Another Giles wins Super pro.
Discussion
I found it very strange to see Barry standing trackside as the renown maroon dragster carved it's way to win the national finals. Nobody wins Super pro these days unless they are good ...very good... at everything! No surprise then to see Dan Giles take advantage of all that know-how in the Giles and Hartley camp to emerge victorious. With the like of Gough, Hauser Jnr., Marston, the professor and at least a dozen others (particularly the ex Jnr dragster drivers), Super pro must now be the toughest eliminator of them all. Engineering excellence, scrupulous preparation and a highly skilled driver is the minimum requirement to stand any chance whatsoever. I see very little room for even the smallest error in eliminations these days, make one and you're gone. I don't know what G&H have planned for 2016 but if Dan will drive, look out everyone else.
I'm looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to it.
"I appreciate you're a Super Pro cheerleader"
Guilty... I guess. I'm also a Leyton Orient supporter so I can't really lay claim to being the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Isn't all about 'balance'? Some love nitro and run their machines to achieve their aims in that direction, others prefer the kudos of being street legal, the nostalgia teams are numerous and dedicated to their theme, everyone has their own particular slant on what does it for them and there are classes for most tastes and budgets. For my individual taste, Super-Pro has the balance which appeals to me. Sure, it's not as tough as trying to pilot a SWB blown altered/FC or a mega-powered bike up the track but the engineering excellence is more geared to running a lot of events within a budget (not that anyone succeeds in keeping to their planned costs) and providing a machine which is as predictable in terms of performance as is necessary in a high quality bracket class. The driving skills required also are different, staging and RT are king but so is the ability to drive to the plan, every time, and then play the game at the top end when required.
For me, the RT/ET 'packages' achieved by the top bracket teams whilst running relatively fast and against teams who give you only a few hundredths of a second opportunity to beat them - is what does it for me. For you and many others, it's different. In my view, Super-Pro is the most difficult in that you can't buy a win, you have to do it all and get it right consistently. Other classes have different requirements, it's a balance.
I enjoy all the classes and appreciate what each brings to the table of the sport we all love. I don't get up from my grandstand seat when the JDs come round, I watch them all.
Guilty... I guess. I'm also a Leyton Orient supporter so I can't really lay claim to being the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Isn't all about 'balance'? Some love nitro and run their machines to achieve their aims in that direction, others prefer the kudos of being street legal, the nostalgia teams are numerous and dedicated to their theme, everyone has their own particular slant on what does it for them and there are classes for most tastes and budgets. For my individual taste, Super-Pro has the balance which appeals to me. Sure, it's not as tough as trying to pilot a SWB blown altered/FC or a mega-powered bike up the track but the engineering excellence is more geared to running a lot of events within a budget (not that anyone succeeds in keeping to their planned costs) and providing a machine which is as predictable in terms of performance as is necessary in a high quality bracket class. The driving skills required also are different, staging and RT are king but so is the ability to drive to the plan, every time, and then play the game at the top end when required.
For me, the RT/ET 'packages' achieved by the top bracket teams whilst running relatively fast and against teams who give you only a few hundredths of a second opportunity to beat them - is what does it for me. For you and many others, it's different. In my view, Super-Pro is the most difficult in that you can't buy a win, you have to do it all and get it right consistently. Other classes have different requirements, it's a balance.
I enjoy all the classes and appreciate what each brings to the table of the sport we all love. I don't get up from my grandstand seat when the JDs come round, I watch them all.
Edited by ribaric on Thursday 24th September 11:02
I get it too. I also know the numbers of fans (not) in the stands for ET races demonstrates clearly it is not a hot spectator sport, hence my reference to be a Leyton Orient fan - someone has to be but we are few in number. Luckily, the way drag racing is run in the UK, we all get a bit of what we want.
Referring to a point made earlier, I'm sure that no bracket racers really say "there'd be no racing with the ET classes" nor would any claim "Drag racing can't be sustained on bracket racing no matter how much you wish otherwise". These are straw-man arguments in that nobody is making those claims. I think Tet has it spot on with his "One is great for spectators, one is great for racers. You need to appease both camps".
I too am not a lover of throttle stops but the index classes are quite well populated, they clearly enjoy the technology of dialing in to a fixed index so, for me, the numbers tell the story. The ET classes now outnumber all the others by some margin, just as they do in the US, so it would appear sportsman racing has found it's place. I remember all those comp-altered classes, then the "personal index" system, all that happened was people went slower when they could in order to protect their index, just like comp altered does today. We've seen plenty of attempts at heads up racing, Super-Mod, Rover V8, Street Eliminator, Stock and probably many others but they all suffer the same problem. Who will police everything and what happens when a well funded team wipes the floor with everyone else? Perhaps 'more fun/less competition' is then answer, the blown altereds, Outlaw Anglia, gassers and suchlike seem to enjoy themselves without putting too much emphasis on winning. I put a lot of effort and money into a cannonball style competition over here in central Europe (2006-2008) in an attempt to get all the best cars to race together, it ultimately failed because too many declined to enter the show unless they stood a chance of winning. I find that a bit sad but that's the way people are.
I too am not a lover of throttle stops but the index classes are quite well populated, they clearly enjoy the technology of dialing in to a fixed index so, for me, the numbers tell the story. The ET classes now outnumber all the others by some margin, just as they do in the US, so it would appear sportsman racing has found it's place. I remember all those comp-altered classes, then the "personal index" system, all that happened was people went slower when they could in order to protect their index, just like comp altered does today. We've seen plenty of attempts at heads up racing, Super-Mod, Rover V8, Street Eliminator, Stock and probably many others but they all suffer the same problem. Who will police everything and what happens when a well funded team wipes the floor with everyone else? Perhaps 'more fun/less competition' is then answer, the blown altereds, Outlaw Anglia, gassers and suchlike seem to enjoy themselves without putting too much emphasis on winning. I put a lot of effort and money into a cannonball style competition over here in central Europe (2006-2008) in an attempt to get all the best cars to race together, it ultimately failed because too many declined to enter the show unless they stood a chance of winning. I find that a bit sad but that's the way people are.
Gassing Station | Drag Racing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff