The ultimate Doorslammer class, with no limitation on body style or age and minimal restrictions to modifying the body shape, Pro Modified creates both the wild and sometime outrageous looking cars, if you were to create a caricature of a race car Pro Mod would be the end result, however be under no illusion these cars are all business and at the highest end of Drag Racing technology, with engine combinations of up to 526 cubic inch Super Charged, no limit for Nitrous Oxidea injected engines and 540 cubic inch for turbo cars, these cars are estimated to be making in excess of 3500 bhp and are capable of running the quarter mile in under 6 seconds at 240 mph plus.
Running off a Pro tree heads up no break out first to the finish line wins (without a red light or crossing the centre line) of course.
Street Eliminator as the class name indicates is a Drag Race class for purely street legal cars, however Street Eliminator cars are no ordinary cars by any stretch of the imagination, this class is open to Doorslammers only, cars and trucks, that must be Taxed, Insured and M.O.T’d, your car must after qualifying on the drag strip take a 25 mile cruise on the public roads, fill up with a specified amount of pump fuel, complete a hot start and then cruise back to the track, sound easy, well some of these cars are making upwards of 3000bhp are capable of running low seven second quarter mile times at 190 mph + all of this on a street legal tyre, with no wheelie bars.
Street Eliminator is a heads up on a Pro tree with no break out, a go as fast as your car is capable class demanding the best of the best from you combination, turbo’s, superchargers and Nitrous oxide are the order of the day to extract the maximum horse power from you engine combination, but finesse is also the key with this class as it’s much easier to blow the tyres off a 3000hp car than it is to get the car to hook up and run consistently fast.
Or to put it another way. Ford Pops on seriously large amounts of steroids, if you had to design an outrageous caricature of a 1953 Ford Popular, with what used to be a 3 speed crash gear box and barely enough power to pull the skin of a rice pudding, well Outlaw Anglia is it.
600+ cubic inch V8 engines, Superchargers, Nitrous Oxide and Turbochargers are the order of the day, Outlaw Anglia is a heads up no holds barred fast as your budget will allow class for Ford Pop’s, Anglias and Fordson vans. These vehicles are running almost down into the 6 second barrier, and who knows 2020 may well see that happen as there are a few cars vying to be the first.
This is in a lot of cases a tube frame, Heads up full on race car class running off a .400 Pro Tree. That doesn’t mean you cannot get involved with your 11 second Pop as many do and have a lot of fun doing it.
A class providing bracket style racing for the older style of race car, Wild Bunch only race Dragsters, Altererd’s and Funny cars, most of the Dragsters are front engined or slingshot style as they are known in the Drag Race world, and all give a great big nod to the bygone world of Nostalgia Drag Racing, any fuel any power adder, nitrous, supercharger or turbocharger are all welcome, but if your budget is limited and you can only muster a 4 pot normally aspirated engine, then that’s fine too, the aim of the Wild Bunch is to get you out there and have a load of fun with whatever you have, but rest assured the racing on the track is just a fierce as any other class out there, just with a little more pizazz.
Nostalgia Super Stock is a new and very welcome addition to the Championship Drag Racing scene, the cars must run quicker than 14.99 seconds on the ¼ mile, and are currently (although under review for 2020) limited to 9.00 seconds on the ¼ mile. The class is run as a bracket race on a .500 Sportsman tree, with all vehicles being door cars, and no newer than 1980 with V8 engines, there are no power adders or fuel injection permitted, just normally aspirated pure horsepower. The class also allows minimum alterations to the frame rails and a maximum 10.5 inch tyre width.
If you like door cars with wheels up action this is one class to watch.
The fastest of all of the bracket classes (8.99 – 6.00 seconds) with a diverse collection of race cars, you can run almost any automotive engine combination with a range of fuels, petrol, methanol, diesel or nitro methane are commonly used, with the addition of Nitrous Oxide, Superchargers and Turbo Chargers, you will also find some very fast normally aspirated engine combinations racing and from all marques.
This class is also open to many body styles, Dragsters, Doorslammers, Altered’s, Roadsters and trucks, it’s your choice, however repeatability and being able to cut a reaction time is the aim of the game here as you dial your own estimated elapsed time prior to the run and race to match as closely as possible that dialled in time, too slow and your competitor will beat you to the finish line, quicker than your dial in time means disqualification. To race at this level you must be within a couple of thousandths on the right side of your dial in or it’s back on the trailer as you can bet you competitor will be. Super Pro runs off a .5 sportsman tree, staggered to allow for a variation of elapsed times within the class index off 8.99 – 6.00 seconds.
Pro Et is the middle class in terms of speed and elapsed times (ET’S), ET’s are between 12.00 – 8.50, however the class is not middle in terms of skill, ability and presentation, Pro ET also allows a myriad of different vehicle combinations much like Super Pro but with a bit more budget in mind, Pro Et is still a class were you will find big and small block engines with big cubic inches, however they don’t need to be stressed to the levels of quicker classes. You will also find many other engine combinations with 4 and 6 cylinder cars being used to very good effect against the might of the V8. Pro ET as above also runs off a .5 sportsman tree with the best matching their dial in or elapsed time to within a thousandth or two, killer reactions and being able to race the finish line are a must, if you race craft isn’t up to scratch you won’t go many rounds against these Ladies and Gents.
Sportsman ET is an introductory class for the Sportsman racers, you can still run whatever vehicle you prefer, Dragster, Altered, Truck or Doorslammer. The ET range is 11.99 and slower with a 32 second cut off (the computer system won’t allow anything slower) One of the great aspects of the Sportsman ET class is you can race your own regular road car, and many do, this is a great class to learn your race craft, how to dial in, how to improve your reaction times and also race the finish line. Sportsman ET also allows for minimum modifications to a vehicle in order to race it and indeed in some cases (road cars) no modifications at all, thus making this a more affordable start to your Drag Racing career.
Sportsman ET is a dial your own ET class running off a .5 Sportsman tree.
Super Comp is a heads up class designed for all manner of vehicles, Doorslammers, Roadsters, altered’s and Dragsters. The class runs to a hard index of 8.90 seconds meaning that unlike the ET classes you cannot change the Elapsed Time that you run to. The class demands as with most others that you have killer reaction times as if your slow off the line but run dead on 8.900 seconds, you can still lose because if the other racer has beaten you off the line they can still run slower or less accurately on the track but still get there first, as with the ET classes you may not run faster than the set index of 8.90 second, the Super Classes also allow electronic devises called throttle stops that allow you to adjust the amount of time the vehicle is under full throttle on the run, this allows for changes in weather and track conditions as you don’t have the option of changing your dial in to allow for these changes so you have to alter your throttle stop settings, it has to be said though not all racers use electronics and rely on their ability to run the car without these items. The class runs off a .4 heads up Pro tree.
Super Gas, identical to the Super Comp class but a second slower running off a hard index off 9.900 second, as with the Super Comp class the engine combinations are fairly open, you can run whatever automotive engine you wish with the usual power adders of Supercharger, Turbocharger and Nitrous Oxide if required, Super Gas is however limited in body styles, the body must be that of a doorslammer, no altered’s, Funny Cars or dragsters.
Super Gas can also use electronic throttle stops, you may see crew members wondering around with strange looking boxes in their hands it may well be a weather station used to predict an ET or give the super class racers their throttle stop settings. It’s worth mentioning that just because these guys are running electronics it’s still a very tough set of classes to compete in, reaction times and racing the finish line still play a huge part come race day.
Junior Dragster is the true entry level for all young car racers, racing over the 1/8th mile rather than the ¼ mile, juniors can begin their racing careers at just age 8 years with the opportunity to move up within the class as they get older, starting at just age 8 with the Junior Stock class, Stock limits the Junior racers to an ET limit of no quicker than 12.90 seconds, they can then progress at the age of 10 to Junior Modified with an ET limit of 8.90 seconds and finally at the age of 13 they can continue with Junior Modified Advanced which limits ET to 7.90 seconds and a maximum speed of 85mph which for a 13 year old is no slouch.
In order to promote race craft Junior Dragsters qualify from their reaction times, as reaction times are so important in Drags Racing this a great way for the Junior racers to learn the art of reaction times, however when they come to race day they compete the same way all of the ET classes do, they use their own dial in times to bracket race (as Super Pro / Pro ET and Sportsman ET) and race off a .5 second sportsman tree, all three of the classes race together but may not dial quicker than their class index. The Junior Dragster class uses a variety of power plants from single cylinder petrol and methanol engines to V twin engines but under a strict set of regulations to maintain parity.
Outlaw Flat 4 is an all Volkswagen heads-up racing class, all vehicle must be powered by VW flat four pushrod based engines and be capable of running 12.99 and faster. The class is open to any full bodied vehicle including Buggies. Outlaw Flat 4 runs off a .400 head up Pro tree. If heads up VW full bodied cars is your thing this is the class to look to enter.
VW Sportsman is an entry level bracket class designed for any VAG Group vehicle, from a 1943 Beetle to a 2020 Audi RS6, and includes any bus or 4wd vehicle within the VAG range, the only limitation is that the vehicle may not go quicker than 13.00 seconds on the quarter mile.
The class uses a Sportsman .500 Christmas Tree and has a bracket style dial your own ET, ranging from 13.00 seconds to a maximum of 32 seconds (as the timing system won’t allow us to go any slower) Like the Sportsman ET class VW Sportsman allows you to compete in your regular road car, just turn up, scrutineer, race and go home, with limited, or in lots of cases no modification required to the vehicle what so ever to allow you to race.
VW Pro is the next level up from VW Sportsman, but many of the rules still apply, any VAG Group vehicle is allowed to compete, but the starting point from an ET perspective is somewhat quicker at 12.99 seconds to as fast as you can make your car, van or truck go, Most of the vehicles in Pro are serious race machines, they run of a Sportsman ladder and a .500 Sportsman tree.
Top Fuel bike is the pinnacle of all Drag Bike classes, with the quickest, fastest and sometimes noisiest of all the motorcycles at the race track, a heads up class of the most spectacular 2 wheel machines on the planet, Top Fuel bike introduces Nitro Methane as a race fuel and with it comes astonishing performance, Top fuel bikes in Europe are covering the quarter mile in 5.6 seconds and achieving greater than 250mph in that short time. This class is not for the faint hearted and requires bespoke machines to harness all of the power the engines can produce. V twin, 3 cylinder and straight 4 engines, with and without superchargers are the primary choice in use today.
Top Fuel Bike is a heads up, .400 Pro Tree class, with a level of technology that mirrors any machine at any race track in the world. If the opportunity arises you have to see these bikes run beyond dusk and into the night, as darkness brings a whole new dimension to the world of the Top Fuel Bike.
Pro Stock bike is the ultimate drag bike class for normally aspirated race bikes, running with high tech race frames and the pinnacle of normally aspirated race engines, with no limit on engine sizes but limited to 2, 3 and 4 cylinder motors only with larger weight penalties for bigger engine sizes, the engine manufacture must also match that of the body kit used. Pro Stock bike is also limited to a maximum width of rear tyre of just 10”, but capable of pushing ET’s toward the low 7 second high 6 second range with speeds in excess of 180mph. Pro Stock bikes make in excess of 320bhp from typically 1600-1700cc normally aspirated engines, so no supercharger, turbocharger or nitrous oxide to help boost power, just pure grunt with an awful lot off finesse.
Super Street bike, a street bike based class for ridiculously fast machines, in terms of pure physics this class should not be running the ET’s and speeds they do. Super Street bike is limited to a 1730mm wheel base and must run a street legal (no slicks) set of tyres and no wheelie bars, with limited extended wheelbases and in most cases engines ranging from 1200-1300cc, with no limitation on power adders these bike are making well over 600 bhp, turbo chargers are the primary choice for most bikes however there are supercharges and nitrous bikes within the class.
Running off a .4 Pro tree Super Street bike is a heads up no break out class that sees bikes regularly running into the very low 7 second range with speeds in excess of 200mph.
Funny Bike is probably the fastest of the bike classes listed, capable of running mid to high six second ET’s with speeds in excess of 200mph the class allows a variety of engine combinations with power adders to match. Funny bikes can run single or double engine combinations, however the double engine must be of a V twin type engine running normally aspirated alcohol or petrol. If you wish to run Nitro methane you’re limited to a maximum engine size of 1740cc. There are no limitation for the length of the bike frame, rear tyre and wheelie bars, however they must maintain the silhouette of the manufacturer of the engine used. Funny bike runs off a .4 tree and is a heads up no break out class.
Comp Bike is a class for motorcycles with next to no limitations except the 10 inc rear tyre ,the bike can be any length with most any engine and power adder combination allowed, you will also see a variety of body styles from stock street appearing bikes to Funny bike styles and Pro Stock bikes, fuel types are similar to Funny bike as you can run race fuel, methanol or nitro methane, also engine types are very open with the allowance of most automotive engine types with little limitations, Comp Bike also runs off a .4 Pro tree and is a heads up no break out class.
8.50 Bike is one of the motorcycle equivalents of the super classes, the class is heads up .4 Pro tree but running against a hard index of 8.50 seconds, to quick and your disqualified, too slow and you competitor will be there before you, 8.50 bike allows the use of a maximum 10 inch rear slick and wheelie bars, all power adders are allowed, turbochargers, superchargers and nitrous oxide are all used to good effect, however when it comes to tuning the bike to run dead on for the class index there are no electronic throttle stops like the car super classes can use, the rider and crew must figure the reaction and elapsed time out mechanically in the pits before the run, which is no mean feat with changing weather and track conditions.
9.50 bike is the slightly slower cousin to 8.50 bike however the racing is no less hard fought, the 9.50 class is also limited to a street tyre (no slicks) and no wheelie bars, 9.50 is the preserve of mainly stock appearing bikes, but closer inspection will find that you don’t buy many showroom stock bikes and run 9.50 second ET’s, bikes can run nitrous, turbochargers and superchargers however many of the bikes still run normally aspirated combinations. As with 8.50 bike there are no electronic throttle stops on these bikes so dialing in to the 9.50 index is again down to ride and crew members’ skill. 9.50 bike is probably the most popular class in terms of entry level racing, due to the reduced amount of work required to run your road bike within the class and thus is a great class to learn your race craft, but learn quickly it’s still a tough class to do well in.
Junior Drag Bike is an excellent way for our younger racers who prefer 2 wheels over 4 to get a start in their racing careers, Junior Drag Bike is a 2 wheeled version of junior dragster, racing from a .5 sportsman tree over the 1/8 mile, on a dial your own basis, this allows riders to begin racing from 8 years old, there are three classes within Junior Drag Bike with engine sizes increasing with rider age from 50cc to 500cc for the older riders.
8 year old riders can ride bikes from 50cc 2 stroke and 125 4 stroke with an ET limit of no faster than 12.90 seconds, at 11 riders can move up to Junior Modified Bike on either a 125cc 2 stroke or 250cc 4 stroke machines with an ET limit of 8.90 seconds and finally from the age of 14 riders can move up to Junior Pro Bike with engine sizes of 250cc 2 stroke or 500cc 4 stroke again with an ET limit but this time to 7.90 seconds.
The bikes are allowed to be styled after Top Fuel, Funny Bike and Pro stock bike but on slightly smaller scale.
ET Bike is a great entry level class for those seeking to run perhaps there regular road bike or something else that doesn’t quite fit with the Pre Set index classes of 8.50 and 9.50 bike. A great starting point for those setting out in there Drag Bike career.
ET Bike allows road legal type machines running road legal tyres and no wheelie bars to compete without the required lanyard and wired sump plug, providing the bike is essentially in stock trim with no power adders and has a V5C and MOT certificate.
ET Bike is a dial your own ET based class with a minimum ET of 8.70 seconds, the class runs of a .5 sportsman staggered tree allowing for an array of different machines with varying power levels to compete on a level playing field, no throttle stops or delay boxes here just pure rider skill and an ability to predict you bikes elapsed time to within a few hundredths of a second a great starting point for any bike racer.