Although not as popular as in the US, if you search hard enough you will find opporunities for Street Legal, organised Drag Racing in Europe. Usually at airfields, since there are only one or two proper dragstrips on the continent.

In the UK it's the famous Santa Pod Raceway, Santa Pod Raceway - Events with a number of UK Jag owners already going along for the Run What A Brung days Run What Ya Brung (RWYB) - Public Track Day (pics & vids HERE)

In Germany there are various places to go, the most are summed up here;

Original in German Termine 1/4 Meile - My-Car.info - Mein kleiner Auto Blog. or if you want it in English, google-translated Google Translate

I'm hoping to take the XJR to Race @ Airport -- 1/4 meile Cars & Bikes in Mengen next year (closest event to me).

Another list of events here dragracelist - Termine 2012

A lot of car clubs also organise 1/4 mile or 1/8 mile events for thier members, mostly US car clubs, since dragracing is an American invention...?

Who's interested in Drag Racing on the continent?

 

I would have thought this thread would be filled with replies.

I, for one, would certainly be intrigued if any events take place near by.


- Richard

 

Race @ Airport in Mengen will the closest one to us (1 hour drive north of Konstanz) but the date for next year hasn't been fixed yet. It's my goal to get the XJR on the track there. Should be in July 2013.

The next race day relatively close to us is Flugplatz Blasen on 21st October. It's in Neresheim, Baden Würtemmburg, about 2-1/2hrs drive north from Konstanz.

I don't know if i'll be around for that one yet, will see closer to the date. It looks like a Run What Ya Brung day but if you register too late maybe it'll be full up...I need to call them up & ask...but if i won't be here....

 

In Sweden we have a number of dragstrips. But the best is the:

http://www.tierparena.com/

This strip is located abt 140 kms north of Stockholm.

Best rgds / Bo

 

Hi,

Yes, Drag Racing is also quite a popular sport in Malta. We only have one Drag Strip, and ex-airfield, but is is set up to the highest standards.

Other motorsport practised locally are hill climbs, sprints, persuits, karting and offroading, but Drag races and Hill Climbs top the list. I spent many years marshalling both and those were the best days of my life...

As Cambo351 said, we have all the usual meetings, including Run-what-you-bring, etc.

We also host a few classic car races.

Maltese Drag Racers are now competing in European championships, and a local guy is the top-methanol champion

Updated, Video - Malta wins FIA drag racing championship - timesofmalta.com

 

This Sunday see's the last 1/4 Mile day in Germany for 2012.

Flugplatzblasen in Baden Württemburg, 73450 Neresheim, about 100km east of Stuttgart.

I can't make it due to family commitments....

 

The calendar for drag racing in Germany in 2013 is set

dragracelist - Termine 2013

Race @ Airport -- 1/4 meile Cars & Bikes

Termine 1/4 Meile - My-Car.info - Mein kleiner Auto Blog.

Unfortunately for me, the Race @ Airport in Mengen (closest event to Switzerland) is in July and i won't be here anymore....

 

June 15th, 2013 there is annual Street Slide 1/4mile competition for street cars here in Hyvinkää, Finland. We have organized Jaguar class and would like to see some international competitors also. Maybe you can keep a small holiday in Finland, first drive some 1/4miles ( +afterparty..uuhhh ) and then go to Lapland and see midnight sun there. If anybody interested please contact me by PM.

Last year looked like this:

 

If anyone is interested in a bit of a roadtrip, there is a Jag owners meetup at Santa Pod Raceway in England on 1st June

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/u...69/#post723884

 

This is Ms. Rosemary Smith, legendary Irish rally driver. The photo was taken (we think) around 1965:



In 1978 in Co. Cork, Ireland, she hit 178 MPH in an XJS with a giant American V8 engine shoehorned into it. This was an Irish land-speed record attempt, pipped only by Danny Keany on a Kenny Roberts-fettled TZ750 road-racing motorcycle.


Rory Egan, writing in the Irish Independent in July 2006:

SOME dinner party invitations should come with a health warning. At least, that's what Danny Keany thinks. In 1978, he was invited to Rosemary Smith's house in Donnybrook to break bread with the legendary rally driver.
Rosemary was the pin-up girl of the European motor-racing scene. With her Hillman Imp, blonde hair and perfect figure, her girl-next-door smile belied the aggressive driving that had made her so successful. Danny was no slouch himself; not only was he king of the motorcycle circuits at one stage, but he was the sole importer of Yamaha in Ireland.

After dinner, the port was passed and Danny remembers little else until he received a phone call from Rosemary the next day asking was he still on for it. Being the gentleman he was, he said of course, but then had to ask, "On for what?"

Apparently the Irish land speed record was open for the taking and Rosemary wanted a crack at it. She thought it would be fun if they turned it into a contest, with Rosemary in a car and Danny on a motorbike.

He decided to give it a go but he was worried about letting the side down: a 750cc motorbike was no match for a 2-litre Hillman Imp in racing gear. He rang up his good friend, world champion Kenny Roberts from the US, who came over to the shop in Aungier Street to soup it up.

Their biggest problem was keeping the tyres on the rim at over 160mph. Dunlop had warned him that the centrifugal force at that speed could make the tyre expand, as had happened Barry Sheene at Daytona, in a crash which had very nearly killed him. However, Danny had his own solution. He literally screwed the tyres to the rim and headed off for Carrigaline in Cork.

The one-kilometre, perfectly flat stretch of road was the only place acceptable to the recorders. Rosemary arrived, not in a Hillman Imp but a Jaguar, with a massive American V8 engine bolted into it. Rosemary took off "like a bat out of hell" and recorded an aggregate speed of 178mph. Danny decided to go for it and ended up reaching 204mph over the finish line and aggregating 185mph to hold the Irish land speed record, on June 21, 1978, on his 750cc TZ Yamaha four-cylinder, two-stroke motorcycle.

The bike now resides in a museum owned by Gerry Stephens, the distributor of Kawasaki, in Ballymore Eustace, where Gerry lovingly polishes it and shakes his head when he comes to the screws in the tyres. As Danny Keany said last week, "An Irish solution to an Irish problem."

 

Cool story Hansel.

 

Thanks Olaf! ;o)