East Devon drag racing ace Mark ‘Wolfie’ Smith is back in action this weekend at the Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe in East Devon.
‘Wolfie’ as he is more affectionately known, will be during off his bike after the winter break to once again race using nitrous gas.
He has stepped up a class in 2019 – he has moved up from the recent year’s of competing in the modified street bike class to the more powerful category of competition bike class.
This weekends meeting on his home turf of East Devon is the first round of the 2019 Straightliners South West Championship.
Wolfie is up against some of the sports biggest names such as Mark ‘Skinny’ Patman and Pete Ford – to name just two.
Wolfie says: “Moving up a class means we should definitely have some close run battles!
“I’ll be up against bikes with twice or even three times the horsepower!
“However, at the end of the day, it is all about your reaction times and how brave you are prepared to be.”
He continued: “The bike has been set up slightly differently this year. Paul Lewis, of BIG PAULS AUTOS of Cotford Road, Sidbury, has fitted new chain and sprockets using a slightly smaller rear sprocket which will gear the bike up some what making the gears much broader, as, with the previous set up and the nitrous oxide I was, quite literally, running out of gears in about eight seconds!
“So, I’m looking forward to seeing what the bike is now capable of – it ought to be interesting!
Wolfie then said: “Paul has also changed the oil and fitted a K&N race oil filter which should keep the old girl well lubricated during the extremely harsh engine load of a race launch and run.
“He also replaced the clutch fluid and completely sorted out ‘ye olde battle bus’ (the van that is ‘home’ to Wolfie and his faithful dog Max this weekend) with a new starter motor and a new battery!”
He continued: “To be quite honest I would not be where I am and where I hope to get to without Paul – he’s the man who can and is certainly the man who allows me to remain so competitive in the sport.
“I really cannot thank him – and his ‘other half’ Mandy and his team enough for what they do for us.!”
As for this weekend’s meeting and the threat of poor weather, Wolfie says: “Us drag racers are hardy folk and still race – whatever the elements decide to throw at us.
“If the wind is blowing straight down the track, but we have no rain, then I’d expect to be hitting 160mphand hopefully get into the coveted eight second bracket.
“However, saying that, I do only have enough nitrous oxide gas left in the bottle for about three good gas runs. That being so I’ll be looking to get two good test runs under my belt before hitting the gas n then hope for the best – and ‘hold the hell on’!”
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