[attach id=248297 size="medium"]Duncan Micallef gearing up for the quarter-mile dash.[/attach]
Duncan Micallef’s build-up for a full round of FIA Top Fuel Championship next year got off to an auspicious start earlier this month with participation in the pre-season drag racing bonanza in Santa Pod – the Festival of Power.
Despite the cold weather that hit the United Kingdom this year, the series of runs at the Northamptonshire circuit still attracted a sizeable entry of nitro-fired cars and dragsters along with their teams and pro drivers.
Micallef is no newcomer to drag racing on the European scene but this year he intends to make the most of his parti-cipations in targeted events as his Tele-phone Box team, with the inclusion of some new faces in an all-Malta line-up, gears up for the 2014 FIA season.
Among those assisting Micallef in the technical aspect of his races are Raymond Debono, Mark Farrugia, John Cassar, Adrian Busuttil and Franco Pace with Joe Ghiller overseeing the project.
Feedback on the Santa Pod track was also derived from Rjune Field’s crew.
Before the Festival of Power got underway, Micallef and his crew discussed the conditions prevailing over the weekend and on how their strategy should unfold ahead of practise and timed runs.
For the occasion, Micallef’s dragster, owned by Field, sported a new livery that included the Telephone Box sponsorship and the driver’s newly-designed website (www.duncanmicallef.com) and his facebook page logos.
All was set for the first run but the fog was dense and visibility poor. The team still opted for the challenge though but despite Micallef’s endeavours on the stripway he was unable to complete the run and had to shut off early.
“The conditions were poor,” Micallef was quoted as saying.
“It’s a pity we couldn’t do it but for most of the run I didn’t see a thing and, practi-cally, I did all with my eyes closed.”
Later, Micallef still managed a 4.92-second run and 0.93 60ft which was the best clock for the weekend. This was achieved on a resurfaced track and on a 2.7-second throttle as the blower belt let go.
At Santa Pod, Micallef was also scheduled to race 2012 FIA Top Fuel Euro-pean champion Risto Poutiainen.
Unfortunately, the challenge never got off the ground as weather conditions deteriorated and organisers deemed the track unsafe. Also, Finland’s Poutiainen was hit with a series of mechanical pro-blems during the weekend of racing.
In a statement, the Maltese team said Micallef and the crew were satisfied with what they had achieved.
The Festival of Power was an experimental weekend but it still resulted in Micallef clocking the best elapsed time. It was also the fastest since the Santa Pod track was resurfaced.
“We would like to thank our sponsors and supporters for the great encouragement and positive feedback,” the statement said.
The Telephone Box team, which adopts the motto ‘Nitro Methane is our blood group’, will now focus their attention on attracting new sponsorships for their 2014 bid. They have also started planning Micallef’s runs for the current season which will surely include the FIA Finals, also in Santa Pod, in September.