Speedgroup Club Europe

Defending champion

Thomas Nataas is the reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion and will again be the driver of the Andersen Racing Top Fueler. But it will not be the same car! “The 2013 season was fantastic for Andersen Racing. It was awesome to come back strongly and win convincingly after having been away from European drag racing for one and a half season. But the competition was fierce. You could feel that several of the other teams really improved more and more”, says Karsten Andersen, together with Per Andersen owner and crew chief of the Andersen Racing Top Fuel operation.

“So at the end of the 2013 season we knew that we had to improve in every possible way. Better car, better gear, better everything. We went on a combined shopping and inspirational tour to the US, and we have never invested as much as for this season. We hope that the same applies for the racetracks and FIA this year! We change from a McKinney chassis to a Hadman chassis, which hopefully will give us a couple of hundredths in advantage.

The new carbon fibre body will make the car lighter. All this together with an up-to-date motor set-up makes us more than ready to go for the trophy once again.” Thanks to Bobby Lagana Per and Karsten went to several teams and the new car will me a mix. “The chassis is a Hadman from Morgan Lucas Racing, the carbon body is from Al-Anabi Racing and we have parts from Don Schumacher Racing, Morgan Lucas Racing, Al-Anabi and Steve Torrence. As the car won’t be in Denmark until the end of April, it will be quite a challenge to get the car ready for testing on Wednesday just before The Main Event. But we like challenges”, says Karsten with a big smile. Sponsorship for the Nataas Andersen combination comes from: Batman, Landmeco, Interfit UK, Biltema, Else-Marie, Pack plast, Teslak Transport, Red line oil and ABC-Skilt.

New car, new paint job

A new car too for last year’s number three, Stig Neergaard. “A new car will be ready for Santa Pod and our plan is to participate in all races”, says ‘the real’ Stig. The car will have a fresh new paint job and the same can be said about the tractor/trailer combination. “My fantastic crew will be with me again, without them I would be lost. My wish is that track conditions will improve and all lanes are the same. Hope they get the same team to prepare all tracks.”

New Bahco Express Dragster

Another Top Fuel driver with a new car is Micke Kågered. The Swede bought the Morgan Lucas 2013 NHRA race winning car and hopes to leave all the bad luck from last seasons behind. The team is working around the clock to get the new Bahco Express ready in time for The Main Event.

Urs Erbacher

The Lucas Oil sponsored Dragster of RF Motorsport piloted by UK based Chris Andrews

Top Fuel teams and their ‘winter shopping’ Only a few weeks to go and the FIA European Drag Racing Championship will kick off with The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. Many Top Fuel teams went to the States to do some ‘winter shopping’ to upgrade their 8,000bhp equipment and step up to the next level. Great news of course for the top class of FIA European drag racing. Who is driving what and where in Top Fuel in 2014? Defending champion Thomas Nataas is the reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion and will again be the driver of the Andersen Racing Top Fueler. But it will not be the same car! “The 2013 season was fantastic for Andersen Racing. It was awesome to come back strongly and win convincingly after having been away from European drag racing for one and a half season. But the competition was fierce. You could feel that several of the other teams really improved more and more”, says Karsten Andersen, together with Per Andersen owner and crew chief of the Andersen Racing Top Fuel operation. “So at the end of the 2013 season we knew that we had to improve in every possible way. Better car, better gear, better everything. We went on a combined shopping and inspirational tour to the US, and we have never invested as much as for this season. We hope that the same applies for the racetracks and FIA this year! We change from a McKinney chassis to a Hadman chassis, which hopefully will give us a couple of hundredths in advantage. The new carbon fibre body will make the car lighter. All this together with an up-to-date motor set-up makes us more than ready to go for the trophy once again.” Thanks to Bobby Lagana Per and Karsten went to several teams and the new car will me a mix. “The chassis is a Hadman from Morgan Lucas Racing, the carbon body is from Al-Anabi Racing and we have parts from Don Schumacher Racing, Morgan Lucas Racing, Al-Anabi and Steve Torrence. As the car won’t be in Denmark until the end of April, it will be quite a challenge to get the car ready for testing on Wednesday just before The Main Event. But we like challenges”, says Karsten with a big smile. Sponsorship for the Nataas Andersen combination comes from: Batman, Landmeco, Interfit UK, Biltema, Else-Marie, Pack plast, Teslak Transport, Red line oil and ABC-Skilt. New car, new paint job A new car too for last year’s number three, Stig Neergaard. “A new car will be ready for Santa Pod and our plan is to participate in all races”, says ‘the real’ Stig. The car will have a fresh new paint job and the same can be said about the tractor/trailer combination. “My fantastic crew will be with me again, without them I would be lost. My wish is that track conditions will improve and all lanes are the same. Hope they get the same team to prepare all tracks.” New Bahco Express Dragster Another Top Fuel driver with a new car is Micke Kågered. The Swede bought the Morgan Lucas 2013 NHRA race winning car and hopes to leave all the bad luck from last seasons behind. The team is working around the clock to get the new Bahco Express ready in time for The Main Event. Urs Erbacher The Lucas Oil sponsored Dragster of RF Motorsport piloted by UK based Chris Andrews	Anita Mäkelä congratulating Thomas Nataas at Scandinavia Internats in 2013. Will it be the other way round at Main Event? Meet you at the startline Anita Mäkelä was last year’s runner-up and will be back for more. The world’s fastest chicken farmer has great news, especially for the home race at Alastaro. Anita will be running with a new chassis, which the team acquired a few years ago. Last year’s car was left like it was after last year’s European Finals, and husband Tommi Haapanen will drive that car at Alastaro! “After the calendar is confirmed, specially meaning Tierp, we can do our final planning. But at Alastaro we will have two Top Fuelers running. At The Main Event there will only be my new car, which will be tested at the Test and Tune day before the race. My target is to win the championship and……be fastest in Vilppula! There might be some extra pressure in the air when Tommi and I meet at the startline”, says Anita. The team will be pretty much the same, working under Sami Lehtimäki´s control. Micallef and Andrews, team mates and competitors.. RF Motorsport Major changes for Rune Fjeld Motorsport. Jari Halinen will take a year off, but has plans to come back in 2015. Antti Horto will only do the Alastaro race in Finland. But still RFM will field two cars this season. Maltese Duncan Micallef is back, but now for a full European tour. And the same can be said for Chris Andrews. “Yes, we will be doing the full season with Rune in the Don Schumacher Racing chassis that we won the European Finals in. And of course very important, Lucas Oil will be on the car again. Our goal is to run better and to try and win a few more races. Eddie Corr, Mike Domagala and Rune will be making the tuning decisions”, says Chris, who still has his own Top Fueler. “My car is going to be worked on this year in preparation for 2015.” Youngest Top Fuel driver Erbacher Racing is the next two car team in 2014. Urs Erbacher wants to add another FIA crown to his long list. After his Top Fuel debut at last year’s NitrOlympX, Noah Stutz will drive the second Erbacher Racing car, and now for the full FIA tour. “We had a busy winter with flying to Pomona and training all the new mechanics. I work with a manager now, Stefan Meier of Customized Sports Management. He is a real pro and knows what he's doing. I will do the full FIA Championship and at the end of the season I want to be in the top 3. That would be good for my first Top Fuel season. In October I plan to go to Vegas and test on Monday to get my NHRA license. But of course we need more sponsors to do this. I will also try to go to the States with Urs, but maybe it’s cheaper to race there in a car that’s already there. We bought a lot of new parts, so hopefully we will go faster. I want to qualify for The Main Event eliminations and hopefully can surprise the fans. Robin Grice will be the crew chief for both cars again. I’m very happy we get support from SCS, Midland Oil, our new sponsor Formex Swiss Watches and other smaller sponsors”, says only 19-year-old Noah. Not sure From a correspondent in Finland we hear that, as far as he knows, Janne Ahonen will not race this coming season, but might be back next year. No news so far from Timo Lehtimäki and Patrick Pers. See the entry list for Main Event under a separate headline in this newsletter and follow the action during the event via Eurodragster.com
Team Andersen Racing
Text & photos: Remco Scheelings This article is part of the Speedgroup Club Europe Online Newsletter May 2014 Published by Speedgroup www.speedgroup.eu All material, text, images and logtypes are the property of Speedgroup AB Any use of the above requires permission from Speedgroup email: asa.kinnemar@speedgroup.eu © Speedgroup 2014