Alongside the extra work on a second car, the team also needs to rebuild the trailer to carry two cars and the extra spare parts to the track. With Rob behind the wheel of the Top Methanol Dragster and Steve as the tuner, the team has always figured among the title favourites and succeeded in winning the FIA European Championship in 2001. Now, after 19 years in a dragster, Rob will step into the 5.63-second Monte Carlo. For Steve, a busy season is about to begin, with two cars now to tune as well as the dragster to drive, which he has already done in British championship rounds.




The decision to buy a funny car was made in a split second. Steve: “Rob had seen the Top Methanol Funny Car for sale on the Inside Top Alcohol website and said to Carmel, ‘Shall we buy a funny car?’ Carmel said straight away with no hesitation, ‘Yes, let’s buy it!’ We always said we didn’t ever want to run two cars in the same class, as we should at times be competing against ourselves, and that would just be heartbreaking seeing one of our race cars eliminating the other in competition. We hope that running in Funny Car and Dragster will have more appeal to sponsors, i.e. receiving double the exposure in Europe.”




Rob drove a fuel altered named ‘Straight Shooter’ before acquiring the team’s first, ex-Cory McClenathan Top Methanol Dragster in 1990. After 19 years, Rob is back in a seat with the engine in front. “It’s not that Rob necessarily prefers the funny car but he just fancied a change after driving dragsters for 19 years,” explains Steve. “The main difference between driving a dragster and a funny car is the steering. You have to be more aggressive with the funny car, owing to the short wheelbase, and more gentle and precise with the dragster, owing to the long wheelbase which magnifies any steering needed during a run. Rob should adapt to driving the funny car quite quickly, having driven altereds previously. Having a fully enclosed body on the funny car is new to him, but having now sat in the funny car, he was surprised and very happy with the visibility.”

The car ran good numbers in the States so could be a real championship contender in its first season. “We hope it will, given its pedigree and Rob’s many years of experience. But the car will arrive in England just one week before the FIA Main Event and we shall use that week to check it over completely. We shall only have one test session to get used to the car prior to the Main Event. We hope to make as many runs as we can, prior to qualifying on the Saturday, so Rob can be confident in the car.”




So double duty awaits Steve this season, tuning both cars and driving the dragster. Rob: “It will be difficult for both of us, as in the past we jointly decided on a tune-up for the dragster. But running two cars and tuning both will give us more knowledge. The basic tuning of the dragster and funny car are very similar. However, the crucial part with the funny car is the first hundred feet of the run as it is important to get the car to leave correctly and not go into tyre shake, etc. This is because the weight transfer is different from the way a dragster leaves. It should help with the tuning when we run the two cars as we shall have more data to refer to.”




For 2010 the funny car will get priority, as the team intends to race this car at all the FIA European rounds. “The dragster may only run at selected events this season, as the new car will be a learning curve for the whole team. The dragster also has an excellent pedigree, having won the European Championship in the past, and Steve has the potential to be a contender once he has more runs under his belt,” Rob continues. It’s already two years since the National Finals when Steve was behind the wheel of the dragster and won the meeting, beating Dave Wilson in the final. Steve: “Driving has given me a better insight into tuning, realising what Rob has been telling me about what he goes through on a run, like tyre shake.”

The engine combinations of the dragster and funny car are basically the same, other than the displacement (the funny car having a 526ci capacity and the dragster 451ci). The short motors are different but the BAE cylinder heads, PSI superchargers, fuel pumps, etc., are the same so a lot of the spares will serve both cars. With members from England, Sweden, Malta and the USA, the team has enough crew to service them both. The 2010 sponsors for Turner Motorsport are Lucas Oil, NGK Sparkplugs, Craybell, Durafix, RCS Cables & Controls and Stingray RV.