Street Nationals
Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th May 2012

They say that the sun shines on the righteous. If that’s the case, then the people who attended the 2012 Street Nationals event on the 12-13th of May must have been very righteous indeed! With wall-to-wall sunshine for two days in what has otherwise been a very wet spring, race-goers were truly blessed with great conditions at Santa Pod Raceway.

The event was a track-focused day of performance cars, with a new concept for the Run What Ya Brung competition, where not only do four class winners take home a trophy and £100 prize money, but the top four cars from each class would be eligible to run in head-to-head eliminations to find the fastest of the fast.

The classes were structured so that the top 16 cars would be an interesting mix of 4-cylinder compact cars, 6-cylinder GTs, 8-cylinder muscle cars and screaming rotary-powered cars. This format certainly didn’t disappoint, with fantastic mix of cars out on track and really stunning mix of cars topping each class.

The eliminations started with 16 cars, a few of which didn’t make it to the start-line… their loss, since the remaining cars filled out the quarter-finals with a brilliant mix of old beetles, Jap missiles and American muscle to compete for the finals. There were some close races on the way, but Andy Forrest in his 6-cylinder Subaru Impreza faced off against Andy Murton in his Chevrolet Camaro for the final. Andy Forrest packed a slightly bigger punch, but both cars were capable of similar performance, so reaction times, reliability and driving skills would determine the winner. Both drivers reacted to the lights at exactly the same time, but it was the Subaru that took the prize in the end, with yet another stunning 8-second run at over 160mph.

RWYB Winners

Class A 4 cylinders or less Clive Fulcher – Subaru Impreza – 9.7436 @ 146.18mph

Class B 5 or 6 cylinders Andy Forrest – Subaru Impreza (SVX engine) – 8.4201 @ 170.44mph

Class C 8 or more cylinders Andy Murton – Chevrolet Camaro – 9.1162 @ 151.06mph

Class D Rotary engines Edward Bigos – Mazda RX7 – 13.3432 @ 115.97mph

RWYB Elimination Winner Andy Forrest – Subaru Impreza (SVX engine) – 8.873@ 162.51mph Defeated Andy Murton – Chevrolet Camaro – 9.268 @ 146.17mph

The Street Nationals also hosted a HUGE sprint track, where drivers had to navigate their cars through numbered gates as quickly as possible. The track started with a fast straight, then went into a series of tight turns that tested the cars road-holding and the driver’s skill to the maximum. A serious battled developed for the top time, but it was determined Dmitrij who clocked the fastest lap in his Subaru WRX, smoking his way to victory with a very spirited drive.

Handling Track Winner Dmitrij Sribnyj – Subaru Impreza WRX – 37.20 seconds

The dragstrip also played host to invited drag racing classes from Euro Sports Compact and the Jap Drag Series, where the UK’s top modified cars did battle, with qualifying on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. The racing turned out some superb performances, including a 6-second run at over 200mph for John Bradshaw to conclude the day.

See www.EuroSportsCompact.co.uk and www.JapDragSeries.co.uk for full race reports.

ESC FWD Street Winner Paul Bargate – VW Scirocco – 11.4977 @ 117.00mph Defeated Paul Webster – Mini Cooper – 13.9942 @ 68.81mph

ESC 4WD/RWD Winner Gino Bernadine – Ford Escort - 10.0399 @ 135.72mph Defeated Mark Gunns – VW Corrado  - 10.7767 @ 134.02mph (Red Light)

JDS Street Winner Rob Blackshaw – Mazda RX7 – 9.5476 @ 151.64mph Defeated Jeff Ludgate – Nissan Skyline GTR – 10.4174 @ 141.58mph

JDS Pro (Demo Shootout Winner) John Bradshaw – Nissan 350Z – 6.6873 @ 205.18mph Defeated Leon Green – Toyota Supra – Broke

View more photos on the 2012 Gallery page.

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