year.
We have also had some new Hero
Cards designed for this year which I am sure will go down well! I have
now put an additional page on the website for Promotional Items which gives
the details of what we have available at the moment there will also be some
additional items coming soon. We will look towards developing on-line
shopping, but at the moment if you send an e-mail we will process your order
that way.
That is it in brief, I will keep
you informed of any news as and when it happens!
16th February 2004
Firestorm has made his first
appearance of 2004 at the Xtreme Wheels Show, Alexandra Palace, London.
We have had a fantastic weekend, there was much to see at the first ever
Xtreme Wheels Show which is the first of its kind in the UK. There were
a number of drag racing machines present both new and old and these were
joined by many hot hatch and modified vehicles, to find out who was there and
with what, check out
eurodragster.com for a full report and photographs.
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Xtreme Wheels Show, Alexandra
Palace, London
14th & 15th February 2004 |
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On show outside of Alexandra
Palace with the biggest tractor ever!
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On display in the hall at
Alexandra Palance.
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Roj being interview by John Price. |
9th February 2004
We have updated the link to Anni
and Bob Valder's website Feel-the-noise.com, as they have recently updated it.
As always there are some pretty impressive photographs, one of which we have
pinched for the front page, it is well worth a visit!
5th February 2004
Great news Firestormers, Roger has
just put the phone down after bench racing at some length with good friend and
York Dragway promoter Steve Murty who invited us to York Dragway for 3
meetings this season. We have also heard from Trevor Duckworth of
Straightliners that he would also like us to attend 3 of his meetings this
year. Further meetings are also being discussed with both Trevor and
Steve. This is it briefly, more details of the events will follow.
25th January 2004
Well here we are already in 2004,
everything is moving forward at a fast pace we are getting ready for the
Extreme Wheels Show, Roger is working on some necessary modifications to
Firestorm and also making a start on our long awaited Ford Cargo truck which
should make life a lot easier whilst we are away! We have been busy
getting new hero cards printed for 2004, they're looking really good and we
are also looking into some additional items to add to the Firestorm
merchandise along with the t-shirts!
We have also put an additional page
on the website, its the story so far on our two cars Northern Flame and
Firestorm. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time as I
personally feel that firstly Northern Flame should not be forgotten and
secondly it is always worth remembering that not everything comes easily but
with the determination to succeed you can get where you want to be. We
have had to dig out all the old photographs and try to piece together what
happened when and where, hopefully we have done that and it will now make
interesting reading!
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