Welcome to the Lucas Oil pits at the FIA Main Event 2007. Join us throughout the weekend for all the latest news from the Carter Motorsport / Andersen Racing team.

Welcome to the first Live Update of the FIA Main Event 2007 – you are joining us live from the Lucas Oil pit at Santa Pod Raceway, England. Following the teams trying weekend at the Peak Performance test day most of the crew returned to their home countries for a couple of days to assess what we learnt and where we need to go, however Fleming and Henrik have been with the dragster all week carrying out a list of jobs that was left with them by Crew Chiefs Per and Karsten. The crew arrived back at the track today refreshed and ready for whatever challenges the weekend ahead holds. The spirit in the camp is extremely high and we can’t wait to make our first qualifying pass of the 2007 season.

The crew are making final preparations and readying the car for qualifying tomorrow. Andy has been busy – he has recorded an interview for Nitro 96.2 FM and also for a local radio station.

A very warm welcome to all of our fans who have tuned in and a special thank you to all of our sponsors who make what we do possible – Lucas Oils, NGK Spark Plugs, Binamic, Pioneer Print, Crane Cams, K&N Filters, Yuasa Batteries, BMRS, Sigma Signs, Antiqus-2000, Rainbow Conference Sets, 3T Creative, Norfolkline Ferriers, RCS Cables, Teng Tools, CAAR and Autotel.

Andy was paired in the right hand lane. A good launch but then the car quickly went into very hard tyre shake, the revs went high and Andy got off the throttle. When we got back to the pits we found the tyre shake had caused the drive coupler to come loose. Due to an error with the timing system no time was recorded. The crew are currently preparing the car for its second qualifying run.

Andy said “The car shook really, really hard – that one hurt! I knew it had shook something off but weren’t sure whether it was the blower belt or coupler.”

If you are in the Northamptonshire area tune into BBC Radio Northampton on 104.2 FM this afternoon – Andy and the Lucas Oil team will be the subject of a feature during the sports programme from 4pm to 6pm.

With bad weather forecast for tomorrow we knew that this may be our last chance to qualify. The car launched well but then went into tyre shake… Andy pedalled and then the car really hauled. The header flames were wing high and the car picked up massive amounts of speed in the second half of the track. The times flashed onto the scored board 5.04 seconds at a massive 314mph! When we got to the bottom of the track the clutch had locked up on the car so it took a little while before we could move, we also found the front tire was damaged and will need to be replaced before the next pass.

At the end of the session we are sitting in number 3 position. The team are happy with the position and hopefully, if the weather men are wrong, we will get a chance to move up tomorrow.

The photo shows the Lucas Oil dragster at the weigh station following the run. The car has to be weighed after every pass to ensure it adheres to regulations. To save time Andy lays across the roll cage rather than getting back into the car.

A very special hello to crew member Jan Broersma from everyone on the team, Jan is unfortunately unwell and couldn’t make it to the track this weekend… we all hope you are feeling better and enjoying the updates!

Whilst they were servicing the car we grabbed a quick word with the Lucas Oil crew chiefs Per and Karsten Anderson. Karsten said “We are still frustrated with the car but we are very pleased with Andy – his back pedalling was superb. Andy’s pedal was 0.35 seconds so the run could have been 4.7seconds. Despite the frustration we are sure we are moving in the right direction.” Per added “We want to give Andy a car that will go straight and he doesn’t have to pedal.”

Tune in tomorrow to see if Per and Karsten’s tuning changes bring the team the 4 second runs they want... assuming Andy can drag himself away from the sweet shop!

Welcome to a very wet Santa Pod… it’s been raining persistently since about 7:30am. The crew are all waiting patiently for the rain to stop, finding small jobs on the car and in the trailer to keep themselves busy. We will keep our fingers crossed for the rain to stop and let you know if anything happens.

Welcome back... it is still raining here at Santa Pod. With no sign of the rain stopping today’s racing was called off at about 3pm. That means qualifying is finished with Andy Carter in position number 3... he will face Micke Kagered in the first round.

The team have been keeping themselves busy with odd jobs around the car and trailer… and a few highly competitive games of table football! We have also been trialling our new in car radio system supplied by sponsor Autotel Race Radio. Tune back tomorrow and if the rain has stopped we will bring you all the news from eliminations.

We had some very heavy rain and strong winds overnight. Although it is still windy the rain has eased. In the Lucas Oil pit we are all waiting patiently, hoping for the rain to stop soon so the track crew can start drying the track.

Welcome back to a very wet Santa Pod. Unfortunately the rain hasn’t stopped and the race was cancelled at 1:15pm. We are all very disappointed not to be able to get back on the track but are very happy with what we learned during the test weekend and our two qualifying passes. We finish the event in third place in the FIA Top Fuel championship.

A huge thank you to all of our sponsors for your support - Lucas Oils, NGK Spark Plugs, Binamic, Pioneer Print, Crane Cams, K&N Filters, Yuasa Batteries, BMRS, Sigma Signs, Antiqus-2000, Rainbow Conference Sets, 3T Creative, Norfolkline Ferriers, RCS Cables, Teng Tools, CAAR and Autotel.

The next appearance of the Lucas Oil dragster will be a static display at the AACI Summer Nats, Billing Aquadrome Nr Northampton on the 16th/17th June. Our next race meeting is FIA championship round 2 at Alastaro Finland.

Thank you for tuning into our updates this weekend, we hope you have enjoyed them.