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SATURDAY
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Crew Chief Eddie Corr is making his last minute preparations this morning and early this afternoon. He likes to prepare his tune up a long time before the meeting so that he has plenty of time to think about it. The team will be using the same "4.89" tune up that was used last year as they want to put in a good run in the first qualifier.

The teams weather station measures temperature, pressure and humidity. The weather station then makes a calculation on these to give a corrected altitude. Today the weather station is giving quite a poor reading but Eddie is confident the tune up will be enough to overcome it.

When checking everything this morning the team found a problem with the clutch cannon. The cannon was rebuilt and is now appears to be functioning correctly. The cannon the team use is quite a unique design, it is a prototype model. Most parts on Top Fuel cars are pretty interchangeable. If the teams have problems with a part they can normally find another team who will be able to supply them with a spare. However with clutch cannons four different types are used in Europe meaning that it is hard to swap parts. 

Talking to the media is a large part of a drivers day. Around 12:45pm Andy was interviewed for the FIA TV Programs / Video. The interview lasted only a couple of minutes but by the time it had been rehearsed it did take up a sizeable amount of time. It was filmed from a number of locations and Andy was keen to get as many of his sponsors names in the background as possible.

Andy talks to the media

The team have just had new hero cards and posters produced by IPA Print. As you can see below the new merchandise area looks very professional. The team put in a lot of hard work making sure the new merchandise looks as good as possible. The merchandise area is being manned by Dan Welberry and Kim Hessey all weekend. If you are at the track this weekend stop by and have a look at what they've got. Every penny you spend really does help the team.

The Carter Motorsport Merchandise Area

The car was warmed up at around 3pm and as usual a large crowd gather, and as usual those down wind of the nitro fumes soon dispersed! Once the warm up was over the clutch cannon was taken out and checked as a precaution.

John Ogden checks the timing.

The team warm the motor on methanol before switching to nitro.

1st Qualifying Run
The team had to rush a bit when they were asked to make there way to the startline at about 4:30pm, they were still not too confident with the clutch cannon which had also caused them headache at Easter, but wanted to make the all important first qualifying session. The tow to the startline seems to take a very long time. The crew tell us its the worst time for them as all of the hard work is done, they just want to see the car run. Andy was the last run, paired with Kim Reymond. Having seen relatively poor runs, tyre shake and slow times in the previous pairs confidence was high in the team and they knew a good run now would help them a lot.

Andy gives the thumbs up in the fire up road.

The car started fine, Andy rolled though the water box into the right hand lane and put in a nice smokey burnout. The pair staged almost together, and just creeping a bit further forward once in stage, but not quite into deep stage. Both cars left the line together with very strong launches. There was a lot of clutch dust from both cars. Andy pedaled slightly around 300ft and drove through some tire shake. As the car approached the top end it looked to be on a real strong run, would it be a four? Unfortunately near the top end the car visibly slowed and it appeared Andy had come off the throttle. Still Andy had won and a 5.424 was recorded. When we got to the top end we found that the throttle cable had snapped causing the loss of power at the top end. In the other lane Reymond had run a 5.490. An inspection of the timing ticket revealed Reymond had run the fastest 1/8th mile in Europe (3.248sec), a record previously held by Carter. Here are the full incrementals for Andy's run - Reaction Time  0.560 - 60ft  0.905 - 330ft 2.320 - 1/8th Time 3.354 - 1/8th Speed 243.15mph - 3/16 Time 4.299 - 1/4 Time 5.424 - 1/4 Speed 187.10mph.
Eddie Corr was pleased with the run, especially given the problems with the clutch this morning. Eddie did some calculations and if the throttle had not had broken the run would have been around a 4.98 @ 283mph.When Andy pedaled he only lifted for 1/4 of a second. If he hadn't have had done that the time would have been around a 4.96. 
Andy was also pleased with the run, he was also relieved to see the blower belt on the car at the top end as he feared that was what had happened when the car slowed. Andy said the sudden deceleration was very noticeable as the belts tightened across his chest.
The run leaves the team in the number one qualifier spot at the moment, they tell us they wont be happy with anything less than first place and fear they may have to run some really good numbers tomorrow to stay there, especially if Reymond can turn his brilliant 1/8th mile time into a full pass.

The weight of the car has to be checked after each run, under weight and the run doesn't count.

Eddie steers the car as it is towed back.

Once all the spectators have gone home the work will continue in the Carter Motorsport pit. Eddie is still not happy with the clutch and so the clutch management system will be replaced tonight. Some changes will also be made to the fuel system. The team try to work systematically, ruling out problems one by one allowing them to pin point where a problem is occurring. The team will probably be working until around 11pm, as also happened on Friday night when they changed rods.

So all in all a good day for Carter Motorsport. Despite some problems they came out of the day number one qualifier so far. With two runs left there is still a lot of work to be done but the team are relishing the challenge. I think its going to be an exciting weekend!