Press — drag racing

Yesterday (25th May 2026) at Santa Pod felt like one of those days that will sit in the memory long after the smell of methanol and tyre smoke has faded from your jacket. Perhaps that was inevitable.

For sixty years, the sound of nitro, screaming engines and burnt rubber has echoed across Bedfordshire, shaking grandstands, rattling rib cages and pulling generations of petrolheads through the gates of Santa Pod Raceway.

If Britain has a spiritual home of straight-line speed, it’s Santa Pod. Not because it’s posh or polished, but because it’s honest: a former wartime airfield repurposed into a place where engineering and nerve have to prove themselves in public.

If you ever want proof that motorcycling’s greatest leaps weren’t always made in corporate boardrooms, meet Russ Collins. Long before “innovation” became a buzzword slapped on every press release, Collins was building motorcycles that looked like they’d escaped from a rocket test site—then riding them like it was the most normal thing in the world.

It was an honour to meet the amazing Graham Sykes at the Staffordshire Bike Show, as he proudly presented his latest project bike “Force of Nature” AKA the Steam Rocket Bike.

 His hobby, which could be called an unwavering passion, has derived from his extensive engineer background. Although self-taught, he has shared his expertise with some serious players motor racing arena. Being involved with world record attempts for himself and others only drives his enthusiasm, to excel even f