Mason Griffiths’ first report of the season from behind the steering wheel of the Maverick Diagnostics dragster – Festival of Power, Santa Pod Raceway, 7-9th April
April Showers
After yet another long off-season waiting, we got down to Santa Pod for the pre-event test day on Thursday, the 6th.
Other than general maintenance, the only changes we made this year were to play with the ignition timing. Having always run it pretty conservatively, it was decided to lean on it a little, so setting changed and off we went.
Unfortunately, being April and in the UK, the weather didn’t want to play ball. A fine drizzle hung around all morning and well into the afternoon. Finally, a break in the weather gave the Santa Pod track crew a chance to dry and prepare the track.
The track wasn’t quite there for the two test runs that we managed, netting us very similar results to the close of last season, hovering around 9.2 seconds for the 1/4 mile, which, on such a green track, was showing promise!
Windy Qualifications
On to qualifications on Friday morning, conditions were looking good, and the weather was more settled.
Immediately the car showed it liked what we had done, straight out with a 9.08-second run on a 9.11. Great, but qualifying is about getting close to your number without going quicker, so this left us down the bottom end of the table.
The next session saw us run a 9.04 on a 9.02 dial-in, so 0.02 off. This put us third in the table.
The following run saw me make a mistake on the launch, slowing us down a touch. We managed a 9.08 on a 9.03 dial-in, which was no help to us. A few incidents on the track meant we didn’t get our last qualifier in, which was postponed until Saturday.
On to Saturday. The weather was looking good again, and with a light but favourable tailwind, unfortunately, the tailwind caused us to run too quickly again at a 9.01. It didn’t help us but was tantalisingly close to an 8-second run!
Expecting to go quicker on the next run, we dialled an 8.99 and ran another 9.01. So, we were on the right side of the number, but it didn’t help us. We were sliding down the ladder.
At this point, I think the top 10 were all bang on their numbers, only separated by the thousandths of a second. It’s a tight class!
For the next qualifier, we dialled in a 9-second flat, figuring we would either be closer or run the car’s first naturally aspirated 8-second pass, so we would be happy either way.
Boom 8.97! We were delighted with the 8, but it was no help in the table. Starting to worry a little as there were around 45 cars entered, and only a 32-car field runs on race day. We were 17th, so not too bad, but not where we wanted to be.
For the last run, we dialled an 8.96 and ran a 9 flat! So frustrating! We were on the right side of the number, but it was no help. We ended up in 20th place, which was not where we wanted to be, but at least we were in the show for Sunday.
Eliminations in the Sunday Sun
Sunday dawned, and the weather was still playing ball, so it was into eliminations. We were up against number 4 qualifier Chloe Wilkins in the Eye Candy dragster, who was having a great weekend (well done Chloe and team!).
Eliminations are slightly different from qualifications because it’s not necessarily getting closest to your dial-in that matters, but crossing the line before the other car without going faster than your dial-in. So, reaction times play a big part. Chloe dialled a 9.24, and we dialled a 9.10, so Chloe would leave 0.14 seconds before us.
The lights went green, and we both cut a 0.41 reaction time! This was going to be a close one! Just after half-track, Chloe’s car seemed to make a small move, and I came past. Not wanting to break out (go too quickly), I pedalled the car.
We were side by side again, with nothing in it as we crossed the line. I looked for the win light in my lane but didn’t see it. It must have been close! In fact, it was very close! Only 0.002 seconds, which at those speeds is around 7 inches!
Onto the Next
While it wasn’t the result I wanted, it was a fantastic, clean, side-by-side green light drag race! For me, this is what it’s all about! It was a great, positive weekend that sets us up nicely for the rest of the season. We just have to do some winning now!
Mason will be racing again in May.
You can watch the drag race between Mason Griffiths and Chloe Wilkins below:
Available on youtube here.
