Belgian’s Van Nimmen is looking to get back to Business in FIM-E Super Twin

words and photos by Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes

Following a frustrating and expensive opening round to the FIM-E Super Twin season back in May, Chris van Nimmen is looking to get back some of the form that deserted the Belgian American Lifestyle Racing team towards the end of 2024.

“After the heavy damage we suffered at The Main Event, the American Lifestyle Racing Team’s engine is now fully rebuilt, reassembled and ready for testing. The next step is to bring it back to life.

The damaged front cylinder head has been professionally repaired by Speedy in Denmark, with new valves and valve guides installed, the valve seats being re-cut, and the intake port fully repaired and reworked.

While the cylinder head was away in Denmark, there was plenty of work going on back home. All damaged parts were either replaced or repaired, and the engine was carefully rebuilt with one goal in mind: to return to the starting line stronger and more reliable than before.

The fuel system also received a major upgrade. The previous fuel pump has been replaced with a larger one, designed to deliver higher pressure and greater stability. The fuel supply line and fittings have also been upgraded to a larger size.

After the problems we experienced at the last event, a lot of work has gone into improving the engine and fuel system. Now comes the next important step: testing. We will carefully check everything to make sure the fuel system is working as it should, the pressure remains stable, and the engine performs perfectly on both cylinders.

Soon we will be heading to Sweden for the next event at Tierp Arena, and hopefully, we can leave the problems from the previous race behind us and finally show what this Super Twin Top Fuel machine is truly capable of.

The damage is repaired.
The engine is ready.
The upgrades are installed.

Now it’s time to fire it up… and see what happens!

Having offended the nitro gods, van Nimmen deserves a break (in fortune rather than mechanical!) in his search for a return to mid-six-second form that propelled him to a class podium points finish in 2024.

FIM-E Schedule 2026

May 22-25, Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England
August 6-9, Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden
August 21-23, NitrOlympX, Hockenheimring, Germany
September 10-13, Euro Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England