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Qualifying kicked off with some spectacular performances from the Minis. Chris Allinson's Hybusia engineed, space frame Mini wowed the crowed and qualified as the fastest Mini with a time of 11.4 seconds and a top speed of 114mph, despite the door flying open half way down the quarter mile.
Then Carl Austin’s twin A-series monster made an appearance with the crowd looking to see what was making ‘that noise’ whilst he was still waiting in line for his race. Carl qualified in second place for the Minis with a time of 12.2 seconds and a top speed of 105mph.
The competition between the fastest two cars looked set to be close when the Beetles top qualifier a 2.4 litre modified Beetle, recorded a time of 11.5 seconds slightly slower than the fastest Mini, but with a top speed of 118mph four mph faster than the top Mini.
The Beetles next qualifier was more than a second behind the Mini qualifying in second place with a time of 13.5 seconds and a top speed of 96mph.
The time came for the final shootout but to the disappointment of the crowd a number of qualifiers had broken and already departed on the back of a trailer. As a result very few cars were matched and the majority of the shootout was a series of side by side by’s. This meant the cars were racing the clock and not each other; in order to register a win the car had to finish with 0.5 seconds of its fastest qualifying time.
Things started well for the Minis and they were seven – five up after the first 10 races. But then a brief break in proceedings and some wrangling in the commentary box and it was announced that the Minis and Beetles were actually level pegging on seven all. The decision had something to do with there being more Minis than Beetles, but in true York Dragway style it was impossible to fathom how this was worked out.
As the shootout drew to a close it all rested on the final race The Minis and Beetles were level on eight all when Chris Allinson pitched his Mini against Daz Chandler’s Beetle. The race was over by the mid way point as too much power to the wheels sent the Mini sideways and the Beetles took the
lead, the race and the title for
the second year running.
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