30th October 2005 - Event Report: Crail Max Power Thrash (for Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

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Event: Crail Max Power Thrash, Crail Raceway, Scotland

Dates: Sunday 30th October 2005

With it being almost 2 years since our last trip to Crail we thought it would be a good idea to take a trip over to Scotland’s sole drag racing strip. Based out on the far eastern coast of Scotland, near St Andrews, Crail is a massive disused airfield.  With an oval for the drifting and burnout cars and massive show and shine area to complement the drag racing, Crail is certainly a superb location for a lot of fun and action. On the Saturday before the big day the rain poured down in major style and sadly the forecast gave scattered shows for Sunday as well.

Competitors for the drag racing included local Irish drag strip kings, East Coast Customs, and their Subaru Impreza. Fresh from an eleven second flat quarter at Santa Pod, the Lisburn based tuners were fired up to get into the tens. The morning started off windy and cold but thankfully there was no sign of any rain. The track was still very slippy from the overnight showers making it hard to get a good launch for the early runners but with a few technical adjustments, such as tyre pressure levels, the times started to come down. ECC started off in the high elevens with an 11.7 then gradually came down to 11.5 and 11.4 before a few more changes seen a 11.2 With a very quick R32 Nissan Skyline on the scene, running mid elevens, the action was really heating up. The guys were really fired up knowing a ten was only a matter of time away. Then came the 10.99@128mph – the only Japanese car in Ireland to run a 10 second quarter. Running in full street going form this is even more impressive. All the hard work the lads had put in over the years had well and truly paid off as they celebrated on the start line, alongside the crowds who were all over at the car wanting a look under it’s lid to see just how much work had to be done to achieve such a time.

At this point the grey clouds were fast approaching so we took a wander across the show and shine to see some examples of the best modified cars in Scotland. A few that caught the eye included a stunningly smooth orange Megane and a fluorescent orange Toyota Supra. The Supra catching the eye because it was so bright it was almost unreal.  A silver Evo 6 with a huge set of alloys and a few heavily modified Subaru’s complimented a lot of new cruise websites that have popped up since we were last over.

The day was to be sadly interrupted by the rain very shortly afterwards. But not before John Curistan, the ECC Scoob driver, gave Jon44w.Com a number of passenger trips up the quarter mile strip. Very few drag strips allow passengers so it was good to video a run for all our members to see and appreciate how fast this car is. Even more incredibly, on that run, John ran an 11.09 quarter mile in the damp with an extra person in the car!

When the rain came it was no normal rain shower – it was a torrential downpour. Within a few minutes the venue was flooded and the strip had too much standing water to put in a good time. Russ Swift was also in attendance but was delayed from doing his show because of everyone taking cover from the cold and wet. One bit of fun to keep everyone entertained was a driver in a lorry doing a few circles and drifts around the oval! Being at the end of October it was no surprise the weather was so bad but hopefully when we return next year we will get another good day and enjoy all the action packed fun that Crail has to offer.

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PREVIOUS JOURNALISM ENTRIES

2005-10-02 - D1 GP Drifting Exhibition Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-09-24 - SWRC Track & Race Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-09-10 - Cruise Control Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-09-04 - Trax Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-09-03 - Edition 38 VW Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-21 - Halfords/Ripspeed Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-14 - Fire & Ice Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-05 to 2005-08-07 - Ultimate Street Car Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-06-26 - Overdrive Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-06-12 - Quickshift Drag Racing Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-06-11 - Club GTI Trackday Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-05-22 - Modified Mayhem Show Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-03-26 - D1 Drifting Dates & Drifting Background Info (Fast & Modified Magazine)

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