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Sunday December 19, 2004.

Ton Pels all time SuperTwin Champion.

Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe has made a breakdown of FIM/UEM points tallies and adding together all points earned between 1999 and 2004, Ton is the all time winner in SuperTwin Top Fuel Bike with 1252 points, followed bij two Swedish riders: Karling (1208) and Bengtsson (1184). By clicking here you get the complete Top 10 (of 53 riders total) including Year Averages and Year Totals.
Other Champions' Champions in the bike classes are our good friend Roel Koedam in Top Fuel Bike and Sweden's Roger Petterson in Pro Stock bike.

Saturday December 11, 2004

Provisional 2005 Race Calendar is now on-line.

Monday December 6, 2004

After clinching the 2004 European Supertwin Championship there's no time to sit back and relax. We're going to defend our title in 2005 and because of the advantage that blown bikes have over injected ones, constant improvement is required. We have therefore been working on our new design of a 'one piece' clutch. We started with nearly 110 Kg's of aluminium and have machined it down to only 16 Kg's now!

Also a new fuel injection system is being assembled, and the 2005 update is to be complemented with a new paint job and chassis powdercoat.

The News page will be updated with pictures as soon as they're available.

Tuesday November 15, 2004

Last weekend the dragbike was on display at the Zodiac Dealer Expo at the Autotron in Rosmalen. For this annual event (which was combined with the Zodiac/BigTwin Motorsale 2004), Zodiac Europe invited their worldwide vendors as well as their European dealers and distributors. There was a special Zodiac area, separate from the 125 Motorsale stand holders, for dealers and vendors. During certain hours it was also open to the public.
The ZODIAC area featured approximately 30 vendor stand holders - 25 of which from the USA - and had well over 400 dealers visiting from all Western European countries as well as quite a few Eastern ones, such as Russia, Hungary, Poland, Czech and Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Furthermore there were dealers from the Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Like previous years, it was a huge success, where good business was combined with great partying.

The bike has one more show to attend in France in a few weeks, so after that Ton & Vincent can finally take it apart and start working on a brand new clutch, a new injection system and other changes for the 2005 season.

Wednesday September 15, 2004

EUROPEAN CHAMPION !!!

After an eventful season with many ups and downs we came out on top and Ton is the 2004 European Champion Supertwin Top Fuel!

Going to the final round at Santa Pod Raceway in England Ton was leading the Championship by 14 points. And although it was a long shot, Charley Karling from Sweden still had a slim chance of winning the title as well. After two days of qualifying Ton was qualified 2nd with a 6.75. Charley was first with a 6.54, but unfortunately he had a run-in with the concrete wall after his final qualification pass, hurting his ankle and preventing him from coming out on Sunday. This turned out to be the championship decider because now no one could catch up with Ton. We'd like to wish Charley Karling a speedy recovery. Charley, get well soon and see you at the track next year!

In the first round on Sunday Ton defeated Svein Olaf Rolfstad from Norway with an early shut off 6.681 @ 183.63 mph (295 km/h) against Rolfstad's 7.822.
In the semi final Ton took out another Norwegian, Hans Olav Olstad. Although Olstad left too soon (red light) and Ton experienced some serious wheelspin at mid track, he still managed to finish first (which he was anxious to do, since he hadn't seen Olstad's red light).
In the final Ton had to take on Ronny Aasen, also from Norway. Ronny had a good start, but Ton took the win with yet another 6.6 pass: 6.638 @ 203.5 mph (327 km/h).

After clinching the title, this event win was a great way for the team to finish the 2004 season. The final top 8 (of 24 competitors) of the UEM Supertwin Championship are:

The ZODIAC team would like to express their thanks to:

Their main sponsor: ZODIAC Performance Parts for Harley Davidson for their continuing support as well as to their other sponsors: Supertrapp, Accel and Spectro Oils.
The start crews, track crews and class hosts at all the venues for doing such a great job
The competitors in Supertwin for making it the most exciting and close competition in UEM Dragracing

Photos above: P. van den Bosch

Photo: R.Scheelings

Finally, we would like to dedicate this title to the memory of our very dear friend Jim McClure.

Tuesday August 24, 2004 - Hockenheim Germany report

Ton won Hockenheim !

At round 5 of the European Championship at the Hockenheimring in Germany we were struggling all weekend to find traction and to find a good set-up. After two days of qualifying Ton was no. 2 with 6.90 sec. / 326.2 kmh. No.1 was Charley Karling from Sweden, who was riding very strong and consistent this weekend:

Photo: Pim van der Zwet Ton had a bye run in the first round on Sunday and made his way to the semi's with a 6.96 sec. @ 324.12 km/h. In the semi final he had to take on Joachim Riemer from Germany. Ton defeated Riemer in 7.04 with an early shut off (283 kmh) because he was drifting sideways.
The final was once again Ton against Charley. At that time Ton had a lead of 4 points in the European Championship, so this run would decide who would be leading the championship. Because of Charley's performance during the weekend the odds were in his favor. Ton had a slightly better reaction time and was on his way to a good run when he hit a bump and the rear wheel came loose from the track. This sky-rocketed the engine rpm and fuel pressure, causing the engine to drop a cylinder. Meanwhile Charley had even worse problems when his bike was dropping pushrods (broken camshaft). Ton went on and off the throttle a couple of times and was first to finish (7.11 sec./ 276 kmh).

We would have liked to run a good E.T. again in the final, but the computer showed us that the engine dropped a cylinder after 3.3 seconds, so it wasn't real pretty but we're happy with the win. Ton has slightly improved his lead in the championship with just one more race to go. This is the top 8:

Photo: Pim van der Zwet

Photos above: Pim van der Zwet / Photos below: Wijnand Kors

Wednesday August 18, 2004

We're off to the "Nitro Olympics" in Hockenheim for Round 5 of the UEM European Championship, in which we now have the lead.
Next to the race-bike we'll have two other ZODIAC bikes on display and as always we will have our ZODIAC Racing T-shirts for sale, so if you're coming to the Hockenheimring this weekend, come pay us a visit at the ZODIAC pit-box.

Sunday August 8, 2004 - Gardermoen Raceway Norway

In the first round Ton defeated Ronny Aasen from Norway in a run that was far from perfect. Because of the weather conditions (air) it was very difficult to find a good set-up for the fuel system, especially for normally aspirated bikes, so the engine was running way too rich. Ronny Aasen experienced his own problems and had a lot of wheel spin (7.91 sec.), so Ton's 7.47 with only 275 km/h was enough to take the win.

Ton at Gardermoen last year Ton had a bye run in the semi final and found a better set-up. He made his way to the final with a 6.941 sec. @ 317.89 km/h. However, in the final Ton had a red light (by 0.071 sec.), so the victory went to Trond Alm from Norway.
Although we had a rough start of the season in England in May, Ton managed to make it to the final at every race since then and therefore climbed in the Championship ranking every time. With the results in Norway, he is now in the lead. Currently the top 6 of the championship looks like this:

Saturday August 7, 2004 - Gardermoen Raceway Norway

We had two more rounds of qualifying today and we're still no. 2. Congratulations go to Svein Gottenberg and Trond Alm for making their first 6-second-passes. We have to take on Ronny Aasen from Norway tomorrow. The final qualifying order is:

Ton & Vincent in Norway last year

Friday August 6, 2004 - Gardermoen Raceway Norway

After two rounds of qualifying today we're currently no. 2. There are two more qualifiers planned for tomorrow.

Ton at Gardermoen Raceway last year

Sunday August 1, 2004 - Mantorp Park Sweden

Wow, what an eventful weekend!
In the first round today Ton defeated Sweden's Greger Johansson in 6.71 sec. @ 311 km/h, but had problems stopping his bike in time and found himself crashing in the gravel trap at the end of the run-off area. Ton 'jumped' off the bike before it fell over, so he was A-OK, but the bike was seriously damaged and there was gravel literally everywhere.

Immediately after getting back to the pits they started working on the bike, taking it apart to get all the gravel out of the engine parts to try and make it to the semi-finals. It was so much work that it was a race against time. Ton & Vincent got help from two other race teams, so at one time there were 6 guys cleaning engine parts and working on the bike, and 3 rider's wives cleaning the body work and Ton's racing suit etc. When they were finally ready, everyone rushed to the startline and they were just in time: they immediately had to fire up the bike for the semi-final against Ronny Aasen from Norway. Ton miraculously kept his cool and won the round in 6.80 sec. @ 305 km/h, but the bike sounded strange at the top end and there was a bent push rod...

It turned out that because of all the rush and stress getting the bike ready for the semi's, they had forgotten to fill up the fuel tank, so the engine had been running 'dry' and had back-fired. When they started working on the bike to try and get it ready for the final, they found that the camshaft was broken and this was just too much to fix before the finals. So the other finalist, Charley Karling, had a solo run and won the race in Mantorp.

The good news is that Ton was once again the fastest (329 km/h) and quickest (6.712 sec.) rider in Supertwin and was also the most consistent. Furthermore, he climbed in the Championship ranking and significantly reduced the points difference to the no.1. Currently the top 6 looks like this:

Ton in action at Mantorp Park last year

Saturday July 31, 2004 - Mantorp Park Sweden

In the first qualifying session today Ton and Anders Karling were the last pair to qualify. EuroDragsters Web Reporter captured the spirit of the run: "The qualifier between Anders Karling and Ton Pels was the run of the event so far, the bikes side-by-side all the way, Anders improved to take second place and Ton Pels consolidated his #1 spot with an improvement". Ton holding on to his 'pole position' by just 0.004 seconds:

1. Ton Pels (NL) : 6.858 sec. @ 324.95 km/h 2. Anders Karling (SE) : 6.862 sec. @ 314.40 km/h

In the second qualifying session today (the fourth and final qualifier of the weekend) Ton and Anders Karling were paired up together again in the last run. And it turned out to be a great side-by-side run, until Charley started fish-tailing past half track and eventually got off the throttle. Ton improved both his E.T. and speed and remains to be no.1 qualifier. The final qualifying standings in FIM Supertwin are:

Ton in action at Mantorp Park last year

Wednesday July 28, 2004

We're off to Scandinavia for rounds 3 and 4 of the FIM/UEM European Championship. First stop will be the Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp Park in Sweden. And one week after that, we'll be at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway. The top 8 of the current Championship standings are:

Vincent pushing Ton back to the start line after the burn-out

It is a 4-day-event (Thursday July 29 - Sunday August 1), but there will be no qualifying for the Pro Classes on Thursday.
- Qualifying for us will be on Friday and Saturday, July 30 and 31.
- Raceday is on Sunday August 1st.

For live updates and pictures during the weekend, please go to Event coverage - Veidec Nitro Festival at Eurodragster.com

Monday July 19, 2004

Yesterday we had the Zodiac dragbike on display at the "5th annual Harley Day" in Uithoorn, a small town close to our homebase Mydrecht. The event had visitors from all over the country and even some from abroad and Ton and Vincent were present all day to chat with people interested in the bike and answering their questions.

Sunday July 4, 2004

In the first qualification pass on Friday Ton was hindered by Sweden's Charley Karling in the other lane. Charley crossed the center line and hit the 1/8th mile timing equipment, which was then thrown into Ton's lane forcing him to go off the throttle (when Ton returned in the pits there were still pieces of glass in his leathers). Because of this, his E.T. was obviously not very good: 7.86 sec. and only 192 km/h terminal speed, but it turned out to be just enough for Ton to qualify...

In the second qualifying session on Friday the bike ran way too rich, which resulted in a 8.2 sec. run and because it was raining all day on Saturday, the two runs on Friday were the only ones they got. Final qualifying standings were:

Because only 5 bikes were qualified, a 4-field elimination ladder was run on Sunday.

In the first round Ton defeated Svein Gottenberg from Norway in 7.04 sec. @ 318 km/h (against Svein's 7.2). Ronny Aasen (7.19 @ 327) defeated Hans Olav Olstad, so the final was Ton against Ronny. Ton had lane choice... but unfortunately the finals were never run because of rain. However, our goal for this weekend was to climb in the ranking and so we did. We're now no.3 in the European Championship standings. Next round: Mantorp Park Sweden.

Furthermore, SPECTRO Oils of America has been in touch with us during the weekend and we're very glad to announce that we concluded a new sponsor deal with SPECTRO.

Thursday July 1, 2004

We're off to the Alastaro circuit in Finland for the second round of the European Championship (click here for Alastaro circuit Webcam). We're currently no. 4 in the Points Standings, so our goal for this race is to climb in the ranking.

Friday June 4, 2004

Below some very nice photos of last weekend we got from 'professor Sansom' (thanks Ivan!)

Tuesday June 1, 2004: Main Event - Santa Pod, England Report

On Saturday we missed the first round of qualifying because we discovered a small leak in the fuel tank, so instead of qualifying we had to have the tank welded (at Armco in Irchester). Later that day in the second qualifying session Ton did a solid pass resulting in: 6.791 sec. @ 191.33 MPH (308 km/h), taking the 2nd qualifying position. Because Ton was off the throttle for a while to correct the bike and was therefore a little late shifting gear, there was more to come...

On the second day of qualifying Ton did a 200+ MPH pass again, fishtailing a little off the line: 6.691 sec. @ 202.56 MPH (326 km/h). We were very satisfied with this run being so close to our personal best (6.60 sec.) this soon with the new bike. The final qualifying standings in FIM/UEM Supertwin Top Fuel were:

Photo: EuroDragster.com

Anders Karling (Sweden): 6.604 sec. @ 182.11 MPH
Ton Pels (Netherlands): 6.691 sec. @ 202.56 MPH
Ronny Aasen (Norway): 6.752 sec. @ 200.78 MPH
Hans Olav Olstad (Norway): 7.264 sec. @ 188.20 MPH
Svein Gottenberg (Norway): 7.563 sec. @ 173.85 MPH
Willem Been (Netherlands): 7.962 sec. @ 156.18 MPH
Stefan Junerud (Sweden): 8.458 sec. @ 116.24 MPH
Joachim Riemer (Germany): 9.604 sec. @ 116.89 MPH

This meant we had to take on Stefan Junerud in the first round on Monday. This race had a very disappointing result. Stefan left way too early (as soon as Ton staged) and in reaction to that, Ton left when he heard Stefan go. Both riders left before the tree was activated, so both were disqualified.

That was it for us at the Main Event. We were not completely dissatisfied with our results though, because the new bike is performing very well and - again - we were the fastest Supertwin bike of the event with the 202.56 MPH (326 km/h). We are now no. 4 in the European Championship Standings after 1 race. Next stop: Alastaro - Finland.
Congratulations to Hans Olav Olstad on winning the Main Event!

Wednesday May 26, 2004

We're off to Santa Pod Raceway in England for 'the Main Event', the first race of the European Championship Tour. It's a four-day-event (May 28-31), but there will be no qualifying for the Pro Classes on Friday.

Qualifying for us will be on Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30.
Raceday (eliminations) will be on Monday the 31st.

For reports, pictures and webcam images during the weekend, please go to FIA Main Event coverage at Eurodragster.com

Photo: Sharkman

Photo: Ivan Sansom

Sunday May 9, 2004

Photo: Eurodragster.com
We did one more run today (at half throttle and without shifting): 7.391 sec. @ 174.44 MPH (280.67 kmh). Ton got close to the center line again in this run, so we're going to adjust the rear wheel placement before the next race. We tested everything we planned to, so we're confident for the upcoming European Championship starting at 'the Main Event' (May 28-31).
Photo courtesy Eurodragster.com (click for larger image).

Saturday May 8, 2004

Photo: Eurodragster.com
After heavy rain the entire morning, the track crew got the track ready around 3 PM. Ton did 2 passes today. On the first run (around 4 PM) he left half throttle, slowly feeding to full throttle after the 1/8th until the strong side wind caught him and he went off it again. E.T.: 7.562 sec. Speed: 180.20 MPH (289.94 kmh). The new bike felt good and handled well. When Ton leaned to get it back after the wind blew it sideways a little, it reacted very well.
On the second run (around 8 PM) he left full throttle, which was too much for the conditions of the track at that time, so the rear tyre went 'up in smoke'. The datalogger said that the rear wheel was doing over 200 MPH but the bike was actually only doing 10 MPH. After closing the throttle the rear wheel hooked up again and the easy pass showed an E.T. of 9.409 sec. at 182.07 MPH (292.95 kmh).

A small part of the bodywork came off on the first run as you can see in the photo (it's wrapped around Ton's right boot; click for bigger image). Wheather permitting we'll do some more runs tomorrow. For reports, pictures and webcam images during the day, please go to Event coverage at Eurodragster.com

Friday May 7, 2004

We're off to Santa Pod Raceway in England for the the 'Speedfreaks Ball' on May 8-9. For reports, pictures and webcam images during the weekend, please go to Event coverage at Eurodragster.com

Saturday April 24, 2004

We've finished making all the new parts that needed to be machined and we're well on our way building up the engine. Today we picked up the body work from Sam's Custom Shop, who gave the 2004 ZODIAC Dragbike a brand new paint scheme...

Tuesday March 2, 2004

The new rolling chassis is on its wheels...

Now that the new chassis is finished, it will go to Theo van den Berg's "Polyester Racing Parts" this coming Friday for the necessary adjustments to the body work. Meanwhile Ton & Vincent will start working on the engines: they will build a new no.1 engine and the no.2 engine will be refreshed and updated.

Sunday February 8, 2004

We finished the new frame yesterday...